I was idly wondering what subject I would expound upon tonight. Today’s WordPress prompt was: “What is good about having a pet?” Well, I talk about the benefits of that ad nauseam, so I was going to have to look at Pinterest for inspiration again. But then… well, you’ll see. Today was my first day “off” since Halloween. I’m not counting yesterday since I had laundry to catch up on, plus the added task of furniture cleaning and what have you. So I’ve been here, basking in a day of no real responsibilities, apart from feeding myself. And I already had my meals for the day worked out: I planned to fix chili since it was going to be so gloomy. I used to love rainy days. Now I dread them like a trip to the dentist. I had thawed my sirloin tips and hamburger meat and after I got breakfast eaten and washed up, I decided to get on with it. I browned the meat with seasonings, opened my cans of tomatoes and beans, diced my onion, dumped it all in the crockpot and gave it a stir. I started to put it on high so I could eat it sooner, but decided there was no rush, and moved the dial to low. The time was straight up 12:00. The sun was in and out much of the afternoon. I had windows open all over the house, so I wasn’t surprised the chili…

WordPress also gives me a daily writing prompt; I almost forgot. Today’s is: “What was your favorite subject in school?” Well, I’ll tell you what it wasn’t. Math. No surprise there. The people who are skilled with the words aren’t usually blessed with a head for numbers. I’m not sure which is more useful, although I try not to judge people too harshly for spelling and grammar, since my math skills aren’t on display. I remember all my math teachers would say, “you aren’t going to be able to go around with a calculator in your pocket your whole life!” Ha. Showed you. Funny, one of my closest and dearest friends is the daughter-in-law of my most hated teacher, one Mrs. Gwen Hardin. She was a pill and a hag. Everybody hated her. Angela even found hate mail from parents when she was cleaning out the house. That, and a lifetime supply of aluminum foil, among other things. This summer they cleaned out one of the sheds and there was like, an entire warehouse of medical supplies: wheelchairs, crutches, potty stools, you name it. Although I can’t talk, I never threw out my crutches. And good thing, since I had to use them this summer. Anyway. I liked English very well by the time I got to high school. Don’t tell anybody, but I loved essay questions and I didn’t mind the research papers. I most especially loved…

Writing prompt for today is pin cushion. Two words, like that. I always thought it was one. I guess if you’ve ever seen an allergist, you’ve felt like a pin cushion. Don’t they jab and scrape you with little needles? I don’t know; I’ve never been. I’ve often felt like I needed to. I tell you, though, my doctor sure don’t care to draw blood. And I don’t give it up easily; they always have trouble hitting a vein. So they make a pincushion out of me. They feel bad about it, though, so that helps. And I make them nervous because I tend to pass out if they talk about how my veins roll or hide or any number of circus tricks. I swear I drink all the water for twelve hours before, and no alcohol. I’m just a crappy veins person. But once they hit it, I’m a free bleeder. One of my doctors told me once that was because of my Irish heritage. I’m sitting on my porch, feeling every inch my age, with my glass of red and my Nora Roberts book. Oh well. I am who I am. I rarely read Nora Roberts…this is Dark Witch; I checked it out for Halloween. It’s set in Ireland so it appealed to me. It feels so late! But it would still only be 8:00 on “old” time…

So much for getting home on time. As they say, what goes up, must come down. It was the tearing down of what I put up Saturday and Sunday. And it was even hotter today than it was then. It’s ridiculous to be sweating that much at 6:00 on November 7th. But here we are. I’ve been scrolling writing prompts, because I am bored to tears with journaling. It ain’t like I’ve got some big exciting life to write about. It’s more about staying in the habit, and since I spend the majority of my time alone, I’m all I’ve got to write about, hahahaha. Or my disgusting coworker and I don’t want to relive a moment of being in his midst. So in my searching for something new, I discovered it’s National Novel Writing Month (or as they call it online NaNoWriMo. I thought I had stumbled on some Japanese). If only I were the type of person that could write with a plot in mind, and come up with some twists and conflicts. I am not that sort of writer. It’s also Aviation Month, so I guess I could tell about my various flights (not all of fancy), or the time I tried to take Lightning Bug to the Wright Brothers Museum in Outer Banks. Or about where I’d fly to if I had my…

Sure is good to be seein’ red again. I felt a weight that I didn’t know I had been carrying fall off me this morning as I read of the good news. It’s so funny, the headlines on major news sources. They sure don’t waste much time pointing out that he’s a convicted felon, or any other number of half truths. It makes me sick, and why I don’t read or watch the news. You never know what you can believe. Facebook is zero fun today, as well. Both sides are showing their ugly faces and I just had to disconnect.Everybody knows my pick, anyway: Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes.And my dog. So I’d been in high spirits all morning, then I got a Facebook notification as a reminder to check my memories. I did so, and there it was, my favorite person in the world has been gone for three years. I knew it, I’ve been preparing for this day for a couple of weeks now, but with the excitement from the election, it escaped my foremost thoughts. So I had to sit here and cry a minute, as I remembered.But all hope is not lost. I had him for a long time. I soaked up his wise words, and his sometimes hurtful ones as well. He just tried to make me tough. And I guess it worked. I cry over…

First Tuesday of the month and that has meant one thing for over ten years now: library board. This month was hosted by the Friends of Kodak Library. They served us a delicious holiday meal, the first one of the season for me. My favorite was the turkey, so moist and tender, and the pumpkin pie. I did not get a biscuit, mainly due to the fact my plate needed sideboards already. We had two ladies hastening to join our ranks, and good thing, because it’s gettin’ to be slim pickin’s for a quorum each month. We have two members who have moved, and one who has evidently forgot she is even on the board, since she’s been to precisely one meeting all year. I hate it when people shirk their duties. It falls on everybody else to pick up the slack. And since she is a person I know outside of board, the other members and directors look to me to provide explanation. I never was one for making excuses for myself, let alone anybody else. The Kodak Library is a cozy space. Old, yes. In dire need or some renovations? Surely. But they’ll have a brand new building in a new location by this time next year. I guess it just reminds me of the old Seymour Library, when they were on the bottom floor of that building next to where the Dollar General Market is now. Listen to…

I just got home. I feel like the middle of the night.It’s 8:19. I tell ya, though, South Knoxville is no place for two white girls past dark. It probably ain’t no place for us in the daylight, either. Crackheads on every corner. People on bicycles trying to cross Chapman, and not at a redlight or anything, just all willy-nilly. What was I doing in South Knox on a random Monday? My cousin text and asked if I wanted to go eat. She’s too bougie for lowly Seymour fare, she was opting for The Kennedy or Kerns. I told her as long as she was driving, I was game (but fingers crossed we weren’t going to The Kennedy or I’d have to eat watercress soup like Phoebe). Luckily, she chose Kerns where we’d have more options. Now, funny thing, I was wanting anything but Mexican (I’ve learned to specify because all my friends know I willingly eat it, so everybody wears me out on it). I was leaning towards pizza, which I rarely want. And this food mall had pizza. But Chelsey steered me away. She said it wasn’t very good. However, she’s way pickier than me. I didn’t discount them yet. The burgers were tempting; I’ve been wanting a good burger. I’m always wanting a good burger, truth be told, but I can…

Up and at ’em extra early! I did finally rest good, thankfully. It’s a relief that DST falls on the weekend I do manual labor! I wasn’t as sore as I was last night, but these old bones and muscles were reluctant to do their job without protesting this morning. But I’m good now, fortified after two cups of delicious creme brulee coffee. You may want to try it, it’s Walmart brand. I just put sugar in it, no creamer. It doesn’t need it. I don’t use a lot of creamer anyway. I got my sheets washed and dried but didn’t have time to get them on the bed AND eat breakfast, so of course breakfast took priority. And I was still 15 minutes late getting on location. I was inwardly dreading what I might find. Would the grout hold?? Wonder of wonders, the grout and pebble tile and fireplace were all one solid piece this fine morning! Everybody had their projects so I went back to mine. The millions of mums. It’s a never ending task. But the bumblebee? Well, she flew off (all honeybee workers are female, so it stands to reason bumblebees are, too. I just momentarily forgot) about the time I got settled. So I guess it was just her bedtime last night. Bless it. How long before they hibernate, anyway? It seems awfully late in the year to…

Someday soon I hope to sleep through the night. Is that asking too much? Nothing extravagant, just like, 10:30- 6. Or even 9:30-5:30. Oh well. Other people have bigger problems. It was pumpkin moving day and we were fresh out of lesbians. Like Kay said, “if you gotta move pumpkins, you’re gonna want a lesbian.” 🤣🤣 We had two help last year and they were the best! Oh well, we’d just have to get by the best we could. So I get to the convention center at the appointed time and of course Kay’s nowhere in evidence, no surprise there. I was just pulling on gloves and second guessing if something had changed and I was at the wrong place when here came the convoy: U-haul (the one with the blue horseshoe crab logo, one of my favorites), Vern and flatbed trailer with one zillion pumpkins, and Amanda. I thought the hard labor was over, since the roof was on the pavilion and I thought we were using Styrofoam bricks for the fireplace, but I thought wrong. I should have known. You can’t make a plan for that place, some catastrophe will occur and you have to improvise. And of course, that’s what happened. More on that in a bit. First, we had to go dig eight rocking chairs out of the containers at the back. And Amy promptly whacked her shins. I knew it was coming…

It’s amazing what you can endure. You may think you can’t make it one more minute in the situation you’re in, but then it’s ten minutes later and you haven’t gone round the bend. Whether it be waiting to hear about health results or sitting in gridlocked traffic or working with a person who drives you batty. The only way past it is through it. You can’t usually go around, and you sure can’t bow up and stop and wait for the obstacle to remove itself. You gotta plunge headfirst and go like you’re cutting vines in the jungle with a machete. And besides, what choice do you really have? I’ve said more than once I’d love the luxury of a breakdown! The bills keep coming, whether you’re in the nuthouse or not, so it’s in my favor to just keep that crazy tucked in and keep working. And I’m better for it. So Friyay. But not really, since I’d be working all weekend setting up the IGES trade show with my friend, Kay. That’s a big reason why I took yesterday off to spend with my dog, being his birthday and all. Plus I needed to knock out some housework since I had planned to go to JA’s for steaks and beer and visit with an out of town friend. But as the day wore…