Meh - my current mood...

Let's be honest, some days you just aren't feeling it.  I've been feeling rather meh the past couple of days. 

I'll snap out of it soon....just don't have much to blog about at the moment.

I'm A Geography Nerd

 Ok, I admit it....I love geography.  I loved memorizing capital cities and playing memory with country's flags.  Many years ago there was this show on PBS called "Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego?" My students at the time loved it! I loved the timed map quiz at the end of each episode.  I would have loved to be a contestant on that show.

Oh well, I think I have found the next best thing!  This cool website  lets you play all these cool geography games and you get a time and score when you finish.  I have this little(ish) competitive streak, so I had to keep doing the state flag game until I got a 100%!  Then I discovered you can even take a quiz on the counties of South Carolina.  I'm ashamed to admit that even after living here for as long as I have, I still didn't really know where some of the counties were!!

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After I've mastered this one, I'll be moving on to the continent of Africa.  I think that one is going to take me a little longer to master.  I like to use these quizzes as Brain Breaks.  Yes, I'm such a nerd!!

Bridgerton Embroidery Craze

 

So apparently a side effect of everyone watching "Bridgerton" is a new found love of embroidery.  I absolutely loved the show and I'm contemplating reading all of the books.  I also love that I was ahead of the curve on the embroidery craze.  Can you imagine having hours on end to sit and perfect your stitches??  Yeah only on TV and in history....

My first attempts at embroidery were done when I was in a Brownie troop as a young girl and had to do a piece for a merit badge that I was trying to earn.  I remember the stress that this piece of work caused in the Vink household.  My stitching wouldn't pass without an example of herringbone stitch and it had to have a design in the center.  Well, my mum must not have paid attention in home economics class because she didn't know who to do it and shocker folks....this was before there was Google!!  Luckily an elderly neighbor was able to show me how to do this, you know like a live YouTube video 😆. For the design in the center, my artistic dad sketched a Sprite (my troop mascot) for me to stitch over.  Gesh, just remembering this is bringing back the stress that this project caused my 8 year old self.  Here's the best part - my mum saved it and gave it back to me when I was in college.

After taking a very long break after this traumatizing event, I got into cross-stitch when I moved back to the States in high school.  There for awhile I was cranking our samplers for every wedding and baby around - my husband would say I have now replaced that with quilts!!  I even cross stitched the ring bearer's pillow at my wedding.  Then I had kids and there wasn't anytime to stitch - also, by then I had discovered scrapbooking!!

I stitched the pair on the left when I had to stay face down for a week last year after my eye surgery - you know me, can't sit still to save my left.  I really want to stitch the one of the right for a dear friend who uses this expression and it would be just perfect for them!  I have it in my Etsy cart right now.  I'll just keep stitching until the new season of Bridgerton starts.....then I'll stitch while I watch.

Damn Home Edit!

  

It all started with "ooo what's this Home Edit show that I see on my Netflix homepage?"  That was the beginning of a sorting, cleaning, rearranging purge that still really hasn't come to an end...

If you've been living under a rock and don't know what show I am talking about, here's a trailer for the show.

The women get on my nerves, the houses are completely unrealistic, it's basically an infomercial for the Container Store so why did I keep watching it.....those beautifully organized and labeled clear containers - they made my little OCD heart just go pitter patter!  The rainbow organization is a cute idea and pleasing to the eye, but can we go back to those amazing clear containers!

Yes, watching the show during quarantine when I was already rather restless was probably not a good idea.  I love, love, love to organize things - when I was in the classroom I had to have color coordinated plastic bins for everything.  I was in a long term committed relationship with my label maker.

Then I make the mistake of going to the Container Store website....there was some serious sticker shock! I wouldn't say I was a tightwad but I do pride myself on being frugal (hubby might not agree with this).  By the time I figured out how many of those lovely containers I needed for pantry nirvana I was going to need to get a credit increase on my credit card!  So of course, I go into full research mode - Google to the rescue!  I started with Amazon and did find some good choices, but I ended up finding the clear container mecca at Walmart!

Better Homes and Gardens has definitely stepped up their game and are on trend with all the organization tips that are being "influenced" our way.  I was able to buy a four pack of containers for the price I would have paid for one container store product!  When I went to order them I discovered that I wasn't the only cost conscious consumer out there because they were hard to find at several locations.  I ended up getting different containers from 5 different Walmarts in a two state region.  I was on a mission and was not going to give up until my container goals had been reached.  I wish I could be this determined about my weight loss goals but I digress...

Walmart has obviously figure out how popular this craze is because I got the set shown above for $20 and you can see how much they are now.  If you are late to this material sorting madness, just go to Walmart.com and search for Better Homes and Garden storage containers.  Warning:  Once you start, it's really hard to stop!

While a Netflix show got me started on this organizational quest, I soon discovered several professional organizers on TikTok (see previous blog to know more about this current obsession) who of course I started following.  One of the best products that they have recommended is the silverware organizer pictured above. It's currently on sale for even less that I paid for mine.  This is genius and takes up so much less space in your drawer.  I now have plenty of room for all those awkward shaped things like pizza cutters etc.  I give it two thumbs up 👍👍

So just when I think I have everything organized, I walk into Walmart this weekend and see these containers...

Oh crap!!

 

One Word Necklace

 

IT'S HERE!

I'm so excited!  My one word necklace came in the mail today.  It's perfect and I absolutely love it!

I have ordered from this Etsy store in the past and have always been happy with my purchases.  This necklace did not disappoint. I'm so looking forward to wearing my "create" necklace this year ☺☺☺

If you are interested in getting a necklace, here's a link to the store where I got it from.

New Season of The Bachelor

Yay!  It's time for a new season of The Bachelor.  You know the show that my sweet hubby just suffers through because he's in the living room while I watch it.  Yeah right!  I was with my dad when the last Bachelorette season wrapped up - my dad watched exactly five minutes of the show before he turned back to Fox News!  Thank goodness for Spectrum streaming on my IPad.  My daughter was home with him watching it and she texts me that he tells her not to talk while the show is on and then is giving her all the background on the guys who were left for her to select!  Excuse me, who is this guy??  I mean he's invested.  We even talked about it the next day.

So tonight I tell him that a new season is beginning and did he want to watch it?  He doesn't bat an eyelid before saying we need to get on it 😃. Now the family group text is going to be blowing up with all our sarcastic comments and observations....let the good times roll!

I have to say that the place where they are staying is so much better than the LaQuinta they were in last season.  This place is boujee!  Matt James is a very handsome young man and seems to be very genuine.  We actually have one of those six degrees of separation connections with this season's contestants.  Mariela works with my son's girlfriend in Maryland.  Talk about a small world.

The way that some of these girls are introducing themselves is completely cringe worthy but that's what makes this show so much fun to watch!  Of course, my husband is more interested in the truck that Kaylah pulled up in.  I guess I really should be grateful for that!!

A great podcast to listen to after you watch this show is Social Studies with Joe "Mr. D" Domborwski. He watches the show with his 65 year old mom who is a complete hoot and they talk about their observations.  It is absolutely hilarious!!

Stay tuned for more blogs about this season.  Got to go watch the show now...

My New Best Friend and Fan Girl Moment

 

Allow me to introduce you to my new best friend, "JJ" which is short for Jakki's Juki!  Juki is the brand of the new sewing machine that Santa brought me for Christmas.  I loved my old sewing machine and it has served me well the past 4-5 years but I feel like I have gone from a Prius to a Porsche!

In the past three days I was able to make a whole quilt top.  This machine purrs and goes through fabric like butter.  I think Tom might be getting a little jealous with the amount of time we've been spending together.

 Now I'm looking forward to free motion quilting this with JJ.

I'm looking forward to making a lot of projects this year - I have a long list of quilt patterns that I really want to try making.  I've started following Pat Sloan's Facebook group, blog and daily YouTube videos. She shares so much great advice and patterns.  The snowflake quilt above is one of her patterns.  I posted this photo on the group page and Pat Sloan herself commented "Awesome" - talk about a total fan girl moment.  I squealed when I read it and Tom looked at me like I had lost my mind!!  She's like quilting royalty AND SHE THOUGH MY QUILT WAS AWESOME!!!!  I'm going to bed tonight a very happy girl 😘

My TikTok Obsession

Hello, my name is Jakki and I'm a little addicted to TikTok.  This is where you respond with "Hello, Jakki"

I don't have kids at home anymore, so my relevance and street cred have really taken a hit 😁 I used to pride myself on knowing the latest music, slang and other trends.  I'm now just a lonely person, working at home by herself who was craving some fun content to watch - TikTok to the rescue!

You know it's bad when too many of your conversations start with "I got this idea from a video I just saw on TikTok" or "I know that song from TikTok".  When you bring up TikTok in a conversation with your grown children and they just roll their eyes - it's not a good sign.  Then they make you promise them that you won't make any videos yourself - God forbid!  Well, I did make a couple but took them down within a day because I couldn't believe how ugly folks can be in their comments.  I decided then and there that I will just be a viewer and when I do comment, it is only positive.  There's enough crap and negativity out there already.

Then you start forwarding the videos to your husband, kids and friends.  When they don't respond quickly enough, you send a follow up text asking them if they watched it yet.  Then you show them to your husband on your phone and he just looks at you with a quizzical expression as to why you are laughing so hard at this Golden Retriever??  Just like Instagram, I'm pretty sure I follow more dogs on this platform than people!

Then you reach a place of acceptance.  You also learn to set a timer or you will go down a TikTok rabbit hole and hours will pass before you know it! I have learned a lot of interesting things, found some hilarious people, had a good laugh with some folks and cried over some very touching videos.  Then there are the craft videos, so many great craft videos....that's a whole separate post!  So many great ways to create.

My name is Jakki, I really love to watch TikTok videos and I'm ok with that 😁