We had a nice trip down to Corpus Christi to spend Thanksgiving with Jose’s family. We drove down on Wednesday night and returned on Saturday night, each time leaving late in the day in hopes of a smooth ride with sleeping kids. The drive down went smoothly but the drive back was rough.
Charlotte was overtired after not getting a nap that day, and instead of settling down as we headed out at 5:00, she scream-cried on and off for over an hour. I crawled into the back and managed to keep her calm for a while by letting her yank on my hair — her go-to comfort “setting” is sucking on her thumb while twirling her hair, or really anyone’s hair — but that got pretty old after a while.
We stopped at McDonald’s for dinner and thankfully that served as a sort of reset button — for everyone. Despite her despair in the car, Charlotte was happy as a clam in the high chair. When we hit the road again, she finally fell asleep and Emma happily watched iPad and we made it the rest of the way without incident.
Emma is old enough now that road trips with her aren’t a big deal. I definitely look forward to a year or two from now when I can say the same for Charlotte.
—
During the calmer portion of that drive home, I well and truly decided to let go of the remaining shreds of hope of finishing my Intertwined quilt in time to submit for QuiltCon this year. I got a bit of quilting done last Wednesday, but then we were out of town for Thanksgiving…and I’m actually headed out of town again today for a short work trip. I would have had to finish the quilting yesterday and I really did think about giving it a go, but I realized pretty quickly that would be a VERY tall order.
So alas, the deadline will pass on Wednesday night without any submissions for me. C’est la vie. I’ve got some other fun quilt-related things already lined up for the next several months already, so no biggie.
—
I can’t quilt while I’m out of town…but I can cross stitch! It’s crunch time for the stocking I’ve been working on all year for Charlotte. I made a ton of progress over the last few days. Since this photo was taken midday Friday, I finished the bottom of the tree, the tree trunk, and added shadows around the snowman’s boots.
I even stitched in the car on the way home from Corpus Christi. It was dark, so I used Jose’s headlamp, which must have looked pretty bizarre to anyone who happened to pass us on the road! (And is probably not great for my eyes, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.)
—
In the week before I embarked on my crazy attempt at making a QuiltCon submission, I worked on this lovely quilt that I’m calling Acacia Radio. The pattern is Radio Way by Jaybird Quilts and I used a Tula Pink jelly roll of her old Acacia collection. I’ve had that jelly roll sitting in my stash for a couple years now. It was originally meant for a floor pillow that I never got around to making, and I decided it would look really nice as a colorful stripey quilt instead! I love how it turned out.
With both this one and the Intertwined quilt at the quilting stage right now, my sewing agenda for the next few weeks is set.
—
I’ve mentioned a couple times here that I’ve been feeling more stressed and grumpy and uptight than usual lately. I decided that perhaps one contributor to this overall ennui is the number of “self-help” podcasts that I listen to. I don’t know if they would fit a traditional description of self-help but they’re like a modern twist on that concept — podcasts about improving your life, being happier, setting good habits, self-improvement, etc.
Here’s the thing: my life is already pretty darn good. Objectively, I know that. But I think that when I find myself in a bit of a low spot, listening to that type of podcast actually has a negative impact on me rather than being helpful.
So I changed my podcast playlist, at least for now, and have been listening to things that are less instructive and more just plain interesting such as: TED Radio Hour, How I Built This, Planet Money, and This American Life. (I realize these are all public radio podcasts and maybe I should branch out, but it’s a start.) I’m also continuing to listen to American Patchwork and Quilting Radio, Matrimoney, The Girl Next Door, and Young House Love Has a Podcast.
Any other suggestions?
For fun and fluffy, I love the Popcast with Knox and Jamie! They are hilarious! One of their sponsors is ArcStories, which is a southern story-telling show and one of their advertisers. Jamie has been on it a few times. I definitely enjoy it.
Have you listened to Rich Roll’s podcast? He’s great, too.
I’ll check those out! Thanks for the reccs!
I know what you mean about having something that is meant to “help” be the opposite of helpful when in certain moods. I like to listen to the Crafty Planner podcast by Sandi Hazelwood as well (a new one comes out each week).
Letting go of the goal of submitting to QuiltCon seems wise, and I hope it means you have a lot of fun and enjoyment out of finishing it on your own pace. I am really excited by how the design challenge is resulting in so many new patterns and designs being made!
I didn’t mention Crafty Planner, but I do listen to that one occasionally!
Ugh there is so much truth in the remark about self-help podcasts. I had to unsubscribe to a few this summer because I was like…this woman is talking about respecting processes and finding truths and I am sleeping like four hours a night and have a baby who refuses to nap.
I just found Radical Personal Finance and have really enjoyed it though some episodes I skip because they just aren’t relevant.
Yeah, it finally occurred to me that if I am starting to roll my eyes at a podcast on a regular basis, perhaps I should move on!
I listen to 74 podcasts. It’s pretty much all I have time for – I can do it while scrubbing a toilet or rocking the baby to sleep. Half of them are Old Time Radio podcasts, but the others run the gamut:
TL;DR: Subscribe to 99% Invisible and The Broad Experience right now. You won’t be sorry!
You Must Remember This (stories of Old Hollywood)
Anything NPR, pretty much
Says You! – The most english-nerdy game show you’ve ever heard
Sawbones – light medical history
Politically Reactive – far-left comedy politics
Myths and Legends – as it says on the tin
The Longest Shortest Time – compelling parenthood stories
The Incomparable – nerdery
Imaginary Worlds – how and why we connect with sci-fi and fantasy genres
Gravy – Southern Food!
Good Job Brain – fun trivia
The Generation Why podcast – superdark true crime
The broad Experience – women in the workplace. Everyone should listen to this one!
The Allusionist – more language fun
99% invisible – just listen.
74 podcasts — that’s amazing! I have about 20 in my app and was starting to feel like that was too much. I listen to them while running, if I’m alone in the car (which is rare) and sometimes while sewing.
The Broad Experience and 99% Invisible both piqued my interest. I’ll check them out!