Category Archives: personal

It’s All About the Sticker

Posted on November 8, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yesterday at work, a co-worker was ranting on and on about why vote.

“Nobody has ever given me a good reason!” he declared more than once.

“I intend to write a blog post about it,” I told him, rising to the challenge.

“Nobody has ever given me a good reason!” I don’t think he was listening.

“Blog post! That’s a good reason!” Oh, I know there are a lot of reasons and anyone can feel free to give me a lecture on civic duty at any time via “Leave a comment.” I wasn’t trying to make a reasoned argument, I was trying to shut him up. It didn’t work.

Be that as it may, yesterday Steven and I voted. I was quite frankly hoping somebody would make a funny joke as we waited in line, because that is the kind of thing I like to include. However, there were no lines and no jokes. Well, I made a joke against myself when we couldn’t figure out at first which door they wanted us to go in. I get all self-deprecating at times like these.

They did not offer us “I Voted” stickers. I did not realize that until later, and it was of some concern to me, because I remembered that if I wore my “I Voted” sticker to Curves the next day, I would get put in for a drawing. I like to be put in for a drawing.

At Curves the next day (today), I sadly shared the loss.

“I didn’t even think about it till later,” I said.

“I looked for them, but didn’t think to ask,” another lady said.

“I asked; they didn’t have any,” a third lady said. “They said, ‘Those paper ballots cost us two bucks, we don’t have any stickers!'”

We all expressed our disappointment. The lady that owns Curves said anybody who voted could put in for the drawing, the stickers were not important. Then she found us all stickers that said, “I did it!” So we got our stickers after all.

If you were hoping I would say who I voted for or even express an opinion on the importance of voting, sorry. I think I have mentioned before: Mohawk Valley Girl stays off politics.

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Happy Birthday, Tabby!

Posted on November 7, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have mentioned our beloved schoodle, Tabby, in many posts. I even seem to remember telling the story of how she came to us. If that is true, I shall now repeat myself in honor of her birthday: How We Got Tabby.

Back in 2007, Steven worked with a fellow whose mother worked for the Velvet Dog, a dog grooming place we still patronize (and sometimes blog about). The mother was fostering this little dog whose original owner could no longer care for her. She would have kept the dog herself but had “five dogs too many” as it was. Did Steven know of anybody in need of a dog?

“Steve needs a dog,” piped up Steven’s other co-worker.

“She’s a sweet dog,” said the first co-worker. They cleverly showed me a picture of her when I stopped in.

“Oh, she’s part poodle,” I said right away, and they explained “schnoodle,” schnauzer-poodle mix. It’s fun to say, and it turns out fun to live with.

Hmmm… this story does not seem nearly as exciting to me now that I’m typing it in. It is much more interesting to me to take Tabby for a walk and write about that.

Oh, but that makes me remember to say a word about her name. Tabby. Steven and I did not name our dog after a cat. Her original owner named her Tabitha. I think the only person who ever calls her Tabitha is a neighbor of ours, a very nice older gentleman. Obviously one would call her Tabby. Or Tabbers. Or Tabber-dog. Or, as my mother calls her, Tabbykins. More formally one may call her Tabby-Tababbby the Schnitzel Schnoodle, but I don’t think anybody has.

And now I’m getting silly.

For her birthday, Tabitha received Schnausages in a Blanket (Schnausages for a schnoodle! Steven is a genius!) and a squeaky pig. She likes them very much. She wagged her tail when I informed her that I had written a blog post about her. Happy Tabby’s Birthday, everybody!

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Not Whistler, Western

Posted on November 6, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

In my quest to DVR movies to watch and write about later, I came across The Kansan (1943) starring Richard Dix.

Richard Dix, astute readers may remember, starred in the Whistler movies I have enjoyed so much. This one did not look like a Whistler movie, however. The word “marshal” in the description made me suspect it was a Western. Still, Richard Dix. It might be worth a watch.

Then I saw that it also starred Albert Dekker. Dekker was the subject of an episode of Mysteries & Scandals, cheesy show we used to enjoy during the early ’00s. He had a rather sordid private life and died under mysterious circumstances, either a suicide or a kinky sex game gone wrong. Of course, this has nothing to do with the movie, even as backstory. For heavens’ sake, the man was an actor. His personal life and death are separate things from any characters he may have played. Still, it added a little interest to our viewing.

Dix plays a stranger who happens to come to town just as a bank is being robbed. Apparently banks were always getting robbed in the Old West, which strikes me as odd considering almost everybody carried a gun and the tellers were NOT instructed to just hand over the money. Hard luck on depositors, since these were also the days before FDIC. But I digress.

It seems there is a shoot-out in which Dix saves the bank’s money but is himself injured. He wakes up in the hospital and is informed that the town has just elected him marshal. I guess this was also fairly common in the Old West. I seem to remember a similar thing happening to Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles. Oh, and to James Garner in Support Your Local Sheriff.

Dix had been just passing through but decides to say a while after meeting the lady who owns the local hotel. I have to wonder what it is like to be so pretty that men change their entire career path before they even ask for a date.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the new marshal in town soon discovers that things are not what they seem. It turns out the banker (Dekker), who was instrumental in getting Dix the marshal gig, is pretty much the main bad guy in town, although technically the law is on his side. There is a love triangle among the banker’s brother, the hotel owner and Dix, but this does not cause as many complications as I thought it would.

In pre-show commentary, Ben Mankiewicz said you could check off Western movie staples as you watch: stranger in town, cattle stampede, bar brawl, climactic gun fight. He left off hooker with a heart of gold, as did the movie, but I guess you don’t always have one of those.

It is actually a pretty entertaining flick. The plot moves right along and there is excitement along the way. I know I usually like to talk about bad movies in this space, the cheesier the better. However, I had a busy weekend and only had time to watch one movie. I thought it would be a little silly to turn it off because it was good. I’ll look for a bad movie next time.

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Tribulations of a Theatre Junkie

Posted on November 4, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

This is a Wrist to Forehead Sunday post. Seriously, I have spent at least portions of the last three days inclined to burst into tears at the slightest provocation, and, really, I must admit, the provocations in my life are slight. I really do have a pretty good life: like my job OK, love my husband, have a great dog. And yet, it’s just not easy being me.

I think I mentioned in a previous post being a theatre junkie. Some people might use a less polite word for it, but I think junkie works just fine, thank you. I became secretary of Ilion Little Theatre Club, pretty much because somebody asked me to. I am in two performances of Strike Story next weekend, just because somebody asked me to. And I have been at the theatre for the past two days and will be there this afternoon, because… if you guessed somebody asked me to, YOU’RE WRONG! Nobody asked me to! I volunteered!

Some people would say it is not a wrist to forehead situation when it is your own stupid fault, but I disagree.

I am at the theatre to sell memberships and subscriptions. Last night I also attempted to sell raffle tickets. We are raffling four tickets for our next show. I am, unfortunately, the opposite of a salesperson. I think I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing: I smile, I tell the people what we’re offering, I tell them the price. They say, “No! In fact, you should pay me five bucks for standing here listening to you!”

OK, that’s not really true. People are very polite, and some of them did buy the tickets.

It’s really not that bad of a gig. I don’t know why my wrist is anywhere near my forehead over it, unless it’s that I have nothing to wear. Or that I would really rather be home in sweats, crocheting and watching crime shows on a Sunday. Or that right now it is hanging over my head: I have to be there in two hours. I have to shower. I have to get my stuff together. I ought to be taking care of a few more chores before I go… Oh yes, the wrist is on the forehead.

Well, it’s yet another post for the sake of posting something. I’m not even apologizing for them any more. Oh, well, maybe once more: I’m sorry to post lame again. I’ll try again tomorrow.

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First November Run

Posted on November 4, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I worked till 11 this morning, and while I was at work, I had a vision of a certain residential area I sometimes run in. I could see that it was a grey day outside. I thought about running under the grey sky, possibly on wet roads and sidewalks, looking around at houses. However, I told a co-worker, “I’m just as likely to make myself an egg sandwich and take a nap.”

When I left work, it was cold. Cold! Who said it could be cold? It’s still autumn, isn’t it? Since when does November have to be so cold? And that shows you what a difference a day makes, because Friday when I stepped outside and it was cold, I said, “Ah! That cold air is reviving me!” I had been literally falling asleep over my book during the 2 o’clock break, and it’s not a dull book.

So I got home feeling I had every reason to talk myself out of it. Then I thought, I want to take a shower anyways. Why not take a short run first? I’d either be sweaty and really need a shower or I’d be cold and a hot shower would feel twice as good.

My temperature doo-dah (that’s the technical term) said it was 42. Normally over 40 degrees I wear shorts and a t-shirt, but I thought since this would be the first cold run of the season, long legs and sleeves was the way to go. I had a pair of silky long johns I had worn under a skirt last night (so much more comfortable than pantyhose). I dug out a long sleeved ARMY t-shirt. I found a knitted toque (rhymes with spook). I was off.

Were you hoping that this was a fun run? That I reached the “I can rock this” stage and stayed there? That I got a huge endorphin rush? Yeah, well, that would have been nice. Right away I wished I had worn a sweatshirt as well as my long sleeved t-shirt. I told myself to keep running, I’d warm up.

Traffic was not at all bad. I crossed German Street very easily and headed toward the hill at Valley Health, which I have had it in mind to run for a few days now. As it felt surprisingly difficult to run, I considered running into the unknown park instead. A couple of small hills, that was more my speed. But that was not where I had pictured myself running while at work. I ran by the unknown park entrance, reminding myself that I do know the name of the park now but thinking, “Really, if they want me to call it Brookfield Park, they ought to put a sign at the gates.”

It seemed to take a long time to get to the hill by Valley Health. I did not feel that I was warming up. I was very aware of my hips. They felt huge. Here was the hill. Oh dear. I reminded myself of the trick an army friend of mine learned from our drill sergeant, who would know, “Just look at your feet and shuffle up that hill.” I made it. That didn’t seem to take too long, so I felt encouraged.

I saw a group of healthcare workers (they were wearing scrubs; I can’t tell nurses from aides from attendants etc.). They were talking loudly and laughing, so that was nice. I don’t think they were laughing at me, but of course you never know.

I continued my run, looking around at Halloween decorations that were still up. Some I had noticed before were gone already, but many people had at least left their mums and pumpkins out. Fall decor, I thought, can legitimately be left up from September 1 to December 1. Halloween stuff is really best in October. That said, Steve’s and my decorations are still up, and I enjoyed looking at other people’s as well. I do love Halloween.

I thought about the egg sandwich I had mentioned at work and it started to sound pretty good. I knew I had whole wheat English muffins as well as some cheese. Mmmmm… I remembered I had pepperoni as well. Even better. Then I remembered my enormous hips and rethought my menu choices.

As I got closer to home I thought I would prefer to run an extra minute over sprinting at the end. You see, I like to stop at the top of the minute and be exact when I put the time in my running journal. Sometimes I go a few seconds over, if for example I have stopped to pet a dog. That was not the case today. Two houses from my house I picked up the pace anyways. An extra minute is a long time at the shape I’m in right now (round and puffy).

It was really not a bad run at all. As always I felt good that I had run, and I made plans to run more often during the coming week. I enjoyed my egg sandwich, and I left off the pepperoni. Those hips are going bye-bye! Eventually.

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Readers All About It

Posted on November 2, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

In yesterday’s dithery post, I said that when I tried to write about Strike Story, Ilion Little Theatre’s fall production, I got all bogged down and it was not good. Well, today, I looked at what I wrote and it really doesn’t seem too bad. Since I’m having another wrist to forehead kind of day, I’m going to type it in and see if it’ll fly as today’s post.

I mentioned before how Strike Story replaces Dirty Work at the Crossroads (postponed till May — watch for it!), how it was originally presented at Little Falls’ Black Box Theatre, and how it was written by a Angela Harris, a local writer, telling the story about the 1912 textile strike in Little Falls.

The play is unusual for Ilion Little Theatre and for me, because it is Readers’ Theatre. The actors have the script in their hands and basically read the story (hence the term Readers’ Theatre) (I bet you already figured that out). It is more stylized than a regular play. In some productions the actors don’t get up at all. In one piece I saw, they did the whole thing behind a screen, pretending it was a radio play (I actually thought that was kind of silly, but what do I know?)

I know some of my readers are theatre people from way back (Hi, Rachel!), and that pedantic paragraph was wasted on them. Oh well.

In Strike Story, all the players are on stage the whole time. When our characters have lines we stand up and move around the stage. Many of our lines are directly to the audience, but there is some character interaction. Sometimes the drama comes from characters not speaking to each other but telling the same story from differing points of view.

It is an interesting story that could spark some heated political and social debate among viewers. I won’t say more than that, because Mohawk Valley Girl stays off politics. It is a fascinating look at local history.

The play runs November 2, 3, 9 and 10 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. in Ilion Little Theatre, Remington Ave, Ilion, NY. For more information, visit their website at www.ilionlittletheatre.org their facebook page.

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In My Defense, It’s Halloween!

Posted on November 1, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Maybe I need to start a feature called Wuss Out Wednesday. I know I had Mid-Week Middle-Aged Musings, but I don’t feel up to musing.

Last week I seem to remember writing “In My Defense, I’m in a Play.” I started to write a more extensive post about the play and I got all bogged down in talking about Readers’ Theatre and it went downhill from there.

I saw a cool Vincent Price movie I’d like to write about, but my movie posts tend to run long and often need editing after consulting references. Will I have time for such a thing? No! I’ve got trick or treaters to greet!

That was as much as I wrote while at work today. I just finished greeting about a million trick or treaters. I’m cold, I’m tired, I’m irritated, and I haven’t eaten supper yet. On the brighter side, it was fun when we ran out of candy and I told everybody it was because Steven ate it all. The last dozen or so kids got Halloween pencils and other prizes we had previously purchased for Halloween parties past. I’ve been wanting to get rid of those pencils for years.

Steven just called up the stairs that dinner is ready, and I am just barely over 200 words. Happy Halloween, everybody! See you in November!

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Mohawk Valley Morning

Posted on October 31, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Saturday Steven did not have to go to work till two, so we had a Mohawk Valley Morning. And I don’t need anybody to be a wise-ass and tell me that since we live in the Mohawk Valley, every morning is a Mohawk Valley morning. I already know that.

We started out by walking with our schnoodle, Tabby, to First Source Federal Credit Union in Herkimer, NY. We had to deposit a check into our mad money account. This gave me an opportunity to imitate Carolyn Jones in House of Wax: “I don’t need any mad money (tee-hee-hee); I never get mad!”

We walked home by way of Margaret Street, so I could show Steven some Halloween decorations I had noticed earlier in the week. I just love when people get into the season. I admired pots of mums on many front steps. We envied some hanging ghouls, a vampire with Elvis sideburns and several gravestones. We don’t have any gravestones, or any mums for that matter. Come to think of it, our vampire doesn’t have sideburns. Improvements to consider for next year.

After we got Tabby back home we headed for the H.A.L.O. Trash to Treasure Sale at the Mohawk American Legion. As usual I said I wanted to sit on the legion’s front porch some nice day. They have a couple of wooden glider swings I like.

H.A.L.O., I’ve mentioned before, is the Helping Animals Live Organization, a no cage, no kill cat rescue. It’s run by some pretty nice people, and we support them whenever possible. We went to their Trash to Treasure Sale last year (I believe I wrote a blog post about it) and were happy to have a chance to go to this year’s.

The sale was huge with many nice things, some possibly antiques (I’m not that knowledgeable, but they looked pretty good to me). I found a purse that might work for my character in Dirty Work at the Crossroads (next May at Ilion Little Theatre — preview of coming attractions). I also picked up a Green Mountain Coffee thermal mug. It’s always good to have a few extra thermal mugs around, in case somebody visits from a distance and you want to send them on their way with a cup of hot coffee.

After shopping we were feeling a little peckish so stopped for breakfast at Mohawk Diner. While there we asked where Mohawk Fire Station was. As soon as the waitress told us, I said, “Oh yeah, I’ve driven by there a bunch of times. Silly me.”

The Fire Station was holding a Chinese Auction. We love those. This was a good one, 100 tickets for $5. I had a ten so bought us each an envelope.

“After all, it’s for the fire department,” I told Steven when he suggested that 100 tickets for both of us might have been sufficient.

We took our time walking around and deciding what to try for. Did we win? Could be. Then again, we MAY have won something that MIGHT be a Christmas present for someone. I’ll never tell.

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I Ran, I Commented, I’m Done

Posted on October 28, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I wondered if any of my readers missed Saturday Running Commentary, so I thought I would run and comment today. I never ran till after 2, when Steven went to work, but I figured you can do that in the fall.

The trouble with waiting to run is that you’ve got plenty of time to talk yourself out of it, which I almost did. I went to the store to buy groceries instead. As I was pushing the cart back after loading three big bags into my truck, I realized I was happy to be outdoors, because it was such a nice day. Well, self, I thought, there is one good activity that will get you outdoors for a little longer.

Of course, raking leaves is another activity that would get me outdoors and that definitely needs to be done. Still, I’m trying to get back into running and it is not going to be easy due to certain other time commitments I have recently made. I decided to run.

I was not immediately glad I did. Sometimes waiting till later in the day is a good thing: your muscles are not stiff and just waking up, you’ve eaten something nutritious (I hope), OK, that’s all I got. My muscles felt that they had been working enough (only walking, but you know how leg muscles are). My body acted as if it hadn’t been fed in days (like that’s ever going to happen!). I just kept going.

A friend of mine has been mentioning to people lately how I run up the hill to Herkimer County Community College. I have not run that hill in at least a month (too lazy to go downstairs and look it up in my running journal), but I figure if Phyllis is going to be talking about it I’d better get back to doing it. Only not today. I turned in that direction, though, because there are a couple less intimidating hills I thought I might be up to.

Finally I settled on the Unknown Park. I recently learned that it is in fact Brookfield Park, but I am so used to calling it the Unknown, I may continue to do so. There is a pretty good upslope as soon as you turn in. Wasn’t fun. Ran it anyways.

A couple of young girls were walking towards me, but they crossed to the other side of the road when they saw me. That was good, because it put them on left side facing traffic (of which there was none just then). I don’t think they did it to be safe, I think they did it to avoid the crazy old lady (me), but I was glad to see it nonetheless.

As I ran through the path in the woods I stopped to pet an adorable black pug, with the owners’ permission. I think he was just a puppy. He was so wiggly and cute, I ran on feeling refreshed. One more short upslope, I told myself, and then it’s downhill all the way. I felt good about that, because I knew I wasn’t lying. Not like on the Boilermaker when they keep telling you it’s all downhill from here and you know darn well it’s not.

Back on the road, I was going to turn left where it said “No Left Turn” as usual (must be a rebel, after all), but I saw a group of male college students walking in the opposite direction, right side with traffic, of course. I had no reason to think they might say anything rude, yet I did not feel inclined to run right into them. I thought, I never go straight at this intersection, I’ll go straight for once. Not that it was a road less traveled, because I run on that stretch of road all the time going toward the college. Still, a different direction is at least something different.

I stopped to pet two more cute dogs on German Street. They were the shaggy kind, Llasa Apsos or Shih Tsus or something. One backed off, the other was friendly. Then as I ran on the shy one ran after me.

“Now she wants to be petted,” the owner said, with a laugh. I turned around and obliged. “She has to play hard to get,” the owner said.

I ended up running longer than I had run Tuesday or Thursday, so I felt pretty good about that. Other than that satisfaction, though, I felt tired. I managed to spend a little time raking leaves, just because I thought I ought to (I know, I say I never do what I ought to, but I guess once in a while I do). Then I felt beat. Dare I say, too beat to write a decent blog post? Yet I see I am over 800 words. I’ll say today I went for quantity, not quality.

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Off the Lame Cuff

Posted on October 27, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

So Wednesday I never wrote my blog post till after 6:30 at night and I sat at the computer and wrote it off the cuff, and I got eight likes. Can I get away with it again today? I sure hope so.

In my defense (guess I can’t get away with using that in the headline twice, can I?), it is Lame Post Friday. And I was still studying my lines from the play. I came up with some half-baked philosophy while I was at work. If only I could remember any of it.

Here is a random observation: I saw a little dog pee on one of those blow-up Halloween decorations. It was a great big old spider with four giant purple and black legs creating an arch with its body. The arch was right over the people’s front walk, but they had caution tape around it so apparently nobody was supposed to walk underneath the arch. As Steven and I drove by it tonight, their cute little dog walked right up to and lifted his leg.

“That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in several weeks,” I said.

Actually, I made myself laugh at work today. Bill was looking for Ed, but I had not seen him.

“He did not share with me his plans,” I said, because, you know, that’s how I talk sometimes.

Then Ed came back and asked where Bill was.

“He’s looking for you,” I said. “And I said, ‘How the hell do I know where Ed is? He goes where he wants to go! He don’t tell me nuthin’!'”

“Well, where’s Jeff?” Jeff is the boss.

“How the hell do I know where Jeff is? He goes where he wants to go! He don’t tell me nuthin’!”

“Where’s Hal?” He only asked because he knew where this was going.

After I wrote the preceding, I went back and changed all the names, to protect the innocent. In fact, my name is now Evelyn (cue the jokes on whether or not I’m innocent).

I note with some satisfaction that I am over 300 words. A lame post? Assuredly, but it is Friday after all. Amusing? Well, it amused me, so at least one of us is happy. Hope to see you Saturday.

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