Beautiful Monday

It promises to be a beautiful day today. (Mostly) blue sky, warm(-ish) in the low 60s (F) and just really, really nice. In fact, our whole weekend was lovely. Well, as far as the weather went anyway. LOL

I got absolutely no knitting done all weekend. I'm a little freaked out by that since it was on my to-do list. Then again, considering the weekend, I'm not surprised. You see, the neighbor kids came over to play. I learned a few things. My kids rock. Totally. They don't whine, disrespect other people's stuff, beg for snacks constantly or invite themselves to spend the night. When they watch a movie, for the most part they really watch the movie. They don't talk loudly about other stuff then demand repeatedly for someone to tell them what is going on in the movie. They are pretty respectful of grown-ups. The neighbor kids, not so much. I also learned that I can still get over-stimulated and need some serious recovery time. And I learned that when left alone with four children between the ages of 5 and 8, beer does not help. (Me, not the kids.)

I know, I should just suck it up and be the adult, but these kids WHINE and BEG and DON'T STOP. The last time there were here it wasn't this bad, but my DH was home to help and I wasn't trying to make two different meals to feed everyone. This time, I was. There are skills I will learn and develop, but I was not prepared for this all weekend. I was a basket case when the went home. It lasted for the rest of the weekend. I was almost happy to come to work (sucky, sucky work) just for the relative peace and quiet. How sad is that?

Okay, the worst/best part? Right before the visitors went home, the girl (did I mention they are twins? boy/girl) grabbed a ball of pre-drafted fiber and started SQUISHING IT. Wait, I need a moment to breathe. Okay, then she kept asking loudly (without listening to my response) "What is this?" What is it for?" "Why do you have it?" "What is it?" "It's weird!" "It's kind of gross." My answers were always preceded by "Please put it down NOW. That is wool, from sheep." etc. Squishing my pre-drafted fiber! Gross?! Aaaaaargh! Okay, deep breaths, I'm okay, she's gone now. Okay. Both of my DDs were also answering her questions and telling her to put the wool down now. (Did I mention how much I love them?) when the girl finally put it down (rather huffily) and went away from it, her brother (who somehow missed the hysterical note and volume in my voice) walked over and attempted to repeat the entire process, including the squishing part. I'm pretty sure I freaked him out when I jumped out of my chair, used my loud firm voice (but not yelling) telling him to PUT IT DOWN and reached to take it from his hands. I'm sorry, but I was at the end of my rope, if you will, and I couldn't stand any more.

Fortunately it was the end of the movie, you know, the one they didn't watch, and time for them to leave. All I can figure out is that their parents do not have things they can't touch. Mine are allowed to touch my fiber, but they know to handle it gently. They also know they should touch other people's things without asking first. They also, apparently, understand that mommy will be really upset if freaky, possibly alien kids who think wool is weird start squishing my fiber. Especially if they don't ask first. Now I know this could have been a teaching moment. I could have told them about wool and spinning and yarn, etc. Then again, I was already fried and they were beyond listening to anything anyone said. It would not have worked at that time. I promise I will try to be open to the moment if it arrives again.

I did try to do some spinning yesterday. The fiber was a mess, so I spent no little time trying to put it back in spinnable shape. It worked, nothing was felted, but it was a near thing in some places. Sadly, I was interrupted constantly, so I made very little progress. In fact, it got very frustrating and I eventually just gave it up as a lost cause. My DH was so pleased, "Look, you've got time to spin!" He didn't know (he does now) that constant interruptions and spinning do not work well together.

Oh well, he tried, I got a little stuff done and learned nice things about my kids. My nerves are completely shot, but I'll be better prepared next time. (All the other kids who come to visit come with their parents, so not as traumatic.) I've got my spinning stuff all set and ready to go, so I'll probably squeeze in a bit more this week. In the peace and quiet of my home. Without the freaky, possibly alien neighbor kids. And, work wasn't so bad to come to today. That is a definite positive. AND I've got four other job applications done and ready to go. Go me! Off to a decent start so far, and the beautiful weather to go with it. Nice.

Every once-in-a-while I still hear it, the haunting refrain... Wool is gross.... twitch