Happy Sunday!
Like many of you, I spent much of the week horrified by the news out of Kenosha. It hurts my heart that this happened in Wisconsin. I love my state and want to believe we are better than that. While it would be so easy (and comforting) to say that what happened to Jacob Blake was a fluke, I know it is not. Part of my allyship efforts this week included learning about the rampant racism that exists in Milwaukee and its suburbs. It is not easy to see the statistics and realize your state is no better than the South when it comes to racism and segregation.
This only serves to prove that systemic racism will not change with a new president in November. These policies were in place long before D-bag 45 ever took office, as much as I would love to blame him. The only thing we can do is to continue to support the Black Lives Matter movement. I plan do to this through protesting, donating, and electing officials who will enact tolerance laws and siphon funds from the police into social services.
August ends on Monday. As Holly laments starting back to school on September 1st, I can only wonder where the summer went. Other than that trip to Pittsburgh, we didn’t do anything. Yet, I can honestly say that the summer simply disappeared on us.
The month of August is always busy thanks to Holly’s intense dance schedule. To give you an idea of how many trips to the studio we took this month, I put 500 miles onto the truck during August. The farthest distance we traveled was 11 miles one way. That is a lot of trips.
This past week, there weren’t trips to the studio but to the high school. Holly had her last few sessions of behind-the-wheel training for driver’s ed as well as some school events she had to attend. As of 3 PM this afternoon, she has nothing left on her calendar for the rest of the month. Even better, she completed driver’s ed and will be getting her driver’s license on Monday. For the first time in 20 years, I will not have to drive a child anywhere. This chauffeur is officially retiring.
Jim returned from his business trip yesterday, which means we are spending the day at the condo getting measurements. As part of an effort to keep the costs down, Jim will build my bookshelves as well as all the shelving and bars for our closets. (We are also going to be laying the floors, painting the walls, and finishing the trim in the finished basement.) Now that we have finished walls, it is time to get started on that project! I suspect my life will consist of paintbrushes, nail guns, boxes, and packing tape for the next month, to which I say “Bring it!”
How are you holding up? Do you have any words of advice for not feeling like the world is ending? What keeps you busy these days? If your kids are back in school, how is it going? I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. May you find solace among your loved ones.
Holding up? Alcohol. Advice? Drink alcohol. Busy? Wine. <<< only half-kidding. The other half of the answers are comedies, comedies, and comedies. 🙂
Ha! I would love to see a study on wine and beer consumption during the pandemic, wouldn’t you? I just want to see if the numbers increased as much as I think they did, as you are not the only one who is finding self-solace in a minor increase in alcohol.
How to convince you that the world is not ending… hmmmm. I don’t think it is yet but if he gets elected to another term then I am gonna think otherwise. I am not doing a very good job of staying away from the news. I am angry enough about recent events to be a lot more vocal about it and it’s upsetting 45’s Kool-aid drinking following. Go ahead, fight me on it.
It isn’t D-bag 45 that has me most upset these days. It is the ongoing police violence and the obvious racism that the behavior represents that has me most anxious right now. What happened in Kenosha makes me sick to my stomach. Even with the news that there was a warrant for Jacob Blake’s arrest on assault charges, no one deserves seven bullets in the back, let alone one. Then the teen vigilante? Awful stuff. It is like there is an entire substrata of the population who believes that the laws no longer apply to them. I get that this attitude comes from D-bag 45 as he encourages his supporters take up arms and defend their rights, but holy hell. After four years, you would think it would no longer surprise me just how many followers he has, but it still amazes me not only how many he has but how many who view his word as the gospel.
We’re about to start a bunch of house-related projects soon. So many things have been falling apart – things that weren’t kept up under the former ownership/rental – that we’ve decided to pull out a home equity loan under the low interest rates to get ahead of stuff before it’s just one emergency after another. That will feel really good, while also really chaotic!
I’m ready for the chaos of moving. I am ready for a fresh start, a smaller house, new furniture and appliances, and just getting settled again.