February 26th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

I tried the reverse order thing again yesterday, but as you can see by the lack of a February 25^th blog post, it didn’t turn out so good. I was on track, honest. I had finished the few chores around the house I had intended to do, and I had just sat down at my computer when I received a text from my youngest daughter. It was a picture of her eye. It was all red, and the message said “help”.

After a few texts back and forth, I learned she had no idea what happened, the redness was getting progressively worse, it was starting to hurt, and her vision was blurry. After convincing Dani her Spanish teacher would not kill her for not doing her presentation and it would be ok for her to go to the nurse, she finally went down to the nurse’s office. I waited for the inevitable phone call, convinced the child probably had pink eye and I needed to come get her immediately. While I waited I hunted through the medicine cabinet for the appropriate eye drop.

After fifteen minutes, the phone call came, but the nurse said she didn’t think it was pink eye and she was concerned about the blurry vision. Wonderful. I picked her up and we headed straight to our eye doctor whose office is at Costco. When we get there, there are no lights on in the office but the door is opened a little and the receptionist is still there (she was about to head out for lunch).

I explain the situation and I hear Dr. Mike’s voice come from the other room, “Is it Alyssa?” I poked my head around the door and said, “No, it’s Dani.” He tells us to come right in and has Dani sit down. LONG story short, Dani did not have pink eye, but her eye was red and swollen probably from some type of allergic reaction and she needed steroid drops for a few days to fix it. Dr. Mike felt bad he didn’t have any samples, but assured me the drops weren’t that expensive. THEN, when I asked him how much I owed him for the visit, he said “Nothing.”

How sweet is this guy? He knows we don’t have any insurance and he gives us extra free samples whenever he can. The last time we were there, we had to pay for Lys to get contacts, and the exam was over $150, but when we walked out, she had several months’ worth of sample lenses and all of her supplies to maintain her lenses, so our only expense was the exam itself.

By the time we got home, I didn’t have time to do a blog entry because I had a few other projects which needed my attention. Now, because of all the wonderful snow we are getting at the moment, I’m kicking myself for not adding clean out the car as one of yesterday’s projects. I leave tomorrow morning to go pick up Lys from Vermont. We’re also bringing her friend Sammi home, and at the moment, there is no room in the car for the girls and their stuff. Oh well, whatchya gunna do?

Okay, since I may or may not be posting for the next two days, and it has been forever since I have actually given you a writing challenge, which what this blog is supposedly all about, I had better rectify the situation post haste.

I hope y’all have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Write a story containing the following: The moon, a telescope, crickets

“Keep your hands over your eyes. No peaking.”

“I’m not, but so help me Cameron, if you let me fall, I’ll never trust you again.”

“I’d never let you fall Amy.” He assured.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Now if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise now would it?” Cameron admonished. “We’re almost there. Just a few more steps. There. But don’t open your eyes.”

“Cam!” Amy exclaimed as she let her hands drop to her sides.

“Humor me. Tell me what you hear.”

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Really? Nothing? Listen harder.”

Amy sighed. She was about to tell him she still couldn’t hear anything when a gentle breeze tickled her ear, “Crickets Cameron, I hear crickets.” She furrowed her brow, “Isn’t it a little early for crickets?”

“Someone forgot to tell them I guess. Without opening your eyes, what else can you tell me?” Sensing she was becoming frustrated, he added, “Please.”

Resigned Amy stood perfectly still and opened her senses. “We’re in a clearing, not too far from the edge of the woods.”

“How can you tell?”

“The last bit we walked I wasn’t crunching over leaves or sticks, and the ground feels soft under my feet.”

“Go on.”

“It’s not dark.”

“How can that be? You know it was night when we left, and you know we’re outside. Have I brought you under a streetlight?”

Amy shook her head, “No. The light is brighter, yet softer somehow. More encompassing. Did the clouds clear Cam? Is the moon out?”

I’m out of practice. I never got to the telescope before my ten minutes were up. Oh well, better luck next time.

Your Next Challenge is:

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.