Block partaaaay

I made myself a blocking board!

 That's the finished product. There are two layers of tape, vertical and horizontal, to create a grid I can use in case I need to size something perfectly. (I can't see myself needing to size something "perfectly," but ya know. Just in case.) It says "block party." I'm not as lame as I seem sometimes, I swear.

Just cardboard and tape. Most of the cardboard in my house these days is from boxes of diapers. It was garbage and now it's crafts. Love it. =) (On a side note, I'd MUCH rather be using cloth diapers. But Boyfriend doesn't want poop in the washing machine. =/ I guess I can't blame him. But I VOW, my kid will not be in Huggies forever!)


This here is the middle layer, out of three. The front is just one flat piece. Since I'm going to be sticking pins into this thing repeatedly, I wanted it to be as thick as possible. I could have done four layers, but I thought that was excessive. Plus, I'm lazy. =D

And that's the back! I put it right side out so I wouldn't have to differentiate between the front and the back. And because, well......come on, that baby is adorable, you know it's true ^_^ And that's Callie the cat! She's chillin.


My first blocking project (well, second, but first on the "official" Board of Blocking Wonders) will be a pair of earrings I finished aaaages ago and just haven't gotten around to blocking on the ironing board. That's fine though because this board needed to get made. I always neglected to block things due to the lack of a suitable surface (and aforementioned laziness). And now I have one! (A surface...not laziness. I already had that.) But seeing as how it's past midnight, the earrings are going to have to get pinned down tomorrow.

It's taking me a long time to get my Etsy shop up and running. (I don't even have anything up there right now. Sigh.) But I feel like I've been taking care of things that will make it easier to keep it stocked in the near future. Boyfriend and are I straightening out our finances, and I'm making things and learning skills that I can carry with me, rather than relying on one-time items that may or may not sell. I thought before I was building the foundation to change the way I think and live my life, but that, I think, was inaccurate. Before, I was digging the hole. Now I'm building the foundation. Small steps, small steps. It's all in the details.

Sorry my pictures suck, by the way. Haven't had the chance to pick up batteries for the camera yet, and I'm still stuck using my crappy ancient phone. Oh well.

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This was one of three side projects I have going at the moment. A few years ago, I would NEVER have had the motivation to complete even one. Or even start them. They would have been mere thoughts. But lately, I've actually stood up and done the things I want to do. It astounds me sometimes how far I've come in the last year and a half. I would question sometimes if I was headed in the right direction, leaving my job, trying to make something of my Etsy shop and whatnot. But then I look around and I see how far I've come. Where would I be if I wasn't doing what I felt guided to do? Not here.

I have to say, I'm proud of myself. I managed to pull myself up from such a bad place, it's literally like night and day. I always considered myself a "dark" person, even though I knew the light I had. Now, it's the light that wins out, every time.

What really gets me though is that that was a choice. I made the decision to change myself, and then I made the effort, horrendously difficult as it was. I truly believe now, anyone can handle any situation they make the choice to handle. Without the choice, you give up your power, being dragged wherever your life takes you without seeing where you're going, and without knowing if you're in the right place or not. But it's possible to choose to be in a certain place, to choose to have a certain frame of mind. But then doesn't it stand to reason that you can make the choice to be in the wrong place? I'd say so. But you're going to have a hell of a time trying to get there.

There are no "weak" people. There are only those who are blind, and those who make the choice to see. Nothing ever got accomplished with closed eyes. Or a closed mind, for that matter.

Now I'm left wondering, what's the difference between the mind and the inner eye? O_o Or, it feels better to say, what's the relationship between the two?

Choosing happiness over fear

The other day I realized that I'm beginning to see the good in every situation, instead of worrying about the bad. I've always tried to do that, but lately it's been effortless, and it's made me happier. My boyfriend's family has been going through a rough time. There's been a lot of pain and a complete lack of communication, and it's been hard watching him struggle through it. But when they were pulling together and trying to deal with the death of the family's patriarch, all I could think was, "There is so much strength here, among all these people who deep down really love each other. Why are they getting lost in pain?" And I realized, you have the choice to choose to see the good, no matter how overwhelming the bad may be.
When it comes right down to it, all "bad" situations come down to fear. A loved one dies, and there is an instant sadness. But there is also an instant fear, that you won't be able to cope, that you won't be able to handle all the things that suddenly need to be handled, and there is a sense that the tasks before you are insurmountable. But when everyone around you is in pain including yourself, stop and look. Everyone is around you. You are all dealing with the same loss, the same pain, the same fear. It will be months or years before the loss doesn't sting quite so much. But there is a sense of unity, of love, that strikes up almost instantly. Thrive on that unity. Choose to see the strength around you, rather than being overwhelmed by fear. A drop of water is hardly enough to survive, but an ocean can create life itself.
The same principle applies to every situation, no matter how small. I'm sitting here today, alone, in a quiet house and somewhat afraid to go for a walk. SAD strikes again. But, rather than sitting on the couch and decomposing like I would have done a scant year ago, I've chosen to see the productivity that can be created by my situation. I have a house that desperately needs to be cleaned, and a whole world's worth of time to do it in. Rather than choosing the ease and comfort of laziness, I plan to choose the momentary discomfort of doing something about it. The payoff is enormous. And when I'm finished, I realize that the discomfort wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as I imagined it'd be. Recognize the exaggerations your mind plays out. Will it really be that hard to get up and do the dishes? And how great will it feel when it's done? Choose to see the advantage, not the struggle.
Every situation has two sides, positive and negative. Sometimes one is vastly outweighed by the other, but they are both still there. You can't ignore the negative, and you can't only have the positive. But you can choose which one influences you. Take the lessons the situation has to offer, and move on. Choose happiness, love, productivity, positivity. Accept the negative, but recognize your ability to choose what stays with you.