Soozcat the intrepid laundry faerie muses on subjects both weighty and whimsical, with the occasional adventure photo-documented to prove it all really happened.
When I first started writing this blog in 2006, mass social media platforms like Facebook hadn't taken off yet, so it was fairly common for people to read each other's blogs and make comment… Read More
HERE'S a place in Silverdale at the top of a hill, overlooking the valley and Dyes Inlet, called the Oak Table Cafe. It serves only breakfast and lunch, and it usually has a long wait time b… Read More
When I was a kid, growing up in California and Utah, I quickly learned to hate going on hikes.
And today I took a hike -- and loved it.Frankly, if you'd told 2015 me that I would eventually… Read More
Miss V does not feel that Charlie is sufficently snuggly with her (he is actually curled up between my arms as I type this; go fig), so today she and Captain Midnight went to our friendly ne… Read More
Today I'd like to tell you a story about war, and about the things we do to save other people. I know most of us are sick to death of hearing about war right now, but today -- March 10 -- is… Read More
Well, it's the day you've all been waiting for!I'll admit, I didn't think up a good idea to celebrate BTPoC Day until it was upon us. But then I realized I had not one, but two different exa… Read More
"Time for a staycation!" said the bearded shopper behind me.I turned. "Sorry?""We were planning to go off somewhere this weekend, but now we're just going to have a little staycation instead… Read More
"I'm thinking of going to Poulsbo for some last-minute Christmas goodies," I announced to nobody in particular. "Anybody want to come with me?"As there was no response, off to Poulsbo I went… Read More
1) It's that time of year when people are getting all kinds of parcels on their doorsteps, and when surprises are very easily spoiled. So if you're shipping an unwrapped gift, make it obviou… Read More
Some of you know I've had a Twitter account since 2009. I originally joined to hawk my wares on my now-defunct Etsy site, but stayed for the comments and other silliness.And now I'm leaving… Read More
[I composed the skeleton of this post on social media, but since I liked the idea and since I'm not sure the original message will stay there, I've brought it over here. So there.] America w… Read More
Content warning: if you avoid discussions of Christianity, hypocrisy or any combination thereof, give this one a pass.Right, you've been warned.For at least a decade, maybe longer, I've been… Read More
This never fails to make me giggle (stolen from Twitter with attribution, but not permission): I love it because it reminds me of my mom (both the baking AND the cooking part). If you were a… Read More
Hello, folks! It's been a while. What have I been doing, you may ask? Well, Captain Midnight and I moved. We're still in a nifty computerized Batcave somewhere around the Puget Sound, but in… Read More
You know what happens when Sooz a) is kinda bored and b) has craft items in her possession?Yep. You get a random case of the googlies.Googly Daruma!Googly Dalahäst!Even googly sister co… Read More
OME of you might know that I save correspondence -- the snailmail letters and postcards that I receive from family and friends. (Not ALL of them, mind you, but the ones I hold dear for one r… Read More
The other day I was out and about, shopping for sundries (as you do). It was a pleasant late spring day in the Puget Sound region -- that is to say, cold, grey and drizzly -- but I was Getti… Read More
It's been a while since I added someone to the van Gogh list, but I feel like this one's important.Sir Paul McCartney(publicity photo taken 1963, photographer unknown)Yes, I know it's an old… Read More
So I took my own sweet time figuring out how to turn something from meh to marvelous for Blam This Piece of Crap Day this year. As a result, when the day finally arrived I had to hustle some… Read More
Sooner or later your kid will ask about Santa Claus, and it's better to plan how you'll respond before that day comes.I firmly believed in Santa Claus until I was 10 years old. There was no… Read More
For the last several weeks I've been using the Too Good to Go app to reduce food waste around the greater Seattle area. Too Good to Go has been a popular app in Europe for some time and is m… Read More
Soy Doña Calavera.Mucho gusto.This year's Halloween costume was fairly haphazard and last-minute, but still pretty effective.I wanted to take at least one good picture while hol… Read More
I like making a few seasonally-appropriate dinners around Halloween. Usually it's pretty traditional fare -- Dinner in a Pumpkin or pumpkin soup served in a hollowed-out pumpkin shell or the… Read More
I was up at 3:45 this morning. The less said about that, the better. CM kindly drove me to the airport, where I had one of the smoothest boarding processes since 9/11 using SeaTac Airport's… Read More
Greetings, pedants! I didn't think I would do another Grammar Pedant post for a while, but I heard something today that made me twitch, so here we are.Today we're going to talk about a usefu… Read More
I know, there's been a dearth of posts lately. Just to be clear, I actually did do quite a few things in July; in fact I attended two family reunions, one for each side of the family. But as… Read More
INCE it's nearing the end of June, a month where folks are traditionally more likely to get married, I thought it might be wise (and potentially entertaining) to offer a PSA about regifting… Read More
Our family moved into a rental house in Provo, Utah in the last hot days of August, 1983. I can remember that specifically because one day after we finished unloading the moving van into our… Read More
was going to write an introductory statement here about why one would want to be a magical person, but you know what? That's nonsense. In a society that seems determined to make life as mund… Read More
If you were hanging around this blog in March of last year, you might remember that I wrote a little treatise on the importance of being prepared for disasters (like, say, the pandemic). If… Read More
[LONG-WINDED PREFACE: A while back, for about a hot second, I had a Reddit account (before realizing it wasn't really my thing) and used it to post a short story that got some positive inter… Read More
So, since February 3rd is Blam This Piece of Crap Day in our household (it can be in yours, too! Try it, it's fun!), I thought it might be worthwhile to show y'all an example of how a piece… Read More
(Originally written in response to a Marxist literary theory class I took in college, circa August 2004. No, it was not my favorite class. Yes, I was verily bugged about it. This is more or… Read More
OR years, my mom had this recurring desire to start a charity. Not just any old kind, but something specific."I'd love to match up families with each other," she'd say. "Then one family coul… Read More
How's this past week been for the Laundry Faerie, you ask?Public domain Cyclone image by Mark HoutzagerWell, to sum up: it's been a roller-coaster. First elated. Then nervous. Then terrified… Read More
Once upon a time there were three pigs. (They had convinced a few folks that they were sheepdogs, but really, they were pigs.)Because some folks thought they were sheepdogs, these three pigs… Read More
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.--Mark Twain, who mistakenly attributed this quote to Benjamin DisraeliLately I've been struggling with the way American deat… Read More
Can you remember a certain person from your past who entered your life and forever changed it for the better?My mother did. His name was Mr. Pollak.There are a couple of things you need to k… Read More
I don't know what your experiences have been or if you've dealt with grief in your life, but if you haven't, let me say this: grief is probably not what you think it is.In the first world, a… Read More
[Posted to social media; worth preserving here.]There are lots of things you can do to memorialize someone. People with money buy buildings and put the loved one's name on them (e.g., "the G… Read More
My sister-in-law and I drove together to the mortuary. I talked nervously most of the way there, trying to keep my mind busy with trivia so I wouldn't think about what was coming. I'd been s… Read More
[I originally posted this on social media, but after a set period of time I deliberately delete posts there. This one I thought was important enough to keep.]ERE'S the one thing I want you t… Read More
I posted this on social media a while back, but I keep thinking about it. There's a long history in children's literature of war, disease, natural disaster, or some other catastrophe providi… Read More
Remember the Wish I Were Here blog?Well, I can't fault you if you don't. I run the place and I barely remembered it.BUT! I've been cleaning off my computer desk (a heroic struggle, but worth… Read More
It's time to come clean. I have a bias.I'm not really proud of this fact, but it still intrudes into everyday life. And I've heard many times that the first part of getting over any kind of… Read More
I was having a chat with my sister Julie earlier this evening and she made a comment that stuck in my head. I mentioned that I'd heard so many people nonchalantly claim COVID-19 is "just lik… Read More
20 years ago this week, Captain Midnight and I got invited to a goofy party at Rob and Marie Cummings' house in Bellevue. Rob was turning 37, so he decided to host a Monty Python-themed "Old… Read More
[I first wrote this in... hmm, maybe 2002? earlier? I dunno. It's been sitting in limbo on my computer for some time, but I've decided to give it a place to live on the blog. Because reasons… Read More
(Ye Olde Plague of 2020 is still going on, but I'm tired of writing about it -- especially since hearing an envoy from the WHO say that COVID-19 is likely to be a "constant threat" until suc… Read More
Some minor odd things I've noticed regarding pandemic conditions, which may or may not be forgotten by history unless someone (say, me) writes them down:Decluttering is tough right now. Ther… Read More
When I was still in grade school, we had a fairly popular Mexican restaurant in town called El Papagallo, and one night it burned to the ground. Here's the gist of a conversation I remember… Read More
When I was still in grade school, we had a fairly popular Mexican restaurant in town called El Gallo, and one night it burned to the ground. Here's the gist of a conversation I remember havi… Read More
A handful of things you think about if you're me (which I am) and you're up late at night/early in the morning to get some much-needed solitude while in quarantine.Pandemics create so many r… Read More
ONJOUR, mes amis! I've been hesitating to check in and say things like "we're all well here," because I realize how quickly our circumstances could take a turn for the worse (whenever I leav… Read More
month has gone by fairly rapidly, with many changes, and I haven't taken the time to write about many of them. And it occurs to me that I should be writing these things down, because though… Read More
Miss V and I had to run a few errands today before we (mostly) retreat to the house for the next several weeks. As the coronavirus pandemic has pretty much turned the entire Puget Sound into… Read More
Oh man, the alliteration goblins are dancing a happy little jig over that post title! Ehem. Pressing on.So as you've probably heard by now, the virus known formally as SARS-CoV-2, aka novel… Read More
For some time now, I've had this notion to write a story set in the Quadrennial Leapmarket Fair (to which I have referred obliquely on this blog a time or two), a shindig that takes place in… Read More
On Monday night we watched Penn State's production of Angels in America Part 1: Millennium Approaches (well, the dress rehearsal). It was a remarkably ambitious production for a college to p… Read More
Today was Miss V's first day at Penn State. After we breakfasted from the magic breakfast nook, I dropped her off on campus and began my daily quest for local adventure.My duty was clear: th… Read More
(As per usual, events are backdated to the day when they occurred, but will only be posted after the fact, because reasons.)Miss V and I are on a graduate school scouting trip for the next f… Read More
I've been sitting on this juicy tidbit for weeks, but since there was an official announcement today:Remember a creepy little short story called "Alma Mater" that I first published here?Well… Read More
T'S too freaking cold tonight. Time for a Mormon mocha. ("What might this wonder of nature entail?" I hear you cry. Well, basically it's Abuelita chocolate made double strength with hot milk… Read More
(No, this is not about the app. You young whippersnappers get off my lawn.)If you haven't already seen the 1985 film Return to Oz, go watch it right now. I know you signed up for Disney+, so… Read More
Some of you may remember what Charlie-cat looked like when we first brought him off the street. For those who don't, a quick review:Scrawny 10-month-old CharlieAnd here he is after a few mon… Read More
Today I'd like to tell you a little something about my uncle.My uncle is a good man. He's a good husband, a good father, he was a good older brother to my dad, and he was an exceptionally du… Read More
...and they lived happily ever after.--the ending of way too many fairy tales to countWithin the last three decades, a specific genre has gradually emerged into the public consciousness: the… Read More
(I've been sitting on this story for a while. Enough time has gone by that I'm not actively angry about it any more, but I still think the experience is worth sharing.)It's early June, 2015… Read More
Autumn has come to the PNW. It was colder today, with a fair amount of rain. Charlie-cat was busy trying to find warm spots all over the house. (He's currently in his favorite place, curled… Read More
OXY is still missing. It's been two months.We borrowed traps from MEOW Cat Rescue the first day she was gone and started setting and baiting them immediately, putting in catnip and the smell… Read More
LOST CAT - ROXYDomestic shorthair mix, 5 year old spayed female, weighs about 10 pounds, black and light reddish-brown tortoiseshell with "split-face" markings, yellow-green eyesMicrochip nu… Read More
LOST CAT - ROXYDomestic shorthair mix, 5 year old spayed female, weighs about 10 pounds, black and light reddish-brown tortoiseshell with "split-face" markings, yellow-green eyesMicrochip nu… Read More
Ah, internet aphorisms. They're always fun, aren't they?Within my lifetime, the phrase "Dance like nobody's watching" has passed into aphoristic immortality. (You can tell a particular affir… Read More
Making semi-homemade baked beans today. (This involves rough chopping a small onion and cutting up some pork product -- some days it's bacon, others it's kielbasa, depending on what needs us… Read More
[I gave this talk back in January. Although it didn't go quite as smoothly as I'd hoped, I was fortunate to have a kind and supportive congregation who were willing to overlook various mista… Read More
(Trying not to go full ranty-pants here, but We Gotta Talk About This, right? Right.)Some of you may have seen this before. It's a bit by Australian comedian Troy Kinne, and it never fails t… Read More
Sometimes our cat, Roxy, dreams. We see her trying to run in her sleep, or she'll twitch and make little noises, and occasionally she'll wake up in full fight, flight or freeze mode and bite… Read More
(But it's not 1907. Just FYI.)In fact, we're two-thirds of the way through April and I haven't written here even once.You may ask, "What were you doing all that time?" I'll tell you. STUFF… Read More
Recently Miss V's been under a bit of stress. As previously mentioned, there are many projects she wants to complete before she heads off to her summer job. For the last several days she has… Read More
Miss V is home for a couple of months before she starts her summer job. So, of course, there are a few things that need to be done in the short time she's here.One of those things was to vis… Read More
I posted this to Facebook earlier, but it's been wonky all day, so.Mom called me this morning. I guess a while ago she hurt her right foot, and although her podiatrist (who is excellent) cle… Read More
Don't chop off his head to make yourself look tallDon't tear a strip off to make yourself feel wonderfulWho wants to compare, as if this was a competitionLeave that to teachers at school; mu… Read More
Certain powerful traits have been highly esteemed by people of every culture over multiple generations: strength, stoicism, wisdom, compassion, generosity, intelligence and beauty, to name a… Read More
So I've come up with what seems like a good analogy about why it's so much easier to make friends when you're young, seen through the lens of storytelling media.When you're a kid, meeting a… Read More
So a while back I went on an errand to the food playground known informally in this household as Asian Vegetable Disneyland, and found myself a great piece of ginger.Seriously, what does thi… Read More
Well, I'm sick again. Snerty nose, coughing, sneezing, and my hearing has gone from stereo to mono (every time I blow my nose, an ear clogs up). I've been dosing myself up in various ways … Read More
[NOTE: I've been inundated with anonymous comment spam over the last few days -- not that it does the spammers any good, as I delete all the comments without letting them see the light of da… Read More
Ah, Tim-my-brother. Years ago he worked as an attendant for a local gas-and-go convenience store, and one day when business was especially slow he filled out a fake gas theft report for his… Read More
In the interest of full disclosure (and shameless bragging rights), I have finished another scarf. And it is a non-Red-Scarf-Project scarf, even.Nope. This one is, selfishly, for me.This is… Read More
OK, as part of my "do the hard things" resolution, I'm looking to finish a lot of stuff this year. Like most people on the ADD spectrum, I'm really, really good at starting projects, but som… Read More
So, just for the sake of public scrutiny/accountability/all that sorta thing, here are my resolutions for 2019:Read at least 12 books this year.Work out with weights at least once a week.Vis… Read More
[First published 2005]Sometimes the Internet provides a kind of permeable window into other lives. I don't know how accurate that window is, but it's nonetheless interesting to observe.I've… Read More
In addition to being a solstice, a full moon, the first day of winter and all other sorts of fun things, today is Captain Midnight's birthday! Today he turns the big 52!In honor of this mile… Read More
This is my daddy, Danny Lee Buck.He was born in small-town Indiana in January 1942, during the early days of the United States' entry into World War II. He was a Midwest child of Southern pa… Read More
Greetings, pedants!About five years ago I posted a Grammar Pedant video on YouTube, and almost immediately regretted it -- mostly because I didn't like putting my goofy mug on YouTube. And f… Read More
It's getting near the end of the year. That means two things around here:I gotta write a Holiday Holler soon.BIG OL' MOVIE SEASON!We've seen Ralph Breaks The Internet (sorry, Disney, I still… Read More