Mystery Bundle

Let's have some fun! 

I have been obsessed by watching "scoop" store packing orders with a theme or around a specific color. 

It looks so fun and what a treat as a customer to receive something handpicked from the seller inventory just for you? 

 I would like to bring that experience for my customer, so I thought to offer crochet mystery bundles: 4-5 handmade items from me for a flat rate of $20, handpicked and coordinated just for you. No digging through multiple listings of multiple items, emailing back and forth to double check availability and what not: just pick a theme or a color and let me treat you!

Crochet Mystery Bundle

Right now, I have several themes available, like Seasonal packages (Like Christmas or Easter), a SPA dedicate bundle, or animal themed. But literally the sky is the limit, you can mix and match, make special requests or try you luck and order a random assortment. 

 I promise, it will be worth your while! 

So, who is first?

Easter

 Of course, I let too much time go by me without updating or even finishing what I was doing.

Life be that way sometimes.

Here are a few new things that I have posted for sale for Easter. 

I hope you enjoy!

Bunny Pockets Cross Bookmarks Refillable eggs

I am a foodie!

Good thing I didn't make a resolution about posting every day, as I would have already failed at it!

 That said, I was showing off some of the presents I made with my own hands, and now it is time to show off some of the wonderful gifts I received.

One thing you need to know about me is that I love food (and it shows on my waistline!) and people that love me are fully aware how to shower me with things I like.

My friend from Germany, send me a lot of pasta and sweet straight from Italy (where I come from)

My lovely students also love to show me their appreciation with food. Not pictured are Christmas crack, fudge and Italian panettone as they were gone (in my belly!) before I could take pictures. But I took pictures of the dark chocolate Lindt Lindor and a box of Italian treats that I am leaving for a special occasion

So, in case you are wondering what you get me for next year.....enjoy the next few posts full of ideas!

What did you get for Christmas?

Happy 2026

I have been struggling with what to post.

I was looking for something useful.

Something inspirational.

Something uplifting.

I am not one for new year's resolutions, especially after this year when I just barely made it through.

But I figured I would put it out there, in case you too, just like me, barely survived. 

I want to tell you that it is ok, and I am proud of you for being here, now.

Let's focus on being here, right now and don't worry too much about the rest, because ready or not, it is going to happen anyway. 

Whatever 2025 threw at us, we made it through, and we will do it again for 2026.

Let's talk about something else......

What are you listening these days? Let's connect on Spotify or youtube

Gifts I made

 I always enjoyed crocheting. Around the holidays it becomes stressful though. The pressure is on for gift giving and your body engine light is on for rest and unwind. But the doctor said I needed to make time to slow down and meditate and do something I enjoy, so off I went into the quest of doing something I loved but was also useful and productive because my brain cannot simply accept the idea of doing things just for fun.

I started with these lovely Christmas stars to give out to students as they brought me sweet Christmas gifts and literally made tons of them, so I started to use them as gift toppers as well. I wish I could remember where I got the pattern from, but it doesn't look like I saved it, which makes me sad as I want to make more even though I have plenty of them left. they were very well received, but if I had to do make them again, I'd probably double them and sew 2 of them together to give them a sturdier look. They also came out slightly bigger that I'd like.

Then I found this lovely tree potholder pattern, and I just fell in love with the simple both high end look. So here is a picture of a very happy friend that enjoyed her gift very much!

Halfway through making those, I realized I was running out of time and still have a few to make, so I switched to candy canes potholders.

These went way faster, and they were just as enjoyable and really helped me to get in the holiday spirit. I still have a few leftovers as I ended up making way too many as usual.

I love that everything I made was red, green and white, the traditional Christmas colors and made with eco-friendly cotton. Very different from the cupcakes I have been known for years back.

For the stars I went crazy and instead experimented with a lot of different colors and materials because why not?

But don't be fooled, these are not the only things I made and gifted. Some things are still in the making, and some others are still traveling, so I will definitely be posting more.

What about you? Are you a crafter of some kind? What did you make? Care to share? Go ahead and entertain me!

Going back

Not sure what happened, when I decided that I was not going to write any longer. I didn't even leave the last post as a cute, cheery goodbye. 

I blame the reel feature and the video blogging trends for putting writing on the back burner. But that it so not me, and I didn't even realize how much I miss writing. Words are powerful not matter what, but the willingness to put things in writing is superior in my opinion. Fight me if you must. 

 So, I am back! I am going to take up on writing again. Random thoughts, random things. Just a mom, a teacher and a crocheted trying to make sense of this world, trying to be less sad. 

What is this post even about anyway? I don't really know. Maybe to fill a void, maybe to scream into the void knowing that nobody will listen. 

 Why is the time after Christmas always so depressing? I used to get excited about new opportunities for the new year, now I just feel like "what now? how much more can I handle?" The answer is "infinite amount" it seems. 

 Why so gloom? I blame everything on hormones, it seems to be the answer for everything lately, which let me tell you, it just sucks. Now excused me while I go scratch the inside of my ears...

Cheese with my whine....

....of course yesterday after feeling sorry for myself for some very silly stuff, I open facebook and BAM! Another terrorist attack.

This time in Germany. 

After Nice.

After Orlando.

After Paris.

I'm from Italy, so forgive me while I shudder thinking of what can happen next.....

If your religion makes you kills other people, it's time to change religion.

Or go home.

The day I wish I didn't get out of bed.....

Today is one of those day, you know, those days when you regret getting up and start the day ago, those days when you wish you get rewind and just stay in bed because you know they are going to be BAD!

First I woke up to this:

Please, someone, somewhere explain to me why would you make it next to the hamper, but not INSIDE the hamper??? WHY??????????

It all started with a pain in my left jam yesterday night. I though nothing of it and tried to sleep it off, only to woke up to the pain in both side of my mouth. 

Locked jaw syndrome, check it out for yourself. 

I've been pet sitting for a friend, so I woke up my daughter and asked her to come with me and tried to go about my day. We are at my friend's house feeding the kitties when I realize, today is the last day to pet sit, and feel so very sad. 

Sadness could as well be the theme of this summer. 

Summer 2016: the should have, could have, but didn't time to remember. 

When I feel sad, I like to keep busy, you see. 

I go around the house and find things to do, even if they don't need to be done. 

I try to organize things for my kids to spend a week at their grandma's, so I can go to work. 

I start thinking at all the things they might need and work myself in a frenzy to have everything ready, to be prepared for everything and I mean, everything. 

I look at my son's pills and I realize, he will be a few short before it's time for him to come back home. 

In case you don't know, my son has Autism, ADHD, and Tourette Syndrome and for few years now has been taking these pills that are making a lot of difference in his quality of life. 

Off to the pharmacy (at Walmart of all places but this medicine runs to $100 and it's cheaper here #uselessinsurance) I go to refill his prescription. 

The pharmacist is frantic about explaining to me that it is a controlled substance and apparently I'm trying to refill these prescriptions way to early and all alarm bells are going off. I tried to explain very calmly that I know I'm early, we are just going to be out of town when we run out. 

Long story short, they start asking all silly questions about how many do I have left> I many am I giving him? I should have enough until the end of the month...which I do, my son won't be here until the beginning of next month though. 

They made me feel like Mother of the Year (NOT!) and they cannot help me anyway, he need to run out before I can refill. 

Good times. 

I thanked between my teeth (locked jaw remember) to have them ready whenever they think I should pick them up and leave feeling like a dirty drug dealer. 

 On my way out, I realize it's lunch time, my daughter just informed me she is starving and the smell of the Subway by the exit door makes our stomach growl. 

I figure, why not? 

It's not that I'm in the mood to cook anyway. So I approached the counter to order 3 sandwiches: one for me, one for my daughter, and one for hubby for dinner tonight, because I already want to crawl under a rock and I don't need him to come open to open the fridge and play 10 questions about what we are going to eat. 

All foot longs, all white bread, 2 tuna, 1 turkey. 

I thought simple enough.

 I swear the clerk at the counter was physically hurting every time I asked her to put something on those sandwich which I had to repeat 3 times, because between my accent, my locked jaw, and the fact the I was torturing her and she wanted to make everything else but my sandwiches....so much fun!! 

It takes 45 minutes to get the damn sandwiches ready and she refused to do a triple meat, double cheese for hubby. Oy vey. 

 I grab the dam sandwiches and my daughter and off to the car I go, can't wait to go home and be done with today. 

I'm almost home when I realize that I did't buy lunch for my son. 

He doesn't like Subway and I was supposed to stop to grab fast food at Chick-Fil-A. Turn the car around and off I go. 

Have you ever been in the drive through of Chick-Fil-A in Niceville???? Well, let me tell you that the drive through sucks! They have a 2 lanes system on a one lane road and it's pure madness. Every time I go there, I do the drive through the right way and big truck always cut me off and get ahead of me. I curse like a sailor. EVERY.TIME. 

My car tires always get pinches buy those awkward bumpers that are there to prevent the trucks to cut though: I curse again!

I try to breath and think how happy my son is going to be about the chicken nuggets, but the service it's slow and by the time I'm done ordering my phone rings: it's the Walmart pharmacist again going on and on about the pills and how I should have enough and blah, blah, blah...he keeps going on even when I pull up to the window to get the food where a very young and nice clerk is telling me that they filled a large soda by mistake, but still charged me a medium size.....I could even thank her with the asshole still droning on the number of pills I should have in my ears...... 

 At this point I have tears in my eyes, but I make it home. 

I try to eat my sandwich from the woman I tortured and my jaw hurts to bad..... 

 I want my mommy. 

I want to go to sleep and forget today happened. 

 Do you have days like that???

Crocheted Little Patterns Book

For a while know, I've been selling my patterns on various venues, such as Etsy, Craftsy, and Ravelry to name a few.

 After the move and settling down in the new place, the ides was to get back on the horse, so to speak, start creating and selling online again, because to be honest having a day job is great, but I miss being able to create on a whim! 

However, as I mentioned in my previous post, things don't always go as planned, and with limited resources, my creative muse was really suffering. 

 What could I do to still appease her? 

I decided to take the plunge and put all of my patterns in one spot by creating my first book on Amazon.

 It's with a lot of pride that I present you Crocheted Little Patterns 

Right now is in Kindle format, but I do dream one day of being able to actually print it, and maybe even stream online some focal points of my tutorials.....

Well, I'm allowed to dream, aren't I?

 If you too have a book idea and you are wondering how to do it, trust me, it is hard. Amazon offer a very detailed guide. It was easy and fun, and I plan eventually to have more.

 I hope I gave you an idea of a fun project for this summer.
Or maybe you are a pro with already books out there and would like to share: feel free.
If anything, consider my book or suggest it to a friend or family member that would like to have it.

Limited editions

My last post was about 1 year and 4 months from now. 

I wished I never stopped writing on here, but alas, life does gets in the way sometimes.

It is hard to summarize over a years in one post, so I'm going to limit the 2 most important events:

1) I got a full time job as a Biology teacher (yes, I'm actually using my degree!)

2) I bought a house

This post is more related to point #2.

As we were moving out of the old place and loading things in the cars to bring them here, somebody decided to "lift" some boxes from the lawn.....I kid you not!

One of the boxes being fulls of crochet thread and cotton than I use to crochet and create things for my shop.
Sad I know, also because it took me years to accumulate that much and select specific colors....
I'm not sure that I will be ever able to replace everything if anything.

That said, I'm trying to see the good in every situation and the way I see it is that the crocheted little things that I was able before the loss, are now limited editions as I don't have the tools, materials, nor time to make more.

With this in mind, I created a Limited Editions section in my shop with those discontinued pieces at very discounted prices. I hope you will take advantage of the possibility to buy something unique as I cannot reproduce any of these pieces anymore.

Do you have any Limited Editions that you'd like to share?

Almost a year

I haven't been writing from almost a year and I missed it terribly. 

In this year a lot has happened. 

My new teaching job catapulted me to a new dimension of work and study, and more work and more study...... 

I decided I want to start writing again but with a twist. 

There are things that are happening around me that I'm not happy about. 

I want to record them, but at the same time I want to find something to smile about each day.

February 12th. The day a kid stuck her finger up her nose and then in my daughter's food. School does nothing. No apology, they were only joking. Karma, my dear.......

February 13th. The day that I bought chocolate for all my students and they showered my co-worker with gifts and completely ignored me. I forgive them and I still love everybody. They would miss me if I was to go, and I'm sure they have no idea they hurt my feelings. 

February 14th. The day my husband forgot about Valentine's day. After I bought him a very expensive shirt that he wanted from months. It's ok, I'm hiding in the bathroom eating all the Hershey kisses......shhhhh. 

Anything that made you smile?

New hair cuts

Spring cleaning in my house means of course a lot of cleaning, purging, getting rid of stuff we don't need, organize what's left and also new hair cuts. 

My daughter and I went short! 

What do you do in your Spring cleaning time?

Cherry pie

I'm enjoying making pies since....well, since last Thanksgiving actually! 

I've made 2 or 3 apple pies, a pecan pie, chocolate pie, couple of pumpkin pies and this time was the turn of a cherry pie. 

I must confess that even tho I make my own pie crust from scratch from a trusted and easy recipe, for this cherry pie I went with a can for the filling. 

It was good, proof is that the only survivor of this adventure was the empty pan. 

Still, I will love to try to make the filling from scratch as well one day. 

Any recommendations for good recipes?

Influenster J'Adore VoxBox

Right after valentine's day I got the Influenster J'Adore VoxBox and well, the day went away from me and I forgot to blog about it, so here I am now! 

There were some very neat things in this box and even tho I didn't take pictures of things as I unpacked them, I still want to show you some of the products. 

Of course, the first thing to attract my attention is always the food stuff like the Hershey kisses decorated for Valentine's day!  

I've been pretty busy at work and these puppies were really handy in my drawer when I needed a pick-me-up or to give to my students as a motivation for a job well done! The next thing I tried was the Crème Caramel Red Rose Tea:

  

I had 2 sample bags and it was the perfect treat to relax at the end of a busy day. I each little bag there was a coupon for $1.00 off and this mama is going to get herself a big box of it! I loved it because it tastes sweet as a cake but without the calorie. A simple indulgence that doesn't ruin my waist line! I still have a sample for the decaffeinated Lemon Chiffon that I haven't tried yet, but I will soon! Little by little I count on tasting each of these awesome flavors! 

Also included in the box there was a set of Kiss Lashes. I'm not a fan of fake lashes, so I can express my opinion about them. This is the second set I receive and I feel bad having just laying them around, knowing that I will not use them. Anyone interested? I'd be willing to send them anywhere in the State for free: the only thing I will ask in exchange is pictures and an honest opinion, along with permission to post it on my blog. Contact me in interested!

Also included in the box and not used yet, were the John Frieda Frizz Ease Hair spray 

 

and Boots Botanics Conditioning Clay Mask. Maybe now that I'm on Spring Break, I will have the chance to try both of them! 

Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's day last Friday. I surely did! The day began with sweet gifts: 

One of my student gifted me the rose, hubby gave me the chocolate red rose and the kids made the "Love" art at school. 

Me and my daughter enjoyed a Valentine dance at her school, it was fun! 

At night, me and hubby went to dinner, a real date without kids....YAY! 

Well, just because we had no children with us, it didn't mean that we couldn't act like it, right? 

What about you?

 

Snow

It's official! Winter in the south has definitely changed. January 29th 2014, first time we had snow in Florida in over 20 years.

Yesterday, it was such an horrible day for me. I woke up with a terrible muscle ache in my upper arm and couldn't figure out when or where I hurt myself. 

Then, I got news that my grandmother, my mom's mom, passed away in the early hours of Italy time. 

Here I am, hurting physically and emotionally, stuck in the house for a winter storm, road closed, screaming kids in the house......I so wanted a do-over! 

But today, I woke up and there was white, fluffy stuff all around.It might be cold outside, but something melted inside me for sure. 

I like to think that it's her, or a sign of her, snow all around, a way to tell me she's always around me even if I can't see her anymore. 

Might be silly but I like to think of that. 

Good bye grandma! 

You never were the warm and fuzzy kind of grandma, but you did show your love to me, you thought me to be strong and I will never forget that. Fly away to you husband and to your child that you lost way to early, you were so strong to live until you were 90 years old, carrying inside you the burden to have lost at child when he was barely 20. I never met my uncle, but through you, I loved him just the same.

 I can't imagine how hard that could have been for you, that's why I always squeezed you twice when I left your home. Once for me and once for the child you no longer had. 

From you I take my green eyes, my dark brown hair that make me different from everyone in my family since that are all darker. I'm picky and have high standard just like you were and I'm proud of being like you.

Matcha DNA Certified Organic Matcha Tea review

One of the things I missed about blogging during these weeks at the new job, is writing about all the wonderful product samples that I received over the holidays. 

One of which was the Matcha DNA Certified Organic Matcha Tea.  

Of course, I had to tried immediately but I must confess that is was different from what I expected. 

I thought it was simply another brand of green tea, but I was totally wrong as by infusing the powder of one little bag in a big glass of water gave me a rich and green mix. 

It is an acquired taste for sure and, try as I may, I couldn't bring my self to drink it pure :( 

I still wanted to really try it given that is organic and I'm attracted to anything that are, so I gave it another chance in my daily smoothy, as it suggested in the package and I loved it this way. I thought I'd share my recipe with you in case you would want to try it too.  

Mixed Berry smoothie 

1/2 cup of mixed berries (like blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries) 

2 Tbp of Sugar (I usually omit the sugar tho) 

1/2 of milk 

1 cup of ice 

and 1 ripe banana 

plus a single bag of Matcha DNA Certified Organic Matcha Tea 

 And voila', this is what you end up with!

Granted, it still comes up looking pretty green after being mixed together in the blender, which could be a put off for some people, but I assure you that it tastes as fruit and nothing more! 

I'm really happy to have had the chance to try Matcha DNA Certified Organic Matcha Tea and I hope more people would feel like giving it a try! 

Disclaimer: 

This is a personal blog and I do not receive monetary compensation for any of my product reviews. All reviews represent only the my opinions based on personal use and results.

Look Beneath the Surface

Almost a month since last post.....what can I say! The new job and the online courses related to it, plus lesson planning and teacher trainings are keeping me very very busy! 

Not complaining, I'm loving it! 

 But today I want to share this poem with you. It was part of the reading material for a paper I had to write and it really struck a cord with me. 

So, here it goes: 

Look Beneath the Surface 

My voice may sound different than yours, but I speak your language. 

We speak the same language, but we say different things. 

I hear what people say about me and it isn’t pretty. 

Everyday I’m criticized because of my accent. 

I study hard and try to learn all I can about American culture, but that’s not enough.

 My voice holds me back. 

How would you like to hear what I hear? 

My eyes may look different than yours, But I see the same world. 

I see the same things you do, but you see me differently. 

You may see me as grade competition, but I work hard in school because going to college in America is a big deal to me. 

I see the way you treat me and it doesn’t look good. 

How would you like to see what I see? 

My skin may look different than yours, but I feel the same things. 

I have the same feelings you do.

 I laugh and I cry, but I do it for different reasons. 

I never hurt anyone, But I still know what it’s like to be feared. 

I get angry knowing that my hard work in school may not pay off because of my skin color. 

How would you like to feel what I feel? 

By Cynthia Lysen, University of Florida The Network Newsletter of Broward ESOL Council, Winter 1994 

This poem struck a cord with me because unfortunately I encounter this kind of behavior quiet often! 

Do you remember my "You're not American!" post? 

I thought after getting my citizenship one year ago things would get better. 

And many things improved, but many others stayed the same as I encountered the same prejudices and discrimination twice in the last week. 

*SIGH*

Last day of 2013

I saw this on Facebook and thought it was fitting since it's the last day of the year 2013. 

Enjoy and be safe! 

Our Family is growing!

If you were expecting a post with the announcement that I'm pregnant, sorry to disappoint folks! 

This is not it! 

I'm happy with my 2 children and that business is now closed. 

That said, our family is still growing since we adopted a little kitten! Let me introduce you all to Shadow (and all the food crumbs under my kitchen table lol)

We owned cats before but if was my life before kids and it was a little easier. 

But the kids have asked for a pet before and now there is really no reason not to have one! 

Shadow fits right in with his "independent moods" and playful energy. 

Here he is, showing off his brand new collar that made him "officially" part of the family!

Cuddling up with my daughter

Playing with my son and his brand new mouse toy

Enjoying the new scratch post my husband bought for him

...and finally just requesting my attention!

If you'd like to see more picture of him and his everyday adventure, hop on Facebook!