Friday, October 3, 2008

Piles of Sh...I Mean Files

One of my goals of this week is to file every single shred of paper into my filing cabinet. As my cousin Carolyn likes to say, "In our family, we file things horizontally." Why use a cabinet when every flat surface can be storage for paper?

In a minute when I post this, I will resume purging my files of tear sheets on a variety of subjects. Currently I'm going through my crafty crap ideas files. If I had a lot of time, I'd be such a brilliant friend. You should see the ginormous stack of hand made Christmas present ideas I have alone. Handknit hot water bottle cozies, oilcloth school lunch bags, bookends made out of sea shells filled with plaster of paris.

In my fantasy life I'm very creative...and productive.

I owe my producing partner three baby quilts for her children. Her oldest turned ten in August. Oops.

But one thing I will do by the end of the year is knit a lap blanket for a war veteran who has lost his or her legs and is now recuperating at the VA hospital. They are doing a blanket drive (which should really be called "Not All Afghans are Terrorists") and I've signed on to make a blanket. Now, I think the war in Iraq is the United States occupying a country that didn't attack us...in other words I think it sucks. But this doesn't mean that I don't think that our soldiers are doing honorable work. They are. Well, except for those morons who think they're on The Crusades: Part 2 Electric Boogaloo. But I guess that's what makes knitting a blanket for one of these amputees a really nice thing to do. Because I could spend all this time making an afghan for someone who went to Iraq to participate in a "holy war," someone whose values I think are totally backward and stupid. I don't get to choose what kind of soldier receives my gift.

But it's not really about who's suffering ultimately, but that there is suffering. So I will make a beautiful blanket and write a sincere thank you note.

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