2021 Project 365 – Week Five

This was a pretty low key week in the Bug Household. I ate weird combinations of food. I crocheted. The Moon Man made an appearance. It’s January.
 
Sunday, January 24^th  
Dr. M made a very chunky spaghetti sauce with some of our lingering Misfits veggies (carrots, zucchini, peppers), some canned tomatoes, and some leftover store bought sauce which apparently was 90% garlic. It was VERY tasty & it was nice to not have to worry about vampires.
 

Monday, January 25^th
Dr. M’s dad got his first COVID vaccination. Yay!
 

Tuesday, January 26^th  
Daddy & Sue got their vaccines today, but you don’t get a photo of that. Instead, here is a lovely picture of me rolling my eyes so hard at my audiobook that I was in danger of having a traffic accident.
 

Here is one of the weird things I ate. The leftover pizza, while tasty, just seemed very heavy to me so I decided to zing it up with sliced apples. It was really good!
 

Wednesday, January 27^th  
Leftover pizza, take two. This time I mixed up a little salad with apples, feta, spinach, & Italian dressing, and dumped that on my pizza. While it was also tasty, logistically it was impossible to eat. If the crust hadn’t been so crispy I could have rolled the slices up & sort of had a pizza taco situation.
 

Took another stretching class. We were supposed to use a tennis ball, but in the moment this was the only thing we could find – ha! I think it’s hilarious that we have a Washington Nationals plushie when we’re not really Nationals fans.
 

Thursday, January 28^th
Twilight…
 

I finished my wall hanging! So glad to have had the Make Don’t Break challenge to get me in gear this month.
 

The moon! (Slightly past full because of pouring rain Wednesday night.)
 

Friday, January 29^th
Since I finished my wall hanging, and since I was still waiting on a skein of yarn for my temperature blanket, I started a new project. I was playing around with color combos & decided that using the off white worked best. This one will be a can cozy. Maybe.
 

Saturday, January 30^th  
Temperature blanket update. My chartreuse yarn came! It’s either going to be hideous or a “pop of color.” I kind of like it – looks like spring to me. Which means we shouldn’t have had this temperature (51 degrees) in January. Of course, last year we had about 5 days of 60+ degree temps in the middle of January, so what do I know? I spent a little time rearranging my warm color ranges. As most of you know, the last time I made a temperature blanket I had a LOT of orange. I’m trying to avoid that this time. We’ll see how it goes. Also, down here in NC I’m thinking I won’t end up using my coolest colors (for average temps 30 degrees & lower). Now if I was still in Ohio...
 

I’ve been feeling a little blue this week. With my personality, when I feel blue I tend to just crawl inside myself and stuff all that blue in a corner where it can be ignored. Then eat some chocolate. This time I’ve tried to “sit with my feelings” (whatever the heck that means), and I have to say that I Am Not A Fan. I mean, I don’t even want to eat chocolate when I do that. Who needs that stress in their life? How about you – are you a feeler or a stuffer? 
 
 

2020 Project 365 – Week Twenty-seven

Blogger has updated its interface and I am NOT AMUSED. The spacing is weird, I have to add pictures one at a dang time (I used to upload them all, and then just insert them where I wanted), and I can’t just type in the labels anymore – I have to scroll through the whole list to find the ones I want. I have a jillion labels. Labels might be a thing of the past (I mostly use the search feature when I’m trying to find a post anyway). Okay, rant over. For now.

Sunday, June 28^th                                                             

Dr. M spent some time with his dad & the hydrangeas that are from his mother’s funeral. 

I spent some time with my dad and Sue, and picked some blueberries. When I commented that the thing on the right was NOT a blueberry, my dad yanked it up & sent it home with me (garlic – yum!).

Monday, June 29^th                            

The moon! 

Tuesday, June 30^th                                                                 

Another day, another mask situation. 

Our neighbor’s daylilies are lovely! 

Wednesday, July 1^st                                                         

I posted this about being glad my new curling iron came with that warning, and then things took a bawdy turn – especially after I read the instructions. And all I can say about that is OUCH.

 

Thursday, July 2^nd       

One of my coworkers’ husbands brought us patriotic donuts. Yum! 

That evening we had a visitation from the blissed out Roy. 

Friday, July 3^rd                                                                     

I had the day off from work – woo hoo! I finished up this project – another non-sock item made from sock yarn that I’d had for about 5 years. I actually mostly finished it a couple of weeks ago, but I was POSITIVE I had another skein of the yarn in the house somewhere. I did another pretty exhaustive search on this day & had no luck. It’s fine – this is supposed to be a scarf, not a shawl anyway. Photo shoot to come after it dries. 

Saturday, July 4^th                

We spent part of the day with Dr. M’s dad. We had bbq & baked beans with fried okra (I don’t know why the only picture I took of that was the okra). And then we had cupcakes, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Dr. M spent some time talking with his dad & I spent some time picking blueberries. I think it’s fitting that I began and ended the week with blueberries! 

I often have a lot of conflicting feelings about this day, but this year it was more troubling than usual. I’ll let Frederick Douglass explain (and my goodness, I read an alternate opinion of him this week & now I’m giving him side eye!). 

I’ve had a lovely long weekend, but I don’t mind going back to work (at least I won’t mind once I’m up and out of the shower – pre-shower I will be a little salty about it). When I’m out of my routine I can spiral down into complete lethargy with a touch of depression. I did get some housework done, so I feel good about that, and I finished a couple of books and started on THREE more. But I’ll bet my screen time was through the roof! What did you do with your down time? (If you had some – and I don’t want to hear it from my retired people – I’m looking at you Daddy.)

 

2018 Project 365 – Week Forty

I am just ready to hide in my little corner of the world & play games on my iPad. No reading, no watching TV (except for baseball of course). I’m so very tired – for no good reason really. Ah well, we trudge along. And someday we go back & read everyone’s blogs.

Sunday, September 30^th                            

On Sundays, Dr. M surveys his kingdom & finds it good.

Monday, October 1^st                                     

This is the face of a woman who is inordinately pleased with herself for balancing the work bank account on the first try.

Tuesday, October 2^nd                                                       

Sorry for two selfies in a row, but this was the only picture from today. Here is my caption: Last night I said, “Alexa! Smart plug on!” (My smart plug is connected to a fan in the bedroom.) However, I was wearing my night guard so she didn’t quite understand me. “I think you’re asking about flatulence.” Um, nope Alexa, but thanks for making me cackle. #alexadoesntunderstandme

Wednesday, October 3^rd         

The blanket arrived JUST in time and the little recipient looks adorable!

Thursday, October 4^th             

A fox hound has decided to make our neighbor’s yard his new home. We’re not sure who he belongs to, but isn’t he beautiful? He’s been well cared for. I hope the owners are able to track him down, but he’s not wearing a collar. Also, he has had no apparent impact on the neighborhood squirrels.

Here is the next afghan square – fun!

Friday, October 5^th                                   

Your weekly furniture.

Saturday, October 6^th                                          

Dr. got some more animals for his farm. It’s been great therapy for him during these troubling times.

Meanwhile, for my therapy, I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to decide on color placement for my next square (the consensus on the crochet site was bottom right, although all four received at least one vote).

It’s post-season baseball & if my Atlanta Braves don’t get their act together tonight will be their last game. I’m still super proud of them – they weren’t even supposed to be in the post season this year. However, it would be nice to see them win at least one game. Who are you pulling for?

2018 Project 365 – Week Thirty-nine

This was a rough week, nationally. At least from where I’m sitting it was rough. And yet I feel so numb from All The Things that my outrage seems muted. I’m pretty darned tired. And yet we soldier on.

Sunday, September 23^rd                           

This helps a lot – our wildflower bed is still sending out surprises for us. This week it was a zinnia to go with the blanket flowers & forget-me-nots.

Man, I just really suck at parking.

Monday, September 24^th                                    

No picture today – just a screen shot of a page from the book I was reading (the latest J.D. Robb). I think she has a point. Ha!

Tuesday, September 25^th                                                      

I worked on this baby blanket all week & kept asking people for advice about the border. Today’s question was: add the last row of gray, or not?

Wednesday, September 26^th        

I had a low tire pressure warning on my way home from work. My sweetie checked all the tires & then pumped up the low one – in the rain! He’s the best.

Thursday, September 27^th             

Your weekly furniture.

Friday, September 28^th                                   

Did I mention that I suck at parking?

Dr. M went to the grocery store & was assaulted by Pumpkin Spice Everything.

I finished the blanket!

Saturday, September 29^th                                          

Is there anything better than an impatiens popper?

The Roy getting some excellent attention from Dr. M.

I super-duper struggled with this square – I don’t really like how any of the colorways turned out. But they’re done. Moving on now!

The weekend is almost over & I don’t really feel ready for a new work week. I haven’t packed my lunch or picked out what I’m wearing tomorrow. I guess I’d better hop to it. What are your essential Sunday night tasks?

We will not let hate win (will we?)

Yesterday I unfriended someone on Facebook - not something I do very often. Usually, if a person has wildly different views of life than I do & I don't want to see his or her posts, I'll just hide that person from my news feed. But this time I decided that I just didn't need to be Facebook friends with a person who had this particular point of view. What did she post? It was one of those memes that said, in effect, no white person alive today ever owned a slave and no black person today has ever been a slave, so basically everyone just get over yourselves.

As if the effects of centuries of people owning other people can be rinsed down the drain like grime after a hard day's work. As if the very institutions that undergird our nation aren't set, by default, to favor white citizens. As if the average black child in the United States today really does have the same advantages as the average white child.

I read an essay the other day where a woman was talking to a black man who couldn't swim. She said that he must not have grown up around water. But he replied that his town had a pool, but that black people weren't allowed to use it. Today that town's pool most likely doesn't discriminate. But what is the legacy of this story from our (relatively) recent past? I grew up hearing that "black people don't swim," as if it was a genetic disposition instead of a lack of opportunity. And this is just one example of systemic discrimination.

I used to believe that once the "older generation" died off, the United States would become a utopia where no one was treated differently based on the color of their skin, sexual preference, gender, or nationality. I'm not that naive anymore. We can't afford to wait for some fictional utopia. We need to actively seek the change we want in the world. What does that look like for me or you? No clue. But I'm ready.

These days

These days I make a list the night before and add to it during the day and really truly believe that this will be the most productive evening Ever in the History of Evenings after Work.

And then I get home, starving, and eat leftover pizza, and catch up on Facebook only to find out one of my friends has disappeared presumably because she’d like to be more productive and I feel like someone punched me in the gut (even though it was NOT personal) and it also feels like I’m walking through molasses so I eat some honey and peanut butter and wonder if I can get away with not packing my lunch tonight so I can go to bed at 9:00.

And what’s hilarious is that I’ve also been thinking about taking a Facebook break because I spend WAY too much time on there. And what’s really wrong is that my Saturn is well and truly done & I feel as sad as if a beloved pet had died.

Big sigh. At least I rode my bike in the cool dusk and enjoyed the petunias and acorns on this day between summer and fall.

Bittersweet Day

I joined the Cult of Creative Memories in the early 90s. Would you like to see my photo albums? No? After we moved to Ohio in the early aughts I joined the Cult of Stampin' Up (they're not the least bit incompatible, & in fact each cult encourages the other). I made cards for friends and family for about five years. Here's one of my favorites, sent to a friend who was getting ready to have breast reconstruction surgery:

I stopped making photo albums when my mom died. I think I did a few more pages & then just quit. Apparently I was making the albums for her. (Well, getting a good digital camera also contributed to my lack of print picture interest).

And then about five years ago I lost interest in making cards. When we moved I thought that maybe a change of scenery would pique my interest. Not so much. And so I've had all this STUFF sitting around collecting dust for all that time. I finally decided that it was time for me to get rid of the vestiges of these two cults. I am giving it all away to some folks who I know will appreciate it.

I had some fun testing all the ink pads to make sure they still work. Although there was a twinge - I used to stamp the penguin on the backs of the cards I made & then write "Danamade" in its belly. Feels weird to know I won't be doing that anymore.

And then I came to this box:

It was a silly extra thing that I just had to have - it came with plastic pages where you could arrange all the pictures you wanted to put in an album & then store your layouts in the box until you were ready to put the pages together. I opened up the box to see September 2004 - the trip that we took to Lake Erie six months before Mom died.

And wow it was hard to take those pictures out of that box, knowing that I'd never put that album together. Fortunately, Dr. M knew this would be a tough process, so he brought in a cow to stare at me :)

Really, I'm glad to give all of this stuff to someone who will use it. And it removes that feeling I've had over the years of something left undone. And as we all know, I have a new obsession now. All that yarn has to go somewhere!