I’m going to have a limited presence on the site today. I need a mental health day. It’s been too frustrating witnessing BushCo. in action this week. I’m going to watch Michigan stomp Notre Dame and read some fiction.
What do you do when you can’t take the daily drumbeat of Bush-inspired catastrophe?
Don’t tempt me Boo… I’ve been waiting for a delay in the most serious stuff to resurrect a piece I’ve been sitting on… one of those snarky, good for nothing pieces that make my day 😉
That’s what I do when I’ve had enough… inane, insignificant, narcissistic diary entries…
like I said… don’t tempt me 🙂
I’ll be watching Iowa stomp on Iowa State…should be a beating. Now, I know you’re a Michigan fan, Boo, so will you be cheering for the Longhorns to beat Ohio State along with me? The top of the Big Ten can get a bit crowded toward the end of the season…
The only time I would consider rooting for Ohio State is when they play Notre Dame. Nah. I wouldn’t even root for OSU then, I’d just enjoy the suffering of whomever lost the game.
Sorry about Michigan. Iowa is stinking it up right now against the clops. I am so ashamed.
to spend with my children – trouble is, I end up worrying about their futures with these half-witted slugs we have at the helm of our ship of state.
I try to get outside. Went to my son’s lacrosse game this morning (we tromped them 6-4), and now it’s time to get the henhouse ready for new chicks. Maybe a bike ride in Valley Forge tomorrow, to commune with the spirits of freedom and independence.
Cleaning and reorganizing the house is my other cure for when the world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket…
Hey CabinGirl..cleaning has always been a way for me to get my mind off all this serious shit…I load up on extra pain pills and do those odd cleaning or reorganizing things I tend to put off. Like washing all the blankets, cleaning the ceiling fan, clean out the junk drawer etc. I used to be one of those annoying neat freaks now due to my disability I’m just a more regular neat freak.
Or I go outside and give some more free gardening to the cheapskate owner of these apartments..I’m up to about 300 hours over the last two spring/summers of free gardening for the grounds here. Also if it’s it’s spring I usually have a flurry of repainting activities like repainting my bedroom nightstand and lamp and various other odds/ends.
Then again my number one getaway is to dig through my dvd’s and watch movies like Notting Hill or Grosse Point Blank and read the really trashy/no basis in reality celebrity movie magazines like the Star or In Touch.
It should go without saying for people who know me here that I double up on my chocolate consumption or spend a couple hours looking for new chocolate recipes.
And if this is getting a bit long and wordy it’s probably also a good place to mention that my posts today might be a bit rambling..they tend to be that way when I do load up on my pain pills-like today and hopefully also won’t make to many grammar errors.
I comb and shave the week’s mats out of my long-haired cat. Tending the resulting bites and scratches takes my mind off of things for a while. Plus, wrestling with him is my workout for the day. 🙂
Reading is good too. Currently: No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.
I haven’t read that book but I will take a look!
I gave you a 4 for your awesome quote. I can totally identify with that
Thank you! I bought 5 last week that I haven’t even unbagged!
Besides walking outrside about 20 times a day to feed the brids or watch the birds + water all the flowers and shrubs … it takes me about an hour to prepare and put out all the food for the raccoons every night … and then, if they come by to eat while I am still up, I watch them through the back window for a half hour … they’re so much fun!
(I made them a little swimming pool out of a big plastic box + fill it with water every night. Then I drop grapes and plums in it. And they go bobbing! A guaranteed laugh, not to mention a heart warmer.)
Lately, since we have a water shortage, I’ve been catching every drop of water I use to rinse vegetables, etc., and store in plastic tubs that I take outside a couple times a day, and pour on the bushes and trees.
That is a very elemental activity that takes a bit of time but feels right. Me and Mother Earth, saving every drop and sharing it with the thirsty plants.
But I’ve been waking up almost every hour for the past several nights.
The other night, at 2AM when I woke up, I turned on the TV and watched a Robert Redford movie. That always helps. Grrrrr.
Seinfeld + all my favorite funny movies (Waiting for Guffman, Clueless, State and Main, Zoolander .. and the scary movie that’s hysterically funny, The Night of the Lepus)
Last night, I watched Dr. Phil. Really! He was counseling the family of a child prodigy who runs around telling everyone she has an IQ of 200. Relevant to just about nothing… but an escape.
I’ll watch Entourage and Rome, oh, 3-4 times a week … just cause … and that new comedy, Weeds, is brilliantly funny and isn’t nice to anyone (including deaf people, a child who’s lost his father, etc. … great.
Also recommended: Having a huge public fight with Armando NOT!
I’ve decided to sit back and catch up on Rome; thank goodness for On Demand. I need to step away from the computer, that’s for sure. I may even do laundry!
Rome is good. A reviewer I read — forget where — said that it takes a few episodes to get caught up in the characters.
That’s cool. I felt that way about Deadwood at first. In fact, the first episode was a bit dark for me — literally and figuratively.
I’m lucky to have the pay channels and tape shows for about a half dozen people, who help with the bill. I can’t get the On Demand — or that Tivo-type thing. But I have about 30 videotapes I’m constantly recirculating!
Everyone loved the episode of Oprah i taped on Wed. night … with Julia Roberts, Matthew McConahay (phonetic spelling), etc. (Oops, that’s about Katrina.)
The other day, I watched a few minutes of GUNSMOKE! Hadn’t seen that in, what, 40 years? It looked pretty darn good for such an old show.
I got sucked into Deadwood immediately, watched the first season in one day because I had to know what happened next. I’m hoping Rome will engage me like that. I’ve heard it’s like I, Claudius, which is just my style. I used to pass around the 6 feet under tapes at work, just so I would have people to discuss it.
Decided to spring for it a few months ago, and it’s great! Especially being able to watch one show while taping another; we do that with the early Keith a lot when we know we’re going to be out and about and might miss the 5pm showing.
Don’t have On Demand here yet…and I’m chomping at the bit to get it! 🙁
Hmmm…after we get the work done, we’ve got some poker to catch up on…we’ll make this a total “no news” day… 🙂
Hey Susan, in terms of the fight with Armando, I think he was so far out of line it’s not funny. I remember not so long ago Armando coming over here and asking you to come back to dkos because your absence was noticed… i.e. good diary material, investigation and timeliness… yet then the lack of attribution starts… and when was the last time one of your diaries was frontpaged there for that matter, let only being linked to?
I had no idea about your personal trials and tribulations Susan and I am so sorry to hear about it… before it gets to the point where you are homeless would you please, please consider setting up a paypal account and letting the blogging community try to help? please, anything you need, or I can help with, let me know, I am just an email away.
Namaste
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Recently posted by me
BTW spiderleaf – I’ve just been banned from dKos for the 2nd time since May.
This may be a reason – one of my diaries.
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I paint, and given that xmas is coming soon have taken to painting snowfolks and santa’s.
when holiday season isn’t around the corner I paint flowers on any surface that doesn’t move.
Painting, writing and cooking help me escape the reality of Bush being president.
If you can take photos of your paintings, can we use them for seasonal color come December?
Watch what you ask for! I will take a few photo’s of what I am working on now (remember this is a HOBBY of mine, not a professional painter lol)
When the pressure gets to them:
Stole that from tildblog – trust the owner doesn’t mind the theft…
A fisher of men.
Brilliant caption!
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FYI Here is link to comment in my diary —
When they got to Tulane hospital, which had limited electricity, Shard said he immediately resumed helping his patients with breathing problems.
Helicopters hovered above.
“The Medevac flights were being delayed to get family members out ahead of the critical patients,” Shard said. “People were dying. They were taking out people who weren’t sick. I don’t know why. To this day, I don’t know why.”
[It was confirmed five patients died due to delays – Oui]
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As bad as this may be.. I read.. preferably fantasy or romance. I like to read “serious” books too but for unloading it’s the fantasy or the romance.. preferably both! There’s a cool publishers called Luna that publishes books that mix the genre.. so i can get my ripply abs and rock hard pecs galloping in on his white charger.
I say if your going to do romance do it right and throw in the Prince, the Princess, and a proper villain (complete with realistic “muahaha” laughs).
Absolutely. These days, we need all the happy endings we can get.
The fantasy/romance genre has come a long way I think in terms of having some great romance writers that are really incredibly good..these are not your mother’s romance writers that’s for sure.
Sometimes I make a few spinach pies. The meditative quality involved in separating and laying on the ultra-thin, fragile leaves of phyllo dough is particularly beneficial.
I’m all for Michigan stomping Notre Dame! Have a good day.
on the BooTrib; I need to step away from the computer too. Unfortunately, nothing as fun as watching football (though I’ll probably peek in on a few games); mainly catching up on all the shit I didn’t get done this week with the vacation cold running me down.
What I do when I need to step back:
Have a great day off, Boo — we’ll both be back refreshed… 🙂
Boo, and Susan, both of you take care of yourselves. Absorbing so much toxicity is really hard on your systems, so it’s good that you’re taking some time out to discharge, and recharge.
For me, this is like the period after the 9/11 attacks, when I was obsessively reading all the news. But now, I have blogfriends out there in cyberland with me, so that’s encouraging.
I need to get back to writing. Broke my rhythym on a rough draft a couple of weeks ago, then got completely discombobulated by the horrific news. So, I will write some, and do some housework (does the term “Augean stables” sound familiar?), as well as maybe something repetitive and meditative like chopping veggies.
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Canada
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Holland
perhaps even Spain
Besides learning a foreign language, we need some charts of the Mediterranean and …
rowers –
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If anyone is interested:
Parker’s diary at Booman Tribune is linked out at C&L in Mikes Blog Roundup today:
Fo’shizzle G.Wizzle. Booman Tribune has some excellent rappin’ up
Excuse me while I go vomit. The clown up around the corner from me is blaring the ND fight song and flagging down cars on the street with a beer in his hand. I don’t know that I can take it, but I’m not going down there. I swear I’m not.
Dude, that was so painful, plus when I tried to get some relief by watching the Yanks, they were getting pummelled by the Red Sox.
Chocolate ice cream and banana milkshakes!!!!!
Good call Booman.
It is critically important that we all recognize our limits and make sure we take time to rest, renew, and enjoy life. Drawing from my spiritual tradition I refer to this as “Sabbath Time”
One of my ways of being mindful of and intentional about Sabbath TIme in my life has been to start a weekly “Sabbath Time” diary over on MyLeftWing.
It’s posted every Saturday – usually in the late afternoon – I’d love to have some BooTribbers “hop” over and visit. Here is a list of links to the series so far.
great thread here, good suggestions. one thing i do, daytime, pack supplies in a backpack and go out on my bike for an afternoon along routes i’ve never biked before – doesn’t have to be scenic, just different, as if i’m on a long journey.
– try to find something to make me laugh. i have some funny books that i savor, read a few pages at a time (a collection of reviews of worst movies ever made has lasted a few years). I save cartoons and print out funny threads on the blogs (“hey front pagers you suck…” from another blog! still makes me laugh – though i am in the 2004 election “fraudster” camp.) don’t have cable but Will and Grace and Frasier are pretty reliably funny
Last night we hauled the TV from its home in the closet. I managed 5 minutes before literally flinging the blankets over my head and weeping.
So today we instigated a news moratorium. The papers went into recycling unread. The radio was turned off. We put on CDs – old Tejano music, Appalachian fiddle tunes, Texas swing. I changed the strings on my fiddle and started the long process of learning a new tune. Baked pie and cleaned the house, took a long long walk in the woods with Bill-the-Dog. Listened to the birds. Stood in the garden and marvelled at the colors.
And quietly, gently, sadly, celebrated our anniversary.