Sunday Stealing

I’m joining us with host, Bev Sykes of the blog "Funny the World" for Sunday Stealing. These questions are from Friday 5.

1) What one event from your lifetime would you change if you could, and why? I mention this in the answer for #3 below. I’ve answered all of the other questions but this one. The thing I would most want to change is one that I didn’t have control over. Someone else had control over me so I don’t know that I could change it. Another thing I might change is to always be true to me. There have been some years (more than I want to admit) where I tried to be like everyone else. I felt like I needed to measure up. I’m actually a pretty decent person with a good sense of humor and a lot of other good qualities. I wish I had just lived my life as me and I wish I would have been proud of it.

2) If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be and how old would your younger self be when they got it? Do you think your younger self would listen? I need to write a whole post on these questions. I guess one thing I would tell myself “go to college and get your degree.” If I had finished in the early 80’s, I wouldn’t be taking classes now.

3) If you could have a conversation with the historical figure of your choosing, whom would you pick and why? What would you talk about? I’ve actually answered questions 4-15. I skipped 1, 2, and 3 because I just didn’t have good answers. I think I might want to sit down with someone whose true story has been told incorrectly over the years. I might want to sit down with a really smart woman from the 1700’s or from earlier – a woman who was considered to be “property” and who wasn’t supposed to trouble her mind with “men’s work” . . .heck – those women were often the ones running things behind the scenes. Or how about Ruby Nell Bridges Hall who was born 4 years before me? What was it REALLY like to be the first African American child to desegregate a school?

4) What's a safety rule that's very important to you? I can’t think of a good example. When I worked for South Central Bell and AT&T, you would be “written up” for safety violations. One of the biggies was leaving the handle up on the paper cutter. When I first went to work at Trinity, my heart would almost stop every time I noticed the handle up on the paper cutter. Now it doesn’t bother me . . .actually, if it is up and I walk through the workroom, I put the handle down.

5) What would you like to say to people in the future? Be kind to each other. Take care of the earth!!

6) What's your favorite dish to bring to a summer cookout? I make an Asian slaw this is requested often. I also love to bring a big bowl of fresh watermelon.

7) How much time have you spent outdoors this week? I’ve spent very little time outside. Beginning now through April is my worst allergy time. Even on shots and oral meds, I have to limit my outside time right now.

8) Where do you set your thermostat? Well . . .right now, it is on 64 and it is finally warm in our house. Our heat is very efficient. When we go to bed at night in the winter, we turn it down as low as it will go – 50 degrees! We have several blankets and a big quilt on our bed. When the alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m., one of us runs quickly into the other room and turns the thermostat up.

9) How did you learn to swim? I can’t swim. I can doggy paddle. Hopefully, I could save myself. My sister and I took swimming lessons when we were adults. Our swim instructor was awesome but neither of us can still really swim. Mark was an excellent swimmer and swam on the swim team. I always took our kids to the pool when they were little and we did private swim lessons for them when they were 3. They are both great swimmers.

10) How do you avoid overheating? I live in Alabama. In the summer, we use our air conditioner ALL THE TIME. We also dress in cool fabrics like cotton.

11). What are you going to do this weekend? I’ve been studying sociology. Saturday afternoon I watched Chocolat. Questions about deviant behavior will be on our next exam and looking at Chocolat through sociological eyes was interesting! College classes involve YouTube videos, Ted Talks, and movies - for this semester I have to watch Chocolat and Pretty Woman!

12) What’s your favorite way to spend time? I love to read. I love to spend time with our friends and family. I actually like to exercise.

13) What’s the most useless thing you own that you would never get rid of? I feel slightly guilty about my answer. I love my china and crystal – really! I just don’t use it very often and I have 14 place settings. I won’t get rid of it, though. Technically, it is not useless . . .it just doesn’t get used very often. I started to leave this question with no answer and looked up and right in front of me was this . . . hence my answer.

14) Have you started planning your next vacation? Yes! We hope to travel again in June and that trip has been planned for a couple of years and postponed due to covid. My  husband is planning a trip with his twin brother for August AND we are planning another trip to Israel in February 2023.

15) Are you very active, or do you prefer to just relax in your free time or is it one and the same to you? Free time? Seriously? I do love to curl up with a good book but if I have free time, I’m usually cramming a long ride on the stationary bike into the time, too. I did read a book today – Family Money. It was good!