Family and true friends are important!!

Well, it wasn't a productive day in terms of visual things to look at, but it was a very productive day for catching up with family. I have a cousin who has recently moved to Toronto, and we spent the afternoon together having a great chat that we haven't had in a long time. It was beautiful outside, so we spent the day visiting in the backyard. 

Speaking of family, this photo has been sitting in my random photo folder for a while. This is my small family. The photo was taken at my older brother's wedding in 1979. I guess we are a bit of an anomaly, or maybe it was the norm at the time, but there were no divorces or remarriages then. Come to think of it, there was only one divorce, and that was me! 

Two sets of grandparents in the front row and my parents and their three kids and two spouses in the back. OH my gosh -- we all look so young!! It's funny how we age, and we just don't see it! I think that is the ONLY picture of everyone together. My grandfather on the left passed away shortly after that picture was taken. 

My first DH on the extreme right. I won't go into the whole story, but although we haven't been together in a very long time, we still chat or send messages from time to time. We were so young and had no clue what we were doing getting married. 

If we were to take a similar picture today with all the family, which will NEVER happen, but if we did. There would be the parents, my older brother and his wife (no kids), me and DH (one child, now married with no children), and my younger brother and his wife (two kids, both with girlfriends). We are a small family. 

I spent some time in the garden yesterday. I don't know what happened, but I'm getting a lot of silly little weeds that are growing, well, like weeds. They are too many and too small to handpick, so I need to dig out the hoe. I hand-tilled this small area by the pond pump, and it doesn't get much sun, so the ground is very clay-like and wet. 

Who do you think plunked themselves in that spot before I could even get a bag of mulch in place? 

MOM - I like the cool earth on my butt! 

But she was having fun with her stuffie, and that's all that counts. 

MOM - I love my outdoor stuffie

I did walk them both to the grocery store again. I didn't need much, so I can manage the lighter weight and the two leashes. I could always use my backpack, and then I'd have two hands for two leashes. Murphy doesn't pull nearly as much as she used to, so walking them is almost pleasant. 

I read quite a bit as I'm attempting to get through this pile of books, both in hard copy and in digital form. I'm not overdoing it - my brain would explode if I did. So I'm taking it one step at a time. I'm almost finished with another audiobook called "Know My Name" by Chanel Miller. It's interesting how to describe what the book is about. Do you say it's about sexual abuse? Or is it about being a victim? Is it about making things right? Is it about getting justice? Or maybe even making people aware? 

Whatever theme you want to call it, it's absolutely despicable that she had to fight for everything in this book. It's despicable how differently victims of abuse are treated compared to the abuser. It's despicable how the abuser and his family's status in life is more important than the victim and her family. I'm using his and her like that because the abuser is often the male person in the relationship. 

I'm excited about how Chanel worked through all the crap the court system and the world threw at her. I'm so proud of how strong she was and how hard she fought. 

But it saddens me to no end to know that, with the current political situation, this type of scenario is almost being made the norm, and that it's just part of daily life to abuse a woman. That is scary, and currently there doesn't seem to be anyone strong enough to dig us out of that hole. This is a step backward. Yet it is shocking to see women supporting certain behaviors. I wonder if they would change their tune if it were themselves, or a close family member, or a close friend who became a victim. Would men's perspective change if it was their daughter who was raped?  

It is long (12 hours) and read by the author. Her voice is very monotone, and I suspect that is deliberate. It sets the stage for what she endured. I was tempted multiple times to speed it up, but I didn't. I wanted to ensure I heard everything she had to say. 

I hope the next book is going to be happier! 

I managed to get some cutting done. I have three projects to prep for next weekend, and, well, I need to get to work. I'm almost finished with one of them and starting to work on the other two. It's always exciting to start a new project - what fabrics to pick. Do I use scraps or not? 

Cutting fabric for a new project

The old me would have hopped in the car to get something I needed. The new me said—think it over and weigh the options. Find SOMETHING in the stash and use that! And I did! 

As I work, I'm taking a lot of pictures, and they are getting sorted into the appropriate folder for a presentation. 

Yikes—this picture did NOT turn out well at all. I was picking some fabrics and found the remains of a fat quarter. When I opened it up, I could see that it has sections cut out, but look at that big white patch!!! That is faded!!! This must have happened at the store (wherever that was) because my fabric is stored in a dark room. But what the heck? Why would I have bought it? I probably just grabbed it and didn't look at the other side of the folded fat quarter. 

A major fade on a piece of fabric

I'm sure we have all had situations in our lives with people we thought were our friends, only to find out they weren't. I've had one major incident in my life, and even though I have forgiven them (I hope I have), I will NEVER forget what happened. It was traumatic. I don't need to go into details here. 

There were two people involved. OK - there were more than two people involved, but two people were what I considered my closest and best friends. I have run into one or more of these "friends" on the rare occasion - yep - a bit awkward. And I will confess that I have considered (albeit for a very fleeting second) whether I wanted to welcome one of them back into my circle of friends, and then I read these words of wisdom, and I'm OK with things the way they are. 

These wise words say it all. 

And sadly, the same needs to be said about family. I'm pretty sure that we all have some family member who has messed things up badly. Yes—you want to be the fixer, but seriously? They don't deserve our time. Let it go!!! And I have! 

I laugh at this one because this has happened. When I randomly met one person in particular from that incident, she literally wanted to be somewhere else. And once in the grocery store, she did avoid me. And you know what? It hurt at first, but I'm over it. Yes—it was a loss for me, but if your friends aren't loyal, they don't need to be part of my life. Personally, I think it was a loss for the one person who had to choose! 

There were also people on the periphery of the situation who I don't think ever realized what happened, and they have drifted away. That part makes me sad because they did nothing but were caught in a mess. It's like the friends of a divorced couple -- who do you have allegiance to? You can't be friends with both sides. 

Enough about all that doom and gloom. Life is great—I've moved on. They and their "friends" have moved on. All is good in the world. 

It's Monday sewing, and I have to get to work on tidying up Studio B and prepping it for the Facebook Live on Wednesday for the PFAFF creative icon 3. Here is the link to join. And you can also watch it on YouTube if you don't use Facebook.

I may not have linked the exact spot to see the livestream, but it's somewhere on those pages, and if you are set up on that page, you will need to REFRESH at 3 PM when it starts. The link doesn't just start. Refresh, and all should be good.  

And on that note - it's time to get the day started!!!

It's a wonderful day today!!! I'm happy to be alive!!!

Ciao!!!!