So Long, 2023

 Hey friends! I've been missing you. 

It's been six years (plus a couple months) since I last had a post. That's wild! And even before that, this poor little blog has sat empty for quite some time. 

So, let's catch up. 

I'm still teaching high school (mostly graphic design, with some yearbook and marketing thrown in). This is my 20th year. When I started this blog, I had been teaching just over 2 years. TWO. I was just a baby. My babies were just babies. They are 26 and 29 now. How? 

I haven't sewn a stitch in YEARS. 

In 2015 I started a side gig on Etsy, making planner stickers. At first they were just download stickers to cut at home, but about a year into it I started printing, cutting and shipping. It's been a crazy ride. It also left zero time to do me things. I work from 8-4 and then I come home and work until 8 or 9 at night. Then on the weekends I work some more. 

It's weird how the money was never extra. As much comes in is how much is spent. Somehow. You make more, you need more. It's been a vicious cycle. Honestly, I wish I had left the whole shop download only and never moved into the physical product realm. It has sucked every bit of joy and wonder from my soul and left little time for anything else. 

In case you missed it, I'm tired. And I'm really yearning for something creative that "I" choose. Not a product to sell. Just something for fun. I used to wear patterned fabric people! I used to love color and shoes and I did my hair and wore makeup. I loved thrifting and flea marketing. 

I wear black and grey and camel and some occasional white and ivory. It's a neutral sea in my closet. 

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this subject, but I think it's obvious so I'll address it. I've suffered from depression and anxiety for years, and for a long time I suffered alone and ashamed. I finally talked to my doctor about it and I'm doing better now. Better but still struggling sometimes, which I think is normal. 

Part of my departure from blogging and sewing (and blogging about sewing) has been tied up in that depression and anxiety and shame. I gained a considerable amount of weight over the past 18 years. I think my fear of being "seen" like this has prevented me from doing something I really loved. 

I'm not saying I'm jumping back into the fray and you'll get to see the older and fatter me right away, but I'm hoping to move in that direction. 

I lost my dad this year and it's been really hard on my family. 

I lost my uterus and ovaries and good riddance to those. 

I've gained an appreciation for quiet and peace and leaving behind the things that aren't worth worrying about. (That may be a 50's thing). 

Anyway. If you made it this far, hello! How have you been? I've missed you, friend. 

I'm excited about 2024. 

Bring it on.

November! and a little update...

Oh wow, for the first time since creating this blog space in March 2006, I missed an entire month of posting to this blog. I don't know where October went!

Lu and I had funky Halloween paper lanterns and giant spiders to hang on our porch, but we got distracted by everything else and never hung them on the porch. Next year...

My days are mostly filled with work and my 2 grad classes. I'm about 80% sure I'm not going to be taking any classes in the spring. I'm exhausted and I'm not enjoying it the way I thought I would; I'm also not sure this program is preparing me for this field in any tangible way (so why waste the time and expense just for a piece of paper?) I have 5 years to complete it, so a semester break is allowed while I gather my thinky thoughts on it.

Last month (Eep! October!) I went to Boston for 5 days with Random Acts. I didn't get to explore the city very much, but I'll do a post of some pretty scenery in a few days! I have some "selfies" from my various treks around the city (and the farm we stayed at) so I could keep my kiddos updated on my whereabouts. And so they didn't forget my face.

Here's one, in case you have forgotten my face:

Meeting everyone that I work with at Random Acts in person was fun, but there were definitely hiccups. Maybe I'll tell you a story later.

Meanwhile, for you sewing aficionados...I haven't touched my machine in months. That's part of the NEW new life plan for Christmas break and moving into 2014. DO MORE THINGS I LOVE. I haven't even had time to open my Burda for November! Was it good? Ugh. I will do that tonight!

Ahh...let's see. Knee is still utter crap. But I can walk up and down a few stairs now, and handle a couple of inclines on my hilly hiking/walking.

Sidenote: Can you believe Christmas is upon us?? My mind is blown.

Lastly, as today is November 1, I'll go ahead and announce it's NaNoWriMo time! National Novel Writing Month for you newbies. 30 days, 50K words. I will be cheating again and working on a story already in progress (but only 3 chapters in). Yay! I'm excited!

Hope you're all doing well and I promise not to let another month go by without some kind of contact! Happy Friday!!

weather update

We escaped the brunt of the storm in my part of OK.  I live in a narrow corridor where the storm split above and below me.  Thank you peeps for checking on me!

Remember the families in Moore this morning as they continue to process the aftermath.

source

source

They can't take that away from me..

Happy Birthday, Ella Fitzgerald



pssst.... Sorry I've been a bad, absent blogger!
I started my grad class a couple of weeks ago and
last week was Prom!
 (I'll have decor pictures to share this weekend,
but here's one of me and a couple of kiddos)

That blobby design in the middle of my dress is way more
distracting in a photo than it was in person! (the design carries
around the hem and sides too, which helps).

Back soon with more interesting bits hopefully!

saturday agenda:

Here's the agenda for today, class:

1. Post on the Literary Girls.
   
2. Finish anthro top.
   
3. Alter this pattern and *CROSSES FINGERS* cut out (Vogue 8701):

I'll be making the pretending-to-be-a-vintage-pattern-dress:


using this amazing fall plaid:


Note the tiny bit of green in the plaid in this close up...


Ok, so I did say a "tiny" bit of green.

Gotta finish that anthro top first. And somewhere I need to squeeze in time to cut out that blue skirt to match! Yikes. I need a vacation so I can work on all these projects!

FO's tomorrow! (still CROSSING FINGERS)

m.i.a.

Sorry it's been so quiet around here... I haven't encountered much "quality time" this week! What with "homecoming" and "parent/teacher conferences" at school, I'm basically running on fumes.

I'm hoping to get some of that aforementioned QT with the sewing machine this weekend, though. My fall wardrobe is sadly lacking...

(I also have some vintage pattern purchases to share that are AWESOME. Just sayin.)

See you soon!

muted.

It's been kinda quiet around here. You know, since I woke up yesterday and discovered I was mute.
I'm basically Marcel Marceau. Except less creepy. And a girl.

Now I'm on the good meds, and a strict "no voice use" mandate for at least 2 days. That means it will be quiet around here for most of the weekend. The opera singing while vacuuming will have to wait for another day.

Stickgirl & I have plans to go see this on Sunday!


Aunty Christy, if youre reading, you should come with us! (I'll text you!) Stickgirl thinks the mute thing is just Too. Damn. Funny. (She would.)

After I spend the next day or two lying around in my pj's, I hope to muster up the willpower to trace & cut out a BWOF project or two. And a HP tee I've been meaning to make for, oh, 4 months or more? --Sorry Dawn! ;)-- But mostly this weekend, I plan to sleep and watch Christmas movies.

And make obscene hand gestures when people pretend they don't know what I need/want/mean. (just kidding. I would never do that.)

“We need to find God,
and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
God is the friend of silence.
See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence;
see the stars, the moon and the sun,
how they move in silence...
We need silence to be able to touch souls.”
--Mother Teresa