Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

I was home with a sick kid today, and while we were getting ready to go the doctor every single one of our smoke detectors went off today (they are wired together and I think we have eight) for over an hour, until a neighbor and I were able to solve the problem (it was so loud I could hear them in my car parked out front). I know this sounds dramatic, since there wasn't a fire, but that level of noise was traumatizing for me. Afterwards I had to take Sawyer to urgent care, since I had to cancel his actual pediatrician appointment, where we waited for over two hours to learn he had bronchitis. We then had to wait at the pharmacy. Afterwards, when my husband returned from a funeral I drove to work to teach my late class. My first inclination is to be really unhappy at what a crappy day it was, but after thinking about it, I'm trying to focus on the fact that I took care of shit. I figured out how to handle the the shrieking coming from every room in my house, I took care of my son's needs, I fulfilled professional obligations, and I still managed to cook dinner, get in a walk, and run to the store. Perspective. Also: I am SO tired.

I need to stop having really destructive, negative conversations with people in my head. I’m pretty sure that this is something that I’ve always done, but it’s gotten infinitely worse lately and isn’t helping any or anything. I guess I’ve always figured this sort of behavior is at least a little bit cathartic, and I still think it can be to a point. But it’s also emotionally draining and inherently unproductive.

I typically don’t read Taylor Jenkin Reid’s books (although I have listened to one or two), but the subject matter for Daisy Jones & the Six is just too tempting. I’m looking forward to it, especially after some heavier titles this month.

Speaking of which, I’m reading Motherhood by Sheila Heti and I have mixed feelings. Part of me totally understands her impressively conflicted feelings on whether or not to have a child, but part of me is a little annoyed with her excessive ruminations on something that has been since the dawn of time.

I can’t embroider fast enough to keep up with my ideas- it’s a wonderful combination of awesome and frustrating. I was telling a friend the other day that I’ve never really considered myself an artistic or creative person, but now I feel like I’ve found a sort of outlet where I can be and it’s nice. Feel free to follow my Instagram account for my progress @daily_floss_

The guy who did my tree tattoo did Lady Gaga’s newest one, so on the off change I wanted another one in the future I’d have to book him a year out and be prepared to pay even more than I did last time. Because I know he’ll be so unavailable I, of course, sort of want another one now. Ugh. I hate myself.

We got our taxes done and our return will be like 25% less than normal, a combination of the reduced payroll deductions and the new tax code. I knew going into the appointment what our numbers were looking like, but I really feel bad for people who feel gob smacked by the whole thing. Most people are still paying the same, or less, in taxes, but the government did a horrible job of trying to educate people during the year on the changes.