Fall 2012, In which I prove once again that I am not Superwoman

Dear Long-Forsaken Blog,

I feel like I've been pretty careful in the last few years to not take on too much at any given time. But this fall I got a little carried away. I took a graduate class toward my administrator's license and  I signed on to two heavy-duty committees in my school district.  These duties on top of my already busy full-time job and roles of wife and mother.  Add to this, the Wise and Bearded One's new job in an architecture firm--a new job in which he has increased responsibilities and has been averaging fifty-plus hour weeks.

And it was all too much. Some of my favorite parts of life fell by the wayside.  I did almost no reading for pleasure, almost no crafting, and (obviously) no blogging.

I struggle with being an ambitious career woman while valuing a creative life, a nurturing home, and spiritual/emotional balance.  I've searched for blogs by women who work fulltime outside the home and are involved mothers.  I haven't found one yet.  They probably just don't have the time to blog.  If you find one, let me know. 

I take comfort from conversations with many of my female friends who are in the same place I am---trying to find balance and figuring out when to say "no" and when to say "yes".  I also really appreciated the Atlantic article by Anne-Marie Slaughter that made the rounds of the internet this summer. If you haven't read Why Women Still Can't Have It All, I recommend it.

What's Really Important:



 Things that Happened This Fall that Did Not Get Blogged About:

--Our housemates moved out. We love them and are happy they can finally get their own space and we are glad to stretch out across our whole house again.

--The Sprout got her own room--we repainted and are in the process of making one of the upstairs bedrooms her special place.

--The Wise and Bearded One renovated half of our basement into a work/studio space and play space.  It's almost done.  Happy Dance!  I can't wait to have a space to sew that is somewhere other than the dining room table!

--We now have a guest room/office too.  So, out-of-town friends, come and visit!

--I read several thousand pages about using data for educational decision making, common core curriculum, formative and summative assessment, and evaluation systems for teachers and administrators.  I am not any smarter than when I started.

--We watched four seasons of Sons of Anarchy in quick succession in the evenings after the Sprout went to bed.

What Will Be Different Next Semester:

--The Wise and Bearded One and I have a deal:  Only one of us is allowed to be stressed at a time.  Since his job promises to continue to be extremely busy for the next few months, I will scale back my extra duties
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--Hopefully, that means I will have time to read, to create, to blog.  But I'm not promising anything since I have definitively proven that I am not Superwoman.

Deb

Sewing Knits: Fail!

I like it when other artists and crafters show the Projects-That-Didn't-Turn-Out, so I thought I would show you one of my first attempts at sewing knits this spring.

This was my attempt at the 90-Minute Shirt from Made and then a pair of yoga pants that fit well that I tried to trace off and recreate. First of all I cut up a onesy that was too small for the Sprout and used that to trace the shirt pattern. I thought I compensated by adding to the center fold to increase the size but apparently I didn't compensate enough. Result: instant belly shirt that immediately rides up. I also put the front and the back shoulders together incorrectly so it just looks WRONG. And, somehow, I ended up making the pants much too long. But that's ok, because she's growing like a weed so they'll fit just fine some day soon.

This was sewn from my pile of discarded t-shirts so I didn't feel too bad that it is a complete flop. Plus the Sprout can wear them as pajamas and no one will ever see them in the light of day.

I'd like to attempt the 90-Minute Shirt again because the IDEA was good. It's just the execution that stunk :)