Month: May 2021

#MondayThoughts, Memorial Day Edition

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Today in the US we honor our fallen soldiers. The holiday may or may not have originated with freed enslaved people, depending upon who is telling the story, but nonetheless it is a day to recognize and acknowledge the sacrifices made by our soldiers and their families.

In the US, because it’s the US, it’s also a day of sales. Because every holiday is a day of sales.

I’m probably buying shoes. Probably. My cart is full and I’m ready to check out, I just want the total to be less. Alas.

Meanwhile, professional shrill Meghan McCain shook a very chastising finger at Vice President Kamala Harris for tweeting “enjoy the long weekend” on a weekend so traditionally known to be enjoyed, try googling “Memorial Day Barbeque recipes” and see if you can get through the pages before the 4th of July.

And it so happens McCain did that chastising from a casino, where she was enjoying herself so much she posted she was the “happiest woman in all the land,” because she was gambling with her husband.

Though many pointed out Meghan’s dizzying hypocrisy, I offer you the retort of veteran Charlotte Clymer:

To answer the always lingering question from my friends around the world: why yes, America really is as weird as it looks from the outside.

Thank you to everyone who served and their loved ones on this day, and have a great Monday.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

#FridayThoughts: Trying to make normal normal.

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It’s rainy and cold today, feeling all the colder because of the past heat. I’m doing my newest favorite thing, waiting on groceries, while the construction in the building whines its way into my brain.

Fun.

It looks like the rain will arrive along with the shopping, and that seems fitting in some odd way.

I’ve had a weird week but not in any concrete shape, the world feels somewhat off kilter. Maybe it’s the wild swing in weather, maybe it’s just me. It’s probably me.

And the fact that it’s nearly June, half the year gone, a year and a half of blurred time, and the things that used to be normal are now strange. I am grateful every day that President Biden won, because he is the reason we’re moving ahead and not forever stuck in a deathly limbo.

Had he not, the numbers only would have continued to climb, vaccinations going only to those who did trump’s bidding.

Shudder.

So here’s to trying to make normal normal. And have a great weekend.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

#ThursdayThoughts ten word photo prompt: Intrigue

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Photo by Liza Summer on Pexels.com

It’s #ThursdayTen time! Using the above image as a prompt, write a ten word story.

EXACTLY ten words.

We all have the hang of it by now, right? Unless it’s your first time, in which case, welcome!

Got it? Good.

Here’s mine:

Angelica promised she’d be alone.

She lied.

Dana sensed them.

#WednesdayWisdom: Life isn’t a path, it’s a maze.

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Whether the kind of maze from a children’s magazine where the path through basically glows, or the fiendish work of a twisted mind, no one’s life is a straight line progressing from A to B and on again, perhaps with flowers along the side.

Even someone like Prince Harry, whose future course was plotted long before he was even born, found some twists and turns and a whole new way through the hedge. Yes, Prince Harry’s life is a hedge maze.

For obvious reasons.

We can talk about how life is about the journey, not the destination, a phrase now cliched but originally penned by Ralph Waldo Emerson. But it doesn’t tell the whole story.

Life is full of blind alleys. And alleys you think may be blind and yet connect further onward. Life is about sometimes turning around and sometimes pressing on and not having an aerial view to tell you which to do.

And that’s OK.

I’ll say it again: that’s OK.

The mere fact that we can’t see the whole picture means we don’t have to try to see the whole picture. It’s just not possible from where we are.

Deep inside the maze.

The thing is it’s our maze. Only ours.

And it’s OK.

Have a great Wednesday.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

#TuesdayThoughts: “Maybe they know more about it than I do.”

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Another day of rain roulette, maybe it will, maybe it won’t. So far it hasn’t.

I’ve downed my coffee and yet I’m no more awake for it, perhaps a second cup is in order. Or maybe not. Today seems like a day of fluidity and focusing on the moment.

Or maybe I don’t feel like making another cup. Either one is possible.

I think I’m finally coming out of permanent high alert mode, and I know I’m not the only one. People are edgy and grumpy and sick of everything. EVERYTHING.

And reactionary. The automatic response to anything they don’t understand is that it is in somehow in service to trump and his cronies, that somehow he still has power.

He doesn’t and it isn’t.

President Biden and the Executive Branch can’t fix everything in five minutes. It took four years to liquify our government into the gelatinous mess trump left. And they’re still figuring out what he did.

So instead of yielding to the conditioning of our national nightmare, take a breath and think “maybe they know more about it than I do.” And watch a video of goats. Or cats. Or oatmeal.

Whatever.

You do you.

And have a great Tuesday.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

#MondayThoughts: Forward motion

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Welp, that’s my coffee gone. It might be a day for a second cup.

We’ll see.

It’s another day that seems both sunny and potentially rainy, and Chicago is nothing if not moody. But these days, aren’t we all.

It was wildly hot for the end of May last week, and I suspect we’re in for one of those summers that makes you forget winter’s utter absence of warmth. On Saturday, everyone was out, absolutely everyone, and you could see that each person put thought into what they wore, this first taste of summer with the pandemic seemingly starting to retreat.

Seemingly.

I still am confused by the CDC, but that’s a whole other post.

And inspired, I ordered a whole plethora of clothes to see me through the swelter, on a sale that where the total was less than half of what it would have been. I chose whatever struck my fancy, the total so low I didn’t need to edit my cart by the end, and each item felt like a little ticket to a future that was different than last year.

I hope I like them when they get here, whenever that may be. I am opposed to spending money on shipping when I can avoid it, which means my shipping method is rarely fast.

Anticipating is half the fun.

Have a great Monday.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

#FridayThoughts: As much consideration as an air conditioner filter

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I had to try three different methods to clean the filter on my air conditioner, one after the other. And I noticed when one didn’t work and I moved on to the next, I did it without judgment, without any recriminations.

It just didn’t work so I tried something else.

And I thought about how we don’t treat ourselves with the same consideration we show an air conditioner filter. When something doesn’t work for us, we often blame ourselves.

Maybe sometimes it is our fault. Maybe we could try harder or put in more effort or go more quickly.

Maybe sometimes we’re stubbornly clinging to the dust on our filters.

But.

What if we aren’t? What if it’s not us but the approach that doesn’t work?

What if we only have to try another way? Without judgment, without recriminations?

Next time, think of the air conditioner filter. And have a great Friday and a spectacular weekend.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

#ThursdayThoughts ten word photo prompt: Adventure

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Photo by PNW Production on Pexels.com

It’s Thursday! That means it’s time for a ten word story based on the image above, also known as our #ThursdayTen.

Using the image above as a prompt, write a story of exactly ten words.

Exactly.

Sound like fun? I thought so.

Here’s mine:

Even so, they were excited for this, their first quest.

#WednesdayWisdom: Drink some water.

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It’s another gray and rainy day, and the promised loud construction noise just stuttered into fruition. This week has yet to be kind to my head.

You know that feeling, that low-level feeling, when you’re doing whatever it is you’re doing and you realize you’re thirsty? And then you ignore it because you don’t have water handy and keep going?

Get up.

Get the water.

It seems like the smallest detail of self-care, addressing your thirst when you feel thirst, or even the slightest hint of thirst.

And yet.

How often do you ignore it and do whatever you were doing?

For me, almost always. In fact I nearly did the same when sitting to write this post. But not this time.

I got the water.

We both know it’s not always water.

Whatever it is, whatever you think you can put off, don’t. Do that little thing for yourself.

And have a great Wednesday.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

#TuesdayThoughts: Slow to start

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It’s another day when I can’t tell if it’s sunny or cloudy, and that seems appropriate given my mood. Ambivalence feels like the theme of the day.

I slept last night, but with these wildly vivid dreams whose details escape me now. Just flashes remain, yet I know they were strenuous at the time.

Strenuous dreams seem like something that shouldn’t exist.

So I guess I’m a little tired today, which probably explains my lack of oomph. Or definitely explains my lack of oomph.

That said, after several days of weather-induced migraines, I’m ready to Get Things Done.

Capitals all around.

So I’m going to get started on, well, everything. You have a great Tuesday.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.