I started writing this while sitting on hold. Listening to some overly jaunty music that I think was a purposeful attempt to make me give up and go away and not cancel the subscription. Most everything lets you cancel online nowadays – even if you do have to search a bit for the button, and having to jump through the hoops of hold music and human interaction cemented my decision that I am no longer interesting in doing business with that company. My mom’s mom (who learned to drive at about my age now) used to shake her first at people who did dumb driver things. I want to shake my fist at having to listen to overly jaunty music.
We’ve been in the basement for 10 months. Our project won’t be 100% done until the beginning of April (educated guess) but we’ll finally be back in our bedrooms this week. In the process of getting ready to move closets, I noticed how my wardrobe has changed in the last few years. Color, pattern, and political statements. It looks like it was cultivated by my inner 8-year-old. That girl was not shy with the opinions. I laugh when people say I’m outspoken now. I mean, I am but I know all the things I’m not saying in my head.
I miss little kids not because I miss the stage as much as I miss screens (phone, television, game systems) not being a part of our lives. I miss puzzles and games and paint and forts and sledding and baking and PLAY. Listing all that makes me realize just why I was so exhausted in those days. (I don’t miss being exhausted.)
I saw a thing ages ago about living to make your 80 and 8 year old self proud, loved it, tucked in my back pocket and looking at the above paragraphs, I think I’m threading that needle.
I’m pretty sure Molly has gotten addicted to anti-anxiety meds. The nail gun and air compressor make her an absolute wreck who will climb up onto my lap and shake uncontrollably, so I called the vet who recommended a daily dose of some kind of doggy Xanax (I can’t remember the name). Now she’s asking for them even on days when the workers aren’t here. I don’t give them to her, but feel guilty so now she’s gets pumpkin every day. She’s about to turn 11 and has had some health issues. She’s slowing down. Just a little. And while no one else would guess her to be so old, that nagging thought in the back of my mind makes me want to spoil her all the more.
Thanks for listening to my ramble. Let’s talk things.
Reading: I finished Wintering by Katherine May and will definitely be re-reading it. I read it slowly. Leaving it on my nightstand with a pencil, reading a chapter now and then. It felt good to savor a book. I’m creating a separate TBR list of books like that. I also finished The People we Keep by Allison Larkin and We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds (this was a Violet recommendation). I’m currently reading Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller (Rita’s recommendation) and it’s different but I like it.
Watching: The Last of Us (HBO), Shrinking (Apple) which I’ve talked about previously. Ghosts – Season one. I think you can watch this on Paramount but I bought the whole season based on the recommendation of a friend and it’s worth it. It’s sweet and funny and quick.
Knitting: Just madly working on my sock yarn blanket. I’ve almost used up all my advent mini’s. I need to find other mini sources because I can’t knit socks fast enough to finish this blanket without them! Though I owe Jesse a pair of socks (or three) and I have two pairs promised to friends. Waiting to get moved back upstairs and the sock yarn sorted!
Making: Abram and I were watching The British Baking Show and he told me how much he missed chocolate cake. He may have told me how much he missed it a few different times during that episode. So I ordered some of this to make this. The frosting was really rich (my mistake – I used a combo of dark and semi-sweet chips because that’s what I had on hand) but the cake was good. These are next on my dairy free treat making list.
So that’s me! What are you reading, watching, listening to, any other -ing you want to share?
Your winter photos are so lovely. I know it’s your favorite season, and I can feel that in your images.
You have me thinking about clothes now. I just went through my off-season things yesterday, to see what I need to toss and keep and what holes I might want to fill. My wardrobe is so full of neutrals, but honestly, that’s what I feel most comfortable in. I do have some pinks and blues, but even they are usually muted. I have decided, though, that my inner child is going to come out in my shoes. I like a colorful pair of shoes. Interesting shoes. Unfortunately, often expensive shoes. I just don’t have what it takes to figure out how to make more interesting clothes work, but I can do shoes. đ
I hope poor Molly will feel better once the workers are entirely gone. (And you, too!) When Daisy left us I swore I was done with dogs, but I keep seeing posts for old dogs who need a home, and boy, are they tugging at me. I’m not sure what that’s about, but I’m glad Molly has you to care for her through her senior years. They are hard, but bring their own rewards.
We are also watching The Last of Us. This week’s episode was brutal! I’m normally not a fan of violence like that, but I like that show. I’m also listening to a brutal audiobook right now, Karin Slaughter’s False Witness. It’s not my usual genre, but if I’m going to go there I like her books. (One of them is the basis of a Netflix show that I wanted to love because it starred Toni Collette, but I didn’t like how it was different from the book…) She did have one with a main character who was just too sick for me, and I didn’t finish it. I think I must like her because, despite the sick, abusive men who are always in the mix, she often depicts complex mother-daughter relationships. “Fish” is different; it was only at the end that I realized I really liked it a lot.
OK, stopping now so that my comment isn’t longer than your post. đ
Oh, you can write a comment longer than my post any time!! I love hearing from you!!
Winter is my favorite season but weâre starting to hit that faux spring where you can smell the ground melting but it still freezes and we still get snow (more yesterday) and so much GRAY. (I feel like PNW might roll their eyes at us complaining about gray). Today is gloriously sunny and it has me ready to change out skis for galoshes. We get snow in May, so I know not to trust it but weâve had my dream winter – temps mostly above zero and lots of snow.
I love good shoes. And yes, they are expensive but they last. And fun shoes can just make a day better.
And yes, this weekâs episode was really tough. Jesse heard part of it (heâs not a television watcher) and was like âwhy do you watch this crap?!?â I can see how someone who wasnât watching the show would think itâs crap, but itâs soooo good. (I also have jumped on the Pedro Pascal bandwagon and have a massive crush. I loved him in Game of Thrones too!)
I donât think Iâve read any Karin Slaughter. Iâm pretty wimpy about books like that I think.
I really am liking âFishâ and just recommended it my uncle. I love the faith/science thread, and how bits of memoir are interwoven with this story of David Starr Jordan. (I think my comment might be longer than my post.) Iâm really glad you recommended it because I donât think I would have ever grabbed it for myself and I think Violet would find it fascinating too!
Those senior dogs – theyâd be lucky to have you. (Iâm a sucker for those heart pulls.)
OK, so what is it that makes Last of Us good and not crap? Because I normally do not do visual violence. It so often feels like gore for the sake of gore and toxic BS, but this show does not feel like that, not even this week’s episode, which was really gross at times. What makes the difference? (Once an English major, always an English major…) I mean, it’s not just Pedro Pascal. đ
I kinda like PNW gray, but even I am over it by this time of the year. It’s no longer true winter, but it’s also not yet spring. Things are starting to sprout and I’m ready for it. But, like, there are still mounds of snow in parking lots. sigh
I actually read a whole article on how certain shows (it was talking about GoT and Walking Dead specifically) started off with violence/gore that felt acceptable because the storylines werenât about THAT – they were about the actual societal implications of the setting where the violence and gore where naturally occurring. Once they stopped focusing on the sociology and the characters and became more plot driven the violence became/feels gratuitous and I think there is some truth to that. (I had to stop watching Dead after the third season I think – and really struggled with the last few seasons of Thrones for this reason.)
YES, that makes so much sense. I never watched Walking Dead, but I had that kind of experience with GoT. I hope LoU stays on this same course. I thought it was not coincidental that the level of violence was so high for an episode focused on a religious cult.
I’m sorry about your dog. I can imagine how stressful this must be for her. I feel this in my bones for you.Â
I didn’t care for Wintering at first, but hearing you take your time with it makes me want to revisit it. I haven’t read it since 2021. I’m putting it back on my TBR list, which is so long it’s almost a chore. A fun chore, but still a chore. I’ve promised myself that I’ll read more fiction this year, and I’m already doing so. I added We Deserve Monuments, and the other two you mentioned are already on my list. I’m thinking about taking a week off JUSTÂ to read books. Doesn’t that sound nice?
My friend and Anna keep telling us to watch The Last of Us. Reading it here is my signal to actually start it.
Thanks, Kari!! We are very, very close to the end and are getting a little bit of a break this week which is nice for all of us – but especially her.
You arenât the only person who Iâve heard say they didnât care for Wintering. It definitely hit at the right time or I donât know if I would have liked it as much AND I took breaks from it (which isnât something I usually do) to read other things and I think that helped.
And a week of just to read sounds AMAZING! I have a friend of a friend who has talked about doing a book retreat where people bring their TBR and someone else does all the meal planning and then they have hikes or yoga or things planned through out the day if you want to take a break and get your blood moving again. I think that sounds GENIUS!
Let me know what you think of Last of Us.
Love your photos, Kate. The first one is gorgeousâa snowy Milky Way! When I saw the second one, I thought, “Is that Lutsen?” and then just managed to read the decal on the truck in the photo below. đ (We never skied there, but we must have driven by it at some point when we lived in MN.)
You’ve gotten so far on your sock yarn blanket, and it’s SO pretty! I’ve just been busy on socks: a pair for my husband, two pairs for my youngest son, and a pair (on the needles now) for my MIL.
Oh goshâI feel for Molly. I hope for both your sakes that the renovations are done soon, but I’m glad to hear you’ll at least be back to your own bedrooms this week.
“I laugh when people say Iâm outspoken now. I mean, I am but I know all the things Iâm not saying in my head.” The second sentence in this made me laugh out loud. As did your comment about your inner 8-year-old cultivating your wardrobe.
Is it the American Ghosts you’re watching or the British version? We can get the British series, and it’s one of my favourite shows. Right now I’m in the middle of season 4, and I’m hoping they’ll keep it going.
I finished reading David Copperfield (which I loved) and am now in the middle of Anthony Trollope’s The Warden. This one started out slowly, but I’m now really enjoying it. I’m also slowly making my way through that feminism book I mentioned a few weeks ago. For me, Wintering was a DNF, but it sounds like it’s really resonating with you, which is great.
Have a wonderful week, Kate!
That first picture is actually one V took while we were skiing at Lutsen – under a snowmaking machine. I think itâs my favorite from the whole weekend. Weâve only ever been in fall or winter, but I really do love it!!
I didnât know there was a British version! Iâm going to have to look it up! I just started the second season of the American version and itâs just light (but sometimes pointed) and funny and nice to watch when I need a break from the heavy.
Iâm curious how you decide what youâre going to read next. I know you tend to go for classics and non-fiction (as one of my friends would say âthe opposite of drivelâ) and wondering if you have a TBR for yourself or if certain things call to you. (I havenât heard of the The Warden which is what got me thinking.) How are you finding Feminismâs Forgotten Fight? I added that to my TBR!
It was so good to hear from you Marian!! Thank you for the nice words on my blanket. It is really coming along though I feel like it will still be years and years before I finish it! I saw a blog post by a woman who finished a HUGE one (it weighed 4 pounds!!) and I canât imagine how long that would take me! And it sounds like youâve been VERY busy with socks. If you ever want to have a superwash wool scrap exchange, you let me know! Iâd love to add some squares from fellow knitter friends!!
I hope you’re able to find a way to watch the BBC Ghosts too. This is the original version, and you’re rightâit’s light and funny but sometimes pointed (and occasionally heartbreaking!)âand I just love it.
So I have to admit that while I try to support my local indie bookstore, I also buy books from an online outlet store. I tell myself I’m saving the books from being pulped, but if I’m being honest, I think saving money is mostly why I do it. đ Anyway, whenever I *need* more books, I look online to see what they have on sale. I always check out their offering of classics first, but sometimes I also look at the contemporary books and I’m able to catch one that I heard about and wanted to read a year or two earlier. Sometimes they don’t have anything I want and then I’ll get something from the regular bookstore. (I really should just use the library more often, but that’s another story.) I find I often go on reading jags where I want to read *everything* by a certain author. When my daughter was a baby, it was Jane Austen. Before kids, it was Margaret Atwood. Now it seems to be Charles Dickens.
I’m about halfway through Feminism’s Forgotten Fight, and it’s well-written and a very good read, even if what I’m reading is often maddening. I feel like it should be required reading for all women.
A scrap exchange! I’ve never considered that! I have wooly ideas about maybe one day using up my sock scraps by either doing these socks: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/thickmas-socks
or this blanket: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-big-marl
âBut who knows if either of those will ever come to fruition!
I don’t know what happened, but for some reason my filter caught your comment and I was notified until I came to do some housekeeping! I’m so sorry for my delayed response.
That big marl pattern is absolutely gorgeous and I hope you’ll do the socks for sure – I love all of Summer Lee’s patterns.
Well, it’s official, I’m adding Feminism’s Forgotten Fight to my TBR. I think it will be good for me. I sometimes try to avoid books that will make me madder about things I’m already mad about, but I’m trying to bring more non-fiction into my life and I think that will be a good one. ”
I’m not a good library user any more. It’s horrible, but I just don’t love our local library. I want to. They just did a renovation and it’s so much better than it used to be but of all the community libraries I’ve used in my life time, I just can’t seem to connect to this one. And it’s hard to spend an afternoon browsing books in a building I don’t like. Anyway, I like your methodology of book buying.I’m very similar in falling down a specific author rabbit hole – had a Margaret Atwood phase as well (before kids) but am much less erudite in terms of authors.
I like your winter photos. They are soothing in their own way. I’m sorry about Molly. A drug addict dog sounds absurd, but I’m sure it happens. I haven’t had chocolate cake in ages but now feel like I need to bake one. Thanks for the idea. As for what I’m reading, watching, listening to, and other -ing, my answer is not much. I’ve been feeling very scattered lately, dabbling more than focusing.
I hope youâre finding the dabbling enjoyable. Some times I like that phase, some times I REALLY donât.
Our contractor took a week off and itâs amazing how much calmer sheâs been. He starts up again tomorrow, but weâre getting there!