Here Comes The Sun ☀️

Yay, it’s double coupon day! Both Melanie (Sparks) and Di (pensitivity101) have won a Sunshine Award and offered questions to everyone. Congrats, ladies! 💐

First, we’ll do Melanie’s…

1. If you were on Death Row, and they actually wanted to execute you, what would your last meal consist of?   

Macaroni & cheese! And peanut butter cups for dessert. Yeah, I’m a cheap death.

2. In the summer, would you rather sleep with the window open or blast the AC?

Window open probably (unless noisy), plus fans.

3. How old were you when you had your first celebrity crush, and who was it?

Roger Moore… and I was like 10. Eek!

4. Would you rather cook or order in?

That depends. When I’m alone (which is always now), I nuke a Lean Cuisine and supplement with fruit. If I were with someone who might appreciate my cooking and not criticize, it could be fun to cook. If I were with a group of friends, probably I’d order in, so everyone could choose what they wanted.

5. Do you sleep with a top sheet? Why or why not?

No, they’re annoying.

6. Is there any product you simply cannot live without?

Besides my phone? Yes, black tea, hot and iced. Hot showers and decent towels too.

7.What’s your favorite morning beverage?

Usually iced tea and then a hot coffee. Later more tea, hot or cold, depending…

8. Are you more of a “work to live” or a “live to work” type of person?

I enjoy my work, but if I won the lottery I would retire!

9. What annoys you most?

People. Sometimes cats. Mostly people.

10. Have you ever had “imposter syndrome”?  (Essentially, imposter syndrome is the faulty feeling of not measuring up, or that you don’t really deserve a compliment or accomplishment.)

No, since I hardly get any compliments or accomplish anything. 🤣

11. What line should someone never cross with you?

Do not criticize my children or hurt them in any way ever.

Whew! Those were great questions! Now, onto Di’s…

1.  What is your favourite name for a dog (male or female)?

Cupcake.

2.   What is your favourite food?

Pasta with seafood or just mac & cheese.

3.   Do you like watching movies on the Big Screen or content to wait for the DVD to come out?

I do like movies at the cinema on the big screen. That can get spendy though, so I mostly wait. Now, of course, I have no desire to sit in a room full of strangers.

4.   What is your favourite alcoholic tipple?

A margarita on the rocks with salt.

5.   Do you like to wear bright colours?

Absolutely!

6.  Have you ever worn odd socks on purpose?

All my socks are odd! Oh, you mean mismatched ~ nope.

7.  Back to movies: would you read the book after seeing the film or watch a film after reading the book?

Book first, then movie, is my preference. The book is generally deeper, so I like to have those themes in mind while watching the screen as it makes the movie more interesting.

8.   Is your idea of a holiday lazing on the beach getting a tan, or sightseeing the surrounding area?

Mostly sightseeing but relaxation time too. Not getting a tan though…

9.   One for the ladies:
if your spouse bought you flowers for no reason, would you be suspicious?
For the guys:
If your spouse cooked you a special meal for no reason, how would you react?

I don’t know. My last spouse, yes. An ideal spouse who doesn’t exist, no.

10. Can you ride a pushbike, and if so, when was the last time you did?

Yes, but I probably haven’t ridden a bike in over 10 years.

11.  In your home, do you prefer blinds or drapes (curtains) at your windows?

I prefer shutters, which is what I have. I’d take blinds over drapes however, since drapes get dusty and dirty so quickly.

That was a lot of fun! Thanks Melanie and Di! 🌻🌻🌻

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Images from Bitmoji.

5 Favorite Summer Desserts

This is a continuation of the #5Things series from Dr. Tanya…

Probably my favorite summer dessert is mango 🥭 sorbet from Trader Joe’s. Note that it is gluten free. 🙄 (Pic purloined from Pinterest.)

Next up is cherry pie, which honestly can be nommed at anytime, but I think of it as a summer dessert. (Pinterest pic.)

Starbucks’ iced mocha frappuccino with whipped cream is one of my sweet summer indulgences. (My own photo.)

Frozen lemonade is something delicious I associate with summer, but the caveat is it only tastes yummy at a fair. I don’t want it at home ~ I want to overpay for it while wandering around the games and rides. (Pic from Amazon.)

Finally, vanilla frozen yogurt with peanut butter cup pieces is one of my top faves. I’ve tried a bunch, and Golden Spoon is the best. I failed to find the exact photo I need, so I’m using this Yelp one, but it shows PB froyo, which I wouldn’t get. VANILLA with PB cup pieces is the way to go. It appears I will have to visit Golden Spoon myself, order the proper dessert, and take a pic. Gosh, what a burden…

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

3 2 1 Quote Me ~ Halloween

321 Quote Me Directory

Rory has switched up his Quote Me game to eliminate specific tags and turn it into a prompt game for everyone to participate in as they have time. Great idea! Everyone is tagged to play, hooray! 🎃🎃🎃

First, we post 3 quotes on the topic, which this time is… Halloween.

Second, we’re to post 2 pieces of music on the theme. I don’t want to choose songs that I think other bloggers will pick, so I’ll stray from the obvious a bit…

Third, we’re to post 1 picture on the theme. I’ve posted this kitty before, but who can deny the purrfection? 😻❤️

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Green Is Good!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Fun While It Lasted

I was an adrenaline junkie for some years, off and on, though if you met me now you wouldn’t think so. Like many, I thought I was invincible, and/or that I was so special an angel or whatever was looking out for me in particular to ensure I remained on this side of the veil.

You want to scream at teenagers who think this way. You’re not special! You can die at any time. You’ve just been lucky so far. But of course they aren’t going to listen; they’re teenagers. Duh.

One of the tamer ways I found excitement was by seeking out the newest, largest roller coasters within driving distance. One theme park my high school friends and I went to was in Gurnee, Illinois, which in 1978 debuted the Tidal Wave (it had been in operation at other Six Flags’ parks). This wasn’t a complicated RC to the naked eye, though it was a sophisticated engineering marvel, just up, loop, and down. No biggie, right? 🤣😂😱

We went on that thing as many times as we could, in between eating burgers and fudge and going on other loopy doopy rides. Did I get sick, dizzy, or nauseated? Nope! Did my back, neck, or feet hurt? Nah. Did I pass out, fall off, or die? Um no.

Time passed. I moved to California. My head began to hurt all the time. A date took me to Magic Mountain and we went on a coaster, but I didn’t feel good afterwards. I took my kids to Knott’s Berry Farm with another mom and we all went on a tame ride and my neck ached from the bouncing. I began to avoid rides completely. They just seemed like something I’d be better off not doing.

A few times in the past several years I’ve been to the Orange County Fair (where I’m going today, btw, and let us hope there are no shootings or stabbings), and friends have occasionally persuaded me to go on rides. Turns out, I don’t enjoy them any longer at all. I feel no joy in that adrenaline rush I once did.

I guess I have changed, in one area anyway.

~*~

© 2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Three of a Derp [100 words]

So, my likes have been light
And my comments are nil
Cuz I’m going away
To see my daughter and SIL.
But I thought I would post
To the pix prompt of three,
Then I saw I misread…
Oh whoops, woe is me!

*

Posting them anyway, nyah! I won’t include the prompt link, so my post will just float in the WP pool untethered to any other post, just like in the old days. Weird now though.

The idea was to take three photos of one subject in three ways, not have three subjects in a photo, but like whateverrr.

Measles, Science, Faith, Etc.

I want to mention measles for a minute because it’s important. If you’re a kooky anti-vaxer, I suggest you skip this post. I won’t be hosting any anti-vax comments here ~ they will hit the trashcan without response. Thanks for understanding. 🙂

In 1989, I was attending college at Cal State Northridge when there was a measles outbreak. I was a commuter student and didn’t socialize much, but even so I called my regular doctor and asked him if I should worry about it. Nah, he said, you had your vaccine as a kid.

I did have all my vaccines in the 1960s, but nevertheless I got a light case of the measles as an adult in 1989. If I hadn’t had my vaccination as a child, I might have gotten really sick as an adult. Children can also suffer terrible complications from the virus.

One of my cousins died of “whooping cough” (pertussis) in the 1930s… and just recently a child died of it here in Orange County. How any parent could decide to skip giving a healthy baby this vaccine boggles my mind. Imagine listening to your baby cough to death.

I realize it is a special weekend coming up for people of two major faiths and I respect that. I believe in nomming up delicious coconut macaroons as well as Cadbury eggs. But even more… I believe in science.

You can call that faith if you wish.

V4L Challenge 11 (ranty)

Why Valentine’s Day Sucks!

First, if you’re wondering (and of course you are) where challenges 9 and 10 are, no worries! You did not miss an exciting installment of Cupid + Chantal. I simply skipped those challenges due to math: the pesky 24 hours per day adding up to 24 yet again. Dammit.

Second, I actually like Valentine’s Day and think it’s a lot of fun to celebrate love cuz gawd knows we spend way too much time focusing on stuff we dislike, amirite? The day doesn’t have to be sad if you don’t have a romantic sweetie ~ it can be about other loves. Children, friends, pets. You can even buy a treat for yourself, or for me. 😍

However! I totally get why people hate Valentine’s Day. It’s stressful to be forced to demonstrate your feelings on demand ~ some people just don’t respond on cue, and I respect that. They don’t want to spend money on schmaltzy cards or buy pink teddy bears, jewelry, flowers, candy, etc. because it’s the fourteenth day of February. Whyyyyy? How is that meaningful? Unless it’s the anniversary of that particular couple’s first date or other special occasion, I can see people (especially men) feeling resentful of the expectation to produce tangible evidence of their relationship commitment on this random date.

What’s even more annoying is that women will go along with the above paragraph and then still be upset if the man ignores Valentine’s Day as they had previously agreed to do. She had probably agreed mostly to make him happy, but then when the day arrived she thought well he could have at least gotten me a silly card and a cupcake. That wouldn’t have taken so much time or cost very much. Then he’s mad that she’s upset. True story. 💔

I personally don’t like the pressure to make a huge fancy deal out of Valentine’s Day cuz that’s a lot of work, and who needs more work? I resent the idea that (when I did have someone), I was supposed to buy a gorgeous new outfit and look spectacular on Valentine’s Day, or else I’d disappoint my guy. Naturally he was supposed to make reservations somewhere nice, or else we’d have to plan to cook something special together. So much work! Especially on a weeknight. Ughhh.

But it seems like everything has to be extreme these days, all or nothing, love or hate. Why can’t we (if we have a romantic partner), celebrate Valentine’s Day in a fun, low key way? Do something special but not annoying or expensive? Maybe plan it for the weekend afterward if February 14th is a work night. If we don’t have a partner, there’s no reason to hate the day when we can treat a relative or friend to a little gift, or even ourselves. Gifts can be of time too.

Sure, it would be ideal to express our love every day of the year, to buy a gift exactly when we felt the genuine urge, not when ads told us to, or to give the special people in our lives extra time and attention at any random time just because. We certainly do not need a pink and red hearts day mostly concocted by greeting card companies to nudge us, right? But let’s get real. People who say that stuff mostly aren’t that loving. They’re cranky curmudgeons who don’t randomly make pretty, glittery cards for people or bake pink frosted cakes or jump up and say hey I’m really glad you’re in my life!

So pffft on them and their hatey poopery. They bag on Valentine’s Day because they like to be cynical about all things all the time. They don’t want to shop or create something handmade or give you extra time. They feel awkward about expressing positive, good feelings. Mostly I’m talking about the men I’ve met, since I’m more forgiving of women who are sad on Valentine’s Day because men are so hatey about it. But don’t be sad! We can buy our own candy now.

Sorry… but I guess I just don’t think that Valentine’s Day sucks. There are so many ways to celebrate love. 💖❤️💗

V4L Challenge 1

The Cherub’s Valentine’s Card

Cupid had been promoted to Project Manager this year and he took his new duties very seriously. He had reorganized the flowcharts and onboarded a new crew of arrowers for optimal solutioning. His Operations Director was so impressed that Cupid received a bonus on Valentine’s Day.

“Go out and have some fun with your new girlfriend,” the Director said. “I know you haven’t been able to spend much time together since your promotion.”

Oh no! Cupid had completely forgotten about his girlfriend. He thanked his boss for the bonus and rushed out of the office to the jewelry store, hoping to find a last-minute gift. But it was closed.

“Flowers!” Cupid said. He ran down the street to the florist.

“Roses?” The florist laughed. “Sorry, buddy. It’s Valentine’s Day. You have to order those in advance. How about a nice fern?”

Cupid didn’t want to give his girlfriend a fern. He suspected she might already be a tad bit annoyed with him for failing to make romantic plans in advance. He needed to give her something nice, to prove he’d been thinking about her, when he actually hadn’t been.

A pretty card and a box of candy! Girls loved chocolate. Cupid didn’t have time to go to the mall, so he decided to get candy at the drugstore. Chocolate was chocolate, right? He grabbed a extra large candy bar and a card that had a teddy bear on the front holding a glittery pink heart. Perfect!

Cupid paid for his treats and jogged to his girlfriend’s place. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” he said and gave her a big hug.

“Thanks, Cupid!” she took the gift bag. “You shouldn’t have. I didn’t get anything for you since we’ve only been on two dates.”

“I just wanted to let you know that you’re important to me,” he said. “I hope you like chocolate!”

She took out the bar and started to open it. “Oh, my God this candy has nuts.”

Cupid stared in horror as she began to wheeze and cough. He called emergency and they came immediately.

“Didn’t you see her peanut allergy bracelet?” one of the EMT’s asked Cupid on the way to the hospital.

“No. I mean, I thought it was one of those New Age things.” Cupid sure felt stupid. He had the bag with him, in case they needed to test the candy.

But they didn’t and his girlfriend ended up fine. He held her hand as she rested in her hospital bed.

“This was an unexpected way to spend Valentine’s Day,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” Cupid said. “It’s all my fault for not being prepared. I threw the chocolate away, but I still have a card for you.”

She opened it. “I will be beary happy if you will be my Valentine!”

Cupid was a little embarrassed. This was a child’s card. He had made things worse by giving it to her and he should have just thrown it away. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Next year I’ll–”

“Don’t be sorry!” she said. “This is adorable. I’ll be your Valentine if you don’t bring me any more peanuts.”

“It’s a deal,” Cupid said.

💖💖💖💖💖

Furious News Barrage [IOW]

Three of today’s prompt words wrote themselves into a title today.

Don’t you love it when that happens?

It’s so delicious, like a secret treasure candy stash you forgot about in a cookie tin.

In any case, I try to stay away from the furious news barrage and stick with prompts and games.

I find that so much better for my emotional state.