Month: May 2023

#WednesdayWisdom: Moderation

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Another pretty, sunny day and though I won’t be outside enjoying it quite yet, I’m definitely improving. I no longer have to do my leg-climbing routine to stand up; in fact sometimes I can do it now without my hands at all.

Progress.

Definitely not my favorite chapter, and one I am not eager to repeat. I am thinking about a replacement mattress to help avoid it in the future. We’ll see.

But because I’m feeling better, I want to do everything I couldn’t do for the nearly two weeks I’ve had problems. All of it. And that’s not a great idea.

If I dive in head-first, my rational brain tells me, I will only injure myself again. That’s not exactly high on my list of priorities.

It’s not like I’m entirely pain-free, it’s still there, lurking.

But life’s routines were also disturbed. I’ve got to catch up on those SOME time. I would think.

Run or crawl, crawl or run, sometimes it’s OK to simply walk.

That reminded me of the Psych theme song, which I’m now listening to as I write this, because it’s really a great song.

Anyway, my theme for the day is moderation and maybe you can take a little of that too. But not too much.

See what I did there??

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: Back on the blog.

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First, #ChatTuesday, “Control is not ours to have.” And now Tuesday.

I know I’ve been a spotty blogger the last week or so, and the whole story is in the Chat Tuesday post, if you’re the curious type.

Otherwise, we shall pick up where we left off, which is our usual random chatter about nothing in particular. Our coffee break, though I have no coffee at the moment and I don’t know your current situation but we could have coffee and that’s what matters.

It’s a brightly, brightly sunny day, and yet somehow quiet. Not quite summer yet but it’s coming soon. It’s hard to believe May is nearly done, even if this is one month that felt longer to me this year.

That will happen.

I’ve started a rewatch of The Office for some reason, and it’s hard to believe how long ago it came out. It’s still funny. There are a few things that are eyebrow-raising. Still, most of the comedy holds.

That’s not true for a lot of things.

You can forget how talented each and every member of that cast was, how special the chemistry.

Rewatches are fun, I think. Does anyone not do a rewatch? Of something at least?

Anyway, that’s it for me for today. 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.

#WednesdayWisdom: Such is the folly of human beings.

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You may have noticed that there was no post yesterday and no Chat Tuesday. Maybe you didn’t.

And that’s fine too.

My back is still bothering me, and yesterday was worse than Monday. Maybe because I did too much Monday because I felt better.

Such is the folly of human beings.

So today, I decided to take advantage of all the high-tech and low-tech solutions around me. I’m using voice input–as we literally speak, at least in my case–to write this post, which I’ve not really done before. It’s a little bit of a mess, and I have to keep stopping to fix the punctuation.

For example, I said a little hit or miss, not a little bit of a mess, but everyone thinks they’re a writer. Including google.

Still, it’s kind of fun and very twenty-first century to be telling my technology what to say and seeing it appear in front of me.

Sorta.

There are lots of things we have at our disposal, already available that can make our lives easier. I mean sometimes it tries to decide where the sentence should end and where there should be a comma or where there shouldn’t be a comma even though it’s totally wrong but it’s still better than trying to type when your back hurts.

That previous sentence was a prime example but I fixed it now so you can’t see what a mess it was but trust me it was a mess. A I may be smart but it’s still learning.

Anyway, that’s it for me today. Have a wonderful 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.

#MondayThoughts: Adapting

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So my back continued to hurt throughout the weekend. It’s better now, though not all the way better, but better than it was. Very, very slow improvement. I’m not sure why it happened, only that it happened. Hopefully it is closing in on resolved.

It’s a strange thing to suddenly find you can’t do normal stuff without pain, without thought, without a little creativity. Of course anyone with a disability is reading this with a raised eyebrow, and that raised eyebrow is deserved.

Even if we are the empathetic type, and I like to think I am, we rarely can imagine the experience of other people in quite the same detail as having an incident can bring it home. And I have the most active of imaginations.

I’d like to suggest we replace impatience with people who have to do things differently than we do with patience, with offers of help if warranted or wanted, with understanding. Because if the idea of humanity isn’t enough for you, at any moment, on any day, it could be you.

Three days of nothing was a challenge for me, but I did it, as close as I could to doing it while continuing to feed myself. I’m sure there’s a lesson in slowing down in there too, and I guess the universe is going to make me hear it.

Anyway, that’s it for me today. I wish a wonderful and perfectly healthy 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: Somehow, it does.

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It’s gray and rainy and I’ve done something to my back and that’s just not fun. It’s an excuse to take things slowly today, at least, one I will listen to.

Because I have to.

Meanwhile with the weather, it’s a cozy day for doing less. I don’t always mind a rainy day, especially when enjoying the weather isn’t in the cards. It feels like the weather’s on board.

Which is nice.

It’s been one of those blur weeks for me, one second it was Monday and then it was Friday, and it doesn’t feel like there were the right number of days in between. Not sure how time pulls that off, but somehow, it does.

I’ve been having a fun time with my Cricut this week, though, making mugs like I need a new one daily, making tote bags. I tried layering vinyl with more than two colors for the first time, and though it was tricky, I loved how it turned out.

New skills are fun to acquire, I think. Especially when they flex your creativity in a different way. And I think it’s never too late and you’re never too old to try something new, especially something you’ve been curious about.

Why not?

The worst that will happen is you won’t enjoy it. If you’re bad at it but enjoy it, then that’s all that matters.

And with that, I am done for the week. Have the best Friday and even better 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 #ThursdayTen ten word photo prompt: Dance

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Photo by Tim Gouw on Pexels.com

It’s THURSDAY and that means our #ThursdayTen! Woo-hoo!

We all know how this goes. Unless we don’t. And that’s cool too.

Using the image above as a prompt, write a ten word story.

EXACTLY ten words. And that’s that!

We can do THAT.

Ready? Here’s mine:

Dancing faster as the sky darkened, finally they beckoned rain.

#WednesdayWisdom: Ask the right questions.

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It’s cloudy, I think, I can’t really tell, it’s one of those days where clouds could be sky or sky could be clouds. It’s like that now and then.

Clouds or sky, who’s to say.

I’ve been deeply disturbed by the news of a two-hour pursuit of Harry and Meghan last night after she received her award from Ms., as it sounds eerily like the chase that killed his mother. This time, though, there were multiple vehicles in pursuit, described as “blacked out.”

Which makes me wonder how a photographer can get a shot through tinted windows at night, but I guess that’s another thing.

It’s such a sad world we’re in. Why they can’t just live the life they’ve carved out for themselves, I have no idea.

The things that have become commonplace that used to be unthinkable really are staggering, if you stop to consider them. The cars in pursuit reportedly drove over sidewalks and ran red lights.

Yet no arrests were made.

People complain about “wokeness” but never admit that they’re championing white supremacy. It is, after all, the opposite of “wokeness.”

The thought that other people have a right to exist in space that doesn’t concern certain people has transformed into fuel for a flame ignited by a fundamental inability to mind one’s own business. What if the photographers, if indeed that’s what the were, took the photos they got at the red carpet and left it at that?

What if people let go of the ridiculous assumption that everyone has to live like they do, even when it doesn’t affect them?

How did these people get so much power over lives that have nothing to do with them?

We won’t get the answers here, but maybe we can all start asking the right questions.

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: Just today.

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First, #ChatTuesday, “Sweet home.” And now Tuesday.

I have no idea how it got so late, I was up weirdly early today. Yet somehow the morning disappeared, perhaps into the pre-part of writing.

That can happen.

And writing writing. That’s not always the fastest either. It’s not like I’m AI.

Though some day I may be. I bet it would come up with fewer fun new words and new ways to use words and grammar though. At least I have that going for me.

Or maybe it will be able to mimic a writer’s voice entirely, which is more than a little creepy. The whole thing is.

We should have stopped it at the robot dogs directly out of Fahrenheit 451. There is no context where those wouldn’t be creepy, speaking of dystopia.

Anyway, it’s a sunny day today, nice after a lot of gloom, and possibly pretty warm. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, just today.

How’s that for a lesson in being in the moment.

Speaking of, I’ve got a lot of moments to be in, so that’s it for me today. 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: Mistakes can be molded.

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It’s a sunny day, maybe a little cool but that’s fine. It’s still spring so that’s allowed.

Got through Mother’s Day, which is a relief, and now on with the rest of May, which I hope will be smooth. I mean I guess we all do, right?

Basic human nature, I suppose.

I’ve been putting a lot of energy into various Cricut-based crafts, and the immediate gratification is almost addictive. I’m starting to wonder how I did without this thing. I’ve made mugs; I did a mouse pad, but apparently the video I saw wasn’t the best, as I think the temp was too high; I’ve made tote bags, as you may know.

Using creativity for practical objects has its own satisfaction. Having them go wrong but figuring out a way to salvage them feels like a workout for the brain, but in a different direction entirely.

Mistakes can be molded into something else sometimes.

Not always, of course.

But sometimes.

Anyway, that’s it for me today. Have a wonderful 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: Fun where we find it.

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It’s gray and rainy today. At least I think it’s rainy.

Can’t be entirely sure.

I’ve given in to the temptation and tried out Temu. I got my first order, and overall, I’m pleased. I don’t think I’ll be buying clothes there, but never say never. I haven’t had much luck with clothing from Amazon, though.

I got some scrapbook paper, though the sheets were very, very small. It said they were 6″x6″ and yet somehow the size was a surprise. Looks good, though, and useful for various projects.

There were the embroidery scissors shaped like a crane, which I won’t be using for embroidery but small, sharp scissors are always helpful when you do crafty things. A little tape measure, a box cutter but it doesn’t stay locked open, which has limited use, and some organizers for my drawers.

I was most skeptical about the organizers but I just used them, not with 1 item per pocket as intended, mind you, and they hold a lot. I would get more.

So far, I’m pleased. I have another couple of small orders coming with more craft things, kitchen gadgets (I love a kitchen gadget) and even some earrings. I’ll keep you posted.

We’ve got to get our fun where we find it.

And I just used the bird scissors and it cracked me up because the join of the two blades is the eye of the crane.

Like I said, fun where we find it.

Have a great Friday and a fun-filled 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.