Hi Darling Ones,

One more day. We can do it! Here’s three things I wanted to mention before the year ended.

A Crowded House

As is tradition, I hosted Rock & Roll Bookclub Dirty Santa on the 28th and it was most excellent. My college-era friend Ray came from Madison and at one point he, Sister #2, and Wolfdogg were chatting in the dining room. Ben & Max were preparing dinner in the kitchen, Hannah & Jaycie were on the couch chatting with Cade, my mom, and Sister #4, and I turned to Heather, who was sitting next to me and said, “This makes me so happy.”

There’s nothing quite like having your house crowded with people you love making a joyous racket. My eyes well with happy tears and my arms are goose bumped at the memory. I’m so fortunate to have so many wonderful people and I told every single one of them I loved them that night. Lucky me.

For The Love of God, Make Your Own Website

I’ve been on the record for a long time about how I wish blogs would come back. I miss the early aughts when blogging was all the rage and everyone wrote one and was messy all over the internet. It was so fun!

This piece by Gita Jackson gets at why we need our own damn websites:
We were already long overdue for a return to websites we control, rather than feeds manipulated by tech oligarchs

It reminds me of the Matt Haughey quote from 2016. “Blogging gave a billion people their own typewriter but turns out 15yrs later everyone prefers writing at 3 typewriter factories instead.”

Kind Neighbors & 2020 Jodi

On December 22nd I was awakened from slumber by voice saying, “hello, hello.” Since I was half asleep I wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Hello.” A woman’s voice said from downstairs. “Hello?”
“Are you in my house?” I asked from my bed upstairs.
“Yes,” she said. “I’m your neighbor. Your front door is open. I’m just going to shut it.”
“Thank you SO MUCH,” I said from under the covers.
“It’s locked,” she said. “I’m just going to unlock it and then shut it.”

I got dressed quicker than I ever have since my stroke in March 2023 and hustled downstairs where it was a frigid 48º in my living room. All cats, presents, and laptops were accounted for. Holy shit!

When I went to bed the night before my furnace kept kicking in. I checked the thermostat app on my phone and it said it was 54º in the living room. Since it was about 108º upstairs I thought my Nest thermostat had gone wiggy. Climbing the stairs is a harrowing journey and I wasn’t about to do it to deal with a wonky thermostat at midnight. So I went to bed planning to deal with it the morning.

I never imagined my FRONT DOOR WAS OPEN ALL NIGHT. IN DECEMBER. IN MINNESOTA.

Holy shit!

The deadbolt on my front door had been sticking so I was only using the bottom twisty lock until Ben could look at it.

So that’s why I had to spend $200+ on a fancy new lock I can lock/unlock with my phone. This was on top of the $1000 I spent on a new dishwasher & microwave the first week of December. Oh, and there was a surprise leaky toilet that cost $300 on December 27th.

Y’all I’m real broke. Please think positive thoughts I can get on the dole because I also need a $1600 water softener and to, you know, eat, afford meds, mortgage, and those kinds of good things in life. Ayiyiyiyi.

However, I do owe a boatload of appreciation to 2020 Jodi who socked away all the COVID money back in 2020, saving for a rainy day. Thanks to her I’ve survived thus far without going into debt. YAY, us!

Here’s to a 2025 with more to appreciate and 0 trips to the ER.

Jodi