DISCLAIMER: look, I wrote this in just a bummed out mood. If you’re not looking for that vibe today, I get it. I really do. And no judgment. So I’m gonna put a line where I stop being sad and force myself to find joy in treasures, and if you want, you can just skip right to that. BUT if you need someone to sit in your sadness today, boy. I’ve got you. Okay, disclaimer over.
I am beyond excited for Advent this year!! I have Tsh's book on the way!! Also Sara Sparks is releasing an Advent album sometime really soon (maybe today?). She's got a great Narnia inspired album that I will totally be playing during this season too!!
I’m late to the party this week but it’s been a day (started with having to get my new “real ID” driver’s license on which the photo looks like a flipping mug shot) and is ending with cramps, a heating pad, and a glass of wine from a bottle I had the foresight to hide a few weeks ago before our Whole 30.
Turds include rising case counts and, like so many others, a nervous system that thinks I’ve been in IMMEDIATE DANGER for months.
Treasures include purchasing, assembling, and decorating a new Christmas tree; finishing the paint job on the farmhouse table and bench that my husband and son made for our back porch; a text thread with three of my besties I’ve had since birth that, while some of the subject matter has been heavy (rising case counts, worry about parents) it has been a delight to be talking to them and there have, as always with them, been moments of levity.
I just spent some quality time reading the comments, and I have to say, Lil Swipes are great at sitting in sadness together! Since this is such a safe space, and like Lindsay and Sarah I'm more of a verbal processor ;) I'm going to share my sads this week.
I got some bad news this week at the neurologist. (Background: I have a lot a lot of chronic illnesses and some of them are neurological.) My brain has stopped responding to treatment, and we believe it's because I have a chronic infection that is trying to destroy my brain tissue little bits at a time (lab work coming back next week will confirm this or not). There are treatment options, but it's going to take a long time to bounce back from, and in the meantime my work hours have dwindled to almost nothing. Honestly y'all I'm not sure how I'm still employed. My boss is rooting for me in a big way but I don't understand how people can be so good. <3 I would not be surprised if I'm let go, though, because of my inability to literally show up. I'm not currently a praying person, but if y'all would pray I would stay employed, that would be great, because I have no other financial recourse.
Related: I had to have a tough convo with my neurologist about how I would have to stop treatment next month because my income is almost nothing and my family isn't helping, and he immediately said 'don't worry about it, we will take care of you.' If I was physically capable of crying I would have cried, it was so tender and such an immense help. I am waiting to hear back from my therapist to see if I'll be able to continue that, or if I'll have to stop.
I haven't shared the medical news with my family yet, and I probably won't, because the situation with them is deteriorating. Basically I have unresolved trauma with/from them that I just remembered this year, and they're super unhealthy/manipulative/historically abusive, and spending time with them causes my mental and physical health to unravel. I've made definite plans to spend Thanksgiving with one of my best friends and her family instead, and I am excited! I haven't told my fam that I won't be seeing them yet, and I'm going to wait until the last possible minute to avoid the backlash.
Treasure of the week is that I've booked my first modeling gig?! Words I NEVER thought I'd say. It's with an Etsy shop that makes disability awareness goods. Supporting small, female-owned businesses is what I am ABOUT so this has brought joy to my soul this week. And it's paid! Praises be.
Wooooo OMG YOU GUYS did you see that the grandma in the "hear comes the balrog" tweet needs new hearing aids? We gotta get on that GoFundMe. Should I put this in the We Got You club?
I feel you today!! My 5yo son had eye surgery #4 this week. This time last year he was hurt at karate, and while at the time I was too shocked to be angry, this week I have found myself FULL of rage, and fantasizing about driving him up there during peak class hours and showing them what their negligence did to my baby. I'm just so angry! Compound that with the petulant child in the White House, my mom's dementia, trying to figure out how to do the holidays, and our school's announcement that we're going fully remote until at least after Thanksgiving, I'm hanging on by a thread today!
I have to really work to find them, but there are treasures too. Let's start with THAT ROBE! I bought it for myself at Christmas last year, and it has been my security blanket since the election. I lived in it last week! Tonight my husband and I get an overdue date night to celebrate my belated birthday, at a place some publication named the best new restaurant in the US in 2019. V excited! And, that surgery my son had seems to have been a huge success, so I have that to be thankful for.
Maybe this will help you smile: I read an article about how on Jan 20 at noon the Secret Service can pick Trump up and carry him out of the White House if need be. I keep imagining it and it makes me smile every time. #sorrynotsorry
ERIN - I meant to say this above. I completely understand the numb feeling you had during your emergency. I had to go alone to my son's surgery. My husband was upset he couldn't go, everyone kept asking me if I was ok to go alone, but I felt nothing about it. I wasn't nervous or upset, I just went through the motions. Then I had the mom-guilt cherry on top for NOT being more concerned. Not trying to one-up you, just want you to know I completely sympathize. You're not alone. This year has really done a number on us. <3
As a single woman in her 40s, I long ago claimed "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" as my life verse. ;) And Erin, my younger brother (who just turned 40) was the original entry in the Poison Control Center database. When my mother was out of town with me, my toddler brother got into the bag of ice melt. My father found him with it crusted all around his mouth and frantically called Poison Control. My brother was fine, and the center sent my father a list of common household harmful substances and how to safely store them away from children. When said list arrived, MY BROTHER PROCEEDED TO EAT THE LIST. I cannot make this stuff up.
I've already posted twice, so I should be booted off this thread right now, but I just needed to cry somewhere....My husband got sick October 30 and tested positive for COVID on November 1. He returned to work this week with approval from his supervisors, but my kids had to stay out of activities for a full 14 days. On Wednesday, my son spiked a fever, so I had him tested yesterday. Just a few minutes ago, the test came back positive. We are now on round TWO of COVID quarantine, and I am done. Forget Christmas, I just need to skip to 2021. Things for which I am grateful: very mild cases of COVID, internet access, grocery pickup/delivery, and the fact that this time I get to sleep in the same bed as my husband as opposed to the last time. But y'all, really, this stinks. Holding joy and sorrow together right this moment is hard. If you are person who prays, I'd love the prayers. In the grand scheme of life, this is a minor blip, but it seems pretty major for me and my four kids especially right now.
Oh Leah I am soooooo sorry. I feel super defensive of myself because when people tell me to stop living in fear, I want them to understand, I am not irrationally fearful of dying. I am fearful of quarantining for potentially 2 months while the virus works it way through my family of 5, with the clock restarting for another 14 days as someone else gets a positive result. Eff that.
Truly and deeply, I am worried that this will pass through all six of us one person at a time. We are trying our best to abide by guidelines but it is hard. My 12 year old son is just hanging out in a room by himself, and goodness knows that's not the best for his emotional and mental health. He's FINE, too, barely has symptoms at all. That doesn't mean we plan to blow off the guidelines at all, but just that they feel even more restrictive. All that to say, entering day zero again, it's a valid fear. Wear a mask, people. :-)
I love reading these, even with a week of Sad, you guys are a breath of fresh air.
This week has been a bummer. My roommate has COVID, so my effort at being careful and having no social life and not making many friends after moving to Florida so I'd limit my spread feels a little bit like it's been all for nothing. I don't have COVID, so I'm praying it stays that way. It seems like not the best move to be so angry with her instead of doing what I can to take care of her, so I'm doing what I can to take care of her and keeping my feelings to myself. I also found out I need a root canal and that will have to wait at least 2 weeks before my quarantine is over before I can get it done.
I have found joy in this WAP remix: https://youtu.be/gBnj1ocAD2s there's a longer one on TikTok, but I can't find it anymore. Maybe it was a dream the Lord gave me to help give me strength for today.
Also, I love all things earth-friendly, so Pela cases have my heart. I just got a new phone and needed a new case, so I got one that has little bumble bees on it. They're having a sale right now, so booyah: https://pelacase.com/
Thanks, Karen. Update this week is another roommate is down and I have a cough, but we held out for a solid 9 days before developing symptoms, so I'd consider than an immune system win. 💪🏻
Hello fellow Floridian!!! Just take comfort knowing that the sun is still shining and hopefully the storm didn't knock your power out or flood your stuff. ☀
Just now answering because I've been emotionally unavailable since I posted this 🙈 but yes, still have power and all of my stuff is in tact! So that's a huge praise.
So sorry about your roommate/COVID situation/root canal. 😩 That’s a big bummer. But that PUPPY. The FACE. 🥺🥺🥺 Thank you for sharing that major treasure.
Treasures: I started watching some truly terrible television this week as a means of coping from (gestures wildly) all of this. Exhibit A: I just started season 2 of Selling Sunset, these women are truly terrible and according to the internet may or may not actually sell real estate for the Oppenheim Group.
This video of Chris Stapleton at the CMA's the other night, which simultaneously works as a break-up/get back together song and a commentary on ALL OF THIS.
My new grad class started this week and it's the second research class in a series of 3 which will culminate in writing a thesis paper! What is this life I'm in right now? I love what I'm researching but am annoyed with how the professor writes his assignments. In the due date heading of the assignment, he tends to write the date at which he supposes we will be reading the assignment, not the actual due date.
I bought too many candles during Bath and Body Works $10 off sale. The Limoncello candle is a good dupe for that crazy expensive Volcano candle from Anthropolgie.
There is/was a stupid amount of content from the PMG this week and I'm here for it.
Also, Pantsuit Politics got me through the last week.
Turds: I'm sick or my allergies hate this time of year in So Cal when the temperature fluctuates 40 degrees between morning and afternoon.
I spent last weekend watching my teenage nephews and 5-year-old niece while they were all sick. I 99.9% sure I don't want any kids of my own. I'm 38 years old and the two boys are basically self-sufficient but at the age where the oldest can't stand anything about the other and the younger one worships his older brother. Someone only got kicked in the balls once, I only had to clean up dog excrement once, I got absolutely no alone time except when I stayed up later than usual to watch the new Bachelor episode after everyone went to bed and I caught their cold...maybe. But I was happy to give my brother and SIL a weekend away which they richly deserve. That's the most enneagram 2 thing I've written in a long time. It was terrible but I helped someone so it's worth it.
I drove 9 hours each way a couple weeks ago because my sister and her husband desperately needed some kid free time and while I was happy to be there and love on my niece and 3 nephews I was so happy to be home and back in my quiet kid free, mess free home. I fear Covid has made me even more of a homebody than I already was! And the messes. Ohhhh the messes. No kids is not so bad! 🤷🏻♀️
Allergies are so bad this time of year for me (in SC) and then you get to add the fun "but what if it's Covid-19 into the pantheon of feelings, so that's great, lol.
Pantsuit Politics saved me last week, too. And this week. The memes. Sometimes the internet is the worst and sometimes it's the best.
I was in target with my teenage children last night. I walked by that robe, touched it and told my kids to tell my husband to buy it for me for Christmas. Now I am very much regretting not just buying it for myself😭 Maybe I’ll go back today😬
Hello. In avoidance of everything that is going on, I have dedicated myself to learning about the #FreeBritney movement. Although there are no cocktail parties, I am now prepared to be a great conversationalist just about Britney. I have lots of feelings and while I am unsure if she is writing "call 911" into her eyelashes, but I do think that her conservatorship is unfair.
If you care to join me in this deep dive, I recommend the following:
I LOVE BRITNEY SPEARS (all caps needed). I've been binging Eat, Pray, Britney the podcast and it is filling my Britney hole in my heart. I'm so sad that the judge denied her request to remove her dang father from the conservatorship.
Ok so yesterday I weirdly started watching Heather McMahon's highlights about Britney from 2 years ago and why are they still accurate?? It's very distressing.
I watched your election shenanigans from Australia and was in disbelief that it held so much chaotic energy. I also cannot believe your covid numbers. Friends, I hate that your country is where it is and if I were there I’d be digging a tunnel to anywhere else. I’m sorry things are so crappy. You deserve better.
Meanwhile, if you were in the Comfortable Words group you got daily updates about the medical mess that is my life right now. My husband got his last round of test results back and guess what? Still no answers. The doctor is trying to rule things out but it’s slow, expensive and I’m tired. I want answers, and honestly, I want to be pregnant thanks - no more medical things making that hard.
Unrelated to presidents and covid and medicine, I made an onion tarte tartin yesterday and it’s delightful. You should also make one with sad fridge onions.
Tamara! I was just thinking about you yesterday! I didn't remember seeing your name pop up here last week and hoped you were doing well❤ I'm sorry the medical things are so frustrating 😕
I've been around but silent! I started a new job (taking Santa photos) and we went away for a weekend to an alpaca farm (as fun as it sounds) and I've been sleeping lots because work is tiring, man.
You guys might be about to point me in the right direction. I bought my best friend Tsh's Advent book, but I want to buy her a wreath to use from year to year to go with it. Know of any artisan's or resources for pretty Advent things?
Oooh, now I want an answer to this too. My husband grew up in a tradition that doesn’t do Advent, and I wasn’t raised in Christianity, so we are establishing these traditions ourselves.
I've been in my Sads this week too. I think it's perhaps a detox from election season. (The election season that refuses to fully end.)
I've been absent a couple weeks because I was traveling two weeks ago, and one treasure to share: I was nervous about visiting my grandparents the weekend before the election because my family enjoys political debates and usually has Fox News on 24/7, but guys. They kept it off the ENTIRE time we were there. It seems like a small thing, but it made me feel like our relationship matters to them more than politics and it was wonderful.
Last week was a ride, man. Treasures and turds all up in the mix. Talk about both/and.
Our puppy, Finley, is doing well, despite being the bitiest guy possibly ever. I know they grow out of this stage, but it feels sooo long and my poor kids don't understand it. But he is sweet and cute and smart and we love him.
I got to see my cousin and her family (briefly, and masked) when we were in VA, and it was both a gift and kind of sad. I don't have sisters and my cousins and I are very close. We talk daily, but to see her so briefly and know we won't get to see each other at Christmas or for who knows how long was painful. Seeing my mom was also great, and it was kind of nice that it wasn't at Christmas this year, because we got more personal time with her.
Thanks for making space for us to be real, Erin! I am seeing treasures around me, but yeah, this year is just hard. Pandemic fatigue is so real, and I'm curious what kinds of studies will come out of this one day (because darn it, we are coming out of this one day!).
I have cousins I’m very close to, too, and I just confirmed this week that we won’t be seeing any of each other this coming holiday season. I haven’t seen my brother and his family since last Christmas. I’m with you in this grief space.
Hi new friends, this is my first time reading through comment, and may I just say, you all are a delight! I too have been feeling the sads this week, and have really leaned hard into watching Netflix under a blanket and ignoring adult responsibilities. I'm a HS teacher doing a virtual hybrid combo and it's really starting to wear on me and the students. I have one class that's split As and Fs. It's discouraging and I don't get any response to my emails/calls/zoom invites/shouts into the void offering help.
Bright spots of the week:
Talked with my Nana who is planning an outdoor turkey day despite opposition from her children and she started writing a newsletter for her friends so they would know someone was thinking of them during the pandemic.
Queen's Gambit and season 3 of the Crown have been a delight, no regrets with my Netflix watching.
My sister in law and I realized via IG that we're both reading Transcendent Kingdom right now and have made plans to chat when we're done.
I'm a big alone time person, so I'm delight to be house-sitting next week for a friend and I'm hoping to make a good start on my two final essays due in Dec, so I can totally break over the Thanksgiving holiday.
I am a former high school teacher and I cannot imagine what you must be experiencing right now. It’s not a one person job to begin with, and now you’ve been handed responsibilities and requirements that involve entirely new skill sets. And throw those unresponsive parents on top...girl, this calls for some wine or something. I’m sending hugs to you. ❤️ Please do report back about Transcendent Kingdom. I looooved Homegoing and I’m curious about this new book. Hope you get to rest this weekend!
ugh I am so sad about the class that is split A's and F's. I advise college students and I know I've only heard hard things about the combo classes of in-person/online.
Good morning internet friends! Erin, I wish I could hug you, I feel like this thread is saying all of the things that I am screaming in my head and think I'm alone in.
My treasure this week is that our foundation (www.heartfelthelpfoundation.com) has clients (patients? new friends? I haven't figured out what to call them yet) who have or are having their heart transplant and need our assistance with housing. I can't tell you what a treasure it is to have a family member tell me how grateful they are to be able to focus on their loved ones recovery and not the finances. It's why we started this. And to know that so many people made this possible. It just has me feeling all of the feelings. So grateful.
And then - I hyperventilate just thinking about how we're going to raise the funds for the next batch of clients. We're working on it, but Covid is not making that part easier at all.
But for now, I'm choosing to sit with the peace that the answers will come and the people will be helped.
You all are the absolute best and thank you for letting me be real here in this space.
I am beyond excited for Advent this year!! I have Tsh's book on the way!! Also Sara Sparks is releasing an Advent album sometime really soon (maybe today?). She's got a great Narnia inspired album that I will totally be playing during this season too!!
I’m late to the party this week but it’s been a day (started with having to get my new “real ID” driver’s license on which the photo looks like a flipping mug shot) and is ending with cramps, a heating pad, and a glass of wine from a bottle I had the foresight to hide a few weeks ago before our Whole 30.
Turds include rising case counts and, like so many others, a nervous system that thinks I’ve been in IMMEDIATE DANGER for months.
Treasures include purchasing, assembling, and decorating a new Christmas tree; finishing the paint job on the farmhouse table and bench that my husband and son made for our back porch; a text thread with three of my besties I’ve had since birth that, while some of the subject matter has been heavy (rising case counts, worry about parents) it has been a delight to be talking to them and there have, as always with them, been moments of levity.
Happy weekend to you all!
I just spent some quality time reading the comments, and I have to say, Lil Swipes are great at sitting in sadness together! Since this is such a safe space, and like Lindsay and Sarah I'm more of a verbal processor ;) I'm going to share my sads this week.
I got some bad news this week at the neurologist. (Background: I have a lot a lot of chronic illnesses and some of them are neurological.) My brain has stopped responding to treatment, and we believe it's because I have a chronic infection that is trying to destroy my brain tissue little bits at a time (lab work coming back next week will confirm this or not). There are treatment options, but it's going to take a long time to bounce back from, and in the meantime my work hours have dwindled to almost nothing. Honestly y'all I'm not sure how I'm still employed. My boss is rooting for me in a big way but I don't understand how people can be so good. <3 I would not be surprised if I'm let go, though, because of my inability to literally show up. I'm not currently a praying person, but if y'all would pray I would stay employed, that would be great, because I have no other financial recourse.
Related: I had to have a tough convo with my neurologist about how I would have to stop treatment next month because my income is almost nothing and my family isn't helping, and he immediately said 'don't worry about it, we will take care of you.' If I was physically capable of crying I would have cried, it was so tender and such an immense help. I am waiting to hear back from my therapist to see if I'll be able to continue that, or if I'll have to stop.
I haven't shared the medical news with my family yet, and I probably won't, because the situation with them is deteriorating. Basically I have unresolved trauma with/from them that I just remembered this year, and they're super unhealthy/manipulative/historically abusive, and spending time with them causes my mental and physical health to unravel. I've made definite plans to spend Thanksgiving with one of my best friends and her family instead, and I am excited! I haven't told my fam that I won't be seeing them yet, and I'm going to wait until the last possible minute to avoid the backlash.
Treasure of the week is that I've booked my first modeling gig?! Words I NEVER thought I'd say. It's with an Etsy shop that makes disability awareness goods. Supporting small, female-owned businesses is what I am ABOUT so this has brought joy to my soul this week. And it's paid! Praises be.
Here's a link to the shop if you're curious :D https://www.etsy.com/shop/SpoonieSisterShop
Any bits of encouragement you'd want to send my way would be most welcome. Life is a freakishly heavy thing sometimes. <3
Wow, I am so sorry to hear about your medical news and job situation. Sending peace and love during this hard season.
You gotta do what’s best for you, but I know it is tough when family doesn’t understand. Praying God will intervene and give you peace.
Well I’m shedding tears, so we’ve got you from all sides - praying for you and crying on your behalf for your dear neurologist. ♥️
Oh my goodness, life is very heavy. Sitting with you in this difficult time ❤️
Wooooo OMG YOU GUYS did you see that the grandma in the "hear comes the balrog" tweet needs new hearing aids? We gotta get on that GoFundMe. Should I put this in the We Got You club?
https://www.gofundme.com/f/vfqg9-hearing-aids?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all
I feel you today!! My 5yo son had eye surgery #4 this week. This time last year he was hurt at karate, and while at the time I was too shocked to be angry, this week I have found myself FULL of rage, and fantasizing about driving him up there during peak class hours and showing them what their negligence did to my baby. I'm just so angry! Compound that with the petulant child in the White House, my mom's dementia, trying to figure out how to do the holidays, and our school's announcement that we're going fully remote until at least after Thanksgiving, I'm hanging on by a thread today!
I have to really work to find them, but there are treasures too. Let's start with THAT ROBE! I bought it for myself at Christmas last year, and it has been my security blanket since the election. I lived in it last week! Tonight my husband and I get an overdue date night to celebrate my belated birthday, at a place some publication named the best new restaurant in the US in 2019. V excited! And, that surgery my son had seems to have been a huge success, so I have that to be thankful for.
Maybe this will help you smile: I read an article about how on Jan 20 at noon the Secret Service can pick Trump up and carry him out of the White House if need be. I keep imagining it and it makes me smile every time. #sorrynotsorry
Yay for date night! Yay for successful surgery! You are an awesome mom!
I can’t wait for Jan 20th 😬🙏🏼
ERIN - I meant to say this above. I completely understand the numb feeling you had during your emergency. I had to go alone to my son's surgery. My husband was upset he couldn't go, everyone kept asking me if I was ok to go alone, but I felt nothing about it. I wasn't nervous or upset, I just went through the motions. Then I had the mom-guilt cherry on top for NOT being more concerned. Not trying to one-up you, just want you to know I completely sympathize. You're not alone. This year has really done a number on us. <3
As a single woman in her 40s, I long ago claimed "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" as my life verse. ;) And Erin, my younger brother (who just turned 40) was the original entry in the Poison Control Center database. When my mother was out of town with me, my toddler brother got into the bag of ice melt. My father found him with it crusted all around his mouth and frantically called Poison Control. My brother was fine, and the center sent my father a list of common household harmful substances and how to safely store them away from children. When said list arrived, MY BROTHER PROCEEDED TO EAT THE LIST. I cannot make this stuff up.
Your brother. I love that so much. This story made my day!
Co-sign hope deferred for single ladies in their 40’s.
I've already posted twice, so I should be booted off this thread right now, but I just needed to cry somewhere....My husband got sick October 30 and tested positive for COVID on November 1. He returned to work this week with approval from his supervisors, but my kids had to stay out of activities for a full 14 days. On Wednesday, my son spiked a fever, so I had him tested yesterday. Just a few minutes ago, the test came back positive. We are now on round TWO of COVID quarantine, and I am done. Forget Christmas, I just need to skip to 2021. Things for which I am grateful: very mild cases of COVID, internet access, grocery pickup/delivery, and the fact that this time I get to sleep in the same bed as my husband as opposed to the last time. But y'all, really, this stinks. Holding joy and sorrow together right this moment is hard. If you are person who prays, I'd love the prayers. In the grand scheme of life, this is a minor blip, but it seems pretty major for me and my four kids especially right now.
I’m so sorry. That sucks. :( no other word for it
Ugh, I’m so sorry. This is stressful and heavy. Just prayed for you.
I’m sooooooo sorry.
Oh Leah, what a situation. I pray that this cycles through your house quickly and stays mild and that you can be done with it for the fall/winter.
This is so crappy of a situation. I'm so sorry.
Oh Leah I am soooooo sorry. I feel super defensive of myself because when people tell me to stop living in fear, I want them to understand, I am not irrationally fearful of dying. I am fearful of quarantining for potentially 2 months while the virus works it way through my family of 5, with the clock restarting for another 14 days as someone else gets a positive result. Eff that.
Truly and deeply, I am worried that this will pass through all six of us one person at a time. We are trying our best to abide by guidelines but it is hard. My 12 year old son is just hanging out in a room by himself, and goodness knows that's not the best for his emotional and mental health. He's FINE, too, barely has symptoms at all. That doesn't mean we plan to blow off the guidelines at all, but just that they feel even more restrictive. All that to say, entering day zero again, it's a valid fear. Wear a mask, people. :-)
Hang in there, and I hope the chain stops now!!
I love reading these, even with a week of Sad, you guys are a breath of fresh air.
This week has been a bummer. My roommate has COVID, so my effort at being careful and having no social life and not making many friends after moving to Florida so I'd limit my spread feels a little bit like it's been all for nothing. I don't have COVID, so I'm praying it stays that way. It seems like not the best move to be so angry with her instead of doing what I can to take care of her, so I'm doing what I can to take care of her and keeping my feelings to myself. I also found out I need a root canal and that will have to wait at least 2 weeks before my quarantine is over before I can get it done.
I have found joy in this WAP remix: https://youtu.be/gBnj1ocAD2s there's a longer one on TikTok, but I can't find it anymore. Maybe it was a dream the Lord gave me to help give me strength for today.
Also, I love all things earth-friendly, so Pela cases have my heart. I just got a new phone and needed a new case, so I got one that has little bumble bees on it. They're having a sale right now, so booyah: https://pelacase.com/
And finally, I keep this picture of this dog bookmarked on my browser for bad days. I've had it for at least a year. It is a gift that keeps on giving and I have no idea where it's from at this point. I think a Buzzfeed article about cute dogs, maybe? Here it is: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pS-Qvjx2JT8/XMcwuMaXvVI/AAAAAAAAAYk/DDwvnwPHb9IBH236cfZD1bKzoh4DucCpQCK8BGAs/s0/2019-04-29.png
Praise the Lord in this house! I may be humming this on Sunday 😂
Moving is hard no matter what. I can’t imagine adjusting during all this. I hope things feel happier for you very soon.
Thanks, Karen. Update this week is another roommate is down and I have a cough, but we held out for a solid 9 days before developing symptoms, so I'd consider than an immune system win. 💪🏻
Hello fellow Floridian!!! Just take comfort knowing that the sun is still shining and hopefully the storm didn't knock your power out or flood your stuff. ☀
Just now answering because I've been emotionally unavailable since I posted this 🙈 but yes, still have power and all of my stuff is in tact! So that's a huge praise.
Completely get it Kelsey and glad you're ok!
So sorry about your roommate/COVID situation/root canal. 😩 That’s a big bummer. But that PUPPY. The FACE. 🥺🥺🥺 Thank you for sharing that major treasure.
The puppy is such a treasure to me! He has a mouth full of peanut butter and a heart full of love.
Treasures: I started watching some truly terrible television this week as a means of coping from (gestures wildly) all of this. Exhibit A: I just started season 2 of Selling Sunset, these women are truly terrible and according to the internet may or may not actually sell real estate for the Oppenheim Group.
This video of Chris Stapleton at the CMA's the other night, which simultaneously works as a break-up/get back together song and a commentary on ALL OF THIS.
https://youtu.be/avBckeg3Dp8
My new grad class started this week and it's the second research class in a series of 3 which will culminate in writing a thesis paper! What is this life I'm in right now? I love what I'm researching but am annoyed with how the professor writes his assignments. In the due date heading of the assignment, he tends to write the date at which he supposes we will be reading the assignment, not the actual due date.
I bought too many candles during Bath and Body Works $10 off sale. The Limoncello candle is a good dupe for that crazy expensive Volcano candle from Anthropolgie.
There is/was a stupid amount of content from the PMG this week and I'm here for it.
Also, Pantsuit Politics got me through the last week.
Turds: I'm sick or my allergies hate this time of year in So Cal when the temperature fluctuates 40 degrees between morning and afternoon.
I spent last weekend watching my teenage nephews and 5-year-old niece while they were all sick. I 99.9% sure I don't want any kids of my own. I'm 38 years old and the two boys are basically self-sufficient but at the age where the oldest can't stand anything about the other and the younger one worships his older brother. Someone only got kicked in the balls once, I only had to clean up dog excrement once, I got absolutely no alone time except when I stayed up later than usual to watch the new Bachelor episode after everyone went to bed and I caught their cold...maybe. But I was happy to give my brother and SIL a weekend away which they richly deserve. That's the most enneagram 2 thing I've written in a long time. It was terrible but I helped someone so it's worth it.
I drove 9 hours each way a couple weeks ago because my sister and her husband desperately needed some kid free time and while I was happy to be there and love on my niece and 3 nephews I was so happy to be home and back in my quiet kid free, mess free home. I fear Covid has made me even more of a homebody than I already was! And the messes. Ohhhh the messes. No kids is not so bad! 🤷🏻♀️
I nominate you for a best sister award. My sister's love me but I'm no so sure they'd do this for me 😂
Now you know why moms be like, "I'm so tired but also I stay up until 11 so I can have so dang time to myself!" haha
Rock star aunt status. 👏👏👏 Also Sarah & Beth got me through last week too!
Allergies are so bad this time of year for me (in SC) and then you get to add the fun "but what if it's Covid-19 into the pantheon of feelings, so that's great, lol.
Pantsuit Politics saved me last week, too. And this week. The memes. Sometimes the internet is the worst and sometimes it's the best.
How nice of you to give them a weekend away!
I was in target with my teenage children last night. I walked by that robe, touched it and told my kids to tell my husband to buy it for me for Christmas. Now I am very much regretting not just buying it for myself😭 Maybe I’ll go back today😬
Do it! It may not be there when your husband shops plus you get to be cozy sooner😉
Hello. In avoidance of everything that is going on, I have dedicated myself to learning about the #FreeBritney movement. Although there are no cocktail parties, I am now prepared to be a great conversationalist just about Britney. I have lots of feelings and while I am unsure if she is writing "call 911" into her eyelashes, but I do think that her conservatorship is unfair.
If you care to join me in this deep dive, I recommend the following:
- Season 8 of "Only the Rich" deep dives into #FreeBritney https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freebritney-a-girl-named-lucky/id1500477470?i=1000496221639
- https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/11/the-oracle-of-britney-spears
- https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a34113034/why-longtime-britney-spears-fans-are-demanding-to-freebritney/
I LOVE BRITNEY SPEARS (all caps needed). I've been binging Eat, Pray, Britney the podcast and it is filling my Britney hole in my heart. I'm so sad that the judge denied her request to remove her dang father from the conservatorship.
I am SO here for the Free Britney eps! I plan to binge them this weekend. That podcast is one of my 2020 faves as their content has been INCREDIBLE.
Ok so yesterday I weirdly started watching Heather McMahon's highlights about Britney from 2 years ago and why are they still accurate?? It's very distressing.
Okay.
So.
Look...
I watched your election shenanigans from Australia and was in disbelief that it held so much chaotic energy. I also cannot believe your covid numbers. Friends, I hate that your country is where it is and if I were there I’d be digging a tunnel to anywhere else. I’m sorry things are so crappy. You deserve better.
Meanwhile, if you were in the Comfortable Words group you got daily updates about the medical mess that is my life right now. My husband got his last round of test results back and guess what? Still no answers. The doctor is trying to rule things out but it’s slow, expensive and I’m tired. I want answers, and honestly, I want to be pregnant thanks - no more medical things making that hard.
Unrelated to presidents and covid and medicine, I made an onion tarte tartin yesterday and it’s delightful. You should also make one with sad fridge onions.
https://www.nigella.com/recipes/guests/any-kind-of-onion-tarte-tatin
I want answers (and a baby!) for you guys. 💕
SAME!
Tamara! I was just thinking about you yesterday! I didn't remember seeing your name pop up here last week and hoped you were doing well❤ I'm sorry the medical things are so frustrating 😕
I've been around but silent! I started a new job (taking Santa photos) and we went away for a weekend to an alpaca farm (as fun as it sounds) and I've been sleeping lots because work is tiring, man.
I wish I lived in Australia and New Zealand sometimes.
I don’t blame you - it’s pretty great here. For covid management and other reasons.
You guys might be about to point me in the right direction. I bought my best friend Tsh's Advent book, but I want to buy her a wreath to use from year to year to go with it. Know of any artisan's or resources for pretty Advent things?
Oooh, now I want an answer to this too. My husband grew up in a tradition that doesn’t do Advent, and I wasn’t raised in Christianity, so we are establishing these traditions ourselves.
I've been in my Sads this week too. I think it's perhaps a detox from election season. (The election season that refuses to fully end.)
I've been absent a couple weeks because I was traveling two weeks ago, and one treasure to share: I was nervous about visiting my grandparents the weekend before the election because my family enjoys political debates and usually has Fox News on 24/7, but guys. They kept it off the ENTIRE time we were there. It seems like a small thing, but it made me feel like our relationship matters to them more than politics and it was wonderful.
Last week was a ride, man. Treasures and turds all up in the mix. Talk about both/and.
Our puppy, Finley, is doing well, despite being the bitiest guy possibly ever. I know they grow out of this stage, but it feels sooo long and my poor kids don't understand it. But he is sweet and cute and smart and we love him.
I got to see my cousin and her family (briefly, and masked) when we were in VA, and it was both a gift and kind of sad. I don't have sisters and my cousins and I are very close. We talk daily, but to see her so briefly and know we won't get to see each other at Christmas or for who knows how long was painful. Seeing my mom was also great, and it was kind of nice that it wasn't at Christmas this year, because we got more personal time with her.
Thanks for making space for us to be real, Erin! I am seeing treasures around me, but yeah, this year is just hard. Pandemic fatigue is so real, and I'm curious what kinds of studies will come out of this one day (because darn it, we are coming out of this one day!).
I have cousins I’m very close to, too, and I just confirmed this week that we won’t be seeing any of each other this coming holiday season. I haven’t seen my brother and his family since last Christmas. I’m with you in this grief space.
Hi new friends, this is my first time reading through comment, and may I just say, you all are a delight! I too have been feeling the sads this week, and have really leaned hard into watching Netflix under a blanket and ignoring adult responsibilities. I'm a HS teacher doing a virtual hybrid combo and it's really starting to wear on me and the students. I have one class that's split As and Fs. It's discouraging and I don't get any response to my emails/calls/zoom invites/shouts into the void offering help.
Bright spots of the week:
Talked with my Nana who is planning an outdoor turkey day despite opposition from her children and she started writing a newsletter for her friends so they would know someone was thinking of them during the pandemic.
Queen's Gambit and season 3 of the Crown have been a delight, no regrets with my Netflix watching.
My sister in law and I realized via IG that we're both reading Transcendent Kingdom right now and have made plans to chat when we're done.
I'm a big alone time person, so I'm delight to be house-sitting next week for a friend and I'm hoping to make a good start on my two final essays due in Dec, so I can totally break over the Thanksgiving holiday.
I love bookish serendipity. 📚💕
I am a former high school teacher and I cannot imagine what you must be experiencing right now. It’s not a one person job to begin with, and now you’ve been handed responsibilities and requirements that involve entirely new skill sets. And throw those unresponsive parents on top...girl, this calls for some wine or something. I’m sending hugs to you. ❤️ Please do report back about Transcendent Kingdom. I looooved Homegoing and I’m curious about this new book. Hope you get to rest this weekend!
ugh I am so sad about the class that is split A's and F's. I advise college students and I know I've only heard hard things about the combo classes of in-person/online.
"Eliiizaaa!" in Hamilton voice. Sorry, I couldn't help it, I'm sure you get that a lot. Welcome!
Your Nana sounds wonderful. I hope your class starts going better, I know this year is so hard on students and teachers alike.
Enjoy your house-sitting, that sounds delightful!
Housesitting alone sounds delightful.
Good morning internet friends! Erin, I wish I could hug you, I feel like this thread is saying all of the things that I am screaming in my head and think I'm alone in.
My treasure this week is that our foundation (www.heartfelthelpfoundation.com) has clients (patients? new friends? I haven't figured out what to call them yet) who have or are having their heart transplant and need our assistance with housing. I can't tell you what a treasure it is to have a family member tell me how grateful they are to be able to focus on their loved ones recovery and not the finances. It's why we started this. And to know that so many people made this possible. It just has me feeling all of the feelings. So grateful.
And then - I hyperventilate just thinking about how we're going to raise the funds for the next batch of clients. We're working on it, but Covid is not making that part easier at all.
But for now, I'm choosing to sit with the peace that the answers will come and the people will be helped.
You all are the absolute best and thank you for letting me be real here in this space.