Time For A Change

Yes, it's time for a new look around here as well as other places in my life. DH has been passively looking for another job - but not very seriously until this past month or so. His place of employment isn't very stable, and he wants be be out of there before the company goes under. There has been so many cut backs, and no raises in the past 3 years - plus the upper management has changed about as many times as one changes a baby's diaper during the day. And probably stinks as much, too.

So, with the prospect of a new job, comes the thought of where we'd like to live in the US. There's not a lot of opportunity for him to find work in his field of speciaity in our area, so no matter what, it will require a relocation. Since we'll be moving - it won't matter if we go 50 miles or 500 as the packing is the same. He has been looking at a lot of different places to see what's available, the cost of living, and what is available for the type of housing we want. It's quite exciting with the prospect of moving on somewhere else!!

We have had an interesting time here since Thursday evening. When we came back from the program DD was in, DS had a glass of milk and stated that it seems to be getting warmer. Hmmmmm - not sure what that meant, so I tasted it to find pretty warm milk. Checked the fridge, and sure enough, it wasn't cooling. We did a lot of shuffling of food, and then DH went and tried fixing it. He found a huge chunk of ice frozen to the bottom of the freezer - not good as it's supposed to be frost-free. He got everything cleaned up and defrosted, and then checked things out, cleaned out places that might have been clogged, and worked until late into the night. Friday morning didn't show an improvement - and Friday was a scortcher on top of it all (so was Thursday!). When DH called Maytag, they wanted to send a repair man out right away. Nope - he wanted to know about a couple of parts, like the timer. Lucky us, there is no timer any more in their fridges, so it is now a replaceable circut board. He did a few tests, and found it wasn't working, so called back for parts. None in stock, and they are waiting on them, because they are a VERY common fix. A $1300 fridge doesn't have a circuit board that lasts very long at all - and the repairman didn't have any. Would be at least Thursday before he could get one. The other place DH called said it would be 10-14 days to get it in, so DH went to the Maytag parts place online and it should be here Monday - and was cheaper than getting it from the dealer (even with shipping). Can't even imagine what it would cost to get a repair person out (over 40 miles one way from here) and then have him come back and install the part! Nice being married to a handyman!! :-)

On to the crafting realm.....

I have been surfing the net for patterns for a sweater for me. I have made so many things for everyone else, that I decided it's time for me. Usually I keep away from making myself something because I'm on the "fluffy" side, so it's more expensive and takes longer. Yah, yah, and the truth is it aways looks crappy on. I have been wanting Jackie E-S's "3-to-2 Any Gauge Sweater" but DH doesn't like it at all. Well, today I went to her site again, and came across that pattern and again showed it to DH who said it was ugly. Hey - you know what? I like it, so I decided to buy it. I got an instand download (just love those things!) from The Knitting Vault and while I was there, I decided to try one of Jackie's "Peppermint Stick socks" as well. They are tube socks in a spiral pattern and DD thinks they're cool, so I thought I'd try them as well. Now, just to find the right yarns.......