Sunday, April 30, 2006
blog contest and how I spent my weekend...
Technically, this is more of a how I spent my Saturday night, because I spent my Sunday driving, shopping, and blowing up watermelons. With explosives. It was fun. (And, a side note, it was in no way shape or form part of my 'mania' so I am completely absolved of all involvement.)
First. I lost a set of size 1 bamboo dpns. But I knew that they were in the bag with the purple Touch Me that I took to the hospital for my bypass (I actually took 2 projects and never touched a single needle). So I tore my office/craft room apart and piled ANYTHING related to knitting/spinning on my bed:
Yes, it actually took up most of a queen sized bed. Side note: don't you just love my sheets? They have stars and moons on them and they are flannel, my absolute FAVORITE.
So that was whittled away, sorted through and looked at. I should have remembered that I had brought my knitting in my silk lantern moon bag... *sigh* I culled a bunch of yarn, but more on that later. First, check out this:
So that was whittled away, sorted through and looked at. I should have remembered that I had brought my knitting in my silk lantern moon bag... *sigh* I culled a bunch of yarn, but more on that later. First, check out this:
Oh yeah baby. I love it. There's a crap load of noro which I am determined to knit a market squares bag with just as soon as the book comes from Webs (which I bought with a gc from a former SP :) Thank you!) The green stuff is alpaca, so is the brown. The glowy white stuff is hemp for my cocktail monkey CLOCK which I still haven't started. then the blue green stuff is some cherry tree hill sock yarn for my lil' sis and if you look close there's some green and purple sherpherds sock yarn for my grandma's socks. Theres other stuff too, but you get the picture.
And now we come to the fun part of the contest:
And now we come to the fun part of the contest:
No you can't have megan, she's just there for scale. I am giving away this WHOLE BAG of yarn. I'm not going to lie. Some of it is caron or even red heart. Some of it is Lion Brand. Some of it is nice stuff, and there's like 3 or 4 balls of maroon merino from maylaysia (I think). It's all freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. So. What do you have to do? Post in my comments what you do to cheer yourself or someone up. The best response gets the whole bag. Postage paid.
Oh crap.
My felted lily needs to be fetched from the washer...
Oh crap.
My felted lily needs to be fetched from the washer...
16 Comments:
I think the best thing (for me at least) is getting out of the house and having a bit of time to relax. Spending time with friends is best, but even doing it alone works. I take my knitting or a good book to a cafe and sit and read/knit for a while to take my mind off of the problems at hand.
Or, alternatively, watch really sad movies and be glad that my life isn't that bad. ;)
I take my kids to chuck-e-cheese (aka carlos e quesos) and when I come home, my dh has a shot of tequila, salt and lime waiting. Then I know that a) my kids aren't nearly as awful as I feared (in comparison with the kids there), that my dh, for all his faults, loves me, and that quiet and calmness do exist.
Otherwise I shop for yarn on the internet. That makes me very, very happy...
Well... it depends on what's making me sad. To cheer myself up, a hot bath and a good book, or some knitting with luxury yarn with a cat purring on my lap works wonders. Listening to loud loud music while driving with the windows down in the car.
To cheer friends up: a surprise visit, treating them to a pedicure, or offering to baby sit so they can get out of the house, child free, for a few hours.
Here's a totally self-indulgent take on your question... ;)
I set aside a whole day for ME and me only, I don't let myself think that instead of having a fun day I should be doing uni assignments or making things for other people. I give myself permission to be totally and utterly SELFISH!
I either wake up really early to get the most out of the 'me day' or sleep in as long as I want to and be a lazy pig ;) I'll cook myself yummy food all day, stick on my favourite movies from when I was a kid, and my favourite CD's and make MYSELF some lovely goodies out of my favourite fabrics. I'll also read without feeling guilty, knit a little (for ME! :P) and of course, order something delicious fabric-wise online, or pop down to my local craft shop and splurge...Oh, and maybe a new peice of clothing on the way home (and I won't worry about the money! Until the next day anyway...) :P
I'll also do all that fun female pampering stuff, condition and trim my hair, a face mask or two, do my nails, put way too much moisturiser on... :)
Then I'll go to bed whenever I like, either way too late when I know I shouldn't, or way to early and not feel as if I should stay up doing stuff :)
I also won't feel bad about not having excercised that day. OH, and I can browse through crafty blogs all day if I want :P
God do I wish I could have one of those days today :P
Hmm, must add that the method in my above post probably does require that you have no children!
Unless you have a very nice partner who would take them out for the wholllllee day, lol :)
It depends on what is making me feel down. Sometimes, it's best to get the emotion out - I have a couple of favourite books that never fail to make me cry, and sometimes that's what I need for the release so I can then start to feel better. Sometimes it's fantastic to sit down with good quality chocolate, wine, whatever; a good book or a good movie; a big, hot bubble bath (works best with a book, unless you have a TV in the bathroom ;)...) and time to relax and think about something completely different from what's making me down. And sometimes, I just want to go shopping, or for coffee with my friends. Or a bit of both. It's hard to be miserable when you're with incredible people. But sometimes it's good to be miserable for a while, to let the emotions run for a while, and then to go and do something you enjoy to make sure that those emotions have run their course and left the track ;)
Whatever does work for you in the end, you will feel better eventually, even if it seems completely unimaginable while you need to be cheered. There's plenty of people who are there for you to talk to, though, even complete strangers - sometimes people on the net help to cheer me the most, because they're removed from the situation and don't try to make me look at it from other sides, just try to make me feel better. :) Even a virtual hug helps more than people often realise, so when my friends need cheering I just try to remind them that I'm there and I care about them, and if they don't want 'it'll be good in the end', I don't give them that; I take people out or let people come and have a night in with whatever food and movie they like... When people I know need cheering, I just try to help them do what they need to do, the same as they try to help me do what I need to do. We're all different, and it can be hard to feel up again when everything seems down. It might take a few tries before things look up, but in the end they do.
Anyway, I hope you find something that works in all of the advice you're getting!
~Kate
I take a long walk with my little dog. It may be a southern thing, but sooner or later, someone will always stop her and tell her how pretty she is.
Somehow, I am able to internalize this as if I had something to do with her cute baby Beagle genetics.
Then, because we have walked so far, I feel totally justified in an ice cream and Colin Firth afternoon. (The BBC version of Pride & Prejudice is my favorite 5 hours of self-indulgence)
When I'm in a foul mood my first stop is the local Japanese restaurant. I order miso soup and chicken tempura, and try not to spill everything on myself while I'm eating. After the meal, I wander over to the LYS and chat with the owner. I usually leave the store with some of her hand-dyed rovings or sock yarn. Then it's off to the independent new bookstore, where I browse fiction, SF, and YA lit. When I'm done there I walk over to the used bookstore, where I can easily spend hours. If all that doesn't put me in a good mood, then it's off to the ice cream shop, for a frappe made of home-made ice cream, which I drink in the plaza, reading my new book and thinking about what I'm going to make with the new yarn.
If I'm truly miserable and just want to cry and feel sorry for myself, I put on REM's Automatic for the People. There's nothing like "Nightswimming" on repeat for a good wallow. After about an hour of that, I need to get up and feel better.
I'm a glutton. I like to make ginger cookies. There's something that is great about the smell of fresh cookies being baked. And who doesn't love eating freshly baked cookies?
To cheer myself up, I call in sick, curl up on the couch and watch a whole slew of bad daytime TV. I might go to the thrift stores or knit up something fast. If I'm a little more philosophical or productive, I'll try to handwrite a note to people I care about but haven't stayed in touch with as well as I should.
To cheer other people up, I try to bring them a pastry (works well in the office, I guess) or just make sure they know they have someone to talk to if they need.
I not only cheer myself up, but i cheer everyone else up by making them laugh. when i see someone who is upset, i sit them down and have them picture their grandfather. i ask how old he is, what condition he's in etc. etc.then i say "now picture your grandfater dancing like Mic Jagger." It always seems to work, of course, they never look at their granpop the same way again.
Someone once said that sadness shared is divided, while happiness shared is multiplied.
Sometimes when a friend is feeling sad, I cry with them. There's nothing so wrong, no pain so deep, no day so bad that a good cry won't at least take the edge off of it.
And it might sound hokey, but when I need cheering up, I pray. Not in any formal way; I just shut myself in my room or go for a ride in the car and let God know how I'm feeling He's a really good listener and never gets impatient while I get things off my chest. And I'm sure there are times He's cried with me.
I dance to cheer myself up. I have no formal training or even simple coordination but I turn up the stereo (which now plugs into my iPod - yay!) and dance around my house.
And just so I don't cheer up the entire neighborhood with my antics, I close the blinds and drapes. :D
It's the same as if I went to the gym but not as strenuous. I get an endorphin rush that mellows me out and calms me down.
:)
I buy office supplies. I've been greeted with "Do you need to go to Office Max?" upon my return home on many a work day.
To cheer myself up I find that doing something - no matter how small, makes me feel better.A little RAK ( even if its only a postcard) to a Knitty pal, a few flowers for my DD's teacher, a clean out of clothes to the local charity shop.It doesnt really matter what it is - thinking of someone else takes my mind off myself and helps me put my problems in perspective.
When I want to cheer myself up I call my sister or play with my son. When I want to cheer other people up, I take them off roading!!!!! mwahahhahhaa
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