40 Days and a Crisis Averted

Total Hours Worked: 2 hours 30 minutes.

Well, folks, not a lot to show for today. Life happened outside of this project and I was only able to put in a fraction of the time I wanted to, but I'm trusting that it's more important to preserve my sanity and enjoy the holiday that is quickly approaching! I don't want to miss this Christmas on account of the cross-stitch, even though I can almost feel it calling to me.

Like I said before, if I were confident that my pace was what it needed to be, then that would be one thing. Since I haven't been able to figure that out yet, even after two weeks on the project, I still don't know if January 31 is a realistic deadline. I know that's the source of the anxiety I feel. It says, "I have to work on this every single second because if I don't I'll never get it done in time!" Bah humbug! It may be true, but I have to ignore that cry for the next few days.

Anyway, I mentioned in the title a crisis was averted. If you play a little game of "Where's Waldo" with the picture from today and yesterday, you'll notice that one patch of pea-green is missing from the right side of the hoop. That's because around two o'clock this afternoon I realized in horror that I had made a terrible miscalculation and stitched two separate blobs in the wrong spot. When I realized that problem, I literaly said out loud, "What was I thinking??" I immediately took a break and ate some Christmas cookies that our neighbors had kindly brought over last night, in order to sooth my senses and calm down a bit. I began cracking my knuckles and my jaw, two things I do when anxious, and my husband immediately pointed it out to me and said, "You're cracking a lot, babe. Are you all right?" "Actually, (crack, crackety crack) I just found a huge mistake in the cross-stitch and I'm not sure how to fix it. (crack). I need a second before I go back up stairs and try to figure out where I went wrong, (crack, crack)."

Awesome man he is, he gave me a vote of confidence as I shoveled one last cookie in my mouth before heading back upstairs. Thankfully, it didn't take me all that long to figure out what went wrong. I won't try to explain it, because I'm not sure I can, but just rest assured that I managed to undo the damage in less than an hour and it was only one color that was off, not several, thank GOD.

Now I'm back on track.

It's not clear yet how much time I will be able to put in tomorrow, since it's Christmas Eve and we'll be spending the afternoon with my in-laws. I really want to give myself the gift of time away from this, even if it means getting up at six for the next several mornings to make up the time.

Happy Holidays to all!