moonscapes and lilacs

The weeks are a-flying by. Only three weeks left in the spring semester... but who's counting?  It's a busy time, and I'm SO glad I am not PEO president for another year. It almost happened, and *whew*. I've got enough other things to do.

I mentioned a while back that we've talked about purchasing some recreational land, and we've gotten more serious after perusing properties online. I should give credit where credit's due and mention that Magnum has been chief peruser, knowing our criteria. He's taken it on, sends me links to candidate properties, and found us a good realtor.

Yesterday was our first site looky-loo. We drove up to the boonies with Realtor to this mass of dirt that appeals to us for various reasons. It's kind of a sad story actually. The current owner purchased it a few years ago, worked at paying it off, built a small cabin - just a nice getaway. And then...

The Cameron Peak Fire happened and ravaged the place. It is now a landscape of blackened used-to-be trees and not much else. 

So, one's sad story is another's blank canvas.

Here's one of the pics I took of what was once a lovely evergreen forest

Very tall Realtor included for scale. (Seriously, the guy's like 7 ft. tall...)

But there are gorgeous views, primo location (when not on fire), and lots of potential. We really liked the property, but one downside is... The Road, yes it deserves to be capitalized. The road to get there is a bear for about the final half-mile. We brought our 4x4 truck just to make sure it could do it. It made it, and while not a deal breaker, The Road is a big red flag. Even Realtor and the local guy who maintains the roads in the area agree it's a beast.

So I want to look at at least one other property for juxtaposition. Not ready to start throwing money around just yet. 

Speaking of juxtaposition, lilac season is upon us despite our hot, dry winter and spring. I snapped this photo on a recent morning run around.

I'm sneezy, but they're pretty.

food, fundraising, ferris wheel

I was originally scheduled to work today, but at the last minute, just before I left work yesterday, Blosssom asked Kitty (my scheduled coworker for today) and me if one of us would switch with her - today for next Saturday. 

Kitty had another obligation next Saturday, I had nothing, so the switcheroo was made. So I found myself with an open Saturday. I managed to arrange for a breakfast meetup this morning with Meego and Wolfgang, something we do about once a month. 

After catching up with the guys and loading up on the eats, Magnum and I - well, I dragged Magnum along with me - headed a few miles east to Windsor, CO. A locally owned gift shop is doing a fundraiser for my PEO chapter on Monday, but would honor purchases made today and Tuesday for those of us who can't do the Monday shindig.

As chapter prez, it's customary for me to present gifts to the other offficers at the end of the PEO year (March), so I figured I'd kill both those birds - contributing to the fundraiser and getting officer gifts.

It's a cute shop right downtown, and I found lots of good gift ideas. But fundraiser or no, it's too pricey considering I'm buying for seven. So I did the next best thing, I shopped for ME. I mean, I didn't want to walk outta there empty handed. It's a fundraisher!

This travel journal/ sketchbook spoke to me. 

I think it's genuine leather. Either way, it's very supple. Certian to boost my daily productivity, right? Right??

After the quaint little gift shop, we did a 180 and headed to SCHEELS sporting goods. Magnum "needed" some things, and we were in the neighborhood.

This was our third visit to SCHEELS. It's huge, and crowded. Seemingly no one goes to indoor malls anymore, but SCHEELS is always well populated.

So, consumptive day, all for good cause. Now to be productive.

Laundry, anyone?

carriers and ducks

On Saturday, we went to that big honkin' sporting goods store, SCHEELS. Apparently, it's so big, we're supposed to write it in all caps.  

I'd only been there once before, and that was mainly a field trip of sorts to check out the big honkin' sporting good store "everyone" was talking about. We spent a good amount of time there on that visit, just gawking. Didn't purchase anything.

Saturday, I was there to pick up an activity tracker/ fitness watch I purchased online for store pickup. I've never had one, hadn't felt the need. I still don't really feel the need, but I was talking to Chaco last week, and he was telling me about the one he recently got and how much he liked it. I was sold. Mine is not as fancy as his, but good enough for my old lady years.

I got a new phone a little while back. It's bigger than the old phone. Bulky when "fitnessing" about. The watch is a very nice alternative. 

I happen to belong to a running group on facebook. A question that often (sadly) comes up is for women runners - how to protect yourself when running alone on a remote trail or after dark/ before sunrise? 

I've been somewhat surprised to see that a good 80% or more of the women who respond claim they have a concealed carry permit, and carry their gun while running. 

My first thought is, "sheesh, talk about bulky". 

While at SCHEELS, out of curiosity, I searched and checked out the wall of gun toting holsters, belts, belly bands and such - mainly geared toward women. I'm not in the market. 

FYI, most of the other respondents who aren't toting a gun say they run with their big dogs. The last category would be women like me who stick to safe routes, don't wear earbuds, and rely on their wits. I've never had any trouble *knocks on wood*. I think there are plenty others in that group as well who, like me, don't bother to respond.

Speaking of safe places, I snapped these ducks during a recent run when I still carried my big bulky phone. Spring looks to be springing, and there will be baby ducks soon.

*the shadow of a lover goes dancing by...

oh, nope. Just a little pooch.

The days are getting shorter and colder and I like it! We are under a freeze warning for tonight. I say "bring it!" a.k.a. kill the allergens, already.

I went for an enjoyable run this morning. The thermometer said 37F and the feels like said 30. I had a hard time remembering what I should wear for such conditions. As it happened, I had on one too many layers, but nothing crazy.

I enjoy being out there in the dark and quiet - after talking myself out of sleeping in.  Fall is my favorite time of year. Soon, the early morning hours will be icy and unwelcoming, but currently, they're perfect. 

There's very little activity at that time of day, save for a handful of dog walkers who seemingly like the feel of the dark, quiet, early mornings too. I shuffled by a few of them, each of us acknowledging each other briefly before continuing our morning solitudes - pondering our life choices, or unable to shake a random earworm.

Some have small lights on their dogs, others wear lighted/reflective vests and/or headlights. Me, I have a headlight, but nothing else to really help the visibility. 

I was over on J. Bezos's store site, looking at light vests, pondering. 


It's reminiscent of my glory days as an elementary school crossing guard.


Now THAT was high fashion.


sigh what to wear?

*This run's earworm:

do you remember

 ... the 21st night of September?

I didn't. Not really. I realized that was last night only this morning when I got a feed in my instagram about a big play from the CU Buffaloes homecoming football game - [Earth, Wind, and Fire] providing the soundtrack. I don't really follow college (or any really) football, but it's where I live, so...

Anyway, happy fall! Flip your mattresses, change out your toothbrush heads!

Work on the screen room continues. We've got walls. Just need a roof, screens, and a couple doors.

This week got busy, and I'm catching up. I mentioned the P.E.O. thing earlier in the week, then the full work schedule, which included my turn on the Saturday rotation yesterday. So today is my 1-day weekend. Magnum and I did continue our car shopping adventures yesterday after work. We've almost got a new machine, not quite in house yet.

I worked with Mango yesterday, and we were talking of the car shopping adventure. I'm contemplating what we'll do with my little Toyota. It's a 2000 Echo that was my mom's. She gifted it to me 10 years ago after she was no longer driving - something that probably should've happened a few years sooner, TBH.

I'm grateful to have had the diminutive car. It has very little "get up and go" - so much I avoid the highway, doesn't do well in snow over an inch or so... off road?  Just. No.

But for putzing around town in good weather, running errands, it's been great. Since I typically commute on my bicycle, the car spends a lot of time in the garage between errand missions. 

All this to say that it's a 24-year-old car that has, honestly, less than 31,000 miles on it. No body damage, but it could probably use a new set of tires - not because the current ones are at all worn down, but because they are 10 years old.

We don't plan to trade it in, and I figured I'd probably sell it to Carmax. I mentioned this to Mango, and also confessed that I feel a little guilty getting rid of Mom's Car.

But Mango provided some good unbiased advice.

"This is a college town, you could probably get a good price for it - students love little beaters that are cheap to keep".

In regards to the guilt: "I dunno. Probably if your mom were to know of it, she'd say something like, 'What? You still have that thing?'"

Come to think of it, I could totally see/hear my mom saying that.

bike theft, AI shoes, free aura reading

Happy September! I'm sort of looking forward to the first frost while bracing for the big freeze. Magnum and I enjoyed a pleasant bike ride this morning. Gotta get while the gettin's good. And it was a nice week all around. Recap?

• Speaking of bicycles, Wolfgang got a new sweet commuter and came over our house to assemble it. This was the result of his previous commuter getting STOLEN! Yes, STOLEN. 

Bicycle theft is sadly a very common occurrence around here. Well, there are a lot of bikes here in our bike friendly city, so there'll be a lot of stolen ones just by sheer numbers. It was a decent bicycle that he'd bought used over 6 years ago. So, while it's violating to have it stolen, it wasn't as big a loss as it could've been.

Now he's got a new bicycle, that we witnessed being born, with a brand new hefty lock.

• Those running shoes Strava told me to go and get? I asked Chatgpt for recommendations based on some preferences, took the first recommendation, and found them on big time clearance because there's now a newer version. Cha-ching! We'll see if I like the shoes, I ordered them online.

• Speaking of buying things online, yesterday, I purchased an item from Best Buy online for in-store pickup. I went to the store in the afternoon to pick up my purchase and was greeted by a pick-up counter person - a nondescript woman in her royal blue Best Buy polo, black pants.

She scanned my barcode and said, "You have a lovely purple aura".

For a split second, my brain thought, "No, I have a small black Wacom tablet", but then I realized she wasn't talking shop with the purple aura comment.

"Oh...erm... yeah?", I responded, clueless as to anything else to say.

She went on to describe this lovely purple aura and how I am in tune with my authenic spiritual self or something like that.  

Well, okay, thank you? Then she retrieved my small black Wacom tablet after correctly checking my ID (unlike our postal employee from last week).

We had a short, pleasant exchange. I left feeling rather uplifted while wondering if she's full of sh*t and says stuff like that to everyone. Or maybe she was in the throes of a debilitating migraine, or on drugs...

But hey, it got me out of a material stupor for a moment, so a positive encounter.

So if you ever find yourself here in our town, I recommend having a good lock for your bicycle and visiting Steffie, the good witch of Best Buy.

Bunny, Trixie, Raul, Jerry, Penny

One more week of semester left. Is it obvious I'm counting the days? It's been a good semester, I'm just ready to have a short break from all the meth math. I was talking with one of my fellow tutors, "Bunny", last week. She was speaking of one of her students who is often late or no shows. On that particular day, the student had actually texted Bunny in advance to let her know she was running late.

"Maybe I taught her more than math this semester", Bunny observed. 

I'll remember to do that.

This past week was a good one, feels like it was productive enough

• Magnum and I had some documents we needed to have notarized for our lawyer in Colorado Springs. No, we're not getting a divorce, we have a will and such that we'd recently updated. We went to our credit union to sign the papers with a Notary Public there.

Our wills include a clause, which the lawyer refers somewhat jokingly to as "The Raul and Trixie Clause". It says that, for example, if I keel over and Magnum runs off with a stripper, our kids remain the beneficiaries and the stripper has no claim to anything when Magnum keels over. So "Trixie" refers to the stripper scenario, and "Raul" to some equally distasteful hook up of my own. 

I remember, at the time of the lawyer's explanation, thinking to myself, "hmmm, I know some Raul's who are good guys. Maybe don't call it that", but whatever. So last week as we were tediously signing off on the updates, I noticed that our notary's name was actually Raul - stars aligning for further vindication. And I doubt he would care to run off with a widowed me anyway.

• There's a [cute art supply store] here in town that I'd never been to. I knew if I went in there, I'd buy something I didn't need. Well, yesterday I went in for the first time because I needed a specific sketchbook. Magnum and I were on a coffee walk, and it was right there.
  
  

I broke in the new sketchbook with them apples.

The little store was pretty much as I expected - well stocked with all sorts of toys and with a friendly staff. 

And I only bought the one item I'd gone in there for. 

Yes, I can do this.

And now a Penny update: recall that our dog, Penny, went from being her usual ball of energy to a lethargic old lady dog seemingly overnight. 

Well, she laid around for two days, and on the third day... well... she has risen. 

No clue as to what knocked her on her ass. It's nice to have her back

 

need gas?

 I've been thinking that I want a new toy. A tablet. A tablet that I can draw directly upon. I justify it by saying how handy it would be for tutoring and for P.E.O, which it totally would, but I really want to play (a.k.a. draw) on it.

And then I'd have to learn to use all the tools for digital drawing. For now, I can only do cartoony things. I do have a tablet that is separate from my screen that is great for online tutoring, and I can use it to play draw. So I did this a little while ago.

Know this guy? Do ya?

Magnum and I made it to the ridiculous gas station that is Buc ee's on Friday. 

I mean, he needed some gas, so why not?

We knew ahead of time that it was huge - 74,000 square feet of convenience store. 116 gas pumps.

A large portion of the pumps were strangely occupied when we arrived. The novelty is still wearing off a bit since this Buc ee's opened about a month ago. Just across the road sits a standard Loaf 'n' Jug. It looked like a Lego® replica in its juxtaposition with Buc ee's.

Then we parked the car and headed to the store, glancing back frequently as we're taught when hiking in an unknown area of the woods. Look backwards often so you know what your return trip should look like, to prevent getting lost in the vast wilderness. It applies in the Buc ee's parking lot.

There were plenty of people there, but the store was so huge, it was easy to walk around. We were instantly struck with the smell of barbecued flesh as there was a LOT of food being freshly made. In addition to all that, there were rows and rows of typical convenience store fare - snack bag stuff, a whole wall of jerky...

So I wasn't too shocked at any of this as I'd heard stories of the Buc ee's experience. What I wasn't prepared for, however, was... the restroom.

I'd heard they had "the cleanest restrooms", but by gas station standards, that's difficulto get too excited about. But Buc ee's outdoes them all by miles!

The bathroom was huge and sparkly clean. You could throw a high school prom in there. And the stalls, omg the stalls - each with its own nearly floor-to-ceiling heavy door with Schlage indicator lock. Inside was plenty of TP, and a private hand sanitizer dispenser. Super bright and cheery because of the individual skylight.

It was quite ridonkulous.

So now I've had the Buc ee's experience. Apprently the chain has a nearly cult following, I mean...

SOURCE

We didn't try the barbecue or the "Buc ee nuggets", as we were fresh from lunch. No tattoos are planned either.

We did bring home a so soft plush blanket, though. 

The cat promptly let us know that we got it for him.

weird and gross

Gosh, seems like I've been gone on vacation. But nope, not the case. This week just pulled me in other directions. So, happy Friday!

Firstly, the college students dealt with midterms earlier this week, so the test center was bustling. And, as a result of midterms, several students said, "Oh, fudge!" (or something like that) "The semester's half over and I'm in a pickle. Maybe I should sign up for tutoring!", and they did. 

So suddenly, my tutor schedule's full and I'm filling in here and there a little extra at the testing center. Sarge is on vacation, and we haven't even started the process of hiring an assistant boss. So, in the spirit of the holiday, we're operating with a skeleton crew.

So a little catch-up in bullets:

A moment I'd like to remember forget:

• I stopped at walmart on my way home one night this week. I don't like going there, particularly around 5pm. BUT, it was a convenient stop as walmart tends to be, and I needed some Flonase®, and walmart has cheap drugs. 

Apparently a man wet his pants just before I arrived. An employee was standing by the "wet cleanup" so shoppers would avoid it. Soon afterward, I saw the same employee wiping it up with a flimsy rag, about the size of a hand towel, by swishing it around under his foot. 

No mop, no water or cleanser of any kind. He was essentially just smearing pee over a large area of floor. 

That'll teach me. All for the want of cheap Flonase®.

Something I learned and would like to explore further:

• I learned about Mike the headless chicken from Liz . Clicking on her provided link, I learned that Mike was from Fruita, Colorado - near to where I am right now! There's an entire festival commemorating a chicken without a head. Who knew? I might just have to attend this festival next year.

On a similar note, I learned about the Mothman and the resultant Mothman museum. How much further I wish to explore that one? Hmmm....

A news story that caught my attention:

• Didja hear about the vomit fee for people who can't handle their Sunday brunch mimosas?

Makes perfect sense to me.  Charge 'em.

There it is. A rather busy week featuring an unwanted bodily fluids theme. 

 

style?

It was 44 degrees F when I headed out this morning for a little Sunday morning run-around. Happy fall! I'm not complaining and welcome the cool temps. Soon, I'll have to break out the full finger gloves for the bicycle commute.

I worked yesterday as my turn came around again for the Saturday rotation. It was Party Girl and me, and the day went smoothly. She'd been sharing that she's recently put herself on a clothes-buying budget... because she's needing new clothes after putting on some weight. 

I had noticed her looking nicer/ better and had previously thought that maybe she just liked to wear tight clothing. Not the case. Now, she's no "fatty", but she's a few years into her 50s, and the body's been responding accordingly.

This with the cooler temperatures reminded me that I could use some cold weather clothes, but I don't particularly like clothes shopping - the going to various stores, selecting, trying on, yadda yadda. Thank goodness we have the internet now, not that that's always successful. But maybe it's time for a little closet purge as I swap out the seasonal clothing. 

When I was a kid, I did a decent amount of back-to-school shopping via catalog - the precurser to online shopping, I suppose. My mom would have me go through pages much like this one and make a few selections. 

Mom would place the order, and in a week or two, the big bell bottomed, puffy sleeved, embroidered fashion disasters would arrive.  Good times.

At least the work "dress code" is pretty simple. Jeans are fine. No words on shirts unless it's gear from the college, and I have no gear from the college. When I worked at the nursing home, we were supplied a "uniform" of scrubs, which made life easy in the what-am-I-going-to-wear-today department. 

In other work-related news, I've been "voluntold" that I'm on the selection committee for the new assistant boss now that old Assistant Boss is now just plain Boss. After some thought, I think it will be a worthwhile assignment. 

It's a committee of three - an enrollment advisor and a disability services coordinator in addition to myself. We won't have the final say, but will do the first round of interviews and make recommendations. Naturally, I'm hoping for a decent pool of suitable applicants. 

Know anyone??

dead things and air conditioning

Happy Independence Day, you Americans! Happy Tuesday, others.  Plans for the day include keeping the dogs from freaking out from unwanted noises.

Magnum and I both had the day off yesterday - a little bonus from having 4th of July fall on a Tuesday.  We got some obligatory house care done, then decided to go on a little "field trip" in the afternoon when things got hot. Seeking someplace amusing yet cheap, big, and - most importantly - with air conditioning.

We found the perfect destination: Scheels Sporting Goods.   Oh.   My.   God.
We'd heard of Scheels' many virtues, mostly that it's just so BIG, but we'd yet to see for ourselves. Although we had no need for any sporting goods, we shuffled over to Johnstown. 

The minimalist frugal environmentalist animal lover in me was moderately appalled. The uncomfortably hot and sweaty people watcher, however, had a pretty good time.

Yes, Scheels is huge. It's chock full of "stuff", and I was quite amazed by the sheer amount of available product  inventory - strange to see these days with brick-and-mortar stores going belly up, unable to compete with online merchants. 

And Scheels is not all about consuming. It's like a little carnival going on in there. There's a Ferris wheel, an arcade, a cafe, a large saltwater aquarium...

I recently saw a stand up comic talking about Scheels, most notably the gun department. He told of his astonishment at the number of guns "just laying around!". Of course, we had to check this out. He was correct.

I snapped this pic of a small portion of guns "just laying around"  mainly while noticing the many many dead animals looking down upon us in judgement.

So many dead animals. They were all labeled, though, so... educational?

They were seemingly everywhere.

A mountain lion gave me the what for as I watched the indoor Ferris wheel (can't say I ever expected to write that sentence)

I'm not actually sure how long we hung out, but we spent a good amount of time even without visiting every department. We didn't purchase anything, but did chat a bit with the creepy animatronic John Elway

The Scheels experience on a hot day.  I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10.

costuming

Mindlessly scrolling through instagram yesterday, and I came upon this:

Ain't it the truth!? 

Sometimes I'd get bored sitting in a class and get up to sharpen my pencil when unwarranted just for a change. We all did it, didn't we? And yes, it helped if the outfit was fire.

The pencil sharpener was one thing - maybe more a middle school tactic. In high school, my English teacher was quite fastidious and kept several bottles of Liquid Paper® on his desk - front and center of the classroom - handy for when we really thought we had something to share or for when checking out "feeds" from others.  Walk the "runway" to the front of the class and back under the guise of needing some Liquid Paper®. Does that even still exist?

Note: I shared the pencil sharpener meme with Magnum, he didn't get it at first. Then he assumed it was more of a girl thing.

Oh no no no. Boys definitely played that game. So Magnum said he didn't realize. He was trying not to be seen in high school. Okay, now that makes sense. 😂

These days, I stare at my closet... 

I get by with throwing together and mixing and matching the same old things, but I'm due for a shopping trip combined with a bit of closet purge.

I'm not a big fan of clothes shopping. It's so time consuming, not to mention the frustration of women's sizing.

I did, however, obtain some new shoes for running yesterday. I'd gone to the local running store a little over a week ago with the shoes I wanted already in mind.  The store was out of my size, so offered to order them in for me. 

I went in yesterday to pick them up, easy peasy. 

"Enjoy your new shoes!", the saleswoman said as the transaction completed.

"Thanks, you too", I said on my way out the door. 

Sheesh, I am bad at shopping.

ice and eggs

It feels like life returned to somewhat normalcy this week - back to work and all that. I'm not really used to these long breaks that the education world gets. Teachers have nearly a whole month off.

So it was a nice break and it's good to be back. There are changes afoot now that Boss has that promotion in hand. I don't anticipate sweeping changes other than us hourlies getting a break from having Boss around all the time.  

In other news, bought eggs lately? I picked up an 18-pack recently for a whopping $8.50. Inflation plus the deadliest avian flu outbreak ever really drove prices up. 

I came across this article that summarized inflation for November '22.  Eggs for the win! And I'd guess that percentage is even higher now.  Chicken eggs: the new caviar?

I find it interesting that "stationery supplies + gift wrap" gets it's own line. Are they that big a player? 

And I learned that Avian flu doesn't affect chicken prices as much as egg prices. They come from totally different "factories". In this case, it's better to be a "broiler" than a "layer". Who knew?

Same, Joe. Same.

To offset my fondness for eggs, I suppose it's nice to see major appliances in the negative - if ever so slightly - since this was our year of appliance makeover. 

The first full week of 2023 is in the books. It's crusty icy around here, I miss riding my bikes. But really, so far, so good.

exactly as I fantasized

As I sit here, I'm calmed by the gentle tumbling noises made by my laundry. Or, more accurately, the gentle tumbling noises of the laundry made by our new washing machine.

Magnum and I went appliance shopping last weekend and picked out a sweet new addition. She was delivered and installed on Wednesday, and life is gooder. Our old washer came with the (previously a rental) house and was a typical Landlord Special. It made a lot of noise, but I'm not sure how much cleaning actually happened in there.

The new washer has a steam cleaning option, so we've named her "Steamy" - short for Steamy McSteamface.

In related excitement, we've ordered a new dishwasher (similar Landlord Special, currently). It's scheduled to be here by Halloween. Party time.

Fall coloring is in full bloom (anti bloom?) here. Young George is still green, but I snapped this pic while out for a lovely run near duck town on this crisp morning.

And speaking of Fall, inktober continues with no let up. I managed a few more submissions this week, but needed to skip a couple.

              

I think Wood Ducks are called Wood Ducks because they live in the woods? Or are they boarders?

Okay, nevermind. 

So that was the week that was. This week, I look forward to more inktobering, possible improvement to my work schedule, and a flu shot. Compelling plot, I know.

supply chain chain chain

Sunday now - it was a rather busy week. Time for a bit of weekly reflection, shall we?

I've already mentioned enough of my flat tire adventure. I'll report that Daisy is back in business, looking and feeling fine. I've also ordered some more tubes and a new carry-on pump. I'm prepared!

I attended a meeting - my first since signing on as a tutor at the college - with the tutoring group. The meeting served as a sort of pep rally to kick off the school year and also to familiarize everyone with the new online platform for profiles, scheduling, etc. 

There were about 10 of us in attendance, and I was the lone newbie at the meeting. About half of them are retired teachers, I gathered from the gray hair. A couple younger people came across as quite brainy, but a bit socially awkward - enough to where it might hamper their ability or desire for more traditional jobs. Another guy was rather pompous, like a cartoon character. I feel a bit sorry for his tutees.

But it was nice to get things going and become familiar with how the college handles tutoring requests. One woman I got to know provided me with some very useful materials too.

Also this week, we helped a bit with Meego navigating the world of used car shopping. His $3500 Civic is likely not long for this world. Supply chain issues are just about everywhere.

Speaking of which, what are y'all doing for distilled water and Friskies cat food? Both of these items, I've learned, are experiencing supply chain shortages. I use distilled water for irrigating my sinuses a couple times a week. It helps with my allergies and also with my bum sinus that resulted from the extraction of a large bum tooth a few years ago.

Friskies dry cat food is on backorder as well. Neither of these shortages are major issues for me. I can function fine without distilled water, and honestly, I've been wanting to ween our cat off of Friskies for a while. Last time I tried changing his food up, he refused to comply, wanting only his crap Friskies. 

Too bad, Napolion. Time to go cold turkey... or cold "adult indoor chicken". Wish us luck.

a little bit of everything all of the time

I was sitting between two others on the bench seat of a pickup, holding on to a couple of "forties".  I don't remember who the driver was or who had the window seat.  I was 15 or 16 years old, and the three of us had gone on a booze run from a party we'd been attending.  Who bought the booze?  Why forties?

Those questions didn't really matter to me at the time because I was thinking, "Wow, my first drunken high school party!!"  Yeah, I'd made the "big time" *snore*.

I recall that my first real "ex" was also at that party.  He'd been a bigtime crush - sent my heart all a-flutter just at the site of him.  He drove a Pontiac Thunderbird - the only one like it in town - and whenever I saw that car, I became a big noodle, knowing he was in there.

Earlier that school year, I'd gathered all of my nerves and asked  him to go to the Homecoming dance with me.  OMG, what was I thinking?! I was a sophomore, he'd been a senior the year I was in 8th grade!

But I'd crushed on him big time, and it worked.  I actually called him from a payphone to ask him out because this was LONG before cell phones, and I didn't want anyone in my house overhearing the momentous call.  

We went to Homecoming and were together for a while.  It eventually fizzled the way these things do, so then I had an ex!  AND I was at a drunken high school party!!  Woo hoo, look at me checkin' all the boxes!

Thankfully, while I attended that party and many more to follow, I was never a big drinker - or smoker for that matter.  In the low-income small town where I grew up, "drugs for the rich" weren't much of a problem as far as I knew.  Alcohol and weed were about it.

Oh sure, I underwent that rite of passage, but in the end, I got over the "let's get shitfaced!" mentality pretty quickly.  That served me well later in college as I'd already gotten my party days out of me for the most part.  I was too broke to party much in college, plus I needed to do my homework.

College was where I met the equally not-into-getting-shitfaced Magnum, who eventually asked me to marry him.  Admittedly, I think we both were a little tipsy at the impromptu proposal.

There are so called "healthy" addictions too.  I've sometimes wondered if I'm addicted to running since I've enjoyed running for as long as I can remember.  Times when I couldn't run - e.g. injuries and pregnancies - I would sometimes have dreams about running, then wake up and be all, "ah, bummer".

Or people will ask what I'm training for, and I'm, "Nothing.  It's just for fun".  But I'm sure I'm not addicted.  Pretty sure.

For January of this year, a local running store created a challenge on the running app I use: walk or run at least one mile a day for 15 days in January to be entered in a drawing for a free pair of shoes.  I signed up, mainly to support the store but not expecting to win anything.  January came to a close.

This morning, I decided to see what was what with that challenge.

Lo and behold.

My name?  Listed as the winner?

I thought maybe the app was glitching.

But nope, apparently it's legit.

New shooz for me!

Not only do I get freebie shoes, but everyone who participated gets a 15% discount in February.

What a nice thing for that store to do.  These COVID times, businesses are hurting. 

And I thought I'd link up with Mama Kat this week, but it was a tough decision regarding which prompt to write about!

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1. Tell us about something you are “addicted” to.
2. Write about your proposal.
3. Tell us about a crush you had in high school.
4. Write a blog post inspired by the word: party
5. Share a blog post about a tough decision.
6. Tell us about the last nice thing somebody did for you

we know you love a party

"The test center is closed as we celebrate the Pagan Solstice.  We will reopen on January 3rd when our hours will be..."

"...However, if you are a virgin and would like to volunteer to sacrifice yourself to ensure the return of the sun for the rest of us, you may contact us at..."

Then again, we just went with the standard winter break message.

The boss, assistant boss, and I worked the final shift of the year yesterday.  We were only open for four hours for the last trickle of customers before the holidays.  We took care of some general cleaning and tidying - took down the holiday decorations, cleaned the breakroom, then penned and recorded the winter break outgoing message on the voicemail.  Done and done.

I'm as ready as I'm going to be for Christmas.  We don't go all out, especially since the kids are all up and out now.  But it's nice to have some time together.  I've got a few decorations up around the house, there are a few gifts and cards, there's ham.

I definitely don't want to take part in the deadweight loss of Christmas, minimalist clutterphobe that I am.  On a somewhat related note, my step-MIL has sent us an abundance of "treats" every year for Christmas for many years.  Store-bought cookies and candies, etc. that we never manage to consume on our own.

Most of it ends up going to coworkers and then expires into the trash.  I keep thinking to gently let her know not to send so much if any.  But then, Christmas passes and I forget by the next time I talk with her, and it seems wrong to mention it in my Christmas thank-you note.

Once again, I received and opened the "box of diabetes" a couple of weeks ago.  I brought over half of it to work, and during yesterday's cleaning, the leftovers went into the trash.  There's still a significant amount at our house that we will dole out to the kids, then chuck the remainder.

Any advice on how to handle this?  Mention it to her in my thank-you note?  Give myself a reminder to bring it up the next time they visit - possibly summertime? Just let her keep sending the crap and not say anything?  There are certainly worse things.

you had me on the sunrise

 My days off are Fridays and Saturdays, so Saturdays feel like Sundays to me.  I was gonna say Happy Mother's Day, but nope, not officially there yet.  Not that I'm big into Hallmark holidays anyway...

I enjoyed a leisurely day yesterday, starting with a lovely morning run where I passed by this wholesome couple performing their morning preening.  

The male didn't seem to want his pic taken, but at least the female was quite into it.

I've never seen ducks nesting like the geese do around here.  Nevertheless, little ducklings seemingly pop out of nowhere each spring.  I'll keep watch.

Later on, I did some shopping.  I needed some shoes for work, and Sierra did me a solid once again.  I like to wear good quality running shoes at work since we're on our feet so much.  Good quality running shoes can be expensive, though, but I found these bargain basement pups for the ridiculous price of $15.

They felt super comfy in the store, but I was all questioning on account of how cheap they were.  I looked up online reviews when I got home, thinking maybe they're on par with grocery store sneakers,  but sure enough, they're legit.  

In fact, one of my favorite youtube shoe reviewers recently posted a favorable review, so I'm currently basking in bargain hunting success.

Later, I swung by Wolfgang's to look after his cat Maisey for a while.  Wolfgang and a couple of friends partook of some mountain biking fun in Utah and Colorado last week, so Magnum and I were on Maisey duty.  She is basically a sweet giant fur ball.

So far today, we've had a bike ride, a quick check in with Wolfgang, and a coffee outing - lovely day out that it is. 


Snow is forecast for the upcoming week, but I don't even want to talk about it.

Until then, there's a few other things to check off the to-do list, but I think I'll go look up duck nesting first.

dreaming, watching, shopping, working, oh my!

Just before I awoke this morning, I was dreaming of a black owl.  It was present in the background of my dream, but then it seemed to take an interest in me.  It followed me around and eventually perched itself on my shoulder and then my head, where it was happy.

Gosh, must be some profoundly meaningful dream!  But what is my subconscious/ the universe trying to tell me??  As I sat here pondering, I noticed the cheapo coaster I keep on my desk:

All right, so maybe it was a rando dream about coasters... or coffee... or... I dunno, cork?  Nothing to see here.

In other current events:

 

We finished "The Queen's Gambit" on Netflix.  I enjoyed the series with its well developed and engaging characters and plot.  I did find the final episode rather corny and predictable, but it tied up the story well enough.  

Speaking of tying up, remember elementary school how we'd sing when someone got new shoes?  I still remember the words to the song, try as I might to forget.

Anyway, I got new shoes for work this week.  I don't know how many steps I put in during a shift, but I'm sure it's a lot.  I was wearing simple canvas sneakers that were comfy on my feet, but my calves and knees felt like lead by the end of the day.  I chalked it up to poor footwear and went on the hunt for something better.

Sierra Trading Post came through for me once again.  I bagged a pair of $130 Hokas for $43.  I'd tried the brand for running not long ago, and wasn't impressed, but they've turned out great for work.  In conclusion, my legs are happy and my wallet isn't empty.  Now I know why the nurses wear Hokas, however, nobody sang for me.

Speaking of work, I find I'm enjoying my position as den mother despite my initial wariness...  it's early days though.  Honestly, I have little interest in geriatrics, nutrition, and dietetics in general, but I'm a total nerd for accuracy and efficiency, and this job fits that bill nicely.  Dare I say I'm actually using a bit of my graduate degree on a job?  

Well, let's not get carried away.

vehicular thoughts, and staying on course

I've been half-assedly car shopping.  More like car pondering, really.  

We have two cars,  neither of which is driven much.  I commute on my bicycle, Magnum works from home. We drive the cars occasionally but not daily, and I'm not ready to go car free like some other bicycle zealots I know.

So, what to have sitting in the garage?  My current ride is a great little grocery getter. Easy to zip around town in while it takes baby sips of gas.  Most of the time, it suits my needs perfectly.

But then it will snow, and I'm reminded of its limitations.  Then I get all thinking 4x4 something or other.  

Then the snow melts, and I'm all, "Who wants a 4x4?".  Then I'll want to go further into some mountain trails and look dejectedly at the grocery getter... It's a vicious cycle.  In the meantime, the grocery getter stays.

Speaking of moving around, I did another of those Tortoise and Hare races this morning.  This one was a 6K, so a little under 4 miles.  It was fun, and I didn't get lost this time.  We don't have final results yet, but I know I passed more tortoises than hares passed me, so good enough.

It's just nice to have some semblance of The Before Times - before COVID - getting out and racing with other people.  We mask up and don't congregate, try not to breathe on each other while on the course.  Better than nothing.