My latest podcast episode is finally up! I’ve had a challenging couple months here, but not unproductive! Here’s what I have to share in my latest recording!

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

Since the beginning of August, here are the projects I’ve completed:

This shawl was my Camp Loopy project for August (800+ yards), my finished shawl used 951 total yards. Camp Loopy is hosted by The Loopy Ewe, and by completing the full camp program, I earned some prizes to come at a later date.

This was the first of the projects I finished as part of the Pigskin Party, hosted by the Down Cellar Studio podcast. This five-month craft-along is one of my favorites, pushing me to complete projects, as I earn points toward entries in a grand prize drawing at the end of the event. Additional prizes are awarded to participants throughout the event which is loosely framed around the NFL regular and post-season.

My current active works-in-progress are:

Cast-on Conversations

Upcoming project plans include:

• Fancy Cardi sweater – also by Joji Locatelli, using another of my Irish yarn acquisitions – a cone of King Cole Anti-tickle Merino Blend, a fingering weight yarn in bright red.
• Cobblestone Intersections Cowl by Sarah Schira (Imagined Landscapes) using a couple skeins of purple Berroco Lustra I came upon in my stash.
• Potter Advent Blanket – by LJ Stone, to use the Bridgerton Advent calendar I got from Canon Hand Dyes

Exploits in Exercise

In my personal fitness journey, I hit a cool milestone last month. I celebrated my 500^th class at OrangeTheory Fitness. I joined my local studio right after my 54th birthday. I started off slowly, one class per week then two classes, and now my standard schedule is three classes a week. I’ve also taken classes in two other countries (Canada, England) as well as multiple studios within the United States.

In August I switched from the Fitbit Versa watch to a Garmin fitness watch. So far I’m appreciating the feedback from the watch and corresponding app compared with what I was seeing in the Fitbit app. Along with my Oura ring, I’m tracking a lot of data. I’ll share more on this in a future post.

Lastly, watching sports falls in this segment – and it’s (American) football season! On the college scene, I cheer for the Ohio State Buckeyes. This week will be their major test for the season as they travel to Oregon to face another top five team. As for the NFL, I root for the former Buckeyes across the league, but my favorite team now is the Houston Texans because they’re led by former Buckeye CJ Stroud.

Grandson Glimpses

This segment is quite emotional for me right now, and the primary reason why I haven’t blogged or recorded in two months. Back in July, my son informed me that he was moving his family from Columbus, Ohio, to South Carolina. I won’t go into a lot of detail as that’s not my story to tell, but it’s been difficult for me to process – and there were some struggles leading up to the move. This week will mark the first time my grandson won’t be staying with me on a Friday night (excluding when I was out of the country in April) in at least a year. I did my best to make the most of our time together these past couple months.

Our first visit to the Columbus Zoo to see the Chinese Lantern exhibit in early August wasn’t great thanks to lousy weather. So we went back with Zayne’s mom and half-sister. The weather was wonderful and we had a great time. We went back to the zoo for another day visit in September, too. And they WILL be returning in late October so we can go to the Boo At the Zoo event.

I worked in another portrait sitting with Zayne at the JC Penney Portrait studio when they held a “Wizardly Way” photography event. He’s not a fan of having things on his head (like hats or hoods), but between the photographer and I, we managed to get some adorable pictures in both a hat and the cloak hood. I wasn’t prepared to be photographed, but I appreciated the offer to throw on a cape and hat to join the fun.

Movie Moments

AMC A-List – I surpassed my goal of 50 movies in the theater during the year! Since my last episode, I’ve seen:

• Sing Sing
• My Penguin Friend
• Reagan
• It Ends With Us
• Kneecap
• Empire Waist
• The Forge
• Transformers One
• A Different Man

There are still lots of movies on my list for the rest of the year! I’d like to devote a blog post to some of my thoughts on the movies I’ve seen.

Small screen: I finished the rewatch of The West Wing series, and continued the watchalongs with YouTuber Kaiielle, making my way through the MCU movies and TV shows plus her ongoing watchalong for the non-MCU Marvel series (i.e., Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Daredevil, etc). I also watched Lessons in Chemistry, the Apple TV limited series starring Brie Larson. I finished that today in fact. My Apple TV “trial” from Amazon Prime Days is nearly over. With so many other subscriptions in my arsenal, I’ll likely drop this one.

Bookish Banter

I finished reading The Seat Filler: A Novel by Sariah Wilson, a while back. While I’ve been hopping around among a number of books, I’ve managed to continue my Kindle reading streak – currently standing at 346 days in a row, and 148 consecutive weeks.

The only other novel I’ve finished at this point is Just Folking Around by Penny Reid. This is part of a series of adult romances set in Tennessee – I previously read Penny’s series on the Winston brothers, and a number of them make appearances in this series, taking place in the same town. I finished the first book and am partway through the second, called Folk Around and Find Out.

Random Ramblings

With Zayne leaving, I started turning my attention back to my physical environment. Last year I had begun a decluttering journey, but my house needs so much more than just to be emptied of the junk. I do have some parts of the house showing terrible signs of disrepair, and I can’t put them off anymore. It’s good that I’ve managed to pay down a lot of my debts since I’m going to have to put some more money into the house.

I’m currently investing primarily in renovating the main bathroom. Last week I got a new toilet and then ordered a new bathtub and surround. I suspect the cast iron tub I have was part of the original house, built in 1950. I’ve been here for 24 years, so I can’t really complain about having to put money into it now. It will be a few weeks before the new tub is installed, so I’m working on sorting out the other work that needs to be done.

As for the decluttering, I made some good progress last weekend. The stairway to the second floor is clear for the first time in probably fifteen years – I needed that so I can haul up some of the appliances that are taking up space in the kitchen. I also have stacks of Styrofoam and cardboard in the back of my car to take to a recycling center. Bit by bit, I’m feeling better as space is cleared. And I remind myself pretty much daily that Progress is more important than Perfection.

Knit on. 🧶