A Whirled Yarn

Long dark teatime of the soul...

I'll start this by saying I have very curly hair.  Ridiculously thick, curly hair.  And I have come to realize that it is often a barometer for how my day will go.  Now I'm not talking about the "bad hair day" cliche.  It is not the cause of my stress and misery.  Simply an indication of how the day will progress.

So today, I should have known,

 

First of all, it's cold, cold, cold. -3F.  Okay, I know there are some of you living in places where -3F is a heat wave, but here in Kansas it's cold (On the flip side,since living here now for 5 years, I barely break a sweat at 92F.). It means cracking ice in water buckets three times a day, having to bring horses in at night (which means mucking frozen stalls) and over feeding expensive hay to everyone.  Whine, whine, whine.  It's the time of year when hearing "you wanted all these animals" gets old,... FAST. 

Second, I couldn't get kid #1 out of the car and into school if I pried him with a shovel.  (Rendering him unconscious with a shovel maybe...).  I had to stand there with the phone and threaten to call the principal out to help (the horror!).  In the middle of all the crying and wailing (mostly mine), husband calls and has broken down along side the highway.  Arrgh!  Am I now allowed to question the wisdom of buying a $750 car?!?! 

The afternoon?  Grocery shopping with a two year old. 'Nuf said.

And now it is 3:45pm in the post school vacuum, when for about 15 minutes, everyone seems to disappear (don't really know where they go, don't really care).  Even the dogs have settled down in post prandial bliss.  I get to make a cup of tea and look at the mail (Ooh, Knitpicks catalog).  Then toddler boy shuffles into the kitchen...still wearing his footie pajamas...I suck as a mother.

Here is a glimpse of the spinning side of my life.  This is now in the plying stage, and, as usual, I LOVE IT.  It's being plied with silver thread and these incredibly cute pink polka dot sequins.  Aaack!  The pinkness of it all speaks to me so!  I have also been working hard on the "Must Have Cardigan" done in handspun.  It's a pattern I have eyed for ages and finally broke down and bought.  I'll get pictures of my progress soon.  I have been trying so hard to be faithful to a project lately.  Usually I am such a floozy, cozying up on the couch with whatever project catches my fancy.  I hope posting here will keep me on the monogamous track.  Though there is some pin drafted corriedale sitting on my dining room table begging to be knitted into something...anything...It will feel so good, how could it be wrong...

In her Majesty's Service

Okay, so she's not actually a  queen,  but she is the female, democratic governor of Kansas.  So in all actuality she is far more rare a species.  So..drum roll and red carpet please, ...last weekend I spun at Governor Sebelius's inaugural.  "Why in the world does the Governor want a spinner at her inaugural?" (A direct quote from my ever supportive husband.. no really, he is.)  I didn't even pause to ask why but jumped at the chance to spin for 5 hours for an appreciative audience {not one demanding Goldfish crackers, and that I change Barbie's jeans for the 8th time(how are you supposed to turn those things right side out?)}...in decent clothes...AND maybe see the Woman herself.   The Inaugural was to celebrate the diversity and creativity of Kansas artists and artisans.  I shared space with a quilt exhibit, a weaver, and some lovely knitters.  Those considered "real" artists, (I won't go there,... but REALLY, why does the use of a brush and a frame make you more special? Why?),  were in another room.  It was incredibly fun.  But when the Governor was nearby, I completely lost my head and forgot to snap a picture.  So all I have is this picture of me in all my fibery, kidless glory..

Ahhhhh...heaven,

And I even got these gorgeous little whirled bits done...

They will be posted along with some more lovelies on Wednesday.  I love them all so much this time (love them, love them, love them) I will be actually sad to see them go...sigh.

Snow Falling on Sheep

This is it!  Our big snow...western Kansas has FEET, we have mud and wet sheep.  The kids of course went wild.  Having lived most of my life in the finger lakes area of New York, it is so sad to see my children happily scraping up palms full of snow and mud (in a bitter, driving wind no less) and making a diminutive foot tall snowman.  Ah, but at least they don't get to hear me swearing a cart load as I slide the car into the massive snow bank at the bottom of the driveway.  That was a very regular occurrence at our old house, and not pleasant thing to see or hear.  Luckily our neighbor always would show up with his tractor to pull me out.  We had some sort of psychic  connection only possible between someone who can't seem to turn into a skid and a farmless he-man with a tractor.

All sick children have finally returned to school and it's been just me, the tot, and the dregs of Christmas past.  The room we envisioned as a cozy library/study has officially been surrendered  to the children.  It started when we were encroached by a 5ft tall doll tree house and a three stall model horse barn.  Now, (thank you Grandma) we have a very large and brightly colored Thomas the Train table taking up the entire center of the room.  Sam smacked his head on it a total of 7 times in the first eight hours and it appears to have the innate ability to collect matchbox cars, tiny weapons of Star Wars figures, odd crayons, pretzel crumbs, bits of roving, Polly Pocket shoes and our elderly, stinky Cairn terrier beneath it.