Category Archives: personal

Tumbling Thoughts

Posted on December 18, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

It’s not Wuss-out Wednesday. In fact, I spent a good portion of my day at work lamenting that it was not Wednesday yet. Yeah, yeah, I know, wishing my life away. I’m not going to sit here and justify my desire for the weekend. I have a headache.

Where was I? Ah yes, wussing out. I’m afraid, in fact, that it is Yet Another Post About How I Can’t Write a Post Today. Why can’t I write today? The headache? It’s not that bad. The fact that I’m sitting in the laundromat on a cold December night? No, laundromats are good places to write, and cold December nights are often strangely conducive.

I wrote a little on my novel while at work. About half a page. Actually, as I type it into the computer, a handwritten page translates (transposes?) into more than a page typed. Then again, how many pages will I throw out when I finally figure out what the plot is and begin to revise?

Perhaps I should not include that last sentence. It will give the outlining writers a chance to get all smug and point out that THEY already know the plot BEFORE they begin writing. Well, that’s nice for you.

I wonder if I ought to be concerned that the only thing I seem capable of writing is stuff about not being able to write. Seriously, I keep flipping back pages and trying to continue with things started previously. Nothing doing.

Having neglected to bring a book or a deck of cards, it seems I must either continue writing this post or sit here and watch minutes pass as counted down by the clothes drier.

Full disclosure: I wrote the above while sitting at the laundromat and stopped writing after the last sentence. I am now sitting at home, typing this into the computer. I see I am approaching 300 words. That’s a whole lot of nothing. I’ll stop now and hope for a better post tomorrow.

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The Most Wonderful Scooping Time of the Year

Posted on December 17, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

In my defense, I wrote two pages on my novel while at work today (MUST I always specify that it was while on break?) (I suppose so). I have no blog post written, and I can’t come up with any last-minute Monday Middle-aged Musings. Well, maybe I can. I’ll just keep typing and see what comes up.

I took Tabby for a walk just now. I only intended to go one block, because it is below 20 degrees out (anybody who does not find that chilly for walking with a dog that likes to stop and sniff, please be advised that you are not normal). I was glad I had worn a scarf and only wished it covered more of me. My jacket felt warm to begin with, but eventually the wind pierced it, too. I persevered. Dogs must be walked, after all.

This really is a wonderful month of the year to go for a walk after sundown, at least in Herkimer, NY. Many people have lights or at least put their Christmas tree in the window.

When I had walked a little way down German Street, I saw God’s own light show: the full moon (according to the calendar, it is actually full tomorrow, the 17th, but it looked pretty full to me). It was behind a tree at first, but revealed itself and I walked. It was big, it was round, it was silver, it was as bright as the streetlights. I loved it.

A few feet further on, a house imposed itself between me and my new love. I briefly considered continuing down German till I could see it again, but I figured it would continue to rise and I could probably see it through a window from inside my nice warm house.

When Tabby did her business, I blessed the snow. You scoop a little snow with the poop, and it doesn’t stink so much. Ooh, it was so cold the snow was powdery, not a smidgen of packing quality. No matter, I scooped up what I could.

I began to wonder if anybody would see me and think I was cruel for bringing my dog out on a night like this, but Tabby seemed to enjoy it. A dog on a back porch barked at us as we went by. Oh, I hope they only let him out to do his business and will soon let him back in! I’m thinking probably they will, or we would usually be hearing a lot more barking from that house.

So that is my pedestrian post for the day. Sorry to write about walking my dog twice within three days, but sometimes a blogger’s gotta do what a blogger’s gotta do.

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Where’s the Beef Broth?

Posted on December 16, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

How about a cooking post for Wrist to Forehead Sunday (you may notice, I do not make this a question, because I intend to write it regardless). I think it will make a good post, because I invented another new recipe.

I had some leftover beef I thought would be good in a soup. I remembered buying beef broth, and I always have diced tomatoes on hand. This would work.

I started out by chopping an onion and putting it on to cook in olive oil. I put a lid on the pot, so the steam would keep it from burning to the bottom. I crushed up some garlic and set the timer for 15 minutes (so the garlic could breathe, or whatever it does). After 15 minutes, I put the garlic in with the onion and let them cook together for a while.

The onions got soft fairly quickly. A few even turned brown. I like carmelized onions, so I let them cook till I got hungry enough that I wanted to get on with it.

That was when I could find neither the diced tomatoes nor the beef broth in my pantry. Oh yes, I remembered, I had heated up the beef broth one day when I was feeling sick to my stomach. Soothing and nutritious. I did have some cream of mushroom soup, always a good ingredient (gourmet purists are gasping in horror, but they have obviously come to the wrong blog and must respond as they see fit).

I found some diced tomatoes, but by then the idea of cream of mushroom soup was appealing to me. I put it in the pot, with a can of milk, and stirred well. I added some spices (cumin, parsley flakes, and McCormick Savory All-Purpose, if you wanted to know).

I threw in some frozen green beans and cut up the leftover beef. When it was all heated through we ate. Steven had his with Spano’s Hard Crust Italian Bread, which is made right here in the Mohawk Valley, in Utica, NY. Yum! (I used some of it for an egg sammich yesterday.)

We enjoyed dinner. Steven pointed out that we have a beef roast in the freezer. He suggested cooking it one day soon, so we can use the leftovers to make this recipe again. If I remember it. Oh wait, I can just look here. Silly me.

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Not Bad for a Saturday

Posted on December 15, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I knew I wouldn’t run today, but I thought I could walk with my schnoodle, Tabby, and get a nice pedestrian post out of it. It was a little cold when I decided to do this. Our thermostat showed the outdoor temperature as 14 degrees, and it usually reads a little warmer than it actually is.

I know Tabby has a built-in fur coat, but I thought she could use a little extra help. A couple of winters ago, we got her a cute little coat, grey with pink furry lining and trim. The words “Good Girl” are embroidered in pink on the back. The coat was big on her when we got it, but she’s put on a little weight since then (cue smart remarks about dogs getting to resemble their owners).

Unfortunately, the coat was somewhere in Fibber McGee’s closet (if you don’t get that reference, ask your grandmother) (oh dear, now I’m going to get hate mail from grandmothers who are NOT old enough to have listened to “Fibber McGee and Molly” on the radio).

Where was I? Ah yes, pulling everything out of my living room closet. Oh, well, I had meant to clean out that closet anyways. On the brighter side, I also found my mittens I had been looking for. Just in time to shovel the driveway, which I suppose I will finally have to do tomorrow.

So, there we were, all bundled up and ready to go. We got one house away from home, and Tabby stopped and looked at me. That’s usually her signal that she wants to go home. Sometimes she actually turns around and pulls me. This time I took the hint right away.

Well, for a ten foot walk, this is almost a 300 word post. I call that not bad for a Saturday. Hope to see you on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

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Put Another Lame on the Fire

Posted on December 14, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Um, you guys get that, right? You know, like “put another log on the fire”? Oh well, one does one’s poor best.

So it is Lame Post Friday and I am even more lame than usual. And I’m working under a deadline, because World’s Dumbest comes on at six (it’s 5:46 as I type this), and I would really like a glass of wine. However, don’t drink and type (oh, like one glass of wine would make me substantially more lame than I am the rest of the time!).

All day at work today, I thought about writing (while still getting my work done, OF COURSE). I alternately pondered what to write on my blog and where to go next on my novel. I came to no conclusions on either one. I’m in a tighter corner on the novel, though. One character has another by the scruff of the neck, and I have no idea who it is. That is, the one being held by the hoodie. I know who’s doing the holding.

Oh dear, now I’ve said too much. I try not to talk too much about the novel I’m working on. It never helps, and it only makes me look more foolish when I don’t finish that novel. Of course, silence does not come naturally to me (see Monday’s post) (you’ll have to arrow back; I’m on the acer, and I don’t know how to make a link)(oh, I’ll save you the trouble if you missed it, it was just about how much I talk, which is a lot).

Where was I? Ah yes, having said too much. Luckily, I see my word count is now over 250, a respectable length for me. On with the weekend! I even have time to pour the wine before I tune into TruTV.

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If You Like Voodoo Curses

Posted on December 13, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

When I started to watch The Devil’s Own (1966), another movie I DVR’d in October, I was delighted to find that it was from Hammer Studios. I love Hammer movies!

Unfortunately, this one did not entertain me as much as, for example. Frankenstein Created Woman. I think I like monsters better than voodoo curses and devil worshipers. But that’s just me.

Spoiler Alert! This is another write-up where I’m pretty much going to recount the plot. What can I say? These are fun for me to write.

The movie starts out scarily enough with Joan Fontaine frantically packing to leave an African village before… something happens. The natives helping her sensibly flee in terror. She turns around and sees a scary voodoo doll. OK, I cracked up a little at the doll.

Then the door bursts open and a giant mask comes through. You can’t even tell if there’s really a person behind it, so I can see where that would be a little disconcerting. Fontaine screams and collapses.

I thought at first she was about to get killed and that I had been mistaken in thinking it was Joan Fontaine. However, the next scene finds her, some time later, in England interviewing to be a headmistress at a school. With a nervous smile, she glosses over her “health problems,” by which we surmise she had some sort of nervous breakdown in Africa. Or something. Of course she gets the job; we knew that from the description on digital cable.

And then the movie slows right down. Oh, stuff happens. But it’s your basic human interaction kind of plot. This weird girl is being romanced by a boy, to the distress of her grandmother. Other villagers seem concerned as well, so there’s a bit of creepy foreshadowing.

About the time the boy falls victim to a voodoo curse (which we, the audience immediately recognize) (some characters are slower on the uptake, despite the headless Ken doll found on a tree branch), I made the note that I prefer monsters. After that, things get a little more exciting. Spoiler alert notwithstanding, I don’t want to give everything away.

It really was not a bad movie. When things got a little slow for my tastes, I amused myself by studying Joan Fontaine’s face, looking for a family resemblance with Olivia de Havilland. I think it’s there, especially in certain expressions, but I’ll have to watch Hush… Hush… Sweet Charlotte again to be sure.

The climactic scenes are scary or comical, depending on how you feel about devil worshipers writhing in a dance of… something or other. It gets suspenseful, although anybody paying any attention (even my desultory kind), knows how Fontaine can ultimately triumph. Oh dear, did I just give something else away? Sorry.

I enjoyed the movie. And I got a bit of crocheting done, which is important to me this time of year. But for my next Hammer film, I’m hoping for a monster.

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Two Block Tabby

Posted on December 12, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Now that winter weather is here, it becomes more of an effort to take our schnoodle, Tabby, for a walk. This being Wuss-Out Wednesday, I suppose I could write a post about how I’m too damn much of a wuss to take my dog for a walk today. However, dogs like to go for walks. Our dog is a very sweet, good dog. We took her for a walk.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (today) have all been cold. I know, not as cold as it’s going to get. In our defense, Steven and I are both still convalescent from last week’s colds (the head kind, not the weather). I told Steven he could stay home, but he agreed to walk with us.

We went two blocks, taking a different direction each night. That way we could check out different neighbors’ Christmas lights. I make myself obnoxious by pointing out each house with lights and each tree visible through a window. As a testament to what a good husband Steven is, he does not find it obnoxious.

It was cold but not particularly windy. Till tonight, when we were two blocks from our house and turned a corner. Yikes! Right in our faces! Of course this was the block Tabby found the most things she wanted to sniff. I was happy I had worn a scarf.

My favorite kind of lights are different colored and not blinking. I especially like when there are a lot of them. My favorite house has three trees, a wreath, and lights around the porch railing and pillars, all different colors, none blinking. But I enjoy the blinking lights as well. I particularly notice the new icicle lights, that actually look like they’re dripping.

One lady was standing on her porch, talking to another lady and a little girl.

“Pretty lights,” I said.

“Thank you,” she replied.

I wanted to say, “No, no, thank you!” Because I think it’s nice for people to hang lights and brighten up the neighborhood.

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Vampires and a Big Reveal

Posted on December 11, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

BIG Spoiler Alert! Seriously, if you’re going to watch Mark of the Vampire (1935), PLEASE do it before reading my silly write-up.

I will, in fact, try to write about this movie without giving away the big reveal, but I don’t know how successful I will be. In fact, already I’ve said too much.

In pre-movie commentary, Robert Osborne says Mark of the Vampire is a murder mystery as well as a vampire movie. I think that gives away a lot right there, and he didn’t even give a spoiler alert. Anyways, I think it is mostly a vampire movie.

The movie begins, as these things often do, with travelers being warned to go nowhere after dark. This is all we see of the travelers, so I guess those actors did not have very good agents. The vampire(s) (I don’t think people know at this point how many there are), it seems, is (are) after folks that have lived in the area for some time.

I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s very good scripting. Of course we don’t want characters reiterating to each other stuff they darn well already know. That would be like me saying to Steven, “As you know, we’re married and have a cute little dog.” However, I think there are better ways to set up background than sticking in extraneous characters we are never going to see again, just so they can get warned.

Perhaps I am too demanding. Anyways, that was an easy way to fill up a paragraph without giving away any major plot points (except to let you know you aren’t going to see those travelers again).

Bela Lugosi is the main vampire, and I wished he would have gotten more screen time. He is very mysterious and scary when he shows up, though, so that’s good. There is another, younger, girl vampire. She is spooky, but the actress does not have Lugosi’s gifts. She doesn’t act so much as walk around slowly with a completely blank look on her face. I suppose that is what the part called for and what the director told her to do, but I didn’t think she had the presence to carry if off properly. Oh well, she was young. I daresay she improved if she went on (didn’t make a note of the actress’ name).

Lionel Barrymore is a vampire expert. I just adore Lionel Barrymore. I don’t care if he puts the beautiful girl in danger to catch the vampires. That’s what a movie vampire expert is supposed to do.

Osborne warns us that nothing is as it seems, and that is pretty much the case. It is one of those movies where, after you find out the big secret, you kind of want to watch it again, to see if they were really playing fair. I’m actually pretty sure they did not play fair (I know some of you are saying, “Whatever that means”), because in post-movie commentary, Osborne tells us the actors did not know the big reveal till they actually filmed those scenes.

Since this is a personal blog, I feel free to interject here that I would be majorly ticked off at a director that played that kind of a game with me. If it is something my character knows, I certainly want to know it. If it is something my character doesn’t know, I would still prefer to know it and ACT. But that’s just me; I’m not all method like some people.

I enjoyed Mark of the Vampire. I may watch it again (perhaps when TCM shows it next October) and write another blog post from the point of view of somebody who already knows the big reveal. If I remember it.

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I Don’t JUST Talk!

Posted on December 10, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I had some extra time this morning, which I could have used to write a really good blog post. Instead I fell into conversation with a co-worker, which I must say I enjoyed very much.

There I was, enjoying myself, when Joanie came along and said, “Do you ever stop talking?”

“Very rarely,” I answered, which of course she already knew. Then I thought of something else: “When you’re talking I have a hard time getting a word in edgewise.” Which I believe she also already knew.

She laughed and agreed we were alike in that respect.

“I’ll shut up now,” I said. “I’ll go write my blog post.”

She suggested I write about how I never shut up. Since I don’t have much else going on today, I did.

I was going to end it just then. See what I would be doing? I say I never shut up, then I shut up. Well, we all know that’s just not me.

A short time later, I saw Joanie talking to another co-worker. Naturally, I asked, “Joanie, don’t you ever stop talking?”

“No! Never!”

Later yet, I was working away at my machine, and Joanie was doing something nearby. Somehow, something wasn’t right. Finally, I called her over: “Psst, Joanie! Joanie! Come here, Joanie?”

“What?”

“Did you notice neither one of us is talking?”

We corrected that deficiency right away.

OK, for anybody else who works in my place of employment, especially any bosses (oh yeah, like they read my blog, but just in case): WE ALSO GOT OUR WORK DONE!

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Why This is Not a Movie Post

Posted on December 9, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’m not giving up Wrist to Forehead Sunday, you can’t make me.

That previous sentence should have a semi-colon instead of a comma, but sometimes I regard punctuation as much art as science. The Punctuation Police and the Grammar Guardians can ding me all they like, because I am usually quite correct about these things.

Regular readers will realize I was too ill yesterday to partake in any Mohawk Valley adventures. Today I feel slightly less crappy but not yet un-crappy. Anyways, Sunday is almost always an off day for me.

Yesterday I watched a Hammer Studios film and today a Bela Lugosi movie. I could write about either one, only it also seems that I can’t. You know how I always put a Spoiler Alert. Well, the things I would be apt to talk about for these movies goes beyond spoiler and into “Well, why don’t you just tell us the whole damn movie while you’re at it!” These are things astute movie viewers may see coming (I did), but there is still an element of, “Wait a minute, it could be that…” The satisfaction is in saying, “I thought so!” and not “I read about that in a blog!”

You know, I’ve said too much already. Now I am afraid viewers will say, “What did she see coming… ah yes! Of course!” Instead of letting it unfold in front of them.

Or am I being silly? That, of course, is always a possibility. In any case, I see my word count is over 250 words. Quite respectable for typing with one wrist on my forehead (oh, OK, that’s only figuratively)(metaphorically?). I hope to see you on Middle-aged Musings Monday.

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