A Quickie

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Linda Andrews

Still on vacation, but I wanted to share 2 things I’ve learned this year.

It is possible to lose a 24 quart tote of Christmas decorations full of ornaments.

And never do yoga with socks on. Your knee, elbow, and hip will thank you.

Until next time!

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Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2017 by Linda Andrews

For those of you who celebrate it, Merry Christmas! May you spend today surrounded by family and friends.

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Writing Inspiration

Posted on December 22, 2017 by Linda Andrews

Aside from my love of history, one of the things that inspire stories are places like this:

 

I love stations almost as much as I love trains. Especially when they’re fantastic old building like this one. Train stations were the hub of American life through many wars. They were a nexus of change as families left familiar ground and moved around the country.

Many of these journeys were one way trips.

As artists, dreamers, and conservationists, we are in a unique position to bring these places alive once more. These areas provide a link to our past, hints at our future, and well they’re a lot of fun.

Especially if there are ghosts involved. Just saying:D

In a side note, I won’t really be posting next week as I’ll be enjoying the holidays with family and friends.

Until next time!

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Time to Say Goodbye

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Linda Andrews

I must confess one of my first loves was Dr. Pepper. Freshman year in High School and we were the best of friends, sharing all our lunches together and meeting up for breaks. Not surprisingly, our relationship intensified during my college years and I’m sure my grades would have suffered if the Dr. hadn’t been always available during exams:D.

Alas, like all relationships, there was a downside.

No, I’m not talking about the sugar and my waistline, I’m talking about something personal: Caffeine.

You see something happened in high school. Something pretty unusual for most folks at 16. I started having sharp pains in my chest. Sometimes bad enough to bring tears; always enough to knock the breath from my body.

You see, I have a heart condition, and caffeine exacerbates my bradycardia/tachycardia which causes the upper and lower portions of my heart to be out of sync together. It is a cruel and evil twist of fate for me.

And so, once more, I will give up the wild caffeine and my favorite beverage to stave off those attacks. This will occur at the least stressful time of year called Christmas. This is because I can then manage the withdrawal headache and the fatigue during my week of vacation.

I managed to be caffeine free all summer in 2017, I might make 4 months in 2018. After all, the Dr. is the hubbinator’s beverage of choice, too. And I’m keeping him:D

Until next time.

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Size Matters

Posted on December 18, 2017 by Linda Andrews

Yes, the TV saga continues. You see, we gave up cable/satellite TV years ago and now rely on our roof antennae for our TV programs. There are quite a lot of them, although if you remove the Spanish, religious, and shopping networks, the number is reduced by 25-30%.

Having inherited our son’s 49.5″ TV (he upgraded to a 50″) we quickly attached it to our antennae then scanned for channels.

60 channels popped up but not any of the 5 PBS channels (yes, I am a This Old House and Antiques Roadshow junkie).

The next morning, I climbed onto the roof and checked out the antennae splitter we use and found this:

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Now, we should all remember from Sesame Street that one of this things is not like the other. The smaller hole keeps the connection to the antennae wire snug whereas the broken plastic guide allows for anarchy. But to test my theory, I switched the cables and did another channel search. Instead of 60 we now picked up 92 channels, including PBS.

I also ordered a new splitter and installed it. Now both TVs have the same number of channels and I’m back to watching 3 of them:D.

Until next time!

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Adding to the list

Posted on December 15, 2017 by Linda Andrews

I love Christmas Carols. Sure I get burnt out listening to them at the beginning of January, but I’m also the person who starts listening to them in June. Yes, June.

Since they are on my iPad, I play them at work and when my boss comes into my lab and hears them I tell them it’s psychological warfare. When the temperature is nearing 120F, pretty much anything to help stay cool is allowed.

Of course, as a writer, it helps to get into the spirit of the season while you’re writing it even if it’s still have a year away. And when the season is upon us, it is even better. We have a station that plays them all day long.

Which means, I’ve picked up a few ‘new’ songs to add to my summertime playlist. In the spirit of sharing, here are the songs so you can listen along:

Have one you want to share? Please provide a link in the comments section.

Until next time!

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You know that cat?

Posted on December 13, 2017 by Linda Andrews

Recently, we were able to upgrade our old 90lb 32 inch TV with a nice 49.5inch flat screen TV. No, we didn’t buy a new TV. Our son did and we inherited his old one. Score!

Anyway, it was while the hubbinator and I were wrestling with the old TV that we noticed the cord had been chewed on.

Hmmm.

There were 5 suspects, although 2 cats rarely come out of their hiding spaces, left us really only 3. The dog was never a suspect, the bite marks were far too tiny.

Anyway, it wasn’t long before he revealed himself.

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Seems being bad is why he wears prison stripes on his fur.

Of course, we’ve now invested in a cord cover, so he doesn’t end up like that cat from Christmas Vacation.

Until next time!

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On Fire

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Linda Andrews

I’ll admit to being a bit of a movie addict. So when I learned that Hallmark had taken over Feeln, I was quite keen on being able to watch Hallmark movies without subscribing to cable.

So I downloaded the app onto my iPad.

And watched a couple of movies, but it wasn’t the same on that small screen. And the Blu-Ray player wasn’t capable of connecting to the website nor downloading the app, so I went to Target and purchased an HDMI cable to connect my computer to my TV, which would give me a really, really big monitor.

Except, I got the thing connected and it didn’t work. Apparently, my PC computer is too old to connect (which is just a plot to get me to purchase a new PC). Not gonna happen.

And so my son mentioned why not just get a stick. Amazon has one. Google has one. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Sure enough black Friday rolls around and amazon’s fire stick is on sale. So I purchased one.

There in 1080i and 49.5 inches is HMNow. So I might have binged watched a few shows this last weekend.

And bonus! I got Tedtalks, too.

Sadly, I may have miscalculated as youtube is going away after January 1. Google owns youtube. Hmmmm. I do have another TV.

Until next time.

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The Lies We Tell

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Linda Andrews

Once upon a time making gifts/cards/presents was cheaper than purchasing manufactured items.

Apparently, that was so last century.

Or the century before.

Either way, it isn’t today. And yet, I still have it in my head that I should make homemade Christmas cards. So I spent $55 for supplies instead of buy-in a box for $10 (this year’s edition, not last years). This year’s haul:

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Sure, I can reuse the stamps and I suppose there is something relaxing about coloring the images I cut out by hand. (Youtube said I could use a rolling pin, two quilting mats and some tape. Youtube lied.)

Ah, who am I trying to kid. I find the whole artistic expression a nice break from wracking my brain for words to paint a picture.

And my mom kinda likes them.

Until next time!

 

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Does anyone else have

Posted on December 4, 2017 by Linda Andrews

We have a mini panther, but lately he’s become more of a potty panther. Let me be clear, this is my son’s cat. I may have saved him (for which I was hissed at, although he did share his fleas), I may have bottle fed him from 1 1/2 weeks old to 7 weeks every couple of hours (for which I was hissed and scratched), but he is my son’s cat.

Yet lately, there’s been a noticeable change. He appears at night and in the early morning. And he sits on the toilet:

It costs two pets to get him to jump off, then he sticks around for even more petties.

And there had better be more petties or someone’s blankets are getting peed on. It’s his MO.

My son says this behavior is about protecting me.

Yeah, right. When he’s being petted, he’s a little ecstatic and the only reason he’d be upset if I got hit by a meteor would be because I stopped petting him. Of course, his presence usually bring a few other cats and the dog, so I’m pretty sure I’m protected by default:D

Until next time.

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