My newest mild obsession. I say mild because I haven’t (yet) accumulated a large stash like I’ve done for other crafting endeavors. I opened up my old bin of scrapbook stuff to see what I could use.  I found a lot of old photographs that brought back a lot of memories, both good and bad. I labeled the ones that I could and purchased a few photo boxes to contain them.  

Planners. I’ve always loved planners and notebooks.  Many years ago, I had a Franklin type planner that I used for years and looked forward to buying new Flavia inserts every year. 

These two adorable planners came home with me after I couldn’t decide which one I wanted the most. You color a lot of the planner pages yourself.

Bin of old scrapbooking supplies. Those markers are about 20 years old. The couple that I tested were still good. I did go out and buy a few things, but hopefully I haven’t gone hog wild yet.

I purchased a paper trimmer, the one I had was too small to do the size of pages I needed for the planner. I also purchased the hole punch that makes the actual Happy Planner pages.

A little note book of sticky notes I found at Barnes & Noble. They make sticky notes that fit in the calendar squares of the planner!

I got out the colored pencils I’ve been meaning to use on coloring books and my very extensive collection of colored pens and had a blast.

I may have become a little obsessed after discovering washi tape. This neat little contraption is just basically the same thing that I used in my townhouse cupboards to hold the spices. I was going to grab one from the girls’ kitchen but this one was 60% off and inexpensive. Do y’all have any idea how many planner, sticker, washi tape videos there are on YouTube? I’ve gone down a rabbit hole and I’m not sure when I’ll be back.

Stickers from long ago. I look forward to using them along with the new ones I may or may not have purchased.

Last night, as I was thinking about the events of the week, I began to feel dismay.  I began to feel heartache. We had an inauguration and, of course, social media lit up with a megcrapton of negative messages. There was a women’s march that instead of inspiring me left me feeling disappointed. Women across the US created hats that when worn look like cat ears and all the hats were some shade of pink. At first I thought this was cute, pink for girls and what could be cuter than kittens?

Then, I learned that they were actually called something that is vulgar slang for a part of the female anatomy. I saw pictures of women wearing head gear that actually looked like that part of the female anatomy. Instead of being proud of my sisters around the world I was dismayed, disgusted, and disappointed. Why must our feminist efforts inevitably turn crass and vulgar? No wonder feminism gets a bad rap.

They spent their time protesting the results of an election. We have and have had plenty of vile and disgusting people in government positions. The only impression you made on these people was to reinforce their belief that you should be ignored.

Because the hats were handmade, many being knitted and crocheted, the fiber community, my fiber community, was aglow in what a wonderful the thing the crafting community did. But, what did they do? They made an impressive presence, sure. Who did they help? I venture to say, here in the privacy and safety of my own journal and unread by the world blog, that they helped no one. Could they not have made those hats, in a more tasteful pattern, and donated them to those who needed to be kept warm?

Did they help someone shovel their snow? Did they help someone with child care? Did they take a meal to a sick neighbor? Did they help someone search the rubble after a tornado for a loved one? Did they help someone being swept away by flood waters? Did they clothe someone who just lost all of their worldly possessions? Could they not have done those things instead? Could they not have donated the cost of their marching trip to a humanitarian project? I’m sure many of them, let’s say most of them, are generous and caring people. After all, they were were marching for women’s rights. Maybe they do these things on other days. But why not this day as well? Come on, ladies, your time could have been much better spent.  There are plenty of humanitarian projects that help women that could have used your time, energy, considerable talents, and money.

I made a donation to the church’s humanitarian fund then shut off the news and social media. I continued to ponder (I really don’t like that word, I don’t know why) contemplate how I would spend my energy. How should I respond to social media? How should I phrase all these things boiling around in my brain?

The answer came to me. I won’t. I will do my best to not respond or react. From now on, I do my best to post positive things I see. I will post stories about how people are helping others. I will post about any opportunities I find for us to help those in need. I will find someone, something to serve.

Ah, New Year’s.  The time of year when I think about diets, exercise, knitting only from stash (which is just another name for yarn diet), making lists of things I want to get done, and writing in my journal. Maybe this will be the magical year when those things happen.

New Year’s Eve we had planned to watch the Star Wars movies and just graze on all the leftovers in the house. I’ve been sick since Christmas and didn’t have much energy or desire for anything big. A daughter brought some friends over and a little party happened instead. We had snacks and fizzy drinks and the young people were adorable. I didn’t make it to midnight and happily went to bed a little early.

We didn’t get around to watching the movies until New Years Day. We watched them all and didn’t get too much interference from the loud talkers in the house. It was a day of nostalgia.

I’ve done a tiny bit of knitting and haven’t started anything new. I keep going back and forth about wanting to start things. I would like to finish Chynna’s armwarmers in time for her birthday and then we’ll see where Startitis takes me.

I love the beginning of a year. It is so full of hope and time seems to move just a tiny bit slower. Because New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday, January 2 is the observed New Year’s Day and all is quiet here. I think most of the kids will be going back to school tomorrow, but our college students haven’t gone back yet.  We have a gentle snow falling and I’m sitting in front of a fire contemplating the lists I would like to make.

I want to get those cute planners that you can color and dress up with stickers and stamps, but I’m pretty sure that I would do little more than just stare at it adoringly and never use it. It makes me happy to see the return of paper planners. I gave up mine years ago and kinda miss it. 

One of the best things about the start of this year is this:

This is our house last night. The house and yard are covered in snow. It’s what I love the most about Utah.

This is the house across the street this morning. I love how the trees look when covered in snow. I wouldn’t relish the actual trip into the mountains, but I would love to already be there to see how everything looks.

It may be snowy outside, but inside I have a gorgeous orange tea kettle ready to provide me with tea and hot chocolate.

The knitting I will have to provide for myself. After I get the small disaster area known as my craft room a little more organized.