Not Beaten, But Not Upbeat

Posted on July 16, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

My spell of bad writing days continues.

I was not able to write my post while at work today. I don’t feel able to write it now, either. I know other bloggers seem to like my silly posts about Why I Can’t Write a Post, but all I can think right now is, “My mother is going to read this!”

Ooh, didn’t that sound like I was going to write something racy? Sorry to disappoint (you know who you are).

The thing is, I bill this as a positive blog — “totally fun,” it says at the top. But one cannot be upbeat at all times. At least, I suppose one could, but not this one. And I bet the one that could gets on most people’s nerves. (Should I have put that last sentence in parentheses?)

I have not yet dried out from the flooding experienced recently by the Mohawk Valley. Of course I have a lot to be thankful for. I lost far less than others. I had help from family and friends. My basement is now in the process of drying out completely. My husband and I are in the process of cleaning out the mildew (yuck!). The hot water heater is on the way to being replaced, at which time the gas can be turned back on (warm showers and cooking on the stove! Woohoo!) (Ooh, that’s another thing to be thankful for: the electricity never got turned off).

It is, in fact, good weather to appreciate a cold shower. And who wants to heat up the kitchen by cooking on the stove anyways? I haven’t washed a pot or pan in two weeks!

Am I beginning to sound like the annoying one who is upbeat at all times? I didn’t think so, but it is good to check these things.

So I guess this is my Monday Middle-aged Musing for the week. I am well aware of many things I can be thankful for. Sometimes this knowledge does not bring about a corresponding rise in spirits. In other words, sometimes you just have to feel that way till you don’t feel that way any more.

And I hope tomorrow I will feel more like writing.

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The Bluebeard Blues

Posted on July 15, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Some time ago I was unable to complete a blog post about a cheesy movie, although I managed as usual to write something about how I couldn’t write anything (funny how that works). Today I shall try again.

Oh, yeah, usual Spoiler Alert.

I decided to take a break from my flooding woes with a movie from “50 Horror Classics,” the DVD collection I purportedly bought for Steven on his last birthday (I say purportedly, because I’m the one that watches them) (and because I like the word “purportedly”).

I chose Bluebeard (1944) starring John Carradine. I seemed to remember that Carradine was Kung Fu on a TV series years later, but I never used to watch that show, so I could not be sure (later my husband Steven told me it was David Carradine. I guess there were a few of those Carradines).

Leonard Maltin says this is a “surprisingly effective story” (Leonard Maltin’s 2013 Movie Guide, Signet, 2012). I’m surprised he thinks so, although I often disagree with Maltin.

The action takes place in Paris, I forget what year (if they ever said so), but the ladies are in long dresses and big hats. Some unknown murderer is strangling ladies and dropping them in the Seine. At least, since it is Paris, I thought it must be the Seine. I kind of shy away from the water scenes after my recent flooding experiences (that’s in addition to my usual not paying too much attention).

Nobody wants anybody to walk home alone. Some girls leaving work impatiently await their co-worker. She sidles out and tells them they needn’t have waited. She is blonde and obviously “the sexy one,” so I accordingly waited for her to make trouble, perhaps leaving that sweet, innocent-looking brunette to be the heroine.

Sweet Brunette introduces her friends to this puppeteer they meet while walking safely home. He hasn’t been giving many puppet shows lately, because of people not wanting to stay out so late, what with the murderer in all. The girls talk him into it, leading to a rather long scene with no action except for these puppets singing opera.

It turns out Sexy Blonde, not Sweet Brunette, is the heroine, but she stops acting so Mae-West-y about the time the puppeteer/murderer asks her to make some costumes for his puppets. Um, you knew as soon as I mentioned the puppeteer he was going to turn out to be the murderer, didn’t you? Oh well, that’s why I include a spoiler alert.

It seems this guy is also a painter. He paints a lady, then kills her. I gather he dates his assistant, dumps her when he goes to paint another lady, then comes back to the assistant after he’s strangled the lady he painted. I found it a little convoluted, but I guess I’m easily confused.

Maltin says the killer “falls for smart girl… who senses something is wrong.” Oh well, I suppose she is smart enough, but she’s no intrepid girl reporter. I’ll be perfectly honest, I was not paying a great deal of attention by this time and I don’t remember much. This whole review is written from my notes in the TV Journal and the blurb in Leonard Maltin.

I must say I think my posts about not being able to write about this movie were more effective than my actual post about the movie. However, since it is Wrist to Forehead Sunday, I make bold to hit publish. Wait till you read about the next cheesy horror movie I watched.

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I Am Never Going to Get to that Murderer

Posted on July 14, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I tried, just now, to finish the post I was writing about the movie concerning the murderer dropping his victims in the Seine. I wrote a whole post about how I got hung up on it last weekend. I thought sure when I got back to it, I would breeze through it.

Not so much.

I think the problem is I got hung up on the Seine before I had written as much as I thought I had. And what I had written was, well, really not as good as I had hoped. What’s a blogger to do?

My original plan, in fact, was not to write about movies today at all. I wanted to do a Saturday Running Commentary. Then I decided not to run. I took my schnoodle Tabby for a walk instead. A pedestrian post, perhaps?

It was a pleasant walk, before the day got too hot and humid. It was, unfortunately, quite uneventful.

The reason I decided not to run was that I was recruiting my energies to clean my house. We plan major basement cleaning (the site of the flooding I’ve been kvetching about for two weeks now) after Steven gets home. My self-imposed assignment while he worked was to clean as much of the house above ground level as I could get to.

Well, I’ve done a cleaning post before. I don’t know that it makes for that great a post, but it adds interest to the actual cleaning. When you are mentally searching for words to describe cleaning a toilet while you are actually cleaning said toilet, it somehow becomes just a little less burdensome to clean the toilet.

There is also the thought that one could wait till later to make the blog post. One could think of more things to write about the movie. One could watch a different movie. One could have further Mohawk Valley adventures that would be more worth the writing about.

One, of course, being me.

But I want to get this done now, so here it is. Call it Wrist to Forehead Saturday, call it another Blogger’s Day off, call it Yet Another Post About Why I Haven’t Written a Post. In fact, under the circumstances, you can even call me late for dinner. Ooh, maybe that should have been the headline.

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I Don’t Know What to Doo-Dah

Posted on July 13, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

It has been a bad week for writing. There, I’ve said it.

And now begins the chorus of “Oh, just write,” and “Never mind your MOOD,” and “Writer’s Block? There just ain’t no such animal!”

To answer those in reverse order: Who said I had Writer’s Block? NOBODY! Did I even mention mood? NO! What am I doing right now? WRITING!

But I have not been writing well, and I have not been enjoying writing (well, maybe that last paragraph was a little fun). This being Lame Post Friday, I thought it would be OK to kvetch a little.

And that is when I completely run dry, because who wants to listen to a middle-aged lady kvetch? Not me! How about my usual random observations and half-baked philosophy instead?

Ilion, NY will soon celebrate their Ilion Days festival, including the Doo-Dah parade. There is a sign up at my place of employment looking for people to march in it. I have been going around asking people if they intend to march, because I like saying “Doo-Dah Parade.” It’s fun. Try it.

Did you try it?

Under the heading Now What Stupid Thing’s Going To Happen? I’ve got a soft tire on my vehicle. This could lead to some half-baked philosophy alluded to earlier in the week: what did we do to deserve this? My philosophical advice to myself is: don’t look too closely at it, or I might find I’m actually getting a lot less than I deserve in the Stupid Things department. How does one keep score on these things? Another philosophical question.

Friday Lame Posts should be short, so I’ll end here. Anyone wanting more information on the Ilion Days and the Doo-Dah Parade (more fun to say than type, but what are you going to do?) can go to www.iliondoodah.com or call 894-2308.

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Post-Flood Perambulation

Posted on July 12, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that we are in the habit of referring to walks as perambulations, because most dogs know “the w word.” As I was writing this post in my head while I fixed dinner, I thought, “I’ll call it Wednesday Walk. Alliterative.”

And then I remembered today was Thursday. That’s what I get for cooking with wine. Or does that make this Non-Sequitur Thursday? No matter, Steven and I just took a walk with our schnoodle Tabby, and I’m going to write a post about it.

It was Steven’s idea to take a walk. Of course I always want to walk with our nice dog, but lately it’s been so stinking hot and humid. And it has rained just about every damn day (perhaps you’ve read some of my posts about the area flooding). Today was beautiful.

I had written most of a letter to my sister during work today. I suggested Steven add his two cents and we walk it to the post office. After a minor crisis looking for the stamps and some debate about appropriate footwear (are there still copious patches of mud from the flood?), we were off.

Sunny with a nice breeze. No mud to speak of, although we did encounter a few patches of dry dirt where bare sidewalk ought to be. Really, things are getting cleaned up nicely. For the past two weeks many houses have had sad piles of garbage next to the curb, the ruined contents of basements. Most of that has been hauled away.

We admired some flowers in flower boxes and on porches. Some front yard gardens were still blooming and beautiful. Some yards had not fared so well.

The breeze died down and the sun began to feel a little stronger. I encouraged Tabby to not stop and sniff while we were in the direct sunlight. I was more lenient in the shade. Steven pointed out that Tabby had not been for a walk in a few days; she was making the most of it.

We got the letter mailed then walked all the way up Main Street and down German to home. Herkimer is definitely looking better. Here’s hoping for better days to come!

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Dinner and the Laundry

Posted on July 11, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I mentioned in passing that Steven and I went to the laundromat yesterday (Tuesday). I thought I’d give that local business a proper plug today.

Colonial Laundromat in Ilion is located at 59 Central Ave, about two blocks into town coming off State Route 5. It’s clean and large, with various capacity machines.

We picked the biggest machine for things that had been in the basement during the flood and two of the next-largest for other things. We utilized one of the four change machines to supplement our supply of quarters. Another patron pretended it was a slot machine and cheered getting a big pay-off. That is one of my favorite laundromat jokes.

As I said, it is a nice clean business. A young lady was going around with a squirt bottle and rag, making sure it stayed that way.

Even though doing laundry involves a great deal of sitting around, we were working up an appetite. As our clothes tumbled in the drier, I realized the operative thing to do was to order food for us to pick-up on the way home. This entailed some discussion, because of course we had not planned ahead and, for example, stored any restaurant numbers on my cell phone or even written them in my notebook.

“If restaurants around here were smart,” I said, “they’d hang up fliers in here, so people doing laundry could say, ‘Oh, let’s eat here when we’re done!'”

Hmmm, no fliers. Finally Steven asked the young lady with the squirt bottle did she have a phone book. She did. I made the call, to Sorrento’s, right across the street, at 86 Central Ave.

When the lady heard where we had ordered, she said if she had known, we could have looked at her menu. She orders from there a lot. It didn’t really matter. I had known all day what I wanted for dinner: antipasto salad and garlic wings.

A short time later, as Steven went into Sorrento’s to get our food and I waited in the vehicle, I realized we hadn’t even needed to bother her for the phone book. There was the phone number right on the sign: 315-894-9991. We could have looked out the window and seen it.

So going to the laundromat was not so bad, especially with our reward of a yummy supper.

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Tired on Tuesday

Posted on July 10, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was afraid this would happen, and I don’t have a label to hide behind.

Wrist to Forehead Sunday, Middle-aged Musings Monday, Wuss-Out Wednesday, Non-Sequitur Thursday, Lame Post Friday. I was about to add Running Commentary Saturday, but since that one involves actually going for a run and writing about it, I don’t think it’s in the same category as my taking-it-easy days. In my defense, I don’t use all those categories every week. In my — accusation? guilt? where’s that thesaurus when you need it! — I’ve been using them a lot lately. In my defense again, I’m still recovering from a flood.

This could go back and forth for a while, but I think my point is clear. I do not have a blog post for today and I do not have an excuse not to have one.

For any astute reader who just said, “What about that murderer dumping bodies in the Seine you keep saying you’re going to write about?” I answer, “Good question.”

That post is partially written, but I want to write more and edit what I wrote so far and, you know, make it sound really good.

“So do that now,” the reader continues, beginning to sound less like an astute reader and more like that inner critic I keep mistaking for a legitimate blog reader.

Listen kids, Aunt Cindy is tired (oh yeah, like any nieces and nephews read my blog!). The temperature and humidity are enough to melt any wicked old witch (yes, admitting to belonging in that category), I worked all day, and then I came home and went to the laundromat and did LOTS of laundry.

Yes, my husband helped me with the laundry. What are you getting at?

In fact, as I waited for the washers and then the driers, I worked on another blog post about a movie, this one in the psycho-biddy genre. Just to give a preview of coming attractions.

Even as I was writing, I said to Steven, “Oh, I am just going to go home and write something off the cuff. It’s all I can handle today.”

So here it is. I’m afraid not as clever as I had hoped, but it will have to do.

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Musings After the Deluge

Posted on July 9, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

You see what I was trying to do there, that internal rhyme with the “oo” in “Musings” and the “oo” in “Deluge”? Oh well, my other idea for a title was “Hi Ho, Hi Ho,” because I went back to work today, but I felt certain somebody would say, “Who you callin’ a ho?”

Yes, after a Wrist to Forehead Sunday and a Saturday post about Why I Couldn’t Write a Post, I am indulging in another Middle-aged Musings Monday. I’ll have to get back to the murderer dumping bodies in the Seine (that I had been going to write about Saturday, for those of you just tuning in). Today I’m tired.

I had all last week off (regularly scheduled factory shut-down, not emergency flood-related leave). I spent a good part of the week saying things like, “It’ll be a relief to go back to work!” and “I can’t WAIT to be back at work!” And now, here I am at work, once again facing the fact that work is, you know, work.

It really isn’t so bad.

For one thing, it’s a lot more cut and dried what I’m supposed to do next at work (and after my flood experience, I REALLY appreciate the “dried” aspect of it). I admit to spending a ridiculous amount of time last week sitting in a daze or wandering from room to room, wondering what to do first.

In my defense, there were times when there wasn’t a whole lot I could do. Sometimes I just had to wait for the sump pump to do it’s thang (no, that’s not a typo; I meant to say “thang.” Is that too precious?).

I made my blog post every day, and I worked at least a little on my novel each day. I took my dog for several walks, which was not the relaxing activity it normally is. We had to pick our way around oceans of mud as well as avoiding the various clean up crews (who were doing a very good job, by the way). I went running twice and exercised at Curves twice.

So much for non-flood-related chores. I almost included going to the laundromat in that list, which I did once (and wrote a blog post about), because I didn’t wash things dirtied in the flood. However, since the flood made it impossible for me to do laundry at home, I deemed it flood-related.

Typing this post into the computer now, after work, exercise and a cold shower (haven’t replaced the hot water heater yet), I reflect that it was not a bad day at all. I got some sympathy from my co-workers about my lousy vacation. Some of them had pretty bad ones, too.

I will end with a musing which my husband, Steven, mused on Sunday, about the time he was holding a towel on the cracked pipe in the bathroom and I was frantically on the phone with the plumber. “What,” he asked, “did we do to deserve all this?” I believe that calls for some half-baked philosophy suitable for Lame Post Friday. It’s nice to have something to look forward to.

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Jim the Plumber to the Rescue

Posted on July 8, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

My only regret is that I don’t retain hydration enough to cry. I’m sure many people are reaching the saturation point of my litany of woes, but it is Wrist to Forehead Sunday, and it is not for the faint of heart (I, personally, am not faint of heart, but it is two sizes too small).

This morning, after sleeping in to a leisurely six o’clock, I thought I heard it raining. No, it couldn’t be raining. Too sunny out. Good. Don’t want the basement flooding again; we’ve got fans down there.

Yes, it was raining. IN MY BATHROOM!!! A strong stream of water was shooting out from a pipe on the side of the toilet. I hollered to Steven while trying to turn that little thing he showed me how to turn when the toilet backs up. Righty tighty! Righty tighty! It wouldn’t budge.

Steven tried, and it wouldn’t budge for him either. In a panic, I called our plumber, the wonderful Jim Montague from Jim’s Home Improvement (I don’t know why I didn’t give him a shout out after he snaked our toilet on Saturday). He told me to shut off the water main.

“Where’s that!” I must have sounded ridiculous, but I submit that at this point, anybody would. I found it, but could not budge that either. On the way to the main I noted with dismay that the water was pouring through our kitchen and into our basement. At least I hadn’t put the sump pump away. I quickly moved the fans, so they at least would not get ruined.

I reported back to Steven. He had given up on the other and was trying to stem the flood with a towel. I took over the towel (didn’t stop the water, but at least it wasn’t squirting into our cabinet now). He got the main shut off. Good grief!

Jim soon showed up. The man is a prince, and he even likes our dog. He found the crack in the pipe, removed the pipe and was off to TruValue in Ilion to purchase another. TruValue in Ilion by the way, is open at 6 a.m. on Sunday. In the future I may have to divide my hardware dollars between Aubucon and them.

Of course I needed to use the toilet. I did what I had done Saturday: I went to FasTrac. It was, in fact, raining by this time. Did I say raining? It was a deluge! I had the wipers on high and I still couldn’t see. I got soppingly wet just going from the house to the car and the car to the store.

Once in the store I looked out and saw that I had parked in a completely ridiculous way. Well, what a surprise! I couldn’t see the damn lines in the parking lot or anything else for that matter! I just waited for somebody to say something, but nobody did.

The same lady I had dealt with on Saturday was there. I told her of my new woes and she was suitably sympathetic. I purchased some donuts (I felt to offer Jim coffee and donuts was the least we could do) and bottled water. It had stopped raining by the time I got home. Go figure!

To come to the end of my lament, Jim got our toilet fixed and it even has better pressure than it had before. And we found out he does hot water heaters, so he may soon be replacing ours. It’s only a little more mess to clean up than before. Really, as disasters go, this one was Not So Bad.

One must write blog posts on Wrist to Forehead Sunday, after all. But as a special favor to me, please, could nobody ask, “What next?”

Jim’s Home Improvements is based on Frankfort, NY. His phone number is 315-868-4083.

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Stopped by the Seine

Posted on July 7, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

So there I was, writing away at a post about a cheesy movie, when I began to write a sentence I had clearly written before. I completely remembered writing it. Those words were in my head, and I had put them there. Definitely. There was no way I could continue the sentence I was about to write next without using those very words again.

Why, you may argue, would that stop me? I repeat myself in this blog all the time, especially when I’m having any kind of trouble writing the damn thing. I argue back, in the first place, give me a break. In the second place, this sentence involved a murderer dumping a dead body into the Seine.

How many movies could that possibly have happened in? And how many of them could I possibly have seen recently? I was stopped cold.

Before I go on, a little background (another way to put this: in my defense). Earlier this week I experienced a flood. No, not as bad as other people have experienced (I’m also quite certain I’ve written about how there is always somebody who has worse problems than me), certainly not as bad as it could have been. But, still, a pretty bad experience.

I believe I mentioned briefly yesterday that some have believe I am handling it well. Oh, I am trying to. I really, really am. But at intervals, I suppose it’s bound to happen: not so much. I was having, as they say, a moment earlier today. Rather than write about it and look like I was making a colossal bid for sympathy, I decided to write about the cheesy movie I had viewed. Surely that was a good plan (and I’ll call you Shirley if I want to).

My first move, when I could move at all after coming to a complete standstill, was to go to the computer and search previous blog posts. Hmmmm… nothing that takes place in Paris, no place where I possibly could have mentioned the Seine.

After a couple of more distractions (when I have a moment, I really have a moment), I found the notebook I have been writing blog posts in for the past couple of weeks. On going through the whole thing (it’s not a big notebook), I found very few movie posts, none I did not remember, and no mention of the Seine. I sat and pondered.

At last I picked up the TV Journal. Oh. There it was. In a note I had made about the very movie I was attempting to write a post about. I tell you what, I felt so stupid about that, I almost had another moment.

But not quite, because I thought I could make a decent blog post about that silly writing crisis and then I would have two posts for the price of one. I ought to anyways, because I’ve taken a long enough time about this.

By the way, my moment is over. I’m back to handling things, if not exactly well (I’m not that competent), at least cheerfully and with a sense of humor. No need to make a colossal bid for sympathy. Thank you for bearing with me.

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