I can’t hear out of my left ear. It’s turned me into one of those old men who instructs loved ones to “talk into my good ear.” I’m days away from needing an ear trumpet.
But on the plus side, I’m coughing less — no more blood. I can walk a mile or so without feeling exhausted. And I no longer fall asleep at the kitchen counter during dinner. A plus.
A doctor who attends my church believes that this disease — which has taken Spokane by storm — might be a strain of COVID that isn’t appearing on a test. I’m considering scheduling an antibody test to see if he might be correct. This is the sickest I have been in two years, and it has lingered so long, untouched by any medication they have given me, that I would be willing to believe it was Bubonic Plague at this point.
But enough about being sick. My bills are paid. The sun is shining. My daughter is having a lovely day at school, eating pasta at a picnic. I have a fresh bouquet of peonies on my counter. And a box of wine just arrived on my doorstep.
Let’s Jumble.
+ The Revolt Against the Girl Bosses Has Come. (NYT, gift link)
+ The complexion enhancer I wear every day, even when I don’t wear foundation.
+ Two Moms “share” grocery shopping lists to save time and money. (The Romper)
+ Blackberry Girlies: Do I need this iPhone keyboard case?
+ “I did no work for a year, and no one noticed.” (A Day Well Spent)
+ I climbed a jungle gym in this dress because my child refused to come down. #motherhood
+ Vin d’Orange, the batch-made summertime drink you need. (NYT Cooking, gift link)
+ This is the best cream bronzer I’ve ever used. It lasts all day even if you sweat.
+ Over-40 ladies: Are we obsessed with wrinkles? (WSJ, gift link)
+ 100% Cotton, 700-thread count king-size sheets for $180? Thanks, Lands’ End.
+ Another plug for the No Country for Old Women podcast.
+ This breezy knit dress is a favorite — unbutton a few buttons to make a sexy slit.
+ Does anyone have a review of the Ground News platform?
+ Need a summer work bag? How about a raffia tote made to travel?
+ Stop Maxxing, Half-Assing Rocks. (The Bustle)
+ I rebought the No Makeup Makeup foundation and blush for summer. It’s just too easy.
+ Morbid: I’m changing my will to say I want to be composted, not cremated.
{this post contains affiliate links that may generate commission for the author; capitol hill style is a Varley partner, meaning they sometimes gift me items, but I bought the dress linked above}
If you truly can’t hear out of your left ear, it may be worth contacting your doc to make sure you’re not dealing with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/sudden-deafness). This can lead to permanent hearing loss if not treated. I don’t mean to be alarmist, but it happened to a good friend of mine (I’m about your age) and she did not recover her hearing.
This was me. A summer head-cold turned into losing 50% of my hearing in one ear and wearing a hearing aid at 39. Steroids can help if you catch it soon enough.
MM takes on all tasks! I too have climbed a jungle gym and taken a slide in a MM dress 🙂
The essay from Day Well Spent was so disheartening for someone who cares deeply about their job (private practice of law), but helps me to understand why our current crop of associates just don’t seem to give a shit. Enlightening.
Coming from another field (international development) with a major professional shift in the last 18 months, it was a good reality check for me about work in my life. Though that work was extraordinarily meaningful on the whole, I saw how much the consulting system around development benefitted from people committed to The Mission working 60+ hour weeks for little pay. Then when the sector fell apart… almost no companies paid severance to employees. I had four hours notice of my layoff the same day. Even if the work IS meaningful, it’s hard to go above and beyond knowing how disposable you are. I’m trying to lean into doing the minimum for work and protecting space for other things.
So much of the work around political work is people working long hours for middling pay.
Agreed. I work on the admin side of the Court system and my younger coworkers do exactly enough to get a paycheck (and thus avoid being fired). They watch TV and shop on Amazon the rest of the day. Infuriating to observe, and probably the reason I will be retiring much earlier than I planned to…working hard has no reward anymore.
I’ve had jobs I cared about a lot, and jobs I didn’t. I met expectations in all of them. Where I struggle with younger employees is when they don’t meet even basic expectations (responding to an email within 24-hours) and then they act like the expectation was unfair. No one asked you to respond to the email at 10pm when you received it. We asked you to respond to it by COB during your work shift the next day.
The Day Well Spent essay was published this year but it seems like her experiment was done in 2013. My first thought when I read it was “Of course, because of AI in 2026” before I realized the timing of when she was in a corporate job. As someone who has always been underutilized in their roles (even now as a highly-paid mid-level manager), I can identify with her experience. With respect to your current associates, my hypothesis is that they know they can be replaced by AI. I’ve replaced my junior-level team with AI and it’s less work for me.
I really enjoyed the shared grocery lists piece (and also, I miss my BlackBerry).