Away (From Blogging) A Long Time

My very small readership has noticed that I've been away from blogging for quite a while. I know I get annoyed when the blogs I like to read go "dark" and so have meant to get back in the habit, but too much has gotten in the way this fall. So, what were those impediments?

I usually take some time to sort through emotionally difficult situations and it seemed that all of my attention was directed toward emotional family events at the end of the summer and into the fall. Frankly, I wasn't able to write about those events while in the midst of them, and they were so overpowering that I felt like there was little else to talk about.

1) My parents, having been on a wait list for about a year, got the opportunity to move to an independent-living apartment in a residential community in August. That put into motion a host of decisions, events, and tasks that seemed to take over my and my siblings' lives. The house my parents moved out of was not my childhood home, but it was still full of memories and STUFF that evoked memories and downsizing and moving was not FUN for anyone involved and provoked a particularly difficult reaction in my mother. I'm pleased to say that we seem to be on the other side of this and both parents are settling very nicely into their new home.

2) Every time I went to help my parents pack/move/clean out, I came home with boxes and bags of STUFF. Some of it has been subsumed into my household, but much still is in boxes stashed throughout my house. Those boxes contributed to some major clutter we already had in our house, awaiting a couple of pieces of organizing furniture. We had piles of books, for example, behind the couch in our living room for months. I had ordered new bookshelves from a local furniture store, but finding time to stain and polyurethane them during the weeks we were working most furiously on my parents' house was nearly impossible. Getting them installed and loaded with books evoked a huge sigh of satisfaction.

Besides the bookcases, my father had been working for about a year on a cupboard/entertainment center piece of furniture for our "fireplace room" (sort of a parlor, in addition to our living room). He finished it up during the move experience and we brought it home to our garage. Just like the bookcases, it needed to be stained and finished. Working on it one day each weekend for three weekends in a row (desperately trying to get it done before cold weather settled in as our work area was out in the driveway), we finally finished it two weekends ago and the installation of it in our house has also helped to reduce clutter. The idea behind the piece was to put our stereo behind doors and give me a place to keep my knitting projects and clutter out of sight. Before and after pictures tell the whole story:



3) My brother's wedding came one (or was it two?) week after my parents officially moved and I wanted everyone in the family to be able to focus on that joyful event, so was pretty driven to accomplish a lot having to do with the move before the wedding so that we would feel less like it was hanging over our heads. It was definitely a fun and joyous event, not the least because it was an opportunity for my son who stayed at his campus in Pennsylvania for the summer to come home for a few days. Add in that we had gorgeous weather! Here I am, dancing on the lawn at the reception, with my husband:


4) The academic year took off like a rocket this year. I've never been busier at work, including working 2-3 nights each week throughout September and October. Spending half or all of each weekend working on my parents' house gave me little recovery time each week, so it has been a rather exhausting semester so far. I'm particularly grateful, though, that I am not an only child. My sisters and brothers all pitched in and have been great about communicating and sharing information as it developed. The communication part of being in a big family can be particularly challenging, and Facebook has been an invaluable way to keep all five of us updated and in touch.

5) So, those are my excuses and explanations. But, I have found plenty of time for knitting -- especially on car rides back and forth on the weekends! I'll have to photograph some of what I've been working on, but here's one I can share. This is a lace stole I made for my new sister-in-law: