2019 was a bit of a blur. We moved back into our house, then back out and back into it again. (All in the course of about 2 weeks.) We had an epic family vacation to Ireland in June. And my mom's health took a turn for the worse just after that. She spent a lot of time in the hospital the second half of the year, but is thankfully back home, stable, and generally feeling well these days.

I continue to rail against my perfectionist tendencies. I forget who said it or which podcast the interview was on, but I recently heard someone talk about how it helps their decision making process by knowing there are lots of right answers available and she just has to pick one of those. Other perfectionists may agree that our default is to analyze (and analyze and analyze) and try to optimize for the best option for all decisions. This is not only not an effective use of time, but also unreasonable. For any decision there are so many different aspects one could optimize for. For example, optimizing for lowest cost vs. lowest amount of time. (These aspects are often at odds.) Some analysis or thoughtful decision making is good... but the stagnation from overanalyzing is not. My husband and I have discussed the idea of a minimum viable product, the idea of putting something out that has enough value for the customer and will provide feedback for future development. This is a concept often used in tech, but I think it applies to many aspects of life. After a many years hiatus (and related mom guilt) I made holiday (New Years) photo cards. I could have agonized over the perfect photo or tried for a selection of photos to create a collage of what our family was up to in 2019. In the end I picked a good enough option. I considered just four group pictures of us from Ireland (not the entire year of potential options) and put two additional pics on the back, a cute one of the kids and a cute one of me and Evan. Done. I allowed myself an evening to get it done. More of my decisions need to be made in this fashion. A short term deadline and a "get it done" attitude.

I digress. I am supposed to be recapping my 2019 goals. They were lofty. They always are. And there were too many of them. I struggle with always wanting to do it all. Anyway. Here they are. Original list can be found in the bottom half of this post.

 

Pacing

I continue to be deadline driven. I think it's just my style. But I think I've shifted my sewing "work" to be more during the time that my family is occupied with other things. I've found that keeping my afternoons free for the kids is less essential than I thought because they like to come home, have leisurely snacks, and hang out with each other reading or listening to audiobooks, podcasts, or music. The plus side is that since they are getting older, dinner time is a bit later and bedtime can be a bit later, so there's still hangout time in the evenings. Our fun time is filled with board games, and cooking and sewing together.

 

Teaching

Aces! I taught and lectured throughout California, which I really love doing. I rolled out three additional workshop offerings, and presented my offerings at the Northern California (NCQC) and Southern California (SCCQG) Meet the Teacher events. I have limited availability left in 2020 and I've started booking into 2021.

 

Patterns, Products, Etc.

Welp... All that other life that happened really got in the way of bandwidth for this one.

 

Longarm

We've decided finishing the garage to house a longarm is the way to go. No timeline on the construction part yet, but I figure 2021 for that. And I have a goal of purchasing a longarm by October 2022.

 

Design

Another nope. I mean, I have designed many projects... but I did not develop a routine of regular design work.

 

Garment Sewing & Mending

My Blackwood Cardigan plans are still on the list, but I haven't cut into the fabric yet. I did make 2 1/2 garments for my niece and nephew (pants still in progress), so a small amount of garment sewing happened. I've also done a bit of mending, but not to the extent I was hoping for. I've started a collection of garments to use for patching other garments.

 

In short, despite being back in our house for 9 months now, there is still unpacking and related projects left to work on. Remodeling is no joke. It takes a lot of time and energy. Many of the spaces in our house are lovely and enjoyable. So much progress has been made around here in the last year. But numerous areas really need some attention. I'll be back tomorrow to share a few big picture goals for 2020. A couple of these above will remain on my mind, but didn't make it to the short list.

Thanks for visiting, today and throughout 2019!

 

I'm participating in the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge with Cheryl of muppin.com.