An Anniversary, of sorts

My first blog, Yellow Rose Ramblings, made its debut on January 25, 2003, or just over 18 years ago!  It was followed on December 16 of that year with Furball Farm, which may be a more accurate depiction of my life.  

I think we had 16 14 cats then - who knows?  It all runs together after a while.  I had to check with the old blog, and what a hoot that was!  We'd just found our late cat FullHouse when Furball Farm started.  He was a lovely 14 year old when he died, shortly before we moved to New Hampshire.

At one point, it seems that blogs were topic-specific, hence the separate blogs for cat tales and for the rest of my life. I never pretended to have a knitting blog because I am not a fast knitter, and I don't follow the "flavor of the month" yarn or designer on a regular basis.  The blog has always been more of a diary of what's going on, what I'm making or doing or growing, or even cooking - sort of a slice of my relatively boring life.

I've not been a prolific blogger the past few years - too much work, too little time, not enough knitting.  I blogged regularly on BlogCity, and when they went kaput the blog bounced around quite a bit, looking for a place to call home.  It seems very strange to end up where I started!

The grind of moving is over and now it's time to begin getting back to a normal life, doing the things I love. And along the way, I've begun piecing quilts, in much the same way I knit: too many projects going at any one time, and too many dancing around in my head.

2021 has a different feel to it.  I'm more energized and more ready to share what's going on.  I want to give the blog a little more space, a little more consideration, and perhaps even a little more love.  Heaven knows, the world can use all the love it can get, and KnitsWithCats provides me with the space to spread a little of that love around.

I want a do-over!

I think we can all agree that 2020 was not the year we expected.  It certainly wasn't the year I expected when last I posted - I'd done everything possible to ensure a good year - the food, the rituals, the cleaning - and it just had no impact whatsoever.  We had a pandemic that got longer and longer and still haunts us, we had an election that was contested for no reason, and I'm sure there were other issues that I've forgotten.

At any rate, even if I want a do-over, it's not going to happen, so it's up to me to make 2021 behave and be the very best it can be for me and those I love, wherever they are.

So, at the end of December, I didn't kill myself to have a spotless house (difficult when there's still some construction happening, and boxes to unpack), or to have the perfect "good luck" meal - except for black-eye peas, which are good anyway - or to observe the various rituals.  We had a quiet evening, drank Prosecco, toasted the New Year and watched "Lovejoy" on Acorn for hours. It was a grand start to 2021.

So we can never speak of it again, and so I have a list of photos to post in the coming weeks, here's a wrap for 2020:

1. Spent way too much time working.  The Paycheck Protection Program and other bills targeting COVID-19 economic issues had us (my team and I) working 70 hour weeks for way too many months.  I did manage to take a lot of Fridays off, due to the company policy that limits my vacation carryover to 40 hours.  That has to be taken by March 15, so Friday off will continue.

2.  We did a lot of work on the new old house.  The master suite was finished and we moved into the bedroom and office, as well as a couple of closets.  I love the deck, and the view.  

3.  Despite our excellent timing (ripped the kitchen out starting March 1) we managed a complete kitchen remodel by the end of August.  We changed the orientation of the kitchen, ripped out 4 walls, created an eating area, a den, and a laundry room, and we love it!

4. Knitting and quilt piecing mostly did not happen.  I spent hours sitting at night holding my knitting needles and yarn, totally unable to knit even 1 stitch.  Still, I managed to finish 1 sweater that needed 2 seams sewn for 5 years, and 1 sock.  Embroidery also stood still.  Somedays I was able to stitch 1 length of floss, but not more.

I was so envious of knitters and quilters on social media who posted a new sweater or sock or quilt or other project every week or so.  Due to the issues mentioned above, and the fact that work was more intense when we all worked from home and couldn't go out, I was less productive than in many years.

5. My first New England vegetable garden was a success, much to everyone's surprise.  Tomatoes that weight almost 2 pounds, Rainbow chard that produced until Thanksgiving, lots of lovely basil - I can't wait to plant again in 2021.

So here's to blogging more often, and reconnecting with the self I feel has been pushed aside.  She's ready to come back and be present and connect with people in 2021!