Category Archives: personal

Svengoolie, Stallone, and Couple of Beasts

I set aside my knitting to make a Sunday Cinema Post. I still have not upgraded my blog site so illustrations may be a problem. Perhaps my Media Library will help.

We like Svengoolie.

We started with a DVR’d episode of Svengoolie, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. I saw that movie once without the Sven treatment. I wrote a blog post about it. However, I did not remember a lot of stuff, so it was a fun view. Looking back at previous blog posts, I note that this was the third time I have seen the movie. Let’s hear it for not paying much attention!

After Svengoolie and the Beast, Steve suggested we watch Demolition Man, a not well known Sylvester Stallone romp which we find highly entertaining. Now we are looking at Lake Placid, in honor of Betty White. It is another scary monster flick. I thought I had pictures from both movies in my Media Library, but they are proving elusive.

I guess my post-Christmas letdown is kicking in, but that is to be expected. Sometimes you just have to feel that way until you don’t feel that way any more. In the meantime, I have had a fairly enjoyable Sunday watching movies, and I have made a blog post three days in a row. Score!

New Year, Same Old Blog

So I partied a little too heartily on New Year’s Eve. I don’t imagine I as the only one to do so. And at least I didn’t drink and drive. It is not nearly so dangerous to drink and blog. Today, however, I am feeling tired, drained, and fairly wordless. Well, obviously not entirely wordless.

Do you suppose those are his New Year’s Resolutions?

When in doubt, throw in a picture. This is Nosferatu, one of my favorite monsters (why is “monsters” underlined? That’s how you spell it! I should know). I know, it is not Monstrous Monday nor yet time for Mid-week Monsters. What can I say? Sometimes I need a little monster.

I get Fay Wray and Glenda Farrell mixed up.

Mystery of the Wax Museum is a New Year’s movie for me, because it opens on New Year’s Eve. However, we did not watch it this year.

The real monster?

I was searching my Media Library for one more picture and decided to use one of me. I don’t think I am any more monstrous when I drink than otherwise, but in general I am kind of a stinker.

Right now I am a stinker approaching 200 words on my first blog post of 2022, although my WordPress timestamp may have declared yesterday’s bit of foolishness to be that. Will I post every day in 2022? We shall see.

Is It Still Christmas? I Hope So!

OK, here’s the deal, I am really drunk, we just heard that Betty White died, and I did not make a blog post yesterday. Can I make a blog post now? The answer must be yes.

I had meant to make a Throwback Thursday Post yesterday but could not muster the necessary oomph.

He’s the best.

Here is a true Throwback: a delightful Santa that lives at my parents’ house. It was a recurring joke for some years that my husband, Steven, would leave his clothes out of his suitcase and take that nice Santa Claus.

Since that time we have acquired a number of nice Santa Clauses of our own. Can I find a picture of same?

Are they not delightful?

It has been a wonderful wonderful Christmas season. My Tablet is not being especially helpful in my efforts to make a post today. No matter. I wish you joy in your continued yuletide festivities.

Another Short Post About Wednesday Music

Once again we had a lovely evening at Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort, enjoying yummy food and great music. And once again, I have not upgraded my WordPress site to allow myself to upload new photos. However, I can include a previously shared photo of Max Scialdone, the musician of the evening.

He’s so cool.

We were joined this evening by our friend Kim. We had food and wine, exchanged Christmas presents, and sang along to songs we knew the words to.

I think I will bill this as a Wuss-out Wednesday Post, because I really feel too tired to say much else. However, I reserve the right to feel pleased with myself, because at least I posted something.

I Ran! I Blogged!

I have not made a Running Commentary Post in a long time. That could be because I have not been running much lately. What can I say? It turns out I am really good at talking myself out of doing things. Um, some things. I can almost never talk myself out of, for example, eating cookies. But let us not speak of these things. I want to blog about my run.

The weather was conducive: not too cold and not precipitating. I got myself into running clothes, put a load of laundry in the washer (the extent of my ability to multi-task), and set out.

Immediately I regretted not wearing my reflective vest or ARMY shirt with a reflective decal. The sidewalks were not uniformly clear. I knew I would want to spend some time in the road, and I like to give myself every advantage. Well, I would just have to be extra careful.

I turned left onto German Street, so I could be left-side-facing-traffic in the road. There was a nice stretch of no cars coinciding with some icy-looking sidewalk. How often does that work out? When I hopped back to the sidewalk, I had to dodge onto grass to avoid a couple puddles. I hooked around and tried to spend the rest of my run on less busy streets.

The best thing about the run was all the Christmas lights still up. How I will miss them! I feel I have not taken enough runs, walks, and drives to enjoy the lights sufficiently. However, I feel that way almost every year. I can’t spend all my time looking at lights, after all.

I changed my mind about which way to go several times but was delighted to go by a house with lots of lights and the homeowner outside.

“I have to tell you, the lights are lovely,” I said as I ran by.

“Thank you very much,” he said.

“Thank YOU!” I replied.

It was a short but enjoyable run. Perhaps as I get back into blogging regularly, I can also get back into running.

But Dracula Said, “I Never Drink Wine”

This is a — wait for it– monstrous situation. I made a post about being depressed and then did not post again for an entire week! What the hell, me? And when will autocorrect internalize the fact that I do so want to say “hell” not “he’ll”? These are points to ponder. In the meantime, I will attempt to ease back into blogging with a Monstrous Monday Post.

He looks a little stunned.

The beauty part about not posting for a while is that I have not used any photos from my Media Library recently. No, I have not yet completed the upgrade which will allow me to post new images. One step at a time; I’m still trying to get myself to post at all these days!

Anyways, here is my favorite guy, Nosferatu. Oh it HAS been a long time; instead of offering “Nosferatu” on predictive text, autocorrect changed it to “Nowhere to.” SAY IT AIN’T SO!!!

Quite a different style of vampire.

This delightful blood-sucker has resided on our wall since my husband gave him to me one Christmas some years ago. You may notice the stocking hanging from his neck. He also carries a green bell, but that is less noticeable.

Full disclosure: I already had the wine.

I would have liked to close with another vampire, but I find my Media Library increasingly difficult to navigate. Operator error, the story of my life. On the brighter side, I am approaching 250 words. I say not bad for a Monday after a week off.

And How Do You Feel?

And now, a few words about depression. I guess I should rather say a few more words, since I have written about depression before. I’m not even sure I will say anything new, but I ask you to bear with me.

Christmas is one of my favorite times of year. I love the music, the decorations, giving presents, watching yet another version of “A Christmas Carol,” everything. And it makes me feel even worse when I am emphatically not inclined to enjoy any of it. What the hell, me?

It is not a constant feeling of sadness, so I have that going for me. But it does intrude at odd and increasingly frequent times. In addition to being uncomfortable, it makes it difficult to get Christmas stuff, as well as general life stuff, done.

The worst aspect of it is feeling that I am nothing but a whiny baby. Why can I not simply feel happy during what some have called the most wonderful time of the year? What is wrong with me?

I have read that gratitude is the cure for depression. It is impossible to feel depressed, one popular women’s magazine opined, when you are feeling grateful. All I can say is, if it is that easy for you, you indeed have something to be grateful for.

As for me, I DO count my blessings. Often it increases my depression, because I start feeling like an ungrateful wretch for feeling depressed in the face of such blessings. And now I also feel like a dull, redundant blogger, because I am sure I have expressed these thoughts before.

Finally I fall back on a thought which had helped me before: sometimes you just have to feel that way until you don’t feel that way any more.

In the meantime, I wanted to make a blog post, because I have not made one in a few days. I’m going to file this one under Wrist to Forehead Sunday and hold out for the next wave of Christmas spirit. As always, I hope You’ll stay tuned.

Another Short Post About a Good Wednesday

My husband, Steve, and I just returned from a lovely Wednesday night at Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort, NY. Normally at this time I would be getting ready for bed and saying, “Oh hell, I can miss a day of blogging.” Yes, I can. However, I prefer not to.

He’s awesome!

Full disclosure: this is a picture from another night, found in my Media Library.

We sang along with many of his songs, sometimes changing the words. Instead of “Brown-eyed girl,” I sang to my “Green-eyed boy.” I was not the only one doing so. On another song, instead of, “Amy, what you wanna do?” Phil sang, “Cindy, ” etc. I was quite flattered.

We also enjoyed delicious food, served by our favorite bartender, Toni. We brought home leftovers. Yay!

So this is my short post. Call it a Wuss-out Wednesday and drive on.

Was This Blog Post a Good Idea?

This will be a Tired Tuesday Post. I had thought to make a Running Commentary Post, especially since I ran against all inclination to do any such thing. Then I thought I would not make any post at all, which has become a bad habit with me. However, as I reminded myself that it would be a good idea to run, I have convinced myself that it would be a good idea to blog. So here we are.

This is something I’m sure I have talked about before, but it bears repeating. Whenever I tell myself I “should” do something or “ought to” or “must,” the chances of me doing whatever it is are considerably diminished. However, when I use the gentler persuasion, “it would be a good idea to,” I get much better results.

I don’t know why that should surprise me. The “good idea” line makes it a choice, not an obligation. Suddenly I am an adult (despite appearances to the contrary), making sound decisions based on compelling reasons, not a recalcitrant baby who must be beaten upon to produce worthy results.

Something else that is sadly unsurprising: I am still telling myself that I should clean my house, I ought to get organized, and I MUST write more. I think we all know the results this has produced.

So in addition to being a Tired Tuesday Post, I guess this has been a kind of a pep talk to myself. If I utilize the gentle persuasion, perhaps I will get better results. Now I just have to remember not to tell myself that I MUST stop saying “should.”

Claude Rains, Can You Help Me Now?

This is my third attempt at making a post tonight. I do not know if it is my Tablet or WordPress that is hampering me, but I hit the letters with the stylus, and sometimes nothing happens. It is very frustrating. In fact, I find it (wait for it) Monstrous! Yes! That brings us to Monstrous Monday.

A common sentiment, to be sure.

I still have not upgraded my WordPress site so cannot upload new photos. However, since I often rely on my Media Library for Monstrous Monday, I feel comfortable in doing so today. Full disclosure: I was disinclined to post at all. Then I said to myself, Am I a blogger or am I not a blogger? Since I wanted the answer to be “am,” I am posting.

I kind of know how he feels.

I might argue, although I am no hand at argument, that without the ability to upload new pictures, I am trying to function with my right arm cut off. It might be overly dramatic to make such an argument, but when has that ever stopped me?

The picture, by the way, is from The Brain That Wouldn’t Die. I know, it is not a picture of a monster, but it does show the monster’s handiwork. I felt free to stretch a point.

So poised. So suave.

If I had failed to post at all, I could be like the Invisible Man. I guess Claude Rains and I do not really have that much in common, even if I do stretch a point.

However, I see I have babbled myself over 250 words, and my one-letter-stylus-typing seems to be working all right. Score! I’ll work on getting that upgrade and try for another post on Tired Tuesday. Thank you for staying tuned.