Pow!

I socked my to-do list in the gut this weekend. I really did.
I spent all day Saturday making stuff and it felt so good. Of course, being close to Christmas, there isn't much of it I can show you. And of course, a cold front came through and the light was bad, so there are not yet any photos of what I actually can show you either. But I sewed an apron for my grandma, sleep pants for Drew and a Christmas jumper for Emma to wear in her school concert. And I knitted something too, which is not quite done but will be by tomorrow evening. Oh, and my washer is dead so I had to do laundry all day at my mom's. It's a good thing that knitting is portable.
The list had started to really overwhelm me, even though it's probably do-able, because I just hadn't had time to start on it. So now, I feel like I've got the ball rolling and it's nice. The boys had a guy day on Saturday, so Emma and I listened to Christmas music (after all, we were making Christms presents) and crafted and created together. It was festive.
The season is definitely changing quickly. My Aunt Sandy in Wisconsin sent us some leaves this year. Being Floridians, we don't get the gorgeous foliage that everyone else does this time of year. When we moved here I was 10 and already a deeply romantic soul. I mourned the loss of autum for many years. And my Grandma Bucklew faithfully sent me leaves in the mail every year. She'd pick the most perfect ones and iron them between pieces of wax paper to preserve them a bit. So, seeing those leaves in the mail, now that she's gone, was a really beautiful thing.

I am sorry to announce that I have to go to work tomorrow. My Making Mondays have been taken away from me. I suspect it has been a conspiracy from the start to keep me in the office five days a week. I have noticed a gradual increase in my work load since the end of the summer. Little things that my boss used to do for himself have wound up on my desk, and usually that desk is very full when I come in on Tuesdays. It's just become impossible to complete my tasks in the time I have. They are not difficult tasks by any stretch, they are just numerous.
Last week, my boss asked me to start coming back in on Mondays because he noticed I'd been "swamped." He was very surprised when I let him know that I'd been coming in early often enough to nearly make up the hours - that the "swamped" state of my desk is merely due to an increase in workload. That's when he told me I could take Fridays off instead, then.
I think he just doesn't want to answer the phone on Mondays. He's off on Fridays and so it wouldn't bother him anyway.
So, I have managed to bargain for Fridays off instead, temporarily. After the first of the year, I'll trudge back into the office five days a week. I guess. Bleah.

DAILY BLISS: gorgeous weather and seedless black grapes