Kiss My Grits

Older painting by my daughter Diane

I’m participating in Joyce’s Hodgepodge this week by responding to the following questions.

1. What’s something you wanted to do this summer that you never got around to doing?

I planned to paint and bought new canvases. (I have a ton of painting supplies already.) As some of you may know, I used to follow Cinnamon Cooney aka the Art Sherpa for painting inspiration, but she passed away in December 2024 (age 54), and now I find inspiration from various other sources. I saved a bunch of ideas that appealed to me, and yet I never painted anything. When I had time, the mood just wasn’t there, and I can’t force it. Same goes for writing fiction or poetry.

2. Were you the student who sat in the front row or hid in the back of the class? If you could go back and take one high school class again just for fun, which would it be?

From the answers I’ve seen so far, it appears that those who loved school and were good students sat in the front. As usual, I’m different. While I enjoyed the learning aspect of school, though not the social, and I was a fabulous student grade-wise, I never sat in the front if I had a choice. My preference in any situation is to sit in the back, at the end of a row, and near a door if possible.

I would love to retake geometry (my favorite math class) and then immediately go on to retake more math and hopefully be able to go beyond where I stopped in college (advanced calculus) into theoretical math. That would be so cool! Assuming my old brain could handle it. 

3. What characteristics do you think are essential in a good teacher (this can be applied to anyone who teaches, not just classroom teachers)?

Good communication skills, kindness, patience, humor, and a flexible attitude toward unexpected glitches.

4. September 2 is National Grits Day. Have you ever eaten grits? Are you a fan? If so, how do you like yours? Would people describe you as “having grit?”

I don’t think I have ever had grits, and I’m not sure what they are. Like couscous or cream of wheat? If so, I would probably like them. 

I don’t know how people would describe me. Whether I have grit (courage, bravery, fortitude, determination) is dependent upon the situation. Mostly not, I think. 

5. What’s something you’re never too old or too young to enjoy?

Birthday cake, music, a soft cozy blanket, the soothing sound of rain or waves, and a snuggly puppy.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

“Kiss my grits!” is a phrase that the waitress character Flo used  in the TV show Alice. She was played by Polly Holliday, who passed away in September 2025 at age 88. The title character was played by Linda Lavin, who died in December 2024 at age 87. The older I get, the more aware I am of people dying and their age at death. I guess that’s only natural as we face our own mortality. 

Yarn

My 2023 pumpkin craft project 

In October 2023, I signed up to create a project at Michael's: a cute little crocheted pumpkin. I thought it came out well, so I bought a ton of yarn and a bunch of patterns right then and there with the idea of making a whole harvest of adorable crocheted vegetables. I even ordered a sweet wicker basket from Amazon to hold my upcoming treasures.

What I didn't expect was how difficult the next project would be when I was doing it alone at home without any help from a teacher (I don't find YouTube videos at all helpful for this kind of thing), nor did I expect how tired and achy my hands would get from manipulating the hook hour after hour as I kept ripping out my stitches and redoing them because they were never right. It didn't take long before I gave up the entire project completely, despite having spent a hundred bucks on yarn (not a lot, I know, for real yarn craft people).

The sweet wicker basket now holds my Ty Beanie Babies (I gave most of them away ages ago except for my favorite bears, otters, etc.) plus some newer Beanie Bellies and Beanie Boos, which brings you all up to date regarding my yarn escapades and also my Beanie collection, small as it is compared to the heyday of Beaniedom.

~*~

Written for Denise's Six Sentence Story (yarn).

Plans and More Plans

Yummy udon noodles (my photo)

I’m noodling over a couple questions in this week’s edition of John Holton’s Writer’s Workshop. Join in, if you like.

What is something the past did better than the present day?

People were better at sticking with plans in the past, at least in my experience, and I attribute this to the lack of cell phones. Before cell phones, it was often difficult to connect with someone at the last minute to change the details of an event or to cancel altogether, so people were more likely to keep to the original plan. Ghosting was rare, in my experience, with dates or otherwise ~  you didn’t want to get a bad reputation as a “flake.”

That said, I love my cell phone, as it allows me to keep in constant touch with my daughters via texts and pics. Otherwise, I would probably only hear from them once a week with a phone call like we did in the days of old. Oh, and FaceTime lets me see and chat with my grands at random times! Love that. 

What do you hope to accomplish in the second half of this year?

As I have mentioned before (and will likely mention again, bwahahaha), I began an exercise program on June 1. It was Leslie Sansone’s 30 Day Challenge to “burn and firm.” I stuck to it faithfully, and although I felt good about it, I didn’t really notice any improvement in my physical appearance. However, it’s now a week into the second month, and not only have I kept up the exercise habit, I’ve also increased the level. I bought heavier hand weights, stretchy bands, and a bunch of new Leslie vids so I don’t get bored. While a couple months back, 20 minutes of light walking exhausted me, last night I did 3 miles (42 minutes), plus a floor routine for “sculpting.” I was tired afterward, but not excessively. 

Finally, I am noticing that my body is leaner and more toned, so during the second half of 2026, I want to keep increasing my fitness level, both for health and vanity reasons. My blood pressure is lower already, and I am hoping that my cholesterol numbers will be better when I get my physical in a few weeks, but who knows. Even with exercise and eating right, this may be more of a genetic issue. They say that balance will improve as the core strengthens, so hopefully that will help me avoid falls, which is sadly a common problem among the elderly. 

I also want to switch up my reading to get out of the thriller/ romance rut, and I have started doing that (a little), and I hope to find my painting spark again, as I really enjoy it once I am in the mood.

Wish me luck with my plans! It’s not only about having willpower and motivation… I also need the universe not to throw impediments in my way, such as blackouts and backaches.

Spark My Interest

Sparking light bulb image from Pixabay

So many things spark my interest that it can be hard to focus. There are always a zillion books I want to read, a zillion minus x shows I would like to watch, poetry to write, pictures to paint, exercise routines to try... Not everything ignites however; most of my ideas don't go anywhere. For example, I saw Jim's post yesterday about slang terms and thought of the fun word "delulu," a softer way to say hey you're nuts for thinking that. I decided to write a triolet, but it fizzled. That happens a lot. I don't want to post a meh poem because I did too much of that on my old blog just to participate in prompts. Now, you may believe that all my poetry is meh, and I wouldn't argue! The poems I post on this blog though are ones that please me, which is good enough, but the delulu one wasn't meant to be.

The other day at work, I saw the most beautiful screensaver first thing in the morning (it was probably AI generated) of gorgeous purple flowers in the foreground, stunning greenery, vivid blue water, fluffy clouds, and a whole bunch of pretty trees. I took a photo of it with the idea of painting a triptych, which is a set of three pictures, related to but slightly different from each other. I was very excited to begin this project on the weekend, but it is now the weekend, and my interest has waned. I'm sitting here typing this post at the table where I normally paint, and I feel no desire to get out my painting supplies. I lost my spark.

What has kept my interest lately is exercise! I know, how weird. I had this old Leslie Sansone Walk at Home video that I used periodically, but I was a bit bored with it. On impulse, I ordered her 30 Day Challenge video and did it faithfully through the month of June. I am not here to testify to some miracle now, as I don't think anything really changed. I weigh the same, and I look the same amount of flabby. My clothes don't fit any better, and I still would not be comfortable wearing a swimsuit in public. But I feel really good! I feel so good that I ordered a couple more of her vids during Prime days and 5 more of her videos off eBay! I've been mixing up the routines and doing two per day on days I don't work, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. I just love it. I love it so much that I go to sleep and wake up planning which ones to do. Here's an even more bizarre thing: I used to do these videos with music only so I didn't have to listen to Leslie's jabbering, but now I like her jabber. I feel inspired by her silly pep talks and giggly banter with Nick Drago, one of the cute walkers she has on a lot of videos. OK, I admit I kind of have a crush on him even though he's in his 40s and was way younger than that on these vids from around 2010-2015. I'm a bit disappointed that he doesn't appear on one of the videos I bought, but it's a women-only one, so OK. 

Idk what happened to Leslie as she suddenly retired from all the things. I hope she's not in ill health or something (she's 65 like me, so not super old but not young either), but I wouldn't pay to subscribe to her channel because neither she nor Nick seem to be performing any longer. Not sure what exactly Nick is up to (can't really find out that much via stalking his Instagram, not that I did, lol), but he appears to be married to this gorgeous blonde named Chelsea, so it's best to just forget about him. Oh, I was going to do that Great Minds Think prompt about being immortalized by transporting myself into a video and making Nick Drago fall in love with me, but that seemed even more ridiculous than saying I would like to be immortalized by all my great writing, so it was a no-go. Lost my Nick Drago fantasy spark, alas.

Anyway. Happy 4th, whether you're sparking or not. Sparking used to mean courting, you know, not in our modern sense of hooking up aka "dating" (barf), but in the sitting on the porch swing with a glass of lemonade within earshot of the parents kind of way. Very sweet and chaste with no ghosting allowed because everyone knew you were there. You could spark more than one person at a time because, after all, it was only lemonade, but even so it all was supposed to lead to marriage and the whole nine yards.

~*~

Written for Linda's Stream of Consciousness Saturday (spark).

Summer Reading Bingo 2

Reading challenge bingo card

Welcome to my summer bingo book series, where I post five short reviews at a time. I'm giving myself the whole summer to finish the bingo card, not just the month of June. This is my second set of reviews; you can find the first set here.

1. Free space. Guarded by the Grizzly Bear by Reece Barden. This book was recommended by Mary, and it sounded fun, so I grabbed it off Kindle Unlimited. It had been some time since I tried to read a shifter romance, and this one got 3 stars, which is a good rating from me for this type of novel, where I find it impossible to suspend my disbelief. While the male main character was a stereotypical possessive jerk, though of course totally hot as required (it's never acceptable when a non-handsome man stalks you), the female MC (a cop) was strong and interesting, until the end anyway, and that was a treat. The setting seemed to be in the USA, maybe Montana, but around the halfway point there were a few UK spellings (favour, pyjamas), so maybe it was set in Canada. Unclear. This kind of thing throws me out of the story because I need to understand the logistics. Even a fantasy novel should be consistent with details. Bad proofreading, assuming there was any.

(I wouldn't normally use the "free space" so soon, except I had already started this book when I decided to join in on the summer reading bingo suggested by my book club leader.)

2. Ice cream on cover. Ice Cream and Incidents by Agatha Frost. I really wanted to like this book because it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a cozy mystery. It began in a promising way with some unexpected characters, but it soon turned into a boring drag (not punning). The writing was simply flat with loads of telling not showing. There was zero chemistry between the main character Julia and Barker, her fiancé; in fact, I thought they might be headed for a breakup given their lack of affection (I know cozies don't do explicit love scenes, but there was nothing here). They were happy with their dull cardboard existence, apparently. The only reason this novel gets 2 stars instead of 1 is because some of the drag queen scenes were fun. The description on Goodreads is incorrect, btw: there was no murder, just a stage “accident.” Finally, the title had nothing to do with the story. Yes, they had ice cream a couple times on vacation, but Julia was a cake baker. Why not Icing and Incidents?

3. Has June in the title. June by K. Nicole. Despite all the typos (what is it with books lately not being properly proofread and edited?!), I really enjoyed this book! Gave it 4 stars. It was a very atypical romance novel with fresh writing and interesting characters. And chemistry, whew! There was lots of graphic sex in this book, which was important to the plot. Another strong female lead carried half the story, with the hot criminal dude taking the other half. As in Grizzly, the female MC was a cop, but in this case the male MC truly was a bad guy. Some of the Black lingo was a little hard for me to follow, but I got the gist of most of it from the context, especially as the story progressed. The writing was full of vivid detail, which I always appreciate. I have a huge TBR pile, but eventually I want to read more books by this author.

4. NY Times Best Seller. Never Leave the Dogs Behind by Brianna Madia. This memoir was hard to read from an emotional standpoint, but it was very well-written and ultimately satisfying. Since her marriage fell apart, Bri is suicidal, manic-depressive, and dissociative. The only thing keeping her going is her love for her dogs. She isn’t a very likable person, but the reader can understand why she became so bitter and ran off to the desert to get away from everyone. Internet popularity is always a double-edged sword, and it was great to see Bri finally quit caring about hateful Instagram comments and root her sense of self in the physical world. Four stars.

5. Published in June. The Beach Holiday by Nina Manning. I had mixed feelings about this book. First, it annoyed me with the now/ then narrative. I understand that a lot of thrillers do this, but I find that it lessens the suspense factor. We know Sadie is safe because there’s a “now,” so we may not be as invested in the “then.” Just tell the dang story as it happened! Why is this so difficult lately? Second, the narration was in first person, but we were only privy to some of Sadie’s headspace. She kept secrets from us and lied to us. If you want to create distance from the reader, use third person. All that said, I ended up enjoying a big chunk of the story only because it was so different and weird, though preposterous. There were a lot of unanswered questions too, the main one being… why the heck couldn’t Sadie have told her family about Bruno?! I guess that would have wrecked the flimsy premise of Sadie “needing” to go to Fiji. Three stars.

Alrighty then, I have completed 10 bingo squares, yay me! Onto the next set of reviews…

Father's Day Hodgepodge

Dad and me in 2011, RIP

I'm participating in Joyce's Hodgepodge again this week. Happy Father's Day!

1. Summer's here!  In the northern hemisphere anyway. If you're in the southern hemisphere substitute winter for the word summer. What do you love most about summer? What's your biggest summer pet peeve? 

I love that my commute gets better because school's out. I love the Orange County Fair. I love warm days and popsicles dripping down my hand.

Toward the end of summer, the beastly dry and hot Santa Ana winds return. Instead of wind blowing from the ocean, it blows toward the ocean, filling our coastal air with all the dirt and dust from Inland California. It's really disgusting and gives me a migraine.

2. What song always reminds you of summer? 

Anything by the Beach Boys, of course! 

3. What's something you remember about your childhood summers? Do you think kids today get to enjoy summer the way you did as a child? Elaborate. 

Going to the beach with my mom. Trying to learn how to draw dogs from a book. Playing Battleship and Clue with neighborhood friends. Pretending our picnic table was a pirate ship. Riding my bike to Dairy Queen for a Mr. Misty. Reading romance novels. Watching TV. Trying to get a tan. Spending a lot of time alone.

I'm not one who likes to wax rhapsodic about the olden days when everything was supposedly better. I think that's BS, honestly. I had a lot of lonely times, and I was bored a lot too. Maybe today's kids are scheduled a little too much, but overall I think it's cool that parents try to make sure they have fun things to do with other kids during summer, while also learning new skills and getting exercise.

4. We celebrate Fathers Day on June 21st. Do you favor your dad in looks or temperament? Tell us something about your dad. Or your husband as a dad. Or a son/son-in-law as a dad. Or your grandpa. 

As you can see from the above pic, I look a lot like my dad. My temperament is similar to his as well: I'm introverted, introspective, and wordy. Usually I'd make fudgy brownies or chocolate chip cookies for my dad on Father's Day ~ he had a big sweet tooth, as I do. I miss him.

5. Let's wrap up with a summer this or that:

flip flops or sandals

beach or pool 

watermelon or peaches

shorts or sundress

iced coffee or ice cold lemonade

amusement park or water park

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My ex-husband, the father of my children, is dying in hospice. It's a tough time for us right now, and I may not post or comment much this week. 

Thanks for understanding.

The Rainbow Cake Disaster

 

AI generated image of a rainbow layer cake

I tripped and fell down up the stair

And smashed the rainbow cake to bits

I cried and yelled it was not fair

I tripped and fell down up the stair

I made this scrumptious cake to share

Now splat upon the ground it sits

I tripped and fell down up the stair

And smashed the rainbow cake to bits

~*~

Triolet written for Sammi Scribbles Prompt #473 (rainbow). I used the title as part of my 64 words, which might be "cheating," but I couldn't drag out the lines any further. This is a true story, btw. In June of 2024, I took a class at Sur La Table where we made rainbow cakes. There were five layers of different colored sponge cakes, and we glopped frosting atop each one to make them stick together. Then we frosted the top and sides, plus decorated the whole thing however we chose with more frosting and sprinkles. Who knew that this would turn into a super heavy monstrosity? The cakes were each so light! I could barely lug the thing to my car, and then I made the bad decision of carrying it up the stairs at my place instead of using the elevator. I tripped and fell on top of the cake, which was a total loss, plus I was all bruised up in a variety of places. I even went to the doctor because I thought I had broken a rib. I know, it's hard to imagine how my ribs were involved in this mess, but I fell frontward onto concrete steps, and cake does not break a fall as much as one might think! Anyway, no broken bones resulted, just bruises that took a long time to fade, plus a dented ego and a ruined cake. (I did hobble back out there and clean it all up.)

PS: This is the first time I've blogged about this or mentioned it in public. In June of 2024, I was on a blog break ~ actually I thought I would never blog again, but a couple months later I had an insatiable need to write about a movie I'd just seen, so here we are.

Inky Pinky Hodgepodge

Inky pinky painting

I'm participating in the Hodgepodge again this week, which is hosted by Joyce. She sure comes up with some great questions!

1. June 17th, 1994 was the day of the infamous O.J. Simpson car chase. What were you doing in 1994? I'm guessing somebody is going to tell me they weren't born yet but that's part of the fun of the Hodgepodge. Lots of generations are represented here. 

In June of 1994, I was a 33 year-old SAHM, so I imagine that I was doing mommyish things and not paying much attention to the news. I vaguely knew this big event was happening, but I had way more important stuff going on, like coloring with my daughters and baking cookies.

2. What's your favorite summer salad that isn't the traditional tossed green lettuce kind of salad? Do you like fresh fruit in a salad (other than in a fruit salad of course)?

I love fruit salad and fruit in any green salad, especially berries and mango. My favorite summer salad is the strawberry poppyseed chicken salad at Panera (check it out).

3. Is chivalry dead? Should it be? 

Chivalry is a double-edged sword, pardon the pun. Obviously the old-timey chivalry with knights and jousts and stuff is dead, except at Medieval Times and Renaissance Fairs, but we now use the term to describe "gentlemanly" type of behavior. While it may seem nice for men to be especially courteous to and protective of women, and also pick up the check, that often comes with a price. I think we all know what that price is. The concept seems pretty dead to me these days, but I have aged out of that world, so I guess I don't really know. Personally, I'm fine with not having those things and not being expected to do anything in return either. As far as holding doors/ elevators, that's just general politeness ~ people do it for each other regardless of gender, which is how it should be.

4. Would you rather spend a week of your summer vacation in Hawaii or Alaska? Have you ever been to either? Are they two places you really would like to see? How do you feel about 'Hawaiian pizza' aka pineapple on a pizza? Have you ever eaten Baked Alaska? 

Neither, as I dislike traveling and being away from home/ kitty. I've been to Hawaii a few times, and it was nice. Friends have taken Alaskan cruises, and the photos look interesting, though cruises appeal to me even less than vacations in general. I'm totally fine with Hawaiian pizza, though I probably wouldn't order it, as I prefer an all-veggie pizza. We had Baked Alaska at my second wedding (1988), which was a terrible idea (not mine). It was dramatic and tasted fine, but I missed having a real cake. 

5. World Cup play is happening now...are you interested? Watching any matches? Did you or your children play soccer/futbol? There are eleven US cities hosting matches--Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York with the stadium in NJ, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle along with  three cities in Mexico (Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey) and two in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver). You get free tickets to one of these matches. Which city do you choose? Tell us why. 

I have zero interest in any sporting events. My daughters did not play soccer. I guess I would take the free tickets to the Los Angeles games and give them away to someone who'd enjoy them.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

On Saturday, my friend Lisa and I had dates ~ literally. She brought over hot honey sushi (don't judge; it's delicious!) and date rolls with coconut. We watched the first part of the HBO Billy Joel documentary (I already saw the whole thing, but she hadn't), and will watch part two in a few weeks. It's excellent! The reason I resubscribed to HBO is because House of the Dragon is returning for the third season next Sunday, and that's one of the rare shows I enjoy. (See, I can suspend my disbelief for dragons!) It's been a while since I subbed, so I clicked on the cancel button to see what it would entail, and they thought I was cancelling right then, so they offered me half price for three months. LOL! I guess I will have HBO until October now. Any movie recs? Since it's so long between seasons and my brain is stuffed with so much junk, I am rewatching S2 of Dragon this week to prepare.

Yesterday (Sunday), my coworker and I did a "paint your pet" session at Pino's Palette. No, we don't put paint on the pet! We paint from a photo. She did her cute poodle-type doggo, which came out great, and I painted Inky. Because we needed room for her tail, the canvas has an area that needs "more," as you can see in the above image, so I ordered some large black stickers from Amazon to spell out her name on the left side. I'm really pleased with my painting, especially the eyes!

Today (Monday) I took the day off from work and will be driving up to Los Angeles in a few hours to see my granddaughter in her first ballet recital. I'm happy I can do this, as I don't get to see the kiddos all that often. Living an hour's drive away (at the best of times) sounds close, and it's certainly closer than a plane flight, but it's not like I can just pop in whenever. Visits are always planned around work and school.

That was more of a recap than a random thought!

Ocean of Dreams

Diane’s painting from 2020

Night is an ocean 

Secrets carefully hidden

Dreams cycle like waves 

~*~

I’m participating in Jill’s Haiku Friday today with inspiration from my daughter’s painting. 

Yellow (April A2Z ~ Misty Memories)

 

My mom, my daughters, and me, around 1996

Welcome to my April A2Z posts! This time, I am officially signed up on the challenge sheet and will be visiting other bloggers on the list. My theme is "misty memories," which will include a bunch of rambling about old stuff in my life, and hopefully some of it will be accurate, but if not, there's no one around to contradict me. Today we continue with Y for Yellow on the penultimate day of the challenge!

When I was little, I didn't like yellow, orange, red, or pink. I loved blues, greens, and purples, in all their various shades. I liked to combine blues with browns, as this reminded me of the earth and sky, the sand and sea. I even had light blue glasses frames for a while. My first serious office job at age 18 required an update to my wardrobe, but I didn't have much cash, so I bought all mix-matched items in blues and browns, with coordinating shoes. Of course, this was February in Chicago, so it was all covered up in a big huge coat, scarf, and boots until Spring. 

Fast-forward to (a) California and (b) motherhood. I discovered leggings... in a rainbow of colors! It was fun to match with my girls sometimes, and also I began a hobby of painting tee shirts. For a while, I thought I could turn it into a business, but it would have been like Lucy's salad dressing, if you know what I mean (supplies costing more than the product price). Luckily, before that happened, I ended up with carpal tunnel syndrome from painting all day because I became a wee bit obsessed. Anyway, it was fun for several months, and we all ended up with a bunch of unique shirts in vivid colors. Even my mom got into the act.

The main takeaway here is that I discovered I loved all the colors, especially lime green, hot pink, and sunflower yellow. I even did my kitchen over in a sunflower theme because they were so cheerful and pretty. As the 1990s came to a close, and I started working at a law office, my daughters convinced me that perhaps it was time to retire the lime green leggings and hot pink tees. (Not to mention all the boots and shoes in kooky colors.) That made sense at the time. I rediscovered blue and brown, added in black and beige, a smidge of cheetah, and that was my admin “uniform.” 

Sometimes I sneak in a pop of yellow or pink to liven things up though. And on weekends, anything goes!

X-ed (April A2Z ~ Misty Memories)

Me, around Y2K, with things I've X-ed*

Welcome to my April A2Z posts! This time, I am officially signed up on the challenge sheet and will be visiting other bloggers on the list. My theme is "misty memories," which will include a bunch of rambling about old stuff in my life, and hopefully some of it will be accurate, but if not, there's no one around to contradict me. Today we continue with X for X-ed.

X is a funny letter in that it marks the spot, checks the box, and can indicate approval or acceptance, but on the other hand X is also used to say an emphatic no, show disapproval, or denote a former status. We X our fingers for luck. X can represent a cross. X-mas for the holiday. It's a positive and a negative. PerpleXing! But that’s English for ya… 

In this post, I'm using X for something I quit doing. Here are some misty memories of things I have X-ed out, whether voluntarily or otherwise. Around age 5, I had piano lessons and a bit later flute lessons, both abandoned for reasons unknown, maybe moving. I had swimming lessons around age 10, then poof. I was on a bowling team for a while and dumped it. In NJ, I joined a chess club, quickly realized I wasn’t good enough, and skedaddled. In high school, I joined and left the Spanish club and the newspaper (I was the movie reviewer, lol). I did stick with my volunteer position at the creative writing magazine senior year, yay.

I started college at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and dropped out after a semester (finished my degree 10 years later at CSUN). I began a public speaking class in Chicago and bailed after two sessions. Kept taking dead-end jobs and dumping them throughout my 20s. Began taking the exams to become a real estate broker and quit when I realized I would have to deal with people constantly. Ish. Same with substitute teaching. I did finally find the perfect job (for me) and am coming up to 25 years, so there's that. 

Tried marriage a couple times and decided, nah, not my thing. Noped out on the whole dating/ romance world altogether. I already mentioned hobbies I gave up ~ crocheting, novel-writing, scrapbooking, painting, baking, etc. Joined and exited plenty of Meetup groups (and now barely look at Meetup at all). X-ed X and Bluesky. Medium. Substack (still there but don't really participate). WordPress of course and all my old blogs. Started and stopped Facebook a few times (am on now mainly because of a book club). Used to belong to a gym; now I don't. Tried a bunch of prescription meds and lifestyle changes to combat migraines, but most had no effect, so they got X-ed. There are probably a zillion more things I started and X-ed out of that I don't even remember.

One thing I am not quitting early is this 2026 A2Z challenge because there are only two letters left to go!

*The things in this photo I have since eXited from are collecting Beanie Babies (or anything), scrapbooking, getting perms, and wearing contact lenses.

Stitchery (April A2Z ~ Misty Memories)

With Cyndi and a stitchery project, around 1989

Welcome to my April A2Z posts! This time, I am officially signed up on the challenge sheet and will be visiting other bloggers on the list. My theme is "misty memories," which will include a bunch of rambling about old stuff in my life, and hopefully some of it will be accurate, but if not, there's no one around to contradict me. Today we continue with S for Stitchery.

I have been interested in arts and crafts as far back as I can remember, and it was because of my mom. She was constantly creating something new, whether for decorative or practical purposes. She taught me how to knit and crochet when I was young (though I have forgotten both skills), and I used to make blankets and rugs for my dolls. In seventh grade, girls had to take home economics in school, and one of the projects was to embroider a denim shirt. The teacher showed us how to create the various stitches required, and it was a lot of fun. 

My shirt turned out beautifully, so that encouraged me to continue with needlecraft. I did a few other small projects with embroidery stitches, but what I really loved were the larger picture kits using yarn for the stitches, which was called crewel. I did tons of those! I also did needlepoint pictures and pillows for years. It was a super relaxing hobby and something fun to do while watching TV at night, so I didn't feel totally unproductive. When the girls were little, I made some gorgeous pictures, framed them, and put them on the walls. Unfortunately, framing was hugely expensive: a kit might cost $20 for a 16x20 fabric canvas, but to frame it nicely, with a layered mat in complementary colors, could be $200 (back in the day). Soon, I switched to pillows only.

After I went back to work full-time in 2001 and became interested in writing novels (plus blogging about them and everything else), I lost interest in stitchery. The girls and I began knitting projects one Winter Break, and I did finish a scarf, but it was very plain, done in one stitch with straight edges. A few years ago, I took a crochet class at Michael’s and made the cutest little pumpkin, so of course I went into an obsessive frenzy and bought a ton of yarn and adorable little kits to make more vegetables for a basket. Unfortunately, it turned out that my hands were too achy and my eyes were too tired to deal with such intricate detail, and I ended up giving most of my untouched kits away. I think this hobby and I have parted ways for good.

Jewelry (April A2Z ~ Misty Memories)

Seventh grade school pic

Welcome to my April A2Z posts! This time, I am officially signed up on the challenge sheet and will be visiting other bloggers on the list. My theme is "misty memories," which will include a bunch of rambling about old stuff in my life, and hopefully some of it will be accurate, but if not, there's no one around to contradict me. Today we continue with J for Jewelry

I have always loved jewelry. The necklace in the pic is a seashell on a fake gold chain ~ jewelry doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive to appeal to me. Not that I would turn down fancy or expensive gifts! Just for the record. When I was around 10 years old, my mom gave me a charm bracelet, and it was fun to add new charms to it when I came across interesting ones. However, the bracelet eventually became all tarnished and gross, which is definitely a downside of costume jewelry.

I used to enjoy making jewelry: friendship bracelets, braided lanyards for keychains and purse decorations, “necklaces” made from gum wrappers (this was a fad!), and all sorts of pretty beaded items. I even had a couple jewelry making friends for a while when we lived on Long Island, but once when I went to the bathroom they stole my hard-to-find light blue beads, so I guess they were not really my friends (more on that later). I kinda lost the desire to continue until my girls became interested in it. 

But jewelry-making as an adult is very different. You don’t want a bunch of junk, and high quality supplies are expensive. This is one hobby I decided to nix before going down the path and buying a bunch of stuff. Still, I think about it sometimes… it would be fun.

K.I.S.S.

The older I get, the more I appreciate simplicity. I’m sure I am not unique in this preference. For example, Target just sent me an email telling me how happy they are to have me as a longtime customer. This would be the very same Target whose outside credit agency has rejected my new bank account about a dozen times, so I am forced into paying by phone. Since you can’t reply to the email, I decided to write a scathing letter about how badly I have been treated by both Target customer service and their stupid credit agency. I had fantasies about my extremely well-written (but very mean) letter going viral. People would finally appreciate my savage wit and intellect! I’d become famous!

Then I thought, nah, I will just continue not shopping at Target, which has been working well for a while now.

Regarding social media, the more FB annoys me, the easier it becomes to K.I.S.S. and avoid it. Lately, I’ve been checking my book club for updates, perusing the first dozen posts in my feed, and skedaddling out. If it weren’t for my book club, I would spend even less time there. 

I find Substack too difficult to navigate, so even though I have a couple pieces posted there, I never go unless I receive a link to an article that seems interesting.

Instagram actually pays attention to what I enjoy, so now my feed is filled with photos from zoos and kitty accounts. Ads for puzzles and “healthy” cookie dough may appear, and that’s okay. Funny that IG used to be my least favorite site! Words, man, I am here for words, I used to insist. Hah. Words are so irritating. Show me a red panda and keep your political jabber to yourself.

That said, I follow a few politicians and celebs there. I plan to read Valerie Bertinelli’s new book at some point (though I won’t pay the full hardback price). A few months ago, I donated to Gavin Mewsom (keeping this typo, sorry), so he sent me his book (for “free”). I will read that soon. I am currently, and by accident, reading two time travel books, including the 800 page novel 11.22.63 by Stephen King, which isn’t simple at all, but it’s damn good. (Update: just finished the non-King book and will review it soon on Goodreads.)

I refuse to read books I dislike, which means I don’t read all the selections every month for my online book club. My local, in-person club generally chooses books that I enjoy, so that’s cool. I joined an unofficial book club at work, but it’s via a comedian on YouTube, so I probably will pass on some of the selections. They’re very male-centric. 

I still like to engage in creative hobbies, but painting is so time intensive and messy. My friend Lisa gave me a sketchbook, and I am going to begin drawing instead of painting. Maybe I’ll engage in a little watercolor too. A whole world of possibilities opened up when Lisa said it’s not “cheating” to print out pictures from the internet and use them for inspiration or even copying outright ~ that’s what I basically did with those acrylic tutorials anyway. Real artists use models and photos all the time! Idk why I thought drawing/ sketching should come straight from my imagination. Silly.

How ironic is this looooong post? Maybe I should write a whole series on simplicity… or a novel!

Let’s keep it simple

Nobody wants War and Peace

Shiny things abound 

Post Valentines Blues

It’s official: I’m tired of romance. I don’t even have any romance novels in my house ~ I donated them all to the library. Even the Regency novels are leaving me cold because I really resent those hunky titled men who do absolutely nothing all day. Contemporary, in theory, should appeal to me, especially since I love the classic romcoms such as You’ve Got Mail, which I watched yesterday while doing a puzzle. It made me cry like it always does. Such good writing. Great dialogue and chemistry between the leads. A solid plot. Newer novels however have such stupid protagonists, not to mention plots that are way too absurd to take seriously even in fiction. There are exceptions, such as The Hating Game, but they’re too hard to find in the sea of dreck. 

Kinda like dating itself!

My online book club gravitates toward thrillers, and I have been reading a lot of those over the past year or so, but I am getting bored with them as well. I also have a separate list of restrictions for thrillers just as I do for romances: no child abuse, no animal cruelty, nothing about eyeballs, no teenaged protagonists, no first person alternating POVs, no stupid main character who deliberately flings herself into danger, etc.

This is not an exhaustive list.

Right now I’m reading The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill by Mark Bittner. It’s nonfiction and interesting. I do have to take breaks when I get annoyed with Mark for being an unemployed bum and remind myself that it’s okay and I am not dating him. In a romance novel, Mark would have been an introspective earl who could study birds all day and still be obscenely wealthy with a vast estate, but at least in this book the MC’s lack of a job actually means he goes hungry for a while. I have also started My Octopus Teacher on Netflix, which I am enjoying as well, but where is the documentary of an irresponsible man who won’t work, befriends animals, and dies impoverished and alone?

This morning I am going to breakfast with a friend and looking forward to catching up (and getting some avo toast). After that, I may paint again because my self-esteem is a bit too high, and it will be fun to fail at creating the masterpiece I have in my mind and end up with a hopeless mess. That way, I can remember how I didn’t pursue a lucrative career because I wanted to put energy into creative endeavors… and how that didn’t pay off. At all.

Besides that, I have loads of anxiety lately about all the things that have happened plus the ones that haven’t but might. Good times.

No advice needed. Commiseration encouraged.

Gold Dust Woman

I think I have some Stevie Nicks fans among my handful of readers, so I would like to recommend the biography of her that I finished yesterday Gold Dust Woman. It was written by Stephen Davis (who has written many rock star bios) and published in 2017. It's a long book (450 pages), dense with detail, and can get tedious at times when Davis goes off into tangents, but overall I enjoyed it and gave it four stars. 

It's interesting to me when people have all-consuming passions that rule their lives. My passions are brief and shallow, fluttering across my focus like butterflies, and then off they go. Stevie had many serious problems that impacted her trajectory, yet she persevered until she became the fabulous rock goddess we know and love today. Stevie knew that superstardom was her ultimate destination, and nothing was going to stop her from achieving her dream. I am in awe of that kind of drive.

My writing has stagnated. It's not just that I don't want to get up at 4AM to write before work; I simply don't feel like writing fiction at all, save for a random flash here and there. Poetry is a different animal, and every few weeks I feel a bit of inspiration to knock out some verse. I no longer feel writing is my passion or calling or anything of the sort though. For a while, it was an obsession, and now it isn't. Same goes for painting and other crafts that I loved, sometimes for a few years and other times for a weekend. Take the "neuro art" I tried a few weeks ago: I had every intention of doing a lot more of it, but now I can't be bothered. Will I do another at some point? I don't know. So much intense coloring at one time tends to make my hands ache. I have always enjoyed tabletop jigsaw puzzles and recently did a bunch, but for decades I hadn't touched one. 

Last Saturday I took a cookie decorating class at Grunderfully Delicious with a few book club friends. It was so much fun! My results turned out pretty nice even though it was my first time ~ in the old days, when I baked my own cookies, my idea of decorating was to toss on a few sprinkles and call it a day. Saturday's class was about serious decoration techniques and even included fondant. Fondant! The cookies were delicious, and I have now eaten them all and am ready for another class. I hope she has upcoming ones themed for St. Patrick's Day and/or Easter, and there are Saturday spots available. I'm not quite at the point of taking time off from work for a cookie class, but I do think about them a lot now.

Anyway, I was in a reading slump for a couple days last week where no books appealed to me, but now I'm back to the world of thrillers and romances. In fact, my current read is a novel called How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates, so it combines the best of both genres. Or the worst, as the case may be.

Welcome to February

January seemed longer than a month, didn't it? I feel like it should be March already, but no... it's only Feb. Good news is that Inky weighed 9.9 pounds today! The doctor should be pleased at her checkup in April; he said she should be 9-ish. Since October 1 of last year, she's lost .7 of a pound, which is pretty significant for someone so little, so we will keep on going with "the plan," since it seems to be working. I, on the other paw, have lost only half a pound, which is pretty insignificant, but I'm focused more on being healthy and making better food choices. I've been exercising more too, though it's still on the light side, due to all my issues with neck and head pain. Constantly doing puzzles is probably not great for my neck (even though I try to be mindful), but it helps me to stay relatively sane in this awful news era. For whatever reason, doing a puzzle totally absorbs my concentration to the point where I don't look at my phone for hours. Generally, when I'm reading a book or watching TV, I still check my phone frequently.

I also tried some "neuro art" today, which sounds very simple, but it's quite absorbing as well. You start with a piece of heavy paper (I used watercolor) and a black sharpie type of pen. Write three intentional words on one side or write an intentional sentence ~ keep it positive rather than things you don't want. For my first picture, I wrote calm, peace, and mindfulness. For my second one, I wrote love, kindness, and forgiveness. Then you flip the paper over and while thinking about your words draw freehand curvy lines from one side of the paper to the other until you're happy with the result. Next, at the intersection of the lines, make the crossing (x) more pronounced by going over it with your pen. When you're ready, start coloring in the sections, using maybe five different colored pencils to get an interesting result. It's not rocket science, but the soothing, repetitive action of coloring while keeping my intentions in mind put me in a bit of a Zen headspace. These are not pictures I would hang on my wall! They are only for meditative purposes.

I also have crossword and other paper puzzle books and a watercolor painting set to keep me occupied on upcoming weekends when I don't have social plans. Of course, there are still a zillion books I want to read and a couple movies I might like to watch. It is the month of hearts and flowers however, so I plan to treat myself accordingly. Meghan Markle says for us to be our own valentine, and I'm totally on board with that plan and have been for years, not that I'm going to buy her outrageously priced goodies. I am down with buying myself flowers from Trader Joe's though. Some upcoming events I'm looking forward to are my grandson's third birthday party, a cookie decorating class, two game nights with friends, a book club luncheon, etc. February looks to be a fun month indeed (crosses fingers).

Hope you all have at least one fun event planned in the near future!

The Life of an Office Girl

My eldest daughter and I drove up to see youngest and kiddos yesterday, hoping that traffic would be lighter on Columbus Day. It wasn’t. We still had fun painting rocks, having lunch, and playing. My granddaughter had discovered the American Girl doll catalog and showed me the one she wants for her birthday next June. Like a five star restaurant, AG does not list prices in their catalog, so I looked it up on Amazon later. When my girls were little, I decided that AG was too expensive; however, I am OK with buying one of these dolls for my granddaughter even though they’re still super pricey. LOL

Eldest played Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl on our drive to and from Los Angeles. Now, I consider myself neutral on TS ~ her music is for the most part (to me) pretty, bland, and boring with a few fun exceptions like “Shake It Off.” I understand she does a great live show, but I am not into loud, crowded $$$ concerts and prefer to enjoy music at home or while driving. On social media, one is supposed to either adore or despise TS, but I can’t get so emotional about a celeb. I did have fun with an FB friend the other day mocking the cringey lyrics to “Wood,” but I admit that I enjoyed TS's new song “Opalite.” The rest of the tracks fell into the PB&B category, including the ode to Travis’ penis.

Working backwards, Sunday I enjoyed a romcom on Prime called Maintenance Required, which was similar to You’ve Got Mail, but with cars instead of books. While I will always love YGM, this flick had much hotter-looking stars who had palpable physical chemistry ~ Madelaine Petsch and Jacob Scipio. The chemistry between Kathleen (Meg Ryan) and Joe (Tom Hanks) in YGM was more verbal/ intellectual, while Maintenance Required felt more "realistic." It won't become a regular in my romcom rotation, but it was a nice treat.

I binge-read two thrillers by Jason Rekulak: Hidden Pictures and The Last One at the Wedding. I gave a five-star rating to each of these! HP had supernatural elements, but they were consistent and didn't end up creating more questions than they answered. The narrative style was first person, present tense, which is generally not my favorite, but it worked in both of these. HP had a young woman narrating; the wedding novel had a man in his 50s, both completely believable. The narration pulled me right into the story and kept me hooked throughout. The twists in each were completely unexpected, but not deus ex machina. They made sense in retrospect. 

I watched the new Superman movie at a friend's house on Saturday. I liked it as much any movie of that genre (i.e., not much), but it was fun to have dinner with friends and play some board games. Sunday, I did more rock painting with the book club gals, and we also had lunch. Good times. I didn't even mind being social for three days in a row! Well, maybe family doesn't count.

That's it for my exciting recap. I am now back in the office the rest of the week.

Pumpkin Spice Thoughts

The internet has turned (allegedly) normal adults into toddlers. A perfect example of this is the kerfuffle around pumpkin spice. Why should there even be an issue? If you like pumpkin spice, then yay there are a lot of products to choose from. If you hate pumpkin spice, then don't order any of these products. Maybe I missed the PS evangelist gang kidnapping peeps and forcing them to drink PS lattes? That's a possibility, since there is so much news it's hard to keep up. In the absence of someone forcing a PS hater to consume PS however, why are the haters so obsessed with hating on it? This is typical toddler behavior, and what do we say to cranky tots? Don't yuck my yum. To each their own. If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all. Etc.

I love some pumpkin/ pumpkin spice foods: lattes, cookies, cake, pie, and (surprisingly) tortilla chips from Trader Joe's. I'm neutral on others, and I particularly dislike the oatmeal and granola I tried. But instead of making a nasty meme about PS cereals, I simply have gone on to live my life without them. Other people enjoy the cereals, or they wouldn't continue to sell, and this has zero effect on my life. You could say the same thing about other food items I avoid, such as escargot, beef jerky, licorice, etc. I don't feel the need to insert an "eww" every time someone mentions them on socials. Every September however, without fail, the PS haters appear on social media with their mockery memes, and I just don't understand it.

Perhaps it's a way of bonding: nothing brings people together like a common hatred. There even used to be a dating site themed on this concept ~ apparently Hater Dater has morphed into a typical advice blog. It makes sense though ~ common dislikes are sometimes more important in assessing compatibility than common likes. For example, when I used to date (or try to), it didn't really matter that a man matched with me on liking rock music, kitties, and sushi. Someone truly in sync with me didn't enjoy watching sports all weekend, traveling extensively, or going to massively loud/ crowded events. Of course, shared must-haves are crucial in certain areas, such as whether one requires a monogamous relationship.

Speaking of (not) dating, I was chatting with friends yesterday during a pumpkin spice themed rock painting party, and I mentioned that at a certain point, sometime between 2011 (breakup with boyfriend of 2.5 years) and 2016 (ghosted by man after 2.5 months), I just said eff it and began doing whatever I pleased without worry that it wouldn't mesh with some hypothetical future beau. My current lifestyle would most likely be a total turnoff to any man, with my focus on cats, crafts, puzzles, romance novels, and romcoms. I also play a lot of board games, which some men are into, but that's just a coincidence. The gals and I have planned another couple events during October: more rock painting but combined with a swimming and BBQ party, and a visit to the pumpkin patch where we will act like silly little kids again. I'm excited! I'll post my painted rocks on IG ~ I really like my cute avo.

My autumn agenda includes more books, more movies, more fun with friends, and more pumpkin spice. I will be avoiding as much stress and drama as I can, which means less and less social media. Btw, I have read plenty of books since my last review, but there hasn't been anything interesting to say about them. I also finished the first season of The Morning Show, and it turns out that only S1 is available on Prime (it's disappearing soon in any case); supposedly, I have Apple TV through a friend, but I can't get it to work, so I probably won't be watching more. I thought S1 was very good. Tonight I plan to watch Swiped, the docu about Bumble, only because it stars Lily James.

We Can Blog If We Want To

Lately I’ve been having a “Safety Dance” earworm, and it seemed appropriate for this post, after over a week of silence. It’s not that I forgot to blog; I simply didn’t feel like it. In the olden days, that would not have stopped me, and I would have churned out writing regardless. But I don’t have to do that now!

 

I can blog when I want to

I can leave my friends behind 

Cuz my friends don’t blog

And if they don’t blog

Well they’re no friends of mine 

I had a very nice Mother’s Day up in Los Angeles with my daughter, SIL, and grands. Saw my daughter’s in-laws too. Also had a fun social event Saturday with my in-person book club at Classic Cafe in Fullerton ~ though I was not impressed with the coffee shop. Super ridiculous long line to order combined with an insanely long wait for the food. I only had iced tea and a cookie since I didn’t want to wait another hour for a sandwich. What the heck? LOL. It was good to chat with book friends though. The pecan pie cookie was tasty, but I wouldn’t return due to the annoying drive and crazy wait time.

Speaking of books, I read another Victoria Holt novel: Lord of the Far Island. Gave this one four stars for excellent plotting, great characters, and a clever twist. More than one actually. I’m calling this one a mystery for the 2025 Reading Challenge category ~ LOTFI contained several mysteries, so that’s fair. Overall, however, it is probably more accurate to put this book in the romance genre.

I reread Verity by Colleen Hoover for my in-person book club meeting on June 8, but now I'm not sure I can go that day because there might be a grandkid birthday party. We shall see. Anyway, I read Verity a couple years ago and didn't like it, though I don't remember why. I do know I didn't like the beginning, and that opinion remains unchanged. There was simply no need for Lowen to meet Jeremy prior to their meeting at the publisher's office. Why introduce an unnecessary coincidence? After that though, I thought the writing was solid and the story exciting. I truly had a hard time putting down the book! One of the things I loved this go-round is that we really don't know what was true even at the end (and the additional chapter added to the mystery). We have to draw our own conclusions about Jeremy and his wife's behavior before Lowen met them. I am not a fan of multiple "weird" names in a story however ~ Verity is an odd name, so hers should be the only one of that kind. We don't need her kids to also have unusual names, and uhhhh "Lowen?" Too distracting. Nevertheless, I gave it four stars for being such a compelling read. Wish I could remember why I didn't like it the first time.

For my online book club, I read two books so far for May. The first was Those Girls by Chevy Stevens, a psychological thriller. I gave it only two stars. The story was relentlessly violent, and I couldn't relate to the main character, who was a teenager, and later the POV changed to another MC, the first one's daughter, who was also a teen. I dislike reading a teen protagonist unless they're interesting, mature teens, such as those portrayed in Victoria Holt's novels. The contemporary psycho thriller teens act even stupider with respect to men than grown women do in psycho thrillers. I don't want to cringe through an entire book saying "don't do that!" Blech. At least it fit a Reading Challenge category (takes place in summer), so it wasn't a total waste.

Unfortunately, the second book wasn't much better and also received a two-star rating. It was Credence by Penelope Douglas and had a genre-identity crisis throughout. Seems like the author could not decide whether she was writing erotica or a psychological study of a daughter emotionally neglected by her narcissistic parents. Due to this, the book was overlong and repetitive. Again, the MC was a teenager, a sad, spoiled, extremely rich Hollywood girl who immediately takes to life on a ranch and figures out how to fix refrigerators and create clever contraptions for animal feed. Sure, that's all believable. Then there's the fact that this virginal introvert has to seduce the dad and his two sons in extremely vivid and explicit ways because she is so hungry for love. All this seducing takes many pages of narration for each thought and sigh and touch and regret, from multiple POVs. The worst thing is that this book did not fall into any of my Reading Challenge categories, so after slogging through the whole thing, I didn't even get to cross off a box. Tragic!

I have two more books to read for May, plus two "extras" for June ~ that's not counting the actual June reads, which haven't been announced yet. Also, I am happily devouring all the rest of the Victoria Holt books that I can find as I have time in between the book club reads. Needless to say, I haven't been watching much TV or doing any crafts these past couple weeks. Oh, I did paint a sunflower when I was trapped at home last Thursday due to the water guys digging a massive hole behind my car to fix a leak, but it was terrible, so I tossed it immediately.

Gatsby isn't doing well, and I am very sad about that. I'm just trying to keep him as happy and comfy as I can. I know I will miss him so much when the time comes to say our final goodbye, which I think will be soon.