April 22nd Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good morning. So, did you survive your Monday? I did, even though, regrettably, I did not get a whole lot of writing done. Eight days left in the month, just short of ten thousand words to go, this is the point where you start to see me panic, especially since four of those days I will not be able to write very much, if anything. This is my third NaNo, and for the third time, I find myself in the same situation. Remember in July I had to use some redneck creativity to rig up a shade umbrella at the beach so I could hit my 50K? Then in November I added “Yeah, NaNo is finally over!” which put me at my 50K goal. This final week is sheer torture, so I apologize in advance for all the grumbling I’m sure I’ll be doing this week.

Dani had half a day yesterday, so I picked her up from school at noon to do some running around. She hops into the car, and before she even says “Hi”, she announces she’s starving. Okay, fine, I try not to do it too often, but I asked her which fast food drive thru she would like to go to. She says she can’t decide which she wants more, because she likes the frosty from Wendy’s, the fries from McDonalds, and the burgers from Burger King. So, I say “OK”, and she asks what do I mean by “OK”? Luckily for her, between the high school and Costco, our first stop on our list of errands, there is a Wendy’s, two McDonalds, and two Burger Kings (but one is closed for remodeling). Dani got her dream lunch yesterday, and the whole process only took about fifteen extra minutes. I wonder if she’ll remember yesterday, when she has kids of her own, and they have a similar wacky request.

We were running to Costco to pick up a prescription – one item, fifteen bucks, get in, get out. Yeah right. Dani saw shorts and a polo she wanted her dad to wear for her confirmation (who knows, just roll with it). Then I figure, since we were there, I should get something quick for breakfast, ie: apple danishes, and milk, which was always considerably cheaper than anywhere else, but now I think it’s the same price. Hey Mom, we could use some cereal, and make-up removing wipes…and the dog is out of cookies… I swear, I can never get out of that store for under $100!

From Costco, we went over to Kohl’s. I had three things to exchange, I wanted to use my Kohl’s cash before it expired, and Dani wanted to use her gift card. I exchanged the shirt I had originally bought for Easter with a shirt for Lys, because I couldn’t find one at the exact same price (to do an even exchange at Kohl’s you need to match the price exactly) that I liked. Dani found a few things, and I found one top. I let Dani use up the extra $15 of my Kohl’s cash, since the shirt I got for her sister was $15.

After Kohl’s, I had wanted to run into Staples. I needed to get some of those padded envelopes so I could mail out the books to the raffle winners, and then I wanted to stop at the bank to deposit the money for the books I sold at PPLAD. Then the final stop was supposed to be at my mom’s to pick up some of the ham she had left over from Easter. However, when we left Kohl’s, it was getting pretty warm, and I had milk in the car, so we bypassed Staples and the bank, went straight to my mom’s, ran in, ran out, and headed home to get the milk in the fridge. It was still cold, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

Since I only have a little over an hour before I need to hop in the shower and leave for work, I should go get some work done on FTQ. I hope y’all have a lovely day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Stuff in your house keeps appearing and disappearing

When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time at my girlfriend Laurie’s house. It was an old, red, saltbox style home. You walked in through the mud room, then the galley kitchen was in the middle, with a miniscule bathroom off of it, then you went through swinging doors into the living room. In the living room, there were stairs going up to the bedrooms. When you reached the top of the stairs, you were in one bedroom, then Laurie’s parents’ room was at the north end of the house, and Laurie’s room was at the south end, which faced the Revolutionary era cemetery across the street.

The house was tiny, but it sure packed some surprises. Laurie always insisted her house was haunted, but folks thought she was crazy for thinking so. I now, on the other hand, think otherwise. Apparently, when Laurie told me about the happenings in her house, I looked skeptical, because she set out to prove it to me. On my first visit, she said, “Watch this.” She dangled her keys from her finger, then placed them in the middle of the kitchen counter. She then scooped up her dog, Doodle, and told me to follow her to her room. After fifteen minutes or so, we went back downstairs to get drinks, and when we got into the kitchen, she asked me to grab her keys. There were no keys to grab. They had disappeared.

She could tell I still was not convinced, but she just smiled, we took our drinks, and I followed her up to her room to do our homework. A little over an hour later, we went back downstairs so Laurie could start dinner, so it would be ready when her parents got home from work. When we got to the kitchen, Laurie told me to go in first, so I did; and there, on the counter where she had originally left them, were her keys.

I ran out of time, but I wanted to add, the keys were just the first example of things disappearing and reappearing in her house. It happened so many times, it got to the point where if I couldn’t find something, I’d yell at whatever took the item to put it back, I’d leave the room, come back in, and whatever I had been looking for would miraculously reappear. Although it did get frustrating at times, never once was I afraid, or felt threatened by the prankster who resided in Laurie’s house.

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.