Thanksgiving 2022

Happy Thanksgiving 2022. It was just the three of us this year but Julie will be here in less than two weeks and Eric and Natalie will be here for Hanukah so we’re stoked. Anyway, Gary outdid himself.  We had spinach mousse stuffed portobellos, whipped roasted sweet potatoes mixed with coconut cream and maple syrup, stuffing with orange rosemary gravy, brussel sprouts with spicy aioli, and cranberry apple ginger chutney.  Gary had a roast chicken.  We’re supposed to have pie but I don’t know how that’s happening because I can’t breathe but whatever, it’s still early.  What did you guys have?

Oh, Kroger

 

My husband is laughing at me because I sob like a baby every time this commercial comes on.  I even started crying trying to tell Julie about it on the phone earlier today.  I find everything about it incredibly sad.  Is it just me?

VOTE VOTE VOTE

 

Good morning!  Okay, Gary is already yelling at me to put down my phone and while I usually ignore him when he gets like this, today I know he’s right.  Enjoy this pic of Jasper I just snapped to cleanse your timeline, and I know I’m preaching to my choir here, but get out there and VOTE!  Our democracy literally depends on it.

Odds and Sods 10/31/22

Happy Halloween!  Let’s play ketchup.

On October 23, 2022, we had our 50th high school reunion.  There was a contest for best costume 1971, and too hilarious, Gary won.

Erm…he dresses like that every day.

And yeah, I’m aware we look like what we are.  Fucking rock royalty, baby.

Hahaha or at least the parents of rock royalty.

On Saturday, we had an awesome Halloween dog parade in our hood and Jasper won Mr. Congeniality 😎

Finally, speaking of rock royalty, check out Gary last night.

First, Adrian Belew introduced Gary to Todd as “my bass player and former drummer’s dad and my very good friend.”

Gary and Todd had quite a chat.  Gary shared how the bass player in his first band when he was 17 bought the bass player’s bass from Woody’s Truck Stop in 1970, Woody’s Truck Stop being Todd’s first band.

Then Gary shared that it was our son Eric who interviewed Todd for Talkhouse Magazine and Todd shared he loved it!

https://www.talkhouse.com/todd-rundgren-talks-with-eric-slick-dr-dog-on-the-talkhouse-podcast/

Gary also told him Eric recorded a cover of “Can We Still Be Friends” which got some attention and college radio play.

https://ericslick.bandcamp.com/track/can-we-still-be-friends-todd-rundgren-cover

So that’s what’s going on.  

And now to get ready for tonight!

Happy Gotcha Day!

Morning! Today is Jasper’s Gotcha Day.  It’s been an incredible year.  We call him Pinocchio, it’s like having a toddler all over again, and Gary and I confirmed that we are happiest when we are parenting.

Retirement continues to be the greatest thing we’ve ever done.  I mean, c’mon, we wake up and then we spend the day relaxing.  The Republicans better not fuck this up! 😎 

Woo hoo

 

Woo nothing like some more Monday morning party time.  Party! Party! Party! 🤦‍♀️

L’Shana Tova

L’Shana Tova from my family to yours.  Vegetarian matzo ball soup provided by Chef Gary.  Caramel apple mascarpone kugel courtesy of me, joy provided by Jasper and an unexpected visit from Eric ❤️

Not a fan of the medical profession

 

I need to vent 😎

So I have old lady eye problems that I’ve been trying to resolve since June.

It’s gotten so bad I’m almost blind in my left eye.  Last night after washing dishes, I was trying to put the sharp knives back in their butcher block holder and I had to feel for the compartments because I couldn’t see them.

The entire left side of my body is bruised because I keep banging into furniture and walls.

Anyway, the first procedure scheduled at the end of June was canceled and rescheduled to July because of Covid.

A day before the scheduled July procedure, when I didn’t hear from Wills Eye Hospital as to what time to be there, I called my doctor and uh-oh, I “must have fallen through the cracks.  We’re so sorry.  Can we reschedule for August 17?”

Hell no.  It’s my birthday.  August is my birthday month.  Fuck that noise, I’ll be blind another month, what’s the difference at this point, I’m going on vacation.

Rescheduled for September 20.

Yay!

Except…

Friday I get a call from the doctor.

“We need clearance from your cardiologist for your anesthesia.”

“Okay, I’ll call him.”

“We already did.  You were last there June 1.  We need clearance within 90 days.  You need to make an appointment.”

“But I’ll never get an appointment by Tuesday.  Are you serious?  I did so well at my June appointment, my cardiologist doesn’t want to see me for a year!”

“Sorry.  We have to postpone the surgery.  Call your cardiologist, get an appointment, and call me back to reschedule.”

Anyway, without going into it any further without telling you how much I fucking hate everyone and everything, I was magically able to get an appointment 10/3, called the eye doctor back and rescheduled surgery for 10/10, but not until I learned I need a new eye doctor appointment first because, yep, you guessed it, 90 days since last appointment.

That appointment is a three hour grueling nightmare by the way but again, I will spare you.

Okay, I feel better now.  Other than that, life is grand.  I can’t believe how much I love being retired.

I mean, come on.  I wake up, then I relax all day.  What’s not to love?

Gary is taking me to the beach next week where I can relax and hopefully not hurt myself banging into things.

The weather is glorious right now.

It could be worse.

Happy September

 So Gary was just shopping at the farmers market and a guy looked at him and said, “I love your station!” and Gary replied, “Thank you!”

I wonder why.

Me: “You didn’t tell him you’re really a retired plumbing salesman?  Haha who did they think you were? Bruce Warren? David Dye?”

Gary:

Me:  What did you tell him?

Gary:  🎶 I am the deejay, I am what I play 🎶

Oy.  In other news, what a fucking day.  My debit card was hacked, I was on hold with the bank so long I almost had a stroke, and then I ended up having to go there in person where the manager helped me, only it was her first week on the job and I was her first fraud claim.

Right now I’m out $600 and she told me it will be ten days before I get my money back.

I’m afraid I lost it.

But me being me, felt immediately terrible and apologized profusely while telling myself I would go to another branch tomorrow and deal with someone who knew what they were doing.

Anyway, Google told me it would not be ten days, more like 3-5, and guess what, I just looked again and the money is already back this afternoon because I have been checking my balance nonstop.

You see, somehow the thief is still using my card, even though it’s been canceled and reported.  

And where did he get my debit card information? Especially since I haven’t used it for anything but my hair since the pandemic?

Ah, Woodstock.

I didn’t want to talk about it, but after camp ended Friday, we stayed an extra night in Woodstock to see Julie’s show at the Bearsville Theater.  All nearby hotels were sold out, and there aren’t many, plus we had a dog with us, so I booked a place 10 miles away in Kingston, NY through Priceline.

The Rodeway Inn.

Never ever never ever go there.

It was the fucking Bates Motel.

I’ll spare you the details.

But they had “residents.”

Anyway, even though I paid for the room through Priceline, I still had to hand the clerk my debit card, and I watched him make a copy.

Whoever used my card had the 3 digit security number so it’s pretty fucking obvious how he got it.

Btw, I told all this to the bank manager but she didn’t seem interested.

Gary of course wants to go there (Rodeway Inn, not the bank) in person with a baseball bat 🤦‍♀️

Anyway, so yeah, birthday month is officially over.

But the Gary story was cute, right?

Right.

Family fotos

Some  newly discovered family pics.  Understand that when my mom died over 40 years ago, my father didn’t save much so I have very few photos from my past. Some of these brought me to my knees.

Wasn’t my mom beautiful?

Here I am as a baby and omg my grandmother’s note ❤️

Me as a baby and toddler ❤️

This one really freaked me out.  From left to right, my mother’s sister my Aunt Shirley, her son and my first cousin Robbie, my mother’s late brother’s daughter my first cousin Rosalie, my father, my mother, and my brother, David.  Everyone in the pic is dead except my brother.  It was taken in the 70s.   By 1979 my mom was dead of a brain tumor at 49 and Rosalie would be dead a few months later after battling Hodgkins disease. Robbie died at age 48 in 2000 of cardiac arrest and despite my Aunt Shirley’s profound grief, she lived until 2015, age 89.  My father died in 2011 at 82.  He was a jazz musician, below the family pic is his punk rock photo har har, anyway, I sure hope I have Shirley and his genes re longevity but I kinda doubt it which is why I live a hedonistic life and live a day at a time.Though I am a vegetarian 😎