What a Life!

I got the sleeve’s done on the stripey sweater I’m making. All that remains is the button-band and then the neck-band. Here it is in all it’s glory:

No progress on the hat I’m making for myself.

I finished one sock – remember, my goal was one sock per month? – and started on the next one. Basically all I’ve done is cast on and work one row. Here are my socks:

Joey has outgrown his first hat, and the one I made him to be used next is too big. Mary Ellen (from my knitting group) made Ben a cute little jacket you can see him wearing here:

She thought the sleeves might be too short – turns out they were just fine – and she gave me an extra ball of yarn to fix them if I needed to.

Since I’m the nerd who has all of the yarn in my stash earmarked for a specific project, I didn’t have any yarn that I could use to make another hat. Then I saw this yarn on top of the dresser and thought it would be perfect. I made a hat for Joey, which he wore yesterday…

…and since that hat used up exactly half of the yarn in that ball (as indicated by the weight of the hat and the weight of the remaining yarn), I am knitting a second one from the top down that you can see here posing along with the first hat.

On the pattern writing front…I must confess that when I sit down to actually write out a pattern for something I’ve designed, I seem to forget all the details I hate about most patterns. So in addition to writing notes about what I did when I knit something, I’ve been writing down pet peeves in order to find my voice.

Here is a great example of how my pattern writing differs from what you usually see:

Directions for Seed Stitch from the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume 1:
(multiple of 2 sts pl 1)
Row 1 (RS): K1, *p1, k1; rep from * to end.
Rep row 1.

Tana’s version:
Set-up row/round: alt k1, p1
Following rows/rounds: knit the purl sts and purl the knit sts.

It doesn’t matter how many stitches you have or whether you’re knitting flat or in the round. You know exactly what to do next by looking at the next stitch on your needle.

When I was a new knitter, I can’t tell you how many times I had to go back and count how many sts I had done on the current row in order to know what sittch to do next. Knitting even the simplist stitch patterns was not mindless but rather tedious and very time-consuming. Once I learned how to read my work, it became far more “mindless” and enjoyable.

Moral of the story? If you want your knitting to be “mindless,” learn how to read your work and simple stitch patterns like seed stitch become as easy as stockinette.

That is a mere taste of the type of things you can expect when I finally get a pattern written and ready to be published.

I have three or four patterns in the works, but part of the hold-up is my desire to have a basic design for my patterns, including a cover sheet. When I get that settled, I’ll probably offer more than one new pattern in a short amount of time. My goal was to publish one pattern per month this year, and in the large scheme of things, I’m right on track.

Happy knitting to all!

It’s been two weeks since I decided Joey needed to go to sleep in the evening. By night four, he was going to sleep at 6:30 and I heard him stir a little after 7:00, but he went to sleep on his own…which meant he was sleeping in his own bed all night because I certainly wasn’t going to move him when we went to bed and risk waking him up. He was only taking three 45 minute naps so I decided perhaps he was ready to switch to a two nap routine with longer naps. And on the fifth night, things started to unravel.

He now wakes up after about 45 minutes (like 7:15) and cries. But it isn’t the newborn I-am-so-frustrated-with-life cry – it’s a I’m-awake-and-don’t-want-to-be-in-my-bed cry. Have you every tried to put a baby to sleep when he was completely awake? It’s a waste of time. That’s how Ben was at time which triggered me to change his nap routine (eliminating a nap solved the problem). So Joey goes to sleep perfectly at 6:30 and then is back up between 7:15 and 7:30, which is about the same amout of time he spends napping during the day…as though he needs a fourth nap or something.

If Steve tries to comfort him, it’s a lost cause. I was on a business call one evening and Steve went in and got Joey when he woke up and started crying. He tried all the pat-his-back and other simple tricks before finally picking him up. But Joey just screamed and screamed. Finally, the person I was talking to asked me if that was my baby crying in the background. Apparently being at the opposite end of the house and on a different level isn’t far enough to not be able to hear Joey. I got off the phone and went upstairs to try Plan B and soothe Joey myself.

As soon as he was in my arms, he stopped crying. He looked over at Steve and gave him a who-do-you-think-you are…you-are-not-my-mommy look for a moment, then sighed and looked away and ignored Steve completely. Oh my! Which is a perfect illustration of why I say Joey is strictly a Mommy’s boy in the evenings. Other times Steve has held him while I went to do something simple like put clothes in the dryer, and as soon as I walk out of the room, he stiffens up and starts this angry cry that is impossible to soothe until I come back and take him into my arms again. My oh my!

So here is our new strategy:

Regular wake-up time – I will go in and open the blinds in the boy’s bedroom at 6:45 every morning which corresponds to when Steve comes upstairs and watches tv while he eats breakfast (the house is very quiet prior to that). I’ll fix Steve’s lunch at that point, and then I’ll go in and get Joey, who thus far has been awake by that point. If he gets up at 7:00 rather than 8:30 or 9:00, perhaps he’ll take better naps.

Nap routine – I’ll be putting Joey down for his naps at 9:00, noon, and 3:00 (or thereabouts) so he gets his rest. He generally gets tired after about an hour and a half so that allows for an hour and a half nap, which is more like what he needs.

Longer naps – Elizabeth Pantly says that 45 minute naps are insufficient and only take the edge off. Her suggestion is to go in ten minutes before they usually wake up and see what it is that wakes them up. Last night Joey slept on my lap from 6:30 to around 7:15 and then woke up and spit up all over my pants. Perhaps that is the problem? Perhaps I should not put him down with a full tummy?

Mommy time before sleeping – I’m thinking of carrying him around in a sling for a few minutes prior to going to sleep so he gets that intense Mommy time that he seems to need. I’ve been holding him more in the late afternoon, but if I do it when he awakens after bedtime, I wonder if I’m not reinforcing his desire to be up because I sit there and hold him until he goes to sleep. If I put him in the sling for a half hour after dressing him in his jammies, that might be a good bedtime routine for an infant.

Address noise problems – When you have a three-year-old, you can’t always guarantee quiet for a baby. I have classical music on public radio playing upstairs during the day, but that still doesn’t drown out Ben walking over next to the crib and announcing that Joey is sleeping.

I’m even threatening to remove the upstairs tv and not allow it back until Joey is going to sleep at 6:30 and staying asleep. TV is stimulating. If it were just me and Joey, I would make every effort to have a quiet house so he could go to sleep in the evening; I don’t seem to be getting any support on that count, though, and moving the tv might make my point blatantly clear. Don’t even ask me how many times Steve has said he could do without a tv upstairs, but every time he’s up there, he turns the [blank] thing on. Let’s just say, I hate tv.

We’ll do another review in about ten days and consider making any necessary adjustments then. For now, Joey just went down for his 9:00 nap and seems to be asleep based on the lack of fussing I hear.

I went out and got the mail Wednesday and it felt so nice to get out of the house and walk that I went back inside, got the boys dressed to go outside, put Ben in the jogging stroller and Joey in the sling, and we went for a walk. It felt great!

Now I’m paying for it.

My back hurts. My whole body ached last night. I even took some Aleve before going to bed. Then this morning I ventured out to get the mail and slipped and fell on dew that had turned into ice on the driveway. Ouch! Now my back really hurts.

And it’s warm today. 40 degrees. I want to go for a walk so bad.

We went to town yesterday. I stopped at the kids gear store we have in town and looked at the one double jogging stroller they had in stock. They had the InStep Safari which has a swivel wheel like I think I want. I still think I want a swivel wheel after pushing that one around a little in the store. I get so tired of having to pop-a-wheelie in order to turn the stroller. Supposedly that works better when you’re jogging, but I’m not a jogger so I don’t know.

The Dreamer Design Ditto Lite would be the corollary to the single jogging stroller I have right now. Again, I hate the fixed front wheel. Otherwise I have been very pleased with this stroller, and I use is about 5 times a week during the part of the year with nice weather.

If I were to stick with the same brand, I think I would get the Manhattan one. I’ve heard having two wheels makes it much easier to handle when you’re pushing the stroller filled with two children of dramatically different weights (aka not twins). But the price is a little out of my range.

Based on the reviews, my price range, and how long I think I’ll be using a stroller, I think the Schwinn Safari might also work.

It’s so hard to know which stroller to get. I would be using it today if I had one. Yes, even with my backache. It just felt so good to go walking. Ben loved going for walks. Joey is starting to notice his surroundings so I’m sure he would enjoy walks as well. And we could go to the park every day if we wanted. Walking adds so much to our lives – fitness and a chance to get out of the house without driving to town.

We have some leftover Christmas money and Steve and I both have birthdays in March. I’m thinking I might go ahead and buy a stroller next month after the credit card month-end cutoff (the 10th). Then I wouldn’t have to pay for it until April and by then I am sure I could come up with the money.

I know – you shouldn’t buy things with money you don’t have. Right now we have all these hospital bills from Joey’s surgery. But walking is so good for you and I’m so tired of being cooped up in the house. It isn’t good to be a couch potato either.

Baby crying – must go. At least I have steps to run up and down over and over during the course of the day.

I caught the last half of Oprah yesterday. The show was about SAHMs vs WOHMs. I went to the site this morning and apparently the topic that started the whole discussion was Elizabeth Vargas choosing to step down from her position as co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight.

It wasn’t the first time I’d heard various positions on the whole issue. One of my favorite parenting forums has a sub-forum for SAHMs. Of course, there are things that SAHMs might say to other SAHMs about the ins and outs of SAHMing that you would never discuss with a WOHM.

For instance, a SAHM might say to another SAHM that she decided to stay at home with her children because she simply couldn’t drop off her children at daycare and walk away from them every morning in order to go to work. She may feel that way, and that may be the key factor that influenced her decision to stay at home. But it would be absolutely deplorable to make such a comment to a WOHM whose children are enrolled in daycare while she works.

It’s intended as a SAHM forum, but occasionally the WOHMs see topic titles and come over and add their two cents worth. Many times, they start listing reasons why they had to work and couldn’t stay at home with their children even if they wanted to. This often leads to big fights between the two groups generally referred to as “mommy wars.”

It’s been said before: Those who think something cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

If WOHMs want to whine about how they “had no choice but to work,” those are comments that should be shared with other WOHMs. Making such comments to SAHMs is equally deplorable, in my opinion, to the SAHM comment I mentioned above. Why? For every reason I’ve heard WOHMs give for why they have to work, there is a SAHM who has overcome that same obstacle and managed to find a way or make a way to stay at home with her children.

The common attitude these days is that most women don’t have a choice. I would argue that most women do have a choice.

Let me run through some of the common reasons WOHMs give for why they have to work.

These days, you simply cannot live on a single income. Both incomes are necessary in order to make ends meet.

This is often said with the assumption that you have to be married to a doctor or a lawyer in order to be able to afford to stay at home. It’s as though they think SAHMs live in households where they have extra money lying around they didn’t know what to do with so they decided not to work.

Going from two incomes to one income is an adjustment no matter what household income category you fit into. Ironically, Oprah did a survey that they posted the results for, and there were SAHMs in every household income category – from the $100,000+ all the way down to $0 – 20,000. If you’re in that top income category, you still are going to make financial sacrifices in order to do without a second income. They will just be different sacrifices than the ones you might make in a different income category.

Let’s add up the costs associated with working. Take your second paycheck and subtract out daycare expenses. Subtract the cost of driving to and from work every day. Subtract the cost of the nice clothes you have to buy in order to dress appropriately for work. Subtract the money you spend going out to lunch every day. How much money are you really adding to the family income?

Take the amount of money you are actually bringing home. Are there things you could cut from your budget that would enable you to go without that money? Could you get a part time job that would work opposite the hours that your husband works to fill in that gap?

Well, you don’t know people’s situation. You don’t know how much debt they have.

You’re right – I have no idea how much debt they have. I do know that they willingly signed for every penny of it. They could have chosen a different car with a smaller payment. They could have chosen a different house with a smaller mortgage. They could have done without the items they used their credit cards to purchase. Student loan payments can be re-negotiated to be smaller.

Granted, we all make choices that we regret later on. However, lifestyles can be modified. You could choose to move to a different neighborhood. You could choose to drive different vehicles. You chould choose to cut your spending. You are not without options.

Steve and I discussed the SAHM vs. WOHM issue on our second date. Every purchase we made while we were dating and as a married couple was made in the context of our desire for me to stay at home with our future children. I do know of SAHMs who didn’t decide to stay at home until they had a baby in their arms, but in my experience, that is the exception rather than the rule. Deciding at the last minute simply means that you may need to make some big changes very quickly in order to make being a SAHM a reality.

My husband doesn’t want me to be a SAHM.

How much have you really discussed this? Brush up on your negotiation skills. Figure out what is important to him about your working and consider alternate options for not losing what is important to him while getting what is important to you – staying at home with your children.

We had an unplanned pregnancy.

My blunt response: You understand where babies come from, correct?

My kinder response: Our first child wasn’t planned either. But we still found a way to make it possible for me to be at home.

But beyond the simple rebuttals, I think the hardest thing for me about the Mommy Wars is the feeling I get from so many moms that they don’t have a choice.

Being a SAHM isn’t for everyone. For instance, you talk to people who telecommute. Some of them love being left alone and able to focus on their work. Some love the fact that they don’t have to spend hours on the road commuting every day. Some of them love the fact that they can wear whatever they want to work. Others miss the comraderie you get working in a room full of people. They miss the “watercooler” conversations. They miss getting out of the house. They miss the straightforward beginning and ending of the work day based on walking in and out of the office.

If a mom wants to work, by all means, go ahead and work. But do it because you choose to. Don’t be a victim of your circumstances. You will be a much happier person, and your children will be much better off.

I believe moms do have a choice. They are simply choosing not to overcome the obstacles they would need to overcome in order to make it possible…which is a valid choice. We all face obstacles. Some are bigger than others. But for every obstacle someone faces, there is someone who has found a way or made a way to overcome that same obstacle.

Now I’m really going to go out on a limb:

There’s a column in a recent O Magazine on mothering where the writer calls for “more affordable childcare” and someone writes in and says, “yes, that would be mothers staying at home with their children.” Then in a subsequent column, the writer goes off on a tirade about how you have to be one of the 11 people who can actually afford to stay at home and on and on…

This is my answer to that debate:

If it was politically correct to say that children are generally better off with their mothers, it would be easier for more mothers to stay at home with their children. The “village” would embrace those mothers who really do want to be at home with their children (again, I didn’t say it was for everybody). We as a society would find more jobs that could be done on a part time basis or with alternate work arrangements. There would be less pressure to live a two-income lifestyle, and a one-income lifestyle would be considered more “normal.” With more mother’s choosing to stay at home, more mothers would seriously consider it, and it would be easier for them to make the choices needed in order to make it happen because they would be seeing other people do it as well.

Because, after all, if we’re going to call for “more affordable childcare” for mothers who choose to work, shouldn’t we also call for better options for the moms who would like to stay at home? Fair is fair.

Enough said. Peace.

This morning the alarm went off but I didn’t get up. Then it was 6:30 and I realized the radio was tuned to the wrong station. Hmm…who might have changed it?

I got up and didn’t have much time to knit so I didn’t even pick up my needles. Steve turns on the tv and eats breakfast at 6:45. I made my chai and look at the bookshelf for something interesting. Ah! The Vogue Knitting magazine I purchased this weekend.

When I browsed through it this weekend, I found it hardly inspiring. But this morning, I found all sorts of interesting things.

There is a sweater (#20 if you have the magazine) that I was already thinking of making a smaller version for Ben. I showed the picture to Steve and asked if he’d wear that. He said yes. So he won’t make fun of me if I make it for Ben or Joey…or perhaps I’ll make it for him.

Or perhaps not. I went online to look for the yarn used in the pattern. For the size I would knit Steve, the pattern calls for 30 skeins of yarn. I found a place online that sells the yarn in bags of ten skeins for $78 each. So $234 to knit my dear husband a sweater. I love him…but not that much.

The sweater I knit him for Christmas 2005 – Galway Guy from Interweave Knits – took ten skeins of Plymouth Galway at $6 per skein. It kept me busy knitting for at least forty hours and took me four months to finish. A football game, on the other hand, last three and a half hours and costs $45 for the ticket, to say nothing of what you might spend on parking, eating at the game, and going out afterward. But that’s beside the point.

Ironically, Vogue is known for publishing patterns that, if knit in the yarn shown, would cost upwards of $500 to knit. Which is why I buy Vogue Knitting for inspiration only. And it is certainly filled with lots of inspiration.

This morning I was intrigued by the stitch patterns they use to make the knitted coats (as described on page 96, if you have the magazine). I’m thinking of perhaps designing a coat for one of the boys using either the double knit stitch or tweed stitch shown. Then I read about the Scandanavian hand knitting and how they sometimes line their sweaters with fabric. I could knit a coat and line it with flannel shirt material or something for extra warmth. Ideas, ideas…

In every issue they have an article featuring a designer – how she got into designing, what her thought process is, etc. Our next Knitter’s Guild meeting is about designing knitwear and getting things to fit. Mary Pat asked those of us who have designed our own patterns – specifically naming Mary Ellen and myself – to share a bit of our thought process and how we design. This article covered the process very well, in my opinion. You start by learning how to knit and following other’s patterns. Then you look at patterns and start altering them to better suit your ideas or needs. “From there,” they said in the article, “it was a natural leap to designing garments from scratch.” Well said.

Which leads me to another gripe about patterns and how they’re written.

I emailed Interweave Knits last week to ask how the sizing of their patterns corresponds to the Craft Yarn Council of America sizing which is supposedly the standard in the industry. I asked because magazines such as Vogue Knitting and knitty list both the size as well as the finished measurements of the garment which is very helpful in knowing which size to knit. Interweave Knits, regretfully, only gives the finished measurment of the pattern, which leaves the knitter guessing how much ease the designer intended and thus what size would be the most appropriate for the person being knit for.

This was the response I got:

Our sizes are based on actual measurements and do not always correspond, in a series, to ready-to-wear garment sizes. In terms of ease, the standard inch measurements for different fits are as follows: negative (zero) to 1” ease: fitted or close fitting; 2”-3” ease, standard fit; and 4”-6” oversized. Choosing the size closest to these guidelines and your size will give you the fit you desire. Another good tip is to measure a garment that you already own that has the fit you are looking for.

Here is a sample pattern description from Vogue Knitting:

Close-fitting shaped jacket in textured bee stitch pattern with set in sleeves and knitted belt. Sized for Small (Medium, Large, X-Large).

So Vogue clearly indicates which ease category the garment fits into and specifies the size intended. If you take the amount of ease mentioned and the size given, they clearly follow the Craft Yarn Council of America standard measurements.

Interweave Knits on the other hand, has differing descriptions for each pattern. Sometimes those descriptions include key words such as “fitted,” “close-fitting,” or “oversized.” Most of the time, they do not. So even with the helpful information I received in their reply, determining the correct size to wear is still pretty much a shot in the dark.

Now I understand that as a designer, when it comes to sizing, in a given design, the math doesn’t necessarily work out to correspond to regular sizing. You may have a three-inch repeat making it easier to size in three-inch increments and more difficult to match the four-inches increments in the official sizing measurments. Believe me, the math is complicated enough without having to try to design for a particular size.

But…are you designing something that will be fun to knit…or are you designing something that is fun to knit and that someone will actually be able to wear?

It may be a lot easier for the editors of Interweave Knits to publish patterns this way, but it leads to a lot more frustration on the part of knitters. There is nothing more disappointing than to spend a chunk of money on some beautiful yarn and follow a pattern to the letter only to have the garment turn out to be completely un-wearable.

Granted, there are many different body types out there, and what fits one person won’t fit the next. But if your bust is 40 inches which corresponds to a size large, you may need to shorten the waist to fit yours, but at least you know where to start. If the garment has one to two inches of ease, and your body matches the schematic within that range for the bust but not for the hips, you can make the necessary adjustments for the hips. But if you don’t know whether you’re supposed to have four to six inches of ease or one to two inches, it’s very difficult to make the correct determination.

Interweave Knits is a US publication, and Vogue Knitting is an international publication. Over in Europe, they knit differently than we do in the US. You’re expected to understand the basics and be able to execute them without being hand-fed stitch-by-stitch directions, which seems to be the standard in the US.

I’ll never forget the German sock patterns I used to knit. They would spell out exactly how to re-create the stitch pattern for the leg. They’d tell you how far to knit, and then they’d tell you to “do the heel using the method you prefer” with similar open-ended instructions for the toe. US patterns spell out stitch by stitch how to turn a heel using the heel-flap method. In reality, there are many ways to turn a heel, and the various methods correspond to different types of feet. If you’re a Thinking Knitter, you can use the heel turn method that works best on your foot, and you’ll end up with a sock that fits your foot very well rather than just okay or not at all.

When I write patterns, I shall include the stitch by stitch directions for the knitters that feel they need it. But since I won’t be worrying about space, I shall give general directions that describe what you’re about to do in terms that the Thinking Knitter will appreciate. There will be an appendix in the back that will spell out certain techniques. Ultimately knitters will be able to create their own version of what I made using stitch counts that are appropriate to their garment. Sounds vague, I know, but once you see a pattern, you’ll know what I mean.

Off to do some pattern writing…

This weekend, I came to the conclusion that I might be suffering from postpartum depression. Even though I was spending time every day doing things I love to do, I was simply unable to find joy in anything. There was a big, ugly, non-descript cloud hanging over everything I did. Not fun.

Sunday is my day for rest and reflection. I know I’ve said I do my best thinking while I’m knitting. I also do very good thinking while watching sporting events. I mean, both teams are well qualified, but somebody is going to win and somebody is going to lose. It keeps things in perspective.

This Sunday I actually got up early – hadn’t been able to do that all week no matter how much I said I was committed to doing so – and I had some time to myself. I went through my to-do lists and re-organized them, as I usually do. Then I thought about the bigger picture and pondered why I might be struggling with depression. In the past, when the clouds have come, looking back, I can find a reason. If I can find a reason, I can change what needs to be changed and the sun will come out again.

Ever heard of Murphy’s law? If something can go wrong, it will. Stuff like that. Well, here’s one for being a SAHM with a three-year-old and a three-month-old: If it isn’t done by 9:00 in the morning, it probably isn’t going to get done.

Sad, really sad. [Sigh]

The only day last week when I remembered feeling happy was Monday when I cooked supper in the middle of the afternoon. Yeah, really. I had supper made and the dishes done when Steve got home. It was a very relaxing evening.

That got me to thinking.

Joey gets up in the morning and I head downstairs to surf the web and blog. That’s my “watercooler” time. Then he goes down for a nap and I try to do something productive. That lasts for about 45 minutes because Joey wakes up. Then I do things that I can do with him awake, and a while later he goes down for another nap. That’s usually when we have lunch. He wakes up, I limp along doing what I can do when a baby is awake. Finally, he goes down for his third nap. I’m tired. At that point, I’m no longer motivated to do much. I watch Oprah, M*A*S*H, whatever. I’m tired – I don’t feel like doing anything.

Joey wakes up again, and I’m stuck on the couch holding him because he’s fussy and cries if I put him down. I sit there on the couch and hold him and look around at our un-tidy house and think about all the things I need to be doing. But I can’t do them. I’m holding McFussy. No, he doesn’t like his swing. The mobile is broken. By the time Steve gets home, it’s everything I can do not to cry. I want some adult conversation, and I want to get up and get something done.

But Steve is a good husband. He comes home and then spends fifteen or twenty minutes or a half hour going around doing things. Tidying the house. Washing the dishes. He doesn’t take his jacket off because he “can’t relax” until he takes care of these things. We have wood floors, and he has a heavy step; it sounds like he’s stomping even though I know he isn’t. He’s doing what I’ve been sitting there wanting to get up and do myself. It’s all I can do to keep from crying.

We eat supper. Joey goes to bed. Ben goes to bed. And then I spend the evening knitting because I’m lost and I need to find myself. My mind is numb. No ah-ha moments. No stunning realizations. I get up and go to bed.

All the women of the world are going to hate me for saying this, but I wish my husband wouldn’t be such a model citizen when he gets home. I wish he would take his jacket off, grab a beer, sit down and hold Joey so I can get up and do something. I know it sounds bad, but I’d like to wash dishes. I’d like to put the laundry away. I’d like to pick up toys. It would feel great to get up and actually do something. Go ahead. Throw rocks at me.

Perhaps I’ve lost my joy because I’m not getting the boost one gets from a sense of self-accomplishment. I know I struggled with that a lot when Ben was this age. I just couldn’t get anything done. I’d feel tired like I’d worked hard all day, but what I had to show for it was hardly respectable.

So I went through my list of things to do and narrowed it down to what I really wanted to accomplish this week. What I really thought I could actually get done this week.

And I felt much better.

The tiger was on his way back to his cage.

This morning I arose early. Sometime during the 5:00 hour. I read for a bit and then knit for a while. Steve got up. Ben got up. Steve left for work. I showered and dressed, as I usually do. Joey got up. And we headed downstairs.

I cleaned out our file cabinet. We have a four-drawer file cabinet in our office. I needed to make my 2007 files for the items we keep for tax purposes. I went through all our manuals and threw away the ones that belong to things we don’t own anymore. I made the new folders. I filed my stack of stuff. I went through the other drawers and sorted things.

I made bean soup. I ran the dishwasher. For supper, we had chef’s salad. Joey took his naps. I conquered Mt. Washmore. Mt. Foldmore is on its last breath.

I got lots done today.

And I’m so wound up I can hardly relax. It’s like I’m in perpetual motion. And I’m tired from all I have accomplished. I’m so tired I don’t know how I can relax.

It’s early in the evening. I’m not going to bed yet. But I do not know if I will make it through C.S.I: Miami. You know I’m tired when I don’t feel like knitting. Or maybe I’m depressed. Maybe the tiger snuck back out of his cage. We’ll see tomorrow.

I shall go put my pajamas on. Wash my face. Open the bed so it is ready to crawl into. Perhaps the tiger is just scouting. If I keep moving, perhaps he won’t pounce.

I must keep moving so the tiger won’t pounce.