Trying to get my act together again

I've got a million things I should be doing, but because of some personal problems, I can't seem to wrap my head around any of them. One thing I have never had to deal with before was feeling like a single mom. I say "feeling" like one because I am not actually a single mom. I have been married for almost 14 years and have 2 children, ages 12 and 9. Recently, my husband had to accept a job in a town about 2 hours from home. Fortunately, we have a small, 2 room cottage close to this town that he can use and not have to rent a place or force us to pack up and move right away. But this means he can only come home one night a week, if he's lucky, and on the weekend. My husband is a radio DJ and has been for the entire time I have known him. Radio can be a very scary business to be in. You can have a job one day and not the next. Ask me how I know. So I am in no hurry to sell our house and move to an even snowier part of the country any time soon!

On my To-Do List are: shows I want to enter, patterns I need to finish for market, plans I need to finalize for market and I am sure lots of other things that I can't even remember at the moment.

But I have been able to cross a couple of things off my list recently. They are two quilts that I designed and made, with a little help from my friends, for 2 different magazines. One is for Quiltmaker May/June issue and the other is for Quilt Magazine June/July issue. Seeing one of your quilts in a magazine is something that never gets old, so I am really excited about these issues coming out! I hope you will check them out when they are available and let me know what you think.

Mermaids

Ever since I mentioned the book I loved as a child, I have been seeing images and hearing about mermaids everywhere. I think they might be the next "big" thing. This picture was taken onboard the Carnival Destiny in one of the stairwells. I also overheard someone talking on the ship about someone wanting to buy a gift for someone else and they were looking for a mermaid. I think there is a new Barbie Doll that is a mermaid as well. Not that Mattel hasn't done that before, but I think this is a new version or maybe a new story.

I think its a sign that a Mermaid quilt is definitely in order. I'm not sure if it should be a "one of a kind" art quilt or a pattern though. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

My in-laws just treated my husband, me and our 2 children to a 5 day cruise to Mexico, which was very generous. It was also very stressful.

Ok, I admit it, I'm not good at vacationing. I don't enjoy being away from home and I don't enjoy being with my family 24 hours a day for days at a time. I have always enjoyed my "alone time", but on vacation, you rarely get "alone time". I also think I miss my sewing machine and my computer...a lot.

We did see some wonderful things, though, and had some amazing experiences as you may be able to tell from my photos. One thing I didn't get enough of was just sitting on one of the decks and watching the ocean go by. I think I had a grand total of about 10 minutes doing that.

This was my third trip to Mexico. The first two, I took before I was married, with a girlfriend. We were more like exchange students then, living with a non-English speaking family, and going to school to learn Spanish for 5 days each time. I would be afraid to do it now, but what an amazing experience that was! It was one of those things that I did on a whim. My friend couldn't believe that I said yes when she asked me the first time and when she asked if I wanted to do it again a couple of years later, I jumped at the chance. This was "real" Mexico, not tourist Mexico. We were in a little town called Cuerna Vaca. We went to class during the day and out on the town at night. I probably learned more Spanish in the bars and in the zocalo than I did in class. My friend and I made such an impression in one of the bars that the waitstaff still knew our names when we walked back in 2 years after our first visit!

My son was impressed when I got the chance to use a little bit of the Spanish I had learned when we were shopping in the market in Costa Maya, but I wish I remembered more.

Getting back to normal

I just returned from a cruise to Mexico, but now I have to get back to every day life, so I will post some photos later today when I come home from work.