snippets of the weekend 11.21.2022

Friday lunch monthly wellness massage with Sarah at Blossom Bodywork. My night was not as glam - I got my flu shot, returned something which took me into a dead mall where I saw a sad and lonely Santa and a notepad that made me laugh, a quick Target trip to get that $10 off $40 of food Circle coupon, a run through Aldi for their supreme pizza (you cannot beat the price), stopped at my brother & Aubrey's to pick up the Thanksgiving turkey aka Phoenix according to my niece the turkey namer. Couched it reading until bed.

Saturday was industrious. I sorted clothes and cleared my room while packing for the shore, then did the same for the dining room table and kitchen area. It feels so good to do this even though I am the one who caused both messes in this case. I ran a few errands to return items and of course perused Marshalls/HomeGoods while doing so. At around 1 MFD and I loaded up my car with things and dogs and I headed back to the shore. After unpacking the car I took the best friend dogs to the beach. Salmon and asparagus for dinner and books all night.

I had plans for an industrious Sunday as well, but most things fell to the wayside while I finished a book and started another. I did make it to The Islander on the boardwalk for its last day in existence. I have loved this store my whole life. I am annoyed at people online acting like this is a world event. These people want to retire and after 40+ years of running this store, let's wish them well and let them get on with it. I also picked up a few items from ACME and a few things from the hardware store. I also painted my nails, did the end of the day beach walk with the best friends, and did a facial at night including gua sha to help with my jaw clenching.

We were home by 9 and I was dead asleep on the couch not moving all night by 10. 

weekending reels on Instagram 

Thanksgiving week. I am thankful and I am off. I celebrated by sleeping 10 hours last night!

Thursday Thoughts - I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now

Glorious night. The air was great last night, and so were the skies. I was out there for a long time walking and stretching my neck like nobody's business. I'm making a pier pics photo book for our house this winter. Allegedly

Bruce was running wild through the ocean with his leash on, Ben following, and Mae bringing up the rear although how she made it out there I don't know. We all got soaked but it was fun and they didn't move the rest of the night. 

Fuck everyone who has things to say about a man recovering from a stroke speaking in public. Especially if you voted for the former president who is a fucking terrible public speaker and don't know your ass from a hole in the wall regarding strokes or any kind of processing delays. Being able to speak well in public is great, but we do not need the sound bytes and we do not need the fire tweets. We need people who will write, read, and pass legislation that will HELP REGULAR AMERICANS. That's the fucking job. People who will actually work and produce RESULTS that are not TV interviews and tweets. We've had so many years of gridlock and so many years of do nothing shit under McConnell previously that we might have forgotten they are not in office to make names for themselves or be twitter stars or make appearances at fucking baseball games or anything else people on both sides do, they are there to work for the American people. Period. The ableism and fake concern for health people have been spouting this week is fucking vile. Many people out there clearly taking their health for granted and have not had to work through the recovery from any physical or mental health issue in public and if fucking shows. Enough. Act right. What is wrong with people. My god. Elect people who will not lie and will work for us. 

Last day for Yunizon kickstarter. Please click here to support this campaign if you haven't! I did it by pledging the sunglasses. Amba and Andy, baby.

Desk refreshes. In Philly I changed up my lighting because the room is dark and winter is coming, my friends. At the shore I just cleared out around my computer shit - there had been a scary stack of receipts and miscellaneous bullshit everywhere. I have a tiny lamp coming to light up the back of this area. Anyhoo easier to live and work in brighter, clearer areas. 

IT Department, Party of One. One of my least favorite things about WFH is being my own IT department. I woke up yesterday to no internet with a deadline looming so I tethered to my personal hotspot and chatted with comcast until we got a temporary fix, and they sent someone out in the afternoon who told me 3/4 things that make the modem work had a filter on them so we were only getting 1/4 of the power. Guess who showed up one day unannounced and put the filter on for "interference reports?" Comcast. The guy yesterday just shook his head.

Booking accommodations for next year's family trip. My first time out of the country since 2016 which does not seem possible. 

Halloween candy ordered. I nearly forgot. You? Who needs a costume? It's funny but it's fucking not

Reading. I have had issues settling on a book recently. I'm trying Celeste Ng's newest, which is absolutely nothing like her other books. I do have a new hold in at the library so I'll get that tomorrow.

Watching. Last night I watched the second Austin Powers for some LOLs 

That's it. Go Phils.

 
What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve

Closing out the week with that Friday energy

Onto the next bathroom project. This is not a total gut to studs. We're getting all the shiteous useless trim removed from the big bath at the shore, sheet rock over the hideous wallboard and ceiling, paint wall and ceiling, install exhaust fan, new baseboard trim, new hooks/towel holder/toilet paper holder/mirrors, and better use of the dead space behind the shower. We already switched out the vanity light fixture and ceiling light fixture. This should be done by the end of next week and I am pumped. I hate this room. I need to call my plumber about changing the shower fixtures too but that's for spring.

T-shirts this week.

This week on the beach.

Squad.

Happiness. Happy birthday to Lori yesterday, one of my people on this earth!

Library hold pickups.

That post-omicron booster shot feeling. Terrible. I had high hopes this time but 27 hours after it got me. Fever and intense body aches. I still have a lot of fatigue and body aches but I've been walking through it this time and I'm happy about that. 

Otherwise, laying low this week. It's the first time we've all been at the shore at the same time in over a month. We're transitioning stuff over to fall here - putting away the ACs and getting out the portable fireplaces - and spending time outside. 

 

TWTW - the one with the Easter

Thursday I flexed a lot of the day since I worked a full day Sunday. Beach walk in the morning, some driveway play and chalking, beach again with Mom while Rich went on a bike ride, salad for dinner, glimpse of a good one, and Easter nails. I was early to bed, passed out before Kate and Dan and kids even arrived.

Friday I worked in the morning. We got caught in the church's Easter procession on our way to the beach just as they were whipping Jesus carrying a cross down the street. That brought some questions from the kids. It was hot and nice on the beach until it was arctic cold, but we got a few solid hours in. Porch afternoon, and some of the crew went to Cape May Brewery. Aubrey made spaghetti, sausage and meatballs, and we had a chilly walk on the boards. The pink moon looked amazing out there. 

Saturday The ladies did the Asbury Avenue shopping and saw the no pants Easter Bunny. We all headed to the boards later which were so crowded. The kids did rides, I had my first Kohr Bros of the season (no mint yet) and the wind absolutely assaulted us on the way back. 

Saturday night was laid low lounging, Sixers, egg dying, more breweries for some of the gang, and early to bed to finish a book for me. 

Sunday I was up early making eggs. MFD fished in the morning and we did a family beach walk, then cobbled together an Easter spread with everyone adding something. All good things must come to an end, and everyone was cleared out by 5. We put the dresser that was a joint effort getting out of the house (thanks everyone!) out to the alley for someone to grab, had salad for dinner, and I read on the couch until I fell asleep. 

It was a great weekend, and this week will be busy enough for me to really want another one soon. 

Thursday Thoughts - day after day it reappears

Thrifted. I love my shore thrift store. I was going to drag my big ass iced tea maker down but I got this baby one for there and two round cake pans because I only have those at the shore and have to bring them back to Philly when I need them. 

Monday was a lovely weather day. The rest of this week, not so much. 

Show Us Your Books is Tuesday. I've had at least two long, out loud laughs at lines in this book. That's rare for me, and appreciated. 

This week is National Library Week. My love letter to libraries went on Instagram but I wanted to make sure to acknowledge it here. 

Abortion on demand, without apology. The laws close in, more and more anti-woman legislation. Zero legislation or provisions to care for children already here or coming. Pro-birth is fucked up. Oklahoma, you are the latest in the demonic and disappointing behavior of falsely moral legislators. Fuck all of you. 

Office day. I'm in the office today, which I had to mentally prepare for all day yesterday even though this was my standard routine for almost 12 years prior to Covid. My, how we've changed. My brain will never be the same. If the commute didn't suck so hard, I'd be in more.

Greed is destroying us. It's wild out there. 

This is from this day in history, but for tomorrow. 79 years ago on April 8.

Forward, always. No matter what.

This cat acts like it came from an alley instead of a bougie kittery. He is in everyone's business, is scrappy AF, hunts birds and squirrels, eats bugs alive, and helps himself to dog food and people food.

My wish for all people is to be willing to take a swing and live life off-recipe. This week I made trash can tacos (should I trademark?) in which everything immediately expired, about to expire, or taking up room in the fridge with 1/4 left in the container went into the mix and they were amazing. I also made some concoction with similar - a week expired pasta, a jar of DiBruno cheese spread, the end of an everything goat cheese log, some spinach, green onions about to go, the last 1/4 of the broccoli slaw bag, olive oil, and I forget what else - and that turned out fine. Two cheers for being resourceful and no food waste. With the price of food right now, it makes the idea of food waste even more repugnant to me. 

Recommend. 

Last food item. I ordered Jeni's for the strawberry pretzel but am head over heels for the pineapple upside down cake. 

Ukraine. What next. What next. It reminds me of that Men at Work Overkill lyric, "I can't get to sleep. I think about the implications..." 

Do one small thing. When I am sluggish or unmotivated, I do one small thing. Likewise, when the world feels heavy or overwhelming, I do one small thing. I cannot stop war, but I can advocate for peace. I cannot help all refugees, but I can sign up to host or donate to fund one. I cannot battle the government zealots intent on outlawing abortion everywhere, but I can provide resources and support for other women. I cannot cure childhood hunger but I can find mutual aid groups in neighborhoods near me and donate food, time, money. I cannot eradicate racism, but I can be loud about anti-racism.

Happy 8th Birthday to Eva, it was Tuesday.

The week in dogs. Bruce doesn't act the same in Philly, it takes him a few days to settle back in here and relax. Ben is comfortable destroying shit everywhere. And no one cares if humans need pillows.

Happy Friday eve!

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Overkill by Men at Work

TWTW - first in April 2022

Friday was a wow day at work, and that's an oh shit wow not a great! wow. I was sick of the wind all week, so no beach. Instead I took to the kitchen throwing shit in a pot and mixing like a mad scientist, which we ate all weekend - ground chicken, half a bag of coleslaw, half a bag of broccoli slaw, baby corn, water chestnuts, soy sauce, sesame sauce, garlic, green onions, eggs scrambled in same pot, topped with some cooked ramen and mixed. After that I worked more until 7:40, then put my zit creams on and lay on the couch to read half of a book, where I fell asleep with all the lights on and left them like that until 6 am. 

Saturday After an early dog walk, I lay back down to finish the book. Up to shower, eat breakfast, and putz around. MFD and Billy cat arrived around 12:30. We took Bruce & Ben to the beach for a long walk and crept on other people's flowers. A relaxing night with leftovers and I read another book.

Sunday was the most balanced day I've had in a while, where I felt things that needed to get done got done, there was relaxing and rest, and there was enjoyment and they were all in equal parts, which is hard to get right. I think I could get it right more often if the work week wasn't five days. Who's with me? 

We did a little relaxing in the morning and afternoon. 

Relaxing was broken up by some solid hours working in the house to ready it for spring personal guests, which means pulling all under bed storage out and inventorying, sorting, organizing, purging, moving, cleaning, restocking, list making, and all that jazz. Lots of work to do before paying guests start to come but a really good start. 

I zipped through a book and painted my nails (China Glaze Planted & Enchanted and OPI Princesses Rule!, the China Glaze color is beautiful), had a salad for lunch, MFD got a massage, we relaxed and watched old episodes of The Office, then we took all the dogs up to Corson's Inlet for a very brisk walk. Damn winds. I started another book at night as MFD was watching historical documentaries on YouTube. No thank you.

Happy Monday!