Katie A

don’t know who needs to hear this but empathy doesn’t require eagerness. you don’t have to be excited about helping other people, you do it because it’s right and because the alternatives are worse

Last week my mental health required tiny glow-in-the-dark critters and 40 chef stickers (I don't cook if I can help it). Stay tuned to see what this week's presents to myself will be!

How to change a swastika into a message of love

How to change a swastika that cant be removed

Yes, please! Nothing has been more stressful than holding on tight to hope that a referendum will pass so we can keep operating at our current, barely scraping by level. And knowing, even if it does pass, we still have to make cute. Our teachers are still underpaid, but we can keep them

2025 is looking to be a bit bumpy. Treat yourself. Get that crazy thing you keep seeing ads for and use it exactly as you want to.

My 18-year-old just broke his favorite Christmas present. I fixed it using a bent safety pin I heated in the open flame of a candle lighter. He thanked me by switching out washer loads. Sometimes I think I might be okay at the whole "momming" thing

Used up my last PTO day of the year today. Got a lot done. Also spent some time trapped under this tiny gremlin. It was a good day.

Spoke into the universe that I wanted cheap, from-a-pouch hot chocolate but not badly enough to buy a whole box. 18 hours later a single such pouch showed up on the "for anyone who wants it" shelf at work. Sometimes life just works out.

Life is insane right now. Kittens help. Enjoy some kittens.

If you can't avoid Country Thursday, maybe just ask if it can be 90s County Thursday.

Look, if cranberries can be weird and bitter and still liked by roughly half the people at Thanksgiving dinner, then so can you!

Don't forget to listen to Alice's Restaurant Massacree, the only proper way to celebrate Turkey Day!

The shoes make the outfit! I'm ready for our fancy, festive dinner!

I have kept this beauty alive for a solid 7 weeks! This is my crowning achievement! Forget the cat I kept alive for nearly 21 years and the children who have now survived 18, 14, and almost 13 years under my watch. They were all built to survive in my environment. This needy little thing was not!

Enjoy some more chunky squirrels living their pumpkin flavored dreams!

I loved Swimming Pretty. I didn't know what I didn't know!

I am excited to know there is an even better version of Tables for Two online! When I was getting the print version, that was always a "must read" in every issue, and I've missed it!

Does anyone else remember when Oprah revealed her personal bathroom remodel which included a clothes dryer above her soaker tub for warming her towels? And then, later that season, realizing the social shift was toward conservation, claiming she washed and reused her Ziplock bags? The '90s, man

My favorite thing to do with lists like this is scroll through to find books I also loved so I know I'm on the same page with the list maker. This list has at least 10!

I am solidly team "audiobooks count as reading." This year has been one hit after another after another. I'm physically reading the same book I started in February (it's very good! I just can't focus), but I've read 81 audiobooks. Perfect for 2 hours of commute and infinite hours of laundry!

Kids who like me

My almosy 13-year-old desperately wants blue hair. She's also hard core against bleaching it first. So we keep just kinda giving her dark hair a blue tint. But she's happy, so why not?

Thank you for doing your civic duty by collecting evidence of this attempted murder

Fat squirrels are my favorite fall content. When all else seems chaotic, the pure joy of watching fat squirrels eat pumpkins never fails to sooth my soul at least a little bit.