what a day

I spent the day alone today. I didn't want to but plans fell through with whom I was supposed to spend the day with. Everyone else already seemed to have plans. I thought way too much about things I didn't want to think about. I wanted to distract myself from recent happenings. I wasn't a complete failure though.

I got an unexpected phone call from a cousin I've never met. She is on my father's side of the family (you know, that man I met when I was 19 and half his family, including his two children, didn't know that I existed). She wanted me to be part of the online family tree album she's putting together. I guess we've now made tentative plans to meet as well. She told me that when she was 9 she remembered holding me and that I was cranky because I had been sleeping. (Oh how some things never change). She really wanted to see a picture of what now I look like. She also wanted me to see pics of the rest of the family. I learned today my father is one of ten children. I had no idea of this. I thought my mother being one of five was big.

I went through the photo album and felt very disconnected (despite the kindness
and welcome gesture from my mystery cousin). Not only do I not resemble anyone in the pictures that I saw, but everything about them was new, the names and faces, where they lived, how they were related to each other.

And yes, this heavy topic was the distraction to the rest of the stuff I didn't want to dwell on today.

I had three bowls of cereal with milk today: breakfast, lunch, and dinner; different cereals at each meal too. Exhausted my supply of cranberry juice. Swept but didn't complete the task by using the dustpan and putting the dirt into the trash. Listened to the same three songs on repeat for close to 90 minutes. But by far, my biggest accomplishment today was making a temporary jewelry board. I swear that the satisfaction of a DIY project can cure anything, for a little while at least.

The jewelry board is to replace the two jewelry boxes I made earlier this year. This mock-up is a draft of what I'll have once I get some cork board, fabric, fancy ribbons and maybe quilt pins. Right now, I have made use of a box I never got around to throwing out, ribbon, nails and thumbtacks to lay out my vision. (It's a combination of various links I found online, here, here, and there.)