I do the same thing with movies although I'm not as apt to give movies a chance. No time for nonsense, which usually means sex scenes or filthy language. Nope. You're gone. I've got other fish to fry. Not that I'm a prude. A little language is fine as I've been known to salt my own speech with words unfitting a lady. Same with sex. I don't mind a little but by golly, I refuse to sit there and watch some dude giving it to a woman like he was a bull in heat! Click. On to something else!
Yesterday, while browsing around in "stuff I've saved on my computer" I came across a lot of interesting old emails and articles that I thought worthy of keeping for a while. One was an email reply I got from my daughter, Mary, in 2010, when I had shared things on my bucket list that I figured I was never going to do. She took every single one of them and suggested ways I could do it! Obviously I didn't want them bad enough because that was five years ago and I haven't put any effort into any of the dozen things I listed. (and they were all do-able) I'm all talk. I know that. But maybe I'll think about getting through a few of them this year. Maybe. Some of them are unrealistic just because my body has aged and it won't move like it used to. Can't even get down on my knees and back up again. Well, I could if I HAD to but it wouldn't be pretty and the thought doesn't appeal to me.
One of the articles I kept was a write-up on the original mouseketeers of the Mickey Mouse Club. That was a favorite show of mine and tidbits about it were of interest to me.........
For efficiency in maintaining the shooting schedule, the
first-season Mouseketeers were divided in May 1955 into three teams, Red,
White, and Blue. While one team was rehearsing, another would be filming, and
the third would be in school. As originally conceived they were to be of equal
status and size. However, the producers soon discovered that team membership
could give them subtle leverage over the performers and their parents.
The twelve-member Red team was the first-string unit.
They appeared in Roll Call, at the opening of each day's Mouseketeer segment,
and in the Alma Mater at the end of each show. Both of these items were filmed
once, or at most twice, per season. The Red Team also led most of the skits,
and did the commercials. The Blue and White teams, with six members each, were
the second-string, generally assigned to the unpopular Guest Star Day and
Circus Day audience role, though they did occasional musical numbers as a
group. A half-hearted performance or an overbearing parent could mean a
demotion off the Red team, and loss of camera time.
Out of twenty-eight original Mouseketeers hired during
1955, only twenty-two were left by late October of that year. Though the show
had just started on TV a few weeks before, the majority of the first season's
material had been filmed at that point, and the White team had been dropped due
to the large number of kids discharged for various reasons. For the remainder
of the show's three-year run there would only be two teams, Red and Blue.
Casting was also complicated by the producer's desire to
maintain gender balance on camera. Through the shows entire run the directors
would be beset by a lack of skilled male dancers and singers, and a
corresponding overabundance of female talent. In the first season this
initially resulted in a few boys who could barely walk through a musical number
winding up in Roll Call, while talented female dancers were left on the
sidelines.
The gender imbalance was aggravated by the naturally
slower developing emotional maturity of the boys. Four boys were released very
quickly in the summer of 1955 for performance problems and disruptive behavior,
though it's interesting to note that all four of them went on to show-business
careers. In the following three months another boy was let go and a girl quit;
both were Red Team members. (And, once again, the boy went on to a very
successful show business career).
I also found old telephone and address lists. Reading those made me a tad sad because of how many people on it are no longer around. But that's life, I guess. I'll be on "that list" one day.
Got my social security notice in the mail yesterday. My income is going down by $3.20 because my drug insurance is going up. I put off getting drug insurance until 2015 but after I had a couple of surgeries, I thought maybe I'd better get some. Normally, the only prescription I have to buy is for blood pressure and it's super cheap at Walmart. Like $2.50 a month or thereabouts. I haven't been able to use my drug insurance card even once. Still, I know I'm locked into it now and as I age, I can't count on not needing more drugs further down the road. Unless I drop dead, of course, and there's always that possibility.
It's hard getting by on a fixed income. Especially when that income goes down (even a tiny bit) while everything else goes up. There are a few areas I could do better with my budget and my goal is to work on that. First thing that comes to mind is buying food (sweets are my downfall), buying gifts (I need to knock that off), and buying lotto tickets. Which ain't gonna happen baby! It's the only hope I have to leave money to my kids and grandkids and buy a few items I'd like to have. Course there's nothing I can't get along without at this stage of the game. I've got my laptop, my television with Roku, and my sewing machine. I'm good to go. Oh...and my car I guess. I really need my car, even though I'm not all that fond of driving anymore.
Saw a new movie by Ron Howard advertised on tv yesterday. Heart of the Sea. Looks kind of good and while I seldom visit movie houses anymore (been disappointed too many times) I am considering going to see that one. We'll see.
My Christmas shopping is done and mostly wrapped. I'm delivering a car full to Mary and Andy's house this Saturday when me and the twins travel over for Jake's second birthday. Even though he won't be two until two weeks from today. I figure it will be easier to get my gifts delivered early so I don't take up room in Jenni's car when we go over on Christmas day. Although we may go over in my car. I still need to leave room for all their stuff and I have a lot accumulated what with gifts for Mary, Andy, Jake, Catie, Brandon, the nanny, a girl friend, and two cousins on the way home.
I'm gonna do a little baking the week of Dec. 14th and then I'll deliver a few presents into Port Townsend. Not sure what day but probably somewhere between the 17th & 19th. I don't do as much as I did in my younger days. The house is decorated but not with all my decorations. Am even thinking of giving some of my decorations away if I can find takers. Don't have a tree except for the small artificial one and only have one string of lights outside on the little tree in the backyard. I sent out a couple dozen post cards and maybe half a dozen cards but the cost of postage is putting a black cloud over that activity that I used to do with relish. Luckily, I only had to mail one package this year but even that cost me $7. And it was fairly light!
Television programming continues to bore me to tears. Thank God for my Roku which allows me to access Amazon Prime videos, Netflix, favorite radio stations, Pandora Music, and a few other free channels. I recently watched season 1 of this British show called 'The Detectorists'. About two guys who had metal detectors and looked for treasure. I figured it would be cheesy and I was all ready to switch it off but surprisingly, it was pretty good.
Last night I tried watching 'The Gunmen' with Sean Penn but he totally sucked! ha ha I did watch a Ben Affleck movie called 'Bounce' but it was just so-so. One of my favorite things to do is tune in YouTube on the television (using the roku). I love sitting back in my recliner and watching music videos or how-tos about quilting. I've even tuned in the videos I put on YouTube.
I think I'll head on back to my sewing room now. I've been spending a lot of time back there and enjoying it even more. Yesterday I finished listening to an audio book of Stephen King's called "Finders Keepers." It was good. Am working on a 'strip quilt' right now. I took all my little odds and ends and cut them into 2-1/2" wide strips. It's a fairly easy quilt to make and I'll share it later, of course. Here's how it looks now...
Hmmmm...blogger says I can drag my pictures onto my site now. Not sure if it will let me describe the photos underneath so I'll do this next batch one at a time,the old way
And this is the tree decorating event on Taylor.
Of course, I can't let a blog post go by without showing off the grand kids.
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