Home, Happy & Healthy!

Minnesota seems like a wonderful dream now, I'm so firmly back in the thick of life here in SO.

However, along Ann's line of thinking, I brought home several small neighborhood papers and have been reading voraciously online about neighborhood politics, schools, etc., in St. Paul and Minneapolis. It seems like similar issues that we're dealing with here (changing neighborhoods, new folks coming in and how to assimilate the new neighbors to the neighborhood, AND vice versa!, new directions for the school - lots of stuff to consider...)

But I'm still thinking that this may be a very good move for our family! It's true that winters here aren't as drastic as winters in MN - and milder than what I was used to as a kid in Toledo. Gerry's lived in Rochester (and, oddly, Toledo - but not at the same time that I did...) and we both are folks who like winter. So although the winters will probably be rougher than we're used to, we're not walking into it in ignorance or inexperience of a cold and long winter.

I trained myself years ago to say "soda-pop" when I moved here from the midwest and couldn't quite give up the use of pop for that crisp and carbonated beverage. Of course, my parents from West Virginia used the term Coke to describe just about any carbonated beverage. It's good for the kids to be bilingual.

It does seem to me that the property values in Minnesota and St. Paul are higher than one might expect - and our own home here was a veritable bargain when we purchased it 7 years ago. Although it's gone up in value (we're getting a casual valuation this week by a friend who's a realtor) my gut feeling is that we'd probably end up spending roughly the same amount as we get from our home on a home in MN.

So, the great debate will go on, but the telling factor will be whether Gerry can find a job out there, and what the overall employment outlook is in the area.

KNITTING
I finished the crocheted skirt I've been working on for IK and I'm very happy with it. I ripped out the yoke and reworked it, it's much nicer!

I've been able to get about 4 patterns written this weekend so far, and more swatching this afternoon will mean more patterns. Once I get them written I'll be sending them out to prospective knitters for their once-over (and to see if it's something that would appeal to that particular knitter. It's no good sending something to someone if it's going to be torturous for them to work it up!) and then out goes the yarn! I still need to choose yarn for some of the projects (and a thin few still need to be designed! EEEEK!) so this will be a rich and full week.

Is there nothing better than days of good, rewarding work ahead of us? The fact that I love what I do so much makes me especially sensitive to Gerry's unhappiness in his own work now. And life changes - who knows if I'll be able to continue doing this for years and years - but for right now I'm very happy to be able to write, knit, design and teach to pay the mortgage. Life is definitely good.