Quarterly Report

Since I pounded out my last post, I took the time to review my blog entries since the beginning of the year. I had goals? Where did those go? Life has a way of throwing curve balls, or simply hitting the batter with a rocket-launched fast ball for the sheer cruel joy of it.

We're a quarter of the way through the year. Here's the scoop on those January goals:

-Self-care / self-love: Although this does mean improving my physical health, my philosophy of self-care must be wholistic. Stress can sometimes have very drastic physical consequences. This is necessarily a work in progress. There have been definite improvements. But, I sought to report finite steps toward solid goals. I haven't joined the local rec center gym. I have abandoned the treadmill since January. On the other hand, I have been limiting some sources of stress and I've been eating more vegetables and smaller meals throughout the day. I did get my hair cut, so I look less like a frizzy-headed madwoman. And I invested some money in clothes that actually fit me. Small steps.

-Learn to crochet: Not so much.

-Learn to spin fiber: No more on this, either, since my class in January, but I hope to own a Lendrum wheel before this year is out. And I should have several unique opportunities to purchase some great fiber this coming weekend. (So excited!)

-Complete the knitting guild's designer challenge: I've completed one pattern of the requisit four. Two others are in the wings, both at least a third complete.

-Attend more KnitWits knitting groups: Not so much.

-Reading mindfully: This has proven to be an interesting experiment. Unfortunately, the knitting slump I mentioned in the last post seemed to coincide with a reading slump. I've spent more time reading about books and browsing lists of books than actually reading any. But, dare I say it aloud, I think I've got my reading mojo back. I have about five books going, two that I'm sure I'll finish in a couple of days.

My family has been hit by one thing or another: my mother in the hospital with pneumonia and slow recovery, my brother and sister-in-law in a car accident (they're OK), other family members with serious illnesses, my own health issues, sleepless nights, small changes that build up into large stresses, and I can't even discount the pressures of tax season, because it has become a practice of mine to handle my parents' taxes ever since my father spent four months in hospital several years ago. In his absence I took over that responsibility, with the generous help of H&R Block's great online programs. (Bless whoever decided to roll out electronic filing.) Even the spring has brought with it that annoying sidekick: pollen. Boy, I'm whining tonight.

With that out of my system, let's look at the good things that can get in the way of accomplishing all these goals. On Saturday, April 11^th, I'm going to check out the Mother Earth News Fair at the WesternCarolina Agricultural Center.

Sunday is the knitting guild's monthly meeting, and our special program will be a panel of local fiber farmers. I'm looking forward to them bringing their homegrown wares (fiber, maybe even yarn) to sell. And an LYS, Silver Threads& Golden Needles, that I've never been to will also be there with some yarn stock to sell. The shop is located in Franklin, NC. They are supplying us with yarn for a MKAL by designer Susan Dingle, which begins in May.

The next weekend, Saturday, April 18^th, is the guild's spring retreat at the Lake Logan Episcopal Center (http://www.lakelogan.org/).

P.S. The yellow bell bushes that I love so very much, and couldn't recall their actual names in my last post, are yellow forsythia.