8/27/10

Today will be a good day

It will! IT WILL!! And, anybody that can't get in line with that can...well...get far away. It's been a hard week as a parent. It's been a hard week at work. I fully intend to leave after my last meeting of the day and go home to play with my fabric and make myself happy and get some quilting done. That's that.

The first week of school is always hard. There's the constant paperwork that comes home to be completed and signed and everybody wants money; money for a locker, money for a shirt, money for lunch, money for a yearbook, school photo, pta membership...you name it, they've tapped me out. Poor Sydney has had to pay several of them in quarters because I ran out of cash and was just too darn busy to stop at an ATM.

Last night, after the fourth day of school and the fourth night of arguing, trying to get a straight story out of the child about some crisis she's come home and announced (or created), I ended up with 10 minutes of me time. TEN! That was between finishing the dishes and flossing my teeth and meant I got to bed 10 minutes late. I used it to finish a row in that afghan I showed yesterday.

I know that this will pass. She'll get adjusted to providing the facts, without all the drama. I'll get adjusted to the loss of my alone time. Everything will be fine.

But in the meantime, I'm fantasizing about loading my treadle machine, my fabric stash, the good silver and my china, some clothes, a set of sheets, some warm quilts, a wind up clock, and my oil lamps into the car and driving up a mountain and building a cabin. I'll drop my wallet in a trash bin along the way and live "off the grid". Just me, eating what I can find and grow, selling quilts to make money for sugar and coffee. No homework, no real work, no housework except what I want to do.

Me, a sewing machine, and some fabric.

Oh, and I'll give Rob visitation priviledges because I like him being around. But, he'll have to bring his own food.

Okay, that's the fantasy, but the reality is that I just need some time to wind down.

And, don't you just love my priorities? Silver and china, not hatchets and hammers. Okay, so maybe that fantasy needs some work. But it doesn't have to make sense unless I try to move it from fantasy to reality and I don't see that happening.

---------
On another note, those applique blocks I shared yesterday were not made by my mentor. Someone sent them to her and she sent them to me. So, no guilt about pulling stitches and replacing them and no guilt about turning those yo-yo flower centers over and using the other side.

Take care and have a great weekend. If I don't finish quilting a quilt this weekend, it will be because someone died...not saying how, just that if they get in the way, they might accidentally expire from something horrific. Hammers and hatchets, oh my.

Lane

8 comments:

Hazel said...

I can relate my week has been the same ,the up and downs are driving me crazy .I know this to will pass but darn it seems to be taking a long time .I'm always telling my hubby I would love to go way up north here in Canada and live off the land .We can dream but reality is we will get through this and once again enjoy our family ,job , etc .Chin up your not the only one fighting these battles but I love the comical way you go about voicing it .

Sunshine said...

I love your priorities too, they're hilarious! My guess is you wouldn't survive the first winter even if you had a hammer and a hatchet... the quilts would be soggy after the first rain ;) But hey, I'm only raining on your reality here, as a fantasy, it's way up there in my rankings (plus, I'd love to see the search and rescue people's faces when they find you wrapped into soggy quilts, collecting rain water in fine china and keeping off wildlife with the silver forks!

I also dream of hermit life every so often, but that darn rationality tells me I couldn't survive it, don't have enough outdoor skills when they can't live off a shop that sells all the gear for it...

How about locking the door to your quilt room, putting in the earplugs and letting the earth spin on for a while? Just pretend you're not there when there's a knock on the door? Leave the dishes for the next day/someone else? Ah, well, advice giving is easy!

Good luck with the quilt!

Unknown said...

Lane, we must be related in some form or fashion. I would get the silver, chine and crystal first also! I would also grab the sewing machine, fabric, knitting etc. I might grab a bar of soap and some shampoo also, but other than that, not much else. Sometimes I envy people who go to work and have others to chat with and then I read posts like yours and feel lucky to have alone time. Although, I must admit, too much alone time is not good either. I guess we always want what we can't have. Hope you have a grand weekend!

Shirley said...

I know exactly what you're talking about Lane. I share what my therapist told me many years ago, when my kids were in school. It really helped me because I knew there was an end in sight. The first two weeks of school and the first two weeks of summer vacation are hell on parents. When school ends for the year so do the routines that they've followed for 10 months. It was hard for me to change the routine too. I was used to them being gone and they were used to having their day laid out for them. The first two weeks back are the same. They're used to the laid back summer looser routine and the switch back is really difficult for both of us too - making sure they have what they need in the way of clothes and shoes,back to making lunches, getting them up on time and out the door, making sure they do they homework and remember to take back all the paperwork, etc. So there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Knowing that saved my sanity - well what sanity I have anyway. I love your dream. It's a healthy one. Dreams like that can reduce stress. My therapist told me I always need to keep my "quiet place". Mine is sitting on the couch, all by myself, reading a book beside the fire and listening to the even rhythm of my mantle clock.

Becky said...

Hang in there, Lane, you are right....it will get better. Hum a tune in your head to block out the din of distress! Maybe a little South Pacific....

Happy talk, keep talking happy talk,
Talk about things you'd like to do,
You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?

Have a great weekend!!! Love ya! Becky

Shay said...

Sorry Lane, but you're just heading into the start of teen angst drama territory. You probably have years of it left yet.

You need to build that cabin, stock it up and hunker down against the storms!

I found what worked for me was "taking" time to do things I enjoyed even if that meant I didnt do the housework, or other things.

P.S. I wanted to run away from home daily between 2005- 2008.

Elizabeth said...

All the paperwork that comes home from school drives me mad. I find that the laundry and dishes will always be there and sometimes a little therapeutic sewing is the best cure. Hope you get a lot of 'therapy' in this weekend and can't wait to see the pictures!

xo -E

Vesuviusmama said...

I love your fantasy! I have it myself more often than I like to admit.