I thought I finished digging out the patio this morning, but YouTube says I need to dig another six inches around the whole perimeter. Looks like one more week before I get to play with the compactor. Robin went to the mall with her friend Alejandro and Christina and I painted pottery while they wandered around getting lost in Belk. I thought this was a buffalo, Siggi thought it was a yak, Christina says it’s a cow. It’s a yakowalo.
Tag: craft
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April 16
I had to do math today, which is always risky. Somehow every time I work something out mathematically, when I try to recreate it later, I get a totally different answer. I can only hope I’m at least close. Otherwise the day was kind of a blur. I got so engrossed in work that everything else kind of blended into the background. We had shrimp tostadas for dinner and that’s always yummy. Robin cleaned the kitchen, and that will make tomorrow morning easier. It’s 9:33 but I’m pretty much ready for bed now.
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February 4
Christina now has the flu. At least once she’s done with it, we’ll all be done with it. Sheesh. Work is still beating my butt, but I took this afternoon “off” (just canceled my meetings) and managed to mostly more or less catch up. I feel a little better tonight than I did yesterday. The soap on my office window seems to have helped. No birds flew into their own reflection today. That’s a relief. I guess that’s about it for today. Not too exciting.
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January 31
Not quite feeling 100% yet, but I did get a lot done. Three loads of laundry washed, dried, folded, and put away, my first cup of coffee from Panera in over a week, cleaned the kitchen, designed, engraved, and hung my medal rack, fixed the keyboard issue on Robin’s iPad, did some coloring, did light food shopping, played Trivial Pursuit (and lost)… Hunkering down now for what will be a pretty cold night. Temps are expected to drop to the low 20s. The wind chill now is already 17 and it’s not even 10pm. These are facts, not complaints. As a New Yorker, I understand cold and this is not it. But it is unusually cold here this weekend, and unusual is always exciting. As long as it warms up again soon, because there’s a reason I now live in Florida and not New York, and this is not it.
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January 16
It was another crazy day at work. So many meetings and so little accomplished when there is so much to do. I had to settle for yet another unfinished task when I left for dance. When we got home, we ate dinner in front of the TV, watching Penn State wrestling. You always know who is going to win, but somehow it’s entertaining anyway. By the time that was over, I was exhausted. I simply cannot keep up.
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January 11
This is my latest knitting obsession. I did stop a couple times today and managed to do laundry and go food shopping. The girls and I also went to the gym – they played volleyball and I played basketball. I had very low expectations for my basketball abilities, but I surprised myself and made a decent number of shots. Probably missed more than I made, but made a lot that I never thought I could. And I worked up a sweat! I might need to do it more often. Probably good to switch it up from running once in a while. I picked the running pace up too hard too fast and now I’ve got this little annoying injury that feels like not enough to stop running, but enough that I probably should stop running, at least for a little while. I’m just afraid that if I stop, I won’t start back up. And I’ve come too far for that.
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December 8
There comes a point where being productive becomes counterproductive, and I hit that point today. It’s ok, though, because I am excellent at inventing distractions. Honestly, though, it was a pretty quiet day, and those are nice too. I am without a project or pastime at the moment, so have spent most of my free time on the couch trying, not too successfully, not to be bored by what’s on TV. Luckily we have Christmas to keep us occupied. We do have a really big tree to look at.
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December 4
A light pole fell down at a major local intersection overnight, closing it down for hours and causing a traffic nightmare for most of the day. We were literally the only people at car line in the morning because no one else could get there. I thought the school was closed. We had a plan to meet up for pizza after Christina’s dance class and then go pick out a Christmas tree, but Robin was in an epically bad mood and then Billy spilled her full glass of Dr. Pepper all over her at the table, so we decided to bag it. I still think that was a smart move.
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December 1
Not the best photo. I’m sure I’ll take better ones tomorrow. But we finally put up the FINISHED advent calendar tonight! Christina did the honors of placing the first ornament. I am so proud of this thing, all the years of planning and cutting and measuring and hand sewing and machine sewing and plain old learning how to sew at all. I need a better way to hang it, and need to take down the stuff behind it, but I’m very proud of it. I hope it brings us as much joy after making it as I had while making it. And the countdown to Christmas begins…
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November 21
The drama today has been the discontinuation of access to Character.AI for kids under 18. Robin has been devastated. In looking for alternatives, I’ve learned just how bad AI chat bots are for kids. Billy and I reluctantly allowed her to try another one – until this one blocks kids too – as long as we have access to her chats. It reminds me of when AOL invented the internet (ok I know I know but still) and all the 13-year-olds (myself included) went into the chat rooms and we learned how easy they’d made it for pedophiles to find victims. Now there aren’t chat rooms for kids anymore, but look what it has blossomed into! I have to imagine that AI chat bots will eventually develop into something both safer and more fulfilling than how it has started. I tried to explain that to Robin, but how do you explain AOL chat rooms to teenagers who have no possible way to conceptualize a life without internet? She’s not a fan of the new app we allowed her to have, but oh well. It’s better than the little kid ones I was originally going to give her. And so goes the growth of parents and teens and AI everywhere.
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November 14
I had a horrible night of sleep last night and I have been fighting exhaustion all day. But I did make two octopuses and finished reading Journey to the Center of the Earth. I feel like that has earned me my rest tonight!
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November 11
We were going to go to the fair today, but with temps in the mid-50s, it was pretty chilly to be walking around and going on rides. Plus, Billy had to work and he wanted to come too. So instead we painted pottery at the mall, and we’ll try the fair this weekend when the weather’s warmer, even though it’ll probably also be much more crowded. I took entirely too much time painting my piece and I still didn’t quite finish. I am too painstaking with the details. I think everyone had fun, though. Now back to work and school tomorrow. Boo.
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November 7
Making octopuses was not inspiring enough for me, so I decided to make blank notecards for the Kindermarket too. I’m making sets of four using my own photography and they’re coming out so well. They look so professional. If I had more time and money for supplies, I might try to build an inventory and rent space at an upcoming seasonal market to see if I can make any money at it. I am just a little too lazy to deal with all the logistics of card acceptance and taxes and all the rest. But I am having fun making stuff for someone else to sell. I hope it brings in good money for the PTA.
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October 25
I am getting better with sewing. I’ve learned how to wind a bobbin WITHOUT it getting tangled, and how to thread the bobbin and the needle ON THE FIRST TRY. I’ve gotten better at cutting fabric in matching sizes and sewing in straight lines. I took in the kids’ Halloween costumes and made these lined trick or treat bags, and it felt good. Robin and I went to the quilt shop across the street to pick out fabric and I bought way too much, so I think I am going to try to make some napkins with the rest. And if there’s any left over after that… we’ll see. Maybe a table “runner”. It’s a lot more fun to sew when you kind of know what you’re doing.
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October 16
I’m back to making these guys. I volunteered to make at least 50 of them by December 2 for the Kindermarket at school. I started last night and have so far completed 10. I was a little obsessive about it today, though. I really didn’t do anything EXCEPT crochet octopuses. But I’m having fun with it, and honestly, it’s nice to have a goal again. The last month or two has been so bland and boring, I needed something to do that has some kind of purpose. This isn’t all that exciting, really, but it has purpose. I’ll take it.
Year in Photos 