Thursday Thoughts - We can stay out all day or we can run around all night

Appreciating winter skies - this is Monday's sunrise

Representing my favorite color in my reusable stuff for sure. 

Struggling to get off the couch and get the daily dos stuff done at night this week.

Glamour shotting the dogs and laughing like a hyena at Bender's tooth. 

Trying Printcess eye shadow. McKenzie, who participates in SUYB and blogs here, sent me some samples. She just purchased the company that is cruelty free vegan eye shadows. We all know I am not the makeup queen (as you can see by the photos below, #notgoodatthis), but each Printcess shadow is inspired by a book, which I freaking love, in addition to loving the cruelty-free aspect of them. I wear eye shadow a few times a week. I liked the Printcess shadow and it stayed on all day (I did use an eye primer, I always do) like my Urban Decay shadow does. You can see the colors in the Etsy shop here. I picked Witch to sample based on the name because of course I did. For those of you looking to use more sustainable, cruelty-free products and shop small vs. big machine brands, check this shadow out. My old Sephora neutral is nearly gone and when it is I'm going to replace it with Alibi or Rukmani. I will also purchase Witch at some point in the future.

Adding eyebrows to tomorrow's To Do list. It's been at least six months since I picked up a tweezer and those pics. Woof.

Spending $6.76 on unnecessary, unplanned for items in January - a face mask at Target that I wanted to try for $1.77 and $4.99 for a kindle book. The book is the next in a series and was purchased after I contacted the library and was told they have no plans to get the remaining four books in the series. Everything else was needed or planned.

Planning a few unnecessary but budgeted bookish expenses for February: the other three books in the DCI Erika Foster series and On the Come Up, Angie Thomas's next novel that I pre-ordered back in July and debuts on February 5. And that I see is only $12.91 for the hardcover. Holler.

Demanding justice for Jussie Smollett. Every one of us has the responsibility to rise up against ignorant hate out there and be louder than homophobes and louder than racists. 

Hibernating...still. I do have something to do Friday night and Saturday afternoon this weekend. My only super bowl plans include eating frozen appetizers. 

Listening to Ain't Even Done With the Night by John Mellencamp. One of my favorite songs of all time. Have you ever read the comments on YouTube videos of songs? They are fucking hilarious. The second one I saw was who is listening to this song in 2018? Me, dickhead. I am.

Watching True Detective Season 3 and The Great British Baking Show. I'm pumped to have this as an action item, I'm usually watching nothing. MasterChef Australia was also recommended to me for the camaraderie of the people on it so I'll check that out too.

Reading: the third DCI Erika Foster novel as mentioned above - Dark Water by Robert Bryndza

Reminding us all

Applying this e-card to the entire week

What's new with you?

 

More and less in 2019

More of these things this year:
-Time living at the shore
-Living smaller
-Spending less
-Sleep and rest

-Dogs on the beach
-Consistent skincare

-Time at home

-Sunrises & sunsets
-Enough water every day
-Purging and reorganizing
-Love, in which love is justice spoken out loud

-Replacing worn clothing items with ones made by sustainable companies who pay workers a living wage

-Budgeted grocery shopping and using what I have
-Reading

-Open windows

-Completed projects
-Bike rides

-Lipstick
-Magnesium supplements
-Writing
-Re-purposing things I have
-Pedicures
-Email inbox management
-Set acupuncturist and chiropractor appointments
-Produce

Less of these things this year:
-Buying fast fashion from companies with workers making $1 a day 
-Mindless spending
-Buying shit I don't need

-Commitments
-Overall mindless consumption of time, energy, resources, goods, etc.

-Store bought sweets
-Keeping what I don't use or need
-Ignoring things so others can be comfortably racist/sexist/homophobic/hateful
-Facebook on my phone
-Single use anything

Thanks to Steph's yes and no lists for the inspiration. 

What are you doing more and less of this year?

Brocaulitato soup

I made that word up. Consider it my covfefe. Also file under: ugly food that tastes good.

I hate food waste, like, loathe. I had some potatoes that were on the downside so I thought I'd make soup this weekend. Creamy potato soup. Except I'm in the doughy AF part of winter right now and I don't need the creamy. A good way to get the creamy without the calories is an immersion blender. I decided to add cauliflower and then said fuck it, I'll healthy this up even more and add broccoli too. If you don't like the green color, don't add it.

Ingredients
1 half of a red onion, chopped (any kind of onion works)
1 tbs garlic, chopped
1 TBS olive oil
1 stalk of celery, chopped (cleaning out fridge, you don't need this if you don't have it)
4 cups stock, any kind you have
2 cups water
8 small to medium golden potatoes, washed and chopped (leave skin on )
salt to taste
pepper to taste
Penzey's fox point seasoning if you have it, if not garlic salt or anything else you'd flavor steamed veggies with, about 1/2 tsp
1 bag steamable cauliflower
1 bag steamable broccoli

Directions
Heat pot, add oil, add onion and celery and saute over medium for about 4 minutes. Add garlic and saute another minute. Add stock, water, potatoes and salt the water like you would if you were making mashed potatoes. Boil for about 10 minutes.

Steam both cauliflower and broccoli. Add to the potatoes and cool on low another 10 minutes. Taste broth to see if you need to add salt or pepper.

Remove from heat. Use immersion blender to smooth it out but be sure to leave some chunks.

Serve topped with cheese if you want a little extra something something.

Happy birthday to my cousin Tiffany today!

TWTW - the last one in January

Friday night I finished reading a book about a serial killer (fiction) and MFD watched about a serial killer (real), which set me to googling him. I also realized the library doesn't have the last four Erika Foster novels so I emailed them asking if they were planning on getting them. Otherwise they'll be on my list to buy on Kindle or in paperback. Anyone out there have them and willing to loan them?

Saturday I was up and out early to visit my niece and nephew, pick up my Grandmom's lamp from Dad & Carol's, and get groceries at Target and Aldi, now conveniently in the same parking lot with the new Aldi. Target didn't give me the $5 gift card for a food purchase or 10% off five items via Cartwheel so I called them when I got back and they sent me an e-gift card. I put stuff away, processed my iced coffee in bulk, did laundry, ran the dishwasher, and read a book before making dinner and watching The Office.

Sunday was lovely early morning light, a five minute facebook check in, most food prep done early, reading a book, taking an hour nap, facial upkeep, starting another book, making dinner, cleaning the kitchen 482984 times, and starting True Detective Season 3.

Is it the weekend without a lot of sleeping dog photos?

Weekly food prep: Breakfast is kodiak waffles with egg and milk for extra protein + banana. Lunch is turkey noodle soup (in the freezer from last week), snacks are hard boiled eggs, grapes, and bell peppers. Dinners are leftovers of deconstructed chicken parm and potato/cauliflower/broccoli soup (recipe to come) and rosemary pepper drop biscuits - if you have butter/milk/flour, you can make quick biscuits, know everything that's in them, and not buy them in a can. Otherwise mexican stuffed shells from the freezer. 

Once upon a time I would have prepared a few blog posts but I'm back to winging a few days a week. 

I can't believe it's the last week of January. That seems crazy, right? 

Art I've Seen This Week

I am a huge fan of street art, of outside a museum art, of encountering art in public bathrooms and everywhere it's not strictly supposed to be. Art I've seen this week:

The first  above is in front of Tattooed Mom's, the rest are around 5th & Bainbridge. I'm pissed I didn't get to see the Hystericalman piece (top right) before it got torn - here it is in full. Bottom right is Lace in the Moon, I think the bottom left is Nero One, not sure about the middles.

Tattooed Mom's itself is like a teeming artbox and I love it. I could walk around for hours looking at every inch of this place. If you could too, go in and grab a drink and some food and do just that. Before Tuesday I think it was 15 years since I was last in there. I'll make it back sooner than that.

Not sure / Hystericalmen / Blur

If this interests you and you are in the Philly area, check out the Streets Dept blog and Instagram account - he often shares new stuff and you can seek it out or take one of his street art tours in the spring or fall like Debbie and I did late in 2017.

That concludes my Uninformed Art Tour.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday Thoughts - Mister blue sky please tell us why you had to hide away for so long

1. Raise your hand if you get excited to recycle. All of these things had to be thrown out yesterday but none of them went in the trash and I loved it. 10 out of 10 get a life Y/N

2. Wednesday was my work from home day this week, and with the two hour savings on commute and ability to get things done at lunch as well as the lack of office distractions, I am by far the most productive on my work from home days. I got a big work writing project done yesterday, made it to the post office and the library, and did what felt like endless laundry that is now all clean but is not all put away. You know how that goes, right? About that library trip - super pumped for this stack.

3. Yesterday was National Pie Day so I made pecan pie muffins, recipe from my friend Kim, instead of going out and buying one. I used what I had and felt thrifty and smug. I'm putting this here so I can reference it: 1/2 cup flour + 1 cup light brown sugar + 1 cup chopped pecans, mixed. 2 eggs beaten + 2/3 cup butter softened and beaten together. Add wet to dry, mix well. Fill muffin tins 2/3 of the way full and bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes. I took mine out at 22. Degoddamnlicious and I reheated them later and added vanilla ice cream.

4. Have you seen the Fyre Festival documentary on Netflix? Hooo-leee shit. I am going to have to reactivate Hulu for a minute to watch that one too. I'm glad to see people stepped in to help Maryann via her gofundme. I hope they did for other locals as well. It is fucking terrible to do that to people. I feel for the people who didn't get what they paid for, sure, but the locals...it makes me sick.

5. All the nail colors this week (Essie No Place Like Chrome, You Me & the Sea, Penny Talk.

6. Bruce is infatuated with the ice but cries and jumps off when it cracks while he's standing on it. Repeat 573 times every time he goes out and there's ice.

7. Summary of feminist thoughts this week:

8. Summary of white supremacy thoughts this week:

9.  Reminder:

10. Ecards...well, that's what this woman means.

Toodleoo now. 

What appears after the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts is a song lyric to whatever I'm listening to when I start to write the post. This week is Mr. Blue Sky by ELO

14 Current Random Obsessions

1. Paper plates.  I see so many photos of food on paper plates. Am I in the minority using actual plates and washing them instead of using plates and throwing them out? 

2. Being thrifty. I intendto spend the year watching my expenditures and evaluating what is really necessary when something runs out. I didn’t expect to enjoy the thrift and the parsing down so much.

3. Using all the food. Pantry and freezer clean out are happening and I'm actively searching for what to make each week instead of buying more. 

4. Kiwi. I eat it constantly. I had no idea how many people don’t eat it. It's been a topic in my office.

5. The Great British Baking Show. I think I covered this yesterday but isn't it so comforting? The people are so kind to each other and really just come as you are, not overly made up insanity.

6. Requesting books. I’m maxed out on my hold requests at the library. I request books all the time but have been a hungry book ogre recently.

7. Avoiding facebook. I'm so much happier when I log on, post my blog post, and check out. Scrolling is not good for me at this time.

8. Reading about making soap. I’ve read a zillion articles and blog posts about it over the years. This obsession is cyclical and I’m back in it.

9. Water. I can't get enough and can't refill my humidifiers enough. I hate having the heat on.

10. Countdown to spring. I'm ready to go back to the shore.

11. Hibernating. Home, rest, live slow. I’m going to make the most of the indoor months instead of inventing things to do. 

12. Candles. I’m burning through them like wildfire.

13. Mint tea. With a spoon full of sugar.

14. Brienne of Tarth. What an intelligent badass.

Thanks to my friend Heather for this post idea - she does her 14 lists on a lot of Fridays. Check her out!

Your current obsessions?

TWTW - the one with women and the baking

Friday half day and driving to DC with Melissa. Gwen and Gena were already there with Mimi and it's been too many years since I've them. Debbie arrived later. Mimi fed us well as always and we took care of sign making business but were completely captivated by The Great British Baking Show. Like, involved. Like these people are our family and competing. Cheering loudly involved.

Saturday Mimi's muffins made by Mimi herself, packing up, and lots of discussions about Depends. Hashtag we're older now. Then it was off to the Women's March. We heard no speakers. Markedly less people than two years ago in DC, and much more tiring. We're all tired at this point if we feel the need to show up for this, yes? But we were there and it was good to be there together.

Did you see that Kavanaugh sweater though?

Meem, Gwen, Gena, and I have known each other since I was 22 or 23. Debbie I met in my late 20s, Melissa in my early 30s. I love when my friends from different eras of my life enjoy each other's company and become friends themselves. It says something about the character of all of these awesome women. It was so great to just be with all of them this weekend. Bake offs, food, naps, and Depends talk suit us better than the bars these days and we are all good with that. After a lingery lunch at Alta Strada, we retired back for showers, more baking, grazing, naps, etc. Oh...and sheet masks as is the ritual of Debbie and I on Saturday nights. Mask photos forever. Never not funny. We look like The Sheet Mask Great British Baking Show Zombie Mafia.

Sunday I slept shitty and only for about 4.5 hours due to the youth encounter with the Native Elder. I can't and the lengths gone to to excuse or explain are just...no. Make Nathan Phillips a white vet and the kids any other color and then what happens? Not a lot of in defense of kids Fox News talking points in that scenario. Yes, I saw the whole video. Yes, there was a lot going on. No, the disrespect and clowning of a Native Elder are not excusable from the crowd wearing MAGA hats. The March for Life was on the Mall. The Indigenous People's March was permitted at Lincoln Memorial. Those kids were quite far from where they were supposed to be and if they had a chaperone the chaperone sucks. Let's not get into the fact that the kids who don't know any better were bussed in specifically to stand against the bodily autonomy of women. Do they know about that? ANYWAY Melissa and I were on the road by 7:15. MFD's niece and two nephews were at my house and I got them into the British Baking Show too. Hurrah. That's basically what I did for the remainder of the day.

Weekly food prep from the food that photographs poorly but tastes good kitchen: Breakfast is breakfast burritos from the freezer. Lunch is PB&J and fruit. Dinners are turkey soup from scratch (made the stock Sunday from my Thanksgiving carcass) and spaghetti squash buffalo chicken (chicken from a picked rotisserie in the freezer). I'm not sure what else yet. 

MLK day. Friends, I believe love will conquer hate, but love is justice spoken out loud so if we continue to stay silent or whatabout each other, hate does not go away. We can't ignore it and we can’t love it out of here in silence. Hate for those that are “other”, disrespect, and intolerance are TAUGHT, allowed, and encouraged. Not only by parents and teachers, but by coaches and family members and adult friends and community members and religious leaders and yes, by politicians, by the very systems in place - racism is systemic. Speak justice out loud, even if that is considered radical in your circles. In his time, Dr. King was a radical, 75% of white people did not approve of his ways or messages: not many white people would have shared anything written or said by him then. Instead of sharing a quote today in a world still rife with racial issues, try a little living out loud of what he was about: be a little radical too in spaces where you might not normally be. Even if that space is in your own mind examining your attitudes surrounding race, and if you’re white, white fragility (check out White Fragility the book!). And if you have the money, patronize a black owned business, become a patron of a black woman sharing her ideas and writing on Patreon (I have suggestions if you are interested), or contribute to an organization that benefits the black community or works to get black women elected like Higher Heights. 

Let’s each do something good and just for the world today.  Consistent small acts of good in pursuit of justice and equality can change our landscape.

Happy happy birthday to AEB today! xoxo

Thursday Thoughts - And I see losing love is like a window in your heart

1. My Mom Mom crocheted this scarf for me over 30 years ago. My favorite color has always been purple. I love and wear it still. It's warm as hell and nothing store bought even comes close. It's like getting a hug from her.

2. Midway through the month and my desire and need to clamp down on spending is going well. I don't want anything and haven't considered purchasing anything. I've been unsubscribing from emails like a mad woman. I truly do not need any more shit at this time. I don't care how good the sale is. I've got my typical birthday wishlist going (without fail each year I want books, sneakers, nail polish) but that's about it.

3. I haven't done much at night this week aside from read. I finished book 14 of the year last night. January chill, you know. Three times in the past two weeks I've started a book at 11:35 pm. Not advisable.

4. I've started scheduling out shore work for when we reopen the house. This spring's main projects are: paint ceiling on first floor, replace bathroom vanity, install programmable door locks, power wash outside and attempt to salvage cushions, and move wall art around. If March could be more spring, less winter unlike the last two years, that would be great.

5. I got to see Sara from Journey of Doing yesterday as she is in Philly for a conference. She also got me the cutest pug ornament!

6. Hamberder Turdburglar wall tantruming toddler. This is my bottom line right now. Fuck, man.

7. I'm sticking boots up the asses of men in some way upset or offended by the Gillette commercial about toxic masculinity, or being like "I'm fine with it but not all men." Shut up. Also ladies yes, I know, Gillette is guilty of the pink tax and hopefully they asked before using #metoo instead of co-opting it from a black woman but all in all call the message of the ad a win. The patriarchy is not smashed in a day. The nuts of the offended people might be though. Have you ever noticed the people who are always bitching about how people are so offended about everything these days are the ones who are always offended?

8. I'm pumped to head to DC tomorrow for a weekend with my ladies.Saturday we go to the Women's March. I refuse to throw the movement out this time. Every time women have been on the cusp of cresting, together, the movement has been torn down from inside or out. It has been white feminism excluding BIPOC, right now it's the association of two national leaders with Louis Farrakhan. A movement powered by millions allowed to die because of problems of some with two? Nope. Also, are we really asking women to answer for the words of a man they know? Have we all had to answer for our racist uncles? Should we have to? Fuck no. I'm not moving away from the movement because of the problems that exist within it now and always will because we're humans and we're flawed and we bring problems to all situations. Women have to learn to sit together in uncomfortable spaces and solve problems. We need to bring our own in line in terms of being inclusive. We need people working from inside to improve. The Steering Committee they've convened for this year is quite a good start and takes the focus off of the four co-chairs since 2017, so let that excuse for not showing up just go now. Every piece of the patriarchy (and the patriarchy's best friend and co-ruler, white supremacy) is hoping that we will not ever stick together enough through everything to raise each other up and do this. I say fuck the patriarchy and white supremacy. I'm doing this.

9.  Reminder:

10. Ecards. Working from home today. To be fair I do say this about my commute from the job I had before this one...10 years ago.

What appears after the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts is a song lyric to whatever I'm listening to when I start to write the post. This week is Graceland by Paul Simon