Tag Archives: blogging

Just Make a Monday Post

I just remembered I used to have a feature called Monday Mental Meanderings. I originally called it Middle-aged Musings Monday. Then there was one post called Moronic Monday, but I never made that a feature. All this by way of introduction on a day when I want to make a post, but I ain’t got nuthin’.

Imagine my delight.

I went for a short run after work, a thing I rarely do on Monday. I thought doing something different might shake things up. I did not run very fast or very far (so it wasn’t real different). After my shortened cool-down walk, I walked into my backyard and discovered we have crocuses! Full disclosure: the above picture is from 2021. This year’s flowers look remarkably similar. I also observed a couple daffodils buds. A little joy to my heart.

Unfortunately, spring will also bring bugs.

Mental meanderings and middle-aged musings aside, I did not want to have a completely monster-less Monday. So here is Joan Collins in Empire of the Ants. I would like to see that flick again.

A couple of times today I saw this Facebook meme to the effect, just do something. For example, if you can’t face the whole sinkful just wash one dish. I took this advice to heart. I could not run two miles, but I managed one. I washed and dried a load of laundry, even though I did not fold it. I could not do a really good blog post, but I managed 250 words. Happy Monday, everyone.

Lame Post IN the Morning ON Saturday

I tell you, it is a whole different perspective. I am sitting in the chair instead of on the couch, pecking at the Tablet with a stylus pen I was lucky enough to find (I have mislaid both actual styluses and all the other stylus pens), sipping tea, and hoping nobody minds that I did not post on Thursday. I was actually hoping nobody would notice but felt compelled to mention it, being me. Even I could not hope my readers would not notice.something I actually mentioned.

Tea does not have as much caffeine as coffee, by the way. A friend read me the amounts from a drug studies book many years ago. An acquaintance (she passed for a friend at the time) once said, “Oh, no. You can do only one or two dunks of the tea bag, that’s all!” How scientific: one or two dunks. An example of people thinking they know things for no particular reason.

I seem to be getting bogged down, but since this is my Late Lame Post Friday Post, I will continue to sludge through.

The first paragraph raised two questions in my mind. The first: why does one sit in a chair but on a couch? One can sit on a chair, but that usually refers to one of the wooden variety. I occupy a nice cushy living room chair (see what I did there?). “In” seems appropriate. However, couches are nice and cushy, too. Why do I not sit in a couch? Right now I do not because my husband, Steve, is there, sound asleep, by the way.

One might argue that Steven should be IN bed. Ooh, this one makes sense: you sit ON a bed, usually on top of the covers and try not to mess them up. You sleep IN a bed, nicely snuggled under the covers.

That was a delightful discussion, for me anyways. I will just mention my second question: what is the proper plural of styluses? My autocorrect wanted to change it to “stylized.” As usual in these disagreements, I prevailed.

I have finished my tea. Perhaps I should get on with my Saturday.

Making Lunch, Not a Blog Post

So I guess I did wuss out on Wednesday, not making any post at all. Right now it is Thursday morning, and I am pecking away on my Tablet, hoping to come up with something, anything, at least mildly entertaining. At least I have already had coffee.

In my defense, we went to Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort, NY, last night, where we had a lovely evening. We feasted on garlic wings and garlic knots (take that, vampires!), and listened to a duo on drums and acoustic guitar.

I took a couple of pictures, specifically for a blog post, but I still have to upgrade to include more pictures. Perhaps I can do that after work, and write a real post about our evening.

Right now, however, I have to finish getting ready for work. I just remembered I forgot to make my lunch. Maybe I could just take my leftover chicken wings.

Is Tardy Tuesday My Fault?

I was too tired too make even a Tired Tuesday Post. However, as I typed that in, I thought of a new feature: Tardy Tuesday! So here I go, with my inaugural Tired Tuesday Post, discreetly failing to tally the number of previous Tuesdays I have been tardy (the Tardy Tuesday Tally?).

My husband, Steve, just brought me coffee, by the way. Aaaaaahhhhh!

I logged onto Facebook before starting this, a stalling tactic with a purpose, since I usually share my post on Facebook. While there, I peeked at On This Day, hoping for some inspiration (OK, I was just stalling some more) and saw this semi-profound statement: It’s not just computers; my whole life is Operator Error.

I suppose it is true. Most of the problems in my life can be traced back to choices I made. In my defense, it seemed like a good idea at the time. However, other people sing, whatever will be, will be. Doris Day got rather tiresome with repeating that philosophy in her autobiography (although it was otherwise a very good book). This could be the topic of a whole blog post: is everything our fault or is nothing?

You want me to write that blog post? Perhaps I will. But not today. I have managed to eke out 200 words, and I have to get on with my Wednesday. Will I wuss out on today’s post? We shall see.

Nosferatu, Can You Help Me Now?

I need some monsters to cheer me up.

Depiction of my reaction to Monday.

I kind of feel like I felt yesterday: that I am saying the same things every week. Yesterday I figuratively swooned on an imaginary chaise lounge. Today I post pictures of monsters. I fear I have gotten into a blogging rut.

I fear this guy more than a rut!

It is too late in the day to undertake any drastic changes. The best I can do is to try to make this a different Monstrous Monday than in weeks past. To that end, I put in two pictures of Nosferatu. Regular readers know he is my favorite guy, but I usually only put one picture of him.

Bottom right, but really I love them all.

As usual, I am having trouble navigating my Media Library. An additional problem is, I do not have a stylus handy so am typing with a sore fingertip. These are what we call First World Problems. I am ashamed to complain. I guess I could backspace it out, but I need the word count.

That was when I started really having problems so gave it up, read my book and went to sleep. I am reading Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare. It looks like LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company is back with Summer Shakespeare! How’s that for a Preview of Coming Attractions? I feel tremulously happy, almost unable to believe it is true.

What is true is that I am over 200 words. Phew! I need to improve my computer situation, my blogging situation, and my personal situation. Oh, these first world problems!

And I Made a Blog Post

Oh, it is Wrist to Forehead Sunday! Do I have to define that every time? I would think regular readers would get tired of hearing how I feel inclined to swoon onto a handy chaise lounge, dramatically posed with the back of one wrist to my forehead (predictive text certainly expected me to type it). I still have not acquired that elusive chaise lounge. My house is such a mess these days I would be hard pressed to find a place to put it. Some days I struggle to find a bare area to swoon.

I must confess I spent most of the day reading a Victoria Holt novel. Holt is a mistress of the kind of exciting, mysterious romances where the heroine is in love with an arrogant, exasperating, devastatingly attractive dude that may or may not be a murderer, usually of his wife. You can judge me for reading this sort of potato chip fiction, but hers are very well written. On the vaguely productive side, I went running in the morning and currently have a load of laundry in the drier.

It has long been my contention that it is useless to try to get anything done on a Sunday. It has also long been my practice to try to get something done anyways, or at least beat myself up for failing to do so. If beating oneself up burned calories, I would handily meet my weight loss goals.

I do not know where I thought I was going with this blog post. I guess I just hoped to rattle on for 200 words. Score! I guess that makes three things I got done today.

The Post Is Longer than the Run

It was not a long run. It is never a fast run. But I am going to call it a run.

I just posted that as my Facebook status and thought it might make a good lead for a Saturday Running Commentary Post. So here I sit, prior to shower (ew!), sipping my recovery beverage (chocolate milk, yum!), blogging (a silly verb, to be sure).

When I said I ought to go for a run, my husband, Steve, said, “If you want to.”

“I don’t want to,” I confessed, but as usual I was glad I did.

It was still dark out, so I wore my reflective vest (road guard vest, we used to call them in the army) that my sister Cheryl gave me for a long-ago birthday (thanks, Cheryl!). Another good thing about the vest is that it has a handy zipper pouch for tissues. My nose runs better than I do, especially on chilly mornings like today.

The temperature wasn’t too bad, although I was glad of my hat and gloves. I ran up to German Street, turned right and headed to Main. I wanted to run down Main Street to check the hours for the can and bottle return place.

A deserted Main Street is a little spooky in the dark. I like that. I continued down to Basloe Library and ran through the little park to the Prospect Street parking lot. I detoured to the library door to check their hours too, although I already knew when they open.

I crossed Prospect so I could enter where it says “Do Not Enter” on the last block of Bellinger Avenue. I like to pretend I’m a rebel, although actually left side facing traffic is the proper way to run. Emerging onto Bellinger Street (yes, there is an avenue and a street, don’t get me started), I turned left and ran to and through Meyers Park. The park is closed from dusk to dawn, so once again I felt like a rebel.

I enjoyed watching the sky as I ran. It was not completely dark when I started and it gradually lightened as I went. As I left the park, it was pale grey with patches and streaks of blue. Was the grey clouds and the blue sky peeking through or vice versa?

My modest goal for the run was 20 minutes, but I wondered if I shouldn’t try to improve myself a little more. After all, I might want to run a 5K or something. Last week I had run for 22 minutes, just over a mile and a half. I decided to not worry about how long I ran (my usual criteria) but to go for 1.75 miles. I made it In 25 minutes. Yay me!

As I walked my cool down, I observed that the grey sky was almost entirely clouds, with most of the lighter blue patches being contours of same. It was kind of fascinating to look at, almost like an Escher picture.

Wow, this blog post is over 500 words! I guess I do run on.

Steve Is Up, And I Have Coffee

I started to make a post last night but thought, “I can’t make another Throwback Thursday Post! I had a headache anyways (had one all day) so went to bed early. Now it is prior to five on Friday morning, coffee isn’t done yet, cable is on the fritz, my husband is still in bed, headache in abeyance (pray God that continues!), and any blog post at all seems like a pretty good thing to do.

By the way, you may have noticed that I said “five in the morning,” NOT “5 a.m. in the morning.” Remember that: you only have to say “a.m.” OR “in the morning.” You do not have to say both, and indeed it is incorrect to do so. The weather people keep saying things like, “tomorrow morning at 5 a.m.” and I shout at the television, “You said ‘in the morning,’ you don’t have to say ‘a.m.’ ! ”

I do not shout very loudly; I’m not a maniac, after all. Still, it amazes me that a society that insists on saying “merch” and “the fam” because they can’t be bothered with saying “mercandise” and “the family ” (I believe I wrote a blog post on the subject) does not mind putting in the extra syllables to say “a.m. in the morning.”

Well, that rant got me to 200 words. I guess I’ll throw in a picture to pep things up and have some coffee.

Can’t wait to see this!

And it’s April 1. We have that going for us.

More Mid-week Music

At work yesterday a co-worker told me that Matt Grainger was playing at Fratello’s. I guess my Wednesday night thing has become pretty well known, at least in my immediate circle. Yes, my husband, Steve, and I went out and enjoyed food and music. We had a great time.

He’s awesome!

This picture is from a previous performance (no, I have not yet upgraded my WordPress site to allow new images; I really should get on that). We rocked out to the tunes, mostly chair dancing. However, at one point I was dancing my way back from the ladies’ room, and a woman got up and danced with me till the end of the song..

While we listened, we enjoyed good food. Steve got the shrimp basket he had been hungry for since I came home and mentioned Fratello’s. I decided on antipasto salad. I have leftovers for my lunch today. Yum! We also indulged in a glass of wine.

Fratello’s is located at 158 E. Main St., Frankfort, NY, phone number 315-894-8484. They are open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 to p.m. Sunday. You can follow them on Facebook to keep updated on their food and music.

Was It a Self-Indulgent Run?

I thought I would do a Running Commentary Post. For one reason, I went running. As I freely admit, what I do is called running only by the most generous definition of the term. However, I was out on the sidewalk moving my feet and putting in effort. I feel I deserve some credit at least.

It was a pretty afternoon with bright sunlight and bare pavement. The temperature was less inviting, but I put on leggings, long sleeves, gloves, and a knitted headband. This would be fine. I set out with modest goals and high hopes of meeting them.

I had reckoned without the wind. Where did that come from? And did it have to be right in my face? Apparently it did, because it seemed to change direction almost every time I did. I don’t think I felt it at my back the entire run. I know this is not logical, but how do you explain it? We all know I do not run fast enough to create my own wind resistance.

The best I could do was to keep plodding along as best I could. I decided 15 minutes would be acceptable. It was more than a mile. Stop judging me! I told you in the first paragraph I run slow! My cool down walk was also shorter than usual, eight minutes instead of ten.

As I walked my cool down, I told myself I could feel good about getting out there at all. Then, being me, I questioned whether I was being self-indulgent or at least unambitious. Was I, in essence, giving myself one of those despised Participation Trophies? As I type this in now, I feel these questions are best left for Lame Post Friday, the proper home for half-baked philosophy.

In the meantime, I have made my Tuesday post on Tuesday. At the risk of being self-indulgent, I say, “Yay, me!”