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morning stream of conciousness

6:10 am, eating a piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream, because sometimes this is how you need to start your day. Pecan pie is another acceptable alternative.

Yesterday was our first day of the turkey and Thanksgiving bags giveaway. Owsley and I got to the food bank right at 8 this morning, and we had clients already lined up in front of the building. We don't open until 9, and some had been there for almost an hour already.

To put some things in perspective for you, on a normal busy day we typically serve around 25-30 families. Last year on Thanksgiving week we did 80 on both Monday and Tuesday and 40 on Wednesday. Yesterday, in less than two hours, we served 111 families. We even had to stop the line at around 10:45 because we ran out of turkeys and hams. That was definitely a record for us.

I love Thanksgiving and Christmas week at the food bank. We don't do any financial assistance those weeks, just food, and so many extra people come in to help out each day. There's just this great energetic vibe that feels contagious. Sarah pretty much gave me free reign to be in charge of everything up front yesterday. I never thought I was ever cut out to manage or direct anyone, but I'm not terrible at it. I read a headline (but not the article) a few weeks ago that said distracted brains thrive in high stress and constantly changing work environments. Maybe that is why I am so good at it, similar to how I do my best work at the very last minute. I don't get stressed out or worked up, and because I've been doing this for eight years it is like second nature to me.

Look at me, slinging answers and making decisions like a boss. 

I know this is going to sound like a r/thathappened....

Most mornings I stop at Circle K and get a bucket of carbonated chemicals to sustain me throughout the morning. I am trying to be better about this, because I am one of the lucky ones who can quit morning caffeine cold turkey with no real effect at all. I just really like the taste of a fountain diet coke. I know it is terrible for me, but can I please just have one legal vice? I have easily given up my gummy addiction. I want to hang on to this one just a little bit longer.

Anyway, 99% of the time around here if you reach a door within a few seconds of someone else, they will stand there and wait and hold the door open for you. It doesn't really matter your sex. A woman will hold it open for a woman, a woman will hold it open for a man. Same goes for when a man is at the door first. 

So, this particular morning I was walking towards the door, but a man about my age was closer. He made eye contact with me and stopped where he was until I could open the door for myself, and then he came in after me. It was obvious, and kind of awkward.

I have observed the internet world spilling into the real world lately, when that particular venn diagram of my life had not overlapped in the last four years. I have yet to see any blue bracelet, shaved head women in public, but then again I do live in rural MAGA-tropolis and it does take awhile for more 'worldy' trends to make it here. 


I may have to take one for the team and stay home from the Thanksgiving trip to my in-laws. We typically just leave Sheldon outside and my dad comes and checks on him and Frankie a couple times a day. Frankie will happily go in and out if my dad opens the door and calls for her. Sheldon, on the other hand, is filled with so many deep-seated psychological problems that whenever my dad comes over and we aren't home, Sheldon retreats to his crate and refuses to come out. Not just for my dad either. Sheldon is a stubborn donkey of a dog at times and even though he is not mean to anyone, ever, he also is unwilling to listen to anyone outside of the four of us. 

This is no big deal at all when the weather is mild and he can stay outside all day and night, but we are dipping to below freezing temps in the 20s each night, and Sheldon is not used to any kind of extreme weather, not to mention the fact that his fur coat is not a long, shaggy, warm one. I had to miss my sister-in-law's wedding for this exact reason two years ago, and here we are, two years later having made absolutely no progress. Peppy and I both agree that it would be inhumane to leave him outside when he's not used to that kind of weather, nor does he like cold weather at all. We also know (through experience) that if we left him inside he would not go out for my dad and would hold his bladder/bowels until he couldn't anymore and he would end up making a mess in the floor. 

It's just not worth it. We are playing it by ear and just watching the weather, but if anything it seems to be getting a little colder. Honestly, I am the first person to say, "That is an animal. They were designed to survive outdoors." But this one is domesticated, and it seems about as kind as dropping a preschooler onto the set of a survival show and walking away.

Speaking of the weather, some crazy winds knocked over two tomato plants, so Peppy and I went ahead and picked everything off of it. 

The end of November and we are only now getting cherry tomatoes. Now that is not normal. We didn't have a single heirloom or beefsteak tomato turn red this year. They grew, and grew, and grew, but never turned. I put them in windowsills and bags, and they still stayed green.

Random shower thought yesterday, but I realized that the Little Mermaid is basically the story of the fallen angels. Ariel is the fallen in this scenario. She is meant to be in the ocean, just like the Watchers were meant to operate in their appointed places. But nope, just like Ariel, the Watchers saw something good looking on the other side. Despite much pleading, but daddy, I'm SIXTEEN! Ariel takes matters into her own fins, because duh, the lust of the eyes is all consuming and she knows better than God (Triton.)

She's got her looks. Her pretty face, but never underestimate the use of...body language.

Genesis says the waters were separated from the waters. As above, so below.

Ramble, ramble, ramble.

Gotta finish eating this pie and get a move on. It is a hair washing day, and I need to just get that over with. I really do try to keep my morning routine down to a science, and I should have been in the shower three minutes ago. 

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