Looking at art

I have been looking online at some famous artwork this morning as a relaxing way to start the day.
Van Gogh always draws me into his work.

This is "Cafe Terrace at Night" that he painted in 1888. It depicts a cafe in Arles, in the south of France.

Women's History Month

I have come up with two women from southern Connecticut to profile -- one dead and one very much alive.

Any suggestions, fellow Nutmeggers?

It's a tiny baby boy

Our sweet niece and her husband had their first child today. Unfortunately he arrived three months early.
Adam weighed in at two pounds, 12 ounces. It's hard to imagine someone so tiny. We have seen pictures and he looks just like, well, a baby! He has hair and everything. :-)

I'm blooming again

Kid Two is my hero.
He figured out what I was doing wrong. I am back to blogging again.

You call this work?

Tomorrow morning I shall take part in a competitive eating event. For my job.
Never thought I would do such a thing.

Saturday night out

All quiet here Sunday afternoon. Last night my husband and I went out and saw live entertainment, a musical, at a regional theater for which we have a subscription.

We know the owners and they are fantastic. They have been teaching theater arts to children, teens and young adults for many moons and have an incredible way of getting young people to stretch their talents in acting, singing and dancing.

Bravo!

I have a confession ...

I have never been in a chat room. Or on a message board.

Ain't these pretty?

I was totally surprised at work by my Funny Valentine. He sent me this bouquet.
And he made my day.

Note to self: blog!

I need to post something every day, not skip a day as I did yesterday. Keeping an online journal is definitely therapeutic. And that leads me to thoughts of getting on to more serious topics.
Therapy is one of them.

I highly recommend it.

The raise that wasn't

I was wrong.

The extra $$ in my check wasn't a raise. Just a mileage reimbursement inexplicably added to my pay.

And I linked in return

I recommend checking out A Tired Mama.

Lotsa fun to read.

I've been linked

This is shaping up to be a great, though freezing cold, Thursday morning.

Joan the erstwhile librarian linked my blog to hers: erstwhilelibrarian.blogspot.com and I will do likewise. She is fun to read, and definitely more creative than she thinks she is.

Secondly, I just took a peek at my bank account and learned I finally, finally got a (miniscule) raise.

It has been a long time coming, but apparently it's here. I just may have to celebrate and get my felinus obnoxious a new catnip toy today.

One more V. Day memory ...

And the song the husband is nutty about is Duke Ellington's wonderful "Satin Doll."

Jazz...

Boy we sure sound like a couple of old fogies!

Skipped Sunday

To be true to my promise to self to post every day, I will write something else today.

I know my legions of fans are on the edges of their seats! ; - )

"My Funny Valentine" (with apologies to Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart)

It's one of my all-time favorite songs, because dear husband and I met two weeks before Valentine's Day in 1985.

And it was kinda love at first (or maybe second) sight.

Sigh.

Kid One

On Saturday we went to see Kid One the Freshman playing in her school's pep band. She plays the flute and she and her band-mates all seemed to be having lots of fun.

I'm not into sports, but it was a good time. Basketball is so fast that I don't get bored, which usually happens when I watch other sports.

And we won!

The "new black"

Last March one of our twenty-something nieces told me pink is the new black.

Hope that still holds true. Sometimes the pinkness of this template gets to me.

Other times I like the girly look.

I'm not one of those sophisticated types. Takes too much effort.

Time to get serious?

I have refrained from getting into serious topics...just trying to be light and breezy.

But I have a few serious ones I could ruminate about...

'Go Red for Women'

I attended a 'Go Red for Women' luncheon today and I'm glad I did. The speakers discussed heart disease risk factors, both those we can control and those we cannot.

The American Heart Association launched the 'Go Red for Women' initiative in February 2004 to raise awareness about heart disease and educate people about ways to fight it. Women nationwide have joined the movement, according to the association's Web site.

I am proudly wearing my red dress lapel pin, courtesy of the American Heart Association.

The event gave me the kick in the you-know-what I needed to finally call the doctor's office and make an appointment.
I haven't been there in 18 months and I know I should take better care of myself and get checked out.

Today's takeaway: Heart disease kills more women than men.

New family of friends

A blog at its best can serve as a place where people can get acquainted and share ideas about life.

These ideas, if you are a woman, can often be culinarily, marriage or parenting-inspired.

I can share thoughts on all three - just need to know someone is reading.

Wish the Internet had been popular when I was a new mother. Oh, the tales I could have told.

Now I have to rely on my memory, because Kid One and Kid Two are 18 and 16.

I get by with a little help from my friends (with apologies to The Beatles)

Betty Crocker and I just baked some sugar cookies to go in the freezer until Valentine's Day.

Aunt Jemima helped me make breakfast, and I am thinking of asking Uncle Ben to prepare some rice to go with the chicken I'm planning to bake for dinner.

The Green Giant said he'd bring the broccoli.

Mr. Clean and I have an appointment at 9 a.m.

As you can see, I have a lot of friends. They help me get by.

I know Ringo would understand.

Customizing can be relaxing

I decided to customize my template (horrors!) and now I feel like I am using someone else's blog space. But it's all in the name of creativity.

All I have to say this morning is it's still way too cold here in Connecticut.

Yikes.

Extremes

I have a friend who spent Super Bowl week in Miami where the temperature was in the 80s. Now she is back home and the temperature is in the single digits.

I don't even want to think about the wind chill factor making it feel like it's in the negative numbers.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr.

Super Bowl of Chili

It's Super Bowl Sunday and I just finished making a pot of chili. Don't know yet if we are having guests, but at least we have chili, tortilla chips, shrimp cocktail and cheese and crackers on hand - just in case.

A slice of life

I write once a month for Fitfare.net, part of the Well Fed Network, and am trying to get into enjoying the preparation of meals, an exercise commonly referred to as "cooking." : - )

I daresay I am good at making chili, having learned from the master, a.k.a. my husband, and I can whip up a super meat loaf in record time.

But I'm trying to enjoy the shopping, chopping, slicing, dicing, boiling, broiling, and baking of the whole endeavor.

It takes a lot of practice, and a lot of patience.

Proud parents

It's not easy sending a child off to college. But when she makes the Dean's List for first semester of her freshman year it makes it a lot easier!

We are proud of our daughter, can you tell?