Day 61

See the new pink picture hanging out on the sidebar a little ways down the page? It's an award that bloggers can pass along to other bloggers that they enjoy, and I received mine from Autismom. The rules of accepting the award are to share seven things you love and pass it along to seven blogs you love to read. So here we go:

1. The family I've created for myself, meaning Madeline, our cats and our rabbit. I know that this is a bit of a cop out, but growing up gay, you sometimes come to realize that love can be conditional, and it's not something you can take for granted. Mad and I have gone through a lot in the 4 1/2 years we've been together, and I think it's important to stop and appreciate the life we've made for ourselves. It's a good one.

2. Knitting. My knitting hasn't made an appearance on the blog as of late, but I learned to knit when I was 16, and it's been an obsession ever since. Focusing on the repetitive motions is like meditation for me. It's funny, though, but in the past month I haven't been knitting as much, because I can't sit still for too long. Unless I'm eating or utterly exhausted, I feel the need to be up and doing something. Usually it's preparing food or cleaning the kitchen, which is good. i need to knit more, though.

3. Days off. For a while last semester, I was going to school or working seven days a week, which is a recipe for burning out. I've learned how important it is to take time for myself and to stop over committing.

4. The color yellow. It makes me happy.

5. Sunshine. The weather completely affects my mood and my level of motivation, and I have a lot of difficulty getting anything done on cloudy, rainy days, even if I'm indoors. I think people are solar powered.

6. Being domestic. It gives me a lot of pleasure to make a delicious, healthy meal, to vacuum the living room free of fur, to scrub the bathroom until it sparkles, to grocery shop and fill our fridges and cupboards. If it weren't for the fact that I'm in a non-traditional relationship, I'd be such a retro throw back, it would cease to be ironic. It's difficult to find the time sometimes and housecleaning is often the first priority to slip (because I don't really like scrubbing the toilet, I just like when it's been done), but I like a clean house and taking care of my family.

7. Blogging. I knew when I started that it would be helpful to me to record our progress, but it's really thrilling to know that my words are being read, that it's a journey that other people can share with me. Mad and I originally started this as a joint project, but as it turns out, she wasn't really interested and I became mildly obsessed. Whatever. She doesn't know what she's missing. :) I've also found that blogging helps me to focus on the highlights of my day. There are a lot of days that I feel overloaded by school and work, that I come home pissed off at the driver that cut me off, that I'm tired of doing the never ending load of dishes in the sink, a million different little things, but then I sit down to tell you all about the amazing dinner I made or the hike I took or the positive changes I'm noticing and it put things into perspective. Gratitude is a very unexpected side effect of blogging.

In no particular order, here are seven blogs that I've been reading frequently:

1. Becki 365
2. Green and Crunchy
3. Insubordiknit
4. A Baker's Dozen
5. Kristen's Raw
6. Stellar Path
7. Yarn-a-go-go

It's an eclectic list, some who share my passions and some whose lives are completely different than mine, not all of whom read my blog but I think it's a really interesting slice of the blogosphere (and of course, Autismom. Go check her out, though it would have been redundant to put her on the list).

-Eloise