Not Sewing
Dec. 12th, 2025 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
atherleisureNot much needlework around here this week. There have been two band concerts and a church orchestra rehearsal as well as cookie baking, Christmas card writing, and starting to rearrange a piece for the church orchestra because we don’t have the right assortment of instruments for the arrangement we have. There will be another band concert next week and a Christmas celebration with one side of the family, but I’m hoping I can do some sewing. Up next is an 1895 split petticoat to go under the 1901 split skirt I made at the end of last year. At least, that’s the current plan.
That went well
Dec. 12th, 2025 03:20 pmbrickhousewenchI finally gave Jenny her Christmas present today. The Cheese Advent Calendar that I ordered arrived two weeks ago, the afternoon of our last massage appointment. I almost called her that day and asked if she was still in the office to drive down and drop it off for her, but I figured, I see her every week, I'll drop it off next week. So I stashed them (I bought two, one for myself) between the storm door and the slider off my sunroom. Because there wasn't room in the fridge when they arrived. I didn't want to leave them in the car, because they could freeze. But I figured that the sunroom gets sunlight, but would still be cool, but hopefully not freezing cold. Especially right next to the door. Anywhoodle....
I couldn't deliver it last week, because Jenny called out sick. She said she was sick for a couple of days, which is very rare for her. So finally got to drop it off today. I gave it to her right when I walked in the door, and she was THRILLED! Everyone came out to see what she was so excited about. It's really fun when you find a gift that you know the recipient is really going to love. And she was SO psyched about getting a whole buncha cheese. So, perfect gift! Go me!
I couldn't deliver it last week, because Jenny called out sick. She said she was sick for a couple of days, which is very rare for her. So finally got to drop it off today. I gave it to her right when I walked in the door, and she was THRILLED! Everyone came out to see what she was so excited about. It's really fun when you find a gift that you know the recipient is really going to love. And she was SO psyched about getting a whole buncha cheese. So, perfect gift! Go me!
Five Random Things Makes a Post
Dec. 11th, 2025 09:02 pmbrickhousewench[I wrote some of this up last week and I just keep forgetting to finish it and post it!}
So after all was said and done, we got probably two to three inches of snow a week ago. It’s hard to tell, because it snowed all day, changed to rain for a little while, then got cold enough to snow again.
I’m glad that I didn’t brush off the car last Monday (the 1st), it’s always easier in a snow/rain/snow storm to wait until everything is done to clear the cars. Because if you clear off the first layer of snow, all you end up with is a layer of ice with maybe some snow on top. And then instead of brushing off the car, I’m chiseling out the car.
***
Because I currently own two cars, I had twice as much snow clearing to do when the plow guy showed up. I NEED to dig out the title for the Honda, and clear the reenacting stuff out of the trunk so that I can donate it. I’d meant to do it before the snow started flying… But clearly I did not. And I don’t want to have to keep clearing off two cars. So time to buckle down and deal with the Honda.
***
One of the Engineering Managers had to duck out of a meeting last Wednesday (Dec. 3d) for a family emergency. It turned out that his 16 year old son, who just got his driver’s license earlier this year, had totaled the car. The kid’s fine, the car, not so much. He posted photos, and the kid skidded off the road and wrapped the front end of the car around a tree. EM said that if he’d had anything to say about it, the kid would not have been driving in the snow. But his mother (EM’s ex-wife) let the kid drive, and he was speeding. Personally, if I had a teenage boy who was still a novice driver, I would not have let him on the road during that particular storm, because it was a mix of rain/sleet, and sure to be slick out. I’m just glad the kid wasn’t hurt. It’s an expensive lesson though.
***
I finally got the second of my two “Docathon” projects into a pull request this Tuesday, a week after I got the first one into a pull request. I’m honestly really thrilled with what AI was able to pull out of the code base when I asked it to review all the error messages and write some troubleshooting documentation for how to resolve each error. It gave me much more detailed results than I was expecting. Since we’ve had lots of requests for improved troubleshooting, I’m excited to get this published for our users. I just have to nag my developers to review two big hoking documentation updates before I can get them merged and published.
***
After a lengthy conversation about cheese with my massage therapist a couple of weeks ago, Facebook showed me an ad for a cheese advent calendar from the Cheese Brothers. On a whim I bought two, one for myself and one for Jenny, my massage therapist. I couldn't wait, I cheated and peeked inside the box. The contents are:
* Hot pepper cheese curds
* Old Smokey smoked Gouda
* Honey sriracha Gouda
* Green onion Cheddar
* Chocolate chip cheese ball (Havarti)
* Reserve 8 year aged Cheddar
* Scorpion pepper Gouda
* Apple wood smoked Alpine style Adelheid
* Classic cheese curds
* Italian style Fratello (Inspired by Asiago and Parmesan)
* Parmesan Gruyere Yodel
* Dill Havarti
They all sound delicious. The only one I might not eat would be the Scorpion pepper Gouda, but that really depends on how hot it actually turns out to be. I plan on getting started on a couple of them this weekend. But as punishment for peeking, the cardboard box gave me a paper cut. It’s always the little boo-boos that hurt the worst. =(
So after all was said and done, we got probably two to three inches of snow a week ago. It’s hard to tell, because it snowed all day, changed to rain for a little while, then got cold enough to snow again.
I’m glad that I didn’t brush off the car last Monday (the 1st), it’s always easier in a snow/rain/snow storm to wait until everything is done to clear the cars. Because if you clear off the first layer of snow, all you end up with is a layer of ice with maybe some snow on top. And then instead of brushing off the car, I’m chiseling out the car.
***
Because I currently own two cars, I had twice as much snow clearing to do when the plow guy showed up. I NEED to dig out the title for the Honda, and clear the reenacting stuff out of the trunk so that I can donate it. I’d meant to do it before the snow started flying… But clearly I did not. And I don’t want to have to keep clearing off two cars. So time to buckle down and deal with the Honda.
***
One of the Engineering Managers had to duck out of a meeting last Wednesday (Dec. 3d) for a family emergency. It turned out that his 16 year old son, who just got his driver’s license earlier this year, had totaled the car. The kid’s fine, the car, not so much. He posted photos, and the kid skidded off the road and wrapped the front end of the car around a tree. EM said that if he’d had anything to say about it, the kid would not have been driving in the snow. But his mother (EM’s ex-wife) let the kid drive, and he was speeding. Personally, if I had a teenage boy who was still a novice driver, I would not have let him on the road during that particular storm, because it was a mix of rain/sleet, and sure to be slick out. I’m just glad the kid wasn’t hurt. It’s an expensive lesson though.
***
I finally got the second of my two “Docathon” projects into a pull request this Tuesday, a week after I got the first one into a pull request. I’m honestly really thrilled with what AI was able to pull out of the code base when I asked it to review all the error messages and write some troubleshooting documentation for how to resolve each error. It gave me much more detailed results than I was expecting. Since we’ve had lots of requests for improved troubleshooting, I’m excited to get this published for our users. I just have to nag my developers to review two big hoking documentation updates before I can get them merged and published.
***
After a lengthy conversation about cheese with my massage therapist a couple of weeks ago, Facebook showed me an ad for a cheese advent calendar from the Cheese Brothers. On a whim I bought two, one for myself and one for Jenny, my massage therapist. I couldn't wait, I cheated and peeked inside the box. The contents are:
* Hot pepper cheese curds
* Old Smokey smoked Gouda
* Honey sriracha Gouda
* Green onion Cheddar
* Chocolate chip cheese ball (Havarti)
* Reserve 8 year aged Cheddar
* Scorpion pepper Gouda
* Apple wood smoked Alpine style Adelheid
* Classic cheese curds
* Italian style Fratello (Inspired by Asiago and Parmesan)
* Parmesan Gruyere Yodel
* Dill Havarti
They all sound delicious. The only one I might not eat would be the Scorpion pepper Gouda, but that really depends on how hot it actually turns out to be. I plan on getting started on a couple of them this weekend. But as punishment for peeking, the cardboard box gave me a paper cut. It’s always the little boo-boos that hurt the worst. =(
Post-Williamsburg: quick trip recap
Dec. 11th, 2025 02:20 pmmandie_rwNon-illustrated other than the Instagram post of ridiculous selfies, because I did not try very hard to take pictures on my own phone and have not yet purloined any from the group album.
To sum up: very fun! Would go again in winter, although I am not entirely sure that the level of fun around Grand Illumination specifically was worth the really outrageous price they charge to stay on-site for the Christmas season. (I would, however, vastly prefer to stay on-site because, like with Disney, the amount of running around and dealing with parking and the cost of tickets is a huge markup of inconvenience if you stay off-site. We didn't have to move the car from my CVS run for hairspray on Thursday night until we left on Monday morning.)
( Read more... )
And that's the Williamsburg report! I actually 100% unpacked and put everything away on Tuesday; be very impressed. Yesterday I did my hours of job hunting (ugh) and today I've been focusing on the sewing room. Cleaned up the rest of the Williamsburg sewing layer of crap (there are still multiple layers of crap underneath that, don't get excited), and vacuumed (ooh).
Goal for the rest of the holiday season is to split my sewing time between the 1790s portrait sewing and costumer's yard sale sewing prep. I have so many half-finished damn accessories in the UFO bins. Mostly caps...probably? Caps are a nice portable sewing project for volunteering at historic sites/ events. Which of course means I've developed a habit of cutting out and starting a cap, putting it somewhere stupid in between events, losing track of it, and then starting a new one for the next event. So, I should dig through the bins and see what's reasonable to finish and see if I can sell at the yard sale (only if I don't want to keep it, of course!).
Oh, and one more thing: after a weekend of wearing, I've decided I like the Augusta stays well enough to keep them. I definitely still don't love them, but I like them well enough to keep them instead of trying to find the motivation to fit another new pair of stays in the near future! Also, fit aside, they do look pretty nice! These are the first stays I've made in a while that I did take my time on, and it does show (how about that). I should probably finish binding them and make a blog post, but don't hold yer breath for that!
To sum up: very fun! Would go again in winter, although I am not entirely sure that the level of fun around Grand Illumination specifically was worth the really outrageous price they charge to stay on-site for the Christmas season. (I would, however, vastly prefer to stay on-site because, like with Disney, the amount of running around and dealing with parking and the cost of tickets is a huge markup of inconvenience if you stay off-site. We didn't have to move the car from my CVS run for hairspray on Thursday night until we left on Monday morning.)
( Read more... )
And that's the Williamsburg report! I actually 100% unpacked and put everything away on Tuesday; be very impressed. Yesterday I did my hours of job hunting (ugh) and today I've been focusing on the sewing room. Cleaned up the rest of the Williamsburg sewing layer of crap (there are still multiple layers of crap underneath that, don't get excited), and vacuumed (ooh).
Goal for the rest of the holiday season is to split my sewing time between the 1790s portrait sewing and costumer's yard sale sewing prep. I have so many half-finished damn accessories in the UFO bins. Mostly caps...probably? Caps are a nice portable sewing project for volunteering at historic sites/ events. Which of course means I've developed a habit of cutting out and starting a cap, putting it somewhere stupid in between events, losing track of it, and then starting a new one for the next event. So, I should dig through the bins and see what's reasonable to finish and see if I can sell at the yard sale (only if I don't want to keep it, of course!).
Oh, and one more thing: after a weekend of wearing, I've decided I like the Augusta stays well enough to keep them. I definitely still don't love them, but I like them well enough to keep them instead of trying to find the motivation to fit another new pair of stays in the near future! Also, fit aside, they do look pretty nice! These are the first stays I've made in a while that I did take my time on, and it does show (how about that). I should probably finish binding them and make a blog post, but don't hold yer breath for that!
Well that's a relief
Dec. 11th, 2025 01:49 pmbrickhousewenchI was afraid that I've been a little too spicy in our recent department Slack conversations about AI. But I just had a "coffee chat" with one of my coworkers, and he spontaneously commented that he was impressed with how diplomatic I've been in some of our conversations. So that's a huge relief. I was worried that I was being testy/grumpy/curmudgeonly. Well, I have been all those things, but apparently I'm also managing to be polite about it outside my own head. So that's a relief.
One day more~~~
Dec. 11th, 2025 07:51 amtotchipandaPayday tomorrow. I am very excited to be able to get groceries or take-out whenever I like and not be worrying about a payment I might have missed. It's coming up on the first anniversary of this debt insolvency and while I'm in a better position overall*, I still gotta figure out this "don't end the month with not enough $$ for cheese". (I already bought cheese, don't worry.)
*I did purchase that flight to NYC, and I also have $100 in cash for that trip set aside that I could have used to at least stay fed. There is no way I could have managed that pre-insolvency.
As recently as this weekend, I had anxiety surrounding the trip. Every time I thought of it, I would feel the knot bloom in my chest. I want to pay attention that knot, because I have had more than one trip in the past where I had a similar feeling, ignored it, and suffered the consequences. I talked about it with my therapist, and she asked some probing questions like, is it just because of travelling (yes, that is a given, I get anxious surrounding road trips to the next city), is it something else, what? I didn't have answers then, and I don't have answers now. But starting this week, it hasn't been so large or so urgent. I'm still keeping an eye on it.
Yesterday was a "nap, snack, and sleep" kinda night. We'll see what happens tonight.
*I did purchase that flight to NYC, and I also have $100 in cash for that trip set aside that I could have used to at least stay fed. There is no way I could have managed that pre-insolvency.
As recently as this weekend, I had anxiety surrounding the trip. Every time I thought of it, I would feel the knot bloom in my chest. I want to pay attention that knot, because I have had more than one trip in the past where I had a similar feeling, ignored it, and suffered the consequences. I talked about it with my therapist, and she asked some probing questions like, is it just because of travelling (yes, that is a given, I get anxious surrounding road trips to the next city), is it something else, what? I didn't have answers then, and I don't have answers now. But starting this week, it hasn't been so large or so urgent. I'm still keeping an eye on it.
Yesterday was a "nap, snack, and sleep" kinda night. We'll see what happens tonight.
Secret spirit week
Dec. 10th, 2025 04:57 pmkoshka_the_catWe've been having a teachers only spirit week at school. Today was decades day. I wore out of fashion 30s. My 20s tuxedo sweater with the camisole vestee, AD Parker shoes, and my 1930s linen skirt. It worked together!
*yawn*
Dec. 9th, 2025 09:40 pmkoshka_the_catI think testing at work is more tiring than actually working at work. A few kids are still testing, but I don't have to watch them for hours. But ask me again what's more tiring after we start our essays tomorrow...
(no subject)
Dec. 9th, 2025 08:27 amtotchipandaYesterday's lunch meeting's lunch was delicious, a burrito bar! I piled my plate high lol. Afternoon got rocky as my boss started yelling at us for doing our jobs? I'm still not sure what the thought process was on that. So when I got home finally I opened up the laptop and started browsing Indeed.
Dinner was mac and cheese. I'd made the (gluten-free) mac on Saturday so it disintegrated a little in the reheating, but was still texturally acceptable and delicious. Did a pan of dishes and am starting to reclaim my counters again (depression is a bitch!). I'd been so cold in my apartment and the heaters in the back half of the apartment seemed to be not working and were cold, so I put in a request and someone came while I was away. Apparently I had all the dampers closed and at least the bedroom window was open the tiniest bit, so... no wonder it was cold! It's still COOL, but is no longer cold. I can deal with cool, I have many warm layers to utilize, but there's only so many things one can do until it becomes untenable.
Four rows of knitting done and a handful of words written last night. Tonight I must make something that I can bring for tomorrow too, and then my local group is having a writing night so I will try to work on something.
Dinner was mac and cheese. I'd made the (gluten-free) mac on Saturday so it disintegrated a little in the reheating, but was still texturally acceptable and delicious. Did a pan of dishes and am starting to reclaim my counters again (depression is a bitch!). I'd been so cold in my apartment and the heaters in the back half of the apartment seemed to be not working and were cold, so I put in a request and someone came while I was away. Apparently I had all the dampers closed and at least the bedroom window was open the tiniest bit, so... no wonder it was cold! It's still COOL, but is no longer cold. I can deal with cool, I have many warm layers to utilize, but there's only so many things one can do until it becomes untenable.
Four rows of knitting done and a handful of words written last night. Tonight I must make something that I can bring for tomorrow too, and then my local group is having a writing night so I will try to work on something.
Hmph
Dec. 8th, 2025 03:34 pmkoshka_the_catMe: There's no reason I shouldn't like this car. I'm going to try to have a more positive attitude.
Car: Beeps while I'm going straight through an intersection. Again.
Me: I hate this car.
Car: Beeps while I'm going straight through an intersection. Again.
Me: I hate this car.
2025 What did I make
Dec. 8th, 2025 09:18 amtotchipanda- Brown sateen Scout dress
- Teal blouse with long sleeves that are too short
- Many mock ups with no corresponding finished projects
- Turquoise Rita blouse
- Mariner dress
- Plaid Scout dress
- Green Anni dress
- Navy Ingrid skirt
- Brown houndstooth Millicent skirt
- Blue Honor Roll blouse
- Started a swatchbook
- Striped skirt (unfinished)
- Chambray Boardwalk dress
- Ginger sailor pants
- Society dress
- Banyan
- Pet-en-l'air (unfinished)
- Charlotte mantle (technically finished)
- Polka dotted Marlene blouse
- Hemmed curtains
- Pink silk half-slip
More than I thought, TBH! I literally have not sewn anything since the end of September for whatever reason. Partly due to the plethora of fruits and veggies currently living on the table. Time to get those cleared out and back to work!
woe, woe is me
Dec. 8th, 2025 08:00 amtotchipandaI am this weeks tummy ache survivor champion!! Either my all-soup diet got to me, or something in the soups did, or... who even knows, but my tumtum was very unhappy. Let's just say there was a lot of liquids. I vowed to have more solid food over the weekend, but even that was tricksy because my tum got upset after my nap on Saturday and stayed unreliable through Sunday.
Boss and Loud upset me on Friday, this time with rants about charitable donations and how people utilizing the food bank shouldn't have pets. Thursday it rained and Friday it snowed, so I went to the market for coffee cream as it was easiest to get to and didn't involve icy roads. Also picked up cheese (non-negotiable staple in my house) and sour cream for a planned dinner. We won't talk about what I had for dinner that night, it was entirely inadequate as a meal and entirely within the things I do when I feel really out of control and trapped.
Saturday I made oatmeal for breakfast and then headed out to pick up the sewing machine light bulbs I won at an online auction. They are only open until 5 during the week so I must go on Saturdays, and last Saturday they were closed because they were moving to their new location. Also it was good just to get the car moving, and the roads weren't too bad. Lunch was mac with butter, cracked pepper and parm. Had a nap and then woke up to feeling utterly horrid and I don't even remember what I had planned for dinner but it was not happening.
Sunday I made waffles for brunch but could barely get through the two I ate. Dinner was meant to be chicken fajitas with all sorts of sides but I kept forgetting to take chicken out, so I just cooked up onions and peppers in the seasoning, along with coleslaw and avocado. I did a pan of dishes, and then started feeling really woozy so I went to sit in the hallway (where it was cooler) for a minute. Snack later was another half a waffle.
In terms of "what did I accomplish", I finished Clue 3 of my mystery knit-along shawl, which was meant to be done on November 30 lol. Had to recover some of it, including dropped stitches, when I didn't seal the bag well enough and Calcifer got into it. It is now on longer needles and tucked out of her reach. Located the bands I'd bought for the sewing machines with pot motors and set that up, plus ran some test stitches (still gorgeous). Finished the main focus of my crossword book that I'd purchased on my way to Michigan last year, so that can go into recycling now. Watched a couple hours of YouTube videos that I was very behind on.
Got my latest subscription stickers and they are so pretty. I'm still super torn on starting the final pages of my journal or waiting for another one for the full year. On the other hand, starting a new journal for February means starting it with the Lunar New Year. Why am I like this lol (it is the neuro spicy).
Last night I was up late because of course I was, and just as I was felling asleep there was a noise that woke me up, so it was another hour before I could nod off. Then I somehow turned my alarm off. Thankfully still woke up before I needed to be out the door, so I got that going for me. On my way out, I grabbed my leftover fajitas for lunch, entirely forgetting that I have a lunch meeting today with lunch provided! Sweet, I'd also been wondering what to make for dinner so that I could have leftovers tomorrow, but now I can have fajitas then! Woo!
Boss and Loud upset me on Friday, this time with rants about charitable donations and how people utilizing the food bank shouldn't have pets. Thursday it rained and Friday it snowed, so I went to the market for coffee cream as it was easiest to get to and didn't involve icy roads. Also picked up cheese (non-negotiable staple in my house) and sour cream for a planned dinner. We won't talk about what I had for dinner that night, it was entirely inadequate as a meal and entirely within the things I do when I feel really out of control and trapped.
Saturday I made oatmeal for breakfast and then headed out to pick up the sewing machine light bulbs I won at an online auction. They are only open until 5 during the week so I must go on Saturdays, and last Saturday they were closed because they were moving to their new location. Also it was good just to get the car moving, and the roads weren't too bad. Lunch was mac with butter, cracked pepper and parm. Had a nap and then woke up to feeling utterly horrid and I don't even remember what I had planned for dinner but it was not happening.
Sunday I made waffles for brunch but could barely get through the two I ate. Dinner was meant to be chicken fajitas with all sorts of sides but I kept forgetting to take chicken out, so I just cooked up onions and peppers in the seasoning, along with coleslaw and avocado. I did a pan of dishes, and then started feeling really woozy so I went to sit in the hallway (where it was cooler) for a minute. Snack later was another half a waffle.
In terms of "what did I accomplish", I finished Clue 3 of my mystery knit-along shawl, which was meant to be done on November 30 lol. Had to recover some of it, including dropped stitches, when I didn't seal the bag well enough and Calcifer got into it. It is now on longer needles and tucked out of her reach. Located the bands I'd bought for the sewing machines with pot motors and set that up, plus ran some test stitches (still gorgeous). Finished the main focus of my crossword book that I'd purchased on my way to Michigan last year, so that can go into recycling now. Watched a couple hours of YouTube videos that I was very behind on.
Got my latest subscription stickers and they are so pretty. I'm still super torn on starting the final pages of my journal or waiting for another one for the full year. On the other hand, starting a new journal for February means starting it with the Lunar New Year. Why am I like this lol (it is the neuro spicy).
Last night I was up late because of course I was, and just as I was felling asleep there was a noise that woke me up, so it was another hour before I could nod off. Then I somehow turned my alarm off. Thankfully still woke up before I needed to be out the door, so I got that going for me. On my way out, I grabbed my leftover fajitas for lunch, entirely forgetting that I have a lunch meeting today with lunch provided! Sweet, I'd also been wondering what to make for dinner so that I could have leftovers tomorrow, but now I can have fajitas then! Woo!
Tomorrow
Dec. 7th, 2025 08:17 pmkoshka_the_catWe have more testing at work. Essay writing. Then we write our unit essay. Then one more week until break...
Finished Project
Dec. 7th, 2025 07:33 amatherleisureI finished the "Italian Renaissance Embroiderer" yesterday afternoon.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with her, but she's pretty.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with her, but she's pretty.
Today I...
Dec. 6th, 2025 07:06 pmkoshka_the_catGot Jane Austen Evening tickets.
Went shopping for my school's Angel Tree--a 14 year old girl who likes Spiderman, crafts, and whose favorite color is green. A green hoodie, Spiderman stress vall, and Spiderman Uno are on the way. Today I bought her a Woobles crochet dinosaur, tie dye pillow kit, make your own stickers book, markers, mechanical pencils and a little sketchbook, a Spiderman backpack clip, three candy canes filled with Skittles, m&ms, and peanut butter cups, and a Target gift card. I really hope she likes it! I had fun picking everything out.
And I'm making my new favorite soup for dinner. Potato cheddar with jalapenos. I use olive oil instead of butter, milk instead of cream, and more broth because I like a lighter cream soup, but it's delicious! Gift link below.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021839-potato-cheddar-soup-with-quick-pickled-jalapenos?unlocked_article_code=1.608.RGaF.jCeQcTgxXPa8&smid=share-url
Went shopping for my school's Angel Tree--a 14 year old girl who likes Spiderman, crafts, and whose favorite color is green. A green hoodie, Spiderman stress vall, and Spiderman Uno are on the way. Today I bought her a Woobles crochet dinosaur, tie dye pillow kit, make your own stickers book, markers, mechanical pencils and a little sketchbook, a Spiderman backpack clip, three candy canes filled with Skittles, m&ms, and peanut butter cups, and a Target gift card. I really hope she likes it! I had fun picking everything out.
And I'm making my new favorite soup for dinner. Potato cheddar with jalapenos. I use olive oil instead of butter, milk instead of cream, and more broth because I like a lighter cream soup, but it's delicious! Gift link below.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021839-potato-cheddar-soup-with-quick-pickled-jalapenos?unlocked_article_code=1.608.RGaF.jCeQcTgxXPa8&smid=share-url
1840's Petticoat
Dec. 5th, 2025 09:28 pmatherleisureI finished the organdy petticoat I was making. It's completely plain. The other one has tucks, but I decided I wanted a plain one too. Now the rest of the organdy is available for anything I want to use it for; I don't have to reserve any for the petticoat. Not that I have plans for it right now, but it's another project off my list that has been there for awhile (since 2019).
It was made as a copy of the first one I made, excepting the tucks, and that one was made following the instructions from Elizabeth Stewart Clark's The Dressmaker's Guide: 1840-1865. I call them 1840's petticoats, but I think they're really appropriate from the 1830's through the mid-1850's.
It was made as a copy of the first one I made, excepting the tucks, and that one was made following the instructions from Elizabeth Stewart Clark's The Dressmaker's Guide: 1840-1865. I call them 1840's petticoats, but I think they're really appropriate from the 1830's through the mid-1850's.
AI kefluffle at work
Dec. 5th, 2025 12:31 pmbrickhousewenchI am so pissed off at one of our Documentation Managers right now.
She is a bit of a contrarian. She’s admitted that when someone says something, her first instinct is to jump in and argue for the opposite side. And sometimes that makes her especially annoying.
One of my European coworkers, who is also someone that I have trouble understanding, posted a blog post today. Now, some back story, when I say that I have trouble understanding her, it’s because even after three years, I barely know her. She misses most of our team meetings, because they fall right when she has to pick up her kids from school. OK, no problem. But we were actually on the same team for a bit, and she also missed a lot of those meetings. I finally wondered why I felt like I knew so little about her when we both work on database products and should be in a lot of the same Slack channels, yet I never see her posting. I went in to Slack and searched for all posts from her and it turns out that she only posts about once a week. And this goes back for months and months. So she’s a complete enigma to me, even though we’ve worked together for three years.
Back to coworker's blog post. She’s extolling the wonders of using an AI agent and how you can train it to think like you.
A documentation agent doesn’t wait for you to tell it what to do next. It’s not just “AI that writes with you.” It’s a system - a programmable version of your own brain - that already knows your process, your standards, your templates, your preferred IA patterns, and so on.
An agent in this sense is your AI twin, a codified version of your judgment, your craft, and your workflow, embedded directly in your repo, ready to activate any time a new feature, product area, or urgent request lands on your plate.
We’ve moved beyond the era of prompt engineering to the era of building AI systems - and for technical writers, that means creating your own documentation agent; a personalized AI twin that reflects how you think, how you structure information, and how you write.
She talks in very vague terms about training an AI, but gives no specific examples. So I asked in the Slack thread where she posted for some tips, or examples, or if I could see her copy of her “personal agent” file.
And I was told to just try it for myself.
Um, the reason why I’m asking is because it’s not clear how to do this myself! How is a Large Language Model supposed to know anything about how I learn, my 20+ years experience as a technical writer, or my personal workflows?
There was some back and forth conversation (thankfully a few other people seemed to be just as baffled as I was) and I finally posted
Other coworker: ”I honestly feel like [coworker’s] blog is further down the journey than I currently am, which is ok.”
Me: Same. I feel like sometimes when we're sharing info someone assumes that everyone else understands the skills they're using, when some of us haven't even been exposed to them yet. For example, how to get info into an AI chat. I can save things off the web that I want to dump into AI, it's easy to download Google Docs, but how are people getting things out of Slack and into VSCode or Cursor? Is it as simple as copy/paste into a file, ugly as that may be? Or is there some elegant trick that I just haven't learned yet? Same with issues, I haven't had a chance to play with issues yet. Do you have to download/save the issue, or can you just say "read issue 12345 and suggest how to resolve it"?
Manager: we've figured this stuff out by trying and experimenting though, not being taught by anyone... like just try stuff and see what works, then what works better
Me: How does refusing to tell me what you've learned help me here? How is it efficient for all of us we have to learn the same thing 20 separate times? This is the first week in a very long time that I've had time to play with AI, and I've gotten a lot done. But I haven't had time to try everything that I've wanted to. Saying "Just try it" doesn't find me time to do it.
Manager: because the most important learning is the journey not the result with AI
Which is utter bullshit, because we’re being pressured to produce results.
I've spent the past week experimenting with AI because it's Hackathon week, and that's what the docs team was working on. But I haven't had time to try everything because there's only so much time in a day.
She is a bit of a contrarian. She’s admitted that when someone says something, her first instinct is to jump in and argue for the opposite side. And sometimes that makes her especially annoying.
One of my European coworkers, who is also someone that I have trouble understanding, posted a blog post today. Now, some back story, when I say that I have trouble understanding her, it’s because even after three years, I barely know her. She misses most of our team meetings, because they fall right when she has to pick up her kids from school. OK, no problem. But we were actually on the same team for a bit, and she also missed a lot of those meetings. I finally wondered why I felt like I knew so little about her when we both work on database products and should be in a lot of the same Slack channels, yet I never see her posting. I went in to Slack and searched for all posts from her and it turns out that she only posts about once a week. And this goes back for months and months. So she’s a complete enigma to me, even though we’ve worked together for three years.
Back to coworker's blog post. She’s extolling the wonders of using an AI agent and how you can train it to think like you.
A documentation agent doesn’t wait for you to tell it what to do next. It’s not just “AI that writes with you.” It’s a system - a programmable version of your own brain - that already knows your process, your standards, your templates, your preferred IA patterns, and so on.
An agent in this sense is your AI twin, a codified version of your judgment, your craft, and your workflow, embedded directly in your repo, ready to activate any time a new feature, product area, or urgent request lands on your plate.
We’ve moved beyond the era of prompt engineering to the era of building AI systems - and for technical writers, that means creating your own documentation agent; a personalized AI twin that reflects how you think, how you structure information, and how you write.
She talks in very vague terms about training an AI, but gives no specific examples. So I asked in the Slack thread where she posted for some tips, or examples, or if I could see her copy of her “personal agent” file.
And I was told to just try it for myself.
Um, the reason why I’m asking is because it’s not clear how to do this myself! How is a Large Language Model supposed to know anything about how I learn, my 20+ years experience as a technical writer, or my personal workflows?
There was some back and forth conversation (thankfully a few other people seemed to be just as baffled as I was) and I finally posted
Other coworker: ”I honestly feel like [coworker’s] blog is further down the journey than I currently am, which is ok.”
Me: Same. I feel like sometimes when we're sharing info someone assumes that everyone else understands the skills they're using, when some of us haven't even been exposed to them yet. For example, how to get info into an AI chat. I can save things off the web that I want to dump into AI, it's easy to download Google Docs, but how are people getting things out of Slack and into VSCode or Cursor? Is it as simple as copy/paste into a file, ugly as that may be? Or is there some elegant trick that I just haven't learned yet? Same with issues, I haven't had a chance to play with issues yet. Do you have to download/save the issue, or can you just say "read issue 12345 and suggest how to resolve it"?
Manager: we've figured this stuff out by trying and experimenting though, not being taught by anyone... like just try stuff and see what works, then what works better
Me: How does refusing to tell me what you've learned help me here? How is it efficient for all of us we have to learn the same thing 20 separate times? This is the first week in a very long time that I've had time to play with AI, and I've gotten a lot done. But I haven't had time to try everything that I've wanted to. Saying "Just try it" doesn't find me time to do it.
Manager: because the most important learning is the journey not the result with AI
Which is utter bullshit, because we’re being pressured to produce results.
I've spent the past week experimenting with AI because it's Hackathon week, and that's what the docs team was working on. But I haven't had time to try everything because there's only so much time in a day.