ivyskeep

Happy Summer! Hope you're well.
The new car is situated. Hub got a rental for a week or so while waiting for everything to be worked out. It's a newer version of the Subaru we had since it was such a good car. He said his fond farewells to the old one. You may laugh, but he treats his cars *really* well.

Doggo is doing good except for her aging bones like the rest of the household.

We've waited so long. Don't tease us.

We're definitely a Firefly household. Word is there's going to be an animated series with most of the original cast. I hope it's true. Here's a video with the announcement (from a con). I only watched the first 15 minutes or so. If it's true, I hope they do it well.

Hub is doing better but still has blurry vision in his surgical eye. He's allowed to work from home (to keep from burning PTO) while the powers that be make up their minds if he can have recovery time off completely. At least he doesn't have to drive.

Bridget the dog is recovering from her surgery too and doing well. 

I'm planning and slowly executing some DIY projects. The first was a test of using a product called Briwax on a bathroom cabinet before trying it on my kitchen cabinets. The bathrooms and the kitchen all have the '90s honey oak dated look to them. The after pic is taken after using Briwax in the color Tudor brown. I'm happy with the result. I know painting cabinets is all the rage but I like the look of wood. It just needed an update. That's after one coat. I'm not sure if I'll apply a second. I'll live with it for a while. I've started the kitchen cabinets and they look great. I have to do these updates in small doses due to arthritis.


Feeling the February doldrums coming on early. Or GenX numb. I'm always worried about my job, so I think that's part of it. I've put apps out for a second contract. I was down to one contract for most of last year, which always makes me a little nervous.

I had a good laugh though. I tried to sign up to the Steve Jackson Games Forums and my registration attempt got rejected. The following message was sent to my email:

*chuckle* 1983 was hellish. I never want to be 13 again, thank you. I contacted them and it should be sorted soon. They said it was a spam filter issue.  

Hope y'all had a good January.

Hub had to have emergent retinal detachment surgery last week. He's not a happy camper. He's had one post-op appointment and has a follow-up appointment next week. We're trying to remain optimistic that it won't severely affect his job and he has some vision left in that eye. He's going a little stir-crazy since he can't drive. I have to work, so I'm not able to drive him around except to his appointments. If the weather is okay this Saturday, maybe I'll drive him to Chik-fil-A. He's having withdrawals.

Our dog needs a cyst removed from each eye, and her surgery is scheduled for January. 

Otherwise, things have been quiet. I've had a pleasant Yuletide so far. I do small offerings of water and incense each day to Heathen deities, ancestors, land wights, etc.  

I hope the new year finds you all well and refreshed.

The YouTube algorithim is feeding me nostalgia videos of school pizza recipes. Some may ack but I'm going to try the crust and sauce from this recipe tomorrow and see how it goes. Apparently, the secret ingredient is milk powder in making the fluffy crust. That'll be my splurge day for the month.

Due to the vet's and my husband's (he has the car) availability, the first vet appointment we could get isn't until September 8 to have Bridget's cysts checked before probable surgery. She's doing good right now though.

I'm slowly cleaning up the yard plant wise. It looks like some elderberries will be ready for harvesting soon.

I did the first lawn mowing of the season last week, and it already needs it again for HOA (homeowners association) standards. I don't even know if our HOA is keeping up, which I'm not too bothered about. We're somewhat rural and not in a sterotypical well-off gated community. Although I've been surprised at what some houses have sold for. I guess that's me being old and envious. There's a person in a local Facebook group who wants to be the new HOA president and is asking for someone to volunteer as secretary. He's not from here. I don't think he's reading the room.

Bridget the dog is doing okay. We're taking her for occasional Sunday rides. After one ride, she got out of the car and splat on the garage floor. Ever since then, she's scared to get out. We bought a ramp for her, which helps.  

I have more gardening energy this year than I did last year and will be planting some vegetables from the nursery as well as sowing herb and flower seeds.

This could be a post of yet another round of dog surgery and work, work, work, so that's the only sentence I'll devote to that except to say that the dog is recovering well.

I wanted to share this marvelous crafting writer I've found. Kathryn Vercillo goes beyond crochet patterns and dives into the emotional impact of crafting. When I saw the title of her book, "Crochet Saved My Life," I knew I found a kindred spirit. Kathryn uses her psychology education background and personal struggle with depression to inform her writing on the cross-section of craft and mental health. The last several minutes I've been looking over several of her articles at different sites to find the best quote to sum up her work, but there's so much that resonates that it's hard to choose one thing. She understands that creativity can be healing, but she knows from personal experience that mental health challenges can also keep you from being creative. So I'll simply point you to her intro piece on Substack, "START HERE: where art meets psychology and creativity can thrive." Please know that I'm not suggesting craft as a replacement for professional care and neither does she. Just as I could say crochet saved my life, I say the same thing about therapy and Prozac at one point in my life.

"Happy February" always seems like an oxymoron. In Michigan, it feels like the longest month. Saturdays are X-Files TV days. It was the one with Bruce Campbell where he portrayed a demon who just wanted a "normal" baby without horns, lol. That was a silly one. 

It's quite icy outside. I can't let Bridget run around in the back yard. She was slipping and sliding and falling on her butt. 

Weight loss has stagnated. I have to get back on the bandwagon. I started rebounding. I'm not doing more than a few minutes at a time right now. I've found that as long as I keep it low impact that it's easier on my old knees than walking on pavement. I've also found a YouTube channel called Body Groove geared toward folks over 40. It's basically low-impact unstructured dance movements. It's fun and doesn't cause pain.

I've dusted off my Bluesky account. I'm trishd over there. I'll probably post mostly about crafts, gardening, food, and maybe some gaming once I get back into it. 

Bridget the dog has to get her cyst surgically removed. We tried our best to keep it clean and she went through two rounds of antibiotics. Her surgery is scheduled for early December. 

It's nice to be done with yard work for the season. I have more time to be crafty. I've made three loom knit hats and I'm currently working on an infinity scarf (crochet).

I admit I'm purposely staying numb about the incoming POTUS. I guess that's me "enjoying my privilege," but I honestly, don't think my mental health can handle doomscrolling like I did from 2016 to 2021 to see what hellish thing he's doing each day.

I hope you're enjoying your October. Work is busy before the usual December slow down. I'm taking on as much as I can to be able to get through the winter financially. I'm still taking time to de-stress with adult coloring and crafting.

Bridget the dog's stretch of good health only lasted a few months as she's had another cyst burst. The vet didn't immediately suggest surgery this time, so we're doing our best to clean the wound, and she's on a course of antibiotics. Fingers crossed we can avoid another surgery.

I'm happy to have come across Heathen Mike Smith's Patreon page. I haven't seen him around in a while and I've enjoyed his past writing.

Have a Happy Halloween however you celebrate.