Bfth's Boring Blog

I *think* Spring is finally here.  (Or at least I thought so until I walked into my office suite in my nice Spring blouse and skirt and found that the A/C was at full blast.  Even with the sun beaming through my window which usually makes my little cubicle toasty warm, it was only 64 degrees.  Hence I have my little space heater on as I try to warm up.)  Today when I went out to walk (while it was still pitch black out...I'm eagerly awaiting those late May/June days where the sun is almost up before 4:30 in the morning), I wasn't cold in my sweats (I only walk outside when it's 40 or higher because I don't want to slip and kill/maim myself) and I actually was quite warm by the time I got home. Hoorah!  And as I often do, I started thinking of a myriad of things while I was powering my way around town.  (Or doing the middle-aged, over-weight lady version of powering.) When is the town and/or county going to remove the rest of the tree branches/brush t...

I'm NOT a professional driver, nor do I have any special qualifications to actually talk about driving other than the fact that I drive just about every day of my life and I live in the NY Tri-State area where traffic is a horrible way of life.  If you're not from the area and are coming here, maybe this will help you out.  If you ARE from the area, maybe this will remind you of a few things.  (Or at least give you a laugh.)  So from this middle-aged lady, I give you what I hope will be some helpful tips! Morning Rush Hour:  5 AM - 9:30 AM.  Afternoon Rush Hour:  3:30 - 7:30.  EVERY WEEK DAY!  If you are going to be on the road at any time during these period, expect traffic.  Lots and lots of traffic.  And I'm not just talking on the highways...I'm talking about main streets, side streets, etc.   Keeping the above in mind, IGNORE what Google says about how long it will take you fro...

The brilliant musical, Avenue Q, has some phenomenal songs.  I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite, but today I've been thinking about "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist."  The song points out that EVERYONE, no matter what race, sex, religion, etc.  is a little bit racist.  (And if you say you're not, you're lying to yourself!)  That's not to say that we are all "bad" or evil, but we DO make judgments (even if it is in a flickering moment). There is one part of the lyric which really hits me:   " If we all could just admit That we are racist, a little bit Even though we all know that it's wrong Maybe it would help us get along!" I'm going to admit it.  I AM a little bit racist.  I'm guilty of multiple "isms." I've said things and thought things that were just plain WRONG.  Was it to be accepted by a group?  To be "cool?"  To shock?  Does it really matter?  It...

Mead makes good quality school supplies.  There's no arguing with me on that point.  Teachers would not specifically ask for Mead products if they weren't good quality.  (How else would I have found out about the 5 Star Flex binders?)  Mead has been around for a long time.  They have excellent custom service.  (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2017/03/customer-relations.html) I have no beef with Mead.  (And no, I don't work for them or get compensated by them in any way!) With that said, when it comes to my son, Mead needs to cede its claim on the 5 Star Flex that it lasts all year guaranteed.  Even their high quality product is no match for my tween boy.   For the 2nd year in a row he's broken a binder.  And you know when I heard about it right??? But before we go there, let me give some background information.  In the summer, during the back to school sales, I purchased 4 (yes 4!) Mead 5 Star Flex binders ...

Facebook is going to start charging a fee for usage. President Barack Obama was born in Africa and not in the US. The I.R.S. might call and demand payment for a tax bill that you didn't know about. The holocaust was an elaborate hoax. U.S. Servicemen need your financial help in order to return home. Your grandchild/relation is being held in a Mexican prison unless you are willing to pay for his/her release. President Trump tweeted that community college is not really college. A Nigerian Prince needs your help and will reward you handsomely. Microsoft needs to get inside your computer remotely to remove a virus that they have found. How many of these have you seen or heard of?  How many are actually true?  The answer is NONE, but you SHOULDN'T believe me.  You should do your own research and find out if any of the above are true. It's been said before and needs to be said again:  just because it's out there on the internet doesn't make it true....

5 years.  It's hard to believe.  It's been 5 years since I started blogging. It all started (if you might recall) because my husband bought us tickets to see Michael Nesmith in concert at the Union County Performing Arts Center on the 12th of April 2013. We were/are both long time Monkees/Nesmith fans and we both attended a concert he gave decades ago at the Lone Star Roadhouse in NYC (no longer there) before we knew each other.  (And the venue was rather small).  Any way, the performance that night 5 years ago was wonderful and I wanted to capture the experience and so I started writing. I'm always writing.  I've done so since I was a kid.  (Yes, I still have those embarrassing notebooks full of God awful fan fiction and other dribble that I'm afraid to look at but equally afraid to trash.)  I've had a few things published. (My Beatles fan fiction is still floating around out there in the universe, which is a good thing because I don't have the...

Before the child, when TLC kinda sorta stood for The Learning Channel (though we weren't learning much; I believe today it stands for Totally Loony Crazy), my husband and I were devotees of the show, "Trading Spaces."  I know we didn't start watching at the very beginning (when the host was NOT Paige Davis, but Alex McLeod and included designer Dez Ryan), but pretty darned close.  We watched multiple episodes on the weekends (because the show was running all the time) and often if I was working late, I'd watch the afternoon reruns during my lunch/meal break (around 4 in the afternoon).  We had our favorite designers.  Both of us leaned towards Vern, but I was also partial to Frank and Laurie while my husband liked Genevieve and Doug. (I liked Doug too, but to look at not to work with!)  We both shuddered whenever a couple was saddled with Hildi.  Which is just one of the reasons why I'd never want to be on the show.  (The others being that I have ...

Every once in a while I fill in for our Pastor at my church.  (Yes, clergy DO get vacations! ).  Today was one of those days, so I give you my meditation for the day:  When Pastor Lynn asked me to fill in today, I immediately said yes.  I didn’t need to think about it, I just said yes. But then I had to come up with something to say, and unlike previous times, I couldn’t come up with anything.  Nothing makes you feel more alone than realizing you have nothing to say. I read the lectionary passages in the hopes that something would hit me. Nothing. I started to anxious.  I meditated and prayed on it. Nothing. I got nervous. I know that I am among a loving family, and I have always told my son and anyone who speaks or sings here that it is okay to make mistakes.  In this place no one is alone. It is a safe space. Everyone makes mistakes (remember when Pastor Lynn forgot to print out her sermon, realized it at the last minute and had Peggy ru...

I recently said good bye to Kari.  At nine years old and 91,000 miles, it was time to let go. Kari was a  2009 Ford Escape and she served me and my family well.  Yes, her name was a play on the word "car" (as my son was a toddler at the time), but it was also in homage to one of the great supporting characters of the 2004 movie, "The Incredibles" Kari was the babysitter who looked after Jack Jack while the Incredible family was off saving the day.  Kari didn't know what she was getting herself into.  She certainly didn't expect a baby to disappear and then reappear.  Or seemingly be on fire.  She handled it all.  As a former babysitter I appreciated her skills and the situation, so Kari became the official name of our Escape. She was a hard worker.  She took us to the shore and on various short vacation trips.  She got banged up and dirty.  (I'm still harboring resentment to whoever cracked my bumper AND whoever crack...

Life is a complicated thing.  Rarely are things so clearly cut that they can be sorted into a good/bad bin.  As Cynthia Weill and Barry Mann wrote back in the 1960s and the Monkees sang:  "It was easy then to tell truth from lies Selling out from compromise Who to love and who to hate The foolish from the wise But today there is no day or night Today there is no dark or light Today there is no black or white Only shades of gray" So as complicated as life may be now (and it IS complicated), it was just as complicated "back then" and even before. Good/Bad may be easy to figure out in the movies where the bad guys wear black hats and the good wear white, but it's not like that in the real world.  Things have been done/said in the name of "good" that have really been pretty bad.  And on the flip side, sometimes things or even people that are branded "bad" aren't that at all.  Black and white merge into various shades of gray ...

Through the winter months you dream of it; Spring Break.  No school.  Warm weather.  Ahhh.... Or maybe you're a parent who dreads it.  What do you do with that week?  Do you have the time to take off of work?  Where do you take the kids?  How much is it going to cost? Or maybe you're a commuter who is awaiting it.  Traffic lessens as the families go away.  No school buses to get behind.  No crossing guards to stop traffic for little ones. Well spring is officially here (although it may not feel like it) which means spring break.  Or DOES it? As a family, we've only had one spring break vacation.  That was back in 2012 when we went to Walt Disney World.  It was a pretty fantastic trip. (Despite the fact that my husband's grandfather died the day before we went and we didn't tell my son until after the trip was over AND that I did something awful to my ankle and had to hobble for a couple days and use ...