How to Get a Room Clean, Finding Keys, and Other Assorted Stuff, a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

This past Sunday, while assigned to the Kindergarten class at church, all of the kids wanted to hide from their parents and pretend they were not in the room when pick-up time came.

This gave me an idea.  Instead of having to rally them at the last minute to pick up toys when they would much rather be running off with their parents and leaving it to the teacher and me, i decided to see if i could get an idea past them.

C’mon! i said, let’s pick up all the toys now, and i will read stories while we post an assistant to call when the parents are coming, then all of you can hide!  It will look like the classroom was never used, and we will tell them all of you got tired of waiting and took an Uber home without them!

They fell for it.  Every toy was put away, the room straightened, and we sat in a corner with me reading to them. When our lookout (the older child of another teacher who was helping us) sounded the warning, all of the kids piled into their hiding place under the raised play area and under the slide.  Once all of the parents (who played along beautifully, of course) had actually gotten their kids, the teacher and i had nothing to do but turn out the lights!  Easiest clean-up after a class ever.

Of course, i can’t use that too often, or they will catch on.

In the saga that is Dr. D’s life, i sometimes wonder what’s next, but i am afraid to ask.

After the accident, a bystander helped her empty the car, and in the ruckus her keys to both the storage unit and the mail box were misplaced.  Since i had her second mailbox key, that was not a big problem, and she has ordered another one.

The key to the storage unit was another story.  Most of the time, you lose those keys, they charge you a nice fee to change your lock.  Since she is a good friend of the owner, and the situation was truly beyond her control (she was taken from the scene of the accident in an ambulance, after all, hardly an occurrence conducive to keeping up with the whereabouts of a key you don’t need at the moment), he gave her a new key and lock.

She put the new key in her new car, in the center console, the exact place it lived in the previous car (which was the same year, make and model).  The problem is that this car had a hole in that center console which the previous car did not have.  The keys, of course, along with a couple of pens and a car charger, went down the hole before she realized the opening was there.

All i can say is, i am glad my hands are small, and i still consider myself lucky to have gotten my hand back out of there with the keys.

After that, it was time to run errands, but to run errands a check had to be written to drop off, and before that, all of the check carbon copies from the past two years needed to be put in order because of course you can’t find which check number is next until you do that.  Eventually, errands were run, including getting some seriously thick tape to tape up the hole in the center console because my hand is not going down there again.

And finally, a few more of the pictures Grandma forwards to me:

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In years past, i used to deliver flowers for Valentine's Day for a local florist.

Once again, from the point of view of the person who just might be delivering your flowers, a few hints for how to make her/his job easier and assure that you will get those flowers.  

1.  Order early.  Earlier than that.  Yes, that early.

     Here's the thing.  The florists order lots and lots of flowers, and some are going to be in better shape than others.  The nicest ones get used first.  By 3pm on Valentine's Day, they are using the ones they would have passed over earlier.  Ordering ahead, and ordering for early delivery, gets you the nicest selection.

     Get them delivered the day before, to get extra points with your sweetheart. It means you didn't dawdle, you have flowers the day before, dinner out and maybe even a gift the day of, you made a big thing of it.  It also means you get the nicest flowers, as noted above.  And, if we can't find your location or have trouble, we have time for a redelivery.

     Think about it. You have flowers or candy or cupcakes or whatever delivered a day before. You come home with a card. Then, on the big day, you still go out for dinner and all the trimmings. You have just let this person know you are not simply waiting for someone to slap you upside the head and tell you to get with it, the big day is coming up. You are plotting and planning and putting thought into a buildup. It goes a long way, baby.

2.  Mark your home well!  This is for your benefit as well as ours.  After all, if we can't find you, what makes you think the EMTs can find you in the middle of the night?

3.   Delivery drivers know the town in general, but not every single side street, business, nook and cranny.  Give us your whole, complete address.  This means include:

     Avenue, Street, Boulevard, Drive, Circle, Lane, or whatever is in the actual title of your street.

     Your apartment complex name and apartment number

     or the nursing home name and room number

     or the business name and office number/division of the business where your sweetheart works.

     You know where it is, but we don't, and it's no fun having to guess.

4.  If you live in a gated community, please tell us, and give us a way to get in.  It's frustrating not to be able to get to your home because we need a code.  Give us a gate code and a phone number, and i'll talk more about the phone number later.

5.  The same goes for if you are having flowers delivered to a limited access work place.  Make sure we can get in there to it.  More than once i've had to wait until someone was leaving the building to beg to be brought in, and had to register, and all of that. Again, a phone number helps.

6.  If you and your sweetheart are both at work all day, give us permission, when you place the order, to leave the flowers in a safe place by your back door, under a patio, or with a neighbor.

7.  Tell us what time your sweetheart gets off work, if you really want us to go there.  It's frustrating to get there a half hour after s/he got off for the day.

8.  About phone numbers:  tell your sweetheart to answer the phone!  Yes, you usually don't answer if you don't recognize the number.  Tell him/her to answer anyway, on this day, because there is a surprise coming.  Give us your number as well, and answer it.  If we can get in touch with you, or your sweetheart, we can work out most delivery complications easily.

Trust me, you would rather we call and surprise your sweetheart with news that flowers are on the way so we get them there than have the nasty surprise of us not being able to deliver them.

9.  High school students, please do not ask us to deliver to the school.  The people in the carpool lane get very upset with us, as they think we are cutting in line, and your sweetheart doesn't need the aggravation of trying to bring a bouquet home on the bus.

10.  Remember your driver is paid only for completed deliveries.  Time is of the essence for us, we want to successfully deliver as many items as we can, for the joy it brings you and the money it brings us.  There's no shame in earning some extra cash by doing this service, so help us serve you better by following the tips above!

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Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Liberia

Be Electrific Day -- Edison's birth anniversary

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day -- no history on the origin, but remember we all mess up once in a while, don't take small mess ups too seriously

Evelio Javier Memorial Day -- Panay Island, Philippines

Extraterrestrial Culture Day -- New Mexico, US ("to celebrate and honor all past, present, and future extraterrestrial visitors in ways to enhance relationships among all citizens of the cosmos, known and unknown.")

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes/World Day of the Sick -- Roman Catholic Church (anniversary of the first appearance of Our Lady of Lourdes to Bernadette)

Grandmother Achievement Day -- internet generated; call your grandmother, or someone's grandmother you admire, and tell her what she is doing right

Independence Day -- Vatican City (Holy See) (a/k/a Lateranensi Pact Day, for the pact that established it as an independent state)

Kenkoku Kenen-no-hi -- Japan (also called National Foundation Day or Empire Day)

Meringue Memorial Day -- don't know who came up with it, but it's the day to see if you remember how to make meringue

National Inventors' Day -- US (Edison's birth anniversary)

National Peppermint Patty Day

National Shut-In Visitation Day -- some sites have it here, some in October; either way, go visit someone who can't get out of the house today, or make plans to see them this weekend

National Sports Day -- Qatar

Nelson Mandela Day -- South Africa (celebrates his release from prison)

Pro Sports Wives Day -- the annual recognition of those who truly are sports widows, wives of professional athletes, coaches, and support personnel   

Safer Internet Day -- organised originally by Insafe, now called Better Internet for Kids (promotes safe and responsible use of the internet by teaching children how to keep themselves safe online; this year's theme is "Together for a better internet")   

Satisfied Staying Single Day -- for those who aren't desperate to have someone by the 14th; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

St. Caedmon's Day (Oldest English poet known by name.)

White Shirt Day -- a recognition of the dignity of the working class

World Ag Expo -- Tulare, CA, US (largest farm and equipment show in North America; through Thursday)

Youth Day -- Cameroon

Anniversaries Today:

Napoleon weds Marie-Louise of Austria, 1810

The founding of London University, 1826

Birthdays Today:

Taylor Lautner, 1992

Natalie Dormer, 1982

Kelly Rowland, 1981

Matt Lawrence, 1980

Brandy, 1979

Mike Shinoda, 1977

Jennifer Aniston, 1969

Sarah Palin, 1964

Sheryl Crow, 1963

Carey Lowell, 1961

Sergio Mendes, 1941

Bobby "Boris" Pickett, 1938

Burt Reynolds, 1936

Tina Louise, 1934

Leslie Nielsen, 1926

Paul Bocuse, 1926

Eva Gabor, 1921

Sidney Sheldon, 1917

Max Baer, 1909

Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1909

Philip Dunne, 1908

Thomas Alva Edison, 1847

Lydia Marie Child, 1802

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The French Chef"(TV, with Julia Child), 1963

"Dynamo"(O'Neill play), 1929

"Salome"(Wilde Play), 1896

"La Fille du Regiment"(Donizetti Opera Comique), 1840

Today in History:

Traditional date for the founding of the Japanese empire under Emperor Jimmu, BC660

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Emperorship, dies under mysterious circumstances in Rome, which clears the way for Nero to become Emperor, 55

Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England, 1531

The Pennsylvania Hospital opens, the first in the US, 1752

Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, petitions U.S. Congress for abolition of slavery, 1790

Anthracite coal is burned experimentally as fuel for heating a home for the first time, by Jesse Fell in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 1808

Robert Fulton files a patent for improvements to steamboat navigation, 1809

Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signs a redistricting bill that leads to the first use of the term "gerrymander," 1812

The first public toilet facilities for women opens in London, on Bedford Street, 1852

The Meiji constitution of Japan is adopted, 1889

Emma Goldman is arrested for lecturing on birth control, 1916

BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek play R.U.R., which coined the term "robot", 1938

Glenn Milleris awarded the first ever gold disc for selling one million copies of "Chattanooga Choo Choo," 1941 

Eighty-seven countries, including the US, UK, and USSR, sign the Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons in international waters, 1971

The People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens, 1978

Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa, 1990

The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, 2011

Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation from February 28, the first pope to resign since 1415, 2013

Francesco Schettino, Captain of the Costa Concordia that ran aground 2012, is convicted of manslaughter in Grosseto and sentenced to 16 years in jail, 2015

The discovery of gravitational waves (through collision of two black holes) is announced by physicists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Ligo), 2016