Anxiety, Blogging, Chicago, Favorite Things, Humor, Life, Nonsense, Tater Tots, Writing

Screw It, I’m Eating Tater Tots | Episode 52

Kari

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

Birds aren’t…real?

Last month, we went to the (F)Art Institute of Chicago with some friends and had a great time. I hadn’t been since the summer of 1989, when I moved here with my parents. We didn’t see everything, but we have a pass and Mike and I have a date day planned to go back and see what we missed.

Anyway, the day before we went, I found a fun idea via Cup of Jo: find themes in the artwork to make it fun. So, on the way there, we each chose what we were looking for; boobs, lightning, man parts, legos/bricks, crows, and cardinals. 

Would you believe that in that museum, there was not a single red or black bird?

I think my friend said she saw one white bird.

On the way home, we had an epiphany: what if that’s because birds didn’t exist back then? WHAT IF…

By the way, boobs won over man parts by A LOT.

I got the shingles

I began scratching my shoulder a few weeks after we returned from Florida. I assumed it was because my sunburn was healing. It continued for more than two weeks. Then I wondered if it was an allergy to our laundry detergent. After almost a month, I went to see my doctor because it was burning and itching.

But no hives or a rash.

To make a long story short, I had a shingles flare up. Because I had gotten my shingles vaccine last year, the flare up was minimal. So this is me telling you to get a shingles vaccine. Because shingles are possible if you have had chicken pox, and full-blown shingles are fucking horrible. (Nicole, look at me using the word fuck in my blog post! Twice!)

According to my doctor, the cause of my flare up was stress. Note to self- try not to get stressed out.

Source

If you read one thing…

The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz

I believe I found this book on a library shelf and then looked it up on Goodreads to see what rating it had. That is a bad habit of mine. I don’t read anything with a rating less than 4.0. See? Toxic. Do you think I could write a book with a Goodreads rating of 4.0 or higher? Exactly. Toxic.

This book has a 4.20 rating, by the way.

I’ve already renewed this book three times (another toxic habit of mine) because I read slowly and take notes along the way. But, all kidding aside, this book is excellent, and it does not read like a scientific study, as many of these types of books do.

I’ve almost finished this book, and it’s just as good.
Rating: 4.38.
I have a problem. 

If you watch one thing this month…

Somebody Somewhere

It’s only available on HBO, which is a shame because this is an amazing series. Mike and I have already finished the series and can’t wait for season three.

If you don’t have HBO, I highly recommend this documentary on Netflix.

If you listen to one two things this month…

If you click on any links this month…

Generous and selfish

Why Do Terrible Things Happen To Wonderful People?

What’s the #1 thing to change to be happier? A happiness researcher weighs in

Why “Black Mirror” is so good at predicting the future

10 Deep Facts About the Great Lakes

She ripped up her manicured lawn, and challenged the norms of gardening stories

12 Plants That Repel Unwanted Bugs

The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

The Nostalgia Machine

The Art of Asking

Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye

If you read any quotes this month…

Wanting to reform the world without discovering one’s true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It’s much simpler to wear shoes. – Ramana Maharshi

Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world. – Miyamoto Musashi

Being preoccupied with self-image is like coming upon a tree of singing birds while wearing earplugs. – Pema Chodron

Here’s to July…

Discover more from A Grace Full Life

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

34 thoughts on “Screw It, I’m Eating Tater Tots | Episode 52”

  1. I am really not surprised that female parts outweigh male parts when it comes to museums! But what a way to make it a fun day. LOL.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. No birds in the museum? That’s odd. Boobs outnumbering man parts? Doesn’t surprise me at all.
    I was late to Somebody Somewhere but binged watched both seasons on a friends recommendation. It’s a bit of a train wreck, but very watchable.
    😉

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Wonderful as usual. So many things I connected with. For one, we went to the Philadelphia Art Museum yesterday and I wish we would’ve thought of your brilliant game. There were definitely more boobs than male body parts! In preparing to go, I was telling Brad my memories of going to the Art Institute of Chicago decades ago (long story) and not knowing that Seurat’s Sunday in the Park was there which I had fallen in love with after seeing the play in London. I yelled out “oh my gosh” when I saw you had a picture of it. Brad was sitting on the front porch and quickly came inside to see if it I was ok. LOL. Sorry to hear about your shingles! Lastly, I wrote down your recommendation of The Good Life book and noticed that the next one on my list was Charles Eisentstein’s book you mentioned. I just saw him on an old repeat of Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday last week and thought I had to read it. What are the odds? Thanks for you post!!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I love that we went to art museums this month! And I’m glad I shared that video! I almost skipped it, but something told me to include it. ❤️

      OMG! I almost didn’t mention Charles Eisenstein’s book in this post, but something told me to add it! Talk about Universe! This kind of thing makes me happy!

      Thank you for reading, Donna! 😘

      Liked by 1 person

  5. That will always be known as the Ferris Bueller Museum to me! Thank you for the video of it. Shingles . . . my son got them when he was 16. It was a bizarre story involving much wasted time because he didn’t tell us (he was self-diagnosing on the internet). About six years later, my husband got them during a very stressful time at work. Fortunately, he knew right away what it was after what my son went through and he was able to see the doctor same day and get anti-viral meds. I got the two dose vaccine last year.

    I’m currently bingeing Somebody Somewhere. I don’t think my husband would enjoy it that much, but I like it. Did you ever watch the sitcom, Superstore? I feel as though all the characters on Somebody Somewhere could have played the parts in Superstore and vice versa. I’m weird.

    Speaking of weird, Molly Ringwald singing her movie’s theme song was strange. Interesting, but strange.

    I did know how herbal plants repel so many things (including deer). We had a terrible stink bug problem in our family room for years. Finally, I put rosemary sprigs on the window sills and the stink bugs have disappeared now for over a year. Hope you have a wonderful 4th! XOXO

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I love that you said that. To me, the museum will always be that. I saw traces of Ferris throughout the museum, which made me happy.

      I’m so sorry your 16-year-old got them! This past year has been stressful, and I don’t handle stress well. After the appointment, I hugged myself and thanked my body for the warning. 

      We liked one episode of Superstore but never watched it again. The same goes for The Office. We’ll try Superstore again now that you’ve compared it to Somebody, Somewhere.

      I know someone who owns a plant shop, and she had that song on her store’s music playlist, so I listened to it and couldn’t stop listening to it. 🤣

      I love how plants can do things like that!

      I hope you have a wonderful holiday week, too! 😘❤️

      Like

      1. Superstore is more of a comedy. It just had quirky characters like Somebody Somewhere. I could picture the characters in both shows taking the roles of the other show, if that makes sense?

        Liked by 1 person

  6. LOVE the George Seurat painting in your video! There is a Broadway musical entitled, ‘Sunday in the Park with George’ that begins with a painted scrim of that painting that slowly rises as the musical begins, as the cast members are all positioned exactly as the people are in the painting. It’s one of my favorite musicals. It starred, Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters!

    Glad to hear that your shingles cleared up. I’ve heard from others that it can be very painful.

    Thanks for the HBO series recommendation. I watched the clip and thought it was fantastic. I will look for it on my streaming website.

    I didn’t know Molly Ringwald sang?!? WOW!

    LOVE the quote by Ramana Maharshi. Read it three times!

    Have a terrific July 4th, my friend! X

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’d never heard of this play before! AND it stars two of my favorite actors! AND that painting is one of my favorites (hence the videotaping)!

      I’m confident you will enjoy Somebody, Somewhere.

      I had no idea she could sing!

      That quote is also one of my favorites! I have to read those quotes several times to really understand them. Quotes like that make me happy.

      Have a terrific week as well, my friend! 😘❤️

      Like

  7. SHINGLES???? OH NOOOOO! Fuck you, shingles. FUCK RIGHT OFF (see what I did there?) Seriously though, Kari, shingles. Terrible!
    I had a friend who had shingles on her FACE and her doctor said it was lucky they didn’t get into her eyes because it can cause vision loss! So scary.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Shingles is the WORST!! I got it a couple years ago (a year ago? All the everything is running together. Thankfully we caught it in time to get me an antiviral because it was still pretty awful. I’m just glad I didn’t have any lasting effects because I heard about how the nerve pain can stick around and that would SUCK!!! Glad yours didn’t!!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Thats a hell of a big swan 😁 i got a degree from the Art Insitute of Philly, love the 500 greatest albums link and The Nostalgia machine

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Love the art museum. We were there last Oct when Tim was in. Would love to go again soon. So much to see! Going to look at those books and your links now…xoxo

    Liked by 1 person

  11. How nice you went to the Art Institute. I haven’t been there in years, time to go. Enjoyed the video. I got the Shingles vaccine last year. FYI – it comes in 2 doses. You go for the 2nd dose, 2-6 months later. I think I went 2 months later or I would have forgotten. Happy 4th of July!

    Liked by 1 person

  12. I enjoyed your museum video – it’s such a cool thing to see the great paintings in person, and I wish I could do it more often.
    I’m so sorry you had a Shingles flare-up, but thank goodness you were vaccinated. I got my two doses last year after seeing a couple of people go through horrible bouts of Shingles. Nasty, nasty stuff.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Is that you, in that last photo, on a bird in a pool? I REALLY HOPE IT IS. If it is, that’s my favorite thing about this post, hands down.

    Also, thank you for the reminder to finish my shingles vaccination. I got the first shot this spring, and it knocked me out so hard I kept putting off the follow-up. Because I clearly have some things to learn about true self-care.

    I LOVE Somebody, Somewhere. So much I can’t say anything about it.

    The Nostalgia Machine took me to the apex of my childhood, and just reading all the song titles made me miss the family I had then so badly I had to change it to a year from junior high. I thought a year I was miserable would kill the nostalgia, but no. It really is a Nostalgia Machine.

    Looking forward to reading more links later. Thank you for those.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That’s me! 🤣😘

      Get your second dose! The vaccination did not knock me out, but my arm hurt for two weeks. It felt like someone punched me. Drink a lot of water. Like, TONS of water. When I got the second dose, I did that, and I had no side effects.

      Speaking of nostalgia, Mike and I watched the Wham documentary on Netflix last night, and it was fantastic. If you want to be transported back to the 1980s, watch this. It made me feel happy last night and this morning.

      You’re very welcome. I love sharing. ❤️😘

      Like

  15. Go figure the Fart Institute has more boobs than boy parts. 😜

    Sorry about The Shingles. Glad it wasn’t worse. I was so afraid of getting it as I had the Pox on my 29th birthday, and I thought I might die. It wasn’t good. I had my shingles vaccine shortly after my 50th birthday…this girl wasn’t taking any chances.

    My toxic trait is not watching movies with a less than 85% positive on The Tomato Meter. I LOVED Somebody, Somewhere. So relatable in so many ways.

    I need a swan floatie, asap.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Boobs made the day lots of fun. 🤣

      Chicken pox as an adult must have been awful! I had it as a child and remember how miserable I was. I’m glad you got vaccinated.

      I, too, have that toxic trait.

      Amazon, my friend. Mike bought it for me as a surprise. ❤️

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.