Hello, Tuesday

OK, so I finished the hat for my MIL on Sunday, washed it, blocked it and let it dry yesterday. This afternoon, I'll wrap it, and this evening I'll give it to her. Maybe even get some pictures if she brought her camera. If not, I'll get a couple of shots with my phone before I wrap it and post those. The hat turned out really nice, I think, and I'm proud of it.

And then I thought about my kitchen.

I was thinking about cleaning up this morning and I think I've come up with some reasonable expectations of what I'd really like to get done in terms of cleaning up and trying to get more organized.

First, my house will never be perfect. It will be reasonably messy, considering I have three kids and a full time job and I just don't have that kind of time. Things will not always find their way back where they belong, and I'll still find sippies under the cabinet from last week. However, I do not need to hang on to every scrap of paper and it does good to get rid of things I don't use - I joined Freecycle for a reason, dammit. I was also a bit taken aback by the number of things in one cabinet that were expired or rotten. Cleaning is good, obsessing about cleaning is bad.

Second, it will never last. I will mop the floor and ten seconds later, a sippy will explode chocolate milk all over the kitchen. Spahgetti night will always resemble a crime scene. Legos and matchbox cars have a way of traveling as yet undiscovered by modern physicists. God, grant me the soap to clean up what I can, the right tone of eggshell to paint over what I can't, and the wisdom to know when I'm beat and just get rid of it before we move out.

Accepting these two givens, I have two goals. I want to get my kitchen in order. I want things I actually use on the top shelves, not just things I don't know where else they should go. I want a little room to be able to let Andy play with his crafty stuff out of reach of his sisters. I want some space to stow my work bag and set up a laptop and do a little work in relative peace and still keep an eye on the kids.

Second goal - get the basement to a point where I don't have a panic attack thinking about the utility room. Maybe even be able to find a project or two without having to unpack five boxes. Stop tripping over (and feeling guilty about) projects I didn't finish or crafts I'm not as into anymore.

I Know, It's Been Some Time ...

I've gotten out of the habit of updating and writing about my projects. This has led me back down the road to "my desk runneth over". While some of this madness has been fueled by birthday presents in progress and making sure I finish sweaters for the kids before they grow again, most of it has been just plain disorder and letting my needles (and hook!) run away with me. So, I'm kind of back where I started - a pile of unfinished work and that icky feeling in my stomach every time I pass my desk and its ever-growing pile of projects. (It's best not to remind me that I have a basement at this point, much less remind me what's down *there*)

Oh, and my camera died. Bah.

So, what's on my desk at the moment? Too much.

First, there's another birthday project - a colorwork hat for Jon's mom. She liked the one I made for Andy a couple years ago and asked for that for her birthday this year. Unfortunately, I didn't ask her what she wanted until last weekend, so I just started it and I have three days left to finish. I don't think it's going to be done in time (birthday celebration is Saturday, actual birthday is Tuesday) but it's what I'm working on until it's done.

For the kids, I've got matching hats to go with some super-cute sweaters I finished last month (the girls). Andy is getting his own version of the sweaters in green and brown and has asked for a hat as well, so that's next on the table after I get the birthday present out of the way.

*shiver* I haven't even considered the birthdays coming up - Jon's dad, Sarah, the girls. Or Christmas. Ack. Well, that'll be next then.

After that, I need to get rolling on the wedding present again. I restarted Sarah's shawl with smaller needles and I'm super-happy with the results so far, even if starting over did cost me a ton of lost work. The girls still need short sweaters to go over their dresses and I haven't really finalized the pattern for that yet. (I was hoping to replicate the Madeira lace pattern from the shawl in the body of some short cardigans for my ladies. We shall see ....)

Well, time to acknowledge the outside world and get on with things. Here's to hoping this is the start of me getting back on track and posting on a regular basis. (Once again, we shall see ...)