Kristi and 2025

One thing that I left out of the fire page on this blog was that the next day after the fire, I had emergency kidney stone surgery. I get kidney stones too frequently. Most of them I can pass without medical intervention. But this stone needed intervention. I took an ambulance ride 50 minutes to the south for this surgery and a couple days of antibiotics and recovery. The anesthesia cause brain fog and made the days that followed even more surreal than it would normally have been.

On a bright note, for most of this last year I have been buying "replacements" of items lost in the fire. Frankly, it isn't a bad thing to have the slate wiped clean and be forced to prioritize what you really need or even want. 

My huge craft space era of life is behind me. I am not mourning it.  Just sayin'. I replaced my sewing machine and I have actually used it. I made blankets for my grandkids. Z likes cats and Parker plays and loves guitar.

My sister, Janna, lives in Pennsylvania. She drives down occasionally and we usually do some type of creative thing. Several times we have gone to a pottery place where we paint the plain ceramic pieces and then the store fires them up.  I also had fun dressing up as Strawberry Shortcake for Halloween (see below). For whatever reason, I started collecting art from Vincent van Gogh. Anything from puzzles to prints. I have enjoyed researching his life story and inspirations for his work.

 

My friend Kristine and I celebrated 40 years of friendship. We met in 7th grade Algebra class. It was the first and last time I ever had fun in a math class. I’m so grateful for that fortunate day when we bonded over country music. Checkout those 80s perms in this picture, over-plucked eyebrows, and my lazy-eyed Elvis sneer. Our blended families continue to be a blessing to us both after all these years. 😊