Halu-Halo

The B word

Sweet R, my almost 7-year-old, said the B word the other day.  Yep.

You should have seen how fast the room cleared of children, my older two boys whispering that "ooo, she's in trouble now..." as they ran up to their room.  They knew what was coming.

"What did you say?" I called from the kitchen.  

I waited for her response, to recant what she knew I knew she said.  

"I'm so bored!" She yelled back.(it really sounded more like "bo-hoar-edddd.") Sweet R was on her back, her arms outstretched, and was pushing herself across the floor using her feet.

Oh, dear internets, I almost came out of my skin. I bit my tongue, and even covered my mouth with my hand. My inner tiger mom wanted out.  I wanted to tell her about the struggles of immigrants and how the B word was not part their everyday life. I wanted to explain the meaning of Hustle, and how she was born of two people married to the concept. I wanted to pull up university college websites to show her that she has to conquer boredom to get there. Did she really want to be a clothing designer mogul? Then she couldn't be bored; in fact, she should be sketching and thinking of marketing strategies for the new generation of fashionistas.

And that wasn't all! 

But I kept it all inside of me. I let it all play in my head as she continued to push herself around in the kitchen, still on her back. I ate a couple of Hershey's kisses, and decided on a strategy.

I brought her to the table, and had her peel the paper off of old crayons.

And I started her official lesson regarding the word Boredom.

I told her that I didn't want to hear the B word in our house. In my opinion, there's no such thing as being bored, just the lack of imagination.

I told her that there is always something to make, to fix, and to dream about. So much that there is just enough room to rest in a day's 24 hours. 

I talked to her about the difference between rest/relaxation and being idle. 

And now that she is older, her awake hours shouldn't just be for fun, or just for her. She needed to help those around her. Like keeping her area clean, helping Mom with household chores, and playing with her little sister. Did she want to help other people outside of her family? (she nodded) I told her to make a plan for it.

 

grease tins with vegetable oil

250 degrees for about 10 minutes (or until it all melts)

 

I told her I would help her find things to do, if she was really stumped. But I wanted for her to come up with most of these ideas on her own. 

I said that if she felt like she needed ideas from me, she should say:

"Can you help me please?" or "What can I do next?"

not "Aaaa, I'm so bored," with an apathetic look on her face.

I told her to wipe that word out of her vocabulary.

What I didn't tell her was that, for me, Bored ranks in with others such as Stupid and Dumb, and the magic phrase of I Can't Do It.  These words, if said too often, becomes a state of mind. It won't happen under my roof, I tell you, as much as I can help it. 

My answers to those words are OF COURSE YOU CAN

                                                            GO FOR IT

                                                            TRY ANYWAY

(I say these words to myself everyday in front of my mirror, by the way. It starts from within.)

After an hour, and a bunch of homemade crayons later, I think she understood where I was coming from. 

My boys thought she got off pretty easy. Apparently their experience was a little more intense. :) But I'm hoping it worked nonetheless.

I hope you all have a great day!

Party On.

I like holidays. Whether they are real or made up, religious or otherwise.

Bring it, let's party.

And why not? There are many not so good things going on in the world. I don't waste my breath going against something that promotes good will among people. I don't even think twice.

Let's break out the chocolate and share it. Cut out an extra heart to give to a friend. Plan a phone call to someone I haven't spoken to in a while. 

These dates on the calender - they're just reminders. We all know that, right? Christmas, New Years, Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Halloween - each carries its own traditions that you could do at any time during the year, but we try to celebrate them on the day that at one time a group of people had agreed upon.  Each of these celebrations are highly commercialized, don't even get me started on the fiasco called Black Friday after the gratitude of Thanksgiving!

But poor Valentine's Day, the black sheep of all holidays, gets such a bad rap.  Why is that? 

Here's what I'm teaching my kids: We're celebrating it all. We should celebrate it all, because it's all good. I'm going to try to show them that it's all about how you celebrate it. Anyone can go overboard, and we are all guilty of being materialistic on certain holidays.  Heck, I bet some of us can even attest of being materialistic on a normal day. *ducks and cover*

Why blame the holiday? 

My family had its financial struggles growing up in this country when we emigrated in the 80's. Somehow, we still managed to party. Every Valentine's Day, my mother had a big red heart cut out from construction paper on our place setting for breakfast. On it, she wrote, "I love you. Happy Valentine's Day." 

She could have done it any day of the year. But it was Valentine's Day, and in her mind, there was nothing wrong with adding a little extra sugar to an already sweet day. All for a price of a piece of paper.

My lesson from that, which I hope I can pass on to my kids is this: Save your battles for the stuff that really makes the world a bad place to live in. Otherwise, party on. 

Today, I received my flowers from Hubby with great gratitude, and I cherished the handmade cards my kids gave me. In return, I promised to give them as many enormous and humble celebrations in life that I can.

Have a lovely night everyone!

 

 

 

To everything - turn, turn, turn

I do believe that I gravitate towards projects I really need.  That of all the Works In Progress I have sitting in my craft space, or laid out in front of me on my computer, I choose what I think is most therapeutic.

These last two weeks, it's been this:

Infinitude 

I used size 8 needles instead of the 9 it called, but it was the only long circ I had on hand that was large enough.  Yarn is Cestera, with the colorway Erica, dyed by KimberlyR. 

The picture above is at its full length...it actually reaches below my waist.

This is Infinitude doubled:

There is a season - turn, turn, turn

And above: tripled

This was a wonderful pattern.  Just enough texture to give the cowl interest, but not too complicated that I couldn't get lost in the stitches.  

It brought me just enough zen so I could enjoy my family circling around me, enough challenge so I could have a conversation with my husband, and just enough silence so that I could hear myself think.

I modified the pattern a bit to I took out some of the repeats in the end.  I only had one skein of Erica, and I was intent on using as much of the 220 yards the skein promised.

I'm proud to say that I only left two yards unused.  

Life is so much about knits and purls, and the dips and bumps they create.  Patterns call for purposeful eyelets and cables, and yet sometimes there are those unmistakable holes and missed stitches.  But so long as we recover from these - increasing a stitch here and there, K2Tog, or even just grabbing our darning needle and sewing the hole closed - the garment will still come to be, as imperfect as it should be.   And that modifications in the prescribed pattern is completely allowed, but getting the most out of your pattern, and the yarn that you have is what counts.

I wear it in comfort.  

And a time for every purpose, under heaven

 

p.s...for those in your wonderful 40's...do your yearly mammograms! It will save your life!

p.p.s...please keep my friend in mind.  She lost her two nephews yesterday.