Dear Houston Chronicle: Here I am again, letting you know that my newspaper has only been delivered ONCE this week even though I pay for daily delivery. When I call you or email you each week for our sweet chats, you always assure me that someone will deliver back issues of all the ones that I didn’t receive…I’m expecting a truckload to be delivered at any moment so be sure to park in front of my office so you won’t have to walk so far to bring them to me. If I can’t have my back copies, could I please have a credit for all the papers that haven’t been delivered as you promised. I haven’t received a single credit that you promised I would receive. This has been going on for three months now. Can someone please speak to the carrier that is supposed to deliver to downtown Lake Jackson businesses? What exactly can be done to get my paper delivered? If we can’t work this out, then please discontinue my delivery and refund the payment that I’ve made to have your paper delivered thru the end of February. Oops. Wait. I forgot. You’ve already discontinued my delivery. What was I thinking!?!?!
Coca-Cola’s first new brand in more than a decade arrives in March. It’s called Aha and is caffeinated, favored sparkling water. Nabisco has two new Oreo flavors, Caramel Coconut and Chocolate Marshmallow.
Olivia Jade Giannulli, daughter of Lori Loughlin and Mossino Giannulli (college-admission scandal), has now had her glorified resume made public after being released in a court filing. The resume states that Giannulli was “highly talented” and “successful” in both women’s and men’s boats and claimed that she participated in prestigious races like the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. In real life, she did not participate in crew while in high school. It also states that she achieved many gold, silver and bronze medals for her rowing achievements. Really. What kind of a parent does this?
The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe as its handle was made of wood and they thought it was one of them. Old Turkish Proverb
Scientists have succeeded in creating two embryos of the near-extinct northern white rhino as part of an international effort to save the species which is down to two – both females. Eggs were taken from the females and frozen sperm from dead males and will be transferred into a surrogate mother, a southern white rhino, soon.
Money isn’t always going to behave in ways you can predict. – Suze Orman
There was an article about the 10 best household products of 2019 and the first recommendation on the list was a lobster-rope doormat. Wait, I have one at my front door. Several companies make them, but I think I ordered mine on-sale from L.L. Bean. I had admired the ones my next-door neighbors have at their front door. If you’re a fan of mass-produced rubber mats or the bristle coconut fiber ones that cause you to drag in more stuff to your house than you had on your shoes to begin with, then this is not the mat for you. The one I bought is now a little more than a year old and looks brand-new. You just wash it down with the water hose and give it a shake.
“I’m not trying to sell you me. I’m trying to sell you you.”– Singer Lizzo, on her message of body positivity and self-love.
A three-year-old cancer patient got her wish of eating at J. Wilson’s in Beaumont. When the restaurant heard that Adelaide Stanley couldn’t go out in public because of a weakened immune system, they opened early, decorated in her favorite color, pink, made her favorite food, biscuits, then covered the cost of the meal. Lots of good in the world.
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing is 94. Comedian Tom Smothers is 83. Rock singer guitarist Graham Nash is 78. Television exec Barry Diller is 78. Tinder, okCupid, Match.com, Expedia, Cheers, The Simpsons. Rock musician Ross Valory is 71. Journey. Model Christie Brinkley is 66. (She really makes it hard on the rest of us girls.) Actor Stuart Whitman is 92. Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. Lisa Marie Presley is 52.
Singer Harry Styles is 26. One Direction. Actress Mamie Van Doren is 89. Actor Mike Farrell is 81. NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw is 80. Singer Fabian is 77. Rock singer Axl Rose is 58. Guns N’ Roses. Composer conductor John Williams is 88. Newscaster Ted Koppel is 80. Professional surfer Bethany Hamilton is 30. Actor Jerry Adler is 91. Former Argentinian President Isabel Peron is 89. Rock singer Alice Cooper is 72. Olympic gold medal boxer Oscar De La Hoya is 47.
Texas is now 183 years old. Horned lizards are the official reptiles of Texas. The lighting whelk is the state shell and the prickly pear is the state plant. The state flower is the bluebonnet, the state fish is the Guadalupe bass and the state bird is the northern mockingbird. Three state mammals include the longhorn, armadillo and Mexican free-tailed bat. According to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, the state cooking implement is the Dutch oven, the state dish is chili and the state snack is chips and salsa. Official state foods include the 1015 sweet onion, red grapefruit and chiltepin pepper. Well, what the heck is a Chiltepin pepper? It seems that the Chiltepin (capsicum annuum) ranges from 50,000 to 100,000 Scoville heat units on the pepper scale, with the chance for a bit hotter if a crop had an ideally wet growing season. This makes it equal with Thai peppers in terms of overall heat and about 23 times spicier than your standard jalapeño. It’s a tiny little pepper. I think I’ll just stick to jalapeños.
Property Brothers, Drew and Jonathan Scott launched a quarterly lifestyle magazine called Reveal. It’s not just home design tips and tricks, but inspiration and simple steps to get the most out of life, along with delicious recipes, travel destinations and tours of the most beautiful homes. Lizzo’s RodeoHouston show sold out in just a matter of minutes. Princess Beatrice will marry on May 29 in the Chapel Royal of St. James’s Palace. Beatrice is the elder daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.
New movie sequels for 2020 are Top Gun: Maverick, with Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer and Jennifer Connelly, arriving June 26. Bill & Ted Face the Music, with Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter due out on August 21st. Then my personal favorite: Legally Blonde 3 with Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, due out on May 8th.
Texas is among the 21 states where it is lawful to decline hiring individuals who use nicotine products.
Climate Change: Because of drenched fields across the U.S., there is a shortage of soft winter wheat which is used in flour for snacks…crackers, biscuits, Oreo’s, Cheez-Its.
If you have ever wanted to ride on a float in a Mardi Gras parade, now is your opportunity. For $175, you can ride on a float, then party like a VIP at a balcony party with your friends and family. They provide the beads, driver and parade insurance. You just bring your ID, cash and a crowd with you. Reservations needed. MardiGrasGalveston.com
Siba, a standard poodle, is the new Westminster Dog Show’s top winner. She is beautiful and immediately reminded me of Cher at the 1986 Oscars where she had the towering black feather headdress designed by Bob Mackie. Look up Siba, then look up Cher 1986 dress, then tell me what you think…
Coronavirus War: COVID-19 (new name). It’s affecting the manufacturing of the iPhone in China. Pets are being abandoned by their owners due to fears that their animals can carry the virus. Some thrown from balconies several stories high. Reports are now saying that health care workers were infected as early as early January, but China did not disclose this information. A Chinese citizen journalist who had been reporting on the virus is now missing after posting videos of corpses and hospitals. The Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan now has a total of 175 confirmed cases (as of 02-12) and workers on the ship are pleading for help because they are forced to work and interact with potentially infected passengers with no protection for themselves. Hmmm.
There were a few things I needed to pick up at Target, which ended up being a basketful. When I got to the checkout, there were no real people checking, just four self-checks and a super long line. So, I waited my turn, thinking that the one person watching us could have been checking too. Sigh. McDonald’s has purchased voice-recognition technology so you will eventually have a machine taking your order then relaying that information to their kitchen staff. This is ‘supposed’ to speed up the process. This in turn will boost sales. Hmmm. I hope that this same service can learn to count change since no one seems to know how anymore. It’s official, I’m not only old, I’m grumpy, too.
Sometimes I shock myself with the smart stuff I say and do. Then, there are times when I try to get out of the car with my seatbelt on. Facebook
Former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett has been indicted by a grand jury on six counts for making false reports in connection with the actor’s claim a year ago that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack near his Chicago apartment. Police concluded Smollett orchestrated the attack himself to boost his publicity and paid two acquaintances to help him. Initially, he was indicted on 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct, but charges were dropped. New charges have come after a special prosecutor was asked to investigate how the case was originally handled. Smollett’s attorney says the new charges are “all about politics, not justice.”
Watson Grinding & Manufacturing and Watson Valve Services have filed for bankruptcy.
Pete Rose has a lot to say about the Astros cheating scandal. In 1989, Rose was banned by the MLB for gambling on games in which he played and managed on the Cincinnati Reds. He is now wondering why only managers and coaches are getting punished in the most recent cheating scandal. “The guys that are getting the sign from the bench, from the coaches, they’re cheating more than the guys who gave the signals.” Rose said. “When you screw around, the integrity of baseball is going to come down hard on you. They came down hard on me. They came down hard on them.” Now Rose is again petitioning MLB for reinstatement.
It’s Valentine’s Day and I am stumped as to what I should or can say to my two young adults. You know, nothing mushy. Well, scratch that. I really need to tell them that they’ll never really know true love until they hold their own child in their arms. I want to tell them that no matter what they do or tell me, I will always love them, I just may not like them very much, but real love is unconditional. I want to say that it tickles me when I hear my words come out of their mouths, so therefore I am very careful about the words I use. I want to tell them to not forget to fall in love but be careful of who they love. I am so proud that the two of you radiate quiet acceptance, patience and love to most anyone you meet, yet both of you are approaching adult life like hurricane-force winds. I just couldn’t be any prouder of you two. Happy Valentine’s Day. Love Mom.
