Bits & Pieces |13

➟ Aside from my personal hellscape, an estimated 40 million people could face eviction. The moratoriums only apply if the tenant can prove they were impacted by covid-19 apparently
➟ podcast: Rebel Steps- Rent Strikes 4: Eviction Defense
➟ the world feels especially cruel this morning as a new season of The Mandalorian hits Disney+ on the same day my 1 year free subscription ends
➟ it’s also the day before my favorite holiday and anniversary and I’m just going to stay home and watch Rocky Horror
➟ I finally qualified for unemployment which will not be much but it’s better than nada. $159/week
➟ car fixed yesterday: $182
➟ thank you to people who dropped some money in my venmo and paypal recently ❤
➟ asking for and accepting money feels so incredibly weird since so many people are in the same and worse situations
➟ we’re going to look at a trailer that’s for sale today. “Vintage” 1968.
➟ I will never stop being annoyed that Tiny House Living is cool but trailers are trashy

Emm, Not Emma is always a bright spot in my day

Bits & Pieces |The Shitshow Version?

• 

⇻ distance learning is exhausting and I’m not even the teacher
⇻ yesterday we got in the car to go vote and the entire exhaust system fell off the car. Seriously. Just… flump. On the ground.
⇻ obviously we didn’t vote yesterday
⇻ our landlord who owns the trailer we rent hasn’t paid lot rent to the trailer park since APRIL.
⇻ Gov Cuomo said there’s a moratorium on evictions yet I was served a 30 day notice yesterday
⇻ But I should clarify: *I* wasn’t served, my landlord was but they don’t know where she is so they served it here . Well, plus we had to be notified since we live here.
⇻ They’re evicting the entire piece of shit trailer
⇻ we qualify for FHA & USDA loans home loans but that was our plan for Spring because it’s not a short process.
⇻ I have 30 fucking days to figure out where to live. In the middle of a fucking pandemic.
⇻ And I have no money.
⇻ And the stupid car needs fixed.
⇻ Again.
⇻ I hate everything
⇻ I also have election anxiety on top of it all.
⇻ Mixed with sad- rage over Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation.
⇻ sprinkle in the fury over fascists and racists simply existing here in 2020, I’m a fucking mess.

Bits & Pieces |12

☼ Day 5 of distance learning. Settling into a routine. Heard, “But I hate school. Why do you have to torture me like this?” this morning, but he grabbed the chromebook and joined the morning meeting like a champ.

☼ But he asked if he can skip PE this afternoon and really, PE online is so weird so maybe. What are they gonna do? Come to our house and make him run laps?

☼ Someone asked how many masks I’ve made and truthfully I could not tell you. I haven’t kept track but during the course of the past few months I’ve purchased 500 sew in labels and I have no more of those, and in the beginning of mask making I didn’t use any. Plus, I didn’t bother putting labels in a lot that I sewed to donate. So, somewhere between 500 and 750?

☼ I am making these ASAP because I can never find the right lid for food containers. DIY Beeswax Wraps
Looks like you can buy beeswax pellets for $9-$13 so fairly affordable since it can replace disposables you have to keep buying over and over. Easy DIY if you have fabric scraps and an iron.

☼ I was showed the part of tiktok yesterday where teenagers living in hoarding and abuse situations document their whole situation. Hard to watch but thank the gods and goddesses for modern technology and teenagers who know how to use it. Sounding the alarm like they’re doing may be the only way to get help.

☼ Also, long live tiktok and whatever future versions come into being.

Bits & Pieces |11

✩ Day 3 of distance learning. Very tired, grumpy kid just grabbed his school chromebook and stayed in bed during morning meeting. Stuck a piece of tape over the camera: “I’m not ready to face the world”

✩ I keep thinking about some of these school’s rules I see around social media for distance learning and feel blessed. Our schedules feel manageable with a lot of breaks. As long as kids are engaging and not being distracting to themselves or anyone else, no one cares if they grab a blanket to wrap around them or sit at somewhere other than a desk or table or wear basically pajamas.

✩ I’ve saved so much money not having to buy school clothes this year. Well, maybe not A LOT since I secondhand shop only but still.

✩ Well, this is gross. Scammers target SNAP recipients . Because things don’t suck enough right now scammers just gotta make it harder for struggling folks.

✩ Here in NY we have that weird haze from California wildfires.

✩ I’m currently listening to one of my teen’s teacher’s ask, “What are some ways we can ensure everyone has access to fresh produce and other food” and I yelled all the answers. My kid just sits there and sighs. He never talks in classes. He wants to unmute his mic so everyone can hear me rant because none of these kid’s know.

✩ I just saw that clip of Trump arguing with someone in California about how climate change isn’t real and it’s going to get colder soon. Like…an ice age? Or because it’s almost winter?

✩ Trumpets and Qanon dingdongs arguing with epidimiologists and climate scientists on social media is one of the most baffling things that I cannot look away from. Just…how.

Bits & Pieces |10

1. School is happening via home/distance learning and so far it’s going well but it is only the second day
2. Our district gave families a choice on in-person or distance and we chose distance learning for the 5th grader and in-person (2 days/week) for high schooler
3. I’m sick of making masks but schools in my district will be open for in-person on October 5th so I’m still making at least kid and teacher masks until then.
4. I NEED to be creating literally anything else besides masks for my own sanity soon
5. my husbeast won $500 on a $5 scratch off ticket yesterday
6. we bought good beer and nice beer brats. Also, got my sewing machine fixed.
7. y’all know the rest of that money is already spent on stupid things like bills
8. my daughter who I hadn’t seen since December is visiting from Philly until Wednesday
9. 3 of my other adult offspring have moved back to the area in the past month
10. I don’t think the 4th is interested in moving back ::sad face::
11. I’ve been feeling pretty depressed lately.
12. I imagine we’re all going through a lot of those feelings right now
13. And I’m probably doing well compared to many.
14. Fuck you, money people and your emotionally manipulative commercials that effectively makes me cry
15. we never got our pandemic EBT *adds to to-do list:call number to find out what da heck is happening*
16. Call made. “We are still mailing notification letters and cards through September”
17. I think our total is $840 for P-EBT – very helpful grocery money about now
18. School is still providing lunches to all students here but right now it’s pick-up only and we can only get them 1 or 2 days a week.
19. I have an abundance of tomatoes to can this week.
20. Peppers to pickle,too

Bits & Pieces |9

Wow, am I in a funk.
All these bits are things I saved in bookmarks over the past I don’t know how long.

→ Everything is cake (and I hate it)
→ GROWN MAN PUTS ON SEATBELT FOR FIRST TIME AFTER SUMMER OF CAR WRECKS
→ A blonde raccoon eating cherries loudly while wearing a tie bib
→ The best podcasts of 2020 so far
→ the way media portrays disabled people is gross
→ epic rap battle
→ horror fans are coping with the pandemic better than most (this reminds me of studies that show people with anxiety are often true crime fans?)
→ a guy making great chai

A baby “Indigo” tomato with first hints of purple

Bits & Pieces |8

× I’ve been thinking a lot about how no one seems to know about the 1918 Flu Pandemic
×  here’s a whole list of books, both fiction & non-fiction, about the 1918 Flu Pandemic
×  Daddy Cuomo isn’t doing his daily briefings anymore so here in NY,covid19 is just over I guess.
× My Mom calls him Andrew & will mention “Andrew” in conversations like he’s some guy who lives next door to her.
× One day I was on the phone with my Mom and Andrew’s Daily Briefing came on and she actually hung up on me, mid-conversation – “Oh,Andrew is on. Gotta go *click*”
×  I miss Maria DeCotis’s Cuomo videos but she’s still great to follow without them
× Has Bezos Decided To End World Hunger? is also a good Twitter follow. Consistent and consistently diappointing.

 

Bits & Pieces| 7

 

• researchers are conducting a study about gardening during covid-19
• Ianne Fields Stewart founded The Okra Project to address the hunger crisis facing Black transgender people today.
• Pandemic EBT is maybe probably going to get to us here in NY mid-July?
• I’m having a hard time shaking the feeling-fear that the “second wave” (honestly, can there be a 2nd wave if the 1st never ends?) of coronavirus will shut everything down again about the time pandemic EBT will make it to low income families but panic buying will prevent them from making the most of the extra help

my current view

Bits & Pieces| 6

♥ we have new neighbors who are very loud and I’m so happy because finally we’re not the only noisy ones here.
♥ look at this bear family playing on a backyard playground
♥  we’ve had numerous bear sightings in my area recently which is…not unheard of but also not super regular, especially in the city. More on the outskirts. Country bears,yes.
♥ my little bird nerd kid has enjoyed watching the the Cornell Red Tailed Hawk nest cam this Spring. The bebes are fledglings  now! 😭
♥ a playlist for ignoring dirty dishes
♥ it’s a cruel,cruel summer
♥ but my Gov’nor did make Juneteeth a state holiday so that was nice
♥ and all schools in my county will continue to have meals. Not delivered as they have been but mutual aid is networking to get meals to anyone who can’t pick up ♥

I think this is a ….swallow egg? Found on my morning walk