Category Archives: Life

soft landing.

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you know how you start out doing one thing

and it leads to another

and another

and yet another

soon you realize you’ve tumbled right down

into the rabbit hole?

that was me yesterday

i’ll try to recount the steps in the order they fell –

sitting on my couch drinking a cup of morning coffee 

reading and responding to blogs

i looked over at a pillow on my couch

i remembered buying it, loved it’s design

now it looked faded

thought i’d try washing the cover to see if it had any hope

checked online to see if there were any similar that i could purchase 

went onto a site for a store that has designs i love

scrolled through all of the pillows and found a few i liked

finally chose one

when i went to order it

a note popped up

saying members only ‘20% off today  – last day,’

i went to officially sign in, it refused my password, saying it had expired

went through the new password process, they sent and email authorization to me

went back in and took a couple of tries to change and save my password

went back in again, now as a ‘member’ , found the pillow, put it in my cart

went to order it and it asked for the code for the discount

went back a few steps, found the code

found the pillow again and put it in my cart again

said it needed me to update my address, as my zip code didn’t match, different since i’ve moved

changed the address info

said discount only applied if ordered online and picked up in store

fine by me, the store is close by

changed the shipping method

finally ordered and said they’d email me when ready for pickup.

went out and did errands and stopped by store to pickup.

manager told me it wasn’t ready yet, but i was welcome to try to find it in the store,

buy it, and then they would cancel my online order

i searched the whole store and found many, many pillows, except for the one i ordered.

she told me they’d let me know when it was found and ready.

on my way out, i saw a rug that i loved, another item i’ve been wanting to replace.

ordered it online from my car in their parking lot to get the ‘member deal’ and drove home.

an hour later, i got the email that my rug was ready for pickup, but no word on the earlier order of the pilow.

decided to climb out of the rabbit hole for the day and wait until i hear that they are both ready to be picked up.

my how it so easy to fall in –

today is a new day

hoping for a soft landing on my pillow on my rug.

“all too often, the rabbit hole is as deep as you have dug it.”

-gary hopkins, author

 

 

 

image credit: publishers weekly

 

does costco know something?

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 costco’s readywise emergency kit has people worried 

While there’s plenty to love at Costco, like the salad kits, sheet cakes, and mini oreo cheesecakes, it has also been prone to some food controversy in the past, including the massive chocolate chunk cookies that were hurting people’s stomachs. Now Costco is stirring up emotions again with its new monster dinner kits that have customers worried the retailer is warning us the apocalypse may be coming.

Costco recently released the Readywise Emergency Food Supply Bucket, which features 150 servings of various food choices. Costco’s website lists the servings as “80 servings of hearty entrées & sides, 30 servings for nourishing breakfasts, and an additional 40 drink servings.”

For $80, this massive meal kit includes 12 servings each of pasta Alfredo, cheesy macaroni, brown sugar and maple multi-grain, apple cinnamon cereal, and 10 servings of white rice. You’ll also find 6 servings each of teriyaki rice, creamy pasta and vegetables, potato pot pie, tomato basil soup with pasta, chicken noodle soup, and crunchy granola. There are also 16 servings of vanilla pudding and orange drink mix, plus 24 servings of whey milk alternative.

The bucket has a 25-year shelf life thanks to being made with freeze-dried and dehydrated foods. You also only need to add water to eat or drink the items. Costco’s website explains that ease of preparation “isn’t just about simplicity; it’s about maintaining a sense of normalcy when the world around you might feel anything but normal.” Naturally, many wondered what this warehouse retailer was trying to get at.

One Instagram user posted about this latest Costco find, calling it the “Costco Apocalypse Dinner Kit, commenters quickly added their thoughts. One commenter asked, “Does Costco know something?” Someone else added, “If the apocalypse comes, where are you getting fresh water to prepare these dried meals?”

‘in ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ it’s not shaun’s fault that there’s a zombie apocalypse – he just has to get through the day.’ -edgar wright

 

 

source credits: costco, all recipes, carissa chesanek

re-solution.

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 dreamed that i was working on a jigsaw puzzle

happily sorting it out, putting the pieces into place

i love solving puzzles

what a peaceful enterprise

then a section appeared

all white pieces

not sure exactly where to begin with it

 a new challenge

so curious to see how i would solve it

but i woke up too soon.

i looked up dream analysis

about jigsaw puzzles

and the color white

 it made such sense.

solving jigsaws represents

putting the pieces of your life back together,

reorganizing,

perhaps in new ways, after a life change

white represents blank pages, waiting to be written.

what a perfect solution to my retirement puzzle.

‘the solution often turns out more beautiful than the puzzle.’

-richard dawkins

the lights go down.

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at the verrry cool

elk rapids cinema

old, but mighty good

something magical about an old movie house.

 

‘what’s a bigger mystery box than a movie theater?

you go to the theater, you’re just so excited to see anything –

the moment the lights go down is often the best part.’

j.j. abrams

mischief maker.

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perfect branding.

what could possibly go wrong?

“the opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.”

-voltaire

 

 

stoney cabin toyshop, elk rapids, mi, usa

to the lake.

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night slowly arrives 

warmly wraps around the lake

color fades away.

“of all the paths you take in life make some lead to the lake.”
– unknown

 

 

on glen lake, empire, michigan, usa – summer 2024

 

 

charley crockett.

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Matthew Charles Crockett (born1984) is an American blues, country, jazz, americana singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He has released twelve studio albums since 2015, with Lil G.L.’s Blue Bonanza peaking at number 11 on the US Billboard Blues Albums chart and The Man from Waco breaking the US Billboard 200

ten years after.

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ten years have passed

since the moment

when my entire 6-pack of grandies

at last

all on the same continent

 met for the very first time

in a large box on my front lawn

as long as i live

i will never forget that moment.

‘cousins are the barometers of how fun a family get-together will be.’

 – jm gaffigan

Miss-Fortune?

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at the noodle restaurant

opened my  fortune after dinner

it was thrown away with my plate

can’t quite figure out what it meant

 not sure how to live my life from here on out.

what do you think this fortune means?

‘live for the nights you can’t remember with the people you’ll never forget.’

 

 

unscathed.

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on the morning of the onset of the recent global outages

my sister was scheduled to fly in for a visit

as soon as i heard about it

i warned her that her flights might get complicated

but somehow she managed to get on two scheduled flights

fly across the country and land within 15 minutes of her original arrival time

 

 we found her suitcase in a baggage claim area that was mostly shut down

with luggage on a carousel but no people from the corresponding flights to claim them

 a line that grew longer with each incoming flight filing lost luggage claims

 surrounded by people left and right with cancelled flights

she somehow managed to get through the eye of the needle unscathed

how lucky is that?

‘we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’

-albert einstein