December Ditties - 2018 Song Lyric Sunday - New

Poor Helen is not quite feeling 100% but she still took the time to give us our prompt for the week "New." 

Lots of good choices for this word and very timely with the New Year beginning in just two days!  I decided to go with Adele:

Send My Love (To Your New Lover)

Adele

Just the guitar

This was all you, none of it me
You put your hands all over my body and told me, umm
You told me you were ready
For the big one, for the big jump
I'd be your last love everlasting you and me
That was what you told me

I'm giving you up
I've forgiven it all
You set me free, oh

Send my love to your new lover
Treat her better
We've gotta let go of all of our ghosts
We both know we ain't kids no more
Send my love to your new lover
Treat her better
We've gotta let go of all of our ghosts
We both know we ain't kids no more

I was too strong you were trembling
You couldn't handle the hot heat rising (rising), umm
Baby I'm so rising
I was running, you were walking
You couldn't keep up, you were falling down (down), umm
There's only one way down

I'm giving you up
I've forgiven it all
You set me free, oh

Send my love to your new lover
Treat her better
We gotta let go of all of our ghosts
We've both know we ain't kids no more
Send my love to your new lover
Treat her better
We've gotta let go of all of our ghosts
We both know we ain't kids no more

If you're ready, if you're ready
If you're ready, I am ready
If you're ready, if you're ready
We both know we ain't kids no more
No, we ain't kids no more

I'm giving you up
I've forgiven it all
You set me free

Send my love to your new lover
Treat her better
We've gotta let go of all of our ghosts
We both know we ain't kids no more
Send my love to your new lover
Treat her better
We've gotta let go of all of our ghosts
We both know we ain't kids no more

If you're ready, if you're ready (Send my love to your new lover)
If you're ready, are you ready? (Treat her better)
We've gotta let go of all of our ghosts
We both know we ain't kids no more
If you're ready, if you're ready (Send my love to your new lover)
If you're ready, are you ready? (Treat her better)
We've gotta let go of all of our ghosts
We both know we ain't kids no more

Songwriters: Adele Laurie Blue Adkins / Johan Schuster / Max Martin

Send My Love (To Your New Lover) lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

We were so very lucky to be able to see her when she came to our area.  I had a really hard time getting tickets and was so excited when I got a text message saying that some seats had become available.  They were not our up close and personal type but just to be in the venue was something. 

Here are some pictures I took and some of the scrapbook pages I did from that show.

I even managed to catch a video of "Send My Love (To Your New Lover" and although parts of it are a little fuzzy it's not that bad. 

This is our last Song Lyric Sunday of the year.  Anyone have big plans for New Year's Eve?  We are not doing anything special.  For the last couple of years I've been using the time to get my calendars all up to date and ready to go.  We do stay up to watch the "ball drop" from Times Square.  Wouldn't be the New Year without that, although it's not the same without Dick Clark.  I hope that Helen gets better and that everyone has a terrific New Year.  I'm planning on making 2019 a great year!

December Ditties - 2018 - Making Memories

Remember those gingerbread houses I talked about earlier this month and how I was apologizing to my kids because we didn't do it more often and that I felt I missed out on some memories because I was too particular about making messes and things not turning out perfectly like the picture on the box? 

Well, this year my daughters wanted to make homemade ravioli on Christmas.  When they first brought it up I had not written the post about the gingerbread houses and immediately my mind went to the mess and that I didn't want a bunch of confusion going on in the kitchen on a day when there was already going to be a lot happening with opening presents and things.  I said that "most people" made ravioli "weeks" in advance and that it was difficult to make homemade ravioli.  The girls then suggested that we do it a few days earlier and Rachel found a recipe that was not too complicated.  They talked about "making memories" and they wanted to know if their grandmother ever made ravioli from scratch.  I told them I had never seen my mom make ravioli, although she did make homemade gnocchi once and all I remembered was a lot of potatoes and flour all over the place.  I thought the girls had given up on the idea since they didn't mention it again.

Then I wrote the gingerbread house post...guilty "bad mom" feelings took over and so I told the girls they could make homemade ravioli if we did it before Christmas so that at least there wouldn't be a mess on that day.  Christmas Eve came and although our oldest, Amanda, was going to a football game with her dad, Rachel and I undertook the Great Ravioli Experiment.

Ingredients assembled and Rachel's iPad at the ready for instructions.

Good thing Rachel has all the cool tools.  Food processor for the filling.

Starting to get the dough ready.

Rolling and kneading.

 Aren't her nails pretty?  She did them herself.

Rolling out the dough was hard and I did that part.  I forgot to have her take a picture.  We do not have a ravioli press and in retrospect we needed one.  I was trying to picture the "olden days" when there were no such things.  She wanted to stop and go to Target to get one but I said we should wait until we see how things went this first time.     

Now that Rachel is an adult, we can have an alcoholic beverage while we cook...White Zinfandel is my preference.    

After I rolled out the dough she piled the filling on.

So the shapes weren't quite symmetrical and some had more filling than others but we didn't care.  The wine helped with that. 

I am not a fan of tomato based sauces and prefer just butter and parmesan cheese.  Here is the finished product.   

Not the prettiest and the dough was too thick so it was a little chewy but, hey, for a first attempt with no fancy gadgets to assist I think we did great.  We had them as part of Christmas dinner.  Thank goodness there was ham and mashed potatoes to go along with them.  The filling tasted perfect and I think we may try it again, although I'm pretty sure Rachel is going to get herself an attachment for her mixer. 

And there you have a memory made.  The pictures will go in the Christmas album (when I get around to making it!).  Hope you all had a great Christmas with your families making lots of memories.  Ever tried making ravioli from scratch with no fancy equipment?  How'd it go?   

December Ditties - 2018 A Recap

Each year for the past couple of years it has been my practice to take a selfie and a picture of the full moon each month.  Here are the ones from this year:

January had two full moons and an eclipse!

This is from the eclipse:

The kids make fun of me because I always have my eyes closed in pictures taken of me.  Apparently I can't even keep my eyes open when I take my own picture!

There was no full moon in February because March had two of them and apparently I didn't take a picture of me either!  Here are March's moons.  The first one reminds me that baseball is coming soon!

 April

Yay, it's baseball season!

I don't know how but I missed May's full moon.  Here is me in May:

 This is June:

In July I caught Venus with the moon!

July's full moon.

August 

September.  I think this looks like a bird in front of it don't you?  It's a tree branch.

October

November

December   

Do you try to catch the full moon every month?  Make any wishes?  Take many selfies?  Share!

December Ditties - 2018 Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Linda is dealing with her ailing son so her suggestion for the prompt today is "Ask Someone Else."  

As a mom, that's an easy one for me.  "Go ask your father" is a typical response from me when the kids want to know if they can borrow something, if they need help with their cars, if they want to eat the last of something, just about anything I can get away with not answering!  Sometimes it backfires and the kids will come back to me and say, "He said to ask you!" 

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas.  Just a few days until we get into a new year.  Hopefully it will be better than this one!   

A very Merry Christmas to all from my little corner of the world. 

Hope your day is filled with love, laughter and that you make a new set of wonderful memories! 

December Ditties - 2018 - Song Lyric Sunday - Season

Season is the prompt for today's Song Lyric Sunday from Helen. 

The first song that came into my mind was "Seasons in the Sun" and I HATE that song so I had to do something else to get it out of my head. 

Taking a little liberty with the prompt here, going with Frankie Valli and the Four SEASONS

Beggin'

The Four Seasons

Put your lovin' hand out, baby
I'm beggin'
Beggin', put your lovin' hand out, baby
Beggin' you, put your lovin' hand out, baby

Ridin' high when I was king
Played it hard and fast cause I had everything
Walked away, wonderin' then
But easy come and easy go and it would end

I'm beggin' you, won't you give your hand out, baby
Beggin', put your lovin' hand out, baby

I need you to understand
That I tried so hard to be a man
The kind of man you'd want in the end
Only then can I begin to live again

An empty shell I used to be
Shadow of my life is hangin' over me
Broken man that I don't know
Will leave it standing, devil's dancing with my soul

Beggin' you, won't you give your hand out, baby
Beggin', put your lovin' hand out, baby

I'm fightin' hard to hold my own
No, I just can't make it all alone
I'm holdin' on, I can't fall back
Now that big brass ring is a shade of black

I'm beggin' you, give your hand out, baby
Beggin', won't you put your lovin' hand out, baby

Songwriters: Peggy Farina / Bob Gaudio

Beggin' lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

I think I'm going to try and see him again if he comes to the Mountain Winery next year.

Short and sweet today.  Still have some last minute shopping to do.  Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!  Thanks for stopping by. 

December Ditties - 2018 - Academic Curveball and A Justified State

I just finished books by two gentleman that I have become friends with through the world of blogging.  Even though I used to tell my kids not to talk to strangers they may meet online, I'm pretty sure that I'm safe with these guys. 

One is a new mystery series begun by James J. Cudney called The Braxton Campus Mysteries.  The first book in this series is "Academic Curveball."  Baseball season is a few months away and I thought this book might give me the fix I need to bridge the gap.  I was captivated from the start as the murder happens pretty much in the beginning of the story.  I liked the characters and the action flowed smoothly from one scene to the next.  I didn't figure out who done it until almost the very end, which is a good thing in my opinion.  If I could tell who did it right away, I wouldn't want to continue reading.  Mr. Cudney has written his next book in the series already called "Broken Heart Attack."  I am anxious to read this one to see what happens next as there was definitely a surprise ending to the first book. 


Jay (I feel like I can call him that because he is such a friendly guy) can be found at his author website, but I found him last year on his This is My Truth Now site because he was doing a 365 series and I was doing a 365 picture project so it was kind of a natural for us to meet.  Jay has also written two other books, "Watching Glass Shatter," a very interesting story about the Glass Family and a secret about the Glass brothers that comes to light when the patriarch of the family suddenly dies and "Father Figure" about two girls in different time periods whose lives become intertwined.  Jay used my name for one of the nasty characters in the book but I'll forgive him for that as he swears he had the name picked before we started conversing.  I've read both and I'm telling you, this guy is one good storyteller!  His books can be found on Amazon.   You should get them all. 



The next gentleman I came to know through the A to Z Challenge last year.  Iain Kelly was doing a detective story using the letters of the alphabet as seen on a child's jigsaw puzzle.  I must admit I haven't read that whole story yet but I've got it bookmarked to go back to.  Instead, I read his first novel, "A Justified State" which is a tale about a future in which there is no poverty or homelessness but overpopulation and an energy crisis threaten the stability of the country.  There is the hometown, weary detective who is still grieving the loss of his wife and children and cares for his elderly father, the mysterious government agent, the politicians and the tough female assassin who all do their jobs to make the story keep your interest.  My favorite quote from the book is:  "...sometimes it is healthy to be unhappy, to question decisions being made for us, to hold the State to account."  A very true to the times sentiment in my opinion. 



Iain can be found at his site, Iain Kelly Writing and he is a really good teller of tales with his 100 word stories based around a photograph and his cute couple, Agnes and Archie.  His book, "A Justified State" can also be found on Amazon.

It was because of these two authors that I decided to start using Kindle Unlimited.  I was previously only a "real book" reader but because these were available on Amazon for a reasonable price (free) I decided to take the plunge, at least until my free trial is over!  You should definitely check them both out and let me know what you think.           

December Ditties - 2018 - Song Lyric Sunday - Girl

Helen has given us the companion word to last week's "Boy" prompt, which for some reason I didn't do.  I know there are a ton of songs out there with that word in it but I just wasn't feeling any of them (although the rest of the #SLS gang had no trouble and it was fun to listen to the songs they chose).

Anyway, today's "Girl" seems so much easier and I had a lot of choices.  I picked this one because it makes me want to get up and dance and because, well, you know...

Hot Girls In Love by Loverboy:

Hot Girls in Love

Loverboy

She's so young at heart
She likes the pleasure of his company
She cuts the inside groove
With her silver spoon
She likes her tapes on ten
And it's the same as her anatomy
She's on a rainbow cruise
All the way to my room

She's turnin' on the heat
She's got the magic touch
She's turnin' on the heat
And it's a little too much
She's turnin' on the heat
And it's a hundred above yeah
Hot girls in love
I'm in love

Too many men to please
She counts them all on her rosary
You know you might get burned
So be careful where you touch
She gets it when she can
Don't need no anniversary
And she deserves the best yeah
A cut above the rest

She's turnin' on the heat
She's got the magic touch
She's turnin' on the heat
Oh it's a little too much
She's turnin' on the heat
It's a hundred above
Hot girls in love
And baby I'm in love

Some say she do
Some say she don't
Some say she will
And some say she won't
Some say she can't
Well I know she can
I say I got to be
Her lovin' man

She's turnin' on the heat
She's got the magic touch
She's turnin' on the heat
Oh and it's a little too much
She's turnin' on the heat
It's a hundred above
Hot girls in love
Hot girls in love
It's a hundred above
Hot girls in love
Yeah

Be careful where you touch
'Cause it's a little too much
She got everything she needs
What she does in front of me

She's turning on the heat
She's turning on the heat
She's got that look in her eye
I think I gotta know why
Ah
Hot girls and I'm in love

Songwriters: Bruce Fairbairn / Paul Dean / Paul Warren Dean

Hot Girls in Love lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

We've seen Loverboy a couple of times.  Once was years ago at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk at one of their free Friday night concerts.  You know how I love free!

When they sang this song and got to the line "Hot girls in love" the first time, Mike Reno held the mike over the crowd.  I shouted it out and he pointed to me!  That was pretty cool because we were standing at the railing across the sand from them so I didn't think he'd be able to hear me.  Here are some scrapbook pages from our concert album:

The next time we saw them was just this year at the Mountain Winery.  They were there with Greg Kihn and Rick Springfield (I suppose I could have used Jessie's Girl too for today's prompt.)

Here's what I was able to capture that night.   Not the whole song but almost.

And the original.

The guys look a little older now but they still can get the crowd rocking!

Thanks again to Helen for coordinating this music party, even when she doesn't always feel up to par.  Be sure to check out some of the other participants.