Category Archives: Wuss Out Wednesday

Less Headache, Still Not Writing

Posted on November 9, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I got 11 Likes on “In My Defense, It’s a Bad Headache.”  For me, that is HUGE!  I rarely get double digit Likes on my blog.  When I do, I am pumped, as well as apprehensive. Now I have set myself a standard to maintain.  Not to worry, though, I can only type what come out of my fingers and fevered (or feeble) brain, hit Publish, and hope for the best.

I thought today on Wuss-out Wednesday, I would share my current angst on my worst current wuss-out.  As regular readers may guess, I am dropping the ball on a lot of fronts.  A partial list includes fitness activities, dieting, house cleaning, general organization, yard work, and WRITING.  I put it in caps, because it is the one I feel worst about.   I used to write every day at work, during lunch and breaks.  Only occasionally would I work on puzzles and very rarely would I bring in something to read.  I’m still pretty good about not bring in stuff to read (largely because that is the hardest to tear myself away from and get back to work), but I am incessantly working on puzzles.  What is my problem?

To make matters worse, I have some days off coming up.  Days off!  Wonderful!  I can spend HOURS writing!  Well, any writer can tell you, and may non-writers can guess, that to not write, not write, not write, and then think you can WRITE is the height of folly.  The operative thing to do is to at least write a little on the days when you don’t have much time.  Take some notes, have a project well in hand, then and only then, can one hope to meet with success when one attempts to utilize an unprecedented length of free time.

So I have been trying to begin a new novel, make some notes and get an outline written before my expected days off, then I can hit the ground running.  Is that not a fantastic plan?  Why am I not doing it?  Oh, I am trying.  I have written some notes.  I think about it while I am working, sometimes dashing off a few notes while my machine cycles (no, it does not slow down my productivity, there is no reason to share this with my boss!).  Some breaks I have managed to write some things down.

However, as my free time approaches, I feel I am nowhere near where I thought I would be.  Come to think of it, I don’t know why I even thought I would be.  When have I ever had my act together?  When have I ever given the least appearance of having the various parts of my act in the basic vicinity of each other?  What the hell, me?

I think on my bad blog days (like this one), I may be better off sharing pictures of monsters than my writing woes.  After all, writing woes can get tiresome, but who doesn’t like monsters?  So I will end with a picture of one of my favorites, and get back to work on that novel.  Or maybe I should clean the living room…

Even the vampire thinks I should get back to work!

 

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I’d Rather Share Monster Pictures

Posted on November 2, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Can you bear one more post about NaNoWriMo?  If not, well, just look at the pictures.

“NOOOOOO! I’ve only written 25 words!!!!”

This is what I would probably look like if I attempted to write a 50,000 word novel during the 30 days of November : wild-eyed, running down the highway, and having a perfectly dreadful hair day.  I am taking it for granted (I try to never assume) that my readers all know that NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and participants attempt to write an entire novel in that length of time.  One of my nieces did it once and finished, but I don’t know that she ever polished up her novel and tried to get it published.

As you may have guessed, I am opting NOT to participate.  I tried once, back in the late ’00’s, scribbling frantically in a spiral notebook while at work.  It was fun for a few days, but then we got busy and my boss and co-workers seemed to think I should be waiting on customers (I had a different job then, working with the public, YIKES! No wonder I am so obsessed with movie monsters; they are so much more relaxing than customers).

Where was I? Ah yes, writing about not writing.

Still, relaxing with a beer after writing frantically all day, that I could get into.

I do want to write more, and to finish a novel as well as several other projects.  In that case, why not give NaNoWriMo a try?  They have a website that offers encouragement and accountability.  That is what a lot of us writers need: accountability.  And a deadline.  Maybe that is why I finish so few novels:  no deadline.  That’s something to think about.  Also, what a feeling of accomplishment I would have!  Oh dear, am I talking myself into this?

“Who, me? Write a novel in November?”

I don’t know if you believe in Freudian slips, but almost every time I’ve gone to type “NaNoWriMo,”  I’ve typed “NoNoWriMo.”  I think my fingers are trying to tell me something.  In any case, I just don’t feel that I want to participate in this thing.  I do not want to register at their website, update my word count, and past my entire novel to them so I can be declared a winner.  It’s just not me.

However, I’ll just put this out there:  I am going to write more.  I have been doing a little more each day, and I intend to increase my efforts and output.  I will let you know how I do.  I’ll write a blog post about it!  In the meantime, this is my Wuss-out Wednesday post.  Or perhaps we could call it a Mid-week Middle-aged Musings.  Either way, I think I’ll close with another monster picture.  Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Raise your hands, everybody who thinks Cindy ought to write more!

 

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Feeling Like a…

Posted on October 19, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Tired Tuesday apparently has nothing on Wuss-out Wednesday.  I just napped on the couch while waiting for my husband, Steven, to get home.  Now I’m ready for bed.  Well, I won’t go to bed; I will make my blog post.  Maybe I should take a walk to wake myself up.  Maybe my husband would walk with me.  Then he could say…

See what I did there?

Full disclosure:  I don’t know anything about this movie.  I the poster on Facebook when I was trying to psyche myself up to make my post and said, “Heeey!”  I’ve talked about zombies in this space before.  However, I am too zombified myself right now to compose a learned essay, comparing and contrasting the historical etc.  But I can post a few pictures and type a little nonsense.  Let’s go with that.

I don’t think I could be the sort of zombie that runs. I’m more of the gruesome lumbering sort.

It’s a little late to plug something that is happening tomorrow, but this is being held in Little Falls, NY, Oct. 19, as part of the Oktoberfest 3rd Thursday celebration.  Perhaps next year I could participate.  I’ll write a blog post about it if I do.   For more information about it, you can visit the Facebook event.

Several events are happening in that Oktoberfest.  As I often say, Little Falls has got it going on.  Full disclosure:  I will probably not participate in any of the events.  However, if you are not reading this too late, and you live close enough and are so inclined, I encourage you to check it out.  They also have a Facebook event.

I guess he’s more of a ghoul than a zombie, but I’m no expert on these things.

I wanted to include three pictures, so I found this one in my Media Library.  I did not remember using it before, but isn’t it cool?  I love Halloween.  Happy Wednesday, everyone.

 

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Speaking of Blog Posts

Posted on October 12, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I ponder another post before scooting off to rehearsal for A G.R.A.V.E. Murder, the murder mystery we are doing this Saturday for the Herkimer County Historical Society.  I shall not add more information about that, though, because I believe they are sold out (Yay!).  That morning (Oct. 14, by the way), I am registered to run in the East Herkimer Fire Department 5K.  I bet there are spaces available for that fun event, so come join me if you’re into it.

It is what to do in between the two events that concerns me.  I have so many choices!

Earlier this week, I wrote about The Old Barn Marketplace in Little Falls, a very fun place to browse.  Well, this Saturday they are having a Grand Opening and Fall Festival.  There will be food, music, raffles and more, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Ingham Mills Farm will be onsite with their alpacas.  I love alpacas!  They are so soft and beautiful.

And speaking of Grand Openings, there is also one at Prima Donna’s Boutique, a new business I have yet to write about but mean to soon.  It is a gift shop with jewelry, art, vintage clothing and more.  I stopped in last Saturday and was charmed.  Their Grand Opening starts at 10:30 a.m.  The boutique is located at 411 Canal Place, Little Fall.

And speaking of Canal Place, while I’m in Little Falls, I could stop by Rochette, a curated hive (I got that phrase from their business card) located where The Mustard Seed used to be at 410 Canal Place.  That is another place I need to write more about.  So many blog posts!  So little brain!

So I guess this post is more of a Preview of Coming Attractions than anything else.  However, for Wuss-out Wednesday, we’ll call it a win.

 

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Graveyard, Nosferatu, What’s Not to Like?

Posted on October 5, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was feeling better than I felt yesterday, so I went running.  I was going to do a Running Commentary post, but in the first place, the run was not that memorable.  In the second place, my headache is back and I have to start thinking about dinner.  As I was looking through Facebook, hoping for a little inspiration (oh, don’t give me that hoary cliche that inspiration follows writing, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes you do so get it before you write).  Where was I?  Ah yes, I found a monster movie picture, and you know how I love to make a post of monster movie pictures.

SO atmospheric! I love it!

It is from the James Whale Frankenstein.  It reminded me of another picture of a cemetery in another horror movie.  I knew I had seen it on Facebook at some point but could not remember what page.  I went to The Golden Age of Monster Movies, a group I am in, and began scrolling through their photos.  Of course I could not find the one I was looking for, and I do not have all night to search for an obscure picture.  However, I soon found a shot of my favorite guy, Nosferatu.  I must share Nosferatu.

I remember this shot from the first time I saw this movie, when I was in the sixth grade. I was scarred for life, but, you know, in a good way.

So I gave up on doing a graveyard theme and just looked for a couple more pictures I liked.  I soon found the following:

We recently watched this one. I should write a blog post about it. I haven’t written about a cheesy horror movie in a long time.

 

I have no idea what this is from, but Peter Lorre, Vincent Price, a severed head, what’s not to like?

So this is my Wuss-out Wednesday post for the week.  I don’t say I won’t have another day of monster movie pictures and silly commentary, but at least I won’t call it Wuss-out Wednesday.  As always, thank you for tuning in.

 

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I’m Also a Witch

Posted on September 28, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

First a quick postscript to yesterday’s post (postpost?):  the crock pot applesauce was DELICIOUS, especially with the vanilla ice cream.  It was also yummy today for my lunch without the ice cream.  Unfortunately, my digestive woes continue.  I only mention it as a partial excuse for today’s Wuss-out Wednesday post.  Earlier this afternoon, I seriously considered cancelling the blog due to weather.  I thought, why not?  They call sports games for rain, snow or severe heat.  Lightning causes all sorts of cancellations and plan changes.  Why am I expected to function normally in unreasonably warm, muggy weather? (The weather folks call it “unseasonably warm,” but I calls it like I sees it.)

I know, I know, stop being such a baby.  That and, when have I ever functioned normally?  And when have I ever needed an excuse for Wuss-out Wednesday?  When have I ever used an excuse that was not immediately discounted, at least by those pesky critics in my head?  How many questions do you suppose I can fit into one paragraph?  Would you believe one more?

I think this blog is spinning out of control, even for a Wuss-out Wednesday.

What I may look like tomorrow morning.

When in doubt, look for a Halloween picture.  I went to the downloads on our laptop and found this.  I couldn’t quite see what it was in the downloads (too small), but I saw pumpkin, darkness, and said, OK.  Pumpkin spice coffee.  Ah, the thought of that encourages me.  It is the taste of autumn.  I could use some autumn.

I’m the one on the right.

I do not now where Steven got this picture, but I love old-fashioned stuff like this.  Ah, the thought of Halloween approaching makes me feel better about everything.

This time I’m the one in the middle.

Wow, my husband finds some great stuff online.  And too late I remember, I could have thrown in the pictures, called this Wordless Wednesday, and had done with.  I never do anything right!  On the other hand, if that’s what I am, I’ll embrace it.  Happy Wednesday, everyone.

 

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Random Essay for Wuss-out Wednesday

Posted on September 21, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Here is a little-known fact about a famous Shakespearean tragedy:  Romeo snored.  Of course, most of us snore at least sometimes, but the entire Montague family was known for their loud, incessant, obnoxious snoring.  When the whole family slept in the same castle, their snorkeling, snorting, gasping, grating, grinding, endless nighttime symphonies would have rattled the windowpanes, if they would have had glass windowpanes in the 16th century (I looked this up after I wrote that: glass window panes became common in the 17th century) (Phew!).

In fact, according to one source (OK, it’s me), that snoring was the original cause of the whole Montague/Capulet fracas.  The families used to be great friends, spending Sunday afternoons together.  One Sunday when Capulet was in the middle of a long, boring story (don’t judge; you’ve told them yourself, we all have), Montague fell asleep.  Capulet could never be brought to believe that the warm weather and heavy Sunday dinner were to blame, or that the ensuing noise was quite natural.  He always held to it that Montague was only pretending to sleep and made all that racket just to poke fun at Capulet.  Nothing could convince him otherwise, because all the Montagues were afraid to fall asleep in front of him after that.  Just imagine all the years of hostility that could have been avoided with a simple sleepover.

Romeo, naturally, inherited the tendency.  It is a pretty safe bet that Romeo and Juliet did not waste any time sleeping during the one night they had together.  This is unfortunate, as things turned out, because if Juliet had gotten a load of that honk, she may have been more amenable to taking Paris as a substitute.  I understand his family was rather gentle in their nighttime sounds, although Juliet would naturally have had no chance of finding that out beforehand.  I know, some of you are going, “Bu-bu-bu–” in your anxiety to get out a defense of True Love, and you know, they were married.  Yes, well, let’s leave the philosophical discussion for another day (perhaps Lame Post Friday, my traditional space for half-baked philosophy, and don’t try to tell me yours is fully cooked, I won’t believe you).

Incidentally, you may remember that Romeo’s mother died offstage before the end of the play.  Some have hypothesized that since theatrical companies at that time had only three boys who could play female roles, you could only have three women onstage at a time.  Well, that could be, but the fact of the matter is, she died from lack of sleep.  Being a Montague only by marriage, she just couldn’t handle the buzz saw.

 

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I Think the Word was “Conflict”

Posted on September 14, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is Wuss-out Wednesday, and it is going to be a Wuss-out Wednesday blog post, and you can read it and enjoy it or ignore it.  You can do that as a reader.  As a blogger, I have to post (“The blog must go on!” I say in a dramatic tone of voice, posing in a half swoon, with one wrist to my forehead) (THAT’S IT!!! It’s Wrist to Forehead Wednesday! Damn!)

OK, now I’m getting silly.  I just searched WordPress blogs for Writer’s Block and find that I am not alone.  Oddly enough, not one of the posts I looked at claimed that “there just ain’t no sech animal” as Writer’s Block, a contention I have heard on many occasions (with or without the hillbilly wording).  They may have something at that, as I see I am over 100 words already.  It is almost never impossible to write SOMETHING.  But to write something good?  As Hamlet once emoted, “Ay, there’s the rub!”

I spent my breaks at work trying to work on a project which ought to have been done by now (I dare not tell you what project, because I don’t want people who know about it to know it is not yet finished) (in fact, already I’ve said too much).  I couldn’t do it!  I managed to write some notes, which is more useful than it sounds.  Then I started to write another note and completely blanked on a word.

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ALL ABOUT???  I asked myself.  Have I gone senile?  Is it early onset Alzheimer’s? Yes, I am a self-dramatizing fool (see wrist to forehead pose in the first paragraph).  I daresay I’m no stupider than I was yesterday (cue jokes about how that is quite stupid enough).   Still, it is upsetting when one cannot think of a word or even a reasonable substitute.

I think I like it better when I share pictures from monster movies on these days when I just don’t have a blog post.  I may do that tomorrow on Non-Sequitur Thursday.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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OK, It Was a Trashy Novel

Posted on September 7, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is National Read a Book Day, and I have just spent most of the afternoon and early evening reading a book.  Never mind which book; my reading choice will not impress you with my taste and intelligence (both questionable at the best of times).  But, obviously, I have been reading, not writing.  So I do not have a blog post.  Please do not judge me on Wuss-out Wednesday.  I will get back to having Mohawk Valley Adventures and writing about them soon.  But I’m not up to that today.  However, I will try to muster up some cheerfulness and maybe a little silliness.

Am I pandering by sharing a picture with so many scantily clad women?

This is one of the cheesy movies I watched on Monday, while waiting for my husband to come home from work.  I was looking for a cheesy image to share and discovered a Facebook page called Scream Factory.  I wonder what other fun stuff they have.

Here’s a more circumspect image.  Just a bit of a boob shot, partially obscured by her dramatically placed arm.

Full disclosure: I have never seen nor even heard of Hell Night.  I just liked the picture.

So I guess the Scream Factory sells Blu-Ray and DVDs of horror movies.  What a useful site.  Of course, I usually find my stuff in the bargain bins at various big box stores (none of which need a plug form Mohawk Valley Girl).

Nothing whatever lurid about this one!

If I ever update my entertainment system and need to purchase Blu-Rays, now I know where to find one of my favorites!  Right now, however, I have this gem on at least two DVD collections.  I do love a movie that involves a severed head.

I have not quite cheered myself up with these cheesy Blu-Ray covers of cheesy movies.  Now I feel like eating some actual cheese.  But I will try for a better blog post on Non-Sequitur Thursday.

 

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Is It Halloween Yet?

Posted on August 31, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I just can’t get around it:  I have had a rash of really foolish posts, and I am about to make another.  I stared at a blank sheet of paper for a while on break at work today.  I just could not write down a word, not even a whiny word about how I could not write down a word.  In fact, right now I am by main force preventing myself from backspacing out the foolishness I have typed in thus far.  I have rehearsal for The Tempest at six.  I have to post and go.

I already wrote about The Tempest at the Herkimer Elks Lodge this Friday (perhaps you read my blog post about it).  I just yesterday posted pictures from monster movies.  I can’t do that again, can I?  Or can I?  Regular readers know, I like to make Halloween last all year.  In fact, it is almost time to begin celebrating Halloween anyways.  We can begin the day after Labor Day, right?

Isn’t she sweet?

Not from a monster movie, but a Halloween picture of my own.  We got this lovely lady at Pumpkin Junction in Sauquoit last fall.  We LOVE Pumpkin Junction (I wrote an article about them for Mohawk Valley Living magazine).

Decorations by Steve.

Here is the front view of our house last October.  I wonder what Steven will come up with for this year.

And here is the decorator himself.

This is a shot of Steve at Pumpkin Junction.

So I guess this is my Wuss-out Wednesday post.  A few pictures from last year and a wish for Halloween.  Now it’s off to rehearsal for me.  Happy Wednesday, everyone!

 

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