Life in progress

Category Archives: Life


by 14 Comments

#SoCS and Just Jot It Jan 28 – Distraction

Hello? Can I come out now? Is the world sane in here? I really should know better than to spend the day reading Facebook. It seems the craziness is getting crazier out there, and I feel kinda helpless to do anything, you know? I would…

I was on Anne Rice’s FB page today. She was saying pretty much the same thing I was thinking – too distracted to work. My answer to her in the comments was that it’s we writers (yes, I actually had the balls to put myself in her category) need to write to give people the escape they need. Especially in times like these. Writers give the world not only books, but movies, shows, articles… truth and lies and fantasies through which to travel outside of reality, if for only a little while.

I read somewhere yesterday that we are in a state of low-level stress. In a place where anything could happen at any given moment. We’re on our toes so much more than ever before, for most of us. At least for such a prolonged period.

But here I am bringing the crazy here. I want to forget about it for a while. Get lost in a book that has no fighting. (Guess A Game of Thrones is out.) I need a romance novel, something light, something that will take my mind off it all. I may even be forced into watching TV for a change. Or a movie. Yeah, a movie. Time to put Netflix to good use.

I’m going to hang around and read some blogs first… 🙂 Hope you’ve all had a good day, my friends.

socsbadge2016-17

This post is part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday and…

compromise

Just Jot It January! Click the link to join in and read some awesome posts! https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-and-jusjojan-jan-2817/


by 8 Comments

Just Jot It Jan 27 – Incomplete

The word “incomplete” has been running around in my head all day. Somewhere at the back, where it hasn’t been in the way much. I’ve been trying to figure out what, in my life, is complete. The final conclusion is nothing. But why?

Well, if I really think about it (in the front of my head), if something is complete, I usually set it aside. And sometimes I forget it. This is a good thing, of course, if the complete thing is not a thing I wanted to keep anyway. So what of the things I do wish to hold onto?

I wouldn’t want a relationship to be complete, because what would be the challenge after that? Things that aren’t challenging become boring. Take games, for example. An unchallenging game, like playing Crazy Eights against myself, would quickly turn into a game of 52-card pickup. For me at least. That’s why they invented Solitaire. I’m convinced of it.

And even worse, who would want someone else to complete them? Oh yeah, the end of Jerry Maguire is romantic and all. But just imagine it. Being completed. You wouldn’t need to get up in the morning.

“Honey, breakfast is on the table!”

“Not coming down today, Sweetheart.”

“But, I made pancakes! And coffee!”

“Nope! I’m done. You did me!”

That would be awful! I’m so glad I’m incomplete.

compromise

Many thanks go to Cyn for our prompt today, “incomplete.” You can check out her latest post here: https://cynk.wordpress.com/2017/01/27/fitness-friday-secret-identity/ Go say hi!

And Just Jot It January is still a fun challenge, even if the month is almost complete. Why? ‘Coz you can join in any time! Click here for details and to read all the awesome posts: https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/27/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-27th17/


by 14 Comments

Just Jot It Jan 27 – Extraordinary

I decided today was going to be an extraordinary day, and it was! It started with coffee, and then I had more coffee, and then I took my mother out for coffee… It was extraordinary!

What really made my day, other than coffee, was a rare opportunity to help out a friend by giving her a break from looking after her son this evening. It’s not often I’m in a position where I can do more than take care of myself and my kids, so it was a treat for me to feel like I was giving back for a change.

Here’s to extraordinary days – and to posting before midnight! Gotta hurry up. Luckily I have all this coffee sloshing around inside me.

compromise

Thanks very much to Kelli for our prompt today! If you didn’t catch it, it was “extraordinary”! If you haven’t had a chance yet, please pop over and say hi to her. Here’s her link: https://fortyandfantastique.wordpress.com/about/

You can read all the posts for this prompt here: https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/26/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-26th17/ Check it out and join in!


by 6 Comments

Just Jot It Jan 23 – Compromise

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with compromise. It’s the most wonderful thing in the world to be able to come to an acceptable agreement between two people who want two different things. That is when compromise is a fantastic tool.

But on the other hand, I’m a bit of a control freak. Especially when it comes to the things I want for my family and for myself. If anything stands in the way of what my children need, there is no compromise. Until I’m told there is no possibility, I refuse to give an inch. And I’m the same with the things I want to do for myself. My new career(s) as an author and an editor, for instance. I will not give them up, and I will not compromise my chances of success.

And then there’s my blog. I’ve tried negotiating with it, but strangely, it still demands the same number of hours a day now as it did when I began, four years ago. Back then, I stalked visited other blogs, sometimes six hours a day just hoping for follows. Now that I’ve become somewhat successful at it, new bloggers often come to me. I could very easily still spend six hours a day visiting everyone who visits me. To understand my dilemma, please see the previous paragraph.

It’s a tough call. With my kids, compromise is cut and dry. If I want something different than someone I care about does, that, too, is easy. I compromise. But this work/blog thing is tearing me. I hate to say it, but something, one day, is going to have to give a bit. And I need food on the table.

compromise

Our prompt today was brought to you by the lovely Ritu. Please go and visit, and read her Just Jot It January post here: https://butismileanyway.com/2017/01/23/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-23rd17-compromise/

And a very special thanks to Judy for hosting today’s prompt! I encourage you to visit Judy at her blog here: http://www.edwinasepisodes.com/jusjotjan-january-23-compromise/

Finally, go to today’s prompt post and read all the other excellent posts here: https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/22/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-23rd-compromise/


by 22 Comments

Just Jot It Jan 22 – (dis)contempt

I made up a new word!

“Discontempt”
1. the state of having a lack of contempt for anything.
2. the feeling you have when you’ve eaten too much for your birthday dinner. Oh wait, that’s indigestion. Never mind.

And that’s it for me today. My excuse; it’s my birthday, and I’ll sleep if I want to. Ni’night, all. 😀

compromise

Huge thanks to Judy, for hosting today – you can find her here: http://www.edwinasepisodes.com/

And thanks very much to Rosemary for our prompt today, which I mucked up completely. Here’s where you can find her blog: https://rosemarycarlson.com/

And here’s the prompt post – please join in! https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/22/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-22nd-contempt/


by 20 Comments

#SoCS, Just Jot It Jan 21 – Glass

Ah, finally. After a busy day, sitting with a glass of wine or two, happily flitting to and fro like an insane Pomeranian, trying to choose from the many possibilities on what to write of “glass.”

It’s insane, but here I am communicating to the world as my fingers stroke a keyboard, and symbols which can be read appear on a sheet of backlit glass, to instantaneously fly through the ether and into the homes of so very many onlookers. What power! How would Shakespeare have handled such fluidity of information? How much has been lost…

We are such fragile things, we humans with our egos and our importances that we carry with us from day to day, year to year, some falling away like forgotten leaves beneath the first snow. What if we could get a glimpse back through time to the things we found, in the past, to be life-changing but weren’t? We scoff at it now, just as we scoff at the clothes we wore, captured through the lenses of our memory-saving devices – you know, the ones we never had with us when it was most crucial. But now…now…

So much is seen through glass.

I see through my glass that it is empty, again. Time for a refill, methinks.

socsbadge2016-17

This philosophical post is brought to you by a combination of Stream of Consciousness Saturday and

jjj-2017

Just Jot It January. Click the link, read the posts, and join in! https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/20/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-and-jusjojan-jan-2117/


by 25 Comments

Just Jot It Jan 20 – Transcendence

Worry. What good does it do us? And yet we all do it. It’s what keeps us up at night, and makes us walk into rooms with no idea what we are there for. Because it causes us stress – the kind that separates our minds from what we should be focusing on.

From Pinterest

From Pinterest

I believe happiness can be found in the lack of seeking it. So I strive to be content with what I have. But I think true contentedness can only be found through the ability to transcend worry. To worry is to imagine the worst for the future. If this is true, then the answer is to live in the present. Not only to fully appreciate what I have right here and now — relatively clean air to breathe, simply that I am alive — but to fully concentrate on what I am doing at any given moment. In that moment, there can be no worry.

I have to strive to stop looking ahead to what might be. And love what is now.

jjj-2017

Thank you to Deborah of Notes Tied on the Sagebrush for our prompt word today, “Transcendent.” Please give her a visit and read her latest post here: https://notestiedonthesagebrush.com/2017/01/19/transcendent/

And don’t forget to check out the JusJoJan prompt here, to read all the other posts and to join in! https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/20/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-20th17/


by 21 Comments

Just Jot It Jan 19 – Rubbish?

I always used to think it was a myth — rubbish — that someone’s hair could turn grey overnight. But guess what? I looked in the mirror this afternoon and I’m almost positive my hair is greyer than it was yesterday. Or even this morning. Either everything has caught up with me, finally, or there’s something in my Pantene 2 in 1.

Don’t you just love the word “rubbish,” though? It sounds so much better when you call something inaccurate or that you don’t agree with rubbish rather than garbage. The English have such lovely curse words. It’s not even a curse… I looked in the online thesaurus to see what else I could call it and came up with some interesting words. “Whammy”? “Obloquy”? “Naughty words”? Oh, here we go, “expletive.”

Let’s go back to obloquy. Look that up and I get… “animadversion.” I HAVE to look that up. And it means… “blame.”

I blame the bloody rubbish!

Now that was satisfying.

jjj-2017

Thanks very much to Wendy for today’s prompt, “rubbish.” Please visit her post for today and say hi! You can find it here: https://waffle-with-wendy.blogspot.ca/2017/01/jusjojan-day-19-rubbish.html

And don’t forget, even if you haven’t been participating in Just Jot It January up ’til now, it’s not too late to start! Click here for details and to read the other amazing posts: https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/19/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-19th17/

 


by 7 Comments

Guest Host Q and A: Inspired by ghostmmnc at teleportingweena!

jjj-2017

Hi there! Shan Jeniah https://shanjeniah.com/about/ here, back one more time to thank you all for making my first-ever stint guest hosting a blog hop such a rewarding experience!

When Linda told me I could do a guest post, I struggled with what I would say. It only took two sentences to say thank you, and I don’t want to bore anyone. Then I realized how much I enjoyed the question-and-answer posts over at ghostmmnc’s blog, teleportingweena, like this one: https://teleportingweena.wordpress.com/2017/01/15/fun-questions-and-answers/

When I read them, I wanted to post my own answers…and so, here, the two things happily blended, and I can offer you a guest post that says a little about me without being a me-fest. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

I didn’t do all fifty from this post; just as many as I felt like doing. Ready?

Off we go, then!

Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?

  • Open. There’s usually stuff in front of them, and I don’t want to move it.

Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel?

  • No. I like my own better.

Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?

  • I use a fitted sheet on the bottom; quilts above. I don’t tuck; I cocoon!

Have you ever stolen a street sign before?

  • No. Nor now, either.

Do you like to use post-it notes?

  • Sometimes. I used one in a fan fiction story once. =)

What is your biggest pet peeve?

  • Being peeved. Huge waste of my time.

Do you ever count your steps when you walk?

  • Yes.

Is it okay for guys to wear pink as a colour?

  • Who gets to decide this stuff? Let people wear what they want; who cares what’s in their pants?!

Whats your least favorite movie?

  • I don’t really have one. If I don’t care for a movie, I generally stop watching it.

What do you drink with dinner?

  • Water, or coffee.

What is your favorite food?

  • I love salads. Especially if I don’t need to make it myself.

What movie could you watch over and over and still love?

  • You’ve Got Mail; Turner and Hooch; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; probably many others I’m not thinking of now.

Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine?

  • I might. I’ve posted one censored nude on a blog. I don’t have a problem with non-exploitative nudity.

When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?

  • Either a letter to my husband, or to my daughter.


by 23 Comments

Just Jot It Jan 17 – Complaint

Let’s see, what haven’t I complained about this year yet?

We had a snow day again today–actually, it was a freezing rain day–but I’ve already complained about those. Seems like a Tuesday thing.

Alex was so upset about not going to school today, he came into my room this morning and started smacking me because of the weather. Then, fifteen minutes later, I picked up the cat to stop him from going outside and he turned around and scratched me. And to top all that off, I was sitting on the couch about fifteen minutes after that, and I sneezed on the dog whilst reaching for the tissue box, so the dog pounced on me because I made him jump.

It’s been a rough day. But not my first this year. I’m sure I must have complained about one of those already, so I can’t do that again.

What else, let’s see… I didn’t go out today. I need to get out more. …aaand I’ve already complained about that.

Next!

I haven’t run out of wine yet, so I can’t complain about that. Oh, wait! I ran out of coffee!!! …but I found some more in the cupboard that I must have bought when it was on sale.

Nope! Sorry. Can’t think of anything new. I guess I’m going to just have to be happy, damn it!

jjj-2017

Thanks very much to our very own Willow for today’s prompt, “complaint.” You can visit Willow and read her own JusJoJan post here: https://willowdot21.wordpress.com/2017/01/17/just-jot-it-jauaryday-17-complaint/

And a very special thanks once again to Shan for hosting Just Jot It January for me! Let’s all give her a round of applause!! And make sure you visit and follow her at her blog here, where you’ll find her latest JusJoJan post: http://shanjeniahslovelychaos.com/lovely-chaos-blog/2017/1/16/i-am-penetrable-mindfulmonday-and-jusjojan-day-16-shanjeniahs-lovely-chaos

Don’t forget to check out all the other posts here, and see how you can join in too! https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/17/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-17th17/