Not much stitching going on here

In fact, not much but work going on.   I am under a BIG BIG Big crunch at work and putting in 12 hour days six and seven days a week.   Or at least what I count as 12 hour days - if I have an 12 mile commute and I am pulling back into my driveway at night 12 plus hours after I left in the morning - it's what I count as 12 hour day!   Interrogatories come in from the PSC (and others) in one big glut.   My boss doles them out to the various departments.   All the questions then funnel back to me for edits, formatting and forwarding to the attorney all the while keeping track of the progress of each question.   Top that with Mr. W on the road again and the pool, the yard, the pond, the cat and everything else falls to me.   Right now the floor of my walk-in closet looks like the floor in a teenager's bedroom.   Oh no!  I am too young to be reverting back to my childhood.    Not complaining though because I am thankful everyday that I get up, my feet hit the floor, I have a job to go to and a way to get there!   Good thing I love my job and my boss appreciates me.....even though it is making my brain hurt right now - not a headache but a swirl of facts and figures and trying to keep everything in an orderly electronic format on the network as I receive emails from co-workers with their response to the 500 plus data requests I distributed.    Oh and yeah, do my normal work too.  LOL!  I am woman, hear me roar!   The answers are due to the Public Service Commission on the 12th.   (Hmmm- lot's of 12's in my life right now....maybe I need to play the Power Ball and choose 12 as a number.)  Crazy, but last night when I left work - and I was the only one on the floor at 7 p.m. - I could have kept going for a couple more hours.   I mean, when I am there, I am full guns blasting and just get home, I sit on the sofa and crash.   This always gives me a new appreciation of when Mr. W. worked 12-hour shifts.  On his schedule days, he slept and went to work only.   We women don't seem to have that choice.  There are so many other things to do.   Maybe I need a wife!  I cut the grass - or most of it - in the near dark the other night.  It felt good to do something physical and mindless.   Good thing I got the front and sides done before twilight so the curb appeal is there!  Just don't look in the back yard near the clothesline! 

I did finish my Williamsburg Quaker Pinkeep a couple weeks ago but haven't had the energy to find the camera!  Blogging and stitching are always what ground me and not much progress on any particular project..   I did take a class last weekend with my EGA guild.  It is a Gay Ann Rogers canvas piece - a new thing for me.   Again - pix will follow!!  It is enjoyable and I have been taking it to work to steal 15 minutes at lunch time after wolfing down my salad.   It gives me 15 minutes to rest my head and calm my thoughts to be able to stitch a few minutes.  I really feel sorry for those who don't stitch or have a hobby to immerse themselves into and recharge themselves and still laugh to myself when the comments tend to go the way of needlework getting on an observers nerves.   

Hope everyone stays cool with the next approaching heatwave.  You will find me with a margarita in hand, on a raft, floating (maybe sleeping) in the pool much of the weekend.   One thing I learned from the last major push at work - do not log in remotely from home and work from home - it makes for 16 hour days and then there is really no down time and that is no good.  That's when I really get out of sorts and resentful.  Remembering all work and no play makes for a really crabby Robin! 

Stay cool all and I will get some photos up this weekend.

Perspective

It's all about perspective.   Everyday I ride through a teeny tiny town on my commute home.   Seriously, it is less that 1 mile long and literally only 2 streets deep on either side of US 130.  Bordered by the river and a factory one side, a canal on another and the interstate on yet another, this is just a little pocket of place where nothing ever changes and that has never grown any bigger. 

Here is the perspective thing.......no matter how late I am at work, no matter what traffic delays beseige me, 99 times out of 100, when I roll through this town, I see the same man walking.   He is walking with a purpose.   For months, I have been thinking, I guess he is on the way to the bar in the middle of town.  Everyday, he is walking.  Does he have nothing else to do?  Yesterday I had a light bulb moment.   What if he is thinking the same thing about me......does all she do is drive through town?  

It all about your perspective..............and putting yourself in someone else's shoes to understand where they are coming from.  He could be on his way home from work having been dropped at the intersection; he could be on his way to babysit his grandchildren, he could be on his was to play cards with his friend, he could be on his way home from the Post Office......so many possible things and I was stuck on he was walking to the bar. Open your mind and think of the possibilities!!!!

Kids! Don't we all wonder sometimes if we got it right?

I mean seriously - babies came with no owners manual or instruction booklets.  A mom at 18, I didn't know very much.   I grew up with my children.  Making my own babyfood and doing real diapers!  That that doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? 

My approach to motherhood has been - in no particular order:

Love them    Keep them clean    Feed them    Enjoy them    Teach them    Learn from them    Scold them    Guide them    Counsel them    Cry for them    Cry because of them    Laugh with them    Laugh at them   Hurt for them    Be proud for them    Be proud because of them    Support them    Encourage them    Discipline them    Listen to them    and I could go on and on, and well, you get the picture.  

But somewhere along the line, you think....  Did I do it right?  Face it, we all have self doubt at times - if we gave the best advise at the time, handled the situation right, steered them on the right way, could I have done more......  Well, when a child can bring you to tears - in a best way - you know that you did good!  So a little bragging on my part but really just being a proud mom that I got a good kid!   Check out my daughter's post from yesterday.   I guess I will make sure I never miss a day of checking the blogs I follow.   I am so proud of who she grew up to be. 

Love you honey and can't wait to you come for the weekend.....there will be crafting, beverages, laughs and lots of love!  And maybe some sorting through the photo boxes for the mud babies pix!

First half done and second half started

I am continuing with my 2011 i-Challenge picking up on the Williamsburg pinkeep. Kind of an appropriate stitch for this holiday weekend. It may not be red, white and blue but it is a kit I picked up in Williamsburg and what could be more American than Williamsburg?  I am resisting the urge to start something new.....I have a couple of new patterns that I really want to get my hands on but I am being firm.   I have two upcoming classes that are my driving force in keeping the resolve to not start anything new.  Afterall, two classes does mean two new projects.   Yes, I admit, diagnosis - Crafters ADD.

This is the first half of the pinkeep - stitched up fast

My progress this morning on side two

With everyone away and me home alone, I was been able to sneak in more minutes here and there of stitching time.   I work in the yard a couple of hours - wash up and take a stitching break for a half hour and then back to the yard work.   I convince myself that I am pacing myself so as to not become overwhelmed by the heat and humidity.  Oh we crafters do have a way with justifying our time spent and money spent on stash.  Feels like a perfect life to me.