#eto rambles

For anyone playing along for the first time, here's a helpful little guide on how to send an international package for the @masseffectholidaycheer:

1. Make gift

2. Buy some chocolate to go with gift

3. Buy some more chocolate

4. Wonder if maybe it is too much chocolate

5. Decide there is no such thing as too much chocolate

6. Buy pretty shipping box

7. Wonder if maybe shipping box is too big

7a. (spoiler: it isn't; and even if it is the next smaller box is always too small)

8. Pick prettiest greeting card from stash (this can take anywhere from two minutes to half an hour) and write nice message

9. Put everything in box and pad liberally with wrapping paper

10. Weigh finished package and realise that it's just about a chocolate bar's weight over the cutoff between two postage price rates

11. Take out all the chocolate and wonder which item is the least neccessary

12. Decide they are all vital and must go back in

13. Pack some additional chocolate just so the higher rate is worth it

14. Tape everyth-

15. PUT THE CARD BACK IN, TOO

16. Tape everything up nice and secure

17. Get out stack of international postage labels

18. Remember that the German Post once again changed the rules and labels are no longer the right ones

19. Decide to just do it online

20. Squint at foreign address for several minutes trying to figure out which bit goes into which field of the online postage form

21. Realise that one of the &%!*§ fields is too short for the %&/$§"! number you have to put in

22. Take package to post office and ask for new labels

23. Fill out label by hand and ask if everything looks correct

24. Watch post office people try to look like they are totally knowledgeable on the international shipping thingy even though you live in a small town and they probably handle only half a dozen of those every year (and most of those are from you to your tumblr friends)

25. Go back home and make appropriate sacrifices to the Gods of International Mail Delivery to ensure package arrives some time this decade

26. Obsessively check recipient’s blog every three hours for the next two to eight weeks to see if they got it

I like coloring mandalas to de-stress sometimes, so for once I played around with designing my own. Not too bad for a first attempt, right?

(In case anyone would like to print and colour, please feel free to do so and then point me at the result so I can admire it 😊)

Today was the Annual Cleaning of the Desk, because I still haven't filed my taxes for 2017 and the deadline is the end of this month (and I already got a lovely letter from the Finanzamt asking if I had considered maybe getting a move on, no pressure of course, just here's a little list of POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES FOR NOT GETTING MY SHIT TOGETHER ON TIME, have a nice day (:  )

So now my desk is all nice and tidy (feat. a beautiful post card from the lovely @smileslikeparentheses which is my current reminder to Breathe It Will Be Okay) and if you see me around tumblr in the next two weeks feel free to prod me with a friendly “Hey there, Lenny, how’re those taxes coming along?”

One of the perks of being a grown up: if you decide that for your 34th birthday you're going to give yourself unicorn hair, there is precisely nothing anyone can do about it.

Monthly WIP Report for January

Isn't this thrilling? Well it is for me, so let's see what I've accomplished this month:

#10: Dr Who Scarf

I think I added something like sixty or seventy rows in total. The scarf, of course, looks exactly the same as before, but I crossed off several sections on my progress chart, so there's definitely something happening.

#11: Sunset Necklace 

Finished and posted here, yay!

I love this necklace, it is exactly the right size, and I adore the way it feels against my skin (kind of heavy and sturdy, not too bumpy or too cold). Which might become a bit of a problem, because I really did not enjoy the process of making it but I kind of sort of want to have another one (or ten) in different colourways...

#18: Bambi set for kid3

Finished the onesie and got started on the jacket. Definitely planning to finish this one in February.

#25: Portrait Garrus 

Finished the face and part of the armour, so it only needs the rest of the armour and some sort of background. Also goes on the list of Will Be Finished In February.

#30: Painting Kitsune 

Finished and posted here. Now with some emotional distance I’m actually starting to like it, but it's just not the style I’m going for.

#31: MEHC gift

Mailed, received, posted and acknowledged by The Harbinger. I really enjoyed putting together the package and the giftee seems to like it, too (I make it a point whenever I send a package to the USA to include at least one Kinder Surprise Egg so my poor deprived American friends will at least get to enjoy them that one time *g*)

#34: Spiral Socks

Finished and posted here :-D I’ve worn them twice so far and I am thrilled with how comfortable they are. They really do follow the shape of the foot and I’ve had no slouching, wrinkling or bunching anywhere. There will definitely be more of these in my future!

So let’s recap:

WIPs worked on: 7

WIPs finished: 4

WIPs started: 0

WIPs open: 10

Days of wipping: 31/31

I know those numbers don’t look huge, but for me they are amazing. Just half an hour every day really does add up, and I know this is so much more than I’d have gotten without setting that goal. I’m also pretty proud of the fact that I’ve managed to stick to it every single day (and I may or may not have ordered myself some shiny new art supplies as a reward) and to keep this going is really my most important wipping goal for February. I am also unreasonably proud of the fact that I did not start anything new, because my usual response to finishing one thing is to start three others, but I’m trying really hard to cultivate some self-control in that area and ideally get it down to one WIP per craft (plus some kind of no-brainer like the garter stitch scarf which has saved me on some rough nights)

I’m kind of sad that there was no writing at all, but I’m not going to beat myself up about that--I usually do my wipping late at night when everyone’s in bed and usually at that time the thought of making words happen makes me want to curl up and whimper. We’ll see how that goes in the next month.

For February I’m sticking with the goal of doing half an hour of wipping every day, but I’m adding a sort of un-numbered wildcard WIP, which stands for the fixing and mending basket. That one has been sorely neglected in favour of making new things, so hopefully it’ll get some much-needed attention that way.