Sunday Stealing-Valentines Day

Valentine's Day

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!

Taken from ESL Conversations

  

1. What is the meaning of Valentine’s Day in your country/area? 

I’m in the United States, so here we do something nice for our sweetheart.

About St Valentine

What happens on this day?

We give a card and chocolates and/or flowers, and/or a gift to our sweetheart.

2. Is Valentine’s Day more for men or women? Explain your answer.

I would say it’s definitely for women, however, it can be a good way to get in the Mrs. good graces by taking the day to show how much you care for them.

3. Do you have any special plans for Valentine’s Day? What will you do?

My wife and I agreed early in our relationship no flowers on the 2 holidays where flowers are 50% or more, expensive than the rest of the year. The other holiday being Sweetest Day in October. We usually have a nice lunch or dinner out. Due to the pandemic we will be cooking at home something we don’t usually have, to celebrate.

4. Which traditional gift would you rather receive: chocolates, flowers, or a card with a personal message?

A personal message.  We skip the flowers and opt to buy flowers we can plant and enjoy in the Spring.

5. Is Valentine’s Day only about romantic love? Or is it a good occasion to celebrate friendship as well?

I don’t believe it’s only about romantic love. I get my kids something. In grade school we got a cigar box from our Dad and decorated it for Valentines Day and exchanged cards with our entire class. (Unless you were me in the 4th grade. My fabulously decorated cigar box contained one card with a special note from my teacher because all of my classmates were ashhats. I was a chubby kid, I really don’t know if that was why the kids in my class didn’t give me any cards. I don’t really care. Perhaps one of the ashhats removed cards from my box. Again, don’t care. That note from my teacher meant more to me than any stupid card from a classmate. I’ve always remembered her as my favorite teacher. She paid attention to what happened in her class. I can’t say any of my other teachers over the years would have done so.

6. Do you like romantic movies? What is your favorite romantic movie?

I have 2 favorite romantic movies. The classic 

“Casablanca”, and “When Harry Met Sally”.

7. Have you ever received a Valentine’s Day card or gift from a secret admirer? How did it make you feel?

Nope.

8. Is Valentine’s Day the most romantic day of the year? If not, what day is?

Nope. I think it’s our wedding day. Being gay and being able to get married, all the thought and planning that we put into every detail of our wedding. All the flowers! The bagpiper! The DJ! The friends! The family! (my wife’s family, now my only family because my sister, aunts, uncles are asshats because they couldn’t find a way to attend.)

9. What is the most romantic thing you have done for another person?

I don’t think I could pick just one. 

10. Valentine’s Day is promoted by companies whose only interest is making money. Discuss whether you agree or disagree.

Of course they are interested in making money. That’s what businesses do...or they go out of business.

11. Describe your perfect Valentine’s Day date.

It’s with my wife of course.

12. How should a single person spend Valentine’s Day? What do you suggest?

Make a date with someone you know, maybe you’re already dating. If you don’t have someone that you’re dating you could do 1 of 2 things. 

1. Find a someone you think you’d be interested in on a dating website. Match.Com, PlentyOfFish.Com, OkCupid.Com. (I won’t recommend the one that starts with an “e” because I don’t like how they treated lgbtq people in the early 2000’s.) Make a date. Casual. Maybe lunch instead of dinner. For heaven’s sake don’t bring flowers! That is the absolute kiss of death on any first date. (At least in my experience.)

2. Make a date with YOURSELF! Do something nice for yourself. Get a new outfit, or maybe something you’ve been wanting. Get takeout from your favorite restaurant. Find a good movie to stream. Or a favorite movie. It doesn’t have to be, or maybe shouldn’t be a romantic movie, depending on how you feel.

13. Do you enjoy playing cupid? Do you try to introduce people in the hope they will make a love match?

It just now occurred to me that I have played Cupid. I set up my ex best friend with my future sister-in-law. They are still together.

 

14. Some restaurants charge higher prices on Valentine’s Day. Are you willing to pay more to dine out on this day?

I think it’s only ok to charge more on Valentines Day if they have a special menu. Otherwise, no. No, I would rather dine out on a day the week before or after Valentines Day. I won’t necessarily save money, but I may be able to afford a more expensive “special” dinner. Besides, restaurants are much too crowded ON Valentines Day. 

15. Is a romantic gesture more powerful on Valentine’s Day or on another day of the year?

I would say no because romantic gestures can be any day. In fact I think they are more powerful and meaningful if it’s just any regular day of the year. You have to get creative to do a romantic gesture on any other day of the year.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021

Day 328 of Sheltering In

Friday. Went shopping briefly today. I got a Meijer pack of heat packs and a Meijer heating pad that were on sale. I also picked up a few other groceries and some Valentines Day stuff.

I had to wait for my wife to come home with the Buick. Can I say how much I dislike sharing it? It means I’m trapped at home. She had to shop for her Mom’s friend and shovel in front of her restaurant property. I took my son over there earlier in the week to shovel, so I wasn’t too keen on going along for the ride. Since we had time to kill I had my son help me prep some country ribs to make Char Siu. It is that delicious barbecued pork appetizer you get from Chinese restaurants. I have perfected my recipe. It has to marinate for a minimum of 3 hours. It was a good thing I made it, and it was quite a bit. I was going to freeze the extra. We ended up having that and pot stickers from the freezer section. I had bought Beef & Broccoli from the freezer section. We have never had anything taste so vile and disgusting. None of us ate it, and we all were thankful for paper napkins. We threw it all in the trash. I usually make it in the Instant Pot from scratch, but thought that might be a bit too much to do. What I should do is make a large batch of Char Siu and divide it up to freeze. That way I can make the main dish from scratch...Beef & Broccoli, or Kung Pao Chicken, or Egg Foo Young and not overdue it. We ordered takeout Chinese food once during the pandemic when my daughter was on a home visit.

Due to my wife getting back late and me getting back late from the store we had a late dinner. My daughter called at her usual time to FaceTime, but I had to call her back after dinner. There was no day program today for their house. They go 1/2 week to keep the number of people down. (My daughter does not attend. Next week she sees her Pulmonologist for a video appointment and she’s going to ask how long after the 2nd shot before she can return to day program and have less rules for home visits. I’m thinking it’s going to be quite awhile due to there now being several variants of the coronavirus.) Nutjob sprung for pizza. Not sure why, but everyone enjoyed it. Something happened between ordering the pizza and it’s delivery. Nutjob decided to take a dive off the top of the stairs, 2nd floor, face first. No one was around, but everyone ran out the 1st floor when they heard it to see what happened. Staff called an ambulance. She was taken to the ER and returned a few hours later. My daughter says that Nutjob does stuff like that once in awhile, which makes me wonder why she wasn’t held for a 5150 (psych eval). You would think that would be automatic when someone deliberately takes a dive off the 2nd floor face first. But nope. My daughter said everyone was pretty shaken by it. Apparently Nutjob’s face was quite bloody. That girl doesn’t belong in that house, she belongs in a facility with very close supervision. I will be very happy when my daughter moves into her apartment, so she gets away from Nutjob. It’s not safe for my daughter and the other housemate. 

Is this snow going to stop, or what? We are supposed to go to my father-in-law’s tomorrow. 

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021

Day 323-327 of Sheltering In

Sunday-Thursday. My daughter got her 2nd shot of the COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday, as did virtually all the staff and group home residents. Seems like it hit everyone hard. The first shot they just had injection site pain. The second shot they’ve got bad headaches, body aches. It hit them all so bad that day program was canceled Thursday. When my daughter FaceTimed me Thursday night she looked awful. You could tell she didn’t feel well. Hopefully all the symptoms will lessen quickly. Every little ache and pain gets blown up into the worst whatever she has ever had. 

I went grocery shopping late today. It was a waste of time because I forgot to get a heating pad and ThermaCare Heatwraps. Also, a lot of shelves were empty. I keep asking myself why I bother to go to the Meijer in the next village because I nearly always end up going to the one that’s a half hour drive away. Their shelves are always well stocked. They do run out of an item here or there, but never even close  to the extent as the one close to home. Jewel and Berkot’s never seem to have issues, at least not since everyone stopped stocking up on tp and paper towels. 

After dinner I checked Walgreens online thinking if they had a decent heating pad in stock at a nearby store I’d get dressed (I’m not, not dressed, I’m in my pj’s) and go get one. All had terrible reviews. So I thought...Amazon...I could have it by Saturday. Even the 4+ star reviewed items had awful current reviews. From not working, barely getting warm, to 🔥! Even well known brands. I may just get some ThermaCare Heat Wraps even though they are wasteful and disposable. I’ll do that and then when I’m feeling a bit better do more research. I can’t do ice packs because my feet are too cold at night. I have thick warm socks, but because my left ankle is swollen I can’t wear them. 

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021

Tuesday 4-Valentines Day

Valentine's Day

Welcome to Tuesday 4. I am sure  Toni would be so pleased you are here. Let's talk about St. Valentine's Day.

1. St Valentine paid for the weddings of poor girls. Today weddings can cost a fortune. What do you think about wedding expenses? 

I never heard that about St. Valentine. I think wedding costs are outrageous. I’ve been married twice. I paid for the first wedding...florist, professional photographer, we used a store that specialized in wedding cakes, rented a wishing well for cards. I cut costs where I could and we had the reception at a bowling alley banquet room in my hometown. I will never live that one down. I was razzed for years about the venue. My 2nd wedding I paid for everything but the dinner. My father-in-law surprised us and paid the bill. Having learned from my previous mistake, I found other ways to cut costs. No real flowers, silk. My wife’s cousin made beautiful bouquets, boutonnières, table arrangements, and flower arrangements for the gazebo. She worked at a craft store and used her discount. She also gave us a DJ referral who gave us a discount. The bagpiper, that was my surprise for my wife, wedding party, and guests wasn’t as expensive as you would think. I had my sister-in-law (professional photographer, who didn’t do weddings but did ours as a favor) and my ex-partner were our photographers. My sister-in-law’s son was videographer. The ceremony was outdoors at a Park Conservatory with beautiful grounds and a gazebo. The reception was in the banquet hall of a local restaurant. I made a very retro secure card holder from a vintage suitcase. Our wedding cake was made by the mother of my wife’s friend who retired from making wedding cakes. The 2nd wedding was better than the 1st where I basically hired all professionals. People don’t need to spend over $20,000 for a wedding. It doesn’t make you any more or less married because of the amount of money you spend on a wedding.

2. Do you or did you send Valentines to people?

Send...no. I usually make a Valentines card for my wife and sometimes for my kids.

3. Do you find Valentine's day to be romantic?

Usually. One year on Valentines Day I had a date from hell. My date brought her girlfriend (friend) and my date talked about her ex and cried through the entire dinner. I don’t need a specific day to be romantic, I don’t think anyone does.

4. Do you do anything special for Valentine's Day with partners or family?

Of course. Every year it’s something a little different. In the past we have had an early dinner at a nice restaurant, or I’ve cooked something delicious that we don’t usually have the rest of the year. This year, due to the pandemic, we will be cooking something delicious at home. Not sure yet what the menu will be. I usually make my son dinner and have him eat first so my wife and I can dine alone while he goes upstairs and watches tv or plays video games. With the pandemic now, that’s the only way to safely have a romantic dinner for two. Hopefully I won’t have a horrible pain day like I did Saturday. I was getting out of bed and moved my injured leg wrong. (Torn meniscus, sprained LCL.) I tweaked something in my back and flared my sciatica, which went all the way to my ankle. Pain like the most intense charley horse you could ever have, that is constant and only relieved by a muscle relaxant and ice and time.

Happy Valentine's Day folks.

Sunday Stealing-January Part 2

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. (Past hosts include: Our first - Judd Corizan, Mr. L, Kwizgiver and Bud) Cheers to all of us thieves!

1 .Can you eat with chopsticks?

Yes. 

2. Could you tell real money from counterfeit?

I don’t think I could tell unless it was obvious.

3. What do you think about school uniforms?

I am all for them. My kids wore them in grade school. White or burgundy polo shirt, navy blue pants, jumper, or skirt. Love them for 3 reasons:

   1.  No worries about kids feeling bad because their parents can’t afford expensive designer clothing.

   2.  The cost was reasonable compared to regular clothing.

   3.  No arguing about what to wear.

4. What ancient civilization would you most like to visit?

I had to research this. Most ancient civilizations treated homosexuals badly, some considered it a capital offense. However, Ancient Greek culture celebrated homosexuality in its history, literature, and art. Homosexuality and Civilization

5. What would make a great new Crayola color?

Interesting question. Is there really any color in nature and life that hasn’t been done? My favorite color was Midnight Blue and I heard quite a few years ago that they pulled it and no longer put it in their larger boxes. I’d say bring back Midnight Blue.

6.If an art project is created with the intent of getting rich and famous, does that cast doubt over its significance as a work of art?

I don’t think so. The intent doesn’t matter. What matters is the process and the end result.

7. What do you get in trouble for the most?

Interrupting other people talking. I’m working on it, but it’s hard when you rarely get to have a conversation and you have short term memory issues.  

8. Do you blow your nose in public?

I don’t think I would now because of the pandemic. If a person did, there could be serious repercussions. Look at the news and the lengths people go to just about people not wearing a mask, or not wearing it properly. I’m certainly not saying that would be ok, but personally, I would go use the restroom or maybe go outside, away from people. I’ve gotten death stares when I’ve sneezed wearing a mask, and I also pull my shirt over my mask as an extra layer in an effort to lessen the chance of anything escaping.

9. If all the nations in the world are in debt, where did all the money go?

Corporations and rich people have all the money. 

10. Is it as easy to make you happy now as it was when you were a child?

Probably. Growing up we didn’t have much, and money is very tight now for my family, so the littlest things make me happy.

11. Who knows more...you, or your parents?

Pass.

12.What instrument would you like to be famous for playing?

I'd love to be able to play the guitar. I wouldn’t need to be famous for it, I’d just like to learn how to play. It would be so cool to go camping and play songs around the campfire. I was camping in Galena once and a group of people nearby had a guitar and a banjo. They played for hours. It was like our own personal concert.

13.Would you have sex with a stranger for one million dollars?

Firstly, is the stranger male or female? If they are male, no amount of money would get me to do it. And it also depends on the female stranger...

14.Are you completely in control of your body?

I don’t think anyone is completely in control of their body. If they were, I’m certain they wouldn’t allow themselves to get gray hair, diseases, conditions, or cancers. 

15.What is the coolest web site you know of?

Google. It’s a good starting point to find other cool websites.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021

Day 320-322 of Sheltering In

Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I grocery shopped and dropped of my daughter’s new boots that she forgot here when she returned to the group home after New Year’s. 

Friday our DirecTV went out. Probably because of snow on the dish, or the winds or weight of the snow got it out of alignment. I pay for the protection plan precisely for this issue. First of all they had me look for the reset button which was not where Roy said it was. We have the new-fangled receiver so there is no door where the reset button is behind like on the old receiver. He did not have me look elsewhere for the button. My wife said it’s on the back of the unit. Roy should know that. Oh, this convo with Roy was via Chat, because customer service was closed. So of course I got disconnected from that Chat before there was a resolution. My wife called Saturday. Firstly, the woman, not in this country, told my wife that we needed to go on the roof to remove the snow. This was told to my wife after she specifically told her we are both disabled and cannot get on a ladder. (Are you forking kidding me? I tear my meniscus and sprain my LCL getting off an MRI table and they want me to climb a ladder and go on the roof? Not gonna happen.) Then this woman tells my wife that they can’t send a tech out due to the snow because it’s not safe to use a ladder and go on the roof with the ice and snow. But it’s ok to tell a disabled and injured person to get on a ladder and the roof and get the snow off. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Seriously? They won’t send an able bodied person over to do it, but they’ll tell a disabled person to do it. And no, we can’t switch to Comcast because there are constant outages in our neighborhood. We can’t even switch to Hulu Live because our internet signal isn’t strong enough and they can’t do anything about it. Yeah, it’s a clusterfork.

How do we watch the Super Bowl? Thank you for asking. I had already looked up how to do that for my daughter because they no longer have cable and the group home agency refuses to purchase antenna amplifiers to amplify the signals for local channels. (Amazon has them for reasonable prices, so I saved a few in my lists so when my daughter moves to the apartments we can order one for her.) My daughter’s housemate has a laptop they are going to hookup to the tv to mirror the laptop onto the tv.

So how do you stream the Super Bowl for free? The CBS Sports app. So that is how my daughter at her group home and we will be watching the Super Bowl on Sunday.

We were supposed to go to my father-in-law’s to do laundry, lunch, and play cards, but that got canceled. When I woke up I straightened out my left leg to position myself to get out of bed when something pulled in my lower back all the way down to my ankle.  It was ridiculously painful. So I can’t go anywhere. My wife called to cancel. She didn’t want to go anyway. A weird convo with her Dad made her change her mind. 

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021

Day 316-319 of Sheltering In

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Sunday we made a late afternoon stop at my daughter’s group home to drop off crafty stuff and some snack and grocery items after sending my son out to shovel. I got the oil for the snowblower, but “someone” I’ve asked several times to get gas for the small gas can (the one we use exclusively for 2 cycle engines that need an oil and gas mixture), multiple times since the 1st of the year. Can’t say she didn’t have a credit card because she kept that and the gas rewards card for over 2 days, which made the other reason I went out on Sunday an epic fail. I was going to go to the bodega for vegetables and some of their fantastic Pico De Gallo. I had no way of paying for it, so my son and I took the long way home.

Monday was my appointment for the orthotics place in Oak Lawn. That was a hike. Just went there and then home. Saw some interesting restaurants along the way. Hakuna Matata (middle eastern fare). We’ve only had middle eastern food once since moving to the burbs. Back to the brace. I’m not liking the fit. It was a standard, out of the box Velcro contraption. Doesn’t look like much coming out of the box, but it’s very bulky. It’s longer than the one I got on Amazon, but it also has 2 metal plates in pockets and those are meant to go on the left and right of the knee to protect it from further damage and allow healing. Not really “custom” if you asked me.

Wednesday I got an email from Amazon’s Reading Challenge. I read ALL 31 days of January! “Read” as in books. The beginning of January I started cutting down on the amount of news I read online. I drastically cut down. I still do not watch any news on television, although I did watch the events of 01/06/21 and the inauguration, but that’s it. I’ve also cut down reading on Facebook, but that’s mostly due to being frustrated that notifications repeatedly reload when I’m trying to scroll down to pick the next one to read.

Storm supposedly coming Thursday starting at 11am. That means I need to get up early to grocery shop. Even though I’m up til the wee hours, I still can get up between 8-9am, so shouldn’t be a problem for me. However, my wife has been keeping about the same hours, but she sleeps until noon. When I’m ready to leave...I’m going. She is supposed to run errands for her Mom’s friend while I shop. If she doesn’t get up in time, that’s not happening. 

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021