1. Look at me posting twice already in one month?! I’m writing this on a day where I did little to nothing. The extent of my accomplishments were washing my bed sheets and vacuuming the house (I tend to vacuum daily or every other day so I don’t know if this actually counts as an accomplishment.) I felt like I needed to do more…and whaddyaknow the urge to write struck!

2. It’s been a busy month and a half. Some of what I did was great, some was exhausting, some was exhausting AND great. Because I have slight undiagnosed OCD, we are going to go in order of how things happened. Even though none of you will have any idea which order I go in.

First up – my dad came to visit. He has come to Washington the past three years, and this year we tried to search for new activities. We spent a day in Seattle, went whale watching, ate our body weight in baked goods at my favorite bakery, and Duncan experienced his first ever visit to Olive Garden.

He doesn’t want to return any time soon. LOL

3. A few days after my dad left I had a birthday party to attend. For a small child. Whom I had never met. Honestly, it ain’t no thang. It was nice to see my friend who is in charge of said tiny human. I met her and her husband in Germany (they were also working with me, and they are also from Washington), and I hadn’t seen them for a few years.

One of my roommates who I lived with in Germany also now lives in Washington, and she was at the birthday party too. So while I might not know what exactly one does as a children’s birthday party without having children of my own, it was nice to see some friends. I was socially zapped after this though. One on one? I thrive. I will talk your ear off and make you feel like the Belle of the ball. Big groups? Catch me in the corner trying to hide or seeking out any house pets.

4. I briefly mentioned in my last post that Little had a fleeting issue recently. He has since been back to normal, but every single time something happens big or small I am convinced it will be the last thing to happen. I live in a state of constant low humming anxiety, and something I have always wanted to do (to ensure I don’t wait until the last minute) is to make my own paw prints.

When my last cat died the vet clinic was kind enough to make two paw prints for us, but if Little doesn’t die naturally I plan to have an at home euthanasia. Because of that, I don’t see paw prints happening unless I do them myself. I also don’t want to wait to do them until he is gone, so I bought some air dry clay. It was SO easy to do.

I plan to make more, but wanted to ensure I had one really good one. Kinda morbid topic, but it’s the reality of life with a pet.

5. Speaking of pets…did anyone reading ever play Neopets? For those who don’t know what I’m taking about, Neopets is an online game that originated in 1998. I played this game right when it came out and I have fond memories of playing at home, and while on vacation with my cousins. I can’t remember when I stopped playing, but it was somewhere in the early 2000’s.

Imagine my surprise when my friend told me she created a new account and has been playing. Currently. As a full grown adult. I had no idea this was still a thing, and while I am not one to typically play games of any digital variety I have been OBSESSED. My inner child is healing.

My name is Brittany, I am 37, and I am playing Neopets almost daily. This is my confession.

6. A group of my friends decided to attend a renaissance faire this month. I had never been to one, but I decided to see what the fuss was all about. Here is what I learned:

• Similar to what I mentioned about the kids birthday party…I don’t thrive in large groups. We spent most of the day walking in circles without doing much of anything.
• I have since discovered there are much better faire options, but this one was definitely not my scene. It felt more like a giant farmers market with white tents. They had some shows, but we didn’t stop for any which I would have liked to.
• Whoever decided for a ren faire to be in the middle of the summer is diabolical. It was so hot. I got sunburned.
• Turkey legs are a no no. I cannot ever eat one of those again. It made me so sick.
• I loved dressing up. Probably the only positive overall.

I would do it again, but maybe with just Duncan. Thankfully I didn’t really have any expectations so I don’t feel like I missed out on anything, but overall this trip was not worth the time or money for me.

7. On weekend days when we don’t have any plans, Duncan and I like to go to Barnes and Noble. I will get a coffee, we will sit in the cafe and chat (or if it’s football season he will watch a football game while I browse books), and we will typically run random fun errands after.

On a recent trip to B&N I noticed a quiet older man (probably in his 70’s) with a bright red beret sitting near the cafe. As we walked past him I realized he was an author with a table set up to showcase his books. I have seen these author tables many times, and because I am a sucker for the library I never bother approaching because I know I won’t buy any books.

As I sat drinking my coffee I couldn’t stop watching this man. He was sitting so patiently, with his hands in his lap, quietly smiling as people walked past him. And that was the problem, most everyone just walked right past him. In the hour that we were sitting in the cafe I saw two people approach him, read the back of one of the books, put the book back down, and walk away.

I knew then what I had to do. I don’t know why, but I felt like I had to buy one of his books. Who knows if he already sold some that day, but all I could think about is what if he doesn’t sell a single one. I am being ageist and I will be the first to admit it, because if this has been a younger man I wouldn’t have thought twice. But something about him being older, and having less time to see his books in the hands of other people I just felt sad.

So I went to talk to him, and unfortunately for me he had four books…all non fiction…all subjects I couldn’t care less about. He lit up talking about them, so I chose book one of a two part series about the life of Ernest Hemingway. My plan is to read it, and then donate it to a Little Free Library so someone else can read it next. He signed the book for me and wrote 2069 as the date, so maybe he is a time traveler and will remember me when I make it to 2069.

8. After a month and half of no hiking (mostly because of schedule conflicts with me and my main gal Caitlin) I finally got back out for a hike. For some reason, we chose one of the hardest hikes in the area, and my calves were sore for a week. A FULL WEEK. Hiking has not been very enjoyable for me this year, and during this hike I was mad at myself for biting off this much after not hiking for a while.

We hiked Mount Ellinor from the lower parking lot. There is also an upper lot, but I wanted more mileage. Go figure. The first half of the hike is relatively mild, and most of the elevation is saved for the second half, but by the time the trail turned more vertical I was crying inside. The hike isn’t long, but the last mile gains over 1200′ in just that one mile and I was tapped out.

Of course, now that a bit of time has passed I want to do it again. BUT, not unless I have been hiking regularly. The views were stunning, but truth be told I hardly paid attention to them because I was starving by the time we made it to the top.

I think I was mostly frustrated because I thought I would feel ok on this hike. Even if I haven’t been hiking and even when a hike is steep, I usually feel ok going slow and steady. This one still felt like all the hikes I did a few months ago where I felt like I had bricks on my feet. I was disappointed thinking I was on the other side of my iron deficiency, but I am not fully out of the woods yet. Still, I am glad we did it.

9. For the past few years I have been wanting to try my hand at growing potatoes. I never ended up doing it because gardening scares me. I often laugh on here about my fear of slugs, but unfortunately it’s a legit fear, and leafy green areas are slug city. This year I decided to give it a try in an elevated planter. I cut 4-5 gold potatoes in half, let them sprout, and then planted them.

Within just a couple days they were THRIVING. The green stalks shot out of the dirt and I am SO excited to harvest them when the time comes. They have been brewing under the dirt for about two months now, and I cannot wait to see what they look like. Overall this was SO easy. I started small with just a few potatoes, but I know potatoes grow like weeds so I anticipate I will get a decent little harvest.

Best part? Not a single slug. Going to go knock on wood…

10. Lastly and most recently my step mom and my younger brother came to visit!! My brothers wife also came, and I got to meet her for the first time. This was such a special and delightful visit. I hadn’t seen my step mom since she came to visit me in Germany in 2019, and I hadn’t seen my brother since 2016!!! INSANE. We kept it low key sharing some lovely meals, and going on beautiful walks. Lots of chats, and lots of photos.

It’s bittersweet because I often wish I lived closer to more family. It’s just my mom, my sister and I here in Washington. Most of my family lives in Arizona, and I daydream about having a big family nearby to spend time with. Then the daydream is shattered when I think about living in Arizona. Nope. My cold blood could never. Although…no slugs in Phoenix…

My cup is full after seeing them all.

Q: What’s your confession?