Sleep As Android is hands down the #1 app on my phone I cannot give up. It’s THE reason I could never switch to Apple. I’ve gone beyond basic use and now have it automating things based on sleep actions and I kind of love it.

My neighbor used a leaf blower to dry his car after washing it at 7am on a Saturday. I don’t know that I will ever be able to like that man after this.

We just finished Prodigy, and are in the middle of Dr Who. Soon we’ll start up House of the Dragon 😊

My husband and I don’t watch TV together a lot, but Sunday nights are the one night a week we set aside for it. I often find myself looking forward to Sunday evenings when we get to catch up on our favorite shows and hang out. It’s also typically the only night of the week I eat ice cream, so it’s an extra treat.

I’m usually busy enjoying my Sunday evenings and don’t even think about the fact that the weekend is ending.

Moats were cool until I learned that toileting holes were often positioned such that the urine and feces wash down into the moat. I’m gonna have to take a pass on that lazy river…

My husband and I tried so hard to just let our lawn be what it wanted to be. All the clover, dandelions, wild strawberry, wild onion and ginger absolutely took over. In the back, it’s completely fine. We get a lot of brown spots and mud during winter when it dies back, but come spring it’s back to thriving. In our front yard though, enough of it died back that a heavy rain washed a lot of our yard into our driveway. We tried to manage it for a year before giving in.

So now, our front yard is an ugly but pristine monoculture grass hellscape. The back though is much larger, and still full of the awesome native plant goodness. I know nature is thriving back there because I pretty much cannot use my yard during summer due to the insane amount of bugs. There is a thriving ecosystem with all sorts of wildlife, from bunnies, squirrels and chipmunks to cardinals, robins and owls. Occasionally even a stray fox or mallard can be seen around the creek. And I live in the suburbs of a major metro area, and can hear I-35 from my house. It really is quite remarkable how natural ecosystems can thrive with just a tiny bit of encouragement.

Dogs can offer fantastic companionship and help keep the elderly active longer. At 80, your mother could still potentially outlive the dog depending on the age/breed and both of their health! I do hope that I live to be 80 and still have a dog. Dogs, like humans, are pretty resilient. They can bounce back from grief and change. Sounds like the dog’s welfare is planned for, so I personally think it’s great! That dog might help give her more years herself!

In my opinion I think it’s important to always have a plan for your pet in case you die, as you never know. I personally have a beneficiary for a portion of my 401k that will get $20k of it and my dog(s) upon my death if my husband isn’t alive at the time. It’s a person I trust and has agreed to take on the responsibility, and care for them the way I would. I know not everyone is able to leave funds for the care of their pet, but having the conversation with friends and loved ones ahead of time to see who could and would take them is important.