A Yarny Recap: Where I Went & What I Did

Now where on Earth did I go for just over two weeks?  Somewhere without internet connection or the ability to socialize, apparently.  Ok, so that's not entirely true.  I actually stayed right where I'm sitting as I type this, at my desk, in my room, drinking tea and over caffeinating ( as usual ).  I may have also been consuming copious amounts of peanut butter.   Can neither confirm nor deny.

But I'm back now, and here to give you the recap of the past two weeks or so.  Let's a make a bullet list.  Yes, I think a bullet list will do nicely.

• I finished my Egypt mythology book!!!  Yes, isn't it exciting!  I even wrote an essay on it, albeit a very confused one because I was trying to cram all of the things I found interesting into a tiny little essay without turning it into a 500 page thesis or something.  Here's the opening paragraph.

"The waters of the Ancient Egyptian mind are murky and uncertain regions to traverse.  Even in today’s world of the internet and seemingly endless knowledge where we think we know it all, much of the Ancient Egyptian world and it’s thoughts still remain shrouded behind the curtain of the Nile, lost deep within it’s dark waters and muddied banks.  Plunderers, grave robbers, and even the Egyptian people themselves caused damaged that has lead to a deficit in our understanding of their ancient world.  But the biggest culprit?  Time.  It is the age of Egypt that bars our way most strongly, that has caused much of it’s old world to be, almost literally, lost to the sands of time."

Intriguing, yes?  Makes you want to read the whole essay, doesn't it?  Well trust me, you don't.  But please, continue to think that I am a master of the essay.  Some lies are ok to believe ( but only the little ones I give you, ok?   Don't go believing everything everybody tells you, because they don't have your best interests at heart like I do. ).

Back to the bullet list.

• My next culture to study?  The Irish!!!  I have to tell you that I'm super excited about this one too, possibly even more excited then I was about Egypt.  Though I am a little concerned about the size of this Irish book.  It's over 600 pages long.  Mildly concerned that it might crush me by accident.

• On the subject of books, I finished "A Gathering of Shadows" and I loved it!!!

• Oh, and "The Bell Jar"?  It was definitely one heck of a book.  I can't say too much without running the story for you ( and I HATE that ), so just go read it.  Like, right about now.

• I have a new plant.  What does this mean, you wonder?  Well my Johny-Jump-Up died, sadly.  The one I had sitting in a little glass container on my windowsill.  It was't going to last forever, and after it seeded, it was gone.  But I have now planted some of my very own bachelor's buttons in the glass container, and they are doing great!  I am questioning that decision now though, because they are a tall plant.  A very tall plant.  In a little container.  On my windowsill.  But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

• I drew this little guy!  How cute is he?!  I just love him.  My little bitty ghost, looking a bit unsure of things, probably slightly concerned with the sanity of the person who drew him ( at least I would be, if I were him, and, you know, if he were actually alive but shhh ).

• Oh and this.  I drew this.  I'm just gonna' leave it right there.

• Yoga has become a regular ( -ish ) part of my weeks and it has done me a ton of good.  I basically do hours of walking and lifting heavy things where I work and I have to admit that I am a small person, so this does not exactly make my little back feel good.  But yoga does.  It also helps me relax, because I get kind of stressed about time a lot.  Turns out, I'm not actually as flexible as I thought I was!  But that's getting better too.  I haven't managed to rip anything important yet so I'm counting that as a win.

• I have also a) been continuing with my editing b) been super busy with school and work and responsibility ( ick ) which is the main reason I disappeared into the unknowable void that is my room and c) been working on starting a new book focused blog but never fear!  I have plans to move to Wordpress ( shhh, don't tell Google ) and I believe I can have multiple sections, so to speak, under one blag name, which means the main part of my blog will be for books, and on the side I can still do some journal blogging just like I do here.  I'll keep you posted on this. Like, literally posted.  Because that's what these are, you know.  Blog posts.  Anyways.

So now I'm back ( for now ) and I will stay back ( for now ) so don't worry!  You don't have to miss me anymore!  I certainly missed all of you and missed writing a blog post or two here and there but boy, was I super busy ( also, I might have spent some time just lying on my bed stressing about how busy I was but you know ).  I think I have my act together now ( at least slightly more together then it was before ) so all there is to do is continue pressing forward!

Em

Birthday Buckets Of Fun

Last week it was my daddy's birthday; this week it is my mama's birthday.  I heard her get up early this morning, as is normally her custom.  I slept in for a bit, letting her enjoy the quiet house to herself for while.

 After a little bit, I finally wandered down the stairs to sleepily sing her happy birthday.  Then it was up to the kitchen, to get busy baking once again.  My original plan was to make her some Southern Belles for her birthday threat; but then I got to thinking about how delicious those skillet cookies I made for my daddy had tasted, and thought, "Well, why not make both?"

So I did.

These skillet cookies seem to be becoming a bit of a new tradition to make on birthday's in our house.  It's tradition that I would most certainly be pleased to have.

As for the Southern Belles, I spent the rest of the morning baking them up.  You will be pleased to hear that baking them was a bit of double mission.  The top reason was because my mama loves them.  But the second reason was so I could get pictures along the way to make you a post on how to make some Southern Belles for yourself.  That recipe will be up sometime next week, but I'm not telling you when exactly.  You'll just have to watch and see.

It was a quiet day, which is what my mama loves best.  She got yummy baked goods, help with the garden, and plenty of time to work on the dream that she's chasing: her blanket shop.  I have watched her make and create all sorts of handmade items over the years.  Her love for crafting and making is what has been my inspiration to craft things of my own. It is because of her I have the cooking, baking, and HomeEc skills that I do.  Some of my fondest memories are of the times when I was little, sitting next to her on the couch as she taught me to knit or embroider.

She has always been there to teach me everything that she knows, and she'll always be there to answer my questions in the future.  Firm yet sweet, kind and comforting, she taught me to always care for those you love, and appreciate the simple things in life above all others.  And all the while, her flowers on the fence are blooming just as brightly as the novelties coming from her own hands.

Em

Late Night Crochet

One of my goals is to open an online shop by fall or winter this year, hopefully.  It'll be all blankets and blanket patterns, and so to prepare for this I have been slowly but surely been getting some things together for it.  I started on a blanket today, one that I've been wanting to get going on for about a week now.  If you look very carefully behind my flower, ( Which is doing great, by the way!  Just look at how big it's gotten! ) you'll see the first notes of a pattern for said blanket sitting on my desk.

Now blankets are rather large-ish projects, and if you want to be able to work on them whenever and wherever, I think we can all agree that you need proper bags or other such carrying items to lug the thing around.  I found one such thing in my closet, a fabric basket of sorts with a metal frame, but it was already holding a lot of my past yarn-ish things that I had tossed away and haven't touched since.  I guess you could say it was my yarn graveyard.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, as they say, and having nothing else large enough to hold my blanket project, I had no choice but to dump it's contents onto my floor.  Strange experiments and tangled yarn tumbled out, and among them was the body of a toy I had never finished, along with a few other random body parts from forgotten crafts.

Yes, that's right, body parts.  Can you imagine how strange that might sound to someone who had never crafted a toy?  Just picture yourself walking any place where you might get your bags checked. Maybe a fair entrance or the movie theater, it doesn't matter.   Deep down in the bottom of your bag, you have a small project sitting, one that you always keep in there just in case where you're going gets boring.  Security comes up.

"Ma'am, what do you have in your bag?" they ask.

And you, being the smart aleck you are, answer,

"Body parts."

Now imagine the look on their face.

Of course, before you ever even find yourself in a situation like this, you might want to ask yourself; Is the pun worth the jail time?  I can see how the answer to this question might vary from person to person.

Ahem.  Anyways.

When you're having one of those nights when you're really, really worn out but don't feel like going to bed quite yet, there are few better ways to spend it then working a simple project you've been looking forward to while watching BBC and other British shows.  Especially if there's coconut cream pie mixed into the equation.

I picked out more mellow colors for this one.  In the past, when I had first started making blankets of all sorts years ago, I was known for picking colors so bright they almost looked like they were screaming at you.  But no more.  I love color, so much in fact, that I think I would be entirely depressed without it.  But now I have found myself drifting toward the 'low volume' colors, and, bright prints on white or off-white backgrounds.  This way I still get all the color I love without giving myself and others headaches just from looking at the things I have made.

I'm super excited to get it and it's pattern done ( though it'll probably be weeks before I finish ), so if you don't mind, I have more rectangles to make.

And, naturally, more pie to eat.

Em

The Hat Saga Continues

Have you been counting?  This is number 3 out of 5 if you haven't.  Only 2 to go, and I'll finally have all the hats I need to give to people.  It's a good thing that there isn't really a deadline for when I need to have all 5 of these hats finished, because I have a feeling I would have already missed it.

On a side note, I would love to give some attention to the Johny Jump-up's I have sitting on my window sill.  These little guys were lying on the cement ready to be thrown away when I thought I might give them a second chance.  The little plant now has 3 new blooms on it, and so far I haven't forgotten to water it!  I'd say things are looking pretty good for it, and it sure is nice to have them to look at when I'm sitting on my desk.  Nothing too big or hard to care for, and it's one of my favorite flowers.

So the epic quest of the 5 Hats continues, as we march past the half way point with confidence and procrastination in our steps.  When will we see the end of our journey?  Only time, and this blog, will tell.

To be continued...

Em

The Colors of Spring

There is nothing better than seeing our yard and garden covered in sprouts and blooms.  The smell of fresh air and rain hangs in the air as the green and color pops up from below the dirt.  Spring is at once both destructive with the lightning storms it brings and the coming of new life.  Spring is Mother Nature at her finest.

The sound of thunder is overpowering my music, and I can't wait to see the sky light up with the lightning making it.  An evening filled with color on the ground and in the sky is a rare and beautiful thing.

Em

P. S.  I may have had a little too much fun with the filters on my flower pictures, but oh well.