Recovered Sweater - Speechless

 The sweater that went missing at the December Old Pueblo Knitting Guild meeting was returned to me today. The person who took it, turned it back in as a lost sweater. Yes, it was in one of my baskets with a couple of things on top of it when it was taken.  Everything that was on top of it came home fine in December.  

The sweater reeks of Fabreze, which means that the person who borrowed it without permission smoked in it. They were trying to cover their tracks. Like me the non smoker me,  isn’t going to notice.  The sweater was also damaged. She was a bit heavier than me and the seams took a beating. She just needed a sweater for when she was in town. I am so sorry that was my only winter sweater, because you took it without permission I had to go buy a new one. Not to mention going over my day and tearing everything apart looking for it for days. If your finances were tight you could have gone to Goodwill or any to her resale shop. If your finances were that tight, why did you travel hundreds of miles to winter in Tucson? Also since you can afford cigarettes, you can afford to shop at Goodwill. All it would take to buy a sweater at Goodwill is to just give up buying 4 packages of cigarettes.  Hey, you’re a knitter right? So why did you not take yarn from the guild stash and knit yourself one?

If I knew who you were, I would bill you for the new sweater that I had to buy because you took mine.  I don’t know how you were raised. If you went to church that should have been covered under thou shall not steal. If you went to private or public school anywhere in the world, that would have been covered every year you went to school. That is a detention offense in many schools. 

I am absolutely speechless. I know that I have ranted about this incident. What I really need to know is how do you justify your actions? 

Right now I am washing the sweater in dawn soap hoping the nicotine washes out of the sweater. It did not work , the sweater still reeks of nicotine. I will let it dry and then take it to the dry cleaners to see if they can remove the horrendous odor of nicotine. I should bill you for that too. If that does not work I want you to know that you absolutely ruined one of my favorite winter wardrobe choices.  

I will never understand some people.  

Why

It has been one of those why days. For instance take the app I got for my pod. It is a row counter for my knitting. I just needed some motivation on Teri's blanket. Yes the one I started in her 1L year. I am some where around row 7670, The row counter only goes to 999 rows, why? Didn't they ever knit a queen size blanket on size seven needles? 999 rows just seams so arbitrary to me. Is it just an easier algorithm to write in code?

Yes,  I made a major mistake by volunteering for  401c3. Today it came back to bite me in more ways than one. People are being very petty and have started with the name calling. People are going behind my back on my projects thinking because I don't have an advanced degree or that I have a sick kid that I am automatically incompetent. I just want to scream out that this is not middle school. Not everyone needs a PhD to be competent in what they do. I am also sure that I have had more practice juggling than they have.

I might not have an advanced college degree, but I am one of the best moms around. Being a stay at home mom does not make me stupid. It just means that I made some choices in the last century that I do not regret. I can stretch a buck pretty far. I have raised 2 beautiful children, each perfect in their own way. I have a wonderful marriage to a wonderful man. I am content in my life and have learned that it is not the amount of stuff but the people I allow into my life that matter most to me.

I am an artist at heart. Whether  it is presenting food nicely arranged of the plate, playing with cake and frosting, beads or fiber. That is me. I love to create. I never know where the day will take me. What bumps in the road that I have to iron out. I manage to make it all work. That is what I do. Whether I can tolerate the distraction from this particular charity I really don't know. What I do know is that I have a wonderful life with wonderful people in it. I am personally thinking that most of the people in the 401c3 will not make it into my inner circle.

Thanks for listening tonight. Aren't you glad that I waited several hours to write this? Well the caffeine I had at dinner is starting to wear off. I just might have to rethink this idea of caffeine with dinner.