Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Author: Ellen S______

  • Neuro visit Feb 2026

    Here I am, clocking my six-month visit with the neurologist Gary and I share. I’ve been communicating with the doctor’s office on my husband’s behalf to straighten out some dosing confusion brought on by Gary’s exponential math. I also spent a little time discussing Gary’s rash and joked that I might just switch him to…

  • TWIL: How to make a tapestry

    Friend Anne made a reference I didn’t understand. She said, “Oh, like the Unicorn Tapestries.” “Stop talking,” I said, “I have to look up something on Wikipedia, because what unicorn tapestries?” See below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unicorn_Tapestries It’s a series of tapestries that tell a story of a unicorn that meets a sad end. Well, sad, unless there…

  • Rainy Valentines day

    First off, the weather is romantic. It’s my favorite type of day: soft and rainy. Rained all day, in fact, so I cannot do my gardening tasks. And what do you do on a rainy day but stay inside and sip tea? BUT YOU CAN’T BECAUSE YOU HAVE FOOLISHLY DECIDED TO STRAIGHTEN YOUR TEETH YOU…

  • Tech success

    Technology has come to my aid in the last few days. My car was at a parking meter. I almost didn’t park there because I didn’t have any change. Because it’s the 1960s in my head, I suppose. Luckily I realized I could probably use a card. Then, I walked two blocks and thought, “Did…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 2/12/2026

    So this is the previous… This is the progress … And this is the goal. Just worked on the daisies, mainly the ones in the front teapot. Those still aren’t done but are progressing.

  • La LAH

    Friend #3 groused that I was skipping the impending music trivia night in favor of my previous engagement to watch The Magic Flute. ”Like you can’t watch Mozart on YouTube,” she complained. “You have to go to the opera.” ”Well actually,” I said, because all the most insufferable sentences start with that, “Opera season is…

  • More family revelations

    I always thought Mom was very against a divorce from Jerry. The narrative I heard was that she visited Saint Louis, then met up with my (step)Dad again, and henceforth was heartily pro-divorce. Well, the new letters have revealed that Mom filed for divorce from my father Jerry six months before visiting Saint Louis. That…

  • Sunday diversions

    I was waiting for the Superbowl to begin, scrolling past old breaking news videos, as is my wont lately, and Gary came in and said, “Look at this breaking news from Branson, Missouri.” It was terrible. A landslide took out like five houses. “That’s awful,” I said. “But it’s Branson,” he answered. “Gary …are you…

  • TWIL: Orson Welles will be vindicated by AI

    After Citizen Kane, Orson Welles directed The Magnificent Ambersons and the studio destroyed it. They cut out many minutes, and worse, tacked on a “happy” ending that matched the book and was suited to the 1940s. They didn’t shoot the thematically appropriate and dark ending more suited to the 2020s. Happily, I read this week…

  • H&M applies more pressure

    This is a Facebook ad for a tiered chiffon skirt from H&M. “That’s a man modeling that skirt,” I thought, and it might be. H&M has started hiring trans people to model clothing. I love the inclusion, I do. But wasn’t it bad enough that I had to look as good as a model to…