We don't talk about Bruno...

 

Or what happened at the Oscars on Sunday.

It's Thursday here in Lalaland and I've been people-watching as I have my morning coffee. The MITM* is sitting across from me (earbuds in and humming) as usual and only looking up when I tap his computer to get his attention. As I may have mentioned, super nana and Mr Matrix live on a busy street one house away from a large grocery store, so there's a lot of foot traffic to observe. Always the cutest are the young parents pushing strollers because most of the time they're engaging with each other and their children. The saddest is the single parent pushing a stroller while talking on the phone. I don't say sad because it's just a single parent since I don't know their marital/coupled status, but because they aren't talking to their child! I've seen some of the same dads pushing strollers for a few days and the behavior isn't a one-off. Maybe it's because when the members of my krewe were stroller age, I didn't have a mobile, so by default I talked to them. The boys were 17 and 18 months apart so we were always a loud traveling circus on our walkabout. The children in the stroller, for the most part, seem totally uninvolved almost slack-faced, not really aware or enjoying the activity. I'm talking about toddlers in strollers, not infants, so the ability to communicate is there.  

(Sweet Mary Sunshine, but reading what I've just written makes me sound as if the next words I say/type will be "Get off of my lawn!")

The MITM has been deadheading roses and also cutting some to bring inside. I wonder if some of the neighbors are wondering, "What happened to that cute YOUNG couple that bought the house?" We were outside the other day doing the same job and when we came in noticed that we really did look like old pensioners in our (unknowingly) slightly matching black sweaters and khaki pants! I like to think the only that keeps us still in the hip old folk's camp is that he was wearing au courant low-top sneakers and my khakis were rolled up just enough to show off my old school leather moccasins! (I hope y'all know neither of us really cares about what other people might think!)

The MITM is getting his second Moderna booster today. I'm just getting over a cold, so I'll get mine next week. We're not taking any chances given the concern about yet another possible surge of yet another variant of COVID-19 here in the Southland. We all still wear masks when we're out and about and I dare a muthafucka anyone to confront me about it! I'm in the better-safe-than-sorry camp.

That's it for today, sweetpeas! I have arranged roses to place around the house, courtesy of the MITM, and an herb garden to tend to!

xoxox

*Man In The Moon or as he used to be known theguywhothinkshesthebossofme

What a day!

 I spent a good portion of today watching the confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. To say that I was surprised by the Republican members of the Judiciary Committee would be disingenuous. Their behavior was unworthy of their positions and yet, so very true to what the GOP has become. 

I could expand on how I really felt during some of the questioning by some of the committee members, but I think BGM summed it up when she said that Ted "Karen" Cruz looked like the bad fox in "The Return of Mary Poppins" and I have to agree with her! The theatrics, inanity, lies, and falsehoods were embarrassing to watch and extremely hard to listen to! As much as I deplore their actions during these hearings, I am confounded by how they were elected and what were those voters thinking? Or perhaps that's it, they weren't thinking.

Tomorrow will be the third day of hearings and I can hardly wait for that shit show what the day will bring.

Here's to hope, sweetpeas.

xoxo

Sunday, fun day?

 Well, my loverlies, blogging every day turned into here we are and it's Sunday, and what happened to Thursday, Friday, and Saturday? I'm going to put it down to good intentions, but sorry follow through. 

Or something like that.

So here we are, St. Patrick's Day was Thursday and quite a few bloggers had great posts, but I figured anything I did would pale in comparison. (or maybe I was just too lazy  busy) Friday and Saturday slipped past me in a whirl of continued laziness activity around here.

Today we went plant shopping for our herb garden. BGM and I are using her Spring Break to do some container gardening! So far we have 6 basil plants, 2 rosemary, 2 flatleaf parsley, 2 different types of red chilies, and a solitary mint plant. The MITM couldn't resist the lure of live ladybugs for the rose garden. BGM is going to document the daily evening release and write a report for her class. (who knew there were so many rules about ladybugs?)  I figure gardening will be good for at least a half-day activity. We're also going to do a bit of organizing in her room each day. I'll spare y'all a daily update on that activity. But we might take pictures for The Bloooooggg!

Busy days ahead, sweetpeas, busy days.

xoxo

Surprisingly, I don't feel old today!

 Today is "Pick A Decade Day" at BGM's elementary school. She chose the 60's and dressed like a hippie. Her outfit was overalls, a tie dye tee shirt, a couple of mini braids framing her face with the rest of her long hair loose, shades (yes, I told her to call them that), and a clip-on flower in her hair!

While I was braiding her hair, she asked me how I wore my hair in those days and what color was it! When I told her I wore it long and wild, and it used to be all black, she ever so innocently said, "I can't picture you looking like that with black hair!" I told her there were a few pictures that proved it was true. (I didn't mention that I used to wear a scarf as a blouse, hip-hugger bellbottoms, and sandals all the time.) Anyway, at that point, we were both laughing, but for different reasons I'm sure!

What does this have to do with not feeling old? Well, my darlings, hearing a 9-year-old laugh so genuinely and freely will knock away years off your life. It also reminds you to relish each moment and forget whatever number you're currently carrying. Besides all of that, thinking about how much I changed during that decade truly made me laugh, but that's a topic for another time!

So, here's to tomorrow and a bright future for all of us. xoxo

I may have missed Monday, but Tuesday is nowhere near as busy

 Yep, Monday whizzed past me, sweetpeas!

For a variety of reasons everyone in this house had to be awake early (Gawd, on a Monday, too) and busy with a variety of assignments, so I missed blogging. Well, I wasn't really busy, I was just trying to stay out of the way of the really busy people. So, consequently, my computer and I were estranged for a portion of the day, and when we were finally reunited, I didn't have words to share. Actually, I was too engaged watching The Chelsea Detective and then, reading the NYT. It really was easier mentally to watch a murder mystery than to read the daily horror show scroll by on my screen.

But here it is Tuesday afternoon and I'm sitting across from the MITM watching him moving to beat only he can hear (he's wearing earbuds) as he writes. I guess it's a sign of the times that working at a partners' desk can feel as isolating as an office cubicle when you're both writing.

To be clear this is not a complaint, just an observation.

It's very similar to talking to yourself whilst cooking, but there's someone else in the kitchen who thinks you're talking to them. Proximity assumes conversation, I guess.

Or maybe, I'm just too much in my head right now.

I've been waiting all day for a call back regarding an appointment and I am slightly pissed off aggrieved that I've had to wait.

Huzzah! while I've been looking at my screen, the lovely MITM has opened a bottle of wine! 

So Cheers, loverlies! I'll see all y'all tomorrow!

xoxo

Observations on a Sunday morning

 We're at super nana and Mr. Matrix's house this weekend, so I have a view out the breakfast room window onto a busy street. This morning while I was drinking my coffee I noticed an elderly man stop and look down at something near the edge of the driveway and the neighbor's yard. It was a book. He picked it up and started flipping through the pages stopping occasionally to read a section, then continuing to flip pages. He stood there for at least 15 minutes, moving only when the MITM drove up and parked in the drive. I opened the front door to let the MITM and BGM in and as I did, the old guy looked up, I smiled and said, "Good Morning" He half smiled and waved back. I think he expected me to say something about the book, but I didn't. I'm just glad he took it!

I made the mistake of looking at the NYT online this morning, so seeing and having a pleasant encounter was a very good thing.

Little things are making me smile today. 

Or maybe it was the lemon jelly doughnut the MITM and BGM brought home. 

No matter what I am going to enjoy the little pleasures life gives me and be thankful for them.

Take care of yourselves, sweetpeas

xoxo

Holey Moley! It's The Doc's Birthday!

 No picture this time because I don't have a recent one for some reason! I know, right? What kind of mother doesn't have a picture of her child to share with friends on his (hold on I have to do the math because I forget how old he is today)  49th birthday???

No party, just gifts delivered earlier, funny text messages, and no early morning wake-up call! 

I like catching them off guard with those calls.

So, please join us in celebrating Doc's day and leave him a good wish or two!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DOC!

Al Green - Love and Happiness Pt 2

March 8, 1969 Still the One

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MITM!

Yes, today marks our 53rd anniversary! The guy-who-thinks-he's-the-boss-of-me have been together an extremely long time and we have the scars 4 children and memories to prove it! All that to say, nothing exciting planned for today, just knowing we're still speaking together is enough!

Here's to love and happiness! 

Help! Blogspot seems to have changed its game on me

 I can't seem to add a new blog to my sidebar! I mean, I added the name and the URL, hit save and for some reason, the newly added blog isn't showing up on the sidebar! What am I doing wrong?

HELLS BELLS! there's more that isn't right on my sidebar! I just found out that another blog I've been following isn't showing up on the sidebar!

WTF is going on blogspot?

Somebody said, "Take my picture and put it on your Bloooogggg

 

Here we are or What's next? Locusts?

 Like many of you here in Blogville, I am struggling to find the right tone, the right words to balance what's happening in Ukraine with our everyday lives. So much, if not all, of what's happening is so far above our paygrades that we're reduced to watching, reading, or listening to what's happening there. America is removed by an ocean, but the unspoken anxiety is still present. The entire world is under pressure, physical and/or mental, from the murderous man in Russia. I wonder how long he has before the Russian people say ENOUGH! 

We will each find our way and I can only hope that it will be peaceful and that we are not watching the beginning of the end of our planet.

Please donate to whichever relief fund is available to you wherever you are. xoxo

Fat Tuesday, March 1st, 2022

 So here we are looking at Spring just around the corner. Right now it's 79F here in Lalaland, sunny, bright and the living is easy. We are, as a friend said on Instagram, so lucky to have been born here. He caught a lot of flack for that from some who read far more into his statement. Folks felt that the idea of luck was "part of a victim mentality" go figure because that's a state of mind I'd never embrace. It is serendipity that we're where we are in the world; a combination of decisions ancestors made or were forced into that have placed us in America. Having grown up during the Cold War practicing drills in event of an attack (seriously, did adults really think that kids hiding under their desk with their arms over their neck would save them?) I can't imagine how anyone in Ukraine is dealing with the attack and events that have unfolded these past 6 days. This time last year, average Ukrainians were living their lives dealing with a worldwide pandemic and still planning for their futures with no hint of what a year would bring. 

I remember listening to Dr. Fiona Hill during TFG's impeachment hearings and wondering how anyone could dispute her words given her background. I can only hope that wiser heads than mine are listening to her now. (You find her words/testimony just by googling her name because I've forgotten how to do hyperlinks.) 

So, what does all this have to do with Fat Tuesday? Today marks the end of the Mardi Gras season and tomorrow will mark the beginning of Lent for Christians. The parallel for me is the end of gestures with regard to Russia and the time for serious thought of what happens next because we are dealing with a man who seems to have lost all sense of reality and unfortunately, has access to nuclear codes. We experienced the madness of TFG, but we had a military that KNEW they swore an oath to defend the United States, not the president. This is not the case in Russia. 

Yeah, I'm lucky to have been born here, but I fear for my friends who are closer to the insanity and the possibility of the entire world being drawn into the calamity that is on the horizon.

I'm rambling and stumbling because I have no idea what will happen in the days to come, except that I will be with my family and I will revel in that certainty.

Stay safe and well, sweetpeas! xoxo