Thoughts on Being a Grown-up

Lately I've been thinking about what quilts I'd like to make next year, and it occurred to me that my to-do list holds a lot of ideas and patterns for wall hangings, door hangers, table runners, and the like that have holiday themes.  Some of them are actually matched up with fabrics.  Only, I never work on these because I have a white board on my wall that lists all the projects I'm working on, and I'm determined to work on each one every month.  A worthy goal, no doubt.

Then it occurred to me that I could decide to give these projects a rest during certain months of the year and do something holiday related.  What a concept!  For example, I'd love to make something for Valentine's Day.

Or the 4th of July.  In fact, I already have a project lined up for the 4th of July.  I just never get to it.

Or how about Halloween?  Wouldn't that be fun?  I have a table runner all ready to go.  All I need to do is sew it together.

And, heck, with Christmas right around the corner, wouldn't it be fun to make a table runner for myself like the one I made as a gift last year?  I mean, really, wouldn't that be great fun?

Only, I'm keeping my nose to the grindstone working on the projects on my white board because I'm being so terribly responsible and rule-abiding.  

But then, I asked myself, "Just who makes the rules around here anyway?"  And then it occurred to me that these are someone else's rules, not mine.  It doesn't really matter whose rules they are, and there's no use expending energy trying to figure it out.  I just know that these are not rules I made up for myself at any point in time.  They are ways I keep myself organized, but really, isn't there more to life than being organized?  And rule-abiding?  I hope so.

Then I recalled this time when I was returning to college full time after a long absence.  It was pretty exciting. I'd worked full time while Mike went to school, and then I raised two babies to school age.  Finally, it was my turn, and in celebration, I decided I deserved some back-to-school clothes.  My mother always took me back-to-school shopping when I was a kid, and I started school with a few days' worth of new clothes.  So I continued this tradition for my first few days back at school as a full-time student at the Big School.

Once I had my spiffy new clothes for my first few days back at school, I knew I had to wait until the first day of school to wear them.  That's the rule, right?  Only then, I wondered who made up that rule, and I realized it was my mother's rule.  Only just then, I happened to BE the mother!  So I made up a new rule, to-wit:  They're my clothes.  I bought them with my own money.  I'll wear them whenever I want to.  Pretty good rule, huh?

So today I was thinking more about my to-do list, and my holiday-themed projects waiting in the wings, my white board, and my rules, and I decided that it would be okay to put the white board projects aside for certain months and work on things that are totally unrelated...just for fun.  Quilting isn't a job...not for me, at least.  It's supposed to be fun, and so why not make it even more fun by choosing to take time off from the "regular stuff" and doing something wild and crazy...like a Christmas table runner for Christmas?

So that's my new rule, and it's a good rule for me.

I know there are folks out there who feel bound and determined to finish every project they start before moving on to the next one.  If it's one's own rule and not somebody else's rule they're living by, then I say more power to them.  We should all live by our rules, especially those among us who are grown-ups.  We are all grown-ups here, aren't we?  But honestly, if it's someone else's rule, as grown-ups we should really ask ourselves it it serves us well.  If it's not...make up new rules.  I promise the sun will come up in the morning.  And it will rise in the east, just like always.

So, speaking of grown-ups...this is our grown-up cat, Gracie.

Gracie is taking another 14-day course of antibiotics to clear up a bladder infection that has been causing her grief.  The medicine happens to be in pill form this time around, and if you've ever tried pilling a cat, then you know it is challenging, to say the least.  So Mike and I bundle her up in a towel, kitty burrito style, and then shove a pill and a half down her throat.  We've done this three times, and it gets a little easier every time.

Tonight we were congratulating ourselves on how well it was going just after releasing Gracie from her burrito wrap.  As we were watching her saunter toward the door, I heard a little click on the floor and realized that Miss Gracie had cheeked her meds and spit them out when she thought we weren't watching.  If I hadn't heard them hit the floor, we would never have known.  Until we discovered them later.

What do you do with a cat like that?  So we bundled her up again and gave her the pills for a second time.  Sheesh.  Guess we'll have to keep a closer eye on her from now on.  I sure hope this medicine works this time around.  I hate to think what any future medicine might require.