My.HomeRoutines

Yay, I’m getting this blog posted on time!

I know it sounds funny but this is a big deal to me.  By nature, my life has to be flexible to do all the things I need to do.  I have three kids, two with special needs and one still very young.  They need my attention 24 hours a day.  I know a lot of people in need of Tender Loving Care that God regularly brings to me to care for -  He made me a heart-healer to help these people, and I go where he calls me to.  This often calls for cancelling or rearranging my plans to meet their need which sometimes makes getting my own things done difficult.  I have happily done this for many years but lately it has grown too difficult as my life has increased demands.

So I’m cutting back on my flexibility and increasing my schedule.  I have two home businesses and I cannot manage them without set hours.  My daycare hours are already set, but Rachel’s Cozy Knits & Designs kept getting neglected, as did my house cleaning.  So I pulled out a tool that I’ve not used in a while. 

Stretched Thin

I've told you before that this is a blog about my life just as much as it is about my art.  My artistic efforts are one segment of my life, and an important one.  Without creating, I wouldn't be me.

Some days its been hard to have enough brain power and inspiration to create.  My husband and I have been struggling to keep up.  Not with the Jones', but the bills - the demands of life.  He has his regular job which pays most of the bills, but those bills keep increasing.  (i.e. Rent just increased in the fall.)  He has a creative mind, too, and

Christmas coat

One day my five-year-old daughter, Anna, looked in my closet and saw a little green coat hanging. She asked me about it; I told her it was the coat that I had knit for her when she was about two years old. I told her that she had outgrown it.  She wanted to try it on anyway, insisting that it would fit her. Well, it did fit around her chest but the sleeves only went to her elbows - not very useful for a coat. The yarn had been discounted and I'd long since ran out n my stash, and the coat was felted anyway.  I couldn’t invasion a way to lengthen the sleeves that I would be satisfied with, so I had put it away for another child to enjoy someday.

Anna kept talking about her coat.  She wanted to visit and hug it.  I recalled that I had received some gorgeous wine-red Lopi bulky yarn in a craft swap.  It would be perfect for another coat!  Christmas was coming soon, and it would be a perfect gift.

Wow, the past few months have been *very* busy for me.  Not only was there the usual holiday rush, but Portland was hit with Snowmegeddon - twice!  The first hit right before winter break, so the kids were out of school early.  Then after the extra-long break, they only got to back to school for a few days before we got hit again, this time harder than the first!  Our cities aren't used to the levels of snow that we've gotten this winter and the roads weren't taken care of.  Then a few days later we got ice storms that froze the roads into skating rinks for a week.  It effectively shut much of the cities down, including the schools!

We finally are back to normal weather for the first time in over a month, and the kids are finally back in school.  Add in a bad flu, a lice scare, friends moving, and notice of a relative's passing.  Unfortunately, damage has been done and I am battling burn-out. 

The only knitting I've been doing recently is ribbed hats that don't take any concentration at all.  Its about all that I could handle for a while.  I hope that once I'm rested a bit more then I can get back into some juicy projects.  I want to finish designing the alien hats I'd been working on! 

Next time I will show you what I worked on for my kid's Christmas gifts.

Sorry, all.  I didn't forget you.  I just don't have the brain power to form coherent sentences....

All the holiday busyness and lack of sleep has made my head explode.  I'll be back after the holidays and will have LOTS to talk about.   :)   Until then you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for small daily updates.  (Links are in the column to the right.)

Happy Hanukkah!  Merry Christmas!   Happy holidays!