Something weird
May. 15th, 2026 09:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
koshka_the_catI still think I have to take my contacts out. I stopped wearing them regularly over a decade ago? But I sort of do have internal contacts now.
koshka_the_cat
Crap
May. 15th, 2026 11:01 ambrickhousewenchI totally overslept today and missed my massage appointment.
I was really looking forward to a massage today.
FML.
I was really looking forward to a massage today.
FML.
Good news!
May. 14th, 2026 06:16 pmkoshka_the_catI didn't mention that I had a thyroid nodule of intermediate suspicion. I got the biopsy last Thursday, and the results yesterday. Benign!
I have to go back in 6 months for another ultrasound to check on a few other nodules, but that's just regular maintenance. Regular maintenance is good. It should catch things early.
Now to start thinking about what regular maintenance I want to schedule next. I've decided to do one at a time..
And not good, this morning I woke up because of a bug bite on the side of my foot. It goes well with the three new ones on my thigh and one on my ankle. So itchy. Cheap hand sanitizer helps (it's the only thing I've tried that helps), but ugh.
I have to go back in 6 months for another ultrasound to check on a few other nodules, but that's just regular maintenance. Regular maintenance is good. It should catch things early.
Now to start thinking about what regular maintenance I want to schedule next. I've decided to do one at a time..
And not good, this morning I woke up because of a bug bite on the side of my foot. It goes well with the three new ones on my thigh and one on my ankle. So itchy. Cheap hand sanitizer helps (it's the only thing I've tried that helps), but ugh.
Using up Yarn
May. 14th, 2026 06:36 pmatherleisureI had some pink yarn that was in pieces so I made a pair of garters, the boring garter-stitch kind. They're boring, but I figure it won't matter if there are some slightly thicker parts where I joined the tiny balls because they'll be hidden under skirts. And it used up more leftover yarn out of the stash. This particular yarn is left over from the 1930's Ferncliff sweater I made a few years ago. I think I've only worn the sweater once because it's a little scratchy. Another thing that I don't think matters for garters since they're worn over stockings.
Not that I need more garters. I'll try to find someone to give them away to.
Not that I need more garters. I'll try to find someone to give them away to.
Bugs!!!
May. 13th, 2026 07:06 pmkoshka_the_catLittle midge gnat noseeum things are everywhere and I just got three new bites on my left leg. Uggghhhhhh
They're somewhat better than the bite I had on my thumb that woke me up and made it so I could barely bend it.
They're somewhat better than the bite I had on my thumb that woke me up and made it so I could barely bend it.
(no subject)
May. 13th, 2026 09:22 amtotchipandaNot really a busy week yet, but also kind of? I did not, in fact, stitch anything on Monday, curse you decision paralysis. Yesterday was dance, and I had a nap before I went. She made us do barre exercises, and my legs in the midst thereof were trembling so bad it probably measured on the Richter scale. Weirdly, today it is my arms that are stiff, not my legs.
Yesterday's afternoon trains were a little borked and this morning they are still borked. My lovely Scottish driver explained that there was a collision yesterday with a train and they can't get more out of the depot, so they are only running four trains from (two stops south of me) to downtown. At the south stop, you have to change trains to another one that's running a further 2-3 stops and then take a shuttle bus any further. What happened?? Well, a Tesla sedan decided it wanted to ignore the VERY LARGE VEHICLE next to it and run straight into it and catch fire.
Long weekend coming up. Saturday I am helping a friend move (she recently separated from her husband), we have a Broadway show on Sunday, and then Monday is all mine! It's also like 10 days until the ball (which I have not committed to) and I haven't started anything for it besides pulling some images of fashion plates so... I guess we'll see XD
Yesterday's afternoon trains were a little borked and this morning they are still borked. My lovely Scottish driver explained that there was a collision yesterday with a train and they can't get more out of the depot, so they are only running four trains from (two stops south of me) to downtown. At the south stop, you have to change trains to another one that's running a further 2-3 stops and then take a shuttle bus any further. What happened?? Well, a Tesla sedan decided it wanted to ignore the VERY LARGE VEHICLE next to it and run straight into it and catch fire.
Long weekend coming up. Saturday I am helping a friend move (she recently separated from her husband), we have a Broadway show on Sunday, and then Monday is all mine! It's also like 10 days until the ball (which I have not committed to) and I haven't started anything for it besides pulling some images of fashion plates so... I guess we'll see XD
Gas Prices
May. 12th, 2026 03:58 pmbrickhousewenchGas prices jumped 60 cents in the two weeks I was away.
From $4.01 a gallon to $4.60 a gallon.
Stupid war. Stupid f***ing President.
From $4.01 a gallon to $4.60 a gallon.
Stupid war. Stupid f***ing President.
Monday again?
May. 12th, 2026 11:03 ambrickhousewenchMy flight from Athens got in Friday at 5:00 pm, but my brain thought it was midnight due to the time difference. So by the time I got through customs (no line!) and collected my luggage, I was really dragging. I don’t know WTF is the problem with Logan Airport, but their signage for Terminal E is completely screwed up. All of the signs inside the terminal pointed towards one end of the terminal for the airport shuttle. All of the signs outside of the terminal pointed towards the same end of the terminal. After watching airport shuttles pass me by for 20 - 30 minutes, I finally hailed one like a cab. The driver let me on, but also let me know that the actual shuttle stop was at the other end of the terminal from where the signs said it was. WTF Logan?!?!
I got home and was an utter zombie, just waiting for the sun to go down. Once I crawled into bed, I pretty much stayed there. I think I slept 14 hours Friday into Saturday. Then had a nap on Saturday. And slept another 12 hours Saturday night. I got nothing done all weekend, other than remembering to call my mom on Mother’s Day.
I started The Unpacking on Monday. Pulled all my clothes out of the suitcase. Had a shower and washed my hair. Sorted the laundry and washed my darks. I also worked 9.5 hours, don’t ask me how. But it took me that long to catch up on two weeks of Slack messages and dig out from my inbox. And that's with me trying to keep up with things while I was away.
The fridge was pretty bare, I’d finished the last of the yogurt and have been eating out of the freezer for meals. I’m impressed that I managed to scrape together three decent meals including veggies on Monday. I have to go out today to pick up my held mail at the Post Office, so I’ll go grocery shopping while I’m out running that errand.
I had paid the bills before I left for my trip, but damned if I could find them yesterday. I hunted around and finally found the damned things. I’d also lost a box of Pocky somehow. It wasn’t in my “snacks” bag, but I knew that I hadn’t eaten it. I finally found that in the bottom of my carry on bag when I unpacked it. I guess I thought I’d eat it on the plane and then forgotten that I’d brought it?
I still feel like I’m running on half a brain cell. But at least I don’t feel sick. A good 25% of the docs team called in sick on Monday. Today we have one person back in action, but another person down with a cold, so still 25% out sick. =(
I got home and was an utter zombie, just waiting for the sun to go down. Once I crawled into bed, I pretty much stayed there. I think I slept 14 hours Friday into Saturday. Then had a nap on Saturday. And slept another 12 hours Saturday night. I got nothing done all weekend, other than remembering to call my mom on Mother’s Day.
I started The Unpacking on Monday. Pulled all my clothes out of the suitcase. Had a shower and washed my hair. Sorted the laundry and washed my darks. I also worked 9.5 hours, don’t ask me how. But it took me that long to catch up on two weeks of Slack messages and dig out from my inbox. And that's with me trying to keep up with things while I was away.
The fridge was pretty bare, I’d finished the last of the yogurt and have been eating out of the freezer for meals. I’m impressed that I managed to scrape together three decent meals including veggies on Monday. I have to go out today to pick up my held mail at the Post Office, so I’ll go grocery shopping while I’m out running that errand.
I had paid the bills before I left for my trip, but damned if I could find them yesterday. I hunted around and finally found the damned things. I’d also lost a box of Pocky somehow. It wasn’t in my “snacks” bag, but I knew that I hadn’t eaten it. I finally found that in the bottom of my carry on bag when I unpacked it. I guess I thought I’d eat it on the plane and then forgotten that I’d brought it?
I still feel like I’m running on half a brain cell. But at least I don’t feel sick. A good 25% of the docs team called in sick on Monday. Today we have one person back in action, but another person down with a cold, so still 25% out sick. =(
Week 7...or so
May. 11th, 2026 05:30 pmatherleisureBack in February I posted when I had very nearly finished the top left quadrant of the "Charming Waterway" cross-stitch. That week I finished off the quadrant and then laid it aside to finish up Pt. Townsend projects. And to go out of town for a week. And then we went to Pt. Townsend and had a lovely time - more about that eventually. And then since then most of my time has been spent learning the accompaniment to solos for the band solo contest. Now the solo contest is over (good performances from all the kids, including one deemed an Outstanding Soloist!), and I spent some time over the weekend cross-stitching.
So here's more or less where I left off in mid-February:
Just imagine that bank of flowers filled in.
And here's where I left off last night:
So here's more or less where I left off in mid-February:
Just imagine that bank of flowers filled in.
And here's where I left off last night:
Weekend Success
May. 11th, 2026 08:02 amtotchipandaI opted not to go to blood donation. I wasn't sure how soon after an iron transfusion one should give their blood away so I rebooked for after I see the gyn for a follow up at the end of the month. So I didn't leave, and that meant I didn't go to any stores.
Pulled out Jenny the Janome for buttonholing. She was struggling with forming stitches. I pulled the bobbin race open to reset it, and then tested the bobbin for tension. It was really really tight! I had to loosen it a full turn and a half of the screw! What the heck was I doing last? Buttonholes all done, I lost bobbin chicken on the very last one but luckily the vintage device and striped material meant I could line it up for a new pass pretty easily. Then I put on all of the buttons, and finally sewed on two pant hooks into my Lucille trousers. Woooo!! Successful day!
Yesterday I rotted, mostly. Made my week of journal pages, made a food, knit two rows while Calcifer was sleeping, played silly video games, both on my phone and on the Switch. Discovered a poor little spood in the sink who refused to be helped, a deceased one in the whizzer I was going to use for salad dressing, and a big black one in between the inner and outer doors, and swore off doing anything in the kitchen. It's their kitchen, I'm just working in it.
On Saturday night I was oozing deeper into the couch and thinking about how the thing that would fix me is a new sweater. (Narrator: this would not, in fact, fix them) I've been poking around the vintage patterns in Ravelry for ideas, so we'll see. I am DETERMINED to have more me-made makes this year, especially for winter. It is going to take me forever to knit a sweater when, even napping, Calcifer still woke up long enough to thoroughly investigate my project. Must be considered hehe.
Tonight though, I just need to make a food and my evening is mine. Definitely want to do some sort of stitchy something. We'll see.
Pulled out Jenny the Janome for buttonholing. She was struggling with forming stitches. I pulled the bobbin race open to reset it, and then tested the bobbin for tension. It was really really tight! I had to loosen it a full turn and a half of the screw! What the heck was I doing last? Buttonholes all done, I lost bobbin chicken on the very last one but luckily the vintage device and striped material meant I could line it up for a new pass pretty easily. Then I put on all of the buttons, and finally sewed on two pant hooks into my Lucille trousers. Woooo!! Successful day!
Yesterday I rotted, mostly. Made my week of journal pages, made a food, knit two rows while Calcifer was sleeping, played silly video games, both on my phone and on the Switch. Discovered a poor little spood in the sink who refused to be helped, a deceased one in the whizzer I was going to use for salad dressing, and a big black one in between the inner and outer doors, and swore off doing anything in the kitchen. It's their kitchen, I'm just working in it.
On Saturday night I was oozing deeper into the couch and thinking about how the thing that would fix me is a new sweater. (Narrator: this would not, in fact, fix them) I've been poking around the vintage patterns in Ravelry for ideas, so we'll see. I am DETERMINED to have more me-made makes this year, especially for winter. It is going to take me forever to knit a sweater when, even napping, Calcifer still woke up long enough to thoroughly investigate my project. Must be considered hehe.
Tonight though, I just need to make a food and my evening is mine. Definitely want to do some sort of stitchy something. We'll see.
I'm home!
May. 11th, 2026 09:24 ambrickhousewenchThirteen days
9,700+ miles
Two different countries (Lisbon, Portugal, and Athens, Greece)
Five different hotel rooms
Seven hours time difference
And I am finally home.
9,700+ miles
Two different countries (Lisbon, Portugal, and Athens, Greece)
Five different hotel rooms
Seven hours time difference
And I am finally home.
New glasses!
May. 9th, 2026 06:51 pmkoshka_the_catMy progressive reading glasses came in and they're so nice. Really clear lenses, lightweight, and I can look through the top of the lens instead of over them. It's basically exactly like regular glasses. It's nice to have a little weaker than my prescription in them too, for arm's length. Yay!
Normal
May. 8th, 2026 08:07 pmkoshka_the_catToday is one of those very frequent days where it feels so strange that everything in my life feels so normal despite everything happening. Still teaching, which is still a stable job. Still going home and doing basically the same thing I've always done.
Today's feeling brought on by finding out my downstairs neighbor worked for Spirit. I knew she was a flight attendant, but didn't know the airline.
A not white college friend in another state is pretty sure she saw an ice raid the other day. She got away as quickly as she could. She carries her passport card everywhere.
Today's feeling brought on by finding out my downstairs neighbor worked for Spirit. I knew she was a flight attendant, but didn't know the airline.
A not white college friend in another state is pretty sure she saw an ice raid the other day. She got away as quickly as she could. She carries her passport card everywhere.
(no subject)
May. 8th, 2026 08:02 amtotchipandaYou know how it goes, you start a week so hopeful or at least with a sense of what you'd like to do during a week, and then the week is almost over and you've done none of it.
And I am writing this at work so had to do a work thing in the middle of that sentence, returned to my email to read the weekly newsletter from the account I followed regarding the goal setting I mentioned last post, and the writer said "one of the biggest challenges I face when it comes to getting stuff done are side quests" and then listed their side quests after writing that sentence. GIRL. Here I am writing about the same thing XD
On that note, I started the week hopeful lol. I took a nap on Monday, and on Tuesday (and was late for dance class by like three minutes). Both nights I still managed to get to sleep at a reasonable time. I have slept through the night, more or less, all week. I put two threads into my cross stitch on Wednesday. Yesterday I decided I was going to get serious about my journal, as it was the 7th and I hadn't set up anything for May except the monthly overview and my finance log and "Intentions" page. (Both pages are empty, too.) So I made the first 10 days last night, then made a grilled cheese sandwich on GF sourdough, added 2 threads to my cross stitch, and called it a night.
Now I am refreshed for the weekend, and my emails are calling me the fuck out lol. So, plans are:
Also make some foods in here, make my next week of journal pages, get serious about cutting out more clothing pieces so I can have shit to wear, and put some more threads into the cross stitch. I guess I ought to do some chores too. Phew, it's looking like a busy one, but in a good way.
And I am writing this at work so had to do a work thing in the middle of that sentence, returned to my email to read the weekly newsletter from the account I followed regarding the goal setting I mentioned last post, and the writer said "one of the biggest challenges I face when it comes to getting stuff done are side quests" and then listed their side quests after writing that sentence. GIRL. Here I am writing about the same thing XD
On that note, I started the week hopeful lol. I took a nap on Monday, and on Tuesday (and was late for dance class by like three minutes). Both nights I still managed to get to sleep at a reasonable time. I have slept through the night, more or less, all week. I put two threads into my cross stitch on Wednesday. Yesterday I decided I was going to get serious about my journal, as it was the 7th and I hadn't set up anything for May except the monthly overview and my finance log and "Intentions" page. (Both pages are empty, too.) So I made the first 10 days last night, then made a grilled cheese sandwich on GF sourdough, added 2 threads to my cross stitch, and called it a night.
Now I am refreshed for the weekend, and my emails are calling me the fuck out lol. So, plans are:
- Pick up meds
- Pick up some smol food items (like cream)
- Do my travel survey
- Go to my blood donation appointment
- Visit at least one thrift store
- Maybe the fabric store
- (I have reasons, i need a belt buckle and maybe buttons)
- Set up the second machine for buttonholes
- Stitch buttons and pant bar on the Lucilles
- Have three new items to wear for spring in one fell swoop!
Also make some foods in here, make my next week of journal pages, get serious about cutting out more clothing pieces so I can have shit to wear, and put some more threads into the cross stitch. I guess I ought to do some chores too. Phew, it's looking like a busy one, but in a good way.
June Bookmark
May. 7th, 2026 09:19 pmatherleisureI finished off the June bookmark that I had nearly finished at Easter.
That makes the project half-finished.
That makes the project half-finished.
I think...
May. 7th, 2026 06:25 pmkoshka_the_catI've picked my gala dress. In 2016, there eas a 1927 fire fancy dress in the Fashion Museum in Bath that I fell in love with. I've done a fire dress, so I'm going to make a water version. It should be fun!
And done!
May. 6th, 2026 06:25 pmkoshka_the_catI'm done with eye drops in my left eye! I still have two more weeks of steroids in my right eye. Three drops a day for about a week, then two drops a day for a week. But just one type of drops!
Except for the moisturizing drops because I live in a place with negative humidity..
Except for the moisturizing drops because I live in a place with negative humidity..
Dusters
May. 6th, 2026 07:21 pmatherleisureA friend just made a gorgeous 1900's lingerie dress and said she was in the mood to make a duster to go over it. That sounded like a lot of fun. Plus there's a potential Edwardian weekend event in the fall of 2027, and it would be fun to have a light jacket for that, which a duster would fit the bill for to a tee. I went looking in my books for patterns, and there are three or four appropriate coat patterns between The Voice of Fashion and The Edwardian Modiste. (One of them is for a fur auto coat! Not that I have the slightest desire to do that.) Then there's another one in Period Costume for Stage and Screen: Outerwear, Book II. There's a loose coat pattern that would be suitable in Turn-of-the-Century Fashion Patterns and Tailoring Techniques, which is mostly just a reprint of a women's version of The "Standard" Work on Cutting. And of course there's Simplicity 2581, though the accuracy of is it more questionable. I'm spoilt for choices.
Looking at a few extant linen examples, they appear to be unlined with very large buttons. I might have to buy buttons, but I've got some tan linen that will suit very nicely. So I think that will be my next project. And I still need to make the bathing cap for the 1870's bathing suit so I can take pictures and call that project done.
Looking at a few extant linen examples, they appear to be unlined with very large buttons. I might have to buy buttons, but I've got some tan linen that will suit very nicely. So I think that will be my next project. And I still need to make the bathing cap for the 1870's bathing suit so I can take pictures and call that project done.