Category Archives: Tired Tuesday

Not an Anniversary Dinner

It is my blogoversary.  At least, in my notifications, WordPress wished me a Happy ANNIVERSARY.  I could swear they called it a blogoversary in year’s past.  Anyways, I have been publishing this blog for seven years now.  Yay me, I guess.  I would like to say something profound about it, but I am having a Tired Tuesday.  I feared that I would.

I thought of doing, not exactly a cooking post, but a What We Had For Supper post.  Steven had a craving for Chinese food.  Rather than sending out for delivery or even pick up, I suggested I go to Hannaford and pick up some frozen stuff we could pop into the oven.  I was pretty sure they had some Chinese appetizers, and appetizers are what we like best.

As I was driving home, I thought to myself, “OK, don’t let Steven throw away these boxes before I make my blog post, because I won’t remember exactly what these were.”  Sometimes my husband gets a little too enthusiastic about cleaning up, a quality I definitely do NOT share.  And now it is time to hang my head in shame, because guess who threw the boxes out?  Yes, I did.  Do I remember what I fixed?  Not exactly.

The standout were Potstickers, that I remember.  I had to cook them in oil in a pan, then add water, cover, and steam.  That is obviously a little more complicated than just putting it in the oven, but I was up to the challenge.  It was worth it. Yummy!  The stuff I put in the oven was a little complicated, too, because of course out of three things, none were the same temperature nor the same amount of time.  Also, I do not own three flat pans that fit conveniently on my two oven racks.  Oh, the trials and tribulations!

By now I suppose any new readers are wondering how in the world I managed to make seven years’ worth of blog posts if this is the kind of material I write.  I confess I sometimes wonder myself.  But what are you going to do on a Tired Tuesday?

 

May Day Run?

I unexpectedly ran today.  I had my work-out clothes in a bag in my vehicle, thinking to go to the YMCA in Mohawk for my usual arms and abs followed by elliptical.  Then I stepped out of work into the warm air and thought, “I can’t waste this!”  It was nice and cloudy too, just the way I like it.  I left the workout clothes in my vehicle for another day, got dressed in a running outfit — shorts and short sleeves, woohoo! — and set out.  Full disclosure:  the outfit in my bag would have been fine for running, but I figured this way I already have the bag packed for next time.

Oh, the bare sidewalks! Oh the breeze that did NOT torment my sinuses!  Well, yes, the warmer temperature does make my spring allergies immediately kick in (it’s either placebo effect or really, really fast pollens), but that is not the same as the pain brought on by a bitter wind.  I got set to enjoy myself.

Of course I did not.  I have not been running in weeks (too lazy to check my running journal and see exactly how long) (well, that fits: too lazy to run, too lazy to check).  I have taken walks and gone to the YMCA, but not as consistently as intended or recommended.  In fact, I haven’t done anything since Friday.  In my defense, oh never mind my defense, explanations are tiresome.  But my body was not happy with me right away.

I grimly told myself that this was the difference between a smooth elliptical machine and pounding on the pavement.   Just endure, I thought.  One must get through runs like this to get to the good ones.  I have not run up the hill to Herkimer College in a long, long time.  I want to get back there one day!  Today, obviously, was not that day.  I decided 15 minutes would be OK, although I would try for 20.  Twenty minutes seemed good for the first run in a long, long time.

I thought about how I have been going for long walks on some of the days I do not go to the YMCA.  Walking, I thought longingly.  How pleasant would that be?  I would go further and longer!  Why wasn’t I walking?  I had really missed a bet this time!  But I kept running, at least the middle-aged shuffle I call a run.  I reminded myself that this was the pace I can keep up for just about as long as I decide to.

By the end of the run, I was picturing a calendar and counting in my head if I ran 20 minutes, then added 10 percent every week, how soon would I be ready to run a 5K?  What if I ran 22 minutes?   I left out a week and got confused.  Then I wondered when I might find a 5K in the area that I wanted to run.  I also wondered if I would be able to get a blog post out of this run.  I could call it May Day Run.  Isn’t May Day what ships call when they are about to sink?  Appropriate for the way I was running!

I made it for 23 minutes.  Perhaps I could have gone further, but there was no point in killing myself (oh, YOU can probably see a point to it!) (you know who you are).  As it was I was damn tired.  My cool-down walk was more pleasant than the run, but I was ready to stop that by the end, too.  I stood on the deck to do my stretches and noticed some daffodils in my yard.  Yay, daffodils!  I had been hoping all day to see some May flowers.

 

I’m a Fool for Tired Tuesday

Tired Tuesday it is!  I have been rushing around like a fool since I left work, and all I want to do now is crochet and watch Dateline.  That gives me about 30 seconds to make a blog post or miss the introduction and perhaps the first couple of scenes.  Yes, missing the beginning!  Damn!  Oh, it is an episode we’ve seen.  And one I don’t like.  A teenage boy is coerced into confessing to a crime he did not commit.  Well, that give me plenty of time to make a decent blog post, doesn’t it?  Or rather, shouldn’t it?

I worked out after work today.  I have been keeping kind of quiet about this, but I started going to the YMCA in Mohawk, NY.  I am not as consistent as I would like to be about these things, but one has to start somewhere, after all.  The important thing is: when you miss a few days, you do NOT say, “Oh to hell with it, this isn’t working!”  You begin again, much the same way I do with my running (and writing).  Begin again.  And again.  And again.

After getting home, enjoying a recovery beverage of chocolate milk, checking Facebook and email, and showering, I headed out to the store.  I ran out of healthy, not fattening things for lunch.  I got some good stuff.  Believe it or not (I was a doubter myself), I actually made the salad, and chopped radishes and celery.  I eat the celery and radishes on a break and the salad on lunch.  In case anybody was interested in my eating habits.

One thing I have not done is the laundry.  I hope I have sufficient clean clothes for tomorrow, because I am quite done for the day.  Except for a little crochet.  I am making a baby afghan for a co-worker and I want to finish it before the kid gets too big for it.  Happy Tuesday, everybody.

 

I Feel Like a Monster

It was going to be another Monstrous Monday.  I found some monster pictures in my Media Library, I wrote some foolish comments about them. I was just finishing up and ready to think up a title and hit publish when I remembered:  It isn’t Monday!  It’s Tuesday!  This is what happens when you don’t go to work on Monday.  It messes up your head.  It doesn’t help that I’m not feeling well (my ostensible reason for taking a Monstrous Monday).  In fact, my stomach is starting to roil as I type.  I’m just going to slap a headline on this, hit publish and stretch out.  Here is what I typed in when I thought it was Monday:

I’m afraid it is going to be another Monstrous Monday.  Both Steven and I seem to be down with some 24-hour (I hope) bugaboo. But I shall not go on about our health woes. For one reason, it would be a HIPAA violation.  For another reason, it is boring and a little disgusting.  Never mind, let’s find a picture of a monster to share.

Raise your hand if you think these Monster Monday posts are silly!

I couldn’t find a new picture so I went to my Media Library and found one of Frankenstein’s monster I haven’t used recently (I hope).

He’s been hanging around for a while now.

Here is a friendlier monster.  My husband Steven got me this nice vampire for Christmas some years ago. He’s been hanging in our living room ever since.  As regular readers know, I like to make Halloween last all year.

This plant required a red thumb, not green one.

Oh, here’s a picture I haven’t used more than once, I don’t think.  It is from Roger Corman’s Little Shop of Horrors (1960).  I confess to not being a fan of the musical, but I LOVE the cheesy black-and-white horror flick.

So say I.

I end with how I feel:  tired and ready to say good night!  Full disclosure:  I probably won’t go to bed for a while yet, because I don’t want to wake up at 2 a.m. unable to get back to sleep.  You know how it is.  I’m afraid this has been a foolish post.  We’ll call it a blogger’s sick day and drive on.

 

Dessert and Monsters on Tired Tuesday

Did I say no promises for Tuesday?  I think I did.  And, yes, it is going to be a Tired Tuesday post.  But I will try not to go on and on about how tired I am.  Instead, I will talk about the dessert I made to follow the supper cooked by my husband Steven.

The supper was nothing unusual but quite delicious:  chicken and rice.  Not cooked together.  Steven baked boneless, skinless thighs with spices, and made rice in the rice cooker.  It was yummy and satisfying.  After letting it settle, I fixed a little something for dessert.

I had some Oreo cookies I had purchased thinking I might made Dirt Cake for Easter.  We did not need another dessert for Easter, and Steven has been munching the Oreos.  I took a few of them and broke them up in the bottom of two bowls. I put blueberries on the cookie pieces and topped it with whipped topping (generic Cool Whip).  The blueberries were purchased frozen at Hannaford and thawed in the refrigerator.

Wow, this really is a Tired Tuesday post, because it seems I am too tired to make it particularly interesting.  Maybe I should add in a picture of a monster to pep things up (it’s too late to include a picture of the dessert; we ate it up right fast).

“What do you mean, you ate all the blueberries?”

I saw this picture of my favorite guy, Nosferatu, on Facebook earlier today.  The person who shared it commented that he always looked surprised.  I must agree.  I’m sure Count Orlock is surprised to be included in a blog post about a dessert.

“I, too, am horrified to be here!”

This shot is from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, another creepy silent horror movie, and another picture I found today on Facebook.  Both photos were on one of my favorite Facebook groups: The Golden Age of Monster Movies.

Incidentally, Steven miraculously fixed our DVD/VCR player today.  I will soon be watching monster movies again!  I hope to write a few blog posts about them.  In the meantime, I hope somebody liked my Tired Tuesday post.

 

A Blog to No Where

Can my readers bear yet another post about How I Can’t Write a Post Today.  I can’t write ANYTHING today!  And it has been that way for a very long time.

OK, that is an exaggeration.  I can write something.  Here I am, typing in nonsense I intend to pass off as a blog post.  Sunday I wrote two articles to submit to Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  I wonder if they were any good.  I can’t worry about that now.  Where was I?  Nowhere, it seems.

Now I am sitting here staring at the word “nowhere.”  My computer is not underlining it, but it looks wrong.  Like it really says “now here.”  These are the things that keep me from moving on to the next paragraph.

The next project I am dithering about is the murder mystery for Morning Star Methodist Church in Ilion, NY, planned for Saturday, April 28.  I think I have a situation, and the names of some of the characters.  I have a victim but not yet a murderer.  This is not uncommon.  Sometimes I write the whole script before I decide whodunnit.  You can do that with a ten-page script.  I wouldn’t try it with a 300-page novel.  No, I have not written a 300-page novel, but I have written 300 pages on a novel.  At least a couple of times.

And now I have written a 200 word blog post.  It looks kind of sad without any pictures of monsters.  Maybe I could include just one.

“Where have you been all my life?”

There you go:  a monster and a beautiful girl.  What’s not to like?  Oh, I’m sure somebody could find something. Once again, I’ll try for a better blog post tomorrow.

 

I Did Not Plan to be Tired

Regular readers know that I am almost always tired on Tuesday, hence the Tired Tuesday post.  Today was even worse, because being the first day back at work after a four day break, it was also my Monday.  I feel guilty complaining about it.  I am sure many will judge me:  you had four days off, you bum!  What have you got to be tired about?  Well, I am definitely too tired to have THAT argument in my head again.

My day was brightened somewhat this morning when I realized it was, in fact, Tuesday, meaning I only have a four day week.  I enjoyed my four day week last week.  Perhaps I could do the same this week.  One thing I was resolved on:  I was going to handwrite a blog post during breaks so that I could go to the library after work and make my blog post on a real computer, not my Tablet.  Additionally, I could easily check all my emails (I have a few different accounts), at least one of which I had to answer.  Oh, and Facebook message a cast member of Secrets at Suiter House.  Just to show you what a full plate I had.

Naturally, things did not go as I planned.  They never do; I’m not even sure why I bother to make plans, but never mind that now.  First, I was too tired to write anything.  Then I got a message from my husband, Steven, that the laptop was ready for pick up TODAY, not Friday as scheduled.  It obviously behooved me to call and change my pick-up appointment to today, and to drive to New Hartford (NY, not CT), and get the laptop.  Then I could skip the library.  Although, now that I think about it:  the library is closer, and I could have gotten out more books.  I like books.

Of course it took longer than expected to accomplish this, and traffic is often a problem in that area.  However, I mustered what patience I could, and now I am sitting on my couch, typing my blog post into the laptop. I checked my email, answered what I needed to, sent the message I wanted to, and even looked at Facebook for a bit (don’t judge me).

I’m thinking this is a foolish post, even for a Tired Tuesday.  There are a lot more interesting things I could write about than my stupid computer problems.  If only I wasn’t so tired!  Let that be a lesson to me —  oh wait, this is a lesson I have told myself many times and I haven’t learned it yet:  Have blog posts written in advance, so in case of just such an emergency, I will have only to hit Publish.  Waaaait a minute!  That sounds suspiciously like Plan Ahead.  What did I say earlier about making plans?

 

Two Runs, One Post, It’s Tired Tuesday!

Regular readers will recall that yesterday I was too tired after my run to make a blog post about it.  I went running again today and will attempt to make a Running Commentary post in lieu of my usual Tired Tuesday.  In fact, I am tired after my run but feel somewhat revived after my recovery beverage of chocolate milk.  I think I can manage at least 200 words.  Maybe I can write about both runs.  A double Running Commentary.  That is appropriate for a veteran like me, because in the Army we called running “double time.”  I’ll write it on the double (if anybody just made a rimshot noise, oh just shut up, you know these are the kinds of jokes I make).

For two days now temperatures have been above 40.  Yesterday my thermostat said 46, and today it said 50.  Woohoo!  That is shorts and short-sleeve weather for me.  I got some running clothes on and got out the door, first putting a load of laundry in the washer.  This is how I multi-task.  I did it yesterday, I did it again today.  I am way behind on my laundry.

Both days have really not been as warm as I like.  It is kind of like the entire earth hasn’t warmed itself up yet.  The sun felt warm, but the air felt cold, especially in the shade and/or when the wind blew.  No matter.  I knew I would warm up as I ran.  And if not, I had a sweatshirt waiting for me to wear on my cool-down walk, and the hot shower afterward would feel especially good.  I concentrated on how nice it is to have bare, dry sidewalks.  Except, of course, for certain patches of ice, mud and puddles.  I dodged around them, usually into more mud.  You’ll have that this time of year. I persevered.

I quickly realized I was going to have to persevere over my own body’s complaints as well.  My legs felt stiff and sore.  Yesterday I forgot to stretch out after I ran, probably because I went right down into the basement to put the laundry in the drier.  I’m not really good at multi-tasking.  Well, one thing I know how to do is persevere.  At least at some things.  At least for a little while.

Today’s run was two minutes shorter than Monday’s, 22 and 24 minutes respectively.  Yes, these are short runs.  I have not been running enough lately; I have to build myself up again.  I walked for ten minutes both days.  Yesterday I also skipped my recovery beverage.  You see, the doctor told me I was probably becoming intolerant to dairy.  I am not sure I believe him, since this is also the guy that told me sugar was causing all my headaches.  Don’t get me started on doctors.  Still, I cut way back on sugar and stopped drinking milk, in case I see him again and he asks. However, today I felt so ate up after the run (“ate up” is also an army expression), I said to hell with it, I’m having the chocolate milk.  It tasted good.  I also remembered to stretch.

Ooh, look at me, over 500 words.  That’s pretty good for a Tired Tuesday.  Anyways, I’m glad I went running two days in a row.  And I’m glad I managed to write a blog post about it.

 

Another Tuesday Trudge

Apparently I am always tired on Tuesday.  Other days as well, but Tuesday offers the charm of alliteration.  I am going to begin living a healthier lifestyle in hopes of having more energy and being less annoying.  Then again, I think energetic me can get pretty annoying as well, if I recall my young and bouncy days.  Well, I can’t worry about such things.

As part of my healthy plan, I am trying to exercise more.  I went for a long walk today after work.  I would have liked to run, but the puddles were enormous.  It rained all night and into the morning, and was warm enough for snow to melt all day.  There are flood watches all around, but my basement is dry so far, knock wood.  Anyways, I didn’t feel up to splashing through the puddles, especially as I suspected some ice would remain underneath.  I came home and put on my flood boots.

I put my Tablet in a canvas shoulder bag, thinking to take a few pictures, as I neglected to take pictures for a previous Pedestrian Post.  Then as I walked, I didn’t feel like taking any pictures.  I plodded along, wading through puddles, stepping around snow banks, and appreciating patches of dry, bare pavement.  I didn’t look up much, because I was keeping an eye on where I was walking.  Some of those puddles looked deep enough for “turn around, don’t drown,” till you got right up to them.

Since I was walking so slowly, I don’t know how much exercise I really got.  A good, brisk pace would have burned more calories.  Well, one can only do one’s best.  I’m sure some readers are currently saying, “And that’s the best blog post you can do?” (You know who you are.)  I guess it is.  I tried for a real post yesterday. I’ll try again tomorrow.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

Here’s Yesterday’s Post

Yesterday I took a bloggers’ sick day.  It is now 4:27 in the morning and I am going to publish something, as has been my habit at these times.  As I lay in bed earlier this morning, I composed in my head a much better post than what I am now typing.  I can see some of you shaking your fingers or your heads at me, saying, “THAT is why you must always keep a notebook and pen by your bed!”

Frankly, I am not too regretful about it.  For one reason, waking up sufficiently to write something down would have woken me up for the day, and I certainly need my beauty sleep.  For another reason, it was probably only better in my head.  Any time I dream a “perfect” idea for a novel, I find on waking that it made much more sense in the dream.  Anything I thought of in the night, rolled over and wrote down, I later thought, “Why did I bother?”

Be all that as it may, here is what I typed in last night (as Truman Capote once said, “That’s not writing, that’s typing), before I found myself quite incapable of typing another word:

I think this post is going to be time-stamped Valentine’s Day, but as I type this, it is Feb. 13. I just returned from Little Falls, NY.  I went to Huckleberry Letterpress Co.  to purchase a Valentine for Steven.  I felt very fortunate when I saw on their Facebook page that they were open at the beginning of the week for Valentine’s shopping.  Now I feel bad that I did not plug them yesterday, so local readers may have had a chance to go there today.  No matter.  You can go there another day to get a different kind of card.  They have an excellent selection.

I wrote about Huckleberry Letterpress for the February issue of Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  They were also featured on the Sunday Mohawk Valley Living TV show.

(Back to present time): I decided to share those paragraphs, because, you know, waste not, want not (ooh, I do remember thinking, “waste not, want not” earlier, that was worth remembering).  Also, I had linked to the shop and the magazine.

After I typed in what I could, I felt really bad for not doing more for Valentine’s Day for my husband (I had declared we would celebrate it on Fat Tuesday, because Steven works later today), so I bestirred myself to go out to the kitchen and bake brownies.  I used a mix and added chocolate chips.  Steven liked them, and he liked the card.

So I guess this is yesterday’s post.  I see it is clocking in over 450 words. Yay me.  Kind of.  Happy Valentine’s Day.