One day down...so many things to do

I accomplished something today. I finished the crocheted baby blanket. I can't go to the shower on Saturday because I have to go to my niece's birthday party. So today the kiddies and I ventured an hour north to my hometown to visit my parents and drop off the present. Mind you, the blanket wasn't done when we arrived. I worked on it yesterday like a madwoman every spare moment I could find. When I went to bed last night, an hour and a half past when I should have been in bed, I had just started adding a round of single crochet around the edge to use to build my ruffle.

All day long at my parents' house, I crocheted and crocheted. The problem with a ruffled edge is that your mind thinks each side should take as long as all the other rows, but it takes twice as long because you do two stitches in each single stitch. It's very discouraging. I toiled and toiled while my parents entertained Baby Girl and watched Sweet Pea sleep. My goal was to leave their house at 5:30. I finished weaving in the ends at 5:28. Needless to say, we left a little late but the blanket is done! Check one off the list.

Crocheted Baby Blanket

Finished size: 32" x 42"

Yarn: Caron Perfect Match, Lilac

Pattern: My own making of (many) rows of triple crochet with a round of single crochet followed by a round of triple crochet ruffle made by crocheting two triple crochet in each stitch with three stitches in each corner stitch. It's a plain, utilitarian blanket that will be warm and snuggly come next winter.

Busy, busy

It's been so busy around the house lately. To re-cap the last week:

1. Planned and executed one Elmo birthday party for my Baby Girl who's no longer a baby but a 2 year old little girl (Smashing good time was had by all!)

2. Spent countless hours at school doing things that I shouldn't have to do because I'm on maternity leave but there I was and at least they're done

3. Discovered that my project for graduate school was much larger and difficult than anticipated and spend many, many hours working on it

4. Stared longingly at my craft supplies as I sadly put them away in preparation for the party

5. Stressed over my broken refrigerator which went out last Thursday and remains broken even now (argh to Sears repair! you're most unhelpful)

6. Slept... oh, wait...not much



I feel very tired right now and a more than a little weary. The weight of the coming week or so is baring down upon me heavily. The rest of this week and next week are all that remain of my maternity leave and then things will become so much more hectic. I have this horrible feeling of disappointment like it's the end of the summer and I haven't accomplished anything. I knew that maternity leave wasn't going to be full of free time but I did have a few things I wanted to do and I haven't really done any of them. So, in the interest of making myself feel better, here's a list of my goals for the next 11.5 days:



1. Sew Baby Girl a cushion for her rocking chair

2. Make Sweet Pea a tote bag to take to the babysitter's house

3. Make Sweet Pea some new bibs and burp cloths

4. Catch up on laundry (I'm ashamed to say there are things in my laundry room that have been there for months because they're not essential to everyday life. I should work on those. It's embarrassing.)

5. Finish a sewing project that I started for a co-worker many moons ago when I had no children (note that Baby Girl just turned 2; it's a very neglected project)

6. Finish a crocheted baby blanket (uh oh... the shower is Saturday...I might want to work on that sooner rather than later in the week)

7. Make a couple of other tote bags I've got knocking around my brain.

8. Finish Sweet Pea's crocheted carrot rattle that was supposed to be for Easter (missed that one, didn't I?)

9. Pull out Baby Girl's old clothes and see what would work for Sweet Pea. Wash any that I think will be good for her and the season.

10. Plan meals for when I go back to work and do some prep work that can be frozen to help me out when I get home at five, two kiddies in tow, tired and behind on everything

11. Sew in the ends of my knit dishclothes that have been done for at least a year and never had the ends sewn in so we can actually use them (Side note: I love using handknit dishclothes. Have you ever tried one? They're amazingly good at scrubbing gunk. I knitted half a dishcloth while I was in labor with Sweet Pea. It helped me get through some of the stress of the day when my induction started to go wrong. Knitting dishclothes clears my mind and helps me focus.)

12. Just reminded myself, sew in the ends of dishcloth knitted during labor and send to midwife who thought that it was so great that I was knitting during labor

13. Finish up thank you notes and mail

14. Begin working on Mother's Day presents (Oh, I have the best idea for those. I'm taking the grandchildren's handprints and turning them into flowers using cloth. I'll explain the process more when I've actually started the bags.)



I think I better stop the list. It's getting out of control just like everything else in my life lately. There's more I could add but with two children, a husband, graduate school, and the end of maternity leave approaching, it's unlikely that I'll even finish what I've written so far.



To end, I leave you with an amusing story. Last Sunday morning at breakfast, Baby Girl is chattering on about her Happy To Day party. We're reminding her of all the things we did, the presents she received, etc. She says, : "Nata. 'Member? Elmo broken."
Yes, Baby Girl. Elmo is indeed broken, but wasn't it fun?