Love, Lydia - Notes from a geeky, plus sized artist.

Friday, January 23, 2015

A Bit of Reflection

Hi everyone,

So, I know it hasn't been long, but that's exactly what I was hoping for as I work towards making good habit in writing and life in general.  Here goes.

One of the things on my mind lately has been having kids.  Frankly a lot of my thoughts stemmed from contemplation of a couple posts here on Feathers in Our Nest.  Aliesha talks about how she's having another wonderful baby join her family, but knows that can be hard to hear for some folks, and writes about the loss she has experienced herself.  And it's fantastic to hear more and more bloggers be open about their experiences surrounding having and attempting to conceive children.

I know, a bunch of you out there are probably wondering why after two years a couple like Bryan and I haven't produced progeny yet.  Well, we'd love to.  In fact it's been one of our goals for quite a while, but it just hasn't happened for us so far.  And why is a good question I suppose.  We haven't found much in the way of medical reasons, and after 20 months of trying we're still in the testing phase.  We're not really looking for advice, but it's something that we know people will want to give us if the subject comes up because the natural response is to try to help in any way.  However, we're healthy and blessed to have our needs provided for enough we can support kids if we chose to have them or eventually adopt if it comes to that.

And for now we're buying a house, I'll be starting a garden, continuing to build my business, exploring, creating, and developing all kinds of wonderful things.  And I don't want to take any of this time to ourselves for granted, and as introverts we value it.  So I want to use my time wisely.

When I was in high school I wanted nothing more than to get married and have kids, babysitting and childcare were what I was good at.  I didn't really want to go to college, thinking my family couldn't afford it anyway.  Sure I had other goals, writing a book, making music, reading all the books I could get my hands on, and traveling too.  Then after a little while working I realized I could at least try a bit of college at the local community college.  And things changed, I didn't find the right person to marry right away, I fell in love with photography, painting, and Ireland first.



And when the time was just right I met Bryan, who knew he wanted to settle down and have a family; I was 27, things were good.  For now we're building a home (literally!) that we hope to raise our family in.  Some days it's still depressing for my own part, but I don't ever tire of seeing all those who are happy with kids and babies of their own.  I only get tired of having to answer the same questions about myself because I can't give the happy answer people are wishing for.  On the bad days I take it personally, as if there's something wrong in the depths of me.  But there are more than enough who need love in this world to go around, and I'll give it to whoever I'm blessed with.  And I wouldn't change a thing about my life so far, even if it's not what I expected.

Love,
Lydia

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Pins 1, 2, and 3!

Hi everyone,

So the new year has started out a busy one for me.  I've been in talks about Starting a blog about art supplies with a new friend.  It could be pretty fantastic, and I'll be keeping you all in the loop about it if it works out.  I've also been taking care of Bryan as he's been sick with the flu, and then I came down with it myself.  As much as I'd started this new year with lots of hopes for fantastic projects and lofty goals of being productive they all got put on hold for about two weeks.  At the moment I'm getting caught up on life, things like the cleaning I'd put off over the holidays.  That was a huge mistake, don't put off cleaning like that.  It makes it so much worse to get back into things when the unexpected happens like this flu did!  And is just a horrible idea in general.  No Procrastination, please.

And when it comes down to it, maybe that's my true goal, to beat down procrastination and be more productive.  I'm just trying to be inspired by great ideas others have found work for them as I get there.  That's the beauty of trying all these great projects from Pinterest.  So here's a bit on my first few pins, with another post to come very soon.

Pin 1 - As briefly mentioned in my last post I'll be doing a January photo challenge!

I'm a little behind on it, but will be doubling up to make sure I get all the shots.  More on that to come at the end of the month.

Pin 2 - Trying a month of no shampoo.  This is a pin I've seen many times and have been curious about trying for the past 5 years.  So, with much trepidation I'm testing it out.  I've been using baking soda/water for shampoo and vinegar/water as conditioner.  You can find more on that here.  I wanted to do it for at least two weeks, and started January 3rd.  While I was sick I used regular shampoo once because I was feeling awful, wanted a fast shower, and hadn't got into the routine as well yet.

So, I've met my goal of two weeks, and feel like for my hair, which is very fine/prone to be oily it's just ok.  It's not better than shampoo so far, but I'll be going to the end of the month to see if my body is still adjusting to it.  I definitely am not able to go very long between washes, but I was never able to with shampoo either.  I pretty much have to wash my hair every day.  Overall the pros so far are that it's gentle on my body, got rid of frizz, even with blow drying, and it's seemed to make my hair color go farther (especially the purple!).  So that's all pretty good; and the cons are that it takes a little more time and thought in the shower, leaves my hair with less shine, and leaves my hair without much body (it has very little anyway, but I can get a little more with shampoo than with baking soda and vinegar).

I'll give another follow up on this at the end of the month to see if there's been more change as my body adjusts, or if it's stayed about the same.  However, so far I'm still in the shampoo camp, though ladies with thicker hair than me may want to try this out!  It's super cheap compared to shampoo/conditioner and not that hard to get used to.

Pin 3 - 52 book challenge!  I'm excited for this one, as I love to read.  It comes out to being a book a week for the entire year.  I'll be sharing each of the 52 with you and probably doing some theme challenges within the 52 using another interesting pin.  Thus far I've read:

Week 1 - Lock In by John Scalzi, which is fantastic!  The premise is in a speculative future where a disease has rendered about 1% of the population locked in paralyzed bodies.  Technology has helped these individuals reconnect with the world, but brought it's own fair share of problems to complicate things as a mystery is solved.  (before the new year I'd read one of his more famous books, Redshirts, a Star Trek parody/love letter.  While fun, it hadn't sold me on his writing skills because it was so light, Lock In proved to have a much richer world.)

Week 2 - Ms Marvel Volume 1 written by G. Willow Wilson, art by Adrian Alphona- A great start for what looks to be a fantastic series.  It's got many classic elements of the teenage superhero storyline as our heroine finds her powers and chooses how to use them much in the way of Peter Parker.  Some things that add interest are the heroine's background as a Muslim and woman of color.  It brings up the idea of being true to oneself as the most satisfying path, and follows Ms Kahn as she learns how to be herself, and not the superheroes she idolizes.

and a bonus since I was sick - Landscaping with Fruit by Lee Reich - This book is a pretty thorough look at a good collection of fruits for home gardens.  The author's a little biased towards what he enjoys, but it's given me a great start to my plans for the garden at our new house.  It's an easy read that's good enough to pick up as a reference book if you're interested in this kind of gardening.  I borrowed it from the library, and may buy it eventually myself.

Week 3 - The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough - I love history, and had been curious about just what made this flood so tragic, and when I saw the book as a Kindle Daily Deal I snapped it up.  Getting over the flu gave a good time to read it.  McCullough is a great researcher, and keeps fact and fiction separate while writing a book that's easy to read.  The events surrounding the flood were in some ways relatable to the current events of today with big companies allowing less than safe conditions for the public, while happily paying very little consequence for their actions later when people are hurt.  Additionally there are some great firsthand accounts of the experience that McCullough weaves together masterfully creating a seamless story from them.  I didn't realize until after the fact that the book was written in 1968, which is a bit amazing since it's quite sensitive to social issues of all kinds.  Though it does lack the voice of anyone besides white Americans, and I would have loved to hear accounts from the immigrants or African American people as well.   Overall it's a great read, and I'll be reading more of his work in the future (I've been meaning to for a while!)


I keep a record of the books I read on Goodreads.com, feel free to friend me there!

Speaking of following, please follow me on Pinterest if you'd like to keep up with the pins I'm working on over the course of this year, you can find me here.  I'll be seeing you all again soon as I share more pins and projects with you!

Love,
Lydia