Due to this, I have reported the company to the Better Business Bureau, asked Venmo to mark the charge as a scam and refund me the money if at all possible. I have sent a warning out to the guild that I received the email through, as well as messaging the Handweaver’s guild of America, Craft industry alliance, and putting a post on Facebook. One of the guild members I emailed let me know that another guild had been emailed the offer so I asked her to pass on the message that it was a scam. I cannot find a single positive review of this company other than the ones on their own website. I also cannot find other people stating that they were scammed by this company other than the one above. From what I can tell that likely means that few people are falling for this, or few people are reporting them. I hope that this can get resolved in my favor, more than that I hope that no one else falls for a scheme like this.
I am not going to let this bring my day down, I had a lovely time with my cousins this weekend and look forward to my next visit.
In response to absolutely nothing, I decided that I want to try the new Starbucks Snacks. I will confess that this is a rare luxury for me, they are often too expensive for me to justify. But with a coupon I was able to try all of the treats I wanted and get a strawberry shortcake frappuchino for under $20. I am so happy that I decided to try these, this way I do not feel as though I am missing out on anything. The Frappuchino was nothing too special, I prefer the strawberry frosty from wendy’s.
I tried the Cinnamon Apple Pull Apart Muffin next. If you are looking for something like a pull-apart bread in a smaller form…with just a hint of sweetness…and no apple that I could find, then this might be a good choice for you. I was especially excited to try the Dubai Chocolate Bite, since I have seen the bar everywhere for about $20.
This pastry was a strong chocolate flavor with a very pretty green cream inside. I enjoyed the slight crunch of the filling. I tried, but I was not able to taste much of the pistachio that made up the filling, for a crunchy chocolaty treat with a little something extra this is a good buy.
Admittedly I was surprised by the Cookie Croissant Swirl. It is everything that you want from a croissant with just a little hint of sweetness and the occasional crunch of the cookie topping. I am so happy that I tried this, if I was craving a croissant this would get me about 85% of the way there.
Yuzu Citrus Blossom is something that I was really looking forward to trying since I love Ponzu Sauce with Yuzu in it. This was just amazing! The pastry was delightfully crispy and flakey with a lovely citrus filling. I don’t know how to describe Ponzu to someone that has not tried it, it is something like the sweetness of mandarin with a tiny bit of lemon/lime sour. If I were to get another pastry this is one that I would seriously consider.
The Strawberry Matcha Loaf is so exciting! The beautiful green and pink swirls in the cake with a lovely pink frosting on top. This may be worth getting just because it is so pretty. The taste was just lovely! More strawberry than matcha for sure, the strawberry frosting was very strong in strawberry flavor and bites with that overwhelmed everything. The pound cake like base was lovely, a good crumb, buttery, and not at all dry.
There are two in the lineup that I did not try, the berry blondie and the chocolate pistachio loaf. They both look good, again I think that the chocolate would overwhelm the pistachio, and blondies to not often appeal to me.
I postponed my trip to visit my cousin so that I could be home to receive the delivery of the ‘new to me’ loom. I had emailed the delivery company to check when it would be delivered so that I could figure out whether I would leave a day late or come back a little early. I paid a particular fee to have this item shipped. There was no indication that anything additional would be required. Now that the item is in my town, they are saying: “Okay, we will deliver the item once you pay this surcharge of almost the same as what you paid the first time.”
My response to this is, I do not have the funds, I was not told that this is a requirement, and if push comes to shove, I did not sign anything saying that I would pay you any money. At this point I am very saddened that I have lost the money, the loom is likely to be destroyed, and I feel as if this moving company is operating under false pretenses. I am going to try to look on the bright side of things, I was still able to pay for my mortgage this month, my next paycheck will cover my car loan payment, and I am lucky all around. I used this time to clean the floor of my room off, I hid the threads on my aunt’s quilt, I also managed to get my sink plunged so I can do dishes.
I am going to not purchase items that require shipping from individual sellers from now on, at least if they are very large items. The widow is trying to help out, but I cannot meet her half-way as I would prefer. I’m going to take this as a sign that this is not the time for me to be adding to my loom family, but to use up much of what I have.
I hope that everyone has a good weekend, and remembers to Live Life a Little More Abstract!
Today’s Temperature is 1, and with windchill it is -19. Tomorrow the high is 10 with a low of -10. It is too cold to snow, which means that I do not have to worry about shoveling for a couple of days. That is not my happy thoughts for the day, though it is good news.
Through my weaver’s guild I was notified of a loom that a woman had from her late husband that she was looking to re-home. She only wanted someone to pick it up, or the fee for shipping it. At first I thought that I would be able to pick it up, however my lovely sister pointed out that 13 hours each way over a day and a half was stupid and would take almost as much gas money as shipping. I thought I would have to pass it by, though I let my aunt know that the quilt she had commissioned me to finish was ready to be shipped out. She paid me much more than I asked, so I had the funds to get the loom shipped to me. This means that I have to get enough room in my first floor cleared out to fit the loom. I have been trying to get my home organized, however this is also helping me face the fact that I may have to destash some of my items to make room for new blessings. The photo of the loom that the widow sent me is below:
This has been the coldest winter since I have moved to this part of Western New York, I grew up about 90 minutes east and it was a very different experience. My low slung hybrid car does not like this much cold and slush, which stinks because she is only a few years old. I am very fortunate that I have a cousin that is purchasing a new car so she wondered if I knew anyone that could use her old one. Originally I said that my sister could use her old one, since she does not have a car at all, however, since then I have noticed how much trouble my car has going the one house-length from my driveway to the main road. I have asked my cousin if I can take her car, my sister can have my car, and we should all have safe transportation. My cousin agreed so we are just waiting for the transfer to happen.
Traditionally February has been a really bad month for me. In 2009 I was supposed to go dress shopping because I was going to stand up in my best friends wedding. We were going to meet my sister, then brother, in a city half way between where they lived and my home, and have a great lunch. Instead my sibling had to make the drive all the way to my home because my dad had passed away without warning. After that year bad things always seemed to happen in February, mom got sick, I wound up in the ICU, our Balcony fell down, etc. This year, that I am approaching with gratefulness for my blessings and family, is going better. I know, it is still early, however, I believe that if I am thankful for what I have, and willing to ask for help when I need it, well, we will see.
All in all, I am healthy, warm, I have a safe place, transportation, food, and blessings coming my way. Tomorrow is the superbowl, which I do not care about at all except that there are some sales that I have the opportunity to take advantage of, and I am almost caught up on my bills.
I hope that you count your blessings and remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract!
Summer of 2024 I discovered within a 30 minute drive of where I am there is a beautiful public beach on Lake Erie. I went down there several times that summer to pick up rocks, float around in the water, and just have so much fun. I usually went in the very early morning to see the sunrise and enjoy the beach before many people arrived since I am very self-conscious and enjoy nature while alone. I did not have too much time in 2025 to go to the beach, too many funerals, visits to family, and other commitments.
One of my pleasures while on the beach is collecting ‘pretty rocks’. I know very little about rocks, geology, and the like. In this one aspect of my hobbies, I have decided to remain oblivious. I can usually recognize quartz and sea glass, the rest are simply pretty rocks. Someone did tell me that the red rocks are likely pieces of brick from structures that have deteriorated. Some of these rocks have been added as decoration to my front garden and others have been sitting in bags on my front porch. I did some tumbling in 2024, however I then let my tumbler sit with sludge and rocks for about a year.
Recently I decided to take a look at the tumbler barrels to see if they were salvageable. After dumping the contents out, I was able to put a couple of spoons of borax in the barrels with water and the stones that had been in there. After running the barrels for 2 weeks I emptied everything out and the stones are ready for stage 1. It is possible that I had them on stage 2-3 last time, however I am setting everything back to stage 1 for this next go. I added in some new rocks, made sure that the barrels are quite full to prevent bruising, 3 teaspoons of 60-90 Silicone Carbide from the Rock Shed, and they are ready to go for a week. This is a tumbler from Harbor Freight, I have not had any problems with it yet.
I absolutely love playing with beads, usually I cannot get patterns, designs, colors, or anything else to work together. Yesterday, after I finished what I hoped to get done for the weekend, I decided to put “And That’s Why We Drink” youtube channel streamed onto my TV and play around with some beads that I have on hand. I created some center pieces for necklaces, beaded onto wire, with some wire links on either side to lengthen the necklace. I am debating adding some chain to both sides of the back of the necklace along with a lobster clasps to make an adjustable necklace.
This has been so much fun, I forgot how much fun it can be to just play with color. This was a great reminder that I do not need to complete a whole project in one sitting, I can make pieces and parts to put together in a finished piece later. I did make a bunch of finished pieces over the course of 3 days, however.
I decided that since I wanted to play with crimp beads and flexible wire I would make some hair accessories. All but one of these is made with semi-precious stone chips while the last is made from glass beads. I love how these turned out, from the crown of my head these brush my shoulder. I have thin hair so I will not make a good model, I am debating purchasing a wig and head to show these off, or seeing if someone will wear them for me.
This was the absolute best weekend for me to spend exploring, experimenting, and just enjoying the process. Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!
I have recovered from my cold! I also got a minor secondary infection that I had to take medication for! YAY!
January is almost done, the world is still turning. Nothing majorly bad has happened, I plan on catching up with my January stitching as I am able, there are the most recent 5, I see that the door in purple is not showing up on my dark grey circle. Many of these are experimentations in stitching styles, I planned to do more with the tree, however I decided that since it did not get finished that morning it is considered done.
There was a plan for me to have inventory up on my website by the end of January. For some strange reason that did not get done, I’m refusing to fret about that. Either it will get done or not, I have other things to work on before I get to that. Honestly, with the illnesses and work I have not gotten the presents sent out yet, that is planned for next week when I get paid. I did get my time off scheduled for work, so I can make some of the trips I planned for this year and ensure that I use up all of my vacation time that I need to.
Honestly, that is my update for this week, I plan to do more over the weekend if I am able.
Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract, don’t let the little things get you down!
I believe I mentioned in my previous post that my heat had gone out and I was lucky enough to have family and friends that allowed me to get a new heater so I can survive the winter. Well, I caught a cold that weekend. One of my supervisors assures me that cold does not cause infection, well this terrible infection disagrees with you, ma’am. It might be the workers coming in and out or the large variety of patrons that think nothing of coming into the library coughing and hacking everywhere, no matter what I’ve been coughing and hacking for almost two weeks now. I only lost my voice for a couple of days, I never knew that menthol dries out the vocal cords, so things are much better now.
This cold has made it difficult to keep up with my daily stitching practice and I have made no progress with the quilt for my aunt even though I just have the binding left. As seen in the pictures above I have mostly been able to catch up with my stitching, though some are simpler than I planned, I cannot stitch today since I overdid it by stitching three pieces yesterday and my thumb joint will not allow me to do much today. There are many days where I have to remind myself that I have so many positives, the negatives are just there to remind me of what I have. Some people talk about having a word that defines their year, I think that I am going to try to have two words, ‘Gratitude’ and ‘Family’. I have so much amazing and fascinating family, I need to remember to spend more time with them, to remind myself and them that I love them, and that I appreciate them not for what they can do for me but just because they exist and are amazing. I also have so many blessings, I am able to pay my bills every month, okay so some are a little later than the ‘deadlines’ however everything gets paid. I have a roof over my head, heat (thank you family & friends), relatively good health, food in my fridge and freezer (thank you to the hard times that taught me several cheap, bulk meals that I enjoy), a full-time job from which I am finally getting ‘cost of living’ pay increases which gives me some breathing room, and so much more. I still hope to get my online shop going, making some things in bulk so that I can sell them, there are a couple of fun ideas I would like to make progress on, but that is an extra. I have vacation time, a reliable car, and a small amount of extra money due to the pay increase, so I plan on visiting with family members that I do not get to see nearly as often as I would like. Last year the family lost three members in very different ways and they made me realize how long it had been since I saw anyone, I need to fix that. I love them, I haven’t visited with my dad’s favorite cousins since 2018, the little kids I played with are graduating high-school and looking at college. It is sort of devastating, fortunately I have the means to fix that.
Okay, enough of my self-reflection for today, I’m going to pick up a bit around the house working on my organization still, then I’ll put a heating pad on my thumb joint to see if the heat will loosen up the muscles some. Until next time remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract!
As a start to 2026 I have decided to make small embroidered pieces each day to applique onto a quilt top at the end of the year.
I have managed to keep this up for an entire week so far, which is better than my usual efforts. I hope that this momentum keeps up throughout the year. Each day I try to explore a different technique or using the stitches in a new way. The first is the rainbow, the second is the purple flower and the third is the moon and stars. Each of these use the same type of stitch as the center with other stitches such as satin stitch or french knots to accent. This has been so much fun.
2026 is starting out with a bang. I live in Western New York so we have gotten about a foot of snow, not too bad really. The ice storm is mostly melted away, this weekend is supposed to be clear, and I am warm and safe in my home. New Years Resolutions are something that I have never really bothered with, they are too easy to fall off, often too unrealistic to maintain, and once a problem arises they are too easy to forget about. Given this history, I decided to set a few resolutions that I believe are easy for me to achieve, and goals that I should be working toward anyway. The first is to spend more time with my family and make sure that they understand that I love and appreciate them. My dad was the second of 11 children which means that I have a lot of family. To spend more time with my family I need to do some traveling, which means that I need to get my two smaller credit cards paid off. The third goal is that I am going to try to focus on my business a bit more than I currently am. Having my anxiety and ADHD medicated is helping me a lot, I hope that this is enough for me to focus on aspects of my life I want to be better.
For crafting I hope to stitch a small piece every day of the year, to add to an overall quilt. I also signed up for the Creatively Crafting Crypto-Adorable Stitch Along, which is a different cryptic pattern each month for a year, I hope. Upon purchasing the printable version of their annual planner with 12 free patterns, I discovered that the patterns are about the circus…I certainly hope that these are a separate project. I freely admit I felt very disappointed and misled since I have no fondness for circuses. Despite that I hope that the stitch along I signed up for actually involves cryptids. As far as reading goes, I hope to read 100 books this year, which is my goal for every year. Though I have these goals I will take whatever life chooses to give me and try to turn it as positive as possible.
I hope that everyone has a very Happy New Year, and that you can Live Life A Little More Abstract.
A Little More Abstract 