So Much for a Vacation...

Today is my tenth and final day home in a row.  It was supposed to be 6 days of me home alone and of course the two weekends.  It ended up being me home alone for 4 days and about losing my ever-loving mind. 

We survived prom.  Mother Nature went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth with the barometer, leading me to have more migraines and mini-migraines all week.  I napped and napped and napped.  And read and read and read.  That part wasn't so bad, in retrospect.

However, I got next to nothing done.  I did get the donation bags out of my trunk, so that has to count for something.  I did get the binding on my Innovations quilt and it's nearly all sewn down.  I watched *a lot* of tivo.  I mean, an insane amount of recorded stuff.  I got a sized 2T cardigan through one sleeve, leaving the other sleeve for a conference this week at work.  I got a shawl to the point I wanted to. 

Of course today (being the last day) is the first and only day I have felt OK.  And I left my wallet and car keys in Ted's car.  We went to the Cardinals game in STL yesterday and I took the keys out of my pocket and put them in the door pocket for the drive home.  And forgot to check when I got out last night.  So I've relaxed some more today and did 2 hours of work, going through a huge amount of email.

So back to work I go tomorrow, but hopefully I will have the energy to do stuff after work now.

11 years and 1 year

Today marks my 11th work anniversary.  It is the longest I have ever worked anywhere, as the job market and benefits here are so very different than Chicagoland.  I have a pension, thus making the decision to switch jobs so much more complex.  I am very happy where I am.

Today also marks 1 year since I figured out a few things about my UFOs. 

Last year I figured out that I had over 200 UFO's.  In fairness, some are just collections of fabric with no idea, just that they need to stay together.  However, I cataloged about 90 and then stopped, figuring I had hit about half way.  A year later and more poking around the sewing space, and I think 200 is about right.

So I vowed last April 9 that I had to do 10 UFO's a year.  I don't care about new starts as long as they are finished.  I just have to do 10 UFO's a year.  Even the one finish that I had for Q1 of this year doesn't technically count because it was started last summer.  The 2 tops that I have completed so far this year do count and they even have backs ready, so that's a huge start.  I also have planned a week long staycation this month and I have a minor goal of 4 tops done and a lofty goal of 8 items ready to have their bindings hand-sewn down. 

This is my kind of goal.

Where my time has actually been going

Walk walk walk on the treadmill of doom.

That would be the Cliff Notes version.  But yes there has been a lot of walking.   I decided to really get serious about it in January, then I slacked a bit and then in February, it all just clicked.  I am doing it for reals.

A few factors, some of which I will explain, and some that I won't, at least right now. 

My daughter explained to me that children get their accents from their friends and not their family.  Extending that corollary, the company I keep has changed.  Fitness is in.  One person does not know what I am doing.  Another does and is incredibly discreet about it - maybe an occasional comment one on one but not in a group.  3 others are in the same age group as me and we have a walking group whenever work has a challenge - we all sit be each other and we are encouraging.

Hogwarts Running Club.  Trust me, this has been invaluable.  Harry Potter not your thing? $10 bets that there is a fandom for you that does this. 

Crazy life goals.  I'm approaching a big birthday and I have a few crazy-pants goals.  Swimmer Katie Ledecky said this about goals: 

I would encourage you to set really high goals. Set goals that, when you set them, you think they're impossible. But then every day you can work towards them, and anything is possible, so keep working hard and follow your dreams.

When I am ready to reveal my crazy-pans goals, I will.  I am trying a few on for size.

All of this being said, there will be posts about where I am at goals-wise. 

Q1 is Done

The first quarter of 2018 is done.  Today is Easter Sunday and it's snowing.  April Fool's!

The first quarter went pretty well regarding crafting.  I am working on my final term of Loopy Academy and I am so grateful to have a great niece to make a sweater for instead of me.  She's a size 2T.  I'm not.  

On the quilting front, I have done a lot.  I am trying to adapt various techniques to keep the mojo flowing.  I am using JOT - just one thing.  It is rougher for me with the machine on the main floor and the ironing station downstairs but hey I gotta do what I gotta do.  I also have started to use the OMG concept - one monthly goal.  My monthly goal is one top completed.  I realize that there is usually one top and an alternate.  

Then I got a wild hair and I decided to do a reverse WITB - what's in the box.  Most do the WITB to empty it.  I chose to take a basket and fill it with everything in my UFO pile that I seriously want to work on.  I let all responsibility go and just picked fun things or easy things or even similar things.  The laundry basket sits in my living room and it hopefully won't take me all year to empty it, but it will be fun.  

So how successful have I been so far this year?  1 have 3 tops completed, and one is already quilted and bound - my Q1 finish.  Not great but enough for now.

To Quote Michael Jordan....

"I'm back."

This was his 2 word fax to the Chicago Bulls when he returned and they repeated the Three-Peat.

2017 was a year.  Oh My.

I bought a new car.
I bought Renee a new car.
(Both are Chevy Sonics and both are used.)

I knit a lot.
I quilted some.
I bought tatting supplies.

I became a great-aunt.
A good friend had her second child.
Another good friend bought a house with her man.

I went to Europe.
I went to Coronado Island.
Worth every moment.

We lost Coach Rachel, tragically, on September 14.
We lost Grandma Mary on September 29 (my birthday) at age 96 and a half.
Grief sucks.

On August 22, Renee injured her shoulder.
On September 16, Renee suffered a concussion.
The swim season was a bust and rehab continues.

Ted got bronchitis the week before Thanksgiving.
I got ill the day after Thanksgiving.
The holidays were low-key.