SMQ

I should really rename this thing Sconnie Molly Quarterly – that’s what it’s become. And I guess I’m fine with that.

Look at me, writing in my laptop on my bed like a lil Midwestern Carrie Bradshaw. If Carrie Bradshaw were a working mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, colleague, etc etc etc. Isn’t it odd that we never hear a WORD about Carrie’s family of origin? Maybe that’s explored in the separate Carrie series, but I don’t care enough to find out.

Things have been…I don’t know. Kind of hard. In June we unexpectedly lost one of my uncles, who was such a lovely man. Shortly after that, Isis was diagnosed with some elaborately named form of cancer, and we said goodbye to her. 12 years she was with us; it’s hard to remember adult life without her, I guess because, now that I do the math, there really wasn’t much of an adult life without her. I remember writing a list for V of all the reasons we should get a cat. He’d never had one before and claimed to be skeptical, but of course he ended up loving her just as much as I did. We moved with her from the west side apartment, to the downtown apartment, to the house, to Seattle, to the east Madison apartment, and to our current house. If she was sick of our shit I can’t say I blame her. But I hope wherever she is, she’s gleefully destroying some furniture and then basking in the sun like the goddess she is.

We spent a few days of June in St. Louis, which I wasn’t *overly* impressed with as a city, but hey, it’s a metropolitan area within driving distance that isn’t Chicago. Their City Museum is phenomenal, man. If you have kids, it’s an absolute must. Even our cautious boy was running wild through tunnels, under ramps, and into caves – such a sight to see.

So many other things happened in June but recounting it all is too exhausting.

What I’m watching

Just finished The Bear. I’m so envious of people who know how to be creative with food. I will forever be a very basic home cook but it’s a lot of fun to watch talented people (okay, actors) do their thing and excel at it.

Also, as you may know if you are also a parent to a young child, there are NEW EPISODES of BLUEY out TODAY.

What I’m reading

Nothing terribly compelling at the moment, unfortunately, but the last book I finished was Beach Read by Emily Henry. It was everything I need a ~romance novel~ to be: self-aware, funny, not trying too hard, the anti-Harlequin. Not that there’s anything wrong with Harlequin! I won’t yuck your yum. But a book about two novelists with writer’s block living in side-by-side beach condos in the U.P. and SURPRISE! falling in love is pretty much begging to be adored by me.

It’s looking like I will probably actually meet my reading goal this year (18 of 25 books so far), for the first time since Ashwin was born, so I will take that as a neatly measurable sign that life has gotten somewhat more manageable since the seemingly endless infant days.

What I’m listening to

Unfortunately, a lot of right-wing radio – for work, obvs. I always listen to the particular show I’m assigned to the following day so I can speed up the replay and thus not spend any more of my precious time on anti-LGBTQ/anti-woman/anti-democracy/anti-progress ranting than necessary.

How I’m adulting

Attempting to get my financial shit together. Late last year I finally opened a high-yield savings account, and putting money away there has become one of my favorite hobbies. Every month on the 23rd getting the interest deposited is like a delightful little present. Oh and I finally put some more money in my Roth IRA. Look at me being all middle-aged and responsible! Fuck, time does come for us all.

What I’m Buying

I bought a very small cross-stitch pattern that says FUCK FEAR. Have I ever cross-stitched? No. I watched a YouTube video and thought I could maybe do it. That very much remains to be seen. Is it all a little, or maybe a lot, cliche? A little…cheugy? Oh good Lord, yes. At least it’s not, like…this.