No idea what to pack.

It's my panic default should you get that level of desperate.

I promised myself I'd wait "at least" till the middle of October to turn on the little space heater in my bathroom. So yesterday I turned it on. Gotta tell you, there are rhapsodies to be sung about a not-icy toilet seat. There is a furnace vent in there but it's right beside the door so most of the heat goes into the next room. The space heater goes right back in the corner where the toilet is. It's worth the boost in the electric bill to strip for the shower without shivering my timbers. A beloved aunt and uncle had one bathroom in their house--well, at the end of an unheated porch, and the bathroom was also unheated. They raised a son and three daughters in that house. And lived there themselves until they died. I guess an indoor flush toilet was enough for them. Brrrr.

I've been slacking on my PT exercizes, which have helped my hip and back and general stamina immensely. I should get back to those. I *will* get back to those.

I *will* get back to those.

Yeah, you will!

Nobody has to compete for the Olympics.

We're just trying to move our bodies because it helps us function now and in the future. It's maintenance.

Let's do the thing.

My sister is visiting from Michigan over the weekend, for the first time in years. Since 6-10 family members are usually in Michigan at any given time, it usually makes more sense for me to visit them. It’ll be nice to host for a change. But I have gone into a bit of a cleaning frenzy. I’ve even dusted baseboards—I never do that. And the apartment smells slightly lemony, from the dusting spray. I know long term use of the spray makes things get dusty faster, but I don’t use it every time I dust. And I don’t dust as often as I probably should anyway. It’s nice to see some shiny wooden surfaces. It’s nice to see the surfaces at all, unobscured by clutter.

Just because you can do it yourself, doesn't mean you should.

So much truth there. I wish DH would learn this. I purposely didn't mention the sorry condition of my car because I have learned if I mention anything even casually he has to fix it instantly dropping whatever else he has going. I figure somewhere within 50 miles should have a detailing business to make it all clean of lovely for the drive back to Florida. But not Brendon! He has way too much on his plate.

Hmm well the ominous after hours “please attend of of two meetings tomorrow” meeting was basically saying they’re getting rid of a position I work closely with and making my job do that work instead. I kinda get why (though they originally put that position in place like ten years ago because they wanted it done better/faster than it was when my job was doing it all) but I don’t WANNA do that stuff. Boo. But I do feel bad for the folks in that job—some will change to what I do now but some will probably leave.

Ugh, meara.

Blargh, meara, that sounds pretty awful. Any chance you can offload some of the extra work onto someone else so it's at least not all on you?

And I encourage everybody to get up and move their body today, in whatever way they prefer. Get some steps in. Get on the bike. Go swimming. Just go for a walk.

I've been swimming twice a week since the rec center opened back up again (the pool was supposed to be closed for 3 weeks of renovations, it wound up taking 7 months). The real test will come in January when it's (a) incredibly fucking cold first thing in the morning and (b) I'm supposed to be at the office 5 days/week (which means showering at the gym and putting outside clothes on instead of throwing on sweatpants and a hoodie over my swimsuit and showering at home) and (c) the pool will be hella CROWDED for like a month because of everyone's NY resolutions.

Dear friends, prepare to be outraged: [link] The headline: The Best Muffuletta Ever Is Far From New Orleans — and Free of Meat. The subhead: A New Orleans native re-creates the iconic sandwich's flavor with mushrooms, mayonnaise, and more riffs.

Helen Rosner is appropriately horrified on Bluesky, but I'm not sure if her posts are public or not. [link]

You know, I am mellowing in my old age or something but I'm not mad at it. I think calling it "best" is ridiculous but I think calling it a muffaletta is fine (edited to clarify: pending verification that the bread and olive content and general taste are acceptable) and I would be interested in tasting one. $98 for a whole seems like a lot, but in SF in this day and age when everything seems to cost more than I would think perhaps not.

That said, Helen is absolutely correct