Fri-Yay #11

I'm writing this early because I have to fill out my ballot. I'm early-ish voting but there's a place where I can drive and drop off my ballot direct to the election supervisor. Which I've never had to do...but since the GOP is sabotaging the post office...

I'm mostly trying to stay out of politics but it's not really a secret how I feel. My one friend who voted for Trump has come crawling back trying to get in the friend group and make amends. So far the only people willing to talk to her is me and one other girl...and we're very cautious. 

Whatever happens with that relationship will happen. I pretty much know who I'm voting for but I always do research into the candidates. So I'm going to podcast and research! After getting my work done early. Fun times! 

I did manage to escape Twitter without seeing Joyce Carol Oates' foot issues. Something things you should maybe only share with your doctor? I 

​Reading: 

I've started the third Aurora Teagarden book. It's by the same author who wrote the Sookie Stackhouse/Trueblood books. I had to stop the Stackhouse books after the fairies because...well...yes. There's something off about the Teagarden books and I'm not sure I have my finger on it. Some aspect is the way black characters are described/interacted with. Part is the way the romance aspects leave me discombobulated in a bad way. 

At the moment I'm only reading one book although I have a few others started. I'm a little off with my reading but I've reached 200 books read this year so I'm not panicked about reaching my goal (230  books). I still have quite a large TBR pile, the result of inheritance and some overzealous buying/receiving but I've made quite a dent the past few years. 

I'm not reading Finding Freedom, the Harry+Meghan book. No knock on them but I'm a fervent anti-monarchist. I was annoyed as all hell that when I paid tax in the U.K. that any of it went to the monarchy. I don't care if it was only a few cents. I've also met some of the British royals in social situations and in charity/political situations. I actually liked Charles just fine...Kate was late and William was blah. 

Still don't want any of my money to have gone to them. 

Plus one of my friends is obsessed with the British monarchy and she's given me the low-down. I think Meghan and Kate are barmy to marry into that nonsense of an institution but my friend feels bad for both. She can almost sway me.  At the end of the day, I'm amazed at how divisive this incredible dull family is. Good luck to Meghan and Kate (and the rest of the group) but you owe me about $3 in taxes. 

​Watching: 

Well, I haven't really started anything new. I have plans to watch the Miss Fisher's Movie (still haven't!) or the new Psych movie (nope, not that either!) but I've continued with the Helter Skelter docu-series on Epix. I've learned more about the Manson family than I knew before. I think they add other aspects to the case that I haven't thought about (to be honest, as much as I'm interested in true crime, I'm more interested in historic than modern). For example, they were talking about WWII vets who came home with possible PTSD and didn't receive treatment; this affected their children, who participated in the 'free love' and hippie type revolution. 

I've also continued with the '8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'. There are some other panel shows I'm starting and I can watch them (even the news/political ones) because they aren't U.S. news and politics. Plus, I know enough about U.K. politics to semi-follow along. I know I've mentioned the show before so I'll recap very fast. Countdown is a game show in the U.K. (and I believe there's a version in Australia?) that has two basic mini-games. There's a word scramble where you have to create the longest word from the letters available and then the numbers section where there are six set numbers available (from one through ten and then 25, 50, 75, and 100) that need to be added/divided/subtracted/multiplied to get a random number from 100-999. The '8 out of 10' part is that they're basically a comedy group/show. So this groups of rotating comics are playing the game. To translate it to America, it would be like "Whose Line Is It Anyways Does Jeopardy" or "Netflix Comedians does Wheel Of Fortune." 

​(Left): shorter clips from just season 19                                                     (Right): longer version with mostly the comedians riffing off each other. 

​Buying: 

I bought an embosser! Since my zip code changed a few years ago, my address labels are out of code (zip code). I've been changing them by hand and it's worked for the post office but I needed to upgrade. Since the labels have run out, I opted for an embosser. I looked around and decided to go with Paper Source because I wanted some other stationary items from them. This was perfect because I recently joined a pen-pal group and wanted some flair for my letters. I have wax stamps and if I'm not a disaster with those, I have others saved in my etsy wish list. Both of those links above are to the embosser and the stamp. I got a combo so they came together. 

My only complaint about the embosser is that it came in the locked position and in order to open it, I needed help. Someone had to press down while I moved the pin from 'lock' to 'unlock'. I only mention because I couldn't find any help with the enclosed materials about pressing down. Maybe that was just me and not for everyone but just in case...

My other purchase was a migraine hat. I wanted this for work and not sleeping. I use a cold/hot water pack (filled with water and placed in the freezer until it's solid) for sleeping. I'm actually using it now and it's working out okay. Basically I needed something to help take the edge off when I need to function. Here's a whole list for them, the one I'm using is number 6, the magic gel migraine relief cap. It is purple and you can pull it over your eyes or just have it around the top of your head. The gel packs run around the entire brim/lip so the front and back of your head can be cold. I've only used it just this once but I do think it's good. 

​Cooking:

I have a bunch of recipes I tore out of magazines or off the internet (and printed). Plus about two hundred cookbooks (again, inherited). I've been slowly going through and baking/cooking looking for gems. Or gems to me as tastes differ. I tried a chicken pasta dish that was overly simple (like, Italian dressing + Parmesan cheese as a marinade) that was okay. I honestly think it was a Kraft recipe, torn from an advertisement. 

I also tried a triple chocolate cheesecake. It was really, really rich. I didn't like it when it was all done with because it was too rich for my blood but I dropped it off for some neighbors and they loved it (and I ended up dropping off the recipe to them as well after they asked. Socially distanced of course). I think it was from an advert for Philadelphia Cream Cheese from about fifteen years ago. I can't find it to save my life at the moment after a quick internet search. It has the same idea as the Ina Garten Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake. Ina's is probably divine. 

Listening:

Still fast forwarding through some of Watch What Crappens. It's because Spotify podcasts doesn't believe in letting me mark episodes as "listened" to. I just started the year 2019 to give an idea of where I'm at. I think there are still like 1200 episodes to listen to. Or "listen" to as I don't watch every bravo show so I don't listen to the corresponding episodes. At the moment Potomac, NYC, Beverly Hills, and New Jersey. Depending on who stays on Beverly Hills I might drop that one. I only like Garcelle and Sutton at the moment. Denise is okay but her husband is kinda too much for me. Everyone else is kinda horrifying me with this "take Denise down" story-line. Back to the podcast, I usually skip the beginning at the moment (it takes ten + minutes sometimes to get to the episode discussion) and skip the really long in-show ads. Also, all the live shows. I think I'll be better when it gets closer to current seasons. 

I also downloaded the Dunzo podcast but I haven't given it a try yet.