It’s Fine…It’s Cool…

How Joanns Crafting Screwed Us Over and Advice on Your F1 Fantasy League

¡Hola Primos!

We can officially ALMOST say “ITS RACE WEEK”. But I can say Happy Drive to Survive Release week!!!! I’m in the middle of listening to Guenther Steiner’s book and I love listening to him on Red Flag Podcast, which makes that cameo in the DTS trailer so enjoyable. What you can expect from me this season is pretty simple:

• I will always advocate for the humanity/basic human treatment of these drivers. I really don’t care that they’re multi-millionaires. Money simply doesn’t buy one happiness, and to insinuate that money justifies rude behavior (I’m looking at you Helmut Marko) is laziness, wild, and quite frankly stupid behavior.

• Hot takes: I’m gonna be honest, My hot takes aren’t novel but every week I try to draw a piece from that race that sticks out to me with a short prose. Last season I garnered some attention on threads with these hot takes because I offended the F1 bros. I’m hoping Substack is a different world where you can enjoy my art and opinions.

• Driver Highlights. I try to be as unbiased as possible because honestly our world is built on divisive nature. This season its going to be Max vs. Lando vs. the rest of the drivers (I’m hoping to see Hamilton really give these guys a run for their money). With that being said, I’ll try to highlight the lesser seen man on the grid.

• Pop Culture and F1: MET Gala 2025 is May 5th. A lot of these drivers have brands, and their teams are sponsored by different companies. Come on Lululemon. Give us a lulu X F1 collab!

Testing and My Confusion that Came After…

Okay Last week in Bahrain 20 drivers were going Vroom Vroom testing the cars. As I was watching this pan out, my oldest child and I would do some school, watch some laps and then do more school. Overall, it was just enough to keep us happy but I also know better than to place any bets. If you are in a F1 fantasy league here is my basic advice as we go into the new season:

• Look at past seasons but don’t bank on those statistics. McLaren historically has a rough start taking off. Max and Redbull historically have dominated. Lewis the last couple years has lacked confidence in the car. BUT the grid is completely different this season. You’ve got quite a few new drivers. Carlos was the fastest overall during testing but he’s not banking on finishing in the top 5. Lewis mentally is stronger and has a much more confident disposition in a Ferrari. Lando is determined to change patterns. And we’re going to see how our seasoned drivers gel with their new teammates. Be wise and don’t get cocky.

• My second bought of advice for fantasy leagues is to really pay attention to those qualifying times in these earlier races. The facts are that these mechanics will be working hard especially the first five races. While initially you will be inclined to pick your favorites ( I do it too if I can afford them all), be prepared to pivot. Those double point drivers can come in real clutch with points.

• Make sure you enjoy yourself this season. Last season I LEARNED a lot but I also stressed myself out. I’m insanely proud of myself, I finished 180/2000 and was able to make educated choices. But I literally breathed Formula 1 for 10 months. My oldest enjoys watching with us on Sundays but we try to not let it rule our lives.

Joanns…Goodbye Girl.

If you belong to the crafting community you have probably heard that Joanns is closing. I actually had a thoughtful prose typed out detailing about the loss of Joanns to the crafting community. Which a lot of it still stands. It’s no surprise as Americans that our economy sucks. Everything is outrageously priced. Everything is a crummy quality. And we are paying for the bad decision makings of a corporate company that tried to do too much (why are you carrying decor items Jo!?)

This past weekend I went to go use my gift card and stock up on crafting supplies. I have enough fabric to get me through to next summer. Which is good because I’m still assembling a list of small shops to support in the fabric world. When I got to the front of store to check out I had acquired a SIZABLE purchase total, but I also had a gift card to use. I handed them the gift card and was declined acceptability because the eligibility ended the DAY BEFORE.

Is this legal? Yes. But it’s a load of sailor words put in a hand basket. So glad we protect corporate America like we do. Because Joanns at the very basic ethical foundation stole money from us. And before you unload “should have used that gift card sooner”….I got it December 25th. Joanns announced their closing February 24th. The Corporate Group that bought them out gave consumers a whole 3 DAYS after purchase to use gift cards.

So I walked out with half of my basket because I was only going to give them the bare minimum dime and flipped them the bird. This is probably the most “political” I’ll get on here but I’ll be working on pivoting to smaller shops and sharing them here.

Now excuse me while I go drown my bitterness in banana cream pie.

What am I currently Reading/ Watching/ Listening to

I just finished the most wonderful book!!!

In the past I have mentioned about my cheesy like of the Netflix movie Paper Hearts. I cant recommend Care For This Love by Hope Snyder enough. This is a closed door low spice/ all the sizzle military romance novel that takes place in San Diego and I binged this book within a day. It was cute and all romance without wartime trauma.

I also finished Uneasy Street by Becky Wade rather quickly when I was down with the flu. Another book that is closed door with the swoony MC vibes was just what I needed. Max is all sunshine and Sloane is a wanna be grump but honestly shes not great at it. I’m excited to meet Becky at an author meet up next month so I’ll be sure to post photos from that!

The Oscars: I watched it. That’s all I say. There were a couple enjoyable and notable moments but as a whole I myself was feeling very…bored. My pop culture interests are clearly pivoting.

Okay that’s all for this week. ¡Hasta Leugo fam!

Winnie