TWTW - the one with the fam

Thursday We're starting Thursday because I do what I want. It was another hellfire work day. Painted my nails (Essie payback's a witch), got a pedicure (OPI red), and my dad and Carol arrived with my recovering from surgery brother and picked up Boyar's for lunch so I had an excellent turkey club. Dad also did some trim painting up in the house. We ordered Mario's pizza and wings for dinner and Aubrey and the kids arrived just before 6. After dinner we took a nice walk on the beach and they got sea glass and we saw all kinds of marine life. 

Friday was beautiful and we spent a few hours on the beach enjoying it. We spent the afternoon at home where baby Stephen fell asleep in the dog bed. I made deconstructed chicken parm, pasta, and salad. Stephen III stayed home with his mom and dad and Dad, Carol, Lola, and I went to the boardwalk. It was freaking freezing by the time we were on our way home, requiring sweatshirt purchase for Lola. 

Saturday I slept in and woke up to donuts from Drip N Scoop and another beauty of a day. I did some clean up in the apartment, MFD fixed the outdoor shower leak, and There was a playground trip no one was super into, followed by a restful beach afternoon. We had apps for dinner and tried fried pickles from Boyar's which got a thumbs up from everyone. We did the boardwalk with Stephen III and Aubrey this time and met one of the bird handlers on the way home. 

Sunday A little overcast but we did a walk on the beach while my Dad cleaned up. And yes, you have seen glimpses but my brother does have a full and glorious mullet. 

They took off a little after 12 and MFD started outdoor cleanup which was still going close to 9 pm while I went to Sherwin Williams 4203984 times and painted the porch door inside (SW 6675 Afternoon, same color as the kitchen walls) and out (street facing is SW 6766 Mariner) and the inside of the main house door (also SW 6766 Mariner). Aubrey also painted the frame of the powder room mirror using the front door color (SW6606 Coral Reef). I also made rice and chicken olive things for dinner, hard boiled eggs for the week, finished a book, and packed stuff up to be taken back to Philly in between door coats.

Another nice family weekend, more chill than most with both Stephens feeling poorly but we'll take it as it's always nice to be together. 

There is a primary in PA tomorrow - local politics impact your life tremendously. Please make a point to get out and vote!

TWTW - birthday weekend #2

Friday The last day of winter! Byeee. My brother, Aubrey, and the kids arrived Thursday night. I had worked late, the house was in disarray as my shit was all over the main floor/MFD had put together a new bed frame on the top floor/old box spring moved to second floor/bathroom wall covering project happening, but it was reasonably contained by Friday morning. I worked, hit the beach at lunch with the best friend dogs, painted my nails (OPI Cozu-Melted in the sun is the light, OPI Meet Me on the Star Ferry the dark). My Dad and Carol arrived at some point, and MFD headed back to Philly to work at some point. Aubrey made excellent stuffed chicken for dinner, my niece walked Gus all by herself while I wrangled the other three, we did some Jeni's ice cream tasting, and watched March Madness. 

Saturday The kids play with all the dogs, even the old ones. My brother got donuts and we had coffee and were off for a family beach walk.

They went to the playground, and we sat around for a bit eating junk food after the kids helped Cici make an ice cream cake.. Then Carol, Aubrey, my niece and I went strolling and shopping on Asbury. As we were making our way back MFD returned from Philly/working. We were hangry upon our return and devoured the entire veggie pizza. Dinner was scalloped potatoes and Aubrey's crab cakes and both were delicious. We were in a food coma after. My brother and MFD went out for a bit. We had a comedic moment when three adults, two kids, and four dogs were on one couch and Aubrey was left blissfully alone for five minutes. 

Sunday After a packed Saturday, Sunday was a slow moving morning. We painted some shells in the driveway before doing another family beach trip (kids and Bruce not pictured). We strolled the boards, I beat Carol and Dad at arcade basketball but not Stephen and Aubrey, and we got ice cream and enjoyed the warm sun. 

We continued that at home on the porch before ordering Randazzo's for dinner and seeing Stephen, Aubrey, and the kids off. We watched Beach Front Bargain Hunt and heckled buyers and realtors then MFD headed back to Philly with the old dogs. My dad is not a dog person but my dogs love my dad LOL. We try to keep them away but it doesn't always work. They love Carol too, also not a huge dog person. 

Another great family weekend with the original quarantine crew. We feel the promise of a good summer ahead and hope you do too. 

Birthday weekend #3 coming with family over Easter! We'll take a break next weekend to do some shore chores. 

Thursday Thoughts - I think you better turn your ticket in and get your money back at the door

1. No words for the glory of Tuesday's sunset. I credit that and a solid eight hours of sleep with elevating my mood this week. 

2. Today is my nephew's third birthday. He loves Mr. Grinch so much so I had my Mr. Grinch ready for our FaceTime this morning. He makes me laugh all the time. He is so smart and so funny, has endless energy and when he loves something he LOVES it. His joy is contagious. I am 40 years older than him and have been buoyed so many times by his joy in this shit year. He is a gift in this world in any type of year. Happy birthday Stephen III! 

3. I do not have any pretty snow photos from Winter Storm Gail to share. The shore got no snow as is mostly typical and totally fine with me, just high winds and flooding after hours of downpours. My dogs had me up at 2:26 to go for a walk since only Ben would enter the down pour to take a pee on Wednesday night. 

4. When your socks perfectly match your pants. Thanks, Tie Dye man. 

5. You all know I'm not into Christmas in general in a normal year. I do have minimal decor out at the shore though (the Christmas 2020 sign is in Philly) and I love my Christmas mugs so 12+ mugs of Christmas happens on Instagram this year. Minimal Christmas decor-wise feels great to me when not much else does. 

6. I've wanted these boots for three years. I got them on big sale earlier this year and they have been awesome in wet weather. I wore them Monday when I was driving all over creation doing contactless delivery to staff. I got to see some people including my soul sister Beth and it was so great but also sad knowing that is not going to be the norm for a while. No company holiday party etc. this year. 

7.  This week has been hard. Harder than in a while. My creativity is largely missing and it's hard to write again, in a time of year in which I really need both on demand for work. I have to work whenever those skills make themselves available, and sometimes that's 11 pm - 1 am. My focus in general is also off and I've made mistakes I'd never normally make. I'm tired and my brain feels fried. This Life in Corona Land year of hills and valleys, man. It's been a while since I've been in the valley and I don't miss it down here. I don't usually take the entire time between Christmas Eve and New Year's off because I like to have a quiet day or two to organize myself for the coming year and just because I find it hard to motivate in January after a prolonged time off. This year I have to burn the days but I need the break anyway, desperately. Just to not be responsible for anything for a while. The canine coworkers are fine either way.

8.  This complete rotten asshole (stole that from my BF Kim who is in education) is utterly insane to think career ed people who actually care about public education will take a damn word of advice from her. Particularly when they have spent the last four years sparring with her as the lead says. She is awful like the majority of this administration from hell. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Or let it. I don't fucking care. Just go. I'm not even going to get into the fucking ridiculous Wall Street Journal Op-Ed sexist patronizing patriarchal bullshit because I nearly stroked the fuck out over it last weekend and I am just not doing it today. I'm sick of all the bullshit and I want Congress to get survival checks to the American people right fucking now. People are suffering and we have the resources for that not to happen. If you can pass an astronomical military budget larger than the next 10 countries in the world combined and tax cuts for the rich you can keep people from hunger and eviction. Desperation breeds crime and then you'll blame that on people when it's your fucking fault. Get to fucking work.

9. Reminder: when you're feeling not great. Everyone is winging it. Everyone. 

 

10. Ecards - this year especially. I need to write it down or it's fucking gone.

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Omaha by Counting Crows - I'd sort of like to turn my ticket in on this year and get my money back

TWTW - the long one

Friday sunrise trip to the beach with the best friend dogs, then a quick nail painting (OPI Berlin there done that), and I made hard boiled eggs, salmon, and potatoes in the air fryer before spending the day watching my niece and nephew while Aubrey worked. We had fun even though we did basically nothing. We did see some sights on our walks, tired out the dogs, hit the beach when Aubrey was done, and ordered dinner from Angelo's so Ben could have his birthday cheeseburger. My brother arrived around 8.

Saturday we did a bike ride, I got OPC from Local's Coffee (the best), they got Drip N' Scoop donuts, and then we hit the beach. The monarch butterflies have started their yearly fall visits to the dunes. I took a nap in the afternoon, Aubrey made a great dinner, and we did another bike ride to get pumpkin ice cream. Aubrey and I stopped in The Islander and SURF Mall on the way home. SURF Mall visits are always like time warps. 

Sunday I took an early walk to see the progress on the house being taken down a block over. It was probably as old and almost as tall as mine. We took another bike ride with a stop at the playground and a walk on the beach, Aubrey made breakfast, and my brother has a skullet now, FYI. They headed home around 1. I love spending time with them all. When they left I went to the grocery store and picked up Gus’s CBD oil in town, did some cleaning up in my apartment, moved some stuff up into the house, read, and napped. Two naps this weekend. Who am I? I am a person who had a really packed week last week and one who is learning to rest, that’s who. I took the best friends down to the beach just as the rain was moving in, then finished a book, started another, and made lots of list for the week.

How was your weekend? 

TWTW - the last one in Philly for a long time

Friday I worked from home with my daytime outing being playing lite brite with Amelia while Michelle was at her conference and picking up a donut after, so good start. After work I got a pedicure for the first time since freaking October. I made pizza and salad for dinner, purged the china cabinet, lined the it with contact paper until I ran out and had to order more, and read at night.

Saturday I was up at the ass crack, seriously before even the dogs so I got a load of laundry going and did some reading, put laundry away, wrote my SUYB post, purged some drawers, and did more laundry (since MFD was sick with the stomach virus, literally everything that can be washed is getting washed). The two new end chairs for the dining room arrived so MFD assembled those. I spent the afternoon watching Lola Jean and Baby Steeeve and they are a riot. My Dad & Carol came over so I got to spend a few hours with them too. We were outside as the sun was going down and Lola pointed out the signs of spring to me. I stopped at Target to return something and pick up eggs and stepped right into Doomsday Preppers. Remain calm, people who are not immune-compromised. Stop hoarding, leave some shit out there for people who are compromised. 

Sunday I always feel like I'm behind as soon as I wake up on spring forward day. I hate that. International Women's Day and my Mom-Mom's birthday, both good days to remind ourselves that women don't owe you shit. I changed sheets, did food prep early, packaged up donations, and ran some errands - Kohls to return some Amazon things and get a new sun hat, Ross to pick up a rug for the shore, and I dropped off a donation to a locker too. Ben was Ben, destroying new toys and turning over beds to sit on them. New socks from Aubrey & my brother, did some work work and some looking for light fixtures online before deciding to spray paint the existing one, outside sitting in flip flop weather with Brucie, painted my nails (OPI My Private Jet), and MFD prepped and painted the dining room.

Weekly food prep: Breakfast is yogurt with granola. Snacks are baby carrots and hard boiled eggs. I only need three lunches so I'm probably going to scrounge for those. Dinner is salad with chicken thighs in the air fryer and egg roll in a bowl. I also made chocolate chip muffins and Gus's food.

Birthday week is upon us! Three day week, visiting Aunt Carrie & Uncle Jim! Then opening the shore after that, hence the title of this post! Show Us Your Books tomorrow! All the exclamation points too apparently! 

How was yours? 

TWTW - the one with the party and the purging

Friday  Sunrise with the best friend dogs before work.

Lunch errands to the library and post office, visited my mother in law, painted my nails (Essie Blue Rhapsody and OPI Go with the Lava Flow), and a 5 pm romp on the beach to shake off the week and kick off the weekend. I went to the Ocean City Christmas parade, my first time since we bought the house in 2015. It was 20 minutes long and no one cheered except for a hilarious lady with a to go cup of something who yelled out OKAY LITTLE MISS OCEAN CITY / MRS. NEW JERSEY / FIREMAN / KIDS SINGING etc. People were hauling ass so photos were a blur. I got the impression that you could put on some holiday attire and just join the route but I could be wrong. I closed the night out reading.

Saturday I was up all night coughing so I slept in until 8:30. Showered, cleaned up a bit, took the dogs to the beach for a walk, ran errands for my mother in law, packed the car, and was on the way to Philly by 1. We popped in to my nephew's second birthday party a few weeks in advance of his second birthday and I was couch bound until Santa drove by on a truck and I forced my nephew to come outside and wave with me. I was in bed reading soon after. I felt pretty fucking terrible all day. 

Sunday Up at 6:20 which was absolutely not in the plans. I drank the coffee and changed the sheets and did the house laundry and began sorting and purging the basement for a Monday morning pickup of donations and trash. We're doing a bit of a reconfiguration in the basement because we're not using the space. If this sounds familiar it's because we've done it before LOL. The back room used to be a second living area and we made it an office that has not gotten used so now we're going to go back to a sitting area but with a desk in it. The front room was my reading room and has since been a dumping spot for shit and we're going to make that more livable like it used to be as well. The entire basement needs painting and a new floor but that's not happening now. Anyway it's a fucking disaster in progress down there and it has been since I've been working on it in dribs and drabs. The fight continues.

Weekly food prep: Breakfasts are breakfast burritos from the freezer. Snacks are power breakfast muffins. Lunches are greek bowls. Dinners are deconstructed chicken parm (used thighs instead of breasts) with a salad. When that runs out dinner is maybe quesadillas? I haven't gotten that far.

Tomorrow is Show Us Your Books with giveaways - see you back here for that. 

TWTW - the first one in October

Friday I was out before 7 to watch Lola Jean and Baby Stephen for the day, which included Lola's school time, a trip to Target where Stephen was an angel, barbies where wild animals kept getting into the house, and playing outside. I stopped to pick up more supplies on the way home and made dinner in the new oven, then painted my nails (Pacifica Purple Haze and Treasured) and counted candy for guessing games for an event.

Saturday I was picking up veggie trays in my pajamas at 7:30 am, showered and purged some shoes, we went to our friend Jenn's dad's viewing, picked up BLTs from our Reen's deli on the way back, came home to find dogs had enjoyed Blow Pops while we were gone, and then I organized supplies for an event, changed sheets, and did some other house busywork.

Saturday afternoon into evening I put on a work event at Franklin Square. Perfect weather and thankful for help from my coworker turned framily Beth and MFD. We got home around 8:15. I was exhausted and sat on the couch with my teeth in my mouth. Fell asleep and stayed there all night, too.

Sunday Coffee and lounging in the morning. I purged 10 boxes/bags of stuff without even breaking a sweat, the zillionth sign that I am holding onto too much shit I don't need or care about. I also threw out a bunch of shit that is clearly trash. I photographed stuff and listed it on poshmark and facebook marketplace to sell, did laundry, emptied the dishwasher, made power breakfast muffins that cooked all the way through for the first time in forfuckingever thanks to the new oven, re-heated pizza for the first time in forfuckingever thanks to the new oven, read, did some thinking on some things and some research on some things and relaxed.

Weekly food prep: Breakfasts are greek yogurt and granola and a side of grapes, snacks are power breakfast muffins, lunches are scrambled eggs with a side of raw veggies, dinners are leftovers of million dollar ravioli casserole and at some point I'll make stuffed peppers.

Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of Show Us Your Books and there will be prizes. See you here tomorrow for that.