Author: MichelleMcHatton

I'm a writer. I'm also a wife and a parent who works too much and lives too little. In addition to writing I also love to read, listen to music, travel, cook, I enjoy looking for bargains at flea markets or thrift stores, Christmas, football and of course writing! How did I come up with the title of my blog? Two things: 1. I live in New England (duh) and 2. Canadian singer Alan Frew once arrogantly told me to "get a New England life"--again--DUH! I already HAVE one!
The Pants Dilemma

The Pants Dilemma

by MichelleMcHatton

I don’t know how many others may be able to relate to my issue.  When it comes to purchasing pants for my husband as a Christmas gift, I keep having the same dilemma year after year.  I have a difficult time finding his size.

It doesn’t matter if it’s jeans or dress pants I’m shopping for, hunting for the right color is one thing (especially dress pants where they seem to only have three colors to choose from), but finding the right size is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

For years my husband’s pant size was 34 x 34.  I soon discovered so were most men.  Sorting through the sizes I would often think to myself “why couldn’t he be a 30 x 29” because there were plenty of those.  He has since graduated to size 38 x 34, which really excited me for a bit because I actually thought I’d have an easier time finding his size.  Yeah, right.

In searching three stores I found one pair of pants in his size.  Color black.  I had to go to two more stores before finding another pair in his size.  Again, color black.

Yes, I know I could save myself a lot of hassle by shopping on-line but that would take the fun out of the annual search for the perfect pair of pants.

Am I Doing This Right?

Am I Doing This Right?

by MichelleMcHatton

Once again the holidays are upon us and once again I struggle with the thought that I’m just not doing them right.  By “doing them right” I mean, like my mother used to.  Because when she left us over twenty years ago, I took over the holiday duties.  And although I’ve made them my own, I always have to ask myself if I’m doing them right.

For instance, with Thanksgiving, I know there aren’t as many homemade foods as there would be with my mother in charge.  I don’t make pie crusts from scratch.  I also don’t make one of each kind of pie.  I make five pies and two of them are chocolate pudding pies.  We no longer eat butternut squash because, although we graduated to the frozen version, it just got too time consuming heating each package up in the microwave.  We don’t even use real potatoes, mainly because of time.  And because we prefer instant potatoes.

When I first took over twenty years ago I made the stuffing by hand, crumbling bread in a food processor.  I no longer have a food processor, as I only used it at Thanksgiving and it took up too much space in my already small kitchen.  I now use pre-made seasoned bread crumbs and saute onion and celery and add it to the mix, along with water or if I want to fancy it up a bit, chicken broth.  But that’s not how my mother used to make the stuffing.  The way I do Thanksgiving is nothing how she used to do it.

All these years later I should accept that this is the way we do Thanksgiving now.  Nobody has complained in the past twenty years and they keep coming to my house for dinner, so I must be doing something right.  But I still can’t stop asking myself if I’m missing something or if I’m doing everything right.

REVIEW: “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”

REVIEW: “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”

by MichelleMcHatton

As many have already done as well, I finally got to see this highly anticipated film.  I was not disappointed.

For a full review, take a gander at my “Been there, seen it, read it, heard it, done that” page.

 

What’s in a Christmas Song?

What’s in a Christmas Song?

by MichelleMcHatton

Once again the airwaves are filling up with the sounds of Christmas.  Which is fine with me, since I love Christmas and actually listen to the music all year long.

There is one song, however, that I have grown immensely tired of hearing.  No, it’s not Mariah’s song.  Yet.  It’s “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”.  Controversy aside, I’m simply bored with it.  I don’t care who sings it, I’m done with it.  And it has nothing to do with its “controversy”.

No disrespect to John Legend and Kelly Clarkson’s lyrical remake this year, which I won’t get into because that topic has grown tiresome also.  But whether you change the lyrics or not, it’s still a 70-year-old worn out song.  You can argue over the meaning of the lyrics until the end of time, it’s not going to change the fact that, in the end, it’s just another classic Christmas song.  One that has grown old with the ages.  Take it or leave it.

For me, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” has gone out to pasture.

Why Would You Want To?

Why Would You Want To?

by MichelleMcHatton

Sean Doolittle should not second guess himself on his decision to not attend his team’s White House gathering.  It takes a lot to stand for what you believe in.  He should be proud of himself.  He’s part of a baseball team that won the World Series.  It shouldn’t matter if he visits the White House.  It’s not going to make him, or any other member of the Nationals, any more a winner whether they visit or not.  Doolittle has no issue with his teammates visiting and his teammates respect his wishes as well.  Which is cool.  That’s how it should be.

Yet there are many who are riled up about Doolittle refusing to visit the White House.  Some say he’s wrong because he’s not honoring the office of the “Presidency”.  Folks, Doolittle is a baseball player.  He won a baseball game.  The “host” at the White House got booed at a baseball game because he’s an asshole.  Doolittle doesn’t need to honor an asshole.  Nobody needs to.  If there’s anything Doolittle would honor, it’s the game of baseball.

I’m sure Doolittle would love to visit the White House itself.  After all, it’s just a house.  If the “host” were not present, Doolittle may not have an issue visiting the House.  But it’s who “resides” in the House, who will be “hosting” the visit (more than likely with hamberders and fries), that is the problem.  The “host”, as the world knows, is someone who is against inclusion, something Doolittle is very much in support of.  The “host” mocked a disabled reporter.  Doolittle has an autistic brother-in-law.  So anyone with half a brain should be able to understand why Doolittle does not want to visit the White House.  And if you can’t understand it, or refuse to, then you’re simply ignorant

Instead of people asking why Sean Doolittle won’t visit the White House, people should be asking why anyone would want to visit the White House.  Especially with its current inhabitant.

Doolittle said it best when he gave this explanation, which is all the explanation he needs to give, if any at all:

“People say you should go because it’s about respecting the office of the president.  And I think over the course of his time in office he’s done a lot of things that maybe don’t respect the office.”