Hello, Friday Fools! 

Two weeks ago I shared the images of our house "mooning" me. Well, that same bathroom has brought me roots--in more ways than one. I kind of felt like I was Seymour in The Little Shop of Horrors looking at the tiny pile of roots the plumber had set aside. I mean, some tree was using our bathroom pipes as a straw. Our house was essentially a giant sippy cup for it. It could be the mutant ficus or the mystery tree on the other side of the house (see below). I did some mental chewing about the roots in our pipes as a analogy for the end of the year as well as reflection on this strange year. It's a contrast to falling down the stairs. There's also a picture of one of the epic trees I've mentioned. Remodeling is a good analogy for the reassessing that comes with the end of the year. This year has forced me to reevaluate what's important; who I am; and what I want. I've come out stronger for it. A lot of that has to do with the support system I have (you know who you are because I've told you and others may recognize that they're the "feelers" to my roots--not to make that weird or anything. Just read the post 😄). It also has to do with the fact that I am flying my freak flag like a pirate these days (much to the boys' chagrin and dismay or feigned chagrin and dismay--they have a still have sense of humor for me, despite how "boomer-y" they've accused me of being). I still have that going for me. Otherwise, I'm that rogue pirate. Sounds good in theory, but it's probably not in actuality.

I was also rogue, some would call it not following directions but what do they know?, when I purchased a weighted blanket a while back. I 💜 my weighted blanket. However, since the knee issues it's been a total pain. It feels awesome for the first ten minutes or so, then I need to side sleep. The blanket now feels like a dead body has fallen on me and I'm trapped. Rolling over takes a lot of effort. Sleep shouldn't be this hard. Right? Well, if you've ever looked into a weighted blanket it goes by your body weight. I kind of thought a little extra weight wouldn't be that bad and now here I am. Why am I bringing up weighted blankets/dead bodies? Because I'm leaving the root story as it'd be more interesting (that's a word Chief's dad and his wife use--and the kids caught on to it; story for another time) if there was a dead body that was buried under there...yeah, no.

It's been a strange cycle of people coming in and out of the house and a lot of waiting. And waiting. Then some more waiting...the hounds of hell don't appreciate it. I get a text that someone's coming, so I run and put them in the kitchen as close to the time of arrival as possible. Then they don't come. Time passes. I release them. Vicious cycle.

Another vicious cycle--waking my kids up for school. I didn't realize it was Wednesday, their "early" day. I saunter in there, wait for it--at 8:03 am--to tell them they need to get up earlier because the plumber is coming and I won't have time to check on them, again. Their highnesses need a wake call or four on some days. At any rate, I said, "It's after 8, you need to get up."

This gets Chia's attention because it's Wednesday. "He sits up--what time is it?"

"8:03 am."

"It's Wednesday! School starts at 8!"

This is where the story gets sketchy. I may have told Chief that Chia shrieked like a howler monkey. Chia maintains that he politely reminded me it was Wednesday. 🙄 But the conversation! He's using his calm announcer voice--the kid who fairly consistently uses his playground voice inside--to tell his story to Chief. All because I was telling Chief that they had a lot of nerve getting upset at me for forgetting it's Wednesday. I can barely remember what day it is in general--even when it's Friday, my favorite day of the week. Not only do I get to "talk" to my Friday Fools, we watch the Mandalorian.

This brings me to the final Tomfoolery of the day. One of the hashtags I use, #purpleclan, is used by a handful of middle schoolers who play Fortnite. It's also used by a Korean boyband, but we're shelving that discussion. I had a short stint with Fortnite because the boys asked me to, but then I gave it up. However, I really do like the idea of getting on the battle bus--it's clever and catchy. I called my surf blue Mini Countryman that for a while; until the boys told me to stop--with their eyes, no less. 😶 I may reinstall it because guess who has a "skin" this season? Mando. Monkey's guessing that Baby Yoda is going to be his "pet" because that's a feature of this game. 👏🏼🌟💚

I'm going to make marshmallows, drink hot chocolate, and maybe play video games with the boys. (We'll see because I'm fairly hopeless--I may have to stick to Clash of Clans). I may get to start Joyce's novel, Joe Harris, The Moon. I'm definitely going to pretend that my tree friends aren't doing me wrong. With that, I hope everyone is well and that you find something funny, curious, or thought-provoking to brighten your days. 🤠

Take care!

~Ami