Mardi Gras ‘21 in the books

If you celebrated Mardi Gras today, I hope you enjoyed it. We sure did. I made two king cakes and some gumbo, and after Mom got her second vaccine shot, she and Dad came over for a spirited Second Line through our neighborhood. A neighbor from Rio organized it, and we were a small but festive bunch of a dozen or so parading around with beads, masks, and music. Let the good times roll!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving sure raced up on us this year. Or maybe that always happens. I don’t know. Last year, the boys and I were in California for the holiday; so much has changed since. A trip seems like some sort of pipe dream right now. I miss much of the way life was, but I find myself terribly thankful tonight. My kids have all of their grandparents within mere miles of us now. Four healthy grandparents that enrich their and our lives so much. Losing their home was devastating for Mom and Dad, for my sister and me, but truth be told, the silver lining in this case is truly magnificent. I suppose that’s selfish, but I don’t mean it like that. It’s just awfully nice to be able to drop by and see my parents, to have them in our lives so regularly in a way only proximity allows. I loved growing up with my Nanny and Papa nearby, and I am grateful Jack and Ol now have that in spades.

I enjoyed lazily making pies today and look forward to a cozy, small feast tomorrow. Wishing you all a healthy Thanksgiving. Wear your masks if you leave your house!

Four days

This was the best find two days ago. I was, and continue to be, Maude. Without apology, but with appreciation for relocating cats and teaching pigeons to shit on pedestrians (of certain stripes).

I feel this is 100% true.

Meanwhile, Mom and Dad are about 50% moved into their darling rental home, have flown back to Louisiana to vote proudly for Biden/Harris, and are really such troopers.

Jack and Ol are eager for Halloween; both are participating in our neighborhood’s socially-distant, individually-wrapped-treat festivities tomorrow. After angstily detailing my kitchen cabinets today, bringing Mom and Dad to the airport, getting Ol off to school for the first time since March 13, and angstily detailing the interior of my fridge, I began obsessively, perhaps angstily, creating a bespoke Han Solo a la Solo belt and holster for Ol to wear for Halloween tomorrow. He is, as you have surmised, going as Han Solo from Solo: a Star Wars story. Jack is some character from some video game and it involves a suit and a mustache and a bullet-proof vest. #IDon’tKnow

Anyway, I guess I just needed more to obsess about as my NC voter hotline shifts got canceled (so many volunteers! yay!), so I ordered random shit from Michael’s for curbside pick-up and then got busy. I am extremely pleased so far as I really cannot even sew a new button onto anything that is then worn.

the real deal, my attempt

Tomorrow I will add snaps and figure out how to fully attach the holster to the belt and so forth, but it’s all leather and hand-sewn so I imagine it’ll last at least until next Halloween. Fingers crossed.

VOTE LIKE YOUR MOTHER EFFING LIVES DEPEND ON IT BECAUSE THEY DO! VOTE BLUE ALL THE WAY UP AND DOWN THE TICKET. THROW THE GOP BUMS OUT. WE GOTTA BURN THIS SHIT DOWN AND START FRESH, Y’ALL.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

(Can you even imagine what it would be like to sleep well and read books -actually read them- and not be freaking out all the time? I am losing the sense of what that would be like, so again, VOTE BLUE!)