How about a random gathering of thoughts and things that are happening around here?

Reading: Memorial by Bryan Washington
Knitting: Pink Socks. And The Shift.
Watching: Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. And reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond when I need to just veg.
Playing: Tetris. Way too much Tetris.

Missing: My blogversary. Yep, it was January 31 and I forgot to post about it. 16 years of Carole Knits, can you believe it?
Considering: What do to about our current heat situation. We need to replace our furnace but aren’t sure whether to stick with oil or change to natural gas. At the same time we are thinking it might be time to remove our beloved wood stove and convert to a gas log fireplace. Doing that opens up a whole lot of options for our living room . . . demolishing the big brick hearth, determining if we can open up a closed fireplace front and chimney for a gas insert, or even just converting that to a traditional wood burning fireplace and putting baseboard heat in this room. And all of that means new flooring and sheet rock. It’s a lot, and every component comes from a different sort of expert or vendor. Decision fatigue is keeping me from moving forward on this.

Taking: iPhone photos ever day. The 100 Day Project has been a good catalyst for getting me back in the habit of taking photos and I’m getting to know the iPhone 12 in the process. I’ve interspersed a few of my favorites throughout this post.
Growing: Herbs in an Aerogarden. Kym posted about getting one and I contemplated it for about half a second before I ordered one myself. The basil and dill are sprouting already!
Appreciating: The lack of drama that has taken hold when it comes to politics. I realize this may change with the start of the impeachment trial but seriously, I love getting up in the morning and not finding half a dozen upsetting updates from the NY Times on my phone.

Baking: with Jackie on Friday afternoons. So far we have made banana bread (his favorite, I think), brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. I think this week we may try muffins. He loves to help in the kitchen, adding ingredients, and he puts his little hand on my arm to “help” me when I do everything from stirring to measuring. It’s adorbs.