Dear Diary: Question Of The Day(s)

[JTMacc99]

22 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

My cat is Pickles Featherbottom

I approve of any cat going by the name Pickles, so that's a win!

[JTMacc99]

Spring has officially arrived!

What does this season bring that makes you happy? What's not so great for you?

[Annber03]

I do enjoy seeing the trees blossoming again, and the days that are just warm enough that you don't need, like, three layers of clothing to go out, but still cool enough that it's got that crispness in the air. 

Plus, my sister's birthday is in the spring, so that's a nice thing to look forward to as well :). 

As for what I don't like? Well, I live in Iowa, aka, Tornado Alley. So. Yeah :p. Spring weather in Iowa can be a wild time - either we're getting hit with one last blast of winter or we're at risk of getting severe thunderstorms, there's really very little in between much of the time. 

[Gramto6]

[partofme]

Like: tulips

dont like: rain

[Browncoat]

Like:  longer days, reasonable temperatures, wildflowers blooming, and the return of the summer birds (the "dawn chorus" of birds singing brings me great joy!)

Don't like: Wild fluctuations and variations in temperature and weather -- snow one day and 70 degrees the next! -- wind, so much wind, mowing the grass.

[Bastet]

I live in Los Angeles, so there's not a big difference between seasons (one of the reasons I live here).  My biggest like is that we've gone back to DST, so it's lighter later in the evening.  I don't have a dislike, other than, this year, it's still cold (well, L.A. cold) and rainy sometimes.

[shapeshifter]

The beginning of more daylight hours than darkness, with winter weather as far off as possible.

And tulips.

ETA: And swans.

Edited March 21, 2023 by shapeshifter

[chitowngirl]

I like looking at all the spring flowers and blooming trees. I say “looking” because…pollen

[ebk57]

First day of Spring is my wedding anniversary (20 years today!), so that's fun.  Also, spring means baseball!!!  

Can't think of anything bad about it at the moment. 

[DearEvette]

What I like:

More sun. Longer days. I live in Fingerlakes region of New York an February tends to be brown/grey with the dead grass under the melting snow.  I like Spring because the brown/grey moves away and things start to green up.  Also Lilacs!  I have so many lilac bushes around my house the scent is amazing!

What I dislike:

Spring is like the adolescent years of seasons.  So much drama!  The weather is temperamental and volatile.  It can't make up its mind if it wants to be 70 or 30. Or thundery or windy.  You have to dress for all possibilities.

[Annber03]

8 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

What I dislike:

Spring is like the adolescent years of seasons.  So much drama!  The weather is temperamental and volatile.  It can't make up its mind if it wants to be 70 or 30. Or thundery or windy.  You have to dress for all possibilities.

I remember seeing a thing someone posted once (might've been on here) that said, "Welcome to spring! Where no matter what jacket you wear, you're wrong!" 

Pretty much sums it up :p.

[Ohiopirate02]

The official calendar says spring, but it's actually Pine Pollen Season in my parts.  And because the weather has been volatile these last few weeks, it came early and has stuck around.  It's now week 3 of Pine Pollen Season with no end in sight as my car gets covered day after day with the sticky greenish yellow tree sperm.  

[JTMacc99]

15 hours ago, Browncoat said:

the return of the summer birds

I do get a big kick out of the return of the robins. This, probably more than anything else, makes my brain accept that winter is over. 

And it was last Friday when I looked out the window after a meeting ended and sure enough, there were a half dozen robins bouncing around on the ground.  And while walking the dog later that day, there were more robins on the ground in my neighborhood.

Also noticed on that same walk was a large bird flying over head. Big enough for me to look up, and it was a freaking bald eagle. Not sure if that counts as a summer bird returning, but it's not normal for them to be in my neighborhood. 

[JustHereForFood]

Pros: I like early spring when the first flowers start blooming, all the new colors. I am not religious, but I love Easter for all the decorations, especially when it's about newly born animals, like sheep, chicken, ducklings, etc., all the bright colors and of course the food.

Cons: it's getting warmer and by the late spring, it gets too hot for my taste. By May-June, there's so much insect everywhere, some of the flowers that bloom later have heavy smell that I don't like, in past few years I began to suspect I might have some allergies, even though I've never had that problem before.

Basically, I like March-early May (only because we get two bank holidays in the first week of May) and dislike mid May-June.

[jewel21]

I love Spring. It makes me happy. Things are coming back to life, the birds are chirping, the sun is shining, there are ducks! And it's not so hot and humid that my hair needs to be tied up all the time. 

[nokat]

On 3/20/2023 at 5:30 PM, Bastet said:

I live in Los Angeles, so there's not a big difference between seasons (one of the reasons I live here).  My biggest like is that we've gone back to DST, so it's lighter later in the evening.  I don't have a dislike, other than, this year, it's still cold (well, L.A. cold) and rainy sometimes.

I'm in Ventura County. I love the rain and cold, although the storms have been trouble for many people with the mud slides. I didn't know we could get tornadoes and was surprised to get the tornado alert. 

I love May Gray and June Gloom. We get enough sun the rest of the year.

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, nokat said:

I love May Gray and June Gloom.

They both make me want to walk into the ocean and end it all. 

[Annber03]

5 hours ago, nokat said:

I'm in Ventura County. I love the rain and cold, although the storms have been trouble for many people with the mud slides. I didn't know we could get tornadoes and was surprised to get the tornado alert. 

That news about the tornado in Montebello the other day was wild! I saw the footage on TV - man, talk about surreal. 

I'm glad that your part of the country is getting some drought relief, 'cause lord knows you guys have desperately needed it out there, but yeah, the storms there have been especially crazy of late from what I hear, so I hope the weather does calm down a little soon for you guys soon. 

[SoMuchTV]

5 hours ago, nokat said:

I love May Gray and June Gloom.

 

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

They both make me want to walk into the ocean and end it all. 

Who are those two women and why are they so polarizing?!?!

Oh, forgot where I was. 

[peacheslatour]

Personally, I love rain. I do not like wind, in fact I hate it. 

[Gramto6]

5 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Personally, I love rain. I do not like wind, in fact I hate it. 

I join you in your hatred of wind...rain is OK, but snow flurries are better.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Gramto6
typo

[nokat]

1 hour ago, Gramto6 said:

I join you in your hatred of wind...rain is OK, but snow flurries are better.

I love those huge clumps of snowflakes gently floating down. I haven't seen those for a while. 

[JTMacc99]

You can only pick two free things for life:

• Free gas
• Free makeup and haircare products
• Free house cleaning
• Free restaurant meal for you and immediate family once a week
• Cell phone service (including a new phone every year)
• Free gym
• Free footwear
• Free pizza from anywhere
• Free alcohol
• Free massages
• Free dairy products (so free cheese)
• Free plumber

You are only to use these for personal use. You may not assume that you could resell any of these free items for profit, give the items away as gifts, and you definitely can't say something like you would take free footwear so you can donate all of the shoes to needy families. 

ETA: Let's say that the free restaurant rule can be bent a little. Immediate family could be your spouse and children. It could be your parents and/or siblings. If you're single, you can also use it for dating or with close friends.

[stewedsquash]

This freebie list above seems very person who posted it specific😏. 
Free books/Free pizza

I would start by ordering that crab rangoon pizza that Alton Brown loves.

Edited April 19, 2023 by stewedsquash

[Ohiopirate02]

You had me at free house cleaning.  Since free yard work is not on that list, I will go with free plumbing for my second.

[JTMacc99]

4 minutes ago, stewedsquash said:

This seems very person who posted it specific😏. 

Heh. I actually copied about 2/3 of the items from this question posted on Instagram. I tacked on few others to add some more interest. So they listed pizza, and I added on the cheese choice. Because yes, free cheese has a lot of appeal to me.

1 minute ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

You had me at free house cleaning.

Agreed! After that one, almost any other item on the list would just be gravy for me.

[ABay]

Another vote for free housecleaning. I'd take take the restaurant meal as well.

[partofme]

If free makeup and haircare products includes salon haircuts and coloring I'll take that cause that shit's expensive

I'm also going to take free footwear, shoes are expensive and it doesn't say anything about there being a limit to the amount I can have

[FormerMod-a1]

Free house cleaning and free footwear.

The latter may sound frivolous, but as we age we may need special, expensive shoes - custom made even, for knee or back issues or bunions or whatever..  Also, there are so many kinds of shoes - water shoes, sandals, hiking boots, winter boots, etc.  Lastly, I apparently have hard to fit feet - normal enough size/length ( 7 1/2 US sizes) but narrow.  I tend to walk out of shoes that don't fully cover the top of my foot*.  I need some good custom stuff. :P 

* yes, I have found some brands/style that works on my feet so I don't  need rec or anything.  Just stating why I want free footwear for life. 

[nokat]

50 minutes ago, aquarian1 said:

The latter may sound frivolous, but as we age we may need special, expensive shoes - custom made even, for knee or back issues or bunions or whatever

Excellent point. If it included custom made footwear I'm in.

Free house cleaning but the cheese one is tempting.

I don't need a new phone every year, but the latest G phone that is not an iphone would be nice. I found 5G very useful while I was stuck in the hospital.

Cell service can be expensive but also can let you dump cable if you just like streaming.

[bosawks]

Free wine and cheese.

I may be bankrupt but I'll be happy.

[Browncoat]

Free gas -- I have a long commute, and while my car is a hybrid and gets great mileage, I still pay a lot for gas every week. 

For my second choice, I'll take free house cleaning. 

[Gramto6]

I'm all over that free house cleaning! It is harder and harder for me to do a lot of things I should.

My second was at first going to be free gas, but then I realized I hardly go anywhere any more so gas is not that big of a deal. My second would be free plumbing.  My home is getting older and things are failing plumbing seems to be the most expensive to repair. Now if plumbing also included my well service (my well supplies the water for the plumbing right?) I'd be in hog heaven!!

[Bastet]

Easy:  Free house cleaning and free alcohol.

I work from home, so gas doesn't cost me much, I don't wear make-up, I have an old flip phone I barely use so don't give a hoot about a new cell phone annually, I work out at home/outside so don't need a gym, I'm not overly thrilled by massages (I do love a good facial, though), and I have - knock on wood - few plumbing issues and can handle them myself, so those are non-starters.   

I do buy fairly pricey products for my curly hair, but I also buy top shelf liquor, so that's the bigger and more regular expense (and brings much greater enjoyment).  I love shoes, but buy maybe one new pair a year at this point, so, again, booze is the much better value.  Same with pizza and a weekly restaurant meal -- if I was given a list of four, they'd go on it, but with only two, they don't make the cut.

(Oops, I forgot free cheese.  Mmm, cheese.  Okay, that would be number three, pizza four, and bye bye restaurant meal [I don't want to eat out that frequently anyway].)

I would love to hire someone to clean the house, as I've reached the point I'm really tired of doing it, but everybody's recommendations are along the lines of "they do an okay job".  I'll pay top dollar for someone to clean the way I clean, but I don't want to pay for an "eh, if you don't look closely, it's fine" job.  For free, though?  Even if they were just an average cleaner, I'd be all over it.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Bastet

[JTMacc99]

8 minutes ago, Bastet said:

booze is the much better value.

I think that in my case, if I simply made all of the wine and other booze I buy during the year free, I would indeed save good money.  But what I wouldn't do (I hope) would be increasing the amount of booze I buy. I might buy nicer wines, but not more wine.

Same for cheese.

So I'm going with the free restaurant option as my number two after free house cleaning. The way I see it, both wine/booze and cheese can be involved in my weekly free meal. So I'll get to sample all sorts of great food and drink. And I definitely don't go out to eat every week (or any week if we're talking about nice restaurants.)

I figure I could easily run up $5,000 - $10,000 of meals a year. A nice restaurant around here, for two people with an appetizer and/or dessert and wine is definitely over $100.  

So between house cleaning and a weekly meal, I'm adding on at least $20,000 of free stuff that I don't currently enjoy.

However I would not be reducing any material current costs.

[Bastet]

4 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

I figure I could easily run up $5,000 - $10,000 of meals a year. A nice restaurant around here, for two people with an appetizer and/or dessert and wine is definitely over $100.  

Oh, same.  I'm just happier at home.  So I'll opt for keeping my own nightly bar stocked by the free fairies, and pay for the few times a year I'm in the mood for a restaurant.

[JTMacc99]

5 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Oh, same.  I'm just happier at home.  So I'll opt for keeping my own nightly bar stocked by the free fairies, and pay for the few times a year I'm in the mood for a restaurant.

Makes sense to me! I think I'm just liking the idea of getting the hell out of my (now sparkling clean) house once a week for something nice.

[DearEvette]

 

These are my two

• Free restaurant meal for you and immediate family once a week

My friends and I used to do this thing where we would say "what is the first thing you'd buy if you were Oprah rich."  And I always said 'A personal chef.'  I am a foodie and I like kitchen gadgets an to cook, but man, I'd love to also have someone make a meal to order for me whenever I wanted it.  So I'd pick restaurant.  Especially if we had the choice to dine in or take out depending on mood.

 

• Cell phone service (including a new phone every year)

I have five people on my moochers family plan.  I could save a bundle on phone insurance alone!

[Ohiopirate02]

6 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

Makes sense to me! I think I'm just liking the idea of getting the hell out of my (now sparkling clean) house once a week for something nice.

I live in a more LCOL area than most, so that weekly meal at a restaurant is rarely over $50 for me.  It feels like the money I would be saving will never outweigh the cost of a plumbing emergency.  Though, does the free plumbing mean I can upgrade the bathrooms in my house whenever I feel the urge?

[festivus]

I will take that free cell phone and service please. I'm assuming this includes switching all my crap to the new phone and teaching me about anything that is different, hmm? Cause festivus is lazy.

My second pick will be the restuarant food. Assuming they will bring it to my house. Cause festivus also does not like going to restaurant. There are other people there.

[JTMacc99]

13 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Though, does the free plumbing mean I can upgrade the bathrooms in my house whenever I feel the urge?

I think the plumber rules will be: 

• All labor is free, which would include the labor component of renovations. For voluntary renovations, you'll have to pay for the new fixtures, the electric guy, the tile guy, and the carpenter yourself.
• However, let's say that repairs for broken stuff will include the replacement parts. So if your hot water heater or your boiler dies, the whole bill is covered. 

[festivus]

4 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

Free house cleaning and free footwear.

The latter may sound frivolous, but as we age we may need special, expensive shoes - custom made even, for knee or back issues or bunions or whatever..  Also, there are so many kinds of shoes - water shoes, sandals, hiking boots, winter boots, etc.  Lastly, I apparently have hard to fit feet - normal enough size/length ( 7 1/2 US sizes) but narrow.  I tend to walk out of shoes that don't fully cover the top of my foot*.  I need some good custom stuff. :P 

* yes, I have found some brands/style that works on my feet so I don't  need rec or anything.  Just stating why I want free footwear for life. 

I have the opposite problem, size 7 1/2 but wide. I always end up having to buy a size bigger. Bleh. So since that's the size my mom wears I just wear her old sneakers. She only wears them for 6 months and will then deem them "old". They still look brand new. Bonus, they are already broken in.

[shapeshifter]

14 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

I think the plumber rules will be: 

• All labor is free, which would include the labor component of renovations. For voluntary renovations, you'll have to pay for the new fixtures, the electric guy, the tile guy, and the carpenter yourself.
• However, let's say that repairs for broken stuff will include the replacement parts. So if your hot water heater or your boiler dies, the whole bill is covered. 

Assuming this means that if I buy a home with an in-ground pool that is in serious need of maintenance that the Free Plumber will keep me afloat the rest of my days, I'll take the plumber. 
But my Free Plumber needs to have pants that don't show his butt crack.

I need more time to choose my 2nd. 

I'm considering:

• Free house cleaning
• Free restaurant meal for you and immediate family once a week
• Cell phone service (including a new phone every year)

I'll come back and edit this post when I decide.

[nokat]

15 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

But my Free Plumber needs to have pants that don't show his butt crack.

Hey, no adding rules! Laughing but I would prefer that too.

[festivus]

Plumbing is the one thing I don't do, leaving that to my husband. Okay, yes, I have to see his crack. Worth it. 😅

[isalicat]

Free house cleaning for sure..

and I think the free restaurant meal would be a good second choice because I am heartily sick of my own cooking and am too busy to try out new recipes just now.

[Stats Queen]

I’ve had a horrible week with lots of bad health news, 

So I’m going for free alcohol (top shelf) and free massages.

On a good week, it would be free alcohol and free housecleaning.

On a normal week, free alcohol and free cheese.

If I have free alcohol I won’t care about housecleaning and will be temporarily relaxed, so cheese it is

[Bastet]

I like the way you think, @Stats Queen, but I'm sorry to hear about your horrible week.

[chitowngirl]

Free housecleaning definitely and free restaurant once a week. I generally bring home 1/2 of my meal when I eat out, so that’s 2 nights of no planning/shopping/cooking. I didn’t include the cleanup, because I now have free housecleaning!