Saturday 9

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here is today's questions!

Fool (If You Think It's Over) (1978)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here. 

1) Do you have any pranks planned for April Fool's Day? 

No.  I never do.

 

2) When Crazy Sam was a little girl, she once pranked her mother by putting bubble wrap under the bath mat so Mom heard a POP when she stepped on it. When you find bubble wrap, can you resist popping it?

Heck no!

3) This week's song is about a wise man counseling a heartbroken younger person. Chris Rea, who wrote and performs this song, says it was inspired by watching his kid sister endure her first breakup. Were you in love at 17? Do you remember the object of your affections?

I got my first boyfriend and was in love from age 13 to 17, when he entered the Jesuits.  We still exchange Christmas cards.

 

4) She's dressed in black as she mourns the end of her romance. Does your wardrobe include a lot of black?

Yes, but mostly pants.  Color for the top.

 
5) He offers to treat her to her first glass of good wine. Do you prefer white or red?

I rarely drink wine any more, but prefer white.

 

6) Chris' own teenage romance was highly successful. He met Joan Lesley while still in school and they have been married since 1968. Whose was the most recent wedding you have attended?

Wedding...wow, I can't remember!  Maybe my cousin's daughter, for whom I made the cake...my cousin is now dead and her daughter has been divorced twice since then, so a very long time ago.

 

7) Chris Rea is a passionate race car fan and once worked as a pit mechanic for a Formula One race. Do you watch auto racing?

No.

 

8) In 1978, when this song was popular, Laverne and Shirley was America's #1 TV show. It's still available via cable and streaming today. Are/were you a fan?

Not a fan, though I watched it occasionally.

9) Random question: What are you grateful for this morning?

For the Photo of the Day!!!!

________________________________________________________________________

PHOTO OF THE DAY

_____
8247

Fifteen

 

Hard to believe Brianna is going to be 15 tomorrow.  Where did those 15 years go?  It seems like only yesterday that I was writing my diary of the day while Laurel was in labor.  I remember Tom saying  that their doctor recommended we wait a month before coming to see her and obviously we could not wait that long!

My hopes for our relationship as she was growing up never quite happened.  I rarely got to see her and in the beginning her sleep was so poor that they had her on a rigid schedule which made it more or less impossible for me to see her, so she never knew who I was and when I tried to hold her, she would cry.

Laurel's favorite picture of the two of us was from Christmas that year.  They had just arrived at Walt's sister's house and she handed Brianna to me.  Brianna immediately burst into tears (which she always did) and Laurel thought that picture of me holding the crying Bri was cute.

As she grew into a toddler, she still didn't like to be around me.  When Laurel gathered us together to take a picture, Bri made sure that she was with Walt, not with me.  That happened for several years but things began to change a bit when Lacie was born and loved to have books read to her.  Bri would sit beside me while I read books.  I finally felt like her grandmother.

I remember when she and I made clam dip for the first time...passing the family tradition down to the next generation.

She eventually got to the point where she was happy to see me when I came to visit.  We went to several of her school things, which were always fun.  I wrote both girls letters regularly, to keep me in their mind and as she got older, Bri started to write me back.  Now she has her own phone and we exchange text messages.

She's a smart girl who loves math (not at all like her grandmother!) and she's been in a lot of activities in Santa Barbara.  Alice Nan has become more of a grandmother to her than I am and takes her to a lot of her activities.

But I love her and am so proud of her and so pleased that she has become such a wonderful teenager.  Our relationship is different than I thought it would be before she was born, but it works for us.

________________________________________________________________________

PHOTO OF THE DAY

2008

_____
8246

Gun laws

Here are examples of why the Republicans are refusing to discuss gun laws.  Information from Katie Couric.

    Utah Sen. Mitt Romney has received the most NRA funding, with $13,645,387 in donations, followed by North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis with $5,611,796 and Iowa’s Joni Ernst with $3,688,078. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came in fourth, having accepted $3,303,355, and Indiana Sen. Todd Young rounded out the top five with $2,902,182. 

_________________________________________________________

Ned ordered dinner from Panda Express last night, which included a box of shrimp.  Ned doesn’t eat fish and Marta wasn’t going to eat at all, so Walt and I shared the shrimp.  I couldn’t believe how many there were...and all delicious.  It was easily enough for three, possibly four people.

A shirt I ordered awhile ago was delivered today.  It’s warm and it has a hood on it.  I hoped it would keep me warm at night.

I don’t know if it was the shirt or the cherry juice that I am drinking at night (a suggestion for insomnia), but I slept just about all night last night.  I fell asleep watching TV and woke up before midnight and went right into the living room to the couch.  I woke up at 1:45 and got up to post my 1SE videos, then decided to do the Wordle later and went back to the couch, went right back to sleep and didn’t wake up until 5:45.  That’s an amazingly long time for me to sleep in one night.  I think that a part of it, at least, was wearing the hood, which is too loose to wear walking around, but at night it covers my head and my eyes.  I felt so comfortable all night long!

 _______________________________________________________________________

I realized that I don't have a "Photo of the Day" in  this format, so let me start adding it again.

________________________________________________________________________

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Lacie and her dogs

_____
8245

Nashville

There was another shooting at a school yesterday.  There have been 131 mass shootings in the United States since January.  There have been 376 school shootings since Columbine in 1999.  The highest cause of children's deaths in the United States is not auto accidents, not cancer, it's death by shooting.  Compared to other countries we have the highest child and teen mortality rate in the world.

We are raising a generation of children who expect that it's possible for them to be killed when they go to school...and what is that going to do for their adulthood?

The Republican politicians I've heard comment on the shooting talked about how their prayers and good wishes went to the victims' families, but that there was nothing that could be done to stop the murders if someone wanted to murder and was willing to be killed by the police

Connecticut enacted strict gun control measures a couple of years ago  Basically Connecticut

• Bans the open carrying of firearms in public
• Limits the sale of handgun purchases to one per month
• Makes updates to the state’s ban on unregistered “ghost guns”
• Closes loopholes in the state’s assault weapons ban
• Increases the age to buy firearms to 21

The latest polls show a 40% reduction in gun homicides.

And yet, to date, congress will not even consider enacting gun laws.  You have to be a certain age to drive a car and you have to have training, but asking you to do those two things before you can buy a gun is an infringement on your freedom,

McConnell has kept proposed bills from discussion in the senate for years.  Maybe now that he's no longer in charge, senators can at least talk about gun laws and vote on them.

From CNN:

Congress remains gridlocked on gun control measures in the wake of the school shooting in Nashville that killed six people, including three children. President Joe Biden has said that he's done all he can do to address gun control and urged members on Capitol Hill to act. "I can't do anything except plead with the Congress to act reasonably," Biden told CNN Tuesday. But the shooting, so far, has not compelled lawmakers in Washington -- particularly Republican leadership and some Tennessee lawmakers -- to push forward gun control. The House, where Republicans are in control, has rejected Biden's calls for an assault weapons ban. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also would not answer questions Tuesday on whether any congressional action should be taken on guns after the latest mass shooting. Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress are slamming House Republicans for their disinterest. "All we're going to get are thoughts and prayers out of their Twitter accounts, and that's not enough," Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar said. 

_____
8240

Bouncer

 We've made it through the first night without Ned and Marta and Bouncer is still OK.  She paced back and forth down the hall many times last night, waiting for Ned to come home.  She and Bubba didn't get into any fights.

I was terribly concerned at one point.  When she was eating, her back legs went out from under her and she had a difficult time standing up again.

Her back legs have been weaker and weaker.  It's difficult for her to get out the dog door and she goes out with her front paws and then drags her back legs out behind her.  But I've never seen her actually collapse before.

I was so afraid I'd have to call Ned.  We were taking care of his pug one Christmas while Ned and Marta went to Hawaii.  the dog got very sick and had to be taken to the hospital.  We called Ned and he made arrangements to fly home, but  the dog died before he got here.  He's always been upset that the hospital didn't save him before they cremated him so he could  tell him goodbye.

The last thing I wanted to do was call him while he and Marta were having a couple of days away.  But once Bouncer got on her feet again, she walked fine...or as fine as she does these days...and paced back and forth, back and forth, down the hall for a couple of hours, hoping Ned would come in the front door.

I decided to sleep in the recliner so I could keep track of her on her bed in the family room.  She goes outside to pee many times a day and once or twice at night gets Ned to bring her downstairs to pee.  I was very worried that she went from about 9 p.m. until 9 a.m. without waking up.  She once stood at the sliding glass door and I opened it for her, like Ned does, but she wouldn't go outside.  She went from the family room bed into her living room bed, which is where she spent the rest of the night.  I was sure I'd find her dead in the morning.  But no, she finally woke up and went outside.  I expected her to pee a lot, but it was just a normal amount of peeing.

Surprisingly the dogs are doing well.  Bubba tries to stay away from Bouncer, and if he is in my lap or Walt's lap, growls if Bouncer is in the room, but if he is on the floor with Bouncer he walks with him as if they were friends.  I'm wondering if these two nights without Ned is going to have any effect on the dogs' relationship when he gets home. 

*********************************

If you're into celebrating daily holidays, today is Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole day.  It's also National Whiskey day, so you could combine both holidays and enjoy.

_____
8239

Tanesha

 

Who the hell is Tanesha?  Is this her?  I checked Google for "Tanesha" and this is the person whose photo comes up most.

I have been getting mail for Tanesha for years. It started out every few weeks I would get a message to Tanesha at my gmail address.  I couldn't understand how that was happening until someone suggested that it was someone who didn't want to leave her real address and so left mine.  

I ignored it because  ... what was I going to do?  I couldn't write to her.  Her email address was my email address.  

But lately she is getting more mail.  She pretty much gets at least one thing every day.  She got email from Walmart telling her is eligible for some sort of award.  She gets letters from politicians asking for donations.  She was invited to join AARP.  She has won lots of prizes that she needs to collect.

Who is she?

The weird thing is that when Tanesha first started getting mail at my email address, it was my email address (@gmail).  But I checked some of the message she is getting in my mail box lately and her address is at aol.  Now how does email sent to Tanesha42@aol.com end up being delivered to ME???

I tried writing to Tanesha42@aol.com and it was returned to me because the address couldn't be found, or is unable to receive mail. 

--------------

It's been a quiet week end.  Ned and Marta have gone off to San Francisco for a couple of days with their friend, the widow of Tom Fay.  She and Tom used to go to SF every year on their anniversary, and this is the first anniversary since Tom's death.  His ashes will visit the city for the last time before being sent to his family back east to be buried with others in his family.

Ned has gone to such effort to make things good for us while he is gone, going to the store to get any food we may want while he's gone, but especially taking care of Bouncer, who has started peeing in my office sometimes, so Ned has put down lots of puddle pads in case she pees while he is gone.  He's also brought her bed down from upstairs because he's afraid she will fall down the stairs of she tries to come down without him and he wants her to stay downstairs while he's gone.

Bouncer hates being without Ned and I expect her to be whining much of the next two days.  My biggest fear when Ned is not here and Bouncer is is that she will die.  She is getting very old.  Her back legs don't work very well and she kinds of drags them when she walks and she is obviously getting weak.  Ned has even checked with places nearby that will come to the house to do euthanasia when the time is right, but she doesn't seem ready to die yet.  Polly died in her sleep and I just hope I don't find Bouncer like that when Ned is not around.

Sunday Stealing

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves

This came from a YouTube entry 

that no longer exists

1. Working on anything exciting lately?
I have ordered a bazillion stickers from Temu and have been organizing them, and creating my latest Magpie Journal.

2. What was the highlight of the day today?

The Monk marathon to keep be entertained while working with the stickers.

3. What is your favorite thing to do on the weekends?

Weekends are pretty much like week days, so nothing special.

4. What are your favorite restaurants?

The Dead Fish, a wonderful place to get crab in Crockett, CA; Fentons Creamery for great crab salad sandwiches; and the Buckhorn Steakhouse (great food, but I hate all the dead animals hanging on the walls!); Todo un Poco, the Mexican/Italian restaurant owned by our Mexican daughter.  

5. Do you follow any sports?
Not devotedly.  I keep track of the 49ers because our son is such a fan and I've been a Giants baseball fan ever since they moved to San Francisco, but I don't watch all the games.

6. What is your biggest fear?
Ending up like my mother, with Alzheimers and needing to be cared for.

7. What is your biggest regret?

It's always been not graduating from college, but after all these years it doesn't bother me any more.

8. When you were growing up, what was your dream job?

Probably nurse, until I realized that I couldn't handle the smells. But I read every YA book about nurses. When I was younger and  read the story of St. Therese of Lisieux, I wanted to be a Carmelite nun.

9. Do you say ‘sherbet’ or ‘sherbert’?

I use the "r"

10. Have you ever had a paranormal experience?

Several after the death of my friend Gilbert.  None since -- except he is still finding me parking places, 30+ years after his death.

11. What is your favorite food at a cocktail party?

Anything with crab or brie in it.  

12. Who is a book character most like you?

Any character by Jennifer Weiner

13. Do you read reviews before you go to movies?

I am more likely to read the review and not see the movie because a friend of mine is a movie reviewer and I almost never go to the movies.

14. How do you feel about cilantro?

I was one of those people who hated it because it tasted like soap to me.  Not sure when my tastes changed but I love it now.

15. Have you ever cried in public?

I have buried 2 children, each with huge memorials.  Yes, I have cried in public.

Saturday 9

 

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here are today's questions!

Saturday 9: Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

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

1) In this week's song, BJ Thomas sings that he knows it won't be long until he finds happiness. What are you looking forward to today? What's going to make you smile?
Watching the dog always makes me smile.  I'm looking forward to the mail delivery because I see that a package I've been waiting for is going to be delivered.

2) BJ Thomas met his wife Gloria at a bar. She was there with his drummer, but BJ let his friend know he felt a connection to Gloria and was going to drive her home. BJ and Gloria were married for 50 years, until his death. Have you and a friend ever found yourselves attracted to the same person? If yes, how did you handle it?
Not since grammar school.  My  best friend and I both had crushes on the same guy, but after we all went to different high schools it was not a problem.

 

3) This song is from Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, which has been called "the most entertaining Western ever made." Do you enjoy Westerns?
Not really, but I loved Butch Cassidy.

4) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of the most popular movies Paul Newman made, but he liked to say his "favorite role is philanthropist." He raised an amazing $500 million for children's charities through his Newman's Own brand. The most popular Newman's Own product is salad dressing. What flavor of salad dressing would we find in your kitchen right now?
I';m not sure since I don't shop any more, but when I shop I always buy Newman's Own brand.

 

5) Burt Bacharach won the first of his three Oscars for this song. Yet 20th Century Fox originally wanted to cut the song from the movie, maintaining that that song and the famous "bicycle sequence" between Paul Newman and Katharine Ross were anachronistic and made the movie too long. Burt and the movie's director George Roy Hill fought for it, insisting that it helped define the optimistic character of Butch. Tell us about a time you were glad you stood your ground.

When a part-time boss asked me to go to his office and essentially spy on the other workers (4 of them) to see who "talked" while he was in court.  Instead, I quit.

6) Edith Head also won an Oscar for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. She said that Robert Redford, who played Sundance, presented a wardrobe problem. His jawline is too strong so she had to create special wider-brimmed hats to balance it. If you could magically change one of your physical features, which would you choose? And which feature would you never change?
My eyes are squinty.  It would be nice of they were more open.  I'd like my hair  to be as full as it was 10 years ago, otherwise I am happy with my hair.

7) In 1969, when this song was a hit, The Beatles played their last concert on the roof of Abbey Road Studios. When did you last climb onto the roof?

Never!

8) Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries sold at a brisk pace at Christmastime 1969. They're still popular today. Were you a fan?

Not the Hardy Boys, but I was a huge Nancy Drew fan and read all of the books, and checked each month to see if a new one had been published.

9) Random question: Do you consider yourself old fashioned?

Pretty much, if you can be old fashioned and still use computers!

Puppy Day

Today is National Puppy Day.  Bubba is 6 years old, so not a puppy any more but he's the youngest dog we have so he's our puppy.

He has such a routine established for himself, when he is with whom.  He sleeps at night with Ned, but sometimes in the middle of the night he comes to the living room and either sleeps on one of the chairs or on the couch--sometimes with me, sometimes before me and then settles in with me.  But he is never there in the morning.  He has gone back upstairs.  Walt says when he opens his bedroom door in the morning Bubba is sitting there waiting for him so he can jump on the bed and look out the window.

When Ned comes down to make coffee, he follows him and races into the family room to leap on me.  Sometimes I'm awake, sometimes I wake up with this furry body landing in the middle of my chest. He stays in my lap or on my chest until I get up to make breakfast for myself, then he goes back upstairs. I don't think he is in Marta's lap, but in a bed by her desk.  If he hears me in the kitchen getting a snack, he is right there and stands around to see if I'm going to give him something.  If not, he heads back upstairs, only coming down to bark when the mailman delivers the mail.

He will follow Walt downstairs and loves to be around him, whether in his lap or next to him in the living room while he's reading the paper.  It's amazing how close the two of them have become

He spends pretty much all afternoon upstairs except for going out to pee.  Sometimes he jumps in my lap for a bit but spends most of his  time upstairs until about 4 p.m., when he comes down because he knows that at some point within the hour dinner will be served to him.

We eat at 6 and while we eat, he is in one of the recliners watching us.  If he goes to the table, it's likely Bouncer will attack him, so he stays in the recliner.  As soon as someone -- Ned or Marta -- finishes eating and goes to sit in the family room to finish watching Match Game he is instantly in that person's lap until Ned and Marta go upstairs and then he follows them and I don't usually see her until morning.

It's amazing how consistent his routine is.

_____
8235

#45

We had a great storm yesterday.  It poured rain.  We had thunder and even hail.  It didn't last very long, but it was exciting while it was happening.  Bouncer has been peeing in the house more and more, so Ned has set up poo pads in my office.  He's not sure which is worse---cleaning the poo pads or mopping the urine off the floor.

____

So we are all finding out how the former president controls his followers.

He announces that he is going to be arrested on Tuesday, with no proof whatever, no word from the grand jury or anything, but he says he's going to be arrested and that his followers need to "protest" and to "take back  the nation" and all the Trumpers start ranting and raving about how unfair the Democrats are being to their president.

When he is not arrested, as he predicted he would be, he talks about how he is looking forward to being arrested.  How he wants his hands handcuffed behind his back and whether or not he'll smile for the photographers.  He's making a joke out of it.  

And you listen to Republican congresscritters who are saying how he's being targeted by the Democrats.  Have they even read a small number of the charges against him?    And the kinds of "crimes" other "normal" people have been fined and/or jailed for? (One woman was fined for using a fake COVID vaccination card so she could claim that she took the day off because of a bad reaction to the vaccination.)  But #45 is being investigated for financial fraud, spending thousands of dollars of  campaign money to pay off his prostitute.  Several of his employees who are involved in the pay off (and other illegal activities) have been found guilty, fined and/or put in prison.  Yet the president is joking about it and calling his followers to "take back the nation."

I want him to define "take back the nation."  Take it back from whom?  How?  And what happens after they take it back?                                     

_____
8234 

Beverly Day

It's raining again and predicted to rain thru the weekend.  I can't remember how long it's been since I was able to sit in my chair and watch rain for so long.  I'm sorry for the places that are having flooding problems, but it will be nice not to hear about "drought" when summer rolls around!

Ned finally fixed up some poo pads across the door to my office since this seems to be where Bouncer likes to pee if she can't get outside in the rain.  She's peed on the poo pads once, but not again in 2 days.  Poor dog.  She is just getting so old. I have gotten so fond of her in the time Ned and Marta have lived here and makes me teary thinking about her having to be put down.

I was checking out the holidays for March 21 (there are a ton of them, including World Puppetry Day, Down Syndrome Day, Twitter Day, Vermouth day, Healthy Fats Day, Crunchy Taco day...and lots more) I found out that March 21 is "Beverly day." I never knew I had a special day.  

National Beverly Day is celebrated every year on March 21 around the world. Beverly is a name that in today’s time has lost some of its popularity. A name that was initially used as a surname, but over time, it evolved into a first name too. The name itself comes from the Old English language and is a combination of two terms: ‘befer,’ which means ‘beaver,’ and ‘leah,’ which means ‘clearing.’ In a literal translation, the name means “beaver clearing.” However, the Old English language is more nuanced than that, and the name is rather indicative of a beaver stream or meadow. A beaver meadow is a meadow that grows on top of an abandoned beaver pond. It symbolizes rejuvenation and nature’s beautiful balance.

Gee...and I remember when Father Bose, at St. Brigid's Church, always referred to me as "Beaver Lake."

The history of the name Beverly is, for the most part, unknown. It appears to have been a widely used family name and originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon Period in the 5th century. As a family name, it persists to this day, but when it made its transition as a first name, it was solely given to males. For centuries, the name Beverly was masculine, and it wasn’t until the 1800s that the name started to be used for females.

So since this is my special day, I guess I'll go treat myself to lunch...

 ____
8233

Be Happy!

Today is the International Day of Happiness, so everybody should find things to be happy about today.

I am happy because today is also my "blogaversary."  I wrote my first entry in Funny the World on this date in the year 2000.  Sadly, I can't link to it because it was published by Geocities, which no longer exists.

That first entry was about Ned, who was working for a radio station and was living in a play house on a gas station lot,  trying to raise money to buy shoes for homeless people, because he had earlier gone homeless for a couple of days, as a radio stunt, and found out that one of the most frustrating thigs was how much his feet hurt.

This was the very first picture ever posted to Funny the World, of Ned inside the playhouse where he lived for a week.

I bought the Funny the World URL in my second year of publishing and it was published on funnytheworld.com until my computer broke last year and I had to get a new one, which required finding new software that would work with Windows 11 and remembering how to post to my URL.

I haven't yet remembered how to post to the URL, but in the meantime, I discovered I could write entries on Blogspot and I have become happy with posting here...not as "pretty" as the original FTW pages, but easier to edit and add photos to, and I didn't have to figure out how to find a web site creation software any more.

I have written 8,232 entries and I certainly never expected to have written that many.  It's amazing how many friends I have made through this blog, and sadly how many I have lost (seen die) in the past 23 years. 

So this is my main happiness on this International Day of Happiness.  I can also list other things, like my friendship with our kids, having 2 wonderful grandchildren, our dogs, who keep us so entertained, my friend Char, the only person I'm really close to other  than family and a bunch of other things less important.  So this is a good day for me.  I hope you have lots of things to be happy about today.

_____ 
8232

Twitching

I was all set for a long sleep last night.  I heard on The Today Show that dark cherry juice helps you sleep longer, and that before you go to sleep, you should eat something with protein.  So I had a snack of corned beef and a glass of cherry juice and was sleepy and ready to go to the couch, settled under the fluffy quilt and hope I could sleep longer than 2 hours.

When I lay down on the couch I realized I was having a "twitch" in my foot. The right foot.  It twitched every 5-10 seconds and while it didn't hurt much, it did hurt and made it difficult for me to get to sleep.  All night.

I tried everything, from the cream I use for itching to ice to walking to massage to ibuprofen (which I knew would not work, but I was running out of ideas).  For some reason if I sat at the computer and did some surfing it stopped hurting but as soon as I got up and went to the recliner it started hurting again. I sent a note to Char, who was also awake at 2 a.m. and she mentioned having similar problems with her leg.  

There was absolutely nothing I could do to stop the pain and I turned on the TV to watch Sunday Morning at 6 a.m..  I finally fell asleep somewhere between 7:15 and the end of the show and woke up at 9:45, with no pain in my foot.  I don't know if this is going to be a recurring problem, but I'd sure like to find out what to do to stop the twitching. And what's causing it!

I'd also like to take a long nap....

Sunday Stealing

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

I don't remember where I stole this one!

One song that describes my life.

"For Good" from Wicked

Two things I wish I had more of in my life
Time with my grandkids

Time with friends

Three ways I relax
Watch TV

Read

Nap

Four of my best accomplishments
Raising five children
Keeping an on-line journal for >20 years
Writing a book
Reviewing theater shows for 12 years

Five things I am looking forward to
Seeing the grandkids in July
Jeri's next visit out here
Lunch with my friend Kathleen this week
The start of the next season of Outlander

Today's mail delivery (hoping for a letter)

Six things I am grateful for
That I am friends with our children
That Ned and Marta live here
That Walt puts up with my idiosyncrasies

That I had the chance to work with The Lamplighters 

All the people who answer Sunday Stealing questions each week

Having pen pals who write regularly.

Seven facts about me
I'm left handed

I have visited 40 countries and over half of the states

Walt and I have been married almost 58 years

I professionally decorated cakes for five years

I was a huge Judy Garland fan, saw several of her concerts, and met her once

I was going to be a nun when I was in high school

I've sponsored 70 people from around the world for short visits

Eight things I can see from where I am sitting
My 4 High School yearbooks

2 shoe boxes full of postcards to send

A boomerang from Australia

A small panda figure with one ear missing 

A 3-D elephant book mark

A collection of Photoshop books and CDs

A statue of Dr. Fauci

A painting my grandmother did

Nine words I would use to describe myself

Kind

Caring

Shy

Sympathetic

Good humor

Sarcastic

Curious

Salt and Pepper hair

Glasses on all the time

Ten little things that make me happy

Phone calls from Jeri or Tom

Text messages from my granddaughter

Smelling brewed coffee when I wake up

Letters from pen pals

A good night of television

Ned's radio show

Seeing many people answering Sunday Stealing questions

Watching what friends Walt is with our dog

Having lunch with a friend

Jeri's concerts from Berklee streamed

Saturday 9

 Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: The Rocky Road to Dublin (2008)

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

1) This song is about a young man who leaves home to seek his fortune. How old were you when you first moved out on your own?
I was 18.  I left home after graduation from high school and moved across the bay to the University of California, Berkeley.  I never lived at home again.

2) He leaps onto a ship but the captain makes him sleep in the hold with pigs. Have you ever taken a cruise? (If so, we hope you had better accommodations.)

We have been on several river cruises in Europe, Russia and China.  We never once had to sleep with pigs.  I loved those cruises.

 3) This recording of the song is by The High Kings. Well established in Ireland, their career reached new heights in March 2012. Right after playing for the Lord Mayor of London's St. Patrick's Day celebration, they flew to Washington to perform for President Obama at the White House St. Patrick's Day concert. Tell us about a time when you were so happy, you had to pinch yourself to make sure you weren't dreaming.

Whenever this question (or one like it) comes up, I always immediately think of a party that was held by the Lamplighters Theater Company to celebrate one of their stars, who was retiring after 20+ years with the company.  I convinced them they had to celebrate her and I made three big cakes to share with the 350 people in the audience.  I don't think she ever knew I had done as much as I did, but I was so incredibly happy standing back and watching everyone celebrating her. 

 

4) This song was chosen because Friday was St. Patrick's Day. Do you celebrate this holiday?

Not a big celebration, but I'm wearing green and made Irish bread this morning.  My son is cooking corned beef for dinner (no cabbage because nobody likes cabbage)

 

5) Leprechauns are a symbol of St. Patrick's Day. These small Irish fairies are said to live in the forest, guarding their gold. Do you often wear gold?

Pretty much never.  

6) McDonald's has made Shamrock Shakes a St. Patrick's Day tradition. McDonald's began adding the drive-thru window to their restaurants in the 1970s. Would you rather order from the restaurant counter or the drive-thru?

Oh the drive thru.  You don't have to get out of the car.

7) A four-leaf clover is considered good luck. Do you have a lucky charm?

No.

 

8) Thinking of Lucky Charms, they are magically delicious. What breakfast cereal is in your kitchen right now?

Four of us live here and we each have our own preference.  My cereal is Cheerios, which I eat with blueberries and milk.

  9) Random question: Think of your upcoming week. Which day will be the busiest?

Wednesday.  I'm having lunch with a friend.  We have lunch once a month and have for more than 25 years, but because of COVID, we have not seen each other in several months.