The last few weeks have been busy. Probably no surprise there. I have lots of unrelated things to share, most of which don’t really need whole separate posts, so I’ll just list them out here in no particular order.

1. After much work and a bit of shouting and crying on both sides, my two older kids passed every single class this quarter. They’ve been struggling with motivation, partly because that’s how young teens are and partly because of various pandemic issues. As crazy as education has been the last few months, their grades count and they really don’t want to be repeating math or photography class over the summer, so they both managed to get their act together just in time to fix their grades and avoid that. With some serious hand-holding from me, but still. Success!

2. We found mice in our garage. They bit through a bag of birdseed we were storing. The kids and Robot have spent part of vacation cleaning out anything that mice could use for food or nesting and setting snap traps. I’ve got nothing against mice generally, but I defend my territory mercilessly. The kids were a bit sad for the mice we caught, but generally willing to help out. When the zombie apocalypse comes, they’ll defend me well from the hordes.

3. I finished the Berthe Morisot sweater. I haven’t blocked it yet because our kitchen table is covered in Lego Winter Village, but it’s pretty nice the way it is. Turns out I don’t love the way the neckline sits on me, though, so it might end up in the closet as a back-up sweater or something the kids can borrow when they’re cold. I took pictures; you can tell I’ve all but given up on hair and makeup these days, but the sweater looks good.

4. I’ve also started a blanket, but I plan to work on it a little at a time between bigger projects so it won’t be done for a long time. I’m choosing my favorite textured squares from this Stardust Melodies crochet-along book I found on Ravelry. So far they’ve been fun and not too difficult.

5. I also finished reading Lady Audley’s Secret, by M.E. Braddon. It was truly delightful. The characters were relatable and interesting, the plot nicely twisty and suspenseful, and the writing was quite vivid and often funny. It was so good that instead of moving on to another author, I’ve started another book by Braddon, Aurora Floyd.

6. Our Solstice feast was lovely, though it was too cloudy for us to see the cool planetary alignment/Solstice star. It’s been nice having a break from school, and we decided to spend it mostly off our various screens so we’ve been reading and crafting and playing games this Yule season. It’s been so restful I’m planning to continue some screen limits into the new year. Technically, I know, I’m on a screen right now but the kids are out to play and this is still a pretty constructive use of the computer. 😉

We had a lovely gift exchange for Christmas and I got mostly yarn, of course. Yarn has been a big help getting through these hard times. It feels nice, occupies my hands and brain, and it’s good to be creating something orderly amid all this chaos. I got some smaller interchangeable knitting needles for socks and lace and such, so now I have to learn to knit socks and lace and such.

I also got a beautiful book of Japanese knitting stitches from Mr. Robot and a fun cross stitch from one of my sisters. One of my other sisters sent me a cool Shakespeare-inspired witch tote that’s currently holding all my holiday yarn.

7. On a slightly sad note, the Ghost Story Guys have parted ways. There’s clearly some drama around it, and it’s sad because the two hosts were great together while it lasted, but it honestly sounds kind of inevitable. People often have different ideas of what a fun hobby or side project is supposed to look like–often one person begins to take it very seriously, putting in a lot of work and ambition into it, while the other wants to keep it casual forever. Often, the casual person still feels a sense of ownership and hangs on way too long despite their heart being elsewhere, and the project either falls apart or the partners part ways with some amount of tears and drama. As far as I can tell, that’s what this is and I feel for both sides. Crap way to end the year for them. Sounds like one of the hosts is hoping to keep it alive in some form, but the old chemistry will obviously not be there. Here’s hoping for something good.

8. In happier podcast news, have I ever recommended Three Spooked Girls to you? They do some excellent true crime podcasting–well researched but presented in a friendly, gossipy way that’s fun to listen to. They also sometimes talk about paranormal stuff, too, if you like that sort of thing.

I think that’s it for now. With the no screen thing, I haven’t watched any new movies lately. Nothing new on the music front either–we’ve just been listening to holiday music mixes all month. I hope all of you are safe and warm and comfortable in this cold, dark season. May we all have a happier new year.