Selfish.

Sorry, but I'm being selfish...with my family, my time, my home, my energy and just not much interested in sharing right now, blogwise.   After being gone two months over a three month period of time, it's so good to curl up on the couch and read with the boys, to sit around the table together for meals, to feed the woodstove, to start each morning with two boys sneaking downstairs, crawling under the covers, and sandwiching me in, and to settle into more of a schedule, school-wise.  In other words, to just have a so-called normal family life, to just be "us at home", not "us out in the world", and to reconnect with friends and family.   To tackle the piles left in the whirlwinds of our comings and goings.

To just be.  Here.  Right now.  In our house.  In our life.

Late fall/early winter is extraordinarily beautiful still and there's plenty of knitting to share, a backlog even, but I just don't feel like hauling the camera around trying to get a halfway decent shot or bothering with downloading right now.  It has been feeling "right" lately to consciously choose to leave the camera behind, to look with my own eyes and experience things for what they are, and to spend less time in front of the screen.

That being said and out of my system, don't be surprised if I just get over it and post like crazy in the next few days.  Or maybe not.  No Nablopomo here, but I'll try to pull together a few posts here and there, or at least a few pictures, inspired by Amber's tagging of me here.  She has me looking back through pictures and reminiscing, both on Flickr and those on the computer and even back into the days of real film cameras.

Despite a lack posting here, I still am out there enjoying others' blogs and Flickr pages.

The calendar shot is my entry in the November Calendar contest here.  The boys have been making these at the beginning of each month.  They each draw a picture and R makes the calendar using a blank one from here.  E likes having a reason to draw, so this a nice way of encouraging him to do so.

The watch cap is knit following this pattern, but over a greater number of stitches in a Dk weight yarn, Dale Falk Neon.  This is my answer to (and improvement upon) the basic hunter's cap, a necessity this time of year.  Unlike all the cheapy acrylic ones out there, this one is washable wool.   I just wish mine was as pretty as this one, also pictured here.

Just because:  decorations we made for Dia de Los Muertos, similar to the ones we saw in Mexico a couple of years ago, earlier this month, using this printable.  Pirate, baker, and girl:

Comments

[Jan]

Your post sounds like one I could have written, many times. Blogging can be alternately exhilarating and exhausting and I think that those of us who have been doing it for a while cycle through these periods regularly. You'll know when you feel like jumping back in and I suspect your readers will all still be here.
I will!

[Jennifer]

Good for you! You deserve some time just for yourself. I love the fun hat. Orange is such a happy color. Love the Dia de los Muertos decorations. Very cool. Happy Thanksgiving.

[mary jane]

ya-huh is so as pretty! A safer blaze orange too. Hey, what is your house made of? It looks a lot like ours.

[Georgia]

You should never feel like you HAVE to blog. We all need some time to ourselves and our own lives occasionally. And while we all enjoy reading yours, we'll forgive you if you need a break.

[Amber]

I love those decorations for Dia de Los Muertos. When I was baking bread for a bakery, I had to fill in on that day and was requested to make Day of the Dead Bread. It was fun to make---in fact, I'll upload the picture I have of the bread from that day on flickr.

Oh, I hear ya on taking some time for yourself. Good for you. I don't know what I was thinking when I signed up for the NaBloPoMo during not only a normally busy month but also when much of my large projects are due for school! Ack!

[Peg]

You are NOT selfish. Sometimes we have to change the direction we are taking. I blog very little just now, but I do read and knit. I have given up many things that were no longer bringing pleasure into my life, but I do not think of that as selfish, and being there for yourself and your family is smart!

[Leslie]

My husband would like a hat out of the Neon Orange wool...how many balls does it take for a man sized hat?? We live south of you in the Bitterroot Valley! Wool is always better once the weather cools down. Enjoy your "break" from the blog but I will look forward to all the beautiful photos you post upon your return.

[Hege]

Love your decoration :)
I've bookmarked it for later ;)

Have a great week, and take care! It's good to just curl up and have some great time just my oneself!

[Lynn]

It is good to take time for yourself and your family. I have recently started my own blog and I am beginning to understand more how it can change the way you live the life that you wanted to blog about. It is then not the one that started you on the journey.