A Happy Mother's Day to you!

I was able to do a lot of knitting this weekend.  The weather was cool and rainy.  I took advantage of an empty calendar, the Stay at Home order and the cool weather.  I snuggled into the recliner and knit.  I had a marathon of Chicago PD and NCIS: Los Angeles TV and I greatly enjoyed myself.  I am very pleased with the way this little sweater turned out.  It needs buttons sewn onto the shoulders and then a soak in the sink for a good blocking.  Then I will post some more professional looking pictures.  It is a very soft little sweater.  There are several women pregnant at work so the choices for recipients is plenty.

Our make shift greenhouse has worked wonderfully.  I am excited to get vegetables out in the garden and growing.  We have a couple nights of cold weather coming up.  Even down into the freezing zone.  Until this is over, these babies will be safe in the porch.  I really wish I would have started them in February instead of the end of March.  Lesson Learned and notes made for next year.

I always enjoy watching the Perennials popping up.  All the fun little hostas coming up and growing bigger and bigger.  Some of these were teeny, tiny little plants when we started them.  I will be moving some of the little lime Hostas over into another bed to give a little better color disbursement.   We need to get a load of mulch and finish cleaning up a bit.  It will look glorious when it is done.  

This is our 4th year on Asparagus and finally will have a crop we can pick and eat.  I am excited to see them continue to grow and take over this space.  It's hard to get a good picture of asparagus.  The camera wants to focus on everything behind it.   Tomorrow I will post a picture of their neighbor, the Rhubarb patch.  It looks amazing and is growing leaps and bounds.  I might even do some canning.  Our stock of Jams is getting low.  I canned a lot of Jam years back in pint jars.  Now I understand the beauty of half pints and jelly jars.  I will do some digging for recipes tonight. John goes back to afternoon shift so I will have some time.

Today I will leave you with a picture of my Henry snuggled up on my lap.  He seems to think he owns my lap and feels free to push things off at a whim. He spoils me and I spoil him.  Together we are a good pair.

A New Weird World

We are still tromping along with our new normal.  We are a full week into May now.  We are still under Stay at Home orders.  You may have previously heard this called Shelter in Place.  Same thing.  Don't go out unless you need to.  Work from home.  The children are finishing their school year at home.  Distance Learning.  I can't help but wonder if someone from the future will look back at this post wanting to learn about the time of COVID-19.  To that person from the future... I would tell you this sucks.  We go through these weird swings of emotion.  Should we open everything back up and jump our economy again?  Should we be conservative and keep things closed?  We risk losing our local businesses.  How long can they hold on like this?  I also wonder what our future will look like.  Will we go back to high fives and handshakes?  Will people continue to work from home long term?

I have been bit by the knitting bug.  There is something very comforting about snuggling in under a quilt knitting on a project for someone else.  I think of them while I knit and say little prayers.  It's been good for my soul.   This is the Binic Sweater from Solenn Couix-Loarer. 

Knitting

Binic Sweater

The Uncertainty Continues

We are instill in a state of constant uncertainty.  We are still under "Stay at Home" orders from Governor Walz.  Some States call it Shelter in Place.  Hunker Down. No matter what you call it the words all mean the same.  Stay at home and safe.  Keep your visits to the store minimal.  Work from home. I never imagined the words Social distancing would change so much about my life so much.  I am, by nature, a social person.  Social Distancing has striped me from my friends and my family.  I'm sure my family would like to be considered most important but I long for my friends.  My sewing comrades, 4-H co-leaders, the people we enjoy common interests with. 


The Government and Health officials are encouraging us to use technology to stay distantly together to our friends and family.  Distantly Together.  Another set of unusual words.  Zoom video meetings have taken on new meaning to me.  Facebook video with my friend Michelle have helped save my sanity.  Even just chatting while I was the dishes.  Showing each other small sewing projects we have each done.  Updating on our days and what our families are up to.  Trying to find some sort of normalcy. 


The Evenings are weird.  What to do?  Save money and eat at home or support local businesses?  We are being pushed to help support these businesses with take out and delivery options.  I feel for some of these workers though.  The lady in the McDonald's Drive through makes me feel guilty for coming.  Am I supporting McDonalds with my Coffee order or am I exposing her.  Such a weird feeling.


Then we talk about reopening.  When will the businesses and the stores be able to open?  When will we go back to normal?  Will that normal be the old normal? Or will it be a whole new normal?  Will people shake hands?  Bump Elbows?  Air high-fives?  Will people be able to telecommute and work from home?  I feel like we are all waiting while we hold our breath waiting for this to be over.  As I wait and hold my breath my blood pressure climbs higher and higher.  Now on BP Medication and new anxiety meds I feel my shake and my pulse increase.  Feeling this gives me more anxiety and gives me more anxiety.  It's a vicious circle of insanity.


I'm trying to focus on 2 days.  Today and tomorrow.  I can only control a small little circle of things.  My counselor has encouraged me focus on today and tomorrow.  After that I will look at the next 2 days.  I will work to only worry about what I can control.  For now I focus on small things.  Attend to the vegetable plants I started from seed.  Work on my sewing. Slowly making progress on some of the big projects that I am took on.


If you are reading this, how are you handling today?  What does the current normal look like for you?

10 minutes

I saw a challenge today online.  It said to quit procrastinating and do something for 10 minutes.  I'm going to spend 10 minutes each day pouring something out onto this blog.   Here is the first post.

It feels like the whole world is falling down around us right now with COVID-19.  I'm supposed to be at home in quarantine.  I'm also supposed to be at work keeping the BCHS building up and running with technology.  My allegiance to both parts of my life are pulling at me.  There are other parts of my life that I feel I should be dedicating some time, effort, energy to but after dealing with my kids and work, I don't feel like there is anything left.  My cup is empty.

I have been carving out brief bits of time here and there for myself.  I have been cleaning.  When you are ADHD you feel some control while you organize, sort, clean, simplify.  This has been beneficial for my mental health.  The other things that I've been ignoring... that's counter productive.  I"m going to have to bite the bullet and deal with some of those.  That is a discussion for my counselor.  She has no idea what she's going to get on Wednesday at 12:15 during my virtual visit.

I spent a big chunk of time cleaning my basement this weekend.  This is my she-cave.  Where I sew and create.  Minor problem.  Now I made it too cool and my children want to hang out there.  I'm sure the newness of it all will wear off and they'll go back to ignoring me while I'm down there soon.  My dog has learned how to climb the steps and he comes down and visits me now.  Thats kind of fun.  Hopefully we don't have any mice in the near future and he doesn't feel compelled to hunt.  Here are some quilt blocks that I've been working on.  I've been posting and updating my instagram feed with them.  Follow me at @micrist.  These are all from Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage.  I think they are adorable.  that's 10 minutes.  See you tomorrow.

40 finishes 2020

It is time to begin my 40 finishes.  I usually do this along with the Lenten schedule but this year I felt the need to get going early.  I felt like I had so many things sitting half done.  It was time to get things organized. 

This is the first thing I finished.  I will have to look back and see what magazine this quilt was from.  I started it a year ago and it was a challenge.  The white pieces are Y-Seams.  I had never done Y-Seams before and they were very intimidating.  I put it in the "Naughty Box" and ignored it for probably a year.  I knew I wanted to get it done though so I pulled it out.  My friend helped me with that technique but I was still struggling.  I finally figured out my diamonds in the middle (the multi-colored ones) weren't cut to the right size.  They were too big.  Once I cut them down to the right size it was on!!  Like Donkey Kong!  See my feet at the bottom of the picture for size comparison.

Then I made 10 secret projects.  They are all the same and they are a secret!  I am gifting them tonight and then I can post pictures!!!  

That put me at 11 Finished Projects!  That's amazing!  It felt great to get stuff done!

Then I tackled putting a border on my off center log cabin quilt!  This is a beautiful log cabin quilt that I created with all fabric scraps.  I collected most of the fabric from my thrift shop adventures!!  The border is even from the thrift shop!  I love the challenge of finding good fabric!!  I had very specific colors I was looking for and I'm thrilled with how it came out!!

I have one more finish to share but I'm going to save that for tomorrow.  I can't give you all the good stuff in one day!  

What are you working on these days?  Want to join me in my 40 Finishes 2020?!?  Tag me on Instagram @micrist  with #40finishes2020.  I'm going to see about getting some kind of a giveaway going!

Ooops I forgot again...

I have been terrible about remembering to take my ADHD medication lately.  Like 2 week worth.  I have noticed that my attitude about work has been terrible and I haven't had any ambition.  I'm sore and tired and really just want to sit at my desk.

Today I started off my day with a brief business meeting and then I came back to my office.  Before I left the car I stopped and took my medication.  I take Concerta for ADHD and Lorazipan for anxiety.  Since I've had such a bad attitude lately I decided to take both and see if it helped with my day.

So far so good.  I have been able to cross some good things off my list and killed 2 birds with 1 stone on a couple of other things.  That makes me happy and just like "Eating Frogs" I have endorphin highs from getting things done.  Now to just finish the day out strong and get things done.  I am taking Jacob on a college visit to South Central College in North Mankato today.  He is interested in Welding and I want him to get an idea of what he would be doing.

Newton's Law of Motion

Newton's First law of Motion States - An object at rest stays at rest.

I was stuck.  Stuck on the couch "at rest" but my mind was going.  It was nagging at me.  "Gluderkin get productive.  You know you want to complete 40 projects.  You know you should get the shop samples finished for Sewing Seeds."  At first I ignored the voice.  I was tired.  It had been a long day.  I have been working an extra hour a day to make up time I took off last week.  I was feeling sorry for myself.  Finally I made a step forward.  I gluderkin found the pattern I had printed for the Funky Friends Factory Lamb.  

I cut the pieces out without really even looking at them.  A lot of curves and some darts.  Small pieces I noticed.  Those could be a challenge.  I knew that Henry had chewed up the bag that this kit had been in.  He only chewed the bag and not the material.  I swear he tries to punish me when he's alone too long.  My mind started going again.  Nagging at me, adding self doubt. "Did I even know where all the pieces were? What are you going to do if you can't find all the pieces?  What will SS say if you can't find all the pieces and you have to buy new pieces?  Are they going to start asking when  you'll get these done?  What will you say?  Will you make false promises?  Excuses?"

I knew if I just got up and started working on it that I could make some progress.  I dreaded the fiber from the material flying everywhere including up my nose.  As I typed that my nose started to itch!  Ha!  But I did it.  I knew right where the 3 pieces of material were and I sat right down, traced them and cut them out!  Was there fiber up my nose?  Yes, there was!  But it's done and progress has been made.  Tonight I am going to a quilt retreat after Amanda's play.  Just for 1 night instead of 3 but at least I'm getting to go.  I wish I could bring these pieces with and show SS that I'm making progress on them but the fiber gets everywhere.  No one else needs to experience this fiber up their nose.

On Sunday I will gluderkin sew the Lamb up and then I can conquer the Unicorn next.  I will get to cross items off my mental list and add finished projects to my Lenten list.