Yeah. I wrote that. Don’t knock it till you try it!

I have had a sore throat, and three negative rapid tests later, I got a PCR this morning. My daughter’s friend’s sibling tested positive, my vaxxed kids have no symptoms and are negative, but here I sit, sandpapery throat and all. So, why not give myself some comfort food? Yes, it’s literally a can of spaghettios…with meatballs. Then I added in a dollop of ricotta and some grated parm. BECAUSE I CAN. WHAT ABOUT IT? HUH??

Yeah yeah yeah, I do actually cook a ton, and I’m a pretty decent cook, too. You shall see! But desperate times call for desperate measures. And anyway, most people have some ghetto snack up their sleeves, so welcome to just one of my guilty pleasures when ill. Pho is my usual go-to, but delivery wasn’t in the cards today, so Os and ricotta it was!

It was so good. Be jealous…you know you are.

But then Lester was my foot warmer, looking at me (and my food) with such longing. And so, i took him for a walk. Mabel is off at a new daycare today, and Lester sometimes just wants some alone time, so he and I are having a buddy day. We went for a walk, and I often like to do so in silence. I feel like our lives are absolutely chock full of input, and so much of it is auditory. I have always had some weird tendency to be easily overstimulated by sounds, and that has NOT improved with age and parenthood. I take these walks with no earbuds intentionally. I breathe deeply, I talk to Lester sometimes. But mostly, I listen, and smell, and observe. Sometimes I see new things in a place I’ve been a million times. Like this.

Look at that door and windows. That isn’t a reflection. That is wallpaper or some sort of screen over the door and windows with the image of trees. It’s so odd. This house itself has been overgrown and I thought uninhabited. But there was a car behind it today, and maybe some of the brush was cleared? It’s hard to tell. But, aside from being weirded out by the indoor trees, I did take some inspiration from the colors and textures of this. Look at that brick, look at the colors and textures of the brick vs the textures of the trees. Is it just me? Isn’t there something about that? I can see something developing in my design brain, and so I will sit with it for a bit. But this is what I do. Do you ever take walks and just look around? Just listen? Just breathe deeply and feel your body relax? I need the silence and movement to allow my brain space. In that space, I’ve learned, is where my peace can be found.

So, there I was, walking all up in my peace, and headed home with Lester, who was stopping every 2 inches to pee on something. AS HE DOES. As we rounded the corner to my driveway, I saw the glint of something. Isn’t it funny how it’s just the timing, where you are walking up at just the right time, when the sun just hits something and you notice what has likely been there for a bit? Say, since NYE? Yeah. Here’s the bullet I found in my driveway.

And it’s only weird because I live in the city but it doesn’t really feel city. Not city in the way it felt living in Chicago, or in the bad parts of Indianapolis where I previously lived. I live in an awesome part, but it is a bubble. And it’s weirdly very city and not city simultaneously. So yeah, everyone shoots to celebrate NYE, and those bullets have to come down. But when you don’t feel city all the time, it’s slightly jarring to fall on it in your own driveway. So, I’ll be showing this to my kids and explaining why we don’t stand outside during NYE, or let the dogs out. And how fucking stupid it is to shoot guns into the air in celebration of anything. Have a drink like the rest of the world, fine. But damn, don’t put other people in danger. I hated it in Chicago, where it felt like living in a warzone on every holiday like NY or 4th of July. There wasn’t enough Xanax for my dog or my kids or me. Here, it feels like the bubble of not-quite-city lulls you into forgetting you live inthecity. Smack Dab in the middle!

So, I’ll be sitting here with my tea and my dog… and my bullet. Finishing this flax sweater tonight if its the last thing I do! Hope you guys are having a good and productive day. I’ll be sending out all the finishing up your WIP vibes I can. Cannot WAIT to cast on my first project of 2022.