marching on

March has come and gone, and now that we're nearly a whole week into April, it's high time I checked in here. I finally finished that scarf for Stuart more than two weeks after his birthday. I think he honestly doesn't mind that it was late, but it's finally warming up a bit so he doesn't even need it now, and that makes me feel bad about not finishing it on time. 

I've been quite busy with work-related stuff (this time of year lots of music students are getting in recitals before they graduate). The kids were on spring break last week, so my parents came to help out with them and it was wonderful. They cooked and played games and went to the park and generally had a blast while I taught and practiced and rehearsed without worrying about finding sitters for all that time I needed to get things done. 

The moments I find between all these things are never enough for all the making I want to do. For instance, my mom and I wanted to work together to sew me a dress. I really need more performance-appriate attire, and I have been unable to find anything suitable. Right now I have two pairs of black pants and 2 or 3 black tops in the rotation and that is it, no exaggeration. It's dire. So I ordered a pattern and we got as far as buying fabric (some really nice rayon from a local shop that is actually local and not Joann's) and cutting out the pieces for a mock-up from some spare muslin I had on hand. But that's it. I haven't even had time to sew up the practice dress. Why I thought I'd have time to make myself a dress when I barely have time to go grocery shopping should tell you something about the state of my mind lately: not entirely rational.

We took a few days off for a road trip, though. I was completely stressed out before we left, sure that leaving for five days would put me totally behind. I will have to be extra-disciplined the rest of this week to keep up with all the music I'm responsible for, but I don't regret it. A few days away was just what I needed and we had a great time. We drove to Lawrence, KS, to see my cousin Stephanie and her husband Eric for the Easter weekend. We also saw my aunt and uncle (her parents, who drove up for a day to see us), and met a bunch of Steph and Eric's friends and just generally had a blast. I posted loads of pictures on my IG feed. Here are a few of my favorites:

Daniel showing off some new stitchin' skillz (more about this on another post!)

Sorting through the worm compost with Stephanie. Anya actually loved this activity.

Pretty eggs we dyed with my aunt Bonnie.

Anya getting ready to hide Easter eggs

Much silliness involving nostril selfies and uncle Eric

Iowa sunset on the way home.

I started a new knitting project while we were in KS:

These are the Traveling Cable hand warmers from PurlBee.com, and they are a nice, quick knit so far. I don't know why I don't make more hand warmers. They're dead useful, and much faster than socks. I think it's the fiddly thumbs that hold me back, but even that's usually not so bad. An easy, quick knit is what I need right now while I get through the rest of the semester and plan some bigger projects for when life slows down a little.