Wanna win handmade jewelry or a book thong?

One of my favorite crafters is doing a giveaway. You can win either one of her fabulous pendants (I own one already and I so would want, oh, I don't know, a million more), or a beaded book thong. Her jewelry made me get back into wearing it again, so she's obviously talented. Plus, we're in a recession—who wouldn't want to win something?

I still have a job but

we're going to furlough for the summer. The amount that I won't see in my paycheck because of this will be spread out through the end of the year as to "lessen the burden." I think I'm going to start using my work from home privileges more to cut down on the cost of my commute (36 miles each way). Jonathan could be getting furloughed too, so I'm going to have to really watch my spending now. I hope I won't have to say goodbye to yoga.

The thing that really sucks about this is that it's holding up doing things like buying a house, getting Jonathan a new car, maybe a European vacation, or even a kid. I tell myself the wait will be worth it. I would hate to have one of those nasty mortgages hanging over our head, and we want to be responsible about it and put down the customary 10%. If only everyone would do that maybe we wouldn't be in this place to begin with. I'm beginning to think while the retirement generation is sucking our social security dry, my generation seems to think everything should come to them on a silver platter with wings. I'm ready for this country to get back to rooted values where earning a dollar meant hard work.

If only I took my own advice, I might not have as much debt too.

What spring means to me

From That
To This

No winter. No coats. Spring. Yippee!

What old married couples do

Dance to Michael Jackson.

Last night, Jonathan and I took a music quiz online and discovered Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs. This led to listening to Michael Jackson, which led to lots of dancing. Jonathan is actually pretty good at "Thriller." He knew more of the dance than I did. That's scary. Too bad I didn't think to record it.

Listening to: Damien Rice's Dogs

I was listening to Pandora Radio on my iPhone when this song came on. It was the line, "The girl that does yoga," that caught my attention. Perhaps this is my theme song?

Skin-deep beauty

I've hit puberty again. At 27. My face and back are breaking out in nice adult acne fashion. I never had acne as a teenager. I prided myself on it. Guess I was a little too vain. Now I'm learning humility.

I think the second coming of hormone land could be related to my new meds. I'm tempted to call up the pharmaceuticals nurse line and ask them if anyone else had reported acne.

In effort to clear up my skin, I read online and found that adult acne should be treated different than teenage acne. Make sense. My body has changed in the 12 or 13 years since it first started "changing." So I went with Neutrogena's Deep Clean facial cleanser, kicking my Sensitive Skin Clean & (obviously not) Clear cleanser to the curb. Mistake. Deep clean apparently means: This product sucks all moisture out of your skin leaving you with red, irritated patches. But don't try to rehydrate: Those tiny bumps turn into little pimples. I can't win. And evolution is happening on my face. My solution for the time being is globbing on the makeup and hoping no one looks too closely at my itchy, inflammed, scaly skin.

Ode to this this well-working body. You're a keeper.

Ribbit (Rip it)

Did you hear that? Last night, I did something dreadful. So dreadful I'm sure you could hear it all the way to Colorado.

I frogged the sweater I was knitting for my niece Abby. Luckily I hadn't gotten far before ripping it out. But it felt far to me with the tiny stitches. And it felt far to my tired hand joints.

I was supposed to knit two together, yarn forward, slip a stitch, knit a stitch, slip that stitch over the knitted stitch. Somehow I added stitch after every yarn forward. Rookie mistake. I tried just ripping out that row, but the stitches are so tiny it was hard to pick them back up. Before I knew it, I had double rows that had slipped. So I'm starting over.

Better knit fast. Babies grow quick.

I feel old

Went in for a check up with the ol' neurologist. Explained how the new shots were the most painful shots I've ever had. It's not the needle that hurts, but rather the reaction afterward. I get a lovely red irritated patch with a nice, hard lump that hurts like hell. If I have to do the thigh or the hip, sometimes it's all I can do to hold back the tears. So my neurologist gave me some lidocain patches to help. Which made me feel really old for some reason. I'm not sure the patches are helping, but are just another part of the time consuming process of giving my shot. I can totally see why people give up on this therapy. Once a day is a pain in the ass (quite literally).

On positive note, yoga is giving me girl guns!

Snail mail love

Some people are flabbergasted to learn that I'm one of eight children. Truly astounded. Well wishes are sent to my mom, and she's seen as one strong or very stupid woman. To have children, I think it take a little bit of both. Some wisdom and enough sense to know you really don't want to know what being a parent is all about. One eye open. One eye closed.

The greatest thing about a big family (my mom was one of three daughters who went to have more than the 1.25 children average. So I have lots of cousins as well) is the amount of love. You can just about guarantee that someone is thinking about you, and you're thinking about them. It's a little thing, but sometimes those thoughts about the other person turn into an email to check in or even little packages and cards.

Today, I got two packages. One from my truly artistic cousin, Gary, who "dapples" in wood carving. I say dabble because he's truly modest about his skill and the works of art he creates beneath his hands. A few years ago he gave me a wooden box that he had carved butterflies into. It sits in my living room and it's one of my most treasured items in that room. When I asked him how he created it because it looked so difficult and like it took a lot of patience, he said, "Jessie, it's not that hard. Let me show you." Yeah, right. Always so modest. His most recent work is just as beautiful and went straight to my heart: a hummingbird, that has some lore behind it. Hummingbirds are my favorite! Perhaps because they're so fleeting. Now I have one that will stick around and remind me of that great family of mine.

The other package was just as wonderful. Capricious sent me two of her new creations—belts. I'm in love with them. Bright lemon yellow and rich corals are such a colorful addition to my often-black wardrobe. We also did paper swap. Capricious knows her sister well. The papers are muted funky patterns with a touch of classic. They're almost too pretty to cut into. What's a girl to do?!

Truly blessed. And obviously loved. Thanks family!

Jamie on the run

Apparently my niece has somewhere to be.