getting away from it all

There are many, many advantages to owning your own business and having a little farm, but one very big downside: it is extremely difficult to get away. Throw three boys into the mix and it becomes downright impossible. So my gift to my LSH this Christmas was an honest-to-goodness kidnapping. Unbeknownst to him, I arranged for coverage for his practice, begged my sainted parents to come and watch the boys (so the boys could, in turn, watch the farm), and purchased two tickets to New Orleans for this weekend. Given how cold it is going to be down there thanks to the cold weather we are taking with us, I am very glad that wiser heads convinced me of the lunacy of a trip to Montreal, my original choice, this time of year.

It never fails to amaze me just how much I can accomplish when I am truly under the gun. Beds made, kitchen cleaned and wiped down, lunches packed for tomorrow, Christmas gifts moved from the living room floor, laundry mountains washed, dried, folded and even put away, check, check, check. Nothing like the threat of a plane leaving in eight hours to really motivate me beyond all comprehension. Of course, that begs the question of what I am really doing on a normal day. Hidden video cameras would probably reveal me just wandering around in a fog with my thumb up my butt. Or frittering away too much time on the computer on Ravelry and checking for new e-mails. Same difference. Too bad we can't get away more often so I can really ramp up my productivity.

One of the first things I had to check last night was whether or not my knitting can come with me on the airplane. If you are a knitter, you know that this is a matter of no small debate among knitters. Everyone, it seems, has heard a horror story of having needles and yarn wrenched out of desperate hands at a security checkpoint. But the TSA assured me that items needed for my needlepoint project may come with me in the cabin (although, sadly, my nunchukus and my cattle prod will have to remain at home).

This fact, which should have made me dance with glee, has instead put me into a tailspin of panic. I am not working on anything right now that readily lends itself to being tucked into a carry-on bag and toted around. I just cast on a cardigan, which is currently obsessing me, but it has very bulky yarn, a twelve-page pattern and multiple stitch markers, so not really suitable on many fronts. Most everything else I was working on was a Christmas gift, and so is off the needles and onto various recipients. I went to bed, hoping that a ready solution would bubble up out of my subconscious overnight, but no luck.

I do understand that, especially for you non-knitters who read this blog, my excessive concern about this issue should itself be a cause for some concern, as it clearly indicates some sort of obsessive disorder. But what if I get trapped in an airport due to weather-related delays that are no fault of my own? or even worse, trapped on the plane itself? (Never mind that new rule about not leaving people on the plane.) A good knitting project makes all thing bearable and I really cannot be responsible for my actions should one not be at hand. I don't even necessarily have to be working on it. It just has to be there, at hand, like a little security blanket of distraction and constructive use of time.

Pity my poor LSH. He can never get away from it all.