Saturday, December 11, 2021

I woke up this morning in a tizzy because I could see no way to accomplish everything I had on my to-do list for today. More cards, some cleaning, and some decorating both inside and outside.

I’ve been following a blog that is meant to lead you in decluttering (or divesting as we like to call it) and living a more stress-free life. For me, it isn’t the things I have around that stress me out it is all the things I want to do, feel I should do, and feel guilty about not doing. But the way seemed clear this morning – no more hand-made cards for this year and no Christmas decorating.

I decided much earlier that I wouldn’t be putting up the tree this year. I didn’t plan to decorate until I had all the cleaning done and by the time that was finished I didn’t think there would be much time to enjoy the decorations. And if I put the decorations out before cleaning it meant I’d probably come home from Calgary with a messy house and decorations to put away.

I’m not depressed and I’m not a grinch. I’m just doing some self-care so I’ll be relaxed and enjoy my Christmas.

Friday, December 10, 2021

I got four more packages into the mail today so I’m almost done. I have a couple of birthday presents that need to be sent before Christmas but one is waiting for a card. I also have one more Christmas gift that hasn’t arrived on my doorstep yet. If necessary they will go into Express Post envelopes to ensure they arrive on time.

It wasn’t pretty (or civil) getting those packages wrapped. I used up the last bit on my roll of packing tape and had to resort to the tape gun. We do not get along well and the wrapping (and language) showed it. Somehow when I try to tear it off the gun I end up unwinding a lot more of it than I wanted and then it gets all stuck together. And to make it worse at some point in the process the tape slipped out of the roller and then all bets were off as to how much tape was coming off and where it was going to end up. I stopped at the dollar store when I was out this afternoon and picked up a couple more rolls – one for the gun and one for me upstairs. We need a trip to Costco as the rolls were way, way more than a dollar!

I expected a line-up at the post office and I wasn’t disappointed. I think I waited outside almost half an hour before I was able to get into the lobby to wait. I couldn’t understand why it was so slow but from the time I arrived until after I left the same person was standing at one of the tills sending out her packages so, in reality, only one till was operational. I would probably have been annoyed but Dee is a friend and I know she was sending out commercial packages. The people behind me probably were annoyed at my four mailings.

When I went out it was cool but no rain or wind; even after the wait at the post office there was just a bit of rain coming down. I had a few stops to make and by the time I made the last one there was a storm brewing. I see that the ferries (both Comox and Texada) have been cancelled so I guess it is going to get worse.

It will be a good night to catch up on some episodes of The Vikings and do more crocheting on my latest afghan.

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

I’ve almost finished the last of my hardanger (that isn’t really hardanger) projects. I purchased the series of lessons a few years ago when we spent Christmas in Victoria. There is a beautiful needlework shop in Trounce Alley; I have purchased several projects from there but I think these are the first that I’ve finished.

The first lesson in the series went very well and I loved the process. The second lesson involved cutting some threads and it didn’t go as well as I hoped and I ended up “fixing” it. The next three lessons (I had two sets of one of the lessons) introduced some new stitches and involved more cutting. I put them away until I could figure out a method to finish the stitching without doing the cutting. In some cases I was able to do the special stitches but in some other cases not so much.

I looked forward to finishing it all and passing the patterns on to theThrift Store but …

Lessons four and five turned out quite well and now I want to start all over again and do them right. I’ll dig out Mum’s instructions books and do some practicing on some of her sampler pieces. And if that works out well I’ll start all over with lesson one. I’ll need to buy more fabric and a few charms; I wonder if I can persuade anyone to go to Victoria?