Life in progress

Monthly Archives: May 2020


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What Day is it Anyway? Thursday, May 7th, 2020

My day today so far–9:00pm: 

We’ve had two days in a row of walking around the block, so that’s been nice. I have a little squirrel friend I’ve taken pictures of when I’ve seen him. I know it’s him (or her … we’re not that friendly … more acquaintances, I guess) because he/she has a tail with a white tip.

I didn’t take the first picture until I’d seen him/her a few times already. This one is from March.

Then here’s one from a couple of weeks ago, I think (who knows what week it is?).

Apparently he/she made it across the road. Or he/she turned back, one or the other, because this is him/her yesterday.

Feel free to speculate in the comments about why my acquaintance’s tail has a white tip. I’m thinking he/she had a run in with some bleach.

So, yeah. It doesn’t take much to amuse me these days. My world is getting smaller. As is yours, I imagine.

I spent a good chunk of the last two days listening to my short, light paranormal romance story. Listening really is the best way to find missing words and other mistakes the eye skips over. I plan to publish it on Amazon on May 19th.

Here’s the cover. Designed by yours truly.

Keeps me amused. Hopefully it will keep readers amused for an hour or so, too.

 

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, May 6th, 2020 – Ironic Independence

As I was about to go upstairs to my room to work yesterday, I turned to Alex and asked him if he could do something independently. I had one hand full, so I could only sign the two-handed ASL sign with one hand.

He wanted to be sure he understood me right, so he signed “again,” then held his hand up to mine, and together, we signed the word “independent.”

How ironic.

Here’s what the sign looks like, if you’re interested.

https://www.signasl.org/sign/independent

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


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What Day is it Anyway? Tuesday, May 5th, 2020

My day today so far–11:05pm: 

I’m having one of those I-have-no-idea-what-I-did-today days. I was certainly confused over what day it was all day. For some reason, my brain wanted it to be Monday again.

I know I went for a walk with Alex today, because I remember how cold it was.

Oh, and I went out to get the mail, opened an envelope, gave myself a paper cut, then forgot about it until the hand sanitizer hit it.

Yeah, that wince you just did? That was me.

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? Monday, May 4th, 2020

My day today so far–11:29am: 

It takes me three days to drink a bottle of wine. Four, sometimes. For the last two mornings (after drinking wine the night before), the heartburn has returned.

I refuse to believe it, damn it!

It’s the stress.

Yeah, let’s stick with that.

The child is restless today, so I’ve spent most of the morning being screamed at. Hopefully he won’t be stubborn, and he’ll want to go for a walk.

Yesterday:

Working backwards …

Midnight came and went (into this morning) and I decided to turn off my computer rather than write a late #WDIIA post and write one this morning instead. Which makes sense, really. At the rate I’ve been going, I should change the title to What Day Was It Anyway?

Earlier in the evening, I checked the local news and discovered the nursing home we were going to move my mother into has a Covid-19 outbreak. Dodged the bullet by a matter of hours there, as the decision came from the government to close new admissions to nursing homes less than a day before she was scheduled to be transferred. She’s still doing okay at the hospital.

I got a good chunk of work done on my short story, Pixy, yesterday afternoon, so I treated myself to a walk down by the water. I took a picture of this broken old tree, cracked but miraculously alive and still growing leaves, it’s top hanging in the lake, level with its roots.

That walk, combined with the one I took yesterday morning with Alex, netted me an interesting number of steps. 11,111. Maybe it’s some sort of sign.

Screenshot of my phone’s step counter showing 11,111 steps.

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? #SoCS Edition Saturday, May 2nd, 2020

Do not add water. To Campbell’s Everyday Gourmet Soups or gremlins.

Speaking of gremlins, not soup, it’s fun to dream up a world around a supernatural creature. To make rules as you go. I don’t actually know if there’s a “rule” around water and gremlins, or if that was just created for the movie, but rules like that are often made up.

Like the sparkly vampires in Twilight that can go out during the day. Or my incubi in my series, The Great Dagmaru. Yes, I looked into the mythology quite deeply, but I didn’t necessarily stick to the rules.

All this to say I’ve been working today on a short story I plan to publish this month. It was written originally for an anthology of paranormal romances, but I’m working through it and changing a few things. It’s a romance between a pixie and a human.

Again, I’ve studied the mythology, but I’m loosely basing it on that. Not following the rules, necessarily.

Adding water, if you will. 😉

I finally got into my bottle of wine. Can you tell?

 

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

This adaptation of #WDIIA and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you by both. 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/2020/05/01/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-2-2020/ Or you can link to this post if you just want to write a What Day is it Anyway? post.


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The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – May 1, 2020

It’s late on the 1st of May–it might even be the 2nd of May by the time I publish this–but I’m here with your Escapist Coloring Club prompt anyway. 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 May to link back here.

I failed at completing a lot of things last month, and colouring and getting the mid-month reminder out were two of them. If you’ve been reading my daily posts, that won’t come as a surprise.  So here is the before picture of my April colouring page, which would normally be posted on or around the 15th:

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

 

And here’s the whole thing:

I was going to leave the green bits ’til last, but I didn’t even get all the flowers finished. Maybe I’ll get a chance to come back to this one.

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

Willow at willowdot21

Anita at anitashope

Janet at Janet’s Smiles

Jenna at revivedwriter

Ruth at Ruth Blogs Here

Colline at Colline’s Blog

June Ann at jaquintinwriter

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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What Day is it Anyway? Friday, May 1st, 2020

My day today so far–7:05pm: 

And just like that, the heartburn is gone. It’s gotta be stress.

The only thing I’ve done that’s picture-worthy today … well, even that I didn’t do today. I took some photos for the Escapist Coloring Club, for when I post the prompt. Which I promise I’ll try to post later.

I did go for a walk with Alex today, but it was dull and damp outside, and nothing really inspired me. It’s supposed to be gorgeous outside tomorrow, so hopefully the crowds on the sidewalks and up the quiet street we usually take won’t be heavy. In some of the bigger cities, they’ve closed smaller streets for the pedestrians. Not here, though.

I feel sorry for those who can’t get out for walks at all, and I’m grateful I still can.

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 May 2/2020

Friday’s here! And so is your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt! Well, we made it to the fifth month. Only seven more first of the months before 2020 is behind us. Yipee! Here’s your SoCS prompt for this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “directions.” Find a household cleaner/bottle of shampoo/something in the freezer/anything you can find with instructions on it, then copy down a single direction (just one) on how to use/cook/etc. your chosen thing, and make it the first line or word of your post. Then keep writing whatever comes out. 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 30th, 2020 – Zilch

 

My day today so far–11:59pm: 

I spent my entire Thursday thinking it was Friday. I guess I should have written this post earlier, eh?

I think the reason for my confusion (other than the whole every-day-is-exactly-the-same-as-every-other-day thing) was the fact that I finished cleaning up my mum’s place and Thursday felt like the last day of a week in which I had an extra day off.

It makes sense in my head.

If it wasn’t for the heartburn, I’d totally be drinking wine right about now.

But anyhoo, I decided to make today a vacation day. So aside from going through papers in my room to find some stuff the hospital needs for my mother, I did nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Zip.

And it felt good.

The day just sorta slipped by so fast, I was surprised to see it was ten o’clock when it was ten o’clock. Because what other time would it be at ten o’clock? Yeah. 10:00.

But I sure was surprised!

Oh to hell with it.

Where’s the wine?

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!