the posts I haven’t written and the pictures I haven’t taken

First of all, here’s the last of my Projekt “Farbe bekennen“-pictures. I had hoped to be able to take a picture of me in the dress and the cardigan but my days didn’t work out that way. At least it is colorful indeed. Especially with the rack of drying laundry in the background:

It’s the dress that I bought the pattern and the fabric for in 2007, that I cut out last September, and that I put away because the top and the skirt didn’t fit together. This year I decided to just finish it any which way, and now I have a dress that I’m really happy with, except for the fact that it would fit me better if my boobs were smaller.

The cardigan is one that has been in the making for more than year too. And the yarn even was supposed to be a sweater in 1994 or so. The sweater spent the next years in the attic, almost done except for one sleeve. I ran out of yarn and suddenly realized that I don’t like bobbles. The pattern for this is Something Red, and I love it. It’s a bit short for wearing with pants because I got impatient (also it’s heavy cotton and if I wear it long enough it won’t be too short anymore) but it’s perfect with a dress or skirt.

As with these two garments (and the picture that should have been something else), I now have to be content to do a blog post, regardless of whether I like it or not since today will probably be the only day I have any time to post until the week after next. I’m busy as usual, and also packing for a trip to my parents next week. I’m happy to leave the house for once, and also woefully unprepared. Also, the weather is changing from day to day so I don’t know what clothes to bring. My experience tells me, though, that regardless of what I pack it will be wrong. If I pack for summer weather it will be cold enough for woolen sweaters and vice versa. (No, I won’t pack both, I’m a woman traveling by train with a single backpack. And I need to bring knitting with me.)

So, the posts I wanted to write but haven’t (you know how I love lists, don’t you):

Around the world in 80 clicks: the lovely Beck had tagged me, I thought about this post with reasons why I love being a mother and a list of other mothers to tag for weeks.

Treats that aren’t: how a lot of things that I treat myself to aren’t really treats but things that make me feel worse in the long run.

Explaining my life to strangers: how I end up explaining my life on a daily basis so that I even have to discuss it with random people I meet at the grocery store. And how I should make this into the new tagline for my blog

Gold: a picture of my wedding ring that is the only piece of golden jewelry that I wear, with a sappy post about why I cherish it even though it’s not that beautiful and how I haven’t taken it off since 1995 (except for x-rays and such)

Gardening: a post about an interview I heard on Craftsanity with Jenna Woginrich who wrote the book “Made from Scratch”” together with my feelings towards gardening and how I realized I know more about it than I thought (I’m still not gardening as such, in case you wondered.)

Nostalgic Liesl: a post about a purple sweater that I knit in September out of yarn that I bought in 1988, the memories of the vacation where I bought it, and the people I went with

Parts 2 to 4 of the beach-story: the parts have been written but need minor adjustments before posting

Be calm: the only song I wrote last year, it still isn’t recorded though, and I’m without voice again since hay fever season is in full swing

Idle parenting: a post about the book “The Idle Parent”“, why I love it and why it helped me to see that my parenting is rooted in ideas I believe in instead of mere laziness as I had suspected

Life or Death: a story about a girl backpacking through Europe who encounters terrorists at a mall (I still have to write this one)

Why fashion is important to me: stemming from an ongoing conversation between my husband and me (he doesn’t get why somebody can be that interested in clothes; what I don’t get is: if I’m that interested in fashion why don’t I dress better?)

So, to answer a question my sister asked me in the last post: Yes, one can be too busy to play around with a new camera. I’m not quite sure why I suddenly am that busy but one thing is that these days I opt for having quiet evenings instead of sitting in front of the computer until midnight. And for long conversations with my husband. And I have about five more students which is great but leaves me no spare time in the afternoons. For example I wrote the first part of this post just after lunch, and this part between students. And Thursdays are the only days when there is a “between students” otherwise it’s all students all the time. And my husband is crazily busy with gardening on top of working on his music and doing housework. And my head is full of things to and places to go, and people to call, and all the busy, busy little details.

At least there won’t be as many busy little details next week when we spend the week with my parents near Holland. I probably won’t be able to spend much time on the computer there.

Again I’m very sorry for not reading or commenting on your blogs, or twittering much but then – as we have often told each other – this should be for fun, not an obligation. See you later.