Keeping busy

Things have thankfully been a lot better since the day Jon left. Suprisingly, it only took me a few days to adjust to living on my own and get used to not having him around--amazing how quickly the mind remembers how to cope!

My knitting needles have been endlessly clicking away (not in the literal sense, though, since they are bamboo--ha!). I've been frantically trying to finish gifts planned for Christmas. In the span of 3 weeks, I've finished a pair of socks for Jon, a pair of gloves for my youngest sister, Diana, and am halfway through a pair of socks for my brother, Mikey ("He likes it! Hey, Mikey!") And just in case any of the siblings are reading, I've only posted a picture of Jon's socks.I'm quite proud of them and hope he likes them. I don't even know why I cast on for these first in the first place since he won't be using them anytime soon. I suppose I needed to do something for him since I am sitting home helpless while he's half a world away.

In other news, I've hired a real estate agent to sell our house. I really hope it goes quickly so we can stop this whole mortgage + rent business. I need to save up for nursing school! Well, just for the living expenses since my tuition would be paid for. I really want to get the house burden off my shoulders, but at the same time, I will miss it. I already miss Sierra Vista terribly. And who would have thought? When I left Walla Walla, I thought I'd be done with small town living for good so when I had to move to SV, I was not too thrilled. But there's just something about small towns. It's still hard for me to go down there because as I'm driving, I still have the mindset that I'm going home and Jon will be there waiting for me. So those are the bad days where I miss him way too much and I end up crying on the way home, frequently catching glimpses of my little town against the mountains until I can see it no more.

So Sammy and I took a longer walk today because I left work early. I live in a housing development of cookie cutter houses near the airport, which I guess in itself isn't too bad. We are in the furthest reaches of the city limits that haven't been developed too much and we have the desert right there. In fact, there is a small trail that goes around this development and you are pretty much walking in the middle of the desert. I was reminded of our proximity on this walk we took today. We were just getting to the part of the trail which is just dirt/sand (did they not finish this trail yet?!) when we saw two coyotes pass across in front of us. I didn't even notice them, but Sammy all of a sudden stopped and was staring intently in front of us. We both just stopped as a coyote walked across, not even 10 yards away. I hesitated for a bit and that is when another one trotted across, stopping for a while to stare at us. "Those are your cousins, Sammy" I told him as we stood there a while. I turned around to walk back, but then freaked myself out by imagining them coming up behind me and attacking so I started to walk forward again. Just don't turn your back on them I told myself as I reminded myself that these animals were smaller than me and weren't likely to come towards a bigger creature--plus I had Sammy with me! So we continued forward and when we passed a certain point, I frequently checked over my shoulder and in the tumbleweed for any furry bodies. Sure enough, at one of those times, I saw one of the coyotes on the trail sniffing the ground where Sammy and I had stood.

See the resemblance?