life

Weekly Roundup

Welcome to the first week of my new attempt, and our first run at format. I’m not going to lie to you, this might be rough. As I mentioned, this whole daily/weekly writing thing does not come naturally for me. I’m hoping beyond hope that by scheduling my posts, by forcing myself to write out a daily to-do list in my planner (I’m using the Quilter’s Planner) and by forcing myself to look at that EVERY DAY, I can improve. Here’s hoping it works, and it lasts.

Goals:

Career/Life:
This week, we’re focusing on job search. I submitted an application last week and heard back that they’ve received it and will be in touch. As much as I hate cover letters in English, cover letters in German are worse. I know they’re important but they are not a good example of my professional writing ability. Hoping to find at least one more job and apply to it.

Sewing:
I’m working on cow #4 for “When There Are Nine.” I’m also planning on basting 1-2 quilts this week – a Homecoming and a Knitted Star. If I can do all of this, I’ll cut out a Grow quilt.

Reading:
Currently reading “The Alienist” by Caleb Carr. This is definitely better than the television show. Highly recommend. I’m about halfway through, and I think my next one is a quick nonfiction read – “Step Aside for Royalty” by Eileen Parker.

Exercise:
Currently working through the second week of Peloton’s “Discover Your Power Zones” program. Woof. I missed a workout last week (I made it up) because I wasn’t feeling great, which means I had to quickly cram the last 3 workouts in rather than getting a day off between. I had hoped for some low impact/fun non-program rides this week, but I think given the way my legs are burning, I’m going to stick with some barre and dance cardio on my off days. Challenge progress (to bronze): 10 miles running, 28.2 miles on the bike, 7 days, 4 strength workouts. Winter launch challenge on track, Annual challenge is 885 min to my first milestone.

Non-Goal Things:

Last week, M and I decided that we need to go back to cooking together. We used to make a point of at least once a week finding a fun recipe and turning it into us time. It’s not really a date night, but it’s fun. Sunday we made a poached salmon with rice wine butter sauce and rice pilaf from Alex Guarnascelli’s book “Cook with Me.” The book was a gift for M from me for Christmas last year (2020), and I regret that we haven’t used it as much as we hoped. I think in our defense, between the wedding and the move everything fell by the wayside.

We’ve found a great butcher and a great fishmonger here, and we’re finally ready to resurrect the weekly cooking time. Sunday was our first run, and M picked the recipe. It’s my turn this week (I guess I need to start taking pictures of what we turn out with), and as much as I’m craving a whole fish recipe I think we’re going to go with a pasta. Maybe a make-our-own pasta night. Maybe ravioli? Something to look into!

Yesterday I also managed to call for a new prescription, which turned into an impromptu doctor’s appointment. Apparently it is standard procedure here to take blood and run an EKG? Well, the blood freaked me out. I was not prepared for it, I was dehydrated (having gone pretty much straight post workout) and hadn’t eaten, and I was by myself. Basically, it should have been the perfect storm for a fainting episode. Except I didn’t pass out! The lovely nurse was gentle, she was sweet, and even without talking to me and also needing to switch arms, I ended up being okay. So I guess I have a new doctor! Here’s hoping for continued progress on all fronts this week.

Sewing, Planning, and Running

I opted to skip the Freshly Pieced link-up this week.  I’ve been fairly horrible about taking pictures and not sharing them on instagram, so I didn’t see the point in re-documenting it here.

It’s been a kind of terrible week.  We got some news last weekend that I’m still trying to digest, and I’m definitely not okay with it.  But it seems that there’s nothing we can do.  It’s been killing me, and I took a day or so to sit around and feel sorry for myself, and I’ve been trying to turn the rest of the horrible feelings into sewjo, which has worked kind of well.  Usually, when bad things happen, I run.  I run out the anger and the frustration and the sadness and I get to go home without the ability to feel anything else.  Running usually helps give me some power back when I feel like everything is out of my control, but this is the one time it’s not going to work.  Everything that’s happened has honestly brought into focus the fact that we/I have no control, that we can do everything right and it still won’t matter, and there’s nothing that we can do to change it.  I want to run, I want to fight, but I feel so defeated.  And that will be the end of the vague-blogging.

That said, I decided to take the week off of running and just let myself exist and sew, which seems to be what I need.  It’s been unusually satisfying to create this week, and it seems that my soul is crying out to make beautiful things from little pieces.  Because I don’t have enough projects on my plate, I think I’m going to start working on a postage-stamp scrap vomit quilt.  We’ll see when that gets started, since I have a ton of other stuff that HAS to be done first.  You can see my WIPs on the WIP page by clicking on the pink menu button.

In the past week, I’ve finished the second handmade item for my SPD Fairy Tale Swap partner, made fantastic progress on the mini quilt for that, finished the Alison Glass Angel Mini and thread catcher, accomplished my June DCMQG Bee block, and added about 15 projects to my plate.  I need to do individual posts for the Alison Glass packages I sent, as well as for DCMQG, so those are coming.

I’m also on the hunt for my next planner.  For the past 6 months, I’ve been working out of a Kate Spade agenda (large, gold dots.)  I love it.  I love how it’s organized, I love the font, I love all the extra space for notes to keep track of my swaps, I love the paper, and I especially love that it’s spiral bound, but with a hard cover over the spiral.  Each month is color coded with the important stuff.  Last minute stuff tends to get tossed in in regular black ink when I’m sitting at my desk at work, but theoretically, each month is a different color.  What I don’t love about it is how the hard cover has worn.  My dots are faded, it looks dirty, and it’s not.  So, for the past few weeks, I’ve been researching hard.  And I’ve come to a few conclusions.  Some of these conclusions might insult some of you, and I’m sorry, but this is where I am.

1. I do not understand people who need 7 leatherbound planners.  If you need this many planners for your life, you are doing it wrong.

2. I do not understand the purpose of spending $60-75 on a planner and then using it as a scrapbook.  If you really want to scrapbook your life, there are gorgeous albums for that.

3. Why, why, WHY is it so hard to find a planner with a covered spiral at roughly the same size as the Kate Spade?

4. WHY does KS not make vinyl covers for her planners?  I mean, yeah, it’s $36 for the large one and that’s not breaking the bank, but I HATE that in 3 months I don’t want to show off my gorgeous KS planner because the dots have started to rub off.

5. WHY ARE DISPOSABLE PLANNERS SO EXPENSIVE?!

6. There are not enough real-people review blog posts about planners out there.  I actually also feel this way about fashion, but that’s another blog post entirely.

I’m honestly down to one of two options.  I’m either going to re-order a KS planner, although I’m incredibly sad that the fun quotes each month are gone for 2016, and then cover it with clear contact paper to prevent some of that wear and tear.  OR, I’m going to suck it the fuck up and order an Emily Ley Simplified Planner in Pineapple when they are available in September.  I’m not super okay with either option, but I feel like there’s not much choice.  Thanks, universe.

And, finally, I’m in the process of trying really hard to reorganize my sewing space.  I’ve been using these fantastic drawers for my fabric, but I’m having a hard time keeping everything folded when I’m constantly rifling through them to find what I need.  And my blue and neutral drawers are about to explode.  They are stuffed full.  In addition, my notions are a disaster and I can’t ever find anything, and I don’t have a good storage option for my UFQs/WiPs.  I’m getting really frustrated with the mess, and I don’t know how to make it better.  I’m also really tired of having to cut on the floor or move my sewing machine off to the side of my table, which usually involves moving eight million other things in order to get enough space to move my machine and cut.  Basically, my space is a mess and I can’t function anymore.  I need some serious help.  Suggestions would be much appreciated.  We don’t have a ton of space here – M and I share a small bedroom as his office/my sewing space.  So, adding a table in the middle of the room isn’t an option (although I feel like that’s where I might be.)  Help.  Someone help me.