Friday Five 11.20.2020

1. If I wear something with pockets and don't wash it there is an 85% chance I will find a shell in it when I put it on next.

2. As we head into winter, I'm getting diligent about my body moisturizing again. Two of my favorites, both of which are cruelty free: Andalou Naturals CannaCell Botanical Body Lotion in Joyful. The scent is rosemary and lemon balm and, you know, joyful. I also like Scottish Fine Soaps Au Lait Body Butter - you can find this at TJMaxx (online for those not going to stores) and Marshalls too for great prices. Perfect stocking stuffer. 

3. It is my estimation that everyone has at least one thing they are never happy with the results of other people cleaning. For me that is my gas range top. This slippery little sucker can be difficult to find, but it is amazing: Weiman Gas Range cleaner. They make the stainless steel cleaners that are great too. 

4. Always, RBG.

5. I have loved kiwi since I was a child. I've subsisted on that, steamed asparagus, and various ravioli (toasted from Aldi's freezer section and cauliflower cheese boiled from Trader Joe's fridge section) this week.

I hope you have not slept on the High-rise ankle pants from Target (that link is an affiliate for Chelsea at The Girl Who Loved to Write, who turned me on to these, purchasing  through an affiliate link costs you nothing and the person benefitting makes approximately three cents on each transaction) from last week's Friday Five because Sunday I got showered and dressed to go for a bike ride and MFD asked me why I had nice pants on and when someone says that about your lounge pants I think you know you've made it. Order that shit for pickup and wear for Thanksgiving!

Happy birthday to Steph today!

I'm off next week and I cannot wait to exhale. Happy Friday. Wear a mask and be kind to each other out there, okay? 

TWTW - the last one of summer

Friday I finally got one of the stupid mattresses heaved onto my bedframe to unfold to its full gloriousness. At lunch I ran errands to pick up return labels, drop returns to the post office, and to drop cardboard at the recycling center. I got hangry 2/3 of the way in so I picked up a homemade poptart along the way. No regrets. Work through and then read until the awful RBG news came down. I posted about that on Instagram and was harassed by trolls in my DMs because the world is ridiculous. If I ever go harass someone I do not follow but came across due to a hashtag in their DMs please strike me down dead. Immediately. Anyway, RBG was a fellow Ides of March child, a warrior for equality, and a personal hero. The loss is tremendous (on a high holy day no less) and the fight continues. Like, do you guys not know what fascism actually is? I don't think it means what you think it means, and same goes for socialism. 

Saturday I got a jump on the day, loading up a bed frame in my car and went to see Michelle's new place and chat for a while, then I picked up pumpkins and stopped at two places with my trusty measuring tape for side tables. No dice. It feels weird to be erranding but everyone was wearing the masks and here we are. It's also much more tiring than it used to be. I think because I'm super conscious of everything. I was gone for a few hours because if you're going off the island, it seems to always take a while, and when I got back I cut up veggies and made egg salad and onion dip and set my fall shit out. I urged the old dogs to rest in anticipation of MFD busting in with the best friend dogs, which happened around 11. 

Sunday MFD walked both sets of dogs, hallelujah. Our last renter of the season left around 11:30. We went to Dog Beach at high tide and it was absolute mayhem but all dogs enjoyed it. I spent the morning reading inside and the afternoon finishing a book on the porch with the dogs while MFD worked and napped inside. 

I hit the beach in the afternoon and it was windy AF. The wind by the water had a hint of winter to it and I was not okay. I picked dinner up from Island Grill, ate it like I was going to the chair, and took a long sunset walk with the best friends while MFD walked the old dogs close to home. I cleaned the kitchen and powder room up in the house, got the laundry together to drop off on Monday, and MFD got the other king mattress upstairs. He had campaign shit to do so I picked up around the apartment, started and stopped another book, set some blogs up, and crapped around. 

That's it. You? 

Happy birthday to my youngest brother Swan and my nephew Drew, both on Saturday.

Thursday Thoughts - give me a life time of promises and a world of dreams

1. Stunner of a fall foliage scene I saw yesterday when taking headshots out in a little urban park off Chestnut Street. Philly, you're looking amazing.

2. The Christmas Village is set up in LOVE Park though, rushing Thanksgiving right through.

3. When I go to the Philly library to pick up my books on hold, I always check out what my neighbor with the same last name has on hold. We have very similar taste in books which I think is cool and I feel like leaving a note saying hey do you ever check out my books but I read a lot of books on creepy people and I don't want to be the creep in someone else's facebook status so I refrain. This is what they have on hold this week.

4. Never let me hear this shit uttered ever again by anyone who is breathing during this time of daily man fits. Jim Jordan looking more like a charlatan preacher making the rounds in the dust bowl, putting on a show to take money from the poor in exchange for empty promises than a congressional representative during impeachment hearings. Man alive. It’s outrageous. 

5. MFD bought me this needlepoint of my birthday twin for Christmas and gave it to me on November 20. LOL I love it though, and also it's much more exciting than what we're getting for Christmas this year, which is a new bathroom door.

6. I spent last night with my longtime friend (since first grade) and hairstylist for the past 15 years, Kristi. We talked books and addiction and tried to remember people's names based on very little facts and it was nice as always. This is poor lighting but it's the blondest I've ever been save that unfortunate orange blond from my college years.

7. Not sure whether to laugh or cry sometimes.

8. Some clickable links for your consideration: if you are watching the impeachment hearings and you are unfamiliar with Rep. Jackie Speier and her familiarity with cult-like behavior, gaslighting, and service; how racism moves people to vote against their own interests; a message from The Friendly Biologist about disinfectants as we enter sickie season; and the midlife unraveling as written by Brene Brown.

9. Reminder: If you feel something is lacking, remember you won't usually find it in things.

10. Ecards. 

I gave myself 25 minutes to write this and ring that bell, I did it...despite having to restart my computer and collect towels from three floors and put them in the laundry. Huzzah.

May today be ever in your favor. 

What appears after the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts is a song lyric to whatever I'm listening to when I start to write the post. This week is Simply the Best by the incomparable Tina Turner with a nod to Schitts Creek 

TWTW - the one with the birthday

Thursday I turned 41. Some years I have a big plan on my birthday and some years I remain un-showered most of the day and run errands but the one thing I never do on my birthday is work. This year I got to sleep in, go to the library, drink a zillion cups of coffee, wear leggings, spend the afternoon and evening with our friends and MFD, completely avoid the news, hear from so many good people, and spend the day out worry-free knowing my mom was taking care of the dogs. Thanks Mom, and thanks for the cookies and banana cake and chicken salad and rye bread - it saved someone from dying on Friday as I was hangry and had no food ready.

MFD and I headed to New York to meet up with Melissa and Blane, had a hotdog on the street, ambled around, and had dinner at Bea in Hell's Kitchen. It was delicious and very reasonable, a really cute place.

We did pics outside of the theater before the show.

Then it was freaking time! Springsteen on Broadway. I laughed and cried and felt old and young and inspired and connected and happy and sad and hopeful and really all the feelings. Including strained - I was holding that pose for what felt like 15 minutes as someone took our photo. I'd like to think I'll have it in me this week to do a post on this but the truth is I probably won't - it was not a concert in any sense, I think a lot of people think that. It was story telling and story telling through song. It felt cozy and inspiring and it was fucking amazing to see Bruce in a venue with less than 1,000 other people. We encountered the same psycho fan before, during, and after the show which is always good fodder for conversation.

We dropped Blane and Melissa at their hotel and hoofed it back to Penn Station, making the train we thought we wouldn't make which is always good. We got home around 1:30? And I was too amped to sleep so I was up until 3. It was an awesome day.

As every birthday is, because I share it with The Notorious RBG who is very badass. Speaking of, how awesome is this Badass book Melissa got me? I freaking love it. I want to write in all the pages like a junior high school girl with dreams.

Friday started slower than I hoped, but we hit the road around 10:30 with me in my 50 shades of blue to open the shore house. Bruce has absolutely no car chill, which is unfortunate since he will be in the car a lot. We got our apartment mostly sorted amid dog chaos - I meant to go down a few weeks ago and sort of set it to rights because it is not easy to do it when they're there, but I didn't. I took the dogs down to the beach for a little and saw the sunset by the bay on my way to the grocery store. My dad and Carol arrived and we had Piccini for dinner and watched March Madness. 

Saturday I had my crew out at 9 for four mostly fruitless errands in Somers Point, my Dad removed the mirror from one of the dressers and fixed the drawers, he hung the new organizer in the closet (closet will be painted this year), Carol cleaned the top two floors, MFD cleaned up the outside, we moved photos around, got rid of the lighthouse that didn't fit and replaced it with a mirror, and various other things. It was tiring! In the middle Dad got hoagies from Boyar's and we watched basketball before Carol and I took the dogs to the beach.

While all that was going on I made corned beef two ways (one in the crock and one in the oven), cabbage two ways (one in the crock and one sauteed in butter), potatoes, and carrots; and picked up bread from Boyar's. We had the traditional Paddy meal and toasted my Grandmom. Saturday would have been her 86th birthday and no corned beef I've ever had including my own touches hers. Happy birthday Grandmom! Warm brownies Carol made with ice cream for dessert and a glorious sunset. During which I nearly broke my ass - dropped Bruce's leash, he kept going, I stepped on it, my feet went out from under me, both legs in the air, I landed on my hip then my back, and was laying dazed until I was like oh fuck I need to get him. Thank God the person at the stop sign stopped...then again, wouldn't you be sitting with mouth agape as a lady tangled in three pugs went feet up in the air then had to crawl up, limp, and lurch across the street to get her rogue puppy? Yes, you would. I was stiff and sore and hit the hay early.

Sunday I was up at 6 to walk all dogs, then I took Bruce down to the beach with me. So wonderful to be back in my place of peace. When the house is closed, I do not work to find another place of peace so by the end of February I'm angsty. 

Back to do some chalk contact paper and more clean up before putting Bruce to sleep and packing up the car. Even Mae is sad to see the shore in the rear view. I'm relieved that the house is open not just for personal reasons, but also so everything has been assessed and I know what I need to get and do before rental season. It helps clear my mind and I can plot out weekends of when things are happening and get help when I need it. Thanks Dad and Carol for everything, especially taking home a zillion pounds of trash and card board! 

We were home by 1:30, and coming home from the shore is a drag. I finished a book and dithered around about what to start next, which is unusual for me. I also did a load of towels, ate leftovers, and tried to rest. The Bruce Fall made me really sore. I'm happy I changed the sheets Friday before we left. I was in bed early not moving. 

Weekly food prep: breakfast is egg muffins with feta cheese and onions. I also made a batch of power breakfast muffins but had already put them in the freezer and was too lazy to pull out and photograph, so here's a photo of Gus pissed off because he's in a headlock instead. You guys have seen the breakfast muffins a million times. Lunch is PB&J and cucumber slices. Dinner is corned beef leftovers and then either chicken, sweet potatoes, and broccoli, or pasta with frozen veggie meat sauce. 

Thank you all for the birthday wishes here and on FB and Instagram and via email and text. You're awesome. 

Anyone local to Bucks/Northeast Philly or the shore giving away or looking to sell a dresser? I'm in the market. 

Thursday Thoughts - In Short Order

1. July was here and gone in the blink of an eye.

2. Watching: Stranger Things on Netflix. Winona Ryder and Matthew Modine, I've missed you.

3. Fresh air. Tuesday and Wednesday we had the windows open in our house. It is so glorious to sleep with the windows open on a temperate night in the summer. 

4. I tried the DD cold brew iced coffee yesterday. I'll stick with the regular iced. 

5. Philly's looking fine this week. I love the building on 16th that is painted entirely with dandelions and grass right now. Of course I was taking a million photos of it, really impossible to get the whole thing from the same side of the street, and the people were probably watching on the cameras like look at this amateur.

6. Today on The Armchair Librarians, Jana & I discuss my idol, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, subject of Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

7. At the risk of sounding like a senior, I don't get the appeal of the boomerang function on Instagram. So I see you moving the same way over and over like a deranged robot? Okay. Next.

8. Books: Show Us Your Books is Tuesday. Currently reading: Cruel Beautiful World.

9. Advice. Along these lines, check out this post from Chelsea at The Girl Who Loved to Write.

10. E-card of the week:

Made it through a Thursday Thoughts without politics. Send rewards. 

Linking up with Kristen & Gretch