Rayen

When I started my abalone and pearl crocheted throw on September 27th I wanted to work through some physical issues with my hands. My fingers were very stiff, and I had an arthritis flare that nearly kept me from finishing my last quilt. After a week of working on the throw I'd gotten a lot accomplished. My hands improved so much I had gotten rid of nearly all the pain. I also had no problem with dexterity, limited as mine is. It made me very happy. This project also gave me plenty of time to reflect and clear my head, which was also something I needed to do after dealing with some recent incidents that had me feeling pretty low. I'm not going to get into details, but there were a bunch all clustered together that were really disheartening. I finally worked it all out so that I could return to my happy place and take back my calm, thanks to being able to crochet. Having something I can do that is physical and mental therapy is wonderful. In the process I...

If you like superheroes, fight scenes and dealing with school bullies, then the K-drama Study Group is a series you should watch, because it's just as fun and improbable as any superhero flick but it has a wonderful difference: it's not about superpowers or weird costumes, but what it means to be a true hero. Yoon Ga-min (amazingly portrayed by Hwang Min-hyun) wans to study and go to college, but his only real talent is fighting. He's deceptively mild looking but incredibly strong and highly skilled at martial arts. While trying to study hard to achieve his goal of going to university, he starts a study group of misfits in the notoriously violent Yusung Technical High School. King of the school and instigator of the violence, Pi Han-wool (well played by Cha Woo-min), manipulates others to achieve his goals so he can get rid of Ga-min, but finds for once things don't go his way. Problems: just one, the murder mystery involving a teacher, which was kept very much...

To be more open to western superhero productions (because I've slept through every one I've tried to watch) I decided to give the 2009 film Watchmen a chance. I did not fall asleep this time, but watched in ever-increasing disgusted boredom what was likely meant to be a hatchet job of western superhero productions. The premise is set in an alternate history earth, and begins with the murder of a Joker-clone character -- who is one of the superheroes, apparently. As the murder mystery is investigated we meet several versions of the title characters over a span of decades. There's a Batman clone, a Wonder Woman clone, and others that are just too silly to mention. The superheroes are just people with fancy equipment who mostly behave like thugs (the Joker-clone guy assassinates President Kennedy from the grassy knoll.) The one character with actual superpowers is a nuclear accident victim turned demi-god called Dr. Manhattan, who wins the Vietnam War for Nixon an...

I'm hunting around for palettes for my 2026 annual project, and the way I do this is to first find a photo I like with the colors I want in it. I then upload the picture to a palette generator to get the colors in blocks. Despite my long dislike of the color pink, this is pretty close to one of my favorite palettes of all time, it just needs some snow white and green in it. This palette's photo is one I took myself while I was walking the dogs. I like browns, too, and I'm tempted to do an all-brown blanket because it would go well in our master bedroom. I'd just have to make it king-size, and that's a bit ambitious even for a long-time crocheter like me. Long time ago to keep a promise I later deeply regretted making, I gave away probably the most beautiful Victorian crazy-quilted tote I've ever stitched (long story, vindictive person involved.) Although I did the right thing in keeping my promise, the whole mess was very unpleasant for me. I...

I needed a couple more colors of yarn for future projects, but bidding on yarn lots at the thrift auction has been fierce lately. So I looked around for a lot that I was pretty sure none of the other bidders wanted, and found this one: "Large Lot Of Unsorted Yarn + - Tote Not Included ~ Condition: Good - shows some sign of wear- Has surface dirt, a musty smell and other possible imperfections. Unsorted, tote not included." It was over eight pounds of yarn, and the opening bid was $7.99, which is quite cheap. I counted at least fourteen skeins, with possibly more buried under the front yarns. Of course dirt and smell are never desirable qualities when it comes to yarn, and some of the yarn was obviously in a tangle, so no one had bid on it since it had been listed. Because I know how to launder skeins of yarn before I use them, and untangling yarn is something I like to do as physical therapy, and it had the colors I wanted, I put in a max bid of $8.00. As you ca...

Self-care always sounded selfish to me when I was younger. I was raised to believe that you worked hard and took care of those you loved (even when you didn't realize until much later that they never really did the same for you.) I had no time for such a ridiculous practice; I had responsibilities. Even my dream -- writing -- was something I did in what little spare time I had, and the people around me thought it was ridiculous. Eventually I proved them wrong. Here's a little wisdom from someone who has been used and abused by others because of her success: if you're extremely good at making money while working your dream job, don't let anyone know. When I first drafted this post I wrote a lot about those people who didn't believe in or support me. It's good to get those feelings out. However, one of my lifelong goals is to avoid being vindictive, which for me is toxic behavior. Instead I try to find joy in myself and what I'm able to do. I...