March 9th 2015 Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! It’s been a few days since I have constructed a blog post, and to be honest, it’s not easy going today either, but I felt obligated. No reason, I’m just tired. It’s been a crazy few days.

On Thursday, during the blizzard, I headed up to Vermont to pick up my daughter because it was the start of her spring break. It probably would have made a world more sense to leave on Friday, after the storm had passed, but I knew doing a one day round trip would have wrecked me.

 

I did have my “Jesus take the wheel” moment while driving up. I was headed north on Route 287, a major three lane highway in New Jersey. I was in the middle lane, tootling along at 35 mph, in the two narrow tire strips of clean pavement, when I neared a truck from Alabama. It was throwing up so much slush and snow, I moved over into the fast lane so I would have an empty lane between us. Then the truck decides to move over into the middle lane. I can’t speed up because it’s not safe – I pushed it at 38 to no avail, but was not willing to go faster. I could not slow down because then I would be getting the full brunt of the slush flying off the truck. Basically, I was stuck, white-knuckled, and none too happy, just behind the cab of the truck.

That is when the rocket scientist of a truck drive decided he wanted to come into the fast lane. A) Trucks are NOT allowed in the fast lane in New Jersey, and B) The lane was OCCUPIED! He began to cross into my lane, and kicked up enough muck to completely cover my windshield, effectually blinding me. Instinctively, I began to swerve to the left, onto the unplowed left buffer, to avoid the truck, and flipped my wipers on high so I could see. The windshield cleared just in time for me to correct my trajectory and avoid hitting the cement median by inches. By the grace of God alone, I was able to maintain control of my vehicle on the icy snowy road.

The truck driver must have realized his error, because by the time I righted myself, he was several car lengths behind me, and moving over to the slow lane. Thankfully, the rest stop was only a few more miles away, and I would be able to pull over and compose myself.

Southerners, I love you, truly I do, but y’all should seriously reconsider crossing the Mason-Dixon line during the winter months. You are ill-equipped to handle the treacherous driving conditions.

It was very strange, the snow did not cross the state line. It was snowing like crazy in NJ, but when I crossed over into NY, nothing. WooHoo! Perhaps I would reach Vermont hail and whole after all.

As I was getting off the exit, I kept hearing this unusual scraping noise, and it was becoming increasingly more difficult to steer the car. I’m thinking – just what I need, car trouble, during a blizzard, and over two and a half hours away from home. Just ducky!

I maneuver my car into a spot, in the blessedly covered parking deck, and get out to have a look. I’m not mechanically inclined, however I was praying for it to be something obvious, and easily repairable. It was blatantly obvious what the problem was, and in hindsight, I wish I had snapped a picture before I corrected the problem. All four of my tires were completely encrusted with snow. It was packed solid into the wheel wells, and was scraping against the tires. I pulled a photo off the internet to show you what I mean, but my car was much worse than the photo.

For the next twenty minutes, I kicked at the bumpers and the running boards trying to displace the snow, and I managed to get about 80% of it off. There were sections under the running boards that were just solid ice, and no matter how much I kicked, it wasn’t budging, so I gave up.

When I pulled out of the Sloatsburg Rest Stop, my nerves had calmed, the car was driving well again, and the snow had stopped. Two hours later, I was cruising up Route 87, at a more road eating pace of 68mph, when a Jeep Cherokee from – you guessed it – Alabama, slams on his breaks right in front of me. I swerve into the left lane (there was very little traffic, and we were all traveling in the slow lane, so I knew there was no one on my left), and then I realize why the Cherokee driver hit his brakes – a NY state trooper, decided to swing a Uie at one of the breaks in the median. Now I’m thinking the trooper isn’t going to stop, and pull right into traffic, so I swerve back into the right lane.

Good grief! Unless you are traveling through Hazard County and Roscoe P. Coltrane is on duty, no state trooper is going to pull you over for going THREE miles over the speed limit. (My cruise control was set at exactly 68 and we had been traveling at that exact speed for over half an hour when the clown slammed on his brakes.)

I had my hand on my chest, trying to keep my heart from beating thorough my chest when the state trooper drove past me. He looked over, rolled his eyes and sped off shaking his head. I’d like to think he was referencing the guy hitting his brakes and not me, considering he didn’t pull me over.

By the time I got to Vermont – which was beautiful sunny blue skies and 17°, I had had enough. I picked up soup and sandwiches from Panara, Lys and I had an early dinner, and I was sound asleep by 9:30.

The next morning, I felt SO bad. I was exhausted, plus I have a little bit of a cold, and my daughter told me I kept her up because I was snoring. How embarrassing. I asked her why she didn’t throw something at me to make me wake up and stop. She said because she knew how tired I was. I felt terrible. She couldn’t sleep because of me, and she had two classes to go to before we could leave. It’s four days later and I still feel guilty about it.

Saturday, Lys spent twelve hours making her cousin’s birthday cake. Here’s a photo of her latest masterpiece. The child has a definite flair for cake decorating. Yesterday my maid of honor and her sister came over for brunch. We had a blast! Then yesterday afternoon we had my nephew Max’s and Lys’ combined birthday party over at my sister-in-law’s. Today, I’m whooped. Thank goodness I have nowhere I have to be, and nothing I have to do today, because honestly, I don’t have the energy.

Okay, I have rambled on long enough for one day. I hope you have a marvelous day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

Use the following “Friends were things of the past, of his other life.” Bonus points if you either start or finish your challenge with the sentence.

Quote taken from Man Hunt by K. Edwin Fritz – available on Amazon.

You have ten 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.

February 20th 2015 Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Funny story – as you know, Paulie, Dani & I are going up to Vermont this weekend to celebrate Lys’ birthday a week late. We are leaving before daybreak tomorrow and coming home Sunday night, so obviously, we need a place to stay Saturday night. So on Monday, I logged on to the Marriott website, selected the Burlington-Williston Fairfield Inn, where we usually stay, and booked our room. However, just as I finished the reservation, something wiggy happened with the computer.

When the confirmation of my reservation still had not arrived by yesterday, I called the hotel directly to confirm. Susan, the hotel’s manager picked up the phone. She laughed when she heard it was me, and said she saw on my Facebook page that I was coming up for the weekend. She was probably wondering why I hadn’t made my reservation yet, but I had, or at least I thought I had. It didn’t matter, Susan got everything straightened out, as she always does.

When we brought Lys up to school in January, there weren’t any rooms available at the Fairfield Inn, so I had to book at another Marriott up the road. It was nice, the people were nice, but it just wasn’t the same. I LOVE the staff at the Fairfield Inn. They make it feel like my home away from home. I’ve stayed there so much over the past two years, most of the staff knows me by name, and I theirs. Other than my issue with room keys (which happens everywhere I go), there are rarely any problems, and if by some freak chance there is a problem, they are on top of it like white on rice.

So, if you are ever up in the Burlington Vermont area, and find yourself in need of a hotel, I highly recommend the Fairfield Inn Burlington-Williston at 2844 St. George Road in Williston. It’s about fifteen minutes from Burlington. It’s right off of Route 89, and there are a ton of shops and restaurants all up and down Route 2A (St. George Road). The rooms are clean, the staff is amazing, there’s a pool (if you happen to be there during the tiny window when you can swim in VT), and they serve breakfast.

I told you I would tell you about yesterday’s photo challenge. My daughter, Dani Rose, took that photograph, and believe it or not, that’s her eye. I guess you could call it a self-portrait. Those eyelashes are real – they are so long you could practically braid them, and even though you cannot tell by the photo, her eyes are such a dark brown, they are almost black – a far cry from the light grey eyes she was born with (which lasted all of two weeks).

Initially I thought she would have blue eyes like her brother. PJ is the only one who has blue eyes, and I’m still a little baffled by that. My eyes are blue and Paulie’s eyes are hazel (½ blue, ½ brown). By my calculations, the gene pool for eyes should have been ¾ blue, ¼ brown, so how did only 1/3 of our children end up with blue eyes? I realize brown is more dominate, but still…

All three kids have different eye colors, each beautiful in their own right. PJ’s are that rich azure you can only compare to an August sky. Lys’ are a warm brandy with gold facets that have you picturing sitting by a roaring fire in a mountain cabin; and Dani’s are like a finely polished chestnut wood, deep, rich, mysterious.

Okay, enough of that. Today I have to get over to Costco to pick up Lys’ cake. When I’m finished, I’m hoping the temperature will have climbed to at least double digits, because I have to clean out the car. At the moment, it’s 3° and that’s without the wind chill. If it doesn’t warm up some, the heck with it, we’ll be driving in a messy car. It’s just too dang cold to be out there for any length of time.

Just so you know, we are leaving around 5:30 tomorrow morning, so there is very little chance I will be able to get a blog post done before I leave. However, I may be bringing my computer with me up to Vermont. I haven’t decided yet.

Alrighty, let me boogie. I hope you have fabulous day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

Who turned off the heat?

You have ten 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.

January 12th 2015

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! I’m SO happy I don’t have to go anywhere today. It’s cold, there’s a wintry mix falling from the sky and wreaking havoc on the ground, and I’m wiped from driving to Vermont and back (plus playing pack mule while I was there).

We made one pit stop on our way up to Burlington. We brought lunch to a 95 year old relative, “Uncle Rudy”. (I think he’s actually my husband’s third or fourth cousin, but I was not going to allow my kids to call him by his first name.) He is a fascinating and brilliant man, even still at 95, and a lot of fun to be around. Even though you don’t know “Uncle Rudy” personally, I can just about guarantee you own something he invented and probably use almost every day… your microwave. Pretty cool, huh? Unfortunately, like many inventors, he made his while working for a large company, who, in turn, took all the credit for his work. If you were in the military, you can also thank Rudy for his work with sonar and radar. See, I told you he was an amazing guy.

Lys was funny on Saturday. She was fairly quiet the entire way up Route 87. Then when we got off the exit which would lead us to the Essex/Burlington Ferry, she removed her head phones and sat up straight. By the time the first glimpse of Lake Champlain came into view, she was practically vibrating in her seat, with a huge grin on her face. I know she was chomping at the bit to get back on campus, and I’m sure it was disappointing to be so close, but have to wait until the morning.

We stayed at a different Marriott than we usually do. I decided to use my Marriott points to pay for the room, and for some strange reason, the more expensive ($$ wise) hotel was less points. It was nice and all, but I think we’ll be going back to our regular Marriott next time. The people were very nice, but it just didn’t feel the same.

We did meet a nice family while we were eating in the hotel. After driving for six hours, I just didn’t feel like getting behind the wheel again, and Lys wasn’t even hungry, so Paulie and I decided to eat at the hotel. We bellied up to the bar and that’s where we met Valerie, Dustin and their son Mason. Mason is a junior at UVM, the college across the street from Lys’ college. We chatted while we were eating and watching the playoff game. I thoroughly enjoy meeting nice people.

Yesterday, we got Lys moved into her new dorm…not without issues, of course. LOL. Her key card worked for her room, but not for the front door of the dorm. She was not the only kid this was happening to either. So, until the locksmith can get there today and fix it, she and the others will have to rely on the RA and other residents whose keys work. Her new room is TINY, and in the basement. The one saving grace for us was there was an elevator in the building, so we didn’t have to lug all her stuff up and down stairs; and for her is it looks like she will be the room’s only occupant. There’s still a second set of everything in there, bed, desk, dresser, but she’s making due.

Okay, I’m sorry. I tried, but I’m so tired right now, I can’t concentrate on writing anything more, let alone coming up with a writing challenge. I’ll babble at you later in the week.

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

March 12th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

For the first time since my daughter started going to college in Vermont, I’m a wee bit concerned. Okay, I’m a mom; I’m a whole lot concerned. Snow started up there early this morning and it’s not supposed to stop until six tomorrow night. Between four this afternoon and seven tonight, they are supposed to get a foot of snow. Yeah, do the math, that’s four inches an hour. When all is said and done, they may end up with around two feet of snow. Holy Moses!

I can’t remember, but I’m hoping she doesn’t have a late class on Wednesdays. They have already cancelled classes once this year because of the weather, so hopefully they will do the same today, and possibly tomorrow. True she only has a few hundred yards to get to just about anywhere on campus from her dorm, but in a blizzard, a few hundred yards might as well be a few hundred miles. I hope she calls today to let me know how she’s doing.

So, last night’s speaking engagement went well…I guess. It was a little strange speaking to a group when my mom, my mother-in-law and three other ladies who have known me since I was a teenager were in the audience. I talked for about twenty minutes or so and answered questions about writing and publishing, and how I was still learning all the ins and outs of this insane profession.

Based on listening to what the ladies were saying, I was able to determine a good many of them also enjoyed reading mystery novels as well as romance novels; so I was able to give my friend, Linda Rawlins’ books a plug too. I was happy to see them all right down the titles of her three books right along with my books. I know I have said it before, but if you like mysteries, you really should read The Bench, Fatal Breach, and the newest in the series Sacred Gold. I’m not saying this because Linda and I are friends, I’m saying this because they are truly amazing.

You’ll be happy to hear, just because you won’t have to hear me complaining anymore, my taxes are finally finished. All that remains to be done is for my husband to sign our state return so I could mail it in. I did find it annoying that because my return required a Schedule C, I was not able to file it electronically unless I paid an e-service to file it. Hmm, a buck and a quarter for postage or fifteen bucks to send it electronically. I’m thinking that’s a no-brainer. I’m also thinking that since it was my business’ fault I couldn’t file for free, then postage to mail my taxes is a justified business expense. (Not that I think the IRS would disallow or even bother taking the time to look at $1.25 charge.)

With my taxes finished, I can now get back into my routine. Today I plan on finishing up the edits on Corporate Blues. Then, as one final set of eyes before it goes to print, I am going to send the file over to my mom to review. She has caught typos missed by my editors in the past, so this time I’m giving it to her BEFORE it goes to print. Hopefully the edits won’t take all day and I can also finish the dreaded blurb for the back of the book and get it and the ISBN# over to Matt so he can finish the cover. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to get everything finished and have printed copies in hand buy April 12^th so I can have my new book with me at the PPL Author’s Day. If I finish, then tomorrow and Friday I am going to completely devote to the other book I'm editing so I can give the author another installment this weekend for him to work on. (I ended in a preposition, shoot me.) :)

Alright, if I don’t get going, I’ll never get finished. I hope y’all have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

When will it ever end…

When will it ever end? I’m sure I’m not the only one asking this question this winter. We have now had six months of winter weather, and with the latest band of storms coming through, it doesn’t look like we’re quite finished yet. Oh sure, Mother Nature has teased us with a few mild days, but then she immediately slaps us back down with frigid temperatures and frozen precipitation.

This never-ending winter is starting to affect everyone. Have you noticed how short tempered folks are lately?

Yeah, that was really short. I just couldn’t think of anything more to write. See, this winter is affecting me too. When will it ever end?? LOL

Your Next Challenge is:

Scratch that, reverse it…

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.

March 11th

Hi, it’s Christina –

My poor Bananabeans. At fifteen, her back molars have finally decided to break through, and she is absolutely miserable. She can’t chew, even soft stuff. She’s living on Motrin. Today for lunch, I packed her a smoothie. Hopefully it will only be another day or two before the tooth breaks all the way through and she can be pain free and be able to eat again. The last thing that child needs is to lose any weight!

Yesterday’s detour to the other side of Vermont wasn’t too terrible, but it was far enough away that I ended up having to fill my gas tank three times during the trip instead of only twice. King Arthur Bakery was a neat place. The store / gift shop was great. My mom got me an early birthday present. I like the plain silver cookie sheets, the ones with no coating, and they had them on sale, so she got me three. Yeah!!

After I put all her purchase in the car, she had three bags worth, we had lunch in their café. Let’s just say, if I’m ever in the area again, I won’t be eating there again. I had the butternut sage soup which had so much sage in it it tasted more like lamb then butternut. I had a Reuben (did I spell that right?), and the pastrami had the consistency of a rubber band. Even the iced tea was terrible. My mom, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the fresh turkey sandwich with Cabot cheddar and cranberry chutney, she ordered.

I don’t know how restaurants who have peculiar food combinations on their menu survive. It’s ok to have one or two, but every item? Personally I think that’s suicide. You have to have some staples without adding things like apple fennel or quince to every item on the menu. There were probably a dozen choices on the King Arthur Café menu, and I can honestly say there was something unappealing on each choice. These are supposed to be master chefs at this place, yet no one realized pairing a dominant spice like sage with the delicate flavor of butternut, the sage would completely take over? Seriously? Anyone with a nose could figure this out, even without any kind of formal culinary training.

Lunch aside, it was a nice afternoon. Since we were now in a section of Vermont I was not familiar with, I plug home into my GPS. It wanted to take me on a route through Mass, then through Hartford (a traffic nightmare), and finally over the Tappan Zee Bridge to home. I really hate going that way, so we elected to take Route 9 across the bottom of Vermont, which eventually wound its way to 7, then 787 and finally to my usual way home, Route 87.

Let me tell you, Route 9 has a whole list of drawbacks to be considered a viable alternate route. It is a twisty, turny, pothole laden road with steep inclines and descends. On the plus side, it is much more scenic than traveling the thru-way. At one point it had us going through Molly Spark State Park. I asked my mom if she had any clue who Molly Spark was, and she did not, so I looked it up this morning. (I know, I’m a dork. When traveling I see someplace named after someone, and I don’t know who that someone is, I look it up.)

Molly Stark, wife of Revolutionary War general John Stark, became famous because of her husband's battle call of "There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!” That and she was the mother of Freedom Fighter, Caleb Stark. Okay, am I missing something here? I’m sure she was a lovely lady, and any woman who raises eleven children should be given a medal, but I don’t see how she warrants a State Park to be named after her. Perhaps some of my Vermont readers can enlighten me.

Alright, I’m going to wrap things up now and go be nosy. Our town is blowing up at the moment and I want to see if I can find out what’s going on. Every emergency vehicle we own has rolled by my house, lights flashing, sirens blaring. When fire trucks from the far side of town roll up here, something major is going on. The last time this happen was when Agnes DeWitt Girl Scout Camp’s main building was hit by lightning and burned to the ground.

After I’m done being nosy, I need to make my hubby some lunch, get him out of the house, FINALLY finish the taxes and get the FAFSAs filed. Oh, by the way, Lys didn’t get the RA position at school, so no break on housing this year. Better luck next year.

I hope y’all have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

March 10th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

I woke up a few minutes after six to the unmistakable sound of snow plows scraping the road. I was stunned. Yesterday, even in Vermont, it was beautiful, sunny and in the high thirties.

As quietly as I could, I got dressed, grabbed my phone and left the hotel room to call Dani to make sure she was awake and getting ready for school. Six rings then voicemail, so I hung up and tried again. Three rings and voice mail again… oh no. Three rings and then voice mail a third time. Now I’m beginning to panic because the bus was coming in less than half an hour, so I call my hubby. I can tell you, I am not his favorite person at the moment having to wake him up two hours early. Grudgingly he gets out of bed to check on her, and she was up. She had just left her phone in her room. Crisis averted, even though I am now on my hubby’s short list.

Now that I’m up and downstairs at the hotel, looking like Heat Miser with my hair sticking up every which way, I go and get some coffee and ask, were we supposed to get snow? The front end manager says no, but this is Vermont, and basically since no one knew it was coming, no one could enlighten me as to what to expect. Wonderful.

Remember how I said I wanted to take my mom to the quilt shop on our way home today? Well, yesterday on the ride up, she asked if we could take a small detour on our way home to stop at King Arthur Flour, “It’s on the way”. I tell her sure, no problem, then when I see where it is on the map and realize it’s clear across the state, I begin to regret my snap decision. Then I figure we are not in any real big rush to get home, so if it will make mom happy, no big deal…right? Yeah, that was before it decided to snow overnight. Just shoot me now. Well we aren’t planning on leaving until around ten, and the weather report says it’s supposed to get in the forties up here, so the snow should all melt and not be an issue…hopefully.

I just realized I forgot to tell you. The reason I was doing my Heat Miser impressions this morning was on Saturday, I got all my hair cut off. No more ponytail. I have a short haircut – I’m talking over the ears short. The last few times I’ve colored my hair, something I have been doing since I was seventeen (to cover the grey), it has been a painful experience. My scalp would burn for several days after having my hair colored, so I decided to just let it go grey. I have been fighting the battle for thirty years, and I have given up; but the half grey / half colored look I was sporting looked ridiculous if I wore it down, so all I ever did was slick it back into a ponytail. Not exactly an attractive hair style, so on Saturday I bit the bullet and had it all chopped off. 

The flip side of having a short haircut is in the mornings no two hairs on my head are going in the same direction and a ponytail fix is out of the question. The cut is only two days old, so I’m still in the ‘playing around with it to figure out what works best’ stage. Today I’m going to go for the ‘wet it and forget it’, and we’ll see how it works. I’m not holding my breath, but I’m hopeful.

Even though I was trying to be quiet, I’ve already woken mom up once, and since my coffee’s finished and I am in desperate need of another cup, I’m going to wrap things up for the day. I hope y’all have a marvelous day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

That was the weirdest dream ever!

Dreams are bizarre creatures. Sometimes they are vivid and remarkably detailed. Sometimes they are disjointed and nonsensical; and sometimes they are just… well… weird. I guess because I’m a writer, I am blessed with the ability of remembering most of my dreams, hours, or even days, after waking.

As a matter of fact, it was a recurring dream which spawned my first novel. The characters had become so insistent, I had no choice but to write them down in the hopes that if they were on paper they would get out of my head. Thankfully my theory worked, but the second the first book was finished, a new set of dreams began – a high-grade problem I know.

Anyway, one of the weirdest dreams ever was one I’m still not sure was even a dream at all. I was sound asleep and something woke me. I hear a low growl. I leaned up on my elbows and squint my eyes to try to see through the dark. There, near the door, I could just make out the outline of a dog. Somehow, through my sleep fogged brain, it registers this dog was twice the size of my dog. Another growl penetrates the darkness. I sit up in bed. The dog stalks toward the bed. Just enough moonlight peeked through the curtains to reveal sharp white teeth as the dog peeled his lips back in a snarl.

My heart began to pound and I scrambled up onto my headboard (the headboard of my bed is a books shelf – big surprise, huh) and started smacking at my husband to try and wake him up. I never took my eyes off of the dog who was now at the foot of my bed. Still not wanting to make a sound, in fear I would wake my children and they would come running into my room and be mauled by the beast, I start hitting my husband harder and harder until he finally wakes up. At this point I am totally curled up on the bookshelf above my husband’s pillow because the dog now has his front legs on the foot of my bed and he’s staring me down.

Out of time, but I’ll finish the story since this actually happened.

My husband finally wakes up and, still not making a sound nor taking my eyes off the creature, I point to the end of the bed. He says, “What?” I glare at him for half a second and quietly hiss, “Oh my God, just look.” I look back, and there was nothing there.

I’m shaking like a leaf and still curled up above my husband’s head, so he flips on the light, grabs the bat which we used to keep by our bed, and goes to investigate. Keep in mind, he still has no clue what had happened. A few minutes later he comes back and tells me there’s nothing and asks me what exactly was it I thought I saw. What I saw, was a huge, snarling German Shepherd. He told me I must have been dreaming and I argued I had been awake for the past fifteen minutes watching the thing stalk me. He flipped off the light and went back to sleep. I stayed awake the rest of the night gripping the bat and staring into the darkness.

I don’t think I had ever been so scared in all my life. I truly felt like, somehow a rabid dog had gotten into the house and we were going to be attacked. This happened over seventeen years ago and I still remember every second of it. See what I meant about not being sure if it was a dream?

Your Next Challenge is:

When will it ever end…

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.

February 27th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

I haven’t packed a thing. I still need to get dinner going in the crock pot so my husband and daughter have something for dinner tonight. I need to run to the grocery store to get a cupcake for Lys to give to her friend for her birthday today and pick up drinks for my trip, and the warning light came up on my dashboard telling me it was time for an oil change. Thankfully, I don’t have to be in Vermont until five to meet Lys for dinner. So, if I can get everything done by nine, I should still be good.

We’ll be leaving Vermont by one tomorrow, so it’s going to be late by the time we get home. I was hoping to get home before it got dark, but Sammi’s class doesn’t let out until 12:30, so we can’t leave until then. Originally we were supposed to drop her off at the airport because she was going to visit her mom for spring break, but plans changed and now we are dropping her off in Albany on our way through. It’s really no big deal. We literally have to go a couple hundred yards out of our way to drop her off.

Updates – Dani’s eye looks much better. The drops are working, but now the poor thing seems to have caught my cold. Hopefully she won’t have it as bad as I did. It would be sad if she missed her cousin’s and sister’s birthday party this weekend.

Yesterday’s snow fizzled out to nothing. It was really strange though – one minute it was white out conditions, and then fifteen minutes later there were blue skies and sun. What do you think our chance are of the same thing happening with the storm that’s supposed to hit us on Sunday and continue through until Tuesday? I know I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Oh well, I guess I should probably get a move on. I may bring my computer with me since I’ll be hanging around all morning tomorrow with nothing to do, but I haven’t decided. You may see a post in the morning, you may not.

I hope y’all have a great day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

I am the illusive albino panther, highly sought after, rarely seen. I am the largest in my family, most ferocious, most feared. I am the master of stealth, a warrior, a Ninja. My home is in the jungles of South America where I hunt day or night depending on my mood.

Prey, large and small, quake when they hear my blood-curdling call. They know they are in for the chase of their lives; a chase they know they will ultimately lose, for no one can escape my speed, my cunning, my…

“Sprinkles. Sprinkles! Psst, psst, psst. Come to Mama.”

Geez, how humiliating. Can’t I guy have his fantasy? His homerun in the big game where the crowd goes wild?

“Sprinkles, come on baby. Time to come in for dinner. Psst, psst, psst.”

Dinner? Ooo, I hope she made the one with the little shrimp in it. I so love those little shrimp. Coming Mommy.

Your Next Challenge is:

Oh, that will never work…

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.

January 24th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Greetings from the Arctic Circle – at least that’s where I feel like I am. Let’s just say I would never survive living in Vermont year round. -9 not counting the wind chill. YUCK! What I am surprised about is we have more snow at home than they do here. What’s up with that? Driving through New York, the ground had from a dusting to 3” maybe, and up here there’s only 4”-5”. Does anyone else find that strange?

Even though it took me 2½ hours to get out of New Jersey (it usually takes an hour), I made really good time. I pulled up to the ferry dock just as the ferry was docking, but as great as that sounds, it actually put me way ahead of schedule. Lys wasn’t getting out of her last class until 5:00, and at the rate I was going I would arrive at her dorm at 3:30. So, rather than sit in the car for an hour and a half freezing, I detoured into McDonalds. I had originally planned on just grabbing a $1 coffee, which is surprisingly tasty, but then I say they had 2 cherry pies for $1 on their menu. They only have apple pie, which I really don’t care for, on the menu at home, so I splurged. I sat in McDonalds drinking my coffee, munching on my cherry pies and playing around on my Kindle for a little over an hour, then continued my journey.

I got to the college a little before five. Lys said she was back and to come on in. I said hi, dropped my stuff, she said bye and headed off to dinner with her friends. No big deal, I was full from my coffee and cherry pies – yes I ate both of them, they’re small – and I’d get to chat with Lys the whole drive home.

I am happy to report, my back is not too terrible today. Believe it or not, sleeping on a beanbag couch is really quite comfortable. You can adjust it just right so everything is supported and you don’t have any real pressure points. If I had room in my house, I would seriously consider getting one for home.

Lys’ class ends at 10:45, so we should be on the road headed home by 11:00. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were able to time the ferry just as well on the ride home? Yeah right, like I’d be that lucky. So between having to get gas, potty breaks, and traffic – unfortunately we’ll be driving during Friday rush hour – we should make it home around seven. I know I’ll be shot by then and will probably just go to bed, but then I’ll get up early, clean the house and start baking the desserts for tomorrow night’s dinner.

Fair warning, I have a lot to do tomorrow, so there probably won’t be a writing challenge. Now on to yesterday’s challenge. Could Dani have picked more random words? That’s what I get for asking a teenager. LOL. I hope you all have a wonderful day & happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Write a story containing the following: Pineapple, Chipmunk & Burrito (you can blame Dani for this one)

I was sitting on the back deck of the resort, sipping a frozen pineapple drink, munching on a burrito, and watching a beautiful Mexican sunset over the water. It was a perfect evening; warm, a gentle tropical breeze blowing, the complete antithesis from what I had left behind.

I finished eating and sat back to enjoy my frozen delight. Why is it tropical drinks always taste better when consumed on a tropical beach? Perhaps the frilly umbrella has something to do with it. I was completely relaxed. My belly was full and I was being lulled by the wave lapping against the shore. Then I hear a strange noise coming from the bushes along the patio.

Considering my last dinner guests were two four inch salamanders and some type of an annoying buzzard hell bent on making the salamanders her dinner, I was just a little concerned over the racket coming from the bush. Just to be safe, I folded my legs up under me on the chair. Whatever was in the bush was noisy, but I doubted it was very large, so I wouldn’t be needing my legs for a hasty escape.

Then in a flurry of squeaks, squeals, and brownish red fur, two chipmunks come tumbling out onto the patio, and landed in a soft thump where my feet had rested just seconds before. They paused for a moment, looking slightly confused, spotted me, then promptly ran off. I laughed at their antics, then thought to myself, since when do they have chipmunks in Mexico?

Your Next Challenge is:

Convince us something mundane or plain or not well loved is the most wonderful thing in the world. (You can pick an object, a task, a food or whatever you’d like – the possibilities are endless.)

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 14th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

I survived, but man I’m wrecked today. We didn’t get home until almost eleven last night, and although I went right to bed, I still needed to unwind for a little while. I’m pretty sure I was asleep by midnight. I am getting too old to handle 21 hour long days! However, for several reasons, I’m glad we did it all in one day.

Yesterday was so cold and so windy in Burlington, but compared to today, they were having a heat wave. Right now, at Lys’ school, the actual temp is -1 with a wind chill of -12. If we had left this morning, we would have been well on our way before it started to snow up there, but we would have probably hit snow in New York and then had to white-knuckle the rest of the way home.

I was shocked. We actually have more snow on the ground here in New Jersey than they do in Vermont; and YIPPIE, we are getting more today. It’s supposed to start snowing here around two pm and go until six, with a predicted accumulation of two – four inches before it turns into sleet and freezing rain. Oh what fun.

Not for nothing, but I’m not going to tonight’s church Christmas party in the mess. They will probably postpone it to next Saturday, but we won’t be able to make it because the 21^st is my husband’s office Christmas party, and there is no way we would miss it. It’s funny, my husband has been with his company longer than all the other employees, except Cindy the office manager, have been alive. The only people who have been with the company longer are the two owners, George and Scott. This will be the thirty-first Christmas party my husband and I will be attending with the company. Heck, we’ve been to more than the owners’ wives.

The forecast has bought me more time today, because now with me not going to the party, I no longer have to spend a couple of hours making appetizers and I can focus on making cookies. Then there’s the other side of the coin; because of the forecast, my cookie exchange may very well get cancelled. Well, I won’t cancel it per say, but chances are the turn out will be small, which is a bummer. It’s the same amount of work for five guests as it is for twenty-five guests, and it’s not as much fun. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Okay, I’m running out of steam, and, snow or no snow, I have a ton to get accomplished today. I hope you have a wonderful, warm and safe day, and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

My life is a (Sit-com, Drama, Soap Opera, Broadway Play, Reality TV Show, Musical, whichever) and why.

 

Is it a bad thing to admit my life could fit into all these categories? Well, maybe not a Broadway play… but then again, my life can be quite a production at times; so yes, I guess, even a Broadway play. The more I ponder the question, the more I believe everyone’s life would be a combination of all of them, and I may not be that strange at all.

Think about it. Heaven knows, everyone’s life has moments of drama – a battle between parent and child, a friend or loved one receives a bad diagnosis, someone passes away, someone loses their job. On the flip side, we all have our sit-com and reality tv moments as well where something so strange or unexpected happens, you just have to laugh. The soap opera moments are when you can say “You just can’t make this s**t up”, and the musical is the times when you heart just wants to sing.

So see, we can easily have all the elements in our everyday life which would fit into any and all of these categories. The trick will be figuring out how to have it less drama and more musical…

 

Your Next Challenge is:

Since this has inadvertently become the season of wishes, tell us your one most outrageous wish from Santa, one you know would never happen, but it is still fun to wish for…

 

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.