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It seems every parent has a version of this story. So I am telling myself as I try not to be too angry at my daughter.

I have been spending extra attention lately on teaching how to treat the cats.  We have two.  One is a mellow old grey/brown tabby of 12yrs.  He is a lap cat but has only recently discovered that the kids are another source of petting hands and so he is not running away from them anymore. The other is a young 3 yr old calico who is friendly but a feisty and moody adolescent.

As the kids have been more interested in trying to play with the cats, I have been teaching them the best and most effective way to call them and to get them to stay with them;  Teaching them the way the cats like to be pet and so on.  I have even started letting them have access to the cat brush.

One daughter has taken to requesting the tabby be in her room during quiet time; an hour of the each day that is mandatory alone time at our house (if they don’t get a break form each other each day they are fighting by dinnertime).

Well, the other day after quiet time, there were tufts of fur all over her floor.  I looked at the tabby and he had patches missing in his side!  Ugh!  She got hold of the (safety) scissors from the art drawer and decided to ‘groom’ him!  I was so mad!  I made her vacuum it up (she hates the vacuum) and told her the consequence was to not be able to be in a room alone with him again.  Also, the scissors got put up and now everyone has to ask first before they use them.

Later that night after the kids were in bed, TripletDad and I were watching TV and the tabby curled up in my lap.  I noticed he was starring intently up at me like he sometimes does when he wants something like more petting.  I looked down and saw...all his whiskers were about ½ inch long!  He is so mellow, he just let her do that to him. Oh!  Poor kitty!  I was so mad!  But I had already given out her consequences.  It was done. I couldn’t go heaping on punishments.  Just keep teaching on proper pet treatment.

Now he just has to grow them back.  Every time I look at him I feel sad for him.  But, like I said, every parent has a story like this.  My turn had just come...

Discussion between Trip3/Trip1 about the definition of a word:

Trip3: It’s a two-story house

Trip1: Not  two-STORY, a two-STORE house.

Mommy (eavesdropping from the other room): No he's right, it’s called two-story.

Trip3: Because there might be books upstairs AND down stairs – that’s why it’s called two-story.

Sometimes they crack me up!

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So, I recently took up knitting.

Life is pretty hectic in my house. I am a WAHM to my triplets.  Thank goodness they go to T-kindergarten in the morning everyday! 

I run my own business out of my home and let me tell you that I am the hardest boss I have ever had, besides being the director of sales, the factory rep, marketing director and my own administrative assistant (TripletDad is the webmaster and bookkeeper). Additionally, it is so hard to draw boundaries between home and office when your desk sits squarely between your kitchen and your family room!

Lately I’ve been feeling overwhelmed.  I belong to a couple different clubs (for my MOM life) and some organizations (for my business life) and I try to keep in contact with my friends.  Add to that some pleas for help with organizing a 20 yr HS reunion and a 24 yr grade school reunion and my parents’ 50^th wedding anniversary and you almost have an idea of what my life is like lately.

Despite not knowing when I would fit it in, I’ve been wanting to try knitting for a few months. I read a couple of books recently that have knitting as a major theme or a side story.  They peaked my interest. At first my new hobby made no sense to my DH.  “Why add another thing to my plate?” asked TripletDad.  Good question.  My first answer was that I want something to keep my hands busy while I watch TV. Usually my hands are busy putting snacks in my mouth in the evenings while we watch our TiVO’d shows (I LOVE TiVO! But that is another topic in itself).

I thought about it some more as I struggled to cast-on while using a written step-by-step beginner’s book.  I was thinking about my complicated life and all the ‘Have-tos” I deal with everyday. So, my second answer was that sometimes I need time to just do something I want to do. 

I was struggling and not knowing if I was doing it right, so I took my funky looking practice piece to my MOMs club meeting for craft night. There were a few ladies there who looked over my shoulder and told me my work looked good, but they thought I had created a new stitch – and I was informed there are only two stitches in knitting – LOL! So they taught me to knit and purl correctly and sent me on my way. Thank goodness for support systems!

I set my knitting project aside for a few days while my BFF was in town.  I found myself detailing to her how my life seems to tumbling in a zillion different directions and I struggle to keep ahold of it all but parts keep getting away from me.  If I’m doing great at my business I feel I am suffering as a mom.  If I am doing great at mom-stuff, I feel I’m not paying enough attention to my husband.  If I am handling those three things well, my friendships tend to suffer.  It’s as if once I grab one thread of my life, another one slips out of my fingers...

There was my ‘Ah-Hah!’ moment.  Maybe taking up knitting was my subconscious trying to find a way to weave the strands of my life together.  A physical manifestation of my mental needs...

Well, I hope it helps.  Meanwhile, I really am having fun with learning to knit – when I find the time to weave it in to my busy day.