Focused at Fifty

Here are a couple stories as a child that involve some car issues. As I have stated before, I was a pretty odd (maybe more normal than I realize) child.  All I know is that I gave my parents a lot of grey hairs. No wonder Mom did the 80's frosting kit every other week.  Anecdote #1 I don't know why I wanted to do it but I did. I remember when I was about 5 years old,   my family was driving back from my grandparents' house in Willingboro, NJ on Rt 295 in South Jersey on afternoon. Car seats, what were they? We were all over the back seat. I don't know what possessed me to do it, perhaps too much sesame candy at my Nana's, but I rolled down the back seat window of our blue rambler station wagon while Dad barreled down the highway at 50 MPH. For some reason, I wanted to see the tire spinning so I started to climb out the back seat. My sister was preoccupied joking around with my brother and wasn't paying attention to me. My Mom saw me attempt to climb out a...

 Recent pic of the bull fighting ring, it's still there! There are no crazy drunken bar stories in this post. My crazy drunken bar stories all happened during the 90's in Philly. As I've said before, another post, another time. As a child in the early 80's, I remember traveling with my family across the border from El Paso, Texas to Cuidad Juarez, Mexico. We just drove in, no questions asked; no passports or government ID cards were needed to enter and return. It was a hot dry dusty August day. I remember driving down the main thoroughfare with no real destination in mind. It was just the thrilling idea back then of going into Mexico.  I remember looking out the dirty, dust covered windows of our sky blue Pontiac Phoenix and seeing a bull fighting stadium in the distance. We ended up at a shopping mall and walked around inside. It was nearly deserted, dark and foreboding. I was nervous. I remember finding it peculiar that half ...

I hadn't done a family recipe in awhile, so I got out the trusty old recipe box and picked one out that I hadn't made before. This is an easy stove top recipe for stewed chicken. It comes out real juicy. I remember Nana and then Mom making it during the 70s and 80s.  I found quite a number of variations of potted or stewed chicken online, many from the 50s and 60s. My Nana's recipe is decidedly from that time of simple, yet good cooking. It has European origins and as my wise sister pointed out, was probably used as a cost savings dish. The recipe was passed down to my Mom without any set amounts. Just add as much ingredients as you think would taste good!  You'll see with the recipe below. And I just realized that much of Mom and Nana's cooking included the essential chopped onion, sliced carrots, and sliced celery. One may think that this is a bit plebeian or common but in fact, it is the basis for any good solid recipe involving meat ...

I was driving to work the other day down Route 78 and some huge ass tractor trailer started every so slowly nudging into my lane. I leaned on the horn while screaming bloody murder above my 80's mix CD, "WHAT THE HELL!" Yes, I drowned out the Bangles while flipping off the truck next to me, spewing my Dunkin' Donuts coffee all over the Camry dashboard. OMG I am so now middle-aged! Luckily, the rest of the commute into work was uneventful. But it allowed me to remember past near misses and some minor accidents that I had during my high school years. (UM ... Dad, this is the part where you may want to stop reading. AND I LOVE YOU!) Like the time I was driving with one of my high school best friends, Angie, and I came around a turn in a corn field. I was driving our fire engine red Nissan Sentra and took the turn too fast, going over a small turn marker into the field. She screamed, I screamed. We survived the plunge into the corn field. Luckily no damage to the car,...

As we end 2014, I wanted to share some wisdom I have learned from this past year. You will come across the worst in people. It is up to you to ignore it. It is up to you to rise above it. One of the greatest gifts of getting older is realizing that you do not need to be friends with these types of people. Move on, spend time with close friends and family, and stop wasting time on the others. Life is too short and too precious to waste.  Help others as well. Do random acts of kindness. I have preached this before. It helps them and makes you feel better as well. I was getting a coffee this afternoon and helped a senior citizen struggling with the door into the convenience store. She thanked me and then went in to buy some lotto tickets.  While in line, she apparently lost her money from the car to the store. I helped her retrace her steps and found it with her. She thanked me profusely and then asked if I wanted to adopt her. I said, "Only if you can cook well." We both...

I was flipping through the newspaper the other week and the Toys R Us Big Christmas Book insert fell out. I grabbed it and began thumbing through it smiling. Such different toys these days or maybe not so much. I see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are still around. That Disney chick Elsa from Frozen is apparently really big (um, no kids here). Has Barbie had botox? My Little Pony also looks, um, odd, like there has been an infusion of Harajuku girls somewhere along the line. It is also comforting to see that Lego is bigger than ever. I'm also happy to see that NERF is still making questionably safe toys which could take out an eye if given to the child which has had too much caffeine or sugar. Batman Colorforms Remember back when your parents brought home the toy catalog each year before Christmas or Hanukkah? The excitement we would feel?  There were a couple out there I remember: the Sears Christmas Wish Book, the BEST Store Gift Book, and the Toys R Us Big Christmas Book w...

We all have our favorite holiday songs, those songs you can't wait to hear each year. They get you in the mood, they get you sad, they bring you up, and they put you in the spirit f the holiday season! There are so many versions of songs year after year by your favorite artists. This year, Christmas albums have been released by country star Darius Rucker, Broadway star Idina Menzel, comedian Seth McFarlande (YES, you heard correctly!), R&B supergroup Earth, Wind, and Fire. Okaaaaay. I may get the album by Darius Rucker to add to my collection. Earth, Wind, and Fire? Um, I'll pass. From my favorites list, you will see I mostly love the classic songs performed by artists of years gone by.  I also love holiday songs sung in a retro big band, swing style. There are a couple of quirky ones such as "Father Christmas" by the Kings or "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses. And still several others, like those two, are from the 70s and 80's which reflect m...