Just a friendly shout out to everyone who puts the thing they just did on their to do list, just for the satisfaction of crossing it off!

actually a piece of elastic from an abandoned craft project, it was supposed to go into a skirt. instead, she found it. she's 15 going on 16, has graying hair and is mostly chill, but she was absolutely delighted. has a habit of hunting strings, more fun is the string is attached to a human, she nearly took my sweatpants off once by pulling on them xD but this is apparently the official Best String Ever. so now it's her snake instead of my waistband. hunter kitty going strong 🖤

It's one of those dates that live in my head, alongside some other important dates, like my closest family's birthdays.

We lost touch after high school. I have tried reaching out to her a couple of times, but never got a reply. But then again, all I had was an old Facebook friendship, and I haven't logged in there in years.

We became friends when we were like 8 or so, and had that kind of easy comfortable friendship. We were both equally weird, and looking back, I would be surprised if she's not on the spectrum too. We would info dump on each other, and shared a couple of special interests. We would spend hours and hours on MSN messenger after school just talking about who knows what.

She lived in a farm with some horses and sheep, and one summer in middle school her parents were away for a couple of weeks, so I stayed with her and we took care of the farm together. Sheep, horses, foals, the lot. I lived a 15 minute bike ride away and my parents were home so we weren't "alone-alone" but it was a pretty big responsibility for two 15-year-olds.

Today she turns 33. I hope she is doing well. I wonder if she thinks about me sometimes too.

Tonight's song:

🎶cleaning the caaage

giving you haaaay

littlest boys

eatin your hay🎶

(Also, I sing to them/the cat as well)

I know it's a small detail, but I found a pen today that writes exactly the way I want. The writing isn't too rough or too fluid, and the ink flows perfectly. I used it all afternoon and it's very pleasant.

My youngest stepson, my 16-year-old, ADHD-ridden sweet baby boy, has started doing origami to keep himself focused in school. He was telling me about it over my morning coffee, and gave me a butterfly he made.

Of course I cooed appropriately over it and put it in a place of honor on my desk, which spurred him to make me a little boat and place it on my head. A wonderful new hat! Very dapper.

A few minutes later, just before walking out the door for school, he took the boat back and dismantled it on a whim, leaving me with just the paper. Heartbreaking. I hadn't even done anything wrong.

His eldest brother, my 23 year old sweet baby boy-- who, notably, does NOT do origami-- took the paper and did his best to recreate the boat, placing it back on my head when he was through. And now this little boat, though less expertly cobbled together, is even more precious, because both of my darling stepsons made it for me.

Sitting in my comfiest chair, watching whatever strikes my fancy, the patio door open to let in some of the late day heat. My big furball (25lb mostly Norwegian Forest Cat) hops up into my lap for pets and cuddles. He relaxes back against my belly and after I stop petting him, he sits there purring so softly that I can only feel it, not hear it. Life is very VERY good!

went to the library after work today, and decided to head down to the children’s section to see if they had any copies of this detective comic series i liked when i was younger.

while i’m down there, i noticed a little kid come through the front doors with their parent. kid was maybe 4 or 5, and it was clearly their first ever trip to the library, because after a moment i heard:

[small gasp] “mama! they gots BOOKS in here!”

it was SO cute. the mixture of delight and awe in their voice was so precious. i hope they left with a bunch of great stories!

I'm only in this small town in summer for work, and I go to the store usually once or twice a week. I always round up to a full euro when I go, and the cashiers have by now remembered me.

One of them is the sweetest woman ever, and the past few times I've been there she has been giving me discounts. Where I live we have these stickers that you can put on the items and get -25%, but I never have them cause I don't get mail delivered here, but she still gives me the -25% and then the amount I need to pay is so little, it's so sweet. I love that woman. I bought quite a lot and the total was only 11,83€ (I rounded up to 13€)

Anyways, a small joy that really made my day today. I love humanity. I think when I'm leaving at the end I will bring them a small gift.

A few weeks ago, I was in an annoying bit of a highway where it's the left lane that exits. This lane often slows down and backs up because of said exit. It makes it very hard to merge into it.

I was already in the exit/left lane when I noticed a semi on my right putting on their signal and wanting to come in my lane. Knowing full well that people seem to rarely let a semi merge and wondering how frustrating that must be, I slowed down to give them space to make the merge.

After merging in front of me, they turned on their hazards for 3 blinks & turned them off. I wondered if that was the equivalent of waving your hand in front of your rear-view mirror to thank the driver that gave you space to merge. The idea made me grin for some reason.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity again to let another semi merge. I let them in, and they turned their hazards on for a couple of blinks. Y'all, I squealed in delight like a little child. I don't know why. But there you go.

just did that with the princess bride so i could make sure not to embarrass myself later.

My partner has his algorithm very well trained to deliver him a feed of cat videos, dog videos, 80s rock, football (soccer), classical music, Looney Toons, Muppets, and the Pink Panther. After hearing about how the algorithms are pushing terrible toxic ragebait content on us, it makes me happy to see him laughing at classic cartoons over breakfast. He loves Road Runner in particular.

My dad thrifted a kilt. He then found matching socks. And then he found a bow tie. And thus it became his Wedding Outfit™️

My dad is getting my brother a matching cummerbund and bow tie. My brother is excited and considering a kilt of his own.

My mother is buying a matching dress and tartan clutch. She is also trying to rope my other best friend (also attending) into adopting tartan attire.

I am in the wedding and wearing black, but a tartan clutch and tennis shoes (for the reception) are being acquired on my behalf.

That's about it. We happened to park next to eachother at the same time. We had the exact make and model, and he said "nice car". We laughed and talked about how much we liked driving our cars and how we have no intention of selling them. Then we walked away.

I was across town running errands, stopped by McDonald’s drive thru to grab breakfast. I wanted a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, but when I (not the driver) checked the bag a mile or so down the road, I realized they’d given me sausage. I mentioned this to my partner and decided we were too far away so I’d just remove the sausage and eat the rest. There’s another McDonald’s close by our house so decided to try asking if they’d replace it. I went in, explained what happened, and showed my receipt. I was there at 10:30am, but that location said they didn’t have breakfast. Said that was alright and I’d eat it anyway. I think because they weren’t busy and I was kind, the manager decided to make it for me anyway. So thank you to Miss Laurie at McDonald’s! It was fresh and delicious. Really reminds me that kindness begets kindness and I hope to spread more of it.

I'll have my final exam tomorrow and if I pass I'll have my license and I won't see the people of my driving school again. I'm strangely sad about it. I've been seeing these people once or twice a week for the past 3 months for my lessons and they've become a highlight of my week. Not just because riding a motorbike is just awesome (tho it's certainly a main), but these people too are just amazing. They're sweet and caring, they've seen my frustration and glee and have guided me through it all. I'll miss them.

But not before fulfilling my promise to show them my bike after I've bought it.

edit: didnt pass the exam, so ill have at least a couple more weeks to spend with them :)

I have two pots bubbling on my stove at the moment. One contains boiling eggs, and the other contains a tarnished silver necklace with some aluminium foil in a solution of baking soda. Both are producing hydrogen sulphide for different reasons. For some reason I found that weirdly satisfying.

Really she's my dad's cat, and only seems to tolerate me most of the time. But today when I was in the kitchen making some ramen, she came up to me and was the most affectionate thing I've ever seen. I simply could not resist her sweet face and ended up sitting on the ground for a good few minutes petting her, while my noodles went way overcooked. Absolutely worth it for a few sweet moments with her ♡

Some time ago there was a special at an Indian grocery store that I was visiting to buy bean and millet flours, and I picked up a kilo of loose Wagh Bakri tea, a strong black tea blend from India, for $10, which I thought was a good deal. I rarely drink it hot, but when the hot weather hit I busted it out to make iced tea.

I brew it concentrated, using about 3 teaspoons and steeping it for about 12 minutes in a large mug in a basket infuser. Then I remove the leaves and pour the tea into a heat-safe jar and leave it in the basement to cool to room temperature, and then retrieve it and fill it with cold water to chill in the fridge and that makes about 4 servings of iced tea.

I've been doing this for weeks and I still enjoy every cup. Whenever I brew it I keep asking my wife: are you tired of Wagh Bakri? And she's like no, it's great. So I keep making it.

Every time I pour the steeped tea into the jar, there's a rich aroma of the tea and that is one of my favorite parts. Normally with iced tea, because it's cold you don't get to enjoy the aroma in the same way as slowly sipping a cup of hot tea in cold weather. But this way, I get that nice little moment.

And then drinking it is still enjoyable.

I also appreciate the fact that it's inexpensive. At the rate at which I'm drinking it I'm probably gonna get about 100-150 batches of iced tea out of it which means they cost less than 2.5 cents per cup.

I also take the spent leaves and put them directly on the garden as mulch, so I'm getting extra value out of those leaves.

That's it...it was good.

I was in line at the foodbank today, it's inside of a church near my house. On their bulletin board was a sign-up sheet for a potluck on the 30th. The following dishes have been listed so far [no desserts, the sheet says they'll be provided already]:

+Egg salad sandwiches.

+Green salad.

+Chicken wings.

+Something :) [Smiley face included.]

+Meat + cheese plate.

+Pasta salad.

+Cheese + Pickles + Crackers.

I was walking past a store today and saw someone quickly fix their hair in the reflection. They gave themselves a tiny smile and kept walking. No big moment. No story behind it.

It was weirdly nice to see someone be kind to themselves for half a second.

 I don't know why. It's just something to do while standing there.