A "Crafty" Weekend

Admittedly, writing this post has been put off all week. Sickness had left me not wanting to do much of anything recently. Just a cold but as has become my pattern since working in the baking industry, the simple cold became a sinus infection and a chest infection. That combination does not really leave much motivation left for anything beyond curling up in bed with a book. Or more accurately, graphic novels. I go through phases - always have - and it would seem that graphic novels are my 'thing' at the moment. Whatever. As a result I have upped my reading goal for the year once more to 75. I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but I set it quite low, at 50, at the beginning of the year because my reading bug deserted me. 2014 got me to 72 books so the drop was a bit demoralizing, but such as life. The way my mood is going at the moment though, I feel confident bumping that back up. I only hope that my stitching doesn't suffer too much as a result.

I did go to my crafty retreat last weekend though. Retreat makes it sound all fancy, but really it was a borrowed batch and what was supposed to be mum and two of her friends and me and two of mine. Family friends have a holiday home in the little coastal community of Kakanui. It sits right on the beach - we had stayed there before - last year, just the two of us, but this time we thought it would be fine to increase the numbers. Mum has a paper craft circle that she is active in, and I have a good friend that crochets and another that is more of a mixed media crafter. I was really excited about the weekend. Went up on Friday after work.... only to then find out that both of my friends had pulled the pin and were not coming. One for a good reason, the other not. The news resulted in a fair bit of ranting and more than a little sulking around. Don't get me wrong, I love my mum and its good to see her for a weekend now that we live in separate cities. But when her and her scrap booking buddies get going, I may as well be on mars.

Without the motivation of those two, I spent more time on the beach searching for penguins than I did with needle in hand. Didn't find any, but it was fun trying. 

I did make some progress on my WIP's - I'll update the page above when I get some decent light for taking photos. Mainly on Steam Punk Sea Serpent (seemed fitting since we were just out side of Oamaru - the Steam Punk Capital of New Zealand) and on my mosaic thingy. Mum seemed fascinated by the mosaic, so that's a Christmas present sorted. I also started yet another project, just to see it that would kick start my stitchy bug. It didn't, but maybe the weekend will change that. I'll keep Joan Elliot's The Reader on the frame for the next few days and see if motivation returns. I hope it does. 

This year has been killer on my motivation. It's not been a bad year per say. I just seem to be in the wars a lot. I am usually a very healthy person. But this year I seem to be back and forth to the doctor so much. Torn calf muscle, fractured hand, respiratory infections, various cuts and bruises that are more serious that usual... maybe that's not really that much. Maybe I'm just noticing it when I see my productivity drop.

Never mind. No point whining about it I suppose. No body wants to hear me complain and feel sorry for my self - I'll go back to my book instead. I am about half way through it and I think I can feel pretty safe in declaring that it's one of my favorites for the year. The Martian by Andy Wier is going to be released as a movie later this year, so of course, being the true book nerd that I am, I had to read the book first. Man, I am glad that I have. It is truly brilliant.