Updates - All 'Round...Or "Life Happens"

Apologies for the lengthy blog absence, but "Life Happens".
Sometimes Life Happens A Lot.
Let's see if I can post a relatively quick update....well, updates on a variety of topics.

Diabetes Update:
I think we're mostly done with the Diabetes adventure that began in February.
This last week, the Little Brother spent his first night back at his apartment - the first since early February!

He is responding extremely well to the retinal treatments he's been receiving for the past few months.
The doctor is also pleased with the Little Brother's healing and gave him a release to return to work - a month and a half before the original healing estimate!

Unfortunately, pretty much even as we were faxing over the doctor release so that he could return to work, his primary work was sending out a notice that his position had been filled and he was welcome to apply for another position within the company.

And I'm going to leave it at that. I'm not sure what opinion to have about this.
It seems grossly unfair, but I also understand they're trying to run a business. And I think this may be a "silver-lining" - the Little Brother has actually worked 2 jobs for years and the 2nd job has scheduled him to work next week. As the ever-concerned big sister, I think he doesn't yet have the energy to work 2 jobs just now.
We've been blessed with a lot of silver-linings throughout the learning-the-hard-way-about-Diabetes trip.  We'll see what happens next.

My Current Employment:
I still have a job.
We continue to be "in transition".
I'm rather enjoying the drive across town (more podcast listening time) although I'm still trying to get a grip on the timing.
And...last week, I was drafted back into doing Quality Assurance (QA).

Once upon a time, my job was to create user documents for some software we wrote and distributed. How I got into that job is a whole 'nother story and the truth is, I didn't do documentation for long.
See, there was this program that was about to be released and whilst I was exploring it to document the software features, I found a whole slew of undocumented features (bugs).
I was told "You should be in QA" and I was drafted into the Quality Assurance department.

That was a long time ago. I liked testing programs, and I'll even say I was pretty good at it. However, I was not fond of the variable deadlines, grumpy programmers, and the perfectionist mindset of my younger days made QA-ing an uncomfortable profession. ("obsessive" would have been an apt, if embarrassing, description) {sigh}

I moved on from QA to a variety of other tasks and jobs.
("Happenstance" seems to be my career plan. Hmmm - I usually seem to get drafted or promoted into positions. Interesting.)

Anyway - the current tester was offered a job that she applied for over 6 months ago. And I don't blame her for taking it - it sounds like an excellent opportunity.
So - I've been drafted back into QA to take her place (just for the record - she is actually irreplaceable).

I'm not really sure what happens with my current job. I'm trying to shift some of it to a clever young lady who will probably be rather excellent at it. And with everything in transition, we don't know how much of the old job or QA-ing I'll actually be doing.
I'm intrigued but a bit terrified.  We'll see how this goes.


Knitting at Large
Typical.
I was plotting to whip out a quick ( ha ) blog post - and you can see how well that is going.
I've been doing a fair bit of knitting, but it will take me a while to get pictures up. I'll try to revisit and add some current photos (and get Ravelry updated) but here is a summary of my current knitting.

• Swirl Coat (started in January) - I'm nearing the end of the sleeves but I have concerns that I won't have enough yarn. "Ohhh - An Exciting Finish!". {sigh}
• Princess Langwidere Reversable Cowl - is done (despite the cat-assisted ends-to-weave-in) - and it looks spiffy. (Yep, pictures would help...) 
• I already mentioned the Jayne Hats.
• I've resurrected the February Lady Sweater ('cause I sat down to figure out buttonholes and which buttons I'll be using. {Ack!} It's been sitting around since I cast on in late 2010! Jeez.).
• More...um....well, that's a set of projects Not-to-be-named. They're Christmas Gifts so details will be posted much later. Sorry. 
• I'm back to the "Knotty but Nice" hat for a friend. (I had to frog it and start it over on smaller needles). 
• The "Birds Nest Shawl" is done and I understand it's current state (looking like something the cat dragged in) is very typical for lace - but I think it turned out well. I'll try to do a blog on the pending blocking adventure.
• The "Lenore" socks were also frogged and started over with fewer stitches. Some details are logged in the Ravelery Project page. 
• The "Purlicue" socks are finished (and pictures tweeted at the moment of finishing!)
• The button-eduction from the February Lady Sweater has also been applied to my first Baby Sweater! (I'll have to go look up the name of the pattern. Pictures of the wee sweater-in-progress have been tweeted.)
• And I'm gonna stop now or we'll be here all day. 

I'm for bed. Pleasant dreams and good health to you all.