We actually got quite a lot of roots just by hand pulling alone. The soil seemed to be perfect for weeding that particular day. And it's not just dandelions, but all sorts of plants, some I've never even seen before (I swear, if that patch goes a few times more without weeding it's going to be greener than the rest of the lawn

Last time I had to use a shovel to lift up the roots (they were a bit firmer into the ground). Some were big clumps of small roots, and others were carrot-length ones...

This could be a soil thing, but I've found weeding when the ground is damp makes it easier. Our soil in most places around the yard is sand with loam that has been mixed in over the years. When it gets really hot, the soil dries up and gets crunchy for lack of a better way to describe it. If we get a lot of rain during these times, the soil will drain, but puddles hang around longer than they normally would.

We recently dug up a rogue yucca plant. The roots of those look like yams or sweet potatoes which isn't a big deal, but if there is the smallest piece of the root tuber buried, the stupid things grow. Plants from the yucca family thrive on neglect because they're meant to be in dry, not a lot of rain, climates, so they thrive in my neck of the woods. One would think sub-zero temperatures during the winter would kill them, nope. They get a little ragged looking, but they come back like nothing happened and flower later in the summer.

I haz no love for yucca plants. Not even the ones that people keep as houseplants commonly known as the yucca cane.

We actually went into town by car and parked at a garage (it was like for 30 mins max cos we were gonna go somewhere after picking up somehting). The nostalgia was real- we've avoided driving there for like 15 years since parking prices and traffic exploded (so gross). This garage was super dumb though - 1 lane for both entering and exiting. So if you're trying to leave you're waiting for cars you cant see to enter before you get to go - assuming it doesn't change before you get to the barrier thing. On the plus side the parking spots were actually normally sized so that was good. Are we ever doing that again? Hopefully never.

Finally had a chance to take a long hot shower...I don't like showering when my parents are home, because if they interfere or interrupt me doing something important like shampooing my hair, I get angry if it gets in my eyes.

Since I shampooed my hair, it fluffed up and I look like a Cocker Spaniel.

The time to go to IKEA is when the store first opens. There isn't many people around, you can poke around, get what you need and leave before everybody and their mother shows up

Today was a mailbag day.

I got 3 disc wallets (each hold 192 discs), and a movie.

I also got DoorDash from the convenience store and tipped generously.

I tried giving The Sims 4 another go at it and for once, I am finding it fun. I even bought the Star Wars Journey to Batuu pack. (I would love to make a nice little video for my mom, who is a big Mandalorian fan. Came for Grogu, stayed for the intergalactic war drama.)

I had found my old account with EA and even found a motive mod from here to change things around. I made a sim self of me and she's currently employed cleaning tables at the fast food joint. It's a decent start.

As for those disc wallets, I was sorting through my anime and Disney collection. I bought royal blue (Disney), baby pink (female-oriented* anime) and baby blue (male-oriented* anime)

*Note: This is based on the Japanese target audiences. Japan is still stuck in many regards with the idea of "gendered" anime. Although there are anime that have mass appeal for both audiences, the society is still somewhat patriarchal, even after the MeToo movement came to Japan.

Today, unfortunately, is the 10th anniversary of my paternal grandmother's passing.

I have to broach this subject carefully with my father, a man who never saw a relative die so when it came to his mother, he took to grieving at a point where self destruction was already in progress. I essentially had to give my family reason to stay together for not only my sake, but the fact they told me if they divorced, they would date, but never remarry.

And honestly, they being together would be more satisfying, as this year's October 4 is the 40th anniversary of when they met via a blind date, the pork chops burnt and my dad ate them as he was used to burnt food. So, it was love at first bite and it was my grandmother who got my parents to marry and my father still feels like she made the right decision for them.

That was a rough point in my life and I'm glad my father is still coping well after a few scrapes.

Someone posed a question on social media "if you were allowed into Heaven for the day, who will you look for first?" I told them my grandmother and say "me, mom and dad are doing well and the entire family misses you." I would tell her she was the glue that held us together.

I would also tell her sending Barbara (my step grandmother) into my grandfather's life has helped his otherwise broken heart (my grandmother and grandfather were married 57 years until Death did they part. We kind of had the feeling she pulled strings in the Heavens to give my grandfather someone to heal his broken heart.)

I don't know if anybody needs this, but maybe somebody will find it useful.

I had to buy a phone around the beginning of the year. In order to 'activate' the phone, I was forced to open a Gmail account. Google insists that I'm going to live on my phone; yeah no. Anywho, since I was forced to have a Gmail account, I decided to sub to a few YT channels that I watch on a regular basis. All is fine and well except just clicking the bell to get notifications didn't work with Windows 11.

I would get reply emails and emails if somebody liked a comment, but I wasn't being notified when a new video went live. All of my Gmail is forwarded to a non-Google email address.

After trying 3 tutorials, I finally found one that actually works for the Windows 11 desktop. According to some of the comments, this also works for Windows 10. This is easy to do and follow. A person doesn't need to be tech savvy to follow it.

How to Fix Notifications Not Working in Windows 11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTUkYj3dh0c

Went grocery shopping early to avoid the 4th of July last minute shoppers.

I have so much frozen heat and eat foods, that I ended up with a stuffed freezer.

I also bought doubles of milk and potato chips (didn't know mom bought some also.)

Waiting on 4 packages, one from Australia for a Early Access Toothpaste Flavor of the Month Club. The first is: Pink Donut (like the iconic donut that Homer Simpson eats in promotional art).

Well, it's about noon here so the day is far from over.

I don't know what our plans are for today aside from driving up north to a pizza place we love! I can't wait until apizza places open up here as I don't want to have to go down to New Haven, but this pizza place we found is great! I can smell it right now and taste that crisp crust. Mmmm.

Get depressed, go a week without changing the soil in your GAL snail tank... bam 273 new pets

It's a good thing my friend owns a pet shop, and has been wanting snails from me for a while. We had actually been trying to hatch a few eggs in a separate tank but they were all duds. I was more thinking like 10 though... not 273.

Came back from the doctor.

I'm now on Gas-X (GI issues) and Singulair (pollen has gotten worse where I live) and I have physical therapy for an arm injury I sustained 5 months ago and need physical therapy.

My parents were busy lately, but I have medical attention to attend to.

Lately, the news is scary, depressing and positively insane. I know being informed is a sensible thing, but I need a break...maybe my Sims 4 family will be worth looking into for a change.

Either way, my day is finishing up better than I thought.

A certain Boston Terrier had to go have blood work done. Her seizures are better ( she is no longer having cluster seizures, the seizures are not 3+ minutes, ect...), but she's still having one once a month so a increase in her meds may be coming.

Other than that, the pigs had baths today. I decluttered some crap from downstairs. For whatever reason there is a area of downstairs that is becoming a dumping ground which is not making me happy. If people can drag stuff out, they can put it back. Less stuff = less mess.

Another disc came in the mail today and I had the chance to do a cleaning up of the readable side of the disc with my soft cloths and repair chemicals.

So far, my collection of Disney animated films is filling up and I have a ways to go before it's filled to start on another suitcase.

I recently have a color code that I explained earlier. There are two other colors are orange for completed Nickelodeon NickToons (as in, they ended a while back either due to money or ratings or even ownership issues, stuff that goes on behind the scene)

and black for comedy and Warner Brothers owned cartoons (ever since David Zaslav was put in charge, he has been a thorn in the animation industry's side, cancelling greenlit projects, barring finished projects from releasing for tax write-offs and threatening to replace writers, animators and actors in various fields with AI. Ironically and coincidentally, animation is the bread and butter of Warner Brothers and its subsidiaries such as Cartoon Network\adult swim, VIZ Media, New Line Cinema at one point, the list goes on.)