- I haven’t had a dog since late 2018 but I have had two dreams recently wherein one of my old pets resurfaced and I had forgotten to feed them. In one, I was living in my childhood home and as I walked into our laundry room, I realized it was 9:30 and my poor Boston Terrier, Todd, was whining to be fed, as one would expect. We used to feed our animals around 4:30 pm. Monday night’s dream, very similar; I was sitting in my chair and I heard a whining and thought, “Oh crap! I forgot to feed the dog!” I wonder if this is symbolic of something else in my life I am forgetting to do…
- My gardenias are blooming out of control! I have one on either side of the pool shed (pic at end of post) and one near the back gate and it smells so lovely in my yard. I also finally got all the pervasive vine out of the gate bush so I hope it’ll keep producing and thriving.
- You know what I finally realized is my problem of late? I just feel unsettled. Because I’m on the hunt for a new job, I am always feeling just a little…uncomfortable. It’s a frustrating place to be. I’ve been here before too so you’d think I could figure out how to find solace.
- At least I got the pool going/blue. Both my oldest and youngest said they couldn’t wait to swim. Elliot especially surprised me with that because the past couple years he’s been against it. He just generally had a bad attitude about it. He’s going to hate it when I tell him we’re headed to the beach soon! My guess is he’ll actually not come. He’d probably feel left out, especially if all the other kids come with their girlfriends/boyfriends. All the other kids we know his age – and have known for decades – are paired up now but my kid? No, he’s just not interested. Sigh. You can’t make your kids do stuff, I guess.
- In my Tuesday post I talked about the beautiful burger I made. I do think a cheeseburger is probably m favorite food but I go in cycles with them. We hadn’t made them at home in probably 2 or 3 weeks so this one was just… mwuah, chef’s kiss.
- We had some good beers that same day; I only picked light beers and we had quite a few good pilsners and lagers.
- This one is very random but I went down the rabbit hole on a former friend’s facebook page. She and I were friends around 2010 or so and a little before. I met her when she was in grad school and I’d just started working at FSU. We got along because when I was pregnant with Isaac she found out she was also and we had similar ideas. She was married to a nice guy who was also into running, as we would be. As our kids grew, we went to birthday parties and sometimes hung out. As the Trump years began, she and I grew apart. She went HARD left and I think she knew I wasn’t very politically motivated at all. Her husband was very conservative and I remember this time we met to eat and she said she was “wearing him down on a lot of issues.” Well I noticed last year and the year before, at Cross Country meets, David was never around but her sister came with. So I went looking through her Facebook and her last post with him was in 2020 and while she never posted about divorce or anything, she has ‘no relationship to show.’ Based on the fact that she’s now got a 14 year old girl who she’s clearly pushing to be trans, I bet he high-tailed it out of there. She just took her kids to a pride parade. I mean, look, you can parent however you want but that seems weird to me. But yeah, I guess she’s not married anymore because of politics. So sad.
- My arms and back still hurt from my yard work on Monday. I feel sort of old because I was just wrecked after that. I even tweaked something in my back and if I turn a certain way I jump a little in pain. Fun!
- I have applied to more jobs this week then got news that I only have one summer section at one of my online places. Ugh. There’s 420 less dollars a month. But I also look at it like maybe it was supposed to happen so I can find the right job and transition away from as much teaching online. I could probably handle one online section if I got a full time job that might now allow for more.
- Right after I wrote #9 (on Tuesday) I got an email for a phone interview at a place that does similar things that I do here so I guess, yay? Pay is a little low but we’ll see how the conversation goes.
- My pool, while not entirely crystal clear, is starting to be. I could see a little of the bottom today in the shallow end. It’s a process to go from completely unmaintained to swimmable. I do have to remember that I didn’t start putting chemicals in until Monday morning and Chlorine didn’t hit it until 3 pm Monday, so for it to be clearing by Thursday morning, we are doing pretty good!
- My brain is doing the thing again, the thing where it yearns for good times and I get all nostalgic. It’s a defense mechanism against stress and depression. But I keep thinking about our trip to Helen, Georgia last October, and the beach days when the kids were younger, and even the long walks Ash and I took during the Covid lockdown months. All good things.
- I applied for this proposal development job that I recently found out a friend of mine just got. She used to teach at TCC like I did and one day, she posted a photo of her laptop by the pool with a beer next to it saying how remote work suits her and I was like, ‘Where can I get that job?!’ So I reached out to her and she explained it so…fingers crossed! I would LOVE to go back to remote work. Trying not to get too ahead or excited because who knows, but wow, I would love that. I mean, I realize that it would probably mean I’d be tied to my computer more, even though at home, but I would love not to have to commute anymore either.
incognitusscriptor.com 
I have a feeling there’s going to be an epidemic of friendships destroyed due to politics this year. What a terrible thing to end a friendship over. Politics is the work of the devil, I swear.