Life in progress

Monthly Archives: May 2017


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One-Liner Wednesday – A Dog’s Purpose

Winston made me laugh: he jumped up on the couch and sat on the remote control, changing the TV to the pay-per-view channel featuring A Dog’s Purpose. Good boy!

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If you would like to participate in this prompt, 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 pingback, 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.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback 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. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

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

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by Dan Antion


by 38 Comments

Attack of the Puppy-Sized Spider

So I’m driving down the highway last night, cruising along at about 115km/hr (around 75mph) when out of the corner of my eye I see the silhouette of a spider crawling down my window.

“Oh God, it’s a spider,” I exclaim to my adult son in the passenger seat.

“I see it,” he says.

“Can you kill it? Without going across my line of sight?”

“Maybe,” he says. He’s panicking too. He hates bugs. He once tried to jump out of a moving van because we had a fruit fly travelling with us. No joke. Okay, he was three years old at the time, but you get the picture.

“If you can’t kill it, just watch where it goes. Tell me if it gets too close to me. NO WAIT! Don’t tell me.”

“Okay. I won’t tell you. But you might want to pull over.”

“I can’t pull over for a spider!! We’re on the frickin’ highway!”

“Okay, okay,” he says, sounding more anxious than ever. “But you don’t want to know where it is right now.”

“DON’T TELL ME! DO YOU WANT TO DIE?” We’re passing two transport trailers at this point, and I’ve sped up to 130 to get to the offramp. We’re almost home.

“NO! No, it’s okay. It’s nowhere near you.”

We stay quiet. I’m trying to sit as far away from the driver’s door as possible; I can see him looking my way out of the corner of my eye.

“It’s really dark,” he says. “I don’t see it anymore.”

I get off the highway and force myself to stay calm until we get to the parking lot of the nearest Tim Horton’s. As soon as I park the car I start looking for the beast.

“It crawled along your arm and into the back seat,” my son admits. “It was only this big though.” He holds his hand up and forms an “o” that’s less than the size of a dime.

“No, it’s huge,” I argue.

He looks at me, but says nothing.

“Well, thank you for not telling me it was crawling on me,” I say. “I didn’t want to die tonight.”

“Me neither.”

Then I say, “Okay, I’m going in to get a coffee. You stay here and look for the spider.” (It’s such a privilege, being a mom.)

“Get me a croissant,” he says. It’s the least I can do.

A few minutes later he comes into the restaurant. “I couldn’t find the spider.”

“Oh no,” I sigh.

I managed to get us the rest of the way home without freaking out last night, but we still haven’t found the spider. Despite the fact that it was the size of a puppy.

Anyone want a really cheap car?


by 11 Comments

#SoCS – Smell

I have a funny smell in my house right now. I think it’s a bag of garbage that needs to get out to the garage. Maybe I should put it out before it leaves by itself. Yeah, it’s gonna grow legs soon – that’s how ripe it’s getting.

It must really suck to have a sniffer as good as my dog’s. I can throw a dog biscuit out into the back yard and he’ll find it with his nose. He’ll start with a wide circle and go around and around in smaller circles until he finds it. It’s a target.

Winston

He’s definitely a hound.

When I write, I try to include smells. It helps to put a reader into the story when they can relate a smell to a scene. So what would fiction for dogs be like? All smells with the occasional command stuck in that they can relate to?

Other dog, other dog, cat, food, bone, SIT! Pant pant omnomnomnomnom…

Bestseller. New Pork Times.

This (woof!) post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link and join in! https://lindaghill.com/2017/05/26/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-2717/


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS May 27/17

Friday’s here and with it, your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. I’ve been in a mad dash to get a project finished this week. Wrapped it up a couple of hours ago, so I’m free for the weekend. Relatively free, that is. I still have my little monster lovely son to look after. Here’s your prompt for this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “smell.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

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 our 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!!

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. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

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!


by 27 Comments

One-Liner Wednesday – I’m Baffled

Why would they hang red dresses from the trees around an Anglican church? Am I missing something?

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If you would like to participate in this prompt, 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 pingback, 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.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback 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. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

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

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by Dan Antion


by 20 Comments

We Have a Winner! 2017-18 One-Liner Wednesday Badge

It was a pretty tight race there for a while, but we have a clear winner for this year’s One-Liner Wednesday badge – no intervention by yours truly was needed.

Before I announce the winner, let’s take one more opportunity to appreciate the retiring badge by Wes. Wes’s badge served us well for over a year. With poignant quotes and a lovely backdrop, this wonderful badge will be missed.

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

Thanks, Wes, where ever you are!

Now for our runners-up:

In a tie for last place, we have Prompt Tree by Lisa and I’m Up Here! by Maggie .

In fourth, it’s Black and White by Allan.

A close third was had with Yellow Badge by Matt

I hope all of you, as well as our second place contestant will try again next time. It’s been fun, hasn’t it? 😀

For a while it was neck and neck. I thought our second place winner was going to take the prize, but first place came from behind and ended up taking a big lead.

So. In second place…

Are you ready?

In second place we have…

Drumroll please…

Birds Flying by JoAnna which means our winner is Dan Antion with his Birds on a Wire!

Congratulations Dan!

And thank you once again to all the contestants! Your participation is greatly appreciated, as is your hard work. I hope you’ll all give yourselves a pat on the back.

Onwards and upwards!

 


by 18 Comments

VOTE HERE – for the 2017-18 One-Liner Wednesday Badge

It’s after midnight and all the entries for this year’s One-Liner Wednesday badge contest are in. We have some great badges to choose from this year–I have a feeling it’s going to be a close race.

Be sure to check out all the badges before you vote. Please note the descriptions I’ve given them: they’ll be what you vote for on the poll. Here they are:

Yellow Badge by Matt

Birds Flying by JoAnna

Prompt Tree by Lisa

Black and White by Allan

Birds on a Wire by Dan

I’m Up Here! by Maggie

I encourage the contestants and all their supporters to share their choices for best badge far and wide. Get all your friends to vote!

The poll will be available until Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at noon EST (GMT-5), so get your vote in while you can! The results will be posted Tuesday afternoon.

Best of luck to all the contestants! Thanks for participating!!


by 4 Comments

There’s still time to get your submission in!

EDIT: Submissions are now closed.

The window for entering the 2017-2018 One-Liner Wednesday badge contest closes at 11:59pm EST (GMT-5) today, Sunday May 21st, 2017. I’ll post the poll for you to vote for your favourite badge tomorrow at about noon. Voting will be open for 24 hours.

If you’d like to take a peek at the contestants so far, here’s a handy list (in the order they were received):

Martians Attack: https://martiansattack.wordpress.com/2017/05/15/one-liner-wednesday-a-new-badge/

Anything Is Possible: https://joannaoftheforest.wordpress.com/2017/05/17/one-line-of-birds-my-entry-for-our-new-1linerweds-badge/

Cries from an Unkempt Garden: https://criesfromanunkemptgarden.wordpress.com/2017/05/17/new-photo-badge-submission-for-one-liner-wednesday/

Ohm Sweet Ohm: https://ohmsweetohm.me/2017/05/20/one-liner-wednesday/

No Facilities: https://nofacilities.com/2017/05/21/vote-for-me/

The Zombies Ate My Brains: https://mcwilson1956.wordpress.com/2017/05/21/vote-for-dan/

If you enter the contest between now and midnight tonight, make sure you drop your link in the comment section here, and don’t forget to link to the original submission call post here, https://lindaghill.com/2017/05/15/one-liner-wednesday-new-call-for-submissions/ where you’ll find the rules for entry.

Best of luck to all the contestants, above and to follow!


by 30 Comments

#SoCS – All or Almost Nothing

All the time I’ve blogged up until now–all four and a half years–I’ve been jobless. Okay, I have the 24/7 job of single-handedly looking after my two disabled kids, but other than a paper route, I haven’t had a job that paid me anything. I haven’t needed to work due to the money my kids receive from the government, thank goodness. But that won’t last forever. If one of them decides to move out, or if I don’t receive as much money when Alex turns eighteen next year (which I expect will be the case), I won’t have enough money to keep a roof over their heads.

Thus, the career in editing. And my forced inattention to my blog and those who support it. It’s not an “all or nothing” situation yet, but you might have noticed that I’m not visiting you as much lately. It’s not a case that I don’t want to, believe me. There are just so many hours in a day.

To be honest, I feel almost guilty enough to stop doing the prompts. Although you seem to be doing okay without my input, I feel like I’m being rude. Please know I’m doing my best.

In other news, I’ve been trying to get out for walks more often. This editing gig requires a lot of time sitting on my butt, and I decided that before I’m able to take up the entire couch by myself, I needed to get some exercise. Unfortunately, my beloved waterfront trail is under water at the moment. Here are some before and after shots:

So instead of walking down at the waterfront, I’ve been strolling around the neighbourhood, taking pictures of doors and flowers and bunnies.

Join us in Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Click this link to find out how! You know what’s better than SoCS? Nothing!


by 42 Comments

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS May 20/17

It’s Friday, and time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. I’m spending the day with my youngest son, as he has a day off from school. It’s been loud, it’s been distracting, and there have been tickles. All in all, not too bad.

Here’s your prompt for this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “all or nothing.” Use one, use both, use them any way you’d like. Bonus points if you start and end your post with one (or each) of them. 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 our 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!!

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. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

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!