Well I thought I would catch up in February and another month has slipped past.

I have started teaching at NCBT and I think I will like it although it is far different from what I have done before. It will be interesting to see how everything unfolds.

Still no full time job on the horizon and H&R Block hasn't thrown me anything but a few hours in the last 3 weeks. Maybe it will be busy in April, one can hope the procrastinators come out of the wood work.

My brother is finally home in his own house with his family and more than a little happy to be there. I can't imagine how hard this past year has been for him. I hope he can settle in and make his new house a home.

My niece is still in foster care and we should know whether they will ever send her home on March 27. What an ordeal this year has been. Good, bad or otherwise, our family will never be the same. As the "big sister" I have always tried to protect and support my younger siblings. This situation with my sister has spun so far out of control, the best I can hope for is that my niece will be happy and well taken care of and no longer a focus for my sister's anger.

Today marks the 9th anniversary of my father's death from cancer. THere are days when I can't believe it has been 9 years and days when I still expect to hear his voice on the phone. There are still days when I would give most anything to hear his voice on the phone.

I realized the other day that everyone of the women that were on my street growing up (and where my mother still lives) has lost their husbands. All those families that were so close knit have now left widows trying to make it on their own. It is a disturbing trend.

On the stitching front, nothing much is happening. I am working on some ornaments and on Sweetheart Tree's (for my brother)The Price of Freedom. My heart has been into stitching recently. I guess it will come around.
I spent way too much time today watching clips of Jon Stewart

The Daily Show. I went to school with Jon when he was just the class clown and he can still make me laugh until my sides ache. Don't ever underestimate his intelligence and rapier wit! Way to go Leibo. You make me long for the -3 lunches. Keep it up.

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted here. Let's see since November, I was accepted into a Masters program that didn't get certification so now I am going to end up a year further behind in my plans, my MIL had surgery for something minor and we almost lost her, my littlest niece, the baby of the family turned 5, Christmas came and went, winter weather has come, and come and come... I got a PT job with H&R Block, finished an afghan, several XS pieces and have read a dozen books or so. I also got a job with the National College of Business and Technology teaching Microbiology to surgical technician students. Too bad it is only part time (and I don't start until March 13)

Recent highs have been the job at NCBT, my brother who has been in Germany for over a year learning that he should be back on US soil in early March and the successful campaign to get a guardian ad litem appointed for my older niece (who has been in foster care since LAST March)who will actually show up for meetings and answer her phone calls.

The piece at the top is my latest finished needlework piece that is going to my dear friend Becky for her birthday next month. I don't know what I would do without her.