Life in progress

Monthly Archives: April 2020


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AtoZ/What Day is it Anyway? MONday, April 6th, 2020 – Endurance

 

My day today so far–12:25pm: 

Endurance. I think it should be the word of the year, not just the day.

I got to the store this morning–found out I can, in fact, go in during the senior’s hour because of Alex’s condition, so I’ll do that next week. It took me a bit more time there this morning since they’ve got arrows on the floor now making the aisles one-way. I’ll be sure to have a list ready next week, so I don’t have to double back. Today, I needed items on two lanes that were the wrong way from where I was standing at the opposite end from where the cashiers were. Uncaffeinated as I was, I got a bit lost. 😛

I did find TP, but I dropped it on the floor in the grocery store. So the package will sit in the trunk of my car until Friday when any traces of the virus should have died.

As I packed my grocery bags, I asked the cashier how she’s holding up. She said she gets a ball of fear in her chest every day she has to go to work. This despite the plexi-glass, the gloves, the disinfecting of every surface.

Endurance.

It’s something we’ll deal with for a while to come.

Yesterday:

Alex decided to be lazy, even though it was nice out. I got some work done in my car again. I talked to my mum on the phone. It was one of her more confused days. She asked if I was both Lindas. Oh, how I wish I was more than one Linda sometimes.

Why I’m writing this post:

Because if you’re like me and stuck at home already, or if you’re going to be like me soon, the days of the week are going to be hell to keep track of. We have a wonderful community here on WordPress and all over the Internet as well, and I’m sure many people are feeling nervous and/or isolated. I want to make sure every one of us has somewhere to congregate and someone to talk to.

I want everyone to know that you can start discussions with each other in the comments, and if you’d like to write your own “What Day is it Anyway?” post, you can link to this one. Hashtag #WDIIA.

Let’s keep in touch!


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What Day is it Anyway? Sunday, April 5th, 2020

My day today so far–4:13pm: 

Another failed attempt to get out of bed in time to go to the grocery store. But we’re not desperate for anything yet, so it’s really no big deal. I’m serious about keeping my visits down to once a week–the less time I spend around people in an enclosed space, the better.

Apart from that, I’ve been out to work on my book in the car for a couple of hours, and while I’ve been home, I’ve been fighting with Alex. He wants me to look for an old Wii game of The Price is Right. We’ve never been able to win it, so I refuse to look for it. As I write this, I’m sitting on the floor in my bedroom with my back against the door while he pushes on it.

My life is so exciting.

Yesterday:

I had a shower! Yay! When I was finished, I opened the shower curtain and saw Alex’s pants where he’d left them on the floor. In the creases is the eye and one ear of a cat, with a giant paw on its head.

Do you see it?

Here, I outlined it for you.

Did I mention my life is exciting?

Why I’m writing this post:

Because if you’re like me and stuck at home already, or if you’re going to be like me soon, the days of the week are going to be hell to keep track of. We have a wonderful community here on WordPress and all over the Internet as well, and I’m sure many people are feeling nervous and/or isolated. I want to make sure every one of us has somewhere to congregate and someone to talk to.

I want everyone to know that you can start discussions with each other in the comments, and if you’d like to write your own “What Day is it Anyway?” post, you can link to this one. Hashtag #WDIIA.

Let’s keep in touch!


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AtoZ/What Day is it Anyway? #SoCS Edition Saturday, April 4th, 2020

 

Started off my day telling Alex to throw away a calendar page that he had stuck to the fridge. It’s a little calendar that I get from my real estate broker every year. Problem was (and why he looked at me as if I was nuts), I told him to throw out April. Because I forgot April hasn’t already passed.

This staying at home thing is affecting me on a deep level. On the surface, I’m okay. Just flying through the days like they were nothing. (Which is part of the problem, I guess–they consist of nothing.) But it’s the underlying stuff. The effect it has going on under the rug, so to speak, that I don’t think we’ll find out about until this is all over.

Or I could just be thinking too much.

Still, I think it will be a generation or two before we forget all the lessons we learned from this, whether good or bad.

Let’s hang on to the good ones.

My mum sounded good on the phone earlier. Still very forgetful, of course, but I find she’s more “with it” when she’s craving a cigarette. It’s like all her mental energy goes into finding a way to get one, and she’s clearer than ever. She can’t have one, being in the hospital, and she can’t leave her room since there’s a Covid-19 outbreak on the floor she’s on.

At this point, I think it’s fate. One way or another, with her smoking and having to go out to a bench close to the sidewalk at the home, she was probably as likely if not more likely to catch it there. Right now she’s in a place where they’re taking every precaution known to man.

And hey, she survived literally breaking her neck …

Going out for a walk now. I need to clear these deep thoughts out of the cobwebs of my grey matter.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. I’ll try to reply when I’m not quite as overwhelmed.

Love to all. ❤

 

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This adaptation of #AtoZ2020, #WDIIA and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you by all three. To join us in the SoCS tradition, click the following link where you’ll find all the instructions and the other participants’ posts in the comments. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/04/03/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-4-2020/ Or you can link to this post if you just want to write a What Day is it Anyway? post.


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AtoZ/What Day is it Anyway? Friday, April 3rd, 2020 – Challenges

 

My day today so far–4:33pm: 

Challenges abound.

I started off the day early with Alex insisting on going outside to get the blue boxes since the recycling truck had been. I argued with him that it wasn’t safe for him to touch them, but he wasn’t gonna wait.

I’m sure if my neighbours didn’t think me crazy before, the sight of me, in PJs, my winter boots, and coat, out in the middle of the road at 7:15, picking up the pieces of paper that had flown out of my recycling bins in the night has likely cemented their opinion.

We didn’t manage to go out for a walk today because of the rain, but I did sit in the car down by the water to work on my book, so there’s that.

Then I came home and dealt with the hospital.

And therein lies the long story that I mentioned yesterday.

On Sunday, March 22nd, my mother collapsed at the home. They put her in an ambulance and sent her to the hospital–her heart was stopping for 10 seconds every once in a while. The doctor called me and asked if I wanted her to have a pacemaker. I said yes.

A few days later they transported her to Kingston, she had the operation and was back in town the same day. All well and good. On Wednesday, the 1st, she was ready to come out of the hospital. Yay!

Except …

The home won’t have her back. Because there are cases of Covid-19 in the hospital, she’d have to stay in isolation in her room for 14 days. Only my mother wouldn’t remember that for 14 minutes. So I had a choice–pay a security guard out of my own pocket to stand by her door 24/7 for 14 days, or find an alternative. I can’t have her here at home because of Alex’s cardiac issues (if she does have the virus … let’s just say it wouldn’t go well for him), so I’ve been on the phone a lot.

Mostly to discover there are no spots available in nursing homes.

So the hospital will keep her until there is one.

And I’m not allowed to visit. I haven’t seen her since the middle of March, and probably won’t until this virus mess is over. I’m guessing July if we’re lucky.

So I’m just burying myself in my work and my kids, and trying not to think about it all too much. Because what can I do but worry?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Yesterday:

More of the same.

Why I’m writing this post:

Because if you’re like me and stuck at home already, or if you’re going to be like me soon, the days of the week are going to be hell to keep track of. We have a wonderful community here on WordPress and all over the Internet as well, and I’m sure many people are feeling nervous and/or isolated. I want to make sure every one of us has somewhere to congregate and someone to talk to.

I want everyone to know that you can start discussions with each other in the comments, and if you’d like to write your own “What Day is it Anyway?” post, you can link to this one. Hashtag #WDIIA.

Let’s keep in touch!


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS April 4/2020

Friday is here and what difference does it make? Well, Friday means it’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, so there’s that. I’ll be sure the prompt word lines up with the A to Z Challenge every week in April, so if you want to do a two-in-one, this is the place to be. Here’s your SoCS prompt for this week:

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

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here to 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 beautiful 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!!

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

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. I will post the prompt here on my blog every 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 will simply be a single word to get you 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 all of them! 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 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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AtoZ/What Day is it Anyway? Thursday, April 2nd, 2020 – Bother

My day today so far–2:22pm: 

My AtoZ word of the day–bother–doesn’t nearly express my day so far (yesterday, too), but it was the closest synonym for pain (in the ass and other places) I could come up with.

Holy shamoly, where do I start?

Let’s skip the “Yesterday” section since it all melds into today.

Yesterday, I somehow twisted my foot while sitting down and ended up with a cramp that lasted hours. While dealing with that, I twisted my opposite knee going down the stairs, which is something I do on a regular basis anyway, so I was stuck putting most of my weight on the sore foot to keep from collapsing in agony because of the knee.

This morning the foot was better, so we did end up going for a walk. The knee’s okay as long as I don’t bend it on the stairs, so I look like a toddler going up and down leading with only one foot. It’s actually pretty funny.

I got a photo today that shows the amazing neighbourhood I live in. I need to get closer to get a good picture of that fence. It looks original. The church is 202 years old.

Click to enlarge.

Photo: The back of a very large church and what was probably the original housing for the minister. An ornate, knee-high, wrought-iron fence runs between.

In other news:

I’ve had a few telephone conversations over the past 24 hours that tell me there are a lot of people out there with no understanding of this virus, judging by the surprise from the callers who were amazed that I understood. I’m going to leave you hanging on the meaning of that sentence until tomorrow.

Why I’m writing this post:

Because if you’re like me and stuck at home already, or if you’re going to be like me soon, the days of the week are going to be hell to keep track of. We have a wonderful community here on WordPress and all over the Internet as well, and I’m sure many people are feeling nervous and/or isolated. I want to make sure every one of us has somewhere to congregate and someone to talk to.

I want everyone to know that you can start discussions with each other in the comments, and if you’d like to write your own “What Day is it Anyway?” post, you can link to this one. Hashtag #WDIIA.

Let’s keep in touch!


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The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – April 1, 2020

April 1st is here, and so is your Escapist Coloring Club prompt. If you’d like to join the club, all you have to do is post pictures of your own colouring, your kids’ colouring, or that of anyone you know and have permission to share. This is a month-long prompt, which means you have all of April to link back here.

I didn’t manage to get the mid-month reminder done in March, but I’ll try harder this month. Here is the before picture:

And here are the closeup bits: (Click for a closer look.)

 

 

And here’s the whole thing:

I did the same thing as last month, leaving the green bits ’til last. I think I’ve found my favourite way to colour!

Thank you so much to everyone who joined in in March. Here are all the projects from last month, in case you missed any:

Willow at willowdot21

Margret at Margret’s Life Journey

Ruth at Ruth Blogs Here

Colline at Colline’s Blog

Janet at Janet’s Smiles

Jenna at revivedwriter

Dar at Darswords

I look forward to seeing your new projects throughout the coming month!

Please find the “rules” below.

1. This prompt is designed for relaxation. As such, I encourage you to take your time to link your own post here, BUT, when you comment, please click the “Notify me of new comments via email” button. That way you’ll receive a notification when someone else links their project and you won’t miss anything. As with all the prompts, the more you visit others, the more your community of like-minded people grows.

2. Ping back! It’s important so that I and other people can come and read your post. To execute a pingback, just copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into the body of your post. 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.

3. There will be a prompt on the first of every month. I will try to post the prompt here on my blog at 9:30am -5 GMT. The prompt will simply be photos of my own colouring project. If you would like to host this prompt on your blog on another week during the month, either once, occasionally, or on a regular basis, please e-mail me at hilllindagmaru at gmail dot com and we’ll get you set up. All I ask is that you have an active blog and that you regularly reply to comments and visit other blogs.

4. Feel free to use The Escapist Coloring Club badge in your post.

5. Have fun!


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AtoZ/What Day is it Anyway? Wednesday, April 1st, 2020 – Amnesia

My day today so far–10:51pm: 

Author’s note: I’m writing this coffeeless, so whatever mumbo jumbo I lay down on this page can be attributed to that.

Amnesia is definitely the word of the day, since I totally forgot today is day 1 of the A to Z Challenge. Even though I wrote about it yesterday. Aside from having a brain fart, I woke up at 10 this morning (which explains the lack of caffeine so far), and I haven’t done much. It’s a gorgeous-looking day outside, though the thermometer still says it’s cold. I hope we’ll get out for a couple of walks.

Yesterday:

We went for two walks yesterday. I have yet to hit 10K steps this week, but my feet are thanking me for it anyway. No TP at the stores. I keep thinking of something I saw on Facebook last week, that the youngest of our generation will be saying to their grandkids that during the Great Toilet Paper Depression of ’20, we had to drag our butts uphill–both ways.

I hope it doesn’t come to that.

P.S. If anyone doing the AtoZ Challenge could let me know if I’m supposed to link back to anything, I’d appreciate it.

P.P.S. I didn’t forget The Escapist Coloring Club! I’ll post the April 1st prompt later–after coffee!!!

Why I’m writing this post:

Because if you’re like me and stuck at home already, or if you’re going to be like me soon, the days of the week are going to be hell to keep track of. We have a wonderful community here on WordPress and all over the Internet as well, and I’m sure many people are feeling nervous and/or isolated. I want to make sure every one of us has somewhere to congregate and someone to talk to.

I want everyone to know that you can start discussions with each other in the comments, and if you’d like to write your own “What Day is it Anyway?” post, you can link to this one. Hashtag #WDIIA.

Let’s keep in touch!


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One-Liner Wednesday, April 1st, 2020 – Signs of Life

Life goes on.

Photo: Crocuses coming up amidst last year’s dead leaves and twigs.

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 lovely badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com