Enjoying the Single Life

My Year of Doing Things is going quite well. As Valentine's Day steadily approaches, and I find myself ONCE AGAIN totally single, I'm actually noticing that this year, I kind of don't care. In fact, I'm quite relieved. I don't remember EVER having a truly romantic, fulfilling Valentine's Day -- even when I was in a relationship. I think the pressure gets to everyone, and then it sucks.

Yesterday, I went over to my parent's house to spend some time with them and work on some projects. The photo above shows the very first stitches that I put on Ma's birthday pillow -- see the blue? The blue kind of changes color to a gray sometimes. I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture, but it really does morph beautifully. At the top row of a couple of these, you can see the cross stitches. I'm just doing half stitches for now, so I don't have to have an adventure with Belgiumish:

Purty:

When my sister and I debate about the pros and cons of being single or married, we often try to one-up each other with the things that suck about our own lives. No, I swear, my life is totally harder than yours. You can't even IMAGINE how difficult my horrifying life is. Stuff like that. Our lives really aren't so sucky. I think it's part of the regular sibling rivalry that comes with life. We're really after sympathy -- care about me, love me, comfort me. Instead of saying that, we come up with things life this: Oh, you have it SO EASY because YOU have someone else to CARRY IN THE GROCERIES. Oh, you have it SO EASY because YOU don't have a little person demanding your time while you try to DO YOUR WORK. 

But yesterday, I had to give it to her. I went to Michael's to buy some paint for this little dollhouse I got for super cheap on ebay. It's 1:48 scale, which means it's super tiny. I have no idea why I wanted this house, I just did. So I bought it:

Then, I realized I was out of the greatest glue on Earth -- Aleene's Tacky Glue -- so I got some of that, too. Otherwise, the house would be staying in its little sheet prison forever:

I called Dorothy on the way home from Michael's to tell her about all of my GREAT DEALS! (For example, I got 14 craft paint brushes -- the sponge ones -- for $1. Score.) She was at Target with Beloved and Little buying orange juice. As we spoke, I could hear both of them asking her questions, the background noise, and could sense a bit of frustration in her voice from trying to talk to three different people at the same time while in a store buying sundries.

At that moment, I realized it: I have it gooooood. Who knew? All this time, I've been moaning and complaining about my time alone and for the first time, I really, truly, honestly appreciated it. I even told Dorothy that. "I understand now what you mean when you say it can be complicated to share a bank account. If I had to ASK SOMEONE ELSE if I could buy crafting supplies, that would be awful. This is my moment. I'd better buy them all right now!" Or something like that.

I was feeling a tad guilty because I also bought my very first set of acrylic paints and some canvases, but all of that went away as I listened to my sister navigate Target in search of orange juice sales. I don't even drink orange juice. We truly live in two different worlds. And while I'm usually INCREDIBLY JEALOUS of her little family, yesterday I was grateful that I was having Blondie Time without a care in the world. I spent literally two hours in Michael's just looking at stuff without even noticing. It was awesome.

And because I got my glue, I was able to perfect the little house and make sure it stayed together even though it came WITHOUT DIRECTIONS:

Usually, I buy sample sizes of real paint at paint stores for dollhousing projects. This time, I bought actual craft paint. The samples in the stores? Like $4. The craft paint? $.79 a tube. Nice. The glue came in handy for weight:

This little house is so cute. Something about it just makes me smile. While I was building this, Ma was sitting next to me playing Angry Birds:

Here is a shot with my cell phone so you can see how tiny it really is:

The yellow in this photo looks much more yellow than it is in real life. (And no, that's not orange juice, that's just my dirty water.) The house is more of a creamy yellow right now:

Right about this time in my adventures, my back started complaining about sitting at the table for that long. So I went to sit on the squishy couch and did some more stitching on Ma's pillow:

It was a craft mania kind of day.

I appreciated it. I reveled in it and reminded myself to enjoy my singleness. Having all of these projects really has worked wonders for my mind. I can more easily pull myself out of the winter-snowed-in loneliness by picking up my cross stitch project or looking through a book of painted flowers to try to learn how to do it by myself. I've always done little craft projects, but they come in fits and spurts. I do one thing and then nothing for another year. I'm doing a tad much at the moment, but I'm going to try to keep going. It's so distracting and rewarding. I feel proud when I get finished with something. And men? They don't even cross my mind right now. I'm in my Single World, and I'm loving it.

Valentine's Day this year will be about loving me, my family, and my kitties. No moping, no crying, no longing for a partner. I will work on one of my many projects and enjoy my freedom. I'm learning. Baby steps.

Oh, and also? This song by Katy Perry rules. It might have to be my new anthem.