Sunday Stealing

Do You Like?

1. Do you like your handwriting? Yes. I have very pretty handwriting. My teachers done good with me!

 
2. Do you like roller coasters? Very much.

3. Do you like scary movies? I like suspense and thrills. I don't like gore.

4. Do you like shopping? Well, this could be a scene from my life:

 

5. Do you like to talk on the phone? Yes, I am very comfortable with it. I certainly prefer it to (ugh) texting.

6. Do you sleep with the lights on or off? I always keep a light on.

7. Do you use headphones or earphones? Headphones. Ear buds creep me out.

 
8. Do you have tattoos?  Do you want any? No and no. I'm not being judgey here. I just don't want anyone shooting me up with ink. BTW, I wonder how many "I won't have that covid vaccine because I don't know what's in it!" folks are tattooed?

 
9. Do you wear glasses? Yes.

10. What is your strangest talent? Without looking it up, I can recall Elizabeth Taylor's full name: Dame Elizabeth Rosamond Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton (Burton) Warner Fortensky. What? You think this is a useless talent? Well, I'll have you know I won a bar trivia contest with this. Drinks for me and all my friends!

11. Have you ever been in the hospital? Of course.

12. What color mostly dominates your wardrobe? Blue.

 
13. What’s your most expensive piece of clothing? I don't know that we can consider these wardrobe items, but I don't scrimp when I buy a wallet or an umbrella.

14. Have you ever had braces? Yes.

 
15. Have you ever been on TV? 30 years ago, when Bill Clinton won the Presidency, I was one of the campaign workers shown at his Chicago headquarters. My mom was so proud. I ALMOST was on TV last month during the TCM Classic Film Festival. A TCM team approached me with their camera and microphone to get my "festival experience." I pretended to be on the phone. I think it's funny because Betty from my movie group was also there and she spent the entire four days trying to be photographed for TCM's promotional materials. If I'd gotten onscreen, I don't think she'd ever forgive me.

 

Trying to keep parallel lines parallel

I admit I'm having trouble keeping my plots straight. First I began a thriller: The Marriage Lie. It's about a woman who learns distressing things about the man she was shared her life with and was sure she loved ... after his death. It's my second book by Kimberly Belle, and it's wonderfully suspenseful. 

Then I started bingeing on The Flight Attendant. In Season One, Kaley Cuoco is a flight attendant who parties a bit too hearty during a layover in Bangkok and can't recall how she ended up in bed with a dead guy. She unwisely decides that the only way to clear her name is to solve the murder herself. 

The book and movie were very different in tone, but both involved mysterious deaths from anything but natural causes, and both have plenty of intrigue and secrets. And I found myself confusing elements of the two stories.

How do you deal with this? Do you try to alternate genres so this can't happen? What's your secret?

Check out other Sunday Salon participants here.

Saturday 9

 Saturday 9: Your Mother Should Know (1967)

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

1) This week's featured artists, The Beatles, invite us to get up and dance to a song that was a hit before your mother was born. Do you enjoy the oldies? How old must a song be before you consider it "old?" I'm not a good one to ask because my sense of time is getting more warped. For example, when I hear Coldplay's "Viva La Vida," I can remember being happy when it came on at the health club and enjoying working out to it. I'd swear that was six years ago. It was 2008. That means a song I think of as contemporary is really 14 years old!

2) Paul McCartney knew bandmate John Lennon's mom, Julia, and credits her with introducing him to the ukulele. Do you recall any of your childhood friends' mothers with fondness? I recall Judy's mom with great fondness. I spent some of the darkest days of my unhappy teen years at Judy's. Her mom was always welcoming, always understanding. I especially struggled when my icky grandmother died. It was confusing and infuriating to be expected by my own family to continuously express a grief I didn't feel. Her mom understood. She told me her sewing room was mine whenever I wanted it. Just come on over. Close the door if I wanted peace and quiet with my thoughts. She said she'd always knock first (in her own home!) and bring me a meal from time to time. I only recall taking her up on it once, but it was an enormously sensitive gesture. She is in my prayers on Mother's Day.

 
3) Paul's own mother, Mary, tried to instill in her son a sense of pride in his appearance and saw to it he always left the house in a clean, ironed shirt. Paul says that, to this day, when he smells fresh laundry, he thinks of his mum. Is there a scent or sound that reminds you of someone you love who is no longer with us? This song reminds me of my favorite uncle. I recall how he'd turn up the car radio as soon as he heard those first chords, and how the album cover always looked out from the front of his LP rack. He was not a country music guy -- not at all! -- and this was his only Glen Campbell album. Yet this song meant a lot to him. Was it the sound? Did it remind him of some girl? He's been gone more than a decade and I'm often surprised by how much I still miss him. I wish I'd asked about this song. That's the lesson here: ask the people you love about their lives when you still can!

 

 

 

4) George Harrison was the only member of the band to have any formal musical training. His mother, Louise, supported her son's musical ambitions and made sure he got guitar lessons. Did you take music classes as a child? Nope.

5) Ringo Starr was a sickly and often hospitalized little boy. His mother, Elsie, took a job as a barmaid so she could work at night, leaving her days free during visiting hours. When were you most recently in a hospital? Were you an admitted patient, there for an outpatient procedure, or visiting someone? My mammogram last summer.

6) Mother Winters always gave our own Crazy Sam peppermint tea to calm her stomach. Do you have any tried-and-true home remedies to share? Not for me, but for my cats. Canned pumpkin is good for kitty constipation. It has to PURE, no added sugar or cinnamon or anything like that. Check with your vet before you add it to your cat's diet. I am happy to report it's made Connie's life happier.

 

In her happy place, a box with crinkly paper

7) Sam's mother always tips 15% in restaurants. Sam has worked in food service and is more judgmental, tipping between 10% and 25%, depending on the quality of the service. What's your tipping policy? In restaurants, I tip 15% for average service, more for better service. I also always tip $2 or $3 every time I take a rideshare or have groceries delivered. I read that more than half of Uber riders never tip! My nephew worked for Instacart over Christmas break from college and reported that wealthy people seldom tipped. Shame on them!

 
8) Sam's mother still gets the Sunday paper because of the sales fliers. She makes separate lists for each store, picking up grocery and household items where she knows they are on sale. Sam thinks her mother's strategy is a waste of time and gas and prefers one-stop shopping (even better, online one-stop shopping). Are you more like mother or daughter? I'll make a special trip to CVS if I received one of those 30% off coupons in the mail, but other than that, I shop where I shop.

9) Sam is celebrating Mother's Day with her mother's favorite, Hershey Bars. Would you prefer classic milk chocolate, dark chocolate or chocolate with almonds? I prefer almonds, thank you.

In lieu of baseball ...

Neither the Cubs nor the Yankees have played this past two days! Travel days, spring showers ... whatever. NO BASEBALL makes me sad. 

So here's this. My favorite most Cub baseball player Anthony Rizzo used his night off to go to the Rangers game with two of his Yankee teammates. When they showed up on the Madison Square Garden jumbotron, the crowd called on them to chug their beers. Rizz won.