merry, happy, joy, joy

We made it y’all!

The year that felt like it would never end is actually coming to a close. Someone asked me when the next Winter Olympics are this past week and I had to remind them and myself that it was THIS year!

To say this was an exhausting year is a rather large understatement and I think we are all feeling it. I mean, I am not advocating face tattoos, but Post Malone’s “always tired” ink might be the most on point thing of 2018.

All that being said, this past month I’ve embraced the Holiday season with gusto! Decorations went up on the first of December and Christmas threw up in the most beautiful way all over my house.

The #upstairstree

I may have gone a bit overboard with gifting this year, but it’s so hard when you keep finding THE perfect gifts for people from so many of my favourite local shops. I spent a fair amount of time shopping along 124th street this year and at my yearly visit to The Royal Bison show.

Check out Studio Bloom in 124st when yoU get a chance.

I’ve mentioned my new found craftiness in an earlier post, and after many dance classes and soccer practices with my craft/knitting/stitching bag in tow, last night I finally finished my last project. This one was for me and I think it’s pretty “on brand” for who I am and what I want to continue to be in 2019.

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Joyous Kwanzaa, and all the best for a less exhausting 2019!

Love and peace to you all, and thank you for continuing to read my stuff, and sticking with me through the years!

#professioNalenthusiast

sweaTer inspiration from @linguafrancaNYC

XOXO,

n~

strings and needles

In the past couple of weeks I have turned into my some kind of super crafty person. I mean, I am not going to go all Pinterest mama on you, but I’ve surprised even myself with all my crafting!

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It all started last year when I had a lot of time on my hands while also sitting on my butt recovering from my knee and hip replacement surgeries. Before I was post-operatively house-bound, my dear friend took me to the craft store and got me stocked up and started on some cross-stitching. I wasn't sure about it at first, but I found a few patterns, figured out the basics, and then I was hooked. There is an indescribable satisfaction to creating a picture from mere string and needle. And also something beautiful about the repetitiveness of the process of stitching, you lose track of time and it becomes a kind of meditation.

I made this.

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Earlier this month during the US Midterm Elections, a writer I follow on Instagram posted a picture of herself in a gorgeous cashmere sweater embroidered with the words “I miss Barack” on it and I immediately HAD TO HAVE ONE! I located the company website and found the sweater I wanted. I then saw the price tag and my heart sank. At $400 USD, it just wasn’t meant to be, and I let go of my desire for a fancy WOKE AF embroidered sweater. A week later, it hit me. I kind of know how to do some basic stitching, and I had an old cashmere sweater that I put in the “clothing swap” pile because I hadn’t worn it in over a year, AND you can literally find a tutorial for pretty much anything on Youtube these days. A week later, a couple of mistakes, and a few trips to Michael’s for more supplies, I had embroidered my first sweater. For about $40. And you can bet that I am going to be making a few more of these for myself (and perhaps a few lucky people too).

#thepersistence

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The truly crafty one in the family is Ten, and after seeing an easy and quite beautiful “Minimalist Christmas” inspired craft, she decided she wanted try to recreate these items and sell some of her handiwork at our community Holiday Kick-Off event this coming weekend. She recruited a couple of friends, and on the weekend they made a whole rack of these great little Christmas wreaths. I helped a bit, but the design and bulk of the assembly was done by them. I’ve got to say that I am quite proud of my girl and her crafty and entrepreneurial spirit. I think it may be were I get it from. ;)

It even smells like Christmas!

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Today I finished knitting my first toque. I’ve known how to knit since I was a kid, and have taken it up a few times over the years. I made each of my kids a baby blanket when they were teeny bébés, and I made my husband a neck warmer for Christmas last year. Michael’s was having a “buy two get one free” yarn sale, and on a whim I decided to stock up and make all the cousins neck warmers this year. Seeing what I was doing, Ten asked if I would also make her a toque. So, off to Youtube I went. It’s a VERY basic knit and purl pattern toque, but I made it for her and that feels good and I really hope she likes it. And of course, I’ve started another one for (almost) Twelve too.

Grandma Helen would be so proud. These are her needles.

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I’m not sure I have a point to this post other than show you and tell you that with a little help from Youtube, those pesky sale emails from Michael’s, and some basic supplies, you can make beautiful things with a little string and some needles.

N~

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I’m taking part in National Blog Posting Month, which means I’m posting on this blog {almost} every day throughout November. You can follow along and see who else is posting this month by checking out these hashtags on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter: #NetPositiveBlog and #NaBloPoMo

#PDDayMOM

My kids had (ANOTHER) PD day today.

At 7:30 AM everyone came piling into my bed asking to immediately hit their electronics. I said no. Too early. At least get dressed first. Eat some breakfast.

My husband got up and ready for work and came back to give us all kisses goodbye and get us out of bed. The kids, who not 5 minutes earlier wanted to be playing Fortnite and watching TroomTroom videos, whined and said, “But it’s a PD day, we want to sleep in.”

And then my daughter said :

“Oh Mom, everyday is a PD day for you.”

And that is when I realized that I will never win.

If I am a stay at home parent, every day is a PD day and apparently all I do is “go shopping and out for lunch and to the gym”. If I am a work out of the home parent, then everyone complains that I am not home enough and spending too much time away from the family. If I want to do anything to further my writing or professional life in any way, it’s up to me to fit it in to the family schedule without disrupting the status quo. Balance is a myth, having it all is a myth, personal fulfilment in this life dichotomy is a double-edged sword and the pointy end is always aimed at my heart.

I know I am in the VERY privileged situation of not having to work, and believe me, I do not take that for granted, but I am not sure where I have gone so wrong that my kids think that literally EVERYTHING I do is akin to an all-day-every-day-free-for-all-grown-up-PD-day.

I’m not going to list off all the things I do here, because if you are a woman and also a mother, you know what that list looks like. You have THE LIST. It’s a devil’s list. You know, one where you never ever cross off all the items on it, because more things just keep getting added to the bottom and it is never ending! AND, apparently, this list and all of the items you’ve crossed off and accomplished are also invisible to the people in your life.

And people wonder why mothers become these uber-pinterest or Instagram perfect moms. UMMM, HELLO!!!! IT’S BECAUSE WE NEED SOME RECOGNITION FOR ALL WE DO AND WE ARE NOT GETTING IT AT HOME!

Case in point: I have spent the last 3 months looking for the perfect winter season duvet cover for our master bedroom. Last week I finally found it, bought it, made the bed, and posted a picture of it on Instagram and it was the most liked thing I’ve posted all month! On the other hand, the response from my dear spouse was, “Why did we need a new duvet cover?” and from Ten it was, “Well, it’s not very festive.” So you see… LITERAL STRANGERS ON THE INTERNET CARE MORE ABOUT THE THINGS I DO TO MAKE THIS HOUSE A HOME THAN MY OWN FAMILY!

So next time you see a mom post before and after pictures of her messy/tidied house, her clean and folded laundry, or her redecorated family room YOU WILL LIKE AND <3 THE CRAP OUT OF THAT POST BECAUSE THAT WOMAN NEEDS TO BE SEEN AND APPRECIATED! Next time a mom posts a long list of all the errands she ran and the seemingly small yet many jobs she got done that day, YOU WILL CONGRATULATE HER AND GIVE HER A VIRTUAL HIGH FIVE AND TELL HER WHAT A GAWTDAMN ROCKSTAR SHE IS!

We’ve got to do this for each other ladies. Because contrary to popular belief, even that of our own little flesh and blood sweet baby angel children (demons), MOMS DO NOT GET PD DAYS!

I SEE YOU SUPER MAMAS!

Eff everyone else.

N~

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I’m taking part in National Blog Posting Month, which means I’m posting on this blog {almost} every day throughout November. You can follow along and see who else is posting this month by checking out these hashtags on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter: #NetPositiveBlog and #NaBloPoMo.