When I walked into the bathroom yesterday, I noticed that YA’s toothbrush is wearing a space helmet. I asked her about it and she said it’s to keep the toothbrush clean if it falls on the floor. Apparently when she plugs in her hairdryer to dry her hair, she often knocks the toothbrush over. Another one of those items you never knew you needed.
Occasionally I see lists of these kind of “needed” items, usually on Amazon. Things like: Dill Pickle Lip Balm, a 12-pack of Flying Rubber Chickens, 101 Pooping Puppies Jigsaw Puzzle (1000 pieces no less), Fridge Jar Fork Caddy (this is a holder with a plastic fork/grabber that attaches to a jar in your fridge like olives or pickles) and my favorite – the Light-Up St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock Headband.
It’s amazing to me what people can get a production loan for; I’ve always wanted to be a fly on the wall listening to whoever first pitched “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”.
My first thought about the toothbrush helmet was how silly it was. Now I’m wondering whether MY toothbrush ends up on the floor when YA dries her hair.
Do you think I should get a toothbrush space helmet? What color should it be?
I have to admit that I am a regular at the Taco Bell drive-through. Bean burrito with extra red sauce, Fiesta potatoes and usually a large diet Pepsi. This is my normal order – this stop is usually if I’m out and about doing errands. I never just leave the house to go there.
My most-stopped-at location is the one near Southdale as many of my errands have me in that neighborhood. About four months ago I noticed that the straw that came with the diet Pepsi was very flimsy and split while I was trying to get it through the little hole on the lid, making it unusable. If I’d been the passenger in the car, I probably could have jerry-rigged it but as the driver it wasn’t do-able. Luckily I was on the way home.
I thought I was a fluke but the next couple of visits confirmed that they had switched to these crappy straws. If you poke a good hole in the lid first with your finger and are VERY careful unwrapping the straw and putting into the cup, you’ll be ok but there are too many ways to screw this up. I started taking a straw of my own re-usable straw in the car if I thought I might be hankering for a burrito but it wasn’t a perfect solution. Interesting side-note… it’s just this location. The other location close to us hasn’t switched to the thinner option.
Last week I stopped by and realized I hadn’t brought my re-usable. I thought about asking the drive-through guy for two straws but decided that was just too silly. When he handed me my pop, he handed me two straws and I couldn’t help it; I burst out laughing. He laughed too and said they’re giving out two straws now because so many folks have complained.
Reminded me of when my company changed to a thinner toilet paper ten years back. I’m sure it was cheaper but if you use twice as much because it’s so thin, I’m pretty sure the savings go out the window. The thin tp only last a few months. I don’t know if people complained or if they realized right away they weren’t saving money. Or both!
I will keep bringing my re-usable straw (if I remember) but am wondering how long it will take this location to figure out that giving out two thin straws isn’t smarter than just have decent straws.
There are a handful of ads that come into my Inbox (instead of Junk) – Einstein Brothers and Brueggers are two of those because they offer occasional coupons that I like, particularly my birthday freebies every year. A couple of weeks ago, not only did an ad for each show up on the same day, they arrived one after the other in my Inbox. If they hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have noticed that they have both launched the same sandwich on the same day. See the photo above – I won’t even tell you which is which.
My first, very fleeting, thought was that it was a coincidence. Then I thought it must be an amazing corporate espionage situation. But the pictures are almost identical so I ventured the thought to YA that perhaps Brueggers and Einstein Brothers were somehow related. YA snorted and said “of course, they’re related – they’re owned by the same company.”
In the travel industry, hotels are always changing hands and my company had a actual department to keep track of this kind of thing (Industry Relations). Who owns what was never interesting to me. I had it suggested to me once that I could boost my career by keeping up with the industry better than I did. Cue the laughter. Despite both my sisters thinking of me as “a successful career woman” (cue more laughter), I never considered myself as such. I had a job, a job that I liked, a job that I was very good at. I didn’t want to be a team leader, a manager, a director… just wanted to do my job. I did get every promotion along the way (apparently in record time according to my old boss) but it never changed the job that I did…. Only changed my title and added a bit more to my paycheck.
So it doesn’t surprise me that I didn’t know that Brueggers and Einstein Brothers were siblings. It does surprise me that they launched the same sandwich on the same day and from the looks of it, probably used photos from the same photo shoot. It doesn’t seem a good way to differentiate the two chains. Of course, my idea of what corporate America should do and what corporate America does are clearly not in sync. At all!
I like to think that I’m a fairly normal person but every now and then something comes up that makes me wonder if I’m just a few steps off the path.
When I was in the sixth grade, our school had a presentation by a troupe of presumably college students; they did some music and read some poetry – fairly classic late 60s kinds of stuff. After the show, the students hung around so we could meet them. I was with my two best friends that day – Linda and Kathleen – and we waited patiently for our turn. The student that we met was named David Shepardson and he was gorgeous-looking to three sixth-graders, longish brown hair, little goatee, tie-dye t-shirt, sandals. The full package. I happened to be wearing a beaded necklace that day and David admired it; he held his beaded necklace up so we could compare and…. our fingers touched. My girlfriends and I were all giddy. I didn’t wash my hand for a day and a half and both Linda and Kathleen checked in with me about it. They were both pea-green.
OK, so you’re saying to yourself, how is this unusual? Lots of pre-teen girls are a little wack-a-doodle. Here’s the difference. 56 years later I still have “David Shepardson Day” noted on my calendar on April 16.
And since, by coincidence, I met my BFF on April 16, 41 years ago, I do often celebrate a bit. This year I found a nice bunch of dark purplish flowers and took them up to her house, had tea and chatted for a bit. I usually send her a card as well to commemorate. During the visit on Wednesday, Sara and I realized that we’ve been celebrating David Shepardson Day a year longer than she and he husband have been married.
I often wonder how David Shepardson’s life turned out. Did he end up pursuing music or literature? Did he marry? Have kids? Travel? Does he have “Sherri Carter Day” listed on his calendar every April 16?
Sliced bread was invented here. That’s right — the Taggart Company was the first place to start selling pre-sliced loaves of bread.
This is home to the world’s largest Children’s Museum, with over 130,000 artifacts, including an indoor carousel and dinosaurs guarding its walls
The original Union Station in this city was the country’s first “union” passenger rail station. Its initial construction was in 1853, but was rebuilt 30 years later. Union Station was frequented by many prominent figures, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman + Woodrow Wilson.
The downtown Athenaeum was designed by Kurt Vonnegut’s architect grandfather. It was originally used as a gymnasium and clubhouse by German-Americans striving to preserve their culture.
This city’s beloved Slippery Noodle Inn was a stop on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, with enslaved people hiding out in the building before catching the northbound train nearby. Not only that, but it was also a watering hole during the prohibition era + a mobster hangout.
Speaking of Kurt Vonnegut, this is the home of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library!
Where am I? Extra points for knowing WHY I am here!
Every year I am jealous of Renee. Her daughter always tells her she wants an Easter basket and tells her what to put in it. No guesswork, no trying to figure out what might appeal to a grown daughter. SO JEALOUS.
As I mentioned a couple of times, YA likes the traditions of Easter but doesn’t like to admit it. I’m not sure why; it’s the same with some other things. So every year when I ask her what she wants in the basket, she says “Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs”. That’s it. Well, you all know me – it’s hard on my nature to fill up her basket with just one item. Every year I get carried away and every year she enjoys it.
This year was the same. Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs. I spent a few days thinking and routing through her room before I headed out to shop. I wandered through Target and Walgreens and Cub – oh, and the Dollar Store (which really needs to be re-branded since everything is $1.25 these days). I ended up with a handful of skin and hair products that I know she likes. One Lindt chocolate bunny. Amy’s Bunny Grahams. Ghiradelli caramel bunnies. Little bag of Garden Veggie Chips that are egg-shaped and in spring colors. A lambie toy (this is technically for Guinevere – I tied an Easter ribbon around it’s neck). Two Apple giftcards as YA is saving for a new computer – safely ensconced in spring giftcard holders that I made. Cheddar bunny snacks and, of course, Reese’s PB eggs.
It’s a glorious looking basket and even without the Apple cards, surely the most expensive basket I’ve ever assembled for her.
I saw on the news that the last Hooters in West Virginia closed last month with a large candlelight vigil prior to its demolition. The local news mentioned it ahead of time and several hundred people showed up.
The vigil part of the story didn’t surprise me but the fact that there are still Hooters was the shock to me. I haven’t heard anything about Hooters and I never see them anywhere but a quick search reveals that there are over 400 worldwide, including one right in my backyard – at the Mall of America. Guess that’s what happens when you only go to the Mall of America once a year (to redeem birthday coupons at Auntie Annies and Cinnabon). Since I’ve never eaten at a Hooters (just seems a little too tasteless of a gimmick to me), I can’t say whether all of West Virginia franchises closing is a loss or not. But I know the chances are slim that I would ever go to a candlelight vigil for one.
Is there a restaurant that you’d consider attending a vigil for if it were closing?
Getting dressed is the official start of my day. All the things I do before I get dressed (Connections, crossword, Wordle, Duolingo) don’t count. This part of the day I am still in my jammies. While there were a couple of times I never changed out of my pajamas for the entire day (working from home, no zoom meetings), those were complete anomalies. Once I get dressed, I get on with my day.
Of course the problem is Wednesdays and my doughnut habit. For some reason, all bets are off about going to the bakery early in the morning and there are a sizeable number of Wednesday that see me at the bakery in my nighttime garb. Mind you, this is in colder weather when I can cover up with a sweatshirt or a winter coat – my summer nightgowns don’t lend themselves to early morning bakery forays.
This past Wednesday morning, I looked down as I was getting into the car and realized I was still wearing my slippers. Long story as to why I still had my slippers on, involving having to let the dog out earlier and it being quite cold that morning. I did sit for about 15 second debating whether to go back in the house to put on shoes and decided “what the heck”. Really what’s the difference between my Birkenstock clogs and slippers anyway, except for the faux fuzz.
This made me think about fashion in general. There aren’t really any rules about going out in slippers, are there? For that matter, except for not going out naked, are there any rules at all? Even the never wear white before Memorial Day or after Labor Day is just silly, right? And what’s the difference between my jammie pants and overshirt and any other nylon/orlon pants and matching shirt? In fact, why do we even HAVE pajamas?
Evidently at some point last summer, I took the corn planter seed units, the thing in the planter that picks up an individual seed, and drops it in the ground, I took the seed units up to my dealer to be inspected and upgraded as necessary. I say ‘evidently’ because I forgot about that until he called asking what I wanted done with them. Gosh, I’d have been ready to run out and plant some day and sure been surprised by the hole in the bottom of the tank where these go. And I’d have spent a long time digging around in the shop trying to find them!
They are getting new backing plates and brushes. $600 roughly.
I was watching an online auction last week and I had bid on a couple used corn planters newer than mine. I have a John Deere 7000 planter. Had been completely rebuilt when I bought it 20-some years ago. I think I paid $6000 for it. The 7000 planter was made from 1974 to 1986. At the auction were two John Deere 1750, 6 row planters. The same size as mine, but much newer than mine. One was in pretty good shape, and one was pretty beat up. But I figured if I could get it cheap, I could fix it up on my own time. They sold for $16,185 and $14,259 respectively. Plus, commission. Wowzer! A couple nice tractors: a 2020 front wheel assist with 4000 hours, sold for $181,500. A 2012 4-wheel drive with a blade sold for $178,000. I didn’t even bid on those. I should have, early, just to say I did. Golly.
So anyway, $600 for planter unit overhauls is a good deal. The important thing about planting, is having each seed dropped in the right place, 6” apart. That’s called “singulation”. And looking at the fields last year, my singulation wasn’t very good. Lots of misses, or doubles. The repair should help with that.
If you think about an ear of corn, next time you’re having corn on the cob, pay attention to the kernels. Notice the kernels at the bottom are sort of large and round? While the middle ones are flat? Seed is sorted like that, and some guys ask for ‘flats’ or ‘rounds’ in particular. Clyde, did you sort out seed like that?
I did get the starter put back in the 630 tractor. Bailey helped.
A hot air balloon landed at our place on Sunday. The dogs alerted me to it first and I saw it was way off to the south. A little later I noticed it really high off to the south. A little while later, it was very low and close to us, then it went up a bit again, then back down and landed at our place. He took off from the college, which is only a couple miles as the balloon flies, but there was no wind and it took him 90 minutes to get to our place and he didn’t have enough gas to go too much further. It was a real fun crew of people and for the first time in the multiple balloon landings at our place, they actually had champagne and did a toast.
That night I picked up pizza from a new place in Rochester, Red Savoy pizza. I picked it up wearing a John Deere cap, and the owner told me he worked at John Deere in Waterloo for a lot of years and he and I talked about tractors for 20 minutes. It was fun to meet these two diverse groups of such nice people. It felt good to reaffirm there are just fun, nice people out there.
WHAT HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN? HAVE YOU MET FUN PEOPLE LATELY?
Around Christmas I decided that I wanted to re-read the Inspector Gamache series of books by Louise Penny. They were favorites of mine when I first re-read them and I enjoyed the tv shows although I wasn’t happy they cancelled after the first season. Short sighted.
I’m on the third book right now, listening to it on CD in the car. Last week there was a huge thunderstorm in the book and Louise wrote one of the characters as saying that their mother had explained thunder as “angels bowling”. This caught my attention because this is exactly what my mother told me about thunder when I was a kid.
As an adult I know in my brain that thunder is caused by the shockwave of air that expands rapidly around a lightning bolt. But it’s way too easy to remember bowling angels or the Zeus in Fantasia orchestrating a huge storm.
What kinds of stories were you told as a child to explain natural phenomenon?
Trail Baboon 