SOLSC Day31 - Thank You, Two Writing Teachers!

  

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 31 — Thank You, Two Writing Teachers!

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This is the final day of the March Slice of Life Story Challenge for 2018, and I can’t let the month end without saying thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to Two Writing Teachers for providing this opportunity for so many people to share their stories and let their voices be heard!

In my 2nd year participating in the March SOLSC challenge, I have learned so much from all my fellow slicers who have taken the time to share their writing talents, as well as read slices and make comments. The TWT writing community is so positive and supportive, and it has been wonderful to connect with so many amazing people! I can’t let the month end, either, without saying THANK YOU to all of you slicers out there!

Last year, 2017, was my first time completing the March challenge, and when it ended I was thrilled beyond belief about the experience. I continued writing off and on with the Tuesday slicers for a couple of months, and then I stopped. I’m not exactly sure why I stopped, but I did, for nine months. Nine long months without writing in my blog. After a while, I even forgot that I had a blog. This year's March SOLSC has reawakened the writing part of myself, and I am resolving right now to not let 2017’s lapse repeat. I intend to continue writing (not every day most likely, but at least now and then...”Joodles, Now and Then”, get it?) in my blog throughout the year. I want to continue learning and experimenting and gaining confidence in my writing. And if anyone reading this blog right now would like to continue visiting my blog occasionally, I will happily, joyously, enthusiastically welcome you!

As for now, I am elated to celebrate another 31 days of noticing, reflecting, writing, revising, reading, commenting, and learning as part of the SOLSC community. It's been a blast!


😊
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With peace and love,
JudyK   March 31, 2018

SOLSC Day30 - A Morning at the Social Security Office

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 30 — A Morning at the Social Security Office


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"Is today Sunday?"

"No, it's Friday."

A husband and wife, both about 70 years old, along with a very elderly woman, about 90, were seated in an office of the Social Security Administration.  I was sitting in the row of seats right behind the threesome, so I couldn't help but overhear some of their conversations. The elderly woman, who I'm guessing was the mother of the other woman, was the one asking the questions.

"Why are we here?" the mother asked.

"Because we need to change our address, " answered the daughter.

"Can't we do that in the mail?"

"Probably. Or maybe in an email," the woman replied, continuing to sit and wait.

I chuckled inwardly at that. If I didn't have to be here in person, if I could just get online to do what I needed to do, I certainly wouldn't be sitting here waiting in this little room with 40 or so other people. 

I looked around the room again. There was an interesting assortment of people, of all colors and walks of life. Some were there by themselves, like I was; some were there with one or more others. I heard different languages being spoken during my waiting time --- Spanish for sure, and what I think may have been Korean. I also saw several people speaking to each other in American Sign Language. 

I gazed at the video monitor on the wall, the one that soundlessly displayed written announcements and showed what number of person was being waited on. There were generally four people being waited on at one time, at different counters. I was number A55; when I had arrived, the number being waited on was in the A30's, and now was up to A40. I was getting closer.

The security officer is NOT authorized to answer Social Security program questions, warned the video monitor. That struck me funny for some reason. I had already had an encounter with the security officer, a young uniformed man who had asked me to move my car only about a minute after I had entered the building. There hadn't been any parking spots when I had arrived, so I had parked over at the far edge of the parking lot....not a legal spot, but not in the way of anyone who needed to come and go.  Or so I thought. "No," the young officer had explained to me, "I can't let you park there." So I had gone out to move my car into a spot which thankfully had just opened up.

Received a phone call from a psychic that promised wealth, health, or happiness? questioned the words on the video monitor, Don't fall for scams....  I shook my head. A psychic? How bizarre. But I knew that too many older people did fall for scams. Such a shame that they had to be warned about such things.

"Is today Sunday?" The older woman was questioning her daughter again.

"No," the daughter replied patiently, "It's Friday."

When disaster strikes, paper checks can't be delivered. Switch to direct deposit. advised the monitor.  Hmmm, I thought, that's sound advice.  I never thought about that before. I made a mental note to make sure that I sign up for direct deposit for my Social Security checks, whenever that day comes.  I thought about the disaster situation again. Yes, direct deposit would be a really good idea in that situation. Unless it's a REALLY big disaster and the banks get wiped out also. Hmmmm. Sometimes I think too much.

"We don't have our Social Security cards with us." The woman was now speaking to her husband.

"We don't have our Social Security cards with us?" the husband echoed calmly.

"I don't know if we even HAVE cards, do we?" the woman asked. There was no stress in her voice, no panic.

"We'll probably have to go through the whole process to get new ones," the husband noted. 

I was amazed at their matter-of-fact attitude. I would have been in a tizzy, worrying about whether I needed my card, whether I even had a card. I would have been thinking about all the trouble I'd have to go through to get a replacement card. But not these people. They barely moved a muscle and just waited serenely. Whew, maybe I needed to be more like them.

The woman spoke again. "Let's move over to the last seats in the row so we can be closer." They wanted to be sure to hear when their number was called. The husband got up to retrieve the mother's walker, and they all proceeded to settle in to new seats. I turned my attention to something else.

The voice of the very elderly woman interrupted my thoughts. "What are we doing here?" she asked her daughter.

"We're going to change our address," came the gentle answer.

I smiled to myself. Bless their hearts.


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JudyK  March 30, 2018

SOLSC Day29 - Sunshine/Rain (A Diamonte Poem)

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 29 -- Sunshine/Rain (A Diamonte Poem)



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I haven't tried writing much poetry since last March's SOLSC, when I explored quite a few forms. I decided to try my hand at it again today, working with the diamonte poem. 

First, I had to refresh my memory as to the structure of a diamonte poem:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Diamante: A seven-line poem that takes the shape of a diamond.

Diamantes are poems about opposites: the first and last words have opposite meanings (or convey opposite ideas).

 A diamante has seven lines that follow this sequence:

Line A: Topic A (must be a noun)

Line B: Two vivid adjectives that describe Topic A

Line C: Three interesting “-ing” action verbs that describe Topic A

Line D: Two concrete nouns about Topic A and two about Topic G

Line E: Three interesting “-ing” action verbs that describe Topic G

Line F: Two vivid adjectives that describe Topic G

Line G: Topic G (must be a noun)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I like the way that the diamonte poem starts with one thing, and ends with the opposite. It's thought-provoking and fun to think of opposite word pairs, and it's challenging to come up with descriptive words that feel right. So with my memory refreshed, here is today's attempt:

Sunshine/Rain

Sunshine

Brilliant, hazy

Warming, beating, burning

Energy, nourishment; nourishment, hydration

Pounding, drenching, sprinkling

Beneficial, misty

Rain

I enjoy this form of poetry, and will probably write more diamonte poems in the future. They're fun!

:-)

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JudyK  March 29, 2018

SOLSC Day28 - I'm Joining Leigh Anne's Party!

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 28 -- I'm Joining Leigh Anne's Party!


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With today's Slice of Life, I am hopping over to Leigh Anne Eck's blog to join her slicing party! (If you missed her post about the party, you can see it here .)

This is what I am bringing:

Favorite book -- 
My favorite books are children's picture books. Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina  and Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg have been at the top of my favorites list for years, so I'll bring those.

Favorite person -- 

I'll bring my sister Cathy. She lives in Minnesota and I live in Ohio, so we don't get nearly enough "sister time" together. I think she'd enjoy the company of everyone at the party as much as I would.


Favorite food or beverage -- 
I'll bring chocolate chip cheesecake. I love chocolate, and I love cheesecake....Put them both together and you have perfection.


Favorite song -- 
There are many songs that I love, so it's hard to pick just one. But I guess I'll have to go with "What a Wonderful World" sung by Louis Armstrong. The words are simple, beautiful, and optimistic, and the melody is so pretty. (If you aren't familiar with it,  you can click here  to  watch/listen on You Tube.)


Surprise -- 
I'll bring buckeyes for everyone.  Not real buckeyes, which are seed nuts from a buckeye tree...

...but the candy kind of buckeyes, which are peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate. 

Candy buckeyes are similar in taste to Reese's Cups, but they are creamier and even more delicious. My daughter-in-law Kathleen and I, along with some of the grandkids, made a huuuuuuuge batch (22 dozen!) last December and gave them away as Christmas presents. (We didn't give them all away...we saved some for ourselves.) If you live in Ohio, chances are that you've eaten candy buckeyes before. If you've never had one, you're in for a treat!

I'm very happy to be joining Leigh Anne's party!

:-)

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JudyK  March 28, 2018

SOLSC Day27 - A Bottle Full of Secrets

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 27 -- A Bottle Full of Secrets


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The past few days, while I was looking at my son and daughter-in-law’s four walls after I got tired of looking at my own, I had time to admire my daughter-in-law Brittany’s decorating abilities. She has such beautiful taste, and I love how she puts things together to create lovely scenes. On one living room wall is this arrangement:

The picture in the middle of the shelf is Steven & Brittany’s wedding picture. They were married almost 7 months ago in St. Lucia. On each side of their picture is a tall bottle. The ribbon-adorned bottle on the left holds sand from the beach where they got married. The bottle on the right, the blue-green one, has a story to tell, one which isn’t even finished yet.

Here is the beginning of that story:

Steven and Brittany’s wedding reception took place in Ohio, a  couple of months after they were married. At the reception, this blue-green bottle stood empty on a table, with little slips of white paper, pens, and some rubber bands next to it. Guests were invited to write notes to the happy couple, roll the notes up and band them, then drop them into the bottle. Steven and Brittany plan to open the bottle and read the notes on their first wedding anniversary. Such a sweet idea!

When I look at that bottle now, I’m so very curious about the notes. I’m sure the messages contain sage words of wisdom and numerous good wishes for the bride and groom, but I’m also pretty certain that there are some funny comments on them too. And I know that some of my grandchildren -- Steven's nieces and nephews -- enjoyed making drawings of hearts and flowers and things of that nature for their uncle and new aunt. Several of the kids created more than one note, because they really enjoyed dropping their miniature works of art into that bottle.

So what will Steven and Brittany find when they open that bottle sometime at the end of August? Will the messages make them laugh, make them feel loved, or maybe even make them shed a tear or two? I don't know. What are Steven and Brittany going to do with the messages once they've read them? Will they put them back in the bottle? Will they do something different with the messages and the bottle? I don't know. I may never know.

I hope that Steven and Brittany will share at least some of the contents of the messages with me. I'm too curious of a person to never know.



:-)
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JudyK  March 27, 2018

SOLSC Day26 - A New Week (a Haiku)

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 26 — A New Week (a haiku)



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The weekend is over, my Spring Break has ended (how did it go so quickly?), and a new week has begun. This haiku expresses a little of how I am feeling about that:

A New Week

Sunday whispered, “Done.”

Then dawn appeared and promptly,

Monday roared, “I’m here!”

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JudyK  March 26, 2018

SOLSC Day25 - Meet Hunter

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 25 -- Meet Hunter


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Note from Judy: I am temporarily staying at the home of my youngest son and his wife, where I'm dog-sitting while they are out of town. I'm taking care of Hunter, a young fun-loving hound dog. Today I'm going to let Hunter tell his own story:

Hi, I'm Hunter! I'm a few years old. My people, Steven and Brittany, got me from a dog shelter when I was a little puppy. I love my people SO much for bringing me home to live with them. They are the best people that a dog can hope for.

I'm a big dog, and as you can see from my picture, I have short hair which is black, brown, and white. I have one blue eye and one brown eye, and a personality which many people find to be quite endearing (whatever that means).

I lead a pretty good life with Steven and Brittany. My favorite hobbies are napping, eating, barking, chasing birds out of the yard, going for walks, and looking out the front window. Looking out the window is my absolute favorite thing to do. Let me explain how it works -- 

 

I look out the window and watch for things that move outside. You know, like squirrels or birds or a cat. Or kids riding their bikes, or teenagers walking down the street, or people walking their dogs.  

     

I watch and I watch and I watch. 

   


When I spot an animal or person that is moving, that's when I spring into action!!   

 

I bark and jump up and wag my tail with excitement. I continue to jump and bark and bark and bark until the moving thing is gone.

   


         Then I settle down and watch again.



I can play this game for hours and hours and hours, and never get tired of it. For some reason, though, my dog-sitter Judy gets tired of it. She tries to get me away from the window. Imagine that.

This game does wear me out after a while, though, so eventually I need to nap. And that's what I'm going to do right now, everyone. Thanks for stopping by to read my story!




   Hunter  🐾





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JudyK  March 25, 2018

SOLSC Day24 - I'm Getting Out of the House!

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 24 -- I'm Getting Out of the House!


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I'm getting out of the house!  Whooooooo hooooo! I didn't realize how cooped up I was feeling until just now, when the thought of leaving my house and going to stay at my youngest son's house about 10 miles away filled me with elation.

I've been home all week, enjoying Spring Break, but the weather hasn't cooperated very much. I've spent a lot of days staying inside my house all day, getting things done (or goofing off and not getting things done) and I'm actually tired of looking at the same four walls. My son and his wife left this morning to go out of town for a couple of days and need someone to dog-sit for them, so later this afternoon I'll be going to their house.

I'll have a different set of four walls to look at for the next two days!  I seriously can't wait!


Y
  I
    P
        P
             E
                   E
                           E
                                   !!!
                                            🎉 
                                                       😊


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JudyK  March 24, 2018

SOLSC Day23 - A Quiet Day Off At Home

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 23 -- A Quiet Day Off at Home (as told, in verbs, by a person with ADD)


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sleep
wake
wash
dress
sit
write
reflect
eat
read
read
redirect
write
read
play
work
play
play
redirect
organize
work
search
search
find
sit
organize
pay
pay
watch
play
play
redirect
collect
place
fix
sit
eat
watch
text
play
nap
nap
watch
redirect
gather
hang
organize
play
play
redirect
read
text
watch
watch
redirect
fold
place
sit
reflect
read
redirect
cook
sit
eat
converse
organize
move
sit
relax
watch
call
converse
read
watch
play
converse
organize
play
watch
watch
watch
sleep


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JudyK  March 23, 2018

SOLSC Day22 - More Words of Wisdom From Dove Chocolates

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 22 -- More Words of Wisdom...From Dove Chocolates



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A few days ago, I wrote about some of the messages which are written on the inside of Dove chocolates. I’ve come across four more which were interesting enough to make me stop and ponder:


~~ Give someone a compliment. ~~
A person with good manners doesn’t need to be told that. But people lead such busy lives these days, that many don't stop long enough to think about doing such a simple thing. And so, the reminder is an excellent one. Have YOU complimented someone today?

~~ Take a cat nap. ~~
This message is valuable for all the people who have so many obligations and responsibilities that they don’t give themselves the breaks they deserve. It’s okay, you can allow yourself a few minutes for a cat nap. You really do deserve it.

~~ Show up without a reservation. ~~
Every minute of our lives doesn't have to be planned out. Do something spontaneous once in a while. You’ll be amazed at how good it makes you feel!

~~ Be proud of your age. ~~
Now THIS is a really thought-provoking message. So many people worry about getting older! All my life, I’ve seen people, especially those in their 30’s and 40’s, fret over turning a certain age, or getting wrinkles, or not having that youthful look any more, or whatever. Lots of people get downright depressed about it. Sure, it can be sad. But that’s the way life goes. We all get older, so we might as well embrace it! With age comes a lot of wisdom, which is a perk for sure. Would I rather be a youthful 30-something with lots of energy and great health but who doesn't know much about life, or a graceful (somewhat graceful?) 60-something whose body is getting creaky but who is so much wiser about life?  Some days, that would be a tough decision. But when push comes to shove, most days I’d choose my 60-something self. I am SO much wiser now than I was at age 30. I’ve had so many more life experiences. My life was very rich then, but it’s much richer now. I’m happy — and yes, proud — to be 62 years old. My mother passed away when she was 62, and if God’s plan is to have me turn 63 and keep going, then I will be honored to do so. Happily.

Wow.  Who knew that the Mars candy company could make me think so much?


:-)
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JudyK   March 22, 2018 

SOLSC Day21 - Take a Cue From the Children!

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 21 -- Take a cue from the children!



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Spring officially began yesterday.  Today, the first full day of Spring, finds many of us experiencing more winter weather. Here in Ohio, we got a few inches of snow. It's really quite pretty here where I am, but most people all over the country are tired of winter and are definitely NOT enjoying this latest gift from Winter. I happen to be on my Spring Break this week, so it's quite ironic that I'm enjoying my Spring Break while looking out the window at snow.

                                                              

 

                                     

My grandchildren attend school in two nearby school districts, which aren't on Spring Break this week, and those school districts closed today due to the snow. I'm sure that my grandkids were happy to have a snow day, but I was surprised when my daughter-in-law told me that she and the kids had spent an hour outside playing in the snow. Everyone is tired of the snow, I was thinking to myself. Why would anyone want to go play in it?


                          

My daughter-in-law told me that the kids had great fun playing outside. It didn't matter to them if it was the first snow of the season or the umpteenth. It didn't matter if the snow came in March as opposed to December. They had a good time!

And therein lies the lesson that we can learn from the children: 

Just enjoy!

:-)

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JudyK   March 21, 2018