Thursday Thoughts - I'm livin' life, do or die, what can I say

You're late. 

Farewell, faithful lipstick. Always have a backup of a favorite, of course. This is Bobbi Brown Crushed Lipstick in lilac, one of my staples

Lunch trips. I went to Bristol one day this week to peruse some antiques shops and walk along the river. I used to go there with Mom Mom when I was little, to Ballow's shoes. Lovely memories, and a lovely lunch outing.

Vats of veggie meat sauce. I made what amounted to 15 jars to freeze and share (the bigger one has six cups instead of three). 

Hurricane Ian. Good thoughts to the folks in FL and others in its path of destruction. Climate action now. These events are just going to continue to increase in power and devastation if we carry on as we are. 

Splitskies. Billy wanted to go in on my niece's birthday gift

Halloween is here. Thanks to MFD's decor. The dogs are not pleased that their barking window is occupied. 

Bathroom reno still happening. Still living in an entire construction zone with shit on every level. 

Bailed on the Dahmer show on Netflix. Too creepy for me.

Bruce is a big baby.

Support Yunizon's kickstarter campaign! Click here 

Amen.

Fresh hair. Thanks Kristi! Love it as always.

Miscellaneous pics from the week the bottom right is actually my back window with that reflected in it

Happy birthday to my cousin Tyler today!

 
What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Gangsta's Paradise. RIP Coolio

TWTW - already the last in March

Friday Working on a deadline but stole lunch to paint my nails (OPI Angles Flight to Starry Nights and Sally Midnight Drive, which is already looking shitty Monday morning). Leftovers and couch lounging at night. 

Saturday I slept waaaay in and didn't come downstairs until 10. We finished out the first season of Yellowjackets. I worked on a New England trip road trip itinerary and taxes. I was at the end of making a batch of power breakfast muffins and realized I was missing an ingredient so drug my unshowered, no bra, muscle relaxer taking self to the store to get freaking baking powder. I made an uncolorful but good dinner of marinated baked chicken from the freezer, rice, and sauteed cabbage. More taxes, relaxing, watched Four Good Days at night, Ben was reluctant to go to bed, and stayed up to finish Notes on an Execution.

Sunday The book I started the day reading is not the book I ended the day reading. I made a batch of spinach muffins to freeze, then roasted balsamic mushrooms and green beans and sauteed some smoked turkey sausage in duck sauce and hot mustard - I took half to the shore and left half in Philly with MFD. I was back at the shore by 3:30. Bruce and Ben were ecstatic to do some running. There were a few good shells but overall windy and very cold. The clouds were cool with rays coming through, which I love. Lots of arm icing at night, Oscars watching, and reading. 

Last dose of winter here over these next few days. I hope.

Thursday Thoughts - On the big screen they showed us the sun but not as bright in life as the real one

1. Yesterday was Bruce Springsteen's first birthday. Bruce is still coming into his own. I don't have his voice yet. When I do, he'll write a blog post like Gus, Geege, and Mae.

2. I am a broken record this year. I'm sick of my own juggling story and I have been dropping balls. I can't do it all and I know that but this year has tested my ability to accept that. I am the embodiment of the Dancing in the Dark lyric man I'm just tired and bored with myself right now. Tired of my own shit. I feel it pulling around the skin of my eyes.

3. I am renting the shore house some weekends in October if you know anyone who might be interested. My favorite returning guests are in the house this week and they had a toilet overflow issue and didn't even want me to bring a cleaning crew in. Bless them. I can't believe we're almost through our third rental season. Thank the Lord I have mellowed more every year.

4. MFD's campaign (Mike Doyle for PA Representative, 170th District formally) had a fundraiser Monday night at South Philly Barbacoa. Hosts Chef Cristina and Ben were amazing as was progressive activist Judy Wicks and everyone I met. Thank you thank you thank you. Upcoming fundraisers, I hope to see some of you locals at one of these! Click through to purchase tickets: Monday, August 20, 6-8 pm at Fare Restaurant with State Rep Donna Bullock and our BFF and 29th Ward Committee Person and proprietor of Angela Vendetti Consulting (tickets start at $35 and donations of up to one zillion dollars are very welcome); and Movie Night at The Newtown Theatre on Wednesday, August 22, from 7-10 pm where our pugs will be taking photos as a goof on the movie The Campaign (suggested donation $10, donations of up to one zillion dollars are very welcome).

Also...wonderful. Huge. And so fucking weird to see this about your husband. So much of this process feels like an out of body experience. 

5. I had some stuff picked up from Vietnam Vets yesterday. Purge it like a polaroid picture. That's not how the song goes? Anyway, three bags gone. Only one million more to go! I still can't get over this organization that comes and picks your stuff up right from your driveway.

6. WikiBuy, who uses it? I've just started exploring this week. I'm on the hunt for a well-priced, comfortable sectional to replace the one at the shore. It is so humid there the sleeper mechanisms have started to drip rust on the floor. It has to go. I of course cannot find one that I like that's not a million dollars and I am not spending a lot on any shore furniture because it doesn't last super long. Do you have any leads or sectionals you love? Aside from the sectional hunt, I like WikiBuy because it hunts for good prices and lets you know if there are coupons. I signed up and used it to find a deal on a dog car seat cover on Amazon and it gave me 95 cents credit for doing absolutely nothing aside from clicking through it, so that was awesome.

7.  I made 4978 vats of veggie meat sauce last night to freeze and give away. Picture it: Sicily, 1923: 12 cans need to be opened and your freaking can opener breaks. I wrestled those bitches open with will, rage, and curses and went on with the show. And am lacking enough vessels to put this in to hand out to fam so I need to go to Rite Aid at lunch.

8. Every day lower into the swamp with this administration, your president calling a black woman a dog via twitter this week is very fucking unpresidential. But good news too from VT, WI, MN, CT primaries. Keep pushing. Keep holding your current representatives accountable. Keep finding local candidates to support and work to get them elected in November. Keep speaking up. Do not be stunned into silence.

9. Reminder:

10. E-card of the week: Hoping to be lazy AF most of this weekend. I'm working from the shore tomorrow so I'll cut out my usual Friday night traffic battle/late arrival.

Tell me how your week has been. 

Thursday Thoughts - ice ice baby

1.  If the weather was a person I'd kick it in the crotch. It flurried on Tuesday and was cold AF. There's still a winter under bite in the air. The flowers are blooming at least and I hold out hope that this morning I grabbed a top heavy fleece. As a beach adopter, I have to do a beach clean up for Earth Day from 9-noon on Saturday. Anyone want to join me? You can sleep in the bedroom where I'm not painting furniture or just come troll around for the day. Bring layers. Seriously though it should be 55 with light winds.

2. When I work from home, I like to eat dinner at 4 pm. I'm going to be the best senior citizen ever.

3. My boy dogs have no work from home chill. They want pets all the time. Mae knows it's work time and leaves me alone. 

4. Mostly because she spends the days hiding under blankets.

5. I got a wild hair up my ass Tuesday night and made a million things, the biggest of all being a complete mess of the kitchen.

6. I ended up with two pots of pasta e fagioli, brown rice to use in a made up chicken and broccoli casserole that I threw some bacon and chicken gravy into (cleaning out that pantry) and to freeze. Monday night I made bread and a vat of iced coffee. Last night a vat of sweet tea. I did not read a page of a book Monday through Wednesday so I had to occupy my time in some way.

7. I actually saw white people complaining that this is out of hand because Starbucks is closing for a few hours on May 29 for racial bias training. Oh, it's out of hand alright, but not because Starbucks is doing a racial bias training. You guys...you know no one is forcing Starbucks to do that, right? It is a choice they made as a company, what they think the right response is. They are doing it because there is an obvious need among their staff because they know no one sitting in their cafes needs to make a purchase, despite how many people on the Internet are insisting you can't sit in a business without making a purchase. Well, you can in Starbucks, that's pretty much their model and it doesn’t matter if you personally agree or not, the fact here is that there’s no way in hell that employee would have called the cops if those guys were white and Starbucks corporate knows that so this is what they’re doing about it. The direction the company is taking is called working towards a solution instead of acting like a problem doesn't exist. We’d each do well to examine our bias and ask ourselves if there are situations where we might not say or do something overtly racist but still feel something racist or anti-black inside. But if you're looking for some alternatives in Philly coffee-wise, check these out.

8. Between the multiple international news racist incidents of the past week, the Syria bombings, the Michael Cohen shit, I am just so fucking tired of all of it. Life feels punishing under the trump regime. I’m still calling my Congress people, writing my post cards, and using ResistBot, but I’m drained.

9. Reminder: This. You know I like it because I'm sharing it when its should be it's

10. E-card of the week:

And a happy happy birthday to the always fabulous and funny and newly engaged cousin Gail. Xoxo

Thursday Thoughts - things I want you to know this week

1. It's my Friday and I know, it's obnoxious to gloat that it's your Friday when it is not most of the world's Friday. So I say join me...take tomorrow off. The weather is supposed to be June-ish here and not April-ish like it was earlier this week. As you may have guessed, I'll be at the shore. This time it's with my girlfriends of over 25 years celebrating our collective 40ths. They're actually not my friends at this point and they haven't been in a long time. They're my framily. I will be pushing them to take 4792084 group photos because it's rare that we're all in the same place at the same time. There are a lot of years and miles between us.

2. Friends - I am hosting a KEEP Collective fundraiser for 350.org - an organization working in more than 180 countries to keep carbon in the ground, help build a low-carbon economy, and pressuring the government to limit emissions. If you'd like the link to peruse with no pressure to buy, it's in the comments below. If you'd like to be added to the FB group, please let me know. This photo is some of my favorite keep stuff - bracelets and charms shown here, interchangeable and you can essentially wear something new daily. They also have necklaces and keychains. 50% of commissions will be donated to 350.org. If you'd like to peruse, click here to shop my link.  A few of my personal totems from Keep: 

3. In other environmental news, I've weaned myself totally from plastic straws even with takeout iced coffee. I also bring a reusable cup and attempt to have it filled. Most places will fill it. It's such a habit to grab a straw, so it's taken me a while. 

4. The making and freezing of things continues. This week it was pork fried rice. I made extra rice so I could freeze some of that too. Take that, steam fresh bags of rice. 

5. For the second week in a row I'm stuck on male rompers and covfefe. I'm still laughing about these things.

6. Fake News hysteria must go. I'm resigned to completely cut people out of my life who think the New York Times and the Washington Post and anything that doesn't have a named source is fake news. Like, are you familiar with the free press and its function, and journalistic integrity and protecting sources? Do you know that Watergate was broken with an unnamed source? NYT and WaPo are solid sources of news. Learn the difference. Maybe also learn the difference between editorial pieces and reporting. Editorial pieces are like this blog here - my opinion backed up with whatever facts I want to give you. By all means, share that, but know that that's what it is at the end of the day. Maybe be a critical thinker and examine the sources you read and share - both liberal and conservative outlets participate in fake news/clickbait headlines and both liberal and conservative people share that shit out in the world because it plays into their confirmation bias. Also, maybe READ the article or piece before you share it - don't just share shit because you like the headline. It's ignorant regardless of how you vote. Get your shit together.

7. Comey testifies today. A primer on Obstruction of Justice.

8. I forgot that I had Mae scoping out the bay last Sunday. She was like the Queen of Sheba up there. She loves being elevated in any way so she can see it all. She's nosy AF and it makes me laugh. I want to film her at the shore and show it to you. She's insane.

9. Tuesday is Show Us Your Books with me & Jana!

10. This made me laugh as it is straight up truth for at least half of the people who rent from us at the shore - our apartment is on the ground floor, so we hear the cement shoes all the live long day.

11. E-card of the week. This is so me in all disputes: I always go right to setting shit on fire. Hide yo' belongings. Hide yo' matches.

What do you want me to know this week? 

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