Sunday Stealing

 

4th of July Questions

1) If you could attend a 4th of July fireworks display anywhere in the United States, where would you choose?

A. I think I'd go to New York. I've watched the Macy's fireworks on TV and they look spectacular.

2) What book are you currently reading?

A. Band of Sisters, by Lauren Willig. It's about a group of women from Smith College who go to France during World War I to help out burned out villages.

3) What have you been listening to?

A. I have been listening to music by Melissa Etheridge.

4) What shows or movies have you been watching?

A. We recently finished up all the seasons of Downton Abbey. I confess I was sorry to see that end. We started on JAG for now. We also watch Jimmy Kimmel's Password, and Deadliest Catch. We were watching Brilliant Minds but that's finished up its season and wasn't renewed. Hopefully new shows will soon be here.

 

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Sunday School

Meme Schmeme

Complete the thought:

I LOVE TO: listen to music, write stuff, and read.

I SOMETIMES: see bears, raccoons, deer, wild turkeys, and other animals. 

I FEAR: losing my mind and not realizing it.

I MISS: the things and relationships I never had.

I CRAVE: chocolate.

I CHERISH: friendships.  

I AM IMPATIENT WHEN: doctors keep you waiting.  

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Sunday Stealing

 

Shopping Day. What's on your shopping list from . . . 

1. Target or Walmart, or other superstore?

A. Bug killer. Something has bitten me on my finger, and I now have a red, swollen place on it. Whatever it was, I want it out of my house!

2. Dollar Tree or Dollar General, or poundstretcher/99p store?

A. Greeting cards and wrapping paper.

3. Best Buy or any other electronics/appliance store?

A. A Mac notebook.

4. Book/music store?

A. Let's go big. A nice gold trimmed black Les Paul Custom guitar for me from the music store, please. One like Melissa Etheridge plays.

Ain't that just the prettiest guitar?

Bonus question! Where do you want to stop for lunch? 

A. I love a good sweet and sour chicken dish. How about Chinese?

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Sunday Stealing

 

Well, this is fun. These questions came from regular Sunday Stealing players. Very cool.

DIY Meme

1. Would you rather have every traffic light turn green or always get the best parking spot? (Kwizgiver)

A. Oh, a green light all the time would be wonderful!  

2. What's the most difficult thing you have ever done? (Gold in the Clouds)

A. The most difficult thing I have ever done was trying to care for my mother when she had cancer. I did the best I could. I know it wasn't perfect, but it was my best under the circumstances.  

3. What information do you know that you are proud of/happy about, but others say, "Who cares?" (Roger)

A. I am fairly accomplished. I can play several instruments, I have three college degrees, I've been published thousands of times; none of that matters to some people.

4. What mystery do you wish you knew the answer to? (Myra/Mevely)

A. The answer to the Beale Treasure mystery. The Beale Treasure is one of Virginia’s most enduring legends. It's a blend of frontier lore, cryptographic obsession, and Appalachian mystery. According to an 1885 pamphlet, a man named Thomas J. Beale supposedly buried a massive hoard of gold and silver in Bedford County in the 1820s, leaving behind three coded messages said to reveal its location and heirs. Only one cipher has ever been solved, and no historical record proves Beale even existed, which fuels the long-running debate over whether the whole thing is a genuine puzzle or an elaborate 19th‑century hoax. Even so, the unsolved ciphers and the idea of treasure hidden in the Blue Ridge keep the story alive.

5. What small, ordinary thing brings you disproportionate joy? (Country Dew)

A. Baby animals. I love seeing newborn calves, fawns, puppies, little kittens, and human babies. They are so tiny and fun.

6. What time do you go to sleep/wake up? (Annie)

A. I go to bed around 10 p.m. and wake up anytime between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. these days. When I was a news reporter, my schedule was uneven because sometimes meetings ran late.

7. What is your favorite sleeping position? (Lisa)

A. I sleep on my back.  

8. Describe your personal Utopia. (Pandora)

A. My personal Utopia would be a home that runs on calm, not chaos. Not minimalist, not cluttered. Just ordered enough that nothing nags at me. A place where paperwork behaves itself, bills arrive cleanly, clearly, and without hidden fees, no one tries to make me pay a credit‑card surcharge, appliances don’t break at the worst possible moment, the water is always cold, clear, and Brita‑perfect, I can sit down to write without a single digital tool fighting me. It’s a world where technology behaves, bureaucracy is minimal, I don’t have to apologize for my preferences, I trust my instincts without second‑guessing, I'm not carrying the emotional residue of other people’s decisions. My utopia would include Wordle paths that are rare and satisfying, dragons in fiction, not in my inbox, babies that smell good and don’t cry, sandwiches exactly the way I like them, dusty‑colored clothes that flatter without effort, Monty Python humor landing exactly when I need it. (Run away! Run away more!)

9. Imagine that you have a machine that can create any new invention for you based on your description. What you ask the machine to create, and why? (Plastic Mancunian)

A.   I would invent a small, plain-looking box that grants an unlimited number of wishes. It wouldn't have a genie inside; it would grant wishes all on its own. I would create it so that certain issues could be resolved.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

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Sunday Stealing

10 Questions You Aren't Used To

1. What celebrity would you never want to meet?

A. Kid Rock, Adam Sandler, and that bald-headed guy Rick on Pawn Stars.

2. What do you label yourself as?

A. A person who is female, intelligent, loyal, kind, curious, and prudent.

3. You can only have one sandwich for the rest of your life. You have every sandwich-making ingredient known to man at your disposal. What sandwich do you make?

A. My sandwich would be a ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomato sandwich with mayonnaise and mustard.

4. An angel provides you with a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. What's it gonna be?

A. I do not drink alcohol, so one bottle of a really nice, excellent brandy would do me for the rest of my life.

5. Have you ever built a snowman?

A. Of course I have built a snowman. I live in Virginia where it snows two feet one day and then the temperature raises to 50 degrees the next and then the wind blows hard.

6. If you could ask your future self a question, what would it be?

A. What did you do with your precious self as you grew older, and are you happy with the result?

7. Have you ever baked your own birthday cake?

A. I have indeed baked my own birthday cake. And tomorrow happens to be my birthday! But I do not plan to bake a cake this year.

8. Which are cooler: dinosaurs or dragons?

A. Dragons, definitely. In fact, I sent my husband out for dragon powder this morning. (It was actually Orgain protein powder, but he somehow read it as "dragon powder." I would question that except when I was rereading the list, I read it as "organ grinder" so obviously my handwriting needs improvement.) 

9. What do you like about babies?

A. Babies are cuddly and they smell good.

10. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. What's the first rule you put in place? 

A. Love one another.

INSTEAD OF STEALING, LET'S BUILD OUR OWN MEME. Think of a question you'd like to ask and insert it here. If we get at least four good ones, we'll do our own DIY meme in a week or two.

Q. What’s a song you love that would surprise people who know you?

Q. What’s a small, ordinary thing that brings you disproportionate joy?

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Sunday Stealing

Stealing The Friday Fill-in

1. Dropping your ice cream in the street is not the end of the world.

2. Chocolate tastes so good!

3. Sometimes, putting others first is a pain in the ass.

4. Sunsets are breathtaking, really.

5. Well, maybe there is a multiverse and somewhere in one there is a me that is completely different.

6.  This week, my plans include checking out an event about data centers and electricity. Whoo!

 

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Sunday Stealing

Memorial Day Questions

1) What freedom are you most grateful for?

A. A former news hound, I am grateful for the 1st freedom enumerated in the U.S. Constitution in the Bill of Rights. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." It's number one for a reason.

2) What book are you currently reading?

A. Witch Upon a Star, by Angela M. Sanders. I've not been in the mood for heavy reading, and these light romantasies have been just the thing to keep my mind occupied while not forcing me to overthink about the book.

3) What have you been listening to?

A. Whatever Alexa decides to play for me.

4) What shows or movies have you been watching?

A. We've been watching Hacks, Sheriff Country, Deadliest Catch, Homestead Rescue, etc.

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Sunday Stealing

Which one?

1. Pepsi or Coke?

A. Neither. Although if I have to choose, I choose Coke.

2. Cappuccino or coffee?

A. Neither. I don't drink coffee at all so I have no idea what the difference is.

3. Chocolate or vanilla?

A. Chocolate!

4. Hot tea or iced tea?

A. Hot tea.

5. Dinner for two or a party?

A. Dinner for two.

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Sunday Stealing

Thursday Thunks

1. Is there anyone whose home you enter without knocking? Does anyone (who doesn't live with you) have permission to enter your home without knocking?

A. My husband goes into his parents' house without knocking, but I knock. No one enters my home without knocking.

2. Tell us about a school trip you took.

A. When I was in sixth grade, my class went to Williamsburg. We bunked together in various rooms, and we toured the historic area. I was entranced with the shrubbery maze at the Governor's Mansion.

3. Name three things within arm's reach right now (but they can't relate to your phone, computer or laptop).

A. Within arm's reach, you will find a glass of water, a pair of binoculars, and a stapler.

4. Weather permitting, do you dry your clothes outdoors on a clothesline?

A. I do not use an outdoor clothesline because of my allergies. Pollen gathers on the clothing and makes me sick. If I dried clothing outside, I'd have to run it through the dryer just to get the pollen off before I could wear it.

5. If every flower in the world only bloomed in one color, what color would you like to see?

A. Lavender.

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Sunday Stealing

In the Past Month Meme

During April, did you . . . 

1. Drink alcohol?

A. No. I do not drink alcohol and haven't since I was about 20. The last alcoholic drink I had was wine in 2012, when my college professor brought in blackberry wine to celebrate our last class when I was working on my master's degree. 

2. Eat sushi?

A. I have never eaten sushi and since I have developed an allergy to fish, I doubt I ever do.

3. Go shopping with friends?

A. I went shopping with my husband and he is my friend, so I suppose so.

4. Eat an entire box of cookies by yourself?

A. I do not recall eating an entire box of cookies by myself. My husband helped.

5. Dye your hair?

A. I haven't died my hair in 30 years. I guess that's a "no" answer as well.

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Sunday Stealing

Five Things You Didn't Want to Know but I'm Telling You Anyway

1) Has anyone ever told you they would love you forever?

A. My husband told me he would love me forever in our wedding vows, and I told him the same. That was over 42 years ago.

 

2) Who is the last person you were in the car with?

A. My husband.

 

3) Do you have big plans for tomorrow (Monday)?

A. My plans for Monday include physical therapy for my shoulder.

4) How long do you typically spend in the shower?

A. I try to limit my shower time to 5 minutes and used to have a timer for that, but it broke and now I don't time them. My guess is they've snuck up to 10 minutes. That warm water sure feels good.

 

5) What were you doing at 7 AM yesterday (Saturday)?

A. I was awake and drinking a cup of hot chocolate while reading the news on my computer. I have discovered I can manage a cup of hot chocolate once a week. It's a good change from water.

 

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Sunday Stealing

1) Are you the sort of person who can nap or sleep anywhere, any time?

A. I can fall asleep in the recliner sometimes watching TV, but I'm not much of a nap person. That might change as I age.

 

2) Have you ever walked in your sleep?

A. I have walked in my sleep. The last time I know that I did it, my father-in-law had passed away, and I got up and started looking in the closet for my husband's suit because I thought it was in the cleaners. My husband woke up and then woke me up and told me I'd told him I was looking for his suit.

 

3) Do you chat with your Uber/Lyft/taxi driver?

A. I have never been in any of those types of vehicles.

4) Do you remember what you did on Valentine's Day?

A. I don't think we did much of anything on Valentine's Day.

 

5) How many laptops have you owned over your lifetime?

A. Four, I think. I have never liked laptops. I don't like the keyboards on them, and I don't like the track ball thing, and I don't like the screens. However, as I got older and my handwriting, was already practically illegible, worsened, I found that I needed to use a keyboard to take notes at meetings and such. That was before you could just record a meeting on your cell phone and run it through a transcriber. Or use an iPad because they hadn't been invented yet. I am so old.

 

6) How many countries have you visited?

A. I have visited four countries, counting the one I live in.

 

7) Did you/will you go to work today?

A. I am retired. However, I do housework every day.

 

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Sunday Stealing

Tell Us Something

1. Can you touch your nose with your tongue?

A. I had to give that a try to see, but no, I cannot do that.

2. What foreign language did you study in school? How much of it do you still remember?

A. I had three years of Spanish and one year of Latin. I remember very little of it. I keep thinking I should return to the Spanish so I can become fluent in it again. When you don't use things like that, they disappear.

3. What recipe did you most recently prepare? Where did you get the recipe and how did it turn out?

A. I hate to cook and I've had a shoulder impingement, so I've not really done much "recipe" cooking of late. I guess the last thing I made was a version of K&W's baked spaghetti. K&W was cafeteria chain, and we liked to eat there. Alas, it has gone out of business, taking its baked spaghetti with it. Their baked spaghetti did not have tomato sauce in it so I could eat it even with stomach ulcers. When we make it at home, we leave out the onions. The recipe makes a good 13" pan full of baked spaghetti and I have discovered it freezes well if you wrap it up in wax paper first.

4. What song have you listened to over and over and over again?

A. When I learn a song on the guitar, I tend to listen to it over and over again to try to get the chords and rhythm right. I don't recall the last song I did that with. It was easier before Amazon messed with Alexa so that now when you ask for a specific song, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't. Before I could play a song continually until I had it in my head. The last song I really remember doing that with was Comfortably Numb, by Pink Floyd, which I've now since forgotten.

5. Are there currently any pets in your household? Are you considering adding another? 

A. There are no pets in the house. There are about 40 cows and two bulls in the pasture fields, though. We also have a nice bit of wildlife that includes deer, bear, turkey, coyotes, and now a bobcat!

6. As an adult, have you ever performed with a drama group? (Student productions don't count.)

A. I have never performed with a drama group as an adult. I have, however, been involved in drama but that was not theater.

 

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

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PS: This is my 630th Sunday Stealing. That's 12.12 years of doing Sunday Stealing.

Sunday Stealing

F.A.B.

F. Film: What movie or tv show are you watching?

A. We have been watching Sheriff Country. We were watching Brilliant Minds, but it seems to have been removed from the schedule. When we can't find anything else to watch, we watch Downton Abbey. 

A. Audio: What are you listening to?

A. I am listening to The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny.

B. Book: What are you reading?

A. I am reading Mary Johnston: Memoirs.

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Sunday Stealing

Random Revelations

1. Is your phone Apple or Android? What about your laptop?

A. I have an iPhone. My laptop is a Dell, though not a very good one.

2. Can you say "thank you" in more than one language?

A. Gracias. 

3. What do you draw when you doodle?

A. I draw lines, doodles, loops, sometimes little people.

4. Which do you enjoy more, Scrabble or bowling?

A. Scrabble. I haven't been bowling in at least 35 years.

5. Can you juggle?

A. I cannot juggle, unless you are talking about multitasking. In that case, I juggle the laundry, a phone call, and a word processing program all at once sometimes.

6. Have you ever worn pajamas in public?

A. I do not recall ever wearing pajamas in public, except at the hospital when I had to walk up and down hallways with my little IV thing attached to me.

7. Was your best subject in school the one you enjoyed the most?

A. My best subject was always English, followed by history, and I enjoyed them both.

8. When you're offered the senior discount before you ask for it, are you offended or grateful?

A. I would love to have every senior discount available, but I am seldom offered them.

9. Do you agree that with age comes wisdom?

A. No, because I know some older folks who obviously never learned a thing.

10. Do you consider Sunday the first day of the week or the last day of the weekend? 

A. This is a good question. It has always puzzled me that Sunday is the first day of the week on the calendar but it's the day everyone goes to church, which is supposed to be the Sabbath. Monday always seemed like it should be the first day of the week to me.

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Sunday Stealing

 

Have You Ever ...

1) Skipped school?

A. Yes. I used to skip 6th period, which was band class, where I played the flute. My other band, the one where I played guitar in joints on the weekends, the five of us skipped school one day and went together to see The Rose at the theater. We all came out crying, even the guys.

 

2) Lettered in a school sport?

A. I lettered in band, which is not exactly a sport, and I was a member of the National Honor Society.

 

3) Made a prank phone call?

A. Of course, but that was like, 55 years ago.

 

4) Paid for a meal with coins?

A. Maybe when I was young. We still pay with cash at restaurants, so we don't eat at restaurants that don't take cash. I won't let my credit card out of my sight, and the wait staff always want to walk off with them.

5) Laughed until some sort of beverage came out of your nose?

A. I think I have done that, yes, but I can't recall when. Or what beverage, although it was probably either a Dr. Pepper or a Diet Coke.

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Sunday Stealing

Thursday Thunks

1. It's the middle of the night. There isn't another car in sight. You're stuck at a red light that just won't change. How long do wait until you run it?

A. Probably not very long, although with my luck there would be a police car with no lights on it hiding behind a bush somewhere.

2. What's your favorite recipe?

A. Anything I don't have to cook. Otherwise, I suppose it's my grandmother's recipe for what she called Chocolate Lush.

3. When did you last ask yourself, "What the hell was I thinking?"

A. Every day. I ask myself that every day.

4. Have you ever had a mole removed? If yes, where on your body was it?

A. I had a huge mole removed from my chest when I was five years old. I was born with it and it covered most of my chest. It was shaped like a bullet and had white spots in it. I have been told it was precancerous so that is why they removed it. I have a huge scar on my chest in between my breasts where they cut it out. When I was in school, I used to tell my gym teachers I couldn't take gym because I'd had heart surgery and wasn't feeling well. If they argued with me, I would raise my shirt and show them the scar. It was hard to argue with a massive scar in the middle of my chest.

5. What website do you faithfully check (other than email)?

A. I do Wordle, I check Facebook once a day, and I play my Elvenar video game in my browser every day. I read the New York Times and The Roanoke Times online.

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Sunday Stealing

 

National Oreo Cookie Day

1. Are you able to pass by a plate of cookies and not take one or are you a bit of a "Cookie Monster?"

A. It depends on the cookie. Chocolate chip? I'm there. Something with coconut in it? You can keep those.

2. Tell us about your favorite cookie. Have your tastes changed since you were a kid?

A. My favorite cookie is chocolate chip. I think it has always been my favorite cookie.

3. Enquiring minds want to know if you are a dunker and, if so, do you dunk in milk, coffee, or tea?

A. I am not a cookie dunker.

4. It is that time of year and they are selling them on every corner and in front of every store!  Do you buy Girl Scout cookies and if you do, which is your favorite?

A. I do not buy Girl Scout cookies. I suppose someone sells them locally, I just don't know where.

5. Raw cookie dough. Yay or Nay?

A. Yay!

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Sunday Stealing

Survey Asks . . . 

1. Did you/will you have coffee or some other form of caffeine today?

A. I do not drink coffee or colas. Unless there is caffeine in chocolate, and I think there is maybe a smidge, I don't get caffeine. 

2. Who did you last have a text conversation with and what was it about? 

A. My last conversation was with an old friend, and she was telling me about a visit from her sister.

3. Are there regular trains in and out of your town/city? 

A. My county has trains that go through it regularly, but no stops.

4. Have you ever been hospitalized due to dehydration?

A. No, but I have been hospitalized for other health issues.

5. Someone texts/IMs you just as you’re about to go to sleep. Do you reply? 

A. Not unless it is an emergency.

6. Do you grind your teeth?

A. I do grind my teeth, yes.

7. When you listen to music with headphones, do you keep the volume low enough to hear surrounding noise, or do you blast it?

A. I try not to listen to music with headphones. I don't like them.

8. Are you wearing nail polish?

A. I do not wear nail polish. I am allergic to it.

9. Do you have an ice maker in your refrigerator door?

A. I have an ice maker in the upper freezer of the refrigerator, but not in the door.

10. Do you have a friend named James?

A. I have a husband by that name.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.