It's a Day

May. 17th, 2021 01:58 pm
lydamorehouse: (nic & coffee)
 I'm a little distracted today because when I was going through my email this morning, I found a open mic invite to a digital event called, Cymera 2021.

I have a vague memory of asking to be on the mailing list. It's Scottish, but, you know, virtual, and they were looking for five minute readings. I thought to myself, "My UK publisher would probably really love it if I submitted something to this, eh?" 

Thus, I spent the morning recording and editing this thing and sending it off along with a short bio, etc. I have never been more grateful that, early in the pandemic, I just broke down and bought myself a video editing program. I initially bought it to make recording lectures for my remote classes the Loft easier, but this will be the second--maybe third time?--I've used it to send off recorded readings for various online events.  

There was nothing particularly difficult about this? But, it still managed to eat my morning. I'm sure you know how that goes.

I don't know if anyone else is planning on going, but I signed up for the low-key gathering WisCON: https://wiscon.net/2021/05/08/announcing-visioning-wiscon/ I had fun last year? And I kind of enjoy these digital events?  If you are, I'll see you there. I am technically also signed up for the Nebula weekend, the same weekend, but that's the joy of virtual, right? I can be in two places at the same time.

Speaking of lowkey, the big thing we did this weekend was go rummage sale-ing. Hamline-Midway does one of those big neighborhood things. After being reminded about it by a friend, Shawn and I hit the road. I normally love these kinds of things because I'm easily amused by sifting through other people's detritus. Twin Cities Geek had posted about one that looked promising, too, so we headed there. I was excited by the look of that one because two neighbors had joined together and had both front yards were full of tables. The geeks had mentioned it because the corner house had a bunch of geeky collectibles. I pawed through those, but I'm not big on action figures? There were some Hello Kitty pins? But I'm only moderately a fan of Hello, Kitty. But, from there we were able to walk over to another sale, and from that one we could see another down the street. 

Unfortunately, that was the closest cluster I found? And a lot of people seemed to actually take the GARAGE part of garage sale seriously, which was a bummer? Shawn and I like to do the slow cruise past the address to see whether or not we can just tell by looking if it's going to be tables full of baby clothes and nothing else, you know? And, you can't always do that in alleys. The first couple of times we parked and walked down to the alley only to find it to be a bust, we decided that with everything so spread out, alley ones weren't worth the minimum effort it took to park somewhere and walk. We're lazy garage salers, what can I say?

I did end up bringing a Chinese ox shaped butter dish home...

My garage sale find: cow/ox shaped butter dish, in classic blue and white china colors.
image: My garage sale find: cow/ox shaped butter dish, in classic blue and white china colors.


...and Shawn found a weird (but compelling!) cat statue for our collection of oddities on the porch. So, it wasn't all a bust. How was your weekend?
lydamorehouse: (renji has hair)
 Someone on Facebook jokingly said, "Since when did Minnesota have a monsoon season?"  It certainly does seem like that. I keep trying to remind myself that cool and wet are so much more normal that dry and hot.  

We had our big rummage sale today.  It was pretty much a downpour all day, but we still managed to move $70.00 worth of stuff. It helped that a couple of big ticket items--including a bicycle--sold.  Despite being wrapped in cling wrap, our signs melted. I had to replace them with ones that we put packing tape over, so I kind of spent the day in a weird loop.  Picking up signs.  Replacing signs.  Rinse, repeat.  

Given how cold and miserable it was, we thought that we might have had an even better day, had the weather decided to cooperate.  So Lisa and Shawn decided that since they had everything so nicely set up in Lisa's garage, they might as well just leave it there and try again in the morning tomorrow.  My feeling is, why not?  $70 is more than I was expecting to make, but if we could get it a little closer to $100 that feels like a nice donation.  100% of the proceeds for this rummage sale is going towards funding Mason's Wind Energy Team's trip to Anaheim. (They leave Tuesday!)  They made enough to book tickets and cover much of hotel, but not quite enough.... also currently they have no funds to cover food for all 8 kids for the three days they're gone.  Any money we make (or that you donate: https://www.gofundme.com/help-send-us-to-kidwind-nationals) will go to offset those costs.  At this point, anything helps.

Otherwise, my mood has been.... feeling my mortality.  I suppose that's not a mood, but it's definitely something that's been on my mind lately.  After Mark died, I've been working hard to stay in touch with his partner Joe.  It's not terribly hard.  He's on my mind a lot.  So it's more that I have to remind myself to go ahead and text Joe when I'm thinking about him.  In fact, we text/chatted a bit today, because he'd been thinking about bringing over some donations to the sale, if the weather had been a little less gross.

I can only imagine how lonely he must be.  It's not hard to think about "what if...?" And, life without Shawn is.... UNTHINKABLE.  And, I would have Mason to share my grief.  Joe has only friends and relatives like me.

Then, today, by chance I discovered that a Facebook acquaintance lost her husband, unexpectedly, a few days ago. He seems to have died in his sleep, probably from a heart attack. I was floored. This is not someone I know terribly well.  We only friended each other several months ago, after hanging out on Google with a mutual friend who had moved out of town.  I thought she was cool, and so I followed her, like you do.  And now... this.  

It's like this "what if...?" is stalking me, circling closer.
lydamorehouse: (ticked off Ichigo)
 Mason's team did not win against Capitol Hill last night (not even close), BUT Mason got a hit, scored a run, and, for the first time, got someone OUT. Ironically, a kid also named Mason. So, it was almost like he got out his alternate universe self! (See: our tangled history with Captiol Hill in the post below.)

Mason was playing second base, which is, IMHO, a tough position because you have to be constantly alert for base steals, grounders, and of course any balls coming your way.  AND it's best if you have an arm strong enough to comfortably toss to first base, in order to do a classic 'double play.'  And coach kept letting Mason play there, which is a nice change from right field.

Listen to me, sounding like a baseball mom!

The bummer is that Mason is going to be headed off to Anaheim on Tuesday, so he's going to miss the play-offs.  Well, most of them. They start on Monday so he will likely make that one, so long as the informational meeting during 510 doesn't go overtime and it's a home game (or at a field I can find quickly.)  Weirdly, I'm going to miss cheering for the team. I jokingly asked Mason if it would be alright to cheer for the team while he was gone, anyway, and he snapped a quick: NO, DON'T BE CREEPY, IMA.

Speaking of Mason's trip, a bunch of us Kid Wind Team moms are planning a last-ditch fundraiser for the trip: a multi-family garage sale!  If you're interested to see what we're selling, feel free to stop by on Saturday, May 20 (8 am to 4 pm?) 2260 Sargent Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105.  I can tell you there will be lots of unusual things, more than your standard baby clothes (although a lot of those will be there, too!)  Shawn and I have, over the years, collected all sorts of odds and ends--and a fair number of them are on the chopping block, including an old foosball table and an antique adding machine.  It'd be nice if we could raise a couple hundred bucks, so to that end, we're pricing things TO  GO.  We will be very much "or best offer" because what doesn't sell is going straight to GoodWill.

Today I have to go get cash for the cash box and some plastic tarps, because the chance of rain, unfortunately, is quite high. (Bummer.)  But, we can't delay because the kids LEAVE on Tuesday.  We may end up extending the sale into Sunday, though I think it's supposed to be rainy all weekend (because Minnesota now has a monsoon season, apparently. Though, I do feel like this is more NORMAL than the spring droughts we've had in the past, so I'm not *really* complaining, universe!)

Because it's been cold and rainy, I made myself a big pot of borscht. I am literally the only person in my family who eat this. I don't mind making  big batch, because that means I can have ready-made lunch for a couple of days.  But, the hilarious thing is that while gathering ingredients at the store today, I FORGOT THE CABBAGE. For borscht!!  This is the second time I've made borscht with everything but the cabbage, so I guess that's partly why I keep doing this, but what heck.  Next time I spontaneously decide to make borscht I need to think: beets AND cabbage.

Right, I'm off to start the pre-garage sale errands!

Ja matta!

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