In Velvet

 

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Did you ever have a commercial you really liked?

A. This one from 2018 is a good one.

2. How did you learn to ride a bicycle?

A. My bicycle was blue, and it had training wheels. My father took me out in the street and showed me how to ride it, first with the training wheels. Then he took those off and said he'd be right beside me and of course he let me go and I rode off.

3. How did you celebrate your 21st birthday?

A. I don't remember. I was already married, and I don't recall it mattering very much.

4. What fascinated you as a child?

A. Reading. I read everything. Newspapers. Magazines. Cereal boxes. Junk mail. Books of all kinds. Encyclopedias. The dictionary. 

5. What was one of your favorite playground games?

A. I was never a fan of playgrounds. I was one of the last picked because I was not athletic and not good at physical games.

6. What things matter most to you in life?

A. Other people. Justice and equality for all. Reading, writing, music. Friendship. The stuff you can't touch or put a price tag on.

 

7. If you had to go back in time and start a brand-new career, what would it be?

A. I would be a college professor.

8. What do people get wrong about you?

A. They think I'm stuck up when I'm really just shy and introverted.

9. Do you believe that people can change? Why or why not?

A. Some people can change. Some can't. It depends upon the person, what it is that needs to be changed, and whether or not they want to change.

10. What is some of the best advice your mother ever gave you?

A. Wear clean underwear when you go out.

11. If you could see into the future, what would you want to find out?

A. How humanity finally does itself in. Do we all die from climate change? Destroy ourselves with bombs? Is the earth destroyed by a large asteroid hit?

12. How has your life turned out differently than you imagined it would?

A. I thought I would have children but could not. I also thought I would "be somebody" (whatever that means), but I am not. 

13. What is the longest project you have ever worked on?

A. This blog has been going on since 2006, although I started blogging around 2002. That was with AOL Journals, though, and not here on blogspot.

14. What have been some of your favorite restaurants through the years?

A. Most of them no longer exist. The Oasis, I think it was, in Myrtle Beach was a favorite for many years. Great seafood (before I developed a seafood allergy). I was sad when we returned to find it had closed permanently.

15. What is one of the best shows you've ever been to?

A. I loved seeing Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville in 1989. That is probably my favorite.

__________

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.

Saturday 9: Workin' for a Livin'

Saturday 9: Workin' for a Livin' (1982)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Huey begins the song by telling us some workdays feel like they will never end. How was last week for you? Did it drag or did it fly by?

A. Most of it went by quickly, although I generally look back and my day and wonder what I did with my time. I don't seem to be managing it well.

2) He sings that his car payment is due. Think about your personal finances. Do you pay most of your bills manually or do you more often take advantage of automated bill pay?

A. I manually go into my bank and pay them online. I don't like to have companies dip into my bank accounts and take money.

 

3) Huey Lewis achieved a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT. Did you take SATs and/or ACTs? Were your results anything to brag about? (If they were, go ahead and let us know!)

A. I took the SATs but my scores were average. I graduated 5th in my class in high school and made straight As in college, but I did not test well.

4) In his role as District Attorney for Essex County, MA, Huey's grandfather Hugh Cregg prosecuted high-profile murder cases. Do you enjoy watching or reading courtroom dramas?

A. I used to cover the local courts, and that killed any love of courtroom dramas for me. When you see how it's really done, the fiction version doesn't often hold up.

5) Huey no longer performs because he has an inner-ear disorder that prevents him from holding a vocal pitch. Of your five senses -- hearing, sight, smell, touch and taste -- which is the strongest?

A. I am not sure. I am one of those people with a few supersensitive senses. My eyes suck - I've always needed glasses - but I can hear things other people can't and smell things other people don't. For example, the jake brakes on a truck or a school bus actually rumble in my ears to the point of pain, but my husband can't hear them. My in-laws once had a TV with a high-pitched squeal that no one but me could hear (I was so glad when they finally got rid of that). I can smell black snakes and copperheads, smoke from distant fires, etc. I guess the rest of me is normal.

6) He is a fan of fly fishing. Did you do any fishing this summer?

A. No. I haven't been fishing in years.

Since this Monday is Labor Day, the holiday established to celebrate the American worker . . .

7) Approximately 10% of Americans are self employed. Have you ever been your own boss?

A. Yes. Still am. I stopped working for other people in 1994 and became a full-time freelance writer and farmer.

8) According to Monster.com, 50% of workers have left a job to get away from a boss. Are you one of the 50%?

A. Yes. I have had bad bosses and left jobs because of them.

9) Farmers feel the impact of extreme weather events. Have you ever had a job that required you to be outdoors most of the time?

A. My husband and I have a farm, but he does most of the outside work these days. I prefer to stay indoors.

_______________

I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.  

About That Leak . . .

I mentioned the other day that we'd found a leak in the "closet" in the garage.

The area really isn't a closet. It was a half-bathroom. The plan was for my husband to use it so he wouldn't track dirt into the house. However, when we built this house in 1987, we didn't finish the half-bathroom because we ran out of money.

So, my husband used the bathroom off the kitchen, which would have been the children's bathroom had we had kids. And when we finally did finish the half-bathroom in the garage, he constantly forgot about it and just kept tracking dirt into the kitchen to go the one he'd grown used to using.

Finally, I suggested that we take the toilet back out and install shelving and use the space more effectively. It took some convincing, but after we purchased an industrial-type shelf and placed it in the bathroom, and then loaded it with paper towels, tissues, Dr. Pepper, etc., - mostly large purchases from Sam's Club that we made in an effort to save money - he decided it was a good idea.

And then the valve from where there was supposed to be a toilet leaked.

I don't know how long it had been leaking, but the bottom shelf was soaking wet and completely ruined. Fortunately, it held only extra porcelain tiles from where we'd had the bathroom refinished in 2013, so it didn't really hurt anything but the shelf.

My husband attempted to pull the baseboard away without removing the shelf and contents, but I was terrified things would fall on him, plus he was crawling around on his belly and he has no business doing that at his age.

So we hauled everything off the shelves. Now I have crap piled in the kitchen and all over the garage. We had to move the car outside to make room. Who knew you could cram so much stuff into shelving? (It didn't help that just last week we'd made a Sam's Club run to stock up.)

Anyway, once we got the shelves empty and removed, then it was easy to take up the baseboard. There was mold behind the baseboard, so we cut that part of the drywall away and threw it out. We also pulled up the tile that has been down for 36 years because the water had made some of it curl.

We sprayed everything down with bleach. After that dried, we sprayed again with some stuff called Concrobium Liquid Mold Remover, which we have used successfully before.

Now we are running a fan and trying to make sure everything is dried out before we repair the damage.

The fix will consist of plywood boards to replace the shelf, and plywood nailed around the bottom where we cut out the drywall. Then we will put back baseboard and quarter round, only we will just purchase prefinished rubber-type stuff that they make now that just sticks to the wall instead of bothering with real wood. After all, this is in the garage and we plan to die here. It can be someone else's problem in 30 years.

First, though, we have to make sure we've mitigated all of the mold, and that might take a few days and a few more sprays of bleach.

Here are pictures:

Stuff piled in the kitchen.

Stuff piled in the garage.

The shelving we took out.

The place where it leaked.

The original tile. I still like it.
Too bad you can't find it anymore.

The one spot that concerns me. We can't
decide if that's mold or just a little wood rot.
We'll be able to tell more when it is completely dry.

Happiness Challenge - Day 31

 

Today I am happy that I have friends. I have a few very good real-life friends, some casual acquaintances, a wonderful best friend of the female variety, and a wonderful best friend in my husband. I also have a delightfully quirky and caring brother, Facebook friends, pen pal friends, and blogging friends.

And of course, family members in various incarnations of the word "family," some of whom seem to love me and others who merely tolerate me, but they're my family, all the same.

I also have a few imaginary friends, and the friends who live in books, which means of course that my friends are as unlimited as my brain can be.

I am not outgoing by any definition of the word, but I love my people. I love you, my readers, who comment and sometimes offer suggestions and support. I love my friends who call me to check on me. I love my acquaintances who still hug me even if I haven't seen them in four years.

It seems fitting to end the August happiness challenge (thank you, Gal), on a note of love.

***

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

This meme comes from The Gal Herself.

Thursday Thirteen

Labor Day approaches (as of Monday), and this is the unofficial end of summer. While Autumn doesn't officially start until September 23, outside it's looking very fallish even with highs of 85 degrees.

Here are 13 reasons to be glad summer is about over:

1. Cooler Weather. As summer moves into fall, I can look forward to milder temperatures. This is great for me as the heat causes my hands to swell, and neither I nor my husband can tolerate heat like we once could (I think it's our blood pressure meds).

2. Relief from Heatwaves. While we do not have the 110 degree temperatures some of the western states suffer from (thank goodness), we do have our fair share of days that approach 100 degrees, along with a good deal of humidity. I'll be glad when that's gone.

3. Lower Energy Bills. With less need for air conditioning, my energy bills may decrease, saving money, although I doubt it saves much. We seem to use the same amount of energy monthly and I have no idea why.

4. Fall Fashion. A long time ago, women used to "have their colors done" so they'd know what clothing to wear best. I was an Autumn. So, aside from orange and yellows, Autumn colors are best for my skin and eyes. And there's sweaters, scarves, and boots, if you're into that.

5. Comfortable Sleeping: Cooler nights often mean better sleep without the need for air conditioning or fans.

6. Fewer Insects. We have had a lot of fruit flies this year. Hopefully these and other annoying insects, like mosquitoes and flies, will disappear as the weather cools down.

7. Harvest Season. Fall is a time for bountiful harvests, meaning fresh and delicious produce becomes more readily available. Around here, it means apples and pumpkins, mostly.

8. Outdoor Activities. Being outside is not so much of a chore.

9. Fall Foliage. One of my favorite things about Autumn is the color. The changing colors of leaves in the fall can be breathtakingly beautiful. This year, things are not looking so good for a nice foliage year, especially since some trees are turning early.

10. Cozy Nights. Fall evenings are perfect for curling up with a good book, a warm drink, and a cozy blanket.

11. Back-to-School Excitement. I don't have children and I don't go to school, but I still love the smell of a new notebook.

12. Holiday Season Approaches: As summer ends, I can start looking forward to holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I've already started Christmas shopping.

13. Deer season. This is not exactly my favorite fall activity, but it is certainly my husband's. For me, it's the time to get great shots of bucks with those trophy antlers, should some come wandering this direction.

______________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 823rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Happiness Challenge - Day 30

 

I am happy today that my husband found a water leak in the garage before it got worse.

It was bad enough as it was.

We had turned a half bath into a closet (we weren't using the bathroom), and the valve in there had started leaking, unbeknownst to us.

My husband needed something out of the closet and discovered the leak. It had already done a significant amount of damage - ruined the bottom shelf of the shelving we were using, ruined the tile floor (no great loss, it was 36 years old), messed up the baseboards and trim.

There was mold in behind the baseboards, so we had to cut out the dry wall. Plus, we had to empty those shelves, which were full of paper towels, Dr. Pepper, tissue paper, extra rolls of aluminum foil, glass jars, trash bags, and other assorted items that didn't belong in the house.

It took us several hours to empty out the shelving and for him to tear out the bad wood. I held the flashlight so he could see what he was doing as the bathroom/closet was not well lit. 

The water had been dripping a good while, that was obvious.

After he had everything removed, we bleached everything to kill the mold, and now it has to dry.

The good news is it could have been worse if we hadn't found it. The bad news is it didn't help my back issues any, but that's life.

Happiness Challenge - Day 29

 

Today I am happy that I have a great chiropractor.

I did something to my back over the weekend and I was hoping it would ease, but by this morning it hadn't. I sent my chiropractor a text at 7:30 a.m. and she sent me back a message almost immediately telling me to be in her office at 10 a.m.

I went in and she did her thing, and while I have some residual soreness, it feels better than it did.

Yay.

Happiness Challenge - Day 28

 

Today I am happy that my husband went to the grocery store. He had a few errands of his own to run and said he's stop so I wouldn't have to go out.

But mostly I am happy that we've had a little over 1/2 inch of rain. It has been so dry. I don't know if this is enough to help the hay crop, but it certainly can't hurt.

And everything has greened up and the lawn doesn't look so dead.

The Devil Went Down to Georgia - Contrafactum

Even though I find the current indictments of the former president sad, that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun with it. A friend challenged me to write up new lyrics to this famous song that would be relevant to today's current situation, so I gave it a shot. This is known as contrafactum in music theory, when you rewrite the words to an established melody.

Or maybe it's just a parody. Or me being an idiot. Whatever.

To be sung to The Devil Went Down to Georgia, by Charlie Daniels Band

(Spoken over music)

The Devil went down to Georgia
He was lookin' to make a deal
He was a in a bind, 'cause he'd been fined
and he knew he'd lose his appeal.
When he came across this DA
with a grand jury in her hand
and the Devil jumped on his cellphone
and texted out to his fans.

"I guess you didn't know it, but I'm a grifter and the best
And if you don't care and don't beware, I'll be your president.
Now this DA has the goods on me, but give to me my due
I'll bet a Supreme Court seat that she'll be beat
'Cause I've got the support of you."

And MAGA said, "We all hear you, and it might be a sin
But we don't care and we'll take a dare
to make you president again."

(Singing)

Brandon time to blink those eyes like lasers in the sky

'Cause the Devil's playing loose down South and the MAGAs are flying high.
We're watching for the good DA to keep her self control.
'Cause if he wins, the country's lost, we won't have a soul.

(Spoken over music)

The Devil stood before the judge, looking aged, vile, and mean
And fire flew from his nostrils when the judge called out his name.
And when he spoke the spittle flew and landed with a hiss
And all the lawyers prattled on, and it sounded like a miss.

(Cue evil-sounding awkward fiddle music)

When the Devil finished,
The DA said, "You're pretty good, ol' son,
But sit back down in your chair right there
And let me show you how it's done.

And she went -

(Singing)

"He tried to steal your votes from you
He's never spoken a word that's true
He's a chicken who flouts the law
MAGA can he help you? Not at all."

(Sprightly fiddle music)

The Devil bowed his head and he flinched at every word
Still he pleaded "I'm not guilty" to the charges that he heard
The DA said, "Don't call again when Georgia does her vote
We done told you once, you son of a bitch
That we'll keep this land afloat."

Happiness Challenge - Day 27

 

Today I ate a chocolate cupcake. It was big and it had a lot of chocolate on it, and it tasted very good.

It was much sweeter than I anticipated, too.

I may regret this later.

Anyway, I spent time with my father, brother, stepmother, brother's girlfriend, and husband for my stepmother's birthday this afternoon. I was polite and did not ask her age. :-)

I also was able to help someone out with some Word 2007 issues over the phone. That's a bit tough to do, but I managed.

Yay me.

***

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

This meme comes from The Gal Herself.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. If animals could talk, which one do you think would complain the most about their day?

A. A horse or an ox that works on a farm. "I had to pull that plow for miles today and it was 94 degrees out! And I didn't get enough water. And he used the whip twice because I stumbled over uneven ground. And the hay tastes blah."

2. What do you think cats dream about during their epic naps?

A. Chasing squirrels.

3. If squirrels organized an Olympics, what events would they have?

A. High wire walking, jumping, hiding things, and sunbathing.

4. Do you think penguins ever get jealous of birds that can fly?

A. No.

5. If animals had their own social media, what kind of posts would we see from them?

A. Cow: It's so dang hot today. I still can't believe he fenced us out of the pond and makes us drink from that feed trough. I want to lie in the water! It is moooey hot under the trees! I udderly do not understand how this little bit of shade is supposed to help. Also, flies.

6. What would be the title of the autobiography of a lazy house cat?

A. Livin' the Life of Reily

7. If you had to choose an animal to be your personal bodyguard, which one would you pick?

A. A big dog.

8. Do you think dogs secretly judge us for not being able to sniff out everything they can?

A. No.

9. If animals could wear clothes, which animal would have the best fashion sense?

A. Cats.

10. If a group of owls started a band, what would their music style be?

A. They'd play bluegrass so they could whooop it up.

11. What do dolphins think when people swim with them?

A. They think they are dolphins and are out for a swim with people.

12. What do you think squirrels gossip about when they chatter to each other in the trees?

A. Where they hid the nuts.

13. If elephants played hide-and-seek, where do you think they'd hide?

A. Behind skinny trees.

14. What do you imagine a llama would say if you asked it about the meaning of life?

A. It would be all spit and tongue.

15. If you could swap places with any animal for a day, which one would it be, and why?

A. I would swap places with a lion so I could see a different land and be supple and strong in movement.

__________

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.

Saturday 9: My Sharona

Saturday 9: My Sharona (1979)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 

1) The Knack's lead singer Doug Fieger wrote this song for his girlfriend, Sharona Alperin. That's Sharona on the record sleeve shown here. Who took the most recent photo of you?

A. I guess I did, a selfie. I don't generally have my photo taken, nor do I take selfies often, but I recently received a decent haircut, and I took a picture of it for future reference.

2) Today Sharona Alperin is a realtor in Southern California. (The photo on her website is more demure than the record sleeve.) She specializes in high-end properties. Have you ever attended an open house, not because you were interested in purchasing the property but because you were curious about the inside?

A. I don't think so, but I have thought about it.

3) Doug Fieger's brother is Geoffrey Fieger, a prominent attorney in Detroit. Have you ever consulted a lawyer?

A. I have, yes. I also used to work for attorneys. I did that from 1983 to 1994, and freelanced for the local media on the side. I also put myself through college during that time.

 

4) The Knack's record producer was Jimmy Miller, who also worked with The Rolling Stones. What's your favorite Rolling Stones song?

A. Beast of Burden.

 

5) In 1994, more than a decade after its initial release, "My Sharona" became popular with a new audience because it was included on the soundtrack of the movie Reality Bites. What's the most recent movie you watched?

A. Barbie.

6) President George W. Bush said he loved listening to "My Sharona" on his headphones while riding his bike. Do you often have music on when you exercise?

A. Yes. If I exercise.

 

7) In 1979, when this song was popular, the CBS TV show Alice was a hit. It was about a widowed mom who made ends meet working in a diner. Have you ever worked at a restaurant?

A. I have not, although I did work in the cafeteria at Camp Fincastle one summer. It wasn't a restaurant, but it dealt with food.

 

8) Also in 1979, the Voyager spacecraft sent back photos of Jupiter and its rings. Without looking it up, can you name all the planets in our solar system?

A. Earth, Mars, Venus, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter and sometimes Pluto.

9) Random question: If you could erase your most painful day from your memory, would you do it?

A. I would be hard pressed to know which of my memories is my most painful, so probably not, unless there was some way to narrow that down.

_______________

I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.  

Happiness Challenge - Day 25

 

A surprise package came in the mailbox.

My brother sent me two plastic jars along with a note telling me not to deny his brother-in-law his beloved pickles simply because he is clumsy. 

I had to laugh, as I had been researching plastic jars for pickles but hadn't yet made a purchase. My brother said he uses these for pickles. 

So I am happy that my brother thought enough of my husband to send him plastic jars for his pickles, and I had a good chuckle.

A Sad Day

Yesterday, the former president presented himself to a jail in Georgia to have his fingerprinting and his mug shot taken.

It's been all over the news.

This is his fourth indictment since he left office. While I strongly believe he tried to stay in office illegally and, at the least, incited a riot, I find it sad that this is now what the world sees of America.

The world sees that we are a bunch of haters who elected someone who is a grifter, a con man, and a not-nice person by any stretch of the imagination. 

Hopefully, though, the world also sees that we are a nation of laws, and if one breaks those laws, then one is tried, and justice is served.

I take no joy in knowing that (a) this is the type of person so many people adore and want to follow, for reasons that continue to elude me and (b) that our government and our national reputation has been so wounded by this person and his ilk.

I have always believed in the power of the government to better the lives of its citizens. I have believed it can happen at the local level, and I believe it can happen at the state and federal levels. But the people in charge also must believe that.

The former guy believed, as best I could tell, that the government should only help him. I certainly didn't see much come out of his administration that helped me. Even the monetary loans during the pandemic were giveaways of federal funding to those who didn't need it, for the most part. Maybe they helped out somebody somewhere.

While seeing our country diminished makes me sad, I think it is important that the former guy be charged with conspiring to defraud the American people out of their choice for president. It is how we move forward from this and defend democracy and maintain the rule of law. I do not see this as a failure of the legal system, nor do I see these charges as political. I see them as necessary if the republic is to continue to function under the U.S. Constitution.

If these charges had not been brought, then the U.S. Constitution may as well be, as the former guy has suggested, tossed out the window. I would be less confident in the judicial system had charges never been brought, and even now I have concerns about the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and what role it will ultimately play in all of this. Because you know eventually, that is where some, if not all, of these indictments will end up if the former guy is found guilty. Maybe even if he is found innocent, I don't know.

I look for calmer days sometime in my lifetime. Preferably they would be ones where I don't have to look at the mug shot of a former president.

Thursday Thirteen

1. Alexa now says to me, "This reminder sounds important. Shall I remind you every hour until you tell me it's done?" when I ask her to remind me to do something. Not every time though. I wonder how she determines what sounds important and what doesn't.

2. She does make a good nag. Instead of nagging my husband to take his blood sugar, for example (he's prediabetic), I have times set up daily for Alexa to nag him. She nags him when I know he is going to be home. Usually he ignores her, but at least I am not the one doing the nagging.

3. Some time ago, Amazon changed the way I could listen to music on Alexa (unless I pay extra to join Amazon Music, which I won't do because I think I pay enough to be a prime member). There are ways around it, but it is aggravating to just want to hear one song and have to either tell her to stop after she plays it or to wade through several other songs to hear the one you want. You can tell her to skip to the next song, though, and she will.

4. The music change lessened my use of the device, so much so that I may not replace my Alexa when she has a technological heart attack. Instead, I plan to turn to my phone as my reminder and music player. I'm not sure what to do about nagging my husband, though.

5. When I am writing, I like to listen to Sheryl Crow or a few of Melissa Etheridge's albums. Not all of their songs, though. I am selective. I had a playlist but Alexa won't play it now. Well, she'll play it "and similar songs" because I won't join their little music club. So now I listen to that playlist on my computer while I'm writing. It's important that I not be interrupted by some song I wasn't expecting when I am using the music for background while I write. I have to keep my train of thought chugging along or I lose what I'm thinking.

6. The Alexa music change also upset my guitar playing, because before I could ask her to constantly replay a song while I tried to learn it. I can't do that now, so I use youtube. Like I said, there are ways around the issue Amazon created, but I have to take a few extra steps. I mean, I used to have to lift up a needle on a record player and find the song on an LP, so this is still easier than the "old days."

7. Since I have been using Alexa (and Siri on my phone), I have not been overly concerned about the new AI. I have played with ChatGPT and I have used the Bing AI to create images for my blog. I have found them both convenient and helpful, though I do not always get the results I expected.

8. While I might use ChatGPT for something on my blog, I would never use it in an article or anything I was being paid for. This is my personal space, so I feel like it's not a problem. However, I understand why writers and artists are upset about the way the AIs are being utilized and why some people consider it artistic theft. I also know some people are actually creating books to sell on Amazon using AI, and the information in them is not fact checked. This is not cool, and it is worrisome.

9. My brother told me he saw someone using a robot to mow their lawn the other day. It's like an iRoomba except for grass. To me that sounds like a great thing, but we have a lot of yard and it probably would have to mow a little, recharge, mow a little, recharge . . . I'm not sure it would have the whole 3 acres mowed before it had to start all over.

10. I also wouldn't mind having one of the iRoomba vacuums. It would be nice not to have haul out the vacuum cleaner. We live near a cement plant, and it gets dusty here. I could dust every day and it would look dusty anyway. Actually, it looks dusty almost immediately after I dust. This is why we run two air purifiers in the house. And, of course, the dust settles on the hardwood floors.

11. AI is going to be a great tool, but it is also going to be used for ill. The Internet offered, and still offers, great promise, but some humans tend to be destructive and find ways to use most anything in a bad way. Not everyone's mind goes off in that direction, thank goodness, but I think it is getting harder to tell truth from tall tale on the Internet. 

12. That's why I have multiple news sources that I turn to when I'm looking up things. Then I take the aggregate of the information and determine what is likely truth and what is likely not. Sometimes that is hard, and I think AI is going to make that even more difficult. It's already difficult to determine if an article in The Onion is truth or fiction, what with all the weird going on in the world.

13. For now, I am content with using AI as I am using it, but I am diligent and won't use it for profit (although I have to wonder now, if the computer finished my phrases for me, is that AI and is that utilizing it improperly?). I wish everyone felt that way, but I guess that would be asking too much. After all, I live in the "land of the free to make money anyway you can go about it."

*Bing AI created the images. Ironic, yes? But I couldn't draw them, nor could I pay someone else to. And it does liven up the reading a bit. :::shrug:::

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 822nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Happiness Challenge - Day 23

 

I ate baked spaghetti and it didn't kill me! Or give me horrid reflux.

This may not seem like a big deal, but I have not had spaghetti of any kind for over 3 years. I had such a horrid time with an ulcer and accompanying acid reflux that I'm only now slowly trying new foods. Or rather, old foods that I used to take for granted.

It was so good! That first bite was like nirvana.

So maybe spaghetti is something I can add back into my diet occasionally. I know to eat foods that bother me before 2 p.m. and we had this for lunch. 

This is progress!

Oh, and my husband's year follow-up on his hip replacement (which was the reason we were out in the first place), came back great and he doesn't need to return for five years! So yay for that, too.

Happiness Challenge - Day 22

 

Today I am happy that my husband didn't cut his leg off.

He dropped a pickle jar as he was putting it back in the refrigerator, and it shattered. A big piece hit his leg and shaved off a good inch of skin. It wasn't deep, but it bled a lot.

I rushed around trying to take care of him and clean up pickle juice all at the same time. I was trying to keep the pickle juice from running under the refrigerator, plus there was glass everywhere, and he was bleeding somewhat profusely.

After I got him in a chair and his bloody shoes off of him so I could see what he'd done to his shin, I saw that he probably didn't need stitches. I hunted up the bandages and patched him up, then cleaned up the mess. After he rested and the blood finally stopped oozing, he helped me clean up. I was having difficulty with the mopping, so I was glad he was well enough to help me with that.

I told him I was not buying him anymore pickles. This is the second jar of pickles he's dropped and busted in the last year.

Pickle juice is very hard to get up off the floor.

Happiness Challenge - Day 21

 

Today I finished up an editing project. It was a lot of work, and I was pleased with the job I did. The manuscript was interesting and that always helps.

It has been a while since I edited a full manuscript for someone. This would be the 12th book I have edited. I have learned a lot since I started editing manuscripts and I think I do a much better job now than I did when I first started. For one thing, I learned that the manuscript needs to be as perfect as I can make it in all ways. Publishing houses do not check for discrepancies or fix things anymore. The first book I edited had mistakes in it because the author told me not to fix them - he said the publishing house would correct things and he didn't want to pay me to do it (mostly the problem was different spellings of the name of the same person). However, after the book published and I received a copy, I saw that the publishing house didn't correct hardly anything, if anything at all. So now even if I'm not being paid to fix something, I do it anyway.

To ensure I catch everything, I read most of the book aloud as I go through. Generally, I read through a chapter, make changes (using the track changes feature in MS Word), then go back through the chapter again using the "final" view and read that chapter aloud to ensure I didn't miss anything. Then after I have finished, I review the whole book for consistencies in headings, chapter headings, numbers, etc., and pick out chapters or paragraphs to review to make sure things are flowing properly.

I use Chicago Style but most authors also have their own preferences, so I keep a notepad of those to refer to as I go along. I also list names here, characteristics if relevant (you wouldn't want Barbara to show up with green eyes in chapter 10 when they were blue in chapter 2), and things like that.

This project made me happy because it is something I do well and it was enjoyable work, if a bit stressful because of a deadline. I actually like to work when I enjoy what I'm doing.