Bfth's Boring Blog

Dear Mom, It's Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of the summer.   This weekend holds so many memories for me here at the shore at "your house." I woke up as the sun was rising this morning.   (Much earlier than I would have liked).   Seeing the sky change colors from bed was inspiring, but it was also sad.   This was your view, your bed.   You should be here.   While I love this place, you loved it so much more and worked so hard for it. I remember Memorial Day weekend of 2012 as one of the best.   (Too bad that would be shattered just a week or so later with John's death.)   I had lost quite a bit of weight.   (Currently I weigh almost 10 pounds more than I did that weekend, much to my shame.   But still 30 pounds less than when I started my weight loss journey in the fall of 2011.)   It wasn't terribly sunny and you gave me your Bon Ton credit card so that I could buy some new clothes as an early birthday present.   There was no limit to what I co

Last night my son went to the prom.  He went last year ( https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2022/06/mom-prom.html ) which was an experience for me as I had never gone to a prom and didn't know all the "trappings" that go along with it.  (Yes, I was [am?] a sad nerd who didn't have a boyfriend in high school and didn't have a pack of friends that went to the prom as a group. I don't think that was a "thing" back then, but then again, I was so NOT popular or with the "in crowd" I wouldn't have known anyway.)  This year was a little different. Last year, it was a big deal.  I guess that's because it was their first prom/dance experience.  (Covid really did a number on the social experiences.)  Last year everything seemed to be pretty well planned out. This year it was mostly the same group of friends (Two more boys, one less girl), but no one seemed into the whole "plan" thing.  I kept asking how they were getting there a

Below is a meditation I presented on Sunday, May 21st:    Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 There is a time for everything,     and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2     a time to be born and a time to die,     a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3     a time to kill and a time to heal,    a time to tear down and a time to build, 4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,     a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,     a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6     a time to search and a time to give up,     a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7     a time to tear and a time to mend,     a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8     a time to love and a time to hate,     a time for war and a time for peace. Second Reading:  Galatians 6: 1- 10: 1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2

  Just the other day I was talking about how much I loved graduations because it gave me an excuse NOT to have to go to the office.  (In case you missed it:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/hurrah-for-graduations.html ).  But today is Wednesday, my designated day, and there is only one graduation scheduled for the day, so I figured I should go in. It was your average day.  (Or as average as it could be.)  I caught the early bus (or at least MY early bus...there are express buses that leave much earlier) and chatted with some of the "regulars."  (The bus driver even waited as one woman asked her to; she had forgotten something and her husband was running it to her.  No one complained.  This is one of the reasons I like to take the express bus.  Although we don't know each other, we "know" each other.  Does that make sense?)  It was an average drive and I was in my office by 7:40.   Though it was quiet when got in, by ten in the morning it sounded li

 You might think I'm excited about my son's upcoming graduation from high school.  I am!  However, before we get to that night in late June (more than a month away), we have to get through his internship (he started yesterday and liked his supervisor, the middle school art teacher, but thought the kids were obnoxious...hmmm...not at all like what he was in middle school!), prom,  various honor inductions/meetings, banquets, etc.  THEN he gets to graduate.  (And we get to sit on some hard metal bleachers for several hours.  Confession:  I want to see my son graduate and celebrate that, but I really DON'T want to sit out on the bleachers for several hours.  I want to hear what the students have to say in their speeches, but I really DON'T want to listen to administrators drone on.)   What I am talking about (and celebrating) is NOT my son's impending graduation, but the graduation of a whole bunch of other students who I don't even know!  And I'm celebrating f

My Monday morning usually starts off with someone asking me how my weekend went. To be honest I don't want to tell the truth because this weekend was really pretty crappy. And no one wants to hear that. However it IS the truth. (Or the truth as I see it.)  So let me share my fun weekend with you   My weekend “fun” started off early on Thursday when I got a notification from my Discover card about a charge that looked suspicious. It looked suspicious because it WAS suspicious. It definitely wasn't me.  That meant freezing the card and getting a new one. A good thing is that Discover is really on top of things. They would FedEx a new card the very next day at no charge. Sounds good to me.   Sure enough, by late in the afternoon on Friday my new card showed up. Now I to go through all of the businesses that were set up to charge my old card and make sure that I had the new card on their records. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few. You know I'm going to find out in a week or so

 Today MAY be my son's last day of school.  How can I be uncertain?  What kind of mom am I?  Well, it's complicated. The last day of school is June 22nd.  That's also the evening of graduation.  So I KNOW (barring any unforeseen craziness...please let there NOT be any unforeseen craziness) that my son will be graduating from high school on June 22nd. However, I believe this is the last day that he will be in his high school classroom.  Starting next week, he will be doing a Capstone project.  (Translation for me:  an unpaid internship.)  I've heard about "Capstone" from friends before but have never experienced it.  (It didn't exist when I was a senior in high school, which tells you how old I am!) From my understanding, as a senior, Capstone is NOT a requirement (but it kind of feels like it is.)  Here's what it "is”:   Starts 5/15/23 and Ends 6/16/23 -   5 weeks in the field (What field is going to "hire" you for 5 weeks)

 For the first time in a long time, on the 2nd Tuesday in May, I am NOT number one.   In the past, I would have gotten up early (as I did this morning) and (weather permitting) would have gone out for a walk.  (I didn't this morning.  Those  blisters on my feet   are still giving me discomfort so I decided to forgo putting on the sneakers and just did the "indoor routine.")  I would have wrapped up my walk, NOT my house, but at the nearby elementary school (where my mother, my son and myself all went).   Because the second Tuesday in May is election day.  (Yes, really.) The polls open at 6 and I'm usually there a few minutes before.  (So I can say hello to the ladies who run the process.  After doing this for many years, they know me and I know them.)  They find my name in the book, I sign my name, I get my ballot  (that's where the #1 comes in) and fill it out (we've forgone the machines that we used to have) and cast it in the machine (under the watchful eye

  Over the past 10 years, I've written alot about walking and shoes.  I think I do a lot of walking.  And I've been seriously walking for  over 10 years.  (By "serious" I mean that I purposely go out in the morning and walk specifically to get exercise.  I do admit that I've been doing less over the past 6 months since I hurt my knee, I don't walk in the winter and this spring has been chilly and damp.)  Having walked so long, you'd think I would have learned what to do and what NOT to do when it comes to walking.  I haven't. I had some free time Sunday morning for a walk.  It was early and I didn't want to wake my husband up so I didn't go into my sock drawer to get a pair of socks.  (It's an old bureau.  Three drawers are "hidden" which requires the turn of a key and pulling down the "cover" to expose the drawers in which I keep my undergarments.  It's NO loud, but it IS noisy especially if the rest of the house is

  Can you guess what it is?  You might think it is stressed.  That was a contender, but I've decided my word of the year is OVERWHELMED because that's how I feel most of the time.  It's not that there is one thing that is stressing me, there are multiple things.  In all honesty, many of these things are small and/or not difficult, but put them all together and they become overwhelming. For example, going to the office three days a week is stressful, but not overwhelming.  It means being organized and prepared every morning.  Wearing the appropriate business casual attire, but also making sure to wear comfortable shoes for walking and having a coat and/or umbrella for walking to and from the bus.  Making sure I have lunch, my office pass and phone.  (Can't get on the bus without my digital pass.)  Giving myself enough time to walk to the bus stop and making sure the bus is coming.  (Even though I didn't have to go into the office today, I checked the NJ Transit app

  Yesterday, I wrote about my first day back in the office under the new "unofficial requirement" that we be in the office 3 days a week.  It was a ghost town; even more so than usual!  There were so few people that the lights kept going off.  (They are motion detected and I guess me sitting at a workstation and typing didn't cut the mustard.)  For me, it was a long, quiet, slow day. Cut to today.  I took the early bus again. (I knew that today the boss that has an office that overlooks my row would be in and I know that he is an early bird.)  Once again I was there just after 7:30.  As I rounded the corner, the lights weren't on in my row, so I switched them on (it took me way too long yesterday to figure out where the switches were and how to work them) and saw that the early bird boss was in (I knew it!).  So I made sure to say hello before putting down all my stuff and starting my day.  Of course, it took me a little will to get started because he is a talker (a