Category — Uncategorized

Our favourite Thai restaurant closed two weeks ago. We tried another one, and it was fine, though we’ll keep looking because it was like eating B- vegetarian Pad Thai after several decades of A+ vegetarian Pad Thai. It’s hard to be happy with B- Pad Thai when you know an A+ version existed.

Of course, Poppin stopped production on the planner, and TIGI stopped making my hair gel (though they replaced it with a product that feels identical). The last straw was the guinea pig’s Vitamin C is no longer sold.

I like sameness. I know some people like change and always want the best new product, but if I find something that works, I never want to update it. I just want the same thing again and again. Sometimes, I feel like the world is designed for people who like to go broad vs. people who like to go deep.

I’ve passed the recommended age threshold, so I made an appointment to get my first colonoscopy, and I’m dreading it. People tell me that it’s not as bad as I fear, but what I fear is not what other people seem to fear. I’m not looking forward to the prep, but I’m not scared of the prep. I’m scared of being under anesthesia.

I am scared of all anesthesia — I didn’t want an epidural, I don’t get novocaine at dental appointments, and I once stayed awake for oral surgery. There’s nothing I can do to make that part easier. I don’t want to be in pain, but I also don’t want to be asleep. Or partly asleep. I just want to be on the other side of this and not need to repeat it for ten years.

Dreading it and will be happy when it’s over. Though accepting all advice for things to ask for or do to make this process easier.

For the last four years, I’ve been using a Poppin planner, and it has completely changed how I organize myself and set up my to-do list. I love it. It changed my life for the better, and I really can’t live without it.

Except I will have to live without it because Poppin is not making a 2024 – 2025 planner.

I’ve spent countless hours online and visited a few stores to look at planners, but I haven’t been able to find one that fits my needs. So I turn now to the brilliance of the Internet—can hundreds of minds all thinking about this problem turn up the perfect solution? Do YOU have a planner you love that fits this criteria?

1. It needs to be small but not too small. My current planner is 6 inches by 8.5 inches, and I’d like to keep it at that size.

2. It needs to have a full calendar page like this:

3. It needs to have weekly pages, preferably one big empty (no lines) space for each day. I prefer Monday through Thursday on the left side and Friday through Sunday (+ a space for notes) on the right side, but I’m flexible. The big thing is that the space is blank and not broken up with lines.

4. Finally, it needs to have a spiral binding.

Does anyone know a planner that fits this criteria?

There’s a line in the show One Day (it’s not in the book) that I love so much that I made Josh replay it over and over again so I could write it down in my bullet journal. “You did it. You said you were going to do it. You did it.”

Before the twins left for college, Josh and I made a list of things we wanted to do to distract ourselves from the fact we had an empty nest. And while we accomplished only one item on the list (oh – sorry, two — I also had “drink a Bellini,” and we had those for Pesach), we chose a great one. We started to go to the symphony this spring.

We were gifted Baltimore Symphony Orchestra tickets a few times through my workplace, and every time we walk into the music hall, I think, “You said you were going to do it. You did it.”

The best performance was Jonathon Heyward conducting Shostakovich Symphony No. 8. We’re going all in with a season pass for next year, and the season pass gets you access to their online streaming productions, too. I cannot wait. I did it.

We do not have Fourth of July plans, and I’m totally fine with that. We could go to the fireworks, have people over, or go to the pool, but we’re not making the most of the long weekend. We’re not really doing anything exciting at all.

I read an essay a few weeks ago about Boring Girl Summer, and I loved it because it raises a fair point: who decided that summer has to be fun? I like winter and cold weather more than summer, and plans do not always equal excitement. The writer lives close to the beach, so they have a built-in activity, but I will definitely be joining her with this: “Lounge in the backyard and read while you drink homemade iced tea sweetened with local honey.”

You can read anywhere. And not make plans anywhere. And wander around a farmers market anywhere. And make a meal entirely out of things you find at the farmers market wherever you live. That’s what I plan to do with this weekend.