Scenes From A Friday the 13th

Hello and Happy Friday the 13th, always a most excellent day!

We're a bit bleary-eyed but very happy today. We were all up later then we usually are, especially during a work week. 

Because we had to watch our Phillies win and move on to the National League Championships! It was more than worth being so tired today. And since they won at home, it was even more exciting.

Now they will play a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks for a chance to go to the World Series. You may enjoy this conversation from last night between myself and my beloved spouse - with the start point of saying that a lot of the sports announcers refer to the Diamondbacks and the "D-Backs."

The Tim: This is so exciting! But I can't believe someone would name a team the "D-Bags."

Me: No one has.

The Tim (looking puzzled): I think you might not be paying attention. They have been calling them that all night.

Me: No, they have been calling them the D-Backs, tonight and all of the time.

The Tim: It sure sounded like D-Bags to me ...

And that's another installment of When The Tim Tries To Be Involved With Sports. Thanks for tuning in. 😂

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This morning, The Tim headed for work (where I'm sure he'll talk sports with his co-workers, being that he knows so much), and the kitties and I got started on a few things we wanted to do before we just took the rest of the day off.

Pip would just like to get a drink of water in peace. 

Esme and Alfie are looking too innocent for their own good.

And Milo the Koodle is resting after all of the excitement of last night. And trust me, a sleeping Koodle is the best kind or Koodle. ✔

I decided that it was a good day to make chili in the crockpot. So I got things going nice and early, and by now the house is starting to smell heavenly. I tend to throw different things into my "recipe" every time - for instance, you may notice some carrots in there. I don't usually add carrots, but these were in the fridge and getting towards the end of their shelf life, so rather than waste them, I chopped them and added them to the chili. I figure it will add even more texture, which I like. On my walk, I stopped and got a nice crusty loaf of bread to have with it for dinner. I like knowing that later it will just be a matter of dishing it up. And since it's good weather for it, I think it will hit the spot, so to speak.

So there you go - nothing scary or unlucky for us today, at least not so far, and hopefully not at all. This weekend, The Tim will be setting up our new computer, so he'll be busy with that. I don't have any specific plans, other than having to work on Sunday, but that's fine with me.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, and can get in some good relaxing time. Enjoy!

When 2023 Starts With A Friday the 13th

Yep, right off the bat, January gives us a Friday the 13th <cue scary music>.

Do you worry about it at all? I'm not overly superstitious, but I have to admit that I find it fun when a Friday the 13th rolls around. I'm not a fan of scary movies, but I am intrigued by people's superstitions and how for some, they rule their activities. I guess basically I agree with Baby Yoda:

How has your week been otherwise? Mine has, for the most part, been uneventful. Today I have an eye exam (yearly checkup), and I want to pay some bills, and undecorate the Christmas tree so that we can recycle it tomorrow. Philadelphia has locations where you can drop off your Christmas tree and it will be turned into mulch to be used at city parks. We make sure every year that we have ours ready on the last weekend that they collect them.

Tomorrow other than tree recycling, we'll likely put the rest of things away and stay put for the most part. Sunday I have a shift at the yarn store, and The Tim is on his own. 

Speaking of the yarn store, the other day I answered the phone there and a lady was calling from one of the suburbs. She said that it's hard for her to get into the city, so she wanted to place an order, but over the phone, not online. She wanted an actual person (which I guess meant me) to: 1. choose some baby blue yarn in the amount she gave me for a baby sweater; 2. take her credit card info; 3. pack up the yarn and send it to her. She said, "I know that Loop has a good reputation, so I trust that what you think is baby blue will be what I think is baby blue. And I know you will shred the credit card info so that no one will steal it. So please only call me back if you have no baby blue yarn at all, otherwise I'll just expect a package."

So I ... started looking for superwash baby blue yarn to send to her. I had the info on the yardage she needed, and though it didn't sound like she cared all that much about the price, I didn't want to spend too much of her money. (Though I've always thought it would be so much fun to choose yarn and not worry about price. But for me, not someone else, you know?) I found a reasonably priced yarn that a lot of our customers use for baby things in a shade that I considered to be baby blue. It was the day of Wednesday Knitting Circle, so I held up a ball and said to the group, "Would you consider this color to be baby blue?" and they overwhelmingly agreed. So I packaged it up, put through the payment, and hopefully the lady receives her yarn today or tomorrow and is pleased with it. But that is definitely the only time since I've started working there that someone had that type of request. I mean, it's probably less risky requesting something like that from a yarn store than from other types of businesses, but in spite of the "all knitters are wonderful people" trope, I'm not sure I'd ever feel comfortable doing that. 

Anyway, it was a fun if unusual exercise. 😊

Have a good weekend, everyone. I hope you get at least a little bit of time to yourself to enjoy what you like.

Friday the 13th

 

True - why wouldn't you pet a black cat - or any cat - if it will let you???  For the record, during my life I've had three black cats and they were anything but unlucky. 😊

So Happy Friday the 13th to everyone, and happy Friday if you don't like cats (but seriously???).  As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I took today off.  It was kind of a last-minute decision, but a good one.  Also, I realized that if I don't start taking some days, I'll lose them when the fiscal year ends on June 30.  Of course, a lot of that is because it's hard to get the time off approved, which is a whole other situation.  It was lovely to sleep a bit later this morning and know that I have the day to myself.

I was thinking yesterday and last night about what I might do today.  I have put a load of winter things in the washing machine so I can put them away nice and clean until next year.  And as I'm sure is the case with most people, there are a ton of things I *could* do, but that is not a guarantee that I *will* do them.

This cartoon says it all.  I'm not necessarily in the mood to do anything, even if it's something enjoyable.  For the past couple of months, actually, I just haven't been able to stick with anything much.  I've had spurts of wanting to do things, but otherwise ... not.  I've done some reading, but that's about it.  My knitting hasn't been touched for weeks.  I think about doing it, but don't really have the desire to even pick it up.  I see patterns I would love to try, but that's it.  

Same with my needlework.  I love the idea of it, but don't feel like picking that up either.  

So here is my plan for today, as it stands right now.

1. Finish the load of laundry currently in the washer by drying the stuff and then folding it and putting it away.  

2.  Spend 1/2 hour starting on cleaning out my closet. I am in the mood to make serious decisions about keeping or donating. And if I set a timer for 1/2 hour, I won't get overwhelmed and just give up.

3.  Take a walk.  It's supposed to be rainy at times today, so I'll look for a time when it's not raining, and take myself for a nice walk.

As for the rest of the day? Well, if I decide to do something else - useful or not - I will.  But otherwise, I'm just to enjoy a day off and do nothing.  Everything will still be waiting, and I'm not putting anyone in any danger as a result of not doing any of the many other things I could be doing.

Most importantly, it's a day off.  That's reason enough to just be. 

Have a lovely weekend, whether you are crazy busy, or just relaxing the whole time.  I'll see you next week.

Friday the 13th TGIF

Ah yes, Groucho understood how it works.  :-)

I have always liked Friday the 13th (the day, not the movies) - I'm not sure if it's because of my contrary nature, or that I love black cats (or any cats, let's face it), or I just enjoy other people feeling uncomfortable (OK, admittedly that does always amuse me).  But in any case, today is Friday the 13th of March, and though it started out rainy in Philadelphia, the sun is supposed to appear this afternoon.  

In the ever-present world of coronavirus updates, an event I was really looking forward to enjoying next week has been cancelled.  The Free Library of Philadelphia Author Series had scheduled a talk by Hilary Mantel and signed copies of her new book, and we had bought tickets a few months ago.  It was cancelled yesterday, which is truly disappointing but understandable.  

A few of you commented on my post yesterday that if I couldn't work from home, at least I could get some knitting and reading done.  Which is a lovely thought, but I would come into work anyway, since the deal is that if you can't work from home and don't come into work, you don't get paid.  And I need to get paid, so that's that!  For now, the place is still open, so we'll see what does or does not happen.

However, I had already planned long ago to take a few days off next week, partly because my niece and her husband were going to come up from Baltimore for the now-cancelled book talk.  I am not cancelling my days off though because they were approved long ago and in some ways, I'm looking forward to them even more now ...

Moving along - let's do a TGIF, shall we?

Thinking about - how people in charge of things can be so mercenary and cruel.  With so much going on and so many people having trouble anyway, the addition of cancelled work and school puts many in a true bind.  Not everyone has a large savings account to rely on, or the ability to telecommute when they don't even have a home computer.  Some people say, "Go to the library," but even libraries have to limit computer times for individuals in the interests of fairness.  It seems so many businesses are only worried about the bottom line, not their employees.  And at least in Philadelphia, all schools have not [yet] closed because for a lot of the kids, the only meals they get on any given day are those they get at school.  But at least there are already plans to help bail out banks, so our priorities are straight, right???

Grateful for - working on the assumption that I will indeed wake up tomorrow morning and be able to live my life, I am grateful that I will have made it to my 64th birthday.  Not only that, but for the most part, I am doing well and functioning in life.  That is the true gift.  I plan to enjoy it all, even if this is not the happiest of times in the world.  

Impressed by - the individuals who are going out of their way to help not just their friends and neighbors, but complete strangers.  I read a thread on Twitter yesterday about a woman who was walking into a grocery store, and heard someone calling her.  An elderly man and woman were in their car, afraid to go into the store because they were already not in the best of health, but they needed some basics.  The elderly woman asked the other one if she would mind picking some things up for them, gave her $100 and a shopping list.  The woman not only picked up their groceries, but gave them their $100 back because, "if you can't help a neighbor, who will help you when you need it?"

Feeling - introspective.  I am by nature a rather introspective person, but especially as the years go by and I reach another birthday.  Are there things that I wish I could have done?  You bet!  Do I wish I had done some things differently?  Of course.  But you know what?  At my age, my father had already been dead for 11 years, and my mother was in the throes of her decline in health and ability.  I need to remember that living a good life is an accomplishment, whether anyone else knows or cares.  

Here's hoping you have a lovely weekend.  Ours will involve CAKE (I can never convince The Tim that I should have a birthday cake and a birthday pie for Pi Day), wine, kitty cuddles, and probably lots of laughter.  Even when things are bad, life can be good.

Take care, everyone.

This Day

This day has many things going on that make me happy.

It's Friday - which means that once I leave work, it's the weekend!  YAY!  My big plans include getting my haircut tomorrow morning, and attempting to do a little bit of birthday shopping.  On Sunday, depending on what else is/is not happening, I might walk over to Loop and sit and knit with the group for a bit.  They do a knitting circle on Sundays from 2-4.  

And it's not JUST Friday - its Friday the 13th!  This pleases me, because instead of worrying about it, I think of black cats all day.  I have had two black cats in my life (at least so far), and anyone who thinks they are bad luck is just plain old wrong.  I love black kitty cats!

To add to the list of why today pleases me, we have the actual date of today:

11-13-15

Today marks the last day this century that can be written as consecutive odd numbers.  This article can tell you when to mark your calendar for the next one ... 

(For someone who truly sucks at math, I do love numbers!)

It also helps that it actually feels like fall today - though apparently next week it will be warm again.  That is disappointing, but I'm gonna just enjoy the cool weather while I can, especially given what else I have to enjoy as listed above.  

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By the way, a HUGE THANK YOU for your comments and suggestions for The Tim's birthday and Christmas.  I'm still plugging away, seeing what I come up with, but your ideas were a big help, and I do appreciate your willingess to share.  I just think that everyone should have one gift to actually open on their birthday, Christmas, etc.,  This weekend will give me the chance to see if I can take advantage of anything you guys offered.

Have a lovely weekend - and a wonderful Friday!

NaBloPoMo Day #13