Tag Archives: husband Steven

Mmm… Coffee

Posted on March 13, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

In lieu of a Mental Meanderings or Middle-aged Musings Monday, I thought I would give a belated shout-out to Utica Roasting Company, where Steven and I enjoyed breakfast during his Fabulous Four Day Birthday Weekend.  We had business in New Hartford, NY, and we just don’t like to do these things on an empty stomach.  After much debate, I suggested Utica Roasting Company as being right on our way, if we went that way (there are a few ways to get to where we wanted to go).

For the uninitiated, Utica is the city closest to Herkimer, and there are several surrounding communities that all run into each other.  I guess you would call it the Greater Utica Area, which I rather like the sound of.  I paused just now to Google (an even sillier verb that “blog”) “greater Utica area,” and I only got the magazine of that name, not a listing of the actual communities that comprise said area.  But I am no hand at computer searches.

Be that as it may, I drove, being more familiar with the area that Steven.  We went straight into Utica on 5S and with a little finagling, got to 92 Genesee St.  We easily found a parking space and walked right into the coffee shop.  I have been there a few times, and even wrote about it for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  I knew Steven would like it, although he may be a little too mellow for a place whose motto is, “Wake the Hell Up!”

We ordered coffee and everything bagels (regular readers may remember that is my favorite), and sat down.  There was a tall table I would have liked to sit at, but the stools did not have backs, which Steven really prefers.  We sat at a regular table, once again eschewing the comfy-looking couch, as we did at Moose River Coffee in Ilion (perhaps you read my blog post about that fine establishment).

The two coffee places have good coffee, comfy couches, and everything Bagels in common.  However, Utica Roasting has a much more urban feel.  The walls are unfinished, the tables are metal, and it altogether looks like a hip, happening joint.  Oh dear, those are old slang terms.  There is some retro decor:  an antique scale, an old street map of Utica, so maybe old slang is OK.

We enjoyed our breakfast there, and the coffee did help us wake the hell up.  For more information about Utica Coffee Roasting Company, you can visit their website at www.wakethehellup.com.  You can also Like them on Facebook.

 

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I’m Just Getting to the Good Part

Posted on March 11, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

OK, time for a fast Scattered Saturday post before I get back to enjoying my Saturday.  Full disclosure:  It has not been such a great Saturday for the most part — entirely my fault, but please don’t judge.  Oh, all right, go ahead and judge.  Shake your head, or your finger, or your booty at me.  Tell me I’m a worthless human being!  Call me out for whining!  Even — good heavens, not that! — stop reading my blog!

Got that out of my system.  Regular readers cannot be surprised if I become a trifle, shall we say, dramatic.  I am in the midst of putting together an interactive murder mystery dinner theatre (I am responsible for the theatre, not the dinner), and I am in the midst of writing another one.  By the time that’s finished, it may be time to audition for the summer Shakespeare production with LiFT, Little Falls’ theatre company.  I am so ready to speak forsoothly again!

Be all that as it may, I am getting to the good part of my Saturday, but I will give a quick overview of what went before.  My wonderful husband, Steven, and I were able to sleep in a bit, because he did not have to be to work till eleven.  I found some postcards I thought I had already sent so had a good selection to pick from for my weekly postcard writing activity.  The main problem I have with the postcards is that I get tired of writing them after three or four, and there are more people I would like to send them to.  I thought I might write more later in the day but have yet to do any such thing.

When Steven went to work, I drove to the post office to mail the above mentioned cards, then when to Cliff’s Local Market (formerly Nice-n-Easy) to use the ATM.  From there I drove into Ilion to Cornerstone Consignment, where they were having a sale.  I need a fabulous dress for Secrets at Suiter House, my upcoming murder mystery, and I would like a 1920’s-ish dress, in case I find an occasion to wear one in the near future.  As it happened, I found a couple of dresses that might have worked, but I just could not work up the oomph to try them on.  Fairly disgusted with myself, I went home.

At home, I managed to do a couple of chores (too boring to mention) and studied my murder mystery lines for a while.  Eventually it was time to walk to Asteroga Ale House, where I had plans to meet Steven when he got off work.  That was a nice little walk, and a nice interlude at the Ale House.  I may write a full blog post about that in the near future.

In the meantime, I am over 450 words.  I call that quite respectable for a Scattered Saturday.  As I mentioned earlier, I am getting to a very enjoyable part of the evening:  sweats on, bra off (don’t you DARE say TMI!), glass of wine to hand, and true crime show on TV.  Once I pick up my crochet, my life will be perfect.  Happy Saturday, all!

 

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Wrist to Forehead Sunday: Oscar Edition

Posted on March 5, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Like I know anything about the Oscars.  My husband, Steven, has always been a big Oscar fan and is quite knowledgeable about The Academy.  As regular readers know, I am more enamored of old cheesy horror movies.  Oh, I like some Oscar movies.  In fact, of recent movies, I certainly like Oscar movies better than huge, effects-heavy actioners or superhero movies, or asinine comedies replete with toilet humor.  I can’t say I’m a snob, given my love of William Castle and Roger Corman.  Let’s say my tastes are.. not mainstream.

All that said, when we had a chance to see all or most of the main Oscar nominees, we did.  Ever since we returned to the Mohawk Valley, however, it has not been so easy.  Sometimes it just seems such an effort to get to the area cinemas, even when they show the films we want to see.  Munson Williams shows movies, but even getting to Utica can be problematic, especially given Steven’s work hours.

Oh, don’t accuse me of whining. I suppose I am whining, but I don’t mean to be. After all, one does not whine on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  One swoons, in a dramatic fashion, the back of one’s wrist against one’s forehead, because life has become too much to be borne.  Alas!  Alack the day! You call that whining?  I call that an honest, if slightly exaggerated, response to the trauma of life.

So, on the brighter side, I get to stay up and watch the Oscars, because I have tomorrow off.  Normally I go to bed early on Sunday, to recruit my energies for the week ahead.  Additionally, I have taken two short naps today.  I feel in fine, TV-viewing fettle.  On the dimmer side, I have not seen any of the moves nominated, and I don’t even know most of the stars, especially since we let our subscription to Entertainment Weekly lapse (we found ourselves increasingly less entertained by it).

Back on the brighter side, I hear Steven washing the dishes, so I don’t have to do it.  That’s pretty nice of him on his Fabulous Four-Day Birthday Weekend.  That’s more on the brighter side than on the dimmer.  Maybe I should peel my wrist off my forehead and get back to enjoying my Sunday.  In the meantime, how about an Oscar nomination for that swoon?

 

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To Catch a Blog Post

Posted on March 2, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Non-Sequitur Thursday on a Wednesday, Lame Post Friday on a Thursday, that’s how I roll on a four day week!  All day at work today I kept singing, “It’s my Friday and I’ll cry if I want to!”  a la Leslie Gore.  I have a terrible singing voice, but I do not care at all.  I like to sing.

And so my husband Steven’s fabulous birthday weekend begins.

We do not have great plans for our four-day weekend.  For one reason, dire weather is predicted starting at some point tonight.  Some area schools and non-profits are already closed for tomorrow.  Things were still fairly nice when I got home from work shortly after 3 p.m.  I went for a walk.  Yes, I could make a Pedestrian Post and bag Lame Post Friday, but I feel quite disinclined to do so.

When the blog post seems to be going nowhere, I like to add a picture.

How does their hair stay that nice in a convertible?

Ooh, here is something we probably will not get to do on the Fabulous Birthday Weekend.  Rome Capitol Theatre is showing To Catch a Thief.  The Capitol is a marvelous old style theatre: enormous and ornate.  It was where I saw my first movie years and years ago (never mind how many!).  I feel certain I have written a blog post about it.  We saw Rear Window there a few years ago.  What a thrill!  One of our favorite movies on the big screen in a beautiful setting!  But if the weather is going to be bad, we will probably just hunker down.

However, if any of my readers are in the vicinity of Rome, NY, this weekend, the movie is being shown Friday and Saturday, March 2 and 3, 7 p.m. both nights plus a matinee at 2:30 p.n. on Saturday.  For more information you can visit the Facebook Event.

 

 

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Not Thursday, but Non-Sequitur!

Posted on March 1, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I did not mention that this is a four day week for me.  My dear husband Steven and I are both taking a four day weekend to celebrate his birthday.  Or perhaps the anniversary of his 29th birthday. I mention no numbers, but does that really matter?  They say you are as young as you feel.  I personally feel about 200 some days.  And I know there are those who act about 12 on a regular basis (no offense to you actual 12-year-olds).

Be that as it may, we began our long weekend a day early by going out to dinner tonight.  We had a gift card (thanks, Mom and Dad!), and it was half price on certain bottles of wine.  Yes, I am posting after drinking my share of a bottle of Pinot Noir.  I have sipped and typed before.  I think it will work out again.

I had meant to write a nice, coherent blog post while on breaks at work today, perhaps about the Chilean wine tasting we went to at Valley Wine and Liquor last Friday.  Full disclosure:  I did not write during any of my breaks.  You see, when I was at the library last Saturday (did I mention that on my Scattered Saturday post?), I got out three books.  I had not started reading any of them yet and thought it behooved me to do so.  Additionally, I thought some folks as work might be intrigued to see me reading a book titled The Poisoner’s Handbook.

In fact, very few of them seem to have noticed.  On co-worker asked me why I was reading it, giving me the chance to say in a sweet tone of voice, “No reason.”   I suppose I should share the author and publisher of the book, since I mentioned it at all.  Well, I hope I don’t get into trouble with the publishing police, but I’m not doing that now.  I am calling this Non-Sequitur Thursday, and I am signing off to enjoy the rest of my day!  I hope to see you all tomorrow, when it will actually be Thursday but I intend to celebrate Lame Post Friday.  Stay tuned!

 

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Home is Where the Hearts Are

Posted on February 6, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I heart my husband.

Today’s post will be long on pictures, short on words, because, well, I’m short on brain power.  I know, what a surprise.  I hope nobody has a heart attack, falls over and dies not not surprised.

Be that as it may, I thought I would share photos of the lovely Valentine’s Day decorations my dear husband, Steven, put up.  Ah, Valentine’s Day.  For years it was a sad day for me.  No card, no flowers, no candy, no love.  Poor, pitiful me.  Now I have a nice husband who decorates for the occasion.  Here is our mantle.

The photos are year round, as are a few other pieces.

As regular readers know, Halloween lasts all year at my house.

First I zoom into the center, on Stevens juke box and our dancing skeletons.  That reminds me, I need to lose some weight.  And take dancing lessons.

Doesn’t everybody have a Valentine Dinosaur?

Peewee Herman is always on our mantle.  I guess the lizard is his date.  The ghosts are also year-round friends, with different seasonal accessories.  They do make good snowmen at Christmas.

And this is the other end.

The awesome wine glass was custom painted for me by a cast member of Leading Ladies, the play I directed at Ilion Little Theatre a couple of years ago.

And isn’t this a sweet couple?

The stool usually stands near our fireplace, unless we need it for human seating.  The gorilla is a Valentine decoration I purchased at half price at Winn Dixie in Georgia.  The occasion was Steven’s birthday, so we named him Bert the Birtday Gorilla.

Dr. Seuss is good for every holiday!

Steven bought a box of Valentines to add the the festivities.  I don’t know if you can tell in the pictures that he put some on the wall.  He said most of the Valentines available had superheroes.  I’m glad he picked Dr. Seuss.

In case I forget to say it next week, Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody.

 

 

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Plans for Sunday on Slacker Saturday

Posted on October 29, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

A delightful array.

I thought I’d lead with a nice Halloweeny photo.  This is another Slacker Saturday post.  I’m using stuff from my Media Library, but with perhaps a little more method to my madness than previous such posts (has there been more than one?  I’m too lazy to check).

I’m starting this on my Tablet,  because Steven is on the laptop. I just really really want to  get my blog post done and get on to the Halloween movie watching portion of the evening.  The photo above was taken at Pumpkin Junction in Sauquoit last year.  We have not made it back there this year.  However,  Steven is actually off work tomorrow.

Aaaahhh… back on the laptop, typing with all ten fingers, as God intended.  Now I can get this post done!  As I was saying, with Steven off work tomorrow, we actually have a whole day together!  Yay!  Naturally, we think to make some plans.  A visit to Pumpkin Junction, perhaps to purchase a pumpkin?  It’s not too late to make a Jack-o-Lantern for Halloween!  And roast the seeds, of course.  Yum!

I would naturally take another picture of two of Steven.

 

I wonder if these fellows will be there again?

But Pumpkin Junction is not our only possibility for tomorrow.  We could also visit the So Sweet Candy Cafe,  in Utica, which decorates delightfully for the season.

He’s a dapper fellow, is he not?

Full disclosure:  there is every chance that tomorrow we will merely get comfortable and watch Halloween movies.  Whatever we do, I will probably write a blog post about it.  As always, I hope you’ll tune in.

 

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Is a Throwback a Non-Sequitur?

Posted on October 27, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Good evening and welcome to Non-Sequitur Thursday.  I am tired as I can be… OK, that is an exaggeration.  I bet I could be a lot more tired, for example, if I had gone running again today or cleaned my house or worked overtime or… see? I’m making myself more tired just by thinking about it.  Actually, now that I think about all the things I have not done today, I feel a little bit ill-used for being so tired.  What the hell, me?

Never mind all that.  I have a blog post to make.  Just now as I was casting about in my rather mushy brain for an idea, I remembered, Throwback Thursday.  People on Facebook post pictures from the past. Maybe I could do that!  I could even be non-sequiturish about it.  I bet I have some good stuff in my Media Library.  Let’s look…

I am not sure what he is looking at.

This is our late, much missed poocher, Spunky.  I guess sometimes Throwback Thursday can sometimes make you melancholy.

I can’t even believe what he is telling me to say.

Here is something more cheerful.  This is my husband, Steven, and I  as Dr. Chumley and Veda in the Ilion Little Theatre production of Harvey in the spring on 2012.  I believe I wrote a few blog posts about it at the time.

These days we use champagne flutes.

Now here is a REAL Throwback Thursday shot!  This is our wedding in October of 1990.  Look how young and cute we were!  I suppose we’re still kind of cute, for a couple of old folks (some people call us old something else that begins with an f, but I do not care to be vulgar).

I think three pictures is good for a foolish post when I’m tired.  Now all I have to do is slap on a snappy headline and I’m done.  I hope people will tune in again tomorrow on Lame Post Friday.  I will probably be quite flustered, because I will be about to leave for the performance of Strike Story  with LiFt Theatre Company in Little Falls.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned it.  I bet I even included a link to the Facebook event.  I just did again.  So this is not a completely useless post.  Happy Thursday, everyone.

 

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With a Laptop on my Knee

Posted on October 2, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

OK, I’m sitting here with the laptop on my lap (I know, where else would it be?  Well, it MIGHT be somewhere else; I’m not here to discuss the possible whereabouts of computers), and once again, I got nuthin’ (or is it “nuttin'”?  I like “nuthin'”) (which is not the same thing as not liking anything, but close).

Where was I?  Ah yes, Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  I tell you, I am down.  I’m not a writer.  I write a silly blog, and, as Truman Capote once said, “That’s not writing, that’s typing.”  Yes, yes, I must stop with the existential crisis, people will think I am merely fishing for encouragement.   I am only being honest, in this case.  Oh, sometimes I fish for encouragement or even compliments, never fear.  Hell, I’m not perfect.  I’m a factory worker who takes pen in hand or keyboard under fingers occasionally and words come out.  Good words?  Useful words?  Entertaining words?  One can only hope.

I have been trying to take another step towards reaching my writing goals, and I have had little to no success. I know, lift your feet a little higher, push them forward a little more, these things are under our own control if only we would accept responsibility.  Very well then, I shall accept responsibility.  Tomorrow, or possibly later tonight, I will work on the novel I found earlier today.  Ooh, that’s right, I did do one thing today:  I found the notebook I’ve been looking for where I had started a novel I thought I would like to finish. It’s a baby step, but it is a step.  I shall make further updates as events warrant.

In the meantime, it is Wrist to Forehead Sunday, the day I try to enjoy myself with my husband and not think about returning to work tomorrow (I’ll work on curing the Monday to Friday Malaise another time, did I mention I’m not perfect?).  We were watching Halloween movies earlier.  I wonder if we could watch another one now. No, I can’t work on that novel now, time with husband, remember?  I may or may not ever become a successful novelist, but if I take care to spend time with my husband I WILL have a good marriage.  Priorities, people.

 

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The Silliest Blog Post?

Posted on August 11, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I could not think of anything to write a blog post about (I know, All Tempest All The Time, only I could not think of anything new to say about that either).  My husband, Steven, suggested I write a post about my silly husband.  Now I am afraid he will be dreadfully disappointed if I do not write such a blog post, so here goes.

The most glaring example of Steven’s silliness is that he was silly enough to marry me.  Obviously somebody married to me must be very silly, or perhaps a glutton for punishment (which is also, arguably, a silly way to be).  As anybody who has actually met me knows and readers of this blog suspect, I am no picnic.  Oh, I’m sure I have my good points, but we’re not talking about me.  The operative thing to do next is to give other concrete examples of how Steven is silly.  Well, for one thing, he has dubbed me the silliest.  Can you imagine such a thing?  Me, silly!  Well, I do write a silly blog, but, once again, we are not talking about me.

When my nieces were younger, it was quite the family controversy of who was the silliest, me or Steven.  Showing their wisdom and discernment, my nieces usually concluded that it was Steven, although for some unaccountable reason, the scales sometimes tipped in my direction.  My niece Gillian, however, wholeheartedly embraced Uncle Steve as the silliest.  Being a gentleman (albeit a silly one), he returned the favor.

One Christmas when I spoke to Gillian on the phone, she asked how The Silliest was.  Steven, in the background, said, “Tell her to quit talking about herself.”  When I asked Gillian what she had gotten for Christmas, she told me that one of her presents was a pig.  Steven immediately began saying, “Oink, oink.  Oink, oink,”  to which Gillian replied, “Tell him to quit talking about himself.”

 

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