Feel-Good Friday, Late July Edition

This has been a challenging week for a number of reasons, most having to do with not getting enough sleep. I'll spare you the boring details; suffice it to say that I'm happy it's Friday. And instead of wallowing in the less-than-happy things, let's instead focus on the good in this week that was.

I mentioned at the beginning of the week that the Mister was going to be out of town for work for a few days this week. I took advantage of his absence to completely empty the stash closet and put everything on his side of the bedroom. Molly took a stab at organizing things on Tuesday while I was working, and then Wednesday night, after I put Ruthie to bed, the two of us went through all the bins and bags to put things together logically. Molly claimed some leftovers, some mini skeins, and some full skeins for herself (she's been doing a lot of crocheted motifs to make blankets). I consolidated handspun and unspun fiber into fewer containers. And we organized the yarn into bins containing full skeins/sweater quantities and collected all the fingering weight bits that could be used in charity projects. Some things were just plain thrown out because they were of no use to me or anyone else. And now the closet looks like this:

Spinning fiber is all on the left, handspun is in the center, and yarn is to the right. The Cascade bag on top of the fiber is all the bits of fingering, so I can just pull that out and pull out scraps as needed, and the soft plastic cases on top of the yarn bins is projects that have been packed away. I also want to point out that right at the top of the handspun pile is a smaller plastic bag that I deliberately left out -- it's the handspun I couldn't find that triggered this reorganization process in the first place!

Other good things: I finally blocked and photographed my most recent pair of socks (I'm writing up the pattern and will need photos, so that was good motivation):

And I've been continuing to spin almost every evening and finished the first 2 oz. (of 6 oz. total) of this lovely merino/silk/angora fiber that my friend Margene sent me:

I'm hoping we can finish up this week with some really good news: Molly is scheduled to take her driving test later this morning. She's been getting good feedback from the driving instructor (all the credit goes to the Mister for getting her out on busy and difficult roads), so I am feeling good about her chances. I know she's very much like me and won't be reckless, but nerves are always something to contend with. If you have some good thoughts to send her way at 11:30 this morning, I'm sure she'd appreciate it! Update: She passed!

I hope this past week has brought you clearer air if, like me, you were recently dealing with smoke from the forest fires. Our air has been so much better and our weather has been absolutely stunning the past couple of days -- it was in the 50s when I took Ruthie out first thing yesterday! I also hope you've been able to find some things to feel good about, and please feel free to share them in the comments, as I think we can all use a good lift! Have a lovely weekend.

Feel Good Friday

I've been in a funk lately. I mean, the news is always horrible, so it's not surprising, but I'm not sure that's the only reason. I also wouldn't say that I'm feeling down or depressed, just kind of ... indifferent to everything. Nothing really excites me, every day feels the same, and it's all kind of a grind, y'know? I'm sure it'll pass eventually, but in the meantime I thought I'd focus on some good things to round out the week -- and I'd love it if you have some good things in your life you can share with me in the comments! So here are three good things this first day of May.

1. Today is my youngest nephew's third birthday.
Appropriately for the son of a labor lawyer, he was born on International Workers' Day. We will be celebrating with a Snoopy-themed party tomorrow. Kids at this age can be pretty fickle, so the last time I saw him, I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and his answer was perfect: He wants CAKE. And cake there shall be (plus other gifts). I can't wait to hear what comes out of his mouth.

This was his reaction to the hibachi when we went out for dinner back in December.

2. I learned earlier this week that I'm a Canadian citizen.
According to a change that Canada made to its laws regarding citizenship by decent at the end of last year, I am eligible to claim Canadian citizen ship through my paternal grandmother (she was born in Toronto and never became a U.S. citizen after moving here). You can be a dual U.S./Canadian citizen, too. Now, this is good for reasons that I'm sure you can guess, but I've also always had an affinity for Canada and loved visiting there when I was growing up. I'm sure it's a process (and not a free one) to get documentation of citizenship and a passport, but I'm going to look into it.

3. Speaking of Canada, I learned they always sing "O Canada" before hockey games in Buffalo, even if the Sabres aren't playing a Canadian team.
Earlier this week, before a playoff game with the Boston Bruins, the anthem singer had to deal with a microphone malfunction that kept dropping the sound. Fortunately, the crowd was there to back her up. I'd encourage you to take a minute to listen to the story I heard on NPR.

Those are my feel good things for this week! We'll be eating cake tomorrow and cheering on the runners in the Pittsburgh Marathon on Sunday. Hope you have a great weekend with lots of reasons to feel good!

Feel Good Friday

I don't know about you, but these past several weeks, I've really looked forward to Friday because of Kym's Sanctuary posts. She always has such a fun mix of something interesting, something beautiful, and something funny. But Kym is taking a well-deserved break to have a visit with her sister this week, and because I've been busy with actual work this week and don't have a lot of usual content to share, I thought I would take a page from her book and share some things that I hope will lift your spirits a bit. I'm a bit crunched for time, so this post won't be anywhere close to Kym's level of perfection, but if I can make you smile or chuckle, I'll be happy.

First, if you're a fan of dogs and you aren't following WeRateDogs on whatever social media channel you use, you're missing out. Truly, their posts are some of the best parts of my day. This post from the other day made me laugh out loud:

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Next, are you familiar with red pandas? Molly was a little obsessed with them for a while, especially when we started watching videos of them trying to look tough when facing a very threatening ... rock.

Finally, if you want to see some beautiful photography, I'll direct you to the site of my favorite local photographer. He does a lot of shots of Pittsburgh, which might or might not interest you, but he also takes gorgeous photos of nature and landscapes. Here are a few examples:

If you like these, I'd encourage you to check out his galleries (and I won't be offended in the least if you don't feel a need to browse the Pittsburgh photos!).

Have a good weekend, remember there is beauty out there to be seen, and do your best to have a good laugh.