Groupthink

  Happy Friday, groupthink! We're having a three day weekend. Sweet. We're planning on catching a movie, definitely grabbing lunch, & then who knows. Fuck yeah. Fuck its for ICE, Rand Paul, & the eternal dumpter fire we deal with each & every day. It's a lot. How's it going?

  Still at the cottage. Talk amongst yourselves.

 It's cherry day!  I should be up in the trees filling my bag right about now.   My friend makes a cherry coffee cake early in the morning so we will finish our outing with coffee, cake and an appropriate amount of gossip and tsk-tsking like proper ladies of a certain age do. I do believe that's a win.   This year I am doubling up on the cherry liqueur.  That stuff is magic in a glass and now everyone wants some.  I'm also planning two pies, one just for us and one for when out visitors come.   In Tuesday's meditation class, my teacher told me to play with the idea that acceptance is not surrender. That's going to take some work.  I don't even know where to begin but I trust her.  This class has really been so fulfilling. I will be sorry to see it end.  

  At this point, I should be at the cottage again, so talk amongst yourselves. I may be able to pop in on my phone.

  Happy Monday! It’s time to talk about books, movies, TV, and media. With the Odyssey out, I will pose the question: do you still enjoy going to a movie theater? Is it something you do more or less of than you used to? For myself, I used to go regularly with my kid(s), by myself, and with a friend. The pandemic stopped that, and now I have little tolerance for the tons of ads, dirty understaffed theaters, and high prices. I will occasionally go to the small historic one screen theater because it’s clean, well staffed, with reasonably priced concessions and tickets. Meal talk: are you a batch cooker, and/or weekly meal prepper? I lean towards making a big batch of something and getting a few meals out of it, sometimes putting half in the freezer. 

  Good morning, GT. Happy Sunday! I'm scheduling this Saturday night because I'm tired and I'm hoping to sleep in in the morning.  Currently, my neighbors are having a party and they brought me a delicious plate of food. I ate way too much of it and I'm regretting eating it because my stomach is super bloated. Bleh. I really sound know better than to eat such rich food so late at night. Oh well.  Anyway, how are you all doing today? I hope you are all staying cool in this terrible heat. I'm hoping for a lazy day of loafing but I do need to do a bit of meal prep for the week. Just need to figure out what I'll be making. 

 Happy Saturday night, groupthink! Here's some Moonage Daydream, one of Bad Bad Luck's covers, to kick things off. I'm leaving soon for the show. I'm not in the greatest mood, but plan to rally after an iced coffee. Here's a link to the band's second album if you'd like to listen. They're on Bandcamp & Spotify as well. I recommend "Roll the Dice." It's fun. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lonN5pNGt7JHvXr1oPOcBAMwtbvZqsxC0&si=YsGvrJRffVhz4LYJ I hope you're having a nice weekend! What's up?

It's the weekend!  What's on the vagenda?   Over here I am paying the price for bragging about my run with the dog the other day.  My lungs did fine. My knee, on the other hand, is saying "Hey bitch, we're not 30 anymore".  It's swollen and sore.  I need a day to rest it and myself as long as I'm at it.   This will be me today: I had a lovely time yesterday staying with Dear Cousin's wife. She has Alzheimer's and the family needed to be out.  She is a lovely old soul and a true Christian in the practicing what she preaches -except that she isn't really one to preach. I think that we'll be seeing more of each other now and I'm here for it.   How's your weekend looking?

  Good morning, friends! You've made it to Friday, congratulations. I haven't had coffee yet because Pal lost his keys this morning. They were in his pocket the whole time, y'all. 🙄 Pal's already in the doghouse because he skipped out on dinner last night. Now, I know family dinners are annoying sometimes. I attend his all of the time. Meanwhile, I have ONE relative & it's once a year. I'm not trying to let it wreck my final day of band practice freedom & will let it go until Saturday or Sunday when we have time. My fuck yeah was definitely dinner. I had a blue cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped filet, twice baked potato, & asparagus. It was delicious! My uncle has deemed me the next keeper of family antiques. Last night, he gave me my great, great grandmother's jewelry box. It's not fancy, just a little metal box, but I love holding things my matriarchs used. I also got my oldest brother's childhood dictionary. He died so young, there aren...

  Here is your Thursday open thread. I'll be on my way to the cottage this morning.

 Hey gang! Wins-  BIL is arriving Friday.  The win is the timing on the stained-glass pieces that worked out beautifully, so he will bring them with him.  Now the hunt for a clock begins in earnest.   AND...  I took the dog for a walk and it ended up being a partial run?  It was hot out too. I can't believe I did that.  These lungs are just full of surprises.   We're in for big rain for the next 24 hours. I will take it all.   What's going on?

 It's supposed to rain all day, and we need it. I did not get my tree planted yesterday, but I did get a hole dug, so I can plant it tomorrow. What's everybody else doing?

Good morning GT! Did you make any fun food for the World Cup finale? Any meals you’re looking forward to this week? Is there a fruit or vegetable season you just can’t wait for each to get fresh? I personally love blueberry season. They’re so enormous and delicious. As always, share your current favorite reads, TV, podcasts, etc! 

  Good morning, GT. Happy Sunday! I'm currently having an internal battle over whether to go see a movie before the World Cup final. The timing actually works perfectly because the movie ends about 30 minutes before kickoff, which should give me enough time to get home without stressing about missing any of it. The problem is... I'm feeling lazy, hot, crampy, and strongly against putting on proper clothes and interacting with the world. I should probably take a shower and then decide because right now I just want to bed rot.  Anyway, yesterday I pickled some cauliflower, and today it's time for red onions and cucumbers. My jar of pickled onions is running dangerously low, and I refuse to go without them. I ended up buying a pickling spice blend and I HATE it, so it's back to using what I have on hand.   Oh! And in small wins. I FINALLY hung up my diploma and license. It only took me 8 years on the diploma and 6 years on the license, but it's finally done.  How ...

  Happy Saturday night, friends! Here's some more Margo Price. We've been successful with our lazing goals. I'm posting this a little early in case those naps finally happen, lol. Has anyone watched Invasion on appletv? We just began & it's a good binge watch. Later, we'll catch up with Cape Fear & Silo. How are you?

I am off to town this morning to pick up more prevacid.  I don't know why I can't learn my lesson on this one.  We have hot water again. Hopefully all of the water will stay where it's supposed to now.  

  Happy Friday, groupthink! Here's some new Margo Price. I'll share more tomorrow. It's a banger.  Obviously, fuck you, ICE. Ban it, close the camps, & prosecute them all. It's been a shit week. I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Pal has a show tomorrow night, but we're meeting up early to see his coworker's reggae band first. A little bit random, but sounds fun! They've been together for twenty years.  How's it going?

Thinking about coming home to do laundry and shopping.

 I can't summon any wins today. Maybe it's just that I am still treading water.   Today is the big biopsy.  I'll be helping Mr clean his bedroom up for the insurance visit then I'll head next door for a shower.  The new seamstress I'm trying out had an opening today, so I'll be stopping there on my way to the clinic.  And now I have some sort of weird swelling and tingling in my foot & ankle. It got disturbingly big last night but it is better today.    I'll ask my doc to take a look tomorrow while I'm there, I guess.  I am truly overwhelmed with my day-to-day life.   Last week in meditation class, there was nearly a brawl between two women that are new to class.  The very charismatic lady threw down with a Karma Karen™ and it was hilarious.  Today she showed up wearing a Knicks shirt and I feel like that made perfect sense lol.  Tune in next week for more of The Real Housewives of Zen lol.  In other hilarity...

Probably still at the cottage.

Good morning! I can’t decide if it’s too hot to want to talk about food or if all the fresh summer produce plus grilling is great. What’s on your menus? Do you switch up your daily drinks based on season? Does hot coffee become iced coffee in the summer, do you only drink hot chocolate in the winter? What are you reading and watching? I’m still watching Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed with Tatiana Maslaney, and the new season of Silo, both on Apple TV. I’m about to start reading Dungeon Crawler Carl to see what all the fuss is about. By the time this posts I’ll probably know whether I like it or hate it. I’m also reading The Last Stand of Mary Good Crow, by Rachel Aaron, one of my favorite authors. I can always trust her to take me on a good adventure with no problematic bits. It’s midsummer garden checkup time! If you’re growing a garden, how is it going? I’ve only got wildflowers going this year, and the bees and butterflies love it.

  Good morning, everyone. Happy Sunday! Has anyone ever watched the show "From"? If you have, is it super gory and violent? I saw a few clips for it yesterday and it looks interesting, but I have a hard time watching shows that are too graphic with the violence. I had to stop watching The Walking Dead and GOT because I just couldn't deal with it anymore.  Anyway, it's going to be a fairly chill day around here. I ended up doing my grocery shopping yesterday, so my morning has freed up. I think I'm going to head to the cemetery since I bought a bunch of sunflowers. Afterwards I want to come home and do a bit of meal prep for the week since it's going to be in the 90s and I won't want to cook. How are you all doing today?   

  Happy Saturday night, gang! This song reminds me of long summer days way back when. Good times!  We're watching the matches tonight. I expect a lot of yelling at the refs. Nothing else is planned, but we'll probably grab lunch tomorrow as an excuse to get out of the house. Plus, we're nearly out of watermelon. ;) What's up?

Happy 7-11 people!  I just love Free Slurpee Day!  I used to take the lil niblings every year. Of course, they also got to pick out another treat to go along with it.  OK, it was a couple.  Maybe several. The point is I loved (and love) living in a world that has fun stuff just because.   In honor of the holiday, I'd like to know how you slurpee.  And if you don't, I encourage you to embrace it today. We need more whimsy dammit!   Aside from (hopefully) getting your slurpee on, what's on the vagenda this weekend?  

  Happy Friday, groupthink! It's storming again. They were loud & rumbling all night. Ruby & I are still snuggled in bed, but coffee is calling. Then, I need to decide what to do with Friday. Fuck yeah for a pretty chill week. Fuck its for ICE, the National Guard, & Marsha Blackburn. ACAB.  How are you? What's up for the weekend?

 Pumpkin Patch Day Lilies  The pumpkins came from Halloween decorations, two uncarved pumpkins that were left as squirrel food. The lillies were probably planted by previous owners.

I'll be having my coffee on the front porch at the cottage.

It's Wednesday and I am tired.  Today I am hoping for a whole lot of nothing but it's probably going to be a whole lot of little somethings.   Wins? I'm working on it.  How's it going? 

  I'll be at the cottage, so talk amongst yourselves.

  Happy Monday GT! In honor of summer, do you enjoy cooking outdoors on a grill? What’s your favorite grilled food? Preference for gas vs charcoal?  Are you someone who looks forward to “beach reads” for the summer? What are you currently enjoying media-wise? Books, magazines, podcasts, TV, etc.

  Good morning, GT. Happy Sunday! I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. The pups did really well with the fireworks last night and we all went to bed early. Woohoo! We are up early this morning and I think I'm going to do a bit of meal prep. I've been wanting to make chorizo beans so that will be on the menu along with some rice. Having sides prepped makes it easy for me to throw together a meal later.  How are y'all doing today? Any fun plans for the day?

 It is 2am on July 5 in Amerika. I just finished a sandwich and a mug of cold brew to raise my blood glucose and blood pressure. I am taking a High Blood Pressure med that makes me lie down and sleep like a stunned steer. I have slept half the night and need to work for a couple of hours. Sorting old backup disks seems appropriate. We had a very quiet 4th of July. We went to the local Wildlife center to hear a talk about Bald Eagles, for 20 mins outside. It was early in the day so it was only 85 degF. Then we went shopping. I bought a few groceries and Toni needed clothes. I was surprised anything was open. Then we went home and enjoyed the cooling. I took my meds about 8pm and went to bed. About 9:30 the City Fireworks show started, launched from about 3/4 mile away. Woke me up, Toni watched through the Guest Room window. I thought the neighbor's shade tree blocked most of it, but she enjoyed it. I guess Taylor forgot to send me a wedding invite. I don't like NYC anyway, and m...

  Happy Saturday night, groupthink! I took another nap. Victory. I'll keep this brief because I just woke up, lol. Fuck all the noise tonight.  How are you?

Happy Saturday people.  It's 69 degrees in here and already too hot for my walk out there. That AC will be struggling to keep it at 75 in a few hours, so I am glad for the head start.   Fucking Blogger ate the majority of  my post just as I was finishing it.  It was a really good one too. I was waxing poetic about my dad loving today and going deep into the memories.  I had painted a really nice picture, dammit. Anyway, unsurprisingly I landed on fixating on the cookout foods.  I think that I will need to go out for some hotdogs now.    What are your cookout faves?  And what's going on this weekend?  How are you staying cool?  

  Good morning, gang! I woke up early & am enjoying some me time before the other two join me. I'd have my coffee outside except I'd rather not burst into flames at sunrise like a vampire, lol. Here's a favorite from Bob Marley to get you started.  Like a lot of people, we're not celebrating the 4th. It's World Cup weekend & only World Cup Weekend. Fuck ICE, ACAB. Fuck yeah to the elevator that just wouldn't let Marsha Blackburn escape the questions. 😂 Any fun weekend or food plans? 

 Just a quick thread; I'm doing this late Wednesday night, still in Prince Edward County. Will check in later, when I get home. How's everybody doing?

Since it is July 1st, and hotter than the Hinges of Hell here, I went to the Municipal Utility and leased another 6 Solar Panels today. With the attic done, we are quite comfortable in our house. We have 20 250 watt panels, which, I estimate, provide about half of our electricity, during moderate weather. I have not received a bill for this horrible weather period, yet. The new heat pump will provide heat upstairs in the winter, we still burn natural gas for downstairs. I will find out what the costs are in the next year.  

 I am here.  Still on this earth and here in the shire.  I worked so hard to get here. Out my window, Mr's Canadian flag is blowing, reminding me of all of that.  And today that's enough.  How's Wednesday looking for you?