Today, February 6, 2013

Today’s project: Get back in the swing of things

I have the best friends in the world.

Seriously.

Look, I KNOW everyone says they have the best friends, and maybe they even mean it.  But I do have the most wonderful group of ladies in my life!

I think you can tell a lot about yourself by the people you call your friends.  Now, on the surface, that seems like a ‘no brainer’ kind of statement, but think about it – who you choose to surround yourself with says a lot about your needs, emotional as well as social.

Recently, one of my friends asked me ‘Why is that person your friend?’  As I answered the question, I had to admit that it sounded like a pretty superficial kind of relationship.  That person is my go-to-lady, in particular, for one specific aspect of my life.  But what I realized through the course of the conversation was that ALL of my friends fill a specific part of my life.  And the greatest revelation was that each one represents a single slice of a whole.  Like a pie. Each of my friends fills a super special hole in my heart – one that is shaped just like them and no one else. 

I’ve been feeling kind of stuck lately…

Stuck in a big hole that bears a striking resemblance to my bed…ok, sometimes it looks a lot like my couch, too. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve still been doing stuff.  And once in a while, it’s a lot of stuff.  But I haven’t been able to bring myself to sit down and focus long enough to blog.  About anything. 

So, what does any self-respecting red-blooded American woman do?  She goes crying to her friends, of course!

What I love about my friends (there is a long list actually, but for brevity’s sake, I’m just choosing one item), is their strong level of support.  And since each of my friends is so deliciously unique, that support looks totally different from each one of them.

The conversation goes something like this:

Me:  Help me!  I don’t know what is wrong with me…I can’t seem to motivate myself to finish this project of blogging.  I don’t know why it’s such a big deal…

Cute-nicknamed-will-call-and-call-until-I-finally-answer friend:  Look, I have a lot of friends who are ‘blogging’ right now and I just don’t have the time to read them all, frankly.  BUT I really enjoyed reading yours…get back to it, k?

Always-knows-nice-thing-to-say friend: Well, maybe you are putting too much pressure on yourself.  Try writing just to us and not to the entire world…

Steampunk-diva-always-up-for-a-drink friend:  Your mission: two blog posts by Saturday.  About anything.  Any length. GO!

No-nonsense-blunt-and-truthful friend:  Are you serious?  Quit your stupid whining and get your butt off of that couch.  Sheesh.  I don’t have time for this whiney bull-crap.  Call me when you have grown a pair and are ready to do some serious work because I have a bunch of stuff for you to do that’s going to change your world.  Wimp.

As you can see, with each slice of my ‘friend pie’ (I like to think that it is a beautiful chocolate cream pie…mmmmmm…chocolate), I’ve got the entire support-spectrum just a phone call away.

In our day-and-age (warning! Here comes a ‘when-the-world-was-a-better-place’ soapbox moment), we really have soooooo much to be thankful for.  We live in a society that values individual freedoms; we have freedom to express our opinions on all kinds of things without fear of government repercussions; we have access to some of the best healthcare in the world; clean water comes right out of my kitchen faucet; the grocery store right down the street has shelves and shelves of food.  I could go on and on with all of the blessings that are all around us, blessings that are often taken for granted – especially on those days where things don’t go the way we want them to.

But the thing that I think we should be the most grateful for are the wonderful people that are in our lives.  Those people who love you and support you – through thick and thin, through good times and bad – and who didn’t take an oath to do it.  Those people who WANT to share their lives with you and want to share your life.  Those people who can lift you up with the tiniest of sentiments…or with no words at all. 

Those people we are lucky enough to call our friends…

Be grateful…and tell them you love them…

Today, December 12, 2012

Today’s project: Get back into the swing of things…without swinging punches.

HI!  I bet you thought I had given up. Or died. Or been abducted by aliens and taken to the planet Frinch. (it could happen).

Well, I’m not saying any of those things actually happened…and I’m not saying they didn’t…

Anywhoo – I’m back and rearing to go for some more project fun!

I don’t want you to think that during my online hiatus I was lolling about on my laurels (try saying that five times fast), cuz I wasn’t.  In fact, my absence on the blog scene was due to the fact that I was firmly mired into several projects and didn’t have time to come up for air…or write a post about it.

Now that I had a minute (and found myself clicking around on Pinterest), I thought that I better send up a virtual flare to let you know that I was still around and project-ing like a one-legged man in a butt-kickin’ contest!

Update:

Steampunk convention was AWESOME!  My Steampunk friend and I had a blast at TeslaCon and really held our own at when faced with some of the super-fab costumes that other conventioneers presented.  We gadgeted and glued and took lots of fun pics. Ok, my friend took lots of fun pics, but I enjoyed helping…

Here we are in our glory from the ball:

As you may or may not have figured out from my posts, I’m a little ADD when it comes to my projects.  Sometimes I’m sewing, sometimes I’m knitting, sometimes I’m gluing crap together.  I enjoy lots of crafts and such, but one of my favorite things to do is to take some inspiration and twist it around into my own thing.

I have about a dozen different knitting books that I gather information from to use in a lot of ways – how to choose yarns, or a new stitch or pattern.

I’m kind of addicted to hats (best bad-hair-day fix ever!) and find that knitted berets are my current favorite (see previous comment regarding craft ADD). 

I found a pattern in one of my books – sorry I can’t remember which one – and made per specifications this one:

Well, Rora can’t stop there! 

What if instead of garter stitch, I used stockinette?  And I have a beret that has a thicker rib folded over to form a stronger start to the hat…add that:

Ok…now I have two in the same color…that won’t do!

I have a store-bought one that I like that has a lace-like look to it…let’s re-create that (in a super-easy way since I’m no expert knitter, trust me)…and I’d like my beret to fit a little floppier…

When will it end?

HA!  Silly reader!  NEVER!  ‘Never’ is the answer to that silly question! 

Because Rora needs a winter hat…to match her coat…which none of these do…

Hmmm….

To be continued!

Today, November 16, 2012

Today’s project:  Ruling the dominion of a domestic goddess

God love Rosanne Barr for giving us the moniker ‘domestic goddess’ to describe the everyday tasks and tribulations of an ordinary housewife.

Today my plans of grocery shopping and other errand-type runnings was cruelly thwarted by the fact that there was no school.  DURN YOU Plan-Ruining Fates! I shake my fist in the air at you!  And maybe throw in a raspberry or two…

Well, fine.

What to do?

Plan B, I guess… And Plan B was ‘clean the house’ (and other household tasks).

I hate Plan B.

Anyways, I decided to just rip the band-aid and get it done.  As I told me girls today, the sooner we get it done, the sooner we can get back to doing fun things.

I, long ago, made what we call ‘the chore box.’ It isn’t fancy (which gives me a little twinge every time we bust it out, but you know, you can’t be Donna Reed ALL the time!).  It is a plastic index card box and a handful of index cards.  On each card is the ‘chore’, where to do that chore and the steps to do it.  For example, one card is titled ‘SWEEP’ and lists the kitchen, bathroom, living room around the rug, and foyer, etc. and then things like ‘pick up all the rugs’ and such. We pull all the cards out of the box and each person chooses what chore they would like to do.  When you are done with your chore, you put the card back in the box and choose another card.  We do this until all the cards are back in the box and all the chores are done. 

I find this system really works to get the kids working because it takes a bit of the ‘have to’ out of the process since they get to choose a card.

As my girls started with their choices, I dug into ironing the hubby’s shirts.

I hate ironing.  I hate Plan B.

I’m pushing that durn iron around on the board and a million thoughts are going through my head.  I thought I would share them with you…LIST!

1.  Why, o why, are things made for just non-tall people?  ’  Our ironing board is an old-fashioned, in-the-wall-hidden-cleverly-behind-a-door contraption that loses a lot of its MacGyver coolness by being mounted about a foot too low to be comfortable for me.  I decided I would combine exercise and thigh/butt slimming techniques by squatting while I ironed.  I abandoned this quickly when I felt like I must look like an aboriginal woman giving birth in a hut in the Outback.  Countertops, desks, tables all mock me every time I go to use them.  With a cackle they say to me, ‘Tall people are not worth accommodating!’

2.  I’m reminded of my father.  My dad is an ex-Navy super-dude who would be utterly shocked at my efforts at ironing.  I remember when I graduated from high school and he spent 2 ½ hours ironing all the stupid wrinkles out of my disposable polyester graduation gown.  I thought he was so silly to stand there cursing at that thing that I was about to wrinkle the crap out of by sitting in it for 3 hours.  But I appreciated his efforts.

3.  I’m reminded of my mother.  Who currently irons all of my dad’s laundry.  And I applaud her patience as she spends a couple of hours every week pressing pants, dress shirts, shorts and polo shirts.  I know my dad isn’t as bad about knife sharp pleats as he used to be…and he MUST have mellowed since he doesn’t make her iron his undershirts and underwear.  Although, I have a sneaky suspicion that periodically, he goes behind her and re-irons stuff. ;)

4.  I’m grateful to my parents for instilling in me a mild case of OCD.  Silver linings all over the place!  Wait, should I polish those?

5.  I’m missing an additional helper who was the first to suggest that ‘chore day’ be on Friday.  She had a whole list of reasons that it made sense to do it on Friday versus any other day of the week.  I wish I could remember that list.  I remember it made me smile when she told me.

6.  I hate Plan B.

7.  I turned on the radio in the kitchen while we worked and they were playing Christmas music.  All of us did a little happy dance as we gleefully hummed along to jolly tunes.  I love Christmas music.

8.  I’m glad that Boo has told me that her favorite chore to do is dusting.  Because that is my least favorite chore.  Score!

9.  It amazes me how much I like to speak in simile and hyperbole.  Like a Jersey girl in a leopard print factory…

10.  Since I’m exhausted after doing all of this work, I think I should be able to count this as exercise.  As such, I’m going to go sit on the couch, drink a bad-for-me soda and watch a Lifetime movie.  I mean, the world needs balance and I don’t want the scale to tip on my account – for having done too much ‘good’ stuff without throwing some ‘bad’ in.

So in the end, I smacked that domestic goddess list-of-crap like it was a $10 French HO and I was it’s pimp!

As the ruler of this domain, I hereby decree this blog to be clean and organized…enough.