“Finish the rug,” my mom said, “It will build character.”
So I laced. I grumbled. I laced some more. Two weeks passed. I looked at my ball of braid and realized, “I’m almost finished.”
Rug making is much more satisfying once you figure out how to make it lay flat. For me, that meant deciding to break the number one rule of braided rug making. When you are lacing an oval rug, you lace every braid until you get to the end where you have to increase and skip a few braids. You are NEVER supposed to skip braids on the inside only skip the outside braid. This would work great if I had been more careful to make sure that my braids were always the same thickness and the same tightness. The number 2 rule is that you NEVER skip on the flat sides of an oval.
With my braid size varying, I would stay consistent with my lacing only to find that my rug resembled a basket. I broke the rule and started placing skips on the inside and outside braid as necessary. Then I broke the #2 rule and placed skips on the flat sides of the oval.
The rug was still humpy and bumpy when I got done, so at my husbands suggestion, I turned the iron on hot and steam pressed my rug flat. The fabric was mostly cotton and the lacing was 100% cotton. I wasn’t convinced that ironing my rug would work, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. I put the rug on the floor beside my bed. Yep, that’s my crazy quilt thrown on top of the bed. I actually wove the seat of the stool in the picture too.
As I was preparing my little corner for this picture, I realized I have a bedroom that is actually decorated, and I am not ashamed to show it to you. This is my happy place.
New Year’s Day is always so fresh, so hopeful, so inspiring. It offers a new start with no mistakes in it yet. Seven days into the new year and I already ditched my long weekend run and the house is a mess.
The good news is that tomorrow can be just as new, just as fresh, just as inspiring, and just as blemish free as midnight New Year’s day when we watched all the fireworks go off, blew those funny little whistles, and yelled “Happy New Year!”
Tomorrow is a fresh start. Pull that funny whistle out if you need to and yell, “Happy New Day!”
P.S. In my defense, I was fighting a cold all weekend and we started remodeling our bedroom.
A year-and-a-half ago, if you had asked me what my 3 greatest fears are, My answer would have been:
- Childbirth
- Surgery (or specifically wisdom teeth extraction)
- blowing out my knees.
A year ago I gave birth, with no pain medication, to a sweet baby boy. Midway through the birth, I looked at the doctor and said, “You know, this is kind of uncomfortable.” If I hadn’t faced that fear, I never would have known the amazing love that washed over me the first time I held my son. One of the first things I thought after giving birth was, “Maybe now I can get my wisdom teeth out.”
In September, I convinced myself that wisdom teeth extraction couldn’t be worse than a 2 day migraine starting every 3 days. My life was being stolen from me by those migraines. My weeks, over the past year have been a constant cycle of migraine and recovery. I scheduled an appointment for my wisdom teeth extraction and on November 12, I faced that fear with courage (and a librivox recording of Peter Pan).
You know, I survived. I found out that the “good” drugs make me feel horrible. When I come face to face with a monster, my courage stood, and when courage failed, prayer and nitrous oxide are wonderful relaxation tools.
Eighteen wonderful days passed without a migraine, and when I finally got one on Monday, it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t function. During those 18 days, I started a gym membership and began running. For a long time, I have dreamed of being able to run and run and run without getting out of breath or getting tired. My goal is to run Bloomsday 12K in May 2010, and I would like to run a 1/2 or full marathon by the end of next year. This is doublly significant because let’s face it runners injure their knees and exercise has been one of my consistent migraine triggers.
At the rate I am going, I’m either going to have to find some more fears or start living my life. Or both.
Taking down monsters only to find out that they are paper tigers is kinda fun.
