Monday morning things

* Finished the last few charm-pack blocks (plus two additional blocks - I had miscounted and only planned out 16 of the 18, so I had to dig through the leftover charm squares) on the current quilt top done, and started the other blocks (which are simpler as they are all the same fabric + white background).

Next quilt is going to be a v. simple three-fabric quilt using a pattern in a back issue of Quilty (something like fourpatches or checkerboards, alternating with long strips - I have some floral fabrics I just want to use up for this one and it will be fun to have a just-simple quilt that requires no laying out to assemble it.)

One thing I want to try to do this year is to "just use up" some of the fabric I've been kind of hoarding: to stop "saving" pieces for the "perfect pattern" (or "saving" patterns for "when I find the perfect fabric") and just pick fabrics and patterns that should work, and just enjoy sewing them and getting a few more quilt tops out of it. (And yeah, if I wind up with a larger number stockpiled than I'm comfortable paying to have quilted....well, I still have a dream of buying my own longarm machine some day and learning to use it, and I could work them up then). And also, maybe, just be comfortable with the idea of doing more than one iteration of a pattern I like...I do it with knitted things (I have *three* SitCom Chic sweaters).

I'm also waiting and hoping for the quilt-shop to call me that my little pink quilt is done; it should be fairly soon.

* I also worked a bit more on the "Socks for the Deputy Headmistress" and so far, they please me. You CAN see the knit-purl pattern fairly well on the bright pink. I don't like knitting a fancy pattern (especially something like a knit-purl pattern, which to me seems to take longer than either cables or lace) and having it not show up because the yarn is too dark or too busy. Maybe a bit later I'll take a photo; I have the first cuff about half done (3 repeats of the pattern and I'm about 1 1/2 in).

* One thing I thought about, didn't buy, and might regret not-buying (but could probably get if they still had it on a later trip): at the JoAnn's, in the "novelty kids' fabric" aisle, they had a jersey knit printed all over with little Stitches (the alien from "Lilo and Stitch") and I looked at it and thought "that would make a fun nightshirt" but it would also have required buying a pattern for a nightshirt and I had already spent $50 on yarn at the yarn shop, so....but I might still get it some time if they still have it, or, if I get to the JoAnn's in my parents' town over break, I might get it there and make it up there. (Bonus: I would have a bigger table to lay out and cut out the pattern on up there, instead of having to use my living room floor)

Yes, I have lots of pajamas. But they are important to me. I even have what I think of as "pre-pajamas" - comfortable clothes that are still okay for going outside in if you have to put the trash down or if you need to run through the bank's drive through window (I would go ahead and get "properly dressed" again if I had to go to the grocery, but it's nice to have lounge pants and old floppy funny t-shirts for at-home wear.)

(I could also perhaps mail-order the Stitch fabric. I know JoAnn's does mail order but I have no idea how successful it is; I know there are a few large concerns like that whose mail-order is terrible. this is the fabric in question, so I *could* mail order it, but I have found some of the old "legacy" businesses like JoAnn's, which started out before e-commerce, can be VERY slow at shipping stuff)

* Allergies very bad today and I have sort of a sinus headache. I did NOT want to get up this morning but I forced myself to get up and do a workout, on the grounds that Bell Choir is tonight and I won't have time to do it when I get home. And I've done two days in a row now so I could take tomorrow off if I want to. (Generally I try to do two days on, one day off, to allow my muscles to recover).

I'm also a little more fumbly today than I normally am: succeeded in slamming my hand in the automatically-closing doors of the chemical cabinet, and was not happy to have to get up on a slightly rickety stool in order to be tall enough to see the back of the (overcrowded) shelf in that cabinet. It would be ironic if I were injured by a cabinet purchased to meet a mandate to keep the chemicals more safe. (Supposedly: so they are locked up so people couldn't get at them to do harm with them, though the prep room they are in is also locked except when I am teaching in there....)

* For Saturday I need to make something kind of like scalloped potatoes. There is a recipe in our CWF book. It calls for a can of cream-of-chicken soup and I don't know....do I just do the recipe as written, or do I get fancy and maybe make my own cream-sauce-with-chicken-broth (I will definitely use "real" cheese - probably a medium cheddar - instead of the Velveeta). The bonus would be I could eat it - canned cream of chicken soup has celery, which I still have to avoid, despite my hives being far less recently. I plan to make it up Friday afternoon and then bake it Saturday morning so it will be hot and fresh for the lunch....I suppose it comes down to how much time I have. (I might go ahead and just buy the already-made hash brown potatoes like the recipe suggests, rather than cooking, peeling, and slicing regular potatoes, I don't know. I think that might have a texture easier to serve up than sliced whole potatoes would)

* And yeah, my hives have greatly reduced. I am actually wondering, having read that hormonal fluctuations can cause them in some women, if that's one gift menopause gave me. I don't know but I welcome having fewer hives and less itchiness. I still sometimes get them on my feet and ankles (probably because that's where I get exposed to allergens; walking through dusty areas where there's pollen in the dust). But far fewer on my torso and (knock wood) none of the ones around my eyes recently. Or it could be I'm just having a late remission. (Some people with chronic hives go into remission after 5 years or so of them; I first started having them around 2008 or 2009, so this would be more like 10 years).

(And yeah. I am hopefully through with menopause. By the calendar I am officially "in" it but in the past few weeks I have noticed that the anxiety I had had - which I guess I had kind of just accepted as "this is my life now" and not sought relief for - is a lot less. Never did have hot flashes or really night sweats. (I always have had some nights where I would wake up and go "oh wow, now I'm too warm" but I wasn't actually sweating, so... And yes, I know all the things, that now I need to be even more careful about remembering to moisturize, and hopefully my history of getting lots of calcium and the fact that I do regular weight-bearing exercise will help reduce my risk of osteoporosis, and yes, that I probably will see a bit of a slowdown in my metabolism (which I also hope the exercise will help stave off)