Friday, April 24, 2020

My Unheroic Busyness & My Shoe Collection

Do any of you feel like you somehow have less time during this lock down? I mean, I know all you parents feel that, because you do have less time. (And blessings upon your household for being teachers, parents, cooks, housekeepers, providers, and everything else to your kids right now.) Not to mention everyone still working outside the home to keep us supplied and healthy.

Obviously I'm not doing anything nearly as heroic, but as we've settled into the unsettling routine of never leaving home, I'm still finding myself increasingly frustrated that I don't have any "free time." Because of course I have free time. It just doesn't feel that way. Which is ridiculous, because somehow I got all my work done before, AND left the house, AND had a minimal social life, so what gives?

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I've been putting off friends, ducking online conversations and calls, and sometimes resenting the ones I do make, all because I'm just "too busy."  I know it's not healthy, but we're all broken humans here, right? So I figure you'll understand if I show you some cracks beneath the bloggy facade.

John and I just passed day 42 of isolation, and I rollercoaster between joy that we're healthy and happy and guilt over not doing more, guilt over not missing "normal life" and my friends more, guilt over isolating myself even further into this cozy-yet-frenetic bubble of busyness.

Ironically some of this busyness is from researching new ways to connect with people online, especially you guys. That irony isn't lost on me, either. "Sorry, I can't talk; I'm figuring out how to talk to people online so we can all be more social."

I've talked about this with my therapist via Zoom, and the other week she asked me what would happen if I suddenly lost both Epbot and Cake Wrecks. I shrugged, and said, "I'd just start another blog." She gave me a wry look and replied, "OK, what if you could never write another blog post again?" The very suggestion was so shocking, so icy... I just sort of sputtered at her.

Anyway, so that's where I'm at this week. Where are you?

While I wait for your answers, let me share some random old Story photos I forgot to post earlier:





Several of you were concerned to see John's back on the 'Dew, but they finally removed the BVO in it, so it's safe(r?) to drink now. Plus John loves it so dang much, I'm not about to quibble during a lockdown.

These next text boxes are out of order, so read the orange box first, then pink before green:

Tldr; my therapist has great taste in art.
(The artist is Andrew "Drone" Cosson)

No really, trust me. SO GOOD. I like red sauce with cinnamon so much now that I even doctored John's beef stew with it last week. Delish.



This reminds me: I'm watching the 2012 TMNT reboot from the beginning and I both love it and need to fangirl yell about things to someone who understands. So someone please direct me to the nearest TMNT fangirl-yelling safe space.





For all of you who love colorful shoes as much as I do:


My DIY flip-flop hangers at the bottom are a SERIOUS throwback. I wonder if anyone still finds that old tutorial and makes some?


More happy colorful things:


My Care Bears phone case has shown me how many of you have truly dirty minds. I would ask you to be my friends, but you're here, so I'm guessing we already are? Yes? SWEET. ::high five::

John has left the house only a handful of times in the past 6 weeks, and one of those was to visit the post office at 3AM to mail out the Squeegineer prizes. He avoids people, wears a mask, and disinfects in the car afterward. So don't worry, we're being safe.

Now one last giggle for the road:

I assumed John had photoshopped his results, but he didn't. Which makes this so much funnier! I can see it now: the next Magic Mike reboot, starring.... DREAMFINDER & FIGMENT.

All my hugs to you and yours. I hope you get to be super lazy and laugh a whole lot this weekend.  ::MWAH::


*****


A bunch of you loved the pop-up paper bouquet I featured in my Story last week, but the maker, LovePop, is all sold out of those right now. Lucky for us, though, they also make gorgeous pop-up cards!



This one's my favorite -  those colors! - but hit the link to browse 15 more designs. Just make sure you also check out the front of each card, since 5-6 of them are specifically for Mother's Day. (Not this one, though.)

30 comments:

  1. Weirdly, the only chucks I own are purple. I'm a size 10, though, so we can't share.

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  2. Ha! I have a purple pair of Chucks that I have never worn and have had for years. I'd offer them to you, but they're a size 10.
    Lorien! We're a match! :D
    -Ally

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    1. I feel special, like we're part of a strange sort of club.

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    2. I too have purple chucks. My sis had them custom done for her wedding for the group, so they have black soles and the date running up the spine. I don't own as many colors as Jen but I do have Christmas Plaid, Teal, Red and then the purple.

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  3. Pink, red, orange, mustard yellow neon yellow, mint, olive, teal, royal blue, navy with hearts, purple, grey, black, white, sparkly grey, USA flag, vintage USA flag...and 2 on the way....

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  4. Do yourself a huge favor and look up merguez and vegetable tagine. The combination of flavors that are part of this type of cuisine are unbelievably good. I got hooked when I bought some locally produced merguez sausage and looked up recipes to use it in. Such an awesome rabbit hole to fall down!!

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  5. Feeling bad for not missing stuff is me. I feel so bad because my friends are miserable but i couldnt be happier. Im a super introvert and i dont miss all the social abligations at all.

    Oh and i see your flip flop tutorial every once in a while on pinterest so its still making the rounds.

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  6. I'm afraid your arrangement of shoe colors has made my dear friend Roy G. Biv unhappy...

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    Replies
    1. Yep, me too! That was my very first thought!

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  7. FYI, you can order pre-paid flat-rate shipping boxes online from USPS, and schedule pickups from your house (often just your regular mail pickup and delivery) - no need to make a trip to the post office!

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  8. Cinnamon is my 12 yr old son's "secret ingredient"! He started by adding it to normal things like brownies and banana bread. Now it pops up in other places and he was slightly insulted to discover that many cuisines (like Moroccan) already combine cinnamon with savory dishes. Poor kid thought he was the first person ever to try it. He's become a cinnamon snob, though, and says Indonesian Cinnamon is the best, although Vietnamese Cinnamon is his 2nd favorite. I blame too much time watching Food Network with Husbot!

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  9. Working from home for the library and being the sole caretaker for my elderly mother makes me have less time, too. I have grandiose plans for tidying and spring cleaning, and to be fair, I've done a lot of it, but I always feel behind and it seems like I should be accomplishing more. I haven't even made many crafts, thought I have scads of materials at home. It's grey out and I don't feel inspired.

    I need to just relax and let it go. Our governor extended our state's order until June 1, by which point we'll be at 77 days (ELEVEN WEEKS!) of quarantine. Which gives me five more weeks to make sure everything's tickety boo, though I doubt things will be back to normal by then.

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    1. I did make 41 masks though; 8 for my family and 33 for co-workers still going in. Sick of those now, too.

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    2. Wow, June 1st? I wonder if we'll be extended that long, too; for now MegaCon still claims it's happening June 4th, ha.

      Sounds like you've got a VERY full plate, so I hope you're going easy on yourself. This is a time of battle, just getting through your days like you are now is enough!

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  10. We love cinnamon chicken- we swap out the cheese for Parmesan- it is SO yummy! https://catcora.com/blogs/recipes/chicken-stewed-in-garlic-and-cinnamon

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  11. I'm in awe of your footwear collection. I have one pair of sneakers, half a dozen pairs of boots, and a couple pair of sandals. Half the boots are either too big ( for winter so I can wear the super thick socks) or a bit too small to wear for long ( I'm a half size in a wide so super hard to find affordable footwear that I like the look of ). Everything is black so it goes with everything aside from my sneakers which were pink until I gave them a bit of a black wash to dull that down to more of a purple ( I'm anti-pink but this was the only pair they have that lit up and blinked :) ).
    On a different note - have you guys looking to home shipping? If you go to the usps website, you can check out the options. You get set up to print out your own shipping labels and stamps and everything at home. Since you guys have the epbot shop, plus send out so many parcels and such, the initial investment might be worth it to save you the time and hassle of the trips to the post office. Especially when you have the button sales.... lol

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    1. Yay light-up sneakers! I still don't have a comfy pair of those, need to find some.

      We don't generally ship TOO much stuff - just art and prize give-aways each month - though we did use a home shipping online site for our last big pin sale. We unsubscribed from that service afterward, but it *would* be nice to at least have the USPS shipping available for home use. I'll ask John about it. Thx!

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    2. Even without the full setup you can order prepaid shipping boxes, free shipping supplies, prepaid labels, and priority mail stamps via the USPS store.

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    3. And if you are using flat rate priority boxes, using the "click and ship" labels is super fast and convenient AND saves you money!

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  12. OMG Cheer Bear!!! The best of the Care Bears! I had no impure thoughts until I saw your comment. My dad likes to order from Wish, but the shipping takes FOREVER. Last year, he ordered me a necklace for Christmas but it didn't show up until Valentine's Day. He'd actually canceled it because it took so long to arrive, but they refunded his money and told him to keep it.

    I too am an introvert and am enjoying the time at home. My job is still open but I got sick and have been home for five weeks now. I'm mostly better, though I wonder if I have a permanent cough now as it just won't go away. Anyway, my boss would love for me to come back, but I know we're not busy, and I don't see the point of taking the business' money to stand there and do nothing, you know? (And, again, I'm still coughing and unsure what that means.) I'm just glad that it doesn't appear anyone else at work got sick.

    As for feeling like there's not enough time, I get that--there's simultaneously all the time and none of the time, you know? I'm trying to be productive as best I can, and I've definitely made progress with things, but there is ALWAYS something to do. And now I want to add masks to that list, since I live in Illinois and masks will be mandatory as of May 1st for places where it's hard to social distance.

    --Yet Another Jen

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  13. Not Carrot Trekkie, Carrot Spockey.

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  14. I had visions of having the tidiest house and garden but after 6 weeks I can tell that isn't going to happen. However, I simply can not watch TV without having something to sew or needle felt, so I put a call out to my facebook friends with kids - tell me their favourite thing and I will make it and post it to you. So I've been making Harry Potter things, quiet books, Winnie the Pooh, Hulk and Groot. Keeps me busy and I feel like I'm doing a tiny tiny bit to help folks. I think I would go crazy without that.
    http://minipoppy.blogspot.com/

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    1. At one point a few days ago I actually caught up on all my work... and had no idea what to do with myself, lol. So I feel you on needing something for your hands to do even while watching TV! That's so wonderful that you've been making things for your friends and their kids, hope you're posting lots of pictures!

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  15. Has John tried Mountain Dew Zero? It's even better than Diet Mountain Dew.

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  16. I’m so confused about Converse sizes. I don’t know if “junior” is the same as “youth,” but there are some size 3 juniors in purple on Kidizen right now. Some cool two-toned and some sparkly ones!

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  17. Psssst! https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-3936407/girls-converse-chuck-taylor-all-star-high-top-shoes.jsp?skuid=28888887&ci_mcc=ci&utm_campaign=KIDS%20DRS/CAS/SPTSHOE&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=google&utm_product=28888887&CID=shopping15&utm_campaignid=9733267156&pid=googleadwords_int&af_channel=CSE&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhZr1BRCLARIsALjRVQND2F70wNN9ReEyi4KeAd8IT6uB_A1zoe00K48kLuQOUPHepj5opeoaAlkQEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds (with rainbow hologram piping?!) xoxox Jamie

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  18. Try cinnamon in chili - just enough for some sweetness. yum!

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  19. I keep feeling the need to apologize for being perfectly content at home. I have books, I have flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. (I therapy-bake.) I have a husband and three kids and a fabulous Persian cat, so my omnivert side get enough stimulation without overloading (too often.) We've got a big house in constant need of paint, organization, and cleaning and a big yard that has been sorely neglected for a decade or so. I don't get bored, I'm not feeling anxious, my husband can work from home, and the kids' teachers put together awesome online lessons. There are plays to read, paintings to do, online classes, and all this free content that artists are providing--I'm positively wallowing in things from Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Stratford Festival in Ontario and the Royal Shakespeare. I kinda saw the shutdown coming before it hit, so I stocked up on craft supplies and library books and comfort foods. I've been at home for over a month and I kind of love it.

    I feel very, very guilty.

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    Replies
    1. Wait--the Ontario Stratford Festival has online offerings? I just found my new rabbit hole!

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  20. I had purple chucks when I was in my teens (omg i'm old) and green ones... and there were times when I'd go out of the house wearing one of each and not noticing.. cuz... same shoe... I guess I always had to be punky Brewster.

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