Are We Back?

Are we back? I think we’re back. Mostly. Feeling like I’m well on the way, at least. It’s been - well, been one heck of a year, is what it’s been. We’re almost up to the point of setting back the clocks, and if I look back to when we set them forward (DST should die in a fire, btw), that’s about when things really got cooking. I was planning a birthday bash. I went to see an 80s punk band I never thought I’d get to see, and caught covid while I was there. Cancelled the party because of it. We’d been looking at houses - ugh, for longer than I care to remember! - but we originally saw this particular house in mid-February. Six weeks later, I was ready to sign papers.

And from there, well, it was steam-engine time. My younger child had come into town for my (cancelled) birthday, and I know we snuck in to show them the house before we technically took possession. After that, it was just boom-boom-boom. We’d been in our old apartment just shy of ten years and were well settled, one might say. Uprooting it all was distressing even as I knew it was for good reason. The move was difficult; fortunately I had some stalwart pals come help schlep boxes and we managed to be out just before the end of June. 

Felt like we barely had gotten into the place before I was working on Ingenuity - nowhere near as heavy a commitment as some years, but enough to chip into time I might otherwise have spent unpacking. I’d also jumped into some fandom involvement as a way of distracting myself from worrying obsessively over the house situation; but by midsummer that had blown up in its own way, and I found myself doing audio engineering for podfics, traveling to Chicago to attend meetups, and more. 

Unfortunately, my second trip to Chicago was barely begun when I got the phonecall I’d long been dreading - my mother had a third stroke, and before I could even make arrangements to return early, she passed away. This was only a couple weeks ago and I’m still processing all of that; but that’s not what this blog is for. Quite a point to segue from, I realize. She wouldn’t want me dwelling on things, for one, and she WOULD be proud of me building what I have, here. So let’s get back to the business side of things!

Along with everything else going on this busy summer, I put in some work updating tshirt designs; and added coffee mugs to many of my existing ones. You can see what I’ve been up to in that arena over on Dakini Design Co. at Etsy. Plans to add Dakini Handcrafts are still most conceptual, as I haven’t had much crafting time to devote to my own projects. I have returned to where I left off with this at the beginning of the year, however, so I’m hopeful I can add the third component of the Dakini Trading concept soon. 

I’m also thrilled that crafting space is really beginning to take shape! We brought some of my Mom’s faux Ikea cabinets over from storage, got the sewing machine moved out of the living room and into the basement - I even have an old rug put down under my work area. I’ve not really had a proper workshop since I lost use of the attic at the old house. I kept debating whether to rent somewhere, but put it off in (now realized) hopes that we could find a house that would preclude that need.

And now that we have, my dedicated resale area is really taking shape. What was once the coal room for the house was turned into a workroom by former owners with a big old wooden bench in it. Now I’ve repurposed it into an area where I can process, store, photograph, and package items for shipping. All in one spot! This is such an improvement over my former situation I can barely tell you. I was dealing with things stored in one place, photographed wherever I could manage, packaging somewhere else, and where the heck is my ring light / camera tripod etc?! I’m thinking I should try to fire up my dusty old Android tablet, so I can do my cataloguing right in the same space. I even dressed it up a little with a couple cheap shower curtains from Dollar Tree as an easy way to camouflage the ugly cinderblock walls.

As the weather turns colder, and now that the house is about 80% settled, I’m hoping to spend more of my copious spare time downstairs. While I’ve got some workable space set up in the craft area, there’s a LOT still to be sorted out and put away. As with the resale, so much was stashed here there and everywhere after the loss of the attic studio that I don’t even fully know what all I’ve got. I’m certain some items are duplicates, as I’m sure I may have gone to look for something I just knew was around here somewhere; but failing to find it, went out and bought a replacement. That’s not even taking into account my planned basement lounge space, which will be a whole separate project.

I do have several autumn-themed pieces up in the Dakini Trading shop right now. I recently had the chance to visit one of my favorite thrifts: it’s on the far east side so I don’t get there often but I think every time I’ve been I’ve found some good stuff. Most recently, I came home with this little ‘novelty wall art’ plaque that is frankly so racist I’m still torn about selling it. I’m trying to decide how to list it if I do. Yes, it’s kitsch, but containing racial caricatures that I almost can’t believe were ever seen as acceptable. If anybody has any thoughts on how to handle that, please drop a note in the comments below; I’d love to get some perspective on this.

That should bring us up to date. I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things here, now that the dust has largely settled and the boxes are mostly unpacked. Kinda. I’ve got a fun vintage-y craft project I’d like to put my hand to, which would mean getting that craft area a bit more up to snuff, and I’m looking to do a couple in town shows over the holidays. Very late to be applying I know, but there’s only so much one can do. Even if I don’t get anything new made for this year, it's not like I don't have stock on hand.

I think that wraps it for this update. I hope to get back into the swing of regular postings here soon, while continuing to (slowly!) build the Dakini Trading concept. See you next time!