Keeping Busy and Warm

I really have been busy, seriously I have. {stubbing my toe in the dirt, and hanging my head, ashamedly...} I didn't mean to neglect Dusty Pages, but life got in the way.

My Florida sister was in over the holidays, so there were trips to my Mom's house for some family good times. I had LOTS of time with Thomas during the holidays too. Every year his company shuts down for eleven days, ostensibly to let all the higher-ups have a long holiday and to get some maintenance work done that can't easily be done when the whole place is bustling. But this year they didn't do any work -- everyone was out of there for eleven days. We always plan for this, but usually Thomas will be one of the ones who works a few of those days. Not this year. I'm sure the company took advantage of the holiday to save a little money.

The kids and I were worried that Thomas wouldn't have enough to keep himself busy during all that time, but he has done marvelously well. Aside from family functions, he has completed several projects around the house, helped a buddy with some things he needed to get done, and even did a small welding job for a friend of ours who runs a construction company. If you are or have someone in your family who is a workaholic-always-going-Energizer-bunny type person, then you will understand why the kids and I are so relieved that he was able to keep busy and happy.

However. . . .

He is ready to go back to work now, and was supposed to be back at work on Monday, but because of the cold here they have called off work for the whole company so far this week. Very strange. I think something's up. This is a contract year, with the new contract coming up in April, and I think they're playing mind games with the employees, because it hasn't been cold enough to shut down the whole yard and all the shops and offices, including quality control.

Another way he has been keeping busy is the computer. Thomas only began using a computer a few years ago, right before he had to start using one for work. Up until last year he didn't do much on it, just check emails and look for things on Craigslist. Then we introduced him to Youtube! lol Someone asked him a while back how to do gel-coat (like what you paint a boat or canoe with -- I don't know why they thought Thomas would know), and he told him to check Youtube. Sure enough there was a video showing how to use gel-coat. He recently got a work buddy hooked on Craigslist and last night they were on the phone with each other looking at Craigslist at the same time, telling each other what they were finding.

I figured it had been a while since he'd been given something new to do online, so today I introduced him to Hulu.com. He loves it! I've used it to catch up on missed episodes of favorite shows, and lately watched an episode or two of a couple old shows from my childhood. They have something for everyone. And it'll keep him out of our hair tomorrow. It's not easy to home school when your husband is home. He keeps walking into the room and starting up conversations before he realizes we're in the middle of something.

We bought Eler Beth a new laptop this year, which she was not expecting. Her old one died over the summer so she'd been using the family desktop, along with her dad and me. I got her a Gateway that she'd once pointed out that has the type of keyboard she likes. I had pretty much given Andrew my laptop after his died, and since we bought him a piano and are also paying for a trip he's taking this month, we decided that instead of buying him a new laptop, we'd get ME one instead. {happy dance} And have I been loving it!! I finally broke away from Dell and went with a Toshiba, specifically a Satellite L505. I LOVE the smooth keyboard and the rough touchpad, and it has a full 10-key pad which my old one didn't have. I am really enjoying Windows 7, too. I never left XP for Vista, but all reports I've read on 7 have been good, so I wasn't too worried about it, and I actually like it. We still have XP on the desktop, and since I'm rarely on it nowadays, Thomas is calling it "his" computer.

Well, I guess I'll get off here now. I have been catching up with a few bloggers and will do a few more tonight. Hope everyone is staying safe and warm!