It’s so hard to believe that summer is over. I only wrote a few posts; time passed very quickly. It’s certainly been an emotional summer, and I think that’s due to a lot of the recent changes in my house: Noah moving away, Jerry’s drastically different work schedule, Eli graduating high school, both kids working on time complete (with Jerry, no less!), our car situation, and a few other things. I’m still trying to get used to it.
Instead of getting completely overwhelmed trying to «catch up» here, I thought I’d go through my photos from the summer and try to write about a few key things (or just random thoughts). I actually don’t have many photos! Since I don’t blog, I’ve drastically reduced the amount of photography I take. I wish I had taken more, if only for my own memories.
Anyway, here goes…
*Remember when I wrote that I was FINALLY growing Asian pears after probably 10+ years of trying? I was so excited! Well, one day I went out to see them and they were gone. He disappeared, overnight. There was no trace of them left. I officially surrender. I hate getting my hopes up every year and then being disappointed, so I’m not even going to think about it anymore. I will continue to buy them when I see them somewhere and enjoy them even more.
*I bought a new rug for the living room. Exciting, right? Ha ha. The other one was definitely used, but it was also a magnet for pet hair. Joey liked to lie on it and even vacuum it daily, it was ridiculous how much hair accumulated. I have this shaggy rug and I love it! I was worried it would be difficult to clean, but it vacuums up easily.
*My friend Sarah came to visit from Arizona and I went to her mother’s house to see her (and her husband and kids). A friend of mine had told me about something fun and sneaky to do in random places: place a pair of googly eyes somewhere inconspicuous. I brought some to Sarah’s house because I thought her kids might have fun finding a place to put them to «play a prank» on their grandma. They chose to put them in their school portraits, haha! They were SO excited for her to notice that they could barely contain their laughter. When grandma realized it, she found it very funny.
*Luke and Riley came over and wanted to play with the skeletons. I couldn’t think of anything more boring, but they loved them! Riley even danced with one. (By the way, I’d love to do a post about skeleton Halloween decorations again this year. I’m not sure how many people still read my blog, but if you have any skeleton decoration photos to share, feel free to email them to me.) and if I get enough for a post, I’ll compile them closer to Halloween: Katie (at) runforcookies (dot) com.
*I sewed A LOT this summer. Probably a completely abnormal amount. But it has helped me with all the emotional things I have had. I really love making bags, but you can only have so many bags…so I branched out into other things. I’ll have to do a completely separate post (or series) on those projects, though: there are too many. The cats love everything that has to do with my sewing. I even built a little shelf to put on the windowsill in the sewing room and Duck sleeps there in his bed when I sew.
*My brother had his annual July party. I asked Luke if he would take me in his little… side by side? I don’t know what to call it. It is smaller than a side-by-side and safer than a four-wheel vehicle. Anyway, he took me around the property, which was fun. I told him I’d bet that if he drove people from their cars to the backyard, he could earn some tips… and he sighed and said, «I’ve been driving people around all day and I just want to enjoy the party!» » I thought it was funny: he’s seven years old.
*My dad sent me this text (out of the blue) and I thought it was so sweet. The top is cut off, but it’s that giant magnet that was on the side of our Ragnar Relay van in 2013 (when the documentary From Fat to Finish Line was filmed). There was a magnet for each person on our team and this one has been on the refrigerator in my parents’ garage ever since.
*Painted the «craft room» (since Noah moved out, I turned the spare bedroom into my craft room). I used leftover paint from Eli’s room and I was so sure I would have enough… but I ran out and only a small part of the wall remained. I didn’t want to buy another gallon if I could help it, and then I found a nearly full gallon of aviary blue paint that I used for the pantry. I used that instead and I love it! It looks so bright in there.
I also removed the carpet (it was really SO gross, I didn’t even want to share a «before» photo). Jerry installed the plank flooring. It still needs some shelves and things on the walls, but I’ll do that over time. I made do with what I already had, including a makeshift table made by simply placing a wide board on top of a couple of small nightstands. It’s not pretty, but it works!
*A photo of Jerry and the kids at work. They have different jobs within the plant, but they still see each other a lot. I still find it very strange that everyone works in the same place! (The kids only plan to stay there for a year while they save money and figure out what they really want to do.)
*I took my first plane flight since 2019. I used to rely on wine to help me on flights (I hate flying), but since I stopped drinking in 2021, I had to push myself during the flight. Luckily, the flight was super short…I just flew to the Upper Peninsula to visit Jeanie and Shawn. The airport I flew into was absolutely SMALL. This photo is of the entire airport!
It rained the entire time I was there, but I only went so I could visit Jeanie and Shawn, so the rain didn’t bother me. And I actually lost seven pounds, hahaha. Since I’m vegan, Jeanie thoughtfully asked me what I’d like in the store. I was only going to be there five days, so I chose a minimal menu: Larabars for breakfast, peanut butter and apple toast for lunch, vegan «chicken» nuggets and apples for dinner. I didn’t feel deprived at all and it made me realize how much late night snacking was hindering my weight loss. (Unfortunately I gained weight again when I got home, but I haven’t gained any more.) It was a good and relaxing visit!
*This completely scared me one morning. I was going to put some peanuts in the squirrels’ lunch box and to my surprise, there was a raccoon right by the door! Raccoons are the main carrier of rabies in the United States and seeing them during the day is extremely rare. Every time I started to open the door to scare him away, he started coming towards me. However, when I got my phone to call the DNR, it was gone. I haven’t seen him again.
[This reminds of a comment I got one time. I was out for a run and I saw a raccoon acting very oddly (again, during the day). I decided to call the DNR when I got back from my run (I didn’t have my phone with me). It was gone on my way back. I wrote about it on my blog, and someone who had always been super nice left a comment saying that I should have taken off my shirt and wrapped the raccoon in it and take it to get help. She was so angry that she said she was done reading my blog. Haha! First, I am not taking off my shirt in public unless someone is bleeding out and in dire need of a tourniquet and my shirt is the ONLY option to save their life; second, I don’t want rabies? Anyway, she followed through–I never heard from her again.]
*Jerry and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary last month. The night before, we both said we wished we had gotten gifts for each other (we had agreed not to). At that point, we decided to order something from Amazon, but we had rules: 1) It had to be next day delivery 2) It had to be under $25. So, we sat around looking at our phones (it was actually a lot of fun!) and at some point, one of us suggested we get a Squishmallow. I chose this alien from Toy Story for Jerry (sometimes we like to say the quote from the movie: «You saved our lives. We are eternally grateful.») Jerry chose this girl from Monsters, Inc. because her name is Boo. (He calls me Boo. It was perfect.) It was a fun gift exchange!
*Jerry and I went to Eastern Market in Detroit a few weeks ago. I always love going there! We bought a ton of produce and made it a point to use it all before it went bad. The cats were delighted that I brought them some cat grass. I tried growing it myself, but it never turns out that way.
*Since Noah moved, and since Eli will probably move in the next few years, I wanted to start a tradition where we have a plan for them to come every other Sunday for a super casual dinner and something small but fun to do. . They liked the idea and they (and their girlfriends) came. We made individual pizzas and then lit a fire outside. The wheelbarrow was next to the stove and we ended up having a wheelbarrow race and timing each other. It was so much fun!
Then Noah sat on Rose’s lap and I thought it would be fun if she was in his arms to eat his plum and drink his soda. Basically, she put her arms under his and went through the motions of eating and drinking while Noah couldn’t use his. They actually did quite well!
*My uncle Ron (my dad’s brother) and his partner, Renee, came to visit from Florida. I rarely see them, but he’s so fun to talk to (he’s had a great life; I’d love to write a memoir for him!). He and Jerry went to a Tigers game and then we met up with him and Renee. I wish it had occurred to me to take a photo with him; I don’t know if I have any. He loves to tell everyone he meets, «Hi, I’m Ron from Florida!» and he is so nice that people love to chat with him.
*I don’t have a photo to share for this one, considering the privacy circumstances, but remember how I said I discovered a first cousin through 23&Me? They were put up for adoption and no one in the family knew they existed until I took this test. We had been talking since January and last week they came to visit us and meet us in person. It was so much fun meeting them and we plan to keep in touch.
*Brian took Luke, Riley and my parents to Alaska. They had a great time! Becky sent me some photos and I was sure Brian had probably photoshopped this bear into the photo…but no, it was real.
*I know I said I would do a separate post for my sewing projects, but I’m really proud of this one so I’ll share it here. I made a quilt! I’ve never really had any interest in learning to quilt (and still don’t), but when I saw this pattern I couldn’t resist. And it was a simple pattern for beginners – an on-the-fly knitting appliqué technique.
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| I think my favorite cat is the one in the seventh row, fourth from the left. I don’t know why, but that one attracted me. |
I learned that 1) quilting gets VERY expensive very quickly, even for a thrifty person like me, and 2) it is much harder to do the actual quilting part (sew the backing to the top of the quilt) than I thought. I was surprised at how long the binding (the orange border) took; It is actually done by hand so that the stitches are not visible. It took me 11 hours!! I’m sure that for an experienced quilter, it wouldn’t take even half that time. But I actually enjoyed that part of the whole project the most. It was relaxing and I was able to watch like 15 episodes of Evil Lives Here while I was working on it, lol.
Here is the binding. I just have to prove it because I feel like I did a good job and where else can I give myself a pat on the back?
This was a great first quilt – there are no intricate pieces and I chose to make the outlines of each cat look like «doodles». It’s meant to look strange and a little messy, so my mistakes (and there are several) aren’t as noticeable. It has character 😉
Before I finished it, I swore it would be the only quilt I would ever make. And by the time I finished it, I was already searching Pinterest for other quilt ideas! It’s kind of like running… while training for a marathon, you swear it’s a one-time race. And then as soon as you cross the finish line, you’re already planning the next one. Anyway, I love how this quilt turned out – it’s not a «heirloom» quilt by any means, but it’s fun and definitely fits my personality!
