Well, I went ahead and ordered the Harrisville along with the starter kit. I was worried if I waited it wouldn't get to her before Christmas. Thanks everyone for you imput! I appreciate it! I was swimming blind there! The most weaving I've ever done is making potholders!

Friendly Loom does have a tapestry loom though here https://harrisville.com/collections/weave/products/tapestry-loom?tag=looms I wonder what the difference is between the Friendly one (which seems aimed at children and schools) and this one at Woolery's site: https://woolery.com/weaving-looms/looms-by-types/tapestry-looms/22-zach-loom.html I saw a loom at the Schacht site for $140 but it seems I'd have to buy a frame and tools to go with it. https://www.yarnbarn-ks.com/Schacht-Tapestry-Loom/productinfo/WLSC-TAPL-/ My head is spinning!

Thank you for the link. I see a loom there that looks promising!

I'm trying to buy a Christmas gift for my future daughter in law. I got my son to ask her what she wanted for Christmas and he said she said a tapestry loom. I know absolutely nothing about this kind of stuff. I know she loves sewing and needlepoint and such. I googled around and I can't get her a big loom. They are thousands of dollars and plus she currently is living in group house and after marriage will be living in a small apartment. So I'm thinking she wants something smaller and portable. Can anybody give me guidance? Thank you!

Hello fellow readers! I haven't been here in a week or two. I wound up reading all 4 of the Miss Buncle novels. They were just the pleasant escape I needed. Now I think I'm moving on to other things. Still listening to the audio version of Brunelleschi's Dome which is fascinating but also technical so maybe not the best book to listen to while driving. I keep wishing I had pictures to look at when the author describes various Renaissance style building machines. Also the reader has such a dry, British accent he sounds condescending all the time, like he's looking down his nose at those silly people who built this incredible cathedral dome without benefit of motor or electricity. Some times this annoys me so much it makes it hard for me to listen to him for long periods. I started reading Children of Monsters; An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators. It is holding my interest even though I am getting names mixed up. The author writes in a breezy, informal style which belies the nightmarish subject matter. It's weird. A few weeks ago when I was feeling depressed about the state of the world, I would not have been able to handle it, but now I've moved into a more philosophical "what is this perverting lust for power anyway" phase. And I just decided today that I was finally going to read Dracula! Last year I finally read Frankenstein. I had tried to read it a couple times before and could never get into it, but for some reason last year it clicked and I found it absolutely brilliant!

Ok. I found a report on the group and it looks legit! So we'll sign up to walk (me)/run (him).

I guess my question is whether the charity is legit or not. It seems like it would be so easy to set up a 5K and say you are fundraising for something and i have no idea if it really is or lining the pocket of someone. That's why I wanted to check Charity Navigator but couldn't find the particular charity listed there.

My now 19 year had such a tough time from about 12 to 17. He's on the spectrum and when adolescence hit he got really chubby and super uncoordinated. It's been a very long haul but on the advice of his dr (he was also struggling mightily with depression and anxiety) we found a great physical trainer. It took years but in the last 18 months or so he suddenly has blossomed physically. He's gotten into weight training and is beginning to be interested in running 5Ks. There are many 5Ks around here but they are usually for charity of some sort. We are looking at one right now that supposedly raises funds to help trafficked victims/stop human trafficking. I can not find info on this group. By that I mean I tried to look up the organization in Charity Navigator and couldn't find it. Are public 5Ks vetted at all by the organizations/stores that promote them? We are new to the running world pretty much.

Sad update. The next morning after the vet's visit, my cat was even worse. I talked to the vet and she was absolutely sure my cat could be cured. I took the cat into the hospital for IV antibiotics, then had to rush home and be super busy all day. I knew I was saying good bye. I knew the cat could never handle the stress. Welp, next morning very early they called to say Thumbelina had passed during the night. My dh was so mad. He has a phobia about dying the hospital anyway. He's like I want to die at home! He was so mad that the cat wasn't allowed to just fall asleep on her couch on the porch, surrounded by all that was familiar to her. It was obvious to us she was going to die a day or two anyway. I have to take my puppy into today for his next round of shots. And then he needs one more round next week, but after that we are changing vets. I just don't like how aggressive and interventionist these vets are. Rest in peace, Thumbelina. She was such a high strung cat. She sensed my father in law's grief when my mother in law passed away. She was absolutely terrified of him when he came to stay with us after her passing. And she was used to him because they visited several times a year anyway. It was spooky how she could just sense his grief and how it freaked her out (her way of freaking out was peeing all over the nice dining room carpet!). We named her Thumbelina because she had six toes. The extra one looked kind of like a thumb. She once fell into one of our deep window wells and I didn't know where she was until almost 3 weeks, when a workman found her. She was skeletal! We nursed her back to health, even though we thought she would die. But she came back just fine. She was a beautiful tortoise shell cat. When she was hungry, she'd come up to you and put her paw on you leg and mew softly. But if you didn't respond fast enough the claws would start to come out, just lightly on your leg. LOL. You knew you'd better move fast! Anyway, didn't mean to write an ode to my old cat, but she's gone now.

Thanks all. Just had a visit from the vet and she found the cat had ulcers in her mouth (hence the tiny appetite) and constipation, hence the problem with the litter box. She gave me more meds for the thyroid, an antibiotic for the mouth and recommended miralax for the constipation. She also recommended getting another kind of litter box and litter to put in it. She did bloodwork, if it turns out to be more than this, then we'll talk. She super didn't think it was time to put the cat down. Honestly I am so overwhelmed by all the other crazy stuff going on in my life now . . . but i guess I'll try. I don't have confidence I can actually get the medicine in the cat but we'll see. I'll give it my best.

Question for those who've read/listened to Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I've been intrigued for a while but for some reason am nervous about attempting this book! (I can develop mental blocks about ANYTHING. It is one of my super powers!). This school year, or at least this semester, I'm going to be doing a ton of driving on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I want a nice long, chunky book to keep me company. Is this book good? Is the audible version worth the cost? Thanks!!!

I read The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie. I had been reading Hercule Poirot mysteries, but he started to get on my nerves. So I turned to Miss Marple. A lovely, entertaining diversion for a stressful week.

She actually does have kidney failure too. But that's a good idea, trying to put it in something yummy. I'm thinking with the kidney issues, I probably want no salt. I mean with people it works that way!

We have a cat, 15 years old. She's crazy. She's always been an indoor/outdoor cat. She never was 100% housebroken. If something happened to stress her, she'd have an accident somewhere. As she aged she got worse, so I relegated her to our big screened in porch out back. She's got her cat house out there and things were good for the past few years. When she wanted to come in, I'd let her because she would go up to our linen closet and sleep there and then come out when it was dinner time. If it got too cold or too hot I let her in as well. She's got a thyroid condition so she's on meds. But she won't let me give her anything. She becomes this ball of fur and fangs. First I started with this cream I was supposed to wipe in her ears 2x a day, but I could never administer the right amount, so we went to pills I crush up in her food. This is harder because I have to watch like a hawk to make sure the other cat and dog don't eat the food. And she often doesn't finish the food anyway, so she still isn't getting the proper dosage. In fact she's barely eating anything. In the meantime she's stopped cleaning herself and her fur is falling out in clumps. She's hideous looking, poor thing. The past few months she start peeing or pooping every time I let her in the house. So now no more house. Now instead of going to the lawn though, she is going all over the back porch. I put a kitty litter box out there and she refuses to go in it. She has literally ruined the wood floor of our porch. Apparently it can take rain, but not cat pee. It is really gross out there now. I resent not being able to use my porch. On top of all this, our old Sheltie died this summer and on an impulse we rescued a puppy who is taking up lots of my time. I feel my pet life has gotten too complicated. LOL. I am not even telling you everything! Anyway, as I write this I am thinking maybe it is time to put her down. But then I think, if I just had my act together, like I could actually get the medicine in her, she'd probably be better. But I just can't figure out how to do that. I mean I could do like the vets do and have one person wrap her in a towel while she's screeching and scratching and the other one tries to administer a shot or give something by mouth. But to do that 2x a day? She'd just run away I think. It would be too stressful, don't you think? Thanks for reading this. LOL. I think I'm just venting. I don't want to do what I think I have to do.

I want to thank Violet Crown for suggesting D. E. Stevenson's books. At least I think it was Violet Crown who did so. If I am wrong I apologize! I am loving her! I read the first of the Amberwell series, but it seems Kindle only has the first one; I couldn't find the sequel. So I started reading Anna and Her Daughters. I'm almost done with that one. Really lovely cozy, intelligent novels with no graphic stuff at all. I'm slowly working my way through Beginning to Read the Fathers by Father Boniface Ramsey (of whistle blowing fame). The book is great! I just have been slow to read it because I usually do my religious reading in the morning with my coffee, but with my new puppy I am busy with him, so I've really had to drop that reading time for now. Now I drink my coffee in a travel mug while walking the pup. As the new school year starts tomorrow for us and I'll have to drive my teen hither and yon, I can read it in bits while waiting to pick her up. Anyway, it is very accessible and well-written. So if you are interested in Church history at all, this might be a good book to read. I bought it because I wanted to financially support the priest who kept trying to alert the powers that be about pervert McCarrick (if you don't know what I am referring to, never mind!)

My 19 yo son came and told me this earlier today. He loved Lazy Town when he was little.

Excellent advice!

Thanks so much! I appreciate the suggestions! I had never heard of Beagadors either, but I couldn't stand not having a dog for company in the house, so I googled rescue near me and the nearby organization happened to have Beagador puppies up for adoption, so we chose the cutest one! He's very different from our refined, shy and gentle Sheltie who could almost read your mind! He is smart and lovable but very boisterous and needs lots of walks. Which is good for me! He's definitely a positive distraction in the midst of dealing with all the tension and emotions roiling around my family right now.

Oh how exciting! I have read The Little World of Don Camillo years ago. I'll hunt for the others! Thanks so much for the recommendation!

I am really depressed about the Roman Catholic Church right now. I just feel my trust in that institution has been corroded beyond repair. I'm hanging on by a thread though. But also I am dealing with emotional/mental illness going in the family, from multiple places . . . it is really getting me down. I did get a puppy (our beloved Sheltie passed away this summer) on Saturday (a beagador!) which is both distracting and exhausting. I haven't had to deal with puppy care in a while! Anyway, I started reading the book The Last Kingdom by Cornwell, but I am not in the mood for a dark gory historical read right now. So I'm putting it aside. Anybody got a cheery book to recommend? I tend to like Wodehouse, Austen, Heyer, Christie. Anyone got a funny or light absorbing novel to recommend? Thanks!

I just finished three rereads: The Odyssey by Homer (with my teen daughter - my 4th and possibly last time I'll read this!); Hold On To Your Kids (for a homeschooling group's group read - very insightful book, but in my mind it doesn't go far enough.), A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute - a book I read a couple decades ago, but enjoyed revisiting. I also just finished Black Coffee by Agatha Christie - I'm working my way through all the Hercule Poirot books. This is the novelized version of Christie's play of the same name. I think just reading the play would have been better. Turning it into a novel felt clumsy. I also just finished the audio recording of The House of Unexpected Sisters (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series). The reader on the recording was PERFECT! I really enjoyed listening to this. Still working my way through The Crucified Rabbi by Taylor Marshall and just started The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell (of Sharpe's Rifle fame).

Left to Tell is an amazing book! I think the issue of forgiveness is a tough one. Being able to forgive someone is truly a grace. Forgiveness releases the forgiver from being control by the evil that has been done to them. It is freeing. It overcomes evil.

I read something by Oriana Fallaci a long time ago. It was about her love affair with the Greek revolutionary who got assassinated. It was fascinating! I can't remember his name. I am becoming such a slow reader. I did finish A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler which I highly recommend. I am still working my way through The Crucified Rabbi by Taylor Marshall and Hold on To Your Kids by Neufeld and Mate. I started on a re-read of A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute. I haven't read it in decades. Enjoying very much. After I finish reading it I plan to force my husband into watching the mini-series of 1981 with me.

Thanks so much!