Depression and Donald Trump

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The easiest way to describe depression, at least what it is like for me, is that your brain sends you a barrage of negative and false messages; your brain tells you that you are worthless, stupid, everyone hates you, and that no one would miss you. As I have gotten older, it has become easier for me to counter these negative thoughts with reality. What I have been struggling with since the election is: How do you combat these negative thoughts when most of the negative thoughts are true?

Godwin's Law, for those that aren't familiar, is a term coined to explain that the longer an Internet argument goes on, the higher the probability someone will be referred to as Hitler. Comparing someone to Hitler is usually hyperbole, and when someone tosses out the comparison, it tends to signal the end of all reasonable discussion. Trump has stated that he would consider a registry and armbands for Muslims. If that does not warrant a comparison to Hitler, I don't know what would. Hitler didn't campaign on a promise of murdering over 10 million people. Trump's consideration of modeling Holocaust practices should have been enough on its own to dissuade anyone with a conscience from voting for him, however, there were plenty of other horrific things that should have kept good people from voting for him: mocking a person with a disability, joking about sexual assault, and his countless put-downs of other races, religions, and women. This is not about Republican vs Democrat. This is not about a difference of political beliefs. This is about a difference in a basic level of humanity. Any reasonable and reasonably well educated person should be terrified of a Trump presidency. Yet almost 63 million people voted for Trump and over 90 million eligible voters did not vote at all.

Immediately following the election, the negativity of my depression screamed at me that 63 million people in the United States are bigots that hate people that are not like them. While I have been able to tell my brain that many people who voted for Trump are not bigots, the truth remains that the best case scenario is that a large portion of those 63 million people are apathetic about racism; they did not think that blatant, unapologetic racism should be enough to make someone unfit for presidency. That does not comfort me. It should not comfort you either.



You can read all my “Depression and…” posts by clicking here.

10 Years With Timmy

Today is Timmy's and my 10 year anniversary, so, I put together a photo retrospective.


2006


2007


2008


2009


2010


2011


2012


2013


2014


2015


2016

DIY Bat Wing Necklace

Last week I decided to make a bat wings necklace to go with this amazing Halloween dress that I bought last month. I made the necklace using shrink film. I bought this shrink film (for a prior project) because it was cheaper than Shrinky Dinks. I already owned the jump rings, and I used a necklace chain I had rather than buying a roll of chain.



The first thing I did was Google image search "bat wings outline." This is the design I liked best (I could not find the original source to link to). I rounded the inside of the wings using image editing software.

I then printed two copies of the wings (one of which was mirrored/flipped) on card stock. I did this for two reasons: 1) To confirm I liked the scale, and 2) So I could determine where I needed to attach the necklace chain to get the wings at the angle I wanted. This is the wing angle I liked as it mirrors the neckline of the dress:



As you can see, attaching the chain at different places has a significant impact on the angle of the wings:




I then printed two copies of the wings filled in with black ink on shrink film (again, with one wing mirrored/flipped). The shrink film I was working with shrinks about 50% after baking; I wanted my finished wings to be about four inches long, so, I printed eight inch wings. (I printed other projects on the same sheet.)

Printing was the hardest part of the whole task because a lot of printers don't like shrink film. I ended up having to tape my shrink film sheet to a sheet of regular paper; this is risky because it could create quite the paper jam.



After the ink dried on the shrink film, I cut out the wings, and used a paper punch to create the holes (this must be done before baking!). Here are the wings on parchment paper on a baking sheet ready to go in the oven:



This is what they looked like after baking according to the directions on the shrink film:



I then used some jump rings to join the wings, and to attach a necklace chain:

What I Wore - Wonder Woman skirt

A couple months ago I won a custom skirt by Mid-Century for Modern on her Facebook page. I had my choice of her in-stock fabric, and I choose this amazing Wonder Woman fabric. Shortly before that, I purchased a limited edition bright yellow mesh corset from Orchard Corset. When I realized that they would pair well together, I couldn't wait to put them on together.



I love how full and swishy the MCM skirt is.









I got these suede sunglasses at Target a couple years ago.

What I Wore - Watermelon skirt

Today is my blog's 14th birthday, so, I figured I better post something! This is one of my new favorite items of clothing: a Unique Vintage watermelon skirt I bought on Facebook!






This photo better captures how I feel about this skirt.

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July to my American readers!

What We Wore - Memorial Day

These photos were taken yesterday on Memorial Day. Timmy and I inadvertently ended up matching... both of us were wearing a blue shirt with red bottoms, and a nautical touch (boats on my shirt, and whales on his socks).