WOW! It's been ages!

Holy cow! I just got the notification that Mom was hoping for an update, and noticed I'd completely skipped the holidays. It's been just over two months since my last post, so a lot of the little stuff is going to get skipped, sorry.

The holidays brought the usual. High stress, too much traffic, and the attempts to avoid any possible public interaction. Shopping at 11 at night, and the majority of get-togethers were at our place to avoid us having to leave.

With stuffing everything in the second bedroom for storage, we buried the X-mas trees. So I was able to climb over a couple things to reach my little 2.5 foot fiber-optic. Satisfied with SOME X-mas decorations, I let that be it.

December did bring the completion of the 1-up Hat. I'd been working on how to make this hat off/on for months. I'd made one that looked like it was covered in puffy growths. This one came out beautifully.


Niceguy quickly laid claim to it, and I've since perfected the pattern and have quite a few interested parties for when I'm ready to make more. =) It was about 18 hours of solid work. Very few distractions. I aim to pick that up. Hoping for 8-10 hours.

Since the tablet was our big X-mas gift, we'd already done the bulk of our shopping. I made a lot of hats this year, and am still working on more. It actually got to the point, that as soon as I finished one hat, and was ready to pack it away for later shipping, someone spotted it and asked to buy it. I think I've made 10 of the hats I was going to make for my siblings, but only have 2 in my possession. I have a lot of time off right now though, so might be able to lock myself away and get caught up. I'll explain later.

We spent X-mas at Niceguy's parents house, just relaxing and having a good time. Spending the bulk of the evening surrounded by good company, good food, and lots of relatives on Skype.

My family sent us this great cat perch called the Sunny Seat. We loved it so much, we went out the day after Christmas and bought another one. You can tell by the image below, we're getting quite a bit of amusement out of it.

The floor level one wasn't as big a hit with the kitties, so we shifted the bottom one above the mid-door one. It's far more popular, and they aren't beating each other up anymore for it. Still, we did enjoy the playful banter for a bit.

New Year's was uneventful. We did both make it to the ball-dropping ceremony this year though. We had a friend over for several hours which helped. lol

We both got a Kindle a few weeks back. I have already cycled through two books and am starting on my third. I also, as soon as we walked in the door with them, crocheted up some carrying cases/protectors.

They fit perfectly and are actually quite easy to make.

Button goes here, but I'm also tossing around other ideas.

Just finished the diagonal/vertical striped one the other day. By request.

And now I'm getting requests for them and tablet covers, so I'm sure I'll get a small stock up on Etsy soon as well.

Moving right along. For those that didn't know, mostly because I can't recall if I mentioned it at some point, Niceguy had his day in court, and a payment plan on an old medical debt was arranged. It's decent small payments, so manageable which is very very nice.

Niceguy's Aunt and Uncle surprised us this X-mas with a long weekend at the beach this last weekend. They were there for the week and weekend for his Uncle's 70th birthday. Needless to say, we had a great time, and this was my first time in the Ester Lee Motel. We were quite pleased with the room and the view. As well, this was new beach territory for me, so the shock of finding actual WHOLE seashells was just awesome!

Of course, the quarter conveniently placed shows just how awesome. The tiny ones, that are normally crushed under shoes, we have quite a few. This was just a small sampling. I aim to make some cutesy little bathroom stuff with them. =) Too much fun!

Naturally, what's a vacation without my attempt to break a bone? Oh yea, even with the tooth pain I've been in for months, I didn't feel the weekend would be perfect without me tweaking my ankle on a small lip in the parking lot of the hotel. Yep, yet again. Graceful Jess is graceful. I refused to let the blinding pain in my ankle ruin our last walk on the beach for the weekend, and sucked up the pain. Here we are a week later, still sore, but functional. TAKE THAT ANKLE GODS!!! I WIN THIS ONE!

Speaking of tooth pain. Yep, since being told in August that I needed my wisdom teeth taken out, many things have come up that prevented us financially from getting it done. Even after two of my teeth broke, I sucked it up and decided to wait. Lizzie needed some teeth pulled for one, and then add in all the random issues with the Truck. All the while, the pain was getting significantly worse. Mild dull pain here and there, to these last few weeks of sporadic and then progressing to constant nerve pain. No drug would touch it, and it was enough that I missed several days of work, on top of missing time for being sick.

I'd finally get money saved up, but didn't have enough vacation time to cover even a day or two off. I reached my breaking point and to be totally honest, was approaching the point of being non-functional because of the pain, so scheduled the appointment with the oral surgeon. It was the day before our beach weekend trip. We were hoping he'd think it was important enough to get done immediately and insist I come in right before the trip. This would allow me to recover over my vacation. Which would suck, but be better than missing a ton of work time.

Yea, no, he didn't have the availability until today. So I got my beach trip, and then 11 consecutive days off from work...... Plus two days that I called in because the pain was so bad. Hey though, with tax returns and a surprise bonus from work, we'll be okay.

So you noticed I said today, right? Yep, I had my wisdom teeth, all four, pulled 14 hours ago. Yes, I am fine. Yes, I hurt. To be totally honest though, this pain is like a pleasant massage compared to what I was dealing with yesterday and the 6 days prior. So, I'm totally freaking thrilled that I have four gigantic holes in my mouth. If I ever experience that kind of pain again, I won't dink around with options or time-off. I'll go in and get it done.

Niceguy has been an absolute doll all day today. Not that I expected anything less. Still, I feel it's worth mentioning. He helped me change the gauze in my mouth(which seriously, had to be icky for him), woke me to take my pain meds on time, went to the store and got soup and other food and drinks I could use, and even laid down and took a nap with me this afternoon. Yep, I am one lucky woman. No doubt about that.

Oh, and to top things off, just a couple days ago, my fellow Yahoo! Layoffee's and myself all got approved for Trade benefits. Basically, since our jobs got shifted overseas, we get money to get trained/schooled for new careers.

Yep, so school stuff and an appointment with the Department of Labor are in my future. VERY VERY HAPPY!

I'll leave on this high note, and wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

Love to all!!!!
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