Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Housemaid (Freida McFadden)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I know I said I would be taking a break from thrillers, but I just couldn’t help myself! I actually saw the movie trailer, and when I found out it was a book, I wanted to read it before seeing the movie, especially since it looked really good!

Thankfully, the book series is all on Kindle Unlimited, which was even better! I also got this one recommended; it was more the movie than the book, and normally I don’t do thrillers, but I figured if the book was okay, I could handle the thriller.

Plus, since I read the book before the movie, I can review both and tell you if the movie followed the book. I also did find out the second one is also going to be a movie, so I really need to get started on reading the second one before the movie comes out!

So, before I go any further, I want to put in a spoiler alert because I will be talking about both the book and the movie, and if you really want to read or see the movie before, I highly suggest you do!

The book goes back and forth between Nina and Millie’s POV. Nina is the one who is looking for a housemaid and ends up giving Millie an interview to see if she can hire her for a live-in position to help clean, cook, etc. Nina also has a daughter, Cece, whom she didn’t have with her husband Andrew, but he has pretty much been a father figure for her since she was a baby.

Millie gets hired, and that’s when Nina starts changing from being the happy homemaker to being a bitch to her, telling her the wrong information, and being a complete bitch to her on purpose. Nina also does this stuff in front of Andrew, and he starts to take pity on her.

Little does Nina know that she planned for all of this to happen. She wants out of her marriage because Andrew is an abusive asshole who has been treating her like crap, and if she were to try and leave, he already has evidence against her that he would take her own daughter away from her.

The amount of gaslighting Andrew has done to Nina is insane! As soon as they were married is when the fairytale ended, and his control started to take over. Whenever she does something that he doesn’t like, he locks her up in the room in the attic, and she doesn’t get out until she does what she’s told.

Of course, Millie has no idea of it because he seems like a wonderful husband and father. She starts to fall for him, and they have a night where he takes her out to a show, they have dinner, and of course, they both end up sleeping together.

Which was exactly Nina’s plan. Hire an attractive housemaid, treat her like crap in front of her husband, have them be together alone so they sleep with each other, and then have her husband kick her out and leave her for the housemaid.

So, when Andrew admits that he has feelings for Millie, he ends up kicking Nina out of the house. Thankfully, Cece wasn’t there; she was staying at an overnight camp, so she didn’t see or witness anything. Nina acts upset and angry at both of them and finally leaves, but when she does leave, it’s a breath of fresh air because she’s finally free.

Now, if you were like me, you were probably questioning, “Is Andrew going to do the same things to Millie?”

If you answered yes, you are correct!

However, this part is where details are a little different from the book and movie. In the movie, when Millie gets locked in the attic, it’s because she broke his mother’s china set by accident, and he has her cut herself on the stomach with one of the pieces of china that she broke. In the book, she forgets to put away some of the books she borrowed from his library and makes her hold them on her stomach for 3 hours straight.

I know what you are thinking: history is going to repeat itself, and Millie will now be stuck with the abusive Andrew. Well, Nina had this all figured out because little did Andrew know was that Millie had a criminal record.

When she was younger, she saved a friend of hers from being raped, but ended up killing the guy that she saved her friend from and ended up serving time in jail for it. Nina picked her because she knew that if Andrew did the same things to Millie, she would take him out for her.

Now, the way everything happens at the end of the movie is very different from the book. I think the only reason why they switched it up was to make it more of a “thriller” vibe, plus it got Millie and Nina working against Andrew too, which was a nice touch since he treated both of them like crap. I won’t spoil it by going into details, but all I’ll say is justice was served.

Overall, it was a great read! I loved how sucked into this one, I think I finished this one in two days? Once you started reading, you wanted to know how it ends. I also liked the movie; it’s not for everyone. If you’re not a huge fan of blood or abuse, then I don’t recommend watching it.

If you are like me and have watched true crime or crime shows in general, it’s about the same. The book is a little bit tamer, I feel, so if you’d rather not see all that, then the book might be better for you than the movie.

Honestly, the movie did a great job sticking with the details of the book, other than the end. Plus, the actors did a great job of portraying the characters in the book, as well. I know a lot of people don’t like Sydney Sweeney, but I think she did really well in the movie.

They are making a second movie for the second book as we speak; it won’t be out until December of 2027. This gives me and anyone else time to read the second book before it comes out!

Did you see the movie first? Or did you read the book before the movie was even a thing? Let me know down below what you thought!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Locked In: Season One (Katelyn Taylor)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I thought I was going to take a break from thrillers, but my friend convinced me to read this one. I got more curious about it when she mentioned it was similar to a reality TV show, but it’s not like any other reality TV show.

She said it was sort of the same thing as “Love Island”, which I’ve only ever seen clips of, but I did cave and download the app when it first came out; although it wasn’t my cup of tea, I figured reading about a reality show might be more appealing than watching it.

As per the title, “Locked In” is a reality TV show that Courtney’s sister gets signed up for; her little sister signs her up for it, as Courtney has been working 3 jobs to help pay for her sister’s medical bills. Plus, there is a grand prize where the last couple standing will win a grand prize, as well as being able to get married to the person they locked in with.

So, it seems pretty simple, right? Well, it is nothing like what you expect it to be, that’s for sure.

First, when everyone gets to the island, they are pretty much drugged on the plane, so they have no idea where they are going. They end up waking up on a random island with 16 other people, 8 guys and 8 girls.

The book’s POV is mainly in Courtney’s, but you also get Noah and Landon’s POV’s as well. Before I go any further, a SPOILER ALERT is needed because I have a little bit of ranting to do about these.

When Courtney is meeting everyone, Noah and her are almost perfect together, and end up being the first “couple” to hook up. I honestly was rooting for these two to be locked in together. However, because this is a reality TV show, some drama happens that shocks you as to why they don’t lock in together.

Not to mention, the girls are the one who picks the guy they are locked in with. So, when it comes time for that, Savannah ends up picking Noah. Mind you, she ends up getting with him the night before anyone even locks in.

Don’t get me started about this Savannah character! As soon as she is introduced, you know that she will be the drama starter from the beginning. Especially how she treats Courtney when they first meet, you know she’s nothing but trouble.

Oh, I forgot to mention, it’s also a mix of very smutty scenes as well.

Anyway, by the time it gets to Courtney’s chance to pick, she picks Landon. Now, they didn’t start off on a good note. Landon was a bit of an ass to her in the beginning, but he ends up agreeing to be locked in with her, especially because of what Noah and Savannah did to her.

This is when the Noah POV’s go away, thankfully, and Landon steps in his place. Landon and Courtney aren’t as different as you think; they actually have more in common than they realized. They slowly start to fall with each other over time.

They pretty much have to stick together and complete the challenges to be the last couple standing; if not, they are eliminated. Again, this isn’t like any normal reality TV show where they go back home.

Courtney and Landon find out that when a couple is eliminated, they are eliminated for real.

After finishing the book, I had to look back and ask, “What the fuck did I actually read?” I was completely zoned in; it kept me on my toes for sure! I also really can’t wait for the second one to come out because there were a few unanswered questions about the end that I really hope get answered.

Overall, I liked the mix of romance, smut, and thriller that was in this book. There was also a lot of drama as well, which made the book more appealing as well. Not to mention, I loved how Landon and Courtney’s relationship goes from haters to lovers.

Was this a book that had you questioning what you were reading? Or is this something you can’t wait to read? Let me know down below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Perfect Divorce (Jeneva Rose)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

So, since I finished The Perfect Marriage, I saw there was a sequel and had to know how that one turned out. The first book didn’t necessarily turn into a cliffhanger, but I really wanted to know what was going to happen after Adam’s trial since the only thing we knew was that he was charged with the murder of Kelly Summers and was sentenced to death.

If you haven’t read The Perfect Marriage, I really suggest that you do first before reading this review because there is a HUGE spoiler that I’m going to talk about that happened in the first book, and I would hate to ruin that for anyone.

Spoiler Alert is in place.

At the end of The Perfect Marriage, I never would’ve thought it was Sarah. Out of all people, I honestly thought it was Bob, which I was half right about because it was both of them working together to pin the blame on Adam.

I also figured the sheriff had something to do with it because he was always lingering around the Kelly Summers case and seemed to want to close it as soon as possible, just because he didn’t want anyone to know that his DNA was also in Kelly Summers, as well.

The beginning of the book starts out with Sarah and Bob talking about getting a divorce because Bob cheated on her- how fitting. Her first ex-husband had a full-blown affair while her new husband had a drunken one-night stand.

I honestly don’t blame her for wanting to divorce Bob over it. Of course, Bob is trying to fight for the marriage and saying they can work on things since he only made one mistake versus what Adam did way worse. It is still cheating, and I can understand her not wanting to forgive or deal with what Bob did.

Now, the tricky thing is they do have a child together, named Summer. I was honestly shocked that they even thought about naming her that, knowing they both killed Kelly Summer. Anyway, the more Bob keeps delaying the divorce, she is asking for more and more out of the divorce as well as full custody of Summer.

Here is where everything starts to cause problems.

While this is all happening, the former sheriff who was on the case for the murder of Kelly Summers ends up in a car crash from drinking and driving, kills someone, and they end up having to arrest him. Which then means his DNA is entered into the system, and lo and behold, it shows up as the mystery 3rd DNA that was in Kelly Summers, so then the case is reopened.

Then, the woman that Bob had a one-night stand with goes missing, Stacy, and the last texts she sends to her roommate say that she was meeting up with Bob. Bob gets interviewed, and the only person he can think of who would be blamed for this kidnapping would be his wife, Sarah.

Knowing that they both worked together to kill Kelly Summers and pin the blame on Adam, he knew that she could do it again, but this time, pin the blame on him so that she could get full custody of Summer and not have to lose anything in the divorce.

However, Bob is the only one who could blow the secret out on the Kelly Summers case and the kidnapping of Stacy. This would make sense why Sarah would want to get rid of him; getting rid of him would get rid of the only other person who knows the truth about Kelly Summers.

Not to mention, a surprised visitor shows up at Sarah’s house in the middle of all this crazy stuff going on: Adam’s mother. Yes, the mother-in-law from hell shows up to Sarah’s door because she wanted to not only give her crap about how she didn’t defend her son as best as she could, but also to sue her for defamation because of her comment to the press about her.

Don’t worry, she isn’t in the picture for long, but I was shocked that she was back, and all I could think of was, out of everything going on and in her old age, why would she even bother with suing Sarah? That woman is impossible, I swear.

Anyway, without spoiling what happens at the end, it isn’t as shocking as the first book, especially when you know Sarah was the murderer and you already expect it, but they do try to pin the blame on Kelly Summer’s ex-husband, or you even think it’s Bob at one point.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad sequel; I still will add this to my shelf just because I did like both of them a lot. I also really like the author’s writing style too; I was completely zoned in. However, I zoned in on the first one a lot quicker than I did the second one.

Plus, having read both of these, it has added a few more books of thrillers to my recommendations for my Kindle Unlimited. Which I’m not mad about; I actually have come to really like them. Although my friend has recommended 2 more thrillers to check out, and then I might go back to the cheesy romance stuff because I might need a break in between!

What did you think about the sequel? Did you like the first one more than the second? Also, have I gotten you in the “thriller-kick” more than what you are normally used to reading? Let me know in the comments!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Perfect Marriage (Jeneva Rose)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

Okay, so I’m in a weird binge with books lately, and honestly, I’m glad I did! So, The Perfect Marriage came up as a recommendation in my Kindle Unlimited, and my friend highly recommended it as well.

I honestly flew right through this book! I was so drawn in by not just the author’s writing style, but the mystery of trying to find out if her husband actually did kill his own mistress. It throws you in so many directions, twists, and turns that who you think is the killer changes every time.

Anyway, the book starts out with Sarah and Adam about to celebrate their 10th anniversary of being married. To give you a little backstory on these two people: Sarah and Adam met in college and eventually got married. Adam is a writer who has only had one bestseller and is struggling to get back out there, while Sarah is a lawyer for a law firm that she just became a partner of.

Adam wanted Sarah to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary at their lake cabin, but because Sarah is a famous lawyer, she ended up canceling their plans since work took priority. However, this is when you find out that Adam has a mistress, Kelly, whom he has been seeing for over a year.

Kelly met Adam when she was working as a waitress at a cafe where Adam wanted to get to know her more, and from there, they started an affair. Adam knows Kelly’s married, too; however, he doesn’t know that he is a cop.

So, since he knows that Sarah isn’t going to end up showing up, he invites Kelly over to the lake cabin. At this time, Adam also has his mind set that he wants to be with Kelly more than Sarah, especially since she barely makes time for him.

Adam ends up leaving the lake cabin late in the night since he promised Sarah he would be home to at least be with her, and that’s when she tells him that she is finally ready to have a baby, so they make love together and that is when Adam wants to end the affair with Kelly since Sarah is going to give him the one thing he’s been waiting for.

Well, the following day is when it starts to go downhill for Adam.

Before he left the cabin, he left Kelly a note, not only saying he would leave his wife for her, but to also have her make sure she leaves before 9am because their maid will be there to clean the cabin. The maid ends up finding Kelly, but she isn’t alive.

This is when Sarah finds out that her husband has been arrested for the murder of his mistress. Of course, this is a complete shock to her; finding out her husband had an affair is one thing, but to find out that he murdered her is another thing.

Sarah takes on her husband’s case to try to prove her husband is innocent. While also dealing with Adam’s mother, who is the mother-in-law from hell. I swear that mother-in-law drove me absolutely NUTS! Adam is definitely a mama’s boy, no doubt.

I wanted to throw Adam and his mother out! Sarah’s trying her best to prove her husband is innocent, while her mother-in-law is BLAMING her for her son having an affair when her son was the one who started the affair!

Thankfully, Sarah does stand up against her and puts her in her place, finally, but man, I was glad that she did because it was so needed. With everything going on, I’m surprised Sarah even wanted to take the case on, especially knowing that she would have to prove whether her husband actually did it or not.

Anyway, without giving up too much of the book, it was like reading an episode of Criminal Minds, but from the lawyer’s point of view. You do get the points of view from both Sarah and Adam, just to see what is going on in their minds during the time of all of this.

Overall, I loved how zoned into this book I got! I finished it in almost 24 hours! It keeps you on your toes for sure, and honestly, I was stuck on who I thought it was who murdered Kelly, but when you find out who it was, it blows your mind!

Oh, and there is a second book to this called The Perfect Divorce. I also plan on reading this one as well because I really loved the author’s writing style. Not to mention, I had to find out what happened when I finished the second book!

What did you think about this book? Did you finish it as quickly as I did? Who did you suspect was the murderer, and were you right or were you shocked to find out who it was in the end? Let me know in the comments down below!

Posted in Arts and Crafts, Crochet, Uncategorized

Update for Craft Odysseys!

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I know it has been a long time since I’ve posted much on anything to do with crocheting or craft-related stuff. I know I’ve been only posting book reviews, but I miss sharing with you guys what I’m working on and some more tips I’ve picked up along the way!

Of course, my life has been crazy this year! With both good and bad things happening, it’s been hard to find a moment to focus on crochet, and honestly, I’ve also been in a funk. What I mean by that is my mojo to crochet has been put on the back burner.

With a full-time job, raising my 2 daughters, and preparing for another little one due in October, it’s been a very busy year for me! Not to mention, with the rising cost of everything lately, it’s been rough, but I am glad I don’t have to buy yarn anymore; I do need to use what I was given since it’s hogging up extra storage that I need.

Anyway, if you have started to notice, I’ve been starting to post on Pinterest more! I will be working on doing that more in my spare time. Which brings me to the exciting news that I will be announcing!

I’ve noticed a LOT more traffic with some of my pattern posts, and I think it’s time I created PDF patterns for you guys!

Now, don’t worry! My free patterns aren’t going anywhere, but they will be updated if needed, and I will be including the PDF for purchase if you would rather have a copy free from ads. I’m debating whether to have them available on both my website and Etsy, but I think having them available on Etsy is the way I’m leaning towards.

My goal for the next few weeks is to focus on reviewing my current patterns, making edits where needed, and having a link or the option on my site/Etsy for you to purchase the pattern, if you wish to have it in a PDF version to make your lives easier!

I know what you are thinking; it’s about time you did it!

I also know that a lot of people have been asking where my Instagram/Facebook page has been, and honestly, I did get rid of them years ago. Why, you may ask? Well, I just forgot all about the Facebook page, and the Instagram was my personal Instagram. I also didn’t want to manage a lot of social media pages, since it is just me handling it all.

I really want my blog to grow beyond what it was doing before. I created this blog to express my creativity, my likes, my hobbies, etc. My blog isn’t like normal blogs because it’s got a little bit of everything that makes me, well, me!

Which is why I wanted to give back to my followers and thank them for supporting me throughout this journey! So, thank you! I couldn’t have done it without you all!

With that being said, just keep an eye out for the new changes going on my blog, and I’m really hoping to get those PDFs available before my due date! I will keep you all posted!

Again, thank you to all my followers ❤

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Happy Family (Daniel Hurst)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

This is the last book of the thriller series that has caught me on the edge of my seat. The way the last one ended, I had to know if Luna is actually getting away with all this. I will be recapping the second book.

If you haven’t read that one, a spoiler alert is needed!

So, the second book starts off with Sadie trying to figure out who had done all this, and the only reason she could think of was Reid. He was the closest to her who would make the most sense to cause all of this.

She meets Gemma in prison, and they decide that they both agree that Reid had to be the one to falsely put her in prison and cause Sadie to get a DUI. They start working together to see if Reid will slip up and reveal he did this it all.

However, they are looking at the wrong person.

Luna is living her best life as she got what she wanted, but the man who saw her start the fire, she’s still sleeping with him, and comes up with the idea to murder him. In her first attempt, she tries to give him sleeping pills so that once he is out, she can pour alcohol down his throat to make it seem like he has drunk himself to death.

When that fails, she tries again by giving him these sex pills that will supposedly help with making sex more “pleasurable”, but she makes him take 4 dosages in one pill that she crushes up. He gets a heart attack while in the middle of having sex, and he dies right there.

Luna then finds his phone and erases all his contacts with her so it won’t be traced back to her when they find him dead. She thought all was well, but someone saw her leave his apartment. Reid’s son, Arthur, did, and he ended up telling his mom.

Sadie found it strange that she was leaving a man’s apartment and thought that Luna might be cheating on Reid, but she started to think something else had happened when it came out in the news that he was found dead in his apartment. She ends up telling the same detective who helped with the fire at her parents’ house.

Luna was able to talk out of it by saying she was a friend of his and that they used to go to AA meetings, and before he died, he checked in on him, saying he was heavily drinking again. Of course, she walks away from that scot-free, but she was pissed when she realized that Sadie was the one who told the detective to check her out.

What do you think this crazy woman ends up thinking she needs to do next? If you guessed murdering her, you are right on the money.

While Luna is planning on coming up with a way to get rid of Sadie, Reid caves and visits Gemma in prison. Gemma also tells Reid that she and Sadie are onto him about everything he’s done lately. Of course, Reid is too stupid to believe Gemma since he still thinks she is the one who started the fire.

Then he tells her she needs to leave him alone for the sake of his family and new girlfriend. Gemma is shocked by this information and tries to question if Luna had anything to do with this all, but he leaves before she can get any more information.

Meanwhile, Luna tries to lure Sadie into the forest in the middle of the night, claiming Reid and the kids wanted to go looking for foxes. Sadie doesn’t come alone and ends up leaving because of the bad feeling she has about this whole situation, but she wants to make sure Reid is telling the truth, so she decides to stop by and see the kids.

However, Luna gets there as soon as she pulls up and asks her how the trip with the kids and Reid was in the forest, before Sadie can knock on the door, since Reid and the kids are all inside and it would’ve blown up in her face if Sadie saw them all inside.

That’s not even the craziest part! Reid finds a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom trash. You read that right, Luna is pregnant! Reid gets all excited to have another baby, which shocks me because little did he know that the mother of his new unborn son is a complete and crazy monster!

That same night, Sadie gets a message from Gemma saying why didn’t she tell her about Reid dating someone new so quicky and then everything starts to make sense to Sadie that Reid wasn’t the one to do this, but Luna.

Sadie goes to confront Luna and get both her kids and her ex-husband out of the house. Little did she know that Luna was up, and they got into this fight, which ended with Luna being stabbed in the arm and Sadie falling down the stairs and hitting her head.

The way the second book ends, Luna gets stitched up at the hospital, and Sadie had a bad head trauma, so she ended up in a coma so her brain could heal.

So, the third book starts out after Luna has had the baby, a son. Sadie is still in a coma, and Ruby, Reid, and Sadie’s daughter, isn’t handling it well. I felt so heartbroken for those kids because they have been through so much stuff in the past 2 years.

Anyway, Luna thinks she is in the clear until a month after she had her baby, the doctors let Reid and Sadie’s parents know that she has started to show brain activity and might wake up any day now. This puts Luna in a panic because she’s afraid Sadie will tell everyone about what she has done.

Gemma finds out that Sadie’s been in a coma and knows that Luna did it. She gets help from one of the prison guards to try and tell Reid that this was all Luna’s doing, but of course, Reid doesn’t believe them because Luna has him wrapped around her finger.

Not only does Luna have to worry about Sadie, but she also finds out Gemma is onto her. Luna is willing to do anything and everything to protect what she’s gotten so far. I mean, anything, she’s already gotten away with killing one person, so fair.

She tries to kill Sadie when she gets admitted to the hospital, but when she unplugs everything that is attached to Sadie, Sadie wakes up. Of course, the nurses rush in; they question why Luna is in there, but they are attending to Sadie. So far, Sadie doesn’t remember anything that happened before she went into the coma.

Of course, Reid, the kids, and Sadie’s parents come to the hospital when they find she’s awake. Luna also sees that her luck hasn’t quite run out yet, as she sees Gemma visiting one of the patients with a guard. Turns out Gemma’s mother is dying from cancer and was released so she could say her goodbyes.

The amount of luck Luna gets at that happens is ridiculous. Nurses don’t really question her about Sadie or the fact that she had a pillow in her hand that she was going to smother Sadie with. Then, to be in the same place as the other person who suspects you, it was like she was handed this golden opportunity.

I won’t say anything else because I really don’t want to ruin it, but the way the story ends, it’s just shocking how dumb Reid is about all this. It’s like he doesn’t believe that Luna would do what she did just to get him and his kids. Karma is a bitch, and boy, she delivers at the end of it.

Overall, this series kept me on my toes, waiting to see what the next crazy thing she is going to do next. It just blows my mind how unhinged she gets, even towards the end. This series was also a quick read for me; I pretty much read the last two books in less than a day.

I also honestly didn’t think I would be able to get into a thriller, but it was more enjoyable than I thought! Plus, with books like these being page-turners, I will no doubt be on my way to completing my reading goal for the year!

What did you think of this unhinged character? Were you just as shocked as I was with some of the stuff she did? Let me know in the comments down below!

Posted in Gaming, Sims, Sims 3 Challenges

Sims Challenges – When Can You Start To Level Up Your Sims Skills

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I know you all have been waiting for an update on the “Not So Berry” Sims Challenge I started working on, but I had to start all over. I’m really hoping I can get back up to speed and post an update soon!

Before my game crashed, I did some research to try to figure out what skills I could get started on sooner, before my Sims became adults. I was able to start the second generation, and I wanted to get a head start on getting the Sims’ skills started as soon as I could.

Since the “Not So Berry” Challenge, once your original Sim has aged to become an elder, you can mainly focus on the next generation. Of course, you can jump from each of the Sims at any point, but I always want to get a head start.

So, I’m going to break it down for each age gap and let you know when you can start to build skills:

Baby/Toddlers

For babies, there really isn’t much you can do, other than build their relationship with the parents or teenagers in the household and take care of them until they become old enough to be a toddler.

For toddlers, there are a few things that you have to do to pick their next trait before they age up. Which is teaching them to walk & talk, as well as potty training them. As long as those 3 are done before the toddler ages up, it will allow you to pick the best traits needed to level up your skills faster!

There are only 2 skills that toddlers can work on while they are toddlers, which are logic and guitar skills. The peg box will help with the logic skill, and the xylophone will help with the guitar skill.

Of course, you can reach 3 levels for each of those, but you won’t see any progress show up under their skill bar; however, it can help with lifetime wishes, which you can use in most challenges to speed up their skill level.

Children

For children, this is where you can start developing their skills. Usually, I wait until they are teenagers to start, but there are a few skills you can actually start now for them! However, some of the skills they can gain might be capped at level 3. Here are a few ways to get their skills started:

  • Cooking: The best way to start this skill is to get the toy oven. They won’t be able to use an actual oven until they become teenagers. However, this will still be invisible until they become a teenager.
  • Fishing: They can fish at any body of water to gain this skill! Trying out different ponds or lakes will get them to catch different fish, and you can sell their catch at the grocery store or have it saved in the fridge for someone in the household to cook!
  • Logic: This will be the only skill book that will appear for children to be able to read. Of course, they can also gain this skill by playing chess on a chess table or on the computer as well. As well as the building blocks, but I usually have them either read or play chess on the computer, as those are the faster ones.
  • Athletic: This is also another skill that is “hidden” until they become a teenager. However, you can start working on this skill by having them work out on the TV/stereo or the playground equipment, as well as build that skill.
  • Guitar/Bass/Drums/Piano: I actually didn’t know they could start any of these until they were a teen; however, they can. However, they have to get to level 3 on the xylophone first in order to unlock this. I’m not sure if they can learn songs, but it might have to wait until they are a teen to do so. Also, I don’t think the skills will show until they are older.
  • Painting/Writing: These are my favorite skills to have my Sims work on! They are always my go-to, no matter what Sims game I’m playing! You can get them started on these; however, they won’t show the skill level until they have aged into a teenager. Especially if I get them into the writing skill, I make them focus on just refining their skill and then start having them write books once they are a teenager; usually I get lucky that the book will become a best seller that way.
  • Gardening: I didn’t know that children could start gardening; however, they can start doing basic gardening. Again, this skill may not show up; however, if there is an older Sim that has mastered gardening, they can tutor the child on it.

Teenagers

For teenagers, there are more ways to start gaining skills. Not only through some of the items, but also by reading skill books at the library. They can start gaining all adult skills at this point, and depending on whether you have the Generations Pack instead, some other ways will gain skills as well!

  • Generations Pack: So, with this expansion pack, you unlock more features for the children/teenagers. Both can pick up after-school activities to do; however, the children are only limited to 2, while teenagers have a few to pick from:
    • Children: Scouts and Ballet are the only two choices available to them. They don’t gain any skills with them, but they do get awards after completing them.
    • Teenagers: Now, they have more options for after-school activities, up to 2, but it does depend on which ones they select. If you do sign your teenager up for after-school activities, make sure they don’t have a part-time job, as this can be tricky and can possibly stress them out. Here are the options and what skills they can gain from them:
      • Art Club – Increases Painting and Sculpting skills (Ambitions Expansion)
      • Debate Club – Increases logic skills
      • Drama Club – Increases Charisma skills
      • Band Club – Increases guitar skills and/or other instruments, depending on which expansion pack is installed. (Late Night Expansion)
      • Athletics – Increases Athletic skill
      • Scouts – Increases Gardening and Fishing skills

The Generations Pack also has a feature where you can send your child/teenager to boarding school. However, there are a lot of bugs and problems doing so.

An example that I actually had happen to me is that I attempted to do this and ended up having a lot of issues with getting my Sim back. I had to reset the game a few times and the Sim itself, but nothing really worked, so I avoided sending my Sims to boarding school.

I also only messed around with it once, so I didn’t want to attempt to do it again, especially if I was working on a challenge. I believe there is a way to fix it; I just haven’t looked into it because I like having them go to a normal school.

I did want to include it, just in case others have no problems with the boarding school feature. Here is a list of which boarding schools and what skills they can gain from attending:

  • School of Peace and Love: Cooking, Fishing, Gardening, and Nectar Making (This one is for World Adventures Expansion Pack)
  • Dribbledine Sports Academy: Athletic, Handiness, and Martial Arts (This one is for World Adventures Expansion Pack)
  • LeFromage Art School: Charisma, Guitar, Painting, Sculpting (Ambitions Expansion), Photography, Bass, Piano, and Drums
  • Smuggsworth Prep School: Charisma, Logic, and Writing

One of my biggest tips is that whenever you have a challenge, which is focusing on reaching level 10 in skills, write a checklist of what needs to be completed. Like the “Not So Berry” Challenge, I’m working on a checklist that I want to share, so that if you want to give it a go, you can and have a guide to help you through it!

Even if you aren’t doing a challenge, this is good information to know, especially if you want to get your Sim started on gaining skills right away! Especially if you want them to go to college, this will make it easier for you to pass those classes so you can get away with trying out other features that you weren’t able to before.

Normally, I won’t have my teenager get a job if I want them to get their skills up, if I plan on sending them to university, so by the time they graduate, I can send them to college and get the degree faster.

Anyway, I hope this information helps; it helped me out a lot! I’m really hoping I have an update on the challenge I’m working on. Life has been very busy for me lately, so I only have a few windows when I can.

Fun Question! What skills do you always start having your Sims gain first? For me, it’s Cooking, Logic, and Handiness, but depending on their traits, I’ll do others like Writing and Painting.

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – I Stole Your Family (Daniel Hurst)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

After finishing the first book, I Want Your Family, I just had to know how much more this crazy chick would get away with. If you haven’t read the first one, I would highly recommend doing so since I will be spoiling some of the parts of the last book to catch up with what the second book is about.

So, a spoiler alert, for those who haven’t read the first one.

In the first book, Luna is a delivery driver who delivers packages and has been stalking a family. She wants to take over Sadie’s role as the mother/husband and become her. Well, if you were just as shocked as I was, you’ll find that she did get away with doing so at the end of the first book.

Which is crazy, I honestly thought she’d be caught by now, but nope, not yet! Anyway, how did she manage to do so?

First, Reid, the husband, and Sadie were already having problems in their relationship, with Reid sexting one of his co-workers, Gemma. They decided to take a weekend to go off and try to see if there was a relationship left to save. However, little did they know that there was a third party listening in on this conversation they were having. Luna.

Luna ends up using this to her advantage and decides to ruin their little mini vacation to make sure they will get divorced. Well, she did just that. When they were at the spa retreat, Luna paid off one of the bartenders to say he recognized Reid and asked if he was with the infamous “Gemma” to his wife, Sadie.

Sadie didn’t end up taking that well and told him she wanted a divorce because, as far as she was told by Reid, he never slept with Gemma. So, she cuts the trip early and takes a taxi to her parents’ house to get their kids. Little did she know, Luna had SET THE HOUSE ON FIRE.

I’m not kidding, she set the house on fire with both the kids and Sadie’s parents inside. Luna thought they weren’t home, and once she realized they were, she banged on the glass window to get them to get out of the house. Thankfully, all of them were able to get out.

Of course, Sadie is pulling up to watch her parents’ house on fire and is freaking out, which I don’t blame her for; I would be too. That’s a sight you would never want to see as a parent. Coming back from a trip away with the kids and coming home to find that, I couldn’t imagine how I would feel other than I was going in there to get my family out.

Now, do you think Luna got away with this? The answer is YES, but someone caught her leaving the scene of the crime, holding all the evidence of her starting the fire in her hands. She ends up SLEEPING with this man to keep him quiet. You heard that right. Then she pins the entire fire on Gemma, Reid’s mistress.

Not only does she have to deal with this man, but she ends up getting Reid to sleep with her while he is undergoing his divorce from Sadie. Since she wants both the kids and the house they grew up in, she comes up with a plan to make sure custody is taken from Sadie.

She switches Sadie’s multivitamins for alcohol powder. Then, after making sure Sadie has already taken them, she calls the cops on Sadie, saying she’s drunk-driving with kids in the back, when Sadie is trying to take the kids to school. Of course, the cops pull her over, and because she ends up failing the breathalyzer test, she ultimately ends up losing full custody of her kids.

At the end of the book, you find out that she and Reid have a full-blown relationship now, and she is currently living in the house, raising Sadie’s kids. You’d never think she would actually get away with all this, right?

Sadie is the only one who starts to realize that she had to be targeted by someone to not only lose her husband, but her kids, too. The one thing she knows isn’t true is how she managed to get a DUI when she was completely sober.

So, the start of the book happens about a year after they had been officially divorced. Luna and Reid are living together. Sadie is shocked that Reid moved on as fast as he did and that she is being replaced by the same person who delivered packages to her.

If you think the first book she was crazy, just wait to find out what she does in this second book.

She is living her dream; however, there is one thing that is in the way of her happiness. The man who saw her leaving Sadie’s parents’ the night she started the fire. She is still sleeping with him WHILE dating Reid. Of course, she has to get rid of him, and the first thing that comes to her mind is murder.

So, while she is trying to come up with a plan to end him, Sadie thinks that the only person who could’ve made her lose everything was Reid, so she visits Gemma in prison, and they start to try to figure out why this was all happening to both of them.

Meanwhile, the kids are not taking a liking to Luna, and she is pissed because of this and is trying so hard to get them on her side. They are also 5 and 9, just watched their parents go through not only a divorce, but finding out their father’s mistress tried to kill them, and their mother only gets to see them once or twice a week.

Plus, their father already has a new girlfriend living with them all at the same time. That’s a huge adjustment for the kids to have to go through in a short amount of time. Of course, they start acting out because of it. The oldest, Arthur, is causing more of the issues, but he also catches Luna leaving another man’s house when he skipped school.

The same man who caught her starting the fire.

Of course, he tells Sadie, and she starts questioning if Luna is cheating on Reid. However, she starts to suspect Luna when the news comes out that this man had “suddenly” passed away. While that is happening, Gemma finally gets Reid to visit her in prison, and she tells him that she and Sadie suspect him of everything that has happened.

Reid, this idiot, refuses to believe her and thinks that she has lost it, but he lets it slip out that he has a girlfriend. Which Gemma had no idea of, and immediately emailed Sadie asking why she didn’t tell her that Reid was seeing someone right around the same time as all the bad luck started happening to them.

Wait til you find out what happens in the end, it’s just so crazy what Luna does to keep this fantasy of hers a reality. After I finished the second book, I had to know what happened in the last one. It leaves you on a cliffhanger for sure!

Overall, it keeps you on your toes and wanting to find out what happens next. I really didn’t believe I could get into a thriller series like this, but I had to know if this crazy Luna really gets what she wants.

What do you think of this mini-series? Are you just as shocked as I am that she is getting away with this all? Let me know down in the comments!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – I Want Your Family (Daniel Hurst)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

Have you ever read a book and asked the question, “What the actual fuck am I reading?” I definitely asked this question after finishing this book. I had no idea what I would be reading until I actually read the book.

One of my friends recommended this one as well; she talked a little bit about it, and since it was on Kindle Unlimited, I figured, why not try something different? Especially since I was pretty bummed with the last romance novel I read, I figured taking a break from the romance novels to something different might help me.

Oh, but little did I know what I was reading until I actually read this. Let me get one thing straight: this chick is CRAZY. Not to mention, this is the first book; two others come right after. I also finished the first book so quickly and started right away on the other ones in just this week.

Anyway, let’s talk about what this story is really about. The POV is in Luna’s and Sadie’s. So, Luna is the crazy one who wants what Sadie has: her husband, her kids, and her life. She delivers packages to her daily and fantasizes about removing Sadie from her home and pretty much becoming her.

The thing that really shocked me is how she plans on doing it. I thought for sure she would get away with it, but I swear, she had all this planned out. Which when reading this, it makes me question where the author actually came up with this because this type of thinking is NUTS.

Usually, this isn’t the type of book that I would just randomly pick up and give it a go, but once you start reading, you just want to know how far she is willing to go to get this family. I wanted to know how she planned on doing it and if she’d get away with it all.

One of the key things that happened that makes this all go down is that Sadie and Reid, her husband, are having problems in their marriage. Sadie catches Reid sexting his co-worker, Gemma, which is causing tension between them.

Of course, once that trust is broken, it’s hard to get it back, and in this case, they decided to try and work on their marriage to see if there was anything left to save. Which is when the whole shit-show starts, when they leave to go to a spa retreat.

Luna overhears the conversation and uses it to her advantage. It also didn’t help that they decided to have this conversation when she was delivering a package to them the same day. I think this is when she started her plan.

I really don’t want to spoil it for you all because it’s just crazy what she does to not only get Sadie and Reid to divorce, but also to have Sadie lose custody of the two kids. Plus, she manages to get Reid wrapped around her finger once the divorce is all official.

I have to give her credit, she’s motivated to get what she wants, but why you would want to steal another person’s family is beyond me. She could’ve had one herself, you would’ve thought, but she mentions that she had tried, but nothing had worked out. Not to mention, she tried to do it with another family BEFORE!

I was shocked she was trying to do it with this family, but she did it to another family and got caught? Well, she had to get a whole new ID and life, which is why you find out that her real name is Sarah, not Luna.

Overall, this book keeps you on your toes for sure, and this was my first, I guess you can call it a thriller. Normally, I like cheesy romance or fantasy stuff, but I couldn’t put this book down. Especially when you find out what happens in the end, you want to read the second book just to find out what she does next.

Have you read this series, or is this something that has piqued your interest? Let me know if your curious to know how crazy Luna gets and I mean she gets even more unhindged than you think!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Obsession Falls (Claire Kingsley)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I have started to finally work on my saved book list on Amazon. This was one that I was really excited to see on Kindle Unlimited. I had really high hopes since it was a small-town romance, and after the Story Lake series, I really had some high hopes that this would be a good one.

So, this is a series, and I’m debating if I want to test out the second one, but you’ll see why when I talk more about the first one. The story is based on Audery moving back home after getting laid off from her job and struggling to find another one, until she was hired at a small town newspaper.

She ends up living with her mother, but realizes that her dog, Max, and her mother’s cat don’t get along well, and ends up quickly moving out into her own place. That is also when she meets Josiah Haven. The way they end up meeting each other is hilarious, to say the least.

Josiah was working on the place next to where Audery moved to and thought she was a squatter, since his little sister didn’t tell him she already signed a lease with them. He pretty much walks in on her naked in the bathtub. Which I found hilarious!

Reading his POV, he was completely embarrassed and was upset that his sister didn’t tell him someone had already moved into the place. Anyway, as you can tell, the POV is not just in Josiah’s, but Audrey’s as well.

Once she starts living there, that’s when she starts getting random calls from restricted numbers, dead squirrels appear on her front porch, and she has the feeling that someone is stalking her. She has Josiah help her when she finds the dead squirrel on her front porch and tells her that squirrels don’t just up and die randomly while being drained of all their blood.

Audrey and Josiah make a police report, but since there wasn’t enough evidence, she has to keep her guard up. She has no idea who could be doing this since she never had any enemies, to her knowledge, although Josiah thinks it might be her ex-boyfriend.

I honestly thought it was the ex-boyfriend was the stalker, just from the two interactions that she had with him. He drove from the town over, just to go to a bar to see her and supposedly “catch up”? It just seemed suspicious to me, plus he was getting kind of handsy with her, that’s when Josiah actually stepped in and became her “knight in shining armor”.

That’s when he starts to have feelings towards her, but is hesitant to act on them since at the beginning of the book, it starts with him about to propose to his girlfriend of 3 years, but she ends up dumping him because she got a promotion to another state and knows he would never leave the small town he grew up in, so instead of proposing, he just lets her dump him.

Which would make sense why he is very cold and closed off to any type of female interaction. Even the blind dates his aunt tries to set him up with, he wants nothing to do with them. He actually starts to realize that he can’t stop thinking about Audrey, and when she sees him with another woman, she thinks that it’s his girlfriend, but he drives back to her house and kisses her.

I love it when the author builds the tension between two love interests, and they finally kiss after reading several chapters, waiting for the “will they or won’t they” moment. It got me excited to see how she would write their first intimate moment, especially how she built up their attraction to each other. I was hoping for fireworks!

Well, to say I was disappointed was an understatement. It was like reading about a one-night stand with little to no detail. I was hoping for something more exciting, but it was very lackluster. Maybe it’s because the last small town novels really went over the top with what I was expecting, who knows?

I figured maybe the author was waiting for a better moment to go into detail with their next intimate moment, and unfortunately, I was still disappointed. Granted, that wasn’t the reason that kept me reading, I really wanted to know who this stalker was, but why build up the tension with two characters and give them a subpar sex scene?

Overall, I think what really drew me in was not just the small-town romance, but the side of mystery with who this stalker was and why they were targeting Audrey. I won’t spoil it, but it threw me off the path to who it was, but I will let you all read on to find out who it actually was.

This book wasn’t too bad. It’s not something I’ll be buying for my shelf anytime soon, it was an interesting read overall. Would I read it again? Possibly. Will I read the second one? I’m still unsure, but I might give it a try to see if the next book, which is about Josiah’s brother, Zachary.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Josiah has 5 other brothers. Which is why there are other books based on each of the Haven brothers. I’m getting the sense that most of these small-town book series I’ve been reading have been about each brother finding love. Nothing wrong with that, as long as they have some kind of drama or mystery going on that keeps your interest going.

Have any of you read this book or this series? What did you think? Or is the small-town romance not your cup of tea? Let me know down below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Mistakes Were Made (Lucy Score)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

So, this book is actually the sequel to Story of My Life, the one I reviewed last week. Instead of the story continuing on with Hazel and Cam, this actually focuses on Zoey and Gage. Zoey is Hazel’s publisher and best friend, while Gage is Cam’s younger brother.

The book starts out right when the first one ended, which I’m going to put a spoiler alert out to everyone, especially those who haven’t read the first book yet.

It starts with Cam and Hazel planning their wedding at the same time Zoey is relaunching Hazel’s new book series. Of course, Hazel is worried that it won’t do well, but Zoey encourages her to push on and get started on a sequel to her new series. There’s just one problem: Hazel used herself for the last one as an example to work through and needs inspiration from another couple.

This is where Zoey comes in; however, Zoey doesn’t know if she is going to live out here in Story Lake because she wants to go back to New York, but everything starts falling apart for her. Zoey finds out that she either needs to move out of her apartment or buy it, as the new owners are turning it into a condominium.

However, Gage, knowing that Zoey is Hazel’s best friend and had the extra space above where his law office is, cleaned it out and offered it to Zoey to live there for the time being until she finds something else. Of course, grumpy Cam tells Gage right away that Zoey is off limits as it’s his fiancée’s best friend.

One thing I love about romance novels is that when a character is told not to do something, especially like “don’t date or sleep with my future wife’s best friend”, it ends up happening anyway! Nothing wrong with a forbidden love affair!

Anyway, both Gage and Zoey start to realize they have an attraction to each other, but make it very clear they don’t want to be in a relationship. More like a “friends with benefits” situation since they both are clearly opposites from each other.

Zoey doesn’t want a relationship because she’s not ready to settle down and has been burned before by an ex. Plus, she is very focused on getting her career back on track after being fired for helping Hazel get back on her feet.

While Gage does want a relationship, he wants to get married and start a family, but hasn’t had the best of luck finding a woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. It also didn’t help that his oldest grumpy brother, Cam, was able to find love when they never thought he would find anyone to begin with.

With all that going on, Zoey is offered to help the town of Story Lake become more of a tourist destination, especially with Hazel’s new book launch, she creates a Readers Weekend. Not to mention, she ropes in all the help she can get from the town and sees if it can be a complete success for not only Hazel but for the town as well.

Of course, as in most “friends with benefits” situations, both of them start to develop feelings towards each other, and Zoey debates whether she wants to actually leave Story Lake, but also makes it known to Gage that she can’t ever have kids. She knows that one of his wishes was to have kids, but Gage is already thinking ahead of her and still wants her regardless because she has changed his wishes and wants her in his life.

There is also the “big fight” or some type of problem that separates them, this one being Zoey throwing herself out there to protect one of Gage’s clients/friends, but I’ll let you find out what happens without me spoiling it for you.

Overall, I love the chemistry between the two! Just like the last book, Hazel and Cam were complete opposites. Gage and Zoey are different in that sense since Gage is very organized, while Zoey is a mess, but she later finds out in the book that there was a reason why she has been like this; she finds out she is diagnosed with ADHD.

Not only does she learn how to handle it, but Gage is already experienced with knowing how to handle someone with ADHD, and even helps her when she feels like her life is getting out of control again. Which I honestly think makes her fall even more in love with him.

You know if you have found someone truly incredible when they can handle and show they love you more, even on your very worst days. That to me is true love! Don’t get me wrong, Hazel was in a dark place when she met Cam, but I think Zoey’s situation is a little bit different since she didn’t know she had ADHD. Gage, without question, didn’t judge her or anything; instead helped her with what he knew about ADHD that helped others.

There are a few smutty scenes, but it’s just the right amount, nothing that overdoes it. The first book was just right with them; however, I actually liked the second book a little bit more. Don’t get me wrong, I loved how the first books’ smutty scenes were with Hazel and Cam; however, I liked Zoey and Gage a bit more.

I honestly liked the sequel a bit more than the first one, but they share equal love from me! Now the real problem is waiting until the third book comes out, which won’t be until March 2027! Which I know seems like forever away, but I know that it will be here faster than we know!

Let me know how you liked this one versus the first one, and if you are excited and can’t wait for the third one to come out, let me know down below!

Also, who are we guessing the third one will be about? I did look it up and came to find out it is going to focus on the last Bishop brother, Levi! I thought for sure it might focus on their sister, but it makes sense that it’s only a 3-book series and there are only 3 Bishop brothers. I’m just curious who the author is going to pair him with!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Story of My Life (Lucy Score)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

Don’t worry, this week’s book will not leave you in tears! I’ve had this one saved for a little bit, and I finally said screw it and jumped right into reading it. It is a bit longer book than the others I’ve read in the past, 510 pages. That’s also nothing compared to her second book of this series, which is over 600 pages long!

However, it was so worth it! I loved every minute of reading it!

The story is about Hazel, who was once a famous romance writer who hasn’t written anything since her divorce, and needed a new inspiration to get back to being on top. She decides to move to this small town in Story Lake, Pennsylvania. After realizing the house she bought is in desperate need of being fixed up, she hires the Bishop brothers’ company to get her house in order.

Since Hazel bought the house from the mayor, who is 17 years old, she also got a seat on the town council, as the small town itself is struggling to gain more tourists and people who want to move there.

Anyway, her first few days don’t go as well as planned, between getting attacked by the eagle, known as Goose, crashing her car into the town sign because of said eagle, and being accused of murdering Goose. She didn’t have the warmest welcome, but the Bishop brothers and their family helped her clear her name.

Campbell, otherwise known as “Cam”, Bishop is the oldest and grumpiest Bishop brother who starts to warm up to Hazel, especially after she asks if he can take her out on a fake date, since she needs some more inspiration, and she didn’t start getting some until she met him.

Of course, he declines at first, but then, when she says she would ask one of his other brothers for help with this, he agrees. Their first date starts off as rocky as Cam thought she would be one of those girls who loves the fancy restaurant he chose, but she then tells him she wanted him to take her out on a “Cam Date”, so she can see if this grumpy man was capable of being romantic under all that brooding.

Honestly, I loved Cam’s idea for a first date, simple yet romantic! Got subs, stole, or, as he called it, “borrowed” his brother’s boat, and they ate subs under the stars with some beers. Cam actually treated it like a date, too, because he opened up to her and she opened up to him. She did bring her notebook with her to write notes, but he wanted her to enjoy the date in the moment, which I thought was sweet.

Then, towards the end of the date, his brother, Levi, caught them in the boat, and they both fell in the water together. When Cam brought Hazel home, he took a second to decide whether or not he was going to kiss her, and then he did, which I was waiting for! You can’t go on a good date like that and not have a good night kiss!

This is the start of Hazel getting back into writing her new book. Her best friend, Zoey, is all excited, since she is also Hazel’s literary agent and just lost her job because she was helping Hazel get back on her feet.

Without getting further into it, I thought this was a very cute and hilarious rom-com book! I haven’t found another one of these in a while, and I’m really glad I did! I’m currently working on reading her second book, which is about her best friend Zoey, and there is a third one that is coming out next year, which I’m wondering who it will be about this time.

I also love how the relationship builds with Hazel and Cam, the book is in both their POV, which is my favorite! I loved how Cam was not about Hazel, and over time, he grew to like her. There are some scenes that get a little spicy, but again, I like it when it doesn’t take over the entire book.

They grow to like each other, even after all the bickering and fighting they do; it’s so funny what they are arguing about. They are a very much opposites attract couple, especially since she is a writer and he’s a contractor. Plus, he does an over-the-top romance notion to get her back, as most romance novels tend to do!

I think the star of the book and most of the humor comes from the small town shenanigans and how nosy they all are. Of course, can’t forget all the trouble the eagle, Goose, does to Hazel and Zoey, and other people that upset him.

Honestly, after reading this book, I wouldn’t mind living in a small town. Especially, one like this one. Everyone is always so friendly and helpful, but if you do anything to upset them, they have your back, or if you have pissed them off, you’ll end up getting potatoes thrown at you.

Although I was shockingly surprised to see a lot of mixed reviews about this book, like I know it’s a long book and not a lot of people are fans of “rom-com” stuff, but I honestly think it depends on what type of books you like to read. I was zoned in once I started reading it.

Plus, you have to like the author’s writing style too, which I found out she’s got a lot more books that she’s written that I will need to check out for sure! Some people say she has better ones than she has written before, which has me curious.

Overall, I loved this book, and it will be going on my bookshelf for sure! I also really love cheesy romance stuff like this, too. Plus, the bickering between Hazel and Cam is hilarious, not to mention that when you see Cam bickering with his siblings is even more entertaining!

I really can’t wait to find out how the second one turns out and what the author is planning for the 3rd one, since that one won’t be out until next year in March. What did you think of this rom-com book? Is it something you’d want to read, or if you have read it, what are your thoughts? Let me know down below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Last Letter (Rebecca Yarros)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

So, this book was recommended by my friend, and she told me it was a good read, but man, I was bawling at the end of this book! Normally, this isn’t a book I would choose on my own, but I’m honestly glad I did.

I’m going to do my best and not spoil it for those who want to read it. What happens in the end, it was not what I was expecting, and I think it hit me harder because of what I’ve been through, again, trying my hardest not to spoil it for you!

The book starts out in both Ella and Beckett’s POV. So, each chapter switches back and forth, and they also begin with a letter they have been writing back and forth to each other. Ella’s brother, Ryan, is Beckett’s best friend; they are both in the military together, and Ryan gets his sister to write Beckett a letter.

Beckett was also completely against having a pen pal or opening up to anyone emotionally, but after losing someone else in the army, he finally decides to open up and reply to her. They start being pen pals, but Ella only knows Beckett as his military nickname “Chaos”.

They build this friendship through writing back and forth to each other and start to grow feelings for each other. Then, Ryan dies in battle and leaves a letter for Beckett asking him to be there for Ella and her kids. Beckett also doesn’t send Ella another letter as he feels guilty for what happened to her brother.

The letter Ryan gives Beckett, I thought that was sad because I got teary-eyed reading that! Anyway, Beckett goes to the cabin resort that Ella owns, she took over from her grandmother when she passed, rents a cabin, and meets Ella and her twins. He doesn’t tell her that he’s “Chaos” right off the bat.

When he does meet Ella, he tells her he knew his brother and gives her the letter her brother left for him. Ella, of course, refuses his help as she is dealing with a lot. Her daughter, Maisie, is going through treatment for cancer, and she’s trying to manage keeping the business afloat while drowning in medical bills for Maisie’s cancer treatment.

Plus, you also find out that Maisie and Colt’s biological father walked out on Ella when she was 8 weeks pregnant, and then ended up getting divorced. This makes me understand why Ella has trust issues and has issues with people lying to her. Which makes sense why she doesn’t want to trust Beckett right off the bat.

Of course, Ella starts to fall for Beckett, especially when he starts helping Ella with the kids and being there for her, whether she asks for it or not. Of course, the kids start welcoming Beckett into their lives, and my heart warmed when Colt told Beckett, “This is what having a dad feels like.” They had never had a dad in their life and Beckett was the closest thing they had to a father.

Eventually, he offers to adopt Ella’s kids, so they can have his military insurance since the treatment Maisie needs is covered under his insurance, versus Ella having to pay out of pocket for it. The way he gets the twins’ biological dad to sign his rights out was just badass!

Without spoiling it, I will let you guys read it for yourself. Tissues are recommended towards the end because I was bawling. I ended up waking up early and figured that I would read since the kids were still sleeping. Little did I know that I was at the end of the book, and I couldn’t stop crying.

My poor mother heard me crying from the other room and thought something was wrong with me, and all I could tell her was “It’s my book.” Of course, she started laughing because I’m also currently pregnant and wasn’t sure if it was something else that had me crying. Which made me so overemotional when I read the end of the book.

I honestly loved the love story that builds between Ella and Beckett. I also haven’t read a lot of books that shows how a single parent finds someone that not only there for them, but also for their kids as well. I do have a few saved in my Pinterest Board to check out; this was the first one that I truly felt was an amazing book.

Overall, I loved the story, hated the ending, but you do have to give the author credit that she did an amazing job building up the relationship between Ella and Beckett and didn’t rush right to it, like some other authors tend to do. There is one spicy scene, but it was well needed because you could cut their sexual tension with a knife!

It also talks about how hard it is to get your life back on track when you lose a loved one in the military, like with Beckett, how losing his best friend affected not only him, but also how it affected Ella and the twins.

Let me know down below if you have read this book and what your thoughts are! Also, I did find out they are turning this book into a movie and I honestly can’t wait! Hopefully, they won’t screw it up, but I know I’ll be crying for sure at the end!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – If Only I Had Told Her (Laura Nowlin)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

This book is actually the sequel to If He Had Been With Me. If you haven’t read the first one, I highly recommend you do so, as this post contains spoilers from the first book.

So, a spoiler alert is in effect.

At the end of the first book, If He Had Been With Me, Finn and Autumn confess their feelings for each other. They slept with each other, and Finn had planned to see Sylvie the next day to end things with her so he could be with Autumn.

However, he got into a car crash and was fine, but he saw that Sylvie didn’t have her seat belt on and was launched through the window when they crashed. He went to go help her and got electrocuted, as it was also downpouring in the rain. Finn didn’t make it, but Sylvie did.

Autumn, of course, is heartbroken about this and tries to end her life. She did get saved in time and was taken to the hospital to recover, and also found out she is pregnant with Finn’s baby. This was a month after Finn had died that she tried to take her life.

That’s how the book ends, and when I read that, I had so many questions about what would happen after that. You just can’t end a book at a cliffhanger like that, not know what happens next!

The sequel pretty much starts from Finn’s POV, I want to say right before the accident. So, he’s helping Autumn with the breakup with Jamie. Spoiler alert: he dumped her to go be with her best friend, Sasha. I saw something sort of happening because Jamie was spending more one-on-one time with Sasha, and I guess they had better chemistry.

I honestly think that because Autumn never slept with him, I think that’s why he sort of went to Sasha, because before Autumn and Jamie started dating, Sasha also liked Jamie, but Jamie was more interested in Autumn than Sasha.

Anyway, Finn and Autumn spend the summer together, spending time like they did when they were best friends and before the distance had happened. Finn was starting to pull away from Sylvie, but he did tell Autumn he wanted to break up with her in person, since that’s what his best friend, Jack, suggested that he do.

I really liked that we got more of how Finn was feeling because you didn’t really know until towards the end of the book when he confessed he’s always been in love with her. I honestly wish the first book were a mix of both Finn and Autumn’s POV, but having him in this POV definitely showcased his feelings for her.

Plus, you also have to read about what the fight between Sylvie and Finn was about. Apparently, Sylvie already had a feeling that Autumn and he were getting closer while she was away on a trip to Europe. She confronted him while he was driving in the rain, which led to the accident.

However, after Finn’s POV ends, it goes to his best friend, Jack’s POV. I really had a hard time reading his POV, I really did. I swear I was falling ASLEEP trying to get through his point of view. I’m not kidding, I read during my breaks at work, and my co-workers saw me dozing off while reading his POV.

First of all, you only hear about him and meet him once in Autumn’s POV. Which is why I really wished the author did it in both POV’s because you only get Autumns and only really get to know about Jack’s in Finn’s POV. If we knew more about him BEFORE in the first book, I could relate to him more, but he’s just a stranger, and honestly, not really necessary to have in this book.

It also doesn’t make any sense to have his POV, I’d rather Sylvie’s POV be in there instead of his! You guys, I really almost gave up on this book completely because of his POV. However, I made it through, thankfully, which brings us back to Autumn’s POV.

Thankfully, her POV was her coming with the terms that she’s pregnant and both Finn and her mother, or the Mothers, as Autumn calls them, are helping her cope with not only the loss of Finn, but preparing her to become a new mother so young.

She also gets some help from one of her friends, Angie, who ended up getting pregnant while in high school, just to understand how different your life is after having a child so young. It also makes me feel better that she still goes to therapy and group therapy, too.

You do find out she’s having a girl as well, but the book ends before she gives birth, which I was bummed about because it would be nice to see her raise their child and that scrapbook she wanted to create for the baby, with memories that they had with Finn when he was alive.

Honestly, I’d like the book more if it went into details and skipped to when their daughter is older and can react to seeing what her dad was like. I’d probably get more tearful about those verses when he died, since I figured that is what had happened.

Overall, it wrapped up the book okay. It wouldn’t be something I’d read again, honestly. Jack’s POV just ruined it for me. It was okay to know how his other best friend was dealing with it, but Jack is so emotionless that it’s hard to relate to or sympathize with him.

I did like how it showed the aftermath of how difficult it was to lose a loved one very suddenly, and learning how to cope with the loss. Again, I really wish the original book were in both Finn’s and Autumn’s POV. Then again, the name of the sequel would definitely have to change. It would’ve been interesting to switch Jack’s POV with Sylvie’s POV.

Anyway, what did you guys think about the sequel? Did you struggle to get through Jack’s POV as much as I did, or did it wrap up loose ends from the first book? Let me know down below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – If He Had Been With Me (Laura Nowlin)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I’m so sorry for missing last week’s post! We had a beautiful weekend that I couldn’t pass up, and plus, I hadn’t finished a book yet either, I completely forgot! Don’t worry, I’m back! I’ll make sure I have some others pre-planned just in case I space it again!

Since I got Kindle Unlimited, this title came up as a recommendation, and I figured, why not? I’ll give it a go. Then, when I mentioned to one of my friends that I was reading this, she was like, “Oh man, you are going to lose it when you get to the end.”

Mind you, I just started the book, and the way the beginning started, I kind of figured out what might be happening. Then she showed me some TikToks of people absolutely losing it when they got to Chapters 84 & 85. When I mean they were losing it, I mean like balling uncontrollably.

I also had no idea this was even popular. I don’t have TikTok, never installed it, or signed up for an account because anything that was shown on TikTok showed up on Facebook or YouTube, so I didn’t see the need to have it. Plus, most of my book recommendations come from Pinterest or Kindle Unlimited.

Anyway, this book wasn’t what I was expecting, but it is something I would reread again. So, it’s about Finn and Autumn, how their mothers were best friends and pretty much were raised together. Its best friends turned to lovers, but it doesn’t happen right off the bat.

The book is completely in Autumn’s POV, so you start to see that he’s more popular than her, and she backs away from their friendship, which can happen, especially during middle school and high school. That’s when you start finding groups of friends more like you.

By the way, this only happens when Finn kisses her, and she doesn’t know how to react and doesn’t want him to use her, which I completely understand, but she basically pushes him away and stays with her little group of friends.

Then, at the beginning of freshman year, you see Finn start dating Sylvie, eventually Autumn meets Jamie, and they start dating as well. They still see each other a lot, but this distance has been created, which makes it difficult for them to co-exist and still be the best of friends that they once were.

Without trying to spoil the entire thing, they don’t confess their feelings until the summer that they graduated, and that’s when they both realized that Finn had been in love with her since they were 11. Autumn didn’t start feeling it until 2 years before, but doesn’t say anything since she’s with Jamie.

One thing I want to point out about Jamie is that he had so many red flags that she just ignored, but I do understand because of the fact that they were in high school, and when it’s your first love, you tend to look over everything.

Anytime he didn’t agree with something she said, he would argue with Autumn about it, as if he didn’t care about her opinion. Kept pushing her to have sex with her when she told him she wasn’t ready. He was a douche bag anyway because of what he did to Autumn in the end.

I was waiting for her to break things off with this guy from the moment he started treating her like crap. Then again, you do dumb stuff when you’re young and have to learn from your mistakes. Plus, I’m pretty sure he was love-bombing her too.

Of course, when the book starts in the beginning, I kinda had a feeling that something happened with Finn, that we weren’t going to know for sure until the end. If you have read as much as I have, then you would be able to put two and two together about what happened.

I did get teared up when I read Chapters 84 & 85, but not as bad as I saw others do. Which is shocking because when I read that part, my 1-year-old was sleeping on my chest and my eyes watered, but I didn’t full-blown cry over it. I’m also pregnant, so it really didn’t hit me as hard as I expected.

It could have had to do with the fact that the TikToks kind of gave it away, which is one of the reasons why I don’t have it, because it spoils a lot of books for people. I mean, I get ideas from Pinterest on different book suggestions, but I haven’t run into a pin that has spoiled it for me.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad book; the writer’s style was something to get used to, but it was readable for sure. I highly recommend it, although once you finish that one, there is a sequel that gives you Finn’s POV for a few chapters, which gives you more of an inside on how he was feeling about Autumn.

What did you think of this book? Did you happen to read it because it was on TikTok, or were you like me and happened to have it recommended? Let me know in the comments!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Of Earth and Flame (Elayna R Gallea)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

So, I kind of went down a rabbit hole and found that there are books that are sort of similar to one of my favorite franchises that my siblings and I used to watch, which happened to be the Barbie movies.

Thanks to Pinterest and some research, I found books inspired by those movies. Of course, I made a list of each of these books and which movie they are inspired by. I also decided to get Kindle Unlimited because it just made sense for me to have that versus buying books that I may or may not like.

I will be making a post with all the books and which movie was inspired by them in the future, but let’s get started with this one!

Now, this book is actually a series, which I didn’t realize until I looked more into it, and it’s fantasy, which has been rare for me lately because I’ve been reading more romance/smut stuff recently.

This book is actually an inspiration for Barbie as Rapunzel!

If you haven’t seen this one, let me give you a brief overview of what the plot is about.

Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen the movie!

So, in some of the Barbie movies, there is a conflict before the story is told, which in this case is Kelly talking about how she doesn’t know what to paint and thinks that she won’t do a great job. That’s when Barbie tells the story about a girl who loves to paint, Rapunzel.

Rapunzel is stolen and lives in a manor with Mother Gothel, who has strong magical powers that she uses to keep Rapunzel trapped in the manor. She also treats Rapunzel like crap and uses her as a maid. Then Rapunzel finds a secret staircase that goes down into a basement, where she finds a hairbrush that’s engraved with:

“Constant as the stars above, always know that you are loved. To our daughter Rapunzel on her first birthday. With love forever, mother and father.”

Which confuses her since she’s only known Gothel as her mother figure. Then her friend dragon breaks a hole in the floor, and they find an underground tunnel that leads directly to the village. She saves one of the princesses, and the prince thanks her.

She goes back to the manor, and overnight, the hairbrush turns into a magical paintbrush where she can paint anything and magically appear. She does this with dresses, and she is able to paint a portrait of the village where she can walk into it and be in the village.

Since the prince invited her to the ball, Mother Gothel finds out and ends up locking her away in the tower, and goes as Rapunzel to the ball to trick the prince. Rapunzel escapes and then confronts Mother Gothel and finds out that she stole her as a baby to get back at her father.

That’s just a brief overview of the movie, but I highly recommend checking it out because, honestly, it was a different twist on the Rapunzel story. This wasn’t my all-time favorite Barbie movie, but it’s up there as one that I would rewatch over and over again.

Anyway, back to the book, it starts out as any other Rapunzel story does, locked in a tower. When the book first starts, Aileana is literally escaping the tower as she has been locked in there for 23 years and is arranged to marry the prince of an evil king, who is even more evil.

Aileana is also an elf, which I was really excited about because I’ve never read a book where the main character is an elf. So, once she escapes, she meets this guy Xander, whom she happens to stab when they first meet, since she doesn’t want to be captured like she was before.

They team up, since the land they are in, females can only be accompanied by a male figure, and in order for them to lead the country, they pretend to be a fake husband and wife. They also find out they are soulmates too.

The more time they spend together, the more they start to fall for each other, which I love! I honestly think more authors should do this, like just because their soulmates build up the chemistry!

Plus, their pretending to be husband and wife makes the connection, I think, stronger in a sense. Not to mention the interesting thing, you find out what Xander really is because he heals quickly. I honestly thought he was going to come out as a werewolf, but boy, was I wrong!

There was also a lot of other stuff that happened in the book, but I really didn’t want to spoil too much. The way the book ended, it really makes me want to read the second one, which is also on Kindle Unlimited!

Overall, between the book and the movie, they only have a few things in common: the Rapunzel factor of being locked in a tower, magic, dragons, and, of course, it takes place in a kingdom. It’s a different spin on Rapunzel, but I really like it!

I also wanted a break from the smut I’ve been reading. I just finished a quick series that I’m going to do a review on, but this was a breath of fresh air for me. I’m also a big fantasy fan, so it’s been nice to read something different for a change.

I’m also really excited to read the next book from the list! Let me know how you liked this book and if you were big fans of the Barbie movies when you were a kid.

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Twisted Love (Ana Huang)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I totally forgot that I read this and needed to post a review on it! This was one of the first books that got me back into wanting to take the time to read more. It’s what I call the perfect combination of love, drama, mystery, and, of course, spicy scenes.

Now, I know what you are probably thinking: this entire book is nothing but spicy scenes; however, it’s a perfect combo with a little bit of everything mixed into one. Granted, they don’t just rush into it; it’s built up over time. Which is how a good book does it right!

So, this is a series; I’ve only read the first one so far. I actually tried to get it at the bookstore, and they ended up only having the 3rd and 4th ones, so I’ve got to order it from Amazon. First of all, I just want to say how much I love how simple the cover is! Not just for the first one, but for all of them!

Most covers I’ve seen or have read lately are just overflown with flowers, which don’t get me wrong, I love flowers, but I feel like it’s just overdone sometimes. I’m also a simple person, so simple covers like this not only appeal to me to check out, but make it look good on my shelf.

Anyway, the book is in the POV of Ava and Alex. Alex is Ava’s older brother and Josh’s best friend, so they mostly grew up together, but don’t really coexist in each other’s lives until Josh leaves for an internship and asks Alex to keep an eye on Ava.

Of course, Ava’s friends make a bet with her to see if she can get Alex to show any type of emotion, since he’s very serious all the time. While Ava is trying to do this, Alex is working on a plan to try to get revenge on the person who killed both his parents and his little sister.

Not to mention, Ava has a fear of being in water, due to a childhood trauma where she almost drowned and thought her mother was to blame for it, but Alex helps her, over time, learn how to overcome the fear. That’s also when old memories of childhood start to come back to her, where she learns some shocking things about her past.

As much as I want to spoil it for you guys, I won’t, but let me just tell you, when I got to that part, and the pieces were starting to place for what happened, it blew my mind! Right towards the end of the book is when all the twists start popping up, and it was definitely not what I was expecting at all!

Overall, it was an amazing read! I am going to buy the physical copies because I truly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to get my hands on the second one! I did see what the second one was about, and it’s about one of Ava’s best friends and her bodyguard. Which is awesome because I’m also hoping that Ava and Alex’s relationship will pop in every now and then to see how they are doing.

What did you think about Twisted Love? Have you already read it, or is it on your list to read? Let me know in the comments!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Beneath Your Lies (Nicole J. Owens)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I have another one that I simply couldn’t put down! I swear, my co-worker recommends the best books for me, especially ones that keep me on the edge of my seat! This is a mix of an affair, revenge, mystery, murder, and a few spicy scenes all in one!

This book had me completely zoned in that I just didn’t want to put it down at all! I’m going to try my best not to spoil it, but the ending was not what I expected to make it all worth it, and it does end on a cliffhanger, so if the author wanted to make another one, I’m hoping she does!

So, the story begins with Veronica, who finds out her husband, Richard, has been having an affair with his 19-year-old receptionist, Olivia. Richard then wants Veronica to sleep with someone else, whom he picks out, to forget that the affair had ever happened. Pretty much, he wanted to square it out so they are “even”.

Which is crazy to me that he would even offer that to her. I have been cheated on before in past relationships, and as soon as it happened, I left. Once the trust is broken, it’s very difficult to regain it without a lot of effort. Like, he wanted her to sleep with someone else once, but he was having an affair for months, that really doesn’t cancel it out in my mind.

Richard is also a politician and is running for office again, so I can see why he wanted to pick someone for her to have an affair with that would make sure it didn’t get spread to the media to ruin his chances. Any type of drama like that would definitely blow up their career in politics.

Oh, and get this, Veronica is 25, and Richard is in his 50’s. A huge age gap between the two. She married him when she was 20, by the way. I just wanted to throw that out there because it blew my mind! Nothing against couples that do have a huge age gap, it’s just creepy to think that with his age, he could be like her father.

Anyway, Richard sends Veronica to her favorite hotel to process the information and to think about the offer she was given, and tries to give it a shot. She meets this guy, whom Richard set up the date with, down at the hotel bar where she’s staying. While she’s waiting, she sees Ronan, and they both have a moment, but don’t officially meet, yet.

Ronan is pretty much a hitman, and ironically, is in the hotel bar because one of his clients had Richard’s name on his list to end and wanted to see how to handle him. Ends up seeing Veronica and wanted her as soon as he laid eyes on her. It’s one of those “touch her, and you’ll die” type of relationships.

Their relationship does seem rushed, but given each of their pasts and the chemistry they have together, they seem like a perfect fit, for sure. Although there are a few scenes that make Ronan seem like he’s stalking her, or watching from afar. However, there were several times when he came to her rescue. There are a few spicy scenes with them that are very enjoyable, in my opinion.

I don’t want to get too much into it and end up spoiling the best parts of the book. It is from the POV of both Veronica, Ronan, and Taylor. Trust me, I know what you are thinking, “Who is Taylor?” If you keep reading, you’ll find out closer to the end.

Overall, I loved the book! It is something I would definitely buy a hard copy and put on my shelf or reread on my Kindle in general. Yes, there are some spicy scenes, but it’s not overwhelming; it’s a well-blended mix. Personally, seeing what Veronica was going to do about Richard and about Ronan’s mystery background is what kept me glued in for sure.

If you do end up reading it, the ending is the best plot twist! I really held back because I don’t want to give it away for those who truly want to read it. Let me know if this is something you’d want to read or if you have already read it and are slowly waiting for the author to release a sequel, like I am!

Posted in Mom Talk

My Favorite Spring Activity To Do With My Kids (The Mom Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

It has been a rough beginning of the year for us in Maine. We have had to deal with snow longer than I wanted to deal with it. I don’t mind snow for two holidays, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. At the end of January, I’m over it and want Spring!

This past week, we finally started to see temperatures in the 50s and 60s, which to us Mainers is shorts and tank top weather. That’s also when our ice cream places open up, and a few of our favorite seasonal restaurants start to open up as well.

Anyway, once my oldest daughter knows those are opening up, she starts asking the big question: “When can we order the butterflies?”

For the past 4-5 years, every time during springtime, I have ordered a butterfly kit, and we watch as the caterpillars transform into butterflies, and then we release them once they are ready to fly away. My oldest gets so excited for them, and honestly, I do too!

We used to do this in elementary school, I can’t remember what grade, but it was amazing to watch them transform. It was one of the coolest things we got to do at school. I had bought a kit for my niece years ago, and she got to do it as well, so when I found on Amazon that you can buy the entire kit, I had to try it out!

Since I’ve done this for a few years, I can sort of consider myself a pro, but I do buy extra caterpillars since we had a year where only 3 out of the 10 I got survived. Plus, I always read the instructions, just in case they changed or added anything new.

The best part about doing these kits is that there isn’t much you have to do for them, which, for us moms, is a score! Don’t worry, I’m going to include previous photos of last year’s butterflies and how easy it is!

Here is the link for the kit on Amazon that I get every year: https://www.amazon.com/Insect-Lore-Butterfly-Garden-Caterpillars/dp/B087YXSQG5/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1O9ZIK9RFKT8K&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.e9qdE5Y5QsyLUeP0z8G5x0QXPYBTtk3on2N0_oe15PFaNESPrB18GSVpaax2iOGhlwlBaaenM1w6gLLtIx3sW60AOuh2O2sgnoEPQN0HUZ3vBcoBjp-n-3qQjhX9tSr6zPomG0pvs7c7YhRahEsiVImDp7ASUtFO4UoOpvRlwjt0G6Dy91gl9KT77Mm_xLfhCMqshF8EqKU_L5Kv4k8e71jqA3D8_BqDrytO9SUV0l5_56tIy260BdmbcUPMXe3diXoOKZsJny7-v3Xfu_P3kWVottbZlUMWJJwvtwy4fvc.ZbUm5xudbEDYsiI00bb27OhZzScp5rHJSyJ84PN640A&dib_tag=se&keywords=butterfly%2Bkit%2Bwith%2Blive%2Bcaterpillars&qid=1775833277&sprefix=butter%2Caps%2C280&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

Please Note: I’m not sponsored to promote this kit. I wanted to share one of my kids’ and my favorite activities to do once the weather gets warmer!

What’s Included In The Kit:

If you are getting the kit I have left the link for, this is all that’s included:

–2 Cup of Caterpillars (Each of them will include 5 caterpillars)

–Butterfly Pop-up Tent

–2 Cover Stands

–1 Butterfly Feeder with Dispenser

–2 Sugar Packets (They aren’t for your coffee!)

–Manual and an Observation Journal

I honestly love the fact that there’s an Observation Journal included, especially if you have kids in school. It gives them something fun to be excited to fill out when they first wake up or when they get home from school.

Stage 1: Caterpillar Stage

I didn’t have a picture with them really small in the cups, but they pretty much chill in here until they start forming their chrysalis. In this stage, you just have to sit back and watch them grow! You don’t have to worry about feeding them, as the brown stuff on the bottom is their food.

Once they get big and fat enough, they will slowly start to go to the top of the cup and start forming their chrysalides. Don’t open the container until all of them have completely formed their chrysalides!

I usually give them about a day or two; it honestly depends on the caterpillars. I’ve had some that were quick to get up there, others that took their sweet time, and then others died while upside down, and I couldn’t do anything until the rest of them had formed.

Don’t be alarmed if something like that happens or if some of the caterpillars stop moving completely! It sometimes happens!

I think the one tip that helped me when it came to that was making sure you are ordering them when the temperatures are what the caterpillars need in order to survive. I think the one that we lost almost all, but 3 of them were when I jumped the gun and ordered them too soon, and it was too cold.

Since I live in Maine, I wait until the temperatures are above 50 degrees. Usually, the best time I will order them is when it’s 60 degrees. Check the temperature for the week in your area first, before you order!

Stage 2: Chrysalis Stage/Moving into the Butterfly Tent

Once all your butterflies are completely in their chrysalis, give them an extra day or two because you don’t want to move them when they are in the middle of forming that. If they fell off the top of the cover, that’s okay! I’ve had it happen at least once or twice.

Don’t pick them up with your fingers if they fell off the cover! The best way I’ve moved them was by taking the cup and putting it upside down on the bottom of the butterfly tent.

This is when those handy-dandy cup cover stands come into place! Carefully, remove the cover. It will be a pain to remove. I advise not to let the kids do this part because caterpillars WILL move when you slowly remove the cover, and you don’t want them to move a lot, but don’t be surprised or shocked if they do!

There will be netting, or webbing, that might make it a little bit of a challenge, too. Just be slow and steady as much as you can. Then, carefully stand the cover standing upright into the cover stand. I sometimes have to rotate my cover so that the caterpillars won’t get in the way when placing the cover on the stand.

Now, this is where the butterfly pop-up tent comes into play. Let the kids have it pop-up and ready while you get the caterpillars on the cover stands. Then, carefully place the stands inside the pop-up tent.

After they are inside, make sure to keep the tent away from the little ones and animals. You want to make sure they don’t have a lot of movement when they are transforming!

You might have impatient kiddos when waiting for them to finish transforming, but have them check the net every day to see any changes!

Stage 3: Transformation Stage/Feeding and Releasing

Now, the picture above is the one year we had all, but 1 that made it. The one on the very bottom that’s lying upside down, it was alive, but struggled to get out of the chrysalis. I tried my best to help him, but I wasn’t able to get his wings completely out of the chrysalis.

This is also the fun part of watching them transform! My oldest was so excited to see that once one came out, she would go to school and find another one or two had come out of their chrysalis, transformed!

If you have animals, especially cats, BEFORE the butterflies come out, I would make sure you have a place that is high enough to hang your butterfly tent. I know this from the experience of putting them on the top of my fridge, thinking the cats wouldn’t get to them, and they did. We now hang them from the ceiling on a hook where they can’t get to them.

Once you see that one has come out, I would get the sugar water ready and the feeder set up before more get in there, and then risk having one escape into the house. The mixture is pretty simple, just sugar and water. Then you take the dropped, fill it up with the sugar water, and squeeze it onto the yellow sponge that’s in the middle of the feeder.

Remember: Don’t oversoak the sponge, you want there to be enough to keep the sponge wet. You don’t want to fill it up to the top since the butterflies could get their wings wet again.

Let the kids do this step! My daughter always gets excited to do this step, but she refuses to put her hand inside the butterfly tent since she doesn’t want to let them go, or she’s afraid the one that is in there will touch her when she does!

Usually, it doesn’t take them long to come out of their chrysalis, but once they all do, I go in there to grab the stands, since they aren’t needed, and it gives the butterflies some extra room to dry their wings and practice flying.

I also give them a few days to dry their wings before releasing them. This is also the only time you would need to check on them, especially making sure they always have enough sugar water.

Then, once they are ready or when your kids are ready to set them free, you just bring them outside, open the top, and watch them go! Some might just be ready to book it outta there, but others will take their sweet time. I will take out the feeder before letting them go so that they don’t get their wings wet. (I usually put the butterfly net on its side to let them go if they are taking their time.)

The picture above is one of the first butterfly kits we did. I got lucky enough to get a really good picture of this one just chilling on our driveway! It was definitely bittersweet to watch them fly off, but I know my oldest loved watching them grow and transform!

Although I was really grateful towards the end of having butterflies, because once they started coming out, my cats went crazy for them! Especially, when they were flying around the butterfly tent, they were meowing and hoping one of them would come out to play!

They even get excited once we pop up the butterfly tent because they know it’s coming! I’m not sure how dogs will react to it. I don’t see them getting as crazy as cats would, but if anyone has done this kit with other animals, it would be awesome to know what their reactions are!

Overall, this was definitely worth getting, and I plan on getting another kit in the next week or so, once the temperatures are in my favor to do so!

If you aren’t a fan of butterflies, Insect Lore also has kits for both ladybugs and ants! I haven’t tried those ones yet, but the ladybugs one is something I definitely want to try out for sure!

Let me know in the comments if you want to try this kit out or have already done so!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Face on the Milk Carton (Caroline B. Cooney)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

You guys would be proud of how on a roll I’ve been with the book reviews, two weekends in a row! I’m definitely proud of myself with how much I’ve been reading lately, so let’s get onto this review!

So, I’ll be honest, I never heard about this book if it wasn’t for a Facebook reel showing me a clip of the movie, and when I looked it up, I saw that there was a book for it. I haven’t seen the movie yet, since I wanted to read the book first and see what the movie missed versus the book.

Apparently, this is also a series, so I’m not sure if the movie is all of the books combined or if it’s just this first book. I honestly am unsure if I will read the others in the series, but I haven’t made a sure deicison or not.

Anyway, the book is about a sophomore named Jaine Johnson, who happens to find herself looking at a younger version of herself on the back of the milk carton. She then goes down this rabbit hole to find out why her parents kidnapped her and to see where she truly is from, while also being a teen in high school.

Without trying to spoil it, there are a lot of secrets that she ends up uncovering and holes in her parents’ story when she confronts them about it that definitely made the book interesting. At the end of the first book, it leaves it on a cliffhanger when Jaine ends up meeting her biological parents, which makes you want to read the second one to find out.

I did have a hard time getting into it because of the fact that this is in third-person POV. I normally only like first-person POV, but it honestly depends on how the writer writes it. Some I have no problem with, and they do a really good job, but others not so much.

This one was kinda in the middle, in my opinion. I will say the twists and turns did help make it not too bad to read, but some of the other parts sort of dragged or just seemed to be repeated too much.

Like when Jaine talks to her boyfriend/friend, Reeve, about her finding all this information going on, I don’t blame him for being annoyed with it because that’s all she wants to talk about. I get it, it’s a lot of information to really process as a teen, but with how caring her parents are with her, I don’t understand why she didn’t bring all the information she had to them sooner.

The sooner they knew, the sooner she would get better answers and find out what their real daughter, Hannah, actually did when she had Jaine versus her thinking the people that has raised her just straight out took her away from her family.

I honestly don’t think her parents thought about the fact that once Jaine started to get older, she would need her important papers to get her license, apply for college, get a job, etc. I think they should’ve told her as soon as she was old enough to understand, because if I found out that my parents weren’t my biological ones, I would resent them for not telling me that information.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad read, but it’s not something I would reread again. Again, I’m not sure if I will want to continue the rest of the series; it didn’t pull me in as I had hoped. However, the whole mystery about Jaine finding her face on the milk carton and realizing her entire life is a lie that she’s uncovering is a very interesting concept to write about.

Let me know down in the comments if you have read this and what your thoughts are!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Fated Rebirth: A Dark Fantasy Romance (Reno R. Mist)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

Sorry I am a few weekends overdue on a book review, but as I was going to finish one of the books on my list, Reno R. Mist came out with another book that tagged along with the one prior and I literally dropped anything I was reading to read this instead.

So, if you haven’t seen my review for the first book, One More Chance, I highly recommend it! I’m still going to give like a quick overview since the first one gives you a brief understanding of what it starts out.

Levi, is the man character of One More Chance, which he wakes up after 12 years of reliving his life when he chose his mistress over his wife. He gets a “rebirth” or “second chance” to get his wife back and to see if he can change some other stuff that happened when he did leave to be with his mistress, such as his son getting into drugs and his daughter being taken from a stranger online to never be seen from again.

Levi, Charlie, and Charlies adopted son, Rowan, all have been “rebirthed” and this is a little bit of a spoiler, but Violet, Levi’s daughter has been as well and she mentions it to her dad in One More Chance. The reason why I’m mentioning these characters, is because they tie into the Fated Rebirth.

Fated Rebirth is in the POV of both Violet, Levi’s daughter, and Rowan. Which I love it when it goes back and forth from different characters and their POV’s, especially if you do it right, which Reno for sure does!

Now, this one is about Violet, she is “rebirthed” from the previous life, which you find out she was taken by a stranger from an online game she used to play and met up with this stranger where he takes her, sells her to another man, Edward, and she pretty much is a sex slave until Edward kills her when she turns 32.

She starts getting this previous memories towards her beginning of college and that’s when she tells her dad and thanks him for being more protective with her. However, she doesn’t mention what happened in the previous life, which I don’t blame her for doing.

Then, you have Rowan, which is Charlie’s adopted son, and he also has been rebirthed, but you only get bits of pieces that he mentions. From what I have gathered, the veil between the living and the supernatural has been broken and seems like supernatural’s have taken over the human world. So, vampires, were wolfs or shifters, demons, etc.

Anyway, the story is based on Violet wanting to find Edward, the guy that enslaved her in the previous life, and wants to get revenge on him for what he did to her. The only place she knows she’d find him is this club, but tries to get her father to let her get the money from her trust, which Levi denies and that’s when they send Rowan to keep an eye on her while she’s away at college.

That’s when it starts to get interesting because Violet and Rowan grew up together since they were kids, but picked on each other. Rowan starts becoming overprotected with Violet, especially since she gets hired at the club that he knows is bad. The kind of team up to find Violet’s abuser.

There is some very spicy scenes between them two after you get past chapter 20, which the way this author does it, its a perfect amount spicy, just like she did with the One More Chance.

Overall, it got me sucked in like One More Chance. She also has another one out there that is called Captured Prey, which talks more about the Second Circle, which is mentioned in Fated Rebirth, but doesn’t go into detail. However, this book ended on a major cliff hanger so I’m hanging on the edge of my seats now waiting for the next one.

Although, this will give me time to read Capture Prey and see if I can get more answers about this Second Circle!

Let me know if you have read this book or what you thought about it! I have definitely added Reno R Mist onto my favorite authors list! I will keep you posted on Captured Prey here soon!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Anon. Series (Diamond McKinney)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I have been on a reading binge with this series. So, just a little backstory on why I started to read this series. This author is actually a Sims creator, meaning she uses the Sims to film a series, and I recently found out it was turned into a book series.

Link to the entire book series list on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/series/117306-anon

I decided, since I saw the series on YouTube, why not check out the book series to see how it compares to the original series, especially since that came out first. Plus, it was available on my Kindle, so I spent the past few weeks reading the 10-book series.

Link to the Sims 3 series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4bz_A6Ntwg&list=PLHN0pWLVAm0BmZ0Z3di1Hkxq5vLWsi4wI

So, I’m going to review the 10 books together in one blog post since there is a lot I want to say about this series. To give you a little idea of what this book series is about, the main character is Chelsea, and you are reading her blog that she posts talking about her life. Also, you have to keep in mind that she is living in California, and it talks about a lot of fancy brands that I had no idea about. (I’m from Maine, so most of these brands are just too fancy for me anyway.)

Of course, there is also a LOT of drama between her friends, family, and boys. The good thing is that at the beginning of each book, she does give a recap on what happened previously, which is very helpful since so much happens in each book.

Spoiler alert is in place because there is a whole lot I want to talk about this book series. I would be breaking this down for each book, but honestly, I wasn’t paying attention to what situation happened in each book.

So, let’s begin!

Let’s Talk About Chelsea

Chelsea is really easy to get on board with at the beginning, but over time, I had a hard time rooting for her because of the decisions she started to make. First of all, she’s an only child(well, for most of the series until later on) and can be an entitled brat, sometimes.

Her whole crush and being in love with Kyle, I wasn’t on board with it because of the number of times he treated her like complete trash; she overlooked it and forgave him over and over. To the point where others were telling her he was using her, and she flat-out ignored it. Granted, they didn’t start dating until later on in the series, and it was only for a year.

In my opinion, I wanted her with Tucker. He was always there for her whenever she needed someone to talk to. He was her shoulder to cry on, and even though he had told her what a piece of crap Kyle was, she still seemed to care for him over Tucker. Now, Tucker also isn’t a saint, so there were a few times that he was a little “shady” too.

The surprising thing is she dated Tucker more times than she dated Kyle, yet she loved both of them, at different times, of course.

There were also times when Chelesa would jump the gun in a situation or response without actually listening and understanding where the other person is coming from. Some of the situations, like her dad and the Michelle situation, I can understand her still being upset about it. Or the situation where her mother cheated on her father with his best friend, got pregnant, and then married him.

She had a tendency to walk away when things didn’t go her way. Instead of just being an adult, she whines and walks away, then wonders why her relationships with boyfriends/friends/family are all over the place. Mind you, most of the series happens when she is leaving high school and entering college, but she still acts very immature.

It made me glad that she goes to rehab to get help and talks to a therapist because she honestly never really processed all the stuff that had happened to her, especially the whole roommate being killed and her being considered a suspect. I honestly think her parents should’ve put her either in rehab or therapy after that.

Overall, Chelsea was a character that I liked at the beginning, but the more I kept reading, the less I started to care about her. Most of her actions, her attitude, and acting very entitled, went downhill. I’m also not the only one who has opinions about Chelsea; there were quite a few others that I saw on GoodReads or Amazon reviews where they pretty much didn’t care for Chelsea.

I will have to say, I even had to take a break from reading the series because I didn’t know how much longer I could read about her entitled behavior of thinking her entire world revolves around herself.

Drama, Oh The Drama

There was so much drama in each of these books, honestly, I think that kept me going was to see how much crap was going to happen in her life. Between getting randomly beaten up at school, parents going back and forth through a messy divorce, getting accused of murder, dealing with friend drama, and so much more.

It was crazy how much crap was going on in her life alone. It was so different from the series because it wasn’t as crazy as I thought it was going to be. Plus, I honestly thought she was going to write the book as she did with the series, but most of the stuff that happened in the book was so different from the series.

The series seemed lighter than the book series because the book covered a lot of darker themes, whereas the series did not. It could’ve been that the author wanted the series to go in a different direction, which, as a writer myself, I could understand. You can put much more detail into the written word, versus filming the series, especially when it’s only you making them. (I sort of understand how difficult it can be to film a Sims series. I’ve actually attempted and failed at doing so.)

Most of the drama happens towards the end of the series, right before she goes to rehab, and even than really struggles to not make situations about herself. I can sort of forgive her on this one because I can’t imagine what it would be like to go to rehab and then have to come back into the crazy world she left to get help from.

This is also when I got excited because Tucker was always trying to be a good support system, while Kyle had dumped her before her mental breakdown because he didn’t want to deal with it, then ended up dating one of the girls who beat her in high school. If this doesn’t tell you how much of an asshole Kyle is, I don’t know what will.

Not to mention, when she gets out of rehab, her mom is trying to marry her dad’s best friend, the one with whom she cheated on her dad, and also got pregnant, and Chelsea finds out about this right as she gets out that her mother’s wedding is less than a week away.

I was honestly surprised that she didn’t go back into rehab because of it. What really pissed me off was the fact that her mom’s divorce wasn’t even finalized with her dad yet; literally, this divorce had been going on since Chelsea was at the end of high school and took years.

Like I said, the last few books go through a lot. I don’t want to spoil the last one, because that ended on a complete cliffhanger. I really wanted to see things through and see if it would end up like how the series did, but I don’t think it will.

The Kyle-Tucker-Chelsea Love Triangle

Honestly, the love triangle really pissed me off because both of these guys wanted to be with her, and yet the only one who actually made it official and asked her was Tucker. It really reminded me of the Twilight Series, Kyle is like Jacob, and Tucker is like Edward. The reason why I say this is in the series, she ends up with Tucker, like gets married has kids.

However, Jacob never treated Bella as badly as Kyle did to Chelsea. I really don’t get what she saw in Kyle; it’s like she wanted her life to end like the Taylor Swift song “You Belong With Me”. I can understand having crushes, especially in high school, it’s more prone to happen, and even looking back on my crushes, I outgrew them, which is what Chelsea should’ve done in the first place when Kyle still treated her badly.

Tucker’s not completely off the hook; there are a few times when he has broken Chelsea’s trust, such as finding her blog and sending the link to Kyle to mess up their progress. He was also a bit of an ass on their very first date, where he ditched Chelsea and she found out he was seeing Taylor, who was also Kyle’s girlfriend at the time.

It’s not like Kyle is completely the bad guy, but honestly, I would’ve had her rather stay with Tucker; however, if you read the last book, you can understand why that might not be a good idea because this version of Tucker has way too much going on, while the series Tucker, he’s better. Again, that part I’ll let you find out because I really don’t want to spoil it.

Oh, and not to mention, you have other characters that are trying to win Chelsea’s affection, like Kyle’s best friend Brett, who pretty much told Chelsea he had feelings for her, and they had a one-time make-out session, all while she was trying to rebuild a relationship with Kyle for the millionth time.

Then there’s River, her next-door neighbor, whom she meets when she and her dad move into a beach house towards the beginning of college. He is like a side character she flirts with off and on, then gets butthurt when he’s living the single life, having side chicks all the time at his house. They do share a kiss, but River actually has a brain, despite how much pot he smokes, and can clearly see how Tucker looks at Chelsea, and chooses to back down.

It’s like whenever Chelsea has a crush, if they are with someone else, instead of just struggling it off, she has, not like a full-blown meltdown, but more of a pity party, thinking her life is over just because the guy she likes doesn’t like her back. Not to be rude, but she could’ve used her backbone and been blunt with these guys and asked them out.

Overall Review

If I were to honestly rate the book series versus the Sims series, the Sims series kinda has it beat. I liked the storyline a lot better in the series, and Chelsea isn’t as bad as she is in the book series. I was so grateful that I finished this series because I don’t know how much longer I could take with Chelsea and her poor decision-making.

Like, yes, in life we can all make poor decisions, but it’s like Chelsea was doing it more for attention instead of learning from your mistakes, like most people do. If there was another book to explain the ending and I could find out what happens, I would read it, just so I could give myself the closure it needed to complete it.

Overall, I would probably give the entire series a 3-star rating; I liked it, but it wasn’t life-changing. Would it be something that I would reread? Maybe, but it’s not something I would buy physical copies of the book and have it on my shelf.

This has probably been one of my longest book reviews, but I’m definitely glad it’s all done. I started to drag my feet towards book 6-7; otherwise, this would’ve come out a lot sooner.

After reading my review, would this be a book series you’d be interested in or something you would want to avoid? Let me know in the comments!

Posted in Gaming

Online Multiplayer Websites I Wish Still Existed

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I wanted to take a trip down memory lane from my childhood. You know those videos that show pictures of stuff that we used to see, especially if you grew up in the 90’s or 00’s? Well, YouTube started pulling them up, and one of the videos was about old websites that no longer exist.

It was kinda heartbreaking, but at the same time, it made me remember what it was like to go back to being a kid and logging onto these websites with no care in the world other than having fun.

Granted, I wasn’t one of those kids who was glued to the computer; my mom was pretty strict about screen time, especially when it came to the home computer that we all shared. If anything, we spent more time outside in the backyard than on the computer as kids.

There were so many websites that I loved visiting, but there were a few multiplayer ones that were my go-to’s as a kid/pre-teen. This was before Facebook was the place to go to play online games such as Farmville, which later my mom would let me have a Facebook at 13, just so I could send her stuff she needed for her farm.

Now, not all of these websites are gone, some of them had been relaunched with a new site name and owners or they are still hanging on with a thread. I will be including the new website link as well if you wanted to check it out!

So, lets go back down memory lane!

Millsberry.com

Millsberry was one of my all-time favorite websites to visit as a kid! It was simple and yet was super fun! You had a house that you could adopt pets, buy clothes, send mail to friends, visit friends houses, and play mini games that were based on your favorite cereal brands!

It was such a simple, but yet fun game to play and it sucked when it shut down. It first came out on July 2004, sadly it shut down in December of 2010.

HOWEVER, during researching this, I found out that there is a group of people that are trying to rebuild the beloved Millsberry.com! I was shocked and so excited! If it really happens, that is going to be amazing to go back and enjoy what made Millsberry.com such an amazing platform!

I’m going to leave the link here if you want to check it out: https://www.millsberry-rebirth.com/

Fantage

This was another game that not only I enjoyed, but my siblings did as well! This was one of the websites that we would literally fight over to be able to login. Between Millsberry, Club Penguin and Fantage, I would classify as more of a kid-friendly/kid-safe for online multiplayer.

There was so much you could do, visit different places, visit other players houses, become a spy, lots of mini games, and of course my all time favorite activity, the fashion show! Granted, some of the features did require a purchase of a membership, which I never had a chance to enjoy, but honestly, the only thing it did get you was upgraded hair, clothes, or stuff to decorate your home with.

Fantage was first launched in March of 2008 and lasted until July of 2018. Its crazy to think it lasted 10 years! During researching this, I did see that there was possibly a revamp of Fantage coming back, but it doesn’t look like a site or date is saying for sure if its in the works.

I think it would be so cool for this to make a return for sure!

Club Penguin

Of course, I have to talk about Club Penguin! This was another one my siblings and I fought over to log in as! It was different from the other ones as your character was a penguin that you could dress up, change the color of, and have a pet puffle that followed you around the map!

There was a lot you could do on the island! Tons of mini games to play, my favorite was the pizza making one and also becoming a ninja as well. So many places you could visit with friends and an igloo you get to decorate as well!

It was so popular that Disney even bought it! Granted, not everything was completely free; you did have to pay for a membership for the more fancier items, but there’s no surprise there. Plus they also had secret places you could go as well, I think it was more fun exploring and finding something new every corner.

Club Penguin first launched on October of 2005 and ended up shutting down on March 2017. Which is crazy to think it lasted that long, however, this isn’t completely gone away!

After researching, I found out someone did bring back Club Penguin, but its called Club Penguin Legacy and its completely free! All of the membership stuff that locked most of the items has been unlocked and if you are interested to check out a blast from the past, I have included the link below!

The link for Club Penguin Legacy: https://www.cplegacy.com/

ourWorld

ourWorld was one of those games I got into during middle school. One of my friends was so into it, that I ended up getting into it, however, I didn’t get into as bad as a lot of people used to. I can still say, I never spent a dime on that game!

It was a very unique world were you could level up and get different features that made your character look cooler. I didn’t do a lot of exploring as you needed to be leveled up to see most of the island, but I was more focused on playing the mini games, which the more you played, the more flow you got in order to level up.

Most of the mini games were really fun to play and most of my time was spent doing that. There were a few times I got a job at a cafe, but it got boring quick, plus sometimes most of the people wouldn’t want anything to do with you until you had the “cool” features or if you had a membership for it.

ourWorld launched in April 2008 and ended up shutting down in October 2021.

SmallWorlds

SmallWorlds was an online platform that I really liked, although most of the items you had to pay to be a member in order to unlock. Now, I didn’t spend as much time on this one as I did with the others, but it was different from the other online games that I used to play.

One of my favorite things was to go to school and role-play as a student. Now, I don’t really remember if they had mini games to play, but they had a lot of locations to visit and pretty much chat with others and role-play. You could also customize your character and house as well.

I think what didn’t keep me playing was that the characters sort of looked creepy looking and there wasn’t really a way to make them less creepy unless you paid more for it. There was a lot you could do free wise, but most of these games like this wanted you to pay to make your character better looking.

SmallWorlds was released in 2008 and shut down in 2018. However, this one is also available to play online, its just under a new name.

Here is the link: https://www.smallworldslegacy.com/

Poptropica

Poptropica was one of those fun online platforms that was very centered for kids and it was, in my opinion, a safer way to play online. Yes, you could still chat, but the messages were generated or pre-written, which I think my mom liked that factor.

This was one of the websites that you could play during school that the teachers wouldn’t mind you playing during free period. Pretty much, you visited different islands and there were tasks that you needed to do to unlock items that was used to lock more of the island. Once you completed it, you went onto the next one.

It was honestly a lot of fun and there was so much you could do on there. There was also areas where you could hang out with other players on each of the different islands, but there was only so much you could say to others.

Poptropica first released in 2007, however, the game has been moved to CoolMathGames in 2024. It is also available on Steam as well, which I wasn’t aware.

Here is the link: https://www.coolmathgames.com/0-poptropica

Those were just a few of the ones that I used to visit all the time as a kid/tween. There are others, but the other ones are still active today, like Habbo Hotel or Stardoll or IMVU, just to name a few.

I’m really excited for them to bring back Millsberry, it would be so awesome to show my kids the games that I grew up playing online. I showed my oldest about Webkinz and Club Penguin and she was all excited to try it for herself.

Of course, I would be sitting right next to her when she did because, honestly, I think parents need to be more observant of what their kids are doing online and talk about how to be safe online.

Were there any of the websites on this list that you also enjoyed like me? If so, which ones were your favorites? Let me know in the comments below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – One Last Chance (Reno R. Mist)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! I was so excited to do a review on this book because I literally finished it less than 2 days! One of my co-workers actually was the one that told me about this book and I was very interested in it right away.

So, the story is about a man named Levi, where he ends up leaving his wife to be with his mistress and then wakes up after dying in a car crash to find out he is back where he was 12 years ago when he first left his wife and realizes this is his second chance to fix everything that he knows will happen if he stays on the path he was before.

Now, I’m not the type who enjoys reading about affairs or cheating, but when the book mentions about pretty much bending over backwards to fix his marriage and his kids lives, I was so intrigued.

It shows a lot of character growth of Levi when he talks about the past 12 years he’s already lived and shows his wife, Sloane, the effort and williness to make the marriage work the second time around. Plus while he is trying to fix his marriage, his mistress, Angie, is causing hell to get Levi back for herself.

Angie is one of the reasons that makes this read worth it because you really want to know how far she goes to try and win back Levi. When I mean this chick is crazy, I mean shes CRAZY. The amount of stuff she does to Levi and his family is just unreal.

The whole waking up back after dying and giving a second chance is what really intrigued me because I haven’t read a lot of books that have that factor in them. Not to mention, it got me thinking about writing a story with the similar concept of what a second chance would look like.

The author really did keep me glued to every word she wrote, I mean I was so zoned in and invested to find out what happened that if I would’ve started it on a rainy day first thing in the morning, that it would have been finished the same day.

I will mention, there are some spicy scenes, which I didn’t know were in the book, but its not like its every other page. Its what I like to call a happy medium. I honestly don’t mind spicy scenes or ‘smut’ in books, however, I don’t like it when it takes over the entire book.

This author did it perfectly, there was enough going on drama wise and the spicy scenes inbetween was like a bonus honestly. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and I can see myself rereading this book over and over for sure.

I also did want to mention that this is also a series! Of course, this is the first book of the series and I really can’t wait to see what is next! I ended up following her on Amazon, so that when the next book is out, I’m going to be buying it as soon as it is out!

Let me know in the comments if you’ve read this yet or want to start reading it!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – A Little Me (Amy Roloff)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! I know I haven’t started this year off on a good note with my posts, but not to worry! I’m working on getting back on schedule! So, I figured, why not start off with a book review?

So, I wanted to make a note that I started this book back in the middle of 2025, but I finally found my Kindle and was able to finish it, thankfully! I know you are probably wondering, what made me choose this book to read? Well, let me explain!

It started back when I first saw the show called Little People, Big World, which was a reality TV series that focused on a family with dwarfism and showed how they lived their everyday lives and how they were raising their kids on their family farm.

I’m not sure what or why, but I really enjoyed watching it, and when it happened to be on HBO Max, I figured, why not watch it all from the beginning? However, there was something that I really wanted to see, which was the downfall of Matt and Amy Roloff’s relationship because there was a rumor that Matt was having an affair with one of their employee’s who worked on their farm.

Of course, I was curious about what the show was going to show versus what Amy was going to say in her book.

After finishing the entire series, which had 25 seasons, you can start to tell where their relationship started to get very rocky. Mind you, when they started filming the series back in 2006. In the beginning, you don’t really notice the cracks and see how happy their little family is, however, the cracks start to show.

Reading Amy’s book gave me more of a backstory to how she grew up, and more importantly, you can see the growth from when she talks about being this shy little girl to how she is now, more outgoing and not afraid to speak up.

It also gave more of an inside on how she first met Mat,t and they very much rushed into getting married and then having their children shortly after. You can tell that she really loved Matt in the beginning of their marriage. They were very much complete opposites, but sometimes that can be like a blessing.

Anyway, she did mention the big fight that they had on one of their vacations, where they took a Mississippi River cruise. In the show, you see the kids reacting to their parents having a very heated argument, which wasn’t filmed. Amy talked about how Matt wanted to leave in the middle of their cruise to go back to the farm because he needed to be there, but Amy tried to convince him to stay and enjoy spending time with them all, but that didn’t happen.

I did do some Reddit searching on this, and there is a whole thread where people think that Amy found out about the affair on the Mississippi River cruise, which would explain why he would want to leave the cruise just to go back to the farm. However, in the book, Amy doesn’t really say exactly when she found out, but she does mention it.

However, you can tell that’s probably where the real crack in their relationship happened.

Moving on, she does talk about how hard it was to get divorced because she never thought she would be going through it. What I liked about this part of her novel is that she not only gets through it, but also works on herself to become the person she wanted to be.

I honestly loved that for her, granted her kids probably thought she was going through a midlife crisis, but she did what she needed to do to not only heal, but get ready for the next chapter in life.

Overall, I really read the novel to see if she had more to say about the affair, but not much was talked about other than that one part where she saw their messages. Honestly, it was interesting to know what the problems she had growing up, since on the show, you really only hear about Matt’s issues.

There was a lot of her repeating herself a few times, but I think we all have rambled at one point or another. I also liked her advice that she left at the end of the chapter, which some of them I highlighted and saved in my Kindle.

It was an interesting read, but I think only for those who are true fans of the show would be more eager to check it out. I am tempted to buy Amy’s cooking books since she really does have a passion for cooking, and it makes me want to make one of her recipes from her book.

Let me know in the comments if you have read her book or if you haven’t and what you think about it.

Posted in Uncategorized

New Blog Schedule for 2026

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! Happy New Years! I know this is a few days late, but I have had some unexpected events in my life that has happened recently. However, I don’t want it to mess with my resolution to blog more!

So, during the past month, I have been going through older blog posts and editing them, I haven’t really gotten through them all, but my goal is to get the rest looked at before the end of January. The only ones that I may not get to are my short stories, since they would need more time for me to lookover and edit. 

I’m going to do my best to get back on track! Anyway, I wanted to talk about the new updates for my blog that I plan to start doing!

Blog Schedule for 2026

Mondays & Thursdays: Other Ideas/Topics – Kinda of like a Random topic so that I can post whatever I would like without there being limitations. This may not be daily, that way I don’t overwhelm myself. 

Tuesdays: Formally known as “Crafty Sassy” – The new name for it is going to be Crafty Odyssey. I know this is a big change this year, so if you start seeing blog posts with the old name, it will be completely switched over to the new name before the end of this month. 

Wednesdays: Reviews – This will be reviews on anything expect book reviews (there is a separate day for those!) This one also may not be daily, as well.

Fridays: Gaming – I’m debating on having more of a formal name, but for now, I will leave it as is. I will be trying to do this daily, it will be anything from builds or tips or challenges. I’m going to try my best to switch it around and do different games and not just my go-to’s. 

Saturdays: Writing Works – I’m leaving the name for now, but I might change it. I don’t want to make this a daily thing since I still want to make sure that I don’t overdo it, so this one will be every other week. 

Sundays: Formally known as “Mom Talk” – Now will be called “The Mom Odysseys”. I think its different and unique. You will slowly start to see the name change by the end of the month as well. This won’t just be raising kids, but I wanted to also include other ideas, activities or traditions that I’ve been doing with my kids that I want to share with you all. 

Sundays (Last Sunday of the Month): Book Reviews – Now, I wanted to give myself at least a month, depending on how many pages of the books I can get into. I won’t just be review adult only books, but I am rereading some of the books I grew up with or never got a chance to read that I am also going to review.

 

So, that is the plan for 2026! I hope that this year is better than the last for all of you! I also want to thank each and every one of you that has sticked by my side since I began blogging back in 2018.

This year, I have a few new resolutions to work on, especially the big one everyone says they are going to do by don’t, which is working out more/eating better. I’m really trying to make sure I buckle down this year on that.

Plus, I have a goal to read more. Less phone/computer time and more reading! I have a list of books that I definitely want to finish this year and I need to stop buying books and read some of the ones I have sitting in my closet on a shelf. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has done that!

Not to mention, I’m doing another temperature blanket! Yes, you heard right! I haven’t done one since 2019 and I’m doing it differently this year! There will be a post on it!

Anyway, I’m hoping there will be a lot of good changes this year for my life and for my family! What’s your goals this year? Do you have any big changes you want to make for yourself this year? Let me know in the comments!

Posted in Uncategorized

Katie’s Blog Update for 2026

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

So, I’m trying to get back in the groove of things as I don’t want my blog to get forgotten and I’m starting to get back into writing, which has been a challenge these past few years off and on with writers block.

Plus I also had another baby at the beginning of the year which has kept me plenty busy! I haven’t talked about her since I’ve been struggling to find the balance life of both a single working mom of 2 now.

With that being said, there has been a LOT going on in my life that I have kinda put everything on the back burner to make sure I am spending as much time as I can with my girls. I’ve also ran into a lot of ups and downs this year that have made me want to change myself for the better, not just for myself, but for my kids and career.

Lately, I’ve been on autopilot or “zombie mode”, as I like to call it. I haven’t had much time to do the stuff I love, plus balance work and the kids. So, I’ve decided I wanna make a change.

I wanna write more, I want to post more on here, like I did when I was a stay at home mom years ago. I want my blog to not only be my comfort place, but hopefully be an inspiration to others that no matter where you are in your life, you can still follow your dreams to do what you love to do.

You are probably wondering what inspired me to start wanting to make a change? Well, after what has felt like a long time, I’ve found an amazing guy that I’ve been seeing since July and he done nothing but treated me like a goddess! Honestly, he has been the light in my life that I was waiting for.

Anyway, with him in my life, I’ve been happier and more excited to see what the future holds, however, there is something that is putting a damper in my life that I’m currently trying to fix, which is my career.

I’ve been asking this same question about my career for a very long time. Recently, things in my currently employment have made me rethink about if this is what I want to be doing for the next 5-10 years. So, I’m currently pushing myself to figure out what I want and hopefully persuade it in the distance future.

That’s one of my many goals that I want to do/change for this upcoming year. So, with that being said, what is happening to my blog?

Before the end of the year, I want to start going through my blog posts and either trash or fix and keep. Then, I’m hoping to get a schedule started as I do want to take the extra time to make posts for my blog.

So, lets talk about what’s staying and what might be going.

  • Mom Talk – Sundays
    • So, I don’t think I’ll be getting rid of this because as a mom, its nice to have a space where I can talk about the different challenges of raising kids and especially with the struggles of a single mom. Instead of just talking about raising kids or struggles, I wanted to start posting other stuff that can be fun to do with the kids, like crafts or holiday traditions or ideas that you don’t have to break the bank when you do them with the kids.
    • I also might be changing the name of it as well to something else, since I don’t want the title of every blog post to have “Mom Talk”, since now that I’ve realized that it should be either at the end of a blog title versus the beginning.
  • Crafty Sassy – Tuesdays
    • This is getting a name change for sure! Honestly, I’m not sure what drove me to name it that, but I think it does need to be changed.
    • I also want to start doing more than just crochet stuff, but other stuff such as crafts, knitting, needle print, more latch hooks, etc.
  • Gaming – Fridays
    • I really want to focus more on gaming stuff, especially since my oldest daughter has been getting into the same games that I also play as well. I really wanna focus on tips or tricks, possibly some builds as well.
    • I also have gotten a few newer games that I want to spend more time playing and getting into such as Planet Coaster 2, Planet Zoo, Hogwarts Legacy, House Flipper, Supermarket Simulator, etc. A few of them I’ve already checked them out, but the first 3 are new and I haven’t had a chance to check them out.
    • Right now, my oldest is into Minecraft and Animal Crossings, so you might start to see more stuff on those first.
  • Writing Works – Saturdays
    • Now, I know a lot of my short stories on here NEED a review and fix, so with that being said, I’m going to start fixing those and then I’ll start posting maybe an intro and chapter to my books on Wattpad, but those also NEED a lot of review and possible rewrite since a few of them were made when I was younger.
    • I also want to do other stuff with this and not just short stories, but possibly writing prompts or ideas that doesn’t directly involve just short stories.
  • Book Review – Last Sunday of the Month
    • So, I have done the start of some book reviews since my oldest and I have started a tradition where we read a little bit of a book we are working on. Currently, we are working on Harry Potter. We have finished a few other books, which I’m going to try and get those reviews posted, but the books I read with her, I might also include her input as well.
    • I also have a goal for next year that I’m going to see if I can start to read every book that I have sitting on my shelf in my closet. I have a tendency to buy books I’ve wanted to read and then forget all about this, but I’m going to make sure I have some time to read more because I do miss it.
    • I’ve also got a few book series that I would like to do as well, but I kinda want to pack their books all in one review, if possible.
  • Reviews – Wednesdays 
    • There are a few reviews I’ve done before, I believe most of them were crochet products, but I plan on doing more with this. I don’t think it will be every Wednesday, but I’m going to try to get at least one or two for each month next year, if I can.
    • These reviews I’m not going to limit them to just crochet products or products in general. I might do movies or TV series as well, I think I’ve did them before on here, but maybe it might be something I bring back up again.
  • Other Topics – Mondays & Thursdays?
    • I’m going to leave this as a sort of extra thing I would want to start doing, but I don’t want to really push it, but some of the other topics that I’m interested in are:
      • True Crime (Unsolved/Solve Murder Cases and Missing People Cases)
      • Living in Different Decades
      • Meditation
      • Yoga
      • Conspiracy Theories
      • Monthly Challenges
      • And maybe more?

Overall, I’m going to get back in the groove for the beginning of 2026. I’ve already started to make a gameplan for next year. Don’t worry if you see some changes happening on my blog, from now until the end of the year, I’ll be doing a lot of editing so I can start the new year on a better track!

Posted in Mom Talk

This Game Isn’t As “Kid Friendly” As It Seems (The Mom Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! I wanted to talk about this topic as my daughter is into gaming, and some of the games she plays, I don’t see any issue with; however, there are some games that I thought were fine, but they really aren’t. 

Growing up, we had a home computer that our family would use daily. My mom would be watching us like a hawk when we were on the internet. If we were playing the many educational CD Rom games, she wouldn’t have to worry. However, once I was in middle school, I had a little bit more freedom to explore the internet. 

I completely understand why my mom watched us like a hawk whenever we were on the internet. 

Nowadays, kids have access to tablets, smartphones, computers, and gaming consoles, so they cannot only play games, but also have access to play online with others. If you were like me and grew up playing the Super Nintendo, you never really had to worry about “online gameplay”. 

However, you really DO need to worry. Especially if your kids play online. 

Roblox

So, what started this was the fact that my daughter likes to play Roblox with her cousins. I signed up with an account to kinda check it out for myself, just to see what the fuss was about. 

Well, once I started playing a few games, it seemed pretty harmless, but I jumped onto one server where this random person had messaged me saying I was ugly. I didn’t react because it’s literally a blocky character that’s your avatar. I honestly thought it was funny; however, depending on how young the players you have on here are, that could really upset them.

Ironically, I came across a video from this guy Visual Venture, about Roblox. I got curious and watched it. It really opened my eyes to how DANGEROUS this game really is. 

Here is the video that I watched. Any parents who have their kids playing Roblox, I HIGHLY recommend watching this: 

He not only breaks down some of the flaws about how Roblox can allow ANYONE to sign up and play, but how there are predators that have used Roblox to lure their victims.

Visual Venture talks about how the game is actually rating T for teens, but there are kids as young as 5 years old that are on this platform playing. The game was originally meant for players to create their own games and share for others to play, however, its not as sweet and innocent as you think. 

When I saw this article, being pissed was an understatement:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/roblox-schlep-pedophile-vigilante-lawsuits-1235414218/

You read that right, Roblox BANNED a guy that was trying to get predators off the platform, after he, himself, was groomed online by a predator. You’d think that Roblox would want to work with Schlep, the one banned, to make their platform safer for kids. 

If you read in the article, there have been so many cases where Schlep has gotten justice for getting these real-life predators arrested, so that no other kids have to experience being groomed or worse abducted.

This is why I won’t let my daughter play Roblox. 

Now, Roblox isn’t the only game you need to worry about, anytime your child has access to the internet, you need to always have your guard up. We can’t always protect them when it comes to the internet, but we can teach our kids about using the internet safely.

Here are a few things to teach your kids about protecting themselves online:

  • Never give out personal information
    • This is pretty common sense, but definitely a very good reminder.
    • Think of the word “Yappy”:
      • Y – Your Full Name
      • A – Address (Home/School/Email)
      • P – Phone Number
      • P – Passwords
      • Y – Your plans & birthday
  • Keep your passwords safe
    • Having a family Password/Username booklet can be very helpful for this! (Especially if you are like me and have a few streaming services)
    • Make your passwords long or use a phrase to ensure that no one can get it.
    • Avoid using personal names/birthdays/or same passwords.
  • Don’t talk to Strangers!
    • Same if it was in person.
    • Only talk to those online, IF you have met them in person.
  • Tell an Adult if something doesn’t seem right
    • If something looks bad or seems bad, tell your teacher, parent, or a trusted adult.
    • Parents: Don’t get upset with them as if it happens again, they might not want to tell you if they get in trouble.
    • Best way to prevent them searching random stuff is having parental locks and only have selective websites from a trusted source.
    • This also applies to any conversation they have online with others.
  • Ask before you Download
    • Always explain to them that not every website can be trusted and that they need to ask before downloading anything.
    • I see this more as a problem for young teens who don’t realize that the free game they want could be a virus.
  • Always Be Kind!
    • Remind your child that being kind to everyone!
    • Just remind them that you never want to be rude or mean to anyone because you never know who is on the other side of the screen.

As parents, we need to do anything and everything to protect our children, as using the internet because more and more normal each day, its best to make sure our children are growing up knowing how to use it safely. 

Its just like them having cell phones at a young age. I didn’t have one until I was 13, the same age you’d need to be to sign up for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. We shouldn’t be pushing the limits and having our children have access to those until they really understand and know how to use them respectfully and are actually the correct age to be on them. 

Teaching them that anything you post, say, or do, you can’t just delete it and its gone, it will ALWAYS be on the internet in one form or another. 

Let me know in the comments what you think about all this!

(Yes, I did use AI to general the man photo, got curious to try it out!)

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Flirty Little Secret (Jessica Lepe)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I have been on a “trying to read more this year than I did last year kick”. I also have a closet full of books that I’m trying to get through as well, however, I didn’t have this particular book just sitting on my shelf.

I’ll admit I was trying NOT to buy any more books because I’m honestly running out of room and when I saw this one and read what it was about, I was honestly curious to see how it turned out. Most of the time I would just buy the book and then it sits on my shelf because I forget about it, but I was determined to read this one.

Not to mention, this was the first book that has been published by this author, Jessica Lepe, which I never get a chance to find an authors very first published works, I never get THAT lucky.

So, the book is about Lucy, a guidance consulter at a high school who also as an online presents as @TheMissGuidedCounselor on Instagram where she gives out the best advice for her followers that no one really knows who she is. She also struggles with a lot of mental health. Which I can say I related to her so much in this book.

Then, you have Fletcher, who is a teacher who transferred to the same high school Lucy works. Little does he know that he has been also talking to Lucy on Instagram through his online present as @BravesGuy93. Fletcher also has his table of family issues that Lucy has been helping him out with.

Anyway, they have such an awkward cute meet, which I’m not going to spoil any details with that because its just hilarious and I honestly would act like Lucy if that ever did happen to me.

Also, I forgot to mention that the book is different chapters of both Lucy perspective and Fletchers perspective. Which I honestly quite enjoyed because a lot of books that I’ve read, its always based off of one persons perspective, but it was so interested to read both sides.

I don’t want to give out too many details as I think this book would be a great read for anyone who is a teen/young adult. The reason why I would recommend this to that age group is that I think it would benefit a lot to actually read what a modern romance is nowadays, especially if there is also mental health in the mix to all that.

I think a lot of people nowadays don’t want to work on relationships and would rather skip to another new person versus sitting down and working on the problems they have if they truly loved each other. I think this book does an amazing job talking about how mental health can affect you when being in a relationship when you aren’t at 100%.

One of the scenes in the book that I am referring to is the scene where Lucy and Fletcher have their very first date. When Fletcher comes to pick up Lucy, he finds he so overwhelmed with a list of stuff she has been delaying doing because of her mental health and instead of just leaving her to deal with them herself, he cancels the dinner plans and takes her around help her get the stuff she needs done, done.

In my eyes, that not only shows that Fletcher is willing to help Lucy in need, but it shows that he wants to be with her through the good, bad, and the ugly times. If I were Lucy, I would snatch that man up for myself since there aren’t many men that would do that, its slim pickings that will.

Overall, I really liked the book and found that I couldn’t put the book down, especially when the author was going back from Lucy to Fletcher, I wanted to know what happened next. Honestly, I wouldn’t be mad if there was a sequel, but I think how the book ended, it ended in a perfect way there wouldn’t need to be a sequel.

Honestly, I will be following this author because I loved her writing style and I related to Lucy in so many ways, which can be hard to do when sometimes authors want to give us the fairy tale hope of happily ever after, but life isn’t like that and I think Flirty Little Secret showed the side that we really don’t see with relationships nowadays.

Let me know in the comments if you have also gotten a chance to read this or if its on your book list to check out!

Posted in Gaming, My Sims Challenges, Sims, Sims 3 Challenges

Sims Challenge – “Not So Berry” Challenge (Generation Intro)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! I know I think everyone has been waiting for me to FINALLY post an update on a Sims Challenge. With everything that’s been going on in my life, I have finally been able to update! 

So, if you don’t know what this challenge is, its of course a generation challenge where each generation you have to master a career and skills. I have also added the challenge of making the Sim that’s doing this chosen task to ALSO get a degree in the respected field. 

I just want to say, this is NOT my challenge, I think I found this on either Pinterest of the “Mod the Sims” site. I’m going to include the site where there are a TON of different challenges to try: https://modthesims.info/f/564/

Mod the Sims is an amazing resource, I highly recommend it for any Sims player to check it out. Its got mods, custom content, and so much more to check out. 

Anyway, so each Generation is a set color, career focus, and aspiration. Sometimes there are other “mini goals” you need to complete while working on your man goal. I’m also adding the degree too, which isn’t needed, but I figured it would make it more challenging and fun!

Here are the lists of Generations:

  • Generation 1: Mint
    • Aspiration – Knowledge
    • Career – Science
    • Goals:
      • Reach top of science career
      • Master logic skill
      • Max Science hobby
    • Goals I Added:
      • Max gardening skill
      • Max fishing skill
      • Max fixing skill
      • Diploma in Science
  • Generation 2: Rose
    • Aspiration – Romance
    • Career – Politics
    • Goals:
      • Master politics career
      • Max charisma sjill
      • Have one child only
      • Don’t get married until elder
    • Goals I Added:
      • Master logic skill
      • Master writing skill
      • Master social media skill
      • Communications Degree
  • Generation 3: Yellow
    • Aspiration – Knowledge
    • Career – Military
    • Goals:
      • Reach Astronaut (Level 9 in Military)
      • Master mechanical skill
      • Master logic skill
      • Be abducted 5 times
      • Never have close relationships until grandparents pass
    • Goals I Added:
      • Master athletic skill
      • Master fishing skill
      • Master charismatics skill
      • Technology Degree
  • Generation 4: Grey
    • Aspiration – Any
    • Career – Athletic
    • Goals:
      • Master athletic skill
      • Learn parenting
      • Max Athletic career
      • Have 3 failed relationships before finding “the one”
      • Be good friends with all your children
      • Have family night once a week
    • Goals I Added:
      • Master fishing skill
      • Master charismatics skill
      • Master cooking skill
      • Physical Education Degree
      • Have a child from each of the relationships
  • Generation 5: Plum
    • Aspiration – Pleasure
    • Career – Slacker, Medical, Entertainment
    • Goals:
      • Master 3 skills, achieve level 8 in all others
      • Reach level 3 in each of the above careers
      • Get divorced and remarry the same Sim
      • Must move 3 times.
    • Goals I Added:
      • Business Degree
      • Science and Medical Degree
      • Fine Arts Degree
      • Master charisma skill
      • Master science skill
      • Master cooking
  • Generation 6: Orange
    • Aspiration – Any
    • Career – Criminal
    • Goals:
      • Master cooking skill
      • Master charisma skill
      • Master criminal career
      • Have 5 enemies
    • Goals I Added:
      • Master athletic skill
      • Business Degree
      • Master social media skill
      • Marry one of the enemy’s spouses and have a child with them
  • Generation 7: Pink
    • Aspiration – Any
    • Career – Business
    • Goals:
      • Master painting skill
      • Write 5 novels
      • Write 1 best seller
      • Join the book club
      • Quit my day job as an adult to focus on writing
    • Goals I Added:
      • Master writing skill
      • Master social media skill
      • Master gardening skill
      • Communications Degree
      • Master photography skill
      • Master Business career before reaching adulthood
  • Generation 8: Peach
    • Aspiration – Any
    • Career – Law Enforcement
    • Goals:
      • Master cooking skill
      • Master painting skill
      • Become a detective (Level 6)
    • Goals I Added:
      • Master logic skill
      • Master handiness skill
      • Technology Degree
      • Master photography skill
      • Get married twice to different Sims
  • Generation 9: Green
    • Aspiration – Knowledge or Popularity
    • Career – Gamer
    • Goals:
      • Master handiness skill
      • Master logic skill
      • Master gaming career
      • Must go on at least 1 outing or throw 1 party a week
      • Have 5 good friends and 5 enemies
      • Reach level 10 Nerd Influence
    • Goals I Added:
      • Technology Degree
      • Communication Degree
      • Master social media
      • Master charisma
      • Master writing
  • Generation 10: Blue
    • Aspiration – Family
    • Career – Journalism
    • Goals:
      • Adopt at least 1 child
      • Master cooking skill
      • Learn parenting
      • Master Journalism career
      • Be with the same Sim from high school until death
      • Have 1 affair
      • Write 1 book for each genre
    • Goals I Added:
      • Communications Degree
      • Master writing skill
      • Master photography
      • Have an affair while in college
      • Master charisma skill
      • Have 5 kids

Most of the stuff I added extra was either skills that you needed to master in order to master the career or degree they needed or thought it would be fun to do while playing the game.

Also, for each of the generation colors, I’ve been mostly having their hair tips dyed with the same generation color they are in, so like the one I currently started, I dyed the tips of her hair a “mint” shade, so as she ages, it will stay that until shes an elder, which I still go in and make her tips that same color.

Pretty much once they hit the elder stage, you can start focusing on the next generation by getting their skills ready to go. If there aren’t any limitations to how many kids you can have for each generation, you can have more to make it more challenging or even adopt pets. Those will help kill some time you need to age up your Sims as well.

So, I have started this challenge, and I’m going to post an update on how each of the generations was, but keep in mind, I made their life spans last a little bit longer than usual, just so I could go back and do the degree part of the challenge.

Keep an eye on the next update I have with this challenge. I’m hoping to have it all set and done for this Friday and hopefully have updates on Fridays going forward. I’m honestly so excited to see how far I can get into this challenge! Wish me luck!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The One & Only Ivan (Katherine Applegate)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! Since one of my goals for this year was to read more books for 2025, I’ve started trying to do that. Granted I haven’t been able to finish a book with how crazy the beginning of the year has been for me, but I finally finished a book!

So, The One & Only Ivan, I actually saw the movie first before I knew that there was a book. This is usually what happens to me, I’ll see the movie or series and then find out that it was based off of a book. At that point, I’ll either get the book or have it saved on my Amazon list and then forget its still there. 

I ended up getting The One & Only Ivan at my daughters book fair. I figured, why not. As adults, we don’t really tend to read books our kids are reading and I figured since my daughter has started reading, I figured why not read it. 

The book is actually very interesting because its in the perspective of Ivan, a gorilla. So, it was a very quick read because most of the pages were short and sweet. If you wanted to, you could finish this book in a day.

Basically, the book is about Ivan who is an act at a mall circus with a few other animals, including an elephant Stella. Also, can’t forget about the stray dog named Bob. Anyway, when a new act, a baby elephant named Ruby, comes into the picture, Stella has Ivan promises her that Ruby will not be stuck at the mall as a circus act. 

Ivan uses his creativity to communicate to the humans to get Ruby and him out of the mall. Which is pretty much the just of the story. The best part was that Ivan was based on a true story. Most of the story is fictional, but Ivan was based on a real gorilla.

I really enjoyed both the movie and the book, but there are some differences between the two. After reading the book, I noticed that the tone was different from the movie when it came to a few aspect. 

In the book, for example, Mack, the mall owner, is more aggressive in the book than in the movie, especially when it comes to when he’s training Ruby. In the book, he uses a “claw stick”, to train Ruby and Mack uses it in the book, but in the movie, he doesn’t. 

Other than that, I think Disney did a great job with the movie, they didn’t follow the book completely, but I’m kinda glad, I don’t want to spoil the book, but there was a scene that they described that I’m just glad Disney didn’t add in, it was a minor detail, but it was still heartbreaking to read. 

I will say if you do watch the movie, you might cry like I did at a few parts. They did a good job with the movie and every time I was reading parts where Bob was talking, all I could hear is Danny DeVito’s voice since he voices Bob in the movie. 

Have you read The One and Only Ivan? If so, what did you think of it and did you like the movie afterwards? Let me know down below!

The picture above is Ivan the gorilla, which was what the story was based on.

Posted in Gaming, Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley – Can You Complete The Community Center in the First Year?

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! 

My daughter and I have been playing a lot of Stardew Valley lately. Well, I got her into playing it since we currently like playing Animal Crossing, but once you have everything unlocked, the only thing left is to decorate the island and make sure you have all the bugs, paintings, fish, and fossils. 

Which can get a little boring after a while, especially if you have to wait until the months that you are missing different bugs or fish. Anyway, I bought Stardew Valley on the Switch, which does take some getting used to if you are used to playing on PC like I am. 

My daughter would watch me play it on PC and kept asking to learn how to play, so I finally caved last week and we started showing her. So, we have a farm, its called MoMo Farm, named after her cat MoMo. 

One of the things that I was teaching her is about the Community Center, which, if you complete bundles, can unlock other game features. Now, technically, you can unlock these features through the Jojo Mart by paying for them, but what kind of fun is that? 

Once you unlock the Community Center, and go to speak with the Wizard to be able to understand what the Junimos are saying, that’s when you can start putting in what each of the bundles requires.

Now, the question remains: Can you finish the Community Center within the 1st year on the farm?

The answer, for most speed runners, is yes! However, you really need to come up with a gameplan because not everything you can get within the first year. Your best friend is going to be the Traveling Cart

She is located in the Cindersap Forrest, however she is only open on Fridays and Sundays and is open until 8pm both days. My advise is to make sure you have some extra gold or sell some stuff before you see her, so that if she has something you need for one of your bundles, you can buy it from her. 

However, you have to keep in mind it’s random stuff every time, so most of the time she will have many one or two items that you truly need, other times she won’t have anything you need. She also appears at the Desert Festive (Spring 15-17) and the Night Market (Winter 15-17). 

Now, let’s go through each bundle and find out where and when you can find each of the items, as well as the reward for completing the bundle.

Crafts Room

Once all bundles are completed, you will unlock the Bridge Repair to unlock the Quarry.

  • Spring Foraging Bundle
    • Wild Horseradish
    • Daffodil
    • Leek
    • Dandelion
    • Reward: Spring Seeds (30)
  • Summer Foraging Bundle
    • Grape
    • Spice Berry
    • Sweet Pea
    • Reward: Summer Seeds (30)
  • Fall Foraging Bundle
    • Common Mushroom
    • Wild Plum
    • Hazelnut
    • Blackberry
    • Reward: Fall Seeds (30)
  • Winter Foraging Bundle
    • Winter Root
    • Crystal Fruit
    • Snow Yam
    • Crocus
    • Winter Seeds (30)
  • Construction Bundle
    • Wood (99)
    • Wood (99)
    • Stone (99)
    • Hardwood (10)
    • Reward: Charcoal Kiln
  • Exotic Foraging Bundle
    • Coconut
    • Cactus Fruit
    • Cave Carrot
    • Red Mushroom
    • Purple Mushroom
    • Maple Syrup
    • Oak Resin
    • Pine Tar
    • Morel
    • Reward: Autumns Bounty (5)
  • Tips: This will be the bundle you will start to work on, as soon as you complete one of them, the Pantry will then be unlocked. Out of all the bundles, this one is more of the easier ones to complete before the first year.

Pantry

Once all bundles are completed, you will unlock and restore the Green House.

  • Spring Crops Bundle
    • Parsnip
    • Green Bean
    • Cauliflower
    • Potato
    • Reward: Speed-Gro (20)
  • Summer Crops Bundle
    • Tomato
    • Hot Pepper
    • Blueberry
    • Melon
    • Reward: Quality Sprinkler
  • Fall Crops Bundle
    • Corn
    • Eggplant
    • Pumpkin
    • Yam
    • Reward: Bee House (1)
  • Quality Crops Bundle
    • Parsnip High Quality (5)
    • Melon High Quality (5)
    • Pumpkin High Quality (5)
    • Corn High Quality (5)
    • Reward: Preserves Jar (1)
  • Animal Bundle
    • Large Milk
    • Large Egg Brown
    • Large Egg White
    • Large Goat Milk
    • Wool
    • Duck Egg
    • Reward: Cheese Press (1)
  • Artisan Bundle
    • Truffle Oil
    • Cloth
    • Goat Cheese
    • Cheese
    • Honey
    • Jelly
    • Apple
    • Apricot
    • Orange
    • Peach
    • Pomeganate
    • Cherry
    • Reward: Keg (1)
  • Tips: Out of all the bundles, this is one you’ll want to complete before winter of your first year since you can grow any crops at any time in there, as well as fruit trees. The Traveling Merchant is going to be the best way to complete the animal bundle, especially if you don’t have enough money to get a coop or barn started in time. Having the fruit bats will help with this bundle too as well.

Fish Tank

Once all bundles are completed, you will unlock removing the Glittering Boulder that is around the Mines.

  • River Fish Bundles
    • Sunfish
    • Catfish
    • Shad
    • Tiger Trout
    • Reward: Deluxe Bait (30)
  • Lake Fish Bundle
    • Largemouth Bass
    • Carp
    • Bullhead
    • Sturgeon
    • Reward: Dressed Spinner (1)
  • Ocean Fish Bundle
    • Sardine
    • Tuna
    • Red Snapper
    • Tilapia
    • Reward: Warp Totem Beach (5)
  • Night Fishing Bundle
    • Walleye
    • Bream
    • Eel
    • Reward: Glow Ring
  • Crab Pot Bundle
    • Lobster
    • Crayfish
    • Crab
    • Cockle
    • Mussel
    • Shrimp
    • Snail
    • Periwinkle
    • Oyster
    • Clam
    • Reward: Crab Pot (3)
  • Specialty Fish Bundle
    • Pufferfish
    • Ghostfish
    • Sandfish
    • Woodskip
    • Reward: Dish O’ The Sea (5)
  • Tips: This bundle is going to be difficult to complete because you have to pain attention to both the season or weather. The Traveling Merchant helped me quite a bit on completing this bundle because I really don’t like fishing when you first start. The crab pot bundle is going to the easiest to complete.

Boiler Room

Once all bundles are completed, you will unlock and restore the Minecarts.

  • Blacksmiths Bundle
    • Copper Bar
    • Iron Bar
    • Gold Bar
    • Reward: Furnace (1)
  • Geologists Bundle
    • Quartz
    • Earth Crystal
    • Frozen Tear
    • Fire Quartz
    • Reward: Omni Geode (5)
  • Adventurer’s Bundle
    • Slime (99)
    • Bat Wing (10)
    • Solar Essence
    • Void Essence
    • Reward: Small Magnet Ring
  • Tips: This is another bundle you will complete quickly, especially if you are like me and want to get to the bottom as soon as possible. Plus unlocking this bundle will make getting around fairly quicker than just running all over the map.

Bulletin Board

Completing all bundles will improve each of the player’s friendship rating with each of those villagers.

  • Chef’s Bundle
    • Maple Syrup
    • Fiddlehead Fern
    • Truffle
    • Poppy
    • Maki Roll
    • Fried Egg
    • Reward: Pink Cake (3)
  • Dye Bundle
    • Red Mushroom
    • Sea Urchin
    • Sunflower
    • Duck Feather
    • Aquamarine
    • Red Cabbage
    • Reward: Seed Maker (1)
  • Field Research Bundle
    • Purple Mushroom
    • Nautilus Shell
    • Chub
    • Frozen Geode
    • Reward: Recycling Machine (1)
  • Fodder Bundle
    • Wheat (10)
    • Hay (10)
    • Apple (3)
    • Reward: Heater
  • Enchanters Bundle
    • Oak Resin
    • Wine
    • Rabbits Foot
    • Pomegranate
    • Reward: Gold Bar (5)
  • Tips: This bundle can be difficult, but the Travel Merchant can help with some of them. Building friendships can help with unlocking other receipes that you will need, especially if you are trying to complete all the achievements.

Vault

Once all bundles have been completed, you will unlock and restore the Bus Stop, unlocking access to the Calico Desert.

  • 2,500g Bundle – Reward: Chocolate Cake (3)
  • 5,000g Bundle – Reward: Quality Fertilizer (30)
  • 10,000g Bundle – Reward: Lightening Rod (1)
  • 25,000g Bundle – Reward: Crystalarium (1)

Overall, it is possible, but it can be a challenge. Best bet is to pay attention to what items you can get during which season. I actually have an app on my phone that has a check list for each of the bundle items. Plus the app also includes all the villagers favorite items and disliked items as well.

If you have a team or a few people playing together on your farm, you’ll have better odds at completing the Community Center quicker as well. Plus you can asign each player to focus on one of the bundle groups.

Let me know in the comments how soon you were able to complete the Community Center. I’ve been close to finishing it within the first year, but the fish are usually the challenge for me. The closest I got was two weeks after the first year I was able to complete the Community Center, but it does make you want to complete it way sooner!

Posted in Mom Talk

How I Dated a Walking-Talking Red Flag (The Mom Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I know this post is overdue, but last year, I talked about how difficult it is to be single and dating nowadays and most of the red flags I ran into were because of one particular ex of mind. Now, since it’s been over a year since I last had to deal with him, I figured it was time to talk about how bad the relationship really was.

I’m not going to use his real name, so for the sake of this post, we are going to call him Ronnie or “Red-Flag Ronnie”, which fits him perfectly. Now, let’s get into this mess of a relationship that only lasted 3 months.

So, I first met Ronnie on Facebook Dating. I don’t remember who swiped on who first, but he was the one who sent the first message wanting to talk through texting. Which I usually have no problem doing, but looking back now, he didn’t want me to have his socials.

Anyway, the first day of texting, he really didn’t impress me right off. The conversation was going well until he mentioned wanting to do sexual stuff. To me, if that’s the first thing you want to have a conversation about when we just started talking, you aren’t looking for something serious.

Of course, whenever a guy starts the conversation out like that, I ignore them or move on to the next one. However, I decided this time to give Ronnie the benefit of the doubt, but boy, did I know what I would be dealing with.

So, we continued to talk, and not even a week later, he was already asking me to borrow money. The first time was so that his phone service wouldn’t get shut off, so we could still text, and then it was “I don’t have money for food” or “I need a couple bucks to get me a vape pen”. Even though I was giving him little amounts here and there, boy, does it add up.

Then we planned to meet for the first time, but he didn’t have a way to get to me unless he took the bus. Want to guess who paid for the bus ticket? Shocker, I know. I even had to pick him up at the bus stop, too. Apparently, he totaled his truck and couldn’t pay to get it back up and running, but had his license.

Meeting him in person for the first time, I honestly enjoyed it and didn’t notice any other red flags at the time. Of course, we made it official, but when I asked if he wanted to make it Facebook official, he didn’t want to do it.

That honestly should’ve been another red flag, especially since the name that he used on Facebook wasn’t his actual name. Not to mention, he wouldn’t even friend me on Facebook, which I thought was also odd. If you were dating someone, wouldn’t you want to show that you are with someone? I mean, I do.

So, once we had the first weekend together, I thought everything was great. I waited until the next weekend, when I didn’t have my daughter, for him to come back down, but the second time he visited, he was glued to playing on my gaming PC. All he did most of that weekend was play Rust, trying to get me into it, which I honestly couldn’t do.

Pretty much, you can guess that almost every time he came down after that, he spent playing on my gaming laptop. I would even ask if he could spend time with me, and when I was able to get him off my gaming laptop, he was glued to his phone. It was a nightmare getting him to do anything with me unless he wanted to do it too.

Then there was the time when it was a weekend we weren’t seeing each other, and he randomly texted me that he possibly got someone pregnant. Now, I wish I would’ve dumped him right there and then. I don’t know why I didn’t, but he told me it was a “false alarm” the next time I was able to see him again.

Then he claimed he needed a place to stay because of his current living situation, his “roommates” were all moving out, and so he asked if he could stay with us. I agreed as long as he got a job and was giving money towards the bills and food. This man, I swear you not, got a job and then quit a day later because he called out on his second day.

Instead of job searching, while I was working, he was playing on my gaming laptop all day and all hours of the day and night. Then would sleep, eat, and repeat. Until one of my family members offered him another job, and he finally was working, but I had checked out of the relationship.

I think he could sense that the end was near because he even tried to get me to start looking at apartments for us to live in. I had told him no because I wasn’t going to be the only one who was paying for everything, especially when he couldn’t keep a job.

He even told me through text message that he supposedly loved me and got mad when I didn’t say it back. I only say “I love you” when I mean it, and I would never do it in a text message. I didn’t love him, and I wasn’t going to say it back or be forced to say it back because he did.

When I had had enough, I wrote him something, the one time he was actually working, explaining that it was over. I wanted to get all my thoughts on paper to figure out what I wanted to say. He kinda had a sense of that and asked what was wrong. All I told him was that I had written something down for him, and immediately, he asked: “Is it a break-up letter?”

I told him we could talk about it later since I didn’t want to mention it while he was working. He then kept asking, and I finally just told him. Apparently, I made him cry at work over it. Well, you asked and didn’t want to wait until later.

It was pretty awkward when he got back from work, and he read my letter. He sent me what he was feeling in a text message, thinking that I didn’t want to be with him because he wasn’t rich.

First of all, I just want to clarify that I never judge someone by how their lifestyle is. I don’t care if you are rich or poor, it’s about how you are as a person. Clearly, my brain was not working when I met Ronnie, since he made himself seem better than he really was.

Once I ended it with him and he moved out, it was a huge relief not having to deal with him. He still tried to contact me and ask me for money, but I shut him down. I wasn’t going to keep stressing myself over it.

You also might be wondering, “Why didn’t he give out his real name?” Well, this might answer a few things, as well as the big one, why he couldn’t keep a job. Well, it turns out that Red-Flag Ronnie had a record. Now, I didn’t search his name when he gave it for his bus ticket, but if I had, I would’ve blocked him.

Turns out that when Ronnie was in college, he sexually assaulted someone. Which is why he doesn’t use his real name, because if you were to search it, it pulls up articles that talked about it from a few years ago. Apparently, the case was still ongoing.

Ronnie did tell me about it, but he spun the story very differently from what the articles explained. He told me that he met this girl, and they hooked up. The boyfriend supposedly found out she cheated, and apparently, the girl didn’t want her boyfriend to leave her and claimed that Ronnie assaulted her instead.

However, that wasn’t what the article said. The news article said that he threatened her with a knife, which he never mentioned. Mind you, I didn’t find this all out until after the fact; if I knew this, I would have ended things and blocked him right off.

This explains quite a bit why he couldn’t keep a job, and probably one of the reasons why women wanted nothing to do with him after they found that out. This is exactly why, whenever you are dating someone, Google their full name and see what pops up.

Granted, a few other things happened with that relationship, such as him raising his voice at me and having angry outbursts when things didn’t go his way, which were some more red flags.

In the end, I learned a few things, and I now know if I attempt to go back on Facebook Dating, I know exactly what I want to avoid. I think one of the big things that I’m not going to do is rush into things. Nothing goes well when you rush.

I’m now at the mentality of “if something is meant to be, it will be.” I’ve also completely accepted that famous quote Chandler Bing in Friends says:

Posted in Mom Talk

The Dating World of 2024 (The Mom Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! I wanted to bring up something that I’m having trouble with, but I wanted to bring up some pointers if you are newly single. Whether you’re a single parent, just got out of a long relationship, or have been single for a while, but just started looking, this might be good information to know!

Now, for all of you who have been following me since the very beginning, I decided to leave my children’s father back in 2021. I didn’t start dating again until 6 months after I had left him. A lot of people asked why I didn’t just jump right into and it was because I wanted to work on myself.

I wanted to make sure that I loved myself before I jumped into another relationship. However, I felt like I had to start putting myself out there. I also had a few people who were pushing me to get out there as well.

I was expecting the dating world to be back before I first met the father of my children. Back when it was 2014. Oh no, things had really changed this time since I first went back on dating sites.

First, Facebook had a dating part that they had added, and that’s where I first started. I met a few guys that I had really great conversations. Most of them would ghost me or never talk to me after saying ‘hello’. Other guys weren’t really there to meet anyone to build a relationship, just hookups. Then there were the few guys who actually caught my heart and shredded it down to practically nothing.

At the end of 2021, I did find someone I really started to fall for and started dating him. I’m not going to go into complete details, but he was the one who got away. It also didn’t help that life happened, and I didn’t really know how to handle it. We tried rekindling it last year, but he had his life, and he had a lot going on.

Anyway, I decided in March to give this dating thing another try, and this time my walls would be up no matter what. However, I still have hope for that one guy, he will come running back into my life so we can try again, but as the saying goes, “If you love someone, let them go. If they come back to you, it was meant to be; if not, it never was.”

So, nowadays, I’m focused on building a friendship with some of the guys I’ve been talking to. I don’t want to rush into anything, and I know what I’m looking for, but I am keeping an eye out for the red flags.

Here are a few Red Flags you should keep in mind:

–No Job or Can’t Keep a Job– This is a HUGE red flag. My more recent ex had this issue, and I lost a LOT of money because I was supporting him. I learned my lesson on that. Even if they wanted to borrow $20 bucks here and there, don’t do it. Trust me, it adds up faster than you think.

-No Car/No License- This is a red flag for me because I live in Maine, and to go anywhere, you really need to have a car. I have nothing against those who don’t have a car or a license, but please don’t date people just because they will cart you around.

It’s one thing if you are taking an Uber or taxi to meet up with them, but it’s another thing to demand that they bring you here or there. Keep this in mind: the first time you tell someone you will give them a ride, they will always think you will give them a ride.

-Separated/In an Open Relationship- This one is tricky because all situations are different. I feel that if you are still married, you shouldn’t be dating until your divorce is final, but that is just me. I also am not a fan of “open relationships”. I know that people’s opinions have changed on that, but I’m against it completely. When I’m in a relationship with a guy, I don’t want him to share me or me to have to share him.

Nothing against those who are in an open relationship. If it works for you or for your situation, great! I don’t think I could handle it very well, emotionally.

-Love Bombing – I didn’t even know this was an actual red flag, but it is! I really hate to bring it back to my more current ex, but he did the same thing to me. Pretty much all the time, he would call me “beautiful” to the point that the word meant nothing. He would also use this whenever we got into an argument; he would change the subject to complimenting me instead of talking about the issue at hand.

If you don’t know what “love bombing” is, it is when someone frequently attempts to influence another person with over-the-top displays of attention and affection.

-Not Respecting Your Boundaries – This is a huge red flag; if they can’t respect your boundaries, that shows that they have no respect for you. Granted, at the beginning of a relationship is learning what each other’s boundaries are. That is why if you let them know what your boundaries are at the beginning, you can tell right away if they will respect them or not. I had an ex who got mad at me for hanging out with my best friend for one night, just because I didn’t include him.

-They Want You To Always Put Them First – If you have children, you would understand that when it comes to a new relationship, you and your kids come first. It brings us back to the situation I talked about before. That ex wanted me to put him on the throne. Honestly, he is in most of these red flags. I should just write about how awful the experience really was.

-Talk Badly About Ex’s/Or Still Talking To Their Ex’s – So, I can’t say that I haven’t talked badly about an ex since, as you can see from this post, however, I’m not one of those that goes onto the internet and blast them by name. If they can talk badly about their ex or say all their exes are crazy without explaining why, that is a problem to be aware of.

What is even more of a red flag is still talking or being friends with an ex. Depending on the situation, I will keep an open mind. If you have a baby daddy or baby mommy, that is a different situation since you are communicating about the kids. That’s the relationship I have with my daughter’s father; it’s strictly about our daughter.

–Drug/Alcohol Problem – This is another huge red flag to keep in mind because they will tend to put their “habit” first. There’s nothing wrong with having a social drink every now and then, but if they need it constantly or all the time, that is a problem.

–Bad Feeling/Gut Feeling – You know your body better than anyone else does, but if there is something off or fishy about the person you are talking to, trust your gut! Most of us want to listen with our hearts or heads, but sometimes it’s better to listen to our gut first.

If you aren’t sure, talk about it with friends or family. They would be the first ones to notice the red flags quicker than you would. Especially if you are so into them. You don’t have to listen to them, but it’s always good to get a 3rd party’s advice on the situation.

–No Social Media/Different Name for Social Media – Okay, so this one isn’t really a red flag, but it really depends on who you ask about this. My last ex had a different name on his Facebook. I really didn’t think anything of it until I found out there was a bigger reason why he didn’t give out his full name. It’s okay for someone to not want to have a social media presence, but if they can’t seem to tell you their true name, really look into why that is.

There could be several reasons why, but if you start out talking to them and right at the bat they give you a fake name, that’s a red flag. The reason why I say this is that they are hiding something from you. Whether they have a double life or have been in trouble with the law, this is something you want to pay attention to. Especially if you plan on having your kids meet them after going out with them for some time.

My best advice is if they give you a first and last name, Google them! Remember, whatever you post on the internet is out there forever, and if they have been in trouble with the law, those records are considered public knowledge.

–Ignoring You/Taking Longer to Reply – This one, I really had a lot of issues when it came to them taking either days to reply. However, I have finally understood that if someone likes you enough to talk to you, they will. If they don’t or have excuses as to why they haven’t replied back to you, take the hint that they aren’t interested in you.

It’s one thing if they are at work or in the middle of doing something, and they give you a heads-up that they are busy and will talk to you later. It’s another thing if they are straight up ignoring you, and you see that they are active or they posted on their story or Facebook.

Don’t waste your time waiting for a reply. My rule is if they don’t reply to you within 24-28 hours, move on to the next one. Everyone checks their phone more than once a day, so there isn’t really an excuse as to why they can’t reply to you.

–They Don’t Want To Meet In Public/Wants You To Meet At Their House – The first meeting with someone you met online, it should be in public. The reason why I say this is because of the fact that if you feel uncomfortable or the person is starting to creep you out, you can get outta there faster, without them knowing where you live.

Most of the time, if a guy/girl is asking you to meet at their place, it usually means they just want to hook up. Not for everyone, but most of the time it’s usually that reason.

Another key thing to keep in mind is that if you go on a date with someone in public, let a friend or family member know where you are, just in case something goes wrong. Or even have a friend at the location with you watching from a distance, so if there is something wrong or off about your date, you can text them to let them know, that way you’re still safe.

Overall, the best way to handle the dating world is to think of it as a battlefield. The problem with today’s dating world is that there are too many apps, tons of being ghosted, and no one is really looking for something real anymore.

The way dating is now, more people believe in having multiple people to date and be with, versus just being with one and only one person. There are too many times that I had to deal with guys leading me on and making me think I had a chance, only to then just block or ignore me completely.

Granted, I did that to a few guys, but most of the time I was up front and honest. Like I said, if they like you enough, they will always reach out to you first and if you like them, do the same. If not, don’t do what I’ve done in the past and wait days or weeks to hear from someone when you clearly know they’ve been on their phone.

Update:

So, I figured I would update you all, as I have been going through my old blog posts, but as of July 2025, I have been officially taken, and I couldn’t be happier! Good things come to those who wait, and he definitely did!

We had started talking, and when he asked me what my favorite restaurant is, he asked if I was free that Thursday, and booked a reservation for us. I was super nervous, and he told me he would pick me up. He had a bouquet of flowers, opened the car door for me, and refused to let me pay for dinner.

I had never been on a first date like that before. I don’t even remember any guy opening the door for me or enjoying listening to me ramble on, which I tend to do, especially if I’m nervous. After that date and our second date, I really didn’t want to entertain anyone else but him.

On our 3rd date, I figured I would ask him where he was with us and if he wanted to make it official or go on more dates to get to know each other more. As he was driving, he held my hand and said yes. As soon as that date ended, we both deleted our Facebook dating and made it official, and have been together ever since.

Honestly, I have never been happier, and we are now looking for a place to move in since we found out I’m currently expecting! It was definitely a surprise, but he’s been so supportive since we found out, and now it’s upgrading my car and finding a bigger place for us to move into.

I will try to keep you all posted on that, but I honestly like how I kept my youngest daughter’s pregnancy to just close friends and family, since I’m not a fan of being the center of attention. I know that our families are very excited, as we are!

Posted in Mom Talk

Tooth Fairy Ideas (The Mom Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, but with my daughter now old enough to be in the stage of losing her baby teeth, I wanted to share what I’ve been doing for the Tooth Fairy, as well as some other ideas that I’ve seen and heard from others or Pinterest!

So, I was a little nervous about how my daughter would react to losing her baby teeth. She was a little scared when the dentist told her one of her bottom teeth was loose.

Once the dentist told her all about the Tooth Fairy, she was more excited to see what the Tooth Fairy would leave under her pillow. My grandmother actually got her a tooth kit that had a little jar for her to put the tooth in and a tooth bag that she could put the jar in and place it under her pillow.

Growing up, we literally put the tooth under our pillow and when we woke the next morning, the tooth was gone and a dollar or quarters would replace it. I even remember the Tooth Fairy leaving me $20 dollars under my pillow! My mom ended up sharing how that happened once I was older.

Anyway, once that bottom tooth started to move more and more, to the point where she was nervous to just pull it, I gave her a tissue, to give her more grip. She was able to pull it out, she did cry a little bit because a little bit of blood was on it, but she was excited that she would finally get a visit from the tooth fairy.

She woke up the next morning and was so excited that she got a dollar and placed it in her piggy bank. She lost the second one recently, it was pretty loose until she lost it eating a donut since we couldn’t find it. Even though she couldn’t put a tooth under her pillow, the Tooth Fairy still made sure she got that dollar.

Now, for those of you moms who did what I did, there is nothing wrong with keeping it simple. Especially if you are like me and just want to keep the simple tradition going, here are some really cool ideas that I found on Pinterest that you might have wished you had done.

Crochet Tooth Fairy Holder

For all my crocheting moms you know that I just had to share these cute little guys! Something simple and cute for your little ones to put their baby teeth in! I really wish I had seen this sooner and I would’ve just had my daughter use that as the bag for the Tooth Fairy!

Tooth Fairy Pouch – Free Crochet Pattern

Tooth Fairy Letters

This is another super cute idea for sure! Since everyone writes letters to Santa, why not to the Tooth Fairy too! Not only are these letters typed out, but they even get little certificates for each tooth they loose too! How adorable!

https://www.homeschoolof1.com/tooth-fairy-letter

Sparkly Tooth Fairy Money

This one is a super idea to do! If you have craft glitter or even sparkly body spray, you could cover the dollar in a little bit of glitter and it would look like the Tooth Fairy sprinkled some of her magic all over the dollar.

Those are just a few ideas to look into for your little ones who are about to experience a visit from the Tooth Fairy. Even if this is the first time or if you want to do something different for each of your other children.

The best way to play that off is by saying to your children that each kid in the household gets a different Tooth Fairy. Or whatever else comes to mind. In the end, we only get to watch our children experience it once in their lives, making the imagination come alive for them.

I’m going to try my best to be more active, so don’t be alarmed if I start posting more lately!

Posted in Uncategorized

Life Update: Why I Haven’t Been Active

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies. So, there has been a lot going on in my life, which is why I haven’t been posting as much as I have planned to do. I know I keep saying this, but I’m really trying to make sure that I can get back in the groove of things.


So, first things first, I got prompted and that has been taking up a chunk of my time. It hasn’t been as stressful as my last job, but it can be very draining at the end of the day. In other words, I still think about work when I’m not there.
Not to mention my daughter is going to be 6 years old. I still can’t believe how much time as flown by, it feels like yesterday that I had her. I know a lot of mother’s say that, but it really does.


It’s incredible to watch her grown up into this amazing little girl. Not to mention, she will also be heading into Kindergarten this year, so this is the time of year I get to take her back to school shopping.


Plus, I also have some of my crochet stuff being sold at one of my friends store. Which is getting me thinking about getting into the idea of selling stuff on Esty or having someone sell my stuff at a craft fair.


Honestly, I would love to make my hobbies into a career, but its harder said that done. I would need to take the time think and plan how I would be able to do it. Plus I would need to know how much stock I would need and time how long it takes me to crochet each item. It is something I really want to look into, however, I have some other stuff that I need to get done too.


Lastly, one of the other reasons why I haven’t been as active, my mental health took a hit at the beginning of this year and I’ve been slowly trying to get back to where I need to be. With that being said, I didn’t have the motivation to write or blog or crochet. I have been slowly getting back into my crocheting zone as well as I’m almost out of my creative block that I’ve been having.


I’m really sorry to all my followers, especially the ones that have been following me since day 1. I’m trying to get back to where I need to be. Plus, there are a few blog changes that I want to do as well.


Such as, changing the appearance and looking into possibly selling stuff on here as well. You also got to think that I have been blogging since my daughter was very little. I never thought I would still be wanting to do this still and I’m glad that I’m going to keep on doing it.


Soon, hopefully, you won’t have to wait 6 months or longer for an update, I’ve got a few things I am working on and I just need to get around to throwing it into a blog post. I will be back, unsure when that will be, but I plan on getting back into the normal blog groove soon.

❤

Posted in Mom Talk

Chores Ideas (The Mom Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! I wanted to go over some chore ideas that you can do with your kiddos! I will be listing stuff for all ages too as well because you can start chores or the idea of chores as little as 2 years old.

My daughter is now 5, which is still crazy to me because yesterday I remember bringing her home from the hospital and now she is in preschool. Now that she is older, I wanted to start doing a chore chart for her and introduce chores and the idea of helping out around the house.

I bought her a chore chart that is magnetic and they give you options for different chore ideas, of course, some of them didn’t pertain to my daughter yet, such as homework. Every time they would do something on the chore chart, she would get to put a star next to it.

I haven’t been strict with her about it, yet, but I did get her excited to want to start doing chores around the house if it meant she got to put a star on her chore board. Lately, to get her to get stuff done, to reward her with some screen time or mostly playing Minecraft or Animal Crossing.

Here are her usual list of chores is just simple stuff, such as brushing her hair, brushing her teeth, getting dressed, picking up toys, setting the table, etc. Simple things that she can do. I haven’t pushed her to follow through with the other types of chores I want her to start doing because I don’t want to overwhelm her with them.

You don’t want to overwhelm them with a long list of chores because then they will never want to do it. I have started her with 5, which seems to go well and she still needs to be told to do them, but she will usually do them, if not I just tell her no Minecraft and she will start getting them done.

Now that you sort of know what I’ve got my daughter doing at home, let’s talk about what kinds of chores you can introduce to the little ones.

Chore Ideas for Ages 2-3 Years Old

Of course kids, this age don’t need to enforce it, but you can start introducing to them to some simple chore ideas such as these:

  • Pick up toys & books
  • Put trash in the garbage can
  • Dust
  • Put away silverware
  • Wipe baseboards
  • Fold rags &dishcloths
  • Put clothes in the hamper
  • Put clothes away in drawers

Chore Ideas for Ages 4-6 Years Old

At this age, is when you should start making a few chores mandatory for them to do. I would start with at least 3-5 chores that they are responsible for. You can also include some of these from up above:

  • Take care of the pets
  • Set & clean the table
  • Match Socks
  • Wipe down dirty walls
  • Empty trashes
  • Sweep

Chore Ideas for Ages 7-11 Years Old

At this age, doing chores should be something they should be doing every day. You might be also including allowance for them or treats for completing chores. They should be doing at least 5-10 chores a day and if you want to include one day of their choosing that they don’t have to do it. Here are some stuff they should be able to do:

  • Fold laundry
  • Sweep
  • Vacuuming
  • Take out the trash / Taking it out to the curb on trash day
  • Wash mirrors
  • Meal prep
  • Weed flowers / Garden
  • Clean out the car
  • Clean toilets
  • Clean room
  • Organize toy room
  • Bring in mail / newspaper

Chores Ideas for Ages 12+ Years Old

At this age, they should be doing chores all week long. They might be getting more of an allowance or none at all because they know they should be doing chores without being told to do so. Here are some other chore ideas that the older kids should be doing now:

  • Mow lawn
  • Babysit siblings
  • Wash windows
  • Iron
  • Wash car
  • Cook simple meals
  • Laundry
  • Mop floors
  • Clean bathroom
  • Clean out fridge

Of course, you don’t need to do it the way that I suggest because every parent has a different way of raising their children. I was raised to do chores and as we got older, my mother stopped paying us for it once we got older because when we lived on our own, we would have to do these things for ourselves.

What kind of chores do you have set for your kiddos? When did you first start them out with chores or at what age do you think they should start doing chores? Let me know in the comments!

Posted in Gaming, Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley – Villager Info & Tips for Beginners

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies, so since I mentioned that I play Stardew Valley, I wanted to give some helpful tips for those that are just starting out. I wish I had done more research before playing, but sometimes you just have to learn as you go. 


One of the big things you would need to do in the game is to make friends with the villagers. This was something that I didn’t do and then realized that in order to unlock more recipes & different scenes, you needed to befriend the villagers.


You also have to keep up with the friendships too as well, otherwise, you lose all your progress. Especially, if you are trying to date one of the villagers, it takes time and patience. 


Anyway, I wanted to make this post because I wanted to give some tips on how to help you increase your friendship with the villagers, as well as get some information on them as well. Plus I will also include some of their favorite items and when the best day is to give them the presents. 


I also wanted to note that in order to build a friendship, you need to give them gifts, but you can only give them gifts twice a week. You can tell what level of “friendship” you are at with a villager by the amount of hearts that they have. 


Once they reach to 10 hearts, you don’t have to worry as much about their hearts going down. Anyway, we are going to start with the villagers you can date, then we will work our way down the rest of the list. 

Villagers You Can Date

Alex (Summer 13) – Favorite things he loves: Complete Breakfast, Golden Pumpkin, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, & Salmon Dinner.

Elliot (Fall 5) – Favorite things he loves: Crab Cakes, Duck Feathers, Golden Pumpkin, Lobster, Pomegranate, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, & Tom Kha Soup.


Harvey (Winter 14) – Favorite things he loves: Coffee, Golden Pumpkin, Pickles, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, Super Meal, Truffle Oil, & Wine.


Sam (Summer 17) – Favorite things he loves: Catus Fruit, Golden Pumpkin, Maple Bar, Pizza, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, & Tigerseye.


Abigail (Fall 13) – Favorite things she loves: Amethyst, Blackberry Cobbler, Chocolate Cake, Gold Pumpkin, Prismatic Shard, Pufferfish, Pumpkin, Rabbit’s Foot, & Spicy Eel.


Emily (Spring 27) – Favorite things she loves: Amethyst, Aquamarine, Cloth, Emerald Golden Pumpkin, Jade, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, Ruby, Survival Burger, Topaz, & Wool.


Haley (Spring 14) – Favorite things she loves: Coconut, Fruit Salad, Golden Pumpkin, Pink Cake, Rabbit’s Foot, & Sunflower.


Leah (Winter 23) – Favorite things she loves: Goat Cheese, Golden Pumpkin, Poppyseed Muffin, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, Salad, Stir Fry, Truffle, Vegetable Medley, & Wine.


Maru (Summer 10) – Favorite things she loves: Battery Pack, Cheese Cauliflower, Diamond, Gold Bar, Golden Pumpkin, Iridium Bar, Miner’s Treat, Pepper Poppers, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, Rhubarb Pie, & Strawberry.


Penny (Fall 2) – Favorite things she loves: Diamond, Emerald, Golden Pumpkin, Melon, Poppy, Poppyseed Muffin, Prismatic Shard, Red Plate, Roots Platter, Sandfish, & Tom Kha Soup.


Sebastian (Winter 10) – Favorite things he loves: Frozen Tear, Golden Pumpkin, Prismatic Shard, Pumpkin Soup, Rabbit’s Foot, Sashimi, & Void Egg.


Shane (Spring 20) – Favorite things he loves: Beer, Golden Pumpkin, Hot Peppers, Pepper Poppers, Pizza, Prismatic Shard, & Rabbit’s Foot.

The Rest

Caroline (Winter 7) – Favorite things she loves: Fish Taco, Golden Pumpkin, Prismatic Shard, Rabbt’s Foot, & Summer Spangle.


Clint (Winter 26) – Favorite things he loves: Amethyst, Aquamarine, Artichoke Dip, Emerald, Gold Bar, Golden Pumpkin, Iridium Bar, Jade, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, Ruby, & Topaz.


Demetrius (Summer 19) – Favorite things he loves: Bean Hotpot, Golden Pumpkin, Ice Cream, Prismatic shard, Rabbit’s Foot, Rice Pudding, & Strawberry.


Dwarf (Summer 22) – Favorite things he loves: Amethyst, Aquamarine, Dwarf Scroll 1-4, Emerald, Golden Pumpkin, Jade, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, Ruby, & Topaz.


Evelyn (Winter 20) – Favorite things she loves: Beet, Chocolate Cake, Diamond, Fairy Rose, Golden Pumpkin, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foots, Stuffing, & Tulip.


George (Fall 24) – Favorite things he loves: Fried Mushroom, Golden Pumpkin, Leek, Prismatic Shard, & Rabbit’s Foot.


Gus (Summer 8) – Favorite things he loves: Diamond, Escargot, Fish Taco, Golden Pumpkin, Orange, Prismatic Shard, & Rabbit’s Foot.


Jas (Summer 4) – Favorite things she loves: Fairy Rose, Golden Pumpkin, Pink Cake, Plum Pudding, Prismatic Shard, & Rabbit’s Foot.


Jodi (Fall 11) – Favorite things she loves: Chocolate Cake, Crispy Bass, Diamond, Eggplant Parmesan, Fried Eel, Golden Pumpkin, Pancakes, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, Rhubarb Pie, & Vegetable Medley.


Kent (Spring 4) – Favorite things he loves: Golden Pumpkin, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, & Roasted Hazelnuts.


Krobus (Winter 1) – Favorite things he loves: Diamond, Golden Pumpkin, Iridium Bar, Prismatic Shard, Pumpkin, Rabbit’s Foot, Void Egg, Void Mayonnaise, & Wild Horseradish.


Lewis (Spring 7) – Favorite things he loves: Autumn’s Bounty, Glazed Yams, Golden Pumpkin, Hot Pepper, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, & Vegetable Medley.


Linus (Winter 3) – Favorite things he loves: Blueberry Tart, Cactus Fruit, Coconut, Dish o The Sea, Golden Pumpkin, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, & Yam.


Marnie (Fall 18) – Favorite things she loves: Diamond, Farmers Lunch, Golden Pumpkin, Pink Cake, Prismatic Shard, Pumpkin Pie, & Rabbit’s Foot.


Pam (Spring 18) – Favorite things she loves: Beer, Cactus Fruit, Glazed Yams, Golden Pumpkin, Mead, Pale Ale, Parsnip, Parsnip Soup, Prismatic Shard, & Rabbit’s Foot.


Pierre (Spring 26) – Favorite things he loves: Fried Calamari, Golden Pumpkin, Prismatic Shard, & Rabbit’s Foot.


Robin (Fall 21) – Favorite things she loves: Goat Cheese, Golden Pumpkin, Peach, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, & Spaghetti.


Sandy (Fall 15) – Favorite things she loves: Crocus, Daffodil, Golden Pumpkin, Prismatic Shard, Rabbit’s Foot, & Sweet Pea.


Vincent (Spring 10) – Favorite things he loves: Cranberry Candy, Golden Pumpkin, Grape, Pink Cake, Prismatic Shard, & Rabbit’s Foot.


Willy (Summer 24) – Favorite things he loves: Diamond, Golden Pumpkin, Iridium Bar, Mead, Prismatic Shard, Pumpkin, Rabbit’s Foot, & Sea Cucumber.


Wizard (Winter 17) – Favorite things he loves: Golden Pumpkin, Prismatic Shard, Purple Mushroom, Rabbit’s Foot, Solar Essence, Super Cucumber, & Void Essence.

And that’s all the villagers from Stardew Valley!

I have only gotten a few to have a few hearts, but when you keep up on it and remember, you can unlock more of the game and the scenes as well! For the villagers you can date, I have only dated and married two out of them all.

The first one I did was Shane, I gave him a bunch of beer, and in less than a year, I got him with enough hearts to get him. The other one I did was Elliot and he was a little bit more challenging to get because the stuff he liked, you needed to be further in the game to get some of his favorite items, but I got him eventually.

Which of the villagers is your favorite character? Which love interest do you usually go for in the game?

Posted in Beginner Patterns, Crochet, Free Crochet Patterns

Free Crochet Valentine’s Day Mug Cozy Pattern (Craft Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! So, I know it has been a long time since I’ve posted a pattern of my own and I finally wanted to make more mug cozy designs! I know that we are past Valentine’s Day, but I really wanted to create a simple mug cozy that you can make that is both simple and easy to mass produce.

This is also a Beginner pattern and is super easy to do! Also, this mug cozy is what I like to call ‘flat crochet’, which means that it’s crocheted back and forth, not in a circle. So, some assembly is required, but patterns like this give you more practice in making fun items that don’t seem hard to do.

What You Wil Need:

  • 4.00mm crochet hook
  • 3 different colored worsted weight yarn (Dark Red, Pink, & White)
    • Size 4
    • I’m not sure what brands I used, this is actually out of the smaller balls of yarn that I just had in my scrap bag of yarn.
  • Sewing Needle
  • Scissors

First, chain 41 in the dark red color.

Row 1: *Single crochet in the second chain from the hook. Then double crochet into the next chain.* Repeat * until you have reached the last chain. Your last chain stitch will be a double crochet.

Row 2: Chain 1 and turn. *Single crochet in the first stitch, then double crochet in the stitch after that.* Repeat * until you have reached the last chain.

Rows 3-6: Repeat Row 2.

Switch to the pink color.

Rows 7-9: Repeat Row 2. At the end of Row 9, leave a long tail to sew together and fasten off.

That is the base part of the pattern. If you want to add the heart like I did, here is the pattern for that.

Heart:

Make a magic circle with the white color.

Chain 2.

3 treble crochets, 3 double crochets, chain 1, 1 treble crochet, chain 1, 3 double crochets, 3 treble crochets, chain 2, slip stitch in the middle of the magic circle.

Leave a tail for attaching it to the mug cozy and fasten off.

There you have it! A simple pattern and easy to make! This is also something you can make a few of for craft fairs as well. Don’t worry, I’m going to have a few different mug cozy ideas for you guys, especially for each of the holidays, and a few surprises as well!

Posted in Crochet, Yearly Crochet Blankets

Crochet Yearly Project Ideas (Craft Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! So, I am currently working on a yearly project for 2023, but I wanted to suggest if anyone was thinking about doing a yearly blanket or temperature blacket. I think they are very fun to do, but the temperature blanket can be a pain because you are crocheting a square or a line every day.

The one that I am working on currently is actually from a Youtube that I am subscribed to. Plus, she does have some other yearly blankets that she has done too and I am going to leave links to her videos too if you are interested in trying them out.

If you are going to be making a yearly blanket, you need to do a little bit of research to find out how much yarn you are going to need & how much time you would need to complete it. I have done a temperature blanket before and the one thing I didn’t think of was how much yarn I was going to need and to make sure to stick to that brand as well.

I ended up in a pickle and used a color from a different brand that sort of worked, but it’s okay because it’s just a simple trial and error. So, the next time I decide to do a temperature blanket, I am going to pre-stock some skeins of colors so that I don’t run into the same problem.

I do want to try again doing a temperature blanket, but I’m thinking I want to do one next year since I wanted to make the current yearly blanket that I’m working on. I was going to also give an update on the first square that I made, but I wanted to wait to show you guys every 2 months.

So, with that being said in mind, that update will be posted the last week of February, and last Tuesday I will show you guys how it is looking. I will also update my Instagram every month, as well. Now, here are a few other yearly blankets, if you are trying to figure out what to do for the 2023 year.

Calendar Square Blanket

This is the current yearly blanket that I will be doing. This creation is from Jayda in Stitches and she does have a series of videos to make each square. I didn’t want to show the rest of the months since I do want it to be a surprise!

Plus I really like the idea of each square representing each of the months. It is also a better option if you don’t have time to crochet a square or row a day. I really can’t wait to see how this blanket turns out. I will also include a link for the videos:

The link that I included is a link to the full playlist of all the videos for each of the months. Just in case you decide to want to make this blanket for this year too!

Temperature Blanket (Granny Square Verison)

This is the temperature blanket that I made back in 2019. The one big problem that I had with this blanket was that I ended up making the squares too big and using more yarn than I expected. With the result of making the squares bigger, ended up making the blanket huge, which I didn’t mind, but trying to fold it was a pain for sure.

Now, the type of granny square that I did was the solid granny square, but I’ve seen people due either. You could even do different crocheted stitches as squares for each of the days or use two colors, one of the morning temperature and the afternoon temperature.

Themed Blankets

These blankets are pretty cool to make, but they can take a lot of patience and practice. They also may not have a crochet along, but there are a few out that do. You don’t really need a crochet along for yearly blankets, but you can always have one of those theme blankets that you can work on throughout the year.

If you do have any favorite TV Shows, such as Friends or the Office or Big Bang Theory, they do have blanket patterns out there that you can make. I saw someone had created a themed Friends blanket, I got so excited that I ended up looking to see what others had done.

You would be surprised how many other TV Show themed crochet blankets there are out there. The only reason why I haven’t made them yet, was because I didn’t want to make multiple themed blankets and then have no room to put them.

Those were just a few items that you can start with if you are interested in making a yearly blanket or temperature blanket. Let me know in the comments if you are working on a yearly blanket or a temperature blanket for this year. I can’t wait to see how mine comes out!

Posted in Mom Talk

Snow Activities To Do With Your Kids (The Mom Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey dearies! Since I live in Maine, we have been getting slammed with snow! As a kid, i used to love it when it snowed, especially if they canceled school.

For me, on a Snow Day, growing up, we used to go to my grandmother’s house. She had a nice yard to play in, build snow forts and she lived next to a nice hill for sledding. Which was probably the main reason we loved to visit her house during the winter.

Anyway, since I’ve become an adult, I only love snow when it’s around Christmas or New Years, after that I’m over it.

I also live in Maine, so the weather is literally crazy. One day, it’s just 50 degrees, and the next day, there’s a blizzard outside. Don’t get me wrong, I love Maine because we all have 4 seasons, but sometimes mother nature can’t make up her mind.

So, what are the best things to do on a Snow Day for your kids? Check out below!

Indoor Activities

Depending on where you live and how bad the weather is, figuring out what to do with the kids inside can be a little bit harder. Especially if you don’t want them to be glued to the TV all day.

Here’s a few ideas indoor activities:

  • Baking – This is an awesome idea because then your house is going to smell good too!
  • Playing Board Games – Depending how old your kiddos are, playing Hungry Hungry Hippos or Candy Land is always a fun time!
  • Painting – Whether it’s following a Bob Ross painting or just doing a simple freelance painting, painting is always something fun to do on a Snow Day!
  • Jigsaw Puzzles – This is one of my favorite activities my grandmother and I would do on a Snow Day. We usually picked a 1000 piece puzzle, which kept us busy all day!
  • Coloring – Whether your kids want to color or your inter child in you wants to color, go for it! My daughter and I love to color with gel pens and you can get a simple 60 pack of gel pens on Amazon for less than 20 bucks!
  • Reading a book together – My daughter and I loved doing this while she was a baby, but we haven’t done it as much as of recently. On a day where you can’t go anywhere, have you kiddo pick out their favorite books and read to them. My daughter current loves Click Click Moo.
  • Watching a movie or TV show – Usually, I’ll tell my daughter to pick a movie that we either haven’t seen in a long time or something my daughter hasn’t seen at all. Of course, watching TV all day isn’t something we want our kiddos to do on a Snow Day, but switching inbetween activities and saving a movie for the morning or the afternoon is always a good idea.
  • Cleaning – I know this isn’t a fun thing for the kiddos to do on a Snow Day, but getting them into the habit of doing chores is always a plus! Not to mention you can reward them with some screen time, too!

Outside Activities

Of course, every kid wants to be outside and play in the snow. Us adults would love to do that, but we get stuck with the shoveling duty, but there are lots of stuff to do outside in the snow!

  • Build a Snowman – One of the most classic activities that you can do outside in the snow and nowadays you can actually buy kits that have everything you need to make a snowman!
  • Make Snow Angels – This was one of my favorite things to do when I was a kid!
  • Build a Snow Fort – My cousin and I would build these all the time, especially when our grandparents driveway was plowed, we would build little holes and pretend to live it them.
  • Go Sledding/Tubing/Skiing/Snowboarding – One of the best things to do on a Snow Day! I don’t Snowboard or Skiing, but I love sledding and tubing!
  • Go Ice Skating – I’ve been ice skating and let’s just say I would rather roller blade instead, but it can be lots of fun to do!
  • Snowball Fight – My cousin and I loved to do these! Not to mention, our grandmother got us snowball makers, which made it so much faster to make them.

Those are just a few ideas on what to do indoors and outdoors. I’m sure there are a few that I missed, but let me know down in the comments what you do with your kiddos on a Snow Day!

Posted in Gaming

My Favorite Games I Love to Play

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey dearies! Since it’s been a busy week so far, I wanted to talk about the games that I love to play in my spare time.

For me, I mainly play on my PC, but I used to love playing on PS4. I figured since it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything for gaming, I should talk about the main games that I love to play.

Minecraft

I love playing Minecraft, I actually remember playing the first version of Minecraft. It’s a love hate that I have for the game. It’s fun to play, but there are some things that piss me off with the game.

Survival World is my favorite version to play because I like the Survival component. Creative Mode is fun, but its not something I want to play all the time.

Plus, they do add little things that make the game better, more challenges to try and do. I would love to try the mods that they have out there for it, but I have to upgrade my computer in order for that to happen.

Stardew Valley

I think Stardew Valley is such an amazing game. It’s got a little bit of everything and you don’t have to make money by just farming, you can fish or mine in order to make money.

Plus you can make friends to unlock different things, especially the Town Hall. Once you finish the bundles, you unlock the mine carts so your not running everywhere.

You can also get married and have kids, but the downfall is that you can’t use them to have them help you on the farm. Basically, they are useless, just there to complete your “farm life”.

It really gives me the creativity to make a farm that I really like and plus I even started making my own book to kinda help me out when finding out how much money I can get from different crops or fish or gems.

I also found a recipe book for Stardew Valley, that I just ordered and can’t wait for it to get here, so I can recreate some of these recipes that I’ve made in the game.

The Sims Saga

I’m a huge fan of Sims and I’m really only a big fan of the Sims 2 and 3. The reason why I love two are the graphics and the different activities you can do.

The reason why I love Sims 3 because it’s an open world and you don’t have to deal with any loading screen. Not to mention, I love that there’s more decorative options you can do.

I also love adding mods are so much fun to add to the game that and I also love adding different jobs or finding out if a Sim is pregnant. I just wish my computer ran faster because the graphics aren’t working for my computer.

My favorite thing I love about Sims are the challenges that you can do. Plus I have a few that I want to play and blog about as well!

Those are just the main 3 that I play on my PC. I am hoping that once I upgrade my PC, my game library will open a little bit more.

I also want to talk about my favorite games for each of the gaming systems I grew up with, such as gameboy, DS, Wii. PS1, 2, & 3, etc. Let me know if you have a favorite game or game system you love playing on.

Posted in Crochet, Uncategorized

My Projects Update (Craft Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! It’s been a long time since I have finally posted a blog for Crafty Sassy, but I really wanted to give you guys an update on how far I’ve come since I first started crochet back in 2017.

I’ve tried some different stuff than what I normally go for and since I’m working full time, I’ve haven’t felt like I’ve done a lot of projects than I normally do. Like I wanted to do a temperature blanket for last year and never end up starting it.

Plus I still like maybe 5 projects that are still ongoing or just not finished. You see, a lot of people don’t understand that you have to be in the mood for crocheting or doing anything crafty. I usually just crochet when my anxiety starts to bother me.

So, here are my projects that are currently ongoing:

  • Cat Couch – Sadly, I’ve been working on this one for over 2 years. I started making it for my brother’s cat DJ, it’s a Christmas green, I want to say. It’s also something that I have to make pieces and sew them together.
  • Towel Toppers – I’ve always got a ton of these hanging around. I don’t like doing them all at once, but I have 2 totes filled with all my completed ones, they are just waiting for a craft fair for me to do.
  • Bags – I have 2 bags that I crocheted, just need to assemble them and create a strap.
  • Blankets – I have one that I’m working on for work and then my second one is just a simple scrap blanket.

For the ones that I’m currently working on, my goal is to finish them before the end of this year. I don’t mind having more than one project going, but at some point, I would like to not have a few going on at the same time.

Anyway, since I’m not sure of how far back I haven’t shown you guys, but I’m posting everything just in case I haven’t.

I actually made this for a co-worker of mine. I literally kinda just winged it and I think it didn’t come out too bad.
Candy cane mug cozies were a lot of fun to make, but assembling them wasn’t as fun. I actually made these for a co-worker who does the whole craft fair. I figured why not.
A baby sweater for one of my mom’s friends. I love to make stuff for babies, it’s a lot of fun and there are a lot of ideas for it!
This was the beginning to my endless amounts of baby hats and booties that I have made. I made a bunch last year and those have happened to fill a tote or two.
One of the few projects that I actually made for myself. I think it came out okay, wasn’t my best, but it is so warm!
My daughter has an American Girl doll knock off that she wanted a sweater for. I don’t think I made the sleeves long enough, but it was pretty fun to make.
For the last job I worked at, I made a star for all of my co workers for out Christmas tree and I loved how they came out, but it was a lot of sewing in ends.
This farm blanket was actually for my nephew. It was my best job connecting the squares together since I wanted to use yarn from my stash, instead of buying more yarn. Overall, I liked how it came out, also making the faces for the animals was pretty fun too!
Another blanket for my other nephew. He loved Spiderman, at the time, and with the limited time that I had, this was the quickest pattern I was able to complete in time before Christmas. Was a blast to make tho!
I love Snoopy and Woodstock, no Woodstock isn’t in the picture, but I did make him. This is a Christmas project that I worked so hard on it and to this day, we have been using every Christmas.
I was attempting to find a pattern that I could make to sell at a craft fair and I figured this would be a cool idea to try, but I didn’t like how you had to button it from the back instead how it normally is. The good news is that I gave it to my daughter, and she used it for one of her baby dolls.
I was trying something different and new with this one, I’m not sure if I came up with this or if I used a pattern I found, but my daughter ended up claiming it as her own.
I know. I know, you probably see where I messed up. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it until after the fact, but I honestly figure this would happen sooner or later. I really loved the colors for this one tho!
Testing different patterns for baby booties and hats. Still was trying to find a happy medium for me to stock them up for a craft fair or something of the sort.
Another baby hat testing, I wanted to explore different styles of baby hats.
Like I said, I have a lot of different baby hats on this list, but I love the different colors!
I tested some face mask patterns too, especially at the beginning of 2020. Wanted to find a face mask that looked like Katana’s from Mortal Kombat, but of course in red!
Best crochet bag I’ve ever met! It carried so much yarn!
I loved making this blanket, I also loved the colors! This was also a shell stitch, which I loved trying!
I will say this was my best baby set I’ve ever done. This was actually my 2nd attempt at making a baby set, but I always love a challenge!
This was a mug cozies that I made for my aunt. Her dog passed away that year and for Christmas, I made it for her and she absolutely loved it!
Finished baby blanket, really loved the blue and green colors!
I made this for my niece, who loved Elsa at the time. A lot of yarn used, but it was such a warm snuggie!

Another snuggie that I made for my nephew, and it was super warm!

And there you have it! Those were just a few of the projects that I have completed in the past few years. Don’t worry, next Tuesday it won’t be as boring!

Posted in Mom Talk

What To Do If You Are Stuck In Life (The Mom Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies, long time no see. I know I have been MIA for a little bit, but I’m going back to blogging. I just switched jobs, so I have been adjusting to that and trying to come up with a game plan on what I want to do in life.

Lately, I’ve been in a funk, like I know what I want, but I’ve been putting everything on hold for some weird reason, and I don’t know why. I want to make changes in my life, but I don’t know where to start.

Since last year, my brain has been on planet crazy, from learning to co-parent with my ex, raising my daughter, learning how to find myself, going to college, and trying to have some sort of social life. It hasn’t been an easy process for me to do so.

My goal for this new year is simple: Find my purpose in life.

When I mean that, I want to find out what I want to do in life for a career. Something that has always been a question or mystery to me. I want to find my passion in life and actually do it as a career. It doesn’t help that my mind changes what I want all the time, so there’s that to work on.

Hence, why I am stuck in life, right now. I want to be able to do something that I can’t wait to wake up and do. Right now, my current job is great! No problems with it at all, and the best part of it is that I can work from home, which is a HUGE plus since I’ve been trying to do that for a while now.

However, I like that I get social interaction with actual human beings. I’m not really one for making friends; I’m usually very quiet and keep to myself. I’ve learned it’s easier to do so until you feel comfortable.

Anyway, you are probably wondering what my point is about all of this. Everyone hits a dead end or a fork in the road when it comes to life. I realized it the other day when I looked at my daughter. I wanted to be able to spend more time with my daughter, or at least do more for her. I have my license and a car, so the door is open for more possibilities.

Plus, hopefully, if all goes well, my daughter will be starting pre-k this fall. I want to spend the beginning of the year and the summer making memories with her before she goes off to school. As much as I’m not ready for this, it’s going to happen sooner or later because that’s what our children do, grow up on us.

So, what do you do when you feel like you are stuck?

An answer to that is different for everyone, but it starts with the simple thing of searching online for the different careers you have thought about or a career quiz to find out what is recommended for your skills.

This might seem silly, but it will help you navigate through different skills, hobbies, and interests. Basically, narrowing down what careers would suit you or what might interest you because of those things.

After that, look into what it would take to get you to your dream job.

For me, I have a lot of thoughts about what I want to do in life: teacher, medical coding and billing, artist, small business owner, accountant, and writer.

So far, I haven’t decided what I want to do, but I did try the path for medical coding and billing, and it really wasn’t for me. After answering patient calls for the past year, I’ve been over the medical field in general. I am glad that I got to learn what it is like to know how a doctor’s office works.

You are probably wondering what my next step is. Well, I have no idea, but I know one thing for sure: I want to be creative, whether it is writing or using my creativity to sell something that people will buy. I won’t know until I try and see what happens.

Let me know in the comments if you have ever been or felt stuck in life.

Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon with a new post. I’ve got some things I’ll be working on this weekend.

Posted in Mom Talk

Loss Of A Child Is Harder Than You Know (The Mom Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

If you have been following me since the beginning, you know all about my son Liam and how he passed away from complications with HLHS.

A lot of people don’t realize how difficult it can be. This year, it’s been 5 years since he has been gone. Which is one of the reasons why I haven’t been as active, and that life can get tough when you are going through a lot.

Liam would’ve been 5 years old this year, and I just realized that he would’ve started kindergarten this year, which hurts my heart more.

While everyone is taking pictures and getting excited for their kids’ first day, I’m missing out. Of course, I’m not missing out as my daughter will start school next year, but I’m missing out on Liam.

I always wonder how he would act, what his favorite things to do would be, and whether he would be more like his father or me. The questions will always remain a mystery.

Every now and then, I get nightmares of what had happened to him. Most of the time, I try to snuggle close to his blanket, it’s comforting knowing that he used to use this blanket, that I can still wrap my arms around something of his.

As time goes on, it just gets harder, but I’m grateful for the time I did get to spend with him. Even though it was short, it was all worth it.

Posted in Mom Talk

Self Healing (The Mom Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies, I know it has been off and on with blog posts lately, and with everything that has happened in my personal life, I’ve been very lost and overwhelmed. It’s especially hard when this year marks 5 years since my son has been gone.

Which is why I wanted to take a moment to let you all know what I have been doing or trying to do to get myself in a better place where I need to be.

First things first, I wanted to give everyone a thought to keep in mind because it can be difficult to actually accept it, trust me, it took me a while to realize that to be happy, you have to take the time to not only love yourself, but taking the extra time to spend time with yourself.

A lot of people, when they leave a relationship, most of them are quick to jump into another one because they think that having someone is what makes you happy, which, if you believe that, all power to you.

I believe that happiness comes from within, and it isn’t something you find in a person. Yes, you can be happy with someone, but that person can’t be the only reason that makes you happy. Being happy in a relationship and being happy with yourself are two different things.

So, since I left my daughter’s father, I’ve been trying my best to work on things, such as trying to figure out what in my life that I wanted to change and fix. One of the things that I wanted to start doing was to learn how to love myself.

How to truly love yourself?

Loving yourself can be a lot harder said than done because we are all human and we like to point out the flaws in ourselves so that we can fix them. The one thing that a lot of people have trouble with learning to love about themselves is their appearance.

I, for one, have had a very difficult time learning to love myself. Even growing up, I was very unhappy with my body. I would tell myself I was too fat. I would look at the smaller girls and wish to be that size so that I would be more confident in myself.

Now, as an adult, I still struggle because I’ve always been “fat,” and even though I have started to lose some of the weight that I have been trying to get rid of, I still look at myself in the mirror and see myself as fat.

So, what is something I have been doing to change this?

Well, I’ll be honest, the one thing that I think has been helping me with the weight lost, is that I have been drinking more water, watching how much I eat and what I eat, and trying to do some type of exercise, whether it is yoga or walking.

I didn’t realize how small I was until about a week ago, when my co-workers noticed how much weight I had lost since I first started working there. When I did, I felt proud of myself. I felt comfortable, well, almost, in my own skin. I even felt confident enough to take a picture of myself in just my undergarments because I actually felt confident.

After having kids, you tend to pack on or keep some of the weight, and it can be difficult to get rid of. Now that I’ve seen the change, I have motivation to do more, exercise, and work out because I want to stay healthy, but I want to actually stay that size.

Do I truly love myself? I would say almost, well, for me. Like I’ve said before, change isn’t something that will happen overnight.

Hobbies: Making extra “me” time

As you all know, I love to crochet and don’t get me wrong, it is one of my favorite hobbies, but depending on what projects I have going on, it’s not something I can do all the time. I also have to be in the mood to crochet as well.

Crocheting isn’t just my only hobby, but it is my go-to for sure. The other hobbies that I do from time to time are knitting, writing, painting, and reading. Sometimes I have time for them, other times I have to make the time.

It’s okay to have more than one hobby, too. I even have hobbies that I want to try, but haven’t had the time to start, such as resin molds. I watch a lot of those videos, and it looks like fun to try, same with candle and soap making! Trying new things is a good thing, and it can open doors to meet others with the same passion.

Daily Habits: What to try?

I wanted to bring up daily habits because I have been struggling to attempt to do them. One of the daily habits that I really need to get back into is meditation. I found that doing meditation after work or even early in the morning kind of refreshes my brain and clears my head of all the thoughts running around.

I want to start doing it once in the morning and once at night, but being a mom, it can be tricky to figure out the best schedule to do so.

Another habit that I have been trying to stay on top of is journaling more. I love writing, and I have found that journaling, whether it is typing or handwriting, putting my emotions and thoughts down, can make it easier for me to figure out the best way to handle it or at least make me not so worried.

They say that if you do something for more than 30-60 days, the habit will be like second nature for you. Which is why I’ve been looking for apps to help me out with staying on task, but I haven’t found one that I like, yet.

Get out of the house more!

Another thing that I’m trying to work on is being more out of the house. Whether it is to go to work, hang out with friends, or even go to the store. Getting out of the house, is a good thing. Yes, I am one of those who would rather stay home than go somewhere, but I’m learning to be more open about going out and spending time with friends or myself.

I don’t have very many friends, so I’m working on making some and going out more with them because everyone needs to have a social life. Yeah, we all have social media, but it’s more fun to spend time with people in person.

Even if you have a date, get dressed up and make yourself feel pretty, and just enjoy life! Life is short, and realizing that I haven’t done much since my son passed away, I want to learn to enjoy life more.

Currently, I’m iffy about the whole “dating scene”. Which is okay. A lot of people have asked me, “Are you going to start dating again?” and to be honest, I really don’t know. I don’t think I’m ready. I even pushed myself to get on a dating app, and I ended up deleting it an hour later.

Don’t rush into anything if you aren’t ready.

In the future, if I feel comfortable and ready, then yes, I might start dating again, but I think I want a chance to be single and enjoy putting myself first. I will admit, I do miss the comfort of having someone to talk to and cuddle with, but love will come to be when I don’t expect it to.

There is nothing wrong with putting yourself first and making sure that you are happy, both mentally and physically. As parents, we put our kids first and forget about our well-being and making sure we are okay.

Take the time to put yourself first because in the end, we are all human and we just need to take it day by day.

Posted in Mom Talk

Don’t Stay For The Kids (The Mom Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

I watched my mother for years stay with my father. Even though I didn’t really understand what was going on, as I got older, I realized that my mom was only with my father for my siblings and me. You could see her put on that fake smile just to make sure that we kids didn’t know what was going on, but we knew.

I knew I was the oldest and watched my mom put on this front that everything was okay, but she was slowly digging herself down into a hole just to keep the presence of a ‘happy family’ alive for us.

Well, I ended up doing the same thing my mom did, but my story is different.

As you know, I have been with the same guy for a while and ended up having 2 beautiful children as well. However, over time, things started to change. I felt like I was putting up this front to pretend to be who I really was.

Every time I looked in the mirror, I didn’t see myself anymore. I felt different, and that can happen after having a child; you change completely just for your kid. Usually, with the right partner, it can be the happily ever after, but that’s not what was happening.

I’m not going to go into details about our breakup because the details are between my child’s father and me. Unfortunately, some of the people around us are very noisy and don’t understand as to why we broke up in the first place.

I realized about a year ago, if not more, that I wasn’t happy and that the only thing that kept me from leaving was our daughter. I felt like I had to stay with him because I didn’t want to ruin my daughter’s view of a ‘happy family’. Or I had to stay because that is what was the right thing to do, instead it made me realize that this was something I wasn’t just doing to myself, but to my daughter as well.

I was teaching her that it was okay to stay in an unhappy relationship.

Now, my daughter is 3, but the kids know, they sense it. I don’t know how, but they do. My daughter would give me a hard time knowing that she sensed something was up between Mommy and Daddy.

Kids aren’t stupid; they know what is going on, and that’s what made me realize I had to make a change, not just for me, but for my daughter. I didn’t want her to group up and watch her follow in the same footsteps that I ended up walking in.

So, I made a change for 2021.

This year, I’m focusing on getting myself to a better place. Getting back to the real me, the one that I used to love and used to not give a shit about whatever I do. The me that I haven’t been able to embrace for a long time.

So, don’t stay because you have a family, you should want to stay with your spouse because they are not only the love of your life, but you both make a great team together and are the best of friends.

Don’t just put up with it because you have the family. You have to love yourself before you can expect anyone else to love you in return. Embrace your inner weirdo!

As for me, I’m taking it one step at a time and one day at a time. You never know what the future can hold, but I plan on being or trying to be positive for

Posted in Arts and Crafts, Crochet, Easy Patterns

Crochet C2C Handbag (Craft Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! Since I have been so busy working on some new things, I wanted to share how I made this C2C (Corner 2 Corner) handbag!

I’m probably not the only one who hasn’t thought about using the C2C stitch to make a handbag, but I wanted to come up with a twist that also gave me the chance to crochet my own buttons as well!

Not only will I be showing you how to make this bag, but I will be also be showing you how I made my homemade crochet buttons! You can use regular buttons, but if you are like me and forget to carry some in your crochet bag, then this is the perfect time to practice!

What you will need:

  • 5.25 mm hook
    • You can use a 5.0 mm hook, I only went up a size because I wanted to try something new.
    • Going down a size, than what is recommended isn’t a problem, but keep in might that the small your hook size, the small your project might be. Same if you go larger for you hook size, the larger your project might be!
  • Medium Size Yarn
    • I’m using Red Heart Super Savor yarn in the color Zebra.
    • I suggest using another color for the boarder, I didn’t and I wish that I did instead of using the same color for the entire project.
  • 3 buttons
  • Sewing Needle

Before we begin, if you don’t know how to do the C2C stitch or need some help on how to get started, I highly recommend seeing Heart Hook Home’s video on how to do the C2C stitch, I found her video very helpful when attempting to learn this stitch!

Let’s Begin!

Base: By using the video from above, you are going to be making a square that is an 18 x 25. Instead of slip stitching, when decreasing the sides, make a single crochet. I find that it makes your project look more neat!

Once you have finished your 18 x 25 square C2C, DON’T fasten off, instead, chain on and single crochet around the entire square, make sure to have 3 single crochets in each corner.

Once you are done, fasten off and weave in any loose ends!

Now, here is the fun part! Grab some yarn and your sewing needle, you don’t need a lot of yarn, but enough to sew each of the sides.

What I did, for this part, I folded my square the hot dog fold, leaving at lease 5 squares, for the flap part of the bag. Then, I sewing my sides together on both sides of the bag.

Button Hole: At the top of your flap, single crochet in the first 9 stitches, chain 3, skip the next stitch and single crochet in the next stitch. Repeat this two more times.

Tip: If your button hold don’t look even or you want them to have more or less distances between them, you can always adjust them and change whether or not you want 3 buttons or 2 buttons instead.

Strap: So, this strap is a little different than what I’ve seen being used as a strap, but I wanted to try it out for myself!

When making this strap, chain how long you would like the strap to be, I didn’t really keep track of how long I chained for, but make sure that you chain 2 extra chains.

Then skip the first 2 chains from your hook and make 2 double crochet in the next chain stitch. (The chain 2 counts as a double crochet!) Double crochet into each chain stitch until you reach the last stitch.

When you reach the last stitch, make 6 double crochets in that same stitch.

Then continue to crochet on the other side of the double crochets, double crocheting into each opposite double crochet stitch until you reach the last stitch.

Make 3 more double crochets in that last stitch. Slip stitch at the top of the chain 2 and fasten off!

Tip: To make it easier for sewing this into the bag, leave a long tail, about 3 inches or so.

Attachment: To attach the strap to the base, sew on the outside of either sides of the bag.

Once your straps are attached, grab your buttons and sew them onto your bag as well.

Tip: Folding your flap down and seeing where the button holes will sit, helped me a lot when placing my buttons.

And once you attach your buttons, you are done! Weave in any loose ends!

There you have it! A simple fun hang bag to make! Let me know in the comments down below if this is something you would use for yourself?

Posted in Arts and Crafts, Crochet, Top Projects for Crochet/Knitting

Top 10 Free Crochet Phone Case Patterns (Craft Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! I figured I would should you fun new ways to decorate your phone or store your phone in! Since having a smartphone is something that we all have, I figured I would find some patterns to have some fun with it!

Note: None of these patterns are my, all rights go to the original creators. I will leave a link to the pattern as well.

Let’s check out some of the cute cases that you could decorate your phone with!

1.Blue Agrave Phone Pouch

I really love the colors for this case and the design, it looks like shells. Not to mention, it is also like a purse or hang bag, but instead it only holds the phone. The best part about this type of pattern, you can always add a small pouch behind it to give it extra room.

Link to the pattern: https://www.mooglyblog.com/blue-agave-phone-pouch-wristlet-cozy-free-pattern/

2.Big Bow Cell Phone Case

I think this pattern is super cute, it also in closes your phone completely, so there is no risk of it falling out. It doesn’t replace an actual case, but it gives your phone more style. Also, I love the aqua color and the fact that these types of patterns are open to trying out different color combos.

Link to the pattern: https://missnissdesigns.weebly.com/blog/free-pattern-big-bow-cell-phone-case

3.Mixin It Up With DaPerfectMix Cell Phone Case

This is a more simple phone case, that you may have to adjust because this was meant for a smaller phone. This would be perfect for my old BlackBerry, that I used to have, but his is opened for newer colors, as well. I suggest using a button, but you can try out the Velcro.

Link to the pattern: https://daperfectmix.blogspot.com/2011/01/cell-phone-case-pattern.html

4.Easy Cell Phone Case

Naztazia is one of my favorite crochet tutorial channels to look up. Not only are her patterns simply amazing, but the colors she chooses are amazing as well. She is also always has her free pattern and a video to show you how to make it. I highly recommend checking her channel out!

Link to the pattern: https://naztazia.com/easy-cell-phone-case/

5.Mobile Phone Cozy

A simple yet easy phone case to make, but there is a different style on the top part, which I love! I also like the chain loop that you can make for it, to keep the phone in place. Plus the color combos you could do for this pattern is endless!

Link to the pattern: https://crochetdreamz.com/2013/07/mobile-phone-cozy-or-case-crochet.html#.UebSs421EWc

6.Owl Cell Phone Cozy

I really like how much detail this creator put into this design, although, it might not fit the phone we have today, it’s possible to adjust it to fit whatever phone size. Not to mention, I love how the owl’s nose is the button that not only holds the phone in place, but it’s a clever idea to use that type of button.

Link to the pattern: https://woolpatterns.com/owl-cell-phone-cozy-free-crochet-pattern/

7.Stripped Mobile Phone Cozy

This is another standard phone case, but with a twist and I just love the pinkish color they used for the phone case. Not to mention, the button is super cute. I love the stripe in the middle of both of the cases.

Link to the pattern: https://crochetdreamz.com/2016/10/mobile-device-cozy-or-case-crochet.html

8.Secret Pearl Phone Cozy

This design has lots of different colors that work really well together, not to mention I really like the middle design they chose as well! This also tests your skills by using a smaller hook and finer yarn, which is always fun to try out!

Link to the pattern: https://www.lillabjorncrochet.com/2016/06/secret-pearl-phone-cozy-free-pattern.html

9.Summertime Fishy Phone Case

When I saw this one, it literally blew my mind! look at all the work that was put in to this case! not to mention, there is a hook at the end to connect it to your purse or backpack. I love how beautiful the colors are and the mix color that they used for the body of the fish!

Link to the pattern: https://coolcreativity.com/crochet/summertime-fishy-phone-case-free-crochet-pattern/

10.Toaster Pastry Mini Cell Phone Cozy

I’m a big pop tart fan and when I saw that, I am adding this on my list of stuff to make for myself for sure! Can you imagine if you had a purse that was a toaster? Now that would be an amazing idea! Anyway, I also loved how they gave one on them a little face and added the extra sprinkles as well!

Link to the pattern: http://burlapandlacecrochet.blogspot.com/2016/05/toaster-pastry-mini-tabletcell-phone.html?m=1

There you have it! New ideas for your phone! Which one of the designs do you like? Let me know down in the comments!

Posted in Arts and Crafts, Crochet, Top Projects for Crochet/Knitting

Top 5 Free Crochet Freeze Pop Cozies (Craft Odysseys)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! Since it is summer time, the best thing to have on a hot day is ice cream! Well, if there isn’t any ice cream, freeze pops work as a amazing treat instead! Especially for the kiddos as well!

I remember picking the colors blue and pink, but now, I don’t mind having any of them! Although, the one thing that I wished I had was something to hold my freeze pop because sometimes they were too cold or sweaty.

Instead of having these cozies, we ended up using paper towels or wash clothes, which helped for a bit, but it didn’t do much, not to mention it wasn’t fun to have a plain old paper towel.

So, let’s look at some of the freeze pop cozies that I found that are not only cute, but the patterns are free for you to try!

Note: None of these patterns are mine, all rights go out to the original creators. I’ll be leaving links to the patterns for each one.

  1. Shark Fun Pop Cozy

This freeze pop cozy is something I’ve actually made and I love this pattern! It was very easy to understand and not to mention, I love how this shark looks! The eyes might the be most difficult to do, but if you have any black puffy paint around, you can use that instead!

Link to the pattern: https://mermaidhooked.com/2018/07/21/hungry-shark-freeze-pop-cozy/

2. Monster Ice Pop Holders

These lil monsters aren’t as scary as they seem, but they are so adorable! I also love the touch of using googly eyes! Not to mention, I love the bright colors that they used for these pop cozies and the finishing touches for the mouth is amazing!

Link to the pattern: https://blackstone-designs.com/monster-ice-pop-holders/

3. Unicorn Freeze Pop Cozy

This one is especially cute for all the little ones that love unicorns! I haven’t made this one yet, but I just love how cute this is! Not to mention, this pattern actually uses puffy paint for the lashes. Plus, you can try out different colors for the horn and hair as well!

Link to the pattern: https://mermaidhooked.com/2018/08/31/unicorn-freeze-pop-cozy/

4. Light Saber Freeze Pop Holder

This one is for the inner child in us, or for those big Star Wars fans. I remember using a light saber, the plastic ones they sold that you could change the light different colors, but the next best thing was freeze pops! Even they are smaller than the normal light saber, I can finally change the colors!

Link to the pattern: http://greenfoxfarms.blogspot.com/2017/05/light-saber-freeze-pop-holder-tutorial.html

5. Mermaid Fun Pop Holder

Another cozy that I made, and it was fun to make! Although I did add a different color yarn that was around the beginning of the tail. Not to mention, this is something that is very easy to make and explore with different colors and yarns!

Link to the pattern: https://mermaidhooked.com/2018/06/23/mermazing-funpop-holder-free-pattern/

There you have it! A few freeze pop cozies that are fun for all ages during these hot months of summer months!

Once we are able to do craft fairs again, these are something that are supper easy and quick to make and sell! Not to mention, how cute it would be to have these for the kids, too?

Also, what was your favorite treat to have during the summer months? If I’m honest, it was s’mores, but if we are talking about a cold treat, I would go with a mint-chocolate chip ice cream in a sugar cone.

Let me know what yours were in the comments down below!