Challenge Rule 1: Buy No Clothes/Don’t Covet
I bought no clothes this week, but I did finish making my peacock-colored handknit sweater.
On the other hand, I am going to confess that I coveted this week. My eldest and I were on the Flying Swings at Le Parc du Petit Prince. I hate the Flying Swings. I love roller coasters, but the Flying Swings are like death to me. However, my boys love them and I love them.
My trick to keep myself from feeling sick on the Flying Swings is to fix my eyes on something relatively nearby that is moving at the same speed as I am. Thus, I usually look at the back of a person’s head or the chains of the swing in front of me. It so happened that my eyes caught the pink high-top Chuck Taylor’s of a lady in front of me and I spent the whole two minutes coveting them.
So I coveted something this week, but it saved my life, too. I’m not going to beat myself up about that.
Challenge Rule 2: The Inventory
Nothing particular to report here. My Cost Per Wear Challenge continues.
Challenge Rule 3: Go-To Catalogue:
Days have been markedly cooler recently, and I really, really, really need to get serious about getting some Go-To layering ideas on paper. The panicky feeling is indeed back in full-swing and I need to get a handle on it. The only saving grace is when I consider that I have not been viewing the panic as a function of “not having anything to wear,” but rather, “that I just don’t know what I want to wear.”
Challenge Rule 4: Mise en Place/Plan Ahead:
Ah yes. Mise en Place, my old friend, how I credit you for staying sane. We took a short trip with the boys this week and by planning ahead and knowing exactly what I was going to wear for the circumstances made it possible for me to be fully present for my boys. I will never sing the praises of Mise en Place long enough or loud enough.
Challenge Rule 5: Repair and Mend, Alter when Necessary:
Oooh, that peacock sweater is simply fabulous and may deserve its own article. The fluffiest, loftiest, most exquisite knit I have done in years. And, of course, at the impetus of my children, it has pockets!!!!!! But to quite simply quote my eldest scalawag, who summed it up masterfully this morning, “Mama, your new sweater looks like magic.”
Round-up
One more week of togetherness therapy. Our band of merry adventurers is starting to project our imaginations onto what back-to-school is going to look like: notebooks and number 2 pencils and binders and Mama can finally get back to work. Right now it feels like a jumble of unknowns inside a parameter of days and weeks that are likewise yet not fully defined.
In other news…
I am excited because once the boys are back in school, I can start working on the podcast again. I am afraid I was a bit gourmande when I said I wanted to release it in September. I hadn’t taken into account that I would be unable to work on it for nearly a month and a half over the summer.
My original plan of five episodes for launch and a weekly podcast thereafter may be unrealistic for the moment. If I cling to my five episodes for launch, then I’ll need to delay. I’m okay with delaying, as long as I feel like I am making steady progress towards a full-throated launch.
We’ll see what kind of time opens up once the boys are back in school and how much time I need to edit the next two episodes that are in the can now that I am slightly more comfortable with the software.
Not to mention that now that my novel has received one offer which I have declined, the motivation is even greater to start looking for that one agent who will catch the fever for my series and want to see it through with me. Book Two, entitled Colossus is nearly complete and by November should be ready for my first test readers.
This reminds me: I will be looking for a panel of four readers: two who have read Book One (Will of Rush) and two who haven’t read it. I want perspective of continuity with the first book, and I also want to know how it is received as a stand-alone story. So, in either case, if you would like to test read Colossus, you know where to find me!
Sing With Your Feet 