Get Your Flirt On - It's Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day! Flirt with the one you love because flirting isn’t just for attracting a man or woman for that initial contact.

Flirting should be part of the ongoing relationship. Just because you’re settled into a relationship doesn’t mean you can’t add sizzling sexiness to the mix and have some fu doing it.

In my romantic comedy, Scents and Sensuality, heroine science geek Amanda  gets lessons in flirting from her free-wheeling best friend. Too bad her BFF didn’t give her the tips below!

By the way, if you have small children, it’s probably best to wait until they’re asleep. There’s nothing that takes the sizzle out of a romantic interlude like a child banging on the bedroom door and hollering, “Mom, Fido barfed on the rug.”

Older kids probably have music blasting into their ears or they're glued to their phones or video games so no worries.

HOW TO FLIRT USING A ROMANCE NOVEL AS A PROP

1. Have your lover read to you. Aloud. A love scene from your favorite romance novel.

Did you ever see the movie, In Her Shoes (written by Jennifer Weiner), starring Toni Collette as Rose, Cameron Diaz as Maggie, and Mark Feuerstein as Simon? 

There’s a scene where Simon, pursuing spinsterish Rose, finds the romance novel she has stashed away. He picks it up and begins to read this torrid love scene aloud.

He finishes the passage, turns to her, and says: “I don’t know about you, but I’m officially turned on.”

2. A variation of the above: you be the reader. Same result.

3. Don’t want to read? Buy an audio book. Queue it up to a scene you love. Run a bubble bath for two, turn on the audio, and dive in.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Flirting with your significant other is akin to “dancing like no one’s watching.” It takes courage. Carpe nocte. (Seize the night.)

Joan participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, affiliate advertising designed to help websites earn advertising fees by linking to products on Amazon. If you click an Amazon link in her post, she may receive a small commision at no extra cost to you.

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Sunday Thoughts - Good Advice

I think when many of us were very young, we first heard words of wisdom—from someone other than our parents—from this man who is the source of today's wisdom.

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose." —Dr. Seuss

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Have a happy day and always choose wisely.

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Saturday Share Recipe - Southern Coleslaw

Coleslaw. You either like it or hate it. Coleslaw started out as a pickled food way back in the 18th century in the Netherlands.

In the days without refrigeration, preparing a food with vinegar was a way of preserving the food.

Over the years, this salad that often comes as a side at a barbeque or fried chicken joint has undergone many changes and probably doesn't resemble the one from the 18th century.

However, cabbage is an excellent vegetable to eat for good health so perhaps finding a recipe utilizing it that you like would be a good thing.

Personally, I like how we make it in the South. Maybe you'll like it too. Yes, it uses buttermilk which seems to be found in many southern recipes so add that to your shopping list and give this a try. This serves a crowd so you might want to cut it in half.

By the way, if this sounds like a lot of sugar, remember it's an ingredient for a dressing over 8 cups of shredded cabbage. You can always decrease the sugar a little at a time to see if it still tasts good with less sugar.

SOUTHERN STYLE COLESLAW

Ingredients

5 tablespoons of white sugar 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon groound black pepper

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup mayonaise

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 T. white vinegar

2 1/2 T. lemon juice

8 cups finely shredded cabbage (usually 1 large head)

1/4 - 1/2 cup finely shredded carrots

Directions

In bowl or large measuring cup, combine all of the dressing ingredients. Beat until well blended.

Shred the cabbage and carrots in a food processor.

Place shredded vegetables in a salad bowl and pour dressing over veggies. Toss well. Cover the salad bowl and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

This is really good coleslaw so I hope you'll try it. Because it uses milk products and mayo, be sure to refrigerate any leftovers.

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Fun Facts - February, the Cake Month

I had a lot of fun gathering these Fun Facts about February, a short month with several nicknames.

(1) Let's begin with why February has that name which comes from the Latin word februum meaning purification.

It all has to do with the old Roman calendar  which called for a purification ritual called Februa to be held on February 15.

Some historians assert that the purification was all about purging from fever or the sweating that comes from fever or the Latin word febris.

(2) Everyone knows February has 28 days except once every 4 years when it has 29, thus calling the year Leap Year. Did you also know that because of this 28/29 days cycle that once every 6 years, February is the only month to have 4 full 7 day weeks?

FREE this weekend

(3) The Saxons called February Sol-monath, meaning cake month because they offered cakes to the gods during that month. 

(4) The Welsh called this month y mis bach, meaning little month. 

(5) Native American tribes usually named months based on natural phenomena that occurred  during that period of time. The full moon in each month was always significant so months are usually called by their respective names for the full moon.

Some of those tribal names are:

Algonquin called it Snow Moon because of the heavy snowfall that often occurs then. 

Cherokee called it Hungry Moon or Bony Moon becuase of the scarcity of food during winter which affected hunting. 

Ojiibwe called it Bear Moon because this is when bear cubs are born. 

(6) February is the least common birth month, and the rarest day to be born is Leap Day, February 29. The odds of being born on February 29 are about 1 in 1,460. Most people born on this day pick either Feb. 28 or March 1 to celebrate their birthdays, but some choose to celebrate on both days.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I learned a lot. Did you? I say it's time to celebrate February with cake. In fact, I made my cake recipe book FRIDAY IS CAKE DAY, recently revised and updated to today's ebook format. Bake a cake and celebrate February!

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Review - Streaming Service Known as Tubi

Today's review is a little different. Instead of reviewing a movie, I'm reviewing one of the free streaming services known as Tubi., owned by Fox Corporation.

If you ever wondered whether Tubi was worth it, I'm here to tell you it is.

Did you know that Tubi is the most watched free ad-supported television strreaming service in the U.S.?

As of December 2024, Tubi surpassed 100  million monthly active users and 10 billion streaming hours. In May of last year, Tubi had its most-watched month ever—an average of one million viewers every day.

In fact, it consistently outranks Peacock, Max, Paramount+, and Apple TV+ in total viewing time.

WHY IS TUBI WORTH IT?

It's free, and free is good especially now when people are struggling to make ends meet. 

Sure, it has ads, but so does Amazon Prime, and now so does Netflix which has ads in its basic subscription of $7.99 per month.

If you want ad-free on Netflix, that's $17.99 per month.

Other services, offer a Basic subscription, usually with limited selections, and they all have ads. 

Here are a few other than Netflix that offer low-cost basic tiers: Disney $9.99, Hulu $9.99, Paramount+ $7.99, Max $9.99.

Tubi which has a truly impressive selection of movies and TV series with more than 275,000 library movies and TV episodes in their catalog, and that dwarfs the offerings from their competitors. Even better, they rotate offerings often so there's almost always something new when you browse even if it's day to day.

The Tubi interface is easy to navigate, and it's easy to set up an account which I recommend you do. No credit card needed! 

The reason to set up an account is you can then add items to "My List" which is an easy way to manage browsing through their huge catalog.

Decision fatigue can be a real thing with so many selections. If you see something and think it might be interesting, add it to your list right then.

Why? Because by the time you get to the end of that "row" you will have forgotten the title or be too tired to scroll all the way back. *g*

OTHER STREAMING SERVICES

There are a few other free streaming services which I'll review this year since I think people are looking for alternatives.

When you find a free streaming service that's easy to navigate and has good content, that's a win-win I want everyone to know about.

I know a lot of viewers rotate their streaming services. When they have watched everything that appeals to them on Hulu, they'll cancel and reactivate their Netflix or other service. 

They'll do this, rotating services to get the content they enjoy at a price that fits their budget.

I can understand why people do this when they may subscribe to 2 or more services. That can be a big chunk of cash each month.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

If you're looking to save $10-20 bucks a month, try Tubi. You may find some of the same movies there that you find on other streaming services.

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How Wednesday Became Hump Day

Last  Wednesday, in my post, I posed the question, "Why is Wednesday called hump day?"

I had searched Google for an answer to that question and received an AI response that the expression could not be attributed to a specific person.

I wasn't satisfied with that because I knew there had to be more to it than that. As Paul Harvey would have said, "Here is the rest of the story."

MUCH MORE TO THE ANSWER

I dived deeper to find information from human sources. A quick perusal of the SERPS showed a response a few years ago from someone on Quora  who stated that the phrase originated in 1965 from a man standing around a water cooler at a Dupont plant.

I could find nothing to back up that assertion. The same Quora respondent also said that in 1975 J. J. Cale wrote a song titled Friday, and that the phrase “Wednesday's hump day," was part of the lyrics.

Intrigued, I tried to find that song and found it mentioned in various Google SERPs, but I couldn't find the lyrics or other information. Next, I went to Lyrics.com and searched there.

Apparently, Cale wasn't the only one who used the phrase in a song. In fact, the search engine at Lyrics showed "968 lyrics and 126 artists matching the "hump day" search string.

At that point, I decided I'd wasted enough time on the quest, but I did have fun making a cute graphic I'll use in future Wednesday posts.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Being curious eats up a lot of time that I probably could have used in a better pursuit—like working on my book in progress. Do you ever get distracted like that?

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Thought For The Week - Struggle

Everyone wants to win. Everyone also hates the struggle—hates the hard work, hates the uncertainty, hates struggling against great odds.

Guess what? Only through your struggle do you grow stronger. Sure, it would be nice if success just fell into your lap, but that probably isn't going to happen.

Success requires commitment, consistency of effort, hard work, and persisting long after you want to quit. All of that makes you strong and capable.

Arnold Schwarzenegger famously said, "Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."

So the moral of this story is hardships, struggles, and challenges are stepping stones to emotional strength. 

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Thanks for listening. I'm tired and needed that reminder of why I'm working so hard to achieve something amazing—even if it be amazing to only me. Perhaps this reminder will help you too. Have a great week!

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