A fresh start?

It's been a while. I seem to have allowed my blog to flag and fade. And that's sad. It used to be such a great outlet for me, and it was a creative place for me to talk about my many projects. But I'm still here. I think the blog being forgotten has coincided with the advent of parenthood.  This blog followed me through my hard times. Through infidelity and the salvation of my marriage. Through my projects with the Oregon Regency Society, and through failed pregnancy after failed pregnancy. I did not write about my miscarriages, because those were so devastating to me. 

But then you can see the moment on this blog when I tried to secretly reveal my pregnancy before the three-month 'safety' time, and then the pregnancy, and the joy of having my beautiful son. I've tried to show him growing up. Which is all-too-fast. They really don't lie when they tell new parents to soak it in, because it is so damned quick. 

He's going to turn 8 in November. He started second grade today. We had a late start because we are dealing with the issues caused by the Oregon Fires and COVID. But he is at it today, working from a school-issued Chromebook and whiteboard, doing his work diligently. I have to keep him focused. But I think this might be okay. 

What am I up to? Well, momming for one. I'm going a little crazy. I developed an anxiety disorder that appeared when my mom and brother arrived from New Hampshire.  My mom passed away five years after my father did. And as it is with any Narcissist, life has been easier now that she is no longer around to drive me insane. But the anxiety issues never went away. 

Honestly, lately, I have not done much. I've been weighed down by the heavy burden of depression, and all the things that I love have sort of fallen to the wayside. I've also allowed myself to get too absorbed in social media and let the current political climate to crush my spirit. But I feel like I'm crawling out of this pit of despair and am able to see the light of day.  The fact that my kid is doing structured things during the week is a good thing. It has forced me to focus on his needs and not allowing him to spend the day playing Fortnite like a little screen-addict. Yes. It's insane. At seven, he's obsessed.

I have been doing some miniatures stuff and trying to finish some of the four books i have in mid-progress. Having too many books in the same series going at once has caused a hideous stall, and I have produced no new books for almost two years. It's terrible! I'm at 90% on one book, so I've resolved to finish and get it published so I can attack the next one. As my creative juices are starting to flow again, I need to be certain to finish one project before starting another, but I can't help getting sucked into the trap of new ideas. I need to learn to write the ideas down and leave them until I'm done working on prior projects.

If you want to see my other social media sites, where I've been marginally current.

Crafts and miniatures

Instagram for Feffie's Cottage: http://instagram.com/feffiescottage 
Facebook for Feffie's Cottage: https://www.facebook.com/FeffiesCottage

Authoring:

Instagram for Miranda Mayer: https://www.instagram.com/authormirandamayer/
Facebook for Miranda Mayer: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMirandaMayer/

Anywho.... Here are some pictures and videos I harvested from Facebook and whatnot to give you an idea of what I've been up to.

This year we had some losses, and some gains. We lost Simon, who was brutally killed by a Vacation Renter's malamute dog. But we found Miss Violet Rose, who has taken his place in our hearts. This was in May of last year.

We lost OC this year. This hit me a little harder than I thought it would.
He was a good kitty.

Alex met her the first time here, getting off the bus. This was a pretty sweet moment.

Here are some of the miniature things I've been working on. I continue to plug away at the McKinley. I'll make a full movie of the progress soon. In the meantime, here are some pictures I took along the way.

Miss Huxley's Magic Room

Adding ivy to the front of the townhouse

Soldering leaded windows

The library. I will be replacing the wallpaper

The Baby Cello project. I got this instrument from Kennedy Violins. It was
doomed to go into the burn-pile as it had seen its best days already. So I repurposed it
and turned it into the residence, workshop and shop for Mr. Patkany... the mouse-luthier.

Ms. Pok lives downstairs in the cellar apartments. She supplies
the silk for the violin-strings.

The middle floor is where Mr. Patkany enjoys his meals and
relaxes after a hard day of making instruments.

Making violins and a cello

The street-scene project was fun. 

Some rando pics of life at Casa Hungarican Chick.

Feffie's Cottage is a thing.

My gorgeous son. He's grown a little.

We are legit. We have a logo.

My son and the cat, who is not supposed to be 
allowed in my shed.

The local bookshop and cafe are featuring my books. <3

My kid's feet next to my own. He's growing
too quickly. Make it stop.

Some summer illustrations for my sister's vacation rental.

Masks R Life nowadays.

More silliness for my sister's vacation house.

Yes. We were right in the thick of the fires, but we were
lucky and they surrounded us, but never came into the 
mount hood corridor. This is an image my brother-in-law took of
the Riverside fire from Sandy. Scary huh?

Our shit neighbour has been doing some particularly douchey things lately.  Although now I know his secret to staying thin and trim; aside from meth and booze, that is.

Home schooling has begun after fire and calamity and plague.

Here are some one-second0a

This is me singing a song.

This is me making a THC tincture.

That's it for today. I keep saying I'll post again soon. I am trying to mean it this time! Now that I have to sit through the school day with my kid, I guess I could fill the time actually creating content for this blog. It's been around so long, seems a pity to just let it die. <3 TTYL the HC

I'm still here. Really.

Yes. I’ve been silent for months. Well, in the blogiverse mostly. I’m rarely silent unless I’m sleeping. What have I been doing? Well… I’ve been writing books. I finished one and sent it off for editing. I’ve been working on a collaborative project with author Shéa MacLeod, which is in rewrites stage right now, and I am about two thirds through another novel. I’ve been pouring my creativity into my books. I have been given the unique gift of time; the first time since my little baby was born four years ago (Yes, he turned 4 last Thursday, I can hardly believe it). He has started preschool in earnest, which allows me nine hours a week to sit down at the local café (which is really like the town’s living room, it’s awesome), and to write freely. It’s been a while!

Playing with Friends Annie & baby Maxine

 So I am taking advantage of it. I have my crafty projects (and project-a-palooza) on hold for now. I have a desire to create pretty things with my hands, but I need to finish this novel and get these projects done before the end of the year so I have new releases for Comic-con in February. If you want to know more about these things, or more about the world of my writing, which is done separately from everything else under the nom-de-plume Miranda Mayer, please feel free to like my page on Facebook, or sign up for my newsletter from my website. I don’t email very often, only when I’m about to release something.

His first tournament.

School starts

 Other big news is I have stepped away from the group I founded, the Oregon Regency Society. I did it for a variety of reasons, but what it came down to was that there were constant issues with drama, unkind gossip being flung by people who were supposedly my friends, returned to me by people everyone respects and who were then called liars by said gossips. There was also a problem common to groups like these, and that is people with input but no actual action. There was the old problem of people who take on too much, and then cannot take responsibility for not following through, and who spew blame instead. Bottom line, it just wasn’t fun anymore. I’d been through this kind of thing once before, and I just didn’t have it in me to weather the drama to try and fix what had been poisoned. So I have cast it off the shore into the hands of others, and wish the best for it. As long as the people who have maligned and vilified me continue to be involved, I will not. I might try to play with friends again someday, and I already miss so many people, but for now, I need to just focus my energy on things that are fulfilling to me. Like my child, my creative outlets and well… me. My mental health needs to be important too.

Chilling behind my table at the Rose
City Comic Con. He's pretty deft
with the iPad.

 So I’m here, prepping for the holidays. My son’s paternal grandfather has been struggling with stage 4 cancer. My son has Bronchitis, and so does my husband, and as grandpa’s immune system is compromised by Chemotherapy, we cannot go to their home for Thanksgiving. It’s kind of sad, because my mother-in-law has been really having a rough time dealing with all of this, and to top it off, she has painful arthritis in her hip. I was going to go and help her cook the meal so she wouldn’t be miserable the whole day. But we can’t put Grandpa John in danger. So I will be cooking a small thanksgiving meal for the three of us here at home.

School time.

Waiting to go to class.

 Alex had his fourth birthday party on Saturday. He had a wonderful time, and Stephie made him the most beautiful Paw Patrol cake in history. He was so fixated on the cake, it was hilarious. It’s amazing to think that the child we never expected is now four years old. It’s crazy. It’s too fast! I wish there was a rewind button so I could go through it all again. Even the colic and the teething.

So the holidays approach. I imagine you all have plans for them. I’m excited about Christmas. More than ever since we had Alex, and this year, it’s the first year where he has as much anticipation as a child should have, and I’m excited to put the tree up with him, and to decorate the house. I intend to do it after Thanksgiving, come what may. The earlier the better. Considering how awful this year has been, we need some damned goodwill in this country. Even if there are battles to be fought still.

Class is over!

Feeding the gulls in Astoria.

 Oh! I found a kitten. So we now have another cat. She’s fecking cute. I might be a little allergic to her, but how do you tell your kid, sorry, no cat. So I’ll just manage with it. She’s a brat. So I appreciate that about her. Anyhoo, I will try to be better about snarking, crafting and journaling as I go. I won’t have any new costume posts for a while, I’m afraid. I don’t really have any desire to participate in events right now, so I don’t have any reason to sew new Regency things. But the lark may come where I will want to make a hat or whatever. So who knows? Maybe I’ll arrange a non-related event just so I can play with the people I want to play with. Time will tell.

New BFFs.

My girls started laying. Two were killed by raccoons. Hubby
shored up the enclosure, and my friend Molly gave me a couple
hens to replace my lost ones.

Halloween spookiness.

The kitten (Peppercorn), has claimed Simon as her
personal bed.

My little lion trick-or-treating homes for the first time.

Bratty McKatten

Everything Paw Patrol for his party

Kitty McAssface Von Kattenstein.

Taekwondo

The lovely cake by Just a Dash cakes (aka auntie Steph)

I’m off to forage for Thanksgiving ingredients and such, in spite of my sinus infection. See you on the flip side folks! I’ve missed this.