Busy, Busy, Busy

Busy, Busy, Busy

... which is why I’ve maintained blog silence over the past few days.

Let’s see: two day jobs, a sewing project (completed last night) and designing and creating a fair-sized bilingual website (not mine): yup, that’s a pretty full plate right there. No wonder I feel ready for a nice, long vacation.

I still need to redesign my own website. I worked on the others first so that I would learn lots of new techniques before I got to my own ... and now that I have the skills, I don’t have the time. I should have known.

If all goes well the bilingual website should be done in about a week. I work on it at night, after my regular job(s). (Free time? What’s that?) I confess I’m looking forward to two things: the sense of accomplishment I’ll feel once I complete this project successfully and it goes online, and getting paid—provided that the Income Tax Authority doesn’t decide that I was really doing this job for them.

So once this website is done, I’ll have to do everything but swear an oath to bring my own site up to date. I feel like I’m walking around with outdated code stuck to my shoes like week-old gum. Not pleasant.

The sewing project involved making three sets of curtains, by the way. Though they were simple ones, I hadn’t realized they take so long to make. I mean, how long can it take to make a loop for a curtain rod and finish a bunch of edges? (Stop that snickering!) I remember falling asleep years ago to the sound of the sewing machine as my mother made matching curtains and bedspreads for every room in the house. Even though I didn’t know a great deal about sewing when I was younger, I still knew that my mother is an expert needlewoman and that she put her heart and soul into those sets. (They were gorgeous, too.) But after a project like this, I can appreciate her efforts even more because I understand just how much work it is ... and that’s without making even a single ruffle.

So I tip my pincushion to you, Mom.

Actually, both my parents are expert craftspeople. I still remember the drop-leaf table they rescued from the trash years ago and the hours they spent rebuilding and refinishing it. Today that table could grace a museum, and that’s only one example of what they can do. I like to think I got my appreciation for handicrafts and love of writing from them. Now if only I had my father’s head for numbers, I’d have it made.

Time to get back to work.