A Borrowed Idea

Today, I am borrowing Karyn in the Kitchen’s 4-4-4 writing idea, which she borrowed from someone who borrowed from someone, etc.

4-4-4: choose 4 things within 4 feet and write for 4 minutes. (Except I cheated and wrote for more than four minutes.)

Ariella. I have been home for ten minutes, so our butterball tuxedo cat is sitting on me, purring her head off. I had to turn to the side to keep my laptop out of her reach, so she is precariously balanced on my hip, sitting in cat loaf formation, unwilling to move while I am here. She will not move for hours if I hold still, and she will look betrayed and broken-hearted if I move.

Books. Duh. If you know anything at all about me, this is no surprise. I currently have two books that I am about to start (really, I swear), three that I am in the middle of, three that I have read half of but have not dipped my toes into for a couple of years, one short story collection that I finished re-reading this past weekend, my iPad with one nearly finished and two newly checked out library books on my Kindle app, and seven brand new books that are in a stack to be admired for a while before being sorted into my unread books bookcases. Those beautiful covers won’t appreciate themselves!

Knitting Projects. I work on knitting projects like I read books – a little here, a little there, start the new shiny thing, revisit that one that only needs two hours of work to finish. I keep my “currently knitting” projects next to the bed. At the moment, this seems to include five different holiday season knit-a-long projects that showcase five different sets of “Advent Calendar” yarn collections. (Honestly, the most exciting Christmas thing that has happened to me as an adult was the discovery that many people create Advent calendars with YARN in them! This year, I had three. Plus two LEGO calendars, which were, of course, for my son, and did not in any way involve me playing with little LEGO figures and creating scenes on a daily basis.) I also have two additional shawls in progress. All of these involve varying quantities of beautifully colored yarn, so I have much color and sparkle to admire on a regular basis. We will not say a word about the box of “return to finish soon” projects that is stashed under the bed. Soon is relative, since I plan to live forever to read all the books and knit all the things.

Blankets. The cats and I both appreciate cozy and soft blankets. (My husband does not seem to care how soft they are, as long as the cats and I don’t hog them all.) The cats have strong opinions about us leaving at least one window open during the night so they can monitor nocturnal critters, make sure there is still air outside, and fight over which one gets to sit on the windowsill, because sharing is for dogs. I love the warm weight of a big pile of soft blankets over me while cold air wafts in through the window. Since I usually also have a cat or two piled up on me as well, I am kept warm and toasty.