W.O.W.

What O Week!!!
Hello; Hello! Get ready; I've got some venting to do, it's a long one!
There is always so much going on! How do we all manage? How do you manage?
Really, please comment on how you manage with the busy-ness that is life in the twenty-first century?
A lot happened this week. (are you getting that?) The kids finally had a full week of school; so I got to go to my yoga class on Monday, found out that there was a meeting that I was supposed to go to on Tuesday, but I wasn't going to be able to go to(more about that soon :o); so they changed it to Thursday. Monday night while making dinner I grabbed a frying pan by the handle that had just come out of the oven; the kids have never heard me scream like that (actually came running to see what happened) and all I could think was, "I need to knit my sock!" It's o.k. I can still knit.
Tuesday, I was supposed to take my cat, Thursday, in for a recheck for a skin issue that she's been having...moved that appointment to Thursday.
(hehe Thursday appointment for Thursday please)
Still Tuesday; my husband gets a flat tire --- I mean pancake flat--- even before he gets out of the driveway; not a good start for papa = not a good start for all of us!
Warm weather mean lots of melting; means lots of water; means lots of flooding! Our business is being flooded and my husband is dealing with a 14"-16" of water flood!!!
Yea, he's happy.
I'm skipping to Wednesday now, but there will be more about Tuesday.
Wednesday, back to my relaxation group; having a little trouble focusing on relaxing due to Tuesday! We got some troubling news about some of the members of our group and that weighs heavily on us. Did some errands before going home to make an especially nice dinner (try to make up for Tuesday); get everything prepped and simmering before taking the kids off to their respective dance classes, which is really about a two/two and a half hour driving loop! Enjoyed a lovely dinner --- that EVERYONE liked!!
And then, it's Thursday.
First, the one hour meeting, went for two. More errands with less time, but I'm already in town; so I want to get as much done as I can while I'm there!
Now here's where I start to loose it. I get home with precious little time to check emails and then take the cat to the vet. I had to wait a lot longer that I had anticipated for the vet, but waiting is just a part of life (and I had a magazine and some knitting with me). I come home and ask the children (for the fourth day in a row) to do a job (that their father had asked them to do the day before as well) and yea, they're too busy right now with homework and snacking. Can't argue with homework and it's not a one man job. And I'm pooped; hit the wall (and then the couch) for a few minutes. The children have finished their snacking and reading and go to the computer. Well, I'm done.
I've asked, I've reminded, I've pointed out, I've threatened and I've explained. I've used old fashioned parenting techniques and I've tried new fangled, touchy feely, tree hugging techniques and I seem to be the only one getting upset; even if the task eventually gets done---I feel rotten!
So tonight it's a time management life lesson.
We were supposed to attend Literacy Night at the school Thursday evening. I was looking forward to it. The kids were looking forward to it. It sounded neat. I blew off knitting to go to Literacy Night at the school!!!!!
There are jobs to be done and there are parents to be respected and listened to; if those two things, as a minimum, can't be completed; then the good stuff can't happen either!!!!
I scream and yell and nag ALL THE TIME about getting them to THEIR activities; they're 8 and 11...show me you want to go!
Sigh. Am I expecting too much? (The thought has been pointed out to me.)
Their father comes home and with one calm statement they are up and doing just what he told them; no whining, no complaining, no arguing, no negotiating; just moving.
GRRRRRRR!!!!!!
So, they complete part of the job and then are distracted (I know, it's a kid thing; actually it's a mom thing too) It's pointed out to them that they still need to complete the FIRST job (o.k., it was cleaning up dog poo) and that it was too late to go to Literacy Night now.
Moan, whine, complain, but NOT EVEN CLOSE to the extent that I get it!!!! Later on there were tears, but the evening was done. And while I remembered my brother's birthday, I didn't get my act together at a decent time for everyone to call and wish him Happy Birthday. :o( Let me put it on public record that I thought about, and wished for my brother, K to have a Happy Birthday -- You Old Bag of Dirt! (Yea, he's younger than me).
Do you think the kids'll get it? Suggestions?
Today there's a Dance-a-thon at school and when asked if they wanted me to come?
They said, "No".
I showed them how I could dance and shake my 'bootee' for them; gasp, horror; disbelief!!!!
My son said, just stay home and knit.
I love my kids. I really do. They just wear me out; hello? A mother and not worn out? Yea, that's reality.

So I've talked about Tuesday quite a bit. Tuesday was a 'sanity regainer 'day. A, 'you are still a person, who can have fun your own way' kind of day; 'Dance Like No one's Watching' kind of day.
It was the Yarn Harlot's Book Launch day. It was the day to take the sock that you're knitting, (because even if we don't knit socks, we all want to), and take pictures of your sock with various Toronto landmarks for a Scavenger hunt; with prizes to be awarded at the book launch Tuesday evening. Just plain Knitting Tomfoolery, I tell you, Tomfoolery!!
I had chosen to work on a sock, not one that was already in progress, (oh no, that would make too much sense), but at least it was one from the Creative Plan for 2008!
And to start the day, the sock needs coffee.

Toronto has, historically, scared me. Getting there scared me. People there scared me. Not knowing where I was, scared me. And having spent a fair amount of time over the past two years in hospitals having not so pleasant things done to/for me; well, I had some mixed feelings.
Actually I was fed up with being scared and wanted to take something back!
Last May, my mother and I went down for an appointment at Princess Margaret Hospital, but this time I decided to make an outing of it. We got a hotel room. We went to some nice places to eat. We visited The Textile Museum and we found a Dollhouse Store. Stuff like that can only be found in a bustling, huge city! We people watched. Yea, we did what we had to do too, but mostly it was a gorgeous spring day and it was nice to finally be there enjoying what the city had to offer and not just put up with what they could do for me.
Since then I've maneuvered the city on my own quite a few times and feel more empowered than ever. It's not gonna beat me! I'm gonna take from it!!
You know what the city has? It has maps. It has nice, friendly people that will help you find your way and...

hold your sock for a photo op. This one is my favourite! All this and the sun was shining too!
Now Toronto is HUGE!! I didn't really have the appreciation for that as I do now; so I rode a streetcar from Queen and Bay (I think) down to the Beaches. I didn't know I was going to the Beaches; I just knew I was headed for a yarn shop.

Sarah at the Naked Sheep was very excited when I walked in carrying her Hot Chocolate! It's a nice little shop; I'd love to go back sometime.

So, by not really knowing where I was going, I spent a fair amount of time on the streetcar; not to worry...it was an ADVENTURE!! After getting back to Downtown(?) I met up with my friend E and got a shot of the sock with a monument that she's quite proud of beside the WSIB building on Front Street. The names of 100 workers that have been killed in the workplace; one for each of the last 100 years. It's a sobering; well done piece of architecture and I'm glad I got to share it with her. People should stop and pay attention! That's part of the problem of this busy life; we miss these treasures along the way.

I took 45 pictures for the day and they have been uploaded to the Flicker page for Inexplicable Knitting Behaviour in Toronto for April 1, 2008. It was just plain goofy how much fun I had doing such a silly thing in such a high tech place!

Nobody stopped to ask what I was doing. Everybody that I asked to hold the sock, laughed and said, "Sure." The Tim Horton's lady was a little skeptical, but once I showed her, her picture she seemed o.k.; I mean, what's another crazy person in Toronto? We all just kind of blend in.

The book launch presentation was entertaining and enlightening; I will never be without, "emergency knitting" again! After the question period was over we embarked on a very chilly and breezy jaunt down to the local pub, where they nicely stated that they had a 'place in the back for the knitting group'...

The place in the back quickly overflowed to the middle and the front!! There was knitting everywhere!!!! Yea, there was a baseball game I think, but the knitters? We know how to play ball our way!

I'll post some more pictures of the day; some of my other favourites. I took the day to just have some fun and the family survived, again, even with flat tires, floods and left to their own devises for food. Who knew?