And to all, a good night

 Yes, it's Christmas.  

It's been a very low key set of days.  I have decided that my matriarch status lets me dictate some things about holidays and so I've decided that I'm no longer hosting them.  The decision was easily made.  No one likes to drive 2 hours to us.  One nephew has a dog.  Everything ends up on a day with a sporting event and he just wants to watch that anyway.  And lastly this same nephew is a huge homebody.  Add in the fact that we drive north every 6 weeks and have for the past 18 years, it's easier to just let them host.  

And so they did.  My side of the family is very small.  My niece-in-law's is huge.  And they were all there.  And it was loud and crazy and fun.  The food was amazing.  The experience was just great fun.  That was last weekend.

The weekend before was the annual Schwitzner Sibling Christmas, which is always on the third Sunday of December and hosted by the same sister.  This too was also a wonderful, albeit lower key, event.  We all got to hang out and then the next day we all got back together to lay The Dad, as they referred to John, to rest.  We hung out with my MIL on the 21st, enjoying pizza at a beloved pizzeria.

So by the 22nd, all the (forced) Christmas events were done.  Whew.  

Meanwhile work continues.  Standing up a new general ledger is no small feat and the workload is nuts, but it's coming along.  I'm just tired and crabby.  It will all be done soon enough.

And Santa brought me the gift I've asked for.  (Wink, wink, that's a work reference.)

tap tap - is this still on?

 It's been a looooooooooooooooooooooooong time, but I think it's time I come back.

There's a lot that has happened.  A lot.  Overall we are all OK, which is a good thing.

I'll get caught up as topics make sense.

Still Here

 I'm still here.  Getting a handle on things.  Finding new ways - reestablishing old ones.  We've made it through the first Christmas without Kim.  Harder on her kids for sure than on me, but we made it through.  

More this week.

So Much Has Happened

 I know I haven't posted, but so much has happened.  Nearly all of the events in one way or another involve my sister Kim.  Early summer events now take on so much more meaning in light of late fall events.

The most important piece to know (the pivotal plot point, if you will) is that Kim died from COVID-19 on October 1, 2021 in Key West.

More later.

One Year In

We're one year into this working from home pandemic thing.  I'm checking in.

I'm still doing great.  I think I've gained 5 pounds, which I'm not happy about, but comparative to many other things, it's fine.  I still work from home.  That too is going really well.  There is an informal agreement at this time that if your schedule works for you, your boss, your division and your job, then chances are strong you can keep that schedule.  I have offered to go in like once a week and I think it will all work itself out.  I'm not worried.

Of course, that being said, I've just asked to work full time for a week in another building to kick off a project with the developers.  It would seriously just be easier if we can all be together and understand each other before we try doing the rest remotely.  So now I've got to figure that out.

Mentally things are fine.  I can sense a few people who are introverted retreating more inwardly and so I need to reach out to them.  But we are fine.  Ted is an online person and that community is thriving.  Renee is isolated up at school but she's figuring out.  I've seen one nephew twice in 6 months because his over the road driving had him ending up here.  I've seen his brother a few times as well and he's coming for Easter next week.  My sister is coming home in early June and we already have a few things planned.  (Yes, we plan on going to cemeteries.  No, we do not find this weird.  Yes, Ted is coming with us.  And yes, he has family buried in some of the same cemeteries that we do.  It all works out.)

Health-wise, I just finished my series of shingles shots on March 9.  Opinions differ on how longer I need to wait for my COVID vaccine, and I'm going with the longer option.  That means mid-April sounds about right.  So I will worry about this in another week or two.  Ted also finished his series of shingles shots and he's going to wait even longer than I am.  Everyone still wears masks, even though I personally hate them.

Oh we did suffer a dead dishwasher.  We need to get that replaced.  And the garden has been planned....

Well, There That Went

 Yeah, I got lots done crafting-wise in January.  February was so-so.  March was a bust.  Ahem.  I'm not sweating it.  I craft for fun.  So goals are good, but not earth-shattering.  Enough about goals set in the past.  So where could this go?

New Goals!  Of course I have new goals.  I crack myself up.

I love Bonnie Hunter's denim quilt, so I found all the jeans I have and I started deboning them.  I think it's about 50 pair of jeans in there.  It's about 60 to 72 columnar inches of denim.  Frankly it's impressive.  Some pairs had their back pockets already removed for potholders, but not all of them.  I have a pair from a coworker who suffered a wardrobe malfunction / structural failure of her jeans one morning and she gave me her dead pair.  I have many, many pairs of 5 Slims, which were clearly from my nephews.  

I have one denim quilt underway.  I need to finish that one.  Then make the Bonnie one. And then figure out what to do from there.  I have a few ideas but we shall see.  I do hope to make my coworker a little pencil pouch or something so she gets something upcycled from her jeans.  She thought I was nuts when I asked for them!

I do have a UFO intended for someone with a late May birthday.  That is another goal to complete.  I also have a wedding in June and I need to get that quilt underway.  I have a small wallhanging cut out for my bathroom to do.  I have plenty of fun things to start, finish and work on.  Just gotta do it.

Otherwise life has been going well.  Separate post for non-crafting things...

Crafting Report: Jan 2021

So I set some goals for January of crafting / creative nature.  Why not?

I set 16 goals.  I did 11, which is 68.75%.  Not too shabby.  Here's how it went.  

Done:

Black spiderweb - I made one row and 2 corner blocks.  

Sox - Mend two pair.  Done on MCU Thursday.

Patches - sew on 15 to sweatshirts.

Trail Mix - started.

1 UFO - I totally cheated and just did the handwork for a binding for lap quilt.  But it counts.

1 bag scraps - OMG, I did a thing!  Yes really I completed a bag.

Temp quilt data - recorded another month

1 recipe per Saturday - not really quilting, but I did indeed add 5 recipes to the book.

Operation Christmas Child - made hats

IJDC - Started cutting out the 2 inch squares.  Think that step is done.

Frankenbatts - made 30 11" ones.  Think these will be blue, as that crate is overflowing with fabric.

Not Done:

Fix / Fit / Block / Finish one sweater - Just didn't get there and since I don't need the sweater for work attire....

Inventory - 2 Christmas stockings.  I did buy fabric and a new pattern.

Inventory - 2 quilts for inventory.  Just didn't get there.

1 wool hexie

Clean 1 machine

Bonus: 

Finished another pair of sox

Made storage bags for 2 Christmas wall hangings

Catitudes DS - top done, sandwiched, 1/4 quilted

1" QAYG strippy - 12 strips added

Purple and White B&SS - underway