Award and nominations….

Big thank you to Brizzy Mays Books and Bruschetta for nominating me for this award and for a sterling tribute: a lass who is most up to anything presented. I accept challenges well! Thank you for those kind words!

Brizzy introduces me to the land Down Under and to her interests, many of which we share including a love of old books, movies, and a keen sense of humor.

Award Rules:

1 Thanks the blogger who nominated you (as above )

2 Answer the questions you are asked ( if you’re comfortable doing so!)

3 Create 10 questions for the bloggers you’ve nominated.

4 Nominate at least 3 bloggers for the Special Blogger Award.

5 Comment on your nominees most recent blog post to let them know you’ve nominated.

6 Have fun!

Answers to questions follow:

My Questions:

1. The last theatrical production or musical performance you attended? Les Miserables.

2. Your next holiday destination? Most likely, the interior of Florida, a small fishing village or a town on the edge of the ocean.

3. Do you set yourself goals? Yes, sometimes. Finish 1 a day, even if it is small like take out the pug for a walk.

4 So many books are made into a movie. Do you have a favourite? I like the Jack Reacher series but the movie never made the mark for me.

5 If you could invite any three people – dead or alive- to a dinner party who would they be? Truman Capote; John F. Kennedy; and Robert Redford.

6 You wish your Super Power was? Invisibility to spy upon situations I have no business hearing.

7 If you could do one thing to change the world what would you do? Write more crime stories with true life good endings.

8 Please share a secret about your childhood. I would play dress up with my paper dolls as they were my invisible friends.

9 Name two things that are on your MUST DO LIST

1. a safari in Kenya with my husband.  2. Publish a book of fiction.

10 Do you have a song, movie or book that you return to when in need of comfort?

Cold Play: Viva La Vida.

My Nominations (with zero pressure attached!):

Kuched-I recently started following this blogger and like his postings.

Murisopsis: A Different Perspective-Yes, I get her “perspective.”

Sinharishika, How can I be so normal? I like her normalcy.

My questions:

1. If you were a cat with another life, where would you be sitting right now?
2. What is your favorite song in times of challenge?
3. In one sentence, tell us about a time you enjoyed being proven wrong.
4. What is your favorite mode of transportation?
5. What is your comfort food?
6. Which is your favorite social media app to use?
7. If you could name yourself, what name would you chose and why?
8. What news did you hear recently that surprised you?
9. How often do you walk in your neighborhood?
10. Are there any writers who influence the writing of your blog?

Thank you for your graciousness and kindness with this endeavor! Cheers…

If I could rule the world….

 

 

 

 

Keeping up with the…address book

As you get older, you notice your address book keeps changing. Finally, I gave up on buying the standard ones and now just settle for a little office book with 180 sheets college ruled 5.5 in. x 4 in. I figure I don’t know 180 people and the friends and relatives I can count as less than 50 but more than 20.

I do like my alone time in the house especially with reading Lee Child’s latest escapade of Jack Reacher, a bit of cleaning, maybe baking keto cheesecake brownies, a little classwork finishing up the semester and wishing the class “Happy Finals.” I revel at a comment written by one of my students, “Although some of the students were at times quite aggressive toward the assigned work, Ms. D. explained the online work well and broke it down for us to understand.” Thank you!

Husband went to meet son in a sports bar to watch some football game. I am not a good sports pub or bar person. Although I appreciate a live game, I am not really good at a drink and eating in the pub or bar while watching the game. I figured it would be a good time for them to talk and I would enjoy my day at home.

I knew I had some things to do: finish sending out Christmas cards, ooh…I see dust from the bathroom remake all over the house…call my aunt and my nephew and catch up on the family. How about a friend, Ms. D. to make plans over Christmas to meet. And then it happened…I progressed to looking at the class results and reviewing some things to idly checking out a new skype message from Madonna, my friend in the United Arab Emirates, an American who lives now Sharjah…she send me a holiday message and I drifted a little.

It is hard to get back on track but somehow during this off track time I realized that I am not alone. Husband and I had been talking about a friend of his who he fears is alone too much as his children leave and he has no one. I keep saying, “I hope he finds a girlfriend.” Maybe a hobby. But looking over my address book, and speaking with my aunt who invited me for a visit, I realized I am not alone because I don’t fear being alone. As my aunt gets older, she has two live in nurses for all the days of the week and yet I remember how she liked her private time and her independence. She tells me of taking the car out for a spin recently and her nurse frantically calling my cousin, M. who is her daughter. She tells me, “I just have to see if I can. You know what I mean?”

Yes, we are all alone at sometime in our life and sometime we must be with others and even let others take care of us. The important part is to keep growing and to know that once you are an empty nester from losing your partner, your loved ones, or your children that life does continue.

And we have to make those new roads. Today I realized that I can even if I don’t use those 180 sheets of paper for new friends and families names and addresses. They will keep changing with new jobs, new events and new things happening, so the most we can hope is to be fluid and not be afraid to be alone.

We must be comfortable with our own company.So, I am taking out my latest Jack Reacher book and reading until the husband is home.

Thanks for reading.

To the sounds of Traffic…

Traffic can get stressful in Florida. We have the winter or the snow birds as they are affectionately recognized and which I first learned the term moving from the North to the South so many years ago. Today, I received a phone call from husband that he was on his way home and his activities “Found the toy for Sam, but can’t find…the vest…for Mr. C.” referring to the grandchildren. I reminded him of the location of the vest for Mr. C.

“And I am grading.”

I have a cold, so last night I put myself to sleep with cold medicine and woke up ravenous this morning. We had planned a beach day but it is not going to happen and in between my grading and a few chores, I am enjoying a good book. I stopped by the library and found 3 good books and picked up a flyer about a yoga class reminding myself now that I have a few more hours of free time to get out and go to a yoga class at the library.

My husband likes to keep in touch through texts and phone calls when we are apart. I am so different. I turn the phone off on purpose and will find myself taking an alternate route just because the scenery look prettier or I am trying to process my day and how it went.You know where you have the picture images of the way you handled things.

I was doing that the other day and around the work place is a very charming scenic older area of Florida, so I decided to detour and thought I can catch up by going North but the problem was this was at 5:45 p.m. and I forgot it was rush hour and I ended up on one of the busiest streets and I was supposed to pick up dinner that day as we had been at the hospital earlier. I also forgot the busy season of traffic as snowbirds pick the most common routes. When you have been in a place long enough to know the secrets of less traveled routes and I do with the help of my husband but I am direction-ally challenged. The other day I practiced backing into a space at the library, so when I go to my workplace in the afternoon, I won’t hit a car in the narrow parking lot.

Husband is redoing a project on the bathroom. There is a new floor, a new sink, a new shower but the noise was deafening, so I spend time in my adjunct office taping my conferences and doing more work. It has been a very busy week but now the bathroom is finished!

And I understand why sometimes I like not to be found when I am on the road. Today I am just going to read and get my health back.

Thanks for listening!

Holidays

The holidays suck for diets, even keto. Returning from the gym or running chores,returning from work: you are hungry and your body craves sugar and carbs. You try filling yourself with cheese, ham, and a little keto bread-1/2 a slice which is around 8 carbs.

Carb free dinner and you miss the office party because you know you would bring desserts and you can’t. Holidays are hard. It is like taking out the short story again to revise and turn in to several new literary magazines. Your mind craves the attention but you might not achieve satisfaction easily. It is like hunting for a word on the tip of your tongue but you can’t commit.

You pick up a few good murder mysteries or crime stories, more cream cheese to mix with peanut butter for fat bombs. An extra cup of strong coffee called “1842” found in a discount store. And then Secret Santa at our other job and they ask you for your favorite restaurant.

The problem is there are few keto restaurants but Which Wich sells a mean lettuce wrap with cold cuts to make you rap! Y-e-a-h…the holidays…who cares about the lists of what to buy people as it takes away the spontaneity almost as if pointing the finger at you: you don’t really know who we are but here it is our list and the pressure is on.

Soon, grades will be in and Christmas will be over and the New Year will be upon us. More silly problems will attack and we hope the biggest worry will be our keto diet or what are we going to wear to work or to an outing. We can only hope as life continues and we roll with the punches and we think it is what it is.

Thanks for taking the time to listen!

A Work in Progress

Life is always somewhere between painting the masterpiece and setting the brushes and the paints on the counter. Somewhere between speaking the truth and knowing the difference between which brushes to paint the best lines to convey the emotions inside.Some of us follow the lines and convey exactly what we must to survive and others of us, just throw up our hands and move forward.

There is no one taking my papers anymore in the adjunct faculty room this year and the door is now always locked. The culprit moved somewhere else. We want to be liked and always understood but sometimes you have to be the unpopular person and line the limits, correct the mistakes, and state the truth. Am I looking forward to spending my office hours sitting waiting for my students to arrive randomly. Some will and some won’t. Then I will get emails asking me to show up on days I have not planned for meetings which I cannot attend. And I will have to do the unpopular thing by telling them “You had the chance” and now I am unavailable at this time. Sometimes I hear nearby a popular adjunct speaking with the students…do I want to be popular. Not really, I want to get the job done and help them with the task. If they post a good review, that is nice but I am here to do the job I was posted and not be their best friend.

The jar of my “unscripted” from 2019 is now a little full of things accomplished and things I had some challenges with. Some unexpected good things came my way! Thank you!I don’t always follow the script but the year went quickly and I hope the end including Christmas holidays will pass in an expressive wallop of muted and vibrant colors. I know the holidays carry our emotions by swinging through ups and downs. I expect the people around me may mirror some of the uncertainties and the only thing I can depend on is life will carry on unscripted.

Thanks for listening! Enjoy the return to work and next week!.

Thanksgiving

I am happy to tell everyone that the same dog which gave us a run for our monies and sanity is now happily at home with the stepson and family. We spend the day enjoying Thanksgiving with the grandchildren (all 4 of them), the three dogs, not turtle doves and the football game along with the buffet of cheeses, deviled eggs, turkey, stuffing, stuffed hot peppers with bacon and several desserts including our keto cheesecake.

We went off the keto diet but the time was wonderful and we agreed to watch all the dogs later on while they are visiting family members sometime in December. We will bring Iago, the pug now that the fence is fixed.

It was a great day and it is nice having family nearby. It just goes to show that the wild card in a dog pack: the half pointer and half pit bull; the mixed mutt can turn into a loyal pet.

And we have Friday off! Yay! Then the weekend and my husband is watching his game. I am off to read a book and we came home with some goodies. I am thankful and now I will make the usual phone calls to my brothers and my relatives.

Until the next holiday: Christmas is how many days away?

Wear on and Wear off

Florida doesn’t have a lot of winter days off and the cold period is very short, so if you have winter clothing you love wearing, make haste to wear it. I stopped in for a wonderful pedicure with hot rocks and hot cloth wearing sneakers and heavy socks in the early morning and a scarf entwined around my neck only to leave with sandals and newly minted feet feeling the relaxing massage of a well seasoned pedicure.

The alligators and the wildlife don’t seem to mind the cold. The coyotes have been in hiding also, so I don’t see or hear them walking the pug early before 7 a.m. I am hunkered down with my grey jacket, and my elegant black silk scarf, a gift from a student.

I notice that I am not the only one making use of the weather to wear leather boots with heels or scarfs, long and flowing. Suede material comes out as does the leather jackets. We put them on while the going is favorable. Cold weather doesn’t last long. By noon, it will be in the 70’s once again. And I am not complaining.

My long elegant red coat from Manhattan, handmade decades ago along with a handmade pair of boots up to my knees stating made in Korea hang out in my closet. I most likely won’t have the chance to wear them unless I head North or leave the country for somewhere cold and overseas.

Perhaps Iceland but for now, I will enjoy Florida.

Keto forward

Keto-dieting.

I am hoping that the wide empty spaces of white blank page will make me think of globules of fat drifting away this holiday season.

It doesn’t get any easier. Wife of my stepson mentioned ice cream on sale nearby: Swell, listing of high protein with low sugar in flavors like peanut butter chocolate chip, mint, fudge chocolate…service size 1/2 a cup with 19 carbs.

Sounds good if you can stop at one cup. Husband went out and bought 20, and then it was refilled as we finished them. Yum.

I rediscover that small amounts of gin have no carbs. That is nice and with a touch of tonic and lemon. Not every night but it replaces the ice cream. And then the balls made with chocolate and peanut butter. Yum! However, alcohol may lead to increased appetite.

Eggs, workouts in the gym, walks with the pug. Breakfast bars ranging from 15-22 carbs. I grab some as a treat to some of the students at the charter school I am working with. They are not watching carbs.

A slippery slope. Husband is now back to keto-ing and losing weight quickly as men do lose faster than women. The holidays are coming and I have to get my game on.

Thanks for listening!