Category Archives: personal

They Say I’m a Character

Don’t we look awesome?

In lieu of my usual Lame Post Friday,  I thought I would share some cool pictures from the RCIL Character Brunch, which I participated in last Saturday.  It was a blast!  I stole the above picture from the RCIL Facebook page.  I also took a few with my Tablet.

Snow White turned her back, because she had a mouthful of donut.

Unfortunately I could only take pictures in the room where we hung out before the event.  During the event, I was busy dancing, signing autographs (really!), and generally being a character once the event started. But I think my backstage pictures are fun. In the above shot, the foreground features Alice of Alice in Wonderland with one of the Queen of Hearts’ minions (I know you think a minion is a goofy yellow guy in a Facebook meme, but it is also a generic term for an underling).  The Beast from Beauty and is in the background, without his head.

Here’s Snow White, and Beast again.

 

And Cinderella!

 

A kind of artsy shot (or do I flatter myself?) shot of Elsa getting ready.

What I really enjoyed was the eclectic quality of the gathering.  I think at the time I used the word “eclecticness” which may or may not actually be a word (surely you don’t expect me to look it up on Lame Post Friday) (and I will call you Shirley if I feel like it).

Royalty present included Princess Leia and Prince Charming.

 

A Jedi knight and Sponge Bob.

 

I wish I had gotten some better shots of these folks.

Some time when I’m feeling less lame, I’d like to write more about RCIL and the brunch.  For now, I leave these pictures and a wish for a Happy Friday for all.

 

A Herkimer Halloween

So there I was, trying to make a Halloween blog post about the RCIL Character Brunch I participated in last Saturday.  Suddenly it was trick or treating time!  I do not trick or treat myself (insert joke of your choice about my turning tricks and/or not being much of a treat myself), but Steven and I love to sit out on the porch and hand out candy.

I brought my Tablet out onto the porch, thinking I could work on my post between kids.  They do tend to come in spurts, or waves as the evening progresses.  I got a sentence or two typed in.  Then I wanted to take pictures document the evening.

I love a grey sky, especially on Halloween.

This is the view from our front porch.  Rain and high winds were in the forecast, but it did not rain heavily, except for a couple of spurts, and the wind was not bad when we were outside.  I shared this picture to Facebook and to Jill Reale’s page.  Local readers know she is the WKTV meteorologist, and she shows viewers’ weather photos.  She shared one I took on dark clouds moving in once.

 

I think this is it.

Steven wanted to hear our Halloween CD, so I brought our portable CD player out on the porch.  Of course I had not thought ahead and gotten batteries, but an extension cord worked just as well, especially since it was the warmest Oct. 31 in recent memory.  I solidified my crazy old lady credentials by dancing to most of the tunes.

We had a good number of trick or treaters. We ran out of candy, but I had some Halloween pencils, and I found some Groucho Marx glasses we had purchased for a long ago murder mystery. When offered a choice, some kids picked the glasses.  I hope they were not disappointed when they got home and looked closely at them.

He looked cheerful enough.

The only other picture I took was of the skeleton hanging on our porch.  Later in the evening, when the wind started to pick up, he looked like he was dancing to the music.  I thought about trying to get a video of it but figured he would stop or the music would change before I got the Tablet set up properly.

So another Halloween is in the books.  It was fun, although a little wet.  On to November!  Of course, I still have a few Halloween movies to watch…

 

Wuss-out Whining

Sorry, friends, it’s Wuss-out Wednesday.  I must be getting old or something, because overtime is really kicking my butt.  I managed to go for a short run this afternoon, and it was not fun.  I couldn’t even manage a full cool-down walk.

Oh dear, that was a whiny paragraph,  wasn’t it?  I’m not having a horrible evening; I just don’t feel capable of making a good blog post.  It’s too bad, too, because I was going to share pictures of the RCIL Character Brunch last Saturday.  Well, perhaps I can do that tomorrow or the next day.

In the meantime,  I want to make some semblance of a post now, because I do NOT want to try to post tomorrow morning.  It is hard enough to get to work by 4:30 a.m.  Aaaaand there I go whining again!

Tomorrow is Halloween.  We have that going for us.  Full Disclosure: I intend to continue watching Halloween movies as long as I can get away with it. I am hoping the weather will not be as heinous as the meteorologists are predicting.  Rain and wind.  Yikes!

As my friend Bruce says, don’t whine; WINE!  I’ll have a sip or two before bed, I think.  Not too much, though, or I will really be whining tomorrow!

 

Waterfront Lunch

On Saturday after I got home from the RCIL Character Brunch,  I told Steven it was too nice a day to sit home.  I suggested we go somewhere for a drink where we could look outside at the beautiful fall weather.

“And get something to eat,” he said.  Who am I to object to that?

We ended up at the Waterfront Grille in Herkimer, where we like to sit at the bar and order appetizers.  Saturday, however, we got lunch.  I had the Wrap of the Day, which was crab salad, with cole slaw. Steve had Soup and a Half Sandwich, split pea and egg salad respectively.  I tried his egg salad.  Yum!  My sandwich was yummy too.

I forgot to ask her name, but she was a great bartender.

I asked the bartender to pose for a picture with Steven, for my blog post.  Then Steven took one of me.

I don’t remember what was in my hand that got cut off.

As we sat enjoying our wine, the bartender put upside down shot glasses by us, to show somebody had bought us another round.  It was Rocky, the owner, who was sitting at the other end of the bar.  How nice was that!  Steven wanted to purchase one of the shot glasses for his collection.  Rocky agreed to let us have it for a very attractive price.

Steven’s new shot glass.

I guess I didn’t do such a good job getting an uncluttered picture.  Oh well, that’s my life.  It was a nice souvenir from great lunch. I can’t wait till we go there again!

The Waterfront Grille is located at 800 Mohawk St., Herkimer NY, phone number 315-717-0700.

 

Monday Monsters at Home

A few of the characters that grace our happy home.

I have been meaning to take a picture of our new skeleton, Bonita,  especially since I fixed her up with a couple of accessories. She has been lounging there, watching television with us for the past week or so.  I tried to clear some of the clutter before I clicked, but in my house it is game, set and match to clutter, with no points scored by me. However, I noticed this shot features a nice duck smiling at us out of a box and Santa Claus peeking around the corner.  How fun is that?

He’s got it all wrapped up.

My next shot was a little less cluttered.  This is William Mummy (we already had  Billy Mummy), which I impulse bought for Steven on a recent trip to Hannaford. Isn’t he cute?

I’m not sure what the skeleton is looking at.

Regular readers may recall that Steven and I recently celebrated a wedding anniversary.  The bride and groom ducks are a present from our friend Kim. The mug and skeleton were Steven’s gift to me.  He got the mug from the Herkimer County Historical Society.  They had made the original for WKTV News’ Morning Mug Club.  At Steven’s request, they made another one for me.  He got the skeleton at Hannaford (we shop at Hannaford a lot).

So this is my Monstrous Monday post for the week.  I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow, when I hope to write more about my Saturday adventures.

 

Something, Anything, At Least It’s Not Late!

So there I was, all set to make a good post today and not be typing in something, anything before work tomorrow morning.  Well, I’m halfway there: I’m making Sunday’s post on Sunday, but I pretty much am typing in something, anything. I am fairly happy with myself to be doing that much, though, because I’m going in early tomorrow for some overtime. Yikes!

The sad part is that I have a few good things I could blog about, as mentioned in this morning’s Scattered Saturday post.  But I just don’t have the oomph to do it now.  Sue me.  I suppose I could do a Sunday Cinema post,  since we have been watching movies all day.  However, I am typing this in on my Tablet (having long since gotten used to typing one letter at a time with the stylus), and I don’t have the right pictures in my Media Library.  I do so love using appropriate illustrations.

I’m afraid the best I can do is a Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.  Alas and alack!  I cannot make a decent blog post today!   I say it posed dramatically,  the back of one wrist on my forehead, just about to swoon.  One of these days I actually will swoon. I’ll try to get somebody to take a picture when I do.  What a great addition to my Media Library!

 

Great Saturday, Late Post

What a Scattered Saturday I had!  It included everything but making my blog post (I bet you thought I was going to say “everything but the kitchen sink”)!  So here I am, up earlier than usual on a Sunday morning, trying to take up the slack.

I got up earlier than usual yesterday morning, too, with the result that I went running in the dark.  I had last run on Thursday, and that run was terrible. It had me questioning my ability to make the Reindeer Run 5K in Little Falls in December.  Well, not seriously questioning it.  More like questioning how well I was going to run it.

Well, yesterday’s run was AWESOME!  I felt my running mojo was BACK!  I even added 10 percent to the length of my run, which I had not planned to do till Sunday.  I thought it would be a great run to make a Running Commentary post about.

Unfortunately,  when I got home, I had a headache.  I felt rather ill-used about this, especially since I had purposely NOT tied one on on Friday (despite making my blog post about wine).  I had a volunteer commitment at 10 (please be there by 9:30), so this was a problem.  I took some OTC painkillers and heated up my face thing.  I have this face mask with herbs my Mom got me. You heat it in the microwave and lie down with it.  It’s not always the miracle I’m hoping for, but it always feels good.

The headache didn’t entirely leave me, but I was ready at 9 when my friend Kim picked me up to go to the Character Brunch fundraiser for RCIL.  I will definitely write more about that later, with pictures!

After I got back home,  Steven and I went out to the Waterfront Grille in Herkimer for a late lunch.  Another fun time I hope to write more about! Then it was home and on to the Halloween movie watching portion of the day.

Alas, this was when I fell asleep.  Not right away, of course.  I knitted, finishing a Halloween colored scarf, and enjoyed some Halloween entertainment.

And now I have completed another late blog post.  I am quite determined to make my Sunday blog post today.  We’ll see how I do.

 

Wining on Friday

 

Ah, wine.

My friend Bruce is always commenting on Facebook that it is wine time.  At this point in my Friday, I am inclined to agree.  I unexpectedly spent an extra two hours at work.  While I am very grateful for the overtime, I am TIRED!  Oh, don’t tell me to not complain, complaining is a time honored tradition for many of us, and a usually reliable method for letting off steam.

Where was I? Ah yes, Lame Post Friday.  I know, yesterday’s post was not exactly able bodied (isn’t that the opposite of lame?).  When have I ever hesitated to make multiple foolish posts in a row?

Another example of wine time.

Looking through my Media Library for more illustrations to pep up the post,  I came across this one of my husband, Steven, enjoying a glass at the Waterfront Grille in Herkimer, NY.  What, did you think I was drinking alone?  Full disclosure: I have enjoyed a solitary beverage on occasion.  Today, I join my husband in a glass (he got in first, then I saw if there was room for me).

I’m only a little hidden by Tracy’s glass.

I had to search for a picture of myself with wine.  That is because I am usually the one taking the pictures. This is our friend Tracy and me on  different visit to the Waterfront Grille.

Well, that’s three pictures and over 200 words.  I call that OK on a Lame Post Friday.  Happy Weekend,  everyone!

 

Will My Next Post Be From Jail?

Oh dear.  As I was sitting here trying to think of something to write a blog post about, the phone rang.  Not recognizing the number on my Caller ID on TV,  I let the machine pick it up.  It turns out, I am being sued by the Social Security Administration. At least, the first part of the recorded message was cut off, so maybe my husband, Steven, is the one being sued.

Obviously I am now too stressed to make a proper blog post.  I didn’t know government agencies sued people. I thought they garnished your wages or threw you in jail (as a side note: when people talk about garnishing wages, am I the only one that flashes on sprigs of parsley?). Perhaps I should listen to the message again…

Filing a lawsuit AND an arrest warrant.  And the beginning of the message was not cut off; they just didn’t say who the message was for. They told me to press one now, but obviously I could not do that, since I had not picked up the phone at the time.

Anyways, it gave me three paragraphs of a blog post.  I think I’ll still be able to sleep tonight as well as avoid stress eating over a potential lawsuit or arrest. But I will definitely keep you posted on any further developments.

 

Return to Pumpkin Junction!

Today will be another blog with more pictures than words.  This may not be a bad thing, considering how foolish most of my words have been lately.  Then again, I typed in those two sentences before checking how my pictures turned out.  Oh dear.

It’s all about the pumpkins.

Earlier, Steve and I were at Pumpkin Junction in Sauquoit with my niece and her family.  Pumpkins, Halloween decorations,  and my adorable great nephew and niece, what’s not to like?

Sheppie with his first choice of pumpkin.

Sheppie really wanted a BIG pumpkin.  We took a picture of him with it instead.

I was fascinated by the zombie horse.

I did not get as many pictures as I suppose I could have.  We spent a lot of time looking around inside the barn, where the light was not so good.  Sheppie and Evie found that if they jumped out at me and yelled, “Raah!”  I would respond, “Eeee!”  and tell them to stop scaring their old Aunt Cindy.  That game went on for a while.  Yes, it was fun for me too.

Sheppie and I ventured into the corn maze.  We didn’t get too lost. Phew!  I sometimes have problems with my sense of direction.  We picked our pumpkins, and Steve found a shot glass for his collection.

Steve and I had not been to Pumpkin Junction in a couple of years.  That was a mistake!  We were glad we finally got back there.  Pumpkin Junction is located at 2188 Graffenburg Rd., Sauquoit  NY, phone number 315-794-4604. They are open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.  through Oct. 31.