weekly digest #30

july 20-26, 2026: feeling blah and doing nothing, sense and sensibility, reruns, an astroturf miniskirt

I’ve had a week with very few new experiences. I’ve been rereading favorite books, watching reruns, listening to music I’ve heard a million times. I guess I’ve been craving the familiar, though I wouldn’t have said that if I wasn’t looking it all now and noticing a pattern.

I’ve been feeling a little extra fatigued this week – not as bad as a real crash, but maybe 1-2% worse than my current baseline. It could be a million things: the weather, barometric pressure¹, overexertion without realizing it, my most recent change in medication, bad sleep (my sleep is always bad), hormones, more time outside, whatever. I don’t know why but the effect is that I haven’t been wanting to challenge myself, and when my dad goes to bed and I’m alone with the tv, I flip around the channel guide for something I can pay half attention to.

a lobster trap & buoy that washed up on the beach

reading

I finished rereading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (published 1811). It’s such a great novel. I have some partially-formed thoughts about Austen’s portrayal of work amongst the gentry – both men’s professions and women’s accomplishments – which I might write about in depth at some point. Almost all bad behavior in this novel is either caused or significantly worsened by idleness.² I think Colonel Brandon is the only man with an actual job³, and it’s no coincidence that he is both the most consistently virtuous and least foolish man in the Dashwoods’ social circle. Meanwhile the Dashwood ladies are set apart from the other genteel women of their acquaintance by their constant occupation. They read, paint, play the pianoforte, sing, do needlework. When they first meet him, “Sir John Middleton, who called on them every day for the first fortnight, and who was not in the habit of seeing much occupation at home, could not conceal his amazement on finding them always employed.” Meanwhile the Middletons want to play cards every night, since otherwise they quickly run out of things to say.

I’m now rereading Pride and Prejudice, which is the only Austen novel I’ve read more than once before. I listened to the audiobook while doing data entry at a dull temp job in early 2020, and then read it again in 2023, when I read the rest of the books for the first time.

watching

Like I said, I’ve mostly been channel surfing watching random reruns. If I don’t feel like watching whatever current show I actually care about, I’ll put on a procedural or procedural-adjacent show – Law & Order, House, Elementary, and Psych have all been on lately. Watching tv like this always makes me feel mildly discontented, like I’ve wasted my time, but sometimes my brain also feels like mush, so whatever I guess.

I also watched a few episodes of DS9 with my dad and a few episodes of Hacks, which I’m going to finish eventually probably. I haven’t watched any more of The Vampire Lestat since the first two episodes, but I’ll probably get back to that eventually, too.

listening

I wanted something familiar that I could sing along with while I sewed, and played the Les Misérables 10th Anniversary Concert album several times. (#backtomyroots)

I also had Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide (the live version) and The Beach Boy’s God Only Knows on repeat at various points throughout the week when they got stuck in my head.

eating & drinking

For dinner my dad made Thai red curry, avocado mojo bowls (with many other veggies added), haddock with cauliflower kugel, tarte flambé, slow cooker cubanos, tomato chickpea and greens curry, and beef bulgogi tacos. I’ve also been enjoying nature’s valley peanut butter crunchy granola bars, werther’s originals, and caffeine-free diet pepsi.

making & mending

edge stitching on my single finished waist tie

Now that I’ve finished my wearable toile of the hinterland dress, I cut into my nice fabric and started making the real deal. Since learning to sew, I’ve found a few things I don’t love doing, but only one thing I really hate: cutting out fabric. It’s tedious and annoying and I never manage to be precise enough. I wonder if getting a rotary cutter would help.

I love working with this gingham fabric. The pattern makes it much easier to keep my stitches even and in a straight line. So far I’ve staystitched the neck and armholes, sewed the bust darts and shoulder seams, and am now working on the waist ties that will get sandwiched into the side seams of the bodice. I skipped these on the toile, and it turns out that doing all this edge stitching by hand takes a long time.

I also mended this seam that was coming apart on my teddy bear. All it needed was a few ladder stitches and she’s good as new.

before & after repairs

my teddy bear not ass side up (ft. the sweater i crocheted her a few years ago)

shopping

I mentioned to my mom that three of the four sewing clips that came in my beginner’s sewing kit broke, and she was nice enough to order me a container of 100 new clips. I wasn’t even going to ask for them! I like these better than pins, which always seem to be getting in the way.

new clips :)

kitsch corner

I click on a lot of random posts that get recommended to me by the substack algorithm, which is how I stumbled upon this article about statement wardrobe pieces by Jess aka wearsomefun, which included this excellent glittery astroturf skirt from etsy shop ChaoticCandyClothing. The item description calls it “The most crazy kitsch skirt ever!!” It’s pretty good!

See you next week.

xoxo,

Franny 💋⛳️

1. I know that this is a factor but I still don’t understand what it means

2. Especially bad when combined with greed

3. Although, it seems likely that once he inherited wealth he essentially became a man of leisure – I’m not clear on this and don’t know enough about the army in Regency England to figure it out without doing some research.