Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: January 2026

  • TWIL: How to get a black bear out of your crawl space

    I’ve been following the saga of Ken Johnson , a man in Altadena California. There were fires in the area in 2025. Burned-out homes were abandoned. Bears felt those homes should be occupied as prime hibernation locations. However, Ken Johnson’s home was still occupied, by Ken, and he noticed noises coming from his crawl space.…

  • Transparency in doctors

    I understand the neurologist needs to track all the side effects of my very effective MS drug. Hence, the bonus annual dermatologist visit and the twice-yearly ophthalmologist visit. I get it. Really, I do. I visited the ophthalmologist in the summer, where we got a baseline reading for my visual field with the most enjoyable…

  • Gary turns into a mean girl

    Gary was looking at the news article about the astronaut team that will need to return to earth early because one of them is having medical issues. I wondered which one it was, Gary looked at me in disbelief, and said sarcastically, “I DON’T KNOW BUT DO YOU THINK MAYBE IT’S THE FAT ONE?” Gary,…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 1/8/2026

    Okay – this is a new take on things. I finish every painting with some flaw, and I think, “someday I’m going back to fix that.” Now is the time for fixing. For my first fix I want to add depth and complexity to the daisies. Compare the finished product on top and the original…

  • Best Trival Pursuit question

    From the Washington Post, April 2, 1984 Style section (confirmed by the Washington Post archives): A group of Washingtonians was playing the hottest new version of the popular game Trivial Pursuit, called Baby Boomer, over the weekend and was surprised to come across the following question: “How many months pregnant was Nancy Davis when she…

  • Feb 6

    It’s been all over the web that the launch window for Artemis II starts in a month on Feb 6, 2026. I was among the many people who noted that NASA said no such thing on the official Artemis II site, at least as of this the evening of Jan. 6. They do say it…

  • The sickness

  • TWIL: Common-law-marriage

    I don’t know if this is specific to my family, or my age, or my state, but I have had two family members who were in what were described as common-law marriages. One was my grandfather, the other was my tenuous connection to President Harding (second-worst president ever). After he divorced my maternal grandmother (the…

  • Potstickers

    One notable thing happened during Christmas break: two friends came by and we all made potstickers from scratch. I don’t really know how our original plan to make spanakopita morphed into potstickers, except that Marcia is Jewish and claims that Chinese food is Christmas food. And she loves potstickers. Then it morphed into a good-natured…

  • I am filled with boundless hope for the new year

    I have been so, so sick during the middle of my two-week vacation that I now have only three days for my 9-item to-do list. Today I began making progress. At this rate I will be done with everything by Sunday night.