Wow! It's been almost a month since my last post. I didn't really mean for my absence to go on so long. It started getting busy at work and by the time I came home (after being on the computer all day), the thought of jumping online again was just too tiring! I haven’t taken time to write or read any blog posts! How very sad. And it was so cold for most of that month hiatus…bitterly cold with wind chill factors putting us around 10 below on several days (that’s about –23 for you Celsius fans). February in Maine just makes you want to stay inside for the month and not venture out!
It seems like a million things have happened…and nothing at all, most of it centering on work. One of the pieces of legislation that I’ve been working on for the past year, regarding postpartum depression and women’s health, is finally seeing the light of day! And the press is jumping on it; which is giving the women I worked with (the Postpartum Support Initiative of Maine) the spotlight that they need and deserve! I was completely behind the scenes on this (which suited me fine; I’m not a seeker of the limelight. I’d rather see the issue highlighted), helping them with the legislative side to all of this. These women are the most fabulous people, so supportive and easy to talk to, warm and caring. If I had postpartum depression, I’d want these women to help me. The best thing is that the local evening news is doing a piece on this issue (which airs tonight and will be rerun during the news this weekend) and interviewed some of the women from the Initiative. I am so psyched for this group, getting this recognition!
I’ve also been working on a domestic violence bill for my boss and we’re having a press conference in 2 weeks to try to get the ENTIRE legislature to support this legislation. The bill will change our current domestic violence law from police arresting both people involved in the dispute and sorting it out after charges have been filed, to allowing for a thorough history of the situation with an investigation before charges are made. Far too often, a woman in an abusive relationship will be at her wits end and strike back at her abuser. The abuser will then call the police on her, resulting in the abused woman getting arrested for assaulting her abuser. What better way to reinforce the thought that the abuse was her fault? No wonder women in these relationships don’t want to call the police…they get no support!
Okay, enough about work, we had a foot and a half of snow (45.72 centimeters) dumped on us on Valentine’s Day! It was great! So pretty and I got to stay home, all snuggly in the recliner with a blanket and the wood stove going, working on my pink and green quilt. Then I had to go shovel different areas that my plow guy couldn’t get to…and that just sucked. And now I want spring! I keep hearing bird song every day and some days are in the high 30’s (around 3˚ C) and all the seed and bulb catalogs are coming in, inspiring me. I walk outside every morning and see a 4 foot WALL of snow (from the plow) blocking my view of my backyard, but in my mind I’m seeing a warm spring day with green grass and a ground cover creeping across my back hill, flowers and vines and trees sprouting. Mmmmm…it’ll be hard work to get it to look the way I envision it, but that’s what I’m aiming for this spring.
Oh, I am also one window away from sheet rocking my future bedroom. My Dad helped me wire in new electrical plugs (rather, I helped him…he got to be the electrician, I had to be the mind reader/gopher/contortionist light holder – a role I don’t wish to reprise any time soon. My back and my knees are still aching from crawling around a VERY small attic and twisting this way and that to get the light where my Dad needed it). Now we just need to replace that window and start sheet rocking. Then I can paint! Yippee! And put down carpet! Whoo-hoo! And move my stuff in and turn my current room into a studio!! (I know you can’t see it, but I’m doing the “Happy Happy Dance of Joy” right now. It’s kind of like the Snoopy Dance, but with flailing arms and yips of joy). It's been slow getting to this point, but I'm so close to my own studio that I can almost taste it...uh, you know what I mean.
Now I will close this long update with the promise to take lots of pictures during this weekend’s Ice Fishing Party at my parent’s place. I don’t ice fish, but the men in my family do. My mother is using it as an excuse to make lots of toasty warm comfort food and have the women sit around inside to craft, quilt, scrapbook, etc. etc.
I hope you have a fun-filled and fabulous weekend. I’m going to try to read a few blogs and maybe catch up on the month I missed in the lives of my favorite bloggers!
:^)
Slates was a community restaurant, a meeting place with mismatched chairs and tables, walls painted funky colors and many with murals, tin ceilings and low lighting and ambient music; it's workers were (are) a family and that was the feeling you got when you went in. I've celebrated many friends' birthdays, many afternoon lunch's with my mother, a few romantic dinners with ex-loves and even a bad blind date.
