CW: If you determine "summer" as the months of June, July, and August, we're at the halfway point, and so far 2026 has been the summer of Expelling Things From Between My Legs. If you don't want to read about that, skip to the bold print. I made a run for the border after my neurology appointment a few weeks back, and got served the Michigan Taco Bell Cyclospora-coated lettuce on our tacos and crunchwraps. My whole family ate it. Looking at my calendar, I'm betting this thing has the lifespan of about a week... our symptoms coincided with a heat wave coming in, so we assumed it was a reaction to the heat, but it hit a week after we ate the contaminated food. And there's a definite upswing/downswing in symptoms since, so I'm guessing we've got the Circle of Life happening in our small intestines as we speak. Something tells me the "explosiveness" of the diarrhea has to do with the host's diet. We eat a lot of whole foods around here, I've definitely noticed those symptoms get worse the more processed the food is that I eat. There's also a lot of nausea, gas, and I'm waking up in the middle of the night with hiccups almost every night. And if you've ever heard the old wives tale that if your butthole itches, you have parasites... it's your butt crack, actually. Considering this is coming after a year and a half of GI issues, and I'm going into surgery in exactly three weeks where they'll be pumping me with prophylactic antibiotics and opioids that will both kill the parasite and mess my guts up hardcore, I'm going to give the good old fashioned cult remedies a try. Well. To an extent. Black walnut is obviously off the table, and while I have had plenty of absinthe in my time, I'm not too thrilled about the prospect of making my already plenty vivid dreams any crazier with wormwood. So, my grocery order today included the following: Oil of Oregano with Black Seed Oil capsules. The use there is pretty obvious. As of mid-morning post delivery, I've taken two doses, one before bed and one with my 3 cups of electrolytes when I woke up this morning. Raw, shelled pumpkin seeds, and hemp seed hearts. 2 liters of Mexican vanilla extract, one clear, one brown. I've been making a lot of desserts lately. With 2 & 3, I've made this version of my No-Bake Fudge Balls: No Bake Sweet & Spicy Seed Balls 1 15 oz can white beans, drained and rinsed 8 pitted medjool dates, chopped 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds 1/4 cup raw hemp seeds 1/4 cup ground flax seeds 1/3 cup raw honey 5 tablespoons raw coconut oil 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 tablespoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper heaping 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves Place your pumpkin seeds and hemp hearts in the food processor, and process until they're a fine meal. If your food processor doesn't get the pumpkin seeds fine enough, a clean coffee grinder should do it. Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor bowl, and process until the mixture is a smooth, stiff batter. Using a small spoon, portion out onto trays lined with wax or parchment paper, cover the balls with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until the spice balls set, 2-3 hours. Store in the refrigerator in a well-sealed container. I actually tried doing these bar style in an 8x8" pan, turns out they don't set properly when they're not individually balled out, even if you let them chill overnight. Speaking of my diet and my recipe blog, I may need to figure out how to edit videos... this is how it's been in the YouTube comments lately: Them: "Only rich people can afford to eat a whole foods diet lately, grocery prices are so high, and no one has the time or energy to cook from scratch." Me: "I'm the poorest person in this conversation, and I'm physically disabled so I only have so much energy to prepare my food each day, and I eat a whole foods diet out of necessity thanks to having five food allergies. You're describing a skill issue, not a money issue, and a skill issue is a lot easier to remedy than a money issue." And folks are starting to take notice. The other thing I learned via YouTube the other day is that Riot Grrl Is Back, just in time for my food content!! I'm absolutely greatly influenced by riot grrl ethos in all of my community work, including insisting on keeping un-monetized blogs that are accessible to use. People see the feminist punk music veneer right off the bat, but riot grrl and punk in general is based on the DIY/DIT (that's "do it together") philosophy, where alternative culture is constructed by peer education, where people in the community who know how to do something useful - everything from sewing clothes, to fermenting food, to your rights as a conscientious objector - share that information through semi-formal workshops (often held in conjunction with punk shows) and handwritten, Xeroxed "zine" booklets that could be passed around the community and mailed around the country. For the record, I was too young and too Midwestern to truly experience Riot Grrl v.1, but v.2 actually took off around the time of the recession, so I participated in a few Riot Grrl festivals in the early 2010's, and definitely used the connections I made there when I started community organizing in 2016. Wait long enough, and you go from the baby sister of the movement, to the Auntie writing the zines and leading the workshops 😅😅 Heh, speaking of, I also discovered MenoPunks this week, which seems fortuitous. It makes sense the OG Grrls are hitting peri & past and being like "yup, time to riot again." Anyway, I've had recipe zines in the works as a fundraiser for the 3 Witches Clothing Swaps (yet another riot grrl inspired community project I run) since our last Spring Swap, so this is perfect timing for a movement revival, thank you zeitgeist 🫶🏼

If I have personal experience with something, I can't enjoy a fictional account? Christopher Nolan's Odyssey movie just lost me with this picture of Anne Hathaway as Penelope: The casual reader is probably like "how the heck can you have personal experience with ancient Greece?" Well, casual reader, I have a BA in Classical Languages. I studied Attic Greek in college. I have a poster for a 24 hour performance of The Odyssey I participated in in 2008 hanging on a bookshelf in my bedroom. It was the first time I performed The Odyssey, but not the last. I've performed as both Odysseus and Penelope. Knowing the kinds of reactions Penelope can get from a crowd, and what I was doing with my face when I got those reactions, I do have concerns that Hathaway's chemically frozen face can do the job, or look at all authentic to the time period. But who cares about that last part? As someone who has not only researched but re-created and worn clothing from the time period... that dress is a big no from me, dawg. It looks like it's from Shein, sheesh. Now, at this point, you're probably thinking "it's a fantasy movie, did you freak out about the Lord of the Rings movies not being authentically medieval?" Coincidentally, I also have very similar experiences both studying and re-creating medieval life, and I can tell you that not only did they have better researched costume designers who knew how to nod to history properly, but fantasy-maxxing The Odyssey is like fantasy-maxxing Amazon's House of David series about the Biblical king. You're working with history so ancient it's been fused with mythology and religion. You have to be more respectful than filming a modern fantasy. Keep it kind of realistic, at least. This is The Odyssey, not Dune. That dress would be perfectly appropriate on Arrakis. And that's the problem for me. And yes, I realize that I'm one of a handful of people in the audience who even knows what all of this is supposed to look like, or has any familiarity with the source material. I'm not who they made this movie for. But it would be a better movie if I was the person they made the movie for! So say I, at least. And if it's "just a dress," it's going to be the whole design of the movie. And it will destroy me. I won't be able to enjoy anything else about the movie. By the way, this is not reserved just to adaptions of Classical literature. I got maybe 30% into Donna Tartt's The Secret History before giving it up. It was absolutely nothing like my own experience as a Classics student, and I wasn't in the mood to suspend my own experience, especially when the characters were all so unlikeable. I'm still friends with my fellow Classics alumni. And it's not just my college experience. I worked event security for IHL games from 2002-2007. I am absolutely not touching Heated Rivalry 😅😅 That security job also has me a little bit concerned for AMC's new TV adaption of The Vampire Lestat, which is sitting on my DVR waiting to be binged during my hysterectomy recovery. The job was for an arena, that hosted the city's IHL team as well as large touring shows, and I discovered and read through Anne Rice's books early in my time there - any backstage positions were allowed to have a book with them to kill time, I read Interview With The Vampire while working backstage when Barnum & Bailey was in town (boy, did that combo lead to some wild dreams), and read through The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned over a few concert load-ins... which means the show needs to nail both the source material and the backstage concert vibes, or I'll be mad 😅😅 And if you think that's bad, horror movies love/hate to see me coming. I actually adore horror movies, I use them therapeutically as a release valve for my anxiety. But as someone who actually does what Lorraine Warren did, and then went on to study how to do it with Hoodoo, too, and who has the obviously documented insistence on being "realistic"... I'm critical. Especially when the movie is about witchcraft. In conclusion: hey Hollywood, I'm right here! You have to work around my lemon body, but you get my crazy brain and backstory in exchange.

And the Tumor Twins are certified benign, as of about 15 minutes ago!! And as of August 5th, everything but the ovaries gets removed, anyway, so there's no chance of it going bad, ever. This is the best health news I've had in years. I am also in possession of the Devil's Diaper Wipes, as well as the Ensure carbohydrate drinks they load you down with before purposefully traumatizing your body in the name of health and healing. And I have been cleared by the Surgical Optimization team for my hysterectomy. After being checked in for my appointment by the young receptionist-in-training, I could hear her yelp behind me "she's 44???" so that was a confidence booster 😁😁 Now I get to go make more chebe butter... I admit to holding off until knowing if I was going to be keeping my hair or not... A length check will be coming soon, as well, you'll forgive me for being rather pre-occupied the last eight days 😅😅

I went from having a very open summer to having a whole lot of appointments yesterday 😅😅 Hysterectomy is happening August 5th, which was exactly the time frame I assumed I'd be on. I'll have two pre-ops, one with my gyno and another with anesthesiology. I also went ahead and scheduled the MRI and CT Angiogram my neurologist wants to see, so the hospital is about to get sick of seeing me and my teeny-tiny veins that outright reject IVs. My last post-op is six weeks after the surgery, so that basically takes my summer out. The scheduler was starting to get at how I could schedule in September so I wouldn't miss the whole summer, but I'm not exactly able to enjoy myself when I'm bleeding and in pain, anyway. I happen to know, thanks to talking to the scheduler yesterday, that all but the most essential OB-GYN staff have today off for US Independence Day, so that means that I'll either get my normal biopsy results through MyChart sometime over the weekend, or any bad news will be postponed until Monday. Between that, and having my surgery date, I'm actually emotionally settled enough to enjoy the weekend, so whew! This also means that I now know what I need to schedule around, which means I took my schedule to a few planning committees so we can put some fall fun on the calendar, too! Just a month left of all this bloating! It's almost a cruel joke that this happens just as I'm to the point in my weight loss that I can enjoy having a flat belly for the first time in my adult life... if I didn't have a uterus measuring at 2 months pregnant with tumor twins. My belly rolls don't look any different than they did 70-ish lbs ago, even though I know logically that they fit into a much smaller waistband. Speaking of, I got the belly band... and I was being overly optimistic with the small 😅😅 That's why we do this early! I'll be returning it for the medium once the UPS Store re-opens. Monday will be a busy day!

I was referred to surgery to have my uterus and fallopian tubes removed today! Glory hallelujah! First steps? At the recommendation of a friend who has done it recently, I got myself a postpartum belly band that even comes with a hip stabilizer... in size SMALL. I'm between the small and the medium, and considering I'm bloated AF right now, I figured sizing down for the support garment I want to wear after having the source of the bloating removed was probably a good idea. But, I also have time to return it for the next size up, if needed. The nice thing about just having a major surgery six months ago is that I have everything I need beyond that, and a few safe snacks already. I'm so freaking prepared.... It'll be robotic assisted, and outpatient if all goes well, which will make Penelope very happy. I'll have a couple of pre-op appointments before the big yoink, and of course a few post-ops. I'll have those all scheduled in the next few days. And in a testament to my pain tolerance, I did the uterine biopsy without having anything more than my morning bowl. My doctor wanted to send me home to come back loaded down with Tylenol and Advil, but honestly, I doubt it would have made it any different, and it really wasn't too bad. Probably a 6 on the pain scale. Not pleasant, but could be breathed through. Absolutely worth not wasting the time or gas money going back later. Lasting impacts, eight hours later? I did start bleeding immediately after the swab out, and haven't quite stopped yet, but it's not heavy bleeding. And I have been extra crampy, and it's kind of bouncing around my lower abdomen and lower back... there's a spot over the back of my right hip that's sore, and another one just to the left of my belly button and more to the front. Very bizarre feeling, honestly. I then came home, and had my loader dose of Emgality delivered for my migraines. That's a monthly injection, apparently it's in the same delivery system as Zepbound. That? Solid 8. And that's for both the needle and the injection itself. Thankfully, it goes away pretty much the minute the needle retracts, but that is an intense 10 seconds. The result of starting a new self-injection as getting approved for surgery? Realizing that those injection pens and Zydrate guns are not dissimilar. My traditional day of surgery referral jam. Now, I just need to wait for those biopsy results. I don't think I'm getting them today... and I'm doing my best to tell myself that they probably had to send it out to another lab, or that they're just kinda backed up, and I'm just waiting my turn...

Did I mention Canva is one of my favorite hyperfixations? And that I got a one month free trial of Zazzle's premium membership, so I have free shipping for the next month? Yeah. I've been having fun. Introducing, the resurrection of my small design business: To begin! I'm starting at three digital products, with three different price points and multiple levels of customization. Product Number One: The "Hello, My Name Is" Name & Pronouns badge: Starting at $5, customize-able up to $15. Perfect for anyone re-introducing themselves, or who work closely with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Order Form Here. Product Number Two: The Fully Customized Name & Pronouns Badge: Starting at $15, and customize-able up to $45. Perfect for small business owners, especially those who vend at street fairs and flea markets - instead of endless business cards, include a QR landing page with your business and payment information that folks can favorite from their mobile web browser on the spot! Also perfect for fellow community organizers, no need to use disposable nametags for every networking event. Order Form Here. Product Number Three: Medical Information & Neurodivergent Self-Advocacy Badges: These are the cards I made myself for chronic pain and hyperverbalism, but I can also work with my customers on designing communication cards for non-verbal neurodivergence, as well. I'm also open to collaborating with you on any communication card design that you think will be useful to you or a loved one. My only real design constraint is that I can't use Braille. If you'd like to see how I'm using these cards for my own safety and advocacy, see this blog post. Because these aren't quite as cut-and-dry to design, I'll be requiring a non-refundable down payment of $30 to cover the first design, and then bill at the end of the project at a rate of $10 per hour put into the project after the first design. Each design typically takes 1-3 hours to complete. Please use my contact page to make your project request! Again, this is for DIGITAL PRODUCT ONLY, delivered by email in PNG image format. You can then take it to any printer you'd like to support and put it on whatever medium you'd like. Another thing you can use that contact page for is to discuss full or partial barter for my design services, especially if you live in the West Michigan area! I'm particularly looking for: Gently used or new clothing, particularly in natural fabrics: sized XL/0X / 2X Chinese, 34" inseam, shoe size women's 9 US / 40 EU / 25.5 JP. Tailoring and cobbler services. Handmade clothing, jewelry, and accessories. Antique cast iron cookware. Mani/Pedi services. Home grown or foraged food (unfortunately, no dairy, eggs, soy, nuts of any kind, or tomatoes/tomatillo). Friskies canned or dry cat food, or Temptations cat treats. A few hours of help around the house/yard, or a few hours borrowing your Bobcat. And finally, keep an eye on my blog for product announcements! I'm already working on hospital room info signs for extended stays, as well as flyers for mutual aid fundraising campaigns. And I have lots of experience with designing event flyers for local art performances and vendor markets. Support Human Creativity and Communication! And support yr Auntie's income as she's Going Through It and could use the happy distraction as well as the financial help.

When I tell people to prepare for the inevitable negative thing on the horizon, I usually get a lot of ostriches promptly and firmly planting their heads in the sand. It is IMPOSSIBLE for them to prepare for a negative thing. It is TOO MUCH. This video came up on my feed immediately after a tarot reader with a message about living wills the other day. It's been a little over two weeks now since I was discharged from the ER with heavily bleeding uterine fibroids and a very strong matrilineal history of this being cancer, yes, this young, I even held out 10 years longer than my mother and grandmother. Why was I discharged? Excellent nutritional health, and a neurodivergent pain reaction. I started bleeding again today. Perfect day to chill out and solidify the designs I made for info cards, as suggested by pretty much everyone in the video comments above. Step One: Collect Underpants. I kid in Millennial. Step one is to acquire a Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Lanyard. Step two: Head on over to Canva.com, and use my free account to design personalized information cards. They look like this: Font is Inclusive Sans, 3.37 X 2.13" was the perfect size for the 5 X 3" card size, though I did have to retool the designs a bit from my original concepts, around the hole punch at the top of the badge. I also went ahead and designed myself a new name & pronouns badge, while I was at it: The QR code goes to the contact page on this website, if you were curious, but not so curious as to scan it. The Pride flags are, l-r: asexuality, aromanticism, disability, autism, and ADHD. Let 'em know who they're dealing with right off the bat. Step 3: I took the whole shebang over to Zazzle.com, and used a new customer discount and free trial of their premium membership to print it all on two 5 X 3" blank employee ID badges, and one 3 X 1.5" employee name badge blank. Total cost, for the lanyard, two ID badges, and one name badge? $30 even. Things I already had, that are now hanging from the lanyard - a small RFID blocker wallet with my critical ID cards and migraine rescue meds, a pair of earplugs, a lip balm holder, and a Little Ouchies mini grippie stim toy. I also have one of those watertight phone sleeves that you wear on a lanyard, that will likely be added to the mix... though I got the version with the breakaway clasp on the back of the neck, as a grown woman with a dangly thing problem it might get Gorilla Glued shut 😅😅 So now, no matter what state I'm brought into the hospital in, all of my most critical information and self-advocacy is hanging around my neck, professionally printed on a durable surface, and suspended from an internationally recognized symbol for neurodivergency and hidden disabilities. Will it help? I don't know. But it certainly won't hurt. Are you a neurodivergent chronic illness patient who understands why the sharing of pronouns is important, too? Does this kind of a set-up sound amazing for you or someone you love, but designing it is not your thing, even if you just crib the language I used (which I am happy for anyone to do, for personal use)? May I direct you to that aforementioned Contact page, where you can send me a message and we can discuss my putting together a PNG file with your customized information for a very reasonable price, that you can then take to Zazzle or anywhere to print, no restrictions. What price? Let's talk! Why would you want to hire me to do this design work for you? I mean, I am kinda pioneering the whole concept here. And I am obviously a thoughtful designer and communicator, as evidenced by my personal work above. And I have a LOT of rest and recovery time ahead of me, this is something I can do from my Chromebook and the hospital wifi. I did the above from my own bed, after all. Like I do everything, including writing this blog 😅😅 Canva has also been one of my favorite hyperfixations since I was introduced to it by my Water Protector partner back in 2016. I have genuinely enjoyed putting together the designs above, and get completely lost in perfecting them, to the point of complete time blindness. Now, what would I rather do right now, hyperfixate on a design that will improve someone's life, or worry about what may or may not be happening in my uterus right now? I'll take The Fun Option for $500, Alex. And I get that any AI program could design this for you with the paid account you already have, but if you are pro-human creativity and ingenuity, I would hope you would rather support a flesh-and-blood person with a neurodivergent brain, who could use some serious financial help at this point in their life. Stay tuned for the finished product, whenever Zazzle mails it to me!

CW: cancer, medical trauma. Remember when my digestive system went full Pepsi & Mentos just after I had my hip replaced in January? And at the time I was blaming it on the meds, the food, even my sister bringing the Norovirus home from her grocery stock job. Absolutely TMI, but I've started throwing up whenever I empty my bowels. Yesterday was the third time this happened, but instead of feeling better after getting rid of everything, I was severely nauseous and gassy until I got 12 capsules of activated charcoal on my stomach. Since it subsided, the heavy ache in my lower gut has gotten heavier. I also pulled out the scale yesterday, simply because I knew I was running on absolute empty, so I could get a true weight. I weighed 206lbs at the ER on the 4th, and 203lbs when I saw my PCP one week later, which I wrote off to having one of those gastric emptying instances right before the appointment, and the pukes happened during the appointment in her exam room. Today? 190lbs even. That now makes more than 80lbs of weight loss from my heaviest, and puts me just 15lbs away from a "healthy" BMI range. But I have never lost so much in one week. I had a good week if I lost 8lbs, but 5lbs was more realistic this whole time. I don't think dropping an entire BMI category in two weeks is healthy, even if that's the category it brings my weight to. It took me most of a year to go from obese level 2 to just into the overweight category, I plateau for five months, and then suddenly I cleared half the overweight category in six days? That's not healthy. And if I must go through cancer treatment, I'd rather do it with some extra meat on my bones still. So, I Googled uterine cancer symptoms. The bloating and rapid weight loss seem to indicate that if it's cancer, it's in the later stages already. And I have that family history. My mom was precancerous at 34 years old, my grandma was at stage one by 34 years old, and my great-grandmother died from uterine cancer in the 60's, when she was about my age. I still have two weeks before I can see a doctor who can do anything about it. My PCP can only prescribe medication to treat my symptoms as they come up between now and when I see my new gynecologist. At least they have what they need to make the call on treatment, thanks to my ER visit, but who knows how long it'll take to get me on a surgeon's table after that? It's usually a six to eight week wait. "Emergency" spine surgery a few years back was a three week wait. And if they don't bother with a biopsy until then... Isn't cancer one of those things that you have to act fast on or it can kill you super fast? I'm not particularly scared of what's happening. I think I've proven I can survive anything at this point. I'm just mad AF that the system is letting me suffer because they refuse to hire enough doctors to cover the patient load. I'm also mad AF that just about every other country (except maybe Canada and England) would be taking this seriously, and not making me wait an entire month with Schrödinger's uterus potentially trying to kill me before seeing someone who can do something about what's happening, as I'm steadily worsening. And that kind of mental stress on top of physical stress is brutal. Isn't it great that modern medicine can cure all of these diseases, you know, if they'll take you seriously enough to catch your symptoms early? It also pisses me off that had I not been supplementing with electrolytes and iron the day I went to the ER, because I knew that I was bleeding way too much, I would have had very different labs and probably would have qualified for emergency surgery. So, now I'm being punished for being too health conscious, when I was literally just trying to stay alive. At least I know I'm doing this at the pinnacle of physical health. Sheesh.

So, we're getting whimsical this summer, huh? I found my gnome doppelganger. 26 years ago exactly (starting something on a decade, century, and millennium-starting year sure makes it easy to remember), I was preparing myself for my first summer as a tarot card reader at a renaissance festival. I didn't choose the whimsical life, the whimsical life chose me. As a former Manic Pixie Dream Girl, I am happy to share my tips for a whimsy-filled summer to distract from The Horrors. And since The Horrors are expensive, many of these tips are free, or very inexpensive. I'm going to start out by saying that whimsy is cringe. Whimsy is the most cringe thing ever. If not being cringe is important to you, you're going to have to reconcile that with your need for whimsy. Okay. The Look: most people seem to be interpreting "whimsy" as the 90's quirky look - I'm seeing a lot of pictures of Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay in Friends. I would say, focus on your own interpretation of whimsical style using the following elements: Bright colors and color blocking. Patterns and pattern mixing. Accessories of all kinds. protip: go to local artists markets to find unique pieces, skip the mass-produced stuff. another protip: if you do want mass-market, chances are the Chinese manufacturer is selling it at wholesale price on Amazon, you just need to know how to search and what you're looking for. Customized or repurposed pieces. Considering it's summer, and I live in a place where the lakes and the corn both sweat, I also recommend prioritizing breathable fabrics - cotton, silk, rayon, viscose, tech fabrics, the like. Three items that are absolute essentials in my summer wardrobe are "magic skirts," viscose caftans, and what folks are calling "bubble pants" nowadays. I generally top the skirts and pants with either a t-shirt or a tank top, and accessorize from there with jewelry, belts, glasses, and hats or headwraps. Where else to acquire these clothes? That segways right into whimsical summer activities... Now, before I get into this, a lot of this assumes you have a few whimsical friends. Not that you can't do any and all of these things solo, but this is all a lot more fun as friend activities! Whimsical things to do: Thrift hopping, antiquing, artists markets, farmers markets, and flea markets! That answers the clothing and accessories acquisition question. In my area, there's a whole bunch of antique malls lining the SE shore of Lake Michigan, and hopping from antique mall to treasure hunt, to county beach to rock hunt, is a treasured summer pastime. On a smaller scale, an afternoon of checking out what 3-5 thrift shops in your area have to offer will help build your whimsical wardrobe. Host a swap event! You can swap clothes, jewelry, unused craft supplies, perfumes, games and puzzles, whatever you and your friends all enjoy and could use a switch-up of your collection. Tailgate! No reason to tailgate? Make one! Your nephew's t-ball game! Before going in to see a movie! On the side of the road to watch the fireworks display! Get a little propane grill and a cooler, and turn pre-anything into a parking lot party. Because hot dogs make everything better. Find a free concert! About the time the summer solstice rolls around, I can attend a free concert from a local band hosted by the town council or the city's tourism committee every single day of the week if I want to. And that's not counting all the local bars and restaurants hosting concerts free or for a low cover, nor the actual concert venues in the area. Go support your local music scene! See what your library card can do! Many let you access passes to local attractions like zoos and museums. Also see if any of those local attractions have sponsored free days, and see if there's any discounts or passes for students, or through the Blue Star Museums Program, if those apply to you and your family. Speaking of museums, if you're childfree, see if your local Children's Museum has an adult's only night, or see if you can tag along on a visit with a kid in your life. Children's Museums know how to draw out your whimsy like no other place. Same goes for your local Art Museum's family studio. Go camping! It's hard to get more whimsical than getting back to nature for a few days. Set aside a few hours each month for a creativity circle. Everyone brings whatever creative project they're working on, whatever that is, and there's 2-3 hours for productive co-work, and another hour or two for socializing. Add a weekly hike to your daily walk routine. Bring a digital camera, and record the interesting things you find on the trails. Start a nature photography blog. Check out the iNaturalist app, especially if you enjoy knowing exactly what you're looking at, and gamifying things. Pick a random SFW picture that people will recognize and understand - I first saw this done with pictures of Nicholas Cage - and tape the image up around town in random public places, e.g. bus stop shelters, bathroom stalls, grocery store doors, light posts, you get the idea. Just to make people wonder why there's this picture of [thing] taped up there. Go to a Renaissance Festival! Dress up to do so, you can literally wear anything to a Renaissance Faire, they don't require any kind of historical or cosplay accuracy, just individuality and public decency. If the big state festival sounds way too intimidating, there are many smaller festivals around. Check out local universities, and comic and gaming shops to find them. Start a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Or whatever TTRPG game you'd like to play. Make a point to do a "casual cosplay" of your character to each session. Pick a night where everyone wears the formal wear left over from that prom, or that bridesmaid gig, or that they found at the thrift store or clothing swap. Go out for dinner (bonus points if it's a casual restaurant), then rent those motorized scooters for an hour or two and zoom around the city, finding good backdrops for pictures and spots for shenanigans. Create a Jar Ecosystem. Scatter an envelope of native wildflower seeds on a forgotten patch of dirt in your neighborhood, and make a point to water it regularly, so they bloom for the pollinators and humans to enjoy. Start a Little Free Library. Or a Little Free Pantry. Or both. Attend a Studio Ghibli Fest screening or three. Preferably with a kid in your life who's never experienced a Ghibli movie before, catch their childlike wonder while you're at it. Attend a drag bingo game or drag brunch. Fun fact: queer performers perform all year, not just in June! Go support them! Attend a county or state fair. I like going for rodeo night. Set a whimsical goal to hit before Labor Day. To try every single soft-serve flavor your local ice cream parlor serves, to record 20 different kinds of insects on iNaturalist, to volunteer X number of hours to walking dogs for your local animal rescue, to learn to play three songs by heart on the ukulele you found at the thrift store, etc... Host a themed party! Want some ideas? Here's some ideas! A Fairy Tea: have everyone attending dress as fairies, bring a teatime snack, and you provide a few fun flavors of iced tea. A Cemetery Picnic: This is actually customary in many cultures, and yes, you do have to do it respectfully - don't make a lot of noise, stay off the headstones, leave no trace of the picnic when you're done - but if you and your friends are on the goth side, what better place to hold a Death Cafe session? Bring Your Own Pool Party: you do need a water source for this one to fill the pools, so check to make sure your public park has one if you decide to do this there - requirements for the party is to bring a dish to pass, and your own wading pool. A sprinkler/chair combo is also acceptable. As the host, you'll want to provide a grill and fuel. Christmas In July: wear Christmas novelty items like Santa hats, play Christmas music/movies, decorate the BBQ area with Christmas lights, serve peppermint ice cream and iced hot chocolate and speculoos cookies, light up the artificial tree and have a White Elephant gift exchange. Heathers' Croquet: acquire a croquet set, wear your best 80's prep look, and play croquet while calling each other "Heather" and using as much 80's slang as possible. Have everyone bring a teatime snack to munch on between turns. While this is plenty of fun in your backyard, it's especially fun at a public park. Backyardapalooza: can't make it to your favorite music festival this year? Host a Livestream party! Farmers Market to Table Dinner Party: all the party participants go to the Farmers Market together, and each person comes up with a dish to make using ingredients they find and purchase at the Farmers Market. Then, back to the host's kitchen/backyard grill for everyone to prepare their dish to serve for dinner that night.

Apparently, the influencers are currently stocking their Amazon Storefronts with "Summer Essentials" that are really only essentials if you're into overconsumption... I mean, I live in Michigan, and I'm still only working with five bathing suits, and I feel very weird saying "only five." I don't have an Amazon Storefront, and most of my essentials aren't really consumables, anyway, but I'm still going to drop some non-sponsored links to products I do use. One: Japanese Sunscreen. This is the only sunscreen I've found that doesn't make my eyes burn if it gets in my eyes, which it inevitably does. Two: a waterproof bug repellent. I workshopped this recipe last year and sent a few outdoors-y people in my life off with Altoids tins full to test. One said that when she put it on her hairline, it was like there was a bubble around her head that the bugs couldn't penetrate. 1/4 cup beeswax 1/2 cup beef tallow or olive oil 12 drops rosemary essential oil 12 drops cedarwood essential oil 15 drops geranium essential oil 15 drops peppermint essential oil 6 drops clove essential oil In a glass mixing bowl over a sauce pot filled with water on the boil, melt the beeswax and beef tallow together. Carefully remove the glass bowl from the heat using oven mitts, and allow to cool for around five minutes, before whisking the essential oils into the still-liquid salve. Pour the salve into your storage container, and allow to fully harden before using. To use: apply a small amount of salve around the full hairline, around the sock line, around the cuff line, and to create a barrier anywhere where insects may be attracted to exposed skin. Three: A hair care routine. One tailored specifically for your hair type and lifestyle, focusing on protection from UV and wind damage, and moisture retention. I've gone into great detail about mine already, and have a few more points coming up in this list, too, so, moving forward! Four: FL-41/60 tinted sunglasses. Yeah, even if you don't have to shield your migraine brain from the Big Light. I find they're the truest to shade and color of all the sunglass tints I've tried. Yes, even truer than grey tint. I think this makes them absolutely worth it, regardless of your light sensitivity. Here's me in mine, from Zenni Optical: Five: UPF 50 protective clothing. I currently own three hoodies, three pairs of ankle-length compression leggings, and one "straw" western hat. I also have a fabric swim cap for my hair, so it's not exposed to the sun and wind for hours while I'm in the water. Yes, I could swim at a public beach in a Muslim country, and I am not ashamed of that. It's going to be very interesting to see the reactions I get at the beach in my very Christian Reformed coastal area, where tankinis are the norm. Why? Sunburns cause physical stress. My migraines are stress-induced. My uterine fibroids are causing my body enough stress already. And UPF clothing is cheaper and easier than re-applying sunscreen every 80 minutes. Six: A flag code violation of a bathing suit. Mine came from SheIn back when I was still ordering from them, in the 2023 range. It happens to still fit. I may dress extra conservative in the harsh sunlight, but once Apollo puts his chariot away for the night, I can strip off the layers. And if America is careening into its 250th birthday in the state it's currently in, I can wear me a flag code violation to celebrate. Seven: An easy-breezy summer wardrobe. I'm already getting wear out of my "magic skirts." And I am of the opinion that every woman over the age of 40 needs a Mrs. Roper Caftan for summer lounging. Eight: A tried-and-true summer potluck recipe. If you have a ton of food allergies and have to bring something you can eat because you can't trust anything else that'll be on the table, it'll have to be a hearty side. May I suggest a Three Bean Salad, a Vidalia Onion Pie, a Protein Pasta Salad, or a Sorghum & Sweet Potato Salad? You'll also want a good Snackle Box plan... the gas price situation may make road trips out of reach this summer, but I live in an area where opportunities for watersports are free and plentiful, and Snackle Boxes are a natural summer accessory in a state known for beer, weed, and water recreation. And don't forget the iced tea! Nine: A good summer music playlist, and a waterproof Bluetooth speaker. Your choice of speaker is personal, and should consider use on the beach, on a pontoon boat, on a kayak, on a river float, at the poolside, in the corner of a parking lot before and after a concert or movie, on a tanning deck, at a campsite, etc. Ten: Summer Adventuring Buddies. At least one, but it's always fun to travel with a chaos pack.

I celebrated turning 44 by spending six hours alone in the ER, getting diagnosed with two uterine fibroids! Weekday birthdays, am I right? My grandma: "only two? I had five when I had my hysterectomy." One's posterior and a little under 3 centimeters, so about the size of a grape, and the other is anterior and a little under 4 centimeters, so about the size of a bon bon. I also have a simple cyst in my left ovary, also grape-sized. Leave it to me to turn my unused uterus into a charcuterie board. As my grandma pointed out, this is just continuing the good ol' family tradition of demonically rotten wombs. My great-grandmother died from uterine cancer, my grandma obviously had a bunch of fibroids and a hysterectomy at 34, my mother had precancerous polyps and a hysterectomy also at 34. I bought myself 10 whole years thanks to taking birth control to stop my periods. Which is probably why they're so dang big. I know they could be a lot worse, but I also know they start real tiny, and these are not tiny. The good news is, my body is healthy enough that I can handle the excess bleeding. I felt FUNKY when I went to the hospital, but my levels were all within healthy ranges when they ran the blood work, just the slightest anemia. Which I probably could have guessed just by my hair growth in May... the fibroid bleeding started on 4/20. I remember remarking that I'd have to wait until I was done with that "period" to know how my clothing swap gains really fit, especially the pants. I guess I won't actually know until the organ gets yoinked, if I have some decently large growths on it. Anyway! I bled from 4/20-4/26, had a 12 day break, bled from 5/8-5/13, and then spotted from 5/26 (when I finally contacted my PCP and got referred to a new gyno), to very early in the morning on 6/4, when I started bleeding heavier than I ever have before in my life. And I had said that about each of those first two periods. Meanwhile, I'm recording record hair growth, I had to have sprouted 2 1/2 inches last month. Obviously, my iron levels are just fine if I can grow my hair like that. Thanks, Vitron C! That means that, unless it gets worse between now and then, I can wait for a standard hysterectomy, not have to be admitted for an emergency yoink. Healthier for me, less squabble with insurance, does ruin my summer plans. In the interest of full disclosure, here's the gory details - this is thin, bright red blood. Almost no clots. I started my periods at exactly 11 1/2, and I've been passing huge clots since the very first until I stopped my periods with The Pill 10 years ago. And the "blood" was always very thick, kind of gelled. These "periods" are nothing like what used to be my normal. And the pain is pretty bad. I used to be a back cramper, this is all front. The pain levels seem to go up when the bleeding does, and they go UP, I've been consistently hitting pain level 8... which is generally likened to unmedicated childbirth. I've doubled up my Meloxicam to 15mg like I did in the weeks before my hip surgery when I was walking around with it bone-on-bone, which much like it did before hip surgery takes the edge off but doesn't kill the pain completely. Also like before hip surgery, I'm keeping up on the arthritis strength Tylenol, which combined with the Meloxicam takes everything down to a fairly reasonable 4-5. It's still pretty exhausting to be constantly bleeding, and my body knows I'm in pain under the meds, so I'm taking a lot of naps. As for other symptoms; I have had some nasty night sweats, I had a 2am projectile vomit session the other night, and I've had some of the wildest acne I've ever had, including a large sebaceous cyst in my cheek, and a pistule filled like a piñata on my forehead. And, of course, my migraines have joined in the fun, being stress triggered and all. Things that aren't medications that help? Hot baths with Epsom salts and Dettol. The Dettol helps with the ick of constantly bleeding and sweating. Drinking tons of water, with my daily electrolyte supplement. Doubling my iron and vitamin C supplements on bleed days - on top of what's in the the Vitron C, I'm also taking a 1,000mg Buffered Vitamin C supplement as vitamin C also helps my body absorb the collagen peptides supplement I put in my coffee each morning. I learned when I was a teenager in the 90's that menstrual fluid leeches vitamin c, part of why it depletes your iron so easily for not being a lot of fluid loss. It's second nature to me to double up the vitamin c when I start a cycle. (None of those links are sponsored in any way.) Unless things get worse between now and then, I don't see my new gyno until July 1 (though I should probably put myself on the wait list...). It may not have been the happiest birthday, but New Doc has all the blood work and imaging they need to proceed with what I assume will be ordering a hysterectomy, no phutzing with outpatient appointments for each test, un-prioritized results, and finding a follow-up appointment for the actual scheduling. Things should probably go fast from there, fingers crossed. But that still means I'll be healed up and ready to go just in time for summer to be over 😅😅 I didn't think I'd be resurrecting the "Pre-Op" and "Post-Op" categories so soon, but here we are.

And as of the end of May 2026, 8 months nearly to the day from the Big Chop, I'm officially back to the length I was able to achieve and maintain during Natural Hair Movement v.1 in the 2010's. It's not a surprise why it's the length I could maintain, particularly when I mostly wore my hair down in wash-and-go's... this is about the point where ends meet clothing fabric, and I lose all retention thanks to friction. My ends are far thicker and more even this time around. I haven't even had to pull out the shears in a couple of months to catch the pieces growing faster than others. To compare to April's results: Hugely noticeable growth this month!! I'm also just to the length where I can wear my hair in a bun... not the ends tucked "messy bun" topknot, but an actual twist around the elastic to make a complete circle kind of bun. It's teeny-tiny, but my hair is really fine, it's always going to be teeny-tiny, no matter how many times I'll be able to loop it around 🤣🤣 As for routine, my little last-minute experiment turned out to be just what my scalp needed for the more humid months (I mean, obviously, look at that length gain up there!) - I did modify the ingredients a little when I filled the bottle, so my official hair serum recipe is: 1 6 oz bottle with an applicator tip (and preferably measurement markings on the bottle, but not necessary) 1 oz papaya seed oil 1 oz hyalauronic acid serum 4 oz vegetable glycerine The rest of this is not essential (heh) to the recipe, and entirely up to you. Why am I using essential oils? First of all, because I have them. I've always enjoyed using them, so I have them. Here's a little Auntie Lore for you - my mother's friend from the local homeschool co-op was one of the very first Young Living Essential Oils consultants, she studied the Raindrop Technique with "Dr." Young himself. Which means I was using essential oils for all kinds of things as a teenager, and this was after a pre-teen hyperfixation on herbal medicine. I don't use MLM oils anymore, of course. Secondly, convenience. I could infuse the papaya oil with fresh or dry herb, yes, but the point of this was the ease of preparation, and not having to set up a bain mare. I'll tell you why I chose to use the oils I did. You may choose different oils, or choose to leave them out entirely, and that's fine. Of course, research around things like natural health and essential oils is weird, so all physical benefit "claims" are alleged. And all the spiritual claims take personal belief, so do what you will with those. 40 drops lavender EO A natural anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory, as well as energy clearing and refining frequency, synced to the crown chakra. 40 drops rosemary EO Legendary herb for hair growth and scalp health. 25 drops frankincense EO Also naturally anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory. Incredibly high, purifying energy, which is why it's traditionally been used as incense in religious ceremonies across multiple belief systems and for millennia. 12 drops peppermint EO Incredibly stimulating oil. If nothing else will wake your scalp up, this will. 12 drops cedarwood EO Another anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and has an energy very similar to frankincense - as a matter of fact, Cedar is used in Indigenous American religions similar to how frankincense is used in religions on the Silk Road. As for where I source my essential oils, I prefer the NOW Brand, same as I prefer for my nutritional supplements. Which happens to be a great segway into my next hair health update - as of my writing this (May 27, actually), I've started adding Selenium supplementation to my daily routine. Considering large amounts of fat loss depletes Selenium, and the number one food source is Brazil Nuts... I thought I should probably add more to my diet than the 100mcg I get from my daily flax seeds (which is daily value, but on the low end according to my internet research). I'm starting with 200mcg supplemented for the first two or three weeks, see how it goes, and then back down to 100mcg tablet along with my usual flax seed consumption for maintenance. Apparently, this should further improve my rate of hair and nail growth, so let's see... To recap, here's the current routine: Internal: Hydration: I average around 110oz per day of flat water, not including any additional sugary, caffeinated, or carbonated drinks I may have. Nutrition: going strong on avoiding the food allergens, for the most part (I did go out for ice cream on Memorial Day, and had pizza for dinner last night...). And I'm keeping up on my prescription medications, to reduce any further stress on my body, especially as the cottonwood just started flying, yuck. Daily Supplementation: electrolytes, bovine collagen, Omega 3-6-9 oils, iron, vitamin C, and now Selenium. External: Scalp scrub with Kojic acid soap. Scalp serum (recipe above), applied with a scalp massage. Leave-in creme conditioner on wet hair. Chebe butter followed by a steam treatment. Protective: Nightly wear of silk sleep bonnets. Covering loosely braided hair with hats or headwraps when outside/in public, using silk wig caps or durags to protect the hair from the fabric of the hat/headwrap. Wearing hair up in a high ponytail around the house, to keep it off my clothes. Speaking of headwraps, I didn't leave the house a lot in May, so not a ton of reasons to practice 😅😅 But I have found my go-to chiffon style! I used a standard chiffon hijab from Modest Behavior (denim blue, if you were wondering), a mulberry silk wig cap in champagne, and this tutorial: Alright, bring on June... I'm officially growing my hair longer than I've ever been able to before, let's gooooooo.