me

getting advent-er

For the first time in the history of my family (in any incarnation), each person has their own Advent calendar.
Excessive?
Perhaps.
Do I care?
Nope.

We’re super-extra and that’s fine by me.

Here’s how it shakes out.
Top left is the Daddy’s (Husband N), all the hot sauce.
Top right is the Papa’s (YBW), so much red wine.
Middle right is the Birdie’s, because…Harry Potter.
Bottom is Baby K’s, Little People are just right for little hands. (and that Santa is so cute I could die!)
Middle left is the Mommy’s (Thing 1), because one must always add to one’s Playmobil collection.

Here’s Baby K’s mom and dad helping her with the first night.

It may be ridiculous, but I don’t care.
My precious husband needs all those small wine bottles.
My daughter loves her some Playmobil. (and she’ll share with her daughter)
My daughter’s husband wants all the hot sauce.
My granddaughter loves to play.
And I didn’t really want to be left out.

As Wayne says:

Can confirm.
We’re advent-y AF up in here (up in here) and I’m cool with that.

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would you rather – cinquième partie

lose your sense of taste or your sense of smell
Either of these would suck, but if I had to choose, I’d say taste. I mean, most times when the sense of smell goes, so does taste. At least this way I’d be able to smell things…?

live on a houseboat or in an RV
The people who know me know I don’t like boats. However, I think I’d rather live on a boat than in an RV. With a boat, I could travel the entire world, with an RV I’m landlocked.

live in space or under the sea
Am I a mermaid?
If I could breathe underwater, I’d choose the sea. I feel like space would be cold and lonely.

be completely invisible or be able to fly
Invisible. All day every day.

be a kangaroo or a horse
Kangaroo.
Because Kanga and Roo.

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all those lost rewards points

I have a TJX rewards credit card. When I use it I earn points that convert to dollar amount rewards to be spent at TJX stores. I earn one point per each $1 spent out in the world, and five points per each $1 spent at any TJX store.
That’s Home Goods, HomeSense, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx.
Needless to say this card comes in handy. I once bought twelve dinner plates for about 89 cents.

Last month as I was paying bills, I noticed a charge I didn’t make.
Nearly $800 to wine dot com in California.
Look y’all, I buy some wine. But I normally buy wine at Naked Mountain.
Or Wegmans.
Or Lidl.
Or Trader Joes.
Or Total Wine.
OK, you get it. We like wine up in here (up in here).

Anyway…
I didn’t buy that particular wine.
So I immediately called the card company to get it sorted.
They removed the charge.
Canceled my card.
Sent me forms to sign.
Sent a new card.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Not so fast!
I use that card for subscription payments.
Hello Bello for Baby K’s diapers.
The water deliver guys. (we have a water cooler)
But I completely forgot about one!
I got an email that my subscription would be canceled because they needed updated payment information. That’s Disney + and we can’t lose our access to that! YBW would be especially disappointed now the new season of the Mandalorian is on. Baby K would be bummed she couldn’t watch Bluey.
Of course, I sorted that immediately.
The diapers and water are a monthly delivery and payment, therefore easy to remember. Disney + is an annual payment that I never even think about.

I changed passwords.
I haven’t used the new card online (yet).

Of course, this happened at the height of me being sick with lyme disease. I’d pretty much had it.
So there was some shouting. There were some tears. There was a whole lot of me being a hater, and being defeatist, and wanting to take to my bed in the most dramatic fashion.
But it was quickly and easily sorted. And I feel a little better each day, so I’m much less in my feels about it now.

I’m relieved that charge was removed.
Though I’m kinda disappointed I won’t get all those rewards points.

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would you rather – quatrième partie

be a pirate or a ninja
Pirate. Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Geoffrey Rush made it look so damn fun! (and I’m way too clumsy to be a ninja anyway)

live in Harry Potter’s World or Narnia’s world
These are two of my all time favorite book series how can I even choose!?! I think I’d give up being a Queen of Narnia for the ability to do magic. Oh good Lord! What if I was a Muggle? Or worse! A Squib?
OK I’ll choose Harry Potter’s world if (and only if) I’m a witch. If I’m can’t be a witch, Queen of Narnia beats Muggle any day.

be able to breathe underwater or to breathe fire like a dragon
My initial impulse is to say dragon fire. And I mean why not?
But honestly, if I didn’t have to come up for air, I’d never stop swimming and exploring bodies of water.

be able to see long distances or hear things that are far away
My hearing is not so great and I have 20/15 vision, so I’m going with hearing things that are far away.

sleep on the floor or sleep on 10 mattresses
Princess and the pea me. I’m past my floor sleeping days.

“Who Put This Pea in My Bed” by Patti Ballard from my personal collection

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favorite things: November edition

Time for a game of favorites.
Y’all wanna play?

What’s your:

favorite advice
trust your gut

favorite outdoor smell
a no-win tie between: freshly cut grass and that crisp smell in the air in Autumn

favorite quote
“Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can; all of them make me laugh.” ~ W H Auden

favorite card game
Phase 10

favorite thing about a rainy day
wearing my monogrammed rain boots

favorite Dr. Seuss book
Fox in Socks

favorite store
depending on the day, it’s either Home Goods or Target

favorite day of the week
Monday
I like the beginning of things…

favorite punk band
The Clash

favorite gif

Please play along, what are your faves?

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hatching thoughts

My brain currently is all over the damn place.
If you’re not ready to handle a brain dump, I encourage you to look away.
You’ve been warned…

*****

I’ve been considering words.
Specifically the word wallow.
It’s not actually onomatopoeia…but it totally sounds like what it means.
I love that!
Also twinkle.
Twinkle sounds like it’s meaning too.

*****

I felt like my 2019 planner was my worst purchase last year…then I had a thought.
Lipstick.
Lipstick, (or lip gloss) is actually the worst 2019 purchase.
All those new colors. Hidden behind masks.
I expressed this thought to Thing 1.
She disagreed. She reasoned that a 2019 planner can never be used again, but lipsticks are good for a while. They’ll be able to be used in the future.
She may have a point.
Of course she asked me just yesterday if I thought I had enough lipstick in the ditty bag in my purse, so…

*****

Waiting for election results was interesting.
We made a conscious decision not to watch news coverage.
I checked the results each morning and before I went to bed.
Saturday came and Biden is our president elect.
Now, I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on, this vote counting process was something to behold. Every vote, cast in whatever form, was counted.
It may have gone ‘your’ way, it may not. But either way, that’s democracy at work, y’all.

I also kind of love that the Count became a meme.
Like her Auntie Thing 2, Baby K loves Count von Count, especially his laugh.
Ah! Ah! Ah!

*****

Family stories.
I think most families have weird stories, but I pretty much only know my own.
Here are some of them.

My great aunt was engaged to a man but they never married because he died.
Only he didn’t really die. He knocked up another woman and had to marry her.
My aunt told everyone he died and remained unmarried for her entire life.

Grandaddy was in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in Alabama in the late 1930s. He met my grandmother, a local college student, they began dating. He contracted polio. When the university found out, they told the her she must stop dating him or leave school. With a semester to graduation, she chose to leave school and marry him. (he had no lasting effect from the polio)

My dad was adopted when he was five, before that he spent most of his childhood in foster homes. He had only a few memories of being with his birth mother.
One was vivid enough it stayed with him his entire life. They were in the kitchen and my dad was sitting in a high chair. His mother and a man (his father?) were fighting. His mother hit the man upside the head with an iron skillet. Blood spattered into my dad’s oatmeal. He never ate oatmeal the rest of his life.

*****

Remodeling construction finally ended.
The work was good, but the management and communication were shit. I won’t have this company back in my house. That’s OK, two bathrooms with brand new finishes are happily in use and we’re back to some semblance of normal around here.

*****

As much as I love Hocus Pocus, it is actually a terrible movie.
Though I am actually Winnifred Sanderson. Not that I want to consume the lives of little kids to stay young, beautiful and alive forever.

But that I’m pretty much fed up with everybody coming back in here with their bullshit while simultaneously coming back in here with my own bullshit.

*****

I’m so sick of being sick.
I’m sick of being tired.
I’m sick of being in pain.
Do not get Lyme disease, friends. It fucking SUCKS.
Four-hundred-sixty-two-thousand days left in a twenty one day cycle of antibiotics.

*****

Thing 2 and Boyfriend M arrive Thursday afternoon.
So! Excited!

*****

I’m absolutely heartbroken about the death of Alex Trebek.
May he rest in peace.

*****

Letterkenny.
It’s laugh out loud funny.
It’s head-scratching confounding.
It’s ridiculously low-brow while remarkably intelligent.
It’s brilliant and obvious at the same time.
It’s streaming on Hulu, and I encourage you to watch it!
Pitter patter.

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zero stars do not recommend

I have Lyme disease.
Zero stars.
VERY bad.
Would NEVER recommend.

I’ve been so sick, y’all.
These symptoms are no joke.
Fever and fatigue, headache and joint pain, and general malaise.
I can’t concentrate enough to read or write. I’m just kind of going through the motions. Lots of television and lots of lying low while Baby K plays.
I joke about being a whiny complainer, but I’m actually not. I’m the kind of girl that pulls herself up by her bootstraps and keeps on getting after it.
But this? This is me being an actual slug with lots of daytime resting and going to bed early while still getting after all the things.
I have been assured I’m not being a whiny crybaby, that I’m handling being sick and tired with grace and dignity. I think my family is more kind that truthful because I feel like I got run over by a truck.

I’m on day nine-hundred-seventy-six of twenty one days of doxycycline. (seriously, just kill me)

Ticks. What little fuckers! I hope the one that bit me suffers eternally in tick hell.

That’s what I get for being in the out of doors though, right?
We went for a shoot day.
A beautifully sunny fall day at Fairview Cemetery in Culpeper.
Leaves just beginning to do their Autumn thing.
YBW, Thing 1, and I had our cameras. Husband N and Baby K wandered about.

Is it worth it to suffer for my art?
Probably not.
I’m going to go take a nap now.

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would you rather – trois parties

visit the doctor or the dentist
Doctor! I hate going to the dentist.

clean the kitchen or clean the bathroom
While a clean bathroom is uber-sastisfying, a clean kitchen is even more so.

run a mile that was flat or walk three miles uphill
Three miles uphill. Ain’t nobody got time to run…

feed an elephant or feed an alligator
I wanna do both!! But I’ll choose elephant because it’s probably a bit safer.

a pet dog or a pet cat
KITTIES!!
I will pet a cat on a train
I will pet a cat in the rain
I will pet a cat in the house
I will pet a cat (but not) a mouse
I will pet a cat here or there
I will pet a cat anywhere
(Props to Dr Seuss)

Now it’s your turn!

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would you rather – deuxième partie

join the Avengers or join the Justice League
Avengers. I mean come on!

wear formal clothes or pajamas every day
Pajamas all day every day, even when I have to go do ‘the things’.

live in a cave or live in a tree house
Tree house. I once chose an apartment because of the giant tree beside it. Looking out the windows and on the balcony felt like living in a tree house.

be a deep sea diver or astronaut
Though I’m fascinated by all things ‘under the sea’, I feel panicky about diving. So, I’m going to say astronaut. Something about being able to see Earth from space appeals to me.

live without music or without television
I mean no TV might suck, but I could never live without music.

Now it’s your turn!

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what’s your favorite

Time for another round of faves.
I’m hungry this morning so I’m going to do food and drinks.

Y’all ready to play?

What’s your:

favorite breakfast food
french toast with butter and powered sugar

favorite Thanksgiving food
stuffing (not cornbread and no oysters)

favorite cereal
Life (but I only eat it dry)

favorite Asian dish
tom kha soup and khao pad bai kraprow

favorite way to eat bacon
I will eat it on a train
I will eat it in the rain
I will eat it in the house
I will eat it (but not share it with) a mouse
I will eat it here or there
I will eat it anywhere
(Props to Dr Seuss)

favorite comfort food
my grandma’s macaroni and cheese (mine is *almost* as good as hers was)

favorite alcoholic drink
(currently) this delicious concoction of cranberry vodka, dry apple cider, vanilla and spices, garnished with sliced apples, dried cranberries and a cinnamon stick

favorite thing to cook
breakfast
(and I mean a big ass farmer’s breakfast for a house full of folks)

favorite cake
angel food garnished with mixed berries and sometimes (homemade) whipped cream

favorite fast food restaurant
Nando’s or Chipotle

What are your favorites?

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