1. Whoa, buddy, this week has been crazy town.
2. Can you believe Trump’s impeachment trial only started on Tuesday? This is one of those things that feels like it’s been going on forever and not long enough all at the same time.
3. The impeachment managers have done an outstanding job. They detailed this case down to the minute and brought the receipts.
4. New security video really reinforces how close we came to disaster last month.
5. And for the record, GOP members who couldn’t be bothered to watch the evidence and Trump lawyers denouncing it as overproduced video can go to hell.
6. Ditto for those three “impartial” GOP senators who huddled up with the Trump’s defense team after yesterday’s session.
7. These strong feelings make me worry about tuning in for the defense portion of this trial.
8. They say you need to listen to both sides but Castor’s comments sound an awful lot like they’re compiling BLM footage and I will seriously lose my shit if they start comparing last summer’s protests to last month’s insurrection.
9. Side note: If the insurrectionists’ actions were just like the BLM protests/riots, and since Trump spent every waking moment TWEETING IN ALL CAPS about how police should take out those BLM protestors, then I’m sure they’ll be able to locate Trump’s tweets calling for overwhelming police force on January 6th.
10. Can’t wait for those receipts.
11. Okey dokey, let’s get off politics for everyone’s sake.
12. I tried a new recipe for Crispy Smashed Potatoes and they were YUMMY.
13. Full disclosure: there’s a learning curve.
14. Like most recipes it’s best when I’m well rested and focused. That was not the case Tuesday. Whoops.
15. Potatoes that pop open during microwave cooking don’t really smash well.
16. When you forget to add salt and pepper to the oiled sheet before smashing potatoes you end up transferring smashy potato pieces off, adding more oil, sprinkling on spices, and trying to reform smashed potatoes on the sheet. When I say this thing was a mess…lawd.
17. Does your oven cook hot? Mine does, and yet I keep forgetting to adjust times when I first make a recipe to see if my appliance is speed-cooking the food.
18. So when I say my crispy smashed potatoes were uh-gly I mean they were company’s coming, we’ve gotta toss these out ugly. Luckily it was just us and we don’t care.
19. As one kiddo put it, “ugly food tastes good” which was certainly true in this case. Highly recommend.
20. Ah, man, I’m only up to #20. This is about to get weird.
21. Have I told you guys about the furniture shuffle in our house?
22. We bought a fabulous sectional for the last house, one that filled our family room with plenty of seating for people and fur babies to boot.
23. The only problem was when we came to the new house it didn’t quite fit. I could have kept just the sectional on the main floor and put the recliners downstairs but the room would have felt…stuffed.
24. You know where it did fit perfectly? In the finished basement where people could hang out to watch movies or sports and play ping pong. Good times.
25. It left us sofa-less upstairs, though, and that just won’t fly. In the end we landed on a cream colored loveseat/sofa combo which I love.
26. There’s one small issue, though. Despite purchasing an expensive orthopedic dog bed specifically for Gracie our sweet golden claimed the loveseat as her own personal lounge.
27. I don’t mind. I know some folks are vehemently anti dogs-on-the-furniture but we roll with it around here.
28. Gracie enjoys being outside, though, which means her coat always seems to have a slight layer of nature on it. I don’t know exactly how that happens but seeing as I’m not interested in bathing my dog every day we find a way to live with it.
29. We’ve been in this house long enough now that the loveseat – particularly her preferred cushion – is just ever so slightly tanner than our sofa. It’s just enough to make me shake my head when I notice it but not enough to catapult cushion cleaning to the top of my To Do list.
30. This probably has something to do with the fact that I’m just now collecting up some of the odds and ends from Christmas scattered around the family room.
31. I still have enough pride that I’m embarrassed typing this sentence in freaking February but what else is RFTM for if not to admit we’re not living the Good Housekeeping life over here.
32. Somehow I don’t think this is earth shattering news.
33. I tend to work in spurts so the amount of housecleaning, especially clutter clearing, I get done is inversely proportional to kid and fur baby needs.
34. When Seven came home we held this place together with spit and duct tape. BrightSide had the patience of a saint.
35. Phoebe has good and bad days. On her bad days she – well, there’s no other way to put it than she needs to be held. She’ll eyeball me hard so I’ll sit on the sofa with my coffee and she’ll curl up tight on my leg. I can feel her heart pounding hard in there so on those days extra time goes to loving on her.
36. Right now Bear’s dealing with an injury. She hates asking for help as much as I do so this is an adventure in grace for everyone. Please send those healing thoughts our way.
37. I spent some time surfing food porn last weekend and boy oh boy, are there some recipes I can’t wait to try.
38. Potsticker Noodle Bowls, Broccoli Casserole, Potato Leek Soup, Garlic Butter Fish, and Hush Puppies to name a few.
39. If you told me in my twenties I’d spend hours checking out recipes on food blogs I’d have spit out my drink then laughed you out of the room.
40. Life is plain old weird, man. Happy weekend!
I wanted a miracle of integrity and decency for this impeachment and can’t quite claim disappointment as I was not surprised.
Some people are anti blankets on the sofa, too, but have you considered her spot could just have a blanket over? I say this because upholstery cleaning is one of my least favorite chores.
We legit want a new sofa and a new loveseat, and I wish I could tell you it’s only because upholstery, but no, they’re not cuttin it comfort-wise. So gravely that I do believe when I have new cushion under my bum, I’ll blog more.
Perhaps this summer…
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I tell you what, nothing will kill a blog instinct like an uncomfortable chair so I totally support you in this.Search out that comfort and good on it. I think I’ll embrace the blanket concept because clearly I hate cleaning upholstery, it’s been at least six months and I haven’t done it yet!
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Cause it’s a lot of elbow grease PLUS wait and see, and do it again. 😦
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Sooooo… I’m reading this late, and it is Saturday evening and so we know the Senate aquits Trump, again (how’s that for historic) because, “Hey, we just need to move on…” and let’s talk about Benghazi! Because, hey, you know he’s not currently the sitting POTUS so he got a freebie on sedition! (Excellent bar to set, eh?) sigh…
I could only watch a few of those video. They are seered in my brain. You have to be some kind of monster not to be touched by them.
As to cleaning up the Christmas bits ::: hugs my spiritual sister::: 😀
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It’s mostly challenging because I live with someone who definitely does NOT understand that I’m just now managing to clean this stuff up. And, to be fair, I’ve only cleared the stuff off tables and into a box “to be put away when I have a minute”. Whoops. 😉
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I hope that you all have a peaceful weekend. Hugs and best wishes
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Thanks, Sadje.
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Take care
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Hugs all around. These are strange times, for sure.
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They surely are. Sheesh.
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I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t read blogs like yours and Marilyn’s and Fandango’s. You guys do the heavy lifting and keep people like myself informed. I had no idea the impeachment (II) was going on. It seems it is the clusterfook that I thought it would be though. When did it become okay to ignore such a thing? To try to find loopholes so the criminal doesn’t have to do the time for their crime? I’m deliberately uninformed, so all my ‘questions’ are purely rhetorical. Those smashed taters sound like something that would effectively take my mind off any unsavory crap going on at the alleged ‘helm’ of our country’s mothership. I think I’ll go get some ingredients and try to forget that mess in Washington.
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They are fantastic and you just can’t beat something that tasty that only needs potatoes, olive oil, kosher salt, & pepper. So easy!! The hubby thought it was a little too salty but that’s how I like my potatoes so do with that what you will. 🙂
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Every word Keith said. But – we all know, the Trump supporters, whether they be Plumber Joe or Farmer Fred or the congressmen who are willing to sell their soul in order to get re-elected, will deny, deny, deny and ignore, ignore, ignore. There have been a couple of conversations in my house about how this society has gone so wrong, how those things that I think should be most important have been torn down and diminished – it makes me wonder when the “Big Bang” that brings us to our knees and makes us refocus will occur.
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I wonder this too. I’m feeling a little lost — things are so far off the rails I don’t see a way back and that clashes terribly with my activist mentality. I don’t know how to make sense of a system this broken.
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Crispy mashed potatoes deserve a special Valentine’s Day of their own.
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Agreed!!
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Laura, two things. On #19 about ugly food, there are several companies that now ship imperfect foods, misshapen veggies and fruits that still taste. Their goal is to use all that imperfect food that gets tossed.
As for those who cannot take the time to watch the video while being a juror in the impeachment trial, here is a comment I just posted on Jill’s blog.
The Trump Toadies can look the other way, they can say a former president need not be held accountable, but those who cared to watch know the Capitol insurrection would not have happened if Donald J. Trump was not president. He lied and continues to lie about massive voter fraud, so there is no remorse. He invited the more zealous members of his base to DC. He stoked their fires, added gasoline and “sicced” them on the Capitol. And, people died and more could have.
The argument that the trial is unconstitutional does not hold water. The message of that argument is a president can do any vile thing he wants if he does it close enough to win he leaves office. I am sorry, but that is BS. Seven people are dead because of this enfant terrible former president. And, what if the Trump Terrorists got to Mike Pence (or his family) or Nancy Pelosi?
This most corrupt and deceitful of presidents in my lifetime, which was my opinion of Trump before the insurrection, is guilty as charged. That adds the word traitorous to the other two. That is what this Independent voter thinks for whatever it is worth. Keith
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Well put, Keith. I’m struggling with a process that’s supposed to be impartial and nonpartisan being so clearly neither. Today’s defense presentation has been a joke – or it would be if I didn’t know it’ll work on its intended audience.
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Laura, true. The fact Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz met with the defense team would result in a mistrial or them thrown off the jury. I was listening some to the defense and I am thinking, that is not true, neither is that….Keith
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