Why nothing gets accomplished

The picture above is a prime example of why I don't always get things done as planned around here. I had a lovely three day weekend planned for myself. The kids were gone from Friday night to Sunday morning. Sis was at our church's youth group retreat and Bug was at his Dad's for the weekend. I spent Friday morning cleaning the house so that I would have plenty of time to work on the two-year quilt.

Things happen, plans change. I did get quite a bit accomplished on the quilt. In fact, I have the decorative diamond stitching that holds it together done. Just not as much as I had planned. With no children in the house there shouldn't have been many interruptions, but it seemed there were more than ever. The cat that insisted on being in the middle of my mission, stopping to watch my basketball bracket get blown to smithereens, phone calls that I should have ignored, the occasional bite to eat or restroom break, and a need to get a few hours of sleep, all had a part in sabotaging my overly ambitious goal.

I am happy that the stitching is done though and have to admit that I did learn a lot in the process. In the future, if I have a project pinned together for two years before stitching, it would probably be wise to re-pin it. I also learned that it is not a wise idea to use masking tape to mark a pattern on fabric and leave the tape on for two years. I will be peeling tape for the next week! Oh well, another excuse for a manicure!

Photo Courtesy of Emely Nilsson

Cathy Halley on Harriet (the Poetry Foundation's Blog) posted a poll today:

What stereotypes do you associate with poetry and poets?

I'm curious Dear Readers (and yes, the numbers tell me there are a few of you out there), interact, tell me your stereotypical vision of a poet.

Unplugged

Photo Courtesy of Joel Childs

In less than 12 hours a big change is coming to our house. A little over a year ago, in the midst of the divorce, I decided that we needed to cut some expenses. The first thing to go was the satellite subscription. This made sense to me for several reasons: I hardly ever watch television, the subscription was in the ex's name (and I was done paying his bills), and my children were becoming addicted to Hannah Montana.

So we became unplugged.

For over a year.

It's been a good year. My children read more, converse more, and have no argument about the TV being turned off.

It's time to become plugged again. Because of the switch from analog to digital, we only have two channels that we can currently view. I do have to admit, I am slightly excited to be able to watch HGTV, Discovery, and ESPN at any hour. I suppose I could even handle some small doses of Hannah (although if they turn on Witches of Waverly Place, I'm there!).

The most exciting part for me though, is the sweet little deal the cable company offered. For around $20 a month for the next year, they have included cable Internet. Finally my days of slow dial-up and a phone cord trailing my lap top around the house are through! And finally, finally, finally, I can upload a picture without a two hour wait!

Would someone pass the popcorn, please? I think I'll be catching up on a lot of shows this weekend.

Unfinished Business

Photo Courtesy of Tom Freda



Are you like me? Do you look around your house, perhaps in closets, under beds, in drawers. I think we all probably have something stuffed somewhere, that unfinished project that we promise ourselves we will complete someday....

Someday...

I have a lot of those almost completed projects. I have a few more that have barely been started. Some are small, some are big, some could be finished in minutes, others will take days.

With spring approaching (approaching? Heck, it may still be cold, but it is certainly here when rain takes over snow and the flower bed is giving birth to my favorite purple irises), I look around in amazement at how much I still expect myself to accomplish before warmth and humidity draws me out the door.

My biggest goal of the winter was to finish the "two-year quilt". In truth, I started this quilt about four years ago. It was my very first (and so far only) quilting project. Inspired by the beautiful quilts I had seen at the county fair, I purchased a lovely little how-to book called 10-20-30 minutes to quilt . It broke projects down into manageable little segments for the already stressed out, over-booked mom that becomes disillusioned by watching to much Martha Stewart and HGTV. I opted for the sewing machine version, rather than hand-quilting, in hopes that I would actually stick with the project until the end.

I spent a week choosing cotton fabrics of yellow, pink, and orange that would accent the brown that I envisioned my walls. As a side note, I did paint my bedroom walls last year and the quilt will look absolutely lovely in there, if I ever finish it.

Within a week I had all of the squares, triangles, and strips cut out. My son also had a nasty cut from investigating the rotary cutter that was apparently not hidden well enough from my then 4 year old. Two weeks later I had the entire front pieced and sewn together. I could now envision the finished product. I purchased batting and backing. I laid spent hours pinning the quilt "sandwich" together and marking on the back where I would stitch my decorative diamond shape pattern.

Then something came up. I can't tell you what, that was too long ago to recall minor details. I folded the nearly finished project up and placed it on top of my sewing table. I promised myself i would return to it soon.

That was four years ago.

After two years the kids started referring to it as my two-year quilt. As in "Mom? Aren't you ever going to finish that two-year quilt so you can make one for us?" The questioning stopped about a year ago but I can still hear them every time I catch a glimpse of my now completely unorganized sewing area.

I have five days of vacation coming up over the next month. (a use it or lose it type of situation). I believe it is time fro me to put those days to good use and attend to a little "unfinished business" around here.

Remember the past, look to the future

I'm not really sure why I am starting this blog. I have the blog where I post my poetry. I have the blog where I share pictures with my family of what the kids and I are up to (which is sadly outdated I'm afraid). Something deep inside has been bugging me though. I think part of it is that I try so hard to keep both of those blogs organized. If you know me at all, then you know that no matter how hard I try to be organized, I never am. I think the purpose that this blog is going to serve is a place for me just to be random old me. A place where I can just write about what's on my mind, something I've observed, something I've learned, or just nothing in general.

Tonight my thoughts are totally random, flitting from one subject to the next. I am finding comfort in watching March Madness. I don't think I had the pleasure of sitting down to watch one entire televised basketball or baseball game throughout my entire marriage. I suppose I could have stood my ground and changed the channel back every time the Ex flicked the remote while snickering at my dejected look. I also had the power to get up and lock myself in the bedroom to watch, but I didn't.

Now I have caught so many games in the last few days that they are starting to blur together. I've been working hard trying to learn about players that were in grade school the last time I was able to follow the tournaments. I keep at it though, encouraged by memories of watching the journey to the Final Four every year with my Dad. Remembering eating brownie sundaes and helping him mark up his bracket sheet circling winners and crossing out losers.

The most thrilling encouragement of all came from my daughter today. Sis laughed at me when I turned on the Tennessee-Oklahoma State game during my lunch break today. I think there were a few jabs in there about how I must be really impressed by the new guy in my life to watch sports on my hour home. (He is an Assistant High school Coach, so there have been many conversations reminding me of the things I took an interest in years ago). By the time I headed back to work, with Tennessee down by 3, she was sitting on the edge of her seat holding in whoops and hollers.

It is a wonderful feeling as a parent to realize that you are passing along something positive to your child!