Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras to any readers who celebrate. I used to have New Orleans on my retirement bucket list, but now I think I’ll be lucky just to have a bucket after the F-team crashes the economy. What a fucking disaster. Anyway, even if I never get to visit NOLA, I hope that someday I can taste an authentic praline. Yeah, I had a vague plan to travel across the USA and back, maybe via train, after my 9-5 days were done, but that doesn’t seem likely now. It’s okay ~ I generally dislike travel; this just sounded interesting. If the F-team destroys Social Security as seems to be the current plan, I will be in trouble, like millions of other Americans. Maybe I will never retire in that case…

Remember how I said the other week that I had a feeling I would lose 5 pounds soon? Well, it happened, at least temporarily (but I hope to make it last), due to being sick. At first, I thought my tummy was having a reaction to over medication with NSAIDs, which I have experienced before, but it turned out to be one of those icky viruses that are going around. Very nasty. I felt terrible for 10 days and spent last weekend battling a fever sans any OTC meds. On Saturday I used a Target personal shopper to pick up soup and stuff and deliver it to my door. With a 101 fever, I couldn’t go out. As I have said, I like both Target and Amazon for their prices and convenience, and I have no intention of giving either one up, even though billionaires make me barf. 

Along with my tea and saltines and Alka Seltzer, I had to buy a pill cutter for Gatsby’s high blood pressure medication. He actually had a good report from the doc! Many of his issues were cleared up (or mostly) due to the supplement I give him twice a day, so we're continuing with this, but he has borderline HBP, and it's important to control that because of his kidney issues. Thus, we now have these tiny pills that I have to cut into quarters, which is difficult, but I imagine I will get the hang of it ~ I've only done one so far. He's also still a little underweight, but there's not much I can do about that: he has his favorite (KD) food available 24/7.

I read another Victoria Holt/Philippa Carr romance novel from the "Daughters of England" collection. This one was The Adulteress, and it was very enjoyable: great character development, fun twists, well-paced. I gave it four stars ~ its only flaw was the abrupt ending, which seems to be a relatively common thing in VH books. It fits my 2025 Reading Challenge category of having purple on the cover.

I also read the suspense novel You Me Her by Sue Watson, to which I awarded three stars. It was a fast read, yet tedious at the same time since I didn't really care about any of the characters. This was yet another book set in the UK and narrated by a neurotic woman in first person, present tense. Meh. It fit the Challenge category of an international bestseller. 

Finally, I read The Measure by Nikki Erlick, which was interesting. Not sure what genre it was, maybe speculative fiction. I didn't care for the writing style of introducing so many characters in a short time with backstory dumps, but I did admire Erlick's unique idea of every person getting their approximate death date, and her grand attempt to imagine how this knowledge would play out across the globe and particularly in American politics. Personally, I think it would have worked better on a smaller scale, such as within a particular community, but I appreciate the effort. It was different! Yay! I gave it three stars. It was a book club read, and it also fit my Challenge category of being a book club edition.

While I was sick I wasn't in the mood to watch much TV, but I do plan on viewing this week's episode of Bachelor 29 and also With Love, Meghan. The main reason I feel like watching Meghan is because I am so tired of her haters that I hope her show is a smashing success. There is literally no reason to hate this person who now has her own life in the US and no longer makes precious Catherine cry, but the haters appear after every article that mentions Meghan to carp and caw. It's Meghan Derangement Syndrome.

So that's it. I listened to the SOTU while writing this, and it was so boring. I didn't find it offensive, just dull, rambling, and repetitive.