Bindy Bitterman was first featured on Chicago Tonight years ago when she ran an Evanston-based antiques store. She’s since closed up shop, and has taken on a new creative outlet rooted in rhyming words.

“Skiddly Diddly Skat” is Bitterman’s new children’s limerick book, a project she arrived at by accident.

“Somehow ‘Skiddly Diddly Skat’ came into my head and I said, ‘Oh children would love that! They would say ‘Skiddly Diddly Skat’ like a nursery rhyme. I just wrote some limericks about a mouse and cat getting into trouble in a laundromat and they get thrown into a washer and they got switched,” Bitterman said. “They come out, and the mouse goes meow and the cat goes eek!”

Bitterman says her joy for writing limericks came after subscribing to Wordsmith’s “A Word a Day” challenges. She would write a limerick around an uncommon word, and often win best limerick in their daily contests.

“There’s always five lines. It doesn't have to be the same but the first, the second and the fifth should have the same number of syllables," Bitterman explained. "The third and fourth are (imitates).”

So when the phrase “Skiddly Diddly Skat” came to mind, she started writing. Before she knew it, she had created a book.

“At 90 years old, fortunately, I’m OK financially, and hopefully for the rest of my life," she said. "The book is $20. I’m not doing it to make money. People are stopping and thanking me, that’s thanks enough.”

With the help of a QR code, folks can even hear Bitterman read the story herself.

“Creating it was one thing. People seem to love it. I sold out the initial printing of 300 before Christmas,” Bitterman said.

She said the project has also brought her a sense of pride. 

“It’s a good limerick ... and well-illustrated and people love it,” Bitterman said. “What more can you need.”

Follow Angel Idowu on Twitter: @angelidowu3

Angel Idowu is the JCS Fund of the DuPage Foundation Arts Correspondent.