Recommendation Roundup

A list of recommendations on everything from buying stock in PetSmart to losing your mind

Oct 27, 2024

Our cat Nomi daring me to buy one more goddamn litter box

This has been quite a week. My firstborn cat has been peeing outside the litter box since we got home from vacation two weeks ago. My husband got a cold, I got a cold, one of our cars had to go into the shop and it’s my busiest time of year at work. The peeing escalated to pooping, so we took the cat to the vet and paid $100 to find out that our cat is “stressed.” You and me both, buddy.

In a glance:

Times I’ve cried while saying, “this is why I didn’t have kids” about my inability to attune to my cat’s emotional needs: 2
Trips to the vet: 2
Calls to the vet: 3
Chewy orders: 1
Trips to PetSmart: 3?
Litter boxes purchased: 3
Jackson Galaxy videos watched: a million
Products purchased that are supposed to stop cats from peeing outside the box but did not in fact stop our cat from peeing outside the box: 3
Runs to Publix to buy more vinegar and baking soda: 1
Times I’ve had to wash the bath mat, which the cat also decided to start peeing on: 3
Number of days we locked our sweet second cat upstairs so our firstborn, peeing cat could have 1:1 time and emotionally re-regulate: 1.5
Number of times 1:1 time stopped our cat from peeing outside the box: 0
Number of times this week I’ve coughed so hard that I too have peed outside the box: incalculable

And now, here are you links!

Minda Honey on being rescued by helicopter from a mountain in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, and the danger of disinformation.

Kiese Laymon is one of my favorite writers. I had the privilege of taking a writing class from him and meeting him a few years back and he was incredibly generous and funny. Here he is writing about America, a cancer diagnosis and his grandmother for The Bitter Southerner.

Bad news for anyone who thought I was done using the word “turducken” because this next rec is a chicken tucked inside a duck, tucked inside a turkey. In reverse turducken order: Julia Turshen on Virginia Sole-Smith’s Burnt Toast podcast. Then Julia’s “butter” of a ‘cozy fall vibes’ YouTube channel she and Grace are watching, and I am now also watching. Lastly this hilarious TikTok where I’m 99 percent certain Trixie and Katya are also talking about these ‘cozy fall vibes’ channels on YouTube.

Burnt Toast by Virginia Sole-Smith

Julia Turshen Is Your Home Depot Dad

You’re listening to Burnt Toast…

Listen now

5 months ago · 92 likes · 45 comments · Virginia Sole-Smith and Julia Turshen

See also: Julia Turshen in Self. Julia Turshen in Vogue. Julia Turshen in my kitchen because her new cookbook is my new favorite thing.

Something I haven’t talked much about, but may soon, is that I was going to write a book this year. I was going to write a memoir in essays. Then I got asked to audition to write a funny, feminist perimenopause self-helpy book for a publisher, so I pivoted to that. I spent six weeks writing my audition packet, ultimately wasn’t chosen and then my brain broke. Where’s my “I was going to write a book and instead all I got was burnout” t-shirt? I’ve long looked up to Isaac Fitzgerald and what he has to say about writing, memoirs specifically, and this podcast helped unlock something in my brain - finally.

Speaking of podcasts, this talk in-between Lyz Lenz and Scaachi Koul is such a great listen, especially Koul’s take on how she’s treated by her male coworkers post-divorce. I’m dying to read Koul’s divorce memoir when it comes out in March.