2024 Project 365 – Week Forty-three

After having to pull out my cane on Sunday evening & use it at work on Monday, I am happy to report that I went to the doctor Monday afternoon, got some steroids, and am (one week later) finally feeling more like my old self. Whew!

Sunday, October 27th        

A rare Sunday lunch by myself (I had church stuff that kept me from going to the ‘rents for lunch & Dr. M was at his dad's). I got myself some Wendy’s chili & a baked potato. So tasty!

Monday,  October 28th 

Pretty things and seasonal things….

Tuesday, October 29th    

Our colors have been muted, but it’s still been rather lovely around here.

Wednesday, October 30th  

I posted this on my socials & no one was any help. It’s still a mystery! This is on my to-do list for Sunday. I have no memory of there being a dirty Santa situation in my life. Is it for work? For my friend group party? Are we doing this as a family this year? Somebody tell me!! Because I am AT SEA.

Thursday, October 31st     

Dr. M’s dad’s familiar getting cozy on Halloween.

Friday, November 1st      

I stayed at work late to get the November calendar set up. It’s an important someone’s birthday month!

Saturday, November 2nd      

Harvest time.

Well, this is the week. I’ll be working as usual so that should keep me fairly occupied. I’m less nervous than I was - and that makes me nervous. Ha! I guess by the time I write to you again we’ll know who our new president will be. I hope. And I hope that we can transfer power without drama this time!

2024 Project 365 – Week Forty-two

Old Business: Reader, I did have a fever (100.6), but felt much better on Sunday. 

New Business: Reader, I woke up Monday morning with both of my thumbs inflamed. As the day/week wore on, all of my usual pain points starting saying, “Pay attention to meeee!!!” Keep in mind that I take an anti-inflammatory medication every day. I messaged my NP on Wednesday to see if she thought it was the vaccination combo & she thought it might be, but to come see her if I didn’t get better. I thought I was better, but the pain keeps moving around. Today I feel like I have shin splints. What in the actual heck - doesn’t that involve some form of athletic endeavor? Oof. Anyway, we’ll see how this week goes!

Sunday, October 20th        

Came home from church & did some deck sitting with Dr. M. I told the socials that I didn’t know how Dr. M could keep his hands off of me since I was looking so sexy.  

Meanwhile Dr. M was taking pictures of birds, including this one of a pileated woodpecker!

Finally, that night he made our first meal using his new cast iron. It was so good ya’ll!

Monday,  October 21st  

I looked in the mirror at work & thought I HAVE FOUND MY HALLOWEEN COSTUME! Stay tuned.

Tuesday, October 22nd    

I helped out at our work food truck event & got so tangled up in tape that my coworker had to come at me with scissors. It was hilarious & so me. Ha!

Wednesday, October 23rd   

Dr. M ordered a couple of more cast iron pans. He says he’s done now. The second photo shows one he’s been seasoning compared to one of the new ones. 

Thursday, October 24th     

Watched some of the rally where Obama introduced VP Harris. 

Friday, October 25th      

Dr. M sat on the deck & had some visitors. He just missed getting a photo of a goldfinch. 

Saturday, October 26th      

Trunk or Treat at church! It was a gorgeous day! Much better than last year’s where I about had heat stroke. I posted the top right photo while I was driving over there with the caption that I had my game face on. I had to take the nails off as soon as I got home because I was afraid I was going to stab myself. Also, I couldn’t open one of those little Milk Dud boxes & we can’t have that!

Meanwhile, Dr. M mailed my postcards for me. I “only” was able to write 160 because of the thumb issue. I have another couple of days to do some more if I feel able. We shall see.

I shall close with something that I think is hilarious. This happened week before last but I forgot to post it. I wrote about the incident in an HR forum I belong to & I think this is the most “likes” I’ve ever received in my life. And you should see some of the comments from other HR professionals talking about their goofs. It was great. Hope it makes you laugh too (and yes, I corrected it RIGHT AWAY!).

2024 Project 365 – Week Forty-one

Here I sit in my bathrobe, which I flang on top of my jacket, because this little Bug got her flu & Covid vaccines yesterday. I always tell the technician that I don’t have a reaction to them, but hahahaha! Yes, yes I do. I don’t have an actual fever, but you couldn’t tell that by how my body feels. So they’re working. Yay! However, my brain may or may not be engaged while I write this post. Let’s find out together, shall we?

Sunday, October 13th        

Remember my fabulous idea for dinner from last week? Well, I did it! Well, I left off the peas, so when I posted this photo there were a lot more people interest in the meal. 

Monday,  October 14th  

I didn’t take a photo today, but I DID take screenshots of this information about the former president’s immigration policies. I realize I’m preaching to the choir, but I’m putting these slides here anyway.

Tuesday, October 15th    

I’m ecstatic to report that hockey is back baby! We lost our first game, but the coach had some sort of come to Jesus meeting with the team leaders and we were on FIRE for the next two games. We play again tonight. Let’s go Canes!

Wednesday, October 16th   

For no reason, other than that they are adorable, here are my great-nephews. Awww…

Also, went to my dad’s during lunch & my sweater was flinging puzzle pieces left & right. Just call me MacGyver!

Thursday, October 17th     

Dr. M & I voted! Separately, at two different early voting sites. I didn’t wear my earrings into the polling place, but I had them in my purse pocket so they’d be close. We both waited in line about 45 minutes

Friday, October 18th      

Dr. M got himself an early 65th birthday present - some cast iron cookware! The lid to the dutch oven is also a grill pan, and the message on the back of the frying pan made me laugh and laugh (Jolene please don’t take my pan!). 

Saturday, October 12th      

I used the script that Nance gave me last week, but today I wrote a new one, which I’m posting here because my handwriting is terrible. These poor voters. Hopefully they’ll get the gist of it! “Thank you for being a voter! Early voting in NC started on Oct. 17th. Have you voted yet? Please make a plan - the last day to vote is Tues. Nov. 5th!”

Meanwhile, Dr. M just got home from the land of Nascar (that’s Saint Dale’s number), and Trump flags. Heavy sigh. 

I saw that NC had record turnout for early voting so far, but the stats show an equal number of Republicans and Democrats voting. I’m hoping that some of those Republicans are voting Democrat this election, but who knows. How are you feeling about things?

(Well lookie there - all I did was talk about politics in this post. Oops!)

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?