Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female.

Yes, I know there is a Big Game today, and I don’t really care about either team, but I hope Taylor Swift has a really fun time. (And watching the manchildren lose their shit about her enjoying watching her boyfriend play sports this season has been fucking hilarious. And pathetic, but really hilarious.)

But Big Game day means my brother is off at his friends house and girly is making salmon for dinner!* I think it will be pan fried in butter & wine with some garlic herb seasoning all over it, and some roasted potatoes on the side. I also have some mini crabcakes, and of course I’ll be making some Cheesy Ranch Bacon dip, cause, Big Game day.**

And I did get myself over to the Korean chicken place yesterday and picked up some bulgogi and decided to try the sticky ribs, too – 10/10, amazing, no notes. SO GOOD. Makes me wish I’d known how good this place was sooner.

Also, thanks to Lunar New Year and putting the housework on pause yesterday to keep whatever luck I’ve got from escaping the house – I had a really nice chill day of eating, reading and napping. It also made me realize I need to re-jigger my to-do list so I have a couple “just do the basic stuff” days in the week. So, Saturdays and Wednesdays are gonna be nice low effort days. I’ve been really consistent with things around here, but I can also feel household burnout coming along, so this should help.***

And on that note, I’m gonna go Get Shit Done so I can kick back and enjoy the afternoon and my seafood and potatoes and chips & dip.

You have a fantastic day!

* Little bro is not a salmon fan. I feel bad about doing actual cooking of things he doesn’t like, even though he is fully capable of cooking anything for himself, and does! He’s even said, “Seriously, make what you want!” but it’s some weird hospitality block I have or something. So, salmon waits for an empty house.

** I know I can make it whenever I want. But my brain loves to get hung up on dumb things, like “chip & dip is for a special occasion” because brains are dumb.

*** Look at me recognizing burnout on the horizon and doing something about it rather than drilling myself into the ground!!

Honestly, everything I read and hear about Lunar New Year sounds so much more fun than the regular calendar new year. Dancing lions, great food, red envelopes, and cool shit like it being the year of the freakin’ DRAGON. And it goes on for two weeks! So, if you’re celebrating – have a fantastic time!!

As for myself, while I’m not Asian, I won’t be sweeping or taking the trash out today and the roombas are turned off – no need to risk sweeping out what little luck I may have for the year.* Also glad I saw that porridge for breakfast is a no-go – chipotle cheddar grits can wait a wee bit. 

I’d been pondering about getting some dumplings and trying out the bulgogi from the local Korean chicken spot today, not even thinking about Lunar New Year – now it seems extra appropriate! (And I’m suddenly wondering if everyone else will have the same idea – maybe this should be a late lunch.)

And hey, Lunar New Year is another chance to start fresh! Love that.

Have a fantastic day.

*I know what you’re thinking: “Pfft, you just don’t want to do housework today.” No, I need to keep any luck in the house. Also, YOU DON’T KNOW ME. 🤣

I mean, I knew the cat *treat* market was delightfully out of control, but the LilyMonster has prescription food and there are a whopping 4 options for her wet food, so I’m never really looking at food options for her at the market.

She can run hot & cold on the wet food, which isn’t an issue, cause she also has dry food she eats. Then some genius at Science Diet decided to change the dry food and she is a bit “Fuck That” – and she needs to eat.* 

So, I’ve ordered a different flavor/texture on her wet food that we’ve gotten before when her usual is out of stock that she has liked in the past. Went to the market and got a handful of Fancy Feast cans to hold her over until the order arrives – she’s a big fan of their treat options, so I figured stick with what we know.

HOLY CRAP BATMAN, THERE ARE TOO MANY OPTIONS. There is Fancy Feast. There is Fancy Feast Gourmet Naturals. There is Fancy Feast Medleys. There is Fancy Feast Petites.

I think I ended up with one of everything, LOL. So far, her favorites are the Gourmet Naturals Beef Pate, and the Salmon Pate. She WHOMPED through those. I really would have thought she’d like the stuff that looks more like actual food, but no. It was a hard no on the – I shit you not – Beef Ragu in a Savory Sauce with Pasta. That stuff actually smelled GOOD and she was, “Nah, not for me.” 

It. Had. Pasta. In. It.

* No worries, she has been eating, even before I found myself standing slack-jawed in the cat food aisle – I know that not eating can cause liver damage and is not good with her kidney issues. She would happily live on Fancy Feast appetizers & broth packets, but she doesn’t understand it’s not a proper diet. Her Ocean Fish Pate just arrived and I’m sure she’ll enjoy it given that it has zero resemblance to food.

Given that it was 19º when I left the house to hit the market & Starbucks, those temps are just rocketing up!! My heavy winter coat did it’s job wonderfully this morning. We’ll get up to freezing if we’re lucky today, but we do have very clear and sunny skies, so that’s something – hopefully the sun will be enough to get the ice melt going on the couple spots I had to hit on the driveway this morning. 😬

I saw people out exercising this morning. Good for y’all! And also, oh no baby, what are you doing? It’s so cold out, your boogers are gonna freeze! But I will admit, even though I was only out and about for a few minutes, that it does make the inside feel SOOOOOO wonderfully warm when you get back in.

Gotta brag on myself for a moment – yesterday I got my house stuff done and office stuff done and didn’t use either as a procrastination device for the other! I also got two nice clear examples of the app I’m working on being all squirrely for my dev to look at on Monday, woohoo!

Speaking of office work, I saw that “knowledge workers average about 3 hours of productive work a day” bit bouncing around again this week – I did more digging on it, and it’s still not totally clear to me if folks are running out of shit to do, or are running out of brainpower – but it seems more the brainpower side of things. Where the fuck are these 3 hour jobs?? I average between 1-2 hours of admin time/non-lunch-breaks over a day and I am full tilt the rest of the time, and honestly, if I eased up on that, I’m pretty sure my ass would be fired. It does explain why I’m usually mentally fried by the end of the day. (Oh, and in support? We had to be ON all 8 hours – and they wonder why there is burnout.)

And on a productivity note, it’s time to go tackle the house stuff so I can enjoy the remains of the weekend. Only one “Ugh, do I *have* to?” on the list, and that is cleaning Lily’s water fountain. It needs to be hand washed, which isn’t hard, but even with an anti-fatigue mat at the sink, my body HATES standing still like that. But – anything for the LilyMonster. 🥰

Have a fantastic day, and STAY WARM!

OK, there was sun when I went out for coffee, and now it has clouded over again.* Dammit! I need some sun to steel myself for potential snow on Tuesday, though I have done what I can to prevent that white nonsense by purchasing an cordless electric snow shoveler**, which will arrive tomorrow. When I ordered the electric shovel, they were calling for 2-5 inches and I just wanted something that would make shoveling a bit easier, and this should fit the bill.

The fact of the matter is, my brother and I aren’t 20 year-olds anymore and I’d prefer snow maintenance not induce a cardiac event. And since putting the order in, the forecast has changed to “AM snow showers” with no accumulation, LOL. See, doing it’s job already!

The household to-do’s are nagging at my brain, which I guess is good rather than the usual “What to-do’s? Everything is fine!” that my brain usually does. So far all I’ve knocked off is brush teeth, wash face, get coffee, download Quicken stuff, and clear the Gmail account. Not exactly off to the races, but I have changed from my “go get coffee” jeans to “get things done” comfy pants, so, it’s a step in the right direction.

And in a baller procrastination move, I’ve made myself a pastrami & chipotle chicken sandwich on a tiny Hawaiian roll, because who doesn’t love a tiny sandwich? But I do need to eat something, so it’s technically self care I think? 🤣 

OK, sandwich is finished, Iggy the Roomba is running and if my little robot vacuum can do his thing, I can do mine. I know once I pry myself off the couch, and just get going, I’ll be fine – it’s the “prying myself off the couch” part that is SO DAMN HARD.

Alright, time to fire up the get shit done tunes, and get shit done.

You have a fantastic day and if your weather is complete shit – be safe.

* Yes, I am aware the weather is complete shit elsewhere. We have been lucky – the storms earlier this week just produced rain, no wind, no downpours. The storms last night ended up being about 10 minutes of rain, if that much.
** We have a big snowblower we got from our neighbors when they moved, but it’s really for blizzard-level amounts. We have not had blizzard-level amounts since they left. It is working.

Look at how beautiful it is!!

And I couldn’t 100% tell from the picture online when I ordered it, but it is a perfect match to the washing machine, yay! It’s certainly something that does not matter at all, but it’s nice. And even though it’s super basic, which is exactly what I wanted, it does have THREE heat settings, you can turn the buzzer off if you want, and there is a light on the inside! 

The delivery guys were VERY amused at how excited I was about it. I sent them off with a bottle of water and $20 each – hopefully that made up for the shitty weather* and having a very weird lady dancing around the basement as they installed it.

It is already going on it’s first load of what will be many, many loads of linens today. 

New appliances are so very exciting. I’d say it’s cause I’m old, but I’ve always been this way, LOL.

*The winter weather never really materialized, we got about 10 minutes of sleet, and it’s just been 37º and light rain all day, and having gone out to the market in it, I can tell you – it is so gross out there.

It’s a whole gorgeous new year and the fact that you got from this time last year to now is a testament to your awesomeness. 

I inadvertently got things off on a good note – popped into Starbucks and they had “Call Me Maybe” playing and well, I started dancing, cause I unabashedly love that song. A lady waiting for her coffee looked at me and said, “THAT is the energy I’m taking into the New Year!” Couldn’t help but leave with a big smile to go with my coffee.

But let’s be real – after the last…7 or so years being what they were (or a whole lifetime for some folks, let’s be honest) – just getting through it is Damn Good. And if you don’t want to do a single damn new thing in 2024 – THAT IS OK! Surviving another year is hard work and absolutely enough on its own.

But – if you do have stuff on your 2024 to-do list – GO GET ‘EM TIGER! I believe in you.

And maybe if you’re wanting to do something but today just isn’t the day (we were all up too late and we may be a wee bit hungover and in the northern hemisphere, the weather is a bit shit) – you don’t have to wait for a whole shiny new year. You get a clean slate every year, month, week, and day. Heck, every hour, minute and second if you want to really get into the grains of it.

So, if not right now – maybe in an an hour, a day, a week, a month – you don’t have to wait for a whole new pristine calendar. And you can also half-ass whatever it is today! 

And two little pieces of advice: If you’re making a new habit, break it down to components that are small, manageable, and repeatable. If you’re breaking a habit, figure out what you’ll replace it with.

For myself, 2024 is gonna be mostly a maintenance year. I’m on a solid footing with my daily yoga and at least making sure the house is…stable? I really want to stay on top of that.

I still haven’t gotten around to finding a class at the arts center – felt like a fun idea last year and then it zipped out of my brain. I’ll try again this year.

I do want to put more time to my hobbies. It’s not so much that I don’t have the time for them, it’s just feeling like I am entitled to use my time for my hobbies seems to be the obstacle, if that makes sense?

I know I can’t fix the world, no matter how much I want to – but I will help out how I can, when I can.

Mostly, I’m gonna try to make 2024 not totally suck for the bits I can control.

And if you’re feeling a bit “Oof, that felt like a lot” – you’re not wrong.

Covid, wars, climate collapse, the continued rise of fascism in the US and elsewhere, billionaires being twats, the hot mess that is generative AI, mass shootings, and other things that just aren’t coming to mind right now. Pretty much every time we turned on the news, there was a firehose of shit.

But some good things happened, too. 

• The Gävle Goat still stands! (OK, the jackdaws have eaten all the straw, but I am still counting it as a win.) 
• India landed on the moon – that was a lot of hard work. 
• There is a gene editing treatment for sickle-cell disease.
• Amazonian deforestation is dropping. (Stopped would be better, but it’s the right direction.)
• The Barbie movie. (It was awesome!)
• Orcas vs yachts. #TeamOrca
• We may be inching closer to a 4 day workweek.
• A malaria vaccine!!
• A treaty to protect oceans.

And I’ll admit – everything except the Gävle Goat, I had to do a google search for “good things in 2023” – cause when there is so much bad news, that is what sticks in your brain. And there is a ton more than that little list. Seriously, if you need a lift, do that google search. 

And on a personal level – 2023 wasn’t too bad. 

• Covid still dominates pretty much all my decision making, which sucks, but I did not get Covid, so, that’s definitely a good thing.
• Got a promotion at work which did NOT result in more stuff being dumped on my plate, and I’ve done a reasonably decent job of maintaining boundaries. And a very stressful team lead left.
• The big clear out of the house for the appraisal was a HUGE effort, but absolutely worth it – and I’ve done a damn good job of maintaining things!
• We had a great and safe trip down to the beach. Mmm, pato tacos & Pacifico on the sound… And cheese!

• I met a capybara named Tater.

• I continued to find lots of outdoor activities to do over the course of the year, and great restaurants with patio seating.

• And the LilyMonster had a great year health-wise and just being Lily. She’s 14, so, a good health year is awesome and precious. Even this morning she had an impressive case of the zooms treating the hallway/kitchen/living room as her personal racetrack. 

My brother is off to spend New Year’s Eve & Day with one of his friends – the Ravens are playing the Dolphins – their respective favorite teams. He felt bad for me being on my own – HAHAHAHAHA! I appreciate it, but I am so totally good on my own. Lily & I will be ringing in the new year here at home with steak & shrimp pasta for me, and the little salmon filet Santa brought for her. Hell, we may be in bed by 10PM.

However you are ringing in the new year, have fun and be safe. I want you around in 2024.