Decoration Day (& picture overload)

Dijaknow that Memorial Day used to be known as Decoration Day because soldiers used to decorate (with flowers and flags...not like garland and lights, although wouldn't that be a scene?) the graves of their fallen comrades?

That's the only bit of sustenance in this post. (but really...)

Apparently I have a knack for Memorial Day blog posts (seen here and here), so I'm coming at you again in 2020, bitches.  Sorry, but not sorry for the lack of a 2019 post.  From what I can remember, we ventured from the southeastern corner of the state of LA to the northwestern corner of the state (still LA) to hang out with mi padre.  Nate the Great also planned a little reunion fun with some old work buddies, and we just took it all reallllllll eassssssy. :) We have good memories from a year ago when cloth masks weren't strapped to our faces and the sun was nice and shiny...

Mi Padre and Mi Amore

which is the opposite of today.

I am not one, nor will I e'er be one to complain about a rainy day off work, but Nate and I dreamed up a grandiose good time outdoors today, including a nice little hike at nearby Piedmont Ridge Trail and a picnic lunch outside, but the weather kind of changed all that for us.

After busting our bootays this morning doing a workout from my new trainer (#bigballin'), we got all cleaned up and were like "This rain is going to pass, and we'll just get a little mud on our shoes!"  However, that soon turned into "it's really coming down out there! Mebbbeeee we should reschedule for another day." :( But we made light of it and took some pics by the door.

Hot stuff!

I'm pretty sure I was mid song here.

I guess I could have cropped some of these a bit, but la to the zy.

DEFINITELY mid-song here.

It's all good in the 'hood.  We had a turkey sammiches with a little side of Mr. Trebek, and all was right in the world again.

Then I had the bright idea to go ahead and knock out getting a few groceries from Trader Joe's, and I thought "It's Memorial Day AND rainy - - Trader Joe's is going to be EMPTY!" (are you picking up on the foreshadowing I'm putting down?  'cause if not, then maybe I'm a bad writer you need to go back to 8th grade reading class.)

Little did she know that everyone in the DFW metroplex had the same idea.

So after nearly 18 minutes in line, I hightailed my slippery shoes through the store and was out in less time than my wait time.

But you know what?! Who the eff cares? Cause it's STILL a day off work! #MemorialDayBitches

This is my current view. 

No rearranging/posing things to make it cooler. #lazyblogger  So you just get a plain, boring candle picture. 

And another cat picture. (THANK GOD he's feeling oodles and oodles better than last weekend.)

P.S. That's not water in my water bottle.
P.S.S. Yes it is, because my trainer said I can't have alcohol.

Something old, new, borrowed, and blue

Hello from the other siiiiiiiiide.

Still in lockdown, still working from home, so not really the other side, but I felt like saying it anyway.  Today marks the start of my 9th week of teleworking. So while I'm really enjoying no commute time in my day and more comfortable clothes and easier lunches and more time working out in the morning and working alongside Jim and this and that and the other, I do feel really bad for all of the people out of work or suffering from the sickness or loss of income, etc. etc., and it'll be nice when we reach "normal" again.

But enough virus talk for now! On to more exciting things like what is up with the title of this post? I'm actually kind of proud of myself for such a clever title and post idea.  (at least proud by my standards, which we all know are extremely low.)

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Something old

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I decided to brush the dust off my copy of The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail whilst I was waiting on the library to get off their sorry ass* lend me my next read, and boy howdy am I ever glad for making such an important decision.  For those of you sorry asses that don't know, this book, is phenomenal. Period. It has wit and intelligence and perfect segues and inspiration and why am I not already living in the woods in my own Walden, living off my bean patch, eating imaginary huckleberries, but am instead tied to THE MAN???  It is just so, SO good, y'all. And if you haven't read it, then you should, and you will love it and reread it from time to time and also send me a thank you note at my cabin in the woods.  Of course, it'll be from your cabin in the woods and will probably be written on a stone, written by using a sharp stone (apparently, it's really stony around your cabin), but I'll appreciate the gesture nonetheless. 😉 
p.s. I swear I'm not stoned.

Something new

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My last read, before I manhandled (with my brain and eyes) the aforementioned, was a book called The Girl He Used to Know (not to be confused with this.)  I had high hopes for it being another book I would love (like this one) or even really like (like this one), buuuuuuuuuut it wasn't. It wasn't horrible by any means, and I was nice enough to give it a 3/5 stars on GoodReads, but it just didn't do anything for me. It was an easy read and *SPOILER ALERT* was interesting reading a love story about a girl who is on the Autism spectrum and seeing how she perceives things, as well as how others perceive her (the chapters alternate between her point of view, as well as the point of view of her love interest), but again, nothing really spectacular.  There wasn't witty banter or a great plot, and the ending (which was spanned over the last 6 chapters or so) were centered on September 11th, and it just wasn't that great. In conclusion, if you're desperate, read it, but don't say I recommended it.

Something borrowed

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When I thought up this catchy title for the blog post, this was the hardest (#firstworldproblems) blurb for me to come up with, but then the perfect-est thing dawned on me that I had to vent about.  So for work, we have to/it looks really good to participate/learn in these continuing education type webinars.  In one last week regarding helpful ideas for paralegals, the former attorney leading the course was describing how to use a particular website to research case law and/or briefs that might be helpful to your (my) attorneys.  At one point, she said "And when you find these previously published briefs that could really be helpful, you should use the information.  It's not stealing - think of it more as borrowing. You're borrowing points and ideas someone else has already made or used."

While I understand what she's saying and have no issues utilizing this approach #butdon'tplagairize, it really bothered me that she thought to use the term borrowed to make it all sound... alright?  I got the impression she uses this verbiage often, considering the webinar I participated in was spread out over three sessions, and she used this "explanation" twice.  Just call a spade a spade, lady.  When I borrow a book from the library, I intend to give it back.  I don't think when you "borrow" language or ideas that you give it back. Except I guess you kind of do because you're not literally taking the text away from them and leaving them without it, but.... Okay, this post is already too long, and I've still got the blue part, but hopefully you catch my drift and agree that she should just use another word. *end rant.*

Something blue

Isn't that the most pitiful thing you've ever seen??

Oh my goodness - did we have an eventful weekend! On Saturday, Sagan seemed fine and dandy in the morning and afternoon, but then around dinnertime, he ralphed upchucked vomited tossed his cookies. Big deal, right? He's a cat and occasionally has hairballs and sometimes this happens.  Not this time - nosireee.  So then he tossed them again about an hour or so later, and not to be gross, but the substance contained... fewer cookies.  I swear this is important for the story - I'm not just being gross.  Fast forward to later and later in the evening, and more tossing and less and less cookies until it was like, poor thing - he's got nothing left in him except for bile.  (He also didn't eat or drink anything else after the initial tossing started.) So then I'm all in a panic like WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH OUR CAT?! and Nate is like I don't know, but we should plan on taking him to the vet on Monday (reminder, it's Saturday night), and then I am ferociously googling things like "feline acute vomiting" and "take cat to vet after excessive vomiting" and Nate the Great is probably like "if she's like this with our cat, what in the hell is she going to be like with kids?!?"

So the tossing continued to the point where it then started to contain blood (so sad, I know...and also gross - sorry), and it was 10:30 p.m., but we were like "okay - we need to go to an ER vet." So we did, and Sagan was a terror like he always is at the vet, but we didn't have to experience it because with COVID, no one was allowed in the vet, so they came to the car and got him.  Long story way too long - we went home with him that night after no sign of what the hell happened and then we had to take him back to the vet 12 hours later on Sunday morning and they sedated him and took x-rays and still NOTHING, and then he had a massive diarrhea explosion at the vet (thank god we were confined to our car just waiting on the verdict at this point) and they offered to keep him overnight but wanted thousand(s) (yes plural, and no I'm not kidding) of dollars to keep an eye on him, but we were like, please don't send us to the poor house, we'll take him home with us and administer meds and keep our own eyes on him.  And here we are today:

Already hard at work plotting his maniacal revenge for 2 vet visits.

So they shaved his arm for the IV because he got dehydrated after all of the aforementioned tossing and not eating or drinking, and now we think (and we're super hopeful) he's on the up-and-up, and so we can now make fun of his ridiculous appearance. :) And also really love on the little booger.

In a nutshell, we think these may have been the culprit because of reviews online that sounds similar to our problem, but maybe Sagan was just constipated and wanted to make a big show out of it!

*just wanted to clarify that anyone who knows me knows that i freakin' love the library and basically everything I say on here is nonsense and that librarians are heaven sent and should be paid millions of dollars.

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Updates and Mercy

It's been 487 days, and she's back with a bang, folks!

Not really...I just think that writing is therapeutic...cathartic...good exercise for my fingers something, so here goes.

I'll spare you (you=no one) the nitty gritty details of the past 487 days, but a lot has happened.  Tom Hanks died. Queen Elizabeth had a baby.  You know, the normal stuff that takes place over the course of a year and some change. In all seriousness,

• Nate the Great graduated! (A to the men! No doubts whatsoever in my mind, but SO glad he's done dealing with the college stuff from this place, and also SO SO glad that the funds in our savings account is no longer being slowly slurped away by that place!)
• We moved to Dallas!
• Coronavirus struck the earth, and we've all been on lockdown for the past ~6ish weeks give or take.

So yeah, I think that's all the blog post I have in me for now.  See you in another 487 days. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAxtVMuDYD8

(If you don't click that, you're dead to me.)

No, but really.  We're super excited to finally be living in Dallas.  We seriously considered the idea not long after we decided to sell our half of the granola company, but then things didn't align properly (aka the stars), and so it was pushed aside.  And then we'd keep talking about making it a reality but this, that, and the other would get in the way or convince us to hold off on it for now and then we almost bought a house in Shreveport, but then thank god we didn't because we decided to move to New Orleans for a job offer for me and then we were living in the big NOLA and then Nate had school to finish, and then...I've been rambling enough already, and this post was supposed to be about my most recent read.

Hah! Did you miss me? (again, you=no one)

But we're here*, and even though we were really only able to explore the city for a good week or two (after all the unboxing and "ughhhh where the hell are we going to put all. this. stuff?"), we're really REALLY excited about getting here and the next chapter of our lives.

Speaking of chapters... 

via GIPHY

I thought it might be fun for me to at least pretend that I should jump on the ole blogger every few weeks or so when I finish a book to A) document it and give my review of it, as well as B) make some kind of excuse to really just get my butt back to blogging/documenting life.  I mean, I've already rambled on for how long and look where were at.

Source...and get you a copy while you're there

I finished Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy last night, and I'll go ahead and let the cat** out of the bag (so he can breathe again), and let you know that I'd give it 5/5 stars!

It was a really interesting read about capital punishment and equal rights with an emphasis on death row, as well as how messed up our criminal justice system is, all while interweaving real life stories of men and women and kids (who became men and women) who were helped by Mr. Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative, or EJI.

The Civil Rights Movement and civil rights in general are something that I feel I've always been drawn to.  I always have felt that Rosa Parks in particular was someone I have looked up to, not to mention MLKjr, and after Nate and I visited the Civil Rights Museum and Lorraine Motel in Memphis this past August, I don't think I'll ever view that time period the same.  (Sidenote:  I highly recommend everyone go.  It's so well done, and overall, one of the best museums I've ever been to.)

Back to it - this book is so good, but also is heavy at times.  Some nights after I'd put it down, I'd just stare at Nate and say something like "I just don't understand how they can treat people like this." So if you're looking for a lighthearted beach read come July when your toes are submerged in the surf....who am I kidding, we will STILL be on Covid-19 lockdown come July.  All that to say, everyone should definitely read it, and we should all give our whole paycheck every month to the EJI because man..those people, Bryan Stevenson in particular, are saints.

Enough for now seeing that it's Sunday at 5 til' 5, and dinner ain't gonna make itself. 

*If you know this movie and love it (like you should), email me so that we can be BFFs.
**The cat already has enough trouble trying to breathe through his crusty, runny nose.