December 16, 2004

That twitch is normal

Yesterday, I braced myself and did it. Some aspects of being a grown-up suck, and there's nothing you can do about it. You have to bite the bullet, storm ahead and just get it done, no matter how repulsive, hideous or horrible the job is. (I've been trying to explain this theory to the other people who live here who seem to feel that the bathroom and litter box maintenance is just a little too yucky for them. The train of thought seems to go...." Wow, that's gross. Mom should do that." Yes. Absolutely. If there is a job involving faeces it should totally be mine. Can't wait, sign me up. Yay me. Yay litter box. I do it 'cause I love it. I digress...) So yesterday one of those nasty jobs came up and I did it.

I went to the mall.

It had to be done. There was no choice. What is it about those places that leaves you incapable of doing anything but blinking when you get home? Sensory overload? To0 many other people? The stench of desperation? The weird thing they put in the air so that the whole time you are in there you feel a lot like you really need to buy things made from petroleum products? I tried Norma and Claudia's "just relax and enjoy the season/don't get your knickers in a knot" approach...but it's 10 days until Christmas and there's just no sign of anybody dropping off any presents for the children and I have not yet succeeded in cooking my share of the family dinner with the power of my mind. (I tried not baking or buying the cookies the kids need for school parties...but no flirty little house-elf with a good attitude and a penchant for dusting dropped by with baked goods either.) In fact...the more relaxed I got, the less seemed to get done. I sat quietly on the couch happily knitting, absolutely stress free, but at no point in the process did the Christmas tree mystically appear fully decorated beside me. In fact, when a couple of the gifts got downgraded to gift certificates to make my life easier, nobody from the store hopped in their car to bring them over here either. I mean I sat here...I relaxed. I let go, and NOTHING HAPPENED. I thought over letting go of some of the stress by not going to the school concerts, but Sam's learned to play "Silent night" on the french horn and I don't know how to clone myself. Claudia? Norma? Are you sure I'm doing this right? I put the gifts that I had on the table and this morning they weren't wrapped. Do I need to wait for a full moon? Should I be more patient? Should I just wait for Christmas eve and hope that slacker Santa comes through for me? What if he doesn't? What will happen with the children if he lets me down?
I'm starting to think that this whole relaxing thing might not be the answer. Relaxing might be stressing me out.

I finished the Spidey mitts.

Spidermandone

I love Lene's schedule. There is time allotted for (and this is a direct quote) "Glory in accomplishment".

The first of the Pablo Neruda socks are done. (Or is that "is done"? Damned plurals)

1Pnsockdone

(We will overlook...for the sake of the "just relax" faction of knitbloggers, that human beings have two feet. It's counterproductive.) For those of you who asked, the charts can be found in Socks, Socks, Socks. The second one, according to the High Holy Schedule of Power, should be finished tonight.

2Pnsock

Clearly, I need to relax more if this is going to work.

Gifts for Knitters Days 15 and 16

Two gifts suggested by readers

Saralyn suggests an ear lamp. She claims that it lets her knit or read instructions in a dark car or room without disturbing others. I think it's a pretty nifty idea, and certainly gets around the problem of regular head lamps eating your hair. (If you are the sort of person who's hair gets eaten by head lamps.)

Tree suggests these really, really beautiful handmade wooden needles. There's something about handmade things isn't there?

Posted by Stephanie at December 16, 2004 12:03 PM