OK OK OK So it's been almost a year since I put something on my blog. Now I'm back. This blog doesn't own me. It exists only for my enjoyment, and to get me inspired to stick to a project until it's done which is hard due to my short attention span.

So here is what happened since March 2008: First I started working as much overtime as I could in order to buy a wood stove because the winter was horribly cold without oil heat. By late summer our hours were cut but I had enough money saved to shop for a stove.

On August 1st I fell off a ladder on my deck and hurt my shoulder and my side and lost my hearing in one ear for about 10 days. I thought I was getting better but slowly got worse. I was coming home and doing nothing and gaining weight. I had scans and they found no internal damage. So I put in for retirement but that took 90 days.

My sick leave and vacation time got me through until December but I still had to work 40 hours per month to keep my medical coverage which made the injuries worse. But all is well that ends well. Now my lifelong dream has come true: enough to live on without a job, room to work on my projects, and no interruptions (all the kids are moved out and doing well). Also, it took three months since I retired on Dec 12, 2008 but I have the security of medical coverage now.

And that wood stove I worked so hard for only heats the family room and kitchen. My new dream is that oil prices will stay down so I can heat with oil next winter. There's always something.

So here I am a year later ready to sew my little red wool pieces into a quilt.