We’re only 18 days into this new year, and it’s already proven to be one of massive change.  Your Craft Assassins haven’t made a post for a while, but our lives have been turned topsy-turvy, and we’ve been thrown a big curve ball.

Amy’s former employer had been talking about layoffs since May 2009, and the axe finally fell last week.  Amy thought she was safe from the impending layoffs, but it turned out that her lack of seniority (six years of service) wasn’t enough to save her in the end, and she was laid off.  Things had gotten pretty tense, and she was in a near constant state of panic on a daily basis.  It’s been quite a curve ball thrown our way, one that we were blind sided by, but we’re going to make it through.  We are trying very hard to believe that everything happens for a reason, and we will rise from this in a better place than we were before.  Amy used this past week to navigate through the unemployment process, and to wallow in a little bit of self pity, but she’s coming back strong.  She only has this semester left at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before finishing her Master’s in Library and Information Studies (MLIS) degree.  At that point, she’ll have the degree (with an awesome GPA) and experience (six years managing various areas of a mid-sized urban library) to make her marketable to any number of libraries around the country.

Through everything, Todd has remained a rock of support, love, and understanding.  He’s helped Amy to realize that there’s nothing wrong with her for being laid off.  He’s also kept himself busy by embroidering some of his shirts to jazz them up.  As you know, he’s a HUGE fan of the argyle.  He jazzed up a striped shirt he got from Kohl’s with his argyle pattern.  While embroidering the shirt, he even stepped outside of his color comfort level by buying a green shirt (Amy’s favorite color, his is blue) and using orange and purple as the argyle pattern colors.  He also has started on a fun Western-style shirt he got from Burlington Coat Factory by adding “Zombietini” patterns to each space above the pockets.  He has another idea for some lettering across the back, and we’ll report more on that when it’s finished.

Argyle

Zombietini

Today was  a very sad day for the Craft Assassins as Amy’s family’s dog Annabelle was put to sleep.  She was a 15 1/2 year old Shetland Sheepdog (Sheltie), who provided her family with 15 1/2 years of love, devotion, and companionship.  She was given to Amy’s son Logan on his 5th birthday back in 1994 because, as Amy’s mom Linda reasoned, “Every boy needs a dog.”  The past year, and last several months had been particularly hard on Annabelle and the family.  She lost a significant amount of weight because she didn’t want to eat anymore, and her hearing and sight were pretty much gone.  Logan and Amy’s parents just couldn’t prolong Annabelle’s suffering anymore.  We hope she’s in a better place, running around, being the cutie she is.

RIP Annabelle July 4, 1994 - January 18, 2010