Hi all, and happy Friday! It is very cold and I have to turn my heated mattress pad off soon to go about my business. As soon as I am done with everything, I am returning straight to the mattress pad. Godspeed.
Who Is Reading This Ghost Post I Wrote In College?
Six years ago I wrote this Medium post as part of a college assignment. I believe our task was to go out into the world around the ASU downtown Phoenix campus, pick something to write about, research it, and turn it in within the class hour. Fun! Reporting! I chose the Coronado Hotel, which I walked past every week when I lived in Arizona. I learned some things, mostly that it is 100 percent wall-to-wall ghosts in there. And then I just…left the post on my Medium, never to be thought of again.
Except, apparently, by at least five people every week for the last six years.
I get a “your stats on Medium” email every week and every week, someone has read the ghost post. As few as five, and as many as 18. Without fail. Who are they? What are they gleaning from this post? How does SEO even work? Is it the ghosts? Is it YOU? It’s not like I wrote a particularly valuable travel resource or a scathing review of a much-beloved institution. So why the steady drip of traffic?
Quick Note On Sandwiches
Great news! I’ve been thinking about sandwiches. Until recently I wasn’t much of a sandwich girl, unless you count hot dogs. If you do, then I’m a big sandwich girl. Anyway, for the last several months, I’ve primarily eaten like Nancy Pelosi. But this month I’ve once again become enamored with my panini press. Funnily enough, for the first couple years, I mostly used my panini press on non-sandwich entities, like crescent roll dough and frozen hashbrowns.
Here are some sandwiches I made this week, which I’d like to tell you about.
Bread with spicy mayo + sweet hot mustard on one slice, goat cheese and red chili flakes on the other slice. Two pieces of maple turkey, with a slice of provolone between them.
Bread with sweet hot mustard on one slice, a little bit of pesto on the other slice. Salami and turkey, swiss cheese between them.
Bagel HOLLOWED OUT!!!!! and filled with jalapeno cream cheese and diced banana peppers (eat the hollowed-out parts while you wait for it to cook).
A single piece of bread, flattened with a rolling pin. Swiss cheese slice. A lot of craisins. Roll into a tube and press it until melted.
Two waffles with a maple sausage between them.
Reading/Watching Stuff
I watched Come From Away on Apple TV and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. I cried so much. It’s so good. You should watch it, but watch it when you do NOT have plans the next day. Ok? Ok.
That’s it. My eyes have been too swollen from crying to watch anything else.
Just kidding (kinda) (mostly). I’m finally reading May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude and Mary Ruefle’s Dunce (I did not have my own copy!)…and I’m reading them somewhere very cool…
A Thing I DID Buy This Week
I have to tell you about something I DID buy this week! Well, I bought it a couple weeks ago but it came this week. For a few months, I’ve been looking for good deals on sofas. In my living room, I had a red chaise lounge that was in disrepair; it came with the apartment but its legs were detached and I usually just propped it up on books to keep it off the ground. It was also upholstered in hard, scratchy fabric.
I thought about getting a futon or a clic-clac couch, but I loved having a chaise – it feels like just the right amount of lounging-vs-sitting. I have a reading chair, which I sit upright in, but I wanted something that could be either/or. After keeping my eyes peeled for weeks and weeks, I found a vintage floral chaise for sale on AptDeco (a service I hadn’t used before) (and no, this is not sponsored content). I made an offer, and for a full $100 under my budget, I got THIS:
…a new chaise lounge for Dottie :)
Things I Didn’t Buy This Week
Five Victoria’s Secret body sprays for $40, although I did consider it! Instead, I bought two $1.50 lotions from a discount store in my neighborhood – Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy and Elizabeth Taylor Gardenia
A kitten tapestry skirt that would certainly not fit me:
These earrings that look like vintage Pyrex (my fave color is sold out but others are available!)
Louis Sherry chocolates, which are so fancy but I mostly just want the box (should I buy one on eBay?)
A vintage metal pocket photo album, which came up as a suggestion when I was looking for empty Louis Sherry chocolate boxes on eBay
Okay, that’s it for me this week! Happy Friday, see you Monday, thanks for reading, and stay warm.