A Series of Chaotic Events - Dec. 16th, 2025

This episode contains mentions of challenging topics related to Epstein. 

Is it advisable to put my life on DnD while I try to finish this book? Or perhaps I should take a self-care night and dive into the endlessly fascinating read by Virginia Roberts Giuffre.... Or, maybe, someone will back into my fender in a parking lot. That works, too. Also, seven P.M. start time for a party? What do we think? 

Transcript

0:09

Good morning everyone. This is Jeffrey Kennedy. Also writing is Jennifer K Lambert, author of epic fantasy romance. And here was my first cup of coffee. Oh. Which is delicious. Today is Tuesday, December 16th. Staring down the barrel. Christmas here. For those who celebrate. It's going to be, an intense few days for me. Still trying to finish this book. Finish this book and sort my life. I'm not sure why. Everything is sort of coming down to right now, but, such is the way that karma works at times, right? But I'm not panicking. I'm actually far from panicking. I'm feeling pretty good about things. I did not have a blazing week last week, but I got substantial work done despite all the things, my mother moving into assisted living and all of that. She texts me often. It's a, It's a mixed bag, right? Because I think about when my grandmother was in assisted living or really kind of an Alzheimer's home memory care facility. That was before cell phones. So on the one hand, I am grateful that my mom has this instant communication device where she can let me know when she's having trouble. You know, like when she needs things like mouthwash. And some of this is just the learning curve, right? On. So many things. The learning curve is really what kills us. But like her housekeeping, people were messaging me yesterday sending me emails saying that she needed trash can liners. They actually, sent me this document that they had sent me once before saying this would be helpful for you. And I can't tell how much of that was, what's the word, you know, like, with the not smug, but, passive aggressive, like, deliberately pretending to like that they didn't know that they had already sent me this thing, and that I am clearly not following everything on this document that says that the patient's supposed to have. Most of it is like I wanted to do it when I was there. I would also I have a significant level of overwhelm. Right? I'm like, oh, I need to send these trashcan liners. And and I asked them, what's a good way to do this? Should I do it because I'm not there? I'm not there. Right. And I know it's frustrating to them when that I'm not there. And I know that they think that I kind of should be, which is I don't know. I think it's kind of like when teachers want parents to be really involved in the classroom and, you know, it makes their job easier. But also, parents often have jobs and can't do all the things in the classroom that would help the teachers. I can't just pick up trash can liners and drop them off, right? So I said to her, what's what's a good way to do this by DoorDash? What I'm thinking about how expensive DoorDash is. And she says Amazon works great because with Prime I have free delivery. And I wanted to say, but I'm trying not to order things from Amazon. And then I was like, screw it, whatever. It was the easy way to do it. I could just go on Amazon and order her mouthwash and her dental floss. I'm like, rubbing my forehead as I say this, and her a new mattress pad and trash liners, you know, because that's what housekeeping requires. I don't use trash can liners at my house. Not for, like, the little wastebasket, but whatever I got her is a waterproof laundry hamper. She was required to have. What more do they want from me? And I know that, again, this is process. This is something that will get easier once I, you know, just give up and just use Amazon. And any time my mom texts me and says that she needs something that I could just hop on Amazon and have it to her sometimes that right that day. And this is the the double edged sword of Amazon, right? The curse and the blessing. It is great. It's great that they can get that stuff delivered so freaking quickly. It's too bad that they are a scourge upon society. But, you know, this is Tucson, Arizona, too. And so they're more conservative. And also, I know that a lot of people aren't thinking about these things, and it's very difficult, right? We're all running into that with the trying to figure out how to vote with our dollars when it's difficult to get around the things, but also the double edged sword of the cell phone. It's great that my mom could text me, that she can tell me when she needs something. She texts me all the time and when she, you know, has any thought. And, it can be a lot sometimes. And, you know, so my friends are advising me on, like, not being so responsive, not being there all the time. But then she gets very upset if I don't respond. But the good news, the good news is, is that like last night, she went on, a bus with some of the other people there who she refers to as the inmates. My mom is still funny. And they went on a bus to see, the Christmas lights and to hear carolers, which is something she would not have done if she was in our house by herself. So I'm. I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled that she did that. I do think every day is a little bit better, but then, like, there's a backslide today. It's just been a lot. So what? Also talking about all the things I have to do working on this book. I got, feedback on it so far from when Minerva Spencer I probably mentioned that already. I put in all of her fixes. There were very few. And she says the story is rollicking along. I've sent her the next section. At this point, I probably have about five chapters and an epilog to go, and I know pretty much what's what's happening in every chapter. Yesterday I put her fixes in and then revised what I had written since my revision. And so I'm really hoping, and I keep saying that, that this week I'm going to get the bulk of that stuff done. If I can do like a chapter a day, that would be fantastic and then I can get it sent off. Leaving for Tucson on Sunday. Can I do a lot of Christmas shopping there? So that helps. And although I'm also thinking about doing a lot of cleaning out of the house at the same time, but there's not tons to do there. And it doesn't all have to happen now, but I'm trying not to, put too much stuff on future Jeffy. We need to send presents to the grandkids before they leave. And that's the big thing. Or before we leave. They're not leaving. We're leaving. Yeah, I think about, like, the grandparents that spend, you know, like collecting presents all year long and, you know, can't wait to spend Christmas with their grandkids. And, yeah, I'm a I'm a bad grandmother, as I often say, was. I mean, there been things going on, like yesterday I mentioned I had finally gone to the dentist after lo these probably 17 years, and was happy to find out that I only had two very minor cavities. I went and got the fillings done yesterday. It wasn't that bad, but it's done now. And the dentist said that they both looked good. And I will also admit, in case my friend who talked me into going to the dentist is listening. I don't know if she is or not, but my gums are a lot better since the cleaning, so. Okay, maybe there is a thing to the periodontist stuff. I know that I am skeptical, but it's never made a difference before. I have been using this fluoride toothpaste that she wanted me to use.$27 toothpaste people. I usually use baking soda and then rinse with hydrogen peroxide because I'm a freaky deaky health nut and I don't like all the sugar and most toothpaste. But this $27 toothpaste seems to be actually working. Go figure. So maybe the deep cleaning will make a big difference, and then I can just sort of go back to, like, doing an annual or six month cleaning and try not to be, crazy on this topic. I can be crazy about other things. The stars all know that I have plenty of things to be crazy about these days, so we'll try to eliminate them one by one. Friday night I think I mentioned that I was going to go to a party. I because I'm feeling like I'm isolating a little bit. It's hard in the wintertime because we really don't have the conferences and stuff, and because I'm no longer involved in the southwest stuff, I'm not really part of that community right now. I'm part of other communities. But people have been chatting online less. I think we're kind of all in overwhelm mode. So anyway, I was invited to this party and, I went out and had to get my hair done Friday afternoon. It was a rearranged appointment from when my mom fell. That's part of what I'm dealing with now, too, is I had to, reschedule several things. The hair and the the fillings. Because I was unexpectedly a merchant solely in Tucson. So now everything is sort of like getting stacked up. So anyway, I was getting my hair done, and this party didn't start till seven, which. Who starts a party at seven? I know, I know young people. These are all younger people. And I know seven is not that late. But my hair appointment was at three, and I knew that this meant that I would have a couple of hours between. And I asked my friend Meagan if she wanted to meet up for drinks, dinner or something, and she was out of town. And I asked another friend of mine, who said he could meet me, my friend twig from Beastly Books. And then it turned out I had, said tomorrow instead of today. And he was like, I can't today. I was all excited because I thought, yes, friend time. And it did not work. So. My life. So then I'm like, okay, what do I do with those two hours? Because I know if I went home then I would not want to go out again. I'm like, well, this is a good opportunity to do some Christmas shopping. And one of my friends said, well, why don't you take yourself out for a nice dinner? And I thought, okay, I can do that. So I went to luminaria, and at Loretto, because I haven't been there in a long time, and I knew it would be festive and delicious. And it was. And it's kind of neat because when you pull into the Loretto where it stayed before as a tourist, you know, like they have the torches lit and the lights and it's beautiful. They have this kind of circular drive and it's yeah, it's just delightful. And that's one of the things about living in a tourist town, right, is you don't always go do the tourist things. And when we first moved here, David and I used to go to the bar at in at Laredo sometimes. But, you know, he doesn't like to do that anymore. So it's like one of those things I'd kind of stopped doing. So I thought, okay, well, I'll just take myself out to dinner, take my book. I've been reading the, Virginia Roberts Chevre book. I think this is. Yeah. For if you've dealt with any kind of sexual assault or abuse, it's, I'm sure, very triggering. I don't mind it, because I've been very fortunate not to have had to deal with anything like that. Virginia Roberts chevre. One of the primary victims that Epstein and Jillian Maxwell trafficked. It's a fascinating book. And it's really interesting to me to read everything that she went through and how they did it. And, and I'm fascinated, I'm fascinated by this whole world of of these men who feel like it's their right. And it's something that's raising a lot of questions in my head. I understand that a lot of it's about the control, but one of the things she talks about is how her father started abusing her. I guess we should have some warnings on this, but her father started sexually abusing her when she was seven years old. And, you know, I understand that it's a perversion, but I just wonder, you know, like, what is going on in these men's minds. And probably this is something that I'm going to be circling creativity creatively the way I do, but it's, I recommend the book. The book is very well-written. It's fascinating. It's an excellent insight into this entire world of very powerful, wealthy men and how they build this, this network to protect them, which we are seeing in effect right now with the Epstein files, that they very deliberately build this huge fence that puts them above the law so that they can have teenage girls and they know exactly how to groom them and get them into it, and how to get these girls to recruit other girls. And it is horrifying and fascinating. So I was, reading my book, or planning to read my book and have this dinner at luminaria. But the other nice thing about that libretto is if you're going to eat at the restaurant, you can use the VLA for free, which, you know, I mean, of course I tipped the valet, but. So I pulled into this beautiful circle and I was behind this car with Colorado plates. I pulled up kind of close behind him because he had pulled in very, very slowly. And then I was trying not to block the driveway where they take the cars into the valet lot. And so I gotten out of my car, out of my Lexus hybrid that I bought because my friends make me, and I was chatting with the valet, as one does, and he was writing up my claim ticket, and someone else had handled the guy in front of us, and he backed up into my car and he crushed my front fender. So, yeah. Like I needed one more thing, right? It was drivable. It's not terrible. I filed a claim. You know, they figured that I am absolutely not at fault. I mean, I wasn't even in my car. And I talked with the guy's insurance, and it turns out the insurance is to the guy's dad, and they want to know because I didn't file a police report since it was on private property. They, want to know if they can just pay me, just pay to fix it and not run it to the insurance. So I suspect, junior there. This is not his first, MJ rodeo, shall we say? That's my judgment call, but, yeah, I'm making some assumptions there. So, anyway, I'm getting the car, an estimate tomorrow on the fixing and hopefully just get that taken care of. So anyway, this has been like, all of the things going on. I did get some. I did get the outside decorations done on the house and that looks pretty. I had to order some more lights and and I'm having a dinner party on New Year's Eve. Some of my friends, Minerva and her husband and my friend Jim Sorenson and his wife are going to come on New Year's Eve, and I'm going to make dinner, and we are going to play games and drink. And I think that will be really nice. So, yeah. And so, like, hopefully this book will be done. I think, come hell or high water. Right. God willing. And the creeks don't rise. Which I guess I shouldn't say that, because floods are about the only thing I'm not dealing with right now. But anyway, this book should be done. I will let you all, know how it goes. We'll get the report on Friday. Think many words for me. Think my mother being absorbed and not texting me all the time. Yes, I know I could, I might, maybe I should just draw some boundaries. Like, I'm always advising all of you to do. Put a fence around the writing and tell her that I can't text with her while I'm working on the book. So anyway, we'll see, and you and I will talk to you all on Friday. You all take care. Bye bye.