Friday Randomness
Fighting the Good Fight – Overheard at a recent protest in our fair city…mom walking with 2 young kids. One of them asks what the people are doing, making so much noise and carrying signs. “They’re fighting for your freedom.” OMG, that brought a tear to my eyes and made me feel like showing up every Saturday is definitely worth my time.
Pie Shop – I forgot to mention in my post on Oceanside that we saw this little pie shop, which is in the house where Kelly McGillis’s character lived in the original Top Gun film. There is a large military base nearby, Camp Pendleton, so Top Gun seems very fitting. The motorcycle is an ‘authentic replica’ of Tom Cruise’s bike. Whatever, dumb movie, but worth a random post I guess.
Fancy Toilets – We stopped at the factory outlets in San Clemente so we could see the fancy bathroom. The men’s room is not fancy, but the ladies room is crazy. And while I titled this ‘fancy toilets’, the toilets were just toilets.
SoCal Gardens – This is Carey and Diane’s beautiful plumeria. Mine is still struggling after I left it outside all winter, so Carey is going to send me a cutting from this one when it is the right time of year for such things. Initially I thought I would just bring one home with me, but she said it would do better if I practice some patience.
Kitty Randomness – I LOL’d at these fake boots that I saw on the FB group for the kitten rescue where I volunteer. I wonder if Suzanne might like a pair?
Speaking of the kitten rescue, this handsome guy is Roasted Gizzard, and he is 9 months old. He is either lonely, anxious, or bored, because he plays HARD in his water dish. The first time we met, he had turned it over completely, and his bed and toys were sopping wet. The next time, his water dish was empty and there was water everywhere. I wonder if he is feeling left out because the twins upstairs play like crazy and he is left out? Thankfully, the rescue had some ideas, and he now has more toys, and also we are only filling his water 1/2 way. When I went in on Wednesday, there was a tiny bit of water on the floor, but not too much.
Keeshond Sightings – I’ve told you before that there is a Keeshond living in the large apartment building near us, Chloe. I hadn’t seen her in quite a while, but on Monday when I was coming home from the grocery store, there she was, having a good sniff in the grassy area near our complex. YAY! I stopped and talked to her human (Whose name I do not know. Maybe she told me once?), and Chloe is going to be 15 this fall. She is an introvert and doesn’t really like people or other dogs, so she wouldn’t come and say hi. I think I’ve met her 3 or 4 times over the last 2 years, and I’ve only gotten to pet her once. She’s a sweet old lady, and it made me happy to see her. Coincidentally, Ted and I saw another Keeshond when we were at dinner last Friday, in Oakland. This was a very big Kees. He was on the other side of the street, so we didn’t get to say hello. I would have liked to, though.
Musical Memories – The other day, Ted was enjoying watching music videos on Apple Music, and while The Clash was playing, I suddenly wanted to hear Big Audio Dynamite. Why? Because back when we were dating, he used to make me mix tapes, and we listened to them over and over again, so my brain got used to that transition. Fun.
Bloggy Friends!
1st, I broke my boycott of Amazon to purchase Sing, Slivered Tongue, a poetry anthology that includes 3 amazing (and very different) poems by Bloggy friend Maya. With a subheading of An Anthology of South Asian Women’s Poetry of Trauma in English, I knew the poems might be rough, but the first one was a gut punch. Any of you who know Maya’s poetry on her blog know how talented she is. Well worth breaking a boycott, I’m going to savor reading all of the poems in this collection.
2. Look at the fun postcard I got from Engie and Anne!
3. Stephany and her BFF Bri had a podcast episode that I really enjoyed, on motherhood, told by two childless women. I hadn’t listened to their podcast before, this was my first episode. I enjoyed hearing their thoughts about their relationships with their own mothers, and their thoughts on whether they want motherhood for themselves, and how (if) friends having children has affected those friendships. Really good, I’ll be back for more!
All is Not Lost – I mentioned in my Oceanside post that I inadvertently left my hat at our lunch restaurant the day before we left for our cruise. It turned out OK, Carey loaned me one of her hats. It was a bit tight on me (I have a big head, I guess…it has to hold all of my brains after all!) but it worked. Mine was actually a bit loose, and likely would have flown off on the speedboat right rushing Carey to medical care. Her had stayed firmly on my head, I didn’t even have to hold it there. AND! The restaurant where we had our crispy Quesabirria tacos when we got back to Oceanside is right across the street from the other place, so we stopped in, and they still had my hat. So it’s safe in my closet, and will come with me to protests this summer, protecting my face from getting too much sun. (I have a lot of hats and I don’t wear them. Clearly some of them need to be included in my ‘One Thing a Day’ goal.) Speaking of which…
Low Hanging Fruit – Day One of my decluttering project was to get rid of some really easy things. From left to right, a hairdryer that only blows cold air and I thought maybe I could fix it; a gift box for wine that I’ve been keeping ‘just in case’; a worn out hoodie that used to belong to my Dad but which looks pretty horrible now and has holes in the pockets. The box was recycled, the rest went in the trash.
Day 2 was some t-shirts. These are all perfectly lovely t-shirts, especially the one in the top row middle, which was my dad’s and has turtles on it. But that one is way too big, and the rest have a tight crew neck that I have come to hate as I have gotten older. Out they go. Just kidding, out go the two on the bottom. Maya took the top three.
Day 3 (I swear I am NOT going to bore you to death and show you every damn thing I throw away. This one is a PSA.) Black kitchen utensils. I heard a story on NPR a few months ago about how SOME black kitchen utensils are made from recycled electronics that contained flame retardants, which may leach into your food, so it’s best to get rid of them. Out they go. Out they should have gone the day I heard the story.
Speaking of PSAs – Have you heard of wire grill brushes shedding their bristles, which then can get into your food? I had heard of this but kind of ignored it, until last week we learned that Ted’s aunt had swallowed one and it got lodged in her throat. There are stories of the bristles causing bowel perforation as well. I’m not terribly worried about our current brush, because it’s new and likely not shedding yet, but I’m definitely keeping an eye on the grill when I use it, and it’s going to be replaced soon.
HVAC Update – HVAC issues are going around, and we are not entirely immune. Happily, our trusty HVAC guy came out pretty quickly when our A/C stopped working two weeks ago. There’s something going on, it may need a new thingamabob, but at this point he just needed to reset it and verify that everything else was working correctly. The system is circa 1979, so every year we get with it feels like a real gift. I’m telling you, a trusty worker who isn’t going to try to sell you something new that you don’t need is worth their weight in gold. Thanks Joel!
Progress – On the ‘Get that Money from the Big Banks’ front, I’m doing well. I opened a credit card with Wells Fargo that gives 2 points per dollar spent, with no annual fee, and has a $200 bonus for spending in the first couple of months. I’ve earned my bonus and transferred that to my vacation savings account. In addition, the card has a deals program that gives you ‘cash back’ (meaning a statement credit) at different vendors. I generally ignore those because they are usually for things I don’t want/need, like 1-800 Flowers or DoorDash. This one was for 15% back on groceries, up to $15. Not too shabby. So I’ll be keeping my eyes on that for more opportunities.
A Moment of Panic – I had a moment of panic last Saturday. My company gives out quarterly bonuses, and they recently announced that they have restructured how the bonus amount is calculated. Our bonuses are paid on a regular payday, but they are a separate deposit When payday is a Monday, the funds usually deposit into my account a few days early, on Saturday. Another ‘Get That Money From the Big Banks’ tip that I got from Birchie was to open checking accounts and have direct deposit set up for them. This is my first time doing that, I have set up an account at a bank offering a $400 bonus for depositing $4,000 in 90 days. So I went into my payroll portal for work and set it up to deposit $1,000 out of every paycheck into this new account, and the rest in my regular account. You can guess what happened, but I did not right away. I checked my regular account, and my bonus amount was about $1,000 less than I had expected. In my defense, I had not yet had any caffeine, and also the transparency behind how much we are going to get and how it is calculated is not very good, especially with this new restructuring. So I had no real idea of what to expect. But $1,000 less is a lot. And my new account didn’t have the funds yet, since payday wasn’t actually until Monday, and I guess this bank doesn’t make the funds available early. So yeah, I thought my bonus was $1,000 less than it actually was. Panic! Thankfully I figured it out within about 1/2 hour, and on Monday the money showed up right where it was supposed to. Whew!
Independence Day – Happy 4th to those who celebrate! I know I’ve shared this tweet before, but it always makes me laugh. For those of you with pets, I hope they are not too scared by the idiots setting off fireworks in your neighborhood. They’re illegal here, but that doesn’t seem to slow people down much. I hope you enjoy your celebrations, whatever they might be. We’re going to Ted’s parents’ house to celebrate his mom’s independence from excruciating pain in her hip, as she had long overdue hip replacement surgery about 10 days ago, and is doing SO MUCH BETTER.
28 Comments
AC
We switched away form those wire brushes a few years ago. The wooden ones do the job well, especially when the grooves get deep.
J
I have never heard of a wooden grill scraper, but now I will keep my eyes out for one!
Elisabeth
Eeks. The wire brush thing is so scary (we don’t use wire brushes but it makes me sick to think about people that don’t know about the risk!).
I would gladly look at every single photo of things you get rid of. THIS IS MY JAM. Seriously, makes me so, so happy! Gold stars. Also, you’re knocking this out of the park because I’m seeing multiple things leaving every day when the challenge was for just one thing to go.
J
LOL, I need a separate blog where I can post a photo of the day, just whatever I’m getting rid of. Today is going to be a Mexican blanket that we have never used. We have two, and this one is scratchy. Out it goes! (To my buy nothing group, along with the t-shirts)
Suzanne
Such a fun and funny post! Those scratching post boots are HILARIOUS, thanks for thinking of me. You are making great progress with the one-a-day project! I still have a bunch of the black utensils that I should get rid of. I just feel pre-exhausted about having to buy new ones, I guess, which is a dumb reason to keep using potentially dangerous kitchen tools.
Love the photo of Mulder with his buddies! So cute.
J
Pre-exhausted about buying new ones…yes, this is real. I feel that way about looking for a new grill brush, too.
Ally Bean
I knew there was controversy around black kitchen utensils but not specifically what it was. We only have one, so ditching it won’t be a heartbreak. But I feel like every day I learn about another thing I adore that is now not good for me. It is getting tedious.
The photo of the ladies room is lavish, to say the least. Some people live large. Fascinating.
J
UGH, I KNOW. It’s like, WHAT NOW? But when we know better, we do better, right? So out they go.
Birchie
Don’t get me wrong, I love getting early direct deposit, but it definitely makes my job harder when employees see their net pay out of context. But anyway yay for bonus and yay for being ahead on your $4k deposit.
If you’re seeing keeshonds everywhere, maybe it’s a sign??? Yeah, yeah, I know Ted wasn’t ready for another dog, but maybe that’s changing???
I think we talked about this, but I really dislike Top Gun. A few weeks ago one of the boys wanted to watch it, so I decided to give it another chance. Blergh. If having my family around doesn’t make it work, then I think we can make it even more official that I hate this movie. But I got to enjoy your picture of the house because I have the recent context!
J
I made my bosses job a bit harder because I texted him on a Saturday morning and asked if the much smaller amount was correct. He said no, and we would figure it out on Monday, so at least I knew pretty quickly that something was up…then I thought a bit and figured it out.
Top Gun – Blergh is right. Not my jam. Not to yuk on Nicole’s yum or anything.
Jenny
Oh that poor cat! I hope he’s okay and someone adopts him soon. Those boots are hilarious… my cats would be into them.
I’m laughing at the things you got rid of- a hair dryer that only blows cold air, t-shirts with a neck that strangle you, toxic kitchen utensils. Good job so far! Seriously, that’s good to know about the utensils- I think we only have one black one, and I’ll get rid of it.
Ugh, fireworks. Some idiot was setting them off here at 6:30 am. Yes, we all wanted to hear that! I’ll be staying home with the cats tonight- poor things.
J
6:30 am? Idiots. Who wakes up and says, “I’m going to set of fireworks now?” No one, that’s who. They were up all night doing drugs or whatever. Bah!
nance
The scratching-post boots are a kick! (Hey, that’s a pretty good pun, too.)
My son Sam’s cat, Baker, used to do that with his water all the time. They finally got him a cat water fountain, and it stopped the behaviour. Baker just wanted moving water. He’s almost feral, that cat. He’s also like a Hemingway cat–6 toes on his front paws.
J
Oh wow, moving water…I wonder if Roasted Gizzard wants moving water? Interesting thought.
Lisa’s Yarns
We were just talking about those wire brushes a few weeks ago at our friends’ house. One of them found a piece of a wire brush in a meal at the island we went to on a catamaran trip in Mexico. So now he uses something different to clean their grill!
I love the flashback photo of Mulder!!
J
Yeah, I need to get something besides wire, clearly. Going to look into the wood that John suggested. We used to have a scrub pad type thing that worked pretty well too. Maybe I’ll get another of those?
Allison McCaskill
Ha ha, you are going to have to fight Nicole about Top Gun. Way to go on the getting rid of stuff! Even better when some of it is reused by a friend.
It’s amazing that you are concretely protesting. I feel so impotently angry and sad at what’s happening there.
I had heard about wire brushes, but NOT about black spatulas, and I have THREE of them. What do we use then? I don’t want metal. Non-black plastic? Eek! I am neurotic about the hand-feel of my spatulas, this could precipitate a kitchen crisis.
J
When I first read about the black plastic utensils, I mostly thought of our spatula/flipper. I bought a light colored silicone one that was OK, but still not great for flipping as the flipper part was a bit too thick. Then I saw a red silicone one at the grocery store, and it’s perfect. Keep your eyes open, you’ll find something!
Nicole MacPherson
OMGOMGOMGOMG THE TOP GUN HOUSE THE TOP GUN HOUSE! I can almost not concentrate on anything else, it’s the TOP GUN HOUSE. I fantasized about living in that house when I was a young impressionable girl. Top Gun is one of my all-time favourite movies and I never get tired of it. And her house! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!
Lol, I just saw that Allison commented about it! She knows me too well!
I know exactly what you mean about Sing Slivered Tongue. I like to read poetry anthologies slowly, like 1-2 poems a day. After I got it I immediately read Maya’s poems, naturally, then I started at the start, as you do, and I actually gasped.
Good for you and your decluttering project! You’re going to do great!
J
LOL about THE TOP GUN HOUSE, I’m so glad that I included it for you! Further trivia will tell you that it was not originally in its current location, but when they wanted to build a hotel or apartments or something, they saved it by moving it down the beach a bit. Inside has lots of photos and such I think, but I hate Top Gun so I didn’t go in and see.
Margaret
Scratching post boots–hilarious! Sadly, I remember little about Top Gun but the house was adorable. There is so much I need to get rid of around here, both in bedrooms and my kitchen. It’s overwhelming!
J
All I remember about Top Gun was the hyper competitive masculinity, which was ridiculous and a real turn off for me. You’re not missing much.
Stephany
Thank you for the podcast shout-out! That means a lot. <3 I was very worried our discussion was going to come off as "kids suck" lol, but I'm glad our episode resonated with you.
I CANNOT get over that photo of smiling Mulder in the sea of other dogs. WHAT A STUNNER. That photo just makes me unreasonably happy. Please get this printed on postcards and send to all of your bloggy friends. THANK YOUUUUU.
Great job on getting rid of stuff! I had no idea about the black utensils. I need to get rid of some!
J
I didn’t get a ‘kids suck’ vibe at all. And let me tell you, I love MY kid, and have loved every moment (well, not EVERY moment) of being her mom. But other people’s kids are generally kind of boring. AND kids are SO MUCH MONEY and SO MUCH STRESS, I think a person has to REALLY WANT THEM. I REALLY WANTED at least one. Serious baby fever. My brother never had that, nor did his wife, so they wisely have no children. And have much more money despite making less!
PocoBrat
J, Thanks for the Mulder photo! I love his sweet, serious face :)!
And you seem to be doing so great with the decluttering. (If it’s useful, I keep a donation bag in the kitchen and try to fill it with things we’re not using as often as possible.)
I’m with you on not loving _Top Gun_! In addition to the hyper masculinity, there’s a lot of promotion of US militarism– and in the most recent one, of weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. :/
And sweeeeeeet Grrl! Thanks so much for buying the book and shout out!! XOXO
J
Thanks Maya! Mulder was such a doll, he’s hard to ‘get over’. Sigh.
K @ TS
Happy Friday, one week late!? I used to just use a piece of foil to clean my grill, but that wire brush story is crazy. I mean, really anything can happen at any time. I have been eating something soft that I bought and had something hard be mixed in and sometimes it is a shell from a nut, or a rock from a bean or a bone etc. You never know! I don’t know why but that makes me think of how sometimes you have a hair or a burr in your clothes somewhere and you can’t find it even though you can feel it touching you. I hate that feeling.
Mixed tapes! I sometimes get that, where you are waiting for the “next” song but only because that it where it was in the order that the tape had it. I also sometimes wait for the next song with bands where I had their tape or CD. Like if you hear Smells Like Teen Spirit on the radio, you expect In Bloom to be next!
J
Yes, you get it! THE NEXT SONG SHOULD BE….