Oh Lent. It never fails to be Lenty. The whole year so far has been weird for my family. It became downright gloomy with Lent peppered with the hopefulness of knowing Easter's coming and with it better times.
My mother's husband of seven years died of a brain tumor a few weeks ago. I really don't feel like talking about it. The whole thing has just been a gross mess. If you could send up a prayer for the repose of Gary's soul and an extra prayer for my mom, Janis, I'd be grateful.
Lent has been dry and desolate as far as interior space. The effort of tending to my interior life is far harder than the physical things I have to do. It's been a long time since I've felt that way and it sucks.
In happier news, homeschooling and all the little projects I have in the works are going well. I love homeschooling so ardently. I was looking back at the journals I started last year, we've come so far. The things the kids have learned and my confidence level have rapidly numbered. It's amazing.
Anxiety makes me make things. Therefore, lately I've been productive on the crafting front. This is a floor blanket for an expecting friend's baby boy. I finished it earlier in the month:
I got the granny oblong pattern from a lady at our parish. I doubt that Christine reads this blog, but I shall give her a big shout out anyway. It's a great pattern. Simple and fun and fast.
I also been able to knock out some bibs, hot pads, and a big squishy bathmat. I have plans for little, organic, zippered, reusable sandwich bags with funny personalized pictures for some kids I know. I have to get up the guts to pull my sewing machine out and see if I can fix it. Something is up with the tension part of the threading business. The mechanical part of sewing intimidates me. I feel better with sticks and strings.
Speaking of, this is my next crochet endeavor:
Maybe you're not a big dork, as I am, that loves Nickelodeon's Avatar, The Last Airbender (although I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't!) but you must admit this is a cool afghan. I have the yarn for the Water Tribe and Earth Tribe squares and am all set to go. The pattern recommends starting with the earth square, because it's the easiest, but I'm going to start with water in order to do them in the order of the show's Books (or chapters). Dork. I know. The pattern is here, happy and free.
