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etraytin · 5 years ago

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Quarantine, Day 48

Forty-eight days a week, I lo-o-o-o-ve you!

Man, that song was old when I was a kid, to the kids of today it's like what, WWII songs?

Let's see, Eight Days a Week was released in 1964, eighteen years before I was born. My son was born in 2010, so his version of Eight Days a week would be a song like... well, let me look... wow, 1992 was deeply terrible for pop music. To him, Baby Got Back or Achy Breaky Heart (god help us all) are as old as Eight Days a Week is to me. And Eight Days a Week itself, written forty-six years before he was born? ... Nope, that would take me all the way past WWII, to the musical stylings of 1936. Which is a much better musical year than 1992, I'll give you, with Benny Goodman all over the place and Billie Holiday near the top of the charts with "Summertime," but my point is, that shit is ooooooold in my mind. It is weird to think that The Beatles are as old to my son as Fred Astaire and Benny Goodman are to me, and to him, those two may as well be on a different planet. I mean, that's 76 years before his time. For me, that would be the music of 1906, featuring such bangers as "The Bird on Nellie's Hat” (which is actually quite funny!) or “A Lemon in the Garden of Love." Not exactly relevant to the Youth of the Eighies.

(At this point in my maundering, my husband the history professor sat me down and made me listen to his favorite song from the nineteen-teens, just to prove that every generation has its outliers. It is a WWI protest song about Satan, because of course it is.)

Anyway, time is unimaginably weird at the best of times and it never stops moving the goalposts on what is Now and what is The Past, it's just that usually we don't have a lot of time to stop and think about it. Every once in awhile, though, it becomes evident how not-really-real time is, and you just have to ponder it a little bit. But in any case, today is Day 48 of quarantine, and it is a Tuesday. I always know when it is Tuesday because every Tuesday at quarter til seven I get a reminder that it's time to take the kiddo to Cub Scouts despite the fact that there is no Cub Scouts, not unlike that mechanical house in There Will Come Soft Rains.

I slept through a kitten alarm this morning, which is always good for a bit of guilt, but it simply meant that they went 3.5 hours between feedings instead of 2.5. At their age they should be going four hours between feedings anyway, but I want to get them nice and fat before we go that far. They were real mad about it though, and let me know about their Terrible Woes. Jackie was so mad she actually sucked on the bottle instead of making me squeeze it into her mouth bit by tiny bit! Rosa was so mad, she pooped in the litterbox. They are going to become mature out of pure spite, apparently. They got me back later during playtime when Jackie would not stop licking my ears. Yikes!

Today was also the last day of college classes for Professor Husband, and now he's just got lots of grading to do. Once the grading is all done, he is going to be heading off to his folks' house, where they are in serious need of some live-in help. They pretty much were even before all this started, and now that people can't really come to the house, it's just gotten worse. He hasn't really gone anywhere for the last two weeks, and I've been careful to wash up and not spread germs when I go anyplace, so I think we're safe as we are going to get in terms of sending him there uncontaminated. It's going to suck when he is gone, but at least we won't have to worry so much. And rental cars are extremely cheap right now, yay!

Picked up the first of my two grocery orders for the week today, this one from Kroger. I hadn't done Kroger pickup before because they are more expensive and further away, but they claimed to have stuff Walmart did not. (They did not actually have the stuff, so I remain with only beer and wild yeasts for baking.) They did, however, run out of the family packs of Oreos they had on sale and replaced my packs of Oreos with Party Size packs of Oreos for the same price. I am now the proud owner of a shit-ton of sandwich cookies. We made cookies and cream milkshakes tonight and I left the Kroger folks an excellent survey review. I was also to get some bacon and brats for the freezer, against the day. The rest of my groceries will come tomorrow, in very large quantity. See, I realized that not only do I want to grow my stockpile, I will not have another adult around to carry groceries upstairs for at least the next couple of weeks, so now is definitely the time to buy and set aside heavy stuff. Though it is madness, yet there be method in it.

We also brought the new refrigerator inside today, the little one that I picked up at the auction for the kitten room. It's kind of bigger and bulkier than I'd planned, but it will be really nice to be able to store things like the Penicillin G injections and unused formula powder someplace besides the kitchen fridge. And, unrealized bonus, because it came from a chocolate shop that went out of business, the whole things smells like cocoa. I may have to start keeping my stash of chocolate chips in there as well. But for now, it is time to feed the kittens again and then get 2.75 hours of sleep. This time I will set two alarms.

#quarantine #music history #the unfathomable strangeness of time #billy ray cyrus' hair was unforgivable #and the song was bad #but he was undeniably more facially attractive than any of the beatles #how's that for a hot take?

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dandelliongirl · 5 years ago

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Catching up

before winter.

Greetings, blog. It's been a while again.

It’s been an autumn and a half at work. Things have gone very poorly on a lot of fronts, which has lead to a lot of drama and stressed people. I've personally been trying to distance myself from it all but haven't had too much energy to sit in front of a computer after work. I have, however, discovered a lot of new hobbies/interests, so I'm excited to update my blog/diary about them.

Summer cottage season is officially over. In August/September we got to go on a nature hike, collect heaps of mushrooms and bake a delicious pie with them. I harvested lots of lavender, rosemary, thyme and some parsley. We also picked lingonberries and I froze lots of currants from grandmum’s garden for the upcoming winter. We had an official ending to our summer house season in mid-October. My guy came over as well and we spent a cozy weekend doing yard work, appreciating nature and spending time together. My guy went on a trail run while I biked next to him, and in the evening we went to the sauna and sat at a bonfire. We also saw Venetian fireworks from across the lake.♥

So since August/September I’ve started down on a little witchy journey and even started making my own Grimoire. I’m mainly a kitchen and green witch with some wiccan beliefs but as I do belong to the lutheran church I’m not a wiccan. Regardless witchcraft has made menial tasks and tiring chores a lot more interesting and meaningful. It means I now find love and joy in cleaning and cleansing, decorating and baking. Meditating, charging things I do with intent and using "spells" as affirmations are definitely a part of the whole super trendy mindfullness thing that people who have been distanced from nature and natural wisdom pay top dollar to learn from expensive psychiatrists and life coaches. Appreciating nature at any season and being able to cook, bake and decorate with seasonal things gets me excited, gives me reasons to live through the dark months and works wonders in alleviating seasonal depression. Trusting, honoring and living by nature feels right, and learning about the practice of witchcraft has given meanings and explanations to a lot of my own behavior, such as collecting all kinds of magical knick knacks and talismans or creating my own sigils and even rituals since childhood. My respect for history and old wisdom certainly helps. Celebrating Samhain with all it's historical meanings and associations was a lot of fun and I cannot wait for Yule.

So some notable events that have happened since the end of August:

My high school reunion was a lot of fun even though not everyone could make it. Reminiscing about all the weird stuff that happened and things we put ourselves through for a piece of paper was a lot of fun. It was also good to hear how people are doing these days and see what cool adults they have all become.

Me and mum attended an outdoor movie picnic in August. We had grapes, vegetable chips, chocolate and pastries. We watched the movie Shoplifters and it was a nice warm evening with the whole area packed to the brim. It was a really sweet movie, and a fun evening I’ll remember and treasure forever!

In mid-September grandmum had her friends from her social democrat youth group come over for a reunion and me and mum helped her out with the arrangements. She was very tired but happy she got to be reunited with those people once again. Getting old is so cruel and ruthless, and for a while now grandmum has definitely been tying up loose ends and getting ready for the inevitable. It is sad but I don’t want to be selfish and hold on to her just because I don’t want to be left without her. I’ll just hold on to every day I still have her, and when the time comes it will come. My friend just lost her 90 year old grandmum and she’s now facing her first christmas without her...

Other events:

Annual city light event, an autumnal photoshoot for my project with my friend, meeting up with my ballet friends for coffee and mulled wine, playing the Jedi Outcast 2 remaster with my friend and feeling incredibly nostalgic, spending Samhain week with all my closest friends, my friend from kindergarten getting engaged (eeeekk!!! ♥ ♥ ♥), ordering a bunch of physical photos and buying a photo album for them, germinating 3 different kinds of apples and a few plum stones to plant in the next few weeks, having literal tens of kilos of apples to dry and make into delicious apple butter, cakes and pies. Hanging out with my guy’s high school bestie who has moved to our city to study psychology. I’ve also (finally) made some progress with my piano rehearsal and found a bunch of sheet music books that I’m waiting to be delivered. (The mail delivery services are on strike right before Christmas - yikes). I’ve also been trying to get into embroidery and continue knitting. I would also really like to spend more time reading even though I do listen to books weekly.

It is a very rainy week with lots of wet snow. I’ve been collecting dragonflies made with beads and reflective fabric that a local craft store has been leaving out on bikes. (Only from abandoned bikes though!) We took a big bird feeder to our summer cottage and when mum and dad went to check it out yesterday it had tons of birds flocking around it! ♥ Last night me and my guy went to the sauna at my parents' house and had nachos for father's day.

I put up the Christmas tree this past weekend and I'm planning on decorating it this week. I'm still waiting for a Sims sale so that I can get my planned build-a-bundle of city living, realm of magic and romantic garden stuff for the holiday season. Me and my guy started playing kingdom come deliverance on a free weekend and bought it on sale. We've also been playing fe3h, Untitled Goose game and Skyrim (again!) on the Switch. I would really want to play Luigi's mansion 3. Some 130 days until New Horizons.

This Friday it’s me and my guy's 9th anniversary and we're starting our 10th year together. Crazy! I'm so glad that pretty much our entire relationship is saved in these tumblr posts. We're having a lunch date for some sushi on Friday to celebrate, and possibly planning a trip for our upcoming 10th year together.

It's been a beautiful autumn full of new discoveries about myself and enjoying the company of awesome people. Because of all these awesome things in my personal life the difficulties at work cannot get to me (they sometimes do but I try to stay strong) like they did to my poor colleague who had to take sick leave.. 6 weeks until Christmas vacation, and after that I have almost 3 weeks of vacation left for the spring. Whether I travel or spend it at home with New Horizons is still up for debate.

I drafted this post at work. I have very little motivation to do any actual work so I take every quiet moment when I'm alone in our office to do other things and avoid actual work at all costs. Oop. I ordered some warm indoor shoes and a new Oysho blanket in preparation for the long winter in our freezing cold office.

#personal #diary #November2019

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statusreview · 7 years ago

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Fourth of July Party Recipes, Ideas, & General Insanity

Every year on Instagram Stories I share photos from our friend’s insanely over-the-top party for the Fourth of July. And each year we gets tons of requests for a post with all the photos and links to the recipes she uses, so we’re finally giving the people what they want. Our friend Justine has been hosting these backyard soirees for years – and the only way to describe them would be: EXTRA. And we love her for it. She and her husband John basically just throw this huge party every year for all of us to gather and hang out with our kids and each other. It’s such a great time of year to get together (not as hard with schedules as things around the holidays for example) and when the party ends, her prep for the following year begins. Just kidding. But maybe not…

Let’s dive right in. Each year she sets up a sun tent and decorates it to create a makeshift photo booth with some fabric, sparkly red tulle, and a banner along the back.

Now lean into your screen and really soak up this next sentence, because the success of a DIY photobooth hinges on this single solitary tip: SHE HAS THE BEST PROPS. Every July there are more of them on the little table off to the side for us to choose from. This year there were wigs and beards in addition to all of the oversized glasses and hats and giant inflatable gloves. She says whenever she sees something on sale after the 4th she grabs it for next year, so that’s how the collection keeps growing.

It should come as no surprise to longtime readers that Justine is the one who, instead of a traditional baby gift, offered to make the cupcakes for our daughter’s 4th birthday party (just a few weeks after our son was born). She turned out the most amazing stack of custom decorated treats. BECAUSE SHE ONLY HAS ONE PARTY MODE AND IT’S BEAST MODE. Which explains why she can’t resist large inflatable presidents to greet guests on the hanging daybed on her back porch, for example.

Yes, all of the kids tackled them and smacked each other with them in the yard. And yes it was hilarious.

She also made this cute wooden sign a few years ago that comes out each July. It says things like “food”, “waterslide”, “drinks”, “photobooth”, etc. Are you thinking “this party is almost like a wedding!” – because if so, you are starting to get it. It has snowballed, so every year she has so many things to break out that feel festive and hilarious and even more over the top than the year before. At this point the party momentum cannot be stopped and can only be appreciated with an Abraham-Lincoln hat-tip, which of course is on the prop table.

Speaking of fun, she always rents a two story waterslide for the kids (and the adults, once we have enough jello shooters) because… well, SHE IS THAT DEDICATED TO FUN. The waterslide really takes things to the next level when you record slow-mo videos of other adults attempting tricks like barrel rolls and flips. Five stars, would recommend.

As for other things to do, there are epic cornhole tournaments – and in case it wasn’t obvious, much like Puffy demands that everyone wear white to his parties, Justine demands that we wear red, white, and blue to her gathering each year. There’s even a series of prizes for certain costume categories (we had a big winner in our family this year when it came to an extremely patriotic swimsuit & towel combo).

This is Justine-the-host’s outfit. THAT’S AT LEAST FIVE HUNDRED FLAIR POINTS, GUYS. She decorated those flip-flips herself with ribbon. I know. Commitment level: 1000.

There’s also a leather sofa in the middle of the grass. Obviously for photo ops and general hanging out. It’s pretty much full of people the entire night long. It also makes for a great place to spectate/heckle the cornhole players.

Justine also does things like rolling silverware in bandanas and tying them with twine BECAUSE THAT’S WHO SHE IS AS A PERSON. She actually confessed to me that each year she has a ton of these left over, so they’re not that high maintenance. Note: her definition of high maintenance might be slightly different than other people’s based on her ALL IN level of party-throwing.

The food is always fun and we actually do a pot luck thing so it’s not too much on Justine & John’s shoulders. We each bring a side dish for everyone to share and meat for our own family for the grill. Also, note the sock and shoe combination here. Just saying. We do not mess around when it comes to our costumes.

Since around 20-30 people come each year, there’s always a giant amount of food – and a lot of it ends up being themed. Blue corn chips with red salsa for example, or this bean dip with little olives and tomatoes to make a flag (it’s just a layer of refried beans, a layer of guacamole, a layer of cheese, and a layer of sour cream with the tomatoes and olives on top).

These mozzarella, basil, and tomato skewers are another example of the good eats that feel sort of themed (the blueberries add some blue, right?). Add some salt and pepper, drizzle them with balsamic glaze, and thank me later ;)

We always bring what I affectionately call “pigs in a blanket,” which I’ve learned are called “Lil’ Smokies” here in Virginia. Still getting used to that name. The kids love them though – they’re always completely gone by the end of the night.

The drinks are also, to borrow a term from Lil’ Wayne: “off the chain.” These are jello shooters, for example – and the cherry is so clever because if you pull the stem it lifts the shooter out of the cup so you can suck it down and remark how amazing the hostess is. Here is a kid-friendly recipe without any alcohol (just add vodka if you want them to be true jello shots).

Justine also made these awesome red, white, and blue smoothies for the kids – all of whom raved about them except for one non-fruit-loving child. Let the record state that cute straws and the little jelly jars are the key to a ridiculous amount of serving flare, so do with that information what you will.

And you can’t have a big ol’ gathering without red, white, and blue margaritas for the grown ups. It should be noted that because I helped in the kitchen, these weren’t as beautiful as they should have been. We think if we added more ice to thicken them that the red, white, and blue layers would have been more distinct. But as Justine’s husband John so eloquently stated, “we were going for margarita speed over margarita perfection.” Here’s the recipe for ya.

One of the biggest reveals of the night (there are usually 3-5 of these surprises because JUSTINE DOES NOT MESS AROUND) were these waffle cones that she had individually decorated with red white and blue melted chocolate and sprinkles. THE KIDS WENT HAM FOR THESE.

Also, I thought her use of the teal blue milk crates was so adorable and asked if she saw that on Pinterest and she said she had been standing in her daughter’s room and looked at them and thought “those would be perfect for my cones!” which floored me. I mean this woman clearly has her own version of Pinterest running in her brain 24/7.

One other thing on the menu that I would definitely highly recommend was this amazing dessert called “Berry Lasagne” that Justine whipped up:

Yes, that’s a white chocolate drizzle that she added right before bringing it out. And let the record state that any party that required me to drizzle white chocolate during the actual party would lead to me breathing into a paper bag in the kitchen, but Justine just has that party expert gene. Here’s the recipe for the berry lasagne, and here’s a shot of it all sliced and served on a patriotic plate:

After all the food and drinks (and competitive watersliding), we gather on the back porch and the patio to watch the fireworks that Justine’s husband John takes a ton of pride in.

Every year they get bigger and more insane (they’re legal here in Virginia for all of the Northerners wondering – I had to get used to that when I moved to VA). There’s always a fire extinguisher nearby and it only had to be used one epic time when the table very slowly caught fire after the fireworks ended.

So that’s Justin & John’s completely over-the-top and SO MUCH FUN annual party. Hope the recipes and photos come in handy for anyone else who is walking around with their own personal Pinterest running through their brain. I always get a little mushy during the fireworks because it’s so rare to get together with friends and family that you love – so it’s such a treat to have these awesomely festive and completely committed friends to get us all in one place to enjoy each other’s company every year. WE LOVE YOU J&J! Thanks for ALL THE MEMORIES (and all the photobooth props).

P.S. Wanna see the most extra thing I’ve ever done for a patriotic party? Here’s a watermelon trick I learned years ago (John looks like a baby in that first picture).

P.P.S. Did you know that we send out what basically ends up being a bonus blog post each week?! Sign up for our free weekly emails to get them delivered right to your inbox.

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endlessarchite · 7 years ago