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Day 64, 65, 66 of 365
Mar. 22nd, 2022 03:48 pmDay 64
Day 65
Day 66
Sometimes the materials at hand are just boring.
Sometimes the materials at hand are just boring.
Day 61, 62, 63 of 365
Mar. 17th, 2022 03:47 pmDay 61
Day 62
This calendar was still in the plastic wrap it came in.
Day 63
First the Lindt, now the Ghirardelli.
Day 55, 56, 57 of 365
Mar. 9th, 2022 03:48 pmDay 55
Day 56
I would like to thank my dear friend, L., who sent me some of her recyclables so I could make boxes from them. Savory, indeed.
Day 57
In honor of the premiere of Outlander Season 6 (March 6).
Day 52, 53, 54 of 365
Mar. 3rd, 2022 05:05 pmDay 52
See, it's not all Poptarts and mini muffins.
Day 53
Day 54
Bunny & Hare.
Day 49, 50, 51 of 365
Feb. 28th, 2022 04:22 pmAs I said before, I don't know how often I'll post these but here's the latest three.
Freehanding with a Sharpie: not recommended
Day 49
Day 50
Day 51
Freehanding with a Sharpie: not recommended
Boxes update
Feb. 24th, 2022 04:34 pmI have been folding boxes every day—I'm up to Box 47 as of today—but I got so far behind in blogging them that catching up grew rather daunting. If you're interested in the ones I've been doing, you can visit my Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/peajaythompson/
I may start blogging them again, but I make no guarantees.
https://www.instagram.com/peajaythompson/
I may start blogging them again, but I make no guarantees.
Day 24, 25, 26 of 365
Feb. 7th, 2022 02:02 pmI'm still running behind on "blogging" these. I'm up to day 30 in real time, but I got sick (nothing serious) the latter part of the week and didn't have the energy for much else than folding them and posting them on Twitter snd Instagram. I'll catch up eventually.
Day 24
Day 25
Day 26
Day 21, 22, 23 of 365
Feb. 2nd, 2022 04:54 pmI'm running a little behind due to computer kerfluffles. I spent most of Sunday and a call to the Helpdesk trying to download OS 12.1 Monterey and get it to finish configuring. That should not have happened. It might have been because I didn't bother with OS 11 and there was a lot to plow through. It kept getting stuck at the same point. I'd turn it off and on and it would start running again and get stuck at the same point. "Less than one minute left" turned into an hour, etc. The helpful Helpdesk guy got me unstuck and back to square one and told me to let it run for at least an hour and go have dinner and that's what I did. But my desktop didn't come back up until around 9 p.m. I was very relieved to see it. By that time, however, I was so fried I didn't want to start trying to set up my new HP wireless printer (which prompted the download in the first place). The next day I spent hours trying to make it work. I had to put the IP address into the print window for it to work at all and whenever I tried to print it would print one line of gibberish then start spitting page after page of blank paper. I went through all the online trouble-shooting before I tried to contact the HP Helpdesk. To talk to a live person they required me to input the serial number of my new device so I went to the back of the printer and wrote down the serial number, checking it twice with a magnifying glass, and input it. "That serial number does not appear to be valid." So I checked it a third time, with a magnifying glass. Re-input. Not valid. My options at this point were emailing them, checking in with the online forum, or go back to the unhelpful chat bot. So I gave up instead. My Epson wireless printer was so easy to configure and I'd still be using it if the black ink cartridge hadn't stopped working. Lots of trouble shooting involved there, too. Since I rarely need anything printed out that has to look official, I think I'll hook it back up and print the few things I need in brown ink or something. See if that works. I would send the HP back but I have this ridiculous habit of letting things sit in the front hall after they're delivered and I missed the 14 day return window. I suck.
Day 21
Day 22
Day 23
Day 12, 13, 14 of 365
Jan. 22nd, 2022 02:17 pmWarning: if you send me a card there's always a possibility it will end up as a part of a box. If there's correspondence associated with it I'll scan it and save it, but there's often a certain ruthlessness involved with arts and crafts projects.
(I welcome all cards. ;-D)
(I welcome all cards. ;-D)
Day12
Day13
Day 14
Day 1 and 2 of 365
Jan. 10th, 2022 02:18 pmWhat I posted to Twitter and Instagram: “Madness. Some years back when I was still caregiving I folded a box a day for a year to give myself something that was just for myself. One of the rules I set myself was that I could only use paper that came readily to hand--nothing that I'd bought: product boxes, Xmas cards, calendars, junk mail. I've punked the corner of this box, but product boxes are just slightly too thick for easy folding so I often seem to punk at least one corner. I plan to turn these into a textile mixed media piece. We'll see how that goes.”
Since posting that, all the way back to yesterday, I’ve discovered that I’m a total liar. Or, at least, that my memory has holes in it. In fact, my mother had already passed away when I last did this project, but I was still working at a job that was busy and half-killing me and still a ways away from retirement. So it just felt like I was still a caregiver. I guess, in a way, I was. I was taking care of myself, putting one foot in front of the other, trying to stay alive and viable until I could make an exit.
It’s funny how memory plays tricks on you, which is why I generally try to verify my own recall before posting anything publicly. But, you know, the computer which had the information on it was a whole fifteen feet away from where I was sitting last night and I didn’t want to cover such an arduous distance. Hoist on my own faulty petard. Boom boom.
I suspect no one cares, but at least my conscience is clear.
Since posting that, all the way back to yesterday, I’ve discovered that I’m a total liar. Or, at least, that my memory has holes in it. In fact, my mother had already passed away when I last did this project, but I was still working at a job that was busy and half-killing me and still a ways away from retirement. So it just felt like I was still a caregiver. I guess, in a way, I was. I was taking care of myself, putting one foot in front of the other, trying to stay alive and viable until I could make an exit.
It’s funny how memory plays tricks on you, which is why I generally try to verify my own recall before posting anything publicly. But, you know, the computer which had the information on it was a whole fifteen feet away from where I was sitting last night and I didn’t want to cover such an arduous distance. Hoist on my own faulty petard. Boom boom.
I suspect no one cares, but at least my conscience is clear.
Day 1
Day 2
Old friends are a blessing
Jun. 28th, 2021 04:31 pm
This weekend my lifelong friend, L., came over and it was so great to see her. (We met when we were 12. We are considerably older than 12 now.) We talked and piffled around with crafty things. Didn't get a helluva lot done, but that was largely beside the point. She did a little stitchery and, after abortive attempts to do some knotwork, I wound up working on a WIP, a piece of bone I've been carving for literally years. I call her Schnausicaa. I work on her for a while, put her down again (usually for a long while), then pick her up when she calls to me. I do think we’re getting close to the end, but she tells me she isn’t finished yet, so I’ll have to go with her instincts.
Mostly L. and I talked, watched stupid TV shows and made sarcastic remarks about them, ordered in Mediterranean (kebabs and falafel) for dinner, and just were…friends. It was the first time I had hugged another human being since February 2020 (the last time L. came over for a craft day), just weeks before the shutdown. I (we) may have cried a little. But mostly we had fun, the kind of comfortable fun old friends have, no need for heavy duty entertainment, unafraid of silences, unafraid of expressing whatever needs expressing.
(We also lived together for almost five years in our late 20s so neither of us has any illusions about our respective housekeeping abilities. L. is the only person I would dare allow in this house in the pandemic-careless state it currently is in.)
I’ve had other friends come over and we’ve sat outside separated by 10, 15, 20 feet on the lawn to talk, but L. and her husband ,C. (more like my family than my family), are both immunocompromised so they’ve had to be especially cautious. C.’s mom died of COVID in December. I wasn’t especially close to her, but she was someone I knew and liked, and the mother of one of my closest friends so it really hit home. It put a human face—if I needed one—on all those stats and numbers. Because, really, each of those numbers was a human being, precious to someone.
But now we’ve all had our vaccines, all my friends, and if we aren’t living wild and carefree, we are at least able to venture out now and again. I am a creative introvert so being on my own is not a burden for me, not like it is for some. Except, of course, when it lasts a year and a half.
I may have hermit-like ways, but I’m not truly a hermit. And old friends are a blessing one really can’t have too much of.
Schnausicaa (WIP) with snake goddess
My feet can feel the road
Jun. 25th, 2021 04:10 pmWhat with being sick on and off for about three weeks, then trying to make up for a year and a half of household neglect in two weeks (impossible), I haven't done any creative work in over a month and it was really weighing on my psyche today. So I forced myself to open my Rev. Kirk file and DO something.
I only got about 500 words, but at least I'm crawling forward again. I think I can feel the road beneath my feet once more and know that it really, truly is still there.
Tomorrow my oldest friend is coming over and we will be doing crafts all day. I haven't seen her since February 2020. I cannot tell you how happy it will make me to see her.
I only got about 500 words, but at least I'm crawling forward again. I think I can feel the road beneath my feet once more and know that it really, truly is still there.
Tomorrow my oldest friend is coming over and we will be doing crafts all day. I haven't seen her since February 2020. I cannot tell you how happy it will make me to see her.
Random quote of the day:
“Sometimes a god shows up or a deity or a spirit or even an energy. I think that this doesn’t get any play, but it happens. A craft can come and initiate you. Suddenly, you start seeing books about knitting everywhere and you’re like, “Whoa, I am dreaming about knitting,” and sure, that can be backed up by weaving deities and the lineage of grandmother spirits…Energy, whether it be deity or ancestral energy or even a gift can absolutely move into our life in a shocking and overwhelming way, demanding our attention, demanding that we bring our attention to it and that can be very harrowing.”
—Chiron Armand, The Hermit’s Lamp, Episode 102, December 14, 2019
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Desus and Mero, Beyoncé, or the Marine Corps Marching Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
“Sometimes a god shows up or a deity or a spirit or even an energy. I think that this doesn’t get any play, but it happens. A craft can come and initiate you. Suddenly, you start seeing books about knitting everywhere and you’re like, “Whoa, I am dreaming about knitting,” and sure, that can be backed up by weaving deities and the lineage of grandmother spirits…Energy, whether it be deity or ancestral energy or even a gift can absolutely move into our life in a shocking and overwhelming way, demanding our attention, demanding that we bring our attention to it and that can be very harrowing.”
—Chiron Armand, The Hermit’s Lamp, Episode 102, December 14, 2019
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Desus and Mero, Beyoncé, or the Marine Corps Marching Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
