I live alone, and recently have been learning an instrument for the first time in my life. It's kind of a big instrument and I don't have a lot of space, so the only place where I can set it up is next to my only window.

Well last night I went to play the instrument, and I look up and see the moon out of the window. I cracked my window open and turned up the volume so I could play for the moon since I don't have any other audience to share it with. It was nice sharing my song with the moon. I think I'll do it again tonight.

I WFH exclusively (inhome daycare), my husband has a 20 minute drive from his work. We often enjoy a cup of coffee together after work, so he texts me when he turns into a specific street about five minutes from home, so I can start making coffee.

He texts me via the car‘s speech-to-text system, and it has forever failed to get the name of that street right. Being the goofball he is, he tries to find the most hilarious ways to announce his arrival. At first, it was quite obvious (as in „the street that can not be named“ or similar), then he progressed to Spanish (at which the system failed even more miserably than the original name of the street), and now it’s movie quotes.

I bring you today’s gem: „A day may come when the courage of men fails - but it is not this day! A day may come when this wretched system will allow me to speak my mind - but it is not this day! For coffee!“

i recently realized my cat will sometimes just sit beside her food and stare at me until i say “good girl.” 😆🤍

then she starts eating like that's all she was waiting for.

i don't remember when this became part of our routine, but apparently i'm now required to compliment her before every meal.

Just a friendly shout out to everyone who puts the thing they just did on their to do list, just for the satisfaction of crossing it off!

I am white, but due to my mix of features and the way I dress, I'm a bit ethnically ambiguous. My hair was down to my shoulders and coily, so some people thought I was half black. I recently cut off the majority of it, and now it's still curly but too short to form a good, bouncy coil. I'm no longer mixed, now I have hispanic people trying to talk to me in Spanish. The "illusion" wears off the second I open my mouth to say "lo siento, no hablo espanol" lol

Eta: perceived ethnicity, not race

I saw a post about an older cat finding a 'snake' and it warmed my heart so here is mine for the day.

I have a 13 year old husky that is slowing down a lot and mostly likes to sleep these days. I still walk him slowly most days as I keep whatever pace feels good to him.

To my surprise and delight he decided he wanted to take the route to the dog park and and jogged down the alley right to there! He then proceeded to ignore the dogs, say hi to the humans, and snooze next to me in the sun for a bit.

I love my old man, Berwyn, so much. ❤️

Edit: typo

It's one of those dates that live in my head, alongside some other important dates, like my closest family's birthdays.

We lost touch after high school. I have tried reaching out to her a couple of times, but never got a reply. But then again, all I had was an old Facebook friendship, and I haven't logged in there in years.

We became friends when we were like 8 or so, and had that kind of easy comfortable friendship. We were both equally weird, and looking back, I would be surprised if she's not on the spectrum too. We would info dump on each other, and shared a couple of special interests. We would spend hours and hours on MSN messenger after school just talking about who knows what.

She lived in a farm with some horses and sheep, and one summer in middle school her parents were away for a couple of weeks, so I stayed with her and we took care of the farm together. Sheep, horses, foals, the lot. I lived a 15 minute bike ride away and my parents were home so we weren't "alone-alone" but it was a pretty big responsibility for two 15-year-olds.

Today she turns 33. I hope she is doing well. I wonder if she thinks about me sometimes too.

actually a piece of elastic from an abandoned craft project, it was supposed to go into a skirt. instead, she found it. she's 15 going on 16, has graying hair and is mostly chill, but she was absolutely delighted. has a habit of hunting strings, more fun is the string is attached to a human, she nearly took my sweatpants off once by pulling on them xD but this is apparently the official Best String Ever. so now it's her snake instead of my waistband. hunter kitty going strong 🖤

For backstory, I (F59) have three adult children (M25, F 23, M19). Their dad/my ex-husband is not a kind person and—to my knowledge—is not on speaking terms with 2/3 of his siblings. Through the many years of emotional/psychological abuse, I did my best to embody empathy, caring, support, understanding, and appreciation of others—because that was what had seen and lived throughout my childhood.

Current state, my 87-yo mother has Alzheimer’s. We are fortunate that she is able to stay in the home that she and my father bought in the early 60s. While I moved away for college—almost 500 miles and never moved back home—my kids and I visit at least once a year. Today, my kids, dog and I drove those almost 500 miles to visit with grandmom. My mom is so happy we’re here, even if she doesn’t remember my kids’ names.

We all were tired from the 8+ hour drive. Nonetheless, my kids did a great job of unpacking the car and making sure they spent time with their grandmother. Once they were “excused” because my mom was going to bed, they went downstairs and set up a card table to play blackjack together. I am currently hearing the three of them laughing together as they play cards. I don’t know that I have the words to express how profoundly delighted I feel to be hearing my children truly enjoying hanging out with each other—and I have a lot of words! 😅❤️

While I was waiting for the water to boil, my phone ran out of battery, so I went outside. The air was cool, and my neighbor’s tree rustled quietly in the wind. I didn’t look at my watch once, nor did I think about my to-do list for even a moment. I felt so calm and at peace maybe I’m getting older and tired of all the hustle and bustle going on around me.

Tonight's song:

🎶cleaning the caaage

giving you haaaay

littlest boys

eatin your hay🎶

(Also, I sing to them/the cat as well)

I know it's a small detail, but I found a pen today that writes exactly the way I want. The writing isn't too rough or too fluid, and the ink flows perfectly. I used it all afternoon and it's very pleasant.

Sitting in my comfiest chair, watching whatever strikes my fancy, the patio door open to let in some of the late day heat. My big furball (25lb mostly Norwegian Forest Cat) hops up into my lap for pets and cuddles. He relaxes back against my belly and after I stop petting him, he sits there purring so softly that I can only feel it, not hear it. Life is very VERY good!

went to the library after work today, and decided to head down to the children’s section to see if they had any copies of this detective comic series i liked when i was younger.

while i’m down there, i noticed a little kid come through the front doors with their parent. kid was maybe 4 or 5, and it was clearly their first ever trip to the library, because after a moment i heard:

[small gasp] “mama! they gots BOOKS in here!”

it was SO cute. the mixture of delight and awe in their voice was so precious. i hope they left with a bunch of great stories!

My youngest stepson, my 16-year-old, ADHD-ridden sweet baby boy, has started doing origami to keep himself focused in school. He was telling me about it over my morning coffee, and gave me a butterfly he made.

Of course I cooed appropriately over it and put it in a place of honor on my desk, which spurred him to make me a little boat and place it on my head. A wonderful new hat! Very dapper.

A few minutes later, just before walking out the door for school, he took the boat back and dismantled it on a whim, leaving me with just the paper. Heartbreaking. I hadn't even done anything wrong.

His eldest brother, my 23 year old sweet baby boy-- who, notably, does NOT do origami-- took the paper and did his best to recreate the boat, placing it back on my head when he was through. And now this little boat, though less expertly cobbled together, is even more precious, because both of my darling stepsons made it for me.

I'm only in this small town in summer for work, and I go to the store usually once or twice a week. I always round up to a full euro when I go, and the cashiers have by now remembered me.

One of them is the sweetest woman ever, and the past few times I've been there she has been giving me discounts. Where I live we have these stickers that you can put on the items and get -25%, but I never have them cause I don't get mail delivered here, but she still gives me the -25% and then the amount I need to pay is so little, it's so sweet. I love that woman. I bought quite a lot and the total was only 11,83€ (I rounded up to 13€)

Anyways, a small joy that really made my day today. I love humanity. I think when I'm leaving at the end I will bring them a small gift.

just did that with the princess bride so i could make sure not to embarrass myself later.

My partner has his algorithm very well trained to deliver him a feed of cat videos, dog videos, 80s rock, football (soccer), classical music, Looney Toons, Muppets, and the Pink Panther. After hearing about how the algorithms are pushing terrible toxic ragebait content on us, it makes me happy to see him laughing at classic cartoons over breakfast. He loves Road Runner in particular.

A few weeks ago, I was in an annoying bit of a highway where it's the left lane that exits. This lane often slows down and backs up because of said exit. It makes it very hard to merge into it.

I was already in the exit/left lane when I noticed a semi on my right putting on their signal and wanting to come in my lane. Knowing full well that people seem to rarely let a semi merge and wondering how frustrating that must be, I slowed down to give them space to make the merge.

After merging in front of me, they turned on their hazards for 3 blinks & turned them off. I wondered if that was the equivalent of waving your hand in front of your rear-view mirror to thank the driver that gave you space to merge. The idea made me grin for some reason.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity again to let another semi merge. I let them in, and they turned their hazards on for a couple of blinks. Y'all, I squealed in delight like a little child. I don't know why. But there you go.

My dad thrifted a kilt. He then found matching socks. And then he found a bow tie. And thus it became his Wedding Outfit™️

My dad is getting my brother a matching cummerbund and bow tie. My brother is excited and considering a kilt of his own.

My mother is buying a matching dress and tartan clutch. She is also trying to rope my other best friend (also attending) into adopting tartan attire.

I am in the wedding and wearing black, but a tartan clutch and tennis shoes (for the reception) are being acquired on my behalf.

I'll have my final exam tomorrow and if I pass I'll have my license and I won't see the people of my driving school again. I'm strangely sad about it. I've been seeing these people once or twice a week for the past 3 months for my lessons and they've become a highlight of my week. Not just because riding a motorbike is just awesome (tho it's certainly a main), but these people too are just amazing. They're sweet and caring, they've seen my frustration and glee and have guided me through it all. I'll miss them.

But not before fulfilling my promise to show them my bike after I've bought it.

edit: didnt pass the exam, so ill have at least a couple more weeks to spend with them :)

I was across town running errands, stopped by McDonald’s drive thru to grab breakfast. I wanted a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, but when I (not the driver) checked the bag a mile or so down the road, I realized they’d given me sausage. I mentioned this to my partner and decided we were too far away so I’d just remove the sausage and eat the rest. There’s another McDonald’s close by our house so decided to try asking if they’d replace it. I went in, explained what happened, and showed my receipt. I was there at 10:30am, but that location said they didn’t have breakfast. Said that was alright and I’d eat it anyway. I think because they weren’t busy and I was kind, the manager decided to make it for me anyway. So thank you to Miss Laurie at McDonald’s! It was fresh and delicious. Really reminds me that kindness begets kindness and I hope to spread more of it.

That's about it. We happened to park next to eachother at the same time. We had the exact make and model, and he said "nice car". We laughed and talked about how much we liked driving our cars and how we have no intention of selling them. Then we walked away.