Sanity in Prison

My sister has this fear--if she leaves the country she will be mistakenly arrested and held in a foreign prison. Since she is seriously the NICEST, sweetest, most innocent person I know, it seems unlikely.

Over the past few days, I have come to imagine what it would be like to be mistakenly arrested and held without any rights. I think I might actually be experiencing a similar situation. I have found myself saying, "You've got the wrong girl. I didn't do it." I've also said, "I need a lawyer." And I've been about to yell,  "I just want to go home."

We've had a lot of little things go wrong lately. Nothing serious, but annoying nonetheless. (Disclaimer: I know that my problems are not REAL problems.) I have made more trips to the doctor than I care to mention. I have picked up more drugs from the pharmacy than any other family in my medium-sized city (this is FACT according to the pharmacy tech at Walgreens). I have applied ointments, rocked babies, held ice packs, rushed to the dentist, and (my personal favorite) allowed my four year old to throw up in my sort-of-outstretched sweater while at Target.

How have I been coping while being mistakenly imprisoned?  I'll tell ya.  I've completed a few fun (small) projects.  Mind you, I've been meaning to do these things since before Ruby was born and I picked the most awful couple weeks to tackle them, but they have been the only things keeping me sane.

I finally made a quilt for Ruby's room.  It is my second quilt.  This one was SUPER easy because I didn't follow ANY instructions.  I don't cope with following written directions of any kind.  In fact pretend someone said to me, "Follow these ten steps if you want to save your own life."  I would probably lose interest and patience somewhere between steps 3 and 4 and just choose death.   I (a very inexperienced sewer) finished the whole thing in two evenings.  It's not perfect, but I like how it turned out.  And I learned a lot for the next time.

This second project is one I've been working on for about a month.  I wanted to fill the stairwell with LOTS of pictures.  All different frames, different sizes, etc.  I've been scouring garage sales, Good Will, and Ikea, for cheap frames.  It's quite fun. 

Here is the beginning.  I want to fill the whole thing.  I pause to look at the pictures every time I go by.  It makes me smile every time.

These photos aren't the best, but you get the general idea.

Here's one side of the window.

Here's the other side of the window.  Yes, I know that one of the pictures is horribly crooked.  I will fix it straightaway.

My other project isn't quite ready to be seen, so stay tuned.  I'll post it once I've been released.