Working Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Yes, I’m working. Three guesses on what. “Writing is hard,” she whined. Also crocheting for sanity and about to tackle a stack of dishes so high the dogs are afraid to go into the kitchen. But mostly, it’s That Damn Book. Trying not to think about all the commemorative things that will drop tomorrow. Honestly, the hardest thing I’m working on now is optimism. But I can do. WE can do it.

Whatcha working on, Arghers?

32 thoughts on “Working Wednesday, September 11, 2019

  1. I just made myself 8 pastel muslin produce bags. They’re so pretty, and I’m feeling very inspired to go get some fruit and veg to put in them now, and possibly even up my game with my cooking this week. I love stuff that’s pretty and practical.

  2. I spent most of my time working on creating order from chaos in my craft area. I mentioned on Sunday Happy that we had put up shelves in the space, and Kelly wanted to see progress pictures.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ROoDahHuB/

    Before all of that started, I had carted out all of the stuff into the living room, so there is no true “before” picture. Just know that it was piled high with mess. I know how it got that way – taking in mom’s sewing stuff, moving and having a credit card . I had a lot of big plastic bins that kept me from seeing how much I had. I’m hoping that when I see the fabric on the wall (and that’s not all of it! only the larger bits), that I’ll be inspired to work with what I have.

    As part of the cleanup I gathered the potential projects and patterns and mated them in either an extra large baggie, or in one of the project bins on the second shelf. Basically, I can pluck one of those and start going, rather than having to hunt around for that pattern, or missing bit of fabric. So, I’m feeling pretty good about that.

    You know, if I didn’t work full time and just concentrated on what I have, I’d still be sewing 10 years from now! (Don’t get me started on the yarn – that hasn’t found a place here yet.)

    My goal is to have the living room presentable again this weekend – and maybe even sew again!

    1. I love having self-made “kits” for quilting projects, since, like you say, I can just grab one and get to work, without waffling about options or collecting the right fabrics. With new projects, I’ve learned to use up any small scraps at the end, making lap quilts or kitty kwilts with left-over blocks and strips. But in the past, I would throw all those scraps in a bin for “later,” which of course never comes, and the bin was ready to explode. So over the last two or three years, I’ve gone through all the scraps, sorting them by size and shape (stripes, squares, triangles) and then color families, and made them into kits (in baggies or shoe-box-sized bins) to work on whenever I have time and don’t want to deal with a larger project or want a break from a larger project. They’re all lap-quilt-sized or runner-sized, more or less, nothing bigger. The Flying Geese lap quilt last week was one of the kits.

      1. I’ve held on to my scraps and leftover blocks. Sometimes it’s for documentation purposes. Other times I just like them. I do have another outlet though – the local guild collects orphan blocks. They’ll put them together into comfort quilts for local charities. So, I may do that.

  3. Working on emotional balance. You know when anxiety starts to creep in for not obvious reasons, and since you don’t clearly know why, it’s hard to break out of the funk? Yeah, that.

    In other news, I started a new crochet blanket with giant yarn that I am crocheting without a needle. Less arm crochet and more finger crochet, but it’s fun. Can kick out a whole skein pretty quickly, which is even better. I know who the blanket is going to, which is perfect. After this, gotta figure out how to crochet two amigurumi characters from Star Trek. Maybe. Amigurumi is still hard. I can make a sphere lol

    Also, the hard refresh thing is still happening, Jenny. Had to go to an incognito window to see today’s post.

    1. Try clearing your cache and restarting. Mollie’s on it, she’s made changes, and they’re trying to find what triggered the problem. Mine was still wonky this AM, but I cleared the cache and restarted and everything showed up. I’m going to keep an eye on it all day, and anybody else having difficulty please report in, but fingers crossed, that’ll do it.

      Also Terry Pratchett’s Reaper Man is on sale for $1.99. Excellent book.

      1. Mine updates if I press the Refresh button. Otherwise, it goes with the cached information. I have not cleared the cache yet.

  4. I finished writing up the conference I went to in July and posting all of the backlogged journal entries I wrote since then. That is a HUGE project and I’m glad it’s finally done and outta my hair.

    Next work: write review of the October Daye book, write up the next entry for my fan blog of said book, and work on storytelling writeups.

  5. Much work: ads for ball bearings, blogs about boat steering, emails on HVAC equipment. I also get to suggest names for a new product, which is cool even if the product is software for industrial pumps.

    Much joy: celebrating our 37th anniversary, although today we’ll probably just light the wedding candle at dinner. Note that I easily found the candle in my closet, celebrating its one-month clean anniversary.

  6. Heavy sigh. Same ol’, same ol’. Another day, another dollar. Carryin’ on carryin’ on. Trite for trite. Saw for saw.

    That’s enough of that! I finished Murder With Peacocks. When I rate it on Amazon or Goodreads, I’ll probably give it five stars (because 4.5 isn’t a choice.) I’ll also get another in the series, or two, or three.

    The comfort book is Flint/Goodlett/Huff’s 1636: The Viennese Waltz in the Ring of Fire alternate history series.

    I also picked up What If from XKCD. Serious answers to stupid questions. Trippy, and I can’t read more than one or two answers per day.

    1. I love “What If”! The audio version was read by Wil Wheaton. You lose the stick figures but was really well done! My favorite is the question of building the periodic table out of real elements. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t end well.

      1. I’m not there yet – something to look forwardly at… or something. The gases all wander off, the reactive elements react, sometimes violently, and the builders get their lifetime radiation exposure limits.

  7. I inadvertently discovered my winter project Monday. I started going through boxes of photographs to weed out the oddballs, like blurred photos and others that are out of focus and odd bits like pamphlets stored away. I also got lost in memories like my husband and I when we were thin, laughing at my boys with their mullets, myself with eighties hair (not so funny now) people no longer with us. So I put them back in the closet and set them aside for a winter snow day. Maybe I’ll separate them into decades.

    I did get excited this morning when I keyed in SEP’s name and discovered she has a new book coming out but not until June of next year. So that leaves me with two to look for to hers and Jenny’s.

  8. I’m working on introducing my new two-year old adopted dog, Freddie, into my home. Ever since I read “Anything But You” I have dreamed of having my own little Basset and finally, ten years later, she is here and she is perfect.

    Thank you for introducing me to my best friend. It’s been a while but this dream has finally come true. Oh, and Freddie says hello and thank you!

    1. I have a 2-year-old dog named Fred too! Except mine is far from a basset. But, still, an Argh dog named Fred.

  9. I went through my yarn stash, which is small, and decided I had enough for a large lap throw. It’s avocado and cream but at least it will have a purpose instead of 6 skeins taking up space. I’m using a very basic shell pattern so I don’t havve to think too much.

  10. I worked hard and ended up with a sinus infection and laryngitis. Resting voice so it doesn’t get worse. Anxiety went up a bit and I’ve got sort of dermatitis/eczema as a result.

    I went to the doctor and then had a nap and then went for therapy. I’ve worked on creating a 100 day battle plan for growth. It starts tomorrow and ends on 20 December. This seems apt because the Summer solstice is on 22 December.

    I’ve made bullet-journal-style checklist starting from tomorrow. The aim is to not break the chain – I think it’s a lifehacker article about Jerry Seinfeld’s method.

    Some of it is as basic as taking my chronic sinus medication. My aim is consistentency. The depression was sneaking in now that I’m on quarter dose of meds – with doctor’s knowledge and say-so. I’ve realized that this is where I might need to stay. But it’s also shown me that I’ve got to do the things I know works. Even if I’m not really motivated to do so.

    I’m optimistic.

  11. I did virtual work this week. Spent all day Sunday erasing old files on my hard drive (almost a thousand in my waste basket before I emptied it!) and organizing document files and making sure they were backed up at Dropbox, because my desktop computer is showing signs of imminent death. I still need to do backups for some old pictures, but I ran out of time to do it, and I was getting repetitive stress pain in my elbow from clicking on so many files.

    The digital project was in lieu of quilting, so no pix to show for all the work! I have been knitting more than usual (chemo caps as always), but not enough to be worth photographing. I did find a LOT of pix of chemo caps in the course of my file organizing. I was on a knitting roll a few years ago, but had slowed down in the past year. I seem to be on the upswing again now.

  12. I’m working on not working on my WIP. Okay, I’m working on it, but slooooowly.

    Also working on getting little girl foster kitten back to full health, which is also slow but going better than the WIP. Adorable video posted on FB and Twitter today. (Sorry, not on Instagram because it was taken with my regular camera.)

  13. I finally started the job that I was offered back in February. I’m also finishing up a big project for the company that paid my bills in the intervening months. Juggling everything has been a challenge. But just a couple more weeks and I’ll be doing the one job.

    And for those following along, my mom’s ankle is fully healed and she can drive, travel, walk etc. She’s using a cane right now, but I think she’s close to giving that up. It’s a relief, I can tell you!

Comments are closed.