Friday Five 5.28.2021

1. This morning on Dog Beach. It's hard to believe the weather will devolve into absolute shit by this evening. 

2. What better time to experience the latest in a long, long, like 18+ year long line of joint Key Fuckery incidents than hours before the first guests of the season check in? There were many WHERE IS THE DEADBOLT KEY hunts and conversations. One was identified and MFD was quickly off to make 2349802834 copies. Jesus take the wheel. Yes, thank you, we know there are electronic key situations but I'm still looking for one that will fit. 

3. We're as ready as we're going to be for this rental season. Lots of burning it at both ends early in the morning and late at night busting our asses to get cleaning, organizing, re-stocking, personal stuff removing, errands, and touch up paint done this week. We've got our soft opening this weekend and my family is coming in next week for my brother's birthday then we're booked for the season up to Labor Day weekend with numerous projects on deck we're hoping to get done this fall if labor and materials are available. Here we go! I literally remembered to re-up to Hulu Live with no ads seconds before check in time. I hope I remember to take photos Tuesday to update my listings everywhere since we've changed stuff and I never remember to do that. 

4. A week like that has nails looking like this. Mae is concerned because she knows what it means when my nails look like that. After work today I'm planning to paint them and also close the door and windows and lay the fuck down, drink my water, read, and zone out until Saturday morning, not leaving my apartment except to walk B&B. MFD went home to work this morning after all the shit was done and took the old dogs with him. I'm exhausted and Memorial Day Weekend at the shore is a lot and someone staying close to me is playing fucking awful music. Time to recharge!

5. My oldest coworker keeps sleeping on the job all day. RUDE.

That's it for me. Dad & Carol's house officially went on the market today if anyone knows of someone looking to buy in Langhorne. It's in Tareyton Estates and I love it. It's the last house I lived in as a dependent. Picture one of the bedrooms blue with spray painted clouds with silver linings on the wall and one of the bathrooms an under the sea mural painted by KVSR and you have my late teen/early 20s life.

My coworker shared this piece reflecting on the role of war in the world and it was a good read leading up to the three day weekend we have in remembrance of those who died in service to this country.

Happy Friday! Have a safe and restful weekend.

Thursday Thoughts - You pick the place and I'll choose the time

1. First guests check in tomorrow at the shore, the house needs to be cleaned with touch up paint done in several rooms, and last night we lay on the couch watching episodes four, five, and six of Mare of Easttown. What a show. What a character! And she's got her OCNJ sweatshirt on.

2. Of course this meant this morning we were up cleaning by 6:30 and I got a solid two hours in before starting work. After a half hour of cleaning up an epic Gus shit. We at least have a head start on house cleaning since Mark, Sarah, and Harry were down for a few days and they gave it a nice clean before they left yesterday morning. Still, who wants to deep clean a fucking fridge at 6:30 am? Not me. Our cleaning crew couldn't make it before Memorial Day. We clean very few times in advance or post-renter. This is one of those times. FYI I like the Dawn power wash only for bigger jobs, not regular dishwashing shit. 

3. Tuesday night Mark & Sarah made shrimp tacos and we took a super Flower Moon stroll.

4. This was a good porch sitting week. Not a good errand week. I went to the laundromat Tuesday and forgot towels so I put laundry in, went to ACME to exchange water jugs and pick up a few things, picked up CBD for Gus, dropped stuff off and then back to throw towels in. Between that and driving to 8038 stores between Absecon and Egg Harbor yesterday looking for a fucking simple storage bin I ended up getting same day delivered to my brother to bring down with him, it’s been feeling a little like Henry Hill on the day he went down. The only things missing are the drugs and the helicopters. 

5. The dogs were all in Philly with MFD for five nights. I put food on the couch for the first time in years. It was nice to have them back though. Gus is here too, just not pictured.

6. T-shirts this week. Fight racism from Mahogany Mommies, Weird shirt is old. 

7. As we hit the unofficial kickoff to summer weekend...

8. I cannot describe my rage over categorically awful PA abortion bills advanced by the GOP-led House. The way the bills are written, women who miscarry would be fined, forced to file a death certificate, and pay to deal with remains. How to make something extrememly traumatic even more so. Stop voting for people who legislate bodily autonomy. Full stop on that. Can people we pay to work on government fucking stop with abortion already and the same goddamn shit over and fucking over and actually do things to improve circumstances in individual lives and communities? Roe is 48 years old and conservatives have been trying to overturn it for the entirety of those 48 fucking years and making very little fucking progress on literally everything else. Have you fucks ever heard of infrastructure? Jobs? Climate change? Equal rights? Criminal justice reform? Voting rights? Closing the wealth gap? Public education? TAKING CARE OF THE CHILDREN ALREADY FUCKING ALIVE IN THIS COUNTRY? Fuck off out of here with your draconian Gilead goddamn bullshit.

9. Reminder...it's actually for fuck's sake, but the sentiment can ride.

10. E-cards 

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Fearless by Pink Floyd

TWTW - the one with the forever friends

This weekend my annual girls weekend with the women I met in junior high and have traveled through life with since. I can't describe how much they mean to me, and how I wish everyone had tried and true friendships with people that have seen their good, bad, and ugly through their life stages. It keeps you centered, honest, and humble. It is difficult to forget who you are when other people truly know, and in this life we all need people who know us as we are, ground us, accept us, and love us. We will see each other through the year when we can, but all of us at once is very rare, and we are never all together without husbands/kids/pets save for this weekend so it is treasured time. We don't actually plan or do anything standardly except laugh, come prepared with tons of snacks but end up scrambling for dinner after most places in town have closed, and just enjoy being together as we are. Missing this weekend was the most bitter pill to swallow in the pandemic year, and it was so great to be all fully vaccinated and back almost wetting our pants laughing, popping bottles, talking about nothing and everything, catching up, sharing memories, relaxing, telling old stories, having a personal shopping session from Kim's sunglasses company (shop here: Yunizon Eyewear), and just being together. 

They were all gone by around 2, and I reorganized a closet, made my to do lists for the week, considered starting them, and lay down to rest and finish a book instead. Mark and Sarah arrived and I hung out with them for a bit before calling it a night. 

I look forward to this weekend forever and it's over in a blink. Until next year!

Please encourage friendships like this in your kids - they are life making.

Thursday Thoughts - And there's winners and there's losers but they ain't no big deal

Drinking coffee with both John Benders 

Voting in the primary Tuesday. I have not missed voting in a primary or general election since I turned 18 in 1995. I've voted twice a year, every year, and I wish everyone would. Primary turnout is often poor. ANYWAY I 100% support and believe in mail in voting and any way of voting that makes voting more accessible to every American, but I personally I love voting in person. I'm thrilled Krasner won for DA. I wish people understood that the DA can only do so much to control crime. Investment in communities, opportunities, mental health services, education, healthcare, and the eradication of hunger and poverty are how you truly lower crime rates on the front end. Cut that school to prison pipeline, smash the prison industrial complex, and de-carcerate this place. I saw someone comment on FB yesterday saying they hope everyone who voted for Krasner is the victim of a crime. How big of an asshole are people? How small of a person do you have to be to wish that on people? The sky's the limit, apparently.

Taking sleeping photos as I always do. Mae's face LOL

Picking up orders curbside everywhere. 

Returning Amazon shit to Kohl's and super happy to see everyone I saw inside still wearing masks even though it is optional for vaccinated people. 

Loving the painted doors at the shore, can't believe I considered not painting them this year

Painting so much shit in general. We didn't do any painting at the shore last year and one year of no maintenance shows. Of course there is a shortage of sample paint at Sherwin Williams due to materials so I have to buy actual quarts instead of samples like I usually do for touch up paint. Shocker, the quarts are difficult to find right now too. Sherwin Williams staff and I are BFFs, I have been there five times in seven days. 

Painting nails, too

Cleaning shore floors and bathroom walls with water, bleach, and tide, bitches. 

Jamming on house prep at the shore. All hands on deck, including dogs, as we prepare for first guests Memorial Day weekend. We have one more opportunity after that to address anything other than that we are essentially out of the main house until September  aside from four hours of turnover time every Saturday.

Pulling over to take photos

Wishing Laura's son MBD a very happy birthday today!

Watching  Mare of Easttown, we have finished three episodes. MFD continually comments on the accent AS IF I AM NOT ALSO FROM HERE.

Taking Bruce & Ben to Dog Beach

Counting down to girls weekend this weekend with my BFFs of 30 years, all fully vaccinated and coming at ya. Out of everything that was cancelled last year, this was the most bitter pill to swallow since there's only once a year most years that we are all together with just us and no husbands, kids, other agendas, etc. 

Reading The Serial Killer's Wife from Netgalley. Although I've barely read at all this week. 

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 Little Pink Houses by John Mellencamp

Books on deck

Happy Wednesday friends!

I was looking over my Netgalley queue yesterday and thought maybe I'd share some titles that are coming out this year that I'm excited to read in case you like these same authors/types of books. If you are not familiar with Netgalley, you can sign up to see if you can get advanced copies of books coming out. There are also read now options on there. Netgalley books are digital copies so obviously I use an e-reader to read them. My favorite is the Kindle Paperwhite (affiliate link) because you can read it in full sun wearing polarized sunglasses and still see everything. No other e-reader will do because what the hell good is something you cannot read in the sun, especially with prime outdoor reading season upon us here on the East Coast?

Obviously so many books come out every month so this is in no way an exhaustive list either of what's coming out or what I'm excited to read, this is just me looking over my Netgalley and pre-ordered book lists quickly and sharing some. Links are to the books on Goodreads if you want to add them to your To Be Read list - yes, we know, the list is already long. If you are going to pre-order any, please consider doing so through an independent bookstore or on bookshop.com to benefit one (mine is set up to benefit Harriett's Bookshop).

Coming out in June 

June 1 - Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid 

June 8 - One Two Three by Laurie Frankel

June 15 - The Maidens by Alex Michaelides 

June 22 - Hostage by Clare Mackintosh

Coming out in July

July 1 - Dream Girl by Laura Lippman

July 6 - Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy

July 6 - Fallen by Linda Castillo (this is book 13 in the series, start from the beginning!)

July 13 - The Therapist by B.A. Paris

July 20 - The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives by Kristin Miller

July 27 - Godspeed by Nickolas Butler

Coming out in August 

August 3 - Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens

August 3 - The Turnout by Megan Abbott

August 17 - Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Coming out in September

September 7 - Friends Like These by Kimberly McCreight

September 7 - Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurlan

September 14 - Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

Coming out in October

October 5 - The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman (not on netgalley I have the final Owens novel in the Practical Magic series pre-ordered on Bookshop) 

October 5 - Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger 

October 12 - Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Saenz (not on Netgalley but couldn't resist including)

October 19 - Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture by Zeba Blay (Netgalley friends, this is a read now and available)

October 26 - These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant (I cannot resist Appalachian fiction)

October 26 - Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente (not on goodreads but I have it pre-ordered from Bookshop)

Foo Fans - Dave Grohl has a book coming out in October. 

Coming out in November

November 2 - Everything We Didn't Say by Nicole Baart

November 2 - All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris (not on Netgalley, I have it preordered from Bookshop)

November 9 - Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King

November 9 - O, Beautiful by Jung Yun

Coming out in December 

December 7 - A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

Is there anything coming out this year you're dying to read? 

Have a good one!