Sunday Stealing-Black Feathers

1. Do you prefer writing with black or blue pen?  Neither. I write with a purple pen, unless it’s an official document.

2. Do you prefer living in the country or the city?  Country, or in between. I lived in Chicago for close to 20 years. The city fit my age and life at the time. I don’t think I could live there now. Especially now with the coronavirus.

3. How do you drink your tea or coffee? I drink coffee black, unless it’s bad coffee at a restaurant, then I add half and half. Tea, it depends what kind of tea. When I have a cold or sinus infection I drink cranberry or orange spice tea and add organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar. Either flavor cuts the harsh sour flavor of ACV. Black tea plain or with honey and lemon.

4. Do you prefer bath or shower?  Shower.

5. Do you prefer reading paper or electronic books? I went electronic when I got my first Kindle and iphone.

6. Would you ever want to be famous?  I don’t think so. I’ve thought about if I were to write a book and it became popular or I were asked on a talk show to promote it. I’d want to use a pseudonym. I would never want to be famous using my actual name. It’s not that I think people from my past would bother me, it’s that I would prefer the pseudonym for my “famous life” and my actual name for everyday life. If that makes sense.

7. Are you a restless sleeper?  I’m a terribly restless sleeper since my accident. I often refer to it as flopping around like a fish out of water...ALL night long. I have terrible back pain. Friday it was worse than it’s been in a long time. I tried going over my day to figure out if it was something I did. Nope. No apparent cause. 

8. What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?  Pumpkin ravioli at a trendy Chicago restaurant that probably no longer exists. And for good reason. 🤢

9. Do you like cereal crunchy or soggy? It depends on what the cereal is. I do not like Rice Krispies or corn flakes soggy. Cap ‘n Crunch, it’s ok soggy, or in between. Grape Nuts...must be soggy or it’s too hard.

10. Do you like ice in your drinks?  Vanilla Ice said it best. Ice ice baby. I always have an insulated tumbler with ice water with me. ALWAYS. I gave up soda because of the sugar and I don’t consume fake sugar, so if I’m out I don’t have any excuse to drink what I can’t. I have filtered ice water from home. I also ice sparkling water when I drink it. Right now I’m on the hunt for Kroger Fizz Cola Sparkling Water. Mariano’s and Kroger sell it. I’ve searched within a 50 mile radius, it’s never in stock when I check. I even checked Amazon. If anyone finds it near them, I’d like (4) 12 packs. Seriously! I’ll pay for it, or if it’s not a long haul I’ll go get it. Just tell me where. Tonight I am enjoying Kroger Fizz Dr P, which tastes amazingly like Dr Pepper, especially if you haven’t had the real deal in over 2 years.

11. Do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean?  I’ve never swam in the ocean and I’ve only swam in a lake because my sister caused a small fishing boat to tip over and sent me into the lake and under the pier. 

12. What can you hear right now?  The asshats next door are having a party. My wife and I have tried to do a body count without leaving my house, but we can’t see about 1/3 of the garage because of the angle from the window we’re looking from. We need a body count if we are going to call the sheriff because we are still limited to gatherings of 10 or less. They put a fire pit on their driveway, have bar stools set up in the garage and drink beer, whilst playing thumpa thumpa music. I will also call if the loud music continues past 11. This is at least their 4th party since the coronavirus lockdown. Their parents aren’t home, and they’ve been having parties when they aren’t home. I have no idea if all are of legal drinking age. The damn music ticks me off. I have a lot of headaches and the thumpa thumpa music contributes to making them worse.

13. Where do you feel the safest?  Home.

14. What would you like your legacy to be? That I was a good Mom and wife and that I did my best to raise my children with mental illnesses and help them achieve the most they can. It’s particularly difficult right now with my daughter’s group home being on lockdown. No visits there and no home visits. Right now my daughter is begging me to pick her up. I can’t. It would jeopardize her leave from work, possibly jeopardize her transition to an apartment, and she would have to stay a minimum of 14 days. My daughter’s boyfriend was admitted to a hospital Friday with pneumonia, kidney issues (he’s had his entire life), and he most likely tested positive for the coronavirus. I say most likely because no one will SAY IT. He has all the symptoms, and he did fly back and forth to his dad’s home in early April. I’ve asked my daughter to straight up ask his mother (because it’s painful for him to talk and difficult to understand him) and she dances around it. It frustrating because she is decompensating and ruminating on it. I do not want her having a psych hospital admission over this, especially with the coronavirus. The hospital she would be taken to is a regular hospital, not a strictly psychiatric hospital. Please pray that he recovers fully and my daughter stops the ruminating that will make her sick if she continues.

15. Do you like spicy food?  Sometimes. It depends what it is and how spicy. I prefer moderately spicy, not melt your face off spicy. I’ve been wanting Kung Pao Chicken for a week now. I’ve already picked out a recipe on Pinterest. I already have the dried chilies, just need a couple things. I’ll probably make egg foo young too because my wife doesn’t care for spicy and she loved the shrimp egg foo young I made 2 weeks ago. 

I hope all the mothers out their enjoy their Sunday and celebrate safely.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 48 of Sheltering In

Friday. Long day. Errand day, minus the porch drop. My daughter wasn’t too happy about that, but I didn’t do my regular grocery shop. I had to get pet food and supplies, and a Mother’s Day gift. Wife keeps telling me step moms don’t count. Umm, yeah they do and if anyone thinks I’m gonna pass on getting her a gift...you crazy! I had already gotten her a track outfit months ago, but she wanted fishing gear. So I got her a Shakespeare rod with the type of reel she wanted, bobbers and a tackle box. The rod and reel came with some fishing paraphernalia in a small box. My Kmart rod and reel wasn’t good enough. Whateves.

My daughter’s boyfriend is still in the hospital. They did bloodwork and x-rays. At least that’s all she found out from his mom. 

My daughter sounded better on the phone. She’s been conspiring with my wife for my Mother’s Day gift. It’s kind of funny the way she starts to say something about it and catches herself.

The village is giving away masks Saturday morning. You have to show ID and have a paper sign saying how many you need for your family. So the mayor of the village made a point in every post and newspaper article that they are only giving masks to “tax paying residents”. The Facebook comments about it devolved quickly. There were the comments about how masks are ineffective, they quoted articles...from 2010. Then there were those who got all uppity because ID is required and why are you specifying “tax paying residents”? One 31 year old would not let up about it. Turned out she grew up in the village but now lives in the next city. (Facebook profile). For some reason mentioning how she’s doing well for herself and doesn’t understand why paying $9,000 in property taxes one shouldn’t have to provide proof. First of all, people that live in the village pay several hundred dollars in property taxes due to property tax rebates. The township gets no such rebates. I live in the township and my taxes went up $500. So nice the Richy Riches and ladies who lunch get such a huge break. Apparently the mayor knew this woman, or is just very deft at handling...basically a heckler. He asked her if she paid those taxes living in her mom and dad’s basement.

                              🎤 

Burn! 🔥 I think comments were shut off shortly after that. 

I am praying I won’t have to spend the weekend in bed, medicated. My back is out. So out it left the building. So out, it’s like pre-surgery. I did not do anything unusual, nothing that would aggravate my back. I iced and medicated Friday night. I’m afraid when I wake up in the morning I won’t be able to get out of bed. I had to have my son help me get up from the couch. Not good at all.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 46, 47 of Sheltering In

Wednesday, Thursday. 

Thursday I did haircuts. My son was first, I was second, my wife would not allow me to give her a haircut, or do it herself like she has been threatening. Hey, knock yourself out. I have been cutting my son’s hair for over 20 years. If she wants to look like Shaggy, who am I to argue?

Nutjob was chasing my daughter around the house (while I was on the phone with her) telling her she wasn’t allowed to use the house phone because she has a cell phone. Wrong! My daughter had a long day because of Nutjob. All day Nutjob ordered my daughter to do chores. My daughter did her chores and does not do anyone else’s. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Staff did nothing all day and while I was on the phone. Something’s got to happen to stop this nonsense. I can hear in my daughter’s voice that she is struggling, but I can’t do anything other than to calm her down and talk to her. It’s very frustrating.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 45 of Sheltering In

Tuesday.

I found out Tuesday my brother in law lost 4 coworkers to the coronavirus. It had been 1. Now I know why he trolls the Walmart when they open for cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, Clorox Wipes, etc. I would be terrified I were him.

Looks like corona cuts are coming soon. I’ve cut my son’s hair since he was a toddler, so I can safely say I know my way around buzz clippers. I recently started also using the Flowbee which I’ve used on my son twice with excellent results. It’s very time consuming when his hair is as long as it is now, but it’s either a Flowbee cut or a fade. My wife is still chicken. Hair grows back right? And it’s not like she leaves the house much. J/K She claims she’s going to use the buzz clippers on the sides. I wouldn’t recommend that. She’s never used them before, not even on another person. So....not a good idea. I am actually going to give the Flowbee a try for myself. It may be awhile before I can get to mine because I plan on cutting my son’s hair first, then my wife’s. All our hair is so long now it will require some scissor cutting. The guides for the Flowbee are only so long and it takes forever to do a haircut with the longest guide. If you’re wanting hair that long, it’s fine, but if you’re going shorter anyway,  it’s just too time consuming. My daughter wants a haircut when the sheltering in order is lifted. She does not want to go to the beauty school or haircut back room. Supercuts does free haircuts in their back room by stylists who are ALMOST ready to be on the styling floor. (They do this about once a month or so.) I’ve had my hair done there in a pinch. Not fond of it. My son hates it and won’t go anymore. He says they take too long and I do a better job. 🙇‍♀️ Thank you. I also had to “fix” his haircut most of the time because they did a poor job. So, including myself, I have 4 haircuts to do. 

I don’t know what the deal is lately, but I feel like crap. I wake up all stuffy, headache, back and shoulders hurting. I wake up feeling like I’ve been beaten up in my sleep. I haven’t been doing much of anything lately, but my pain level says otherwise. 

Our local Chinese restaurant has reopened. My daughter is itching to have me bring her takeout. I’d rather have her save her money. At least until she is paid for the vacation pay she is owed. For whatever reason, even though her vacation for her birthday was approved, she never got paid. She had to have her job coach help her contact her supervisor. Her supervisor claims she will put in the pay request, but it may take awhile. If she hasn’t gotten it in 3 weeks she’s going to get the union involved. I say 3 weeks because the vacation time has to be submitted and processed by payroll. It probably should be 2 weeks, but 3 allows ample time.

I swear if the motherforker across the street doesn’t stop with the all day, into the night, late night music blaring I can’t be held responsible. It’s like Drummer Boy is back, but this guy just plays a stereo full blast. He’s an adult, divorced man living with mommy and daddy. I think they went on vacation or something because usually they don’t allow this crap. Last night I had a full blown panic attack. I tried drowning out the thumping with the tv, but I had a migraine and couldn’t turn the tv up loud enough. Asshat started about 9:30am this morning. I don’t understand why it’s necessary to play the music that loud. Get off my lawn! I’d retaliate, but my receiver and speakers still aren’t hooked up from when we got the new tv. Promises, promises.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020