Life: It Goes On

Happy very, very hot Sunday!

Here's a little lesson for those of you who haven't been married long - NEVER let your husband know that you can do anything he typically does. If you do, be very wary if he tells you that you've done a better job at it than he does. Apparently, I'm going to trim the yews today in 90+ degree heat because I did such an outstanding job last year. I will have been married 38 years this fall. You'd think I'd have learned this lesson from watching my husband fumble his way through housekeeping chores in what was clearly an attempt to make me throw up my hands in despair and vow he'd never be allowed to do that chore again. Instead, I almost hurt myself, patting myself on the back last year for doing such a great job!

Last Week I:

Listened To: I finished The Jane Austen Society, a book I very much felt like I needed for the comfort of it after all that has been going on with the virus; then I started If Beale Street Could Talk because it's time up my diversity reading game a whole lot but I needed to ease into it. I did download  Stamped from the Beginning - The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi; it's more than 19 hours long so that's something I'll be listening to for a while, probably mixing it up with some other audiobooks.

Watched: So much news coverage until I couldn't take it any more and had to watch some Queer Eye.

Read: I finished Florence Adler Swims Forever and started Just Mercy. I'm meant to have joined a readalong but between the time I'm spending on the internet trying to keep up with the news and teach myself and reading things I think it's important to read, I'm going to have to bail on that.

Made: Guys, I don't remember. Chicken nachos one night with the chicken left over from a meal I can't remember. I really thought I'd do better with meals since I'm off work earlier and have no commute but this has been a week where I was just not feeling it.

Enjoyed: Peonies. I cut almost all of my blooms and brought them inside where we could enjoy them.


This Week I’m: 

Planning: On making a Goodwill run (finally!) and then really getting down to finishing the sorting and tossing around here. I have six more weeks working from home and I need to take full advantage of the extra time that affords me. 

Thinking About: My niece and her family. She is married to a black man and her children are black. I thought I understood but it has only just occurred to me this week how much more frightened she must be every time her children leave the house than I was when my children were their ages.

Feeling: Angry, ignorant, tired, shamed, guilty.

Looking forward to: I'm having a hard time with looking forward right now, what with so many things we were meant to have been doing this month having been cancelled.

Question of the week: Essential oils - have you used them and what was your experience with them? I keep going back on forth on whether or not I want to invest in good ones. On the one hand, if I can get chemicals out of my house, that would be great. On the other hand, I don't want to sink a bunch of money into something that only smells good but doesn't really accomplish much.