What Day is it Anyway? Thursday, March 26th, 2020 — This and That Thursday

On Linda’s Page (prompter of What Day Is It Anyway?) she talked about not getting to sleep until the third hour. In comments, I mentioned how it isn’t fair that the senior hour for shopping is early mornings. That isn’t really fair and is assumptive of the rule-makers. (I do understand that the cleaning and shelving of products happen at night. Thank you shop-owners for being so kind. This is a life-long issue for me! A night owl by nature.) Though there must be seniors that are early birds, I would guess a lot of us fall into the tossing and turning and seeing holes in the ceiling and stars above, or mountains or monsters that are just clothes or bedding tossed on the corner chair or table–and those are the creative moments. Most of the tossing and turning is pain enhanced by what-ifs, worst-case scenarios, or guilts of what didn’t get done the day before, or that never-ending list of things that must be done tomorrow–which never get done. And we of the senior variety or high-riskers have the most to worry about.

And that leads me to the wake-up with a back story. It is a non-COVID19 story. <shock-face> One night a month or so ago I was rolling over in my sleep. I grabbed the blanket to cozy in. My hand felt crusty-gooeyness. Yuck! I was so sleepy I wanted to ignore it. But YUCK! I’m sure it was upchuck! So I got up and removed said blanket, washed my hands and donned another blanket with a note to myself to keep the cats off my bed. Yeah. That’s gonna happen!

Solution: I found an old pink blanket to put on top of my regular covers. My day starts with me waking because two cats are lying on my up facing side (I sleep on my side) while Kali is curled up near my tummy. I wake because I know that this cozyish moment could turn into World War III including teeth and claws if I don’t get ahead of the situation.

I get up. I yell, “Everyone out of the pool, now!” I do the fastest bedmaking because Teddy is impatient to get the special blanket. Which comes next. It is an old pink blanket. Though thin, it should protect a little against possible crusties. Teddy seems to smile at me and steps right on it and curls up with a sigh that says, ‘Finally!’

As the morning moves on one becomes two as Rosey joins him. These two can be the worst of enemies but it is obvious they like to be together.

 

 

In other news:

I love it when my nails get this long.

There are things you can do with nails that you can’t without. Like a good back-scratching. And they make my fat fingers look nicer. But regardless of the science that says nails stay cleaner when they are short, I tend to disagree. See how clean these sweeties are? When I have short nails, the free-edge gets blackish with dirty, greasy, grimey, crud. I use the brush and have to scrub harder. Without nails, there are things I can’t do with nails, like rub my face. It’ll be nice not to scratch my eyeballs! Though we are advised to keep them short during the pandemic, this is the stage I have to cut anyway–rebel much?–because they break down below the quick. That hurts! So bye, bye nails!

Guess what. I know it is Thursday because last night was Chicago Med, Fire, PD or the Josh Gates shows which are on at the same time so we watch them on the weekends.  I love C. Med. I like C. Fire. I tolerate C. P. D. I love all the Josh Gates shows. I will share the trailers in a moment. I just wanted to finish my thought, it is Thursday and we already took out the trash for tomorrow! Now the trailers.

 

I think of Josh as another of my sons, in fact, he looks and has similar humor to my step-son, so I love him! And I think the shows are very exciting while being educational.

I know. I just noticed this is two trailers from the same show. He has other shows but I didn’t want to wear you out with YouTubes–no, more like, I didn’t want to wear me out looking them all up. Sorry. <–I wanted to say, ‘My bad’ but I hate that phrase!

And now, for no particular reason, a picture of Kali. I think she wanted equal time with the cats starring on this one. Sorry that you had to see the (cleanish except for the cats’ scratchpad cardboard flakes) piddle pad and her ‘hide the biscuits’ (really dog treats not the other) towel. But hey, there’s Pictionary!

Gotta love that face!

😍😘🥰🤗

How is your day going? I hope you are all staying safe and well! Enjoy the close you can get or the internal reflections that can bring you peace, hope, and love. Whatcha cooking? Today we are having Lana Burritos.  Leftover beans and rice with smashed (pressure cooker) potatoes.

 

What Day is it Anyway? Sunday, March 23rd, 2020

Pixabay.com

 

When I started the #What Day Is It Anyway blogging I thought it would be a good way to keep track of days and feelings as this Covid19 grows.  A friend from my old writing group sent me a note about how in the old days, other plagues, journals were found to guide us in the future. Awkward sentence. I hope you understood it. I have to get this done in a hurry as I still have a lot to do before bed.

She also talked about having written a lot in MySpace and her son wrote a blog and couldn’t get back in. How many computers have you been through that crashed with all the information you loved and wanted to save?

Pixabay.com

SO… as of yesterday, I started a handwritten journal. In it, I am keeping track of my feelings and the progress of the disease. So far as we know, we are still three degrees of infected. But if the charts are right it will hit closer to home. I want to keep track of everything. Much I can share here. But those hypochondriac thoughts or which shoes are best for walking may not need to be here. Too scary or boring, ya know?

I wondered how to start. I thought, what if a person were to find this in the future. Say an archeologist. It could be a time when science isn’t what it is today. And then the question came to me, what if the internet doesn’t exist? What if they have no computers?

Have you ever tried to explain the internet or blogging to someone who might have never heard of it? Well, there were three pages that included encyclopedias and the use thereof.

I have multiple colored pens and I change as the subject changes drastically, or a mood hits. Then as I rambled along I thought, what if they can’t read cursive? I have the ugliest print. I think my cursive is okay. So I did a chart showing the alphabet in cursive and print so they might figure it all out.

It’s been fun, in a way. I’ve written about 700 words. My hands only cramped up once. So I will continue.

One the physical side it was ‘witch on the bicycle’ windy so I didn’t get to take a walk. I could handle rain or snow or sun, but the wind is the worst. Hopefully, I’ll get the chance tomorrow. I did love being out there yesterday and the day before.

We caught up on The Good Doctor after lots of news. Now I am watching Contagion on Netflix. I’m on the third episode. This one scares me more than the others. I don’t know why. So here’s the YouTube trailer. Use your own discretion to decide if it is for you.

Wash your hands, keep your distance. Love one another. Take a walk if you can. Be creative in whatever way the muses hit you. Hang in there!

***

Per Linda:

Why I’m writing this post:

Because if you’re like me and stuck at home already, or if you’re going to be like me soon, the days of the week are going to be hell to keep track of. We have a wonderful community here on WordPress and all over the Internet as well, and I’m sure many people are feeling nervous and/or isolated. I want to make sure every one of us has somewhere to congregate and someone to talk to.

I want everyone to know that you can start discussions with each other in the comments, and if you’d like to write your own “What Day is it Anyway?” post, you can link to this one. Hashtag #WDIIA.

Let’s keep in touch!

What Day is it Anyway? Sunday, March 22nd, 2020

Wow! I have to ask myself, what did I do today? It is 10:30 PM. My wake up was a little over 12 hours ago. Here is a little of what my day held for me.

On Sundays, we wake up and watch CBS Sunday Morning. I eat my breakfast toast or bagel during the show and get the coffee or other caffeine onboard. Anyone who has been watching “live” shows sees a big difference in how the shows are done now. Even our Sunday Morning showed the social distancing in effect. That makes me both happy and not so much. Knowing that we are still in the early stages of this pandemic. How will it change? Much of the show was dedicated to our new normal.

I know we watched another show after that but I can’t remember what it was. I know with all the bingeing we did we are now trying to catch up on our recorded shows. I might not remember because the highlight of my day was taking a stroll or two or three around the yard. I’m nearly ready to leave for a real walk. Thank heavens for sunny warm days. Yes, 55 degrees is warm. We are still dripping faucets at night as it is in the 20s. But after a cold, low snow winter, I was able to walk without a sweater or coat. I must have adapted to this weather as I used to freeze at 67! I’m not ready to wear shorts like some friends and a neighbor out here, but no coat is a thumbs up!

Most of my day is knitting, as you know. I’m anxious to take my daughter’s first sock off the loom. I want to try a certain cast-off and I feel I want to be aware of the tutorial on YouTube to make the best stretchy cuff for her. Meanwhile, the second sock is at the cuff part and the stitches used are more time consuming so I put it off. I do have her boyfriend’s first sock to the point that I’ll be making the heel soon. Now that I have his on two of the same size looms I am trying to keep both socks nearly caught up with each other. So I may put off the heel one until sock two is caught up. I still have a couple of hats in the making. But I only worked on boyfriend’s socks today.

During the knitting, I watched Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets:

It was weirdish but good for entertainment. In spite of whoever did the chest plate for our female star, must have been male, there were plenty of good lines from out starlet that I not only applauded, I shouted out to my three males of the house!

There might have been other shows. But it is Sunday and my evenings are usually watching The Walking Dead and The Talking Dead. I think having watched so much of these kinds of shows in the past few years, I find myself not as panicky. You see it isn’t about the zombies, but how people come together. How the good and the bad are affected. How old rules of social life can change and how to adapt.

If you haven’t watched it and are into it, this was a great show and there were tears. I hope that wasn’t too much of a spoiler. But The Talking Dead helps me get over whatever trauma I hold from TWD.

By the way, this is not tonight’s show. More on that in a moment.

Tonight’s show was done from the homes or offices of the stars. Like all live shows, keeping the social distancing so as to stay alive and well.

While I did my Duolingo lessons, I focus on German and Spanish but have added French and Esperanto. and while writing this blog I have had on one of my favorite go-tos: Alaska the Last Frontier. My brother knows the Kilchers and has shared his experience being up there one summer with me as I watch. I love that family. I wish I would have tried living up there like that when I was younger and energetic. I wonder how they are dealing with this new normal? Probably just fine as they are already socially distant.

Well for some people this is a boring kind of day. But for us, this is how we’ve been living since SSDI and then retirement SSI. I keep my hands busy trying to do something for others (yay! socks!) and keep my mind occupied watching writing, directing, acting out stories. Or listening to stories on Audible or Kindle Text-to-Speech.

So this is my version of What Day Is It Anyway? A prompt given to us by Linda G. Hill.

Per Linda:

Why I’m writing this post:

Because if you’re like me and stuck at home already, or if you’re going to be like me soon, the days of the week are going to be hell to keep track of. We have a wonderful community here on WordPress and all over the Internet as well, and I’m sure many people are feeling nervous and/or isolated. I want to make sure every one of us has somewhere to congregate and someone to talk to.

What Day is it Anyway? Tuesday, March 17th, 2020

Since we are retired folk, our lives are basically the same as usual. My bother and son live with us and have volunteered to do the shopping and getting the mail from the post office. Our small town is having as hard a time as everyone else. Our school and library are closed. I would assume the few restaurants are closed. We have two small stores, Cheron convenience, and a little grocery. We had already done the first shopping of the month so we won’t need toilet paper for a couple weeks.

So life continues around here, right now, as usual, with me knitting socks and hats, and the big guy doing his researches online. All the while we are bingeing our shows, like always.

We are finally caught up with one I didn’t like the first time I tried it. Westworld:

I think I may be willing to try Battlestar Galactica now. I have been able to follow the characters better than I used to. That had been one of my problems. The other was the treatment of women. But stick with it if that is your issue. These fems are kickass!

We are also caught up on Outlander. And I can say my reading is ahead of the television series.

I don’t know why I like them and seem drawn to them, but I love to watch disaster movies or medical shows. I just finished this one yesterday, the old classic Outbreak. I’m left with the question: What happened to that cute little monkey?

Last night I needed something I consider light–because I’ve watched it so many times, Greys Anatomy. I ended up watching several in a row. And I wonder why I didn’t get to sleep until 4? I was reading Outlander after watching the show. Common sense, Dar! I know!

The weather doesn’t want to settle down and be spring. Remember last night where the raindrops froze on the storm door window? Here’s tonight’s pic:

I hope you all are staying safe and warm. This was my edition of What Day is it Anyway? This is another great Linda G. Hill prompt.

 

 

Busy–Doc Martin

My friends have been going on about Doc Martin for a while. Well, they are right. We are now in our third season. I must admit that the first few of this show made me crazy and I nearly quit. Now I am so into it that I don’t have time for a proper blog tonight.

Enjoy!

Filmology Friday

Whatcha watchin’?

Here are the latest distractions I’ve had to help with knitting:

My inner mermaid needs water. A pool, or ocean. I miss swimming! Hence the second Mermaid show: Mako Mermaids, Just Add H2O

Okay, it is a bit silly. But I’m not only watching. It is background knitting music!

Another one for the background is Kipo. I wish my kids were young and I could watch this with them. So many teachable moments!

My husband and I caught up on Outlander. I’m still reading. I am a book behind the show. I’m reading (listening) as fast as I can.

 

My brother, son and I are binging on Better Call Saul. I have to admit that it is hard to watch the past after you’ve watched Breaking Bad and El Camino. No, this show doesn’t win any kind of Bechdel test. Hardly any female influences. I’m not a fan, but it is fun to watch with my guys.

 

A show to watch for teachable moments with younger people or men who could use this kind of knowledge, if you are able to handle that kind of thing. Otherwise best watched alone to save the embarrassment levels. There is much for all of us to learn–or discard, but interesting Gooplab:

 

A show that surprised me was I’m Not Okay With This. I really liked it, so did my brother.

 

Most of these are on Netflix. Outlander is only up to season 3 on Netflix. The rest is on Hulu.

Speaking of Hulu:

It is really good.

 

Well, I know there are many more. I even have listened to Pandora this past week so that I could read more of Outlander while knitting. I have a channel I call Pirates of the Caribbean, mostly of the shows but Game of Thrones and other movie music sneaks in there.

What’s your noise at the moment?

Stream of Consciousness Saturday — Cheek

 

Per Linda:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “cheek.” Use it as a noun or a verb. Enjoy!

 

My stream takes me from songs that talk about cheek to cheek to cheeky. I took a nap thinking about this. When I nap I try to leave on the TV so that my mind won’t think it is night time. The best sleeping shows for me have David Attenborough talking about nature and the world we live on.

I woke up laughing at the cheekiness of his narrative of a commercial about The Walking Dead. He was explaining about the whisperers and what their habitat was and what they needed to survive. I almost thought it was in my dream but it was an actual commercial. Does that define cheeky? It was funny.

I hope you are all having a nice weekend. We woke up to snow today and it is supposed to snow again tonight. Our poor plants keep having a hard time with these weird weather surges. Our mesquite bush is already leafing out. The trees have buds. I don’t mind the snow if it stays as it makes everything look pure and clean. But quick melting snow leave us with a muddy mess. Oh, well. I’m glad we didn’t have a -40 winter.

Anybody watch Picard? We loved it so far.

Busy, Busy!

I planned to be a part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday but I was so busy I nearly forgot to blog yesterday. I have four pairs of socks on looms, two hats on the round looms and a matt of plarn.

 

Normally, that doesn’t keep me so busy I can’t blog. But THIS had my attention all day.

 

My son and I loved it, all of it! But my husband found it boring. Isn’t that weird how different we see things? I could not remember what stitch I was supposed to be doing I was so glued to the show. Maybe you will like it.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the Hat Huggers meeting. Knowing that I realized I had some yarn I promised to get set up for folks who don’t have the umbrella and cake winder to make balls of yarn from yank-skeins or frogged items that are donated. So besides the knitting projects, I got out the equipment to wind up a few cakes.

I started in earnest with:

I got a couple big cakes from this white yarn. It is crochet yarn. I know it can be used to make doilies but not sure about things like hats or any other comfort items.

Then I found this maroonish wool yank. It is in the middle of the next picture.

I knew it would make socks. But it seems rather old and broke often. With both of these yarns, there were so many problems getting them to flow properly. The white had stains. I know whoever ends up with it will have to wash their complete project using some kind of bleach. The maroon was so breakable I just tied the bigger balls that resulted between breaks. I decided I will keep it to practice sock knitting on needles. I’ve been instructed to toss very bad yarn rather than attempt to make something of it. But I think I can reuse this skein one more time before trashing.

Someone donated a lot of mohair and the body of a sweater they had attempted. I wish I were a more advanced knitter so that I could finish their sweater. But with no pattern to follow or even the other needle, I figured frogging would be necessary.

So during Godzilla:

It was good to see Eleven from Stranger Things! But I didn’t like it so much. Did you? I found it too loud.

 

And then the Oscars, I made this kind of mess to cake before bed.

It made me think of Hair Love that we saw this morning on Sunday Morning. I loved this sweet film!

Anyway,  I better get busy. Catch ya on the flip-side!

Happy Groundhog’s Day

Happy Groundhogs Day!

I can’t believe we are already at this silly, fun holiday. I try to enjoy it every year. No, I don’t believe in the prediction of a fat little rodent. But even science can’t get right with all their dopplers and storm wranglers. That they say the furry beast didn’t see his shadow and that it means an early spring, doesn’t surprise me. And yet how they came to that conclusion does.

First of all, it seems to me that if the sun is shining then there can be a shadow. I think that should mean early spring rather than the other way around. But what do I know? They rarely ask for my predictions! Just for the record, I do believe it will be an early spring. Winter has just not pulled it’s weight this year. It has been cold and there has been snow–like today. But it melts and gets warm too soon. I just hope that it doesn’t mean a bad, smoky summer. Some say a mild winter brings a mild summer. I hope they are right.

Mostly I hope that I can get to the beach and get to swim somehow this year.

Speaking of swimming, yesterday’s streaming entertainment seemed to be dedicated to mermaids. We needed some very lightweight shows. It started with Scales the movies. It was very lightweight but fun.

Then most of the day we let Disjointed make the background noise. It’s pure silliness. By the way, I do take the CBD tincture for pain relief and sleep. With all the bad news about vaping, I’m glad I never got into smoking weed. I don’t think my lungs could handle it. I hope the law, insurance, medical teams don’t ruin this medicine and make it cost far more. Anyway, if you need the laugh:

We were able to watch start to finish in one day. To tell you the truth I was ready for it to end by the end of the second season. But I liked how they wrapped it all up at the end of season three.

We had a bit more time before we would be ready for bed so we went back into the water with H2O Just Add Water. We only watched a bit before the drowsy started so we’ll probably finish it tomorrow.

I like the concept that these girls each get their own abilities. I can’t wait to see where this show goes.

How was your day

 

Just Jot It January — Television

Per Linda G. Hill:

Today’s prompt comes to us courtesy of Barbara. Thank you so much, Barbara! Please be sure to visit her blog to read her post and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already!

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 28th, 2020, is “television.” Use the word “television” any way you’d like. Enjoy!

This is a bit meandering, but I guess you’re used to my wandering s by now.

In the 1950s when we got our first Television, black and white, it was a huge box with buttons to turn to get the few stations, a small screen, and shows like Buck Rogers, Howdy Doody, various cartoons, wrestling, and roller derby. The news was on one station and everyone watched it.

Our generation was the first raised with the fifteen-minute interval for commercials. Some shows like Sheriff John sold stuff during the show, like Maggio Carrots. I could have sworn I could see the bright orange of the carrot and the crispy green of the ends.

I don’t know if the commercial is to blame for the short attention-spans. Nowhere else in our lives did we get those breaks. Sunday School lasted the hour. Church another hour. School breaks every few hours for recess. I know this.

My grandmother taught Sunday School. It taught me to read as she had the 23rd Psalms and the Lord’s Prayer on the wall as big as the door. Each week she would point to the words and the class would recite. When she was teaching a lesson she made sure we had crayons and paper to color. She believed busy hands kept our minds open to learning.  If we grandkids sat next to her in church, a lifesaver and a pencil and paper was her go-to. She did carry those plastic number puzzles that I learned weren’t impossible if you pulled a number or two out and then rearranged the order. At any rate, being in the adult talking room was boring, but Grandma was smart!

And now I still see her genius. While bingeing television shows, fast-forwarding the commercials, or watching where you don’t have any of that nonsense, I keep my hands busy. I can remember what I was watching last time the next time I pick up the project. I thank Grandma. It is my drawing during lectures in school or college that helped me get good grades. I remembered my notes for tests because of the doodles on the page.

But back to commercials and attention-span and television. Fast-forward to the bingeing without commercials. My concentration is able to do hours of watching. And I have ADD. Maybe the proof is in the hyperfocus I can put into what I do every day. I think television has a lot to offer. So much to learn about writing, good and bad, news, the arts, especially acting (good and bad), not to mention pain relief as a distraction. In my position, a good book wouldn’t work, like it used to a few years ago. Now I get most of my stories on screen. The books are text-to-speech or Audible. But I do love watching the story acted out. How the score behind a show can add or subtract, how a side-eye or nod can do wonders and writes up well when used. Television is inspiring for me. Even at its worst.

Everwood was my newest binge Just finished yesterday. As I told a friend, it is Hallmarky but it kept our interest. My husband had to watch with me and loved it enough that we couldn’t go it alone. You know those kinds of shows! Anyway, here’s another trailer. They are taking it off Hulu soon so binge away.