Friday Randomness
Happy Friday! My SIL sent me the joke above, and I found it good for a snort. Specifically, the ‘idiot’ part. I don’t have a lot to tell you this week, so we’ll just dive in to a bunch of randomness.
These memes made me laugh. I don’t want to talk about President Shit for Brains, so I will leave it at that.
Regarding the meme on the right, The Pitt. What are we going to do now that season 2 has ended? WHY? I want more. (And wow on the season finale!) Other shows we’re currently watching: Rooster (HBO Max), The Testaments (Hulu) (so disturbing – it’s the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, in case you didn’t know), Your Friends and Neighbors (Apple TV+), and Hacks (HBO Max). Maya tried to watch the new season of Euphoria, but it was too dumb and she gave up. Oh, there’s a new season of Beef on Netflix! That’s exciting. Yes, we watch a lot of TV around here.
What else…hmmm. Looks like our gas prices came down 20 cents per gallon since last week, which is a relief. I finished our taxes on Tuesday (1 day early!) and we didn’t owe anything, which was great. We got a refund from Federal, owed California, and owed TurboTax. It all came out just about even.
The siding installation has been stalled on our unit, because they are waiting for some of the siding to come in. They are about 85% finished with our unit, but due to that final 15%, we are still in limbo with putting things back where they belong. My back yard is full of plants from the front yard, everything all smashed together, and I can’t get in there and trim back the bush/tree on the right that is getting unwieldy and it’s bugging me. Maybe I should move a bunch of stuff over the weekend, do my trimming, then move it back. Also, why do I have so many spider plants? I don’t really like spider plants that much. How did I end up with three spider plants? Did I buy them? Did past J like spider plants? I have no idea. I’m going to see how things look when we’re finished, and maybe give two of them away on Buy Nothing.
We had some lovely rain last weekend. It rained Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It was glorious. It even snowed up in the Sierras, though I’m sure that will melt pretty quickly. My plants were very happy, and so were we. As of now, they’re saying sunny nice weather today, tomorrow, and Sunday, and maybe more rain early next week. Fingers crossed.
I don’t have any satisfying ‘before / after’ pictures for you, but I cleaned up my skin care shelf in the bathroom closet, which is big. I also cleaned up Maya’s and Ted’s areas while I was at it. I have a few items that I’m giving away on Buy Nothing, and I got rid of a bunch of clutter. I also cleaned up my makeup drawer. Again, no photos, but it looks better. Not as good as Melissa’s, but that was never going to happen anyway. I have way too much stuff.
I don’t have a before photo, but here’s the ‘after’ from cleaning out the storage closet in our back yard. We’ve been dreaming of having shelving in there for decades, but never did it because a. we are fundamentally lazy, and b. I kind of thought we needed to have custom shelving built, which is spendy and also see a. So, we finally went to Lowe’s last weekend and bought this shelving unit, and now look! Everything is tidy and in its place! Also, some things from the closet under our stairs has migrated out here, so THAT closet is much cleaner as well. The bottom left is a bunch of old paint and an expired fire extinguisher that Ted is going to take to the hazardous waste dropoff, and on the right is recycling. I thought about getting something nicer looking than these big blue bins for recycling, but see a. So that might not happen. What’s next? Who knows. I’m thinking of organizing my books. I used to have them alphabetized by author, but that fell apart years ago and now I just shove books wherever they will fit.They won’t be completely alphabetized, because some books live in the back behind others, due to a lack of shelving and an unwillingness to part with books, but I could get in there and work on it for sure.
Here’s my ‘before’ photo, so I don’t just post an ‘after’. We have more books upstairs, but most of my fiction is here, plus some of Ted’s non fiction. I wish we had more room around here. But our place is 1188 square feet, and there are three of us, and I work from home, and there is neither a basement nor an attic. So this is what we have. We used to have a big custom made bookshelf* that took up this entire wall, but we got rid of it (and a LOT of books) when we tried to sell our place at the beginning of the financial crash in 2007. The area looks lighter and less cramped now (though definitely more cluttered than it was in that second link), but SIGH. We did like having all the books. Should we have another shelf made? See point a. above, also b (meaning spendy). I’ve been trying to be more of a ‘love a book, then pass it on’ type of person, but it goes against my upbringing and my nature in general. I’ve gotten a LOT better about it though.
*It was custom made for the space, but it wasn’t fancy. It was particle board, made by Maya’s preschool teacher’s father, and it was looking pretty run down by the time we got rid of it. But it went to some neighbors and they had it for several years, so it had a second life.
I saw an ad for this t-shirt on Facebook, and it has real 2020 vibes, right? Or maybe 2021 variant vibes?
OK, last bit of randomness for you. Look at the stickers on this tomato. One says Mexico, the other says Canada. I assume if I’m buying imported tomatoes in April, they are from Mexico, right? What’s going on here?
28 Comments
Jenny
Hee hee, I also like the “idiot”. I talk to my cats in the most ridiculous way (“Muff-muff! Who’s Mommy’s favorite girl?” etc) and I can just picture her thinking “idiot.”
Well, at least gas prices are down. Too bad that doesn’t make up for everything else going on… but it’s a little like the sun coming out and making us forget about the impending doom.
Nice job on the organizing! We also don’t have an attic or basement (well- we have a very, very small attic but you couldn’t store anything in there because of the heat) and it makes things hard. On the other hand, maybe it’s good because we’re more likely to get rid of things on a regular basis.
Someone put a wrong sticker on that tomato!!!
J
Yeah, like you we have a tiny crawl space attic, but I’ve never been up there and it’s not like we could store anything easily. I used to have a fantasy that someone kept something valuable up there and then moved away and left it, but our handyman went up when he installed our ceiling fans, and he said no, no big bags of money or gold. Rats. (No, no rats.)
Suzanne
These memes are all gold.
I haven’t watched the Pitt finale yet, but I am SO EXCITED! It is such a good show. My husband and I started watching Rooster earlier this week and I am loving it, too. Steve Carrell is a treasure. He also doesn’t age. He and Paul Rudd must have the same skincare regimen/deal with the devil.
Way to go on the organizing! I have so very many things I’d like to organize and I just… don’t. I did, however, buy new tupperware which necessitated me reshuffling some of our old tupperware. The newly tidy shelf looks so wonderful and calming. I wonder how long it will be before it descends into chaos.
J
The chaos is real. I organize, then things go to hell, then I have to organize again. It’s never ending.
Lisa's Yarns
I watched part of The Pitt finale last night night. I’m sad the season is over! I didn’t start watching the show until a couple of months ago as it was too triggering for my PTSD. So I had so many episodes to binge! I was so sad when I got caught up with the latest release. The show is utter perfection.
I went through our bookshelves recently, too. I got rid of a bunch of board and picture books that we don’t read anymore to make room for our growing collection of chapter books. I did it when the boys weren’t around because they would have protested a bit even though I couldn’t remember the last time we read some of the books – and some of them were quite bad. I took them to the library for their annual book sales drive.
J
I can imagine how The Pitt would be triggering, especially season 2 with the 4th of July burn scenes. I’m glad you’re doing better now!
Easier for me to get rid of kids books that my daughter has outgrown, vs. books that I read and really enjoyed. Though I’ll admit I’ve gotten emotionally attached to kids books too.
AC
Thanks for the PItt reminder.
I suppose a hothouse tomato could, theoretically, come from Canada, but A hae ma doots.
J
I had the same thought, and then the same doots.
Ernie
That’s a hilarious meme. Inorgianized my study recently – took no before photos. Way too embarrassing to admit that it had gotten that out of control. I’m from a similar mindset in terms of giving things away. I rarely buy a book. The library is just so handy. I bought a bookshelf for our bedroom, but Coach’s PT stuff monopolizes it. What is going on with that tomato? Maybe it’s just well-traveled. 😉
J
I like to think of the tomato getting its passport stamped with each new country…perhaps that’s what the stickers are.
Margaret
That’s a great dad type joke! It made me smile with its silliness. I’ve been trying to use my library more (and guiltily, Kindle) to avoid accumulating any more books. It’s hard though. I had to buy one for Book Club since it wasn’t coming in at the library. When I’m finished, I’ll pass it on since I’m not loving it enough to keep. We had snow and hail a couple days again and now it’s sunny and warmish. Lawn mowing weather for me! A mixed blessing.
J
Do you enjoy mowing your lawn? When you post pictures, with the neat lines left behind by the mower, it looks very satisfying. I’ve never had a lawn big enough to worry about. We had a tiny lawn in our back yard for a bit (it quickly died) and we had a push mower for it.
Margaret
Yes, I enjoy making the lines and the exercise. It’s about my only arm workout! (besides carrying babies and toddlers around occasionally)
J
I feel like babies and toddlers are great arm exercise!
NGS
We have had what we call “weather” here for the last week. I am currently under a tornado watch and am sitting in my office wondering if I will have to live in my office for the weekend. BUT! While the rain has led to extreme flooding, EVERYTHING IS BLOOMING. We might have to mow the lawn. I mean, we can’t mow the lawn because it’s sopping wet, but it’s green. We have flowers! And the trees are budding! It’s going to be great!
J
I hope the tornado warning has passed and you are safely home! I’m starting to understand why you midwesterners have so many supplies in your purse/car. Out here it’s just earthquakes we worry about, which sure, could lead one to miss a meal or not be able to get anywhere I guess. But that would be a HUGE one, which *knocks on wood* doesn’t happen too often.
Michelle G.
I love a randomness post! The memes are great! Too funny! The t-shirt too. And what a well-traveled tomato. We had a little snow, and we’re expecting 17 degrees tonight. I’m hoping all the budding things are feeling tough.
J
Oh goodness, 17 degrees? In April? That’s crazy.
StephLove
North couldn’t watch the season finale of the Pitt becaue it was opening night of the play they’re in and they were so afraid of spoilers they got up early the next morning to watch it.
Meanwhile, Noah and I are (re)reading the Testaments (reading for him, re-reading for me) in preparation for the show (50 pages left), so we haven’t started it yet, but I hope we can start watchig it next week, once we are in the same state again.
J
LOL, I love the idea of North getting up early to watch The Pitt to avoid spoilers. We read The Testaments when it came out, but I remember nothing. My daughter remembers so much more than I do.
Nicole MacPherson
Unless it’s greenhouse grown, it’s probably from Mexico!
Or…is it a Canadian who snowbirds in Mexico? Could be!
J – I would have loved to see before and after photos! But I will trust that it looks great!
J
The sad thing is that I INTENDED to take before pictures, but I forgot. Though it would have been kind of embarassing.
nance
Almost all of the tomatoes in my grocery store are from Canada. I’ve even seen the place/greenhouse compound in Ontario where they grow them. I like the little cocktail tomatoes, about the size of a golf ball.
An article I just read about season 3 of The Pitt–I forget the source; it was in my Google news feed–gave a few hints about what’s next. The show will be set in November, about 4 months after season 2, and Dr. Robby will be back after his motorcycle trip. The showrunner (or writers?) said that he’ll hit rock bottom emotionally–that the season 2 finale wasn’t it.
Love the meme about new doctor uniforms. It’s amazing how some people keep excusing his clearly demented behaviour.
J
Nance, I’m not sure how I feel about this news. I don’t actually want to see Dr. Robbie suffer any more from his PTSD. I want him to clear his head on his trip and improve. If the ER is truly killing him, like he says, then the best answer is for him to quit. But of course, he also said it is the only place he is OK. So he’s OK there, but it’s killing him. Complicated!
I like those tomatoes too, in the off season they often have the best flavor. I’m going to look next time and see if they’re from Canada or Mexico…or BOTH.
Stephany
I wish I had the emotional wherewithal to handle The Pitt, but all I can handle these days are silly competitive reality TV and old sitcoms. Sigh. I can do emotional stuff in my books, but not with my TV it seems!
I love all the organizing! I’m always going to say YES TO MORE BOOKSHELVES but that’s because I am “obsessed with shelves!!!” as my mom said to me a few weeks ago, HA.
J
The Pitt is a lot, emotionally. Also, pretty graphic with the surgeries and such, which I do NOT enjoy.
K @ TS
I actually find it strange that you have to buy imported tomatoes at all! We have plenty of greenhouses in CA! It looks like someone is being a jokester! I can just imagine some kid (or adult?) going around, swapping all the stickers in the grocery store.
I will come and alpahbatize your books! I love doing things like that. The only thing I don’t always love is when some are tall and some are short so they don’t look even in the end! First world problems, right? I love the first joke — Mayo neighs!
J
I agree, plenty of greenhouses here, but I suspect it is cheaper to import them. I will do a bit of research at the grocery store and see what I find!
Yeah, the esthetics of it all is going to be an issue, but I think I’d rather have them alphabatized.