July 12th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

 

Happy Friday! So does anyone have any great plans for the weekend? We’ll be at a birthday celebration on Saturday. One of my nieces has a birthday June 30^th, her sister’s birthday is July 7^th, so like with my girls who are Feb. 4^th & 15^th, we have a family party the weekend in between their birthdays. This year’s party was postponed so the girls’ aunt, uncle and cousin, who are visiting from Kentucky, could be at the party. But that’s not all… Saturday is also my brother-in-law’s birthday.

 

We made our trek out to Long Island yesterday. I was meeting my cousin half way so I could give her daughter back to her, so it was better than having to drive three hours to get to her house and then drive back home. Funny, I could swear I made it home from her house last Sunday in two hours.

 

I don’t know how people put up with that traffic, it’s insane. I also don’t know how people commute from NJ to NY every day for work. Sitting in traffic sucks up gas and the tolls alone to go over the Outerbridge Crossing and then back over the Verrazano cost $28. So between gas and tolls (obviously depending on the car you drive) you’re spending almost $50 a day getting to and from work. That’s $250 a week, $13K a year! Sorry, but that’s just flippin’ crazy!

 

Can someone please explain to me what justifies a $15 toll? That one bridge alone has got to be making MILLIONS every single day and at the expense of the hard working class. They should figure out a way to charge the people who are commuting for work like a dollar or two for the toll and everyone else has to pay a higher price with commercial vehicles paying the highest price. If you are going into the city for pleasure, then you have to pay. If you are going into the city to do business, then you have to pay. But if you are going into the city to go work for someone else, you shouldn’t have to pay as much. Wouldn’t that make much more sense?

 

And these bureaucratic ding-dongs can’t figure out why us common folk are struggling. All of them, across the board, they get elected and all common sense evaporates. The only explanation I can think of is that little light thingy they used in MIB is real, but it doesn’t erase memory, just the ability to think logically, and they zap every elected official during their initial publicity photos. What’s your explanation?

 

I say we form “The Common Sense” party; it doesn’t matter if you are more liberal thinking or conservative thinking, if you have common sense you can join (and then we’ll make sure we pass out dark glasses to our party before any photos are taken). I’m stepping down off my soapbox now. Sorry, there are just times when I feel the need to bang my head against a wall. But that took longer than I had budgeted for, so on to the challenges.

 

 

Your Last Challenge was:

Would you change if you won the lottery?

 

I said I wouldn’t change if I ever won the lottery, and I don’t think I have really. I will admit my clothes are no longer from the Salvation Army but from a department store, but that’s not really a change. And I have stopped eating Raman Noodles and have fresh fruit and veggies, but that’s just healthy, it doesn’t really change me. Well, one little change is I now have a tiny house with some land so I can plant a garden instead of low income housing, but that’s just a change in location, not in me. 

The kids are buying their own lunches at school and no longer have to use the free tickets we used to get, but they are definitely not point out that fact, so there is no change there either. For the first time ever, we have money in the checking account and there are no more nasty people calling us night and day looking for money. The only change there is I am no longer afraid to answer the phone. The cat and dog have now had all their shots, and our socks and underwear no longer have holes, but again I’m no different. I haven’t done anything extravagant, I treat people the same way I always have in the past, I can honestly say I have not changed.

The people around me however have and it’s very strange. Folks who would never even give me the time of day now want to be my friend. Companies all of a sudden think I am good enough to have their credit cards, we get at least five in the mail every day. Where were they when the kids woke up Christmas morning and there was nothing under the tree, hell there wasn’t even a tree.

 

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.

July 11th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good morning all. I spent a good chunk of yesterday on the phone with two financial aid places, the college and the government, because when I checked with the college my daughter will be going to see if there was anything else they needed from me, they looked into my status and our loan came up expired. Not quite sure what happened, no one could explain why it happened, but I’m glad I checked. Long story short, I had to fill out all the loan paperwork again, but it wasn’t terrible. Almost all the information was prefilled from the last time, so all I had to do was check the boxes that I read everything, agree not to be a dirt-bag and repay the loan, then sign and submit. In half an hour I was calling the college back to tell them everything went through and I got a pop-up screen stating the college should be informed with 24 hours. Needless to say, I was relieved everything worked out.

I did get quite a bit of quiet time to write yesterday as well. I guess all the activities had caught up to the girls and they crashed. I had been up since 5 am writing, then after the whole student loan fiasco, I had a horrible headache, so at 1:30 pm, I took some aspirin and went to lay down for a bit. A little before 2:00 pm, I finally hear the girls start to stir. If you don’t count the times I was violently ill, I don’t think I have EVER even slept until noon let alone two in the afternoon, and it wasn’t just one kid, it was all three of them! Whatever, they are on vacation, it’s not like they had anything pressing to do.

Last night the girl’s all slept over my sister-in-law’s house, but they will be back here by eleven, because we are bringing the cousin back home today. We’re meeting her mom just over the Verrazano, so at least I don’t have to go all the way to Long Island! I already told the mom and daughter that she is welcome here any time and we are even planning on a two week visit next summer.

OK, enough chit-chat, on to the challenge and then to camp. I only hit 22K yesterday, so as far as I’m concerned, I’m way behind and I’m starting to stress!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

Write a story using the following three words, Cabin, Fire, and Vampire.

 

I peeked open my eyes and saw it was a chilly, rainy, Autumn Saturday. I had nowhere I had to go, and nothing I had to do. Yippee! I yawned, stretched, slid out of bed and yelped as my feet hit the cold floor. First order of business, build a fire, then coffee, fire first, coffee next. I grabbed my robe, rummaged around for slippers but had to settle for a pair of socks, then carefully padded down the stairs to the living room. The living room’s fireplace was the cabin’s focal point and one of its prettier features, along with the wall of glass overlooking the forest and lake, and the completely appointed gourmet kitchen, the fireplace was a work of art. It stood right in the center of the room and it was more of a fire pit than a fire place.

Since my teeth had actually started to chatter, I stopped admiring the room and went to work building the fire. When it was roaring and the room started to warm, I headed to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. I guess I’ll have to turn the heat on tonight. I hate doing that so early in the season, but I hate freezing in the morning more! I spread my hands on the counter and stared at the coffee maker, willing it to drip faster. So what am I going to do today? I squinted at the dreary dripping mess outside the window. Well, I’m definitely not going out in that. Perhaps a book. Coffee in hand, I shuffled back to the living room and over to the bookcase to peruse the selection when a book caught my eye. What a perfect day to read a vampire story, I thought, but not one of those modern day mushy vampire love stories. They would not do on a day like today. I reached up and gently removed a very old copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, walked over to the couch, put down my coffee then settled in for a good scare.

 

Your Next Challenge is (thanks Beth):

 

Would you change if you won the lottery?

 

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.