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.

Thursday Thoughts - I see them, round the front way and I know and I know I don't want to stay

1. Stage of cold I'm in: blowing nose with toilet paper because I used all tissues and forgot them at both of the grocery stores I went to last night, taking every available vitamin in cabinet regardless of what it's for, eating everything Vitamin C I can get, not very liked by coworkers, asleep by 9 pm, reluctant to leave the couch even though I have very little clean underwear left and laundry does not do itself.

2. Yesterday I had a Wednesday morning that was totally Tuesday-ish. I missed my train because there was an overturned truck on 95 and all the 95 traffic was being routed through my train station. The way I come in, there is no stop sign. The woman driving like she was hellbent for election to get back through to 95 almost hit me and was stomping around outside our cars screaming at me until she realized I had no stop sign. She STFU very quickly then. That bullshit delay had me hauling ass to the platform only to miss the train by 30 seconds, after which I said fuck it and turned around to go back home but couldn't actually get out of the train station in a timely manner so I went back to the platform. The shuttle buses weren't running so I wogged a mile and a half with bags before 8:30 am.

3. Things were looking up by 10 after I unjammed the printer right before I hit Office Space levels of frustration. I had a productive meeting then dropped some stuff at UPS, mailed something I sold on Ebay at the post office, saw that news van - I get so fucking excited when I see the Action News van in the wild - and walked to the library to pick up books which is of course always the best part of the week.

4. New to me nail polish: Cirque Colors in Sapphire. I hope it comes off as easily as it went on given that it has flecks of glitter in it.

5. Bruce and Bender went to the vet Monday night. They were a riot. Bender has roundworms so he's being treated for that, but otherwise he's fine, just needs to fatten up a little. The dog listed as 17 lb in his description is not even nine pounds. When he was picked up this dog had parvo and wasn’t neutered. He was surrendered because there were too many animals in the house. I am envisioning a hoarder situation with zero vet care. He's doing really well in our pack, and the energy is more balanced. Bruce is still insane, but since he has a youthful partner in crime, he tires out more easily. He's also not obsessed to distraction with me, which is good for him.

6. I don't know if I have it in me to go to the shore this weekend, but I left quite a few things there that I need.

7. Something to think about as we examine ourselves - read the entire post here. As white people, a lot of times we don't see things because we don't want to see them. White is the norm, the baseline that everything else is based off. That's all we've ever seen. Until we can see it from another perspective (and once you see it, you can't unsee it), we will continue to have unrest and divide. It's up to us as white people to break this shit down even when we benefit from it.

8. A few more thoughts related to the post I wrote Tuesday:

9.  Reminder:

10. E-card of the week:

Toodleoo. 

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 Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam.

why colds are rude

A cold looks at your schedule and to do list, laughs, and sets them both on fire. The cold is in charge and you will do its bidding, which is not much.

A cold doesn't allow you a moment of peace, much like a houseguest that won't leave, a person that won't stop talking, or someone who won't give you enough personal space in line.

A cold is an energy vampire, making simple tasks seem arduous and difficult. Get up to get a drink? No thanks, the kitchen seems far...I'll just lay here and die of thirst instead.

A cold makes you a pariah. People would rather sit next to a pile of dog turds than you and your germs.

A cold turns you into a QVC addict, but your QVC is the drug or natural food store...or both when you get really desperate. I'll take one of everything.

Since you will open your wallet and pay any amount of money for any product that will make the cold go away by day three, a cold is a thief.

A cold is a trickster and a killer of dreams. When you think you're getting better, you go to Homegoods and surprise! You're not. So you have to leave your cart full of dreams and leave the store. I had plans for those things.

Colds threaten you...if you don't be quiet and keep to yourself, they might infect a man in your household. Then you'll have to deal with the dreaded man cold while you're still trying to bounce back from your own cold.

A cold makes you more impatient and irritable than normal...which for me is really fucking impatient and irritable. 

See? Rude. 

What is not rude - my aunt Lori, who is always a beacon of awesome in my life. We've had so many adventures and good times together with so many more ahead. I love hanging out with her whether we're doing something or both just sitting around reading. Today is her birthday, along with my aunt Dawn & uncle David. Happy birthday triplets!

TWTW - the one where I accidentally did nothing

Friday I coughed all over the office, LYSOL'd it up before leaving, and took to the couch where I was given zero personal space.

Saturday I was up before 7 because MFD left for hiking before then. I got busy in the kitchen with food prep. I made a double batch of veggie beef barley soup for lunches this week, to take to Stephen & Aubrey, and to freeze; six pounds of pulled pork - some for the week and some to freeze; two veggie rice platters to freeze; egg muffins for breakfast this week; Kristin's pumpkin chocolate chip cookies; and mac and cheese from scratch. We have some busy weekends coming up so I wanted to get some freezer cooking in.

I did leave my house for 15 minutes to get my $5 flowers for the week from Produce Junction and some Sweet Baby Ray's. In those 15 minutes, I encountered at least 15 assholes, so I went home immediately. At one point I was like wait, am I the asshole? But I wasn't. I was wearing borderline pajamas though. Blame it on the cold medicine.

Otherwise I sat on my ass, painted my nails (OPI Significant Other Color), read magazines and a sluggish book, and tried to rest. I'm not that good at forced rest. I could take a lesson from my dogs. MFD was out all day hiking Hawk Mountain then at the Temple game with friends. I enjoyed the silence...except when he came home with a six person tent from Cabela's. We don't camp.

Sunday I had to jumpstart my slow, cold-addled ass to meet my knottie girls AEB and Alicia for breakfast at The Hattery in Doylestown. I loved the decor and the menu and of course the time with my ladies. I had the deviled eggs and the Daffy Cristo, which is Canadian bacon, sliced duck breast, and gruyere on cinnamon egg battered brioche over blackberry puree.

I attempted HomeGoods on the way home but frankly couldn't stand up anymore, and thought I fell in a hole in the street but nope...my shoe just flat out broke in half. With that, I decided to retreat from life for the rest of Sunday, watching Revenge of the Nerds, Birdman, and Johnny Dangerously.

Weekends when you're besieged by a cold just aren't terribly interesting, are they? 

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending

TWTW - the one with no heat

Well here we are back at Monday, friends. Hello. I hope you had a great weekend. When we left each other on Friday, I had a broken heater and no heat in the house. Today I still have a broken heater but now have space heaters in the house. Everything else is askew. Life is an adventure, yes?

Friday I ran out of work at noon to make it home for the heater repairman one of MFD's friends so kindly sent out. He couldn't help us so we're back in it with our warranty company. While MFD was rounding up space heaters lent to us from generous friends, I was finishing out my workday in a 45 degree house. It was not fun. The boy dogs even voluntarily wore sweaters, that's how cold it was. Seeing your breath in your bedroom is a weird thing. I felt like Grandpa Joe sitting up there wanting to whine but refraining.

When the space heater cavalry arrived, things were better. Dinner was made. Fingers were felt again. I fell asleep at 9:30 and slept until 8:30 Saturday morning. I went out for groceries and flowers, then painted my nails (Essie Cashmere Bathrobe) with my first attempt at a polka dot accent nail.

When the house is cold, Geege prefers to be a burrito, Mae prefers to be a snake in a hole, and Gus glues himself to me like he does any other time.

Saturday night MFD and I picked up balloons then headed to Aubrey's surprise 30th. Stephen put together a nice party, and she was surprised which is the best. Except for me, I don't do well with surprises.

This week in food prep: spaghetti squash made in the crockpot and combined with a dash of olive oil and some grape tomatoes and herbs; veggies are yellow peppers, snap peas, and celery; Sunday dinner was zucchini zoodles, mushrooms, and spinach sauteed in a little olive oil with garlic and pork tenderloin with a dijon mustard and rosemary rub; lunches are shredded buffalo chicken on whole wheat with spinach; and breakfasts are savory oatmeal cooked in chicken broth topped with a bit of cheese. Dinners are leftovers from Sunday, blackened salmon with steamed brussels and baked potatoes, and baked chicken with sweet potatoes and mixed beans. I ordered the spiral veggie slicer from Amazon after seeing it on B Loved Boston and I love it. It's amazing, easy to use, easy to clean, and only $13.

Sunday afternoon was laundry, lounging, and some writing in my rattiest, most beloved sweatshirt. I'm loving this 642 Things to Write About that I found out about from Jen at That's What She Read. It was $15 on Amazon and it's the perfect thing to spur my creative writing by hand goal.

Sunday night was spent shamelessly ogling dresses and celebrities on the Golden Globes, which I blogged about last night - click here in case you missed it.

Tomorrow is the show us your books link up! If you don't blog, please stop by and check out what I've been reading and let me know what books you've loved lately!

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending