fine art and thrift stores

Jesse. More than a quarter of a Century. Artist. Hermit. Collector of things. Somebody's mom

[pbandjesse]

I am having a good day. I slept pretty great. I did have some really intense and weird dreams that I got very confused about. Like I woke up confused and also tired. But James and Sylvia came and hugged me and it helped make me feel a little better.

I stayed in bed a little longer. But soon I was up and got cleaned up. Me and Sylvia brushed our teeth. And went downstairs to have pancakes. Which were delicious. Thank you James.

We did some stuff downstairs. But eventually we went up to Sylvie's room to play. And as it got closer to 9 it was nap time. Sylvia went down pretty easily. And so did I. I needed the nap.

When I heard Sylvia I got up and went to get her. We went downstairs to have snacks while I make us lunch.Sylvia would be a little fussy until she had some food. And after we ate we went to the backyard to play.

Sylvia was so sturdy today, walking around. I am so proud of her. We spent about an hour outside before going in so I could get a quick shower. It is for sure the time of year where I just take multiple little showers throughout the day. Or I become evil.

I really love the dress I wore today. I got it like 2 years ago but I havent been wearing it because it was to long and I kept tripping on it. So today I finally just cut the bottom tier and now its great. And it has pockets. I got many compliments on it today.

After I was ready and my bag was packed me and Sylvia laid on the couch and watched tiktoks together. And eventually Anne rang the door bell to let us know she was here! And Sylvia was shouting and being excited. What a sweetie.

I left for the museum. There was a lot happening with my event this evening. Lots of vendors and moving parts. But its been fun. I was excited to see James. And then I was in the print closet working on some chases. And I really felt like I have been on my game today. Everyone keeps telling me how helpful and wonderful I am. It is doing wonders for my ego.

James would help with moving things around for me and also getting the tvs set up. I appreciate them so much but also it shouldnt be their job and it frustrates me how they have become the default tech person.

James left to go pick up Sylvia. Anne was working at Port Discovery this evening and she would take Sylvia so she would be on time and James could grab her before taking her home. They let me know that she fell asleep on the bike for the very first time!! She must have been so sleepy!

I have had a nice night. There are about 300 people here and everyone has been really sweet. I have worked on some sewing. I have been walking around and solving problems. I am glad this is a short event because I am ready to lay down. And then tomorrow me and Sylvia have to go to camp first thing.

I have to work on fixing Rosie's enclosure. So I am really hoping to get her to lay down as soon as we get to camp so I can run over to do that. Then at 10 Im leading a nature hike. which will be fun with her toddling around. And then we have an animal talk. And after that me and Sylvia will go to Christiana Mall to hang out with Jess. Its going to be a long day but it will be fun! I have decided.

I hope you all have a great night tonight. Take care of yourselves!

[bowlby4]

[veryluckyclovers]

[ventresses]

This is a perfect time to read the brilliant and unforgettable graphic novel(s) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, about growing up in Iran during and after the Iranian Revolution, and the rise of the oppressive theocracy that persists to this day.

Both graphic novels are available free online (Persepolis vol. 1, Persepolis vol. 2)

It also was adapted to a wonderful film (co-directed and co-written by the author) which is available to watch for free on Sundance Now (sign up for the free trial)

[nickyandmikey]

when two musicians sing into the same microphone and lean in very close to each other… like omg are you guys gonna kiss now to relieve the homoerotic tension?😳

[nickyandmikey]

THIS IS NOT ABOUT ONE DIRECTION I DON’T KNOW WHO THIS “HARRY” PERSON IS GO WATCH BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND CLARENCE CLEMONS KISS ON STAGE RIGHT NOW

[irrelevantlyvalid]

op is the only valid person i’ve ever met. everyone else needs to come to the light

[chokolattejedi]

Okay, but this is really important: Bruce Springsteen occupied this really weird place in music history. His songs were all from this pessimistic, nihilistic view of an America that had let him down:

Just like the anti-Vietnam War protest songs that we associate with the 1960s, or the early nihilism that spawned punk music in the 1970s. But he didn’t *sound* like a punk anarchist; he sounded like a country rock singer. When he released Born in the U.S.A. people completely misinterpreted (or possibly ignored) the lyrics in favor of the tone of the music.

Politicians used his music to promote their ‘Murica Yes! brand, and he had to literally explain that that was not what he was about. He’s over here asking when we’re going to have jobs and heathcare, not stanning the politicians who weren’t helping the people.

It was also kind of a big deal that he had an integrated band, because even as late as the 1980s music was still kind of segregated and MTV was straight up racist. They refused to play and promote black artists and then claimed that were no black artists in the first place. Michael Jackson’s record company had to threaten a boycott of their white artists to get MTV to play his Thriller video.

Plus, the first black/white interracial kiss on TV was in 1968 (OG Star Trek). Also it took us until the 70s to get sympathetic gay characters on screen, and the 90s to get gay characters to kiss onscreen. And all of those firsts were met with outrage.

So keep that in mind when you see Bruce Springsteen not just playing with an interracial band, but engaging in an interracial, gay kiss on stage repeatedly.

Passages from American Popular Music by Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman

[executeness]

I used to think that Bruce and Clarence kissing onstage was exuberance, showmanship, and telling racist homophobes to fuck off. Like, they picked up a certain kind of audience and went “Racist homophobes? Not in our house!” And started the kissing then but then I actually looked it up and

https://www.gq.com/story/this-fucked-me-up-bruce-springsteen-singing-about-clarence-clemons

It was a story where… we remade the city. We remade the city, shaping it into the kind of place where our friendship and our love for one another wouldn’t have been such an exceptional thing. - Bruce Springsteen

It wasn’t about showmanship or rejecting bigots or anything it was just. Damn right that was one of the loves of his life and damn right he was going to kiss him onstage

It gets me a little that Bruce has had a divorce, that he’s been married twice, but he loved Clarence for the rest of Clarence’s life and will presumably love him the rest of his own

Clemons said in one interview. “Bruce and I looked at each other and didn’t say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other’s lives. He was what I’d been searching for.” In another version of the story, Clemons says “He looked at me, and I looked at him, and we fell in love.”

I’m having some emotions about it!

“He was elemental in my life,“ Springsteen adds, “and losing him was like losing the rain.”

Not just! I love you pure and deep and true but! I am going to love you like that in front of the whole damn world!

We have fewer narratives about taking risks and making statements for platonic love rather than romantic and supposedly it would be easier to downplay this onstage than romance and! They refused! They fucking refused! In front of hundreds of thousands of people, over the course of years! In the spotlight, in word and deed, I love you!

God I’m not okay about it

[ramshacklefey]

Now I’m mad that this is not among any of the things I was ever told about this artist.

[jbbartram-illu]

I knew about this in general (& via all those fabulous photos), but this just adds even more beautiful context <3

[eregyrn-falls]

Just to add to the pile: this was the cover of Springsteen’s break-through album Born to Run, in 1975:

I mean, will you LOOK at this:

This was the pic chosen for the album cover from an extensive photoshoot, too. A few others:

There’s a lot more online if you search. They’re all pretty amazing. But the photographer is right, the one chosen for the album cover just pops.

[pbandjesse]

I am tiored!! Being out in the heat really took it out of me. And I become evil when I am to hot. Thankfully I was able to hold in my being evil and have a mostly really good day. I'm just tired. Shakey tired. Thankfully I have the morning off tomorrow.

I didnt sleep amazing. Sylvia woke up st midnight and was crying. I think she had a bad dream. I held her and wiped away her tears. And put another story on for her. And we both went to sleep.

Waking up was hard. But I got up. And i felt cute. I yelled down to James to ask why my family didn't come say good morning to me. Sylvia let me put her hair in little buns. And James gave me a big hug before they left for work.

I wouldnt be to far behind. Once Anne got to the house I basically left right away. I was feeling a little off but it was fine. I was looking forward to the day.

Despite already being sweaty.

I drove to all the site but Elizabeth let me know that everything was basically set up. So there wasn't a ton for me to do, except replace consumables. I drove back to the office. Got my maps and schedules. 7 walkies. And to the lodge to set up.

We had so many parents. 2 or 3 at each station, and 3 or 4 in each group. But they were all lovely. And they thought I was really cool. One of the moms wanted me to just tell them all about my jobs and journey. And she cooed at pictures of Sylvia. I missed my baby.

The day would go really well. I was a little wired for the first part. Felt like i was bouncing off the walls. But that worked great for all my back and forth walking today. I'm glad I wore my solid sandals.

I would have a really nice time hanging in the woods. I would go and talk to Elizabeth and Heather about this weekend and next week. The plan for projects and how I'm going to lead specialty. Me and Heather are in agreement that the programs have to be strong and well managed to make camp the best it can be.

I ate lunch in the shade. Talked to the kids. It was a good day. I just wished I wasn't so sweaty.

The school helped me out by folding all the chairs and helping me put them on the rack. This saved me like an hours worth of work. It was super helpful.

I would clean everything else. Bonnie, our cleaner, handled the bathrooms and kitchen. She also helped me fix the tables so they all fit on the carts. I finsihed sweeping and took the trash out. My least favorite part. I'm to short and it's hard to keep the bag from scraping the ground. Thankfully it didn't break open.

I drove back to the office and talked to Elizabeth about materials and amazon lists. I was flagging though. My battery was running very low.

So time to go home. It wasnt a bad drive. Some traffic. But I was home by 4.

Anne let me know that Sylvia had had a lovely day and was so sweet. But only had a short afternoon nap.

Which should have been fine but Sylvia was super fussy for the whole evening. Poor baby. I tried to just keep her comfortable and happy. But there were tears.

I took a shower. Sylvia threw pacifiers at me in the shower. We went outside and had fruity drinks. But it was to warm out there. So back inside. For some hammock time and snacks. Sylvia did not like me in the hammock but also didn't want to be in it with me.

So we moved back to the couch. Where we laid together. I watcyed tiktoks and Sylvia played. And soon James was home.

We were both thrilled to see them. They would make us pizza for dinner. And we all hung out until Syliva bedtime.

James is downstairs recording their podcast. And i am upstairs dying my hair. I'm going to go wash it out now. And try to get to bed early. Hopefully I can sleep easy and I feel great tomorrow.

And you as well!! Goodnight everyone!!

[astraldemise]

ive been trying to get a picture of this van for years

[bird-doodles-daily]

91

[the-cassquatch]

Ok but like. What the fuck is there to do on the internet anymore?

Idk when I was younger, you could just go and go and find exciting new websites full of whatever cool things you wanted to explore. An overabundance of ways to occupy your time online.

Now, it's just... Social media. That's it. Social media and news sites. And I'm tired of social media and I'm tired of the news.

Am I just like completely inept at finding new things or has the internet just fallen apart that much with the problems of SEO and web 3.0 turning everything into a same-site prison?

[dj-of-the-coven]

Long collection of resources under the cut.

You're right that the internet is smaller than it used to be, but there's still some cool stuff left in the corners. I'd recommend checking checking out Neocities if you haven't--it's an independent web hosting platform like Geocities of the old web, and there are hundreds of interesting and active pages discoverable both through their search function and through web buttons (links attached to small pictures with the title of a website) within the websites themselves. Here are three examples of web buttons you may find in link pages:

Most Neocities websites have link pages or button collections with anywhere from tens to hundreds of these. Don't be afraid to explore!

If you're looking for something more like a search engine, I can point you towards Marginalia. It's not a particularly smart engine, but it's perfectly usable if you've ever been taught to use search engines back when they were mostly run through keywords instead of full sentence comprehension. There's also an "about" and "tips" section on the front page with more information. The algorithm of Marginalia can be filtered by the user to allow, disallow, or require JavaScript depending on your needs, plus there are filters designed specifically to prioritize web 1.0 sites or mostly text-based ones. It is possible to search for modern websites with it, but it can return websites from just about any decade (since the invention of the web, obviously) so long as they contain the information you're looking for. For example, here are some random interesting sites I've found using Marginalia:

Native Languages of the Americas: Native American Cultures

BASIC HTML COMPETENCY IS THE NEW PUNK FOLK EXPLOSION!

Earthbound Text Labs by Bill Eager

The possibilities for discovery are truly endless.

Now you might want to know about directories. These make browsing for websites easier, but require you to read through and judge which ones to visit, as there aren't algorithms ranking the sites besides the whim of whoever coded the directory. Some of them have themes, others don't. Here are two that I've used:

Yesterlinks Directory

Ichigo Directory

Directories can be harder to come by just by surfing the net, but they aren't impossible to find. Many personal websites have their own directories of interesting sites hidden within them.

Webrings are similar to directories, but are actually more community-based. You have to register your website to be a part of a webring, usually by sending an email to whoever runs it and meeting some kind of entry criteria. For example, my personal website used to be a part of a webring called Sweet Dreams, which was for websites that heavily utilize color palettes and images of cute things, particularly sweets. Webrings will give you access to a widget upon entry that allow visitors and other members to browse between the registered websites in a massive ring, ergo, where the term gets its name. Webrings can have any theme or criteria for entry. If you can make a website about it, you can find a webring for it.

Now, you might be wondering about social media alternatives. I can't offer much, but I can nudge you towards the idea of forums. Here's one I found that could really use some traffic. I also browse a bit on MelonLand forum, which is actually closed right now--it's currently closed on Mondays--but on any other day of the week, you can find a fun community there dedicated to web revival. You can find it through MelonLand's main page. I'd also recommend checking out SpaceHey, which is a MySpace clone that's customizable and easy to use.

I hope this is of some help to you. The internet may feel less magical than it used to be, but that doesn't mean that the spark has completely died out. These types of indie websites need more attention if we ever hope to reverse the damage done to the internet by centralization and corporate interest. People are trying to make the web a cooler place to be, but we're going to have to do the work of finding and interacting with these projects in order to get them off the ground someday.

[xerxestexastoast]

ALSO you should consider browsing Virtual Pet List and seeing if there are any pet sites you might be interested in playing. There is a whole genre of browser games right under your nose

[biothreads]

Another one that I just found recently is this, which is a whole collection of blogs, organized by topic!

ooh.directory: a place to find good blogs that interest you

A collection of 1,966 blogs about every topic

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Look guys the real internet IS STILL THERE I'm going to cry

[cloudyeveniing]

Getting off of twitter and onto neocities has really healed me and I am so glad to see it is healing other people too ;u; let's retreat into the self-made digital woods and away from corporate bs pls, I am so tired

[nyx-shifts-222]

REBLOGGING

[fladurblegon]

love BDSM ( buying dumb sht for myself )

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

*Traces my hand along the surface of a grassy park lawn that was clearly wetland many years ago due to how it floods with water every year* Who did this to you….

[pbandjesse]

I try not to think about money to much, but I also hate how much James has to carry that mental load. I am aware of our money, and how tight things are. I do my best to stay in my means. But I have sort of given up caring, in a sense. Because there isnt anything I can do about it. I am about to be in my busiest season of the year and I am going to, as much as possible, do a no buy summer. There isnt anything I need. I have been doing really well with not impulse shopping or random purchasing. I want to take away some of that burden off of James. And I have been doing better but I had done such a good job saving while pregnant. But I have not been able to get back to that place financially. And James takes care of everything but we are now eating into the little savings we do have. And looking at my spend analizer I have actually been doing okay but I could do better.

I didnt feel as low today. I was still tired but it wasnt so bad that I was dizzy. James and Sylvia came up to say good morning. And James left for work while me and Sylvia were playing. I took a quick shower and got dressed. I love this shirt dress and I was glad the weather was nice enough to wear it.

I had some stuff to put away upstairs. Me and Sylvie we hanging out. James made me a bagel sandwich for breakfast. I was having a nice morning. Sylvia was starting to fuss and rub her eyes so she laid down but it took an hour for her to sleep. She wasnt upset, but she was rolling all over. I watched her while I worked on some stuff. But eventually I would go and lay down and have my own little nap.

We woke up around 11. I struggled to peel an orange. I had my leftover ramen. Sylvia had yogurt and some other little things. And soon we went outback to enjoy the beautiful weather and hang out. She played and practiced walking. I love seeing her toddle around. She is so magical.

We had some inside time. So I could get myself ready. Sylvie had been downstairs playing when she started crying and I came down and she had a scratch on her face. I am not sure what happened but she was very upset. I brought her upstairs with me while I got ready. And then we went downstairs to hang on the couch and wait for Anne to get here.

When Anne Arrived Sylvia would walk to her and it was very sweet. She has started patting people when she hugs them which is hilarious. We talked about the next couple of days. And then I was off!

I had to make a stop at ulta. My skin has been so dry and itchy. I had a nice conversation with the girl at the counter and she recommended 2 options for me to try. She also loved vanilla like I love vanilla. I also smelled a really lovely strawberry perfume that was so nice but I dont wear perfume enough to justify spending $103.

I headed to the tunnel to get over to locost point. I stopped to get a sandwich. And then went and sat by the water. I ate my lunch. And texted James. And soon I saw some of the people for my event so I headed inside and its basically been go go go. Which has been fine, and honestly really nice. We have a new caterer, who has been lovely.

This event is a little unusual. Its a lighting trade show. I just asked one of the staff who the clintel is and its like archatechs and enginerrs and esigners, which was my guess. Well my first guess was hotels. But this makes more sense.

I am having fun though. I have some sewing I could work on but mostly I think Im going to just read and do walk around and make sure everyone is having a good time.

I have a field trip at camp tomorrow. Anne is watching Sylvia and it should allow me to have lots of time to do stuff to get ready for next week. Because camp season starts on monday!! Crazy!!

I hope you all have a great night. Be safe out there!!

[pbandjesse]

I felt like I was stuck in waiting mode today. Like I couldn't do anything because I was waiting for something. I also was just very tired. And even a nap didn't really help. It wasn't a bad day, I just wish I felt better.

We had Sylvia's doctor appointment today. I woke up at 730 and felt. Off. I would get dressed and felt cute in my dress. And James and Sylvia were having a nice morning. And we were out of the house at 8.

There was some amount of traffic, but we still got to the hospital with time to spare. We got a shocking low level parking spot in the parking garage. I carried Sylvia and her little nails were getting me but we were having a good time.

We made friends with a baby 10 days older then Sylvia. Her name was Linda which like. Incredible name for a baby. Sylvia was in a good mood.

Until we got into the room. She freaked. First she was afraid of the chair scale. She did not want to sit and was screaming. She did not want to be measured. We had to hold her very tight so the doctor could look in her ears. The screaming aided in being able to see her teeth. But man. She was so upset.

We had a medical student today too and he was very nice and calm. We went over some questions, the lead issue, and the double vaccine Sylvia was going to get. She also had to get blood drawn. I brought her some chocolate and a rice Krispy and they helped her calm down after the needles but the screaming and thrashing was so upsetting. James held her and was strong for her. And by the time we got to the car Sylvia was just really tired.

James got their bike and headed to work. And me and Sylvia went home.

Sylvia did not fall asleep in the car. But when we got home to nap, she took almost an hour to fall asleep. She wasnt upset, just rolling around.

While she did that I cleaned the bathroom. I am absolutely thrilled with the rain shower head and having the hose attachment made cleaning a lot easier.

I would made food. And put lunch aside for Sylvie. And eventually went upstairs to lay down myself.

Sylvie woke me up a little before 1. I was not feeling right. I felt dizzy for most of the rest of the day. It was not great. Sylvie would eat her lunch. And we would go outback. So she could play while I laid on the porch swing.

We would do some playing inside. Some laying around. Sylvie got a little fussy with me so I laid her back down. She had an hour of quiet time but didn't sleep again. And I worked on the free library in the studio.

Around 4 we went back outside. Sylvia played. We had a snack. And we waited for James to come home.

When James got home they would take Sylvia on a bike ride. And I wpuld keep working on my painting project. I took a shower. And when James and Sylvia got home we had spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner. And it was fantastic.

Sylvia got a bath and went to bed. And me and James are hanging out now. I am sleepy. We are going to watch some our show. And hopefully I can just sleep easy and wake up tomorrow feeling like myself.

I have an event tomorrow. Anne is coming to hang out with Sylvie. I hope its a good day. For us all!! Goodnight everyone. Be safe.

[pbandjesse]

It was a pretty nice day off. I was tired. And thankfully I had the space to rest.

I stayed up a little to late last night. And I had some intense dreams. Long dreams. I wokw up at 830 and was still so tired. But James was putting Sylvia down for a nap. And came and laid with me. And we talked about the day. No big plans. James wanted to do things in the kitchen. I wanted to rest. James ans Sylvia would go on a bike ride. I would take a nap. We would watch Sunny in the evening. A good plan.

James made me nacho fries with a fried egg for breakfast. I got dressed and felt so cute. I have had this tshirt for years and I love how soft it is and the color but I never wear it because it was a weird fit but I finally decided to cut it and now it's perfect.

I had breakfast in the backyard. When Sylvia woke up James brought her outside to hang. She ate some of my fries. She got mad at us for not letting her in the pool. But we had fun being in the backyard.

James would get them ready for a bike ride. Sylvia did not like James going inside without her. Big tears!! James brought her an orange when they came back outside and everything was good again.

They left after bumping helmets. I brought my stuff inside and picked up a few things. But I knew my big cleaning was going to have to wait for tomorrow. I was to tired. I could barely stay standing.

So upstairs. Ac on. And asleep.

I woke up 2 hours later. James was putting Sylvia down again. And I would get up while James was putting in the new shower head. Which is actually our old one from the apartment. It's a rain one with a hose attachment and we finally got plumbers tape to install it. I am thrilled and can't wait to take a rain shower tonight.

I spent a lot of time on the couch. Outside on the swing. And when Sylvia woke up she came downstairs but was very upset and tired still. So she had a drink and a snack. And when she seemed better we would get ready to go on a walk to the park.

I made a matcha and brought me and Sylvia cookies. She also had a water. And the walk was nice but hot! The sun was just a lot.

We would walk the entire perimeter of the park. We stopped at the far playground with swings but we only stayed a little. For Sylvie to climb and go on the slides. There were just a lot of older kids and I was worried she was going to get knocked over. James kept her safe.

We kept walking. Chatted with a friend James made. A nice man from Uganda and his wife and kids. They are very nice. It was fun. But we had to go home for dinner. So we said goodbye.

James made brocolli and pizza for dinner. I hung outside and Sylvie would join. Also jumped in the pool in her clothes so she got some nakie outside time. James would bring her in to put jammies before Sunny came over.

We would have a lot of fun with Sunny. They played with Sylvie. Did not like when James left the room. Everyone started crying. But James came back and we were all good again.

Sunny is a fast crawler. We followed them to the kitchen. Where the babies kept playing until Sylvia bed time.

Me and Sunny went outback. They played on the water table snd climbed the ladder and played in the kitchen. They are so cute.

When James came down they played with the plants. Did more climbing. But they were getting emotional from being tired so James took them home.

I stayed outside a little longer. Before coming upstairs to wrote this. I also worked on some research for our chicago trip. The flights were taking are a little unbalanced, so we have a lot of time on sunday but that's alright. We will have a good weekend. And go to our friend's wedding. And I am excited for time with my husband.

James will be back home soon. I am going to shower and start winding down. I am sleepy.

Tomorrow we have Sylvia's doctors appointment. And then James has work. And I want to do lots of cleaning. Hopefully I feel up for it.

Sleep well everyone. I love you all. Goodnight!!

[lizlemondyke]

as it gets warmer let's all remember the two most beautiful accessories a girl can have this summer are hairy legs and a bunch of bruises from bangin around

[beaniebabyadventures]

I LOVE GAY PEOPLE!!!

[pbandjesse]

The event last night was great (except for the dj issue) and cleaned up went great. I did forget to turn off the string lights in the pavilion but I got home by 1140 and James was still awake. They had stayed up to watch a basketball game. And we laid in bed and talked. My body was aching and I was hungry. Nothing seemed exciting to eat but it was whatever. I had a half a sandwich and took a shower and went to bed and read for a while before going to sleep.

And I slept well but waking up was hard. I woke up and Sylvia and James were brushing their teeth. I would also brush my teeth and get dressed. I was so tired.

We got all of Sylvia's swim stuff. I also made sure we had snacks and sunscreen. And we were off to swim class.

I decided I would get mcdonalds before baby's class. Dropped off James and Sylvia to get checked in. I picked up my sandwich. And came back before class even started.

I loved watching the class. James looked so handsome and it was so cute watching them play. Sylvia was struggling with being on her back still but seemed to have more skills this time around. There was a younger baby who was obviously having a blast and seeing that one smiling and splashing was super cute.

I had a nice conversation with aome grandparents visiting from NYC. They told me about getting thrown in the pool as kids and summer camps. They had very strong nyc accents and the man told me a story about a lake at the camp he went to. They uad a raft in the middle. And a sunken dock/deck called "the crib" for the kids who couldnt swim. And he would learn to swim from almost drowning trying to swim to the raft from the crib. Lawless time the 1970s.

After swim class we had to wait a few minutes for a changing room. I sat Sylvia down on the surfboard shaped benches to try and blow dry her hair. Scared her. Ans she slipped off the bench. I caught her before she hit the ground but it scared us both and she had big tears. Sorry baby. That was my fault.

Also embaressed myself in front of the other moms.

Sylvia was tired. We only had a 20 minutes drive to the farm but we would sit in the car until Jess and let Sylvia nap.

When she stirred and Jess was a mile away we got ready. Sunscreen. Set up umbrella stroller. Call Jess to tell her where we were parked. I would also text Hayley that we were here so we could cross paths.

I am going to be honest I am frustrated about the festival. I was expecting many berries! Cute displays! When we got there we went to the vendor area first. Half of the vendors were fantastic. Real art, interesting things. And the other half was Ai slop, 3d printed dragons, and drop shipped from temu. It was really disappointing to see that. Especially because I was rejected from this festival last year. We would get a few things. I got a frog keychair from a crochet artist. Who was making them right there so I felt more assured it wasn't drop shipped. We would also buy a bunch of ceramic stuff. Charms and magnets. I gor a charm with a strawberry on it. And the artist was so nice. Jess was also thinking about buying a chip and dip plate shaped like a fried egg. But we decided to wait for when we were leaving. And if it wasnt sold then that was the universe saying she should get it.

We went down to the food area. We found Ellie. And we decided to grt strawberry smoothies which was a long line but it was very tasty. James and Sylvia would go to the inside seating area to find Haylay and her twim Jess and they friend Jessie. We were at max capacity Jessicas today.

Me and Jess stayed in line and talked ourselves out of spending $30 for the cute reusable strawberry cup. Instead we got regular cups, and 3 donuts. For $14. Which was a much better use of money but we were teasing ourselves about being good adults.

It was nice to see Haylay and everyone. All the babies (including Jessie's baby Everett) were sharing all the snacks. Sylvia was loving the strawberry slush.

We still haven't been to the area you needed a wristband for. This is where I was disappointed in the farn.

We said bye to Haylay and gang. And went down to the check in. There were a couple strawberry signs. And 2 strawberry face in hole photo opportunities. End of strawberry list. There wasnt even any like. Strawberries. No more decoration. It was face painting. And a balloon artist. There was animals to see. Which i liked a lot. We fed some goats. Another mom tried gave Sylvia a goat pellet to feed a goat and then panicked when Sylvia tried to eat the pellet. Which made me burst out laughing. I told her it's fine. She drank from a puddle this week.

But there was literally no reason to buy a wristband. Sylvia was to little for the play structures and big slides. But besides the animals, there was nothing down there. I am probably going to send them a review cause the pumpkin festival at least had decor. And a corn maze. And I didn't expect a corn maze, but something?? Ugh.

At least I was with my favorite people.

It was getting a bit hot. And we needed real food. I didnt want to stand in those lines again. I decided we should go to a diner.

So back to the car with our sleepy girl. I was also sleepy. And would make stupid mistakes like throwing salt in James's eyes. I'm so sorry my husband. But we got to the diner and Sylvia was a little fussy but she colored with crayons for the first time. And that was really cool to see!

Food was good. Sylvia got a hot dog and we got sandwiches. I was struggling to tell a story to Jess because I was so tired. Jess said she could tell I was tired and this has happened the last few times we've hung out. It's like a switch flips and I'm just done. And she isn't wrong but I feel bad tha it's so obvious!! Its not because I'm bored I swear!

We would pack leftovers. And took silly sunglasses pictires in the parking lot. And then home.

When we got home James put Sylvia down for a nap. I washed my face and also laid down. And I was out.

I slept for 3 hours. Did not mean to do that. I woke up at 6 when Sylvia crawled herself down the hallway and climbed in bed with me. I love this child so much.

James came to find us. We all laid in bed for a little but it was Sylvia bed time.

James would come back to bed and we talked about some finace stuff and upcoming travel plans. And eventually we got out of bed.

James would go for a bikeride. And I would make ramen and chose some outfits for the week. I also continued my organzing plans. My new plan is to do seasonal capsules. A summer camp, summer museum, winter camp, and winter museum. And then just general can wear anytime? Unsure about that one but I think it'll help with sorting.

I changed my phone case. And texted with Jess. And when James got home we hung out in the livingroom, doing our own things, together.

James just went upstairs to get ready for bed. And I will join them soon. I am tired!!

We have no plans tomorrow. Which is perfect. I hope its just a nice and restful day.

I hope you all sleep well tonight. Take care of eachother! Goodnight!!

[kaylmao]

has anyone seen my pet bacteriophage its name is styrofoam and its about [hand touching the floor] this tall