The Cabinet of Prof. Kitty: June 2024

Hello dear reader! Let's look back at some highlights from the month of May, 2024. These are some things that I really enjoyed last month and would like to share.

Biking

One of my family members has developed an interest in riding their mountain bike on local trails, so we've been doing that together and it's very exciting. I love the hard work of negotiating the bike up hills and around corners, and then there's the payoff of speeding down hills.

LP Shelves

For too many years my beloved record albums have been literally mouldering in my basement. When we went to IKEA last month, we picked up a 4 x 2 Kallax shelving unit that I finally put together this month. I attached it to wall anchors all by myself using a DRILL. So proud. Then I filled it with about 500 records. How satisfying! It is fantastic to have all of this music at my fingertips. Some of these albums are deeply meaningful, part of the musical fabric of my childhood. Others are just fun to have and listen to a key song or two.

Planted the Garden

It's Year 4 of the hugelkultur project in the front yard! The "hills" have collapsed down so they're really just long, regular garden beds now. I added several bags of new topsoil to each bed, and then planted Sungold tomatoes, green beans, chard, kale, and one spicy pepper. We also had collards and kale left from last year, and the garlic I had planted in the fall is growing nicely along with some volunteer potatoes. I also put in some annual herbs in the kitchen garden, including cilantro and basil. I planted nasturtium seeds all over the flower beds just for fun, and put marigolds in among the tomatoes. Now everything can start to grow!

Deleted Instagram

The phone app Instagram was taking up my time every single day. I put a tracker on it and learned that I was spending over 7 hours a week looking at garbage on Instagram. Then I saw a video on Youtube where a self-proclaimed minimalist said he had deleted Instagram from his phone and it was great. I think it's hilarious that I had to see a Youtube video to learn about deleting an iphone app, but that's what happened. I deleted Insta in mid-May and have not gone back. It has helped to declutter my mind a little and give me more time to do other things (see next item!). However, I still watch a lot of Youtube, ha.

Finished Diamond Painting #1

I started this diamond painting in June 2023. It was a new hobby for me at the time. It is kind of like painting by numbers but done with little flattened pieces of plastic that you stick onto a patterned backing to create a cheap-looking mosaic. Finally, 11 months later, I finished my first design--a beautiful octopus! I immediately started another one, this time a sea horse.

Good Thrifting

My new year's resolution last year was to try to find more clothes at the thrift store. I don't have much chance to go shopping in "new" stores, and stuff I buy online always seems overpriced and not quite what I imagined once it actually comes to my doorstep. Good news: I have scored some excellent clothing at the local thrift shop! I got several beloved pairs of jeans that actually fit me, and this past month I decided to go look for summer tops and I found SIX great ones. Very satisfying.