Life in progress

Monthly Archives: June 2020


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What Day is it Anyway? Tuesday, June 30th, 2020

My day today so far–9:44am: 

I really need to start writing these posts again. I’m sooo lost now that “school” is finished. Not that school had much to do with my life, but I at least had an inkling of when the weekends were.

Alex and I have already been for a walk this morning. Even though the temperature was decent and there was a breeze, for a while I wondered if he’d make it home. The humidity really messes with his breathing. He was gasping for air by the time we made it home. He had to sit in the kitchen beside the window AC unit for half an hour to catch his breath.

In a few minutes I’m off to pick up my mother to take her to the nursing home, finally. I haven’t seen her since the beginning of March, a week before she went into hospital for a pacemaker. She’s being released from the hospital’s care today, though she hasn’t been there physically for a while.

The crazy thing is she had to have a Covid test on Sunday, then she has 24 hours to move into the nursing home after the negative result. But I’m allowed to transport her. It makes no sense. What if I was sick? One way or another, the hardest part is going to be not hugging her. I’d never live with myself if I did somehow have it and didn’t know it, and I caused an outbreak in the home. They’re isolating her for 14 days just in case, but still.

This plague seriously needs to be over already.

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 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 Sunday, June 28th, 2020

I just realized “No news is good news” has taken on a whole new meaning. I decided yesterday that I had to get away from it all. All the noise of the outside world that I can’t do anything about except stare at in horror. It’s like sitting in front of a train wreck all day, hoping somehow they’ll clean it up, but with every new piece of metal they move, there’s something even scarier or more insidious underneath.

And yeah, that’s the cheerful place I’m in.

Flirting with the next most morbid snippet is invading every minute of my day. And if it doesn’t stop, I’m going to turn into a clump of fat and bones with a brain that won’t turn off. I recognized myself in an article yesterday. I’ll link it below.

For now, it’s coffee, tea, or me. I’m going to get my morning coffee.

But what I really need to choose is “me.”

Article: Doomscrolling is Slowly Eroding Your Mental Health

 

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

This positive 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/2020/06/26/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-27-2020/ 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 Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS June 27/2020

Friday’s here and so is your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. I’ve already been to the grocery store this morning. And I got gas in my car! First time since the beginning of March! Here’s your SoCS prompt for this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “coffee, tea, or me.” Find a flirty phrase of your own or use “coffee, tea, or me” in your post. 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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One-Liner Wednesday, June 24th – Butterflies

created with Canva

Photo: A monarch butterfly sitting on a plant. Caption reads: “Butterflies are self propelled flowers.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

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? #SoCS Edition Saturday, June 20th, 2020

Well, the world is still going to hell in a handbasket. I wanted to write a couple of times in the past couple of days, but Alex has been bored and I’ve been trying to edit (and failing) and I really just want to give up lately. I’m so tired.

Tired of looking after the kids 24/7 for the last year (aside from a weekend in September when I went away … with a horrible cold).

Tired of looking for time I don’t have.

Tired of living in this tiny bubble between my house and the grocery store, and occasional walks around the block.

Tired of not doing a damned thing for myself for more than an hour or two at a time.

Tired of complaining, damn it!

It’s one o’clock.

I need to do this earlier next week.

Now, I need some zzzzzz…

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

This whiny 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/2020/06/19/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-20-2020/ 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 Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS June 20/2020

It’s Friday! No, really, it is! And that means it’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. It’s getting unseasonably hot here again. … oh, wait … is it summer? I have no clue. Here’s your SoCS prompt for this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “zz.” Find a word with double-z in it and use it in your post. Enjoy!

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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One-Liner Wednesday, June 17th Oh, how true …

created at Canva.com

Photo: A blond teddy bear holding a red heart with the caption on the wall beside him: “People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

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? Sunday, June 14th, 2020

My day today so far–8:05pm: 

I went for my weekly trip to the grocery store this morning and forgot half of what I went for.

Why, you ask?

I’ll tell you.

I was about two-thirds of my way through my shopping when a woman told me they had Lysol Wipes on the shelf.

“Oooh,” I said, and promptly looked for the aisle. But I was at the wrong end of a one-way “street” now that they have arrows on the floor for social distancing. So, being the good girl I am, I went down the adjacent aisle so I could come back the other way.

I turned up the correct aisle, and as you can imagine, I was shocked to find an older woman with a cart coming the other way. The wrong way.

“I know I’m going the wrong way,” she said, “but they have Lysol Wipes, and you don’t see those very often.”

She reached them just ahead of me so I waited while she plucked one off the shelf and put it in her cart.

“I’ll get out of your way,” she said and turned to go.

I got to the spot where she’d turned around. She’d taken the last one.

That’ll teach me not to follow the rules.

Nice guys always finish last, don’t they?

And so yeah, I forgot half of what I went for because after that I was distracted by the voice in my head chanting BITCH!

…concentrate on the pretty flowers, Linda…

(If you don’t get the reference, read yesterday’s post.)

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 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, June 13th, 2020

Heartburn’s back.
Felt all day Iike I swallowed a bag of nails.
My only guess is stress.
Even our walk didn’t help with the pain like it usually does.
I got a picture of the tree that fell. If you zoom in, you’ll see where the yellow tape ends, that’s where the top of the tree is. I’m glad it didn’t land on anything but the ground.
And here are some caged flowers I found.
I took that last picture just before Alex and I were almost run over by a man on a bike. On the sidewalk. A man who decided, unlike the woman he was riding with, to take the sidewalk instead of the bike lane on the road.
A man who lives right next door to me.
What an ass. He almost gave Alex a heart attack.
… concentrate on the pretty flowers, Linda.

 

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

This sad 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/2020/06/05/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-6-2020/ 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 Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS June 13/2020

Another Friday has arrived and with it, another Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. So, how are you? Are you doing okay? Hanging in there? I hope so. Here’s your SoCS prompt for this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “nail.” Use it as a noun or a verb. 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!