Working, Learning, Living – April 2021

Three months have -=zoomed by, and I am having a difficult time understanding that it’s April. Trees are budding, the lawn is growing, and the pollen pretty much guarantees that I’m not opening the windows. Ahchoo. We’ve already had temps in the 70’s, and the AC has been on most evenings to get the top floor back to a comfortable sleeping temperature. Thankfully we still get some cool afternoons where the house temperature stays tolerable.

Bright hand knitted washcloths sitting next to a notebook and paper handouts with Korean letters printed on them.

Work has kind of been all over the place. I’ve been busy updating my Etsy shop photography and adding in some new items. I’m currently knitting one washcloth in every color of cotton yarn I own, so that I can make some new color bundles, and also have a stack of cloths at the ready should I need to redo photography. And I’m also knitting orders, (that’s an order in the photo above), when a sale appears, which is always a good day. Lately there have been several days where between photography, Etsy, and social media, the afternoon just evaporates on me, and I’m shocked to see the sun setting.

On the learning front, I’ve been alternating my time between reading and studying business books — mostly around how to sell, and how to better market your shop/items on social media; as well as diving back into language studies, which in my case is Spanish and Korean. I took Spanish in high school, which was several decades ago at this point. I am reorienting myself with mostly vocabulary, though there is some verb conjugation as well. With Korean, it’s all new, and also overwhelming at times, though I seem to push past that. My goals for the languages are different. I’d like to get fluent in Spanish — I think it’s highly useful, and if I were to go back into the traditional workplace, I think it would be helpful, if not open up some new opportunities. With Korean, I have to be honest — I just want to be able to speak it, and understand Korean dramas without having to read subtitles. I do occasionally fantasize about moving to South Korea and teaching English, or working for a company that sends me to South Korea for some unknown reason, but I think those two things are highly unlikely to happen. Still, it’s fun to think about, and if I ever found myself in a place where I was fluent in multiple languages, maybe I would seek out online tutoring. There are always options, and I feel like with the web, there are new opportunities all the time. For now, I’m enjoying studying and learning something new.

I have been lacking sleep lately, which probably explains my lack of enthusiasm for working out — I’m back to an every other day workout schedule, and trying to get back to working out 5-6 days a week. I’ve been luring myself to the treadmill with language videos or KDramas, but even that failed to motivate me down to the basement last week. I’m trying not to guilt myself too much over it. We’ve done well with salads and relatively healthy meals for dinner, while doing very small breakfasts and lunches to shave off calories. Some days are better than others. I still plan to workout tonight. too.

Lastly, I’m hoping to overhaul this blog in the next few weeks — I need to look for a fresher theme (this one is ancient), and I need to get a schedule going where I can share more about language studies, knitting and projects, mindset and goal setting, as well as Twitch and crafting for charity. And I’d just like to get more regular about writing and posting in general. I’ve been slowly inching in that direction, trying to post here when I also post on Instagram or Facebook, trying to get consistent with the habit. The blog tends to be the wordiest of my posts, and that really might be why I tend to fail at it (writer here – always procrastinating). So you’ll be seeing some more activity here in the near future.

Have a great rest of your week!

Workday Wednesday!

It’s Workday Wednesday! I scrapped the planned grocery shopping this morning to work on a new order I received late last night, and to plan out some photography to freshen up my Etsy listings. It’s been a dreary day so far — lots of clouds and no sun. Even if it’s going to be a long day, I am already getting stuff done. Productivity is key!

Two piles of colorful knitted washcloths stacked in front of a white knitted Bongo Cat cover which protects the sewing machine beneath it.

Bongo Cat surveys his knitted riches.

I got a bunch of knitting accomplished yesterday, even if I didn’t get much done in the evening. We’ve moved onto the KDrama, “Strongest Deliveryman”, which we’re watching during dinner. My husband and I are already familiar with some of the actors — I’m not sure if that’s good or bad; we’ve been watching a lot of Netflix, and KDramas in particular lately. We’re only two episodes into this one, so we’re still discovering where the storyline is headed, but I would like to see a redemption arc and a happy ending for Kim Sun-Ho’s character. At least a happier ending for him than he had in “Start Up”.

I’m slowly making progress with my Korean studies. I have kind of fallen off with Spanish and need to work that back in. 15 minutes a day for each seems like it should be doable, but somehow it’s a one or the other type thing. I’m using DuoLingo for Spanish and Memrise for Korean. It would probably be easier if I was using the same platform for both, but I’m having much more success with Korean on Memrise, and I prefer the Spanish lessons in DuoLingo. Two platforms it is, then!

Anyway, it’s back to knitting and listening to the washing machine spin out the first load. I hope that, regardless of what you’re working on or trying to accomplish today, that you have a productive and successful day!

Saturday Night Knitting Progress

It’s a few hours until Daylight Saving Time begins, and the stack is growing! These are all of the washcloths that I have made so far from leftover skeins. At the end of 2020, I had an entire fabric bin full of leftover rainbow colors. I’m just getting into the leftover blues now. 🌈 When these are finished, they will be listed in my Etsy shop at a special price, since most cloths have one or two joins each.

A stack of knit cloths, blue to red, stacked on a surface in front of a flat screen TV showing the Netflix interface, with the show "Start Up" on the screen.

While I was knitting tonight, we finished the Netflix series, “Start Up”, which is definitely one of the better k-dramas that we’ve watched — enjoyed it from start to finish! It had several actors that we knew from “Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol”. And we were able to understand words here and there, which is exciting. “Start Up” also motivated me to get back to reading a WHOLE BUNCH of business related books, and review what I’m doing with my business. Definitely check out the series on Netflix if you are one that is binging kdramas. 💗

TGIF – 5 Mar 2021

TGIF! I don’t know about you, but I need a break, and I’m very much looking forward to the weekend — even if I’m still going to be working, and it’s still going to be cold. There will be sun however! 🌞

Photo: A white bowl, with a green stripe around the edge, and a dark blue dishcloth draped over the right edge. Three other blue washcloths are folded to the right of the bowl. Text: Hand Knit Dish Cloths. girlnovembercrafts.etsy.com

This week I’ve started playing around in Canva, which is a graphic design platform. I am using the free version while I’m learning, but I am slowly creating some more professional looking Pinterest pins and other images that I’m using out there on social media. The learning curve is still a bit steep for me — I am not very good with photo editing or layouts. The nice thing about Canva is there are lots and lots of free templates one can choose from and tweak colors, fonts, positioning of text, etc. For anyone lacking skills in this department, the Canva platform is very handy.

Plans for the weekend include one meeting that couldn’t be scheduled during Mon-Fri, some studying (Korean and Spanish), and reading, and a bunch of knitting washcloth samples. But I will also find some time to play video games. 😀 I need a little escape as well this weekend.

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and a great start to the weekend. Enjoy!

Goodbye February

Happy March! I’ve been busy with all sorts of stuff today: some remaining tax to-do’s for our upcoming appointment, little action items because it’s the start of a new month, and even a bit of cleaning/straightening around the office, just to set the tone for the week.

Photo: A work desk, with colorful journals stacked in front of a flatscreen monitor and next to a blue coffee mug, and a stack of washcloths in various shades of gray in the for

I’m considering making another cup of tea and starting on the fourth washcloth for this bundle. For the moment though, I’m just listening to the winds roar outside. The rain has finally moved on, but it’s -=windy!

Hope you’re having a great start to the week.