August 1st

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! A couple of quick updates for you, and then we are going to do something a little different.

Lys came Tigg’r bouncing in after work yesterday. They just announced her friend was erroneously dismissed and will be returning to work on Monday. “It was all just a big misunderstanding”. I will refrain from making a snarky comment here, although I am almost biting my tongue off (well, in this case my fingers off).

CAMP NaNoWriMo is OVER!!! YEAH! Although I did not get to 50K, I did write 7,500 words over goal, so I’m ok with that. Faerie Tale Queen is not complete, and I will continue to work on it over the next week to finish it up. The publisher warned me he would be calling the first week of August, so I’m hoping when he calls, I could say, it’s done.

Okay, since NaNo sucked it out of me as usual, and I’m tired of writing, and I seriously doubt I would be able to respond to the last challenge I posted (whenever that was - I need to go find it) I thought we would do something fun today. Let’s see how old my audience is, and how good their memories are.

Sorry Facebookers, you don’t have a prayer on this post. If you want to play along, you are going to have to go to my blog page. www(dot)christinapaulbooks(dot)blogspot(dot)com. Sorry, if I post the actual link, no one will see this post.

Here are a series of twelve photos of television shows from your childhood. Beneath each photo will either be a few bars from a song associated with the show, a common catch phrase made by a character from the show, or some other clue to help you identify the show. See which shows you can identify, and if you would like to share any childhood memories about the show, please feel free.

1) I’m fine. Me too. We’re fine, and how are you?

2) Bend and stretch, reach for the stars. Stand on tippy toes, oh so far.

3) Wowie Kazowee! What are you doodly-do-doing?

4) This is the song that never ends. It goes on and on my friends. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they’ll continue singing it forever just because, this is the song that never ends…

5) Who’s your friend when things get rough?

6) Good morning, Captain, let's come on out and play!

7) Speedy Delivery

8) Ubbi Dubbi

9) Sunny Day, Sweepin' the clouds away. On my way to where the air is sweet.

10) I love you. You love me.

11) Clean up, clean up. Everybody everywhere. Clean up, clean up. Everybody do your share.

12) Hey, this was really fun. We hope you liked it too. Seems like we've just begun. When suddenly we're through. Goodbye, goodbye, good friends, goodbye. Cause now it's time to go…

I hope y’all had fun skipping down memory lane. Tomorrow we will get back to our usual prompts.

I hope you have a fabulous day, and happy writing!

September 3rd Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

 

So the picnic my son and his girlfriend threw was a hit. I feel bad they had to deal with the weather on their first attempt at hosting a party, but they figured it out with some redneck engineering and all turned out well. They have enough food left over for a month. I told them to get some freezer bags and divvy up the food into meal size portions and freeze the stuff, then pull it out when they needed it.

 

I am worried about my son. He hurt his back three weeks ago and has been out of work since. He busted his butt yesterday and today is going to be his first day back at work. I pray he doesn’t or hasn’t overdone it. The last thing he needs is a lifetime of back problems, but it is dang near impossible to tell a twenty-three year old man to take it easy!

 

I was supposed to take my daughter over to the high school for one last run through to make sure she can find her classes, but she slept over her cousins’ house last night and they are going to the mall today. I figure I’d let them have fun and we would tackle the HS on Thursday. Tomorrow we are headed to the beach for one final hurrah of the season, and then on Friday I have to take my son and his girlfriend to the airport. They are headed to Dallas for the opening day of the Cowboys vs. Giants.

 

Translation, today will be spent cleaning and doing laundry…oh joy. Even though it is the messiest child who is still at home, somehow I am managing to keep the house much cleaner than I have ever been able. Oh, it is a mess at the moment, but that’s because I’ve actually had time to start cleaning out the basement and purging all of the stuff my kids had shoved down there. I’ve done a ton of laundry and I am sorting through what can get donated, so there are piles of clothes in my living room awaiting their final destination. A bomb blew up in the kitchen because of food prep for the back to back bbqs this weekend, but other than that, I’m in pretty good shape. If I just tackle those two areas, it would take less than an hour, but I know I won’t stop there, so today will pretty much be shot.

 

With that in mind, I should probably get moving. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

 

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

Slowly he turned…step by step…inch by inch…

 

“Slowly he turned…step by step…inch by inch…” You say that to a kid today and they’ll look at you like you have gone stark raving mad. They have no clue you are quoting a beloved tv show from your childhood. True with Nick-at-Night, they are being exposed to some of the classics. Example, not too long ago, my daughter flounced out of the room, ponytail swinging, to which I replied “Marsha, Marsha, Marsh”; but at least I received a response of “I’m nothing like Jan!”. My flippant “you got it dude” is not met with an eye roll, but I’m afraid if I came out with “Aaaaa”, it would cause a mass exodus.

 

It’s sad really that generations will never hear or come to appreciate the phrase “Oh Lucy, you made a big mess”, “To the Batcave, Robin”. They will not know who Fred Sanford, George Jefferson or Archie Bunker were. OK, maybe those are not good, or should I say “politically correct”, examples; but don’t you think the kids would benefit from knowing Mr. Greenjeans or Miss Molly? What about BooBoo Kitty or the Chuckle Patch? They will never know who lived on Ork or Melmac. Shouldn’t kids “bend and stretch, reach for the sky” instead of playing Lethal Death XVII on their Z Cube? Wouldn’t the world be a better place if they were whistling with Andy instead of twerking with Miley?

 

I bet you thought I was going to do some kind of creepy story, didn’t you? LOL. The stroll down memory lane could have gone on much longer than the ten minutes I was allowed. Do any of you out there remember the Hair Bears? Yes “Hair” not “Care”. It was a very short lived Saturday morning cartoon and I’m beginning to think I am the only one on the planet who even remembers it.

 

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.