Another Instance of Run-On Love

I can't manage to write, on time, 5 lines of verse for Limerick-Off Monday, 17 syllables for Sensational Haiku Wednesday, 33 words for Trifecta, 1 minute's worth of writing for One-Minute Writer, anything at all for Poets & Writers, or any of the other 38 challenge/prompt sites bookmarked in my browser*.

But...

I can write a 46 word, run-on sentence describing my surprise at enjoying the nail salon trip on Christmas Eve...

Well, I would "commit" to writing as a New Year's resolution, but I think I've already "committed" close to a dozen times in recent months, and we all see how well that has worked out for me!




*I just happen to have these five open at the moment.

What a Christmas!

Did you say you were interested in a play-by-play of my holiday? That's great, 'cause here it is!

Yesterday, my sister and I went to the nail salon, with my almost-4-yr old, courtesy of my husband. He decided that the best gift he could give me was another excuse to spend quality time with my sister.  It was a surprise for both of us.  And it was actually kind of fun--I had my doubts since I don't do the whole nail salon thing, a couple swipes of whichever random polish I have in the house once or twice a year is the extent of my nail-pampering regimen.  It was Emma's first time also, and while she definitely proved that she should've had a nap prior to an afternoon at the salon, I didn't have a meltdown.

We managed to top the great afternoon with an awesome family dinner. Gina, her husband and their four kids all came over, as well as my dad and one of Jason's brothers.  Ham, chicken, homemade macaroni salad, baked reds and a stuffed mushroom-french bread hybrid comprised the menu, and it was super yummy. And everyone had a great time. And no one fought. And no one pissed off the neighbors. And we sent a plate home for my mom, since she was stuck working. Even the kids managed to get along for the most part.  I still have a mound of dishes to wash but they'll hold another hour*.

We attempted to finish the night off by driving out to look at Christmas lights in one of the show-offy neighborhoods, but the kids fell asleep so we just came home and watched Christmas movies and just hung out for a bit.

I went to sleep last night worrying that something had to go wrong today, since yesterday was the best Christmas Eve I can remember. And I've had 31 of them so far.

But today was just as great a day.  Aside from my militant awesome husband waking us all up at six because he was just so excited for the kids to open their gifts, I have no complaints.  We spent the morning at my sister's eating Eggs Benedict and opening gifts and hanging out; both of my parents and my previously mentioned brother-in-law were there.  We followed that up by driving to various other relatives to drop off the above Christmas card of my incredibly adorable kidlets. And we spent the afternoon watching Christmas movies.  

It's a quarter past ten and nothing tragic or even remotely lame has happened. Knock on wood - Check. 

Merry Christmas :)

*Or another day.

Another End of the World Poem

There has been a ton of hype this week regarding the end of the world. There are dedicated websites detailing why today was the day-the Mayan calendar, planetary alignments, misc. religious prophecies, etc.  I didn't buy into any of it, but I had considered posting REM & Europe music videos.  I also thought about getting up at 3 am and mocking all the doomsdayers on Facebook, but sleep was far more important last night.

Of course, the world hasn't ended yet and it's December 21st everywhere by now. I'm sure the folks at Poets.org knew this would be the case since they posted a poem today, a rather fitting one, I might add. Today's Poem-A-Day is Robert Frost's Fire and Ice. 

Some say the world will end in fire, 
Some say in ice. 
From what I've tasted of desire 
I hold with those who favor fire. 
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate 
To know that for destruction ice 
Is also great 
And would suffice.

(I like this widget so much I think I may add the daily one to my main page.)

"Family" Haiku

This week's theme for Sensational Haiku Wednesday is "family". I'm sure my haiku aren't exactly what Jenn had in mind, but I was a bit bored and December 21st has been a hot topic at home, at work and on Syfy.

I find myself a little amusing, and hope you do as well.

Forgotten during
the zombie apocalypse
Move on, form new bonds.

*

One percent survive:
dreams of repopulating
dance in Jason's head.

*

What Mayans predict
Fools may believe; my babies
and I sit back, laugh.




:)

Blindsided

I have numerous posts waiting to be written out. I have rough draft entries for a couple of the challenges I like to follow and sometimes take part in; as well as several new challenges I'd like to start participating in; all the deadlines for my entries have passed, so they will continue to sit in my WIPs folder.  Tonight, I mentally drafted a post about how I like to instigate drama, and just sat down to type it out for you.  But, for now, for tonight at least, that post has been back-burnered.

Every time I log in to blogger, (a couple times a day 'cause I like to check my non-existent stats) I try to catch up on new posts in my reading list. Tonight, there was a post by a woman who is days away from delivering her second child. The post started out as a touching reflection on her first child's growing acceptance of his role as a big brother. Reading that brought a bit of dampness to my eyes. Then her post linked to a man's blog about being his wife's caregiver, as she is slowly succumbing to cancer. A brief look at his blog increased the moisture in my eyes, but I managed to move on without actually shedding a tear.  She finished off her post by offering to pray for anyone that had prayer requests; she has a list of people she will pray for while delivering her new baby.  She is an American Muslim, and according to her blog, there are people in her faith who believe that the prayers sent up by a woman delivering a child are especially important.  For a moment, I considered emailing her and asking for her prayer. And suddenly the floodgates opened.

It could be my own wavering faith in God. It could be my wavering faith in miracles. In invisible cures.  It could be my own denial--we need modern medicine to force the cancer into remission, if I ask for anything more than a general prayer am I admitting to myself, and to whomever, that maybe we do need more than medicine to save my sister?  That scares me. Or maybe it was that this woman truly believes in the miracle of life, and believes that her prayers may make a difference. I know any and all prayers can make a difference. But reading her words made me believe that her prayers truly would make a difference. That immense hope was immediately crushed by the fear that her prayers won't work.

Maybe all of these things were at work in that small instant when I thought about asking to her to add me to her prayer list.  Whatever the reason, I was certainly not expecting the enormous wave of emotions, or the quiet tears, when I innocently opened my dashboard. 

Now that I've pretty much recovered for the moment, I'm going to bed. I'll be back later this week with my instigator post. 

Goodnight :)