Things I've been meaning to tell you 3.21.2024

1. Items of interest from last weekend: I turned 47 Friday and celebrated by doing exactly what I woke up and wanted to do that day which included: semi-annual library used book sale, lunch at Lobster House, trolling around ReStore and TJMaxx/HomeGoods, overspending at the bakery, getting groceries, walking on the beach, putting my feet in the ocean, a quick drive to the dispensary, MFD picking up takeout from my favorite Italian restaurant in town and eating it on the couch in pajamas, MFD putting together the new cabinet I wanted (to have a third shelf where there used to be two in a small efficiency apartment with no storage? a dream), and my favorite comfort watch The Office. Thanks for all the birthday wishes - I typically share thoughts on my actual birthday and you can find them here. Saturday we met our new attached neighbors at the shore, I got the new loveseat I wanted for our porch from Big Lots, and we headed back to Philly for an impromptu fire pit night with my brother and the kids, MFD's brother and SIL and Harry, and Jared and Amy complete with a funfetti birthday cake a la Jared that was delicious. Sunday started with coffee outside then a pedicure, Lisa Gardner in conversation with Liz Moore, and the traditional St. Patrick's Day meal. I had myself a Sunday, which is not always the case. The boundary between Sunday and Monday is a hard one for me to hold most weeks.

2. I never did the weekend before either it appears. I was still in the spin cycle with insane work hours and deadlines. I watched Major League for the first time in an eternity and damn this movie holds up. I spent many hours on a rainy Saturday doing some trip planning, had a nice impromptu birthday week dinner at Mom & Rich's, Sunday I went to my first ever professional lacrosse game and it was definitely more fun than I expected. Enjoyable Wings game thanks to Tiffany and Brandon, followed by dinner at Chickies with Stephen and Aubrey and the kids. MFD met us there. Solid weekend!

3. The first quarter of the year was an hours and deadline trial by fire at work. I actually spent part of three days in Philly a few weeks back, which is rare these days. I still can't believe how different work life is post-pandemic March 2020. It's literally transformed my life in ways I never imagined before March 2020.

4. Yesterday was a banner sun ray through the clouds day - I saw it in Philly and later at the beach. It was a great reflection day as well. Clear skies with no clouds are my least favorite. I prefer a blue sky but clouds for interest, always.

5. This beauty is from last week. Clouds make a sunrise and sunset.

6. I'm this person now with reading glasses. They're everywhere yet sometimes I can't find them so now they can always be with me. 

7. Recent pet photos I like.

8. My bedside table project turned out as I wanted at the shore. Both have shelves in the middle for books which I loaded up on at the library book sale so I'll be populating them this weekend.

9. Watching: Just finished True Detective Night Country. Reading: Sally Hepworth's Darling Girls, which publishes April 23. 

10. Happy spring, folks. If the spring temps could come back, that would be fantastic.

I'm out here trying to stay in the day, present every day. To feel and welcome joy in the small moments. Living in a world where no one agrees on a damn thing and you can see that every second online is not easy. 

I cannot wrap my head around how we cannot at the least agree that people who are hungry should have access to food. I hate knowing people are hungry in America because they can't afford food and people cannot distinguish between inflation and corporate greed; that people are being starved in Gaza, including hostages, because food is not allowed in by land; that people are starving in Sudan because of six years of violence coupled with flooding and population displacement; that 25 years of violence and displacement and climate change has made hunger an ongoing fact of life in the Congo; and I could go on. If we cannot agree to feed people as a basic human right and have countries and corporations conduct themselves in a way that allows the earth to remain habitable for all of us, we are not going to agree to jack shit. 

Off to take Bruce to the vet for a weird irritated drooping eyeball. Wish us luck.

SMD

Snippets of the weekend 3.13.2023

Friday I cleaned up my office for the last hour of Friday and I need to get another hour of that done sometime soon. My brother dropped my niece and nephew off. My nephew had MFD's neck collar on within two minutes, and Bruce had it on two  minutes later. Lola was the teacher. I ordered pizza that the place cancelled without telling me so off the four of us went in the rain to Friendly's which they liked and I found disgusting aside from the ice cream. We watched some movie and played school and Star Wars then I took them home. I was back home by midnight and asleep around 1:30. 

Saturday we went to the shore and MFD painted the new window trim while I sorted shit, put stuff away, picked a contact paper for the kitchen island, and hunted obsessively for dining room chairs. We ordered pizza, I took the best friend dogs to the beach, and finished a book and started another. 

Sunday I woke up at 8 then went back to sleep until 10:30. I am a fucking troll on spring forward Sunday and that held true yesterday. MFD hung blinds and I painted my nails (OPI Sage Simulation & Essie Transcend the Trend), cleared stuff up, changed sheets, and we took a walk before packing the car up and heading back to Philly. Leftover pizza and The Office for the night on Philly couches. 

weekending reels on Instagram 

Last night I was up until 4 because as stated I am an infant troll regarding time change.

My Pop turned 92 on Saturday. He's not well at the moment and I'm wishing him peace. 

Friday Files 3.10.2023

We do love a shirt that shines.

And a shirt that says exactly what we mean. Annual list of what women don't owe the world is in the instagram caption.

The worm moon before it was fully up Sunday night and when it was fully up over a parking lot Tuesday night 

Things I'm looking for...four decorative ceiling tiles, maybe some comfortable dining chairs for the shore. A slim cabinet for next to the couch of a certain height that is not wood colored, black, gray, a zillion dollars, and available. A winning lottery ticket, not big bucks just big enough. You know.

People in my neighborhood go so hard at some shit and it makes me laugh.

I've been thinking of virtually abandoning this space and starting a free substack newsletter. You can subscribe here and you'll get it whenever I push it out - I'm going to just be jotting shit down off the cuff and not formatting or being insanely photo heavy. I'll probably keep weekend stuff here? I'm not sure exactly, yet. 

Because I miss the jotting things down form of writing I favor, which I did some semblance of here on blogger like four to five days a week for close to 10 years, then twice a week once the surreal onset of the Covid pandemic wrecked all of the routines and thought processes, and now I’m barely making once a week.

Part of not posting a lot on blogger is me, no longer wanting to sit at a computer after sitting at a computer for 40+ hours working. I loathe doing it from my phone. I always worked a lot and still blogged but there is a difference now, with majority WFH. I feel both more and less in control of my time. It seems to flow through my hands and get away from me these days.

Part of not posting a lot on blogger is the world, specifically America as I live here. God the amount of fucking times I’ve written about social injustices and the world is still unjust. How absolutely rude that a small voice cannot make all the change people have been fighting for and dying for for years, amIright? I used to have more action items on that front and I just fucking don’t right now and that’s a little bottoming out feeling to sit with.

The anti-Trans and anti-drag (assuming you all know not all trans people are drag queens and not all drag queens are trans) rhetoric and legislation is particularly frightening right now. Do you know people would rather have people suffer and die than be who they are? And do you know a lot of people voted for those people? It costs all of us exactly $0 to live our lives and let people live theirs. 

But I’m still the person who likes to jot things down and document what I’m doing, if only to look back for my own personal reference. I’m still an observer, which I’ve been since I can remember cognizant thought, and I like to share observations in writing. And I’m still the person who believes we can make a difference in the world in how we are. Be a good human, think about things, let people live, don’t be personally racist or blind to systemic racism, don’t be personally misogynistic or blind to systemic misogyny, don't operate under the notion that your god and religion are the rule of the land or matter to anyone else, don't allow politicians to legislate on religion because you’d hate it if it wasn’t yours, stop believing in the criminalization of poverty, stop letting corporations dictate how we all live and how those we elect govern; take a fucking hard look at mass incarceration and how we got there. Etc etc you know the drill.

Whew, when I think of how I used to argue from a place of understanding and compromise on abortion. Proof we can look back on things we’d rather not be, also. Now I’m viciously abortion on demand without apology not your fucking business not being the one who might persuasively bring you around.

Birthday month in the house! I have been doing my annual HomeGoods trolling, I've got birthday massage and lunch scheduled, pedicure and hair the day before, something the day after, will see both of my parents on my birthday which never happens as an adult LOL. I turn 46 in less than a week. Wednesday night I was digging through old photos looking for pics of Mom Mom as her birthday was March 8 and that only added to my annual birthday reflections. I have big love for middle age and I want to make sure I say that out loud because the world would like women specifically to age in reverse or fade into obscurity once the societal notions of beauty in face and body start to sag and age, as if appearance is all we are. Middle age is cool, man. I'm digging it so much.

Getting out of here on old dogs and dogs eating bugles. Happy Friday!

Thursday Thoughts - Could you smile when inside you just want to cry, want to cry

1. Sometimes I get stuck in a loop with a song, and it's never a new song. Last year it was Midnight Blue at some point by Lou Gramm. Right now it's If I'd Been the One by .38 Special. Who I always envision in my head as ZZ Top even though I know they do not look like ZZ Top. They look like this. And of course the title lyric is from this song. This has been a glimpse into the mind of an 80s kid. Come back any time.

2. This week's birthday month behavior: painted my nails and toes at home, got my hair spruced up by Kristi at Salon Harmony (this is the before, obvi), did some maintenance acupuncture for wellness, made a comfort food casserole as part of my use all the shit in the freezer and pantry quest, and ordered two holographic nail polishes from mooncat. 

3. We also caught The Dinner Party episode of The Office, which is one of the top TV show episodes of all time. 

4. I was in the city yesterday, which means elevator selfies and other people's coffee and train station steps. And not much else because the rain. I was there with no umbrella or hood like an idiot (descrip below) who has forgotten how to operate in public. I also had to use my wool jacket as an umbrella to walk the half mile back to my car at the end of the day.

It also meant lunches out with coworkers, which I miss. Walking the three blocks back to my office in a particular monsoon time meant water literally dripping from my face and having to dry off with paper towels. Do not recommend. 

5.In many book talking spaces on the internet it appears people buy all books and when libraries are suggested it is clear they do not know libraries are free for ALL people, you just need a card. So in case anyone out there doesn't know, you don't need to buy ALL books. It is great to buy to support some authors and if you want to read books the library does not have, but in general please use your public libraries.  If you only read e-books, you can do that through your library as well and a librarian would be happy to help you figure out how to do that. Libraries are a community resource and one of the very few things in this country that remains FREE and available to ALL.

6. Do we need this at this time? I don't want to speak for you but I do not. Giant spiders dropping from the sky not welcome

7.  Pantry cleanout means mixing pasta remnants. MFD had to learn yesterday. I did a post on stretching your food budget yesterday. Not an easy world out there right now on so many fronts. Hope you're all hanging in there. 

8. Dad & Carol are here this week for dad's other cataract surgery. The dogs have been pleased. They get tired of just us sometimes...even if you can't tell from these pics

9. Reminder via itsbananacrush - I know when there is so much to be done or when so much is going on within you and around you it seems like the best option is to push through, but that's not usually the case. Most of the time it's to pull back and regroup. It took me a long time to learn this, I hope it takes you less. 

10. Ecards - 

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is If I'd Been the One by .38 Special

Thursday Thoughts - waiting, waiting on a sunny day...gonna chase the clouds away

1. I bought a cotton sweater from the Gap for spring and I'm pretty sure I owned the exact one in a different color in 1992. I wish I saved my original JCrew rollneck cotton sweaters also, hell any 100% cotton sweater. They are the only ones I want to wear. 

2. Other birthday month behavior this week includes making a list of things I want to do, and assembling all of my hoarded gift cards so I can begin to place orders. Sephora down so far.

3. Billy thinks Ben is is best friend, but Ben is like Bill, I already have a best friend. You don't like him that much.

4. Does this sound nonsensical yet? I can't tell. I am high on hours worked, low on hours slept, and quite short on patience. Never a good combination. I can't keep up with everything this week and I felt that on Monday so I never tried. 

5. Last night on the beach felt like spring and I felt like crying in relief. This winter has felt both short and long.  The first set of pics is the photo I was going for and the two I got by accident LOL

6. I admire the Ukrainian people so much. This is where we see heroes, but we must not let that romanticize war in our minds. There's no fucking way anywhere should be at war in 2022. Anywhere. Regardless of the dominant skin color or religion of the region or the economic interest world super powers like the United States hold within. There is also no fucking way authoritarianism and fascism should be creeping up everywhere including and especially within the United States where we have made sure to destroy public ed to the point where people cannot even recognize authoritarianism and fascism when they see it. I am sick of the goddamn doublespeak in this country. You cannot salute WWII vets and also support people attempting to overthrow elections on a false premise. Get it the fuck together. The bombing of the Holocaust Memorial at Babyn Yar this week was just. I don't even know what to say. There is so much going on out there right now and it is hard to process in a 24/7 news cycle. Don't assume someone doesn't care because they're not speaking about it using avenues you have access to. Life goes on through everything, and so does joy and other emotions that don't match dire situations happening elsewhere. It always has, or we would not still be here. 

7. The State of the Union was fine. Joe is not the one, but I appreciate his leadership on the world stage right now. While I don't exactly jive with either of them, I appreciate the historic scene behind the President with women in both seats for the first time in the history of this country. If you don't think that matters, fuck off, I'm not the one. The photo to the right is reporters interviewing Boebert and Greene after the speech. 

8. Show Us Your Books is Tuesday. 

9. Reminder via 

10. Ecards - 

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Waitin' on a Sunny Day by Bruce Springsteen