Happy New Year!

Well, the New Year starts off with a bang!  It's storming here, thunder, rain, horrible wind.  Unless it stops, we'll be staying at home today!

We're all doing well.  I'm working at a job that I like better than most.  It's not a teaching-type position, but it's good pay, fairly close to home and easy work.  And a full benefits package.  They've asked me about staying on full time, and I told them we would talk after the holidays, but it would be an awful lot to work 8:30-5pm 5 days a week (1 hour commute makes it 7:30-6pm), go to school full time, homeschool Mariah, and keep up with all the housework, etc.  I need to think about it some more.

Mariah's doing well with her homeschooling, but wants to be in a classroom.  I've started looking at alternatives to the local public school and found a Montessori school in Joliet that I want to look in to.

My class ends January 22.  I will graduate then with my AA degree in Elementary Education.  At that point, I can start looking for a teacher's aid position, which is why I'm not certain about taking the full time position I'm temping at now.

We've been working on the house - started doing repairs that we need to do before we can put it up for sale.  The hot water relief valve has now been replaced and the roof is almost fixed.  We knew that a new roof had been put on the summer before we bought the house - 2 1/2 years ago - so when we started seeing leakage around the back door and the front hallway we started questioning.  The roof near the back door was damaged in the hailstorm we had a few months ago and we're finally seeing the damage.  The previous owners built an entryway on the front that is enclosed, but not insulated.  Where the addition attaches to the house there is a gap and as the water runs off the roof, it's going into the gap.  Our homeowner's adjuster came out and allowed $1200 for repairs.  Rich and the neighbor (who is a roofer/contractor/all around handy guy) have been working on the repairs.  What they found was that the new roof was put on OVER the old roof and no vents placed in the new roof.  There was a good amount of mold and mildew between the roof and the ceiling and they sprayed and Killzed it.  The leaks are all taken care of, now they just need to put in new vents and spray again to keep the mold from coming back.  But that will have to wait for better weather!

Crafting

I've gotten lots of projects of all kinds done this last year.  Cross stitch, crocheting, and one-stroke painting have all been lots of fun.  I didn't get my projects that I had planned done, but there's always this year!  I'm participating in a couple of SALs this year, as well as a UFO challenge.  http://stitchersufochallenge.blogspot.com/

Other than that, I'm just going to play it by ear.  I've been selling jars of sugar scrub in various scents for $10 a jar.  I have a 2 month break between my AA degree and my Bachelor's program so I'm going to use it to take some sewing lessons. 

Right this minute, I'm rotating between:  1. LK's 'Housework Never Killed Anyone'; 2. a crocheted sweater for my niece; 3.  House SAL; 4.  a model stitching project; 5.  cards/gifts/etc.

Giveaway

My friend, Sarah, is having a giveaway on her blog  http://craftymoo-sarah.blogspot.com/.  Take a walk over and look!

And how has YOUR year been?