Life in progress

Category Archives: Random


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JusJoJan24 the 30th – My eyes!

This post is the last of my regular Just Jot it January 2024 efforts, and it’s an effort…

When I chose the word “calendar” for today’s prompt, there was no way I could have anticipated how I was going to use it.

Although, I think I’ve been here before now … at least once.

Where is here?

Here is sleep deprived. Here is a mother who stayed up all night last night with her son in the emergency room. You’ve heard this song before, right?

Anyhoo, he wasn’t admitted to hospital this time, and we were in and out of there in just ten short hours! That might be close to a record.

BUT! It did mean I missed something important. To me, at least.

I made an appointment to get my eyes checked in December—the appointment was for January 11th. A few days before that, the office called and told me the doctor wouldn’t be in, so she gave me another appointment. Guess for when?

So I called this morning from the emergency room to let them know I had to cancel the appointment this time.

I have another scheduled for February 15th. Three times lucky.

But oh, my poor wall calendar and all the covered up appointments!

This exhausted post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thank you so much to everyone who joined in!


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JusJoJan24 the 28th – Families

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and today’s prompt comes to us courtesy of Kim. Check out her blog here!

Some family members you can happily live with, some not so much.

But I don’t think you’ll disagree that there are some family members none of us want to live with: the members of the rodent family.

True story that happened many years ago:

I walked into my kitchen one morning in time to see a mouse run under my stove. I shrieked, not because I’m afraid of mice, but because it startled me. I immediately got down on my hands and knees to look for the little critter, but there was no sign of it. I pulled out the drawer under the stove—nothing. It had disappeared.

But there were droppings. Lots of droppings.

I had someone pull the stove out from the wall to see if there was a hole it could have gotten through, but nothing was obvious. The next step was to take the side panels off the stove. Sure enough, there were more droppings in the insulation between the outside and inside walls of my oven. They’d built a nest. In my stove.

So I sold the house.

…

…

Okay, the family of mice might not have been the entire reason I sold the house, but I never cooked in the oven again—I didn’t want to bake the little buggers alive!—and the oven stayed in the house when I moved.

I did leave a note for the new owners.

It went something like:

The stove is yours, but not yours alone …

This reminiscing post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thank you so much again, Kim, for the prompt!


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JusJoJan24 the 28th – Changes

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and today’s prompt was kindly provided by Fandango. Check out his blog here!

Ah, how I’ve changed.

I used to be happy to walk into places where people congregate.

Malls, planes, crowded city streets, concerts—squashed in a sea of screaming, singing people? Let’s go!

But now …

No thanks.

I wonder sometimes if I’d have changed in this way even if it hadn’t been for the pandemic.

I mean, we change as we get older. Right?

There was a time when I thought I’d be happy to live my life spending all my spare time riding a horse. Sure, I’d like to do it again, but I don’t miss it.

So yeah. Congregating online has become more my speed. I can do that and be a desk jockey at the same time.

This thought-inducing post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Many thanks again, Fandango, for the prompt!


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JusJoJan24 & #SoCS the 27th – The hardest thing

This post is part of Just Jot it January and my weekly prompt, Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Find the prompt and see how you can join in HERE.

When I post my SoCS prompts every week, I really take the idea of writing off the top of my head to heart when I sit down to write my own SoCS post. Sometimes.

Case in point: today, all day, I tried to figure out how I could put “make the call” into a post. What could I write about? I make so many calls every day, some literal, most not—I make a heck of a lot of decisions in a day.

But today, I just couldn’t decide what to write about.

So I made the call to just sit down and write my post.

And here I am.

Writing a post and having no idea what to write about … except not knowing what to write about.

Very meta.

This nonsensical post is part of Just Jot it January and SoCS! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

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

 


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JusJoJan24 the 26th – Who knew I’d miss it?

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and today’s prompt was kindly provided by Jemima. Check out her blog here!

Here in Ontario, Canada, we’ve had some pretty atrocious snow storms. I remember one year—I think it was in 1977—when the snow came down so hard and fast and there was so much wind, it completely buried our back door. There was a five-foot window above the door and the snow covered half of that too.

But that was then.

Now we have all this rain coming down, and it’s almost February!

I miss the snow. I miss the predictability of it.

And I miss winter feeling like winter, no matter how much I inevitably complain about it.

This strange harking-back post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again, Jemima, for the prompt!


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JusJoJan24 the 25th – Cheesy

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and today’s prompt comes to us from Yvensong. Check out her blog here!

When I saw today’s prompt, I was like How did you know?!

You see, every month, my son Chris chooses a random date when he wants pizza, and he chose today, like, three weeks ago.

I’ve been looking forward to this cheesy goodness day for a long time.

Our last pizza day was December 8th!

Maybe I’ll get cheesy garlic bread tonight too…

This delicious post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again, Yvensong, for the prompt!


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One-Liner Wednesday & #JusJoJan24 the 24th – Lights keep flickering

Posting this quick so there’s a Wednesday prompt.

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.

Here are the simple JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

2 a) 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

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan24 and/or #JusJoJan24.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!


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JusJoJan24 the 23rd – So stoked

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and today’s prompt is courtesy of Nicole. Check out her blog here!

It doesn’t take much for me to get stoked over a new idea.

Whether it’s a concept I’ve come up with for a new novel, or a story I’ve written that I can’t wait for people to read … It’s exciting! Daunting sometimes, but exciting!

But now I’ve got this new thing I’m doing, and I am SO stoked, I can barely contain it!

It’s gonna be great!

What is it, you ask?

Just wait and see!

This cliffhangery post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again, Nicole, for the prompt!


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JusJoJan24 the 22nd – It’s the mood

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and today’s prompt comes to us from Dar. Check out her blog here!

I get heartburn. Like, sometimes it goes on for days, then sometimes it just disappears.

I’ve been watching what I eat for almost four years now—it started when the pandemic did—and trying to figure out if it’s something I’m consuming or how much or how little I’m consuming. For a while, I even thought it might be too much water.

But as it turns out, it’s looking more and more like mood that brings it on.

Things like worry and stress.

So okay, fine. I can just relax and be happy. Right?

Easy.

But seriously, knowing what’s causing it has helped. I’m learning to accept things I can’t change.

And I’m learning that the more I write things down that I need to do, the less I have to stress over remembering to do them.

So in a strange way, you could say my heartburn is helping me.

This rather convoluted post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thank you again, Dar, for the prompt!


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JusJoJan24 the 21st – Not a chance

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and today’s prompt is courtesy of J-dub. Check out her blog here!

If there was one thing I wish I did better, it’s growing things. I’d love to have a house full of plants, but they don’t stand a chance with me.

Maybe if they could scream at me like my kids do when they want attention…

This short, sweet, non-green post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks so much again to J-dub for the prompt!