Small Things

Hi all.  I hope everyone is doing well, or at least as well as you can be doing.  This is not an easy time to keep your chin up, with so much happening all at once to try and stomp down any little bits of happy and/or contentment you may feel.  

I have been feeling quite bereft lately, not just for myself (which I am prone to, unfortunately, whether or not it's really real), but for the world at large.  Election crap, Putin's determination to ruin Ukraine, climate change, almost all of the -isms and -ogyny are at an all time high, abortion rights, guns, guns, guns being the answer to everything.  For me, there are times when even though a lot of it has been ongoing, it all seems to be a punch to the gut and it's hard to not just stay a little positive, but to feel that anything you are trying to do to help is not even worth it anymore.

Sometimes there is nothing that can really help me feel better, no matter what I try or how others try to help.  But other times, small things can at least make me smile and even give me a genuine laugh and so for those few minutes, things are better.

Two examples from recent days:

Saturday was the Kentucky Derby.  Growing up, we *always* watched it on TV, as my parents were die-hard fans of horse racing.  When they would go to the track in person (usually we went as a family), we always hoped my dad's horse would win, because if he won, he would generally give us a share of his bounty.  But my mother had two hard and fast rules about horse races: 1) ALWAYS bet on a gray horse, and 2) always bet on the long shot, because "you never know what might happen."  Even if she placed a bet on another horse more likely to win, she would also always place a $2.00 bet on a gray horse and/or a long shot.  Which of course my father thought was ridiculous.  

Anyway, this year a long shot horse came from behind - last, actually - to win the whole thing!  The odds were 80-1, meaning that my mother would have come away with her $2 bet yielding $160.00 and some change.  This pleases me even now, thinking about it.  Along with the comment she would likely make to the effect of "Shows what your father knows."  Even if it happened once every 5 years, she would make sure to point out that my father was not always the expert he thought he was ... 😏

The second thing making me smile arrived in the mail yesterday:

I ordered these earrings from an Etsy shop mentioned on a podcast I was watching last week.  They were very inexpensive, and the kitty and the goldfish in the bowl just really amused me.  I figured they would be a fun pair to wear, and the colors are so summery, they just appealed to me.

I have to tell you, they are even better in person!  I opened the package, and was so pleasantly surprised.  The Tim said, "So ... you bought those for YOU?" and when I said yes, he just shook his head.  You know, because he is NO FUN, people!  These earrings are awesome, and I shall wear them tomorrow to my therapy appt because my therapist has a orange cat named Marmalade, and she is always bringing me up to date on his antics. 

I still don't feel better about most things going on.  But these two small things - one event and one pair of earrings - gave me a reason to smile and be happy.

I hope you find a small thing or two that helps you.

Oh the Hilarity!

As mentioned before, last Friday after work we headed to Baltimore for a weekend with *almost* all of the family.  The only ones who couldn't make it were our four great-nieces and great-nephew in Arizona (all in school of course), and my niece Lauren, her husband, and their two little kiddos.  But everyone else was there at one point or another, and the hilarity ensued.  

We lucked out, because the weather the entire weekend was lovely!  Cool, but sunny and not too windy like it had been here in Philadelphia.

Upon arrival, and parking our car in the back of Amanda's house, we acquired a new hood ornament:

This is our great-nephew Oden, who lives in Brooklyn.  He was THRILLED to see us and then as soon as we got out of the car and said, "Hi Oden!" he yelled "Shingles doesn't care!" and ran inside. (Apparently that is the tag line for a commercial for shingles medication and he is obsessed with that line. Seems about right.)

Once inside, we got to see everyone, and it was so great.  This is my nephew Chad's wife, Liesl, and my niece Julie (Oden's mother):

Liesl and Chad and their kids live in Arizona, and we hadn't seen them for about 10 years!

Here's my niece Liz (aka La Liz) and my sister Nancy who lives in California:

Here are my two brothers-in-law, Michael (California) and Patrick (West Virginia):

The Tim and my nephew Chad (Arizona):

Me, Greg (Liz's husband), and Nancy:

My favorite picture of the weekend - the sisters:

(Please note that I was making myself shorter here so I could fit into the photo.  My sisters are tiny people! We are shown from youngest (me), to middle (Mary Ellen), to eldest (Nancy). My two sisters are Irish twins - born 1 year and 28 days apart.  Then, 10 years later, I showed up.)

The next day, we planned to meet at the hotel where the West Coasters were staying, to spend the day at the Inner Harbor.  

Mary Ellen with Oden and his sister Penn (they are her grandkids)

Lest you be concerned, we almost immediately stopped because my brother-in-law Pat wanted a drink:

(Liesl: "I don't think I've ever had wine at 10 a.m.")

"Paddy" (what the grandkids call my brother-in-law Patrick) making scary faces at Oden and Mary Ellen!

Penn and Oden had to show Pat the fish in the harbor, which were frankly, creepy, but I'm not a kid, so what do I know? Also, Pat kept telling them that he lives in Baltimore, so he was not surprised. Then they would look at him like he was nuts ...

Penn and Oden

Then Annie and her partner Forte showed up, and everyone rode on the dragon boats:

(Oden:  "I LOVE this dinosaur boat!")

Penn, Pat, Amanda

Penn, Pat, Amanda, and Nancy

We finished the day with the whole crew going out to dinner together:

The only person not in any of the photos is Julie's husband Keith - he was busy bartending on Friday night, and then on Saturday spent most of the day in Harrisburg, visiting his mom who is not doing well.  He joined us again at Amanda and Pat's house after dinner, but was again bartending and didn't make any of the photos.  (I sincerely doubt he is too broken up about it ... 😉)

Sunday morning, flights home for the West Coasters were early in the day, so we said our goodbyes on Saturday night, and headed home on Sunday morning.  We were lucky to get back to Philadelphia around 11:30 a.m., so we had the rest of the day to regroup, unpack, and just relax.  

Because seeing the family is fun, and I'm so glad we had the chance to really spend time together.  But to be honest, they're an exhausting group!  

Here's to chances to be exhausted again for years to come. 💗

Fun-Times In Bill-Paying (Not)

Hello everyone - I hope you had a good weekend, and a not-completely-terrible Monday.  We had a great weekend, I'll share some photos later.  Even the weather cooperated, which made it extra nice.  I already mentioned that I took Friday and Monday off work, so yesterday was a day to catch up on laundry and pay bills, since I got paid on Friday.

Me yesterday after finishing the bills:

As I think I've mentioned, our house is finally paid off, as of last December, so there doesn't have to be as much juggling of funds as there used to be, which is nice.  But still, for all of the anticipation of payday, it always turns out to be anticlimatic.

Because I apparently live in a dream world, I always think there will be more money left after I pay the bills than there is.  By the time I'm finished, I always look at the balance and say, "Oh."  

However, in our house, I am the designated bill-payer.  A few years back, The Tim decided that he would take over the bills, because even though my system was "OK," he was convinced he could do it better.  Fine with me.  Well, that lasted a bit less than an entire month because he paid three bills completely that were due early in the month, and as a result, GASP!, we didn't have enough money for the bills due at the last of the month!  "You know, I think you might have figured out how it works best to pay the bills, why don't you take that chore back to be yours."  

Don't get me wrong, we're not in danger of having to move into our car or anything like that.  It's just that every month, I feel like I spend so much time being conscientious, only to end up with so much less than expected at the end.  And really, it's not like we are the kind of people who spend money like we have it.  Sigh.

Maybe we need a financial advisor.

Have a good one, and if you're lucky maybe you'll find some forgotten about money in a pocket!

All In One Week!

This woman illustrates how I've been feeling at times this week - annoyed with everyone and everything.  Not that I'm never annoyed other times, but in general the big annoyances tend to space themselves out.  

Since today is Thursday, I'm going to join Carole and the others to tell you Three Things That Have Really Annoyed Me This Week:

1.  On my way to work on Monday, I realized that I'd forgotten to bring the lunch I packed and it was still in the refrigerator at home.  So I stopped at the Wawa that is on the way to work, and picked up a yogurt with granola to have for my lunch.  Since we only have 20 minutes, running out for something at lunchtime can mean that you have time to get whatever it is, but not necessarily to then eat it.  

Anyway, I happened to hit the place at a time when a lot of other people were there, picking up odds and ends as well, so there was a line of about 8 people ahead of me.  We were in line for *maybe* 10 minutes, tops.  But of course, when the woman ahead of me in line got to the front, she put her one item on the counter, waited for the store clerk to ring it up, and ONLY THEN OPENED HER PURSE TO SEARCH FOR HER WALLET.  

Now, if you are standing in line with ten things in your hands, trying not to drop anything, that's different.  But this woman had one small item.  Did she use the time in line to at least search for, and pull her wallet out of her purse?  Did she at least do that once she was at the front of the line and put the item down?  Of course not.  And then of course, she had one of those humongous purses that required digging around until she found her wallet.

This is the same kind of thing as when you have been waiting for the bus to come for 20 minutes, and it finally pulls up, and ONLY then does someone in front of you start to look for their bus pass or bus fare.

This makes me so stabby, I can barely keep myself from commenting.  But I just stand there annoyed instead, so that someone doesn't punch me.

2.  Do you ever have these kinds of conversations with someone?  In this case, yesterday I had one of these conversations with The Tim (this is a made up conversation by the way, for the purposes of illustration, it's not what was actually being talked about).

The Tim: I wonder what Mary's favorite color is?

Me: She told me it was yellow.

The Tim: Oh I don't think that can be right.

Me: Well, that's what she told me when I asked her.

The Tim (in a snippy, aggrieved tone): Oh well then I guess I'm wrong, I don't know anything.

O.M.G.  I am just saying what another person told me when I asked the same question he was wondering about. And somehow, he has become the injured party.  I promise that I didn't say anything in a smart-aleck way, but the other person (in this case, The Tim) is somehow deeply offended that I would contradict them.

Most of the time, when I see it coming, I can stay out of these conversations with other people, but every once in a while, I'm clearly not paying enough attention, and it happens.  

It's so hard to deal with this when you are perfect like me. 😏

3.  There are a myriad of ways to spell my first name.  If someone doesn't know me at all, or has only met me/talked on phone/whatever once or twice, I a more than willing to let it go, and it's no big deal.  But when you have been seeing the same doctor for over ten years, and they still write down your name incorrectly, or you have been working with someone in the same dept for years and they always misspell your name, THAT'S annoying.  

One of my doctors *always* writes my name on prescriptions, etc., as "Bridgette."  Then on one of the forms that you have to check to make sure your insurance, etc. is correct, it says under my name, "aka Bridget."  No, that's not who I am Also Known As - *your* version is that, if you want it to be.  GRRRRR.

One of my co-workers has worked with me for over 5 years, and they continually write my name in e-mails as "Briegette."  I'm sure part of is is passive-aggression, but then in the case of things like e-mails, other people use her version EVEN THOUGH I MY NAME IS RIGHT THERE WHERE I HAVE SENT A RESPONSE.

Yesterday, I sent out a group e-mail, and both in the FROM part of the e-mail, and in my signature, you could see my name the way I spell it.  The aforementioned co-worker responded first, and then the other three people involved also used that spelling.  In the life I live in my head, I will start responding to everyone else's e-mails by some creative spelling of their names.

And that is why this week has been super annoying to me.  I ask myself, could these things not have at least been spread out over several weeks, so that my desire to stab someone would not be as strong as it is right now?  Apparently not.  Which is reason #560285473 that it's a good thing that tomorrow is Friday and I have taken a vacation day.

 

Let's Give This Stitching a Try

You would think that international press coverage would follow once I decided what my next stitching project would be, the way it took me weeks to decide.  Meanwhile, I care, and maybe one or two other people.  Maybe.

But decide I did, and here is my contribution to Tiny Needle Tuesday.

This past weekend, in what I have started to call Stitchy Saturday, I pulled out this kit that The Tim had given me for my birthday two or three years ago.

It's been a loooooong time since I've done any embroidery - I took a class a couple of years ago to refresh my memory, and I enjoyed it, but then as is usually the case, did nothing.  I do remember when I opened this gift, it was with some other stitching things - extra needles, a notions pouch - and The Tim said something to the effect that he knew it wasn't cross stitch, but he thought I'd like the teacup and flowers.  And he was not wrong.

So I got myself a cup of tea, and got all situated to get started.  I decided it would be good company to watch the latest Flosstube video from Floss Toss, which is done by Rachel of Treehouse Fiber Arts, and Sue, who is one half of the Legacy Fiber Artz team.  I don't watch all of their videos, but those I've seen, I've really enjoyed - those two do some amazing stitchery!

The really weird/funny thing was, in this episode they were discussing their latest obsession - embroidery!  Isn't that funny?  It made for even better company while dipping my toes (well, fingers) back into an embroidery project.  As with all things, I started with completing the flower part of one of the flowers (above), and by the time the podcast was finished, I had this:

Three flowers done!

Now, don't get all excited because my embroidery skills are not even in the same universe as expert, but making these flowers was just so enjoyable to me.  And since 99% of what I do craft-wise is to please myself, who cares if it's not perfect?  I had so much fun doing this, and it also gave me a nice way to have a "goal" - I told myself that I would try to complete the three flowers on Saturday, and it was not only a reasonable expectation, but I could immediately see what I'd accomplished, and some days that is exactly what I need!

I cannot tell you why Saturdays are the days I usually work on some stitching.  Maybe because they are generally quiet days, when I can have a stretch of time to really concentrate.  Maybe because I just like the sound of "Stitchy Saturday" once it occurred to me.  No matter what, Saturdays seem to be when I most feel like pulling out anything I'm working on or starting that is not knit-related. 

This coming weekend, we'll be out of town with family stuff going on, so I probably won't even take this along.  But that gives me plenty of time to decide what segment to try and complete next.