CONVENIENT (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

When I got home from the hospital after my knee replacement, I had to set up a sort of command center - a place I could spend most of the day where everything would be convenient for me to reach.  So the recliner became my base of operations.

I've spent most of the past two weeks ensconced on my comfortable throne, cable remote, cryo-cuff, cold drinks, and rehab exercise instructions conveniently at hand.

That Man did a great job getting me through that initial time home.

"Please fill my cryo-cuff!"

"I'd like Taco Bell for lunch."

"How about KFC?"

"Could you bring me the walker?"

"I need a Coke."

So demanding!!!  But he has fetched and carried and driven me to a doctor appointment and several physical therapy sessions so far.  Not to mention his attentiveness at the hospital!  I'm supposed to be doing a lot more for myself now, so he's gone back to work.  It was really convenient to have him home the past couple of weeks.  Plus, I miss his company.

I still have control of the recliner, though, so that will have to be my consolation for now!

BETTER (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

It's the first Five-Minute Friday of 2019 and the word of the day is "BETTER!"

Here's the evidence!

This year, I'm working at making the house better.  I have a heap of boxes to go through - some have been stored in the garage and attic for a long time (please don't ask how long - it's embarrassing!), and some are from our parents' houses, stored in one of the bedrooms.  I actually took one of those blasted boxes from the garage and emptied it today.  Easy-peasy lemon squeezy!  I decided to keep about half and donate the rest.  I only pitched one thing.  Someone will enjoy the items I "released."  I'd like to do that once a week.  Just think of the stuff I can jettison!!!

Also, I've been watching "Tidying with Marie Kondo" on NetFlix, and even though some of the things she does make me shake my head in disbelief (for example, thanking the items you're letting go), it's been kind of motivating.  You know, if Those People can do it, by gosh, so can I.  I've gotten some ideas for how to store some things that I would have never come up with on my own.

So, like the old motivational mantra says, "Every day in every way I'm getting better and better!"

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "BETTER."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

STILL (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.  (Exodus 14:14 NIV)

How can you be still?  The way things are now, it's difficult to find a place or time to be quiet, still, and centered.  With 24-hour news, entertainment, and connectivity, there's no place to hide!

My place to be still is in nature.  In the woods.  On the water.  On a trail.  In a park.  Sailing.  Running.  Hiking.  Camping.

I turn off the phone and get away from the TV.

I go alone.

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "STILL."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

BALANCE (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

I had to think about this one for a bit, so I'm late posting.

There has been so much written about work/life balance in the past several years, and I've found it an elusive thing.  Everybody's chasing it, and nobody thinks they've achieved the magical state of perfect balance.

Well, we all know there's no such thing, so why do people keep writing about it?  And why do we devour the books and articles supposedly giving us the answer?  Are we crazy?  Unbalanced?  (HA!)

So if it's unreachable, what do we do?

First of all, we need to redefine what "balance" is.  The books and magazines and seminars make it sound like we need to balance our time every day, or at least every week.

I've decided it's a lot of hooey (that's a highly technical term, if you didn't know).

Life goes through stages, and overall, if you're paying attention, it does balance, eventually.  Think about it.  When you have small children and you're working, I'm sorry, you're just naturally going to be focused on small children things, and it's difficult to focus on your spouse (if you're married) and work at that stage.  Oh, you're focused on work, too, but really, it's a vehicle to provide for those small children.  And the spouse should be focused on the kid stuff, too, and take some of the pressure off.  Some weeks, you'll have to have kid stuff in the front of your brain.   Other weeks, you'll be all work.  I used to travel for my job, and I'd be away from home overnight from time to time.  We figured it out.

When the kids were older and into sports and Scouts and stuff, I got involved in their activities, and my weekends and some weeknights were full of that stuff - meetings and practices and games.  I chose to be involved in those things.  I took vacation days from work to go to Boy Scout or Girl Scout camp.  But when I was at work, I worked like mad.  And on the weekends, That Man did the kid stuff, too.

Just because you can't be there all day doesn't mean you're a bad parent.  Everybody does what they can with what they have.  Some stages are easier, some stages are harder.  Eventually, some of your time becomes yours again.  You can work, and advance, too.  But you have to pick your battles and decide what you're willing to do, and what you're not willing to do.

Remember, it's only temporary!  EVERYTHING is only temporary.  It's all about choices and what you do with them.  It all balances out in the end.

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "BALANCE."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

DEEP (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

When That Girl was in high school, when I'd get "definite" about some issue, she would say, "Calm down!  It's not that deep."   Of course, those issues often involved some misbehavior on her part!

But really, aren't most things we get all worked up about not all that important?  We have to learn to choose our battles, as they say.  Or, as I like to say, you have to choose your own reaction.  You can choose to be angry, or you can choose to say, "Well, it is what it is."

It used to exasperate That Girl when she'd say that someone had "made her mad," and I'd tell her, "No, you chose to be mad."  For the most part, people just do what they do, and they're too wrapped up in themselves to bother to purposely make you angry.  

That doesn't mean you have to accept, agree with, or condone whatever it is, but what good does it do you to allow yourself to be angry and start shouting, which blocks logical thought and civil discourse.  It doesn't do your blood pressure or your digestive system any favors, either, and you'll probably regret the things you say and the loss of control .  

Anger itself isn't good or bad, but rather how we choose to express it.  You have to figure out just how truly deep the problem really is, then decide how to go about changing it.

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "DEEP."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

REPEAT (A Five Minute Friday Post)

All last month, and all this month, too, I'm following a routine -  sit, write, repeat.  I didn't write consistently last month, but did it in clumps.  I got behind, and I had to really get it in gear to finish all thirty-one posts by the end of the month.  So, I had to write and post several at a time.  When the challenge comes around again next year, I'll improve.

So far this month, I've written every day.  That's not saying much, because this is only the fourth day of the month, but I've kept to my schedule.  Yay me!

Consistency is the key.  All I have to do is sit, write, repeat, day after day.

Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity.
          - Bruce Lee

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.
          - Gretchen Rubin

Great ideas!  All I have to do is apply them. 

Repeatedly.

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "REPEAT."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

CLOSE (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

Well, this is the last writing prompt of the 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes challenge.

Whew!  It was CLOSE, but I made it!

I'm afraid I wasn't very good at writing daily, so my posts came in bursts instead of a nice even flow.  Oh well.  I did the best I could with what I had.  Some of the writing prompts kind of flummoxed me to begin with, but I was able to do something with most of them - not all, though!

So here I am at the end of the challenge.  I suppose you believe you'll be getting a break now, right?  Well, maybe.

Tomorrow starts NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), so I'll be writing like a fiend, trying to get my 50,000 words written before December 1.  Because I won't be working on a novel (I'm a Rebel - that's the official NaNoWriMo label for someone who's not writing a novel), I'm sure a lot of what spews from my fevered brain will end up here.

You lucky people.

So I'll CLOSE for now!

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This post is part of the 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was for Five Minute Friday, "CLOSE."  For more information on the challenge click here.

VOICE (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

A friend of mine commented on one of my early posts and said the writing sounded like me - she could hear me talking.  I have a VOICE!

I'm in the middle of reading The Art of X-Ray Reading by Roy Peter Clark.  The subtitle is How the Secrets of 25 Great Works of Literature Will Improve Your Writing.

Wow!  I feel like I've never really READ a book, and I read a LOT.  Since January 1 of this year, I've already finished ninety-four.  Not all (well, hardly any) qualify as Great Works of Literature, but of course not all books aspire to be.

Anyway, in one section of the book, Clark talks about an author's "diction," which, as he used the term, he obviously meant "voice" - the words and phraseology an author uses in writing, which are influenced by geography, economic condition, education, occupation, religion, age, and time in history.  Compare two authors' work side by side, and you can tell who is who because each has his own distinct voice.

I've just finished a section heavy with Shakespeare, and Clark points out where the important words fall in a couple of sonnets.  Fascinating.  Lots to ponder.

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "VOICE."  For more information on the challenge click here.

TOGETHER (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

Yet another song!

The more we get together, together, together,
The more we get together, the happier we'll be!
For your friends are my friends
And my friends are your friends.
The more we get together, the happier we'll be!

How did you find the friends you have?

Some are from work, some are from school, some are from church, but I know a lot of mine came from other friends, including That Man.  My first friend in Indiana (we go all the back to fourth grade!) introduced us.

How do you keep your friends?  The best way to stay connected is to get together, of course, just like in the song.  The friends I feel closest to are the ones I make the effort to talk to on a regular basis.  We have lunch or dinner, see a movie, go shopping or sightseeing.  It doesn't matter what we do, as long as we're together, together, together!

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "TOGETHER."  For more information on the challenge click here.

SONG (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

You've probably noticed how often these writing prompts remind me of songs.

Music and singing have been one of the constants in my life.  There are the hymns in church.  My family always sang in the church choir, and I still do.  Dad also sang in men's groups, including the Indianapolis Scottish Rite Chorus, and sang solos.  All three of us sisters had piano lessons.  Two of us took violin lessons.  At home, Mom played the radio all day.  I play handbells in church.  My grandfather used to sing Gay Nineties songs to us that his father sang to him.  I sing oldies in the car (at top volume!).

I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
(Psalm 104:33 NIV)

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "SONG."  For more information on the challenge click here.

WHOLE (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

Wow.  Whole.  

The first thing I think of is whole wheat!  That may be because I'm kind of into bread right now.  I've been playing with bread recipes and making sourdough starter.

But what else does "whole" mean?  I found some synonyms:  intact, unbroken, undamaged, unmarked, perfect, flawless. 

As for God, his way is perfect:  The Lord's word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.
          (Psalm 18:30)

My all-time favorite hymn:  Ein Feste Burg (A Mighty Fortress)

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow'r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?  Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow'rs, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth;
The body they may kill:  God's truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
          - Martin Luther (ca. 1529)

The hymn was inspired by Psalm 46:

1  God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

2  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea
          (Psalm 46, NIV)

Kind of a stream of consciousness, isn't it?  But that's what the word "whole" brought to mind!

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "WHOLE."  For more information on the challenge click here.

MOMENT (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

Before I get started on today's word, please, please, PLEASE forgive me for changing the comments settings so they now require a word recognition box before a comment can be submitted.  I've been getting a LOT of robot and spam messages as comments, so I felt I had to take that step, and I hate it.  I know it can be kind of off-putting to type in those silly words, but it is what it is - UGH.  I apologize.

Here we go!

Can we all just take a moment?

Relax?

Wind down?

Loosen up?

Calm down?

Unbend?

Simmer down?

Collect ourselves?

It only takes a moment to stop and take a short break.  Sometimes that's all that's required.  Just a little time away.  Get up, get out, and take a walk.  

Or lie down and take a nap.  When was the last time you took a nap?  

I took a solo vacation to Cocoa Beach (one of my favorite places).  I had been at the beach all morning, had a great lunch, and now it was mid-afternoon, and I was TIRED.  I sighed and thought, "Oh, I wish I could take a nap!"

Suddenly, a light switched on in my brain.  DUH!  Why NOT?  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  Nobody was going to stop me.  I wasn't at work - I was ON VACATION.  I could DO WHAT I WANTED.  I COULD take a nap!

So I did.

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "MOMENT."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

CAPTURE (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

Oh boy.  How do you capture ideas for writing?

Sometimes it's like herding cats, especially when a whole bunch of ideas stampedes through my brain!  I write them down as fast as I can, but they slip through my fingers like sand.  UGH.  At least I'm usually able to keep hold of a few.

Sometimes, I can't find them at all.  That's when I set the timer and just start writing about anything, or nothing, or how I can't conjure up anything to write.

The 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes has been helpful.  Just grab a word and see what pops into your brain.  After October ends, I think I'll come up with my own list of words, and then write down ideas as fast as I can!

Maybe I'll be able to capture a few.

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This post is part of the 31-Days of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was for Five Minute Friday, "CAPTURE."  For more information on the challenge click here.

BRIEF (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

Today's word is BRIEF.

I was talking to one of my writing friends about today's word, and I told her that when I hear the word "brief," a dumb saying always pops into my head:

          "Old lawyers never die, they just lose their briefs!"

Yeah, I know.  Pretty bad.

But it's good to KISS - Keep It Short and Sweet.

Great advice, especially for a blog.  Nobody wants to spend a long time reading a blog post.  The five-minute free writing challenge is great for keeping things a manageable length.  I have to admit that five minutes goes awfully fast, but it forces me to stay on task, focus, think, and make quick decisions.  No dilly-dallying!

And now my time is up.  This was definitely brief!

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was for Five Minute Friday, "BRIEF."  For more information on the challenge click here.

COMMON (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

Common sense isn't all that common.

I'm sure you've heard that one before! 

The same applies to common courtesy.

Look around you.  People act like they have no common sense or common courtesy.  They run red lights then get mad if you honk your horn.  You pull out of a side street with plenty of time and space, and the car coming way down the street speeds way up, gets on your bumper, and the driver lays on the horn.  Some nut in a car zooms around you on the interstate, then cuts in front of you and then crosses two lanes of traffic to get to the exit.  A car zooms around you on the street, races up to the next intersection and has to stop at a red light, while you come to a calm halt right behind him.  What is all that about?

Hmmmmm...  All those examples have to do with cars.  What is it about getting into a car that turns normally smart, polite people into crazies?  Do they think nobody can see them?  Do they lose their identities and become one with the machine?

It's a common problem.

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was for Five Minute Friday, "COMMON."  For more information on the challenge click here.

HELP (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

Help!  I need somebody,
Help!  Not just anybody,
Help!  You know I need someone.

Help!

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self-assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me.

And now my life has changed in oh, so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure, 
I know that I just need you like I've never done before.

     --The Beatles (Lennon-McCartney)


Today's word is HELP, and it's kind of a continuation of the earlier posts for ASK and START.  I wrote how some commenters have asked me how to start blogging.

To get help, you have to ask.  And it's hard.  As in The Beatles song above, when you're young, you often feel like you don't need anyone, and your independence is the most important thing there is.  That's just part of separating from your parents, and it's a normal part of becoming an adult - sort of.

A REAL adult realizes that it's okay to be independent, but there are times when you're going to need help.  There are people in your life who will be happy to help if you just express that need.  

For example, in January, I'm having knee replacement surgery, and I'm going to be less mobile for several weeks.  My church's women's organization is having an event in February, and I said I didn't know whether I'd be allowed to drive by then, and so wasn't sure I'd be able to attend.  The ladies in my group all jumped in and said they'd make sure I'd be able to get there.  Someone will drive me if I can't drive myself.  Now, stupid me, I never even thought of that possibility!  DUH!  

Apparently, I'm still learning myself.

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was for Five Minute Friday, "HELP."  For more information on the challenge click here.

START (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

I've recently had a couple of commenters on my blog ask how I got my blog set up and how I started writing.  ME!  People are asking ME for advice! 

I am FAR from an expert, but here's how I got started.

For years (well, decades, actually), I journaled and wrote (and wrote, and wrote, and wrote) in spiral notebooks.  About anything.  About everything.  Whatever I was thinking about at the time.  Sometimes about nothing, really.  But for me, the physical feeling of putting pen to paper is soothing. 

And I read (and read, and read, read).  All kinds of stuff.  Novels, poetry, magazines, newspapers, biographies, memoirs, sci-fi, fantasy, history.  Anything.  Everything (well, almost - I do have limits).

Then I heard about blogs.  What a concept!

So I read about them a little, chose a platform (Blogger, obviously!), and just started with the basics.  I came up with a name, chose a page design from the standard ones provided, and started writing posts about any old thing.  Just like my journals.  When I wanted to do something new, I look under Help or Google it.  I didn't learn how to schedule posts until earlier this year - DUH!

But if you want to get started, just jump in and START!

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was for Five Minute Friday, "START."  For more information on the challenge click here.

WHO (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

Who do you think you are?

I'm a lot of things. Here's a partial list:

• girl
• once-divorced
• woman
• wife
• mother
• daughter
• sister
• aunt
• great-aunt
• niece
• great-niece
• cousin
• grandmother (ACK!)
• half-marathoner
• skier
• hiker
• backpacker
• bicyclist
• sailor
• military brat (actually, an Air Force fledgling)
• Christian
• Girl Scout leader
• Boy Scout leader
• United Methodist Women's Circle member
• chemist
• mathematician
• geology fan
• knitter
• crocheter
• astronomy fan
• painter
• chicken caretaker
• pathological reader
• baker
• cook
• pianist
• choir member (second alto - a.k.a. lady bass)
• handbell ringer
• seamstress
• writer
• blogger
• Distinguished Expert marksman
• drag racing groupie
• noob quilter
• crazy cat lady
• zombie hunter
• science geek deluxe

Yeah, I'm quite a mixed bag of roles.

Everyone is a mix of many identities.  What's yours?

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "WHO."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

AUDIENCE (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

How willing are you go get up in front of an audience? 

Most people rank public speaking right up there along with death as one of their greatest fears.  Me too!  Getting up in front of a group of people and speak petrifies me, although I've done it, and I'm much better than I used to be, thanks to my job.  Not that I did it a lot, but there were times I had to get up in front of a roomful of people and give a talk, answer random questions, teach a concept, or speak extemporaneously.  I was never really comfortable with those scenarios.

However, give me a role in a play...

I was in several productions in high school and a couple in college.  Give me a script and a character, and I'm fine!  After all, it's not ME up there, it's the character.  I don't have to come up with what to say because the words have been provided for me.  I don't have to figure out where to go because all my moves were choreographed during blocking.  Because of the lights, I couldn't see the audience beyond the first row or two of the center section, so I didn't have to look at all those eyes watching me.

Find your audience!  All the world's a stage!

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was for Five Minute Friday, "AUDIENCE."  For more information on the challenge click here.

SEARCH (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

Although the word "search" doesn't actually appear in the lyrics, it makes me remember the old John Denver song, Looking for Space:

On the road of experience, I'm trying to find my own way.
Sometimes I wish that I could fly away.
When I think that I'm moving, suddenly things stand still.
I'm afraid cause I think they always will.
And I'm looking for space and to find out who I am, 

And I'm looking to know and understand.

It's a sweet, sweet dream, sometimes I'm almost there.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle and sometimes I'm deep in despair.

All alone in the universe, sometimes that's how it seems.
I get lost in the sadness and the screams.
Then I look in the center, suddenly everything's clear.
I find myself in the sunshine and my dreams
And I'm looking for space and to find out who I am, 

And I'm looking to know and understand.
It's a sweet, sweet dream, sometimes I'm almost there.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle and sometimes I'm deep in despair.

On the road of experience, join in the living day.
If there's an answer it's just that it's just that way,
When you're looking for space and to find out who you are.
When you're looking to try and reach the stars.
It's a sweet, sweet dream, sometimes I'm almost there.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle and sometimes I'm deep in despair.

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was for Five Minute Friday, "SEARCH."  For more information on the challenge click here.