Another hobby? Yes, I am crazy!

It’s all the fault of another beader.  Truly, it is. I was gifted a set of really nice watercolors, a couple of brushes, and a sketch pad for Christmas in 2016.  I took the items camping in August 2017.  So maybe it is my fault because I did take them camping.  And I started to paint.

Rabbit (from a royalty free website)

Door (from a royalty free image website)

Hawk from a photo that one of
"my doctors" took and allowed me to use.

Leaves from the back garden

Leaf from a campground or my
back garden I try to keep notes
of what paint colors that I used
and what brush I used.

Watercolor of a street view of the village
 of Rothenburg ob der Tauber

These were all from videos that I found on YouTube.

Yes, another hobby!  Watercolor paints.  I've learned what I like and what I don't like.  I like Arches 300 gsm paper, I don't like Canson XL watercolor paper.  I like inexpensive Chinese brushes.  I love Daniel Smith watercolor paints, but I also haven't tried any other brands.  I've learned that I like watching the YouTube videos - what artists I like and artists that I think are just a little to full of themselves.

I've learned that I like to watercolor.

Update of My BUJO year

Early in 2018, I learned about a planning system that revolves around the person and not what is printed on a page in a premade planner, called a "Bullet Journal" and in late January I decided to try it.  You can read about it here:  My Adventure Into Bullet Journaling

2018 BUJO

I've been really good about keeping track of what I have done, what I need to do, what should be done when, and when I received the things that I need to do.  It's helped me stay on track, prove that things were completed and when (very important when you get the phone call accusing you of not doing it, then you know what day you did it, can go back through your emails and say "Um, this was emailed, to YOU, on Sept 4th at 2:36 p.m.").

You can see how the 2018 has expanded with use. 
The 2018 was about the same thickness that the new 2019 is now.

I've tracked movies I want to watch, sayings that I found interesting, wrote a mid-year review for my benefit, future log for 2019 items (reminder, move this information to the new book), tracked how much I did of certain things; expenses, verifications, pages used, etc.

Has it helped me?  Yes, definitely, it has helped me.  So much so that I have my 2019 BUJO in my hand and starting to plan with it.  It's a Leuchtturm 1917 and I have heard some really good things about it.  I will probably add some paint to the front of it, with these fun stickers that I found.

Paint or more stickers - that is a hard question!

 Let's see how on track I can be in 2019 with this BUJO system.

My Weird Obsession

This weird obsession started pretty innocently.

For years I have sewn on a mid-1980s Pfaff Tipmatic sewing machine that I purchased while I was living in Germany, it’s was a great machine that I really liked.  One year I just got the bug in me that I needed (needed, not wanted) a new sewing machine and decided on a Babylock machine called the “Soprano” (nicknamed Tony, of course).  But I couldn’t let go of the Pfaff machine – I might need it one day!

2016 Babylock Soprano Sewing Machine aka "Tony"

I was given a vintage sewing machine by a friend from work, in a cabinet that needed some work.  Nice, older White Rotary sewing machine.  Pretty cool, but there wasn’t a real emotional pull to that machine.  I don’t know why.  It was a great present, the price was right, but no love was involved.

White Rotary Sewing Machine

Many years prior, Alan found a sewing machine and cabinet in the trash one day – he brought it home, cleaned it up.  It was an end table for years, at my home, my brother’s home, but again not a huge emotional connection to the machine.

Mom's 1953 Singer Featherweight

Then I started thinking about my mother’s sewing machine.  It was a cute little Singer Featherweight that I learned how to sew with.  I started by just moving the balance or hand wheel as Mom didn’t want us to use the foot pedal.  Soon, though we were allowed to use that as well.  This practice sewing that was used to make Barbie® clothes and blankets and more.  The more I thought about this machine, the more I wanted one.

Now, that’s an emotional connection!

I started searching on Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, CraigsList, etc. and found out that these little vintage machines are crazy expensive!  I reached out to my ex-husband (aka step-brother) to find out if the Featherweight was something that my father had in the house up north (that he was currently living in).  It was found and shipped to me within a week.  Hurray!

I took it to the neighborhood sewing machine repair shop to give it a tune-up and fix the electrical repair that my father did at some point in time.  I was not going to have a Featherweight with a white extension power cord.  No way.  Sandy at the Sew and Vac Center did a great job and the machine runs great.  It’s a little power horse for going through multiple layers of denim fabric.

So Liz was happy with her Mom’s 1953 Singer Featherweight machine, her old mid-80s Pfaff, her new Soprano and the Brother Overlock machine that her husband surprised her with!  What more could I need?  Why nothing.  I didn’t need a thing.

Until.

1941 Singer Model 128 AG133259

Until I saw a 1941 Singer model 128 with a Godzilla finish in a bentwood case.  I think I really fell in love with the box.  Yup.  That had to come and live with me.

1952 Pfaff Model 130

Until I saw a 1952 Pfaff model 130, with an original sewing cabinet with dovetail joinery, and a coffee grinder attachment (it’s actually an embroidery attachment, but makes a coffee grinder noise).  Almost mint condition. This is a beautiful sewing machine.

Until I saw a 1947 Singer Featherweight with the scrollwork on the front plate of the machine.

My adventure into bullet journaling

I just started with bullet journaling in late January 2018 and I have been watching many you tube videos and Pinterest items to learn how it's done.  I’ve used traditional calendar systems for years and usually discard it within a few days.  Here’s how I have been put my "Semi" Bullet Journal together.

I had a book from the hospitals' 100 anniversary and thought it would be a good place to start with - I put some dot painting on the cover to brighten it up.

I added a key just inside the front cover to help me with keeping track of the items that I would have in the journal.  Along with a small piece of my art "What do you want?"

To do (smal box)
Completed (check mark)
Migrated (arrow to the right)
Note (*)
Event(!)
Discard (cross out the item)


Monthly calendar:  While I appreciate the idea of writing out the monthly calendar, I know that I will never do that.  I found a monthly calendar on the computer and printed it.  It’s easy enough to cut out the month and tape it with double sided tape to my journal page.  I just couldn’t see the logic of reinventing the wheel.  The hard part was determining how many pages to leave for each month in my book so I haven’t taped them to the book.  Currently they are evenly spaced throughout the book.

Dividers: I found dividers with the month on them, cut them down to fit in my journal and taped the the calendars to the divider.  I am certain if I looked though the stores, I could have found mini dividers that would fit, maybe next year.   I have placed them evenly through the journal, but not attached them.  It makes it easy to move should I have an extra busy month and need extra pages.

Next Week Item:  Another portion of the on line tutorials that confused me was having a list for next week.  Then, when it is next week, you copy the list into your calendar - certainly not a time saver for me.  When it is an item for another month, I have taken to putting a sticky note on the divider for the appropriate month, or writing in pencil on the month divider things that need to be completed, and possibly a deadline, if there is one.

Much of my job has somewhat fluid deadlines.  If it’s an absolute deadline, I actually enter the event on my Outlook calendar with a reminder on the day, maybe a little before.  That way I’ll get an electronic reminder, and it’s in the bullet journal.

February had eight pages of "To Do" items.  While I realize that my journal looks more like a huge to do list, why waste the time making a daily, weekly or monthly calendar if I am not going to use these items?

I have taken to decorating my journal with small watercolor paintings of mine, washi tape and funny sticky notes.

I love colors markers and pens, fountain pens with great ink and all these items keep the journal fun and interesting.

There are many more things that I can do with this; track days that I am spending money or not spending money, working out, etc.  Pictures can be taped into the journal, samples of paint colors.  I added a "Wish List" and have been adding items I would like to get or do.