Life in progress

Category Archives: Life


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#SoCS – I Figure

I figure I don’t need to feel too guilty today for not posting my SoCS post until Sunday. I spent most of my free time today helping a friend.

I figure I’m going to be tired tomorrow, though. The clock says 1:23am, but we all know it’s really 2:23 with daylight savings time.

I figure it’s a good thing that I got my new phone last week and had to finally come into the 21st century and get data. This way, Alex can video call me when I’m not home, and I won’t need to feel totally terrified of leaving him alone for ten minutes, since he’ll be able to call me.

I figure I got a pretty good deal, too. My provider started a new deal the day I went in, and I got a free tablet with my phone. They share data.

I figure by now you want to know what kind of phone I got: a new Huawei! I love it so far. And it’s a lot like the old one, so the learning curve is mostly app-related, not phone-related.

I figure it’s got a pretty good camera. I took this as the moon was coming up tonight. Can you see the moon? Follow the bottom tip of the flag straight down–it’s in the crook of the branch. This photo is really zoomed in and not blurry, which is why I figure I’ve got a good camera.

I figure I should get out for a walk soon and take more pictures.

I figure I should go to bed now.

Good night, my friends.

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

This figurative post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Click the following link to find all the other posts in the comment section and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/03/06/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-7-2020/


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One-Liner Wednesday – Oops, I did it again

I found another note to myself on my phone. Care to guess what it means?

Photo: A screenshot off my phone of a note that says “Ozy” and nothing else.

In other news, Alex went back to school on Monday! Yay!!!

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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#SoCS – Imperfect

Perfect is for fiction

Impossible to achieve

Is life stranger than fiction?

If it were, we could be perfect.

Oooh boy, am I drifting tonight. I’ve become a lightweight–half a glass of wine and I can’t think straight. I’m the perfect cheap drunk if nothing else.

Alex is finally feeling better and it’s supposed to rain all day on Monday, so as long as they don’t change that to freezing rain–which would be my luck–he’ll be going to school for the first time since Valentine’s Day. And I know that means I should finally get some work done, but I’ll likely procrastinate most of the day.

I do need a new phone. I have an ancient Huawei that has had no space on it since the day I got it about three years ago. I love the thing, but the apps are starting to act up. It’s time to move on. It’s always a bittersweet moment when I get a new phone. I miss the old one, and I hate the idea of having to get used to where everything is on a new one, but it’s exciting at the same time. Do you know what I mean? Is it like that for you, too?

I’ve been with the same carrier for oh … about 25 years? Is that possible? Maybe a bit less, but not much. I’ve thought about changing, but this company owes me for being loyal. Maybe not as much as my bank, who I’ve been with for 40 years, but close.

Sticking with a company isn’t really rare, I don’t think. Or maybe I’m just weird.

I’ve said that a lot lately–maybe I’m just weird. I’m starting to believe it’s true. Or maybe I’ve always believed it’s true.

I feel like Chinese food.

Maybe I’ll have cheese and crackers.

Yeah.

That’ll be perfect.

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

This tipsy post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Click the following link and check out all the other posts in the comment section, and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/02/28/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-29-2020/

P.S. I had a dream Saturday morning that I was in Japan with Dan Antion. Our mission was to try out a new speedboat that was the size of a Wii balance board. Both of us, at the same time. When I woke up, we were fighting over who would get to wear the only life jacket. Alex was there, too, but he was a cat. And wouldn’t you know it? I’d forgotten to study Japanese, so I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying … Because, after all, one does not expect to wake up in Japan when one goes to sleep in one’s own bed at night.


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One-Liner Wednesday – Written Off

Status update.

Last week I wrote this: Between Family Day on Monday, a snow day yesterday, and Alex complaining before bed that he’s going to be too sick to go to school tomorrow, I think I may just write off this week in terms of getting any work done.

Since then: Alex was off school sick Wednesday and Thursday, Friday was a teacher’s strike, Monday and Tuesday (yesterday) sick still, today we’re getting a foot of snow, so another snow day, tomorrow he has an appointment out of town so no school, and Friday there’s another teacher’s strike.

I’m hoping for Monday.

Winston still agrees.

Photo: My dog, Winston, looking like he’s up to no good.

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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#SoCS – The Sound of Silence

For a dog that’s not very big, Winston, my beagle/Basset cross has a big barrel chest and a huge voice. He always has, even when he was tiny.

He makes all kinds of noises other than the ones you’d expect. He can howl beautifully, and when he really wants attention, especially from someone who’s walked in the door (if they’re a friend or family), it’s almost as though he’s talking with his “rowr rowr rowr” that’s half howl, half cry.

But it’s the sounds he doesn’t make that kill me.

You know, the silent but deadly ones?

Why can’t a dog fart loudly so we can run away before it hits the nostrils?

I can be sitting here on the couch, minding my own business, when suddenly the room smells like I walked into a barn full of cows that have been eating the most sulfurous corn on the planet for three days without being mucked out.

It’s horrid!

I can’t even blame my own farts on the dog because everyone knows that nothing on earth smells as awful as he does.

You’d think all the tissues he eats would stifle some of it, but no!

I’m sure I could change his diet somehow, but he eats everything, including the garbage I’m sure the neighbours throw into my back yard, so there’s not much point in that.

I may have to get a clothes peg off the line outside …

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

This stinky post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to find all the other sweeter-smelling posts in the comment section and join in yourself. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/02/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-22-2020/


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One-Liner Wednesday – Ready to Write It Off

Between Family Day on Monday, a snow day yesterday, and Alex complaining before bed that he’s going to be too sick to go to school tomorrow, I think I may just write off this week in terms of getting any work done.

Winston agrees.

Photo: My dog, Winston, looking like he’s up to no good.

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


by 11 Comments

#SoCS – Cheeky Bugger

Is it Saturday? Oh. No. It’s Sunday already. And I’m late again for my own party.

I remember my mother calling me (and many other people) a cheeky bugger often. I was very cheeky indeed when I was younger. And when my mum was younger, too.

We took her out today to a restaurant to celebrate her 90th birthday. She only remembered when someone mentioned it. And she can’t remember how old she is. I can tell her and she’ll forget again in under a minute. Under 30 seconds, even.

But she’s still smoking. Her breathing sounds horrible–the nurse at the home asked me if I wanted to send her to the hospital tonight, but I can’t be there with her, so the nurse said they’ll keep an eye on her. She has a puffer. My mum, that is. I don’t know if the nurse has one.

It’s rotten, getting old.

My mother never gets involved in conversations. Can’t make decisions. The simplest things confuse her, like whether or not she should have two creams in her coffee or one. In that case, it’s not that she can’t decide, it’s that she doesn’t understand the concept.

But, she still knows she wants to smoke.

Perhaps it’s the only thing that keeps her alert.

A photo of my mum and Alex, signing “friend” together. Taken about 8 years ago.

Not sure how I got from “cheeky” to here. Ah well. Such is stream of consciousness writing.

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

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to find the other participants’ posts in the comment section and see how you, too, can join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/02/14/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-15-2020/


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#SoCS – Unpacking a Thought

There are many ways to go about unpacking a thought or a problem. Some people find walking or exercising helps to clear the mind and open it up to new ideas. I get so many solutions in the shower for my problems when I come across them in my fiction writing, that by rights, I should be the cleanest person in Canada.

But often, when it comes to other issues I need to solve, writing is the best way to unpack what I’m trying to get at. The root can often be found by just spelling out the problem.

Sometimes a list can help, showing me from one step to the next how I can get from A (the problem) to Z (the most positive outcome).

Other times just this: stream of consciousness. You have to wonder what lives inside of our brains that just needs a little nudge to get out. Even memories of what worked before that we’ve long forgotten. They’re there, just buried by all the stress of what we NEED to remember on a daily basis, rather than the things that seem less important. Until they become important.

I have a feeling I’m going to look at this post later and cringe, so I might not reread it at all.

A glass or two of wine will do that.

Speaking of memories … I have no idea why, but I thought tonight of the first time I ever heard Enya. Her song Exile was in the movie L.A. Story. Such a beautiful song. Have a listen.

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

This reflective post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/02/07/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-8-2020/

 

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

Get your free copy of The Magician’s Sire: A Paranormal Romance → Click here


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#SoCS – Multitasking

I make a lot of difficult decisions in the course of a workday. It’s a hazard of the job of an editor. (Please don’t look at the word choices in this post and judge me for them. This exercise doesn’t allow me to edit!) Commas used to give me a hard time, once upon a time. Now I can look at a sentence and say, usually, in a split second whether or not it needs one and where. Still, it’s a critical decision.

But then there are the days in which I have no choices more pressing upon my brain than how many things I can carry from the fridge to the counter in one trip. I have it down to a science on the way to breakfast.

  1. Grab the margarine and the milk.
  2. Put the margarine on the counter beside my coffee cup, pour the coffee, and put in the milk.
  3. Carry the milk back to the fridge, put it in and take out the marmalade.

Simple. I have three things and only two trips.

BUT …

(There has to be a “but.”)

On the way from breakfast, I have a conundrum.

Here, let me draw you a diagram of my kitchen, so you’ve got a visual.

Okay, there we go. There are maybe (a big maybe) two steps from the fridge to the coffeemaker, and if you’re standing between the counter (yes, it is that colour green EXACTLY) and the table, there’s no step. It’s just basically a swivel and you’re there.

Okay, where was I?

Okay. So. I’ve got my coffee (I just have to walk around the island and grab everything I’ve taken out of the fridge from the other side and put it on the table) and I sit at the table and drink my coffee and eat my breakfast. I have three things on the table–my mug, the margarine, and the marmalade.

When I’ve finished my breakfast, I have to do two things: put the margarine and the marmalade back in the fridge, put the mug on the counter close to the coffeemaker, and get my last cup of coffee for the morning.

But I have 3 (count ’em–THREE) things to carry from the table to the counter (or the fridge), and only two hands!!!!

It’s a conundrum … a multitasking conundrum!!!!!

Do I do the opposite of what I did before breakfast: put everything on the counter and then go around, get the milk out of the fridge and pour my coffee, then put everything back? NO! That means two trips to the fridge!

Or, do I put just the coffee on the counter, go back to the table, carry the margarine and the marmalade directly to the fridge, grab the milk, go back to the counter, pour the coffee, then go back to the fridge to put the milk away? I’m still taking two trips to the fridge!!!

I go through this scenario EVERY SINGLE DAY and it DRIVES ME MAD!!

There’s only one obvious solution.

I need to grow another hand.

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

This ranty (how did that happen? SHARE MY PAIN!!!) post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Click the following link to find all the other entries in the comment section and join in. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/31/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-1-2020/

 


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#JusJoJan 31/20 – Chaos

Parenting. Yep, I’m back to talking about that. Alex had a day off school today, and he was all set to go out with his respite worker for a fun day of bowling and the library. He’d been looking forward to it all week.

So what happened when it was time to get dressed to go?

The same thing that happens every time.

He didn’t want to go. I asked Alex a dozen times, and no. He wanted to stay home.

I knew it was a temporary decision. I knew he really wanted to go. But I’ve had enough of fighting to get him out the door every time he actually wants to go.

So I texted the respite worker and told her not to come.

And what happened as soon as I texted the respite worker?

He wanted to go.

So I put my foot down and said no. He’d made his decision. He no longer had a choice.

I’ve done this before, but I’ve let it slide since. It’s time to put an end to it.

The chaos of Alex’s decision making is driving me nuts. It prevents me from being able to work when he’s home, and if I need to go anywhere–really need to go, like I had to today to get groceries–I can’t go. I’m stuck at home with a 19-year-old who’s acting like a baby for no reason except that he enjoys pushing my buttons.

My buttons will no longer be pushed.

Because if I don’t do anything about this now, then when he finishes school for good in a year and a half, I’m going to end up being nothing but a babysitter for my adult son for the rest of my life. And the fact is, I need to work. I can’t keep us in the manner to which we’ve grown accustomed without it.

So this is less a matter of whining and more a public statement that I’ll change my ways. And Alex’s.

Wish us luck.

 

This proclamatory post is brought to you by Just Jot it January! Click the following link and join in! It’s the last day! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/31/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-31st-2020/

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

Get your free copy of The Magician’s Sire: A Paranormal Romance → Click here