Notes on a Busy Week

Hmmm... where to start since I need to keep this short?

Thanksgiving was wonderful, and in fact all of Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful. Marvelous to have Pete's family come visit, superlative to have so much time with Buddy and The Dude, and lovely to have so much yummy yummy food. (Especially the pecan pie. I love pecan pie.)

Work is busy (surprise, surprise), but okay.

My "To Make For Christmas" to-do list has far more entries than days available, but I am oddly calm about it (right now) and enjoying every opportunity to work on them.

I had three decent workouts last week and have hopes of two this week. My IT band is not getting worse. I have decided not to stress about how much I am working out or not until the new year starts.

I have the opportunity this week to visit with a friend I have not seen in over twenty years and am grateful for that as well.

I cannot explain my calm right now other than to say I have either gotten the Christmas spirit, or some good sleep over the holiday weekend. Either way, I am grateful. I do know I am most grateful that Buddy took a nap every day over the long weekend, a gift I was not expecting.

Hope this finds all well. I doubt I will be writing much over the next few weeks.

Notes on a Low Week

I think I'll start with the positive stuff from last week, since otherwise I will probably just wallow.

The house is clean and (mostly) ready for visitors.

I got in two good workouts last week, through a combination of walking and the ergometer.

While still twingy, my ITB is not disabling, as evidenced by my ability to run (without pain) after a certain imp.

I got some good work done on my Christmas presents and really enjoyed doing so.

The bug that was threatening to fell me last week has retreated to "tolerable" status.

Work, while stressful, is still on the right side of manageable.

I am enjoying reading a couple of art books that I would not have read six weeks ago, before I decided to succumb to my artsy/crafty self.

And everyone in this household and among my closest loved ones is well and in decent health.

Okay, good enough! No need to make a similar catalog of my blues. I'll just go listen to a bunch of country music instead.

Word of the Day

Automagically.

Isn't that awesome? There is a lot these days that seems to happen automagically. How else could I be writing this and a friend in Japan reads it moments later?

My son's word on Saturday was "broken." I don't remember what particular incident prompted that, but he savored the word for the rest of the day.

And I remember being 10 and in love with the word "inquisitive."

Do you have a word for the day?

This Is Not My Week

I got scolded on the train today for talking on the phone with my parents. Like, chewed out. I was stunned, mostly because, as anyone who rides the Chicago El knows, everyone talks on the phone on the train --- I thought I was at least trying to be fairly quiet and considerate. But apparently there are different rules in play on the Brown Line at 8:00am.

I have a magnet I keep on the door to my office, to let people know I'm here even if the door is closed. My eyes keep going back to it today... I chose this quote to help me remember to be nice to people when I don't want to be, but today I think it's to remember to be nice to me:

Be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,

no less than the trees and the stars.

In the noisy confusion of life,

keep peace in your soul.

~ Max Ehrmann

Peace to us all.

Eh, Or Maybe Not

After thinking some more about these birds I'm making, and looking at the photos in the book of what they're supposed to look like, and then thinking some more (mostly about what really gets me excited about working with cloth and thread, and what would I design if I were to make up some birds for my friends), and then staying up too late and waking up too early because my brain is just turning... I've switched gears, jumped tracks, and am heading in a somewhat different direction. Somewhere that's more me.

Thankfully most of what I cut out can be cannibalized for these new designs, and with a little bit of sketching and a little bit of photocopying, I am now ready to cut out new patterns tonight and get started sewing on the train tomorrow.

Notes on a Frustrating Week

I'm not even going to bother listing out my workouts this past week, it's just too upsetting. Tuesday I went for a longer run than I should have and ended up injuring my ITB. It's been coming all season so I can't get too upset about it, in many ways I'm just grateful that it happened now (rather than before the marathon or my race last weekend). Not only that, but November/December are hugely stressful months for me at work, plus of course all my own holiday preparations. And I will admit I'm feeling run-down. So it's a good time to be running less (or not at all right now), but I still don't like it.

I've been frustrated trying to figure out good cross-training as well. For reasons I won't get into (because it makes me too angry) I can't use the pool for a while, but we haven't joined our local health club yet, so I'm left with the exercise room at our local park district center. Typically the only machines there that work properly are these odd combination of bike/arm-thing that make a huge amount of noise and don't have any gear adjustment at all --- you just get on and pedal and move your arms back and forth. I just can't make myself use them, I can't. So then you cross your fingers and hope that one of the more modern machines are working... Today that left me with the ergometer, which I love, but that's really not a lot of choice.

I won't even touch on work frustration becuase it's just not worth it. This is a hard time of year, made harder by other people's holiday craziness, and that I don't feel I really get to enjoy my own holiday preparations. I suspect I won't be writing much in these next six weeks.

On the upside, we actually managed to consolidate our books and reorganize our bookshelves this weekend... we've only lived together five years and in this apartment for three, after all, can't rush into these things... Buddy thought it was hugely entertaining and "helped" pull books off the shelves for us, usually after we'd finished a shelf. But I'm most proud of us, me for being willing to consolidate (mostly) and The Dude for being willing to organize and get rid of some things to boot.

I like to end my posts with some kind of cheery or witty note but I'm too tired to be either today. Hope your Novembers are going better.

This Week: Cutting, Sewing, Swearing, Groaning

A number of my friends had babies about the same time that my imp was born. Those whose showers I was able to attend got a gift from their registry, but a few of them never ended up getting a gift for their children at all, which I have not been happy about (especially when we have then received gifts for Buddy from them... oh, the shame). And then two of my friends in this category have since had a second child! I am far, far behind in my gift-giving.

So I have started my venture back into art-making with a number of gift projects, some for Christmas, and some to ease my conscience around missed gift-giving opportunities. This week I have been working on two stuffed birds, both from, or loosely based on, designs in the book "Little Birds."

I'm working on a tight deadline so I don't think I'll get any process pictures up. A childhood friend from Japan whom I haven't seen in 24 years will be here for a conference in two weeks, and since I'd rather not pay the postage to Japan I'm trying to get these done in time for her arrival. Hence some of the groaning. The other groaning came when I first turned the body of one of these birds right side out. It's been so long since I made anything three-dimensional in fabric, and never from someone else's pattern (or so small) --- it just didn't look anything like I thought it would.

Still, it is in process --- the body is not yet stuffed or closed, the wings are not yet attached, the decorative stitching and beading is not yet done --- and I am trying to remember that it has been a very long time since I made anything at all and to have patience and gentleness of heart towards myself.

I am so very much enjoying all the parts of making these birds: choosing fabrics, cutting out the pieces, pinning, machine sewing, turning, stuffing, handsewing (in the train this morning!), embroidering. So that gives me confidence about what I am doing overall... regardless of how these particular birds might turn out.