Bfth's Boring Blog

This month has flown by and as it wraps up, I'm realizing that while November is often considered the month of gratitude and thanks, I've done neither.  I'll admit that it's been a difficult autumn.  I've spent too much time focusing on the difficulties.  I've whined and complained, and sadly, GAINED poundage.  (Feeding my emotions with "stuff" that makes me "feel good" in the moment, but not so much in the long run.)  So I want to end the month on a better note.  I want to end on a note of thanksgiving. So let me take some time to look at the good instead of the bad. For example, I came down with a cold last week.  Nothing horrid, but enough to make me feel crappy and uncomfortable. I'm still not completely healthy (there's that darned nagging cough), but I am better.  And too look at it from a position of gratitude; I'm grateful that I got sick when I did.  AFTER the run of my son's school play and BEFORE Thanks...

Thought it might be time to bring some updates on previous blog posts. Is this a cheat for writing?  Who knows. Let's start with the not so serious, although serious:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2019/11/missing-oprah.html Yes, I am STILL missing Oprah.  AND its time for the December Holiday issue.  Yes, I can read it on my device (and I WILL), but I really want those glossy pages in my hand.  Since calls to the local postal service in the past as fallen on deaf ears, I've recently submitted a customer service complaint on line.  My lack of mail doesn't fall into the categories that they necessarily have outlined, so I fudged it.  I hope to get a response and give a better update soon.  More importantly, I hope to get a physical magazine in my hand (and continue to receive my circulars as I miraculously have for the past 2 weeks and NOT have to depend on my coworker to get Shoprite coupons!) Moving on to the emotional: ...

Who doesn't like to brag about their child(ren)?  God knows I DO!  I probably do a bit too much, but... Since life moves so quickly and things change on a dime, indulge me in my celebration of my son in his first marking period of high school, received all As and Bs in his courses.  Allow me to revel in the fact that all the comments that teachers made were positive.  (Even if they were impersonal as they were selected from column A or B.)  For once things seem to be working.  (Should I have NOT uttered that aloud or on the page?)  Our family screaming matches, while still existent, have been cut down dramatically.  (For me that's a win.) But for me, the biggest wins and what fills me with relief and elation are two comments that my son made over this past quarter. Comment #1:  I kind of like French. This is from the kid who struggled for 3 years in middle school.  He goofed off.  He didn't do assignments....

When I was a little girl (still in elementary school), my family moved from our small(ish) house to a somewhat larger house (by no mean large, especially by today's standards) that was next door to my maternal grandparents.  We needed more space since my baby brother had just been born, AND my parents wanted to be able to help my grandparents.  My grandparents had a small house, but a lot of yard to maintain and a long driveway (that sloped downhill).  My father took care of both yards and had a garden that straddled the two properties. When I was in high school, my grandfather developed Alzheimer’s Disease (although I don't believe it was ever officially diagnosed).  He went to live in what was then called a nursing home.  (Doesn't matter what you call it; it's still pretty much the same thing.)  Sometimes I would drive my grandmother over to visit in her car.  As anyone dealing with a relative with dementia knows, it's a painful process for ...

Trees, take in carbon dioxide and through the process of photosynthesis, give us back oxygen.  Oxygen which we as humans need.  In the United States, trees absorb and store about 750 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.  That's a lot, especially when you realize that the amount is equivalent to about 10% of the country’s CO2 emissions. We all know the importance of trees and plants in our world.  We couldn't live without them.  REALLY!  Our health and well-being are tied to them, whether we realize it or not. For my birthday one year, I asked for some trees.  Five conifers that would reside in our "back" backyard.  (We have a LONG yard that slopes downward.)  I didn't ask for them because I love trees so much. (I think I like and appreciate them more than move.)  I wanted them as a buffer between my property and the business that it abuts.  There was already a fence there, but these trees provided a healthi...

Today is International Kindness Day.  ( https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2019/11/cardigans-and-kindness.html ).  I am wearing my cardigan.    I NEED a cardigan.  It's is COLD out there.  Brutally cold, as most of North America knows all too well.  It is in the 20s outside, but when I sit in my office cubicle today with the sun shining bright (which it was NOT doing yesterday), it will get mighty hot and the cardigan will have to come off.  (My cheap little clock/thermometer cube that sits in the window is currently reading over 80; yesterday when it was warmer outside, but cloudy, it wouldn't even hit 70 and even in my cardigan I was FREEZING.) So with cold feet (my feet are almost always cold) and hot upper body (cardigan, it's just about time to come off), I sit and try to focus on being kind.  I NEED to focus on being kind.  We are all too quick to anger and not to THINK.  This might be one of our greatest problems...

Will you wear a cardigan tomorrow (Nov 13)?  I hope you will.  And by doing so I hope you remember to make an extra effort to be kind. Did you know that November 13th is World Kindness Day?  I didn't until social media tuned me in and encouraged me to wear a cardigan, in honor of a man whose name is pretty much synonymous with kindness and compassion; Fred Rogers. Let me backtrack a little.  Checking out the World Kindness Day website, I found out the following:  " World Kindness Day is an international holiday that was formed in 1998, to promote kindness throughout the world and is observed annually on November 13 as part of the World Kindness Movement. It is observed in many countries including the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and the U.A.E. World Kindness Day presents us with the opportunity to reflect upon one of the most important and unifying human principles. On a day devoted to the positive potential of both large and small acts of k...

Been thinking about this phrase and what it implies and what it might mean.  If the plan is to make America great AGAIN...then the question is WHEN was America great?  Further, WAS/IS America great?  To the latter question I say:  Yes AND No.  Which bring me to the first question...when was America great?  (Or better yet, when did the empirical "WE" think America was great?) Did some careful thinking on this subject.  The United States of America, as we know it came into being in and around 1776.  The Declaration of Independence was written and signed, so that's where I am going to start.  Was America great during the late 1700s?  Yes!  Forward thinking colonists put their lives and liberty at stake to form a new country; they fought and with help (remember it wasn't "Americans" who aided in the battle) "won" independence, setting up a government for and by the people.  The United States of America was a whole new "thin...

File it under first world problem:  I miss my O, The Oprah magazine. Let me start by saying I am NOT an uber-Oprah fan.  (I AM an uber-Gayle fan though.  I HAVE to get my daily dose of CBS This Morning.  The news needs more Gayle King!  She's an amazing interviewer and is not afraid to be silly; yet knows when she needs to be serious.) She's not going to give me a car.  I watched her talk show sporadically.  I watch OWN semi-regularly.  I take her book recommendations seriously.   But I really LOVE the magazine. I've had a subscription in the past, but to my shame let it lapse.  I would see it on the rack when I checked out at the grocery store and I would buy it, if I had the extra cash. I finally decided to get a library card (I  DID have one, but it was so old that it was no longer valid...I am ashamed that it came to that and that it took me so long to get a new one) just so that I could get a digital version of the ...

But I will be one of the first (if not THE first) in line to vote at my local polling station.  Here in NJ polls will open at 6:00 AM.  I'll be out for my morning walk way before that and as I wrap up, I'll be sure to end at the school location where I place my vote.  I'll be there.  I'll be sweaty with ear buds in and hand weights.  I'll leave my hand weights on the registration table as I sign in and enter the booth.  I'll push the buttons for the candidates that I have decided on and then select the buttons to the register a yes or no on municipal and school questions.  Since I have done some basic homework and research, I know exactly what I'm doing.  There's no need to stand there and make a decision; I have looked over my ballot and know what I am going to do.  The whole process will take less than a minute.  Then I will say goodbye to the ladies manning the station, grab my hand weights, put my ear buds back in and head home t...

If you recognize the above as a phone number, then you are either "old" (like me) or into old trivia.   I'm old (though I don't feel that way) and that number was my phone number growing up.   When I was little, I had to memorize it.  It was the only way to get in touch with my mother (or my father, but most often my mother.) There was no speed dial.  There were no buttons or icons to press.  You DIALED the number.  You dialed seven digits to call home. "Back in the day" you only had to use seven digits. Unless you were calling "long distance."  Then you had to use the area code and it cost a lot more to make that phone call.  Long distance calls were not taken lightly.  You put serious thought into making those calls; it was going to COST you.  Time was money; you kept your conversations short (and sweet) unless you wanted to run up a bill that would rival the national debt.  (Ok, so I'm exaggerating a little bit ...

If you've read this blog over the past several months, you'll know that I, as well as my son and husband, have been cleaning/clearing out my parent's home (aka the house that I grew up in) and readying it for sale.  The selling process and story behind it all is a HUGE blog post unto itself (IF I ever can get myself to write it) For over a month (which is why I didn't publish this post, even though most of what is written here was put "on paper" 2 months ago), the house was "sold" but not closed.  Hence my reluctance to put this out there.  (I don't care what has been said or promised; until all the paperwork is signed and a check has been handed over, nothing is final in my book.)  All the work that I did, as well as my husband and my son was incredibly stressful and emotional. I've been lucky enough to have my husband and son to support me. But I am not the only one who is going through this process. Several friends are going t...