Bfth's Boring Blog

Today would have been my husband's grandfather's 102 birthday.  (I think I got that right.)  He passed away in April of 2012, but he is still missed, especially by my husband and mother-in-law. My son remembers him, though not well.  That makes sense, he was only 6 when he died, but he DOES have memories of him and that's what's so important.  The fact that he was able to spend some time (although it may have been limited) with his Great Grandfather was such a blessing.  They two of them made a great couple. For the first few years of my son's life, Murray lived in Florida and we didn't see him that often.  He flew up north shortly after our son was born.  It was love and adoration at first sight.  (How could it not be?  Yes, I'm biased, buy my son was full of love and cuddles when he was younger.  He still is full of love, but it is a teenage kind of love and those cuddles just aren't cool anymore.)  But then he moved back nor...

  This is not so much a review of the much hyped  Spare  by Prince Harry (or Harry, Prince as it showed up on my Nook) as it is observations and thoughts. (Which is pretty much what I do all the time anyway, so...) Let me start out by giving some personal background.  I am NOT a "Royal Expert." (Although I'm not sure what that really is.)  I can remember when Charles and Diana got engaged and was up an (what for me was then) an ungodly hour to watch them get married.  I did the same thing when Andrew and Sarah got married.  I don't think there was any brouhaha on this side of the Atlantic when Edward and Sophie got married.  (Let's be honest how many people in the USA know how many children Queen Elizabeth had and/or can name them, let alone their spouses and children?)  I remember when William and Harry were born. (Again my opinion, Diana had a better hair stylist when she came out with William than she did with Harry.)  I read the bo...

  When I was a freshman in high school (a long, LONG time ago), I was in the band and we went to Walt Disney World.  This was so long ago that when you talked about WDW, you were talking about the Magic Kingdom because that was pretty much it.  We took a bus (24+ hours), stayed at a motel is Kissimmee, marched down Main Street and spent most of the day there.  (We also did a lot of other things, but...)  Space Mountain was my first coaster.  I loved Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.  I loved it all. When my dad went to Florida for business the next year, we went too.  We stayed at a Howard Johnson's and spent one day in the Magic Kingdom, where I did my best to show off what I had learned the year before.  I loved it. When I got married, we honeymooned at WDW.  Bride/groom ears were not a thing (I wish they had been) and we stayed 5 days.  We went back A LOT as a young married couple.  When my son was s...

  You may remember the saga of the knee which began on December 5 ( https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2022/12/kneedy.html ) when this overweight (yes, I said it), older woman suddenly had knee pain (excruciating the first day) and didn't know what to do about it. I didn't go to a doctor (go on and shame me), but I did take advice of those who've experienced knee pain/issues.  I went full on: R (ested), I (CED), C (ompressed), E (levated).  I DID get better.  However, it was a VERY SLOW process. Those of you who know me (and even those who don't, but who have read my blog regularly), know that I am NOT a patient person.  (I'm working on it.)  I never expected this "problem" to take so long to get better.  I did no regular walking; something I've done pretty religiously since the fall of 2011!  I didn't go to the office for a MONTH!  (Which was only 4 days since I currently am only asked to go in on Wednesdays)  When I did go back, I ...

As much as some point out our differences, when it comes to the basics there really are no difference. While the children's book by Tarō Gomi declares that we all poop in reality we all pee, poop and puke. Doesn't matter if you are the prince or the pauper, these things ARE going to happen in your life no matter what.   Some more than others (obviously).   If you are a female, there's a pretty good chance that when you reach a certain age you are also going to bleed monthly.   Yes, I'm talking about menstruation. The facts are that EVERYONE pees, poops and pukes and a good hunk of us are also going to deal with menstrual bleeding once a month for years.   It's just a fact.   So why are we so embarrassed over it? I get that it smells bad and it's not fun, but it's part of being a human.   That's it.   If you are human (and I hope you are), this is part of your life.   If I take the puking out of the equation, when it comes to peeing, pooping an...

 ...nutshell version:  Not Much! I'm not even sure why I decided to give dry January a go.  Maybe because it seemed like "the thing" to do?  (Which isn’t a good reason at all.)  But giving it a go, I've done.   I'm the kind of person who (generally) sticks to something when I decide to give it up. Or at least when it's for a specific period of time.  (I'm looking at you Lent.)  I say this because when it comes to eating right or giving up sweets or snacks, it doesn't happen.  That's not me.  I not the kind of person who can just give something up indefinitely if there's not a REALLY GOOD reason.  (So, Bfth, I guess losing 20 pounds is not a really good reason?  Answer:  NO.  The answer is moderation is what has and can work for me and that's something I really need to get back into, but that's not what I'm talking about today.) I, like many people, have probably been drinking alcohol since the pandemic.  I l...

 Okay, if you've read any of my blog posts, you know that Wednesdays are NOT my favorite day of the week.  Wednesdays are the day I (physically) go into the office.  (Instead of working remotely).  Getting to (and from) the office in a fiscally (and environmentally) sound way, means getting a bus.  Taking the bus to and from Penn Station makes me anxious.  There's no reason for it; I've done it plenty of times, but... Today, I thought I was pretty good.  I got up, did some exercise (using pedals instead of walking because while the knee is MUCH better, there's still a little bit to go), got dressed and made sure that my son was up so that he could drive me to the bus stop for the 7:30 EXPRESS bus.  (Yes, there is a reason why I've emphasized that...I bet you can guess why.) Around 6:45, I go to check the NJ transit app to see what the bus status looks like.  There is an express that gets to the corner at around 7 (which I took once when I...

  On the first day of the year, I wrote that  I intended to be a kinder and more patient person in 2023 .  It's really not an end goal resolution, but more of a journey.  Ten days in and I feel that I am doing relatively well, focusing on simple and small acts.  I've tried to take time out to really talk AND listen to people.  I've written notes to people.  Nothing major. One of the notes I wrote was the result of a Christmas card that was addressed to my parents.  My father brought it to my attention.  One of my mother's college friends obviously had not heard that my mother had died.  So I brought the card home and even though it was after Christmas, I sent a card back with a note.  I explained that my mother had died and that my father appreciated her card.  Since I had (and still have) so many senior portrait collage cards (oh those senior portrait packages; how they rope you in!), I included one of them, knowing that my ...

Dear Mom, This is the first January 7th where I will not speak with you.  Where I will not call you on the phone.  Where I will not come down to visit you. This the first January 7th where your birthday falls on a weekend and the weather isn't wretched, so that I COULD come down and see you.  But you're not there.  That's sad.  That's weird.  That's unfair. In 2022 we all came to celebrate your birthday weeks after the fact.  I can't remember why it took so long.   We were over Covid by your birthday.  The three of us came down and celebrated, bringing you one of your favorites:  bagels, cream cheese and lox.  It was the last time you would really enjoy it.  (When I tried again around Easter, you were so sick that you could barely eat anything.)   I went alone to the shore today.  Your grandson is at rehearsal.  I know you would be proud of him, having one of the leading roles in one of YOU...

 ...or maybe that should be back in the office again, cause here I am in Newark on this warm(!) January morning.  (It's supposed to get into the 60s today!  It was in the single digits on Christmas Eve and the real feel was in the negative digits.  Go on, convince me that climate change is NOT a thing.  Go for it!) I haven't been in the office since mid-November.  Since the day before Thanksgiving was an early close, I didn't have to come in.  The next Wednesday we had a horrible wind/rain storm, so no one came in.  Then I screwed up my knee and getting here would have been a good idea.  However, with the new year and a better knee I knew I needed to come on in, so... My knee IS much better.  There have been a couple of days when I have been able to walk pretty normally for a while.  I do notice that when I have been sitting for a while, that getting up and moving around takes a bit before everything seems to fall back into plac...

 Today January is REALLY underway.  The kid is back to school and I am back to work.  I will probably have to return to the Newark office tomorrow (for the first time since Thanksgiving) since I think my knee will allow me to do so.  (So stay tuned for adventures in commuting.) Now that life is (somewhat) back to normal, it's time for me to take charge of my life again. (Or at least try to.)  As always, I'm going to try and eat more mindfully.  It's not something that I have a great track record with and is NOT a resolution for 2023, but something that I'm going to try to focus on.  I tend to be a mindless eater.  Eating when I'm hungry?  Maybe.  Eating when I'm stressed, tired, bored, angry, upset, etc.? GUILTY!  I'm going to try to focus more on what my body is telling me and less on what my emotions want.   To that end, there's something "new" (at least to me) that is going around this month:  Dry January.  I ...

  With New Year's falling on a Sunday and today being a Federal holiday (although a friend of my son's had to go to school today which makes no sense...and it's NOT a private school), I'm not sure what day it is.   Can it be Monday?  I'm not working.  Why does it feel like Tuesday?  Actually why does it feel like a day in March or April with current temperatures here in NJ being 50?  It can't be March or April because when I went to  CVS  to pick a prescription, the Christmas candy was 50% off.  (Yes, I got sucked in...I'm not sure how I feel about the  Kit Kat  gingerbread flavor.  The strawberry and dark chocolate is definitely a win and I'm hoping to try birthday cake sometime this year, but I'm still on the fence about gingerbread.) Yes, it is only the second day of the New Year.  A year that I HOPE will be much better than 2022. The holiday decorations still adorn the house (they will come down after epiphany)....

  Resolutions; many of us make them every year and many of us "fail" them.  Not carrying out what we said we would do. So this year instead of  the usual "stuff" (losing 10-20 pounds, getting more exercise, eating better, etc., all of which I want and need to do), I am throwing out two intentions to carry through 2023:  To be a kinder and more patient person.  Now I know that's kind of vague and "experts" say that resolutions are better kept if they are specific so... I intend to be more kind to all, but that is very general.  How can I hold myself to that?  My plan is to reach out, either by phone call or email (depending on the person and the situation) to a friend or a family member every week.  I don't have a specific day or time that I will do this, but if by Sunday evening I haven't done it, I need to stop and DO.  There are so many people on my "list" who I say I want to check in on, but then I don't.  Life just gets away. ...