The Five Lists

I'm going to be doing the 30 day Journaling Challenge. For at least a day ;)

This is the first set of prompts.

The Five Lists

What from the last year are you proud of?

       •      Traveling to Italy alone

       •      Wrangling my mom's local affairs quickly after her death

       •      Doing what felt like tons of press events and not melting down (until after they were done!)

What did this year leave you yearning for?

       •      Peace of mind.

       •      Cultivating the ability to advocate for myself

What’s causing you anxiety?

       •      Worry about whatever comes next. 

What resources, skills, and practices can you rely on in the coming year?

       •      Therapy

       •      The knowledge that I can do most anything novel, as long as I tell myself I can.

       •      I have no practices, except for writing

What are your wildest, most harebrained ideas and dreams?

       •      Crossing things off my bucket list

       •      Getting air conditioning in the house

       •      Going for a long weekend, to a place I've never been, just for the hell of it. DEFINITELY in another state

       •      Installing grab bars in the downstairs shower

 

My apologies for the font color.

Favorite Animals of 2025

Gordon (Ears) left us this year, not long after Ausma. That was super sad. Still is super sad. Such a good boy.

Boy Kitten is 5 1/2 right now, and has started sitting in mrguy's lap. Mrguy has a new name: Flame Daddy!

Flame Point Siamese Cats of FB!

We said goodbye to Heathen and Jean Luc Chow (cried so hard!), but got to watch Marshall Mischief Chow and Hijinx Tajin Chow grow into cats who successfully avoided Krampus. I always look forward to photos of Jinx in Sinks.

Declan, the manx flame, is so swoonable. His mom now knows that Declan's fans are not satisfied with frontal photos of him and Bella Jade. We need nub!! Every time.

Ocean is such a beautiful lady. She lives in Nebraska with her mom, Jody Ann. Ocie loves the outdoors, stalking rabbits that she never catches, and catching snakes. She gently carries them to the stairwell and lets them go. It wasn't that great a summer for snakes this year.

Man wasn't around much this year since his mom gave him a flesh brother. But he's one of the handsomest flames on Facebook.

Rafiki the hotdog king has been under the weather. He used to break into the fridge and eat an entire package of hotdogs (multiple times) without batting an eye. I miss those days. He's matured into digestive ailments, so fewer hot dogs and stealing.

YouTube Friends -- Not All Animals

I am obsessed with Rockalina and Otis, and now know way more than a person should know about how to incubate turtle eggs. Also ask me about removing stuck eggs from a gigantic python. I guess that once the algorithm knows you're into Botched and Dr. Pimple Popper they toss anything weird your way. I don't like that many of the YouTube episodes of DPP are blurred out.

Similarly, I enjoy the soothing voice of the lady from Adore Her Beauty, who waxes lady beards.

And I have been super into the anti Scientology community, which is currently turning inward and feasting on their own. Aaron Smith Levin seems like he's at the apex of an elliptical orbit with mania. He has the loudest voice, but self-destructive tendencies. There's a lot of energy in the movement, but these people have to get their oars moving in the same direction or else this is for entertainment purposes only.

Back to animals, Poppy the prairie dog! I look forward to her Wahoo Wednesdays.

And always, The Kitten Lady. If you have an extra dollar, please consider donating to your local spay and neuter clinic.

A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever

The audiobook of A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever is a final gift from Rob Reiner. Read by the author, it seemingly answers every question a person (ahem, fan) would have about how Spinal Tap came together. What were the inspirations for all of the lyrics, all of the licks, all of the schtick? Your questions have been answered. Or mine, at least. The first few chapters made me want to break out the index cards and string to map out the connections between people. So much fun. Confession: I talk to myself sometimes while listening to audiobooks in the car. During one of my last books, "Next of Kin" by Gabrielle Hamilton, I groaned "You must hate me". None of that for this book. It's a hearty and Valley-inflected "Oh my GOD!" "Oh my GOD!" as each new and fascinating tidbit is revealed. No actual music is in the book, but it lives in my heart and possibly yours as well.

Year end photos!

This was the view from my bed this morning.

And from my sofa this evening.

Christmas 2025

You know, this Christmas was awesome. As mrguy put it "I'm liking our quiet solitary Christmas".

He made me breakfast. I spent a lot of time on social media, and gathered photos of Christmas past to send to my siblings. I made Chex Mix to give to people *after* Christmas.

Early in the day mrguy put on the 7 1/2 hour Norwegian train video and we watched all day, with mrguy following along on a map. The wind and rain have been insane this week, so that added to the holiday feel.

One of my favorite moments on Christmas was finding the video of my mom "helping" me -- repeatedly stabbing the potatoes in preparation for baking the potatoes that would later become stuffed potatoes. I posted that, as well.

In genealogy news, I located my Aunt Pat, who was married to Uncle Bill for a while and left us with her macaroni and cheese recipe. Turns out that she'd married again and moved to Washington. And died 30 years ago.

We made a point of getting tickets to Kung Pao Kosher comedy, which we watched online while eating our festive dinner of salmon, green beans and stuffed potatoes. The comedy was pretty bad, and the technology was very "loving hands of home". During the first act the feed froze right when the comic, a Southern Jew, was describing how large tampons were in the past, likening them to the size of the very large mic she was using. We kept rewinding the feed and watching that part over, hoping for a different result, just as she used her left hand to show off the size of the microphone.

Speaking of expecting a different result, this was the second time I've seen unfunny comedy in a month. Hope springs eternal, but we also watched a Josh Johnson this week and he is the funniest guy out there right now.

We haven't opened our presents yet, it's the 27th, and we're taking it easy. Yesterday our house cleaner made our house bright. I keep thinking it's Sunday, and that I have to go back to work tomorrow. And I remember it's Saturday and I feel even better.