Tag: family

Almost summer – therapy dog edition

May 15, 2026

Mid-May heralds the wind down of activities for the current school year. Sadie and I made our final visit to the local public library yesterday. Next week will be our EOY celebration at the elementary school where we visit each week. And then summer for us officially begins! Her highness will kick things off with a spa day while I attend my bee group meeting.

We’ll still be making therapy dog visits during the summer months. Our national organization requires 1 visit every 90 days to remain in good standing. For therapy dog teams who primarily follow an academic calendar, the months of June, July and August can quickly turn into a summer scramble as we try to find events to meet this requirement. Making a single visit in July will keep us in good standing, but Big Girl likes to work.

Our summer visit schedule looks different every year. This time, Sadie’s favorite assistant principal is in charge of summer school and invited us to make as many visits as we want in June. Just for fun, we’ll add in a local summer camp and Gigi’s Playhouse visits for July. There are two other events in which I’d like to participate; however they require 1-1/2 – 2 hours of travel time each way. Gas prices and ongoing road construction will determine whether or not we participate in those.

Standing therapy dog visits that follow an academic calendar typically resume by Labor Day. The school is already confirmed to continue for the 2026-27 school year. The public library is TBD. The current vibe seems to be one of changes ahead, so we’ll see what happens. My 11 year run as a therapy dog volunteer at this library has been wonderful, but I’ll be totally fine if this chapter comes to an end.

Say hello to a new, old friend

November 19, 2025

In this post, I wrote about saying good-bye to the very first new sewing machine I ever bought for myself – a 30 stitch mechanical Kenmore affectionately referred to as “Old Faithful.” She was a mid-1990’s vintage that was with me from first house to current house, grad school and library maker space activities at school. She was quiet, reliable and kid-friendly.

At Saturday’s machine maintenance class at the SQTM, not one – but two – Kenmore mechanical machines from about the same era as Old Faithful were present. It was wonderful to see these 30 year-old mechanical machines still going strong! Not surprising, as these models were made by Janome. I remember considering the updated teal “Old Faithful” model with needle-up/down, speed control slider and the all-important blanket stitch when I seriously got into quilting. I went with the computerized Pfaff 2046 instead. I was back to a Janome machine within two years.

The universe has a wicked sense of humor. On Sunday afternoon, an updated teal model of “Old Faithful” crossed my path. The story goes that the machine was part of an abandoned storage unit that a flipper had purchased. I brought the sewing machine home to evaluate it for use as a demo machine for Block Party (kid’s sewing) outreach or to pass it along to another guild member who leads a teen sewing group at a nearby library.

Potential applique class sample made using a Kenmore (Janome) 16231.

After working on the machine, I believe the story about it’s history. A customer pick-up label on the side of the box indicates someone purchased the sewing machine in late October 2005 from a Sears store near Las Vegas. The box had been opened and the foot pedal was missing. However, the machine itself is in pristine – essentially untouched – condition. It came with the original brown paper square under the needle and the thin packing tape used for shipping still on certain parts of the machine. It’s almost as if someone opened the box to confirm what they’d purchased and put it away. Then, life apparently happened and the machine wound up in a storage unit somewhere. Said storage unit contents were eventually auctioned off to recover unpaid fees. The universe then made sure it got to me.

Surprisingly, the machine actually sewed right out of the box. The start/stop feature was a little hesitant at first, but it was soon humming along. I oiled and greased the parts I could reach without taking the thing totally apart. That helped! A replacement foot pedal magically arrived via Amazon the next day. I located a service manual late last night. At some point, I’ll remove the covers, clean out the old gunk and add new. This sweet little machine seems to improve the more I use it. The guild member running the teen sewing program at the library informed me she currently has enough machines, so I’ll keep this one to use as a demo machine at different events.

Something’s going around on many fronts

October 31, 2025

An upper respiratory ick is currently making the rounds through our local school systems. I caught it. Not surprising, considering I’ve been in contact with many different kids between therapy dog visits and private sewing lessons over the past two weeks. I’ll hazard a guess that I’ve been suffering from a nasty cold virus (and I can trace it back to the source). I’ve been congested and tired, but have experienced none of the extreme exhaustion that typically accompanies the flu or COVID. Today was the first day I felt more like myself – I even put on makeup before leaving to early vote and grocery shop.

Being sick this week definitely wan’t in my plans. Finishing up 3 charity quilts to turn in at this week’s guild meeting were on my agenda, as this is the final opportunity to turn in charity projects for 2025. That didn’t happen. I’m just grateful that I had enough energy to reorganize parts of my sewing space that were really bothering me.

Next week, our bathroom construction project begins, so I’ll be spending 7-10 days at home while the contractor and his crew work their magic This will provide plenty of opportunity to quilt and cross-stitch!

Other sorts of things going around…is it just me, or does there seem to be a palpable sense of unease due to fallout from the federal government shut-down? Forget all the usual doomscrolling on social media. Local food pantries and charity groups have been posting all over the place about where to get food once EBT cards are deactivated. My local Publix and Aldi stores were packed for an early Thursday afternoon. Could part of this be explained by those wanting to use up any remaining EBT funds before the end of October? Or possibly by those doing their weekly grocery shopping a little early due to reports of potential mischief being planned for this weekend to protest the the loss of certain government benefits? Who knows?

Regardless of your political views, the first rule legislators should understand is you don’t mess with kids or paychecks. 1) Many recipients of SNAP benefits are kids and no child deserves to go hungry. Most of my 22 years as a school librarian were spent working spent in high poverty schools. I kept extra snacks and drinks in the library just for the kids who came in late to library class and missed breakfast. 2) People should not be expected to work and not get paid (military and essential employees). Perhaps our legislators should be required to forfeit their paychecks and benefits while the government is shut down?

How can you help? Donate to your local food pantry. Give grocery store gift cards anonymously to those who’ve been impacted by the loss of benefits or a paycheck. Reach out to elderly friends and relatives with modest SS benefits and no other sources of income. They may receive SNAP benefits and are usually too proud to ask for help.

Finally, contact your House and Senate representatives. Implore them to act like grown-ups and do the job they were sent to Washington to do.