Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. What is the best story your parents or grandparents tell about the good ole days?

A. Apparently my great ? grandfather was a Baptist minister who also owned a whore house.

2. The best things in life are . . .

A. blue sky, green trees, and loved ones. And cake.

3. Name a few things that drive you batty.

A. The news, my husband (bless his heart), the kids who think potato chips go in the bag with the Diet Dr. Pepper at the supermarket, and our healthcare system.

4. Name a place you'd like to live and why.

A. I like where I live now, but if I had to move, I would go to Scotland or Norway. I understand the landscapes there are much like Appalachia, plus they have better healthcare.

5. What is the best thing you've ever found?

A. I once found an envelope full of money at Target. But I handed it in and didn't keep it.

6. The best thing that happened recently is . . .

A. My husband has his appointment for his hip replacement. I will be glad to see him out of pain.

7. I admire people who . . . 

A. Say what they mean and mean what they say.

8. What makes you special?

A. I don't think I am special, but I do have a talent for writing, and a good sense of humor.

9. I am looking forward to . . .

A. My husband's surgery being over with.

10. What are some things that scare you?

A. My husband's upcoming surgery, bees, snakes, religious zealots, people walking around with guns, loud noises.

11. What are some complaints you have?

A. The politicians don't listen and neither does anyone else, apparently. The world has turned into one big bulk of noise.

12. I could never live without . . .

A. My husband. 

13. List some things that make you laugh.

A. Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Jeff Dunham, Bill Maher, my friends, my husband, and myself.

__________

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.

Happy Birthday, Brother!

Happy birthday to my one and only brother, and the best brother ever!

Saturday 9: Cinderella Rockefella

Saturday 9: Cinderella Rockefella (1968)

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

1) This record and video were inspired by popular tunes of the 1920s. Looking over your lifetime, which decade produced more of your favorite songs?

A. The 1970s. I listen to more of those songs than any others, and know more of them, too.

 

2) "Cinderella Rockefella" topped the charts in England, yet barely broke into the Billboard Hot 100 here in the States. Still, the number was known to American audiences, performed as a duet on variety shows like The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (Tommy and Kate Smith), This Is Tom Jones (Cher and Tom) and The Dean Martin Show (Nancy Ames and Dean). Do you remember watching musical-comedy programs? Did you have a favorite?

A. I remember Dolly Parton on Porter Wagner, Sonny & Cher, the Barbara Mandrell Show, and of course, Carol Burnette. I don't know that I had a favorite.

3) It was written by Mason Williams, a prolific composer and comedy writer, as well as a talented guitarist. He is best known for "Classical Gas," his 1968 instrumental. Do you enjoy instrumentals? Or does a piece of music need lyrics to become one of your favorites?

A. I like instrumentals as well as music with lyrics. At one point, I could half-way play Classical Gas on the guitar, but that was a long time ago. I listen to the soundtrack from Lord of the Rings on occasion.

 

4) This week's featured artists, Esther & Abi Ofarim, were considered the Sonny & Cher of Europe. A married couple, they had hits in the 1960s in both the UK and Germany and were depicted in magazines as the perfect young husband and wife. Fans were disappointed when, in 1969, they quit performing together and divorced in 1970 after 12 years of marriage. Can you think of a couple you knew in real life whose split shocked you? Or can you usually see it coming?

A. Apparently, I am blind to such things, and easily shocked.

5) Comparisons to Sonny & Cher are apt because, as with the Bonos, the wife's show business career fared better than the husband's, post-divorce. Esther's BBC specials were "appointment TV" in the UK during the 1970s. Today, with the advent of streaming and DVRs, viewers don't have to make sure they're in front of the screen when their favorite show airs. Tell us about the last show you watched. Was it live, streamed, on DVR or DVD/Blueray?

A. The last show I watched was Gentleman Jack, and we'd taped it on our DirecTV Genie thing.

6) She had a solo hit with Esther in Kinderland, a collection of children's songs. Can you recall the lyrics of a favorite song from childhood?  Where did you learn it (home, church, Scouts ...)?

A. Oh, Senor Don Gato was a cat! On a high red roof, Don Gato sat! He was there to read a letter (meow meow meow) where the reading light was better (meow meow meow) T'was a love note for Don Gato! I adore you wrote the lady cat! Who was fluffy white, and nicely fat. There was not a sweeter kitty (meow meow meow) in the country or the city (meow meow meow) and she was in love with Gato!

I learned that in elementary school from Mrs. Tingler, who was the music teacher. I remember many songs she taught.

7) Abi continued performing after the split, but more often worked behind the scenes as a record producer and music publisher. Would you say you have a good head for business?

A. I have a medium sized head for business.

8) After they finished school, both Abi and Esther served in the Israeli Army, and Abi saw combat. Have you served in our military? Did you ever consider enlisting?

A. I have not served in the military, nor did I ever consider enlisting.

9) Random question: How many keys are on your key ring, and do you know what each one is for?

A. There are six keys on my key ring, and I know what they are all for. One of them I don't need, I don't know why it is still on there, as the item it fit no longer exists, but I know what it goes to.

_______________

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.  

Promises Broken

When I was a child, and then as a teenager, I felt that there were certain promises made from me and from society. I found these promises, sort of, to also be in Tolkien's books, The Lord of the Rings, and from those I took heart that good always overcame evil, provided the people acted appropriately and with regard to one another and did the morally right thing.

From me was the promise to society that I would be a good citizen. I would vote, marry, have children, work a job as necessary, pay my taxes, volunteer my time to my community, and do all that I could for others.

From society, the perceived promise as I grew up was, at the least, a decent life-long job, a pension, Social Security, medical care when I was older, and affordable medical care in the interim years, safety from war and others who might mean me harm, roads upon which to drive, schools in which my children would learn, and a general acknowledgement of equality for all, even though I fully understood from multiple sources that I was not the equal to a man in anything.

I upheld my promise as best I could. Indeed, the only thing I did not manage was having children, and as that was due to a health issue, it was not my fault that said promise went unkept. I have voted in every election since I came of age, I married, I worked numerous jobs, I volunteered with the ladies' auxiliary of the local volunteer fire department, with historical societies, and with the library system. I considered my news writing to be an educational endeavor always, a way of explaining to those around me how their local government functioned and what role it played - or could play - in their lives.

No one has been injured in any extreme by myself, nor have I broken laws or otherwise attempted to do anything that would discredit me or my country.

In general, I feel I kept my promises.

Society has not kept its promises. Since 1980, the general mood of cooperation among members of society had degraded to the degree that we are where we are now, with the demise of our social experiment near at hand, and mass murders every day because instead of societal cooperation and concern for the welfare of one another, as I was raised, we have this mockery of independent self-concern that has somehow replaced the concept of the general welfare as advocated in the first paragraph of the U.S. Constitution.

No longer do we have job security. Health care became more expensive with the middleman of the insurance agency, so much so that now I know people who die simply from lack of care, even though such care might be available to them right next door. Pensions are rapidly becoming a thing of the past; I doubt with great seriousness that Social Security and Medicare will be available to me when I am of the age to use them, and I fear greatly that soon the schools will fall completely out of the public realm, leaving only the wealthy to learn. The roads are full of potholes; I can remember from my youth the days when the roadsides were well-trimmed, and people took pride in their streets and the way their community looked. And as for equality, the rise of nationalism and the degree to which this has degraded into the creation of so many cups of "others" is frightening and sorrowful. I never thought I'd see the day when someone walked around Charlottesville chanting, "Jews will not replace us," or the day when lies filled the airwaves and people believed them. 

To say that we are going backwards to the times of the peasantry and the oligarchy is not out of the realm of thought. Indeed, we are actually there.

I make the mistakes of reading the comments on online posts sometimes, and I am appalled that there are many people (well, mostly white people, and generally men but occasionally a woman), who believe that their right to own a gun outweighs the right of another person to have life.

To say that this astonishes me would be similar to smashing my foot in a vise, because while I know it to be true, to see it written and proclaimed so broadly is, at best, painful. The inaction of multiple administrations and persons of power, regardless of political persuasion, I find to be a complete breach of the social promise of keeping me safe. How can anyone feel safe when every day there are more deaths by guns?

Society made promises. By that, I mean too that the government made promises. These promises are being broken, the entire foundation upon which I grew up, is being completely dismantled. To say that I find traversing this new arena to be as difficult as maneuvering through the maze that trapped Frodo and Sam in The Fellowship of the Ring would be an understatement. Unfortunately, the way out of the maze for them was through Gollum, a two-faced villain who understood how to lead and persuade.

Is this then our Mount Doom? Are we to be led out of the maze by some multi-faceted messiah, a two-faced Smeagal who would see us find our way only to betray us at the end? I fear it to be so.

Thursday Thirteen

My husband's family owns over 200 acres, and various places have names. This is how I'm supposed to know about where my husband is when he's doing something.

Grandma's old house. This is the original farmhouse. It was built with slave labor.

1. The field beside Grandma's old house.

The field beside Grandma's old house.

2. The field in front of Grandma's old house.

3. The field in front of Mom's house.

4. The triangle field.

5. The field in front of the old house.

The cut field is the "field in front of the old house." The old house
is not visible in this photo. This is from the rear of the field.

6. The big field.

7. The field behind the little green house.

8. The bottom.

9. The pond.

10. Graveyard hill.

There's a graveyard up near the tree line.

11. The shed.

12. Mom's.

13. The glen in front of our house.

____________________

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 758th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Happy Birthday, Darling

 

Happy Birthday to My Old Man!

A Poem

If you had seen what I had seen

The you would be as I have been

Never would you question me

If you could see as I can see.

Like the yarn caught in my thumb

Women's work makes the heart grow numb.

Manly men move hither and yon

Acting as if women's work - is none.

Blunder, bluster, pounding of chest

whilst holding closer to the inner vest

the beauty of life that soon departs

without knowing what is in a heart.

Gather round the corner store

where men boast and often bore

Leaving woman to her home and hearth

or hemorrhaging, giving birth.

Separate loves and separate lives

leading to life's little lies

Too soon the ending comes to be

If only you saw as I can see.

Tau Herculids Bust

Last night there was supposedly a great meteor shower, with a peak time at 1 a.m. The astronomy folks were calling it the Herculids, and it was visible near the Big Dipper.

The reason for the shower was a broken comet, SW3. The comet fell apart in 1995 and the debris from it was supposed to be visible. Or so they hoped.

I set an alarm for 12:50 a.m. and took my camera outside. I aimed it at the Big Dipper. I got excited when I counted eight meteor streaks in a few minutes, although they seemed to be outside of the camera's eye.

It's nice outside at night, though the air was a big soupy. I wondered if there was enough haze to keep me from seeing the sky looking like it was falling to earth. That's what I was hoping for, a great show.

And I saw and heard a great show - Mother Nature at her finest hour. The trees around me danced with fireflies, each one apparently dazzling itself with its green light. Fairies flirting about the trees, I thought. The peepers at the neighbor's pond were croaking mightily, too. The air smelled of sweet drying grass from where my husband cut the hayfield yesterday, and something else I couldn't identify. Pollen?

In my peripheral vision, I watched the fairies dance to the froggies croak while I searched the sky for a heavenly display of fireworks.

By the time I came inside, I'd seen a total of 14 meteor streaks.

None of them came out on the camera.

The fireflies did, though.

The green streaks may be meteors, but I'm fairly sure they're fireflies, especially that big fat one at the top.

This is not one of my better star trail photos, either. It looks like I shook the camera at some point, since the lines are a little shaky. I've lightened the picture in effort to see everything the camera captured.

It was a disappointing photo shoot, and not the "sky falling" event I was hoping for, but something a little different.

Everyone should take the time to look at the night sky once in a while.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Who was the last attractive person you saw?

A. My husband, of course. He's always attractive to me, even when he's covered in cow manure. Of course, he's more attractive after he's showered.

My handsome husband.

2. Do you have a tattoo? If not, are you going to get one?

A. I do not have a tattoo, and I have no plans to get one.

3. Have you smoked a cigarette in the last 24 hours?

A. No. I haven't smoked a cigarette since I tried one when I was a teenager.

4. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?

A. It depends. The former guy does not deserve a second chance to try for president. My congressman shouldn't have a second chance to run for office again. Pedophiles and sex abusers shouldn't be allowed in the same room as people they would hurt. Someone who has mis-used a gun should not have a chance to own another. Circumstances and facts matter. So, I guess the answer really is no, not everyone deserves a second chance.

5. What is your favorite number?

A. Eight.

6. What time did you go to sleep last night?

A. About 10:30 p.m.

7. Are you one of those people that always answer their phones?

A. Not anymore. I let it go to voicemail a lot. I also have my cellphone on "silence unknown callers" so I don't hear those spam calls.

8. If you died today would your life be complete?

A. It would be as complete as it's going to get, because I'd be dead. Are there things I still want to do? Yes. But the world won't crumble if I don't get them done.

9. If you are being extremely quiet, what does that mean?

A. Either I'm reading, thinking, or concentrating on something.

10. Do you know what high school your dad went to?

A. Yes.

11. Last time you had butterflies in your stomach?

A. When I took my car to be fixed this week and I waited on a quote for the bill. That was a hit to the ol' wallet.

12. Where is your cell phone?

A. Right in front of me.

13.  What is the nearest purple thing to you?

A. There's some purple in a Van Gogh print on the wall to my right.

14. When did you last step outside?  What were you doing?

A. I went outside this morning to dump the rainwater from one of my plants before it drowned.

15. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

A. Big Bang Theory reruns.

__________

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: America, the Beautiful

Saturday 9: America, the Beautiful (1987)

Unfamiliar with Barbra Streisand's recording of this tune? Hear it here.

Memorial Day is the federal holiday designated to honor American service people who died in battle. 

1) Memorial Day was introduced after the Civil War. War memorials, as well as graves of veterans, are to be decorated with flags and flowers this weekend in a show appreciation. Is there a war memorial in your neighborhood?

A. There are several war memorials on the Courthouse lawn.

2) Here at Saturday 9, we regard everyone who served -- veterans and active military -- as heroes. Have you, or has anyone in your family, worn the uniform of our armed forces? We want to hear about them.

A. My grandfather fought in World War II. My father and his brothers all served in the Army during the Korean War. My uncle Butch fought in Vietnam. Another uncle served in the Air Force.

3) Memorial Day is the traditional kick off of the summer season. Have you packed away your winter clothes yet?

A. I don't pack away my clothes. I have a very large closet and things simply get shoved to the rear or moved to the front.

4) What's your favorite picnic food?

A. Watermelon.

5) As you answer these questions, is there a fan or an air conditioner cooling your room?

A. The air conditioner is on.

6) Lyricist Katharine L. Bates said she was inspired to write "America, the Beautiful" after a trip to Pike's Peak. What's the most beautiful spot in America that you have ever visited?

A. I think where I live is beautiful. But so is the Grand Canyon and Myrtle Beach, in their own ways.

Isn't it lovely?

7) Though we're talking summer this morning, Santa is going to get a shoutout. Before "America, the Beautiful" was published, Katharine L. Bates wrote a poem called, "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh" which is remembered for introducing Santa's wife, Mrs. Claus. Share a fond memory of the 2021 holiday season.

A. My brother gave me a hat. It's an engineer's hat and it's one similar to a hat I wore in a photo he found from 1976.

8) This week's featured artist, Barbra Streisand, sang "America, the Beautiful" during a benefit concert. She admitted to James Corden that she suffers from stage fright and before she performs, she prays, "Let go, let God." What's something that scares you, but that you do anyway?

A. Going to the grocery store, anymore, is a scary thing. The Covid numbers are creeping up and I seem to be the only person still wearing a mask. I go anyway. 

9) Question for a weekend when many of us will sleep in: Are you a morning person?

A. I am not a morning person, but I get up early. I used to be better at mornings but as I have aged I find I don't hit my stride until about 11 a.m. I am usually up before 7 a.m., though. Those hours in between 7 and 11, I do things on autopilot.

_______________

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.  

A Tale of Two Women

I have never met in person the two women I'm about to write about. I won't use real names, but I'll call them Susan and Jamie.

Susan is someone I know (or knew) from blogging. She became ill with cancer and stopped blogging, but wrote me and asked if we could correspond by email.

We started emailing in 2012, and we exchanged over 220 emails (I still have them).  She was having a tough time with her health care - she couldn't find a good doctor, other health issues cropped up that may or may not have been related to her cancer and/or to her treatment.

She wouldn't go to the emergency room even though she was quite sick from the sounds of it.

I don't know if she had insurance. I know she wasn't yet old enough for Medicare. Lack of insurance may have been the issue.

Even so, I grew frustrated with her inability to find health care. She had access to major universities with great health care programs, but she wouldn't go. I felt sure some of this was related to finances, but she was quite sick, and I was concerned about her. She was also constantly self-diagnosing and trying to deal with her issues via the Internet.

That obviously wasn't working.

She last wrote me in March 2021, a depressive missive that sounded full of despair and a desire to feel better but without much hope of it happening. She wouldn't go to the hospital because of Covid. I wrote her back and suggested she stop relying on Dr. Google, find a decent physician, and suck it up and go to the ER.

She never wrote me back. 

I've written her since then but had no response.

She was so ill the last time I heard from her that I periodically look up her name in the obituaries for her community. I have yet to find her name, but that doesn't mean she's still alive.

I'm rather afraid she may have passed away. I also suspect I will never know one way or the other.

The other woman, whom I will call Jamie, is someone I know on Facebook. She is a distant cousin through my father's side, somehow or another, and she has multiple health problems, like MS and lymphoma and other things. She obviously does not feel well most of the time.

Now she's having some kind of issue that sounds like progressive breast cancer, and she can't get into the breast care center because of her insurance. She has been to the ER and she made appointments, only to be told she wouldn't be seen because of her insurance.

Good thing we don't have the government running insurance companies because, you know, the government might be telling her she can't have a breast exam instead of a private insurance company. As if there would be any difference.

What I want to know is, what kind of screwed up country is this where people who are this sick cannot find doctors or get the care they need to keep from not only feeling bad, but dying? What is wrong with our health care system? Why do we have billionaire playboys flying off into the lower atmosphere of "space" when we have other people who can't get in to see a doctor?

Why is this ok? It is not ok. It's disgusting.

What is wrong with us as a nation? Are we that hard-hearted? Are we incapable of empathy? Do we not ever worship anything but the almighty dollar bill? Is power and money the only thing that matters here?

Whatever happened to courtesy, to love, to understanding, to caring?

What kind of monstrous people are we?

Thursday Thirteen

Here are 13 facts about my locality, based on the 2020 Census.

Total Population - 34,747 (100%)

Population in Households - 34,460 (99.2%)

Population in Families - 29,603 (85.2%)

Population in Group Quarters - 287 ( 0.8%) (this includes nursing home facilities)

Population Density - 64

Diversity Index - 16 (different races and ethnic groups. The lower the number, the less diverse. We are not diverse.)

Total HU (Housing Units)  - 15,534 (100%)

Owner Occupied HU - 11,771 (75.8%)

Renter Occupied HU - 2,011 (12.9%)

Vacant Housing Units - 1,752 (11.3%)

Median Home Value - $274,781

Average Home Value - $312,146

Housing Affordability Index - 152 (above 100 means increased affordability)

We do not have a lot of affordable housing here, although that may be improving with the addition of apartment complexes on the southern end. Appearances and actual data are not always the same. That housing affordability index number surprised me the most.

____________________

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 757th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

He Did Not Act Alone

He did not act alone, this shooter who, at last count, had taken 19 lives and wounded countless others during a massacre in an elementary school in Uvalde, TX yesterday.

Nor did the shooter who took 10 lives at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York on May 14.

And neither did the male (they are almost always male) who killed 13 people in Virginia Beach, VA on May 31, 2019, or man who killed 12 people on November 7, 2018, in Oakland, CA.

The man who killed 17 students in Parkland, FL, in 2018 did not act alone, nor did the man who killed 61 people in Las Vegas, NV on October 1, 2017. Neither did the fellow who killed 50 people in Orlando, FL in 2016, or the guy who killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Or the man who killed 32 at Virginia Tech in 2007.

We all have blood on our hands because we sit back and offer "thoughts and prayers" as if that is going to stop this grotesque mindset that Americans have, this horrific, terrible thought that "owning my gun" is more important than the life of, well, anybody.

Our senators do nothing. This falls mostly on the Republican side, but the Democrats are proving so useless and spineless that I have come to the conclusion they are complicit, not merely complacent, in all of this, or else they'd find a work-around the stupid rules in the Senate and the House. Those are rules, not laws, and rules are meant to be broken from time to time.

Sometimes even laws need to be broken, and sometimes a perceived right is not a right. I am being inundated by opinion pieces telling me women do not have the right to have an abortion under the US Constitution, but everyone (especially men, apparently), has the right to carry a gun, even though when the US Constitution was written "bearing arms" did not mean carrying a gun. It meant being in the damn military. One can't pick and choose "rights" from that dusty document.

We have to be the most gruesome, gory, heartless, warlike bunch of people to ever live on this planet.

The blood running down the street belongs to all of us, because we accept this as the way of life in the USA. This doesn't happen in other countries. Only here. Anybody want to take a guess as to why that is?

I am all for gun reform. I am for background checks, for making people who own guns carry appropriate insurance, for taking them away from people who shouldn't have them. I am a gun owner - I live on a farm and occasionally they're necessary, when a coyote is killing a calf, or a rabid groundhog goes after a dog. My husband hunts. He pays a fee to get a license every year. 

We both have had gun training. I treat guns with the utmost respect; they are locked up.

But I've blood on my hands, too. I haven't called my legislator every day demanding something be done. I've written a few letters from time to time, but it's not a constant drumbeat.

Why is it acceptable that young children have to have lock down drills in case of a massive shooting incident in this country? Why must we thrive on fear - not only of other countries, but of our own people? I do not believe any of this has to be because "it is what it is." Acceptance indicates lack of desire to change.

I do not accept this.

Isn't it time that we the people, the ones who are really supposed to run this government, stand up and say, no more?

Isn't it time we the people bring the country back to some semblance of sanity? Wasn't one million dead from Covid enough for two years?

My god, how much death do we need to prove our points? How many more elementary school children have to die to prove that certain segments of the population only care about youth when they're in a woman's uterus? Those elementary school children had heartbeats too.

Out, damn spot! Out I say! . . . What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?

Take back our power, people. Wash the blood from our hands, remove the idiots in office, find our footing, and regain our sense of society as a whole. We are all one. We are not islands unto ourselves. We're a society. We're supposed to look out for one another. We're supposed to be brothers and sisters.

It's way past time we act like it.

Flowers

 

Three Cheers!

Last week, I finished up my last bottle of Cheer Free & Gentle. I've used this detergent since before I married. My mother used it.

Yes, there's a note on the
bottle reminding my husband
not to use this detergent.

But even before the pandemic, it had become hard to find.

After the pandemic, it was nigh impossible, unless I wanted to pay $30.00 for a 64 oz bottle on Amazon.

I did not.

So, I used it only on my personal intimate clothes, and squeezed about a year out of this bottle.

I tossed it into the recycling bin with much sorrow.

Then, on a whim, I checked for it again on Amazon. Still $30 a bottle. A comment, though, suggested it was now available at Walmart again.

I checked there and hit the jackpot!

I could get Cheer Free & Gentle for $8.08 for a 64 oz bottle! Yes!

It arrived over the weekend, and I am so pleased.

For my other clothes, I use All Free. I have been asked in the past why I don't simply use All Free for everything.

The answer?

Because I suspect I can use All Free on my intimates and not break out, but I know for certain I can use Cheer Free on them and not have any issues.

Hurray for Cheer Free!

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Who do you take for granted?

A. No one, I hope, but I am sure there is someone. Maybe my husband, to some degree. He's here all the time and it's easy to do that to the people you love.

2. Short, knee, or ankle skirts?

A. I usually don't wear skirts. And I do, they are usually down to my ankle.

3. Do you wear a hat?

A. Sometimes.

4. Who's your favorite cartoon character?

A. Bugs Bunny. What's up, Doc?

5. Does break dancing impress you?

A. Well, it's certainly not something I can do.

6. Are you a miracle?

A. I don't think so, but I know some people consider other people, whoever they are, to be miracles.

7. Have you ever eaten tofu?

A. Yes, and it was terrible.

8. Does the moon have an effect on your mood?

A. I don't think so. Storms give me migraines, though.

9. Many people will say that the Harry Potter books are pure fluff with no literary value. Do you agree?

A. They engaged many children when they were popular. There is great value in reading, so I think the books offered plenty of value. As to whether or not that was literary value, well, that's rather subjective, isn't it?

10. What are you doing next Wednesday?

A. Apparently waiting on the car to be fixed at the dealer lot.

11. Why do so many people think Elvis is still alive?

A. Because people need to believe in something besides themselves, I suppose. I do not understand hero worship or cult-like mindset, but it seems to be strong in a certain component of the population.

12. Are your hands cold?

A. At the moment they're a little swollen and itchy because I've been cleaning, and I did not use gloves when I had my hands in some cleaner.

               

13. Have you ever given blood?

A. Yes.

14. What sci-fi books do you read?

A. I lean more toward fantasy than sci-fi. I used to read Star Trek: Voyager books, though.

15. Have you ever belonged to a sorority or a fraternity?

A. No. I belonged to the Pinnacle Honor Society when I was in college, but not to a sorority or a fraternity. I didn't live on campus, and I was an older student.

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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: River of No Return

Saturday 9: River of No Return (1954)

 

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

1) Marilyn Monroe performed this song in the 1954 western, River of No Return. In the movie (and at the beginning of this clip) she wears jeans. The wardrobe mistress bought the jeans off the rack at JC Penney's. Yet because of their connection to Marilyn, they are valuable memorabilia. Designer Tommy Hilfiger bought them for a reported $75,000 and today they hang in the closet of Britney Spears. Do you ever shop at thrift stores or websites for second-hand or vintage clothes?

A. I do not. The local Goodwill smells like an old attic and makes me sneeze so I don't go in there. Second-hand clothes would have to come from a non-smoking, no-pet home for me to consider them.

2) In this song, she sounds melancholy as she recalls a lover who has gone. We hope this morning you're feeling more chipper than Marilyn. In one word, describe your mood.

A. Whinging.

3) In real life, Marilyn's love life was sailing along. During the filming of this movie, her famous boyfriend, Joe DiMaggio, visited her on location in Canada and they were married by the time the movie was released. Joltin' Joe was of course one of baseball's greats. How is your baseball team doing this season?

A. I don't watch baseball. The horse I rooted for won the Kentucky Derby, though.

4) It was during her romance with Joe that Marilyn learned to cook. She enjoyed preparing Thanksgiving stuffing from scratch. Do you have a favorite recipe to share?

A. Chicken and rice casserole. Ingredients: 6 chicken thighs (it doesn't really matter whether they're bone-in or not). 2 cups white rice. 2 cups water. 1 can cream of chicken soup. 1 can cream of celery soup. 1 can of broccoli cheese soup (or any other cream of something soup). 3 tablespoons butter. Cooking spray.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9" x 13" baking dish with the cooking spray. Add together rice, water, and 3 cans of soup in a bowl; mix well. Pour into baking dish. Place chicken pieces on top of rice mixture. Drizzle the butter over the chicken and rice. Cover with foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours. If it looks a little soupy after that time, remove foil and cook for another 20 minutes. If the chicken thighs have skin, you can broil the casserole at the end of the cooking time for about 5 minutes to create extra crispy chicken skin. (You could modify this recipe by putting in squash instead of chicken, I suppose, those I haven't tried it, and if you stuck with cream of celery or cream of broccoli soup, I suppose it could pass as vegetarian. Also, this makes A LOT of rice.)

 

5) Over her lifetime, Marilyn had 43 different addresses. She was always a renter until February 1962, when she bought her final home in Brentwood. If you're a renter, do you ever wish you owned? If you're an owner, do you ever think you'd be happier as a renter?

A. We rented early in our marriage and were eager to build a home and stop paying rent. I doubt I would be happier as a renter.

 

6) Marilyn tended to her famous alabaster complexion with Nivea, which is still available at drugstores today. What's the last thing you purchased at a drugstore? Was it medication? Food or snacks? Health and beauty? Something else?

A. I purchased envelopes and birthday cards.

 

7) Her signature scent was Chanel No. 5. What fragrance do you wear most often?

A. I do not wear fragrances. Everything I put on me is unscented and hypoallergenic.

8) The year Marilyn's recording was released, John Travolta was born. What's your favorite John Travolta movie?

A. Grease. I think it's the only one I've watched him in.

 

9) Random question: What happened to your first car? (Sold? Traded in? Still in your garage?)

A. My first car was an old Jeep that my father taught me to drive on when I was about 13; I don't know what happened to it. When I obtained my driver's license, my father gave me an old Datsun, which passed to my brother after I got a job and bought a used Mustang. I traded the Mustang (which had a sunroof that leaked and dumped water on my head every time in rained) for a brand-new Pontiac T-1000, which to this day remains the only vehicle I actually picked out on my own and purchased. My husband did not like that car because it was small, so we traded it for a 1983 Ford Thunderbird in 1985. Then we traded that for a 1989 Ford Taurus. Then we traded that Taurus for a 1998 Taurus, and that Taurus for a 2001 Taurus, and that Taurus for a 2003 Toyota Camry. We had problems with the last two Taurus's; hence the quick trades. We traded the 2003 Camry in 2014 for another Camry, and that's the car I am driving today.

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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 was trying to think of songs that today's generation wouldn't understand, but I can't come up with 13 because my brain is old. But maybe I can come up with 13 things they won't understand, anyway.

1. The song "Operator" by Jim Croce. I doubt anyone born after 1995 knows what a telephone operator is.

Ok, I can only think of one song although I had a list running in my head earlier. I really am brain dead at the moment. Other things?

2. Rolodex. 

3. VHS tapes

4. Beta Max tapes

5. Telephone booths

6. The dial-up sounds from the early days of the Internet

7. Pagers

8. Telephone books

9. Fax machines

10. Mimeograph machines (that's going way back, isn't it)

11. School House Rock

12. Floppy disks

13. Rotary phones (and party lines!)

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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 756th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.