Thursday Thoughts - Hang the sign upon the door, say, 'Don't disturb this groove'

Sinking into that quiet first week January candles cozy don't disturb this groove hygge flow

Thinking a lot of us think endings are bad when they are a fact of life and usually good in retrospect, often necessary when we think about the situations we are no longer in or the people we are no longer required to move among. Regarding situations, sometimes we don't realize we need a change in the way we're moving about in this world until we make one, which is sometimes forced on us by an external scenario. Regarding people, sometimes we're friends because of circumstance, and circumstances change. There's no hard feelings over that even though we'd like to assign hard feelings to it when relationships or friendships die out. Social media has us thinking we should never stop interacting with people and that is simply not the case. If you need to stop with me, I wish you well. 

Reminding that January 6, 2021 was an insurrection called for by the outgoing president of the United States and should be investigated and prosecuted as such. Any support for it regardless of how you are politically affiliated is anti-American. Coups happen in banana republics and you live in one when you elect a shyster clown. Happy Treason Anniversary cult members!

Shoveling snow Monday. So much fucking snow, 13 inches of heavy ass snow. I am not into that kind of snow. I am into the day immediately after the snow though, for icicles and such.

Returning to the beach after a few weeks away 

Deciding against walking to the beach with Bruce (which he had feelings about) when it was the frozen tundra because he pulls when he is excited and I did not want to break an arm falling on ice in a dark and lonely town. Ben would love to go but would be too cold before we even got there.

Watching dogs melt into electric blankets like it is a river of syrup

Looking around for my fourth dog who is of course no longer with us

Working around deadlines 

Ignoring COVID shit that is not CDC memes because I can't right now. I really hope so many people having it right now is leading us into endemic territory instead of pandemic territory because I'm tired and the government continues to suck farts on the management and mitigation of this

Keeping a thought for the people who perished in the Fairmount fire in Philly yesterday. So awful. Thanks to PFD for their service as always. PLEASE CHECK YOUR SMOKE DETECTORS REGULARLY. If you need help doing so, please contact your local fire department and ask for resources. Here's a list collected by WHYY on how to help survivors. 

Taking lots of Ben photos this week. The ear photo reminds me of one of these things is not like the others

Using my lavender heated shoulder pack thingy that always feels like a hoax when I see them but is quite pleasant in execution

Watching Insecure on HBO and Abbott Elementary on I don't know. ABC?

Reading I picked a slow one to start off the year, moved on to a Netgalley that comes out 1/11. The first Show Us Your Books of 2022 is this Tuesday, January 11, which seems fast. The Favorite Reads linkup is still open until Sunday also. 

What's new with you?

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is The System Don't Disturb this Groove

Thursday Thoughts - let's tighten it up now

1. I am a child of the moon, and it cast a magnificent glow Monday night.

2. My attitude was shit Monday, bolstered by a long, hot, thirsty, standing train ride into the city. By Tuesday I was fully settled into my February snarkiness that hits every year this week. I need more light and time outdoors. Bring me spring.

3. Given my attitude, I didn't mind making my work from home day Wednesday, especially with the snow. Working from home wardrobe > in office wardrobe.

4. Other working from home scenes because. Because. Bruce refuses to come in when it snows. He prefers to stay outside and eat it like it's a grand delicacy.

5. I won these masks from Gina at Ciao Bella! (she's a new blogger and doesn't do social media, which I love, so please go say hey) and Pam sent me these cute towels for sending her some books! Thanks ladies.

6. My wasteful paper cupcake things are finally done. I got these from Target - washable, freezable, no waste. Silicone, not my favorite, but they'll do in lieu of throwing out paper every time. Some of my muffins won't freeze and come out okay if I don't use something that's not just the pan. 

7. I have spent a shit ton of money on dog treats through the years. Geege always turned his nose up at simple biscuits so I got used to buying other stuff. You know what these dogs like? The $1.45 box of made in the USA biscuits from Aldi. I'm not complaining. Do you know how many treats four dogs go through?

8. What else about this week? It feels draggy and blah. I've eaten a lot of carrot cake Oreos and they are delicious. I've been killing it for weeks with my night skincare routine, I usually dick out one or two nights but it's been strong. Although there is an under the skin Kilimanjaro size pimple threatening to distort my chin line. I dragged through reading the fourth Tracy Crosswhite novel. I kept not making an acupuncture appointment and my entire pinched nerve affected side is killing me so I desperately need one and it's finally today at 3. I miss the shore. 

9. Reminder:

10. Ecard of the week:

Well? 

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 Tighten Up by Archie Bell & The Drells

Scenes from a Snow Day

Working from home is like a B-12 shot in the ass of my week: I gain two hours when I don't commute. Two freaking hours. It's the thing you dream about, gaining two hours in your day, right?

Work-wise, I start earlier and end later. I plow through things without distraction. I can change the laundry from the washer to the dryer on my way to the bathroom. And I can do it all in elastic waist pants.

There are no photos of me working in this post, because a) work is private and b) those pics would be boring. Not that these in between photos from a work from home day aren't. They're small, stupid things that feel delicious and decadent because I *can* do them during a weekday. At lunch, I wolfed down a sandwich and glanced through Real Simple at lunch, then I painted my nails (Essie penny talk) before meal planning for next week.

In the afternoon, I shoveled and salted, marveled at the sun coming out after the shitty morning, chased down the shutter that blew away with the ferocious wind, and washed the curtains the dogs rage peed on since I dared to be outside without them. And I did all of it in my polka dot pajama pants.

But the best part at the end of the day is not suiting up to go out in the cold, perhaps having to walk over human poop on the way to the station, pushing like a tiny fish in a huge school to actually get through the door and onto the train, sitting all squished with everyone in their winter coats and loud ass phone calls, then getting on the shuttle to the parking lot or hauling ass back to my car on foot.

Not having to commute helps my balance and gives me a sense of found time on those here and there WFH days.

When I work from home I can just walk over to the couch, kick my feet up, have it still be sort of light out, and know that my laundry is all done and folded and waiting to be put away upstairs.

Where it will sit...for a long time. Because putting laundry away sucks.

What would you do with two extra hours in a day?

Things that happened this week

1. I made a healthy shamrock shake. That is a lie. I made a healthy shake (handful of baby spinach, frozen banana, cup of ice, teaspoon of vanilla) and added peppermint to it so it tasted minty. It did not in any way taste like a shamrock shake.

2. We finally watched the finale of Parks and Rec and I cried. More than once. I'll miss you Pawnee!

via

3. Self tanning started back up. My products of choice are Jan Marini Bioglycolic Sunless Self Tanner for my face and Banana Boat Summer Color Self-Tanning Lotion for my body. The Jan Marini is worth the price - it doesn't clog my pores or make me look orange, I don't find the odor offensive, and I look like I have some color without the sun damage and old lady wrinkles that accompany the real thing. As always, exfoliate like a boss before applying any self tanner or you'll come out looking like a freaky streaky Oompah Loompah.

4. My friend Kelly from Boston sent me TWO containers of the sacred sea salt caramels from Whole Foods that you can't get here to kick off my birthday month. Hallelujah and amen. Thank you Kelly!

5. It cracks me up when people on Facebook who are frequent riders of the hot mess express switch gears and post statuses giving grandiose life advice to the world. That time would be better spent getting your own house in order, am I right? And, I don't know, when you're losing your shit maybe the first place you turn shouldn't be the facespace. If you need to let it all hang out, text your best friend. As the song goes, that's what friends are for. That is not, however, what Facebook is for.

6. Birthday month treat yoself from LOFT and Old Navy Outlets. My LOFT purchases were supposed to be $156 and were $76 after sales and my birthday month coupon. I had stuff to return to Old Navy, so I paid nothing for these and have a credit leftover. Winning. I'm glad I checked out the outlets of both stores.

7. If you follow me on Instagram you are quite familiar with my Saturday and Sunday (and vacation) coffee mug photos. So I thought I'd show you MFD's mug of choice recently. That's right. My Dirty Dancing mug from Kerry. He seeks it out and he's proud of it.

8. Ice. Snow. Bullshit. Tuesday night sucked for ice and Thursday I worked from home due to snow. I'm quite thankful I have the ability to work from home in inclement weather. My train line went down numerous times during the time I'd be commuting home.

9. Pros to working from home: quiet, lots of projects get done that I never seem to find time for in the office, can work in pajamas, nicely scented tarts and candles, don't lose two hours of the day to commuting, can lounge on the couch and watch a show and have freshly made naan pizza for lunch, MFD makes breakfast, overall more gets done. Cons: furry coworkers are alternately lazy, needy, and barky.

10. This is like a delayed Thursday Thoughts post, isn't it? So then a weekly e-card seems appropriate. Link up with me & Jana for Show Us Your Books on Tuesday!

Now lay it on me - what happened with you this week? Good, bad, ugly...I want to hear about it!