Art, holidays, home, Seasons, Uncategorized

Jump Start

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Back in March and April, when we thought life might be back to “normal” by now and before I got hit by the furlough, I was thinking I would be very very busy at work this fall.  I had my regular programs that normally run in October and November.  Then I had five programs that should have run in the spring and were postponing until autumn as well.  In an effort to not be crazy, I thought maybe I should ramp up my holiday projects, so I wouldn’t have them hanging over me if I was insane at work.

Luckily I had already identified my theme for 2020; this is probably a good idea because at this point I might be choosing toilet paper to represent this bummer of a year!  So I ordered a few supplies that I needed and got down to work.  First I did the Ukrainian eggs (two weeks), then I worked on my Solstice cards (three weeks).

Then I got furloughed and could have put everything else off but decided to forge ahead.  The last big project is my calendar.  I get a download from one of my favorite craft companies and then decorate each page, add pretty papers and eyelets.  The pretty papers turned out to be a problem.  By the time I was ready to work on the calendars, all the craft shops around here had closed their doors .  I tried to find papers online but it was just impossible to search out everything I needed.  I just had to wait until I could get the paper in person.

I’ve been working on the calendar pages for about a month now – been stringing it out and filling in between other projects.  But yesterday, I finished up December and got all the eyelets added!  Woo hoo.  I always like to be ahead of the game with my holiday projects but I’ve definitely set a record this year.  And even if I do get called back to work, all my fall programs appear to be postponing again to next spring.  Maybe I’ll do the holiday baking early too…. I could use cookies about now!

Any projects that you’re ahead of schedule on this year?

20 thoughts on “Jump Start”

  2. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    I think I am way ahead on two projects: having surgery and worrying. You all know the story of the rotten gallbladder which has been removed and biopsied. I was not planning on that happening this summer so soon after the knee replacement, so I consider myself ahead of the game on surgery. The recovery has been smooth and short. I just get an ache in my right side at times where the organ once lived.

    Worry. COVID has kept me way ahead of the worry game. For example, I was going to visit my mother this coming weekend if her LTC facility was cleared of COVID. I received the email on Tuesday that is again open to visitors. However, now Iowa has become a hotspot with the highest rate of infection per capita. Their governor has decided to not do much about anything, including the recent derecho wind storm that ruined so much of the EasterN part of the state. Iowa denizens are unhappy with her and feeling unsafe. This worries me. Do I want to go there? Is my mother safe? At age 92, clearly something will happen, but if she gets this, she is in isolation and that would be very difficult for her. Would I be safe? After all now I am an old lady, too. Two weekends ago we met Lou’s cousin, a retired, Iowa Dr. in Rochester for a socially distanced picnic. It was really fun to see different faces and to safely gripe about the very weak interventions, both federally and in Iowa, for COVID and the wind storm. They said, “Don’t visit Iowa!” Should I listen? Yes, not going.

    I will stay home and safely can tomato soup. I can worry while I do this, which should keep me ahead of the game. And then I will started writing some posts about the recent family history project which is completed.

    Now I must start sorting through MY pictures and stuff, and scan them, too. Can I get it done before COVID ends? I will worry about that, then.

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  3. I suppose the early frost speeded up my produce processing projects. I am still “on schedule ” with the few projects I regularly take on, so that I am devising lists of ingredients I need to order for holiday baking. The big question is whether and how much lefae will I make?

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  4. My new flock of Budgies are ahead of schedule. After one week they are feeding from my hand. Also they are adapting to a better food diet which includes fruits. It took months to persuade the other people that plums were good eats. It’s also evident that they are paying attention to my efforts in getting them to talk. A wolf whistle from me makes them sit quietly for a few moments and look for the source of the sound. Dart has begun to play tug-of-war with the stringy confetti I offer him. The others are still apprehensive about that activity. Life with the original flock gave me lessons that apply wonderfully now.

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  5. Morning- Crops are ahead of schedule if you just look at last year. They’re probably a little ahead of average. I can’t claim much credit for any of that; just that I was available to get out there and do the work when the opportunity provided.

    Worry! Ha, yeah, I’m ahead of that too… but maybe just anxiety for me. Not sure about the semantics of worry vs anxiety. Just too much too much! Hopefully after November it will get better? I don’t want to think about it getting worse then.

    Our neighbors just got 2 new puppies, Maggie and Ginger. Haven’t met them yet, but I expect to see them out and about soon. Wonder what our dogs will think? So that’s fun.

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      1. If you go up our driveway (3/4 mile) and down their drive way (1/2 mile) it’s a ways. As the crow flies, Google tells me 3700′. But up and down the hills,- or as the dogs go, maybe almost a mile again.
        We have closer neighbor across the creek and up that hill, but again, by road, it’s about 6 miles.

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  6. I can’t think of anything I’m ahead on, but several things I’m at least caught up on:
    – the little bit of canning I do
    – finding music for this month’s online UU services, and I have at least been stashing ideas/music links in a folder all summer, when we don’t meet
    – getting together with friends outdoors (except, unfortunately, out-of-town ones)

    I need to start moving plants around, plan my flowers better for next year – some didn’t do well because they got either too much or too little sun.

    I’ve been saving for winter several projects that require inside work: sorting through Mom’s stuff, reorganizing the basement, playing the piano, writing letters…

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  8. My sister and brother-i-law hosted a state fair picnic in their backyard. Most people brought food, but I brought crop art. Kind of a fun thing to take a shot at. I had never attempted it before.

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  9. i am way behind on moving out of my warehouse
    i had surgery discussions and biopsies on prostate cancer but covid messed up the doctors office (they were lost) and then my doctor moved to maine. i tried to move forward with them but they were lost so i booked with mayo after 20 attempts to see new guy and then they’ve decided to pull a trump and act like nothing we ever wrong even though it’s been a 9 month hiccup
    so surgery will be happening and it looks like i’m done having children
    i guess the question is am i ahead of schedule and the answer is that my expectations seldom allow me to be ahead because i always expect it to be zip zap and that doesn’t happen
    masks are finally underway but i’m pushing for really fast secondary step and running into slow thinking partners who want slow sure instead of whomp for as long as it takes to do it.
    it’s not my job to do it, it’s my job to get it done with my team. i working on it, i’m working on it.

    ari is 2 now and he has decided what to focus on
    he is focused on shapes. he was over yesterday (wednesday is our day together) and he wanted to go outside to the trampoline and then to the bucket of chalk and on to numbers up to 59 then alphabet with color specification
    green a blue b yellow c etc then purple circle gray square pink triangle blue rectangle orange diamond black rhomboid yellow trapezoid blue parallelogram, he is up to whatever it is with 12 sides, hexagon, octogon and if you look up what has 9 sides 10 sides 11 sides he is always right. i don’t know what they are but he does
    he a freak
    his favorite activity is pouring out a basket of shapes but there are so many squares and rectangles and a noticeable shortage of nonagon sand decagons

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