Thank you for the art, David Lynch. You were amazing.

Ah, another week begins… I’m starting it off by wearing my cool new Doc Martens. They were a present to myself and I love them! It was a good weekend here. My parents came down yesterday for a visit and a belated Christmas. I made a mini holiday dinner — turkey breast, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and cranberry sauce. I gave my husband a Ninja Creami for Christmas so I also spun up a pint of mixed berry frozen yogurt for dessert. Delicious!

After they left we decided to watch an episode of “Man on the Inside” on Netflix, which turned into us binging the entire 8-episode series! It is such a sweet show — I highly recommend checking it out, especially with everything bad in the news. We also watched the new Goosebumps series on Hulu. We are big R.L. Stine fans in this house!

Not much to report aside from that. This week I am hoping to get back on track with my crochet projects. I have yet to finish my daughter’s infinity scarf, and I need to make progress on the two blankets I am making for the cottage. This coming weekend I’m taking a writing workshop with author Carol Goodman. I would really like to get back into a writing practice. Of course, I write a tremendous amount for my job, but reports and grant applications are not exactly the same as a story! When I saw this workshop being offered, I took it as a sign.

Fingers crossed my oldest may have very well found a full-time position! Not to jinx it, but he’s at the background check portion of the process! This week he is heading down to the city to look at apartments. I am very excited for him and hope it all works out. When I graduated from college I was hoping to move to Brooklyn (though I’m glad I ended up in Boston), so I may very well be living vicariously through him. 

Other than that, I’m trying to do my best to manage my news intake. Shit is absolutely bananas, but I also want to stay informed, so it is a delicate balance. I’d love to find some new blogs to read, but I haven’t had much luck in that department. Generally, I’ve been swapping my scrolling for reading, which has been fabulous. This weekend I started All Fours by Miranda July, which I think is great so far. I’m also listening to Watch Us Dance by Lelia Slimani for my Global Lit book club. I’m slogging through it. It’s OK, but not a book I would pick up on my own.

I guess that’s about it! My late meeting tonight has been cancelled so I am thrilled to get two hours of my time back. I see some Brooklyn 99, some eggnog ice cream, and crochet in my future!

Well, I will admit that I am quite happy the holidays are done and dusted. Don’t get me wrong – they were fun and they were fine – but I just wasn’t into it this year. I did take some time off around New Year’s, which was nice. We went up to the Cape, I did some organizing around the house, met a friend to catch up over breakfast, and started a new book (The Most by Jessica Anthony).

I didn’t do any of the crafting I wanted to do, and I spent the last weekend sick, but at least it is just a cold and not Covid, Norovirus, Bird Flu, or anything more sinister. So that catches everyone up.

Yesterday I tried my first new recipe of the new year — a recipe for Creamy Sausage Parmesan Soup that I’ve been seeing all over Facebook. It was a big hit and I’ll share my version later this week. Aside from that, it’s been pretty much “new year, same me.” I think the only thing I am trying to change is wearing less makeup. Perimenopause is wreaking havoc on my skin, so I’m trying out just moisturizer & mascara as my daily routine.

I’ve been working through a week’s worth of messages, emails, and to-do’s this morning. Ugh – sometimes I wonder if it is even worth taking the time off. Everything that I pushed to January since Thanksgiving is now sneaking back up on me! 

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge this day — January 6th. Four years ago I was off for the day and watched live on TV as violent rioters stormed the Capitol. Right-wingers can whitewash it all they want, but we all know what we saw happen in real-time. And it is a disgrace that the person who incited it all had his electoral win certified today. Note that the certification happened without incident and you will not see headlines like these showing up tomorrow:

Sadly, it is what it is and we have to trust that some of our elected officials are going to stand up and do the right things to protect the Constitution and the people in this country. 2025 is going to be a wild ride, that’s for sure.

Well, we have almost made it! Today may be Monday, but it is Christmas week which likely means a day off for most of us suckers who actually have to work for a living, LOL! We actually have tomorrow off too. Since we are always closed on Wednesdays I stuck in the 24th as a holiday. Personally, I am glad to see all the festivities winding down. 

It was a good weekend over here. Saturday I picked up my daughter from her friend’s house and then we braved the stores to get a few groceries for the holiday. We picked out the perfect prime rib, though, so it was worth the aggravation and traffic! We also finally got to try the salted caramel Frosty at Wendy’s and it was absolutely delicious! Better than I thought it would be, for sure. Yesterday I did a little puttering around the house, but spend most of the day watching movies and crocheting. I definitely needed an at-home day. (Not to mention it was too cold to step outside — I think it maybe got into the teens yesterday, but I am not even sure of that.)

Today I am just doing all the things here at work — payroll, drafting agendas for January meetings, annual appeal acknowledgements, etc. Not sure what I’ll do for dinner. Still figuring that out.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve we and will head to my mother-in-law’s, but Christmas Day we get to just spend at home (hooray!). We will have my parents over in a couple weeks. As I mentioned, I got a standing rib roast this weekend, so I will be making that on Christmas Day. I think this is the third year I’ve done prime rib and it is so easy and delicious! The bones make excellent stock, too. I look forward to some beef barley or onion soup afterward just as much as the steak itself. 

As for the rest of the week, it will be back to work on Thursday and Friday. We may head up to the Cape this weekend, so I am really looking forward to that, and then I am off all next week (yay!). I will be thinking of what to make for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. I would like to do stuffed shells for New Year’s, but that will depend on what my MIL makes tomorrow night. Sometimes she does manicotti and the two dishes are too similar to have within a week of each other. I know some people have New Year’s food traditions, and I always find those interesting but I can’t say that I recall any growing up. We usually had a New England boiled dinner for New Year’s — ham, carrots, cabbage, potatoes. It was not exactly a favorite of mine so it’s not a dish I make.

Well, that was quite a ramble for a Monday morning! Wishing you all a lovely week!

Well, here we are… December 2nd. I guess it’s officially Christmas season now. We had a nice, though busy, Thanksgiving weekend over here. Thanksgiving Day my MIL came up for dinner. Saturday was my parent’s 50th anniversary, so we drove up to Western Mass. and met them and my brother’s family at this wonderful German restaurant Munich Haus for a celebratory lunch. It was super fun catching up with everyone and because we were at a restaurant I think everyone could actually relax — no stressing about how clean the house is or cooking for 11 people. 

After that Drew headed out to our condo on the Cape (since he was just about halfway there already) so he could work on a few projects and go to the cable store today to get our service set up. Yesterday was back to college for Mr. Music, so most of my afternoon was spend on the highways of New York and Connecticut. And now it’s back to work.

I was able to get just about all my Christmas shopping done this weekend, and while all the kids were home I got a photo for cards, too. I’ll try to get those mailed out next week. This year I definitely feel like everything is just an item to be checked off a list. Actually, a lot of people I know feel similar. Not sure if it’s because Thanksgiving was so late this year or what, but I know for sure I’m not alone. 

Nevertheless, I do have a lot of holiday activities coming up:

• my daughter’s winter band concert
• the town tree & menorah lighting
• baking 4 dozen (!) anise cookies for the Friends of the Library cookie sale
• gingerbread house program and cookie sale at work
• staff appreciation lunch

Tomorrow Jake has an interview for a job he really wants so I am crossing my fingers and toes. It’s at a hospital in NYC, which is perfect. Close enough to hop on a train to visit, but far enough for him to be on his own. Public transportation. And it would be great work experience in his field before applying to grad school. His goal is to be a credentialed LCSW (licensed clinical social worker), and CUNY Hunter has a great program so any positive vibes are appreciated.

I have some crochet projects on deck, so I am looking forward to starting those. I’m also trying to find some lighter books to read this month, to try to get my mind off, well… everything. I’m almost done with Exit West, which is for my Global Lit book club. After that I am putting aside all of my history and political non-fiction until next year. So, I downloaded The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore for my Kindle. I figure it is probably cutesy and won’t take a lot of brain power to read. Plus it sounds like the main character has my attitude problem, LOL! Lesser Ruins by Mark Haber also just came in for me as a hold, so hopefully those will keep me occupied.

Well, I guess that is about it. On to another busy week!

One of my favorite quotes is “Silence is the best reply to a fool.” It is attributed to Imam Ali. I’ll see if I can take this advice to heart over the next few days. Godspeed to those of you who have to deal with, shall we say difficult relatives. And if you feel like you really can’t stay quiet, well… Sadly, facts are unlikely to sway them so maybe just double-down on their ridiculous claims and say something even more insane just to mess with them! This reel from Dan Donohue explains it better than I can.

I’ve had so many thoughts spinning through my head in the last 36 hours. I’ve plotted out a number of crafts I want to make, patterns I want to hook or knit up, and — surprisingly, since I’ve barely written this year — dozens of blog post ideas. More than a few of those won’t see the light of day but you know what? I’m really tired of holding myself back on my own blog. I have every right to say what I want. You don’t like it? You don’t have to read and you are welcome to move on to other things. But in the words of Frank Costanza…

I’m back, baby!

This is my space. I pay for the hosting. I own the domain. And at this point I don’t really think there’s anyone reading, so who the hell cares? So I’m returning to how I originally blogged 20 years ago. I’m going to write about what I want, and sometimes that is going to cover social topics and political issues. I love the news. I love following politics. I have bachelor’s degrees in journalism and economics and poly sci classes were some of my favorite electives. And I’m tired of letting people who, frankly, know less have the mic while I take a back seat.

I’m not saying that this is turning into a political blog — that is not my intention at all. It’s always been an online journal for me and I will continue to share my projects, recipes, flower photos, and book suggestions. But I want to be authentic and true to myself. I will do so respectfully, and hopefully with humor. Hopefully you’ll stick around. I am definitely motivated to write a whole lot more!

“Knit on with confidence and hope through all crises.”

— Elizabeth Zimmermann

To say I am disappointed in the outcome of the election, and in the majority of Americans is an understatement. I think we are in for some tough years ahead (socially, economically, and democratically), but all I can do is continue to make a positive difference in my community to the greatest extent possible. To quote an email I received this morning, “We have the opportunity to continue to be a catalyst to increase social cohesion by growing empathy, respect, and understanding among neighbors in our communities.” 

At the top of this post is a quote from Elizabeth Zimmermann. It has gotten me through trying times before so it immediately popped to mind. Crafting has always been an escape for me, grounding me when things seem to be spiraling out of control, and so I cast on for a new project today. I really didn’t know what else to do.

I am definitely scared of what is to come. But I am also encouraged by Vice President Kamala Harris, who said today, “The light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”

For now, I’ll just take it row by row.

One of my favorite sayings to encourage people to vote is Your vote is your voice! We have the right, and the civic responsibility, to cast our ballots every Election Day. We are given this gift to participate in democracy. Be thoughtful, take your choices seriously, and educate yourself on the issues. Here are some important things to remember if you are voting on Election Day:

What if my polling locations closes while I am still waiting in line?
STAY IN LINE! If you are in line when the polls close, stay in line. As long as your are in line before the polls closed, you may remain in line for as long as it takes.

What if I make a mistake on my ballot?
ASK AN ELECTION WORKER FOR A NEW BALLOT! Mistakes happen, but do not scribble on your ballot or cross out a choice. 

Can I wear clothes, buttons, etc. showing support for a candidate or an issue?
THIS DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU VOTE. Here in New York, the answer is NO. It is considered electioneering. It is best to err on the side of caution and leave that stuff at home or in your car.

What do I do if I am turned away at the polls?
YOU REPEAT THIS VERBATIM: “Please give me a provisional ballot with a receipt as required by law.”

What do I do if someone threatens me or tries to intimidate me while I am trying to vote?
VOTER INTIMIDATION IS A FEDERAL CRIME. Federal law says it is illegal to “intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose.” If this happens to you, there are three things you should do: 1) Report the behavior to an election worker. 2) Contact your local Board of Elections and report the behavior, noting the location, the time, and any other details you can remember. 3) If you think you’re encountering or witnessing voter intimidation, call the Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) to get voting help from a trained election protection volunteer.

Also, be kind to your poll workers! Although many receive a stipend, they are essentially volunteers.

Hello and Happy Hallo-week! I hope you had a great weekend, as I sure did. It was my birthday and I celebrated turning 49! I am not someone who gets down about birthdays, I am definitely in the “celebrate them!” category. As the saying goes, aging is a privilege denied to many and I am grateful for every year.

I kicked things off on Friday night, picking up my favorite combo pizza after getting my daughter from stage crew. Saturday (my birthday) was spent running around and puttering around the house. I made sirloin steaks, baked potatoes, and steamed asparagus for dinner. (Yes, I cooked on my birthday! It’s something I love to do!). And of course there was cake: a chocolate mousse cake decorated like a black cat. Adorable and delicious! Adams Fairacre Farms has the best bakery!

Saturday was also the first day of early voting here in New York. I have always voted on Election Day because my polling location is literally next door to where I work (connected by the YA books hallway, actually). But this year for a variety of reasons I decided to vote early. With so much at stake (ahem, democracy), I took the opportunity to cast my ballot and get it done. And I am happy to say I had to wait for about a half hour — turnout was amazing! I am always working to get people to register to vote so seeing this made me very happy.

Yesterday was spent catching up on housework and spending some time crafting (crochet and cardmaking). I made a pot of potato soup for dinner and we just continued with our “Superstore” rewatch in the evening because we were both wiped out. (D. spent the weekend re-roofing the shed.)

And now we start another week! It is tech week for the high school play, so lots of late night pickups are in my future. And, of course, Halloween! We live in a very rural area and don’t get any trick-or-treaters but we will do something special for Storytime this week and of course on Halloween itself at work.