Day 20 Procrastination

Sometimes my daughter calls me just to ask for encouragement and inspiration. It is usually on a cleaning day. What's funny about that is I'm not the best of cleaners. You'd think she'd call Aunt Linda instead. The other funny thing about these calls is we usually talk for a very long time about things that have nothing at all to do with mopping the kitchen floor or scrubbing toilets. Yet when the conversation has run its course, one of us is usually in the mood to at least do a load of laundry. Sometimes Weneki, sometimes ME.

Today is the first day in a long time I don't have somewhere to go until later, so I am still in my jammies. Good golly, Miss Molly, I love pajama days! I won't go so far as to say I'm in the cleaning mode, but I have swept the kitchen floor and changed the bed. There is a load of clothes in the washer and (drum roll, please) you can almost see the top the dining room table. Almost, because I still have one stack of papers that I'm not sure where to file. If I move the flyer for a new dentist, I won't remember to call for an appointment.

Halfway through the stack of cards, return address labels, stickers, envelopes and, of course, quotes I want to save that came out of my address book, I realized what was going on. I'm procrastinating. It's weird, isn't it you that in order to avoid doing something I don't want to do, I do something else I've been putting off?

I have an order for two bears. Both are already made. Easy peasy. The catch lies in dressing the bigger of the two. The recipient sent me a red knitted sweater vest that her mother has had since 1968. The label in it says it was made in Hong Kong.  I've got to figure out how to trim the vest down to fit a 25" bear. I've pinned it to see how much to cut. That's where I'm stuck. Making that first cut.

What if I make a mistake? What if Cut too much? What if it unravels?

When I first started making bears, I was using t-shirts. There was usually enough shirt to fix any cutting errors. But this vest is different. The problem is I'm not sure why. I've had clothes wake me up and say, come on, let's get this bear made. But I've never had one that seemed to say, whoa Nellie, are your sure you want to do this?  I realize that's giving way too much power to a shirt or a vest. Believe it or not, I am convinced the spirit of the person lives on in the clothes they loved.

Here's the thing. I know the vest is going to look wonderful on the bear. Like a polar bear in a red sweater. I think it's time I gave myself a bit of a pep talk. I'll just pretend I'm Weneki and tell her how happy she's going to be to lie down on her sofa with a magazine, a quilt and Olivia (or Kurt as the case may be)without the first bit of (un)cleaner's remorse.

See. It's already working. Here I go. I'm off. Wish me luck.
Merry ME

Later that same day: