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

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