Socks, Birthdays, Time, and Paying Attention

See my socks? They are getting to be like a really good book that I can't put down. Or, at least I don't WANT TO. But, I must....

See the cool spiraly-thingy starting to form? Wildtomato told me how to do it and it's so fun! I definitely keeps sock knitting more interesting that just doing it all in stockinette stitch!
(Like my flip flop tan? You know you do!)

David took the girls out shopping for my birthday present. I have mixed feelings about that.

The only things I actually want right now are out of our price range. And that's okay. I'm a big girl, right? An elliptical machine or a really nice Mp3 player aren't in the cards right now. I can totally deal with that. I can't think of any little things that I want or need right now. So, given I haven't shared any good ideas with them, they are flying blind out there right now. David and three kids, one of which should be going down for a nap soon if she's going to remain a likeable person for the rest of our long day!

I take that back; I did give them a good idea. I would like to stay in bed and knit, read and watch tv at my leisure. Seriously. Don't buy me a thing, just let me do my thing. I want to see what a major day of knitting can do to my socks. How far could I get? I usually can't get five uninterrupted minutes to knit, much less a whole day. I just wonder what I'd actually be capable of.

Last night, I knitted in bed for about a half an hour or so before I went to sleep. When I woke up this morning, the children were starting to pile into our bed (which they love to do on the weekends!) and I decided to work on my socks while we were all there hanging out and watching tv. BAD CALL. In the two hours I actually knitted this morning (which were by no means what one would consider uninterrupted!) I spent more time UNknitting my socks than actually knitting them! I don't know how, but I lost track of what I was doing and started doing the wrong stitches on the wrong side of one of my socks. I guess I was just distracted by the kids and the tv and David and.....you know how it goes!

I wonder if that's how the rest of my life is, too. I wonder if I'd be able to focus better on things and be a more efficient person if I had more time to myself. A new friend of mine is so organized that it's almost insane from my standpoint. (But only because 'chaos' and 'disorganization' and 'procrastinator' are usually very good words to describe me with!) She is so organized, but she makes it that way. Her kids have always done down for naps at the same time every day since they were tiny. They nap for 2-3 hours. All of them. At once. They have no choice, as she is very intent on their schedule remaining the same. They also eat dinner at 6:00 and go to bed at 7:30. Think of all that kid-free time she has just by making sure the kids are all on a schedule. I need to be more like that and I would love some of her to rub off on me! She also says she FLYs. That's a great way to get it all sorted and scheduled.

No wonder her house is so clean with three kids under the age of six in it!

I just need to do something. I need to feel like I have more control over this house. I don't want to have to be too bossy, but things just aren't cutting it for me they way they are now. I actually had a day where I felt like I was ignored by all of the children all day. What I said simply did not register with them. That put me in a very bad mood!

All I want for my birthday is to feel like my family hears me. If they find that while they're out shopping, it will be the bestest birthday EVER!!!

But a card would be good too!