It's For A Good Cause!

 I was sitting on my sofa minding my own business (mistake #1) when Brie came home from work. "Guess what?" she said. "What?" "We're having a bake sale at work!" "Cool. What are you contributing?" "Your famous brownies."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you making my famous brownies?" "Well no. But because you're so smart and pretty and the bestiest baker ever, I figured that you would like to make them." Ugh. "Why me?" "Because it's for a good cause!"

It might have been for a good cause, but it wasn't my good cause. However, I begrudgingly said I would make them. "When do you need them?" "Not for a couple of weeks. I was volun-told that I needed to be on the committee so this will be my contribution." "Okay."

A week later, I was sitting on my sofa minding my own business (mistake #2) when Brie came home from work. "Have I told you lately how much I love you, and how pretty you look sitting there and oh so young?" she said, smiling sweetly at me. I gave her a look. "What?" "I have good news for you!" Now I was really suspicious. "What?" "Well, you no longer have to make your famous brownies." I sighed in relief. "Great! So what are you making instead?" "Um, your famous chocolate covered bacon!"

"Are you kidding me??? I'd rather make the brownies! Why did you mention the bacon?" She had the grace to look contrite. "It wasn't me, it was Becky! She was telling the big boss about how I had brought in some before, and it was so delicious, and he was like oh I've never even heard of that, who made it? and she was like Brie's mom Rita and so they decided that the chocolate covered bacon would be a big seller and it's for a good cause!"

Yes my chocolate covered bacon (it really is a thing) is wonderful and merges savory and sweet in the best way possible, but it's a pain to make. And to make enough for a bake sale? I glowered at my oldest daughter. "You soooo owe me!" "Thanks momma!! It will be the best thing at the bake sale! And remember: it's for a good cause." "Yeah, yeah."

I put it off for as long as I could, but by 9:00 pm Sunday night I knew I had to make that chocolate covered bacon for the next day before I fell asleep. It's a bit of a process and takes quite a while, especially when you're making enough for a bake sale and I don't use the pre-cooked bacon (I don't trust it)! However, it was for a good cause! So I had the oven going because that's how I cook my bacon. I had to monitor the bacon, make sure I had snack bags to divide it up into, make the chocolate dipping concoction. All with no help from the person on the committee who was currently on the sofa! 

Finally, around midnight, the luscious chocolate covered bacon was all laid out on sheets to harden overnight. I told Brie the least she could do would be to put it in the snack bags in the morning, which she graciously agreed to do 😒

Fast forward to mid-morning the next day. I hadn't heard from Brie so I emailed her. "Hey, how's the bake sale going? Did they like the bacon? Did it sell out fast?" After a few minutes I got this reply:

"Um...the bacon was the biggest hit! It didn't quite make it to the sale. I gave a snack bag to Becky, and then I couldn't leave out her boss. He loved it so I actually tried a piece, and it was soooo delicious! Then Laurel wanted to know what we were all eating so I gave her a bag too, along with Trevor. Long story short: it never left my team and we ate all of it!"

"WHAT???" I typed. "You said it was for the bake sale and a good cause!"

"It was, but they had enough stuff. Cookies and cupcakes and the like. Everyone on my team loved the bacon and said thank you and you're the best!"

So it looks like I slaved over a hot stove for the good cause of her and her greedy co-workers! Brie soooo owes me!

I Think This Could Happen

 Last night, the group Shinedown was at SPAC with Jellyroll opening. Brie was bummed that she couldn't go because her boyfriend had to work, and they had wanted to go together. As she was bemoaning the fact that she hadn't seen any concerts this year, I had to remind her of two things: 1) he took her to Hawaii for a week; and 2) she was going with me to see Chris Botti (hey, I needed someone to drive me to Troy!). As you can imagine, the second one didn't make her happy!

However, I am very happy. In case you didn't hear the screams of joy last month: I have secured second row seats to see jazz trumpeter extraordinaire Chris Botti in concert in October! Yes I have seen him before but I need to see him again! The first time I saw him, Kitty and I were at SPAC to see her favorite group Earth, Wind & Fire. Chris was the opening act. After his set, he was doing a free meet and greet and I hustled Kitty over so I could have him sign my CD. All was going well and I knew once he met me, he would realize we were meant to be. When it was my turn, he asked my name and chatted as he signed the CD. I was already trying out the name "Rita Botti" in my head. Then he got to Kitty and said, "How are you this evening?" to which she replied, "I'm here to see Earth, Wind & Fire". That was the dart that burst my dream balloon!

But now I have the chance to try it again! When I saw Maria Schneider at the Troy Music Hall, she did an impromptu meet and greet afterwards and signed my program. I'm pretty sure Chris will do the same. I can't wait!

As Brie and I were getting ready to leave for work this morning, I said to her, "Do you think Sting will be with Chris Botti when he does my favorite song?" "I really don't know mom." And then inspiration hit: if Sting couldn't make the concert to sing, maybe Chris Botti would invite me onstage to sing "It's Probably Me" with him! I could contact him via social and suggest it to him!

There was a slight look of alarm on Brie's face as we started walking down the hall. "Um...I don't know about that. You don't sing on stage." "But I sing solos at church and I'm part of the worship team so it's like the same thing! I'll show you." And I burst into an impromptu chorus from the song.

For some reason, Brie began walking faster. "Why are you walking so fast?" Then we got to the stairs and she fairly flew down all 30 of them. "Wait! How does it sound?" I asked, trying to catch up to her. I'll admit it: I don't quite know all the words and made some up, but I needed her to get the gist of how it would sound. And I may not have had the perfect key either, but still: "Picture it with the trumpet!"

She didn't even hold the downstairs door for me! I followed her to the parking lot and called, "What did you think??" I think I'm glad I didn't hear her answer!

Thankfully I have time to practice. You know: so I can be prepared just in case. Stranger things have happened. To paraphrase from the song: "If there's one girl, just one girl, Chris Botti should give a whirl, it's hard to say it, but I have to say it, it's probably me."  I believe this could happen! And admit it: Rita Botti has a really nice ring to it!

I Just Wanted to Hang Up My Dress

 Friday night I decided to go through the Loft bag that had been delivered that day. It was just like Christmas! (still working on that 'date' wardrobe) The first thing I took out of the bag was a lovely white sweater with blue stripes. Too bad it was something I had already ordered that wasn't returnable! So Brie got the sweater. Twinning!

Then I took out what I knew to be a dress, but it was a color I never wear. It looked orange, but according to the tag it was 'bright Paprika'. Brie said, "Well that's different." She was right. But I took it out of the plastic and you know what? It was a nice dress! Maybe I needed a fresh pop of color. So I decided to hang it in Brie's spacious closet with my other dresses. I put my feet into a pair of flip flops and went into her room with her behind me. I got a hanger, put the dress on it and proceeded to hang it up. And then something happened...

I turned to say something to her, not realizing that the flip flops I had on were slippery. My left foot slipped a little and I put my left hand on her hamper, leaning as my right foot came up off the ground. Brie said, "Put your foot down!" but it was too late. My hand sunk in the clothes, I slid a little more as my right foot rose higher, and the next thing I knew I was laying on some shoe boxes next to the fallen hamper. "Are you okay?" Brie asked, stifling laughter I'm sure. I had to laugh. "Yes I believe so." One of the shoe boxes had come open and Brie said, "I've been looking for those shoes!" "Really?" I said. "I'm glad I could help you find them! While you celebrate finding your shoes, can you help me up?"

Before she could do that Lilly came in the room, saw me on the floor and started whimpering, running over and scrambling on top of the boxes so she could examine me to make sure I was all right. Then she gave Brie the stink eye because she thought Brie had tried to hurt me! Vivian came in too but was disinterested in poor Grammy laying on the floor so she left. Hater!! So now I'm trying to reassure Lilly and calm her down, while Kitty entered the room to see what was going on. And then came the project of getting me up. 

I have a bad left shoulder so I couldn't use the foot board of the bed to pull myself up. I had knee surgery so I couldn't get on my knees to get up. Kitty took my right hand to pull me up but that wasn't successful either. There wasn't enough room between the shoe boxes, Lilly and the bed. So I finally had to scoot on my butt until I was past the bed, roll over onto my poor bony knees and haul myself up. Ouch! Then I limped back into the living room.

Luckily I hadn't hit my head on anything. But I knew my neck, back and hip would be sore for a few days. Thankfully poor traumatized Lilly got up in my lap to make me feel better. Not!

Ever helpful Brie said, "I don't know why you wore those flip flops. They are very slippery." Are they Brie? I wear them because you bought them for me!

Here is the dress that started it all:

Cute, right? Yet not worth the aches and pains. And Brie is not allowed to buy me any more flip flops!

The Blueberry Club

 There is this great local supermarket that I frequent called Market 32. It used to be called Price Chopper, but I guess that wasn't fancy enough so they had to upgrade the name.

A big perk of shopping here is they have an Advantage card, which entitles you to extra discounts on grocery items and Sunoco gas. We could all use that now! And when they have special items, like bakeware and cookware, you can use your points to buy them. I was all about the MasterChef cookware!

Anyhoo, I was perfectly happy with my Blue Advantage card, until I noticed a woman ahead of me in line. She took out her Advantage card, and the picture on it was blueberries! You know I had to ask her where she got it from, and she said, "When I signed up for the card, this is what they sent me."

As you can imagine: I was so jealous! I had a plain old blue card, and she had blueberries! My mission was to get one of those cards! So when I went home, I ordered a new Advantage card and eagerly awaited delivery. When the envelope came in the mail, I ripped it open, unfolded the sheet -

- And the same plain blue card was in there! I was so upset! I wanted to be part of the Blueberry Club too! To try to make myself feel better, I did buy a reusable bag that had the blueberries on it, but it wasn't the same. 

My ire was further raised when the girls decided to get their own Advantage cards instead of me getting all the points. As you already know: of course they were both given the blueberry card! Why was I being excluded from this obviously exclusive club? Why did Price Chopper / Market 32 hate me???

So I had to suck it up and not sulk like the child I am inside. I would just continue to use the stupid plain Advantage card and be satisfied.

Then my card stopped working, and I used my license for the points. Yep: I did that right up until a male cashier one day said to me, "You live in South Glens Falls, right?" "Um...I might. Why?" "Well I saw your address on your license the other day. I grew up right around the corner from your family and I know your brother." That's when I knew I had to stop using my license! I didn't need anyone showing up at my house because they know my brother! That was all the impetus I needed to go online to sign up for a replacement card.

My new card arrived Saturday. I opened the envelope and unfolded the sheet, and what to my wondering eyes should appear? A blueberry card to fill me with cheer! I was finally a member of the Blueberry Club! I immediately put the card in my wallet, and I even have one for my keychain which I display proudly because I'm a nerd. Yet I feel like one of the cool kids now 😎 Thanks Market 32! Recognize!

An Interesting Question

 Brie and I were in the living room one evening, just hanging out. Kitty was in her room. Brie was on social and said to me, "Hey, here's an interesting question." "What?"  She continued, "If someone gave you a box that contained everything you ever lost, what is the first thing you would look for?"

It took me about five seconds, if that, to come up with an answer that surprised me. I said, "Bobby Thombs."

"Really?" Brie said. "I would look for Chootie." (our former tiger cat) "Oh!" I said, "I didn't even say my Pumpkin Louise!"  We all know how much I loved my little long-haired Chihuahua. But she isn't what this post is about.

I met Bobby Thombs when we were freshmen in high school. He was one of the kids that transferred to South High from St. Michaels, since that school only went up to the 8th grade. We got to know each other through mutual friends, and were acquaintances through school.

We didn't start to "notice" each other until the end of Junior year / beginning of Senior year. We'd talk at parties, and I remember how shocked I was that he could dance. Of course, this was usually after a couple of beers because he was kind of shy. But he was tall and cute and had the prettiest brown eyes. Yep: I was smitten!

And then I found out that he wanted to double with me, my best friend and her boyfriend and go out dancing at a fancy place called The Fountain in Albany. I was so excited, as it would be our first date! I bought a new red dress to wear, and Emily and I chatted about it constantly since neither of us had been there before. We felt so grown up!

The week before our big date, Bobby and some friends were walking home. A drunk driver hit Bobby and a couple of other boys. He was taken to the hospital and was in critical condition, while the other boys only had minor injuries. I was terrified when I found out. But I prayed for him and told his friends that he would be okay. After all: we were both looking forward to our big date!

Alas, he died the night before our big date. My best friend came to my part-time job at Montgomery Ward to tell me, and to take me home. I was absolutely numb.

All of his friends went to Bobby's wake. It was the first time I had ever attended such an event, and I was a most unhappy camper. Finally: someone who wanted to date me and was actually able to date me, had been cruelly taken out by a drunk driver instead. i was devastated.

A few years ago I was sitting at my desk at work. All of a sudden, I felt...something go through me, and I heard the word 'Bobby'. That day I went to the cemetery to talk to him. I guess he wanted to make sure I didn't forget him. As if I could...

Forgive me Pumpkin Louise for not naming you first. But I think you understand.

So I ask you the same question. What would you look for first in that box of everything you've lost? Let me know!

Sometimes I Feel Like...

 ...Somebody's watching me. And I know exactly who it is: the internet and more specifically: Google. Seriously: how do they know what I'm looking at within five seconds of me looking at it???

A couple of weeks ago during my lunch break, I was looking to see what kind of good clearance items they had on the Torrid website. I have a collection of "date night" clothes and wanted to add to it in case someone wanted to take me to the Ridge Terrace before they close for the season (hint hint). 

Anyhoo, there was this really great electric blue dress that was FINALLY on clearance, and in my size! I hurriedly put it in my cart, along with its sister in black in case I lose my nerve with the blue one. It's a little out of character for me, but not for the Ridge Terrace! Or 15 Church, for that matter 😉 Then I found a couple of nice tops I'd had my eye on and now they were clearance too! So I put 3 in the cart (you know I had to get one for Brie or else I'd never hear the end of it once she saw them!) and a t-shirt dress I can't wait to wear. I placed my order and was satisfied.

A few minutes later a co-worker came over with a non-work question about a recall he had heard about. I looked in my email and I had one listing different recalls. I clicked on it (as I always do when I see recall alerts) and not only did the list of recalls come up: but also on top were all of the items I had just bought! He's a smart man so didn't say anything, but he was fighting to not burst out laughing as I clicked on the recall he had mentioned. The only thing that would have been more embarrassing was if I had ordered lingerie!

Then, when I went on Instagram and Facebook a little later: there were the ads for those same items! Why am I being stalked by the internet? Why does the internet want people to know what I buy??

I'm sure some people think it's a good thing so they never miss a sale or get to see new items coming up, but I find it a bit creepy. I don't need their suggestions of what I might like: nor do i need them reminding me of what i bought or that the price is now 70% off instead of 60%. Leave me alone!

But if I'm being completely honest, and I do try to be, there is one ad that I don't mind seeing at all. One day I was thinking about my new favorite show, Yellowstone, and a commercial I had seen. So I went to the website of Tecovas boots, which is what they wear on the show. No I didn't buy any because they're like $275 a pair, but I am not mad when those ads pop up! Rip, feel free to call me and I'll put on that blue dress for ya! 

Your Item Has Been Delivered

 No, it hasn't. 

You see, I placed an online order with Old Navy for leggings. They were only $6.00! Yes I know I already have 742 pairs, but when you have to split them with Brie...well you can imagine! And the weird thing is: she always tells me to stop ordering them because I have enough, yet when they show up she wants to know if I got her any! But I digress...

Anyhoo, I placed the order and even though it's 180 degrees every day, I couldn't wait to get them. I finally got the email that they had been shipped for free. Hooray! I'd have them soon and put them away for Fall.

And then, on July 14th, I got the text: your packages have been delivered! I was so excited. When I got home they weren't in the package area for deliveries, so I assumed that Kitty had taken them up and put them away. Then I promptly forgot about them until a few days later when Brie asked if we ever got those leggings. "Yeah, they were delivered on the 14th," I replied. "Well do I get to see them?" "When I'm ready to show them to you." Then I again forgot about them.

Schmoop-dog came over the following Sunday, and Brie again asked about the leggings. I half-heartedly looked around and said, "I think your sister brought them up. Ask her where she put them." She did, but her sister said she hadn't brought up any Old Navy bags. Then Schmoop said, "Didn't we carry up a couple of bags a couple of weeks ago?" I thought I vaguely remembered. "Maybe. Where did we put them?" We all looked around the room. "On the island?" he said. Nothing on the island. I saw a bag on a box by the front door. "Oh this must be it!" But it wasn't: it was tee shirts.

I checked my phone and went back to the text. I clicked on the link and there was a picture of a delivery guy with my packages by the door. Had someone stolen them??? Ugh, what a drag! "I'm going to have to contact Old Navy and tell them I never got my packages. I hope they replace my leggings!"

And as you can imagine: I never contacted them. It was too hot for me to do much of anything. Seriously: I cannot stand summer!

So a week or two later: imagine my surprise when Kitty sent me a text that said "I brought in your Old Navy packages." "What Old Navy packages?" "The ones in front of our door from FedEx." WTH...?  Sure enough, when I got home, there were the two Old Navy packages that were photographed supposedly delivered on July 14th, yet were brought to the apartment on August 2nd. And it wasn't laser ship this time: it was FedEx. Go figure!

I think the important thing is that I received my items without calling Old Navy, since I made no move to actually do it. However, the other thing is I think this was God's way of saying 'enough with the leggings!' I believe he's right!