this is life in the law, and I'm so happy that Abbie Soyfer, formerly the Dean of the William A. Richardson School of Law, noted constitutional lawyer, a follower of the Supreme Court for his whole life, is going to join us today to talk about Clarence Thomas. Because Mark Wolf, a federal judge in Massachusetts, has testified in Congress only a few days ago and brought some really revolutionary things to our attention. Now, welcome to the show, Abbie.  But I heard a thing on NPR that it made me wonder that maybe the Supreme Court was actually doing stuff. It was the Andy Warhol's case. The New York Times covered it on the Times this thing called, I think it's called The Daily, and it's a sort of a podcast on NPR, and I realized that no, they actually come to work. No, they actually sit in the courtroom and actually hear cases. They don't spend all their time defending Clarence Thomas, although one would wonder. Welcome to the show, Abbie. Thank you. They're also attacking those who are attacking the court these days, some of the justices when they're out speaking, and it's actually pretty revealing who they're speaking to after the abortion decision, after the dobs. I think that our justices, Alito spoke at a Notre Dame event in Rome, for example, and he really had it in for those critics of the court who didn't understand what he was up to, and Barrett also, they want to insist that it's all not about partisanship, it's all just the usual thing that justices do, and you're right, they're still doing the usual things that justices have done, but they're doing a lot of exceptional things as well. That's probably what we ought to focus on today. Yeah. By the way, do they call the people who attacked them engaged in witch hunt? Witch witch hunt. Sandy Warhol, that was pretty newsworthy, but you probably didn't notice an important dormant Congress clause decision that just came down within the last week or 10 days, which was the National Fork Producers Council versus Ross, who's the Secretary of State, I guess, in California or was at the time. The court was split all over the place. They all thought it was unconstitutional, rather than it was constitutional, none of them thought it was unconstitutional, but boy, they had different views about why that was. This is an interesting animal rights case. They have by popular vote initiative over 60% said we don't like the way pigs, breeding pigs are raised in places like Iowa, and they're not allowed to move, and it's really pretty awful. They said we're not going to allow pork from those pigs to be sold in California. That looks like it's interfering with the free flow of commerce, but the Supreme Court found lots of reasons to say it wasn't. Strange they should be involved in that. All of a sudden they have a conscience about the pigs. Really? What about the people? If you want to be a textualist, as they claim they are, the very notion that there's something called the Dormant Commerce Clause, which is Congress might have done this, they haven't done this, therefore the courts will do it. Well, that's not exactly textual, is it? This is a mainstay of Supreme Court decisions over well over 100 years, and they're back in the fray arguing about whether California can do this or not. There's a recent, I guess, citation to it, I haven't read it yet, about foie gras, and whether you can actually regulate foie gras, and apparently the Supreme Court decided not to take that one. They've already gotten through with pork chops, but they're going to allow California also to say you can't sell anything where there's forced feeding of geese to enlarge their liver unnaturally. That law is still standing. It's upheld. You know, this actually takes me to a conclusion I've been working up for some time, that Animal Farm, the book you remember, it's still in play. We get the contention between the geese and the pigs, right here in the Supreme Court. And some are more equal than others. Yes, there it is, there it is. So there's been so much news about them, and the fact that they actually bite back when they are criticized, that is really new. I mean, if you look at the Supreme Court for our entire history, that really hasn't happened. It's been so completely politicized. And even if they can handle Andy Warhol's on a rational basis, even if they can handle that in an irregular business like manner, the fact remains that we don't have as much confidence as we have hoped to have. They've kind of led with their chin, which may be why they're talking, trying to get their chin moving. But a moving target is always more difficult to hit, but they led with their chin in the so-called shadow docket, which is intervening without hearing argument, without briefs, intervening on their own sense that there is an emergency. And there's a very good professor who teaches at Texas named Stephen Blodik. And he's just published a book, I think it's just out this last week. But he's been writing about this for a while, and he has numbers that are just shocking as to how many times they've used that technique in the last few years as compared to any other period. And they decide something is an emergency that doesn't seem like an emergency to other people. They were particularly concerned about emergencies, which were, because of the pandemic, there were regulations as to how many people could worship together. And they thought that was an emergency. The first case came out on Thanksgiving Eve of 2020. And they said that then Governor Cuomo couldn't go that far because it was an emergency because it interfered with freedom of religion, free exercise of religion. Now, it wasn't in effect. It was scheduled to be argued in the Second Circuit, but that was an emergency. When Texas passed an amazing restriction on abortion, including letting lay people get bounties if they turned people in, that was no emergency. That stood for 10 months. There was no emergency there. Let me remind you of about Ate Fortis. So Ate Fortis resigned. It was a scandal. It was a shameful thing that he had taken some money from a rich person. Right? And that changed what the court did. Changed the court, it changed what the court did. In addition to being a star violinist, he was a pretty good lawyer and judge. And it would have made a difference if he stayed on the court. But that was a big to do and he was off the court. Well, those were the times we came up, Jay. And these times seemed very different. Yeah, well, I mean, one of the big points he made in his written testimony and when you see him on YouTube is that in 2011, he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Somebody caught him for failing to report these substantial gifts to his wife, whatever it was. Yeah, that was the issue then. That's right. And he completely reversed himself. And now he started to report. He filed new forms and all this and... He's amending. He's amending. He's amending, whatever. Amending and what Mark Wolf trots out, which is very, very interesting and provocative is that for the years prior to 2011, he had been reporting gifts to his wife. So all of a sudden he stopped. And when he was found with his hand in the jar, he started again. And he said, gee whiz, I didn't know. But if he didn't know, why had it been reporting before? There is a weakness in his defense. But one of the reasons that I am perhaps even more skeptical than you about what's going to happen is that other justices are implicated. And in particular, the Chief Justice, because his wife has been making literally millions of dollars in a head-hunting firm. And there seem to be some overlaps with who the people getting benefits from her work might be and those who are appearing before are interested in what the court is doing. And then there are other somewhat luxurious trips, not when they come here, I should add. We don't give any honor area when we have a justice in residence. But they do get to come to Hawaii.  But it turns out there's a question about Sotomayor and her book contract, and then sitting, I guess, in a case involving the publisher and so on. So it's tricky to know when a justice or judge should recuse. And for the most part, it's been on their honor. They decide whether the appearance of conflict is enough to have them off the case. You know, when I saw that testimony and heard about his testimony in Congress, I thought, wow, this is a scoop. So you felt the same way. It's very provocative. It's remarkable. And I thought the press would be all over that in every way. And it would really let him have it. It would follow Mark Wolf's lead on this. But you know what? I saw it once. I didn't see it all over the press. And I'm saying to myself, why did I not see it all over the press? Is this uninteresting? Well, it may be that it takes a while. I mean, it's a little more complicated than some of these other stories to explain who Mark Wolf is and why he's testifying what the judicial conference, judicial counsel, what they do, and so on. But I'm with you. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more publicity. And it should. And it was on CNN, I guess, as a pretty brief. Yeah, I saw it for just a moment. I mean, a short segment on MSNBC. But you're right. It was a short segment. And maybe it was because you had to explain too much to make the point. Yeah, well, I think that is a problem of particularly the way we are getting most of our information. And let's hear it for the press and for programs like this, which we help get into the complexity a little bit. And I think we do have an independent journalistic establishment, if you will, but we also have the likes of Civil Beat, which are coming along and making important independent judgments and reporting on things we otherwise wouldn't know. So let's hear it for the First Amendment, which, after all, specifically protects the press, which people forget, including Citizens United, which said, oh, look, they're corporations, too. And Citizens United is part of the reason that we're in this mess going back to what the Supreme Court did more than a decade ago. So here's my question to you. And it's not limited to the affair with the billionaire or any of the individual justices who may have similar stories to tell. And it's not limited to what the press says it doesn't say. The court is in a different place, I'm sure you'll agree. And it's being criticized. And one of the things, like, they fight back and they argue with those who criticize them. It's a different animal lately in the last couple, three years, whatever. And my question to you is, is this criticism, which I'm sure will continue and get worse, this criticism, will it change them? Are they changing with the changing times? Well, Stephen Vladek, when I mentioned before, has an op-ed piece in The New York Times today in which he says, yes, he thinks that the public outrage that has been bubbling about the shadow docket, but also about this court and the inconsistencies day to day, I mean, we leave things to the states. Well, not when it comes to guns, but yes, when it comes to a board. Those are back to back. They're a day apart, those two decisions. So he's saying it sometimes does. And he, as he looks at the shadow docket and independent, justice can write a concurrence or a dissent on his or her own. He thinks it's already making a difference. And there are famous examples of the Jehovah's Witnesses during World War II, or the prime example. Supreme Court had upheld a mandatory flag salute, which was a straight arm salute.  And then three years later, one of the greatest opinions of all about freedom of speech, freedom of expression was written reversing that case. And Felix Frankfurter, who had written the first case, was a very bitter justice when the first Justice Jackson wrote that great case in, I think, 1943. We don't see a lot coming from the press. We certainly don't see a lot coming from the, what do you want to call it, conservative establishment. I'm not sure that the liberal establishment is as vociferous as it maybe it should be. But who can speak to this? Who can keep the pressure up? So if I say to you, you know, there are X number of law schools and law reviews in the country, X number of professors in the country, law professors, you know, professionals who presumably know more than the average fellow, a girl. If they took up the mantle of criticizing these decisions, you know, open criticism, this is irrational, this is inconsistent, this is, you know, detached from public policy and the public. If they were more, may I say brutal in their criticism of the court, would that help or would people not care? Well, I think the more brutal the less it looks academic, I guess. But I don't fool myself into thinking that I've written a lot of law review articles. I don't think anyone reads them, I know that. I mean, I know better than that. But I think we are increasing people like Vladek taking to op-eds and so on. I mean, I've been writing some for the Hill, which is out of Washington, but I think people only read it for the politics, not for the op-eds. So yeah, I mean, that's doing the work. That's what it's about. And I have been saying to people that it is a challenge to teach constitutional law now with a straight face because you don't want cynicism. You do want people to understand there are inside baseball things about constitutional law. We have a constitution. We have language in it, that's the starting place. It's not the end, I would say, despite what the textualists say, but it's important to know what has been said about the constitution. And I mean, as I said, in the Storm and Commerce Clause decision, so I think it's Kavanaugh. He says, well, I don't much like that, but we could use full faith and credit. We could use import, export. We got lots more text. Well, that's true. There are still parts of the constitution that I haven't looked at. And I think that the Biden administration is making a mistake and sort of poo-pooing going to the 14th Amendment, something that I've written about in other contexts, and say, oh, that looks, we don't have time. Well, nonsense. I mean, you can get things in a big hurry in these emergency orders, for example. And there is something to be said for what the 30th and 9th Congress was doing in the 14th Amendment about debt and about national debt. So it's actually on point. Anyway. You enlarge tribe. You enlarge tribe. And large tribe who said he changed his mind. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Let me go one step further. So you have the bar. You have the legal profession. You know, a tremendous number of which are, they're not particularly idealistic. They're trying to practice law, feed their families and their 401ks. And why isn't the bar in the state of outrage over this? Don't they believe in the rule of law? I don't believe the Supreme Court should be beyond this criticism. Why are they not stepping up? Well, it's a good question. And I think it takes some time. And of course, you're asking for a group decision, right? No one person speaks for the bar. So you have to get it through committees and so on. So it takes a while. I think we will see some of that. And I think, I mean, the bar here marched as I remember, you may have been with this group as I was about Pakistani judicial independence. You know, we stood up for very courageous Pakistani judges at the High Court. That may happen. And I guess what I was saying in underscoring what Vodic said was public response, I think has mattered and should matter. It doesn't decide these cases. And Justice Sotomayor was asked sort of the question about how do you do this? How do you keep doing dissents when you know you don't have the votes? And her answer I thought was a very eloquent one, very simple one. She said, it's not open to us to give up on these rights. People died for them. People were beaten for them. And she said, I believe in the famous phrase about the arc of justice, the arc bends towards justice. And she said, sometimes it takes a very long time. It was a hundred years between Dred Scott and Brown versus Board of Education. So you keep at it, you keep at it. And I appreciate that you're giving me this chance, but that you do it a lot, Jay. This is a very important thing. I don't know how much this influences public opinion in a measurable way, but getting the ideas out there, talking about them, that's what I want to tell my constitutional law class. And that's my last question, Abby. You know, the people in your constitutional law class were still in puberty at the time Trump was elected. And the time goes by, they were great school when this 2011 affair took place that Mark Wolf is talking about. And they get older, hopefully wiser, although there are so many questions about education these days. But the reality is always changing. There's a dynamic. And I'm sure you've seen it. You've been teaching constitutional law forever and you've seen it changing your class. You've seen their attitudes change and their agendas and their influences and so forth. It must be very interesting to watch that dynamic over a period of years. And I learned from them too. You said in puberty, was that a small town outside or is it private school? You said they were in puberty. But anyway. It's in Florida, it's in Florida. So I actually remain an optimist for all that I may not appear to be about the Supreme Court, largely because of the students, because I learned from the students and I see idealism and I see that they are way ahead on some of these, I mean climate change is the most obvious thing where they are taking it seriously and they are trying to do something about it. But they're also much more sensitive to issues of race and class, I think, than has been true for decades. Now it's not to say that they're the most sensitive ever and we thought we were pretty keen in the 60s. And I think we kind of messed up in a number of ways. We're giving them a troubled world in terms of climate change, in terms of social security, you name it. We're not handing them a very good starting place. But I have some faith in them and I see a lot of idealism in them as well. We've got to get them into positions of power. We've got to get them to be the leadership in the ABA. We've got to get them on the judicial conference so they can make the tough decisions and deal with this under the law, the facts without fear of favor. The second justice, Jackson, I think, is another reason for hope and she is what, 51? She'll be around, let us hope, for a long time. And I think she and Sotomayor are actually gonna change the internal dynamics. They don't have the votes, obviously, but they're gonna embarrass some of these more senior justices who are likely to be more conservative. Yeah, I got this vision. We're almost done here. We're almost out of time. I got this vision about Jackson and Sotomayor and they read the draft of a given opinion that's being circulated and they walk into the office of the justices who made ridiculous comments that are in the 12th century in this opinion and they say together as in one voice, they say, are you kidding me? We'll never hear about it but that's what I would like to have. Well, I think that's right. And some of the Gorsuch in particular is given to these extreme statements. So there's a column about this too. Never in peacetime has there been something as awful as happened with executive orders during COVID? Really? Never in peacetime has there been such an intrusion on civil liberties? And that's what he says. And he said it in one of those emergency opinions, a concurring opinion that Thanksgiving Eve decision when I talked about it and he just said it again in terms of Title 42. We have to remind people about history, for example. There ought to be a test. And the academicians have to administer the test and they have to pass your test, Avi, before they can sit in it. That will never be adopted. Thank you, Avi. Avi Soyfer, formerly the Dean of the William A. Richardson School of Law now teaching constitutional law and helping us understand very difficult dynamics in the Supreme Court. And that is just one of many shows that we will do hopefully with Avi. Thank you, Avi. Thanks, thank you, Jay. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechawaii.com. Mahalo.


I have a few small pick, some large pick and I call Butcher to see what if I sell you the pick and then you can sell the pick to Butcher make three, four hundred dollars. I'd rather make more money on the pokies, man. What is the pokies, huh? It's the rattlesnake that you buy, but not the pick. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Maybe I have a friend who also sell rattlesnake. I'll snap them up. Okay, what's your number? I'm number one, mate. What is the rest of the number? That's it, I'm just number one, buddy. You're number one? Do not lie to me, do not waste my time. Excuse me, hey, I'm talking now. Your number is not one. Why you laugh, huh? My wife is sick. I need to sell the pick, okay? She flicking around with the two, three pick in the box outside and the neighbor look over the fence and say, your wife is sick.  F***, the rattlesnake.  I tell all at Butcher. Yeah, you just tell him if he says, oh, yeah.


Good morning everybody. It is Sunday morning, June 25th. Bob and Paulyus, the sun in law, are out at a car thing with both of Bob's cars. And I have Junior, he and I are out for a walk to not only hopefully put him to sleep but get some steps in so we'll see. Anyway Oma only has so many hands so I don't know if I'll be able to take any pictures, but we'll find out. I'll be back. Do I look tired? Anyway, we're back from our walk. Little Mister is doing well. He's not crying so that's a bonus. He's a newborn and you can already tell he's a newborn that does not like to sleep although he gets really tired and cranky. So yeah, that's the thing. You guys got any tips for either Oma or the parents? Put them down below. We'd love to hear them. But yeah, I've tried everything I can think of. And I guess the last two days he just hasn't wanted to sleep so there's that. And he's not colicky so yeah. Anyway right now we have to wait about another 45 minutes or so and then he gets breakfast. In the meantime he seems to just be happy and content. So Oma might try to make her morning bone broth while I can. And then we'll sit and watch YouTube or something. We'll all watch YouTube. Well he just stares in fascination at the ceiling fan. Alright, I'll be back. It is Monday morning June 26th. It's 11.03 a.m. Oma's day off. So I am going to work on a sewing project. I've got a bunch of computer stuff to do. But of course I'm sewing first but you know. Anyway, I took this spring roll pouch bag of which I've made a couple of them now and I'll put some pictures like right here somewhere in the original size and then I reprinted the pattern in a bigger size. And I don't need another spring roll pouch but I kind of want to see how it turns out like I do have some ideas rolling around in the back of my mind if this works. I'm using fabric I have. I'm not buying anything. So we'll see. I think first I drew some grids. I don't know if that's going to show up on camera. On the plane canvas fabric I had in my stash from another project. And I think I'm going to sew like faux quilting marks on the outside before I do anything else. And I might even use rainbow thread because why not? Rainbow or green? I have to decide. I'll be back. And this is bone broth. Trying not to snack. Because you know, trying to lose the couple pounds I've gained back. Yeah. I'll be back. It's done. Are you ready? This is the regular size one. This is the big one. Again I printed the pattern and when I printed it I told my printer to print it at 150% of the original. And then pieced it together and otherwise it's the only change I made. Now the pattern is not mine. I'll link the Etsy shop the pattern is from down below. But other than increasing the size of the pattern I didn't change anything else now. In the big one I chose not to add to all the extra pockets she talks about in the pattern. Different options. I just kept it pretty basic. But let me show you. The regular one. This is supposed to be a toiletries or makeup bag. I use it as an art bag. I have quite a bit of stuff in here. It does open flat which I really like. In this one I added some pen loops on the inside which you can't see. Hold on. Pen loops. Which I don't really use to be honest. And on this side besides the elastic pocket there's an extra zipper pocket. Again I have stuff in there but I don't really use it that much. So on the big one I just kept it pretty basic. I am kind of curious how much stuff it holds. So this is the big one. I used what I had which was this tan colored canvas. I did some decorative stitching on it or quilting on it with rainbow thread. I used a light blue zipper. I've got some botanical fabrics on the inside again with light blue zipper on the interior pocket. And some more rainbow thread around. I did the regular pocket here. In the littler bag it's only two pockets. This bag is so big that it's three pockets. And then the elastic pocket in the little bag is just one pocket but I divided it into two. And I think you can fit a lot in here. I kind of wonder I like my other two art bags but it just makes me wonder how much I can get in here. Maybe we should see. Alright hang on. I like it at least for the moment. That doesn't mean I'm getting rid of anything else. If you all have been watching me for a while you know I have an addiction to art bags. Someone call it a problem but I don't see it that way. It's part of my purging and churning and gathering inspiration. It's part of my process. Cleaning and rearranging. It's inspiring. Anyway alright I'll be back. Hey guys it's 5.51pm that I'm dying of thirst. My cup is empty. It has been for a bit but I got July and August mood boards and word lists done for patrons and supporters. I do one every month for them along with a few other things so if you want to be in on that go check out my video description. The link is down there in my link tree list links. I also got scheduled posts for social media done for July and August. I got, what else did I get? I got the vlog edited and it's loaded and scheduled. Yay! Everything's scheduled. I just have to add the other word list to my daily drawing books for July and August and then we're done and we can turn stuff off up here and I can go get some water. Yay! I didn't think I'd get it all done today but yay! I'll be back. I also found I wasn't keeping up with my mood board reference book so I just printed a bunch of things out and added them to the book. I'm not quite caught up because there's some artsy trio collaboration stuff. We've like done mood boards through almost the end of the year so I haven't printed those out yet and put them in there but I'm gonna consider it caught up because I mean it's not caught up until like the end of the summer. I also have my fashion and upcycling reference book. I found a couple more photos in my camera roll I forgot about. Printed them, put them in my book. I can delete them off my camera roll now so that's done. I found the baby blanket booties and hat pattern I want to make for the neighbors next door for their little baby that's coming. And I got my two journals for July and August ready to go.  It's not super dirty, it never is but there's little piles of paper that you know when I don't want to deal with things I just like stick them in a pile cause yeah anyway but the video is loaded everything's done. I think I can put the rest off for right now. I think we can call it good. Alright I'll be back. It is 11.33 Tuesday June 27th. Don't get excited I looked at the iPad. It's baby sitting day so Junior's coming over and we're all ready to go. I was able to get upstairs for a little bit and print some things that I wanted to print and also work on a mock up. I had a knit dress that I bought for another project that ended up not working for that but I only paid like two bucks for it so I used it as mock up fabric for a new short pants pattern that I want to do and I'm glad I did because my initial thought was the shape was right but the pant the size was too small and too short so I did make some adjustments I made a pet paper pattern. Now I just need fabric so we're all ready to go. In the meantime I'm sitting having some bone broth and Junior's on his way over and yeah we're all good. I think I have to do the dishes but yeah. Alright I'll be back. Junior's gone home and I haven't been about an hour until Bob gets off of work and then we're gonna go for a walk and I'll probably need to take a shower and then dinner for the idea before taking my mock up of the pants I want to make and adding some more fabric from another knit piece that I have that I bought to do mock ups and stuff with to make sure the pattern's gonna fit the way I wanted to which is like a smart idea and yeah I think I'm gonna do that really quick before he gets off work. I'm gonna turn on some music and just have at it. I'll be back. The mock up looks terrible because the fabrics do not match but the fit is what I wanted kind of like my wide leg pants only fitted around the calf so yay that means that the paper pattern I drafted is gonna work more than likely I am going to cut these apart carefully sort of and make sure that they are the same as the paper pattern are fairly close and I think of them were good and it's just a matter of me finding knit fabric that I like at the thrift i.e. a really long big maxi dress or two that match or clear and sale knit fabric at the fabric store because we're not gonna spend full price on that but again these two fabrics do not go together but cute pants. Alright I'll be back. Going for a walk yeah it's hot I brought some water with me. I got a pocket full of cough drops. I finished this day so we're gonna go get some steps in. I haven't said yet but I'm gonna take a shower tonight before bed because I have an early morning mammogram. It's time for that daily check up.  I have not. You have not. No men need another check it's called prostate check. Have you done that? And if you're of a certain age, colon screening colon cancer screening. Get your checks people they're not fun, sometimes uncomfortable, very scary but you gotta do what you gotta do. Alright anyway back in the end. Yeah Mr. Bob gets his colonoscopy next week. Me first then him. Alright I'll be back. Starting off my morning with the mammogram it's not my favorite way to start a day but it's gotta be done and it's just an annual test to everybody. Alright now we're headed out to go run some errands. I need some parts for some projects gotta check the PO box. By the way if you want to be happy male I'll put the PO box address in the video description. So I went out and had the mammogram this morning. It's negative by the way I already have the test results I had him within a couple of hours ran a few errands and some sunflower fabric came in that I wanted plus I had a little bit of a different one. I'm gonna make another pair of dad jeans and I'm gonna cover my sunflowers but I had the idea while I was looking at that I should take a bunch of fabric that I have in my stash that I'm not really using and isn't necessarily my favorite and patch work it together with the raw edges showing wash it let it fray and then make stuff out of it.  So I've spent the last like three hours patch working things together. Again not being careful about raw edges letting them show.  You ready? I mean it's huge. I don't even fit in the camera. I literally just zigzagged the pieces together. The raw edges are sticking out layered them on top of one another with white thread. I'm gonna wash it and have it to make stuff with. Again maybe a pair of pants I'm not sure yet but I like where it went. Alright it's time for some more water and a snack I'm really thirsty I'll be back. It is Friday June 29th yes I want to say January to June and it is 6 37 p.m It's been a wild crazy long day we started off the morning with going downtown with a family member who was not yet as of then a US citizen but is now. So that was a nice way to start the day. Then I babysat Junior most of the afternoon most of the day actually and I did get some crocheting done on the rainbow skirt but you know when you're watching an infant you can't get a lot done. Bob has his Masonic Lodge meeting tonight and I really forgot about that. Junior went home at about 5 10 or something and I thought I'll come up here and I'll sew for a little bit till he's done with work for the day which would normally be about now. And except that he had a meeting so he stopped work early, went downstairs and got dressed and left for his meeting so I could keep sewing. So I did get some sewing in just now I finished my other pair of dad jeans that I wanted to make. These ones are covered in sunflowers. I haven't washed them yet but I will be so things fray and everything. You ready? Okay hold on. I don't have the right shirt on with them but what do you think? I mean I love the way they turned out. They were so much fun to make. I have one more pair of my dad's jeans and I'm going to cover them in roses. Yeah I guess I better clean up now. Put these in the laundry and then probably go have some dinner. I'll be back. The pants are in the laundry in case you can't hear that. I guess I should go get the mail. I haven't really thought about it all day today and I think there's a sewing pattern I got from Etsy out in the mail box so let's go see. The new sewing pattern I could probably draft it but I'm not that confident in my skills. It's definitely something I want to make so yay. It is what time is it? 10.38 a.m. Friday June 30th I think. I've been sewing I'm not babysitting today so I'm catching up on projects so if you're ever thrifting going through your stash or even going through your closet of old clothes and you see some thin gauze or scarf material or in this case as you can see from the shoulders probably this is Halloween gauze netting stuff and I just thought well let me see if I can make something fun. I'm going to call it the mummy shirt because that's the thing that comes to my mind first thing. It's probably not going to last more than a couple of washings but paired with a little tank top like I have on right now in maybe a bright color under it with some of my dad jeans would be maybe kind of cute although I might look homeless but I know I don't care. Anyway, hang on. This is me in my mummy shirt. What do you think? I mean I didn't try to make it look perfect because this thin material again whether it's a scarf or it's some kind of gauze or something when it's really thin like this it's really just nerve racking to try to get it to be perfect. So I didn't even try it had some holes in it and I stitched around them which gathered it a little bit I'm cool with that. I mean yeah I'm pretty stoked. What do you think? Hey guys I made another one. This one was a scarf and it's a little bit more finished and less raggedy. That doesn't mean it's going to last you know through lots of wearings and washings this is very thin delicate fabric but yeah I do like it and layered over a tank top or even a pair of bike shorts in a top or my dad jeans or yeah hold on I'll get a picture for you. What do you think? I did shorten it put a little hem here use the like raggedy edge of the scarf because it was really long and I didn't want it that long but you definitely could buy one of these big scarves and keep it long and use it as a bathing suit cover up I mean that would be cute but what do you think? It was very easy and I like it alright I'll be back. I had a really nice conversation with my friend Leslie McGrath and she is going on a little vacation and I wish her a great time she deserves it. Anyway as I was talking to her I was sewing I of course lost my cotton strapping I was making some bags as you can see I did eventually find it after I got off the phone with her but I got the idea and granted I was just going to do one I did four but I got the idea to take some of the pant legs from my dad's pants that I've been upcycling refashioning I don't know to wear and taking the bottom part that I cut off and making a bag I know right so I didn't just make one of course not I made two three four I mean yeah anyway I'm gonna go sit in the corner and have some water and just chill for a bit I'll be back. It's just a little handbag of course but it could also be used for a little urban sketching art journaling bag because it's big enough to put a small journal in a couple of pens and some tools so and it was cheap I had everything I didn't buy anything yeah I'll be back. Everybody it's 10.52 a.m. Saturday July 1st so a whole bunch of posts should have gone out this morning to Patreon and social media getting ready for daily art inspiration for the next month and Bob is off at the kids house they are doing some construction at their house they're actually planning an addition and right now they're digging for the foundation so Bob is over there helping along with my son-in-law's parents and all of that stuff I am going to go as soon as I back up the car I'm gonna go I have to pick up some prescriptions and I am planning out my next pair of dad pants my last pair of dad pants at the moment and some of the parts I want to use on the pants are coming in the mail today but I'm looking for something else that I can't find easily online and or you know you order something but it comes and it's not what you expected I had that with an Etsy order recently it's not that it's not good quality and all that it's just not what I expected so I'm gonna stop by Joann's because hopefully and there's another little sewing machine repair place that sells fabric there in the same mall so I'm gonna stop by the two of those and hopefully find what I'm looking for and not come out with too much extra stuff baby alright we're gonna see I'll be back remember right now if I said it on camera or not yesterday but I know I said it to my friend Leslie and to my patrons and supporters but when I made the Halloween gauzy gray sort of tussy through top raggedy top I'll put a picture here I pictured it with spider web pants or something along those lines so and I know I said I'm calling it my mommy top be so cute anyway so yeah I am kind of on the lookout for something like that alright I'll be back I've been home for a little bit I did find the parts I was looking for for the next pair of dad pants I also went through and sorted some fabric getting rid of some scraps I don't need to hang on to before I did that I cut some strips out of some of them because I'm gonna make some fabric collage belts I also have a black knit cardigan that I don't wear much and I pull a bunch of sheer and knit stuff out I might try to upcycle it it's kind of sitting in the corner and on the mannequin I cleaned up some fabric bins and reorganized things to make stuff easier to find and started getting I think what's gonna be my next needlework project ready I also found two watercolor paintings that were hiding under some patterns that I forgot were down there so there's that house is very quiet I'm gonna sit here and watch a little youtube and then I'm gonna go do dishes in the laundry Bob is still at the kids house digging holes cause yeah anyway alright that's it for the minute I'll be back hey guys alright it's 842pm on Saturday July 1st it's been a good day as you can see behind me I've got some stuff laid out to do my last pair of dad pants at the moment and found this really cute bee fabric I'm gonna put some bees on it thanks Kathy Whitney for the idea I went to the local resale shop and picked up a couple more balls of yarn because I think my next needlework project is gonna be a sweater and I wanna do something with the like wavy pattern in it again I found a pattern on Etsy I'll link it down below and I'll put a picture here I did start I only got like 5 or 6 rows down on the front but so far so good and I'm enjoying just using random yarn balls of yarn thrifted stuff for my stash you know and all that stuff so it's been pretty good I did a little bit of rearranging up here I think I mentioned that earlier I had some slow stitching stuff that could just patterns that didn't need to be in a bin so I put them somewhere else with the rest of my patterns actually and this is just applique fabrics fabrics with images on it like big flowers or birds or the bees will go in there whatever is left of the bees so I did that earlier today and I did something else but I don't remember what it is anyway it was pretty good I also did some closet cleaning downstairs found 3 more items I can do something with I also ordered some bins for sweaters gonna do a little bit of reorganizing in the closet so anyway it's been a good day Bob's exhausted he helped the kids with their construction project they're doing which at the moment they're getting it ready for the foundation so it involves a lot of digging yeah so he's exhausted he's downstairs he's taken some meds he's got a bad back but he helped anyway God bless him but you know yeah so anyway I'll leave any relevant links down below if you want to comment with any questions comments or concerns please do do so down there too and I do answer all my comments if you'd like to support the free content here on YouTube I do have a Patreon and it is listed in the video description and in my link to the list of links they have ready access to me in a private Facebook chat and if you do become a patron and you want to be part of that chat please message me and I'll add you I also post over there minimum once a month with monthly inspiration lists of words that they could maybe do some art with they get access to free stencils design images that I've been created some old some new I'm not cutting stencils anymore but I do share the images with them in case they want to create their own maybe they've got a Cricut or something like that so you get three a month and once you become a patron you have access to the current ones and all the past ones so yeah alright that's it for now I hope you guys have a great day and a great week and have a happy 4th of July it's 4th of July here in the United States and um yeah go out and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it don't forget to like share and subscribe I do appreciate that and I'll see you next week bye guys


Hey what's up you guys, welcome back to my channel, if you're new here hi, hello I'm Lydia and if you are new here make sure you hit the subscribe button and join the growing family to get notifications on why you're down and give me a big thumbs up so it really does help me out. I want to give a quick shout out to Alana's mental health care boxes, also known as care boxes by Alana, this. So Alana and me did a collaboration last month about BPDing and Alana also makes care boxes for your mental health, she ships internationally and they honestly look really good. I would 100% recommend Alana. So D-Meeting, let's talk about that. D-Meeting is dialectical behavioural therapy, it's primarily used for treatment of BPD, borderline personality disorder, also known as emotional and stable personality disorder. D-Meeting is a very beneficial type of therapy that you can do. I've done two courses of D-Meeting and I've got self-help for different conditions. One being psychosis, one being bipolar disorder, one being PCSD, one being anxiety and one being anger and then I've got the standard one that's just D-B-T. So it's clearly something that I do fully support and I do think it's beneficial and I think it really did help with my BPD. D-B-T is a therapy that is offered to people with borderline personality disorder. Let me get one in the book. So this is the bipolar disorder that D-B-T books. It has things like surviving a crisis without making it worse, why we need emotions. Because I think of a disorder by bipolar disorder is your emotions are very strong and other than BPDs, your emotions are very strong. So learning to cope with that is something that we have to do. And D-B-T gives us the skills we need to manage our emotions and get through a crisis without making things worse. Like I just showed you the pages. D-B-T is honestly something that I would recommend to anyone with borderline personality disorder. Anyone with bipolar disorder, I'd recommend D-B-T too. So that's all I've got to say about D-B-T. If you are new here, make sure you hit the subscribe button like I said at the beginning of the video. Thank you for watching and I'll see you guys in the next video. Peace.


Hi friends, welcome back to my channel and welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen I'm a weight loss and nutrition coach, and I'm on the WW or the Weight Watchers blue plan. Happy Friday as you are watching this video. We are currently on our first camping trip of the year Editing Jen here. I wanted to hop on and give you guys an update on diesel So we just found out that unfortunately he has a torn ACL It isn't completely torn where it's not functioning But there's a tear in it and in 90% of dogs within six months It tears completely and then he won't be able to put any weight on his leg at all And it would be a much longer recovery a much more costly surgery to repair the completely torn ACL So we ended up not being able to go camping. We didn't want to risk Taking diesel having him swim or jump or run off to go to the bathroom while we're camping and tear it completely Then we're out in the middle of nowhere and we have no doctor in sight and he won't be able to get any treatments So we decided to go ahead and cancel our camping trip just to err on the side of caution He's more important than camping We have a couple of calls in to some local veterinary surgeons to have that ACL repaired It is a very expensive and very long recovery So we feel terrible But we definitely don't want him to live out the rest of his life in misery or pain because of that torn ACL So that's the latest update Of course I'll keep you guys posted as we hear back from the surgeons on when the procedure will happen So yeah, no camping for us our first camping trip with our new puppy Palmer So hopefully this goes nice and smoothly this video was filmed on Thursday morning before we headed out the door to go camping So I did end up weighing in a day early so that I could make sure that I have this video up for you guys So if you're excited for another weigh-in video WW workshop topic recap and kind of how my week went give this video a big huge thumbs up If you're new to my channel or you haven't yet subscribed I'd love to have you here hit the subscribe button and don't forget to ring the bell right next to it So you never miss a single video check out the description box down below where you're going to find nutrition coaching I do offer personalized Specifically for you macros and calories highly highly recommend as well as individual coaching if you want to chat with me directly Also down in that description box are links and discount codes to my favorite things and my Facebook group head on over and join Us there. So let's jump in to this week's weigh-in workshop topic and kind of how my week went Absolutely fantastic week. We are already in the middle towards the end of May I cannot believe how fast 2021 has gone as anyone else with me I feel like this year has just flown by the weather is getting nicer here In fact, we were in the 80s for a big chunk of the week So I spent a lot of time outdoors with the dogs and just really spent some time in my yard getting things ready for summer I was able to get in my three days of jazz or size. I've been doing really well on my May challenge That was a challenge that we put together over on my Facebook group that included 30 minutes a day of activity Drinking a gallon of water doing some self-care and staying within your points or calories Whatever it is that you're tracking and I have been nailing that challenge I have been loving doing some extra self-care That is something that I let go by the wayside a lot because I just get busy and forget to take care of myself So I have been implementing a big self-care routine Starting the beginning of May that I plan on continuing moving forward even after the challenge is over I've been doing face masks and hair masks and one thing I've really been focused on is exfoliation Just because we're getting into summer and I want my skin to look at its best I want to be able to get nice and tan and have that just really pretty summer glow I was looking for a way to easily exfoliate my skin and I found this mid-exfoliator on Amazon And I just have to share it with you guys before we jump into this week's workshop topic because it's been a big game changer in my Exfoliation process it comes in three colors. We can pick it up right off of Amazon I'll make sure that I link it down below for you. It's silicone. So it's sanitary, which is a big deal to me I stopped losing using luffa sponges a while ago because they're just bacteria feeding grounds So I really love that. This is silicone and it is two-sided one side has fine bristles for cleansing your body and removing dirt And the other side has coarser bristles for deep tissue massage and exfoliation So I'll wash my body with the soft bristles exfoliate with the exfoliating side And I do like to implement the tree hut exfoliating sugar scrubs as well I love these I buy these at Ulta you can get them at Target as well So I'll couple the tree hat exfoliator with this exfoliating silicone glove and it is so fantastic I can wash my body exfoliate. It's sanitary. I just hang it on a little hook in my shower So now let's jump into this week's WWE workshop topic We are still in the stronger you stronger body series This week's technique is to meal plan yourself to a stronger body And if you follow my channel, you know that I meal plan and meal prep every week It has been a big reason why I've been successful on my weight loss journey When you're planning your meals for the week make sure that you're mapping them out to help you reach your goals If you want to build strength build lean muscle look lean and mean make sure that your meals help boost your muscle and your bone strength Think about when and where you're going to eat your meals and what those meals are going to consist of It's best to build all of your meals and snacks arounds airplane foods. That's what they're there for They're generally low calorie high protein highly nutritious Food so make sure that you're building your meals around the basis of zero-point foods So for example, if you're thinking about what to have for lunch or what to plan for your lunches for the week Think about having the basis be around chicken or fish or Lean ground turkey then from there swap in some of your favorite foods Make sure you're picking a healthy carbohydrate side in the vegetable Make sure that you're choosing fruits veggies and grains that are high in vitamin D And then think about how you're going to prep and flavor your meal. What spices are you're going to use? How are you going to prep your meals and store your meals? So what you eat not just working out plays a part in whether or not you become stronger leaner and healthier That's why eating with strength in mind is so important adding in protein and calcium and vitamin D are essential protein Powers up your muscles and you guys hear me talk about protein all the time I have a protein goal that I meet every single day because it's so important for muscle building Retaining all that lean muscle and losing weight in a healthy sustainable way protein powers up your bones Muscles so and blood in your body. It also helps with body mass and losing weight And of course maintaining that lean muscle, which makes you look leaner and stronger And I'm sure you've heard that calcium is good for your bones But there are a lot of other health benefits and strength related benefits around calcium Pair your calcium foods with those rich in vitamin D things like milk cheese certain cereals And if you like sardines, they're actually a great way to get in some calcium protein and vitamin D Now meat and dairy aren't the only foods that make you longer and leaner and stronger There's also a ton of fruits vegetables and grains that contain protein calcium and vitamin D So again, make sure you're building up and planning your meals around zero point foods Make them well-rounded with some healthy starches fruits vegetables And you're off to a great start to get a leaner healthier stronger body So now let's jump in to how my week went as well as my way in so I had a great week Like I said, I've been really indulging in self-care and I'm loving that. I've been working out I've been tracking my food drinking my gallon of water. In fact, I'm drinking water right now And I've been feeling really really good really proud of myself for being consistent and really nailing this challenge It's been rough. I'm not gonna lie the 30 minutes of exercise or intentional movement every day has been rough for me But I've been doing it and that's what matters I've set these goals and I'm sticking with them and it's been really beneficial Not only to my physical health my mental health, but also my weight loss So when I stepped on the scale one day earlier than my normal weigh-in, I am down one pound exactly one pound on the nose That is fantastic That means that I am down three pounds total for the month of May so far and I have lost weight every single week I could attribute that to staying within my calories and points moving my body a little bit more drinking my water and Again self-care has been really good for my mental health. So I couldn't be happier I feel really good going into this weekend not only being in this challenge, but seeing steady weight loss all month Definitely keeps me extra extra motivated. So now I want to hear from you guys. Let me know how your month of May is going How was your week? Did you gain? Did you lose? And what do you think about meal planning for strength to make you a stronger version of yourself? How do you think that meal planning in building your meals around that is beneficial? Don't forget to check out the description box down below for nutrition coaching my Facebook group and links and discounts To all of my favorite things and I will make sure that I link my favorite silicone Body scrubber and exfoliator down below for you as well Don't forget to thumbs up this video if you enjoyed it and of course hit that subscribe button And don't forget to click the little bell next to it So you never miss a Friday weigh-in or a video in general Happy happy weekend my friends and I'll see you all in my next video. Bye