Category Archives: humor

A Mixed Up But Not Monstrous Run

I mixed things up by running, which I rarely do on a Monday, so I thought I would further mix things up by doing a Running Commentary Post instead of my usual Monstrous Monday Post.  I suppose, though, that it is not unusual for me to be mixed up.  Never mind that: on with the post!

One reason I thought to go running was that the roads were pretty much bare, which they have not been and which they are unlikely to remain.  I had previously been toying with the idea of running in place on the mini-tramp, because I wanted to do laundry before taking my shower, one of my few instances of multi-tasking (also, I come home from work too dirty and stinky to want to just sit around before showering).  When I noticed the bare roads as I left work, I said, “Heyyy!”

Picture more snow not on the road but a less wet road.

Of course I thought to run by places I have pictures of in my Media Library.  I believe I used this picture of Herkimer’s Historic Four Corners in my last Running Commentary Post.  As I approached the Corners, my whole body was saying, “Oh, to hell with this!”  Imagine my chagrin to find I had been running for less than three minutes.

There was a little more snow surrounding this building as well.

I ran down several streets with no landmarks before heading toward Washington Street and this handsome building.  I was huffing and puffing and, according to my Garmin, running a bit faster than I have in the recent past.  My body was, as it often does, trying to convince me that a short run would be OK.  I suppose it would, but I have the Boilermaker 15K to train for.  Yes, I have time, but not forever.

This is where I pay my water bill.

 

I hoped to make it for 20 minutes while promising myself I would not beat myself up over 17 or even 15.  I was pleased with myself for doing a mile in just under 13 minutes.  I know, other people do a mile much faster, but I cannot go around comparing myself to others.

Again, picture more snow.

I added a little time to my run by going around Meyers Park the long way.  For one reason, it was left side facing traffic (as it happened, there was no traffic, but one likes to be prepared).  Additionally, I got to enter where it said Do Not Enter.  Regular readers know how I like to do that.

My run was just barely over 20 minutes, a little over a mile and a half.  I felt pretty pleased with myself, especially on a Monday. I want to be more regular about walking and running.  It lifts my mood in several respects, and sometimes it makes a pretty good blog post.  Or do I flatter myself?

 

Post-Wine Post

I have not had much wine, but I thought the title would be a good follow-up to a Pre-Coffee Post.  This, I fear, will be another post where I just rattle on for 200 words or so.  I am battling depression but trying not to whine too much about it.  After all, everybody has problems.

Not enough gas to outrun Monday!

I guess I can bill this as a Wrist to Forehead Sunday Post.  I don’t really feel that horrified by Monday, but it cannot be denied that the weekend is more fun.  This past weekend I drove into Rome, NY, to my parents’ house, where two out of three sisters  were also visiting.

Returning to Herkimer this morning, I made a stop to purchase ice melt then parked on the street while I shoveled some of the snow in my driveway.  I did not make great progress, but I got the car in without any trouble.  Phew!

Scary!

The cold air had given me a bit of a sinus headache, so I heated up my face thing and laid down for a while.  It seemed to help.  This afternoon I watched War of the Gargantuas on Svengoolie.  I have several episodes of Svengoolie on my DVR.  I bet some of you thought that picture was a graphic depiction of my headache.  I can see where one might think that.  While I watched, I heated up some leftovers for dinner.

Bearing in mind that doing something, anything can alleviate depression, I fixed tomorrow’s lunch, did the dishes, and laid out my Monday work outfit.  Now I am kind of sort of looking at Snapped while I make a blog post.

I haven’t reached mine yet.

Since I titled this Post-Wine Post, do you suppose it would be OK if I had some Post-Post Wine?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

Pre-Coffee Post

I am still at my Mom and Dad’s house, and I never got around to making my Saturday blog post.  It is early Sunday morning.  Everybody else is still abed (damn my insomnia!).  I am lounged on the love seat, pecking away with the borrowed stylus, and wishing I had a little more to say.  I am also wishing I knew how to use the Keurig.  I have a drip coffee maker at my house. Yes, Dad has shown me how to use the Keurig.  I just don’t remember what he showed me.

I always use the caption, “One more thing.”

Once again, I throw in a picture to pep things up.  I started to watch an episode of Columbo last night, but it was the one episode I absolutely do not like, the one where his niece gets kidnapped.  Don’t get me started.

I hope I don’t go home to this!

I add a snowy picture, because I spent a good portion of the day looking out the window at the snow coming down.  I fear when I get home I will not be able to get into my driveway.  I got hung up getting out of it Friday morning.  That was painful, although I did make it to work on time.

I am having a really enjoyable visit, there is just not a whole lot to blog about.  Perhaps my pre-coffee brain is to blame (why in the world  would autocorrect change pre-coffee to pre-order?). In any case, I am over 200 words.  Maybe I could make myself a cup of tea.

 

Friday’s Post

This is an especially late Lame Post Friday post. In fact, I almost skipped it entirely.  I am sitting at my parents’ kitchen table with my Tablet, pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus.  It is, in fact, not my stylus but a stylus pen from my parents’ church.  I saw it on the table and appropriated it.

Here is a question:  why does autocorrect not recognize plural possessive?  I learned it in seventh grade (I learned all grammar and punctuation in seventh grade and suffered for the next five years when they made me study it again):  when a plural ends in s, to make it a possessive, just add the apostrophe.  Hence, parents’, not parents’s.  But autocorrect wants to make it parent’s. What the hell, autocorrect, does everybody only have one parent?

Also, regarding the parenthetical comment in the preceding paragraph:  I did not really learn that much in seventh grade English.  My teacher was kind of a superior old twit.  I realized years later that I read so much I absorbed the rules by osmosis.  Miss Twit just verbalized what I didn’t know I already knew.  But I do remember hearing the apostrophe rule from her, so credit where credit is due.

This nonsense has gotten me over 200 words.  Woohoo!  Now I have to go make myself useful elsewhere.

 

Winging Through Another Blog Post

I thought I could manage a Non-Sequitur Thursday Post.  Earlier I considered going to Cacciatore’s in Ilion, NY for music and 75 cent wings.  I’m a sucker for chicken wings.  However, like last night, I decided bra off was a better way to go (do NOT tell me TMI! I hate that expression!).

Pretty!

Once again I throw in a picture to pep things up.  Since I am billing this as Non-Sequitur Thursday, I looked for something unrelated.  These are the Brown-eyed Susans that grow around my deck.  I am SO ready for spring, as I suppose many folks are.  Yesterday at work, a woman said how much she was looking forward to working in her garden.  I agreed with her then confessed that what I was really looking forward to was sitting on my front porch with a cup of coffee or glass of wine.

 

 Jan in a pan!

I thought another unrelated picture would be appropriate.  It is from The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, which I think is my favorite cheesy horror movie, and I watch a lot of cheesy horror movies.

Not quite how the neighborhood looks right now. For one reason, it’s dark out.

I close with a winter picture, because we are experiencing more winter weather these days.  Of course that is to be expected in February.  As they say (although I am not clear on who they are), better days are coming!  Will better blog posts follow?  I can hope, but no promises.  For one reason, tomorrow is Lame Post Friday.

 

Oh Well! It’s a Post!

It seems that I am in a time warp.  I logged on to WordPress thinking “Throwback Thursday.  I’ll make a Throwback Thursday Post.”  It was not until I looked at my previous posts for the week that I remembered:  it’s Wednesday!  What the hell, me?  Earlier today I knew it was Wednesday.  Furthermore,  I am well aware that tomorrow is NOT Friday.  Sometimes I wonder about myself.

At least it isn’t Tuesday. Or is it?

All is not lost, I tell myself (although why I should listen to myself when I am clearly an unreliable source I do not know):  I can have a Way Back Wednesday Post (should Way Back be one or two words?).

Cheers!

Going back a few years to December 2019, here is my sweet husband, Steven, at Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort, NY.  That is Phil Arcuri in the background.  I would have liked to go to Fratello’s tonight, but I called and found out there was no music.  I know, I could have gone anyways for the food, but I decided against it.

Why not another picture of Steve?

I had to look through some previous posts to rememberwhere this picture was taken.  It is Beer Belly Bob’s in Ilion,  where Red Shed Brewery of Cooperstown and Cherry Valley was doing a tasting.  I recently saw their tap room in Cherry Valley and said, “Ooh, I have to go there!”   This could be a sign I should do it soon (preview of coming attractions).

Now my post is in a time warp.  Way Back or Coming Attractions?  Oh well, it’s a post.

 

I Do Love Music

On a recent Wednesday I made my way to Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort, NY, to meet my niece Kimi and her boyfriend, Matt, and to hear one of my favorite local musicians, Phil Arcuri.  It was a bittersweet but lovely evening.

Previously shared picture.

Regular readers know that my late husband, Steven, and I had a Wednesday thing of going to Fratello’s on Wednesday nights for food and music (not necessarily in that order).  More recently, I went alone as Steven did not feel up to it, but I always hoped he would be joining me again soon.  I like to think he was with me in spirit.

Right away Phil gave me a hug and said he was sorry about Steve.  Later on in the evening, he said he missed Steve’s smile.  Steve always was a big fan of Phil’s.  Some Wednesdays when he was disinclined to go out at all, I could tempt him by saying Phil was playing.

Phil opened, as he often does, with “Margaritaville.”  Traditionally, when he gets to the line, “It’s all my fault,”  I say it is Steve’s fault.  This night, I admitted it was my fault.  On the next chorus, I blamed Kimi and Matt.

Also a previously shared picture.

I was glad I got out of the house, and I am glad I finally wrote about the evening.  Fratello’s Pizzeria is located at 158. E. Main St., Frankfort, NY, phone number 315-894-8484.  They are open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, Sunday 1 to 7 p.m.  You can follow them on Facebook to find out when local musicians are featured.

 

It Is Monday. I Muse.

Monday has traditionally been a day I let myself off the hook.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I let myself off the hook all the time!  There’s Tired Tuesday,  Wuss-out Wednesday,  and who could forget Lame Post Friday? That said, I let myself off the hook today.

For one reason,  I returned to work, at a previous place of employment.  This is not a work blog, so I will not elaborate except to say that it was not a bad day at all.  My former co-workers welcomed me back, which felt very nice indeed.  Still, work is work, and I am not a young woman.  I returned home tired and mentally revising the to-do list I had compiled this morning.

See, this is how hard I worked today.

I was afraid the post was a bit dull, so I threw in a picture.  Joan Crawford with an ax, there could be no possible objection.

Four things I felt must be done on my list:  take out trash and recyclables, fix tomorrow’s lunch, put on coffee, and make my blog post.  I have done (am doing) them in that order.

It was not on my list, but I did watch Dateline.

I am navigating my life as a widow with varying degrees of success.  I believe that is to be expected.  I look at other people who have greater tragedies to deal with and fewer supports to help them, and I count my blessings.  This does not necessarily alleviate my feelings, but I try to let it inform my behavior.  I don’t know if that makes any sense.  Do you suppose sense is overrated?

I see I am over 250 words.  Score!  I am going to bill this as a Middle-aged Musings Monday, although a friend recently pointed out that if I am middle-aged now, I must live to be well over 100.  Don’t you just hate those didactic types?

 

Perhaps I Should Have Left It Blank

I am sitting here staring at a blank space and feeling that my mind is equally blank.

Well, I thought that if I typed in something, anything (pecking it out one letter at a time with the stylus, of course), I could go on from there.   Sometimes these little tricks work.  Sometimes not so much.  However,  I want to make a blog post.  I will attempt to make a blog post.

The famous white bathing suit.

I throw in a picture to pep things up. Earlier I watched Creature from the Black Lagoon on a DVR’d episode of Svengoolie.  I loves me some Svengoolie.

I know how she feels.

This is also not the picture I was looking for.  However, sometimes I like to jump on the I Hate Monday bandwagon.  I personally will not be pouring myself such a measure of booze.  I had a little wine earlier, but not enough to render Monday even more hideous than it is forced to be by nature.

Cheers, my love.

Speaking of wine, here is a picture of my sadly missed husband, Steve, enjoying a libation at the Waterfront Grille in Herkimer, NY.  My friend Kim and I had a couple drinks at the Waterfront yesterday.  Did I mention that in my Scattered Saturday Post?   It is far too much trouble to go back and look.

I guess I can bill this as a Wrist to Forehead Sunday Post, because I must sound like I am about to swoon, dramatically posed with the back of one wrist to my forehead.  I will try for a little less drama tomorrow.

 

Still Scattered, Still Saturday!

I am going to make a fast Scattered Saturday Post and get back to enjoying my evening.  Maybe with another glass of wine.

I went for a run earlier this morning and eventually made my Lame Post Friday post.  More importantly, I wrote out a few post cards to send.  Regular readers know I like to send out a few postcards every week to folks who might need a pick-me-up.  I have not sent any for the past two weeks, so I felt happy to do so again.

I throw in a picture of the post office, just to add an illustration.

When I went to mail the post cards, I went on to Little Falls, NY, because I had to drop off a couple of catalogues I had borrowed from Mohawk Valley Funerals and Cremation.  Since this brought me past the turn-off to Dolgeville, I decided to visit Dolgville on my way back.

In Dolgeville I stopped at Stella’s Styles, a delightful consignment store I have been at before.  Alas, once there I felt disinclined to purchase anything, although I did see a  couple of fancy evevening bags I coveted.

Shortly after returning home, I joined my friend Kim for a tasting at Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer.  Three Brothers Winery in the Finger Lakes, yes!  After the tasting, we stopped at the Waterfront Grille for a full glass of wine.

Back home, I made some popcorn and watched as episode of Svengoolie on DVR.

It was Godzilla on Svengoolie.

I must decide what to watch next, but for right now I feel perhaps disproportionately pleased with myself for making my Saturday blog post on Saturday.   Hey, I gotta take my  wins where I can.