Blaugust

Blaugust – but not really

It’s that time of year where normally I would sign up for Blaugust and make a post for every day during the month of August – but this year, I didn’t sign up. I’m not interested in the added pressure of trying to make a post, or the temporary social aspect. I get that this is very much a ‘me’ thing, but I’ve been writing my blog for 18 years now, and if I’m not inspired to write then I just don’t write.

That being said, for those who are interested I think it’s a fantastic event, and a good time to get started. If you enjoy reading blogs it’s also a good time to find some new ones, and if the action on Mastodon is any indication, there’s a lot of participants this year. There’s an active discord for those who are into that, too.

The end of Blaugust

Today marks the last day of August, and thus the last day of Blaugust – and it might not be apparent that I’ve even been doing Blaugust since I don’t follow the provided layout but I want to say a few things about that.

First, the event in essence is to get people blogging – and it absolutely succeeds in doing this. A wonderful community has formed because of it, and this year marked the greatest participation numbers ever seen. I think that’s wonderful. I started off wanting to be more involved in the community but quickly realized that real life had other plans, and that I cannot be in all of the places, as much as I would like to.

That’s OK.

I started the month wanting to write every day, to loosely at least, follow the suggested topics, and provide insightful commentary that people would enjoy. This also did not happen.

That’s OK.

How and when you choose to blog is completely up to you. The subject matter, again, up to you. I cannot stress enough that you should try to first and foremost WRITE FOR YOURSELF. If an audience forms because of it, that’s wonderful, but if you try to write expecting an audience and one never forms, it can cause more harm than good. I’ve added some wonderful RSS feeds to feedly this round, and I did my best, and I’m satisfied with that. I did manage to create a post for each day, even if it wasn’t posted on that exact day (I tend to backtrack when I have spare spoons, and push out a bunch of posts all at once). I hope everyone had a great time, maybe made some new friends, and realized that blogging doesn’t HAVE to be a dead medium. There’s still some of us around, just writing.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Calico Critter Starter Home Remodel (1)

I’ve been planning out what I want to do with this Calico Critter starter house ever since I learned you could remodel them. The first thing I did was fall down the rabbit hole of miniatures. I watched a lot of YouTube videos and I joined a lot of facebook groups. There are some insanely creative people out there! One technique I learned (fairly popular) is to take an egg carton, rip it into little pieces, use some mod podge, and vola, you have stonework! I decided that is what I would do with my house.

The general idea is to cover the entire outside in ‘stones’ then paint over it with a neutral stone-like colour. Then take some pastels, and bring out the shadows / highlights. Once that is done, I want to add stained trim to the house using thin stir sticks, and then I want to also add some moss in sections to give it a bit of ‘life’. I’m also contemplating adding a window box with some flowers, but for storage reasons I don’t know that I want to (I still have the box for this house, and I’d like it to still fit inside of that box even once modified).

In the meantime I’m also contemplating how I want to decorate the inside. Originally I was going to have a ‘typical’ house. The kitchen and living room on the main floor, and the bathroom and a bedroom upstairs. Now I’m not so certain I want a ‘typical’ house. I’m thinking a library and small kitchen nook might be better suited. I also need to figure out how to build a front door since this house is missing the one that came with it. A ladder to get upstairs would also be nice (it came with one, which is of course missing).

For now, it’s a neat little relaxing project to work on here and there. I don’t expect progress to move too fast, I already know I’ll have to order more mod podge and a glue gun (and some glue) as well. I did purchase miter shears so that I can cut things (hopefully not myself), I’d like to make real wood floors and picture frames. All of those little details are things I’ll have to work up to, for now it’s just one step at a time.

Little Sock Arms (3)

I’ve got 50 more rows to knit (with a decrease every 5 rows) then I think the first sleeve will just need a ribbed cuff and and it will be completed! I’m looking forward to starting the second sleeve, hopefully this week. After that I believe all that’s left is the yoke / collar, and then this sweater for my kid will be officially completed.

Knitting this is a big deal, because it will actually be my first completed project of 2023. As much as I wanted to do a lot more knitting, life got in the way. Still, it’s better than nothing!

A VERY wet summer

This summer has probably been the wettest I remember. We’ve had rain on a constant basis, and when it rains we’re getting around 40mm each time. Most of my plants on the balcony have already withered and died due to too much water – but the basil plants? They’re thriving.

Something has been feasting on them (slightly) so tonight I harvested a bunch and turned it into delicious garlic pesto. The entire house smells amazing and I can’t wait to create a dish with it (probably chicken).