It comes in pints?!

Well, I'm still alive. 

My last post saw me at my grimmest about my current situation (clearly) but I'm happy to report that, not only am I not displaying any physical signs of covid-19 (I've been taking my temperature daily as an additional precaution!), but I've been managing my mental health surprisingly well. I'll attribute it partially to M, my quarantine/life partner, and the fact that I've thrown myself into a project... more on that in a minute.

But first... P E T S!

...that aren't mine. I've had a love-hate relationship with the upstairs neighbors pug. He hilariously looks like this: 

I've entitled this piece: "The Loneliest Pug in the World"

But also, he apparently has a lot to say, considering the amount of time I am forced to listen to him bark. I tried to bond with him yesterday but he was mostly interested in trying to come into my apartment, probably, from the size of him, to scout for snacks.

I had slightly better luck with the cat, and by slightly better luck I mean it got within a whole one foot of me, but still refused to let me pet it or move.

Progress.

I'm sure a big part of my positive mental attitude is also due in part to the strangely glorious weather we've been having. Sunny and in the 70's in November?! Probably a sign that our planet is going to like, descend into a second ice age sooner rather than later but I'll take it!

M and I went for a walk, basically the only thing we can do that's not in our house during our quarantine, and I spent the better part of the late afternoon/evening on the porch working on my aforementioned project. 

This year, I'm making Christmas stockings for my brand new nephew and M who inexplicably doesn't have one of his own. I've blurred the one I'm working on above because it's a surprise for both of them! I'll be cross stitching the cuff portion of the stocking and my mom is making the stocking itself. I designed and created the pattern myself on my pattern making software which I'm super  proud of but I also did not measure correctly forcing me to make all sorts of frantic adjustments AFTER I had already put quite a bit of work into it which I am NOT super proud of.

All I have to say is, these guys better cherish the shit out of these things.

Because I'm in quarantine and can't go anywhere and I'm an adult so I can do whatever I damn well please I enjoyed an afternoon beer. I'm finishing the last of my fall seasonal stash (in very late-spring weather funnily enough) before moving on to the winter stuff, and this Festbeir called Inexplicably Used Umlaut from Singlecut is a pretty decent send off. It was my first foray into Singlecut, a brewery out of New York, but M is a huge fan of their 18-Watt so I thought I'd give it a try. I was not disappointed.

 When I'm not stitching outside, I find myself... stitching inside. Really making waves here with all my free time. I've embraced my inner grandma and started re-watching (yes, I've watched them all already) Columbo, one of my all-time favorite detective shows. Peter Falk is great as the bumbling but secretly super savvy detective and the 70s fashion in these are a m a z i n g. They're also long which I like, when I know I want to spend a lot of time on a project. 

I've gone full couch potato I guess because we've also started watching the Lord of the Rings movies. I hadn't watched them until now because I've always insisted on reading the books first which I somehow only did semi-recently.

We watched The Hobbit trilogy a while ago but we finally watched The Fellowship of the Ring last night. It's nice to be in that universe again, especially now. It's so comforting to me, aside from just being a good movie. We'll definitely finish the other two movies by the time I get to finally start work (the 20th). 

Our big plans for this evening include ordering out for some zero-contact takeout, specific kind TBD. Maybe a movie, maybe more stitching... who knows. All I know is, I'm going to enjoy the chilling as much as I possibly can before I inevitably lose my mind.

Source

Cheers!