Monday, November 12, 2007

On the Mend

It's Monday, and I made it back to work. Hooray!

I spent the 4 days of my convalescence knitting up a storm. I made some progress on Grandma's Gift Wrap yesterday--although I did have the fun of ripping out about 3 1/2 rows to go back and fix a tiny little error that made the whole thing look very silly. I swear, with all of the tinking and reknitting I've done on this, I've knit enough to be done. It's the tinking part that's the problem. (I just keep reminding myself how glorious it will be when it's finished--no mistakes, all flowing just as it should. I need the reminders--it's frustrating as hell to have to keep redoing the same rows over and over.) I admit it, the women at Stitch and Bitch saw the ugly side of me--at one point, I threw a little tantrum and thrashed the Wrap with my free needle. I will do my best to act like a grown-up from now on. *looks ashamed*

Saturday I felt well enough to go to my second job, and after that I went to a knit-in to make afghan squares for the Rape Crisis Center. Alas, I didn't manage to finish even 1 square before leaving, but I did finish it (and cast on another) while watching Cool Hand Luke after dinner.


Tonight I'm having dinner guests. Two of my three guests are people who come over so often they barely count as "guests" anymore--they know and love me, despite the piles of clutter on my coffee table, despite the occasional clumps of my hair on the carpet, and despite the spots on my bathroom mirror. The third guest, however, is a work friend who has never been to my apartment. (She's seen my desk and my car, though, so she has a good idea of my housekeeping skills. Okay, it's not a problem of skills as much as a severe lack of motivation.) And I was not doing any cleaning while I was sick--especially not dishes--so my apartment is in particularly bad shape at the moment. When she told me her husband was out of town and she was on her own tonight, I was overcome by friendship and goodwill and insisted she come over for dinner. Only later did I realize that I'll have to blindfold her for the first 20 minutes she's over so I can do a quick surface cleaning. Maybe I'll tell her it's some kind of hazing ritual that all of my friends have to go through...

3 comments:

Barbara said...

Listen to the voice of experience: a multitude of housekeeping deficiencies can be covered by candlelight and the liberal use of alcohol wipes. Plus if she's worked in publishing for long she'll know that creative people are messy. Maybe the regulars can distract her while you're cramming dirty dishes into, hmm, not the oven if you're cooking. The cupboard under the sink, maybe? If you're lucky she'll spend the rest of the week regaling your coworkers with tales of your charming bohemian lifestyle. ;-)

Ann said...

Thanks for the advice, Mom! I might just have to forbid her to leave the living room until I clean off the dining room table and do a little bathroom touch-up, then just blame the dishes on having been sick.

She doesn't run screaming from the mess on my desk, which is a good sign!

Knitting Magic Girl said...

Glad you're feeling better! Have fun with the guests!