Bun toting librarian

Hi! Our host is Bev Sykes of the blog "Funny the World". . Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Stolen from Bun Toting Librarian 

1.      When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? Damn I’m old. How is it my hair has gotten so gray?

2.      What shirt are you wearing? Sponge Bob Square Pants t-shirt.

3.      Do you label yourself? Yes. I’m a lesbian. 

4.      What does your watch look like? I have a Men’s Citizen, silver with a blue face. I prefer Men’s watches because my hands are kinda large. I have a ladies Bulova I that’s teeny tiny and looks silly on my wrist.

5.      What were you doing at midnight last night? Reading.

6.      Last furry thing you touched? One of my cats, Maddux. He loves to do figure eights around your legs while you are in the powder room. Does anyone call it that anymore? I haven’t heard it in ages.

7.      Favourite age you have been so far? Forty. That’s when I came out and actually felt comfortable in my own skin. And I had the time of my life dating. 

8.      What is your current desktop picture? I’m retired, so the only desk I have is in a computer armoire. No space for any pictures.

9.      If you had to choose between $1,000,000 or to be able to fly what would it be? I could use the money much more than the ability to fly.

10.  The last song you listened to? “Into the Great Wide Open” by Tom Petty.

11.  What do you do when vending machines steal your money? If the item didn’t fall down and I have more money I just buy another and usually they both fall down.

12.  Would you move for the person you loved? Absolutely. And I did once. But it’s ok because I love where I moved to.

13.  Name three things that you have on you at all times? Usually car keys, cell phone, and wallet. Car keys not so much for awhile. (See previous post.)

14.  What’s your favourite town/city? Chicago. I loved it so much I moved there not knowing anyone.

15.  Does anything hurt on your body right now? I have an awful headache, and the usual, back, shoulders. Right now the headache is winning. Not sure if it’s what left of the pneumonia, my allergies, or both.

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

Not being allowed to drive is like prison

The moral of this story is:

Take the eye exam at the DMV. 

NEVER bring a Vision Report to the department of motor vehicles (DMV) when you are due for an eye exam. If they don’t like it, not filled out properly, exam not current enough you are screwed. I got a letter in July, went to the DMV for a state ID card and to take the exam. The clerk didn’t say anything about it, did my ID and sent me on my way. I didn’t think much of it and thought all was ok.

NOPE! Wednesday I got a letter saying my driver’s license was canceled and I needed to mail it to Springfield. It was very vague and gave some statute numbers which I looked up that were equally as vague. Thursday morning at 8am I called Springfield and was told the Vision Report was too old (hello, pandemic, I thought it would be ok) and I needed to get an eye exam, have the form filled out by the eye doctor and send it in. The woman was not nice when I asked questions and told me I must immediately mail my driver’s license to Springfield and I CANNOT drive until they get my Vision Report, deem it acceptable, process it, and mail me a letter stating my driver’s license has been reinstated, and I receive that letter. Apparently the woman hadn’t had her coffee yet. I was mildly hysterical, took a few minutes to calm down and called back and got a very pleasant woman. She didn’t have any better news, but she was more helpful. She told me since I was immediately going for an eye exam that I shouldn’t mail my driver’s license to Springfield. She also told me that I couldn’t just go to the local DMV and do the eye exam there, that I could only pay for an eye exam, have them fill out the report, mail it in and wait. Thank goodness she told me, otherwise I would have had my chauffeur drive me to the local DMV, wait in line, and be told I can’t do the eye exam there.

I killed some time calling my insurance to find out if an exam was covered. It was, but the Optomotrists were not near me. I looked up my optometrist, found they opened at 9am. I called at 9am, asked how much an exam was, $133 and begged for an appointment that day. The staff knew I went there regularly and got me an appointment at 11am. I had my chauffeur (my wife) drive me, had the exam (no change in my vision, no new eyeglasses needed), then had my chauffeur drive me to the post office.

I figure the time it takes my Vision Report to get to Springfield, approved, letter prepared, letter mailed, letter received, I will not be able to drive for at least 2 weeks. Considering they are all probably still working from home due to the pandemic, it could be longer. My Buick is supposed to go in the shop Tuesday. Normally my wife follows me, I drop it off, then she takes me to pick it up and I drive home. Noooo. I can’t drive! I am not getting a ticket for potentially $1,000 plus court costs. (I looked that up too. Thank you Google!) My luck is not very good right now what with my driver’s license being canceled and paying for an eye exam that I didn’t need, other than for the Vision Report, so I’m not going to tempt fate.

Where I live there is zero public transportation and I can’t afford an Uber. I will have to rely on my wife to take me where I want/need to go. She doesn’t leave the house much and sleeps very late. That is soooo not me. I get up fairly early, depending on my plans. Did I also mention that I can’t tolerate when she drives? She’s not a bad driver, she just has more than a bit of road rage. Yelling about the car behind us that really isn’t that close, or the car that may or may not dart into our path out of a parking lot, or the car that can’t tolerate following a car doing the actual posted speed limit and passes us. I can’t take this added stress. I’m afraid I’ll be incoherent and drooling in a day or so. 

All I can think of is the things I can’t do and the places I can’t go on the spur of the moment. Some are:

Making/going to a couple medical related appointments.

Visiting my daughter’s at her apartment.

Going to the grocery store any time I want.

Going to garage sales on the weekend.

Sneaking drive-Thru lunch when I have my son help me grocery shop. (Yes, it’s always a vegetarian lunch for me.)

Embarrassing the heck out of my son by singing along to the radio and seat dancing while on the way to grocery shopping. (Hey, it’s the only kicks I get these days.)

There’s more I’m sure. But the point is that I have to rely on my wife to drive me. When I lived in Chicago I could walk out of my house, walk 1/4 of a block to a bus stop, catch a bus where I wanted to go, or catch a bus that went directly to an El train stop that would take me downtown. I went for over a year without a car and it didn’t bother me much. I worked downtown at the time so the bus to the El train stop was very convenient. This 2 weeks + is going to make me lose my mind!

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

Oh my word!

We’ve got major drama going on, just because my ex friend, Liane, who is my sister-in-law’s fiancé, got caught in a lie and then continued to lie. I called her out on it.

Liane said, and I quote “Pneumonia is Covid-19”. She said this to my wife and posted it on Facebook with an article attached, which she obviously didn’t read, that actually proved she was wrong! I called her out on Facebook, attaching an article from Harvard that stated that there is a Covid-19 acquired Pneumonia. NOT that pneumonia is Covid-19. This is the article I posted.

8 Things You Should Know About Pneumonia

Liane was over Friday or Saturday to drop some things off for my wife. On her way walking off the porch she said “Pneumonia is Covid-19”. She said this because my daughter and I both have pneumonia. My daughter’s is much worse because she has uncontrolled asthma. In any event she later posted on Facebook that “Pneumonia is Covid-19”. 

Since my daughter and I both have pneumonia I was not going to just let that messed up falsehood stand unchallenged. Liane got all bent out of shape because I called her out on her lie. I didn’t say she lied, I simply stated facts. So Liane calls my wife, basically telling my wife to get control of me, her wife, and take down what I posted. I edited it to remove her name, but the post is still on Facebook.

So for days my wife has been taking calls from Liane, and her sister. Liane told my sister-in-law that I must reply to her message on Messenger, take down my post, and apologize to her. No I don’t, and none of that is going to happen. I have known Liane since 2010, longer than my wife and her sister. I know from past dealings with Liane that when she insists she’s right about something (and the facts prove her wrong) that I just shouldn’t bother to engage her. I told my wife that Liane can go pound sand. (I love that phrase. My Dad used it.). I will not discuss it, nor will I apologize. So yesterday I found that Liane unfriended me on Facebook. This is at least the 5th time she’s done it, because I refuse to allow her to control me, my mouth, or my Facebook posts. Sometime Monday Liane unfriended my wife because my wife couldn’t get control of me. Seriously!

So, all day Monday my wife was fielding calls and texts from Liane and my sister-in-law. The last call ended with my wife telling her sister that she has nothing further to say to her because she won’t acknowledge Liane’s lie, and won’t even discuss it with Liane. My wife isn’t all that happy cutting off her sister, but it won’t be forever. They’ve had words before that ended with ‘I’m done talking to you’ and they end up speaking sometime after.

I really have to give my wife credit for defending me throughout this nonsense. My wife was angry about Liane’s lie, but she didn’t know how to handle it. I do. And I did. I’m not afraid of Liane and have gone through long periods of no contact because of the way she’s treated me in the past. Liane hasn’t been my friend for years because of the way she treated me. She would make plans, get a better offer, then ghost me. She would never call or text me to let me know our plans were off, that she couldn’t make it. I’d rather have no friends (and I currently have none) than allow myself to continually be treated like that. It’s rude, disrespectful, and cruel. Too many nights I waited for plans that were never canceled, yet the plans didn’t happen.

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

Sunday Stealing-Not quite 5,000 questions

 

Hi! Our host is Bev Sykes of the blog "Funny the World". . Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves! 

Stolen from 5000 questions

 

1. Who do you take for granted? Probably my wife.

2. Short, knee, or ankle skirts? (if a man, have you ever worn kilts?) I like just below my knee, for myself. As for others? Short is good.

3. Do you wear a hat? I do wear hats. The type is dependent on the weather. Majority of the time it’s a baseball cap. 

4. Who's your favorite cartoon character? Wile E. Coyote. From the Road Runner cartoons. Just always hoping wouldn’t get clocked by an anvil or something. Why couldn’t Wile, just once in a great while, just step out of the way in time to miss the anvil, rock, or locomotive coming at him…It could even be just once. Just once.

5. Does break dancing impress you? Yes. It always does. 

6. Are you a miracle? A miracle baby? I guess you could say I am. My parents tried for 11 years to have a child, then I showed up. That was 1961. So without all the hormone shots and all the rest that goes with trying to have a baby after so many years today.

7. Have you ever eaten tofu? Yes. I’m newly vegetarian, so I will be having tofu. I have some in  my house right now.

8. Does the moon have an effect on your mood? I don’t keep track of that stuff so I wouldn’t know.

9. Many people will say that the Harry Potter books are pure fluff with no literary value. Do you agree? I have no interest in reading them, so this isn’t on my radar. I also don’t care for the author’s remarks about transgender people. She’s a writer. Stick to writing.

10. What are you doing next Wednesday? I think I have some medical appointment.

11. Why do so many people think Elvis is still alive? Because wouldn’t it be cool if Elvis was alive and if Jim Morrison were alive they could do an album. Tour even. 

12. Are your hands cold? Sometimes. Right now, not cold.
                
13. Have you ever given blood? Yes.

14. What SCI-fi books do you read? The only one I know of is “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. 

15. Have you ever belonged to a sorority or a fraternity? No. I don’t think they have those at community college.

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

Sunday Stealing-Not quite 100 questions

Hi! Out host is Bev Sykes of the blog "Funny the World". . Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Bev stole this a long time ago from "100 Questions" but don't have the link.

1.What's your favorite TV channel to watch in the middle of the night? I don’t really watch tv at night. I stream a movie or series from HBO Max, Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu. That would be my order of preference for streaming services.

2.Which decade do you feel the most special connection to and why? 2000’s. Early 2000’s because that’s when I came out. As Oprah says…I started living my authentic life. I finally felt comfortable in my own skin. I also had the time of my life dating like a 20 year old, even though I was 40.

3.What is your favorite oldie/classic rock song? There are too many to choose from. If I had to pick one, it would be Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

4.What Disney villain are you the most like and why? The Magic Brooms in “Fantasia”. It sounded cool. Yes, I consulted Google for a list of Disney villains.

5.Have you ever been a girl scout/boy scout? Girl Scout…very briefly. It seemed to be more expensive to join and participate. We joined 4H instead. My Mom was one of the leaders. She did cooking classes. She also took us to Mayfair Mall for the fair, and to WI State Fair for the art, livestock, and baking competitions. I had a drawing entered and hung with all the other art in the Gallery below the Grandstand. I won a ribbon for it. I also entered a cheese bread.

6.If you were traveling to another continent would you rather fly or take a boat? Probably fly, since it’s faster than a boat.

7. What are three of your favorite dog names of all time? Maxwell (my first pet, and the only dog I had as a pet), Harley, Rufus.

8. How do you feel when you see a rainbow? Lucky. 🍀 

9. If you were in the Land of Oz would you want to live there or go home? I guess that would depend on if the Land of Oz were exactly as depicted in “The Wizard of Oz”, or would it be updated to the 21st century? What is meant by “home”? Where I grew up? Where I live now?

10. What is the first word that comes to mind when you see the word:
Air: Breathe. 
Meat: Vegetarian. 
Different: Same.
Pink: Girlie.
Deserve: Earn.
White: Blank.
Elvis: Rock-N-Roll.
Magic: Fantasy.
Heart: Love.
Clash: Disagree.
Pulp: Lumpy.

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

This and that and a neighborhood death

Someone I grew up with in my childhood neighborhood, who I went to grade school through high school passed away last week. No cause of death was mentioned. She was in my graduating class. She was also 60 years old, as I am. I wasn’t friends with her, but I had tried to be friends with her in grade school. I wasn’t Facebook friends with her, but a lot of my Facebook friends were Facebook friends with her. I know I’d seen at least one mention of her and a photo several years ago. Facebook is strange, the way you can get a glimpse of a Facebook friend of a friend.

She is the third member of my graduating class, and second from my neighborhood, that passed away in the last year. Someone set up a Facebook group for our high school for remembering those who’ve passed away. Someone actually reported my death 2 years ago. It was creepy. The person, who didn’t even know me, mistakenly reported my death, rather than my childhood bff who passed away in the ‘90’s. My bff’s sister set her straight and called for the admins of the group to get verification before approving any death notice. 

I guess when you get to be a certain age you hear about more deaths from people you knew from your childhood neighborhood or schools. The last year and a half, with the pandemic, there have been so many deaths. Celebrities, musicians, broadcasters, weathermen, a lot of people in the public eye. So many people. I remember as a child hearing my parents remark when hearing of a death on the news, “but they were so young”. I find myself saying that more and more. It’s as though we don’t realize…I guess…our own mortality.

In my health news, I have been strictly vegetarian since August 13, 2021, except for 2 instances of having baked fish or sushi. I’m allowing myself fish, preferably salmon, occasionally because of the Omega-3’s. I find I’m not missing beef, chicken, pork, or turkey. I’ve been eating plant based fake meats. For dinner tonight I had a Beyond Burger prepared at home (just as good as TGIF’s, but without the ambiance). For Labor Day I will be trying their fake  Italian Sausage. I really haven’t been disappointed by any of the plant based fake meats that I’ve tried. I have also been preparing, or having my wife or daughter prepare vegetarian Mexican food and Indian food. I’m hoping to try cauliflower steak tomorrow. Hoping the weather cooperates so my wife can fire up the grill. Thanksgiving will be interesting. Where in the world can you buy a tofurkey?

Eating vegetarian and analyzing nutrition labels is not a problem. I’m taking the time to really read those nutrition labels because I’m terrified of the consequences if I don’t reduce sodium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus. I have a friend in the same boat as me, but he’s more than 10 years older. We met for breakfast with our wives on Friday and we’re comparing each other’s approach to the same health issue. He’s already seen a nutritionist, I just got my referral approved on Friday. I don’t think he’s going vegetarian, but everyone’s approach to this is different. I know eating vegetarian will have more health benefits than the ones I’m concentrating on.

On the apartment front, I am working with my daughter on apartment upkeep, cleaning, meal prep, etc. Yesterday she went to use her brand new vacuum which suddenly had a loud whistling noise. I called the manufacturer who directed me to partially disassemble it and look for clogs. My daughter is vacuuming laminate flooring and 2 new area rugs. All she’s vacuuming up is dust bunnies. Needless to say I found nothing. I was directed to return it to where we purchased it. So we did. Then I spent 2 hours researching other vacuums in the store and ended up getting one. We haven’t tried it yet. Today was supervising yard work and having dinner at our house for a change.

After the vacuum debacle, I set about to inflate the Coleman air mattress my son will use on sleepovers. I seemed to get it almost inflated, but not quite completely. Turns out there were 4 small holes. I’ve never patched an inflatable before, so I’m not quite sure what product to use. This is a project for another day.

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

Moving done except for littles/Vegetarian update

Today we picked up an MCM long dresser that will be used as an entertainment center for tv, dvd, gaming, etc. Plenty of storage for DVD’s, games and game systems. Thank goodness my daughter has befriended just about everyone in the building. Three guys came outside as we struggled with that monstrosity on a cart and offered to bring it to her apartment. A fourth joined in. It finally got in, took quite awhile.

Guess who we ran into yesterday as we were leaving? Maria’s ex. He lives on the other side of the building. My wife gave him a good stare down, she says he shouldn’t be a problem. Also, since she has befriended everyone else in the building, all the guys know to keep an eye out for him.

My wife is still waiting on a friend who is supposed to be giving my daughter her duplicate cookware and bakeware. She just bought a house and her Mom and in-laws bought her stuff, plus she had the stuff from her previous apartment, so in theory there should be quite a bit she’s giving away and my daughter will have a lot to choose from and we’ve been told we should donate the excess, which we will do. She just hasn’t had time to get it together. My daughter is cooking with pans borrowed from me. She’s 5 minutes away, so if we need something we borrowed her it’s quick to get it back so we can use it.

The only thing left to do, is hang the wall decor we’ve collected, and swap out the bigger tv and give her my smaller flat screen. We also need to see if we can get my wife’s DVD player to work, if not pick up a new one. That and connect her internet. A self install box of stuff came Friday. Maybe after her appointment Monday we can take a look at it.

This going vegetarian is more of a drag dining out than I thought it would be. I guess I just thought that since there are so many options in grocery stores that restaurants would also have a wider selection of options. Not so much. We’ve dined out 3 times this month. First time was at a local Italian place-eggplant Parmesan. It was ok, but the sauce was salty. Second was a local pizza joint-cheese ravioli with a delicious marinara sauce. Third was tonight, TGI Friday’s Beyond Meat burger. Surprisingly delicious. Thick like their real meat burger, and I asked for it extra crispy because I’ve had fast food fake burgers that seemed microwaved with a mushy texture. The Beyond Meat burger was about as perfect as it could be for restaurant fare. Friday my daughter made a black bean burger, added sliced avocado and a tomato slice and it was da bomb! So far I’m not getting bored, but I do want to make more vegetarian Indian dishes and some Thai dishes. 

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021