Sounds ... What sound sent your life spinning?

The next few posts you see are things I've written for classes or just more "random thoughts" I've decided to post.  So just posting various things ...

Writing Prompt ~ What sound sent your life spinning? Write for ten minutes.

Don’t forget to keep the pen moving and follow wherever your thoughts lead you. Please share what you are thinking.

Phone calls at my office. I received three that changed my life. The first one said, “Mrs. McGill (my first marriage), there’s been an accident and your son is in the hospital.” My oldest, who has Muscular Dystrophy, was swimming and his head went under while floating on his back. He sunk to the bottom of the pool and was under for several minutes. A fireman was standing outside the fence of the pool, climbed it and jumped in the pool to save my son. He was in an oxygen tent at the hospital for two days and came through the experience with flying colors.

The second phone call was my step-mom telling me my sister had a massive heart attack and they were taking her to the hospital. I left work and while in my car, the words of a Josh Groban song came across the radio. “To Where You Are” let me know in my heart my sister was gone and I wouldn’t get to say goodbye. She was only 48 and healthy. It made me realize how short life can be and to make sure we say what needs to be said to the ones we love.

The third phone call was my half-brother telling me my 80 year old father and step-mom had been in a bad car wreck and my father was being airlifted to a local trauma center. Once again, I left work and rushed to the hospital, getting there just as my father was being wheeled into the emergency room. He was talking and laughing with the crew from the helicopter, but he wasn’t moving. We found out he was paralyzed from the waist down. This was in September, 13 days after his birthday. I spent six weeks in ICU with him and the next several months in and out of rehabilitation. He finally came home in April and I wondered how long he would be with me. The Friday before Mother’s Day, my step-mom called me at home to let me know my father didn’t wake up. My best friend was gone and once again, my heart was broken.

To this day, I hate phone calls that start with Mrs. Whatever my name is at this point or from family members with bad news.

Still alive and kicking ...

Sorry, haven't posted in a while.  Spring break is over and back to school once again.  I now have two evening classes plus student working, so my days are filled up and quite busy.

Spring is finally starting to show - just wish Winter would let go fully.  Really ready for the warm days and nights, no more heater to dry out my sinuses and a lower electric bill.

Short post - heading to work.  Hope you all have a wonderful day and week ... will write more soon!

Peace out ...
P.

Home Sweet Home

604 West 24th Street, Independence, MO - the house I grew up in and lived at for 20 years.  From the outside it looked lived in and cozy - bright Kelly green with black shutters, lush manicured lawn, powder blue 1965 Oldsmobile station wagon and a brown 1971 Ford Maverick, the first car I learned to drive and owned until 1988.  When you entered the back gate, the long concrete patio gave way to a huge backyard with a great hill to slide down during a snowstorm and day off school.  The garden was always full of tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, and many other vegetables lovingly tended to by my mom and dad.  I had a tire swing in the big oak tree that went out over the garden, a green swing set and blue and silver slide.  My gerbils, dog, cat, and many fish were buried throughout the sides of the yard, protected by a silver chain link fence.  The fragrant lilac bushes and magnolia trees filled the air in the spring and came wafting through my window when the attic fan was rumbling above my bedroom. 

The inside was always spotless clean, my mother being the ultimate housewife.  Walking in the door filled your nose with scents of home baked bread and rolls, cookies and probably the best dinners anyone could ever cook.  It was very dated in the furniture my mother chose - matching couch and love seat and two wing chairs in the same blue color she loved.  Shag carpet that needed to be updated, wallpapered walls covered in the most awful design I've ever seen.  My bedroom was down the hall, second door on the left, where my sister used to live until she married and moved out.   

Not everyday was perfect in that house, but it holds many of my fondest memories growing up on 24th Street with my friends and family.

11 Ways to Show Your Farmers’ Market Some Love - Hobby Farms

11 Ways to Show Your Farmers’ Market Some Love - Hobby Farms

One of my favorite parts of spring and summer is going to my local Farmers' Market on the weekend. There is nothing better than homegrown veggies, eggs, hand milled grains, plants to put in my garden, and much more.

I live in Kansas City and our River Key Market is one of the best I've ever been to! Local producers, little shops that sell local products, the smell of the sausages and turkey legs grilling and the coffee shop with their inviting concoctions.  I spend many weekends there from April through October and hope to be a big part of it - one of the sellers - very soon!

Check out the markets in your area and please, support local growers!!

52 Week Money Saving Challenge

This has been posted in many different places on the Internet and on Facebook.  So thought I'd post it too. 

This is one of my goals this year - I am GOING to do it!!

Start with Week 1 and put away $1, Week 2 is $2 and so on and so forth.  By the end of the year, you will have saved over $1300.  There is also one for the kids to save a quarter each week and they will have over $300 by the end of the year.

It's not much when you think about it - a refill at Q-Trip, coffee at Starbucks, a couple of hamburgers at McDonald's, a pack of cigarettes (good way to help you quit!).

Let's do this together and have a bit of money saved by the end of the year to help out or put back towards an even bigger goal!!

Here is a link to a website with the download for the money chart: 52-Week-Money-Challenge-Save-About-1400-In-2013

Tape it to a jar, put it on the refrigerator, or wherever you will see it to remind you to save a little bit each week.  Good luck and I will keep you updated on how I'm doing!!

Peace Out,
P.

Garbage Day & Reasons for my random thoughts

These days, my husband and I put the trash out on Thursday morning, just before the kids and I leave for our college classes.  It’s a flurry, shouting upstairs, reminding everyone trash has to go out before we leave, and of course we are always running behind.  The over-sized, dark green plastic trash bin on wheels clunks loudly down the four concrete stairs from the kitchen to the front gate.  Smells waft out the lid from the past week’s dinners, cleaning out the fridge and emptying the cat box, all mingling together making me wish I had a mask to cover my nose.  The cats scurry about hearing the metal clank of the latch on the front gate, knowing when it’s opened they can rush inside the house for the morning feeding frenzy. 

But it’s nothing compared to growing up, when my dad would do his husbandly chores and put all the garbage out the night before.  I could hear the men of the neighborhood shouting out their respective hello’s as each one carried the old metal trash cans out to the curb and sat them down for the next day’s pick up.  They would catch up on the news of the week, the local sports scores and what the weather would bring for mowing and other things needed to be done around the house.  Then after a few minutes, wives would stick their heads out the front screen doors announcing dinner was ready or the news was about to come on the television.  Life was simpler as a child the night before garbage pickup.  I didn’t have the responsibilities of being the adult I have now.

Now to explain this ... random post.  I used to write all the time, thoughts in a journal, memories, words to what might become a new song or poem, beginnings of stories, dreams from the restless night before.

But then I stopped.  Life got busy, my mind forgot about the random thoughts, other things took its place.  I almost forgot how to put a few words together that made any sense to anyone besides me.

I went back to school in 2012 and had to take English Composition I & II.  Professor K was my teacher and so glad I "randomly" picked him for both courses.  The man walked in the first day with long, blond hair, tied neatly behind in a ponytail holder, horn-rimmed glasses, somewhat baggy clothes, and one of those quirky smiles that made you wonder what he was up to.  His accent told me his was originally from up north somewhere and he told us he hailed from Minnesota. He explained his syllabus, told us he would be there to help with whatever we needed, and that teaching English was a passion for him.  I found out why and took pride in what I learned from him.

As the weeks went on for class and we wrote papers on different subjects, my love of writing came flooding back.  The words came effortlessly across the screen as I typed as fast as my brain could think and I realized I hadn't forgotten how, I just needed a push in the right direction.  I passed both his classes with an A and at the end of the two semesters, I was ready to write again.

And so the random thoughts began once again ... rambling writings ... memories from childhood ... or whatever happens to come out that day.  And you, the readers that choose to follow this blog, reading what my mind and heart have to offer.

Happy New Year and Peace Out,

P.

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Peace Out,
P.