January Wrap-up

 So first of all, yes, Oscar the Grouch the wreath was made from fabric scraps about 1 inch by 6 inches. That technique works better with other colors, lol. I know that now. I have a denim one on my wall, and when my mom requested I make her a red white and blue wreath, that’s what I did. It’s still hanging on her rusty ass screen door, and it’s still going strong. 

My mother in law put our mail in a plastic bag on our doorknob, but wound the handles so weirdly around the knob that it took me a while to figure out how to get it off. While I was, Jordan escaped out the front door and started hauling absolute ass all across the front lawn, back and forth like he was the starship enterprise. He does have a microchip, but I still don’t want him escaping. I ran inside to grab some food to lure him back in and when I went back out, I couldn’t find him anywhere. He was in my mother inlaw’s garage with her cat, Buck. Jordan then saw me coming and went off at warp speed again. I ran after him, and Buck caught on to what was happening. When Jordan approached Buck again, Buck jumped in front of him and hissed in order to stop him so I could pick him up. I picked Jordan up, and Buck was rewarded with the food I was holding. Buck is the only cat I know that’s both a cowboy and a gangster. 

January has been eventful. I decided on December 30th that I was quitting my job at the inventory service. I can’t remember when my last day was. It was more than a week ago. I know I’m still getting one more small check this Saturday.  I’ve explained before that the local crew consisted of two couples. Me and my husband, and the manager and his wife. Lately, it’s seemed like they (the other couple) has absolutely turned on us for no reason. It’s very difficult to deal with. They were always cool, and then one day, bam. They’re trying to make our lives hell. I also have a ton of trouble interpreting the wife of my manager. She has extreme smokers voice and always yells, and in the past, Kevin has always reassured me with saying things like, “She isn’t yelling/mad at you, that’s just how she is, that’s just how she sounds” etc. so I always gave her the benefit of the doubt. Then instantly one day, Kevin my husband tells me, “Honey you were right and I was wrong, she is yelling at you, she is mad at you,” etc. Normally, people want their spouses to tell them “You were right and I was wrong” but I didn’t want to be right about this. I was bewildered and confused, and I just didn’t know what to make of any situation whatsoever. 

For the last month, I’ve been trying to work out what happened with my therapist. However, my therapist took away my time slot and asked if another one worked for me. Since I wasn’t working that much and then not working at all, I said ok. Then she pushed my time slot again to the alternating weeks, and then I got this new job which is a 9-5 basically. My therapist doesn’t have any available time slots outside of M-F, 9-5. She’s referring me to someone else, but I am not sure I’m comfortable with this new person. I might feel differently once I talk to her, but for the time being I really hate this therapy situation. Trying to find a new therapist was an absolutely brutal process for me, and the “free 15 minute sessions” that felt like job interviews were emotionally destroying. I could only handle one a week, and I don’t think I can go through it again. 

I tried to explain to her that I was semi in crisis, hoping I could get an off hours appointment just this once, but no. I really wish I could have explored in therapy- what happened here?  Why did this couple seemingly turn on my husband and I and was I the problem, at least somewhat, with my interpretation of her and my visceral reactions to being yelled at that I can’t help? I didn’t get to though, and really the best thing to do would be to stop ruminating in writing about it. Therapy isn’t the answer like society portrays it to be. It’s just not. We have to help ourselves, period. 

My husband still works there, and they are really struggling without me. This gives me even more Schadenfreude. My husband insists that he won’t quit, that they’ll have to let him go and he will collect unemployment. That’s another thing that I wish I could have explored in therapy. WHY did I assume I had to quit?  A lot of it is upbringing. My parents and extended family raised me in a way in which my husband wasn’t raised. But again, I’m not a person that therapists want to help I guess. I just have to figure it out on my own. Two new people were supposed to start working there last week. I love how they thought they needed two to replace me. But both ghosted. 👻 

Now that I have no bills besides the absolute basics and student loans, and my husband pays the household bills, I really only needed to make $500-$700 a month.  I can do that easily with my side hustles, especially with so much time on my hands.  After a long talk with my husband, we decided that I would be reaching higher.  I wouldn’t just be taking any low paying job because I need one, but I would be trying to use my non-useable degree and trying for jobs that are more “dream job” or “goal” status.  

This led me to discover a scam world called Devil corps.  Devil corps is a nickname coined online for companies that hire the annoying people that sell phone plans inside of stores and other things like that.  They are commission based only, and well here’s a documentary.  The first company to call me for an “interview” after Kevin and I decided I would try to reach for higher things in life was actually called Universal Events, and it’s part of Devil corps.  Universal Events advertises itself on Indeed as a job fundraising for nonprofits.  That’s what they do, but I thought I would be doing it in a legit manner.  These people actually stand outside of stores and solicit donations for charities.  The charities get only 10% of what people donate.  The person doing the solicitation gets about 30% and the corporation Universal Events gets about 60.  That is what I learned in my research.  Something seemed way, way off when she called me for an interview. She was wayyyyy too bubbly.  When she emailed me for interview instructions, it said to wear business attire.  I didn’t really have any, and Kevin said to take his credit card and go shopping for interview clothing.  I remember walking around Target and Ross doing research on this company and thinking yeah- I’m not going to the interview tomorrow.  But I’m still buying new clothes, and I did.  

I ended up not sleeping at all that night listening to interviews from people who were taken advantage of by this organization.  One man in the comments said he quit after his first week.  He worked 55 hours that week, and his paycheck was $199. 

If you want to donate to a charity, please only do it directly on the charity’s website.  Don’t ever donate to people standing outside of stores! 

I spent the next couple weeks doing side hustles on the apps and cutting up large hauls from 25 cent days.  One foster care agency called for an interview.  I went, and the receptionist gave me and two other applicants papers and a pen to write our answers to basic interview questions.  Honestly, I liked that approach a lot better than speaking.  Then one of the other applicants and I handed ours in at the same time.  The receptionist talked with us for a while saying, “You’ll be doing this, you’ll be doing that.”  She was using language that sounded like she was hiring us on the spot, but then said the executive director needed to read our answers and then call us back.  She also said the executive director often left things on her desk and forgot about them.  Later on when I checked the “my jobs” tab on the Indeed app, that foster care agency was marked “unlikely to hear a response”.  Sounds like other applicants flagged them somehow.  

In the midst of this, I had a nice sit down interview with the office manager and therapist of the ABA center I’ll be starting at this Friday.  They took me on a tour and watched me interact with a child.  It was nice, but they said “we’ll call you”.  I followed up with a thank you email and then they responded that their interview process was taking longer than expected because some were rescheduled to the following week.  I was not expecting them to hire me, but they did, one week exactly after my interview.  (One week exactly, down to the hour in fact)  I was in a Food Town taking pictures of shelf stable non dairy for the Merchandiser app when I got the email and said out loud “holy shit.”  A woman shopping looked over at me.  

I have a lot of experience caring for children and the elderly.  My goal in life has always been to be a career advocate for children, but I never had any idea how to implement that.  I know now that writing is a good way.  I just didn’t know that when I was younger.  When I got my college degree and couldn’t find the type of job I was told I should get with my degree, I was told that I failed at my goal in life to help children and was made into a laughing stock.  This is when I transitioned into working with the elderly, and I do not regret it- working with the elderly has made me “ok with death”, the clients taught me a lot of old school life hacks (more on that later), and was an easy enough gig for the mental place I was in at the time. But at this time, I’d rather move on from that and return to working with children.  Children are easier to lift, and they don’t die. Plus, feeling like I was a failure at it was incorrect and unnecessary.  

I’m really looking forward to my new role as a Behavioral Technician and later a Registered Behavioral Technician. I love children with autism, and I know this field is controversial, but I feel like the controversy is fading.  January has been a wild ride!  My husband still wants to quit the inventory service, but insists that “he needs to find a job first”.  He really doesn’t, especially with my new role and our financial position as a whole.  I wish he would just quit honestly, but that’s for him to decide.  

What will February bring ♥️ 

Oscar the Grouch Wreath

I’m thoroughly enjoying my few days at home before I start my new job on Friday. I have some thoughts to share, but first wanted to share this. I had been wanting to make this type of wreath in green for a while. I never imagined it would look so much like Oscar the Grouch. I should honestly put googly eyes on the top with black pipe cleaners formed into angry eyebrows. But I won’t. It went into the pile of wreaths to list for sale when I finally start an Etsy shop. 

 

Frozen Saturday Tidbits 🧊 🥶

 

These are the four yards of fabric I got from the sewing vac city store in Cypress. I do have a lot of pink denim, white denim, brown denim and black denim. I also have solids in these colors, so I got one yard of something that will alternate well in each color scheme. 

This was a 25 cent day find. I’d never be caught dead in it, but I thought the fabric was way nicer than it is. It’s not satin or silk, it’s all some nasty thin polyester lining type fabric. Not even good for lining, not even good for scrunchies. I did cut the dress apart to see how it was made. It’s basically just made with a ton of gathering stitches. I can see how this ended up in the pile. 

Speaking of gathering stitches, I did this prototype skirt with the waist of some jeans I cut up for denim quilt squares and a skirt I got from 25 cent day. I used this Tutorial first, then graduated to This one because I don’t have a gathering foot. Be forewarned, though, most of the comments in that second video were very triggered that she cut the pockets. I don’t cut the pockets, but to each their own. There’s a whole big thing nowadays about little girl’s clothing “not having pockets”, but it must be a Mandela effect. I always had pockets growing up. 

I was not super picky about how even my gathering was, I just wanted to get the hang of how to do this. It was easier than I thought. My cousin said it needed darts, but, it’s a gathered skirt. When I made a second prototype of maroon denim with lavender satin, I could see where maybe there could have been one dart?  But it was probably just an issue of uneven gathering. That went in the trash. 

Last but not least, here’s the button stash I have amassed from 25 cent day finds. 

 

Hot Flashes in an Arctic Blast

 It’s about to dip into the 20’s here in Texas, and everyone is freaking out. I don’t understand the hype, but I’m from Chicago. 

Here are some things going on around here:  I’m listening to a new podcast I recently discovered called Stolen Lives. It’s a true crime channel dedicated to children. Normally, true crime channels dedicated to children like STLC will get into a lot of very gory details and be quite triggering. Stolen Lives cuts to the chase in order to avoid triggering people while still giving facts, but still issues a content warning. Stolen Lives is still upsetting, don’t get me wrong!  STLC is just way more upsetting! 

I have two space heaters to prepare for the upcoming freeze, but the moment I turn them on, I get hot flashes from hell within 30 minutes and need to turn them off. At night, my comforter alone keeps me warm. The heaters make it too hot, even if I set them to 76. Any lower than that, it’s not worth turning them on. 

I want yall to know that I am reading my little handful of blogs, I just can’t comment or reply to comments. Google still shows me a QR code on the screen. Not sure what to do with that. I feel old. I could call my kid to help, but then I’d be just like my mom. 

Today I visited a sewing and quilting mega store in cypress, and was not as impressed as I thought. I did spend $56 on only 4 yards of fabric.  That was hard to do, since I’m used to paying only 25 cents. The prints I got were extremely pretty though, and when I finally bring them in from the car, I’ll post pics. 

Job Description

 The place where I will be working is a center that offers ABA to children with autism. The therapy is overseen by a therapist with a master’s degree. My title will be “Behavioral Technician.”  I will be in training for about one month to six weeks. Then after I complete their training, I become a Registered Behavioral Technician and get a raise. I implement the one on one treatment plan developed by the master’s level therapists. The required education level for my position is a high school diploma. My college degree made no difference in me getting this job. There is a shortage of RBT’s nationwide, so if you have a high school diploma and can locate a center near you that offered the on the job training required to do this, they will hire anyone  

ABA is something I’ve been studying on my own for a couple of years now. I started listening to an audiobook about it in 2023 and then following some online discussions where many people talked about centers like this one that offered the RBT certification on the job. At the time, I tried applying to some centers on indeed, but was automatically rejected due to not having the certification already. So I just let it go. At the time, I had applied to about a dozen places. This time, I just so happened to find a center that offered it and that didn’t care that I didn’t have it. 

I do know the controversies surrounding this therapy. I think that while there may have been some therapists in the past that were abusive or at least controversial, this place isn’t like that.  The young adults that speak up about their experiences are still valid. If I’m wrong and this place is “like that” (which I highly highly doubt) then I know how to pick up the phone.  

When I went to the University of Houston starting in 2011, I was told that if I got “any degree” from the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences or CLASS, then I would be able to get any office 9-5 job in a nonprofit. When that didn’t happen, most of my extended family members made me into this laughing stock and told me I had “failed” at my career goals to help children. 

It has taken me this long to realize I had not failed. I didn’t fail any actual child, just at some arbitrary path made up by older family members and the academic staff. My current therapist agrees, my husband agrees, and my entire history agrees. So I set out again. I’m unlearning what failure is, which ironically will help me implement this therapy with these kids  

Yesterday, I went to Walmart and got me some better walking shoes.  They said to “dress comfortably.”  I saw some other techs wearing scrubs or scrub pants with t shirts. I got some scrub pants and valentine, st Patrick’s, and even Easter themed t shirts that match each color scrub pants I got  I would also like to find some appropriate character t shirts but haven’t found any. The job is 25 miles away, and I am soooo looking forward to it!  

  

Crafts

I attempted to make a couple of scrunchies for the first time in about 25 years. This fabric is from the ties on the yellow formal dress I got on 25 cent day. It needs to be longer for more “scrunch”, but my slip stitch looks pretty good. 

Red wreath for Christmas time. Those flowers are so “pointy” that it’s hard to tell if the wreath is even on both sides. 

And I’m not sending one to my North Carolina friend after all. She sucks for not taking her cat and not understanding my situation with Jordan. Speaking of Jordan, he is just so much fun and all baby energy. We love having him around. But my best friend/cousin the psychiatrist picked this one when I sent her all three pics. She also got my rainbow quilt when I needed practice shipping quilts. Now I need practice shipping wreaths. 

And in a shocking turn of events, I will start Friday, January 30th working full time with children with autism. I interviewed for this last week, and was shocked when they sent me an offer. Kevin is proud of me. It’s nice to have a partner who believes in me. I’m trying to increase my step count daily so I can RUN  after these kids. It’s one on one, though. I’ll explain more later. 

 

White Wreath

 I made this wreath out of white flowers. This time of year is good for all plain white decor. It doesn’t show well up against a white wall, of course. If I list it for sale, I’d photograph it against a different background. 

My friend who was going to move to North Carolina finally made it there. I want to send her a wreath for a housewarming gift. She was oohing and ahhing over wreaths I made before. It would also give me practice shipping wreaths. However, I get the feeling she’s mad at me, and here’s why:

Before moving, she was trying to rehome a cat. Then on December 21, our black baby cat Jordan adopted us by barging into our home saying, “MEOWWWW YOU'RE MY HUMANS NOW!!!”

She annoyingly asked me why I didn’t adopt her cat if I “wanted another one”. I explained that I didn’t “want” another one. This baby was unplanned. It just happened!  I don’t know how!

She has not talked to me since, so I am not sure if sending her a gift would be ok. Maybe it would be a peace offering? I didn’t do anything wrong, though. 

Half Birthday Tidbits

My daughter testing positive for celiac disease is actually a relief. Ever since she came home from her first semester, she’s had this issue where she can’t keep a lot of things down. She had an unintentional weight loss of about 7 pounds. She doesn’t have 7 pounds to lose!  I was honestly scared that it could be something a lot worse. A lot of people live with celiac. It sucks, but it is what it is. 

Anna asked me if anyone on my side of the family has it. I said I don’t know, people in my family don’t talk about important things like what runs in our DNA.  Then I thought, let me text my cousin Raymond. He’s the son of my mom’s sister, and he’s always up in everyone’s business. This was the conversation. 

I guess you learn something new every day. I was laying down with Kevin and reading these messages out loud as they came in. Kevin likes to laugh at conspiracy theories. This might not be a “conspiracy theory”, I mean I just heard about it yesterday and have no idea, but the laughing was fun. Raymond’s next message was just telling me that King Arthur flour doesn’t have gluten, and I ended the conversation with a thumbs up. 

In other news. Whenever I’m not working I’m cutting up my 25 cent day finds into 6 and a half inch squares. It’s a therapeutic and relaxing activity. I do it sitting at the other end of the dining room table from Kevin while he’s gaming. 

The pants below are not going to be used in a denim chenille quilt, because they aren’t denim. They appear to be leather pants but aren’t. They are size 26, very long and wide. In the thrift store, I wondered if they were real leather. Whether they were or weren’t, the material would make great headbands. I looked in the waist for the tag, and the tag didn’t specify what they were made of. I threw them in the cart anyway, because 25 cents. 

Then while cutting them up, I found another tag in the leg. They’re faux leather, polyurethane outside and cotton lining. They’ll still make great headbands. 

Here’s Mitchell enjoying one bag of 25 cent jeans 

Here’s another pair in bright turquoise. I found a lot of colors this time. 

I also recently found out that a lot of knitters unravel sweaters for the yarn. There was a lady at 25 cent day with a cart full of sweaters, and I wondered if she was doing that. I didn’t ask, though. Some of the people push and shove on 25 cent day, so I don’t think many people are up for conversation. I cannot knit to save my life, but I imagine unraveling sweaters is as soothing as cutting squares. 

I posted this picture that day on instagram with the caption “it’s 25 cent day again!”  One of my friends, who has 8 kids and a grandbaby, was commenting all kinds of stuff about how she wished she had this place near her. I replied that on Wednesdays, people run in like it’s the supermarket sweep. She said, I bet. 

Today is also January 17th, which makes it my half birthday. A half birthday is the six month mark from your actual birthday. Since my birthday is July 17, then my half birthday is January 17, 6 months before and after, “halfway”.  I’m 47 years old.  So this makes me “3/4 of the way through my 40’s.”  Most people don’t analyze stuff like that, but I do. 

I think the rest of my life is going to be positive. I have some things to work out, but for the most part, life is a lot better than it was when I was young. I’m grateful for whatever time I have left, which I’m honestly starting to think is more time than I realize. 

 

Celiac Disease

 

My 18 year old daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease. She has been throwing up after meals and sometimes spacing out. Her pediatrician is referring her to an adult gastroenterologist to further confirm it. I wondered why it took until age 18 to manifest. She didn’t have these problems when she was a kid. Basically, it’s an autoimmune disease and was dormant her whole life until something triggered it recently. The trigger can be any number of things. One thing I found online is that kids with dormant celiac disease get frequent headaches, and she did. She’ll be ok, just has to eat a gluten free diet. I grocery shopped this afternoon and picked up these things. She’s packing up to go back to school at Texas State University and asked me to leave these things at my house for when she comes over. I’m just so glad she’s going to be ok. 

Shelving Unit

I got this idea from the Mormons. Buy big industrial size cans for an emergency food supply, and use them to hold up extra shelves you may have lying around. Or, you can purchase shelves that are freestanding for this project. No adhesive is needed. In fact, don’t use adhesive, because then you can’t access the cans of food if you are in an emergency or just trying to rotate them properly in the future. 

When I lived in my old-old apartment on Beamer Rd, when it was just me and my daughter from ages 3-12, I had one of these. I didn’t keep it in the kitchen, though. It was in the “foyer” area of the apartment. I had removed the commercial labels and put a small piece of tape on the top telling me what was in the cans. This way, it had a more uniform look to it. On that shelving unit, I put office supplies, mail, figurines on the bottom, and other random things. During my time there, I rotated it a couple of times. I did use it as an emergency food stash during hurricane Harvey in 2017. Aside from various types of beans and fruit, I had large cans of chef boyardee canned pasta meals. 

I didn’t get those for this one, because Kevin is a vegetarian, and Anna and I no longer really eat those. As you can probably see, I got peaches and pineapples for the bottom. There are cans of black beans behind the pinto beans. The other cans are all green beans. I guess if there’s a hurricane, we are going to have a lot of beans. There is a better selection of large cans in Arizona.  This is because Mormons are preppers. I don’t blame them. I’m a little bit of a prepper, too. I’ve lived in Texas for 23 and a half years now, and in that time there have been three major disasters, NOT including the Covid lockdown, where everything was closed and there was no electricity. Two hurricanes, and the big freeze. 

I also like this shelving idea. 

 

Happy Sunday

I deleted the post about almost being recruited into a scam. That was so interesting. I deleted it, because I did call them out my name and they have my home address. I want to undelete it, but can’t figure out how. It’s ok 👌🏼. 

One of my friends went to a baby shower. This is a diaper cake. It’s made from diapers. The diapers are held together with little rubber bands. I made one for a coworker about ten years ago, and it leaned, like the tower of Pisa. My mom semi fixed it with curling ribbon. I’m not sure what went wrong or what she did. I want to make one for a friend’s upcoming shower, but she doesn’t know the sex of the baby and won’t until birth. That’s ok, the color scheme can be green then. Hopefully this one won’t be the tower of Pisa. The problem is the cost of diapers nowadays. How on earth do they expect the birth rate to go up when they price gouge the he'll out of baby items?!?!  I still want to do it though!

With the jeans I got from 25 cent day, I want to make skirts like this. That’s because I have to cut off the waist in order to make quilting squares from the legs. Why throw the waists away?  I would wear something like this, so would my daughter. They’re cute. 

Our baby Jordan got his big boy surgery ✂️ 

He is such a good boy. So cuddly and friendly, but he does attack feet in the middle of the night and uses claws. Not sure how to break him of that. 

I had a very vivid dream last night of the Greek goddess Artemis. This dream was so real and vivid, that I was disoriented when I woke up. In the dream, she was definitely Artemis, but instead of being of Greek ancestry, she was indigenous American. She had long hair in dreadlocks as well. That was weird. In the dream, she somehow needed me and I needed her, but she was beyond reach. If I spoke to her, she couldn’t hear me. She was also speaking to me, and I couldn’t hear her. Finally after a long while, I was right next to her, and she sort of roughed me up by my shoulders (not violently, just to get my attention) and told me that I didn’t realize how much ability I had. She was semi pissed off, but mostly benevolent towards me. She had a bow and arrow with her in the dream, but it was broken and unusable. She walked away, leaving it behind and I woke up. 

I asked ChatGPT to make this image of her as I saw her in my dream. It’s not quite accurate. In my dream she wasn’t that “glamorous looking”. 

Lastly, while scrolling TikTok, I found this beautiful dance

Somehow, I have ended up on Apostolic Pentecostal TikTok. I’m not Apostolic Pentecostal, but I do have a cousin’s wife that is. They do that dancing in church, and I love it. The lady holding fabric that looks like fire is such a beautiful touch. She’s talented. Here is the song she’s dancing to. 

 

More on Sewing

Google is doing some BS to where I have to do something with a QR code in order to log in to comment anywhere. That’s why I haven’t been commenting on anyone’s blog. I guess I could do it anonymously, but gahhhh. I would respond to this in the usual way, but of course I can’t. So here goes. 

Back in late 2013, I had an EIN number for something I wanted to do. Then I started getting panic attacks in January of 2014, and all hopes and dreams fell to the wayside. I don’t know if EIN’s are for life or if I’d have to get a new one, but that wouldn’t be a problem. I know I’d have to insure myself. I don’t know how, because I just never learned how to start a business. I did order a book on all of this, and it’s on the way.  Sewing lessons would be either in my home or theirs, wherever they feel comfortable.  

Something you may not know about me: When I was growing up, there was this huge narrative that not only would no one ever hire me, but no one would ever patronize any business I started or buy any product I sold. No one would ever marry me, date me, sleep with me, so forget having a family, and no one would ever sell me a house or rent me an apartment.  Sometimes I wonder what they thought would come of me by now.  Sounds impossible- what would someone actually do with their life if that narrative was true?  

Because of this, there are a lot of basics about life I do not know.  I’m sure I can find out what I need by calling progressive.  If they can’t help me, they can refer me, and I can shop around.  

I think there’s a demand for this with homeschoolers, and homeschool co-ops. There are a lot of them around here.  We’ll see!  It’s just something I want to toy around with, and decide later.  

I had the chance to go to my favorite thrift store today- on Wednesday mornings, they have 25 cent day  where everything is 25 cents!  I usually only buy denim items for the denim chenille quilts, but today I actually found a formal gown!  They never have formal gowns on 25 cent day.  If my daughter doesn’t wear this somewhere, I can do something with it.  I haven’t found any flaws, but I can always fix whatever is wrong and try to resell it.  

I also wanted to show this off- it’s all the buttons I cut off of items from 25 cent day. I have another zip lock full somewhere. So, another thing I want to learn besides EIN numbers and things like that is button art. 

I have so many buttons. Can’t throw them away!

 

Feedback Wanted

 I have a question. What would you think if I started my own business teaching kids how to sew?  I’ve had this idea for a while now.  I’ve already written three curriculums for different ages. Feedback appreciated.