Serra had a shorter than usual week with getting over being sick and a teacher workday. She did make it to two and a half of the four which is a good thing. She has become quite the galivanting teenager as she spent all day Friday and Saturday out with friends. Their favorite activities are hanging at Panera drinking charged lemonades, strolling around Old Town and raiding thrift stores. She is finally with a group of friends that energize her rather than drain her. First AP Bio exam was this week and she read a chapter of Frankenstein three times because she was so excited about it.
Most of my craft time this week was used to finish the knit for work. I did a little more on my breakfast spin and simply threw a braid on Little Lou because I wanted to treadle Friday night. Sometimes being between projects is tough, especially with my spinning. Most times I just spin with no thought of what the final yarn will become. I want to change that tactic and plan better for what I what to create with the finished yarn. It's probably the influence of Spin Off and seeing what planning can do for a project.
What did we do this week? Amanda has an amazingly quiet group of freshmen this year as she is on duty this weekend, and everything has been calm. The most exciting thing has been the Spider-man movie marathon that has been happening in one of the halls. They started a few weeks back with the 2004 film and were watching Far from Home last night. She has some homework to tackle today after spending the day at the mall yesterday.
Work was a busy one with a two-day location shoot. Our stylist made it easy with having props and set ready to go. Also received another bit of praise from one of the editors for my work on shoots. Fingers crossed it will lead to good things. This week is not quieter, rather more time at the computer catching up. Web posts, spring files, project check-in, a pattern to write are a few of the things on the list.
With such a busy week there wasn't much time for crafts. What am I saying?! There is always time for craft! I finished the last bit of some camel/silk from Greenwood Fiberworks.
I thought I had a skein of 120/2 silk to ply it with from Redfish Dyeworks. If I do, I can't find it. Darn, I have to go silk shopping. I'll have to check on some of my other roving colors before I place an order.
Sometimes when the brain is tired, but the hands are awake I pull out the stranger crafts.
Nothing quite like a box of washed Paco-Vicuña fiber that needs guard hairs removed to make for a wild and crazy Thursday night. It is a slow-going meditative process. Perfect for those brain drained evenings.
As for me it was a solid and busy week. Proud of Serra for taking care of herself to get to school and back on the days I was on the shoot. I am still not good at completely relaxing and do that on rare days. However, I am slowing down and not pushing quite as hard on life. The meaning of the word 'productivity' has changed and as long as I am consistent in my efforts, I feel pretty good about it. Saturdays are still tough. I think it is due to the lack of routine in them. Weekdays have a rhythm and Sunday is for rest. Saturdays need some kind of pattern to keep my mood from going blue.
This week! More of the same for all three of us. Maybe this calmer pace I am experiencing will continue to take hold. Breathe, let go, find the stillness, Love, take care of YOU and I'll be back next week :)
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What did we do this week? It sounds like classes are cruising along for Amanda. Finally getting to take courses that are the entire point of your college career is great. Tutoring starts this week, yes, she is again sharing her alphabet math skills to fund her Indian food addiction.
Work was a busy short week with the holiday. Bluelines for the winter issue and a photo shoot filled up the time. I received some kudos for the shoot, so fingers crossed it will lead to more good things. This week is another shoot, two days this time, a couple of days with meetings, web posts to catch up, spring files to finish prepping, and there's always more to learn. I am working on my copy-editing skills with reading a couple of recommended books and hoping to find time to get back into my Udemy classes.
Remember my spindles I was working on?
Craft time was spent plying this spun Merino with 120/2 silk from Treenway Silks. From the amount of silk that I used I have about 2560 yards of fluffiness! Originally, I thought I would have to spin all ten ounces of the lovely fiber from Rani Smith Designs for the pattern I plan to knit. This is all I need.
Some other spinning lately is from a special source. I wrote a post for Spin Off about getting just the right shot at photo shoots. Two more hexies joined the pile yesterday and I think I found a method to join them all together once I get to that point. There is still a lot of knitting to do. It's a good break project for when I want to do something quick. Each one takes about 90 minutes to complete. With September also comes one of my favorite events of the year, Hobonichi Time! I found these planners several years ago and they spend the entire month of August as a buildup to sales opening on September 1st.
They use FedEx for shipping, and it got here quick! Each Life book has a page for each day of the year along with weekly and monthly pages. This year I purchased an additional one for Serra to create her adulting book. Remember how everyone used to keep track of important dates in the family bible? The adulting book that I am creating for each of them is my version of it. Since there is a page for each day, they will be able to add their own important events in the future.
Serra had a quiet week of school and still has yet to have any homework. She has been filling the time with languages, reviewing her French for next semester and learning Russian on Duolingo. I hear that the little owl is rather demanding. The AP Bio exam on Friday went well and college applications are simply waiting on letters of rec. She stretched her wheels a bit driving to various places on her own, including to a friend's house for a sleepover. It is a joy to see her personality and watch her confidence grow.
I was trying to remember what went on at work this week when I just realized I was at a photo shoot for two days of it! It feels like it was a couple of weeks ago instead of only days. Did a little bit more on this one with taking care of the location, keeping an eye on Fifi the resident cat and ordering lunch for the crew. I also took the lead on a couple of the shots. Skills list keeps growing, I hope it comes in handy someday. This week holds a surprise reshoot along with getting Winter off to press.
From left to right Frabjous Fibers BFL/Silk that I chain plied, two skeins of Camel/Silk from Greenwood Fiberworks plied with 120/2 silk from Redfish Dyeworks, and a mixed art skein from the Spin Off Fall 2023 photo shoot. I have three spindle projects still going and want to start something else on a wheel again. Not sure what because I would like to spin something with a purpose this time. Kim McKenna's article in the issue is calling my name a bit with a braid I have. Perhaps that is the way to go.
Week started off with a bit of nerves with the photo shoot. It went better than I was expecting. The rest of the week was rather quiet. I've been working to stay in the moment and not press too hard on the gas pedal of the future. Took some of the solo time I had this weekend to create some goals and things to work on over the next year that I hope will become foundation stones. Yes, there are times that you have to think about the future and create a map to get to where you want to be. The effort you put in on the little things every day are what get you there. Without the map you're just doing, taking care of what is on fire the most, drifting. Having landmarks along the way ensures the little things become the big things you want to have happen. Totally just realized this is Amber mindset. Guess I know what needs to be read again!
This week! More of the same with the little bits of different. Classes for the girls, reshoots and bluelines for me. Breathe, smile, laugh, heal, build, Love, take care of YOU and I'll be back next week :)
]]>What did we do this week? Serra started out rocky with not wanting to stay home on Monday. Her body had other ideas and still needed to work out the cold that attacked over the weekend. Classes are good but slow so far. That is normally the case at the beginning of the semester so I am trying to hope that it will get better. A surprise so far is how much she is enjoying her Modern Literature English. They get to read Frankenstein soon which I think she will like. We also saw The Last Voyage of the Demeter before it left the theatres. Some of the character arcs were really good to watch the actors in however I think I was wanting more from the film.
Work was a bit quiet this week and I am still dealing with some shifts from a couple of weeks ago. My list of duties has changed continually over the two years that I have been there, and the list keeps growing. I have some grammar books to read and programs that I am going to start learning to up my value. This week is a two-day photo shoot, two days of meetings and we need to find some space in there to get an issue to the proofreader on Friday.
Crafts saw time knitting and spinning. I am working on a re-knit of a previous pattern for work that is part of the new venture, Farm and Fiber Knits. I suppose I should say plying instead of spinning. I completed a chain ply that I am very happy with, made an art yarn that will be on the Spin Off website next month, and cleared five spindles of camel/silk. Everyone will get a bath this week, so there will be lots of pictures next Sunday.
As for me, well I thought it was a decent week until the dream this morning. Amazing how a brain defrag can complete wreck you. In its way, this bubbling up from my subconscious is a good thing. Past issues stay there until you are ready and strong enough to deal with them. I should know, I've done this before. All of my talk of wanting more really has nothing to do with wanting more, rather it comes from wanting to be enough. This dream bubbled so much from the past where I wasn't enough for someone else. You would think that once you say to the world "I am enough, and I am doing all the things" that the battle would be over. No, it is a constant, daily practice of rebuilding my own expectations of what is enough instead of continuing to let the past keep its hold.
Next week! Classes begin for Amanda, hopefully Serra will not be bored in AP Bio and will get the requested letters of rec from her teachers and counselor. Two-day shoot, crafts to play with, and making myself relax are on my agenda. Breathe, rest, hydrate, sift the wheat from the chaff, Love, be. Take care of YOU and I'll be back next week :)
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