When winter gets to you...

... Plan the garden. 

(Or the landscape updates, tree transplants, new gates, and drainage improvements, as the case may be.)

Meds: relief or functionality, not both

I only feel truly unwound when I have taken enough sedatives that I can hardly walk. 

And even then, the chest pain often breaks through. 

Once, I could get that sensation of sweet relief by taking off my shoes after a day on my feet in heels, or sinking into a warm bath after being out in the cold. 

Now, the drugs have to kick in. 

And then I'm impaired - I shouldn't drive, or make decisions, and often I'm dozy enough that I just kinda... putter. Preferably from a semi prone position. 

It's such sweet relief, though, to feel the tension drain away... Even if the chest pain still sneaks an intermittent grip on my heart up through the haze. 

So sometimes, the impairment is worth it. 

Other times, I need to be an actual adult  and then I just live with the scrunched up feeling and hold on until I can let go. 

At the moment I'm working my way up out of the relief because my cow needs me to come and milk. But once that's done, I can be horizontal again. 

That'll be a good thing.

Mittens

Upcycled cardigan

An oversized shirt, scraps of several stained and worn t-shirts, some ribbon, embroidered cuffs from a worn sleep shirt...

And lots of little stitches. 

I'll just keep stitching things together and adding quilted bits until I no longer feel like I need to keep sewing. 

Today...

... I just can't. 

So I put on my reindeer pyjamas and got back into bed. 

Some days are like that, even in Australia.

Cheese test!

Today I cut open the first cheese I made on January 15:

It is very mild yet, sort of... Gouda-ish. Very yummy. 

I've sealed it back up and will let it age a few more weeks.

There is a lot of cheese stacking up... Yay!

Non linear journaling

I made this journal over the last two days... It's intended for non linear journaling, writing, drawing, stamping, adding bits and pieces and such. 

It's just a composition book, with lots of pages removed... Then stuff and paint added and pages glued together for thickness. There are a few tags hung on string, some tabs at the page edges, lots of room to add words and "stuff".

Most of the papers are leftovers from other projects, and everything is attached with plain white glue, glue sticks, washi tape stickers and assorted paints. 

This book is destined for someone else, and I hope it will be enjoyed... And written in and doodled on and stamped and scribbled and mussed up. 

That's what makes it personal.