The Day that Keeps on Giving

I’m trying to keep a stiff upper lip, as those kindred spirits in Devon are wont to do. And it’s not that hard considering all my blessings. But today has not been a favorite.

After I blogged in bed (yes, one of those blessings) I learned that plans changed. Our contractor was coming by the house, delaying our visit to a local garden center. That was okay. I had a backup plan.

Besides giving me more time to write, the delay until afternoon formulated another idea. I’ve been craving chicken wings and maybe some guilty slices of Buffalo chicken pizza from an area restaurant.

I suggested leaving at two o’clock for vegetable seed shopping, then swinging by that local sports bar for an early start to dinner. The plan seemed ideal. We like eating out when most folks are back to or still at the day job.

Well, I hadn’t realized that college basketball playoffs started already. I should have known better, having published an inspirational newsletter tying the sport season to lawn care telemarketing.

Don’t ask.

But that was years ago (some of my favorite in the working world, I might add; non sports fan or not I got to do some creative stuff). That said, we walked into a standing room only place and immediately left.

Later, I consumed a satisfying bowl of my home cooked Irish fish stew. But darn, I craved that combination Thai plus Donkey kicking hot sauce with their perfect breading. Oh, well. We weren’t about to wait an hour for food, anyway.

Then, watching YouTube broadcasts after dinner, my ears began to itch. It’s not unusual. Finding flakes of wax sticking out of them was. You see, after getting my plugged ear flushed I’ve been determined not to stick anything smaller in my ear than my elbow (thank you, dear folks, for reiterating that caution).

Careful wedging out two chunks from each slender ear canal opening using my tiny pinky fingernails, I then flushed them with a mild peroxide and warmed sterile water solution. Not surprisingly, nothing came out at that point.

Any suggestions for chronic over-productive ear wax production? I bet you don’t get that question everyday. ~wink~ Be well, all!

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A Day in the Life

This morning at 6am I woke with muscle cramps. That was not unexpected, and one or two naproxen sodium tablets usually handle the discomfort, so that was fine. Except I didn’t have a glass of water in the bedroom.

I went into the bathroom, shutting the door so as not to disturb SO, and along came our cat Jezebel wanting canned food. She has become adept at opening the sliding pocket door, the little jerk. So, giving up on the idea of peace, I palmed the pills and headed to the kitchen.

The first thing I found there, after putting down food for two pesky beasts, was that the Brita water pitcher filter needed changed. Okay. Fine. The cats’ water bowl needed changed out, so I decided to take care of it right away.

I pulled out a replacement, rinsed it as directed, and refilled the pitcher. Then, not once but twice, the little triangular widget that covers the pour spout fell off and landed in the kitchen sink. The second time I washed (and hopefully sanitized) it, I left the widget on the sink for SO to fix into place.

Meanwhile, the digital bit on the pitcher refused to reset. Three times I held down the switch, watched the green light flash three times, and still the thing flashed red when I poured water. ~sigh~ I put it in the refrigerator planning to ask SO to take care of that, as well.

Now I needed to refill the soap dispenser in the kitchen. Passing the kitchen island, where SO left a greasy piece of aluminum foil, I found a dead centipede stuck in a smear of oil. Grrr…

Then, on my way to the bathroom to get the soap I slipped in… Can you guess?

I found a hefty pile of vomit, dry kibble bits and a juicy hairball, piled right in the middle of the main path. At least a hairball made the mess legitimate and not a result of gluttony.

Now the clock reads 7:15, the nasty foil is thrown away, SO fixed the Brita pitcher, I cleaned up the puke, took my pills, started the dishwasher, and I’m  contemplating just going back to bed.

You just have to laugh. I mean, it could be a whole lot worse.

And SO got a chuckle. “You and electronics…”

How is your day going?

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Darla’s Discoveries - March 15th 2018

Tip #5: Rest and Relaxation on the Cheap

Adult coloring books have become all the rage. And why not? My mother discovered the peaceful joy of crayons long ago. She used to sit and color even if her grandchildren acted uninterested.

But have you looked at the cost of those things? I seem to recall one at my grocery store having a $15 price tag! No way would I pay that for something so frivolous. And the images inside were so detailed that it would have been near impossible to color inside the lines.

I’m persnickety by nature, so instead of relaxing me those books would ratchet my stress! No, thank you.

Instead, I went to a discount store and found a book designed for children. It cost a fraction of the price and includes way more content. There are even word search puzzles, which I’ve always enjoyed.

These Colors Caught My Attention

Do you like to color?

How's This for Fun?

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Epic Dreams and Chilling Nightmares

Yesterday morning I met a good friend, fellow writer Rochelle Bradley, at My Favorite Muffin. It was only the two of us this week, so of course we talked for two hours instead of writing. Regardless of that fact I enjoyed our time, and I proceeded to accomplish a lot alone at a different venue before returning home.

An interesting thing about her stories is how often they come in the form of a dream. She’ll flesh them out upon waking, of course, and add many details, but her sleeping mind creates amazing worlds and scenarios.

Sometimes I do that. Par for my course, I might turn one into a short story, such as the one in which I was a male zombie who learned he had far more humanity in him than the scientist conducting cruel experiments in the guise of saving her species. Maybe I’ll dig it up and share one of these days. It used to be on a now defunct fan fiction website despite not being related to the book series we honored there.

Last night was different. I don’t know why my brain needed to go to such weird places but I dreamed that someone deleted my Instagram and Twitter accounts. That happened in reverse, actually, after I found someone with a decided male Indian identity using my Gmail address for Instagram. ~shiver~ That was weird.

Worse than that was the final dream of the night (I did not want any more sleep afterward). I was tasked with cooking a rice based casserole. To me that was a sort of nightmare in itself as I’m trying to avoid huge carbohydrate bombs. ~grin~ However, when I opened the can of whole tomatoes I found a tiny kitten alive inside.

Even worse, I destroyed the helpless creature to get my tomatoes. I woke up feeling almost nauseous with a pounding heart. Ugh… What the heck?

I Need Some Palaye Royale Beauty to Cleanse my Spirit

Do you have memorable dreams?

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Another Use for Cheap, Plastic Peach Ribbon - A Darla Discovery

In response to all the great suggestions for how to use a huge amount of ribbon remaining from my wedding, I have to admit to not being very crafty. I don’t even have a Pinterest account because the last thing I need is another time sink. ~grin~ That admission aside, let me get to the point of this.

In the Outer Banks last autumn I found a local artist whose depiction of cherry blossoms caught my eye. It’s surreal like so much of the art on my walls.

Unfortunately, the double sided tape used to mount the piece in an area seafood restaurant got ruined upon removal from the wall. It had been therefore leaning against my bedroom wall atop a little table, which didn’t do it justice.The other day I took another look and decided that, due to the light weight, the small square canvas could be hung with a loop of ribbon stuck to the back using rubber cement.

I Let It Dry for an Hour

It worked! Sad to say, this is about as close to a cherry blossom I'm likely to get this spring. Our neighborhoods are infested with invasive Bradford pear trees.

This Really Brightens the End of Our Hall

Does your area boast any cherry trees?

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A Rainbow Snippet for March 10/11

Courtesy of Matias Rengel from Unsplash

It’s time again for more Facebook frolicking alongside the delightful LGBTQ+ writers of RainbowSnippets. Here are six sentences between a pair of lovers once more in turmoil.

Story snippet:

Stepping beyond my reach, he turned to face me on the third stair down. Nickolas crossed his arms over his chest, beautiful in this possessive fury. I could only gawk, open-mouthed. The silence between us lengthened to the breaking point.

“I have every right to defend you.”

“There is nothing to defend,” I pleaded.

~

I hope you enjoyed it!

#rainbowsnippets
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Language Lesson

Photo Courtesy of Locuig at Pixabay

Wednesday evening, a friend withdrew from the brink of tragedy. He knows pain will always be there, but a lessening occurred after he shared this crisis, enough to give some relief. New photos actually showed this in his face, for which I’m thankful.

He added that he didn’t want to read too much into it, which I took to perhaps mean two things. First, he probably doesn’t have true hope the minor improvement will last. In addition, I don’t believe he has faith in a higher power and considers the improvement a coincidence. He does have writing projects lined up for this year, so let’s hope that gives him the will to continue on.

Meanwhile, writing in my journal about him and his presumed lack of faith, I wondered if ‘coincidence’ has its root in ‘coincide’. Considering that the latter indicates parallel situations (no added proof or faith required) while the former alludes to happenstance, I found this interesting, proof I am also a language geek. ~grin~ No surprise there, eh?

Am I right about almost the exact same word having rather opposite meanings? Or is this incidental, anecdotal theorizing?

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Darla’s Discoveries - Tips & Tricks for Around the House

Tip #4: Battery Retrieval

The other day a fellow writer on Facebook saw my post about an Alphasmart word processor saving my writing day. She made a cute remark asking about this magical device that promotes word creation. I thought she was just being funny but later learned she really wanted to know more about the machine.

Used by Students in Between the Age of Typewriters & Cheaper PC's

So I proceeded to relay all the information that came to mind. Unable to remember how many AA batteries are required, I totally forgot for a moment that the shell is semi-transparent and tried to take them out for a count.

All I needed do was hold it up to the lamplight. ~rolls eyes~ And my wasted effort unseated the battery so that the connection became unreliable. I couldn’t keep it turned on and had to wrestle the battery out.

At that point I recalled how a lot of electronics provide a ribbon of sorts in the battery compartment to help a person unseat that first tight fitted cell. So, I made my own from a bolt of ribbon bought for my DIY decorated wedding.

Should I Worry about the Plastic Melting?

Can you suggest other uses for all this remaining ribbon?

I'll Probably End Up Taking This to My Grave
Heh...

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