Miscellany

I've got writer's block.  For the past several weeks, I've tried and tried and tried and tried to write "something"; it's so frustrating when I have these ideas swirling around in my head that sound really great to me, until I attempt to capture them in words.

So, because I want to try and get the creative juices flowing (and I'd rather do this than, say, any of the number of things on my "To Do" list), here is a bit of miscellany which I've jotted down about myself (prompted by randomly opening the book, "101 More Conversation Starters for Couples" by Gary Chapman to various pages).

Here goes!

Random Prompt #1:  Name the person you know who most personifies perseverance:

My (step) dad Daryl.  From modest beginnings, he eventually ended up graduating with honors from Purdue University; obtaining a bachelors, masters and PhD in Electrical Engineering before he was 30.  He co-raised a blended family of five children and  had a successful career in the defense sector and was at least partially (if not totally) responsible for inventing GPS. Although this may sound more like the answer to, "Who is one of the most successful people you know?", I attribute all his success to the fact he was persistent in reaching his goals, especially in light of the fact that circumstances were not always optimal in his early years, his first marriage, and later with various crises within our family.  

Random Prompt #2:  What is the hardest phone call you ever had to make:

I will change this to the  plural; "calls".  Calling people to tell them that my stepmother Margot had passed away.  Still reeling myself from her death, having to tell people (even though my calls were not unexpected) and waiting on the other end to experience and share their grief was almost more than I could bear.

Random Prompt #3:  One of life's great delights is surprising someone. Recall  participating in a wonderful surprise:

My dear friend Kathleen recently celebrated a major milestone birthday while on a cruise.  Prior to their departure, I enlisted her husband's help in obtaining their RSVP and stateroom number so that I could arrange for their stateroom to be decorated and a bottle of Champagne to be delivered.  I was so excited, I couldn't wait to hear how she reacted!

Random Prompt #4:  David was tormented by an ungodly King Saul.  Recall someone who had authority over you whom you found very difficult to respect:

My first boss at TRW.  Her name was Faye and she was by far the worst boss I ever had, hands down.  Many of us who had the misfortune to work for her referred to her as "The Crazed Psycho Bi$$h from Hell".  Believe, me, that's not much of an exaggeration! She was lazy, took credit for other people's work, insensitive, rude, and at times out and out cruel.  In hindsight, I believe she had some significant emotional problems and I suppose I can feel pity for her now but at the time, I could barely tolerate working for her.  In fact, I actually decided to go into a secretarial program for six months just so I could get away from her until I figured out what to do next.  

Random Prompt #5:  Name someone with whom you have lost contact over the years and wonder how that person is doing:

When I was in 6th grade, our family moved to Lexington Kentucky so that my (step)dad could realize a dream he'd had of teaching college (see the first prompt ;-) )  In short, all of us hated living there, including my dad, so we eventually moved back to California.  However, I made one really, really good friend that year, also named Amy.  She was tall and thin to my (then) short and squat (we were like Mutt and Jeff!) And, like Mutt and Jeff, once we met and became friends, we were always together.  We crammed a lot of relationship in that brief period of time. After I left, we continued to keep in touch via letters and phone calls.  She visited me in San Diego one summer and we picked right up where we'd left off.  Alas, we did eventually lose touch and I have absolutely no idea what ever became of her.  I'd love to find out!

Ok, can't put off the chores any longer, especially as I have pets clamoring to be fed their dinner!

Mrs. B

Where Have I Been or Where I Have Been (Whatever)

Yeah, I guess this blogging thing has somewhat slipped by the wayside. Never fear, loyal readers. I'm sure at some point I'll get a second wind/new lease on life regarding writing things that I never know if anyone ever reads, anyway.

Life's bumping along, it's just my creative juices that have apparently dried up!

So, what have I been up to, then?

Let's see. Trying to get organized for the fall/winter months, for one. You know, exciting chores like swapping clothes out from closet to closet (out with the fall/winter ones). Starting to think about what the heck I'm going to do about holiday greetings this year. Part of me is not terribly into it this year. Ok, more than just part of me. It's so much work and for so little return (in general, folks seem to be dropping this whole holiday greeting tradition).

After a long hiatus, we're back to getting our weekly produce box. This means I'm once again having to come up with creative ways to eat various items that normally I'd never buy. Actually, this week, I got lucky as we received many things I like/have recipes for. Such as, kale, romaine lettuce, apples, roma tomatoes and cucumbers. We also got a passel of beets. Mr. B's on point for those, though.

Last night, we mad maple-glazed chicken (cutlets) with apple-Brussels sprouts slaw. We heated up some left-over sweet potato cheddar grits for an all-around exceptionally harvest-y fall dinner. Tonight, I'm gonna try my hand at making apple kuchen for dessert. Later in the week, a white-bean and kale soup with smoked sausage is on tap.

One thing I LOVE about fall. The return to robust (yet healthy) eating and all the yummy aromas that waft out of the kitchen throughout the weekend days.

I saw "Billy Elliot" (the Broadway musical) here in Durham a few nights ago. What an enjoyable evening (with my SIL Shannon; we bought the season tickets together). I was so awed by the sheer talent of the young man who danced the lead (although there are actually FIVE different boys playing Billy since they can only dance in two performances per week; you know, all those child labor laws!)

I'm proud to report that I have read 53 books (so far) this year (not too much longer to go for 2010 but I'll probably manage to crank out a few more in six weeks or so). You know what THIS means, an extra long Blog series of my book reviews.

We're supposed to get a hard freeze tonight. I really feel as though we missed out on two seasons this year. We seemed to go directly from butt-ass cold weather in February/March to hot humid summer (ok, maybe we had three weeks of spring). Now, we've headed pretty much from the hot humid summer (with record making days) to COLD. What happened to those lovely 65-70 degree days and 40 degree nights?

And tonight (early tomorrow), the clocks go back one hour. This means it'll be dark by 4:30 or so tomorrow and darker yet in the mornings (hard enough to get out of bed when it's so chilly).

Sigh. Gotta remember all of those good smells in the kitchen, though. And, the return to drinking good red wine. I'm totally burned out on Pinot Grigio.

Oh, I got an utterly fantastic early b-day gift from my mom and dad in-law. One of those Keurig coffee machines. I'm having SO MUCH fun with it. The variety of K-Cups available is mind blowing. I went into Bed Bath and Beyond to get a drawer-thingie to put under the machine to hold some of the K-Cups. Almost one entire wall was dedicated to all the K-Cups. I couldn't resist; even though I'd ordered some from Keurig (BTGTF + free shipping), I had to indulge in picking up a box of Holiday Selections from BB&B. Spiced Eggnog, Gingerbread, Golden French Toast and Holiday Blend. The cool thing about this is I can have my foo-foo coffee and Mr. B can drink his Kona or Extra Bold or whatever to his heart's content!

Well, that's about it for now. All's fine here. Maybe next week, I'll think of some really interesting thing to blog about.

Mrs. B

Random Update (As Promised)

First up, have you ever been doing something, anything, and, for a moment, completely forgotten how to do it? Just now, as I was typing the title for this entry, I couldn't remember how to spell "promised"! Thank God for the little red squiggly line that pops up when something is typed incorrectly!

This has happened to me several times over the years and not just with spelling. There have been times, for instance, when I've been in my car driving to, say the store or to the dry cleaners or the vet or any number of places I routinely go to when, all of a sudden, I can't remember where I am going. It's only for a second but it's a long second.

Several years ago, I arrived at my office bright and early in the morning as I was wont to do back when all I cared about was working 12+ hours a day. It was a Friday and the halls were eerily empty. I got to the door to my office bay, reached out to punch in the code to open the door, and, had a brain fade. I couldn't remember what it was! I punched in several different combinations of numbers; nothing. Luckily, one of my co-workers (who was even more obsessed about working than I was) came ambling down the hallway and let me in to his office bay so I could call security. Duh. How embarrassing!

So, I've been off-line almost a week here. Life got busy, or, rather, I finally broke through and found my groove for writing these personnel policy statements for the company I'm working with. Talk about bor-ing. But, hey, it's money, and money well needed. After I wrote the first several (dealing with expectations of managers and supervisors), I asked Mr. B to review them for tone. He told me, "They read just like what I would think I'd find in an HR manual". Good to know I haven't lost my ability to talk (and write) like an HR Weenie!

Pet update. Lucy's leg has almost healed! Yey! I'd post a picture, but, it'd probably still gross you out, so I won't. Suffice it to say, the wound is just shy of being knitted together. What is unsightly now is simply all the pinkish scar tissue and puckered skin where the sutures were. Her fur is starting to grow back; she's got little tufts of it all over her leg. Interestingly enough, the skin on her leg is black; something we never would have known had this whole thing not happened. Not that we needed to go through this (or put her through this) and play almost $4,000 to find out what color the skin on her leg was! Seriously, given the amount of time, effort and money that has been put into Lucy, her status in the household has definitely risen to "top dog". She doesn't know it and the cats certainly don't, but we do.

The cats are all doing very well. They are happy because dad put up a new storm door over the front door so now they can sit at the door and stare out at the front yard and street; something they've only seen before from the perspective of one of the upstairs front bedroom windows. Said storm door is quite lovely; Mr. B did a fine job of selecting one with a pretty tulip shape etched on the glass. And, the door is a Pella; can't go wrong with that.

Pete has decided it is fun to chew on the underside of the glass shower door in our bathroom. Why, we cannot imagine. Time to spray some "Bitter Yuck" on it, I guess. Pete took a swipe at Lucy the other day and Lucy growled back at him and that was the end of that (thankfully). In general, Lucy appears to be afraid of Pete; she'll walk around him, for instance, or will refuse to go by him if there is not a wide enough berth. Now we know why. Lily is enjoying her summer being Queen Bee of the house. Her new favorite thing to do is spend the days sleeping in the closet or sprawled out on top of one of the dressers.

I took The Little Kids to the vet last week for their annual exams and shots. Not so little now, really; Ares is over 11 1/2 pounds, Apollo is 9 1/4 and Athena is 8 1/4. Apollo and Athena might be a tad on the small side, but, with the way Apollo eats, he'll probably catch up to Ares fairly quickly. Ares continues to torment Pete (and has a big bare patch on the back of his neck because of it). Apollo has really become the sweetie of the cats; he loves to beg food from Mr. B in the morning (lunch meat) and will come running from wherever he is when the garage door goes up in the evening, signaling Mr. B's return home from work. Athena, well, she's just an odd-ball cat. Mr. B calls her "Loopy". She plays with the shadows from the light spilling out of the partially open bathroom door in the morning. She still runs away from both of us 50% of the time.

I'm still working on my twin self-development/improvement projects of patience and kindness. It's been a tough row to hoe, let me tell you. I got so fed up with the people in our neighborhood bitching and complaining on the Yahoo message board that I finally had to just sign off of it; worried that I'd say something I shouldn't that would not reflect well on either me or Mr. B (who is the President of the HOA Board). Still, stupid, stupid, stupid people. There, I feel better now!

Really, I think society has come to a point where it is just too easy to sit on your butt and type anything you want into the black hole of technological communication. There is not another person that you see or have to deal with face to face; so, the sky's the limit on what you (think) you can say to them or about them. I am really, really trying my best to think long and hard before I shoot off at the fingers (which is why I signed off the message board; I wasn't convinced I wouldn't fire off some nasty gram to some well deserving moron).

On Facebook, people routinely type snarky comments on people's status updates or posts, only to delete them once they realize maybe they were not appropriate (or maybe someone tells them "that wasn't nice"). The thing is, even though it is deleted, most people still receive email notifications of comments so they can still see the comment. One of my Facebook friends got pretty irritated about this; saying, "If you are going to say something, then say it. Don't then later delete it and try to pretend you didn't". I agree, and this goes back to my original train of thought of, "Better to be really careful about what you say in the first place". What is society coming to? We are all so insular now. It's like we're all living in Los Angeles (one of the best places in the world to live if you don't want anything to do with anyone else).

We've been home from our lovely cruise over a month now, which I find hard to believe. Even harder to believe is that the first part of 2010 is gone. I went looking for it earlier this morning but couldn't find it.

Because I am simply not happy unless I have trips planned (I've got the wander lust but good), we've gone ahead and made definite plans for a few trips and tentative ones for another. We know we are heading to Northern Indiana in early September for a family reunion. This will be a relatively short trip, but, a fun one, to be sure. Other than attending the World Beer Festival here in Durham in October and maybe taking an overnight trip to attend the Renaissance Festival in the fall, we'll be hanging around the homestead until January. Yeah, we've been bitten by the cruise bug and so have booked a 5 night Western Caribbean cruise out of Tampa on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas for January 17th. This will have an added bonus of being able to visit with Father and Margot on the way down and also, hopefully, Mr. and Mrs. Senior B on the way back home. Yes, I do plan on writing an entry about cruising. As I said earlier, it is not all about eating until one pukes, in fact, I doubt we eat more on a cruise than we do on any vacation we take. But, there is more to the topic than food; so, I'll not say more right now.

In May, we've made plans to go to the Indianapolis 500 with friends from California. They'll fly into Durham and then we'll take a road trip to Indy. This will be quite the memorable trip, I'm sure.

Lastly, my 30th high school reunion will be in San Diego in July. At this point, we're fairly certain we'll go, and, in fact, I somehow got roped in to helping plan it (which will be a trick since I live in North Carolina, but, there are some positive aspects to the world of technology which we live in these days!)

After that, well, it'll be time to think about another cruise :-) Just kidding. Well, maybe I'm not!

For now, we've got two months of summer ahead of us; baseball games, family get-togethers, swim days at the pool, working on house projects (time to seriously considering planting those trees at the bottom of the slope and configuring the terraces), and, I'm sure, lots more fun stuff that I'm just not thinking of right now.

So, there you have it. My random ramble of an update. Now, it's time to go write polices. Blech.

Mrs. B

Blog Block Busters

Thanks, Analee, for some of these ideas. There is nothing like rambling on about lists of this or that to, hopefully, get creative juices flowing again. And, what follows is a true ramble of a bunch of stuff most people probably won't care about!

5

...things in my shower:

1. Ivory soap

2. Aqua-colored bath pouf

3. Soft Soap body wash

4. Two washcloths

5. (technically six) a tall stainless still contraption that holds all the above

...favorite articles of clothing:

1. Reversible (red/grey) fleece jacket I got at Target several years ago for cheap. I shoulda bought several of 'em!

2. Work out pants (also bought at Target over 10 years ago; I always feel good that I still fit in them!)

3. Black coolots from Chico's

4. Green Levi shorts

5. Brown "Dog Rescuer" tee-shirt

...things on top of my refrigerator

1. Cake stand

2. Ceramic Jack-O-Lantern

3. That's it. I just cleaned a bunch of stuff off and moved them to the top of the cabinets

...favorite "easy" things to eat/make for dinner:

1. White chicken chili

2. Burritos

3. Penne with blue cheese pesto, asparagus and toasted walnuts

4. Cajun bean soup

5. Buffalo chicken wraps with black beans

...wonderful traits about Mr. B:

1. He's honest

2. He's a wonderful chef

3. He can do just about anything around the house/yard

4. He's affectionate

5. He is smart/doesn't miss much

...movies/TV shows I've seen recently:

1. Dexter Season 3

2. Forever, Darling (a REALLY awful movie with Lucille Ball/Desi Arnaz)

3. The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

4. Gone with the Wind (I just felt like re-watching it)

5. True Blood Season 1

...books I've last read:

1. The Secret of the Old Clock (yes, that would be Nancy Drew!)

2. Something for the Pain (book club)

3. Night

4. The Killing Dance

5. The Last Wife of Henry VIII

...ways to save money:

1. Clip and use coupons. Yes, it IS worth it!

2. Use loyalty cards; ditto, the above

3. Look at circulars and plan meals around what is on sale

4. Join a club like BJs or Cost Co. There are some things that are SO much cheaper (cat litter, for one; something we need A LOT of these days). Just be careful you don't buy too much of something you'll never use up (those Keebler bags of cookies I bought thinking they'd be good for Mr. B/The Kid's lunches have long since gone stale)

5. Count up all the money you save from the ideas above each month. Move that amount of money from your checking account into a special savings account. In about 18 months, I've saved roughly $2,500 doing this!

...different/sort of weird things people might not know about me (or know all of them):

1. I can read Tarot cards

2. I can cast Astrological charts

3. I am semi-ambidextrous

4. I can type really, really, really fast

5. I usually read several books at a time (for example, right now, I am reading/listening to: Roots, The Hidden Staircase and The Hour I First Believed)

...tidbits about my pets (well, six):

1. Lucy: Is afraid of sprinklers

2. Pete: Stares at me. It's unnerving at times!

3. Lily: Growls when she carries a milk jug ring around in her mouth

4. Ares: Although not the friendliest of the bunch when he's awake, always sleeps at the foot of the bed near Mr. B's feet

5. Athena: Destroys bugs

6. Apollo: Squeaks when he meows

...things I am going to do today:

1. Go to the dentist (routine cleaning)

2. Meet with KB Homes about our buckling carpet

3. Clean The Kid's bathroom

4. Go to CVS and see if I can't find a product I've been searching for

5. Mail mom and dad's anniversary card

...things I do now that I didn't do 5 years ago:

1. Blog/Facebook

2. Walk a dog

3. Serve on a Board of Directors

4. Have wedding anniversaries

5. Have my own business

Hey, time's up!

Mrs. B

I'm Percolating

I sorta go through these stages from time to time (ok, not "sorta", I DO) when I feel like I'm just working on what's next, whatever it might be. Stuff is goin' on in my brain; lots of thoughts jumping all over like Mexican jumping beans or those weird ideas you get when you look at an ink blot and are supposed to say what you think it resembles. Wait, that's not what I meant! Rather, when you're given a prompt; a word, a sentence, a color, a smell; and you are supposed to blurt out whatever comes into your mind first. Ping pong, ping pong.

One thing I wish I had was a small recording device with an input and and output plug (whatever they are called; you'd think I'd know the correct term; you know, something similar to what you connect your TV and DVD player together with). The input plug would go into my brain (painlessly, of course) and the output would connect to my lap top. That way, all of the random stuff floating around in there, whether I am awake or asleep, could get recorded. Then, I'd just have to read it, sort through it, edit it (I'm more than decent at that), and, e voila, a masterpiece.

Ain't gonna happen, though.

So, anyway, rest assured, dear readers, thoughts, ideas, concepts, stories, random inaneness et al is brewing away ready to be poured out.

Just not today!

In the meantime, because I know there those of you who check here daily, below, at least, is something (posted on my FB page this past Sunday).

Mrs. B

50 Things You Haven't Been Asked (Actually 48 Because #24 And #28 Were Missing)

Actually, I HAVE been asked several of these. I wasn't going to do this Note but, Mr. B is asleep, it's a hot, lazy Sunday afternoon and I'm not motivated to do anything but answer silly trivia questions.

1, What color is your toothbrush?Non-descript Oral B electric thingie...who knows? White, I guess!

2, Name one person who made you smile today?Uh, no one yet :-(

3, What were you doing at 8 am today?Sleeping

4, What were you doing 45 minutes ago?Something on the computer + folding laundry

5, What is your favorite candy bar?Dark chocolate so either Hershey’s Special Dark, York Peppermint Pattie or Mounds

6, Have you ever been to a strip club?Yes, some b-day; probably 21st. I think my boss at the time (a woman) was a lot more into it than the rest of us (considerably younger party goers) were!

7, What is the last thing you said aloud?I can’t remember. Mr. B’s been asleep on the couch for almost two hours and all the pets are also sacked out so no one is around to talk to and two hours ago is a long time to remember. Wait, I’m repeating myself!

8, What is your favorite ice cream flavor?Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

9, What was the last thing you had to drink?Diet Coke

10, Do you like your wallet?Yes, I got it in Lucca, Italy. Lovely red Italian leather!

11, What was the last thing you ate?Scrambled eggs (1/2 real, ½ Egg Beaters), veggie sausage and 1 slice whole wheat toast. I can tell ya how many calories, if you care!

12, Have you bought any new clothing items this week?Yes. Don’t you want to know what?

13, The last sporting event you watched?Hurricanes game last Tuesday. They won in the final 0.2 seconds; I won’t soon be forgetting that game!

14, What is your favorite flavor of popcorn?The stuff from the movies that is SO bad for you

15, Who is the last person you sent a text message too?My brother Nathaniel

16, Ever go camping?Yes

17, Do you take vitamins daily?Yes, and, except for allergies (which vitamins cannot assist with), I am hardly ever sick

18, Do you give to church/charity?Yes, a few charities

19, Do you have a tan?I have a glow

20, Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza?Probably not

21, Do you drink your soda with a straw?If there is one available

22, What did your last text message say?Uh, the one to my brother mentioned above or the last one I received? In any event, no one’s biz!

23, What are you doing tomorrow?Nothing much exciting. Typical Monday around here

24, No Number 24

25, Look to your left, what do you see?Pie safe

26, What color is your watch?Don’t wear a watch

27, What do you think of when you hear Australia?Reminds me of when I went there in 2002 for work

28, No #28

29, Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?I don’t go very often but if I do, I’ll usually go inside because I’m probably on a road trip and I probably have to use the bathroom

30, What is your favorite number?I don’t really have one

31, Who's the last person you talked to on the phone?Someone who called for Mr. B but didn’t want to leave a message (likely a telemarketer)

32, Any plans today?We are supposed to make dinner together. We might have a martini and play some cards

33, How many states have you lived in?IN, CA, KY, CO, NC = 5 (although I lived in California three separate times AND lived for summers in MA, OH and NY)

34, Biggest annoyance right now?Allergies

35, Last song listened to?Some song on XM in the car on the way home last night. I think it was 80s rock

36,Can you say the alphabet backwards?Unfortunately, no

37, Do you have a maid service clean your house?I did but I fired them because they couldn’t do the job right. So, now it’s up to me

38, Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?I don’t have one favorite pair of shoes (I have WAY TOO MANY). My absolute favorite is NO SHOES

39, Are you jealous of anyone?No

40, Is anyone jealous of you?Unlikely

41, Do you love anyone?Yes

42, Do any of your friends have children?A few friends do

43, What do you usually do during the day?It really depends on the day but you can rest assured that at least some of it I’ll be on the computer (unless I am on vacation)

44, Do you hate anyone that you know right now?No

45, Do you use the word 'hello' daily?I guess, if someone calls me or says something really dumb that needs to be commented on, like “HELLO?”

46, What color is your car?Grey or Silver (depending on which one I’m driving)

47, Do you like cats?I’d better, since I have two of them!

48, Are you thinking about someone right now?I guess I’m thinking I wish Mr. B would wake up soon. Does that count?

49, Have you ever been to Six Flags?Several different Six Flags

50, How did you get your worst scar?I had a cyst or something on my back (spine) which they (good old Kaiser HMO) did a terrible job of removing. Left an gnarly looking scare and ruined my chances for wearing low back cut dresses