On not being a crabby ass

I am such a dummy head! Here I was feeling all stressed out and crabby because work stinks (it is work after all) and I’ve been working 10 hour days, with no time left over to do anything except eat, drink, fall into bed, and wake up the next day and do it all over again. I forgot that taking time for yourself isn’t an all or nothing sort of thing, 15 minutes is 15 minutes, and if that’s what you’ve got then take it! So here’s a list of things that I am going to next time I’m feeling like a big crabby ass:

Dig in the Dirt

I planted my new seeds from Seed Saver’s yesterday. I think I am now up to 10 different types of tomatoes, including the very beautiful, if strangely named “Hill Billy Potato Leaf,” as well as 5 different types of peppers, the rabe (which is looking rather stringy…I’m sort of worried that there might not be enough sunlight for them), and a very interesting curly headed Broccoli called “Romanesco.” Of course half of this stuff hasn’t even sprouted yet, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a beautiful, bountiful (weed free) garden in my mind to retreat to instead of banging my head against the wall and muttering things under my breathe. Plus the smell of dirt just makes me happy.

Walk to work

Admittedly this takes 45 minutes each direction, but I’ve got a stack of books on CD (I’m an addict, what can I say) and it gives me time to decompress. Especially the walk home, why would I want to take all that head banging nonsense home with me? My walls aren’t safe to bang your head against anyway, most of them have rather a lot of nails and splinters sticking out of them.

Eat Real Food

Instead of the crap that I’ve been eating lately. Homemade whole wheat bread is great, but toast and jam for breakfast everyday is still nothing but carbohydrates, sugar and fat (butter…mmm…my best friend). We had a lovely meal down at the local Korean Watering Hole last night, many many veggies.

Spin

You can spin a surprising amount of yarn in 15 minutes…even scratchy nasty linen yarn. I saw the miracle occur once, but honestly this stuff is so abrasive to spin I can’t help but wonder if it was a fluke and I’m going to wind up with some sort of industrial rope. I have to keep the one small hank of finished yarn right next to the wheel while I’m spinning so that I can pick it up and fondle it when I get frustrated. I have started on the second bobbin of the two ply, so if I keep taking my 15 minutes as they come, I should be able to start plying this weekend. Also I found the second bag of linen in my basket of unspuns, and realized that they are one pound bags, not two pound bags, so I won’t have quite as ridiculous an amount as I had thought. That also means that I’ve only spun about half a pound…this stuff is never ending. If it wasn’t for the barely perceptible filling up of the bobbin I would have to wonder if I was caught in some time loop…because that bag doesn’t seem any emptier.

And of course…Knit

Somehow while I wasn’t watching I made it to the cuff of the second sleeve of the Skull Shrug, only about 1 more inch of ribbing and I will be ready to start on the “collar” (I use quotation marks because it’s not really a collar but I don’t know what else to call it.). So that is very exciting, although it means that I really do have to address the unraveling section which is held together with safety pins at the moment.

And it goes without saying that I will continue my random acts of piracy.

And if all else fails I can look forward to the weekend…which is *gasp* tomorrow! Oh frabjous day, and tomorrow is “knitting at the bar.” I really have to find better names for these reoccurring events like “sewing night” and “knitting at the bar.” Knitting at the bar is a usually-once-a-month, Friday afternoon, knitting clinic that I run for my friend Colleeeeen and whomever else wants to come down and either knit, or have me help them with their knitting…at the local sports bar. You know, because knitting and beer go so well together.

Oh and speaking of beer! The Michigan Brewer’s Guild Winter Festival is on Saturday, oh how I hope there are enough quarters in my change jar to pay my entrance fee.

See how much one night of self indulgence can change your mood? Now I’m all giddy and looking forward to the brand new day…or more specifically the day after that, because that’s when the great outdoor, damn it’s cold out, did you say something? I couldn’t hear you, I was drinking beer, event will occur. Tasting notes on Monday, and I hope everyone has a delicious weekend.

Ragnar!