Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you?

A. No. And if you answer "yes" to that question, I suggest a psychiatrist and medication.

2. On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you?

A. I am not afraid of the dark, generally. So I guess a 1.

3. The person you would never want to meet?

A. It's a cross between our current president or the loud-mouthed father on Orange County Choppers or whatever it is called.

4. What is your favorite word?

A. Interesting.

5. If you were a type of tree, what would you be?

A. Barbara Walters, anyone? I would like to think I'd be a California Redwood, strong, tall, sturdy, living hundreds of years. I suspect I am actually a willow, fat at the bottom, wispy, with branches that easily break.

6. When you looked in the mirror this morning what was the first thing you thought?

A. My eyes look tired.

7. What shirt are you wearing?

A. I still have on my nightgown.

8. What do you label yourself as?

A. A writer.

9. Bright room or dark room?

A. Dark room.

10. What were you doing at midnight last night?

A. Sleeping.

11. Favorite age you’ve been so far?

A. Sometime in my 40s. Most of my 40s were fairly good years. I had work I enjoyed and my health, while always not the best, was not as bad as it is now.

12. Who told you they loved you last?

A. My husband.

13. Your worst enemy?

A. Myself.

14. What is your current desktop picture?

A. It's just blue. I don't like pictures on my desktop, it makes it too busy.

15. Do you like someone?

A. I like a lot of people.

16. The last song you listened to?

A. Barracuda, by Heart

17. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up?

A. I wouldn't press the button, sorry. I am not into killing people.

18. Who would you really like to just punch in the face?

A. I don't do that, either.

19. If anyone could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do?

A. I don't do that, either.

20. What is your best physical attribute? (showing said attribute is optional)

A. I don't know. My skin, I suppose. People often told me I had nice skin when I was younger.

21. If you were the opposite sex for one day, what would you look like and what would you do?

A. I'd look like a guy. I have no idea what I would do. One day is not a long time to adjust to something like that. I know what I wouldn't do: I wouldn't treat women as objects, I wouldn't whistle at them or grab them, or rape them. I would be a gentleman.

22. Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it?

A. If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret.

23. What is one unique thing you’re afraid of?

A. I can't think of anything unique.

24. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal. What would your sandwich be?

A. I'd have a BLT with chicken salad on the side.

25. You just found $100! How are you going to spend it?

A. You can't buy much with $100 these days. I'd probably spend it on groceries.

26. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave immediately. Where are you going to go?

A. New Zealand.

27. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. “Be brand-specific” it says.

A. I don't drink alcohol. What kind of angel offers you an addictive drug, anyway?

28. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place?

A. All are equal.
 
29. What is your favorite expletive?

A. F#ck apparently. I say it a lot.

30. Your house is on fire. You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno?

A. My external hard drive. It has my computer back up on it.

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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.

Saturday 9: Teenage Dream

Saturday 9: Teenage Dream (2010)

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

1) Much of the video for this week's song takes place in a convertible and on the beach. How's the weather where you are? Would you be comfortable riding around with the top down today?

A. We have bands of rain from Hurricane Florence so I think I want the top up today.

2) This video was filmed all around Katy Perry's hometown of Santa Barbara. Amtrak runs through Santa Barbara via The Pacific Surfliner. Tell us about a memorable train trip.

A. The only time I remember being on a train was in Spain in the late 1970s. We were supposed to go from Madrid to France on an express train but there was a union strike of sometime scheduled to take place at midnight after we arrived, so we left a day early and took "local" trains to get to France. The trains were small and full of people. The restrooms were way in the rear of the train. Several of us young women in our travel group needed to get to the restrooms. To get there you had to walk through cars that were full of men and they suddenly grabbed us and pawed us and otherwise severely manhandled us. It was terrifying, actually. I kneed one guy in the crotch and he hit me in the head with his fist. Another girl got grabbed by the hair and dragged. When we finally got back to our car, our guide (a woman) shrugged it off and said that was what happened there. I don't think I ever told my parents about that.

Despite that, I like trains. I am just not sure I want to ride one again.

3) Katy sings that her boyfriend thinks she's funny, even when she gets the punchline wrong. Do you think you're a better joke-teller or audience?

A. I think I'm better in the audience but my friends think I am hilarious in a sardonic, tell-it-like-it-really-is kind of way.

4) Her "teenage dream" lover is shown working out with a heavy bag. When is the last time you visited a gym?

A. Ha. Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Now if you want to count the gym at my physical therapist's place, then it was only about 10 months ago.

5) Katy changes her hair a lot. She's gone from long black hair to cropped blonde hair with stops at red, green and purple. Today, are you having a good hair day?

A. It's humid and wet outside. So not really.

6) Katy thinks dimples are "irresistible" and can't help poking a finger when a dimpled friend smiles. Do you have dimples?

A. Yes. I think. I'm not 100 percent sure and I'm too lazy to go look in a mirror.

7) Two of Katy's fragrances (Meow and Purr) are sold in cat-shaped bottles. Are you wearing a scent as you answer these questions?

A. I am allergic to all scents. Everything in my house is unscented.

8)  Katy's favorite dessert is ice cream (specifically Cold Stone Creamery's Birthday Cake Remix). What's the last dessert you ate?

A. A piece of chocolate crème pie.

9) Random question: How often do you change your bedsheets?

A. Every Saturday.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.  (#250)

Praying Mantis

Thursday Thirteen

Things I'm looking forward to -

1. Having my kitchen floor redone.

2. Having the bedroom, hallway and living room floors redone.

3. Having new windows and doors installed.

4. A vacation (maybe).

5. Doing a little writing for the local paper for a week.

6. Reading the third book in the All Souls trilogy (Deborah Harkness, author).

7. Cooler temperatures

8. Losing weight.

9. The November elections.

10. Finding a new fiction book to read.

11. Seeing a friend.

12. Having my house back in order after numbers 1, 2 and 3 are finished.

13. Haircut!

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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 569th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

The "Luxury" of Being Sick

An acquaintance of mine told me Friday, as she has on other occasions, that she doesn't have the "luxury" of being sick. She said this with a scowl on her face because she's working very hard at the job she has chosen. She has aches and pains and works through them. I'm glad she can do that.

I, on the other hand, have spent the last five years recovering from multiple illnesses, one of which nearly killed me as I had internal bleeding with ulcers, and another which forced me to use a cane for a long time until I finally, with lots of hard work and therapy, was able to do away with the cane.

That doesn't mean I am well. It means I am better, but my stamina is awful and my anxiety levels high. I can't sit for long periods, or stand for long periods. I can't lift anything heavy. I don't eat tomatoes or foods that will cause my stomach to act up.

I do the laundry, I go to the grocery store, I make dinner, I keep the house reasonably clean though I cannot run the vacuum so I have someone come and help me with that. I still write some. Not as much as I'd like but I am not floating in my bed, waiting on someone to bring me an aspirin.

I do what I can.

This acquaintance - we used to be friends, but we aren't anymore - has no empathy for people who are suffering. She seems to believe if she can work with a sore shoulder then everyone else should be able to work with whatever is wrong with them. This is how a certain segment of the population thinks, until they find themselves with cancer or on the end of a surgical knife. Then, as happened with my elected official, there may be second thoughts about allowing Medicaid into Virginia. Because golly gee, people do simply get sick through no fault of their own, and it hurts and you feel bad and sometimes you really can't get out of bed.

Being sick is by no means a "luxury." I would trade my "luxury" of being sick for a steady job and good health any time. However, I have always been a sickly person and I don't expect that to change as I age. From the time I was born, according to my mother, I was sick. I had colic, ran fevers, and I was allergic to cow's milk and formula and had to drink goat's milk. I fell down and dislocated a shoulder, I cracked my head open on something, and I had surgery to remove a pre-cancerous mole - all before I was five.

I used to miss 30 days of school, at least, every year. I kept a cough, and bronchitis and/or pneumonia found me every winter. I caught each bug that went around. And still I weathered it and made straight As.

You don't make straight As and be sick by sitting in the bed and not doing your homework.

This same acquaintance once told me she would never hire me to work, because I had a 3.96 GPA in college. People who make As don't have to work for them, she said. The people who makes Bs and Cs have to work to get those grades.

I don't know where someone gets this idea. Does she think I did not spend hours upon hours studying and reading, taking notes, learning the things I needed to know?

My life has always been about work. My father did not let us have much down time - we lived on a farm and I had chores. I watched after my brother. I fed birds. I gathered eggs. I brought in firewood. I helped keep the house clean. One of my finest hours was the day my mother told me, about a year after I'd married and left home, that she had had no idea how much work I'd actually done around the house until I was gone. Finally, some recognition for all those towels I'd folded.

After I married, I worked. Not only did I work, I put myself through college. I worked full time and went to college part-time. I did this for eight years. It took eight years to finish school because I had many surgeries during that time and I had to drop out of college a few semesters because I couldn't drive. I lost a few jobs because of illness, too. And I finally stopped working "for the man" altogether in the mid-1990s because I was having three-day migraines at least three times a month. I couldn't stay that sick and work, so I started freelancing full time so that when I needed to rest, I could rest. But even then, though I was working from home, I worked very hard at my writing. I wrote thousands - yes, thousands - of articles.

You don't do that because you have the "luxury" of being sick. You do that in spite of being sick.

And then being sick finally took its toll and my poor body said, "Enough of this. Stop with the stress and the stuff you shouldn't be doing or you'll bleed to death from these ulcers."

Lesson learned, though it took two years and much prodding from my doctor before I finally gave up my newspaper work. Then I worked hard at physical therapy. I did my exercises. And while I'm not healthy, I'm functional.

I'm functional because I worked at it. I was sick because I was sick, and not because I had the "luxury" of being sick. Sick people do not consider it a luxury because it isn't one. Sick people generally have less money, because they work less, they can't enjoy life like a healthy person can, and if you're disabled to any degree the people in the USA look down on you as if you're some kind of ratty flea with something contagious. I feel sure there are more sick people than healthy people in this country, because we're a pretty sick country overall, but I think a lot of people tough it out. And toughing it out has consequences that, in the long run, are not pretty.

No one has the "luxury" of being sick. If anyone ever says that to me again, I think I might have to punch that person in the mouth.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Ever had ramen noodles? How do you fix yours? Do you add anything to them?

     A. I only eat the chicken flavored kind and I fix them like the directions say, except I generally only add half a packet of "taste" to keep the salt content down.

2. Do you like spicy foods? No.

3. Crispy or grilled chicken on your salad? Grilled.

4. Do you like corn on the cob?

     A. I do, but it doesn't like me since I had my gallbladder removed.

5. Pumpkin or apple pie? Apple.

6. Dinner rolls or crescent rolls? Doesn't matter.

7. How do you like your eggs? Scrambled.

8. Most expensive meal you have ever eaten?

      A. I think it was one in Richmond. It was a swanky restaurant near Short Pump.

9. Do you like stir fry? Yes.

10. What kind of pots and pans do you use?

      A. Club. They were a wedding present and they are the ones I still use.

11. Do you like Brussel sprouts? Yes.

12. Canned or fresh tomatoes? Fresh, but not often.

13. BBQ Chicken or Ribs? Neither.

14. Do you like coffee? No.

15. Cupcakes or ice cream cake? Cupcakes.

16. Hot dogs or polish sausage? Hot dogs.

17. Do you like cinnamon toast? I like cinnamon rolls.

18. Do you eat dinner at the table or in front of the TV? At the table.

19. Do you like to BBQ? I like it but it doesn't like me.

20. Do you like cold cuts? Yes.

21. Do you like rice? Yes.

22. Macaroni and cheese? Yes.

23. Key Lime Pie? Yes.

24. Favorite Fair/Carnival Food? Cotton Candy.

25. What kind of gravy do you like? White biscuit gravy with no pepper in it.

26. Jalapeno Poppers? No.

27. Broccoli/Chicken Alfredo? Yes.

28. Do you like cottage cheese? Sometimes.

29. Do you like lasagna? I do but it doesn't like me.

30. Do you like hard boiled eggs? Yes.
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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.

Saturday 9: Gotta Travel On

Saturday 9: Gotta Travel On (1959)

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

1) In this song, the Billy Grammer sings that "summer's almost gone, winter's coming on." When you look out your window, do you see any evidence that the seasons are changing?

A. Yes. The leaves are changing, there is a tinge of yellow in the air, and the goldenrod is blooming. The bucks are roaming around still in velvet, but it won't be long before their horns are showing.

 2) He admits he has laid around and played around for too long. Do you consider lazy days to be wasted days?

A. Not anymore. I used to, but no day is a wasted day.

3) Billy relaxed by fishing. Tell us about a visit you made to a pier, or a ride you took on a boat, this past year. (Bonus points if you went fishing!)

A. I have not visited a pier or been on a boat in the past year.

4) Born in 1925, Mr. Grammer was the eldest of 13 children. He and his wife Ruth were childless. What do you think is the ideal size for a family?

A. Two adults and two children.

5) This song was very popular on juke boxes back in 1959. When were you last in a bar or restaurant that had a juke box? Did you play it?

A. I don't remember when I was last in a restaurant with a juke box.

6) In 1959, movie tickets zoomed up in price to $1.00 and Ben Hur was the big blockbuster. What's the last movie you saw in a theater? Do you remember how much the ticket cost?

A. I think the last movie we saw in the theater was a Star Wars film. We went to the matinee and the tickets were $9.50 each.

7) Huckleberry Hound was a hit with the younger audience in 1959. What cartoon did you enjoy as a kid?

A. I liked Bugs Bunny.

8) In 1959, continuing dramas (soap operas) were still broadcast each day on the radio. When you turn on the radio, do you listen for talk, news, or music?

A. I listen to music and NPR.

9) Random question -- Which competition would you rather judge: The Pillsbury Bake Off, The Miss America Pageant, or Dancing with the Stars?

A. The Pillsbury Bake Off.


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

Thursday Thirteen

I'm a little behind on my magazine reading:

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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 568th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Friends in the Rain

It was pouring rain when I shot these photos Saturday. I cleared them up a bit with software because it was raining so hard the camera had trouble focusing.

I always like to see the deer and turkey together. Too bad the bear didn't make an appearance!

An Unexpected Guest

We had my mother-in-law up for Labor Day hamburgers last night. We had all settled in to eat when my husband said, "Look coming there!"

I was expecting my nephew at the back door or something, but no. Instead I saw a bear!

He was not a big bear, as bears go, but big enough! He sniffed around the back door and then headed around the house, circling around to the front yard and then moseying on into the hollow.

You just never know what you're going to see around here.

Kitchen Update

Kitchen with reinstalled cabinet and dishwasher

The kitchen is partially back together. We have a sink and a dishwasher again. The floor, however, remains a problem.

Being old, that little 1/4 inch drop is something we must watch to keep from tripping. I've put a few mats down in hopes of helping that, but we also are tripping over the mats. Yikes!

We are having difficulty finding tile people and getting quotes from flooring companies. I'm not sure what the deal is - it's not a small job. Or maybe that's the problem, it's a big job.

Anyway, the cabinet facing is the old one. The "furniture hospital" removed the facing and put it into a new box. They also fixed the toe board on the cabinet to the left of the dishwasher.

Stay tuned as we try to sort out the kitchen floor. I'm hoping before Christmas . . .

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. What is one thing that you would change about yourself if you could?

A. My health.

2. Name three exotic countries you would like to visit.

A. New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland.

3. What do you think the secret to life is?

A. We're not really alive. We're all figments of imagination of a giant.

4. What was the best concert you ever attended?

A. Elton John playing by himself.

5. What is a song you can listen to over and over and not get tired of?

A. Hotel California, by The Eagle.

6. What do you think is the worst movie music soundtrack or score?

A. I have no idea. But I think Forrest Gump's soundtrack is one of the best.

7. What is a song you wish wouldn't get stuck in your head but always does?

A. (Don't Go Chasing) Waterfalls, by TLC

8. Who was your first date?

A. His name was Mike.

9. Do you still talk to your first love?

A. My husband was my first love, so yes.

10. What was your first alcoholic drink?

A. I don't know. Probably the dregs from my father's beer can or one of his glasses of liquor when I was three years old or something.

11. What was your first job?

A. Babysitting.

12. What was your first car?

A. It was a Datsun. Very ugly.

13. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane?

A. I flew to Spain.

14. Who was your first best friend & do you still talk?

A. That was either Allison or Donna, and no, I don't talk to either of them.

15. Whose wedding did you attend the first time?

A. I am not sure, but I think it was my uncle's wedding.

16. Tell us about your first roommate.

A. My husband was my first roommate. He's a guy. He does guy things like leave his socks in the floor and walk around the house with dirt on his boots.

17. If you had one wish, what would it be (other than more wishes)?

A. I would wish for better healthcare for everyone.

18. What is something you would learn if you had the chance?

A. How to dance.

19. Did you marry the first person you were in love with?

A. Yes.

20. What were the first lessons you ever took and why?

A. I took piano lessons because my mother made me take them.

21. What is the first thing you do when you get home?

A. Take off my bra, followed by my jewelry.

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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.

Saturday 9: She Works Hard for the Money

She Works Hard for the Money (1983)

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

1) This song is about a woman who works hard as a waitress. What's the hardest job you've ever had?

A. Physically, working on the farm. Mentally, being a reporter.

2) The lyrics tell us she has worked at this job for 28 years. What's the longest you stayed with one employer?

A. I wrote for the newspaper for 30 years, but I was a freelancer, not an employee. The longest I was an employee was about two years or so.

3) Donna Summer was inspired to write this song during an awards show. She ducked into the bathroom and met the elderly ladies' room attendant, whose job it was to make sure the room the spotless, the complimentary hairspray and moisturizer was abundant, and there was a hot towel for every celebrity who used the facilities. "Wow," Donna thought, "she works hard for those tips." Who is the last person you tipped?

A. A waitress at Cracker Barrel.

4) Early in her career, Donna was in the touring company of the musical Hair. It played in Munich for so long that she became fluent in German. What's the longest you have ever lived away from home?

A. The 35 years I've been married, although I'm 6 miles from where I grew up.

5) Sam's dad is naturally outgoing and enjoys striking up conversations with waitresses, librarians, the checker at the supermarket, etc. Sam is always polite but more private. Are you more like father or daughter?

A. I am a Gemini. Sometimes I'm like the father and sometimes like the daughter.

6) A little more than 10% of the American workforce is self-employed. Have you ever been your own boss?

A. I have been my own boss since 1994.

7) Labor Day weekend may offer a golden opportunity for napping and sleeping in. Do you snore?

A. According to my husband, I have "kitty cat" snores.

8) Will you be attending a Labor Day picnic or barbecue?

A. I doubt it.

9) Labor Day traditionally marks the beginning of the fall. Will you be adding any new fall clothes to your wardrobe?

A. Maybe. It depends on whether or not I lose more weight.

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

Watermelon

We buy watermelon frequently during the summer, and think nothing of it. After all, we have a nice variety to choose from - seedless, little ones, big ones, pre-cut ones.

But they don't taste quite like I remember those watermelons from my childhood.

Once upon a time, having watermelon was a big deal. It was a wait-for-it big deal.

Daddy would bring home a watermelon and slip it down into the spring house in the water, leaving it to cool. He would have bought it off the back of some truck some place. I don't think many of them came from a grocery store, anyway.

We knew that watermelon was down there. We knew that in a day or so we'd have watermelon to eat, and seeds to spit at one another. My brother and I would talk about it, thinking about that watermelon as it grew colder by the minute.

Maybe there'd be company, too. Having watermelon often meant we were having a picnic or a meal of some kind. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa and my uncles would be visiting.

Whatever was going on, there was anticipation. Anticipation for what was to come.

Watermelon then tasted so scrumptiously sweet you'd almost think it was candy. And it came with seeds that you could send flying between the hole where you'd lost your front tooth a few weeks before.

What could be better?

After we ate the watermelon, hot dogs and whatever else there was to go with whatever we were celebrating - surely we were celebrating something, and not simply eating watermelon - we'd take the rinds down to the creek and float them.

The watermelon turned into a fleet of ships, crashing into each other until we tired of that play. Then we sent them sailing on down Rocky Branch to the sea, or so we imagined. Sometimes we'd follow the rinds as far as we could, watching them until they floated out of sight.

Today? Today watermelon is simply something else to eat, a little treat after dinner, maybe. They are too easy to obtain, too tasteless to be remarkable.

Does anticipation disappear with age? Or did it disappear with availability and change, as watermelons became seedless, tasteless, and part of a healthy diet?

I don't know. But I do remember those days when watermelons grinned at you when you split them open, those seeds looking like black teeth. Watermelons don't do that anymore.

I remember the taste, too, and that anticipation. I remember cheering when Daddy brought the melon up from the springhouse, because it would be good and cold. Delicious.

Oh, for those days.

Thursday Thirteen

1. I am on day eight of not having a kitchen sink.

2. This is because on August 5 the dishwasher that had been leaking finally gave up the ghost and we realized there was water damage to the cabinets and hardwood floors in the kitchen.

3. The insurance company has been less than stellar, and during the two weeks it took them to get their fingers out of their butts, mold grew on the drywall and cabinets.



4. They took one of the cabinets away to repair it so I would keep my matching cabinets. That would be the cabinet that has the kitchen sink.

5. The things you cannot do without a kitchen sink are legion.

6. We only have tiny little sinks in the bathrooms and a walk-in shower.

8. You can't wash big pots in a tiny little bathroom sink. At least, not without a lot of mess.

9. You also don't really want to wash anything in the bathroom sink. There are reasons these two rooms are separated. Eww.

10. We have been eating a lot of TV dinners and sandwiches on paper plates to keep from having to use dishes.

11. I haven't cooked a real meal in two weeks. I don't miss the cooking but all of these prepared meals are not good for either of us. We both have high blood pressure.

12. I never knew how many times I washed my hands during the day until the kitchen sink was gone. Now I know. A lot!

13. Even if I get the kitchen sink back, I won't have flooring because they tore my hardwood floors up. At the moment it is looking like it might be next year before this is all settled.

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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 567th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Makin' Hay