Bfth's Boring Blog

Perhaps we should all be wise enough to realize that truth in advertising is pretty much a falsehood.  Or as that great sage, Mike Brady, once said "caveat emptor...let the buyer beware."  (If you will recall, Greg had just purchased a clunker of a car.) We ALL have gotten sucked into some foolish purchase at one point or another.  Commercials and infomercials lure us in.   Some of them are actually quite entertaining, if not completely truthful.  I know I was sucked in to the Lori Davis hair care products when I was younger (which in hindsight were pretty good).  I bought one of those little fans that was supposed to cool your car.  (Here's a shocker:  it DIDN'T!)  More recently I purchased an Angry Mama.  (Which I have yet to use...but I do have to say that she bares a remarkable resemblance to me.) I'm not always a buyer, but I am a listener to early morning radio when I walk. There is one car commercial that play constantly ...

I drive daily on congested roadways.  I live in the NYC tristate area.  There is A LOT of traffic.  No surprise there right?  I work approximately 12 miles from my office (door to door).  That drive can take me under 20 minutes (on a good day...most often in the summer when I get early on Fridays) or it can take me 3 or 4 times more.  (Or longer...which is why I don't commute when we're going to have heavy snow.  Thank goodness for remote access!) The easiest/fastest way to reach my destination is not a direct line.  Although that is possible, it requires taking local streets with lots of traffic lights.  I have done it several times (once when the highway was closed due to a truck fire/fatal accident) and it requires patience.  (Which I seem to have very little of these days.  It's something I need to work on!)  The fastest (usually) and easiest (most times) is the highway.  But it's also a main road that takes you i...

Many people say the music died the day that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper (JP Richardson) died in a plane crash.  It didn't die for me that day since I wasn't alive yet.  (Although I do know their music.)  But I think everyone experiences a day when the music stops/dies for them. For me it was in June of 2005. June 3rd to be exact. (No I didn't remember the exact date, but I managed to find it doing some on line research.) I always had the radio on when I did my morning walk.  I was listening to our local (NYC) oldies radio station.  They were having a celebration that morning...I think it was the DJ's 100th show. Or maybe it was his year anniversary.  But it was a big event with call ins from celebrities and I also believe there was mention of cake.  Other DJs on the station (many of whom were considered local legends) were there for the celebration as well.   It seemed to me to be a great way to start off the weekend. I...

So, I watched episodes 1-2 "live" on Sunday night (9-11), went to sleep (or tried to and watched maybe another 45 minutes of the first episode while trying...although not from the beginning), and slept for 4-1/2 hours.  Got up, walked, got ready for work, took the kid to school, worked a full day (fading as the day went by due to lack of sleep), battled traffic on the way home, had dinner with the family and then watched episodes 3-4.  (Despite saying that I only wanted to watch episode 3 and then go back and watch 1 and 2 again because I KNOW I missed much.)  There is good reason why David Lynch doesn't want everything released at once.  He wants you to THINK and process.  (And you'd probably OD if you watched the entire 18 hours at once...your brain just might explode from it all!) Thinking about Twin Peaks is pretty much what I've been doing for the past several weeks and now having watched the first 4 episodes of season 3 my brain has gone into ove...

Ok, so this really has nothing to do with my favorite gum.  (Although I am partial to Teaberry & Beeman's).  I've been geeked out since I heard the new that Twin Peaks would be returning to television.  Not obsessively geeked out like some people I know...but geeked out none the less. I am a David Lynch fan, but not an UBER Lynch fan. I have not seen all his films.  (I don't WANT to see Eraserhead .)  I don't LOVE some of his films.  (I just didn't like Blue Velvet , although maybe you are not supposed to.  I DO love Mulholland Drive and of course, Fire Walk with Me .)  I haven't even seen all of tv series.  (Never saw On the Air , although I would like to.)  When Lynch draws me in, he gets me hook, line and sinker.  When he doesn't... As the air date of season 3 approached, I (foolishly?) decided that I needed to re-watch the series.  I say foolishly because I made the decision a mere two weeks before the sche...

When Verizon Fios came to our neck of the woods, we were one of the first to sign up for it.  Tired of our previous provider (ComCrap), we were anxious for Fios.  We were put on a waiting list!  So we waited and were installed several months later.  I believe that this was 10 years ago (give or take) and though we've had our problems with Verizon, I'm still happier with them than I am with the crap we'd been saddled with before. The cost of this bundle has been pretty consistent over the years.  That's not to say it's cheap; it's not. Our little "bundle" (internet, tv and phone) is over $150.  While I'd love to pay less, I've paid more, so this post is not a complaint.  (Or much of one!) Recently, our contract expired (which happens every two years) and my husband was able to renew it with "better" internet service for about the same price as we've been paying.  (Someone has to explain to me in baby terms what 50/50 is ...

I am determined (or at least going to try to do my best) to stay on an even keel (the nautical reference is important in my life) even as life throws me more than I think I can handle.  And I probably can't; which is something I, and we ALL need to accept.  Sometimes, perhaps MOST of the time, we can't handle all that is thrown at us.  It's ok.  We can ask for help.  Or we can even just give a pass to things.  (Like I did last Wednesday...I had every intention of going to choir practice, but the shutdown of Rt. 3 and a meeting that went on longer than I had anticipated meant that by the time I was supposed to be at choir, I was still trying to figure out what the family was going to do for dinner.  Instead of completely frazzling myself, I allowed myself to SKIP choir and attend to the needs of my family and myself in a CALM way.  Even if it did mean grabbing food from McDonalds!) Life threw me (and my family) another curveball over the wee...

Mother's Day:  the perfect Hallmark holiday.  Time for cards, homemade gifts, and breakfast in bed.  It's all so picture perfect.  Except for those for whom it's not. As a mom to an almost perfect child, I look forward to the holiday.  More than anything, I want the homemade card or the gift that says best mom in the world.  They are treasures to me.  But when I wasn't a mom, that Sunday in May was painful.  It was a day I was perpetually reminded that I WASN'T a mom.  As much as I loved (and love) my mom and my mother in law, I HATED the day.  For me it was a day of misery. Now this may not be the same for every woman.  There are plenty of them out there who aren't mothers and don't want to be.  I think that's great.  Motherhood should be a choice and for those who have chosen NOT to be moms, you have my true admiration.  Every woman should have the choice to be who she wants to be.  Not every woman ...

The other day I was talking to my mother on the phone (as I do every day), and she was very upset that she couldn't find her prescription sunglasses.  They were not where she usually puts them and they didn't seem to be in any of the other obvious places. They are costly to replace, so it's natural that she was upset.  Furthermore, earlier in the day she had been unable to find a tube of lotion that she knew my father had purchased and put away.  Frustrated, she asked my father to look for it.  He opened the same closet she had been in and there, sitting right up front in plain view, was the lotion she was looking for. Was she stupid?  Was she blind?  NO!  She was overwhelmed!  She'd spent the week taking care of my father who'd had eye surgery one day and then a serious foot infection the next.  She'd done a great deal of driving to get him from one place to the next. (Including valet parking at the surgical center...where it's mostly l...

When you get to a certain age, you either hear or realize that you are turning into your mother, father or both.  Words come out of your mouth, but the voice is that of mom or dad.  (This is especially true when you have children and you realize that you've just repeated verbatim what your parents said to you when you were young!) Without any conscious effort at all, you have turned into your parents. (I'm not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it IS a thing.  And if it has happened to you yet, just wait and see.) I first PHYSICALLY noticed that I was turning into my parents around the time that I turned forty.  There was this line across my forehead.  I am NOT talking about a little wrinkle, I am talking a serious deep line.  I tried a variety of "potions" to rid me of it.  (Several of which came from my mom.  I still don't know if I should be grateful or annoyed.  I think I'm a combination of the both.)  Though...

While it may not be exactly warm on this May day, it is (as I write this) sunny.  The type of day you want to skip going to work and/or school.  I know I thought about it this morning.  But it wasn't because it was a sunny day (which is what you would think would motivate me), it was because of the date.  Yes it is May the 4th and I would like nothing more than to be a couch potato and watch Star Wars . TBS is showing 6 of the movies (leaving out 2015's The Force Awakens and 2016's "stand alone" Rogue One , which I shamefully have yet to see).  Though we have most of the movies (maybe all...I'd check in with the keeper of all things media:  the hubby), I'd be perfectly happy to watch on commercial tv.  (Silly I know, but that's me.)  It seems like the perfect way to spend a day...no stress and lots of excitement. I'm not a complete Star Wars geek (after all, I haven't seen Rogue One , but I HAVE seen "The Star Wars Holiday Sp...

It's starting to feel like spring (even though it's BEEN spring for over a month now) and I'm committed to my daily morning walks again.  While I've been a "walker" for most of my life, I really became dedicated in 2011; first doing indoor walking videos.  The video that I used for nearly a year was great and I was clocking in approximately 5 miles in an hour and 5 minutes.  But after a while videos get a little boring so I ventured outside. (Side note:  I still use videos during the colder/darker month and when the weather is inclement.  Although I have 4 or 5 to choose from, most of the time I return to that same one that I started with which supposedly has me moving at a 12 minute mile.) I love walking outdoors in the morning.  I like seeing the sky change from dark to light.  I notice new things every day; even if I walk the same route.  (Although I do like to vary it daily; even if just by a little bit.)  But no matter how hard I ...