Progress is tracking positive!

In case you are wondering, Lexi and I did some real tree hugging along the walk. Why not? The trees are right there. We both got a chuckle out of it and wondered if anyone was watching. It's hard to miss me in the forest with my bright orange jacket!

At the moment, I'm reading three books - one audiobook, one ebook, and a physical book. I don't do that often, but it just worked out. All three are completely different genres. The ebook is about our brain at rest, and I have to say I agree with it and thankfully practise many of the things it mentions. One statement I completely believe in and have been saying for years is that people seem to be losing their ability to be alone with their thoughts! The need for constant entertainment, whether from another person, social media, TV, white noise, or other distractions, is eroding people's ability to be alone. God forbid that someone say they are bored! They are the owners of a brain, which provides way more exciting entertainment (if you let it) than anyone else can provide! 

According to research, solitude is important for regenerating our brain and especially our memory. And so much creativity (a fancy name for problem-solving) comes from solitude. I vote that everyone should have at least one hour a day with no outside stimuli. Not even music - just let your brain wander and learn to love yourself. 

The physical book is creepy. When you have Freida McFadden say it will affect your dreams, you know it's creepy. It's based on paranormal (please tell me it is!), which I didn't realize when I picked it up. But that's OK. Now I'm 2/3 of the way through the book and realize there are words spelled out in Morse code throughout. Hmmm—now I have to go back and decipher that! I randomly picked this book off the display shelf at the library when I was picking up a book for DH. 

And the third book—well, I'm not sure how it got into my library app, but the audiobook showed up, so I decided to read it. I wasn't far into the book, and WOW --- what the heck is this book? After chatting with DH last night, it appears that this book has been turned into a Crave TV series that people (women in particular) are going bonkers about. 

I'm almost embarrassed to tell you it's a romance. I never read romance, and it's published by the same company that Harlequin - wait, I can't fact-check that, but I saw something related to Harlequin last night. So you know that it's going to be hot. EXCEPT that it isn't about a heterosexual relationship, but a male gay relationship. Apparently, women are going mad over the series. 

Here's the reference to Harlequin: Cover Art Copyright 2024 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited. I'm not up on the publishing world, so I don't exactly know what this means - by that I mean, what does Harlequin Enterprises Limited do? Just book covers, all the publishing? Were the books republished? I think so. Anyway -- it's not important. 

I got curious and found this very interesting article about women and their motivation to watch the series, which uses the first two books (of 7) in the TV series. The TV series is going global and is being viewed in many countries. Read the article -- it has some very interesting points about gay and heterosexual relationships. 

Should you choose to read these books, I will warn you that the content is extremely explicit. And there are a lot of four-letter words. I will read the first one, but I don't really want to read more. The second half of the first book is better than the first because it deals with coming out of the closet and what that means to the people involved. 

And now onto something tamer! 

I was downstairs working, and when I came up for lunch, I looked out the window and OH MY!!!! The ground was covered with snow. The girls had fun, and then it warmed up a wee bit, and some snow melted, but it's minus 2 this morning, so I bet the sidewalks are going to be slippery. 

MOM -- more snow!!!!

All the cables are labelled and in one large bag with the switchbox. So when it's time to set up again, I can just grab that bag. I put the Cricut power cord back with the Cricut, but I made myself a note. I probably don't need to, but I did anyway!!

All the cables for the film studio set-up

And OH!!!! There is some good news about my labels. I decided to check the new tracking number. If you are tracking something from another country, it won't show up in Canada Post's system until it enters their system, but there is a GLOBAL tracking system you can use to track it from the country of origin. 

This is what happened the first time my package went into the system. 

When I realized that I could see the tracking on that global system, it seemed apparent to me that the package never left France. 

Now look at the new tracking number. 

It actually looks like it's moving. And LOOK what happened yesterday. Do I dare believe that the item has arrived in Canada? And that I might get it next week? Fingers crossed. 

YEP --- I see that number in the Canada Post Tracking!! Yahooo!!!! I have a pile of items that need the binding stitching in place. What I don't understand is why, if the package was returned to the sender, they didn't contact me or try to resend it. Why did I have to track them down (through their Etsy Canada site)? Other than a phone number, that was the ONLY contact point I had. And that is NOT where I ordered the labels from - I ordered directly through their website! 

Remember that blue box with this month's UFO items. Well, I'm making good, but slow progress as I plow my way through it. I had put a lot of small things that need to be repaired or done. For the moment, I'm happy to work on those small things, as they account for much of the clutter on the current project table, and it would be nice to clear them up. 

I had two Conqueror medals whose lanyards needed fixing. The way it comes is twisted, so I unpick the stitching, untwist the lanyard, and stitch it back together. I had two sitting there to be fixed. 

Two lanyards fixed! 

And now they are hanging on the wall with the others. I have FIVE more medals from the Lord of the Rings series, and, well, I'm not sure I'm going to hang them up. They are very heavy. That represents a lot of walking since 2020.

My Conqueror medals since 2020

I have this rug, which I need to fix. I made it years ago from fabric and batting, and when I stitched it together, I didn't use a tight enough zigzag stitch, so during washing, several seams came apart. OH -- if only I had done it correctly the first time!! 

The stitching in the rug came apart.

Murphy will be able to use this when it's back together properly. I made good progress on it yesterday, and hope to finish it today. 

I'm not adding anything to the blue bucket for this coming month, except all those bindings - I think there are seven items in the pile and six of them are small, so it won't take long as the bindings are made. I'm also traveling some this month, so I won't have much time. My goal is to completely empty the bucket, and then I'll find other things on the table to put in it. Each month, I'm just a wee bit overambitious and don't quite finish, so this month the goal is to completely finish and then fill it up again. 

I don't care if I don't completely finish what's in there. I'm making excellent progress, and I'll share the total number of things I completed next week. My goal right now is to finish/repair lots of little things and clear up the clutter. In the same way, I need to set aside a day to work through those piles of paper on the office floor. I'll get there, just on my own time. 

I also trimmed that entire pile of half-square triangles that was sitting on the cutting table. 

Half-square triangles - trimmed!

Studio B is almost back in order, which is good because it's going to be a busy week. I have the UFO Club tomorrow and am already working on the presentation and finishing up a couple of my projects. Then I have two classes next weekend, and I will be working on those and my blog posts this week. So not super crazy, but enough to keep me busy. Just the way I like it! 

And on that note, I'm out of here. I'll test those sidewalks to see how slippery they are and determine if we should walk this morning. The sidewalk plow went by last night, so let's hope!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!