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Well, here we are again! Doesn’t it seem each year goes faster and faster? Yet what happened in 2018? Angst, worry, anger, and somehow we got through with much of our freedom and health still intact with hope in our hearts that it will remain so.

On a crafty note, I am so far behind in sharing the fun projects I got to make for Hat Huggers. So maybe I’ll start with a couple of the latest and over this month I’ll work backward over the past forgotten months of knitting/loom knitting. I’d start with what I’m working on but it is a present for someone and I don’t want to ruin the surprise.

The dolls are based on LoomaHat‘s comfort dolls. The blue hat was actually needle knitted.ย  I had a lot of that maroon and beige yarn so I made a few of these. Both are the usual hat patterns, with the 1by1 ribbing and the body of the hats knitted (the blue one I alternated regular (right hand) knitting and continental (left hand) giving a bit of texture.

***

On facing the future, I may have mentioned this to you last year, my friend and I try to write possibilities. We’ve been doing it for most of our adult lives. It isn’t resolutions which take willpower and belief beyond the normal range. Possibilities can be adjusted as you go or forgotten on purpose if not pressing enough.

This year I started with what I want to do. First is visiting with family and friends, regardless of how far away. I hope I can find a way to see many of them over this coming year. I’m happy I can see so many online, but that face-to-face/hugging stage is missing, you know? I won’t list them here to save their identities.

The want-to list brought up museums and lava sites and even a movie or two. Living an hour and a half from a major town means most trips are about grocery shopping and truck upkeep. So I’m asking my inner self for more energy to go to town for fun, too!

***

I had to give up my studio/hobby room when my son moved in last year. Now I find our place is tiny instead of roomy. So I added a clean/organize possibilities. I hope to clean a drawer a day (of the hobby plastic drawers.) I’m hoping to have drawers to put loose stuff roaming around the house (Yes, sometimes the four-footed polydactyl feline, Rosey, finds yarns and stuff to bring as ‘presents’ to us. It would be nice to keep my things cat-spitless.

AND the ugly one: clean the sweepers. I hate that job but vacuuming doesn’t happen with a hair-clogged mess. I may not be able to do the standup job as that job kills my back, but if I do the sit-on-the-floor cleanouts that don’t hurt so much maybe I can talk someone else in the house to do the sucking of the dust.

YUCK!!!!

Last on my list is to try and get here as often as possible to cover Jot It January, Reviews (books or entertainment), One-Liner Wednesday, Color Pages, Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Reviews of knitted creations, edits, and postings of my own books.

Oh, and I will finish those socks for my brother (they are a couple years overdue!)

Notice there isn’t a word about getting into shape or dieting? That doesn’t mean I won’t try as I can but I feel I already work hard at staying upright against arthritis and fibromyalgia. I do try always to eat right. But the pain makes getting out there, in the cold, next to impossible. Anyone know of a website for yoga/exercise for the couch potato or physical challenges? Preferably YouTube.

Jot It January and many of the bloggy adventures like the color pages, One-liner Wednesday, Stream of Consciousness Saturday are all brought to us by Linda G.ย  Hill. Join the fun!


2018 READING CHALLENGE

2018

READING
CHALLENGE
Congrats!

You have readย 80ย booksย of your goal ofย 80!

80/80 (100%)

Wandering Koala rides The Phantom Coach comic 1Wandering Koala rides The Phantom Coach comic 1 by Jeff Thomason
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Sorry, just couldn’t get into this one. Even when I finished, it wasn’t and I don’t feel like buying the next book.

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The Boy Who Flew With EaglesThe Boy Who Flew With Eagles by Ben Woodard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Overall, I loved this story. Having been on a female author/leading female character entertainment diet, I saw how female empty this book was. (My youth was spent on a diet fed to females by males).

Yes, the book spoke to sharing and caring for others on the planet, but it is entirely lacking female, except for the mother eagle. Even the boy had no mother or sisters. No human fem anywhere.

If, in fact, this kind of book was to help reluctant males to read, why do they go on and get better jobs and never get judged by what they wear or their size? If the males that read this kind of book were actually addressed, why is ecology poohed upon by the heavily male corporate and politicized world?

The overall lesson I learned from this book is that we have gentled males of their own responsibility for themselves and others to the point that if this book were about the female equivalent the boys wouldn’t have read it? How sad! Not only didn’t this story get the point across, but it also didn’t even embrace it, itself! Sharing and caring.

The minor truth was that father eagle flew away and gave the job to the mother eagle cause he couldn’t handle it!

No, I didn’t lose sight of the main objective of the book. It is marvelous that the boy got to learn how to fly and help the eagle family and eventually his own tribe. That is why the story got four stars. But the rest is lost for society.

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Little monsters, it's time to go to bed!: How to put little monsters to sleep with a toothbrush and dental floss (Bedtime Story Children's Picture Book, Ages 3-7)Little monsters, it’s time to go to bed!: How to put little monsters to sleep with a toothbrush and dental floss by Olivia Longray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When my second oldest was a toddler he saw the commercial about how the tooth-monster can attack teeth that aren’t brushed. I never had to remind him to brush his teeth. That was an effective commercial for him. This book would have had the same effect for him and probably lots of children who might be reluctant to dental hygiene.

The pictures are delightful. The fantasy goes a bit too far but it just gives the readers more pictures to enjoy and there is plenty of room for discussion about tooth care.

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The Alien Within: Book 2 of The Alien ChroniclesThe Alien Within: Book 2 of The Alien Chronicles by Robin Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think I like this book better than the first one. There was a little more sanity and well thought out decisions made. Of course, there was a little teen angst but it seemed the major characters thought with true love and caring for the object of the love.

The author chose to go into the heads of the major characters to give the reader insight into their souls. I think I would have loved this book as a teen. I liked it a lot as an adult.

The ending came far too soon but at the appropriate time. I can’t wait to read the next book! I’d love to see the author take us to the cloud to meet the other aliens that were still in their own form and see how this Alien turned human affects their thoughts and ways of living.

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50 Loom Knitted Stuffed Animal Pattern Collection50 Loom Knitted Stuffed Animal Pattern Collection by Scarlett Royale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is kept for its reference capabilities. I have not made every animal in the book. But I have made enough to know that I am happy to have the book.

One of the problems I have with the book is that sometimes the patterns can be confusing and there are a few errors. But the best part of this book is the links to the tutorials. They take you right to the YouTube teaching how to make what you want to make. My latest is the snowman, that looks so cute! And it had very little sewing.

I would like to someday get the paper version so I don’t have to be on the computer while making these little cuties. But in the meantime, this will do!

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My Alien (The Alien Chronicles Book 1)My Alien by Robin Martin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Though I have rated this three stars, I still went and bought the next book. I have to stay true to me and my feelings.

The first part of this book is a lot like The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Ugh! what a horrid book that was. So as this alien takes over this teen girl it feels just like that!

Then this turned into a YA. Yes, with all that angst! UGH! times two!

By this point, I was ready to throw the book away. But I couldn’t get my other book to load up. So I continued reading. Somewhere around the three-quarters mark, I somehow cared for a couple of the characters.

I didn’t like the ending, a bit of a cliff-hanger. But curiosity got the better of me. I want to see what happens.

If you liked The Host, you might love this book, too. If you love teen angst, this is right up your alley,

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The Walking Dead, Vol. 2: Miles Behind UsThe Walking Dead, Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us by Robert Kirkman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love two-parter, year-long Christmas gifts! You see I promised my adult son one Walking Dead paperback a month and promised myself the Kindle version for me. So I got number two at the beginning of this month as he already had book one.

I didn’t even bother trying to read the paper version. The font is too light. But I love the Kindle version. I can tap on any picture and enlarge it. Every aspect of the drawing is there, all the word clear. It makes me want to do a lot of comic books this way.

This particular volume takes us to the farm and Hershel and Maggie. It wasn’t as detailed as the episodes that we binged a few years ago. Yet it is fun to see how this story continued when it was fresh from Robert Kirkman’s imagination. I love how the show has tried to stay true and yet worked with Mr. Kirkman on new storylines to make a fantastic show about people dealing with survival.

Can’t wait for next month!

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Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins, #1)Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked up the combo-version for four Mary Poppins books. I got the Audible for the book for whispersynch. But I wasn’t careful and found out that the Audible version was just for the first book.

I called Amazon and Audible about the problem that I couldn’t read the next books with Audible or text-to-speech. They made it right and took back the Audible and so I will continue reading with TTS. But I wanted to make sure that folks understood that the narrator was fantastic. She didn’t play Mr. Banks very well but Mary Poppins and the kids she acted out quite nicely.

I read all these books as a kid so it is fun to read them now with an adult (some find that hard to believe) point of view.

Hope others get the chance to read/listen to these books!

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