Just stopping by to do laundry

Got home from Tucson yesterday afternoon and leave again for Iowa on Thursday. That gives me just about enough time to pet the cats, do laundry and kiss my husband (not necessarily in that order).

Great week at consultant immersion including beautiful weather. I had a patio room so was able to open my sliding glass door and enjoy the sunshine. It is amazing how quickly a day can pass when you are engaged and excited about what you are doing. Just in case you don't remember from last year, we were talking about building stronger communities by focusing on what is possible, instead of on problems. We practiced starting with a vision and working back to putting first steps on a calendar

It really is no different than Roxie imagining her Saturday tea party and then working back to the first step she needs to do today. We just start with building a strong community which takes a little longer :-)

I love these kind of opportunities, but then I come home and the cat has puked on the couch just to keep things in perspective. Cats are like that.

Bright and early Thursday morning I'm off to see baby Rowan (and my son, DIL and Dad) It will be way too cold and probably will snow on me at least once. BRRRRRR.

And so it begins

This week I've been up to my eyeballs in projects that have to be finished before I leave town for about 3 weeks. I'm making progress but already shortening the list to what absolutely has to be done. I've made a little progress on the #1 husband socks. You can kind of see the pattern. I haven't used this yarn before (Sheffield Farms) but hope it softens up more when washed.

Saturday Guitar Guy and I leave for Phoenix to visit our daughter and go to a Phoenix Coyotes hockey game. I'm not a big hockey fan but live games are pretty fun, especially if they fight! Got to watch for those flying pucks though. When Nicole was little she used to read at hockey games because she was bored. Made her mother very nervous.

Sunday Guitar Guy heads home to take care of the cats and I'm on to Tucson for another week of the consultant immersion class I did last year. This time I'll be a "seasoned" participant, facilitating the learning of the other students while advancing my own knowledge. Should be fun but also intense and exhausting. I'll be back home for 4 days then off to frigid Iowa for 9 days. That should give me some knitting time though I might take a break from the gray and start some purty colored socks for me :-)

Off to bed now. I have a 7 AM Chamber breakfast so need to at least fake alert and interested.

Full stomach and a productive day

Had to do the baby cuteness picture for the day. I get to see him at the end of February. SQUEEEEEE!

Just finished my Dominos thin crust pizza for dinner. All that good pizza flavor with less Weight Watchers points. That makes up for hitting the Hot Tamales this afternoon. Damn grocery store keeps having them on sale and they jump in the cart as I wheel past. I feel it is my duty to help them escape. That's my story and I'm sticking too it.

Today was the nonprofit workshop I've been prepping for with the speaker from Tucson. Guitar Guy and I got to go out to dinner with her and her business partner last night and had a really nice time. They are bright, well read, funny people - what's not to like! We had about 24 nonprofit execs and board members turn out for the presentation and it seems like it went well. Looks like I'm volunteered to start a local learning community to further the discussions. I got a very nice endorsement from the speaker and talked to a few people about the possibilities of doing some work for them. I'll be headed back to Tucson in 1 1/2 weeks for another training session. Had to miss 3 board meetings to go but so worth it to get re-energized.

Next on the volunteer agenda - selling raffle tickets at the Winterfest street fair this weekend for the Chamber of Commerce. Keep your fingers crossed for no rain! Last year it poured the whole weekend - not good for attendance.

Now I need to get knitting - not much progress on those #1 husband socks so it's time to kick it in to gear.