All My Loose Ends

Taking Stock-July Style

First off.....
(sorry, having camera problems. Picutre pending...)

Hooray! I seamed up the final side this morning. I got pictures of the intended wearer this week and she will look beautiful in lavender. :o) I considered knitting something to go along with it but I won't because 1) Baby is already 2 months old 2) I am officially totally out of the lavender yarn I made it with. I COULD buy more yarn, but I'm not going to. The sweater is beautiful and I may pair it with a favorite book and a pretty little sleeper.

SO, I said a month ago that I'd readdress this list in a month's time to see what I'd done. I'm pretty pleased with my progress. Items removed from the list (aka finished!) will have a line through them. Items added to the list will be bold face. Items removed from the list without finishing will be italicized with the reason noted following:

Sewing

• Yellow nightgown for Emily
  
• Floral nightgown for Emily
  
• Pink polka dot sun dress for Emily
  
• White linen sun dress for Emily
  
• Jersey knit baby items
  
• Assorted doll clothes
  
• seer suker shorts for Emily-It has occurred to me that I just don't see a point in making these between now and the start of school. I may hold into the fabric for next year or use it as doll clothes material
  
• White jersey knit baby item

Knitting

• Baby sweater for friend
  
• Baby booties to match sweater Time Constraints
  
• baby hat to match others-Time Constraints
  
• branching out, perhaps five times
  
• Stash reassessment and project planning
  

Scrapbooking Albums in Progress

• Emily 2001-2002
  
• Emily 2004-2005
  
• Emily 2005-2006
  
• Family 2001-2002
  
• Family 1998-2000
  
• Family 2004-2005
  
• Family 2005-2006
  
• Anniversary Trip 2004
  
• Disney Trip 2004
  
• Christmas Album 2004
  
• All About me-Vol 1
  
• TTC Album(hopefully only one volume)
  

Books on the read list

• Time Management from the Inside Out (hahahahahaha)
  
• French Women Don't Get Fat
  
• The Three Martini Playdate
  
• As I lay Dying
  
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
  
• Olive's Ocean
  
• The Optimist's Daughter
  
• Passing For Thin
  
• Reading Lolita in Theran
  
• The Sound and the FuryTurns out, I just don't like Faulkner enough to sit through longer book
  
• A Step from Heaven
  
• A Map of the World
  
• Princess in Pink
  
• Princess in Training
  
• Princess in Waiting
  
• The Shadow of the Wind
  

Projects I'm considering

• Redecorating Emily's bedroom which include quilt sewing, pillow sewing and curtain sewing
  
• Redecorating in OUR bedroom which includes duvet sewing, pillow sewing and curtain sewing as well as custom art projects
  
• Other various art projects
  
• Site Redesign (for everything save these pages for the time being.
  
• School Shopping
  
• Christmas Pre-Planning yes, this is an ACTUAL activity with me
  

Overall looking at the list, I feel pretty accomplished. I feel like I did a good amount of work, though I can CERTAINLY do more. School is starting in about a month (ACK!) and I know I will be able to accomplish more things then. I will miss this child all the hours she's gone, but I will be more producutive.

As A Messie...

that's what I call myself. I'm a Messie. Person. Always have been. Am trying NOT to be in the most desperate manner. I am pleased to say, that I've been working hard. If you look at my bedroom, or Emily's, you'll see our messy tendancies at worik, but the rest of the house is clean. A BIG feat. I am very proud that my house is now company ready most days.

I figure, as much as I'd love to add the bedrooms to the rooster, I'm happy with the progress I've made so far and as long as the other rooms are clean, I'm happy to turn that into a habit first.

I mentioned, I believe last month, that Eric and I were going to a cash system for our spending money. It's working GREAT. We both admit that we have no idea how much money we would waste on a monthly basis by casually using our debit cards. Now, we draw out our set amount on payday and that's what we have. It's liberating, in a way, and scary to think about exactly how much money we've been wasting up to now.

I finished Emily's new nightie on Sunday. Super easy sewing. I have to wash up the material for the next one and hope to get to that this week. I'm not sure as we're busy this weekend, leaving me really only Weds. and I was hoping (well, not really) to take Em to Chuck E. Cheese to use the coupons that have been burning a hole in her pocket for some time now. I don't really LIKE the place much, but I DID promise.

I cast on and knit a while on 2nd baby sleeve. Nothing exciting to show. Just five rows of ribbing. Sleeve knittins sucks.

I had planned to sew today...

but it turns out I have a much bigger problem on my hand.

Mass Pattern Confusion.

Do you suffer from Mass Patern Confusion? Do you have a small child in love with the shiny happy people adorning the front of pattern packets? Are you a "messy" who cuts out patterns and never puts them away. Did you find an unaltered paincall crammed full of patterns in your hall closet.

If so, youre suffering from Mass Pattern Confusion.

Yes, that would be me. I think, instead of sewing my time may be better spent matching up what I have against what I have instructions for. Urgh. Such a MESS. I can't sew with that mess looming. I just can't.

I think I'll take the patterns to bed and sort while we watch a movie tonight. I have a feeling I'm just going to toss a lot.

It's hard

to sew when you have a pattern usurper.

Emily is like a Magpie. She takes things (I hesitate to call it "stealing" becuase she always gives it back, but just likes to hold onto th ings until you realize you need it) and then you tear apart the house and tear at your hair becausee HOW could you have misplaced something THAT badly.

And then you think to ask Emily.

Oh! There it is.

I examined the flannel I bought off of the discount table.

Cheap.

Argh!

But, I'll go forward with the nightie anyhow. The other one managed 9 months or so. And, if I work a little harder on finishing it well, I should have less issues with it.

I'm hoping to knock out those two nighties this weekend so I can knock that off of my list. I'm happy with all other progress.

Hooray!

I finished our Anniversary 2004 album. HOORAY! You will remember at this point my to scrap list was very long. I've worked about a week (or maybe two) and finished that album. I'm happy. Only 11 in progress albums to go (with only 7 being possible to finish as four are currently on-going).

But, scrapbooking will take a back burner for a few days as I attempt to finish the baby gift and get some sewing done. I made Emily two nighties that she wears non-stop. Nightie one (aka Wendy) was made with cheap fabric and is showing it's wear. It's tearing and coming apart everywhere and not just at its seams. Note to self about buying fabrics you want to last off of the wal-mart dollar table. I knew it was cheap when I felt it, but it seemed like a good buy. In retrospect, it's probably lasted near a year and you can't really complain about it's longevity, but the pink one I made of higher quality matieral has lasted much better and besides where it has come apart, is in lovely shape.

ANYHOW, (I do hve a point) I have flannel here for two, new nighties. Yellow and white with flowers. The white with flowers was from the cheap table too, come to think of it...

My reading has been going along fine and I believe I am about 25 books for the year. If I can manage a book every three days I'll finish. I don't know that i can keep up that pace.

Today I was reading the personal ads at the back of our local newspapers classified section. I made two matches. Just sitting there. But...I noticed something.

First, the women don't seem to talk much about what they expect, looks wise, out of a mate. One of the bunh said they were looking for an attractive man. No discussion abut his weight. The men however....many more of them were looking for "attractive" or "fit" women, others looking for height/weight porportionate (meaning, don't be fat). Just interestiing.

Even more interesting a woman admitted she weigh 300 pounds! Brave lady.l Brave, brave lady.

Darn Sleeve....

I cast on and started work on the second sleeve today. I hate knitting sleeves, which is totally beyond the pat. I couldn't get that sucker to come out in pattern. I counted several times, had the right stitch count, but just couldn't GET there. Argh!

So, I ripped the whole think back to the beginning. Bad karma or something?

I was concerned that I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish the darn thing, but I should make it through the sweater. If I want to do a hat and booties, it may mean purchasing another ball (and then having half a ball left over. Does that happen to anyone else). It's hard to find small, odd ball projects that are semi-appealing. Everything that I've seen is horrible.

Stash re-assesment is on the list. I'm thinking, now, if I don't have a specific project for a ball of yarn OR cannot find one, the yarn is hitting hte bricks.

Three parts down...

just one sleeve and seeming to go. That's right. Progress made on the baby sweater, this weekend despite that massive amount of reading I've done. I finished Harry Potter (of course) and am nearly finished with As I Lay Dying.

As I mentioned, I've cut down my Internet time quite a bit. To great benefit. The house is clean. We have laundry, I'm getting projects and reading done. Things seem to be running so much more smoothly. Could it be that time management book?

Well...maybe to a SMALL (and I do mean small) degree. The one thing the book taught me was to be aware AND to prioritze what I need to get done during the day. SOmethng difficult for me if I was constantly distracted by the computer. Now, I pop on in the morning, once in the afternoon and after Emily is in bed. I'm in bed by 11ish every night. I probably spend about 1.5 hours on the computer, which may seem like a lot, but is really a LOT less than I have been. We won't estimate.

What that also means is that I have more time for projects and fun stuff with Emily and she is watching considerably less television. Benefits all around.

I've nearly finished our vacation album. From July. 2004. My goal was to have it finished by this July 9th, but I'll be happy if I can crank it out by July 30th. Just 7 pages to go and they should come together quickly.

Two days from now...

I hope to nearly finished reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. My book is in Livonia Michigan right now. A scant hour away from me. It will be here Saturday and I will do nothing but read.

I have been reading at the Harry Potter Lexicon I am nearly whipped into a frenzy.

I have never been able to put my finger on what about these books incites so much fervor and imagination. Let me say, that I read a lot of J and YA (Juvenile and Young Adult )titles, so it's not out of the ordinary for me to pick up a book written for children and love it. But there is something more special about Rowling's work. I'm not sure what it is.

I think that Rowling is either a bloody genius or smart on her feet. She is so involved with this world. She knows all that has ever happend and all that ever WILL happen. Or it appears she does. And I cannot help but admire someone who knows that in 1087 some troll defeated some wizard. Event hough it has no bearing on anything she will ever write.

I think that Rowling feeds on two things here. First, every child's secret desire to suddely discover they are more than they are. It hink all children dream of it. Some of us have fantasies that we are secretly princess and were stolen from our families by thieves and that ONE DAY they'll find us. SOme of us beleive we'll be discovered doing something we love and be lifted up to greatness. I think every child believest aht in some way and Harry lives it. It happens to him. He is lifted out of his mundane life where he feels like nothing and learns, not only is he something special. Something beyond what he ever imagined, but he will be great.

Who DOESN'T like that fantasy?

Add to it and imaginative magical world where jelly beans taste like boogers and cats and owls are perfectly trained to read your thoughts and do your bidding. It's fantastic.

Oh. I knitted. I wish I could figure out how to hold open my HBP book AND knit at the same time. ;o)

Did you know...

that managing to avoid the compute rmost of the day creates hugs amounts of time in your schedule?

Naturally, I know that too. Remembering it is the problem.

I managed to finish two books today. I managed to scrapbook a couple of pages. I managed to knit a couple of inches on the baby sweater. I managed to play with Emily. I managed to clean the house.

I love the computer too much. I'm sure I'm not the only one with that disease.

I realized, though, that there is very much I miss. I like to read blogs. I like to visist a couple of message boards, but really there is very little that I NEED to do and I waste way too much time doing those few things that I enjoy.

It feels truly luxerious to me, though, to actually get things done.

I've been on the Internet since 1998. Not as long as some. Longer than others. It's not secret that I met Eric in a hockey chat room in 1998 (and the rest,t hey say, is history ;o) ) but being techno-geeks, the computer has become a part of our daily life. Even Emily uses it a few days a week. But it really is a black hole as far as time goes (and didn't even mention how horrible the Sims are at blowing a day).

So, maybe instead of worrying aobut how early I get up, I need to worry more about how much time I spend at the keyboard.

Confessional Monday

It was one of those days. I had trouble sleeping last night and ended up sleeping until after 9 a.m. this moring. That always fouls up my day

Got ready for work this afternoon (in blissful silence. Eric as working and Emily was with Mom) I couldn't find my deodorant. It's 90 degrees out. I can't skip it.

So, I confes I used Right Gaurd this afternoon before heading to work. It smells okay.

I also confess that I found a Jock Jams in the car today on the way to work and listened to the whole thing. :o) And I sang along And I LIKED it.

I confess to momentary lapses of bad taste.

I confess that I finally finished the back of that darn baby sweater!! I confess that I need to hurry along on the fonrt before baby cannot wear said baby gift anymore.

I confess that this Saturday Eric and Emily are fending for themselves because I'm reading Harry Potter. :)

Oh. My. Gosh!

The server migration has finally occurred and I can NOW BLOG from HOME!

HOOOOORAY!

Make sure to check out all the new goodies at the main site. I'm in love with it.

Eric and I celebrated our sixth anniversary yesterday. We had a fantastic day. I spent Friday making a little gift for him as we're being Responsible Adults right now. He loved it. I'll snap a picture in the next day or two for sharing.

He loved it so much he cried. :O) Which is way more than I could have hoped for. I gave him a box of my favorite memories from the last seven years. It overwhelmed him. Which overwhelmed me. We went out for dinner and just spent good quality time together. We're blessed.

News:
I have knitted a little bit. Nothing much. Other things are taking up my time. The time management thing IS helping me out some. I feel like, as soon as we settle into this time, school will start and it will be time to settle into something new.

I've decided to give up on the idea of going to school this fall for two reasons

1) We're still TTC and while I do beleive you can't put your life off forever for what MIGHT be, I am not the kind of person who can deliver and be back in class in a week

2) I'm concerned about there being too many changes for Emily come this fall. I would rather spend some time making sure her first weeks of school are comfortable and comforting, not hectic because she AND mom have added new things to the schedule.

I feel comfortable with this. Very, very comfortable.

Back of baby sweater is done. Time to cast on for front. I'm wondering now if I'm going to have enough yarn to finish it. Thankfully, it's a lotless yarn that's readily available, so if i run out, no biggie. Trip to Michael's for another skein.

I have been scrapping a lot.

I haven't been sewing at all.

And, for a little fun (and to help out MIT)

You kiss a lot of frogs...

At least I am during the course of knitting this baby sweater. I picked up my copy of Debbie Bliss's "Baby Knits for Beginners" from the library last Tuesday and packed it up to take with me for our long weekend up North.

I didn't knit. I won't lie.

But I did a little on Thursday and Friday and picked up the back (or front, they're the same) last night to knit away on it. I was measuring my progress and realized something was wrong. The light turned on. I had knit the rib at the bottom of the sweater in size 6 needles, instead of the smaller, called for size 5 on the original side (front? Back?). Bah! As I knit on, I figured I'd just rip the ribbing out and reknit it on the smaller sized needles to get my match. No big deal.

I bound off for my sleeves and measured some more and realized that I had messed up, yet again, on the orignal side. It was FAR too short.

In my disgust, I stopped knitting and ripped out the entire original side of the sweater. I have no idea how I could ahve been so hasty and careless in my measuring. Surely I know better than that!

Argh!