2024 Project 365 – Week Forty

I’ve got nothing for this space. Use your imagination!

Sunday, October 6th        

We had a lovely service at church this morning for this World Communion Sunday. I was taken with the artwork on the bulletin (you can see it here). My cousin pointed out the cat at the table and that made me smile. 

Monday,  October 7th  

I don’t know why I let things get this close. Well, I do know why - I’m a procrastinator. I just hope Dr. M or my dad are understanding when I finally push it too far & have to call them to rescue me.

Dr M.’s 5th Great Grandparents, John and Margaret Hoyle. John fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain, in 1780. Me being me, I can’t stop thinking about how the gravestones look like cute little ghosts. Yes, I know I am terrible. 

Tuesday, October 8th    

I went out during my lunch hour to see if the bridge on my usual route to work had been fixed after the flooding. Nope. I need to find a more efficient method of checking on this (will I remember to look into it after I finish writing this post? Magic Eight Ball says Not Likely Based on Prior Experience.)

Wednesday, October 9th   

I thought I was cute today but on my way to work I looked down at my watch band in horror (trust me, the color clashing was more startling in person). Nothing I could do about it, but I did fix the “off white socks that look like white socks” situation during lunch. Hey, I needed new socks anyway!

And because you’re getting two photos of me this week, here is an adorable picture of Dr. M looking all pleased with himself after changing the battery in his dad’s truck and getting it inspected. 

Thursday, October 10th     

No photo.

Friday, October 11th      

Irony: I opened the door for a service worker this morning & he said, “Thank you sweetie!” And I said without even thinking, “I am NOT your sweetie!” While wearing my Down Syndrome awareness t-shirt that says In a World Where You Can Be Anything, BE KIND.  

Saturday, October 12th      

Dr. M says that it’s time for the Changing of the Beans! Ah, one of my favorite seasons.

I have an idea for an AMAZING dinner! An open faced fried bologna & fried egg sandwich smothered in peas! Who’s with me? (I posted this on the socials and got NO TAKERS. Cowards.)

I’ve been faithfully working on my postcards. It’s definitely a labor of love for me because of my ornery thumb. But I want your opinion. I’m using one of the provided scripts, but I’ve changed some of the wording. 

Original: Who you vote for is private, but whether you vote is public record. 

My version: Whether you vote is public record, but who you vote for is private.

I feel like the original version is vaguely threatening. What do you think? I’m overthinking it, aren’t I? Because overthinking is my middle name: Danabugly Overthinking It Rhyne.

2024 Project 365 – Week Thirty-nine

This was a week of mourning and calls to action, of sitting with disbelief and getting shit done, of wanting to change our climate wrecking ways and missing our creature comforts. Also there were wars and rumors of wars, lies and damned lies, and the US election train barreling down the tracks. Whew!

Sunday, September 29th        

Day three of no power. We took our laundry to Dad & Sue’s house and Dr. M talked politics with Dad while Sue & I went to our churches. Then my brother & his wife came over and we had lunch. It was nice! But no photos of that - instead you get photos of our homesteading efforts that night. This was a time when I was really glad to have books on my kindle app on my phone - no need to try to read by lantern light!

Monday,  September 30th  

No photo today, so here is a picture of our sheep neighbors from last week. They remind me of this sheep art installation from a few years ago - ha!

Tuesday, October 1st    

Our power came back on! Woohoo!

Wednesday, October 2nd   

No photo. 

Thursday, October 3rd     

I just wanted to give a shout out to the spider in my shower this morning. Most of the time I have to perform some sort of gymnastic routine to avoid washing my visitors down the drain. This little dude(ette?) scurried behind the shower curtain & has lived to see another day. Good work! Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.

Friday, October 4th      

I finally updated my wooden calendar and I had to laugh at myself. Dr. M painted a lovely square for Columbus Day, but of course that’s something we don’t really celebrate anymore. Last year I just left it off. This year I tried something different. Ha! (Note: I added the vote square to the show first day of early voting in NC.)

Saturday, October 5th      

I’ve spent the day catching up on reading and cleaning the house. A couple of weeks ago I signed up to write postcards to send to voters and they arrived yesterday - all 200 of them. Oh my goodness what in the world was I thinking? I have terrible handwriting and also I have some arthritis or some such in my right thumb. I think I’m supposed to have a card writing party, but that involves asking people and arranging things. However, I have 21 days before I’m supposed to mail them & if I do 10 per day then I shouldn’t have to try to gather friends together in some fashion. Sounds like a plan to me!

I am the Queen of Compartmentalizing so because I was trying to not think too much about the devastation to the west of me I was SO PRODUCTIVE at work this week! I started tackling a big project I’ve been dreading, and also took care of some other things that I’d been avoiding. Now that it’s the weekend I’m allocating more of my bandwidth to the world around me. Hard but necessary focus. What are you doing this weekend?

2024 Project 365 – Week Thirty-eight

This post will be a little different than usual. I do still want to share a few pictures from last week, but Hurricane Helene derailed our lives a little bit this past weekend. We are fine and our families are fine. We lost power Friday morning and they don't expect to get it restored until this coming Friday - but we have running water and that's huge to us. Although I had a VERY brisk shower this morning - brrr! Also, we were really excited to finally get a smidge of cell service at our house last night. Being completely cut off is unnerving.

Also, what we're experiencing is a tiny fragment of the hell that folks in the mountains are experiencing. Whole communities washed away. No way in or out. No water, power, cell service. Dr. M & I drove through Chimney Rock on our way home from our vacation. It's just gone now. Devastating. 

And still we live our silly lives in the hopes that the next disaster won't be us. I'm not sure we can count on that anymore. 

Sunday, September 22nd        

I went to my nephew's wife's birthday party and got to hang out with the great-nephews. They're a mess, and much much loved.

Thursday, September 26th        

I pulled a pack of peanut butter Nekots out of the jar yesterday & thought, “Huh. These don’t taste very peanut buttery.” Tonight I decided to finish eating the pack & thought, “Huh. These REALLY don’t seem very peanut buttery.” Reader, they were fudge.

Friday, September 27th        

Apparently I went to work during a full on hurricane? As in, later that morning Dr. M tried to go the same way and there was a tree across the road. Yikes. He was seemingly foiled at every turn trying to get to his dad's house, if it wasn't a tree, it was flooding. He did finally find a way to get there & his dad still had power - yay! My dad and Sue have power too - and last night they got their internet back.

Saturday, September 28th        

I left Dr. M at home and went to the office to charge All The Things. I also wanted to work - I had optimistically taken my laptop home with me on Friday. Hahahaha!

Well, I'm at the office writing this and it's time for me to start working. Here's hoping for a less eventful week! How are all of you doing?

2024 Project 365 – Week Thirty-seven

 We had a great time on our vacation - lots of photos this week!

Sunday, September 15th        

The deck on our hotel room in Dillsboro was fabulous - I decided that I would just live out there.

Monday,  September 16th  

We spent some time driving around the mountains today, but first, Dr. M spent some quality time deck sitting.

Tuesday, September 17th   

Happy birthday to my dad! (They were on their own mountain jaunt, so I didn’t feel bad about not being with him on his big day). Meanwhile, can you tell which bed belonged to Captain Chaos?

Then we went on a 4 ½ hour train ride along the Nantahala Gorge! It was a rainy day, but we didn’t care. The train was super comfortable and the views were lovely. This is a small fraction of the photos we took. 

There was a wandering musician on the train who took requests. A little girl requested Taylor Swift and then she & her mom sang along with him. It was great!

And yes we bought the cheesy photo. Makes us smile. It was a fun day!

Wednesday, September 18th     

Headed home today. It was a bit foggy! 

Thursday, September 19th     

Started a new crochet project (another cat pod for someone who requested it).

Friday, September 20th      

Update from Elliott’s mom: He had surgery this week so that the doctors could find out why Elliott has difficulty swallowing. So much so that he is still 100% formula fed at 15 months old. Well we finally got our answer! Elliott has Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE). Hopefully with some meds this can be controlled, but there is a very real chance that Elliott will never eat the foods you and I eat. This is an extreme allergy to the common food groups: wheat, soy, dairy, nuts, eggs, and fish. This is a chronic lifelong condition with no cure. Over the next few months/year we will be doing trials to find out what foods are triggering for him, and removing them from his diet. For now, we try meds and do a repeat endoscopy in 2 months to see if they help. Here's to hoping he can still enjoy chocolate milk (it’s actually his formula, but chocolate flavored)

Extra photo because he’s adorable.

Saturday, September 21st      

One of my internet friends had sent me a video of a person who made a “soap saver” gadget (upper right photo) that helped make soap stick together. I decided that a fork would probably work, and it DID! I’ve had three showers with the glommed together soap & it is still intact. Woot!

I’ve had a great week. Tomorrow is church and grocery buying and spending time with family and then it’s back to work on Monday. How was your week?

2024 Project 365 – Week Thirty-six

People. I am on vacation! I don’t have to go to work until Monday the 23rd! I mean, I did bring my laptop home, but I don’t plan to look at it until Wednesday at the earliest because Dr. M & I are Going On An Adventure. Happy sigh. But first, what happened this past week?

Sunday, September 8th        

Headed to church this morning & this song came on. I’m hovering somewhere between belief and unbelief but I still have faith that the church can do good in the world (especially my church, but I’m biased). And even a hermit like I am needs community. So every Sunday is a will she won’t she. Today will she won & as usual I was glad. Still somehow thrives this love.

Later I finally finished the Cat Pod I’d been working on! Not having an actual cat, I used this somewhat similar substitute to model the thing. Stay tuned for photos later in the week with actual cats!

Monday,  September 9th  

I had this feeling that someone was staring at me, but one of my FB friends said that I was actually being laughed at. Hmph. 

Tuesday, September 10th   

Dr. M & I dipped in & out of the debate, but I mostly kept track by reading this message thread that one of the folks I follow had. It was VERY entertaining.

Wednesday, September 11th     

Now that the cat pod has been completed (and isn’t it interesting to contemplate how cats have been used this election cycle?), I picked up this project. I’m a little worried about having enough yarn so imagine my dismay when I saw it was discontinued. I could order some off of eBay but why do that when I could just end up with something too small & have to give it to a child? Just playing crochet roulette over here folks. Whee!

Thursday, September 12th     

It’s so pretty around here…

Friday, September 13th      

We use a lot of folders at work & my “work wife” decided that we should all have some pretty ones! This one made me laugh & laugh because of the definition at the top left. Degenerately indeed!

Saturday, September 14th      

Out front, it’s a sedum/morning glory jungle, with occasional azalea & bumble.

As promised, here is the cat pod in action! An Ohio friend had asked if I would make it for her & she got it today. I hope her cats find hours of enjoyment. 

So what did you guys think about the debate? Do you think it will help with the election? It’s astonishing to me that it’s still so close. What in the actual world. 

2024 Project 365 – Week Thirty-five

It’s September & I’m feeling my usual angst about The Coming of the Dark. I mean, it’s nice that it’s not 90 degrees, but still… 

Sunday, September 1st        

No other photo, so you get this one of me after church. I do believe I was in the drive-through line at KFC. Ha!

Monday,  September 2nd 

Your weekly morning glories. They’re taking over the yard, but I can’t be mad about it.

Tuesday, September 3rd   

Dr. M says it’s not easy being green in a concrete world!

Wednesday, September 4th     

Walking in to work this morning my coworker said she thought I was wearing Jesus earrings & I said I AM!! (To be clear, I know Kamala isn’t Jesus. Just in case you’re worried about my eternal salvation.)

Dr. M says, as Saint Buffy of Sunnydale reminded us, “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live.”

Thursday, September 5th     

It’s muscadine season!

Friday, September 6th      

These spider lilies at my dad’s house are so pretty!

Saturday, September 7th      

So I said to myself, “Self! It’s a lovely mild September day! Go crochet on the deck!” Turns out sitting in full sun with yarn on your lap isn’t actually very mild.

Dr. M took a photo of one of my favorite views. He says that the soybeans are looking good!

This week has been pretty heavy. One of my favorite people that I follow, Sharon McMahon, wrote a post about how we are sacrificing our children on the altar of firearm worship. She said that we need to melt down that golden calf, and I agree. We’ve all said all the words there are to say. I feel some despair, but also a smidge of hope. But that hope depends on everyone voting. I’m ready - are you?