Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: May 2020

  • Blood Drive (thru)

    Our doctor’s office has done a wonderful job of keeping up with Gary. Since he’s been feverish for nine weeks, they wanted to check if possibly his thyroid was off (or, I suppose, if he’s suffering side effects of the medication). So, for that they needed a blood draw, and while I was special enough…

  • Interesting Paternal Relative, Finally

    Well, I cracked the code on Jerry’s ancestors. At some point they changed their name. This means my maiden name does not mean small fenced-in backyard, but instead large locked sheep pasture. I don’t know if this is an upgrade. The last time he saw us, Jerry admonished my 9-year-old brother to be good because…

  • The Guitar Has Come to This

    Two days ago I was playing some song on the guitar. I’ve been trying to get my skills back up to where they were: picking out the notes to a tune and and augmenting that with some easy chords. Essentially, I was trying to clamber back to the second rung of solo guitar. Every once…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 5/28

    This week the cenote went from this … to this .. The top of the hole is too straight, and it needs a dappled shadow at the top of the hole, and I took the contrast down too much on the tree. Damn. Will this never end? The most satisfying part is adding the detail,…

  • Peony Update

    Remember the refrigerated peonies? Turns out the trick to refrigerating peonies is knowing what type of peonies you have. Single-petal peonies can be refrigerated in the hard-bud stage, but multi-petal peonies like mine must be refrigerated in the “marshmallow” – bud stage. The peonies in the fridge were clipped way too soon, and are now…

  • Baby Time

    I was surprised to look through the wildlife cam photos and find baby raccoons. Usually the babies don’t show until the first week of June. Based on the date these were two weeks ahead of schedule. They look pretty chunky for babies, too. I think someone’s been holding out. But it is baby season. Gary…

  • Space Launch

    I was trying to get some context around Wednesday’s manned rocket launch. Who is flying? Who made the spacecraft? Where are they going? (Some of those questions took me down a rabbit trail to the NASA astronaut page, where I read that evidently an astronaut is retiring. This is a strange concept. How can an…

  • Halloween Costumes 2020

    Halloween this year is going to be ALL about the topical costumes. Get a Qtip, cut off one end, and adhere the cut end with spirit gum just inside your nose. You don’t need to tickle your brain to look like you are getting a swab test. Put flour on your hair and skin, wear…

  • Well, Crap.

    So, in January I was all set with Barenaked Ladies and Beach Boys tickets. Then there was the Covid, and I was not looking forward to being packed into a concert venue. Yesterday came the news that Barenaked Ladies are just shifting their 2020 tour to 2021, and tickets will still be valid. Great! Great…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 5/21

    This week the cenote went from this… … to … The shadow is too dark now, and the edge makes no sense, but that’s easy to fix. The tongue that juts out over sinkhole is gone now, because it was making no sense to me, other than it made the shadow. I’m not fixing it…