Thinking: On the politics front: +An Open Letter to Howard Schultz by Jon Lovett of Crooked Media/Pod Save America/Lovett or Leave It. Unless you are a third-party (and not insane) conservative, stay out of the 2020 race. We don’t need you jacking up the election. +Any time Ted Cruz gets taken down a notch is a good day in my book. From what I understand Senator Bennett is usually mild-mannered so him going off on Ted is pretty spectacular! +I’m glad to see so many women announcing exploratory runs for president but the only two that I see so far having a chance are Senator’s Warren and Harris. And to…

As I mentioned a few posts back in my 2018 Year in Review, I thought I might try to write out 39 Goals or Wishes to Complete for 2019. I’ll be 39 in July and so I thought I might write up a list of things I’d like to do this year instead of a random word that I seem to continue to forget sometime mid-way through the year. I may not hit all of these but I do find when I see what I have listed that I tend to try to make things happen. At least that’s what I did when I had the 28 list, or when…

Well, 2018 is closing out and I honestly can’t believe it. We’re inching closer to the end of the decade and it feels like yesterday we were at the beginning of the decade. And as per usual it is time to start reflecting on the previous year and thinking about the next. First, I think I should review my word for the year, which was apparently strong and of course I forgot about until I went to look it up. I think I tried to be strong in some ways. I’ve been fairly consistent with workouts despite not losing weight (lots of thoughts on that for another time) and have…

We were supposed to be camping this weekend. And then the weather forecast last week stated temperatures in the 40s and rain starting Friday afternoon into early Saturday morning, tapering off around breakfast. The rain started later than anticipated on Friday so the rain became heavy by nightfall. The problem pipe draining our front yard still hadn’t been solved; Chris had been unable to pinpoint the actual issue. Friday night I started packing up my clothes and Forest’s clothes and a few other items, with Chris to bring in the storage bins for packing the rest of the gear later in the evening. However, the rain never let up. Secretly…

On Sunday I got on our NextDoor group and saw that several people were posting about President Bush’s funeral train supposedly traversing a track that runs through a town very nearby. I can hear the train horns from inside our house, that’s how near this track is. Sure enough, I looked up the route and it was set to go through Magnolia sometime around lunch or just after. I told Chris about it and thought it would be neat to go. Honestly, when I thought about going I didn’t imagine that a ton of people would be going considering it was the middle of a work day. Little did I…

Thinking: I didn’t write about it earlier this month but I went on my first overnight trip away from Forest in early November. I’ve been ready for a weekend away for several years now but I knew Forest wasn’t. Finally this summer I knew that it would be a lot easier to get away for the weekend and so two of my friends and I made plans to spend a night away. We’ve been friends since the summer of 1998 and were living aboard the TS Texas Clipper II. Ideally we would have liked some quaint cabin in the Hill Country but with last minute planning and driving distance we…

Thinking: + via GIPHY Chris and I got our early voting in yesterday. I’m not usually an early voter, I’ve done it once or twice before. I like to go on election day but I felt it was important to get it done with just in case I couldn’t vote next Tuesday. I sure hope Beto wins. It would really be nice to send an email to my representative for once and get a response that sounds like they are listening. I don’t know why I bother with Cruz and Cornyn other than to make sure they know there are people other than them living in Texas. +Got an ocular…

It’s quiet right now. The air conditioner is humming. Chris just left for the grocery store to get food for the week. Forest is taking a nap on the couch. Leo is…well, I’m not sure where Leo is at. The house is a mess from the mess we left it in when we went out for camping on Saturday and from all of the post-camping unpacking that needs to happen. Laundry just ran in the washing machine and need to get switched over and the coolers and storage containers with food from the weekend need to be put away before Chris gets back with more food to put away. And…

Thinking: View this post on Instagram Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. May all of our daughters grow up without her trauma but with her strength. A post shared by Jessica Dolan Clarendon (@jessicaclarendon) on Sep 27, 2018 at 10:03am PDT I’d like to add that may we raise our sons to assist us in dismantling the patriarchy and misogyny that currently guides our society. What the fuck — Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) September 27, 2018 Basically my same response when Lindsey Graham went down his spiraling tirade today. That is all. I spent the afternoon listening to NPR and I wish I hadn’t. I hadn’t planned on listening to any of it…