Bastet

I just saw that one. It's a coy version of the one I'm used to (the "It's 2021, I think everyone knows that women poop" one previously discussed here), that keeps cutting away as the women are about to say "poop" and replaces it with the juvenile "number two" in the end. I prefer the just say it; probiotics help you poop version, especially because it's women addressing a male narrator (and I love their line delivery, particularly the "Are you poopsplaining me right now/I'm not going to say pooppowerment" actor's), so I went looking, and found this article:

Also, it's a long story, but there's someone in a nearby neighborhood who needs in-home pet boarding for her cat for much of the summer, and when her usual sitter flaked at the last minute, I agreed to let the cat stay in my bonus room (which is attached to my garage, separate from my house, so my cat doesn't even know there's an invader) for a long weekend. The cat loved it here, and loved me (and, of course, I became immediately attached to the cat), so the owner asked if I could take over as the sitter. She's already spent another week and a half with me, will be back tomorrow for another long stay, and then will be with me almost all of August. While Riley is napping, I get to go spend time with this cutie:

He doesn't have a name yet (maybe Trouble, which is what my friend is calling him for now), but I have a new nephew. He's about three months old, and was part of a litter pulled from the shelter and fostered. He is super chill; the second I met him, he was trying to dash past me to get out of the laundry room my friend had put him in when she brought him home, and when I scooped him up, he just rubbed my face and kneaded my shoulder while purring quite loudly. Then we played for nearly an hour straight. Looking at his adorable zebra belly and striped legs, you would assume he's a grey tabby, but when you flip him over, he's solid grey on his back and sides. And he has a few tabby stripes on his forehead, but then they stop, like whoever created his markings ran out of ink. Her other cats were not amused, but they're already coming around. And her husband is happy, because this is finally a cat he can cuddle (the others don't pay any attention to him).

That's my universe, too. I don't want someone to stand there waiting for me to answer, but I definitely want them to knock/ring to alert me to the presence of a package (I don't get text notifications, and the "your package has been delivered" email comes after it has been sitting out there a while). USPS and UPS usually do, but FedEx is terrible about it.

I hardly ever watched the show, but I used to play the Family Feud game that was part of Microsoft's game package. That was short-lived, though, because it quickly became clear I do not respond to those questions the same way most people do. I could usually get the number one answer, although it was often my second or third answer, but probably half of my other answers didn't even appear. I was better in the final round, but it just wasn't very fun to play, so I quit.

That was inevitable, given the circumstances revealed at the time reports of his death were greatly exaggerated, but no less sad; 57 is too young to die. As someone who couldn't carry a tune with a forklift, the success of the goofy, tone-deaf "You Say He's Just a Friend" always made me laugh. I don't know anything else about him, but I enjoy that song.

I think the only other thing I've seen Donal Logue in is as himself on some of those "I Love the [Decade]" shows on VH-1, where he was only slightly less greasy and gross as he was as Chuck, so I figured it was just him. Whatever combination of writing and casting, I thought Chuck was a big dud, and it was awful for Susan to marry and procreate with him (not to mention naming their spawn Cosmo). At least it was revealed in the end she'd ditched him. Because I have strangely clear memories of watching episodes of that era with a friend when we happened to be hanging out together on a Thursday night (we were young then; we could drink and stay up late and be fine the next day) and her always working herself into a near tizzy complaining about how downright yucky he was, and me laughing at the degree of her reaction but agreeing with the underlying sentiment.

Has Joel Osteen joined the J! writing staff or something? There seem to be more bible clues than there used to be. (I mean, any religion/mythology clue or category is not likely to go well for me, and that's obviously on me, but at least mix it up more!) I know I'm not the first to mention this, and I'm sorry I can't recall who has brought it up before, but it bugs me and today turned out to be the day I was in a bad enough mood to complain about it. Putting me in a better mood, I smiled at how happy George Stephanopoulos visibly was as he gave his closing remarks about enjoying this chance to guest host. I missed three in subtitles (it would have been two, as I knew Evangeline, but I couldn't spit it out in time), and one in Grammy winners, but got everything else in the first round. In DJ, though, I only ran SEC and 6-letter words. I was terrible in the pop culture category, only getting the first two (which really bugged me, as I'm usually quite good at before & after categories, but it being about pop culture - where I'm hit and miss - did me in; I often only knew one part and couldn't guess my way to the other in time). I missed three in High as well. At least in Science & Nature and On Life I only missed one each. I correctly guessed FJ, even though Mazarin meant nothing to me and I had no idea the Gutenberg Bible was known as anything else, just because mentioning a cardinal made me figure it was a Christian text and, given the time frame - and my limited knowledge of religious texts - the Gutenberg Bible was all I could think of. I kind of thought that was going to turn out to be a stupid answer, but instead it turned out to be a situation where my ignorance served me well. I'll take it!

I never thought about it that way; you raise a good point. And now I want a root beer float, which I haven't had in probably 30 years.

I don't eat a lot of processed cheese, but the House of Flavor line from Yancey's Fancy offers several exceptions. I love the wasabi horseradish cheddar, and the smoked gouda with bacon and habanero & jalapeño cheddar are good, too. Today I had the steakhouse onion cheddar and that's seriously good - it's like a much more onion-y version of the Trader Joe's caramelized onion cheddar. I want to try the other hot pepper cheddars, especially the ghost pepper one, but I haven't found them anywhere locally.

Those are some of my favorite lines of the scene, too, and I also love Christina's "You must try not to worry about it" when Hilary is on about what she must be going through.

Yes. The best part of that is when Doug coaches Mark on what to say in breaking it off, and then Chuny walks up to Mark and ends it using the very line he was going to use.

As an attorney, Judith is going to have to live down her patent answer for the copyright clue, but I was rooting for her. The church TS surprised me, with religion ruled out. I missed two literary initials (Rowling and Eliot) and one in lights out (Morpheus), but otherwise ran the first round. In DJ, I managed to only miss two (the two TS) in the Bible category - granted, I didn't know any of them, but I correctly guessed the first three and that's a success - but I also missed two each in Thomas Paine (the two TS again), -ologies (the two TS yet again, so at least I was often in good company), architects, and musicals (it should have been one; I'd have never known Little Shop of Horrors, but I cannot believe I didn't come up with The King and I based on the clue) - science was the only category I ran. And I had no idea for FJ. So, after round one I was pretty off my game tonight.

Going back to cashiers having to know all those produce codes, I just came from my local market, where I picked up some peanuts and eight types of produce. None of those eight were among the things that have a sticker or band with the code on it, so the cashier had to know them all (and she did). Because this recent discussion was on my mind, I took a bit of a glance around even at stuff I wasn't buying today, and very little of the produce I regularly buy does have the code on it anywhere - mostly just the apples.

I hadn't heard that song, so I just listened to it and the video (Instagram? TikTok?) where Willow sang a bit of it live, and I think she is quite a talented vocalist for her age, yet for some reason I think the song would have worked better with her only joining in on the chorus rather than also having her solo bit at the end. And I always worry whether kids genuinely have an artistic passion to this degree or just want to please a parent by sharing something with them and the parent runs way too far with it instead of letting the kid be a kid. But I like Pink's music and the very little I know of her personally, so hopefully this was a fun thing for them to do together.

If it showed a woman shaving off hair - as razors are designed to do and as they're shown doing in commercials for men's razors - instead of shaving already bare skin (since showing hair would be gross, of course - when it grows out of women's bodies, it becomes offensive 🙄 ), it was probably for Billie razors; they have great commercials. This isn't one of their best, but maybe it's the one you saw:

Then I would stash him away somewhere there whenever possible, deck him out in PPE when it's not (to send a message as well as offer him maximum protection), and keep your own distance from the selfish lot. It being outdoors will be a big help, with only 15 people, and you should be able to make this required attendance thing pretty safe.

What did you stuff them with? I didn't plant a garden this year because my back wasn't up for it, and my parents only planted tomatoes and corn for the same reason, but my friend is keeping me supplied with zucchini and crookneck squash from her garden, so I've still been able to enjoy squash blossoms. I'm always interested to hear what flavor combinations others use for stuffing them.

I figured the kid was staying home, and the concern was about being exposed and bringing the virus home to him, but I may have assumed too much.

I am really picky about vinegar; some I love on their own (balsamic is my favorite), some I like so long as they're more a flavor enhancer than a pronounced flavor, and many I cannot even be around. I can't clean my windows with heavily diluted white vinegar without making sure the room is well ventilated. And, oh, whatever nasty-ass stuff we dissolved the tablets into to dye Easter eggs when I was a kid? I had to go to the other side of the kitchen for all inactive time, and hold my breath for any time I spent standing there dipping the eggs.

The show is pre-empted for basketball here, so I just checked the archive. Thankfully, there were hardly any clues with visual aids, and not being able to see them didn't keep me from getting them right. The howl TS surprised me. I always enjoy the rhyme categories, and tonight's was no exception. I did okay in the first round, missing two in genius (technically one, but if I was watching I wouldn't have been able to spit out John Nash in time [I'd have remained stuck on "the guy Russell Crowe played"] so I have to count that one as a miss because of the time I took to come up with it), and one each in odd history and TV siblings (I'm surprised I didn't miss more of those, since I don't watch any of the shows). I did really well in DJ, only missing two protagonists and one in classical music (not a strong category for me, so I was pleased). I correctly guessed FJ.

I've cried at a couple of celebrity deaths - Katharine Hepburn and Myrna Loy - even though I didn't know them and they'd lived long, wonderful lives and then deteriorated such that being released from their suffering was a relief (there are far worse things than death). They were women whose performances touched and entertained me my whole life, who played roles I've watched over and over when in need of comfort, and who were among the few I knew a fair bit about as off-screen people, where I found them just as admirable in their passions, friendships, and activism. And there are a few other women I feel the same way about, and know I'll be just as, and possibly more, upset when they die. (Mary McDonnell and Gillian Anderson, especially - nothing can happen to you any time in the near future! Life has been hard enough lately.) But I don't regard any of that as stanning. I didn't/won't request bereavement leave, lock myself away with a bottle of vodka, threaten anyone who reacts with, "Eh, condolences to her loved ones, but I couldn't stand her," stalk the funeral/memorial, or anything like that.

"Hey, assholes, you know your 5-year-old family member who can't get vaccinated and is immunocompromised? He's one of the reasons it's important for you not to be selfish." No? Then, yeah, if you're going to go, keep your distance. Will they be wearing masks, or are they against that, too? Is it indoors or outdoors? With a better idea of how this gathering is going to be structured, we can brainstorm as a group to cover all the ways of reducing your exposure risk.

Many things do, especially at the chains (I only go in those occasionally, doing most of my shopping at a family-owned market that buys from local farms), but about half of what I buy doesn't. And if it's something that does, and I find one without, I choose that one, as I'm annoyed by peeling those buggers off. I use mesh reusable produce bags (for the stuff I put in bags; a lot I leave loose), and for things that are by piece rather than by weight, I combine them in one bag. So when the cashier picks up a mixed bag, I say, for example, "There's two green onion, one cilantro, one spinach, one arugula, one mint, and one Thai basil." And she/he/they just type away as I talk, entering the codes from memory.

I haven't had a chance yet to listen or read the transcript, but for anyone whose curiosity about conservatorships was piqued by the emerging details of Britney Spears's case: In honor of disability pride month, the ACLU's podcast, At Liberty, is doing a few episodes looking at the conservatorship/guardianship system; the first one uses Britney's case (in which the ACLU submitted an amicus brief in support of her right to select her own attorney) as a launching pad to discuss the issues.