#i'm gonna go to trader joe's in like two minutes

[podcastwizard]

i let myself eat a ball of burrata straight, no accompaniments, with the logic that once i try it i'll realize it's not that satisfying and i can stop the cravings but that was a mistake because now half the time i just want to bite into a ball of burrata like it's a fresh apple. i'll have veggies or something on the side if i feel really guilty about my life choices but let's be real i'm just there for that sweet sweet cheese lump.

[basiliskonline]

LETS MAKE SOME FUCKING STRAWBERRY TIRAMISU!

You only get ONE FUCKIN PICTURE cause this website fucking sucks and every attempt to put more than one into this has caused it to break. ANYWAY, ON TO THE FUCKING TIRAMISU!

This is an adapted recipe I inferred from an Easy Biscoff Tiramisu recipe i use all the fucking time! If you search for strawberry tiramisu on the internet I assume you will find some and i assume they will look really fucking similar to this, but I don't fucking know cause I never looked for any! But I totally admit I'm unlikely to have created something unique in the history of the whole damned world. Unless... Did I? Nah. Probably not...

Aight so first off we are gonna make some BOSS ASS MASCARPONE CREAM! You need:

MASCARPONE (Shocker!! Also: this is cheese! Yeah I had no fucking idea my favorite dessert was made with cheese but here we fucking are, anyway its delicious and even though you've never heard of it, you can find it at pretty much any fucking store!) You need about 8 oz!

Strawberries! I hope you bought a 2 lbs box of these motherfuckers cause you are gonna use MOST of that 2 pounds throughout this recipe. But you only need about 200 grams right now. Yeah all of this shit is mostly done in grams cause i have a little fucking kitchen scale i use and its fucking great.

Sugar! Just a lil bit. I used splenda, but ya know, you can use sugar. 2 tbsp of sugar or about 3-4 packets of splenda.

A splash of fucking vanilla extract. Yeah i never measure this shit, i just splash a bit in, measure that shit with love, but if you aren't familiar with vanilla don't measure with TOO MUCH LOVE, ya dig?

Some Heavy fucking WHIPPING CREAM, I use a Trader Joes Vegan Alternative cause my wife can't do too much dairy and its got less calorie and it tastes exactly like cream, but do whatever the fuck you like, I'm not your mom. You're gonna 2 cups of heavy whipping cream for this part (and a teensy bit for the next part)

Aight so here's the fucking deal. You are gonna take 200 grams of those strawberries and throw their ass in a food processor or blender or some shit and you just murder those lil bastards, it should be juicy and not to chunky. (also keep the tops greens and all for smoothies or eating and shit, they are edible and good for you, don't waste that shit).

Now you got some blended fucking strawberries, you throw the 8 ounces of Mascarpone cream in there along with the 2 tbsp of sugar (or 3-4 packets of splenda) and a splash of vanilla and then you are gonna mix that shit up with a power mixer of some kind (or I guess put some real elbow grease into it? fuck man if you are that much of a masochist than go for it, i support you, you do you!). Don't mix too long just like 60 seconds or so... cause the Mascarpone can "split" easily or something? IDK man, thats just what the recipe I adapted said so im passing it along! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

NEXT YOU THROW TWO CUPS OF THAT COLD ASS WHIPPING CREAM IN THERE AND WHIP THE SHIT OUT OF IT FOR ABOUT 1-2 MORE MINUTES UNTIL ITS GOT STIFF PEAKS AND SHIT!

Confucking grats, you got some delicious ass strawberry mascarpone cream in a bowl, go ahead and eat a spoonful because you FUCKING EARNED IT!

(I had originally intended to throw some zero-sugar strawberry torani syrup in that bitch to really make the strawberry pop, but turns out I didn't need it, but hey keep it in the back pocket if you like a lil fuckin strawberry in your strawberry, aye?)

Okay so next up you are gonna start making the FUCKING TIRAMISU! Heres what you need:

ALL THE REST OF THOSE FUCKING STRAWBERRIES

Vanilla wafers, I'm poor as fuck so I bought the amazon Happy Belly ones cause they are cheap af but you can do the like name brand ones if you're a fucking millionaire or some shit, or its like an anniversary or something, fucking splurge man, you fucking deserve it. Anyway, you are gonna need about 60 of those mother fuckers.

The rest of that goddamn cream!

Some sort of dish or dishes to put them in, I separate mine into two smaller rectangular dishes so i can freeze one for later (here's hoping it fucking works, I haven't fucking tried that before), but you can do it in one big one and have a great fucking week full of strawberry Tiramisu.

That big ass bowl of Strawberry Mascarpone cream.

Aight here we go, lets make this bitch: take those vanilla cookies and dip them in the cream and then layer the bottom of the pan for this, you want about one layer of them and then i just crumbled the shit out of some more and filled in cracks and spaces between the cookies with em and drizzled a lil cream in there. This will probably be about 15 cookies for two dishes and 30 or so for one dish.

Then you slice up some strawberries to whatever fucking thickness you like, and do a nice layer of those on top of the cookies.

Then you grab a fucking spoon and just spoon that shit onto the strawberries and spread it out nice and even (or not whatever, live your dreams). How much you use will depend on what kind of dishes you are working with. One dish? Half the fucking cream! Two dishes? One fourth the fucking cream in each. Get it? Got it. Good.

Dip some more fucking cookies in cream and do the same thing, layer them in there, crumble some more on top, I didn't pour any more cream on these ones but you probably could, idk, live your dream.

Another layer of sliced strawberries.

The rest of that fucking mascarpone strawberry cream!

Then I sliced some more strawberries on top again, but thats optional.

You probably have about idk 6-7 strawberries left from that 2 lbs pack, or less if you just packed those strawberries into that dish, good for you motherfucker, I love that for you!

Anywho, throw that shit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight or some shit and enjoy! 1/8th of the Tiramisu is a lil over 500 calories if you care about that shit.

[iantimony]

tues

last tuesday in my apartment! going away for ~6 weeks! trying to be normal about it! posting this pretty early in the day compared to normal because i woke up insanely early from my roommate's cat yelling ... then i got bad period cramps and languished in bed with a heating pad for way too long ... did not end up going to my office today, oops ...

listening: like many others i have gotten sucked into the kendrick/drake Beef. i do sporadically listen to hip hop and rap in general but somehow had never gotten around to kendrick. better late than never, i suppose! this is not news but he's really good!! i listened to 'good kid, m.A.A.d city' for the first time and it's just really really good. i cannot recommend a Single Favorite Song the way i sometimes do with albums i like just because this is one of the ones that i let wash over me as an entire cohesive unit. do recommend if you have somehow lived under a rock like me.

reading: mostly fallow. some academic paper stuff. biting my nails about prelim exam things.

watching: dunmeshi and asobi.

playing: ran an insane dnd session saturday for the online weekly group that i got roped into earlier this year ... i'm glad i'm running it, i'm having a lot of fun with it, but my god. we decided to do a 'slightly' longer session than normal because we're not gonna get to play for about a month due to scheduling/travel of various people. it was Six Hours Long. AND THEY COULD HAVE KEPT GOING. killing myself For Real. but actually i do have fun i just. woof. i am excited to have a bit of a break from it. the only tabletop thing i will be doing with that group until like...june 8??? maybe even the week after? is i set up a spindlewheel spreadsheet for me and one of the players! he had to go awol for a few weeks and we're doing a little spindlewheel game as a way to plot out what his character was up to in that period, very fun, will be low-pressure and asynchronous.

making: trying to finish up some pottery stuff before i leave town! carving in crows into this bowl that i will be painting in with black:

handles added to the new cave painting mugs:

and i went to life drawing again for the first time this year! i will not be back at that specific studio til july lol rip but i plan on going to a local place at least once when i'm at home :) 3 min poses, last sketchy one is a 5-minute, and then the hour long!

finally, the bookbinding stuff i did last week and forgor to post! the little one is scraps to test coptic binding, the bigger one behind it is going to be a travel journal for when i'm in the UK for two weeks :)

eating: really really fallow. a lot of eating out and scrounging frozens because i'm leaving town for a while. hoping to cook for my family while i'm at home. i did eat basically an entire jar of grilled olives from trader joes.

misc: i cannot believe how slow this semester went for most of it and then how fast it's been for the end. good god. i leave my apartment in an hour to go get my brother from the airport, we hang for a few days, and then off i go on saturday! fucked up for real! i'm very excited to see my boyfriend and then go abroad though (!!!), less looking forward to feeling like i'm trapped at home again, but maybe this time will be fine (doubt but hopeful). god i need to think about packing, huh. fuckin hell.

[dollarbin]

Free Bin #1:

Prairewolf's Deep Time

There's only one kind of beverage I prefer over Simpler Times, Trader Joe's go-to 49-cents-a pop canned macrocraft brew that tastes like beer-flavored dish water. And that's the free stuff I find in your frig.

Invite me over to your place and begin the countdown: for the first minute I'll pet your dog, pay compliments to your cat and comment on your haircut. In minute two I'll make a bad joke, probably centering around your dog, your cat and/or your haircut. Minute three will find me checking out the board games on your shelf in hopes that we'll get down to some friendly competition before I run out of jokes.

But in minute four you'll find me head first in your frig, looking for free-at-least-to-me beverages to toss back. I've been forced into a gluten-free way of life this past seven months so these days I'm forever hoping for a little sparking water to add to your hopefully high end scotch; but if push comes to shove I'll drink your Modelo and tell myself it's surely corn-based. And if you're not an alcohol purchaser don't relax: your rice milk is gonna get drunk.

And so there's only two kinds of albums out there that can compete for me with a choice Dollar Bin find, and that the free stuff you find in a tattered box by the front door of the shop and the equally stuff you can get off the internet.

Let's begin our periodic appreciation of such sweetly cheap-ass goods by celebrating the news that my famous brother just announced his big deal band's second record. Check out the details here and here and listen to the album's first swinging single, which is available to stream for absolutely zero dollars.

As a big deal mooch with a family connection I already have a complimentary copy of the new album firmly in my (digital) hand, and while I can't compete with the literary and professional advance press Prairiewolf are getting, which includes the use of "woodshedding" as an incomprehensible adverbial phrase, I can say this: Prairiewolf's new record, Deep Time, is You're Gonna Get It! meets The Freewheeling Bob Dylan meets Transformer meets New Wave Hot Dogs meets Clouds meets Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. In other words, it's a classic sophomore album that you are gonna want to get your hands on asap.

Picture Bryter Layter with a drum machine and no vocals; picture The Joshua Tree if The Edge had launched Bono permanently into interstellar space. Picture Sense and Sensibility not as a novel, but as a record made by three middle aged white guys. Picture the New Testament, only newer. I could go on all day...

Because you don't have access to the free stuff in my famous brother's frig or his itunes you're gonna have to preorder the record and then deal with paying and waiting.

But fear not: Prairiewolf understands that miserly curmudgeons like me make up a firm section of their audience. So you can go listen to high-end recordings of their recent and less recent live shows for no price whatsoever, both of which preview tracks from the new record.

So, anyway, it really is a great haircut you've got going; and I was just kidding about your pets. Now, please excuse me; I wanna check and see what you've got in your frig. I'm thirsty.

[annieintheaair]

Just know you're not alone, cause I'm gonna make this place your home

I recently wrote here about how you are never alone. No matter what you're going through, someone else is also going through something, whether similar to you or something entirely different. Everyone is dealing with something.

When I went to students last week, I knew I was there for a reason, even though I couldn't stay the whole time because of work. Within the first five minutes, it all made sense why God told me I had to be there that night. I felt comfort in knowing that even though it made me sad to hear that others were having a rough start to the year, I knew that I wasn't alone in that struggle.

While last year felt like there was too much water in my life... rain, car flooding, non-stop watering the lawn... the beginning of this year has felt like there is suddenly a shortage of water. After the major temperature drop this weekend, I got home on Tuesday morning to find that I had no water in my house. My pipes were frozen. Despite my best efforts to avoid that type of situation, they froze anyway. The city came out and dug up my front lawn and torched my pipes hoping to fix it. No luck. Instead, I drove to H-E-B and bought a ton of water, and sure enough, shortly after I got home the water was back on. I wasn't in the clear though. Wednesday morning I got home from work and the water was gone, yet again.

It's only January and I'm already dreading the rest of these winter months, praying that my pipes won't freeze again. It's times like this when I really miss townhouse life. These things don't happen in a townhouse when you're attached to other houses.

The end of this month marks eight full months since I officially moved into this house. I was nervous about moving here. I remember doing a walk-through with my realtor before closing and crying to her that I was so scared of this not being the right decision. Despite my fears, I moved here anyway. I prayed that it would all make sense and I'd love it here. Instead, my first week of living here, I lost my dream car due to high flood waters. Even after the rough start though, I tried hard to make this place home.

I began getting new furniture, settling in, and putting things away. I told my therapist that I felt like once I unpacked my boxes and got organized, I was sure that I would feel better and more at home. I opened the doors to my office, unpacked the boxes, put things away, decorated, hung things on the walls, organized my clothes in boxes under my bed, and even painted the front door. I found some yoga classes to go to and at first, felt like I'd never feel like I belonged but within a couple of months, they finally knew my name there and I felt like I had a yoga home in my new area. Even though I was back doing yoga, the community was different. I couldn't help but compare that there was no social aspect or making friends in this new place.

I tried to find a nail salon, which has been ok when I don't have any other options. I found a new Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Central Market, and more. However, everything seemed to become a chore-- constantly driving 20+ minutes to go anywhere. I tried to find a church but never felt welcome or at home. I started comparing everything to what I had known for the past 8+ years.

The truth is the conveniences that I knew where I lived before no longer existed in this new place. I found the traffic to be a total pain and above everything else, I began to feel more lonely than I felt when I first moved to Texas 9 years ago. Even though I feel like I never leave my house during the week except to go to work or maybe yoga, somehow (with inflation being an issue, too), my expenses got higher than ever before. No matter how much I've tried to cut back on things and save, I still feel like it's a daily struggle. We haven't had a raise at work in over five years and working more just isn't an option when I have two jobs.

I really had high hopes for moving here. I thought that I'd get to see my friend (who convinced me to move here) more often but instead, I have seen her less than I did when I lived an hour away. It's like we're not even friends anymore. I feel like living here has separated me from all of the good things that I have in my life and has created a lot of tension with my mom. No matter how many times I apologize, I feel like she will never forgive me for the mistake that was them buying this house.

I didn't know that I would hate it here so much or be so sad and lonely. I didn't know that the pipes would freeze or the lawn would be filled with weeds. I didn't know that the traffic would be so awful. I had no idea that no matter what I did, I'd just never feel at home here. I wanted to love it, I really did, and I hate that I feel so guilty that I don't. I know my parents meant well and wanted to help me and I appreciate that but I can't help how I feel now and I couldn't have predicted the future.

I scrolled back in my iPhone photos to look at this time last year. I knew I would be moving in a few months and was looking at places to go-- tossing back and forth the idea of renting a new apartment or my parents buying a place for me to rent from them. Despite all of the stress and work involved in the process, I was still happy. I truly loved my life. My mom says she just wants me to be happy but I feel like she will forever hold it against me for not staying here longer; for wanting to run back to my old life.

The thing is, for a long time my life was all about change. I moved a lot. I never felt truly at home anywhere until I lived in my old house for four years. It was the longest I had ever lived anywhere (as an adult). For months, I talked it out with my therapist about how I felt broken for being forced to move. I loved my house so much. I loved my neighborhood and everything about my life. If I could have frozen time, I would have stayed there forever. I hoped that the next person would love my house as much as I did. I felt so comfortable there that for the first time, I was actually afraid of change but yet felt like there was somehow too much stability in my life and I needed to embrace change.

All of that was short-lived. House after house that my parents made offers on and didn't get, I started to feel like it was a sign that I wasn't meant to be there anymore. I felt like a kid in a toy store, kicking and screaming over being forced to leave.

I really tried to look at the bright side of things. Summer was rough not having a pool to swim in when it was over 100 degrees. I stayed indoors in the a/c except to go outside and move the hoses around to water the lawn three times every day. Even though it was hot outside and yoga classes were also hot, I went anyway. I even found a local lady to help me with my dogs when I need a drop-in visit when I'm at work. I'm grateful that I found her but my dogs and I both miss our sitter back in my old town. I thought I could embrace this new life but also still hold onto my old life, and in some ways, I have managed to do that.

As it turns out, we all make mistakes. We all make choices that sometimes we regret. If I could go back a year to when this picture was taken, I'd change a lot of things, even if it meant that I had to get rid of everything and move to a studio apartment. Even though I felt like I was losing my home back then, I still had so much to be thankful for at the time. I'm still thankful for those things that I still have and even though I hate to admit it and my parents may never let me live this down, I'm thankful for this decision that made me realize where I truly belong and what's most important in my life. Sometimes it takes losing things to really appreciate everything.

I pray that next year, I'll be writing here, reflecting again, that I'm so happy for the choices that I made that brought me back home.

xoxo

Annie

Kirby and I - January 19th, 2023 - At our old house.

[piacemia]

that's how the damage gets done

i am beside myself with joy right now. what a time, what a season, what fun!!!! i feel like there's too much to even recount at this point.

cookie boxes 2023 have been in the process for upwards of two weeks now and i really think i'm going to abandon this tradition next year because dear god, it is not worth it for the stress and also the imperfections. but the lineup for this year: gingerbread latte, matcha, chocolate hot cocoa, persimmon, cranberry pear bar. disqualified: mexican hot chocolate marshmallow, gingerbread bar. screw you trader joes for your lack of brown sugar and only salted butter haha.

gifts are ordered and stocking stuffers, can you believe it.

decorations have been hung for weeks! i found a cute little santa at the thrift store! we have a christmas tree scented candle that is a powerhouse

classroom joy: reindeer on the shelf and snowflakes so far. gotta really hustle on the family gifts. also last minute deciding to do holidays around the world while ALSO needing to finish testing, good god how will we do this haha (but also this is the fun of it)

HOLIDAY ROAD TRIP!!!!!! nahla, me, jules, k, amie! i am besides myself with excitement. and k gets to stay a few days!

went to a holiday party in PB where we got to see the boats and enjoy a rooftop and relax near the bay and then get burgers at rockys. BUT also we realized any more than one alcohol is the ultimate enemy.

grabbed a holiday sweater at the thrift store, got my favorite hot cocoa from camellia, hung with jules and nate and got pho, then dance partied while putting up the very last lights.

i'm gonna be busy but wow is this such a fun, busy, lively time. i'll be happy to have some down time going into january (even though I know it'll be as busy as ever) more to come, more recaps and favorites and happiness. lucky, loved, grateful, cozy.

[masked-disciple]

you seem to be having a bit of a time, so have a picture of the local flock of ducks

Thank you for the ducks.... ;~;

I got up fucking early this morning (9am, I am on vacation for the first time in five years, folks) to do a border run. Wait was 5min when I left home, wait was 45min in actuality. Got the most hard-ass border agent to ever live (spent five minutes forced to explain what enamel is, and he made me take off my helmet to verify my identity, which literally no one there has ever done before, and he sent the guy ahead of me to secondary inspection, fucking Yikes, no one comes back from that).

Got my pins from my PO box, then spent 45min on I-5 trying to remember which exit was the one for good gas. Turned around in Birch Bay thinking I'd missed my turn, turns out I was probably one or two offramps short, so I didn't get gas at a decent price. (4.99/gal USD, which is 1.67/L CAD, which is better than the 2.10 they're making us pay up here, but I know for a fact there's a gas station down there 4$ on the dot, which is 1.34/L CAD if not a little lower, so fuck me.)

Came back up, fortunately it was only a four-car wait coming back (and the kind lady in front of me told me to go first??? What a sweetheart??? I was thirty seconds to get through lmao but still???) and headed home.

But I forgot my laundry for like four hours last night while I was playing RuneScape (if I do another grind session tonight I should finally, after 16 years of on-off playing, be full rune) and my awful bedding requires one wash and then two to four dry cycles, so my big ass duvet that requires three to five dry cycles got put in the dryer at 1am last night. And I was gonna put it back through the wash this morning before I left, And I Forgot, so it's got another half hour in the wash atm and then I'm stuck waiting for it for four-five hours before I can do any other laundry, and I have two more loads that are one-for-one wash/dry.

And I got Trader Joe's sipping chocolate, which means microwave a mug of milk and then mix, and I have a special Camp NaNo mug just for this. So I nuked my milk and washed the cup and... then forgot all about it. So I had to nuke my milk again to make my sippy choccy, which is now lukewarm-semi-cold because I went and swept-mopped the stairs and watered all the plants and turned the pool on.

Now I am sipping my choccy for a couple minutes, checking socials, before putting away my bike gear and starting in on cleaning the shit out of my room.

My parents left Tuesday morning and my brother left Monday morning. My parents will be home in about six hours ( :((((( ) and my brother vaguely sometime after Kirilka leaves in a week and a half, so I've only got a few more hours of cleaning freedom.

And I can't even wash my bike, because it's too cold out, which sucks, because taking the rust off is probably a six hour task because my executive dysfunction is awful. I need an industrial grade chrome derust formula. I have no idea where to get one. I think I have to drag my dad to Lordco for that so the salesfolks don't upcharge the shit out of me. :/

But yeah that's how my morning's been. xD; Thank you for the ducks!! Ducks good!!!

[fuhrmana]

for the 'pretty asks' meme! - galaxy, joy, masque (i feel like i kinda know it and i'm 90% sure it has lush products in there, but girl, leak that skin care routine again pls!!)

galaxy; what fascinates you?

You’ve hung out with me enough to know that I’m fascinated by a lot. I’m deeply engrossed by videos of traditional dances, I love reading history of how we get from one place to another (Masterless Men, This Land, Pox Americana) when you have a specific focus on something distinct. Sometimes I stick my nose into something tragic and years later I’m brought to tears by the reminder (Men We Reaped, Being Mortal, Never Let Me Go) and I have to go back and think about how even the greatest misery can be eventually yoked into making things better.

I love seeing how things change or stay the same (I spent three hours reading a Swiss travel guide from the 50s to see how many places I’d been, and what didn’t exist anymore or what wasn’t cool anymore). 

Sometimes I go outside and I just watch insects for like, what feels like hours but it’s probably just minutes and I’m Engrossed. Thank you for the reminder of how much I enjoy existing, actually. I’m gonna go watch some slavic dances. 

joy; best feeling you’ve ever experienced?

The first thing that flashed in front of eyes was being 16, smoking weed with people I was on the precipice of being friends with, and being completely untethered from any fear or anxiety. It was just the joy of connecting effortlessly with people I thought were cool, while sitting in the greenest nature, and feeling so connected to my body and just being full of love. 

The second one was drunk on new years, with a stranger I’d never met before just, spellbound at my jokes and stories, and kissing when midnight hit, hearing the fireworks, being surrounded by people I liked and wanted to greet new years with. 

The third one was curling up in bed with a girl I had a crush on, and thinking how special it was to be allowed to hold her, and how special it was to kiss her, and drifting off to sleep while hoping we could do this forever. 

Basically, my best feeling is vibing with people or a person I respect and like, and feeling the world as a welcome and loving place

masque; what’s your skincare routine?

Okay, buckle up, this is going to be another long one:

First things first: I try not to use the same products too much in a row. So I have something like 10 different lotions (normally, I have a travel lotion, the lotion I use when I’m in the city for work, and the lotion I use when I see my parents on the weekend). I also have eczema but only on my cnumis (the lower leg section from below the knee to the ankle), so I have a special routine for that.

Face: For my face, I don’t do very much. Every two days when I take a bath, I use something with a very fine grit (either a face mask or scrub) on my face. I’m most often using Ocean Salt from Lush. If I’m wearing makeup, I use Burt’s Bees Cucumber Sage facial wipes to remove the makeup. They take your makeup off, but I think they have something in them to exfoliate your skin as well which not everyone likes. I do not use soap on my face-- just my ears and neck. 

Trunk and Thighs: I use a lot of different stuff here: I use various soaps (again, I think changing it up is good for your skin, so I use a mix of Lush soaps (Goddess, Fig and Honey, Sleepy, etc) as well as some gift soaps (they’re all rose scented and rated for sensitive skin) and I also use trader joes soap every once in a while. I also use scrubs (usually from Lush: Buffy, Magic Crystals, or Sea Salt), but specifically for my chest/shoulders/armpits-- any place I’m either sweating a lot, or I’m putting sunscreen on).

For lotion purposes I use a mix: Charity Pot and Sleepy from Lush, CeraVe Eczema lotion, and also Amalactin, but only where my bra touches. Also, samples, hotel lotions-- whatever else is lying around. 

Arms: I always use Amalactin on my elbows-- I have soft elbows now, it’s kind of frightening but also really cool! Amalactin can cause sun sensitivity, so if I’m not planning on being outside for more than a few hours in the next day or so, I use it all over my arms. It completely reduces the weird chicken skin I get on my arms, and it also reduces the red patches? Truly, if it wasn’t going to give me sunburns I’d use it every time. If I’m planning on doing outdoor work, I usually use a rejected eczema lotion for my arms. 

Cnumis: The eczema layer: I use soap here, but no scrubs, and no loofah. The only exfoliating that happens here is from shaving (using lush shaving soap: Defluff) because otherwise Burning, misery, and then itching forever). 

Within a minute of getting out of the shower or bath, I will put Aveeno eczema lotion on this section of leg, and enough that it doesn’t completely soak in for like, an hour or two. I have tried maybe six different eczema lotions and this is the only one that works for me. I put lotion on twice a day (in the morning and the evening) and if I’m having really terrible itching I’ll either use a steroid cream or I’ll use the Amalactin (it stings really badly, but the itching usually stops?)

the tldr is: everything happens every two days, unless it’s eczema and then it happens twice a day, and sometimes extra if the skin is acting up, and I completely forgot to talk about sunscreen, but that’s also a big part of this, also I didn’t talk about how the bath bombs also help, because I don’t want to admit how many bathbombs I’m using now that I only take baths instead of going from shower to bath on a regular basis.  

[thedaveandkimmershow]

"It can be raining like crazy and then fifteen minutes later it's fine."

That's Kimmer, by the way, commenting on yesterday afternoon's sudden deluge of rain.

Deluge.

Of rain.

All that rain came with intense flashes and branches of lighting accompanied by thunder that was much like a bulldozer careening around an industrial kitchen.

It was very clangy is what I'm saying.

We managed a reservation at Margaritaville for lunch, scoring a table on the covered "Indecision Porch" in front of which everyone on foot passes. From our perch, it's impossible not to see certain things.

For example, a tall young man with his arm draped lazily around the young woman he's with. Kimmer thought first-date. My bet's on they're a couple and she's not super happy about it because at one point he leans down and over to kiss the top of her head and the look on her face at that moment is one of enduring it.

I noticed a number of families wearing uniforms, bright green or orange t-shirts that make them impossible to miss by family members even from low earth orbit. Which is a good thing 'cause all these families have little kids in tow.

I saw a coupla brothers, older and younger, and caught the moment when the older brother put his arm around the younger and they took off running.

Took.

Off.

Running.

I saw a father try to put his arm around his daughter but she kept ducking it. And when he finally relented... she took his hand instead. ♥️♥️♥️

I saw off-season Santa driving an electric cart, dressed from head to toe in a red warm-up suit.

I saw someone wearing a "Free The Dinosaurs" t-shirt and now I want one of those t-shirts too.

Plus, you know, I really do want to free the dinosaurs 'cause I'm environmental like that. 😁

I also realized during lunch that Kimmer's scheduled for us a vacation, a vacation, and a vacation. Right now we're on a three-and-a-half day stay without obligation, responsibility, or agenda. That vacation'll be followed by five days of all things Disney starting Monday. And the last two days are no-obligstion free time again.

Lovely!

Our lunch was also accompanied by a live steel drum band performing popular covers that caused me to indulge a mental game of "Name That Tune". I wasn't very good at it though eventually I figured out most of the songs. Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" was one of the most well known along with the "Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm" song by George Michael that's actually "Careless Whisper" by Wham 'cause I just looked it up.

After lunch, it's nap and relax time. And then it's time for night bowling 'cause it's this thing we both really want to do and I stood in line this morning for nearly forty five minutes waiting to get a reservation.

We had a great time, by the way. I started off with three strikes in a row which felt really bizarre. Kimmer took a few frames to get her groove back and ended up improving her score with each game while my game seemed to get worse.

Still.

Night bowling. The missus 'n me.

♥️♥️♥️

Not long after we finished, Linzy's flight landed at Orlando International and, while we were hunting around for a dinner sandwich for her, she managed to land in our hotel's lobby.

She was pretty wiped out much as we were a few evenings ago. It's amazing what air travel takes out of you. Not sure why. And that three hour time difference is always a bigger deal than it has any right to be.

We finished the evening with Linzy getting us hooked on that Netflix series "Lupin", "a retelling of the classic French story about Arsène Lupin, the world-famous gentleman thief and master of disguise." (Wikipedia)

We blew through two hours of this foreign language subtitled action/mystery show, only stopping 'cause it was 230.

A.M.

A few hours later, 6AM, I'm up again 'cause Rachel's plane lands a little after six. It winds up landing about ten minutes after six and I meet her in the hotel lobby after she Lyfts the final leg of her journey to a most welcome sleep 'cause she's been flying all night, having a classic red-eye experience.

Now, we didn't get to bed 'til 230 this morning. And Rachel didn't get any sleep on the plane 'cause they kept it so cold. So I'm figuring she's just gonna maybe say a quick hello to Kimmer 'n Linzy before going to sleep while everyone goes back to sleep.

Haha. NOPE.

We haven't all been together as a family for a long time now and suddenly (and for the week) the band's back together again. So a lot of catching up ensues. And a lot of laughter followed by shhhhh's 'cause it's still earlyish in the morning.

At some point, though, not sure when, I nod off.

It's 10AM!

Yeah. It's 10AM and this is one of those experiences like when I used to get up super early on Sunday morning's to do my paper route and then went back to bed again after finishing it only to get up a few hours later.

It felt like a different day every time. Even after those few hours of sleep.

And so it is this morning.

While the girls remain essentially comatose after their travels, Kimmer slips downstairs to Starbucks whilst I take a glorious shower. "Glorious" in that it really does seem like a completely different day.

:-)

After clearing the room, checking out, and stashing our bags at the front desk for a few hours, the missus 'n I indulge mango smoothies by the pool whilst talking life 'cause that's what old people do. Then we're off to Trader Joe's with Santiago, an Uber driver who shared bits of life with us as we did with him. We talked about New York City where he lived before, we talked a little sights of Orlando where he's lived since oh-three, we talked a little bit Seattle where his best friend's younger brother lives (and also where we were born & raised), and then we talked a touch of Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria.

It doesn't take us long at Trader Joe's, a coupla bags worth, really, before we hail another Uber back with Carlitos from New York State… . Westchester. We talked old school sports video games as well as the challenges of proper car maintenance before dropping off again for one more best.

Burger.

Ever.

At The Hideaway Bar & Grill.

😁😁😁

Eventually, it's time to end Vacation #1 with a Lyft from our driver, Wanell, to our rental condo at Floridays. We talked the recent Haiti earthquake a little and quickly determining that all his friends and family are okay. Alive and uninjured. Then, because we were passing it, we talked Icon Park with that crazy tall rotating swing guaranteed to induce nausea and vomiting. The Kraken roller coaster was another candidate on which we all voted would produce similar results as we passed Sea World. And then, finally, somehow, we talked alligators 'n fries.

I don't know what to tell you. Rachel was super interested to hear about it.

And so on.

We're pretty much having a Maui experience here where there seems to be more time in our days. More hours than just the 24 we're routinely allotted. Because once you start having to count the time between one event and the next… your day just gets away from you. Sometimes at light speed.

And we're not doing that.

These are not full days of To-Dos. This is nearly all unstructured time. And when it's unstructured time… the day just unfolds and keeps unfolding.

It's crazy how much livable time there is on any given day.

Seriously. There really is.

Anyway, this first vacation, part 1, the one before our Disney vacation, wraps up today. And tomorrow… we dive head first into, well...

We're about to find out.

🙂🤔😁