We’re headed to upstate NY today for my son’s college graduation!
As previously reported, I’m very proud of him and he’s generally been a joy to raise, but I’ve certainly made a few sacrifices along the way.
I’ve checked-out the only four audiobooks from the library that were available and short enough to finish during the 6-hour car ride. If anyone has read or listened to any of these books and has thoughts, please let me know.
Bon weekend!
I’ve got a WEK “big easy” shirt that’s at least 20 years old, possibly 25. I’m pretty sure my mother gave it to me. Judging from the comments in the reviews, other people love it as much as me and have had theirs just as long.
It was originally a light lilac/periwinkle color. The sleeves now have a few holes. I have no idea why they have holes. It’s not made of wool (therefore the holes are not moth-made). I guess it’s just old.
I wear it on a daily basis as a sort of a house coat. It’s the perfect weight for a layer. I try not to wear it out (other than to the mailbox), but sometimes I end up wearing it to do a local errand.
This prompt gives me pause.
I mean, I like to think of myself as being a serious person that people listen to, but I’ve not held many traditional leadership roles in my life. I can’t think of one committee that I ever chaired or co-chaired. Maybe that will change, as I’ve been appointed to my church’s executive team for next fiscal year.
At work, I was always a respected “individual contributor” (as they say in HR). I never managed a team.
With my family, I’d say I’m pretty much the leader (CEO), with my husband as CFO (and let’s face it, CTO—I’m clueless about technology), but with my son soon to be fully launched, I may be in more of an advisory role soon.
With my activist volunteer work, I’m definitely a follower. Tell me who to call or write, and what to say, and I’ll get it done. I respect the work of the smart and serious activists in my community and I gladly follow them. We’re united in our mission to create a blue wave in 2024 and save democracy from the MAGA cult. We’ve got new and different people showing up every week (including men—yay men!), plus many helping out from home.
Just kidding, everyone knows there’s not one speck of real fruit in Froot Loops.
This is one of the many jokes in Jerry Seinfeld’s new film “Unfrosted” on Netflix, which I recommend if you’re an American between the ages of 55 and 70.
Did your mother watch Jack LaLanne on TV—or even own one of his “calisthenics” records—like my mom did?
Did you ever make a newsprint transfer with Silly Putty?
Did you have a Milk Man?
If you ever ate astronaut-inspired “food” or grew Sea Monkeys in a fish bowl, this movie is for you!
It’s basically 90 minutes of non-stop jokes and cultural references to our 1960s childhoods. The premise of the film is the battle between Post and Kellogg’s over the race to invent a breakfast pastry kids will love even more than sugary cereals like Frosted Flakes or Froot Loops. (Spoiler alert: Kellogg’s wins with the ubiquitous, sugar-filled Pop Tart)
I don’t typically like the comedian Bill Burr, but he’s really funny as JFK in this movie. Plus, there’s a ton of other celebrities in roles both large and small.
My generation ate bananas (sliced up into cereal), apples, and dry navel oranges. In the summer, there was watermelon and the occasional strawberry shortcake (especially on the Fourth of July). I’ll stick with those as my top five fruits. Thank goodness the citrus options have improved!
So, according to my doctor (who I saw last week), I’m supposed to be getting 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily. That seems like a lot! I’m not a fan of those chewy calcium supplements, so I should try to get it from food.
Ballparking this:
Broccoli: 100mg
Spinach: 100mg
Dried figs: 100mg
Orange: 50mg
Yogurt: 300mg
Cereal: 130mg
Cheese: 170mg
Total: 950mg
You know what this means, don’t you? I need to start drinking milk.
Bleh.
One 8oz glass of milk: 300mg
Everyone knows there’s only one thing that makes milk tolerable – and that’s chocolate. And no, I don’t drink chocolate milk.
I like my milk with fancy chocolates—also unfancy ones, if that’s all I have. Reese’s happen to go great with milk.
So, I will be adding both nonfat milk—and more chocolate—to my diet.
Here’s the selection we picked up at Trader Joe’s the other night.
It’s Mothers Day in the United States.
Wishing mothers—and motherers—everywhere a happy day!
Here’s some photo back-up for the universally given answer to the inevitable question: “But when is Kids Day?”
To me, freedom is a lack of fear.
I feel free to share my thoughts, if I’m not afraid of hostile reactions or ridicule.
I feel free to travel or walk alone, if I’m not afraid of being harassed or attacked.
I feel free to go into large crowds, if I’m not afraid that people have guns.
I felt free to get pregnant when I was younger, because I was not afraid my health would be in danger.
I think it’s hard to feel truly free, when you also feel frightened.
“Disagree” is not the right word (far too mild), but I feel I might be preaching to the choir here on WordPress. (As a longtime church choir member, I love that expression.)
Perhaps I’ll see what a (free) AI image generator can do with my intense feelings.
I’m retired (I think) and looking forward to becoming a grandmother and doing some meaningful volunteer work. So, I’m going use this prompt to provide an update on the next generation.
I’m extremely pleased to report that my son landed a job! He’s a senior in college and this is his first post-grad position. I’m super proud of him!
The college class of 2024 (high school class of 2020) has not had it easy. They had their senior prom, graduation, senior spring sports seasons, and numerous other rites of passage cancelled due to Covid. In addition, many of them (including my son) took their very first semester of college classes remotely from home. MAJOR bummer is an understatement! His second semester, though not remote, was not at all normal. Masks, testing, and Zoom classes from dorm rooms are not fun. My son got put in isolation for TEN DAYS over Easter because he was exposed to a bus driver who tested positive. (My son never did.)
Sophomore year was somewhat normal and thankfully he had a terrific semester abroad junior year. And now, the famous final scene…the last few weeks of college.
So here’s to these very resilient young people. GenZ is in the house and they are going to do things differently. We’re handing them a broken world, but I have faith that they will improve things in ways we can’t yet imagine.
There’s nothing quite like live music and theater performances.
The most recent concert I attended was Emma’s Revolution last weekend. I wrote about it on Sunday for a different prompt: A unique brand
A couple weeks before that, we saw an amazing fiddler from Prince Edward Island—Cynthia Macleod. She performed with Gordon Belsher— a PEI-based guitar player. They were fantastic together. So fun and SO good. It was impossible to sit still while they played.
Between songs, they told stories of PEI, especially the “kitchen parties.” On PEI, in the cold months (which is most of them), people gather in the warmest room of the house (the kitchen) and sing, play, stomp and clap til all hours.
One of the best parts of the night was seeing the joy on the faces of the two musicians. They were working really hard, but you could tell that they absolutely loved what they were doing. The audience could feel their joy and reflected it back to them. The energy created by the interplay was undeniable. That’s the magic of live performance.
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