HAPPY FOUR YEAR KIDNEYVERSARY, BELLY BEAN

Four years  ago, a man I never met gave me the gift of a new life. I don't know his name, or his age, or his hometown, or his favorite color, or whether or not he was a husband, a brother, a father, or an uncle...but I know that he was loved, and I know that he was extraordinary.

In my heart I've named him Angel, and his is the first name I mention when I ask God to watch over those that have gone before me, and his gift is one of hundreds that I hope to be worthy of by living a good and grateful life.

Thank you, Dearies, for all of your love and support and prayers and encouragement and good wishes, and for a constant reminder that this life of mine is very blessed, indeed.

And thank you, Angel, for giving me a chance to live it to its very fullest.

 

IT'S A GOOD THING I CAN'T FIND STEWEY'S OLD CHECKBOOK

This estate is currently for sale. It's an historic home in LIGONIER, INDIANA....the birthplace of the late Mr Stewey Angus Willowswamp and his little cousin, the late Mr Bosco Oliver Willowswamp. Despite their more humble lodgings at birth, I suspect both boys would be proud to own such an impressive piece of local renown.

(I can only imagine the arguments over the exterior paint color, as well as the insistence (on Bosco's part) to convert the sunporch into a bouncy castle.)

Time for a Sunday nap, a big a$$ cold brew and The Count of Monte Christo.

Cheers!

I'm sorry for my absence lately, Dearies, but the level of out of whack-ness here at CS2 has reached levels heretofore not seen before. I'm fine and JB is fine...we are both happy, healthy, and managing not to get ourselves into too much mischief...but Yours Truly is just schlumping around like a schlumpadink on schlumpy steroids.

I can't seem to get out of my own way.

I'm reading and cooking and cleaning and journaling and doing the things that need doing, but I haven't picked up my needle in weeks, it seems, nor have I played with any diamond painting or coloring...or anything, really.

So if you'll bear with me for a minute, I'll get my act together and will come back with a big cup of fresh damn good and more tales to tell.

In the meantime, what's new with you?

IN WHICH WE ARE DEFINITELY HAVING A MONDAY

Happy Birthday to my puppytot nephew, dear Baby Bosco! He would have been 20 years old today. I miss him like crazy! 🥺

 

OH....REDFORD.

 

 

 

 

THERAPY

I hope these images bring you as much peace and happiness as they do for Yours Truly. (The middle photographs are of Oxford....where I am a doctoral candidate in English Literature in my pre-sleep fantasies every night.)

(No need to explain what kind of fantasies the beefcake photos are for...this is, after all, a family show.)

God bless and keep every single one of you and all the people on the planet. I hope wherever you are today brings you joy...both loud or quiet. If you need me...I'll be right here.

Happy Weekend! Go Irish!

 

HAVE I ALWAYS BEEN THIS DRAMATIC?

LIGHTS!

CAMERA!

ACTION!

WOOOOHOOOO!

 

 

TAKE YOUR SPINSTER TO WORK DAY

"One Adam Twelve...we've got a nerd in the building"

Rich is ushering the volleyball at Notre Dame tonight, so I tagged along for my monthly outing (i.e. I'm out of pajamas and the apartment whether I want to be or not.)

Of course....I had to bring my book. Do you think I'm taking this whole "pretending to be a student" thing too far?

(I had stitching in the bag too, but chickened out at the last minute,)

Cheers, Dearies!  Go Irish! ☘️

BEST THURSDAY AFTERNOON MOVIE DATE. EVER.

A few weeks ago I saw an ad for tickets at Cinemark for Hamilton tickets and thought "This would be kinda cool to see".

Holey Schmoley! Rich and I both enjoyed this immensely.If you were fortunate enough to see this live on stage...I can only imagine how wonderful it was! We saw a recording of one of the first live performances in New York with the original Broadway cast, and it was fantastic!

Dinner has been finished, the kitchen has been cleaned and tidied, and now we're going to settle in for a little football.

E A G L E S!

Ciao, Dearies! I hope you have a delightful evening!

OK...SO...I'M A NERD

 

I totally geeked out this morning, Dearies! Today was my first day of Spinster School, and I started it with a new Bed Coffee set up. I really wish I could adequately tell you how stupidly, ridiculously happy this little tray makes me. I mean...the level of my total excitement over this is positively absolutely just not normal, and you know what?

I'm just too happy to worry about it. 🤗

I started with my Morning Pages, which is just a fancy way I saying I wrote in my journal. Then, I spent a fair amount of time studying my three little subjects...History of Philosophy (*), Shakespeare (The Tempest), and Art History.

(*) I do have the heavy-duty Coppleston from my college days, but I decided to start with a lovely little book by Ralph McInerny. Prof McInerny taught at Notre Dame and authored several academic books, as well as created the Father Dowling mystery series.

I've had my breakfast, took a shower, organized my planner for the week, and have sausage, peppers, and onions ready to go in the oven for dinner.

Whew!

Now it's time to settle in with a nice tall cold brew damn good and do a little stitching:

Not a whole lot of progress last night due to the football game. My Irish, alas, lost to Miami 27-24. (Insert a lot of naughty swear words here.) As I was telling Robin from Virginia, when I was at ND, we had such a huge rivalry with Miami, so this loss really skinned my heiney. 🤬 

But it's just a game, I know, and there will be plenty more to come.

Happy Monday/Labor Day! I hope your corner of the world is wonderful! Come tell me all about it!