Busy Bee

Ack, I feel badly that I haven't posted in a while. Yesterday, we did the big reveal of the first Birds of a Feather blocks in the Primitive Folk Applique Yahoo Group. I couldn't help but notice how much busier my block was than the others. Some were bright, some were subdued, some were dark--all were lovely. Last night, while the kids were in the tub, I pulled through my stash to set aside fabrics for the next two blocks, and then, after getting them tucked in bed, I went back to the fabrics I pulled and realized that they fit perfectly with the busy-ness of my first two blocks. So, I began to think about how our quilts reflect our lives.

My life is busy. That's not a complaint, just an observation. Here's what I've done this week . . .

Presented at a local day long meeting full of state legislators and staff and then met with a US Senator later that same day for a meet and greet. (He has super staffers who actually remember you from meeting to meeting!), then . . .

Attended a funeral for an extraordinary retired faculty member, then . . .

Wrote a state grant concept paper, then . . .

Revised my data set just one more time, ran and double-ran my research correlations and regressions, then . . .

Met with my dissertation chair about finishing my dissertation. My advisor again changed my dependent variable (to a different DV which, thank goodness, I had already calculated just in case), knocked out three of my independent variables, made me identify two new IVs . . . but still blessed my regressions and results. (Yay!!) And offered to co-author a chapter with me in a new book. And offered me adjunct teaching post-PhD. (All big yays!!), then . . .

Worked on copyediting my textbook and stressed out because our instructor's manual author backed out, then . . .

Attended another funeral for a staff member (this one from my immediate office), then . . .

Called to get permission to fax in my graduation application since I got caught by two calls on my way out of the office and wouldn't get to DoubleSportChamp U before the registrar closed, then . . .

Finalized the agenda, rooms, speakers, food, technology, etc. for a statewide meeting (because the outgoing chair was distracted by his own move and let things slip a bit, sigh), then . . .

And, of course, I also did my day-to-day meeting-to-meeting job--which was surprisingly full of mop-up activities this week; played with my liddle kiddles and finally just gave up the ghost and let them sleep in the same bed if they were very, very good; filled out unbirthday party invites for my daughter while making rice pudding (ah, comfort food); made sure my son had his drawn on pirate moustache and beard as needed; researched 529 plans with my husband and made summer vacation plans; found out we might have a slab leak; stressed about not exercising after my co-worker died of a heart attack on Monday and got my booty back on the treadmill (to work off the comfort food); blah, blah, blah.

So, I'm thinking this is why my quilts tend to be busy. One day, maybe my life will grow subdued, but I doubt it :) (As Jay-Z says, "You wuz who you wuz when you got here.") I'm drawn to busy-ness, to the rush of plaid against floral next to dots by the stripes. I like it when some things aren't distinct enough, when the lines aren't clear enough, because that's a depiction of my life: a blurry rush where meaning comes from the mixed up blend not the separate ingredients. We are what we sew and we sew what we are, I guess.