Streams of Thought and Unpleasant News by Konnie Enos

 

I’m going to say it right now. I’ve struggled to come up with something to post about today.

I thought about doing one of those “Christmas Letters” where you talk about all the stuff that’s happened in your family in the past year (mostly good). My problem was I couldn’t remember everything that happened and certainly not enough to write a whole post. I even tried reading past Facebook posts to see if it jogged my memory.

I think my past blog posts would jog more memories but I’m not sure about it. Plus that’d be a lot of reading with very little time to do it.

So with scant memories and nothing worth writing about I started searching for other ideas.

Bonnie often writes about her writing but I’ve done almost none this year. Just my posts and my homework assignments. When you are working dawn to dusk four to six days a week trying to get your homework done you don’t have time for much else.

My muse is also not talking to me so I’m still trying to find things to wake it up or waste time. Wasting time is the only one that’s working because I’m sure doing a lot of it.

I got lost down the rabbit hole that is Facebook. Looking at my past posts, the most recent posts on my wall, any little thing that might be interesting. Then there is checking my emails. Between school and whatnot, I’ve got four or five of them. It might be worth a few minutes of my time to get caught up on them.

It does not, however, germinate any ideas for a post.

I should be in bed already and I’m still attempting to get at least an idea for my post and if not that, something to waste my time. Including letting Facebook suck me back in.

Okay, so maybe I’m not going to get any sleep tonight as I struggle to get something written. And it’s not like I haven’t had some ideas. Just none that will fill more than a page. Most of them won’t even fill one line.

It’s times like this that you start wishing for a minor catastrophe to awaken your muse. But around here the most inconvenienced we’ve been is that the toilet in our full bathroom started leaking and needed to be replaced.  

It did cause some headache especially since Jerry, the only person in the family who had ever done such repairs on toilets, had just undergone surgery and couldn’t lift even 10 pounds. Yeah, toilets weigh more than that.

With effort, and asking the right people Royce and Melinda figured it out but the bowl of the toilet cracked open when they accidentally dropped it trying to get it back into place.

Getting a new toilet was another undertaking and took a few days. Fortunately, once they had the new one they were finally able to get it installed and working fairly quickly. The worst part about it was having our only functioning toilet in one bathroom and our only tub in the other one.

So yeah. Minor catastrophe, but not inspiring any muse.

At this point, I’ve even tried getting a few hours of sleep and I’m still not getting any inspiration unless you count a strong desire to get more sleep. I’m surprised I even woke up before my alarm went off.

All my thoughts are running dry.

I did read an article that came out yesterday about the new Social Security payment schedule. Someone thought giving seniors and disabled people less than a week’s notice that their next payment won’t be coming sometime during the first week of the month anymore and some of them won’t be getting their money until the last week of the month was sufficient warning. Meaning in January anyone dependent on Social Security to cover things, like their rent, won’t be able to pay it on time unless they’ve got some savings.

So there are going to be a lot of people dependent on Social Security who are hurting and scrambling to get their bill covered in January because their money isn’t coming at the beginning of the month like it used to. Some people won’t be getting their January payment until nearly the end of the month. Read about the new schedule here.

The only other thing I have to say is happy birthday to my wonderful son-in-law.

I’d give my usual close but I don’t feel like smiling while still digesting how this new Social Security payment schedule is going to be impacting us.

Hopefully, things will be looking better when I post next time.

Christmas and Writing by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful, Joyful, and triumphant, oh come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem!

Sorry, I couldn’t help it, this is one of my all-time favorite hymns, along with Hark the Harold  Angels Sing, and Silent Night. Yeah, if you didn’t already know, one of my very favorite holidays is coming up this week.

Though I guess you could figure that out just by entering my living room. I have over 130 Nativities on display in the front room alone, and that’s without counting the Nativities ornaments on my tree.

I might also point out that I have no snowmen decorations, and only three “Santa at the manger” decorations, but no other Santa-themed decorations. Is it any wonder that most of my tree decorations are Nativities? (By the way, this is by choice.)

Then again, if you were to enter my living room you might also be able to decern what my second favorite holiday is. The clue is in the middle of the top shelf of the small bookcase by my microwave cart. An Eagle, two Star-Spangled Banner-themed knickknacks, and a replica Liberty Bell.

Figured it out yet?

Another clue is my all-time favorite song from a musical.

That song?

Why it’s, “God Bless America!” from “You’re In The Army Now.”

Other favorite songs are “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “God Bless the USA.”

And no, my love for Independence Day has little to do with its proximity to my own birthday, though I do enjoy that they are so close together.

I love Independence Day because it celebrates the birth of our great nation just as much as I love Christmas because it celebrates the birth of our Redeemer.

I also like Easter (it does celebrate our Redeemer’s resurrection) and Thanksgiving, though I admit that it is at the bottom of my favorite list, mostly because I feel it is better to be thankful every day of the year, not just one. I do enjoy the food and being with family but that is about it.

Independence Day has parades, picnics, and fireworks, and Christmas – well, I love finding just the right gift for my loved ones. Though some are easier to shop for, that’s another issue.

When thinking about holidays, have you considered what your characters do for holidays?

If you are in fantasy or sci-fi you must consider if they have any, and what and when they’d be, and how they celebrate, but in Contemporary novels, you already know what the holidays are, now you need to decide how your characters observe the occasion, and why.

First, you should start with whether your story will cover a period when there is a holiday.

And, since it is so close, let’s just use this time of year as an example.

This time of year, has several different religious or cultural celebrations to choose from, and of course New Year’s Eve, so what festivities will your character take part in, and why? What sort of traditions does your character have for this holiday?

Do they open gifts on Christmas Eve? Or do they celebrate Hanukkah? Are some of their friends Jewish? And there are other celebrations going on around now, too. What are they? How are they celebrated? What are those traditions?

Don’t use one you know nothing about. In this case, you really must write what you know.

So, for me, if I were to write something taking place in December, my main characters are going to celebrate Christmas.

Of course, being one to celebrate Christmas can mean a lot of different things. Some focus on Santa and all the giving and receiving of gifts, others (like me) put little energy into Santa and focus on Christ. Either way, there can be a large variety of traditions for someone to follow.

Some open gifts on Christmas Eve, while others read from the second chapter of Luke on Christmas Eve. Some make candy and cookies in preparation for the big day, while others just buy all the seasonal favorites.

And for that matter, what are your character’s seasonal favorites?

Some people like fruitcake while others loth it. What about your character? Some attend church, but only on this special occasion, while others attend year-round. Some participate in pageants and shows, while others avoid them. Where does your character fall?

For that matter, are there other holidays in your story? I have one story that includes Easter break from school, and April Fools Day. Though my main characters only get annoyed at all the pranks people are pulling, but don’t pull any of their own. How would your character act?

Something to consider, isn’t it?

Anyway, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Writing everyone!

Of Time Crunches and Illness by Konnie Enos

This is finals week, and I was working until quite late on my last few assignments and didn't remember today was Wednesday until I got into bed. I was so tired I had trouble keeping my eyes open by that time.

I had talked to Bonnie about possibly covering for me, but, of course, I had been too busy to realize I needed to let her know I wouldn't be able to write the post.

Since I went to bed so late last night, I got up too late this morning to have sufficient time to write a proper post. And I was able to get ahold of Bonnie only to discover she's not feeling well.

So, my apologies. We'll get one up next week.

And Happy Birthday to my son, Tony.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Karen's and Me

 

There has been a lot on social media about women dubbed as “Karen’s.” I have noted that the physical description of these women is usually on the lines of older, females. Sometimes they even add the adjective, short. In fact, the only part of the descriptions I’ve heard or read is that these women have short hair-cropped hairstyles.

If you don’t know already, Konnie and I are short, middle-aged women. The only difference is that we both have long straight hair, and we are polite. We’re also smart enough to know the difference between a store employee and a fellow customer, unlike a lot of these “Karen’s.”

I just wonder if they need eyes checked, or maybe their head examined, considering all the stores I’ve ever been to the employees all wear either a vest or an apron with the store logo on it and they also have a name tag, also with the store logo on it.

How can anybody mistake a customer for an employee?

I read one where a couple with a young baby were shopping together, but the baby was fussy, so the father was scurrying around getting their groceries and taking them back to his wife who was standing by their cart rocking the baby. He still wearing his coat, and not wearing anything with the store logo on it, but this rude woman ordered him to stop “helping” his wife and help her!

He wasn’t dressed like an employee! What more clue do you need that you were in the wrong woman? I mean, I am a middle-aged woman, and I’m short, but I would never accost anyone, let alone a fellow customer, to assist me.

I’m not saying I don’t ask for assistance; I occasionally do. My method is to look for the closest adult and say, “Excuse me, could you help me for one second?”

You wouldn’t believe how much help you can get that way!

Actually, I read one of those “Karen” stories where a short older woman was trying to reach something on the top shelve and this genuinely nice taller man saw her and offered to reach it for her.

She was in the middle of thanking him when another woman started scolding him for lollygagging and demanded he help her too or she would complain to the store manager and get him fired.

We all know where that went. I’ve met a lot of people like that. I’ve had tons of people offer to help me when I’m not even looking for help. There was one time, I saw what I needed, and I started to stand up out of the electric cart I always use when a woman shopping nearby ran over to me saying, “Let me get that for you!”

Of course, I thanked her, but no “Karen” showed up. I have never met a “Karen.” I’m not sure they exist here. Idaho is mostly nice people.

This brings me to the worst “Karen” story I’ve ever read was about a guy in a wheelchair. This man wore a yellow safety vest, for his safety, and the nearby store he frequented also had their cart wranglers wearing such a vest, as in out in the parking wrangling carts, but theirs had black trim and the company logo, unlike his.

Well, this guy is in the store with a basket of groceries in his lap when a “Karen” approached. At first, she tried clearing her throat to get his attention, but as he wasn’t an employee, he didn’t pay attention. She escalated to grabbing his wheelchair and spinning him around to face her.

That terrified him to the point he went into a panic attack and couldn’t respond, couldn’t find his voice, so she proceeded to push him, against his will, to the store service desk.

Luckily, he was such a frequent customer that the store employees and manager knew him. One of the salesclerks upfront called security the second he saw that woman pushing this guy’s wheelchair.

This encounter ended with “Karen” being arrested for assault because it isn’t just rude to grab an occupied wheelchair without the occupant’s consent it constitutes assault. That Karen did time.

But what I don’t get is how women who are supposed to be in my age group can be so rude? Didn’t their parents teach them any manners? Didn’t they ever learn that even stock boys and janitors deserve respect as fellow human beings?

By the way, I’m writing this post because my brother-in-law is in the hospital again, ergo Konnie couldn’t write her post this week.

I hope you get better soon, Jerry!

Happy Writing everyone!

My Age and Nano by Bonnie Le Hamitlon

 

How young do I look? I am serious here; how young do I look to you?

I’m asking because the other night I ended up taking my sister-in-law to the emergency room. Now, you need to know that my sister-in-law is only about three months younger than me and Konnie’s big sister, Jacki, AKA Dictionary. They were born the same year.

So, I took my sister-in-law, Shirley, to the ER the other day because she’d taken a fall (yes again) and passed out for a time. And this happened to me.

I had helped Shirley inside at the door, then went to park my car, when I joined her at the registration desk, the lady there glanced my way and asked Shirley if I was her daughter!

I said, “Come on, I don’t look that young, do I?”

This lady excused her faux pas because the masks we had to wear hid tons.

I simply pointed out that Shirley wasn’t old enough to be my mother.

But that wasn’t the last of it. Once we got to the exam room (and could take off our masks) the nurse walked in, glanced at me, and asked Shirley if I was her daughter.

Now come on! I do not look that young!

Yes, my hair was in a ponytail, just as it is in the picture above, but I have definitely aged over the years, just like everyone does. Okay, so I don’t show my age as much as others do, but that is just ridiculous.

Though I admit it isn’t the first time someone has considered me the daughter of the woman I was with when the woman I was with was only a year older than me.

The first time it happened, I was in Downtown I.F. with Jacki, and she ran into someone from her past, they spent several minutes catching up, then that person asked if I was Jacki’s daughter. Boy was Jacki mad!

Which seemed funny, since when Jacki was in her mid-teens, she’d been in downtown Poky with our mother, and they ran into someone our mother knew from work, that someone asked if Jacki was our mother’s sister.

Jacki had felt it was cool that an adult thought she was an adult too.

It had never once dawned on Jacki that looking older than you are at fourteen or fifteen usually means that you’re going to look older than you are at forty plus. (At this point she is now sixty.)

On the other hand, Konnie and I always could pass for younger than we are, which frankly came in handy being behind in school. But even still, our junior year, after moving to Tacoma Washington, I had someone think I was still in junior high!

Okay, I admit, it was January, and I did have my warm enough for Idaho winter's coat on, so that did cover my build, but still, I can’t possibly look that young! I was eighteen back then, not fourteen.

But over the years few people have ever guessed my age correctly.

There was once a lady who came within five years of my age, but she admitted she guessed higher than she normally would have guessed because I was there (this happened at Lagoon, which is a theme park near Salt Lake City back before I got married) with a bunch of clear young adults.

The people in my group ranged in age from pushing thirty to barely twenty-one, and I was not the youngest one there, I was in fact twenty-three.

The lady said I had been there in a group that was a mix of ages, she’d have assumed a “family outing” and guessed me to be a younger teen than what she had guessed.

I wasn’t even a teen!

I can think of plenty of other instances where people had my age all wrong.

I once mentioned my husband went to high school with my youngest uncle, and the lady I was speaking to said, “I thought he was quite a bit older than you!”

There was another lady present for that interchange whose husband is ten years older than her; Tom wasn’t even four years old when I was born, at least not quite. His birthday is in August. He’s not that much older than me, but then neither was my uncle. He was five when Konnie and I were born.

And I can’t tell you how many times someone has been shocked when I revealed my age! And that was even recently.

So anyway, how old do I look?

Happy writing everyone!

PS. I did finish Nano this past Saturday. How did the rest of you do?

Of Grand Stories and Elaborate Tales by Konnie Enos

A few years ago, my youngest son, Royce, came to me and wanted to tell me all about this new show he found and loved to watch.

I let him tell me about the adventures of Smith and Regg. That first one was about how Regg hoodwinked an unsuspecting Smith into helping him with his mission. Regg is something of a spy. Poor Smith was a very bookish accountant or something like that. They became quite the spectacular team, a la “Scarecrow and Mrs. King.” Their stories were entertaining and funny.

As time went on, he continued telling these tales and added other starring characters in this universe, The Grand Oracle and his friend LuLu (better known as Lucifer). His description of LuLu was a very tall, thin guy in a red suit (think three-piece and tailored). He’s also one of the good guys despite having a considerable temper issue. Namely, he abhors anyone so much as scaring an innocent child. As such, he is a terrific babysitter because if anyone even attempts to kidnap the kid, they’re toast. Kill a kid, and you will spend eternity feeling his wrath.

The Grand Oracle is probably the best character in the bunch. His usual form is that of a young man/older teen. But if you question his age or say he’s young, he could display a temper even LuLu would avoid provoking. Ask his age, and he’ll say “old, very, very old.” He’ll even tell you he’s older than Earth since he’s lived through the life span of 16 separate universes. (Or something like that.) He does have his quirks, but I think the best one is, he gets into his scraps and adventures because he’s bored. When he’s bored, he pretty much does anything that comes along to have something to do for a day or two.

Smith, that bookish accountant, is brilliant and created his own AI and security system, both personal and his home. He also got married and had a daughter, who later married and had a daughter. So the story went on for a couple of generations.

Then, of course, there is the family of dragons that live at Smith’s place. There are four of them: Mom, Dad, and their son and daughter.

Every story he told me was elaborate, full of detail, and usually hilarious. I got to where I liked him telling me what they were up to this time, and he would occasionally mention that he was looking forward to the next issue being out.

I got busy, and he’d come to me with his tales of Smith, Regg, The Grand Oracle, LuLu, and their friend less and less often. I even got to the point of thinking about looking them up to watch some of these great shows myself. Since Royce likes Japanese-style cartoons, I figured it was something similar and didn’t think it’d be hard to find. I just never bothered looking. Mostly because I already knew the stories thanks to Royce’s colorful storytelling.

Yesterday evening, not long after I’d returned home (that’s another story), Royce told me he had to confess. I could not figure out what he wanted to admit, but he told me his brother’s friend discovered his secret by searching online.

I’m confused. What secret and what did he find online?

Folks! HE MADE IT ALL UP! There is no show about Smith, Regg, The Grand Oracle, or LuLu!

Every story. All that detail. Everything my son created that whole universe!

We have told him he has to write every story down now.

He is resistant to this. Not only because he has been spinning these tails for a couple of years but because he insists he can’t read or write.

He can, but like his dear mother, he can’t spell. He’s also unsure of the grammar. My daughter, Melinda, suggested he start recording them.

So our task now is to convince this creative young man to get his stories on paper so that they can be published and presented to a larger audience.

But mostly, I’m blown away. He is my one child who has displayed the least interest in weaving tales, but he is exceptionally talented at it.

So the universe creating storytelling bug has struck all my children. We only have to convince Royce that he is imaginative and talented too.

We can also thank him for this post.

Due to yesterday being our 31^st anniversary, my mind had been on what I would be doing to celebrate. What did I end up doing? Visiting my husband in the hospital. That’s where I had come home from when Royce dropped this bombshell on me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

 

Nano and Other Things by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

As you know, this is November, better known to writers around the world as Nano. I am yet again trying to accomplish this challenge. For those of you who haven’t heard of National Novel Writer’s Month (better known as Nano) it is a challenge to write fifty thousand new words toward a new novel in the month of November.

It is a challenge, especially when you haven’t been writing regularly in the months leading up to this, but I did have an excuse most of the time. Not just my work schedule, but my old computer dying on me last month.

(Yes, folks, I have a new computer. Thankfully.)

Its nice that this computer will work with me, instead of fighting me. With my old computer, I had to hit buttons several times for it to do anything  at all, and it would take multiple times to highlight any text so I could copy it. (Let alone it wouldn’t highlight all of what I needed.) I was constantly taking longer just to get my post from word to our blogsite than to write it and that was driving me crazy, but I was trying to make do with it, because I didn’t want to spend any extra money right now.

In the end I didn’t have choice.

I needed a working computer.

And this one is fantastic!

Would you believe I can start to type some phrases and longer words and my computer will, on its own, fill in the rest. I just hit the tab key when it does that for me to skip to the next word. I’ve never seen anything like it before, but its great. Some of the longer words, I don’t need to try to remember how to spell it, the computer will do it for me!

On another note, I am doing great on the Nano. I reached the halfway point a few days ago and am on track to finish early (per my usual).

Of course, I have had some extra time on my hands since I stopped working at DI at the end of last month but the new program, I applied for has yet to place me in a position. So, I’ve all day to waste and I promise, while I am doing well with my writing, my screen time on my phone is way up too.

I really need to curb that.

Also need to wrap what Christmas presents I do have, figure out what I still need, and get those gifts going out of town shipped this month.

Does anyone have gift ideas for a few of the men on my list?

If it were Tom, I could manage. Mostly because he was good about giving me a wish list. But also because I have a knack for seeing things someone I know would love and, well, I think about that person. So, if I think about that person, it’s a great gift for them.

I just wish it would happen more often with men like my one sister-in-law’s husband, Claire’s husband, and well, Konnie’s husband and one son. The other one I hope I finally picked the right gift for him. I did think about him when I saw it. So, that is a good sign.

And it would be nice if I were better at finishing projects, because I did start a gift for Konnie’s husband a couple of years ago and I still haven’t finished it. Yeah, that’s me, started but never finished. Is it any wonder I have so many more unfinished WIPs and only a handful of finished WIPs?

I’m counting myself lucky I actually got to “the end” as many times as I have. By the way, I believe my number of finished WIPs is six, but don’t quote me on that, I’m not looking at my list and for once my computer isn’t helping me.

I’ll figure it out, new system and all.

And I would write more right now, but I do have other things to do. Like write my newest WIP.

Are you doing Nano this year?

If so, comment your username on the Nano site and I’ll make you one of my buddies.

My username is FaithfullSpirit2. Look me up.

Happy writing, everyone!

Of Jury Duty or Not by Konnie Enos

Quite recently my income earning, therefore tax-paying, not to mention registered voter, son received a jury summons.

When he got his mail that day he came to me ranting about being called and asking if he could just ignore it. Not a good idea. Jury duty is mandatory but what consequences you’ll receive for ignoring one differs by the jurisdiction it’s for, local, state, or federal. The consequences range from receiving another summons for a different date, up to criminal penalties, including fines and up to 180 days in jail.₁

I explained to him that it was his civic duty.

He was not happy as he grumpily left my room and I heard no more about it until several weeks later. When he again came to talk to me. “You guys might have to take Andrue into work Tuesday.”

“Why? Why aren’t you going to work that day?” Tony has been driving Andrue to work since Tony does have a driver’s license and a car. But now they are also both on the same shift. Not to mention how close Andrue lives to us.

“I don’t know if I’ll be working that day.”

“Why not? Are you sick or something?”

 “No. I might have to report for jury duty. I find out Monday.”

Oh, yeah. Been there. “Okay.”

As it turned out, he didn’t have to report to jury duty.

Then I recently read something else about the writer getting out of jury duty because they had a nursing baby. Now I’m not sure about all jurisdictions, but in some, taking care of small children, especially nursing said child, is an automatic exemption from duty.

Oregon is one state that does give this exemption.

I know, because technically I got it.

While we were living there, I received a jury summons (i.e. before our boys were born). In this particular jurisdiction, they requested you hold three specific months for possible service.

I looked over the paperwork. Among the exemptions to serving would be a hardship in some way or you were a nursing mother. Technically I wasn't nursing. However, my third child was due in the middle of those requested months. So I would be nursing. Then again, this was my third child. Not only that, but I provided childcare for my sister-in-law. So at some point, I’d have primary responsibility for five girls under 6. Three in diapers/pull-ups and one of those I’d be nursing.

I let them know all of the above.

I never heard from them again.

I also know you can be released from serving for extenuating circumstances. One of those is not currently living in the area where you are registered to vote, such as being away for college. In my case, the first time I ever received a jury summons, I had only been on my mission about a month when my mail from home caught up to me. Yeah, I wasn’t anywhere near my home state and couldn’t return for about a year and a half.

So I received a jury summons in my mid-twenties and again in my mid-thirties.

Now I’ve had people tell me they’ve had multiple jury summons and even served a few times. And that’s including that a federal summons will exclude you from being called for several years after you've served.

So as the years went by I wondered when I’d get called again.

Now, mind you. Unlike the majority of people I’ve heard talking about it, I’m not opposed to serving. And ‘third times the charm’ so I have always figured I’d serve eventually.

Well, in my mid-fifties, I did get that third summons. Okay, I’m completely available. Jerry could deal with any appointments or anything the kids needed while I was serving. I did the paperwork and was notified when I’d have to check to see if they still needed me. I discussed it with Jerry so he was prepared for me being busy during that time.

Then before I got another notice. I was no longer needed. Because I was willing to serve on a federal jury that still exempts me for at least a year. It’s been longer than that so I’m wondering when I’ll be called again since they’ve been so few and far between.

I had about a decade between my first two calls, and two decades between the second and third call. If my fourth call is three decades after the last one I’ll be in my mid-eighties when I get it. At this point, I’m wondering if I’ll ever serve on a jury.

How many times have you been called for jury duty? And thank a vet for their military service.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Nano and Covid by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Nano (National Novel Writers Month) is finally here, and I finally have a brand-new computer! Yeah!

And I’m sure Konnie is cheering too. I can post this week for a change.

I can also access my notes and get to work on my Nano writing, which is even better. I have been stir-crazy this last week or so because I couldn’t so much as edit my sci-fi let alone prepare for Nano.

I might have been able to work on something, if I had hardcopy notes, but guess what, I didn’t. It’s way easier to type than to write longhand.

I’m so glad I finally have my new computer.

I just wish we could gather in person! I’m tired of only meeting on Zoom.

In-person is a lot more fun, but I guess I can put up with one more year of keeping my distance. After all, I do know Covid is real. I’ve lost family to it. The most recent was a week ago when an uncle of ours, and his wife both died of Covid.

Konnie called to let me know while I was shall we say, “otherwise occupied.”

When I noticed I missed a call from her, I called her and asked her why she was calling me so early in the morning.

Honestly, I should have realized it wasn’t good news.

Because of that call, I was running late for work, and then when I was finally on the road, I looked ahead to see a train blocking my path. For nearly a year I was working at DI (Deseret Industries) and I crossed those tracks every working day of that time both going to work and returning home. Never had I seen a train in all that time and now on the day I was running late, there’s a train!

I was thinking I’d have to call in and let them know how close I was (Close as in about a block away on the wrong side of the tracks.) and why I was going to be late when the train finally came to an end.

And the only reason I managed to clock in on time is that they give you a three-minute leeway. It was precisely 10:03 when I finally clocked in. My usual is to be three minutes early.

Not a good start.

At one point during the day, one of the other supervisors came into the area where I worked, and he didn’t seem all that happy, so I asked him how he was. He answered he was fine, then asked me how I was.

I let him know I wasn’t having a good day and even mentioned my uncle and aunt who had died the night before.

The supervisor immediately asked if they were from Pocatello, which they were, and he asked because a couple in the ward of one of the other supervisors had died of Covid the day before, just like my relatives.

Well, I have seen them on occasion, but I’ve never been to their place, I didn’t know what part of town they lived in. He asked me their names and went to find out who the other supervisor had lost.

Turns out, it was my uncle and aunt.

The other supervisor came by asking how I was related and asking about their kids and if they had grandkids, and I hadn’t seen the kids with spouses or children when I last saw them at our older aunt’s funeral.

But it gets worse, my supervisor came up to me after hearing about my loss and said, “He didn’t seem that old to me.”

Yeah, she knew him.

So, I spent most of the day talking to the bosses about my uncle and his wife, and about the fact that he was only five when Konnie and I were born.

Though this time it didn’t come up that he went to school with my husband, a fact which someone once remarked, “I thought he was quite a bit older than you.”

Excuse me? I’ve seen larger age gaps, so not even four years doesn’t seem all that much to me. I know couples who had ten or more years of age gaps. Starting with our father, whose second wife was ten years younger than him, and ten years older than Konnie and me.

And now I need to get going on my writing my Nano project! Are you doing Nano? What is your project? Mine is a romance, again. My usual.

Look me up on the Nano site. I am FaithfullSpirit2 on there.

Happy writing everyone and good luck with Nano!

 

Of Words and Surprises by Konnie Enos

 

I’ve enjoyed Reader’s Digest for well over forty years. I don’t remember the first issue I picked up, but I do know our stepmother had a subscription. One time, I picked up her copy and glanced through it, and enjoyed it so much that I got in the habit of reading it regularly.

Back then I rarely read all the articles but I did read all the humor sections and I’d read an interesting article or two. The “drama in real life” or a condensed story. I first read James Herriot in a Reader’s Digest magazine condensed story.

For years I just read my stepmother’s copies and when I wasn’t in the house for college etc. I just waited until I got back home then skimmed through all the past issues I could find.

Not long after I got married, I got my first subscription and I’ve had it ever since.

I was still only reading the parts that interested me. I’m not even sure when I started reading more but eventually, the Reader’s Digest coming in meant I was spending at least a day consuming it from cover to cover.

As the magazine got lighter (they print fewer pages in each addition now) I was able to read through them in less and less time. Now, I don’t spend a solid block of time reading it but the amount of time I need to consume each issue is only two or three hours depending on how “heavy” their articles are.

When I first started reading it, I might glance at the “Word Power” section and maybe spend a few minutes trying to get the correct meaning but often it meant that I had to “peak” at the answers. But I got older I was finding I needed to peak less often so I started marking my guesses and then seeing if I got those I guessed at correct.

Eventually, I got to where I was marking (or now that I have a digital subscription, writing down) all my responses then turning to the answers and seeing how I did. As a rule, I miss three or four of them though I do remember a few times missing six. There aren’t many times that I missed less than three nor more than five so I was always “middle of the pack” by their score chart.

I’ve always felt I was doing pretty well since I only have an average vocabulary, despite living with a living, breathing, walking, talking dictionary for all those years. (I mean Jacki did try to increase our vocabulary but I never bothered to retain anything I wasn’t using regularly.)

So what brought all this up?

I was reading my most recent issue of Reader’s Digest and finally got to the last pages where “Word Power” is. I read the caption first.

Oh, great. Science. Since that isn’t my strongest subject, I figured my limited knowledge in that department wasn’t going to help my final score. Even the proclamation that the words were also used outside of labs didn’t boost my confidence.

First word. It’s easy. Who doesn’t know that?

Second word. Well, duh.

Okay, they should get harder as we go.

Third word. Really. You’re going to make it that easy?

I continued. For each word, I either knew the answer or it was super easy to figure it out from the available choices, as in only one made sense. Then I got to one that stumped me a bit because I knew one meaning of the word, but it has nothing to do with the scientific use of the word and I wasn’t sure which of the choices to pick. I could make a case for all the possible answers being correct so I made a guess, knowing I was probably wrong because my rate of correct guesses is pretty low. The last few words I was sure I knew the meaning of.

Now I was really curious about the outcome because I had only questioned one answer. I was certain I knew the other answers, but I’d been wrong before.

I turned the page and checked my answered one by one circling each answer on my paper that I’d gotten correct. As I circled I was thinking, see I knew that, or that was easy to figure out.

Then I got to the one I did guess at. Guess what. I was right.

The outcome?

For the first time in my life, I got a full 15 correct answers. It has got to be the easiest Word Power yet. Either that or I know a great deal more “science” words than I thought.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Apologies by Konnie Enos

Our apologies but we will be unable to get a new post up this week. Bonnie's computer issues are beyond her limited resources to fix or even replace at this time and she hasn't got the means to even write a post, let alone get it on the internet. She is looking for a temporary solution but she hasn't been able to fix it this week.

In other circumstances, I would make the effort to write something for her, but between my college classes and some pain I'm currently experiencing in my arms (I have no idea what's going on, but the carpal tunnel braces are helping), I am unable to manage it.

I will put all my effort into getting a new post up next week and then hopefully Bonnie will have found a solution, however temporary it might be, to her computer issues so she can do her posts going forward.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

 

Of Late Night Muses and Desperation by Konnie Enos

 Jerry decided to go to bed early but I was still doing school work and attempting to make sure I’d completed all I could for one day. I also knew I needed to write this post so after closing everything for school work I went searching for ideas. While I was thus engaged, and Jerry was now snoring beside me, someone knocked on our bedroom door.

Now it’s not uncommon for our kids to come into our bedroom for various reasons but while our girls will knock when it’s closed, our boys generally don’t. And at that hour it wasn’t likely to be the girls but my first inclination was they would just come in because as far as I knew it was unlocked.

Then I heard the distinct rattle of someone attempting to open a locked door.

Wonderful. He locked it and now he’s fast asleep.

Now you have to understand because I’m a full-time student I was half-buried in books for my classes, and had most of my tech around me. But most importantly was my computer on my bed table in front of me.

The first step, push my computer away from me.

The second step, make sure none of my paraphernalia is going to fall off the bed or otherwise make a mess or get lost somehow. Jerry is good at burying things under blankets, pillows, and such. Or simply knocking them off the bed. If it also ends up under the bed I may not find it for a while.

Of course, while I’m still moving things so I can get up, whoever is at the door knocks again.

“Give me a minute.”

Third step, the whole turning to get my legs off the side of the bed, sliding to get my feet on the floor, and pulling me up to a standing position. I generally manage this by pulling on the handles to my closet doors.

The fourth step, maneuver clear across the room, past two dogs who are more intent on seeing who is at the door than they are at getting out of my way so I can reach the door. I shove past them while realizing that my bladder knows I’m moving. For some reason, it thinks my moving is the time to empty. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get to the bathroom in time.

I get the door unlocked and Tony walks in. He has a transportation issue and wonders if he can have our car tomorrow.

I aim for the bathroom as quickly as I can. “Someone has an appointment tomorrow so no. Talk to dad.” I shut the bathroom door and quickly take care of business while he wakes Jerry up enough to talk to him.

That solves Tony’s issue and Jerry went right back to snoring.

It did not solve my issue.

I still have a post to write. My idea bank is too low to tap and my muse likes abandoning me when I need them the most. I decided to check just one notification on Facebook.

I don’t know why I even attempted that. It is never just one notification. Facebook is nothing more than a rabbit hole and sensible people should avoid it when they have deadlines to meet. I suppose this means I’m not sensible.

Now, a couple of hours later, I’m officially up way too late again. I weighed my options.

Option one, get right to bed and wake up by five so I have time to write and post before this has to be up. The downside is this means not getting enough sleep.

Option two, quickly figure out an idea and write a post then go to bed, preferably after I also set it up so I can sleep until seven or even seven-thirty. Might not be enough sleep but certainly more than getting up at five.

Thankfully desperation seems to help the muse do its job.

Thus inspired I begin typing. Fortunately, I know touch typing and my words per minute are decent. I can fill three pages in about half an hour as long as my muse is still cooperating.

Now it is closer to the morning than the middle of the night and my head doesn’t like the fact I’m still awake. Though I’m almost free to get some rest.

All I have to do now is choose a title, choose a picture to accompany it, edit the whole thing so it makes sense, then get it scheduled to go live at the appointed hour.

It’s wonderful how desperation can inspire you to work quickly.

Oh, happy day of birth to my beautiful new granddaughter, Aria Danielle Plagmann, born Monday, October 11^th.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Long Hair and Other things by Bonnie Le Hamilton

(Bonnie is still having computer issues so she finally set this to me so I could post it. I had to take time from my school work to do so. Again, sincere apologies for being so late.)

A couple of times in this last week, I went out with my hair down, and both times someone commented on my beautiful long hair then asked how I take care of it.

Huh? What is so hard about taking care of long hair? And my hair isn’t that long; barely even past my shoulder blades, not to my waist, yet. I believe Konnie’s hair is longer, and I know that one of her daughters has way longer hair!

But the point is, it doesn’t require special care beyond putting it up in a braid or ponytail at night. Washing might take a little more shampoo, but it's still shampoo. And it’s still conditioner too. Why would anyone think it takes special care to have long hair?

I have had both long and short hair, and I have seen no difference other than ponytails and braids are out when your hair is short.

Honestly, asking about how to take care of long hair is as ridiculous as asking, “What’s it like to be a twin?”

No. It's worse. Because anyone can grow their hair long or cut it off short. I’ve had both hairstyles, anyone can. But I can’t know what it is like not to be a twin, because no matter what, I am a twin.

I’ve said this before.

I do have other siblings, but my relationship with them, somewhere in there, includes that I have a doppelganger right in my own family. It includes that someone else in my family shares my exact same birthday.

I’d say about the only people who see me as a unique individual don’t know about Konnie.

Sure, we have different personalities and different temperaments, but we are alike in so many things. And let’s not forget the mirror opposite part.

We are so alike that growing up I couldn’t stand when Mr. Rogers sang, “You are special, you’re the only you, . . .”

Hate to break it to you, sir, but my look-alike is sitting next to me.

Of course, Mr. Rogers couldn’t see through the TV and I don’t think he ever dealt with the issue of identical twins. At least I don’t remember any such episode. Then again, I didn’t watch Mr. Rogers that often because I hated that song!

Sure, there is only one Bonnie, but Bonnie and Konnie look an awful lot alike!

Which reminds me of a story I once read in Reader’s Digest. It was about a set of identical twins who both worked for the same company (ergo they wore the same uniform) and at one point some tourist quizzed both of them on their upbringing, where they were born and such, and he insisted they memorized rote answers to the questions because they said the same thing!

They were identical twins.

Konnie and I can do share vital stats. Ours were identical until we graduated from high school and subsequently got married and started having children. But come on, we were born in the same hospital, in the same town, on the same day, to the same parents! We also went to all the same schools, right up until Konnie switched colleges, but we didn’t start attending college at the same time because I stayed home for a year after graduating from high school to help out while our stepmother went back to school to become an RN.

But, since we were behind in school, that meant for the twenty years of our life our information was pretty much identical unless you count that we didn’t take all the same classes.

And we did have different experiences.

It was Konnie, not me, who had trouble with her locker mate in seventh grade; my problem that year was an over-amorous 9^th grader who seemed to think both of us were me until he finally saw us together!

In 8^th grade, the issue was a guy I knew saying hi to who he thought was me, and of course, Konnie ignored him. I’ve told that story before.

And that year I also had trouble with a teacher, who insisted on assigning seating, and refused point-blank to change from an alphabetical arrangement when that put me in the back of the room!

He insisted that since I do wear glasses, I shouldn’t have a problem seeing from back there. I tried to point out I was the shortest student in the class, but he refused to listen to me. That is until he caught me leaning out into the aisle to see what he was writing on the board.

Not that he figured out the issue even then. He didn’t get it until I pointed to row in front of me, saying, “They’re all taller than me!”

And my classmates took my side.

Anyway, happy writing everyone!

 

 

Of Going to Bed and other Delays by Konnie Enos

 

Recently something was going around on Social Media describing a couple going to bed. They are watching TV together when the woman says she’s going to bed. She gets up and does several tasks preparing for bed and the next day so it takes her at least half an hour to get into bed.

Soon the man decides he’s going to bed too. He turns everything off and goes climbs in bed and is wondering why his wife isn’t in bed yet.

I assumed this was the sort of thing that ‘pokes fun’ at people and not a factual account of how things are.

Then last night happened.

Since I had spent much of Monday night, into Tuesday morning awake, rather than getting the sleep I needed, I was determined to go to bed at a respectable hour last night.

When nine o’clock hit I told myself that I had to be done with everything and put it all away so I could get to bed in just one more hour.

I pulled out my to-do list, marking off things I knew I’d done. Then I started double-checking those things.

Did I move it forward to Wednesday’s to-do list? Yes. Next item.

Did I complete it? Yes. Mark it off. Next item.

Not done yet. Do them. Mark them off.

Now I checked to make sure Wednesday’s to-do list was complete. Check to make sure I did complete a few assignments or move them to Wednesday’s to-do list. I checked at least two such things I hadn’t done yet.

I worked on both.

I checked my assignment schedules on the website and confirmed that the finished ones were marked off and those still needing doing were on Wednesday’s to-do list.

I have assignments that require me to write something. I have one Word document open for one of those. I have another Word document open to start this post. I have three documents I’d opened for the saved information to do my homework. I also have several other Word document drafts started because of assignments.

On top of these, there are three Excel spreadsheets open, two for school and one because I’d needed the information.

I type a couple of sentences for my post and my assignment but realize I don’t have time and now I had a pounding headache. I decided to quickly check three of my email accounts.

I open one, click on just one email. It wants me to double-check an account.

I do that.

It took me at least half an hour to figure out how to fix the one issue and all the others that cropped up. It’s now past ten.

Then my husband decides it’s bedtime.

He turned off his computer and crawled in bed while asking me if I still needed the light on.

I still had things all over the bed and was knee-deep in fixing those issues.

“I still need the light or I’ll lose something. I’m getting ready for bed though. Just have to complete a couple of things.”

He curls up in bed, saying his goodnights. He is soon snoring.

I finally fix the issues that came up and go to look at the blog post I’d started but glance at the time. It’s now a quarter to 11.

I have multiple things open.

I close all the previously saved Word and Excel documents making sure to save changes.

I go to my internet pages and start closing those, triple-checking so I don’t forget anything.

I eventually close all of them. I still have several unsaved documents to deal with. Both the assignments I’d started writing are only a sentence or two and I’m going to have to start over on them. I close them both.

Now I check my phone to make sure I have alarms set for the next day, including to get me up in time to write this post.

Then I check the next documents. I have to save one of them but the others I no longer need and just close them.

I still have stuff open.

There is an open PowerPoint I can just close.

I’d opened Quicken at some point. I suppose to work on finances since it is on my to-do list but I never got to it. I close that.

There’s another random app open, mostly because I think it opens automatically when I turn on my computer. I close it and finally turn off my computer and put it away.

Then I get ready for bed, turning out lights, using the bathroom, and turning on my CPAP.

It’s now 11.

So it’s real.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.