#debbie seaweed

[lovesickdeadsims]

The wedding ends and Jennyfer is radious. She is married to a wealthy, lovely man. The only cloud to her sunshine is her obsessive mother, Debbie. But Jennyfer has at least learnt a thing or two from her, and as they are leaving she tells her mother they will visit her soon enough in Sulani. Yes, Debbie will definitely not going to live with the newlyweds in Willow Creek. That would be crazy!

[froody]

I grew up with parents that were hard drinkers but also almond parents. Like, my mom would not let me have normal kid juice boxes growing up, she wouldn’t even give me apple juice because there was too much sugar but my dad had absinthe smuggled into the country for him. Am now thinking about how funny that is. I just wanted a Hi-C orange and an Uncrustable and a Lunch Debbie cake in my lunch and my mom sent a clementine, seaweed sheets, a plain peanut butter sandwich and one of those nasty watery Honest Kids juice boxes in my lunch. Like, I was excited to get school lunch because at least the strawberry milk was sweet.

[demi-shoggoth]

2023 Reading Log pt. 14

Where the hell did November go?

66. New World Monkeys: The Evolutionary Odyssey by Alfred L. Rosenberger. In the introduction, the author laments that there aren’t any good books outlining the evolution and ecology of the New World Monkeys. If that's the case, there still aren’t. This book does alright by the ecology part—it has good summaries of the anatomy, behavior and feeding interactions of the covered monkeys. But the evolution is a mess. Rosenberger’s take on the evolutionary relationships between the animals covered here is iconoclastic, to say the least. He distrusts molecular phylogeny, uses synapomorphic characters that are basically just vibes, and has an entire chapter dedicated to lambasting the idea that any mammals could disperse across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to South America (the consensus explanation) in favor of a hypothesized trek through Greenland and North America that has no evidence and still requires open ocean crossings. This was an incredibly frustrating experience to read, because there’s enough good content among the dross that I didn’t want to just abandon it.

67. Seaweeds of the World by John H. Bothwell. The weakest of Princeton University Press’ “X of the World” series. For one thing, the subtitle is usually “A Guide to Every Family”, whereas here it’s “A Guide to Every Order”. The book’s general coverage of seaweeds is pretty good—it explains why “seaweed” is a polyphyletic category but still useful in common English, explains the anatomy and the complex life histories of seaweeds. But the actual coverage of groups is lacking. Again, it doesn’t cover every family. And it’s more interested in seaweeds of economic importance than it is in their actual ecologies. Plus the writing is just kinda boring. This is the first entry in this series I do not recommend.

68. Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones by Hettie Judah. Now this is more like it! This book is a series of short essays about stones and their cultural impact. I’m a sucker for cultural histories in general, and this is a very good one. I especially liked that it doesn’t just cover gemstones, as I originally expected, but also stones used in art and architecture, resources like coal, and the use of earthworks in religion. The focus is much more on the culture than the geology, but the book does discuss things like deposition of sediments and how metamorphic rocks yield gemstones in explaining why certain places have certain rocks. The book is also lovely to look at, with minimalist bands of color along the sides of the pages in the hues of the stones covered in that chapter.

69. Monsters and Monarchs: Serial Killers in Classical Myth and History by Debbie Felton. I was excited for this one. I had read Felton’s chapter in Monster Anthropology, which suggested that Greek traveler’s tales about werewolves and the murderous robbers encountered by Theseus in myth were both expressions of cultural fears about serial killers. Unfortunately, that article already covered the bulk of Felton’s actual argument and evidence, and this book is those 20 pages fluffed to 200. The only other really good material is some coverage of the distinction between Greek and Roman attitudes towards law and order, and what “counted” as murder in each society. The rest of it is handwaving and extrapolation from very little data, with just about every instance of mass killing that we have records of, from political uprisings to court intrigue, being taken as the work of a possible serial killer. Plus, the author is a Freudian, so we have to hear about coded references to rape and sexual violence in stories where there really aren’t any. Sometimes a bed where you get your legs cut off is just a bed.

70. Cult of the Dead: A Brief History of Christianity by Kyle Smith. They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, of course, but that title and that cover made an instant sale for me. I’m glad it did, too, because this is a good one. An explanation of the importance of martyrdom to Christianity, it does an excellent job of explaining why, exactly, so many people were willing and eager to die for their faith, and how this persisted in building a persecution complex among the dominant European religion for centuries. The book avers from discussing the present day for the most part, tapering off with the work of reformist Catholics poring over the many, many legends about saints and trying to determine which, if any of them, represent actual historical events rather than religious fictions. Other topics covered include the trade in relics, the role in martyrologies in shaping the modern calendar, and how women could most easily play a role in the Church through the mortification of the flesh. The book is eminently readable and very well illustrated.

[chaos-and-kromer]

Enemy wasteland 2 (EW2)  -meet the mercs-  (if you were wondering about that thing I keep posting)

Womman Co. Rivalry in Ohio, hired dudes to fight (navy and marron, but no grey womman) fighting over land (Cornfeld setting) 

Class/Name: Hydro/???-  

Counterpart: pyro  Pronouns: Any/All  Age: ????  Natonality: ????  +speaks ASL mostly, pretty quiet most of the time  +uses pressure washer as main  +age/gender/name/nationality unknown to most  +cleft lip  +friends with pyro  +fav food: those dried seaweed snack things  +hydro-vision: she is fighting demons and protecting angels (weird religious stuff, holy water, ect.)  +people underestimate her ability to articulate but he has a lot going on up there (in their head) 

Counterpart: heavy  Pronouns: He/Him  Age: early 30s  Natonality: Manteiga Portugal  +Crab sword  +grew up herding sheep  +did fencing as a kid  + neckerchief  +fav food: Pastel de nata (a custard tart thing)  +takes stuff seriously, doesn't use sarcasm 

Class/Name: Construction/ 

Counterpart: demoman  Pronouns: he/him  Age: mid 40s  Natonality: scotish  +no eyepatch, is sewed shut  +he cranks 90s  + fav food: ice-cream (root beer floats) 

Class/Name: Disassembler/Jhon Marshtin- 

Counterpart: engineer  Pronouns: He/him  Age: early 40s  Natonality: redneck (Arkansas)  +Gives Terrible advice   +Nailgun is primary weapon   oscilating multitool is secondary   +uses a brick as his melee weapon  +fav food: fried catfish  +15 Demolition Tools Every DIY Remodeler Should Know - Bob Vila 

Class/Name: Sniper/ Ms. Debbie- 

Counterpart: scout  Pronouns: She/her  Age: old  Natonality:  +no-nonsense  + Debbie is her first name, but they still call her Ms. Debbie out of respect  +fav food: strawberry shortcake 

Scout/Maxwell- 

Counterpart: sniper  Pronouns: he/him (wouldn’t care if you used they/them)  Age: 20-28  Natonality: Floridian  +angry all the time  +uses a Lacross stick instead of baseball bat  +fav food: boiled hotdogs (eww) 

Class/Name: Mafia/ Don Marten- 

Counterpart: spy  Pronouns: he/him  Age: mid 50s  Natonality: Italian  + 'Ndrangheta formerly  +fav food: lobsters (fancy mf) 

Class/Name: Rogue/ 

Counterpart: soldier  Pronouns: she/they  Age: 20s  Natonality: ???  +Stealthy  +Spooks Don for fun   +Karambit melee weapon  +fav food: noms on whole loafs of bread 

Class/Name: Carrier/Derik Kingslee 

Counterpart: medic  Pronouns: He/him  Age: 25-32  Natonality:  +full of anxiety and diseases  +teeth are fucked up from grinding them all the time  +pupils can dilatate and contract a lot  +MDMA issues (ecstasy)  +fav food: doesn’t like to eat 

[photosbyjez]

And Under This Seaweed, We Find...

Hi all 😃 My entry for Debbie’s Six Word Saturday. Seagull hunting through seaweed

[pigspeetsandhooflikefeets]

Sheldon: Hey. Have you ever tried weed?

Debbie Dragon: ...Seaweed?

Sheldon: ...

Sheldon, blazed out of his fucking mind: Yeah, I see weed all the time

[seph-ic]

No bc the amount of similarities between percabeth and solangelo are actually insane when you think about it

Will and Annabeth:

blond (in the books)

blue eyes (in the books)

have a Olympian parent who's name starts with A

Chirons unofficial favorites tm

made a councilor at 12-13

fought in the battle of Manhattan and the war against Gaia

smart

hardworking

less obvious powers

plays a very important role in camp

took an entire series to get with their crush

savior complex

year-round camper

Southern

Tendency to feel inadequate due to their powers

Special interests (Star Wars and Architecture)

Percy and Nico:

big three kids

dark hair (in the books)

clueless when they first came to camp

reckless

involved in a ton of prophecies

daddy issues

not a year-round camper (for pjo and hoo at least)

half siblings

scary until you get to know them

special interests (blue food+mythomagic)

dates a blond

Aquatinted with a lot of random deities

wields a sword

spent time at Camp Jupiter

Outcasts^tm

Didn’t ask for any of this

Alternative fashion (probably)

Friends with Jason

Both had a mystery half-sibling that they had to rescue

Between Both of them

Bickering

Nicknames (wise girl, seaweed brain, significant annoyance, debbie downer, lord of darkness, ect…)

Questing together

Grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one

Tartarus club

Fought in both major battles

Been here since the first series

Greek demigods

Got dunked in the lake at one point

Friends with Rachel

Everyone thinks they’re cute together

All at camp around the same time

Traumatized

Anyways solangelo/percabeth freindship

[divineofficial]

Here’s a first look at the Divine Archive’s newest additions… Original screen used costumes from Hairspray!

•Edna Turnblad (Divine) - housedress

•Wilbur Turnblad (Jerry Stiller) - jacket, shirt

•Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake) - black skirt and belt

•Lincoln “Link” Larkin (Michael St. Gerard) - plaid slacks, blue jacket

•Franklin Von Tussle (Sonny Bono) - white slacks, dress shirt, jacket

•Velma Von Tussle (Debbie Harry) - auto show dress with purple slip, floral dress with wrap around skirt

•Amber Von Tussle (Colleen Fitzpatrick) - red ‘ruffle-sleeve’ top with white skirt, white multicolor ‘dots’ top with pink skirt and belt

•Prudence “Patience” Pingleton (Joann Havrilla) - dress

•Tammy (Mink Stole) - applause-o-meter dress and earrings

•L’il Inez Stubbs (Cyrkle Milbourne) - floral dress

•Nadine Carver (Dawn Hill) - polka dot dress

•Seaweed J. Stubbs (Clayton Prince) - blue shirt, multicolor shirt, cuffed slacks

•Box contains Amber’s white shoes worn at the auto show, jewelry and wigs!

*Huge thank you to John Waters and Rachel Talalay for making this possible. We will exhibit these items as part of the Divine Museum pop-up exhibition. Stay tuned!

[coll2mitts]

#28 Hairspray (2007)

Welcome to Hairspray, where a well-intentioned, woke, white teenage girl singlehandedly ends segregation in 1960s Baltimore.

Y’know, after watching Cry-Baby, I wasn’t super keen on revisiting Hairspray, but I figured it deserved a fair shot.  I hadn’t seen the original since I was in high school, so I booted up HBO Max and settled in for a long night of old-timey dance moves and racial inequality.  Guys... the 1988 version of Hairspray is flippin’ great.

The cast is just to die for.  Ricki Lake, who I only knew as a talk show host in my childhood, is a great Tracy Turnblad.  My favorite devious sea witch Divine is her mother, and Jerry Stiller is her father.  Goddamn Debbie Harry and Sunny Bono are her rival’s parents, and Amber Von Tussle is motherfucking Colleen Fitzpatrick.  As someone who has a vested interest in all famous Colleens, I was stoked to see that Hairspray was Vitamin C’s first acting gig.

FUN FACT: According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong), Graduation (Friends Forever) charts on iTunes at the end of every school year.  Colleen is also the VP of music at Nickelodeon, so she’s doing just fine.

Anyway, the original Hairspray is campy, edgy and hilarious.  If I were Miss Soft Crab 1945, I too would bring it up every chance I got.  The story really boils down to two horny teenage girls trying to claw their way to the top, but the charm of Tracy is she’s trying to pull everyone else up with her.  The way they handle segregation and racial inequality is over-the-top ridiculous, but somehow more realistic than its updated counterpart (put a pin in this).  I mean, a racist white woman shoved a bomb in her hair to own the libs and it gloriously explodes on her head.  I haven’t seen the musical adaptation of Hairspray, so my opinions of how true it is to its source material won’t be explored here, but the 2007 movie adaptation, to me, left a lot to be desired.

Hairspray might be the most popular in a recent trend of non-musical movies being adapted for Broadway.  I remember back in the 90s when Beauty and the Beast hit the stage - it was so successful Disney now has the movie-to-Broadway pipeline on speed dial.  But now we’re getting a shitload of movies with no musical elements being fast tracked to Broadway, like Kinky Boots, Bend it Like Beckham, Mean Girls, Beetlejuice, Heathers, Waitress, Legally Blonde, fucking Groundhog Day with music written by Tim Minchin, just, so goddamn many of them.  I love musicals, but to say I didn’t want to see The Heathers threaten Veronica in 3-part harmony would be an understatement, so I’m immediately skeptical to the quality of this content and hesitant to consume it.  Unfortunately for me, Hairspray is one of the few who had their *corny* musical adaptation also committed to film, and it is a neutered, earnest, high school choir translation of the original and it made my teeth hurt.

The two positives I’ll give the remake are the sets/costumes are great, and the cast serve their roles well, although I will never be OK with someone wearing a fat suit as a costume.  The songs are... fine.  Again, this era of music is not my favorite, so I’m never going to get excited over “It Takes Two” or “I Can Hear the Bells”.  It’s just the tone is so different from the original, and by the end of the movie I was exhausted and very glad it was over.  Writing about it now has required several breaks and side-tangents and I can’t even get to the fucking synopsis of the movie... ugh let’s just do this.

Tracy Turnblad is a “pleasantly plump” teenage girl living in 1960s Baltimore whose sunny disposition makes her oblivious to the reality of murky situation she is living in.  We’re quickly introduced to her obsession, “The Corny Collins Show”, which features a number of far-out teens that love to dance, including multi-year winner of Miss Teenage Hairspray and miss Pitch Perfect herself Amber Von Tussel.  Her mother, Velma, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, is the station manager at WYZT, and uses her power to keep Amber featured front and center.  

After a girl on the show gets knocked up, an audition is held to replace her.  While Tracy’s mother Edna, regrettably played by John Travolta in a fat suit, is afraid that Tracy’s weight will prevent her from landing the gig, her father, puzzlingly played by like a 60-something Christopher Walken, is generally supportive.  True to Edna’s feeling, Tracy is fat shamed by Amber and Velma and doesn’t make the cut.

After getting detention for skipping class for an audition that didn’t pan out, Tracy makes friends with a bunch of black students who are all excellent dancers.  Turns out her new friend Seaweed is the son of Motormouth Maybelle, the sometimes-host of "The Corny Collins Show”, played by Queen Latifah.  Velma, in addition to being a massive bitch, also segregates the station’s black talent from the main show, only to be featured one night a month on “Negro Day”.  While Tracy is boogying down, Link, Amber’s boyfriend and one of the stars of TCCS, peeps at her ass and tells her if she shook her rump in front of Corny at the Hop, he’d have no choice but to put her on the show.

In the original movie, Tracy Turnblad fucks.  She moves in on Link and devours him whole, with no mind given to her size.  She is a kind of bratty, confident young teenager that isn’t afraid to reach out and grab what she wants.  Tracy in the 2007 version is the most innocent cinnamon roll that has ever been baked.  Link gives her one compliment and she drifts into fantasies of marrying him.  Part of me is annoyed by this, but the other part of me appreciates misguided optimism played as humor.

At the Corny Collins hop, Tracy steals borrows Seaweed’s dance move and lands a place on TCCS council.  After declaring she wants every day to be Negro Day, the head of the station declares he wants that “chubby communist girl” off the show.  Corny, played by a dreamy James Marsden, sticks his neck out for Tracy and furthermore, says the show should be integrated.  As Tracy’s popularity skyrockets, the station shows more leeway to her size and her look, but to maintain some semblance of control, Velma works to completely edge out Negro Day.

Meanwhile, Link is clued into how fun it is in detention, and him, Tracy, and Penny all dance their way to Motormouth Maybelle’s record store for a potluck.  When Seaweed introduces his new white friends to his mother, Penny delivers my favorite line of the whole movie, “I’m very pleased and scared to be here.”  Amber rats out Tracy’s activities to her mother, and Edna arrives to Motormouth’s with the intention of dragging Tracy home until she realizes that black people are OK because they eat brisket.

After Edna shoves a bunch of food in her face, the gang finds out that Negro Day on “The Corny Collins Show” has been cancelled.  Tracy has the great idea to protest the television station, and all the black people are like, “Why didn’t we think of that?”  Link decides to bow out of the march because there’ll be talent agents at the Miss Hairspray Pageant, and he doesn’t want to give up his big shot at fame and glory to fight for a entire race of people’s basic rights.

The next day, Tracy and her mom are the only white people in a sea of black people to march to the station.  Queen Latifah sings a very earnest song about the resilience of her community, because this is the Serious Portion TM of the musical.  Tracy assaults a police officer without giving any mind to what it would do for all the black people she’s marching with, and runs away to let them handle the consequences.  The movie doesn’t show any police brutality because Reasons, and a bunch of protestors are arrested and immediately bailed out by Tracy’s Dad.  Tracy eventually ends up back at Motormouth Maybelle’s record shop so she can hide there without considering how dangerous it would be for Motormouth to harbor a fugitive of the law.  

The next day is the Miss Teen Hairspray competition broadcast at WYZT, and with Tracy being wanted by the police, they have to sneak her into the station.  She bum-rushes the set to sing a song with a now-enlightened Link about not stopping progress, while also inviting Motormouth Maybelle’s daughter, Little Inez, on stage to dance.  Everybody calls-in to vote for her because the only racist people in Baltimore run the television station, and Little Inez is crowned Miss Teen Hairspray.  Amber is like fine with it even though her mom isn’t, and everyone dances and sings to celebrate that “The Corny Collins” show is now integrated!  Meanwhile, I’m left wondering why Amanda Bynes was forced to wear a dress that she can’t move her legs in, even though they knew she would participate in the show’s closing dance number.  The end.

Oh, and there’s also a whole B plot where Velma tries to fuck Tracy’s dad and Tracy’s mom finds out and gets upset for like 30 seconds.  This is immediately resolved by a song and dance number among a bunch of laundry.

This movie is fine and competent or whatever, but for some reason it just rubs me the entirely wrong way.  Tracy constantly says that the 1960s are changing for people who are different, implying that an overweight white teen also knows what it’s like to be discriminated against in the same way black people are.  The movie does roll its eyes at some of her most tone-deaf “I’m an overenthusiastic ally” moments, like “I wish every day was Negro Day!” and “This is afro-tastic!”, but it also goes out of its way to talk about how much Tracy has helped the black community.  Like, by doing what?  Being fat and on TV?  That being said, she does use her privilege to feature black dancers on a major television broadcast, so by the end of the movie she becomes the person everyone says she is.  Also, I’m a dumb, overweight, white, middle-aged woman, so I’m not the right person to get all indignant about a well-intentioned feel-good Broadway musical.

Final thoughts: If you love bright colors, cheese, and sincere, glossy reflections of the 1960s civil rights movement written by a bunch of white dudes, this movie is for you.

[leonstamatis]

warm sweater + pushing daisies au

(CW for drowning mentions)

Stars burst behind Finn’s eyes, bright white and blinding, and her first breath tastes like salt and brine and grit. She turns to the side and coughs, a great, heaving exhale that shakes her entire body.

“Hey,” someone says, an unfamiliar voice at her back, and somehow they sound worse than she feels. “You’re okay, you’re safe.”

It feels like ages before she calms down enough to sit up properly and look at the man sitting beside her in the sand. He’s got curly, damp hair that hangs limp over his forehead, bundled up in a sweater and a coat. Without meaning to, Finn shivers; her bare arms are covered in prickly goosebumps and even the slight breeze is almost too much.

“I’m Mike,” the stranger says. His hands are held in front of him like a surrender, and he keeps his distance. Finn appreciates it. “You, uh, probably have a lot of questions?”

Maybe she should. Any reasonable person would.

“Hi Mike. This is not my first time,” she says instead, aiming for lighthearted and probably ending up somewhere close to pathetic. She smiles anyway.

It seems to catch him off-guard. “You drowned,” he says, cautiously, like maybe she’d hit her head too.

“Yes,” Finn says.

There’s more she could say. Her ribs still ache where the CPR cracked the bone and it never quite healed right; she wakes up in the middle of the night sometimes with the feeling of seaweed wrapped around her ankle and the weight of the Bay above her; she doesn’t swim anymore, even though she loves the water, and if not for Debbie she never would have been out there in the first place this morning.

Instead, she repeats, “Yes I did.”

“Okay,” Mike says. He is, maybe a little understandably, confused.

“How did you do it?” Finn asks. She knows what it feels like to be brought back, and it doesn’t feel like this. Her skin is still so cold; her heart seems to stutter, an imbalance he failed to correct. “This isn’t how it felt before.”

“I, uh.” Mike’s eyes scan the beach, searching frantically for something he can’t seem to find. After a minute, he sighs and shakes his head. “I can explain, but it might take a bit.”

Finn nods, moving to cross her legs in the sand. The wind blows once more, sending her spine through another round of shivers. “I’m happy to listen. Could I steal your sweater, though? It’s a little cold.”

That, too, seems to give him pause. Everything about Mike so far has been a hesitation, a quiet inhale, off-balance and out of alignment. Finn takes a moment, brushing the hair from her face and the saltwater from her eyes to take him in.

He’s got glasses clutched in his right hand, which explains some of the squinting. His clothes are dry, so it’s more likely he found her washed up here than swam out to find her. Even now, he doesn’t look directly at her, eyes drifting just to the left toward the water.

And the sweater, well. The sweater doesn’t fit quite right. The arms are too long, falling well past his fingertips. It must belong to someone else, someone prone to pulling the fabric and stretching it out. Maybe that’s who he was looking for, after all.

“Okay,” Mike says, just as Finn is about to tell him to forget it, that she’s just fine as she is. “Okay, that’s fine.”

He shrugs out of the sweater and passes it over, careful not to let their fingers touch. Finn can understand that; she feels gross, a bit, and she’s sure she looks it. She pulls the sweater over her head, and it doesn’t stop the shivering but it cuts through the wind.

“So,” she says, smiling once more. “What exactly are you hiding?”

[skinnysienna]

okay so here are all of the foods that i eat including safe foods-

strawberries

rice cakes

avocado

oat bread

broccoli

oats

greek yogurt

dark chocolate

pumpkin seeds

pistachios

blueberries

raspberries

kale (kale chips)

whole wheat pasta

cucumbers

banana

almond butter

almond milk

rice noodles

jam

baked potato

hummus

carrots

cinnamon swirl toast

cool whip

fiber 1 brownies

halo top icecream

shirataki noodles

almond milk ready whip

diet coke

green tea

gerber puffs 😍😍😍

skinny pop (idk other brands of popcorn that’s plain)

seaweed

SOUP

sugar free mint gum

also if i’m really having like a cheat day or something i will very very rarely eat these-

mac n cheese bites

toasted ravioli

mozzarella sticks

perogis

ice cream

cake cupcakes etc.

candy

lil debbies oatmeal creme pies

love you all!

!i do not promote ed related things, this is just to help me!

[lovesickdeadsims]

Well, well, well. Some time has passed and Jennyfer got proposed from Daniel. Of course she said yes, and soon enough the wedding took place in Willow Creek. Debbie witnessed the happiness of the two spouses, and they felt a little bit "too happy" for her taste. In fact, it seemed to her that Jennyfer had fallen in love with Daniel. I mean, that wasn't in the plan, and Debbie definitely would have preferred if her daughter stayed lucid so she could manage his affairs better, but...

[miax1119]

Lost in space

Lost in space 2019 Maureen/John fanfiction season 2

TO BE CONTINUED

Part 1

 They had been on the water planet for almost seven months and life was not that bad. John enjoyed the routines and that he for once, in more than three years was surrounded by his family. Maureen was a little more conflicted about their present location. She was concerned for her children. They didn’t have a chance to meet other young people. To fall in love. To have a family one day. And Jupiter 2 wouldn’t keep holding up. She spent night and day working on a way off the planet. She was close to a solution, she could feel it. She had her “office” on the small beach. Over 10 ideas were hanging on paper from a string to remind her, that to every problem there is a solution. But maybe she had been working too hard. A wave of dizziness flowed through her and she held on to he tabletop, closed her eyes and bowed her head while she breathed slowly. Nausea made all color drain from her face. Oh no, what if she was getting sick. She didn’t have time to get sick. Worse was, if she got sick in her spacesuit, that would be indescribably disgusting.  Don was approaching and quickly determined something was off with Mrs. Robinson. “Are you okay Mrs. Robinson?” She was embarrassed to have been caught with her guard down and turned her head fast to excuse herself. But the fast movement drained to much blood from her head and she swayed on her feet. Don was fast by her side to support her. “I better call for John” behind closed eyes she sank a big lump of nausea and tried to stop Don “No, it´s nothing. I just missed lunch. I´ll be fine in a minute” Don wasn’t sure about her answer. “Are you sure. You look both green and white at the same time. And you´re trembling” “I´m ok...” She tried to stand on her own. It was okay. “I´ll go back for some lunch… I´ll see you at dinner” “Sure” she walked a little wobbly and concentrated hard to look like she was fine. Back on Jupiter she took an extra minute to control her nausea. She sat on a box with head between her hand and then headed straight for the bathroom. Dr. Smith was laying in the window observing the life around her. She had seen Maureen come back towards the ship. She walked a bit funny she thought. Dr. Smith went over to the other window facing the livingroom with the big round table. After a few minutes she saw Maureen almost run to the toilet. Was she sick? When Maureen came back out, she went straight to her livingquarters. Maybe she was getting sick? Maybe something had changed on the planet that made her sick. Dr. Smith made a mental note to observe the rest of the crew for any changes in health or behavior.

At dinnertime Maureen was feeling fine again. Don kept an eye on Maureen, but she seemed fine now, so she was probably right. And he let the concern slip.  

Christmas was getting close. They couldn’t believe they had been on this hostile planet for seven whole months. Maureens sickness was coming and going. She hadn’t talked to anyone about it.

John and Will had prepared a secret for the family on Christmas morning. A Christmas tree made out of glowing seaweed, and everybody had made presents for each other. On this rare occasion Dr. Smith had been allowed to participate in the festivities without handcuffs. Maureen discovered this to be one of the mornings that she didn’t feel very well. She was getting a little suspicious. This was getting a bit to familiar.

They enjoyed breakfast together. Well most of them did. Don had prepared scrambled eggs generously donated by Debbie his little orange hen. “Eggs everyone! Let´s celebrate” He offered the plate to Judy who then passed it to Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith had kept a close eye on Maureen during the last couple of weeks. She knew Maureen had been feeling quicy. She also had a good idea why, but she needed proof. So, she handed Maureen the plate right up in her face, and the shade of green she quickly turned and her quick departure to the toilet confirmed her suspicion. Dr. Smith left her seat without anyone noticing, everyone was too wrapped up in joyous conversation and she followed Maureen to the bathroom. She found her kneeling and with her head above the toilet.  Dr. Smith gathered Maureens hair in her hands and whispered close to her ear: “Morningsickness must be hell at your age”. Maureen stopped breathing. Who dared put words to her worst fears? She looked sideways. God, she hated that woman. “What?” Dr. Smith kneeled up against Maureen and stroke her hair. Maureen would have protested but she felt tied to the toilet and wasn’t sure her stomach would betray her. Dr. Smith stroke Maureens back and let her hand slide across Maureens abdomen until her hand stopped right on top of the small babybump and whispered in her ear “There! Haven’t you noticed your little bump? New life. Are you so surprised? You and John can hardly keep your hands from each other. Kissing… touching… Don’t think I haven’t heard how you enjoy your nights together… but don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me”. Dr. Smith ran a cloth under the water in the sink and brushed Maureens forehead and the around her mouth and lips while shoving a smirk Maureen didn’t trust. “Why?... why do you care? Or not care?” Maureen pushed herself away from Smith and towards the wall. The movement didn’t do anything good for an upset stomach and she swallowed hard against the nausea. “You´re my family, of cause I care” Smith tried to sound sweet but Maureen knew her enemy. “Then keep your mouth shot! And get me back in there” Smith smiled and offered Maureen both hands to get up. She gave her a fast tug and pulled her to her feet. The movement was like a car crash and Maureen was actually glad that Smith didn’t let go of her just yet. But then she opened her eyes to stare directly into Smith happy smile. “See, you need me… I can help conceal your secret. Remember: secrets are my specialty.” Smith held Maureen a little too tight as she glared Maureen in the eye. This was to show Maureen her power over her. “Here let me help you” Smith guided Maureen back to the living room. Maureen didn’t sit for long before retreating under the excuse she was a little under the weather. Smith smirked. A secret was just the thing she needed to get her way around this ship. For too long she had been under the power of the Robinson family. Time for things to change. Smith had a good idea why Maureen didn’t want anyone to know about her pregnancy just yet. They all depended on her. She was the leader of the family, of the ship.

[rovingretiree]

January – February 2019 Punta Cana, Dominican Republic So not a lot of good things to say about this trip, other than the weather was perfect and our daughter and friends came to visit. The Dominican Republic (DR) is a third world country and it shows. It is extremely polluted, there are armed guards everywhere, not a single traffic light. We did find a few good restaurants, but break out your piggy bank, since all is shipped in the prices are equivalent to a US major city, but nowhere as good. I know I sound like a Debbie Downer between this post and Bern Switzerland, but lessons learned. For the next few trips we will be exploring Spain. We live in paradise and should really get to know our new home country. We have several trips planned, plus we love Valencia so much it is hard to leave for a long time. We were itching to get home about a week or two in the DR. So, what went wrong? To start, the condo was not as advertised, very run down and missing key items such as knives, cutting boards, etc. The courtyard was nice and kept well, along with the pool. But we had two disturbing break-ins while we were there where the intruders put ether cloths over the victims’ faces while they slept and took off with their electronics, money and jewelry. That was very scary and I guess, thankful for us happened as we were leaving. Although for two nights we slept barricaded in our bedroom (our guests had all left well before). The gated condos were all pleasant looking, but there were many empty lots next to them, that serve as local landfills. The bugs are horrendous and I got rashes from all the bug bites. They spray around the complex, but walking out at night, we had to wear long pants to keep the bugs somewhat at bay. The public beach, which there were two in walking distance were composed of beach chairs that must of washed up from a hurricane and a couple of dudes who would run you out a cold Presidente beer. Lots of seaweed in the water, which I know they can’t control, but still does not make for a pleasant swim. The food ranged from okay to good. Our best meal, which I give a very good to, was a cowboy rib eye which we shared and a good bottle of, wait for it, Spanish wine. We had some decent sushi too. Other meals were okay, but not like what we were expecting. I did a lot of cooking and researched DR traditional meals. Those were actually some of our best meals. So if you are thinking about the Caribbean, DR is a hard pass. Maybe Aruba, Belize or Costa Rica… PS I’m only putting up the good pictures. And we booked this condo through Trip Advisor, which is also a hard no, as they would not refund the booking fee.

[itsyourchoicedevotionals]

Something Huge

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. …he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Jonah 4:1-2ESV

Sunday School and Bible School taught me the Jonah story— God telling Jonah to go to Nineveh. His assignment to tell the people— “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Jonah 3:4ESV. Jonah floated away in the other direction on a boat; got thrown overboard; sank to the bottom of the sea; swallowed up by a ‘great fish;’ later spit out of the fish’s mouth onto dry land, close to Nineveh.

Get this picture— Here comes a man, blanched by stomach acid; seaweed wrapped around his head and hanging off of his clothes; yelling repent! —(There’s a great lesson in this story about: God can and will remove mercy in order to bring your will around to become willing to go do His will.) — The response to Jonah’s words? “…The people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.” And repented!

Here’s the greatest evangelistic crusade ever recorded anywhere. Every single person repents! An entire nation— saved! Every evangelists prayer come true! Jonah becomes displeased with mercy because the Ninevites weren’t being destroyed; his prophecy wouldn’t come true; he abhorred looking like a false prophet. He knew God’s mercy and wasn’t on same page with God, about the Ninevites! (Do you have a certain group not worthy of salvation on your list?)

David also knew God and depended upon His mercy. Psm 86:15-16TPT “…Lord, your nurturing love is tender and gentle. You are slow to get angry, yet so swift to show Your faithful love. You are full of abounding grace and truth. Bring me to Your grace-fountain so that Your strength becomes mine. Be my Hero and come rescue Your servant once again!”

Our nation is getting ready for God to do something huge. I believe God’s ‘something’ will also happen everywhere around the world! Prophets and preachers alike can feel the stirring in the spirits.

Some Christians are becoming angry. Their religious traditions dictates destruction. Like Jonah, they’re on the sidelines, gleefully watching for God’s destruction to come. While other Christians are running away, with no desire in them to be involved with God’s mercy outpouring. Fearful of mercy and fearful of destruction, they’ve gone into hiding. Yet, there’s a faithful remanent praying to be used in the revival nearing 100% proportions like Nineveh.

Which group do you belong to? Do you long to see mercy— even upon your enemies? It’ your choice. You choose.

PRAYER: Father God we hunger to share You with others. Please help us, help me, to love purely and lead the lost to You, in Jesus’ name.

by Debbie Veilleux Copyright 2018 You have my permission to reblog this devotional for others. Please keep my name with this devotional as author. Thank you.

[thebuckblogimo]

Whoa...there's a pontoon boat at our front door.

October 12, 2022

It was two weeks ago today that Hurricane Ian shook its booty through the RV park where we've owned a trailer for the last eight years in the Fort Myers area. Now that the dust has settled--or surge has receded--it's time to put down some thoughts.

First, a bit of context...

Our park, Siesta Bay, is less than three miles from the Sanibel Bridge to the west. Perhaps you've seen news coverage indicating that one end of the expanse collapsed into the ocean during the storm. Less than three miles to the south sits the town of Fort Myers Beach, which by most accounts was 90 percent decimated.

Our place was smack dab in the middle of it all when shit hit the fan in southwest Florida. Our trailer, dubbed the BuckRen (a portmanteau for Bokuniewicz and Rensi), is no more.

From somewhere--probably the storage lot on the other side of the pond in front of our house--a pontoon and trailer washed up and crashed into our place, knocking it off its blocks, onto the HVAC unit out back. Photos we've received from friends show gashed walls, contents strewn about as if shaken for a giant martini, and seaweed everywhere. Virtually every trailer in our 900-plus-unit park was either blown apart or filled with five to seven feet of water.

Not good.

Debbie and I have received numerous phone calls, emails and personal inquiries from friends and family offering their condolences, asking us how we're doing in the aftermath of the hurricane's devastation.

The weird thing is that despite having no insurance coverage, I feel little emotion about losing our place down there.

Why is that?

I guess it's because there remains in my subconscious that visceral moment 12 years ago when Debbie and I returned from a trip to Minneapolis, walked hand-in-hand down our driveway, stood on the foundation of our Clarkston home, and gazed down into the charred rubble that filled the basement after an electrical fire burned it to the ground.

I remember how we cried.

At the time it seemed like a death in the family. So if I come off as unemotional about losing a mobile home set upon cinder blocks and I-beams in Florida, it's because I know what it's like to lose a home you built from the ground up, where you spent 20 years during the prime of life, and raised four wonderful children.

So, no, as I type this I don't feel too bad about what happened to our place at Siesta Bay.

It's the people who lived year-round down there that I feel for. Just around the corner from us, for example, resided two ailing, coupon-clipping 90-year-olds whose trailer was blown to smithereens. What are they to do now? Where will they go? How will they manage if, as I suspect, they've outlived most of their family members and closest friends?

That's just one couple's story, the kind that really gets to me.

Then there is my newly widowed, 93-year-old mother-in-law who looks forward every year to departing southeast Ohio for Siesta Bay. It took her several days to come to terms with the magnitude of destruction in the community where she spent 28 winters. She is deeply disappointed, to put it mildly.

But we're working on some things that could brighten her outlook on life. We're gonna figure something out. We always have.

ADDENDUM: It's my fellow "snowbirds" I will sorely miss about not going down to Siesta Bay: neighbors such as Lee and Candy, clutching her bottle of Michelob Ultra; brand new neighbors Dave and Susie who totally renovated their place just a year ago; Paul, the walking encyclopedia, and quirky wife Joanne; Scott, the singing cowboy, and wife Margie; Coach Ruh, my softball hitting instructor; Cookie and Dolly from Philly; Billy and Jerry, close friends of my in-laws; Kansas fan Anna, with her big, larger-than-life smile and Elvis-impersonating husband, Jim; moose hunting Quebecers Richard and Gaetane; "Joe the carpenter" who renovated our place; and all the folks who encouraged me to try out for Showtimers--what a blast. I'll also miss all the five o'clock happy hours--on the very spot where the pontoon boat came to a stop at our front door--with Razz, Bert and all our Motor City pals who also lost their winter homes at Siesta Bay.