Mark's Stepdad is Home :)

The worst is over - after a week in the hospital with both COVID and pneumonia, Mark's stepdad is finally home: )

The pneumonia has cleared, but he's still coughing from COVID and very weak and tired, and will be quarantining for another week.  

The kidney problems are believed to be acute (AKI) and will hopefully clear with no lasting damage. 

Fortunately, because of his history daily running, tennis, and mountain-climbing, he was never put on oxygen or a respiratory - but most on the rest of his unit were not as lucky.

He has no idea when or how he contracted it, as he is a retired widower and lives alone, and went nowhere but outside for running and tennis and the grocery, always wearing a mask and disinfecting his house regularly, and receiving shipped deliveries. 

Speaking of which, they have a team that comes in and disinfects the home and vehicles in hazmat suits - no joke. 

Be safe folks - and when you wear a mask, make sure it fits properly securely, covering both nose and mouth, with no gapping, if you can - at this point, that's all they were able to come up with as a cause. 

Also, if you're hospitalized, you will basically get no rest - constant check-ins, questions about contraction history trying to trace it (both for you and others), and questions about Living Will/DNR orders if your condition suddenly worsens - so even though he's not improved by much, he has improved - and he's home where he can rest, and will receive check-ins by hazmat-suited home healthcare workers :)

Regardless, the worst is over for him - and he's home :)

Thank you for your warm wishes, thoughts, and prayers :)

_______________________________

PS - More good news - as of today, I've lost 10 of my 15 pandemic pounds - all thanks to change in diet and my Schwinn IC-4, which I ride 20 minutes a day (working up to 30 minutes) :)

As for changes in diet, I already rarely did sweets or desserts, but I stopped the pop (except for about 2 oz first thing in the morning) and no more bread (except occasional piece of ciabatta with a sandwich) and an occasional a home-made blueberry pancake with whole-wheat flour :)

I also do probiotic gummies and a Greek yogurt smoothie with oatmeal and a small amount of fruit, with a dash of honey, almost every day (sometimes an over-easy egg on avocado and a slice of ciabatta toast, if especially hungry) and veggies, at least 2 servings a day, but often 3 :)

If you're like me, and get bored looking at the floor or around your house while cycling, and really don't need anymore time with your own thoughts, at this point (lol) -  I recommend watching YouTube hiking and travel videos from your TV rather than phone, if you have Roku.

Yesterday, I went to Bourdeaux, France, and have been to Marseilles, Tulum, Mexico, New Orleans, Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park,  Zion National Park, Sedona, Arizona, Banff, Alberta, Canada, Asheville/Boone/Blowing Rock, North Carolina, the Seychelles, the Maldives, Thailand, Amalfi, Italy, and many more - today, I might go to Greece :)

There are days that the menopause fatigue flashes and fibroid discomfort/nausea/breakthrough bleeding kicks in and I crave and can't do the full 20 minutes, but I find that even if I can't do the full 20, just getting my heart rate up a bit and the exercising helps all of the above.  

Though it's true that your muscles really are weaker during menstruation and menopause, exercise really does help all of it, once you get past the initial start and sometimes a flare of a hot flash when you're heart rate goes up - but since you're trying to sweat anyway, it's no big deal - and I find the hot flashes are better overall, too.  (Of course, the hormones to help shrink the fibroid are helping that as well;)  If the discomfort, nausea, and sudden fatigue flashes are super bad, I might skip entirely, but that's only happened twice.  

Otherwise, on we go - I have much more energy and after D's experience, I want to make sure my lungs are more conditioned and I'm stronger, just in case there's ever a COVID fight ;)

On Justices and Justice ... And The Lack Thereof ...

(PS added) 

University of Kentucky students gathered at the Wildcat statue at Memorial Hall, here in Lexington, to protest the Breonna Taylor decision. 

The protest was peaceful and there were zero violent incidences reported, but four protesters were detained - we're not sure why yet. 

I said this the other day, when I heard the verdict, and I understand Breonna Taylor's family is in hopes for the same thing now - but I'm afraid there may be a catch. 

I said I was glad the FBI did a separate investigation - with blatantly different results than Kentucky law enforcement - because it means they CAN step in with their own federal trial if unsatisfied with local results - and we can all hope that if so, the FBI at least SAYS HER NAME - which the Commonwealth of Kentucky did NOT do, when reading the outcome of the trial - as if she never existed and her life had no value at all.

*HOWEVER* - and I'm not 100% sure - but I believe their may be a catch - I believe President Trump can stop an FBI investigation/trial or the DOJ can? 

A federal trial would NOT be the SCOTUS immediately, unless a federal judge punts it or the federal case is appealed to the SCOTUS - and a federal judge would be DOJ's jurisdiction.

As for a new SCOTUS to replace RBG, I haven't much to say - I'm not surprised they'd pick one in an election year, despite the GOP hypocritical bashing that possibility when Obama was in office - I mean, really, are you surprised with that hypocrisy?  

All the GOP bellyaching about "abuse of power" and "lack of transparency" and "authoritarianism/communism," when Obama was SCOTUS, only to turn right around and be power-abusing, Communist-behaving, opaque decision-makers and abject lies about those decisions - no one should be surprised lol. 

(The modern GOP - and especially Trump - love to project their own motivations and what they would do, onto other people, in deflection of their own misdeeds - and it keeps working :/)

What I AM surprised at is that there hasn't been a constitutional amendment for us to vote on SCOTUS judges yet, rather than  presidential appointment, despite the fact that this has always been a bone of contention in this country?

Nor why they are allowed to serve for life - most people have trouble getting their parents and grandparents to stop driving, if they feel their judgment is impaired, past a certain age - so how would you stop one from ruling on cases? lol

In fact, I can't understand why our forefathers didn't foresee that becoming a problem, or why they did it in the first place, considering at the time, they were trying to avoid too much power in one person's hands after an oppressive king abusing power, and the SCOTUS is the supreme law of the land?

I mean, I get it somewhat - the idea was supposed to balance power between the parties over time rather than short-term - but it's turned out to be nothing but political-battles creator. 

I don't know, maybe Congress just likes to fight and wants us to fight over it - and it's clear this president does :)

I'd still be okay with Congress grilling them first in congressional hearing  - but I'd also like to see the same for a voted-in President ;)



_________________

PS - I understand that Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal have drawn flack for saying that Breonna Taylor's case shouldn't be "lumped in" to the same category as George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, because Breonna's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired on police raiding/barging in, thinking they were an intruder/Breonna's ex-boyfriend.

That's true - and I get where they're coming from - but again, Breonna wasn't armed, she was lying in bed, and no crime had been committed - and despite what police claimed, all but one witness said police did not identify themselves upon entry.

The Perfect Retort to Trump, if I was Prince Harry and Megan ...

 

So yesterday, a reporter asked Trump:

“Prince Harry and Meghan Markle chimed in on the U.S. election and essentially encouraged people to vote for Joe Biden. I wanted to get your reaction to that?"

Trump replied:

"I’m not a fan of hers, and I would say this, and she probably has heard that. I wish a lot of luck to Harry because he's going to need it."

I doubt Harry will stoop to Trump's level, but if he did, I hope he would Tweet something like: 

"Thank you!  We wish Melania the same luck, every single day :)"

____________________

*I have updated the original post on the family member hospitalized COVID below.  Little known fact, sometimes COVID attacks the kidneys as well - see link provided in that post :(

Breonna Taylor Grand Jury Ruling is In: One Officer Indicted on Wanton Endangerment (But Not for Breonna's Death), Other Officers Not Charged ...

*Updated

A wanton endangerment charge - *for the bullet that landed in her neighbor's apartment - NOT for Breonna's death.*

Here's the definition of wanton endangerment, according to Kentucky Law: 

"(1)A person is guilty of wanton endangerment in the first degree when, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person. 

(2) Wanton endangerment in the first degree is a Class D felony."

Okay, being that we have friends that are cops and friends who are people of color - and friends who are cops of color - I have tried every which way in the world to make sense of this ruling, looking at it from both sides.

However, the fact is -  this ruling just doesn't make any sense.

Because if the reason they were shooting at Kenneth - who shot first, thinking they were her ex-boyfriend barging in - was self-defense - then why make any charges at all?

And you're telling me the stray bullet in the neighbor's apartment is legally considered wanton endangerment, but shooting Breonna 5 times, while she lay unarmed in bed, isn't wanton endangerment?

Erm - did y'all not read the legal definition of wanton endangerment, according to Kentucky law?!?

Dohkay, Daniel "Uncle Tom" Cameron.

Seriously - there is no way to look at this ruling that makes any sense at all.

I at least expected the charges related to her death, and at the very least, a charge of manslaughter?!?

But her death as the result of stray bullets fired at Kenneth isn't even legally wanton endangerment - just the bullet that went into the neighbor's door??

No other charges were made, to include the other officers who participated in the "no-knock" raid.

And again, may I remind you that this was a wrongful raid - Breonna's ex-boyfriend was using her address, to have packages delivered to her address, that he picked up, without her knowledge. 

This isn't enough, and really, it makes no sense - and I know it won't be enough to stop protests and rioting.

Louisville may be set on fire, later tonight. We shall see.

God, help us :(

#JusticeforBre 

#NoJusticeNoPeace

Oh, Yeah ... The Bronco Is Back :)

(Updates on the family member hospitalized with COVID will be added to the original post.)

So, a few months ago, we started thinking about buying a new car, but they've changed the Nissan Murano model, and though it's a great SUV, and was very unique, a few years ago, they changed the body style - to look like every other cookie-cutter SUV :/

I was like, "Let's wait, all the SUVs seem to look alike, right now, they're so boring! Surely somebody will come out with one that doesn't look exactly like all the others again?"

In fact, I specifically mentioned, "What happened to the little 2-door Ford Bronco? That size was perfect, and safer than a Jeep Wrangler, and ran better, too."

My cousins had a Ford Bronco, years ago, and I loved that little 2-door SUV.  I couldn't figure out why they discontinued it.  

Wish granted!  I had no idea they were working on these!

The 2021 Ford Bronco!

Except they now come in not only both two-door and four door, but they also now have a lower-clearance "sport" model, and they come in an array of colors, body-styles, and engine sizes.  The prices will range from $28,500 for the base 2-door model, all the way up to the luxury off-road 4-door at $65,000.

Thank God, I was getting super tired of seeing the same 5 basic colors, over - gun metal, white, black, silver,  cobalt blue - on basically the same body style, regardless of company. 

I haven't researched how it tests, yet, on safety, gas mileage, etc., and I know Ford is, well, Ford, dipping in quality in recent years, with the exception of their trucks, so we can only hope it has the Ford truck quality.

They're kind of like a Bronco + Land Rover + Jeep Wrangler combo - and they are AWEsome!

In fact, one of the two-door models is already sold out in presales.

Emmy Social-Distancing Fails, But CORE's Table Read of Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a Winner :)

(Note:  Updates on the family member with COVID will be added to the original post on the subject.)

So ... I had to stop watching the Emmys. Not because it was already weird, as the Emmys were being delivered to people's homes by people in ridiculous Hazmat-type suits, but because people were also having huge parties - with not just family - at their homes, and eventually took off their masks to hug each other  - and it made me incredibly nervous.

Interestingly, though those these "oops" moments were plentiful, there aren't a lot of pictures of them available (in fact even this one only shows a partial mask) which is probably an intentional good thing - more about a culture trying to maintain social distancing upkeep, rather than trying to hide it/be dishonest ;) 

Other people who visited the Staples auditorium, who despite being in otherwise funny (but slightly too mocking) skit about social distancing, got entirely too close to Jimmy Kimmel, neither of them wearing masks.  

In fact, though I can't find a picture of it, trust me, they got much closer then this without masks on ...

Jennifer Aniston, this means mostly you,  defeating the purpose about an otherwise funny skit about social distancing.  

As opposed to Tracee Ellis Ross, who did it right, and never got close enough to Jimmy for them to even get a picture together ...

Then you had a surprise Zoom visit by Lisa Kudrow and Courtney Cox at you home as a semi-Friends reunion, which I ordinarily would've been super excited about - if you weren't sitting so close together WITHOUT MASKS on!

All right, now, we love you all, but I'm gonna have to get my rant on a minute.

Just because you live together, or are a family on your shows, doesn't mean you are in real life - and shouldn't get that close together without wearing masks!

In fact, wasn't the production of Batman just halted because Robert Pattinson contracted COVID?

Look, I get it - we're all tired of social distancing, this could be your only shot at a win, and when people get together and get excited, it's natural to want to hug others and move closer to people - but that is exactly what continues to spread this virus, and what masks are for!

COVID does not care that you're a celebrity or that you just won an Emmy, or that this could be your only win - you are not immune.

Just because you are celebrities doesn't mean you're immune - as Tom Hanks, Robert Pattison, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Idris Alba, and many, many others have proven.

If you want to risk that, don't do it on camera, please?

My husband's stepdad is currently in the hospital with both COVID and pneumonia, in the fight of his life - not so funny when it hits home, is it?

(In fact, Mark walked out of the room during the Jennifer Aniston/Jimmy Kimmel "fumigation" skit, angry that they were, in his words, "mocking" the dangerousness of COVID.  I'm not sure I took it the same way, but with his stepdad in the hospital, I get it. )

If you're role models -act like it - especially if you're my self-proposed liberals who supposedly support science!

I turned it off not long after Mark left the room and saw the Schitt's Creek winners removing their masks and hugging - it was making me crazy - nervous and frustrated for the spread of COVID - so I turned it off, sorry :/

Now -  rant over :)

And just so as not to be too hard on Jennifer Aniston - because I actually otherwise really like Jennifer Aniston -  here's an example of where she did a good thing - the cold table read, via Zoom, of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." 

The event was sponsored by CORE (Community Organized Effort Relief), all of the donations and proceeds going to CORE, to provide free testing and support, and starred Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Jimmy Kimmel, Julia Roberts, Matthew McConnaughey, John Legend, Shia Lebeouf, Ray Liotta, Henry Goulding, Sean Penn, and Dane Cook, with narrated screen direction by Morgan Freeman.

If you haven't seen it, the full video is  below, and worth a watch - both for Shia Labeouf's take on Spiccoli - which Sean Penn, the original Spiccoli, got a big kick out of) - or  for Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt's re-enactment of the red bikini fantasy scene via Zoom, which was both awkward and adorable, considering their ancient history together.  

Jennifer handled it like a pro, where as Brad was clearly a bit embarrassed - aw, he actually turned red. 

(Now, Brad, you know you deserved that embarrassing moment, after publicly humiliating her by leaving her for Angelina Jolie, didn't you? Good for you, for taking it on the chin for charity ;)

All the other actors clearly were interested in this moment - even Shia Labeouf broke character for a second to directly watch them on Zoom screen - with Julia Roberts having the best lip-biting-smile reaction over it - do you blame them?  

Thank God that Morgan Freeman was there to transition it along  (but did include a "Lord have mercy" lol)

And if nothing else, it's worth a watch for Brad Pitt in the pirate hat? lol

Or just looking at Brad Pitt, I couldn't stop staring - even though he was a bit disheveled, and at first, I thought he was going to play Spiccoli lol. 

Brad Pitt has almost the same effect on me that Paul Newman and Alexander Dreymon has on me onscreen, I just can't stop staring - ever since I first saw him in Thelma and Louise!

(Yes, my husband knows, he gets the same way about certain women like Angelina Jolie or Michelle Yeoh lol).

My God, he's so sexy - I mean, look at him - that man is 56 years old and genetically blessed, it's crazy!

This video really revealed that Jennifer Aniston had more plastic surgery than he even thought about (her face looks a bit - distorted, especially around the mouth?), and he still looks THAT good! 

Speaking of bad plastic surgery, what the hell happened to Dane Cook's face!?!

People used to confuse him with Ryan Reynolds ...

(Ryan Reynolds and Dane Cook in the mid-2000s)

Yeah, that's not going to happen ever again, jeez.

And just in case you're wondering why he fell off the planet in general, circa 2010, it's because first, several other comedians accused him of stealing their material, and then his brother, who was his manager, stole all his money and is now in prison.

In fact, I'd feel sorry for him, if it weren't for stealing other people's material:/

And I'm not against plastic surgery, and might someday get Botox or a nip and tuck here and there, if I had the money - but this is what happens when you go plastic surgery nuts!

And don't do fillers, people - ever! 

(Fillers always do a bad job, they're not where they need to be yet! 

That's clearly what Jennifer and Dane have had done, in addition to Dane's botched facelift.  Fillers makes the area around the filler injection lumpy, especially around the mouth).

Look at Brad and Julia, who although do appear to have Botox sometimes (especially Julia),  otherwise allows a few wrinkles or signs of aging, with no weird lumps and stretches around the mouth, beyond the normal that accrue with age - again, even with Julia, Botox, not fillers.

Anyway, without further ado, I give you the Zoom cold table read of  the script of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" :)

You probably want to skip past Mayor Garcetti's speech, which goes on entirely too at the beginning (almost a full 5 minutes), just saying ;)

By the way, just in case you were worried that Shia had a relapse, because he's acting so weird and wasted even during the pre-read interview, no worries, it's not a relapse - Shia is a method actor, he's in character the entire time, even in the pre-show interview, because that's just what Shia does - it's method acting :)

Go Shia! Back on the A-list, where he belongs!

Okay, I've already spoken ad nauseum about my adoration for Shia's acting skills and joy that they've accepted him back on the A-list, so I'll stop. 

And no, that's not real weed, and I'm not sure about the cigarettes - Hollywood does have fake cigarettes and weed for smoke effect, you know :)

Temporary Perk-Up for a Worn Sofa ...

I will update the post below with the condition of the family member with COVID and pneumonia, I mentioned, but in the meantime, the pillows I ordered last week arrived today, so just trying to keep myself busy and distracted with arranging them in the meantime. 

So ... our dogs had pretty much destroyed our sofa - which is okay, they were worth it (RIP Snuggy Pug)  :)

However, sofas often require try-before-you-buy for comfort, we'd prefer not to try out a multitude of sofas with other people that refuse to wear masks, plus we've got to budget one in; thus,  we decided to just give the old one a temporary perk-up with some cheap throw pillows and a throw blanket :) 

Now, I love embroidered, Turkish, kilim, Native-American/Southwestern, and tribal-style tapestried pillows - all of which, I guess, is kind of incorporated into the term "Boho Chic," these days. 

However, Mark doesn't dig reds (and most Kilims contain at least some red), authentic ones are pretty pricey, and we're just talking about meantime accents until we're ready for the new sofa, right?

So everything you see here - including the dark-chocolate throw was on sale - for a grand total of $75.

Of course the sofa itself still looks a bit worse for wear, but it's a meantime fix? 

I'm thinking the rope pillow covers may little need a little ironing after shipment, hmm ...

However, it's almost time for fall decorating, pumpkins, leaf garlands, wreaths etc. - so I may add 2 copper/deep orange rust pillows to blend with my fall garlands etc. -

For now, I just bought 2 leaf pillow covers (I already had the pillow inserts, which I also bought on sale a couple of months ago. I just change out the covers seasonal or if I just want to change the colors) - and I'm not sure about them :/

Because the problem with buying stuff online is, until you get them and see them in your lighting, you don't know if they'll blend - and everything does but these leaf pillows, which came out slightly darker cream than I wanted, and they may be too much/too many pillows?

Hmm, I think the arrangement in the picture below may work better the one in the pic above, but I'm still not sure ... 

If you have to arrange them a certain way to blend, that kind of defeats the purpose of "throw pillows," doesn't it? :)

Don't get me wrong, like I said, I'm all about the kilim multi-pillowed look, but these aren't true kilim and I'm just trying to incorporate a little fall, but I'm not sure this works, what do you think?

I may add small dark orange rust/copper rectangular pillows instead, and put the leaf pillows on the bed, we shall see :)