Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: July 2025

  • Alleged loaner car

    More than once I have needed work done on a car. Usually Gary and I drive both cars to the dealership at midnight and drop the key in the slot. Gary doesn’t feel well enough to drive the 45 minutes to the dealer. I still made the appointment, and when I was explaining why I…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 7/10/2025

    This week the iris went from this: … to this … … when it was originally this. That’s a wrap on the iris. This one felt pretty loose. The next thing to work on – again – is the palette. I’ve noticed my colors are recently garish compared to what I’m aiming for.

  • Gary again tells me something I don’t know about him

    Gary mentioned his birthmark today, just in passing, and as always when these occasions arise, when Gary throws out things like “You know, when I was in that diving accident” or “You know, when I set my bedroom floor on fire,” I said, “Wait what?” What birthmark? Because, seriously, what birthmark? I think I expected…

  • Bullets brought to you by the letter “S”

    This is the view to the southeast tonight. Not a typical sunset locale. Sex. Now that I’ve complained about this ludicrous sex drive to doctors, I find that I get bonus tests labeled “High-risk HPV” and “High-risk Hep B”. I have neither illness, but I keep getting tested as if I’m going to stumble into…

  • Review: Get Back

    I know, we’re four years late on this, but I just found Gary has been paying for Disney since Hamilton came out in 2020 ( I KNOW). I’m probably going to say all the same things everyone else said four years ago about the Beatles documentary Get Back. Like: Dig a Pony is the most…

  • Alexa is just spiteful now

    Yesterday morning Gary asked the Great Room Alexa a question, and she answered in the classic Pleasant Robot Alexa voice. We rejoiced, then Gary speculated that perhaps all our devices might be on different update schedules. Great Room Alexa did indeed go over to the Dark Side later that night. I sighed and said, “Alexa,…

  • TWIL: How to actually play my father’s favorite game, Pigmania

    There was a game called Pigmania that our family just loved, especially Dad. Essentially, you rolled these little plastic pigs like dice, and while there were many rules, the real goal was to roll the pigs so they were touching. That roll position was called “Makin’ Bacon” and in our house that won you the…

  • New Alexa

    We converted to the new Alexa interface yesterday. Over the last two days Gary and I have bonded over our sizzling hatred of the new Alexa interface. Interaction 1: “Alexa, what time is it?” Her answer showed she was WAY too happy for 6:53 am. “See, here’s the thing, Alexa, I would like you to…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 7/3/2025

    This week the iris went from this: … to this. I think I am done .

  • Gary coaxes the animals

    Gary was by the back door. I heard this exchange from the other side of the house. “No! Stop it — Stop, I’m trying to help you.” He sounded sweet. (None of the usual ALL CAPS tone he takes with me.) He went on, “You don’t want to be in here. There you go, Theeeere…