making it (but mostly faking it)…and some 52 for good measure

I envy you, kid.

That’s what I’ve got for the 52 Project this week.

It feels like enough after a fortnight with little opportunity for adequate sleep, and zero opportunity for kickin’ around with comics and a cat. Can I get a do-over on adulthood? I’m pretty sure I’m doing it wrong.

Really, the only part I’m faking is the appearance of maintaining sanity during this time of one step forward, two steps back that we seem to be treading water in. Somehow, I think even that is an illusion, and really there is some forward movement if I watch the replay in slow motion.

But, I don’t have time to watch the replay today, so…

Oh! There was this thing that happened:

A lovely group of students for some 80s-inspired spinning was the highlight of the blur that may have been March 2014. Denver next month will be awesome, and the EARLY BIRD special ends tomorrow!!!

Oh! And I have re-opened my Big Cartel shop! Etsy is still there, but I’m going to be putting more and more on the new and less and less on the old. Etsy will eventually be exclusively for de-stash and OOAK items, and the BC for repeatable colorways and fiber clubs. I haven’t updated the sidebar yet (one thing at a time, but if you click on the banner here, it’ll take you to my new-ish home on BC:

Stay tuned for a Hey-I’m-Traveling-Soon-And-Need-Lunch-Money sale! There has been some spinning thrown into the daily life-chaos. Where there’s a will, and all that.

Enough! Happy Monday!

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Eleven: 52

 

 

 

the 52 project.
Portraits of my main squeeze(s) every week.

 

O, this week you…

…spent a weekend morning getting the taps in, and enjoyed your first cup of sap for the season.

…said the words “I hate you” in a fit of tantrum rage. I guess we made it nearly nine years without that phrase, and even though I knew you were just trying to get me to change my mind about something and you didn’t really mean it, and you sobbed and looked pretty miserably sorry about having said it, man…it just sucked. It didn’t happen again any of the other times you didn’t want to go to school this week, so maybe a lesson was learned about saying things we don’t mean. It’s ouch, yeah buddy?

…in contrast, lost at Catan and didn’t get upset or want to play again immediately. All smiles and hey, maybe next time. That was nice.

…received a pretty stellar trimester report from your teacher. We’re proud of you, but more importantly, we hope you’re proud of yourself. I thought I caught a wee self-satisfied grin when you overheard me reading it out loud to Papa.

Nine and Ten: 52

the 52 project.
Portraits of my main squeeze(s) every week.

My working life is a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle of teeny gigs that nearly almost make a supplemental income when I get a few of them snapped together. I have little desire for more screen time at the end of a day that largely revolves around hours of it. Even so, I’m not too far behind on a personal project, and that is something. Actually, I’m lying about that. I fished the psycho picture off my phone from a weekend hike and the knitting pic is for this week’s post on the Sparkle Stories blog (I’m there every Thursday). Chronologically, they’re spot-on, but they weren’t intended for the 52 project. I suppose that doesn’t make much of a difference to anyone else.

*Oh, and I feel like I should mention the fact that my son doesn’t run around threatening people with knives. This was a ham-up for the camera. He was chipping ice on the brook with it, which is a totally inappropriate use for, say, his good carving knife, but not for the chintzy 99-cent hardware store almost-not-even-a-knife that he was carrying at the time. I greatly enjoy the contrasting moods of the two images.

O, this week you…

…acquired two new friends for the fish tank, which had been empty for months after a stretch of Aquatic Pet Disappointment (APD). Cheeky and Other Fish enjoy staring out from the same corner all day long, but otherwise are quite lovely and entertaining and, so far, alive.

…allowed me to teach you how to arm knit while I simultaneously taught myself, and we couldn’t stop laughing. Thanks for always being patient and willing to subject yourself to numerous photographs and “Hey, could you do that again?” for my Craft Correspondent job.

…have been ridiculously high energy crazy whoa every night and so I’m contemplating black curtains to simulate 5pm darkness until next fall.

…asked me to go out for a hike with you, when it’s almost always the other way around. It would have been so fantastic if I wasn’t sick with a head cold, but I went anyway so as not to discourage you from asking again.

Eight: 52 and Things

the 52 project.
Portraits of my main squeeze(s) every week.

Winter Break: It was quiet, and full even though we didn’t go anywhere vacation-ish. Work and play happened, like any other week, but it was a little richer with friends and warm drinks. A nod to the joys of Winter, yes, but feeling in the end like a readiness to say goodbye. We’re still in it; just a thing we have to admit to ourselves. The position of the sun makes 12 degrees feel somehow more tolerable than even just a few weeks ago, and brightly glittering snow is so much more hopeful than dull, grey snow under an overcast sky, so I think we’ll manage.

I’m deep in scheming and dreaming up a trip out West in April to visit family and teach some workshops. Places I’ll hit this go ’round: Portland, OR, the SF Bay Area, and Denver, CO. I’ve got the latter location covered for a venue, but am still contemplating the other two. A new spinning workshop, and the tried-and-true nuno felt class are on the table. More information will be available soon, but if you have any requests, ideas, venues to suggest or offer, do let me know! All is still in the planning stage.

In other news: granola. I’ve posted about what I like to call Culture Crunch before, and I totally forgot about how I used to sprout sesame seeds to add to the mixture. Next time! This time, I went back to the original recipe that inspired my fermented granola experimentation and played with some of the post-fermentation wet ingredients. To the honey mixture, which I increased a tad, I added a generous scoop of peanut butter, probably about 3/4 cup for a doubled recipe, and a few heaping tablespoons of raw cacao powder. As soon as it comes out of the dehydrator, I’ll add soaked and dried sunflower and pumpkin seeds, toasted coconut, and raisins. A little taste-testing reveals that this is a subtle flavoring, not too sweet, which means it will be perfection once the raisins are added. I wasn’t going for cloying, just comforting. Win!

Seven: 52

 

the 52 project.
Portraits of my main squeeze(s) every week.

 

O, this week you…

…enjoyed Snow Days aplenty, which included starting Winter Break from school a couple days early. We’re big into not complaining about large measurements of snowfall. We played in it, consumed it, hiked around in it, and rested in it. February wins.

…started reading The Boxcar Children series on your own and motored right on through the first book. Your eyes grew huge when you just had to tell me about the best part: a “super yummy dinner.”

…helped me out with some fun projects for the Sparkle Stories blog, temporarily donating

some of your pennies to science. This one went up today.

…discovered Apples to Apples, and many hilarious moments have since occurred.

Five and Six: 52

 

 

A pair of weeks, gone in a flash. Sickies and ickies, an entire day listening to and reading books, Snow Days, growing skills, birthday planning, Halloween planning (what? an onion?), multiplication, sitting too close to the wood stove, and gallons of honey-lemon “tea” find us in mid-February. Huh.

I’m playing catch-up after an experiment in discipline. I am now in the habit of early morning yoga instead of early morning writing, so the next step is getting up even earlier to fit in both activities. I’d like to be here at my desk more, but it’s been some other kind of wonderful to spend time in my body, even at the expense of letting other soul needs slip for a while. Here’s to a happy marriage of the two…

…and some snowshoeing before today’s early release from school. I welcome a thicker blanket.

Four: 52

the 52 project.
Portraits of my main squeeze(s) every week.

Suddenly, you are aware of making an impression. Perhaps, it is because you understand that I don’t just keep images for you and for myself. I share them. Or, I could be reading too much into it, and you are simply maturing more quickly than I can keep up. You would rather share your truth than a silly tongue-out face to cover it up. It’s hard to get a candid shot of you, anymore. I have hardly any time to line up my trigger finger, and you will turn, beaming in my direction.

How you’ve put up with me this week (and last), I do not know. I did everything I could to fend it off this year, but the winter melancholy was overpowering. Your smile and your laughter have gone a long way to prevent me from going completely under.

It’s almost embarrassing to be so predictable. Mid-to-late January gets me every year. It tells me I’m aiming to jump too high, that I’m investing too many of my hopes and dreams into a shiny new year, and that I’m just setting myself up for a crushing disappointment. I don’t know why I fall for it. I don’t have to listen.

Tomorrow, though,…tomorrow January’s voice will stop. The gentle encouragement of February will release me. We’ll really plan the garden, the sap will start to flow, the days will continue to grow longer, and I will still have my hopes and dreams. I may forget them when I feel smothered under January’s dark cloak, but I’ll still be clutching the whole lot of them when I come around and find myself in the light.

Today, on repeat: It’s okay. It’s all okay.

Three: 52

 

 

the 52 project.
Portraits of my main squeeze(s) every week.

 

O, this week you…

…left little bits of yourself in random places. You always do that, but for some reason, this week, it was extra comforting.

…thought Fluxx was magical when we each, in turn, won a game.

…were so into your library books that you wouldn’t set the table, put your pajamas on, or come up to bed without lots of asking and reminders and several degrees of frustration on both sides. I LOVE that you love books and I, too, wish I could sink into them and let the rest of the world slip away from my consciousness for long stretches of time…but, alas. There is always something to drag us back to reality eventually. Time for you to discover the joy of reading books by flashlight under the bedclothes when we think you’ve gone to sleep!

 

C, this week you…

…finally got to spend a day baking. I really love to watch you knead.

 

Two: 52

 

 

the 52 project.
Portraits of my main squeeze(s) every week.

 

O, this week you…

…endured some weather-related disappointments. Your giddily anticipated skiing was canceled due to extreme cold weather and then, only days later, temps nearing 50 melted your snow fort away.

…were introduced to Labyrinth, which is a disappointment soother, especially when you’ve got a hot chocolate with a candy cane in it to keep you company. And that was before letting you eat pizza on the couch.

…got really excited about your first three-ring binder. You also discovered that the pockets aren’t really that great for stuffing a large collection of pens and pencils into, plus glue and scissors. When I bring home a three-ring binder zipper pouch, it will blow your mind.

 

C, this week you…

…moved several large objects around, just to see how it’s all going to fit. We’re excited about this project.

…did an awesome job not beating yourself up over what didn’t get accomplished over the weekend. For serious.

One: 52

 

the 52 project.
Portraits of my main squeeze(s) every week.
Here we go again! Let’s see if I can muster the sticktoitiveness to really make this happen every week. I’m really looking forward to printing out last year’s project. I treasure how it forced me to capture the sweetest moments.

 

O, this week you…

…worked on thank-you cards for your Christmas gifts from family. I love the way you spell everything out loud as you write. And how intensely you apply yourself to the task. And your handwriting! Beautiful. I can’t wait to teach you cursive.

…showed me how to make a God’s Eye with my handspun scraps, and I think I might be a little obsessed. In fact, I just stumbled upon this project for a garland with mini versions made with toothpicks. We are a garland-friendly home.

…were snowed in and got two extra days of holiday vacation, which we used wisely for sledding and fort-building. Then the rains came, and washed much of it away. Again. The resulting ice delayed your first day back by two hours! We thought vacation might last forever…

…are so excited to start the Winter Sports program, where you’ll learn cross country skiing with one of your favorite friends. Oh, snow is such a generous medium.