A Great Weekend

 I had the best time last weekend at The Living Dead Weekend in Monroeville, PA!  It was an extremely busy weekend though.

Friday I did the 3 hour drive to Monroeville arriving way before I needed to.  Standing in line I was able to get this:

That's Greg Nicotero and Tom Savini!  I just love Greg Nicotero!  He is so very nice.  You can read about last year's event here:  2024 Continues.  After everything opened and Greg finally showed up at his table I took my stuffed Greg Nicotero from The Cuddle Cult to have him sign:

He told me a story of how he gave one of these in a Christmas gift exchange at work and that the guy who got it, put it on his Christmas tree!  I also bought a large coin he designed with his 13 favorite horror movies on it (I've yet to identify all of them).  We did a selfie - for some reason he has to do the selfies - anyway he took my phone and then told me he couldn't get it to open; I rattled off the code to him and he said "You do realize you just gave me your phone code."  I told him all that that would get him is about 600 photos of Duran Duran.  He shook his head and said "You and my wife....."   LOL!!  Totally made my weekend!  Though I did get more photos of him from a distance; I didn't get the opportunity to talk to him again.  It was very crowded and he had people around all the time, even at the VIP event on Saturday evening.  And though being a fangirl, I didn't want to come across as stalkish either.

Friday evening I saw the original b/w version of Night of the Living Dead on the big screen finally!  Some of the cast was there to watch it with us.  It was great!  It was in line waiting to get into the theater that I met Dave.  Dave is a school teacher from New York; he's married with a 6 year old son.  He was also at the event by himself.  We would run into each other several times during the weekend - the Dawn of the Dead mall tour, various discussion panels and the Day of the Dead brunch.  The majority of the people at the event were very nice.

I also met Alice B. Sullivan, an author of apocalyptic novels.  I had downloaded one of her books but never read it due to the dog on the cover.  She assured me the dog doesn't die in her books - LOL!!  I bought some books from her - go check her out!

From the hotel to the event - everything was great!  I think they are planning another one in October.  Walmart has bought the mall and it is expected that it will probably be torn down and replaced with a Walmart; because that's the crap that Walmart does!  So they are trying to get another one in.  Will I go?  Not sure, it takes a lot of money for that!  But we will see.

The worst part of the weekend was the drive home in all the rain and fog; but it was worth it.

Not A Weight Post

 Sorry that my posts have been few.  Kickstart kind of has gone to the side as I'm dealing with a dog with a neck injury and it's just been way too stressful.

But with this post, I want to discuss the Bay City Rollers.  Yeah, you heard that correctly, the band from the 1970's famous for the song Saturday Night and causing young girls to run around in plaid and scream their heads off.

I was one of those girls:

Yep, that's me in my Roller Gear too many years ago! 😁 Eric was my favorite.

When I first got the internet, the Rollers were something I looked up.  There were many fan sites and I was able to reconnect with a few penpals.  When FB rolled around, I found some more, connected with new ones and rehashed my Roller days.

I became a fan during what is known as the "classic" line-up:  Eric, Les, Woody, Alan & Derek.  I am very much aware that Les replaced the original lead singer Nobby Clark and that fans in the U.K. are very familiar with him.  Though Nobby was with the band since the start and recorded songs with them, he left before the really big break and the worldwide Rollermania (I'm not saying there wasn't any when he was in the band, but the classic line-up is what most remember).  Nobby sometimes comes to fan fests held throughout the world and it is my understanding that some of the early recordings are actually his voice and not Les' as there wasn't time to dub them over.  I don't know if that's true or not.  What I do know is that Nobby wrote a book, Nobby comes to fanfests and Nobby, in my opinion, has never gotten over not being part of the big break.  He's a little quieter these days but it was there for a long time.

The fan pages these days, for some reason, are in competition with each other.  Keep in mind this is a band from the 70's that hasn't been together in quite a long time.  Of the classic line-up only Eric, Woody and Derek are still alive.  Both Alan & Les passed a few years back as well as Ian (who replaced Alan for a short period).  I must mention Ian as he and his wife Wendy were always very nice to fans on FB.  Wendy still shares pictures (and stories) from her private collection.

Anyhow, there's bullying, there's threats, there's accusations......and I can't help but wonder; why?  Why is it so important for one group of people to try to be named "The Only True Bay City Roller Fans"?  And these groups join with the band member's wives/significant others/children, who apparently don't really get along that well with each other.  So it's a divided group.  There doesn't seem to be any middle ground and for some reason I can't enjoy my band from my childhood because of it.  I can't understand why grown women behave like that!!  I can't really understand why anyone would behave like that over anything.

Grow Up People!

A Quick Update

Today I got a new stove!

That may seem like such a small thing to most; but it's a big deal to me.

Many years ago, when the 2 oven stove came out, I purchased a Maytag Gemini. I LOVED that stove and had it for many many years.  When we did a cheap upgrade in the kitchen, I wanted stainless steel appliances.  We got a refrigerator and dishwasher and I held out on the stove, because I loved mine so much. Eventually though, I broke down and got a stainless steel one - just one oven - in a price range I could afford.  It worked, but it just wasn't what I wanted.

***I was unaware that there a people that can wrap appliances to the color you want. Had I known that, that's what I would have done with my Gemini."

Anyway....I finally bought a new two oven (they no longer make the Gemini).  It's a Samsung this time.  It has an air fryer mode and actually connects to wifi and my phone.

Rather than pay Lowe's to take away the old one, we sold it on FB.  I kid you not - the person that bought it was pulling away as Lowe's delivery was pulling in!!  Perfect timing!

I haven't used it yet, but obviously I will.

My Shapa has had me in the light gray for a while and now has me in green, which is good. I did get a walk in today, the weather was so beautiful!

Sickness and Something Funny

 I've been sick with a horrible viral head cold since Saturday and haven't been working.  I went to the doctor's today and they put me off work until Monday.  Feeling a little better but get tired very quickly.

When I got home from the doctor's, I grabbed the mail from the mailbox on my way into the house.  I notice a 8 x 10 envelope hand addressed to me with no return address and the stamp indicated it was mailed from overseas.

I began thinking if I had ordered anything; but couldn't remember and then questioned if I should even open it as it was flat and didn't feel like it had anything in it. But I opened it...

...and, out came two photographs of the actor Stellan Skargard autographed to me!!

I almost choked laughing....

Back in 2008, after the movie Mamma Mia came out; I became a fan of Stellan Skarsgard and found a small online group of women similar in age who were also fans.  Stellan didn't seem to have a website, fanclub or anything at that time and the one lady told each of us to send a photo or two of Stellan to her with our addresses on the back and she was going to mail them all in together to his management company hoping for autographs.  I sent my two, never heard anything, and lost contact with those ladies some time ago.

You caught that date, right?  2008 - SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO!  And my autographed photos arrived today!!!! 😂😂😂

It's not like they've been lost in the mail, it was postmarked February 11, 2025.  He's one busy man!

A Bad Evening, But Not A Step Back

I had a bad evening.....

I went to the movies last night and CC wanted to eat dinner there.  There are no good food options there and though she would of ate elsewhere if I'd of asked; we just didn't have the time for that and would be eating during the movie.  I opted for their grilled cheese with tomato soup dipping with potato chips.  I figured since there was nothing healthy...get what you want.  I also had popcorn

The movie was last minute I didn't get my walk in; I didn't get to read a chapter of a book.  Three failed commitments:  Better dinner choices, walk, read.

Sigh.....

I got up this morning feeling rather blah and guilty.  How could I not?  The Shapa scale still has me in the "green" but it's rather early in that process for it to show anything else.  The regular scale was staring at me.  I had promised myself (not a commitment, a promise) that I'd weigh in only on Mondays.  I mean how could I ever be thinking to weigh now after a bad eating night?  Absolutely anytime I weigh after a movie night, I've gained.  Oh, it works its way out in a day or two; but there's always that gain.

But....I got on the scale anyway and I couldn't believe it - a small loss from my start date!  Even with movie food gain, I had a loss!  How exciting is that!

So now I'm determined to do well for the weekend so my official weigh-in will be great!

And thus this made me think of this:

Prepping Breakfast

 I decided to prep breakfast for the week and chose Two Point Cinnamon Muffins.

I've made these before and actually enjoy them.  If you choose to make them, I must let you know that they are not sweet.  They are more like a bread.  You can pair them with spray butter, sugar free jam/jelly, peanut butter or sugar free syrup.  

I got blueberries at a cheap price last week and decided to add that to the recipe:

I put the mix into the wells (1/4 cup per well) and then pushed 4 blueberries into each.  Yes, you may use a regular cupcake pan or you can pour the whole mix into a 9 x 13 pan and then cut it into 12 pieces.  I'll eat this along with a banana.  I'll probably heat it up and then use spray butter.  They are 2 points each; and I'll have two each morning for a 4 point breakfast.

And breakfast is complete for the week other than buying some bananas.

Hubby and I went to the Bonanza Steakhouse last night for dinner and I got their pork chop dinner.  You get THREE rather nice size pork chop loins with the dinner.  I ate one and the other two will become lunch for Monday & Tuesday.  I'll probably make a baked potato (topped with spray butter) to go with it.  That gives me a 0 point lunch those days.

The other days?  Well if I don't have leftovers from my unplanned, as of yet, dinners; I do have individually wrapped chicken breasts in the freezer.

And in the amount of time it took me to write this post?  The muffins are done:

2024 In Review

 I am so happy to be saying GOOD-BYE to 2024.  It has been the worst year ever - even worse than covid.

Here's 10 things that happened:

1.    On January 17th, my cousin-in-law Paul passed.

2.     On January 24th, my Aunt Wilda passed.

3.     On March 7th, my Mom passed.  I never thought I'd be living without my Mom!

4.    On August 29th, my Dad passed.  I really miss my Dad!

5.    On October 26th, my long time friend Suzy passed.

6.    We lost our Dexter.

7.    My long time co-worker retired December 1st.  I've worked with Brenda for 26-1/2 years and learned so much from her.  We'll stay in touch, but I'll miss the day-to-day interactions!              

Some Happy Things:

8.    CC and I went to Monroeville Mall for the Living Dead Weekend and got to meet Greg

Nicotero. (I have such a fangirl crush on him now).

9.    Got to see Duran Duran from the THIRD row.

I've always had the fangirl crush for them!!

10.    I was hoping to find another happy thing...but it looks like I'm ending the year with a 

bad cold and cough virus!

Shall I add more:

11.    My cousin-in-law Greg just passed away - December 23rd.

GOOD-BYE 2024!