The Dare

“I triple dog dare you, eat it!”

Squeamish, Tommy screwed his eyes tightly shut, and dropped the wiggly worm into his mouth, gulped, and shuddered, grimacing.

“Well?”

“Blech! Slimy, salty, disgusting bit of nastiness!”

Huh, Google claims worms taste like bacon.

“Really?”

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Between Haiku

full comprehension

subliminal messages

linking you and me

Inspired by the prompt at

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#MondayMusings

       A little late in the day, but not too late for a little musing this Monday.  15 years ago today I was eagerly anticipating my cesarean section scheduled for the next morning with a twinge of fear and a whole lot of excitement.  I had never had a baby before and even though I had taken the childbirth classes at the hospital, I still felt ill equipped for what was to come.  Besides, I spent 99.9% of the movie shown the expectant parents about childbirth and cesareans cringing horrified behind my pillow.

        I endured a tough pregnancy with my first 
born.  Let’s just say, I don’t do pregnancy well.  I was not one of those fabled expectant mothers who simply glowed.  Tinged a sickly, pasty, green,   I struggled through every minute of my pregnancy plagued with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, riding on the hellacious roller coaster ride of hormones, high blood pressure, and gestational diabetes.  To be honest, by the time it was time to go under the knife I simply wanted the pregnancy to be over.  I simply could not imagine the reality of the baby, I would soon have.   I had no idea whether the baby would be a boy or a girl.

        Fast forward 15 years and here I am preparing to celebrate the beautiful and smart girl I was blessed with by blowing up bunches of balloons, suspending them from the ceiling, and stringing a “Happy Birthday” banner in their midst.  The real celebration won’t commence until this weekend when my husband comes home.  Still, I couldn’t let my little girl’s day pass unnoticed.  Tomorrow I will bake cupcakes, a simple precursor to the birthday cake she will have this weekend.  She will get to blow candles out on both occasions, because really a person cannot have too many wishes!   Then, once both kids are home from school, away we will go to the local pizza place to inhale as much pizza, pasta, salad, and bread sticks that are earthly possible to inhale without exploding.

     Only a handful of hours to go until her fourteenth year will be gone and her fifteenth year will dawn.  No matter how old either of us get, she will always be my sweet baby girl and I will always be her mommy and for that I will always be eternally grateful. 

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The Last Request

Photo Credits: Geetika Gupta 

    

    Would his heart race, then jolt to a stop?

       Would death be excruciatingly painful?  

      Terrifying thoughts plagued him ever since the conviction.  It didn’t matter that he hadn’t killed her, couldn’t kill her. 

No one believed him.   

      Failed appeals, endless testimonies, and the meager evidence: in the end, no one had been convinced.  As far as the world was concerned, he had brutally murdered her.  The mighty hand of justice had failed him. 

      Fast forward to his last request:

watching the sunset while sipping a final glass of wine, resigned, eager for the peace and freedom only death could provide.

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#MondayMusings

      

      I never really pay attention to blogging anniversaries or how many posts I have actually put up.  Sure, I have seen other bloggers happily sharing how they have made it to this milestone or that silently because I usually have my head lodged so far up my ass that I miss when things like that happen.

         

    

     Well, guess what?  For some reason, I woke up and literally smelled the coffee today and realized that I have published 900 posts on the Giggling Trucker’s Wife Writes!!!  This happy mess of Monday Musing is number 901!  So before this moment completely passes by without any acknowledgement at all, I will take this moment to jump up and down, and say “Look at me!  Look at me! Aren’t I special?”

 

       

      Why do I write?  It’s something to do, and let’s face it, it is way more fun than doing dishes, folding laundry, or housework.  Let’s be quite clear, I DO THAT TOO!!  I am a stay at home mom, but yes, I do more than just sit on my duff and take up space.  I cook, clean, crochet, knit, play piano, and play games, all sorts! I also juggle kids and dogs, literally.  I make the dogs do their duty outside and make the kids do their homework.  Yes, I do!  I also am honorary chauffeur to every after school activity event.  I cook too, which explains where all the dirty dishes come from.  Just as soon as I get them clean another heap appears.  It is a vicious cycle and an evil conspiracy that I will never be able to explain to you.

   

       So for all you folks that have taken the time to stop by and read the literal stream of BS that I have spewed, marveled at my haiku, and commented on my stories, thank you.  I love you guys.  You are proof that I am not completely wasting my time.  I will do my best to continue to deserve your devotion!

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After Haiku

a spark ignited

flames fanned, blazing inferno

charred devastation

Inspired by the prompt at

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All About Higher Learning

   

      Let’s talk about school, because I can!  The one school that I have coveted and would have LOVED to attend is the University of Notre Dame.  Unfortunately, it has always been a bit out of reach even though I did win a scholarship to Notre Dame when I was in high school.  It was for science of all things.  Can you imagine?  I was hell-bent at the time on going to Belmont University and studying music business, which is what I did.   That didn’t last, of course, because it was a passing fancy.  Ever since I was little I wanted to be an artist.  That was my pipe dream, so there is little wonder I ended up studying graphic design at Indiana Vocational Technical College.  Still my heart will always belong to Notre Dame.  When I walk around campus there, I am home.

          What about Hogwarts?  Who wouldn’t want to go to the school of wizardry and witchcraft?   Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to do magic, hex someone, or visit Diagon Alley for supplies?   If I had been lucky enough to study at Hogwarts, I would most definitely be in Ravenclaw for my intelligence, wit, and my ability to think outside the box.  I had to study up on the characteristics of all houses and go to Pottermore and face the sorting hat.  The sorting hat placed me in Ravenclaw!  I could never be a Gryffindor because not only am I afraid of heights, I am not keen on trying new things and am scared shitless of things like roller coasters.  No way in God’s green earth would you ever catch me flying on a broom or a hippogriff.  While I can be loyal, protective, and hardworking like a Hufflepuff, if I get a hair across my ass the wrong way, I am capable of cutting people out of my life forever without a backwards glance.  Sad but true.  Finally, while I am all about self-preservation, I simply am not ambitious enough to belong in Slytherin.

       
      If you are following the prompts from NaBloPoMo, you will probably be scratching your head about now thinking, didn’t she combine two prompts?  Ten points to you, that would be correct!

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The Flood

Ring!

“Sorry, wrong number.”

“Sofia?”

Silence.

   Her toys lay abandoned. 

Where did she go?

The search, then utter horror.

      Amid a sea of flowing toilet paper, stood my darling toddler, happily drenched, cramming every last roll we possessed into the overflowing toilet.

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Before Haiku

stars twinkle, moon shines

iridescent radiance

preceding the dawn

Inspired by the prompt at

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#MondayMusings

 

     This last weekend was a bit busy, which is why I simply didn’t get around to posting Friday.  Life stepped in, asked me to dance, and I obliged.  Saturday marked my husband and my 18^th wedding anniversary.   A lot of anniversaries have come and gone without much fanfare.  This one, we made plans, and followed through.   We took the kids to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum for the day and had a ball.

     So much to see, so much to do,  so much to learn, and tons of pictures to take!  I actually took over 200 pictures.  I wasn’t the only one snapping pictures.  My daughter and husband took pictures with their phones too so we have a lot of photos to document the day.          

      Highlights of the day included getting up close and personal with dinosaurs, the transformers Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, taking a trip to China, learning all about religions from all over the world, and goggling amazed at a 43 foot tower of colorful blown glass.  As much as I hate waiting for trains to pass, I still managed to enjoy the train exhibit they had that included vintage toy trains and a life size replica you could climb aboard and experience a simulation of traveling down the tracks.  Another favorite from the day was the show we took in at the museum’s planetarium.  Very cool to sit back and travel through the galaxies and catch a glimpse at how the universe formed, the planets of solar system, and the millions of stars.

           Indianapolis is about a 3 hour drive from where we live.  On the way home, we stopped at Grissom Air Force Base and took in some of the airplanes they have on display outside.  Unfortunately, the museum itself was already closed for the day but we still got to see some pretty cool planes.

         Sunday we took the swimming pool down and put it away until next summer.  Even though the days are fairly warm, the nights are reaching the 40’s so the days of lazily floating in the pool were numbered anyways.  The rest of the day was spent with being lazy, napping, watching movies, laundry, and a run to the grocery store.  I was happy to discover that the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame won their football game this week, but unhappy to learn that their starting quarterback, Malik Zaire, was injured and will be out for the rest of the season.  Hopefully Coach Brian Kelly has another amazing quarter back to take the reins and lead NotreDame to victory for the rest of the season.  GO IRISH!!

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