Snapped, Wine, Who Cares If I’m Lame?

I read on Facebook that it is National Wine Day.  Of course, I believe very little of what I read on the internet. However, I decided to give Facebook the benefit of the doubt and poured myself a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.  Ooh, do I love Cabernet Sauvignon!  After one sip, I returned to Facebook and typed in a status saying so.

Another thing I read on Facebook was a promo by Oxygen, sharing all these tweets from people saying how their Sundays involve wine and Snapped.  I was naturally inclined to believe this, since that is how many of my Sundays progress.  How pleasant to feel that I am not alone in my tastes!  Then I thought, why should Sunday have all the fun?  Snapped is on Oxygen as I type and sip.  Aaaahhh…. Friday.

Additionally, it is the Friday beginning a three-day weekend for me.  Alas, my dear husband works all three days, as I’m sure others do as well.  Please do not attempt to shame me.  I intend to enjoy my days off with a minimum of guilt.

I am, unfortunately, feeling a trifle guilty about my continued foolish posts.  Lame Post Friday, of course, is my beloved institution, but this has been a bad blogging week for me.  I thought briefly about making another Running Commentary post, since I went running again.  Yay me, running two days in a row! I DESERVE this delicious glass of wine!

In the meantime, one episode of Snapped is getting over and another about to begin.  I prefer to watch and knit over continuing my Lame Friday Post.  For another reason, foolish posts should at least be brief.  Happy Friday, everybody.

 

The Run I Deserved?

So I went running with the firm intention of making a Running Commentary post, and here I sit, feeling too tired to type a word!  And, of course, proving myself wrong by typing in words.  Let’s see if I can make the actual post before I have to start cooking dinner.

I seriously thought I would talk myself out of running. After all, I have been doing that successfully all week.  Judge me if you like, but the last exercise I got was a half hour walk on Sunday.  I really, really want to get back to running regularly and for longer periods of time.  Why have I not just gone ahead and done it, you may ask.  I have no answer.  Still, I felt reasonably pleased with myself when I got home, sat down with the laptop, then realized I was only going to check my emails before GOING RUNNING.

I put on sunscreen before my running clothes.  I got a load of laundry ready to throw in the washer.  I read recently that you are not supposed to leave the house or fall asleep when either the washer or drier is running.  However, I read it on the internet, and I do not believe most things I read on the internet. Anyways, I have been putting in a load of laundry and running while it washed for some time now.  If it ever does me dirt, I will write a blog post about it.

Naturally my legs were not pleased with me.  That is what you get, I scolded myself.  Start running every day and you won’t have this problem, will you?  The fact is, it is really hard to keep beginning again.  But what else can I do?  My choices are:  don’t stop running, stop running entirely, or begin again.  Obviously the first choice is the best, but how often do I do the best thing?  I remind myself that there have been many periods in the past twenty years (wow, has it been 20 years since I joined the army? How the time flies!), that I have been running on a regular basis.  I hope I am at the beginning of another one now.

The day was pretty: bright and sunny.  In fact, I prefer a cloudy and cooler day to run, but you can’t always get what you want (as the great philosopher Mick Jagger said).  I enjoyed seeing the green leaves on the trees.  They were large, summer leaves.  The delicate, just opening leaves do not last long.  That was OK by me, because this kind offers more shade.  I enjoyed the shade.

I thunked along, wondering how many calories I was burning.  If I had gone to the YMCA, I told myself, I could have been on a nice, smooth elliptical, which would have told me how many calories I burned.  Could I believe anything that smooth, though?  No matter; I was not at the Y; I was out in the fresh air and sunshine.  This was nice.

As I ran, I did not bother figuring in my head how many weeks till I was at 5K shape, if I increased my time by ten percent each week.  For one reason, my record has been so spotty about running every week, I may have been doomed to disappointment.  I managed to run for 22 minutes, which was how long I ran the last time I ran.  I think (too lazy to find my Running Journal and check).   I enjoyed my cool-down walk, and especially the bottle of ice water I had left on my deck to drink while I walked it.

I see I am over 600 words, and it is later than the time I had aimed to have the chicken in the oven.  Darn!  And I still have to add categories and tags, and think of a headline!  Well, that’s what I get.  I hope to see you all on Lame Post Friday!

 

Blank Mind, Dumb Blog, Here’s a Vampire

How many times has Wuss-out Wednesday followed Tired Tuesday?  Many.  Today shall make one more, but I hope to think of something amusing to say nevertheless.  Mind you, my hopes are not high, but any hope on a blank page is nice.

Blank is the operative word.  I have a dreadful case of Writer’s Blank.  That is when I look at a blank page (or computer screen) and that is exactly how it stays, because my brain is just that: BLANK.  It is all very well to say, “Just write something, anything down.”  I can’t think of anything to write down!  Then I think of something, write it down, and it’s STUPID!  I can’t continue with that!  And it would not matter if I bullishly forced myself to continue with it, because I cannot for the life of me think of another sentence.

Obviously that is not what is happening right now with this blog post, but it is what happened earlier when I was faced with a blank page in my notebook.  I started jotting down ideas I had for a murder mystery I must write for September (more on that when it gets closer) (I am, of course, taking it for granted that I WILL eventually be able to write the thing).  I have been tumbling ideas around in my head for a few weeks now.  As I put pen to paper, I realized I had very few ideas after all and the ones I had were dumb.  OK, it was one idea.  One stupid idea.

I will somehow get beyond this idea-less phase.  I will write down words and then more words.  I may even like them.  In the meantime, I am going to end with a picture of Nosferatu and hit Publish.  I may try again later with a pen and paper.  Further updates as events warrant.

Do you suppose I would write better or worse if this fellow was actually standing over me?

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?

 

Not Cheesy on Wrist to Forehead Sunday

We were supposed to be watching cheesy movies.  I am wearing my t-shirt from Original Herkimer Cheese, which says, “Keepin’ It Cheesy Since 1949.”

The moment I saw this shirt, I knew I had to own it one day.

I gave Original Herkimer Cheese one of my favorite plugs in a murder mystery for the Herkimer County Historical Society.

One character tells another she looks remarkably like Frangelica Inferno, “Uh, not that I watch porn movies.”

Character that looks like Frangelica:  “She was not a porn star!  Those were art films!”

Another character:  “Oh, please, those movies are as cheesy as Chutter from Original Herkimer Cheese!”

I do love chutter, and Original Herkimer Cheese.  But I digress. My original subject was cheesy movies, which I adore to watch on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  We watched a good one last night, The Tingler, starring Vincent Price and directed by William Castle.  We thought of continuing the Price/Castle theme today with House on Haunted Hill.  However, I had also mentioned All About Eve as a possibility.  Steven was more interested in All About Eve.  How could I possibly object to a Bette Davis classic?

After All About Eve, Steve suggested another favorite of ours, Being Julia, starring the divine Annette Bening.  In addition to being one of my all time favorite movies, this one seemed related to All About Eve, because both are about highly talented, greatly admired stage actresses who have just a little bit of trouble in their offstage lives.

I am having a bit of trouble in my offstage life these days, as well as onstage, but how tiresome of me it would be to cry about it now, even on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  Additionally, I have movies to watch.  For a blog post, this will have to do.  I hope to see you all again on Monstrous Monday.

 

Silly Wizard Saturday

It’s that awkward moment on a Saturday when I want to make my blog post before Steven gets home, but I really don’t know what to write about.  I have not done enough to fulfill a true Scattered Saturday post.  I feel I cannot do justice to the one cool thing I did today, but I suppose I could try.

I dressed as a wizard and went to the Mohawk Valley March for Babies fundraiser for the March of Dimes and Mohawk Valley Community College.

I really did not need to ding her with the wand; she is already enchanting.

This is the chair of the event, me, and two other members of LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company, also dressed up to add to the festivities.  The Power Ranger was the hit of the day, with several kids offering high fives and asking for pictures.

Who could be scared of a big green Power Ranger with Mom around?

A few of the kids were put off by the mask, but mostly they loved him.  I am the one that made a couple of kids cry, although I tried to keep my distance when I saw they were leery of me.  For heavens’ sake, I came dressed as a wizard not a witch, and I thought I was a SILLY wizard (because I always say, go with your strengths).  No matter, many people were amused by me.  I walked around waving my wand and danced to the music when possible.

At one point, a gentleman asked me and Kim what characters we were.  I said, “I am Cinn-da-ba the Wizard of Odd!  And this is Princess… Naratilovna.”  I had to repeat the name.  “It’s Russian,” I explained.  “But she is not Princess of Russia, but of an obscure little country north of Siberia.”  I could not come up with more on the spur of the moment.  Then I confessed that I had made up both characters but perhaps I would write a story featuring them.

So now I have a story to write.  And I can barely manage a blog post! No matter; I am over 300 words and I have given a brief plug to the March of Dimes and the Mohawk Valley March for Babies.  This is a worthy cause, because, you know, babies.  And I’m sure the ones I made cry have gotten over it by now.

 

Not Running Commentary

I was not going to run today.  I was going to mow the lawn.  Since I am unable to start the power mower, this would mean pushing the manual up and down the yard many times.  I thought that would be great exercise. I put a load of laundry in, so I could multi-task.  I put some sunscreen on my arms, found my crazy old lady hat, got myself a bottle of water, and out I went.  This was going to be great!

And I’m sure it would have been.  If only I was strong enough to open the damn garage door!  Now, this door has always been tough to open.  I have usually been able to manage it one heft at a time.  Well, today, I would heft it, then as I was positioning myself for another HEAVE, back down it would come.  Hard!  I mean, it felt as if something was inside the garage actively pushing that door back down on me.  Perhaps I am being fanciful, but I was frankly unable to open that door.

Then I couldn’t even relieve my frustration by slamming the house door as I went back inside, because it is hanging crookedly on its hinges.  The screws loosen up over time.  Tightening them is better done as a two-person job: one to hold the door, one to tighten the screws, and Steven and I never seem to remember to do it when we are both home.  So that I could at least get something done, I grabbed the screwdrivers (I need both Phillips-head and flat) and got the hinges somewhat tightened.  Then I didn’t feel like slamming the door any more.

I sulked around on the computer while the washing machine ran.  I wasn’t just screwing around; I had to contact my theatre friends about Saturday’s endeavor (perhaps you read my blog post about it).  I knew I should try to get something useful done, but I felt too annoyed about the garage door.  It does not take much to knock the ambition right out of me; judge me if you must.  Before I knew it, it was time to put the laundry in the drier.  I took the few things that didn’t go in the drier upstairs to put on the wooden rack.  I figured I might as well take my shower.

So there I was, ready to turn on the shower and feeling pretty useless and pathetic, when I thought, “Oh hell, why don’t I just run?”  So I did.  I thought I would make a Running Commentary blog post.  However, when I sat down at my computer and began to type, this is what came out.  Go figure!  I think I’ll call it a Non-Sequitur Thursday post and drive on.  I hope to see you all tomorrow, when Mohawk Valley Girl says, “Welcome to another Lame Post Friday!”  Or words to that effect.

 

Going Italian at Asteroga

So I started running again Monday, did zippo on Tuesday, and was determined to do something today.  I told my husband, Steven, that I could go for a run by myself or he could go for a walk with me.  Being a nice husband, he said he would go for a walk with me.  It was quite sunny when I got home from work, so I first took a shower and put on a cool outfit. By this time, Steven was quite hungry and wanted to end out for pizza.  I felt pizza was too fattening and I really wanted to walk.  We compromised by walking to Asteroga Ale House for food.

It was quiet in the place as we walked in, and we got a seat at the bar.  Surprisingly, there were two people we knew sitting at the bar too, so we had a nice visit while we ate.  We both got a glass of Chardonnay and looked at menus.  Steven decided on a bowl of Italian Wedding Soup while I got an Italian Chicken Wrap sandwich.  Yummy!  While we ate, we talked about frozen vs. fresh meatballs and chicken broth.  I contended that fresh made was better but pre-made could do in a pinch.  We also discussed shoes, the mall, and work.  I do like to have a nice conversation with dinner.

It was not even too late as we walked home, getting a little more exercise.  I know, we would have gotten more exercise without the stop at the Ale House.  One can’t have everything after all.  And I am going to consider this a pretty good blog post for a Wuss-out Wednesday.

Asteroga Ale House is located at 122 W. Albany St., Herkimer, NY, phone number 315-219-5578.  You can Like them on Facebook.