Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: January 2024

  • New Era in Marriage

    As you know, I’m always baffled when women say things like, “My husband didn’t want to work out in the yard this weekend, but I made him. ” How. How did you make him? Teach me. I will pay you money. Because I can’t get Gary to do anything. In my marriage, arguing doesn’t work.…

  • Mystery of the Ruby Slippers Solved

    You may remember this post from 2020 on the theft of the ruby slippers. It links to a firewall behind which is a loooong Washington Post article. The article ended with the sting that recovered the slippers, but the thief was still at large. Finally, the thief has been discovered. His motive? He thought the…

  • Review: The Morning Show

    I had no desire to watch this show, no matter how many awards it won. Dark topic. Unlikeable characters. Scheming and politics. Still, I was eventually swayed by the awards, so I watched the first episode last month. After that I was even less interested. I couldn’t keep the characters straight. Too many men with…

  • TWIL: Carnival vs Mardi Gras

    This week I learned how Carnival is related to Mardi Gras. I knew Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, is the last day before Lent begins. I assumed Carnival is just what they call that day in other countries. A day of parades and excess, unless you are in New Orleans, where the excess lasts a week.…

  • Cooking Soup

    I assembled all the ingredients for my French Onion Soup before I began to cook. Broth, onions, butter, cheese. No bread: skipping the bread/crouton calories. It took me four hours. I had a recipe; I followed the recipe. Only, I didn’t just cook the onions, I caramelized the onions. I added a taste of beef…

  • Ancient Secrets Revealed: Part the Fourth

    I thought I was done with the revelation of secrets, but just this morning my subconscious revealed yet another secret. After Mom and Jerry divorced, he got summer custody. The second summer, 1970, did not end well for Jerry. Dave and I were supposed to have been back in St. Louis by my birthday, August…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 1/25/2024

    This week the mandolin went from this: … to this. Ugh. Un-painting mistakes. No fun at all. And that white is so thick it will take more than a week to dry. Time to paint the strings next week then. And the vase still needs more blue on the right.

  • Ancient Secrets Revealed: Part the Third

    This past weekend I discovered Gary has kept a secret from me for almost forty years. When Gary was young, he went through a fallow period regarding women. No dates, no interests, but in his late twenties he got a better job, better self-image, and made up for lost time. He joined a singles group…

  • Ancient Secrets Revealed: Part the Second

    These are secrets I have kept from myself. Things I have wondered about that have obvious answers I’ve recently realized. There have been two lately, both minor, but so long delayed that they qualify as self-held secrets. TV Snow. I was afraid of the snow on the TV screen until I was a teenager. In…

  • Ancient Secrets Revealed: Part the First

    I realize I have inadvertently kept a secret. Something sent me back to an early, early blog post, seventeen years ago, in which I talk about secrets. The last secret is about my childhood confusion about the mechanics of sex, and how I used my art skills to try to figure out how the male…