Tomorrow Joe and Sam leave for a week on the rock, to hang out with her grandparents and hike Signal Hill and go sailing and eat jam-jams. I’m not going with them because I have work commitments here, and because, frankly – an 18 year old like Sam, who will never be stronger or more beautiful than she is now can miss a training ride, but a 44 year old woman who’s barely limping through this thing has to stay on track.  If I went with them on holiday, I’d miss a week of training – and then another week when I go to Vancouver and San Francisco to speak and teach next week. Trust me. That’s not the kind of slacking you can do if you’re thinking of surviving a 660km ride.  I already spend every minute that I’m off my bike feeling like I should be doing something to keep this Rally from being the biggest mistake I’ve ever made, and I know I’d just panic if I spent two of the last three weeks not riding, so – here I stay.

I’m a little bummed about missing the fun, I love Newfoundland, and it’s been a few years since I was there, but I know the decision to stay here is the mature, proper thing to do. I am spending a little time reflecting on how consistently I find that the mature good decisions are the ones that are less fun, but it’s not like that’s a new idea I have to adjust to.  If I’m staying though, I’m going to make the most of it.  Today I’m cleaning the house, doing the laundry, hitting the grocery store, making everything as nice as I can, because other than the weekday morning rides (and the whole day rides on Saturday and Sunday)  once I’m done my work everyday for the next week, I’m on a mum-vacation. I’m going to be alone in the house for a week.  Just think about it.  Think about what I could do!

Okay. I can’t actually think of what I might do that’s really that different, but I’ll do it all alone, and that’s a pretty crazy thing.  For one whole week, dinner can be whatever I say it is, and there’s going to be nobody here to judge it. For a whole week I can go into the bathroom anytime I want –  heck, I can even read in the bathtub for an hour or two, and nobody’s going to knock on the door and ask me when I’m going to be done, or if I think it’s been a little long, or if my book is good because they’re out of books and did I really want to finish that one? I can write until 3am and nobody will say I should go to bed earlier.  For a whole week, I can just use the phone whenever I want. I can even watch the movies that Sam and Joe think are stupid, like Deep Impact or The Day After Tomorrow or Ice Twisters (that one was particularly contentious)  and nobody can say anything like "MUM. The comet is going to hit the earth just like it did last time, can we please just watch Glee?"

For one week I’m going to do exactly as I please (except for the work and the riding, but no plan is perfect) and I’m actually a little excited about that. If by excited you understand that I’m going to miss them dreadfully. So much. I’ll actually probably just sit here and cry the whole time.

Wanna do karmic balancing gifts to cheer me up?

—————————-
From the generous hearts at Hearthside Fibers, two skeins of their BaaBoo fingering weight yarn, one for Krystal R.

and the other for Sarah T.

Christian over at Radioactive Rabbit has two beautiful bags to give away (and she’s doing a half marathon for charity – have a look! )  One beautiful bag for Kate K,

and one pretty one for Laura W.

Melanie at Black Trillium Fibre Studio has generously donated ten skeins of her pebble yarn – and five (that go together so beautifully) are going to Amy S.

and the other coordinating five are going to live with Kalita B.

(All I see when I look at those is Color Affection.  I might not be quite over that.)

Max over at Max’s world has this great gift.

Max makes knitted sculptures – and Linda P is going to receive a brooch, earrings and necklace, as well as the Knitting Octopus greeting card. 

Tamara is giving away this beautiful handspun she made.

She’ll pop that in the mail for Hilary J. 

As proof that the planet’s really into the karmic balancing thing, Tamara is the winner of the next gift! (I swear. Random selection.  Bizarre, right?)  Elizabeth will be mailing her a fractal roving (have you seen this yet? Pretty cool)

It’s shown here in Grey’s Analogy Antique, but Tamara will be choosing her favourite from The Hilltop Fibre Worker. (I also think it worked out rather nicely that I know a spinning gift is going to a spinner!)

Kim (who I know in actual real life and is really nice) at Indigodragonfly has a fabulous contribution.

Two $30 gift certificates will be going out, one each to Suzzanne R and Lynne W.   Thanks Kim!

Dani (who I also know in actual real life and is also very nice) who is KSC Designs, would like Vicki K to have a box bag – just like this one, except that she can pick the fabric:

and a sweet roll like this one for Barbara LW except again – Choices!

Whew! 13 gifts – and there’s way more to come.  Next week there’s some lovely things, and a surprise from Sam later in the week, as always, everyone who donates to anyone on our family team is eligible to get a karmic balancing gift, and I’ll be giving away stuff up to (and probably after) the ride- I’m going to keep going until there’s nothing more to give. (I’m starting to feel like that’s the theme of the whole rally.) Our departure date is 3 weeks and 4 days away,  and as always – the links for our little team are below.  Thanks to everyone who’s helping us make it possible.

Samantha
Amanda
Pato
Katie
Ken
Erin
Me 

(PS. It doesn’t matter how much you give – everyone has the same chance.  We know that everyone does their best with what they have, and we’re grateful for it all.)