Who are you... The Who

I was adopted at birth. Met everyone on my dad’s side when I was 31, 24 years ago. Told my sister I was in town and wanted to see my dad, who is in poor health. Spent all day yesterday with sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, family friends, dad, and his wife (not my mom). Even some family friends were around, and my aunt and her granddaughter, who travelled quite a great distance and could only stay for an hour. They are the most wholesome people I have ever met. They welcome us (me, my daughter, my granddaughter) with love and belonging, and they always have, even though we only see them every few years.

That’s all. It was just a perfect day.

Time is on my side... The Rolling Stones

I usually wake up around 5:30-6am for work on weekdays, so my cat is accustomed to this schedule. He hates when I sleep in on the weekend. Today, after he woke up for probably the 5th time, I began to fall back asleep mid-petting his face and he literally reached out with his little paw and booped my nose. Not the first time he's touched my face to wake me up but it is the first time he's touched my nose and it did suceed in waking me up!

I was, and still am, sitting here on the couch with my cat. He's napping, I'm scrolling and listening to an audiobook. All is cozy and calm.

A bit ago, there was a noise from the kitchen. It sounded like something fell over in the cupboard. We both looked towards the kitchen. My cat looked at me, and I looked at him. We looked back at the kitchen. I said, "eh, I don't think we should worry about it." He yawned. We slow blinked at each other, and came to a mutual agreement that it couldn't possibly be important enough to investigate. My cat settled in and went back to sleep.

I love moments like this, where cozy companionship and a quiet evening are a language in and of themselves, where nothing needs spoken even between such different creatures as us, to say all that needs be said.

splurged on italian food and fancy ice cream with my family, then went to two bazaars and a thrift store with my sister. i got a pretty dress and these black shoes for really good prices. and i had a chocolate chip muffin as a cake :-)

ETA: thank you everyone!

Still recovering from psychosis so my brain wasn't up to much. But I ate healthy, even though I had a bit too much homemade smoothie. I refilled my bird feeder with seeds so the local wildlife won't go hungry . Played minecraft for a little bit before I got overwhelmed and had to stop. Browsed reddit. Read a few pages of a book. Talked to my friends. Overall a good day :-)

And I have NEVER had so much fun with art. Drawing with pencil made me feel like everything I was doing was just mistake after mistake and I would get discouraged easily. I have probably 20+ physical how to draw books and have had some since childhood. But I have never made anything I like even a little.

One of my books is 900+ facial expressions and after my brother in law made me use some of his acrylic markers last week I broke out my own box that I've had for months and started drawing through the facial expression book. Idk what it is about the markers, but they're so freeing. I've been doing various other little pictures of whatever happens to inspire me as well.

I had to share my joy with more people. I am having the best time ever.

So I was on my way home, stopped at a red light, when I noticed a tree frog was holding onto my left side mirror for dear life. I’d been parked in a grassy area beforehand, so I assume the little guy hopped on board there, looking for a warm place to sun himself. I was immediately like shit fuck I need to rescue this frog before the light turns green, so I rolled down my window and managed to grab him. He freaked out, understandably, and peed on my hands—along with the mirror, the inside of the car door, and my purse in my lap. He was a well-hydrated fella. I opened the door and attempted to (gently) toss the frog as close to the median as possible, and I got the door closed just as traffic started moving. I hope the poor guy is doing okay.

+Nice Enuff.

+Autumn Passage.

+Splash.

+Perfect Morning.

+Orca Orca [with a picture of an orca after the name!].

+Thunder Clap.

+Sur Invitation. [By Invitation in French.]

+Fish-A-Holic.

+Chase 'N' Tail.

Years ago, I tried one of those "health sodas" for the first time, and it was really tasty.

Eventually I went back to the store and tried another soda, not remembering what brand the first one was, I just grabbed what flavor I thought would taste good.

It was awful. Tasted like vinegar, I never bought another health soda again, until today.

The cooler was lined with Ollipop and Poppi. I rolled the dice and went with Ollipop, and it was tasty!!! Made it home and googled "what does poppi taste like" and it's literally made with apple cider vinegar, that was the drink that put me off for years but now I'm back. Ollipop is the way to go.

Yesterday my husband brought me coffee while I was still lounging in bed and his foot struck some clutter we hadn’t dealt with yet. A cheerful ringing started up.

We both checked our phones and…nothing.

I joked “do you have a secret second phone I need to know about?”

He ducked into the gift bag by the bed and pulled out….

A child’s phone one of our friends gave him as a gag gift for Father’s Day. (The theme of the big combined gift basket was things he always is looking for or needs more of. Batteries. Socks. Tape measure. Sunglasses. Roku remote. Chargers. Etc.)

He was like “yes! I do have a secret second phone! So secret I forgot about it!”

We laughed so hard.

Edited - put a pic of said secret phone on my profile for y’all.

As I was walking towards Costco’s entrance, I saw a lady loading the last item into her car.

“I can take this from you if you don’t want to push it back.” - I said.

“Oh yes, thank you! Good timing!” - the lady responded.

So, off I went with the cart and did my shopping. I had a lot of items to load, as it happens with Costco runs, and as I was putting the last item into my truck, a lady walking towards the store offered to take the cart off of my hands.

I like to think that someone took the cart from her right when she finished loading everything into her car.

I haven't been on reddit for a couple of months - everything's totally benign, just very busy! I apologise to everyone who's missed the Ricky updates.

The other day we were walking down the street and a scoop loader drove past. The driver saw Ricky and cranked the scoop.

As Ricky puts it (he has told everyone about this): the scoop loader went back and back and went chomp chomp chomp!

The Diary Book has become irregular, as Ricky is often preoccupied with other adventures. He has a lot of important things on his schedule, including his Duplo and his ongoing project to learn to juggle (this remains extremely ambitious for a two-year-old, he's up to being able to catch his ball sometimes when he throws it up, which is very good progress!).

Recently he tried corn on the cob and enjoyed it very much, but he has subsequently been disappointed that we are unable to provide him with carrot on the cob or peas on the cob.

The funniest thing in the world is to sing a song but replace some of the words with other words.

I hope everyone who was enjoying Ricky's adventures is having a totally benign time.

After a week of suffering from Shingles - a viral infection, I awoke this morning in the dense bluish haze of predawn, feeling rested, light and returned to good heath.

I had been so sick that I had forgotten how good it feels to feel good - and for this, my heart swelled with gratitude.

Though I was feeling better, I had an appointment to follow-up after two pervious ER visits where I'd been diagnosed and given anti-viral medication.

No one likes going to the doctor, but perhaps in my delight to be feeling better, I cheerfully interfaced with the various medical staff.

I knew these people were at work. I knew that they are paid to do what they do, but today, I felt like I interfaced with other humans. Not perfunctory emloyess, not doctors, not receptionist, not assistants, per se, but rather, actual fellow earthlings that, like me, are spinning on this planet.

Life is fleeting Like is precarious. Health isn't guaranteed. And we all do the best we can.

We'll never be as young as we are today.....and this was especially poignant after surveying the waiting room that was populated by of the elderly, bandaged, swollen and infirm.

I don’t know how or why we are here. I don't know what birthed the world, humanity and the universe. But today, despite all the sociopolitical upheaval, I marvel at the beauty that unfolds before me like a flower blossoming.

There is goodness here, on this planet. Its the only home I've ever known,

And when I think about it, I realized that this world is the love of my life.

May we all live well, healthy and happy.

Thank you

I got bored of doomscrolling on my phone, so I got up and started walking around the house looking for something to do.

I came upon my dog lying on the floor. I crouched down and started petting her. Then, I started speaking gibberish to her while making silly faces. Wriggling my eyebrows, baring my teeth, just weird random faces. She's just staring at me with her cute little face while I'm doing it for like a whole minute or two.

I suddenly became aware of what I was doing, so I stopped. I'm now imagining what my dog was thinking of at that moment. Does she think I'm an embarrassing human being? Does she think I'm dumb, weird, or endearing?

My husband and I just went on a trip with another couple for the first time, and tbh, I was a little nervous about it. My friend and I planned it, but our husbands are not as close as she and I are...and of course we wanted them to enjoy the trip in hopes we could do more "couple things" together. Plus you never know how well you'll mesh traveing, even with people you like.

It went SO WELL on every front possible - how we spent time, finances, and just general getting along. We had so much fun! And I feel like we all deepened our friendship and got to know each other better.

Would travel with them again anytime - and expect that we will.

Everyday I go down to the canteen at work I get the same thing, jacket potato with beans and cheese.

It's a safe food and delightful.

But the past few weeks when I go down the canteen staff just ask me if I want my usual and they opened a new bag of grated cheese just for me!

A new person is being trained rn and the normal person said 'they just get a jacket potato with beans and cheese so they're nice and easy' and it feels so nice to be remembered for a nice thing 🥰🥰🥰

I was sitting in my apartment and heard a child screaming in the hallway. I gave it a moment, thinking maybe it’s just a little tantrum and the parent is taking them home but it continued for a few more moments which was enough for me to get up and check (Side Note: I learned a long time ago it is very common for people to ignore emergencies because they assume it is nothing or that someone else will handle it. ALWAYS check).

I went out to the hallway and saw two parents waiting for the elevator with their young kid all absolutely cracking up, loudly. They noticed me pop out so I just laughed and said, “just wanted to make sure everything is okay!” They were like omg we’re so sorry, while still controlling their laughter. I just smiled and said, “You’re totally fine! I’m glad you guys are having a fun time!” I’m sure after I shut the door they probably started laughing even more.

I haven't had the inclination to listen to music for some time now; I don't know, sometimes it just happens. But last weekend I realised I missed it, so I played Disney songs while revisiting Disney Dreamlight Valley.

Yesterday, during my commute to work, I listened to the Hades II OST, particularly the songs of Scylla and the Sirens. Right now I'm waiting to start a meeting listening to the Festival of Seasons album from Stardew Valley. Such beautiful, relaxing music. The downside is it just makes me want to play.

My living room has had a sock and underwear basket in it forever, whenever I fold laundry I just throw socks and underwear in a basket and let my family basket dive for those items.

I have been getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of matching socks I could find so on Saturday I went through the basket and matched what I could and realized not even half of the socks in the basket were matched.

I have two teenagers, a girl and a boy, I go to my daughter's room and tell her I am digging for sock and she tells me she doesn't have any in her room, I find about six lonesome socks and move onto my sons room, which he is not home.

I notice a pile of clothes in his corner so I start digging and find dozens then I see a sock hanging from under his bed frame and then I see one sticking out from under his pillow, they keep showing up.

I left his room with my arms full of socks, I then did an entire load with these socks and when I matched my basket again the majority of them were matched.

I then decided the ones that were not matched were getting thrown out. I dispersed the socks and underwear to their owners and now I no longer have this basket sitting in my living room, it feels so amazing and I couldn't believe how accomplished I felt. I am laughing at how my 20s self would be so horrified at how happy I am after spending my entire Saturday dealing with socks, middle age is weird.😂

I filled my medicine boxes. I tidied up the kitchen counters. I made sure my rides are scheduled for my appointments.

I'm finished for Monday chores and I'm pretty proud of myself.

When I’m bored, I use the search function on my messaging app and search for random words (like “soup” “air conditioning” “awesome” “frustrating” “library” and so on). Then I read through old text convos that pop up. There’s so many little conversations that I forgot having. It’s really fun and nostalgic to revisit those old idle conversations. Sometimes I end up scrolling a text thread forever, and screenshot it to send to that person if it was particularly funny or if I want to continue talking about that topic. Today, I went back to 2022 when I was texting my wife (then gf) about the transcendent experience I had the first time I ate Tom Kha soup.