Enter the Trad Dev
She quilts, but she also builds web apps
Hello! I said I wasn’t going to land in your inbox until Friday, but I have a question to ask you and a bigger project to share, so I hope you don’t mind me dropping in. Hope you’re having a great week!
What Was That?
Let’s file “uninterrupted access to the music streaming service I pay $13/mo for” right under “no commute” and “Real Lunch” for perks of working from home.
And then let’s not mention that in the past two days I’ve used that service to listen to one song on repeat for 16 hours straight (Lorde’s new single, What Was That, if you must know).
Today I hopped between two things: The first is finishing a baby blanket that I started working on in the year of our Lord 2020 during my OG housewife days. The second is The Friendship Database, which I mentioned the past two days and today I will explain.
Tiny Quilt
The baby blanket was not for a particular baby (thank goodness). I just had enough material leftover after making a Vacilando Atlantic Quilt that I wanted to make a miniature one. It’s amazing how little work has been left in it for the last five years: I finished quilting it this morning in less than two hours and now I just have the binding to put on.
Friendship Database
Okay here are the rules of me telling you about the Friendship Database please and thank you:
Do NOT tell me if you know of an app or website or paper planner that does the same thing. My goal is not to create a super unique and cool tool to sell to the whole world — it’s to start and finish a full stack development project and my motivation lies in making it just how I want it and not getting sidetracked or discouraged by all the beautiful code that already exists in the world.
That said, I am planning to make a version of it live and accessible through my website. When it goes up (I’ll let you know!) interact with it and make suggestions!
So what is the Friendship Database?
It’s pretty much what it sounds like. I’m creating a database on the backend to hold any important information about my friends — birthdays, names of kids and pets and partners, favorite goodies — and then also to keep track of when and where we met up last and anything I want to remember about/from that time.
In my dream version, if I get the basics off the ground, I want the app to email me when it’s been a while since I’ve seen a particular friend with suggestions for what we could do together next.
Oh! What should the final app be called? I’ve been calling it The Friendship Database here, but in my code it’s called the Friendodex but the more I look at that name the more it sounds like the name of a prescription drug.
What should I call my friendship app?
Building out the database was the easiest part. Now I’m lost in a bog of http and JavaScript trying to get my website to see it. Wish me luck — I’m optimistic to have at least a prototype up by the end of the week.
Today I:
Wrote my pages
Finished quilting the Tiny Quilt
Worked on a Python Flask application to access my Friendship Database
Ate Real Lunch (a mixed green salad and spinach tortellini in red sauce — divine)
Went for a walk around the block (in the name of Not Getting Injured In My First Week At Home, I skipped the run today but should probably break out the foam roller for my legs and lower back)
Wrote this post
I might try and put the binding on the Tiny Quilt before daycare pickup but I don’t know if I have time!
Today I felt:
Making a scrap quilt is on my project list, but it feels so frivolous and unproductive. When I woke up this morning, though, it was the idea of getting started on it that got me to pop out of bed.
I’m still fighting with the idea that I need to spend my sabbatical time doing something productive — like, say, working on a personal coding project where I learn new and marketable skills. Today felt like a good balance between those two ideas, coding until my brain got a little mushy and then taking a sewing break.
Tomorrow I want to:
I have decided that Thursdays are my housework day, so tomorrow I’ll be grocery shopping, doing laundry, and generally tidying up. If I finish all of that before pickup time, I’ll get back to the coding project.
Don’t forget! Tell me what I should call my friendship app:
