Miss Me?

Hello kiddos, did you think I'd abandoned bloggerland?

Nah, just needed to take a wee break.  I've been busy at work and at home, and just haven't had the energy to keep up with everything online.  Then this past week I got sick with a horrible upper respiatory infection and was off work for three days.  I'm feeling better now, but what a doozy that was!

There are, however, two advantages to being sick:

1).  Coughing and sneezing burns calories and I've lost a couple more pounds.  :) 

2).  One can veg out in a semi-comatose state on the couch all day watching Turner Classic Movies and catch some wonderful gems one would normally miss.  Doing this I caught Little Big Shot from 1935, with Edward Everett Horton, Robert Armstrong and the delightful child actor Sybil Jason.

 Horton and Armstrong are hustling con-men who meet up with an old gangster pal of theirs one night for dinner; the gangster pal has brought along his daughter, our Sybil.  The pal receives a message that he needs to get out of town fast, but upon exiting the restaurant is gunned down in a drive-by shooting.  The con-men are stuck with his little girl on their hands and it becomes almost a bumbling farce as the two men struggle with how to care for her and what to do with her....but the two's hearts begin to melt and they change from being resentful over this unwanted burden to realizing they need her in their lives.  After some tearjerking drama they all end up happily ever after, the two con-men reformed and on the straight and narrow path.



Little Sybil was Warner Brother's response to Shirley Temple and thought she'd give some stiff competition as a money maker for the studio.  Song and dance chops aside, she really could act and is one of the best "criers" I've ever seen:





Sadly, she didn't turn out to be the stiff competition against Ms. Temple as the studio thought and she didn't make any more movies past 1941.  Still, she's revered as one of the great child actors of the era and once in a while her movies will pop up on TCM.  I'm delighted that I got the chance to discover her, as I'd never heard of her before.  I only wish I'd had the presence of mind to record this movie when it was on the other day, as it's not available on DVD.  It's definitely one I'm going to watch out for so as not to miss recording it again!

Something else that's been occupying my time lately is knitting.  Remember way back in October when I took some beginning knitting classes through the community college?  Well, probably not as I only had a couple people reading me back then, heh.  I only had three classes, but it was enough to teach me the very basics and from there I've been teaching myself to do more, through books and YouTube videos.

I just finished my first real project, a scarf.

It's not much to look at, but mistakes aside, it was a good learning tool.  I've started another project, a plaid dishtowel:

   This will be my learning project for working with two different colors.  It's slow going, but I'm determined to stick with it and not give up.  I'm famous for that, starting something new and then giving up right away because I can't do it perfect the first time out.  I can be the queen of black and white thinking sometimes, and I drive myself crazy with it all too often.

This is just the beginning though, I want to learn how to knit sweaters and hats and socks and all sorts of things.....and I want to learn how to crochet.....and embroider.....and sew.....and cross stitch.....and....and....and....  :)    I've created a monster.   Actually my mother tried to teach me some of these things when I was a child but I just wasn't into it.  And, my Aunt Bessie tried to coax me into having her teach me how to crochet all through my life, but I wasn't ready to learn that lesson yet.  Sadly she's passed away now and I regret not accepting her wisdom when I had the chance.   

There's a saying my husband is fond of quoting, "When the student is ready to learn, the teacher will appear."  Everything happens in its own time, and everyone comes to their own epiphanies in their own fashion.  Some are eager to learn from the outset, and some will learn their lessons the hard way, missing many opportunities along the way.  I've allowed fear and insecurity and complacency to keep me in a tiny little box of comfort for years, blind to all the things in life I was missing.  No more!  My eyes have been opened the last few months to so many things I could have been doing and experiencing all these years, and I'm tired of merely surviving.  I want to live, not just survive.  And it all started with getting up the courage to sign up for a knitting class.  :)

Of course all of this goes beyond simply knitting, but you get the gist.  I'm also trying to not spend my energy by looking back at all of those wasted years, full of regret and sorrow over things I can't change.  There are so many things I DO have the power to change from here on out, and that's what counts.  So what if I'm a late bloomer.....at least I've gotten round to it.  Some people never do.

I've got a lot of blog reading to catch up on, hopefully this week won't be so busy for me.  I hope you've all been well!  :)