Holiday Season 2023 — My Year & My Wishes For You

“It’s the holiday season, so hoop-de-do and dickory dock”.

Good Lord, song lyrics were so lame in 1963!

Now you know why Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is already a classic and a perennial chart-topper! (These photos are from the amazing Christmas concert I saw in Las Vegas in December 2017.)

So, let’s start again. It’s the holiday season!

To me, this means putting up my Christmas tree and decorations for three months, while many are getting their Halloween on!

I hope this finds you happy and healthy! Some of us keep in touch year around through social media and some of us only once a year with Christmas cards. And, I love and appreciate each and every one of them!

I’m very grateful for all I’m blessed with in life.

I’m still the morning meteorologist at the NBC affiliate in Decatur, Illinois. I’ve been here almost four years and I have another year left on my contract!

My dear sister, Tammy, had another health scare this summer. She had a stroke and a risky, emergency surgery and is in physical therapy now. Once again, she was told she definitely has to stop smoking, exercise, and eat right. Sadly, she hears “blah, blah, blah”!

She also spent another week in the hospital before Thanksgiving and it’s been a struggle bouncing back. She told me she hasn’t smoked since getting out this time!

Since my cards go out Thanksgiving week, let’s start where I left off last year.

Last December, Tammy and I visited one of my favorite cities, Palm Springs, California. I hadn’t been there since the late-1990s. (And, I started a mustache and kept it through Labor Day weekend!)

I love the Marilyn Monroe statue!

And, it was great seeing my friend, Robert, again. We met through our dearly departed friend (and “Mom”) D’nell over 30 years ago in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Thank you again for lunch, Robert! I loved my turkey burger at Billy Reed’s.

And, in October, we took a road trip to Branson, Missouri, to chill out.

I cooked a couple of our meals and we ate out a few times.

Tammy chose Lambert’s (the home of the Throwed Rolls) and we also had a seafood buffet and a nice Sunday brunch.

I splurged with dessert — half blackberry cobbler and half peach cobbler with ice cream, caramel topping, chocolate chips, and chopped nuts.

We took several photos around Branson on the Strip. I absolutely loved the gorgeous octopus outside the Aquarium.

And, the parking lot of Ripley’s was fun!

While we were there before fall foliage was in full color, our balcony view of Table Rock Lake was stunning.

So, why didn’t I travel internationally in 2023 after visiting Greece in 2021 and Costa Rica, Cancun, and Turkey in 2022?

It’s all thanks to a little four-pound bundle of energy coming into my life in late February!

That was February 25, 2023, when I picked Xanadu up in Taylorville, Illinois!

So, my hints over the past few Christmases, “maybe it’ll be in ‘Xanadu’ – ♪♪♪ “a place where nobody dared to go” where “a million lights are dancing and there you are – a shooting star” ♪♪♪!”, were to let you know something about “Xanadu” was in the cards!

Yes, I finally got my pug, so #Pug20-something became a reality!

It’s been an interesting nine months!

Xanadu is absolutely adorable and she has the most expressive little face.

However, she’s a total nightmare. I described her on-air one day as “17 pounds of mischievous”.

She has no boundaries and I now know why pugs are described as little “dictators”! But, look at this little face! 🙂

As I look to the future, I hope to calm Miss Xanadu down some and to be a great dog dad.

My next birthday is a milestone one and I hope to be spending it in Las Vegas seeing Kylie Minogue in concert.

While she started her Vegas residency in early November, I was unable to snag a ticket!

My friends, I wish you love, peace, health, and happiness in 2024!

“May hope and faith conquer fear and hate this Christmas”

Anthony & Xanadu

Random Friday Thoughts — August 18, 2023

It’s still summer, but I’m definitely ready for the shorter days, longer nights, and cooler weather.

Oh, I’m really craving an apple cider doughnut, too! Extra cinnamon sugar, please!

SPEAKING OF APPLE CIDER

On my first trip back to Las Vegas in June 2021 once vaccinations made travel possible again, I met someone for a drink at the Salt & Ivy Patio at the ARIA.

I had a drink called “Everything That Glitters Is…”. It was ginger vodka, apple cider  , cinnamon syrup, and lemon  juice. While pricey ($17, it’s Vegas baby!), it was so delicious!

Thank you for checking out my random thoughts this week!

ANOTHER MISS XANADU UPDATE

While spaying is a major abdominal surgery for girl puppies, it’s a common procedure.

Leave it to my problem child to have an allergic reaction to the stitches and develop an infection! We’re definitely on the mend now with the antibiotics kicking in.

Stitches were taken out earlier this week, but it’ll take another week or two for the wound to totally heal.

The cone I bought from the vet was a total waste of $11 since she ripped it off each time in less than a minute.

The onesie from Amazon worked better. However, sizing in China (where it was made) is much different than in the U.S. “Medium” is a tight fit for the pug.

I can’t wait for her to be totally healthy again, but she’s already back to full pug craziness!

SUMMERTIME TREAT

Last week, my boss, Clay, brought an ice cream truck to the station and treated us to tasty treats.

It definitely wasn’t our childhood ice cream truck with pre-packaged sandwiches, Push-ups, and popsicles.

I ordered a peanut butter-banana milkshake to share with Xanadu and my sister, Tammy, and I shared a banana split.

It was so delicious. I haven’t had a banana split since I lived in Mayfield, Kentucky, almost 30 years ago!

ANOTHER SWEET TREAT

Rumor has it that the Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry is now at McDonald’s!

It’s a combination of vanilla soft serve ice cream with crispy cereal mix and chocolate peanut butter cookie pieces.

“THE CELEBRATION TOUR” RESCHEDULED

Earlier this week, Madonna celebrated her 65th birthday.

She also posted the new dates for the North American leg of “The Celebration Tour” that was postponed from July after her emergency stay in the hospital.

You know I love Madonna. I’ve seen her in concert four times and I’d love to see this show.

So, I’m saying this with love and not out of spite.

I really hope she revamps the show and lets her dancers do the grueling work. Otherwise, there’ll be many cancellations or postponed shows if she goes all out like a typical Madonna show. This happened with injuries on her “Madame X Tour”.

And, it’s already going to be taxing on her body since the U.S. shows start just a week after 27 concerts in the U.K. and Europe from October through December!

There are 51 scheduled dates in North America from December 2023 through April 2024.

“BOSTON STRANGLER”

If you’re a fan of true crime stories, you likely know the story of Albert DeSalvo, the man notoriously called the “Boston Strangler”. He’s suspected of killing 13 women in the early-1960s.

However, this 2023 Hulu movie, focuses on Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley), a lifestyles feature reporter for the “Boston Record-American” newspaper and how she broke the story of the Boston Strangler.

Carrie Coon played Jean Cole, another reporter that worked on the Strangler series with McLaughlin.

It was a solid movie that focused more on the reporting and investigation of the crimes and how the two women were constantly disrespected by the Boston Police Commissioner and male reporters.

GRADE: B

CAROL BURNETT

Recently, I spent some time with comedy legend Carol Burnett by reading her 2010 biography “This Time Together” and the 2016 follow-up, “In Such Good Company”.

The 90-year-old comedienne has won six Primetime Emmys, a Grammy, and a Tony.

I remember watching “The Carol Burnett Show” as a kid and I just saw her as a funny woman. I didn’t realize just how beautiful she was out of character.

She shared many funny stories in the two books.

The funniest involved her great friend, Julie Andrews in Washington D.C., in the 1960s. Let’s just say she met First Lady “Lady Bird” Johnson in a hilarious way!

Burnett is the mother of three daughters. Her oldest, Carrie, died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 38.

ERIN HAMILTON

Burnett’s youngest, Erin Hamilton, turned 55 earlier this week.

In 1999, she released a dance-oriented album “One World”. I loved it!

It produced two Top 20 Dance hits — remakes of Gary Wright’s #2 1976 hit “Dream Weaver” and Cheap Trick’s 1988 #1 smash “The Flame”.

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

2023: Be More ’80s Patti and Less ’90s GOM

Well, the new year is here. I hope 2022 treated you well and that you enjoyed the holiday season.

If 2022 was great, I hope that extends into 2023. If it wasn’t a great year, I hope life improves for you.

As for me, 2022 treated me well. It was a continuation of 2021, which was fine. Since I’m financially stable, able to travel, healthy, and happy, I really have nothing to complain about since some are struggling.

However, there’s still something missing in my life.

I feel I’m a optimistic, drama free kind of guy, but over the past few months I’ve become more Max Goldman (Walter Matthau) and John Gustafson, Jr. (Jack Lemmon), characters in the 1990s two-movie series, “Grumpy Old Men”.

And, I don’t like it. In the new year, I’m going to be more Ms. Patti LaBelle!!!

I’m ready for a “New Attitude”!

CAREER & FUTURE

While I love my career, I’ve actually started thinking about the “end game” — retirement. That won’t happen until I’m 67 and I’m hoping Social Security is still a thing then, but I realize I want more in life.

DATING & SOCIALIZING

When I separated in 2017 and divorced the following year, I was in no hurry to see how fast I could get married again. Some do! (Maybe I should leave La Liz out of this because she’d passed on!)

However, dating would be nice. In the past almost six years, I’ve gone on three dates (two of those were in Duluth, Minnesota, in 2018!)

Last April 2021, I addressed this and wrote, “A very dear friend, now in her late-70s, lost her husband when she was around my age now. While her kids were grown and she had small grandchildren, she never dated again and never even thought about it.

She summed it up jokingly (or half-jokingly), “I’m too old to train another one!” 

So, this a rhetorical question. Again, don’t answer! Is it bad to only be 56-years-old and want to give up on meeting someone and forge ahead into another possible relationship?

Are my standards just too high? 🙂

That was then, this is now!

In my 2021 Christmas letter, I exclaimed, “I’m still single and the dating life is, wait, what dating life?  Good thing I enjoy my own company!”

I still enjoy my own company, but I want more in life in 2023. While I don’t want to turn totally into Blanche Devereaux (“The Golden Girls”), I want to channel some of her energy!

It’s just a matter of which of Blanche’s philosophies I want to follow!

I think I already know the answer! 🙂 Sitting home alone is no longer what I want is life. At my age, I’m now playing “Beat The Clock”!

#PUG2023

My top priority for the new year is to make #Pug2020, #Pug2021, #Pug2022, and #Pug20-something more than just a hashtag — #Pug2023!

I can’t believe it’s been almost eleven years since I’ve had a dog!

While we had household pets growing up, I’ve only had two dogs in my adult life.

There was Keshia, the chow chow, that I got in the spring of 1987.

I had her until early 1998. And, I waited a little over two years before Miss ABBA, my beautiful, sweet golden retriever came into my life (2000).

We had an amazing run together from Ohio to Chicago to Maryland and back to Illinois.

NEW PUG CONCERNS

While I hope that #Pug2023 becomes a reality this year, I admit to being a little frightened. I was in my first relationship when I got Keshia and I was in my second relationship when I got ABBA.

It should come as no shock that Keshia and ABBA both outlasted those relationships! LOL

However, it scares me a little to become a single, older “Dog Dad” going through potty-training and etiquette training alone!

Who can I blame any training failures on? 🙂

NO PASSPORT

I met some amazing people on my fall trip to Turkey.

I must have made a pretty good impression on Eleanor and her daughter Allison. We hung out together a lot and they’ve invited me along to an incredible sounding trip this October.

However, I’ve made no effort in renewing my passport that expires in May.

I hope they forgive me and don’t rescind the offer to visit them in Rhode Island one day!

Also, my friends Katie, Mary Kaye, and Duke in one part of Florida and my friend Rich in another part of the Sunshine State want me to visit. Maybe, I’ll make it a whirlwind tour!

KYLIE, I’M STILL WAITING!

As I’ve been saying for years, there’s still one concert that’s on my bucket list: Kylie Minogue!

From December 2020: “Personally, in 2021, I hope to take a real vacation and finally see Kylie Minogue in concert. Who knows, maybe I can accomplish both at the same time in a festive foreign city!    (Maybe it’ll be “Xanadu” – ♪ “a place where nobody dared to go” where “a million lights are dancing and there you are – a shooting star”!)”

From January 2022: “Seeing Kylie Minogue in concert is still on my bucket list.”

This the opening number from her last pre-pandemic tour. It’s incredible and so freaking hot!

2023, LET’S DO THIS!

As I wind down on my pontifications for the next phase of my life, I’ll leave you with a song that many of you may not have heard. I hope it makes you as happy as it does me!

“Naatu Naatu” is on the shortlist to be nominated for an Oscar this year for Best Original Song. (81 songs were eligible and 15 made the shortlist!) It’s already in the running for a Golden Globe award.

It’s from the three-hour Indian movie, “RRR”, which I loved and is one of my favorite movies of 2022. Okay, you may not know what it means, but who cares, just stare at and enjoy Ram Charan! (He’s on the right!)

Thank you for taking the time to spend with me and my thoughts as I look to new adventures in 2023.

I wish the absolute best to you and yours this year and in the future!

Anthony