by Kat | Jun 16, 2025 | General, In This Moment
…arrives with lots of weekend “loose ends.” Sigh. The weather impeded the mulch delivery and the clothes line installation. It looks like rain could be happening at any moment this morning so I doubt these things will be coming today.
But the weather did facilitate lots of “making” time!
I finished my Alabama Chanin sampler piece… and learned so much. I bought a “kit” to make a scarf and I am excited to get started on it. One thing I need to plan better than I did in my sampler piece is the start and end of stitches on a piece that has “raw edges” like this scarf will have. I like the look of fully formed stitches at each edge versus what I did as I began learning how to make the stitches. I spent some time over the weekend tidying up those edges. I have another small sample piece which I will practice some stitches with beads. Not a lot of beading, mind you… but I think a few beads here and there would be lovely additions to this project.
I also finished up Gniddy and Gnoddy! (Stay tuned for the big reveal on Wednesday!)
And I managed to add another inch or two on the green vest!
Happy Monday everyone! See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Jun 9, 2025 | General, In This Moment
After a very rainy, steamy, warm weekend… it seems that summer weather is upon us. The second wave of allium are about to burst open, the bee balm is nearly five feet tall, the lavender has exploded, and the weeds are taking advantage of the rain and each morning I feel a bit more like I am losing the battle.
But the Orioles have landed! Yes, that is right… this weekend we saw Baltimore Orioles at the jelly feeder multiple times! Last year, not a single Oriole visited, but my persistence has paid off! “Good things come to those who wait” has been ringing in my head all weekend!
I had some “Gnome-spiration” over the weekend as I worked away on the sweater of the Big Sister Gnome. I am knitting at a frenzied pace to get my inspiration to reality… (think a bit of a riff on Lindsey Degen’s 4 Letter Sweater) I hope to show you all how my ideas worked on Wednesday… stay tuned!
Finally, on the top of my list this morning is to begin working on my medicare choices with PA MEDI. Wish me luck! Ha!
Happy Monday all and I will see you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | May 19, 2025 | Aging Gracefully, General, In This Moment
is for finding one’s way back!
Several years ago… and I mean several several’s… I was a paying member of Robin Long’s online Pilates workouts. And then I stopped being a paying member and I remember thinking, I know all the “moves” and I can just keep going on my own.
I think you all know the answer is I did not.
And then “things” started happening… I had issues with a hip flexor muscle and did a good number of weeks of PT to work on that issue. (you would think this would be my wake up call and I would at least try to remember and do the “Pilates Moves” on my own, but nope, I did not!)
This latest “thing” is not fun at all, I must confess. This bladder/pelvic floor muscle issue I am having is the biggest pain in my backside…literally. So now I am back at weekly PT working on a different muscle group… in roughly the same area where those hip flexors intersect… the “thing”?? It’s the little thought but incredibly important pelvic floor muscles and how they can impact one’s quality of life. I have the opposite issue many women my age have – being too relaxed. Sigh. Mine are in a constant state of tension…which they might not be if their neighboring muscle groups were doing any work at all.
And so, I have been spending the past 3 weeks working on waking up those neighboring muscles… doing yoga that very much feels like Robin Long’s Pilates exercises. Each week, my therapist adds a couple more things to add to my routine… which is now taking me just over an hour to complete each day… way more time than the 15-ish minutes that Robin’s routines typically lasted. Sigh.
Pro-tip… don’t abandon something that is working with thoughts that you can “do it yourself”… I can’t help but wonder if I would have needed any PT ever had I just stayed the course with Robin.
I might be slow on the learning curve but I am paying attention now… and yes, I renewed my Pilates membership over the weekend. And now I need to get that first “round” of PT exercises in and then poke around and figure out the new Pilates App!
Happy Monday, everyone! See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | May 12, 2025 | General, In This Moment
Greetings everyone,
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. The weather was perfect here in my neighborhood… cool mornings that invited one to pull on a sweater easing into warm afternoons… a celebration of perfect spring days!
I let Steve know that we are “opening the porch” next weekend. He was not thrilled!
Now it is Monday and I am contemplating my week (besides opening the porch, lol) I started PT for my bladder issues before we left for vacation and had my second visit last week. I am sort of feeling a bit silly… my therapist has me doing a bit of a yoga routine coupled with some diaphragm breathing exercises. Perhaps if I had just continued with pilates, I might not even be having these issues but I am carving out time each day to do the routine.
I also spent some time contemplating my “Stitch Book” layout. I also tested out raw edged pages and decided that won’t work … or at least I don’t like how it will look, so I will be doing some sewing to assemble the pages together.
And with that, let the week begin! See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | May 5, 2025 | General, Looking Back
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
This quote sums up completely the vacation to Erie last week. It was a study in contrasts.
Did calm ever settle in? Oh, hell no. The stress levels were high and remained so… for the duration. I figured it would be stressful at the start, but I also figured that after a few days hiking around Erie that stress would… diminish … but thanks to a giant storm that crushed Pittsburgh last week the stress never diminished and the end result was that we headed back early from vacation to clean out refrigerators and the freezer after 48+ hours of no power. Fortunately, we had little exterior damage but my neighborhood lost so many trees.
I, somehow, managed to stitch and paint a little each day (I finished the last painting after we got home… it was a good break from the Major Appliance Clean Out!) And I even managed to get Steve to sit down to watch the first episode of The Pitt (and believe me the only reason he agreed was because it was “in Pittsburgh” so a huge thank you to the producers of The Pitt for that initial opening to the show highlighting Pittsburgh!) Thankfully, he liked it so I wrangled 15 hours of “watching time” so I could get another vest started!
For me, the walks in Presque Isle were my salvation. I found new trails and I met the “Ambassador of Presque Isle” who clued me in to some rare sights in the park! Thank you, Mr. Berchtold for sharing your “spots” with me! I have never seen Sandhill Cranes in “the wild” and seeing a nesting pair on Presque Isle was a treat beyond measure! As was seeing an Eastern Screech Owl nesting! I was astounded by the number of active Osprey nests on the peninsula as well… a good half a dozen that I saw! I must have been channeling Vera because I saw so many turtles!! Frankie found all the people extremely stressful, so he only went along on walks a few times… I knew this going in… he does not like “random” people but he learned a new thing while we were there… barking! Sigh.
Walkies? Yes, please! I can practice my Newly Discovered Barking Skillz!
I did not take many photos but that is okay… I channeled the part of Yutori about being still and being present in the surroundings! That stillness helped me “find” 10 new-to-me birds!
Now it is a “normal” Monday and I am happy to be back to it! I will see you all back here on Wednesday!
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