Oil rigs, scarves and anniversaries

My husband has been working an insane amount of hours lately because of the Kulluk, an oil rig that went aground in Kodiak. He's working at one of the hotels that very occupied with the people overseeing and fixing the problem. They were on winter hours for the employees, and he knew he'd have to work on New Year's Day, and planned to take a different day off. Since it happened New Year's Eve, it's going to be at least another week before he'll get a day off probably.

So we didn't get to celebrate our anniversary the way we wanted, but it still happened. 17 years together! A few days before that he told me that he's more in love with me now than ever before. Because now we know each other so much better, there is so much more to love. I feel the same way towards him. The more I know him, the more history we share, the more I love him. Someone asked me what the trick to being very in love after 17 years is, and I'm not sure there's a trick. There is honesty, communication, shared experiences, a shared life. A dedication to the idea of our partnership and being conscious of it in how we talk and relate to each other and how we face the world.

Currently I'm working on a crocheted scarf. It's a very simple pattern, and I'll be posting it probably tomorrow. Ran short of yarn last night so need to go out and pick up some more. It's done in a very chunky yarn with a great big plastic hook so it works up fairly fast. It's January, and generally we get a cold snap in February that's just frigid. The yarn chosen is Michaels Loops and Threads Cozy Wool yarn. If you've never worked with it before it's a 50/50 wool/acrylic blend with a bit of the shine of acrylic and a nice even spin in a lofty, cushy yarn. My daughter took a scrap yesterday and tied it around her wrist as a bracelet because it's very, very soft. Since Loops and Threads yarn goes on sale frequently, this might be a new favorite for winter and chunky effects with lots of stitch definition. The wool will provide the warmth necessary for our cold winters. Because TG likes it so much, I'm also going to pick her up a couple balls tonight.

Yesterday I splurged with some of my winnings from the Duck Tape contest to buy my husband a new laptop. His is older and having all sorts of issues. After careful consideration, we decided on this one.


 The reason we picked this one was because there are a few things he needs in a laptop, a reasonable graphics card- the one in this computer is a mid-range card that's fairly fast. It won't handle huge graphic intensive games with a real high frame rate, but for the Dungeons and Dragons Online that he plays, it will be more then sufficient, a large hard drive, a good amount of ram and good build quality. He also didn't want anything too expensive, this wound up being a bit more than he wanted to spend. Not too much more, but for that extra 100 dollars, it's the better machine for how he'll use it. He's pretty excited about it, and it will be arriving Wednesday.