Robin is reading one of his nursing textbooks. I am reclining on the couch after a nice jog and a simple dinner (yay for simple dinners on Sunday evenings…). We’ve recently started a new jog loop through the neighborhood. It’s a really nice little loop, and very quiet. Which is nice, because the route we were doing before took us past the local hospital and freeway on-ramp, and most of the time we felt like getting run over was a not-so-distant possibility. This jog was much more calm. One thing, though, that disappoints me about today is the lack of snow we are seeing here. Weather.com got my hopes up last week: “Significant snow accumulations likely.” Now friends from farther south are posting photos on facebook of lovely winter-scapes. And we have nothing – nothing except the crocuses in the front yard with their confused, lovely little  yellow flowers.

I went snow tubing Friday night, with some of the lovely young ladies from YoungLives, the group for teen moms that I volunteer with. It was great fun. I love being with them; they are full of energy and excitement about life.

Robin, along with a group of the nomads (who still live in Shepherdstown, even though none of them live with us any longer), spent a good portion of last Saturday  building this beautiful woodpile. It’s the beginnings of our supply of wood for next winter. They did a great job. Afterward, we had a big pot of chili, and cornbread and tea, together.

The pace at work has been picking up dramatically for me. I’m finally out of training, and a full-fledged foster care social worker. Some days I really enjoy it, and it makes me feel alive and in the place in life that I should be. Some days it just makes my head spin. It is rarely mundane, however. There are plenty of interesting encounters and stories to tell. Maybe someday I shall write a book, since a blog isn’t quite the proper place to write them all. :)

I finally finished a hat for Robin that’s been in the works for a long time. It’s a reversible hat, my first attempt to make one. I really like how the colorwork turned out; the hat has some fun designs. It turned out a little too large, so it’s going to need just a bit of felting. Overall I’m pretty happy with it and Robin seems to be, too.

Valentine’s Day flowers from my dearest. I do like his taste in flowers.

And… my latest order from KnitPicks.com! Yes, it’s quite a lot of yarn, but I have special plans for these pretties. The local health food/eco-friendly general store/vegetarian cafe (where we bought the loose-leaf tea) has said that they might be interested in selling locally hand-knit items. So, I’m going to try it. Starting out, it’s going to mostly be a fundraising endeavor, to raise money so that I can go to summer camp with those full-of-energy young mothers I mentioned earlier. I went last year and it was a totally worthwhile experience. I will probably be also selling items from this blog if anyone is interested. Stay tuned for updates and photos of products. :)