Claire Annette Reed

But first: This lady turned 101 years old today! Pretty impressive! I was able to have a great chat with her this evening. 

Welp. I caught the family cold.

Will this ever end

Dammit, I catch everything. Too bad, cuz I have pep band rehearsal tonight and I'm going, no matter what. 

I worked until noon (pictured: me looking like a hot mess) and then drove up to a local music store, hoping to find a replacement for my clarinet case. It likes to be easily nudged open and puke out its contents, which is not great, so I headed up to Hazel Dell and stopped in to see what Shmusic World had. 

The kid showed me two overpriced cases. I inwardly freaked, thanked the kid, went outside to the car, and ordered one that was $50 cheaper (including free shipping) on Shmamazon. Normally I hate doing that - we like to try to frequent local businesses - but ARE YOU SERIOUS?? 

As I was placing the order, I wondered how often this exact scenario happens in this very parking lot. Probably pretty often. 

On the bright side: I wore a pair of my newly-skinnied jeans to work, and they looked cute. Yay!

And later: I dragged my sick carcass back to campus for our first pep band rehearsal of the season, and it was absolutely worth it. I always forget how much I love playing. The kids were nice, the music was mostly familiar, and the band director was his same old funny self. I'm so looking forward to next time.

Hubby met me afterwards and we bought dinner and came home. I tried to finish Survivor but couldn't. Feeling pretty gross. 

Election Day 2023

It's that time again! Today we're electing city council members and school board members. R filled out her ballot while she was here last weekend, and I did mine while on my break today.

THIS IS NOT A MAILBOX. Don't bring your filthy letters here. 

This part was funny: the college held a veterans event today, hosted by Marie G. P., our state representative, who was elected last year. Her opponent from last year, Joe K., is a disgusting piece of work who was endorsed by Former President Rump, and locally, colluded with the unfortunate racists and bigots in our district. Our family voted en masse for Marie, and we were so happy when she won.

On my way to the voting box, I walked past two ladies and a gentleman who were standing in the sitting area just outside the student center, and they handed me a flier. I looked at it - they were Joe K people! Eww!

I threw the flier away and deposited our ballots. On my way back to the bookstore, I encountered another woman near the culinary center, passing out Joe propaganda. She said "Joe K?" and tried to hand me a flier. I refused it. Why were they even there? This was Marie's event, and Joe won't be running again till next year! He's so gross, having people crash her event and bug people with their stupid fliers!

I walked over to where B was seated at his desk. His boss Chris was standing there and I joked, "Hey, can you get rid of these Joe K people?" And Chris asked me for their DESCRIPTION. Ha!! He was on it! Apparently they weren't supposed to be inside the building, or even on campus without permission from security, which they did not seek. 

So the Joe K mouth-breathers were all tossed outside on their bigot butts. The next time I saw them, they were standing by the fountain, their fliers in plastic baggies, getting rained on. Karma! On my way out to the car after work, I was offered one more flier by a different woman. NO THANK YOU. Hubby noticed them and said "Man, just look at these knuckle-draggers! Why would ANYONE want to associate with them??"

Exactly.

We took our superior selves to lunch at a local place downtown. 

Mmmmm this sandwich was divine

Then it was across the street to a fun antiques shop for some window-shopping, and then home. We spent a nice day together. C and K went grocery shopping, B planned his next solo vacation (Astoria! With his new e-bike!), and M and the babies played and watched TV with us. Quite enjoyable. 

Hubby filled out his ballot, and we took it and M's ballot back down to the campus voting box, and then we had Blizzards cuz we rock at this voting stuff.

Alterations

On the agenda: reinforcing the hem of my cute skirt...

"skinnying" a few pairs of jeans (and hemming one pair), and swooning over memories of my grandmother's house in Brookings. I love that she saved this bandage container for her chalk:

The memories are thick. I love having my relatives' things around - man, do I miss that time and those people. 

I've never used chalk to skinny my jeans before and now I'm questioning all of my life choices because this is AMAZING.

Slightly amusing: when I went to hem the purple jeans, the legs were too skinny to fit around the Juki, so I used the Singer instead. Opening up the Singer bobbin jar, I got the nicest salty whiff of beef bouillon! Surprise!!! I'll have to keep that in mind - all of my Singer bobbin thread SMELLS LIKE BEEEEEEEEF.

I considered worrying about the beef smell on the thread, and thought about soaking the bouillon jar in vinegar to kill the scent, but then I figured that anyone who was desperate enough to get down and sniff the hem of my jeans had bigger problems than I did. The beef smell stays, baby!

Anyway, they're all done. Yay!

Gone Thriftin

Sandy and I did our usual outing: breakfast and treasure hunting. I nabbed some new Thanksgiving beauties. The mold will be used for Gran's traditional tomato aspic:

Also: I cleaned out the dining room closet and located the Christmas stockings and other decor. Yay! I'm feeling it this year. Hubby and I chilled out with TV. Such a great relaxing Sunday.

What day is it?

Hubby, R and I took a breakfast trip to Sbux and drove around the city, enjoying the gorgeous changing leaves and the rainstorm. Once home, I made a batch of The Soup for lunch, along with breadsticks.

The grandladies and I enjoyed a book together.

Hubby and Little R

After lunch, we started rearranging the living room furniture, which will be a work in progress for a couple of weeks and hopefully done by Thanksgiving. We need places to sit!

Then, we took a quick trip north to Kate's, so R could head back to school with her. She'll be coming home again next weekend. 

Today I decided that I'll be using a sign-up sheet for the family to help with Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone will get to choose what they'd like to help with. Last year, I was sick as a dog and hopped up on NyQuil, and I had help, but it was still me cooking Thanksgiving dinner by myself - not fun and NOT NECESSARY, and it won't be happening again. 

Self care rocks, man.

The day felt like Sunday all day. It's weird to think that we have another day of weekend tomorrow. But I'll take it.

Good Times

Shopping and lunch at the mall with these people

Arm wrestling

Cat butt to the face 

A visit from Red Balloon Head Man

Ultra-Cozing

Outfit #1: The Commute

Outfit 2: Back at home

(switched out the giant plaid nightgown for the t-shirt)

Cleared off my dresser to make room for the laptop, for music listening purposes:

Now playing: Rock Steady by The Whispers

Opened up a package from my mom - it ended up being the stuff she bought in Sequim and sent home to herself. Oops, haha!

I finally took pity on the jar of beef bouillon crystals that's been in my kitchen cupboard for a long time (ahem, decades), washed it up, and got it ready to take its new place in the circle of life, aka the new Singer Bobbin Jar:

Played with these ladies while M showered:

Drove to Kate's, picked up R; drove to Portland, picked up Hubby; drove to our city, picked up Shomino's pizza for dinner. Quickly ate three pieces. Carbolepsy. Good night!

Dia de Los Muertos

Also, it's November now, so bring on the kindergarten hand turkeys!

(Answer: a poultry-geist)

Halloween 2023

After work: Setting up

Then: Costumes

Trick or treat!

(at Grandma and Poppy's house)

Back at home: H & A came over, as did a couple of C & K's friends 

Then: Hubby and I enjoyed some fire time 

It was a great Halloween.