TWTW - the perfect soup weekend

Friday John Bender was waiting for dinner and so was I. MFD made salmon and caesar salad. Then we all assumed our January positions with blankets and pillows and books and Stash peppermint tea. 

Saturday I headed down to the women's march in Philly solo. I saw graffiti under the bridge on the Schuylkill River Trail that said humans is losing their mind and grammar aside, I feel that. I am worn out. Not a lot of pics because I didn't want to take my hands out of my pockets and I didn't make a sign this year, I just showed up. 

Back at home I putzed around with laundry and soup making while MFD bought a new to him car. He was out seeing Vincent's band at night and I hung out with my mother-in-law and did a face mask and decided the book I was reading all day for the Show Us Your Books Readathon was not worthy so I started a new one at 11 pm. 

Sunday Pro-tip: the best time to change the sheets is as soon as you get up so you're already feeling accomplished by 7:30 am on a Sunday and if you end up doing nothing else, you did that. I made scrapple in the air fryer and we watched the Aaron Hernandez documentary on Netflix.

I finally got going with a shower, went to visit my niece and nephew, etc. MFD's uncle brought dinner over in the afternoon and his aunts and cousin and gram and sister were over too and that was nice. I fell asleep on the couch watching Game of Thrones and went up to bed around 2 am, falling asleep close to 3 when MFD was getting home from his Code Blue shift. 

Weekly food prep: Breakfast is breakfast burritos from the freezer. Lunches are leftover soup (recipe tomorrow) or spaghetti squash with chicken and buffalo sauce. Dinners are the spaghetti squash/soup/ chicken breasts in the air fryer with quinoa and steamed veggies.

Any day is a good day to read Dr. King's letter from Birmingham Jail, but especially today and especially if you haven't. May we not only share his words in quotes with his photo on them, but actually live with that spirit of equal rights in our hearts but more importantly, reflected in our actions. 

Thursday Thoughts: Mine are not together yet, but carry on.

1. I usually start the new year with my poop in a pile ready to get down to business. As discussed yesterday, in the opening week of this year my poop is more like a Jackson Pollock painting. I've been holding my planner in a kung fu grip so I can get my shit together before vacation in a few weeks.

Via 

2. Last weekend we went to the shore to take pics of the house so we could list it on VRBO. If you know someone who's looking to rent in the southern Jersey Shore region, specifically in Ocean City, please share the link with them. Thank you! Outtake: MFD also decided to winterize it...and turned the water off before he told me he was winterizing it. Then as soon as I found out the water was off, I had to go to the bathroom because that is always the way.

3. Countdown to Africa: 12 days. This week I got a typhoid shot and picked up my prescription for malaria and cipro. And fought with MFD about if we needed a yellow fever shot or not. He says no, I say why not. So if all you see from Africa is photos of us being detained in the airport, you know who to blame. Just kidding, the CDC agrees with him. People who have survived 14 hour flights - please share your tips! And drinking booze and taking pills don't count. If you have noise cancelling headphones that didn't cost an arm and a leg, hook a sister up with a link please.

4. Did I tell you guys I got a bluetooth type device that is going to tell me where my keys are every time I lose them? Stay tuned to see if this works. I really need it to work based on all the key fuckery that I subject myself to.

5. Just a reminder as we start a new year:

6. So I broke my gel nails on vacation only rule and got them over Christmas. Now I want to take them off and I have to do it at home so I'm avoiding it. People who remove at home, any tips?

7. I finished Making a Murderer this week. I have some opinions about innocence in regards to these two subjects of the docuseries, but most of the takeaway for me was about fair trials and preconceived notions we might go in with, regardless of our role in the system (judge, law enforcement, lawyer, accused, juror). What an eye opener about the legal system and what people are up against - especially uneducated people. One of the many lawyers said something in the last episode that has really stuck with me about how you think the system works until it works against you or someone in your family, and then you really see the cracks. And that it could happen to any of us. I'd like to share more thoughts but I don't want to ruin it. Watch it with an open mind!

8. The next Show Us Your Books is on Tuesday. I had a little over two weeks of meh reads - I bounced back and forth between a few books that were not really lighting a fire under my ass. I picked it up this week with Black-Eyed Susans. We also have a new button if you're interested, and you can get it on the right sidebar.

9. Blah blah I know. Look, us looking gross with our dogs over the holiday slow time:

10. I'm putting my money where my mouth is in regards to raising money and awareness for homeless youth, one of the most under-served age groups in the homeless population. On March 18 I'll be joining friends for Covenant House's Sleep Out to Support Homeless Youth. I'll be sleeping outside to raise awareness and money for homeless kids - homeless teens on their own often slip through the cracks with few places to turn - they are the most under-served group in the homeless population. Covenant House is the largest privately-funded agency providing food, shelter, immediate crisis care, and essential services to homeless youth in 27 cities in North America.They strive to move each young person forward down a path to an independent adulthood, free from the risk of future homelessness. I need to raise $1,000 for these kids by February 19. Thanks to the generosity of my people, I am within $200 of that goal. Any small amount helps. If you can donate, please click here. p.s. did you know you can age out of participating in this? You can. I'm in the last year of eligibility with my old ass. Thanks to Catie & Joe for opening my eyes to this opportunity and for the invite to join their team!

11. Ecard of the week: 

Netflix, shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

via

The Evil Asslord Comcast has chosen this week to fuck with me and raise my monthly payment for zero reason. Of course this is the week our Internet has been on the fritz nightly as well, requiring a technician to come out today. But back to the cable bill. 

 As you Comcast customers may be aware, this is nothing new and happens at least once a year. Two years ago I had a manager lock me into a rate only to have it go up before the time period was over. I called and had to bully them into keeping their word.

After 12 years, I've had it. Cable is being cancelled. MFD says he's with me, but he lingers long over My Strange Addiction instead of catching up on The Good Wife, which he says he wants to do before I pull the plug.

Get a move on, Mike. My rage is going to spontaneously combust to form a wrathful demon not unlike something one would see in Rosemary's Baby or The Exorcist if I don't get to spew it on them soon.

I am acquiring this antenna so I can watch Jeopardy, Channel 6 Action News, and awards shows. We have a Roku in the living room to stream Amazon, Netflix, Hulu (currently not subscribing to Hulu).

I don't watch a ton of TV. When I do, it's rarely in real time. Showtime and HBO are poised to offer standalone streaming service this year, as is CBS. It'll be all good and soon we will no longer be living under the thumb of Comcast, the shysters with black souls, for cable.

Last week Kelly at A Lovely Life, Indeed tagged me in a Netflix post. Timely, given the Comcast fuckery going down right now. Shows I've loved on Netflix:

House of Cards. Kevin Spacey is everything.

The Fall. Gillian Anderson and serial killers. Yes and yes.

The Killing. I will love Netflix forever for making this show stretch to a final season.

Orange is the New Black. I thought I wouldn't like this show, but I do.

Things I'm planning on watching in the future:
-The West Wing
-Peaky Blinders
-Call the Midwife
-Breaking Bad
-Luther
-Boss
-Lillyhammer
-Broadchurch

Due to my lack of Valentining, you might have surmised that I'm not a lover of the day, but I do love love and I also love a lot of other things. Like you, dear reader. And Netflix. If you've enjoyed this, perhaps you might enjoy my big love post from 2013.

Happy Friday. Damn the man! Save the Empire! 

Linking up with Amanda for Friday Favorites.