iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Have a scratchy allergy throat so I made a crockpot recipe for chicken and rice soup. Unfortunately my crock pot is too small so I didn't have the space to add heavy cream at the end. Still tastes good though. I'll try it again when I buy a larger crockpot. 🙂 (Soup tax)

White bowl full of chicken soup. Broth is barely visible around the outside of the bowl because the middle is piled full of shredded chicken, chopped celery, white and wild rice, and crinkle cut carrots.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

And since it is a sculpture garden, a couple of my favorite works. "American Horse" based on Leonardo DaVinci's concept, and "Neuron." I'm glad it was a sunny day because it showed off the detail on the neuron especially, it sparkled like it was alive.

American Horse bronze sculpture, side view. Note the person standing next to its foreleg for an idea of scale.

American Horse from the front. This was extremely popular, basically the symbol of the gardens. Similar to how the lions are all over items at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Massive shining steel sculpture of a neuron in a field, with twisty dendrites extending in all directions.

Another view of the neuron sculpture showing it extending toward the bright blue cloudless sky.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Pictures coming, I'm going to try to describe them in the alt text or at least give the title of the work.

Twisty glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the visitor center. It looks like a tangled of gold and white tentacles with a backdrop of a roof full of skylights showing a clear blue cloudless sky.

A rainbow of colorful glass flower forms scattered across the ceiling of the cafe in the visitor center. Mostly red and gold, but green and blue glass is visible farther into the room.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I think I'm done. 2 coats of the breezy blue to cover the previous darker blue, now to wait until it's fully dry and see if I missed any spots. Still a lot of work to do, but the rest won't involve stepladders and drop cloths. 🙂

Blank featurless wall, but it is freshly painted light blue. A plastic dropcloth is taped to the base with blue painters tape and a tall stepladder is standing in the corner.

Corner of a room behind a door. On the left side is the new paint color, a light bright sky blue called "breezy blue." On the right side around the door is the old paint color, a much darker and deeper blue which was called something like "Montana sky." Nice but I was tired of it and ready for a new color.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Came across this book in a catalog while I was sorting a pile, and I'm tempted to get it - except I'm pretty sure it would just be one more piece of clutter. I KNOW what I need to do, just finding time and motivation and energy is the hard part!

Picture of the front cover of a book on a catalog page. The book title is "Nobody Wants Your Sh*t - the art of decluttering before you die."

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Took 164 balls of yarn to donate, some of which I think I moved into my current house (where I have lived for 20 years lol). Then right away bought some more yarn, HOWEVER it is bulky weight instead of fingering so fewer balls, and also will not hang around because I have plans for it already!

Two large plastic bins full of mostly fingering weight yarn (individually packaged in plastic ziplock bags to keep it free of dust and pests and keep the label with yardage, dye lot, fibers, and care instructions from getting lost) sitting on the grass next to my driveway. Next to the 2 bins are 2 paper grocery bags, ALSO full of balls and hanks of yarn. Total is 164 individual balls and it barely made a dent in my enormous stash.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Hard to get motivated on a gray rainy day when my dog is clingy because of occasional thunder. 60 furry pounds in my lap doesn't allow me to do laundry very well.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Then I asked her "are you ready to face the day?" like I do every morning and she rolled over and snuggled underneath her fleece blanket and went back to sleep. So that would be a NO. 😄

Brown and white dog snuggled and sleeping under a pastel blanket. Even in summer she loves her blankets.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

My municipality has names for their garbage trucks and snowplows, and they were running earlier than usual this week so I was just leaving for work while they picked up my trash. This was the truck on my route this week. 😄

The side of a regular yellow garbage truck stopped at the side of the road to pick up my garbage. The name is clearly visible on the side. My trash was collected this week by "Obi-Wan Binobi."

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Crocheted a MASSIVE fleece blanket (6.5 pounds yarn, and it was weight 7 jumbo!) then after some thought decided it is far too heavy for me and much larger than I can reasonably use. So I asked my nieces if they wanted it and now it has a new home! One said it's AMAZING, she loves heavy blankets❤️

Crochet blanket spread out on queen size bed, almost covering the entire top of the mattress. It is a very heavy weight fleece yarn, resembling sherpa fleece, and is mostly navy blue with a border in cream and then another outer border in charcoal gray. The photo doesn't show it but it was about an inch thick when I was done! So far, FAR too heavy for someone dealing with hot flashes lol.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Absolutely sure I'm not the only one with this sentiment. 😄

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Got this wire-wrapped pendant from @oishinythings.bsky.social , it's absolutely beautiful! My new favorite (and I have a thing for labradorite, obviously, from the others I have). 🙂 Thank you so much, it is spectacular. ❤️

Hand holding gorgeous labradorite pendant. It's a polished oval with luminous bronze and blue vertical banding, and wrapped with silver wire in a network pattern around the outside, with a fancy wire-wrapped bail on the top. It is suspended on a fine black leather cord.

Hand holding 3 simpler labradorite pendants, 2 polished ovals and a teardrop shape. The larger oval is mostly blue, the other 2 are mostly bronze. Each of them has a bail glued to the back, no wire-wrapping or anything fancy. Nice but not spectacular.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Ugh. Since late yesterday everything outside has reeked of smoke. Even my dog's fur smells like cigarettes when she comes inside after a potty break. The haze is visible just across my street! If it's this bad so far away from the fires, I can only imagine what it's like for people evacuating. ☹️

Screenshot of the EPA AirNow app for Saginaw, MI. The AQI (air quality index) is currently way over in the maroon region at 359, which is described as hazardous. Text below the graphic reads "Wildfires in MI."

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Looks like sea glass in beach sand. I like this color combo. 🙂

Start of a new crochet project resting on my pant leg. A circle in single crochet worked with a 10 mm hook and 3 strands of worsted weight yarn held together. Colors are spring green, aqua, and sand.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Well my parents officially foster-failed again. Their original plan was to look for a senior dog to adopt, one that matched their energy level. Instead they have a young, fluff-for-brains doodle because "he needed us." 😄 This muppet is named Ranger.

A very fluffy golden doodle dog sitting on a brown carpet in front of a green couch. For some reason (probably that he's not all that bright) he has he front legs both to the left side of his body instead of one on each side like a normal dog.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

And last but definitely not least Spinosaurus. Hilarious that the biggest predator was put closest to the children's garden play area lol. Up to 55 feet long, from Africa, early Cretaceous. This model was placed so you could see it a long way off, very impressive.

Spinosaurus model visible across a large lawn from a fair distance, showing how huge it is. Bipedal but holding the body close to horizontal, it still towers over the people around it.

Spinosaurus model from closer in and facing it, the head full of sharp teeth is quite a bit taller than I am and towering above the ornamental grasses.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

A pair of Kentrosaurus, stegosaurs which look like walking pincushions. They have plates but mostly long spikes. About 18 feet long, from Africa, and would have legitimately belonged in Jurassic Park (late Jurassic period). For a predator it must have been like attacking a porcupine. 😬

Two Kentrosaurus facing each other, both on all fours, as though they are arguing over a parking space or other valuable territory. They have the typical double row of stegosaurus plates, but they only extend to the middle of the back from the head. The rest of the back, the tail, and both shoulders are adorned with enormous spines - basically like Triceratops horns were grafted onto them.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Protoceratops, about 6 feet long, from Mongolia, late Cretaceous. Pretty much everyone who knows anything about dinosaurs probably knows what this one looks like, I've seen illustrations of it in every dinosaur or prehistoric animals book I've had since I was a child.

Protoceratops in short vegetation, showing off the frill and parrot-like beak as it faces to the left. Not nearly as cute as the Minmi model but not every animal can be adorable. Might be an herbivores but the beak is a little intimidating, looks like it could do more damage than just a regular mouth.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

My favorite dinosaur, TRICERATOPS, up to 30 feet long, North America, Cretaceous period. I think it's funny that there is also a Tyrannosaurus rex in the exhibit, but it is aaaaaalllllllll the way over on the opposite side of the botanical garden. No chance of conflict lol.

Triceratops model in vegetation standing underneath a tree, facing the camera. The model makers chose to go with a dark brown on medium brown striped pattern for the body, which I personally like.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Herrerasaurus, about 20 feet long, South America, late Triassic. A bipedal carnivore with a long, stiffened tail and definitely not a dinosaur I would boop on the nose. Looks like if he had pockets, he'd have a switchblade in them.

Herrerasaurus standing in vegetation. This model is posed with head low and pushed forward, and arms in front as though it's ready to snatch at prey. Looks pretty mean.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Minmi, about 6 feet long, from Australia, early Cretaceous. This little 4-legged guy is covered in bony armor and honestly looks quite cute, with his little spiky rows along his back and little rounded nose. Might boop if it wasn't for the signage telling me not to touch the exhibit.

Minmi model dinosaur in green vegetation, facing the camera.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

My town (and really the entire state of Michigan) right now. Especially fun when two simultaneous nearby construction projects have posted detours that run into each other because they are being done by 2 separate companies.

Photo of 3 construction workers in high visibility vests, 2 with hard hats, standing by the side of a city street. One has their arm extended, pointing off to the side and all the workers are looking in that direction.

The caption reads: You see those vehicles taking an alternate route over there? We need to start construction over there too.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

I'm going to call this my insomnia basket since I was working on it until 4am. Coming along nicely and I think I've found a way to use up random worsted weight yarn and make something useful out of it. With a little luck I might even have it done today since I'm more than halfway there.

Inside of a circular crochet basket in progress. Made with 3 different shades of green held together for a tweedy look that gives interest to really, really basic stitching.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

I'd be more productive if I didn't start a project, decide I had a different idea so restarted it, then decided I hated the *entire concept* so unraveled it and started something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. I guess 3rd time's a charm? Maybe???

Start of a new crochet project, beginning with a crocheted circle using a 10mm hook and 3 strands of yarn held together. Using 3 shades of green, an olive green, a Kelly green, and a lighter emerald green. The first stitch of thr round is marked with a dangling piece of white yarn.

Unless I pull out the stitches for the third time, this will be the bottom of a round storage basket. Fingers crossed because I've already made 2 aborted attempts today.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Snake in the grass. Got this kit for a giant crochet snake about 6 feet long a while ago, and it sat unfinished for too long so I finally got it done. Where he will live i have no idea, but a finished object is always better than an unfinished object. 🙂

Crocheted snake laid out on a lawn. Made with bulky chenille style yarn in a light aqua for the mail color, wirh stripes around the body in a variegated pink-blue-green colored yarn. Has black eyes embroidered on the head.

Same crocheted snake curled up on a fleece throw blanket.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Volunteered this morning to help pull tulips and some daffodils at my local botanical gardens. I learned last year to bring a collapsible cart because our "pay" for about 90 minutes of work is as many bulbs as we can carry! It seems such a waste to compost them so I FILLED my car for friends. 😀

A bunch of uprooted daffodils in a cardboard box. Most are just the leaves and stems, but a pale cream flower with a creamsicle-orange center is visible on one of the stems.

The back of a compact SUV full of plastic bags of uprooted tulips and daffodils. Four overflowing bags are visible across the width of the vehicle - not visible are another four bags behind that row of bulbs! All of them are full of a wild jumble of tulip leaves, with some shriveled petals visible in yellow and a faded red interspersed among the leaves.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Decided my decluttering task for today will be DVDs and CDs because they are all collected together and should be relatively easy to go through. Unfortunately I actually had THREE bins of CDs stashed under my bed instead of the single one I thought I had! 😕

Plastic storage bin opened to show it contains 52 CDs in their jewel boxes. This is one of three identical bins that I had stashed under my bed to "sort through later" and rather foolishly I decided that "later" = today.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

This is their yarn library. I'll have to pace myself to not overwhelm with donations lol.

Picture of the yarn library setup at my local public library. This is in a large room just inside the entryway, next to the circulation desk. Two 12-cube storage units with square mesh bins, most of the bins have labels attached with the description of the contents - "blue acrylic", "brown acrylic", "scrap acrylic", and "specialty yarn" for example. The bins contain a wide variety of yarns of that color.

The sign on top of the storage units reads YARN LIBRARY - Take what you need and leave what you don't!

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

More butterflies from this morning (2 of 2).

Blue morpho resting on a leaf, wings together so the brown spotted underside is visible.

Blue morpho with the wings spread, resting on my hand. Everyone loves the iridescent flash of blue on the upper surface of the wings but they don't usually sit with their wings open. The borders of teh wings are black, with blurry lighter spots along the edges of the wings.

White peacock butterfly resting in the sunlight on a bright orange flower.

Clipper butterfly resting on an orange flower against green vegetation. The color pattern on these is so complex, with the brilliant white patches bordered by black veins on the forwings, blurry black and blue-green streaks extending along the length of the hindwings, and the black and aqua stripes extending across the butterfly body and into both forewings. Most butterflies just have plain dark bodies so seeing a clear pattern is striking.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

The butterfly event at my local botanical gardens is winding down, so my morning preparations are much quicker and I had time to take some photos this morning. Plus it was SUNNY before it starts raining again. Sharing for anyone who wants a little color. 🦋 (1 of 2)

Three butterflies resting on orange flowers and vegetation, basking in the bright sunlight. From left a rusty-tipped page (wings black with rust tips, divided by a cream band), Julia longwing (solid orange long wings, with a blurry black border and a couple indistinct black bars on the forewings) and a white peacock resting on a yellow flower (wings with a white background and orange and black narrow outer borders, covered with orange and brown-black spots and bands).

Rusty-tipped page butterfly resting on a bright orange flower (zinnia?) illuminated by brilliant direct sun.

A longwing butterfly resting on a smooth green leaf basking in the sunlight. The butterfly is black with very pale lime green bands on the wings.

Four butterflies resting on smooth, shiny green leaves in the direslct sunlight. Two of them are postman butterflies (longwing butterflies, mostly black with a couple red and white bands on each forewing), one is the underside of a blue morpho resting with wings together so you can only see the complex pattern of brown spots and bands, and what I think is a ruby spotted swallowtail on the far left (black wings with large cream and reddish-pink patches on the hindwings).

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Mine would just have a picture of my dog lol.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

The weather is so very gray and everything is flooding (I'm fine, just the normal low land near the river is underwater and the regular roads that always close when there is a lot of rain are closed) but I did get a couple of nice butterfly pictures this morning.

Isabella longwing butterfly resting on a deep orange flower with green vegetation in the background. Color pattern is a very striking orange and black, with a couple blurry cream bars near the tips of the forewings and a few black tiger stripes along the length of both wings, extending from the body out. In spite of the bold pattern the orange color does somewhat camouflage this butterfly against orange flowers, so it will sometimes surprise kids when they are looking at the flying butterflies and suddenly one of these flies right in front of them.

Paper kite butterfly resting on vegetagion, with a group of brilliant pink flowers in the background. Lots of people call this butterfly a "white monarch" because that's what it looks like. White wings with a complex pattern of black lines and a couple small spots of orange at the border of the hindwings near the body.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

So glad my housemate doesn't expect conversation because after 2 tour groups at work and a TON of questions about butterflies on my shift yesterday I have little voice left and am fully peopled out!

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

I'm sorry all I have to offer is long-distance sympathies and this picture of an owl butterfly I took yesterday. 😕

Owl butterfly resting on a vertical branch with a background of green leaves. The underside of the wings is a riot of brown, cream, gold, and black pattern, with an enormous eyespot in the center of the hindwing. This makes it extremely obvious how this large butterfly got the name.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Since I'm approaching retirement I decided to start going through the junk at work and throw out the garbage so the next person won't have any idea what actually works and what's broken. This week's project was clearing out a graveyard of old pH electrodes and keeping only a couple that I KNOW WORK!

Collection of MULTIPLE old pH electrodes tangled up in a box, cords looking like a cluster of black spaghetti. The electrodes are all different manufacturers and styles, and none of them work anymore yet they were filling an entire cabinet with their cardboard boxes. Now they live in a dumpster lol.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

About 5 cm of snow this morning, now fully switched over to rain. Glad I don't have to shovel, thrilled I'm not getting the dangerous blizzard conditions further north, but the slush is DISGUSTING.

View through a rainy window of a very dull gray day street and front yard, everything wet and brown where there aren't sad patches of soggy snow. Just typical gross late winter weather in the Midwest.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Even got some nice photos so a good morning.

Longwing butterfly resting on green leaves with itswings spread as it basks in the sun. The hindwings have red rays spreading across a black background like a drawing of a sunset by a child, and the forwings are black with red patches close to the butterfly body and a wide white bar near the tip.

Hecale longwing butterfly resting on a green leaf, shown from the side so the wing underside is visible. The wings are mostly orange, with a black border with white spots on the hindwing and a large black patch near the tip of the forewing. The compound eyes and curled proboscis are clearly visible, as well as the four visible legs (since this is a brush footed butterfly the first two legs are greatly reduced).

Emerald green swallowtail resting, wings spread, on a person's hand. The background color of the wings as well as the body looks like a black ground sprinkled liberally with bright green glitter, and each wing has a wide neon green bar across it.

Sara longwing butterfly resting on a bright orange flower. Orange and yellow blooms are visible against a green leafy background. The butterfly has deep blue wings, almost black (the metallic blue sheen is only visible when the sunlight hits the wings) with a narrow white border on the hindwings and a very wide white bar near the tip of each forewing.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

FINALLY finished this blanket in jumbo weight sherpa fleece yarn that I've been crocheting all winter. Used up all 6.5 pounds of the yarn I had so now I never have to work with it again. Problem is where to store this monster until next winter because it's ENORMOUS.

Close up of the corner of a fleecy crocheted blanket showing the navy blue main part of thr blanket with a cream inner border and charcoal gray outer border.

Fluffy navy blue blanket with a cream inner border all the way around and a charcoal gray outer border. The blanket is spread out across a queen size bed and covers almost the entire top of the bed.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Surprisingly I did not fall asleep on Lego bricks and these tiny plants are indeed as adorable as I thought they would be. A small creative break from the ever-increasing horrors.

Three tiny Lego tropical plants in little pots, including a bright red lily-like flower, jade plants, and tiny purple plant.

Three tiny Lego insectivorous plants in little pots, including a group of pitcher plants, a variety of sundew, and Venus flytrap.

Three tiny Lego desert plants in little pots, including a large round cactus with pink flowers, a prickly pear, and a small succulent.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Probably not the best insomnia activity as I'll likely doze off before I finish and have bricks impaled somewhere in my body, but these guys are so cute.

Box of Lego Botanicals Tiny Plants set, showing 9 tiny Lego plants in little brick terrace cotta pots. Some of the plant models constructed are sundew, pitcher plants, Venus flytrap, a couple varieties of cacti, and a jade plant.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

My nieces and nephews are at a point where gift cards and money are the best options for birthday gifts, but I couldn't give my niece just a card with some cash. So I made a little crocheted gift bag for a handful of candy along with some money.

Small turquoise crocheted bag on top of a green fleece throw. The bag has a circular base and the sides are shell stitch, with a shell border at the top edge. It has 2 drawstrings with a small tassel on the end of each. The yarn is turquoise blue with a multicolored sparkly thread.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

I love an easy crockpot recipe for dinner. A bag of frozen meatballs, a bag of frozen cheese ravioli, a jar of pasta sauce rinsed out with an additional 0.5 cup water added to the crockpot. Cook 5 hrs on low or 3 hrs on high, sprinkle 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese on top and cook 10 min to melt.

Dinner on a white plate with light blue border. Food is a mix of cheese ravioli, meatballs, and pasta sauce with some melted cheese topping it off.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Wishing all the best to the huskies, great Pyrenees, Bernese mountain dogs, etc in this time of their snowy glory. My short-haired senior gets cold toes and much as she loves the fresh air, this is her place.

Brown short-haired dog sleeping on top of two blankets and underneath a third blanket, with only her head and a single front paw sticking out.

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Catherine P @cath97.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

My dog has no idea how lucky she is that she can't read.

Top view of the head of a short haired brown dog as she sleeps, covered in and surrounded by bright blue blankets.

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