Today, I Don't Feel Like Doing Anything

Do you know The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars?  It's a catchy tune.  If you don't know it, Google it.

The first time I heard it, my...ahem...middle-aged (yes, it's true, I can hardly admit it!) mind lamented about that aimless young person who thought it was okay to lay in bed all day and do nothing.

I heard it again on another day...while driving from one appointment to the next and trying to remember to pick up cat food and call the insurance company and hoping that I got to work on time while trying to decide which major project I should be devoting my time to and and reminding myself that it had been ages since I had paid a visit to my elders and pannicking that I had left my agenda at home...I turned up the radio trying to drown out the thudding boom, boom, boom of my blood pressure. 

I thought - HEY...this kid might have something here.

Imagine a day when you could just shut everything and everybody out and do nothing....

Would the world collapse?

In the end, would it matter?

I have been a person with To-Do lists.  Yes, plural.

There's the annual goals and aims list. (Yes, I do this...on paper....and post it where I can check in.  It does sound rather......yes, it does.  In my defense, it actually helps me prioritize, make decisions and cut the unnecessary crap from my life.)

I always have a big paper notebook that is my life on paper...if I lose it, I may cease to exist.

Then there is the monthly To-Do list in four sections Art, Yarn Business, Farm, Home/Family.

So, at the start of each week, I make a week list, hopefully that along with the usual chores, work, and obligations can attack some of the monthly To-Dos.  I try to schedule some of the Art to-dos on there.

And yes, daily there is a list...this includes tasks towards to monthly goals but also the stuff of mothers and small business owners (pick up toilet paper, update Etsy listing).


My name is Norma and I have an illness.

Actually, I am in recovery.  I have the big goal list.  I made a January To-Do list, but I haven't looked at it mostly.  I haven't made a 'real' week list or a today list for a couple months now.
I began to realize that I tend to put too much on my list to accomplish, and it left me breathless.

The other day, someone posted this on Facebook. (There was no credit given, so thanks to somebody out there in cyberland.)

I'm guessing it was an ad in the window of a yoga studio.

I think it is BRILLIANT.

It's at the top of my list every day.
Which means that I will always accomplish something and if I don't accomplish this...then nothing else matters.


And...TODAY, I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING!!!

(okay...I did help with the barn chores, and I may read, knit or watch reruns of ER...perhaps a load of laundry or two...)

Winter Has Arrived

Winter has arrived this week.  Lots of snow followed by a very cold -32C Saturday morning.

I commonly get asked how the alpacas like the winter.  My standard answer is that they much prefer a cold January to a humid, hot August.  Alpacas have a lot of dense fibre on their body, so if they are in good condition, and can get out of the wind, they do fine.  Most have a fibre that is about as long as my fingers on their body.  If I stick my fingers into their side, their body is very warm.

If they kush (lay on their knees) in the straw of the lean-to, they cover any of their bare parts (which is generally just their groin area.   This is Luxor in his man-cave. He is 15 years old and he is in an area with Vivaldi, the youngest male (pictured above).  I keep these gentle guys separate from the breeding males who can intimidate them.  Their man-cave is just a little lean-to built for two so that they can get out of the wind and precipitation.   They still have barn access but they like to be out here during the day.

They drink a lot more water in the winter, because the hay is dry.  Our waterers are heated, so they don't freeze.  You'll notice sparse trails in the snow in the picture of the girls area.  Alpacas really slow down in the winter weather with trails from the hay feeder to the lean-to to the barn and then to the outside waterer.  Alpacas don't like walking off the trails...even if you are coming on the trail carrying a 45 lb bale of hay for them, they will hesitate to make way for you to get by.

The sky is absolutely gorgeous bright and blue on a cold January day.  I'm thankful that my teenager loves to snowblow and plow.  It took her and the hubby several hours on Saturday.   It was a day that I was thankful that I had 5 load of laundry that needed doing...

We are making progress on the circular sock knitting machine!  I use the "Royal WE", because hubby is a gadget guy which has really come in handy while we try to figure this out.

There is a steep learning curve and lots of figuring out.

And I've figured out what acrylic yarn is useful for....(practice tubes).  It's pretty though, isn't it?