My Newest hobby of choice is crochet. I’ve turned into a complete crochet nut. I’ve made scarves, gloves, a couple prayer shawls, a round ripple afghan for my sister, a 5 point starghan for my nephew and an adorable simple afghan for the baby of my friend’s niece. Now I’m working on 2 different long sweater coats for me to wear this winter. Both of them are going to be absolutely beautiful if they turn out even half as nice as the pictures in the pattern I’m using. It takes a lot of time to do this though. I crochet for a few hours every night after work and off and on all day on Saturdays and Sundays. I would be crocheting right now, too, but instead, I’m sitting here at the Starbucks in Barnes and Noble bookstore, writing with my BRAND NEW LAPTOP.

This is my very first adventure into the world of wireless connectivity and I’m loving every minute of it. It’s just so neat to be able to sit in the coffee shop and surf the net without being connected to a wall or phone line in any way. I’ve set up a wireless network at home, too. So now I can sit on my bed and surf the internet instead of having to sit downstairs at my desk in front of my huge PC. I just love technology, don’t you?

Eventually, if I can find some time, I plan to do some updating of this site. I need to update to the newer version of EE and install the new EE forum I paid for but haven’t even looked at yet. So much to do, so little time. It almost makes me wish I were back on disability again so I could have more time to play. ALMOST, but not quite. I still love my job and have the greatest boss in the world. I couldn’t ask for a better place to work. And I know he loves having me as an employee because he tells me so. Now THAT’S an awesome boss. He thanks me for doing a good job and goes out of his way to make me feel appreciated. That alone is worth more than any amount of money he could pay me. The good salary is just a bonus. God, I love my life and it feels GOOD to love my life!

I hope everyone else is having a good life, too. I don’t know if any of my regular readers are still out there. If you are, hello and sorry for the absense. If not, I hope they are all doing well and any new readers are welcome and appreciated. Hugs to everyone!

Thank’s to a tip from meowy, I took advantage of an offer to receive a free tea kit in exchange for a link to Adagio teas, a company I’d never heard of before. Sure enough, a few days later, my tea kit arrived filled with wonderful goodies to try. I received a large container of vanilla tea, a sampler pack with several small containers of tea, including chocolate, blueberry, tangerine, passion flower, apricot, and cinnamon, a very nice classical music cd, and a personal sized tea brewer, which I believe is called the “ingenuiTea.”

Needless to say, I absolutely LOVE the ingenuiTea. It makes brewing the perfect cup of tea an absolute breeze. It’s so easy, convenient, and a lot less messy than the old tea ball. I’m definitly going to purchase the larger version to use when I invite a friend for tea, and I will definitely be inviting people for tea. This is just too good to keep a secret.

As for the tea itself… Wonderful. When I filled out the form for my free tea kit, it gave me the option to choose a tea category, so I chose flavored teas because I wanted to try something different. I’m usually more of an herbal tea drinker. When the kit arrived and I saw the flavors, I was a bit skeptical. I was pretty sure I’d like the vanilla and, probably, the chocolate, but wasn’t too sure about the fruit flavored teas. I have never enjoyed fruit flavored drinks of any kind. I tried the blueberry tea first and was pleasantly surprised. It is VERY good. With a little sugar added, it was just like drinking a sweet piece of blueberry pie. Since then, I have tried the passion flower tea and the cinnamon tea and have loved both of those as well. I’m looking forward to trying the tangerine and the apricot teas next. I just know I’m going to love them both.

I’ve even tried a few self-made blends as well. I had some loose leaf mint tea already, so I tried mixing a little of the mint with the chocolate tea and it turned out perfect. Then I did the same with the Vanilla and found that vanilla mint is actually quite good as well. Needless to say, I’m definitely going to be ordering more tea from adagio and probably very soon. I’ve found my new obsession!

I fully encourage everyone to give it a try. Even if you don’t think you’d like tea, try it. I wouldn’t be surprised if you end up loving it as much as I do. It’s THAT GOOD!

The last year of my life was filled with some of the lowest lows I could have every imagined, all resulting from a lifetime of lows that had built up until I reached the breaking point. There were days when I didn’t think anything would ever be good again, but I kept going. I did the scary part and reached out for help. I did the hard part and kept fighting to beat the fear when it seemed so much easier to give up and hide away for the rest of my life. It took time and a lot of work, but by the end of the year things started to get good again.

Now here I am at the start of another new year and this time, I know it will be good. I’ve got a job I love. My relationships with my family, although not perfect, are much healthier than they’ve ever been. I’m enjoying life and I’m learning to enjoy people, too. Best of all, my relationship with God has become a huge, important part of my life and I believe it is one of the keys to the positive turn my life has taken. When my life was shattered in a million broken pieces, I chose to dump those pieces in His hands and He did the amazing job of putting them all back together better than I ever could have myself. If I hadn’t put him at the center of my healing, I seriously doubt I would have succeeded as well as I have.

There are so many things I have to be grateful for as I start out this exciting, brand new year. Just thinking about all of it makes my heart squeeze with joy. Do I still have resolutions for the new year? Of Course! Don’t we all? God may be perfect but I still have a long way to go!

My resolutions for this year:

• Keep making time for God in my life and never loose sight of Him.
• Find a new doctor I feel truly comfortable with.
• Get my hypothyroidism under control.
• Loose enough weight to feel healthy again.
• Keep giving my boss reasons to say “great job!” (I love hearing those words!)
• Meet new people and make more friends.
• Keep loving ME!

I hope the year 2005 will be as wonderfull for all of you as I intend to make it for myself!