The high of my week was a socially distanced gathering with my friends in the park. There were four of us and we brought our own blankets and food to enjoy. The weather wasn’t too miserable since we met around 6:45 in the evening and were under a big shady tree. It was so nice to have a nice evening chit-chatting with my friends and catching up on everyone’s lives. (Of course, we spent most of the time talking about COVID, but it’s the thing permeating so much of our lives!) I definitely need more of that in my life!

The low of my week was reading the news about another Black man being shot by police. I am so angry and I feel so helpless. But until justice is served to these police officers who murder Black people, we are only going to keep hearing these stories and keep feeling angry and helpless. (And don’t even get me started on the 17-year-old white man who was walking around with a goddamn machine gun around the police and nothing happened to him—he was instead allowed to fire his gun into a crowd of protesters, allegedly killing two and seriously injuring another. WTF.) Here are ways to help and demand justice.

An Internet find I’d like to share is this heartwarming, funny video of a zookeeper trying to rake up leaves while her panda charges keep causing destruction. I’ve watched it multiple times this week, whenever I need a pick-me-up. Baby pandas are like toddlers!

A podcast episode I enjoyed was “It’s Joe Time” by Pod Save America. All four hosts joined to break down the Democratic National Convention and reflect on the speeches. I didn’t watch the DNC (it started at 9pm for us on the East Coast and that is way too late for this grandma) but I really want to go back and watch all the speeches, especially from the Obamas, Kamala, Dr. Biden, and Joe Biden. This was a good crash course on the event and made me feel hopeful for November. (I have to have hope. It’s the only way I’m going to survive these next few months.

The best money I spent was $400 on a new dining room table! This was an expense, for sure, but it’s one I’ve known I needed to make for my new place. My current apartment doesn’t have any sort of dining area and I am soooo excited to finally have one again! It’s been far too long without a dining room table. It won’t be delivered until early October (late September if I’m lucky) but I’ve gone this long without a table—what’s a few more weeks?

My plans this weekend include not too much! I have my usual Saturday morning writing date planned and have tentative plans with a friend for a socially distanced reading date. We haven’t had a reading date since January, so we are much overdue! And hopefully, I can fit in some pool time!

What was the high of your week?

(Behind the scenes of this photo: Chip, my fur-brother, basically destroys anything he comes in contact with and he particularly loves destroying blankets by putting holes in them. This is the blanket in his crate and, well, you can see how he spends his time while he’s in there. Sigh. This crazy dude!)

The high of my week was surprising a friend for her birthday! Tomorrow is her birthday and my friends and I decided on a mid-week surprise so that she wouldn’t suspect a thing. She was properly shocked and we must give major kudos to her husband for helping us plan this and find the best time for the surprise. Yay! Afterward, we all hung out in her backyard (properly distanced, of course!) and chatted about life and coronavirus and all that jazz. (Although, I swear anyone walking by her house when we were all there would have thought we were the WORST people ever, since we had NINE cars shoved in her driveway, haha.)

The low of my week was work stress. It’s been a really stressful week in my work life, where I feel like I can’t take a minute to breathe from the moment I turn on my computer at the beginning of the day. The end of the month is always pretty crazy as I work on a monthly schedule and have to get everything done by the last day of the month, but it’s felt crazier than normal. I’ve also had a lot of other deadlines fall into my lap that are outside my normal monthly work, so it’s just been a lot.

An anti-racism resource I’d like to share is this white privilege questionnaire. It came as no surprise to me that I scored a 30 (the highest score). White people, even if you understand your white privilege, I still think it’s worth looking over the questions and recognizing all the different ways BIPOC are discriminated against.

A podcast episode I enjoyed was Tom Hanks on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. Yes, this episode has been out for a while, but I’m wayyy behind on my podcast queue. Tom Hanks is a national treasure and this podcast just reaffirmed my obsession with him. He is hilarious, warm, kind, and just an all-around good guy. (Also, the beginning segment with just Conan and his two co-hosts had me crying with laughter so that’s worth a listen alone.)

The best money I spent was $14 on a new pack of markers. I’ve talked before about my love for adult coloring books. I always have an open coloring book on my kitchen island next to a cup full of markers and I’ll usually color while I’m watching Netflix or Hulu, or while listening to a podcast. It’s such a fun, relaxing activity for me, but I go through markers so quickly now! I think I have to buy a new set every 6 months or so because my favorite colors always start drying out. I’m sad that Amazon doesn’t seem to have my favorite markers anymore so I had to buy a different type. Fingers crossed I like them!

My plans this weekend include… not a damn thing! Which is good because it means I can catch up on work this weekend. It’s not ideal, of course, to work on the weekend but if it takes a bit of the stress off my shoulders, then it will be worth it. I may go for a swim at my mom’s and I have my weekly writing date with M. But that’s about it for me! I’m not too bummed… last weekend was so busy that I only got to take one nap (oh, the horror!) so I’m looking forward to a much more relaxed weekend.

What was the high of your week?

The high of my week was… visiting my mom and stepdad’s new home! They closed on it yesterday and my mom invited me over to see it after work. They’re planning on doing a lot of work before officially moving in (tiling the living room, having new carpet installed in the bedrooms, and painting the bedrooms) and their lease isn’t up until mid-August so they can take their time moving in, which is nice. I got to dip my toes in the pool and I am very excited to spend oodles of time there. 🙂

The low of my week was… watching Florida’s COVID-19 cases continue to rise. We’re now seeing 2,000+ cases on a daily basis and passed the horrific milestone of 3,000 deaths this week. Our governor attributes the rising case numbers to more testing, so he refuses to take any further action. Right now, I’m paying close attention to how many hospital beds we have available. (35 in my county—it was at 61 at the beginning of the week.)

An anti-racism resource I’d like to share is… Anti-Racism Daily, an e-newsletter written by Nicole Cardoza. I believe it is free to subscribe, but I’ve joined her Patreon to support her work. This newsletter gives you one anti-racism task to do every day and explains the why behind it. I have found it instrumental as I go about my own anti-racism work and I truly appreciate what Nicole is doing.

A podcast episode I enjoyed was… American Police by Throughline. (I feel like I am constantly recommending Throughline episodes, but they are just so informative!) This episode talks about the history of American police and it’s as horrific as you might imagine.

The best money I spent was… $80 for my keyboard replacement! My laptop is FIXED and I am oh-so-happy to have it back in working order. I am going to be so careful with keeping open containers on my desk now because I definitely don’t want to go through something like this again. (Especially right now, when I need my laptop to work!)

My plans this weekend include… painting at my mom and stepdad’s new place, a Zoom writing date, and family game night! I’m also planning on doing virtual tours for two apartments… and I’ll talk more about why I’m doing that next week. (Suspense!)

What was the high of your week?

The high of my week was… the return of game night! We had a long hiatus from game night, as we pause our biweekly Saturday night tradition during football season. Usually, we start it back up after the Super Bowl but my brother got the flu and was out of commission for a few weeks and then Coronavirus happened. My brother texted my mom and me on Saturday, asking if we were up for game night, and we were both totally on board! It felt so nice and normal and wonderful to hang out and play games and eat pizza. I’m trying to continue to be cautious about venturing out and being around people, but I feel safe having my mom, stepdad, brother, and nephews in my circle.

The low of my week was… the horrific murder of George Floyd. It feels so trite to call it a “low” of my week, but his murder has been on my mind constantly. It’s not that these deaths are surprising, but they do make me feel so angry. And helpless. As a white woman, I don’t know what my role here should be. I try to educate myself as best as I can on racial injustice through books, articles, and podcasts. I try to educate other white people, although I could definitely do a much better job of that because I know how fragile white people are and I kowtow to their needs more than they deserve. I could also do a better job of lifting up Black voices on social media. Sometimes I worry that I’m just adding to the noise and doing something that doesn’t require any effort on my part. But maybe the point isn’t about my role in this—maybe it’s just about exposing the white people in my circle to Black voices and views in the hopes of breaking them out of their bubble.

An article I appreciated was… 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Corinne Shutack. I encourage every white person to read this list and write down a few of the things you can do to either expose yourself to the Black experience or work on criminal justice initiatives in your community. I know I’ll be looking through this list this weekend and thinking about the steps I can take.

A podcast series I’m enjoying is… In the Dark: Coronavirus in the Delta. I’m way behind on my podcast queue so I’ve only listened to two of the episodes in this series so far, but it’s so very good. (I’d expect nothing less from the In the Dark team!) It’s all about how Coronavirus is affecting people living in the Mississippi Delta. Episode one focused on churches and episode two was about conditions at the prison. It’s unflinchingly honest—truly excellent reporting.

The best money I spent was… $291 on two new bar stools for my apartment! Whew, let’s take a swift left turn on this post. Since I am planning on staying in my apartment through 2021, most likely, as I save up for a down payment on a condo, I have decided to invest in a few things to make my apartment more livable for the time being. The first thing was trading in my rickety bar stool for two more comfortable ones! I found these bar stools on Wayfair available at a deep discount, so I bought two and they arrived yesterday! I have to put them together, which I’m planning on doing tonight. It’ll be so nice to have a comfortable place to sit and eat in my apartment! (And I know the cats will greatly enjoy them, too, and isn’t that the most important thing?)

My plans this weekend include… literally nothing. Ah, that’s how it is these days, right? I know I’ll be putting together my bar stools, doing my weekly grocery store run, and Zooming with a friend. Perhaps I’ll try to take a walk in a nature preserve? I’d like to spend time at the pool, but I doubt people will be properly social distancing there. Ugh.

What was the high of your week?