Tag Archives: wrist to forehead

Wrist Firmly on Forehead

Posted on November 4, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well, it is Wrist to Forehead Sunday after all.

I went wine tasting in the Finger Lakes yesterday with certain female members of my family. I’m a little tired today. Oh, stop looking so smug and self-righteous; I didn’t taste all that many wines. I was no more obnoxious than I am in the usual course of things (I know, some feel that is plenty obnoxious enough). However, it was a long day, and I am not a young woman.

Steven and I went for a walk with Tabby just now, thinking a pedestrian post would be acceptable on a Sunday. Hmmm… not much of a walk. No interesting anecdotes resulted. No striking observations or even silly jokes.

I put some chicken in the oven, so I suppose I could make something of a cooking post. Hmmm… that would take far more words than I am at present inclined to type (I did mention that it was Wrist to Forehead Sunday, didn’t I?).

I looked at the draft I am STILL working on about The Tingler, only to discover that there is at least a page and a half still in my notebook I haven’t even typed in yet. And I believe there is still more to write (it is going to be SUCH an anticlimax when I finally publish that damn Tingler post; it’ll never live up to expectations now).

So, I guess this is my Sunday post. A few lame excuses and a half-hearted preview of coming attractions. I wish I could muster the exuberance of last Sunday’s declared day off. Oh well, we all do what we can. I hope to see you on Monday.

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I Declare a Day Off

Posted on October 28, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I was all apologetic about, what was is? five foolish posts last week. And here I am NOT writing a real post today. And I don’t care!

It is not Wrist to Forehead Sunday. I am actually having a pretty good day. I went running this morning and took Tabby for a walk (in addition to our usual cool-down)(yes, both potentially bloggable activities). I did the dishes (not so bloggable, but in a pinch…). I am cooking potato soup (definitely bloggable; I invented the recipe). Oh, and I watched not one but two cheesy movies yesterday. My possibilities are endless!

And I say to hell with it! I’m taking another day off! Just because I want to! And I’ll use just as many exclamation points as I feel like!

So go ahead, shake your finger at me or point and laugh, according to your inclination. I’m going back to stirring my soup and enjoying my day. I hope you are enjoying yours as well.

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Does This Ever Happen to You?

Posted on October 22, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sometimes I don’t know why I (a) write this blog, (b) tell people that I write it and especially (c) share the link on Facebook, practically begging people to read it. What the hell’s wrong with me?

A calmer voice in my head reminds me that art and especially writing is all about communication. If I’m going to create something, this line of reasoning goes, why not put it out there?

A mean, nasty voice in my head sneers, “Art? What do you mean art? Do you think what you do is art?”

And then I start to wonder if I really ought to be sharing information about hearing voices in my head.

What prompts this… soul searching? hair tearing? wrist to foreheading?… is a post I am trying to write about the Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts. I mentioned on their Facebook page that I am writing one. Now all I can think is that it’s going to sound stupid and should I mention this or that and OH MY GOD, I have to write it now, somebody might be waiting to read it!

Or do I flatter myself?

I don’t know if this happens to other people, but sometimes I start to write about something and realize I am telling everything and it may not be all that interesting to everybody else. And sometimes as I write it becomes a good deal less interesting to me. Or I experience other resistance, usually along the lines of, “You can’t say THAT!” or “I just don’t feel like writing about this,” neither of which ought to be given the weight they seem to demand.

I first tried to write the piece in my usual personal fashion, sharing all my dithery gyrations in getting there (my computer is telling me “dithery” is not a word, but it is exactly what I mean). I was afraid it would go too long and really be too much about me, so I tried editing as I went with no great success. Next I tried a straightforward news release style. After all, I worked in the newspaper business. I understand the inverted pyramid. Moreover, I read newspapers regularly. I ought to have internalized the structure by now. I got two paragraphs written, and they were no great shakes.

In desperation, I went to another page of my notebook and wrote, um, what you just read (oh dear, I HOPE somebody is still reading). It will have to stand as a Monday Middle-aged Musing. I will somehow get the Arts Center post done. Stay tuned.

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Wrist Not On Forehead

Posted on October 21, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well, I told you it was going to be Wrist to Forehead Sunday. I know some of you thought I would feel a little bad about so many foolish posts in a row and write something more better. Well.

In my defense, I woke up with the same headache, after being plagued all night with it, I might add. I must say I felt a little ill used. These things usually don’t last that long. I took a different OTC headache remedy today. It seemed to work a little better, but I felt quite drained and light-headed.

I don’t know why I’m going on about my symptoms. How boring. Oh yeah, it’s Wrist to Forehead Sunday. I am expected to kvetch about my many ills on such a day.

Only I don’t feel particularly wrist to forehead at the moment. You see, it is my 23rd wedding anniversary, and I happen to have the best husband. Whatever stupid life decisions I have made (most of them; I may have mentioned that), marrying my Steven is the best decision I ever made.

We have been celebrating ever since he got home some three hours ago. Then I remembered I had not made my blog post. Before he got home, when I was still feeling quite drained and lightheaded, I almost made a two sentence post reading: I’m not making a blog post today! It’s my wedding anniversary! Would that have been better? Discuss amongst yourselves.

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Did I Mention I Have a Headache?

Posted on October 20, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I started to write a post about a wonderful Mohawk Valley adventure Steven and I had last night. I was writing it at the laundromat, not exactly an adventure, but in the Mohawk Valley so I technically could have written about that. The writing was not going well, because I have one of those debilitating headaches I get sometimes.

I thought no problem, I have all day. A nap will probably fix me right up. It did not. Steven came home from work at 2:30. A cup of coffee would no doubt help. It did not. We went to the Ilion Farmer’s Market anyways, yes, something else I could write a post about. But I still have a headache.

We came home. I fixed supper, which I suppose I could write about, but it was a mere recombination of leftovers in a not especially innovative way. Still, when has that stopped me? Unfortunately, you see, there’s this headache.

So I guess it’s a blogger’s sick day, because I’m not even up to writing about how I can’t seem to write, another subject I have often gotten a post out of.

Many years ago I wrote a paper for a Shakespeare class in which I kept saying things I could have gotten into, but the paper was not long enough. The professor wrote a note that he found it frustrating that all I kept talking about what I wasn’t going to talk about. He still gave me an A on the paper, so you see, I have a long history of being rewarded for folly. I hope to see you again on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

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Is It Really the Size of Manhattan?

Posted on October 14, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

You knew I was going to have another Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

At least, perhaps not every reader thought that. Perhaps some expected better of me. Perhaps some merely hoped. And perhaps it is the height of egotism to believe that anybody thinks about me at all. Well, I often say, there are worse things than having an ego the size of Manhattan.

Where was I?

I had a weekend away. I believe I mentioned it. I may have mentioned that I cleverly wrote blog posts in advance and used that handy function the nice WordPress people provide to set them to be published with no further effort on my part (cue unkind remarks on how little effort I seemed to have put into the posts up to that point). I have spent the last few hours asking myself why, or why, did I not write, type in and schedule to be published one more itty bitty post?

The answer is not far to seek. Posts are not that easy to come by, even some of the ridiculous crap I write. Some mental effort is needed, even for today’s self-indulgent folly. And you know what, a cup of coffee is not always the miracle cure I’m hoping for.

So, preview of coming attractions: I went to Vermont. I hit a couple of attractions. I went running a couple of times. I made a few observations on two three-hour long car rides. The material is there somewhere.

In the meantime, I just thought I’d make one more silly post about Why I Can’t Write a Post. As always, I crave your indulgence.

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I Whine, Then I Write

Posted on September 29, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

A few days ago, when I was taking kind of a blogger’s sick day, I speculated that had I stayed home and napped, drunk tea and read all day rather than going to work, I would have felt better and been able to write a better post. Today I had the opportunity to test that theory.

If you’re guessing I discovered the answer was not so much, give yourself a pat on the back, if you are able to do so without dislocating your shoulder.

Yes, I am still ill. Tuesday will make a week, but I think I will make bold to call my primary care physician on Monday to book an appointment. In the meantime, I need a blog post for today. Naturally I did not go running. I did not even feel up to a slow, gentle stroll with my schnoodle, Tabby. As I made my way upstairs and waited for the computer to get to the right page, all I could think was, “I can’t write a post! What can I write a post about? All I can say in a post is that I feel sick and I can’t write a post!”

Boohoo for me. Sorry about that.

The fact is, now that I am typing and words are appearing on the screen before me, I feel somewhat better. Still headachey, still light-headed, but insensibly somewhat better. Could it be the magic of writing? Or has the caffeine from the tea I just drank kicked in?

No matter, I am over 200 words. I have long decreed that an acceptable length for a blog post. But this somewhat better feeling is so interesting, I may go downstairs and try to write something else.

I’ll report on it tomorrow, on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

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Not Writing

Posted on September 16, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is Wrist to Forehead Sunday, and there is nothing I can do but let it continue to be Wrist to Forehead Sunday and hope that Monday is better.

And yet I still must compose a blog post.

However, another blogger once pointed out (or maybe it was somebody who commented on another blog) (or maybe it was me) that writing about not writing is still writing. Some weeks I spend a lot of time writing about why I’m not writing. I imagine it gets tiresome to some people.

What can I say? If you’re tired of reading it, QUIT READING! Oh dear, I do hope nobody did. I’m thinking this gives some people a chance to feel that delicious wave of superiority: “If I wrote a blog every day, I would make damn sure I had something to say.” Maybe there are even some readers who do write a blog every day, and do find something to say. That would be cool.

OK, so here is my assignment for the rest of the week: to write extra blog posts so that the next time I hit a wrist to forehead kind of day, I can just find one in my Draft section and hit Publish.

Won’t that be nice?

I do hope tomorrow is not Wrist to Forehead Monday.

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Don’t Quote Me

Posted on September 3, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Thank heavens it’s Middle-aged Musings Monday. Now all I have to do is pry my wrist off my forehead and think of something to muse about.

This raises a number of things I have talked about before: first, that even on the “nothing” days, I still have to think of something to write; second, that even though I have attained middle age (if I live to be a hundred), I have very few words of wisdom to impart. In fact, I have a few, but they’re mostly quotes.

Oh, that gives me something. Have you noticed how many people spend a lot of time on Facebook sharing these little cartoons or pictures or just big old squares with quotes? They can be inspirational or funny or profound or political or rude, or any combination of the above. I’ve done it myself. It’s almost a guilty pleasure, hitting that “Share” button. Maybe I didn’t think of it out of my own head, but I can take credit for being clever enough to recognize its worth.

Was that more of a random observation? And there is no Seinfeld-style punch line, so sorry about that. Incidentally, my best quotes have not been gleaned from the internet. I have had some of them for years. I found them in books.

My musing today is, do we really try to live by these words of wisdom? I’m talking now about the profound, inspirational ones, not the ones that give us good excuses to drink wine and eat chocolate, or extoll your good friend who will help you hide the body (I KNOW people live by those).

My contention has always been that “Do as I say, not as I do,” is really not bad advice. Most of us talk a good game. I may have voiced this opinion in this space before, but I shall not apologize, because I think it’s a good one. My more didactic readers may feel free to lecture me on repeating myself. I will nod wisely, knowing that they are probably repeating themselves. I will attempt to do as they say, not as they do.

And I will try not to share that sentiment on Facebook.

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Wrist to Lame Forehead

Posted on August 24, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Today at work, I had my whole blog post written in my head. Well, most of it. I figured I’d come up with a few other sentences once I started writing. Then I went on break, I opened my notebook, and… nothing.

I bet you knew that was going to happen. I can just hear one of those smug artsy fartsy types saying, “Of COURSE nothing happened! You can’t write something in your head before you sit down to write it. You have to be SPONTANEOUS!” Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes thinking about something before I write it works very well.

But speaking of being spontaneous, I hadn’t planned to write anything like that second paragraph. I had rather hoped I could segue back into what I had written in my head this morning (I think it’s still there). I am dreadfully sorry to be doing yet another post about Why I Can’t Write a Post, but here it is.

Still, on Lame Post Friday, there are worse things to write a post about. I’m going to count that as half-baked philosophy (regular readers will remember that Lame Post Friday is for random observations and half-baked philosophy) (they will also remember that I feel I have to say that almost every time).

What is this, Wrist to Forehead Friday? Say it ain’t so!

I had meant, as a matter of fact, to write a pedestrian post full of random observations made on the walk Tabby and I took last night. Unfortunately I did not observe much. Mostly I observed the sky looking more and more threatening till it finally rained on us. Oh, and I observed the bag I was carrying blow around like a wrinkly, misshapen balloon. I thought it looked a little foolish, but nobody will ever ding you for carrying around a plastic bag when you are walking a dog, however much it fills with air and whips around.

Ooh, look, over 300 words. Now to come up with a dramatic conclusion that brings all this nonsense together, so I can feel like a real writer. Then again, maybe I will just have to feel like something else tonight.

At least I’m not one of those artsy-fartsy types.

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