Well, the good news is that I got on the scales this morning and saw a loss. The bad news is I’m sure that I’ve lost lean body mass as I haven’t been lifting weights at all. I didn’t take my body fat measurement but I probably will this week. My depression has been rearing its ugly head some and I’m sure that the lack of exercise and poor eating habits are contributing to that. The work situation doesn’t help either (see further down). It's a big ole catch-22...if I get depressed I don't want to exercise...if I don't exercise I get more depressed...Life's not fair.

SPINNING
On the spinning side, I started plying my orange singles this weekend. I used my ball winder to wind the singles and am 2 plying from that ball. It gives me quite a sense of accomplishment to get this yarn going again as it’s been sitting here on the wheel for I don’t even know how long. I plan to spin the red up next and then onto the TON of taupe color. I also need to find my Spin-Off magazine issue with the sweater pattern in it. I can’t get started on it in any case until I at least get SOME taupe spun up but I want to have that option when I get to that point!

KNITTING
An interesting knitting story. My youngest, Kasie, had tubes put in her ears this past Tuesday. While we were waiting for her to come back from the procedure, I was knitting on Mermaid. The doctor came in to tell us how things had gone and she immediately said, “You’re knitting a Mermaid!” Come to find out, she’s been knitting for as many years as I have and she is also currently knitting a Mermaid through a class our LYS is holding! Small world . What with the kids and work and everything, I haven’t had time to get to our LYS for months and I didn’t even know they were doing a Mermaid class. Nice to know that great minds think alike!

I’m also trying to decide what my next knitting project will be. I could finish up the Tartan Jacket that I’ve started although that is a slow knit with the slip stitch pattern. I’m almost done with the back so it’s not like I’m just starting. But it might be nice to do something that would be quick and easy and let me see some progress immediately. I might decide to finish up the pair of Jawoll Jacquard socks I have on needles right now as they always go quick, especially when that is the only thing I’m knitting. I can always use another pair of handknitted socks!

WORK
Work has just been a big stressful pain. We just got a new CEO whose main goal is to “whip us into shape” and basically sell us off. Translation: slash and burn, polish it up, sell it and run with the money before the buyers figure out what they have bought. While I made it through the first big round of layoffs, I’m not so sure about the multiple ones that are imminent. I know it doesn’t help to have a negative attitude, but after being in this corporate game for 16 years, you get to the point where you have to “call a spade a spade” as an old mentor friend of mine used to say. Granted, being an engineer doesn’t help me buy into all the political spin and BS; I’m used to facts and data. And I’m not saying that I’m not up for a challenge when it’s legitimate but just don’t think I’m stupid enough to believe all of the “rah rah” hype when I know that you’re just in it for the money which I’ll never see. The execs make poor business decisions and instead of fixing those mistakes, they lay off all the worker bees. They then expect those of us who are left to get the same amount of work done as before but now we have less people and have generally laid off or retired the expertise we had to do it. These executives and CEOs make millions on the backs of us who will probably never get to see a pension. Oh well, life’s not fair.