Hunch: A Six Sentence Story

Laurel rolled over sleepily, preparing to snuggle up against Andrew's back and relish the warmth of his body on this chilly, winter night, but her arm reached out to nothing but a cool, empty spot in the bed.

Fully awake now, Laurel laid on her back for a few moments as she listened to the ticking of the clock on the bedside table, and then she slipped out of the bed and into her dressing gown and padded barefoot out the bedroom door.

The house was dark and silent as she made her way down the hall, guided by the sliver of light beneath Andrew's study door. Laurel paused slightly before quietly opening the heavy door to find Andrew hunched over the desk, the glow from the desk lamp illuminating the pistol that laid before him.

The shaking of her hands matched the tremble in her voice as she softly spoke his name. As his cold eyes rose to meet hers, Laurel drew in a sharp breath as she saw the pistol now in his hand, his finger on the trigger, her heart expecting it but her mind not ready for the sound of the single gunshot. 

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge's Blog for Six Sentence Stories with the prompt "hunch"

Well, No Worms THIS Week And Other Thankfuls

Had a better week this week compared to last week. I am no less worried about the state of things, but I didn't let it get to me as much. That's either growth or denial.

Either way, I am still thankful. Here are my Ten Things of Thankful for the week:

1. My husband loves all those stupid game shows that are shown in the summer, and (so far) I haven't killed him over it. Yet.

2. I struggled with the prompt for this week's Six Sentence Stories, but instead of giving up and moving on, I stuck with it and wrote a darn fine little story. If you haven't read it yet, it's right here. It won't take you but a minute or two, because, you know, six sentences....

3. I didn't hide in the bathroom and cry this week at work. 

4. I was making masks earlier today, and my spool of hot pink thread was getting down to the bare bones. I was practically holding my breath that I would be able to finish the mask before I finished the spool. As you can see, I juuuuust made it.

5. Last weekend, my husband got uncharacteristically efficient when we were packing up to go home from the lake house, and he put our suitcase (that sounds fancier than it is - it's really a large duffel bag) in the car before I had added the clean clothes that were still in the dryer. It was all my stuff, so I decided to leave it at the lake house and use it the next weekend, which would be this one right here. As a result, I didn't bring any clothes with me on Friday. You can probably see this one coming, but the clothes that had been in the dryer were mostly underpants and pajamas and I don't know what else, but none of it was actual clothing of mine. Thanks to Covid 19, there's really nowhere to go anyway, so I have survived wearing the same shirt all weekend.

6. Okay, the reason I survived with only one shirt to wear was because I had no other choice; I went out Saturday morning to pick up a new shirt or two, stopping in Kohl's and Belk, and there was NOTHING in either of them that even tempted me in the least, AND I HAD A 65% OFF COUPON AT BELK. Everything was ugly or some weird fabric or too short or kind of cute but they only had one left and it was an extra small. Saved myself some money beyond a coupon, so that's good.


7. Look at these cute little pillows I found at a thrift store for fitty cents a piece. I washed them in hot water and dried them on high heat, just in case of hidden critters, and my littles at school LOVE them!

8. After a rather bad experience with corn on the cob last weekend (you really don't want a lot of details, but it involved black bugs, very fat worms. damaged corn, and me screaming), my dad brought down some non-buggy, non-wormy corn from the old order Mennonite vegetable stand. Want to know how to make delicious roasting ears? Trim the silks off the top and snip off any flappy leaves, then lay the ears directly on the oven rack at 375 degrees. Bake for about 25-35 minutes. Cut the stemmy end off, peel the husks off, and most of the silks will come with it, and even the stubborn silks slide off fairly easily. Best roasting ears you'll ever eat. I don't even butter and salt mine, they're so good as they are.

My sous chef, Lewis

9. Last week, I mentioned I was thankful that don't touch your face has equaled long fingernails for me, since I haven't been biting on them. This week, those fingernails saved me a trip to the emergency room, because, as I was cutting up a watermelon yesterday, the knife slipped, and I cut my thumbnail clean in half. Had it not been there to save me, I would have surely sliced my thumb wide open. (I also burned a finger on the waffle iron, one on a glue gun, and pinched the holy hell out of my hand snapping the waffle iron back together, but looks like I'm going to pull through....)

10. Tahitian Gardenia Flower & Mango Butter shampoo and Pineapple Curls conditioner. My hair smells like a fruit salad sans fruit flies. 

Find your thankfuls where you can. Some weeks they are big, some we are just grateful for non-wormy corn.

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Zany: A Six Sentence Story

She laughed too loudly and too often, throwing her head back, one hand held lightly against her throat for maximum effect. When "Splish Splash" came on the jukebox, she leapt up from her stool at the end of the bar and acted out the song, her gestures wild as she wiggled and shook her body to the music. The men standing around her cheered her on, further energizing her, and one of the two women sitting at a nearby table with their husbands leaned over to the other and announced loudly, "If you have to try that hard to be zany and fun, there's definitely something wrong with you." 

The dancing woman's eyes darted to the women, and as the song ended, she laughingly excused herself to visit the ladies room. Passing the table with the two couples, she paused, then turned to the women and said, "By the way, there's not a thing wrong with me. Ask your husbands, they'll tell you," and with a wink to the red-faced men, she sashayed out of the room.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge's Blog for Six Sentence Stories with the prompt "zany"

Tiptoe Through The Thankfuls

Life is weird.

I don't like weird.

I feel as though I'm walking on eggshells, tippy-toeing around a virus I can't see or feel or hear. 

I've also had a job change (non-Covid related) that went into effect this week. I'm now teaching in a 2-3 year old class rather than the toddler class. There are some, let's say, lively children in there, and it is difficult.

I am struggling with life.

And it's hard for this Pollyanna.

What do we say at the TToT during times like this?

Find. The. Thankfuls.

1. I have a mask-making addiction, which either led to, or came from, a fabric buying addiction. Kind of a which came first, the chicken or the egg sitch. It keeps my hands busy, and I don't snack this way. That's worked in my favor.

2. Still rocking the long fingernails, thanks to the Covid forcing me to keep my fingers out of my mouth.

3. I'm having Propel issues. In my thankfuls a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I loved the Propel packets that I could add to my own water, preferably grape flavored. This mention caused some kind of curse to befall the Propel company, and there isn't a packet of grape Propel to be found, including on Amazon, which had been my primary source. I had to switch flavors, and while it's not plentiful, I am now enjoying a second flavor. I fear mentioning it and having the same thing happen to it that happened to the grape, so I will just say it's peewee flawberry and leave it at that.

4. I'm really thankful the toilet paper shortage seems to be mostly over, because drinking all that peewee flawberry water in great quantities necessitates the use of quite a bit of toilet paper. #itsagirlthing

5. The City Council revisited a mask ordinance this week, after voting it down the week before, and THIS time, common sense prevailed and we now have a mask ordinance. Hopefully, all the anti-maskers will fulfill their threats of "I'm taking my business to a town where they don't require masks!" and shop elsewhere. 


6. I'm thankful for roasted broccoli. 

7. And watermelon season.

8. My new class of littles is beginning to understand about sitting (reasonably) still and quiet for Circle Time. They do love the activities and songs we are doing, so maybe the learning curve won't be as steep as it seems currently.

9. Because I work at a university-affiliated child development center, I have college students who work in my classroom. I love them and appreciate them more than they can know.

10. Hamilton on Disney+. That is all.

Stay well, my friends, stay well.

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Ultimate Blog Challenge: The Beginning

Sooo...I seem to have inadvertently signed myself up for a 31 day blog challenge that begins today.  Hello, Ultimate Blog Challenge!

In the meantime, my little Welcome to July began when I dropped my bathrobe into the puddle of water that keeps accumulating in the bathtub because the faucet is dripping and won't stop. Why isn't the water just running down the drain, you ask? Because one of my three cats, Nora Pearl, likes to play with bobby pins in said bathtub and has been know to push them down the drain, a fun game that requires surgical precision to remove the bobby pin, so the plug is always kept down; hence, the puddle. Coupled with a bad throw on my part, that equals a wet robe to put on after my shower.

At least it wasn't the toilet.

Happy July!

Oh, and WEAR A MASK WHEN OUT IN PUBLIC!