Creative Fat Grrl was a name I invented for myself when I wrote a web column for Lockergnome. I was looking for something that felt like me, not one of the bright, trendy and excitable young people who create energetic YouTube video posts on the side. It was something I could live up to without feeling left out. I kept it going for a couple of years. The name still works for creative arts sort of posts. Most of the posts in this category will be written for that column or others.
There are 2,542 posts filed in Creative Fat Grrl (this is page 2 of 424).
Steganography is a technique related to cryptography where data is concealed within another file, usually an image. Stegnographic techniques can be employed in conjunction with strong encryption, further reducing the chances of discovery or disclosure.
Source: Curlie – Computers: Security: Products and Tools: Cryptography: Steganography
Women’s site – inspiration
Some of them are pretty, way too expensive and fashion focused for me though. It was nicel looking. The pictures give me ideas for sewing my own new purse, with a little ingenuity.
It takes bravery to get old. Young people won’t know, or may scoff at the idea, until they get here too. If they get here, not everyone is fortunate enough to get old.
Getting old means dealing with your health in new and innovative ways. You take pills and don’t really know what to expect from them. You go for tests and don’t know what they’re going to do to you. You trust people, professionals, who were in diapers and learning how to drink from a cup just a short time ago.
Getting old itself. Knowing things aren’t what they used to be. Knowing other people, younger people, look at you and see an old woman. They don’t see the person you are. Every old face is a resting bitch face.
You measure things differently, especially time. More of your decisions are about time than quality or quantity.
It takes bravery to look at yourself in a mirror and see yourself, still there. To find yourself, as they said long, long ago.
Is there something about getting older that I find myself looking for shortcuts. To make things simpler, less complicated and less trouble. Or, is it the loss of confidence, maybe bravado, from being older. I can remember being reckless (I’ve tended to caution, not a big dare devil all my life) enough to open my computer and fix it myself, things like that, in my younger years. Was it confidence or trust or that feeling of invulnerability that people say young people have. I don’t know. These days, I look for shortcuts.
Maybe its the idea or feeling that I just don’t have as much time. I’m 59 now. Since December. Turning 50 was a big deal for me. Now 60 is coming around the corner, assuming I get there, and I don’t feel too bad about it. Still seems an odd surprise, even though I can count past 60 even as far as being mathematically correct. The surprise is finding myself this old. I wasn’t born this way. I used to be much younger and I looked different too.
Younger people look at me and assume I’ve always looked this way. I can remember thinking the same, even though it isn’t logical, about people when I was younger. Look at old photographs and you imagine everyone living in black and white with (mostly) dour expressions. It’s hard to think of them as real people in colour. But, real life has always been in colour. Its only technology that couldn’t show it that way, at the time. We rely too much on technology, far too much as time goes on.
Anyway, shortcuts, to stay on topic. The more time I spend looking for shortcuts the more I think about the time I’ve wasted looking for shortcuts that I usually end up rejecting and I could have been actually making real progress, without shortcuts. (There’s a good run on sentence for you, and I’m not changing it).
This is the post I wrote about clothing choices for barn wear, for the Ontario Barn Preservation newsletter, March 2023.
One thing you may not spend time really thinking about… barn fashion. But, here we are, approaching another Spring and you might need to consider fashion, or at least function.
First, you might avoid open toed shoes. No matter how cute they look before you walk around in the barn. Gardeners say “keep your knees dirty” but I’d change that to, “keep your toes clean, and not itchy”.
Do you wear that typical sort of lumber jacket look? How about that Buffalo check, the red and black plaid often used for rustic fashion? Denim is also a traditional must have, whether its jackets or jeans, or something else. One of my favourite fashion finds is a denim backpack. It goes anywhere, including the washing machine.
Then there are t-shirts. How many free t-shirts have you collected? Attending events is a good way to get more t-shirts. But, I find they don’t hand them out as often as before. Also, I’m not always keen to be a walking billboard for various products and causes. I still find sources for cheap t-shirts, plain shirts. Of course, a t-shirt never really dies, they make great rags. Really, if you took time to make a list there must be a hundred uses for an old t-shirt. Socks too.
You might think the topic of barn fashion is kind of silly, but almost everyone has a favourite old jacket, or jeans, or something they wear working around outside. It’s been weathered, time tested, patched, mended, washed more than a few times. What’s yours?
Barn Clothes: Life on The “fashion Don’t” List