Happy New Year!

Hello all! I think the very first thing I need to say is that I did not intentionally skip all of 2021 on the ol' blog. It just sort of happened. Like essentially everyone, 2021 was just plain tough for me. I know I've mentioned a few times on the blog that I have kids and that I took care of my aging grandmother. Both of those took almost all of my attention last year.

First, we kept the kids home for fully remote schooling. They left school in March 2020 and didn't step foot inside the school again until September 2021. I'm incredibly grateful that our family was able to choose that route, that I had the time & ability to help the kids, and that, overall, they still learned quite a bit. It was hard on me, for sure, and I'd rather not do it again. Two kids, one in middle school, one in elementary, different start times, different lunch times, different end times.... UGH. 

The boys, hard at work during remote school

 

And then, my grandmother. My grandfather died in June 2016, leaving my grandmother alone in her home. She had pretty serious macular degeneration but seemed in reasonably good health for 85. So I asked her to live with us. Six months after my grandfather died, she had a stroke. It wasn't a big one, but it meant that she could no longer live alone. She came to live with us in October 2017 right after my youngest started kindergarten. From that point on, her health declined. She had one serious fall after another. She was almost entirely blind and very nearly deaf. It was difficult for us and difficult for her. Heart wrenching, to say the least. She had a major fall in February 2020, breaking dozens of bones, and just never fully recovered. She died in November after a short stay in hospice.

I'm sharing all of this because it feels like the right thing to do at this moment. And I wanted to share it here because paper dolls and the amazing community of paper doll artists & collectors had an enormous impact on getting me through 2021. So thank you to all of my paper doll friends. You're all the best! 

Over the next few weeks, I'd like to share some of the things I worked on over the course of 2021, come up with some goals for the ol' blog, and get ready for the 2022 (should have been 2020) Paper Doll Convention! So check in again - I'm getting back into it!