Miller October 2024 Update

What a Month.

Well, I say that every month… but it’s true.

We’ve fallen so far behind that we weren’t ready for October (crafting, costumes, events, etc.) until around October 15th, which is a little late to start anything. This is an improvement—about a month earlier than last year—but it’s still not enough time to plan and finish things. This October, we challenged ourselves to at least release something related on time this year...after attempting this goal each year of the seven we’ve been together.

The seasonal weather and time change have affected us drastically, taking us off-guard, and we’re feeling the impact. PTSD triggers, insomnia, increased nightmares, physical pain, and dissociation have all intensified, pushing us to make lifestyle adjustments to protect our ability to function at home. We keep forgetting it hits in October, so next year we will need to pull back home in September in prep for the October shift.

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When we burn out or get sick, our sense of time goes out the window completely.

To give some perspective on how much time and energy we invest in recovering or recalibrating from executive dysfunction:

We barely spend any time outside of our home. Typically, we only spend about 40 hours outside the house each month. In winter, it’s even less; in summer, sometimes a bit more.

In total, we spend less than 20% of our lives outside. Half of the time we spend in side our homes is to recalibrate and rebalance ourselves. Or zoned out trying to figure out what we need so we can go do it. Then initiating it so we can get it done. All are very big steps of struggle with every action in existence.

Our health and lifestyle choices have to be very specific to maintain functionality and stay healthy. When you see us, it’s because we’ve spent hours or even days preparing, and afterward, it will take us hours to days—even weeks—to recover.

When we say we’re resting at home, it’s not just lying around or watching videos to pass the time, nor are we napping on a whim because we don’t work outside the home. Quite the opposite. We are always on high alert, monitoring our health and managing physical and psychosomatic symptoms from trauma stored in our bodies. (If you haven’t read The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., I highly recommend it.) People often say, “Oh, it must be nice to just nap in the middle of the day!” as if it’s a vacation, but it’s far from that. We also overprocess everything. I mean EVERYTHING. The mental energy it takes to keep us from doing that is just as strenuous as managing and maneuvering through it to accomplish anything.

It's a crazy endless struggle.

With winter approaching, we’ll be hibernating even more, staying home most of the time. When the temperature drops below 75°F, we start shutting down—staring blankly at walls or shivering without noticing we haven’t moved. We keep our home sealed and warm to avoid severe pain. Just because we can push through discomfort doesn’t mean we have to; we save that energy for emergencies.

We are hoping to invite people over more often to stay connected, but in an environment that won’t negatively impact us. Progress! Took us 7 years to get to this point. We are looking forward to seeing where our life will be a year from now and the possibilities we think we can take at that point.

Baby steps but always making steps.

Sherlock has been snuggling with us more too~

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Now, onto what we managed to accomplish this month:

I finally got around to trying a project I’ve wanted to do for years. We’ve had all the materials, but it sat on the back burner for the last eight months. That’s just how things go sometimes! We love working with altered papers and repurposing materials to create unique ideas. For this project, I used Citrasolv to "melt" ink off National Geographic magazines, creating beautiful, one-of-a-kind designs.

Yes, it looks very messy and kind of gross. But that's kind of the point. It's the feel of the composition and the placement of colors or just how the shapes are. Then you continue to build off of that. These will be put aside for future projects.

Also have been using scrap papers, decorated with highlighters to make custom designs for future projects. We are really trying to use everything we can to keep the creative fun going!

With that...

This is a very small portion of how many I have made so far.

I’ve been making embellishments like crazy since I got two new shape punches. Using the colored papers above, they look great on black paper. I've been using them on tons of scrap paper that would have otherwise been thrown away or recycled. We’re trying to use as many materials as possible for crafting. They are cute postage stamp embellishments for future projects for ourselves and others.

Our beautiful trade display at Who Gives a Scrap has been updated monthly with new kits and touch-ups. More kits are coming soon! Since we started working with Who Gives a Scrap, we've made and donated well over 1,300 free kits—so many kits!

We have three new kits coming out for November. Bad timing with the weather and will have to wait until next week to drop them off. You'll have a lot of fun with these! So stop by the store and snag one sometime this month.

We love how these turned out. Highly recommend taking her class!

We were also invited to a friend’s house where she taught us how to make these lovely little snakes! Now they hang on our wall, where we enjoy them every morning and night. I think she might be open to hosting clay classes again, so if you’re interested, let us know, and we’ll pass on your info!

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John and I also want to work on more season-themed crafts before each season starts, so we can release them at the right time. Saving projects for next year doesn’t always work for us—we tend to lose things too easily! In fact, our Little Ghost Halloween Book cover went missing for five years before we finally finished it for this season (5 months ago). This happens often to us, at least until we have a house with enough space to organize specific items and projects. For now, we’re just rolling with it.

John came up with an idea for a Halloween-themed ATC challenge using papercut designs. Later this month, we also tried out some new crayons to see how they would look. Which of these ATCs do you like the most?

Can you guess who did which one?

John made this adorable Merge Mayor ATC for me because I’m… a little obsessed with this app game. I’ve been hooked on it for the past two years.

Quick side note on this game: It has actually helped me keep track of my day and time more effectively. With ADHD’s executive dysfunction (struggles with timing, initiation, and focus) and trauma-related dissociation, it brings me back to reality.

Here’s how: it’s a merging game with generators you tap, using up energy in the process. Sound familiar? You usually have to wait a certain amount of time for your energy to replenish so you can keep playing. I set an alarm for two hours (now extended to two hours and 15 minutes), so I know when I can play again. During those two hours, I push myself to get as much done as possible before my “break.” If I’m in the middle of something and on a roll, I won’t stop to play—I just know I can play when I reach a good stopping point. Even during ads, I practice completing quick tasks in 15 to 30 seconds, using those countdowns to boost my activity in small steps. This approach has proven to be more beneficial than I could’ve anticipated.

You may see more Merge Mayor art from me in the future! I love this game so much and am also practicing being a group leader. (Our team ranks in the top 100 worldwide!)

Speaking of more ATCs… I’ve been keeping up with my daily Art Therapy ATC project. I’m past card 300 and nearly done with the year! I’m excited to review everything I’ve documented, although I’m aware there will still be ideas I intended to write down but didn’t. I may have to continue this project to cover all the experiences I navigate daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, and yearly.

I'm so excited to be almost done with this project.

Tho I still haven't written many things down I had ideas to write down but promptly forgot within 5 minutes.

This month’s theme for the Craft Card Collective ATC event was Sewing! John and I are both very new to sewing, so it was a different experience for us. We got to try our hand at fabric ATCs with fabric scraps and sewing needles. John didn't make any this time. He was focused on his other project involving rolling his own small flowers that you see on his Ribcage art. I managed four. One was too ugly to post.

My hands hurt and I don't think I can do sewing projects with how much my hands hurt and are too weak needing to hold the fabric in place.

I stabbed myself only once or twice tho the whole time! Used up so much mental strength to avoid it.

We managed to take a walk! We’re trying to walk outside more for our health. On one of our recent walks, we came across so many beautiful leaves that I had to collect them.

Aren’t the colors and patterns gorgeous? Naturally, I turned a few into fun ATCs using clear tape. Look for one or two on the trade board!

And… we made more art! I wanted to use some of our Halloween-themed items and color schemes while it was still October. I ended up making a headpiece that just needs a headband to be wearable. People loved the little top hats we wear at our Art Swap ATC tables, so I hope to make a few more of these when I have time. (I don't. Just a hopeful phrase) You might be able to pick one up from us for free if you catch us at enough events!

I like how it turned out from random pieces lying around.

John made this adorable little framed skeleton. Cutting out with an X-acto knife, every little piece you see.

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Speaking of Art Swap (not at all), the last one was held at a Mobile Library location. It was beautiful—one of our favorite spots. Although it had one of our lowest turnouts (probably the third lowest), it was the most visually stunning and comfortable venue. I’d love to host an event there someday. Just look at the room we were in:

Such a lovely space. Would love to rent it someday!

At the end, you can see the two cards I made. John made one or two as well, but I think he traded or gave them away before I could take a picture.

I'm upset that I made a card that doesn't fit in the binder pages but the design looks better with it off the card.

The struggle with art: Practicality vs Aesthetics

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Did you see the new items we released in our shop? We put up fresh products for October! You might not think this is a huge deal—and generally, it wouldn’t be—but for us, executive dysfunction has interfered with this process for over a decade. Not once have we been able to complete every step needed to make, advertise, post, and sell something on time. So, this is a huge accomplishment for us, and we’re excited to keep the momentum going.

I keep thinking about someone we met who runs a successful hunting website and podcast with classes and workshops available for sale. They mentioned that we could easily put up classes to sell on our website with the knowledge and skills we have. In reality, it isn’t as easy as it sounds (though we’re always working toward it). Executive dysfunction makes taking even two consecutive steps in the correct order and timing excruciatingly frustrating. We’re making adjustments to help us achieve this, and we hope you’ll join us in celebrating each improvement we make!

We have also been making random embellishments. Sometimes we have little pieces lying around from other projects that seem to look fun put together. And Ta-dah! We get these little guys. Cute aren't they? To be sold down the line with each being unique.

Random Recommendation!

I came across a fun book that retells the New Testament of the Bible using Lego bricks! It’s so creative and engaging to read, especially since Revelations is a wild, trippy part of the Bible. I highly recommend flipping through it if you find it at the library.

Well, that's all we got for now. Hope we get adjusted quickly for this winter and see what we can accomplish! See you next blog post!