Work in Progress

 

My fellow cross stitch enthusiasts would say that this is my WIP. I wouldn’t know anything about such hip jargon if it weren’t for a return to cross stitching and Floss Tube. I liked cross stitching a lot when was young, but children and cross stitch do not belong together so after long thought I kept the kids. 

In any case, I went back to stitching and I have finished two projects, a panda and a sea scene. I am a “monogamous stitcher” which means I only work on one project at a time. It also means I should finish things faster, but I usually only manage one or two “strings” a day.

I’m about halfway through my current project which is from Emma Congden’s pattern book, Cross Stitch for the Soul. I chose this nautical saying so that I could start a collection for a beach wall, but the soul improving properties of my daily stringy meditation is taking affect. It comes to mind readily when I face difficulties. Sometimes the pattern is the difficulty. I have made so many mistakes, but I’ve decide to stitch on instead of “frogging” the mistakes out and doing it over.

If you’re looking for a hobby, cross stitch is fun and cheap. Check it out on You Tube. It’s a huge and fun community.

All By Myself

 That is an empty, Double-Stuff, family-sized carton. I am proud to say I ate them all myself, and even prouder to say they were a little stale at the end! I’ve been conducting some experiments in changing how I eat, why I eat and eventually what I eat. I’m making progress as the surprising evidence shows. I had great ideas that I worked on periodically, but they all failed until I discovered and adopted Bullet Journaling. I will probably make a post about Bullet Journaling on its own, but for now I suggest you google it. There are great websites, You Tube videos and books—particularly those by Ryder Carrol who invented the whole thing.

Bullet Journaling made my behavior patterns visible, measurable and changeable. I have markers and stickers and a list of rewards I hope to earn with my new behavior, but my favorite change is wearing a new size. Oreos were a good place to study my eating habits because they are so deeply engrained and touch so many aspects of my life. Before I couldn’t leave a box of Oreos alone. They are tied to so many little moments of happiness that letting them pass or not fully enjoying them was very difficult. The more I am learning about what reasonable calorie choices are the more I am happy with two Oreos instead of the perfect four. My kids might trash a box in a few hours, but Nabisco will make more. I do think realizing that this was not the last Oreo I was ever going to eat makes not eating Oreos easier. These are some of the little lessons that are changing my thinking. It’s good to say “to a reasonable level” instead of “no” or “yes”.

Apollo

eye saw this thing about you

cannot remember when

“say it” cannot be wanted

know I’ve been your friend

too quiet with all this keeping

yew is a hard bow to bend

Beauty Full Heumann

 If it has been a while since you cried because something was so beautiful, this book should go right to the top of your reading list. Beginning with the indignities of childhood being sorted out with her neighbor friends and continuing with all the struggles that became opportunities to change the world, this book calls your heart out. I wondered if I would have Judy’s strength to make a life for herself in a cold world that didn’t want her. I wonder if I would have seen, remembered, and shared the beauty of so many little moments that added up to real change. 

Everyone should read this book in order to grow in empathy, but I would like to especially recommend it to those who have grown world-weary. It truly lifted my spirits.

Emily Dickinson

 

I have been waiting for a chance to watch the Emily Dickinson movie.She is one of my favorite poets and a comfort whenever I am feeling blocked. She was so amazingly productive and yet unsuccessful. It always made me sad. The movie explores her melancholy, but also her own unique resilience. They often rely on her poetry to carry you through scenes putting forth a few old favorites, but more often poems that don’t make the middle school reading list. If you seek to understand the struggles of women and the beauty she made of them than I cannot exhort you enough to hasten to your movie source of choice and check out A Quiet Passion. 

 This is a Zinglish Muffin. It is an experience unto itself. I have long loved English Muffins, but this goes so far beyond fork-split Thomas muffins. The nooks and crannies are small but mighty, making a small amount of butter more than adequate to elevate a circle of bread. The crumb is toothy. You haven’t had anything like it. 

Get yours at Zingerman’s Coffee Cafe.

To You Tube or Not to You Tube

 

I’ve been working on children’s curriculum for nearly a decade. I really enjoy discovering and crafting adventures for small minds. As I work through the current iteration I’m thinking it is time to publish, but how to publish? Homeschool curriculum publishers tend to be religious and conservative. While I don’t find my work outside of that realm I refuse to stay in the safe and simple world that is usually all children are presented with in such circles. I want to draw kids out and present them with opportunities to think for themselves. For this reason I’m going to pursue a secular publisher at least initially. The thing is there aren’t many secular homeschooling organizations period, so I’m worried I’ll run through my possibilities quickly without success. I think my curriculum could be amazing as an after-school club in traditional schools, but I don’t know of anyone publishing a niche item like that. Further research may solve my problems, but at the moment I think I might have to go find my audience myself.

Hence the thought of presenting my curriculum on You Tube within the Book Tube community. Most of the Book Tubes focus on adults, so that’s a concern. I am writing an adult version of my program that would seem similar enough to what Book Tube offers to fit in, but different enough to develop my own little corner. Once I have adults hooked I can start opening doors for children. It is an exciting yet daunting idea. I have always been a teacher, but the idea of teaching on film and for adults is different.

The only answer is to do more research on all of it, but one way or another this work will take flight.