Vicki Batman's Blog, page 79

.@VickiBatman - Father's Day is Coming and no gifts?

Father’s Day is Coming
And I have no elaborate gifts. The fathers in my life don’t need them. My dad is 91 and loves ice cream and cookies. Guess what I’ll be buying? Yep, cookies and a nice card.
Handsome is incredibly independent and buys stuff all the time. I have to cut his buying off in September so he won’t be duplicating at Christmas. I’m giving him his favorite treat, tiny Reeses cups, an inexpensive shirt, and a card.
What we really like to do is gather the boys, our girl, and walk to our favorite donut store (don’t laugh! Handsome LOVES donuts) with the dogs while the temp is cool outside. The walk gives us a special time on a special day to share and be together. We don’t need a huge meal. Just a treat of donuts.
We’ve never been about expensive gifts on our anniversary. Heck, most of the time when the guys were small, we had PTA or a sport to attend. We’d somehow manage to squeeze in a burger or Mexican food date and make a small toast over a glass of Coke.
And that was perfectly fine.
Honoring someone isn’t all about the gifts. It’s being with that person.     

.@VickiBatman ~ #Handbag Monday: They always say Persistence... #MFRWblog #PlottingPrincesses

pays off....

~Handbag Monday~
Something deep inside me said, "A handbag in this color would be nice." So I began looking.

Handsome and I traveled recently and at each place, I would look for a certain style of bag in a particular color. No luck. Not even in New York unless I wanted a fancy smancy designer bag I couldn't afford. (You know I wouldn't go there.) And on a recent trip to California, I informed my companions of what I desired. No luck. I'd worked the internet, eBay, ETSY, Amazon, some handbag sites. No luck.

A big fat   :(  

Buying a bag for me is a combination of:

Price
Color
Great Style

I went back to the internet and lo and behold! found this:


Yep, a Kate Spade and mucho on sale! But when it arrived, I was a tad disappointed. The long handle didn't detach. I'm more of a tote gal than shoulder bag gal, but like versatility. Hmm. So I made a visit to my local shoe repair guy and explained my problem. He did this:


The handle was removed and a toggle added. Both of us commented as to why it wasn't done to begin with.

Anyway, I'm so totally happy with it and can't wait to show my new beauty off.

Have you been drawn to a particular handbag color?


******************************************
Poinsettia handbag: Week 10

Not much to add this week. I continue to fill in on the side panel. Getting closer to  The End!

.@VickiBatman ~ #Movie Maniac: Fading Gigolo

  Sometimes, Woody Allen gets on my nerves. His films can be great or so-so. But he does play a neurotic New Yorker with great style and this shows really well in Fading Gigolo, a movie written, directed, and starring John Turturro. Also stars Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Paradis, and Live Schreiber.  Blurb: A retired bookstore owner and semi-employed friend create a new business venture helping women with needs.  Short blurb (spoiler): John Turturro is an unlikely gigolo and Woody Allen is his pimp. The movie is funny, slow and deliberate, sensitive. And thank goodness there is something like this instead of the shoot 'em up action adventures which have lost their magic with me. Yeah, Rotten Tomatoes gave it a mediocre rating, but my friend and I liked it because it is different. Don't let the title scare you away because all is done nicely.
FMI: Fading Gigolo

.@VickiBatman - Skeleton in my closet #funny #MFRWorg #RLFblog

Now That's Funny
 
 
Last fall, I did an interview and told three things no one else really knew about me:
 
A.     I'm in a music video.
B.     I asked seven guys to a dance and turned down seven times.
C.     I was Miss Oak Lawn Moped.
 
Guess which one solicited the most comments? C.
 
What's so funny about that? Aside from squishing into a swimsuit at age twenty-four and standing alongside a bunch of eighteen year-olds? 
 
Okay, it is funny. And for those who posted on the original interview and demanded to know that story--sigh--here it is:
 
Once Upon A Time, I had a college friend who owned a moped store. At a party, he asked me to do a favor and be his entry for a pageant. I did say no, but my love-rly roommate and his friend joined in and said, "Yeah, you should do this." A couple of margaritas later, I was persuaded.
 
I'd modeled in college. I could do the walk and wore a suit well. It's just…geez. Embarrassed doesn't even come close to how I felt.
 
Until age sixteen, I wore cat-eye glasses and had a terribly skinny body. I never thought I was pretty. Imagine me at age seventeen when I actually entered the Miss Flame scholarship contest. I wrote an essay, paraded in a swimsuit and long dress. I made it through to the finals. And the judges picked the girl who looked twenty-something. Hurrah!
 
So, fast forward to Ms. OLM. I managed a passable job, and not surprisingly, the blonde with the corn-row hairstyle won. Finito. Pageant days are over.
 
What's really funny? This incident provided fodder for a fun, unpubbed story. And I threw in the part about asking seven guys to a dance, too.
 
 
So am I brave or what? Come on, share something no one else really knows.
 
 
Vicki Batman is kicking back with her diet Coke and wrapping up "Raving Beauty." Catch her at: http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com OR at: http://vickibatman.blogspot.com  Coming soon is her romantic comedy mystery, Temporarily Employed.

.@VickiBatman - #Handbag Monday: Old? New? Big? Small?

~Handbag Monday~





As you know, I go with a variety of handbags. In general, I like mine to be structured so things aren't lost in the bottom. (See digging through one while checking out at the grocery store and there are at least a million people in line behind you going why? and you have to write a regular check because your debit card fell out of your wallet which is under the exploded pak of tissues you have to tote around because of springtime allergies. LOL)






Then there is color. Not a huge fan of bright yellow or orange. However, I do have a large variety of styles in


B L A C K















When buying vintage, I want a clean one. In good repair. Not ripping out at the seams, not missing anything. Isn't stinky. Of good value. Color. Style. Will my stuff fit.


When buying a new bag, I look for style, price, different from others, color. Will my stuff fit--the difference being an evening bag.






So where to go? Flea markets, department stores' clearance racks, thrift stores, boutiques, shoe stores.






Yesterday, I was rambling through a large antique marketplace, specifically looking for a stool and a mirror (didn't find). Of course, I took the time to look at vintage bags. Although I did see several I admired, I didn't buy any. In two cases, price, size, and style stopped me.






Do you always purchase a new bag? Or have you purchased a vintage one?

.@VickiBatman ~ #Movie Maniac: Bridget Jones's Diary

 Vicki, Vicki, Vicki, another old #movie.

Yes, well sorta.



You see, I've been reading Helen Fielding's latest with Bridget, Mad About the Boy . And while reading it, I hear Renee Zellweger's voice as Bridget. So that got me to thinking about the first movie, Bridget Jones's Diary . I love it. I love it so much that I watch it whenever it is on. I also loved The Edge of Reason .

Here's the blurb: Bridget Jones's Diary is a romantic comedy film based on Helen Fielding's novel which is her take on Austen's Pride and Prejudice . This movie stars Renée Zellweger as Bridget, Hugh Grant as her boss Daniel Cleaver, and Colin Firth as attorney Mark Darcy.

You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridget_Jones's_Diary_(film) .

So far, I am really liking the book except for one thing and I won't say what it is.


Do you watch movies over?

.@VickiBatman ~ Brenda Novak's Online Auction for Diabetes Research May 1 - 31 includes moi!

  Auction begins May 1 and ends May 31!!
Have your cake and eat it too! You can own a limited edition collection of fourteen digital contemporary romances by some of today's biggest authors. I am proud to support this fine cause and have donated 3 e-books which will be loaded on to a Nook reader: 

Nook GlowLight #2: http://goo.gl/i0vrCn




Other authors included on the reader are:

Jan Carol Abney - TEXAS PRISONER - Romance
Phoebe Conn - FIERCE LOVE - Romance
Phoebe Conn - FIERCE PRIDE - Romance
Phoebe Conn - FIERCE PASSION - Romance
Jayne Rylon - KING COBRA - Romance (Erotica)
Cynthia Woolf - TAME A WILD HEART - Romance (Western)
Cynthia Woolf - REDEEMED BY A REBEL - Romance (Western)
Vicki Batman - BUG STUFF…AND OTHER STORIES - Romantic Comedy
Vicki Batman - LITTLE BIRDIE WHO…AND OTHER STORIES - Romantic Comedy
Vicki Batman - MAN THEORY…AND OTHER STORIES - Romantic Comedy
Dale Mayer - HIDE'N GO SEEK - Romantic Suspense
Dale Mayer - TOUCHED BY DEATH - Romantic Suspense/Mystery
Opening Bid: $3.00

 Would you want to miss these goodies? I think not! Go now: http://goo.gl/i0vrCn

 

.@VickiBatman ~ #Handbag Monday: a precious gift #MFRWorg #RLFblog #accessories

Welcome to

~Handbag Monday~
Sometimes, a handbag waltzes into my life and it is so precious. Look at this beautiful needlepoint:

 Through Handsome's company conventions, I have made super special friends. One was cleaning out her mother in law's closet. Her MIL was  taught needlepoint and crafted the clutch. My friend knows how much I love handbags plus needlepoint; so she gave it to me.  I was thrilled! However... In my head, the bag lacked something, and I determined the something to be a handle. I went to my favorite Joann's and found this black one. It looks a tad Oriental which I thought went with the petit point flowers on the flap. I sewed on grosgrain ribbon and attached the handle. Voila. But.... What would my friend say? At first, she said nice, but didn't act like it. I was a little sad because I didn't want her to think I'd disgraced her mother in law's work. Then she came back and told me she did like it. Whew. It doesn't hold a lot of *things* but it does hold a lot of memories.  Have you ever inherited a handbag and remembered something special about it? 
**************************************** Poinsettia bag: Week 10    Thanks for being with me today. Lots of guest coming soon and a special bag.   Vicki Batman is a sassy writer and a sassy girl (according to her mother). She hangs with a diet Dr. Pepper and makes up lots of stuff. 

.@VickiBatman ~ #Movie Maniac: Chef and now I'm #hungry #MFRWorg #PlottingPrincesses

#Movie Maniac
  Sometimes, you have to lose your dignity to find yourself.  Chef Carl bowed to pressure and cooked the same stuff he'd been doing for the last ten years on the night the famed restaurant critic visited. Flaming Twitter war ensurd and Carl leaves the safe job. He travels to Miami with his ex-wife and his son he doesn't really know, where he starts over doing what he loves.  Yeah, the blurb is a tad longer. LOL. Written, directed, and stared by Jon Favreau, the guy who brought you Iron Man (and Monica's rich boyfriend who decided to try a career in wrestling). Also has a cast of great actors and actresses, including one of my favs, Bobby Canavale. The movie is fabulous, charming, spicey, and sweet. No weird kinky sex stuff. No dystopian stuff. No action hero blowing up the world stuff. Nope, we have a guy rediscovering why he loves doing what he does best.  Pretty good message in that too.  And in the words of my friend, "You leave hungry."  FMI: Chef) 

.@VickiBatman ~ Absolutely Deeeelicious: Strawberry Cake

 
A couple of years ago, a recipe for Strawberry Cake appeared in the local newspaper. At jazzercise, the back row couldn't stop talking about it. One friend was brave and made it. After sampling, I knew I had to also. It is so good. So this year with Mom's Day and #2's birthday on the same day, I wanted to bake an extra special concoction. While perusing my recipes, I found this one and said, "Yes!" It was delicious.

Aunt Annie's Strawberry Layer Cake  1 C frozen strawberries in light syrup, thawed1 (16.25 oz) white cake mix1 (3 oz) box strawberry Jell-O3 T flour1 C vegetable oil4 eggs1/2 C water Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 3 (short layers. Or 2 for taller layers. Or a large rectangular baking pan) with nonstick cooking spray. Dust with flour (oops, I don't think I have ever done this and the layers have turned out fine. So go with what your are comfortable). Drain strawberries well, reserving juice for frosting. Combine cake mix, strawberry Jell-O, and flour in large bowl with electric mixer. Add oil, eggs, water, and drained berries. Mix on low for 30 secs, then medium for 2 minutes, scraping sides occasionally. (Side note: I dumped all in the mixing bowl and followed the directions for electric mixer. All came out perfect.) Divide the batter and bake for 30 min. (Note: the 3 pans made very small layers. I have done 2 pans for thicker layers and one large rectangular pan. Be careful not to overcook or undercook and test the center with toothpick for readiness). Cool in pans for 10 minutes, turn out on racks (Note: I had to cool longer, like 20). Cool cakes for 30 minutes.    Strawberry Buttercream Frosting 1 stick butter at room temperature1/4 C strawberry juice1 LB of powdered sugar In an electric mixer, mix butter, juice and sugar on low until blended. Then cream on high until light and fluffy (2 minutes). Scrape sides of bowl as necessary. Note: the recipe calls for 2 batches for the layer cake. I made 1 and 1/2 and had a bit left over. If using 2 pans, less frosting for layers would be good. If using rectangular pan, only one batch is necessary for the top.   Attributed to Alicia Ross and her aunt. For other strawberry cakes: All Recipes  Jello