April 14, 2023
1. ACTIVISM: I’ve long asked friends in Florida what we can do to support their fight against fascism.
Today, Equality Florida took the extraordinary step of issuing a travel advisory, warning of the risks posed to the health, safety, and freedom of those considering short or long term travel, or relocation to the state. The move comes in response to a wave of safety inquiries Equality Florida has received following the passage of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ community, restrict access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety laws, foment racial prejudice, and attack public education by banning books and censoring curriculum.
@michelleerin said about companies in Florida:
Tell them you won’t be back again until there is change and that you’d appreciate them advocating/lobbying against this agenda. The big corporations could be stopping this.
And they don’t care about me but they care about you. They need the out of state tourists.
So I’m going to start looking up companies in Florida that we would hypothetically visit if we were to travel there and put pressure on them to lobby against the current wave of terrible laws.
2. We shipped what’s become a quarterly allotment of treats for Penny’s students and my heart is warmed. As always I can’t do this alone and I super appreciate friends in the community pitching in to make it happen.
JB is full of ideas for the next allotment already.
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April 7, 2023
1. It’s a good thing I always project our expenses several months out. Daycare has been terrible at officially notifying us of expected increases resulting from schedule changes and I would have been pretty upset to be caught unawares if I just relied on them. Yay for money spreadsheets!
(The irony of my discovery two days after writing this that I forgot to include a huge recurring monthly expense. Oops! No wonder our cash flow looked unexpectedly robust. Artificially is more accurate. Also disappointing because I’d planned to send out a lot more direct aid before the expenses tipped the scale in the wrong direction so strongly.)
Helping folks: Times are rough for a lot of people right now. If you are fortunate and able, we’ve donated to these folks, they could use a helping hand from the community.
@popelizbet is good people and does good work helping survivors of domestic violence. She’s been laid off (no fault to the org) and needs some help to bridge the gap to her next job.
Tami Mitchell (@disabledgirlfi) is in a tight spot. Her senior dog Imri was injured and needs a ramp.
I have a friend juggling school, chronic illness, and a dangerous stalker ex-spouse problem. I’ve been helping her out but due to massive health issues and a few turns of bad luck, she’s unable to make rent this next month and facing homelessness. I’m working out a way to get her some funds.
If you can pitch in, please send it Ruth’s way with the note: for safety/revanche.
Venmo: @RK-Tillman
PayPal: ruthtillman [at sign] gmail.com
Cashapp: $ruthkt
Activism: In a truly open display of racism, “Tennessee Republicans just expelled Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the state legislature after their powerful advocacy for gun safety legislation.” If you hate it as much as the rest of us do, and can, please help support them.
It’s been a turn upside and shake hard! sort of week.
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March 31, 2023
1. It’s been a hard week on most counts but I am managing to keep my blood pressure steady and the internal conflicts to a minimum. More on this next week.
Challenges this week: painsomnia sucks. Insomnia sucks. If it’s not one making me lose sleep, it’s the other.
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March 24, 2023
1. As much as I’ve been sad this week, that some of this might just be sadness and not depression because I’ve also felt the small pips of wanting to have good food or do fun things for the first time in years. I’ve not wanted to do anything, even the things I love the most for a long time. I’ve found no pleasure in planning or even dreaming about unlikely plans for the fun of it.
2. Therapy also helped me work through lots of mixed up grief. Friends have been going through rough stuff and it’s bringing up a lot of empathetic grief for their losses and also twangs resonantly with my own personal grief and losses.
3. My hollowed out chest coughing is still playing up occasionally but it’s much less this week. I almost want to put up a 2 days since last infection counter but that’s just tempting fate, isn’t it?
4. I found PiC’s Global Entry card!!!! It was under my nose this whole time. I’m never telling him I missed it being right there for three months. 😅😂
5. This gave me a much needed laugh:
Helping folks: I peripherally know Limecello through Romancelandia. Can we help them out a bit? They’re going through a particularly rough time post-op: Please Help Limecello
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March 17, 2023
1. Weekend wins: I got some rest on Sunday afternoon.
2. I finally crossed off all the warranty replacements from my to-do list: the kids’ Contigo bottles have arrived, as has the replacement lantern for our power outage supplies.
Helping others:
Ramadan, a holy month when charity is given, is March 22. Muslims will fast from sunrise to sunset. Aseel will be distributing a Daily Iftar Package ($3 USD) to any individual on the street who needs it. They also have a Ramadan package for families ($98). The Child and Family Relief Round 2 that we’ve contributed to for the past few months is still well short of their goal.
Hattip to Nicole and Maggie for this one: Brooklyn Public Library (the library that allows any kid to get a library card to read their digital books) is facing extreme budget cuts and needs people to sign their petition. Please sign to help!
We need to keep fighting the creeping fascism that we’re seeing in the US. We and our future generations deserve better than that.
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March 10, 2023
1. After two weeks of scout ants creeping into the kitchen, without leaving a trail for me to follow back, I spotted one ant under a baseboard and lined that whole wall with boric acid. It seems like it’s working? After two days, the incursions stopped.
2. Weekend to dos: I didn’t cut anyone’s hair but all three are due. I did trim the hedges. That turned into a family activity and they look much better now.
Challenges this week:
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March 3, 2023
1. We donated 2 boxes of books to the library. That got the JKR series out of our house and cleared a whole (small) bookshelf for better books by better people. (People are complicated, yes, but JKR is unreservedly awful.)
Win win!
2. Help BIPOC folks:
3. I got ONE dinner this week where Smol Acrobat wasn’t a total pill! That’s more than the usual zero. PiC does breakfasts. They might be easier but I couldn’t say.
4. It was my turn on Murderbot All Systems Red again and every two sentences are a genuine delight. I wish I could write like this.
An activism: Florida Bill Would Destroy Higher Education as We Know It
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