Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female.

Very pretty day today with an AQI of 103/Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. Sad thing is, I don’t know if that is still wildfire remnants or if that is just normal for my area at this time of year. I’m embarrassed at how little attention I pay to the AQI on a day to day basis – we have a handful of orange/red days any given summer and they are good about announcing it on the radio and I just think “well, no running for me today!” (I do not run anymore.) So I really have no idea what is normal or not.

My lord, this has been a barrage of a news week. TFG indicted, bunch of assholes kicked the bucket, I’m sure a bunch of other stuff I missed or have already forgotten, and just now – Nicola Sturgeon taken into custody for questioning with regards to SNP finances. And for every right winger who was screaming the past 4 days “WHAT IF IT WAS A LEFTY?” Well, if she fucked around with SNP money, it’s time to find out.

Got a bunch of little things I need to tend to around the house today, and I am in full “don’t wanna” mode. BUT I WILL AT LEAST GET ALL THE LITTLE THINGS DONE, DAMMIT! I have split my Tody list into two parts – one for daily/critical little things and then another for all the deep cleaning type stuff. Cause the deep cleaning list is miles and miles long and I found when I had it all in one list, I’d get completely overwhelmed and just shut down and not get anything done at all.

I’m still shit at housekeeping, but by splitting it out, I can actually get the daily/critical stuff done on a fairly consistent basis. And since the Big Clear Out, I’ve actually been maintaining things well enough that if we need a repair person in the house, THEY CAN JUST COME ON IN. Depending on what they’d have to work on, I’d need maybe 15 minutes to make sure the area is clear for them to work. AND THAT IS FREAKING AMAZING FOR ME.

And no small part of that is the Roombas. Gotta keep crap up off the floor so they can run and I AM DOING THAT EVERY DAMN DAY!!

So, today’s plan is work through the daily list and then depending on how much “go” I still have left, hit up something on the long list. And now that work is calming down again, I need to make a more concerted effort to hit one or two things on the long list after work, too. But that is a challenge for tomorrow.

You have a wonderful Sunday and I hope you have nice weather with a good AQI.

It’s a lovely sunny day here with an AQI of 69. Niiiiiiiiiice. And hella better than the 300+ we saw on Thursday. I don’t know how the folks on the West Coast handle this – just two days of that weird apocalyptic haze and it seriously fucked with my head.

I was at the farmers market bright and early and THEY STILL HAD THE SAVORY STRUDELS!! Got a spinach-feta, and “loaded potato” – potato, cheese & bacon. YUM! Plus all the salad stuffs and that great ginger lemonade. Excellent way to get the day started.

And the super friendly dude at the bread stall loved my sunflower market bag, and flipped when I pulled out the matching wallet – connected to the bag handle with the matching lanyard. :-D I am so glad that when I saw that pattern I just said, “Yes, I’m getting ALL OF IT” – it’s silly, but it makes me smile every time.

And I broke out of Wait Mode for my hair appointment later and hit the market for ALL THE PAPER PRODUCTS! Now, I know when you buy a larger size of something, the unit price is usually lower. What I can’t quite wrap my head around was the fact that a 12 pack of toilet paper was $25 and a 16 pack was $21. Regular price, not a sale, same size rolls and everything. Well, we have 16 rolls of toilet paper.

And I also made the mistake of not eating before going and we may have far more cold cuts than we actually needed, but SAMMICHES!!

Saw my acupuncturist this week. Told her “I think I’m feeling loose & relaxed, but I don’t know if it’s real or just way better in comparison to how tense I was two weeks ago.” Folks, it was real, and I mentioned getting out to the arts festival over the weekend with all the fresh air, exercise, shiny things to look at, and wine – and she said, “Well, you should do that every weekend!” IT’S LIKE I HAVE A PRESCRIPTION FOR STREET FAIRS NOW!

Though, I am kinda happy I don’t have anything going on this weekend other than a hair appointment this afternoon. I’ve had something going on every weekend for the last 3 weekends.

But before I do anything else, I gotta go eat so I’m not starving through my hair appointment.

You have a fantastic day!!

I don’t know how Monday got here so quickly, but not being able to fall asleep for a very long time last night was probably a contributor.

Had a great weekend, tho – I did go back to the arts fair for a second day, and found the two items I’d been looking for, AND A HAT!

Looks like a relatively quiet day on tap – mostly trying to figure out some client issues for a change in an app that I wasn’t involved in testing. Just in what I’ve seen so far – I don’t know how this passed testing and made it out to clients. I am trying not to scream from the rooftops, “I DIDN’T TEST THIS, IF IT’S FUCKED UP, THAT’S NOT MY FAULT, I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT!”

Like what little I’ve seen so far (and it’s very little because I’ve been having to tell support that they have to Get Me Data to be able to try and recreate the problem) – I don’t know how on earth this passed any testing. Like, AT ALL. The whole thing is very What The Fuck.

But the good(?) news is that because I am caught up on everything else for the moment(!!!) – I can dedicate as much time as I need to it today, which doesn’t usually happen.

You have as quiet a day as you possibly can – let’s ease into this workweek, OK?

I mean, that .1% chance I wouldn’t really would have only happened if a hurricane hit or something along those lines.

So, right now I’m sitting here with my coffee, double checking when things open (don’t want to get there before the wine bar opens, LOL) and trying to remember where that one stall was with the two pieces of art is. And hoping no one else bought them. (That would suuuuuck if either is gone, but especially if the one my brother was looking at is gone.)

I do have to show off one of the prints I got from Hometown Go – yes, the moment I saw the Stucky print, I had to have it. (I don’t know why the background looks all wonky in the photo.)

I’m just so damn happy the weather has finally turned and it is summer and there are fun outside things to do.

Have a great day and get outside for a few minutes if you can!

An afternoon in the fresh air and sunshine at the local arts and crafts festival with a wee bit of day drinking, followed by an excellent nap – is a pretty great way to spend a sunny Saturday.

99.9% sure I am gonna go back tomorrow, cause a) it’s just fun, b) wine bar with patio seating, c) piece of slightly pricey art that I still very much want even after thinking on it, and d) another piece from the same stall my brother had his eye on. (Will I be able wait to give it to him for his birthday? We shall see.)

But today, got some fun art prints, a very sparkly Christmas decoration, a cute Christmas ornament, a cool assed steampunk kitty sticker, a pretty little coffee cup, and a bunch of “reusable paper towels” aka, cute flannel napkins with kitty prints, and flowers, and bees!

Did I need any of these items? No. Do they all make me smile and happy to know some east coast artists will be able to eat and make more art? HELLS, YES.

Seriously, it was a very, very good time, and HOW DARE FRESH AIR AND EXERCISE BE SO DAMN GOOD FOR MY MOOD? It’s almost insulting. I mean, the wine and shrimp egg rolls didn’t hurt at all, but it was another example of how I am so very, very solar powered. We didn’t have any blizzards this winter, but the grey seemed to go on for so long.

And damn, it is rough out there.  Which is why Pride is important.

And between that fucking fascist DeShithead and his ilk trying to make us disappear by criminalizing folks existence, and some seriously trash rainbow capitalism out there, it’s a bit disheartening.

Had to go to Target today (not happily, it was the only option) and my local store still has its pride display up front, but I don’t know if they took out the good stuff or it was always just a bunch of ugly assed shit.  Not sure what was more embarrassing, that collection or the fact that they caved to the RWNJs over it

Don’t get me wrong, I love watching the right lose their shit when brands and sports teams and whatnot acknowledge that LGBTQIA+ folks just, ya know, exist.

And I know some are sincere!  I genuinely appreciated my San Diego Padres telling homophobes to get bent in years past.

But for too many, it’s just a box to check.  Hell, even my own company makes it fucking hard to believe they give a shit when they keep having conferences in red states.

But worse are these legislatures engaging in genocide.  They want everyone back in hiding and for younger generations to not have anyone they can connect with in the queer community.  And all you’re gonna end up with is kids that are still gay, trans, queer, non-conforming – they’ll just be sad and alone and some will end their lives over it.  Because a dead kid is somehow better than a queer kid.

And those connections for the younger generations to the larger community are so damn important.  Even my old ass knows that, even if I still don’t know where I fit in the queeriverse (it is so a word.)

I’m bisexual.  (Maybe to the exclusion of men altogether? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)  It took me so damn long to figure it out in the first place, and even then, I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it, no particularly queer friendly spaces around, etc, etc – it makes it hard.

I wouldn’t say that Fairfax County is LGBTQIA+ hostile, but at best I’d describe it as indifferent – and that is harmful in its own way. Like, when I got my car and put my Crouton pride sticker on it, I had zero idea if that was a safe thing to do in my neighborhood. Did it anyway, cause fuck the haters, but yeah, I was nervous about it.

But now isn’t the time to hang back. Gonna be out and about tomorrow and gonna wear my Starbucks Workers United pride shirt – cause we are also very pro union here, and I don’t have a lot of queer coded gear. And I’m absolutely gonna be looking to fix that gear problem tomorrow at the arts festival.

It’s not much, but I can at least say, “I’M HERE YOU FUCKERS.”

Happy Pride.

AND I DID, TOO, YAY!!!!

And it’s been a freakishly calm and quiet week, which is EXACTLY what I needed. Maybe we’re hitting that summer slowdown – I sure hope so.

Plus, it’s a half day Friday! I do have a client meeting at 9, but a) I am only a spectator and b) I think it’s gonna be more, “OK, let’s understand, what exactly are you expecting the software to do?” vs angry ranting.

And this weekend is the arts festival down on the river, WOOHOO!! Gonna go get some art and spiced nuts and have lunch at the wine bar that has the lovely outside seating!

I’m gonna go whip through this half day and get my weekend on!

You have an awesome day!

So, today at lunch, I ran up to the market and hit the deli counter. There was a new young man working the counter, being very careful not to fling food all over the place, still learning the cheat sheet for all the codes and such, and of course, one of the codes for something was throwing out the totally wrong price for the boomer bitch in front of me. He was getting help from a coworker on that, and getting her another container of something.

My lord, the sighs and eyerolls and then she goes “oh, this shouldn’t take so long” and looks at me like she’s gonna get buy in from me. I think not, lady and I just blurted out, “We have all been new at something at some point in our lives” and she shut up and stopped eye rolling.

JFC, give it a month and he’ll be able to get a pound of chicken salad into the container in one scoop in two seconds flat. For now, just be patient for an extra minute or two while he gets the hang of it all, it won’t kill you.

Besides, these people give you food you don’t have to cook, BE NICE TO THEM!

And if you have to work today, I hope it is a quiet and calm day. We’ve got a grey, drizzly day here, which just makes everything nice and calm, which is exactly what I need.

Yesterday was fun, but EXHAUSTING. It’s always great to see the Orioles play, and they won! Despite checking the weather forecast a dozen times before leaving, I still didn’t dress right for it, LOL. And I am a bit sunburned, even having sunscreen. So glad I brought it, even if I didn’t use enough of it.

Like, I don’t really quite understand how going to the Nats/Padres games three days running was less tiring than one Orioles game – but socializing with people I know is definitely different from just running around on my own. Nine people in our group and damn, it wore my ass out, LOL. I’m good for any group outing for about six months.

We then went to our bar afterwards and management has decided that the post-pandemic* vibe they want is “we don’t want you here” LOL. The outdoor seating is gone, and the outside legit looks like they’re just closed. They’ve slimmed down the menu, which is understandable – and they’re also now putting shredded lettuce on the burgers vs. iceberg, cause I guess it’s cheaper – but what kind of psychopath does THAT? Iceberg or nothing, you monsters. My favorite pasta isn’t on the menu anymore, either. :(

And honestly, it’s fine – I’m a grumpy old hermit and I’d rather be at home anyway these days.

And today, my grumpy ass is gonna happily sit on the couch all day and relax and do a whole lot of nothing.

You have a great day!

* Yeah, I know and you know, it’s not over.

And I am in the throes of “oh why did I agree to peopling today?” – I have peopled A LOT this past week already and well, oof. I know it will be fine and fun, but the anticipatory regret is quite loud this morning.

But, I am ready to go, I don’t have to drive, and parking is already sorted out, which makes my ADHD and anxiety laden ass much happier.

It will be a good time, but I am VERY happy I have tomorrow off and will not be interacting with society.