Is it the memory that goes first?

It has been a fabulous week with family here.....and today the last of my childen went out the door for her drive home.    Now I will worry for the next 6 and half hours while she is on the road.   It is not like things can't happen at other times but driving at 65 (or 70 mph) does seem to accelerate your probability shall we say. 

A surprise Christmas present - my son - we thought he wouldn't be home for the holidays because of work but he and his family made it!

So to the memory part, in my mind's eye, as I was assembling and listing my WIP's for 2012, I am remembering I have all but finished the stitching for my Petite Sampling Etui....so sure was I that I never took it out of the storage case I had it in.......maybe it was the fact that it was a BAP that I felt I was 198% complete........well, here is where the memory kind of fails.

The top section, which is the last section I need to complete, is not 98% complete although the overall project is probably is 98% complete.   This was about a year's worth of stitching devoted to just one project and that is not me....I am Side Track Robin who gets easily pulled off task.  Why is this a big deal??   I am going on a Camp Wannasew Retreat on the 13th of January and had planned on working on the finishing while there.   This finishing is one of those tasks that will best not interrupted by phone calls, pop in visitors or the need to cook dinner and make beds.  I thought the retreat would be a good time to concentrate on it. 

Here are the four sides and then the bottom and the top.  We did it as a SAL and had two months for each side.  It was a guild project in 2010 and now I MUST assemble it before Ellen Chester comes to teach at our guild in April.   I think if I concentrate on this stitching project and not let me Stitchers ADD interfere, I can finish this up with no problem before the 13th.   The pressure is on.......oh wait, not putting pressure on myself is supposed to be one of my New Year's Resolutions....again the memory has failed.
 


Here's some of my brood taking naps. Even Troy, the puppy.  Yes, the girls all got matching pj's.   Santa spirited these under the tree magically on Christmas Eve.

The family being here was great and everyone helped with food prep and meals and dishes but I did feel like I was stationed at the kitchen sink forever.  It was so nice to enjoy each others company and sleeping arrangements were a challenge since one bedroom is now a craftroom and another bedroom is now a walk-in closet.   We had a dormatory set up with cots, double futon and Aero beds.  But again the memory failed......at the amount of toilet paper a full house needs!   Not that there was ever a doubt I would run out, but I did hear more than once, "we're out of TP upstairs"..... family, got to love them!