I am a foodie!

Good thing I didn't make a resolution about posting every day, as I would have already failed at it!

 That said, I was showing off some of the presents I made with my own hands, and now it is time to show off some of the wonderful gifts I received.

One thing you need to know about me is that I love food (and it shows on my waistline!) and people that love me are fully aware how to shower me with things I like.

My friend from Germany, send me a lot of pasta and sweet straight from Italy (where I come from)

My lovely students also love to show me their appreciation with food. Not pictured are Christmas crack, fudge and Italian panettone as they were gone (in my belly!) before I could take pictures. But I took pictures of the dark chocolate Lindt Lindor and a box of Italian treats that I am leaving for a special occasion

So, in case you are wondering what you get me for next year.....enjoy the next few posts full of ideas!

What did you get for Christmas?

Happy 2026

I have been struggling with what to post.

I was looking for something useful.

Something inspirational.

Something uplifting.

I am not one for new year's resolutions, especially after this year when I just barely made it through.

But I figured I would put it out there, in case you too, just like me, barely survived. 

I want to tell you that it is ok, and I am proud of you for being here, now.

Let's focus on being here, right now and don't worry too much about the rest, because ready or not, it is going to happen anyway. 

Whatever 2025 threw at us, we made it through, and we will do it again for 2026.

Let's talk about something else......

What are you listening these days? Let's connect on Spotify or youtube

Gifts I made

 I always enjoyed crocheting. Around the holidays it becomes stressful though. The pressure is on for gift giving and your body engine light is on for rest and unwind. But the doctor said I needed to make time to slow down and meditate and do something I enjoy, so off I went into the quest of doing something I loved but was also useful and productive because my brain cannot simply accept the idea of doing things just for fun.

I started with these lovely Christmas stars to give out to students as they brought me sweet Christmas gifts and literally made tons of them, so I started to use them as gift toppers as well. I wish I could remember where I got the pattern from, but it doesn't look like I saved it, which makes me sad as I want to make more even though I have plenty of them left. they were very well received, but if I had to do make them again, I'd probably double them and sew 2 of them together to give them a sturdier look. They also came out slightly bigger that I'd like.

Then I found this lovely tree potholder pattern, and I just fell in love with the simple both high end look. So here is a picture of a very happy friend that enjoyed her gift very much!

Halfway through making those, I realized I was running out of time and still have a few to make, so I switched to candy canes potholders.

These went way faster, and they were just as enjoyable and really helped me to get in the holiday spirit. I still have a few leftovers as I ended up making way too many as usual.

I love that everything I made was red, green and white, the traditional Christmas colors and made with eco-friendly cotton. Very different from the cupcakes I have been known for years back.

For the stars I went crazy and instead experimented with a lot of different colors and materials because why not?

But don't be fooled, these are not the only things I made and gifted. Some things are still in the making, and some others are still traveling, so I will definitely be posting more.

What about you? Are you a crafter of some kind? What did you make? Care to share? Go ahead and entertain me!

Going back

Not sure what happened, when I decided that I was not going to write any longer. I didn't even leave the last post as a cute, cheery goodbye. 

I blame the reel feature and the video blogging trends for putting writing on the back burner. But that it so not me, and I didn't even realize how much I miss writing. Words are powerful not matter what, but the willingness to put things in writing is superior in my opinion. Fight me if you must. 

 So, I am back! I am going to take up on writing again. Random thoughts, random things. Just a mom, a teacher and a crocheted trying to make sense of this world, trying to be less sad. 

What is this post even about anyway? I don't really know. Maybe to fill a void, maybe to scream into the void knowing that nobody will listen. 

 Why is the time after Christmas always so depressing? I used to get excited about new opportunities for the new year, now I just feel like "what now? how much more can I handle?" The answer is "infinite amount" it seems. 

 Why so gloom? I blame everything on hormones, it seems to be the answer for everything lately, which let me tell you, it just sucks. Now excused me while I go scratch the inside of my ears...