Spring

     If anyone is under any illusions that I like winter, please, let me set the record straight. I do not like winter. I don't like being cold, I don't like when it is cloudy more often than not, I don't like being cold, I don't like snow, I don't like being cold, I don't like cracked fingertips. Did I mention I don't like being cold? I also really don't like that I get so blah. Usually, I am just sort of meh and unmotivated, but that is usually just when the seasons change, every season, and for a couple of weeks. Meh and unmotivated isn't fun, but this past month... I am kind of amazed I have any friends. My brain told me some really horrific things, and I tried really hard to convince myself that they were lies. But then, because my brain had told me them, I kind of believed them, and I felt sort of off and weird for a while. And I felt off and weird around my friends. Not all of them of course, I have known Crystal for such a long time, she knows how stupid my brain is in the winter, and I never think she is mad at me/thinking terrible things about me/avoiding me. I miss her, we chat when we can, get together a tiny bit (did I mention I hate winter?) and I never worry that Crystal doesn't like me. Crystal was there before I had kids and she is still around now. She never decided I wasn't worth asking to do things because I "couldn't go out" because I had kids. True story, a lot of my friends did that to me. Crystal has not been phased in the least that I have to bring my (super awesome) grown son with me when we get together. Actually, if I don't bring Travis, the first question is "where is Travis. 

     So to clear up the current ramblings of my weird brain; I don't like winter. But I love Crystal. But this is not actually a post about Crystal, or Winter. I just happen to have needed a season lead in to what I really want to talk about, and I talked to Crystal for a couple of hours the other day. She got me through a really cold day. And now it's Spring. And that is what I want to talk about. 

     I like Spring. A lot. I know that often it is still cold, or it rains all the time, but it is brighter, sunnier more often than in winter, and I like hearing birds in the morning. I know that yesterday was the first day of Spring, but all of a sudden, yesterday, I started hearing birds singing when I get up to get ready for work. Which is actually kind of funny because it's still dark when I get up. And they may have been doing it before, but I only noticed it yesterday. So before anyone attacks me (if they were thinking of it) about complaining about the incredibly mild (for Massachusetts) winter we had, just stop. I don't like winter. It's not sunny or warm, even if it's not super freezing. And yeah, rain can be better than snow, until it's not. It rained a lot this winter. Snowed a bit, rained more. Weird. I don't like winter. But that is over now.

    So yesterday was the first day of Spring, and it was actually a pretty nice day. But we had to go out and do the laundry and do some errands. But today... today was an even nicer day. And I didn't have to do anything. I got home, with a vague idea of going hiking. Ethan had had the idea of going fishing, and had also started some corned beef and cabbage. Well... 

     I told Ethan to go fishing, and I brought some stones and wire outside. Travis and I spent a couple of hours in the yard, in the sunshine, and I wrapped stones. 

      I did actually think about bringing out stuff to cut out doll clothes, but it has to be VERY specific conditions to manage that. Not just sunny and nice, but still. And it was breezy off and on. When I try to cut out doll clothes when it is breezy, or windy, it just puts me in a bad mood. And I have been in a bad mood often enough the last month. Right now, I am in a good mood. I was in a good mood yesterday too. I would like to keep it that way. Stones are unlikely to blow away. So I brought my bag of wire, a couple of stones, and a bag of tools outside and I got to work. Originally, I had 2 stones and that was kind of the plan. Just the two, that would be fun, and more than I have wrapped since Saturday I think. When I started, I was wrapping a stone every day. Because you need to do the thing every day to get good at it. I have not done daily wrapping in a bit. Today I made up for things. 

     I also made my first bracelet from a wrapped stone. The trick is to make a bail on both ends, which I have done for other projects, but can't think of what right this second. Anyway, making a double ended wrapped stone isn't particularly hard, especially not doing it this way, and then I just added a thick chain, which makes the whole thing adjustable. And I really like it! I can't wear it because I only wear bracelets on my left wrist and this is too big to wear with my Fitbit. And I have to know my step count. But I made my first bracelet from a wrapped stone and I am really pleased with it. This particular stone came from Blessed Bee Apothecary in South Hadley, MA. 

     Remember how I said I was planning on wrapping two stones and that would be enough? Yeah, that isn't what happened. I was enjoying the outside, the lovely weather, and I just kept on going. Somewhere in there, maybe when I started the fourth piece, I was reminded of my first day of stone wrapping. I wrapped that one stone five or six times and finally had to stop because my fingers hurt so much. I did these four pieces today, turning one into a bracelet, and my fingers don't hurt at all. Except my thumb, where the skin is dry and split, which hurts a lot. Washing your hands many, many, many times a day does bad things to skin. 

     Anyway, I had a good day today. I had a good day at school, and my brain never tells me that the people I work with don't like me. Maybe because I see them every day, and we usually end up laughing a lot. I have a good group of people I work with. The kids are great, my team is great, so school is great. And now the weather is pretty great. At least the last couple of days. I went out today to enjoy some of the nice weather and it made my happy. And making jewelry makes me happy. Plus I was hanging out with Travis, which also makes me happy. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer, with a high of 61 degrees (I hear all my friends who live in the desert giggling about 61 being "warm") but it will be cloudy. Tomorrow is probably a good day to stay in and work on dolls. But I had a really nice time outside wrapping stones today, and I wanted to share that.