To distract myself from…

I have to go back to MoonbeamMcQueen’s list of how to warm up to write  later…   If I keep reading and clicking and LAUGHING,  I would only be distracted from writing my OWN post.   Not that I have anything to say, really.   

I must say that blogging has really helped my typing skills.   Go figure!   I’m not even looking at my fingers right now.  I’m looking out the window to see if any more trick or treaters will arrive on my doorsteop.

(I know, I just saw that I spelled doorstep wrong but it shows off that I only had one error in two lines of type and I’m just so darn proud of myself…)

Hey therey’s an idear!  I’ll tell you who has tripped up the steps to see me so far!    (My neighborhood likes to hit the houses right after coming off the bus so they can then scurry off to faraway playlands and …  parties?)

Superman
Spiderman
Bo Peep (yep, she had an adorable sheep!)
Dorothy from Oz
Jasmine
Davy Crocket
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Grim Reaper
Ninja
and, …. I’ve already forgotten 2!

See why I needed to take notes!!!    But what you really want to know is what kind of candy I’m giving out, right?   sorry – kind of boring:  tootsie rolls and tootsie roll POPs.      

Many a year, Hub and I would turn off the lights and go out to dinner.     I just really think that kids do not need ANY MORE CANDY.   

Happy Halloween!   I’ll have a lull for about an hour; once it gets dark the doorbell will ring some more.

Meme – 6 Degrees of Separation

I was checking on my favorite blogs…    When I thought I would go see if Wolfgang at  Gazing Into the Abyss  had updated lately….    When I clicked on someone who had left a comment:

Loz at Midlife Journey.   He has made up a new MEME and I was intrigued…   He wants to play 6 Degrees and see where he ends up!   I’m trying it here and/or go to his blog and see how it works.    So being curious, I decided to go visit the blog of the person who was 6th on his comments list, but instead, I chose:  Dallas Meow  OOPS!     I violated the don’t count repeat-comments; too bad.   I chose this blog because she freely solicited more readers.    I oblige…   although, her blog for some reason takes a LOOOOONNNNG time on my PC to load.   And I really am trying to stay away from blogspots.    But I liked what I read. 

Her blog of this meme is HERE.     I like this meme because it sort-of “tags in reverse” without requiring anyone to do anything.   (did that make sense?)   It does require me to do a little bit of saving links to Word so I can organize and count properly… LOL!

 

I guess the whole idea is to see how connected we are and to learn more about blogs we may not have visited – get us to explore more!_______________________________________________________________________________________ 

SO, let’s get started, shall we?  The 6^th last person to comment on my blog was:

OH!  Do I count the 1-2-3 by time commented or on any posts that had at least 6 comments (that weren’t my own responses?   EEKS – I’m not sure that is possible for me)

What to do…  What to do….

The 6^th reader OF MINE to comment IN TIME order was Beth from Avenue Z on my post here .    And, in looking for the actual post with 6 comments that had no repeat offenders and discounting mine…  Zip, nada, NOT-HAPPENin’…  [However, to help those of wordpressblogworld, all you have to do is go to Manage and see your list of posts;  one of the columns shows how many comments each post has…   You can get the list by time-commented by going to Comments. ] Uh OH.   What if I go to another blog who also does not have so many comments to count all the way up to 6?   HOW MUCH TIME IS THIS GOING TO TAKE ME!    But, that is good, right?   I think Beth deserves LOTS OF TRAFFIC!   So, I want to help her.     

I choose WENDY who commented on Beth’s post on what keeps her going…  And to my surprise!!   I’ve been to this blog before!  LIFE WITH BUCK…   Extremely entertaining.   Especially since I refer to my husband as “BUCK” sometimes…   But, alas, she does not have 6 comments (YET!) on her latest so I have to go to the next post on Sam Jackson in a Walmart?    TOO FUNNY!!!   And I’m glad Buck is OK.   And I love the robe with the Red Sox Nation patch…    Gotta go with…   a different post due to comment counts…   (Sigh, this could get tedious?!)    

BRIAN at  In Repair.  (Yea!  Brian has lots of comments!)   Cute photo.

Red, your turn!   Blog:   Dr Pepper is Good 4 the Soul  which leads me to …  HEY!  The ABC MEME!!   Cool!   I recognize some on her blogroll; this is my first visit. 

And her 6^th commentor is Laura  at  blog/post I Am The Diva  

Her 6^th commentor is Damozel at…   ooo, another Buck reference!   What are the odds?    Back to their group effort home page gets me HERE.   

I think that does it.    My 6 stops were 1. Beth, 2. Wendy, 3. Brian, 4. Red, 5. Laura and 6. Damozel.    Very nice to meet you all!       Whew, that took some time.    All this linking and reading and tracking!   I need more coffee… 

WORD: TSURSIS

I have a new favorite word!   except I’m really not sure how to pronounce…   I have had a very limited exposure to Yiddish – usually only in print.    I read this in a comment on some interesting blog somewhere and had to go look it up.   

TSURSIS  – frustrating aggravation, troubles.

But after googling ‘define:  tsursis’, the first link I was given, does not have the pronunciation guide…   And I’m lazy.     But, fearing the idea that you Dear Reader will think less of me and my quality of being lazy, I clicked on the second link…   It, too, spares me the explanation of how to SAY it…

[must have had now-no-longer accessible photo that I 'stole' ?!?!?  off google images.  I apologize] 

  

   I’m assuming ‘sir’ with ‘sis’…   but I don’t want to assume anything.  Sir-Sis, silent T, right?  With neither syllable emphasissed.   )is that a word?)  With no emphasis on either syllable…

ABC’s About ME Meme

Thanks to Lyrical Fool  for tagging me (sort of…) for a fun Meme.  [AND to Grace at the Wild Pomegranate]  Using the letters of the alphabet, I’m supposed to let you all in on some little known factoids about moi.    :)    along with posting The Instructions, and then tagging a few more of you myself.  So here goes.

First, the legal stuff:

The instructions say that each player starts with some random facts/habits about himself/herself. As you are tagged you need to post the rules and your responses on your own blog. At the end of your post, you need to choose some people to tag, list their names and, of course, leave them a comment, telling they have been tagged and they need to read your blog for more information.

Check!  Alrighty then, here we go…    (oh wait!   First, before I start this, I do want to say that I wrote mine BEFORE I actually read Lyrical Fool’s list AND Grace’s list because I didn’t want their answers to influence mine.   

AND!!    I would prefer to use the same meme-ing philosophy that Fool utilizes in that I will NOT tag anyone but allow you, Dear Reader, to choose to do this on your own and link back to me!)

   the ABCs of ME:

A – I recite the alphabet and think of people whose names start with each letter when I need to fall asleep.    So everyone I know named Ann, Alice, Alyssa, etc get a LOT more happy-thought/prayers than those people named Sue or Stacy.…   Sometimes, I try to do the reverse alphabet, too; But not as often.

B – I like to say ‘bum’ when most people in the Midwest say ‘butt’.

 

C – “caring and committed courageous and consistent” – was the start of my Mary Kay ’mantra’ when I was going after Directorship.

 

D – I got a D in Dynamics in college.   “D is for Diploma!”

E – I see this letter in the color green.

F – I’ve been thinking a lot about the weirdness of friendship.   I have a lot of friends but not very many close ‘do-things-with’ friends….  So many of those kind of friends live far away.

G –Golly, this is harder than I thought it would be!  

H –  I have this H letter silver charm that I wear on a necklace a LOT.  So many great words start with H!   happy, healthy, humor, honor, house, my name, hope, horse, ho-ho-ho, heart, hand, heat, hootenanny, happening…   

I – I love Einstein’s quote about the importance of imagination. 

J –  I knew a girl named Joy that almost soured me on the word ‘joy’.   But I got over it/her.   And I really do hope that she is well and doing fine.  I don’t remember her last name but could if I wanted to.   Keep typing….

K – Not enough words start with K but I aspire to be kinder in my approach to myself and the world.

L – I got brought in front of my sororities committee for morality (I cannot remember what we called that darn committee!  Oh yea STANDARDS!)  for my ‘LOOSE morals’  and I yet I was still a virgin.   Just got caught spending the night at a Frat (NOTHING HAPPENED ALRIGHT?!?!?!  SHHHEeehshshsh)

M – Of course, Moral STANDARDS frowned on drinking too MUCH and passing out at Frat houses, too, but I thought it ironic that I was still a virgin.  I had a reputation for what I really do not know! Oh well.

N – I have 15 pounds of raw chicken and duck NECK bones in my kitchen sink right now thawing.  (for my dog’s raw organic diet…)

O – I was going to write about my first orgasm but chickened out.   Even with this being anonymous, I’m still bashful!?!?!   Worried what people will think?   egads.     OK,  I WILL write that my Hub and I looked at a potential house near the intersection of 69th ST and  ”O” Street.    In/near the BIG-O town (Omaha NE);  I can’t find it as a real address in Google Maps, though.   I thought it was LaVista…  anyway, we couldn’t stop giggling & burst into hysterics imagining our friends reactions….    sigh

P – PIE!  I bake weird Pies.    It started with “How come there aren’t more PEAR Pies?”   My favorite is grape pie.

Q – Last week, I just checked out a book on Queen Elizabeth.  And today I returned it after skimming and flipping through all the pictures.  It was written/published shortly after Chuck&Diana’s wedding.  I thought the QUEEN movie with Helen Mirren was excellent.

R – Ratatouille is one of my favorite words.  I have yet to see the movie.

S –  I don’t get Bruce Springsteen.   I don’t care much for his music –  It’s OK, it just doesn’t inspire – in me – the crazed adoration that uttering his name seems to bring on with most people I know.

 

T – Tiger Woods fascinates me and I hope to someday take golf lessons.

U – I can’t think of anything for U!   University?   Underwear?   Upstart?    UNBELIEVABLE.  

V – Verily I say to you.    V is another favorite letter.  It’s purple, of course.   I always wish my name had been Violet or Vivian.   I love that Jen and Ben Affleck named their daughter Violet.  

W – I have on my to-be-read-someday list any book on the Weather Underground.   Taking suggestions!

X – When I short hand the word TRANSFER I write”  “Xfer”   and when I short hand for the word CHANGE, I draw a triangle.   

Y – My dream with my Hub is to retire to a YACHT.   Specifically a 43 ft SeaRay Convertible of some sort.   Yippee!  This list is almost over!  and I do love a nice YELLOW color…

Z – I REALLY REALLY wish my name started with the letter “Z”…  like Zora, Zadie, Zulu, Zandie, Zena …    I rooted for Zora in the first Bachelor reality show…    Actually, “CuriousZ”  sounds good, don’t cha think?

Chicken Marinade

UPDATE (10/29) – this was AWESOME!!!   I forgot that I promised a followup.   No pics, sorry….   

I enjoy the cooking blogs because they remind me that living is supposed to be FUN!   I will never take this blog into that realm but I give myself permission to write about anything and everything I want to.   I am very far away from gourmet but do love it when I see it (and someone else is paying!)   

I like to use recipes more as a guide than a rule.   So, when the hub suggested I put the chicken breasts into some kind of marinade, I googled easy-chicken-marinade to see what my proportions should be.   I already knew I would need olive oil, garlic, and ______  lemon, maybe?   in what quantities?

My search lead me to this.   (giving credit where due.)   I have altered it some and here’s how in no particular order!

                 1.  Rather than lemon lime soda, I substituted Polar brand diet Ginger Ale.  (Cuz it’s not that tasty and the cans are taking up space in the fridge.)     I poured in the entire can; which is less than 2 cups, now that I really think about it…

                 2.  Instead of garlic powder (oops – I discovered an empty shaker of it in the spice cab!), I used the minced garlic in a jar, probably a Tablespoon.    (aghast!  I know, I know – I’m supposed to use ‘real’ garlic!)

                 3.  I didn’t measure the olive oil, nor the soy sauce (low sodium), and I know I used closer to a full teaspoon of the horseradish.

                 4.   I added a few shakes of dried minced onion.   For fun.   OH!  and lots of ground pepper.  I did the grinding.    Multi-peppercorns, too!

Six hours or more, Hub will grill and I hope – fingers crossed! - that it will be JUST FINE.   I’ll give a report in a future post.

Something Lighter…

I was about to type in ‘TGIF!’ but I really love all days of the week.    Fridays only mean TRASH Day to me.   

Which means that Thursday is, by default, ‘Pick Up the Dog-#$%&@ Day’.  

SO… I sit and type.  Ramble.  Just to say anything.   (And secretly?   I hope to POST this and then go to wordpress dashboard and see if I’m on the MOST RECENT POSTS list!    I am really hoping to catch my avator on the dashboard someday!   Of course, I should probably concentrate on putting out a really inspiring/thought-provoking
/interesting/worthy                     but…, hey.    There are no ‘shoulds’ in life.   Only choices and results.)

May you have a blessed and wonderful Friday and continue the “happies” right on into the weekend.   Smiles!   (Go Red Sox?!)

***UPDATE***   It worked!  I posted this and then checked Latest Posts and I was on the list!  Soooooo exciting.   Then I saw that I had not given this post to a category (or is it the other way around?)   BUT that the system (?  “THEY”??!?)  has assigned this to a category that I keep deleting from my list and it keeps haunting me.   so I re-assign to proper cats and think about tags (maybe, maybe not) and go AGAIN for the umpteenth time, delete the “1″ category that keeps showing up.   I only need to pay attention.   Always good advice.   GOOD DAY!

Genius Captured

genius kept deep

in the Hidden;

Trapped in chains so soft

that the awareness of the tethers is yet of whisps, so vauge.

Awakening…  but to what?

a Horror of known entrapment?

Tis better to remain ignorant…

Once KNOWN,

it cannot be Unknown.

 

  

  

genius / genius / genius / genius

and a Thank You for the known-unknown thought …  

Love in the City of Love

Just came back from a LOVELY visit to Philadelphia.  We had a great time.

I fell in love with LaScala at 7th & Chestnut.   Four stars on a four star scale!   Casual but upscale atmosphere & ambience, wonderful food, fabulous service!   I highly recommend.  (Italian…)

I think it interesting that no matter how much time you have to pre-plan, you can’t know what you really want to do and see until it unfolds before you.    

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

Plans are nothing; planning is everything.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

I referenced the above quote while waiting for the elevator of the hotel after I don’t know how many times we exchanged, “what do you want to do now?  I don’t care.  What do YOU want to do now…”   When my husband chimed in with his little ditty, “Planning is a must;  the plan not so much.”  

Sometimes, I really get bored and frustrated traveling because I want to do so much!   and spend too much time deciding.    I didn’t take as many photos this trip but I do love – -  I have much MUCH super much appreciation for the old ornate buildings…

Sleeping, Dreaming, Blogging, Somewhat Aware of Semi-Consciousness, Repeat

I seemed to float in and out of dream-state last night, while recollection tells me that I was thinking up all sorts of witty posts for this blog.   Sleeping, dreaming, blogging, rousing, sleeping, giggling, dreaming, blogging, wondering, floating in and out of consciousness…

Sorry, I can’t remember anything witty.

 You can pretend to be serious; you can’t pretend to be witty.               Author: Andreas Gryphius               Source: Horribilicribfax (act IV, sc. 7).

Going to East Providence

Well, I’m not.  Going to East Providence, that is.  At least, not today, I’m not.    But I hope my latest ‘guide-EE’ finds East Providence.

Guide-EE is my *new* term referring to the elderly lady with an accent who just drove by and stopped to ask me for directions while I was out on my 2 mile walk with Oscar.    My guide-EE wanted to find East Providence.   Let me recall, how did she phrase her request?  “Yes, I’m looking for East Providence.”    I think that’s what she told me when I asked if I could help her.  

(I was able to give directions on the last walk I took, now that I think of it!   I am confident I gave correct instruction, since the house they were looking for was on the corner of the intersection I was walking when they slowed to ask for ‘Where is ____?”)

But the destination of interest for this new Guide-EE is 50 miles away from the off-the-beaten-path I happened to be strolling down just now.    Fifty miles is nothing back in the Plains States but here in New England, it’s a LOOOONNNG way away.   

I blinked a few times while my mind both raced for the easiest and most correct instructions to give AND with wonder of how she came to be right there right now talking to me!    Then I proceeded to tell her, ‘take a right here and then a left.   You’ll quickly come to a stop sign, take a right and then another right.   You’ll be on Hwy 28 which will take you to I-195.    You should at that point see a sign for New Bedford and be on the path to Rhode Island.”   She nodded, smiled and thanked me.   

She even signaled her intention for the first step: right turn.    I wonder how far she is now and if she is indeed still on this path to Rhode Island after all.     (Of course, I wish NOW I had asked her more questions….)

 I kept wondering…   Was this a sign for me?  “There are no accidents.”  What was this chance meeting, this event, supposed to tell me?     or…   if it is just ‘one of the those things’,  WHY was this woman driving around my town on her way to East Providence?   Maybe she actually lived quite close.  Maybe she decided to go for a drive, began the drive and didn’t even know where she wanted to drive to until she saw me and thought….   “Hmmmm,  East Providence would be a fun place to visit.   Perhaps this nice lady and her dog will help me find it.”   or…    Perhaps she had been driving around lost for hours!    Then I must wonder if she should be behind the wheels of a motor vehicle!     

OR….    Bigger cosmic forces at hand, getting me to THINK some more…   Do we get so lost and off path that when we do realize we have to stop and ask for directions, we are aghast at how very far we are from where we want to be?   (by all the “we” ‘s here, I mean  “I/me”…)     If yes, so what.   Smile, NOD, and say thank you.   Then be on our (my) way.    Be sure to use the signal indicator…