Can we talk?
So, I always feel a little weird and awkward about this, but I use Google Analytics on my site.
That doesn’t mean I know who you are when you visit me here, but Google does tell me what state or country visitors are from, and which posts people spend the most time on. Analytics came with the blog, and it’s kind of nice to be able to check in on it sometimes and know that I’m not just here talking to myself.
I know that a few people read my book posts, but the ones that get the most action are my sewing posts.
I haven’t finished a sewing project in so long that I can’t remember the last time it happened. There was a magical time leading up to Halloween where I made 6 costumes over the course of a couple of months, but then I totally shut down due to lack of sunlight and did very little after that.
I always tell myself, this is my blog, and I want to write about what I’m doing and what I care about. Even *I* am sick of writing about books, but I don’t have any sewing projects that are ready for prime time.
I’m easily overstimulated. It only takes a few variables to leave me close to a meltdown. In the worst case scenarios, I’m essentially blind and deaf – my vision and hearing literally shut down when I can’t take it anymore. Equations like:
loud music + 2 kids talking to me at the same time + being tired
OR
hunger + someone talking to me + trying to execute a left-hand turn
These can easily equal tunnel vision, no vision, or a brief loss of hearing. This has happened while driving and in social situations and it is terrifying.
After reading several books with protagonists who were on the Autism Spectrum, I started to wonder if maybe I was on one end of that, but it didn’t quite feel right. I don’t think it’s that I experience the world that differently from other people, I experience it MORE and LOUDER.
I don’t remember how I came across the books written by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D., about highly sensitive people. There are a number to choose from, but I went for The Highly Sensitive Parent: Be Brilliant In Your Role, Even When The World Overwhelms You, which I then kept for way past its due date at the library.
I want to wear Victorian or Edwardian costume with the right silhouette, but I’m not feeling the frills of the time period. The imaginary event I’m thinking of as I plan this costume is an Anne of Green Gables-type outdoor picnic setting.
It still amazes me with costuming how much time is spent making underwear. Here’s a quick round-up of my progress for this era, which I’m counting as a twofer since with some modifications, the things I’m making should work for the later part of the 19th century into the beginning of the 20th.
Health Care Workers, use this cap to: Cushion your head and ears from the multiple insults of masks, face shields, and/or googles layered on top of each other. Tuck your unwashed, freshly washed, or uncooperative hair away.
The cap is fully lined and can be hand or machine sewn. You need less than a half yard of fabric, two buttons (I used 5/8 in. buttons) and matching thread. I used a quarter inch seam allowance since all the edges are enclosed.
Is the New Year a new start for you?
It generally hasn’t been for me. I much prefer the new book smell of fall for my fresh starts. New Year’s felt forced. I often worked that night and had to ask my patients the date every hour all night long. It confused all of us and constantly reminded us of the passage of time, blurring the effect of waking up to a fresh beginning in the new year.
This year was a bit different, right? A bit of a dumpster fire, by some estimates. Way out of bounds for what most of us expected.
The end of 2020 felt like the perfect time to embrace all that New Year’s had to offer.
