He really does look rather regal here but I think he’s trying to lure me into a false sense of security; I still think Alex is upset about the continuing construction in the house. 😼🐈📷

📷 Going on a walk during the lunch break always helps clear my head. 🙃

🍿 As it’s Halloween, of course we’re watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. 🎃
★★★★☆

I suspect I’m going to start decorating for Christmas tomorrow; it’s been a rough year and I could use the extra “holiday” time. 🎄

This has to be the buggiest version of WatchOS I’ve ever used. 😭 Even after an erase / reset, the battery is draining too fast. The heart rate complication doesn’t work anymore. Now I can’t get into the widgets, which means a restart. What is going on at Apple?! 😱

Took three weeks but the burial is over, the slide show is done, and everyone cried; I feel like I can finally start grieving now. 💔 On the plus side, I did get to hang out with my cousins today, which was lovely, along with some aunts and other family. 😁

Goodbye Grandma, I’ll miss you always. ❤️

Random Thought: Yea, this sounds about right, once the price is outside of what most “normal” people would consider reasonable, piracy increases… 🏴‍☠️

Yup, he’s still not happy with the construction…it’s almost done but I can tell he’s plotting our downfall. 😼😹🐈📷

It was just starting to feel like autumn but this week…not so much. 🍂

Alex is not amused by the construction going on in the house. 🙀🐈📷

I’ve been bashing my head against the Micro.blog theming system, trying to get it matching the one on my primary website but given the time of day, it’s time to shutdown and try again tomorrow. 😱😮‍💨

Listening to Mishima / Closing… 🎵

I’m not sure why it’s affecting me so much but as soon as this song came on (listening to random “for you” playlist on Apple Music, I started thinking about Grandma. 💔 It’s a little odd b/c this wasn’t her type of music but here we are, the brain is odd.

I’m very excited about the upcoming live-action the Last Airbender series. 🙌🏻 I loved the original series on Nickelodeon and while we don’t talk about the movie that came out a while ago (worst movie I’ve ever seen), things are looking good for the Netflix version. 😄

I was hoping to start swapping my media server from it’s tower case into my new Slinger CX4712 case over the weekend…but life got in the way. Fingers crossed I can get to it this week, I don’t want to impact any end users. 🤞🏻📷

Yes, I might be called “basic” but ‘tis the season… 🎃☕️📷

Went to a hardware store last night (my Partner is ripping up the carpet and putting in new flooring) and as we walked in, we were assaulted with Christmas cheer. Given the past few weeks, I was digging it but a couple walked in after us and one of them was complaining it was too early for Christmas stuff. 🎄 I was inclined to disagree but I didn’t say anything…just smiled beneath my mask. 📷

Friend of mine encouraged me to see if work offered bereavement leave…and they do, three days for a Grandparent. Rather lucky to have stumbled into working for this kind of company. 😁🥺 #MixedEmotions

Went to the office yesterday, in person, for the first time in over a year. No wonder I’m so exhausted today… 🤣 #WorkFromHome

“If I were a blessing, I’d run around naked”

As always, we can count on the Golden Girls to cheer us up and offer a bit of truth with humor.

We said goodbye to my oldest friend this weekend, my lovely Grandma. She’s been…or was…a constant presence in my life, for as far back as I can remember. In fact, my oldest memories involve her, helping her bake cookies, hiding under the table with the bag of brown sugar…or waffles on Sunday morning. She was always just “Grandma” to me but as I moved from childhood to adolescence, into adulthood, she somehow became one of my dearest friends. Even when she turned 101 this summer, we all thought she’d just keep going and going but a few weeks ago, she suffered a stroke and has been slowly drifting away from us…and while I wish I could have just turned back the clock a couple years, for everything to be back to normal, I’m so very happy the family was able to visit her one last time on Friday to say a proper goodbye to her…and that the final words she said to me was that she was proud of me and grateful I’d been such a big part of her life.

I’m going to miss you so much Grandma, thank you for being a Friend. ❤️💔

📷 This photo is from the tail-end of her 97th birthday dinner. As the years went on, it was harder and harder for her to get out of her retirement home, so we’d just bring a birthday dinner to her. She absolutely loved Olive Garden, so we brought her favorite: eggplant Parmesan, along with a giant piece of chocolate cake…and a random gift; Grandma would always say she didn’t need any presents, as it would just be more things to go through once she passed away but I would always joke after you hit 90, you deserved something to mark the occasion. After we sang happy birthday to her and she blew out the candles, we were being silly and she ended up with a bow on her head, laughing. She had the absolute best laugh…and I would give anything to hear it one last time.

🍿 “It’s just a little Hocus Pocus!" 📷
★★★☆☆

An annual tradition with my Girls from University, we started watching the movie (and pigging out) outside during the Pandemic and have just kept that as part of our Autumn event.