Nymeria

Well. Ugh. Actually, a nasty cold virus has worked it’s way through the family. (Not COVID, thankfully, but still kind of awful). Then, today I just got a call from school saying that my youngest was exposed to COVID and needs to quarantine for the rest of the week. So, yeah…. On the good side, kiddo had a math contest last Wed, in which he did not do as well as he wanted, one Saturday that he won, one tomorrow, which he can now study for tomorrow morning, and one on the upcoming Saturday. He’ll enjoy being home, and I’ll enjoy hanging with him. Also, when I’m feeling a bit under the weather, I end up letting myself spend a lot of time reading.

Okay. Venturing into TMI land, but hopefully some of the perimenopausal and menopausal women can sympathize.

Finished my daughter’s mini today!

It's hard for you to remember to exercise because there are only so many hours and there's only so much mental energy in a day. Rather than feeling guilty for missing the exercise, you should be patting yourself on the back for juggling so many other things. You're doing a great job! Good luck with all of the appointments!

That is gorgeous! I love the texture! I'm also not surprised it's taking longer than you expected. The whole thing looks very complicated.

Wait? What? No. It's too early for that! Awesome! D&D is so much fun, especially when you're a creative type who wants to flesh out a character and really get into the roleplaying. I hope this works out for you!

So, I suck and disappeared. I've just been in a funk, largely from hormone imbalances. bleh. Anyway, life and crafting continue. Here are the family D&D minis in various states of completion. I also photographed a quarter next to them, just to show how tiny these things are. Also, since I know a few of you are into Shadowrun, Heroforge has some good shadowrun type customizable models. Here are my husband's and my shadowrun characters from an old campaign (I so can't wait to paint these!)

It's easy for Americans like me to forget just how far north most of Europe is compared to the US. My city is at the same latitude as the northern part of Africa. I'm all for the shorter work days, though!

I live in the southwest US, so about as far from Europe as you can get. I actually have dual citizenship with Luxembourg, so I could almost be a neighbor. Kiddo and I already do duets all of the time. It's fun, but not quite the same thrill as playing with a full orchestra would be.

They're all part and parcel of the same thing for me. Cold + wet + dark + nasty ends up driving me indoors, and then my anxiety and depression spiral out of control. I remember some winters where it was dark when I commuted to work, light during my workday (but I had an interior office and barely got to see it), and then dark already by the time I got out. It can really do a number on your brain. I would imagine that they have some bouldering gyms somewhere nearby. If not, you could probably hire someone to teach you how to set up and belay for outdoor climbing.

That is a fabulous plan! Yay for more climbing! I'm jealous about the orchestra experience. It's really hard to find a group to play with when you do piano (other than churches), so you end up just being pretty solitary. It's one of the reasons I encouraged my son to do a strings instrument rather than following me with piano.

Everything you've said here perfectly describes my relationship with running. I can do it, and I have from time to time worked on it, but I just never could get that runner's high. It's always been more of slogging through the workout than deriving any real enjoyment from it. For my part, the only thing that's ever helped with running (or any pure cardio) is distracting myself in some way. Zombies, run helped as a motivational and distraction tool. Or putting together a strong playlist and then listening to that while working out helped. Also, for any cardio, I've found that the first 5 minutes are the hardest. My body and brain try hard to nope out of the cardio for the first 5 minutes. Then, I guess they get resigned and I pick up enough momentum to just keep going.

McGonagall or Gandalf have my vote. My youngest isn't dressing up either. He doesn't even have the moody teen excuse, but maybe has some social anxiety. Or I think he enjoyed last year, where trick or treating was canceled, and he just got candy from us without any effort on his part. Oldest is going as a medieval plague doctor with the full mask and everything. I think she's already plotted out next year's costume, too.

Ugh. That is the worst. Or those times when falling asleep is no problem, but then the 2AM insomnia hits. That sounds like so much fun! Either a pell would be great, or getting a weighted practice sword. Both will help you whip up your strength and endurance.

Some updates: Monday - 2 Blender tutorials done! Piano done! Blanket #1 about halfway done. No minis painted, since we did an hour of D&D right after dinner and needed to use the minis. Today - Climbing done! Piano done! I will definitely paint minis later today and do another blender tutorial or two. Re: the nerd tree: We actually already modeled and painted a FMA Dwarf in the flask. It's just rather large (maybe 12" diameter) and casually sitting on the shelf in our sitting room. I also have Daleks to add to the tree. I didn't model these, but rather downloaded someone's else's 3d file and just printed them and cleaned them up.

Today was a decent climbing day! I got a new 5.9 and a new 5.10 that were set, and I at least got beta on another 5.9 that has been giving me issues. I can also safely say that my kids, who have been climbing much less often and for much less time than I have, are stronger climbers than I am. Oh well, teens/tweens should be more athletic than their middle aged moms. Later, we'll all do some swimming and hot tubbing, since it's still 85 degrees here and not depressingly cold. I'm making Dwarf in the Flask (from FMA) x-mas ornaments on the 3d printer. This year, the xmas tree is just going to be a nerd tree. I'll post pictures at some point after the small paint job I'll need to do on them. I'm also apparently making two blankets. My daughter said she didn't need another blanket, then felt how soft the jumbo blanket yarn is, and now wants one too. Mini painting will most likely wait until tomorrow. My hands are stiff from climbing, so they're not going to be steady enough for detail work. Also, I stupidly forgot to practice the piano before climbing, so I'll have to make up for that tomorrow as well.

Awesome costume! I agree that the sash, the wig, and the tail all coordinate together beautifully!

Following! I have at least a couple similar goals, since I'm trying to avoid some social media, and I'm making blankets for my babies (who are middle schoolers, but still my babies. ). Are the blankets going to be knitting, crocheting, quilting, or some other craft?

I don't blame you one bit! I have no idea how people tolerate below freezing temperatures. Also, living somewhere warm enough to be outside in the winter has helped immensely with my seasonal affective disorder. I can't wait to read about your adventures!

I might actually be boring and do a blanket this time. I hope so. It's so difficult, and it's way too tempting to just use a ton of pedal and try to slop through it rather than devote tons of time into cleaning it up. Heh. I've already done those. Dragon gloves are awesome!

I'm joining this club, too. My body does not want to go to sleep at 10:30, and it really, really, really doesn't want to wake up at 6:30, but I don't have a choice in the matter. Ugh.

For the piano goal, this is the beast I have to slay by the end of the challenge. Right now, this run is a sloppy mess. Frequently, I know it's coming, tense up, and play it even worse. Ugh. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FLRl0DZ7-YhgN5kffTx650qrVIbCjxb6/view?usp=sharing

Hooray for going climbing! I hope you can make it into the climbing gym more often, now that you've figured out when the gym is pretty empty. It's also nice to see someone else who probably understands the pain of climbing too hard and then struggling to play your instrument because your fingers are too claw-like from the climbing. I know you're mostly yoga-ing, but I'm still here for the climbing and music!

I'm hitting the art and music pretty hard this challenge, too. Following for art inspiration!

Following for the art inspiration!