Daisygirl0601

I am a mom who finds joy in the little things. Meaningful conversations, cozy moments at home, and creative outlets help me unwind and feel grounded. I enjoy knitting hats, learning new things, and trying new hobbies even when I am not very good at them yet. Right now I am giving watercolor painting a try. It has not been very successful so far, but I am choosing to embrace the process and give myself time to grow.

I am drawn to cool, calming colors like blues and silvers. I have a soft spot for animals, especially cats and fish, as well as deer and bears, which I find peaceful and grounding. Family means everything to me. I value kindness, authenticity, and finding beauty in both progress and imperfection.

Music is where my personality really shows up. I cannot be boxed into one genre. I enjoy almost everything, even some and yes I really mean SOME country music. Living in the south you would expect that to be on repeat, but that is definitely not me. One minute I might be listening to The Hu, the next it could be Eminem, then REN, then Colby Callait - and after that something completely different. My playlists are all over the place and I kind of love it that way. Mood based, emotion driven, and never boring.

As much as I want to be a reader, it just is not where my passion lives. I do read. I can read. I simply treat books more like bedtime companions than full time hobbies. When I actually get hooked, my favorites usually lean toward Irish history like The Immortal Irishman and Say Nothing, which I genuinely love. I also enjoy Dan Brown and John Grisham when I want something fast paced that does not require emotional recovery afterward.

My very first book love goes all the way back to grade school. It was The Pigman by Paul Zindel. I still laugh thinking about the part where a woman hoarded something like nine thousand English muffins. We always had English muffins at home growing up, so even now I cannot wrap my head around what nine thousand of them would look like. That mental image lives rent free in my brain.

I also read The True Story of Ryan White by Ryan White, and that one changed me. It opened my eyes to AIDS, the struggles his family faced, and what it really meant to lose someone. It was the first time I had ever read about a child dying. I had not experienced death in my own life yet, so that book hit hard and stayed with me in a way I still remember.

I took a young adult literature course in college and accidentally discovered that I really enjoy the Percy Jackson novels by Rick Riordan. The television shows though were not it for me, but I accept that not everything translates well to a screen. Some stories belong on paper and I am standing by that.

Growing up as a latch key kid and being mostly ignored by my mother, I turned to television. It was always on. Hours and hours of it. Sometimes it followed me straight into adulthood too. These days though, the bar is high. It better be really good or I am turning it off and grabbing my knitting, cleaning something that does not actually need cleaning, baking, or just sitting in silence like a peaceful little lady. Honestly, most of it feels like background noise at best and garbage at worst.

I know this makes me sound much older than I actually am and it probably dates me a little, but I loved Early Edition and American Dreams. Those shows had heart. I do watch The Pitt on HBO because it gives strong E.R. energy without actually being E.R., which I appreciate. Still, most of the time I would rather have the television off. Quiet is underrated and I am fully embracing that stage of life.

Knitting has always been my go to. I learned how to knit in college from a group of girls in one of my classes. After class we would go to the local ice cream shop, sit there with our knitting, talk for hours, and somehow convince ourselves that this was peak productivity. Honestly, it kind of was. Yarn, friends, and ice cream is a solid life combo.

I am trying to get into watercolor now, which is humbling. Minimalistic is apparently very difficult when you are working with water and pigment that do whatever they want. Still, I am learning, experimenting, and reminding myself that trying something new is the whole point.

And can we talk about how projects always look better in our heads? Or is that just me? Except when I knit. My knitted stuff looks great. At least to me. My daughter does not use the hats I make her, which is rude but fine. Maybe she will appreciate them when I am gone. Who knows. My son, though, wears the hat I made him when he walks from class to class, and that absolutely fills my heart. That is the kind of joy you cannot buy.