Groupthink

      Let's talk lit, lovelies! We'll keep it simple this time 'round: 1) What book did you most recently finish? 2) What book are you currently reading? 3) What's next on your "to be read" list? 4) Are you looking for any book recommendations? Do you have any recs for the rest of the readers here?

  Happy Sunday, GT! Can y'all believe it's already the end of April? It's like I blinked and a whole month went by. What the heck!  Anyway, I'm up way too early but I think I'll get a jump start on my day. Shower, grocery shopping, Target run, and if I'm not burned out after that I'll go see a movie. I told myself the same thing yesterday and the movie didn't end up happening. Whoops.  How are y'all doing today? How are you closing out the weekend?

  Good evening, y'all! I hope Saturday was kind to you. We're just relaxing around the house tonight & celebrating Willie Nelson's 90th birthday. He's still on the road doing what he loves & making new music & I love it. In fact, I spent Friday morning trying to buy tickets to see him here this fall, but Ticketmaster sucks. It's okay--we've been lucky to see him live many times, but it would have been a good time. It was impossible to choose favorite songs so here's a random sample, lol. First, a new collaboration with Billy Strings, "California Sober." And here's a fun one. :) And finally, mine & Pal's favorite song. This might ruin his super secret groupthink alias, lol.  What's up with you tonight? 

    Morning, GT, happy Sat.--what are you up to this weekend?  I have ONE appointment, and that's to hang out with the niblings tomorrow. I hope to be an absolute bum today so I have some energy tomorrow for the bebes.  How about you? 

Hello and welcome to the weekly photographic joy that is Fur Face Friday! As we round out the end of April and move into May, our fur friends were showing their best sides in last week's comments. . lal and teh ruh got a brand new bag!  In case you're new here, favourites are chosen by one of the Snout Selectors (facw, k2b, Hannibal, leahaven, and myopicprophet), entirely on our own whimsy. WHIMSY! However, in the interest of solidarity, we try to select one dog picture and one cat picture (minimum!) each week. Other pets will also, of course, be considered. We love all your rats, bunnies, ferrets, and other furry, feathery, and finny pals. WE WILL NEVER DISCRIMINATE AGAINST CUTE. Our pals were in fine form this week, looking cute from nose to tail. Some Noses: Ruby the dignified Cosmo is ever hopeful. Some Tails: Adonis in full floof Umataro42's parents' new neighbour That's just a sampling of the sweethearts we saw last week. I'm excited to see what this week ...

  Good morning friends & welcome to Friday! It took its sweet time this week imo. I haven't been awake long enough to figure out my fuck its, but I had wild dreams again last night about frantically trying to save a tulip farm from a fire. Weird, but mission successful! In news, I don't believe in Hell, but hope she did. Carolyn Bryant Donham, the Mississippi woman whose lies led to the brutal lynching of Emmett Till, has died. She lived until 88. Emmett died at 14. https://t.co/srXfddiyP1 — Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 27, 2023  And here's something funny.  girl get up pic.twitter.com/VWMd8jVo0I — 𝒦𝒾𝓉 𝒟𝓊𝒸𝓀𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒽 (@cgduckworth) April 26, 2023 I need to take that advice & get out of bed, lol. How's your Friday looking? Any big plans? :)  

Good morning! It's Thursday & not Friday like I orginally thought. Boo! Today is rainy & I have a long to do list, but am looking forward to watching the new Scream movie once I'm finished. 🍿Pal has band practice tonight & I get the house to myself. :) Last night, I had a crazy nightmare full of cops & it was exhausting so I might sneak in a little nap somewhere along the way. Here's an emotional roller coaster of a story that ends so happily! ❤️😊 This is the story of Big Ben and Tiny Tim. 14/10 for all pic.twitter.com/H0N9l2NnpP — WeRateDogs (@dog_rates) April 26, 2023 How's your Friday eve shaping up? 

  Happy Wed., everybody--we're halfway through the week. My brain's been running a day ahead, which has made me feel needlessly anxious. Stupid brain. But I'll be glad to get that weekend reset.  Today is conferences, classes, and grading. I hope to get a good walk in this afternoon, hopefully work off some of that anxious energy. How about you? How's your day looking? As I'm sure everyone's heard by now, we lost Harry Belafonte yesterday. RIP to one of the greats. Here's one of my favorite songs of his. What are yours?

  I'm setting this up on Sunday, because tomorrow, Monday maybe crazy at best; I'm taking Kia in first thing hoping for an ultrasound, so I may be too busy/too preoccupied to set it up on Monday night. 

 Well here we are at Monday again.  And it's nearly May?   I did the Sunday trifecta of bed, snacks and tv yesterday while Mr handled the rest. He woke me up around 1130 pm telling me I need to get up. Not a fire, not my folks in trouble- the aurora borealis was in the north sky. It was so big! Sitting out on the deck watching that was a great way to end the day.   I am much restored in both body and mind. Did anyone else catch it? I've had a new dough in the fridge since Saturday. I'm looking forward to baking it up today. Aside from that there's some meal prep I'll pick at and hopefully get a few more things out of the camper.  I can't believe how much that little thing holds!   What's on your plates today? 

  Good morning, GT. Happy Sunday! I woke up late this morning after having my sleep disrupted in the middle of the night. That has me a tiny bit cranky this morning but I'm hoping that will go away as the day progresses. Not sure what's on the agenda for the day, but we'll see where the day takes us.  How are all of you doing today? Will you be heading out or staying in? 

  Good evening & happy Saturday night! I hope the day treated you kindly. We've been relaxing around the house with a little frolicking around the farm too. It's perfect outside & yesterday's downpour made the pollen much more tolerable.  Here's an incredible photo. Holy crap. Tina Turner hanging out at the Eiffel Tower for a photo shoot (1989) 📷: Peter Lindbergh pic.twitter.com/hvdvU5GqD6 — Kimberley Johnson 🇺🇦 (@AuthorKimberley) April 21, 2023 And here's Lizzo remaining the coolest.  🔥❤️🗣️ LIZZO: “What people are doing in Tennessee is giving hope. Thank you for standing up for your rights.” @lizzo says she was told to cancel her Tennessee shows, but instead wanted to come to where people needed to hear the message the most. ( 🎥 from @eapatton_tn ) pic.twitter.com/rn9YWdioDN — The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) April 22, 2023 And here's a cool nature fact. :) Avalanche-prone mountains are often home to rare species of butterfly as the clear...

  Hey, folks, happy weekend. It's been a rough week here--I'm still upset with Homey about his smoking/lying. But also work is insane, a former boss found out she has breast cancer, and one of our sweet elderly neighbors went to the hospital via ambulance yesterday morning, which is terrifying.  Hopefully, this weekend is a time to recharge.  How about you? (sorry to be a Debbie Downer)

  Gooooood morning, ya'll! How is it almost May? The Florida year-round heat has made it's way to stay here until ohhhh November so I just gotta get used to it bleh. I try to either be indoors in A/C or in the ocean but not really...on land during that time. It blows my mind how some people like dining outdoors. When I do that during this time, I am shiny with sweat, and sweat clothes pancakes are in full effect and I'm not even going to mention the bra situation. I went on a few dates w/ a guy who wanted to sit outside in 100% humidity. Sir, absolutely not.  Anyhoo, how's your week going? Wishing you a great day and weekend!

  Good morning, groupthink! It took me a minute to realize why pizza space cow was trending, lol. Happy 4/20 if you're celebrating or Happy Friday eve regardless. :) Today is a free one for me & I'll be here at the farm relaxing with Ruby.  First, here's a story from Oklahoma that is just awful, but the light being shined is helping. The QR codes are a clever way to fight back. Kick the racists out. BREAKING: McCurtain County Gazette releases two more articles, including a QR code to body camera footage in the death of Bobby Barrick as well as full three hour audio of meeting that resulted in calls for resignation. pic.twitter.com/2oAvwaAhTf — Erin Christy (@Erin_Christy) April 19, 2023 After a quick check, the rest of the bookmarks are either about the rash of people shooting kids or TN's racists. It has been a week & I hope you're taking care. <3   Related, Hubert practiced some self-care of his own. The dramatic pan. 😂 This is Hubert. You're n...

 Happy Wednesday gang.  The water is on and I found the source of the funky smell.  Fortunately it wasn't too gross.  There's a leaky shower head that still needs replacing and then we should (hopefully) be done for now.   I saw this post on Buzzfeed the other day.   https://www.buzzfeed.com/daniellaemanuel/worst-us-state-stereotypes I found a lot of them to be mostly accurate and funny. It got me thinking about geographical stereotypes good and bad.  What truths &  misconceptions do people apply to your home?   And what's going on there today?  

The vet called and the earliest referral for an ultrasound is June 6. The ultrasound people themselves think that is too long, and they have an emergency dept, and recommend that I take her there and effectively jump the queue because they feel it's urgent enough. They suggest getting there as early as possible, like 7:00 a.m. So I've been busily lining up rides for early next week. I have no idea how long it will take; visits to emerg usually take hours and hours, so I'll pack a lunch. They could want to hospitalise her and keep her at least overnight. If there is surgery to be done, they will do it there rather than sending her back to my vet. And my vet says that because they are experts, this would be the best option. So yay for my first week of retirement!

 Happy Monday y'all.  Jeez this Justice Thomas thing just keeps getting bigger.  I have no hope that he will resign or be impeached. There is no honor amongst conservatives but OMG dude.   If all goes as planned, I'm on the road to the shire right now.  The apartment is (pretty much) cleaned and the snacks are packed.  I have so much shit in that camper.  If customs does a search those cupboards are going to spring open like a jack-in-the box.    My plans for the week are unpacking, readjusting and seeing what all went to hell at home while I was gone.  What's doin in your world? I'll be reading comments but I won't be able to respond from my phone.  

  Happy Sunday, GT!  It's a lovely Sunday around here and my day is getting off to a good start. I slept until 7am which is the latest I’ve slept in a very long time and it felt wonderful. I guess all the fruit picking wore me out. I would probably still be sleeping if it wasn't for my bladder screaming at me to get up.  Anyway, I’ll be loafing around the house this morning but I’ll head out around 11ish to have lunch with my mom. We are going to meetup at a place near her house which means I have a bit of a drive ahead of me, but I don't really mind. It'll be worth it for delicious food and a margarita. Afterwards I'll head home and probably do more loafing. Loafing sounds like a good way to close out the weekend.  How about y’all? Any plans for the day? 

  Good evening, groupthink! The weekend is flying by too fast for us, but it’s finally Saturday night & time to relax with some popcorn & television. I hope your days were pleasant & tonight is fun! This is too funny & I can't wait for someone to compliment a cardigan. "Thanks! It's my favorite coverslut." 😂 Word of the day: COVERSLUT - an outer garment thrown on to conceal wrinkled or untidy clothes below. — Quite Interesting (@qikipedia) April 12, 2023   How's your night going?

  Welcome to the weekend, GT--how's your Sat. looking? We are meant to get rain today, so I'm going to try to get out and garden before it sets in. 🤞 I can beat it! But I'm prolly gonna hafta get a fancy coffee before climbing into that mud.  Tomorrow, we might get snow! Because I am very smart 😁, I scheduled a massage for the afternoon--the idea of laying on a heating pad during some springtime snow makes that snow a bit easier to tolerate, lol.  How about you? What are you up to this weekend?

Good morning & welcome to Friday, everyone! It's going to be a perfectly pleasant day here & there's not too many things on my vagenda. Yay! One is tracking down a tax form with the bank so I can finish our return, but Friday vibes are helping, lol. The other is wishing Pal's parents a Happy 50th anniversary. 💗 We're lucky & grateful to have them. In other news, Ron DeSantis can get fucked with the heat of thousand suns so hot it melts those dumb, white boots on permanently.  Just gonna leave this here as well. 🕵‍♀️ Justice Abe Fortas forced to quit Supreme Court, 1969, over his secret financial relationship with rich friend: pic.twitter.com/630BHArGX8 — Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) April 14, 2023 Moving on, this made us laugh so many times. The quiet "Mama Mia!" & exasperated face. 😂 Anyone who works with the yutes has been there, lmao. Please pay these teachers pic.twitter.com/s9coT0GBTN — Tez💜 (@JoeSweatpants) April 12, 2023 Your ...

  Well this week is flying by.  I don't have nearly enough done but I cannot find any fucks to give about that.   Today I am taking nibling to get their first tattoo.  It will be identical to their late mama's and done by the same artist.  It will be bittersweet I think.  What's going on in your world today?  Do you have  ink you want to share?   Not sure I agree with this sentiment but there it is lol.

Happy Wednesday folks. Once again spring is rushing in and we'll be seeing temps in the 80's by Thursday.  I had the heat on over the weekend so this warmth is a bit of a shock to the system. I miss the slow transitions we used to have.   I'm heading back to the shire this weekend so I've been a busy bee sorting what's staying here and what's coming with me. It's perfectly congruous with the spring cleaning I've been doing and I'm feeling pretty good about it. There's something so affirming & comforting about a freshly cleaned space. It just does it for me.  It got me wondering what activities or tasks make you feel satisfied like that? If that's too deep for a Wednesday, tell us what else is going on in your world!  It's just shy of 1 a.m. here so I suspect I'll be sleeping in a bit. I'll check in (much) later today!

 I'm taking Kia to the vet this morning for what will likely be a raft of tests. I hope we can resolve this quickly. I'm not signed in at work, so I won't be able to respond to comments until tonight. 8 more days of work! And I ironed a shirt yesterday! I hate ironing, but since we're into the warmer weather, shirts are the order of the day.

  Good morning, y'all! It's another week with plenty happening around here. Kicking off with a rally this afternoon for Justin Jones to hopefully return to his job. Fingers crossed & thank you for supporting TN. All this pressure helps.  It's a chilly, beautiful day here & I have a few errands to run first, but the afternoon is free for frolicking. :) How about you? Big plans or starting off slowly?

My son was born yesterday. 8 lbs and 15 oz. (4.055 kg) and 21.75 inches (55.2 cm long.) He’s a big dude.  Labored for about 36 hours before I ended up getting a c-section. We’re both doing well, though!

  Good morning, GT! How is everybody doing today?  It's Easter Sunday which meals I'll be spending the morning cleaning up the house and preparing for some family time. Easter, like most holiday's in my family, is just an excuse to get together and eat good food. I went the easier route this year and ordered the Easter meal from Hello Fresh. It requires some cooking, but not nearly as much as I usually do for a holiday. Finger's crossed that it all tastes good.  How are y'all celebrating Easter this year? If you're not celebrating, what's on your agenda for the day? 

  Good evening, groupthink! I hope your weekends are going well. It's been a long, weird, & upsetting week & we're looking forward to Sunday when we can stay home & rest. Last night, we met everyone for dinner at a Turkish place & it reminded me of Askim Benin. Can't wait for an update & sending her congratulations! The restaurant is near our Trader Joe's so we wisely stocked up on treats, too. Soon, we'll be parked on the sofa with television & springle jangle. I'm exhausted & can't wait! Here's a great song by Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings that's been on our minds. 🎵 Drink a round for Nashville before they tear it down. 🎵 How's your night going?

  Morning, GT! Happy weekend! What are you up to this weekend? We are running errands and, tomorrow night, we're doing a belated birthday celebration for my parents (their bdays are one week apart)/ Easter dinner with the niblings combo.  We're meant to have good weather all weekend, so some iced coffee + outdoor time are in order!  How about you ?

  Morning, y’all! I’m sorry I’ve been MIA have had days where meetings started early and ended late last few weeks.  How have you been? How’d the week go? Let’s hope today fliiiies. I’m going to get Qui a little Easter mini neck tie for pics. And a ton of candy for me. And after Easter when it all goes half off. It will be mine.  So let’s get this FIF going! This one goes out to my micromanaging non manager who thinks she’s my manager. Counting the days until this project ends and I never have to talk to her again! Cmonnnnn May!  Throwing one out there for people standing in line with you that get all up in your personal space? Like can you take one or two steps back so I don’t hear you breathing?! Seriously. Zero self awareness. And I’ll literally look back at them like wtf and what do they do? Absolutely nothing. Same with slow drivers in the fast lane that are holding up a huge line as if they can’t look in their rear view.  Anyhoo! Have at it! And have a gre...

  Good morning, GT, and happy Th. What's up with you today? If I can knuckle down and focus, I should have a fairly easy day at work. And, depending on the wind, the weather might be nice enough for a walk this afternoon.  But first, some yoga and last night's VPR!  How are you ?

 So I’m going in to get induced on Friday evening. I’m in my last few days of not having a baby.  My due date is next Thursday, but my blood pressure has been hovering near the level where it is concerning. Due to my age (38), and the fact that he’s an IVF baby, they think it’s better to get it done with at 39 weeks. Has anyone had labor induced before? What was it like? Any last minute tips on having a baby while living in a tiny studio apartment? (Same San Francisco apartment we’ve been in since 2012.) My nesting instinct never really kicked in, so there’s so much I planned on doing to prepare and just… didn’t.  I’m excited,  but also a little freaked out.

  Greetings & salutations, everyone! Yesterday was busy & results in Chicago & Wisconsin were nice. What was the other thing? ;) Today is a pretty quiet one here. I have family visiting from Ohio & we have dinner plans. The universe is testing me a little hanging out with conservative family I haven't seen in person for years. Bad timing! 😂 Honestly, any mention of TFG will get shut down by me. I'm here for quality time, not arguments.  This is definitely one of the coolest way to donate your body to science. Happy bones! Anthropologist and cryptozoologist Grover Krantz donated his body along with his dog to science when he died. They're currently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Read more: https://t.co/zivXauPwNV pic.twitter.com/RmMvwvQM8G — Fascinating (@fasc1nate) April 3, 2023 One more that sounds bad when you put it that way. 🙃 The Forbes 30 Under 30 have collectively raised $5.3B in funding. The Forbes 30 Under 30...

 I have 12 more days to go! Almost to the single digits. I scheduled a chiropractor appointment for the morning after my last day at work, but I think I'm going to call and say "I love you guys, but I think I want to sit with a cinnamon and coffee on my first day of NEVER WORKING AGAIN! So I'd like to reschedule please"

Happy Monday y'all! Whatcha up to today?  I'm feeling a lil tickle in my throat & chest. Let's hope it's allergies! I've got too much to do, starting with pickling some green beans for Easter Brunch Caesars (blech) and getting my tax info together (double blech). I see some Cadbury Cream Eggs in my future for being such a good human today.   I love most  candy.  And I'm looking forward to my dad's brunch potatoes.  What's your favorite and least favorite Easter and/or  Passover treats?

  Good morning, GT! It’s Sunday and I got a jump start on my day early. I put gas in my car, went grocery shopping and picked up some flowers at Home Depot all before 7am. Now I have a good 4 hours to kill before having lunch with my mom. I think I’ll look over the menu to decide what I’m going to get. Maybe a yummy salad or some type of pasta. It was a rough week so I think I'll treat myself to a margarita. That sounds like a good plan.  How are y’all doing today? Any fun plans?

  Happy Saturday night, groupthink! It's been a beautiful day here & we've been relaxing around the house all day. Dinner is lazy too--rotisserie chicken & salad, plus maybe some compost cookies if I feel like it. It's exactly what we needed & I'm starting to feel better. Just because, here's one of my favorite bands playing a great song. Our wedding band covered it. :) It's hard to keep up with all of Twitter's messes, but legacy blue checkmarks are leaving. It's mostly awful, but this was hilarious. Space pudding. 😂 How's your night going?

  Morning, GT, and happy Sat. It's been another doozy of a week. I sprained my wrist (at first, I was upset, but I've been doing yoga every day for 15 months--my poor wrist was probably like, Enough with the downward dog! Gimme a break! ), literally every group I'm a part of at work (dept., discipline, committee, and 3 PD groups) met this week, so I ended up working several 11 hours days, and a couple of online students who aren't watching videos/reading directions are livid with me because they're failing. Which, of course you are 🙄. On top of all that, we had a storm last night that really brought out the collective derecho PTSD for everyone and destroyed a bunch of stuff ( photos ). We and our friends and family are ok, thank goodness. It's definitely a reminder of how small we all are. All of which is to say, thank gawd it's the weekend. All of those long days mean I get to zone out and do not a damn thing for work this weekend. Much needed!  How about...