Sunday Stealing-Conversation Starters

Linking up to a little Sunday fun with Bevand the merry band of thieves at Sunday Stealing.

Stolen from Two Drifters

1. What is your favorite song lyric? Why? I can’t think of one.

2. Who was the worst teacher you ever had? I don’t recall his name. He taught Freshman Social Studies and smelled of whiskey and Oreo cookies. Truth! I sat next to the film projector and it was like he was breathing that down on me. Even though I was getting good grades on assignments, I was failing. I had to get my grades from every teacher, every Friday and sometimes met with the Principal. It turned out the teacher was giving me someone else’s report card grade.

3. What were 3 things that scared you as a child?  1.The asshat neighbor boys would take their belts off and shake them at me, pretending they were snakes. I screamed and ran. Not because the belts were imitating snakes, because my Dad’s choice of punishment was “the belt”. I was afraid they were going to hit me with it. Now I don’t recall getting hit more than once. Unlike my sister, I learned fast...don’t  misbehave=no belt. 2. My Dad had 3 back surgeries. In the late sixties that, and traction kept him in the hospital for months. 3.That the name calling and teasing because I was fat would never end.  

4. What are 3 things that scare you now? 1.A health scare I had that required radiation treatment. I was going for MRI’s every 6 months. Now it’s every year. My next “checkup” is December. I really am not comfortable waiting that long. 3.Above. It still happens. But it’s much less often than I was a child. Children that call a kid fat are cruel. Adults that call an adult fat are asshats.

5. Would you rather have the power of time travel or the power to see the future? Time travel. Go back when I was a kid in the 60’s. Smelling the clean air, riding a bicycle all day, going ice skating in the woods at a pond that is now gone and a main highway. Getting hugs from my Mom. I miss her. 1984 was too soon. If I changed anything, it would be little things. Being serious about dieting, try harder to make friends after my bff dropped me. And I would have left earlier, and saved my kids.

6. Money, power, or good looks – which would you rather have an unlimited supply of?  Money. I could use the money for charitable endeavors, make some necessary home improvements, and some not so necessary. I’d help some people. 

7. Are you jealous of anything? Its kind of hard not to be, living where I live. 

8. What makes you feel most loved?  Seeing my kids or wife smile at me.

9. Do you believe in soulmates? Yes.

10. What is something that made you laugh the most?  Pass.

11. What were 3 of the happiest days of your life?  Our wedding day, the huge

Birth of my daughter, birth of my son, when my daughter came back from her break and the catatonia. She wasn’t the same as before, but she came back! One hospitalization we saw a young man who didn’t come out of it.

12. What is your biggest flaw? I talk over people. I wasn’t always like this. My short term memory isn’t the best. I’m working on not doing it. It’s part, I am starved for conversation. The other part is I feel like if I don’t jump in, I’ll forget what I was going to say, or what the other person said. 

13. Who would play you in a movie about your life?  It would probably be Rosie O’Donnell, but Kathy Bates might be a better choice.
 
14. What is something you experienced that you have no explanation for. I sometimes feel like my cat is rubbing my feet in bed. Maddux, Irish, and Bubba have never done that. Sophie used to do that. She passed away around 2008.

15. What is the saddest book you ever read?  Pass.

16. What is your dream home like?  A large home overlooking a beach not in a tornado or hurricane zone. Large kitchen with are large island with seating, 2 refrigerators, 2 dishwashers, lots of cabinets, countertop space, and a pantry. Master bedroom with attached bath, 3 bathrooms, 3 additional bedrooms, 3 car garage, large private greenhouse, shed for yard tools, she shed, front wrap around porch, large back porch with covered pergola, privacy fence, yards professionally landscaped with my favorite flowers, trees, and bushes. Large living room with conversation pit furniture (always wanted that, so 70’s), large screen tv hooked up to my sound system (I still don’t understand why my wife hasn’t figured this out. And yes, my wife, because I can’t go crawling behind the tv and entertainment center), enclosed gazebo with hot tub. My preference for the decor would be 70’s, MCM furniture and lights.

17. What creature/insect would most creep you out if you found it crawling on you?  Any of them.

18. What’s your preferred Monopoly piece?  The top hat, isn’t that everyone’s favorite?

19. What was your most embarrassing moment?  Pass.

20. Could the earth be flat?  Could the grass be purple? 

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 of Sheltering In

Asking for prayers for my daughter’s boyfriend. He has pneumonia. She feels like he’s not telling her everything.🤷🏻‍♀️He did fly to his dad’s and back just at the start of sheltering in. 

Thursday and Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

Thursday ran errands and did a porch drop at my daughter’s group home. The new staff that was there was whack. They wouldn’t let me porch drop, insisted on coming to my car to take the bags. I had my son take them out and put them on the driveway. They would not let me give her a small bucket so she can hand wash her masks at night, and for presoaking. She had a little larger bucket and brought it here for some reason. Wtfork? Why can’t she have a bucket? Do they think she would drown herself? Seriously? There is a kitchen and bathroom sink, and a tub. No need for a bucket if that were the case. After I left my daughter said they sprayed Lysol heavily on and in the grocery bags. Wtfork. The FDA advises that is not necessary. Their regular team lead has been MIA. I’m sure it’s because of homeschooling her kids. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Saturday I went to Walmart. My wife needed shorts. 🤷🏻‍♀️ So I bought her shorts. I also went to the Bodega for veggies and bought ingredients for tabuleh, and salad. Need to start eating healthy. During this lockdown I noticed I’ve been craving carbs, and it’s got to stop, because I’m not just craving them, I’m eating them. I also gassed up the Buick. $1.769/gallon when I was by the Bodega. It’s been $1.999 where I live.

Saturday my brother in law came to mow the lawn. He had f’d up MY 2 walk behind mowers. They need the filters cleaned or replaced and no one will do it. I’m not paying a lawnmower repair guy to do it, so I’ll be doing it this week. Don’t listen to ME, I took care of the lawn by myself before my car accident. Last year I told him it needed to be done and I was ignored. He came back Sunday with his mower and spent almost 5 hours mowing the front, side, and backyard. Yes, FIVE HOURS! I stayed in the master bedroom all day Sunday, and I made sure I came back Saturday after he left. I did not want to get into it with Mr. Knowitall. I’m not the stupid woman he thinks all women are. I know how to properly take care of my walk behind mowers because I researched it when I bought the first one when I lived in Chicago. What was he doing? Mowing my yards like a baseball field?  

Monday I did not feel well and literally slept all day. This sheltering in is exhausting! 🤣 

My daughter called the Asst Director to complain that her food continues to be stolen by nutjob and staff refuses to do anything. He told her to video her in the act. That’s brilliant! Let’s video nutjob who is out of control when she gets angry. Staff also told her to video nutjob when she refuses to do chores. Is my daughter being paid to be a videographer and is she getting hazard pay? I told my daughter to take video, but not point her phone at nutjob. Just get the audio. Get nutjob admitting to the food stealing and carrying on refusing to do chores. Pretend you are reading or playing a game on your phone. What exactly are they going to do with these videos? They have already not followed the guidelines they spelled out over 3 weeks ago about where nutjob gets transferred to if certain things happen. In the phone call the Asst Director said they couldn’t transfer nutjob because of the coronavirus. Well then, let’s continue to make all the other clients’ lives a living hell while nutjob is stealing tv remotes and my daughter’s food, screaming at clients telling them to do HER chores and spinning out of control like a whirling dervish! My daughter also pushed for getting a mini fridge. She had approval for this the last time we met with my daughter, wife, the Asst Director, and the previous director. Just before I bought it the team lead told my daughter no. No is not going to fly this time. I know for a fact that most of the other group homes allow clients to have them in their rooms. I know this because I know a current employee and a past team lead. Yes, I have intel.

My daughter is a very generous person and has shared her treats with all the clients in the house, including nutjob. But nutjob continues to steal anyway which frustrates my daughter because ingredients for meals she wants to prepare are stolen. My daughter plans her meals and asks me for specific ingredients that staff refuse to get on shopping trips. They don’t refuse because the items are expensive. They refuse because they are asshats. I have continually had to complain to the Asst Director and Director that staff isn’t purchasing fresh or frozen fruits and veggies. And I know damn well that food stamp (link) fraud continues because there is never enough money on the client’s link cards to last for the month. The fraud is staff purchasing items for their personal homes. I know by the amount of food that gets purchased, and because of intel from current and former employees. There are so many reasons I can’t wait for my daughter to get into an apartment, and this is one of them. When my daughter is in an apartment she alone will use her link card and budget her grocery purchases.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Days 37, 38, 39 of Sheltering In

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I have to keep double checking because I can’t believe it’s Wednesday. Probably because I wanted another day before Thursday. Nope.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday paperwork days. I finally finished the headache log. It took forever. And yes, it was a real headache to complete!

Wednesday, also my daughter’s Leave of Absence paperwork. Finally people that work in HR got back to her after she’s been calling for a month. I don’t think anyone that works in HR knows the kind of disabled people they hire to get credits from the state. They all know how to recruit and do the paperwork, but they have no idea what these disabled people are capable of and what a group home is. The email that was sent to her specified “YOU” must write a letter and fill out the form. Umm, yeah, no. If they want to be able to understand the letter and form then my daughter has to have help. He should have figured that out from their phone conversation. And where did he think she would be printing out the Leave paperwork? That would be at Mom’s house, using Mom’s printer, delivered to her via Mom’s porch drop and pickup service. 

So, no surprise...no laundry yet. I’d like to know why I have to run my son to the laundromat and put in the soap and what not, and make sure we leave with all the laundry we went with. I also have to do all the shopping. Normally I would not complain, but now I am. Sheltering in for as long as we have, it’s like I never gave birth to my son. He is CONSTANTLY attached to me! I LOVE HIM DEARLY, but I feel like I can’t breathe. Normally I wouldn’t have all this stinkin paperwork to do, and it probably wouldn’t bother me at all. But gosh darn it I have some things I need to do. 

I want to make a duck bill type face mask. I’ve tried the local Facebook groups, but, all of them selling, only make the triple pleated masks, because they are so much easier/faster to make. I found 1 person on NextDoor that does the duck bill type masks, but I don’t care for her method, or the doubled price. It’s 3 layer, with 1 layer being interfacing. I have enough issues breathing through 2 layers of 100% cotton after over 3 hours, how am I gonna breathe through interfacing and 2 layers of 100% cotton fabric? If you want something done right, you just have to do it yourself. I also want to custom fit the under eye parts to avoid eyeglass fogging. Were I to find one for purchase already sewn, with just 2 layers of 100% cotton, I would buy it, and modify it to get the fit I want. I think I would be more comfortable with the duck bill type mask because there is a seam down the middle, allowing air space between your nose and the mask. The triple pleated masks lay flat across your nose, no air space between and when I take it off I’m gasping for air. (Just like when I’d get my head released when I had my MRI’s.). If I get the hang of it, I will make some for my daughter. She has asthma and I know the duck bill mask would help her breathe more easily. I also know for a fact she is not complying with wearing a face mask when she’s around staff who come and go. That terrifies me. I have plenty of material, elastic, and thread, I just need the time. I know I will have to work a little at a time, heavily icing my back and medicating. It will take days to make a handful of masks. If I can make them the way I want and the quantity I want, it will all be worth it!

I wish I knew a store that sold them already made. It would save me a lot of pain. I asked my sister in law’s fiancé where she got hers, could she get me several? Nope. She won’t leave the house. She is beyond paranoid. I know she has other mental health issues, but with the coronavirus she has become extremely agoraphobic. Whatever! It’s not like I believed she would help me anyway. Delusional, I am not. She thinks of herself above all else. I don’t know how my sister in law can tolerate that. 

We appear to have a truce between my son and my wife. He’d been acting up, like my daughter was before the coronavirus. I didn’t have to break up any fights (verbal only) today. My son is just really having a hard time not being able to spend time with his sister. That’s why I haven’t asked for space. I also know that his dad has been calling all month laying on the guilt and telling him he needs to get on the train and go to his house for father’s day/his birthday. It’s April, father’s day is June 21st, HE NEEDS TO STOP IT! I will forkin call my cell phone provider and happily PAY to block all his numbers. My son does not know how to get to where his dad lives. In fact, were I to have him direct me how to get somewhere he’s been a hundred times, he couldn’t do it. Sunday we were in Joliet and he wanted to go to a hot dog joint that bears an old nickname of mine. He insisted we were close. Nope. That’s in Frankfort. Under no circumstances would I allow my son to take public transportation unaccompanied.

My daughter has been calling my wife every other or every couple nights to chat. She wants to improve their relationship. Kudos to her counselor! I believe my daughter probably came up with the idea, but the counselor is giving her tips.

Could ☮️ be in my future? I 🙏🏻 for it.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 35 and 36 of Sheltering In

Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday my daughter and her housemates spent the day at day program because the group home had to be evacuated so exterminators could do their job. They go back the next 2 Saturday’s. They got free pizza lunch, so the ladies didn’t mind. And they got away from the group home, which they haven’t been able to do since March. 

My son and I have been watching Melissa McCarthy movies. Friday was “Heat”, Saturday was “I Spy”. I like “Heat” more. Pairing up with Sandra Bullock, was genius.

Sunday off to Walmart to pick up cheese for my daughter, and ingredients to make Chinese food for dinner. Did the porch drop at the group home and went home to make dinner. Baked Crab Rangoon, Shrimp Egg Foo Young, and Vegetable Fried Rice. The first 2 were spot on, the Fried Rice was a little heavy on 1 ingredient. 

No laundry day Sunday. Probably Tuesday. Monday I will be medicating and icing. Tonight my son and I will watch “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. People break out into song and dance, and only Zoey can hear and see it. It’s better than that sounds.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020