A Dusting of Snow

I’m doing a little better now. I made Christmas cookies round 2, hung up some indoor decorations, and hung multi-colored lights up around the porch. It’s all Xmas up in here now! I keep playing Christmas music and keeping the fire going. Starting to get over the stupid cold we’ve had, it is NOT Covid-19, test was negative. YAY! Annnnnnd… it’s snowing! ^_^

Those are some of the good things in my life. I have so much to be grateful for. I can only assume it is human nature to sort of focus on the bad, on what’s missing or inadequate or whatever. I think I just need to fight that and try to focus on the good while working on solutions to any issues that crop up. I was just reading that happiness is something you can have welling up from within. It was put forward as something you could keep going, I’m assuming to varying degrees, through all the trials that life brings.

Here are a few pics of things adding to my happiness right now:

Peppermint thumbprint & Chocolate crinkle cookies, one nearly perfect Moroccan pancake, and my goof advent calendar.

My wonderful husband also put lights on the tree so we can decorate it soon. They are new lights and weirdly bright. The camera in my phone had an interesting time trying to focus on the tree.

These pics are in order showing the struggle to focus. I kind of love all of them. It’s okay, Tree, you’re beautiful even when you’re blurry.

Today will be dedicated to cleaning, laundry, getting organized in general and specifically getting ready to launch myself into the new year with shiny good intentions to change my life for the better. I have my free-form bullet journal and a free wall calendar from the grocery store and I’m ready to start building some more structure into my life. I will also be working on an experimental craft today. It goes along with many crafts I’ve done in the past, and I have a pattern for the structure of the item, but I’m winging it on the design. I can’t tell you more because it’s a present for someone who has been known to read this blog but I will post pics as soon as I can. ^_^

I hope you will all have a good, stress-free day today, the kind of day that makes you feel a little happier.

2020 day 3

I have read every day of 2020 so far. I wrote a fair bit yesterday, blogged here, started a recommended Tarot Journal on paper. Also started learning about Tarot reading, so double duty there. My reading is also doubling as working on learning to garden properly. I feel so efficient! ~_^ I managed to work in a little crafting yesterday, I ate pretty healthy, and failed to make progress on any other fronts, which is fine, I need to pace myself and be realistic. Fighting my instincts here. This is day 3 of just kind of winging here, on the goals, I may need to set an actual structure up at some point.

I’m currently reading a gardening book and a mystery novel. Our first Book Boot Camp is going to be Mystery so I should really get cracking on that sucker. My TBR pile is ridiculous.

Reviewing my goals this morning I realized that I have no professional goals listed. I need to think about it for a bit but I think I should have some of those. Right off the top of my head, one basic goal is just to have my programming planned out and publicized at least 3 months in advance, beyond that I need to figure out what else makes sense. Maybe to try to take in one seminar a month or something on professional development? I should have goals, some kind of plan, or vision for my job. That seems awfully grown up.

Oh, hilarious development yesterday, it turns out my youngest had school yesterday and I blithely let him sleep until 1 pm thinking he didn’t go back till Monday. Ha ha ha! I am such a bad mom! Oof. My husband thought so too and, apparently, so did lots of other parents from our kid’s school… the one that prides itself on communication but is really bad at it. Yeah. I just don’t feel too bad about it. I mean, it ate up one of his allowed sick days, but I think the school must have been pretty unclear about this winter break. If it was just me, sure, my fault, but the school was, reportedly, a ghost town yesterday so I’m not taking it on. My kid wasn’t exactly broken up about it either. LOL

I’ve got a new trick for getting him out of bed now! My old method involved loud, poor singing, bright lights, and getting the dog riled up. Now I bring him tea or food. How civilized! I should have thought of it sooner. I bring my husband tea, and occasionally breakfast, in bed every day. He used to get breakfast in bed every day, if you can imagine. That fell apart at some point, I think 18 years ago when I was pregnant. It’s been sporadic-to-rare ever since. Maybe I’ll start that up again? Add the boy to it and bring up tea and breakfast on weekdays. Hmm, maybe I will, it always made for easier mornings for my husband, and it made him feel super appreciated, loved, and looked after. I suppose I worry about spoiling the lad and giving him insane expectations which his future partners will hate me for. Hmmm, maybe we’ll try a limited test of it?

Creating Space

I’ve finished 15 paintings in 3 days. I am feeling much less stressed than I was. I know that will wear off if I stop creating but it feels great right now.

While I haven’t painted much in a long time, I have been crafting right along, crochet, knitting, sewing, DIY Harry Potter stuff and so on, and there is just no space for me to create in. All the painting I’m doing? I’m doing it in my kitchen, I pretty much stole the kid’s study spot which everyone is about to need again. I also had to stop sewing because there is no place I can set up my machine since my eldest moved home. Most of my supplies are crammed inaccessibly in bins in closets right now too. So I’ve been dreaming of a space of my own, cruising ads for used RVs, looking at new sheds, etc. We have a shed, half of which is full of crap we don’t need, so why not use that?

It needs work. After deciding even used RVs are way too expensive, and after looking at new sheds and the extra windows I’d want and all that, I went out an looked at the old shed again. It’s filthy, but I know how to clean, I can pull out all the nails someone pounded in, it needs new windows, some flooring, insulation, interior walls etc etc. Anyway, I emailed the person who does all our handy-work to see if she’ll give me an estimate. I might have to get it done in stages or something, but the space could definitely work. Get rid of the junk, pull the nails, scrub it up a bit and then Anita can work her magic and I will have a studio. I could have my own studio. With a little loft to read and nap in. (Hopefully) That’s the dream!

To get what I want new would be around $6,000… way out of the budget. I’m afraid to get the quote from Anita but it will have to lower, right? Further updates as event warrant.