This is for Sue

      When someone tells you they love reading your blog, it is sort of inspiring. I know I have been kind of a blog slacker lately, but I am trying for balance in all things. And a lot of things have shifted. I am working on dolls a lot less than I was a couple of years ago. Though I am still making dolls. I likely am not making any more sets of miniatures, they just take too much time, and to keep them reasonably priced I am making little to nothing on them. But I am thinking I MIGHT make some pet beds without sets. Which I know at least one person has been asking me to do for years now. So we'll see. I am still planning on/thinking about doing a live sale at the end of March with stuff from my collection and whatever doll/miniature things I happen to have on hand at the time. 

    So I have been SUPER slow with doll making, but like I said, I am still making dolls. I have actually been making jewelry quite a lot more than dolls, but dolls still happen. I am currently working on a western youth doll that I really should have finished this week, because I said I probably would, but that didn't happen. Ethan and I spent the solstice in the yard with all the fires going. We had above freezing temps, the smoker was going, the grill was going, and the firepit was going. And there was pretty much no wind. It was a pretty excellent day. Now it has been raining all day, super windy, and this weekend will only have a daytime high in the 20's. We definitely lucked out on Wednesday. 

     Anyway, I did actually get a start on this doll, even though it was only a small start. I got the body dremeled and the outfit cut out and sewn. I meant to keep going, but then I just didn't want to. That definitely has been happening a lot with doll work. I am tired. I have been making dolls for 16+ years and sometimes I think I don't really want to do it anymore. Or that I want a really long break. And then I make a doll, lol. That's just kind of how I do things. So dolls are still happening, just super part time. I do still take custom orders but also am not phased at all if I have no orders. That is a pretty nice balance. 

       I have been on another clothes buying kicks lately. Some of it is that I stopped pretending that I want to wear colors and am back to buying just black. It is a very easy way to shop and then my hair gets to be the colorful part of me. Anyway, I bought a couple of funny T-shirts, because I refuse to listen to the lists that say women over 40 should not wear graphic T's, and one of them arrived like this. 

      That was a really terrible experience to have the first time ordering from a company, which is exactly what I told customer service when I emailed them. I didn't ask for anything, I just said that while I can fix this, I shouldn't have to, and it is a really off putting thing for a first order and I likely wouldn't be ordering again in the future. Well, I got a somewhat horrified response back, fairly quickly, saying that never should have been allowed to leave the warehouse in that condition and did I want a refund or a replacement. I was not expecting anything, since I really can easily fix this, but since it was offered I said a replacement would be good because I really did like the shirt. And it arrived THE NEXT DAY! Holy cow! Way to turn around a bad experience! So now I have two of this shirt, but it's funny and I imagine Elecktra will like it once I fix it. I should get after that. 

     We are quickly reaching the end of 2022, a year when so many people hoped that things would be back to normal. lol, things are still weird. But they are a bit more like they used to be. Anyway, a lot of people make new years resolutions, and I have not ever really been one of those people. If I want to change something, I work on changing it. Like running... I'll get to that. But this idea that I saw on Instagram sounds pretty awesome. 

     So after a year, on January 1st you'll have 52 notes about good things that happened during the year. That sounds like a lot of fun! And it may very well be that not every note is super fantastic, some of them might be a reach, but rereading so many good times from the year sounds like a really great way to start out a new year. I am definitely going to be doing this this coming year. Now to remember to do it. 

     I don't talk about work a whole lot because I work with a very small group of kids, there are privacy laws, and you never know who is reading things. BUT, I can say that, for the most part, this year is still far superior to last year. It's not always easy, by a long shot, but it is not usually boring. This week I got pulled from my group to work with another student, in a different class. I don't like being pulled from my kids because, whether or not it is intended that way, I always feel that it says that my kids are less important. And that very well may not be what is ever meant. But I watched Travis fall through the cracks for most of his school career, and I don't want that to happen to the kids that I have chosen to work with. I just want to be allowed to do what I have been begging to do, which is work with high needs kids in a field that I have a ridiculous amount of experience (and education) in. Though I do understand that sometimes there are emergency circumstances. So this week I was knitting a lot. I won't elaborate on it. I did get to end the week with my team, and my kids (one was absent sadly) and it was definitely a great way to start the winter break. 

    OK, running. I really want to get back into running. Properly back into running. And I really have been trying. I bought fancy running shoes, and so far have been able to use them once. I went to check out the track last week (I think last week?) and there was a lot of snow on the road out to it. So I didn't even see if the track was clear or not because I didn't want to go through a lot of snow to get to it. This week I was doing other things and now this weekend is going to be in the 20s. I guess I will see what this coming week looks like. I do want to start running again. Even if it's once a week until things get a bit nicer. 

    So now I am off until January 2nd and I have grand plans of getting a bunch of stuff done. A big thing I want to do is read. I borrowed the All Souls trilogy from a friend and I am almost 200 pages into A Discovery of Witches, but there is a lot of book left. I just never seem to have time to read. So I may not make it through the series this week, but I am hoping to at least make it through one book. I also have a road trip planned, some larger sorting and cleaning projects, and the full realization that I might do none of it. Likely I will at least finish the doll I am working on and I may even work on some others. Only time will tell.