another trip around the sun

Top: Eric demonstrating proper nap positioning
Middle Left: Corned beef, potatoes, and cabbage with bacon AKA St. Patrick’s Day dinner
Middle Center: Pippy is often a dirty puppy and requires a bath, this time from Garth (he kept at it for a solid 5 minutes)
Middle Right: Coconut Cocoa tea sweetened with Chocolate Creamed Honey is like nectar from the gods
Bottom Left: The most beautiful little glass lamp I picked up with shopping with my BFF KB on Wednesday
Bottom Center: Me on St. Patrick’s Day; I was wearing my shirt from the Dropkick Murphys concert
Bottom Right: I was in the mood for something different yesterday and ended up using a white 32 stud square base plate and a bunch of LEGO dots

Tomorrow is my 26th annual celebration of my 21st birthday, which in plain English means that I’ll turn 47 tomorrow. I’m not quite sure why people, women especially, get so twisted about getting older. I see it as a gift, something to be proud of. I’ve gone through a whole lot of hell to get where I am today, the fact that I’ve made it this far is nothing short of a miracle. I try very hard not to take any of it for granted anymore.

I was able to get in to see the dermatologist last Monday and she’s messed with my medications and that seems to be helping. The GP is happy with how one of the meds she’s prescribed is working, so that’s also good. My health is a huge priority these days.

Part of my health is my mental health, and I spent a good amount of time taking care of that last week as well. I took Wednesday off work to hang out with KB, which involved lunch and antique shopping. We had an amazing time and that’s when I found that stunning little lamp. It looks perfect in my home office. I also took Friday off as my normal “one Friday every month off” mental health holiday. I spent the day doing random stuff in the kitchen and hanging out with Lancelot. We made corned beef, potatoes, and cabbage with bacon for dinner and then watched the livestream of the Dropkick Murphys concert. Not quite as fabulous as seeing them live, but the seats were a lot more comfortable.

All in all it was a super relaxing weekend and I got a ton of stuff done. I would say that I feel recharged and ready to take on the week, but I’ve already gone through my work email so I’m fully aware of what’s coming in the next few days, so…

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.

short weeks, long weekends, and good food

Last week I took one of my Mental Health Holidays on Friday. I like to schedule myself one Friday off every month just to have a day to myself. Often Lancelot and I will go do something fun that day, like visit the museum or go shopping, or we just relax. This time I took advantage of the day by getting all of the grocery shopping done, making a birthday gift for a friend, and then L and I went and had our combo Date Night and Valentine’s Day dinner at one of our favorite restaurants.

Left: Eric stretched out in my lap one morning
Top Center: L and I the night of our dinner out
Top Right: The beaded flower ornament for N’s birthday
Middle Center: Pizza Dim Sum
Middle Right: The Sea Dragon Shawl
Bottom Center: Garth pretending to be angelic
Bottom Right: Fingerless mitts, aka Frankenmitts, for my friend K

The Pizza Dim Sum came from an idea K shared with me, something she found on Facebook I think. I took a can of refrigerated biscuits and smooshed them kind of flat, put a few fresh mozzarella pearls, a cut up cherry tomato, and a bit of fresh torn basil inside, and then smooshed the top shut. I baked them on a cookie sheet at 375 for about 20 minutes. Incredibly easy and delicious. Lancelot did his with a little pizza sauce, the same cheese, and a little sliced pepperoni.

goals update

I am very pleased to report that I have finished the first book of the year and have made a decent dent in the second. My guess is that I’ll end up surpassing my goal of reading four this year, and that makes me very happy indeed. I have one more book in this trilogy to finish, two for another trilogy I had started last year, another full trilogy I have yet to start, plus a whole host of others just waiting their turn.

I’m also doing really well with the professional certificate goal. I haven’t heard back about the first course for this year, but my part should be done. I’m also now up to the point of turning in the 4th assignment (of 5 total) in the next course. And I spent a little time last week looking at what else is available on that platform and bookmarking possible options for my next course. I’m also guessing that I will well and truly surpass this goal.

And no new craft supplies, even though I continue to make things. I’m looking at what I have on hand with a critical eye and figuring out how to make the most of what’s there. This weekend I realized that I needed to shuffle the plants around again because some of them were outgrowing their space on the shelves, and the only way to really achieve that was to hang a few more. I had macramé cord and some metal rings and set about to make something. I ended up with two very basic, but very functional, plant hangers. Go me!

Overall I would say that I’m feeling very good about how my goals are going this year. I’m making excellent progress and that motivates me to make even more progress. It’s truly a win/win situation.

please, just don’t ask for that

Top Left: Garth, mid yawn
Top Right: Amazing Shrimp Pad Thai that Lancelot made us for dinner last night
Middle Right: The completed Granny Vest
Bottom Left: Completed crocodile stitch flower
Bottom Center: I’ve got paperwhites blooming again
Bottom Right: Home made dryer sheets

It’s been another busy week around here, but a good week. The boys had their annual vet visit and everything was good. Garth did his usual trick of trying to hide inside the trash compartment. They both got a clean bill of health.

Lancelot has continued to amaze me in the kitchen. The pad thai last night was absolutely to die for, better than I’ve had at a restaurant. He continues to amaze me, and himself I think. I’m truly a lucky girl.

The home made dryer sheets are an experiment, and I’m almost excited enough about them to want to do a load of laundry. Almost. This is born out of my desire to create less waste and not spend so damn much money on something I can make myself. I had all of the components already on hand and the setup was minimal, basically just the time it took to cut one of L’s old t-shirts into square-ish chunks and then measure my few ingredients. I’ll be sure to let y’all know next week how it goes.

I’m really rather excited about the paperwhites. Mom had gotten me a kit before Christmas so I had little flowers over the holiday. I went to one of the garden centers right after Christmas and got another set and those are what is blooming now. I have even higher hopes for this batch. And the fragrance in the sunroom right now is heavenly. We’ve had some nasty, gloomy weather lately and the flowers are definitely helping with that.

I’m also extremely pleased with how the vest turned out, so pleased that I posted pictures of it on Facebook. (which I should know by now is a mistake) Within an hour I received a message from a “friend” that contained a pattern and the message, “I need you to make two of these for my great-granddaughters. I’ll buy the yarn and pay you for your time. I’d be forever grateful!”

Let’s have a small chat about why I don’t do commission work, m’kay?

I’m pretty fucking picky about the things I make. I prefer to work with materials that I’ve selected, particularly when it comes to yarn-related projects. Projects for charity are an exception – those are made with yarn that I know is both soft and can withstand being thrown in a washer and dryer.

My time is extremely valuable to me so I prefer to spend it doing things that bring me joy. I have a full time job where I earn enough money to meet my financial needs, I’m fortunate enough to not need to supplement that income. So I don’t. I do not ever sell the things I make. I have done that in the past and found the entire process to be woefully soul sucking.

Let’s ignore the fact that knitting or crocheting an item requires TIME and loads of it. No, let’s not ignore that. It takes a considerable amount of time to create something with sticks and string and have it turn out well. It’s an art form. I don’t create art to sell it. I create gifts of love for the people closest to me, and I create gifts of love for people who need something soft and warm to help protect them from this cold world.

My time is precious to me, so if what I’m doing isn’t a creation of love, it’s a job and I expect to be compensated accordingly. Which is why I thoroughly expect her to change her mind when I tell her I charge $75 / hour, and the project she wants will likely take me four hours to make. And she wants two of them. Plus it uses seven different colors of yarn; you can estimate those at a minimum of $6 / skein. And the pattern isn’t free; that adds another $5.99. I can kind of see what the pattern will involve just by looking at the picture of the finished hat, but I have no idea how well it’s written or what a pain in the ass it might be, and it involves several pom-poms (which I loathe making, so I rarely do) which might even make them take longer.

So these two hats will cost her approximately $650, plus shipping since she lives a considerable distance from here.

Want to ask again why I don’t do commission work?

23 things

I can’t believe we’re already half way through January. Honestly, where have the last 17 days gone?!

Knitting and crafting, that’s where they’ve gone; at least at my house. And food. There’s been some seriously good food. I swear, Lancelot is becoming a MUCH BETTER cook than I am, and I love it. Last night he made us salmon filets in the air fryer and they were to die for. (recipe here) We’ve been making a real effort to eat healthier, more fruit and veg and all that, and I would say it’s going well.

Top left: Flower ornament with inside dangles made of recycled beads and enhanced with netting around the top
Top right: Back of the Flyaway Vest; I used Old Shale lace instead of stockinette and it’s really lovely seen vertical like that
Bottom left: Herringbone Lace Infinity Cowl using yarn that’s been in my stash since 2017
Bottom right: Simple marker drawing that I made and framed (using a frame I had on hand); this will go in my new office (whenever we get to move)

Not pictured, but also recently finished, are a crocodile stitch flower pin using the same yarn as the cowl and a Granny stitch crocheted vest. It was a busy week.

So you may be wondering, what the hell are these 23 Things the title of today’s post refers to, and I’m so glad you asked. I saw in an email newsletter I get the idea of trying to come up with 23 things you want to do more of in 2023. It wasn’t as easy as I first thought it would be, but I love the idea of putting such a positive spin on the whole “new year’s resolution” type thing.

23 things to do more of in 2023 🌺

1. Draw
2. Read
3. Try new things
4. Push the boundaries of my old comfort zone
5. Hone my cooking skills
6. Give myself some grace
7. Find healthier ways to eat
8. Walk
9. Be mindful of how much packaging waste we bring in to the house
10. Find ways to use the materials I have on hand
11. Learn how to compost
12. Get more creative with recycling / repurposing around the house
13. Spend time with friends
14. Grow my own food
15. Certificates and badges
16. Pay it forward
17. Sing like no one is listening
18. Just say NO
19. Let go of the little things that really don’t matter
20. Write
21. Unplug from screens / social media
22. Meditation
23. Celebrate the little things

welcome to 2023

Eric did not enjoy his brief time wearing the dog’s holiday bandana…

We’ve been having a laid back holiday break. The guaranteed time off between Christmas and New Year’s is one of the best perks of working in higher ed as far as I’m concerned. I take time to stay up late, sleep in, and work on projects. We also got to spend some time with family and friends. We made our first full-on proper Christmas dinner. It’s been good.

Today I’m starting to return to a few of my “normal” things because work starts back up tomorrow. I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the year that was 2022, briefly.

We welcomed a niece to the family. We celebrated more birthdays and our second anniversary. We took two lovely road trips. I made a total of 179 projects. And we still (to the best of our knowledge) have not had COVID. It’s been a good year.

In terms of the goals I set for myself last year, I did really well. I was not able to lose weight and I bought a single skein of yarn, but I aced everything else. That makes me really proud.

My goals for next year:

1. No new craft supplies
2. Finish all of my kits
3. Read at least 4 books
4. Establish and maintain habits/routines for exercising
5. Complete at least 5 creative projects each month
6. No new clothes unless I need new underwear or bras
7. No new shoes
8. Lose 50lbs
9. Post on my blog at least once per week
10. Learn how to bake bread from scratch
11. Earn at least one professional certificate
12. Learn at least one new craft skill

Part of the weekly blog post will be an update on goals, to help keep me accountable. In the spirit of full transparency, I did stack the deck just a bit. Prior to the end of the year I purchased a few more craft supplies and some clothes. I also spent some time yesterday disassembling some old jewelry that I don’t wear anymore and salvaged most of it to reuse.

The “word” for next year is going to be FRUGAL.

We have plenty, we want for nothing really. Not saying that we’re wealthy by the financial standards set by many in this country, but we have enough to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, the lights on, and extra to do fun things periodically. By the standards of many places we are wealthy as kings, and that’s not lost on us.

Every month we make a donation to the local food bank. Throughout the year we make donations to other charities. I share my cookies whenever it makes sense, and we’ll continue to do that. Not spending money on things we really don’t need means we’ll be able to help others.

Top Left: Us on Christmas Day
Top Right: Eric the Red, the Most Interesting Cat in the World
Middle Right: Improv dinner – baked pork chops with onions, cranberries, and acorn squash in a whiskey mustard butter sauce
Lower Left: Beaded ornament I made for my friend, Dr. K
Lower Middle: Tiny star earrings I made myself
Lower Right: The finished Celtic Neck Warmer

setting the stage for success

I firmly believe in the mantra “work smarter, not harder.” It’s quite possibly the secret to any success I have in life. I would much rather spend time planning, and working, ahead so that I spend less time scrambling at the last minute.

I make menus for the week so I know what I need at the store so that I only make one trip. I get my outfits put together for the entire work week on Saturday morning so that I don’t have to think about it when I’m getting ready for work in the morning. I use a medication management system that allows me to fill an entire 30 mornings and nights worth of medicine at once and comes apart so that I can take my container of meds for a day with me if necessary. I cold brew my coffee at home 32oz at a time so that I have inexpensive, healthier, coffee at home any time I want.

Basically, if it can be done in a batch I do it that way. I had the epiphany yesterday during my massage that “efficiency is Lazy but with a purpose.”

At any rate, I’m gearing up for the year ahead and starting to make some plans. Here’s my officially official list of Goals for 2023:

1. No new craft supplies (unless I manage to completely deplete my stashes of stuff)
2. Finish all of my kits (beading, knitting, etc. including the ones I’ve put together for knitting projects)
3. Read at least 4 books
4. Establish and maintain habits/routines for exercising
5. Complete at least 5 creative projects each month (anything creative counts – drawing, knitting, jewelry, LEGO, etc)
6. No new clothes unless I need new underwear or bras
7. No new shoes
8. Lose 50lbs
9. Post on my blog at least once per week
10. Learn how to bake bread from scratch
11. Earn at least one professional certificate
12. Learn at least one new craft skill

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve stacked the deck in my favor here. I’ve stocked up just a tiny bit on craft supplies, bought 2 pair of shoes, an assortment of clothes (all of which will help rebuild my now lacking work wardrobe), and a new winter coat. In my defense, the coat is lilac colored, was 40% off, and was something I had been looking for.

Part of my plan to maintain my state of lazy efficiency will be to post an update on my goals as part of my weekly blog post. I’m currently toying with the idea of trying to figure out how to create a template for myself in WordPress just to maintain some consistency for myself be lazy and not have to recreate the wheel every damn time. And so as to help keep myself accountable, I’ve not only told you fine people about my goals but I’ve also shared them with several of my good friends and I’ve printed a pretty copy of them to hang on the bulletin board next to my desk. Accountability and reminders, yo.

I do have some pretty things to show you. I’ve been working on projects, trying to finish a few things before the year ends but also adding in some new fun bits.

Top left – the Leaf Scarf, now complete with beads. It will need to be blocked slightly.
Top right – a Celtic Cables Neck Warmer, free pattern and using yarn I already had. Should be done soon, it’s farther along than it was there.
Bottom left – that is Vanessa the Plesiosaur. She was a crochet kit from Toft yarn and I would HIGHLY recommend their kits. I made that for the husband.
Bottom right – I’m making the Flyaway Vest using a beautiful laceweight yarn that ombres from a beautiful rich ruby to a vibrant fuchsia and back again. The entire thing was originally written to be stockinette stitch but I’ve modified the back to use Old Shale lace which I think will be particularly interesting seen vertically.

The neck warmer will definitely be finished before the end of the year, the vest may be as well. I do also have a few other projects still in progress, as you may recall, and I’m not sure about their status. I do seem to like having a variety of things going at once to stave off the boredom.

psych update

There isn’t actually much to report right now. I haven’t had any medication changes or symptom changes in quite some time now. I have gotten into the habit of using my full spectrum light in the mornings when I work at home and I know that helps with the Seasonal Affective Disorder. I also make a point of taking care of my physical health as best I can, better now than I ever have really, because at 46 years old I have finally realized that it’s easier for my brain to feel good when my body feels good. Remarkable, eh?

both useful and decorative

A friend of mine has this legitimately delightful habit of gently (ahem) correcting people who are exhibiting negative self-talk. “Are you saying mean things to my friend Erin?” And she’s right, we shouldn’t do that sort of thing to ourselves. It’s not helpful and often just makes things worse. The most important thing here though is that she listens and then offers this support immediately. It’s another way to tell someone you love them without using that word. Food for thought for us all I suspect.

Mildly remodeled plant area

My plant area in the sunroom was feeling Very Cramped, but since there are kitties in the house I have to be careful with what’s where not only because they are destructive little fuckers, but also because some plants are toxic to them. Lancelot helped me select and then assemble this very modular solution that fits in the space on top of the cabinet where the plants had been living. There are no new plants here they’re just arranged differently. I think everyone will be getting better light now and it certainly doesn’t seem as cramped. L even commented that the whole room feels different now.

psych update

I met with my psychiatrist last week and it went very well. She agrees that being off the Lithium seems to be going quite nicely. She also agreed with my thought that I might have been a tiny bit overmedicated. However, the entire support network has rightly been concerned about me not being medicated enough for a hell of a long time, so better safe than sorry.

I’ll meet with her again at the end of November and, assuming things are still smooth, we’ll talk about possibly lowering the dose of one of my other medications.

This is a paraphrase from something I said to someone last week, and it’s utter truth: If you had told me in 2006 that a time would come when my life would feel “normal” and I would be “happy” I would have laughed and called bull shit. But here I am. A mental health diagnosis is not a life sentence, it’s a call to arms.

week one check in

I started the taper last Tuesday which means that today I took my last morning dose of Lithium. So far so good. I’ve had a reasonable amount of energy – not too much – and things seem to be going well. This long holiday weekend (Labor Day in the US) has seen me trying to capitalize on the motivation I have and get some things done outside that I’ve been putting off, among other things. So, since I got off work on Friday we have:

• Gone to two grocery stores (standard for us)
• Went to the farmer’s market
• Cleaned up most of the flower beds in the yard
• Fell and hurt myself (not badly)
• Cleaned up the garage and swept it out
• Cleaned up and organized the storage space out under the house
• Screamed when I found a dead mouse
• Had my mom and step dad here for dinner (and they loved the Indian red lentil dish I made!)
• I made a Christmas gift for a friend
• Finally hemmed a pair of pants
• And I cleaned up the closet in the guest room so it could actually be used by a guest

There has also been a reasonable amount of knitting. And this morning Lancelot was kind enough to start work on our skull army. I think this has been a pretty good week.

planning and scheming

I’m going to get the business out of the way first – I’ve started a four week taper off of lithium. I met with doc yesterday and she was willing to give it a shot, as am I. If I don’t need the lithium and that gives my kidneys some relief, awesome. And as my therapist pointed out when I met with her, perhaps no lithium will mean no tremor. That would be nice.

So Lancelot helped me get my med management trays setup for this, which is super convenient given they’ll handle that much time, so all I have to do is take my meds as per usual because the right bits are in the right containers. Things that make it so I don’t have to do heavy mental lifting are Very Good indeed.

So now I’m trying to do some “normal” planning, like working in the flower beds this weekend and trying to get the landscaping around the house in general in order. I have a planter in front of the front door that the squirrels have demolished so I’m going to get a different planter for next year and load it with flowers they allegedly don’t like. I’ll use the big planter that’s there now for veggies on the deck next year.

Really I think there’s just been a lot of ignoring things I probably should have been taking care of, and so I would like to try to get more on top of that. I would imagine that a lot of people are dealing with this as a leftover from the pandemic being so intense and lasting so long. Regardless, it’s unpleasant and I finally feel like I’m at a place where I have the physical and emotional energy to deal with it.