Category: Wordy Wednesday

Wordy Wednesday

Wordy Wednesday: Grown Up

Karen

Our “baby” turned 31 this month.

I’m sorry – what?! Wouldn’t that make me and Kevin …….. OLD?!?

Seriously. How does this even happen? I look at him and still see my chubby, restless, blonde cherub.

He was 8 lb, 8 oz big when he was born. I could barely push his overly big head out. I would push and push and push and the little booger would slip back in once I took a breath.

Little stinker.

Once he was born, he didn’t make much noise and we worried about him for a little bit. But once he got the gunk out of his lungs … he CRIED. Boy has a strong set of lungs on him.

He was the kind of kid that when he got tired, NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING would distract him from sleep. He wouldn’t take a pacifier, but he wanted his blankie, he was my Linus baby.

He hated to dress up in costumes, like Halloween. He didn’t (and still doesn’t) like candy and then forcing him to participate in a holiday where you get candy … yeah – we tortured the kid.

We found this board in the back of his closet. In his old bedroom. Where he hasn’t slept in over 10 years.

This was for a school project.

(See the picture of him dressed up as a soldier? I told him to look mean but he was CLEARLY annoyed – haha!)

And that picture of him with his blankie? I still and will forever, see that face whenever I look at him.

We have truly been blessed with some great boys.

Who have become some pretty awesome people.

Crafting, Life, Wordy Wednesday

Wordy Wednesday: Being Crafty

Karen

I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m not a big crafter, at least, I didn’t used to be. Okay, I’m still not, but I do enjoy cross-stitching and diamond painting. I didn’t really get back into crafts until my dad died and I wanted to not only comfort my mom through the grief, but keep her company, have something to do with her, etc. So – I got back into it.

Now – every Saturday is mom day. We take turns getting together at each other’s houses every week. We go to lunch, watch a few episodes of Survivor, (we’re currently on season 16), then work on crafts together. Mom works on everything – she knits, crochets, paints, (her style is more whimsical and she will paint on bottles, saws, books – just about anything with a surface), works with plastic canvas, sews, (though not her favorite) … she pretty much does it all. My mom lives for crafts. It’s her lifeline, her solace, her happy place.

Right now, I’m just into cross-stitching and diamond painting though as I’ve mentioned I like felting and would like to get more into that, but for now, those are my go-to crafts. I like to sit down after work and cross-stitch while listening to an audio book. It’s SOOOO relaxing.

I won’t bore the non-crafters out there with too much more craft talk but I thought I would show you what I’ve been working on so far this year.

I apologize for the wrinkles. Obviously, I haven’t ironed them out yet, but you get the gist. I love to create, I hate to finish, lol. I just completed the truck at the top, it says “Welcome Spring” – you can’t see it very well because it’s white. Also, “Penelope”, the creature in the upper top left is on perforated paper. The umbrella and the bouquet of flowers are meant to “stick” to the “doll” when I complete it. I just need to cut them out, finish the edges and stick velcro dots on them. Penelope is one part of four “dolls” that are coming out in the Just Cross Stitch magazine this year. I might have them all done in time for the Christmas craft sale, we’ll see. I just enjoy working with the perforated paper. It’s obviously stiffer than Aida cloth but not as rigid as plastic canvas. It’s paper, so it will tear, but it’s sturdy and fun to work with.

I want to complete more cross-stitch ornaments, bookmarks and other projects before the Fall/Christmas sales this year. I need to ramp up my craft time!

Too bad work gets in the way. Ha!

Wordy Wednesday

Wordy Wednesday – Painting with Beads

Karen

Do you know what Diamond painting is? It’s basically paint-by-number only instead of paint, you stick beads, or “drills”, onto a sticky printed canvas. You can get them for dirt cheap on Temu.

(Or – at least you could back in the days of free shipping – now, with the Tariffs, shipping is more than your order!)

This is me, “painting”, (I use that term loosely because come on, I’m sticking beads on to a canvas, not sure it’s really classified as painting), in our cargo-trailer-converted-into-a-camper wearing my “Lost at Last” shirt that I only wear when we go camping. I’m sitting in front of our bed, which is on top of kitchen cabinets Kevin bought at Habitat for Humanity for dirt cheap.

We saw this idea on one of the hundreds of YouTube videos we watched from people who had also converted a cargo trailer into a camper and thought it was a cool idea – our “garage” is under the bed, on the other side of these cabinets. We use the cabinets to store our clothes and the long drawer you see to the left of me is one big cabinet that we use for our dirty clothes.

(Side note: I ended up selling that diamond painting in my mom’s craft booth).

Wordy Wednesday

Wordy Wednesday – Matching Pajama Bottoms

Karen

I made everyone wear matching pajama bottoms on New Year’s Eve. Me, Kevin, the boys, my mom and LeRoy. I’m the one wearing the ones that are too short. Come to find out, later, I had given my mom the Tall ones and myself the regular.

Oops.

I’m surprised the kids went along with it. I had forgotten to hand them out Christmas Eve and the boys just scoffed and pretty much said they wouldn’t have worn them otherwise. But come New Year’s Eve, they wore them. I think they didn’t want to disappoint me.

They’re such good boys – erhm – men.

We played a lot of games, ate a lot of food and watched The Day the Earth Stood Still. (Meh)

I ended up driving my mom home because she’s 79, it was pitch black on New Year’s Eve, at nearly 1:00 AM and you never know who is out on the roads at that time.

And now, here we are – already starting the FOURTH month of 2026.

STOP! Too fast, too fast! Slow down!

We will blink and we’ll be back in matching pajama bottoms, playing games, eating food and watching movies on New Year’s Eve.

Again.