August 16th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Sure enough, our last day of vacation looks like it is going to be a total wash-out. It’s grey, misty, windy and chilly. In general – YUCKY. What a downer. If you have a good last day for vacation, you leave with a good feeling. However, when you have a day like this, you remember things like your almost twelve hour drive to get here, the traffic, the water only really being nice one day, the problems with the house, etc.

The last time we came to the Outer Banks, I said I wouldn’t do it again. I should have stuck with what I said. I should have sucked it up, drove the extra two hours, and went to Myrtle Beach where we have always had fantastic vacations. It stings even more knowing this will probably be the last vacation we will be able to take for a few years because money is tight, so I really had my heart set on it being great.

The girls had said they wanted to go see the new Percy Jackson movie, so I guess, after we get the packing finished, they will get their chance. I may or may not go. When we got here, the house was really dirty and it set the tone for the week. I don’t want the next people’s vacation to start off on such a sour note, so I think I will take some extra care cleaning up the place, and the best time to do it would be when no one else was here.

After our long drive home tomorrow, we are going to have several jam-packed days ahead of us. Sunday the girls are going to Dorney Park with their aunt, and my husband and I are going to a brunch in celebration of what would have been my grandmother’s 100^th Birthday. Sunday night we are going to dinner at my sister-in-law’s. Monday we have the eye doctor’s and various other running around to get all the last minute things for my daughter. Tuesday we need to get her packed up and clean the house for the party. Wednesday’s the party and then we leave on Thursday for Vermont. I guess being so busy is a good thing. I don’t have time to dwell on my daughter leaving. Maybe that’s why my son gave us virtually no warning as to his move date, so I wouldn’t have days or weeks to get sad over him leaving.

Just a reminder, there will be no writing challenge Saturday since I will be driving home all day. So, you have until Sunday to work on today’s challenge.

Hope you have a wonderful day and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

As beautiful as it looks, it is really a sad sight. The hanging of the life preserver on the back of the “Thanks for visiting us. Come back soon.” sign on the day after Labor Day, is a custom in the town. A signal to all that the summer has come to an end. The lifeguards have gone home, it is time for us to go home too; back to school, back to work. Before long the days will become shorter and the air will become chillier. Soon we will be caught up in holiday preparations and, before we know it, another year will come to an end. Hot lazy days will merely be a faded memory. But, if by chance, during the cold dark months you happen to drive past, the life preserver on the back of the sign will still be there; a testament that the joy of summer will come again.

 

Really short today. I knew what I wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t flow. I guess my mood is matching the weather, and it’s hard to write when you’re feeling blah. I need to figure out a way to fix that, figure out a way to make rainy days ideal writing days. Think about it, it’s logical. Why should I stay cooped up inside writing on beautiful days? Whatever, I know it’s not going to happen. I’m wired weird. Logic plays absolutely no part in the equation of me.

Your Next Challenge is:

 

You’re stuck in the house on a rainy day.

 

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.

August 9th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

It’s FRIDAY!! Ahhh, it’s Friday! I still have so much to do!! I think I was so worried about having an alarm malfunction and not waking up on time to leave Saturday morning, I woke up at 2:30 this morning. Ugh! It took me quite a while to fall back to sleep, so I am REALLY tired right now. But, this may be a good thing. Since I am the one who will be driving, I’m planning on going to bed really early tonight, waking up at 2:30, loading everyone into the car and then pulling out of the driveway by 3:00 am. I’m not 100% sure but I think everyone else is planning on staying up and they will just sleep in the car.

Since I still have so much to do, today’s blog will be really short, and since I will be spending most of the day driving tomorrow, there probably won’t be a blog tomorrow either, and there definitely will not be a writing challenge. So, you’ll have until Sunday to work on today’s writing challenge. If you do not hear from me by Sunday, that means the realtor lied and there is no internet connection at the rental house. (You won’t see a post, but you might be able to hear me yelling because an internet connection was one of the main requirements I had, right after 3 beds and a bathroom.) I won’t borrow trouble and hope for the best.

Have a wonderful day and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

There’s a knock on the door. The unfamiliar person on the other side says they grew up in the house and would like to see it. What happens next? (You can be the knocker or the person opening the door.)

That’s it. This time I’m going to do it instead of just sitting here at the curb. I’m going to knock on the door.

It has been thirty-five years since I moved out of the tiny, yellow, bungalow at nineteen Farmhaven. I have driven past countless times since, but never got up the nerve to knock on the door. I had spent the better part of the first twelve years of my life in that house and I am so curious to see how much has changed.

Undoubtedly the avocado kitchen has been redone, as well as the miniscule bathroom with the hole in the wall where the tiles had broken; the hole where my scared cat climbed through on moving day, never to be seen again. 

I wonder if the new owners replaced the heating system which was an open grate which took up the entire hallway in the center of the house. The metal grate which heated up, not caring that a young child’s sock could get caught on its edge, trip and fall, then be branded with its crisscross pattern.

I wonder if my six by eight bedroom with no closet was still being used as a bedroom or if they finally converted the attic to bedroom space as we had always hoped to do.

 

Out of time. I still haven’t gotten up enough nerve to knock on the door. Who knows, maybe someday I will.

 

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 31st Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

July 31^st, and I made it through alive! Still doing the happy dance over here. Although I hit the 50K at five-fifteen yesterday, I still plan on writing all day today and then posting my numbers then. Corporate Blues is still not finished, so the more I do, the closer it will be to being complete, because after today, I’m going to be working exclusively on the piece for the other author. I want to have it back in her hands by Friday, Monday the latest.

My next three weeks are going to be so packed full of things that need to get done, I am going to need another vacation come September. My car needs to be registered and inspected, plus the maintenance light came on so it needs its oil changed too; the girls need to get their hair cut and eye doctor appointments; we have to arrange “play dates” with all the folks who want to see my daughter before she leaves for college, who can’t make it to her going away picnic on the 21^st, which I also need to plan; we need to do a Costco run to get all the last mega supplies for college, Motrin, Lactaid, Cold Medicine, etc.; pack for vacation, leave at 3 am to go on vacation, come home and wash clothes from vacation, then repack and head to college; and there’s a concert today and another beach trip on Monday; and finally, both the car and the house need to be cleaned. Jimminies, I need a nap just from writing it all out!

Thank God I didn’t try to squeeze the book signing in there as well! With all that, there might not be daily writing challenges, but I will make every effort to get something up. This would be a REALLY great time for suggestions from the readers. I would welcome the help!

OK, I’ve got to get this show on the road. I need to pick up my niece at 8:30 to bring her to work because her mom has a doctor’s appointment. It’s funny, because tonight I have to pick up my nephew from work because my sister-in-law is running in twelve different directions at once as usual, and she can’t juggle enough to be able to get him by nine. I don’t know how she does all that she does. She has three very active kids, is a troop leader, heads up various committees, plus I’m sure several other things I don’t know about. If you look at her wall calendar, you cannot see an inch of free space. Every day has multiple things written on it. God bless her, I couldn't keep up the pace she does, that's for sure!

See, I get distracted by shiny objects easily. On to the challenges. Have a great day y’all!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

I don’t think I will ever get used to this. It’s not even nine o’clock and there isn’t a soul around. This is a town where they literally roll up their sidewalks at night. You would think I would see a pizza delivery guy or even someone else walking a dog like I am, but no. It will be just like every other night, like I’m walking through a ghost town.

I guess it is kind of nice, peaceful really. Gives me time to think and unwind at the end of the day. It’s just so strange though. There hasn’t been any real crime in this town in, well, forever. Believe me, I checked before moving here. The police blotter section in the local paper has stories like ‘The Emery’s cat got stuck in the drain pipe – Found cold and wet, but now home safe with his family’ or ‘Police intervened when an argument erupted after Tommy Griffin’s dog was caught relieving himself on Mr. Peterson’s prized petunias – Tommy was remorseful and offered to mow Mr. Peterson’s lawn as compensation’. And it’s not like I moved to an area where the average age is a hundred and two; sure there are some older folks, but there a people my age, young families, teenagers, little kids. If I was taking this walk at six o’clock instead of nine o’clock, I would be tripping over people. I just don’t understand, and I’d feel real silly asking if that’s just the way things are around here.

 

Not 100% sure where that story was going, but things just seemed a little too perfect, didn’t they?

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

Did I really just see that?

 

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 8th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

“It’s just another manic Monday… wish it was Sunday… ‘cause that’s my fun day…” giggle. Sorry for the dated, or should I say outdated, song lyrics. I’m still a little punchy from lack of sleep, even though I went to bed REALLY early last night.

Here are some examples, just from yesterday, of how punchy I get when I haven’t had enough sleep.

 

My friend took a picture of her cat curled up in her kitchen sink and said “I don’t remember washing that pot.”

My reply, “It was from the cat-sserole you made last night.”

 

One of my cabin mates at Camp NaNoWriMo writes on our cabin message board, “I’m stuck. How do you insult a dragon?”

My reply, “With a fire extinguisher? My pet iguana is more ferocious than you? I’ve seen better scales at a fish market? Your breath smells like burnt s’mores? You fly like a hummingbird? Or you could just start singing ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’?”

Obviously when experiencing extreme tiredness, silly switch gets flipped on. It was after the cat-sserole comment, I decided it was time for bed.

 

All in all, the trek from Connecticut to Long Island was a breeze thanks to some guy I chatted with at the hotel pool. He told me to take the Merrick Parkway to the Hutchinson River Parkway so I could avoid the dreaded 95, and it was smooth sailing until an accident five miles from my cousin’s house snarled things. It was only about a twenty minute tie up, so it wasn’t too terrible. The only other slowdown we had from Long Island home was getting over the Verrazano, the toll really screws things up! I wonder, are we the only country that charges their citizens to drive on certain roads?

 

Since I do not know the sleeping pattern of our houseguest, I do not know how much time I will have this morning to write, so I’m off to camp.

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

 

When I woke, it was still dark. I cannot explain what woke me. I was on vacation after all, so I had no reason to wake up early, but there I was, on the shore at least an hour before sunrise. The gently moving waters of the lagoon called to me, played their siren’s song. It was a seduction I could not resist even if I had wanted to; to swim completely alone with nothing to guide me but the moonlight, no tourists, no screaming children, even the animals all seemed to be sleeping. Heaven, even if it would be only for a fleeting moment.

I waded in, then dove. I frolicked like a dolphin, swam some good hard laps, then simply floated and let the music of the water surround me. As the sky began to lighten, I made my way toward the shore. Since I was awake, I used the opportunity to take my customary “sunrise over the water” vacation photos. I snapped and snapped until the sun was a complete ball hovering just above the water, then I gathered my things and went back to my room to sleep.

A few weeks later, I was flipping through my vacation photos and came across this photo, taken the morning of my moonlight swim. I guess the water actually does have its own music.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

Well, why’d it do that?

 

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.