Becoming Katie

They say life isn't about finding yourself, but about creating yourself. This is my blog about my life, myself, the things I like, and how all those things are changing.

[becomingkatie]

Atlanta (burbs) 2026

Last fall my brother and his wife lost one of their cats to cancer. I realized then that I had never met that cat, and since they got that cat in January of 2020 it meant I had not visited them in six years. In that time they also bought a house which I had not seen. Insert alllllll the guilt.

So Ken and I finally made it down to visit them for a long weekend! We got to meet their current cats (Boone, black cat, is one of their original two, and Bode, fluff ball, they got after Boone was acting lonely when their other cat died last year) and I got to show Ken a little of Atlanta. We drove down Thursday and then hung out, went to watch them play in their pickleball league, then all got dinner together. Friday they worked so I took Ken into Atlanta and showed him a few really cute neighborhoods. We went to the vortex for burgers. When I started school it was 18+ so I went and had a great burger. Then shortly thereafter they upped the age to 21+ so I couldn't go back for three years. I also took him to Ponce City Market, which didn't open until the end of my time in Atlanta so I hadn't been yet.

My brother and SIL are in Marietta so Saturday we went to the Roswell farmers market (so good!) and then a little crafts show, and then in the evening we went to Alpharetta for a beer fest and dinner.

By the time we got home yesterday I was past my limit for tiredness and stress and I am really feeling it today but I'm really glad we made the trip. Their house is so cute and it's extra good to spend positive time with my brother since we grew up being mean to each other and didn't get along until adulthood. The opportunity to continue strengthening that adult relationship is so nice.

[0v9]

Well, you know what they say; Rome was built in a day, and if you're going any slower than that, you're basically fucked with no hope at all

[becomingkatie]

Got long enough circular needles for a try-on! Now that it has arm holes.

Pros of the new needles: very pointy, grab the stitches so nicely.

Cons of the new needles: very pointy, hurting my fingers because I knit by forming a stitch and then poking the needle down to slide the stitches off. (I’ve heard this is the wrong way to knit but my hands hate all other methods so I will be buying a thimble instead of learning to knit differently.)

After I formed the arm holes over the weekend, I realized I was supposed to have put in a button hole several inches back. I very bravely dropped two stitches and laddered down 20 rows and made a button hole and laddered back up.

[becomingkatie]

A while back I noticed a rough, dark spot on the side of my face. It's very close to where my jaw meets my ear, and I don't see that spot in the mirror unless I turn my face, so I just hadn't noticed it. No clue how long it had been there. I made a dermatologist appointment, then the week beforehand I cancelled it thinking they'd be annoyed at me for showing up to my appointment for a spot on my face that's probably nothing. (They would not have been annoyed at me.)

Fast forward a few months and I made another appointment for today. The week leading up to it I wanted to cancel it just like last time. "It's just this spot, they're gonna be like 'why are you even here you dumb bitch' and I should just cancel."

Well surprise surprise they were perfectly nice, and also surprise surprise he's pretty sure it's skin cancer and took a biopsy.

He thinks basal cell carcinoma so not a big deal (except I feel old because all the people I've known who had to get skin cancer removed are 30+ years older than me). He said we'd see what the biopsy results are, then maybe chemotherapy creams or surgically removing it or radiation, depending on the results and my preferences.

Don't talk yourself out of your concerns about your health!

[becomingkatie]

Took the boys outside while I read some yesterday. My book club is reading Kin, and I didn’t get it until last Wednesday and book club is this Wednesday and I’m a slow reader so I’m trying hard to get it finished in time. It is amazing so far and I’m a bit sad I have to read it in a week because it’s one I’d like to savor.

Part of it is set at Spellman College and she mentioned Peachtree and Ponce and my heart ached to be back in Atlanta. It’s also around the time my grandmother was living in Atlanta, so somehow reading this feels like sharing the city with her. When I went to school there she was excited, and we talked about it (she went straight from her wedding to the varsity, and she lived near little five points as a girl so I thought of her whenever I was over that way) but reading a story told from the eyes of an 18-year-old in the Atlanta of my grandma’s time is different than having your 80-year-old grandmother tell you about the Atlanta of her time. It just feels more *in it* somehow and now I miss her and I miss Atlanta.

[becomingkatie]

@staff put the full space bar back in the comments keyboard right now

[becomingkatie]

It’s bike to work day in my local area. They have pit stops all over the area with free t shirts for the event and snacks and stuff. The problem is I’ve never bike commuted so getting off the bike signals “time for snacks and maybe a nap” and not “time for a full day’s work.”

Very glad to work at the same place as my husband-slash-bike mechanic-slash-map master. I’ve never once done any maintenance on my bike. This morning it was tuned up and ready for me and he knew the route so I didn’t have to. I am spoiled (and grateful).

And I’ve taken up a new hobby, digital drawing. I’m doing a class on skillshare and my new dream is to become great at illustration and then design prints and get fabric made and start a pajama company. In the words of Michael Scott, “this is a dream that I have had since lunch. I’m not giving up on it now.”

[becomingkatie]

I gave blood this morning and it did not go great!

I've had issues in the past, getting lightheaded and nauseous and sometimes throwing up. I've tried donating earlier and later in the day. Eating right before and eating longer before. I've varied everything but not come away with a winner. Sometimes I'm fine, sometimes I'm not.

Because of my issues I'd basically stopped giving blood - there's only so many phlebotomists one can throw up on before one decides it's just not working. But with my mom's cancer last year, she needed transfusions multiple times throughout her treatment, and I have O- blood so I really would like to be able to contribute to this incredibly important cause.

Last October I gave and it went great! I drank a liquid IV electrolyte drink before, listened to TLOAS on the way (I think it was release day that I donated), and I didn't feel sick at all. The phlebotomist did break a plastic thing when trying to fill the tubes at the end, which led to a little blood geyser, but even that didn't make me nauseous. Woohoo!

So today I had a liquid IV and I listened to TLOAS on the way and I ate my hearty breakfast. I was doing so well! The bag filled. She did the tubes. She pulled the needle out.

Bam.

As she's telling me to put pressure on the needle site I told her I was getting lightheaded. She laid me back and I continued to get more lightheaded and nauseous. Fading out of consciousness, feeling the blood drain from my face, sweating like crazy. Trying not to throw up, although they laid a trash bag on my chest in case I needed to. It was not great!!

Then three different people were buzzing around giving me juice, then taking the juice box away (this irritated me while I was barely clinging to consciousness), putting cold compresses on my neck and forehead and behind my neck.

It took much longer than I wanted for my body to restabilize. It was a major relief when I felt confident I wouldn't vomit or fall over and could leave the little bed thing and go to the snack area to eat some mini oreos.

I ate part of my lunch when I got back to my office, but I'm still feeling a bit sick and out of sorts. I have rewards for Chick-fil-A and it sounds good to me now so I am going to get that, then do the absolutely-must-be-done-today work. Milkshakes cure everything, right? Right?

[batsandboba]

“scientists don’t want you know” is a phrase that always cracks me up because if you actually meet a scientist they will be shaking and crying like an overstimulated chihuahua with the need to let you know

[becomingkatie]

Started the day off with Charlie stepping in his poop and running around the house avoiding me catching and cleaning him so happy freaking Friday!!

To make matters worse, our cleaners were here. They come once a month which is fabulous. They always start upstairs so I was in the basement where the litterbox is. I guess that's good, because it means I immediately saw that he was tracking poop, but then I grabbed him and there was poop on me and poop on the floor, and then he squirmed and ran so there was more poop on the floor, and eventually I wrangled him into a (freshly cleaned) bathroom and was able to clean the basement floors before the cleaners got down there so they didn't have to deal with that. But it was in between Charlie's toes on both hind feet and he was fighting me bad enough that I made Ken come home from work to help me. With one of us holding him and the other cleaning it is a lot more doable. But then we got to re-clean the bathroom and now we've got laundry going for the bath mats and rugs and such.

On the bright side: I'm enjoying knitting. I started taking a digital art class. It's beautiful weather and I can probably go for a walk at 3 o'clock if my schedule doesn't get bombarded in the next few hours. I'm about to start learning Italian so when we go to Italy sometime next year I can speak the language.

Aaaand as I wrote this I remembered that yesterday started with me finding out my father had threatened my grandmother and she said "the police are keeping an eye out and I'm armed" like wtf.

The world keeps spinning and there's poop and sunshine in the same day.

[becomingkatie]

Went to the MD sheep and wool festival and did not buy ANY yarn (amazing). We watched sheepdog demonstrations and saw a parade of sheep breeds and looked at soooo many vendors and got chocolate-dipped frozen cheesecake. I did buy some hand cream but otherwise resisted all the goodies and just enjoyed looking at them. I don’t know how I resisted this $3600 felt dragon masterpiece.

Then we came home and watched a mountain bike race and then I took a bath, which REALLY concerned Pants.

[becomingkatie]

I finished my first knooking (knitting with a crochet hook) project! I don’t like the way the yarn gradient worked out at all so I want to try to dye it but it’s part polyester so I’m not sure that’ll be possible. But I’m happy to have done it and I’m excited to have opened myself up to all the knitting possibilities.

[becomingkatie]

Last summer when we went to the beach we loved watching the crabs and playing “who can spot the biggest crab,” and there was a beautiful watercolor of a crab in our room. Ken saw how much I loved it and at Christmas gave me a print almost exactly like it. I finally got a frame for it and I brought it to work and I love it!

We headed to chilis after work today for the April marg of the month. We’re four for four this year so far of trying the monthly margaritas. I think February was the best so far, but this one came with a peach ring and that was a fun little extra. We simultaneously used our straws to pick them up and ate the candies, and I spotted the kid at the next table over watching with envy. Someday, kid!

[becomingkatie]

Have I complained on here about my pet peeve of people saying "go boom" in technical discussions of rockets? You're an aerospace engineer! "We need to have [technical details of engine configuration or operations or something] or else it could go boom." Say explode!! Say anything besides go boom!! It's not cute.

(Our HOA says our stair railing can't match our beige trim anymore but has to be white or black, both of which are 10x less attractive than the railing matching the trim, so I'm in a pissy mood today and I can't fucking take people trying to be cutesy in a meeting that should have been an email.)

[specialagentartemis]

more windows should be stained glass. Just in general

[becomingkatie]

We are way past due to replace the carpets at home. The stairs and the entire upstairs is carpeted - do we have to move everything out of ALL the rooms at once? Like, do they carpet the whole thing in one go so we need to somehow evacuate the entire upstairs for them to do it?

I am entirely seriously considering just buying a new house and moving instead because we lowkey want to move anyway and I don't even know how we'd get everything out of all those rooms simultaneously, and if we're doing that we're already halfway to moving.

[becomingkatie]

One of my coworkers started this internal networking thing at work where you get matched with someone each month to have a zoom call with and get to know them. I just had my call with my person this month and for some reason I had it in my head she was kinda quiet and also maybe mean? She's awesome actually. Very fun. Works from a home office in WV and does a lot of homesteading. I could talk to her about chickens and gardening for hours.