December 29th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Happy Sunday! It is a cold and wet dreary day in NJ, but at least it’s not snowing! I guess we’re paying for the 60° and sunny day we had yesterday.

Yesterday’s memorial service was very nice. Steve and several other folks said a little something about Steve’s mom, and then Steve’s ten year old daughter attempted giving a speech, but couldn’t get through it. Bless her heart! She had the whole room in tears. Even at only ten, you could tell what an amazing woman the child will become when she grows up.

After the memorial service, my husband and I went to visit two of his favorite clients; two brothers who live about ten minutes apart from each other. They called before Christmas to tell my husband he had to stop over because Santa had left something for him. I had been hearing about these folks for years, so I insisted coming with him so I could meet them. Let me just say, my husband’s stories did not do these folks justice. I absolutely LOVE both couples! We spent about an hour and a half with one brother and then another hour with the other.

We would have probably stayed longer, but the girls were back from Great Wolf Lodge and we needed to go pick them up from their aunt’s house. They had a blast and said it was the best Christmas present ever. 

 

 

 

 

(In the photo: Holly, Lys, Grace, Dani, & Max)

 

Today is going to be a lazy day. All I plan on doing is straightening up a little, throwing a load of laundry in, and then curling up with a book (well, as much as I can curl up with a computer, because that’s where the book is). My friend Linda Rawlins sent me the next book in her series, and I have been chomping at the bit, but with the holidays, I just haven’t had time. Then, as soon as I finish that one, my other friend, Dorothy May Mercer, sent me her new one too. (I’m not playing favorites – Linda sent me hers about half an hour before Dorothy, so I thought it only fair to read in the order received.) I’m sure I’ll be posting review and information on the books in the next few days.

Okay, I’m off for my day of sloth. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

You are straightening up the presents under your Christmas tree when you find one last wrapped gift. There is no tag on the package, and you do not recognize the wrapping paper.

 

“What’s this?”

Gary bent down the edge of the newspaper and peered over the rim of his glasses. “A Christmas present,” he stated dismissively and went back to reading his morning paper.

“I realize that, but where did it come from? Who’s it for?”

“What’s the tag say?” Gary asked without even bothering to look up.

“Do you think, if there was a tag, I would have asked you if you knew who the gift was for?” Gina snapped. “Seriously, can you get your nose out of the paper for two minutes and take a look at this?”

With a heavy sigh, Gary folded his paper, laid it on the coffee table and placed his reading glasses on top of it, then held out his hand. “I won’t get any peace anyway until I do, so let me have it.” Gina placed the box into his hand, and Gary studied it.

“Don’t shake it!” Gina screeched. “What if it’s breakable!”

Gary handed the box back to Gina. “Oh for Heaven’s sake, just open the damned thing already.”

 

Your Next Challenge is:

‘Tis the time of year for New Year’s Resolutions. You can either write your 2014 Resolutions, write about a time trying to keep a resolution, or anything else, but it has to do with either making or keeping a New Year’s Resolution.

 

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.

December 27th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

I have come to the conclusion that having an abundance of baked goods in my house is not a good thing. I have absolutely NO willpower!! But all the things took a lot of effort and time to make, plus they are really yummy, so it would be a sin to let them go to waste, right? I have decided to wrap up ¼ of the crumb cake and stick it in the freezer, but I’m not sure if the nut rolls would freeze well, and I’m pretty sure the cookies and the Christmas bread wouldn’t, so… Perhaps if I just counter with some fresh fruit and veggies… lol.

I forgot to tell you a cute story yesterday. Every year we end our Christmas day with dinner at my sister-in-law Cindy & brother-in-law Frank’s house, then go over to my in-laws where all the grandkids open their gifts from Grandma & Grandpa. So we were at Cindy & Frank’s, and my 23 year old son and my 15 year old nephew are chasing each other around with these Nerf type guns my ten year old niece Holly got for Christmas.

 

We are all ducking for cover to avoid being hit in the cross-fire, and Holly grabs my hand and pulls me into the hall so I don’t get beaned by flying bullets. We get into the hallway and she stops me and points up. I look up and noticed we stopped under a ball of mistletoe. So I laugh and give her a big kiss on the cheek. I thought it was the sweetest thing that she wanted a kiss from Aunt Chris.  That small gesture really made my night and I wanted to share it with you.

Last night Dani decided she wanted to see exactly what she got for Christmas. So she goes and gets a blanket and lays it on the living room floor. Then she proceeds to place EVERY gift she received (from us and everyone else) on to the blanket, and then takes a picture of her haul. That is the only way to describe it, a “haul”. Almost the entire blanket was covered with stuff, and this was the Christmas where we “seriously cut back”.

 

Perhaps if one of the kids had done this same exercise when we did Christmas in full swing, we would have cut back years ago. I’ll admit, I was feeling guilty, because money was tight this year and my Christmas budget was about 1/3 of what it used to be; but then I saw Dani’s display, and now I’m not feeling so guilty anymore. I am feeling a little silly that it took me this long to realize how overboard we used to go on Christmas.

So the girls will be up shortly packing for their trip to Great Wolf Lodge. It was their Christmas gift from their aunt and uncle. They are leaving at noon and won’t be back until late tomorrow night. What a perfect gift! It doesn’t take up any space, and the girls get something much more important than a soon to be forgotten “thing”. They are having bonding time with their cousins and making a memory they will have forever.

Okay, I didn’t get much accomplished yesterday, so I really need to get some work done around the house today. I hope you a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Oops, almost forgot. Jason sent over the pictures from his phone. Take a look at this handsome group.

 

 

Your Last Challenge was:  

Write a story containing the following three words: brush, mirror, shadow.

 

Katie sat down at her vanity table, removed the pins from her hair, grabbed her brush, and began raking it through her long tresses.

“Could tonight have gone any worse?” She asked her reflection in the mirror. “I have never experienced such a string of disasters. If I didn’t know better, I would think someone had purposely set out to sabotage the event.” She laid her brush down and scowled at her reflection. “What if someone did?”

“Meow!” was the only warning Katie received before her cat pounced onto her lap.

“Oh. Hey there Shadow. So what’ your opinion? Do you think someone purposely caused the food table to collapse, or the ice sculpture to topple, or the power to go out?”

“Mee Oww!”

“You’re right. You add those to the teleprompter acting up and the weird music starting to play, it’s just too much to be a coincidence. But who would have wanted to ruin the charity event? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Your Next Challenge is:

You are straightening up the presents under your Christmas tree when you find one last wrapped gift. There is no tag on the package, and you do not recognize the wrapping paper.

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.

December 10th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

The first snowflake hasn’t fallen yet, and probably won’t for another couple of hours, but our schools are already closed. Makes you wonder how many kids slept in inside-out backward pajamas last night. LOL. Is that just a New Jersey thing or do the rest of you have a clue what I’m talking about? We are firmly in the three to six inch range, so this may prove to be a very long day. I just pray we don’t lose power.

So, I’m here. I’m alive. I survived last night, but I did take a Benadryl when I got home. Oops, I just realized you don’t know what I’m talking about. I cut the blog part short yesterday because I went over-board on the writing challenge. Anyway, last night I went to a greens making event. My mother purchased a ticket to make a boxwood tree, but then had a scheduling conflict, so I went in her place.

I have no problem with boxwoods, but I have a HUGE problem with the evergreen wreaths and center pieces the other folks were making. After half an hour in the room, my voice started getting raspy, and after an hour, it was getting hard to breathe. I finished the project in an hour and fifteen minutes and got the heck out of there, came home, took a Benadryl and went to bed. Breathing ok this morning, so crisis averted. Thank God!

Being allergic to greens really stinks! It took a long time to figure out why I was always sick at Christmas. After two Januarys in a row where I ended up in the hospital with pneumonia, someone asked if I was allergic to Christmas trees? I had never even considered it. The following year, we put up and artificial tree, and I was fine the whole season. We haven’t had a real Christmas tree now for years. A couple of years ago, I made an Advent wreath and brought it home. Within two days I started to feel sick, so out went the wreath. There will never be live greens in my house again.

The allergy has gotten so bad, I have issues being in a room with evergreens for more than an hour. This was lots of fun trying to sing in the choir at church. This year, the church hung artificial greens, so no inhaler hit for me before singing anymore…YEAH!! Now if I can just survive my husband’s office Christmas party and wrapping presents at the Somerset County Home for Temporarily Displaced Children, I’ll be in the clear.

I am going to attempt to get some running around done before the snow starts. I’m not holding out great hopes of getting a lot accomplished, but I’m willing to give it the old college try.

Again, I hope you have a warm and safe day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

 

Pandemonium breaks out at the North Pole…

 

“What the hell is going on?” Santa bellowed.

Jingle, the head Christmas elf, skidded to a stop in front of Santa. “Everything is going haywire.”

“I can see that.” Santa barked. “What I want to know is why!”

Jingle wrung his hands, “I don’t know. It all started with the cocoa machine, and now nothing seems to be working right. The conveyor belt jammed and then started running backwards. The paint guns are all clogged and won’t spray.”

Dingle chimed in, “and the stuffer won’t stuff.”

“And the fluffer won’t fluff.” Wingle added.

Mrs. Claus held out a tray for Santa’s inspection, “And the oven is turning out charred messes.”

“This is the last thing we need two weeks before Christmas.” Santa stroked his beard and began to pace. When he had to duck out of the way of an out of control toy plane, he yelled, “Pull the plug! Shut everything off! NOW!”

The elves scrambled to do his bidding as he resumed his pacing. When, at last, all frenzied activity stopped, the elves gathered in front of Santa and waited for instructions.

Santa ceased his pacing and turned toward the group, “When did you first notice things going wrong?” Everyone began speaking at once. Santa raised his voice over the crowd, “One at a time! Jingle, you said it started with the cocoa machine, right?”

“Yes Santa.”

“Okay we’ll start there then. Tell me what happened.”

“It was almost three and time for our afternoon cocoa break. I was getting the cups ready for the crew and the machine started going berserk, cocoa spraying everywhere, marshmallows flying through the air. I couldn’t get it to stop.”

Santa scratched his chin, pondered a moment, then asked, “Did anything happen before the cocoa machine started acting up?”

Out of time.

HOLY COW! I just looked out the window, and where ten minutes ago there wasn’t even a flurry, now we are in near white-out conditions. So much for doing any running around before the snow starts. I make it a point NOT to go out in weather like this, unless there’s an emergency. Since there is no emergency, my running around can wait until tomorrow.

Your Next Challenge is:

Battling the storm with French toast…

 

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.

December 9th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

I’m going to keep this relatively short today, because I went a little overboard with the writing challenge. It was a true story which I wasn’t able to tell in ten minutes. I hope you’ll forgive me.

So, the snow started around one yesterday afternoon and ended around seven. Fortunately those six hours of snow only managed to leave just shy of two inches on the ground, so everything looked pretty but the roads were passable. Well, that’s not the case this morning. I woke up to freezing rain. EVERYTHING is covered in a layer of ice.

Thankfully it is nothing like the ice storm we had two years ago, but it was still enough to have the schools delay their opening. Unfortunately the phone call announcing the delay came fifteen minutes after I woke my daughter, but she’s a teenager, so she had absolutely no problem going back to bed and to sleep for an extra two hours.

Okay, as I said, I’m going to keep this part short. I hope you have a warm and safe day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

 Never in a million years did I expect to see her/him …

When a friend asked if I would wait with her, at a tiny airport in town, because her cousin, whose name I no longer remember, was flying in from Buffalo, I said sure. I picked Nicole up at her house and we headed over. Even though I had lived in town for several years, I had never been to Kupper Airport.

It’s basically one landing strip, a couple of hangers and one administrative, for lack of something better to call it, building. Outside the “administrative” building was a small – roughly twelve by twelve – fenced section with a long wooden bench, which served as the airports waiting/boarding area. Thankfully it was a beautiful, warm evening, so Nicole and I plopped ourselves down on the bench to wait. From where we sat, we could see several small planes, all interesting, but none could compete with the private jet sitting on the runway twenty feet in front of us. It was beautiful.

After about fifteen minutes, a person exited the administrative building, asked if we were waiting for the flight from Buffalo. When we told him ‘yes’, he said it was going to be at least an hour before they arrived. Apparently, they left considerable later than they had planned. Then he told us the office was closing up for the night, and was nice enough to ask if we needed to use the bathroom before he locked up. We told him we were good, and he bade us a good night and left.

Nicole and I were happily chatting away when I noticed a car headed toward us from the far corner of the airport, which I thought was very strange because I was pretty sure the only road in was the one we had taken, and it ended at the parking lot a few feet away from where we were sitting.

Out of time, but since this is a true story, if I stopped here, you’d probably shoot me.

Slowly a dilapidated green station wagon came into view, and eventually pulled up right in front of us. Two burley men, in suits and dark glasses, got out of the car and looked around. I’m not sure who grabbed who’s hand, but I felt Nicole squeeze my hand, hard. Obviously she was just as unsettled by the new arrivals as I. We glanced at each other, but didn’t say a word.

When, I guess, they determined the area was safe, and two teenage girls were not a threat, one of the men opened the back door to the station wagon and a woman gracefully emerged. Now it was my turn to squeeze Nicole’s hand, hard. “Do you know who that is?” I whispered. Nicole was completely clueless.

I watched in utter amazement as the occupant of the car (a stunningly beautiful Filipino woman dressed in a green silk confection with perfectly matched emeralds in her ears and on her finger) and one of what I now knew was a bodyguard walked over to the door of the admin building and tried the door. Not wanting to shout, I stood and walked over to the fence near the door. The second body guard was at my side in a flash, but I ignored him. I told the woman, the office had closed about ten minutes before. Then I heard her whisper to her body guard that she “wouldn’t make it all the way to Rhode Island”.

I said to the woman there was a restaurant just at the end of the road and she could use the bathroom there.

She said, “I couldn’t possibly go into a public restaurant.”

I smiled at her and informed her that the restaurant had only opened a few weeks before, they weren’t crowded, it was fairly dark in there, and the ladies’ room was the first door on the right as soon as you walk in. No one would even see her. The woman took my hand, gave it a gentle squeeze, and thanked me for my kindness. I said it was my pleasure and returned to me seat next to Nicole.

Unbeknownst to us, there was another occupant in the station wagon, and apparently she elected not to go on the potty run with her travel companion. The bodyguard assisted her out of the vehicle and went to escort her to the jet Nicole and I had been admiring, but she stopped him and pointed in my direction. When the two started heading my way, I rose and met them at the fence which separated the waiting area from the landing strip.

This new woman took my hand (yeah, I know, this is the fourth hand reference, but this is how things went down) and said, “Thank you for being so nice to my friend, for not judging her.”

I replied it wasn’t my place to judge, and if someone was nice to me, I was nice to them. She thanked me again, then gave a final wave before her bodyguard assisted her onto her jet. After he had her on-board, he came and stood next to me – uncomfortably close, but that’s a whole other story.

Eventually, the others returned from the potty run; crisis averted and no media frenzy ensued, so the mission was successful. The Filipino woman gave us a final wave and a smile as she boarded the jet, and then moments later they were airborne and I could finally explain to Nicole what had just transpired.

So, have you figured out who the women were? Don’t worry, I won’t leave you guessing.

Never in a million years, when I had agreed to wait with a friend at our little Podunk airport, would I have imagined I would get a chance to meet the infamous Doris Duke and her friend Imelda Marcos.

Your Next Challenge is:

 

Pandemonium breaks out at the North Pole…

 

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.

December 6th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Good Morning! At about eight last night I realized I never posted a blog entry yesterday. This was the first time I missed in I can’t even remember how long, but I do have a really good excuse.

While NaNoWriMo was in full swing, I received the information from the FBI I had been waiting for in order to finish Corporate Blues, but I couldn’t take a break from Faerie Tale Queen to be able to work the information into the story. Well, from six yesterday morning until around seven last night – with only one break to take my daughter to the chiropractor – I wrote and revised Corporate Blues. And…wait for it… sent it to the publisher in NYC who has been asking for it. Now, I have no idea if he will pick up the novel, but at least it is out of my hands and into his.

I have been down this road before, the traditional publishing road, with less than a positive experience. I have learned from my mistakes, so unless they come back with “an offer I can’t refuse”, I will be releasing Corporate Blues myself. I will keep you updated, and I will probably be asking your opinion when the time comes as to what you think I should do.

Today, after a little bit of maintenance housework, I will be headed back to Ireland. It has been a few days since I’ve written anything on Faerie Tale Queen, and quite frankly, I’m starting to miss Kieren and Logan. I guess that’s a good sign, no?

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

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

You are posing for one of those “Old Time Photos”. The camera flash goes off, and when you blink the spots from your eyes, you find you are no longer at the photo studio, you are actually in the place where the photo is set.

 

It was silly really. Just a whim. The four of us were walking along the Wildwood boardwalk and we saw the “Olde Tyme Photo” sign, and we walked in. There were dozens of scenes we could have chosen. We could have been princesses and the guys could have been knights, but they weren’t keen on putting on the armor. We could have picked a scene from a royal ball, but the guys refused to wear tights. Then like kids in a candy store, the boys saw the Al Capone era photo, and they wouldn’t settle for anything else. Pretty sure the machine guns are what hooked them. Okay, so we’d be in corsets and fishnet stockings. I could live with that.

My boyfriend’s sister and I went into our dressing room to change and the guys went into theirs. When we all emerged, there was a lot of giggling, especially when the photographer posed us and told the guys they needed to look pissed off.

Finally, he snapped the photo. It was the biggest and brightest flash I had ever seen. Before my vision returned, the room slowly began to get noisy. I blinked and I blinked, and kept trying to focus, but the spots were still swimming before my eyes. The sound of piano music started to permeate the din. My peripheral vision started coming into focus. Where the heck did all these people come from?

 

Out of time.

 

From left to right: My husband Paul, me, my sister-in-law Cindy, and my brother-in-law Frank. I think we were 23, 21 & 18 when this photo was taken. Dang, I would kill to look like that again! LOL.

Your Next Challenge is:

 

With Nelson Mandela’s passing yesterday, it made me think, what is it that makes someone great, makes someone stand out over the rest? Write about who you think should be remembered as “great” and why.

 

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.

October 20th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Good morning. So the reason I was being so cryptic was on Friday I drove up to Vermont and picked my daughter up from school so she could surprise my nephew at his going away party. To say he, and a whole bunch of other folks, were surprised would be an understatement. It made it worth the 650 mile trek and the 19 hour day.

I will be bringing her back up to school today after church because she has class tomorrow morning, but this time, I will not be making the trip all in one shot. I will be crashing in my daughter’s dorm tonight and then driving back tomorrow, so hopefully I won’t be as dead come Tuesday.

This also means there really will not be a blog tomorrow. I’m not even bringing my computer with me, so I’m not lying this time. You will have until Tuesday to respond to today’s post.

My daughter is currently in the kitchen getting on her baking fix with some sour cream, chocolate chip muffins. Other than her animals, I think kitchen privileges are what she misses most while at school. Yesterday she made a batch of brownies to bring to the party, but apparently our dog missed my daughter’s baking, and he helped himself when we weren’t looking. He’s fine, but we needed to scramble to come up with a dessert. We took the brownies he did not eat, mixed them with some vanilla ice cream and refroze the mixture. Come dessert time we were able to scoop brownie chunk ice cream. It was a big hit.

Well, I have to get ready for church and pack an overnight bag, so I should get going. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

It was so good to see him/her/them again…

 

At first I didn’t recognize him or perhaps, subconsciously I did, because I continued to stare. He had changed quite a bit, but then again, so had I. Then I heard him laugh at something the store clerk said, and I knew it was him; Josh, my first kiss, my first love, my first broken heart.

He had matured into a handsome man. Gone was the lanky awkwardness of the boy who had grown far too much, far too quickly for his equilibrium to keep pace. He had filled out, but was not overweight by any stretch of the imagination. His hair was still blonde, although liberally streaked with grey, and his azure blue eyes still sparkled with joy and a hint of mischief.

I worried my lip while I debated whether or not I should say anything. He wouldn’t recognize me. I was hardly the girl he knew thirty years ago. Then he turned and saw me. He smiled politely and nodded his head in greeting, the way you would any stranger you met in a store, and started to walk passed me. I sighed. I hadn’t really expected a different reaction, but I had hoped. Well, it was nice seeing him again.

As I put my purchase on the counter, I hear, “Karen?”

I turn and smile, “Hi, Josh.”

 

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.

October 19th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Lord, I’m tired! Yesterday started at 4:00 am and I didn’t get to sleep until midnight. During that time, I did a lot of solo driving, had car issues, had phone issues, got the run around from Toyota, then was saved by Advanced Auto Parts.

I had my van on cruise control and, when going up a hill, it made some funny noise, felt like it was having problems finding a gear, the lights on the dashboard flashed, then a series of warning lights appeared on the dash. At that point I was hundreds of miles from home and in a bad cell area. In spite of the warning lights, the car seemed to be ok, so I continued toward my destination because, what alternative did I have? I finally managed to get a hold of my husband and he told me to try to find a place that would run a free diagnostic so I could determine the seriousness of the problem.

Considering I was out in the middle of nowhere, I had no I idea how I was going to accomplish what my husband asked me to do, but I agreed and told him I would call him back. I continue on my route and then, low and behold, when I reach a major town, there is a Toyota dealership, so I pull in. They tell me it will be $90 for them to run the diagnostic and I tell them I have the extended warranty. They said, if it turned out not being a covered item, they would still charge me the $90. I asked if I could call the warranty place first before I would authorize the work, and they told me “sure”.

This is where I started having the phone issues. I try to call and I get an error message on my phone saying “emergency calls only”. I assume it is a service area issue, so I change my location in the parking lot and try again. I manage to get a hold of someone in the roadside assistance area (the only phone number offered in the pack of warranty papers provided) and the lady was nice enough to find me the number I really needed to call. I attempt to call them and I get a voice recording from Verizon saying there was a fraud prevention block on my phone and I was not allowed to dial. Are you kidding me?

I text my husband with the phone number and information he needs to check and see if we are covered. The text goes through with no problem, so I try dialing again. The call goes through. I tell the man on the phone my problem and he tells me my plan only covers free tire rotations and oil changes. Seriously? Thank you very much, have a good day. ARGH!

I try calling my husband again, it doesn’t go through. I send him a text, he calls me back. I elect to continue with the car as is and he said he will get our local Toyota dealer in the horn and try to figure out what’s going on. (Incidentally, when my husband checked with our local Toyota dealer, he verified we have the platinum coverage, so basically other than body damage and light bulbs being replaced if they burn out, everything on my van is covered, bumper to bumper.)

I get a couple hundred yards down the road when I spot an Advanced Auto Parts store, so I pull in to see if they do the free diagnostic. They do. A sweet man named Paul comes out of the store, plugs the machine into my car, reads the report and resets the warning. He told me the timing must have slipped momentarily when the van tried to maintain cruise control speed while going up the hill. If the light comes on again, then I should take it to the dealer and have it checked, but it was probably just a computer glitch and I should be fine. It took him less than ten minutes and he did for free what Toyota wanted to charge me $90 for; yeah, Toyota is not high on my list of favorites at this point.

I thank Paul and continue on my way, one problem solved, one left to address. When I arrive at my destination (I’ll tell you where I went tomorrow), I attempt to handle my phone situation. After half an hour of automated hell and the ill-advised automated message from Verizon that I needed to call from a phone which wasn’t having the problem, I get a living, breathing human, a lovely lady named Elizabeth who initially hailed from Kenya and had one of the most beautiful voices I had ever heard. She looks over my account, tells me to turn my phone completely off, wait a minute and restart it. The problem was a computer glitch with the LG phones and it just needed to be reset.

Two computer glitches which turned what should have been a lovely trip, into a stressful mess. Have I mentioned how much I just love computers?

On a more positive note, I did accomplish what I had set out to do, and I also managed to capture a photo I had not been able to get on previous trips. On my first trip, I did a “I could not have possibly seen what I think I just saw.” Then on my second trip, I did a “OMG, I did see it.” Third trip, I forgot my camera. Fourth trip either it was not visible or I simply drove passed it. Well, I have proof this time. Take a look at what I found…not exactly indigenous to the area to say the least!

 

We have named her “Sally” like in the children’s song. Can you see why I did not initially believe my eyes? Sheep, goats, cows, horses, pigs and even alpacas are common sites on a farm, but a camel??? You have to admit though, she is kinda cute.

Today is going to be a LONG day. In a few hours we will be attending my nephew’s going away party. On Monday, he leaves for boot camp and won’t be home again until after the first of the year. It is going to be a day filled with mixed emotions. On one hand, I am incredibly proud of Kyle for wanting to serve our country. On the other hand, I am petrified he will be serving our country as a Marine when there is so much turmoil in the world. I guess all I can say is Semper Fi and God’s speed.

Oh well, off to make brownies for the party. I hope you have a chance to get out and enjoy this beautiful fall day, and as always, happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 You have a job interview, but you do not recognize the address they give you, so you plug it into your GPS. The directions the GPS give you, lead you to a strange area you never knew existed.

 

I sat in the car, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel, staring up at the building and debating whether or not I should proceed. My need for a paying job outweighed my trepidation, so I took a deep breath, grabbed my briefcase and exited the car.

My eyes danced furtively about trying to take in my surroundings, attempting to commit the scene to memory in case I needed to call upon my recollection in the future. The parking lot was occupied by four vehicles other than my own, two SUVs, two sedans, all newer models, all black with tinted windows; one with local plates, on with Maryland plates, two with Virginia plates. In my mind I made up anagrams so I could at least be able to provide partial plates if not the complete plate numbers.

 

I didn’t get as far as I wanted to. I guess it is going to take more than two cups of coffee to get me going today…

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

It was so good to see him/her/them again…

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.