by Kat | Nov 1, 2021 | General, In This Moment
“October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
My October ended exactly as J.K. Rowling describes…windy and so rainy! And the start of November seems to be on track for her words as well (the cold is here!!) Yes, the heat is on in my house…and I welcomed turning it on!
AND!!
Welcome to my new Monday format…Monday Question’s! Some weeks, I will be asking you a question or two as I seek your opinion/advice… other week’s I will highlight a question you have asked me in comments!
This week, I have a question for you! This question is a hot button issue in my house these days… it almost always instantly takes the conversation from 0 to 60 in a nanosecond. So… help!
My question this week involves recycling… or rather the recycling of a specific item… the varied assortment of cardboard boxes that arrive in this house over a two week period. Now, our “Recycling Body” (i.e. Scott Township) takes “flattened cardboard and paper” … which means to me, flatten all boxes and place them in the bin. Someone in this house thinks you can just put whole boxes in (as do my neighbors…whole cardboard boxes overflow their bin and if there is a breeze they go all over the place) The heated discussions revolve around the fact that Waste Management takes *all* the recycling from the street… flattened boxes and unflattened boxes, but I believe that things that are not in “compliance” are thrown away – defeating the purpose of recycling, imo. (And, personally this feels like a ploy to NOT break down boxes and leave them for me, just sayin’)
So…break down boxes? Or don’t?
A very small post script… I am happy to report that my pinky toe is NOT broken but I have arrived at the How Many Colors Can Your Bruise Turn Stage… but I will take multicolored bruising versus a broken toe!
Happy Monday everyone!
Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels
by Kat | Oct 18, 2021 | General, In This Moment
I usually write Monday’s post on Sunday afternoon… usually. Yesterday no inspiration struck at all so Monday morning arriving sans blog post is leaving me feeling a bit like the kid who did not do *any* of their homework over the weekend. Hoo boy…
Welcome to the Monday-est Monday! LOL
Sadly, I don’t have any cohesive thoughts but I do have some odds and ends that might be share-worthy! So here we go!
It has been a most un-fall-like fall in these parts. We were still running the air last week. And can I tell you about the volume of mosquitoes outside? As a result, I have begun paying closer attention to the Dark Sky app with hopes of a bug killing frost heading my way SOON because I am so over having a gajillion mosquito bites on my arms and legs! They are even making Sherman miserable so we tried a salve that someone recommended… and it works well! (Bonus in that it has really helped make my hands feel softer too! lol)
Speaking of hands… it has been eons since I went to get manicures at a salon. And for a time I was trying to paint my nails on the regular… but I really missed how nice my nails looked having them done professionally, not to mention that Salon Nails lasted way longer than Home Nails. I know I am late to the Olive and June crowd, but wow. Way back in September I got a start up kit…which I thought was kind of spendy but it had 5 bottles of polish and some other gadgets. I added in the nail primer and can I tell you all how blown away I am?!! Today I am on day 15 of a polish… and it is still going strong! I don’t get the whole Poppy thing and I am not doing “Manicure Bootcamp” but for a long lasting polish they are winners!
My To-Do List today includes filling out my ballot for the November election and get it mailed in pronto. I have been an avid poll worker since moving to PA but I am taking a hard pass this time around. The vitriol at the past two elections has been unsettling and that vitriol… well it has ramped up significantly in my neighborhood. It was not an easy decision, but once I made it I knew it was the right one… at least for the time being. If you go to vote in person in November… please take a moment to thank the people working there. They don’t hear it often enough!
As I mentioned on Friday, I got my flu shot last week and I also got my third COVID booster as well. That Double Whammy did me in… I did not move far from the sofa on Saturday. But by Sunday I was feeling much better and had a bit of a weekend! But that sofa time on Saturday? Well, I watched and re-watched (and maybe made Steve watch it with me for a third time!) the Animal Crossing Nintendo Direct! If you have not played for a bit… some FUN things are coming in November!
What about you? What odds and ends are part of your Monday?
Oh… and that sunset? That was the ending of my day last Thursday. It was too gorgeous not to share!
by Kat | Sep 20, 2021 | General, In This Moment
…brings a return to ‘normalcy’ with the end of a brief, but spectacular, vacation.
Normalcy… what a word, huh? Perhaps not the best since I have been feeling anything but normal these days! I confess that I have been struggling a bit recently… Feeling off-kilter. Unsettled. Unfocused. Just going through the motions. (and yes, likely a bit depressed…which don’t think I would have recognized without having read these wise words)
But I have had some amazing lifelines this week (besides all the fresh air and hiking!) I don’t know who said they had read Braiding Sweetgrass (Jane maybe?) This book has been a balm to my day. The stolen moments I spent listening to Robin Wall Kimmerer were so amazing… it almost feels like I am sitting down with a cuppa to listen to a dear friend share stories, wisdom, and anecdotes. I have about 4 more hours of listening along with my ‘normal’ Monday List (although, perhaps not so normal with what feels like a metric ton of laundry!!)… but listening to Robin will make all of that much more palatable! Ha!
I brought my laptop for the sole purpose of joining the Read With Me discussion of Unsettled Ground… I can’t express how much more a good discussion lends to the enjoyment of a book, and Bonnie, Carole, and Kym have cultivated a very good group of ladies! That discussion had me thinking about Unsettled Ground again in some surprising new ways! Thank you all for making reading so much better!
Another good thing was all that fresh air and hiking! As I shared in my IG postcards last week, we had spectacular weather – yes, we had some occasional rain during the day but it was never enough to deter us and the couple of times it rained harder at night made sleeping in an unfamiliar bed easier! We saw so many birds, which I love! I also saw a few we had not seen before, thanks to a pair of binoculars! (A Green Heron across the bay, a pair of Gray Catbirds splashing in a puddle, and two shorebirds – a Solitary Sandpiper and a Semipalmated Plover!) We perfected our “quiet walking” and came upon a deer visiting a pond. I loved how she did not bolt, but rather just eased away into the forest.
And finally, coming back home! After more than a year of Pandemic Living one might think you get sick of being home and while it was good to be away, it is even better being back home… especially back to my own bed. A good nights sleep also helps combat the off kilter feelings, for sure! (as does the return of a “normal” routine!)
And with that, I am off to get going on that Normal Routine! See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Aug 23, 2021 | General, In This Moment
Just to show you all how completely out of sync my brain is… I thought that today was the day to update you all on my word.
Good thing that I have one more week for that so that I can try and do something with my word this month because I have basically avoided my word this month despite my inner-self trying to get me back on track:
Self: Hey… you should be moving forward with something on release.
Me: Lalalalalalala… I don’t hear you!
Self: How about ANY.THING?
Me: ….
The theme for this month… one bite at a time… so in this last week of August I am going to try a bite or two on my word. Maybe. Hopefully….?
Anyways, I am back and it feels good to be back despite not really accomplishing momentous last week. I had over-achiever goals of having a blog break filled with epiphanies! And… I confess that there was not a single epiphany. Nope… but what I do have is a whole lotta bupkis, drowning in the Sea of Overwhelmed.
Is it just me or does it seem like All The Shite is hitting the fan at.the.same.time. COVID numbers are once again insane. Voter Suppression is alive and well and expanding in America. The news seems to be all bad and on steroids… even my 15 minute Up First fix in the morning is overwhelming. I don’t know about you but my stress level is moving to the Off The Charts range once again. Sigh.
In the plus column for my week away… I have a well-cleaned refrigerator thanks to 18 hours without power. The freezer fared much better with only a few things lost, whew! I taped two “pattern puzzles” together and got them both traced off! I have a finished “neutral” shawl for the fall (big reveal on Wednesday!!) and I also have finished the knitting of my second test knit sweater… it needs a soak, a little blocking, and some button bands (I am going with crocheted bands this time) and then a bit of needle felting the steek – so while it is not completely done, it sure feels like the biggest part of it is! And for once, I do NOT have a new project ready to cast on! Instead, my plans for this week include getting two pairs of pants and a shirt cut out, marked, and begin sewing!
That is all I have for today! How was your week?
I will see you all back here on Wednesday to Unravel some reading and knitting!
by Kat | Aug 9, 2021 | General, In This Moment
Is for seeking input!
Last week we had a wee break in the heat and humidity, but that all ended over the weekend. This week is supposed to be warm and so humid. But that break…it makes me think about moving out of this season and easing into autumn.
It’s been such a strange summer… this was my “harvest” from this morning. Six little cherry tomatoes…sigh. I talked with someone this weekend who is having no better gardening luck that I am… and they garden on a much larger scale than the tiny garden we have.
But rather than dwell on the disappointments to start the week… I thought I’d ask the Knitting Hive Mind for some knitterly input. I have been thinking about Pressed Flowers …lots! I have even dreamt about it! (sorry, Ravelry link… I looked for other ways to share the shawl, but alas… Rav appears to be the only place Amy sells her patterns.) It would be a lovely thing to knit this fall and I think some of you have made it, but I honestly can’t remember if that is true. If you have made Pressed Flowers, what are your thoughts? Is it wearable…or maybe I should ask, Do you wear it often? I am contemplating using plötulopi to knit it with… my vision is a light, but warm layering piece.
That is all I have for this morning! See you all back here on Wednesday and I look forward to your Pressed Flowers input!
