Stash-busting continues in earnest.

Feb. 5th, 2015 05:10 pm
chrysilla: (clothes)
Hooray, it is time to distract myself from awfulness with much pictures of my accomplishments.

It turns out I finished 11 sewing projects in January, so that's awesome. Mostly smaller projects tho, I followed the example of the 'debt snowball method' and got a bunch of small stuff out of the way to clear away the stash. And with mostly familiar patterns, and knits, so also quicker projects.

Ironically, I'd lapsed on keeping up with my feedly blogs, and there was a goth-homemaker blog where I could have shared that in-theme-ly last month. Whups. But I would have posted them here anyway :-)

( Tshirts, cardis, pleather pants, and a skirt )

And the epic adventure in bag making, which has apparently super-impressed my therapist:

( Pleather backpack )

Next in the hopper- turning a lot of leftover linen (b/c the linen store only sells whole yards unless its a remnant) into a variety of the tank top blouses that I like. Though I've had to add an inch to the bottom of the bodice, otherwise its just too low cut. And nip in the sides a bit. But it works really nicely in linen so far. Tried doing the regular fabric-tubes for the straps on a red one, but gave up and luckily found ribbon instead. But then I heard of another technique for that which I should try. I could really use another knit cardigan, and/or longsleeved tshirt in more than one leftover color, but those are new patterns I haven't tried yet.

Also debating whether I should start making lots of drawstring bags, of varying degrees of complexity, to get thru my remnants and scraps. Or just toss the scraps, and any remnants I don't actually like. I could quilt, but that just opens a door to buy MOAR STUFF later, and there's such a wide variety of fabric weights that I'm not sure it would work out. But there's a lot of remnants I sortof inherited, and am unlikely to ever use, so why not toss them?

I've been researching jacket tailoring, to figure out how to stop screwing up collars and jackets, before I start a muslin for the blazer I keep trying to perfect. Might have to just start sewing sleeves by hand, but I'm not sure which would be more annoying. Debating whether or not to donate the collection of old jeans, b/c when would I actually wear a denim blazer? Why recycle when I can just donate to the bin in my basement?

<3 Chrysilla
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Much dresses, wow.

Jan. 12th, 2015 05:40 pm
chrysilla: (clothes)
Spent the weekend very stressed out about a neighbor situation, I think my body retaliated by not letting me sleep properly, so today there's extra brainfog and an odd kind of ... sensory overload. Sounds are too loud, lights too bright. My tummy was cranky this morning, but got better, and that's all normal for me.

But this time stress meant sewing, so instead of just working on the unfinished projects I cut two new ones, then finished one of each set. Pretty much the new things I needed for Arisia.

( Chronic Illness Cat, manyblues dress )

( Pleather + empire waist )

Also cut out one of the cardis I want to make, red flannel in that bell sleeved B4989 I like so much, without expecting to finish it over the weekend. This way I have something to pick up and work on if I have time this week, although I almost definitely won't have time until next week. Hopefully that flannel doesn't unravel easily :-/

Still have that black corduroy skirt to hem, too. And soon I'll cut a skirt out of the blue corduroy, but not the jacket for now. Did both at once with the black corduroy, and not sure I want a second jacket like that. I also think I can get thru more stash if I focus on simpler projects for a while. A couple more of B4989, several tank top blouses made from linen leftovers, and especially the knit projects I have lined up. Yay, no ironing.


In other news, Arisia is next weekend, yaaaaay! And I get to take a train instead of a bus to Boston, YAAAAAAY!!!!!

I'm building a Giovanni for the MES Cam/Anarch game, and the players are almost suspiciously friendly and excited for new blood. But ... they're Giovanni, so I guess that makes sense? The clanbook is a lot of fun so far, but I still need to put all my stuff in the DB before I go. Hopefully tonite. And look over the rest of the Arisia schedule and figure out what I'm doing and when I'm costuming. Might just bring these two 'costume' dresses with me, and do warm/casual for the rest of the weekend, b/c it will be cold and I'm not at the host hotel. Although a lot of my costume stuff *is* velvet... hmmm...

Until then, there's an IRC game I want to play tomorrow, and MES downtimes meetup Wednesday. Will probably bake brownies on Thursday, and so far eating almond-butter baked goods hasn't hurt me, so yay for bringing +10 Brownies to con.

Will deal with the kindof awful real world stuff, and all the sewing, when I get back :-P

<3 Chrysilla
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100 Things, Nevermore dress!

Oct. 28th, 2014 05:55 pm
chrysilla: (clothes)
This is technically a UFO (unfinished object), but I finished it during this challenge thingie so it counts :-P

Made from quilting cotton, but a very nice cotton that I was oogling for a while before it finally went on sale. So very much an impulse buy, oops. But it turned out pretty nice.

I tried this shirt-dress (V8785 B sz 18) once before with linen, my first linen project evar, but at that point in my hobby-ing I didn't know that 'handkerchief linen' would be an awful choice for something with seams and interfacing. Eeek. That is still in the 'give up' bin somewhere.

The shape seemed to work OK *on* me, but I still tried my now-typical waistline adjustment of folding it up about 1.5 inches on the pattern. Tho its a bit different on what I think are dolman sleeves. I skipped the buttons b/c I hate making button holes, and instead used snaps, but the tiny snaps wouldn't hold enough for all that dress. It then took me six months to finally sew on the larger snaps I got, and those seem OK. Still wearing it with leggings and a cami tomorrow, tho.

( Pictures! )

So yah, definitely Halloween themed, but will be wearing it for longer than that if the test run tomorrow goes OK. Wheeeee! Tho having just remembered tomorrow I'm getting allergy shots... hmmm, maybe not? Would still rather not bleed on it :-/

Now the Things tally is:
Sewing projects: 5

But at least that's 25% more than last time. Yay?

<3 Chrysilla
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100 Things - Halloween weekend sewings

Oct. 20th, 2014 08:55 pm
chrysilla: (clothes)
Sho much sewings this weekend, OMG.

First, I started working on the pleather hoodie I'd cut out ... sometime earlier. I don't remember now. ( Pleather Hoodie )


Next I moved on to finally using some old stash lace, more orphaned table dressings from my vending days, to make a dress. Well, an over-dress, and I already have a slip from a similar store-bought dress to go under it. I used Butterick 4827, but without interfacing, facings, or the back lacing bits. I figured lace is the ultimate woven/knit and I'd be able to pull it over my head. I was right, yay! Also shortened it a bit in the back b/c I didn't need a train for the look I wanted. I certainly didn't have enough fabric for the whole proper pattern, and the lace kept changing its width as I was measuring it. Everything still came out OK.

( Lace dress )

That was all Saturday night, decided not to start the next piece until Sunday afternoon so I could sleep and recuperate. B/c I wanted to turn my b'day silk and silk/rayon velvet pieces into a thing, and I didn't want to screw it up.

( Silk Velvet Kinda-Kimono )

Did one more little thing as my brain was slowly melting from all the strain. Got some pleather (matte black lame knit) from an older project (Nav's pants) and made some fingerless gloves. Not thumbless tho. Interesting pattern, very quick, I think I will use this on a lot more scraps in the future. Not to mention, more gloves at work = yay b/c the heat won't work all winter :-P

( Pleather gloves )

And here's the complete outfit for Accord on 11/1:
( Wolfie Goth Girl )

Didn't realize as I was planning in my head how much I'd look like a Nazgul. That's not a bad Gothmass costume for a Bone Shadow, tho. Lol.



I also have pics of the ongoing pleather backpack project, but I'll post all of those when its finished. Which still may not be for a while b/c its an annoying project :-P


So, the new total of Things:

Sewing projects: 4
... And that's it.

That's kinda far from where I wanted to be. Oh well.
<3 Chrysilla
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The stalling out cycle?

Oct. 20th, 2014 08:02 pm
chrysilla: HUGS! (HUGS!)

Since I last posted, I was well enough to do all the MES games I'm in the following weekend, and then Wednesday the following week I got smacked by another sinus infection. That's the fourth in four months. And I was sick until Tuesday the following week, and HR still hasn't processed my time off.  My houseguest still came in, and I wasn't about to turn her out at the last minute, and she was very nice about the whole thing. I didn't sleep well all weekend, but that was definitely the fault of my jerky loud neighbors and not my wonderful houseguest. So I'm OK to have more of those in the future, I just hope I won't be sick next time. *sigh*

In other words, another two weekends of not finishing all-the-chores before the work week returned. Bad grownup.

By the time I saw my allergist I was getting better, so she wouldn't give me antibiotics (tho I suspect this is taking up permanent, recursive residence in my insides), but if it comes back I can ask her immediately to dose me. She did give me a new regular allergy rx to help with this new repeating problem, and so far it seems to be helping.

Ended up selling my NYCC pass for Saturday to a friend, so at least that's some $$ I can spend on Arisia instead.  I'm not really that into NYCC but was looking forward  to cosplaying with friends and seeing lots of geekiness, sampling BPALs, etc.  But I didn't want to force myself to go while sick, and ironically DCon is a better deal for the sick person. More sit-down entertainment (panels, screenings, music), sleeping quarters right upstairs of con, and a drugstore on the premises. Oh well, I guess *next* year will be the year I try really hard to like NYCC. I'd finished my B5 cosplay and everything :-( 

Hopefully I'm not sick for Arisia (I can deal with being sick afterwards), and I've finally got all my arrangements made for that except roommates. But b/c I stalled out for too long, I missed the main-hotel room block. Oh well. I can still eat in the main hotel, the overflow hotel has zero gf nomming options.

And since then... not much going on. Got sick again, recuperated again, felt very cranky and stuck about my life. Cuz I don't do a whole lot more with it when I'm *not* too sick to go to work.  But last week, once I was able to return to work on Wednesday, I went to MES downtimes and ended up doing lots of plot-fixing until 11pm (whups).  And then I declared Nerd NYC's boardgame nite to be a Social for MES ppl, and while only one other Cammie showed up it was still fun.

Still on the Strattera, and now I'm at the 'full' pediatric dose of 60mg per day. I'm not really noticing any improvements but also not getting worse. Still not sure if the sleep probs are medical or seasonal (four months of allergies not helping :-P). So I'm willing to give it another few weeks before I declare it a fail. I really don't want to try the stronger meds. Need to work harder on catching up on teh sleeps to make sure its not a side effect.

Part of why I forced myself to be social last week was a) missing my geek-out dose from con, and b) I'd be in for the following weekend. I'm still not really catching up on making Things for my challenge, but this weekend I made some progress through my glut of sewing projects. All for the next NYC MES weekend of games, Halloween weekend. I'll make a separate post of that. It feels like I didn't do much now, but that's probably b/c my brain crashed after the double sewing marathon. I ordered more fabric b/c I'm a sucker for sales, but it was stuff I'd already swatched for more insurance-clothes against working in an unheated office all winter. A nice red flannel and a nice blue flannel. And new machine needles cuz I keep breaking them. Oops.

Nothing really planned for the coming week, at least not out of the house. I'd like to continue working on sewing projects, might cut out a bunch all at once and then gradually sew thru them so I don't have to worry about not having the craft table for another week (laundry + moar houseguests). I also still need to work on the polymer clay bits for my Lost costume, as I have either bought or ordered (or already have) all the other pieces. Some of them are kinda big, or might need big armatures/guides for baking, so I'll probably just suck it up and put them in the big oven. Doing that once in a while won't kill me.

For the weekend, there's nothing on the calendar except an Accord game on IRC, maybe, but I'm already at xp cap for the month. Might go out? Or maybe I'll finally get back to the Magnet on Wednesday or Thursday if I'm not relapsing. Or I could just work on more sewing projects cuz THE HEAT WILL NEVER EVER WORK IN MY OFFICE AGAIN. So I need more jackets and sweaters :-P

In therapy today I rehashed how I forget to call ppl to just go out to things I want to attend. But checking the internets today, Court of Lazarus was last night, and Secret Speakeasy is skipping the next 4th Sunday to have a post-Halloween party, and nope too much for me that weekend already. The 25th is Wits End, and now I have several pretty things to wear to it, so Ima see who wants to go. And probably invite some ppl directly b/c ppl rarely answer a FB wall post.

 

Apparently Thursday is supposed to be some big astrological whosawhatzit. Yay? I haven't done a tarot forecast in weeks, until last night, here's what I have to look forward to:

( Tarot! Pics! )

 

<3 Chrysilla
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Resetting a variety of systems.

Sep. 23rd, 2014 03:04 pm
chrysilla: (witch)
Last night got very spazzy with my motor skills, accidentally closed the whole browser window and lost a nice long journal post. Whups. Not feeling that much better today, actually, but went to the park to eat brownbag lunch with a friend which was nice.

Meds wise, I think my body is fighting back against the Strattera. Friday I was hyperactive, that settled down for the weekend, then on Monday I completely crashed out and fogged up an hour after my dose, was extra zombied all day. Focusing is still very difficult. Today its very similar. I have the option of being on each level of dosage for 5-10 days, and this is the fifth day of 18mg, so tomorrow Ima increase to 25. So I'll have a couple days to settle into it before going to Boston for the weekend, and I still won't have to raise my dose while I'm there. Sleep and tummy have also been a bit weird, but then they're ALWAYS a bit weird, so *shrugs*. And sleep usually gets weirder in early fall.

The fact that my office is still f'ing freezing is not helping with my focus either :-/ $$ will be tight next month, but I really need a thermometer for my desk.

As previously stated, my weekend was mostly eaten by sewing. But I interspersed sewing hours with cleaning half-hours, so now my workbench/desk is tidy again, and the bathroom is clean. There are still some bits of cleaning & organizing to do but not so much that I need to dedicate an entire weekend to the work. And I'd like to make a habit of cleaning more often so it stops piling up like that :-P


The fam came in for a Sunday brunch visit, for Dad's b'day, and they took some more of my junk away. ( Discardian Aftermath )

Finally remembered to tarot, but I only lapsed for a week I think. Not too bad. The omens look good for continuing 100 Things :-) ( Tarot pics )

A new moon in Libra would fall into my second house, so I hope that's also a good omen for $$s if not financial wealth. Cuz Friday night I looked more closely at my finances, and I've messed them up worse than I realized. Not in a 'help help emergency' way, not by a long shot, but in a 'this will take several months to put back correctly' way. So that's something, at least, that my mistakes haven't actually ruined my life immediately. But that means this is my time to fix them before they do ruin me.

( Lapsed finances geek )

Overall I think Discardia succeeded, I've mostly made space for the life I want. The problem is my brain keeps shorting out and forgetting what I want, so I forget to spend my spare time pursuing those goals. Grr.

Plans for the week include trying to make a friend's impromptu b'day thing tonight (but SHO TIRED and I forgot his gift at home :-/), picking up my new stereo at the store near my home tomorrow, plus crafty stuff after, laundry on Thursday, and Friday I head out to Boston for their MES NWoD weekend of larps. I think getting away from my home for a couple days is a really good idea right now.

Tomorrow I should get the pleather in the mail, which is tempting me to make the hoodie in time for Boston, but NO. Just no. I want to make shiny things again, unrelated to games kthnx. You can have a big new costumey stuff reveal for the 'November' games and not drive yourself crazy this week.

<3 Chrysilla
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100 Things: First Thing! An Unseen Monster of Purple and Pink Shininess

Sep. 22nd, 2014 07:55 pm
chrysilla: (clothes)
Was a sewn Thing. Because I only finally cleared off my beading/work desk this weekend, and jebus there's a lot of fabric in the house and its getting on my nerves. Also, this is for NYCC, and this is the last free weekend I'll have to work on big costuming before con. Hopefully I can knock out some smaller polymer clay stuff for other ppl before that, tho.

( Photos of the odd beast )


I also started the pleather backpack, and ... eek. The tutorial I used as a guide was for medium weight fabric + interfacing, which is not the same as using heavyweight pleather :-/ Although the order of assembly is still helpful. Next time I'll look for more pleather guides, and I'm more than a little worried about my leather-hoodie project now. Playstation (my machine) is miserable. But I have to finish this silly bag b/c I hate using shoulder bags everyday. Still have a whole bunch of pleather leftover, I can make a better backpack later.

I also want to make a bunch of small items this week before September is over. Probably earrings, and pins festooned with polymer clay "Trinkets" from my vendor days. I have the idea and materials to do something with them that would make them more listing-worthy. Probably earrings too, tho I'm not sure I have any sterling hooks left. I could just mostly-complete them and add hooks next month.


After NYCC, my next costume-deadline is Halloween weekend, which is also NYC's MES larp weekend for November (they decided against moving it to the first full Fri-Sun weekend). So instead of working on the CIC dress (postponed for Arisia), Ima work on my Lost costume for Friday night's game. Might be fun to put it on at work and then wander around before game. I can edit/finish an older project for Requiem. Maybe make the pleather hoodie for Accord (its also supposed to be a magic wolfie item).

But its Samhain weekend and I'm not sure I want to give it all to larp. On the other hand Halloween in NYC is one big obnoxious frat party, last year's Samhain ritual was aggravating (look! gf cookies! and we mixed them with the regular cookies b/c we're morons!), and I have a fellow larper friend staying at my place from out of town. Pretend debauchery is still better than none at all? I could also take that Friday off and go out Thursday nite... *ponders*

<3 Chrysilla
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Sewing Selfies!

Sep. 15th, 2014 07:16 pm
chrysilla: (clothes)
So yah, sewing kept happening if nothing else. I had given up on ever being able to make anything look not-costumey, but I think I finally figured out how to do daily-wear thanks to a couple patterns in particular (and then bought tons of knits & linen, oops). Also, made a bunch of larp clothes, and clothes that can be worn for either. I don't borrow "Marguerite's" clothes, she borrows mine :-)

Here are some examples of what I've been working on, the the full Sewing Selfies album is here on Flickr.

Sorry in advance, but I don't take sewing commissions. I might be getting back into the jewelry-for-other-ppl biz (despite other ppl being jerks when I quit) but sewing is just for me. But if you ever like pattern/fabric/etc I'm more than happy to share that info so you can take it to a proper seamstress. If familiar friends want to stop by and use my sewing machine for a little while, that's OK too.

( Many pictures! )

<3 Chrysilla
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Crawling back outside.

Feb. 24th, 2014 09:06 pm
chrysilla: I rocked out at Mutant Peep Nite (Hedwig Peep)
So that was a very disappointing February. Sheesh.

In the end I had that headcold/sinus thingie until last week, so about four weeks total. So much suck. Probably b/c I kept having to commute to work through all the blizzards that NYC kept getting smacked with, so I never had a chance to fully recover. Eventually I got to my allergist for antibiotics. And then one more big blizzard, and while we ended up closing at 3pm that Thursday it really made me crash out, especially as my coworkers had all called in sick that day. So I felt entirely justified in taking the next day, Friday, off to recuperate and let the antibiotics do their job. Was much better by Tuesday, b/c Monday was a holiday.

By the end of last week I started having a teeny bit more energy again, although the antibiotics were doing extra-drama on my stomach, so I took some otc meds for that and went out with a friend last Friday. Was very fun, full of geekiness and gossip and Chrysilla-friendly burgers.

But overall, very sad to have the good mojo I rekindled at Arisia completely dashed by weeks of illness, sinus infection + antibiotics (at least the cure wasn't worse than the disease).

The only other good thing of note to happen was going to see Coriolanus, part of the National Theater Live broadcast series at the NYU movie theater. Two thumbs up for Hiddles & Haddles, or as their slash name should be, Hiddle-Haddle :-D Overall, very good production.


There's also been more health data and ideas tumbling around in my head, since it kinda shoved its way center and kicked everything else out of my life this month. ( Health Stuff )

So, tldr- GERD and Gastritis, IBS cause unknown, sleep getting bad again, am going to try forcing myself to go out more to see if it makes me feel better. If it makes me feel worse, I can hopefully figure out *why* that is.


In terms of making myself go out more, Arisia + Cam gossip + friend a bit interested in larping is propelling me to try Cam Club again next weekend (as long as I don't get sick again, b/c ugh I've made that mistake before). I asked the Vamp VST for an NPC, b/c I don't feel up to making my own character yet. Besides, I dropped out of Cam before WW deigned to give us the actual larp rules and splat books for Requiem :-P I want to get my feet wet first. I'm a little worried about dealing with drama again, but at least I know the actual drama llamas of my past already turned their noses up at Cam a while ago, b/c they couldn't pull their usual bully tactics there.

As for other things, there's IAF, SFC, and NYRSF. And probably other initialisms I'm forgetting. In a pinch there's an improv theater. There's the free night at the Rubin museum which I keep meaning to try again. I've lost track of the few friends I saw regularly between holidays, con prep, a month of sick, and stuff they were busy with too. But they typically like an occasional evening out with nice food and company, and sometimes BPAL. Tho I might go light on that for a few weeks b/c my sinuses are still a bit mad. I ordered half my Lupers on 2/14, and it seems like there's a 2+ week delay on shipping them out. *sigh*

I've already been bringing my bead kit to work and doing constructive things on my lunchbreak. And started sewing a bit. And, um, bought some more patterns, with plans to buy fabric for two more projects (next month, b/c budget). But I've already managed to not go crazy on it, so that's good. Starting to lean more and more *away* from the giant-costume plan for DCon, and more towards a costume I already have fabric for, and one other that would be less-but-still-expensive that I already have a familiar pattern for. Regency & anime ftw, corsets optional.

As for DCon itself, ( New plan of attack? )

As for this week, my tarot seems to recommend I escape the brainfog at all costs:( Tarot! )

So for going out this week: IAF is tomorrow, that's a definite. Cam Club on Saturday. And maybe Sci Fi on Thursday or a friend's craft night on Friday (except that she has dogs, and my sinuses are still sensitive, ugh I suck). In a pinch, there's improv on Wednesday, but with Mon and Tues both being late nights I should probably take that one off. Next weekend should be Browncoats, tho still iffy about hanging out in a restaurant where I probably can't eat anything. But I miss geekends and want more of them.

<3 Chrysilla
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Unintentional Hibernations

Feb. 3rd, 2014 08:04 pm
chrysilla: (b5 one of those days)
So that's another very mixed two weeks. Arisia was great, and then the endoscopy was fine, and then I had a sinus infection that still hasn't let go of me. But I had to go back to work last Wednesday anyway.

First, Arisia! ( Read more... )

And then, an endoscopy. ( Read more... )

And then, a headcold/sinus infection thingie. ( Read more... )

Now things are sortof back to normal, except my supervisor transferred out of our department last week on Friday, so I have some new duties to attend to around the office. Which I made sure to write down b/c of medicine fog :-P. Sad to see him go, but he's going to a more tech-programming focused department.

Hopefully the boss will get on with filling the position soon, b/c I'm already feeling the lack. Without a manager to back us up, I still have to come in for opening shift if I get sick again :-/ Over the last couple of years it seems like I only get one terrible cold-out per semester, but I didn't get to recover fully before going back to work this time, so eep. Also, hopefully they get a move on with that, b/c apparently the position doesn't require an MLS. Which means more of my IT-centric friends may be able to apply. Hooray!


While I was sick, BPAL put out their Lupercalia limited's, but obv with a sinus infection I haven't done all the figuring out for that :-P But they'll be up until March 18th, and I'd like to read some reviews before I buy (if possible), and I'll be splitting my order between two months to save teh budgets. They're also discontinuing a bunch of scents on 3/18, including a couple of imps I recently aquired and enjoyed, but not sure if I want bottles. Plenty of time to figure it out, hopefully, after the sinuses subside :-P At least spending $$ on perfume means I can't spend it on fancy chocolates this month.


While sick, apparently in the last throes of Venus in retrograde, I started missing having things to work on that my brain could actually keep up with. ( Crafty Stuffs )

On a whim of some kind (it was hazy, I don't remember clearly), I decreased last week's lunch boxes to see what happened. And my digestive system was a bit less cranky, and I wasn't extra hungry after work. Tho granted, I may be too spaced out on cold meds to notice. So Ima keep doing that, which means less grocery bills.

There's a shortage of a few things at home, b/c I'm starting to space out my monthly CC trips differently. Now instead of going the first Saturday of the month, Ima go after the first payday of the month. B/c I'm tired of having to shuffle $$ around accounts to get groceries after paying all my bills. Darn monies.

Last week I also noticed that if I put all of my savings into my Roth IRA each month, instead of splitting it between IRA and emergency savings, I could max out my Roth IRA this year. Did a bit more research, and in a job-loss sort of emergency I apparently can take $$ out of my Roth without a penalty. Or at least without the same penalties. I have about 2-3 months expenses saved in the regular savings account, and "experts" say to have 6+ months saved, but Future Retired Chrysilla won't be able to eat ramen, so I'd like to start maxing out the IRA pls. If I have to drain emergency savings for some reason, I can go back to splitting paymetns until its refilled.


And there was tarot, but a big reading for Imbolc. I was a bit... fuzzy, but I got there eventually. ( Tarot photo! )


Overall... I want to go out and see my friends, and do fun stuff. But I'm still actively sick, as compared to the passive sick I sortof always am. And I'm still waiting for more medical data. I don't feel patient so much as "I f'ing give up already". Will see how it goes. Felt better this weekend, but if today's cranky-making blizzard puts me in a sinus relapse, I will be even more cranky. And I just plumb forgot my last allergy shot appointment (before Arisia), so I have to get that together as well. Will call that doc tomorrow.

This week I'm going to see Coriolanus at the NYU place, so hopefully that will be fun. Would like to stay out after with friends, but I'm not sure what my body will be up for. :-/

<3 Chrysilla
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Central heating hath murdered sleep.

Oct. 28th, 2013 07:32 pm
chrysilla: (b5 one of those days)
Was feeling mostly OK today, but now my brain seems torn about whether its awake or asleep. Meh.

Really, REALLY poor sleep for the last week. ( Attack of the heaters & alpha waves )


Really REALLY need to do some housecleaning soon. ( Upkeep )

At least being so uber-frustrated with my life again led me into a ton of rage-sewing, ( Finish projects, cut ties )

Will also have to pull out some jewelry supplies this weekend to make wedding gifts, but that shouldn't be so bad. Oh, and my own jewelry for wedding-con, which will be light since I made the whole friking costume myself. *sigh* I've also considered raiding my own stock bins for relevant shinies, cuz its not like anyone's purchased them yet.

Not feeling any pressing need to get back into jewelry right now, aside from this obligation. And now cutting sewing out of my daily life as well. Wondering if I need to add my writing project to the Samhain Sacrifice as well, but then what do I have left? And I am effectively cutting the other projects *for* this other thing. And its the only one that doesn't feel like an obligation now (yet?). I'm also very tired of going to gatherings and having only CF and gluten to talk about, eeek. At least once I get the writings together, it becomes a more social, communal art form after that. And hopefully I'll have the energy to keep up with it.

I guess I'm back to the plan/hope of building myself up to a point where the occasional setback (or SUMMER) doesn't completely paralyze me for weeks/months at a time. And at least writing requires less physical labor than the craft stuff, including wrangling and hauling and shopping for the craft stuff. Its nice having my desk cluttered with stuff that I don't feel guilty about ignoring, b/c its not jewelry supplies.

( This week's tarot )

Keeping this week pretty wide open aside from the Witch-stuff on Thursday night. I thought there was also a goth party that night, but can't find it on FB now. Might be a post-Halloween Brooklyn outing on Saturday if I feel OK, might be a Wednesday nite movie if I can still get tix (spazzed out, so probably not). Tuesday Ima try to finish some crafty stuff if I can.

Still too warm to wear my now finished Doom Coat during the day. @#!$#^!#$!@$%~!!!!!!!!!! Will probably wear it to work on Wednesday anyway, to see how it will hold up for Thursday. Otherwise, pretty vintage cut dress + cat ears = enough Halloween for mees.

<3 Chrysilla
Tags:

Still looking for my pace.

Oct. 21st, 2013 07:31 pm
chrysilla: (witch)
Last week was mostly pretty nice, with a few hiccups along the way. Mostly transit-caused.

Tuesday I got both my BPAL and BPTP orders, yay! Investigated all my new things over the course of the week so I didn't overload my sinuses. ( BPAL blathering! )

I stayed in Tuesday and Wednesday, partially b/c BPAL, and part b/c I had plans Thursday and Friday. I also baked gf/df cookies on Wednesday which was fun. I tried it with white sugar instead of honey, then a couple tbsp of honey anyway b/c the batter wasn't holding together, and they came out nice and crumbly. And slightly burnt, but in a carmalized way. On Sunday I tried the recipe again with honey and I didn't like them as much. Very simple batter tho, and doesn't make a ton of cookies so I don't have as many to nom. Tho b/c the batter-base is almond butter I *can't* eat all of them at once or I'll asplode from protein overload. On the other hand they don't give me a stomach ache like almond-flour cookies. Almonds are complicated.

The stand mixer still works, but btw that, the crock pot, and my other kitchen devices I may have to reorganize the counter-island again. Meh. Darn tiny kitchen.

Thursday was a very fun IAF meetup. Small, but included two new people from Columbia (the country, not the college) who are building their own SF writing community in their home city. And currently traveling the world to network with people and learn new arts and sciences. Sho much fun! And of course I stayed out too late, forgetting that all of the trains in central Queens were broken. (Monday night too, so I stayed in on Tuesday in part due to sleep dep.) But had good train-luck until I got to Jackson Heights station, where it was suddenly August again :-P

Got home and to bed 90 mins late, but figured I'd be OK to gently push myself through Friday b/c I'd had so much fun. Except around 5:30 I'm woken up by what might be a mousetrap going off, and instead of getting up to go check on things I lay in bed freaking out for another 90 mins. When my alarm went off at 7am it was light enough outside for me to be less freaked, and it turned out something innocuous had fallen over to make that noise. *headdesk* So Friday was a wash. I got thru the work day, did not stick around for the boardgame night I'd been looking forward to, and went right home.

Did some ritualistic things, since it was the so called "Blood Moon", and we had some Things to discuss. That seems to have been a good move. On the way home I picked up some treats for seven days of successful fun-list activities, but ppl were already getting stupid/crazy for the full moon. Great. Best to hide at home.

Saturday was spent with chores and some sewing work, Sunday my Pooka friend stopped by to hang out for a while, and I showed him what its like to use a rotary cutter on knit fabric. And we played with perfumes & tarot cards, and gossiped, and I baked cookies again. Yay for nice afternoon. I then got distracted from *finishing* sewing projects and chores by perfume. Oops. At least I finished the laundry.

( Sewing! )

This week the trains don't seem to be broken (so far), but I'm still taking it easy on plans. I have sewing to finish, and both a flu shot and an allergy shot scheduled. There's a steampunk fashion thing happening on Thursday for which I might try to finish Doom Coat, b/c black velveteen goes with everything. A friend wants to go a'gothing this weekend, and its Absolution on Saturday, so will see about that.

Am also nixing that 2-lunches-per-day experiment, b/c it wasn't working out. I ended up with two post-food crashes per day instead of one and a lot more tupperware to wash. It was hard keeping track of my work-flow with two breaks to remember. This week, one lunch one break. If I end up feeling even worse, then I can halve things again next week.

( Extended planz )

And in magical mumbo jumbo, gonna be a less than fun week. ( Tarot & Planets )


Still not getting much writing done, but a friend has an idea for a co-motivational sort of creative group. Maybe that will help?

Based on some of last week's thinky thoughts, wondering if I should start making myself go out every weeknight to see what happens. Well, every night that I'm not recovering from sleep dep or anxiety attacks, or both. In a pinch, there are always several improv-houses willing to take my $$, I'll just skip the bars afterwards. But REALLY want to finish those craft projects this week, so it may be a few more weeks before I have a normal week to try that theory.

<3 Chrysilla
Tags:

There must be blood, and this I knew. Surely there can be wonders too.

Sep. 30th, 2013 07:54 pm
chrysilla: (clothes)
Yaaaay, new [profile] s00j album :-D And I got an advanced download of it over the weekend, for purchasing it at Pagan Pride Day. With a fancy sticker :-D


Last week was ... mixed. ( Wins and Fails )

( Weekend = more fun, Pagan Pride, Star Wars, and Fairyland )

There was a LOT of internal kvetching about my stalled out life last week, so on one hand I wonder if that's finally motivating me to change it. To start the small steps that will eventually lead to bigger outcomes. And yoga and writing did happen, and sewing over the weekend, and Pagan Pride Day. But I'm also worried that the kvetching itself, the anger and the frustration, will also drain me. So... not sure what to do about that. Once again, I think the fact that I'm awake enough to be angry is a good sign, but anger itself can make me tired.


Tarot for this week looks... dramatic. ( Tarot! )

However, this weeks astro stuff seems to be about renewal, and setting up new healthy goals and life habits and such. And blah de blah heart mind balance new moon stuff. OK?


Actually, was already working on some new daily habits. This week Ima try again to split my lunch & break in half, so I don't gorge myself at noon and crash out by the end of the work day. Will see if that helps prevent the brain fog.

That came up in therapy today. Its very hard to figure out *why* the brainfog happens, b/c by its very nature, you can't see or figure out anything when you're in it. B/c its FOG. But I'll try to keep an eye out for triggers this week, even though its hard. At least I'm starting to feel the 'yay, fall!' beat again.


Will try to go right to bed tonight so I can go to a music and literature event tomorrow night (and there are even two to choose from) instead of suffering another Tuesday supercrash. But again, I didn't sleep well last night, and I ate a ton of chocolate today, so we'll see.

The rest of my week is open so far, may keep it that way to work on sewing and otherwise save spoons. In a few weeks it'll be NYCC, which I'm not going to, but I may try some of the after parties. Now that I think of it, there may be a Potterfan meetup on Thursday, but I probably won't go if they're just in the park again.


Another thought tonight- I do kinda miss live theater. But I don't think I can keep up with it physically anymore, except as an audience member (and I even keep failing at that lately). That's why I find podcasting attractive as an artform. I can just do it at my own pace, and broadcast when I'm ready.

And that's been part of the internal kvetching. I don't *think* I can accomplish the projects I want to work on, I *KNOW* I can finish them, and they'll turn out amazing b/c that's what I do. Except that my body won't let me work on them, or even remember that I have plans. Meh. Will figure it out eventually, I hopes.

<3 Chrysilla
Tags:

New projects and old skins.

Sep. 9th, 2013 08:45 pm
chrysilla: I rocked out at Mutant Peep Nite (Hedwig Peep)
Reading some newage-y stuff tonite, started thinking about the place/pattern of self-reinvention in my life thus far. And about how I tend to define myself by the projects I work on. Whether it was the jewelry business, or improv, or college for that matter. "I am teh Chrysilla, I do _____ things."

And about how I might commit and buckle down better to the new project I want to work on if I started making it the central part of my identity. So by becoming a writer/podcaster through and through, I'd actually get it together & completed.


On the other hand, I've been clutching on to my 'jewelry artisan' identity for a while now, and not really making any headway with it. Starting to wonder if that's less a CFS thing and more "I'm tired of this skin, next life phase pls." I do like it, when I remember to work on it, but like improv its just somehow not sustaining my interest or passion anymore.

May also have to resolutely put it on the back-burner for the time being to work on the new thing. Lock it all up, out of sight, so I can focus on new stuff. And lock away the guilt too. I could pick it up again later (sans guilt, of course), or maybe learn that it just doesn't suit my life anymore? Or maybe it didn't suit me to begin with (despite my knack for it) and its just taken me this long to figure that out? In which case, I don't regret the time I've spent, b/c I've learned other things from being a shinies-peddler than the craft itself.

Compared with the sewing, there are also a lot more steps involved that are not directly about making the shiny things themselves. Cataloging, pricing, photographing, etc. I wonder if the sewing is still attractive to me because it is just for me. I make the thing, its finished, the end. And its easier to work on in one hour sets, and easier to space out over months so I don't burn myself out, instead of making ALL THE THINGS as quickly as possible. Tho I've gone "ALL THE THINGS" mode on both jewelry and sewing in the past, somehow jewelry didn't convert after the epiphany of time management, yet?


But then again, the writing/podcasting project will include a lot of different steps to build up the stuff, which will then be intangible electronic data. Not sure if that will make the project more or less difficult for me. I have a friend who found that data-based work didn't work for him, tho he was good at it, b/c there was no tangible product at the end of his work day. However, the thought of having less tangible *stuff* is obviously attractive.

I dunno. I still feel this drive to at least try out the new artform (which is actually a reconnection with my old artforms of script writing & storytelling). Between the two, I'd rather give up jewelry (at least for now) and try the new thing. But that doesn't guarantee I'll even finish b/c fatigue. And if I do finish, no guarantee of "success" (however I define it) either.

And the podcasting may bring out some of my own traits that old friends haven't seen in a while, and new friends haven't seen yet. I will inevitably surprise some ppl, not sure if the results will be worth it, considering the path-of-less-resistance is a bit easier on the fatigued. At least on this project I can be selective on who I invite, audio-drama benefits from a smaller cast, unlike my experiences with larping or improv. I don't have to deal with tons of OOC drama to keep enough warm bodies in the room to play :-P


I guess this week's tarot kinda feeds into that. Sowing new seeds at the start of a long, new, exciting but probably slow-moving process. Strength is rather self-explanatory, tho Shadowscapes also notes the strength of flexibility. And then there's leaving behind an old situation that isn't working, to gain rest & perspective, and free oneself of dead weight.
( Tarot Pic! Plus astro-bits. )

Maybe I just need a change to wake me up. The big change I'd really like to make is really not feasible given illness & finances. Tho in that case, could a lesser change (assuming success) lead to a bigger one?

These kinds of thoughts are usually more Samhain than Mabon, but I guess it doesn't hurt to get started early. May do some ritual-izing (everyone's in Scorpio, lol) to help me focus. "This is The Box of Things That Can Wait." :-)

<3 Chrysilla


ps, No I'm NOT giving away free jewelry supplies, will verbally dope-slap anyone who asks. Whenever I bring something like this up and that's the immediate response, the perpetrators sound like a bunch of vultures. If I were going to cash out, I'd actually *cash out* and resell everything on Etsy. Its not just hobby-fodder, its business materials bought and paid for as a long term investment.

And I'll leave the Etsy shop open, even if production is on the backburner, tho I might lapse on tweeting and blogging if that energy would be better applied elsewhere. Its not like dropping that ball will make a huge difference now :-P
Tags:

CLEAN ALL THE THINGS.

Jun. 10th, 2013 07:35 pm
chrysilla: Queen of the Cat People, class with a cult following. (Default)
That was pretty much my weekend. With a dash of socializing, which was nice.

I had a few chores slated for the weekend, but at some point (Saturday?) I suddenly decided my longer to-do list of things just needed to get done already. Like a debt snowball in my brain, tasks that seemed complicated or carried emotional baggage/anxiety were taking up a lot of space and energy in mah brain, and I would not be free until they went away. So my accomplishments list is a bit crazier this week.

( Accomplishments! )

Even with the stuff I didn't complete, I've done a LOT of unf#$%ing of my space since MDW. And now there's room on top of the fridge for more kitchen gizmos. Yay/ohnoes!


For all the work I did this weekend, and OMG my back hurt by Sunday night, and I still had to finish the dishes and laundry, I do not feel like a wreck today. ( Health, post unF***ing )

That was nice tho, having ppl come over to visit me. Tho one kept getting bothered by my balcony curtain. I am still not sure about the hermit thing, but at least my home is more comfy for visitors.

Speaking of hermitting, this week's tarot forecast is ... dramatic on the subject:

( TAROT! )

This weeks plans ... don't really have anything specific yet. May work on some of the bits of housework I didn't get to over the weekend. Or just relax and do the Sedonia work I didn't get around to over the weekend. Hopefully the move to clean came out of my emotional unpacking, and wasn't a resistance-ploy to keep me from working on it further, which I had planned to do last weekend. Not sure how comfy it will be to hang out in WSP given all the rain that might happen. Also not sure what's going on for Dad's Day this year. Hopefully no energy crashes.

Oh, and I have to get plane tix and roommates for DragonCon. But thanx to my year-round tithes to the dragon (via online savings account) it should be financially OK this year. But I need to write down my ppl-interactions on it, b/c otherwise Ima forget who's interested, again :-/ Darnit brainfog!
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chrysilla: Queen of the Cat People, class with a cult following. (Default)
chrysilla
Queen of the Cat People, class with a cult following

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