Book Club: Bossy Pants

Things are looking up for me. After having an extremely bad week, I took stock of my situation and decided to reinvest in some self-care. Jac and I have never really made a secret of our battles with depression. We manifest it in different ways, but we both carry around a lot of baggage. I think just about everyone does. On 90% of our posts, we try to keep things positive. As much as I think it’s important to keep it real, I also realize that folks show up to Lattes & Llamas for some fun. What I can give to the world is a haven of yarn-based-escapism. However, I sort of see these book club posts as a place for my own catharsis and as a place to remind you that you are not alone. My life is awesome. I have a strong, happy marriage. For all the shit I’ve gone through, my husband has been a rock for me. I have an amazing daughter. Mabel the Merciless may be an evil super-genius, but I like that about her. Just the other day at Jac’s apartment, Mabel and Jac were sitting outside on the balcony while I was inside, and I got a text from Jac that Mabel was tattling on me.

M: Mommy is bad.

J: What happened? Why is Mommy bad.

M: Mommy took my Teddy Bear away.

J: Why?

M: ::With a huge grin on her face:: Because she is bad.

For the record, I took it away because she wouldn’t put it away. There’s a firm “clean it up or lose it for the day” policy around here.

In addition to my super-villain daughter, I have the luxury of doing something I love for a living and running a business with my best friend. The point here is that I’ve got everything in my corner and I still battle depression. I think there is a perception that depression is only something that happens to unhappy people. But the truth is, happiness has little to do with it. Nearly everyone copes with depression at one time or another, and you are never alone. You are also not guilty. You didn’t screw up or somehow not appropriately appreciate the good things in your life.

This week, let’s all take a self-care challenge. I took the car accident a few weeks ago really hard. Everyone was OK, and I have my van back now, but the other guy’s car was totaled. Even though it wasn’t my fault, I have a lot of issues with guilt about the situation. This isn’t my first time at the unnecessary anxiety rodeo, and I’ve gotten better at managing these things over time. So this week I took a break from what I have to do for a little indulgence. I love making beaded stitch markers, so I bought fun new beads and made a bunch. I’ve been low-key considering opening an Etsy shop as sort of a crafty side-hustle. Like, basically a shop of whatever random crap I felt like making that week. So I can buy more stuff to make more random crap. I don’t know what I’d call it though.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjIHum4n3OE/?taken-by=doctor_llama

I got a punch needle embroidery kit for Christmas last year, and I think the next thing on my random list of stuff to make is some snarky embroidery. I’ll follow up on the status of that next week. I highly recommend doing some random crafts. It’s fun to make stuff for no reason.

This week I’ve been reading…

Bossy Pants by Tina Fey. She hosted Saturday Night Live and I was reminded of how much I love her.

Bossy Pants is a great read. It’s funny. Of course, it’s funny because it’s by Tina Fey. But it’s also really empowering. It’s about knowing your worth, standing in your power, and just generally not giving any shits about what people think about it. I was a great big drama nerd growing up. I took my school plays WAY too seriously. I attended FAME drama camp every summer for years. So I especially loved the section about her summer drama programs growing up and the behind the scenes stories about her early years in Second City. It’s an easy read. I listened to the audio book and finished it in one dye session. I actually wish it had been a little longer. We are burning the midnight oil to get the remaining Call Of The Siren kit orders out before the MKAL kicks off on Friday and I need all the audiobooks I can get my mermaid-tinted hands on right now.

~Megan-Anne

Not the BEEEEEEEEEEEADS!