Life in progress

Monthly Archives: July 2020


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What Day is it Anyway? #SoCS Edition Saturday, July 11th, 2020

by Chihuly

Take me down to my boat on the river …

I’m trying to remember the last time I was in a boat. Was it a canoe? I love canoeing.

Last time I was in one was on a camping trip with my late husband. I made the mistake of letting him steer. We zigzagged across the lake. I had no idea before that that you could take the long way from one side of a lake to the other.

Or was it the Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls? Again, with my husband. That was a fun trip. I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but we were there with my mother and her sisters. We had one room and they were next door in the hotel. For some reason, my mother was worried about Darren and I going out the night we spent there, so we snuck out for a walk. It was beautiful out when we left the hotel, but there was a sudden rain storm that almost literally swept us off our feet. Seriously, we had to hold on to a fence post.

We went back to the hotel, totally drenched. Not to be deterred from being naughty (from my mother’s perspective at least), we went out AGAIN the next morning in search of Tylenol. My mother, of course, tried to find us while we were gone. She panicked and begged the hotel staff to let her into our room. They were getting ready to use the master key when we got back.

Man, did we get in trouble. That taught me not to go out without my mother’s permission, I tell ya. I was 46 years old at the time.

Niagara Falls, 2010

The view from our room

 

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

This boat trip down memory lane is an adaptation of #WDIIA and Stream of Consciousness Saturday, 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/2020/07/10/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-11-2020/ 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 July 11/2020

Friday is here, and so is your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. Well, the heatwave is still with us. Hoping for some rain on the weekend to water the grass! Here’s your SoCS prompt for this week–it’s a complicated one, so read all of the instructions:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “song.” First, find a picture–the closest one to you. Your prompt is the title and/or the lyrics of the first song that comes to mind when you look at the picture. 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, July 8th – That feeling when…

That feeling when you know you wrote down your fantastic idea for a one-liner but at 1am on Wednesday you go to look it up and it’s nowhere to be found so you end up writing a stupid one-liner that starts with “that feeling when…”

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, July 7th, 2020

My day today so far–8:52pm: 

Alex and I both slept in past the point of decent outside, so no walk today. I think we both needed the rest more. He’ll be bouncing off the walls later, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. I need to get a new power pack for the Wii Balance Board. The cord broke on the old one, and I didn’t keep the original door for the batteries, so they won’t stay in. Maybe I’ll work on getting one of those today.

My biggest day-of-the-week challenge lately is being convinced every day is Sunday. I’m constantly surprised, sometimes even multiple times a day, to find out it’s not Sunday.

Would it be confusing to change the title of these posts from What Day is it Anyway? to What Day of the Week is This Sunday?

Yeah, no. I’ll keep it as is.

Video: Winston, my beagle/Basset cross, sleepily wagging his tail while laying on the couch, his head on a Winnie the Pooh pillow.

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? Monday, July 6th, 2020

My day today so far–3:15pm: 

I started the day once again with a stroll around the block with Alex. We only went out for about 40 minutes: we were back home by 7am. And here I was thinking the lack of summer camp would mean I could sleep in. HA! It’s great to get the exercise in when we can, though. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be 30C (88F) by 8am, so no walk tomorrow.

At 11:00 I went to Best Buy to get Alex’s laptop fixed. The frame around the screen is coming off. It’s under warranty, so no problem with cost. But I had to wait outside in the sun for 30 minutes to get in. The man behind me was yelling at the poor girl at the door because more people were coming out than going in. They were only allowing 10 customers inside at once. The first time he complained that five people had come out but she’d only let one in, she told him thanks for letting her know. After that, she ignored him for the most part. The sixth person who came out–a woman with tattoos who was taking no shit–told him she had waited patiently for her turn when he told her it was okay for her to talk, she’d already been into the store. I felt so sorry for the girl at the door.

When I got to the front of the line and told her I was just there for the Geek Squad, she had to put me into another line, facing the one I’d been in, so facing the man who’d been behind me. He actually apologized to her, saying he understood but it was hot outside. Which was fine, until someone else came out of the store and she didn’t let him in right away. Of course, he started complaining again. I hope she did it on purpose.

I thanked her on the way out of the store. The crap people have to put up with from the entitled will never cease to boggle my mind.

My best friend, John, showed up as I got home to install another air conditioning unit in my upstairs bathroom window. That will make it nicer for sleeping. But to solve my issue of not being able to brain in the heat while trying to work, I emptied out my spare bedroom and cleaned off the desk so I can work downstairs. The room is on the north- and west-facing corner of the house and is surrounded by trees, so it’s nice and cool in here. I’m sitting on a broken office chair, but the seat is fine. I planned to try to keep this space wi-fi free, but I’ve broken that rule already writing this. AFTER this, though, no more wi-fi. I swear.

A week ago, I couldn’t even get into the room. It was (and still is, to an extent) the junk drawer of rooms. The bed is full of bags of my mother’s belongings that I moved out of the retirement home. Which might be just as well. I’m not tempted to lay down for a nap … That crack of dawn walk was a bit much.

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, July 4th, 2020

Today has been less of a day and more of an ordeal. Just getting through the heat.

I can’t brain.

Decisions all went out the window. Or would have if I’d opened them.

All the toss-ups in my life feel life and death.

Like what I was going to have for dinner. (I managed a microwaved TV dinner.)

Cookies or crackers?

Water or … water? (There’s nothing else to drink except tea and coffee. And I don’t do cold tea and coffee. Bleh.)

Half my problem all day has been lack of sleep. I turned out my light last night after 2am and tossed and turned for about an hour. Woke up at 5:55 and thought, I can go back to sleep or I can go out for a walk with Alex. Because we both need the exercise, we went for a walk. I put in 5K steps before 7am. On three hours of sleep.

My bedroom, where I work, was 90 F all day.

I still can’t brain.

Bleh.

P.S. Hope everyone south of the border had a happy 4th of July!

 

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

This brain-mush 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/2020/07/03/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-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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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS July 4/2020

It’s Friday already. Where did the week go? Ah well. Friday means I’m here with your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. It’s a hot one here still. Hoping for a second air conditioner today! Here’s your SoCS prompt for this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “toss.” Use it any way you’d like. 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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The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – July 1, 2020

I made it while it’s still July 1st with 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 July to link back here.

I finished my colouring my calendar page this month! I actually did most of it today, which is sad, because it would have been nice to look at this one completed.  Here’s what it looked like completely untouched:

And this is what it looked like when I got up this morning:

It only took me about an hour and a half to finish it. Here are the parts: (Click for a closer look.)

And here’s the whole thing:

I do love rainbows.

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

Anita at anitashope

Barbara at Teleportingweena

Ruth at Ruth Blogs Here

Jenna at revivedwriter

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? Wednesday, July 1st, 2020

My day today so far–1:27pm: 

Alex dragged me out of bed at 7:20 again to go for a walk before it got hot. There’s no end in sight to this heat wave we’re having, so I suspect we’ll have a few of these early mornings. Time to start putting some real effort into going to bed before 2am.

I haven’t forgotten the Escapist Coloring Club. I also haven’t coloured much of my page, so I’ll try to get a bit more done before I write the July 1st post. Stay tuned.

Thanks very much for all the good wishes yesterday for my mother’s transition to the nursing home. The trip over there went well, though she was confused, understandably. She’s still walking okay, and she recognized me even with my mask on. She asked about a cigarette when we arrived at the new place–she was probably tipped off by the no-smoking sign at the front of the building. Hopefully now that she’s inside she’ll forget again.

I got a call from the nursing staff yesterday afternoon to say she’d been a busy girl. They were having a hard time keeping her in her room. To remind her, they put a gate up. Regression at its best.

She was apparently doing okay until the sun went down. She called me last night in a tizzy, asking to get out of there so she could look after the baby (me) and the dogs (who died back in the 80s), and to go home. I didn’t ask where home was, but she was probably referring to the house she moved out of in 2001, where I grew up.

Everything she owns that went with her yesterday was in quarantine for 24 hours, so she had nothing, nowhere, and no one she recognized. Last I heard, they were going to give her a sleeping pill.

Getting old really sucks.

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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One-Liner Wednesday, July 1st – Spuds

Do you see the face on the left and the butt crack on the right?

C’mon. Tell me you do.

Okay, just in case.

 

Photo: A little light-skinned potato in a bag that has an eye and scars that make it look like a face beside another one that resembles the top of a butt crack. Or I’m seeing things.

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