Making it up as I go along

A dear friend and I have been talking about how we compose our lives, often pushed by forces outside of ourselves. I deal with that as I can. One way I do it is not taking advice much from "experts." I have completely stopped reading parenting books, only asking trusted friends when I have specific questions or confusions. I also try to quiet the "shoulds" that peek over my shoulders and shout in my ears seemingly all the time. Part of being a real grown-up, I guess, is taking responsibility for what I do, and not taking responsibility for being or doing what others think I should do.

Sometimes it works really well. Sometimes I just sort of patch things together. Sometimes I do things that don't seem "responsible." I overheard a neighbor last night telling her children that they could each pick out one piece of candy to eat before bed. I laughed. It's not a rule that works for my lively bunch.

I did tell them that Thing 4 doesn't get candy (aside from the pieces she's prying up off of the floor and various furnishings), and that they had to brush teeth last night and eat breakfast today, and that's what works for us. I just heard Thing 2 say, "The day after Halloween is great!" After doing a long ToT with her similarly-dressed friends, Thing 1 is sick with the same thing we all seem to have -- a shattered-glass sinus headache plus runny nose -- but the middle ones are in full hue and cry. I'm hoping to tempt them to play outside for much of the day today.

Sometimes making up your own rules every single day is too exhausting. Sometimes I give myself a day off, sometimes I go for more structure.

It's kind of like knitting. I've lost my current patience for the Schaeffer lace after the last six rows I yanked back (thank goodness it's a tough yarn that doesn't show these re-dos!). In retaliation, starting a new sweater seemed like a great idea. So I looked through some current patterns -- structure, you see? I want something I can knit on without too much thought, that won't make me upset like the lace, but something not mindlessly boring. "Everyday cardigan" seems to be the idea in my head.

I love the sweater in Inspired Cable Knits, but not enough to truly follow the pattern. Saddle shoulders, though, I very much like. And seams will give structure to a fairly floppy yarn, I'm thinking. I like the cable on the arms of "Mariah," from Knitty, but again, not enough to follow the pattern. The colors remind me of chocolate and cherries. It's Knitpick's Main Line, and I'm a little concered about the splittiness.

I've vacuumed and mopped and now I'm going to collapse on the couch. Maybe.