Category Archives: Middle-aged Musings Monday

Musings on the MRI

Posted on November 10, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Have you ever had an MRI?  They’re freaky!  I felt like I was being operated on by a mad scientist, and that was the fun part of the experience.

Am I really going to write a blog post about getting an MRI?  Well, nothing else presents itself, and it is Middle-aged Musings Monday (or Mental Meanderings Monday, take your choice).  I did not get a post written on breaks at work, because I was writing something else (yay me, at least I wrote), and I am home late and want to get this post published so I might have a little time to relax before bed.

I’ve often remarked that it is tiresome to go on about one’s health problems, but I have often observed that that does not stop most of us (don’t pretend you’re the exception to the rule; I won’t believe you).  Well, I won’t go on and on, because I like to keep these off the cuff posts short.

What I liked best about the MRI was that I got to lie down with my eyes closed.  I didn’t have to close my eyes, but they told me not to move my head, and I believe blinking counts as movement.  Best just to keep them shut.  Then too, when your eyes are closed you can’t see the cage-looking thing they put over your face and you don’t see the low ceiling they roll you under.

You don’t have to do anything but lie as still as you can and listen to all the noise.  Boy, is there a lot of noise!  I thought lying still like that I might fall asleep.  I’m sure snoring would count as movement in addition to being pretty embarrassing, so I guess I should have been happy for the noise to keep me awake.

The other good thing about this MRI was when they injected some stuff into my arm, I didn’t even feel the needle go in.  That’s some skill by the medical professional involved, that is.  In turn, they appreciated my prominent veins.

Probably the worst part of my medical ordeal was driving home in the dark afterward.  I took a wrong turn and ended up following an extremely dark road back to the highway.  At least by the time I was on that road, I was pretty sure I knew where I was.

And that is my story about my MRI.  I’ll see what I can do about not having a Tired Tuesday post.  As always, I hope you’ll tune in.

 

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Monday Malaise

Posted on September 29, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’m pretty sure I’ve used this title before.  I’m going to call today a Blogger’s Sick Day.  I actually wrote parts of a blog post while at work today, but I was not having a good day.  I don’t feel like talking about why.

OK, that’s not true.  I would LOVE to talk about ALL the things that are bothering me, but there are reasons why I shall not. One reason is that it is not all my stuff.  I don’t want to look as if I’m saying, “Oh, look at me, I’m so compassionate, worried about other people’s troubles!”  Anyways, it isn’t true.  Oh, I have a normal amount of compassion, I do worry about other people’s problems. But, how do I put this?  Sometimes other people’s troubles bother me because they bother ME.

This would be a ripe topic for a Monday Middle-aged Musings, but I’m just not up to having any profound thoughts today.  Did I mention Blogger’s Sick Day?  Well, it is not merely a mental malaise.  I also feel like crap physically.

I was afraid this would happen.  I was afraid I would feel too crappy to write a post. That is why I tried so hard to write something while at work. Oh well, sometimes these things work out, sometimes they do not.  All I can do is try again tomorrow. Happy Monday ,everyone.

 

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Roxalana Snapped?

Posted on September 15, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Some people might think we have had  enough of All Roxy All The Time.  They could be right.  That doesn’t mean I can think of anything else to write about.  So I was sitting here with no idea what to write a blog post about when I thought I remembered a post titled “Roxalana Snapped.”  I thought, I’ll re-read that post and perhaps it will inspire me.  Imagine my surprise when I found it was only a draft.  Here it is:

Some time ago I wrote about going to hear James M. Greiner speak about his book, which I purchased that day, Last Woman Hanged: Roxalana Druse. Today, for Middle-aged Musing Monday, I thought I’d muse a little about the book.  (See?  It was even a Monday when I wrote the draft. It was fate that I should use it today!)

It’s a good topic for a Monday, because I like to spend a good portion of Sunday watching Snapped, a documentary show about women who kill. The victim is often the spouse. So I think of Last Woman Hanged as a kind of an historic Snapped.

Of course a book is usually classier than a cable television show. For one thing, few books include cheesy reenactments. Regular readers know I love cheese, but not all cheese is created equal. I love cheesy horror movies. Cheesy reenactments, not so much. I’m trying to picture what all they might have reenacted from Roxalana’s story if Snapped had been around in 1887.

It’s probably a silly thing to speculate about. In this century, everything probably would have played out quite differently.

And that is what I wrote on June 26, 2012.  Wow, that was a long time ago.  Could I have envisioned at that time that I would one day be on stage, doing a reenactment (I HOPE not a cheesy one!) of that very murder?  It boggles the mind.

 

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Murder on Monday

Posted on July 21, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I see that last Monday was “World’s Dumbest Monday”, which makes me a little embarrassed to feel as dumb as I do today.  No matter, dumb or not, I must make my blog post.

I don’t feel like watching World’s Dumbest today anyways.  I feel like watching my other favorite guilty pleasure show, Snapped.  Snapped is a documentary show about women who kill.  I think I wrote a blog post about it some time ago (too lazy to go back and check), but I have another reason to watch it and write about it today.  I feel it will inform my character of Roxalana Druse.

As regular readers may recall, I have the title role in Roxy, a play being presented by Herkimer County Historical Society and Ilion Little Theatre.  It is a new play written by a local author about Roxalana Druse, the last woman hanged in Herkimer County.  She killed her husband by shooting him then chopping his head off with an axe. I think he was asking for it, but perhaps that’s just me being in character.

That last sentence was just me being silly.  It is actually a serious play, probably the most serious I’ve ever been in.  Therefore, one might wonder if watching one of my guilty pleasure television shows is really the best way to prepare.  Listen, don’t try to second guess the processes of the creative mind.

More to the point, it’s Monday and I’m tired. It was a rough weekend and I’m not a young woman.  I studied my lines while on breaks at work and if I want to sit and watch a murder show on cable television, I will.  And I’ll write more about Roxy soon.

 

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As If I Had Actually Written Something

Posted on June 2, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Oh, just type anything.

 

That is what I finally said to myself after staring at the blank space under “Add New Post” on the wordpress page.   It is Monday, so I know I can do a Middle-age Musing Monday or a Monday Mental Meanderings (still can’t decide between those two).  However, whatever I do, I must actually type words into the computer.

 

It’s a funny thing about words and me.  Sometimes they just fall out of my fingers, via pen or keyboard.  Today at work (BEFORE work and while ON BREAK, in case you were concerned), I wrote almost two pages on my novel (YES, the novel I was supposed to finish in May, don’t judge).  Got to the end of the scene, yes!

 

Couldn’t start another scene.  I was just blank.  And the blankness continues.  All I can write about, and I realize this seems to happen to me frequently, is the fact that I can’t write.   AAAUUUGH!!!

 

I could blame the weather:  it became cold and rainy today.  It brought on flashbacks to 2013.  In 2013, I had signed up for a St. Baldrick’s Day fundraiser.  I asked for donations to help cure children’s cancer, then I got my head shaved.  That happened June 2.  It was swelteringly hot all May.  I cursed my hair, which I had not cut for almost two years.  I got it shaved.   Then the weather turned cold.  It was a rainy, miserable June.  Then Herkimer flooded on June 30.

 

You know, I could have expanded that last paragraph into a full blog post, and it would have looked as if I had actually written something.  Silly me.

 

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Curse You, Noah Webster!

Posted on May 19, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Whether I call it Monday Middle-aged Musings or Monday Mental Meanderings, today’s is going to be a foolish post.  I don’t know what it is with Mondays, but I am always so tired at the end of the day.  Perhaps it is the onset of middle age, which makes the former title more appropriate.  No matter.  My plan right now is to type in a few paragraphs then attempt to do at least one more useful thing before retiring to bed in self-pitying tears.

 

Just kidding.  I won’t cry and I am not feeling sorry for myself.  If anything, I feel bad for my blog readers, who may be looking for something a little more… shall we say, coherent.  However, if that is the case, the blogosphere is wide and varied.  Surely a blog reader can find something to please.

 

Here’s something interesting:  my computer seems to think blogosphere is not a word.  Perhaps I have it misspelled.  My Random House Webster’s College Dictionary is within reach, but I fear it was published before “blog” was a word, let along “blogosphere.”  I used to have a friend who enjoyed looking in older dictionaries and laughing about words that were missing.  “Computer” is the only example I can think of, unfortunately.

 

I just checked; “blog” is not in my dictionary.  “Computer” is, of course.  Now that I think of it, I don’t see why “computer” would not be in any dictionary.  According to this one, the word “compute” dates from 1630 to 1640, as does “computer,” which means “one that computes.”  Perhaps my memory is at fault and my friend was laughing at the outdated definitions.

 

And that brings up one thing that really annoys me.  Remember in school, when you had to write definitions of words and  you could NOT use a form of that word in your definition?  For example, if the word was “computer” and you put “one that computes,” you would get marked wrong and the teacher would probably say something rude and belittling (my teachers were not big on building self-esteem).  AND WHAT DID THE DICTIONARY JUST DO???  Curse you, Noah Webster!

 

I believe I have now been sufficiently foolish, and I am over 350 words.  I call that a respectable blog post.  I hope to see you lovely people again on Tuesday.

 

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Blog then Bed

Posted on May 12, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Is it Mental Meanderings Monday or Middle-aged Musings Monday?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

I bet that wasn’t a very long discussion.  Probably a couple, “I don’t care what you call it,” a few, “Oh, no, not another silly post,” or even, “Oh, goody, another silly post.”   Perhaps somebody brought up my love of alliteration.  In admiration or annoyance? (Did you notice what I did just then?)

 

It seems I am too tired to write a decent blog post.  The reason I am so tired is that I have been working on my articles for Mohawk Valley Living, my favorite magazine.  I daresay I flatter myself, but I think they are pretty good.  If only I could get them finished, polished and submitted, my life would be perfect.  I know what some of you are thinking: why didn’t I just publish one of the articles for my blog post?  I have done that on occasion, but I kind of feel like it’s cheating (hey, that’s something else you can discuss amongst yourselves).

 

Another factor in tonight’s trouble in coming up with a blog post is that I really need to get to bed early.  My husband has an early shift at work, for which he prefers to rise at 3:30 a.m.  I go to work at my normal time of seven, making an early morning run a good idea.  Hey, that means I could write tomorrow’s blog post about the run.  Score!

 

In the meantime, we all know Monday can be a painful day for us Monday through Friday wage slaves, as is the day after a day or days off for those who work different hours.  As I said yesterday, all I can do is stay hydrated and try again tomorrow.  Happy Monday, everyone.

 

 

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Bogged Down in the Blog

Posted on April 28, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Still can’t do it.  Yesterday I started writing a post about getting out of the funk I was in.  I got all bogged down and ended up writing some silliness suitable for Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  Today I tried to edit what I had written, feeling it would make a dandy Middle-aged Musings Monday.  Got bogged down a again.

 

What, I ask you, is a blogger to do?  (This may or may not be a rhetorical question; reader’s choice.)

 

I did take a lovely walk with my nice husband, Steven, and our beloved schnoodle, Tabby.  I could write a Pedestrian Post and have done with it.  It was an enjoyable walk.  The temperatures have warmed up.  I was fine in a regular sweatshirt, although I did put the hood up when my ears got cold.  We saw some daffodils, a few crocuses and some little purple flowers which I could not identify (must ask my Mom; she knows all that stuff).

 

Tabby, by the way, seems to be recovering nicely from her Lyme Disease.  She ran around barking when she knew a walk was imminent.  She is not completely herself yet.  When I got her a treat after the walk, she did not jump up on her hind legs to get it but waited for me to bring it down to her level.   However, she is definitely on the mend, for which Steven and I are quite grateful.

 

As for me, the walk did not exactly cure my funk, but I think it helped.  Fresh air, good company, exercise, what’s not to like?  Could it be that my funk, like Tabby’s Lyme Disease, is not something  I can just snap out of?  Perhaps I could gradually emerge from it, feeling a little better each day, till I am busily writing, completing tasks as I hope to.

 

In any case, this is my Middle-aged Musings Monday post.   Ooh, I just remembered something.  A few weeks ago I changed it to Monday Mental Meanderings.  Did I mention I am in a funk?

 

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Maybe I Should Have Backspaced Over It

Posted on February 17, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

That’s it, then. I’ve got the dreaded type-a-sentence-then-backspace-over-it disease. We all knew it was coming. One day I’m saying things like, “I can SO write!” and “I LOVE to write!” The next thing you know, I hate every word that comes out of my meager mind. Many writers have been there. Those that have not… oh, who are you kidding? We’ve ALL been there!

I had thought of doing a Monday Middle-aged Musings about the horridly cold weather. I was going to call it “Mid-Winter Musings.” I don’t really have anything new to say about the cold and the snow. Oh, except for a line I keep repeating that I think the huge snowbanks are a metaphor for my troubles: getting bigger and not likely to melt away any time soon.

Actually, it’s a pretty good metaphor. You look at snow falling and you think, “Aw, that’s nice. It’s pretty.” Because you’re in your warm house looking out, and it has not snowed in a while. Maybe it’s almost Christmas. Maybe you’re out in it, but it isn’t all that cold. You can look at individual flakes and they really are beautiful.

Then it begins to pile up. You have to shovel it and drive through it. It’s cold and the wind is blowing. You track it into your house and it makes a mess. As time goes on, the pristine white banks get all dirty and nasty. Wait a minute, where am I going with this? Life is pretty until it’s not? To hell with that!

I think I’ve talked myself right out of my blues, just from sheer cussedness. You say life sucks? I say kiss my fat ass, it does not! And I’ve written almost 300 words that I do not intend to backspace over. This has got to be the most disconnected post I’ve written yet. For the record, I’m only drinking tea.

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No Momentum Monday

Posted on February 10, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Earlier today I had a few lovely moments of I Can SO Write! Unfortunately it did not last long enough for me to also write my blog post. However, I did say I was going to need today for recovery from the play I was in that ended yesterday (if you are just tuning in and did not hear about the play, just look back at the last few weeks of posts. I’m sure I mentioned it). Moreover, it is Middle-aged Musings Monday. I’ll just come up with something reflective and drive on.

If only I had something to, you know, reflect upon. Right now I am mostly wondering why my bout of Can So Write did not last longer. What is it with momentum? Sometimes you got it, sometimes you don’t.

Oh, I can just hear that pesky inner critic now: “Nobody “gots” momentum. You CREATE momentum by doing whatever it is you want to, you know, moment.” (He pronounces “moment” with the second syllable accented.) Really, that is pretty good advice. I bet it was not the inner critic who said it; he’s never that helpful.

So what I needed to do was to keep writing till I got some of that there momentum. Now I think of it. In my defense, I’m tired. It is a cold winter day and I am not a young woman. Judge me if you want for my lack of momentum. I’m sure my inner critic will agree. I’m signing off till Tired Tuesday.

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