2025 Project 365 – Week Twenty-three

I think maybe I read one blog post all week. And that’s all you need to know about that. (Yes, this is the same thing I posted last week - and I don’t think next week will be any better!)

Sunday, June 1st 

I have a coworker who has chickens and it makes me feel like a wealthy woman when I bring these eggs home!

We had a LOVELY service at church but me being me I had to tell my bestie during communion that I had a bit of Jesus stuck in my teeth. You can’t take me anywhere.

Monday, June 2nd

I worked late & then went by Dad & Sue’s on my way home. They were having a painting party! And using child labor (for about 5 minutes until he had to move on to something different). 

Tuesday, June 3rd

Your weekly daylily! They’ve been really pretty this year.

Wednesday, June 4th

The wildflower bed is basically Bee Balm Central these days, but we’re going to have a few other things too, like this aster and coneflower. 

Thursday, June 5th  

Our house got power washed this week, so Ms. Pinky has been living under the oak tree. She seems to like sitting in her chair - we might leave her there for a while! 

Friday, June 6th      

I wore an ANCIENT shirt of Dr. M’s that I appropriated early in our marriage. I loves it.

Saturday, June 7th

I spent some quality time finishing one square & starting another one. On the round after what you see pictured I realized that I was supposed to have eight petals instead of seven. I’m not sure how to fix it going forward, so I think I have a very fancy coaster now. Woot?

We had an employee pass away at work this week. Such a sad situation for his family - he was only 20 years old. It’s a cliche - but it really does make you think about your own life. What had I hoped to accomplish with my one wild and crazy life? Well, as I was reminded on the socials this week - my five year plan is to wait and see what happens. How about you? Are you a planner, or a floater like me?

2025 Project 365 – Week Thirteen

The abominable nail polish has been removed & my nails are currently nekkid. Stay tuned for what might happen next week in As the Nail Turns.  

Sunday, March 23rd     

Mood (but look at the cute kitties!)

Monday, March 24th

Bathroom selfie. Those sleeves feel very late 80s/early 90s. All I need is some shoulder pads!

Tuesday, March 25th

This was the first of three days of working from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. I liked this guy’s hoodie. 

Wednesday, March 26th 

Dr. M says: “You can forget 'Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'' around here. It is snifflin', weezin', sneezin' season down in the holler!”

Thursday, March 27th  

Play ball!

Friday, March 28th      

I stopped by Aunt Viv’s house to pick up some more jello salad & enjoyed her flowers. Those pansies are so pretty!

Saturday, March 29th 

Dr. M took his Pop to a birthday party for one of their cousins. It was a bittersweet day for Dr. M - he used to work for the family and spent many hours on the property. Now it seems filled with ghosts because so many of the people are gone - including two younger cousins. 

Meanwhile, the time of Pinky in the Tub has passed and the time of Blocking in the Tub has begun. 

I had a busy week with some good and some hard. Pretty normal I guess. How about you? How was your week?

2025 Project 365 – Week Twelve

To continue the nail theme, I switched out my nail polish yesterday & I hate it. It's a color I usually use on my toes, but it does my hands no favors. But am I keeping it on for the week? Yes, yes I am. I'll just try to not look at my hands. That'll work, right? 

Sunday, March 16th     

The ancestral phlox! On Saturday you’ll see our patch that came from a clump that Dr. M brought from his dad’s house.

Monday, March 17th

I borrowed a green dress from Sue to wear for St. Patrick’s Day. It was sleeveless so I went with a white sweater and decided I looked like a sister wife.

Meanwhile, Dr. M & Martha Goose were having a guinness. 

Finally, here’s my 2025 March Madness bracket. Please note that three of my final four teams are already toast. Woot?

Tuesday, March 18th

Dr. M started springifying the back yard - new bird bath, new hanging basket, and the ceremonial hanging of the penguin wind chime. 

Wednesday, March 19th 

Honestly, I’m the worst. 

Here is Dr. M being OBX Gandalf. Ha!

Thursday, March 20th  

My aunt Viv had asked me for my mom’s jello salad recipe (I fortunately had posted it on my blog, so it was easy to get it to her). I asked her to save me some & she did! A taste of my childhood…

Friday, March 21st      

My mom died 20 years ago today. I don’t think I’ve ever posted the puzzle box where I keep some of her ashes. 

It was also World Down Syndrome Day so I wore my crazy socks in honor of Elliott. 

Saturday, March 22nd   

Our glorious patch of phlox. Makes me VERY HAPPY. 

I changed my FB cover photo to one of the songs we’ve been singing at church. And that’s all I have to say about that. 

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 four

I’d like to start off by apologizing for the number of selfies in this post. Sometimes that’s just how the week rolls.

Sunday, January 21^st          
Went by dad’s for lunch and a puzzle – and more turtle pie. That stuff is the devil amazing.

Monday, January 22^nd
Sent this photo of my office poinsettia to Dr. M letting him know I was bringing it home. It’s huge!
 

Tuesday, January 23^rd                         
Jillian’s twin sister Jackie made the artwork. We are still so sad. Her dad shared a story about her that made me smile. She was trying out softball when she was 11 and all the girls were wearing masks. She came over to where the parents were sitting to get water & was wondering why all the masks. One of the moms said that it was so they don’t get hit in the face. Jillian (under her breath) said, “Well I just catch it.” She went back to baseball after that.
 

Wednesday, January 24^th                                 
Didn’t feel well, but looked cute. (Well at least until I tried to do a pouty face.)
 

Thursday, January 25^th                             
Walked into work this morning with my skirt tucked into my underwear. I was informed that the duster hid the horror, but since a (very kind female) coworker is the one who noticed I’m not convinced.
 

Dr. M celebrated Burns Night by having a wee dram of his favorite single malt, a gift from one of my nephews & his lady. He also watched the American Rogues perform The Gael from Last of the Mohicans. The female drummer goes by the nickname “hammer of the gods” btw. She is fabulous!

Friday, January 26^th                           

I’ve been feeling run down so I took the day off from work. I had texted a coworker about some work I did & she said I hope that at least you’re in your recliner so I sent her this.
 

Saturday, January 27^th                        
I’m on church council again this year & we had our annual working retreat today. Our opening meditation was about disco balls & I put this headband on. I forgot I was a wearing it & wore it into Dominos later. I also saw a very cool bird feeder.
 

I’m taking Monday off from work too because the next 6 months or so are going to be crazypants at work. I guess that’s one way to make the winter (and spring) fly by. Do you have anything challenging coming up?
 

2024 Project 365 – Week three

While other parts of the country have been socked in by snow and ice and frigid temps, we here in the foothills of NC have had relatively milder weather. Not milder by our standards, but it hardly bears mentioning to anyone outside of the state. Of course that won’t stop me from mentioning it. After all, my cousin told me that she saw about 4 flakes of snow one day!
Sunday, January 14^th         
From the socials: My [Enneagram] 1 wing won’t let this song go without editing. Nonsensical? Perhaps. But at least it doesn’t make me grind my teeth. (Yes I’m still listening to Christmas music).

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
That Jesus my Savior did come for to die
For poor on'ry people like you and like me
I wonder as I wander out under the sea
 

Am I right that the line "For poor on'ry people like you and like I" is grammatically incorrect? Because it hurts my soul to sing it. (Dramatic Much Bug?)

Other things from Sunday: I was lector, the heat wasn’t working in the sanctuary so we met in the fellowship hall & the music director had to pull out his accordion, we had a visit from our newest member (the cutest little squish nugget), and I got a word for the year. My word made me a little weepy because that’s what the world is all about, right?
 

Monday, January 15^th
The Rhyne boys do Lincolnton. Party animals!
 

Tuesday, January 16^th                        
My two chins and I went to the dentist for a routine cleaning. They checked out the problem area but didn’t see anything of concern. If it flares up again I’ll go back.
 

Dr. M needed an incandescent bulb for his father’s water system (to keep the switch from freezing), but those are very hard to find these days. Turns out he just needed to look at the pet store!
 

Wednesday, January 17^th                                 
You know, people think southerners are wimpy in the cold. It was 14 degrees when I left my house so I dressed like I would have in Ohio. And then got laughed at by my coworkers in their cardigans & blazers. Hmph. 😣
 

Thursday, January 18^th                             
Had a little oatmeal as a snacky snack. Which reminds me that I need to make some more!
 

Friday, January 19^th                           
I’m part of poet Lori Heteen’s Patreon community. Two years ago she designed calendar pages for us to print out. She’s also the one who came up with the little booklet idea that I used for Thanksgiving. Anyway, this year she’s going to try to give us a print a week that we can use as we see fit. I printed out two of them because they really struck me. The one on the left says, “Sift through these ashes, warm with possibility. Life remains. It waits.” The one on the right says, “I, for one, would like less blatant stupidity and more quaint nonsense.”
 

The Soup King strikes again with a variation on the jambalaya theme! People, this was REALLY good soup.
 

Saturday, January 20^th                        
It was a Very Cold Day and I had tuna melt for lunch.
 

This morning I learned that my friend’s 16 year daughter passed away (I wrote about her last week). She was very proud to be an organ donor, and her family is honoring her wishes, so she’s still on life support until that process is complete. This has been grueling for all of them, and I am full of so much sadness. This year has just not been going well for so many folks around me. How about you tell me something good from your corner of the world?