Thursday Thoughts - Pass me some of that patriotism

1. And a hotdog, macaroni salad, corn on the cob, and soft serve ice cream, too. There. Now you know my weekend menu. I will also be trotting out all of my red, white, and blue lounge attire.

2. SCOTUS decision week, in which they delivered the most significant abortion rights decision in many years. The Court ruled in favor of Whole Women's Health, declaring HB-2 (which passed in 2013 despite Wendy Davis' towering filibuster, closing nearly half of the 41 clinics in Texas) unconstitutional. This means abortion remains legal in theory AND in practice. Not just in theory, which is what HB-2 sought to do. I think a lot of people think the right to choose is iron clad. It's not. It's been eaten away at in the 40 some years since Roe. Pay attention. If vaginas shot bullets this wouldn't be an issue.

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3. Do you know how much laundry you have to catch up on when your dryer has been broken? A lot. Most of my spare time this week has been devoted to that.

4. I think we all want to be understood in certain scenarios. It's important to know the difference between that and living a life designed to gain the approval of others, which is a different type of understanding. That, you really don't need. If you are happy, self sufficient, and not a danger to yourself or others, it's okay to live the life you want even if no one gets it...you have to be fierce with yourself and listen to your gut. At the end of the day, your voice is the one that matters.

5. I love these words on why one should write in The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. I finished that last night. The next Show Us Your Books is July 13. No new episode of the Armchair Librarians this week, Jana and I will catch you next week when we'll be discussing The Nest.

6. I often get quizzed on my iced coffee making method. You can find that post here. I just got these new bags thanks to a tip from Mare. Probably the easiest I've worked with to date.

7. Dinner with the lovely sisters Melissa & Stephanie 1 and Alex at Villa di Roma on Tuesday night. The food was so good. I ate so many carbs that I was still full Wednesday morning.

8. Got fresh for the weekend. Toes are OPI Big Apple Red for America's birthday.

9. E-card of the week.

10. I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend celebrating America's birthday. If you drink don't drive and if you drive don't drink. Also, leave the fireworks to the pros. Jill is here tomorrow giving you her sunless tanner insider info, so I'll see you back here Tuesday for TWTW. Catch me on Instagram this weekend, and catch Jill there too because we will be rendezvousing at some point.  

Toodles, yankee doodles.

Concert Douchery

This weekend I was in a large concert crowd two days in a row, which I usually try to avoid because large crowds turn me into Zuel and it's best if the public and I are not exposed to each other with such frequency. Concerts are great for people watching. And when people watching, it's always fun to play Spot the Douche. In a sea of humanity, it's not that difficult.

You have the can you please sit down-ers, which, no, I cannot. Actually, I do sit down because someone (MFD) urges me to, and then I get pissed and I stand up again because this is the encore of a concert and I believe it's an appropriate show of thanks and respect to the artist who just played for hours and go fuck yourself for making me turn around and explain to you that everyone else is standing up. When I go to a concert or a sporting event, I fully expect people in front of me to be so in the moment that they stand to express that. I either stand as well or I sit and listen. Something I never do: ask them to sit down. If you want to see perfectly, watch it on TV. p.s. saw you up dancing during Call Me Al, you cannot dance then be the dance police when others are dancing

You have the shushers. I hate shushing. And at a concert, people are going to sing and cheer and right on, you guys. It's your time too. Concerts are interactive experiences. The performer needs the crowd and the crowd needs the performer. For those of you who want to listen to a song so quietly you can hear a pin drop, stay in your living room.

You have the non-stop talkers. On the other hand, there are people who need more than a shush...if you wanted to just talk the entire time, why did you pay to come inside? You can do that in the parking lot for free.

You have the wild boars using inside toilets. Ladies (and I use that term loosely), if you spray the entire seat with your pee, wipe that grossness up. If you don't, someone else has to. And that's fucking disgusting, animal-like behavior.

You have the Very Important Person Leaving the Concert (VIPLC). This person does not follow the one to one etiquette of the parking lot, as in one person from each direction goes, taking turns, so that the line moves and everyone gets home. This person busts themselves up to the front and cockblocks everyone from escaping parking lots.

You have bros. Although to be fair, bros annoy me everywhere and I am up my my eyeballs in bro encounters recently so I have zero tolerance right now. I saw a guy in a white blazer and sunglasses at night at Peter Gabriel/Sting that looked like he was attending the Catalina Wine Mixer and not a freaking concert on the lawn in Camden, New Jersey.

Tell me your concert douches.

p.s. in the non-douche vein, happy birthday to my cousin Courtney!

Cilantro lime cauliflower

I will not attempt to insult you by calling this cilantro lime cauliflower rice, which is what a lot of the internets call it. It's cauliflower, scaled down to be rice-size, but it's still cauliflower. Not rice. Luckily I love cauliflower and it's good for you, so personally I find this to be a good side dish substitution for rice. It was a great accompaniment to some chicken marinated in lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, and ancho chile seasoning.

Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower
2 TBS butter
kosher salt + pepper
cilantro, chopped - I like a lot so I probably used more than 1/2 a cup
Juice of three limes

Directions
Pulse cauliflower in the food processor (or similar) in batches.

Steam in the microwave with butter for five minutes.

Remove, season with S&P, add cilantro and lime juice, and mix well.

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Haikuesday

People are people.
Veggies are veggies, not rice.
You can't fool a fool. 

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Happy birthday to my brother-in-law Mark!

TWTW - the one with the music

Friday post-work trip to the library / rendezvousing with MFD at the Barnes

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Surprise 50th for our good friend Steve with awesome Italian food, delicious cake, and a lot of laughs

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Saturday Target/Lou's Farm Market/Redner's errands & time out back relaxing with the dogs 

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Vietnam Vets Assn picked up my purged items & we finally got a new MFing dryer

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Hydrangeas cut from out front / Nails in OPI I Manicure for Beads

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Dinner at La Calaca Feliz in Fairmount

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Family night with two of our brothers and sister-in-laws and Sarah's brother for Paul Simon at the Mann. He was amazing. Really great night.

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Sunday morning out back finishing a book and relaxing after 9.5 hours of awesome sleep

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Sunday night Peter Gabriel & Sting concert with friends at BBT in Camden. Neither artist is my favorite, but they put on a great show. Getting out of Camden blows. 

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Weekly food prep

1 - Breakfast is egg muffins with spinach & cheese and strawberries

2 - lunch is homemade sloppy joes on whole wheat buns with a side of plums and carrots

3 - Dinner is chicken with cauliflower flavored with cilantro & lime (recipe tomorrow)

I'm worn out. 

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending &

Thursday Thoughts - dip trip, flip fantasia

1. You know what forces you to get your purging act together? Scheduling a pickup for 8 a.m. on Saturday. Thanks Vietnam Vets Assn for picking up! Things I am not allowed to purchase more of: lounge pants, pajama pants - not even using the one in, one out rule. I could open up my own store for both.

2. I went to a small local shop near my office and got professionally fitted for bras on Monday. And by fitted I mean she eyed me up and put me in the size she thought I was without using a measuring tape, and she was correct. She pushes your boobs in there how they should be too. I was wearing the total wrong size, by like a lot, and it is amazing how much better you look and feel in the correct size bra. Mona said, "Steph, they don't call them foundation garments for no reason." Boom. Anyone in Philly, take yourself directly to Mona the Bra Whisperer at Coeur on 17th Street. Support your small, local businesses! When I went back Tuesday to pick one up, she gave me a hug and a high five.

3.  Tuesday night dinner at Carlucci's for mom's 60th. I think the crown can be worn all year, don't you?

4. The nearly seven week saga of the not working at all - sort of working - need to run a load through three times - fixed - not working again - need to run a load through twice - fixed - not working again dryer culminated in a War of the Roses type battle between me and MFD that resulted in this being delivered this Saturday and our warranty company sending us a check in the mail to cover more than half of it. Pray it's an early window or I'm going to need to phone a friend to receive delivery so I can make dinner/Paul Simon.

5. I have outrage fatigue over gun nonsense. Is no fly no buy perfect? No. Anything involving lists is not perfect. Everyone should have been banging that civil liberties drum when the Patriot Act unanimously passed through the GOP.  I want universal background checks. I want waiting periods. I want the smallest step taken towards getting them. And I want that step taken now. Few things in life are exactly as we want them to be. I'm done arguing with gun lovers - please, don't waste your time with me. I don't want to take your guns so chill the F out. Except those AR-15s...those I'd take. Go pet and hug and stroke your guns and whisper to yourself how I'll wish you were around with them in a crisis instead of telling me there is not a gun problem. If guns aren't the problem, why do no other civilized countries have mass shootings? If the Founding Fathers knew an AR-15 could ever exist and what it could do to a crowd and how people would use it I think they would have worded the second amendment a little differently. Rep. John Lewis, you still got it. No bill no break indeed. Paul Ryan, you are a sniveling little brat sucking the teat of the NRA. Many LOLs for people saying this is illegal...have you heard of John Lewis and Martin Luther King and non violent protest and the right to assemble? Or do you only know gun rights? Andplusalso the republicans shut down the government over vaginas. Stop it.

6.  It's the very first week of summer and I already don't feel like figuring out meal prep for next week, getting out of bed early, or making my zumba classes. I hate the lazy season.

7. Did you know tomorrow is bring your dogs to work day? I swear, if I was going to the shore this weekend, I'd bring my motley crew in here and let them loose.

8. Sneak peak of what's on my list...and I was mumbling around in our Monday after 9 pm recording and could not come up with the blog name at the time, but I got the hots for the Red Rising trilogy from Rose at Ramblin' Rose on a few Show Us Your Books posts. Thanks for the recommendation, Rose.

9. Important:

10. E-card of the week

Spring goal report

I was supposed to report in on this this weekend, and I didn't. Probably because honestly? There's not much to report. This was partly a case of missing motivation and shifting priorities. When it came down to it, I didn't care much to complete any of these. Good thing they weren't really necessary because that's exactly what I did - leave them as they were. LOL

1. Go whale watching. Newp. 

2. Attend high tea. No. 

3. Begin learning conversational French. Yes! I got my CDs and books and have started.

4. Visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Nope. Moved this to summer and made it the sculpture garden. 

5. Go strawberry picking and make a strawberry pie. This has been on my goal list for years and I never do it. Do I even want to go strawberry picking? No. This is the last year it will appear. I went when I was little. That will suffice.

6. Run through a timed cleaning of the shore house a few times and be sure I can get it done in two hours so I'm prepared for rental switchovers on the Saturdays I'll be cleaning it. Done, but having it cleaned every week in case I can't be there. And when I am, I can deal with the outside areas.

7. Improve my home improvement skills. I'd say overall yes, but I still need to learn many more things.

8. Check out the Chinese Lanterns in Franklin Square. Done.

9. Wear bracelets every weekday and photograph for proof. I have a lot and I typically only wear them if I'm going somewhere. I was absolutely on this the first two weeks. Then totally not on it. But I have been better overall so I'm going to give it a half pass. 

10. Easter Sunrise on the beach. Nope. It was gray in the morning. I've seen many others though, so I'm good. 

If you missed my summer goals, you can see them here.

Shit MFD Said Vol. 30

Comes in from gym at the shore
Me: Now what are you doing?
MFD: Holy shit! Were you here the whole time?
Me: What? Yes.
MFD: I didn't know.
Me: How? This efficiency is a small room. Like a hotel room.
MFD: It's like the Bermuda Triangle.
Me: Why? I'm not lost, I'm right here.
MFD: I had no idea...did I do anything weird?

In regards to Mae, who has been puking
MFD: God, she smells. I just gave her a bath.
Me: She smells like puke.
MFD: Are you sure you didn't puke because you smelled her?
Me: No, I puked because I was cleaning up her puke.
MFD: I would understand if it was just from her stench.

Sitting down on the couch
MFD: Nooo.
Me: What?
MFD: Turds.
Me: Ew.
MFD: This carpet is horrible.
Me: I know. I hate it.
MFD: It's the turd hiding carpet. And Gus is the turd dropper.
Me: Old dog syndrome.

Driving down our street
MFD: That's where your keys fell when you turned. That makes sense now. 

Me: Thanks, Detective Clouseau. That happened in November, you know.

MFD: It's Inspector. Inspector Clouseau.

Me: Apologies, Inspector.

On one of the million rainy days
MFD: Look at that girl. Not even wearing her coat. No umbrella. Do you see her?

Me: Yes.

MFD: I guess some people don't mind. I hate cold rain. Then again I hate hot rain too.

Me: You're just all no rain like Blind Melon.

MFD: Hmm, yes. Shannon Hoon.

In the car

MFD: Do you have nail clippers?

Me: Are you kidding me?

MFD: What?

Me: Haven't we talked about this before, like who should carry nail clippers if they need them and how I'm not a drug store?

MFD: I don't know what you're talking about.

Shit MFD Said in texts:

When I broke the news that his glue job failed:

When he broke the news about crappy grocery delivery (are in the first one should be ate):

All read and approved by MFD before they go live...
Shit MFD Said Vol 1, Shit MFD Said Vol 2, Shit MFD Said Vol 3, Shit MFD Said Vol 4
Shit MFD Said Vol 5, Shit MFD Said Vol 6, Shit MFD Said Vol 7, Shit MFD Said Vol 8
Shit MFD Said Vol 9, Shit MFD Said Vol 10, Shit MFD Said Vol 11, Shit MFD Said Vol 12, Shit MFD Said Vol 13, Shit MFD Said Vol 14, Shit MFD Said Vol 15, Shit MFD Said Vol 16, Shit MFD Said Vol 17, Shit MFD Said Vol 18, Shit MFD Said Vol 19, Shit MFD Said Vol 20, Shit MFD Said Vol 21, Vol 22, Vol 23, Vol 24, Vol 25, Vol 26, Vol 27, Vol 28, Vol 29

twtw - the one with the dads

Low-key Friday night: MFD grilled, we ate outside, and watched two episodes of the new season of Orange is the New Black.

Saturday morning breakfast at Green Eggs Cafe in South Philly with my girls Amanda, Michelle, and Amelia. I got the pork roll benedict: pork roll and cheese on white toast topped with eggs and spicy ketchup. It was delicious.

When I got home, I finished a book (Since She Went Away) and started another (Murder in Missoula, finished that Sunday afternoon) outside while waiting for the dryer repair people. The never ending saga of this asshole dryer has my laundry piled up because one only has so much room to hang it like an old time washer woman. A part has been ordered and it should be fixed by Tuesday. If it breaks again someone must die. Nails are Sunday Funday by Essie.

Saturday afternoon was my cousin Ashley's graduation party. She graduated with many honors and activities and is on to life at Penn State main. We're all very proud of her! During the party, I dealt remotely with a screen door issue at the shore...for the zillionth time in the past month. These screen doors are killing me.

Saturday night MFD was at a meeting and I was home alone to catch a nice sunset. Before I headed upstairs for the night, I heard a bang so armed with a knife and my phone ready to call 911, I went to investigate...the uh, soap holder fell. I felt like a well-prepared knife-wielding lunatic.

Sunday morning reading outside followed by changing sheets which the dogs got on immediately. I also started going through my drawers and purging clothes. The spare bedroom looks like a disaster right now as I work my way through.

Sunday was Father's Day and my Mom's actual 60th birthday. I'll see Mom and Rich on Tuesday night for Mom's birthday dinner.

Sunday afternoon MFD and I visited his dad and family, then headed to Stephen & Aubrey's to see my Dad and share a delicious meal around the beautiful table Aubrey and her Dad built. Last I checked, MFD was trying to commission one. It was a lovely evening outside. I love weekends where I can see my precious perfect niece two days in a row.

Weekly food prep

1 - Breakfast is egg muffins with asparagus and cheese with a side of

2 - power breakfast muffins from the freezer

3 - Lunch is shredded buffalo chicken from the freezer combined with quinoa, goat cheese, baby spinach, and grape tomatoes

4 - Caprese skewers for Sunday dinner contribution

Dinner out for my Mom's birthday Tuesday. Quinoa pasta with red sauce and salads the rest of the week.

Today, it's officially summer. And it feels like it. 

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending &