Who’s Going to Blink First?

I'm here! I got to enjoy about 6 weeks of being able to go to restaurants and got used to leaving my mask behind. A short weekend getaway, and a trip to visit some family. And then it all came to a screeching halt. So here we are, once again, watching the COVID train careen …

Amazon Reviews – More than I Bargained for

So in a moment of madness, I agreed to moving my office to the loft and turning the 4th bedroom into, well, a bedroom. Because I guess people might actually want to come visit, now that life is sort of getting back to normal. We've literally never had guests since we moved in, because COVID …

Unemployment… AKA, Why Does the Governor Hate People?

So there have been several local stories about staffing shortages, particularly for restaurants. This area relies on tourism and in particular, restaurants. And now some people have decided, without any evidence, that unemployment payments are the reason restaurants can't hire enough staff. To hear that tale, the enhanced unemployment payments are making people choose not …

I Want Spindles!

So after being in this house for over a year, I mostly still love it. But one of the things I don't love is our stair wall. Because, well, it's this. It's a wall. The model of our floor plan actually had spindles, but we were told that was only in the model, and we …

One Year

It's been one year. One year since I was trying to navigate a horrible website design for unemployment. One year since three of us started staying home all the time. The 4th person had to work in-person. One year since we realized how lucky we were to have just gotten moved into the house, where …

Randomly Selected Writing Prompts

I don't use writing prompts often. Partly because they're usually related to writing fiction, and I don't write fiction. At all. But I'm kind of in a writing slump and have been spending most of my time doing writing for other people. BTW, I'm kind of over coffee grinders and makers, especially when I don't …

Near and Dear

We all have causes that are important to us. Political, personal, whatever. These are some of mine. Planned Parenthood If you know me, you know this. Planned Parenthood gets a regular donation from me. They do SO much more than provide safe abortions for women. They're one of the biggest providers of birth control in …

H Is for Hypocrite

You know them. We all know them. It's been a part of life for so long that I don't remember life without such hypocrisy. It's always been there, but now it's front and center. Republicans are telling us that it's time to unite the country and heal. What the actual fuck? They've spent years stoking …

Personal Experience: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

I don't venture outside of my preferred genre that often. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson, is not in that genre. It's sort of literature, historical fiction, with a little romance all rolled into one, maybe? It was a book club book, and I wasn't really looking forward to it because …

There Are Some Days When Your Heart Hurts

Today is one of those days. I won't pretend to be a political commentator. I'm not. I'm just another person who watched the events of yesterday with horror. My heart hurts. And yet, I wasn't surprised. We saw this coming. If you didn't, you willfully ignored all the signs. In 2016, he said, "What do …