Friday Files 1.13.2023

Second-hand decor updates. I like to move things around after Christmas is gone and add something new when needed. These second hand finds fit the bill and I'm thrilled that they're second hand. Mosaic glass forever. The mosaic glass lamp was my mother-in-law's, she loved it too.

Happy happy birthday to my sister-in-law Aubrey. I'm lucky to have one that I love as a person and love spending time with. We have fun!

How it started

How it ended. Always go.

Some small treasures from a walk this week.

Ben is Rose from Titanic: draw me like one of your French girls. Bruce is a trance chewer/kneader. The electric blanket brings all the animals to the yard

I had a cold this week, the first time I've been sick since 2019. I sneezed a lot, which I have never done with a cold in my life. I keep thinking of the Vicks Nyquil commercial the nighttime sniffling sneezing coughing aching stuffy head fever so you can rest medicine and how I always thought who sneezes when sick and MFD and I talked about how we never did and now we know and we do. MFD had the sneezes too. This is not the same immune system as pre-covid era. It isn't any fun. I've also spent the week looking - I can say this objectively - absolutely terrible. 10/10 do not recommend this cold season

I'm cooking straight out of the freezer and pantry right now, and the meals start out so nicely then deteriorate into like a freezer burned roll smeared with Worcestershire sauce or something. Not quite so bad but I do hate food waste so I need to burn through some stuff. 

Sometimes you make good nail combos and take clear pictures and sometimes you don't. 

Keenan Anderson. I'm not repeating shit said ad infinitum but that is not public safety and we are not killing people in the streets and calling it public safety. Black Lives Matter.

Just started. I know people are out there defending the Windsors like they are blood relations and raging against Harry and Meghan. I've got no skin in this game or big opinions, I just wanted to read it. 

I started painting our shore apartment this week - the space is so small with limited places to move things that I'm doing it piecemeal. Tuesday I did the shortest wall and trim around the window. If you know me you know I am not a neutrals person so the blah beige was really on my nerves over the past year. This is SW6736 jocular green. 

Hope you have a fabulous weekend, especially those of you with a three dayer for MLK on Monday. That is not me and has never been me.

Also say a prayer or light a flare that MFD finds a replacement for his totaled car in the next two days before I riot in the streets. We've been sharing a car since 12/16. You know I'm not a good sharer.

snippets of the weekend 10.17.2022

Friday work event prep and an evening at the Doylestown Bookshop seeing Lisa Regan talk about the Josie Quinn series! I saw that she'd be there Friday morning and made sure I got there. Very cool! If you aren't reading the Josie books, you should - #16 comes out in December and they are consistently solid reads. 

Saturday was entirely centered around errands for, set up and break down, and running an event for my company at Franklin Square in Philly.

Sunday I did some returns from that event and could not pass up the Feliz Navidad pillow in the Target $5 spot (a pompom promptly fell off). I was on my way to the shore by 11 and unpacked, hit the thrift store and grocery store, and did a beach walk with all the dogs and started the newest Tracy Crosswhite book.

Monday I was off and did nothing aside from annual vet visits for Bruce and Ben, back to pick Bruce up after a dental, a solo beach walk with Ben, lounging and reading, porch sitting, a bike ride back by the bay, and the interior door work started in the main house which is not exciting to most people but is definitely exciting to me. 

In addition to snippets here, I've been doing weekending reels on Instagram if you are interested. 

Second week in a row where snippets of the weekend is happening on a Wednesday. Let's not call it a pattern yet.

Thursday Thoughts - don't leave false illusion behind

Picture it. Spring, 1980.

Add book, mug, and lipstick and my material life is reduced to a where you throw your shit when you walk in the door vignette

Treasures and death: a collage. Good week for treasures. Lots of dead things out there, Bruce and Ben tried to eat every single one in addition to the tiny alive crabs. 

Before. Shoulder season crowds loading. Spring is a hard time to intentionally book a trip to the shore far out - it could be so nice and it could be miserable and freezing. Every trip is weather dependent but few people like to freeze at the shore in spring when they know it's warmer inland.

Accomplishments. This week I took a bunch of returns to the post office, worked on taxes, picked up library books, ate a lot of vegetables, went through my bathing suits, purged clothes I have down here, booked two of the hotels for our New England road trip, and did my shore calendar and seasonal list. It's the little things. 

Misadventures in DIY. Who paints the bathroom floor THEN decides to have a team come in to paint walls, a plumber to replace the toilet, an electrician to fix a light fixture, and a husband to install a towel rack and toilet paper holder, requiring another coat before a top coat goes on? This dumbass. But I finally did the top coat last night, which will cure for seven days. 

You gotta get the big mama jar. The price of food has reached pearl clutching levels.

Scenic. March came in like a lamb and seems to be going out like a lion. It is confused by life in the now, like most of us. Off to secure my outdoor furniture and shit.

My constant starer.

Hope you all had a great Women's History Month and remember that every month is Black History Month and Women's History Month,  every month is the time to dismantle systems of oppression rooted in racism and patriarchy, and every month is the month to point your pitchfork in the right direction and clean up your own people's messes before you borrow messes from other people. Art by Kelly Reemsten

In the age of social media, this is a lost art. Reading and learning is so good and important and we bypass it a lot to make some sort of statement, like it's required of us. It's not. Even if we have at other times. I hope you follow Rabbi Danya. She provokes great thought in me. 

I'd like to thank the Academy in advance for cleaning up all of its messes. 

We could of course go into things we should all be talking about. Like the wife of a sitting Supreme Court Justice being in on the January 6 coup attempt as well as a conservative lobbyist and that same justice being the only one to rule against release of information instead of recusing himself for a conflict of interest. Like the former president continually being a lying liar who lies. Like misinformation and hot takes being presented as fact and disseminated to the masses by Fox News. Like the war in Ukraine and the threat Russia with an unhinged mediocre man at the helm poses to everyone. Like how we are treating Ukrainian refugees versus how we have received Middle Eastern refugees. Like high prices being passed off as "supply chain issues" and "inflation" instead of what it is in many cases - corporate greed, C-suite bonuses, stock buybacks all under record profit quarters while citizens suffer in the stores and at the pump. The widening wealth gap. The price of medications. Student loan debt crushing people. Gun violence. Violence born out of desperation, depression, lack of opportunity. Mental health. Substance abuse disorder. Black people sitting in jail on weed charges while white people are legal and licensed to distribute now. The farcical war on drugs period. Book banning bullshit and the silencing of teachers. Cutting off the ability to teach CRITICAL THINKING. The absolute disregard for nurses and their vitally important role in this world. Making sure gay and trans kids don't feel like they are legislated out of existence. And so much more. 

I hope we all have the day we deserve! Well, I hope that every day, and that we live knowing that is going to be the case. 

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Eye in the Sky by The Alan Parsons Project

TWTW - got my money's worth

Friday I painted my nails, had a delicious dinner a la Carol, ran errands to strangely empty Target and Aldi, and watched the end of Christmas Vacation when I got home. 

Saturday I finished loading up the car, changed sheets, and headed to the shore. I unboxed the replacement ottoman and some Christmas gifts that had arrived while I was gone last week. The weather was shit so I read most of the day and night with some time off of that to hit the beach, put stuff I brought back with me away, and pick up dinner from Boyar's. 

Sunday I took Bruce and Ben down to the South end for an hour walk in some glorious light provided by an already risen sun behind a cloud wall on the horizon. Mildly good treasure haul.

I did some cardio dance shit, organized my tupperware cabinet, showered, dropped donations off to the thrift store, and headed over to the community center. The library was having a holiday event with singers, refreshments, and Santa by the tree outside. I dropped off books and picked up a hold, then popped into the Ocean City Historical Museum and the Art Center to buy a piece of pottery. I ordered a new pantry and rolling spice rack for Philly to arrive this week and got some Billy shots from Carol. He's very into the Christmas spirit.

Very early we headed to the beach for sunset and frolicked for a half hour. Back at home I finished the newest Josie Quinn that I started Saturday and had taco salad for dinner. I was asleep by 11.

Another good weekend where I sent it off feeling like I got my time off work money's worth from it. You know?

Happy birthday to Mimi Saturday! Yesterday was Gamma's birthday and I wrote about that a little on the shore instagram here. 

Show Us Your Books tomorrow! See you here for that. Rest in peace Anne Rice - I loved Interview with the Vampire and the rest of the Vampire Chronicles, but my true love is the Mayfair Witches trilogy. If you read IWTV but not the rest of the vampire books, try them. If you like that kind of writing and story, try the Mayfair Witches trilogy too.

Devastating news out of four states hit with December tornadoes Friday, particularly Kentucky. If you have anything to spare please check out this mutual aid doc via Appalachians for Appalachia and do what you can, donate to the governor's Team Western Kentucky Tornado Fund (per Bright on a Budget he did similar to get money directly to people during the pandemic and it worked), or Convoy of Hope (multi-state, April's suggestion). Please avoid the Red Cross and remember that unless you are super local and can drop off goods, cash is king and it is needed if you have any of it to spare.

Thursday Thoughts - it's okay with me if you don't have that much to say

1. I set myself up with a fall back plan: start work earlier because I'm up anyway, get outside for at least a half hour at lunch, and then finish work at 4 and be out walking from 4-5. That lasted for two days before I missed out on the 4-5 but those two days felt super so barring anything major, that is the plan going forward still. I can come back and clean up work stuff from 5-6. Light is everything.  Still out here in bare feet but it takes my feet a while to warm up after that. 

2. We have discussed possibly shutting this house down in January and/or February for a month but I would be hard pressed to leave my outdoor oasis and treasure trunk. I walk at lunch in the city but the 4-5 hour is always inside. Last year was the first year we kept it open all winter because one of us could always be here if the temps got too low. We will be able to do the same this winter so we'll probably just keep it open again. 

3. Officially a carry a pair of readers around person. Between this and yesterday's peri menopause post it's like guess my age around here

4. We watched Ted Lasso season two over two nights this week and can I just say how incredible Sam is and also that I have always hated Nate. Billy was passed out because we took a timer set family holiday card photo this week and that went over as well as you think with four dogs and a cat.

5. How cute are these from World Market? 12.99, I got the tree one. Trees are sort of my thing and I love the holly jolly one but the word vibes bothers me not really on this mat but like in general. Weird, I know.

6. Yo, have you guys tried Wawa's new salads? They have definitely upped their game. I had one for dinner this week. Other things I've been having:

7. Thanks to those who joined us for Show Us Your Books Tuesday. I did one of my standards - committed to clearing up what's due to publish or has recently from my Netgalley list then went to the library and picked something up the first in the Holly Jackson trilogy which I told myself I'd start in January. 

8. Early dark has sucked this week but the temps have not. Cheers to night biking on the boards, blurry pictures and no wind. Also sucking this week: Kyle Rittenhouse acting like a motherfucking victim when he brought a gun he should not have had across state lines to a fucking protest he should not have been at if he was afraid and used it to murder innocent people. People defending Kyle Rittenhouse. White supremacy. Racism. Republicans introducing zero pieces of legislation for the good of everyone. Republicans obstructing everything. Centrist democrats. Oligarchy. Patriarchy. 

9. Reminder: fuck the shoulds, do the wants. The true wants. Art by Eliienkind

10. Ecards - woke up in a mood this morning

Saluting all Veterans today and every day. Hopeful to live in a world with no more wars and no more military occupation for economic interests. 

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Hello by Martin Solveig & Dragonette from Ted Lasso's Coach Beard episode

TWTW - the first one in November

Friday I wfh in the morning and took an 11 train into the city. I had an amazing acupuncture appointment after work then went right to Independence Beer Garden for an outdoor work event, walking through parts of the city I typically don't troll around much. It felt almost normal. I got home late and fell right to sleep.

Saturday I was not feeling bad but not feeling spry either. I showered, returned some things which took me past my favorite foliage tree in my neighborhood mid-turn, packed up the car, got gas, and drove to the shore. I unboxed all my packages, set up the new water cooler, and piddled about. Dad and Carol were down in the house and they made a delicious Mississippi roast for dinner. I took Bruce and Ben to the beach to let them run it off. We watched some TV and I was asleep by 10:30.

Sunday I hard boiled some eggs in the air fryer, Dad got bagel sandwiches from Dead End Bakehouse, and I ordered groceries and a few other things which omitted my Sunday errands. Dad and Carol left around 11. I started a new book and took a long walk to do some treasure hunting. I also caught a fire sunset and ate leftovers for dinner. MFD arrived with Gus and Billy cat around 8:15 and we watched the first two episodes of Yellowstone. Welcome back, Duttons.

Show Us Your Books is tomorrow, see you here for that!