Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Slightly Bored and Bitter

Do you ever have one of those days where it's raining, gray and miserable and then YOU start to feel that way? Tim was home from school due to all the flooding and the kids were going bonkers...I was becoming a little (ah-hem) irritable and decided to do something fun...

So, the boys put on some music in the "nice living room" (do you have one of these?) as a treat and I took pics of them. Then, they got tired (is it possible?) and they sat down on the "nice, new couch" and Tim read some books to Ben. It was the cutest thing...look at this:



Didn't I tell you it was a gray day?

That made me think of when they were little and I found this picture to compare:



I was feeling a big giddy from all the cuteness and all the grayness, so I took this pic:



Okay...this was a little TOO dark, I think.

Since we're all sharing this week, and you guys know mostly everything about my "creative life", I thought I'd share a little bit of my family life...with this family pic from around when Ben was 4 months old:



This is when we lived at our older, smaller and very leaky house....thank goodness we moved!

Now to the bitter part.....you know that I bought some gorgeous "Bejeweled" blue Corriedale roving from Yarn Botanika....and that I spun it all up into this to-die-for yarn, so soft...so lovely...which I called "Blueberry Pie" yarn. Okay...now I decided that I've had so much enjoyment from the Yarn Harlot's blog that, when I met her in person, I wanted to give her a little gift. So...I gave her BOTH skeins of this yarn...my beautiful, handspun, spent-hours-and-hours-spinning yarn. And...I never heard from her...no thank you....no I really didn't like this color, but thanks for the thought...nothing. She had my business card (attatched to the yarn) and I even emailed her after to make sure the label didn't come off and she didn't remember who it was from. I had handed it to her myself. Here's a quick pic just to remind you which one it was....



I KNOW that she must have lots of people giving her gifts. I KNOW that she's so busy and she must have been exhausted that day at the book signing. I KNOW that I gave her the gift out of kindness, not asking anything in return.

BUT...I'm only human and I feel bad that she never acknowledged such a precious gift with even a short email like "I got it." or "Thanks" or "I hated it but it's here." Trying to rise above the feelings, but it's difficut sometimes, you know?

I'm thinking...Just breathe...tomorrow will be better...it can't rain forever, right??

9 comments:

sheep#100 said...

Don't stress over it - I'm sure it was just an oversight.

GamecockDoc said...

You're kids are adorable! Hope the gray day improves.
The blueberry yarn was beautiful. I remember you mentioning that you gave it to Stephanie and was suprised she didn't mention it in her blog. She probably just got a bit overwhelmed from all the traveling. I'm sure she is grateful for the yarn...who wouldn't be? It's awesome!

Anonymous said...

What a nice looking family. I love the picture of you and the baby on the couch - you both have the exact same happy smile :) Makes me remember when I used to lay on the couch with my "baby" - she's 20 now. Sometimes I really miss those days.
I wouldn't worry too much about Stephanie not thanking you. I'm sure she loved the gorgeous yarn but has been on such a whirlwind with the book tour that she must be having trouble keeping track of who she has thanked and who she hasn't. Try not to take it personally (although, I do know how you feel).
Hugs,
Julie

Anonymous said...

What a nice looking family. I love the picture of you and the baby on the couch - you both have the exact same happy smile :) Makes me remember when I used to lay on the couch with my "baby" - she's 20 now. Sometimes I really miss those days.
I wouldn't worry too much about Stephanie not thanking you. I'm sure she loved the gorgeous yarn but has been on such a whirlwind with the book tour that she must be having trouble keeping track of who she has thanked and who she hasn't. Try not to take it personally (although, I do know how you feel).
Hugs,
Julie

yarnophiliac said...

Don't feel too bad about Stephanie, hun. I gave her a set of needles and haven't heard anything. Like you said, she probably got tons of gifts, and it may take her a while to respond, if she ever gets the chance! I mean, c'mon! You've read her books! She's about as organized as I am -- an that is trouble, let me tell you! I'll send an "about me" email tomorrow. Love ya! Heather

Karen said...

HI! Sorry to hear about the "thank you that must have fallen into a black hole". Here are several possible ideas for what happened:

She hasn't unpacked completely yet. In my house suitacases and bags for a trip can sit around for ages until the bag or its contents are actaully needed for something...

She (heaven forbid) lost the yarn or its tag and doesn't know who to thank...

Some of her stuff was stolen and your gift is now being enjoyed by persons unknown...

And lastly, there is one other thought that I have learned over the years about gifts. From the standpoint of the giver, it is the purchasing/making, wrapping, delivering, etc. that are under the giver's control and can therefore be enjoyed by the giver. After the gift has been bestowed, it is like launching a message in a bottle on the ocean - with some luck, you will hear about it again and the results will be positive. But sometimes things don't go that way, and then I just chalk it up to the "pay it forward" theory. By this I mean that the action of giving may have started a positive ripple in the fabric of the universe, but in the forward direction, which is why the giver never hears about it directly.

Now on to the important things - those adorable children of yours! I am sure that raising two boys of such disparate ages must be a larger challenge than usual. I have four children, each one about 3 years removed in age from the next, but alternating in sex (boy, girl, boy, girl). So the girls are six years appart in age, and same for the boys. This means that they seldom do things at the same time (team, clubs, sports, etc.) although they wish they could! Makes things very interesting at times!

Hope the sun is out where you are, like it is here (at least for now!).

Knit in peace,
Karen

Heide said...

The blueberry yarn is beautiful and I'm sure that the Yarn Harlot just hasn't uncovered it yet from all of her traveling bags, etc. How could she not love it though?! I'm sorry to hear you're being effected by the flooding. We've been inundated with sunshine here in western Washington, sounds like the weather is a little confused. Great pictures, thank you for sharing.

Gina House said...

Thank you everyone for such comforting, uplifting and totally insightful comments...everything you gals said is right....thank you also for the compliments on the boys...I think they're adorable, too! I actually heard from Stephanie today and I feel like a complete sh*t for feeling bitter. More on that in my next blog...jeez...do I suck or what? : P

YarnB said...

The kids are so cute!! Loveable photos. I am very sensitive like you so I understand. I can tell you a million times to not feel bad, but you still might. I say I would rather be a sensitive person than not, any day of the week, even though it is tough...ooh now I just saw your last comment.. what did she say? Its ok !!!