Life in progress

Tag Archives: family


by 20 Comments

#SoCS – First to last

2016. My first thought out of all the things to say about it has, for months, been about how shitty it’s been. Yet personally, I’ve had a lot of things to be grateful for.

I released my first book, making me officially an author. And I had a short story accepted in an anthology, making me an accepted author.

I began taking editing courses and so far I’m doing exceptionally well.

I managed to tick off four of the nine things on my 2016 bucket list. Admittedly, one of them was teach the dog sign language, but that’s something, right?

I made a couple of new friends online.

I kept all the friends I have.

And most of all, I lived. And so did everyone in my immediate family.  (Pray I’m not jinxing anything – there are still 8 hours to go.)

I’m also very grateful for this blog and this community. I’ve lived years without the feeling of connection and they were lonely years indeed. Since I came here to WordPress I’ve felt nothing but accepted, appreciated, and part of a larger entity than ever before. Thank you, my friends.

Thank you to everyone who has commented, liked, and read my posts this year, and thanks to all who have participated in my prompts. I can’t imagine life without you.

Cheers to 2017!

socsbadge2016-17

The Stream of Consciousness Saturday rules and all the other posts can be found here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/12/30/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-3116/


by 19 Comments

#SoCS – Baked

This is the only time of year I buy cookies, as a rule. I lurve me a good shortbread. I tried baking it once and it came out well. That was a very long time ago. I think I may have been in high school. My last major attempt at baking was a banana bread in 1984. It was supposed to take a very long time to cook, I remember that. I also remember taking it out of the oven after twice the amount of time it was supposed to be done in the middle, and it still wasn’t. Since then, I usually stick to Pillsbury. Or premixed muffins, or peanut butter cookies which take nothing at all to make. Practically.

I do enjoy cooking meals, as long as I’m left alone to do it with my music turned up and a glass of wine or six. However if I’m rushed or distracted, I’m a bear in the kitchen. Just let me sit down with the jar of peanut butter in the middle of the floor kind of bear.  I don’t eat peanut butter out of the jar often any more. I used to do it as a kid all the time. OH, and give me a container of whipped cream and watch me go. … or, I mean, that was before. Honest.

Gone are the days when I used to get baked myself on New Year’s Eve. It’s been a few years since I haven’t had the kids to look after, and this year will be no different. But I have my bottle of Baileys’ to sip, and I have my wine to guzzle… I mean, sip, so I’m good.

Cheers, all, to a Merry Christmas, a happy holiday for those of you who don’t have to work, and the time in between when you do. I hope your celebrations, whatever they are, bring you joy.

socsbadge2016-17

If you’d like to join in and/or read more Stream of Consciousness Saturday posts, please click here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/12/23/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-2316/

P.S. I just realized I had a brain fart yesterday and posted the date wrong. It should read Dec. 24/16. I’ll change it in the title but not in the link, so all will not be lost.


by 25 Comments

One-Liner Wednesday – Big Brother

Winston and Alex

Winston and Alex (click to enlarge)

“Have you seen what the little human is watching on this laptop thing?” Winston, reporting back on his big brother’s viewing habits.

_____________________________________________________________________________

If you would like to participate, 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 ping back, 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 ping back 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 very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

P.S. Don’t forget to vote for my cover on Author Shout Cover Wars today! http://authorshout.com/cover-wars/

img_1918


by 27 Comments

The Perfect Place to Live

CAM00178

We’re having a snow day. It’s the third one since school started in September. I swear, all there has to be is the slightest whiff of the white stuff and the school buses are canceled. So I’m home with Alex today, doing my best to keep him entertained instead of doing what I need to do. For instance, getting out of my pyjamas. …okay, maybe I don’t really need to do that, but you get the picture.

For many of us in Canada, snow and cold weather is something to be dreaded. Reasons vary; some of us northern dwellers only hate snow because it’s a pain the ass to drive in, some can’t stand it when they walk outside and their nose hairs freeze with the first breath (okay, most of us hate that), and some, like me, simply don’t like having cold feet all the time. But we Canadians live with it because overall, Canada is a great place to live.

Earthquakes, tornadoes, and extreme heat are just a few things that make Canada and other places on earth unpleasant at times. Yet they are, in most cases, worth suffering through to stay where we are. Is there any such thing as the perfect place to live? I mean, we all have something where we live that makes life unpleasant, or even downright terrifying at times, don’t we? .

What forces of nature make your country/state/province/island a great and yet not-so-great place to live?

After you comment, please head over to vote in Cover Wars for my book cover. You can vote once every 24 hours. Here’s the link: http://authorshout.com/cover-wars/ Both Belinda, my lovely cover artist, and I appreciate it! We’re way behind and we’ve gotta catch up!

img_1918


by 50 Comments

#SoCS – ‘Tis the season

Shopping. I hate it. So it’s no wonder this is my least favourite time of year. And it’s prolonged by the fact that my kids were born in September, October and November, my best friend in January and my mother in February.

Don’t get me wrong – I love the giving part. I just can’t stand having to decide what everyone else might want. And then there’s that other dreaded question – what would I like for Christmas or my birthday? (Which is in January, the day before my best friend’s.) Um… let’s see… a car? A new house? Just pay off my bills? Oh, okay. Socks will do. (No, seriously. I always need socks. Maybe I subconsciously named this whole prompt “SoCS” in order to give people hints on what to buy me for Christmas.)

I always leave my Christmas shopping to the last minute. My excuse is I don’t want to buy something and then the recipient gets it in the interim, and then I’ll have to take it back. AND come up with another idea. So I wait until everything I can think of has been bought by everyone who got their shopping done early and then I wander around aimlessly until, finally, I buy everyone a mug. Or socks. (Maybe in hopes that I’ll get them back? I don’t know…) The dog is NOT going to like his present this year if I can’t find anything better than socks. But I will take pictures before he eats them if that’s what he ends up with.

Alex wants to put the tree up this weekend. There’s another thing I dread. Untangling the lights and finding out which ones work, because I never manage to throw out the ones that don’t the year before. Hanging up all the old (some broken) ornaments from when the kids were small. Seriously, I’d like to throw a lot of them out and just keep the good ones. But the kids like them, so we end up with a tree that looks like the floor of a toddler’s room after they’ve trashed it. If the kids ever move out, I’ll buy all new decorations. Or decorate my tree with socks.

Ha! Who am I kidding. I’ll keep the lot of them and sob over them… even the broken ones.

socsbadge2016-17

This socky post was brought to you by SoCS, or Stream of Consciousness Saturday if you like. You can join in the fun, or just read more posts when you click here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/12/02/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-316/


by 20 Comments

#SoCS – Not Pretty

I can count on both hands once the number of times I’ve been called “pretty” in my life. I just don’t have the face and the style for “pretty,” and I’m okay with that. I don’t like a lot of “pretty” things. My taste has always been tuned more to simplicity. My hairstyle and lack of makeup speak volumes.

I think being pretty smart makes up for a lot of what I lack in looks. I’d rather have intelligence than beauty anyway. Yes, it would be nice to open doors with just a smile, to quote the Eagles, but being able to reach out and open them myself has value.

I like to write pretty things. It’s like I live vicariously through my fiction. And I do. I have for some time now, especially the romance. Then again, there’s a certain romance to be had just sitting here on my laptop with a cat on one side and a dog on the other. I hope the dog doesn’t wake up and notice the cat is licking his bone. Oh, now he’s chewing it. I think he’s having an identity crisis. Dog’s eyes are open… and now they’re closed. I guess he doesn’t care.

Where was I before I started my play-by-play? Oh yeah, “pretty.” I’m supposed to take Alex to his teacher’s house today for a tea party. Alex has informed me that he wants me to dress up and look pretty. I told him I’ll try.

I hope this pretty horrid headache I’ve been battling all day so far goes away. Tylenol didn’t work – just took some Advil. Wish me luck.

socsbadge2016-17

This post is part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to read other posts and see how you can join in. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2016/11/25/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-2616/


by 46 Comments

How to Live When You Want to Save the World

I’m at a loss. The constant flood of news stories coming in through my Facebook feed about discrimination, hate, fear, war and people fleeing from it, protests that go nowhere, threats to freedom and civil liberties–the list goes on and on–are keeping me from living my own life. It distracts me from all the things I should be doing for myself and my family. I’m not functioning because I’m worried, both about my own future, my kids’ future, and that of the ones I can’t help.

Yes, I can hear it already. Poor me, sitting on my privileged white heterosexual ass in a nice warm house, wringing my hands but doing nothing. It’s true. I don’t feel as though I do enough, yet what can I do when I’m shut in my house up here in Canada? I want to help. I want that more than anything. It’s why I’m so obsessed with what’s going on. So far I’ve shared, I’ve given my opinions and I’ve tried to make sense of what’s going on. I’ve tried to help others put it in perspective. To encourage them to do what they can. I write because my words are the best weapon I have. I give consolation when I’m able, but to what effect? It all inevitably falls flat because I am not living it.

On the contrary, I’m not looking to be absolved for having a good life and I don’t want anyone to tell me it’s okay, that I can just go on with my life and not think about what’s going on in the world. I know I need to look after myself. I’m just not sure how to go about it.

I don’t think I’m alone in this. I’m sure there are others out there who live with this worry, and this survivor’s guilt and sense of helplessness. How do you cope when there’s nothing you can physically do? How do you separate yourself from it all, to do what you must to live your own life? We don’t help anyone, least of all ourselves, when all we do is sit at home and read the reports and wring our hands.

I fear this is the way it will be for the rest of my life. I can’t save the world, and I certainly can’t shut it off and ignore it. Perhaps I need to take a break from it though. At least long enough to care for my own family.

But I’ll never stop asking why peace is too much to ask for.


by 48 Comments

#SoCS – Happiness

Yes, I lack the perfect house. My clothes are all years and years old, my furniture doesn’t match, and there’s a funny smell in one of my cupboards. But we’re all happy. Me, the kids, the dog, the cats, the fly flying around, laughing at me when I try to kill it… all of us. We have a warm place to live (now that the furnace is fixed–it was touch-and-go a few days ago), we have food in the fridge (and apparently rotting in one of the cupboards), and we have electricity with which to watch TV and connect on the internet (Hi!!).

And we have stuff to look forward to, too. Tomorrow is the Santa Claus parade here in town, and Alex is very much looking forward to participating in it, on his school’s float. But there’s a catch, of course. The float is themed on the Grinch and he’s terrified of the Grinch. We may be in the parade, or we may be running, screaming from the parade. Something for me to look forward to since it’s supposed to rain. Then there will be the joy of Christmas shopping to look forward to. For the first time in three years I’ll be doing my shopping in Canada. At home. This time last year I was on a plane to Tokyo. So hard to believe. But I have proof:

Mt. Fuji, just below the engine.

Mt. Fuji, just below the engine.

This year I just didn’t have the money. In fact, I’m probably still paying for that trip. Maybe I’ll post about it, finally, for the next ten days, which was how long I was there. Yeah. Happily, I took notes.

But now life is so much more simple. With my old clothes, my mismatched furniture and my funny smell, my dog who’s not a puppy anymore and three kids who are old enough to drive, I’ve proven that I don’t need much. Only love.

cam01236

This post is part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to find more posts in the comments, and to join in! https://lindaghill.com/2016/11/18/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-1916/

socsbadge2016-17


by 6 Comments

#TuesdayUseItInASentence – Super Moon Zone

When I’m walking down this path, I sometimes get into my writing zone,

img_20161113_165925but when I dragged my three kids out to watch the moon rise, the zone was more about finding the best place for a good view.

Sunday, November 13th, 2016

Sunday, November 13th, 2016

This post is part of Tuesday Use It In A Sentence! Please visit the lovely Stephanie to see how you can join in, too! https://stephaniecolpron.wordpress.com/2016/11/15/tuesdayuseitinasentence-zone/


by 45 Comments

For You, For Us, For Humanity. Please Share

On this, November 11th, the day we remember the people who have given their lives  for their countries, I find the disparity between the ultimate in self-sacrifice and the continuing reports of disrespect and lack of empathy discouraging. I had a discussion on Facebook this morning with a man who told me that his daughter-in-law had been verbally accosted in a store while holding her 18-month-old child; there are so very many reports such as this and even worse coming in, it almost makes me want to hide. But I won’t, because there is something I can do.

For all the people who lack empathy in the world, I believe there are more who understand that we all have our struggles. And whether we deem them bigger than ours or not, a struggle is a struggle. An exhausted single mother washing her own dishes in an effort to control something, a rich man wanting to protect his children from bullying, the only true perspective is in the circumstances of the individual.

Let us show that there are more of us who care. That there are greater numbers of those who would rather give than receive. I challenge you today and every day to show love and kindness to a stranger. Find a way to go out of your way to help. Even a smile could make a difference in someone’s life, but especially now. Especially today, when we face the very real imbalance between selflessness and hate.

Please share this. We may not have the power to fix the world, but we possess the ability to communicate. And with this amazing means, we can help make the world a better place to live. Let this go viral. At this point I don’t even care if you copy and paste these words and pretend you wrote them yourself. What is important is that we can make a difference for the good of humanity.

For you, and for all of us.