Tomorrow is the last full day of the visit from my sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and two nieces. Our plan is a chill day, breakfast at Hollander then the UW Madison Geology Museum (it's free, my sister never actually went, and they could get in free with reciprocity to Science 7 Industry which has more hands on things for their kiddos than Field Museum but my sister wants to see at least some dinosaur fossils and then some afternoon time chilling on the Union Terrace having beers by the lake. Today we spent the morning on a pontoon boat rental on Lake Mendota then letting the kiddos play at the beach (Ellie and the adults were in the shade of a nearby oak tree in the grass/clover) and then the kids played at MCW and Jon got some quality snuggles with Waffles (of all of them he misses her the most and he's glad she's happy and doing so well, but he misses having a doggo) while my sister and mum and I rinsed out all the tie dye we did on Sat afternoon. Wait, this might be easier to start at the beginning of my sister's color coded spreadsheet, lol.

Last Tuesday they got into Chicago, then on Wednesday I drove down to join them in the morning to spend the day at Museum of Science & Industry and then in the evening my parents drove down to join us and we all had reservations for Medieval Times. Then Thursday morning they all drove up from Chicago and we met at Old Fashioned for lunch before spending the afternoon at the Children's Museum. Then we met up had Rocky Rococo's for dinner and then parted ways to make sure the kiddos had time in the pool. Friday I met them for breakfast at Hubbard Ave Diner and then we went to the Dane County Fair where my parents and Mikaela joined us for the day and then we headed back to work so I could drop off Mikaela and we could get the dogs setup for their wait time and then we went to Samba Brazilian Grill. Saturday morning we had a big family reunion of my da's side of the family at my grandma's, but I actually didn't make it as I was violently ill after Samba's in the way I get from pork poisoning (internal bleeding with severe cramps and throwing up bloody vomit/bile and/or blood in my stool -- I also get a skin reaction of breaking out in rashes these recent years whenever I get pork on me) and given that they load the skewers however they choose including pineapple under meat and the pork options sometimes higher than the beef, that's the likely source of it. It's probably the last time for me ever enjoying a Brazilian grill tbh other than like the buffet table because of how bad my pork protein allergy/sensitivity has gotten.... So I didn't make it to Gigi's even with all the family there as I was still dry heaving and throwing up bile at 11 (the last time I threw up bloody bile was around 12:15) and while I'm really sad I missed seeing everyone Saturday morning because the whole family of my da's siblings and kids/grandkids don't all get together like they used to but I was so violently ill and still throwing up bloody bile and that just wasn't a state to go see anyone or even leave being curled up in bed waiting as stoically as possible until I reached the other side of the endurance test of the "this too shall pass" moments of misery.... that's how I always get through the intensity of my migraines and when I have accidental pork protein exposure sickness. By the time my sister called around 3ish to see how I was feeling and if I was up for tie-dye, I was able to be up and was holding down water again so joined them for tie dye. We then all went to Nitty Gritty for dinner, but I opted for a strawberry pistachio salad with a light grapefruit ale rather than a burger because I didn't think any cross contamination with bacon on the grill was a good idea with how sick I'd been that morning.  Sunday, we went to Vitense in the morning to play some mini golf then went separate ways to let the dogs out and for them to do some Packers gear shopping  at local TJ Max/Marshalls then all met up over at Mallards (Madison's minor league baseball team) baseball park for our tickets in the Duck Blind (an area that includes all you can eat food options (I stuck to the area that only did fried boneless wings and fries to avoid the pulled pork and brats cross contamination of the other main food area) and for those who want it all you can drink tap beer) and our game was actually a double header because the previous game got rained out. As mentioned, today was pontoon boat then rinsing out and revealing and drying all the tie dye (26 pieces total) then we went to Fuji for hibachi dinner. And then tomorrow I'm joining them for breakfast at Hollander (my parents are not) and then heading to the Geology Museum (which apparently I'm the only one in the group who has ever been there or even knows it exists, lol) and then something for lunch (Miche left Tuesday plans as tbd) then beers on the Union Terrace until whenever we figure out dinner plans and they pickup their tie dye pieces and then the kiddos will get last evening of pool time. Wednesday they drive back down to Chicago and fly back to SeaTac so probably won't see them on Weds so they can just be on their own travel day timelines.

But it's alright their whirlwind week of visit is nearly over because it's going to get stupid hot again starting tomorrow which means I have to return to my full time priority of keeping my flowers and nightshades and herb boxes alive by watering everything for the last 4hrs of the day every day living by the timer.... Sat night is Mikaela's graduation party family and close friends they like (they already did church friends party; Jehovah's witnesses so better to have things separate.) Then, because it's Leo season and in my world Leo season as a child meant my grandpa's birthday and my cousin Sasha's birthday but as an adult even though my niece Monroe is a Leo, Leo season for me is the time of Irish festing and getting to see all my Irish music friends! Aug 3 we have Overture tickets to see the musical Six (which isn't Irish related, but it's a part of my upcoming whirlwind weeks of overcommitment.)  But then irish season begins with Aug 4-6 in Waterloo Iowa for Iowa Irishfest, Aug 11-13 will be split between Irish Fair of MN and La Crosse since Minneapolis and La Crosse are near(ish) and neither have people we want to see for the entire weekend but both are only available as weekend passes but you can get them cheap as bogos if you commit to buying them early before artists are announced. And then Aug 17-20 is the biggest Irish music fest in the world, Milwaukee's IrishFest which I started going to back in high school.

And then the weekend after Milwaukee Irish Fest is the ONLY weekend that worked for everyone's busy schedules for me, Crissy, Mikaela, Sarah, (and maybe my parents and/or Karissa?) to do Bristol Ren Faire because we haven't been back since before covid. Sarah asked me about it today if I have any availability in August and I told her, "I can do the last weekend of August or Labor Day weekend." Sarah: "Well my mom is going to rent a cabin for Labor Day weekend so--" Me (interrupting because Miche and family were waiting for me at Fuji): "I can do the last weekend of August or I can do Labor Day weekend. That's it. If you can't do Labor Day weekend, then we can do the last weekend of August or we can't go together. I can do the last weekend of August or Labor Day weekend and that is absolutely it." She just started laughing said, "Welp. I guess we'll plan for the last weekend of August then."

And then we hit apple season (technically earliest apples are already available at Weston's, but I never make it out there until September, lol) and Packers season and we currently have tickets to like 4 different shows at APT in the first two weeks of September (and we intend to pick up Mala if it goes on rush tickets) but then I think I have some free time to introvert and breathe and pause before right around my birthday when there's the Raye Zaragoza show and a Neon Trees show in Chicago.

And somewhere amidst all that, I will be attempting to get some sleep some of the time AND getting as many of my 40 hours of work in (and keeping all my plants alive with regular watering and harvesting things as they're ready) rather than using any of my vacation/sick days. Because I do need to water all my plant babies whenever there isn't enough rain for them because hot summer days require daily water. So basically if it's your hope to see me in August, find me at an irishfest or at Ren Faire the last weekend of August or show up at my office when I'm there.

I completely COMPLETELY failed at carving out time for my real writing this year and making me finish one of my dozen or so novels that are all currently in process somewhere between my brain and scribbled chapters on scraps of paper and/or hundreds of pages of unfinished in progress manuscript in my word processor.  As someone with unmedicated ADHD, I am the most prolific and productive in my real writing when I have someone invested in my stories/novels and wanting the next chapters to know what happens next. I'm not particularly good at finishing without an audience who needs the ending or doing the grunt work of publishing/marketing rather than being distracted by my shiny new idea that wants to be birthed into the world, lol.  I also write best while traveling and in hotel rooms, actually. Which seems counter intuitive, but I don't sleep well in hotel rooms unless I've properly gridded everything and then everything is pristine whites and there's nothing I need to clean/organize -- I just get all my luggage organized how I want it and then i can make me a cuppa tea with my portable kettle and I can just write and write and write in  hyper focus mode until I have to leave for wherever I'm supposed to be while traveling. And then I can always hand write (or read) while in airports or on planes or sitting in a van/car if I'm not driving or expected to make conversation. So travel (when I'm not the driver) and hotels are actually when I get the most writing done because they're places that I don't have to be doing any other tasks weighing on me, just allowed to fill time until I get wherever I'm going.  When I'm at home, I see all the chores I ought to be doing instead but can't find the executive function to do them right then but then I feel too guilty to do the writing I love that gives me joy so then I do nothing but seek enough dopamine in reading or mindless phone games until I can get enough executive function to do the menial "chop wood, carry water" tasks that need doing when you live alone with fur babies and green babies but only you to keep everything tidy and do chores like laundry.....

Anyway. So yeah. Whirlwind for the next while until end of September, despite my sister's family leaving tomorrow. Most of July has been an absolute over-committed whirlwind tbh..... So also, don't expect any major revelations or writing from me here even if I leave it public. My life is busy and fi you want to know what's on my mind, reach out to me or find me at an Irishfest or while I'm working, lol. But don't expect much here (or even on social media)

P.S. Speaking of social media.... I loathe X (though I'll have my popcorn ready for when Microsoft sues him for breach of intellectual property given they actually already own the tech/communication use of X as a trademark, because X-Box and visual trademarks related to their logo of Excel) replacing twitter and I'm out. That is no longer a path to reaching me as I see no reason to login or continue using it now.... Musk has completely destroyed it the way he destroyed every other major company he took over (except those who have dedicated employees whose job is to break things to distract him so he doesn't fuck around with important things....) All the interesting thinkers and valuable deep dives into news around environmentalism/racism/social activism and new scientific/health discoveries have all fled. All the comedy and magic is gone. It no longer serves as a means of getting vital information quickly or finding fascinating rabbit holes from professionals which was my main way to use it -- like PBS meets an online grad school summary explanation office hours. It's almost all scam bots with $10 and a burner phone number and fascist neo-Naziss and Musk apologist fanboys boot licking him bringing back the neo-nazis -- and those who have a hard time letting go of anything they once loved so they have lingered to the bitter end. I tried logging on tonight now the official changeover is there and there's just no longer anyone I'm interested in posting anything worth seeing there (other than news organizations, but all of them have been very tepid in what they post there about climate change and racial justice issues since Musk banned NPR because he thinks that NPR is propaganda not news which is bullshit crazy town right wing qanon brainwashing) no matter how far back I scrolled. None of the other short blogging replacement services work for me to aggregate all my diverse interests that I had curated for myself over on Twitter so fuck it. I'm out and I'll find other ways to gt my news and my scientific studies whenever something viable allows for that. 

Musk fucked it over, like he fucks up everything he touches, and that scorched earth ain't gonna grow anything I have any interest in until it's under new management that actually understands WHY the people who mainly used Twitter used it and how to recreate a community where actual expertise or fame in your field, not paying a fee, got you your verification.... So I'm out now that the last vestiges of its soul and the birds that gave it character are gone.