Life & Yappin’

  • Cat Cult at Midnight

    Last night was… quiet. Too quiet.
    Usually, by the time I’m in bed, I’ve got the soundtrack of my life going—Zephyr thundering through the house, Zazu sprinting up the pole, Zuri hissing at someone for breathing wrong. But not this time.

    It was unnerving enough that I pulled up my living room camera to see what was going on.

    Zuri the black cat curled up in the hallway, blocking the entrance to Zephyr’s room.

    There was Zuri, curled up in front of the hallway like a furry bouncer, blocking the entrance to Zephyr’s room—the same room where he stayed for several weeks when he first arrived. It’s his safe space. Zuri won’t go in there herself, but she does like to guard the doorway.

    I got up to investigate. Lights on, a full sweep of Zephyr’s room—nothing. He wasn’t there. Neither was Zazu. I was halfway back to my bedroom when I saw it.

    Zazu and Zephyr perched on top of the kitchen cabinets, staring down.

    There they were. Perched together on top of the kitchen cabinets. Silent. Motionless. Glowing eyes fixed on me. A secret cat meeting? Late-night plotting session? I’ll never know.

    Meanwhile, Zuri was still on hallway patrol, looking very much like someone who didn’t get the invite. I almost felt bad for her—almost—but if she’d stop being such a diva, she might actually get included.

    With these three, silence is never a good sign.

  • Crafts, Cats, and Total Chaos, Y’all

    Hi. I’m Amber. And this? This is my hot mess.

    Let’s be real—I don’t have it all together. I’ve got over 90 cross stitch projects in various states of abandonment—some rolled, some bagged, and a few too big to fit anywhere but corners. I’ve got yarn stuffed into giant shelves, started projects missing needles (because I stole them for something “more exciting”), and quilt blocks that lived through a divorce, a move across the country, and somehow still aren’t finished. There’s denim from old jeans I “might use someday,” fabric from my mom’s sewing stash from 50 years ago, and beading supplies for a business I haven’t had the guts to launch. I created A Stitchin’ Hot Mess because I wanted a place to share the chaos—with anyone else out there juggling crafts, cats, and life without a Pinterest-perfect plan.

    This blog is my corner of the internet where I get to be a little loud, a little messy, and a whole lot honest. You’ll find updates on my many works-in-progress (both crafty and personal), strong opinions about thread colors and toilet paper, possibly some yelling about technology, and stories about my cats—plural, opinionated, and constantly involved.

    If you’re here for curated perfection, you might want to run now. But if you’ve ever looked at your own life and thought, “What the hell is even happening?”—you’re in the right place.

    So pull up a chair. Just… maybe dust it off first. There’s probably glitter on it.