February Was Crazy!

I haven’t been here for a while. Mostly because life has been pretty crazy for me the past couple of weeks. If you hadn’t heard, the whole state of Texas was in crisis for a solid week. We are still in recovery, with grocery store supplies at an all-time low. This Winter storm hit harder than Covid. I can’t stress more about emergency preparedness. My husband and I barely made the cut on that. We had non-perishable food, and some lamps and candles, stored water and filter, and a small solar recharging unit. But that’s about it, and barely enough.

I was luckier than most because none of my pipes burst, I never lost water, even though there were a couple of days when it was down to a trickle. I only lost electricity for one and a half days, and my gas was not interrupted. I tossed my food in a sealed bin and stored it in the freezing snow until I felt safe enough to put it back in the refrigerator. I am going to count my blessings even though most of the garden has been killed off by the frost. After cutting away dead debris, there still seems to be life out there.

Our Winter storm began on Friday, February 12th, which also happened to be Chinese New Year of the Ox. I don’t have little kids in the house anymore, and I really miss Lunar New Year festivities. I baked some cookies, and filled up some lucky red envelopes for my neighbor’s four kids. So here’s to a happy evening right before the storm.

Not much intense hatting going on these days with the storm interruption. I feel like it’s okay to stop and focus my attention on bringing some new growth back into my life. I did however perform a major clean up of my studio, anticipating a busy bridal season. Check back in March and see where I am! I have one more fur felt beret I blocked from a vintage five-part puzzle block I ordered from Russia. The Russian Etsy sellers are really finding some rare pieces for milliners. I have added three new blocks and another in-transit to my collection. I know I keep telling myself to stop collecting!!! What’s a girl to do? Check back in a few days or stay tuned on my IG page. I hope to have the little beret up in a day or so. Still finishing the inside Petersham Ribbon and deciding on how I should trim the little aubergine gem.

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! May this year bring us our freedom as well as our friends and family back into our lives. May we be all blessed with abundant health and happiness!