TWTW - the one with the friends

Friday night dinner at Parx Grill with Frank & Amanda followed by entertainment by the hilarious Jim Breuer, and then we met up with my brother and Aubrey and other friends after. I was in a casino AND out until 11:30 on a Friday. Alert the media. We got home and I shredded chicken for Saturday while MFD washed both couches because of dog poop incidents. People arriving at 10 am Saturday? It's fine. Perfect timing for a poopacalypse.

Up and at it early on Saturday morning. I was out at the store and back, then I finished the shredded BBQ chicken in the crockpot, zucchini pie, and spinach casserole and frantically picked up the house and set up for coffee and breakfast. In a race against the clock, I did not make it into the shower before campaign volunteers arrived so hair washing was sacrificed for the cause. File under: you can't do it all. Team Debbie/me/Bruce were out on the morning and afternoon shift and Bruce got himself a seat at the table numerous times and it was so awesome to see my friend since elementary school Bridget both days this weekend. MFD has had awesome people out to volunteer for him the past two weekends - framily and people we've known forever and some we've just met in the past year. It's very humbling for people to give up their time for you.

Golden Girls Murder Mystery Dinner at the Cock 'n Bull (lol lol lolol) restaurant in Peddler's Village with some fine ladies on Saturday night, including the second night in a row I hung out with Amanda. The dessert was of course cheesecake because GOLDEN GIRLS. The poor three women sharing the table with the six of us were subject to poop and vomit stories as well as aggressive adult stories. At one point they were literally silent with their mouths hanging open.

Sunday I was up and out by 8:30 to DD then to visit my most adorable niece and nephew then off to ShopRite to pick up a few things. Another race against the clock to clear the kitchen from the day before, wipe down the bathrooms, get towels going, and pick up the house before volunteers arrived. I barely made it and definitely no shower until 2 pm so they saw me in all of my day old makeup and t-shirt glory. Bruce ate a coaster and made an enormous fucking mess while I was showering. I made soup for volunteers and did some campaign work while I stared at my book wishing I was reading it. I did finish it Sunday evening.  Oh and I painted my janky chipped nails before the Golden Girls Saturday night (Essie Swept Off My Feet and Essie Penny Talk).

Weekly food prep: lol. TBD. Maybe next weekend. 

Was it even the weekend? How was yours?

Happy birthday to my mother-in-law today! 

Thursday Thoughts

1. B&BW candles burn fine for me about halfway down...then they burn like this. It makes me rage. Anyone else? What makes them start to burn like assholes?

2. This week I got in a FB back and forth with someone I don't even know who was basically saying that of course Cam Newton's behavior after the Super Bowl got more media air time than the Flint water situation because that has happened before and will happen again and Super Bowl 50 only happens once and the NFL is popular. I felt like screaming. The NFL is more popular and hence more important than access to clean water? Is this what most people think? We do realize that football is a game and that clean water is a basic fundamental thing we take for granted here in America, right? And that we have a realistic expectation that the water our government is watching over for us is not going to poison us and cause developmental problems in our children, right? But we care more about a quarterback not answering questions about a game he lost? One million comments on an immature 26 year old millionaire (if you have never met an immature 26 year old, let's talk) seen in my newsfeed on FB, but very few things about what's going on in Flint. We can say "I come to FB to laugh" all we want, but that's not really true. We are only tired of outrage when we are the ones that are not outraged. We share what is important to us, and since this is not happening to us, I don't think it's really hitting us the way it should. This is pretty fucking important. Do we not pay government officials to work for us? Being all yeah this is our government it is what it is is not going to do jack shit for any of us. It's time to hold these employees accountable in this instance and in many other instances in which they are looking out for the interests of big business or their own pockets and not acting on behalf of their constituents. We've let it get to this point. It's up to us to bring it back. Thank god for the Virginia Tech research team and some other crusaders who fought for what was right for the people of Flint and for not giving a shit that they were dismissed and ridiculed by government officials.

via

3. At this point, should this just be a rant post? I'm in my normal February slog and I feel snarky. I'm annoyed because the soup I made Sunday? I haven't felt like eating it once. Dinners have looked like this instead...and honestly Monday night dinner was cake. No fucks given.

4. Yesterday I started the 40/40, the challenge I've been doing for the past few lenten seasons. I don't participate in lent by giving anything up, but I do pick this up: 40 minutes of activity a day for 40 of days of lent (taking off on Sundays is permissible). Any type of activity will do. This really kickstarted me last year to a pretty solid walking and weights routine I kept going for many months until I said fuck it in the summer. I'm hoping I enjoy a similar kickstart this year. My pants are tight and I need it.

5. This is what I'm doing most nights: laying with the dogs and getting in bed by 9 to read.

6. Tuesdays with Lola. My niece is the best. I look forward to all the adventures we'll have.

7. Being a landlord at the shore has been really interesting and a huge learning experience, and no one has even slept there yet. It has also taught us that it will take a while to settle into being business partners. LOL. July and August are fully rented as well as a week in June and some weekends in March and May. In March work begins again to get it ready for the spring.

8. I walked to the library yesterday. It's been a while.

9. I jacked this from a friend's FB page and keep looking at it because it makes me laugh like a hyena.

10. E-card of the week...I hate passive aggressive shit so this made me LOL

Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours,

The Breakfast Club. 

I mean

I am a Patriot.

As Americans, we can argue until we're blue in the face over political hot button issues that divide us socially and economically. On the eve of the Fourth, let's step away from the lines that partition us and move towards the middle. Let's agree to stop letting the government define what America is for the weekend.What makes you an American has nothing to do with who's calling the shots on Capital Hill. What makes you an American comes from inside of you. It's a way of being, an outlook on life.

Whatever echoes in the beat of your heart, the thing that makes it hard to swallow and runs through your blood when you hear the national anthem makes you an American. The drive to work hard and be the best makes you an American. The willingness to help someone in need regardless of who they are makes you an American. The desire to DO instead of watch makes you an American.

When unthinkable catastrophes happen, Americans come together regardless of tremendous individual differences to stand united against whatever it is, be it people who fly planes into buildings, super storms that wipe out towns along the northeast coast, people who place bombs at finish lines, tornadoes that level towns in Oklahoma, or a man who shoots up a school in Connecticut in a fit of madness. The American people will not be defeated regardless of what other nations, mother nature, religious extremists, or even individual citizens do on our soil.

You can't break us, we murmur. We are Americans, we declare. We will get through this together, we say. What can we do to help, we ask.

That is America. Don't let elected officials, your beef with them, their actions or inaction turn you against your own country, because they are not what this country is about.

This song is one of my favorites, and it always makes the hair on my arms stand up a little. It does a good job of saying even if you aren't always happy with who's running your country, some of the things happening here, or some of the people living in it; you can still really love the shit out of it and think it's the greatest country in the world.

And I ain't no communist 

And I ain't no socialist 

And I ain't no capitalist 

And I ain't no imperialist 

And I ain't no democrat 

Sure as fuck ain't no republican either 

I only know one party 

And that is freedom 

I love my country. I'm thankful to live here in the birthplace of the nation every day, but especially during this most patriotic week of the summer.

Enjoy celebrating our independence this weekend. Say thank you to those on our borders and on the ground in foreign lands protecting our way of life. Don't blow anything up with fireworks and don't drive drunk.

I'll see you back here on Monday. Four day weekend, holler at me.

Happy Fourth, 'Merica. From sea to shining sea.

Linking up for Wednesday Gratitude, Random Wednesday and Whatever Wednesday