the news

So I got the job offer. Which means I only have a few more weeks of this guy sitting on my lap at the office. The upside---I get to go to India for four months. And I know he'll be keeping my desk chair warm until I return.

week in review

Wow, things are a little crazy here at the moment, which is why the photo I've added here from yesterday's Rachel's 365 Project is of pins and needles. But I'll explain more about that further on. :-)

This past week has been very productive on many fronts. Work-wise, I started the new editing project, but chapter files are slow coming from the client. This is slightly irritating because I'll only have more pressure once they do arrive to make the deadline in a few weeks. Fingers crossed a whole heap of manuscript lands on my desk tomorrow!

I continue to make good progress with James' sweater, too. The front is almost finished now, too, so I still have almost two weeks before his birthday to finish the sleeves AND piece it together (never one of my favorite parts of the process, I confess).

Also on the knitting front, I also signed up for a 2011 project that popped up on Facebook. A friend posted "I promise to send something homemade to the first 5 friends to leave a comment here. In turn, you must post this and send something homemade to the first 5 peeps who comment on your post. *the rules: all gifts must be personally handmade by the giver and delivered sometime in 2011*" I signed up right away because I thought it was a great way to connect---for real---with a few people I mostly engage with only on the Internetwebtube.

Hope you enjoyed the soup recipes! I know we sure did, although we are taking a soup break today as the husband just baked up a delicious-smelling spinach quiche. :-) My review of the tempeh soysage that I was planning to make last Sunday---two enthusiastic thumbs up. I followed the recipe with just a couple small additions of garlic powder and brewers' yeast, and made a total of 10 patties, a bunch of which I froze for later.

Happy to report I've still not missed a day of Rachel's 365 Project, woohoo! Well, "woohoo" until the little counter on the official 365 Project page tell me I've completed 4% of the 365 days. But it's been great fun playing with the camera again. My favorite photo from the past week is this blurry one of the cyclamen James has been loving back to health. I'm not sure if I prefer the blurry photos because of their abstract qualities or my own crap vision, but I found this one rather sweet.

So anyway, before I go, let me explain a little about the pins and needles reference. Back on day 1 here I mentioned I worked from home, which I love, but was also considering a career switch. A career switch for far too many reasons to go into now. That said, for me to give up something I love, it had to be something pretty special. All I'll say for now is this---about seven weeks ago I applied for a pretty special job that would both take me really far from home for a little while but ultimately would allow us to move much closer to friends and family. Two weeks after the interview, I had another telephone discussion about the position, as well as a couple follow-up e-mails. Then nothing. For a month. Thursday I gave up hope and deleted the interviewers' addresses from my contact lists because I hated seeing them every time I checked my messages. Friday night as I was shutting down my computer before going to bed, I noticed an e-mail just came in from the boss---would I be available for a phone call Monday morning? "Of course," I sent back. Which is why I've been fretting and fretting about fretting for much of the past forty-eight hours. If I do get this job offer, the next few months are going to be CRAZY, in a good, adventurous, scary profound kind of way, followed by a nutty transatlantic move before finally settling down not an hour from where I grew up. See now why the pins and needles? One phone call tomorrow can change everything.

I'll see you back here tomorrow with the lowdown. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!

week in review

I hope that this first full week of 2011 has treated you well. I confess by Friday I was quite tired and definitely ready for the weekend! :-)

Overall, though, I'm pleased with all I accomplished and the progress I made with my various projects. The sweater I am making for my husband's birthday---January 29th---is coming along. The back is done, and I have finished about one third of the front. This is the first sweater---or anything!---I've made for him, so I chose a supersimple pattern. It's free and you can get the pattern here. The yarn I'm using is Debbie Bliss cashmerino chunky in dark chocolate. I've never used this yarn before, and I love it so far. :-)

In my future project file, this week I've added this free download to print out and make a Moravian star. I went to university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, so I am very familiar with Moravian stars. Therefore, I happily jumped when I saw this posting. :-)

Let's see, in the kitchen I've been busy, too. I have some tempeh that I've been wanting to use, and this morning I found the perfect recipe to also satisfy a craving I've had of late. When I still ate meat, I used to say that I could become a vegetarian if it weren't for sausage. Alas, I became a vegetarian anyway, and yes I do miss an herbed patty with my eggs and pancakes. I have tried the commercially available veggie alternatives here, and they're ok, but I eat so little processed foods that when I do, I find them a bit salty. So when I finish this post, I'm heading straight to the kitchen to make these tempeh soysages. :-) I will post a review of how they turned out next week!

Also, January is National Soup Month, and in honor of my winter salad in a bowl, I am declaring this coming week Soup Week at Rachel Making Happy. I'll post a favorite soup recipe every day to help you celebrate this yummy holiday. :-)

My other creative project, which you can follow along at Rachel's 365 Project, is also going well so far. It seemed like I hardly took any pictures last year, so I thought signing for this challenge would be a good reason to dust off the old Canon. In my "Week in Review" posts, I'll be posting my favorite photo from the previous week. This is my selection for week #1:

I also took some well-focused shots of the same, but I liked this blurry one best. This could be why I'll never be a great photographer, but never mind. The subject, by the way, is a ceiling lamp we bought in Tangier eight years ago.

My other plans for the day are to give my office a bit of a reorg and tidy up---I always like to start a new editing project with a freshened workspace. :-) Also, I am also taking time this month to clean up my storage hard drives and my multiple backups, which have become unwieldy of late. It IS possible to have too many backup copies, trust me.

Off to make a cup of tea and get started on my soysages. Hope you are enjoying your Sunday = Funday wherever you are. And see you back tomorrow to talk soup! :-D