Meet Melody

When I was 11 this scrawny abandoned 1 year old cat found me in our yard. I fed him chicken to make friends and he was ours from that moment on. We named him Blueberry and we I moved away with my little family he joined me. We lived many happy years together and then he went to the rainbow bridge last July as a very old, very loved old man. We had recently gotten another cat, our cute fancy tuxedo boy named Norman. After Blueberry died I couldn't deal with the thought of getting another cat yet.

And so the year went. It took me a long time to even consider getting another cat. Norman seemed like he needed a kitty friend to hang with and the kids have been begging me for it. So that's how we came to get a kitten.

Please meet Melody.

 

 

A happier kitten there has never been. Living among balls and balls of yarn? Yes please.

 

 

 

She fit right in immediately, after a few days of hiding under the couch of course. We named her after River of Doctor Who (Melody Song being her given name) and she is certainly living up to the name. Makes our days more lively for sure. She spends her days curled up in Alice's arms 'being rocked like a baby' or draped across some part of my body, purring like crazy. As my Mama would say 'she gets her engine running'! You can hear those purrs from across the room. When she's awake, she is AWAKE. Wide open. Zoom zoom zoom. Norman is finely warming up to her and they play all the time, usually resulting in someone fussing over the other biting too hard. It's new and fun and we're all learning together. So that's her! The new baby. We love her lots. 



Practicing Gratitude - Miss Mae

Life has certainly been a series of ups and downs the past few years. And I am not an optimist, I have to tell ya. I'm more of realistic borderline pessimist. It is hard for me to hope for things and I don't make long term plans because I don't trust things.

I might not be very optimistic, but I am grateful. Or I try to be. There is a lot of good here. So I'm trying to make it a habit to be more thankful and to acknowledge that gratefulness. Hopefully this will be a monthly or twice monthly post.

Today, I'm dedicating this to my daughter.

I am so grateful for Alice Mae. Miss Mae. Cupcake. Alice Mayhem. Al. She is strong, fierce, cuddly, kind, devoted, artistic, bright, hilarious, an amazing dancer, curious and so much more. She fills me up. I knew she would be ferocious and wonderful from the moment I knew she was growing in me. When I see 'though she be but little, she is fierce' I immediately think of her. That is SO her.

She makes us brave. I've seen her brother blossom and open up to people because of her example. She doesn't take any crap. If Oliver picks on her, she sticks up for herself. Turn music on and she will immediately start dancing. If there's a beat, she can't help but move! Her head bobs, her fingers try to snap, her hips move. She loves the beach. We are so alike in that. Mermaids that somehow missed our calling.

 

She is absolute sass.

 



 

I'm so thankful to have her, to get to be her Mama. She is a gift.

August Makes

I feel like August was a busy crocheting month for me. It just felt like a good time to spend a lot of my day on the couch and crochet as much as possible. I've been working hard at some wintery stuff for the family. Gloves, hats, scarves, the usual suspects. Fingerless gloves are my new love. I've made 3 pairs of TARDIS fingerless gloves for my nerds and the next thing I'm going to crochet is probably going to be Iron Man gloves. Oh yeah.

The list of makes in August-

- 2 twin sized ripple blankets
- 10 preemie hats, including 2 pumpkin ones
- pumpkin hat for Alice
- 3 bow hats for Alice, 1 bow hat for our niece
- a rainbow hat for each of the kiddos
- winter set for Alice (capelet, slouch hat, mittens)
- frankenbunny
- zombie tablet case
- a bag for myself
- owl hat, zombie octopus, nerd octopus, owl bunting for a friend
- bag for my sister's birthday
- bower bird wall hanging for mom's birthday
- 3 sets of tardis fingerless gloves
- a striped pair of fingerless gloves for moi
- about 60 granny squares for the Mario blanket (Christmas gift)
- cat toys
- 2 washcloths

That's a lotta stuff! I think probably the most I've ever made in a month, especially factoring in the blankets. I started them so early because they are Christmas blankets and I didn't want to be struggling to finish right before the holiday. Boom, done within 3 weeks! September is looking to be busy too. Trying to get more Christmas gifts made. I'm also doing a fair amount of cross stitching, which is a nice change. I almost think I needed it after all of that hooking.

Some peeks-

I rarely make things for myself so this tablet sleeve (and the pretty granny square bag above) was a real treat for me.

Preemie hats for the hospital.

 

 

 Miss Mae seems to love her bow hats. I think they're very flapper-esque.

More stuff for me! Fingerless gloves in the making, to match my bag.

 

 

I'm almost excited to see summer winding down and chillier weather approaching so that we can wear our fancy new crocheted stuff. Almost.