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The Escapist Coloring Club – mid-month

Just a little reminder that if you want to join the club before the February 1st prompt, you should get your entry in soon. I’ll turn off the comments in this post and redirect you to the January 1st prompt to link your entries there.

Thank you to our members so far! Here they are: (Click on the names to go to their posts.)

Willow at Willowdot21

Dar at Darswords

Barbara at Teleportingweena

Jenn at Jenn Lost in Chaos

Please visit them to see their wonderful colouring projects. And join us! It’s fun and relaxing.

You can find the original post here: https://lindaghill.com/2018/01/01/the-escapist-coloring-club-prompt-january-1-2018/

Thank you. 🙂

 


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 14th – Ultimatum

As a parent, I hand out ultimatums all the time: do this, or you’re not getting that; stop that, otherwise there’s no this. It never ends.

Even though I’ve had a lot of practice over the years with ultimatums, I still sometimes have a hard time knowing when to keep my mouth shut. I’ve learned the hard way that if I don’t follow through with them, they get ignored. And following through is sometimes difficult.

For example, when my behaviorally challenged (good behavior, that is–he’s excellent with bad behavior) son, Alex, gets in his head that he wants to go somewhere, about eight times out of ten he’ll wait until the last minute and then change his mind. The last major instance of this was right after Christmas, when he was excited about all of us going to the mall to shop at the Boxing Day sales. My autistic son, Chris, was all ready to go, waiting outside in the cold–if you’ve never met an autistic person, believe me, it’s not easy to change their mind about something they’ve been promised they’re going to do. We were all about to get our coats on, and Alex said he wanted to stay home alone. Although he’s physically seventeen years old, I’ve never left him alone at home. He’s Deaf, and with the mental age of a six- or seven-year-old, I don’t feel comfortable with it. However, usually when we say to him that we’re going with or without him, he’ll get his coat on and go. Not this time. He called my bluff.

With my ultimatum stuck in my throat, the rest of us piled in the car and left. I managed to get to the end of the block before I turned around and went back home. Sure enough, he’d had his fill of being alone and was getting his coat on when I came back in the door.

Since then, we’ve all gone out as a family once. I made sure to tell Chris that we were going to TRY to go out together, and I didn’t ask him to get ready until Alex was outside and in the car. I learned my lesson. Still have to wonder what my next ultimatum trial will be.

This post was brought to you by Just Jot it January and prompted by the word “ultimatum,” provided by Itinerary Planner! Thank you so much! You can find Itinerary Planner’s JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 12th – Aggravate

Things are going from bad to worse with my mother, and smoking is once again the culprit. For those of you who missed it, I wrote a post in November (click here for that post) about my mother’s tendency to fall and break bones when she went outside for a cigarette at the retirement residence where she lives. Before I discovered that she was falling because she was sitting on the seat of her walker and taking the brakes off before she stood up, the nurses took her smokes away from her, which necessitated that she ask for one so someone would know she was going out. She got a walker without a seat, and she got her cigarettes back. It was all fine and dandy until last week.

They caught her smoking in her room. They took her cigarettes away, and this time they’re not giving them back. She can still smoke any time she wants, she just has to get one on her way out the door. Not a big deal, right? Not if you don’t know my mother.

When she was caught, she apparently didn’t know she was doing anything wrong. The nurse that called me said she walked into my mum’s room and asked politely for her cigarettes. My mother handed them over willingly. Her senile dementia is, of course, the reason it is now a problem.

Now, she:

  1. Has forgotten that she smoked in her room.
  2. Says they’re accusing her of smoking in her room because they can smell smoke on her jacket.
  3. Says they shouldn’t have gone into her room when she wasn’t there and taken her cigarettes.
  4. Says the nurse who said she was smoking in her room is a liar.
  5. Phones me 10 times a day to ask me if I have something to do with the fact that her cigarettes are with the nurses.
  6. Phones me 10 times a day to ask me where her cigarettes are.
  7. Complains to the nurses 20 times a day that she should be able to have her cigarettes back because she doesn’t smoke in her room.
  8. Complains to the management that the nurses are lying and she wants her cigarettes back.

All this finally came to a head two days ago when the management called me, clearly aggravated, to say that when someone with dementia gets to the point that their forgetfulness causes them anxiety, it’s necessary to start considering a nursing home.

Perhaps there’s someone out there who can verify that this is a fact, perhaps they’re just getting tired of answering the same questions 20 times a day. All I know is if my mother goes into a nursing home, there will be no more smoking, and she’s only going to go downhill that much faster.

I don’t know what to do. Explaining things to her–even if she understands, which she usually doesn’t–has no lasting effect. I feel like putting her into a home is tantamount to condemning her.

Aren’t I cheerful today?

The above paragraphs of moroseness are brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word “aggravate,” provided by Fandango! Thank you so much, Fandango! You can find Fandango’s JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 9th – Coffee

It’s quite obvious I didn’t get enough today.

Not that I go there often anymoreaddi since I don’t get out much, but there was a boycott of sorts today of Tim Horton’s here in Canada. Something to do with the raise of minimum wage and them not wanting to pay for breaks or something. I don’t know. I love Tim’s, but I didn’t go there today. I wouldn’t have, anyway.

Honestly, I wish I could survive on coffee alone. But too much of it upsets my stomach, and I’m not sure it doesn’t mess with my sleep, too, if I drink it later in the evening.

However, if you’re buying, I take it with double cream, no sugar …

This post was brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word, “coffee,” provided by Barbara! Thank you so much, Barbara! You can find her JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 8th – Pants

What I want to write about today is and isn’t pants; it’s panties. I’ll start by explaining how I got from one to the other: in a word, English. In North America, pants are the things we walk around in that everyone sees. In the UK pants are trousers, and underwear are pants. I honestly wish we could call them that here too, even though I hate the word “trousers.”

But you know what word I hate even more? “Panties.” I use it for lack of a better word when I write fiction–underwear seems such a bulky word. One that conjures, in my mind, visions of undergarments that cover from the lowest part of the butt cheek to the waist. To have the hero of one of my stories strip his lady love of everything but a pair of those would quickly transform the sexiest scene into either a comedy or worse, something that would make me gag.

I didn’t grow up calling them panties, which may be why I’m so adverse to the word. What do you think? Is “panties” as distasteful for you as it is for me? Do you have a better word?

I’ve considered having all my characters go commando, just so I don’t have to deal with it at all.

This post was brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word, “pants,” provided by pensitivity! Thank you so much! You can find her JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – January 1, 2018

Welcome to the first ever Escapist Coloring Club prompt! For this prompt, I encourage you to post pictures of your own colouring, your kids’ colouring, or that of anyone you know and have permission to share. That’s all you have to do to join the club.

For my own posts, I have a new colouring calendar, which gives me a new project to work on every month. I plan to take a “before” picture to post next month, so I can show both the uncoloured version and the coloured one.

This month all I have to show you is my December 2017 calendar fully coloured.

I decided not to colour in the background, but the temptation to just cut it out and paste it to my paneled wall is great.

Here are the details:

I coloured the tree green, then wished I’d coloured it brown.

Loads of fun shading the pine cones! I used a combination of markers and coloured pencils for effect.

That’s it! All there is to it, apart from the hours of “me” time I got while working on it.

Please find the “rules” below. I look forward to seeing your amazing projects!

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 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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Reminder for The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt and Happy New Year

As January 1st quickly approaches here (happy new Year to those whose clocks have already changed!), I just wanted to remind anyone who is interested that my other new prompt begins tomorrow for The Escapist Coloring Club. I’ve designed a badge in paint – it’s nothing to write home about, but it’s something. I’ll likely change it eventually to make it more fancy.

The prompt post will go up tomorrow with the rules, which will be slightly different as the prompt is, so far, only once a month. If you’d like to start preparing your posts today, I’ll be asking for one full shot of your colouring project, and at least one closeup of a part you’re particularly proud of, if there are any. Don’t forget, your prompt photo can be your own colouring, your kids’, or even your significant other’s if you’d like. The prompt will go live at 9:30am (-5 GMT), and entries will be welcomed all week, so don’t stress over it! The entire point of this prompt is to give yourself time to relax.

With that, I wish everyone a healthy, joyous, and prosperous new year. Cheers to 2018!


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Prompt Me, JusJoJan 2018

Hey, all! You’re used to getting prompts from me; now it’s your turn!

Just Jot It Januaary is not only a fun way to meet people, it’s a great way to inspire writers to keep writing once the holidays are finished and life is returning to normal. Prompts are an incredible device to get the imagination going. Wouldn’t you like to inspire a bunch of bloggers to write? Of course you would!

What I need is 22 single words to use in the Just Jot It January challenge. Read the rules carefully! This is how you can be included:

  • The first 22 comments on this post that include a single word will be the prompts for the 22 days in January that I won’t be writing my own prompts (aka One-Liner Wednesday and Stream of Consciousness Saturday).  If you write more than one word in your comment, for example, “My word is antidisestablishmentarianism,” I’ll ignore it. Same thing if you try to slip in two, even in two different comments–I’ll only accept the first. If I get the same word twice, I’ll only accept the first person who got to it. If you’re the second, feel free to try again. And please, remember this is a relatively G-rated blog, so nothing too risque.
  • I’ll link back to the blog of whomever gives me a prompt on the day I use it.
  • Make sure you get your comment in early. You don’t want to miss out!
  • Please don’t bother entering a prompt if your blog is inactive. If you haven’t posted in over a month and you’re only looking for clicks, your prompt word will be rejected. If, on the other hand, you’re planning to use JusJoJan to inspire you to get back into the swing of things, let me know immediately in a second comment — NOT the one you give your prompt word in. Remember, that’s ONE word only.
  • I observed last year, with all the turmoil going on down south of the Canadian border, that many of our prompt words were negative in nature. I found they didn’t do as well as the more positive words. I don’t want to limit you, but please keep in mind that if your word is on the sadder side, your prompt may not get as much participation.
  • If you provide a prompt, I encourage you to join in as much as possible throughout the month.

Please see my previous post for the Just Jot it January rules in detail.  As I receive prompts here in the comments, I’ll list them over there for easy access. Here’s the link in case you missed it: https://lindaghill.com/2017/12/27/what-is-just-jot-it-january-2018-rules/

Okay. Are you ready? Aaaaand… prompt! One word!


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What is Just Jot It January 2018? – Rules

It may be my love for writing or it might be my joy in sharing my passion, but I love to inspire people. Writing is one of the best ways of expressing ourselves, and certainly a wonderful method for organizing our thoughts and putting things in perspective. I find the latter to be essential to many of us here in the north in January, while we’re stuck inside and deprived of sunshine.

For these reasons plus one more, I developed Just Jot it January. Whether you write a story, a poem, an anecdote, or your plans for the future, JusJoJan will, I hope, give you an excuse to jot something down every day in the month. What’s the one more reason? Writing is fun!!

In the post following this one I will ask for you to give us all a prompt, one of which will be posted on each of five days of every week in January. Hard to explain here, but it will be clear in the prompt post, where there will be another set of rules.

Here are the general rules to follow for Just Jot it January:

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. This year, I’ll be posting prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). You don’t have to follow the prompt word every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. There will be a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday. Each prompt post will include the rules. 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: The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section.

3. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

4. 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!

5. The prompts will appear every day that’s neither a Wednesday nor a Saturday–Saturday’s JusJoJan prompt will be Stream of Consciousness Saturday. You’ll find the list of prompt words below. Remember,  you don’t have to use the prompts. Please write whatever inspires you.

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

7. Have fun!

I’ll fill in the prompts as I have them, along with a link to the blog of the person who supplied the prompt:

January 1st – Drama ~ Ritu
January 2nd – Boisterous ~ Dan Antion
January 3rd – (One-Liner Wednesday)
January 4th – Passionate ~ Rosemary Carlson
January 5th – Memories ~ Cage Dunn
January 6th – (SoCS – “eco”)
January 7th – Indelible ~ Ruth
January 8th – Pants ~ pensitivity101
January 9th – Coffee ~ Barbara
January 10th – (One-Liner Wednesday)
January 11th – Humiliate ~ Jim Adams
January 12th – Aggravate ~ Fandango
January 13th – (SoCS – sixth, seventh, and eighth word)
January 14th – Ultimatum ~ Itinerary Planner
January 15th – Justice ~ Barb
January 16th – Contemplation ~ Cheryl
January 17th – (One-Liner Wednesday)
January 18th – Revolt ~ Sandra
January 19th – Darkness ~ Kerry
January 20th – (SoCS – “oc”)
January 21st – Silence ~ Willow
January 22nd – Liberty ~ Capt Jill
January 23rd – Colour ~ supernaturalsnark
January 24th – (One-Liner Wednesday)
January 25th – Prediction ~ Dar
January 26th – Address ~ John Holton
January 27th – (SoCS –
January 28th – Knight ~ Leta Hawk
January 29th – Fantastic ~ Jill (J-Dubs)
January 30th – Scrumptious ~ Judy
January 31st – (One-Liner Wednesday)


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One-Liner Wednesday – A Best Friend’s Advice

Scene (true story): I’m sitting in the pantry, which is little more than a cupboard, to escape the bright sunlight streaming through the kitchen window. I’ve pulled the kitchen table, with my laptop on it, in with me. My best friend, John, walks into the kitchen.

Me: Yes, I know, I’m in the closet.

Him: You can come out. It’s the twenty-first century.

___________________________________________________________________________

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 very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by Dan Antion