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

Sunday Stealing-Summer

 

Hi! Your 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 League of Extraordinary PenPals 

 

 

 

 1. What subjects lead you down a Wikipedia rabbit hole? Looking for information about a movie or actor/actresses.

2. How do you like to spend your birthdays? With my immediate family.

3. Something you might take a little too seriously? Jeez! Just about everything! I analyze the crap out of everything. As an example, I’m becoming a vegetarian for health reasons. My blood work showed something that if I don’t eat less meat protein I will have serious kidney problems. Consequently, I have spent a ton of time researching. When I got home from my doctor appointment I went on my library’s website in search of books on becoming a vegetarian and vegetarian recipes and found every book I wanted to checkout was at a far away library. I still reserved them, but it will be weeks before I get notified to pick them up at my library. Friday I was on Amazon looking at Vegetarian e-books. I have Kindle Unlimited, so I decided to look at the e-books, if I find an e-book I really like, I’ll buy the actual book. Saturday I was on Facebook looking for a few good vegetarian groups.

 
4. Describe a time you made a good decision for yourself. See number 3 above. Deciding to become a vegetarian again. About 15 years ago I did it for 2 years.
 
5. Something you’ve improved/gotten better at. My daughter’s “Mom’s” voice. It’s that serious, angry but yet SUPER calm, don’t let them sense you are angry, voice I use when advocating for my kids and/or dealing with asshats at various healthcare places. 
 
6. What dish would you bring to a summer potluck? A vegetarian main dish so I’m sure I have something to eat other than salad.

7. What do you miss about Winter? The cold temperatures! I prefer anything below 70°, so Winter is my happy place. I don’t mind snow. That’s what snow throwers, shovels, plows and snow days are for.

8. Share a summer memory. All I can think of are a couple of bad ones. My bff’s family got a pool with a deep end. I hadn’t yet learned to swim. My first time invited over to swim, my bff shoved me into the deep end. Her Dad jumped into the pool with his work clothes on and got me to the shallow end and helped me out. The other, I went to a different friend’s house to swim. (Everyone on the block suddenly all had pools but my family.) I ended up leaving without having gone in the pool. My friend said something incredibly hurtful and insensitive. She said words to the effect that she really liked being friends with me because I was fat and she didn’t have to worry about me stealing her boyfriends. She was completely serious. I stopped hanging out with her even though it was a moot point. I never dated in high school, and it turned out she had nothing to worry about because I’m a lesbian. (No worries, she’s not my type!) Two years ago she was driving through where I live to go to WI and we had a visit. I just tucked that memory away in a box and put it in the back of my closet. She was someone I grew up with. We lived 2 houses from each other and went to the same schools. What she did back in the day, while very hurtful and insensitive, is really not relevant all these years later…but I still do remember it like it was yesterday.

9. Words you misspell or misuse the most. Diarrhea. It took me 5 times for auto correct to figure out what I was just trying to type.
 
10. Things you love to do, that can only happen in summer. Used to be going to the drive-in movie theater. Now, can’t think of anything.
 
11. How would you describe your sense of humor? Back in junior high I was told I had a scathing sense of humor by my home economics teacher. She told me I needed to dial it down. Now, I’d say I have a quick wit, with a sometimes dry sense of humor.
 
12. Have you ever quit a job or career? I have quit jobs before, usually for what I thought was a better job. Wasn’t what it ended up all the time. Most times I quit because of uncomfortable working conditions. And by conditions, I mean people who made me uncomfortable. One place I quit because the owner screamed at me for starting to put his accounts receivable on the computer system he had. He was shady as hell and I was not going to compromise my morals for that job. Also, I don’t give a care why I’m being reprimanded, it NEVER needs to be done screaming. Another job, the receptionist (a senior citizen who used to do the bookkeeping there) screamed at me on a daily basis that I wasn’t allowed access to information or to do whatever the company President told me to do. My complaints went on deaf ears. I was told she was old and wasn’t going to change. Another reason…haters.

13. What are your favorite features of your cell phone? The Calendar, Camera, and Notes.

14. What scents always make you hungry? Food. Duh! But now that I’m becoming a vegetarian, I think that may change.

15. What are you working on right now? This meme. After that I’ll get back to reading on my Kindle Fire. 

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

Guess who’s going vegetarian? Again.

Yup me. Again? Yes, I became a vegetarian during the divorce because I was getting super healthy and going to the health club 6 days a week.

Again, now, because my blood work was scary. My A1c was good, it was something else. I need to cut down on protein, specifically from meat. Cutting down…that doesn’t sound good enough to me. So I’m going all the way, but I will still eat fish once a week or a couple times a month. So part time pescatarian. I’m not saying I won’t do cheat meals, but they will be seldom, and they will be something worth it, like steak, not lunch meat.

What’s my plan? Lots of veggies. High fiber. Veggie stir frys, veggie tacos, homemade vegetarian chili, Boca Burgers, fake chicken, fake riblets (not sure if they exist now, but they did my first go at eating vegetarian and I considered them a treat). Sometime Friday, in between playing driver for moving furniture, I will stop at the store for fake ground beef. My wife is making stuffed peppers, so I’ll have her season it like my Mom’s recipe, but it will be fake meat.

Not sure how this is going to go. I have already cut out pasta, potatoes, white rices. I’ve been adding brown rice, which I actually like, and didn’t realize I could have it.

So…when will I be trying the Impossible Burger? Well I’m definitely not buying a package at the store. If I hate it, that’s a big waste of money. I will probably try the BK Impossible Burger tomorrow because I will be running around all day. 🤢 I just hope it’s not as nasty as it sounds. I used to sub TVP for ground beef, so I shouldn’t be such a hater. That stuff looked nasty, but my first try with it was chili after months of the other fake meats. I’ll report back after I try it.

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

          

Getting moving help sux

My daughter still doesn’t have her living room furniture and Friday we go to pick up 2 dressers that match the bed we bought. So Friday we will be renting a truck or van. I’d bet we could get 1 each in the Buick and Blazer, but it would be tight. For the sake of family harmony….I’ll be renting something. During the day we can move her living room furniture. During rush hour traffic on Friday we will be picking up the 2 dressers. Now if the woman with the blonde console would get back to me and the stars align, maybe we can get all this done on Friday. It would fit in either SUV, but just easier with a rental truck. I’m just driving and supervising. I can’t wait til this is all done. We already have a dolly and I just bought a furniture moving dolly, so it should be easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Today my son and I spent the day with my daughter, mostly at her apartment, some time spent on shopping for cleaning supplies. She made us smoothies for breakfast and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch. In between times I continued repairs on a piece, and taught my daughter how to make my famous pepper burgers, and freeze them.

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

Sunday Stealing-From J. Durward

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 Durward Discussions

1.  What is the nearest book to you?  Your Kindle does not count. There are none. I am not home at the moment. If I were home it would be a cookbook because I use my Amazon Fire’s Kindle App for reading.

2.  When was the last time you took a "me" vacation? The only “me” vacation I get is when I lock myself in my room or the bathroom. Ok, once in awhile I am in my car alone, but that’s very rare and I have to be very stealth about it. 

3.  How many telephone numbers do you have? For myself, one.

4.  If you could fix one thing in the public school system, what is the one thing you would do immediately? Pay teachers better, fund the classrooms so teachers don’t have to buy school supplies, toilet paper, facial tissue, hand cleaner. Also, so parents don’t have to buy “non-education” related items. School supplies should be paid for by the school district for families that are low income and can’t afford school supplies. The schools my kids went to had the PTA or area businesses fund backpacks full of school supplies for low income families. They also provided clothing and shoes. 

5.  What's your favorite Olympic event? I like downhill skiing, or the swimming events.

6.  Do you watch the Olympics? Sometimes.

7.  Who is your favorite sports team player? I don’t really have a favorite now. Player’s are traded too often to really have a favorite, since I follow my team, not wherever the players go. Back in the day Greg Maddux, pitcher for the Chicago Cubs was my favorite. I named one of my cats Maddux.

8.  If you could travel in a spaceship to any planet, which planet would you like to visit and why? Pass. Do we even know now how habitable the other planets are now?

9.  When was the last time you sat in a church? Probably not since the last wedding I attended. It’s very difficult to find a church where I’m comfortable at, considering I’m a lesbian. When I lived in Chicago I attended the perfect church. Open and affirming, and the sermons were always relatable.

10.  Are there any aspects of blogging that annoy you? Yes. The fact that it’s impossible to get a following any more. Entrecard made it easy to get followers and comments. Now I think other than Sundays, I’m just talking to myself.

11. Have you ever gone to a party and snooped in the medicine cabinet? What kind of parties do you go to?

12.Do you watch reality TV? NEVAH! I don’t like them because they are so fake and scripted. I’d rather watch scripted tv, since their writers have actual talent, not like the writers for reality tv.

13.  How many people can you call who have known you since you were in school? Zero, other than my sister. I am Facebook friends with just about everyone from my childhood neighborhood, but I have the phone number for only one, called it once. I was coming to town and we agreed to get together. It turned out they went out of town that weekend.They knew I was coming that weekend.

14. Who, when, and where was your first kiss? Red Carpet Lanes Disco. Some teenage boy who definitely was not old enough to be in the bar, apparently was collecting kisses for a bet with his pals. I don’t know his name and in the end, it didn’t matter. First kiss with a woman was in my date’s pickup truck (of course!). It was my first date ever with a woman. 

15. You just got thrown out of your country.  Where do you want to become a citizen? Australia or New Zealand.

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

It’s Wednesday

The Blazer is back. Still no plate on the front even though I bought the screws. I guess my wife likes to live dangerously. I’m fairly certain she has an outstanding unpaid ticket. And she thinks I like to live dangerously seeing how far the Pilot or the Buick can go before it runs out of gas. I haven’t driven the Blazer enough to get a feel fit it. Lol! At least my living dangerously will not result in arrest. I think her younger sister got pulled over and arrested for the same thing when she first came back to town. 

My daughter is settled into her apartment, but we haven’t delivered the living room furniture, or the tv we are giving her. My brother-in-law has come over twice with the plan to bring the furniture, but he’s still recovering from pneumonia. He still looks wiped out. He’s going to try for Friday. I still need to find her a dark end table and a blonde sideboard/buffet. Thinking maybe I should take a trip to the thrift store that had the blonde sideboard. It could still be there. 

I just don’t have time. Today was a clusterfork. My son and I had blood work scheduled today but the orders weren’t faxed over so we had to wait an hour for them to be sent over. I had no food since 8pm the night before, and didn’t get the blood work until 12:30pm. Good times! I had PT today and I’m all achy. Tomorrow I have PT at 2pm. If I can get out of the house early enough I can drop off my daughter’s phone to get a new battery while I’m at PT. (It only took an hour and a half on the phone and online to file a claim with the protection plan I have through my cell phone service provider. It’s been worth it. I had 1 lost phone replaced and several batteries installed on the other phones.) I had her switch phones with her brother. Omg! My son complained sooo much about it. What’s my daughter to do? She has no landline and I really don’t like her borrowing other tenant’s cell phones. 

My wife wants to take the Buick and the Blazer to the DIY car wash tomorrow, so if you live near me…bring an umbrella to work.

I caved and renewed the satellite radio on the Buick. I got a deal. No way would I pay $25/month. It was actually 5 bucks less than last year to pay for the year up front.

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021

Sunday Stealing-Fun and Unexpected Topics

 

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 frommantelligence

  

1. Have Your Ever Driven Drunk Or Even Slightly Buzzed? In my younger days. I have a designated driver, my wife, but even before the pandemic I don’t think I ever had more than 1 very weak Chili’s margarita. There really aren’t many bars around here and the only gay bar around here is frequented by mostly men. In Milwaukee there was a bar on just about every corner. 

2. What Was The Funniest Moment In Your Life? I can’t think of anything. If I do, I’ll come back and change this answer.

3. What Kind Of Things Really Makes You Laugh? Usually the dumbest things. When I was in high school and just after, I had a friend who could make me laugh by saying “shoehorn”. It wasn’t the word, it was the expression on her face when she said it that made me laugh. I knew one of her brothers and her younger sister. If they said “shoehorn” it had no affect on me whatsoever. And believe me, they did try!

4. If You Could Jump Into A Pool Full Of Something, What Would It Be? Water.

5. Which Habit Are You Proudest Of Breaking? Smoking. I quit April 2015 because I was having surgery to remove my gallbladder and my surgeon told me his anesthesiologist insisted I quit. I highly doubt that, I’ve had other surgeries while being a smoker and no other surgeon told me I had to quit. I’ve quit 4 or 5 times, so I’m pretty good at it. I’m thinking that’s the last time I’ll quit smoking. My allergies have gotten worse and smoking, even 2nd hand smoke bothers me.

6. Which Animal Do You Find The Sexiest Of All? If you mean actual animals, I don’t find any sexy. I am not into beastiality. Eww!     

7. What’s The Weirdest Nickname You’ve Ever Had? Can’t say.

8, What Do You Wish You Were Really Good At? I wish I could play guitar really well. It would be so cool to go camping and bring out a guitar and start playing. I went on a camping trip once where the tent near us did exactly that. There was also a banjo player and flute player. It was like a private concert. The woman who I was seeing at the time enjoyed it. I told her that I had arranged the whole thing just for her. Yeah…I’m kinda smooth like that. She almost believed me. When I started giggling I gave myself away.

9. If You Were A Dog, What Kind Of Dog Would You Be? Who wrote these questions? Barbara Walters? If you could be a tree….what kind would you be? She asked that one a lot, as I recall.

10. What’s The Most Spontaneous Thing You’ve Ever Done? I would call in sick to work, call my bff, go to her apartment to pick her up, convince her to call in sick and we’d do some of the scenes from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and make up our own Ferris Days. I lived in WI at the time, so we went to Brewer’s day games, got the cheap seats and walked down and sat in empty more expensive seats. We took brewery tours…Pabst, Miller. Sometimes I drove to Chicago. I drove to Chicago a lot. That’s how I ended up moving there.

11. If You Had A Time Machine, Would You Go Back In Time Or Visit The Future? Back in time.

12. What Was The Last Show You Binge-Watched? I’ve been reading more than watching tv, so the last show I binged was probably “The Flight Attendant”. I’m looking forward to “The Many Saints of Newark”. It’s the prequel to “The Sopranos”.

13. If You Had To Rename Yourself, What Name Would You Choose? Pass.

14. What Did You Do During The Summers When You Were Growing Up? We rode our bicycles a lot. Most days all day, except for taking a break to go home for lunch. Our parents had no idea where we went.

15. If You Go To A Restaurant And Have Terrible Service, Is It Ever OK Not To Tip? If I know for certain it’s the waitress’s fault, yes, no tip. If he/she were talking to someone for a long time while our food got cold, or if he/she were incredibly rude, yes, no tip. But, if the problem was in the kitchen, then they would still get a tip because that’s beyond their control.

Lola’s Diner © 2008-2021