Category Archives: personal

I Plan to Be Spontaneous

Posted on December 29, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

After yesterday’s silly post, I feel a little sheepish having Lame Post Friday. However, since I got nuthin’ else, I’ll see what I can come up with.

I did have one thought about my Friday Lame Post. As I prepared to drive to work early this morning, I wondered what I might find to write about during the course of the day, since I arose this morning with nothing. Then I remembered a comment on another Friday Lame Post, advising me that one could not be random on a schedule. I had to acknowledge the truth of that statement, then the little devil on my shoulder said, “Today I planned to be spontaneous.”

Well, that is just the kind of oxymoron I enjoy (being all different kinds of moron myself). I’m only sorry I can’t come up with more of them for this post. However, let’s get on with my planned spontaneity at least.

Have you ever noticed, when somebody says, “I hate to rain on your parade,” it is almost always a lie. They LOVE to rain on your parade! They think it’s great that they know something that you don’t and it will ruin whatever you were planning/hoping/thinking. And, you know what, it’s usually not even a parade anyways. It is often something very mundane and by calling it your parade they have disparaged you twice. Or am I being too sensitive?

I just remembered that I had been going to philosophize half-bakedly on why I wanted to repeat myself in yesterday’s post. I sure do hate to rain on anybody’s parade who was waiting for that. Just kidding! I actually felt very mean for putting that, but I kind of also felt like I had to (come to think of it, that might be something else to philosophize about, half-bakedly, of course).

To set the record straight, I was going to repeat myself yesterday because I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Hmmm… not very philosophical, was it? Perhaps Pouring My Art Out was right and one can’t philosophize on cue.

By the way, that was who commented, pouringmyartout.wordpress.com. I really don’t spend enough time reading other blogs, because, you know, some of them are really cool.

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This Post Does Not Bear Repeating

Posted on December 28, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”

It’s one of my favorite quotes. You say it in a real airhead voice, as if you think you’re saying something profound when really if you had a thought in your head it would not be crowded.

I’ve written about this before. I don’t want to repeat myself, BUT…

Oh, there’s a good topic for Non Sequitur Thursday. Most of us repeat ourselves. They say some things bear repeating (that’s not one of them), but mostly people repeat things because they felt clever for having said them in the first place, or whatever it is still bothers them, or they can’t think of anything else to say.

Wow, I guess there’s a lot of reasons to repeat oneself. Try this: the next time you want to repeat yourself, instead say WHY you were about to repeat yourself. Then see if you repeat that.

I was about to tell a story about a friend repeating herself and me repeating myself in reply to her, and her calling me on repeating myself but not noticing her repeating herself. I’ve told that story roughly 5,687,211 times (I was going to say a bazillion but thought I’d change things up with an actual number).

I guess this is more stream of consciousness than non sequitur (that remark may be a repeat from last Thursday). Let’s let this train of thought jump the tracks (which were crossing the stream; I’m not mixing metaphors) and give a shout out to Ilion Little Theatre’s December production.

Rented Christmas opened last weekend and continues this weekend. It is a family musical about a guy who, you know, rents a Christmas. If you like cute kids with nice voices singing Christmas carols, this is a good show for you. It plays Friday and Saturday, December 28 and 29 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday December 30 at 2 p.m. For more information, visit their website, http://www.ilionlittletheatre.org/ or their Facebook page.

Final Note: On reading this over before publishing, I realize I did not follow my own instructions and say WHY I was going to repeat myself. I’ll save it for the half-baked philosophy component on Lame Post Friday.

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Have Yourself a Merry Post-Christmas Let Down

Posted on December 27, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Look, bloggers get post-Christmas let downs, too. Today I can only offer a little more Christmas Carol commentary. I hope you find it amusing.

Regarding “Do You Hear What I Hear?”: If I would have been the little lamb, the second verse would have gone, “Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy, ‘Hey, the wind is talking to me.'” Then the third verse could have gone, “Said the shepherd boy to the Hollywood agent, ‘I have a talking sheep.'”

I realize neither of those lines is in the rhythm of the original tune, but you know how singers interpret things (I actually hate it when they do that, but hell, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em).

One other thing: What if I don’t WANT to have myself a Merry Little Christmas? What if I want to have myself a Merry Big Fat Christmas? What are you going to sing to me then?

I have no other silly observations to make, so I will finish by sharing a Christmas Carol memory.

One Christmas many years ago, my husband Steve and I as well as my sister Diane and her husband, Chris, were staying at my parents’ house. To complete the picture, I’ll just mention that at this point my parents’ house only boasted one bathroom.

Christmas morning I was up before anybody else and got into the shower. I thought since everybody was still asleep, I could get away with taking a long shower. I sang Christmas carols in the shower. In retrospect, I don’t know how I thought anybody could sleep through that, but I do love to sing Christmas carols. Indeed, other people were up when I emerged from the shower squeaky clean.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “If I had known you were awake, I would have taken a shorter shower.”

My sister Diane retorted, “You would have taken a shorter shower if you didn’t have to sing every verse!”

It’s still five days away, but my New Year’s Resolution is to have more Mohawk Valley adventures, so I don’t have to make such silly blog posts all the time. Hope your own post-Christmas let down is mild.

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Christmas Ciabatta and Croissants

Posted on December 25, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

As has become usual, my contribution to the family Christmas dinner is Heidelberg Bread. Accordingly, I made my way to the Heidelberg Bakery, 3056 State Rt. 28, Herkimer, NY, this morning.

I got an early start, because I know they open at seven and I wanted to beat the crowds. I didn’t bother calling to see if they had special hours for Christmas Eve. I figured if they weren’t open, I could swing down Rt. 28 to Hannaford, who also sells Heidelberg bread. I was in luck, however; the open sign was lit.

One other early bird customer was leaving, so I had the undivided attention of the clerk.

“I wanted to get here early and beat the crowd,” I announced. “Do you have rolls?” I was so early, they didn’t even have everything out yet.

“What kind?”

“Something suitable for sausage and peppers.” Which, by the way, I have been craving ever since I heard they were to be served in addition to ham at Christmas dinner.

She suggested French baguette or Ciabatta rolls. I went for the Ciabatta. While she got them I found a loaf of sourdough bread for toast for Christmas morning.

“Did you want any pastries as well?” Did I!

I got two chocolate croissants, for Steven and me for today. Sorry to any family members who might happen to be reading this: I did not get any sweets for Christmas breakfast or dinner. I had my doubts of anything I might get lasting that long. It took great effort of Christmas goodwill and will power not to open the sourdough as soon as I got home.

I love Heidelberg bread, and I love going right to the source to get some. For more information, visit their website: http://www.heidelbergbakingco.com/ or you can “Like” them on Facebook.

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Here We Go Again

Posted on December 24, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I guess you could say it’s Wrist to Forehead Sunday, but my wrist is not literally on my forehead (I hate typing one-handed anyways). I just don’t want to lift my arm that high.

My sinuses have been bad lately, but I have been muddling through. This morning I woke up with dreadful nausea and I knew what to blame. Seriously, I had not done one thing to deserve being sick. No rich food, no booze, only the usual amount of stress. I decided to break down and go get some serious decongestant and live with the consequences.

And now you, gentle reader, must live with the consequences too. I am too lightheaded to write a decent post (I know, what’s my excuse the rest of the time? Well, I can only do my best). Luckily most of the Christmas presents are wrapped (I could have done a whole post on those trials and tribulations, but some of the recipients may read this blog). And I still have tomorrow.

For today, I’m afraid it’s television, crochet and posting complaints on Facebook. I did call my Mom and tell her I was sick. I know other people who do that: however old we get, when we don’t feel good we call Mom for some sympathy. She said maybe I’m coming down with something, it’s going around.

I looked back on a couple of posts I remember doing when I was under the weather. One of them went on for quite some time chronicling my illness. I will spare you such a thing today (I guess you can always spare yourself such a thing by just stopping reading, that’s what I do). I hope you’re all enjoying Christmas Eve Eve, and I hope to post less lamely tomorrow.

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Practically Health Food

Posted on December 23, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

This will be a cooking post. I had wanted some Running Commentary, or even a Pedestrian Post, but the weather is working against me. In desperation, I made some Chocolate Bark, just so I would have something to write about.

I got out my fancy double boiler (you know, frying pan of water with a pot in it), and set some dark chocolate chips to melt, adding a tablespoon of olive oil. The recipe also calls for some extract, almond or peppermint or something, but I didn’t have any so left it out and hoped for the best.

While it heated, I pulled out a baking dish and lined it with tin foil, which I sprayed with cooking spray. The recipe said “greased tin foil.” What I did was good enough, right?

Then I commenced to breaking up the candy canes. I forgot what a pain in the butt it is getting the plastic shrink wrap off those things! It comes off in pieces then the pieces stick to your hand when you try to throw them out. Grr! And I had not realized we were out of large plastic bags so pulled out a sandwich bag and looked for my metal meat pounder. Of course I could not find it (regular readers are not surprised either). I used the handle of my pizza cutter. Soon I had a baggy of large pieces of candy cane and candy cane powder. It would have to do.

By now the water was boiling and the chocolate was melting. I stirred it till the lumps were gone and poured it into the baking dish. That sure didn’t make much! Damn! I threw in some of the peppermint, almonds and raisins. Then I put the (fancy) double boiler back on and found my other bag of dark chocolate chips (I try to keep a spare of such things on hand in case of just such an emergency).

Two bags worth of chocolate looked good. I put in the rest of the candy cane remains, added more almonds and raisins and stirred. Spread it out as evenly as I could — no egregiously deep spots, no tinfoil showing through. After I had scraped the pot and cleaned up a little, I covered the baking dish and cleared a space for it in the refrigerator.

Tomorrow or much later tonight (Steven and I have a play to go to — preview of coming attractions), we will break or cut up the bark and taste test it. Whatever is left after taste testing I plan to take to my parents’ house for Christmas Eve, but I make no promises. For heavens’ sake: dark chocolate, almonds, raisins — I’m sure there’s even health benefits from candy canes, because, you know, peppermint tea — it’s practically health food!

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Can’t Give You Anthing But Lame

Posted on December 22, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

What a dithery week I’m having.

I had meant to continue my Christmas Carol Commentary today. I even had a couple of paragraphs written. I thought, “Don’t do Lame Post Friday right after Non Sequitur Thursday.” And here it is Friday and it seems I can’t be anything but lame.

I have said in the past that I don’t suffer so much from Writer’s Block as from Writer’s Blank. My head feels like a big, empty wasteland. Well, today I think it’s Block. My head feels like a concrete wall. Nothing is getting through.

Possible reason for this phenomenon:

I got some “likes” for my posts earlier this week, and at least one new follower. What if they read my next post and DON’T LIKE IT AS MUCH? What a disaster!

Oh, I know it’s not really a disaster and logically, nobody will like each post equally as well as all others. But I think many writers can identify with the fear that we will not be good enough. After all, better to be silent and let the world think you’re a fool than to write a blog post and remove all doubt.

Actually, I guess that ship sailed with the first post: everybody knows I am something of a fool. I might postulate that most writers are fools: we put our words out there and think somebody, somewhere might want to read them. And you know what, maybe we’re not such fools after all. I like to read what people write. I’m thinking you do too, because, you know, here you are.

One of the best excuses for a lame post is, at least it’s short. Happy Friday, everyone.

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Non Sequitur Thursday

Posted on December 21, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Now I’ve done it. I’ve gone all post-ironic on you.

Regular readers may recall that I instituted Non Sequitur Thursday two weeks ago. Last week I was glad I had it, although I feel it led to a dithery post. I said then that if I used “Non Sequitur Thursday” as a title I was afraid it would make whatever I said after that a sequitur (my computer keeps telling me that’s not how you spell sequitur, but I’ve looked it up in the dictionary like eight times by now) (by the way, it appears that “non sequitur” is a word, but “sequitur” is not).

It’s kind of like that episode of Star Trek (the original Gene Rodenberry series, not any of the movies or spin offs, most of which I did not watch) (thus losing all my sci fi geek cred, if I had any) where Spock said to an android, “Everything I say to you is a lie. I’m lying,” and the poor android short circuited. Um, this does not make me anything like Spock.

I left something off one of my other dithery posts earlier this week: when I was listing my various cop out posts, I forgot Wuss Out Wednesday. I actually never instituted Wuss Out Wednesday, but last Halloween, which fell on a Wednesday, I had a really lame post in which I contemplated instituting such a thing.

Why, oh why, did I not write a post while at work today? No sinus headache plagued me. In my defense, I wrote almost two pages on my novel. I am so behind the eight ball because I have to start getting ready to go to a dinner meeting of Ilion Little Theatre (remember, I made White Trash for it). There is no point in thinking I will be up to writing a post after that. They serve wine.

In conclusion, I am a little embarrassed to post this, but not too embarrassed to hit “publish.” Happy Thursday.

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Christmas Cooking

Posted on December 20, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

What’s wrong with All Christmas All The Time anyways?

How about a cooking post. I had hoped to have enough oomph one day this week to make White Trash to bring to the Ilion Little Theatre dinner meeting on Thursday. Tuesday I managed it.

First I found a peppy Christmas CD to inspire me. I picked “Roomful of Christmas” by Roomful of Blues. Oh yeah.

I got the white chocolate chips out of the refrigerator. I have four bags altogether, enough for two batches. One Girardelli, one Nestle and two store brand. I decided to mix and match: the Nestle and the store brand. When I taste tested the chips (well, naturally I taste tested! Stop shaking your dieter’s finger at me!), they tasted remarkable alike.

I put them in my fancy double boiler, a frying pan of water with a pot sitting in it, and added two tablespoons of olive oil.

While it came to a boil, I mixed six cups of hexagon cereal, two cups Tasteos (generic Cheerios), two cups peanuts and two cups pretzels. I broke some of the pretzels (on purpose).

Of course I put too much water in the frying pan. I siphoned some off with a turkey baster.

Then I could not find my red and green sugar. It is not part of the recipe to sprinkle colored sugar on the finished product, but I like to be seasonal. Red and green for Christmas, orange and black for Halloween. Wait a minute, did I use it all up last year? Who can remember these things?

I was out of time to search for colored sugar! I had to start stirring the white chocolate chips or they would burn to the bottom of the pan! Oh no!

I hollered up the stairs for Steven, being quite loud about it, because I had the music cranked. He thought something must be horribly wrong, so that was ill done of me. Scaring my husband over colored sugar. What’s the matter with me? (Do NOT answer that!)

Steven came down and confirmed our lack of colored sugar. No matter. White is still seasonal.

I poured the melted white chocolate over the stuff and stirred. Then Steven had to find something else to put his coffee filters in, because I accidentally dropped some on the plastic bag they were in. I never said I was Rachel Ray.

Soon I was spreading the mixture on wax paper to cool. Later on I taste tested it as I broke it apart and put it in a bowl. Steven tried some too. We pronounced it yummy.

In retrospect, I’m sure I’ve shared the White Trash recipe before. However, I thought what with hollering up the stairs and spilling some on the coffee filters, last night’s episode had a certain charm all its own. Anyways, some people just can’t get enough White Trash.

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Skip the Futzing

Posted on December 18, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I thought that by instituting Middle-aged Musings Monday, I could take it easy on Monday. Kind of like I take it easy on Friday with Lame Post Friday.

Then I started thinking: Wrist to Forehead Sunday, Middle-aged Musings Monday, Mid-Week Musings, Lame Post Friday, Running Commentary Saturday and the newly discovered Non Sequitur Thursday (I know that puts them out of order, but I wanted to mention Thursday last). Am I writing a Mohawk Valley blog or am I just futzing around?

I guess today I’m futzing. I did not write a post on break at work. I wrote about a page on my novel that will probably end up being quite unusable, if I even finish the novel, which at this point looks doubtful.

Now it sounds like Wrist to Forehead Monday. OK, everybody, just put away your miniature violins, I’ll stop.

As a matter of fact, I dragged Steven and Tabby on a walk just now, thinking I could write about that. It was cold but not too bad. I had attempted a walk with Tabby on Sunday while Steven was at work and it was quite uncomfortable. We made it around one block and that was enough. Tonight’s walk was further and quite enjoyable.

I pointed out to Steven every Christmas decoration I noticed. Then I noticed myself doing that and apologized for being annoying. Steven didn’t mind. He really is a very good husband. Tabby, of course, wanted to stop and sniff almost every post, tree and patch of grass possible. We try to strike a balance between letting her enjoy herself and not taking all damn night about it.

At one point we could hear footsteps behind us so tried to pick up the pace a little. That is a noise that can sometimes make you nervous, especially after dark, but Herkimer is usually a pretty safe place, and for heavens’ sake it was prior to six p.m., not the witching hour (that may be a run-on sentence but I think it’s OK). Then I heard a car next to us click like somebody had used a key fob, so I figured that was footsteps’ car.

As we approached our house I heard wheels behind us, so looked back once or twice. If if was somebody on a bicycle I wanted to get out of the way. It was a lady with a stroller.

“Snowy! Snowy!” the kid in the stroller yelled.

“Every white animal isn’t Snowy,” the lady told him.

I turned around. “No, this is Tabby,” I said. Usually Tabby would want to meet the kid at this point, but we were in front of our house and she was into being home. The lady explained that her mother has a white cat named Snowy, so her boy thinks every white animal must be Snowy. We wished each other a good evening and she continued on her way while the little boy kept yelling for Snowy.

I asked Tabby if she wanted to change her name to Snowy, but she did not seem interested. Steven was pleased that we had walked for almost a half hour. As for me, I have written some 500 words and that almost always makes me feel better. Let that be a lesson to me: next time, skip the futzing.

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