Groupthink

  Good morning, gang! It's the very last day of 2025 & I hope it's a good one so far. I need to run a few errands, but am all snug & cozy & still in bed. I'd like to avoid throngs of people & will be leaving very soon. After I throw some coffee down my gullet, that is.  Any plans tonight? Pal's picking up Chinese food on his way home & we do not plan on making it to midnight. I'm more excited about the breakfast casserole I have planned for New Year's Day than NYE. Lol. How about you?

  Our weather has been all over the place, and this will be another day of not going out if I don't have to. How about everybody else?

 Good morning. Are we all rested and ready to get back to it after the extended holiday weekend?   Me neither.  Alas, an ice storm is coming and I need stuff.  What's happening today with you

Good morning, GT. Happy Sunday.  I have my days all mixed up and completely blanked on today being Sunday. Whoops. It’s a very chilly morning and my plans to venture out early have been scrapped. I’m going to just stay in with the pups instead.  How are y’all doing today? 

  Happy Saturday night, groupthink! We have been completely lazy today. Dinner is popcorn, a yummy glass or two of Lambrusco, with coconut cake for dessert. These final days of the year don't count. Channel your finest Homer, lol. Other than snacks, we're finally settling in for some television. How's your evening going?

  Good morning, lovely people! If all's gone well, I got home last night but, in case anything didn't go to plan, or I'm just plain too sleepy, I'm writing this up in advance. So! How's your weekend looking? I hope everyone is getting to laze, if desired. A warm drink, a good book, a cozy blanky, sounds heavenly to me. How about you?

 I am skipping the fuck its today.  Feel free to share any that you may have though! Fuck yeah to Lazy Cat Cake.  I made it to bring to Christmas Dinner and it was a hit.  Kitschy? Certainly. Delicious?  Oh yes indeed.                                           (Image from sidechef.com)            Fuck yeah to staying home for Christmas.  It's been lovely without the travel and the craziness of shopping for our large family.  There's also nibling next door to our former apartment testing positive for flu A on Christmas Eve so we dodged that as well. Anyway, we have a Boxing Day gathering this afternoon.  I am bringing parmesan tomato focaccia and some herby dipping oil.  After that, a good long rest is on the agenda I think. How's everyone doing? 

  Whether you celebrate it or not, I hope you have a cozy Christmas day. Please feel free to kvetch or celebrate below, as needed. :) 

  Good morning, gang! Happy Christmas Eve to those celebrating & good Wednesday to all! It's early, but I'm wide awake after a wild dream. Watching Zodiac before bed probably wasn't the best idea. Great film, though. Things are feeling pretty ready around here. Just some gift wrapping left & pies to bake, but they're pecan & easy. I'm looking forward to movies, drinks, & some tamales later. We're keeping things low key tonight.  How are you holding up?

 Is everybody ready? Or is there some frantic last minute scrambling?

It's Monday.  It's snowing.  I'm having coffee and a cookie. What's going on?

  Good morning, everyone. Happy Sunday!  Forgive the short post but I just woke up and my brain has not snapped out of the deep sleep I was in.  How are you all doing today? What are you up to this last weekend before Christmas? 

  Happy Saturday night, groupthink. You're welcome for the super creepy baking cat, lol. We've been properly lazy, but still made chocolate crinkle cookies. They were so easy to make. Highly recommend & they look pretty, too. How's your night going?

Bon jour, mes amis! If all has gone according to plan (please, sweet baby Jeebus, I pray), I will be in Paris the day this post goes live, so I won't have access to GT. So please...  

I have the day to myself-- well, except for this needy dog.  I guess that's my first fuck it. I love Finn to death, but he is a LOT.  I am not inexperienced when it comes to training and managing behaviors but wow.  I think he may need more than I can give him.  Like, chemical alteration.  Anyhoo... Fuck that crazy ass speech and whatever batshit nonsense 47 was spewing.  I cannot even delve into whatever lies were spun.  As for fuck yeahs, I am loving all of my holiday decorations.  We've got the spirit here!  There's even a lil tree in my bathroom  😊. I think that I will need to venture down to the states after the New Year but I'll think about that later.  I'm going all in on making this Christmas ours.  

  Morning, y'all--happy Th.! How's the end of your week looking?

  Good morning, groupthink! Sorry for the delay. My phone turned into a brick last night while I was sleeping on it & needed to recharge. Related, my right hip hurts, lol. I had big plans to finish shopping & combine everything left for the week into a giant mega-errand, but my Uncle delayed our lunch until Friday. It's so tempting to stay home that I think I will. 😂  How's your day at the halfway point?

Is everybody nearly ready for Christmas, or is there still a lot of last minute stuff?

 Happy Monday folks and Happy Hanukkah.  I'm pre-posting because it is storming here --fingers crossed for my power! I can't believe how quickly winter has settled in here.  Today I saw ice out on the water. We don't usually see that this early.  It bodes well for snowmobiling and not so well for my heating bill.   Anyway, today is about baking, making some soup and finishing up the Christmas tree. How's your day looking?

  Good morning, everybody. Happy Sunday!  It’s barely 5am so my brain isn’t functioning that well yet so please forgive the shortness of this post. I’m about to hop in the shower to wake myself up and then head to the cemetery once the sun comes up a bit.  How are y’all doing today? What are you getting up to today? 

  Happy Saturday night, groupthink! And happy 100th to Dick. Congratulations on an entire century of a good life!  I had plans to go to Pal's show tonight but my throat & brain hurt. No idea why one side of my throat hurts so much, but I feel fine otherwise & will be medicating it with bourbon. 😂 My brain hurts because I've somehow gone from none to TWO Christmas Day events. My in laws' plans to be out of town changed & along with my uncle's. I'll deal with that tomorrow after some movies & drinks tonight.  What's happening with you?

  Morning, y'all--how's your weekend looking? Anything you're looking forward to?  I have yoga this morning and then I'm hoping to laze. We're getting a cold snap and, perhaps, more snow. A lazy, Christmas movie by the Christmas tree with my Christmas cat sounds pretty good.  How about you? 

 Happy Friday gang!  Even after a week, I am still basking in the "it's good to be home" vibes.   Today I am off to town AGAIN to get a charging pad for my phone. I dropped it in a slush puddle--whoops. It takes a wireless charge still, but I cannot plug into the port.  I will need to come up with a better solution, but I do not have the brain space to do that just yet.  So fuck that I guess.  Fuck the stomach bug that is currently torturing me.  I am really tired of it always being something-- or at least feeling like it is.   Fuck yeah to being home for Christmas this year. We'll do the tree this weekend and have a little party for two while we decorate.   As always fuck the repubs and ICE.  A special fuck you to Hegseth.  What an evil, terrible joke this whole administration is.   Anyway, how's your weekend looking?  And whatcha got for fucks? 

  We're almost there, y'all. How you doing?  Today is hectic here. I have a dental appt., a fair amount of work to do to prep for the appeals process a student who OBVIOUSLY plagiarized (it's painfully clear ) is pursuing, grading, therapy, a retirement party for a co-worker, and then a blizzard that they keep moving up???? Not sure if that means it's going to end earlier than they originally thought, or last longer... 🤔 I guess we'll find out!  How about you? How's your day looking?

  Good morning! We've made it halfway to the weekend. Pal has band practice tonight & I have a pretty busy to do list. I need all the coffee first to build up some momentum, lol. It's that time of year where you just wanna stay in bed.  How's your day going?

  I have no plans for today, and hope to avoid going out except to walk the dog. How about everybody else?

  Hey Y'all!  Lordy it's been a minute.  I'm here with a brand spankin new laptop still a little shaky from the anxiety of trying to recover all of my account information!  GT is still a little weird but I'm in.   Anyhoo, later on I'll regale you with the tale of our drive back to the shire. 12 hours turned into 30 and I am relieved that we all got here in one piece.   I finished up packing all of my belongings in the US so I've got a mountain of unpacking to do, along with post trip laundry. Somewhere in there I'll fit in holiday baking, decorating and my girlfriends Christmas party.  Oh, and I need to get my summer clothes out to the shed while I can still get to it easily! It's supposed to be storming today so I'll be staying cozy and chipping away at my list.  How's it going?

  Good morning, GT. Happy Sunday! I’m keeping this short because I want to go back to sleep. It’s way too early for me to be up. And it’s cold as heck.  How are you all doing today? Any fun plans for the day? 

  Happy Saturday night, groupthink! We are hungry people today. The giant sandwiches we ordered in were delicious & I'm still considering popcorn for later, lol. I blame the cold weather & finally being able to taste things again.  How's your night going?

  Hey, y'all--how are you doing? What's up with you this weekend? Our regular classes ended yesterday, and finals start Mon. I have bunch to grade, so I'll work on that today. I have a reward in my coffee app, so a fancy coffee is in order for that, I think. At this point, I'm trudging along. We're set to get more snow tonight (up to 6 more inches?!?!) so Homey and I are talking a snowshoe adventure tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed! How about  you ? 

  I don't see a post scheduled for today, so here's an impromptu one.

  Morning, y'all--how are you doing?  Finals week starts for us next week so today and tomorrow are my last days of "regular" class. I have a few sets of papers to grade but I think (hope!) I've set myself up to get it done without too much sturm und drang.  How about you? Is the week winding down well? 

  Good morning! It's so cold & dreary outside & Aftyn Behn lost--I plan on baking & cooking all afternoon to distract myself. The menu is roasted chicken over onions & carrots, served with roasted sweet potatoes, green beans, & a pecan pie. Comfort food is needed. I think we're having freezing fog? Not exactly sure what that entails, but it looks freaky out there, lol. This helps put things in perspective. It was close & they should be nervous! We've made it halfway to the weekend. What's going on?

  I have no plans for the day; I may put up the window blind in the kitchen window, which I want to put up before the new person moves in next door on Thursday. I'll wait to install the lock on the gate until Wednesday night, I think. How about everybody else.

  Morning, y'all--I'm guessing Phoebe's laptop might still be out of commission, so thought I'd get a post up (sorry, Phoebe, if I'm stepping on toes!).  I actually woke up sick, and there's more snow heading our way, so I cancelled class today. I feel a little bad but I also know a good chunk of my students would be skipping anyway, and two classes were our once-a-term "just work on this project" class so 🤷  I'm not going to feel  too  badly about it.  How about you? How's your week looking?