Almost the Last Day of the Year

So .... I had a spin class yesterday and I am about to go and run later this afternoon downstairs on my awesome treadmill.  At the moment, someone from a stair lift company is here so we can get a lift installed in preparation for my mother-in-law moving in towards the end of January.  Yipee.

Today I am trying to work on a project I started yesterday -- a wall hanging for my sewing room area (I think I am going to put it up in the hallway going up the stairs!).  Here is what it looked like on the web site:

I watched the video a few months ago and ordered the laser-cut letters but ... never got around to working on it.  Well, yesterday changed that!  I decided to do a border as well.  I just finished basting the top, the batting, and the back so here is where I am now at the moment with the project:

I have been reading a fascinating book called Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes: A Cautionary Tale of Race and Brutality by Stephen Bloom.  Basically I think it is the only biography on Jane Eliot, the woman behind this "experiment" that got its start in 1968.  I promise to talk about this even more later but I am learning much about the kind of teacher that she was for young people, even more she did the experiment.  

Recapturing My Head Space!

 I am not sure what has been going on for me the last few years but it has felt like I lost my "mojo" of sorts.  I stopped writing (outside of work) and even working out didn't strike me as too much fun.

But I have been slowing "awakening."  I actually have written in this blog for a second time this month (yay!) and I am trying to focus more on doing things that I want to do!  I decided to NOT work on getting classes together until next week so that gives me the rest of this week to just "relax," something that I am not always good at doing.

Yesterday I decided to try making a project with the amazing Brother Scan and Cut that Jim purchased for me as a Birthday/ Christmas present.  I have used it for fabric cutting (the quilt I recently made for my mother-in-law) but I hadn't really tackled any paper projects.  Though the cutting of the first Shadow Box went smoothly, I made a huge mistake in the sizing and not double-checking the layers actually for the frame I had purchased. After getting frustrated last night, I played with the first one again this morning (the peacock) and managed to make it work.  I then did the octopus one in about half the time and no cuss words!

After taking down the Christmas decorations around the house, I jumped on the treadmill for 45 minutes (3.05 miles) and then completed 20 minutes of yoga.  My hope is that I start to feel better with the running portion of the indoor triathlon series that I am completing (information here).

So Perhaps I Can Try This Blog One More Time?

 I hate that every time I think about sitting down and writing a blog post ... I just don't.  I used to work on articles and research and ... well ... I keep finding myself trying to keep up on the regular life of teaching and fitting in some sewing or working out when I can.

So let me make one more effort to restart this whole thing.  It is the end of the Fall 2022 semester.  I am about to finish up my grading and submit final grades.  I am a mess when it comes to being organized and together.  I want to have a web space where I can keep links to things I find online.  I want to share my thoughts.  I want to write.