Bfth's Boring Blog

  Here it is the end of November, the month when we focus on gratitude and I really haven't.  This has been a very difficult year for me and my family.  (Do I even have to say that?)  Last year at this time I would have never have imagined that this is where I would be now.  However, here I am.  And even with the challenges that 2022 has had, I wanted to find the time to reflect on some blessings and hopes.  So... This has been a stressful and challenging year, but I am grateful that I still have the time (make the time?) to sit down and write.  In 2023 I will "celebrated" 10 years of blogging and I hope to continue for many more.  I'm grateful for vegan bakeries and vegan options in grocery stores.  I am NOT vegan, but with my allergies, vegan cooking is a true blessing.  (Except to my waistline.)  There seem to be more and more vegan options and I hope that trend continues.  I know I ...

 Dear Mom, Thanksgiving has officially come and gone.  It was...a Thursday.  I tried to make it "special."  I tried to make it a holiday.  I tried.  But it didn't feel like much. I didn't really sleep in.  When I can, I never can.  James, being a teen boy, can and does.  Steve & I were up, had coffee and biscuits and were about halfway through the parade when he finally came down.  (The coffee was gone.) The parade was all right.  I wanted to watch it because I haven't in so many years.  Or I've only watched bits of it as I was preparing a meal.  I didn't feel anything watching it.  It was just okay, which could pretty much describe the day. It was warm enough to go for a walk, which I did after the parade.  I listened to the first episode of the new season of  TCM's "The Plot Thickens ."  My walk and the episode were okay. When I got home I took a shower and got "dressed" for dinner.  I tried ...

Thanksgiving is just two days away, what is the LAST thing you want to do?   You may have a list of things you don't want to do and I can bet one of those things is go to the grocery store.   I do my weekly shopping on Friday, so my Thanksgiving load was done last Friday.   But... (you knew there had to be a but) my in-laws are coming out to celebrate the holiday this Friday.   (Which I still don't have a good name for. Come on, people, help me out here...) So I can go to the market early on Friday (like usual) and pick up what I need, right?   Right!   However, one of the things I want to/have been requested to serve is coleslaw. I make my own using vegan mayonnaise (My personal favorite is grapeseed oil vegenaise.)   In MY opinion, the coleslaw needs to marinate for a day before serving, which means I need to make it on Thursday or maybe Wednesday.   Buying the pre-shredded cabbage and carrot (no, I'm NOT that dedicated in making my coleslaw) ...

  One week from today is Thanksgiving and it's going to be a strange one for me.  It's going to be an uncomfortable one I suspect. Thanksgiving 2019 was the last "regular" family gathering that I can remember.  My parents had moved to the shore permanently, but drove up for a midday meal.  Family friend/honorary Aunt Julie had not yet moved out of state.  So we were all together.  Who would have imagined that it would have been for the last time? Thanksgiving 2020 we didn't see any family. It was just the three of us.  Although if I recall correctly, I did deliver some baked goods to Julie.  The day after we drove out to my in-laws which started a new(ish) tradition:  Deli Day.  (I need a better name for this...Thanksdeli?  Cold Cut Friday?)  We didn't do anything with my parents for Thanksgiving, although we had gone down in late October and I also went down on my own in early November and late December.  2020 wa...

  Haven't I been here before? November 2021:  My mom is in the hospital.  My son is getting ready for the fall play.  I am trying to schedule parents to help out with the concessions at the play and planning on setting everything up.  I am in the midst of the busiest quarter of the year for work. November 2022:  My dad is in the hospital. My son is getting ready for the fall play.  I am trying to schedule parents to help out with the concessions at the play and planning on setting everything up.  I am in the midst of the busiest quarter of the year for work. Seems like I am doing the same dance over again. Back in November 2021 my mother was in the hospital for an issue and some testing.  In November 2022 my father is in the hospital for an issue and some testing. Definitely the same dance. On Sunday I went to see my father.  I brought my husband with me.  I wanted to see if he could fix the dishwasher.  I was hopeful.  I ...

  It is a cold Monday in November here in Northern NJ.   It had been warm enough on Saturday to sit outside for a bit, but this morning, even in the sunshine, it was cold.  This morning I sat in my car for over thirty minutes waiting and it was cold.  I wasn't wearing a winter coat (I'm going to need to pull that out for my trek to the office on Wednesday), but I did have a heavy sweater and turtleneck.  (I believe the first turtleneck of the season...for many years that was my winter "uniform" a turtleneck with a sweater over it.) I was parked in the sun, but it was still cold.  I turned the car on a couple of times, to get the heated seat "reheated" and once it was warm, I would turn it off.  But my hands were cold. (Heated steering wheel I believe is on the list of things that I will look for in my next vehicle...it's time to take my comfort seriously as I get older.) Perhaps I should have worn gloves, but that would have made turning the pag...

  I remember raking leaves with my husband (before he was my husband) back in November of 1995.  We had just started living together and were getting the lay of the land with each other.  We were raking the front yard, when on our quiet, dead end street, a deer appeared.  We were taken aback.  We were in awe.  There was no one else around at the time to share the news that there was a deer on the block. Fast forward to November 2022, my father-in-law was driving along a busy highway, when he hit a deer.  Actually, that statement is not accurate.  My father-in-law was driving along a busy highway when a deer ran into his car.  We are not talking lonely back road lined with trees.  We are talking highway.  I don't know what happened to the deer, but my father-in-law was pretty shaken.  (Although unharmed.)   Driving home from the shore today, I passed by at least half a dozen deer carcasses on the side of the r...

  Yes, it can be done.  Or sort of can be done. This old dog has learned a few new tricks...kinda. Let's face it we ALL had to learn new tricks over two years ago when Covid hit us.  I had never regularly worked from home.  I couldn't imagine it.  My life and the way I worked change.  I like it.  And I don't want to go back to the way things were, but... As you know if you've been reading this blog, I've been "requested" to return to the office (which is a different office than I worked in pre-pandemic).  I'm not happy about it.  I'm not loving it.  However, I am adjusting. Or at least trying. One adjustment is how I carry my "stuff."  (You know I wanted to use another s word right?)  I have never been a backpack person, but that has changed.  Before the pandemic and before my smallish company was sold to a large company (which in turn is owned by a BIG corporation), the team was given branded backpacks.  I got o...

 ...and I didn't get a sticker (I never get a sticker), but I DID vote.  (I believe I was #4 with my husband behind me at #5.) It wasn't a Presidential election, but I voted. It wasn't a Senatorial race (for me), but a House of Representative race and I voted.  I did not get to vote for the person that I voted for last time and who I would have voted for if my town had not been redistricted, but I voted.  (Not happy about that, but it's not going to stop me from casting my vote.) I voted for members of the Board of Education even though I will not have a student in our school system for much longer.  (Thank you!  Now good thoughts for him getting into one of his top 3 schools...or even all of them.)  When it comes to the local level (board of ed, town council), I know my vote is important.  Living in a small(ish) community, candidates have lost by one vote.  (TRUE.)  So I try to always really look carefully at the candidates because they...

 As we enter the second week of November, I think we have FINALLY ended phase one of the college process.  We have visited all the campuses that my son is/was seriously considering and we are entering the application phase.   We haven't visited that many campuses, but we have visited enough.  Thankfully most of the visits were less than a 2 hour drive away, which means they could be one in a day.  There was only one campus that required an overnight visit, as it was around a 4 hour drive.  (I suppose it COULD have been done in a day, but that's really pushing it.  I don't like to really push it.)  We've visited some campuses more than once.  (Although I say we are done, there is one campus that we are going back to this Friday so that my son can meet with a professor and sit in on a class.)  There is a top three list, and an application plan.  We are really moving forward. None of the colleges that my son is applying to would b...

  (In "better" days) Before I begin today's post, if you haven't read it already, take a look at:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2022/11/its-going-to-be-great-day.html  which talked about my Wednesday.  It wasn't a great day and ended up even worse as the bus I take home didn't show so I caught the next express (30 minutes later) which meant sitting in Penn Station for a good 40+ minutes and then getting on a more crowded bus than usual (because the 4:30 people were now joining the 5:00 people) with traffic being heavier.  It was not a fun day. However, I'm not here to whine; or at least whine much.  But I would like some advice regarding this weekly commute.   For the majority of my working life, I've gone to an office.  I've jumped in my car, driven to the location, parked (for free) and gone in to a building to do my thing.  At the end of the day I drove home.  There was a short period of time (in the last) centu...

 ...not! It was barely 9 in the morning and I proceeded to dump a pumpkin spice latte down my front.  Do you want to guess what color shirt I was wearing?  It wasn't white, but off white and now it's really off white with a large splotch running down my left side.  (Right over the boob and showing off my nice flab of a stomach.)  This wouldn't be a big deal if I was working from home, but... It's Wednesday.  Wednesday are office days.  So I will be sitting here for the next 6 or so hours in a wet, stained shirt...with the cold air blasting from the vents.  (Because it is you know NOVEMBER and we need lots of cold air.) I knew this was not going to be a great day.  I knew it last week when on Thursday I was on a conference call where management and finance were freaking out over numbers for the 4th quarter.  They've been seeing a trend over the past three quarters where dollars that were supposed to be recognized were instead pushed out t...