Tag: Holidailies

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing is on vacation, so I did an old one I clicked on at random. I also forgot to post this last night so as soon as I post it, I will post another. Double the fun!

I am looking forward to:

My week off at the end of the month. I need it desperately.

Least favorite words:

Moist. It just sounds gross.

Demure. No, I don’t care about the meme. I’ve hated that word since the teachers in high school said that if our dresses were not “sufficiently demure,” we wouldn’t be allowed in at prom. It was 1984. Little did the teachers know what prom dresses in 2024 would look like.

Lovemaking. It’s the Drakkar Noir of terms for sex: Too much and used by smarmy guys. It’s sex. SEX, okay? SEX. You can use the word SEX.

If I ruled the world:

People wouldn’t be allowed to use the three words above.

Favorite websites and blogs:

They’re personal journals and I don’t blab secrets.

Things I do for myself:

Work out. Avoid the sun. Don’t smoke. Eat right (or try to). Pursue hobbies. Maintain a social circle.

Weekly rituals:

I don’t really have any, unless you count laundry.

DIYs I want to try:

I don’t have any in mind. Every once in a while I get the urge to buy a piece of furniture to put together but that’s about it.

On my shopping list:

Canned vegetables. No joke. I live in the D.C. area. I sense unrest coming when he gets in there. I wouldn’t be surprised if the country ends up under martial law at some point. I’ve already started stocking up. Fresh and frozen will go bad after some time in the event of a power outage. Canned veggies you just have to rinse and eat.

Places to see in your town:

In my county, Arlington National Cemetery. In D.C., the Smithsonian museums, the monuments, the Kennedy Center, and all the fun non-touristy places I’d take you to if only you’d come to visit your Auntie Zen.

Road trip must-haves:

Powdered or chocolate-covered mini-donuts. I don’t know why, but it’s not a road trip unless you have those.

Guilty pleasures:

I don’t believe in those. Anything you enjoy is a bit of self-care, whether it’s sleeping late, reading trashy fiction, or eating dessert. Despite what certain religions tell you, we are not here to suffer.

Things I’d rather be doing right now:

Skiing. Hiking. Stargazing out in a meadow. Birdwatching. Burning down the patriarchy.

Books I’d like to read this year:

Let’s go with next year.

The Eric Carr Story, by Greg Prato. about the second drummer for Kiss, who just seemed like a really cool guy. He died too young, just 40 years old, the same day Freddie Mercury died.

The Serpent and the Pearl and The Lion and the Rose, both by Kate Quinn. She did a great job with the Empress of Rome series, so I’d love to see how she handles the Borgias.

And this bad boy right  here, as I’ve never read any Lovecraft and the few oddball pages I’ve skimmed here and there look fantastic.

A book, The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales by H.P. Lovecraft.

Lessons learned:

Take people as they are, or don’t take them.

You don’t owe anyone any explanations for your choices in life, such as whether to date, marry, or have children; whether you have a religion; who you voted for; your career path or lack thereof; and how you spend your free time. Add how you spend your money to that if you’re single and kid-free.

Shared DNA does not imply family.

No job is worth sacrificing your health, peace, relationships, or interests for.

The United States is not the greatest country in the world. I don’t know which one is, but we’re definitely NOT.

Vacations to take:

Italy. Finland. France. Wherever my hiking group decides to go. Right now Bulgaria seems to be hot. Would like to see more of Poland. England. Germany. Norway. The Netherlands. Iceland. Austria. Hungary. I could go on.

I’ve given up on posting a snowflake a day. I’ll post them as I finish them. As for Christmas, here are some poinsettias from the staff lounge at work. Note how there is no t after the n in poinsettia. That’s one of those holiday-related peeves of mine.

Poinsettias on a holiday table.

Deerly Beloved

Oh, my goodness, I am failing so miserably at Holidailies this year. I try to write with a little more substance but this year I’m so short on time!

BUT, I had a lovely evening with friends. We had dinner at my favorite take-out place, which is closing on Tuesday after 40 years in the neighborhood.

This topped off a day of shopping—I’m surprised how many people were at Pentagon City Mall today—wherein I got a new winter coat, new sneakers, my favorite cheap Victoria’s Secret Body Spray that I put into the cup of my humidifier so my bedroom smells like a bordello, er, an evening-blooming garden, and these, which I will feature here individually once I put up my tree. You may or may not notice a theme.

Christmas ornaments featuring deer.

I love deer. They’re so gentle and beautiful.

And it’s almost midnight so I’d better post this! More tomorrow–I hope!

It Sounds Like a Whisper

Ha! I can’t wait to see what the third day brings.

Oh, bad form? Yeah. No. Dude made $10 million a year from a company notorious for rejecting claims and letting people die. I had problems with UnitedHealthCare, myself, in which they botched my payment processing through the health exchange and canceled my insurance even though it was their fault. Then I later came home with an $8,000 emergency department bill for a partial small bowel obstruction because I could no longer get insurance for that plan year, so pardon me while I sing “Cry Me a River.” And believe it or not, there’s nothing abnormal about that. There is no “right” way to respond to someone’s death, so whatever you might be feeling about it is fine and don’t let anyone try to make you feel bad if you can’t muster up any sympathy or empathy for it. Patients die because of greedy people like him and these other ghouls.

As for Nick Fuentes, he is the raging misogynist who started the whole “your body, my choice” thing. Well, I guess he’s about to find out that the law doesn’t agree with him. I hope they lock him up and throw away the key.

But on to happier news, shall we?

I’m really digging the Finch app. Just finished my first week and I worked out four times since Monday, ate all of my fruits and veggies every day, and stayed fully hydrated. I can’t remember the first time I did all of that in one week. Usually there are a days short on fruits and veggies, or when I don’t drink enough water, or I only work out a couple of times in a week. Finch works for me, so I’m keeping it–which is probably a good thing being that I paid for a full year in advance for $40 on a Black Friday deal. I think it’s 10 bucks a month otherwise.

Right now my Finch, Sherbet, is in Iceland and she has a pet cow. I’ve earned enough points to give her that fancy outfit, including her Cosmic Crown.

Looks like I took the screenie while she was mid-blink. Normally she’s not scowling.

Never thought I’d have a toddler, but here we are.

I’ve been working on a snowflake this evening but won’t finish it by midnight, so I’ll post it tomorrow. In the meantime, have a seat at the revolution, folks.