Category Archives: Of This and That

Back and Busy…..

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Although we did leave the cold behind on Thursday, ironically temperatures went down a bit here as well. Not to where anything other than long sleeves were required which meant great improvement over sweaters and coats. The list of to-do’s I already had lined up for the week was added to yesterday and timing is going to be trickier than I expected next week. I have to shift a few things around and do some extra coordination.

Hubby did get enough groceries yesterday to carry us through the weekend and there were some lovely lamb chops. While we do enjoy lamb routinely, Easter is one of the times we like to specifically have it. Bothering with a traditional leg is not something we do after having tried it once. The meal was good; just more involved than marinating and throwing chops on the grill. I’ve posted before about how lamb was never anything we ate in the deep South because back when I was growing up, it simply wasn’t really available. All that has changed of course as even if you live in a place without a major grocery store, there is the internet option.

We’re having snapper with roasted tomato and tomatillo sauce tonight to balance out the extra red meat of the past few days. Hubby will spice up the black beans to go with rice and I’m still trying to make up a bit on the salad side. The kids always enjoyed ordering appetizers for dinner and that did not include one as a salad.

Anyway, Happy Easter to all who celebrate it.

Where Did the Week Go……….

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Ah, the usual answer of course with some extra deadlines thrown in and forgetting to check when I did the last post. This week isn’t really any better as I have to line up an interview to ensure I have an article for the paper while we are away. It’s a nice story though – I think – as it is a Barber School which has opened downtown and promises a career in nine months. As anyone who follows the blog knows, I am a big supporter of the trades, or in this case, personal services, that provides a path to at least start on. I hope they also have some data as to hires after graduation.

Anyway, shifting onto the personal writing side, even though I’ve never had a commercial success, there are a couple of paths for writers like me who have a large body of work available. One way is to have some celebrity pick up a book and start talking about it. Not very likely to happen. The other is having a book picked up for film or television which then generally will drive sales. I receive weekly cold calls/emails offering a package about getting more attention for one of my books. In one case, it’s a company I did open an account with and never opted for their service. They recently sent a special offer for a significantly reduced price and since I didn’t publish last year, I thought I might as well have a conversation. That led to me agreeing to do a submission. What I didn’t realize was the offer was actually for five “pitches”, not one. Since each pitch requires about three-four hours to prepare, it has been time consuming. The focus will be my two scuba-themed mystery series. The first two are for Shades of Truth and Shades of Gold, then the first three in the Chris Green series. Those are Deadly Doubloons, False Front, and Georgina’s Grief. (If you’re new to the blog, everything is at https://www.charliehudson.net/books.html) I still need to complete one step to activate the other four and it’s a graphics thing I have to get help with. I can’t say I expect any real success, but as has been my approach all these years, I might as well try.

Two Charter Memberships…….

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I belong to multiple associations/organizations and in two cases, am a charter member. The first one is a bit amusing. I was stationed in Maryland and as usual, received constant requests for donations to things I contributed to as well as many others I don’t. I open a letter one day asking me to become a charter member for the National Museum for Women in the Arts (NMWA) to be established in Washington, D.C. They went on about how there were no dedicated museums to women artists and this would not be part of the National Parks system, but a private museum such as the Phillips. I wasn’t sure if the request was legitimate, but I sent a check and then pretty much forgot about it. I eventually receive another letter about how NMWA has now purchased a building and whatever date they anticipated it would be renovated and opened. Well, that was good to know. When we went back to the D.C. area, we went to the museum for the first time. It was previously a Masonic Temple and has an odd shape. Inside, however, the building itself it practically a work of art; lots of marble and soaring ceilings. Two floors are for rotating exhibits as they have so much art, it can’t all be displayed. One floor is special exhibits and they have had some fabulous ones. The fourth floor is for research and archives. There are rooms for meetings and lectures, a lovely gift shop with obviously great  items and there is a Metro station a short walk away. https://nmwa.org/

The second organization is one I’ve posted about before and I note on Facebook each Memorial Day and Veterans Day. I was stationed in Hawaii when Brigadier General Wilma Vaught made the rounds to tell women about the plan for The Women in Military Service for America (WIMSA) museum. In selecting a site within Arlington Military Cemetery, that ensured it would be easy for people to find. It is h intriguing and a totally different concept than NMWA. The history and stories it contains are varied and inspiring. One of my goals if we ever have an extra couple of days when we visit the kids is to take Amelia to both places, but especially to WIMSA. https://womensmemorial.org/about/

Need That Extra Day……

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I think it’s good we have the extra day in February this year as more tasks seem to pop up all the time. Oh, I did have a boss one time – well, worked for him on two different assignments years apart – who was a Leap Year baby. While being born on April 1st can come with its own set of jokes and being born right around Christmas can cause birthdays to sort of get overlooked, a Feb 29th birthday has to be the most confusing. He, and maybe most, chose to celebrate Feb 28th in the off-years.

And speaking of birthdays, we are once again, by coincidence of timing going to be with the kids and granddaughter not long after her birthday. No present on that day, but will hold off until we see them not quite two weeks after. That way, we’ll combine a souvenir for the trip and birthday present. She’ll have plenty to open on the actual day. We will take care of her for at least one day for the kids to have a, “date day”, and might turn that into two. If so, one day might be “girls only” and let Hubby go off for a photo shoot as we will be in Center City Philadelphia with a lot of great architecture. If we do that, there could be shopping involved to buy a new outfit. The advantage of Philadelphia in late March is the weather might be really nice for the many outdoor things available. If the weather is tricky, there are plenty of indoor options as well. It might not have the magic of Disney, but the Science Center is terrific and there is allegedly a Lego place which of course will be a draw. We won’t make firm plans because it’s too unpredictable and since we will be there on week days, getting into places should be okay without advance tickets.

 

No Scuba This Month Either…….

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In all fairness, I don’t usually have the chance to dive in February and often not January. While the water is colder, I can generally handle that. The issue more often is wind. Hubby has had some really tough days on the water the past three weeks and  was even if my schedule was better, the odds are I wouldn’t have gone out. Yes, those of us who live here do get spoiled. The amusing part is for divers who come from the Northeast or the Great Lakes area consider these conditions to be almost balmy.

Added to the weather aspect, I did take a tumble Jan 6 when I was in a hurry and didn’t notice the uneven paver. My hands were full so when I fell, my right wrists didn’t take the full impact. The sprain was manageable as were the scraps and bruises. It isn’t completely healed though and I suspect trying to wrestle with dive gear for another couple of weeks wouldn’t be a good idea anyway. I am working my way back to being able to do my toning exercises where I use 5-pound hand weights. I do that three days a week with a series of eight different exercises starting with 32 reps per arm, then 34 on the second day, and 36 on the third. I managed four exercises yesterday and stopped. As much as I would like to be completely healed, I know I have to be careful not to push too hard. A friend who was in physical therapy a few times following surgeries was bad about, “if some is good, more is better”. One of the therapists finally convinced him that, no, they set up his schedule for a reason and trying to “do extra” would do more harm than good.

I am grateful it was no worse and am respecting the fact that we don’t heal as quickly as we did in our younger years.

Valentine’s Day Dinner……

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I think I have mentioned before that we no longer go out for Valentine’s Day, Mothers/Fathers Day, or Easter. It’s just usually so crowded and hectic that unless we happen to be traveling during one of those we would rather cook a special meal at home. That was especially true this year since Valentine’s Day was on a Wednesday. We had steaks over the weekend and I didn’t get over to Sprouts to see if they had any tempting cuts of meat. We decided on lobster risotto and we already had some leftover spinach and artichoke spread from Sunday. I wanted our Florida lobster, but Publix didn’t have any and I wasn’t going elsewhere to search. I picked up the little Canadian tails which are fine for something like this.They did have this nice little heart-shaped white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake so we were all set. Oh, and champagne of course.
I know I have mentioned risotto is one of Hubby’s dishes; I’m not allowed to touch it. I shucked the lobsters, tossed the tails into the pot for him to make stock, chopped the meat and added some melted garlic butter to let it absorb the flavor for a while. If you haven’t ever  made risotto, a critical step is to take between 22-30 minutes for the dish which requires adding liquid incrementally and stirring almost constantly. After the stock was ready and Hubby chopped up the salad veggies, I warmed up the dip, and he opened the champagne. We poured one glass for “chefing”, and he commenced with the risotto while snacking on the spread and crackers and sipping champagne and I finished the salads. He opted for a frozen mixed veggies to co along and there was one lovely garlic roll also left over. It all worked nicely and was delicious.

How Many Names?……

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I covered an event the other day I wasn’t originally schedule for – another of those reasons I’m behind on posts. It was a “re-naming ceremony”. For those who aren’t familiar with this area, there is a peculiarity about street names and numbers. For those who know, it may be worth a chuckle. We have County and Municipal systems as well as potentially State and Federal. In this county, certain cervices such as Fire and Rescue are at the County. There are also the property records. Anyway, the County designates streets in their system and each municipality in theirs. Since Miami Dade County is north of here, this is why NE 8th in Homestead is also 312th using the County System. It is named Campbell Drive. To complicate matters, sections of a street may be further named in honor of someone. I’m not sure how long a section is permitted and in all fairness, the sign that goes up is not entered into any of the navigation databases nor is it placed on the regular street sign. It is in talking to people where confusion can happen. I was interviewing an individual once whose uncle (maybe great uncle) had a section of one street named for him and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where he was talking about. It was maybe five or six months later I was on that street and happened to notice the extra sign showing the honor.

Anyway, in the case of the very well-attended Street Renaming Ceremony I covered, it is not a major street and probably won’t cause much confusion. The problem I had was for some reason, my navigation system wouldn’t accept the address on the press release and defaulted to a similar street in another direction. Fortunately, the route took me close enough to the correct place so after I passed it, I managed to work my way back around.

Extra Long Lapse….

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As those who follow the blog might have surmised, things have been even more hectic than usual. It’s a combination of circumstances, events, overlapping deadlines, and the finally fading effects of a sprained right wrist. I took a tumble 3 weeks ago and while I can’t say I was happy about that, I was happy for a sprain as opposed to a break. I am also taking the unusual step of not attending an annual event this weekend in order to actually have one day for the first time in three weeks to not have an external commitment. Or maybe it has been a month; I am losing track a bit. Not that my to-do list has diminished by much; any amount does help though.

It’s Rodeo weekend and Hubby has to teach today and tomorrow and will be at the Rodeo Sunday for the photo shoot. I can’t recall how many years he has done this now, and it is very different from covering races at the Speedway. He does get some incredible action shots and some adorable kid shots as well as capturing the enjoyment of the crowd. The weather is supposed to be great this year and it is the 75th anniversary. I think all three days – well, one night and two days – are near capacity in ticket sales. Allegedly, approximately 20,000 attended last year when everything was combined. I don’t recall ever seeing an economic impact statement although I imagine someone has that.

Moving on to other topics, I  am getting used to the new Escape even though some functions still confuse me. I haven’t figured out how to pre-set music channels or really try the sun roof. The gas gauge indicator is odd as it has tick marks instead of a dial. On the other hand, there is a digital readout of how many miles until empty.

Oh, and one of our lovely orchid is in bloom again. The only ones we have luck with are the outdoor ones.

Orchid in Our Front Yard

 

 

Tips and Cash……

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One friend we have lunch with every week or so generally does not use a credit card. When she does, she still leaves the tip in cash. We had the discussion about this and for quite some time, I continued to add it to my credit card. Now, as it happens, some of the places in town have switched to including an automatic service fee. Anyway, I got to thinking about this and like a lot of people, I don’t necessarily carry a lot of different bills with me. On the other hand, due to a couple of different things, I have to make bank runs fairly often. I started swapping out some of my twenties for $5s and $10s and keep those in a separate envelop at home that I then transfer some of the bills every few days into my wallet to use for cash tips now.

Aside from allowing the server to have immediate cash, I am not quite certain how a place handles tips from credit cards. For example, does the server get the entire tip or do they subtract the credit card fee? Do they give the server the tip along with their paycheck? I simply hadn’t really thought of these this until watching my friend. The one thing though is if a tip is automatically included at say 18% and I ordinarily tip 20%, that can be more complicated. Adding the extra in this case might mean I need to have some $1s to augment. That, and if the tip is more than $20 is when I may well keep it on the credit card.

Another Guest Post….

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Hi everyone. Here is a new one from Abby Holt, whom I have featured before.

Unleashing Your Full Potential: Actionable Strategies for a Fulfilling Life

In today’s fast-paced world, pursuing a fulfilling life and achieving personal goals are at the forefront of many minds. To help you on this journey, Abby Holt of Craftability has compiled a list of actionable steps you can take right now to live your best life. These strategies will empower you to make the most of your potential and enjoy a daily life that motivates you to keep growing!

 

Becoming More Resilient

Life is full of challenges, but your ability to bounce back from setbacks is crucial. Build resilience by embracing adversity as an opportunity for growth. When faced with obstacles, view them as stepping stones toward your goals.

Each challenge you overcome strengthens your resilience and equips you with valuable skills for future endeavors. It’s not about avoiding difficulties but facing them head-on and emerging stronger.

Sharpening Your Knowledge and Skills

Boosting your earning potential is a key component of achieving your goals. Consider pursuing an online degree to expand your knowledge and skills. Continuous learning is an investment in yourself and can open doors to new career prospects and personal growth.

By exploring online education, you can see how this can help you study while balancing other responsibilities — whether it’s mastering a new language, acquiring technical expertise, or gaining an advanced degree. It can ultimately lead you down a pathway to a brighter future.

Practicing Self-Care Every Day

Your well-being is essential. Prioritize self-care by setting aside time for relaxation, mindfulness, and physical health. Dedicate moments in your day for activities that rejuvenate your mind and body, such as meditation, yoga, or simply taking a leisurely walk.

A well-rested, stress-free individual is better equipped to tackle challenges and pursue their aspirations. Making self-care a non-negotiable part of your routine ensures you’re in the best shape to chase your dreams.

Adopting a Growth Mindset

Embrace the belief that your abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work. This growth mindset will open doors to personal and professional growth. Instead of fearing failure, see it as a chance to learn and improve.

Cultivate a positive inner dialogue that encourages self-improvement and resilience. When you believe in your capacity for growth, you become more adaptable and willing to take calculated risks on the path to your goals.

Letting Yourself Be Curious

Curiosity is the engine of learning and growth, so foster your inquisitive nature by exploring new interests, hobbies, and ideas. Challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone regularly.

Attend lectures, read diverse books, or engage in discussions with people from different backgrounds. Curiosity not only broadens your knowledge but also sparks creativity and innovation. It fuels your passion for life and encourages you to continuously seek out new experiences.

Find People Who Share Your Interests

Surround yourself with a supportive community of like-minded individuals who share your goals and values. Networking can provide valuable insights and opportunities.

Engage in meaningful conversations, attend networking events, and seek out mentorship from those who have already achieved what you aspire to accomplish. These connections can offer guidance, collaboration opportunities, and a robust support system to help you navigate the challenges on your journey.

The Bottom Line

Living your best life and achieving your goals requires dedication and proactive steps. You can unleash your full potential and create a fulfilling life by building resilience, exploring educational opportunities, prioritizing self-care, and implementing the other strategies above.

Remember that it’s the small, consistent actions that lead to significant change. Start taking these steps today to embark on your journey toward a brighter future.

Thanks, Abby.

Charlie Hudson