Got the hem of F's dress taped up, and it looks OK!
While listening to Mrs Nash's Ashes
Watched some things
Showered and other hygiene things
Went to bed early; I was exhausted
Monday
GB, K, and I Met up with EggMama and her husband, S, and attended F's graduation; I teared up, because all the big kid milestones make me think of how i thought for a long time that I wouldn't have them. It was a good ceremony , and F was recognized several time for her participation in a number of programs
Knitted 10 rows on a baby hat
Went to lunch at Asian Box with everyone but K, who had to go back to school
Collapsed at home, exhausted
watched some things
Made Macaroni salad for dinner
YPP
ACNH
Tuesday
Got K through their school morning prep;walked K to school with the puppy
Attended 2 online medical appointments with F
Finished knitting the baby hat
Played COE33 with GB
Picked up K from school with the puppy
K and F with with EM and S to go rock hunting, and they were gone through the evening
Tried to make it a rest afternoon
Closed-eyes rest of at least 30 minutes
Watched some things
Leftovers for dinner, and GB, BB, and I watched a couple of episodes of Monarch in lieu of family night
Got to bed relatively early
Wednesday
Got K through their school morning prep; walked K to school with the puppy
Played spades Seas 3s tourney
Watched some things
Played spades Blood tourney, and won
Watched more things
Attended stitch-in, where I finished all the cross stitches on the cat in the ornaments, and started on the defining backstitches on the cat, which I had to start twice, due to miscounting
Showered
Date night with sushi delivered, Leverage: Redemption, and COE33
Interrupted by EM and S dropping off F, and then they wanted to see the snakes, and there was some visiting (and then F went back with them anyway...)
[ID: An acrylic painting of a cartoon pink unicorn standing triumphantly with text around it reading "Queer Love Forever." The background is a deep purple. End ID.]
I've recently learned that escaping enshitification is actually really easy. When I was younger I would use FOSS (free and open source software) because I usually couldn't afford anything else. Back then the paid options were usually significantly better than the unpaid options so when I finally got money I started using the paid stuff and completely forgot that Foss existed.
If you don't know why Foss is awesome its not just that its free. Open source software has a huge set of advantages. Most software is proprietary meaning that its code cannot be viewed by other people. Open source softwares code can be viewed by everyone and people can contribute their own code to make it better. Open source is often more secure than proprietary because more people have more eyes on it and more people have contributed to it's security. Its also easy to know how much privacy you have with every software because you can read the code. No more "trust me bro I'm not harvesting and selling your data" you know if they are collecting and selling because the code is publicly available.
In the last two months I have been switching almost completely to Foss. I was worried at first because when I stopped using Foss over 10 years ago the average Foss software was genuinely worse than the paid proprietary alternative. Thankfully things have really come full circle. 90℅ of the software I have tried in the last 2 months works better than the proprietary alternative and is 100℅ less obnoxious.
So here is a list of every Foss software I have tried and recommend. There is way more than this available. This list is just what I have used and like personally. Anyone can feel free to add and we can turn it into a master list. Please just take these as a place to start and do your own research to see if these softwares will work for your use case before you fully ditch your proprietary software.
Operating systems
Graphene os: android alt. Security and privacy focused. The most secure and private smartphone currently available.
Linux mint: easy to use linux, 100℅ better than windows.
Pop!: The Linux distro you should use if you have nividia hardware and want to play games using said hardware. Very intuitive and easy to use.
Kubuntu: Ubuntu Linux with KDE desktop. This is the linux distro one I am currently using and I don't have any plans to jump ship again. Better than windows and better than Mac. The companion app for your phone makes life soooo easy. Its pretty and easy to customize to a ridiculously granular level. No fucking notes.
Kindle jailbreak- ko reader: use jailbreak to free your kindle from the tyranny of the bezos. It will download ko reader which is a Foss OS that has every fucking feature you always wished kindle had and let's you read whatever the fuck you want, and have whatever the screensaver you want (no more ads!). Soooo fuck amazon and use this. I genuinely cannot recommend it enough.
Linux FOSS: (some available on windows and android as well)
Calibre: Foss desktop eBook library. Packed with features. You will want to use this with koreader to make managing your kindle easy.
Manuscript: skrivner alt. Does absolutely everything I need.
Bitwarden: password manager (use a keepass fork if you want self hosted)
Next cloud: private google drive and cloud alternative that you can self host if you want but it's not required. App available
Proton VPN: to the best of my knowledge it is the only Foss no log VPN you can get. You can pay for higher speeds. App available
Quad9dns: free encrypted DNS provider. App available.
News software:
Use any Foss RSS reader and for the love of god stop getting news from social media. Take control of your feed!
Apps (I only know for android)
Fdroid: great app store to find Foss android apps and download them.
Antennapod: you can get all of your podcasts fetched to one feature rich app via RSS feed. No need to rely on spotify or music steaming services.
Openreads: it's good reads but private and 100℅ stored locally. No amazon, no social media aspect, it just tracks your reading, you can import your good reads but if you want to import from storygraph you have to make a good reads burner account, import to good reads, then import to openreads. The menus Navigation on this one is a bit cumbersome but honestly good reads app is worse.
Newpipe: YouTube frontend that let's you have YouTube subscriptions, watch YouTube in the background, and blocks all ads, without logging in to YouTube. You will want to use this one with a VPN set to Canada (or any other country) so YouTube doesn't keep blocking it in order to force you to sign in. But even with that extra step its worth it for the privacy and the lack of ads.
Proton mail: one of 2 more private gmail alts. But you should note that email cannot be 100℅ anonymous or private.
I think that's it. There are still a lot software varieties I am slowly finding.
I know people get mad at the name, and I understand why, but straight-up I've been using GIMP for 15 years and it's a good solid art program made under the GNU program. It's worth a look.
Blender is an amazing FOSS suite for 3D modeling and animation, as well as digital sculpting and motion tracking. Pros use it. It’s a staple in game development. It’s what the Academy Award winning film “Flow” was made on. It’s not the bland name alternative to an industry standard; it is an industry standard.
Krita is a fantastic FOSS application for digital painting. Everyone I’ve ever talked to who uses it has loved it to death.
OBS is the absolute go-to choice for screen recording and live streaming. You can use it to record your entire desktop or a specific window, capture audio from multiple sources, and even add overlays, webcam feeds, or transitions to your videos.
VLC Media Player is the best media player, hands down. It’s lightweight, it’s reliable, it supports virtually every audio and video format known to man, and it has built in media conversion and even basic editing. I truly can’t imagine why anyone would use a media player that isn’t this one. It’s just the best there is, easily, no contest.
Audacity is a fantastic multi-track audio editor and recorder. It’s free and it’s good, and podcasters love it for a reason.
And believe it or not, Thunderbird is a really good email client now. I’m not even joking. If you used it back in the day and hated it, please give it another chance, because the glow up is unreal.
Just tacking on that while FOSS is usually free as in costless the term "free" in open-source spaces typically means "non-proprietary". It isn't a bad idea to look into which of these projects accept donations and to donate if you can. Blender is an amazing program. Genuinely I like it better than Maya or 3DSMax and it is struggling to maintain its project because it has gotten so large in its pursuit of giving artists things that are actually needed but very few of those artists are donating on download.
Other projects (LibreWolf browser comes to mind) reject donations specifically because they don't want to be in Blender's position (often these have an ideological pursuit, like LibreWolf and privacy).
If you see a Donate option when you go to download an open-source project please consider giving them something. Anything you can afford. The non-proprietary (i.e. "free") nature of these projects is so important but I'd hate to see the best of them tank because "free" isn't actually "free".
There are so many books I'm excited for today! I'm also thankful to Heartdrum because I already have Medicine Wheelsand it's awesome so far. I'll be reviewing it soon.
Goldenborn by Ama Ofosua Lieb
Scholastic
Akoma Addo has one rule: don’t get too close to the supernatural.
Ever since a blazing orb of light left her father in a coma, she’s buried herself in her secret job investigating magical crimes in San Francisco’s AfricaTown — just enough to keep her grief at bay. But when a body turns up in a pool of molten gold and ash, Akoma’s pulled into something much bigger — and far more dangerous. At the center of it all is Anansi, the trickster god of stories, who makes her an impossible offer: help him catch a killer and awaken the ancestral magic buried deep in her blood… and in return, he’ll give her a chance to bring her father back. To take the deal, Akoma will have to lie to everyone she loves and embrace the very power she’s spent years trying to deny. And as her connection grows with Xander, the new guy in town with secrets of his own, Akoma must decide who she can trust — especially when she’s no longer sure she can even trust herself. Rooted in Ghanaian mythology and packed with mystery, danger, and slow-burning romance, Goldenborn is a gripping fantasy about legacy, lies, and what it really means to rewrite your story.
The Heirs by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Feiwel & Friends
Five prodigies, one dead father, a mansion full of suspects…
Octavius the Maestro.
Fola the Brain.
Bilal the Olympian.
Perdita the Artist.
Romeo the Failure.
These are the five heirs of the illustrious billionaire Leontes Button. Adopted and viciously trained with their father’s infamous “Button Method” to prove his hypothesis for creating prodigies—child geniuses—the Button siblings have had no choice but to be brilliant according to their father’s impossibly high standards.
Until he is murdered at his annual Prodigy Ball.
Now, all who attended the ball are required to stay in the Button Manor while the police investigate. But the officers have their work cut out for them—each of the Button siblings has something to hide, but The Heirs aren’t the only ones with secrets. After all, Leontes Button was especially good at making enemies. . .
Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham
Kokila
One hundred years have passed since the last heir of Gyldan fell into eternal slumber and doomed the once-mighty kingdom to poverty and invasion. At least, that’s what the fairy tales claim.
Corin is a jaded thief who doesn’t believe in fables, even when she searches Gyldan’s underground tunnels to find her younger sister, Elly, who ran away to find the sleeping princess in hopes of a better life. Corin’s conviction is challenged when she discovers the ruins of the ancient castle, maintained by beings from the kingdom’s golden age, who protect a hidden portal into Princess Amelia’s subconscious. Following Elly’s voice, Corin jumps in the portal and seals the entry behind her.
Inside the lush world of Amelia’s dreams, the sisters reunite for a new adventure as they meet Briar Rose, Amelia’s whimsical alter ego, and Malicine, a sharp-tongued demon with a gift for magic. But as they explore ice castles, sunflower mazes, and star-filled oceans, Corin suspects Briar Rose is hiding darker secrets behind her “perfect” paradise – and that there are some things her subconscious can’t bury forever.
Medicine Wheels by Byron Graves
Heartdrum
When Bryce’s mom walks out on her abusive boyfriend and back into jail for breaking her probation, he’s left facing the summer of his junior year with no parents, no phone, and only the clothes on his back.
With nowhere to call home, Bryce crashes at his grandparents’ house on Wolf Creek reservation. Wolf Creek is full of memories and old friends—including Robbie and Mikayla, who hang out at the local skate park.
Skateboarding reminds Bryce of his late dad: carefree, riding like he could fly. If Bryce could learn to ride like that, he’d take his crew to the top of the skateboarding championship at the end of the summer, and finally prove he’s not a loser, especially to the online-famous, captivating Mikayla. Summer is looking up, even as he’s falling on his face.
But when a fresh loss takes Bryce down, he’ll need to learn to lean on his Ojibwe community to get back on the board. Only then can he discover his father’s real legacy—and the true meaning of unconditional love.
Bad Queer by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan
Faber & Faber Children’s
I feel invincible.
Like I could run and run
and never stop for breath.
I feel a power in me
I didn’t know I had.
The power to speak,
to say what I need.
Surya knows exactly who they are. Coming out as non-binary to their queer parents and best friend? A total non-event. Catching feelings for Blessing – the boy in drama club whose smile makes their heart race? That’s trickier.
As their final year of school unfolds and the two of them grow closer, Surya starts to question: Does Blessing really see them? Or just a version of them that doesn’t exist? They’d ask their best friend for advice, but she’s busy falling in love too. . .
With gorgeous illustrations throughout, Bad Queer draws us deeply into queer friendship, family secrets, and the necessary act of loving yourself. Perfect for fans of Alice Oseman, Dean Atta, and Sarah Crossan.
This is a love letter to queer futures – tender, curious, and fiercely alive.
Breakout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany B. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon
Quill Tree
For Thurgood Marshall Academy’s best and brightest–five friends who’ve been thick as thieves since kindergarten–this spring break is all about forgetting: they want nothing more than to wash away last year’s tragedy, and the human-shaped hole it left in their friend group.
It’s a hole the new kid, Anthony Brooks, seems to fit right into. So when he invites the Five to join him on a private island for a week at his dad’s luxury resort, they agree with zero hesitation. No one’s counting on a freak tropical storm swooping in and killing the vibe. And speaking of killing, they’re also ill-prepared for the mounting collection of dead bodies… including (another) one of their own.
As their dream trip unravels, everything they tried to leave behind–secrets, lies, betrayals, dead best friends–seems to be washing up on the shore of their lives for everyone to see. Will any of them make it out alive?
The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue by Zoulfa Katouh
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Seventeen-year-old Jihad Dabbagh has always seen life with a heightened sense for colors, one of many magical blessings the women in her family possess. But Jihad’s gift changes depending on her mood. When depression sets in, the world is a colorless oasis, and in the wake of her mother’s sudden death, the world has become a permanent shade of grey. Broken by tragedy, Jihad’s family doesn’t believe her color loss. Her father sends her to the elite Braxton Academy to finish her senior year. There, Jihad’s name and hijab put a target on her back. Her haven comes in the form of an old sketchbook carved from a tree in her hometown in Syria — a country she only knew through her mother’s stories. Jihad hasn’t picked up a brush in over a year, but finds herself channeling the colors of her hurt, pain, and grief as she paints the story of her mother’s journey in Syria. When graffiti of that same mural starts magically popping up all over New York, her art goes viral and the world takes notice, the threat of legal consequences is imminent. To reclaim her voice, Jihad will have to paint a new future for herself and Braxton, guided by the resilience of her mother’s story.
Monarchs in the Wild by Israel Moya
Lee & Low Books
In the summer of 1994, seventeen-year-old Cal ”California” Garcia can’t seem to escape the gossip and horrified looks of his fellow La Sombra residents. They judge him on nothing more than the long scar on his face, his beat up ’68 Mustang, and always being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Cal constantly feels like he’s been set up to fail. His father left his family after the tragic accident that gave him his scar. His mother spends all her time at church, enchanted by the words of a crooked pastor. And his new-old Mustang brings more trouble and chaos than it’s worth. Everything about being in La Sombra tells him he is and always will be a nothing. But as his senior year is coming to an end, his life is turned drastically upside down. Out by the railroad tracks, Cal finds Nora, valedictorian Nora, fallen off a bridge. The monarch butterflies stitched onto her jeans are seared into his memory forever. Having found her body, Cal becomes a person of interest in Nora’s suspicious death.
As Cal tries to escape suspicion, an opportunity for a way out of La Sombra emerges from nowhere, and Cal is forced to choose his own fate. Will Cal finally decide who he is and where he wants to be? Or will he let circumstance choose for him and live his life as just another statistic in a farm-worker town?
...Have to snicker a little when, in order to fit the fifth member of the core marriage into the shot, I have to stick him half a mile away...
Anyway. This is just to let everybody know that for Pride Month of 2026, the Ebooks Direct Pride Package has been really ridiculously discounted.
...From the product page:
This package contains all our Middle Kingdoms material—some of the first LGBTQ-representing epic fantasy in the 20th-century fantasy field, now continuing into the 21st. It also contains the matter-of-fact exit from the (contextual) closet of two of the best-loved characters in the Young Wizards universe—Advisory wizards Tom Swale and Carl Romeo, on their first canonically-"out" venture as a couple.
The main part of the collection spans more than forty years, from the publication of Diane Duane's two-time Astounding Award finalist The Door Into Fire, first published in 1979, through its main-sequence sequels (both also Gaylaxic Spectrum Awards Hall of Fame winners) The Door Into Shadow and The Door Into Sunset, to 2018's and 2019's interstitial Tales of the Five novels, The Levin-Gad and The Landlady. The collection also includes such otherwise hard to find short works as Lior and the Sea and the two current volumes of the "Sirronde's World" group, The Span and Parting Gifts.* And finally, it also includes the Middle Kingdoms novelette Overdue (Tales of the Middle Kingdoms #2), and the short Young Wizards work Owl Be Home For Christmas.
All that for $19.99? Seriously, I need my head felt. So please go validate my mental state and go buy the package. ...And happy Pride!
(Meanwhile, a project for the course of the month is to put all the queer, bi, and/or ace characters in my various series into that shot. That bridge should be a little more crowded by the time I'm done...) 😏
(And the usual sorrowful reminder: With regret, we must remind any UK viewers of this product that, due to Brexit, we can no longer sell ebooks directly into the UK. Our apologies.)
[ID from alt: oil painting of a desert landscape. a semitransparent, ghostly coyote is superimposed over it with its eye corresponding to where the moon is in the daytime sky End ID]
Shopped at the Farmers Market; it was crazy busy, I guess the summer shoppers are out. Might be a benefit to shopping earlier or later
Shot number three at getting F's dress hem turned, at least better measurement this time
Lunched and TVed
Put away the groceries
Put salmon and zucchini into a slow cooker
Attended stitch in, where I attempted to hem the dress, and utterly failed; it's a huge hem, and it's slippery, and has an underskirt that is shorter, and bunches and puckers at the stitches, and the fabric would probably melt if I used iron on hemming tape.... total frustration. it needs to last for about 4 hours, so I'm going to try fabric tape.
Played a little COE33 with GB
Cleaned the microwave
Cleaned the upper cabinet doors
Cleaned the counters
Finished cleaning the spices area
Made dill rice and salad to round out dinner
Watched a bunch of High Potential with K, while internetting
Played spades Thrizz tourney
Took the dogs outside; they just wanted to wrestle and play keep away with each other
ACNH
Then F came home and one of the dogs peed from excitement in the foyer, and I had to clean it up :/
To follow up on our post earlier this month, here are five more books that come out later this year that we wanted to highlight for AANHPI month. Which ones will you be adding to your TBR list?
The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham
Kokila || Publishes 2 June 2026
One hundred years have passed since the last heir of Gyldan fell into eternal slumber and doomed the once-mighty kingdom to poverty and invasion. At least, that’s what the fairy tales claim.
Corin is a jaded thief who doesn’t believe in fables, even when she searches Gyldan’s underground tunnels to find her younger sister, Elly, who ran away to find the sleeping princess in hopes of a better life. Corin’s conviction is challenged when she discovers the ruins of the ancient castle, maintained by beings from the kingdom’s golden age, who protect a hidden portal into Princess Amelia’s subconscious. Following Elly’s voice, Corin jumps in the portal and seals the entry behind her.
Inside the lush world of Amelia’s dreams, the sisters reunite for a new adventure as they meet Briar Rose, Amelia’s whimsical alter ego, and Malicine, a sharp-tongued demon with a gift for magic. But as they explore ice castles, sunflower mazes, and star-filled oceans, Corin suspects Briar Rose is hiding darker secrets behind her “perfect” paradise – and that there are some things her subconscious can’t bury forever.
My Killer Family Reunion by Dinesh Thiru
Atheneum Books for Young Readers || Publishes 11 August 2026
Knives Out meets Never Have I Ever in this hilarious and twisty young adult mystery-comedy about an Indian American teen whose family reunion at a lavish manor falls into chaos after her grandma is attacked.
Nothings brings family together like attempted murder.
There are three things Jayshree Devi can count on happening at her annual family reunion: 1) her cousins will forget she exists, 2) her aunts will try to set her up, and 3) her uncles will get into a fight. What she doesn’t expect? An accident that lands her grandmother in a coma, throwing the family—and their matriarch’s sizeable fortune—into chaos.
When Jay discovers Grand Mom’s “accident” might not have been so accidental after all, she’ll have to dig through decades of secrets to find the truth. With the help of her (annoyingly perky) cousins and one of their (annoyingly hot) friends, Jay finds herself knee-deep in a mystery that’s even more tangled than her family tree.
But the closer Jay gets to answers, the closer she gets to finding her place amongst the relatives who once felt so distant. With Grand Mom’s life and fortune hanging in the balance, can Jay save her family and maybe hook up with a hottie while she’s at it?
Foreigners by E.L. Shen
Quill Tree Books || Publishes 22 September 2026
For centuries, the Chin family has kept its secrets.
In 1878, Duanfang knows he’s destined for greatness. He’ll do anything to uphold and protect the legacy of his Manchu family—even if it means hiding his past.
In 1966, Zheng Yi flies from Taiwan to New York City to have a shot at attending an American college. Thrown into a world of parties, prejudice, and a tumultuous romance, Yi worries that New York may be more than she can handle. But just as she is beginning to adjust, she must make a shocking decision that will irrevocably change her life and her future forever.
Today, Dawn Chin’s family is opaque at best, with heavy expectations and heavier silences. But an assignment to interview her grandmother is about to crack open her real family history: a legacy hundreds of years old, and a lie decades in the making . . .
Heirs of Infamy by Kyla Zhao
G.P. Putnam's Sons || Publishes 13 October 2026
Two rivals from opposing gangs grow dangerously close in this dazzling YA debut set in 1940s San Francisco Chinatown.
Beneath the neon glare of postwar San Francisco, Chinatown is ruled by two rival crime families. East Phoenix deals in secrets and stealth, West Dragon in fists and fear. But both empires are bleeding money, and the fragile truce between them frays by the day.
As the daughter of Chinatown’s most powerful crime boss, Alexis Sung can do almost anything, except join the family business. When her first job for East Phoenix goes wrong, her father shuts her out for good. Across town, Zachary Ren—a brilliant orphan raised by West Dragon—is desperate to escape a life he never chose. Their paths were never meant to cross again, not after he destroyed Alexis’s one shot to prove herself.
That changes when a daring heist surfaces—one with a bounty big enough to save both families from ruin. Defying her father’s orders, Alexis seizes the chance to redeem herself by striking an uneasy alliance with Zachary. As old wounds reopen and new sparks catch, survival means trusting the last person she thought she would.
Salt Water Blood by Manuia Heinrich
Sarah Barley Books/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers || Publishes 17 November 2026
An Indigenous teen fights to clear her brother of a murder charge by embracing her gift of hearing the sea’s prophetic thoughts in this debut young adult speculative thriller that’s Firekeeper’s Daughter meets Moana.
Eighteen-year-old Moe hears the sea’s prophetic thoughts. Not just hear them—she feels them. That’s how she experienced her father’s death before he did and how she felt her mother’s relief when she abandoned Moe and her younger brother, Tao, months later.
So when the sea warns Moe that Tao will drown, she’s determined to get in fate’s way and soon secures them a way off their island home. But those plans are ruined when Tao’s girlfriend goes missing and Tao is found where she was last seen…with blood on his hands—and no memory of what happened.
Moe will do anything she can to clear her brother’s name, even if it means swallowing her pride and teaming up with her annoyingly clever school rival, Temanea. Even if it means relying on the sea’s prophecies.
Because her dreaded gift may be the only way to save her brother—and uncover a sickness lurking in their community before it poisons them all.
Before this month ends I have to acknowledge that May is Celiac Disease Awareness Month.
Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disease that I have. It means that my body cannot process the gluten protein at all. If it enters my intestines, they shut down, entirely and I am unable to get any sort of nutrients.
There are a lot of misunderstandings about Celiac. The biggest one is, of course, that it is an allergy, or an intolerance. It’s actually about the immune system. My immune system is programmed to see gluten as a virus and completely shut down.
It doesn’t matter how much or how little gluten, the result is the same. This is why cross contamination is such a big thing. Even a small crumb could make my body sick for months. Think of gluten as glitter. It gets EVERYWHERE, and you have to be really diligent to clean it up.
Which is why going out to eat is so scary. Cause, for me, being gluten free isn’t a fad, it keeps me alive, and many many people just see it as a joke.
Illinois is doing something about this. They passed a law that went into affect in January requiring Celiac Disease to be included in the training a restaurant’s food safety manager must go through. Which is a huge step in Celiac Disease Awareness.
But it’s not just food. It’s also medication.
Sometimes I feel like I might be confused for MAHA because I am so wary of medication. Even though it’s unregulated I would rather take supplements every single time, cause at least they SAY “gluten free.”
It’s not that gluten is consistently used to bind meds, but there is no FDA requirement for pharmaceutical companies to test for ANY allergens. So all I know is that they don’t include gluten containing ingredients, but they don’t test to make sure they’re actually gluten free.
There are a few exceptions, Walgreens “Free and Pure” over the counter line being one. They DO test all their drugs to 20ppm of gluten, which is the industry standard. For the first time in my life, I have headache meds. That was never something I had access to before.
But that’s about it. I have an IUD cause the birth control Kaiser now carries is no longer a safe brand. I had an infection but couldn’t have antibiotics, cause the last time I did, when I had pneumonia in 2014, I WAS glutenated.
Luckily there’s a bill in Congress called the ADINA Act. It stands for Allergen Disclosure in Non-Food Articles Act, and it would bring the US into the 21st century.
A lot of countries already have this. Like you have to list potential allergens on food items, this would require the same thing for non food items, like medication.
The bill currently had 17 cosponsors, 10 Dems and 7 Republicans, but it needs a whole lot more attention to actually pass.
Cause, it’s been introduced in various forms since Dem Rep Tim Ryan introduced it in 2012. Most people reading this have probably never heard of Rep Tim Ryan, and that tells you just how long it’s been introduced. And it’s never passed. It’s never even been voted on in committee.
But things are hopefully different now. Cause Adina Togal is a girl. A girl with INCREDIBLE parents, Seth and Jennifer, who are shouldering this fight personally.
It’s not just a statistic of how many people have been affected by the lack of labeling, it’s a girl that these elected officials can see stand in front of them who is lucky to be alive today, after being given medication containing her allergens at camp in 2022.
As someone who is chronically ill, in large part thanks to having been born with Celiac and going undiagnosed for the first three years of my life, the ADINA Act would change everything for me.
So, as this Celiac Disease Awareness Month comes to an end, I beg you, please call your Rep and ask them to make this a priority. It’s completely bipartisan, it might actually have a chance of passing this year, if we can get enough attention on it, that is.
Awake early, rested until I body needs forces me out of bed
Washed and dressed
Got breakfast and meds for K
Timed K through their morning (and they still got out very late)
Walked K and puppy to school, and back
Breakfasted and internetted
Played spades suicide tourney, made it to the finals
Made brown sugar
Dumped ingredients for MMC into the slow cooker
Cleaned off the dining room table
Got the Easter decorations packed up to go downstairs
Ended up not going to get K from school
Cleared off couches
Cleared off and wiped down coffee table
Lunched and watched a thing
Attended an online medical appointment with K
Played COE33 with GB
Family night with GB's choice of LotR
Played more COE33 with GB
I didn't do this, but F still wouldn't trim the puppy, so K and GB did so, and they had to trim her down to the skin in some places because the mats were so bad, and F was furious. But she didn't want to do it (because it's WORK) so someone had to, even if she didn't like the results.
Got to bed finally, and read Network Effect
Wednesday
up early AGAIN
Washed and dressed
Timed K's morning
Prepped K's lunch
Walked K to school with puppy and back
Breakfasted and internetted
Played spades 7-up tourney, made it to the finals
lalala
Played spades blood tourney, made it to the finals
Lunched and TVed
Attended stitch in, where I got all of the dark grey put in on the cat in the cross stitch ornament
Nudged K into homework
Emailed K's HS regarding 504
Needed some outside time, so took ACNH outside to the yard, where I also tossed the ball for the dog
date night with Chinese takeout, Leverage: Redemption, and COE33
Did a quick measurement for F's graduation dress
Read some Network Effect before passing out
Thursday
Woke up around 2:30 by some scratching noises and could not go back to sleep; played some spades against bots and did some YPP shoppekeeping, and finally slept a little in my recliner
Washed and dressed
Timed K's morning
Prepped K's lunch
Went with everyone to farm dropoff even thought it was raining, so puppy could play; we thought her BFF wouldn't be there, but he did show up, and they ran around excitedly in the rain and wrestled; played fetch once he left
Breakfasted and internetted
Played spades All bid 3 tourney and won
Scheduled yet another medical consult for K, and set up yet another medical portal account.
Put K's camp week on the calendar, and signed up for camp carpool
Played spades Blood tourney
Lunched and TVed
Played spades twisted Mirrors tourney; made it to the finals
Put on Tangled in the background
Got a few decorations put into boxes and took some of them downstairs
Took photos of some no longer needed items and posted them to CL
Paid a medical bill
Started to take up the hem in F's dress, but I really need to hem it on her *sigh*
Leftovers for dinner
Played spades Options tourney; made it to the finals
While watching High Potential with K
got into bed early, read some Network Effect, and fell asleep by the time I usually get into bed.
As we head into summer vacation it's time to start thinking about our summer reads. Any of this week's new releases looking like they could be added to your summer TBR pile?
In the Country I Love by Alaa Al-Barkawi
Peachtree Teen
As a seventeen-year-old single dad and a soon-to-be high school drop-out, Yassir Al-Azzawi’s lapsed Shia faith is just another thing convincing his parents he’s a failure. One more mistake, and they’ll send him back to their homeland, a war-torn Iraq.
Khaled Al-Hakim is perfect on paper: devout in his faith, a straight-A student, and captain of the debate team. But beneath the surface, Khaled is no saint either, and his worst sin yet is ignoring his parents’ command to stay away from Yassir.
When their secret friendship is exposed, the consequences set off a series of events that cause family secrets from both sides to come to light, and neither Yassir nor Khaled are prepared to learn the stains that taint their family names.
Told through multiple POVs across time, this authentic exploration of the Shia Muslim experience in the U.S. seamlessly combines classic YA themes of identity, coming-of-age, and relationships with timely social themes of racism, Islamophobia, and justice. This compelling, contemporary debut is perfect for fans of Sabaa Tahir’s All My Rage and Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief.
Jin Young, In Between by Ellen Oh
Crown Books for Young Readers
Jin’s whole world been turned upside down. Since meeting Mina inside her webcomic, Jin has discovered unbelievable things about his life:
1. He’s been living in a parallel universe.
2. His birth mother didn’t abandon him.
3. He’ll never be able to see Mina again.
But then the impossible happens—Jin teleports to Mina’s world. But with every visit, cataclysmic weather threatens Jin’s world. And a mysterious lab seems way too interested in testing Jin’s new teleporting ability. Is Jin ready to risk it all for the girl he loves?
Lake Life by Tanya Bateau
Quill Tree
This is definitely not how Maya wanted to spend the summer—depressed at her once-beloved cabin in Spruce Lake, and unable to avoid seeing her lifelong best friend, Rashida, after confessing her woefully unrequited love to her last year. Maya can’t decide if she wants to escape, or convince Rashida they’re still meant to be.
Gabe is sent to Spruce Lake by her mom in hopes she stays out of trouble. Gabe is NOT excited to be here. She does NOT like nature. She does NOT want to spend her summer in a tiny town with outdoorsy environmentalist types.
Gabe is pretty sure she’ll be spending this entire summer bored and alone…until she meets Maya. Together, they hatch a fake-dating scheme to make Rashida jealous and convince Gabe’s mom that Gabe has turned a wholesome new leaf.
But as the plan plays out, and Gabe and Maya contend with protests, a relentlessly concerned community, and romantic twists, they start to realize that their assumptions about friendship and love might have led them completely astray. Can they find their way through this mess without hurting each other in the process?
We Could Be Anyone by Anna-Marie McLemore
Feiwel & Friends
Lola and I grew up hearing that we could become anything, but our parents hadn’t meant it the way gringo parents did. They meant it as a warning.
Lola and Lisandro are actors during Hollywood’s Golden Age, but you won’t see them on any silver screen. Instead, these siblings use their talents to scam the rich and famous out of their ill-begotten cash. They have their act down to a science: Lola plays the tragic ghost who haunts the mansions of the wealthy, and Lisandro plays the brave spiritualist who will help her soul find peace. For a small fee, of course.
The siblings have their sights set on their next target: The Coterie, the opulent estate of newspaper tycoon Bixby Fairfax and his famous mistress Blythe Bell. A score this big will allow them to move… well, anywhere but here. But this job requires them to do something they’ve never done before: switch roles. And as strange things keep happening at The Coterie… things that even Lola and Lisandro can’t explain.
As they are drawn deeper into The Coterie’s gleaming façade and tensions rise between brother and sister, one question looms over them. Will they be able to pull off their act? Or will this be their last performance?
To the Stars and Back Volume Two by Peglo
Little, Brown Ink
Bo Seon and Kang Dae have been neighbors for months and best friends for nearly as long. Their bond has only deepened, but Bo Seon can no longer ignore the butterflies in his stomach. He likes Kang Dae, as more than a friend, but fears confessing could ruin what they already share.
On one starry night, the truth finally comes out, and everything changes. Their feelings align, and they begin a new chapter together as a couple. Yet love, they discover, is more than a confession … It requires trust. Bo Seon carries secrets from his past that he has never spoken aloud, retreating further into himself with each passing day. Kang Dae, determined and patient, vows to earn his trust before it is too late.
Tender, heartfelt, and honest, this is a story about first love, the courage it takes to be completely vulnerable, and the healing that comes when two people choose each other completely.
How to Love You When You’re Gone by Gabriela Gonzales
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
High school senior Mayte has never been kissed, but it hardly matters. Her abuelita has cancer, her half sister with special needs has moved in, and college is off the table—family comes first. She keeps her problems to herself; why burden everyone she loves with more?
Meanwhile, fellow senior Auggie is set on attending an elite creative writing program. But as the self-proclaimed most boring person alive, he can’t exactly write the next great American novel when he’s struggling to write a short story for college applications.
After an awful blind date (“disaster” doesn’t even begin to describe it), Mayte and Auggie never want to see each other again. When forced together by their merging social circles, the pair must at least pretend to get along…but soon they develop actual feelings. Then tragedy strikes Mayte’s family. Auggie feels compelled to write her story to help her process and heal—but are his intentions truly selfless? The best story he’s ever written could impact the best friendships he’s ever had.
Slept almost 10 hours, with a couple of interruptions
Washed and dressed
Put together weekly meds/supplements for 3 people
Breakfasted and internetted
Played spade reg ndn tourney
Wrote up 3 days of Yatta post
Chopped ingredients for creamy pasta sauce and tossed them into the slow cooker
Cooked pasta
Took the dog for a long (in time) walk and some fetch
Lunched and watched some High potential with K
Put the grease grates back in the range hood
Cleared off the dining room table
Cleared some of the coffee table, but with two teenagers sprawled in the living room, couldn't get everything done
Other minor tidying
Go tired of working and being annoyed that the sprawled teenagers weren't doing their chores (it was 3pm and they were under the 'no devices if chores not done by 5pm' consequence) so I took ACNH outside to the yard and also tossed a ball for the dog
Then took a 30(?) min closed eyes rest
Showered (didn't get a shower on the weekend)
YPP
Phone date
Dinner and More YPP
F and I were supposed to shave the dog, but she wasn't into it :/
Got to bed earlyish, read a few pages of Network Effect, and was asleep by the time I usually get to bed
Tired despite all the sleep, shoulder aches (I think the dogs yanked on it too much over the weekend), and annoyed at teenagers
[ID copied from alt text: A 4x4" canvas painting of a very fuzzy mothman wearing a pink cowboy hat, with text saying "i love you." Mothman is a fuzzy black/deep blue/deep purple humanoid moth with large black bat like wings, giant red moth eyes, and fuzzy antennae sticking out under the cowboy hat. End ID.]
Another early morning; GB and F needed to be out early for today's eventing competition
Washed and dressed
Eighth-assed PT exercises
Tossed laundry #3 into the washer
Folded and put away laundry #1
Puppy's BFF came over! They went directly to the yard to wrestle, and thus it continued most of the morning
Breakfasted and internetted
Played spades Whiz tourney; made it to the finals
Hung up laundry #3
Washed a couple of backpacks (mine has been on the floor and will be in use soon, and one of F's that had an fragrance and avocado explosion)
Played spades Blood tourney
Lunched and finished watching S3 of The Mandalorian
lalala
Took the dogs for a 40 minute ramble; after which, they went directly back into the yard to wrestle more
Made baked mac and cheese, (a LOT more work than that simple phrase) and roasted cauliflower
Binged more Sky Med, while playing ACNH
YPP
Continued reading Network Effect
Saturday
Woke up very early (GB and F were out early again), rested until 7
Made banana muffin batter (more work than that simple phrase)
Baked 4 dozen banana muffins
Mixed banana cake batter
Baked banana cake
K arrived home!
Played spades Whiz tourney
K chose to have butter chicken for dinner, so chopped, and prepped, and tossed into the slow cooker
Played COE33 with GB
Skipped stitch-in because of gaming but stitched a few long lines on the cross stitch ornament when we had long fights
Walked the dogs
Ate dinner and binged more Sky Med
ACNH
YPP
Continued reading Network Effect
Sunday
Woke up about 5:20 so I could go watch F's cross country run (with K too!)
Washed and dressed and got ready for my day, including fixing a snack
Went down to the competition park; GB drove
Hung out and read Network Effect while F got ready for cross country
F did really well in the cross country ride; completed in 5 minutes (max time to finish was 5:23) with no faults! (Made up for her poor performances Fri and Sat, but no ribbon)
Read more Network Effect until we could leave, and more on the ride home
Attended church online
Knitted a baby hat
Cleaned the microwave
Cleaned the upper cabinet doors
Cleaned the counters
Took apart the fan grates on the range hood and got them into a soak, as they were pretty gross
Played spades Blood tourney
Cleaned the top shelf of spices
Refilled a great many spice jars
Cleaned the cooktop backspash
Binged a bunch of Leverage
10 minute closed-eyes rest
Took the dogs for a walk
Stitched another few lines on the cross stitch ornament
Leftovers for dinner
ACNH
YPP
Went to bed early-ish, read Network Effect until I fell asleep
really exhausted, but it was a long day
Generally, I think the mindset this week was better, but largely because I am trying not to care as much about things I can not control
[ID: a digital drawing of a white rooster facing to the right. There are dandelions on the blue background, and an uneven gold and white border with earthworms. End]
