Category Archives: About me

About me

The family is broken.

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Way back in the “olden days,” I was an unwed mother. Big shame to the family and impossible to stay there in town because of the shame. With the help of my college’s chaplain, I was able to recover my scholarship, resume my education, get my daughter into a good foster home, and graduate.

The funny thing is that the family that took my daughter in never actually gave her back. The lease on my apartment ended, and they took me in for the last month of my final semester. They helped me out financially by having me babysit their son and my daughter. They kept her while I moved to the big city to find a place to live and hopefully, a job.

Even after I picked her up for the “last” time, they took care of both of us. We always had their home to go to for holidays and vacations even after I got married. Even when we moved because my husband was in the military, they would fly my daughter to their town for most of the Summer. They had adopted two other girls, but always had room for their “other” daughter.

When I got divorced, my life was a mess, and I couldn’t handle an angry teenager, so they took her back. She lived with them and their three kids while in high school. They treated her as their daughter and their kids called her their sister. Never did they ask me for money toward her support.

They supported both of us emotionally and occasionally, financially. Her foster father walked her down the aisle when she got married in 2008. I made her foster mother stand in the photos with us as mother of the bride. Their home was where I went on vacation and for holidays,

A few years ago, my daughter lost the only father she had ever known due to age. And a few days ago, she lost her other mother to pneumonia-related breathing problems. The funeral is in a few weeks. I wasn’t certain I could go. My daughter wasn’t certain she could go since she changed jobs.

But her big brother and her sisters want her there. Her brother bought plane tickets for both of us as they consider us a part of the family still. So in a couple of weeks, I’m going help lay to rest the last of the couple who taught me about family and love in a way my “real” family never did.

Hug your parents and grandparents.

About me, Stuff

Clearing Clutter

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I decided to clear out my file cabinet. The first thing I did was get rid of 25 years of receipts for oil changes, tires, and repairs for my former wheels. That was quite a thick folder.

Next went 10 years of gas/electric bills. Another fat folder but not as fat as the one for the car since I stopped getting paper bills when I started paying electronically. Ditto for the water bills.

I then moved on to instruction booklets and receipts. I reduced three folders to two much thinner ones. There were a lot of instructions for small appliances and tools that I no longer own. There was a fat folder of veterinarian receipts, some with rabies tags still attached.

I figured that out when I had to spend 20 minutes attempting to pluck aluminum shards from among the cutting blades of the paper shredder. I succeeded until I put too thick a sheaf of paper in and jammed the blades again.

The shredder still works. It was guaranteed to shred credit cards. It’s my third shredder — I’ve had this one maybe 10 or 12 years. I filled a clear recycling bag with two shredder bins-worth of paper shreds to go into the recycling bin. I think I can shred tax returns up until 2016 or so. At any rate, I’ll start shredding from around 2008 and fill another bag.

I’m getting better. The funky fog that trapped my brain is lifting. Eventually, I will be able to get back to weaving, bookbinding, and printmaking. But for now, accomplishing one or two small things is progress.

About me, Crafting

When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes…

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…and lungs, and hair, and the air filter in the furnace because your using the fan to help circulate air from the window AC. I left the fan on when I went away for three weeks. When I came back the filter was seriously clogged from the wildfire smoke. I changed the filer and three weeks later changed it again. It was not as bad as the first but still worse than when I run the furnace for a month.

It was funny because the filter is rated to up to 90 days. It’s only been 18 days since I changed the filter and its about due to be changed. But you know, climate change isn’t really a thing. Yeah, and my sarcasm knob is turned up as high as it goes and that’s not high enough. I’m just as at fault as everyone else.

I have two ceiling fans going on the main floor and a window fan in the half-story blowing hot air out. The furnace fan pulls cool air from the window AC when it’s on and circulates it from the air returns along with air it pulls in from outside through the ground floor.

I drive too much. I would drive less but not every bus will get me where I need to go even with walking some distance. I do try to consolidate trips and confine them to one area at a time. The city revised the bus system so there are now fewer routes that just circle the city and some of the places I could go by bus within an hours time take almost twice as long because there’s no longer a direct bus.

Well, back to business. There will be more crafting news coming. The problems I’ve been having are just about resolved. I should have more time now. There is still a lot of smoke in the air. Breathing is rough. Eventually, the fires will burn out and the air will clear, until next time.

About me

Who Am I

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I knit, spin, sew, crochet, and weave. I make hand-bound books of various sizes. I take a watercolor class. I belong to a makerspace where I show members how to use equipment in the craft area, teach classes in bookbinding and do other crafts.  In other words — I’m busy.