This is also a period of significantly longer commute times. Not only will Jon be providing the morning car service to school, (no more bus for us) but with the additional traffic on the roads, this time of year has always added to his stress level. It takes a few weeks for all the UofM students to drop the early morning classes and then it levels back out!
For me, this time of year is always a trigger for very high anxiety and stress levels. It always has been, I suspect it always will be. The whole house knows this too. The animals think it's weird that I start getting up earlier the two weeks before Labor Day ("Hmmmm, can we get an extra meal out of this?"). Jon knows it and he backs off and leaves me alone. Kate knows it and isn't really sure what to do. I've gotten better at managing it - just knowing that it is situational helps. I don't take on big things this time of year. Managing day-to-day is enough. I sort of just plod through and take care of what's in front of me...
Preparations for this year are pretty much nailed down.
The family calendar is updated and posted for us all to see.
The built-in-desk and fresh pink and green paint suitable for a fourth-graders room should be finished by tonight. Too much for me to handle - Jon did this!!
The grab-and-go snack cabinet has been stocked with "healthy" snacks.
Pretty good, huh!!
Because I do think of it as New Year's, I do try to make one resolution. Last year I resolved to keep the calendar updated both on my Palm and to then synchronize it with Outlook so that I could easily keep Jon up to date on what all was happening (yeah - I know there are just three of us but sometimes there are quite a few things going on over here!!). It was amazing how well it worked and how once I stared doing it, maintaining it just became a habit.
This year's resolution is to keep track of my knitting projects. I searched all around for a really great knitting journal - to the point where searching for the ultimate journal was becoming the reason why documenting was never going to happen.
Behold, the Knitting Journal:
And it's first two entries:
FiberTrends Huggable Hedgehog. Technically, he's not done. He needs a face. I'm thinking of needle felting a face on him instead of sewing eyes and a mouth on. What do you think?
I think I'm going to teach him as a class because he's so flipping cute!
Mini-sock on mini-sock blocker. Which would you rather your key chain say about you? "Hey, I drive a Lexus!" or "Hey, I knit socks!"
So, Happy New Year. Wish a Fourth Grader luck this year - you know how girls can be at this age.
