Tis The Season: Starting Thoughts

Now that Thanksgiving has happened and is in the past, it is officially the Holiday Season. Many holidays happen this time of year, and with those holidays come traditions.

First up on my personal line up is Gotcha Days. December first is Pho’s Gotcha Day, and the third is Erza and Gobi’s. A Gotcha Day is a celebration of the day that someone was adopted, be that children or pets. It is meant to mark the day that we got ya. Erza was adopted December 3rd, 2019. The joke that year was that our cats were our Christmas gifts from our parents, because those three kittens each chose one of my siblings and me. This year’s Gotcha Days will be mostly like regular days, with a little extra spoiling of our feline companions.

This is also the first year in a while that I have the ability to buy Christmas presents for my loved ones. My list is not huge due to my current means not being very big either, but I am excited to share some love with those on it. Gift giving has been one of my love languages for as long as I can remember. Usually involving little things that I saw and made me think of a certain person. And because it is one of my ways that I show my affection, I really struggle with waiting to give the gift. I just want to give it as soon as possible so that I can make them smile. One of my purest joys in life is making someone smile.

Over the years my family and I have come up with ways to assist me in keeping the gifts a secret until the actual holiday. I am not allowed to hide the presents in my own bedroom because that is way too much temptation. If I see them everyday, I just can’t help myself. So this year my sister and my mother have offered to hide the gifts so that I can’t get to them until it is time to wrap them. I will be using both spots because it is not like I can ask them to hide their own gifts. I am going to try my absolute best to not spoil the surprise this year. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

My sister has also resorted to rewards for me. One year we did gifts for my parents as siblings. K. told me that if I could keep it a surprise until Christmas morning, then she would buy me a box of candy canes. Because I am not a fan of peppermint, candy canes are always of the fruity variety for me. My Mom usually will buy me one box in the flavor of my choosing, and those are mine for the season, and I don’t have to share!

Speaking of yummy treats, we also do lots of baking. Cookies are the staple around here, there are many varieties made though. Russian tea cakes are one of my favorites. I have to restrain myself from eating all of them and giving myself a stomach ache, and then leaving none for everyone else to enjoy. Other popular versions of cookie are the classic peanut butter blossoms, sugar cookies, and spritz.

One treat that it can’t be the holidays without it puppy chow. Also known as muddy buddies, my family will make up giant batches of the stuff and store it in empty gallon buckets. We have to make large amounts because it is so popular with everyone who stops by and the entire family. One little taste is not enough to satisfy a craving that has been building all year. (And yes we are well aware that we don’t have to wait to make it, but it is our tradition.)

I hope that as we go through this season you all have warm moments that turn into cozy memories to help stave off the chill from the weather outside.

Happy Holidays!

Love Kesinee

Pet Bandanas!

I have been on a creation kick lately. Spending some time with the materials and creating a whole new thing from them has been making me feel productive with my days. The latest obsession started off with some fabric found on clearance at Wally world. I picked it up because it was a great price and the patterns fit the general themes that my family tends to gravitate towards. It was not bought with a project in mind.

It wasn’t until one night when I was chatting with my Mom in her room that I decided what project my three one yard pieces would be used for. I saw one of Maggie’s bandanas that she had gotten from the groomer, and it sparked a thought. I definitely had the skills and materials to make the fabric I bought into bandanas.

(Side note: I would like to thank my maternal grandmother for all the time she spent teaching me and having lots of patience. She spent hours with us grandkids, teaching us how to use a sewing machine. Because of her, I have more skills to help with creative problem solving.)

It ended up being one of my sleepless nights, giving up on trying to sleep at three in the morning, that I started my production process. I got up, got dressed, and started gathering the needed tools to work on my project. Cutting mat, ruler, rotary cutter, sewing machine, thread, and of course the fabric, were all placed on the dining room table.

I did not imagine that I would be doing geometry at 3:30 in the morning, but it needed to be done to figure out how big of a square I needed to cut in order for the middle diagonal, or the hypotenuse, was long enough to fit around the necks of my dogs. The answer, a 19 in square creates a 26 in hypotenuse, which is plenty big. I even measured my dog’s necks just to be extra sure.

So by the time my Mom was up and getting ready for work at 6 am, I had already cut out 4 bandana triangles out of each of the three fabrics, and was getting ready to start hemming the sides so that they stayed pretty and the fabric didn’t fray. When lunch time rolled around, I had 12 dog bandanas sewed up and ready for wearing. It might have been the lack of sleep by this point, but that success started a bit of a frenzy.

The next day I started the process all over again, thankfully around 5 am instead of 3 am. This time I had a different animal in mind. Erza will pretty much wear anything for me, and I thought I would give it a go to try and make some bandanas that were her size. This meant more early morning geometry for me.

The first set wasn’t big enough. The second was! I managed to get it tied on Erza. So I started sewing that set of triangles together. Later that afternoon though, I noticed that the point of the bandana, the part that you are actually supposed to see, was disappearing in Erza’s scruff around her neck. Kind of pointless to put the bandana on her if your were not going to be able to see it. So I set to work again, this time with two fat quarters that I had picked up.

For a cat Erza’s size, I need to make 12 inch squares. This gives plenty of tie length and the design on the bandana can clearly be seen while she is wearing it. I also think it is pretty safe to say that she enjoys wearing them. She helps pick out which one she wants to wear, and gets a bit upset when I take them off, pawing at them as if asking for them back. What can I say, my girl likes to accessorize.

Since I am a girl who is obviously a bit obsessed with her cat, I went into production mode once I found the correct size for her. Remember that frenzy I mentioned earlier? Well, as of last week, I have sewn together 32 dog bandanas, and 33 cat ones, for a total of 65. Don’t worry, I have give the majority of them away for other animals to be able to wear as well. Ruby, my maternal grandparents’ dog, looks extra pretty when she wears a bandana that features red, living up to her name. My paternal grandparents’ golden retriever Luna, posed for the picture that they sent with her wearing one of the bandanas I gave them. She obviously was feeling pretty.

Some of the frenzy has died down, but Erza is currently laying on my calves wearing a bandana with print on it featuring Hocus Pocus characters and sayings in honor of Halloween. I do plan on making more for future holidays and seasons as well. Obviously Ezra will be the most spoiled, and I might have to get a second bin to supplement her current bandana storage plan. For now though, I am pretty content with the productivity that came from this.

A Day For All Kinds Of Love

As we approach the Hallmark created holiday of Valentine’s Day, I have been thinking. I am single again this year, like always, so I may not have a romantic valentine, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have lots of love to celebrate. In my opinion Valentine’s Day has always been about showing those we love how much we care for them, and we have just lost sight and narrowed that view point down to just romantic love.

Growing up, my parents always gave each of us kids something on Valentine’s Day. Some of my favorites are my teddy bear that says you are my sunshine on it. My mom calls me Sunshine because she used to sing the song to me when I was little. I have always loved the song, so the nickname stuck. My mom and dad reminded us every year that love doesn’t just mean romantic partners. Love is a connection between people that truly care for each other.

Ever since one of my best friends has had her kids, I have started giving them valentines as well. This year I gave them little stuffed animals. A got a kitty, due to her love for them, and W got a dino that he has dubbed Sparkles due to the gold spikes on the back. I have gotten lots of pictures ever since I dropped the stuffies off with the kids, of them hugging them and playing. W has become pretty attached to his dino, and I am pretty thrilled that I could provide him with something he holds so dear.

When I gave the stuffies to the kids, I reminded them that Valentine’s Day is meant to celebrate all kinds of love. Family love, sibling love, friendship love, as well as romantic love, to name a few. As we approach and begin to celebrate the day of love, it is not only important to remind ourselves that it is about all kinds of love, but we should also show those we care about how much they matter to us more than just once a year.

Here’s to showing those we love how much they mean to us.

Momentous Moments

Thanksgiving was this past Thursday. Like most years I spent it with a large group of my family and lots of good food. My family certainly knows how to cook. Side dishes included green bean casserole, home made baked beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, and fresh home made buns, to name a few. We certainly don’t go hungry on holidays.

In the spirit of the holiday, I started to really think about what I have to be thankful for this year. I am incredibly grateful for my loving family and friends. I am always thankful for the good food and laughter that fills the day. And it may make me a crazy cat lady, but I will always treasure the fact that I have Erza.

This year one of the main family members was absent due to the fact that she was in early labor. My cousin welcomed a beautiful baby boy over the weekend and we couldn’t be more thrilled as a family. The new addition is the first of his generation, the first of the great grand kids for my Mom’s parents. (Another thing to be thankful for: my grandparents are still around to love on the new baby.)

With new beginnings come reflections, and I have been looking at my own life. I am certainly not were I thought I would be at 27 years old. Ten year old me thought I would be this incredible published author by now and that I would be married with maybe a kid or two. None of those things have happened yet, but I refuse to talk down about it. Just like choosing to be thankful for the good in your life, instead of focusing on the bad, I am choosing to use positive self talk.

When I finished college, a couple of my female family members continued to remind me to choose the words I use carefully. I earned my degree, instead of I have a degree. In this light, I am choosing to say when I am published, and when I find the right person to share life with, I am sure I will look back at today as the simpler times.

Overall, I am thinking about the moments that become so important to us and those we love that we hold them close to our hearts and protect them. I certainly count hearing about the new baby as one of those moments. Holidays with my family will always be high in the ranking of memories that I treasure.

Here’s to many more magical moments that turn into treasured memories!

Halloween Memories

Yesterday was Halloween. I absolutely adore Halloween, but have noticed a change as I have gotten older. Traditions and routines have changed with the passing years and I can’t decide how I feel about it.

Some of the favorite memories were the family time. Trick or treating involved all the grand kids getting ready in their costumes, then posing for a picture out on the front step with the pumpkins we had carved for the year. We would set off into the neighborhood and knock on door after door. Somehow the miles we ended up walking didn’t even phase our young bodies, we just kept moving if it meant more candy to add to our bags.

Obviously pumpkin carving is a Halloween staple. One that my family honored every year, including this one. Yesterday I spent two hours elbow deep in pumpkin guts trying to clean out the large cavern inside to allow me to be able to cut a super cute face on one side. I went for a traditional Jacko lantern face this year, with the one tooth on each side of the mouth. In the past I have attempted many of the fancy designs, and several even turned out great. There is something about the traditional face that keeps brining me back to it though.

I no longer get super dressed up, or go out to a party like I did as a kid. But I refuse to let go of a few traditions. I will try my best each year to carve a pumpkin, and get at least a few sweet treats to eat. And who knows, maybe if I have kids, they will get to enjoy all the traditions that I loved as a kid. A full circle moment would really make my heart happy.