staring down the cup of dayquil like we're costars in a movie where the help you need most comes only from the ememy you hate most

Ahhhhhhh, that tenterhooks feeling when you've got barely 27 pages left in a good book but your child has just come home from school and you know it'll be hours until you can pay attention to it again

For the record, I have never yet painted even a single mini. Though I have spent a fair amount of time craning over @itsdanphipps.bsky.social going "mm, ooh, what if you..." and laughing over Citadel paint names, and used said paints as part of making rotten lucre for the DUKK BÖRG kickstarter.

Yeah, this speech is good. This speech is Real Good.

Ok well I goofed. I ran across a company on here printing KPop Demon Hunters minis, noted they were priced in £, assumed tariff woes & scrolled on. Then I mentioned it within my kids' hearing. Please, if you have any idea, help me fix this goof and identify these minis makers.

There's one item on my local ballot today: do we continue a tax that funds parks? I read the published arguments: Yes: Parks! Public bathroom access! Community events! A staggering 50% loss of parks funding without it! No: "We're too nice to homeless people!" ... Not a hard one, this time.

It doesn't happen often, but once in a rare while I'll find myself without a book. Or maybe having trouble focusing on one, or the mood of what hold came in isn't right. That's when Flytrap is there for me, offering cool cultural journalism as an alternative to doomscrolling.

We didn't see many trick or treaters last night, but you know what was cool? How many of them I recognized as my kids' classmates. Hearing "I saw [kid]'s mom!" reported to parents waiting at the sidewalk. Real community vibes.

I hear people are upset about yesterday's world series game ending due to the Dead Ball Rule but seriously? Is there a better way for a Halloween game to end?

Also, if you make or do stuff that gets press coverage you'd like to be able to quote or refer to, save your own copies of that coverage. You have no control over whether this or that site keeps it up in perpetuity but you can control your own copies.

there are SO MANY OTHER wizard books. So many others! That aren't actively contributing harm! So many other wizard schools (even British ones), Chosen Ones, found families, sorted personality types, magic animal companions, series, etc. HP is just not worth it.

Actual Treasure Dieter Ruehle

me watching over @itsdanphipps.bsky.social's shoulder as he plays any number of spooky dark games

NO SUCH LUCK, JUST NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS

ah yes, that ol' chestnut: am I getting sick or do I just need to take some iron & drink some water

I could use some good vibes pleasant fluff feel good books: have you got recommendations?

Today I was yelled at extensively over text by some old white boomer accusing me of trying to scam him about his son's untimely death after I reached out because his wife has been using my email address for her purchases & account registrations for months now so he's blocked now

I did not expect to see two spiders fight today but damn that was high stakes excitement, lots of kicking, congratulations to the big bottomed orb weaver winner who sucessfully defended her web from a skinny-abdomened interloper

What a lovely message from @bookshop.org. Glad to see them growing and growing. We CAN claim back what has been taken from us by these monstrous corporations, and it starts with things like this. Grab some books these next couple days!

You can also partner with someone whose design strengths fill your gaps & vice versa, if you get a chance. Then marry them, if it works out well that way for you.

and hey on the topic of ID laws do you really trust Bluesky, whose admin and c-suites physically cannot stop themselves from posting-through-it, to be able to hold onto your fucking govt ID and not leak it in a data breach like Discord? these policies suck, they are dangerous, call your reps

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?