Fun and Frolic With Long-Term Love

[Bluebird]

Soooo I’ve really been struggling with depression. I think it’s my medication - or like, the lack of a thyroid and not having enough hormones in my body. It’s really difficult to motivate myself to get up and get dressed, get up and shower, to start projects. It sucks. It helps to be polyamorous though, as my partners are changing each day and I feel like I need to give them the best version of me, so I WILL get up and I am at least clean and appearing functional.

Today TheEngineer came over and hung out with me while I focused on getting my craft room put back together. I started out with half the electric in my basement not powering on, and he was able to figure out that the yard work MisterMoonbeam did this past weekend caused a short and was tripping a breaker. So now we have to keep the lamppost outside turned off until we get the whole thing looked at and probably replaced. It had been covered in vines, but stripping them all off has caused an issue. TheEngineer says it could be moisture getting into the post, as it was blocked really well previously, or there is some corrosion and just bumping the post has affected it.

My craft room is looking good though - not only did TheEngineer solve the electric issue, but he ran some lamp cords through the drop ceiling for me.





My craft room is really looking put together now. I made some jewelry for Mythicon this afternoon, and MisterMoonbeam & TheEngineer found some files on Thingyverse to make me some tentacles for a headpiece. The first one printed tonight and it turned out fantastic! It’s 5 inches tall. The rest will hopefully be printed tomorrow, and I’m going to work on the floral crown for them then too.



Outfits for Mythicon are coming along well. I bought two Mad Hatter hats from Damsel in this Dress, and she sent me a FREE one because I had posted to her page asking if she was going to have green/black medallion, and she said no. Then she ended up making me one special, for a surprise! DarkKnight says that is how he knows I overspend with that company. MisterMoonbeam was just happy to have it for Mythicon!



I have a friend who is making me a green/black and a purple/black hat band to put on the black hat, so I am excited about that as well!

DarkKnight is in tech week so I am not seeing him much. His show opens this weekend. I’m not seeing it until Feb 22, and we bought a big block of tickets for everyone in our family and polycule to attend together. I wanna go sooner but that’s the only date everyone could make it!

Here’s another photo of me. I lost the pound that I had gained since losing my thyroid.



I just had my third shot of 2.5 Mounjaro. It’s working really well. The food noise is once again gone and it’s managing my blood sugar beautifully.



I actually hit 100% in range for 3 days in a row, but then I rolled over and got a “compression low” and now I’m at 99%. It’s impossible to keep my compliance perfect like that but I am happy about being able to maintain for a little while! My goal is actually 70%, but I get anxious when I fall below 95%. I think I’d be a basket case if I fell to 70%! While off of the Mounjaro it did get pretty scary but I managed to stay above 70% even then. I’m hoping that after my 4th shot I will get moved to 5.0 and be able to just stay on that level.

 

[Bluebird]

I’m awake early this morning. I have so much excitement about making the tentacle headpiece! Unfortunately, each tentacle is going to take over two hours to print, so that’s gonna be a Friday project. Maybe. 3D printing is finicky as fuck so I’m not trying to set my expectations too high!

Instead my focus today is going to be headpieces and accessories for the Green Man Dance. I really don’t have any ideas about how I want stuff to look - I’ve been searching stuff on Pinterest but none of it is really sparking creativity. I’m gonna look some more for a bit this morning for inspiration and then I will just go for it!

I won’t have a car again today - DarkKnight is taking it to work - but the van will be here if I need it to go run and buy supplies. Actually, now that I am typing I remember that I was excited about making some hair clips that had wire-wrapped black feathers for our crow costumes. OMG MisterMoonbeam tried on some looks last night and I really love his outfit! He has a really cool capelet so if there are any outdoor events, he can stay warm. Last year there was fire spinning outside, and he enjoyed watching that. So he will be prepared!




Of course he will be wearing something on his feet and legs. lol He has black UnderArmor leggings and his Son of Sandlar knee-high leather boots!

I am currently waiting for a “Sgt Pepper” vest to arrive that I bought on the secondary market. I should check the tracking - it is definitely on the way and should get here in plenty of time. OMG I just remembered that I bought a black & green Gitana skirt from Moresca! I have a different skirt pulled out to pack, and I will definitely be swapping it out for the new one. lol

 

[Bluebird]

So I got 4 tentacles printed for me yesterday, the rest will have to wait until Friday. Today I am home alone and I am focused on Green Man Dance stuff.



Yesterday I had two friends come over and we made jewelry in my newly painted craft room. I made some earrings for Green Man, some boot charms for my Blackbird outfit, and a lanyard clip for MisterMoonbeam for his blackbird stuff.





After my friends left, I made a corsage for Green Man. It’s mounted on a slap bracelet. This was the first time I made something like this and I really enjoyed it. It turned out nice! I am going to have these be a part of my product offering - every theme will have corsages as side purchases. Some less fancy, some more.



The fabric in the background of that last pic is the pattern of my corset, sleeves and peplum. The slap bracelet fabric is one that I will change out - it doesn’t really match this but I figure you can’t see it really when I’m wearing it. Obviously when I sell things, I will have them match better.

Today I am going to work on the headpieces. I did DarkKnight’s taxes this morning and we owe $600. So I didn’t file them - I will wait until we get money back from MisterMoonbeam’s stuff first. I’m eating lunch right now.



My food noise is gone, thanks to Mounjaro. I can’t even finish a third of this, so I am trying to eat mindlessly while I type. It’s not working too well but if I focus on food it won’t get eaten. I just feel so full!

Oh! Another update - I got my outfit for Arizona Ren Faire figured out. I probably won’t wear the fox fur but I love the look!

 

[Bluebird]

I finished the tentacle headpiece and liked how it turned out.



In hindsight I would have chosen different flowers, but I purchased these when I thought I was going to be making a crown and not a headband! I feel like the tentacles are the perfect size.

 

[Bluebird]

Uggggh insomnia. I haven’t been sleeping well at all, and my best sleep lately has been between 4 am and 8 am. Er, rather, my only sleep lately has been then!

I had my fourth shot of 2.5 Mounjaro last night. I am still really, really happy with how it’s been treating me - food noise is gone, I’m maintaining my weight loss with zero stress about it, and best of all my blood glucose is doing amazeballs. My average is 113. I’m planning on messaging my endocrinologist today to ask if I can increase to 5.0 next week. I have a box in the fridge already, from last year. She had planned to keep me on the 2.5 for two months since I had such bad side effects the last two times I was on it. I’ve had almost zero nausea and no puking this run through, thank goodness. I’m really keeping my fingers crossed that I can bump up and then just maintain on 5. I’m freaking excited to see my A1C next time I get tested!

TheEngineer came over yesterday and we snagged lunch together at Jersey Mike’s. He helped me fill bird feeders and we built a model of da Vinci’s aerial screw - a model “helicopter” made of wood. He also helped me with some Mythicon stuff; he hung out while I tried on outfits and then I made some more items while he was on his laptop.

Bad lighting, but this is my green & black medallion “Blackbird” look:



I bought a “watercolor” corset on a resale page and I am so excited to see what I can do with this!



I made this pin for MisterMoonbeam’s Frost Faerie Ball outfit.

My headpiece has a little owl on it, so I thought I’d add some to his bling too. This is one event where we will not be matchy-matchy: he’s wearing blue & black medallion and I will be in white with a silvery blue pattern.

I have therapy this afternoon, and I will be mailing out a couple of trades.

 

[Bluebird]

So my endocrinologist said yes to starting the 5.0 Mounjaro next Tuesday. Yay! That will give me two boxes left of 2.5. I’m hoping that if DarkKnight is prescribed it, he can use those to save money. His insurance won’t cover it at all. He sees his doctor next week - he just got all of his bloodwork done and his numbers are all green and perfect! Metabolic panel, lipids, etc. All except his A1C, which was like a 6, I think? Anyway, it was a smidge pre-diabetic.

He’s thinking his doctor will start him on Metformin, but I told him to ask if it’s okay if he uses my extra boxes of Mounjaro.

I have three boxes of 5.0 already in the fridge, and my endocrinologist said if I can do two shots with no side effects, she’ll call over another 3 month prescription. So potentially I can supply DarkKnight with a starter set of four months. Hopefully that would kickstart his weight loss.

That said, if his doc says no, then that’s a no.

MisterMoonbeam has a checkup coming up at the end of the month - I need to see if he asked for bloodwork prior to it. I told him to send a message last night but I don’t know if he did. Hopefully his numbers are decent though. Our insurance would cover the meds though, if he needed them.

I’m dragging ass today - I’m so very tired! Therapy is done and I did get the corsets out for trading. I really need to focus this evening on making sure EVERYTHING is ready to go for tomorrow. The car needs cleaned out and I have laundry that needs doing. I just put away a dryer-load belonging to MisterMoonbeam. My stuff is in the washer now!

 

[Bluebird]

MisterMoonbeam & I made it to Mythicon! This wasn’t a dress up day, but I decided to wear my foxy stuff just for fun.

 

[Bluebird]

Mythicon photo drop! I got laid, and it was amazing.

Seriously, dressing up in garb was so much fun and having a partner who is as into that as me is lovely.

Friday: I had a cicada theme and MisterMoonbeam was an emperor moth. He got so many more compliments than me - I think people were just impressed that a dude had moth wings and fuzzy antennae. What’s hilarious is that his main moth costume was legit less than $15. Plus, my nods to cicadas were much more subtle.



Friday night: Green Man Masquerade! We tapped out early since the main band we wanted to see had a second daytime show the next day. I ended up being unsatisfied with this outfit overall and I will change a lot the next time I wear it.



Saturday: A nod to our home, Blackbird Manor! This was my favorite outfit prior to putting it on at the event. I did like it, but MisterMoonbeam had more feathers than I!



There was a giant Kenku (the bird race I play in D&D) and it was not happy with MisterMoonbeam’s necklace!





Saturday night: Frost Faerie Ball! We had a pair of friends get handfasted this evening, and we scored free tickets to a catered dinner with a bubble magic show, so that was unexpected! I loved how we looked!



Halfway through the dance, I realized MisterMoonbeam had the wrong hat, so we swapped them out.



Sunday: Octopi! Originally I had decided to wear all teal, but MisterMoonbeam wanted to wear this pink octopus hat, so I made it work with the 3D printed headpiece that I made.



In the afternoon, I found a booth with a vintage Indian sari that matched my look PERFECTLY, so I had to buy it. I mean, what are the odds?!

 

[Bluebird]

I’m getting really excited and nervous and anxious but in a good way! I’ve reached out to maybe vend for the first time at an event and I’m hoping I will be accepted! I’m starting up production on these tentacle headpieces, including glow in the dark options! We’ve been printing non-stop since coming back from Mythicon - it takes like a day to print one complete set of tentacles.

Anyway, I spent $143 on filament for the 3D printer this morning, and I am now putting together a list of stuff to buy for my booth - tables, bookshelves, mirrors, etc.

Squeeeee

 

[Bluebird]

Oh gawd I am so anxious! I spent a little over $800 tonight ON A CREDIT CARD to start my purchases for setting up a booth. Literally just the things that hold accessories, tablecloths, table runners, a couple of floor rugs, lights, mirrors and a single bookshelf. Now, if this stuff gets here and it’s all great, I’ll then be spending another $600 or $700 on 3 more of everything. It’s absolutely nerve wracking!

It’s crazypants because I can spend that much on garb without much feeling, but this has like, intention behind it. I’m expected to work to pay this back, and what if I fail? What if my stuff is shit and no one likes it? Eeeek!

I think all in, it will be a little under $4000 for everything in startup costs.

Here’s some stuff I made the last two days or so:

Corsages! These are on a slap bracelet base and I’m hoping they will sell like hotcakes at events where people are dressed in garb.



Right now I only have the sparkly white slap bracelets, but I have a solid black and a shiny gold on the way.

Headpieces! I made myself a crown for Friday when I go out for Valentine’s Day with DarkKnight. No tentacles there, just flowers.



I’ve been printing tentacles like crazy, and I have another set in glitter blue ready to go, but today I stopped printing as there were some design changes that needed to be made in the Blender program. So that’s tomorrow.

Jewelry! I got my first pair of 3D printed earrings made but there are issues. I don’t like how the hooks are mounted so those have been redesigned to be little half circles on the side. I will print them tomorrow and see what’s up. The pendant printed okay but again, I’m not impressed with the quality. So that’s going to get some tweaks. The new filament hasn’t shown up yet - oh wait, there are two boxes in the front entryway. Maybe that’s them!



My plan with these is that if someone buys a headpiece, they’ll hopefully see the matching earrings and pendant and corsage and want the whole set.

 

[Bluebird]

I made some more stuff today - a corsage and a headband. TheEngineer came over and we were cockblocked by a number of things and it was disappointing! The 3D printer was having problems that he fixed, and then he spent some time redesigning the earring holes and they look great now. The tips are still blobbing and brittle, but changes were made and I am waiting to see what happens with those as they’re printing now.

This is the same single corsage and single headband - I was trying to photograph the pieces in different lighting.



BugGirl is splitting with her boyfriend - DarkKnight and I cleared space for her in the garage to park her motorcycle. Not sure when she is bringing it over.

 

[Bluebird]

So I applied for the spot at the vendor event and I was accepted with the stipulation that I not bring anything 3D printed as they have other sellers with those sorts of items. I’m printing some unicorn horns today to make a small crown tomorrow, so I can check if that would be okay when I send in my acceptance. I was hoping to have those and the tentacle headbands be signature pieces at this show, but if not I can definitely pivot! I’ve only made the one tentacle crown that I wore to Mythicon, so it’s not like I’ve been mass producing them in the meantime. I’m a little disappointed but I don’t need them to be fabulous!

They said they really liked my corsages.

 

[Bluebird]

I have dates lined up with my dudes all weekend. Here’s Friday - DarkKnight has shows every evening, so he took today off of work and booked us a “Queen’s Tea” package at a tea house nearby. We wore our best red & black finery and enjoyed each other’s company. I’m so lucky to have so much love in my life!

 

[Bluebird]

I changed my clothes and in the late afternoon MisterMoonbeam and I drove to Virginia to visit with his parents. His mom had surgery recently and we wanted to stop by and see her. We brought her some pretty cut flowers, a card and some heart shaped sugar cookies. While we were there, his dad did gift us a shotgun and a rifle, along with a box of ammunition for each. Next week I am going to research places to go to target practice and figure out what we need to buy to clean these and keep everyone safe.

MisterMoonbeam used to shoot when younger and I’ve only attended one safety class, when we bought my youngest her first pistol. Both my daughters shoot and DarkKnight has been several times in the last decade, but nothing extreme. Given the current political climate, I just feel it’s prudent to be armed. I’m sad that I feel that way, but it’s my current reality.

So, time to be smart about it and learn to use the tools that we own now.

After our visit we drove back to our town and went to a chant circle. It’s usually drum circle but it’s too cold outside for that! It was small this time - just 6 people - but it was what my heart needed.

Also, I did fill out the vendor acceptance form, pay my $187.50 fee for the 3 days in April, and reserved our hotel. Tomorrow morning so will wake up and put together a unicorn horn headband, then send a pic to the vendor coordinator ask if it would be okay to utilize this single 3D element. I also need to find out how the 8’x10’ space assigned to me is aligned - is the entrance facing the customers 8 feet or 10 feet?

I’m excited and wish it was tomorrow so I could start creating! I’m actually over the disappointment of not being able to showcase my 3D elements and I wanna move forward with making other amazing things! I’m meeting with TheEngineer in the early evening to do an escape room and dinner at a brewpub.

 

[Bluebird]

Today didn’t go exactly how I had planned but it was overall a good time. I woke up at 3 am to take my Levothyroxine and pee, and then was just stuck awake. MisterMoonbeam woke up after 7 am and we had some lovely sex and then showered together.

DarkKnight took the car to the dealer but he couldn’t get a diagnostic run as they were too busy. Basically we have three error codes right now, but they’re all radar related. The mechanic said we wouldn’t have blind spot warning or the thing that alerts you that you’re drifting out of lane but the car is still safe to drive. We just don’t have those extra features. I’m going to probably take it in next Wednesday. There’s a real fear that the sensor is fucked and it’s going to cost $1000. I just fucking paid off these credit cards! Gah!

Anyway, while DarkKnight was gone, I glued up my first unicorn horn crown and it was way oversized - it was too tall and silly looking! I had an existing crown I made last year as a possible gift so I was happy to still have it ready and it matched the “galaxy black” filament perfectly! So it all went together well though it’s completely not something I would even attempt to sell because the sizing is ridiculous. I’m printing a smaller one tomorrow.

Right now we’re printing 8 new tentacles in the same black.




They’re 91% complete in this photo, and they’ve been printing for 12 hours and 34 minutes. That’s the first half - when they’re done tonight, MisterMoonbeam will start the second set to run overnight.

I was having trouble taking pictures as the lighting in the basement sucks, so MisterMoonbeam put together his photo studio equipment for me and it was much improved.



Now however, the craft room is full of lights and this is not gonna work! My new plan is to empty the storage room completely - move it all into the unused corner of the gym, and shift all of the photo stuff - and shipping center that isn’t set up yet - in there. I also need someone to bring down empty shelves from the garage to hold inventory. It’s a lot. Hopefully I can accomplish something tomorrow morning.

So, anyway, I also made another corsage to match this unicorn crown. I don’t have a pic of it.

When DarkKnight returned I realize that we needed to do a bank wire transfer NOW if it had any hope of being completed today. So MisterMoonbeam decided he wanted to drive to Frederick with me as his bank is there. We got there with 15 minutes to spare and got it done. It should fund on Tuesday, since Monday is a holiday!

We also went to the cell phone store and he got himself the newest phone - I think a Galaxy Ultra? Idk. He likes it as he had a 21? I don’t know these names and features! He’s happy. I left him at the phone store transferring all of his info, and met up with TheEngineer for our date!

We won our escape room and had a lot of fun doing it. It was NY City subway themed, and at one point a rat fell from the calling! Too funny! It was a really good connection with him / I really enjoy spending time with him! Afterward we went to an Alehouse for dinner, and then we went to Lowe’s to look at wood for a project and to look at generators.

Darkzknight has a show tonight but I don’t think I can stay awake. I’m exhausted and falling asleep writing this!

 

[Bluebird]

MisterMoonbeam & I celebrated Valentine’s Day today in two places! First we went to dinner at Dutch’s Daughter where we spent a lot of money but every dollar was DELICIOUS. I had a bunch of stuff I probably shouldn’t have, but my blood sugar did okay and didn’t spike because I walked a ton in Costco before the meal.



After dinner, we went home and put on pajamas, and then spent time snapping together the first two bags of bricks in a Lego rose bouquet set. We completed four of a dozen stems - gorgeous! We are going to assemble the rest when we have date nights during the rest of the week.

 

[Bluebird]

I am overwhelmed.

We’re hosting my nephew & his husband this weekend, as they will be in town to see DarkKnight’s performance in Heathers. My house is a DISASTER. I need to hire someone to clean every day, to even get close to straightening it all.

I have regular chores that have been neglected, like laundry. The cat litter needs changed, but that hasn’t been ignored - it gets done every other day & that’s today. The birdseed hasn’t been put out in a week and it’s really low in stock, so someone needs to go shopping for it.

My storage room in the basement needs to be emptied completely, with all of the totes moved to the open area in the gym. That way I can get it repurposed to be for inventory and the photo studio, and like a smidge of that for shipping supplies. I might pay someone to help - I am putting that on my list of things to do today immediately though because the things I have been making are piling up. Hopefully I can spend at least an hour myself, getting that project started today.

I want to mount a TV on the wall in my craft room, so I can watch YouTube and TikTok tutorials. I have the TV. I just need to get a wall mount. One of my guys has to tell me what exactly to order, because I don’t have a clue.

I also realized that I haven’t been keeping good records of purchases and I need to grab up receipts and start a spreadsheet.

I need to send an email and hire a person to get a logo made, and then get a banner printed. My graphic designer friend who met with me a bit ago has said twice she’ll send a price over, but hasn’t. I can’t continue to wait for her, JUST to send pricing, so I need to reach out to the person who designed branding for the Blessing Box.

I need to sign up for Square so I can take payments.

The guys need to empty the van at the dump and then we need to get the entire inside cleaned and made decent. It’s definitely going to be needed to drive to my shows. Even though the car has a ton of room, it’s not enough to carry everything I need to set up. The good news about this is that the 5-foot collapsible bookshelf I bought from Amazon is not going to be repurchased - instead I bought two 6-foot shelving units last night! I had been trying to keep everything under 5 feet so it would fit in the hatchback, but now I won’t have that issue.



Shit, I need to get them to take the old extra refrigerator out of the garage, pressure wash the inside and then take it to the dump. That’s not happening this weekend. Ugh, maybe next weekend. So that needs to happen before I make the van all decent for transporting my flower creations.

Our spare-bedroom brand-new bed is in the garage since I put together my garb room and we no longer had need of it. I need to put that on Facebook and see if any of my friends could use it. It’s a platform with headboard and new mattress and was only used a handful of times. I need it gone!

Today I need to replace the too-tall horn on my black & blue floral crown with a shorter one. I have two options printed, and the one I don’t use needs to be put on a headband. I also have a complete set of black tentacles that will go into storage - I’m starting a stockpile so I have some to grab when the mood strikes me to create.

MisterMoonbeam helped me lay out my booth outline on the dining room floor last night. I can pretty much ignore it now, as the additional items I ordered will be arriving at various times this week. But on Friday night I will be setting this up again. I took everything down because I didn’t want the cats messing with it. At the moment, everything is stacked randomly on our little bar, or folded back up and is leaning against a wall. I need to go into the garage and grab a stack of totes to use to store and transport this stuff safely. I also need to designate a space in the garage for it all to live, in between shows - probably in the area where the dump-destined fridge lives right now!

I need to pay bills and budget for the household. That was supposed to be done on Friday. Valentine’s Day stuff derailed that this week. I texted the guys to pay various things, but I need to sit down and figure out what is coming up this week.

I need to schedule a time to pick up a corset from my seamstress friend. She altered it down for me, and made repairs to a torn tulle skirt. I have a few other items to take to her, and I need to ask her if she can take fabric from a tablecloth and hem it to be a backdrop to my shelving. I want to cut it up and then clip it to the back of my bookcases so they aren’t wide open. In outdoor events, I would have my tent walls to block the visual noise, but for indoor shows this will be cheaper than setting up a backdrop.



I need to get a date on the calendar for TheEngineer and I to work on building a piece of furniture I need for my booth. It’s going to live in the front right corner, so people passing buy can hopefully interact with it, causing them to stop and come inside. We bought the wood needed at Lowe’s the other night and he took it to his house. The inspiration is this:



Mine will be much smaller, with at most, 6 dowels.

MisterMoonbeam went into work today unexpectedly, so I am missing a political rally I was supposed to protest at today. It was necessitated by him getting a new phone this weekend and it wiping the two-factor authorization he needs to log in to work from home. We found that oopsie out when we went to buy plane tickets for Arizona yesterday morning. So yeah, he needs to get everything updated today so we can buy our plane tickets and then I can buy Arizona Ren Faire tickets. I also need to finalize my outfit (orange snail) and figure out what he’s going to wear.

I need to figure out 5 outfits for the Ocean Renaissance event I am vending at in April. I know what I want to wear (teal corset, water flora corset, and watercolor peacock corset for working, and then two outfits for the glow dances) but I need to adapt them for working. MisterMoonbeam mentioned being a pirate, so I will need to buy him a pirate costume in blue/black - he only has a red/black right now.

We had a discussion last night that had me SQUEALING with excitement. My water flora corset has a huge & heavy - but FABULOUS - split front overskirt I want to wear, but it won’t work for when I’m running my booth. MisterMoonbeam suggested I wear the adapted corseted outfit all day but then add in the overskirt and more regal sort of touches for the dance. We bought glow in the dark rope - and he’s going to tie me up and I’ll be his pirate-self’s prisoner! I’ll have cut-off loose knots around my wrists and ankles, and a loose body harness over my corset. You best believe I hit “Buy Now” when he put the rope in the Amazon cart.

Anyway, there is a lot of costuming to figure out still for both March and April.

Also, I have Mythicon garb still in 2 bags on the game room table. That really needs to be dealt with today. My garb room is an absolute disaster and needs cleaned, organized and set up. I bought a bunch of clear plastic bins to hold individual hats and serve as display cases and dust-protectors but I’ve only put together one of them. The plan was to at least assemble one each night but that hasn’t happened. So the shipping boxes are blocking space in there and hats have exploded on every surface while they wait for their new homes to be constructed. It’s a disaster.

I need to shower but I will probably skip that until tonight since Inhave so much cleaning to do today. Hair up, slather on deodorant and ignore everything else for now!

I WILL schedule a hair cut at some point. I need to chop off 6 inches or so, I think. It doesn’t look healthy and it’s a hot mess. DarkKnight had his done recently but MisterMoonbeam is looking hella shaggy.

I know there is more but writing all this out makes me feel even more overwhelmed. That said, to do lists have ALWAYS grounded me, so I feel accomplished having just written a lot of it out.

Ugh I have a list of packages I need to take to be mailed out. One is actually in the car already, on the way to Dulles with MisterMoonbeam. lol The rest I need to package up.

Oh and we did some shopping at Costco yesterday of some groceries that are just end-of-world prepping inventory that I need to figure out a place to store. I have literally no idea where this stuff is gonna live.

We now own two guns but only one box of ammunition for each. We need to buy a lot more, and I need to call around and figure out where to go learn to shoot. Both DarkKnight and MisterMoonbeam have been to ranges and hunted before but not me. They haven’t gone in at least 5 years so this is important. We also need to buy cleaning kits.

We need to buy a portable generator to back up the freezer in the garage. The freezer is ready to go and we need to go shopping to fill it with meat, but first I need to buy a generator. TheEngineer is going to go with me to Harbor Freight - maybe tomorrow? We have an overnight on the calendar. So I need to get the budgeting done so I know how much I have to spend.

We need to watch the latest episode of Severance and the last episode of the Mr. Beast game show.

I have 8 Lego roses to assemble with TheEngineer this week. My cat Lenny knocked over a floral bouquet in my master bathroom, so that needs fixed as well.

The ivy cuttings are still all piled in the front yard around the light pole where they fell. And the light pole no longer works so I need to call the electrician to come out and give us an estimate on that repair. I’m not scheduling that until it’s cleaned up around the space so we don’t look like the mess we actually are.

I’m done writing this holy shit. I now need to take all this narrative and condense it into a bullet list so I have action items to put in some sort of order.

 

[Bluebird]

I have had a productive week so far - the to do list helped! I’ve accomplished a lot and I’m feeling good about that.

Today my schedule is pretty full. I have a zoom meeting scheduled in the morning with the designer who did my Blessing Box logo, and her price is perfect for me. She seems to get exactly what I want, so we will see how it goes. I’m feeling really good about hiring her and getting this part of the process handled so I can order stickers for my bags & boxes, and business cards! I’m thinking about buying a sticker printer but we will see how that goes.

I also have a one-on-one online meeting with a vendor who offers help with “hobby business” stuff - I was denied a $2000 award for start ups that she offers, but as a consolation, she goes over all of the non-recipients stuff and gives advice and criticism. I’m very much looking forward to it. I took a free 1-hour Instagram class from her on Tuesday. I legit just started my business Instagram and I have 20ish followers and most posts have been getting 1 heart and like 5 views. I decided to try posting a reel using the info from the class and it got 178 views! I was like, WOW. So now I am sold and I’m definitely willing to listen!

In the afternoon I will be hanging out at the car dealership because like every extra warning light on the dashboard is on. Apparently one of the sensors failed and now I have no assisted braking, adaptive cruise control, lane drift warnings or…something else. There’s like 4 of them not working, but thankfully it’s all extra features and my car is still safe to drive. It just doesn’t have these bells and whistles. It’s probably going to be $1000 to fix and it’s some bullshit but we are going to get it done.

I’ve been dedicating at least one hour a day to actually creating something to sell - and trying to make that be at least two pieces. So far so good! Yesterday I went shopping and picked up a ton of these little lasercut wooden flats. I’m going to paint them and attach alligator clips to make them into accessories to have at checkout as extras. Maybe 3 for $10? Some were already colored so those got a clip already. I might do some as pins. The clips will be great for lanyards or to pop along the edge of a jacket. I put one in my hair and I thought it looked good. Today I need to discover if I actually have any paint. It’s very low effort but I think they will sell and give me some items at a lower price point.




I got the idea from seeing the snail at Joanne Fabrics yesterday, as I went to see what floral stuff was on sale as part of their close out. I saw it and decided to layer it with the leaves and was like, oh, this would look great for my upcoming Arizona trip! Then I bought more at Hobby Lobby. I’m thinking I might pop back over there and buy all of the gnomes - I could customize those in seasonal colors and holiday patterns. I also had a thought - I didn’t buy any of the dinosaurs they had in the mix but maybe I could add fun medieval decorations to them - like paint the T-Rex to be holding a bow and arrows, or put a knight’s helmet on the triceratops? I’m getting excited thinking about it. I need to make sure I don’t spend a lot of time on these, however. My time value isn’t there at the price point. What fun though!

My youngest came over yesterday morning and while I was out with TheEngineer, she completely emptied my storage room. I had done 1/4 of it on Tuesday. Now it’s set up with a shelving unit for inventory, a table for shipping, and I have an entire Photo Booth area with a light box and stand up lights. I’m really excited about the evolution of this space. I think that might be my next Instagram Reel! It used to be a storage area so nothing is painted and the walls are rough, but it’s the perfect space for this and right next to my craft room! The old dehumidifier is still hanging out in there for now, since it’s embedded in the wall.





I still need to scrub and clean up the built-in but this is great.

I did buy an invertor generator yesterday with TheEngineer. There was a 20% off sale at Harbor Freight, which basically covered the 2 year warranty. I bought and filled two gas cans, and got two heavy duty extension cords. Mostly I want this bad boy to back up my garage freezer and kitchen fridge at the same time. On Monday night I’m going to Costco to finally stock up on meat and fill the freezer!

 

[Bluebird]

My blood sugar has been super controlled lately - I legit have been in range 100% of the time for 5 days! This is crazypants, but it ended yesterday as I popped up to 182 for one brief blip after eating a McDonald’s cheeseburger. Lame. But it totally brought to my attention that the Mounjaro wasn’t working - because I forgot to take my Mounjaro on Tuesday!

TheEngineer had spent the night so that was out of the ordinary. MisterMoonbeam was dead asleep at 9 pm, and DarkKnight had choral practice. No one remembered! It was easily remedied Thursday night (I’m typing this at 1 am Friday), so my levels should get back in alignment fairly quick. Which honestly sounds ridiculous, because 99% compliance is pretty fucking unreal anyway. (The goal is set at 70% by my endocrinologist and dietician.)

I had a bunch of nonsense going on Thursday. I was busy for fucking sure! In the morning I had a zoom call with my graphic designer to talk about my logo - and I am very excited about it! She’s charging me $350 and I should have my design in 2 weeks, with a delivery date of March 7. I felt very at ease with her and this time frame should allow me the space to order banners, and a stamp and the die cut for my business cards before my first show in April. So that was an extremely positive video chat!

Right after that I met with the scholarship person and she went through my application and we discussed why I wasn’t chosen. She seemed to be impressed by what I have gotten done since I submitted my application, at least! She had really good insights and suggestions.

1. I didn’t really have a fleshed out vision of where I saw my business in the future. I knew this was weak when I submitted - because I hadn’t really started anything at all yet! I do see the value in planning a direction but I am still not super focused on this yet - I wanna get through my first few shows first! She suggested I make a vision board and I think I will do that, as I have done it in the past for other things and found it helpful.

2. She suggested I get a stamp of my logo and not just stickers for branding my packaging. This seemed like a no-brainer and I will be doing that.

3. We talked a little about my sadness surrounding my Blessing Box - I did and still do feel like that was so very important and worthwhile, that a creative sales job making flower crowns is not as helpful to anyone. That makes me feel a little like it is a step down, in a way.

She shared she sometimes felt that in the past - she makes & sells jewelry - but one thing I needed to realize is that helping others feel beautiful is also impactful. Certainly not in the same ways, but that feeling can carry over and change someone’s life.

This resonated with me, because I had read a comment that someone wrote in the Mythicon Messenger chat that tied into this! They said that at other events, it was fun to see people dress up and pretend to be someone new for a day in their garb and cosplay outfits. But at Mythicon, it was enjoyable because people weren’t pretending to be someone else - they were showing who they really were inside.

So yeah, if I put a crown on someone and it makes them feel free, then that is a success and I will own that.

I feel like that realization alone was worth the application fee for this failed scholarship bid.

4. They liked my die cut design ideas for my business card. She said she herself saves pretty business cards and others might too.

5. She thought I should not discount trying to sell at local farmers markets. I might not think my themed headbands would sell, but I certainly would sell jewelry and smaller floral crowns, as farmers markets might have some individuals looking to make online posts with them showing how they buy organic or whatever, and having a flower crown is a boost to their image. Also, it’s a cute thing for parents to buy to put on their child for photos.

I’m still not sold on this but I do think if the vendor fee was cheap I could make something. I’m not sure I could cover my wages for the day on it though. I will consider it.

6. I also felt a little not so good about buying pre-painted wooden flats and slapping an alligator clip on them. I mean, they look great but it’s SO low effort. She told me that it’s fine - that she wanted to know more about my price points, and that most vendors have something like stickers or pins or clips that they sell for under $10 as impulse buys. She told me to not worry about it, because she thinks kids will gravitate toward them and parents can then focus on trying on hairpieces!

Overall it was a good discussion.

I was extremely excited to see that my first reel had exploded and now has 3.4k views! Like, what? Her free class on Tuesday definitely had an impact! She told me that the way the algorithm works is that people that watched my reel will now be shown more of my stuff, even if they didn’t interact in any way. So I need to get more content up that is videos.

So tonight I ordered a colored ring light tripod that can hold my phone at like a million different angles. It should be here on Saturday.

Okay, so after my Zoom meetings I ran out and ate the trash cheeseburger. That was on my way to take the car to the dealer because we had a million lights on the dash. We thought a sensor had gone bad and it was going to be $1000. Nope, we were wrong.

It was $2200. The camera that does all of the radar stuff needs to be replaced. Adaptive cruise control, assisted braking, blind spot warnings, none of that works right now. That’s so fucking frustrating! I have like $15,000 cash in the bank that is earmarked for paying off a zero percent credit card. Unfortunately, the entire thing is not going to get paid now - there’s this surprise car issue and our electric bill was $1300 this month (estimated). So, whatever.

I want to scream but I also feel like I can’t complain because at least we can address these issues. I’m really trying to pay off debt this year and that’s certainly a setback. I guess I need to make sure I have a great launch and good sales at Ocean Renaissance in April!

I was at the dealership for a couple of hours and then had someone shuttle me home. They will come get me tomorrow afternoon when the car is ready.

I had time this evening to make some more of the wood clips, but I didn’t paint any of my own. I looked at pricing on good laser cutters ($800) and talked to TheEngineer about the differences of the cheaper models ($100-$200) to the higher price points. He owns an expensive one so I’m hoping to give that a try. I’ve decided not to worry about it until I see what sells. I did get all of my paint supplies out - I’m determined to get a base coat on at least half of the plain ones tomorrow!

I also cleaned off my workspace and prepped for 3 red headbands - I wanted to get more strawberry pieces complete. I completed two before DarkKnight had me break for dinner. I actually sold a headband but the customer wants a brown headband, so I will make that tomorrow. I’m going to complete another two reds and her request tomorrow, as well as four matching corsages. (She doesn’t want a corsage.) I think that will be all the strawberries I have in supply. I did purchase some wooden lasercut fruit blanks tonight online - 1/4 are strawberries.

I posted this pic today, and I did get a video up, showing some 30 seconds of a 3D print happening with some text over it, and as of right now it has 129 views! Wow! Yeah, thinking about reels makes a difference. There’s definitely a format to it!



I figure next week I will post one more reel pertaining to my strawberry stuff, and that will be a “get ready with me” in my garb room. I will put on my headband and corsage, and clip on my wooden token. I have an outfit in mind but I have to check on a skirt. I’m not sure I have a red one!

This is super long and I wanted to write more but it’s time to go to sleep. Here’s another photo that I didn’t share on socials - my new peacock galaxy tentacle print! It blows the light blue glitter out of the water!

 

[Bluebird]

I also wanted to post before I forget that I submitted to two other events. The Ren Faire of Southern Maryland gets like 2,000 visitors over one weekend, and they asked for an email inquiry be sent with info. It’s Memorial Day weekend and I am excited about it. It would be outdoors. So if I make money at Ocean Renaissance, I need to make a payment on my business credit card first, and then see what I need as far as purchasing a tent.

As far as I know, we do have a pop up. I don’t think it has any weights at all, or side walls. It’s not nice enough outside to check right now, so I’m not going to worry about it at the moment! But, it will have to happen!

My other event that I sent an email for is the Maryland Ren Faire Garb Sale. It’s like a huge yard sale and people buy booth space to sell their products as well as used garb and items. It’s HUGE and grows bigger every year. I don’t think I will struggle to get into this. It’s indoors so I should be fine there. That’s in July.

So if I do all 3, I will have dates in April, May and July - but our local Pride is in June. I guess I need to keep my pace and keep creating! Hopefully this will all happen!