Day: October 28, 2020

MLMM Photo Challenge — Hurt Pride

Fandango4 Comments

“Just what do you think you’re doing, young lady?”

Elizabeth heard her father’s voice and it scared the shit out of her. “Oh my God, Dad,” she said. “You almost made me fall out of this window.”

“Your mother and I grounded you, Lizzie,” her father said. “And yet here you are, attempting to sneak out of the house through your bedroom window. You just can’t be trusted, can you? For this, I’m adding two more weeks to your being grounded.”

“That’s not fair, Dad,” Elizabeth said. Then she started to lose her grip on the window sill and pleaded with her father, “Dad, speaking about being grounded, please come to my room and pull me in before I fall to the ground and become permanently grounded.”

“Lizzie, you got yourself into this situation, so now you can get yourself out,” her father said, “Besides, your bedroom window is only about six feet above the ground, so the only thing that you’ll hurt if you fall is your pride.”

Written for the Photo Challenge from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie. Photo credit: Brook DiDonato.

15 Small Joys

Fandango12 Comments

Carol Anne, over at Therapy Bits, has tagged me to participate in something called “Small Joys.” We are supposed to thank the person who tagged us, so thanks, Carol Anne. Then we’re supposed to list 15 things that bring us small joys. I think I can think of 15, so I’ll do that, too. Then we’re supposed to tag five other bloggers who bring us joy. I’m not going to tag any specific bloggers. I’m going to tag all who read this post because if you read my posts, you bring me joy.

Okay, in no particular order, here are 15 things that bring me small (or large) joy:

  • My wife
  • Our son
  • Our daughter
  • Our grandson
  • Our dog
  • Our cat
  • Drinking that first cup of freshly ground and brewed coffee each morning
  • Reading my blog and interacting with the community of bloggers I’ve met through my blog
  • Indulging in Ben & Jerry’s Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream ice cream
  • Getting a good night’s sleep
  • Watching Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu during this seven months (so far) of quarantining
  • Reading an engrossing book
  • Listening to Classic Rock
  • Taking a hot shower each morning
  • Being retired

I think that’s 15. So now it’s your turn to name your 15 small joys.

And, something that will bring me immense joy six days from now would be a decisive victory by Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.

#100WW — The Annual Halloween Picnic

Fandango10 Comments

“I promise to get it done,” Bonnie said.

“You didn’t get the word out, yet?” Laurie said. “Halloween is just three days away. You said you’d disseminate the info to everyone that the picnic at the park this year is canceled due to the pandemic.”

“This whole virus thing is chilling to me,” Bonnie said. “So many sick, so many dying.”

“Well, it’s probably just as well, “Laurie said. “Everyone gets drunk and causes quite a fracas at this event, anyway.”

“Maybe this nightmare will end soon and we can return to our jocular selves again,” Bonnie said.

“Yeah, right.”

(100 words)

Written for Bikurgurl’s 100 Word Wednesday prompt. Photo credit: Bikurgurl. Also for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (promise), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (disseminate), Word of the Day Challenge (chilling), Ragtag Daily Prompt (fracas), and Your Daily Word Prompt (jocular).

Senior Moments

Fandango20 Comments

Yesterday, Garry Armstrong, Marilyn’s other half, shared a very humorous post about the day he lost his car keys. As we get older, it seems we each experience more and more of these so-called senior moments. And when I read — and related to — Garry’s post, I was reminded of a senior moment I had this summer.

Every morning, after I get up and take my shower, I get dressed and I put on my watch and my wedding band. I wear my wedding band, as most of us do, on the ring finger of my left hand. I’ve been doing this every single day of my life since my wife and I got married in 1978, so for 42 years.

Anyway, a few months ago, after I got home from walking our dog in the morning, I noticed that I didn’t have my wedding band on. I was sure that I remembered putting it on that morning, but maybe I had gotten distracted or something. I went to the bedroom and looked on my chest of drawers to see if it was there. Nope. Then I went into the bathroom to see if, perhaps, I had left it on the sink. Nope.

Then I thought it must have somehow fallen off my finger when I was walking the dog. I remembered that she had seen a squirrel and had tugged at the leash, and maybe that was when the band flew off. So I went outside and carefully retraced my steps from the morning walk, my eyes focused on the street, the curb, and the grassy areas onto which she might have wandered. But after about an hour of meticulously searching, I came up empty handed. Or empty banded.

I walked back into the house and said to my wife, “Don’t be mad, but I lost my wedding band.” Then I asked her if she had, by any chance, seen it.

She looked at me and said, “I have seen it.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” I said. “Where is it?”

She reached over and grabbed my right hand and held it out in front of me. “It’s on your ring finger,” she said.

Sure enough, there was my wedding band securely situated on the ring finger of my right hand. My right hand! For the first time in 42 years, I had somehow put my wedding band on the ring finger of my right hand instead of where it belongs and has resided for 42 years — on the ring finger of my left hand.

“Oops,” I said. My wife just shook her head.

One-Liner Wednesday — Smile

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“Be Happy! It drives other people crazy!”

I had to laugh yesterday morning when I poured myself my first cup of coffee, reached for a packet of Splenda (artificial sweetener), and saw what was printed of the back of the packet.

It’s too bad there’s a pandemic and I have to wear a face mask outside because no one will be able to tell whether or not I am smiling, so I won’t be able to tell if my happy face is successfully making them crazy.

But I tried looking almost unnaturally happy yesterday morning in front of my wife. When she ask why I was so happy, I said, “No reason. I’m just happy.”

And you know what? It really pissed her off. So much so that she barely spoke to me for most of the day!

Written for Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt.