Friday, November 30, 2018

The Best Christmas Ever, Third Verse



Sonshine is coming home for Christmas!!!

The Best Christmas Ever, first verse was twenty-three years ago when my beautiful boy was born a week before Christmas.

The Best Christmas Ever, second verse was four years ago when the picture above was taken and Sonshine was able to come for Christmas after he'd graduated from Navy boot camp.

Of course there have been good Christmases otherwise, but the best ones are always when all of my babies are home with me.

He'll even be home for his birthday. :0)

In other news, it's Friday--but you know that. I have so many things I've wanted to do all week and few of them were work related. So I'm really looking forward to the weekend and making some progress with various projects. I have a list and it's quite lengthy at the moment, so hopefully two days is enough.


Also, I have no idea what happened Wednesday. I could have sworn I posted something or at the very least written something but forgotten to post it. But nope.

Anyway, hope you have a wonderful weekend.




Monday, November 26, 2018

Careening into December and heading for Christmas...


Hello There!

Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. Mine was low key with just DD and me and her BFF, who came over after a very trying Thanksgiving meal with her family needing some love and cheer. DD and I watched the Star Trek reboot trilogy too. I love those movies.

The weekend as a whole was also low key and I accomplished almost everything on my to-do list. The tree now has ornaments. Garland decorates doorways. The number of wrapped presents under the tree has increased.


I binged watched both available season of Victoria. I found and unpacked a box of books from my shed--guess what I want to do now. :0) I completed gifts for my very dearest writer peeps. The usual weekend chores got completed too of course.


I've spent some good quality time with DD, and not just over the weekend, which I'm so grateful for. One of these days she's going to get her own place again and I'm going to miss her terribly.

Speaking of DD, our record is intact. What record you ask... Well, the one where the Stars have won every game we've attended in person so far this year. They even won the one game we had tickets for but didn't attend--I passed the tickets on to one of my employees, so the seats were still filled by us. :0) Unfortunately, they lost the following day, although they played a heck of a game. When they win the Reunion Tower Ball lights up in green and white.

(Image from Twitter)



You know, I meant to post Friday, but I was at home and working on crafty things, out of the normal routine of being at work or getting ready for work and it just didn't occur to me. But you were busy enjoying your own long weekend and didn't miss me I'm sure.

Have a great day and a great week... See you Wednesday.

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

100 Things Challenge


So, on Monday, I shared a picture of my car full of stuff that I took to a donation center. A lot of that stuff had been piled up before I started this 100 Things Challenge, especially the bags of clothes, but can you believe that I've only culled TEN things from my house during the course of the challenge so far???

Yup. Only ten...because I've lumped like things together: cups and glasses, DVDs, curtains and tablecloths, board games. If I counted each item individually, I'd probably be well over 200, but that seemed sorta like cheating so I didn't.

TEN THINGS

Seems a bit paltry, but I shall persevere.

Next items to go: all the tote bags I don't use and won't work for groceries, a rather large bubba keg, a DVD player, and a Dance Dance Revolution mat.

Now we're up to FOURTEEN!!

Go, Jen, go!!

I had thought to post some other stuff, but there's not much going on because of the holiday, so I will sign off now.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with those nearest and dearest to you. But if you can't be with those folks, then I hope you're with the next best thing, whatever that means for you.




Monday, November 19, 2018

Let the holidays begin...


I do still have to work today, tomorrow, and Wednesday, but I image it'll be fairly slow since I bet many of our clients will also be slow and / or have shut down their offices for one or more days. Which is good because I have a couple of projects to work on. I had a really good weekend though--

As I mentioned Friday, I went to a Stars game. The antics to get there as early as possible were Keystone Cop-worthy, but DD and I made it in time to score a pair of tickets to a game in January that I don't already have (partial-season) tickets to, so YAY! Also, the Stars won against a really good team in which there was only one goal--ours in overtime--and three fights and a ton of penalty minutes during regulation play. They also won Sunday afternoon's game which I did not attend as it was in New York. :0)

While watching Sunday's game on TV, I wrapped what Christmas presents I have and placed them under my new tree with colored lights.

It's been a while since I've had colored lights on a tree and it takes me back to my childhood when we always had colored lights.

At this point, the poor tree only has two ornaments and only because one never got put away last year and I came across it in a drawer when I was looking for something else and the other is an ornament I made for Sonshine a few years ago and kept hanging in my office for some reason.

I didn't make the trek out to the shed this weekend to find the rest, but that'll happen sometime between now and next Monday.

What I did do this weekend was load up all those "things" I've been clearing out the house and staging in the garage into the car and take them to a local donation spot. Man--that felt really good.


Getting rid of stuff is rather addicting. One hallway closet is pretty much purged now. Remember I said I'd gone green and was using tote bags now instead of plastic store bags? Yeah, I went through the rest of the tote bags I had--(I'm a tote bag ho.)--and picked out the best ones for holding groceries and, with three exceptions, got rid of the rest of them since I can only use so many tote bags and have my favorites. The other hall closet needs to be culled still, but, honestly, there isn't much left in there either.

I had to start a new pile in the garage, however. :0)

Lunch on Saturday with my dear friend, N, was delightful as usual. And she made me this--which was perfect even though she didn't know about the hockey tree when she chose designed the pattern...



I also got to visit with DH's family on Saturday and specifically with that family member with the medical issues and she's better. There's a ways to go and hurdles to surmount, but she's better. If you're the praying sort, please lift her up.

And that, my friends, is all for today. Have a wonderful day and a wonderful week and a wonderful Thanksgiving.



Friday, November 16, 2018

Gone green... and other random stuff...


And, surprisingly, I'm not talking about the Stars. :0) Although there is a game tonight and I will be there and I will be wearing green.

But I'm talking about the environment... This past Sunday, I took tote bags with me to the grocery store and used those for toting home my food stuffs. It was a little bit of a challenge to utilize the bags in the sizes I had. I mean, you do your own scanning and bagging for long enough, you develop a system and preference on how to sort and bag the groceries in those store-provided bags. It'll probably take me a week or two to get a new order to things and I might need to dig around the closet to see what other sizes and shapes I have to trade out with and see what happens. :0)

Speaking of the closet, as promised on Wednesday, I did remember to find the next 100 Things Challenge item. Which turned out to be a couple of boxes of DVDs that no one has touched in a couple of years. I also found a box of VHS tapes, but those are going straight into the trash.

I culled carefully through the titles and pulled DH's favorites for him to take down to the fireworks store to keep there. Many of these are not available on Netflix.

Speaking of Netflix Amazon Prime, I finally got around to watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and it was wonderful. From Wiki: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is an American period comedy-drama web television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, that premiered on March 17, 2017. The series stars Rachel Brosnahan as the titular Miriam "Midge" Maisel, a housewife in 1958 New York City who discovers she has a knack for stand-up comedy.


What they don't say in that succinct write-up is that she'd been supporting her husband for years in his attempt to be a standup comedian and one night he completely bombs and when they get home, he walks out. She gets stupidly drunk and ends up at the club in her peignoir (wearing a coat though) and gives a hilarious drunken monologue.

Once DD and I binged through the eight eps of the first season of that, we started on Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, another Amazon Prime original. From Wiki: Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, or simply Jack Ryan, is an American action political thriller web television series, based on characters from the fictional "Ryanverse" created by Tom Clancy.

I gotta say... John Krasinski, who plays Jack Ryan, is also very easy on the eyes.

 If you've seen The Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games, and/or A Clear and Present Danger, then you should be familiar with Jack Ryan. This series serves as a sort of per-cursor to Jack Ryan's roles in those films but set in the present day (cell phones were not a thing in 90, 92, or 94). I've not seen the more recent offerings of The Sum of All Fears (02) or Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (14).

Aside from the premises and plots of the new original series on both Netflix and Amazon Prime that I've watched, one of the things that intrigues (not the right word) me is the format of eight (Mrs. Maisel and Jack Ryan) or thirteen (Grace & Frankie and The Ranch on Netflix) episodes per season.

As a viewer in general, I'd like more of the shows I enjoy. But as a fan of actors, I think it's a great opportunity for them to be able to do other projects rather than being tied to one show for years on end--like Ellen Pompeo in Grey's Anatomy and Mark Harmon from the original NCIS series.

And that's about all I have to ramble on about today. Hope you have a great weekend--



Wednesday, November 14, 2018

We're going for POTPOURRI today!


Let's start with the fact I have a cold. It doesn't happen often and it's probably been years since I've had a full on cold last. And it's not even really that bad. The thing that hurts worst is my nose from blowing it and using toilet paper. I had a bit of swelling down in my throat at first, but that's gone. Now I'm just riding it out.

The thing that really has me peeved this week is my stupid Charter Spectrum business account. We have a business account at home because of the business and static IP reasons. Anyway, up until about a month ago, I was able to watch replays of Stars games. At live games, there's no commentary, so sometimes I like to re-watch--well, listen more than watch--the games so I can learn stuff.



After fighting with the app and trying a different app, I finally called Charter and asked what was up with this turn of events. I was politely told that business accounts don't get that feature, for lack of a better term.

Wait, what???

I've had this feature available to me for at least a year--I watched a Stars game from Denver in October of 2017. I even upgraded my TV package well over a year ago to get the Fox Sports Southwest channel on order to be able to watch Stars games on TV and now I can't watch games on the go or re-watch the following day anymore?? I mean--what the hell do they care??

BFF Jenn suggested there was an update that maybe finally fixed a bug that had allowed it? I don't know that I buy that though. Originally we had residential service, but then upgraded to the business grade and I'm thinking they just missed the tick box to turn it off when that originally transpired. But you know what?? I want my access back!!

And last but not least...

How 'bout this crappy weather??? It's been at or below the freezing mark overnight for the last two nights and the freezing temps last well into the day. I've had faucets at a trickle for two days. This morning it was TWENTY-FOUR DEGREES with frost on my windshield!!!!! It's not time for that here in North Texas. That's January and February weather, not November weather.

I know I need to did around my house and find something else to get rid of for the 100 Things Challenge, but I've been so busy collecting new things and being lazy that I haven't done so. I'll have something by Friday, I promise.

Have a great rest of your week.

Monday, November 12, 2018

Outlaw King


DD and I watched Outlaw King this weekend. From Wikipedia: Outlaw King is a 2018 historical action drama film about Robert the Bruce, the 14th-century Scottish king who launched a guerilla war against the larger English army.


I do like history and I like Scottish history, but I opted to watch it because Robert the Bruce is played by Chris Pine of the Star Trek reboot fame, which as you know, I love. The reboots, that is, more than Chris Pine, but here we are. Also I'm planning a series for Medieval Scotland at some point, so that was also motivation.

I enjoyed the movie, but I warn you it's not for the faint of heart, there's a lot of graphic violence. And for good reason. I mean--it's the Middle Ages and it's men fighting for what's theirs against huge odds.

 I give the film a movie rating of nine.

If you've seen it, what did you think? 

 
 

Friday, November 9, 2018

Let's talk about HOCKEY today!!




I was back in the American Airlines Center last night to watch the Stars take down the Sharks. Okay, so they didn't really take them down. But they won and it was a good game to watch. Mostly. There were a couple of  major "WTF?" moments, but they pulled out the win, so yeah.

The young man above is Devin Shore and he scored two of last night's four goals.

My boy Tyler Seguin ended a 12-game scoring drought, so that was very cool to see. Let's recap, shall we??

 First--he steals the puck. That guy behind him is one of the defensemen in the league.



Then he shoots and he scores...see that little black circle in the net?? Yeah baby. At this point in it's trajectory, it's bouncing back after hitting the twine of the back of the net.



Seguin lifts his hands in celebration. He finally got one after a lot of shots on goal these last 12 games that pinged off the goal posts, the cross bar, or off the goalies.



And here he yells "YEAH" as he accepts fist bumps from his teammates on the bench.


So congrats to Tyler Seguin for getting back on the scoreboard.


Joe Thornton, a player for the other team, played in his 1500 career game and Dallas fans gave him a standing ovation, so that was classy of us.



And that was a fun night with DD, my favorite person to go to games with.

Be loud. Wear green. GO STARS!!!

Have a great weekend.


Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Let's talk about food!


I had this conversation the other day and it seemed like a good blog topic, so here we are. :0)

My employee went to a small privately owned fast food restaurant in the business park that our office is located in. He came back and of course I asked what he got. He showed me his burger.

That's one of my favorite meals, I said.

A good juicy burger. I leave off the bun these days, but still enjoy onions, lettuce, pickles, ketchup or A-1 Sauce. Sometimes I eat them smothered in baked beans.

That led to this thought.... If I could eat anything I wanted for the rest of my life (and not count calories or get fat, of course), I'd live off of burgers, cereal, pizza, and pumpkin cake.

Who doesn't love a good juicy burger?? My sister-in-law made the best burger I've ever had.

From Wikipedia; author: Hongreddotbrewhouse

In case you don't know me, I love cereal...all kinds, "healthy" and not-so-healthy. I don't buy anything but Cheerios these days and I buy them for DH and not for myself, although I confess I do eat them. More often than I should. But not with milk. This might sound "ewww" to some of you, but they taste really good with the caramel flavored protein shakes I buy.

And pizza...who doesn't love pizza?? Pepperoni, meat lovers, veggie, there are few traditional things I don't like on pizza. Not a big fan of anchovies or mushrooms, but I'm game for just about anything else.

From Wikipedia--no attribution needed.

Who doesn't love cake?? These are my favorite pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. There's been a dearth of these in my life because carbs of course, but also, my oven doesn't work, so...

MY OWN PIC OF MY OWN PUPCAKES!!


 What about you?? What few foods could you happily live off of for the rest of your life??

Hope your week is going well. :0)

Monday, November 5, 2018

I want to write, I should be writing, but...


I'm just feeling out of sorts. DH has been gone supporting his family during a tough time. I haven't been to the gym in a while and I'm feeling the effects of the lack. We're trying to keep the mileage down on the car I have so I haven't gone. When I don't go, I have a hard time being diligent at home, but my body has finally put its metaphorical foot down and I am spending time on the treadmill morning and evening.

But I still keep having thoughts about wanting to write even though the act of sitting down and opening a file had eluded me until Friday. I read through a book I'd written and which is not 100% complete, but close. (story of my life) I wanted to see how close. I spent Friday and Saturday reading and tweaking. Then I exported it to MS Word and now I'm formatting.

I'm still not writing new stuff, but I'm in my work. Not in the manuscript I should be working on either, but at least I'm working on something.

The good news is, there's not much new read in my fandoms and I'm pretty caught up on my various shows. So there's no shiny things to entice me away from writing, even though, again, I do want to.

It's just that when I contemplate it, I suddenly feel wiped out from all the other stuff going on.

At least it's sunny today which will go a long way towards lifting my spirits and keeping them up.

Which is also contributing to the blah...I'm feeling down in the dumps.

Saturday with writer peeps was refreshing and uplifting as it always is when I hang out with these ladies. Sunday was productive in terms of those crafty projects I mentioned a few posts ago. I even finished one...


Hope you had a good weekend.



Friday, November 2, 2018

So I have this now...



It's the hockey tree. It was DD's idea and I liked it, so here we are. It has three ornaments at this point, so hoping for a few more come Christmas. I'm thinking of opening up my box of hockey stick candy canes and adding little loops of thread to hang them with.

I'm going to create a Stanley Cup tree topper out of a toilet paper tube and aluminum foil. :0) Maybe some sort of garland out of I-don't-know-what. (Here I come, Pinterest--again!)

I'm gathering with my favorite ladies and writer peeps tomorrow. I haven't seen these women since September and I've missed them terribly.

So hope you have a great weekend.