Month: August 2025

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week we once again turn to husband-and-wife bloggers, Jeff and Charli, who are getting our week started with a meme inspired by one they stole from Jennine.

Morning Meme: Rise and Shine!

1) What do you typically have for breakfast?

Usually, I get up and make oatmeal while my wife is showering. She comes down and we eat. The trick is that each of us has our own milk; I have 1%, my wife has almond milk, and if our daughter joins us, she has oat milk, though she is often on a different sleep schedule. It’s sometimes difficult to keep track of because when I buy the almond milk from one store, the packaging is of a specific color scheme, and when my wife buys it from another store, it’s totally different. I only remember that almond milk is for my wife because her middle initial is A.

Cereal killer

2) What was your favorite breakfast cereal when you were a kid?

I liked several pre-sweetened cereals, such as Froot Loops, Sugar Smacks, which they now call Honey Smacks, and Alpha Bits. But we also had Shredded Wheat, Wheaties (Breakfast of Champions), Cheerios, and Rice Krispies, which had the best theme song. I wrote here in 2006: “Personally, I like to mix my non-presweetened cereals. They must differ by grain and by shape.” In 2012, I noted my favorite cereals, but ate very few of them by then.  I own Kellogg’s cereal bowls.

3) Orange juice, tomato juice, or cranberry juice?

Actually, my favorite thing is a mix of half orange juice and half cranberry juice. It makes the cranberry juice less tart and the orange juice less ordinary. I blend a lot of foods.

4) What time is your alarm clock set for?

I don’t use an alarm clock. That’s the whole idea behind being retired. Unfortunately, my wife sometimes uses an alarm clock.. It can be set for as early as six or as late as seven. Usually, I get up when she does. Sometimes, after she goes to work, I go back to bed.

Morning Has Broken

5) Do you have any tips for preventing stress and making the morning go more smoothly?

The morning goes most smoothly when I wake up before my wife does. I post my blog to Facebook and BlueSky and then start writing something. If my wife goes for a walk, I’ll work on a blog post. But if she’s in a hurry and must shower right away, I’ll make breakfast. Then she’ll go to work, and I’ll finish writing the blog post.

Writing in the morning is much better than any other time of the day, and it makes my morning much better when I feel like I can check something off my list. I also like to read the paper first thing in the morning, although sometimes they pile up, and I don’t get to them until three or four days later. It doesn’t take long to read. I also tend to empty the dishwasher in the morning while waiting for the oatmeal water to boil, and then reload the dishwasher after breakfast.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.