Wednesday, December 15, 2021

2021 in Review

 

Well, what an absolute dumpster fire of a year!

I wish I had a lot of awesome projects to show you all, but this year was just awful. In March, our neighbor set fire to our apartment building, and we lost everything. My beloved cat, Pepper, who was a regular feature on this blog and on the YouTube channel, and who had been my constant companion for 13 years, was also lost in the fire. 

When the building collapsed in the fire, it landed right on our car, so we lost that, too. 

Then my husband lost his job.

We lived on a friend's couch for a while, and then finally moved into a new apartment. I tried to get back into a sewing groove, but despite a few spurts of half-hearted stitchery, I never actually finished anything. The new apartment is Not Great, with nosy management and lots of bugs, so we've sort of just been holding our breath and waiting for the lease to run out.

As I write this, we have two months left on the lease, and then we need to move again. I'm not sure if that will end this feeling of being in perpetual limbo, but I hope it does.

Over the summer we lost my aunt to cancer, and my grandmother passed at 96 after breaking her hip.

The good things of this year - we did save our three other cats, and neither of us were hurt in the fire. If it had been set while we were asleep, that could have been a very different story.

The costuming community also absolutely came to our rescue when we needed help. People shared our GoFundMe and donated furniture and home goods, and I don't know what we would have done without it. Everyone was truly amazing, and I still tear up thinking about how much the community swooped in and helped us.

Our current apartment complex is home to a large feral cat colony, of which I have become Cat Mom. I am overrun with kittens, and I'm loving every second of it.

We adopted a one of those kittens a few weeks ago, the only survivor of his litter, and he's an orange ball of excitement who loves cuddles and is a complete joy. He hasn't been introduced to fabric yet, but I'm fairly sure he's going to eviscerate any project I'm working on because he's at that stage were all things must be attacked! 

My husband did eventually find a new job, and one that is less stressful and pays more than his last, which is pretty amazing. He also gets to work remotely, so we don't have to worry about getting a second car or coordinating our commutes, which is such a life-saver.

I'm looking forward to the New Year being a real new beginning - new place to live, new projects to dive into, and a fresh start after a year of so much suck. I'm "relaunching" the YouTube channel after the new year, and will be attempting to post on a weekly basis again. I'm really excited about getting back into video making, as I love the process of filming and editing just as much as I love sewing. 

I'm also planning to really pay attention to blogging again. I find myself reading a bunch of old sewing blogs during my downtime, and miss having new content to read from all the blogs I used to follow. Blogs were, and are, such a valuable resource. I learned so much in my early sewing days (and heck, I still do!) from reading other people's dress diaries.

I have great hopes for 2022. I just hope the universe is on my side!

2 comments:

  1. Wow, I agree: dumpster fire of a year. Here's to hoping for a happier, safer 2022.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Holy crap that's awful! I hope 2022 is better too.

    ReplyDelete

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