Tyranny of a schedule

Schedules.  We all have them.  We use them on a small scale to organize our days, on a larger scale to organize the passing of the year.  Case in point - you know what time you have to get up tomorrow and you know when Christmas will happen.

I think schedules started as a means to avoid anarchy.  They offer some sort of organization for the masses and it provides a framework we can exist within that doesn't require too much thought from us.  I know when I have to get up tomorrow and I know when Christmas will happen.  And I plan my life around both of them.

When life becomes unbearable,  I sometimes think the schedule is the only thing keeping us out of the abyss, it's what gets the laundry done on a weekly basis, and it's what gets dinner on the table.  I have a friend who, when things get tough, sticks to a schedule with a precision that would make a drill sergeant proud.  And sometimes that is exactly what you need.  If there has been shock, or trauma of some sort, the schedule provides a sense of normalcy.

But for garden variety irritations, it sometimes pays to have a good hard look at the schedule to make sure it isn't part of the problem.  For example, I usually leave the house at 7 in the morning to get to work for about 8:30.  That's 1.5 hours each way - 3 hours a day.  I have the luxury of not having a hard and fast start time for my job - so long as I show up before noon, and work my allotted hours, it's all good.  Earlier this week I had to stay home to speak with tradesmen who are doing some work in my house so I left just before 9 instead of 7.  And I got to work at 10.  I worked until just before 6 and was home by 7.


Did you catch that - I spent an hour, a whole hour less in the car just by shifting my start time!  Amazing!  So I now have time in the morning to cruise through my garden, pull a few weeds, fold a load of laundry, prep another one and set the washer to go off later in the day.  I can think about what I'll take out of the freezer for dinner - and go get it instead of sending my son a text and hoping that he'll actually be able to find what I'm looking for.

It also leaves me more time for this.

Baby Surprise Jacket

I succumbed to the hollering from the Louet Gems skein I had and cast on for the Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket.  If it wasn't for the fact that this pattern is more than 40 years old, and is recognized as a marvel of engineering, I'd be quite convinced it was the worst sort of knitting joke going.  You see - apparently, I've done the sleeves....