Well it was MLK day and I had Benton get Christmas down from the house and I helped put it away. So that is done and dusted. The tree is a thing to wrangle and the closet it goes into and the place the rest of stuff is stored is Master level tetris. But we got it done. I also got my laundry done (minus the hang and dry stuff which needs my studio to not have the ironing board setup so that will be worked tonight while I'm working on things.

1) hem on apron (marked and in work)
2) straps on apron (in work)
3) trim on apron
4) hem on underdress
5) Finish Benton's coat
6) find yarn for travel knitting (mitts for Sir Justin)
7) Gather things for gift basket (in progress)
8) Pack for trip to SC

I got the underdress hem cut and pinned and the apron I decided to get Ari to help me get the hem even. This had a really funny convo between me and her and Aesa. Ari could not grok that the back hem is longer than the front hem cause some of us have butts. lol. But I stood and she got it marked and I will cut it tonight and pin and sew. This is longest apron dress I have made. It will be wonderful for the event in SC which the high is 34 and at a Girl Scout camp. And for War of the Phoenix which we are expecting to be cold. The herringbone is a cotton flannel style and so snuggly. Its only about 4-5 inches off the floor but that will be nice and warm.

On the book front I started the 3rd book of the year which is the Omnibus for the House of M. Yes, comic books. Its 1300 pages of pretty and scary stuff. I've also downloaded a few books to my kindle for the weekend travel. So I will probably ahve concurrent books going. House of M is also like 5 inches thick.

So tonight will be working on getting the apron dress hemmed and the straps on it. Then on Wednesday I can get Benton's coat done with hems etc on machine. So with all going well all I will have to do on Thursday is to put on some trim on the dress and pack. Its cutting it closer than I wanted but I added the coat so meh.

So I relaxed a ton over the break and that was good for the brain. Talking with my counterpart at work on the performance side she was getting grouchy from over work and could tell once she got home and chilled. I was just exhausted and mentally not even there. Which isn't good in my line of work. But it was good to chill. I didn't get everything done as I had said but better mental health is better. So that is good.

On the mental health bandwagon of reading I managed 42.5 books in 2023 which was a half book down from my 2022 total.

I finished 2 Fuzzy, 2 Furious on the 17th of December and then read #42 which was Paladin's Faith by T. Kingfisher and then started the 43rd book which was Squirrel Girl Universe which I just finished last night. I think me slogging through the 1000 page book and then the 600+ page Enchantress when I should have chucked that book to the side didn't help me but its okay. I will be more choosey this year. I think I will start with Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. She is a character and broke the book world with finding out of white author shenanigans against authors of color. See this article for more info. But its been recommended by Ed and others and I bought it. I'm also going to go through some comics since I have the entire House of M in hardcover. SO my TBR pile will go down. tee hee.

On the project front I made sure to poke some household folks that we were having arts at our house to get folks out of crafting slumps. I managed to get two necklines done...I will see if they fit today. Mel finished a black belt for kung fu and fixed his fancy belt. Po got her tunic hem recut with some tricks I showed her and then we all had time watching B. Dylan Hollis (she had never seen him OMG). So progress. I will be endeavoring to get the tree down tonight and put away. The weather has turned very cold for the desert and Mel finally got the heat on. it was 25 at the school when I dropped Benton off this AM. The northern house has lots of snow and cold. Brrr. We even had some snow that didn't stick on Sunday afternoon.

So Sunday was Southern War Practice and there was a Laureling and I got dressed in my boy clothes and my warm wool hood, my ducal coat and my cloak for a blustery time. Hung with Ari watching the fighting and getting some photos before we noped out and headed back to Tucson ( We were in Sierra Vista). We changed clothes and met back up for brunch and had a lovely time. I got home and wanted to sew but I was cold and tired and Spicy stole my soul for a nap on the couch. We all frolic'd in the snow while it lasted for a bit and then it was a nice evening of working on the fish hat (sewing in ends) and watching Star Wars Rebels.

I'm at work today and making use of my standing desk (same as I did yesterday at home so I can be more active during the day. Im also sporting a cute sweater dress, leggings and my low boots since the foot is finally allowing me to wear shoes that touch the ankle. Hallelujah! So, little things. I will be heading to the work gym to sign up today and next week I will start with some walking on the treadmill after work on Tuesdays. I hope to do yoga on Thursdays and Sundays and some stuff at home to keep with my mobility theme. Little steps forward.