The One Where I Come Crawling Back

 Well, well, well, here I am, trying to start this whole thing again. (If you could see me, I'd be gesturing vaguely at everything and nothing.) Haven't blogged in at least a year or posted any of my projects so this will basically be an attempt to reinvent the wheel, if the wheel was a blog and inventing it was just following through.

I don't want to get into what all has happened in the last year or so - it's so much. Too much to just dump on someone in a blog. So instead, let's focus on what I will be doing now. 

#1 - I have a million hobbies and there are a million more that I want to learn. I'm going to have a schedule so I can keep making progress on my endless Works In Progress (WIPs)  and learning new things. I'm thinking about something like this:

Maker Monday - for mosaics, Cricut, Mod Podge, painting, wood burning, etc. 

Trinket Tuesday - for my jewelry-making

WIP Wednesday - for whatever project needs to get completed or has activated my obsessive attention

Crochet Thursdet - lol 

Knit Friday - I could think of nothing cute. Happy to revise this with your suggestions

Sewing Saturday - learn with me! We can suck at it together!

Sculpture Sunday - Why can't I quit you, polymer clay?

I'm sure there will be wildcard days too, when I break my own rules. 

#2 - To hold myself accountable - and to hopefully build a community of like-minded nerds, I'm gonna post about it on Instagram and here. We can talk about our obsessions and failures and share weird memes. I'm @stone.and.star on Instagram. 

#3 -  I'm going to be writing again everyday. Not just the blog,  I'm participating in NaNoWriMo - look me up if you are too! Let's muddle through together. I think we all do better when we are inspired by others. I am open to wine and commiseration! I'd very much like to cultivate a writing group for feedback and banter.

So that's the plan guys. I did knit today and I recorded some of it; it's painful to watch because I'm not great at it yet but I DID IT! That's the important part. 

Be apart of the journey, let's do this together!

Projects for Daaaaaaaays!

As you know, I love making things. Unfortunately, I do have trouble completing projects. If something is a quick fix (just needs a drop of glue), I will never get around to it. Never. I have no idea why. If I'm working on a new skill, I will hammer away at it until I feel confident about my technique and then lose interest in the project as a whole. For instance, I learned how to make a quilt out of fabric pieces that are crocheted together and I probably did about half of it before I put it down and forgot all about it. That was like, 5 years ago! Remember that Thug Life cross stitch I did for my good friend John? Still unframed as are the 2 watercolor projects I completed a couple of weeks ago. I look right at them everyday; still, no progress.

Just staring at me and waiting....

I'm trying to improve as a human being and make myself proud so I've been working on this. I found like 5 things that just needed super glue and *boom* finished them. I also hung up 2 pictures that I'd just never gotten around to, cleaned my craft room, and went through my fabric. Wow, this is what it feels like to complete things? I felt like a super hero! I pulled out an unfinished crochet project to continue my streak of success.

But... then one of the pictures fell off the hanger because the material was too porous and I realized that the crochet project was tedious so, naturally, I ABANDONED EVERYTHING AGAIN AND STARTED A NEW PROJECT.

Here's a picture of the shawl I just started:

To be honest, I haven't picked up this guy in a week either lol

Siiiiigh.... Much like my projects, I am a work in progress. I have good intentions and enthusiasm but it takes me a little time to get out of my own way.

Day 8 - 30 Day Writing Challenge

Day 8 - Share Something You Struggle With

Good grief, it might be easier for me to list the things I don't struggle with.

The biggest struggle I'm facing right now is my lack of focus. I read a lot of advice/self-help stuff and the key to getting your ideal life always seems to be laser-like focus.

My mind is everywhere and nowhere.  I have literally taken 3 breaks just while writing this far. Once, because I was getting a headache from not wearing my glasses - why was I even at the computer without my glasses to begin with? The next time was because I clicked over to Facebook for no reason and browsed like 6 things in my feed before remembering that I'm supposed to be writing. The third time I walked around my kitchen aimlessly and then got cereal (my stomach is off, as usual) before I remembered that I was in there to take an allergy pill. So yeah. That's a 10 minute slice of my day and I'm always like that.

I read a book (fib: I read the first few chapters) about female ADD/ADHD and it seems like a reasonable diagnosis for me when you look at the symptoms. I was thinking of myself as a lazy, absent-minded procrastinator so it was a relief to think that maybe it has more to do with the way my brain works than being a deeply flawed person.

Being this easily distracted means that I forget to finish things that I started because I've already moved on to something new. I have trouble cleaning house because I start reading a magazine I found while picking up. Or I'll stop sweeping because I remember that I set a goal to do laundry so I go into my room to get clothes which reminds me that I need to make the bed but maybe I shouldn't because I meant to wash the sheets yesterday anyway and wow, I need to put away this jewelry before I start losing earrings, what was that thing on Pinterest to organize jewelry and make up? Down the rabbit hole I go, only to emerge when I realize that it's time to pick up Alex from school and I have nothing  to show for my day.

Hilariously, there is an opposite to this as well. I will focus on one thing to the exclusion of all other stimulus. Usually, it's because I'm doing something creative and I'm in the zone. I can't hear my name being called in this mode. I can't follow a conversation or finish a sentence because I'm so physically and mentally involved with whatever it is. Sometimes I emerge from this state disoriented or drained. While it's exhausting and difficult to explain to other people, I prefer this version of myself because it's so productive and because the feeling in the zone is so sharp and euphoric.

I'm working on achieving more of those "in the zone" periods. I'm trying to set goals and create rules for myself; I'm using apps for meditation and developing good habits. I want to do better and to be more but, yeah, it's definitely a struggle.