A lovely place to be, the o-zone.  While friends and family ran hither and yon, making huge holiday preparations, cleaning, shopping, decorating, entertaining, sending out cards and invitations, bemoaning post party food hangovers, I did little of that.  I entered the 0-zone, and have happily stayed there all week.

This new, calmer, almost comatose me is preferable to the the frantic, psychotic, inspired, me.  Somehow, I am accomplishing more in this slow and steady wins the race mode than the running around with my head cut off.

There are a few things I have to do; for instance,  samples for the class I am teaching in three weeks on knitted trims for woven fabrics.  I wove the fabric and as I was knitting the trims, a wonderful thing happened; the little samples began turning into finished projects.  One square became a lovely case with a lace flap, another a draw string- like bag.   I am trying to incorporate weaving with knitting; trims on bags, cuffs and collars on sweaters and jackets.  This is something I did back in my weaving ‘heyday’, and now I would like to take it further with more intricate knitting patterns, such as lace, which I didn’t do back in the 70’s and 80’s during the years I wove for a living.  It sounds impressive, but trust me, this is carried out with dogs on my lap and feet up in a recliner.  Six months ago, I would have started planning how I could take this to the next step, maybe make the cases and sweaters to sell, work the little class up into a full fledged workshop, something that would put pressure on me, trying to validate what I was doing to make it worthwhile.

No more.  Or at least, not right now.  I don’t want to have to do anything.  I want to do it because it’s enjoyable.  Not because it is salable.

On another topic,  my daughter and future daughter in law really showered me with gifts this Christmas, and they were all gifts that I would have bought for myself if I wasn’t so cheap.  My daughter in law got me an oak box that is filled with tea.  Tea drinking has become almost an obsession with me these days.  A couple of years ago, I acquired a tea pot that had belonged to the late Aunt Carmen of my friend, Helen,  from New Zealand.

Aunt Carmen was a weaver and spinner who belonged to the North Jersey guilds.  She inspired many, many people to try the fiber crafts.  Her tea pot means a lot to me.  So when I make my tea in the morning, it’s meditative.  I use Carmen’s tea pot, a tea strainer ball my daughter bought me ten years ago, and really enjoy that first cup of tea.  Using the items given to me by people I love reminds me to say a little prayer for them, too.  So I will know that Helen, my Jeni, and now my daughter in law, Janeen, will be covered first thing.

Janeen also sent me a case for my aromatherapy oils, a reading light and two pairs of pj’s from Pajama Gram, my favorite pj maker.  I love the hat boxes they come in.

Jeni got me two soy aromatherapy candles from Yankee Candle, lavender lemon, and cedar, pine and spruce.  I can’t wait to burn them. (I’ll wait for my sinus trouble to be over.)  I like to burn a candle when I give myself a Reiki treatment.  Jen also got me two really good aromatherapy books; one for animals, and the classic text on medical aromatherapy for healing.

The animal book, Holistic Aromatherapy for Pets by Kristen Leigh Bell, gave me a good shaking about what we feed our dogs.  Many of the ailments they suffer from, including ear infections, itching, bad breath, ( in spite of the fact we spend three hundred dollars a dog to have their teeth cleaned while we go for years without dental care for ourselves), can be diet induced.  I have to research online today the different natural dog foods that are available.

The second book, Medical Aromatherapy by Kurt Schnaubelt gives all of the technical details about essential oils I wanted to have.  It must be the nurse in me that needs to know the whys and hows.

In the past, the only handbags I carried were sale buys or knock offs.  It is the Scotch in me from my mother’s side of the family.  Jen got me a ‘real’ Dooney and Burke bag, a big one appropriate for knitting.  I would have never spent the money on myself!  The last Dooney and Burke bag I had came from Columbus Flea Market, before I had a conscience about such things, and the duck eblem fell off the bag after about a month.

It’s a beautiful day today, going to be warm and sunny.  If I felt better, I’d dig up some cedar seedlings that are growing in the back of our property and transplant them along our road frontage.  If I wait too long, my sheep will eat them.  These nice days really keep the cabin fever at bay.

I think I’ll go back into hibernation for a while…
Suzie