Life in progress

Monthly Archives: March 2016

Well Here it is!

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Look! It’s a new book of poetry!! Please go and check out Judy’s labour of love and while you’re there, join in the celebration! 😀

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I am very thrilled and delighted to show you my beautiful, shiny new book! Chris at The Story Reading Ape has done an absolutely brilliant job of designing the perfect cover for it too.  He was so helpful and accommodating to me, despite my inexperience in these matters and problems with my e-mail!

At the moment, it is available at CreateSpace, but by tomorrow, it should be available on Kindle and shortly afterward Amazon.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I had been encouraged to publish a collection of my poems, and now I have finally done it! I do love to rhyme things and this book is pretty much a compilation of some of my favourites! I have even included some of the raunchier ones to add a little extra spice!

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#SoCS – Excuses

Mmmm… this is a lovely cup of coffee. So warm and fragrant on a cold winter morning. I sit here with my puppy at my elbow, licking his front paw and the kid on his laptop, grinding his teeth as he’s done since he began to grow teeth… it’s one of those habits that you do when you’re concentrating on something else. Like sticking your tongue out. Apparently when I concentrate the corners of my mouth turn down and I look miserable. I’m not doing it now because I’m thinking about it.

It’s weird, the things we do without thinking about them. I’m guilty of sticking my tongue out when I’m concentrating on a physical activity. My “misery” look is reserved for when I’m doing something on my lap, like writing, reading, or knitting. I think once in a while about picking up knitting again. I used to do it when I watched TV – it was something to do with my hands that I didn’t have to look at. I’ve always been a multi-tasker I suppose, even before it was a well-used phrase. I have to wonder if that is the reason, in part, why I have to get up and walk away once in a while from my intense concentration on my writing. Or maybe that’s just an excuse to snack…

I admit it. I graze. I know I shouldn’t, and there have been times when I’ve been able to stop for months on end. But I always seem to fall back into the pattern of eating when I’m bored, or when I’m procrastinating.

I have a busy day ahead of me. One kid wants to go to a movie and the other wants to go for a ride on the city bus. The latter wanted to go to the mall for something. Earlier in the week I thought it was a good idea, but now I can’t remember what it was we needed to get. I really should write lists more often. Having a cell phone with me all the time is like carrying around a notepad and a pen – I really have no excuse.

I wondered what I should title this post. Now I know.

SoCS badge 2015

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to find the guidelines and join in today. https://lindaghill.com/2016/03/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-516/ It’s all that!


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS March 5/16

Hi there! I’m so glad you’re reading this, because it’s Friday, and that means it’s time to find out what Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt will be! I have an appointment this morning, and am in a bit of a hurry. So I’ll just get on with the prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “this and that.”  Talk about this, talk about that, talk about this and that, but here’s the catch: make either “this” or “that” the first word of your post. Bonus points if you can end with “this” or “that.” Enjoy!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use the SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!

SoCS badge 2015

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!


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One-Liner Wednesday – A deal that makes no sense

In Wal-Mart the other day, I was looking at printer ink when I came across an HP printer for $39.97 – almost $2 less than the cost of the ink that comes with it. I was tempted to buy two.

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

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Anyone who would like to try it out, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our new, very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!


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Something fishy may cause disease – the saga continues

On Friday, I wrote about my hot water tank and how it’s not living up to snuff. The rental company sent an iffy contractor over… rather than tell the whole story again, you can click here to read about it. Since then, I’ve been doing a tankload of research, (see what I did there?) and I’ve come up with a few interesting facts. First, there’s a knob on the mixing valve to adjust the temperature of the water coming out of it. The contractor who came to see me didn’t mention that. Fishy? Yes. BUT I’ve also discovered that these mixing valve thingies that seem to be popping up on top of water tanks without people knowing about them do in fact have a very short lifespan. It seems, (and I could be wrong, but this is what I’ve been led to believe) that the Ontario government decided that all the water coming out of the taps in all the homes shouldn’t be any higher than 49 degrees C, to prevent scalding. To combat Legionnaires disease however, the water in the tank needs to be 60C. So, the happy compromise was the mixing valves installed directly on the tank, which regulate the entire living space.

What all that means is, it’s probably going to cost me $200 to get a hot water tank fixed that I don’t know if I want. I’ve been thinking about going tankless for years. So today I called the company that installed my boiler to see what they can do and they gave me an alternative – an indirect water heater that runs right off my boiler, which, at least in the winter, I’m using anyway.

And it’s a good thing I got them in too – the run-off from my boiler was leaking and I had a puddle on the floor. A couple of boxes got wet and I’m going to have to throw out a few pillows, but nothing earthshattering was ruined. They came back and replaced the pipe for $100. And they didn’t insist on cash! What a concept!

I haven’t called the water heater rental company yet because I want to get all the information I can to make a decision whether to buy or rent, which will depend on how much it all costs. That cost will also include getting out of the contract with the rental company. When I call them, I’m still going to complain about the contractor’s lack of professionalism. I’ll keep you posted.