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May 21, 2017

39 for 39

Today, I am officially  one year away from 40. I’m planning on making the last year of my 30’s my best year yet.

Here’s my list for 39:

  1. Mail a handwritten letter each month. 
  2. Try the bullet journal method & don’t obsess about making it pretty.
  3. Get my health indicator numbers inline. 
  4. Finish an entire coloring book. 
  5. See Hamilton on Broadway.
  6. Take a firearm safety/shooting class. 
  7. Try paddle boarding.
  8. Smoke zero cigarettes. 
  9. Try a new food.
  10. Run/walk a 5K.
  11. Run/walk a 10K.
  12. Run/walk a Half Marathon.
  13. Take a family vacation – just the 4 of us.
  14. Knit myself a sweater.
  15. Read 30 books.
  16. Purge craft space – donate supplies that won’t be used.
  17. Finish quilt top. 
  18. Buy a new lens for my camera.
  19. Have family pictures taken.
  20. Continue to practice unapologetic self-confidence. 
  21. Go on a picnic.
  22. Take the kids camping. Even if it’s in the backyard.
  23. Buy a new box of high quality colored pencils.
  24. Learn to back up boat trailer quickly & accurately.
  25. Attend Mass.
  26. Take a break from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. for at least one month.
  27. Abstain from purchasing any sock yarn. 
  28. Embroider something.
  29. Create a photo album for each of the kids.
  30. Get a mole check.
  31. Quit drinking Diet Dr. Pepper.  
  32. Establish a regular sleep/wake time.
  33. Buy a record player and some records. 
  34. Cook more.
  35. Listen to my gut.
  36. Celebrate my people. 
  37. Update master list of home projects.
  38. Find a project/cause that could benefit from my time & talents and donate.
  39. Make my bed. 

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Last year, I made a list of 38 things I wanted to accomplish while 38. I didn’t manage to do them all, but you can read about that here.

4 Comments

October 3, 2014

Grandma's China

Actually, it’s my great-great Grandma’s china. And since it has been in my possession it has sat safely wrapped and stored.

Until today. Because having my great-great grandmother’s china in boxes in the basement while a china cabinet sits empty in my dining room is a real waste. I’m still having visions of 100 year old china fragments lying everywhere, but I’m hoping that will pass (and the kids will continue to stay out of the dining room).

The teacups have been lost and replaced with mismatched ones at some point in history.

A few pieces are chipped, some have been broken and mended. A few are from a different pattern. In searching for some information I learned that the stamp on the back refers to the manufacturer and the plate style but I couldn’t find the pattern information. After another couple hours digging online, I found the pattern. The internet can be so amazingly handy.

As an added bonus, I had this leftover teacup that didn’t have a hook in the cabinet. I’ve been trying to find a few things to place on these wonky little shelves at the end of my kitchen cabinets because I’m not a decorator and little knick knacks aren’t things I think about so wonky little shelves sit empty for two years and look even wonkier.

Anyway, I put this teacup with an old recipe (I need a little frame for it) on one of them and am calling it good. They’re still wonky shelves, but now they are wonky shelves that make me think of having my Grandma in my kitchen.

**I’m participating in the write 31 day blogging challenge by sharing my adventures in creating a beautiful and useful home. You can read more about that here. For updates and sneak peeks, please find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (I’m @ohkatiejoy).**

2 Comments

May 22, 2014

What Abram's Reading Now (Or Having Read to Him)

I know I often share the books that I’m reading for myself, but with two kids who are developing a reading love that rivals my own, I thought it might be nice to share their reads as well. Here are the books that Abram has been having me read (and reread) daily.

Caps for Sale (A calls this “Hubcaps for Sale”) | Press Here | I Took The Moon for a Walk | This is Not My Hat | The Pigeon Wants a Puppy | The Day the Crayons Quit | Extra Yarn | The Peace Book | The Jolly Postman

1 Comment

August 9, 2023

Things

Every time I sit down to write you, I start trying to explain what life looks like here and I can’t, so I stop. And then try again later. This has happened multiple times over the course of multiple weeks so I’ve decided I’m just going to share some things even though it isn’t Tuesday.

Reading – Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter, Trust by Domenico Starnone, Morgan is My Name by Sophie Keetch*, Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison*, Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer*, Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo*, Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang (pre-print), Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree*, Women Talking by Miriam Toews, Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt*, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles*, and The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life’s Final Moments by Hadley Vlahos. I especially enjoyed these.* My TBR is obnoxious so I’ve started making a stack of books, asking on social media what other people recommend I should read next and then grabbing whatever calls to me. Sometimes it’s what someone recommends, sometimes it’s not even something in the pile. They’ve become my favorite posts.

Watching: The Bear (Hulu), past seasons of Real Housewives of Orange County, the most recent season of New. York (Peacock). I could use some recommendations.

Making: These popsicles (and they are so easy and good), and BLT’s because we have so many tomatoes. So. Many.

Knitting: Not a thing. Just haven’t been feeling it lately.

Listening: I am not usually a podcast person, but Normal Gossip was recently recommended to me, I listened to an episode while traveling, and now I’m hooked.

So that’s things here. What about you? What are you -ing lately? Enjoying these last weeks of summer?

8 Comments

July 4, 2023

On Patriotism

“I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”

It’s been more than a few years since I’ve stood next to a desk with my right hand over my heart and recited the pledge, but it’s engrained so deeply, I can type it from memory some 30+ years later.

With liberty and justice for all.

Yes, we’ve failed in it. Fell short of it even back when we were writing “all men are created equal”.

But the promise. The promise of it sure is beautiful.

*If you want to keep the star spangled, purple mountain majesty vibes you should stop reading.*

I’m currently reading a book, Monsters by Claire Dederer. In it, she talks about art, and the flawed people who create it. As a critic, she wants to know the calculus of whether and how we can separate the good of what was created from the stain left by a deeply flawed artist. As we celebrate the birth of our nation, amidst Supreme Court decisions that have me in my feelings, I’m wondering the same thing about the US.

We are a country founded by men who owned men, who didn’t even consider women, who murdered and oppressed nations of people who lived and died here long before our country existed. How do we separate the good, the promise, from the stain left by these men? Can we?

I have no answers. I have a lot of doubts.

Happy 4th!

11 Comments

June 27, 2023

Tuesday Things

It’s summer. The days are an endless string of sunny and hot. Both of my children are the kind of brown I used to spend my days being (before we knew better). The Sun Bum I toss in their bag and my admonishments to reapply go ignored as they spend their days at the community pool either playing or working (depending on the child).

Abram is at camp this week. Violet is working. As I’m writing this, I can hear the clock’s pendulum swinging, the birds, a neighbor two houses down mowing. The laundry starts a spin cycle. I once longed for this kind of quiet. Now, I don’t quite know what to do with it. At some point they’ll both be home next week, watching some annoying YouTuber and bickering about who is taking up too much of the couch, and leaving the detritus of teenagerdom (chargers, earbuds, earrings, dirty socks, dishes, spare change) everywhere and I’ll wonder at myself feeling so sentimental. My feelings swing like the clock – just slower and wider.

I go to bed early. I get up early. Jesse and I sit and have coffee on the front porch until the house finches start harping on us that we are too close. I skipped hanging baskets for two years but forgot why. They are why. The baskets are absolutely destroyed. I don’t blame the finches- what a wonderfully safe place to build a nest if the humans are accommodating which, of course, we are.

We’re almost at the end of work without reward garden season. It won’t be much longer before I’ll start harvesting. We did more of fewer this year – tomatoes, green beans, pumpkins, cucumbers. Today, I weeded and thinned some of the green beans (I let them go too long). I smushed squash and cucumber beetles – resented the space I gave the garlic when I planted it last fall. (I can’t help but think of all the things I could be growing.)

I like to be busy with lazy things – reading, knitting, gardening. I organize drawers and sort yarn. I make lists of projects that need to be tackled and slowly, I tackle them. I putter.

Let’s talk things.

Watching: I ended up with a month’s free trial on Prime so had to watch Shiny Happy People. (The Duggar documentary.) Certain parts of it brought back things I grew up with in church that I hadn’t thought about for years. I talked about it with another person who grew up with an Assembly of God/fundie background and one of the things we realized is that our husbands (who did NOT grow up that way) noticed and focused on certain things, and we focused on very different things. I’m curious if there is a big male/female difference or a fundie/non-fundie difference (or both). I want to get to the last season of Mrs. Maisel before the trial expires.

Reading: Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter. It’s coming out in July and it’s very good. Dark. But good. I thought it was a quick read. (I go back and forth on whether the preprints/discount or book conversations are the best part of my job) Others I’ve finished: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai – one of the best and most beautifully written stories I’ve ever read. Top 5. The Daddy Diaries by Andy Cohen – I love him and I love his books. Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe – Great characters. Good debut novel. Will be interested in reading more from her. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boullay – This was hard for me to get into but once I did I really enjoyed it. I don’t know if the difficulty was caused by the small amounts of time to read when I first started or if it had been super hyped or if it was just a slow start – but by the middle of the book I was glad I stuck with it. Solid 4 stars. Currently reading: Trust by Domenico Starnone. My next TBR will come from the pile above – any suggestions?

Knitting: Finished Jesse’s socks. Have to get those blocked this week. The picture above is the yarn I received from Wool + Honey’s Sleeping Bear Dune Yarn Club subscription and it’s gorgeous. I keep going back and forth on whether I’m going to make socks with it next or really truly get started on my sheep pillow. (Probably socks.)

So that’s me! What are you currently -ing? Hope you are doing well and enjoying your summer. Look forward to hearing from you!

11 Comments

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Hi there, I'm Kate! I love yarn, photography, books, and a good cup of coffee. I blog like it's 2007. I write a lot about knitting, Netflix, and any other nonsense that strikes my fancy. Sometimes I get ranty. Welcome to my little corner of the internet!

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