Randomness

My son and I were picking up a few things at Wally World and decided to stop by the thrift store. Last time I was in I found 1/2 price oak furniture feet, just over $1 each. (Needed them for the tv cabinet.) I looked for Old Navy pants, no luck. Today? BINGO! I scored a pair of Old Navy jeans, one size smaller than the khakis I had just ordered. AND THEY FIT!!! I also found a pair of black jeans. They fit too! Woot woot!

The apartment complex deal was before the village last week. Several residents brought forth objections to a zoning ordinance and insist on a modification before ground can be broken. These residents are afraid the building will go section 8 and we’ll be getting a lot of riff raff in there. Riff raff is basically code for not Caucasian. First of all, the building is for the developmentally disabled and mentally disabled, as well as low income seniors and is run by the same group that runs the group homes. They are not going to rent to anyone outside those 3 groups. They have dozens of empty group homes because of lack of staff, they aren’t renting those to Section 8 program people. I found out about this via an article posted on one of our burb’s Facebook pages. Those pages don’t take long to devolve into character assassinations and other nastiness. People were calling out others for being racist. And then, someone went...THERE. Someone wrote that they don’t want “those kind of people” living near their homes. Another Mom of mentally disabled children and I opened up a can of whoopash. I think the admins shut down comments after that because I got no further notifications on that post.

Why is it necessary for everyone to shop with their phones glued to their ears, wandering the aisles with their carts weaving like a drunk on a highway? Every single person was blocking 2 way traffic or abandoned their carts in the middle of the aisle. I just want to get in and get out. Wtfork?

Why is there always that one jackash that has to either make a comment or do something because the fat lady is using an electric cart? Usually it’s the “get up and walk and leave the electric carts for the disabled or seniors, lose some weight.” Why thank you jackash I wouldn’t have thought of that on my own. First of all I am disabled, second of all, I am a senior and third, I tried twitching my nose to magically lose the weight all at once but it’s just coming off slowly. To the 30 something motherforker who thought it was funny or cool to ram your shopping cart into the electric cart I was sitting in at the checkout lane, fork you! This motherforker did this to me on Monday. I am still having horrible back pain, much more than usual. I edited this Friday morning. It’s still bad. I didn’t really get a look at the guy, but my son said he smirked after he did it and gave a fake apology. It was done on purpose. Karma will take care of him.

So tomorrow begins my daughter’s 3 day birthday celebration. Hasn’t always been that way, but for the last 2 years it has become the norm. 

Oh joy! The texting started at 9am. And she’s been texting her brother all morning. She told me to pick her up at noon. It will be noonish by the time we get there. Sucking it up, putting on my happy face 😃 and getting ready to head out the door. 

Lola’s Diner cc 2008-2019

It works!

It took 2 updates and deleting the app twice, but I finally got BlogTouchPro to work. Definitely easier to use on the iPhone. Much better than going via google to Blogger. The print was so tiny. I know this because my last couple of posts were done the old way.

I did the latest iOS update before getting the BlogTouchPro updates, thinking I should have the latest iOS. I don’t think it mattered. However, I am not enjoying the new super predictive text. If you thought autocorrect was a hoot, wait until you start using this. 

Thank you to the developer who emailed me that he had put out a 2nd update and it was working. And it is working. Thank you!

Lola’s Diner cc 2008-2019

Drummer Boy/aka Metallicahead Update

The last news was quite some time ago. The township marked the house “not habitable” and put yellow tape all over the doors and windows. Drummer Boy and family had to move out because the roof collapsed and there was that little incident where he blew up his porch and the blast blew out several windows.

Anyway, the house is for sale. Apparently last October it was purchased for $88,000 and since then and now they basically put lipstick on a pig. All the rooms are painted really odd colors. Looks like the flipper found Lowes OOPS paint shelf and went crazy. One room was 1/2 a weird yellow and the bottom half kelly green. Another was that weird yellow on top and a very dark burgundy on the bottom half, another had all the walls painted in burgundy. I don’t recall the rest. Other than the painting it doesn’t appear much else was done. We never saw contractors come over to fix the collapsed roof, so I guess that’s still an issue. So the flipper probably spent $25 on paint, if that. The garage is boarded up. No more porch. Current asking price? $125,000. I’d like to have some of what they were smoking when they came up with that.

Interest is brisk. A lot of cars pulling in the driveway and then leaving quite quickly. What did they expect for $125,000 in our expensive little burb?  My spouse looks out the window whenever she hears a car. Some of these yahoos can’t read house numbers and have been pulling into my driveway.  If my spouse is on the porch some of the looney-Lou’s will ask if my house is the house. She’ll say no and point to the eyesore that is across the street. Those people usually just leave and don’t bother going over there. When we come and go in my car we often come across someone pulling in and pulling out of the former Drummet Boy’s driveway. The looks on their faces is just priceless. These don’t seem to be flippers, they seem to be young families in newer expensive cars. Who thinks they could get a house in liveable condition for $125,000 in our expensive little burb? You can’t touch a fixer upper for under $200,000 here. The former Drummer Boy’s house is a tear down. The only thing that could possibly be salvaged would be the fireplace mantel, and that’s only if it’s not faux brick.

There has been a home developer snatching up tear downs in the area and building large all brick McMansions in their place. I thought for sure they’d snap it up. Maybe they are waiting to finish the one they recently started and wait for a serious price reduction?

Lola's Diner ©2008-2019

Transportation Update

I got my car back today. It needs to go back next week.

When my mechanic started explaining what he did, I said oh cool, so you pulled out the 3rd row seats, pulled up the carpet, yada yada yada. He did a double take. (Yes, I research the shirt out of everything. Google is my bff.) He said “...yeah, where did you find out about that?” Piloteer.org. It’s a forum for Pilot owners. I also belong to OdyClub.com for Odyssey owners. That’s  where I found out how common transmission issues are. Anyway, we chatted about the repair, he’s ordering 2 parts and will finish next week. We also talked about the Odyssey. He’s going to see what he can do to get that running. That would be awesome. I’m tired of making payments and seeing it sit in my driveway. I think I had maybe 2 months from when I bought it that we got to drive it. 

The bill was much less than I was expecting considering it was real labor intensive. That was a nice surprise!

Our mechanic is awesome! 

Lola’s Diner cc 2008-2019

Diets/Losing Weight

Are you doing any of the diets that are written about everyday, all kinds of information, misinformation?

I’m talking about Weight Watcher’s, Vegetarian, Flexitarian Diet, Pescatarian, Keto, Paleo, Whole 30, Mediterranean Diet, Low Carb.

Any of them with intermittent fasting?

When I was a teen I did a program similar to Weight Watchers. It’s not for me.

I went vegetarian for 2 years and lost a lot of weight. I quit because at the time my knowledge about the wide variety of ethnic vegetarian dishes was zero. Cooking for a family of 4, with 1 refusing to go along made it challenging with my heavy work schedule at the time.

Keto, Paleo and Whole 30 confuse me and all seem similar. I belong to a couple Keto pages on Facebook. I’m just a looky-loo. It’s wild some of the things people post.

I’m basically eating Low Carb. I don’t do fake sugars of ANY kind. When I need a sweetener I use a small amount of organic honey or maple syrup. I have virtually given up regular soft drinks. I will have a sip occasionally, or will down 1 or 2 when my blood sugar is way too low. I don’t drink diet soft drinks at all. I do drink every variety of no sweetener added sparkling water I can get my hands on. It has to be cold and over ice. My favorites are Dasani, Bubly, Ice Mountain, Target’s Simply Balanced. Any flavor other than coconut. To me La Croix’s flavors are weak in comparison to the others. Right now I’m on the hunt for Cola Sparkling Water and Rootbeer Sparkling Water. La Croix sells Cola if you can find it, but I’ll pass. Fizz and Shasta sell both Cola and Rootbeer...if you can find them. After my nearly complete review on Sparkling waters I will say that they do keep me away from regular pop and I do enjoy them. I drink coffee black or with cream, and I drink a variety of teas. The thing about going Low Carb is I do go through periods of craving carbs. At thanksgiving I went overboard on cauliflower as a sub for pasta and rice. I am just now starting to go back to it to sub for rice. I got a large bag at Sam’s Club today. I see Cauliflower Rice Sushi this weekend (I’ve made it twice, turns out great). I go for dark chocolate or berries or apple slices with almond butter if I want something like a dessert. I’ve tried sugar free vanilla Klondike bars by accident (son grabbed it by mistake for the rest of the family). They are actually not bad. I’d buy them on purpose. Lol! I actually had a serving of pasta (according to the package), 2 weeks ago and was ok with it. I’m Italian, a serving is generally a plateful. I do simple net carb counting. The glycemic load counting just confuses me.

I can’t do the intermittent fasting. It is said to kick start weight loss when you are stalled. Being Type 2 Diabetic, I can’t do it. There have been days filled with appointments and errands where I don’t eat a meal after breakfast, or I have to fast for blood work, and I forget my snack bag and find myself in a very bad way at 7pm. I keep protein bars (16-30 carbs) in my snack bag. I also keep a stash of Jolly Rancher hard candy in my car. (Not helpful when I was in rental cars for a week.)

I have lost about 40 pounds since October. My wardrobe is very limited. I have 2 pair of jogging sweats and 2 pairs of Old Navy Khaki’s I must wear with a belt. I really need to have one of my kids help me with my closet. I know I have pants the next size down. They just need to be found. I keep my variety of sizes wardrobe because I cannot afford to keep buying new clothes when I go up or down. People say not to do that, that it’s like a security blanket, that if you keep them you’ll gain the weight back. That’s a crock of bullshirt. You gain weight because you eat more calories than you use. Not because you keep your fat clothes. Every time I type or say I have jogging sweats I laugh. I can’t jog, run, and I can’t walk very far. I walk with a cane.

Are you doing any of the diets above, or something different? How is it going for you? Any tips or tricks? Recipes?

Lola’s Diner cc 2008-2019

The burbs are so different.

When I lived in Chicago I went for over a year without a working vehicle. It was easy. Public transportation and cabs were literally 30 feet from my door. 

There was a Osco Pharmacy that was my neighbor across the street, and a Dominick’s Foods in the next block. If I needed a few groceries I just crossed my street and Osco’s parking lot. When the kids got older they went to pick up a gallon of milk for me.

I walked less than 1/2 a block to catch the Lincoln Ave bus going N/S, or the Foster bus E/W. The Foster bus was a short ride to the CTA El to go downtown. It was convenient because I worked at 900 North Michigan at the time.

I managed grocery shopping with a flimsy cart. I’d stop on my way home at the bodega for produce and then catch the bus home. Occasionally I took the bus West on Foster to the Jewel. I did my holiday shopping at Dominick’s. Trying to manage the cart fully loaded, carrying a turkey with one arm, pushing the cart with the other, and keeping 2 kids wrangled was some feat.

I missed driving during that time, but I could get around very easily. When I didn’t have the kids on the weekend I’d take the bus to the bar and a cab home. It was only a $7 cab ride with tip back then and definitely worth the money to not have to stand on the street corner waiting for a bus after midnight.

I am in the burbs now. There is no public transportation. No buses whatsoever. Yes, we have a Metra station less than 2 miles from my home, but I couldn’t walk that far if I needed to take the Metra.

I feel trapped like a rat in a cage. But it’s only til noon tomorrow. Thank you Enterprise for weekend rates! I rented an Intermediate size car. I think that will be the same size as the Nissan Sentra I had for 2 days courtesy of the body shop. (Btw, my tailgate is finally fixed and useable...well once the other repairs are done. It will be so nice to use it again and not hear all the latch assembly parts rattling around between the inside and outside panels of the tailgate. I had to duct tape the latch assembly opening shut to keep from losing parts. I brought my Pilot back 5 times complaining about the rattling. Funny how when you call up the big guns they finally listen.) Secretly hoping I get upgraded to a luxury car. That upgrade to a Cadillac in December was sweet! I purposely did my reservation at the small Enterprise by my home so I could easily get a pickup and because their inventory always seems to be heavy on the larger and luxury sedans, and SUV vehicles.

The whole family has plans for the weekend! My daughter wants to take us to breakfast in Kenosha on Saturday and my spouse wants to visit her Dad on Sunday. Being able to go outside the city limits and drive the highways is making all of us crazy for adventure! So adventures we shall have!

When the Pilot is repaired we will plan another adventure.

Movie trivia quote-what movie is this from?

“I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world.”

Ok, where I live isn’t crummy, it’s quite nice actually. I’d just like to get out for a bit.

Lola’s Diner cc 2008-2019

Ahh memories...

I think it started Saturday. A Facebook post, ‘Name a song that reminds you of someone every time you hear it’. Something like that. It literally took seconds before I burst into tears recalling a song that came out the month my Mom passed away. It hit the Billboard Top 100 THE day my Mom passed away. It was constantly on the radio.

Anyway, it has been a few days of remembering Mom. Things popping up that bring back memories. Do you know what this is?

I’ll clue you in at the end.

Before my daughter left for her house she needed some seams and hems re-sewn and darning done. Yes, I should teach her, but today was not the day. The photo above is a folded card containing sewing needles. It’s from Japan, 1940’s. (I found the same one on EBay.) This was my Mom’s. I have several of hers.  It took me back to when she would hem my pants and re-sew seams. I watched my Mom do them, that’s how I learned. I learned how to cook by sitting at the Formica kitchen table while she made meals.

I made a beef roast on Sunday. I don’t know what possessed me, I should have made half of it, but didn’t. Now we have an entire roast leftover. Yay! In my house growing up, leftover beef roast meant beef chop suey the next day. I haven’t made my Mom’s beef chop suey since the kids were very little. (Back when we actually had leftovers, lol!) I asked my spouse to stop at the Jewel on the way home to get Chop Suey Vegetables and Franco American Beef Gravy. 

It exists, but the Jewel doesn’t carry it (Wally World does), so she got Campbells. I don’t buy gravy, unless I’m making this. I always make my own for everything else. This is my Mom’s recipe, so it has to be canned gravy. This was one of the few dishes my Mom made that wasn’t really from scratch. I bet it was a nice break for her, and we loved it. I’ve had beef chop suey from Chinese restaurants, but it’s not as good as Mom’s.

It was a stressful weekend, but I think memories of Mom made it less so.

Lola’s Diner cc 2008-2019