Challenge #36 Shopping Spree

This challenge comes from a small writing group.  We have a large series of random questions that we answer and share.  The goal is to answer at least one per week. My personal goal is to do this for 1 year.

Question:

Do you prefer online shopping or in-store shopping?  Why?

A Shopping Spree

Let me start by explaining that this group was formed in September of 2019, no idea of a world wide pandemic was even a concept at that time.  All these questions were  simply looking at a changing world.

Fast forward to 2020 and this question takes on a whole new meaning and resonates with people who never even considered online as an option.  (Note to self, check with my non computer comfortable friends and see how they are shopping.)  Needless to say, my response to this is very different today than last year.

In today’s world for almost everything but fabric and shoes online shopping is the new winner for me.  I tend to spend less online because I can hop from screen to screen and check out all the prices,  I can also do this at 3 AM when I can’t sleep because I am worrying about the pandemic.  I am not a drunk shopper which some 3 AM shoppers are so no surprises arrive two weeks later.  Some friends are on both ends of this scenario, they will remain nameless.

Fabric is hard for me to buy online.  A friend once said it was fun to watch me in a fabric store because I shop mostly with my hands.  I walk down the aisle with my hands  touching on both sides and my second reaction is to color or pattern.  So I have to be backed against the wall to buy fabric online.

The other thing is shoes.  I have wonky feet and had one surgery and don’t really want more so I do wear the comfy granny type shoes.  My granddaughter is the queen of online shoe shopping, before her wedding a shoe box arrived every other day it seemed. She ordered a variety knowing she would not keep them all.  Some had to be shipped back but some had returns to their local store.  This is a good thing to check when shopping online.

How do you feel about online shopping?  I’s a bit sad to see the changes in the brick and mortar shops.  I would like to see a world where a mom and pop local store could expect to fill a shop and have walk in traffic.  It has been a while since I have been in any remote locations where they have those 10 foot by 25 foot shops that a single person can operate.  There is no mall where that fits, if they have a kiosk the rent is usually out of range.  So maybe online is the only answer now????

 

 

 

 

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Challenge #21 Easter Bunny

This challenge comes from a small group.  We have a series of questions and the object is to answer one of the questions  every week and share it with the others.

Question:

Create three original screen names and passwords that the Easter Bunny may use when logging in to check his e-mail.

As with much of what I write, I start with the research.  This seems like a simple enough subject, I should just be able to sit down and write but I also like to educate myself a little bit and let’s face it I’m old and may have forgotten some things.  I truly do not remember all the books that I read to my daughters over 40 years ago.

So, what to say about bunnies, there are other names they are called rabbits, cottontails, hares, jackrabbits there are dwarf bunnies and my favorite are the lop eared.  The ears go down instead of up and they are the cutest things ever.  Over the years I have come home from the County Fair with a bunny and my girls were pretty responsible about taking care of them.  We did limit ourselves to just one so we would not have 90 in a short period of time.

What surprised me was when I began looking up books with rabbits in them.  This challenge asks for three responses and I did use mostly the books for inspiration and I stopped at fifteen, just because.  In no particular order here are the screen names and passwords and they could all probably be swapped.  I do think it would be fun to create a new email for myself with one of these, well maybe not.

Screen Name                                        Password

1. P. Cotton Tail                                           Mrs. McGregor 4
2. Velveteen                                                 I am Real 2
3. Sleepy Rabbit                                          Turtle Wins Race
4. Wise Rabbit                                             Lion In The Well
5. Hare Today                                             Gone Tomorrow
6. Br’er Rabbit                                            Uncle Remus
7. Queen Janet                                            Bunny Planet
8. Pooka Harvey                                        Elwood P. Dowd
9. March Hare                                           Alice In Wonderland
10. Roger Rabbit                                         Jessica Rabbit
11. Runny Babbit                                       Beddy Tear
12. Uncle Wiggily                                       Pipsisewok
13. Fifteen Rabbits                                     Hops
14. Golden Hare                                         Masquerade
15. Fiver                                                      Watership Down

Challenge #16 Extra Room

This challenge comes from a small writing group.  We have a large series of random questions that we answer and share.  The goal is to answer at least one per week.

Question:

If you had an extra room in your house, what would you use it for?

My extra room.

Who doesn’t love extra rooms, it’s kind of like having extra cash or finding money in your pocket you forgot you put there.  Just puts a smile on your face.

At one point I had more rooms than people living in my place so I actually had an extra room, it started life as a guest bedroom.  After a few years of having only two overnight guests, I finally said enough is enough and lets make this far more useful to me, so it became a sewing room.

My initial thoughts were to move the bed to one side of the room and put my sewing machine and table and fabric on the other side.  That lasted for a couple of months, then the bed went and storage shelves were added so I could fit my fabric stash and my craft supplies.  This was the life of the extra room until I began to move, then it was the first room to get packed up and became the holding room for all the boxes and furniture.

Today, I would do the same with an extra room.  I have had a few friends who have done some really fun things with extra rooms that might change my mind.  One of my friends has turned that extra room into floor to ceiling storage, with shelves for storage and careful stacking, all the walls are hidden by boxes and furniture.  I have a friend who uses her extra room as a TV room and has completely banned her family from the living room with electronics and no television.  This room has become the  electronics center of the house and the TV is pretty much running non-stop, but everyone walking into the house doesn’t hear it.

Another friend has the spare room turned into a meditation/yoga room.  Painted in calm soothing colors with inspirational quotes on the walls it really is a calm place.  A scented candle or incense burning transports you to a serene and restful place almost instantly.

One of the coolest things I have seen is a room that is pretty much the cats playroom.  With  shelves and hiding up high on the walls and ramps that allow cat only access they seem to love the safety of their space away from all people.    I think the luxury of an extra room really can become any adult play room or a reflection of their unique personality.

 

 

I Need A Little Help

These are some of the hardest words to say for me as well as many people I know.  I don’t always know that I need a little help, I know I am very bad at asking for it and right now I am not sure what that help would look like.

Many of us here like to  think of ourselves as writers, more of us can’t even put our names in that sentence, big sigh, well here goes.  I am trying to write a murder mystery style book and can’t figure out how I want to have someone die.  I want  my main character to be around when they find the body to help solve the murder as an amateur sleuth, but not to be too closely involved.  My setting is current time in a big city.  Should be easy, right.

I guess this is a bigger ask than I originally thought, but if anyone wants to share a crazy idea, I would appreciate it.  I do think I will go back to the board game and see who committed the crime in the library with a candlestick.

Sunny Day And Cottage Names

Today for my early morning walk I started very early.  In the midwest, many of us, missed spring.  We had some nice spring days, then it got cold and rather than go back to spring the weather jumped into the middle of summer.  We are having several days in the low 90’s which does not usually happen until late July or early August.  Who stole spring?

I do love early morning and the nice mirror and stillness of the water.  This photo surprised me with the pretty reflection of the clouds in the water.  I was very lucky with this shot.

While I was walking among the lake houses my mind wandered back to my recent trip to England and many homes have names, not just the huge manor houses or castles.  So I decided to name a few.

Eagles Nest went to a home that could be a tract home elsewhere.  A simple 2 story aluminum sided house.  But, this home has an enormous half dead tree in front, the kind I have seen eagles stand in to survey their next meal, it also had an eagle with its wings spread nailed above the doorway.

Another smallish home with beautiful blue siding became the Bluebirds Roost.  We have long ago dubbed a  quaint home The Witches Cottage because of the moon shaped cutouts in the shutters.  So you can see, the is a bit of whimsy in this process.

So let’s get really cheeky as you might hear across the pond.  This we call Skiers Rest.  That is because they have used retired water skies to surround the mail box. Very clever.

We named this next one Evita’s Cottage because of the great view from the balcony overlooking the lake.

We also found a Rabbit Hutch due to the bunnies nibbling on their lawn.  Lilac Cottage due to the purple flowers blooming throughout the lawn, no lilac bush in sight.  Old School House is named for the large bell hanging near the front door and it never was a school to our knowledge.  Whales Tale is due to the fact we saw an airline pilot getting out of her car one day. ( Pilot Whales in case you were wondering.)  Guppy Cottage is due to the collection of fish always swimming near it.

What would you call your neighbor’s houses?  I think I need to get busy and quilt small banners for the neighbors to hang in their homes or yards and let’s see if the names stick.

Over The Past Year

About a year ago, I started writing this blog.  Today I went back and reread my first one.  I am surprised that I still like and feel the same as what I wrote then.  It’s like a 5-year-old child who feels that every day they are getting taller or smarter and it is visible to others.  I know I have changed in many ways, can’t you all see it? HA. Other than the fact I dyed my hair (again a new color) and lost a couple of pounds, it’s not even visible to me.  But I have changed.

I have accomplished a couple of bucket list items I was never sure were going to happen. Some of them were on my bucket list before I knew what a bucket list was. Thanks to that movie for making the term OK to use even with old people like me. We don’t automatically fear it or think that when an item is crossed off the list the end is near.

I hope that my writing and photographing some of my adventures will encourage some others to step out of the box.  Embrace the unknown, learn new things, try different food, listen to new music and open your heart to enjoy all of those things.

I have decided to extend my time of blogging, because I am enjoying it. I will continue on this site, the name and the direction will change, but not yet.

Renewing & Reintroducing Myself

Why start a blog, that is so last year were the first comments I received.  My first intention with blogging, was for a faster and easier way to communicate with a large group of family and friends.  I knew I would not be able to use some fast forms of communication since I would be 5 or 6 time zones away from most of my friends. This way they could ask questions and see what I was doing on the blog.

That proves not to be the standard response from family.  I heard oh, it is so hard to log in and out each time, it is much easier to call you.  This shows no regard for my needs and requirements.  I also heard about how interesting it was that I could talk about things in my life and make it sound interesting and they could not do that, so they did not read my blog.  Some only like the pictures.

So, I guess I am a little old lady, living in a new city, working a new job, meeting new people and sharing my adventures with whomever.  When I read that sentence back, I am very much OK with it.

I enjoy all aspects of writing.  I am not really good at fiction, though I think someday I will try my hand at it.  I am in the process of trying to improve my writing to make it easier to read and enjoy.

 

Grandson’s

I am very lucky and have several of the world most handsome and intelligent and all round nice guy’s as grandsons.  Just saying.  So one who has a birthday in June came to visit me this week.  He is turning 20 and we need to do some fun things together.  So just like a grandma, I put him to work…WHAT. It’s not that kind of work, it’s easy things for a strapping young college student to do and a grandma to worry about.

Illustration of a Male College Student Moving into the Dorms

I am only renting my apartment for 6 months, so no painting walls , no holes in the walls etc.  He tells me his first dorm room was larger than this.  I had purchased some black out curtains for the windows, to keep the 20 hours of daylight out and tried hanging the rods with no holes in the walls.  So we use those self stick thing that remove easily.  Again, I hear, oh yeah this is what we use in the dorm.  Way to make me feel old.

 

We have now completed covering both the window and the balcony door and I do not have non-stop sun keeping me awake all night. I also have him sorting out some of the quirky things my laptop does that make me crazy.  It’s a beautiful thing.

He is arriving as I am still fighting off this cold, so not a good thing for him, no energy and I am feeling like a wimp. So I will not be participating in extreme sports this visit. Things are still wonderful in Alaska.

 

 

I Will Survive!

No that’s not a picture of one of my children or grandchildren, it’s how I felt when I got the correct tools to have this hook-up again.  I promise I will be better at giving you that information about Alaska now.  Wi-Fi here has been spotty at best.  I have been looked at suspiciously  as I sat in a fast food restaurant with my laptop.  I have been looking at arrows spinning in a circle so long they thought I was drunk at the coffee-house.  It has been a bit of a challenge.

Now I can better chronicle what is happening here in a more orderly fashion. I am still loving the experience, at every level, even the non-internet moments.

Just can’t resist one more thought about how happy I am. I can also now chat  via computer with the family who has the urge to see if dear old granny has totally gotten off the tracks.