settling down

I was going to post a photo of BzBiff's Xmas present, but my computer has somehow ate it.
I hope you enjoy it Elizabeth. I wish I could have got it framed before I gave it to you, but I was worried that it would unravel whilst in my bag.

Well, for my post-new years post, I don't have an outline of what I learned or what I want to say, so I'll just ramble and go over it and we will see what comes out, shall we? A practice in patience and literary ridiculousness.

I do notice a difference in myself. I am calmer and quieter. These days, I'm fairly content with sitting at home and watching a movie or playing on the computer. There really isn't any point in going to the bar, only to do the same stuff and see the same people. A waste of my precious monies.

I am more health conscious these days. Thinking about giving up smoking. It's a catch 22, however because I am also working on getting down to my goal weight and if I quit smoking, I know that I will turn into a Hoover. We'll see what happens. I know that I am smoking less than I have in years.

Merce, she is trying to quit. Considering the fact that she has gone from about a pack and a half a day to only two or three cigs per day, I am awfully proud of her. She can do anything she makes her mind up to do, I know it and soon, she will too.

I am regaining my domestication. I have rediscovered my obsession with creating a "home" versus having decent space in which to flit through and land in occasionally.

I am contemplating getting a sewing machine so that I may take up the quilting legacy that my grandmother left behind. All of us grandkids received tied quilts for Christmas and really, I think that it's only right that someone take the tradition up and give our kids those lengths of memory and love.

I still have three quilts that my Granny made. One is falling apart and sitting in a plastic bag so that I can look at it every once in a while and consider taking it apart for scraps to use in a quilt of my own. One is on the boy's bed and is still one of the warmest and most comforting pieces of fabric I own. And one is in the linen closet. It was the one she gave me when I got married. It's huge and heavy and is used every time the kids stay over.

I have also rediscovered cross stitch and my hands are all crampy and arthritic as a result. Elizabeth has proof with her little scene of dog and mongoloid cat lying atop of him. My brother got me a sewing bag for Christmas and it sits next to me, full of cross stitch kits to start.

All in all, I suppose I am growing up. Thank God, it's about time. I'll be 30 in twenty days. I suppose that I will always carry the Peter Pan gene and it will show itself from time to time. But for the most part, I feel myself settling down.