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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Image by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio
Recently, I “celebrated” my 69th birthday.How is that even possible? Why, just last week I was a tiny girl riding the kiddie cars at a local amusement park. And only a day later, I was a small child playing in the sandbox with her bestest friend. Shortly thereafter, I graduated from high school, and within a few more days I married, and then raised my three beautiful daughters.
My inner self insists that’s all true, despite what my outer self sees in the mirror more than half a century later.
Aging, gracefully or otherwise, is not for the faint-hearted.
Imagine my shock when I realized that my three daughters are now the same age I was when I began my married life and was already partway through my working days. Imagine my further shock when I realized that each and every one of my girls has already advanced way beyond what I’ve accomplished over these many years.
Probably that’s the way it should be. These days I reflect back on what my own mother’s life was like; only now do I see how things really were when I was growing up. Were she still here I’d finally be able to discuss with her the joys and struggles of raising a family, becoming an empty nester, and entering the twilight years. Sure, we talked about these things when she was alive, but I didn’t truly understand.
Rest in peace, Mom. You did good, and we’re all so much better for having you in our lives. I can only hope that once I’m gone, my children will feel the same about me.
If the stars align, I will live as long as Mom did. She was 90 when she died, which means I should have more than 20 years left to enjoy this earth; and the older I become, the more I find myself savoring each and every day. ‘Cause any day could very well be my last.
With that in mind, I’m doing what I can to continue on. This morning, I received my second Moderna vaccine shot. So far, so good, but wish me luck – I’ve heard the after-effects of the second shot are not as mild as after the first shot – but still so much better than the alternative. I plan to prop myself up in bed with my crocheting and a cup of tea for the rest of this afternoon. Puppy Cody is way ahead of me.
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio
Probably no one has noticed, but I have deleted the button allowing readers to follow this website via Facebook.Recently, I received a comment on my Cordelia’s Mom Facebook page, and when I tried to go onto that page to reply to the comment, there was a message that the page was unavailable due to “technical difficulties” and that the issue would be resolved “soon.” I have been receiving this same message for a couple of weeks now and have been unable to access my own CM page. I don’t know how long before that the page was down, as I don’t check it regularly. Nowhere is there a number or email to contact FB to find out what’s going on with that page, nor have I received any email or other contact from FB to tell me there’s been a problem.
So, I went onto my personal FB account page and tried to contact customer support from that account. Thus far, there has been no response. I continue to be unable to reach the CM page, nor am I able to delete it.
Thus, I felt it prudent to remove the FB button from this website, at least until the issue is resolved.
Do any of my readers know of some way to contact FB when the page in question is not accessible to its owner?
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Meanwhile, I have been busy working on my new love – crocheting. In only a couple of weeks, I finished my first afghan (see photo at top). This one has been claimed by one of my daughters, and another daughter has chosen colors for her afghan, which I have started. It, too, is going to be awesome.
Such handiwork is keeping me off the streets and out of trouble, which is a good thing. My long-time readers know that Cordelia’s Mom is not always as sweet as she pretends to be.
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On an unrelated matter, how’s everyone doing on getting those vaccines? I’ve had my first shot (which left one hell of a bruise that’s still there nearly weeks later!), and the second shot will be next week. Then six months from now, I guess I’ll be doing it all over again – although hopefully the booster shots will be single doses, making it so much easier to schedule around my Remicade infusion schedule.
This has not been the most exciting post, has it? Especially since I’ve been absent. No reason for that absence other than the fact that I’ve become a bit bored both with writing and photography. Perhaps once the nicer weather arrives (and stays for awhile), the fun will return to those endeavors.
But at least I haven’t given up completely. I found my way back to the Classic Editor (thank you, Archon!), which certainly helps. And discovering that some of my photos have been picked up by other sites under the Creative Commons guidelines also helps. I mean, thousands and thousands of photos available on any particular subject, and they chose mine? How awesome is that?
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Image by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio
When I was in high school (nearly half a century ago!), girls were required to take Home Economics. We learned cooking, sewing, knitting, crochet, and embroidery, as well as stuff like how to set the perfect table and how to iron and do laundry. All so we could become perfect wives to the boys who were concurrently taking Shop class (learning how to maintain the home they would eventually build or buy for that perfect wife).
My, how times have changed. Now, if those courses are offered at all, both boys and girls take them.
Anyway.
Because WordPress has become more of a pain than it’s worth, what with its forced-upon-us Block Editor, and because photography isn’t exciting me much these days, due to the fact that it seems like everyone takes better pictures than me, I decided to find a new hobby. I remembered the enjoyment I had while knitting and crocheting as a young woman – one year I even crocheted tiny Christmas ornaments (trees, bells, tiny ice-skates) for everyone on my gift list, and I still have my own set of those ornaments today.
So, I decided to return to the craft.
But where were my needles and hooks? Each of my girls claimed not to have them, I couldn’t find them in any closet or in the basement – and on top of that, all my pattern books had gone missing. Possibly, I had donated everything to charity at some point when I thought I was done making sweaters and blankets. In any event, I had to replace everything.
I wanted to make afghans just like the ones I had made when I was young:
My patterns were gone, and I’m not skilled enough to create something without a pattern.
Luckily, I found a free pattern online for the woven plaid afghan. I’ll probably have to pay to replace my long-lost cable-knit afghan pattern with something similar, but that will be a ways off, after I’ve remastered crocheting. I purchased a basic learn-to-crochet book to refresh my skills.
Now, I just needed yarn.
My, how prices have risen over the years! And it’s not easy to find yarn locally; Walmart carries it, but the selection is limited. I wound up paying more than I wanted, but Amazon had some very nice yarn in as many colors as I could possibly ever want.
The first afghan will be two shades of blue mixed with off-white:
Apparently, crocheting is like riding a bike – once you learn, it’s always with you. Taking up the hook again turned out to be extremely easy. Once the mesh is completed, I will weave thread through those links to make a plaid. I think it’s going to be awesome.
Eventually, I’ll graduate back to knitting so I can make another cable afghan like the one pictured. It’s my favorite – so warm, and so beautiful. I’d love to make one for each of my daughters.
Now, I need a rocking chair to complete the image. I don’t have a rocking chair, but I do have a very comfy Big & Tall leather desk chair, and I ordered a tiny footstool so I can rest my feet while acting all old lady-ish.
Not that I really want to turn into an old lady, but until the pandemic ends (had my first vaccination shot, getting the second in April), and the weather warms, I’m not overly motivated to get outside and walk off some of those extra years.
Maybe next week …
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio
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Cordelia's Mom, Still 