Friday, June 27, 2008

So busy! Words just can't convey it. I'm treading water with everything going on but the important thing is I haven't sunk below the water. yet. There is just so much to do with the business and family activities that it is hard not to feel completely overwhelmed all of the time.

For my own sanity I have been doing a little bit of knitting. On Tuesdays I can sneak in a little while I'm waiting on children in gymnastics or swimming. There is no knitting at t-ball as it is a full time job just to keep my little boy in the correct location on the field and tell him what to do.

I've been plugging away on the two-at-a-time socks and they're coming along very nicely. Since I've become completely compulsive about counting the stitches each time I finish a row on each sock and I double check that my yarn isn't twisted things are going well. I've been tempted to stop by Twist several times and pick up more yarn but I want to get these finished and then finish/work on other projects I already have ready to go. I'm such a downer, huh?

>>cue Debbie Downer music, "Wah, Wah, Wahhhhh"<<

In addition to the socks I've also been designing a baby hat. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would "design" a pattern. And by design a pattern I mean that I had a picture in my head and went and found similar elements and cut/pasted/adjusted math and made my own pattern.

I wanted a ruffled brim so I found a pattern with a cute ruffle and noted how they decreased to make that happen and did the same thing in my pattern with different weight yarn and a different number of stitches. I then looked and looked for a lace pattern that I liked and finally settled on one that I liked. I'm working my way up the hat and will soon be decreasing. I'm anxious to see it finished and hope that it will actually fit on a real baby's head. Time shall tell.

In completely unrelated news I'm sitting on a secret that is killing me! It's a surprise for tonight and I can't hardly contain my excitement. Wheee!!!

Now I better get back to actual work so that my next post isn't all about how I started sobbing in the middle of the grocery store because I'm too overwhelmed by everything...

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Can't. move. my. neck.

My pillows are conspiring against me. For many, many months now I've slept with two pillows at night very comfortably. Until Monday morning. I woke up very sore and figured I must have slept funny that night. Yesterday morning I woke up and was even more uncomfortable. I decided it was my pillows so I swapped mine for my husband's (he didn't know. it was a scientific analysis. totally was.) This morning I can't turn my head from side to side and am oh so sore. Of course this is also the day I have several photo shoots and will have my heavy camera around my neck as well. ::sigh:: We're going to flip the mattress and try new pillows. Hopefully that will work.

Until then I'm popping ibuprofen and counting down the hours until I'm home tonight and can have a martini...

Friday, June 20, 2008

Hee Hee

The other day my oldest daughter was putting some fish fillets in the oven for lunch for her, her brother and sister. My little four year old boy ran over and asked her what she was cooking. "Fish Fillets," she said. He then ran to the living room and said, "Daddy! We're having Fish Legs for lunch!"

The new name has caught on and we now only refer to them as Fish Legs...

Thursday, June 19, 2008

This morning I was working on my computer and decided to play some music. I scrolled through all the cds in the cd player and decided to listen to one I hadn't played in years. I was happily working away and humming along when I was completely caught off guard. One of the last songs to play was a song we had at our wedding 13 years ago.

Hearing the lyrics today brought tears to my eyes as I look back over all we've been through since that day in May when we stood before our friends, family and God and promised to love each other for better or worse. We've held each other while we've grieved over the death of dear grandparents. We've cried with joy over the birth of our three children. We've slammed doors and yelled at each other and we've laughed until we've cried. I couldn't have predicted all we've been through or where we have yet to go but I'm so glad to have that wonderful man hold my hand as we walk through life.

The song isn't well known but I loved the lyrics then and I still do now...

There's No Remedy for Love
Susan Ashton

There's no remedy for love
Nothing can change the way I feel
I'm hopelessly head over heels
For worse or for better
There's no remedy for love
But I'd have it no other way
The symptoms are clear, I'm yours
For now and forever
There's no remedy for love

Caught up in the concept of your kisses
Of the Mr. and the Mrs.
Of the steps our love is taking here

I'm lost in the magic and the mystery
In our own small part of history
Our hearts have started making here

And I know there'll be no cure for me
But what sweet malady

There's no remedy for love
Nothing can change the way I feel
I'm hopelessly head over heels
For worse or for better
There's no remedy for love
But I'd have it no other way
The symptoms are clear, I'm yours
For now and forever
There's no remedy for love
There's no remedy for love

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Wow. It is BUSY around here!

Can't remember the last time I posted and right now I only have 12 minutes to get this post done before I have to leave the house to pick up a kid at the pool. Summer is keeping us really busy. Due to various swimming activities the kids are involved with I have to leave my house SIX times each morning going to and from to drop off/pick up kids. Then each kid is involved in a summer sport. Couple that with regular summer busy days (Father's day, Memorial Day, family birthdays, etc.) and my busiest time of the business year and it's verging on completely over scheduled and overwhelmed.

I am surviving and things aren't going too badly. I was ahead of my work and I'm just starting to slip and fall a tad behind so I see some late nights in my future to get caught back up.

Knitting hasn't been getting much attention so far I'm managing to have one brief knitting session each Tuesday while I'm at kid's sporting events. Usually about the time that I'm in a knitting rhythm family members arrive and I spend the time visiting with them. I'm not ashamed of my knitting, if it were a different knitting project I'd definitely keep it going while I visited. However, these are the socks of doom that I seem to screw up when I'm concentrating on them. I can't imagine how badly I'd mess them up if I tried to work on them and carry on a conversation. I think the reason I keep messing up is that I get going too fast on them. I'm finally making good forward progress on them and ::crossing fingers:: hope to have them finished up by the end of the summer. Normally this wouldn't take so long but with my limited knitting time it's really stretching out how long it will take.

Other cool things I've come across lately:

Birthdays Without Pressure
Several years ago we decided the birthday parties were really much more of a pain than they were enjoyable. We changed our plans and now have family only birthday parties with immediate family and grandparents. Before the family party we always go out to eat at Red Robin (per the kids request) which has become a tradition. Then we go back home for the family party. The focus is family oriented and we have presents, cake & ice-cream and much more relaxed and enjoyable. Each child also gets a little "mini-party". They choose 1 or 2 friends and I take them out for a meal at a restaurant and one fun activity. It's much more enjoyable for everyone involved. I spend slightly less than a regular birthday party but that's not the goal. The kids can actually enjoy the parties because they aren't overwhelmed with too many kids, too many presents, too much noise, etc. This has been a great change for our family and I was surprised to see an entire website devoted to the same subject.

Smugmug
I LOVE Smugmug! I've been wanting a way to share pictures with friends and family that would allow them to easily see the photos (not having to wade through my business website by using passwords to keep my family pics private from my customers), order photos if they wanted but one that also looked beautiful. Smugmug does it all. They have a great set up which is free and you can go in and with some extra work and coding make a beautiful site. I spent a few days making it just like I wanted and I love it now. Unlimited storage, complete customization, it's the best! Check it out.

I better run, time to go back to the pool to pick up a kid!

Happy Summer!