Tying up loose ends

For anyone who cares, these are Squirtle, Pikachu, Oddish, and Jigglypuff.  I think.

A few years ago, the big boys discovered Pokemon.  For the uninitiated... don't worry about it.  I don't understand it either.  But somehow these "pocket monster" creations have the ability to transform otherwise tough, rough-and-tumble boys into card-collecting-video-gaming-plush-toy-cuddling addicts.  It didn't bother me; as I saw it, in the grand Venn diagram of familial interests, we finally had an intersection:

Alright, I exaggerate... my boys (and I) are much more well rounded than that, and share many common interests.  But this was certainly the first time they were at all interested in the yarn arts, aside from one incident when The Eldest was 3, when he was playing with a friend and pretended to nurse his stuffed kangaroo while knitting with some tree branches.  Hmm, definitely some mimicry at work there, but I digress.  Anyway, I taught myself to crochet off of some helpful online diagrams (not difficult since I'd been knitting for years), and got to work on some Pokemon patterns by a talented and generous lady named WolfDreamer.  No, I wasn't exactly hurting for things to fill my spare time, but there are only so many things I can do in front of a movie or on a car ride, and knitting used to be one of them.  Moving to Florida effectively quashed any incentive to make sweaters... making crocheted plush toys (amigurumi) was a decent substitute.  And they were so well received!  The boys loved them!  They played with them!  They pored over WolfDreamer's website and begged for more!  Their friends were envious! Never had my crafting received such recognition.  It was addicting.

Until I burned out.  After 4 Pokemon in the first couple of months, and dolls for the 5 girl cousins and one for Baby Girl, I managed one last Pokemon for a birthday present for The Ninja before production ground to a halt.  It didn't help that the next one up was a huge one (The Eldest had his heart set on it) with 36 pieces that had to be crocheted and assembled.  And so it sat in a tote for the last year or so, sending guilt vibes everytime I glanced in its direction and started another non-essential project. 

But The Eldest is growing up, and his days of being interested in Pokemon are numbered.  And while unraveling a sweater that a child outgrew before I finished it is discouraging, he never really missed the sweater.  Never finishing Charizard, though, would feel like a failure.  And a rather inexcusable one when Baby Girl's quilt got put together so quickly.  So a couple of weeks ago I finally pulled it out again, and finished it, and here he is in all his glory:

This is a dragon, Charizard, courtesy of another talented lady, Biz, at http://www.bizzycrochet.blogspot.com/.

The Eldest loves it and is not too old to sleep with it at night.  Phew.  I am making no more promises about any future Pokemon (though The Ninja is dropping some serious hints about how much he'd like a badger.  Just a small one.  He found me a pattern.  It'd be pretty quick.  Maybe for Christmas).

And guess who is now asking for a pony.  And taking a ball of pink yarn to bed with her at night.

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On the exercise front, I'm still running.  And getting marginally better at it - I can run for more than 5 minutes at a stretch now! - but still hating it.  I will admit to feeling good after a run, though whether that is purely relief from being done with running is anyone's guess. 

I'd been running at night after the sun went down, but that was keeping me up until 2 am.  And while I am a night owl and love late nights, it makes for grumpy days when the kids invariably rise with the sun.  So yesterday morning, I headed out at 7 am (and of course Baby Girl had her opinion of that, too - "But mommy, it's not night time!")

And tomorrow, I'm aiming for before 6, because if I have to be out running, it might as well be during Atlantis' last return trip, so that I can catch the sonic booms.