Trapped...

Should I be frightened of the future? Heehee. Apparently, she's been watching too much Nick at Night, or something. Now, she's never been the traditional kid, playing with baby dolls or reading a lot. She much preferred drawing pictures and building things, so - an artistic type. Once, she told me she felt like a boy in a girl's body. I think we all feel like that a little bit. At least, I do. It's a big irksome irritant to me that if any dialogue needs to happen with workmen, it's better that my husband handles it. He's busy. He works all day at a job with a 45-minute drive. He does the kind of work that his bosses look at and say, "Could you go faster?" (Computer programming, folks, and there's no way to pretend that you worked that day.) Yet if I want something to get done the way I want it, I have to engage his help. Why are men more respected in business matters than women? I have literally had workmen answer my questions while looking at my husband. It stinks. I feel just as capable of explaining what I'd like or questioning what they're doing as he does. So, if that's the case, then yes, sometimes I too feel like a boy trapped in a girl's body.

I was driving with my oldest daughter one day, and I said, "In my next life, I'd like to be a workman, a mechanic, a builder, something. I'd like to know what's going on when things go wrong or break." She looked at me and said, "Mom, there's still time." .... ouch. She's right. Knowledge is power. Frustration is limiting and makes me head for the Ativan. Learning how to fix the dryer, or at least know what questions to ask, would help. If only there weren't these obvious telltale signs that I am not a man, I am sure I'd get much more information from the mechanic. There. That's my grump for the day. It must have been lurking there, or why would the cute picture of my punk rocker kid (with a Playschool toy, for goodness sake! HeeHee) have brought it on? Sorry.

In knitting news (you knew there would be some), I finished another Irish Hiking Scarf for the knitalong. I started a third, and I don't know when I'm going to get tired of this pattern. The cables pull it up into such a warm scarf! I love it, love it, love it. I think it's going to be THE gift scarf for 2006, at least from this house. I need to fringe this one, since it's for a female, and then I'm on to my dad's, in a forest green. This blue scarf was knitted from Caron, blueberry colorway, no dye lot (gotta love that). The yarn is shiny and soft, yet feels really warm. Better yet, it's washable! The girls used one of my sweet, fuzzy-yarned scarves last year on a snowman, and it ended up outside all winter. No, it wasn't ever the same. I've been knitting with really good yarn for awhile now, but now machine washables are beginning to make their case with me. Must be that I'm giving them as gifts.




Oh, and hey, this kid won an art contest today by drawing the 2nd place Christmas card! Huzzah! See? Artistic. Like I said.