Saturday Night Serenade–Happy Halloween!

It’s Halloween Weekend!  I love Halloween–all the costumes and treats and fun!  In most places, the air is crisp and the leaves are turning their brilliant fall colors.  It’s cooler here, too–the temperature will probably only get up to about 85 today.  Yeah.  Fall in south Florida.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the vintage (much better word than ‘rerun’) October Stories spooky posts.  I love those stories.

Mr. R. and I are heading to a Halloween party tonight.  He’s going as some kind of pumpkin-headed assassin and I’ll be Cleopatra, which is perfect for me.  I’m the queen of de-Nile, LOL!

For tonight’s serenade, I just had to have the Eagles and Witchy Woman.  But finding a decent clip was not easy.  There are no ‘Official’ videos.  I think I finally settled on what is the best bootleg I could find.  It’s from a live performance from 2013 and features Don Henley on drums and lead vocals, amazing guitars from Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh, and the late great Glenn Frey.  I never get tired of their tight harmonies.

Tonight, I hope you’re enjoying a beautiful fall evening with the ones you love.  I’m feeling a cup of hot cider coming on.  And undoubtedly a lot of rum, LOL!  Happy Saturday night!

Coming soon…

Mr. R. and I went out last weekend and made our first official purchase toward Adventures in Renovation.  I’ll be posting all about it soon, including the first reno video.  Stay tuned!

Saturday Night Serenade–Is There A Doctor In The House?

We’re in a state of flux in the R. house these days.  I mentioned in a previous post that we’re taking on the adventure of a huge renovation on the foreclosure we bought five years ago.  We’re putting in wood flooring in place of the cheap carpet we bought when we first moved in.  We’re replacing the builder-grade kitchen cabinets and counters with beautiful custom made cupboards and granite counter tops.  And we’re completely overhauling both bathrooms.

Having refinanced the house and taken out some of the equity, these projects will be done with cash.  We’ve met with the contractors a couple of times and we’re finalizing plans to begin in January.  It seems we’re all systems go.

However, there is a monkey in the wrench–two weeks ago, Mr. R. shocked me to pieces by announcing one afternoon when I returned home from work that he’d quit his job.  Just resigned and walked out.  Yep.  It took me a little time to wrap my head around it.  I knew he hated the job.  I just didn’t think he’d up and quit.  Anyway…

The reno is still on.  He’s not sure what he’s going to do to help pay the bills, but he’s working on a plan to start his own media business, including a production company.  He’ll probably have to get a job and do that on the side right now, like I do my writing on the side.

Long-term, we’re talking about completing the renovations and thus increasing the value of the house so that in a couple of years, we can sell it and use the money to move somewhere new.  Mr. R. grew up here in south Florida and is itching to live somewhere with seasons and mountains.  I’m not entirely sure why anybody’d want to leave paradise, but I’m hip about quitting my job, and selling the house will allow for that.  I can write anywhere, and he can do his business anywhere, too.

So like I said, we’re in a state of flux.  Tonight’s song?  We have a man-cold at our house this weekend.  I thought the song was fitting.  In lieu of flowers, feel free to make donations to your favorite charity.  I’ll keep you apprised of the situation.  Happy Saturday night!

P.S.~ Oh, and we will be sharing our adventure in home renovation.  Up first, an unintended project due to self-inflicted Hurricane Matthew damage.  Yep.

Ministry of Silly Walking Dead

If you’ve been living under a rock…  Or you just aren’t the kind of nerd we are…  You may not be aware that the Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead is this Sunday.  For us, it’s the night we’ve been waiting for ever since they left us hanging at the end of Season 6, wondering and speculating on who exactly Negan beat to death with his barbwire-wrapped baseball bat, Lucille.

Violent, I know, but it is the zombie apocalypse.  Yesterday I stumbled upon this gem–a recap of the first six seasons of The Walking Dead, narrated by none other than John Cleese, brilliant comic genius best known for being a Python.  This piece is a mashup of two of my favorite obsessions.

A couple of words of warning about this video:

• It’s violent.  It’s the zombie apocalypse.  But we’ve been over that.
• Spoilers abound.  After all, it’s a recap.

But if you’ve never watched The Walking Dead before, by the end of this clip you’ll be up to speed and ready for Sunday night.  Hint: In the zombie apocalypse, the zombies are the least of your problems.  And if you’re a die-hard fan like Mr. R. and me, you’re going to LOVE this.

Oh, by the way, if you watch The Walking Dead, you can’t miss The Talking Dead which come on immediately afterward.  It’s where nerds like us dissect each scene and nuance, while at the same time, engage in group therapy.  Because we’re going to need it when we find out who Negan killed.  So what do you think?

Saturday Night Serenade–Birthday Edition

So it’s my birthday weekend.  A couple of years ago, I was faced with a big round number and it freaked me out.  Now, two years later, I’m at peace with my age.  It’s just a number.  And I’ve found a great deal of liberation in being this age.  At a certain point, you realize that essentially, not a fuck is given.

Here’s a shout-out to all the Libras out there.

Libra traits

Strengths: Cooperative,diplomatic, gracious, fair-minded, social

Weaknesses: Indecisive, avoids confrontations, will carry a grudge, self-pity

Libra likes: Harmony, gentleness, sharing with others, the outdoors

Libra dislikes: Violence, injustice, loudmouths, conformity

People born under the sign of Libra are peaceful and fair, and they hate being alone. Partnership is very important for Libra -born, and with their victorious mentality and cooperation, they cannot stand to be alone. The Libra is an Air sign, with expressed intellect and a keen mind. They can be inspired by good books, insurmountable discussions and interesting people.

The ruling planet of Libra is Venus, who is a lover of beautiful things, so the quality is always more important than the quantity for people born under the Libra sign. They are often surrounded by art, music and beautiful places. They are cooperative by nature, so they often work in teams.

Libra is fascinated by the balance and symmetry. Libra-born prefer justice and equality, and they cannot tolerate injustice. They avoid indulging in all types of conflicts and prefer to keep the peace, where this is possible. They like to do everything in pairs and not alone.

The biggest problem for Libra-born, is when they are forced to choose sides, because they are very indecisive and sometimes they forget that they have their own opinion.

Mr. and I are having two date nights in a row–we went out for a lovely dinner last night and we have tickets tonight for a fun film festival.  I’ll write about those later.  For now, here’s a birthday wish from Sir Paul.

Happy Saturday night!

And, oh, by the way, in honor of my birthday, I’m giving away Just One Night, my naughty little novella, for FREE all weekend.  So be sure to download your copy while it’s free.  And if you happen to leave a little review afterwards, I’ll be forever grateful.  🙂

http://amzn.to/2e1FWKq

Saturday Night Serenade–The Pretty Reckless

It’s been a frantic kind of week, between the hurricane that passed by, a little household emergency, and a bombshell that was dropped in the midst of it all.  I believe these words actually came out of my mouth: “Can’t we just enjoy a hurricane in peace?”  More on that when I can catch my breath.

Anyway, it’s Saturday and I couldn’t be happier.  For tonight’s serenade, I wanted something different.  Before all the hurricane drama, Amazon Prime sent me a “You might like this” message.  And they were right.

Here’s The Pretty Reckless with Take Me Down.  It’s rocking and it’s a change of pace from the moldie-oldies I’ve been posting lately.  I just need to clear my head and hit reset.

Hope you’re safe and enjoying this October weekend.  Keep watching for more October stories.  I have a little chiller to add.  Happy Saturday night!

Hurricane Matthew Update

Many thanks to everyone for all your kind thoughts and prayers for those of us in the path of Hurricane Matthew over the last couple of days.  We fared exceptionally well.  Due to a tiny shift to the east, we experienced precious little in the way of effects.  We had no damage, we never even lost power.

Having spent yesterday at home, finalizing our ‘battened down’ status and preparing for the storm that didn’t come, today we decided to venture out.  There were some power outages in the area and we did find places where branches and palm fronds were blown about.  The first place we attempted to go for lunch was closed, but we found a Chili’s that was open.  Afterward, we took a drive by the beach and found remarkably little in the way of storm effects.  Beyond the breakers, the water was calm.  We didn’t see anything in the way of erosion.

Palm Beach County, at least our little portion in the north, managed to dodge the bullet.  Fingers are crossed when it comes to the projected path, which seems to loop around to possibly hit us again.  So who knows?  But for now, we count ourselves very fortunate.

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Rock You Like A Hurricane

Well, gang, it’s starting to look a little scary.  For the longest time, hurricane forecast tracks have taken this storm over the eastern Bahamas.  But the latest predictions have it coming uncomfortably close to us.  In all honesty, it’s been a while since we’ve been impacted so it’s probably our turn.

Come Wednesday night and Thursday, we could all be hunkered down waiting for the whole thing to blow over, no pun intended.  Think of us, along with Vic and Vile & Arianna.  We’ll keep you posted.

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There’s Something About October

Adventures in Date Night

It’s that time of year again, kids!  October.  That season of change, when the air gets cooler, leaves morph from green to brilliant tones of red, yellow, and orange (well, not in South Florida, but give me my fantasies), and there’s an eerie vibe all around.  Plus, my birthday is in October.

All this month I’ll be rerunning my series of October stories, little spine-chilling but true tales I’ve collected over the years.  And I do have a short new one to add.  Stay tuned…

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October has always been my favorite month.  One reason is that my birthday’s in October.   I’ve always loved Halloween, too.  Spooky stories are fun.  My family has our own family ghost story, passed down through the years.  It involves a woman named Della Barnes, a distant relative who was born in 1874.

According to family legend, Della was was a beautiful young woman who…

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Saturday Night Serenade–There’s Someone For Everyone

Last night, Mr. R. and I had dinner at a legendary little local place called the Brass Ring Pub Sports Bar & Grill in Royal Palm Beach, not to be confused with the Brass Ring Pub in North Palm Beach.  Whew, glad we got that sorted out!  Actually, they’re a two-location chain, and we’ve also been to the North Palm Beach location.  But I digress.

The fact is, we had dinner at Brass Ring last Friday night, too, right before we went to the Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, and Heart show I mentioned last week.  But, as good as the food was, we were in such a hurry to get to the concert that we simply inhaled our dinner and left.  So this time, we took our time and enjoyed the moment.

Brass Ring is one of those awesome working class bars where construction guys and office folks mingle at the end of a long day.  The bar area is separate from the main dining area, but you can order food either place.  Mr. R. and I rather prefer the bar area because of its ‘adults only’ vibe.  After a long days’ work, the last thing I want is to be subjected to someone else’s progeny expressing themselves exuberantly in public.

While their menu is large, Brass Ring is known for their burgers, which we ordered for the second week in a row.  Burgers come with chips, but for an up-charge, you can get fries instead.  Having the chance to really appreciate it this time, I can say the burgers are delicious.  We also ordered their fresh, made-to-order onion rings as an appetizer and they were the best I’ve tasted in a long time.

From the ‘weird but true’ file, yesterday at work, I opened a new bottle of hand sanitizer from Bath & Body Works.  The scent is something beachy, but it smells just like a rum bucket, so guess what I was craving all day?  In the bar area of Brass Ring, my craving was fulfilled.

Sitting in the bar booth across from my love, I sipped on my rum bucket and, above the din of the crowd, I heard a song I haven’t heard in years.  (You were waiting for me to get to the music, weren’t you?)  Jim Croce is best known for classics like Time in a Bottle and Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, but his playlist runs much deeper than that.  Tragically killed in a plane crash in 1973 at the age of 30, he left a legacy of terrific songs, some heartfelt and romantic, others playful and cheeky.

It’s the playful and cheeky I’m featuring tonight.  Last night at Brass Ring, they played his irreverent Working at the Car Wash Blues.  It’s the autobiography of a man who can’t quite understand why he can’t seem to land the position he feels he deserves.

And THAT song reminded of this song, Roller Derby Queen, one of my favorites.  It’s a reminder that, when it comes to love, there’s someone for everyone.

Talk about a blast from the past!  I hope you’re enjoying this first weekend of October doing what you love, with those you love.  Warm fall greetings from the R. house.

Happy Saturday night!

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