Too Much Screen Time!

Often times over dinner people here on the continuum care campus will ask each other what we did all day. A table of twelve might bring answers like, “I went to Macy’s…” or “…out to lunch with my daughter” or “I went to the farmer's stand south of town to buy sweet corn” or “I had physical therapy this morning and napped all afternoon.” I rarely have an answer that I feel like giving because the truth makes me sound so lazy. Instead, I’ll say I was busy all day but don’t remember what all I did. (And it just dawned on me that apparently I don’t mind looking like I have dementia setting in.) But the truth usually goes like this: I spent two hours writing a poem, then I wadded it up and threw in the waste basket” or  “I watched too many Facebook Shorts where I laughed or smiled at dogs, cats, gorillas, panda bears, two-toes sloths, immigrant comedies or a hottie Ukrainian dancer that takes me back to all the Gene Kelly movies I loved as a kid. I don’t actually tell anyone about the hottie so let’s keep that between us, okay? I don’t want anyone in my family or here at the CCC (should they stumble onto my blog) to label me as a---what? Couger? Creepy old woman who cyber stalks man-boys? Someone who wishes I was young enough to move my body the way Itslavik does?

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1528848141257257 Itslavik

I have a habit of pigging out on too much screen time in my life. At night I watch an hour (sometimes two) of Netflix. I just finished binge watching Suits and I’m looking for something new that is binge worthy. I was half way through season six of Suits when I realized that one of the main characters is played by none other than the Maghan Markle. She’s really a good actress! Then she had to go and ruin the series by marrying The Spare to the Royal Monarch and the series wasn’t the same. I guess it wouldn’t be proper for the Duchess of Sussex to be filmed making out with her TV co-star. Such prudes, those British people. The writers sent her character and her TV husband off to California never to be seen again. The series is set at a New York lawyer firm that only hires from Harvard. Except for one guy. Maghan’s TV flame and later TV husband, Mike, who talked his way into a job as a lawyer even though he’d never been to lawyer school. Of course, he and the wall partner of the firm who hired him spent several seasons trying to hide that fact and another season trying to keep themselves out of prison.

I did find time to finish another custom paint-by-number. (You send a photo into the company and they turn it into a paint-by-number kit.) The painting I made with the kit is to the left. I gave it to the little girl's grandmother but her dog kept barking at it so she gave to her granddaughter, the subject of the portrait. I've had dogs do the same thing with other portrait paintings and I wasn't surprised because this one turned out with the "haunting eyes" that seem to look at you no matter where you stand. How cool is that! I had a hard time letting it go. The girl in the painting is older now and she loves her portrait so all's well that ends well.

I got a pedicure today and the place was overrun with little girls and their mothers. I was clueless that this has become a back-to-school ritual for people with their priorities out of order. In my humble opinion I should add. One woman with three daughters and herself paid $350 plus tip! If you have that much discretionary money on hand why not buy $25 worth of polish and files and teach your daughters how to give themselves or each other nail care and send the rest of the money to the Red Cross or some other charity helping out with the fires in Maui? A couple of those little girls acted like they'd rather be anywhere else but getting pampered by a manicurist and pedicurist at the same time. At least I have an excuse for getting my toenails done: I'm old and can't reach them anymore. I really hate paying for pedicures!

It feels like summer is already over with all the back to school stuff in stores and our fall schedule filling in here at the CCC. I signed up for way too many outings, given I've been busting my budget lately. But how could I turn down a bus trip to my favorite tourist town in the whole world? Or to High Tea or to a lecture by the author of a Braiding Sweetgrass? I’ve only gone to High Tea once, back 15-20 years ago when I was in the Red Hat Society. After I signed up for this tea I remembered I no longer have a hat nor an outfit suitable for the event. So I hopped on Amazon and order a $7.00 Flapper hat that will go with the best outfit in my closet---black pants and a black and white crepe tunic with flowing sleeves. I’ll be woefully under dressed but there is nothing new about that for me and it won’t spoil my fun of reliving the playtime tea parties I had with my mom and my nieces when they were wee little girls. We didn't dress up like princesses or Garden Club ladies like my Red Hat sisters did but my imagination can color in those details just the same. 

Also on the front of what's new in my life is my drafting table and magnifying light. I didn't think I'd be able to show you this photo because the stupid email on my phone quit working so I couldn't email photos to my computer. It took me forever to figure out how to sent a photo to the cloud and pull it back down. Ya, I know I should have learned how to do this years ago instead of emailing myself photos. Call me paranoid but I don't trust those clouds not to be easily hacked. The table is sitting in my living room window and it looks exactly like I envisioned my apartment would be when I picked it out. It just took me nearly

two years to get my act together. Now, I have to get my head together and wrapped it around fixing my email.  Again. I spent over two hours trying every fix on the internet including uninstalling the app and reinstalling it. Still doesn't work. The next step is to call the Jiggerbug's tech department but I have to be in the right mood for that.

Until next Wednesday.  ©

 

It's a long clip but it shows the chemistry between these to characters and how the hiring happened.