Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: November 2022

  • Bad Things: Dust and Mysteries Part 1

    Per his wishes, I cremated Dave. Part of Dave will join part of Mom and part of Dad in my back garden. (To be specific, I’d say it’s 2 cups of Mom, one cup of Dad. I’ll make sure that Dave doesn’t overwhelm them.) After Mom died I followed most of her directions: I amended…

  • Bad Things: Selling Things I Don’t Own

    A few days after Dave died I woke up in his bedroom and noticed the window. “Well that’s cute,” I thought. “There’s a little window seat there. I’ve always wanted a house with a window seat,” I sighed. Then I realized: I’m Dave’s only relative, so technically, I do have a house with a window…

  • Good / Bad Things: Finding the Ex

    One nice thing about Dave’s death was that I got to reconnect with Dave’s last real girlfriend. He’s “passionate,” as one of his friends said. I think I’ve hinted at David’s ugliest side. If he gets close enough to a woman, he spits on her and slaps her, and feels that isn’t abuse because he…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 11/17

    Old paintings: the two dog paintings are in Colorado with Dave’s two dogs, and the zebra and the third dog came back with me. New painting:

  • Bad Things: Things I Never Want to Hear Again

    Dave’s house has a Ring doorbell. I never want to hear the noise that a Ring doorbell makes when someone is at your front door. I could do without the Amazon Alexa Bark routine. If Alexa hears a bark she plays peaceful music to calm your dog. Dave’s dogs would start barking when they heard…

  • Good Things: Airport TSA

    I have never set off a metal detector at an airport before, but this time I rang all the bells and merited the TSA touch. It was the wig, of course. Well not the wig, but the pins and clips trussing up my real hair. Well, the clips and the Apple watch. I haven’t flown…

  • Good Thing? Bad Thing? Feeding the Devil

    When mom died I took a year to clear out the house. She had stocked up on noodles and soup and I ate many meals lifted from Mom’s larder. Getting rid of all her open food, personal effects, furniture wasn’t difficult because I had an all the tine I wanted to do it. I had…

  • Good Thing? Bad Thing? Meet the Cousin

    Three years ago Dave gave me a list of people to call if he died during his bile duct surgery. That list included our mutual cousin Mark, Jerry’s brother’s son. I left Mark for last, naturally, given that I’d have to introduce myself as a long-lost cousin. That happened, and it immediately led us down…

  • Good Thing? Bad Thing? Out and About

    So, I was grateful I had gotten the Evusheld right before this trip, and especially grateful half of Albuquerque wore their masks. The Covid numbers were fine the week I set off for ABQ, and only began to trend up the week I left. Most of Dave’s friends knew I was at risk, offered to…

  • Bad Things: More Surprises are Unearthed

    For a surprising series of months over the span of years David paid someone named Brad $600 a month. I hope it’s the person he bought his car from. I had been told the house was set up to transfer on death to me: it was not. I see why he never really did it.…