It was Finished in Time

I began Elliott in June, 2008.



I began the cross stitch, to the best of my recollection, in January, 2009.



I finished Elliott in March, 2009.



I finished the cross stitch in March, 2010. Before his first birthday.

It's the thing I forgot that I always wanted to make for my kids someday. I just didn't remember that I always wanted to until someday was almost here.

Now he's one year old, I'm about 5 years older, and my son has an heirloom that his mother worked uncounted hours creating just for him, finishing it just in time to be a year late. But it's finished.

And because I won't be making the same mistake again, I've already started a second for hypothetical future brother or sister... because I'm pretty sure that once there are two of them there won't be time to finish things late anymore.

And because cross stitch is strangely compelling.

This is Not My Tattoo

But I kinda wish it was...

Episode Three: The Royal Tenenbaums

I don't think you're an asshole, Royal. I just think you're kind of a son of a bitch.


If you haven't seen this movie, you've got to. It's a weird one, but it grows on you... and then eventually it's permanent. Like this tattoo. But don't put it on your body, just put it in your heart.

This is Not My Tattoo

Episode Two: 525,600 Minutes

That's about how long I would have thought this was cool.


And from then on I never would have had to worry about my track marks showing because I'd have worn long sleeves for the rest of my 525,600 x 80 minutes.

11 months, 10 days

"Ain't no stoppin' us now, we're on the move!"

This is Not My Tattoo

A new segment on this blog. In which I display tattoos I might have once thought were cool enough to get, but thank goodness, I never did. Thank goodness, other people have. With this one, it was difficult to choose from all of the photos out there... I wasn't the only one who thought this was a good idea.

Episode One: The Dead Poets Society Days


I thought this saying was so cool and so meaningful and so life changing... for all of 7th grade. By and large, I can confidently say the only diem I would have carped would have been the day I got this tattoo. And then I'd have spent the rest of my life feeling terrible that I didn't live up to the tattoo I never should have gotten and the movie about how theater will only make you want to kill yourself.

Given All of the Options, I Choose None

I forgot about a work in progress when I made my list of what to work on next...

... it a project that's been dragging on for over a year now, and it's got an obvious opportunity for a new deadline coming up. I missed the first obvious deadline on March 25, 2009 when Elliott was born and I had not yet completed it.

Now it is nearly a year later, and I still have not finished it... though I am getting devilishly close. Can it be done by his first birthday? I've got 22 days. What is it? I don't believe I've mentioned it on the blog before...

... so you'll have to wait and see...

Any guesses?

That Kind of Day

I haven't showered. My hair needs to be dyed; my roots are out of control and revealing my age. I did some of the things on my to do list, but not all of them. The majority are left undone and may never get done. I've eaten too much, as usual, because I felt all day as though I hadn't had time to eat.

There are toys everywhere.

My bedtime is creeping later and later, but wake-up time this morning was exactly the same as usual. I'm so tired.

He cried every time I had to put him in his crib while I peed. He's still wearing his pajamas from this morning. He banged his face on the coffee table because crawling isn't safer than walking.

I found ants on his high chair. And the carpet. And on him.

But that's not the kind of day it was.

This evening, after I'd surrendered the remainder of my to-do list and my shower, he sat on my lap, buzzing his lips like an engine because he was holding one of his trucks. In a flash, I realized how precious that moment was. I tucked my face into his cheek and closed my eyes and tried to memorize his weight, his warmth, his constant expenditure of energy, his smell-- that unbathed baby smell. That's what kind of day it was: one that had a perfect moment. And then he leaned his head back far enough to look me in the eye, grabbed the too-short hair on the back of my head, patted my shoulder with his other fat little hand and gave me a wet baby kiss.

I guess he wanted to remember it forever, too.

I Declare These Games Closed

I didn't make it. I came close: Just half of the seaming left, plus weaving in the ends and putting in a zipper (yikes!). I probably could have made it, but it would require more extensive neglect of my husband and child, and I was not comfortable with that, so I surrendered. It's a decision all competitors must make for themselves: What am I willing to give up to win? Turns out I am not willing to give up lunch out with my boys or time playing with baby's new toys. Or sleep.

I am fine with the results of this decision. I got so close that I am satisfied with the effort, and I will have a finished sweater very soon.

Now, what to do next? There is a charge I am feeling now that this project is nearly finished. It makes me feel like I have a clean slate... but I don't. I have many WiPs that I could finish... I'm sorry, SHOULD finish.

- Endpaper Mitts, for Heaven's Sake!
- Honeypie
- Jaywalkers Revisited
- Laminaria (started pre-pregnancy, Hello! He's almost 1!!)
- Barn Raising Quilt #2

There are some projects that are at the forefront of the To Be Cast On list.
- Rainy Day Mitts (got the yarn already)
- Something for my nephew to be, aka Microcuz (got the yarn already)

And then there is everything else. I want to knit it all!! I want finished projects, so I should start with the already started, since I'm a lot closer to finishing those than things that aren't started yet (duh), but this is never the way my mind works.

And that's why I never have a clean slate. Never.

Sometimes I drive me crazy.