HAPPY FOUR YEAR KIDNEYVERSARY, BELLY BEAN

Four years  ago, a man I never met gave me the gift of a new life. I don't know his name, or his age, or his hometown, or his favorite color, or whether or not he was a husband, a brother, a father, or an uncle...but I know that he was loved, and I know that he was extraordinary.

In my heart I've named him Angel, and his is the first name I mention when I ask God to watch over those that have gone before me, and his gift is one of hundreds that I hope to be worthy of by living a good and grateful life.

Thank you, Dearies, for all of your love and support and prayers and encouragement and good wishes, and for a constant reminder that this life of mine is very blessed, indeed.

And thank you, Angel, for giving me a chance to live it to its very fullest.

 

IT'S A GOOD THING I CAN'T FIND STEWEY'S OLD CHECKBOOK

This estate is currently for sale. It's an historic home in LIGONIER, INDIANA....the birthplace of the late Mr Stewey Angus Willowswamp and his little cousin, the late Mr Bosco Oliver Willowswamp. Despite their more humble lodgings at birth, I suspect both boys would be proud to own such an impressive piece of local renown.

(I can only imagine the arguments over the exterior paint color, as well as the insistence (on Bosco's part) to convert the sunporch into a bouncy castle.)

Time for a Sunday nap, a big a$$ cold brew and The Count of Monte Christo.

Cheers!

I'm sorry for my absence lately, Dearies, but the level of out of whack-ness here at CS2 has reached levels heretofore not seen before. I'm fine and JB is fine...we are both happy, healthy, and managing not to get ourselves into too much mischief...but Yours Truly is just schlumping around like a schlumpadink on schlumpy steroids.

I can't seem to get out of my own way.

I'm reading and cooking and cleaning and journaling and doing the things that need doing, but I haven't picked up my needle in weeks, it seems, nor have I played with any diamond painting or coloring...or anything, really.

So if you'll bear with me for a minute, I'll get my act together and will come back with a big cup of fresh damn good and more tales to tell.

In the meantime, what's new with you?

IN WHICH WE ARE DEFINITELY HAVING A MONDAY

Happy Birthday to my puppytot nephew, dear Baby Bosco! He would have been 20 years old today. I miss him like crazy! 🥺

 

OH....REDFORD.

 

 

 

 

THERAPY

I hope these images bring you as much peace and happiness as they do for Yours Truly. (The middle photographs are of Oxford....where I am a doctoral candidate in English Literature in my pre-sleep fantasies every night.)

(No need to explain what kind of fantasies the beefcake photos are for...this is, after all, a family show.)

God bless and keep every single one of you and all the people on the planet. I hope wherever you are today brings you joy...both loud or quiet. If you need me...I'll be right here.

Happy Weekend! Go Irish!

 

HAVE I ALWAYS BEEN THIS DRAMATIC?

LIGHTS!

CAMERA!

ACTION!

WOOOOHOOOO!

 

 

TAKE YOUR SPINSTER TO WORK DAY

"One Adam Twelve...we've got a nerd in the building"

Rich is ushering the volleyball at Notre Dame tonight, so I tagged along for my monthly outing (i.e. I'm out of pajamas and the apartment whether I want to be or not.)

Of course....I had to bring my book. Do you think I'm taking this whole "pretending to be a student" thing too far?

(I had stitching in the bag too, but chickened out at the last minute,)

Cheers, Dearies!  Go Irish! ☘️

BEST THURSDAY AFTERNOON MOVIE DATE. EVER.

A few weeks ago I saw an ad for tickets at Cinemark for Hamilton tickets and thought "This would be kinda cool to see".

Holey Schmoley! Rich and I both enjoyed this immensely.If you were fortunate enough to see this live on stage...I can only imagine how wonderful it was! We saw a recording of one of the first live performances in New York with the original Broadway cast, and it was fantastic!

Dinner has been finished, the kitchen has been cleaned and tidied, and now we're going to settle in for a little football.

E A G L E S!

Ciao, Dearies! I hope you have a delightful evening!

OK...SO...I'M A NERD

 

I totally geeked out this morning, Dearies! Today was my first day of Spinster School, and I started it with a new Bed Coffee set up. I really wish I could adequately tell you how stupidly, ridiculously happy this little tray makes me. I mean...the level of my total excitement over this is positively absolutely just not normal, and you know what?

I'm just too happy to worry about it. 🤗

I started with my Morning Pages, which is just a fancy way I saying I wrote in my journal. Then, I spent a fair amount of time studying my three little subjects...History of Philosophy (*), Shakespeare (The Tempest), and Art History.

(*) I do have the heavy-duty Coppleston from my college days, but I decided to start with a lovely little book by Ralph McInerny. Prof McInerny taught at Notre Dame and authored several academic books, as well as created the Father Dowling mystery series.

I've had my breakfast, took a shower, organized my planner for the week, and have sausage, peppers, and onions ready to go in the oven for dinner.

Whew!

Now it's time to settle in with a nice tall cold brew damn good and do a little stitching:

Not a whole lot of progress last night due to the football game. My Irish, alas, lost to Miami 27-24. (Insert a lot of naughty swear words here.) As I was telling Robin from Virginia, when I was at ND, we had such a huge rivalry with Miami, so this loss really skinned my heiney. 🤬 

But it's just a game, I know, and there will be plenty more to come.

Happy Monday/Labor Day! I hope your corner of the world is wonderful! Come tell me all about it!

GOOOOOOOOO, IRISH! ☘️

A NIGHT AT THE THEE AY TER

Wow. King Lear did NOT disappoint! JB and I went to one of the last performances of it in the Shakespeare Festival...the 25th annual...that has been on campus at Notre Dame for the last ten days. It was fantastic, but can I tell you a secret?

I would have been completely lost without my pre-month of studying. 🙄

This was, believe it or not, my first live performance of a Shakespeare play, and I was THRILLED to be able to follow along and understand what was going on and recognize the characters and understand some of the nuances and such. My JB went into it cold...not having read or seen Lear before, and he said he was able to enjoy it as well, but let's face it....his brain is a lot bigger than this little thing in my head that keeps me from walking into traffic or pushing when I should pull.

(But only occasionally).

So a night out followed by a good long sleep and now another beautiful day. It's cool enough for a Snoopy sweatshirt, but sunny and perfectly swell out there in Hoosierville, so I think I'll take advantage of it and enjoy a few stitches before making stuffed peppers for dinner.

Happy Friday, Dearies! If you're here in the US and heading into the Labor Day holiday, what's cookin?

WHO'S HAPPIER THAN ME?

There is a cool breeze coming in the balcony door, I can hear the wind chimes downstairs doing their thing, and I'm getting ready to do a little reading before getting a few chores done for the day.

Oh...what joy...what bliss!

I hope you finds your joy and bliss today, Dearies! What's in YOUR purse? 🤭

(When I started this whole deep reading/self-learning thing and started moving my stuff from place to place in a little felt diaper caddy that I fished out of the cube room studio, my JB took one look at me and said "What's with the purse, Con?")

(Speaking of...my JB arrives home on the train tomorrow morning! If you would have told me that I would have been completely adrift for three months without him, I would have told you that you were crazy. I am, after all, an experienced Spinster of the Poppins order, and very well accustomed to solitary pursuits, but...(looking around to make sure nobody hears this confession)...I missed his company! 🥹)

Now...on with the day! I hope your very own Tuesday is just perfection for you. What's on the menu?

BELLY BEAN'S FAVORITE BREAKFAST (AND SOMETIMES LUNCH AND DINNER)

 

Another great set of kidney labs came in, and I am attributing this to my breakfast/lunch/meal one selection...cottage cheese with melon and berries.

Today has been absolutely positively wonderful, Dearies! Sometime last night the switch flipped and the weather went from hot, miserable, and humid to cool and sunny with a lovely breeze coming in the open windows.

I. Am. So. Happy.

So now I'm going to have a nice shower and enjoy some stitching, coloring, and diamond painting tonight!

How was your Sunday? Come tell me all about it!

FINALLY! IT'S FINISHED!

I don't know why this seemed to take for-ev-ahhhhh, but it's finally done! Now I can play with something new with a clear conscience!

(This was the June project from Cotton & Twine's subscription box.)

SUMMER SCHOOL

 

Since I have been left unsupervised all Summer,  I've been trying to occupy my time wisely, and not fritter it away on Housewives or doomscrolling.

(Mission accomplished-ish.)

I am still really enjoying long reading sessions in the morning, and have almost made my way through the introduction of King Lear after reading the actual play twice. As for Villette...she is my before-bed reading, and I am taking her slowly and loving every page.

For the life of me, I just can't seem to regain the stitching speed and stamina I had in my younger days. I can get about a half hour completed before something hurts or distracts or goes awry and I have to do something else for a bit.

(Phooey.)

Rich returns one week from today, so I had better get out of lazy daisy Spinster mode and move into lazy daisy Too Old To Be A Girlfriend mode. Not much difference between the two other than what causes me to holler at the TeeVee.

I hope your very own Summer has been...whatever you wanted it to be. Are you like me in that Fall starts on September 1st?

 

MAKING PROGRESS...SLOWLY

 

This has been a...slow...summer. Rich has been in New Jersey helping his mom, and I have been here trying not to burn the house down.

(Just kidding. I am really quite capable of adulting. It just seems like I am much better at it when under the supervision of trained professionals.)

But I have been trying to behave myself on all fronts, and despite a few mishaps and continued 'ugh' days I'm still here with stitching and damn good and wonderful reading and the Mad Mens to keep me company.

I thought I might tuck the stitchy project away until next year, but I feel like I'm this far in it, I might as well finish, no? But I am starting to get a BIG hankering for Fall stitching, and my tiny little brain has been all pittypat since seeing some of the new things on the internets. I'm also wanting to get back to some Fall WiPs to see if I can add to my Fuppy box. (*)

As for the reading...King Lear and I are becoming old friends. I read it through once straightaway without the benefit of footnotes or an introduction, then a second time with footnotes, and now I'm reading the introduction before a final read through before seeing it performed on stage.

(Goodness! You'd think I actually had a plan! This is all just a happy accident...I assure you. Lear is being performed over at Notre Dame as part of their Shakespeare Festival, so that's the reason for the deep dive.)

I'm obsessed with two lovely YouTubers. The first is Helen from The Coffee Monsterz Co. Helen is the owner of the business selling stationery items for planning. I love her little emotis and am fascinated by how she manages to journal, plan, and run her life with such whimsy. She might also be the hardest working person on the planet, since I think she consistently logs 12, 14, and 16 hour days running TCMC.

The other person I'm following/stalking like a crazy person is Ruby Granger. She is a lovely young woman who vlogs all about her life as a student/lover of literature and academia. Ruby went to Exeter and then got her Masters degree at Oxford, so now I'm completely obsessed with the fantasy of going there. I've got my college all picked out, have decorated my room, selected my course of study, and already know what will be in my lovely plaid satchel when I head to the Bodleian for an afternoon of study.

Aaaahhhh...if only.

So that's the entire sum of my little goat rodeo at the moment, Dearies. Stitching, labworks, appointments, and a cardiac CT on the horizon for me, as well as vats of damn good and cold brew and some good books in there to keep me occupied.

What's new with you?

(*) A Fuppy Box is where you stuff/store your finished/unfinished projects...meaning you've finished the stitching portion of the program, but you haven't yet finished the thing into the final thing it's supposed to be...like an ornament or framed piece, etc.

(I cannot take credit for this term. It was shamelessly lifted from a fellow stitcher's blog many many years ago. If you are the originator, please come forward so I apologize to you as well as give you proper credit.) 

IT DOES. INDEED.

 

WEEKEND SPINSTER BLISS