And "self-medicating"

It's impossible to tease out the placebo effect but I am going to try to make myself turn off media in the evening (well, other than perhaps movies or something) and knit instead of reading stuff on the Internet.

I worked on Starbuck last night. I'm up to the point of starting the waist shaping. One of the amazing things about fingering-weight sweaters is what a (comparatively) tiny amount of yarn you need - I'm probably more than half done with the body and I'm still on my first ball of each of the yarns. (Few ends to weave in, yay).

And anyway, given our normally-blazing climate, thinner sweaters work better, and if it DOES get cold, I can just put a thermal layer under them, or go for the Amy Farrah Fowler look and put a cardigan on over the sweater and turtleneck I'm already wearing.

I did watch a little tv last night...news coverage. Yeah, two more questionable police shootings. At least what I saw from Charlotte last night, the people seemed just to be chanting and holding up signs. And there was the line of older African-American gentlemen (I saw one I know was a minister; he had a clerical collar on) who formed a buffer zone between the cops and the protesters - just standing there quietly, or else talking calmly with either group. That gives me some hope.

Protesting is fine - we have a long history in this country of peacefully protesting stuff. But when you start throwing stuff or trying to injure others or are damaging someone else's business or property or trying to frighten ordinary citizens, that's where I part company with you. Trying to injure a third party, who is not involved, because you yourself feel (or actually were) injured is wrong. It just expands the circle of pain, and there's enough pain in this life already.


I dunno. I've started to "say" things various places and deleted it because everyone's so angry right now and it's so easy for things to be interpreted through one's own lens.

And I also think a lot of the anger right now is because so many people feel they are not being heard. In some cases they may genuinely be not being heard, in others, maybe not so much.

I often feel I'm not being heard but I also know I haven't really been wronged so I probably just need to shut up and get over whatever hurt feelings I might have about not being heard.

I don't know. This is where I put up my hands and declare myself a "bear of little brain" and don't try to propose solutions because I don't have any.

***

The theme of yesterday was "getting stuff done" - I typed an exam, and made a homework for one of my classes, and I graded an exam from that class. And I went to the mechanic's and had the oil and filters changed (it was past time, though not "past time" on the mileage) and have the fluids and battery checked, all of that. And I did the workout it was too humid to do at 5 am, and did my laundry and washed my hair and changed the sheets on my bed....

I also hung my Cheerleader Applejack picture - I commissioned someone I follow on Twitter who does fanart to draw me a picture of my "inner cheerleader." It came out supercute (the person goes by LeekFish, at least on Twitter) and I got a little "floating frame" for it, and now it hangs on the wall over my bed. I also FINALLY hung up the "house box" that I bought back in February to house some of my spare blindbag ponies - it was late by the time I got that up so the Ponies will be installed this afternoon, I want to take some time to choose who gets the slots.


I'm trying to get everything set for next week by the end of the day today so I can have tomorrow and Sunday off. Still have no concrete plans of what to do. I'd LIKE to go antiquing somewhere but I don't know - don't feel like braving bad traffic and also don't want to wind up somewhere crowded and full of rude people like last week.

Then again, I have to figure out what to do for the potluck on Sunday. (We have one every month). I am leaning towards seeing if I can find a decent pork shoulder and do slow-cooker shredded pork.

***

What I really would like would be a trip to a nice large craft store - either a quilt shop or a yarn store or even just a general craft store. But that's not gonna happen. I'm still feeling "on the outs" with JoAnn Fabrics, and anyway, they're at the end of the driving I don't want to do. The yarn shop in Whitesboro is closed this weekend because the owner is at Stitches Dallas. (And yeah: if I drove in Dallas traffic I'd be all over that, but I don't.)

There's absolutely no place this side of the Red that I could find. At least, no place within a short drive. There's allegedly a quilt shop in Ardmore but that's an hour away and I'm not even sure they're still open, as their website was last updated in 2015. (And Google Maps still shows the local quilt shop as open, so I don't trust ANY of their information).

I dunno. Maybe I go downtown this afternoon and look at the new antique shop that opened and see if the gourmet shop has anything new (the last time I was in there, there was nothing I needed or wanted. I wish they carried more food items and less high-end cookware/bridal-registry type items)

***

Or maybe I go look at ceiling fans at Lowe's. I'm beginning to really hate not having an overhead light in my bedroom and even though the lights on the old fan are probably okay (it's just the fan motor that burned out), I need to replace the whole thing. I also kind of want to get another floor lamp for in there, but Lowe's is not an ideal place because their lamps tend to be cheaply made, so I don't know.

I do have the money to buy something nicer but it's hard to find it - we don't have a lighting store and most of the stores we DO have sell the cheapest stuff - which then breaks, and needs to be replaced, and in the long run is probably more expensive than buying one GOOD thing and keeping is for 15 years as would be my tendency. So I don't know. Maybe I try Vermont Country Store for a floor lamp....