Oh NO, I just checked email and _Queen Demon_ just dropped -- no no no no no. Going to bed. Dealing with plumbers tomorrow. No. Going to BED. That book will be my reward for dealing with the plumbers. We have a deal, self?

Today, I reaped the rewards of a successfully made wisdom check last week: I went to PT for my effed up shoulder *before* I got my flu shot. Of course, my shoulders will hate me tomorrow, but that's inevitable. I'd rather sore shoulder for a couple of days.

The plumbers who put the slop sink back in the basement took almost as long as the guys installing the new sewer pipe. I could tell they were the B team. Fortunately, sinks are much easier to adjust than pipes embedded in concrete. But they can't come back until Tuesday to finish, so: Quiet house! 😄

This is Gracie. She's a Leonberger, with paws the size of a coffee cup lid, and I got to pet her. Then I got to reassure her that yes, her human would be back shortly, it was just that humans have unnecessarily-complicated the whole tree-watering process. She was very soft. #uglyDogs

I won the library hold lottery! Now I'm going to lose something that I have previously thought was innocuous and safe!

This is a work of art. I can claim credit for prepping the "canvas" as much as possible, but this is just... 😘 Rust? What rust? Ain't no rust here! And yes, now there *are* access ports if we have to snake the line! Score!

My PT successfully unraveled the knot of muscles in my shoulder that has been making me miserable for several weeks. Hurrah! Unfortunately, I'm now so endorphin'd that I'm not safe to drive home. Oops? Guess I'm going to chill here on the curb for a bit. Glad it's a pretty day.

Remember that camera that got passed along to me for photographing ducks and stuff? Turns out a 10x optical zoom makes photos of Ultimate Frisbee look a lot less like an impressionist oil painting, and there are now some very happy fellow parents. I took about 350 pics today. Whoof.

Our sewer stack is on the verge of rusting though, so we have spent the past few days emptying about a quarter of our basement of its assorted detritus and random boxes of stuff so we can get it repaired. It's also HUMID, and I had to disconnect the dehumidifier. I'm coated in grit and sweat. 😝

We got new bookshelves. A number of books that we sadly stored in the basement to make room for a toddler play space in the living room have triumphantly emerged from their hibernations. This means I may finally remember to read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series, which got packed away. Yay!

🥰😂 I am so happy about this thread. This is the content I didn't know I needed today.

Today had a fantastic morning and a maddening afternoon, but it has concluded with me reading the latest Guy Gavriel Kay and then getting an ecstatic text message from my elderly mum, for whom I braved paperwork and web forms to make a thing happen -- and it worked. Ok.

I dreamed that in the future, during a long conflict between humanity and some alien species, the aliens attacked the planet where SCAdians went to have wars. They used an EMP pulse, then came down to the surface to accept the surrender of the now helpless humans. They got something of a shock.

I am ~100 pages from the end of this trilogy and I have to go to bed! NoooooOOOOOOoooooOoo...... :goes sobbing into the night:

Did Town Day. Had to mask part way through because my brain hit "so many people here even if we're outside it's too much" within ten minutes. But I still managed it AND helped my kid through a minor panic attack when the crowds got to them too. We found a green spot and did box breathing together.

Last night, we got word that my kids' Aunt and Uncle were down with a nasty summer cold. And I said, mostly joking, "I bet if you made cookies, it would make them feel better." Younger kid made them cookies, and dropped them off after school today. It did, in fact, make them feel better. 😄🍪

Western medicine: here is a muscle relaxant for your back spasm, let us know in a week if it hasn't calmed down. Oh, and you should probably go to PT. Non-Western medicine: let's stab you with needles, rub smelly oil on your skin, and scrape the affected area with a rock. Oh, and PT is a good idea.

DUCKIES! (Mostly.) 🎶One of these ducks is not like the others One of these ducks isn't the same Can you guess which duck is not like the others Before I finish this game? 🎶

I have successfully acquired such pictures of at least two species of ducks. (And a mute swan that was in the neighborhood.) Can I find my SD card reader? No of course I can't! I haven't needed that thing in years. ...and as I'm writing this, I realize that my computer has a built in one. Derp!

A neighbor was getting rid of an older digital camera, so now I have an actual camera, not just my phone. This thing has a 40x optical zoom! Large likelihood of duck pictures; I hung out next to our pond today while I waited for the pharmacy to fill a scrip for my back, & the ducks helped distract.

Embodiment was a mistake, she said, quoting rah and trying to find a position where her right scapula did not scream and attempt to murder all the tendons and muscles attached to it. My back should not have the consistency of overtuned piano wire, damnit!

Lest anyone think that I'm always positive about what I read: tonight I bounced so hard off a book (after a prologue and four chapters) that the other person in the living room commented on the emphasis of my NOPE. It goes back to the library tomorrow. Not naming names, tho, no need to be unkind.

I need to go to the library today. 😅

Sore throat and a bit of a stiff arm and some sniffles. I will totally take this in exchange for not having my brain repeatedly scrambled by that damn virus. Also, it's an excuse (like I needed one) to drink more tea.

I have achieved a hole in my arm. I will be sorry tomorrow, but less sorry in a week or two. (And then at the end of September, I will achieve a second hole, because getting a flu shot now means my immunity will run out before end of flu season.)

Reading Rainbow.

Today is fired. Just found out that one of the tea shops I love to do mail order from is closing. This is the 5th tea shop that sold me one of my anchor teas to shut. I'm so mad. Stupid, stupid tariffs and stupid, stupid COVID. * Anchor tea: a tea I'm pretty much always happy to drink.

Today, it is a very good thing that I am not actually pyrokinetic. A very, very good thing.

I have successfully applied parental aikido to my own dads, who are visiting and proposed taking their grandkids to an art museum tomorrow. I know that this will not be fun for anyone, but one of my dads gets these IDEAS on his head about how something will be wonderful, and then pushes. Hard. 1/3

I was sufficiently groggy this morning that I put peanut butter on my kid's granola, instead of milk. So yeah, the start of the school year is going great here, how about y'all?

Kids are off to school, including a new building for one of them. (That required a bit of parental overhead that I hope will not recur.) Started rolls rising in the oven for the first time in a month. Laundry in the wash. Plus all the spoon debt I built up over the last two weeks - now I fall over.

I am so tired of feeling exhausted.

Well, after surviving the red eye flight that practically left after we were originally supposed to be home, I am at least greeted by decent weather in the Northeast. It's good to be home, but it's going to be even better when I get to crash tonight. Here's my favorite landmark of the trip.

I did not expect to do 24 miles on my bike today, but when we run out of milk it's an actual emergency and needs dealing with -- -- because my black tea in the morning is super unhappy without milk. I already drank green tea today because we were close to out, but then my teenager drank the rest. 😝

Strong recommend for _The Teller of Small Fortunes_. That was exactly the sort of quiet fantasy that I needed right now.

Why did I dream that I had to bring an extremely heavy Erlenmeyer flask on the bus? Was that the reason the bus blew past my stop and I had to walk home? Surely it had nothing to do with the fact that the flask was full of ominously-glowing blue liquid; people bring much weirder things on the bus.

I saw a person at the grocery store with absolutely FABULOUS eyeshadow today, and told them so. We then discussed the fact that eyeliner can sense fear. I haven't worn much makeup since I retreated backstage to tech, but I agreed, and I honor their commitment to the performance of their life!

Me: I am justifiably distracted, I must be gentle with myself today and not beat myself up. Also me: Puts the kettle in the sink, forgets to fill out. Fills the kettle, forgets to take it out of the sink. Takes the kettle out of the sink, forgets to turn it on. Me: Ok, maybe not this gentle.

Oh you are kidding me. Over my bloody handprints, Google. The latest update of my tablet turned long-press on the power button from "turn off your tablet" to "ask Gemini a question." ABSOLUTELY NOT.

My kid has discovered why grocery store sushi is not always a good idea. Today was already kinda rough, but I was expecting the rest of it. That part was really unnecessary. 😮‍💨

The period between when I have taken my migraine meds and when they kick in (or don't) is maddening, because I sit here making plans for what I want to do with myself if I can be active -- but I never know if I'm going to get to do any of it. I feel for folks who have stuff worse than migraines.

Challenge: post your last photo taken in DC to show what a hell hole it is. (By dumb luck this is the last one. I will not be posting photos of my family having dinner when I visited this year, TYVM, but I started a crochet project after dinner that last night and took pics.)

This conversation plays out in my head every time I sit down to write, before I get started: Donwanna! Can't make me! (That's true, no one can make you. But if you don't, it won't get done.) But I want the results! (Then do the work!) Donwanna!!! ...😮‍💨

Earlier this week, I encountered the rare and dangerous lawn shark. Please observe the signature fluffy dorsal fin, but beware, this representative of the species is teething, so she has EVEN MORE sharp little shark teeth than normal. No idea how she phases through the lawn like that. #uglydogs

The third sentence here needs to be framed and shoved on the walls of a bunch of billionaire offices. 😡

Pro-tip for hauling cardboard from your local yarn store half a mile to use as weedblock against the black swallowort: Don't break all the boxes down. Leave one intact, put all the others in it, and then drag it behind you like a wagon. Because it doesn't matter if the bottom gets chewed up!

Ooooooh. My library won't let me ask them to pre-order it yet, but I will be doing so as soon as possible. The world needs more hope-punk.

And this might - might! - mean that there will still be apples to pick in September or early October. It is very exciting.

If you see this, post a sword.

Today was a day where the only tea I got was yesterday's tea, and where the satisfaction was only derived from being able to say, "Well at least that's over." I will pay for some of today's excessive exertions tomorrow, and I won't enjoy that either, but at least tomorrow also has a cute dog.