Do people still want to read articles and stories and books or do they prefer short bits like 60 second TikTok videos or short Twitter/X posts? I think, by and large, the popularity of short content points to shorter content is preferred. As someone who rambles on a lot, social media is a bad fit for me.
I’m very much an amateur writer and not a very good one, but when I started this blog I was terrified to write, even though I longed to write. Once I started this blog, it became a place of my own, to express my opinion and ideas. It has helped me get writing, instead of talking myself out of writing.
However, I felt weary and tired recently writing about the new “cognitive security” (what I consider thought police) efforts forming in America and I am sick to death of blustering, lying Trump (yes, he does lie a lot too, just like the Dems trying to destroy him) and all the insane, corrupt Dem/liberal media Trump hysteria. I don’t want to race into rehashing all the details of the #Resist cabal vs. Trump battles since 2016, even though assuredly heading into the 2024 presidential election year, these issues will resurface and impact us, whether we’re burned out about it or not.
I know people who are struggling and I shop at Walmart, Dollar General and Dollar Tree frequently. Dollar Tree went from everything $1 to everything $1.25 in 2022. One of the Dollar Tree stores in my area now carries some merchandise that’s at even higher price points. I bought a thin fleece throw for $5 there last week. I wanted a thinner throw, because I have several heavier fleece throws already and wanted something lighter for those days where I’m just a little bit chilly.
There were so many empty shelves in that Dollar Tree store and I kept noticing that. In the Walmart Neighborhood Market store I frequent, the pasta section was pretty sparse again the other day. And that’s how it’s been going since 2020, empty sections here and there throughout the stores. Nothing ever really returned to pre-COVID days that I can see. Sure, I can find plenty of food, but it seems obvious to me that the efficient systems of our complex food supply networks, that many retailers rely on, aren’t working as well as before 2020.
Then there are winners of the 2020 social mitigation efforts. Amazon, which now fields it’s own fleet of Prime delivery vans, I pass all the time in my neighborhood, seems like one of the biggest winners. We all adjust and I do use Amazon frequently. Amazon also has Amazon Fresh grocery deliveries in some areas, but not where I live. Like many Americans, I live where there’s not a big selection of grocery stores to choose from, although Publix is building a store here. I can’t see myself paying Publix prices, even if they do make shopping a pleasure. We’ve had Food Lion, Kroger, and Walmart in my town for a long time. Many rural areas have even less selection and people have to drive longer distances to get to those stores.
2024 is another presidential election year and the odds of it being calm, orderly and no big commotion seem very remote, while the chances of it being more craziness high.
Anytime you even suggest stocking up food, water and supplies in case of an emergency, many people react like you’re an insane Doomsday lunatic and the reactions to “prepping” are often very negative and dismissive. I’ve always stocked up extra food and supplies, but I realized in 2020, once I started reading more and watching online pantry organization/prepping/homesteading content that I really needed to rethink my preparedness efforts.
First off, I have always been a catastrophizer type person, worrying a bit too much about all the “what ifs.” Watching online prepping stuff was a mixed blessing, where some of the information was very helpful, but some came with non-stop doom and gloom, predicting collapse, calamity or SHTF was about to befall us in days, next week, in a few months. What I needed to focus on was getting my pantry and supplies better organized and then figuring out what type of stocking up works better for me. I’m still a work in progress. I’m better-prepared in several areas, but have a lot of work to do in others.
However, I don’t want my life to be consumed by the news or preparedness efforts. I need some light and hope and laughter in my life too. Adopting the glass half-full attitude might be challenging, if you’re a worrier, suffer from anxiety, or are a catastrophizer type person, but just the awareness that you are that type of a person might help you start catching yourself and then refocus to looking at all the positive things rather than fixating on the worst-case scenarios.
Becoming better prepared is beneficial for all of us. Our ancestors couldn’t turn to government or private charity programs for assistance – they had to rely on themselves to figure out solutions. If you look around your home and you don’t keep any extra food, water and some basic supplies on hand, then perhaps, you might consider stocking up a little bit more or taking a basic first aid class or learning a new practical skill.
Learning useful skills doesn’t have to be approached as if you’re preparing for the Apocalypse. You could hone some basic sewing skills with making a few gifts or something practical for everyday use. Or you could approach some projects from a repurposing/recycling/upcycling viewpoint. I love those sorts of taking something old and turning it into something new projects. In recent years, making junk journals (just check YouTube, there’s an entire Junk Journal community) has been a way to use some of the piles of ephemera and scrapbooking and rubber stamping supplies I accumulated long ago. I think I made this Christmas junk journal, pictured above, out of old Christmas cards, stickers, and ribbon, around 2018-2019.
Learning to make Amish knot rugs/toothbrush rugs out of old sheets and fabric has been a very enjoyable craft/sewing/repurposing project. I learned to make Amish knot rugs watching YouTube videos. Before I purchased actual Amish knot rug needles, a YTer showed how to bend a large paperclip into a usable needle. So, my first bending up paperclips for another use was not for recreational substance use… it was for a needlework project.
That’s my dog, Lucy, laying on an Amish knot rug I made several years ago. Below is a better picture of her, minus the redeye. She died a couple years ago and she was a very sweet dog. I picked her up in a Dollar General parking lot and went inside the store to ask if they had any idea who she belonged to. The cashier told me she’d been running around the parking lot for days. I decided to take her home, because I was afraid she’d get hit by a car with the highway right there. I handed her to my husband and he said, “What’s this?” and I told him that’s a Sweetie Pie. I had to run out to do more shopping. While I was gone, our youngest daughter had stopped by and talked to my husband about Sweetie Pie. She messaged me, while I was shopping, and told me this dog was not going to be called Sweetie Pie and that her name was Lucy. So, Lucy it was. She had severe anxiety attacks going to the vet and started having seizures whenever we got to the door of the vet. It happened several times and the vet decided it would be better to keep vet appointments for Lucy to the bare necessity and she prescribed medication for me to give Lucy before vet appointments. Even dogs can have anxiety problems triggered by stressful situations.
High on my list of things I want to do in 2024 is get back to working on counted cross-stitch projects again.
The photo at the beginning of this post is a small cross-stitch kit I stitched in 2019. I remember in 2018 my late husband was in the hospital for weeks. One day, I decided to run to a Joann’s Fabric and Crafts store to take a break from the hospital and found that discount “Bee Friends” kit. What could be better… I love cute pictures and I love sayings and quotes, so that Bee Friends cross-stitch was so much fun to stitch.
I’ve got enough cross-stitch stuff to last me two lifetimes and I’ve tried to give kits and supplies to my daughters and granddaughters over the years. I’ve tried to encourage friends to take up cross-stitching too. One granddaughter attempted a stamped cross stitch project, but her embroidery floss getting tangled got her frustrated very quickly. One of my daughters learned how to do counted cross-stitch and plastic canvas needlework, but she doesn’t have much spare time and needlework does take time.
With rummaging through Christmas decorations, I came across these two small counted cross-stitch projects I did decades ago. I have piles of completed cross-stitch projects, awaiting framing or deciding how to finish them into something – an ornament, wall-hanging, etc.
No matter what else 2024 brings, I’d like to make 2024 a year of getting back to my needleworking passion, because I sure miss the joy it brings me.
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