Fourth Down and Inches

 

Why am I using a football reference?

 I asked myself that same question when I decided to change the focus of this blog. since I hate football.  Well, I don’t hate it, it is just not my sport of choice.  I will sit down and watch an inning or two.  Just kidding, I know "innings" is a baseball term. If I am going to watch, I usually watch the last half of the game.  To me, that is the most exciting part of the game.  The team I am routing for is either getting their a—kicked, or they are winning by a mile, or the game is so close, it is a nail biter.  Those are the best games, nail biters. Also, it doesn't hurt that Taylor Swift has made Football a little more interesting by dating Travis Kelce.  

My husband is a big football fan.  Not just big, he is a huge football fan. I knew that going into our marriage and I was and still am totally on board with it.  A lot of women I know called themselves football widows. Not me.  I call myself free to do whatever I want to do.

 When football season starts, he is so excited he is like a kid at Christmas coming downstairs to see a pile of presents you know are for you. He is in three fantasy football leagues and has direct ticket.  On Sunday he watches games on his ipad, 2 televisions and his computer.  All I can say is that it is a sickness but a good sickness.  It makes him happy.  I just leave a bowl of potato chips out with a bottle of deer park water and off I go.

Obviously, this has been a big influence on my life since we have been married for a longgggggg time. When I think about my life, it really has been a game of quarters.  The first quarter was birth through elementary school. (Go Oaks School 3).  The second quarter was high school through college. (Go Oceanside High and University of Maryland).  The third quarter was after college graduation until now. I am in the fourth quarter of my life.  The game is winding down and I am trying to make the play to convert fourth down and inches to another first down to continue my game. As I will probably discuss, some of my friends have not been lucky enough to convert to a new first down.

So, this blog is going to be mostly about what I am going to try and accomplish in this fourth down which I am calling Retirement. I will be looking back on my but mostly it will be about looking forward and of course I will still be sharing books with you.

 So please join me on my journey.

SNL RAP on the COVID Vaccine

 

I have some fun links to share with you.  The first is an SNL Rap on getting the COVID Vaccine.  Here is the link.

Remember that father daughter dancing duo who I blogged about last year when COVID started.  Here is their  one year anniversary dance.  Still fun!

Would Like to Meet

An editor needs to get her client to finish his screen play.  He is being extremely uncooperative because he has agreed to write a Rom-Com and doesn't want to do it.  To help his creative juices start to flow, they agree that she would go out on dates and write about her experiences.  The most important part to him is the "meet cute".

I think everyone should have at least one meet cute in their lifetime. Admittedly, I didn't even know what a meet cute was until I watched The Holiday with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz. If you haven't seen this holiday movie consider putting it on your movie watch list.  I can't believe I am going to say it but it is better than a Hallmark Holiday movie (gasp I feel like a trader).

So what is a meet cute.  According to Wikipedia the all knowing source of information found online, a meet cute is a scene in a tv show or film where two people who are destined for couple hood meet for the first time.  There is usually humor or a cute circumstance involved.

In The Holiday, Kate Winslet's Character Iris suffers a devastating blow when her boyfriend announces his marriage to someone else at her work Christmas party.  Iris  decides she needs a change of scenery so she does a house swap.  Her next door neighbor Arthur is a retired screen writer who introduces Iris to meet cute.  Here is how the meet cute goes.  A man and a woman who do not know each other both go to the pajama department in a retail store.  He says to the sales person "I just need the bottoms of a pair of pajamas".  She says to the same sales person, "I just need the top". Their eyes meet and there ladies and gentlemen is the meet cute.

I have a meet cute.  It was Thanksgiving weekend.  I went to New York for the holiday and was returning home by train.  I was reading the New York Times, one of my favorite newspapers at the time.  A man sat down next to me and said "Do you mind if I look at the sports section".  I looked at him and said, "Sure it is the only section I don't read"  and he said " It is my favorite section"  That was our meet cute and now we are married. I now glance over the sports section, after so many years I feel the need to be able to keep up with my part of the conversation.

So that is the meet cute.  Consider reading the book it's fun and everyone can use some fun in their lives.

Musical Chairs

Before the birth of Chucky Cheese and all the other venues for children's birthday parties, the birthday party was held at home.  We ate homemade food or pizza brought in from an actual pizzeria. I grew up in  New York where the pizza was fantastic, none of this card board crap served at Chucky cheese. and we played games with prizes for the winners.

The most popular games were scavenger hunts, pin the tail on the donkey and musical chairs.  All of them were fun but musical chairs took the most skill and strategy.

I can't assume that everyone knows how musical chairs is played, so I will briefly explain the game.  The game is all about elimination.  A number of chairs are set up in a row.  There are fewer chairs then players. Music is played and while it is playing participants walk around the chairs.  When the music is abruptly stopped, players must scramble to find an empty chair.  If you are not fortunate enough to land on an empty chair you are out and must watch from the sidelines.  So you must be a good listener and quick on your feet.

My fascination with book titles once again led me to this book. The book is about musicians who met at Julliard and formed a trio. Two of the musicians, the pianist and the cello player have anchored the group for many years.  The violin position has been replaced several times.  Having raised a violinist I have first hand knowledge of the very delicate balance and chemistry that exists between the musicians. It is very disruptive when a musician leaves and a new one joins.

The book begins with the trio once again replacing  their violinist.  The trio has been around for a long time in musical years and having had to replace their  violinist once again they have lost some of their mojo.  They are weary of the metaphoric shuffling of chairs and take a summer break.

While the break was meant as a period of rest before they went back on the road, certain events take place and the two original members of the trio start questioning whether the trio should continue.

Will, the pianist, who has lived in his New York apartment is told his rent will be going up. When he visits Bridget in Connecticut, he meets a woman who he is instantly attracted to.  Bridget, the cellist, anticipating a summer with her novelist boyfriend is disappointed when he breaks up with her over the phone.  In addition ,Bridget's father a world renowned orchestral conductor announces he is remarrying which totally throws her off. 

They are playing a game of musical chairs, with one chair missing and the both of them circling, waiting for the music to stop and then what.  What will be their next move?  Read more about this book.

What's Up

 

Saturday, I woke up early so that I could get my food shopping done before the crowds hit the stores.  Snow was once again in the forecast so I knew the volume would be amped up.  As I was driving, a fire truck and ambulance passed.  

At first I thought nothing of it, why should I, fire trucks and ambulances are part of everyday life and I live pretty close to a hospital. However,  a police car came racing up the road with the flashers on and then another.  Again an everyday occurrence but when five more came racing up the road all I could think of was that there was some kind of shooting incident.  Honestly, I don't know why that came into my head.  Nothing usually happens where I live but when you see all these police cars moving at top speed you know that this is something out of the ordinary. It just goes with the times.  The pandemic has brought out the crazies in a lot of people.  The political atmosphere has brought out the crazies and then there are just those who are crazy.

Sadly, I was right.  The police were responding to two traffic accidents but when the driver was confronted he became violent.  Police fired.  He was shot.

I sit here shaking my head and saying what has happened.  Has this always been happening and we are more aware of it because of a twenty four hour news cycle, or has the world changed so much?

The bigger question is how can we fix it?  How can we make things safer? It has to be possible. I wish I knew.

If Snow May Fall

 They are predicting a big one.  They meaning the meteorologists and big one translated means snowfall. Do I believe it?  I am deciding to go with yes so I have my Kindle locked and loaded.

One of the good things that has come from living with COVD, if you want to call it good, is that we are now use to being confined indoors.  Very little will change once the snow starts and after it is on the ground.  I usually work from home and my company never closes.  It is after all health care.

But like thousands of people, I woke up this morning and made my COVID grocery run.  Mask on, I entered the Giant and joined the many others who were stocking up as usual and those who were stocking up due to snow in the forecast. Since COVID started I do one big shopping as infrequently as possible.  I have been swamped at work so today was my only option.

I started early , but by the time I had been there for ten minutes the store was getting very crowded and social distancing was becoming very difficult.  Usually when I grocery shop,  I take the opportunity to get a lot of my steps in but, my fit bit told me I was behind so I decided to speed up my shopping and get out of the store.

Usually when a "snow storm" is expected I stock up on lots of goodies, including potato chips, ice cream and baking ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies.  

The baking of chocolate chip cookies is a leftover tradition from my college days.  When heavy snow was in the forecast, one of  my roommates or I would stop off to pick up the ingredients after class.  There is nothing like the smell and taste of chocolate chip cookies during a snowfall. 

 Back in the day I could eat several chocolate chip cookies because the college campus I attended was huge and to make it to class with 10 minutes between each class you practically jogged.  I  also had a loaded backpack. so my cardio and weights workout was covered. Let's just say 10,000 steps was an easy goal.

This grocery run my grocery basket contained no potato chips or ice cream.  Believe me I struggled to just walk away and  leave them on the shelf.  I bought healthy foods like salad fixings and chicken wings.  I am so boring. 

Once my grocery needs were met, I focused on my reading needs and loaded up my kindle.  Here are some of the books I downloaded.  

My back up plan if I can't read anymore is to  Knit my sweater or do a puzzle. 

So if Snow may fall, I am ready. Happy Snow Day!

Date night during the Time of COVID

 

Even though we are in the middle of this COVID pandemic, my husband and I try to still have a date night. I use the term date night very loosely because it really isn't our typical date night. It is more a break from me cooking dinner every night.

In the beginning of this whole mess, we tried to frequent some of our favorite restaurants, but they just didn't seem to have the carry out routine down.  On my husband's birthday we ordered from our favorite BBQ restaurant.  The ribs were hard and tasteless the sides dry.  For my birthday, we ordered from our favorite local Mexican restaurant.  I love this place and it is not part of a chain so the food is always great.  Not when we ordered to go it just didn't taste as good.

We tried a few more places but ultimately we decided to give up which actually broke my heart because we want to support local businesses but to spend $50 a pop for inedible food is just not worth it.  So we looked elsewhere and what we came up with is Chik-Ful-A.  They have their drive through strategy down to a science.  

Our date night now consists of placing a mobile order, driving 3 miles to our neighborhood Chik-Fil-A and getting in the drive through line.  Our meal is handed to us.  It is hot and fresh.  The order is correct and When we get it home the temperature of the food is pretty good.  We pour a glass of wine and we have a pretty decent meal.  The best part is that every time we go through this process it turns out the same.  The food is good. 

I found this article on foods American's like to take out.  Not surprisingly, chicken is on the list.

Just in case you are interested read this article America's 15 favorite foods for take out