Sounds great, sj. (And I almost never trust compliments, either. Also, some of the ones I've gotten in fact suck, such as "If I had to do what you do, I'd kill myself!" which, I think is supposed to mark my fortitude, but is, honestly, the Absolute Worst. But because they sounded complimentary--if you don't think about the words, I've said "Thank you!" to that more than a few times. Also, "so brave1!"

I saw your pix on FB, sj, and you did indeed look fabulous!

I’m bad at this because (similar to weight stuff) it is slow progress.

This has been a topic of discussion with my therapist, as both Pilates and Ozempic work incrementally. I have been able to make considerable progress on both fronts, but it's taken months and months. I've been stuck at a frustrating plateau with the weight loss and I'm really trying to bear down and be strictly disciplined to push through.

Fortunately, there's the immediate dopamine hit of just getting my eyebrows down, or the bigger relief of both Emmett and Matilda getting some traction and forward movement after years for them both being stuck. That was a low-lying anxiety that was always running in the background.

As for finances, we were so poor for so long that we couldn't even afford to get in debt as we were struggling from paycheck to paycheck. That did teach me many frugal skills, and I'm only just now starting to unclench from that as my finances are more than secure.

One way I can tell that Matilda is looking forward to college? She's as obsessively focused on putting her dorm room together with her new roommate, as she was packing her trunk for camp. So she's ready to make a change and commit to it.

Last night she came out and wanted me to watch the short movie of the 10 minute version of Taylor Swift's "All Too Well" and discuss the lyrics and how great they are. (Deb would be pleased by this, no doubt.).

She said "All of my friends know all the lyrics to the 10 minute version of 'All Too Well.'" Which would be more impressive to me if I hadn't watched Matilda and all of her friends learning the entire score to Hamilton when they were in elementary school.

She also made me watch Olivia Rodrigo videos with further lyric dissection.

Last night my friend Jes (who is painting my back steps), and her Drag House did a performance at Booksmith, and it was really fun seeing a drag show in that venue. The theme was "classics" and they all did performances based on classic books (Phantom of the Opera, Wuthering Heights etc.). It's going to be a monthly event.

Erika, been there heard that before, as well as the fake happy condescending tone from strangers way too often.