Today is two days after Christmas, early Monday afternoon, and I’m sitting at my desk for what feels like the first time in a long while.
For years, I had a routine of writing something every day. And then sometime in the last year, that slowly faded away. I got burned out writing creatively, and even things like writing reviews started going by the wayside a lot more than I thought they would. These past two months, as summer has come on and garden projects have become more urgent, I’ve hardly sat down at my desk at all.
But today has turned out to be a beautifully warm, rainy day, and instead of painting our new set of bookshelves as I was planning to do, I thought I’d wake my computer up, turn on some Paul Cardall music, and see if I can get a note written here. In the kitchen, Mom has a podcast running while she makes lunch and works on a sewing project. Outside my bedroom, there is a multitude of thumps and bangs as Dad and my brothers work on putting new cladding up on that side of the house. And I’ve got a jar of lemon water sitting in front of me, hopefully aiding my muse as I write. 🙂 It’s surprising how refreshing little things in life can be.
One of my major projects this month was getting some sewing done. When clothing starts to rip, or the only nightclothes you have are made of flannel (and it’s summertime . . . ), it’s about time to find some more. And when you tend to make your own clothing, that means you need to take time to cut more out and sew them up. I wasn’t sad about that job! I love sewing, although I don’t take a lot of time for it because other things are often more pressing—it feels like playtime when I do get to sit down at the sewing machine!
This time, I was pleased to be able to get two nightgowns out of a duvet cover I picked up at a local second-hand shop. We do have some fabric available in the country, but it’s quite expensive, so where I’m able, I try to find pieces I can repurpose for my needs. (The floral fabric you see above is something I cut out months ago, but never sewed up; I used it as my pattern for the nightgowns I made recently.)
Another major project was helping to build a loft bed in my room! My baby sister needed to move out of my parent’s bedroom into the room my next-younger sister and I share, but before we could do that, we had to get an extra bed in my room. We debated getting a set of bunk beds, but I wanted to keep my comfortable queen-sized bed, and I wasn’t looking forward to giving that up as well as not being able to sit up in bed anymore (a notorious problem with bunks). One of my brothers is quite clever with his carpentry skills, though, and came to the rescue with a loft bed! Here he is, screwing the plywood base on:
I spent quite a few hours painting it, and I’m so pleased I did! It’s exactly what I wanted—something that looks nice while being practical, and I can still have full use of my own bed. I’m thankful we were able to do that! Here’s the finished product, with my two delighted sisters:
I still have a tiny bit of painting to do—you can see screw holes on one of the posts of the railing in the above picture, and I need to put another coat or two of paint on it before it is completely done. My brother, the carpet-layer, is also going to install a small piece of carpet on the landing, because of the way he had to join two pieces of plywood together to make that. That will happen sometime in the new year when he gets back to work, I’m assuming, when he can get the right tool from his boss for the job.
Well, the rain keeps coming and going. Maybe I’ll have time to get some more writing done before it’s time to head off and do something else!
What projects have you had going lately?
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