Unproductive day

​Since I so often brag about my productive moments... for balance: today I had blood drawn for a blood test in the morning, looked at cruises we wouldn’t ever want to pay for, paid one bill online, and made 3 phone calls (one of which was annoying). That’s it. 

Otherwise I  mostly played a dumb addictive game on my phone and laid around listening to the rain. 

I even forgot to take my morning pills.

Chinese food for the second night this week and listening to book 5 of Dungeon Crawler Carl and falling asleep on the couch… good end to a slow, rainy day. 

Goals for house before 8/7

• ​Hang up art in foyer
  
• Hang up art behind couch
  
• Fix quilt above TV 
  
• Hang up art in bathroom 
  
• Trip to goodwill — clear off breakfast table and part of garage 
  
• Clean fridge 

What made you happy this week

​What made you happy this week 

1. Sitting in the backyard with Sean
2. Spending time with Nora
3. Walking at the gym
4. Simplifying my to do list
5. Reading Sarah Kendzior’s book
6. Seeing my friends and a rick opera and drinking rum 
7. Watching Flamingocon grow — with ticket sales, collaborations with others, more email questions, and so many decisions and discussions by the board. 

Weekly (or occasional) REPORT

​Reading: Orbital, by Samantha Harvey. Short Noel, recommended by Stephen Colbert.

Eating: home made sourdough bread for lunch (at game day), milk duds & popcorn for dinner (at the movies) 

Playing: board games with new friends 

Obsessing: Over whether to go to Italy in 2027 and how many times to go to Italy in 2027 

Researching: transatlantic cruises  

Treating myself to: blessed sleep

Review last 5 purchases plus more!

​Review last 5 purchases. Were they wants, needs or impulse purchases?

Weds night: board games and accessories from Stonemaier. IMPULSE/WANT. Barbara wanted to buy something, using my discount. I, as always, found items I also wanted. Though I hadn’t planned to buy them soon. Excited about this purchase.

Weds night: ice cream with Sean — delicious but ooof, too much food. I ate more than I wanted because it was melting in car. I threw away the last kitchen we got home. It was a WANT purchase (mostly for Sean). 

Weds afternoon: fried apple pie from McD’s. WANT definitely. 

Weds afternoon: meds from Walgreens. NEED.

Tuesday: dry cat food. A NEED.

THEN…. After doing the exercise above, I went and bought 7 more games. Partially to help out a needy gamer. 

I just bought 7 more games from Jess L.

I bought Codenames to turn into an art project! Could make some fun presents and/or ornaments with the cards.

And I bought a game for Nora for a Christmas present. So totally justified! But all WANTs. 

Best parks and trails in Polk

​best parks & Trails in Polk 

A story about my dad

​I wrote this out for a comment on some else’s post on FB. Figured I’d share it here too. 

Once upon a time — summer 1976ish — there was a knock at our front door. 

Context first! We lived in an old farmhouse in Virginia set back on four acres. Everyone used the kitchen door, near the parking. You had to be ambitious to go to the front door. 

More context: my father was a hippie in 1976. He was sitting around in cutoff jean shorts and no shirt. It must’ve been summer. He had shoulder length hair and a full beard. 

So! My father gets up and answers the knock at the door. It’s a man and his little daughter, dressed in their Sunday best. They want to talk to my father about God.

My father stood up his full 5’8” height, puffed out his hairy chest, and said: “No thanks. I AM GOD!”

The little girl’s eyes got so big! The man said bye, hustled his little girl  away. She probably grew up thinking God is some hairy stoner. 

My dad giggled about that for years.