Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: November 2019

  • Mail

    “Oh, I’ll just take a minute before dinner and go through my mail pile.” Most of my physical mail just alerts me that I’ve paid a bill on-line. It wastes paper, but Gary insists. Sometimes, I get a letter stating that I need a mammogram, or I need to renew a license, or pay a…

  • Review: Ford vs Ferrari

    Ford vs Ferrari is a mildly entertaining bromance. I’d watch it if it came on TV and I had nothing else to do. In addition, Matt Damon has a very cute nose. Those are the pros. There are no particular cons. It taught me a lot about endurance sportscar races. (I would not advise studying…

  • The Novel: Chapter Two

    I make fun of Gary over his rule that all TV shows must have an upstanding, moral person you can root for. I think someone needs to be sympathetic, but they don’t have to be a good person. Don Draper isn’t moral, but he’s sympathetic enough to watch as he makes his way. Same for…

  • Peculiar Neighbors

    We have neighbors who have a note by their doorbell that essentially says, “we don’t answer the door.” It isn’t the typical “no solicitors” sign. It makes it clear that they don’t respond for any reason, even if they are home. One time some friends came for a party and knocked at the wrong door.…

  • Positive/Negative Time

    I recently got around to framing a souvenier print we picked up in New Orleans. The framer asked if we’d been to Mardi Gras in 2018, as the print says, and I said, “Oh no, it’s been years and years since we’ve been on vacation.” I researched it, and it has been years and years…

  • Bad Ramps

    There are two highway ramps in the Saint Louis area that I hate to take. One is the ramp I take home if I have been south, and that is the ramp from 270 North to Page Ave West. It takes you on what feels like a 360 degree loop, and it’s a bit elevated.…

  • Pants

    I was on eBay, scouting out olive pants, and I saw these. In the past I would have given these pants a wide berth, because I don’t need any horizontal lines accentuating my already-wide ankles, but then I remembered how much I enjoyed wearing my unusual linen pants this summer. So even though I can’t…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 11/14

    I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t just paint the pitcher. Now it’s a pitcher and a toy dog bank. This is the drawing: That head is way too small. That’s a chihuahua head on a bulldog body. And I have to change the values that are there in real life. All too dark on one…

  • Meteor

    I was dozing off Monday night when a huge boom woke me up. For an instant I assumed it was one of my nodding-off dreams, until Gary said, “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” “Frost boom!” said I. “Fireworks!” said Gary. “METEOR STRIKE!” said the Internet. According to the dozens of Ring doorbell video systems that…

  • Review: Kathleen Madigan

    So even though Gary bailed on me, Kathleen Madigan made me laugh. Her jokes about her parents still land, even though they’re a little sadder (her aging parents are covered with band-aids now instead of popping unlabeled purse mystery pills). There was a good chunk devoted to ridiculing the Democratic candidates for being old and…