Easter weekend is finally upon us. HINT: If you don’t have an Easter bonnet to wear, you can wear your Easter basket. I have my trusty Snoopy and Woodstock Tie o’ the Day to wear, too. Also, please note that the only Peeps invited to our house for the festive Spring weekend are these which wear Bow Ties o’ the Day. I bought these Peeps a few years ago, and they are now as hard as my noggin. (You might not yet know this almost-fact, but I firmly believe Peeps can and will physically outlast Twinkies, in terms of decomposition time.)
Please, oh, please, oh, please, my friends, enjoy your party weekend responsibly! Worship responsibly, as well. Call me if you need a designated driver. 👮🏻♀️
Some days, I don’t know exactly what vibe I’m feeling until I see myself in a selfie. Today was one of those days. I knew I had a striking, teal paisley-on-brown Tie o’ the Day around my neck, but it was only after I shot this photo and glanced at it that I noticed I am experiencing a Dick Tracy vibe today. It’s not just about the hat. The hat adds, but my very own face—with its squinty eyes and deep-set lines—is giving off the Dick Tracy mojo. I like how it feels, very much. Perhaps I’ll go out and catch a villain who has a catchy, comic book name this evening. I’ll certainly take selfies if I do. 🤠 (Pretend the cowboy hat on the emoji is a fedora, and pretend the emoji’s smile isn’t smiling at all.)
I had a rough night. More specifically, I couldn’t sleep. I was in a wee bit o’ annoying pancreas pain, and I was re-writing a poem in my head, and I was worrying about Mom. That’s pretty much what I do every night when I go to bed. But for some reason, last night I also had a bigly bout of insomnia. Fortunately, Bow Tie o’ the Night accompanied me through the dark hours of sleeplessness. I did manage to do some much-needed binge-rewatching of the USA series, IN PLAIN SIGHT, which is a badass, snarky, and wise series that I highly recommend to those of you who wanna be badass, snarky, and wise.
This photo is evidence of the fact that my sleep-free night was a 16-water night. That’s right: I consumed 16 cans of water while I wasn’t sleeping. I didn’t keep count of the trips, but I estimate that drinking that much water resulted in probably 7 or 8 trips to the little girls’ room throughout the night—which likely added to my not being able to sleep. Now that it is day, my insomnia is dissipating. I see a nap in my immediate future. 🛌 😴
Having so many pieces o’ neckwear in my bigly collection comes in handy. I can find something helpful to wear around my neck for practically any occasion. This afternoon’s Bow Tie o’ the Day is a shopping list: I’m making salsa for when Lent is over. Peppers are required, and if I’m wearing this “hot” Bow Tie o’ the Day, there’s no way I’ll forget to pick up the peppers. Salsa itself is healthy enough, but there’s no such thing as eating only salsa and nothing else. Ya gotta have unhealthy chips! Nobody ever says, “Come over and watch the BYU football game with us. We’re having salsa-and-salsa.” It’s true that I am already stockpiling non-nutritious “fake food” of all manner in the pantry: sweets, chips, crackers—for when Lent is finally over, and I can once again forage the junky food to my heart’s content. Of course, a tub (or four) of ice cream is patiently waiting for me in the freezer. I touch it for strength every day. From Day 1 of Lent, I’ve felt the sincere need to celebrate my junky food habits at the very first post-Lent chance I get. 🍦 🍪 🍿 🍫
I survived my “crazy head” doctor appointment intact. It was a productive appointment, which means I probably won’t be jumping off a bridge or a tall building in the near future. By now, I’m sure you know: I joke about my bipolar brain. Poking fun at it helps me live with it. I have another appointment with the same doctor next week. I better hurry and make up some problems to bring up during our therapy session, since my life is all perfection and more perfection. (You do know I’m being sarcastic, right?)I took this selfie in the grocery store this afternoon. I am organic myself. I was raised free-range. I was raised cage-free. I am meat! But I am also a genetically modified organism (GMO) at the same time, because I have eaten all kinds of things that aren’t organic—like tasty, edible foods. And I’m not apologizing. 🍿🍪🥓🍟🌮
Tie-dyed Tie o’ the Day and I are having a Zoom doctor appointment right now. Yes, it is time once again for me to check in with my “crazy head” doctor—to see if I still have a crazy head. Hint to y’all: I know I’ll have my bipolar head always. These sorts of brain tilts don’t go away. In short, I have to learn to get along with my own mind. I can only work at getting better at managing my bipolar noggin. Collecting neckties and bow ties is one of the many tactics I use to cope with my brain situation. So far, so good. 🐝
Howdy! My Bow Tie o’ the Day is the one Collette gave me at brunch on Saturday. It adds a perfectly suave effect here. I call this fashion style “suave rodeo” style. If you ever happen to run across a shirt this incredibly cool, buy it. That’s an order. You won’t regret it. It doesn’t matter that the shirt sellers didn’t have one in my size—I still knew I had to buy it. Perhaps one day I’ll grow into it. It doesn’t really matter to me, though: I am going to wear this shirt way too often, just to see others be jealous of me that I own it and they don’t. I am going to have scads of fun wearing it, no matter how it fits me. This shirt specimen is inexplicably enchanting, in a vintage sort of way. It is Roy Rogers-esque in its aura.
I think I had a lunchbox (w/thermos) in the early 70’s which looked similar to this shirt. I remember carrying it around on my banana-seat, one-speed Schwinn— as I rode in and out of dirt ditches, between alfalfa farms and bee yards, and across the dangerously bustling city streets of Delta, UT in the hippie 70’s. I wish I had saved that lunchbox. It’s a good thing I bought the shirt, so it can remind me of my hokey lunchbox whenever I wear it. I do have my Saddle Purse and cowboy boots that can go with my cowboy-covered shirt. Now, I think I’m goin’ on the hunt for a new cap-gun and holster to wear with it. I’ll also need a new cowboy hat, some spurs, chaps, a stick horse, a wad of chewin’ tabacky, and a sidekick to do all the real work for me. Oh, and I must not forget: I need a leather, string-tied bag, to hold all the gold nuggets I find waiting for me in the closest creek. Yup, I think that’s pretty much everything it takes to be an authentic cowboy. 🤠
I’m sure you’ve noticed I have been bigly on wearing neckties recently. I consider myself—first and foremost—a woman with bow ties running through my veins, but neckties are a close second choice with me. I adore them both, but bow ties are my preference every day of the week. So what’s with all the ties lately? Well, I discovered a couple of new-to-me tie places online a few weeks ago, and so I splurged on some fantastic pieces. I ordered a whole bunch o’ new neckties to add to my collection. I am so giddy about my recent acquisitions that I just have to show them off to y’all ASAP. So this Tie o’ the Day I’m wearing gives me one more opportunity to flaunt one of my treasured finds. As you’ve probably also been noticing, I’ve gone bigly with Art Deco designs on the majority of the new ties. I enjoy the Art Deco style so much that I would buy the Art Deco-designed Chrysler Building in NYC right this minute, if I had enough money to do it. And the truth is this: I might likely have enough money to buy the Chrysler Building today—if I hadn’t spent my entire life’s fortune buying thousands and thousands of bow ties and neckties for my ridiculously extensive neckwear collection.
Hmmmm. 🤔 I gotta ponder this particular irony for a while. 🤔
Bow Ties o’ the Day have been my companions all afternoon. I and my neighbors have enjoyed the sparkles, stripes, and plaids. I’ve been working outside a wee bit, prepping for springtime temperatures I hope are not too far off. I can’t wait to sit on the deck or grill on the patio. I’ve made sure we are already stocked up on a summer’s worth of insect repellent and citronella candles. Ah, the great and insect-y outdoors!
The only green potations I will be drinking tonight are what will be in the green bottles and cans of Heineken 0.0, an 100% alcohol-free beverage, which I call my “not-beer.” The drink tastes like you would imagine the abstract idea of beer might taste. I like it, and I can be completely clean and sober no matter how much I consume. Hey, I’m glad I don’t drink alcohol anymore, but I will never deny that one of the highlights of my life is when I went to Ireland 25 years ago and taste-tested every different beer I came across—from pub to shining pub. I still remember that a beer called Smithwick’s was my overall fave-rave. My belly and my taste buds were in utter high Heaven for those roamin’ ‘n’ ramblin’ two weeks. I do not apologize for, or regret, my near-scientifically extensive Ireland drinking project. But I am also proud it’s behind me. Reminiscing about any experience can sometimes be every bit as richly textured, or more so, as living through it in the first place—because now when you look back at what you did, you can see it through your older, and more self-compassionate eyes. Like anyone who has been young, I might have been a fool back then, but at least I can confidently say I’m a much smarter, more empathetic, and well-rounded fool now that I am old. 😉
I think this might be my fave day of the year to make a TIE O’ THE DAY post. Why? Because I get to post these amusingly glorious photos, and because Mom is my very own leprechaun. She’s just so darn cute in her St. Patrick’s Day props. I love this woman beyond all of the beyonds. She has always been the pot o’ gold at the end of my rainbow. ☘️🌈
