welp that Beth Moore tweet has me weeping... Probably because I have a literal broken foot, and 7 months pregnant and have to somehow make a meaningful summer for my kids until Labour Day because that's how Canada does public school. No more best foot forward. Just one hobbling broken foot forward. And then icing it.
Okay, just want to jump in here to say, re: Instagram's latest SHITSHOW of changes: I've been able to have a *slightly* less aggravating experience looking at my general feed by logging in *on my laptop*. Yes. Yes I am old and I don't care. 42 years old to be exact (1980, baby!). Logging in on my laptop gives me basically no ads and only friend-content. Now, I will say, I don't scroll stories that way because there are too many I want to pause and I can't hover my finger over my laptop. I also find commenting on posts mildly more laborious via laptop, but the trade off has been worth it for a SIGNIFICANTLY calmer Insta experience.
That tweet about math….seriously. And this school year I was informed I’ll be moving up from teaching 4th and 5th grade to 7th. I haven’t done 7th grade math since 7th grade. What the actual heck.
A velveetini? I am not sure I would try that, but I hope someone does and reports back in the comments! The tweet about moving on hit me cause school starts middle of August and the math levels my high shcoolers are in, whew! I pray they catch on cause mama will not!
Hello everyone. This 6w5 needs the universe to stop spinning so that she can catch her breath. However, since that is outside the realm of physics, I would just like to truly thank each and every one of you lovely souls for being a safe space to laugh, cry, and reset.
One huge turd is that my boyfriend was in a car crash yesterday. He is fine aside from being sore, but the car is not. While calling his bank he found out that his insurance had been canceled (he had not canceled it and the insurance is in his name) and the bank could not tell him who had canceled it! Then today, he was called into work because the trucking company he works for found a trainer for him in Kansas City, MO, (6 hours away from me in Davenport, IA, so he'll be away for about four weeks. I am thrilled about him finding a trainer, but any change has its ups and downs. Any trucker's/ long distance relationship peeps here?
-We harvested over 100 potatoes last weekend and our tomatoes are starting to turn red. Our next project is the raspberry patch as they seem to be suffering from white drupelet. This is our first year to try two harvests, so I am excited to see what grows! We planted another round of potatoes, peas, and lettuce. I want to research companion planting over the winter so I can plan around that method.
-Looking at fabric on Etsy. I need to find enough for a 9yd by 18yd project and there are some really lovely prints out there. Any upholstery tips?
-Marilla of Green Gables is a lovely book. I highly recommend it. :)
Velveetini? Mac ‘n tini? Let’s workshop this, folks. “Veltini” sounds “velvet” or “red-velvet” adjacent, which is giving this drink way too much credit. 🙃
Speaking of psychoactive ham, You're Wrong About recently had a little mini-series on Go Ask Alice, which I knew about but never read and boy is it wild in all the wrong ways.
My mom helped me cover some of my windows, and while my AC is still not working great, it is now generally able to keep the house below 80 degrees.
I participated in my first Bible Binge Seminary book club and it was a good time.
My first paycheck for my second job finally came in yesterday, which is a big relief.
I try not to yuck yums, but the Veltini is forsaken.
I can’t stop thinking about psychoactive ham. I do not like gummy candies and psychoactive cheese puffs or like such as sounds infinitely better. I suspect I would eat too many, think I was dying from being too high and that would shut down psychoactive cheese puffs forever. RIP
Currently I am sitting in a very windy corridor of a building downtown - so kind of like a convection oven for people - having just finished a child scoop of
I need every crumb of Possible Joy in my life these days, so I’m not letting anyone harsh my excitement about a return to Middle Earth. I *need* it. If that meant someone had to die Knives-Out style, I’d totally be on board just for a revisit to that world. (I’d also be okay with Chris Evans in Middle Earth, to be honest. 😊) The prequel may disappoint me terribly and twist my insides, but at this stage I need something pure to look forward to. LOTR is my cozy spot. Take me where it goes! 🧝🏻♂️
At the risk of bringing everyone down and subjecting you to nothing but melancholy all the time, I’m taking permission from Eliza and starting with poopy recaps. Feel free to scroll down to the Good Reads section instead.
💩 I have no memory of June after my brief hotel vacation retreat. I may have stayed in bed the last 3 weeks? I know my days and nights were reversed, which meant my mom’s were, as well, so I can’t really recall seeing the sun more than a couple hours as it set and then again as it rose. Maybe? That time feels lost to me. Truly... what is time, anyway?
💩 The past 3 weeks of July have been a blur, as well. I started off strong after the 4th and had a gloriously productive week of night-sleep and early-wake days and crossing off personal To Do lists like a *machine.* And then the next week began with a sudden bout of unexplained vomiting. 🤷🏻♀️ And since then I’ve had a week of 🤢 followed by a week of 🥴 and then an onset of *hives* with zero reason why. I mean, seriously, WHY?!?!? It’s a mystery I still can’t solve so I’m shifting diets and taking antihistamine and trying like mad to not👏🏻scratch👏🏻the👏🏻itches👏🏻 and y’all, I’ve been flat-out miserable. And the gates of hell are open in Texas (and everywhere, I know!). When I tell you there’s no energy... 🫠
💩 Lastly, this isn’t totally poopy, but I’m cranky that my time isn’t my own right now so I’m including it here... The only consolation in being so sedentary and feeling so miserable *should* have been the chance to catch up on binge-watching. But as you know, my mom and I don’t share the same tastes, so every single night for the entire summer we’ve been watching the Chicago Fire series. ONLY Chicago Fire. I like it; I really do. But there’s TEN seasons of 16-22 episodes each and it’s just A LOT. I can’t stay seem to get myself excited for Stranger Things or Peaky Blinders or Only Murders at 2am when Mom finally gets tired enough for sleep. All Chicago Fire, all the time around here. 🤪 I’m regretting that I introduced her to binge watching.
📚There’s always joy in reading, thankfully, and it’s been my saving grace during these long weeks of feeling so miserable. Audiobooks are a true treasure! (I may have mentioned some of these already?!?) I finished The Cartographers, which I loved till the ending, when I didn’t anymore; and Trust by Hernan Diaz, which I loved *more* by the end. I tried reading The No-Show by Beth O’Leary but only got through the initial setup and then just found a summary to find out how it ended. I wasn’t in the mood for the journey. It used to be sacrilegious to me, skipping to the end without reading the middle chapters, but I’m here to tell you some books can be read that way. DO IT. This year I’ve given up on arbitrary reading rules and just want to skip to the end of some stories. I don’t regret it with The No-Show. 💁🏻♀️
🧬 I zipped through UPGRADE by Blake Crouch and loved loved loved it. It’s best on audio because of all the science jargon (unless genetics is your thing!), but it’s ultimately a story of family and grief and hope for humanity. Crouch is a reliable read for me, I’ve learned, and this one had the most action of the ones I’ve read. Highly recommend!
🦠 Continuing my trend of pandemic-adjace books, I’m now reading What Just Happened by Charles Finch (on recommendation of Laura Tremaine), and it’s strangely comforting. It’s nothing more than the author’s personal diary during 2020-2021 in Los Angeles, but it’s been helpful to put my own thoughts in perspective through his retelling. I’m actually enjoying the novels and narratives written in these early pandemic days; it’s been cathartic for me to hear other people’s experiences.
❓QUESTION: do you recommend a pandemic-related book title? I’m making a TBR list.
📚 I’m also in the middle of The Glass Hotel as I go through the backlist of Emily St John Mandel (she’s written more than I realized!), and I have an additional ELEVEN books checked out from the library. I won’t read them all in time, but I’m hoarding, apparently.
Hi friends! I managed to test positive for covid for the first time ever this week, in July 2022...who does that? I am missing a dear friend’s wedding and a weekend with so many people I love and I’ve been so sad about it. It’s been a hard week to find treasures but I’m working on it. The disappointment is so real.
Reading your treasures have made me smile and given me some ideas on how to pass the time, thanks for sharing 💕
I've had stress dreams two nights in a row now, and I can't think of anything (beyond *gestures vaguely at everything*) that's causing them.
I am still struggling with adapting to my new coworker. He doesn't listen or ask questions or collaborate with us, and I just don't like him. It's so petty but also frustrating, because I genuinely like everyone else I work with. Maybe my luck was just bound to run out?
Counting down the hours until the end of the day, when we get to go visit our nephew in Lakeland!
Hope your weekends are filled with things you love!
Math is Jess (Gilmore Girls) - sure sometimes he’s a complete a-hole but then you get to know him and realize you’ve been looking at him all wrong and he is actually amazing.
Veltini is Logan (Gilmore Girls) - sure he seems fancy and exciting but he will RUIN YOUR LIFE.
The Chicks concert last weekend was the best I’ve seen them and not just because the young man who sold me shots of Skrewball added extras for free.
We have moved into our 1BR apt and all our beds in one room feels like summer camp. We were going to do an altar call lastnight (it was Thursday after all) but the children had cried enough yesterday and I couldn’t handle anymore emotion.
Salutations! Fridays are my Saturdays (I work Sunday through Thursday), so I'm enjoying to have more time on Fridays to engage with the Swipes.
The Beth Moore tweet reminded me of some advice I read awhile back, about how your "best" is not a static, constant way of behaving. So doing my best in the morning when I'm well-tested and not peopled out might look like eye contact and rational conversation with my twelve year old about lunch options for when school starts back up. My best twelve hours from now might look like spending the evening in my room while everyone else watches a movie together so I don't start shouting when that same twelve year old leaves his pizza plate where the dog can reach it. It's a sliding scale, really. Thinking about it like that has given me a lot more grace for my kids and for myself.
Happy Friday! I'm so ready, it's been a long week here.
💩 I haven't slept well all week, so I've just been living my life tired which is not fun
💩 I haven't been able to really get into a new book for about a week which is unusual for me and it's just left me feeling off my game.
💩 Car issues! It wouldn't start this am, so I called a friend to get a jump and then went and spent $200 on a new battery only to get to work and realize I forgot my lunch.
✨Summer class is done! It has been a struggle bc my teacher brain has a lot of issues with this woman's vague assignments, rubrics, and grades. I'm looking forward to enjoying my few weeks of summer before starting my FINAL semester!!
✨Last weekends MMD reader retreat was a delight. I love hanging out with book people ❤
✨ A surprise of the week: I meet Mitford author Jan Karon! I work in Hudson, NC which is where she grew up. She was in town to check in on her little museum and the director brought her by the library to say hello. She was so kind and personable, it was really fun.
I am traveling to my family reunion today! My family has been having them for over 40 years and the past two have been cancelled for obvious reasons 🥺🥺🥺
welp that Beth Moore tweet has me weeping... Probably because I have a literal broken foot, and 7 months pregnant and have to somehow make a meaningful summer for my kids until Labour Day because that's how Canada does public school. No more best foot forward. Just one hobbling broken foot forward. And then icing it.
Okay, just want to jump in here to say, re: Instagram's latest SHITSHOW of changes: I've been able to have a *slightly* less aggravating experience looking at my general feed by logging in *on my laptop*. Yes. Yes I am old and I don't care. 42 years old to be exact (1980, baby!). Logging in on my laptop gives me basically no ads and only friend-content. Now, I will say, I don't scroll stories that way because there are too many I want to pause and I can't hover my finger over my laptop. I also find commenting on posts mildly more laborious via laptop, but the trade off has been worth it for a SIGNIFICANTLY calmer Insta experience.
Fwiw.
That tweet about math….seriously. And this school year I was informed I’ll be moving up from teaching 4th and 5th grade to 7th. I haven’t done 7th grade math since 7th grade. What the actual heck.
A velveetini? I am not sure I would try that, but I hope someone does and reports back in the comments! The tweet about moving on hit me cause school starts middle of August and the math levels my high shcoolers are in, whew! I pray they catch on cause mama will not!
Hello everyone. This 6w5 needs the universe to stop spinning so that she can catch her breath. However, since that is outside the realm of physics, I would just like to truly thank each and every one of you lovely souls for being a safe space to laugh, cry, and reset.
One huge turd is that my boyfriend was in a car crash yesterday. He is fine aside from being sore, but the car is not. While calling his bank he found out that his insurance had been canceled (he had not canceled it and the insurance is in his name) and the bank could not tell him who had canceled it! Then today, he was called into work because the trucking company he works for found a trainer for him in Kansas City, MO, (6 hours away from me in Davenport, IA, so he'll be away for about four weeks. I am thrilled about him finding a trainer, but any change has its ups and downs. Any trucker's/ long distance relationship peeps here?
My treasures this week:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKwDFDDr_VA I have become more or less obsessed with Hadestown and this video (about 20 minutes) of songs was just lovely.
-We harvested over 100 potatoes last weekend and our tomatoes are starting to turn red. Our next project is the raspberry patch as they seem to be suffering from white drupelet. This is our first year to try two harvests, so I am excited to see what grows! We planted another round of potatoes, peas, and lettuce. I want to research companion planting over the winter so I can plan around that method.
-Looking at fabric on Etsy. I need to find enough for a 9yd by 18yd project and there are some really lovely prints out there. Any upholstery tips?
-Marilla of Green Gables is a lovely book. I highly recommend it. :)
Have the best weekend available, everyone!
Velveetini? Mac ‘n tini? Let’s workshop this, folks. “Veltini” sounds “velvet” or “red-velvet” adjacent, which is giving this drink way too much credit. 🙃
Speaking of psychoactive ham, You're Wrong About recently had a little mini-series on Go Ask Alice, which I knew about but never read and boy is it wild in all the wrong ways.
My mom helped me cover some of my windows, and while my AC is still not working great, it is now generally able to keep the house below 80 degrees.
I participated in my first Bible Binge Seminary book club and it was a good time.
My first paycheck for my second job finally came in yesterday, which is a big relief.
I try not to yuck yums, but the Veltini is forsaken.
I can’t stop thinking about psychoactive ham. I do not like gummy candies and psychoactive cheese puffs or like such as sounds infinitely better. I suspect I would eat too many, think I was dying from being too high and that would shut down psychoactive cheese puffs forever. RIP
Currently I am sitting in a very windy corridor of a building downtown - so kind of like a convection oven for people - having just finished a child scoop of
I need every crumb of Possible Joy in my life these days, so I’m not letting anyone harsh my excitement about a return to Middle Earth. I *need* it. If that meant someone had to die Knives-Out style, I’d totally be on board just for a revisit to that world. (I’d also be okay with Chris Evans in Middle Earth, to be honest. 😊) The prequel may disappoint me terribly and twist my insides, but at this stage I need something pure to look forward to. LOTR is my cozy spot. Take me where it goes! 🧝🏻♂️
At the risk of bringing everyone down and subjecting you to nothing but melancholy all the time, I’m taking permission from Eliza and starting with poopy recaps. Feel free to scroll down to the Good Reads section instead.
💩 I have no memory of June after my brief hotel vacation retreat. I may have stayed in bed the last 3 weeks? I know my days and nights were reversed, which meant my mom’s were, as well, so I can’t really recall seeing the sun more than a couple hours as it set and then again as it rose. Maybe? That time feels lost to me. Truly... what is time, anyway?
💩 The past 3 weeks of July have been a blur, as well. I started off strong after the 4th and had a gloriously productive week of night-sleep and early-wake days and crossing off personal To Do lists like a *machine.* And then the next week began with a sudden bout of unexplained vomiting. 🤷🏻♀️ And since then I’ve had a week of 🤢 followed by a week of 🥴 and then an onset of *hives* with zero reason why. I mean, seriously, WHY?!?!? It’s a mystery I still can’t solve so I’m shifting diets and taking antihistamine and trying like mad to not👏🏻scratch👏🏻the👏🏻itches👏🏻 and y’all, I’ve been flat-out miserable. And the gates of hell are open in Texas (and everywhere, I know!). When I tell you there’s no energy... 🫠
💩 Lastly, this isn’t totally poopy, but I’m cranky that my time isn’t my own right now so I’m including it here... The only consolation in being so sedentary and feeling so miserable *should* have been the chance to catch up on binge-watching. But as you know, my mom and I don’t share the same tastes, so every single night for the entire summer we’ve been watching the Chicago Fire series. ONLY Chicago Fire. I like it; I really do. But there’s TEN seasons of 16-22 episodes each and it’s just A LOT. I can’t stay seem to get myself excited for Stranger Things or Peaky Blinders or Only Murders at 2am when Mom finally gets tired enough for sleep. All Chicago Fire, all the time around here. 🤪 I’m regretting that I introduced her to binge watching.
📚There’s always joy in reading, thankfully, and it’s been my saving grace during these long weeks of feeling so miserable. Audiobooks are a true treasure! (I may have mentioned some of these already?!?) I finished The Cartographers, which I loved till the ending, when I didn’t anymore; and Trust by Hernan Diaz, which I loved *more* by the end. I tried reading The No-Show by Beth O’Leary but only got through the initial setup and then just found a summary to find out how it ended. I wasn’t in the mood for the journey. It used to be sacrilegious to me, skipping to the end without reading the middle chapters, but I’m here to tell you some books can be read that way. DO IT. This year I’ve given up on arbitrary reading rules and just want to skip to the end of some stories. I don’t regret it with The No-Show. 💁🏻♀️
🧬 I zipped through UPGRADE by Blake Crouch and loved loved loved it. It’s best on audio because of all the science jargon (unless genetics is your thing!), but it’s ultimately a story of family and grief and hope for humanity. Crouch is a reliable read for me, I’ve learned, and this one had the most action of the ones I’ve read. Highly recommend!
🦠 Continuing my trend of pandemic-adjace books, I’m now reading What Just Happened by Charles Finch (on recommendation of Laura Tremaine), and it’s strangely comforting. It’s nothing more than the author’s personal diary during 2020-2021 in Los Angeles, but it’s been helpful to put my own thoughts in perspective through his retelling. I’m actually enjoying the novels and narratives written in these early pandemic days; it’s been cathartic for me to hear other people’s experiences.
❓QUESTION: do you recommend a pandemic-related book title? I’m making a TBR list.
📚 I’m also in the middle of The Glass Hotel as I go through the backlist of Emily St John Mandel (she’s written more than I realized!), and I have an additional ELEVEN books checked out from the library. I won’t read them all in time, but I’m hoarding, apparently.
These days, man. THESE FREAKING DAYS. 🥴
Happy to live vicariously through all of you! ❤️
Hi friends! I managed to test positive for covid for the first time ever this week, in July 2022...who does that? I am missing a dear friend’s wedding and a weekend with so many people I love and I’ve been so sad about it. It’s been a hard week to find treasures but I’m working on it. The disappointment is so real.
Reading your treasures have made me smile and given me some ideas on how to pass the time, thanks for sharing 💕
Happy Friday friends!
I've had stress dreams two nights in a row now, and I can't think of anything (beyond *gestures vaguely at everything*) that's causing them.
I am still struggling with adapting to my new coworker. He doesn't listen or ask questions or collaborate with us, and I just don't like him. It's so petty but also frustrating, because I genuinely like everyone else I work with. Maybe my luck was just bound to run out?
Counting down the hours until the end of the day, when we get to go visit our nephew in Lakeland!
Hope your weekends are filled with things you love!
Math is Jess (Gilmore Girls) - sure sometimes he’s a complete a-hole but then you get to know him and realize you’ve been looking at him all wrong and he is actually amazing.
Veltini is Logan (Gilmore Girls) - sure he seems fancy and exciting but he will RUIN YOUR LIFE.
The Chicks concert last weekend was the best I’ve seen them and not just because the young man who sold me shots of Skrewball added extras for free.
We have moved into our 1BR apt and all our beds in one room feels like summer camp. We were going to do an altar call lastnight (it was Thursday after all) but the children had cried enough yesterday and I couldn’t handle anymore emotion.
*unspoken prayer request*
Salutations! Fridays are my Saturdays (I work Sunday through Thursday), so I'm enjoying to have more time on Fridays to engage with the Swipes.
The Beth Moore tweet reminded me of some advice I read awhile back, about how your "best" is not a static, constant way of behaving. So doing my best in the morning when I'm well-tested and not peopled out might look like eye contact and rational conversation with my twelve year old about lunch options for when school starts back up. My best twelve hours from now might look like spending the evening in my room while everyone else watches a movie together so I don't start shouting when that same twelve year old leaves his pizza plate where the dog can reach it. It's a sliding scale, really. Thinking about it like that has given me a lot more grace for my kids and for myself.
Happy Friday! I'm so ready, it's been a long week here.
💩 I haven't slept well all week, so I've just been living my life tired which is not fun
💩 I haven't been able to really get into a new book for about a week which is unusual for me and it's just left me feeling off my game.
💩 Car issues! It wouldn't start this am, so I called a friend to get a jump and then went and spent $200 on a new battery only to get to work and realize I forgot my lunch.
✨Summer class is done! It has been a struggle bc my teacher brain has a lot of issues with this woman's vague assignments, rubrics, and grades. I'm looking forward to enjoying my few weeks of summer before starting my FINAL semester!!
✨Last weekends MMD reader retreat was a delight. I love hanging out with book people ❤
✨ A surprise of the week: I meet Mitford author Jan Karon! I work in Hudson, NC which is where she grew up. She was in town to check in on her little museum and the director brought her by the library to say hello. She was so kind and personable, it was really fun.
I read the last sentence as “have a mostly lovely weekend” and I thought, fair.
I am traveling to my family reunion today! My family has been having them for over 40 years and the past two have been cancelled for obvious reasons 🥺🥺🥺