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. 

Mornin and Evening Routine Pages

I decided to show the morning and evening routine checklist pages for my bullet journal. I can’t really show other pages, because they show account numbers and things like that. My morning routine states as follows:

Shower OR sink bath OR night before. 

Brush

Floss 

Deodorant

Lotion 

Dressed 

Hair

Makeup 

Dishes

Wipe sink

Trash 

Scoop litter

Feed cats 

Sweep 

Put dry laundry away

Pilates

Take medication 

Fill lunch kit

I always do the dishes and wipe the sink, and Kevin is the one who always feeds the cats and scoops their liter. The other stuff is half me and half him. I put it on the list just to “make sure”. If he does it, it gets checked off. Sometimes I forget to put on makeup or floss. Of course I never forget to get dressed. It’s just part of having ADHD and always having been taught that I can’t succeed. Stuff gets ignored because there’s a “what’s the point” attitude about it. 

I made one evening routine for at home and one for motel rooms, because we travel for work a lot. 

Evening routine at home:

Maybe shower 

Floss

Brush with a “wisp” Colgate disposable brush 

Clean face

Read 30 minutes 

Write 30 minutes 

Pilates

Finish step count

Feed cats at 5:00 pm. 

I have not been doing my 30 minutes of writing like I used to!  And I have not read for fun in literally years. Not since before I quit the museum to finish school. 

Evening routine for a motel:

Take a bath with epsom salts

Shave legs 

Clip nails

Make sure cats get fed at home (so, check in with my mother in law)

Arrange bags (designate a dirty clothes pile, put sundries out, and put clean clothes on provided hangers)

Reading OR writing 

Pilates OR finish step count (because sleeping in a motel usually means a long day. 

Next up is my books I want to read list. I also want to add that to the index. 

 

Bullet Journal Pages

This was the notebook I decided to use for my bullet journal. It was 50 cents during back to school season. 

This is my index. The first thing I did was number all the pages in the lower right hand corners. The notebook said it had 80 pages, but the first was the index. I thought I would only get to number 1-79, but there were two free pages. I got to number 1-81. 

The point of this is to be your life book. All of your info in one place. 

I made a list of “acceptable gas station snacks” because most stores we do inventory at are convenient stores. Often, I don’t put anything of my own in Kevin’s lunch kit, so I’m forced to buy something if I get hungry. This is just a list of things for sale in most C-stores that are on the green list for my diet, which I haven’t been too religious on. 

Home recipes and shopping list is the same thing. 

On the medication log, I wrote down several dates all the way to Jan 17, and a “remaining” line underneath. When I take my meds in the morning, I’ll write that I took one metformin, one atorvastatin, one propranolol, and then underneath that write how many of each I have remaining. I’m also taking iron pills, vitamin C, and a multivitamin, but those are easily accessible and I don’t need to record how many are left. 

On my step count log, I’ll write how many steps I had as of 11:59pm 

Daily to do lists are also daily logs. 

Student loan payment logs are a replacement of the log I’ve been keeping in my phone, stating how much I paid on what date and what that brings the total balance to. 

The ER bill payment log is an old $5000+ balance I have from an old ER visit from 2019. It’s under $2500 I think at this point, and they take 42 per month out of my account on either the 11th or 12th. I should really call to ask my current balance. 

The unexpected bank withdrawal log is for just that. Unexpected bank withdrawals to look into. Either cancel something I didn’t, or whatever. 

BCBS 2026 is my new health insurance, which I’m actually dreading. You don’t get that many choices on Obamacare anymore, and while I used to be all for it, I literally hate it now. More later. 

Then there’s a morning and evening routine, with a complete checklist of things to complete each morning and evening, because I always forget a handful of them. 

Finally, I had some fun with the ChatGPT candy cane backdrops. There’s my daughter’s graduation pic, our wedding picture from March, and kevin with our boss’s dog. Kevin has both legs irl though! Gotta love AI!

 

Happy Birthday in Heaven

My Yiayia (my maternal grandmother) “turns” 120 today. She passed away in 1992. 

Something not a lot of people know about her- she had a job hand sewing sequins onto formalwear. She did this all throughout the 1950’s!  I heard stories about this alongside tall tales of how women weren’t allowed to work back then. 

Happy birthday in heaven, Yiayia!

 

Bullet Journaling 📓 📝

 My plan for the bullet journal was to get a planner and jot down a few points on each day, in the beginning of the day. Then I started listening to the audiobook, and I realized it’s a whole process. There’s nothing intimidating about the big process, though. Ryder Carrol, the author, came up with this system himself, and he has ADHD. There’s “no rules”, but there are some key elements. The “no rules” part just has to do with what you chose your goals to be and what you yourself put in there. As I listened to the method a second time, I realized that not only would a few lines in a planner not work, but the actual bullet journal has the potential to work for me. 

When I worked at the children’s museum, we used to have about 30-50 minutes between the museum opening and the rush of children (on weekdays that is- because of the start times of school tours.  Weekends there was always a rush.) I used to get out a piece of chartreuse paper and a very sharp pencil and make my to do lists during this dead time. This was during my pregnancy and when my daughter was a small child. She was born a year after I started there, and I can’t remember if she was in first or second grade when I left to finish school. After I finished college of course is when my life completely fell apart and I started having disabling panic attacks. To-do lists were suddenly a thing of the past, and I didn’t even realize my system was being dismantled, nor did I realize how the system helped me. 

It’s well past time to restart an organization system for the many aspects of life. I can definitely still do chartreuse paper and super sharp pencils and throwing it away when all items are crossed off. I want something new, though. Of course, I can do that if bulletproof journals don’t work out.  

I do have SOME chartreuse paper, so I can use it to brainstorm topics for the bulletproof journals journal. 

Let’s see how this works out. www.bulletjournal.com

Christmas Sucked

 Last night, my husband and I decided we aren’t going to celebrate any more holidays with my mom. She is just too difficult. Of course, she’s 80 years old, so we may not even have a choice but to celebrate with her. Every year for the next indefinite amount of years, she’s going to use the “I might be dead by next year” card to guilt us. 

Technically, any of us might be dead next year. It’s just that Thanksgiving was nice without her. 

As soon as we walked in the door, she asked Kevin if he is sick of me yet. I wanted to storm out, but my daughter was on her way. I wanted to see my daughter. I also struggle with constant conversation with my mom, because she gets mad at me/ outbursts at me if I respond wrong. She started to do that when I said I didn't want any more chips and salsa. So I was like, ok let me have some more. I have to pacify her constantly, and it’s exhausting. Kevin knows all about this and also knows that she would never do this to him. So he does most of the conversing with her to alleviate the stress off of me. It would be just my luck if my mom used that to accuse him of “not letting me speak” like an abusive and controlling husband. She hasn’t come up with that one yet, but some of my extended family would think that. 

When we got home, I decided to go to the emergency room to get heart palpitations checked out. I went to a cardiologist in 2024 for heart palpitations, and she diagnosed me with PVC’s at 9%. She told me to avoid energy drinks and take Propranolol. But the propranolol ran out, and at the time, I was told it was a controlled substance. It’s not- that’s what this ER doctor said. He gave me one in the ER, and also gave me a Valium. He then ran tests for a bunch of things including AFIB and a bunch of other things. Everything was normal except that my heart rate was 110. He called in refills of propranolol to the pharmacy, which I can pick up today. 

I decided that I need to start taking it regularly for my anxiety symptoms as a replacement for gabapentin. Most people who read this know my struggles obtaining that in the last year or so.  I have been taking this for anxiety for over four years, but it recently became a controlled substance in the last year or so. I quickly found out that if something becomes controlled while you’ve already been on it, then you get demonized like crazy. The narrative in society that you’re “such a brave strong woman for seeking help for your mental health” or whatever, no longer applies. You are now a villain, not a hero lol. I do have some remaining gabapentin, and they went into my safe. Also in my safe is my 100 Envelope challenge.  It’s there for extreme emergencies, but no one wants those. 

My phone must have been listening, because I started getting ads for Propranolol Candies. 🤦🏻‍♀️ 

I sent the link to my cousin/bff the doctor, and she said oh!  That’s problematic!!

It really is, because crap like that has the potential to eventually make propranolol a controlled substance. Then I’ll become a villain again for wanting refills. Four or five years ago, gabapentin was actually given out freely because they wanted to stop giving benzodiazepines. We aren’t there yet though, so for now I can just use what’s available to me while I set the goals I want to set. 

Stay tuned for more New Years goals!