Yesterday we spent the morning with some friends at the park, then we headed to a cat cafe. They had 12 kitties and I got my fix of petting cats. I would love to have put a couple of them in my pockets and brought them home. The sun was a coveted spot in the cafe. The black and white one is called SassyTina. I didn't get "sass" from her. Gabi - tiny but sweet. I probably pet her the most. This one was enjoying her time in the sun This cat was conked out until it was time for

Over the years I have tried, off and on, to piece together what happened and where everything went so wrong. For a number of years I was too busy with babies, then toddlers, then homeschooling to really research, dig into my family tree, or write down my story. But I picked it up again in November of 2022 when I joined Ancestry.com . I didn’t make the jump to taking a DNA test but I spent days researching and building my family tree.  And it was fascinating! On the first day

It’s March 9, 2026 when I’m starting this. I had a podcast back in 2024 - crazy to think that was 2 years ago! I liked researching and writing, but not so much the act of recording and definitely not editing. I actually can’t stand the sound of my voice, especially when it’s recorded, and editing means hours of listening to my voice and editing out all the “ums”, long silences, and other bits that no one wants to hear while they listen to a podcast. But I did have a podcast w

Are you ever in a meeting or chatting with someone and they unintentionally say something that just ruins your day but also you needed to hear it? That happened again today but let me start with the last time this happened. I was doing an interview for a podcast, which to my knowledge never aired, but the topic was DNA testing and my experience with that. I was answering all of her questions and talking about all the people I'd met or reconnected with on Ancestry when she ask

January is always a weird time for me. It's cold, the days are short, and it's that slumpy time after a marathon of holidays. Slumpy apparently isn't a word, but I bet all of you know the feeling. We also had back-to-back winter storms. One weekend we had an inch of ice (sleet, freezing rain) and then it stayed below freezing all week, which meant nothing melted. Then the next weekend we had over a foot of snow. I'm in the south and we don't do that kind of weather. It's fun

First off, the painting I'm working on! It's in that stage where you wonder what the hell you're doing because what even is this? You gotta trust the process and push through the weird stage. I worked on it a bit last night between a volunteer project and dinner. It looks like I'll have some leftover paint and rather than waste it, I'm wondering what I can create with the remnants. I'm terribly distracted with everything, to be honest. The loss of our cat, what's going on wit

As I write this I'll have you know that I am sitting outside with a hot drink, in many layers, and wrapped up in my electric blanket. But I am determined to be outside, damnit! It's unseasonably warm but not sunny so therefore I'm cold. I did manage to spill some of my coffee on the way out here which led to me uttering a string of obscenities that would make a sailor blush. I bought this paint-by-number kit it 2024 at Michaels and then we started looking at houses and I neve

Back in October our cat, Lulu, was diagnosed with cancer. I talked about it some in this post . We had another 6 pretty good weeks from the time we found out about her cancer. The last couple of weeks she was still in good spirits - she was underfoot and involved in our daily lives. She'd come greet us when we returned home from being gone for an errand. She kept up her daily routines, but she wasn't eating much, or at least not consistently. We were trying everything. All th

Updates from an injured squirrel - I hurt my elbow back in September and at first I thought I slept wrong. I'm old enough that sleep injuries are a thing. So I figured it would resolve in a few days but, if anything, it just got worse. I picked up a container of coffee creamer in the store and the jolt of pain in my arm caused me to drop it. The cap broke and thankfully I didn't make a huge mess. After that I got a brace to sleep in, thinking that would keep me from sleeping

It took me ages to finish, but it's finally done! I started cutting squares from scraps back in 2020 with no real project in mind. I started piecing in the summer of 2024 but we got started looking at houses all over North and South Carolina and I got busy with other stuff. I knew when I put the quilt strips in a box it would be a while before I was able to devote time to it. It may have taken months (okay, years) but it's done! I finished binding it all by hand a week or so

I have been a bit all over the place lately! First, my youngest and I got involved with our local library's friends group last spring. After being in the group for a few months, I talked them into letting me take over their instagram page. One of the librarians started a program called "Tech Time" and I went for a couple of sessions to learn more about how to use canva. I'd post the library's graphics and interspersed in with those, I started making some of my own. Here is on

I used Canva a couple of times ages ago, probably back when I was trying food blogging and then again when I was learning how to make a podcast. But I rediscovered it again recently and I'm kind of addicted to making things on there. What got me motivated to learn again was when I started posting on the library's instagram account. I poked around but honestly, I had no clue what I was doing or all the possibilities on Canva. I went to the library's Tech Time and one of the ve

Back when twitter was fun and not overrun by literal nazis, I used to spend a fair amount of time talking to other moms, most of whom...

I have been knitting and crocheting squares for Warm Up America. Well, I started knitting a few squares and then I read on the WUA...

I was going to post just knitting and crochet projects from this time period, but in looking through my photos from March-May 2020, I can...

My first stuffed critter that I ever knitted - a fish! My youngest still has it in their collection. My kids were into super bright...

My youngest volunteers at the library and last night I used that time to write, but then today I decided I don't like what I wrote. Too...

School is already back in session where I live, which seems so early! I could swear when I was a kid we started later but I'm old and...

This is my very first bag I ever made. It's a reversible pattern that I made with scrap fabric left over from making 100 Acts of Sewing...

If you are anything like me, you have all the projects going on simultaneously. My current projects include: a sock I started back at the...