#pepto pink smocks

[aeide-thea]

me, every once in a while: i guess nonbinary presentation could include some women's clothing, in theory also me, opening a browser tab full of womenswear: welp, that sure is... feminine...

[sunshinykittens-blog]

Hello Autumn!!!!

I am SOOOOO excited for the cooler weather and oncoming winter! I actually had to wear a sweatshirt to work last night. It was a double blessing, because the new uniforms…. Oh sweet Jabus! OK, so , remember how the last ones were this neon green, batwing type shirts? Well these are smocks. Like lunchroom lady type smocks. And they are Pepto Bismol pink. Not that I have a problem with the color, not really. A little on the bright side, but ok. But they are a little tight across the chest, because they have buttons. If this keeps up, I might have to go directly to HR myself. Tshirt material is better for housekeeping, because it stretches when we bend, I wonder why they don’t realize that. I’m going to end up shooting one of those things across the room before long.

So tonight Stark is having a big carnival type thing for the kids, a Halloween do that is part of the “giving back” thing Stark likes to do from time to time, I am told. Sunny is bringing the kids down along with Jake from across the hall, then Jake’s mom will take all the kids back to the apartment and we will get to cleaning. I’m starting to worry about the choice of costumes though. Girl child is fine, she’s some sort of fox-tailed unicorn or something. But the boys. They decided to go as “historical figures,” they said. I’m cool with that, thinking they meant Lincoln or John Glenn, at worst Hamilton and Burr. But they decided on something I was not quite prepared for: They want to be Captain America and the Winter Soldier, AKA Bucky Barnes. Considering what the papers had to say about the tension between Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers, not to mention all the stuff that Barnes is said to have done, I am not quite sure whether it’s a good idea to let them wear those costumes to the thing tonight. Sunny is going to dress up as Wonder Woman (another idea that I am questioning, just because she’s going to be doing a lot of bending over at work). They want me to do something in that theme. But I think I am just going to go in my uniform and tell them I am a Stark Janitor. If anyone starts irritating me, I will take a page from Wednesday Addams’ book – tell them I am a homicidal maniac; they look just like everyone else.

The asthmatic child seems to be doing a bit better with the cooler weather. Still, I plan to make a run to an organic herb store and get a few things to make him some tea with. I pulled out my essential oils and made up a breathe easy blend for him to use in the diffuser. And I am now making sure that there is always a pot of chicken broth going in the slow cooker and that they are eating all the antiviral and antibacterial things I can force down their little throats. This means lots of onions, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, peppers, elderberry syrup daily. Not necessarily at the same time. But it’s good for them. I have also taken over the buying of groceries. Gone are the junk foods – the chips, the Pop Tarts, the candy, the frozen non-organic pizzas and meals. Well, not completely gone, but there’s ever so much more real foods in the fridge and pantry than before. Time for these kids to eat healthier, and me and Sunny too! I am going to need all the help I can get my first real winter.

Another really exciting thing I am looking forward to is National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. Both Sunny and I are participating this year. And it looks like it’s going to be the year of short stories. Sunny decided on writing down her dreams, or the things she thinks of right before she falls asleep. Something like that. And after much deliberation, I have set my novel as a collection of short stories centered around the theme of “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night.” We’ll see what happens with that! I’m excited to have the days to work on that since our night jobs pay us so well. We’ve already set up a meal rotation, and we will be laying in stores of easy to cook stuff like pasta so the kids can cook their own meals if it becomes necessary. And there’s extra coffee and tea in the pantry too.

I think I am going to go make some notes for it. Is it November 1 yet?