Friday, December 16, 2005

Help me!

Why is it that I'm incredibly busy all day long and yet never seem to get anything done? Even on the days when Owen naps most of the afternoon and Sydney is glued to the electronic babysitter. I don't get it. Perhaps it's because I'm obsessed with swatching right now? I can't get enough of it! It's crazy.

I know you're all tired of hearing about what a bad blogger I've been, but just to give you an example, I opened up Bloglines today to find that I have 333 unread posts. I adore blogging and reading everybody's blogs and commenting, but it's such a colossal time sucker! I tend to do everything in cycles, so I was obsessed with blogging for awhile, and now I'm obsessed with swatching. It will come full circle one of these days, and I'll be back to blogging and be avoiding swatching at all costs.

I am going to take a little break from being crazy swatch lady for a little while and concentrate on getting those *#$&(*@ felted clogs done. That is my one goal for this weekend (along with getting the Knit Net pattern written up, and getting swatches for three different pubs written up and mailed off...). Ha! We still have to get our Christmas tree, and I've got a bit of shopping to do as well. One thing that Bill's family has taught me, though, is that it's okay (and even pretty fun) to go shopping on Christmas Eve day. It will be a little different now that we're all in Portland in our own houses, but it was sort of a tradition when we'd visit them in Eugene to all go to the mall on Christmas Eve day and run around shopping for each other all afternoon. We'd go to all these great lengths to avoid letting anyone else see the bags from the stores we'd gone to.

This year I've done all of my shopping (so far) on the internet. I got Bill the best present ever, which he's never going to guess. I originally thought of giving him a video iPod, after we watched the most recent episode of The Office, but he guessed that that was what I was getting him so I had to resort to something else. I'd link it here so the rest of you could see it and have a little chuckle, but right now I don't trust him not to click the link. He's dying to find out what it is. Sydney, the lucky girl, is getting a wooden Thomas train set that the whole family is chipping in for. They are ridiculously expensive, but I'm hoping it will keep her occupied for hours and will be passed on to her brother when he gets old enough. It will probably be worth the investment, and it will sure beat a gazillion little plastic toys that she'll play with for five minutes and then toss aside. Love that short attention span.

In a recent about-face, I've decided that I don't want another kid. Two seems to be plenty right now. I reserve the right to change my mind again, but right now I'm just tired of being a full-time servant and jungle gym. I want my life back! There are two big reasons for this change of opinion that have just dawned on me in the past week or so (don't ask my why it's taken this long - sleep deprivation, maybe?). The first is private school tuition. Back when I was obsessed with having three or four kids, we hadn't yet discovered how wonderful Sydney's school is. I really, really, REALLY want her to go there through 8th grade (and Owen as well). We can probably swing sending two kids to private school, but not three. The second is the strengthening desire to want my life and my body back! Sydney has really started to grow into a little girl. This is something that has really come about in the past couple months (really since she started preschool), and it's so fun to watch her start to use her imagination, make conceptual leaps and apply knowledge. It gives me an idea of what it will be like when both the kids have stopped being like puppies and started being more like little people. When we take her places, she can really enjoy them now. Once Owen is at that point, too, we'll actually be able to do things that WE enjoy rather than building a block tower and knocking it down 20,000 times in one afternoon. We'll see what happens, but that vision of having grown-up, independent children and no babies is like a mirage in the desert - it's oh so tantalizing!

All right, it's time to get sketching. Got to get those subs out so they don't get lost in the holiday mail rush! Actually, I think I'm going to go knit some clog and watch the Apprentice finale. I was rooting for Randall, but he's kind of lost it lately. I think Rebecca might actually take it. Or, I should say, have taken it, since it's already happened. Don't spoil it for me!

6 Comments:

Blogger Jennifer said...

I have to agree with you on two kids being enough. Now that my youngest is 16 months, I'm having so much fun with them both, I don't want another infant.

3:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can see where you would be happy with two kids. Pretty soon they will start entertaining each other, which may or may not end in disaster at times...
I'm so happy that you're going places with your designs and will be thrilled to see them as well!
I actually just finished the first sketches of a design which I hope to get published somewhere, hopefully IK. It may be a long shot for the first design submission, but what the heck! I'm going to pour my heart into it and see what I get.
ps, Thanks for the link! I think you're the first to link to me! Yay!

7:02 PM  
Blogger Sonya said...

Coming from a woman with no children, 2 seems like a good number. My husband always says if we win the lottery we could adopt lots of kids. I always say let's adopt one and see how it goes. I know what you mean about blogs being a time sucker. Thoroughly enjoyable, but time consuming.

7:07 PM  
Blogger chris said...

We're still hemming and hawing about whether we want another one, for many of the same reasons you mentioned. I think I really would like one more, but the thought of being pregnant and caring for another infant while dealing with the Dynamic Duo pretty much blows my mind. Caring for two is already a LOT of work, and as it is now, sooo much already falls by the wayside. I'm wondering how much rarer baths would become if we had three. Then again, I think about how much I loved growing up in a large family, and all those arguments go out the window. ;-) Lucky Sydney! Bossy would kill for a Thomas set! That's a great idea to have the family split the cost..wish I'd thought of that sooner, as that would've been the perfect gift. It'll definitely get a lot of years of love and wear. Take care! :-)

1:39 AM  
Blogger Karen said...

Whoa, 333 unread posts?? I'm guessing you'll just clear them out and start from scratch when you have time? I find if I try to read and comment on 20 or so, I glaze over by the end and don't even want to read any more posts. (I read my favorite blog pals posts first!!) I love the tradition of Christmas Eve Shopping you had - it sounds so fun and festive. My mom and I would sometimes go on Christmas Eve - she always has her shopping done by Thanksgiving (grr) and thought it was fun to go soak up the atmosphere with no pressure to buy. I, of course, always had a bunch of shopping to finish!! I hear you on the "more kids" thing - Pea and I do want a family, but it's so hard to figure out when to start one. I think of how drastically our lives will change and I'm not sure I'm ready. Then I think of all the wonderful things, and I think I am!!

6:43 AM  
Blogger Jen said...

Thanks for the thoughts on children. I've been waffling a bit about whether I'd want to have any at all and just reading about your observations of Sydney growing into a real little person with her own personalities and thoughts makes me want to think some more about it. Everyone says it's the most rewarding thing you can do, but it sounds so DANG SCARY!

If I don't get around to commenting again, happy holidays and I look forward to when you come back around to blogging!

9:14 PM  

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