Words + Projects + Stuff I Like
Going on a hike three times a week is the type of unemployed thing you can do when you’re waiting on some freelance stuff and your partner has a random day off. Monday we went up to Willow Heights for the aspens and they were putting everything into it. (So was that blue sky.)
Doc took a new favorite picture of me and I took…a picture of his back! This might be our relationship in a nutshell. 😂
When you start new hobbies and buy every supply under the sun for them, you’re able to Keep Busy and Save Money for years to come. Case in point: I broke out the paper stuff and made a tissue box cover for my office for FREE, because I had all the book board, glue, and paper already.
I’d made a box cover before and started a “recipe book” with dimensions for projects, so this didn’t even require engineering, just cutting to measurements. I used some of my favorite temari ball washi paper for a pop of red in there.
Being unemployed means I can drag Doc into the mountains with me whenever he has a day off, which was both Thursday and Sunday this past week. We went up around Lake Solitude/Silver Lake on Thursday to beat the crowds and the aspens were near their peak–just a gorgeous day:
Sunday was 15 degrees above normal so we decided to hang by the stream in Millcreek, but things are starting to turn there too:
1. I’ve been ceiling fan shopping and I agree: “What is going on with ceiling fans?”
2. This was cathartic to hear:
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3. Sure I ‘d like a steady income and to be able to retire, but then I go on a hike on a random weekday and think, “This is great!” Nick Vargas gets it.
The kitty boys have a routine now of getting on the bed together about 5:00 a.m. and just purring and rolling around and flopping down (still only on me though) and getting pets. I saw this Mary Oliver poem about her dog but it’s so appropriate for any little creature you have in your house.
Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night
by Mary Oliver
He puts his cheek against mine
and makes small, expressive sounds.
And when I’m awake, or awake enough
he turns upside down, his four paws in
the air and his eyes dark and fervent.
“Tell me you love me,” he says.
“Tell me again.”
Could there be a sweeter arrangement?
Over and over he gets to ask.
I get to tell.
I got so excited about finishing summer knitwear back in August that I decided to do it again.
This is the Nolita Tank, without the contrast edging (who am I?!) in Cascade Anchor Bay, a 50/50 cotton/wool blend.
Technically this was finished after the equinox, but it’s still 80 degrees here so I’ll get to wear it a bit. I took it on vacation with me too–here’s my outfit in the splendor of the Best Western (why yes I did sew another pair of huge pants for the trip):
Getting the Giardia Brothers into the carrier to go to the vet Friday morning before our trip was traumatic for everyone involved, and then we left so they spent the weekend hiding from the strangers coming in to feed them. It took them a full day after we got back for them to remember us/stop hiding when we came in from the garage.
Good thing I’d ordered a Costco cat tree on sale that showed up while we were gone. I put it together as a bribe to get them out and it worked!
By Monday afternoon I was remembered/forgiven, even without a cat tree nearby. Now we just need their giardia meds to kick in.
We had a trip to St. George in Southern Utah planned in April with Doc’s family; that got canceled but I had still researched it, so in July we booked a non-refundable and non-transferable hotel stay for the fall. Then I lost my job and we got some kitty boys, but…non-refundable and non-transferable meant we had a mandatory vacation!
I wanted to see the Maynard Dixon Museum in Mt. Carmel, east of Zion–I think I read about it years ago (probably in a Sunset magazine, ha). We did that, then spent a day in town, saw friends, and went to some hot springs. Definitely more of a resort vacation than an outdoor vacation but it was really fun.
The coolest part for me was seeing the view from the Dixon cabin and recognizing it from his paintings. (The drive down US 89 to Mt. Carmel was gorgeous, too.)
We stopped at the botanical garden, which had great information and desert plants (this is a “Cinnamon Bunny Ears” cactus).
But even in the middle of town there were cacti blooming!
The hot springs were probably the most, shall we say, engineered ones I’d been to but there was a fantastic view over the canyon and you really can’t go wrong with hot water.
1. This is right up there with the best McSweeney’s article of all time (Decorative Gourd Season): We Must Create The Shit Machine. It’s an allegory!
The miraculous Shit-Raining Machine, from which there will be NO HOPE OF RELIEF, promises to unlock PREVIOUSLY UNIMAGINABLE AND CURRENTLY VAGUE BENEFITS FOR HUMANKIND, such as:
2. Speaking of shittiness, I think of this every time I get an email about a mysterious price “change.” 
3. This is us this morning: We thought the boys might have worms and got their 💩 tested (it’s a theme today!). Turns out they have GIARDIA, so…still a parasite, just a more surprising one. We’ll get them some meds and get them sorted out, though.
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I don’t usually joke about something being “as good as” therapy or meds because it’s just not true BUT this really does come close:
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This is how I feel lately:
This might be more accurate, though.
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And finally, here are the boys in action, learning all about cutting out patterns: