Project #1

I am very, very lucky this week.  We have almost nothing to do, and I am enjoying some serious down time.  Guess all that work over the summer doing school paid off!  This is actually my favorite time of year...not the holiday, but the "in between" week between Christmas and New Years.  I get a good case of Spring Cleaning Fever very early, and I always manage to get many things cleaned out, sorted and put away.  Lots of odds and ends have been handled, which feels refreshing.

There has been time to lay around, watch a few shows on TV, and begin Project 2014 of trying to find a hobby!  I have loved the suggestions some of you have left in the comments, and I am just going to try as many things as I can think of.  Who knows?  The pursuit of a hobby might end up being the hobby itself! Haha!

Here was Project #1:

In honor of New Years, we started with a puzzle of Times Square.

It is totally lame.  I know that.  There were benefits to doing a lame hobby-esque thing like a jigsaw puzzle, benefits I had never thought about.  It was so easy for anyone to sit down and work with me, and Angela ended up working on it for hours with me!  Kenny and Josh bopped in and out to find border pieces or put some small portion together, and when Olesya and Matt came home from working today I had other companionship as Olesya was making cookies with her new cookie press and chatted while we puzzled nearby.  This sort of mindless activity was actually quite fun, more than I expected, because it allowed for conversation to flow generously, and meander down many interesting paths.  

We spent an inordinate amount of time discussing music and lyrics we liked, as we listened to a wide variety playing softly in the background.  Kenny walked away and conversation steered somehow toward visiting Kazakhstan when some song came on that had a techno beat.  I looked up and said, "This song totally reminds me of the loud music at the Pizza House when we went to get you guys and ate there almost every day!" and both girls laughed and Olesya said, "Angie and I both thought this reminded us of Kazakhstan!  I'm glad you thought so, too, Mom!".  Angela then said she would like to go back just one time, maybe to see if she could find some old friends and visit the orphanage once, then she added, "But I don't want to go back more than once, and I don't want to see my mom or dad ever again."  Olesya jumped in and said, "I wouldn't even know that they look like.  I can't remember them at all."  She also said, "I don't care if I ever go back.  Kazakhstan is not as nice as America, and it just feels better here at home."  Funny what 1000 pieces spread out before you can bring up inside.  Lots of pieces are being put back together over time in the hearts of the girls. Sometimes it feels like it was forever ago, and sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday that they joined us.

We are leaving the puzzle out to work on over the next few days, since we have no real plans.  I am enjoying it, and don't have any idea if I will burn out after one 1000 piecer or not.  It fits the criteria...no sewing or needles, nothing too taxing on the ol' brain, requires no skill, etc.  

Nothing else exciting going on, just had to share Project #1 had begun!!  Yea, I know, "Get a life, Cindy!"...that's what I am trying to do!