totchipanda

Felt ambitious despite bein heckin tired and still with a mad tummy, so I pulled all of the fabric out of the second bin and catalogued that. There was one chunk of knit fabric that was about 9 yards, and I absolutely could *not* be bothered to fold it back up. That took up a decent amount of room so some pieces got put in the other bin, which was only half full.

Next step: switch! There are two more large bins (one has been "catalogued" digitally but no photos or swatches) in the closet, one smaller bin and one box, and then in the bedroom there is at least two boxes, and one box in the living room, possibly two. It feels real good to be getting this done, I've been wanting to do it FOR LITERALLY YEARS.

Dinner was a cup of chicken broth and a cup of tea. Tummy is still mad. Period started so that woke me up at 2 am, where I proceeded to be awake for two more hours. I am tired yo. Also someone I follow on fb had "food poisoning" that has now become flu A, which my local friend (a respiratory therapist) warned me of on bluesky the other day. Am I feeling truly ok?? Is it "just allergies" or something more?! Love this game.

Swatchbook is well underway <3 It's so satisfying seeing all the little squares. I wasn't sure what kind of info I wanted to see or know in the book so I've just been making notes as I go. The first bin had 2 crinkle cottons and 3 broadcloths, which I immediately decided that I wanted to consolidate into the same page/area. I know I have at least 3, probably 4, more crinkles, and broadcloths -- who even knows. I can think of three colours with the pile set aside for bag-making right now. That left the bin only half full, but it wasn't overly full to start with.

Officially found my oldest fabric: Some light teal cotton twill that was purchased for making Star Trek uniforms. I think I used it for my DS9 jumpsuit in 1994, and I definitely used some of it for my first attempt at gothic lolita 2002-3. There's a piece or two that's even older, salvaged from an old costume of my mum's from about 1984. I did start keeping notes in the bottom corner of when approximately the fabric was acquired. Some of it is just marked "pre-2014" as thats when I got it from my mum. Who knows how old it was before then.

Fabric I set aside for possible destashing: some yardage of white gauze. I have not a clue what to use it for.

I of course had lots of help from the kittens. Calcifer helped me measure and Sophie was very diligent about holding the bit of cotton velveteen down. Thanks girls :D

Speaking of measurements, being Canadian is affecting it lol. Just now I was thinking that it would be really easy to measure it in centimeters actually; I should go convert those. See, we have a fun mix of metric and imperial. Long distances are in KM (I do not have a concept of how long a mile is without first converting it to metric, very specific speeds, or just in a general sense by how long it takes to drive somewhere) but short measurements are in feet and inches, except fabric is sold in meters. I have measured all of my fabrics to imperial measurements (I know 115cm = 45", but there's a quick lil calculation that happens), and most of them to imperial lengths. Why? From my hand to the tip of my nose with my head turned away is 37". Whoever folded them (might have been me, might have been my mum who is 2-3" shorter than me) did so at 32-33", so yardage was easier to calculate and be reasonably accurate. But a few pieces were easier to measure in cm for Reasons, so there's a few that are listed in metric lengths.

I do plan to go through the book after and convert whatever needs to be converted, because I want to keep a spreadsheet of the items to track yardage used for various sewing challenges and my own curiosity.

Back is done. Stitched to fronts with a french seam (so preeeetty) and the neckline bound. Tonight's plan is sleeves.

I am very grumpy/tired/sad/mad today. My prescription was indeed ready yesterday and I have taken it this am. Work had a moment of "can't you people READ?!". A guy is flirting with me and I really need to tell him thanks but no thanks. My chest physically aches with the weight of the world rn. I just want to be at home with my cats.

100 Day Project day 2: stitched the boning seams of the front/Side front down (had to rip one out and redo it) added the busk pocket facing with a very generous amount of the top edge left free for fitting adjustment, and used twill tape for the singleton boning channels.

Tonight I am debating adding the stitching to the back panels, or reattaching them to the body bc the lacing panels are still attached and I can see how the length is. Yeah, I just sold myself on reattaching and trying it on again before I commit to all the grommets. I can't do anything about boning for some days yet (the pattern calls for a few spirals, and I want to order it but budget is not there rn)

I was telling K about this last night, and we were joking about how a single pair of stays CAN take 100 days if you try hard enough lol. I said that I had started working on stays, and that I hadn't ever said I would only do *one* set. Maybe I spend all 100 days working on various stays lol. I have two sets of Augusta stays in progress, I could line the Cassandra stays, remake the 1780s stays, do the Costume Close Up set I cut out shortly before the flood, finish the Rilla corset, make up the Black Snail straight-front corset, finish the Victorian corset... It could work!

On Wednesday afternoon, a friend reached out and asked if I'd be interested in seeing Our Lady Peace on Thursday evening. I knew she'd had an extra ticket she was trying to account for, so I guessed she had no luck. I listened to this band when they came onto the airwaves in the mid-90s, and here they are doing their 30th anniversary tour. I said possibly, send me the details! Meaning, mainly, cost; I know they were not inexpensive tickets, so depending on how much it was would determine my answer. She said which section and row they were in, and then "my treat". Well, as it happens, I AM free and would love to go!

We met for dinner just after 5 at a Vietnamese restaurant a couple blocks away. Team Canada/Team USA was playing at 6 and so pretty much everywhere with a screen was booked solid. It was yummy and the restaurant was basically deserted (I think they do more lunch business). Then we walked over to the area, where we propped ourselves against a railing and watched the game until the end of the first period.

The first band are newer, and they played about 20-25 minutes and they were pretty good! At 7:45 just about on the dot, Collective Soul took the stage and played for about an hour. This was another band that I listened to a lot in the 90s, and I quite enjoyed them. The frontman made a bet with a "kid" in the first row about the outcome of the game lol.

Ee had seen an Instagram reel that they were going to play the game on the jumbotron in between the bands but this turned out, alas, to be a lie. A guy next to us put the game on his phone and propped it against the glass railing, where everyone around us was watching intently.

OLP took the stage just after their scheduled time of 9:15, and also just after OT had started. They opened with Superman's Dead and partway through it, Raine introduced themselves and asked if we should say a prayer for the game outcome (they are based out of Toronto, so this was the most Canadian thing EVER). "I don't know any prayers," he continued. "Let's just sing--" and we sang along to finish the song.

Like 8 bars into the intro for the next song, a guy ran out with a Canada jersey and threw it over Raine's chest. AND THE CROWD WENT WILD!! "I think we have to do this," he said, and we sang the anthem. That made the concert about 10x better!

I knew more songs than I thought I did. I definitely listened to them as a teenager, but I wouldn't have called myself a fan by any means. But oh, it was a great, great, GREAT show. His voice has changed since they first debuted, but still so good and they rocked out for almost 2 full hours. I got home at like 11:30 and I am FEELING IT today lol. I'm too old to stay out that late on a school night.

Tonight is the birthday party, and then tomorrow I am going to spend at least half the day just rotting. I am absolutely bushed.

Yesterday I had to book it across the city to get to my dentist, and I was still 15 minutes late. Thankfully my appointment didn't take long, amazing how taking care of a problem in a more timely fashion (months vs years) means it doesn't need such deep care. They also scanned my teeth for a custom nightguard, which should be in late next week.

(I was thinking about my budget this morning and how tight it was this month, what happened?? Literally *just* realized that having $200 set aside for the dentist is... yeah, that happened. Lol.)

Afterwards I popped up to Canadian Tire* bc on a lark I had checked their website and they had a large shelving unit that I've been eyeing for awhile on sale. It's 36x18x72" and it's destined for the back of the storage closet. Currently I can only stack the items in there about 5 feet tall bc they are not supported, but with the shelf I can get the not-often-used stuff (Xmas decorations, primarily) ABOVE MY HEAD at 6 feet. Each shelf holds 150lbs so I can probably get some fabric storage on there too. Much excite!

This does of course entail basically emptying the room before I can put it up and y'all, idk if I have the spoons for that right now. But at least I have it.

*IDK if Americans have a store like this, it's got tires, yes, and a large automotive section, but they are also a hardware store (power tools and home repair supplies like plumbing taps and tubing, door handles, furnace filters), garden centre, big box store like Walmart or Target with small appliances and kitchenware and cleaning supplies. Also their generic item brand is called Frank, and everything is an action or summat with him lol. Frank is a little cultered (yogurt covered pretzels), Frank lends a hand (vinyl gloves), stuff like that. It's hilarious.

I will be picking up another library book today (Gertie's Ultimate Dress book) and am looking forward to planning out some fun pieces. I need to do some cooking this weekend (yesterday was a bag of chips for dinner kinda night) and I kinda want to just nest. This is historically the worst time of year for me, and I have caught myself a couple times attempting to beat myself up for not doing XYZ or feeling down, and quickly nipped that in the bud. This is a year of resting. Winter is not made for summer levels of energy, it is for curling up with a book or a thing I like to do (like sewing) and "should" should not be in our vocabularies.

I kept this under wraps bc there was a lot of uncertainty, but late last year I had contacted a debt insolvency company about my options, and they put together a consumer proposal for me. I got the notice last week that it had been accepted. Basically, I agreed to pay my creditors X amount over 5 years, where X is equal to about 40% of what I owed with 0% interest. No service fees, no annual fees, no gathering interest, no collections calls. I can absolutely afford the payments and all of my responsibilities and still have a handful leftover for "fun" things like eating out and movie tickets without worrying about how I should be putting that money towards the debt (but when the debt is so high and only getting higher bc so little goes to the principle, what's the point? Life is hardly worth living without the fun things)

So my adulting task last night was grocery shopping, and y'all, it is real fun doing it without a strict budget. Before the proposal, I was budgeting $150-200 per month for my own groceries, which often included the things I needed for the cats. As you may imagine, this was not enough and I had been living like this since I bought the car in 2014, so I have been real good at keeping myself not-hungry for a long time. My first "real" post-proposal budget was in January, where I forced myself to just grab what I wanted and not consider "do I *need* this, no regard for cost (i did price compare in some cases, bc that's just smart shopping. Generic tin foil is just as good for my purposes as brand name, as is dairy products, but I bought brand name sodas just because I could). My bill was $180 and I topped it up with $45 cash after I got back from Toronto.

My budget spreadsheet had $150 filled in for this months paycheques, which I told myself ALSO included fast food eating bc I'm paying M back for the hotel still. Well I overspent that a little bit, after also having fast food this weekend, BUT I have already accounted for all of my recurring bills up until the first pay of March, and have one more cheque this month which will mostly be rent and the "little things". I got a lot of things that will last me for 2-3 weeks and the top up towards the end of the month won't be horrible.

Now I just need to spend one of these upcoming weekend days doing things like baking granola and bread and I will be SET. As I get more comfortable with the budget (it's still weird to remind myself that no, I don't need to concern myself with how to maximize the payment to the credit card) and get further into the year, I should have a better stock of on-hand pantry-stable items.

It's wild y'all. As a young adult I was struggling with low pay and all the expenses that come with having my own household. My parents/grandparents have never supported me financially. I got my first credit card at 24 and immediately developed bad habits with it that ended up with me literally 20 years later trying to undo that. In the summer, I didn't have enough for the minimum payment so I just sent what I had, and they called me multiple times a day until I answered. Fees and interest were so high that the principle wasn't being touched. I was at a point where I was considering just not paying at all bc what was the point? Then I saw a note somewhere in the news that the living wage in my city is the wage I am making, and what am I even doing right now?? I'd been thinking about this for over a year already, so I finally did it, and it's SUCH A RELIEF to have that off my plate.

I have to take two financial counselling sessions, which I have recently seen is first about creating a budget and the second was about long-term planning. I grew up in the "we don't talk about money" era and never had good money management modeled to me (should have learned about this instead of taking care of an egg in school!) so it's something I've always struggled with. I'm very happy to take these sessions to move forward. I have PLANS that could never be even considered bc of the debt load, but the LIGHT IS THERE. IT'S HAPPENING.

In other news, I have an eggplant in my fridge that I am going to experiment with (I SWEAR I had a recipe I ate in the summer which was supposed to have eggplant in it, but I cannot remember what it was except that it was *delicious*), chicken strips, and a fun block of cheese. Tonight's adulting is laundry and kitchen stuff, plus FAJITAS!!!

I took a square of the questionable interfacing and fused it to a bit of cotton shirting. Wool setting on the iron did nothing, but cotton setting got it on there nice and tight. One corner didn't get fully set, which was good bc I could try to pull it up, and that glue is on there good. The real test will be different materials, but I am optimistic.

No sewing, and very little cross stitching last night. It's fine, I have yummies in my fridge again!

Show last night was a Broadway production of Frozen, and it was so good! The artistic director intro'd it with a note that it was a shared production with a London, Ontario theatre who will be putting it on in November. We were sat in the 2nd row, and it was opening night. They'd had a few performances concurrent with the previous show but there were still a few things that I noticed as perhaps not necessarily planned. One of the ensemble actors tripped (in a scene where it makes sense to have done so), Olaf's mouth didn't open fully, and a blanket got stuck under a chair leg while Anna was lying on it, so it ripped as Hans walked away with it (suited the scene, was fantastic and a great addition to Hans' character). Elsa was *phenomenal*, and I loved the continuity they built into the casting. Anna was played by Filipino actors at both ages, and in one scene there is a portrait of the sisters on the wall with that reflected that.

The costuming was really, really good. I was so close so I had a great view of everyone's shoes, which I'm confident were about 98% American Duchess. I spied Flora boots on Anna and several pairs of Kensingtons, which was slightly odd IMO considering the rest of the costuming, when not winter, folk, or pure fantasy costume, was late 1840s for women and for the gents, I'd push it as late as 1840 but it was VERY Regency-flavoured. I was mildly puzzled by the disparity, but it was all LOVELY, well made, suited each character and scene, the costuming department paid attention to the little bits that make an outfit (lace at the necklines, tiny bows on a center front point), there were petticoats and pintucks galore. A+ costuming.

Weekend plans are mostly laundry. Period started yesterday and today it is an absolute beast (like "back in the bathroom after 10 mins to empty it again" bad) so I will be grateful for the access to my own bathroom. I'd like to get the furniture that's in the hallway into place, and that will require some shuffling and a lot of vacuuming. I shall channel all the brave people getting their shit handled as inspo to get my shit handled.

Sewists on BlueSky are hosting a sewing challenge this month, of sewing something from a designer or fabric supplier that is on the platform, and I'd like to join in. I'll be perusing their lists soon to see who's on there and make something!

I do need to get groceries, but it's not urgent tonight. Let's be real, I'm almost certainly ordering in tonight. I'll need to get my tire filled too. At this rate I need to get a smol compressor/pump of my own if this keeps happening.

Last night I traced off the pattern from the library book with surprisingly little help. The kittens declined to dash out the door, only Calcifer went, and she always comes right back in bc she wants pets. Sophie just sat and looked, so I closed it and that was that. They of course then spent 15 or 20 minutes racing back and forth and tackling each other.

Sat down for a few minutes and then said NO! We are GOING TO DO THIS!! And I took one of the t-shirts set aside for mods and cut it down into a singlet from Scroop's Wonder Unders set. That included side seams, and I did cut the bands from the hem area, so what I am left with is the original neckband, two sleeves, and some strips of jersey across the shoulders. I need to review the pattern for seam allowances et al. (Although truly, it doesn't matter. I can just zip it through the serger and call it good enough.)

Half a length of thread into the cross stitch, and otherwise many much couch loafing, partly bc i was HECKIN COLD!!!! Like put on socks and a scarf cold. Went to bed at 10, where I flipped my covers down so I could straighten out the sheets, and Sophie immediately claimed one corner. Then Calcifer joined her, and that was that. I spent the night sleeping under a flat sheet, duvet cover, and an Oodie, still in wool socks. They finally abandoned their cozy spots at 5:45 AM, where I reclaimed the blankets (cotton and the 20lb weighted) for another hour before dragging myself out of bed.

It is cold again today, about the same as yesterday. Brrrrrr why must cozy girls (gn) be forced to get up.

Tonight I must find a cosplay that I made some years back. My friends from the south city are coming up tomorrow and asked to borrow it. I think I know where it is, the kittens will be so happy to visit one of the forbidden doorways.

--

In politics land, I do not understand what the point of the tariffs is/was. "we're gonna tax our closest neighbours (literally) on the goods they sell to us! (Unless they STOP THE FLOW OF FENTANYL AND PEOPLE INTO MY I MEAN OUR COUNTRY)!!" uh... ok? Am I just not understanding how tariffs work? Like when I buy something from the states (say, $300 shoes) I expect to pay the duty (basically the GST) on it as it would be a taxable item if purchased in Canada. But that's something that *I* pay as a consumer and the gov't wants a bite of that pie. Wouldn't it make more sense to tariff the stuff coming back IN to Canada?

On Saturday I said THIS IS THE DAY and I sat down to finish most of the sewing on the Scout dress. In the AM I put the facing on and pressed it all (it feels too wide; it'll sit nicely when on the body but holding the bodice up at any angle, it's wrinkle city) and then worked on and attached the sleeves. The right sleeve fought me a lot, so I took deep breaths and said "after this I will eat lunch" and then did.

Attached the skirt, which was probably the easiest seam ever, and then of course I had to try it on! HEEEEE so swishy!! I also put on my Ettie petticoat and rolled up the waist so that the flounces would be hidden under the skirt, and that gave it a lil oomph. Some notes: A) the armscyes are VERY close but not uncomfortable; unsure if I would find the feeling of them to be too binding or what when worn. B) there is too much fabric in the bust. My darts are very pointy and also very blousy on the outer half of each side. I can probably take it up with a re-jigging of the bust dart but I'll need to revisit the changes I made to the original. C) I need more thread in that colour before I can do the buttonholes and hem, I definitely do not have enough to finish it. It is currently hanging in the closet to let the hem stretch.

Then I sat on the couch and dissociated for a bit. You see, my one social group was having a Lunar New Year dinner at a local restaurant. I had been unaware of the date, but assumed that I was not directly invited by anyone else bc my mother would be there, but Dad asked me to come and offered to spot me the cash for the meal. So, I decided to go. I needed to leave the house around 330 and I had initially planned to take transit two stops and then walk (it is VERY local) but not only was -buttfuck cold, but the train wasn't expected for nearly half an hour. (the advertising tvs said no delays reported, but then wtf was this??)

I cleaned off the car and managed to get it out of my icy well with 6" of snow on top of and around it. I was really anxious, I had many visions of us having a drag out fight where I walked out of the dinner after telling her what a terrible mum she was/is, but it was fine. They made some noises about how they haven't seen me in 5 years and I said yup, that's about right, and that was it. I was invited to their timeshare for a weekend in June (specifically for the weekend), and told about some local-ish events. I will NOT be going to the timeshare, and if i do the semi-local events, it will be on my own terms and my own schedule.

My therapist would be so proud. We had discussed me not letting my mum's presence at this gatherings deter me from going to things I really want to go to, and I'd even said to her then that my mum is not the kind of person who'd have a drag out fight about it, she'd just make some pointed comments and that was that. So I will consider going to some other wider events through the year and potentially saying hello at the Broadway shows. POTENTIALLY. Absolutely not to close quarters weekends. Not yet, maybe not ever. I need to figure out how to get to "this is a person i am friendly with, even though I don't particularly LIKE them. Alas, we are related."

OH she also had news of my grandpa, her dad (I call him Geepa). He has at least 2 kinds of cancer (skin and prostate) and was recently diagnosed as having autism (my sister had told me that at Beetlejuice, my response was "U DONT SAY".) He is not going to undergo treatment, as he will be 92 this spring and the treatments are worse than the disease at this time. I wanted to get out there to visit him, and now that I know when my mum is going (after his birthday, which is the day after mine), I will endeavour to go sooner.

After dinner on Saturday, I discovered that Amazon (boo hiss) had put up several new seasons of my ambulance show, so that's the next few weeks' watching sorted. Yesterday I did cross stitch a bit while I rotted and watched, but didn't do much else. That's ok :) Winter is for hibernating. And I made potato soup, which is so yummy.