Day Off

Yesterday I found out that the church where we meet for Classical Conversations had cancelled all activities at the church for yesterday and today. I am so happy that we get to stay home again! I haven't left the house since Monday and it has been wonderful. I know, to some of you that sounds terribly boring, but I'm okay with that. This is my realm and I'm content here. Being home for several days in a row usually means I'm well rested, the house is in order (sort of), the laundry is managed (notice, I didn't say "caught up"), and we've had quality time together. This week we've watched a blizzard from the warm confines of our living room and not had to worry about missing anything bcause we had no major plans.
The kids are so excited that I declared today "Reading and Crafting Day." They have some boxes they are eager to turn into cars or airplanes or something. We're flying through a good book together that we just might get to finish today. I'm sure I'll see Kate lounging in bed reading for hours. I plan to get some serious knitting done. It will be a great break from our regular routine.
Then tomorrow we need to get some house cleaning done since last Saturday we didn't do our usual chores. And there are some suitcases that need to be packed for a big trip coming up.
The yarn is calling.....

Stress

When things don't flow neatly, I get antsy. When waiting for something to happen (our adoption to MOVE, the girls new bunk beds to be done, all the kids moved into freshly painted, organized rooms)I get restless. When it's 70 degrees in the Midwest in the middle of November, I get crabby. Why? I love fall. But where is it? Where are the crisp days? So, I'm antsy and crabby. Great. How to solve it? Not sure. I think adding to the restless and annoyed feeling is that my children are still coughing. And why is it that when one of them coughs, others feel like they have to chime in with their phlegmy noise too. And then someone has to sharpen their pencil. This all in the midst of me reading something in an attempt to educate them. How can I educate when it's so noisy? Then there's the major stress Pete has had recently at work. Thankfully, that's over. For now. On the way to work yesterday, anticipating a rough meeting, Pete got in a car accident. Praise the Lord, it was not his fault and he's fine, but there were some more serious injuries. Last night he took a muscle relaxant to calm his very sore body. And then he was out for the count. So I lost myself in the CMA's and knitting. Yarn has a way of uncoiling my stress. So for now, while I'm antsy and crabby I think I'll try to take it out on some yarn. Turn balls of wool and cotton into beautiful and useful things. As long as these things are not too complicated and require quiet for me to pay attention, I should be okay. Have I mentioned it's not very quiet at our house?


Just for fun here's a picture of 3 of the reasons it's not very quiet-

Sunday afternoon knitting

Yesterday I started knitting Charlotte a hat while the kids were having naps and rest time and I sort of couldn't stop until I had it finished. Pete took a few of the not too sick kids to church in the evening and I kept knitting. When the hat was finished and I saw that the fit was perfect (even though the pattern was for "child- one size"), I decided to make a scarf to match. Then I figured since scarves and little people are kind of a pain I'd make more of a tube-like neck warmer. It's not perfect, but I think it will do the job. Charlotte loves her new winter accessories. And I love that they cost me $2.99! Now maybe I'll attempt to make a matching pair of mittens.

Summertime and school

I decided that we are not doing school work for the month of June after all. We were going to continue doing History and Grammar all summer, but when June rolled around I decided everyone needs a break. Including me. Especially me. Now to be honest, a few days into our break, I was really craving the routine of our school days. Everyone gets along better when there is a purpose to the day rather than a do whatever, play, no schedule kind of day. Still, I think just for this month it will be good. There's lots of lego building going on, playing outside, and going on bike rides (now that we have a Burley I can go with all the kids). We'll be going to some friends' house to use their pool once or twice a week, camping, garage saling, and I might even deep clean the kitchen- all without trying to fit school work in. When July rolls around we'll still have a bit more of a relaxed schedule as we have company coming for several days and we'll still want to get to the pool and Pete and I have a little getaway planned. We'll start adding school work back into our week around the second week of July. By August we'll be going full swing except for the week we'll take off to go camping again. By then we're usually sick of the pool and ready to buckle down and get some serious work done. For now I'm spending lots of time knitting. That is one benefit of not having formal schooling going on. I realized that another reason it's good that we homeschool is because if we didn't we probably wouldn't have a cleaner house (like I've always thought) and I'd probably be fatter- I'd be sitting around knitting all day! I guess June and December will be my knitting like a maniac months! And on that note, here's something I love-

A Creative Outlet

I just love knitting. I love choosing yarn and seeing a project materialize off my needles. Since I'm a little distracted around here I tend to choose projects that require little concentration, but to be honest, I am getting sick of knitting scarves! So I found this pattern and I am really excited about making it for myself. Recently I made a felted tote bag and it's really the only thing besides scarves that I've made for me! I've made bags, sweaters, hats, and blankets for other people, but tend to not knit for myself. I'm going to try to post a picture of my bag and of the scarves I've been working on soon. For now, here's the jacket/sweater I'm going to make (mine won't be yellow though).