Hopey Changey and MATH !

My title for today is one way folks scoffed at Obama's first campaign slogan. And after two terms of Bush Jr. culminating in two years of recession and an ill advised war, we were ready for both.

Now, after nearly 3 years of the FM (4+ years counting a frightening presidential run which abused twitter by sharing a stream of "consciousness" of this FM on a national scale) I am ready for some hope and change times a factor of 𝑒 to the nth power.

As previously disclosed, I have been in a struggle with my psychologist over my current outlook as reality based (me) versus depression based (her). I think I have persuaded her that acknowledging reality and feeling depressed have an area of intersection as pictured in this
                  Venn diagram.
Style Note: my ability to choose appropriate colors for this chart was restricted. Please imagine reality as a light pastel, my depression as a lovely dark chocolate, and the intersection as a somewhat sweet, but still healthy chocolate brown.

In an awkward segue, I would like to share one of my favorite recipes. While it is true that I am no chef, I do have some culinary specialties. Enjoy!
  

Mary's Special Peanut Butter ©
Ingredients	36 oz jar Adams chunky peanut butter
Cook time	Nuke 3 min at power of 2
Prep. time	Stir 3 min with a wooden spoon handle
Freeze time	10 min upright, then 10 min. each side
	rotating a quarter turn for each side
Serving size	2 TBS	(on a good day)

I may be missing too much by not watching cable news

For the first time since the dawn (nay, night) of TrumpTimes I think there might be a reason to drop in on cable news. Specifically, a regular feature of CNN, namely TheRidiculist by Anderson Cooper. Slate pointed me to it this morning:https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/trump-frustrated-toilets-people-flushing-10-15-times.html?via=taps_top

I always skip reading the fucking moron's tweets, so I zipped down to the bottom of this article and watched the video. Very amusing. Actually cheered me up a bit (in spite of the expected uninformed and personal pique nature of the FM's plan to direct the vast machinery of the federal administration toward a non-problem in search of a sweeping anti-environmental step back for mankind).

2019 Chez Moi with 2 penguins

Anyhoo...........................Here is a photo of the full extent of my decorative acknowledgement of the Christmas Season, the .5 of the 5.5 seasons I celebrate in my little niche. Being a minimalist (as a sort of religion) when I moved into my current house (which I love most of every house and apartment I have inhabited) and found a niche in the great room over the gas fireplace, I knew it's purpose: To Celebrate and Contain seasonal decorative flourishes. All of my niche elements fit into one large cupboard and a big box to be found in the garage. Did I mention containment? The Container Store is essentially crack cocaine to me. So, dear reader(s) delight in the contained exuberance that is Xmas chez moi.

PS: one of the first things I did upon moving in was to extinguish the pilot light on the "fireplace". The first time I sat in a chair near by I felt the heat and sensed the BTU's being expended BY THE PILOT LIGHT. A lap robe environmentally excels at warming me. I am both smug and embarrassed by this. I thought I should confess all to my readership (as a sort of spiritual fellowship).

Failing the task to widen my world

Anxiety has led to a contraction in the degree to which I engage with the wider world. Here is an example from just this morning:

I check out Slate for the latest on the ongoing disasters (that right there sums up my expectation of what venturing from my emotional nest entails). I am offered this article:

A Majority of Republicans Say Trump is Better President Than Lincoln

My immediate mental defense is: Seriously, folks think the President who held our republic together is less impressive that the one who is actively working to render it asunder? And I decide I cannot read that. To what end? I decide to read it. This blog will continue after I have done that.

resumption of my stream of consciousness.......

Blessedly the article was brief. My head did not explode. This was from a poll that merely asked which president was better (given a "this one, or that one, option"). 53% of responding Republicans hold this opinion. No deeper insight into the underlying reasoning was sought (apparently) or offered in the article.

That went OK. But I would not be honest if I did add that I still think that the 53% of whatever slice of the citizenry was polled is soft-headed, trolling, or actually in favor of continued dismantling of our republic. Perhaps the underlying reasoning would be enlightening if not challenging to my views.

My next task, should I accept it (think Mission Impossible), will be to delve into an account where this view is explored in greater depth. In the TV show, only the tape player self-destructed. I would be sad to lose my computer, but perhaps that is better than me self-destructing.

Note: I have highlighted the times I was tempted to use snark quotation marks, but did not. I want some cosmic credit for that.

Love to you my readers, as we embark on the annual American way of celebrating Christmas. I will be mostly doing puzzles alone in my cave (nest). But this is my annual screen saver, which I very much enjoy.