PEANUTS ON THE TREE

 Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

My email is full of messages telling me everything is 40% off at this store and I can get free shipping and 20% off at that store. I don't see anyone offering $1,200% off. That's 🟧 Math. 

But I'd love it if stores paid me to shop with them. Give me that 700% off, baby.

No wonder 🟠runs businesses into the ground. He doesn't understand percentages, or he knows what they mean and he's counting on the stupidity of his followers to believe the crap he says. A lot of people bought the lie about 150-year-old people receiving Social Security checks. We haven't heard anything more about that in a while, have we?

The number of ornaments on the tree grows. I've expanded the add one ornament every time I walk past the tree to sometimes standing at the tree to add three or even four ornaments. The addition of multiple ornaments doesn't occur when I'm on the way to the bathroom, however.

Princess showed an interest in the Christmas tree Sunday, but not in a good way. She started to chew on a branch. I told her no. She obeyed. If one no isn't enough to discourage her, then I've also put some jingle bells on the lower branches of the tree. So if she messes around with the Christmas tree when I'm not in the room watching her, I hope the sound of the bells will alert me to the problem. 

When I leave the house, she usually lies on the living room couch to wait for the sound of my car pulling into the driveway. I receive an enthusiastic greeting at the door.

Now, let's take a look at the Ornament Of The Day:

Thanks for joining me. December has arrived. I know some of you have to deal with snow and cold. We have gray skies, but no rain yet, with highs and lows in the 60s.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

CHRISTMAS IN THE HOUSE

 Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

Princess and I had a great weekend. We walked and talked, and she cleaned my plate after Thanksgiving dinner and when I ate leftovers. We still have lots of good food, and I don't have to run the dishwasher when Princess licks a plate clean. It can go right back in the cabinet to be used for the next meal. (I'm kidding!)

But now it's time to get busy with the Christmas decorating.

The tree is up. It has lights and a few ornaments.

To complete the picture, every time I walk past the tree I have to hang an ornament on it. The final item will be the star on the top. If I put it on now, it will probably fall from its precarious perch every time I put something else on the tree.

Here's the ornament of the day:

If you decorate your home for Christmas and enjoy it even half as much as I do, then you're in good shape.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

ALMOST THANKSGIVING

 Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

My employer made one change to our holiday schedule that I like. Instead of only being off on Thanksgiving, we're also off on Friday. I'm happy about that, so not everything is terrible. 

We're open on Friday, but it will be slow. People who want to work that day chose a shift. They'll be paid extra for working on the holiday. I'm happy to get the two days off and get regular holiday pay. Maybe my next paycheck will be $2.96 instead of $1.96.

We're supposed to have some cooler weather coming in with highs in the 60s. That's not bad at all. Princess and I will enjoy our walks over the long weekend. 

I got out four Christmas decorations Tuesday evening, so now I can say I've started something I said I would do at the beginning of November. I don't think I'll decorate the living room this year. I'll stick to having the tree in the dining room where I can see it from my work desk and from the comfy couch where I sit to blog, read, or watch a movie or two. I get one side of the couch and Princess gets the other side, unless she wants to be on her doggy bed. Sometimes she goes to the living room to sit in the big recliner near the window.

It's fun to put loads of ornaments on my nice, big tree. When I was married, we only had small trees. X would have disapproved of spending money on a larger tree. I ordered my tree from Wayfair. It was on sale for a very reasonable price. 

I always have invitations to Thanksgiving dinners prepared by my friends, which I appreciate, but I prefer to stay at home and enjoy the peace and quiet. Growing up in a large family led me to hate the chaos on holidays. Princess is all the company I need.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

PITY, PARTY OF ONE

 Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

I've had a lot of migraines lately. They make me feel like shit. I give myself a shot of Emgality every month, which usually helps, but my insurance won't cover the Nurtec that helps with break-through migraines. My employer sees record profits so the CEO and other top-level people get millions in bonuses, but they take away our benefits. I know I've bitched about the changes at work before, so please pardon my rant.

My last paycheck was $1.96. A lot of what I earn goes to my part in paying for benefits and into an HSA that doesn't have enough money in it to cover all my medical expenses. 

I've also taken long leaves of absence this year and last because of severe health issues. I won't share them. TMI

The whole X hiring a lawyer thing and wanting to change the settlement hangs over my head like the blade of a guillotine. I wanted to retire after the first of the year. How can I do that when I don't know if I'll even have sufficient funds to live at a greatly reduced standard––not that I'm living the high life now, especially with costs going up non-stop. How can anyone afford to buy beef? I don't eat red meat very often, but I appreciate an occasional steak. I can't remember the last time I had one. 

The letter from the lawyer said when X retires his loss of income will be more than $100,000 a year. Isn't that so fucking sad. I've never had an income approaching that. I don't have a standard of living anywhere close to what I had when we were married, but he wants to cut me off. We were married for 30 years. When he was very sick, I took care of him, although he hated me for being ill.

They haven't filed anything in court yet, but I need a lawyer to represent me. I called numerous law offices in Illinois (the state where we divorced). Quite a few lawyers weren't accepting new clients. I finally found a lawyer to take my case, but her retainer is $4,000, which has to be paid immediately in order to hire her. That amount seems to be typical for a decent lawyer. I don't have a stray $4,000 sitting around. I told X's lawyer we can't talk about anything unless X pays for my lawyer. And I will fight to keep my maintenance (alimony). 

If I have to continue working, there's no guarantee I'll have a job. My employer has adopted the employees are meaningless and can be easily replaced business model, which was the standard at the job I had before. I don't know from one day to the next if I'll be fired. 

When I feel especially bad, when I cry, Princess comes to me and I look into her eyes. She helps me a lot.

I guess that's all I have to say for now. If you're still reading, then I thank you for putting up with my problems.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

JOIN ICE

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

I was concerned about Favorite Young Man and K last week because ICE was in their area. In the city where FYM works, ICE smashed a window on a vehicle, pulled out the driver and arrested her because she honked her horn. 

I texted him immediately to tell him he's still my baby boy and I was worried. He replied that the morons assholes pieces of shit (morons, assholes, and pieces of shit are my words, not his) the agents were probably downtown and the place where he works is outside of town. K said the school where she works was on high alert with all doors closed and an area prepared in case they need to hide children.  

We no longer live in the United States; we're in 📙hell.

Happily, our weather has been beautiful with highs in the low 80s and lows overnight in the 50s. It's excellent dog walking weather. I was especially proud of Princess as we enjoyed a long walk Saturday afternoon. She walked at heel perfectly the entire time. As we approached the neighborhood park, a vehicle backed up toward us. Princess watched, too, and let out a soft warning woof. She's such a good girl.

Saturday evening I went to a pharmacy for my flu shot and pneumonia vaccine (I already had the COVID vaccine in October). I started to feel tired and achy a few hours later. Flu shots haven't bothered me in years. I think I had a reaction because I got two vaccines at the same time. I needed a long nap Sunday afternoon. 

My arm also hurt more than usual after the COVID vaccine. But I'd much rather have some aches and pains than have COVID, the flu, or pneumonia. I've noticed how frequently pneumonia is the cause of death for older people. Diane Keaton is one example.  

We're expected to have a nasty flu season because of vaccine skepticism. Thanks a lot, Worm Brain Bobby. He's not a doctor. He doesn't have any expertise in healthcare. He cites disproven studies and even invents sources to back up his crazy vaccines-are-bad- for-you beliefs. Wouldn't you know 🟠 would want the one Kennedy in his cabinet who all the other Kennedys hate?

If you haven't gotten your flu shot, I hope you'll get one now. 

My upcoming long weekend will find me getting the Christmas tree up and decorated. Princess and I will have good times together, too. She loves turkey, as do I. We have a Costco heat-and-eat Thanksgiving dinner in the refrigerator. Yum!

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

DEAD PRESIDENTS

 Let's all curse the 📙who called our veterans suckers and losers.

IF MY LAPTOP DOESN'T RECOGNIZE ME, THEN DO I STILL EXIST?

 Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

Sometimes when I attempt to log in on my laptop, I put my index finger on the doo-dad and the computer says it doesn't know who I am. 

What? Then who in the hell am I? I try again and sometimes it says I have to enter my PIN. Fine, whatever. 

Times are hard, boys and girls, very hard.

I wanted to write about dreams, but I can't remember them. I take a prescription medicine to help me sleep that can cause vivid dreams. The longer I'm on it, the less vivid the dreams are, or they go away, or I don't remember them. I ran out of it recently and after I began taking it again, I had some wild dreams. 

The first dream was pleasant. Mitchell and I were conversing. He was in the US. I don't know what we were talking about, but it was such a pleasant dream that I wanted to write about it. Alas, the details are gone.

Then, early Monday morning I had a nightmare. It was real, and I was terrified. I came out of it when I heard myself ask, Is this a nightmare? I don't remember what that was about either. 

I have lost track of the number of supervisors I've had at work. They come and go constantly on the supervisor merry-go-round. They quit or they're promoted or they disappear. The first one, Bryan, was so good that I thought the company would have other good supervisors, too. Not so. I had interacted in the past with my current sup. She's in another state, but she seemed great––thorough and pleasant. She isn't. She is disrespectful and can always find something wrong.

I did learn something from her, though. Months ago when I had this year's job review and J hadn't quit yet, he told me I wasn't meeting company standards. For the second year in a row, I didn't get a raise. At the time, my depression was in remission. 

It left its parking spot in remission and went on the attack. I haven't completely recovered yet. However, I learned from the current sup that I was meeting company standards. While I can do some things better, she described one aspect of my numbers as phenomenal. 

I don't know why J lied to me. But his lie did a lot of harm to me. Other supervisors with this company have also lied to me. Do they do so at the behest of management, or do they not know what they're doing? J also lied to a friend of mine who received correct information from her new sup. 

What I know now is I also have other problems. My eczema is terrible on my left hand and arm. Anxiety follows me everywhere I go. I haven't been able to work most of this year because of depression. I am looking for a lawyer who can represent me in Illinois because I received a letter from a lawyer representing my ex-husband. He wants to change our divorce settlement. 

I will be 67 in February, 2026, and I hoped to retire at that point. If X gets his way, I won't get to retire. I'll continue to work for the crappy company with the supervisors who lie. I also won't have enough money to keep my house. I could move into a low-income seniors apartment building, but that won't work for Princess and me. While many of the buildings allow dogs, they don't allow Princess-sized dogs. I'd rather get a tent and pitch it in the woods than give up my Princess. 

Everything seems very dark and dismal to me now. I've been calling law offices. Perhaps the place I called this afternoon will be the right one. I have some retirements funds, some of which I received in the divorce, but X misled me for years about the amount we had saved for retirement. What I have isn't enough to live on combined with the bit I'll get from Social Security––if it still exists.   

The world has always favored men, and I don't see that ending any time soon with the felon's regime in place. Will no one stop him?

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug