Things I've been meaning to tell you 2.7.2024

For years I was blogging four to five times a week, then three, then committing to still documenting weekends and monthly reads, then a substack post here and there, then stopping even the weekends and monthly reads the weekend after Thanksgiving…and I stopped with no regrets. I didn't want to sit at my computer any longer than necessary. I didn't feel like I had the capacity for it. Since then it’s been like having all the things I shared regularly for so long bottling up in my brain causing a traffic jam. I never thought not putting a blog out would add to my mental load instead of subtract from it, but that's what happened. I am a creature of habit and continued adding any little unimportant thought that flew through to a mental list until my brain felt like the scene in a movie where a pillow bursts and the asshole down feathers that are a PITA to clean up are everywhere.

I'm going to try for a weekly round up, which I will start immediately with no expectations and achieve with varying degrees of success. Let us begin.

1. I’m so glad Tracy Chapman is getting all her flowers for Fast Car. Now let’s do Talkin’ Bout a Revolution.

2. Then let’s actually have a revolution where the needs of actual every day people are met over the need to return profits to shareholders or fund the military industrial complex, which America does without care for how it impacts and erases actual every day people, scorches the earth, and does lasting damage to our shared humanity. Too many of us do not realize our entire lives are attributable to the luck of being born where we were born. Related: let's Make America Go Back to When Congress Produced Things Aside From Sound Bytes Again. Do nothing motherfuckers owned by corporate and/or foreign interests, the lot of them

3. White women powers, activate! Form of: the same shield around Black and Brown women - celebrity or not - we use to surround Taylor Swift. This isn’t a dig on TS, it’s a reminder to us white ladies that white supremacy AND patriarchy are not the shark, they are the water we swim in. And a lot of the time, us white ladies are the lifeguards who focus so hard on some swimmers that we’re just letting non-white women drown. Plenty of Black women have more to say on this than me, and plenty of white women are slamming the door on it because they are sick of the beating Taylor Swift has taken because the NFL shows her on the screen which, ladies, I’m with you. Two things can be true at once. If you read shit like this and get defensive, stop and discuss with yourself. I immediately stop and ask why I’m getting defensive. And as a rule and lifelong commitment to my authentic self, I am ruthlessly honest with my answers. It is okay to change your thought process or to have a realization that sparks a change in how you see the world at any time. If you find yourself stuck, you might be dead.

4. Some of you right now: Back on her bullshit, why did I start reading this

5. I spent two hours on a combo of live chat and phone chat with the bastard Xfinity this morning to lower our shore internet only cost from $160 to $102. How the shit they justify Internet Only at $160 when it was $85 in 2020 is one of the world's greediest mysteries. The cost of utilities in general is absolutely insane globally. Also why isn't Internet fucking free. 

6. Free deodorizer for dog beds, blankets, etc: sunshine. The same thing that kept the Ingalls family from smelling like old crotches through most of the winter. Have you ever read The Long Winter as an adult? If not, recommend.

7. I'm thrilled with how  table originally purchased for $20 from ReStore turned out in Philly - this is Modern Masters Metallic Paint in Amethyst over All in One Paint in Thistle. My niece critiqued it while it was in progress, prompting an additional coat I was not going to do but she was correct. I still need to add a lacquer top coat. More metallic painting shit coming this weekend at the shore. Who knows how that will turn out, because I'll be damned if I'm letting the rest of the thistle go to waste so it will be the base for the two smaller tables I'm doing at the shore as well. Different metallic paints are going on top of that but they are not in the same color family so the end results will be a surprise to both you and me. 

8. Items of note from last weekend: Mr. Rooney's first $$$ emergency vet visit. Face time with a good friend is always comforting and fantastic. Bruce is back on his coffee bullshit. A two hour walk on a windless Sunday in February feels like an amazing dream.

9. Have I mentioned I'm putting my feet in the water every day I'm at the shore, winter included? The water's not bad, really. I need to ground myself in all seasons, and also I'm a pisces what do we expect

10. Woman who is always saying, "I rarely watch movies," has recently watched movies.

I'm coming back next week, I swear.

TWTW - the one that felt five minutes long

Friday was a fire drill all from 8 am on, broken up by a delicious grilled cheese. I tore out at 4 to get my eyebrows cleaned up for the first time in 11 months. It felt human and normal. And honestly nice to not worry about my breath since I had the mask on. LOL. I also went into Target for the first time since November I think, I usually order for delivery or do curbside. Of course my first big day out off the island in a while and it was a wintry mix of BS weather so the drive home was not as carefree as I like. When I got back I said fuck it to dishes (aren't we all saying fuck it to dishes right now?) and ate jalapeno poppers on paper plates leftover from Thanksgiving even though for personal use with no  gathering I am anti-paper plates. Aren't these amazing though? Carol found them. 

Saturday I slept in until 9, 8.5 hours of straight sleep that were fucking amazing. After walking the dogs and showering, I cleaned, purged, and organized our apartment. MFD and the old dogs arrived just after noon. We went to the beach and walked down to see the Playland fire. He also found what we think was a fox skull on the beach and wanted to bring it home and hell no.  

 I went to ACME, MFD picked lunch up at Bennie's, and he watched Gold Rush and napped while I read. I made taco meat for dinner, finished my book and started another, and we were all done pretty early.

Sunday No one wanted to get up, which has been a theme on Sundays. I don't mind, I stayed in bed and read. We eventually got up of course, and I finished a book, went to get Gus's CBD, took the best friend dogs to the beach, ate leftovers for lunch and started a new book, threw together dinner (sauteed mushrooms, potatoes in the air fryer, artichokes/chicken/tomatoes/EVOO/balsamic/seasonings in oven), MFD started the small bathroom wall covering project we're doing, and we watched Nomadland.

In the middle of those things, we stopped and did a family sunset walk. Zero out of four dogs respected the order to avoid the tide pools and all four came home wet. My discerning nose detected a hint of spring on the underside of the air, so we've got that going for us.

I guess we're doing this again. Monday. Is it just me or do weekends feel all of an hour long? 

Here we go. 

TWTW - getting hygge with it

Friday was a grind, so I took the best friend dogs to the beach at lunch to clear my head. It was a great day out there. MFD arrived, we had a contractor out to look at some work, and we ordered pizza for dinner. I was dead asleep on the couch before 9. 

Saturday Thanks to Gus's early rising, I was up and at the laundromat by 7:30. It was a big day out for me. I got Bruce a jacket and picked up a scarf at one of my favorite stores in town, and did curbside pickup from the library. 

We did a family beach walk in the afternoon. 

A post-walk rest before I spent a few hours working before groceries got delivered. Melissa, Blane, Stephanie, and Alex stopped by on the way back from WW/Cape May. It's so good to see people in person even when you can only see half their faces. I made wings and salad for dinner and we watched Palm Springs. Also perused homes for sale, candles at Kevinfrancisdesign.com, and best heat pipe tape because some cold cold is coming for us in the next few weeks. 

Sunday I finally addressed my fucking terrible heels and did my nails (OPI This Shade is Ornamental). I did my toes with OPI Rainbows A Go Go and why does Marshalls have to bugger things up with the price tags. I also exfoliated everything and washed my hair. 

We did a long walk down at Corsons Inlet. Even Gus did the whole way with only a 15 minute carry by MFD. 

Of all the damn shows we haven't watched and we started re-watching LOST. I also did some work, some reading, some shore house booking business (one week open for the whole summer, and one I'm holding off the market for now). Dinner was a Trader Joe's pot roast I had in the freezer along with TJ's carrot coins in the air fryer, mashed potatoes a la MFD, and the beloved Grands Flaky Layers biscuits. 

And it was the last weekend trump was president. Hallelujah and amen.

MLK Day. If you have not read Letter from a Birmingham Jail, please take the time to do so today. If you have, but it's been a while, maybe another read. I've been reading it every year the last five or so. 

Let's go beyond sharing a MLK quote today and live a little like he and all the other people before and after him pushing for Black freedom lived. I hope we can find a way to be in service to our communities despite the pandemic (let me know if you need some ideas) and anti-racist today and every day, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and all the Black people who have existed within structural and systemically racist systems and dealt with personal racism because white people have refused to address white supremacy. This is our work. It's past time. Let's do it.

TWTW - the one with the Christmas

Friday was The Christmas coming off a night of extremely fragmented sleep thanks to a Christmas Eve rain and wind storm. We had water coming in the front door, water on the second floor through siding somewhere, and flashing lost on the back of the house. I was happy to wake up to no more of it. I walked Bruce and Ben and went to the beach to wish the ocean Merry Christmas before coming back to make breakfast, did a Christmas Friday Five blog post, and sat around with Debbie watching A Christmas Story. 

MFD arrived around 11. We opened gifts - old people gifts like a bidet for MFD and a neck pillow for me - and watched more ACS. I put dinner in the oven around 2 (eye round), Debbie made the eggs, and we were eating by 4 like the seniors we are. 

But it meant I could make the sunset with Bruce. He misses going out with me alone as my sidekick dog. 

Christmas night was Christmas Vacation twice in a row, family zoom with MFD's fam, and Gremlins. Which I don't think I've ever watched all the way through and can I say the Gremlins are gross like messy gross and totally rude? I started a new book too. 

Saturday was pretty cold and pretty lax. I did some blogging in the morning, and bought wreaths for outside on clearance for next year. Then I cleared out Christmas. I took Bruce on a sunset walk. 

Throughout the day I read and we watched Murder on the Bayou, two indie movies: The Week End and The Festival, I, Tonya, and Vice. The sum of these few days is more TV than I've watched in months. 

Sunday Since we were up late watching Vice, I was slow to get going in the morning. I started a new book. Debbie left around 11:30. I went to get some groceries. MFD and I took the dogs shelling in the south end. I napped and walked to my corner store for rolls. More reading. I ate a salad which tasted amazing after all the cookies. It was a good and relaxing day. 

Not unlike other years, I am happiest when Christmas is over and decorations are stowed away. Even when they were minimal in the first place like they were this year.

Tomorrow is Show Us Your Books: Favorite Reads of 2020. See you here for that! 

TWTW - Q3

Friday work work, then convened on the basement couch with the fam. I read most of the night. Nails: OPI Lost My Bikini in Molokini & China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle. We started Hunters on Amazon but I was asleep within minutes. 

Saturday I was alone in my house. For more than three hours. MFD and Vincent were out volunteering for Caring for Friends, getting food packages ready for home bound people. I finished a book, started another, lounged, and enjoyed knowing no other human was even breathing in my vicinity. They picked up Reen's on the way back so I had a hoagie for lunch and wings for dinner and we watched Hunters all afternoon and evening. We're all about to see the extent of MFD's hair too. 

Sunday was Eva the Diva's 6th birthday so a car parade was in order. MFD brought his megaphone. Pics stolen from Evan Leslie Images and also a still from Frank's video. It was nice/hard to see friends. Like my heart swelled with joy and I started to cry behind my glasses and couldn't look directly at people. LOL this is all so fucking weird. My Dad also dropped off turkey and cupcakes and stuff for a cute "complete" turkey dinner. And a happy rock in my favorite color. Since I forgot to brush my teeth and applied eye cream to my entire face that morning, I just chilled outside for four hours in the afternoon, finishing a book and starting another. MFD and I watched Better Off Dead. Our dryer sensor started blinking so we put clothes outside to dry and will try trouble shooting that Monday.

Weekly food prep: Something with ground beef is on the menu today. Veggies and pasta and ground beef? I don't know. It's Vincent's birthday today so I'm going to make some pie thing too. 

Week four. The forecast is good here for the week, and I'm thankful for that. Petty FWP sad to be missing Easter at the shore with Mom and fam. 

Thursday Thoughts - One Night and One More Time, Thanks for the Memories

1. Every day I emerge from the train station surprised that it's a day earlier than I think it is, and having to remind myself that it's an entire week earlier than I think it is too.

2. Does anyone else buy shoes and to get a true idea of how they look, photograph them from all angles? Ben was not interested in getting out of these photos. If you're interested, I love the shoes. They're Toms and they're comfortable and substantial.

3. Huge love for libraries and librarians. All the yesterdays, today, and all the tomorrows.

4. While we're on the book topic, I've started and stopped a record number of books over the past two months. Another one this week.

5. I finally settled in on a book (forget the title, LOL), but MFD put a movie on. Sunshine. SPOILER ALERT IN IMAGE FROM A 2007 MOVIE THAT SUCKED. 12 years later, not sorry. As far as I'm concerned if you didn't see it and I spoiled it for you, I have saved you time you will never, ever get back.

6. Bruce is always sacked out on Mondays due to jackassing all around the shore. It's awesome.

7. Things that have made me happy this week: fresh sheets, sleep, new lids to Pyrex to replace cracked lids. 

8. In this week's hell, the Amazon rainforest continues to burn, your buffoon president thought he could just buy Greenland and offended an ally in the process, trump's DOJ has asked the Supreme Court to permit employment discrimination against transgender workers (which will open up interpretations of Title VII that will leave all of us vulnerable to discrimination - EXCUSE ME, all of us aside from cis white men), remaining a healthcare option for poor women forced Planned Parenthood to withdrawal from Title X funding and if you think those funds went to abortion and are feeling smug I have a garbage island in a swamp to sell you (supporters open your wallets),  migrant families would face indefinite detention under a new trump law, and Stephen Miller's plan for people to die in cages is coming to fruition as children detained in cages are denied the flu vaccine (even though three of them have died of it). The cruelty and dehumanization of marginalized groups is the point of this administration. It is vile and disgusting and anyone who supports this administration in any way owns these actions. I'm about 12 months past done building a fucking bridge with people who watch as cruelty and unnecessary and inhumane brutality is committed in the name of making America great again. FOR FUCKING WHO. Get the fuck out. This is being done to feed a sense of superiority that should not exist. 

9. Reminder: Nothing else and no one else first. Your ability to love and care for everyone in your life feeds from your love and care of yourself. To be the best for others, you have to give the best to you.

10. Ecards:

That's what I've got today. You? Anything to contribute?

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 Thnks fr the Mmrs by Fall Out Boy, a song I don't even like. That's two weeks in a row

TWTW - the one here and there

Friday I finished a book and we watched The Dirt, the Motley Crue biopic on Netflix, which was campy as hell but I liked it. 

Saturday I showered, packed, made iced coffee, wiped down the bathrooms, and went to Target before hitting the road for the shore with Bruce and Bender. It was about 50 but windy as hell down there. It didn't stop us from spending an hour on the beach right off the bat. Just another reminder about where balloons released end up: in the ocean tostrangke marine life and then washed ashore. 

Saturday night I went to ACME, picked up one of the better cheesesteaks I've had in quite a while at Mario's, painted my nails (OPI Can’t Find My Czechbook), ate chocolate cake ($2 a slice and damn delicious, thank you ACME), lounged and started a new book, watched some of The Great British Baking Show, and put legs on the new heater I bought for the apartment. 

Sunday The best friend dogs kept barking at nothing all night so less sleep than desired but we spent 45 minutes on the beach at sunrise and it was all good. I did a run through of the upstairs pulling curtains that need to be replaced so I can see what sizes I need and mentally preparing for the upstairs clean that will hopefully happen next weekend - the hot water heater is still missing a part. I read a bit and had the coffee, packed up the car, and we took a 45 minute walk through town before hitting the road around 11:15. 

It took an eternity to get home because a tractor trailer flipped on my exit for the third time in like two months gridlocking the entire area. SLOW IT THE FUCK DOWN. It took me 45 minutes to get home from 10 minutes away. At home I cleaned up the yard a bit, much more elbow grease is required there. 

Then I went to cook dinner and my oven wouldn’t work and I lost my damn mind, did more rage yard cleaning, threw shit in a crockpot, took a shower, and ate pop tarts. 

Weekly food prep: breakfast is egg sandwiches on english muffins with cheese. Snacks are bell peppers and granola mix. I only need three days of lunch so that'll be leftovers. Frying the eggs is the only thing I actually did though. Sunday dinner was supposed to be roasted potatoes and baked chicken but my oven is on the fritz, don't fucking get me started. Really. 

Monday again jiggity jig.