the more you love, the more you can love

Left: Attack of Velcro Cat
Top Center: Garth and Eric both decided to sleep on my lap one morning
Top Right: I got all of the planting done this weekend
Middle Center: Talyn!
Middle Right: We have a tiny garter snake friend in the garden
Lower Center: Pippy being her silly self
Lower Right: I made myself a name plate for my new office using LEGO dots

Meet Talyn, the newest member of our zoo. One of my friends from work needed to rehome him and Lancelot and I had been talking about wanting to grow our family, but I had some serious concerns. Talyn is 8 years old and fully declawed, plus he good sized, all of which helped set me more at ease. Right now we’re still in the “feeling each other out” stage with him and the other critters, but he’s starting to venture out of the guest room more. This morning I found him and Eric having a stand off in our bedroom.

In other exciting news, we found out that we have officially switched to temporary full remote work as of right now. The renovations they’re going to start on the building we’re currently in will begin on May 19th and there is a whole lot of people shifting going on, which means it’s just going to be easier for us to not be in the way. I am not upset at this one bit. It is a shame that our new space in the Library isn’t ready yet, but they are making progress. The last I heard they’re finally starting to paint.

I was quite happy to get all of my planting done this weekend, or at least almost all of it. I forgot about two pots that I wanted to plant so I need more dirt, and one more flower. But it’s looking good and I’m very excited. We found almost all of the veggies we wanted to do and I realized that I could get away with not tearing up the flower bed against the back of the house just yet. I did over-seed that area with some wildflower seeds to hopefully fill in after the iris and bulbs stop flowering.

One of the new things I’m trying this year is a compost station. One of the people I talk to online mentioned using an large old plastic garbage can with holes drilled in the bottom as the container. We have four “raised bed” things in the back yard along the one fence and decided to dig it in there. I figure the dirt surrounding the bottom outer area of the can will help insulate it. The holes in the bottom allow the moisture to get out and worms to get in. We’ve started putting some of the random yard waste bits in there and I got a small trashcan with a lid for on the kitchen counter to collect fruit/veggie scraps and the like. I’m excited about it.

L and I also took a good part of the day on Saturday going through the garage getting things cleaned up, cleaned out, and just better organized. I’m planning to setup a workshop area out there to do my glass projects. It’s a lot safer to keep that stuff away from where the little splinters could get into critter paws. Or my bare feet.

I have been finding that my creative urges lately have been steering me to make super practical things. For example, this weekend I made two “socks” for the floor Swiffer and two “wigs” for the Swiffer duster thing. They worked up quickly and took very little yarn. I’m excited to have L try them and see what he thinks. I also made some critters toys that I stuffed with a little cat nip in the fiber fill.

all the news that’s fit to print, and a whole lot that isn’t

Top Left: A rare meeting of all three beasts
Top Center: New glasses
Top Right: Marinated tomatoes and cheese on toasted bread (super tasty, pain in the ass to eat)
Middle Left: An old glass bowl that reminded me of a flower so I added alcohol ink to it
Middle Center: Pippy and Eric enjoying the sunshine
Middle Right: Progress pic of the cross stitch cat project (it’s a lot farther along than that now)
Bottom Left: LEGO succulent set
Bottom Center: On Thursday we got 9″ of snow, that was the view out my bedroom window at our back deck
Bottom Right: My Valentine gift from Lancelot

It was a fairly quiet week for us, partially because of the snow. We’re in a part of the country where the meteorologists aren’t always right about winter storms. In all fairness, that’s gotta be a hell of a hard job. My coworkers were all very skeptical about us getting any snow at all since the last few “storms” have amounted to very little.

Not this time

At one point it was snowing 1.5″ per hour. I kept myself at home, safe, and warm. Pippy loves it though. She goes out in the yard and romps around and comes back in with little snow balls stuck to her legs and muzzle. We try to throw one of her towels in the dryer when she goes out so that we can rub her down with a warm towel when she finally comes back in.

Goals Update

I’m still doing pretty damn well with the goals. I’m still working my way through my stash of craft supplies when I want to get creative and I’ve been trying to focus on finishing projects that are already in the works. The exception was over the weekend I took a little time to make some jewelry and I’ve been trying to do a bit of origami. But no new knitting projects.

insert catchy title here

I keep thinking I should sit down and write and then life happens, so I don’t. The good thing is that I’ve been spending much more time doing creative stuff and a lot less time glued to a screen. I seriously think that’s a win. For example, consider the following exhibits:

I made a headband and channeled my inner Keith Richards

I constructed a Bird of Paradise LEGO kit

And I’ve spent some serious time on the Plant Place in our sunroom. It now includes not only a variety of leafy things but also a dendrobium orchid and three different carnivorous plants.

I’ve also still been knitting other stuff, besides headbands (though I am on #2 of those because they use just a wee bit of yarn and work up pretty quick) I’m working on a lace scarf for myself, the damn beaded lace cowl for me, a holiday goody for a dear friend, a birthday goody for another dear friend, a kitty amigurumi for my soon to arrive niece, and the scarves I’m making for charity.

And a partridge in a pear tree!

In the “not creative stuff” category I’m also trying to be more mindful about unwinding at night by coming up to my office and reading for about an hour before going to bed. It sounds so simple but it really does seem to make a big difference for me. I’m also try to remember how big of a role food and proper nutrition play in the way I feel. I’m not losing weight anymore, but I’m also not gaining, and that in and of itself feels pretty good. I was able to go clothes shopping with my friend K last week and being able to purchase “normal” size clothes in “normal” shops was just downright lovely.

My goal is to get back to eating / drinking in ways that are healthier and to get back to including much more activity and exercise into my routine. Right now it just feels like every time I try to establish some routines I find myself confronted with some minor catastrophe and someone shouts out “PLOT TWIST!” It’s interesting and yet simultaneously exhausting.

PS – the clear shelves hooked to the windows in that picture of the plants are from Amazon and they are so totally freaking worth it, especially if you have small children or animals. I have them in those windows and upstairs in my office and the guest room. You can’t put anything extremely heavy on them but they are amazingly pretty with small things, especially colored glass containers.