It is finished.

Finally. I've been working on this afghan for months (obviously not non-stop!) and I finally finished it. It is for a friend at work, and she had her baby 6 weeks early. I have felt so badly that I haven't had a gift ready for her! She has been in to work a couple of times for meetings, and I know she will be in this coming Wednesday, so I was determined to finish it. So here it is!

It is a basket weave pattern from an older Leisure Arts leaflet entitled "Snuggle-Up Baby Afghans." I have made one other pattern from this booklet, I think.

If I had made it according to the pattern directions it was going to end up huge, really too big, so I made it a bit smaller. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't quite as soft as I would have liked after I had washed it, but it did come out nicely (if I do say so myself). Now I'm looking for other projects, even though I already have a few in progress! :-)

Off to Girl Scouts. My little bug is flying up from Brownies to Juniors! A big evening!

I think I have a problem.

It's a bag problem. No, I don't mean big. I mean Bag.

I love bags. I like big ones and small ones, long straps and short, with pockets and without. I love looking at bags and wondering what I would use them for, and buying them even if I don't have a particular purpose in mind.

I like making bags. I have been known to spend days and hours on a bag, only to use it for a couple of short weeks. I just bought a pattern for another bag that I really like, and need to order a couple of 'notions,' as we sewists call them, in order to finish it, and I'm not even sure I will like it once it is finished.

I've been known to buy a bag, use it once or twice and then never use it again, but still, I keep it! I still like it, I just don't have a current use for it!

I have bags for knitting, bags for crochet, a bag for each little project. I have bags with all the embroidery floss from when I used to do counted cross stitch, and I have bags with kits for projects I haven't even started yet.

I have bags of yarn, and bags with all the bits and bobs that go along with yarn crafts. I even have a big bag full of other bags!

I just love them. I don't know what it is. I don't change my purse with great frequency (I've been carrying the same Coach knock off from Target for several months as my every day purse), and I even carry the same bag to work every day, but I love having the bags around me. One of my favorite bags I don't even carry that much because the straps aren't long enough to carry over my shoulder and I know I would get tired of just having to hold it in my hand all the time. But it is perfect for a current knitting or crochet project, and if I need to I can throw a couple other items into it for whatever we're up to on a particular day.

I bought another bag at LL Bean the other day. I couldn't resist. I didn't have boat and tote bag in that size, and I thought it might be handy. Plus it was 50% off! It was one of those personalized bags that they charge less for because you have to use a seam ripper to get the monogram off. But who cares! It was $5 for a boat and tote bag! Who could resist!

I wonder where this bag fetish comes from. I'm pretty sure my mom and dad had plenty of bags should I have needed one while I was growing up. I'm pretty sure I wasn't bag-deprived as a child. Is it because I was sometimes forced to wear bread bags on my feet with winter boots as a kid? Probably not. I don't feel scarred from that experience. So what is the deal?!

Perhaps I'll never know. Perhaps I shall just keep collecting bags for reasons unknown until I am too old or decrepit to do so anymore. I don't think my little habit is harmful to anyone, except perhaps my wallet (which is not really a bag, but I love wallets, too!!). I don't think I'm hurting anyone with my bags, and they frequently come in handy (though one did cause a major mix up with my brother at camp last summer, but that is another story). So I guess I won't worry too much about it.

But if you every hear of a 12 step program for bag lovers, let me know.

Guilty Pleasures

Dear Julia,

I have this little confession. It's about a place on the internet I visit almost every day. I am nearly compulsive about it. I have told very few people that I go there, and still wonder whether it changed their opinion of me.

To make it worse, I have introduced my children to the website, as well. They love it, but isn't it true that children often love things that aren't good for them? I hope I have not scarred them for life.

Shall I tell you? Should I feel guilty if you go there and you love it to? If you begin to be compulsive about checking each day as well?

I shall take that chance. I cannot resist. Every addict has to try to share her love with someone else. Here it is: I Can Has Cheezburger.

Yes, I know, I know!!! The mutilation of the English language! The bad jokes! It is like a train wreck, Julia! I cannot stop looking! The pictures, well, those are bad enough, but the videos! Oh, the horror!

I'm sorry, I'm sorry I tempted you to look. I'm sorry I shared my shame with you. Forgive me.

Please, forgive me.

Love,
Lynn

Fitting Frustration

Dear Julia,

What is it about whoever designs affordable clothes? Why do they not understand that women have hips AND they have waists? Why do all the pants I try on have waists as big as the hips?

I went out today in a pretty much futile attempt to find some new capris (see a previous post for the sad story of my favorite capris). I tried on lots, but really, none fit. I bought one pair, but even those don't fit all that well. They fit about as well as the Unfortunate Pair, and they were actually bought at the same store, so I figured I might as well get them. They will at least provide something different to wear to work. I shall make every attempt to keep this pair from meeting the sad fate of the Unfortunate ones.

At one of the stores, the one I used to work at, they have these nifty little labels for the length of bottoms - capris, bermudas, shorts. The one thing they didn't have a label for was one called the 'skippers'. What are skippers, you ask? They are what I would call pedal pushers. I guess that name is too passe, so someone decided to come up with some cutesy name for them. Skippers. Huh.

I've gotten lots done on that afghan I'm working on, and hope to get more done tomorrow. :-)

Love,
Lynn

Productivity

Dear Julia,

I'm not sure if productivity would have been a word you would ever have used, but it is used commonly now. For me, it means that I got a lot of little things done in a day, or that I got quite a bit finished on a long project.

Today was a day when I got a great deal accomplished (finally!). I feel as though it has been years since I had a day like today. My energy was high, my focus was good, and I felt able to finally follow through on things.

First of all I tackled the huge pile of laundry that has accumulated in my basement. Last weekend when we were cleaning up for a showing of the house, we tried to neaten up any of the laundry that wasn't done yet (mainly because we knew we wouldn't have any time to put all that laundry away if it was clean!), and left it at that. I got several loads finished and three loads folded. Put away, you ask? No, most of it is not actually put away, but I will put my pile away tonight and the other members of my family will have to put away their own!

Next I washed the dishes, cleaned off the counters, and put all the items from our "showing box" that has been sitting on the counter all week. What is a showing box, you ask? For us it means a box that we bring out when we have a showing, into which we stuff anything that normally resides on the counter next to the phone, any current mail, any papers that usually hang on the side of our refrigerator. This box is then put away with some of the other boxes we have previously packed. After the showing we then take the box out and put the items back where they belong - or at least sort the items that had not been sorted (opening mail, that kind of thing). I did a good purge of the items that had been hanging on the fridge, and went through all the mail. That felt good. I also cleaned off the kitchen table.

After lunch Hubby and the kids and I went for a little drive in the car he was thinking of buying. We stopped and had ice cream. :-) The day was much cooler than we had expected, but it seemed an appropriate thing to do on this traditional first weekend of summer. And the ice cream was very good!

While Hubby was gone making the decision about his car, I got a new lamp! Well, actually I didn't buy a new lamp, but I did spray paint an old one to make it look new! It was an old brass type lamp that we have had since we got married 15 years ago, which my mother-in-law bought for us at a garage sale. It has been a useful lamp for many years, but it has never been particularly attractive. I had a brainstorm the other night while watching yet another episode of "Get It Sold" on HGTV, and realized all I needed was a can of black spray paint! I got the paint weeks ago, but that energy burst today was what I have been waiting for. I must say, it looks rather good. Almost like a wrought iron lamp. I am pleased.

While each coat of the paint dried, I weeded in my garden. Yes! I did. I know I'm always saying I'm going to weed, that it needs to be weeded, and that I hardly ever get around to it. Usually it is a case of horrible black flies or extreme heat that keeps me from the flower garden, but today it was lovely weather with just enough wind to keep the black flies away. Lovely! I didn't finish it all, but I got quite a bit of it done.

Plus! Yes, there is more! I worked on the baby blanket I am crocheting for quite awhile, too! I still have a long way to go, but I am more than half way done. I am determined!

So, Julia, all in all, it was a very productive day!

Love,
Lynn

Dear Julia,

Dear Julia,

It has been so long since I've talked to you! I'm not sure if you will even remember me. Do you remember those days when it was just the two of us, you and I? You wore a cloak, almost always (there has always been something so evocative about that word for me, cloak). I've been wracking my brain for the last couple of days to remember your last name. Forgive me. I know it will come to me in a day or two.

I thought maybe writing to you would be a good way to blog. I can share my days, my silly stories, my joys and ideas. If you will let me. Would that be permissible? I hope so.

Love,
Lynn

Felt like a Monday

I had a lousy day. I won't go into details. It's not important. But it really was a lousy day. The drive to work, a couple things that happened at work, going to the doctor. But the really kicker was when I came home ready to relax for a bit....

I went to put on my favorite capris, the ones that are still nice enough to wear to work if it is going to be hot, but comfy enough to just bang around the house. The ones that go with everything, are so easy to just slip on when I want to get comfy in the late spring like today. The ones that actually fit just right and actually look pretty good on me. Yep, those.

Well, I evidently did just what I said I wasn't going to do, which was put them in the dryer. Now, I'm not a complete ignoramus - I do know that if something is 100% cotton, one might not want to put things in the dryer for fear of shrinkage. I try not to dry things that I really love because of just this fear. I swore when I put them in the laundry the other day that I would pull them out and hang dry them, even if it meant I had to iron them, and even though they are not 100% cotton. I'm not going to be taken in by security in whatever percentage of the capris is not cotton. Nope, not me. I'm going to make sure they stay just as comfy as they have been for some time, just as comfy as they were all last summer. I have a hard enough time finding things to fit that I have learned this lesson the hard way. Instead of "No Soup for you!" it was "no dryer for you!"

Fast forward to a weekend where I felt lousy but then found out late on Sunday that we had a showing of the house on Monday. Some scrambling to clean, it must be admitted, did occur. Having felt lousy for several days I had not caught up on the little piles of papers or the larger piles of laundry. I whipped through a couple of loads (or maybe it was the hubby who did that), folded them and put them away so as to neaten the house and make sure the laundry area didn't look like a wreck. Somewhere in there, I put a load in the dryer, brought the load upstairs when it was done, folded it and put it away.

Fast forward to me this afternoon. The legs go into the legs of the capris, they ease up over the hips, but lo, though the button can be buttoned and the zipper can be zipped, they are too tight. Too tight in the waist, too tight in the backside. Not good. I wanted to cry. Coming on the heels of the lousy day, it was just too much. To make it harder, I could not blame this on anyone else. No unfeeling husband or recalcitrant child could be blamed for this blunder. I had no one but myself. Not a good feeling.

I did what one must on occasions like this. I put on something else, I threw the errant capris on the floor, and I called a girlfriend. I explained, complained, and was comforted. Distance from the lousy day was obtained, and entertainment was obtained from a story about her stressful week (with humor involved - don't go thinking I'm completely unfeeling!). Phew.

So the more positive side of my nature rejoices in the fact that tomorrow is, indeed, a new day and it is bound to be better than today! Thank God, indeed, for that!

Ideas, inspiration and a bit of disgruntlement

I'm a bit tired of feeling lousy. One thing that is getting me down is watching very little other than HGTV. When I'm sick, I like to just watch something that doesn't require any emotional investment, and HGTV is good for that. I have a thing for makeovers, and this channel has those in abundance, every half hour. I love seeing the transformations, the character of houses, the incredible ideas that some of the homeowners and designers have. I like the budget makeover shows the best, because I can't quite understand spending tens of thousands of dollars on a bedroom or bathroom. I love to see what they do with very little money (and usually a lot of paint).

I have noticed, however, that watching all these shows does make for a bit of discontentment with what I have. I am sure this is exaserbated by having the house on the market, and thus wanting something more in the first place. Having all these ideas and no money, and this weekend, no energy, to do them is a bit frustrating.

I have a floor lamp that needs some help. My mother-in-law gave it to use when we got married, something she picked up at a yard sale, because we needed a lamp. It's in sad shape, but was probably once a brass type finish. I had a brainstorm one day, and thought painting it too look like one of those wrought iron lamps you see in catalogs might work. I have the paint, but haven't had a chance to get it outside and paint it.

I also see all the little things that should really be done (especially if we get some traffic through the house to go along with the drop in price). Bits of painting outside, a bit of organizing inside. So frustrating to not be up to doing it. But I am committed to taking it easy today so I don't feel worse tomorrow.

So I must watch myself and my feelings of disgruntlement (which are natural, really, considering how we've had so little interest in the house) and discontent, be content with today, and hope I don't dream about dining room chairs again, like I did this morning! :-)

Shop, sniff, shop, sniff

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a lovely day, despite waking up to the news that we had no power. It came back on just as I was leaving the house! Of course. I met my mom in Kittery and we had lunch, chatted for a long time, then shopped. Naturally it was the last store we went into, 20 minutes before they closed, that I found some clothes for myself! It was nice to have the money for Mother's Day so I could spend it on myself without guilt!

The weather was very nice, though quite breezy. Quite a change from the crazy thunderstorm we had last night. Maggie and I went to Kaylyn's dance recital yesterday afternoon, stopped here at home to pick up the boys, then went to the James and Danielle's for pizza, a birthday celebration for DJ, and a piano recital! In the middle of it all, the rain came pouring down, then stopped just as suddenly. It was nice to sit down and eat and talk with friends!

My cold is still hanging around, hence the sniffing while shopping. Hopefully tomorrow it will be better.

You're feeling very relaxed.....

Last year for Mother's Day, hubby gave me a gift certificate for a one hour massage. In turn, for Father's Day, I gave him the same thing. He has had that massage and a few more since, and until today I hadn't had any.

Today I finally redeemed that gift certificate and had the massage. It was lovely. I have had massages before, but the place I used to go to isn't there anymore. This was my first time at this place. The therapist was very nice, and really listened to what I said needed work, etc. She found that my hands were really tight - no doubt all that knitting and crocheting I do, and even gave me suggestions for how to stretch those hands out each day.

When I first got out, I felt kind of lousy (I think because it had ended with me face down, which wasn't ideal with my cold!), thought relaxed. Now I feel pretty darn good!

So last year's Mother's Day gift was finally used, and I hope I feel just as relaxed and refreshed tomorrow as I do today!

Forsythia

My forsythia are just in the middle of blooming, as well as my tulips and daffodils. I also have a ton of violets that have overrun part of the flower garden! It is amazing how Danielle's garden is about two weeks ahead of mine, even though it's just down the road. The front of her house gets so much more sun, since she's on the other side of the road.

The apple tree would be blooming right now. I miss it when I look out the window. It was a casualty of the ice storm, and was just recently taken way. I loved looking out the kitchen window and seeing it's blossoms, hearing the bees investigate it.

The leaves on the trees have really popped in the last few days, and we've had enough rain in the last few days that everything has turned green. I know my husband thinks he'd love living in North or South Carolina, but I would miss seeing all these changes of seasons! And if only the black flies would go away, I'd be able to enjoy my little porch! Gotta love life in New Hampshire! :-)

Bleh

Maggie has a cold, and I think I'm on my way there, too. Very annoying.

FIrst Communion

Our little girl is growing up! She had her First Communion on Sunday! It was a lovely day, and she did very well, despite being a little nervous. We had a lovely brunch here afterward, and I think everyone had a nice time.

The dress was a great deal, bought for a friend's daughter, whom it didn't fit, at a yard sale. So we bought it from her. It included the headpiece. It was a bit more elaborate than I would have bought if I had gone out to shop for one, so she lucked out! I did go buy the little bolero jacket, as the dress itself is sleeveless, and I didn't care for that style for First Communion. It was nice that the three girls in the class had very different styles of dress on (though they all had bolero jackets, oddly enough!).

The funny, but not so funny at the time, thing was that on Saturday night as I was getting things ready, I wanted to gently press the veil a bit to get the wrinkles out. Not a smart move. I melted a hole in the veil. I cried. Then I called Danielle. "Hang on, let me think....hmm....let me go look in my hope chest and I'll call you back in five minutes." Just when I was wondering if it had been five minutes, she knocked on my door, her own First Communion veil in hand. We adjourned to the basement. Surgery ensued. The glue gun came out. The original veil was torn from its moorings. The new-old veil was fiddled with, pressed (without melting), folded, trimmed a tiny bit, and glued into place. I sighed with great relief. I went to bed.

My daughter hardly noticed any difference in the morning and made no comment or complaint (I sighed again). After Mass and pictures and all, we came back to the house where Danielle (and her hubby, it must be said) had started the coffee, taken off plastic wrap, warmed up the oven and various and sundry other preparations I was unable to do. Danielle brought out her album with pictures of her First Communion and we made a startling discovery: her mother had given her the wrong veil to put in her hope chest! We had made free with her sister's veil! Danielle consoled me with the thought that her sister would probably not need it for her own daughter, and I told her that if she should ever want it, she could have the entire (improved) headpiece.

So all in all, a very nice day. We missed Jonathan's sisters (who had evidently written down the wrong day) and my brother (who was at a conference for work) and their families, but it did make for fewer people jammed in our little house! Still, family never minds that kind of thing!

Maybe, not so much....

For the last week I've been thinking about my little guy and realizing that the questions I had are not really all answered by an ADHD diagnosis. Luckily, it seems the team at the child development center felt the same way. Someone will be coming for a classroom observation tomorrow, and after she reports back to the team, we will decide if we need to go see the developmental pediatrician. So that makes me feel better.

The assignments for case managers for next year in my school have been made, and there are no openings. *sigh*. I am disappointed, because it is a great place to work, and I'd love to do special education there, and under that particular supervisor. My current position will be available to me for next year, and it may be that I will have to take it, but getting a teaching position will certainly pay much more!

We are sort of in a Catch-22 situation. We would be able to afford a bigger house if I get a teaching position, but we won't qualify for the loan if I sign the contract for a job before we get the loan! I know all these little things will work themselves out, but I have a hard time waiting. It could all be a moot point if the house doesn't sell.

I never really thought of myself as a control freak until an evening a couple month (maybe more) ago with Danielle and Janabeth. We were talking in the car on the way home from a girls' night out, as we are wont to do (it almost makes we wish we had longer drives home from wherever we go to eat), and started talking about control freaks. Some comment Janabeth made (and it wasn't an accusation or anything like that!) made me think that perhaps, in a way, I am one. I like things done the way I want them done, I sometimes wonder why people don't do things the way that I do them, and I have a hard time delegating (not that I have to do much of that these days, but still). I have to keep my mouth closed a lot in the 6th grade room because there are ways I would do things if I had my druthers, but it isn't my classroom, and I'm not the one with the elementary certification.

Maybe this is why I have such a hard time with the house being on the market and the job hunt I now have to engage in, and so forth. I'm a control freak. Or maybe not a control freak. A control nut, maybe? Is a nut less obsessive than a freak? And if I am, how do I let go of that and let things happen the way they are supposed to happen? lol. I never thought of myself as particularly impatient, but perhaps I've been kinder to myself than I should have been! :-)