Favorite Things, Nonsense, Soul Homework, Tater Tots

Screw It, I’m Eating Tater Tots- Episode 38

Writer McWriterson

If you’re new to my blog, welcome! Here is an explanation of the tater tot post.

Crash

My birthday week began with a bang. Err, a crash. I was sitting on the patio doing soul homework one afternoon when I felt a strong gust of wind. So I brought my notebooks inside to work. After I sat down inside, I heard a loud noise on the patio. When I stood up, I noticed the above.

That was a close call.

Looks like I won’t be doing soul homework on the patio from now on. 🙂

Stab

During my birthday month, I had my nose pierced.

It hurt more than I expected, but I’m happy I did it. My inner teenager is ecstatic.

Starve

The empty space where our window feeder used to be

We are not currently feeding our birds. There is a bird virus, according to our local government, and we must keep them safe. To say I’m sad would be an understatement. I cried the first morning we weren’t able to feed them.

I know there is considerable controversy about whether or not we should remove feeders. One of my friends forwarded me an email from a wild bird seed supplier stating that we could possibly feed them provided we sanitized feeders every day. I’m still going to wait until the end of May before feeding them.

Here are two good articles:

Bird Feeders and Disease – Wildlife Illinois

IDNR urges Illinois residents to halt use of bird feeders and bird baths due to avian flu – Forest Preserve District of Will County

This is $897…at WALMART. (Courtesy Walmart)

Monthly rant

Because of the aforementioned patio implosion, we are now in the market for patio furniture, and I have a rant: why does patio furniture cost the same for people who live in colder regions as it does for people who live in warmer climates?

The table is $997 at Walmart WITHOUT THE CHAIRS (Courtesy of Capitalism I MEAN WALMART)

If you live in say, Miami, Florida, and you want to buy a patio set for $1,000, (which is how much they can cost, don’t get me started), you will use that patio furniture for a much longer period of time than someone who lives in, say, Duluth, Minnesota. But Duluth is still shelling out $1,000 for a patio furniture set they will only use for maybe three months out of the year.

$400 for two chairs at Walmart (Courtesy Walmart)

This appears to be unjust to me. Shouldn’t the price of patio furniture be reduced in some way? I believe there should be a regional adjustment cost law or something.

Long story short, we still don’t have any patio furniture.

Friends

He’s working through some things.

By the way, April was also Buddy and Biscuits birthday month. As a result, they were spoiled more than usual.

I’m not really sure how that’s possible.

He joins me for soul homework most mornings.
Photo by Emily on Pexels.com

What I’m reading

Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach

This Will Be Funny Later by Jenny Pentland

Photo by Rene Asmussen on Pexels.com

What I’m watching

Steve Martin & Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget For The Rest of Your Life (Netflix)

White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie and Fitch (Netflix)

Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story (Hulu)

Photo by rikka ameboshi on Pexels.com

What I’m listening to

Lay Lady Lay

Last month, I wrote about my Favorite Musicians from the Midwest, but I left out Bob Dylan. Thank you to my friend in the comments for reminding me. 🙂 This is my favorite Bob Dylan song, but I love this version even more—sung by a church choir.

Into Dust

I love Mazzy Star, but I hadn’t heard of this song until last month. I’m obsessed.

Photo by Lum3n on Pexels.com

What I’m clicking on

The Benefits of Bird Song – Noise Project

30+ Maps Of America That Will Make You Question Everything You Know About The USA

Native American tribe gets back its sacred land after being displaced nearly 400 years ago

Infradian Rhythm: Why It Matters and How to Make the Best of It

Taco Bell is bringing back a fan-favorite menu item

How to Recover Deleted Notes on an iPhone in 2 Ways

See John Lennon’s Son Julian Lennon Perform ‘Imagine’ for 1st Time

20 Facts About U.S. Inequality that Everyone Should Know – Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality

What I’m quoting

@kaiabellylaughs

Reply to @shandacayeokay #spiritualtiktok #unity #community #connection #ascending #ascend #cometogether #realtalkrecovery #positivevibes

♬ original sound – Kaia Genuinely Supportive

Hello, May…

42 thoughts on “Screw It, I’m Eating Tater Tots- Episode 38”

  2. Like the nose ring! I enjoyed the Abercrombie & Fitch documentary. Made me feel great that I never bought any of their stuff. Now I know why I was so uncomfortable with their LOUD stores.

    I’ve missed you. My long hiatus is over.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you! It (nose ring) took a little getting used to, but I’m getting used to it now!

      It makes me thankful that I never paid full price for anything (only at resale stores). I couldn’t go into any of the stores since their cologne(and music) would give me a headache.

      I’ve missed you as well! I’m so happy you’re back! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. As a woman with 7 holes between two ears, I fully support piercing.

        Also wanted to add I also have outdoor furniture sticker shock. I have a new home and want some furniture, but not $2,000 worth! I will wait and buy this fall or winter when it is on cleaner.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Lalah Delia has some good advice. I hate feeling like I’m consuming anything that doesn’t help me feel/do better. I am selective about who I follow in social media because of what she said. Your nose ring is cool, you lack of patio furniture is not cool.

    Liked by 1 person

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  6. Love the piercing, Kari! That bites, about the patio furniture. Well, yours should last a lot longer in comparison to those who can use it all year round, if it’s stored out of the elements during the winter months. So over a lifetime, you will actually spend less on patio furniture! Or you could do what I did when I was rebuilding my life a few years ago…drag the patio furniture inside to use as living room furniture during the inclement weather 😁.

    Deb

    Liked by 1 person

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  7. Patio umbrellas are famous for flying around; quite the hazard.
    LOVE YOUR LITTLE NOSE EMBELLISHMENT.
    What’s with the yelling suz?

    I had no idea about this bird virus. I must go read about it as my feeder is a flurry of activity right now.

    Patio furniture worthwhile is expensive. Always has been and it’s just going up. Have you looked at Costco.com? The last set we had from there lasted 10 years. Of course, it was undercover, but still. Heat. Humidity. it looks great, I was just tired of it.

    I’m wondering about your mindset on the cost of things for people who use them more than those who do not though. That’s a head scratcher. It costs the same to make it for the manufacturer.
    I’d love to charge more for a kitchen if people USE it more and charge less for those who hardly cook, but the materials all cost what they cost.

    Happy birthday Buddy and Biscuits—my favorite midwest dogs.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I just yelled at Deb (see comment), it’s all good. We’re friends here.

      Mike just mentioned Costco the other day. We haven’t checked there yet, but we discovered something yesterday afternoon. On Amazon, I discovered a patio daybed. We haven’t ordered it yet since we want to make sure we absolutely like it, but I believe we will.

      Mike and you would get along fine. I’ll argue that patio furniture costs $50 more, but I’ll spend my money on weird stuff like nose piercings, plants, and rainbow stickers. And Deb made an important point: our patio furniture lasts longer because we don’t use it all year. I didn’t think of that before I wrote. Aka- a normal Monday post.

      Buddy and Biscuits send their love and barks. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. We try to buy patio furniture at the end of season when they go on sale/ clearance; sure the selection isn’t as great but I’m all about 1/2 priced deals! Also I had no idea we weren’t supposed to be feeding the birds here in CT either until I Googled to see what you were talking about. However, that ban has now passed and we can feed them again… oops! At least I never saw any dead birds around our home/ yard/ area.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. See, that is a smart idea.

      I believe that the majority of the birds impacted are waterfowl rather than song birds, but they are simply being careful. I think that crows and ravens can readily pass it on to eagles and hawks (who are also impacted). We get a large number of crows in our yard, which is why I decided to continue not feeding them.

      Like

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      1. Maybe that dead duck on our road wasn’t because someone hit it with a car then… We gets a lot of bald eagles and hawks around here but (again, thankfully) I haven’t noticed any of them dying.

        Liked by 1 person

  9. Patio furniture is ridiculously high priced here as well which is why I paid a couple hundred to redo my cushions last year. But you certainly don’t expect that from Wal Mart.
    We still feed our birds, but there haven’t been any warnings not to in Maine.
    *waves hello to your inner teenager*

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Right?? I’m like, when did Walmart get so pricey?

      I miss the birds, although there are still a lot of them around. I’m counting down the days till May 30th…

      Waves hello back to your inner teenager. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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  10. I buy stuff like patio furniture on sale. We have a beautiful table and I bought it for a steal because some of the stone edges on the table were chipped. Hell, if it ain’t chipped it soon will be after we get our hands on it. When I wasn’t home once, Coach let the girls paint outside with gel paint. Now the table has turquoise and orange embellishments.

    Congrats on the nose ring. I could not handle the pain. My body is destined to have only the holes it came with. No pieced ears for me.

    I want to see the Abercrombie movie. I’ve heard of it. I was never cool enough to shop there, or wealthy enough, so I’m banking on the documentary to validate my left out feelings.

    Biscuits has a crazy cute face. I’m sure Buddy does too. But that pic of Biscuits. Omg.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. We do that too for the same reason! LOL

      Only holes it came with….now that is funny.

      It will unquestionably validate your feelings.

      They’re both adorable, but it’s a good thing Biscuits is since he poops in the house like it’s his job.

      Like

      Reply

  11. Captive Audience…about Steven Stayner, I remember watching the made for tv movie “I know my first name is Steven” Starring Corin Nemec from Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, that was a pretty fucked up story…I can imagine this documentary is equally as.

    Liked by 1 person

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  12. Oh, those stats on inequality! I need to share those with my daughter. I keep insisting that many things were better decades ago, but she doesn’t believe me. (Because so many things–all the isms–were worse.) But these numbers capture it. It’s so depressing. And distressing. And disheartening. Things don’t have to be the way they are. Capitalism+selfish people+unchecked power=so much pain and shittiness, including expensive patio furniture. Grrrr.

    Liked by 1 person

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  14. Your nose ring looks so good! It’s so pretty and sparkly! I’m so happy you did that for yourself.
    Both of those books look good, I think I shall mosey on over to my library app and put those on my list.
    Confession: as a general rule I don’t love Bob Dylan BUT Lay, Lady, Lay is a favourite of mine. I think it is the only song of his I truly love. WE ARE SOUL SISTERS.
    OMG so lucky no one was sitting there when the umbrella crashed!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you! Every time I look at it, it reminds me I can do hard things. That, as simple as it sounds, is my reminder.

      I love Tara Brach. The author of the other book is Roseanne Barr’s middle daughter, who was the inspiration for Darlene’s character. It’s a really interesting book to read.

      We ARE soul sisters!!

      So lucky.

      Liked by 1 person

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  15. We need new patio furniture too, but we’re going to squeak by for one more year. Ours is a wicker set that we inherited from some family friends about 9-10 years ago. We cover it with tarps during the winter, but the wicker is finally falling apart.

    Biscuits is so cute. I love how the fur on his snout sprouts up over his eyes.

    We can feed the birds as long as we disinfect the feeders every week. (Not every day. Whew!) I stopped feeding them when our birdseed roll ran out only because they don’t need to be fed by us humans in these warmer months. But I’ve discovered I really miss seeing so many different birds in my backyard through the window above my desk. So I will be picking up another birdseed roll just for that feeder.

    As usual, I’ll be having fun checking out your links. 🙂

    xoxo

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. We bought the patio furniture on Facebook Marketplace right before Anna’s high school graduation party, and it was sturdy, so I was surprised when it collapsed. I’m not sure why they make GLASS patio tables in the first place. SMDH

      Ella recently clipped the fur around his eyes so he could see better!

      I was wondering if I should feed them this summer for that reason. I’m debating it right now. Even when I don’t feed the birds, they still come by on a regular basis.

      Enjoy! XOXO

      Liked by 1 person

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