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| 2023 Reading List |
Whew, this year has been a whirlwind of absurdity, and still, I've somehow managed to stay connected with actual time.
Huh? What is she on about this time??
So, I do this thing (it started in the last ten years or so) where my head-time, or the time of year it feels like to me doesn't match with chronological time, or the page on the calendar. Like ... We'll all be in October, doing October-y things, but my head will still be back in April, or somewhere. This year however, for the first time in a very long time, my head and calendar seem to be on the same page. I'll admit, May is getting a bit away from me, I mean here we are with June just around the corner, and I'm feeling a little April-y about it all, but I think I can sync up in the next few days, and put things right again.
What's crazy about this (other than everything I've already said thus far), is that this year has been no less generous with its setbacks, and derailments than previous years, but somehow none of it has been axis-shifting the way its been in the past ... Maybe because I feel I have a little more control over outcomes, like as I accomplish things, I'm actually seeing the results I desire. I think sometimes, we forget exactly how destabilizing it is when our problems snowball; tasks that we just can't seem to get done, health matters that go extremely sideways, unopened bills stacking up, you know the drill— whatever that totally impossible thing is to you. It starts out small enough, and before you know it you're being chased down the mountain by a snow-boulder until it runs over the top of you, you stick to its underside (at least that's how it's always depicted in the cartoons), and before you know it you're going for a terrible, vomit-inducing ride.
I definitely didn't want to have to stop painting my kitchen half way through in order to build a new set of stairs for my back porch, especially because I'd mustered all the energy I had to begin tearing apart, scrubbing, patching, and painting the room in my house that probably needs it the absolute most. I don't know about any of you, but I'm extremely visual, and when I tell you that cleaning a room that never actually LOOKS clean after I'm finished kills a part of my soul each and every time, I am not exaggerating. To me, few things are more depressing than this. I know it sounds like an incredibly shallow, First World Problem sort of thing, but it's more than that. I've known people with dirt floors whose homes were immaculate, so this isn't some snobby image-is-everything, nothing-is-good-enough-for-me scenario. It's actually about pouring your energy into something to make it better and it just never actually does get better, and how utterly exhausting, insidious, and destructive this kind of constant failure is. Ya gotta win sometimes, it can't all be toil and moil!
So anyway, it was half way through my kitchen paint job that it became abundantly clear that the back porch stair-affair was untenable, and when you have custody of a German Shepherd with mobility issues, who happens to outweigh you by 20 lbs there is no "going without," or "making do" with a bunch of wobbly shit that's going to cut it. Up rolled the sleeves, and out came the toolbox ... The most gripping piece of information came during the disassembly portion of the project when my mother helpfully proclaimed that the rotten stairs propped up by bricks, broken chunks of stone slabs, and that are completely UN-connected to their risers were not, in fact, up to code.
Up to code?! Bestie, this whole (waves hands wildly in every direction) stair situation doesn't even follow the golden rule ... I wouldn't treat my worst enemy this way!
Long story short, the stairs are made, painted, gripped (omg, I stuck these down with some of these, and they're amazing!), sturdy as hell, and plumb. Major shout-out to these three dudes: My high school Shop & Materials Science teacher, Roger Records, my mother's first husband for letting me follow him around during our house remodel and giving me my first nail-gun experience, and my dad for always letting me do more than just "hold the flashlight." My flower pots look adorable and have something a lot more stable under them now, but the most important thing of all, the stairs are officially disabled-dog, and stray cat approved! I can't tell you the relief that brings my heart. The kitchen, however, remains unfinished.
In the meantime, you know, in my overwhelming abundance of down-time I've been reading. I decided early on that this was going to be the year of the biography, and memoir. Being an analytical problem solver irl, or as my folks often teased: The brains behind the operation - what I lack in muscle, I make up in the "bright ideas" department *Disclaimer, these ideas are not always bright, and do not always work out* I generally like to let my brain exhale with a dreamy piece of fiction, but this year I decided to read about other people and all of their problems, because I'm a glutton for punishment, obviously! No, it's actually been fascinating learning how others overcome obstacles (or not) in their own lives ... I'm a give me ALL your advice kind of gal anyway, so this is scratching a very particular itch for me, besides, real people are endlessly more interesting than made-up characters anyway.
And now I must away, to (hopefully) figure out how to tackle the rest of that kitchen in the most efficient way possible so June, and I can get along this year!
Until next time Lovers,
xoxo
2023 Reading List image description for screen readers, and links to purchase: Spare by, Prince Harry. Love Pamela by, Pamela Anderson. 'Tis Herself by, Maureen O'hara. Accidental Icon by, Iris Apfel. A Fighting Chance by, Elizabeth Warren. Frances: The Remarkable Story of Princess Diana's Mother by, Max Reddington and Gavan Naden. Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words by, Andrew Morton. Betsey: A Memoir with Mark Vitulano. The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey with Michaela Angela Davis. Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem: A Memoir by, Daniel R. Day. The Beautiful Ones by, Prince. Nobody's Fool: The Lives of Danny Kaye by, Martin Gottfried.
