Blog

<h2>Amazon, I am fucking not my friends.<br></h2><figure id="figure-5l1is90sx7md7op8ez"><img id="5l1is90sx7md7op8ez" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/220q7fKCA2ZNKBfu2z5QMpKKELGTBNAmlrLzRfyyYRBMVFcBKrr64wNi5wEfPz2u.png" alt="Minimalist cartoon shopping cart with a sad face, flames coming out the top, and a broken front wheel, set against a light gray background." title="Minimalist cartoon shopping cart with a sad face, flames coming out the top, and a broken front wheel, set against a light gray background." class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="1:1" data-caption="" data-positionx="null" data-positiony="null" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/220q7fKCA2ZNKBfu2z5QMpKKELGTBNAmlrLzRfyyYRBMVFcBKrr64wNi5wEfPz2u.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;"></figure><h3>This website is about as fancy as it’s ever going to get. Seriously — even with two AI systems helping me, it still took nearly three weeks to build, and I’m still updating it on a semiweekly basis. So if you’re trying to “add to cart,” just go straight to <a data-mce-href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/MidwestandMakingIt" href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/MidwestandMakingIt" target="_blank" data-mce-selected="inline-boundary">my Etsy shop</a>.</h3><h3>That said, one of my favorite hobbies is window shopping on Amazon and adding to my wish lists. I have, no joke, like twenty of them. I’ll never own half the crap I save, but there’s something weirdly cathartic about curating a bunch of imaginary stuff I may or may not ever buy.</h3><h2>It’s with that energy that I conjured up Witchlist Wednesday.</h2><figure id="figure-rp2vo84p0rmd7oi86r"><img id="rp2vo84p0rmd7oi86r" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/1eLdG1CJZrBwSO34z68v5BBYjboOjzXpTm3giW0m9arqJhM6LYWEj2LM6An2kGmn.png" alt="Torn paper logo with distressed black text that reads ‘Witchlist Wednesdays’ above a sad shopping cart icon on fire, printed in a bold grunge style against a black background." title="Torn paper logo with distressed black text that reads ‘Witchlist Wednesdays’ above a sad shopping cart icon on fire, printed in a bold grunge style against a black background." class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="1:1" data-caption="" data-positionx="null" data-positiony="null" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/1eLdG1CJZrBwSO34z68v5BBYjboOjzXpTm3giW0m9arqJhM6LYWEj2LM6An2kGmn.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;"></figure><h3>Starting now, I’ll be dropping something new twice a month — one product on the first Wednesday, another on the third. No waiting around for a polished collection. No perfect packaging. No pretending I’ve got my shit together. Just a small indulgence for people trying to survive the week without setting something on fire.</h3><h3>To kick things off, I’m doing a special Witchlist Wednesday drop this week.</h3><h3>Come Back Wednesday to Check Out the Witchlist of the Week:</h3><h3><br>The Deadlines &amp; Dark Times August Mini Bundle — a printable set that includes:</h3><figure id="figure-wyfzm0iwhmd7ops5y"><img id="wyfzm0iwhmd7ops5y" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/22HEHPaOmnNjKSOJM0AGk6nxE115VB7JeDmAbdCegC1bHNA9y0XdehQKtZHHVJVv.png" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="1:1" data-caption="" data-positionx="null" data-positiony="null" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/22HEHPaOmnNjKSOJM0AGk6nxE115VB7JeDmAbdCegC1bHNA9y0XdehQKtZHHVJVv.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;"></figure><h3>A colorable title page for August<br>A blank 7×5 calendar grid (no labels, no pressure)<br>A two-page weekly spread with enough space to scribble, sketch, or scream into the margins&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; An Adorable Back-to-School Theme&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; It’s printable, black-and-white, and actually useful. You can make it colorful later. Or not.</h3><h3>Drop goes live Wednesday, July 23 — right here <a data-mce-href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/making-it" href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/making-it" target="_blank">in the It</a>, and <a data-mce-href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/MidwestandMakingIt" href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/MidwestandMakingIt" target="_blank">on Etsy.</a><br data-mce-bogus="1"></h3><h3>Why This? Why Now?<br>Because waiting until something’s “done” or “perfect” was killing my momentum.<br>Seriously — trying to complete more than 4–5 pages at a time was just too much. And I’m not about to start sacrificing quality for speed.</h3><h3>This launch schedule is something to cling to. A little bit at a time, a small sense of progress I can actually manage. It lets me get the work out there by any means necessary.<br>It’s real. It’s manageable. It’s mine.</h3><h3>And it could be yours too. <a data-mce-href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/getting-it" href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/getting-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Join Getting It</a> for blog and product updates.</h3><h2>Coming Up Next:<br>Fucking Over It Fridays.</h2><h3>Every Friday, I’ll be posting a new unfiltered rant — part behind-the-scenes meltdown, part sarcastic sermon, and all chaos.</h3><h3>This week:</h3><h3>Pin this, how about fuck this:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; All about Pinterest and how it made me move my entire damn browser setup.</h3><h3>Because apparently it’s not enough to be a content creator — now I also have to be a web developer, a digital strategist, and a psychic mind reader. Cool.</h3><h3><a data-mce-href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/getting-it" href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/getting-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">It drops Friday — so make sure you're signed up for Getting It so you don’t miss the meltdown.</a><br data-mce-bogus="1"></h3>

Screw Vision Boards I've Got a Witchlist

<h2>Welcome to Fucking Over It Fridays</h2><h3>The weekly ritual where I publicly spiral so you don’t have to.</h3><h3>This is where I dump all the sass, burnout, and pissed off energy I’ve collected throughout the week and serve it up on an unstable platter. What can I say? I can't afford therapy.&nbsp;</h3><h2>This week’s victim?<br></h2><h3>Artificial intelligence.<br>Or as I affectionly call it: “Fucking Goddamned Piece of SHit”</h3><h3>&nbsp;<br>I asked AI for a clean, 8.5×11 calendar grid.<br>Easy, right?</h3><h3>Instead, I got a melted mess of warped lines, uneven alignments, and a background that looked like it had been rendered in a beige-colored hell. Over and fucking over.</h3><h3>At least its consistant right?</h3><figure id="figure-fhjej4d85qmcy68bzj"><img id="fhjej4d85qmcy68bzj" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/14uadl1BRsLbFbsdtXkcPo3J7zgFDT39Z0kP1jyRYmlL5MvdHUugOdTfV26L0ZRQ.png" alt="Failed AI-generated calendar grid with warped lines and beige background — used as a sarcastic visual in a blog post about creative burnout." title="Failed AI-generated calendar grid with warped lines and beige background — used as a sarcastic visual in a blog post about creative burnout." class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: undefined undefined;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="1:1" data-caption="This is why " data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/14uadl1BRsLbFbsdtXkcPo3J7zgFDT39Z0kP1jyRYmlL5MvdHUugOdTfV26L0ZRQ.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: undefined undefined;"><figcaption class="body-normal text-gray-500 mt-2">This is why</figcaption></figure><h3>It chirped, “All done!” like a smug little prick that just came in ten seconds. Seriously, I thought it was going to ask me, "Was that good for you, too, baby?"<br></h3><h3>Meanwhile, my chain-smoking, too polite Midwestern ass is throwing it please and thank-yous like it's my ex — and I’m still trying to fix us with compliments and lowered expectations.<br><br></h3><h3>I wasn’t asking for a miracle.<br>Just a skeleton cat that doesn’t look like it’s dissolving in a microwave.<br>Just a layout that doesn’t seem like it’s actively mocking me. Instead, I might as well be a bitch stuck with a Dollar Tree version of Adobe Illustrator.</h3><h3>But AI?<br>AI doesn’t give a shit about your margins or your temper tantrum.</h3><h3>&nbsp;<br>And yet, here I am — still regenerating, reformatting, re-fucking-trying.<br>Because this is how I build things now:<br>fueled by caffeine, spite, and that cursed combination of burnout and ambition.</h3><h3>If I ever make it big, I hope they show this part in the biography (with a beautiful actress in the starring role, of course)—<br>me, crying over line spacing, surrounded by cold coffee and skeleton planner pages, screaming at a digital demon with no concept of spellcheck.</h3><figure id="figure-togljqnjahmd8xcyhc"><img id="togljqnjahmd8xcyhc" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/1d9t764cCrwyquBlOGVP5FD8ny1N4kpWqIex5y9cO2fAXrvjCDpAub7eHakQyb1y.png" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/1d9t764cCrwyquBlOGVP5FD8ny1N4kpWqIex5y9cO2fAXrvjCDpAub7eHakQyb1y.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure><h2>Coming Monday:<br><a data-mce-href="midwestandmakingit.com/blog/screw-vision-boards-i-ve-got-a-witchlist" href="midwestandmakingit.com/blog/screw-vision-boards-i-ve-got-a-witchlist" title="screw-vision-boards-i-ve-got-a-witchlist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Screw Vision Boards, I've got a Witchlist</a><br data-mce-bogus="1"></h2><h3>No glitter glue. No good vibes. Just an unhealthy obsession with Amazon and a full explanation about when you'll be seeing new products. Monday’s post kicks off Witchlist Wednesdays with sarcasm, self-awareness, and back-to-school survival supplies.</h3><figure id="figure-aya8ke9c6rmd8xi566"><img id="aya8ke9c6rmd8xi566" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/11oi3W1Sr00iLuoMtkUoZ4tWOZn2IZC0YuoVeZGAPhIYBwRo70p7n8wgbGaXiAW4.png" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="1:1" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/11oi3W1Sr00iLuoMtkUoZ4tWOZn2IZC0YuoVeZGAPhIYBwRo70p7n8wgbGaXiAW4.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;"></figure><h3><a data-mce-href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/getting-it" href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/getting-it" data-mce-selected="inline-boundary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign up for Getting It to have these rants, regrets, and rogue planner pages delivered straight to your inbox.﻿</a><br data-mce-bogus="1"></h3><p>Building a business with caffeine, cat hair, and cocktails:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; #FuckingOverItFridays #PlannerFails #SmallBusinessBurnout #MidwestRant #DigitalMeltdown #SkeletonPlanners #BrokeWitchBudget #PrintablePlannerLife #AIvsHuman #GothicStationery #RantBlog #CreativeSpiral #DeadBrokeAndMakingIt #MidwestAndMakingIt #UnhingedButCreatingz</p>

Midwest Rage vs Machine Learning

<h3>I didn’t wake up one morning with a five-year plan and a vision board full of Pinterest quotes. In fact, I don't even have a fucking one-year plan — and it took a lot of procrastination (and caffeine) to cultivate all of my Pins in the first place.</h3><h3>Nope. I got laid off, cried in the car, screamed into a pillow, drank a bottle of whiskey, and then — like any slightly unhinged single mom with too much true crime in her brain and not enough nicotine — I decided to make something.</h3><figure id="figure-lfm40rcgvdmcy37y3c"><img id="lfm40rcgvdmcy37y3c" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/35fX4iOGIQLI5qtD0r0ZmX8EPfYP8sYtqELVbFY2wUAU4yQ2TbcPfVPNdmEjbJqa.png" alt="“Square satirical layoff letter styled like gothic office stationery. Features a skull, red devil head, ink splatters, and the subject line: ‘You’ve Been Let Go (of Reality Too).’ The letter humorously terminates the employee’s soul, sanity, and employment.”" title="“Square satirical layoff letter styled like gothic office stationery. Features a skull, red devil head, ink splatters, and the subject line: ‘You’ve Been Let Go (of Reality Too).’ The letter humorously terminates the employee’s soul, sanity, and employment.”" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="1:1" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/35fX4iOGIQLI5qtD0r0ZmX8EPfYP8sYtqELVbFY2wUAU4yQ2TbcPfVPNdmEjbJqa.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;"></figure><h2>Losing It</h2><h3>I’ve always known I wanted to create. I just didn’t know when I’d finally have the guts (or desperation) to actually do it. Being laid off wasn’t some inspirational lightbulb moment — it was more like a blackout. And in that dark, somewhere between the spiral and the sarcastic muttering, Midwest &amp; Making It was born.</h3><h3><strong>I had the name before I had the plan.</strong></h3><h3><strong>I had the vibe before I had the products.</strong></h3><h2><strong>What I did have was:</strong></h2><h3>&nbsp; &nbsp; A whole lot of opinions</h3><h3>&nbsp; &nbsp; A mild obsession with gothic aesthetics</h3><h3>&nbsp; &nbsp; And a deep need to scream into the void</h3><h2><strong>So here we are:</strong></h2><h3>&nbsp; &nbsp; Making It (Kind Of)</h3><h3>This isn’t some picture-perfect entrepreneur story.</h3><h3>I’m not sipping matcha in a linen jumpsuit while “building my brand.”</h3><h3>I’m working late, yelling at my printer, covered in cat hair and coffee stains, trying to figure out why Etsy ate my listing — and still doing it.</h3><h3>Because this?</h3><h2><strong>This is mine now.</strong></h2><h3>I’m making creepy-cute planners (<a data-mce-href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/4329546201/dead-broke-counting-coffers-gothic" href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/4329546201/dead-broke-counting-coffers-gothic">like this one seen below</a>) with skulls, cats, and just enough chaos to be therapeutic. I’m scribbling half-baked blog posts and yelling about stuff that matters (and stuff that definitely doesn’t). I’m making it — both on here and through the day — in the way that matters most: my way.</h3><figure id="figure-qpu13y93vmcy3h6bm"><img id="qpu13y93vmcy3h6bm" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/73bQSM90q885B8mreZ1cPMkGMGj0jOO0RuzE1zLvjZKg5mh6w4SzO72uyaT2Piab.png" alt="Dark sepia-toned collage of gothic budgeting worksheets from the ‘Dead Broke &amp; Counting Coffers’ collection. Pages feature titles like ‘Ledger of the Doomed,’ ‘Debt Demons,’ and ‘Financial Last Words,’ with illustrations of coffins, skulls, and gravestones in a distressed, horror-inspired style." title="Dark sepia-toned collage of gothic budgeting worksheets from the ‘Dead Broke &amp; Counting Coffers’ collection. Pages feature titles like ‘Ledger of the Doomed,’ ‘Debt Demons,’ and ‘Financial Last Words,’ with illustrations of coffins, skulls, and gravestones in a distressed, horror-inspired style." class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: undefined undefined;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="3:2" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/73bQSM90q885B8mreZ1cPMkGMGj0jOO0RuzE1zLvjZKg5mh6w4SzO72uyaT2Piab.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: undefined undefined;"></figure><h3>If you're the kind of person who color-codes your meltdown in a printable planner, you might want to check out the dead Broke and Counting Coffers collection. It's gothic, it's colorable, and it won't tell you to "inhale confidence, exhale doubt."</h3><h3>If you’re into:</h3><h3>&nbsp; &nbsp; Planners that don’t look like a school guidance counselor made them</h3><h3>&nbsp; &nbsp; Cats, crystals, and true crime</h3><h3>&nbsp; &nbsp; Sarcastic commentary on surviving life in the Midwest</h3><h3>&nbsp; &nbsp; Honest posts from someone who's figuring it out while making it up...</h3><h2><strong>Then welcome to the It. You found your people.</strong></h2><h3>We might not have it all together, but we’ve got dark eyeliner, strong liquor, and foul language — so that’s a start.</h3><h3>Want in on the chaos?</h3><h3><a data-mce-href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/getting-it" href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/getting-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign up for Getting It — my unhinged newsletter for planner lovers, spooky babes, and broke witches with taste.</a><br data-mce-bogus="1"></h3><h3>Or dive straight into the shop:</h3><h3><a href="MidwestandMakingit.com/making-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="MidwestandMakingit.com/making-it">Midwest &amp; Making It</a><br data-mce-bogus="1"></h3><h2>Coming Up:</h2><h2>Fucking Over It Fridays.</h2><h3><br>Every Friday, I’ll be posting a new unfiltered rant — part behind-the-scenes meltdown, part sarcastic sermon, and all chaos.</h3><h3>We’re calling it Fucking Over It Fridays, because I am.<br>Over it. All of it. The AI, the algorithms, the bullshit.</h3><h3>&nbsp;<br>First up:</h3><h3><br><a data-mce-href="midwestandmakingit.com/midwest-rage-vs-machine-learning" href="midwestandmakingit.com/midwest-rage-vs-machine-learning" target="_blank" rel="noopener">﻿</a><a data-mce-href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/blog/midwest-rage-vs-machine-learning" href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/blog/midwest-rage-vs-machine-learning" data-mce-selected="inline-boundary">Midwest Rage vs Machine Learning&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;A love story between my planner grid and a robot that just wanted me to suffer.</a><br data-mce-bogus="1"></h3><h3><a data-mce-href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/getting-it" href="https://midwestandmakingit.com/getting-it">It drops Friday — so make sure you're signed up for Getting It so you don’t miss the meltdown.</a><br data-mce-bogus="1"></h3><p><br></p><p>Building a business with caffeine, cat hair, and cocktails:<br>#GothicSmallBiz #MakingItAnyway #LaidOffLife #SpookyStationery #MidwestMaker #DarkPlannerVibes #ColorableChaos #StartedFromTheSpiral #SingleMomSurvivor #BloggingUnhinged #CreativeBusinessJourney #EtsyLife #DigitalDownloads #PlannerAddict #PrintablesWithPersonality</p>

Laid Off and Lost It (So I Started Making It)

Midwest and Making It

Build a WordPress site called Midwest & Making It. It’s a gothic printable shop and blog for adults who like spooky productivity, coloring pages, budget trackers, and sarcastic content. I want a homep

Penning It

Screw Vision Boards I've Got a Witchlist

Midwest Rage vs Machine Learning

Laid Off and Lost It (So I Started Making It)