Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

A Couple of Things…

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1. Thanksgiving this year was so nice.  Family, friends, a beautiful table in a gorgeous setting. So much to be grateful for this year.  Some Thanksgivings are more stressful than others, but this year I have to say was one for the books.  Everyone contributed to the success of the day, each dish a delight, but what I’ll always remember is the warmth of gathering with people who make you feel so damn good.
Thank you Linda for hosting!

Oh! The phone call from my daughter was icing on the cake ♥

2. One of my girlfriends recently asked me if I liked to dance.  And the sad truth is that I do, but since my knee surgery, that is one of a handful of activities that hurts (mostly the next day). It’s the side to side motion that causes the discomfort. I use to dance, and I still do on occasion…but mostly while sitting in my chair now.

 

3. I confess I was a hardcore David Cassidy fan when I was a little girl.  I owned a copy of The Partridge Family Album with “I Can Feel Your Heartbeat” and “I Think I Love You” on it. I bought copy after copy of Tiger Beat magazine just so I could put up posters of David on my bedroom walls.  Of course my love for the Partridge Family gave way to my love of the Rolling Stones and I never looked back; however, when I worked for KXBS during their Oldies phase, I was asked to introduce David Cassidy at the Ventura Theater around 1992.  I got to meet my teen idol. He was super sweet, and put on one hell of a show.  It wasn’t on my “To-do” list like meeting Dave Grohl, but it was pretty damn cool.

I didn’t follow his career closely, but I was aware that he had issues with coping with stardom and drinking.  He had his demons. R.I.P. David.

4. I’m a little embarrassed (but obviously not enough) to report, I’m totally jazzed about the possibility of Taco Bell adding french fries to their menu. Tell me that doesn’t freakin’ rock!

5. I came across a meme on Instagram and I had to share it.  It featured a “generic” photo of a man sitting in front of a fireplace petting a cat to his right and it read:
“The word ‘homeowner’ has the word ‘meow’ in it.  Good luck pronouncing it correctly ever again.”
“Ho meow ner” works for me!

6. I have to say, I feel uneasy around people who don’t like music.  I mean really, what kind of person doesn’t like music?  Any of it?  I could understand if for some reason music caused them pain like a physical headache or something, but to just not like music?  Freaky, right?  I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re untrustworthy, but something is seriously off.

7. Sexual harassment. There are various degrees of being harassed. Even the most lucky among us, if hard pressed, would realize they had been inappropriately spoken to before.

8. There are nefarious characters out there on the web creating robots that troll websites and fill out forms, so whenever you come across a form online, you are sometimes asked to fill out a line that that’s called a CAPTCHA(Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart).  I kid you not.  It use to be where you saw an image (not text) and then you had to type in the text to prove you are human.  Now they ask you to perform a function.

But really, they’re asking you to not only prove you’re human, but that you passed the third grade.  Am I right?

9. I guess we’re now in full holiday swing. I’m looking forward to getting out and seeing friends and eating more than I should, but the one thing I’m most looking forward to is spending time with my baby, Sydney Rose.  It will be my first Christmas in Portland and only for a couple of days, but I can’t wait to see her beautiful face again in person.  Best present ever.

10. From my favorite quotes file, “Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.” – William Shakespeare

A Couple of Things…

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Winter Wine Walk 20161. One of my favorite events of the year is the Ventura Winter Wine Walk and this year’s event once again did not disappoint.  I love events where you run into people all night long walking up and down Ventura’s downtown area sipping wine, listening to music and have a great time.

Downtown Ventura

Milt, Dad, Carol, me and Sharon2. I was looking forward to just getting through Thanksgiving this year as Sydney Rose would not be around and there would be no home cooked meal; instead, my dad and Carol invited Carol’s sister and her husband (sharp as a tack at 90) to dine with us at Mimi’s Cafe.  Yeah, I know! Mimi’s??  The restaurant only offered Turkey dinners with all the typical side dishes and operated at full capacity like a factory assembly line, very effective getting people in and out and the meal was quite delicious.
It turned out to be a lovely day starting with a video chat with Sydney Rose and ending with the Thanksgiving episode of The West Wing.

3. Speaking of Turkey, Sydney has informed be she back to being a Vegetarian.

4. I’ve always had a problem keeping my cheese mold-free, but I thought it was because I didn’t use it quick enough.  It turns out, that some people report the worst thing you can do is wrap it tightly in plastic wrap.  They say you’re suppose to first wrap in wax or parchment paper, then a layer of plastic wrap.  The best solution for me is to stop buying huge blocks (cheaper) and just buy what I know I’ll eat in a short period of time.

5. Keeping with food for one more tidbit, I read an MSN article about fast food items you’ve been eating wrong your whole life. There were a few tips I found interesting, and some I found condescending, like the description on how to eat Toblerone chocolate, “lightly push your thumb against the top of the triangle to break it off.”  Really?  I did find value in a couple tips like using a fork to dip an Oreo in milk (or coffee), and cutting hot dogs into spirals allowing for extra crevices for condiments.

See article here.
tobleroneSide note on Toblerone, they’re shrinking their bars changing the shape to keep prices down…making it even easier to “lightly push your thumb against the top of the triangle to break it off.” 😉

Florence Henderson6. I was sorry to hear the passing of Florence Henderson, she was such a hip upbeat mom, she broke the mold of TV moms (and real moms for that matter). I’d like to think that my generation of moms all have a little bit of Carol Brady in them.

7. I’ve officially submitted my application to Cal State Channel Islands, I’ll be entering as a junior next fall. Did you know that they now ask questions about whether you are gender conforming, gender non-conforming, or both?

8. I read an interesting article from Redbook Magazine titled, “50 Things Every Woman Needs to Know about Her Body.” I figured I better read just in case there’s some mystery I’m not aware of, for instance, #18 states that not drinking enough water can make your breasts sag?  WTF, right!?? No wonder women always have water bottles about. And of course #41 is hard to face which is cellulite is incurable.  But I love the way they word # 12, “Your Hoo-Ha can change colors.”  That’s just funny. Odd…but funny.

Source article

9. I had a short discussion (private messaging) with a man who was ranting on Facebook about being accosted by police because he was sitting in his van at a local park.  They questioned his reasoning for being near children playing.  He thought it rude and started getting all kinds of sympathy from his friends on Facebook.
See, I thought it appropriate for a police officer to check on him.  That’s exactly what child molesters do. They hang out near children.   He just couldn’t see how that could be a problem, and PD was just doing their job.

10.  We actually have a Burt & Ernie who work in Public Works at City Hall.  An even funnier pair of employees who found themselves working together were Neil and Bob; thankfully these two salesmen had a sense of humor.  They were salesmen when I worked in radio and the morning show guys were relentless with them on the air.

96-ZTR 11.  Speaking of radio, looks like I’ll be hitting the airwaves soon.  The CAPS Media station has a small signal here in Ventura but they will be streaming it on the internet soon. I hope to have a weekly program showcasing local bands of course.
It will be the first time since I was in college that I haven’t used an alias on air.  I was thinking of pulling a Prince, and calling myself, Pam Baumgardner, the DJ formerly known as  Stephster (or Stephanie Rose).

Well it was just a thought 😉

12. From my favorite quotes file:  “Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.” – Oscar Wilde

Thanks for listening!

A Couple of Things…

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Syd at school 1.  Thanksgiving is the only meal where I’m typically full before dinner is finally served. Throwback Thursday pix of Syd Rose.  Ain’t she cute?? I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving!  I’ll miss Syd Rose and I’m counting the days to when I get to see her at Christmas.

2.  I’m a big huge proponent of buying local and supporting small business owners.  I’m also a fan of receiving gift certificates (not necessarily buying them).  That being said, I had 4-5 gift certificates for Star Bucks I’ve been working my way through the past week or so.  I stick to the Venti Roasted Brew Blonde, nothing fancy.  I typically brew my own coffee at home and if I run out or I’m running late, I’ll grab a cup of Joe at the local doughnut shop (small business owner) around the corner.  I kind of feel guilty going in there!

3. I overhead a germaphobe talking about how disgusting the habit of spreading germs via birthday cake really is.  Think about it, there’s a dozen or so candles and the person is blowing their germs via hot breath and spittle out over a lovely cake which is then sliced up and handed out to unsuspecting friends and family and then we’re suppose to eat that?  Perhaps we need a new tradition while singing “Happy Birthday”. Next time I’m going to look into one of those handheld fans…not that any of my family or friends have any germs or anything. 😉

4. A few weeks ago on a hot Autumn day, I was in the Vons parking lot near my home when two guys were standing next to their car debating what to do with the small dog they had with them.  They agreed they couldn’t take him in the store, so to my surprise, they started to walk away leaving the dog in the car with the windows rolled up.  I told the closest idiot to me, calmly and matter-of-factly, and with no hint of a question, “You’re not going to leave that dog in the car.” He looked at me guiltily and said, “Yeah, I guess not.” I didn’t use any invalidation and I would like to think he realized I was the voice of his conscious.  I sincerely hope that poor pup is still alive.

5. I miss Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Ventura City Hall6.  I love that some of us at City Hall have a sense of humor.  This was found hanging upstairs outside one of the popular conference rooms.  The signage describing the artwork is priceless.

7. I had the MRI.  They take twenty minutes and you’re suppose to remain at rest.  I think I would have been more relaxed if the MRI technician hadn’t said just as he was leaving the room, “Alright.  Don’t move!”  Great! That was all I could think of for twenty minutes…holding perfectly still yet wanting to move, stretch, and just wiggle about! The only thing worse than the torture of actually holding still, was the threat that I would have to start all over.  Yeah, I remained virtually lifeless.

8.I witnessed something that was about the most sexy thing I’ve ever seen a man do.  Ready for it?  I saw a man pick up his friend’s baby and he comfortably held it and spoke to it and just gave the baby love and affection. OMG!!  Crazy or what? To be fair, I feel the same way when I see a man treat animals with love and compassion.

hot sauce9. I’ve always been a fan of Aerosmith.  I saw them a few times in concert in the Seventies so I was looking forward to reading Joe Perry’s autobiography called, “Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith.”  I was really enjoying it and it came as a surprise to me how much my memory sucks sometimes when I remembered I actually interviewed Perry for Buzzine Magazine when he came out with his own brand of barbecue sauce around 2002.  He was a nice guy! No degrees of separation!

10. I’m on a quest to improve my cooking skills.  I tend to get irritated and give up when I read a recipe which uses some ingredient I’ve never heard of or some equipment that I’ll never use again, or some skill I’ve never mastered.  So I had the bright idea to start with REALLY simple recipes (there’s actually a website for clueless cooks like me), and I mastered my first poached eggs.  Bam!

11. I figured out that “Comfort Food” is code for “fattening”.

12. From my favorite quotes file:  “For I don’t care too much for money, for money can’t buy me love.” The Beatles

Thanks for your time!

Yeah, I’ve decided to end my blogs with a different sign off.  I was signing off with “Thanks for listening”, but are readers actually listening?

Dictionary.com gives these definitions: LISTEN verb (used without object)
1. to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear.
2. to pay attention; heed; obey (often followed by to): Children don’t always listen to their parents.
3. to wait attentively for a sound (usually followed by for): to listen for sounds of their return.
4. Informal. to convey a particular impression to the hearer; sound: The new recording doesn’t listen as well as the old one.

I guess definition #2 is close, but I’m going with “Thanks for your time.” 🙂