#i could do etsy- would be easier on my brain

[socksandbuttons]

i just

i just waNT STICKERS

[selfpositiveundertale]

Update

CW: discussion of trauma (the trauma was a bad car accident)

I was able to pay for my dog's vet appointment and her medicine thanks to the person who paypal'd me ❤️❤️❤️ She isn't happy about having to take medicine again but hopefully this will be the last round, it's pretty much just probiotics and something to settle her stomach because the antibiotics really did a number on her tummy.

My hands ache from the crash but it's no worse than the soreness after crocheting for several hours. I can do some crocheting but I find thicker yarn much easier and less painful to work with right now. That said, I got a bunch of chenille yarn a while back and I have some larger plush versions of my Ralsei amogus dolls in the works. The first one is almost done, I just have to assemble and attach the hat. Will post a pic when he's done. I want to have at least 2 each with and without squeakers made and then I might reopen my Etsy shop and list them. They will cost more due to the cost of materials, but I'll probably mostly have dolls made of the chenille yarn for a while, at least until I can work with normal yarn without pain within minutes again. I'm hoping to sell a couple by Tuesday because I have another chiropractic appointment that day I'll need to pay for and my husband doesn't get paid again until Friday.

I'm still trying to process what happened. I'm seeing my therapist tomorrow and I will be discussing it with her. This therapist is new to me, my previous one that I had for a few years left the place I'm with and is now working elsewhere. We've only had like 2 sessions but she seems nice. It's just a little frustrating having to break in a new therapist all over again but not really a problem so I'm not worried.

I drove today, to take my dog to the vet. It was scary. I didn't realize how paranoid I would be of other drivers, fully expecting anyone and everyone to whip out in front of me when they're waiting to exit a parking lot to the road or suddenly veer into my lane when they're right beside me and I panicked every time I saw them. It took a lot of self control to not slam on the brakes and to remind myself that other people are not going to do things like that. I have to remember I know how to drive safely and most people are not going to be so reckless as to do the dangerous things my brain is expecting them to do. My anxiety around driving is almost back to where it was while I was still very new at it, terrified to be on the road with other people and having no trust in them and even less trust in myself. I have to build up my confidence again and I have no idea how long it will take.

I have to say, getting hit by one huge trauma all at once sure feels different from the trauma I'm used to, which is the kind that builds up over many years in a toxic and dysfunctional family. It's kind of surreal, I find myself wondering if it was all a dream but then I see the bruises on my legs and feel the ache in my palms and how stiff and sore my body still is even after a chiropractic appointment and see the empty space where I would have parked my vehicle and I have to remember it really happened. I get this weird chill that seeps up the back of my head like cold water in my hair when I remember it. And yeah, I'm grateful I walked away with nothing worse than bruises and stuff my chiropractor fixes literally all the time anyway, but I wish it didn't happen.

It's all such a mess. Right now I'm just trying to focus on keeping myself fed with good food and busy with things that can make some money. I'm making chili tomorrow because it's one of the less expensive things I can make, and also I could use some comfort food after the week I've had. And maybe the familiar routine of cooking the beans will help soothe my brain. I only use dry beans as I can't stand the texture of canned beans. Cooking them isn't difficult or complicated, just time consuming and I think the 2 or 3 hours it'll take to cook them will do me some good.

It's after midnight and I'm exhausted, so I'm gonna try to get some sleep. Goodnight, and stay determined.

❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜

[hibiscus02]

My (as of now) brief story on getting a long furby

I'll preface this by saying I'm not in the fandom nor am I a collector. I really wanted a Furby when I was a kid, was obsessed with the thing, but my parents never got me one for reasons I can't remember rn (either too expensive or too weird)

Fast forward to present day, I was scrolling through YouTube and started to watch a furby makeover at random, because I enjoy arts and crafts. And I suddenly become charmed and mesmerized by the Furby's beautiful physique as I felt their cursed eyes stare at me through the screen.

Now, the way my ADHD brain works is that sometimes it will quickly but strongly become transfixed by a specific object (as opposed to just hyperfixating on a tv show or book like usual), and it overrides every other function in my brain with MUST HAVE IT. And that's exactly what happened in this instance.

So I immediately start to search for ways to acquire my own little guy, which took me to a deepdive on Etsy, eBay and Shopee for price comparing. In this journey I learned about the many different types of Furbys (Furbies?) and, although I would've loved to get my hands on one of the older ones (the face just looks cooler to me idk) I quickly realized that even the cheapest ones would be too expensive for me because of the shipping cost (I live in Brazil). In fact, the younger models were also too expensive, because dollars are just that inflated here, so after a couple of hours...after my entire morning was spent scrolling through listings I had the idea to get one of the tiny keychain-like Furbys (like the ones shown below) since they were cheaper so I could customize them and put it on my car;

Even though I'd originally wanted a long Furby I was fine with this alternative since I like tiny things, and I would be easier to modify.

However. It would seem that the Furby gods did not agree with my assessment.

A few hours before I resigned myself to the keychain idea, I had remembered a cousin of mine who got a Furby when we were children (a memory which came to me easily since I felt extreme jealousy). Even though he's not a kid anymore, I messaged his mom on Instagram in hopes that she was a hoarder much like my own mother, and perhaps would still have her children's old toys somewhere.

And after I had given up on my searching, she responded very positively to my weird question, said she remembered what I was talking about, and that she was pretty sure she still had one around the house. She promptly offered to look for it on that same day, and I thanked her endlessly.

Well, I said to myself, that'll probably take a while and obviously she's not gonna drop whatever she's doing to look for it now, so I'll find a way to keep myself busy and keep my brain happy until I get any news.

EXCEPT, and I shit you not, LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES LATER, she sends me this picture followed by the caption "Look who I found 🖤"

At my many exclamations of confusion, she explained that she kept all of the kid's toys in the same chest, and when she opened it her youngest daughter spotted the Furby at once. I offered to go pick it up and this woman, angel that she is, told me not to worry because she would be having lunch close to my neighborhood tomorrow and could bring it here instead.

So, this is all I have for now. I'll be watching videos on how to handle the 2012-ish Furby and gathering some materials in the meantime. Any tips or guides are appreciated. Wish me luck!

[littlewalken]

Mar 7

It's not that I didn't have a tarot deck, of all the mostly used and wayward ones to pass thru the house the only one I've kept track of is the Russian miniature one because it's beautiful, I just haven't put much of any thought in to it outside of general zodiac-tarot-elemental-alchemy stuff to see if it would help get a story idea going.

But here's the thing. My first job while I was still in or had like just graduated college was as a tarot card reading phone psychic. Mostly because altho I had a college degree I had no job skills, was still in heavy recovery from the brain injury, and long story short fuck phones and it was above my pay grade.

Point being if you believe tarot cards are tarot cards...

The Garbage Pail Kids deck will be just as good as any other.

I do have blank ones and I'm working on making my own but the imagery is going slow. It's stuff like Jimmy Page as the hermit, Robert Smith and Mary Poole for the lovers, considering Daft Punk for the chariot, the ghoulettes from Ghost as the three of cups.

I need to look in to the meanings of the cards so I can feel sure about my choice but Spider-Man might make an interesting choice for The Hanged Man.

If you're going to make your own deck the images should have significant personal meaning along with working with the meaning of the card.

The Daft Punk helmets I ordered came in. They're great for 1/12 dollhouse 5" action figure size but a bit big perhaps for charms. I'm going to put them with my charm bracelet and see how they look.

Still want to make a push mold but I wonder if I cast the positives in wax if the shrinkage will give me a better charm size. Will also look in to precious metal clay, which also shrinks, to see if that will do what I want.

But now I also want to look at assorted action figures and dollhouse dolls to see if there are bodies I like for them.

There is a seller on Etsy who makes metal Daft Punk earrings but the reviews are so-so on the quality. The Lego figure heads are an option but they're a bit round.

I could also try to sculpt smaller helmets, it'll be easier with the minis, so there's that.

But only when I can find the time IRL because we're getting serious about starting the moving process but only to a 55+ community so we can get the services we could really really use.

[algandarsplaguepositive]

“Respond to this with what’s currently on your mind right now, and then tag 5 ppl to see what they’re thinking of too”

tagged by @houseofneri

Way too much shit. I need to fix a lot of things on my cosplay including letting it out at the sleeves (and how I need to get the right fabric to do it), how I have to replace the velcro parts with either buttons or zippers, repairing minor tears and such and how most of this shit would be a million times easier if I could get that fucking sewing machine to work properly, how I need to dye the new wig and put all that together. Also, the pair of light-up wings I got from Etsy are smaller than I was expecting and how technically the size was listed way down deep in the description so I guess it is my fault but also the wings looked way bigger on the model torso in the picture. I don’t want to be an asshole and ask to return them for a refund but like... I really can’t use these wings as they are and that was $120 out of my pocket. I’m really not sure if I should just suck it up and accept it or see if I can send it back and get a refund. My proportions have changed so much in the past 10 years and I want to keep wearing this cosplay but it needs to be tailored and the wear and tear needs to be mended and that’s just a huge pain in my ass and thinking about it hurts my brain. I should probably just go to sleep. I also need to take a COVID test tomorrow and then I stream at night, hopefully my brain will cooperate.

Tagging: @akar0ku @batsutousai @sammyblade1995 @coldbrewblooded @1-800-midnight-animal

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

just once, just fucking once I would like to have a reasonably productive long weekend instead of spending most of it too stuck in decision paralysis to actually do much of anything until I reach a point where I feel like I could very well break down crying because I’m too overwhelmed with everything I need to do but I still don’t actually do most of it because the decision paralysis is a huge part of what makes me so fucking overwhelmed in the first place

like. right now probably the most urgent thing is a semi-complicated Etsy commission that the buyer would ideally receive by Dec. 10, which probably means sending it Dec. 7 at the absolute latest. so I should be working on that, right? but it’s going to take a while so it’s a time commitment, especially because it seems kind of pointless to get out a lot of messy supplies to only work on it for a few minutes. and I need to order parts for a different order--well, at least that’s quick. I also really need to reapply thermal paste to my CPU as soon as I can because I think the fan’s getting louder and that can’t be good for anything in there, and theoretically it won’t be that hard, but realistically I’m sure it’s going to take a while and I have to look up a little info on how to do it, first--and it involves my PC being out of commission while I’m working on it, so that’s not something I can do halfway. and while my PC’s open I really need to replace my dead hard drive, which wouldn’t be that hard except I want to install the new one alongside the old one so I can try to clone the dead one onto the new one, which will definitely take time on both the hardware and software sides of things, but it needs to happen sooner rather than later because, again, there’s a lot of stuff I can’t do until I get that done. and I need to send the recent invoices for Hazy’s dental appointment to pet insurance to see if they’ll pay anything, and that should be quick, but nothing ever stays simple. and, shit, I should really do some actual work this weekend because I didn’t get enough done before...and I still need to decide what to do about the vision therapy thing now that it’s clear the best they can do for me is a payment plan for like 36 expensive appointments, ugh. and ah shit I signed up for Yuletide and I’ve done almost nothing, and that’s due...Dec. 17? fuck, that reminds me, I gotta go get a new notebook from my room because I just finished this one, I mean that’s quick and easy but it also means I now have two notebooks that mostly aren’t typed up, which is bad because I can’t do anything with the contents until they’re typed up and of course they’re not backed up (unless I put them in my fireproof safe, and then I’d never get them typed), and typing those is going to take forever, and yeah I’ve been meaning to make it easier on myself by just doing like 15 minutes a day but I haven’t done that at all and they really need to get typed--and, well, I could just do a 15-minute stint, sure, but that seems silly when there’s so much that needs to be done--and, ugh, I’ve sorta been ignoring my email for the last three days and I need to go through that because otherwise I’m guaranteed to miss something I won’t want to miss, but that takes time and it’s going to mean opening up more tabs when there are already too many tabs open (there are always too many tabs open) and I need to deal with those too, and a good share of the emails are probably about Black Friday sales that I’ll probably want to do but that means more tabs and more decisions and shit there’s all that stuff in my Etsy cart that I should really buy sooner rather than later because sometimes Etsy stuff disappears or sells out and then I’ll be sad and frustrated with myself and also some of the things I want to buy are for gifts, which reminds me that I have almost no Christmas gifts yet for anybody, and my birthday is soon so I should probably make some kind of list myself but actually why am I focusing on that at all when the Georgia runoff elections that determine Senate control are in barely more than a month and I need to be writing letters/postcards to voters since I don’t want to phonebank and time zones actually make it really impractical anyway? I was going to do that in a reasonable way this time too, just a few letters a day like I meant to before, use up a lot of these stamps and stuff I still have--and ah fuck it’s been a while since I’ve called my own legislators about anything, I need to do that, that’s theoretically quick because voicemails cut me off at two minutes, although to be able to do that I also have to do at least a little research so I know what’s the most important thing to call about and what to say so that’s more tabs and more time, and I still haven’t fucking reposted the tiny little Endgame fix-it fic I wrote at the end of August, let alone finished anything since then

and I would, on some level, like to work on one of the many, many writing projects that is theoretically close to being done, or one of the recent ones I started because I foolishly and incorrectly thought it was something I could bang out quickly

and on some level I would also like to work on more stuff for Etsy that could be pre-made so it’s not another stress point when I get orders, especially because several things are holiday-specific and some wouldn’t even take that long, but I’d still be choosing to do those instead of more urgent things

and none of that even begins to touch other stuff, like my room that continues to be a disaster and I need to sort through my shit so I know whether I can relist my most popular Etsy item (if I even want to, which I don’t right now because stress), not to mention all the stuff I need to clear out by listing on eBay, and I could do at least one part of that (flatten the boxes I’ve saved for shipping) without committing to a week-long project but even that part would take a solid chunk of time that I should be spending on something more urgent

and we can’t even put up the fucking tree until I move some of my shit away from the spot where the tree goes, which is tough because a lot of it is from work or otherwise theoretically temporary stuff that doesn’t have an actual home, so that’s going to take a while, and then putting up the tree is also going to take a while, and my room is already a disaster so I’d need to clean in there to make room, which would take forever, and for that matter my areas of the living room are generally a disaster too, as always

and while I’m thinking about stuff I brought from work, let’s go back to how I need to do some work stuff because I’m lucky enough to have a decent job with good insurance that can be done from home and I’m still just like...kiiiiiiinda endangering that by not being a functional adult in general? which is at least partly because my brain is a dumpster fire that doesn’t seem to be improving (which is something else to worry about) but regardless of the cause I still have to do something about it? oh yes and speaking of the good insurance I’m kinda endangering by being a fuckup, haha sure hope this knot under my jaw doesn’t turn out to be...you know, the type of bad thing that a knot under the jaw could turn out to be! which is another very good reason I need to stop being a fuckup so I’m not maybe endangering the job that would pay for that, along with all my other medical issues! and also the entirety of our rent because my mom’s really high-risk and the only available jobs she’s qualified for aren’t safe for her to do!

and my knee hurts! and my elbow hurts! and my neck fucking hurts, my head and neck always hurt and I think I’ve been sleeping even worse than usual lately, partly because neck pain and partly just my body fucking hates me, it’s always a problem and I don’t know what to do about it anymore

and now it’s after 8:30 pm and obviously I’ve done none of this, and I’m still tired, and my head and neck still hurt, and there are still so many things I need to do but I can’t choose because the time-consuming things are the urgent ones but I don’t have the time or energy for them and choosing a specific thing (an urgent time-consuming thing, or a less urgent but much quicker thing) means actively choosing not to do one of the other things, and it’s all important, and I can’t fucking choose, and I’m pretty much at a point where I can continue running ever more painful and crazy-making circles in my brain trying to make myself decide something or I can say “fuck it” and do something that would be fun but not urgent or important at all, which I shouldn’t do, so for fuck’s sake I should just pick even one productive thing to do and then maybe let myself do something fun and then get to bed at a good time for fucking once but I still can’t fucking choose and I want to either cry, scream, or possibly hurt myself, and none of this is healthy or productive

and I think possibly my therapist is getting impatient with me for not making much progress and not really having specific goals for our sessions aside from “I hate that my brain is Like This and I want it to not be Like This and no I haven’t done most of the things you’ve suggested and no I don’t have a good reason why, I just want the meds to work so everything won’t be so fucking hard and yes I know that wouldn’t be something you could control even if it was in your wheelhouse, which it isn’t, but I get overwhelmed so fast and I know I need to do better and be better but I don’t know how”

and I wrote this instead of actually doing anything, apparently, because there was at least some chance that dumping it all out would make me feel better or help me see more clearly what I actually need to do, but I think I actually made myself feel worse by articulating just how overwhelmed I am, mostly by things that objectively aren’t actually that difficult or important.

and I still can’t fucking choose.

[northwest-writing]

The ABCs of Juice and Art

AIDS killed Keith Haring in 1990 and still, thirty years later, I am filled with an anger at the violent injustice of such an infant soul ripped from the world early as if he were my own offspring.

Blossom Galbiso enters my sphere of knowledge by accident as the Hawaiian school teacher somehow solely responsible for the popularization of the now largely-forgotten game known as POGS.

Cordless drill is a drink I named for its resemblance to a screwdriver, sharing almost every ingredient except POG stands in for the OJ.

Death and juice have little in common.

Everyone dies.

Forget about death; drink some juice.

Good things came out of Keith Haring until his very last moments of his very last day.

He believed that art--something previously only available to the wealthy--belonged to everyone.

I think about this--and many other things--for only a moment as I sit on my bed with a fat-tipped Posca paint pen in my shaking left hand and an old, time-tattered school photograph in front of me that is of someone I have never met and will soon erase completely from this physical receipt of existence with my own renditions of the vivid, thick lines that are uniquely mine yet unmistakably reminiscent of the iconic style of a man I never met who I know, even still, would feel only loved and touched by this act of domesticated, imitative graffiti.

Just like Keith Haring, I believe art is for everyone, even those of us with an unsteady hand.

Keith Haring probably never heard of Blossom Galbiso.

Letting yourself work with a permanent medium like paint when you do not fully trust your own body to follow the instructions given to it by your brain is made vastly easier by painting only on bits of trash.

My brain tends to dart from one thing to another in randomly spaced intervals.

No one fixation is ever granted very much time in my direct line of sight.

One day I will decide to buy a pack of paint pens from Dick Blick and a stack of vintage ephemera from Etsy upon which to loose the pens, and when I get tired of that, I will decide to learn as much as I can about a woman whose effect on an elementary school classroom must have been so strong to have popularized a game to an entire country from a tiny Pacific island.

Perhaps before any of this, I will set out to do a school report that will lead me to a deep connection to a man who was famous even among the NYPD officers who would arrest him for vandalism.

Quite possibly, Blossom Galbiso never heard of Keith Haring.

Realistically, I do not exist as some sort of connecting thread between these two people.

Still.

Unrealistically, I could reach back through time and join the hands of two people who brought light into the world with their own simple devices, from their own simple stations.

Vibrant colors and wholesome philosophies are at least commonalities between Keith, Hawaii, and POG, so maybe they would have enough to talk about.

When a college student walked past Keith Haring painting a mural commissioned by the school and asked him what it was for, Haring answered: "It's for you."

Xanthan gum is not one of the ingredients listed in POG.

Years on, Blossom Galbiso has been largely forgotten by the people of Hawaii, yet New York struggles to omit Keith Haring's colorful cartoons from any gift shop or post card or t-shirt in the whole city.

Zero dollars is how much it would cost me to go down to my kitchen right now and make a cordless drill.

[adhdstudybitch]

Practical Tips for ADHD College Students

I know a few posts like this already exist, but I wanted to add my own experiences to the mix in case it would be helpful to someone else. Some of these will look familiar, some not so much.

Disclaimers: 1) What works for me may not work for you, take everything with a grain of salt and experiment, 2) These are what I’m using for a 4-year school but I imagine it would be applicable for any college? I wish I’d known to do some of these things when I was at CC, 3) I won’t pretend that I am an ADHD success story, not yet. I’m still finding my way, learning to cope, learning to thrive. It’s a process.

NOTE: This post is kinda long; if it’s too long I recommend just reading the bolded/italicized headings and only reading the ones that pique your interest :)

Sensory Issues:

Wear comfortable clothing: Screw the mentality that you always have to look your best in college. At the end of the day, feeling hot but ridiculously uncomfortable will trigger sensory issues (especially if you’re someone who is sensitive to certain materials/styles of clothing) and it will impact concentration and can cause a lot of distress. Are you comfortable in those sweatpants, pajama bottoms, baggy shirts? Cool, wear them. 

Stim toys: Love yourself, buy (or make!) stim toys and bring them to school. Can’t speak for CC because I didn’t use stim toys when I went, but at my 4-year school everyone is too busy drowning in deadlines to notice you squishing thinking putty or using a fidget cube under the table. 

Try different stim toys: I used to get caught up on trying to make the more popular stim toys work for me when they didn’t, so I had to experiment a bit to see what worked. It’s not always as simple as cubes, spinners, squishy toys, etc. If you have issues with texture you’ll want to really experiment, especially with things like putty, squishibles, etc. to see what is comfortable and what isn’t. But there’s a big ol’ market out there!

Headphones/Earplugs: The single most helpful sensory detail for me was always bringing my headphones to campus. I get easily overstimulated in uncontrolled situations with lots of different sounds. I make sure my volume is enough to block the noise out, but the songs I choose in these instances are usually familiar, so they don’t provide too much new stimulation when I can’t handle it. I also keep earplugs in my backpack for exams.

Studying/School Related:

If possible, leave your house: This has been one of the hardest changes I’ve had to make because I’m an introvert and genuinely prefer being home. But I’m starting to learn that my ass will not do work 9/10 times when I’m home. Too much to do, too many other things to get done, lots of fun distractions, and cats! So many cats! Unfortunately cats won’t take my exams. I’ve found that the library is okay, but for me small cafes worked much better. Armed with my headphones, some coffee, and an atmosphere that caters to silently getting work done, I’m able to focus longer, and to focus on what I really need to.

Note-taker: Admittedly I’m talking out of my ass on this one, because I haven’t yet done this. But that’s exactly why I want to stress getting a note-taker. My college life would be infinitely better if I’d done this when the semester started; instead, my notes have gaps where I couldn’t concentrate, or couldn’t process what was being discussed, etc. 

Other accommodations: Accommodations for ADHD differ depending on the college, but some of the common ones are: note-takers, silent exam spaces, assignment extensions, and use of tech such as recorders, speech-to-text software... If you’re like I was and are worried that you’re asking too much asking for accommodations, remember two important things: 1) Accommodations exist to level the playing field, not to give us an edge, and 2) YOU PAY FOR THIS SERVICES. That huge, overwhelming tuition bill with all those “extra fees”? You’re paying for these services already, might as well take advantage of them!

Talk to your professors: This part is truly terrifying for me, but I’ve started opening up this semester to my professors and it has made a difference. The professor for my hardest class actually has a son with adhd so she understood and was even able to provide me with some resources that would help. At the very least, it made my professors aware of my struggles and aware that I wasn’t just being lazy, which calmed my RSD a bit.

Organization: Staying organized is important for any college student, but especially for those with adhd. We lose things a lot, and if things aren’t in obvious, constant places it becomes so much easier to lose or forget where we put things. That being said, your ‘organized’ will probably not be other peoples ‘organized’. For example, I use my Ipsy bags for organization. One holds any writing utensils, flashcards, and post-its, another holds anything medical-related, etc. It seems a bit cluttered and disorganized to other people but it works for me. So try keeping things in the same spot if possible, but remember that finding what organizational structures work for you might take time and effort. If your school has success coaching, I highly recommend it for this purpose! Which brings me to the next point.

Success Coaching: Most colleges offer some kind of program like this, though names may differ. Success Coaching is designed for students of any academic level in order to help them get and stay on track. My college offers study skills, schedule planning, test prep, time management, help navigating campus resources, and a whole host of others. And the people doing the coaching are usually grad students who’ve been through the process. They’re typically trained in working with students with adhd, because that tends to be a significant portion of their students. They’re also just really nice to talk to. Almost like a therapist, but not quite.

Really forgetful? The best thing you can do is change your environment, not try to change yourself. You probably won’t be able to stop your brain from forgetting your notebook at home, but you can get a five subject and keep it in your backpack at all times. Same with folders. Keep losing pens/pencils? Just get a fuckton and shove them in a pouch in your backpack in the beginning of the semester. I’m not kidding when I say I have at least 20 pens and pencils in mine, not including the glitter pens and highlighters. 

Planners: Many people have said that it will take time to find just the right planner for you, and they’re correct. The planner I use right now is 8x11 with wide boxes. Some prefer smaller planners, others will use planner apps or just the calendar in their phone. You’ll have to mess around a bit to see what works for you, but you do have options!

Printables: Oh man I love printables so much, but a lot of the time I find that they’re more trouble maintaining than my adhd can handle. You can find a ton on tumblr, free to download and print, and some very beautiful packs for sale on etsy. Right now I use a monthly budget printable and one for studying terms/definitions. Sometimes the adhd mind needs something pretty and different to cling to, so I try to switch things up every so often.

Color-coding: This absolutely will not work for everyone (I’ve seen people say color-coding notes gets the hung up on the coding and not the notes, and I can definitely see that happening). For me, I use color-coding in my planner. Each class gets its own color. This keeps me from seeing a page covered in the same color of ink or pencil and mentally blocking it out. Gelly roll has the most amazing glitter pens!

Test prep: Will vary depending on the person and how they learn best, but for me I’ve found that no one method will work on its own. I have class notes, typed notes, hand-written flashcards, flashcards on quizlet. I won’t pretend that it’s easy; it’s fuck-all time consuming and sometimes I don’t have energy for it, but depending on the class I usually need a combination of at least two different methods to work. This is definitely something success coaching can work with you to figure out!

General Life Advice (that will impact college):

Get on a sleep schedule: I don’t even care what your particular schedule is (because it’ll vary person to person) but just get on one. Much easier said than done, because our brains never want to shut up at night, but lack of a consistent sleep schedule will mess with your concentration, focus, hypersensitivity, etc. 

I’ll just do this later...: is the adhd monster talking. What even is later? Does it exist? Sometimes I have to tell myself “nope, we’re doing this right now!” Doesn’t always work, but I try my hardest to do things in the moment if executive dysfunction isn’t at my door.

Develop a support system: This can be difficult because sometimes making and maintaining friendships with adhd can be hard, and sometimes family members aren’t very receptive or supportive. But a strong support system can make all the difference in the world! If your current friends don’t understand the extent of what you’re dealing with, send some resources their way and you might be surprised how fast they get in your corner. But sometimes people without adhd just don’t get it. If your college has a meet-up for students with adhd like mine does, this is a great place to meet like-minded students who understand what you’re going through and can provide support and advice! 

I’m going to stop this here because it’s already too long, but I hope this is helpful to someone and I’d love it if you could add your own tips as well! 

[wisehoagiekidwobbler]

Books of manifestation or how to manifest your dreams.

Sound too good to be true? I thought so too not too long ago..

However, as I’ve gotten older and looked into the theory a little more, I started to realise just how real it is.

The power of putting positive energy out in the universe is no joke! And learning how to do this is so much easier than you think.

You can learn how to do this today!

Think of yourself back as a child, where everything was possible, your imagination became reality and the word “no” was unheard of. As we creep into adult life we automatically put limitations on the things we want or need.

There are ways to getting back to feeling like your dreams can come true and where anything is possible. But what happens if you’re impatient like me and want what you want now!

Start implementing and applying these to your daily life now and see instant results..

1. Wake up with gratitude

The feeling of being grateful is one of the most important things in attracting what you want. It creates a feeling of you having enough, a feeling of abundance and this is the magic behind manifestation.

Being grateful has been proven to be great for your psychological and mental health. It removes toxic emotions such as negativity, resentment and lack, replacing them with happiness, fulfilment and positivity.

I wake up each morning, and feed my brain with positive energy & gratitude. Make a mental note of everything you are grateful for, even if you don’t have it yet.

There are ALWAYS things in your life you can be grateful for, no matter how bad you think they are.

Be grateful for the things you have & are about to receive.

You may wonder how you can be grateful for something that doesn’t yet exist, but the fact that you have set them as your intentions it DOES exist.

Look around you, everything you see once started as a thought or belief, and now has been manifested into reality.

Not a lot of people talk about waking up and being grateful, but I believe it is essential in manifesting the things you want. Make it a habit.

2. Calm your mind

Having a clear, calm mind is just as important as showing gratitude. The mental noise we face everyday can prove a huge obstacle when it comes to manifesting the things we want.

Chances are if you’re not seeing your manifestations materialize, something is blocking you from consciously manifesting what you want—something clogging the flow of positive energy.

Doubt, fear and desperation are common blockages and they must be eliminated. Otherwise these negative thoughts will manifest into reality.

Clear your mind of all the negativity and practice meditation as a form of refocusing. Meditating with gratitude and positive affirmations each morning will help you to step back and refocus, allowing the universe to bring you abundance in bucket loads.

I suffer severely with an overactive mind, especially just before bed. It really helps for me to listen to some music with no words, this proves to be my best sidekick.

Ask yourself, “What limiting belief holds me back from believing I am worthy of my dreams?”

Whether it’s mediation, positive & calming music or going for a walk. Take a long breath through your nose and breathe it out through your mouth.

If you’re not used to these, it will take time and hard work, but trust that you will see the difference.

3. Write down your intentions

Think about every area of your life and write out exactly what you want. Picture the life of your dreams with no limitations. Go back to being a child for a moment and pretend that you have no limiting beliefs.

Instead of using language like ” I would like”, speak as if it’s something you already have, even if you don’t. An example of this would be to say “It’s December 2019 and I have $5,000 in my account”. The reason for this is because by saying ” I would like”, this already introduces the feeling of LACK in your thoughts.

Remember, in the previous step we have already eliminated the limitations and reasons why you can’t have what you want. This step is all about turning the negative thoughts about our dreams into positive intentions about our reality.

4. Visualize your new reality

Play with the belief that what you want is already waiting for you.

Picture yourself in your new reality. What does it look like? How does it make you feel? The more you visualize your intentions, the more these intentions will turn into manifestations.

You attract into your life who you are and not what you want. In other words, you need to become your intentions.

Rain positivity into your life and learn ways to feel good ALWAYS. The better you feel, the closer to your dreams you’ll be.

The reason you want the things you want, is because you believe they will make you feel good. So switch it up and start feeling good first, and your dreams will soon follow.

5. Practice daily affirmations

Now that you have written down your intentions and visualized them, you need to practice daily affirmations which will help you manifest your intentions into reality.

These statements need to become part of your daily routine. Read them every morning when you wake up and repeat them just before bed.

If you write your goals down, but don’t look at them, you won’t always think about them and are less likely to move towards them. It’s really crazy (and amazing) to see the things in your goal statement come true, but they really do start happening!!!

Think about this simply; When you are regularly visualizing and allowing these statements to enter your mind, you will automatically do the things that help you reach those dreams.

6. Take action

I would love to tell you visualize your dreams is enough to get you there. It isn’t the case.

Now you’re at the stage where you MUST take the steps necessary to positive manifestation beyond your wildest dreams. It isn’t too good to be true.

Each day, start to make a plan of the things you can do to bring you closer to your intentions. Act as if you would do if you already had your desires. Positive affirmations and beliefs are the key here. You MUST be a vibrational match to the thing you are trying to manifest.

The brain doesn’t know imagination from reality, so you need to trick into thinking it already has those things and soon you will have

7. Let it go and let it be…

Take note this is powerful:

You are doing everything you can in your daily life, which will turn your intentions into manifestations. Live and act as if you have already received what it is that you are looking for.

Trust that the universe is constantly bringing you what you want and need. Don’t ask counterintuitive questions such as “why haven’t I received what I been asking for?”.

Be completely open to receiving the abundance that the universe starts bringing your way. Act on every “opportunity” that comes your way without hesistation. They WILL present themselves.

After taking these steps you will begin to see, that when you are filled with positive energy, there is nothing you are missing. There is nothing you are lacking. There is no pain or suffering that anyone or anything can truly cause you permanently. The truth is, when you need nothing, you attract everything. So let it be…

This is exactly what you need

Remember:

You already have everything you could ever want or need

You are abundant and fulfilled

Money/Love/Health is an energy and it is EVERYWHERE!

You have more than enough

We are all energetic beings; the more positive energy flows through us, the more positive energy that will enter our lives

You are the ONLY creator of your reality

Your imagination and thoughts are extremely powerful

The positive vibrations you send out will return to you in abundance

You have everything you need to attract abundance into your life. Trust me. Now go out and get it!

[anthonybialy]

Promise Unchecked

Please review your purchase of a government. Your reminder must've gone to the spam folder. Very engaged citizens don't check results. Well, it's hard. Who wants to see if a promise was kept? Verifying is especially tricky for the biggest bluffers of all. Spot them by how they only get hired by voters.

Those who gleefully deduct a star because the Amazon delivery guy didn't close the screen door the whole way won't examine whether spending 14 figures got taxpayers more than zero value. It's so much easier to presume a boast will become reality. The only cost is preposterous schemes inflicting tremendous harm instead of curing pain.

A lack of scrutiny allows peddlers of junk to continue to avoid seeking more honest careers. It's bad enough when an Etsy craftsperson can't shape earrings like your home state. New York was crumbled until it resembled New Jersey. But at least you can kvetch about a return.

Purchases that can't be declined hurt wallets and self-worth infinitely more. Astute consumers buying their own well-being have noticed that universal health care led to crummy coverage. The money lost was never seen, so that counts as savings.

Follow the science, demand those wearing a mask helps as much as shutting down society. Smugness hopefully protects from the plague in a way today's panicky restriction doesn't. There's as little correlation with governors banning interactions keeping the secluded parties safe as there is prosperity caused by every other bit of bossiness. We naturally want to think we're protected by being stuck in pods. But there's no safety in failing to check if the weatherstripping leaks.

Hospitals charge fortunes per minute precisely because users aren't paying. Insurance's best prices and quality come in the same way as obtaining every other good deal, namely by enjoying the option to take business elsewhere.

The importance of getting someone skilled to work on your insides is precisely why free markets are crucial for anyone interested in acquiring medical attention. Health care should be guaranteed unless you want health care. Take comfort in a promise, as you're sure not getting it from treatment.

I wonder if these martinis are making it tougher to operate machinery. Shrewd detectives have noticed mandates are precisely what makes insurance costly in the first place. The mind-blowing circumstance where the solution is the cause seems too improbable for Hollywood's greatest fiction generators. Truth is indeed stranger.

A lack of control only seems scary without noticing how transactions continue. For one, why aren't we starving? There's no food mandate and yet we can afford Twinkies along with potentially more nutritious provisions. The constant negotiation between hungry people and those willing to either sell the ingredients or prepare them as well keeps prices reasonable. Or maybe there's a law banning hunger.

Enjoy reading this on an internet the government didn't ruin, or even revel in loathing it. My precious feelings won't be hurt too much. Nobody appreciates avoided disasters because it's tough to sense the collision that never happened. A lack of net neutrality made the net neutral. The precise opposite happening is a federal specialty if anyone would like to bother noticing.

Washington demands to control what thrives precisely because it's uncontrolled. Bureaucrats spewing limits would mean we'd have no options, but at least we'd be protected from their imaginations. Here in this horrifying frontier, users get to choose other companies. It turns out Twitter still isn't charging you every time you share how your Peloton ride went. But you could still switch irksome apps if they did.

Would you please be trusting? Obeying is compulsory, after all. There's no need to check up on the institution that is in charge of life. Something decent must happen if the government says the promise approaches on the horizon. It's illegal to do otherwise. How could the wise and benevolent overseer of existence disregard its own proclamations, you Ayn Rand-lusting lunatic? You act as if politicians can't control events and fate itself.

Accuse monsters who think people would be better off buying their own goods of gleefully murdering children. Once the human devils concede they've brought Hell to Earth, we'll have bipartisan unity.  Slanderers of liberty-based dissent sure are smug considering what government's colossal miscalculations actually inflict on the real world. Those who think East Germany took over the West reside in a fantasy that ruins actual lives.

Yogi Berra knew you can learn a lot by seeing what happens. Anyone paying attention to results would be shocked upon noticing, say, gun control leads to criminals controlling guns. The tricky part where they disregard laws that disarm the virtuous is an oversight that certainly can't apply to every other blasted bit of nonsense they believe.

Checking up on consequences is this whole hassle. But nothing's more important than examining if a theory works out, especially when participation is mandatory. A politician may not perform as claimed. I hate to be cynical in a world that could use more trust. But the notion that someone may make an outlandish promise in order to convince voters to get onboard will stubbornly not leave my brain.

Some people who love pointing out what a phony Donald Trump remains sure do love believing the freaking government delivers on promises. I'm sure politicians will punish themselves for lying.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, June 2019

Welcome to my latest summary of recent news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & ecommerce! This covers articles I came across from May 31 to June 21, although some may be older than that.

(Unfortunately, a few of this edition’s entries were lost somehow, & I could only remember one of the missing, so if you know of an article/post that should be included, please let me know, & the piece will be added here as well as to the next post.)

My busy few months are now mostly over, so I will have more time to get working on this Tumblr, new blog posts & the new forum I want to start; expect more frequent updates starting in July. 

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Shopify is going to run fulfillment centres for its US customers within the next 2 years. “Right now Shopify will offer early access for merchants who ship between 10 and 10,000 items per day, and by the end of the year the company aims to offer two-day shipping to 99 per cent of the United States.” They announced other plans at the same time, including better shop tools. 

If you have your own website, conversion rate optimization is something you should be looking at. Why? Because “[a] simple tweak on a landing page can double or even 10x that page’s conversion rate” which can be much easier to do than doubling your traffic. [Note that this is not a short article; it’s a full guide.]

Matching searcher intent is a crucial part of great rankings. This long article tells you pretty much everything you need to know on making that happen with your content, with real examples for their site. 

Mary Meeker released her annual internet trends report; shorter summary here. “If you're looking to connect with the next generation, you should be maintaining at least some awareness of gaming culture, which is where attention is increasingly shifting.” “Some 51 percent of the world — 3.8 billion people — were internet users last year, up from 49 percent (3.6 billion) in 2017...E-commerce is now 15 percent of retail sales. Its growth has slowed — up 12.4 percent in Q1 compared with a year earlier — but still towers over growth in regular retail, which was just 2 percent in Q1...Customer acquisition costs — the marketing spending necessary to attract each new customer — is going up.

ETSY NEWS

Etsy retired several of its Support/Help email addresses, including support@etsy.com, all without any official announcement. 

You can now link photos to variations - but only with one variation, not both. 

Etsy’s annual report for 2018 is out; I didn’t see much new here, but if you catch something, please leave a comment or send me an email so I can add it to this summary. [They actually mentioned “abilities” in their list of things they accept diverse ranges of, but as usual, they only give any details about gender, race/ethnicity and sexual orientation. Disability is invisible for them.]

A new bunch of US states will have state taxes charged for online sales as of July 1. 

Ryan Scott will be Etsy’s new Chief Marketing Officer as of June 24. 

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Google broke with tradition & decided to warn SEOs about the core search algorithm update that started rolling out on Monday June 3 and ended on the 8th. There are multiple reports of some UK news companies taking a hard hit while others picked up visibility. It’s still too early for much comprehensive analysis, but here is a summary and another more recent one. 

At the same time, Google also rolled out an update that increases site diversity in search results, often limiting each website to 2 entries in Google’s top pages. Think of it as Google's approach to “clumping”. They insist it is separate from the core algorithm update. Early analysis finds that it didn't change much for most searches. 

Websites sometimes rely too much on Google traffic, which is dangerous whenever they change something (i.e., daily). Here are 5 ways to make your site/pages more resistant to algorithm updates. 

Most decent SEO tools cost some money to get the full value, but here is a list of 55 free tools including keyword research, stats, linking, and technical tools. (Some have paid versions as well, but just ignore what you don’t need.)

SEO sometimes requires stating the obvious; check out this tweet with a graphic from an SEO conference. 

Rand Fishkin did a major review of clicks from Google search, & found that nearly 50% of US google searches result in a click (often questions such as weather, or spelling). Only 45% led to clicks on non-paid links, & non-Google companies. But “for every click on a paid result in Google, there are 11.6 clicks to organic results. SEO is far from dead.” Search Engine Land did a TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) summary here. 

Fishkin also has some good insights on making a profit through SEO. [video and full transcript] I think the point about having a strong profit margin is really important - it is going to get more expensive to sell online as time goes on. Etsy is not the only provider trying to squeeze more pennies out of its customers. (Fishkin’s whole push lately is that you must be a known brand to survive; I am reserving judgement on that for the moment.)

Most blogs haven’t done their SEO correctly, but you can fix that. [video & full transcript]

Hate it when your site/business gets mentioned online, but they don’t link to you? There are ways to get other companies to link to you. 

The latest Google mobile search redesign has folks pitching fits about how ads now look like organic search results. For your own website & other sites where it is possible, make sure you have a favicon that stands out from paid ads. [If you Google “CindyLouWho2″ on mobile, my blue fossil coral avi shows for my website & this Tumblr blog.]

Voice search isn’t taking off like people thought it would, although around 30% of Americans use virtual assistants regularly. 

Is audio SEO going to be a thing? Dr. Pete looks at Google’s decision to post podcasts in search results. 

CONTENT MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)

Facebook announced its move into cryptocurrency with Libra, which will launch in 2020. 

Contrary to some reports, it seems that fewer people are using Facebook regularly. While time spent on FB drops, Instagram in particular is seeing more interaction. 

Getting the right image sizes and dimensions is really important for each platform; here is an infographic on all image sizes for Facebook. 

“[T]he right time for you to post on Facebook will be different than the right time for someone else to post on Facebook.” A summary of multiple studies on the topic, with tips on using your Facebook Analytics to narrow this down for your business. 

After banning mass messaging earlier this year, WhatsApp is prohibiting sending newsletters through the app as of December. 

A decent guide on using Twitter for your business. “...tweets with images get 150% more retweets”.

Thinking of running a Twitter chat? Here’s a complete guide, including Hootsuite templates. 

You can get new content ideas from Reddit. “Reddit.com saw 542 million visitors in March 2019 alone.”

Pinterest is expanding its shopping program, now called Pinterest Partners, to provide more shopping opportunities on the site. 

A study of the 500 top-followed Pinterest accounts shows that home decor is most popular among influencer topics. [infographic with text.]

Short video platform TikTok is still showing rapid growth. “Digital wellbeing is more important than it has ever been. Since tech companies started optimising for user engagement, the user is unable to escape the app. You will always feel dissatisfied when you close the app, because the notifications keep on coming and the content never seems to end. To us it seems, TikTok has taken this idea to another level and built the user experience to deliberately create addiction.“

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)

Using Google Ads for your website? Make sure you avoid these 7 common mistakes. 

Google now allows you to target people who are “regularly in your target locations” - but it doesn’t really define how they calculate that.

Instagram Shopping is most popular with younger people (at least in the UK).

Good tips on improving your Amazon ad effectiveness, especially cost-effectiveness.   

Some tips on Microsoft Audience ads, and how to get the most out of them. It includes some good general tips, like looking at your profit margin. 

Facebook produced an infographic on how to best create FB ads, especially, for mobile. 

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

Google has purchased analytics company Looker; Etsy uses the platform already. 

The Google Search Console is now giving users 90 days of data for some reports. 

Here’s a new WordPress plugin that tracks clicks on pdfs on your site through Google Analytics. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

Paypal has developed “a customizable e-commerce platform”. 

Amazon has extended 1-day Prime delivery. Their ability to do that largely depends on how they are taking control of the shipping methods used, moving away from using other big companies. 

Amazon closed Spark, its social media competitor, and it redirects to a page of customer-curated collections. 

Some Goodwill stores are now selling thrift items on online platform OfferUp.

Opinion article: is feature-driven retail preventing people from buying?

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

Human brains like stories, which is why you should use them in your marketing. “Stories do another thing: They trigger the release of this neurochemical called oxytocin, which is known in some circles as the love drug. About 10 years ago, all we really knew about oxytocin is that it’s released when, say, a mother is with her baby. But what we’ve discovered since then, through the work of neuroscientists like Dr. Paul Zak, is that stories trigger the release of oxytocin in much the same way.” 

Sell luxury goods? The market is changing as younger people make up a larger chunk of the core. Millennials will make up 50% of the market by 2025. The article has some interesting stats on the luxury resale market: “Overall 45% of true-luxury consumers participated in the second-hand luxury market, and more than one-fourth (26%) have bought pre-owned goods”  which is a trend some luxury vintage sellers might want to watch.

Generation Z prefers personalized content & isn’t as worried about privacy as older generations. 

US adults now spend more time on mobile devices than they do watching tv. Much of that time is spent on mobile apps instead of browsers, & audio (podcasts & music streaming, mostly) accounts for a large chunk of time spent. 

US retail sales grew by half a percent in May, less than predicted. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

As the US looks at starting an antitrust case against Google, articles are reminding the government what other countries found, and what they should be looking at now. Businesses big & small have filed complaints. 

The Google Cloud outage on June 2 that took down YouTube, Snapchat and Shopify among other sites points to the need for everyone to have a backup system. [Remember, Etsy is also moving all functions to Google’s cloud.]

Sick of writing product descriptions? Imagine if it was your full-time job, and you didn’t have any hand in making or curating the products.

[icarianwitchcraft]

witchy wishlist 2018

This is my first time doing this, but I want to get more involved so why not start  now? I live in the US and i follow from @icariansav!

1. your favorite recipes, preferably vegetarian so i can share it with my fiancee! 

i absolutely love cooking and actually started with it being the majority of my craft. i’m growing a bit beyond it now just out of curiosity, but it is my favorite thing still to do! especially when i get to share it with those i love!

2.  playlists - witchy or otherwise! (or just music recs!)

music is my backbone, especially on days where my mental illness tries to take a hold of my brain. i would love to have some new music to listen to!

3. tea - any kind, honestly.

my grandmother raised me on tea and now i make a pot at least once a day. i would love to get some of your favorite type of tea and just be able to expand my horizons a bit!

4. spells/spell resources for spoonies/adhd/bipolar/anxiety/dysphoria

not much to say here! i have a hard time sometimes finding spells when i’m in the throws of things and often forget to put the spells i do find somewhere i can find them. 

5. anything off my amazon wishlist

link to wishlist here! some of the stuff on my list will also be enjoyed by my fiancee (esp the disaster prepping stuff. i love her so much)

6. new friends! 

i don’t have any friends yet in the community, so i’d love to make some! i do have discord if it’s easier for anyone, just pm me for it!

7. anything freya related

i just started getting in contact with her, so i would love absolutely anything- stories, advice, you name it! no matter what it is, i’d appreciate it greatly.

8. anything from my etsy wishlist/favorites.

again, link here! and favorites here. i’d greatly appreciate it, but please don’t feel like you must!

9. your favorite self-care tips & tricks

i often spend too much time wanting to get into self-care and neglecting to do so. so give me your favorite things to do- it can be super simple or not!

10. crystals/shells

i probably could create a dragon’s horde with how much i love crystals. any kind and size will do! they genuinely make me feel more balanced and such. shells are more for collecting reasons, but i do occasionally use them to center as well!

11.  astrology related anything - moodboard, reading, chart explanation, roasting

astrology is by far the thing that i get the most time on reading about, but only in the meme context. i’m a scorpio sun, pisces moon, aquarius rising, and i can give you more information if you’re interested!

12. your favorite memes/vines

they can be witchy related or not! i just really have a deep and passionate love for memes and vines and they always undoubtedly brighten my day. plus, i find it’s a good way to get to know people!

13. donate to my paypal or my ko-fi

i’m moving in with my fiancee this month  and i would greatly appreciate it. link to paypal is here and link to ko-fi is here. please don’t feel obligated at all do this though! 

[marleyelodie-blog]

a second chance. || self-para

TAGGING: @marleyelodie

LOCATION: Cozy Cover Trailer Park, Lot #24

NOTES: Marley’s getting really good at learning how to quiet her mind, lately.

I see your face in my mind as I drive away...

The lyric floats into Marley’s brain, as they sometimes still do in the stillness and quiet of the evenings when she can no longer hide who she is or what she’s done. Normally, Marley would be reaching for her specially picked-out Micron ink pen, scrambling to locate her watercolor-printed journal, and putting words to paper before it disappears from her stream of conscious.

Marley, this time, does no such thing.

She simply opens up her newly minted cell phone with the changed number, no social media apps, only eBooks and a finance manager. She’s so in the hole that it doesn’t matter, but Marley is convinced that she’ll be able to build her stash back up again. If anything, she can rely on selling the things she knits on Etsy, but does that involve putting her name out there? Does that involve making people aware of who she is? After checking that her credit card payment went through (she’s got to eat, which is an improvement from a former Marley) Marley shoves the device into her pocket and thinks no more of communicating with the outside world for a while.

After finishing her grocery shopping, this trailer is starting to look less like a dump and more like a home, thanks to a few personal accents that Marley managed to salvage from her time in California. The windowsill, as tiny as it is, now houses a whole grove of tiny succulents that frame one lone orchid. It was a splurge, something she didn’t need to buy, but Marley saw its simplicity and the way that its purple petals caught the light, and well, she couldn’t leave it behind.

Marley quickly turns from her laptop to open up her brand-new email account and sees that her work schedule, thankfully, has been sent to her. She’s set to open, which is a good thing. Greet the new day, then come home and relax. Maybe explore the town. Maybe get to know someone. Maybe...

The more Marley thinks about it, though, the easier it seems to simply come back to her trailer, read, and knit. She’s picked a nice view of the river, which could be worse. All of this could be so much worse. It’s easy to start over, and it feels like the breath of fresh air that she hasn’t known she’s needed over the past few years. Here, nobody knows who she is or what she’s done, although a simple search of her name will reveal all. 

She has to reach out to Haven, at least.

That thought spikes terror in her chest, because what could she possibly say to her sister who lives only a few doors down? How on earth could she make this seem like it was casual, happenstance? That she hadn’t moved back home because she couldn’t face Millie or her grandmother, and history is repeating itself because she can’t face her sister.

The only thing, lately, that can keep Marley’s thoughts from going somewhere dangerous is knitting. It’s a hobby that’s kept her sane, but she hasn’t had much time to do it lately. The yarn is expensive, but she has a bit of a stash left packed away in one of the boxes. Marley spends the better part of an hour looking through the last of her memorabilia before she locates the few skeins and hanks that she never bothered to use. She pulls a long, silver set of needles from the box and sits in the comfy armchair she bought off of Craigslist and begins to cast on. 

Slip knot, yarn over. Her mind starts to settle. One, two, three, four, five, six stitches. She’s going to make a hat, even though Florida barely gets below 70 degrees in the winter and truly, she won’t need one. Marley knits her way through the whole first row before she starts to count. For a while, she revels in the silence.

‘Cause none of us thought it was gonna end this way...

Another lyric floats into her brain, and before Marley can even blink, she pushes it out of her brain, leaving it to hover above her like a cloud of all of the anger, pain, and things she didn’t say. She lets those thoughts float above her and shuts her eyes before she begins to start counting stitches again-- knit one, purl two-- until her mind is clear and her eyes are dry. She plugs in her headphones and puts on the only safe kind of music anymore-- classical. As Ravel and Debussy plane their way into her consciousness, Marley continues to count her stitches and breathe, ignoring the storm brewing above her.

She supposes she forgot about the laws of gravity.

What goes up, must come down.

[samanthassandcastle]

13 Tips For Making Your Semester Just a bit Easier

Why hello there. I'm a graduate, which is super scary to say. I also am a perpetual student and as someone with mental illnesses, school can be hard. I mean, it's hard for a lot of reasons, lets be real. It can also be a wonderful experience. Below, I've listed 13 of my personal methods of helping my year be just a bit easier. Will they work for you? Maybe. I can't possibly know that, only you can. Bear that in mind. If you know something wouldn't work for you, ignore it. There's no harm in that. :)

Read the effing syllabus

No lie. Every single class I had at my last university had a quiz on the syllabus during the first week. They’re incredibly important because they typically have a calendar of assignments, tell you when you’re going to be doing things, give you policy information, have a grading breakdown, and have all of the required materials, not to mention your class and professor information.

Plan your semester

After you get all your syllabi, make a master calendar. I got one of the monthly calendars from the target dollar spot, or really anywhere like amazon, staples, office depot, etsy, target, etc. I personally used bullet journaling and created my own planner. I went over the top and color coded the classes, but you can simply put the class and the assignment on the date it’s due. This helps make sure you always know what’s coming and aren’t blind sighted when it comes due. You don’t even have to do it in a paper planner. One of my classmates scheduled reminders on her iPhone on the due dates. She said it took forever, but she liked it.

seek out accommodations

This may not be as obvious, but is tremendously important. my second semester I was taking six classes in the same department and just all happened to have projects due around the same time. I was having an incredibly hard time keeping up because I have severe anxiety and would become overwhelmed incredibly easily. I couldn’t take any less classes because my major courses were on cycles and that was the only time they were offered and I had a specific time frame to finish, so don’t start with that. My point is that when I realized that it was becoming an issue, I spoke to my school’s disability services and received accommodations from my professors. It’s contractual, and they cannot ask what the disability is, and they’re required to uphold whatever you and they agree on. I was allowed more free absences than the “unpenalized” ones, and a leniency with due dates, provided I let the prof know what was going on, generally. I always said that I was having a “flare up” because that’s not violating my privacy, but still allowed the prof to understand that I was having an issue. Most schools don’t require formal documentation from a doctor, but I had it, so I provided it. Some even are very lenient, and will have the on campus health services help you out too. 

don’t be afraid of being less than perfect

I went into school telling myself that I was going to be on the deans list, have a 4.0, and have all of the regalia when I graduated. That didn’t happen. What did happen was that I had 95 units in five semesters. Yes, that averages 19 a semester, but the way I did it was hell. First semester I had 5 classes- 18 units, second semester I had 5 classes, band, and lessons - 21 units, the six week summer I had 4 classes, one of which was a one on one which I will talk about later - 15 units, my last fall semester was 6 classes and band - 23 units, and my final semester was 5 classes and band - 18 units. Needless to say there was no way I was getting that 4.0. What did happen was I joined an honor society, was on the editing staff for the literary journal, got two articles published in the school paper, was on the executive board for a national club, and commuted 45 minutes each way, every day and sometimes weekends, for two and a half years, and ended up with a 3.2. Not only that but I had regalia for my honor society and my club, and I set a precedent for future students and got an award at the end of year honor’s banquet. I don’t think that I did too shabby, and I don’t regret not getting that 4.0.

apparel matters but not how you think

We all know that the brain is weird. For instance, if I throw on leggings and a tee immediately when I wake up, my brain is in chill mode. This is why I rarely wore loungy clothes to school. I even dressed up on Fridays, calling it fancy Friday because I love alliterations. This tactic might help you stay in the correct brain space, or not. I don’t know how your brain works. I do know that someone looked into the relationship between clothes and mood, so it can't all be rubbish.

go to office hours

So many times I heard people complain because they don’t understand something, or that the prof is being too hard on them or other things, but there’s one thing that can help with that. Go to office hours. Your profs set them up for a reason. That’s where you can get help with assignments, clarification on things, or help in other academic things. They won’t bite you I promise. You may even grow an amazing academic relationship with them. My advisor was one of my profs. She is a very intimidating woman in the classroom but a completely different prof in her office. In speaking to her about my graduation plans and needs and such she did the amazing thing of teaching me a one on one, honors, independent study, of one of the classes that she teaches that was out of cycle, so that I would be able to graduate on time. Granted, cramming an entire semester of books to read into six weeks of once a week sessions was INSANE, but it was one of my favorite classes, and an amazing thing that she did for me.

take advantage of free things

Free things are literally the best, amirite? Go to the events because they typically have free food. My school, around midterms and finals had free test taking kits with pencils and test booklets. I believe that there were a ton of free events and things for residents, but I lived off campus and commuted a long time, so I rarely did things. I did however, get a free shirt at nearly every event I went to, and got a sweet tumbler just before I graduated.

seek out associations and clubs

I am a(n inactive) member of the Phi Alpha Theta honor society because of my grades in my history courses and an alumnae of the Kappa Phi Club which is a national Christian sisterhood similar to traditional Greek life, but founded on different ideals and values. -I could go on and on about Kappa Phi, so don't get me started. :)- Both of these organizations can be started at your school if they aren't already available. By seeking out associations and clubs and the like, there are innumerable opportunities for you. As a member of PAT I have scholarship opportunities for grad school and Kappa Phi has given me amazing friendships to women across the country and will grant me leadership opportunities in the future.

don't be afraid to talk to professors like they’re real people

News flash: they are. They have feelings. I adopted a kitten from one of my profs, and I’ve babysat his children. I formed a close enough friendship with a different prof to be able to write his end of semester evaluation in emojis, which ended up in his tenure package. With forming relationships with your profs, they are able to know more about who you are and will be able to write you amazing letters of recommendation in the future.

mental health days are important

As part of my accommodations, I was given a leniency with attendance and I was able to take mental health days. I didn’t take a lot, maybe on average three a semester, but they helped me so much that if I hadn’t taken them, I would have fallen behind in my work. Your mental health is so important in school. Please don’t mentally drain yourself so that you can achieve “perfection.”

do more early on in the semester

This may seem like a silly thing, but it helps in the long run. After you go through your syllabus, take a look at things that look like they’re easy to do, or wouldn’t take long and do them the first couple weeks. Sometimes, if it’s an online submission, you can even submit it early and not have to deal with it. I did that for one of my senior projects and was incredibly happy that I did. While all of my classmates were struggling or hadn’t even started the couple weeks before it was due, I had mine finished and was just waiting to turn it in. That took the load from 5 senior projects to do to 4, and with them all due the same week it was a tremendous help.

be aware of your spending

$4 here and there at the coffee shop or quick mart on your campus may seem like nothing, but it adds up. I realized one semester that I had spent nearly $100 in one month just on coffee, which I could easily make at home, so that’s what I did. I made coffee at home and sometimes lunch and was able to keep better track on my spending.

noms are important

Sometimes it’s hard to make the cafeteria hours for meals, especially if you’re an athlete with practice during the meal times. This is why snacks are super important, or quick meals that you can make at home or in your dorm. During the summer my class started before the coffee shop opened so I couldn’t grab food there, so I started making overnight oats. I took a mason jar and filled it about half way with dry quick oatmeal, put other things (my fave was peanut butter and jelly) inside it and filled it the rest of the way with almond milk or soy milk because ya girl can’t have dairy, then put the lid on and popped it in the fridge before bed, and in the morning I had breakfast to eat in class.

There you have it. Easy peasy, right? Duh. I hope something here helped you, and if it did, let me know. If you have any to add, also let me know. I wish you the best of luck with your semester and the rest of your year! 

xoxo s

[thedappleddragon]

hehehe today I did something exiting >:) BUT IF UR MY IRL FRIEND STOP READING BECAUSE ITS A SURPRISE. 

but first we’re going chronologically. my cat woke me up by clawing at my sheets for the first time in a while. every morning she used to paw at my sheets, snag one claw in them, and detach it with her mouth until I got up to feed her or whatever. so it felt weird and reminded me of when I was waking up at noon everyday for a while. I said goodbye to my mom because she’s taking a trip to see her best friend/boyfriend to help with her mental health. I talked with her a bit and waved her goodbye and went back inside. I had breakfast and lily wanted to keep going outside, but I didnt want to go out because it was cold. I went out the first couple times she asked, but for the rest of the day I just opened the door to let her in and out, keeping an eye on her. I filled out 2 sketchbook pages because my brain was busy with other things. I played a little harvest moon and got to summer and finally looked up some of the mechanics like fertilizer and stuff. but mostly I was thinking about my friend’s birthday party and the formal dress code for the first half, how I dont have many dresses, and how cool it would be to make one myself. so I scoured Etsy and joann’s for dress patterns until I found one with a circle skirt and a sweetheart neckline that I thought looked really cute. ive never make clothes before, so I hope I do a good job. I wanted to go to Joanns but I had to wait for my sister to get home from track practice, so I just kinda sat at home alone. I'm usually more or less alone all day anyway, so I dont know why this felt so different. when she finally did come home dad handed us $40 for Taco Bell and to put gas in his car and we were off. my sister and I talked about what she did at track and my job interview yesterday while I did a mediocre job driving. when we got there I wasn't really sure what I was looking for, so I just kept going around in the clearence section touching everything that I thought could be a cute color/pattern for this dress. there were a lot of interesting fabrics and a lot of ugly ones I could only imagine on a toddlers and tiaras beautypagent dress. we settled on this light blue fabric with a white flower/leaf design and a soft plain blue fabric for the front panel and lining. it was about $33 worth of fabric, which I thought was a little expensive until I realized we would have paid more than double if it was full price. the patterned fabric is thin and flows nicely but isn't see-through which I really like, and the solid blue is very soft and stretchy. I'll probably use scraps from both after I'm done for other stuff. I wasn't sure what measurements I needed so I handed the lady at the fabric cutting booth my phone with a picture of the fabric requirements. she was very sleepy and had to convert between centimeters and yards, and I just watched as she unrolled the fabric and made very small snips. aaaah I love the fabric section of Joanns, even tho im horribly indecisive and I spent way too long just wandering and mulling it over. but im happy with my choice! I didnt want to pick a fabric I wasn't in love with, since it would suck ass if I put hundreds of hours of work into this dress and hated the outcome. OH MY GOD I JUST REMEMBERD THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. THIS DRESS WILL HAVE POCKETS!! :D I can make the pockets as big as I please >:) I'm fitting a small child in these pockets if it kills me. lmao I'll probably just follow the pattern and do the size it tells me. speaking of sizing after we got home with Taco Bell and joking about among us tiktoks in the car, I read through the pdfs and locked myself in the bathroom to take measurements, going through the list 3 times just to make sure I got an average. I kept landing between a 44 and a 46, but I must have taken my front and back waist measurements wrong?? they were way too short and not even on the sizing chart, so I guess I was thinking my waist was higher than it actually is. I decided for simplicity to use the 46 pattern all around. I only landed in 44 with the neck and bust numbers, but I can alwasy pull it in at the seams I need be. ohhhh I hope it turns out good.... I haven't even begin cutting or patterning yet, I still need to cut out the paper pattern I printed off. but first I wanted to use a big paper cutter to cut a centimeter off each page to make lining up and taping things easier. my little paper cutter only fits the short side of printer paper :( so I'll either use and exacto knife and a ruler on all 25 sheets or see if dad's work or the library will let me use a big one. tbh I'll probably do the first thing. I also learned how to do a bunch of seams today, some of which  I might practice and use for my dress. and I called my dad’s boss about job openings, but he didnt answer so I left a message. I ALSO said for gas in cash for the first time today, which was a little weird. it was simple enough but I probably looked like a fool to the booth lady. I would get stared on at least prepping the paper patterns tonight, but its almost 2 am and my cat is asleep on my feet so I guess im trapped here. 

[wellesleyunderground]

Wellesley Entrepreneurs: Emily Bennett, Founder of Baby Blastoff

Emily Bennett is the owner and designer at Baby Blastoff! Find her on Instagram and Facebook. Emily studied art while at Wellesley and finished her B.A. at Whitman College in 2003. She went on complete a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education at the University of New Mexico and taught Kinder, 1st and 2nd grade for five years before taking time with the birth of her son.  She always loved textiles and was a knitting fanatic before launching Baby Blastoff!  Her business is the melding of her passions: her love of small children and her love of textiles and design. Emily’s favorite thing about Baby Blastoff! is the chance it gives her to engage her brain in a diverse set of challenges from efficient manufacturing practices, to sales techniques, to managing employees. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her husband, son and daughter.

Interview conducted by Hoi-Fei Mok ‘10, WU Managing Editor

WU: Thanks for taking the time to chat, Emily! Tell us about your baby clothing business, Baby Blastoff! What inspired you to start this?

When we were pregnant, my husband and I decided not to find out the if our baby was a boy or girl, and looking around for gender neutral options clothing, toy, bedding and gift options, we came up short. This was when I started to tune into the gender stereotype messaging so common on children’s clothing. I didn’t like that baby clothing was already covered with messages like “All shopped out!” or “Mr. Tough Guy.” I couldn’t believe that we promote these stereotypes at such a young age. I was inspired to create an alternative that would provide both some hip gender-neutral options and also images that challenge gender role norms.  

WU: What are some of the products that you specialize in? Any favorites?

I make and sell mostly baby onesies. I’m proud to say that all of our bodysuits are now manufactured right here in Albuquerque New Mexico, where I live. This year we launched with 15 different colors and 38 unique graphics.  My favorites this year are the bike and the bowl of noodles. I’m also super happy about the sparkly dinosaurs on pink, lavender, and purple.

WU: What is your creative process for making these clothes?

My mission is to create baby clothes that are either gender neutral or challenge gender stereotypes. I spend a lot of time thinking about the imagery that appears on children’s clothing. Creating designs that are truly free of gender messaging but also exciting and unique, well, it’s tough. I am constantly on the look-out for inspiration in this category. What images, every day items, or ideas can really sit in-between the girl section and the boy section? The salt and pepper shakers are one example in this category.  Another is the apple core and banana peel.

Usually I’m thinking about a grouping of images for a long time before I start drawing. Right now I’m thinking about an outdoors theme for fall. I like to let my mind work on it for up to several months before I begin to collect images to help support the drawings. I come up with my best ideas, like everyone else, in the shower or while driving.  Once I get started, I try to work on a few images at once so they will have the same feel and character.  Many hours are spent on the computer drawing and redrawing, coming to terms with the failure of favorite ideas, and having new ideas emerge. Once I have a set of images, I get feedback from a variety of trusted people near me. Then there’s more weeding and cutting and revision ensues. In the end, a group of images remain that then go to the screen printers to be made into screens and ready to print.

WU: How has making clothes changed your perspective on the textile industry?

The current trend of fast fashion has corroded our sense of what textiles are worth in the US. Through Baby Blastoff! I have learned so much about what it takes to manufacture garments, and I know for certain now that if a pair of pants costs $10 then both the earth and human lives are suffering to make it happen. Clothing is primarily made by hand. Yes, there is specialty machinery that makes production sewing easier, but still those machines are operated by skilled people. In recent times garment manufacturing has rushed to whatever location has the cheapest source of labor because it apparel manufacturing is so labor intensive.  This is how we ended up with factories in Bangladesh collapsing on top of garment industry workers. Sometimes people balk at the price point of “Made in the USA” textiles, and this is what I want people to know-- when you support “Made in the USA” brands, you are buying safer working conditions, minimum wage at least for workers, you are buying meaningful and productive work for people in the US, and you are keeping alive the knowledge and skills in an industry that has all but left North America.

WU: Are there any moments at Wellesley that still stick with you or influence your work now?

Yes! I was a member of Shakes, and in the spring (my sophomore year) we produced “The Winter’s Tale”. One extremely intrepid member decided to sew new period costumes for the show. I mean an entire set of new costumes. I was so impressed! I knew sewing was a thing prior to that, but I didn’t really know. I was inspired to learn, and after that I spent a lot of time in the dorm teaching myself home sewing. My love of textiles dates before that time, but the idea that I myself to could make things was in part inspired there.

WU: What has been the most challenging experience for you in your work and beyond thus far?

The most challenging thing is to simply keep going and not give up, to count the successes and not compare to others.

WU: Holding down a business can be tough! What do you do for your self care?

We live in an area where people keep horses, goats, peacocks, guinea hens and other livestock. I enjoy going for long walks past the animals and along the irrigation canal to clear out all the thoughts and stress.  

WU: Do you have any goals for the coming year?

This year my goal is to fine-tune the new products that we just launched and then add t-shirts for older kids this fall.  

My long term dream right now is to open a workshop/retail space so I can bring as much production as possible in-house, and have an outlet for my products and sell other kid-empowering brands as well.  

Check out Baby Blastoff! here!

Etsy

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All photo credit to Baby Blastoff!