Over here looking up Halloween dad jokes for card messages

I really appreciate every time I see something pop up like "oh, your kid makes messes in shared spaces? Yeah it's because they feel SAFE, you make them feel SAFE, it's because you're SUCH A GOOD PARENT" I mean it's still a mess but it's a mess because I'm a good parent, you see.

Grieving today. In case you ever need it: 988lifeline.org

I had a boss in an underfunded, undersupported program who spent decades SURE that if she just quietly excelled a bit more with less, they'd finally give her the money & support she needed. It never happened, of course. They just saw that they could make bigger cuts to her program & she'd make it ok

Speaking of house spiders: there's a teeny spider that lives behind a door. Its corner looks messy with dust & lint caught in its web but I'm hesitant to clean it, because the floor an inch away is also littered with the eentsiest corpses. Spider is doing good work! I don't want to scare it away!

Minor guilt: I'm painting some baseboards & accidentally disturbed some tiny spiders moving stuff. One perched insistently on a part I really needed to paint today. I tapped the wall, I pleaded with it, it would not move. So I took an envelope to fly it a couple feet to where I thought was home...

I always wonder how time zones are meant to affect the rapture. Are some people caught off guard in their jammies? Or does it happen in waves, and if so, what time zone goes first? Confident there are rabbit holes I could go down on this but I do have other things to do today.

ACOG reaffirms that acetaminophen is safe for managing pain and fever during pregnancy. No reputable studies support suggestions like those in HHS’s recent announcement linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism; in fact, high-quality studies show no such risk. https://bit.ly/47Wxc59

did you know you could get the super cool @dinoberrypress.bsky.social wolf on a MUG? I love the wolf

1/ As you may know, on Thursday & Friday, ACIP—the external body that sets vaccine policy—will hold a special session. They are discussing three vaccines, one of which is the Hepatitis B (HepB) birth dose. Some false claims are likely to spread about this vaccine. Here’s what you should know 👇

a little dinner music

Something we talk to our kids about a lot is the power of the Magic Yet. "It didn't happen." Bummer, bad feels. "It didn't happen YET." Positive, optimistic. It's gonna happen!

EVERYONE SHOULD BE WASHING HANDS. YOU SHOULDN'T NEED A SIGNIFICANT COVID OUTBREAK TO BOTHER WASHING HANDS. YOU SHOULD BE WASHING HANDS MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY EVEN WHEN HEALTHY JUST SO YOU'RE NOT SPREADING YOUR PEE AROUND.

New "How to Report ICE" zines up today for free printable download! California (by county/area) Chicago Colorado DC Metro Area (DMV) Massachusetts North Carolina Triangle Area NYC Philly Pittsburgh Portland, OR St. Louis Metro Area Washington State Please share! drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Someone told me the other day that fiction isn't interesting. Fiction! All of fiction! Literal millennia of fiction! I don't know exactly what it says about a person, that they can write off the entirety of fiction, but it sure does say a lot.

I have one library hold due in less than 2 weeks, three in 5 weeks, one in 6 weeks, and one in 7 weeks. I expect that means I'll be getting 6 books at once.

it's the kind of weather where my glasses are constantly sliding down my face with damp yuck

Gem Room Games: Not Hungover, Just Tired ™️

Update: despite some last minute nerves, it went fine. We have new art hanging on our wall.

Summer camp is wrapping up with a talent show & my kid has chosen to make a piece of art, live, in a time crunch, with an audience. I am simultaneously terrified and thrilled for them.

Last week I was sitting by a creek, pausing my book to watch fawns nibble at leaves mere yards away, listening to the water, the birds, the tiny squirrel hucking pinecones in the creek. This week feels like a unrelenting series of suckerpunches.

Gotta say…

I've been a bit annoyed by the AI features DDG has been introducing, but I appreciate that they let me easily opt out at every turn (and stay opted out, instead of needing to click no every session like adobe acrobat) and help me avoid it coming in from other sources too

Forever mad because my local bakery will sell me a delicious biscuit baked with jam or holding tasty egg & cheese but WON'T sell me just a dozen biscuits alone or just take&bake dough & I JUST CRAVE THE BISCUITS grump grump grump

The Devil Wears Prada but Andy dumps her shitty unsupportive snob of a boyfriend before he convinces her that thriving in an unexpected professional environment that opens a million doors to her goals while building an exceptional professional network & skills is a bad thing

Last year I put Libby on my phone and now I read all the time. It's great. I saw a reminder that word of mouth sells books so I'm gonna talk about some of the good ones now and again. Gonna drop 'em in this thread. Starting with:

I have let like 16 flies out of my house today and every time I go to the backdoor there are more and I can't figure out why I am not aspiring to Lady of the Flies here

One of our kids brought home a stomach bug and I feel like a close-up from Ren & Stimpy

Haaaaaaate when an otherwise satisfying book has an unsatisfying end right before bedtime. What am I supposed to do now, grump myself to sleep?

RIP to a real one

look I'm not even going but I want everyone there to be healthy and this is such an easy way to reach for that

In which I have grown as a person: This morning I found a small jumping spider on a book in my car & said "hey buddy, what are you doing in here?" & carried the book to a plant to relocate said spider instead of going FUCK FUCK AHHHHHH and not knowing how to get back in my car. ✨growth✨

I wanna be a person who just gets things done - sees a need, has a good idea, does the thing. But shit if that doesn't usually mean spending unexpected money that adds up.

Just a good portrait of a dog, c.1880 - c.1892

I've been trying for a while to find a bike small enough for me & spotted a promising one in some used listings last night. Turns out it's been sitting in the shop for ages, having once been fixed up for a bike mechanic's kid. Soooo now I own a kids bike. Whatever! It fits me! Whee!

we're at Guardian Games in Portland and I'm thrilled to report that not only are we stocked next to @goblinmixtape.bsky.social but that Anamnesis is down to its last copy, time for an @ipr.bsky.social restock

forcing myself to pause reading the book I'm enjoying because I committed to reading a book I suspect will be a bummer and I want to have something nice ready to catch me when I finish it

Wrote a whole thread about why people promoting "Bored Jars" as creativity & independence development tools while pushing printables of prescriptive ideas with which to fill them are missing the mark, but deleted it at the 7th post 'cause who needs to read all that. Now accepting awards.

Yesterday I watched like a dozen big fuzzy buzzy bees cling to lavender flowers & fall asleep bobbing gently in the breeze. This morning I watched them wake, wiggling their little bee butts & stretching their tiny legs before getting right back to business. Anyhow, that was joyful.

costco before a holiday is like a restaurant on valentines

look, I don't have a favorite child, they're both precious & perfect to me but sometimes you step off the carousel at the zoo & 1 beams that today is so great they'll be happy til xmas & the other sighs & asks to do something special &it's like wellll I know which way the scale's wobbling this 5 min

the swamp of despair (from 2018)

Me out here with your roasting hot ttrpg mailing tips Ooh, yeah, high quality content But for real, I just picked up a package kicked back from Italy that looks like it made it through an underwater street fighting championship, all busted to hell, but the tape? The tape is still on, doing great.

When I was reading about the formation of the French Resistance in WWII I learned how French leadership had hammered out a message of there being dignity in surrender, convincing many people to give up the fight against nazis. Don't trust a politician telling you about dignity.

I put effort into making food and for once one of my children actually told me it was GOOD and she LIKED IT. Don't ask if she finished it, it doesn't matter, I am a CULINARY CHAMPION

Hey, if you're in or near Portland (here, #Portland #Oregon because I'm serious) go eat at Bollywood Dhaba (linked). Please. This food truck at brooklyncarreta.com is so good, I love it, I need them to thrive. If they ever close I'll be despondent. Go get some paneer. They've added cheese naan. Go.

Sure

If your law is good when there are good people in office, but dangerous when there are bad people in office, your law is bad.

I made something for #makeaterriblecomicday2025 while thinking about it