I want to do it all.

It's been a while since my last post. There are a few reasons for that. One is that there are some external stressors in my life that I tend to over-react to. Or, maybe appropriately react, but either way, I go off the deep end from time to time. Really, these stressors don't directly affect my life much, other than on an emotional level, so I am working my way through dealing with it. (vague much?)

Another reason for the lack of posting is I've been caught up in routine. Well, sort-of. From the outside, my life may seem far from routine. But it happens just the same. 

Oh, and then there's the fact that April happened. April is birthday month for both the Mr and I. That could mean awesome-fun-celebration month, or, as is usually the case with us, Broke Month. Along with having the car registrations and state inspections for 2 cars, April is tax time. As a self-employed mom who is married to a regular-job guy filing joint taxes, the whole "return" concept gets a bit dicey. We did get a return this year, but a slim one. April also happens to be when my business liability insurance comes due. Somehow, the bill was missed and I discovered I'd been without insurance for a week and a half. Oops. Oh, and there's the spring tire change that has to happen. (cha-ching) So, see why I haven't been posting. This financial crap is boring. With all those expenses for April, we decided to put our intense saving for Euro-trip 2012 on hold. It's just one month, and we intend to catch-up in the next 3.

Today, I am taking a sick day, as I caught some odd tummy bug over the weekend. It was pretty epic, actually, as I drank a little wine at a baby shower and got ill all over the front yard at my friend's house. It looked like I was an extreme lush, but as it turns out, I've got a nasty bug, cause it's still with me today. (OK guys, you can call off the intervention! It's a tummy bug!) 

This sick day is allowing me some time I wouldn't have otherwise taken to assess my life & day to day routines. It seems I'm once again over-extended. I'm currently serving on 2 boards of directors, working as a massage therapist, teaching a Yoga class, being a mom, newly taking Aikido classes, aspiring to mountain bike all summer (I mean, I just got a new bike seat), taking road trips all over New England (Burlington, Portland, Boston), Planning more road trips (Montreal, anyone?), Planting a garden, becoming a runner, I could go on...

What's being neglected? My house, obviously. This place is pretty trashed with kids' toys and paperwork and laundry. My husband, likely. He's not a complainer, so I have to be more aware of these things. My health- usually I get sick when I'm overextended, so I should listen to that. 

Here's the rub: I genuinely WANT to do all the things I'm doing, plus more. I want to go rock climbing more this summer. I want to paddle the rivers and lakes around here. I want to make some great Yoga videos to share all over the internets. I want to re-design my web page. That thing hasn't gotten any love in a very long time. 

I suppose I'm lucky, or blessed, or smart. I'm just plain glad that I really do enjoy my life and all the things I'm doing. It's just got to be about priorities for me right now. I'm not big on list-making but this may be just the occasion for it. It's great to want to do many things, but it could be time for me to plant my feet on the ground and prioritize, deciding what gets left in the dust, or, better yet, manage my time so I can do ALL things. 

Sick Days Mean Crafty Days

I've recently developed a serious Pinterest addiction. The concept is simple: you get an account, you "pin" images and videos that inspire you in some way, you create "pin boards" to organize that stuff you like, you never look at those images again. 

Well, that's what I imagine most pinners do. Not this gal. I store those little projects away for a rainy day. Or a sick day. Or a I'm-feeling-cheap-but-need-to-get-a-gift-for-a-friend day. This past weekend, I happened to be sick. Pretty lame, as I had plans, but c'est la vie. I spent much of Saturday pinning crafty stuff to maybe do some day, and Sunday was a crafty day. I couldn't bear to have a sick day in looking out the windows at the bluebird day we were having. (Fresh snow Friday and Saturday followed by gorgeous blue sky Sunday) Of all the weekends to be stuck in sick, this was the worst! So I sequestered myself in the basement with my sewing machine. 

I did some simple, simple projects that were mostly Pinterest inspired. I took apart 2 sweaters that I shrunk or otherwise ruined in some way. Here's highlights from my favorite one.

My Smartwool sweater here- before I shrunk felted the darn thing in the wash. I was at a pottery class a couple years back:

So, I cut the sleeves off and cut a little slit for my heel. Now I own some warm wooly Yoga socks. Easiest project ever. 

There was a bit of fabric up by the neck hole area that lent itself well to being converted to a pair of fingerless gloves. I'm not sure if they will make me look like a bum, but I will wear them anyway - likely when I go running on cool days or when I want to be able to use my iphone without taking off my regular gloves. 

 With the body of the sweater, I made this really sweet pillow. I think the bows make it handsome. 

I'm taking today off for good measure. Just making sure I'm 100% better before getting back to work. 

What do you do with your sick days?

couch arrest.

Hey. I'm down on the couch for the day. Say what you will about Netflix, their instant play feature has saved me from hours of torturous daytime television.
I'll spare you the details of my state of blah, and instead share a photo of my 4 year old picking up some stuff she broke:

SMKR, Eat your heart out.