Don’t you just love it when you get so wrapped up in what you’re doing that you lose all track of time? I sure do!

My sewing room, kitchen and home office certainly reflect that my creative genie is out of the bottle! Gotta get it all cleaned up before hubs returns home tomorrow afternoon.

Today, I taught grown-ups for a change at the SQTM. Students conquered their fears of curved piecing. They learned how to make Drunkard’s Path and Orange Peel blocks. We used Memi’s Lemons pattern by Fran Gulick @ Cotton and Joy. Didn’t they do a great job! I was also asked by students to teach more classes – which is a great feeling!

This evening, I’ve spent time figuring out how to incorporate a bit of hand-sewing into a DIY Jolly Roger pirate activity for Monday’s enrichment classes. Pinterest is a such great resource for this! I cut the scull and crossbones from felt I had in my stash. The kids will sew on 2 buttons for eyes and make a few straight stitches for the mouth. Our flag backgrounds are a 12″ x 18″ piece of black construction paper cut into 4 rectangles (6″ x 9″) that will be hole punched on one end with ribbon ties added to connect the flag to 14″ long sticks we find outside. The bonus? This activity will allow me to gauge if my students can handle the felt stuffies I want to make with them before Christmas. Hopefully so, because I have a bin of materials and picture books I assembled back in the summer ready to go! If not, I have festive back-up activities planned and the older kids can make them spring semester.

A friend asked if I planned to continue teaching Monday enrichment classes after this school year. I don’t know. It’s been exactly what I’ve needed right now. The tradeoff has been having to plan travel and other activities around someone else’s schedule again. (Hubby was right when he said committing to 28 Mondays in retirement is a big deal.) It didn’t really bother me until the bee group I’ve been invited to join scheduled its organizational meeting for this coming Monday morning. Dang it! The group’s organizer expects the actual bee group meeting day to fall on Wednesdays, like the majority of other bee groups, but the official day won’t be determined until Monday’s meeting. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Now to clean up the creative clutter!

A cup of your favorite English breakfast tea with local honey.

A walk with your dog on a crisp fall morning.

The book you had on hold at the public library finally arrived.

Enjoying said book on the screen porch with the dog at your feet.

Shopping the weekly farmer’s market.

Fresh flowers on the kitchen counter.

Baking a batch of banana bread using a favorite recipe.

Homegrown tomatoes straight from your own backyard.

Friday date nights with hubby.

Invitation from a friend to go out to lunch after quilting class on Saturday.

Running into a former neighbor at the grocery store.

The little girl’s excitement at seeing me back at school after missing 2 sessions due to a planned vacation.

My Friday sew days with friends.

Doing handwork (embroidery or EPP) while listening to a favorite podcast.

Trying out craft projects for Monday classes and CraftLAB sessions with the neighborhood kiddos.

Therapy dog visits with Sadie.

Making quilts and other projects for charitable organizations my quilt guild supports.

Journaling, meditation, devotionals, prayer, self-reflection, solitude or similar practice that brings you a sense of peace and calm.

I could go on. There’s a hospice nurse on IG who shares wisdom from her patients in short reels. The most common advice given is that true happiness is found in simple everyday activities with your loved ones and local community. It’s not working excessive hours at your job to pay for a big house, expensive stuff and luxury vacations. As one patient said, “Find joy in the every day.”

Our world continues to be a crazy place that has become even crazier over the past couple of weeks. No one knows what will happen in the coming weeks and months. Turn off the constant news stream. Be present in the here and now with your family, friends and local community. Make your home a refuge from the outside world. Find your joy in the every day – running errands with my furkid here.

It’s that time of year for all sorts of school fundraisers, charity events, capital campaigns and the usual year-end donation push. Given all the solicitations in my email and regular mailbox, I’d say a lot of groups are really in need this year. Give as generously as you can to the organizations that align with your values.

Donations can take many forms – monetary, specific items/services, and your time. Our gifts were usually monetary when we were both working full-time. As retirees, we’re finding we donate a good chunk of our time and specific items/services more than outright monetary donations. K-12 school fundraisers and the local humane society/pet rescue group are about the only places we actually make a monetary donation anymore.

Colleges and universities were removed from my donation list during COVID and will remain so permanently. Why? The upper echelons of academia have lost their ever-loving minds. They realize donations are down, but have they realized it’s partly due to all of their crazy, nonsensical research projects? I worked hard to earn my money and I don’t want to see it go to projects that don’t align with my values. Get a clue, Dean and come join the real world for a hot minute. Who proofread the latest missive? Do not insult and insinuate people who look like me are the cause of all of society’s ills and then turn around ask me to make a sizable donation to support your programs. Nope. This is called biting the hand that feeds you.