trampledamage | Reading

Visited mom again at 11am. I didn’t go downtown, but did manage to get some chores and computer stuff done before I left the house.

I did a load of laundry, the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and scooped kitty litter. I made it to the library to return and pick-up a book. I started a new book (the first Lily Adler one), watched the current ep of Murderbot, and sent mom another message. I hope she enjoys them when she’s home and sees them.

I picked up my car from the garage this morning when I dropped off Grant. I forgot to mention it in yesterday’s post, but just when I pulled out on the main road to head to the hospital it started acting up. (Thank goodness I leave early to make sure I can find parking. And thank goodness Pip has a used car he can lend me.) It bucked and sent the dreaded ‘reduced engine power’ message, along with the ‘service stabilitrak’ and ‘service traction control’ messages I’ve gotten before. This time Pip replaced the gas pedal, of all things. He said there are two sensors in the gas pedal and they weren’t lining up. It drove well today, so hopefully that’s the fix.

I also haven’t mentioned that a bird, a killdeer, built a nest in our driveway. At first we spotted the male dancing around trying to attract a female. Then the male chased Pip one day and we joked that he might have a nest nearby. Then we saw the female sitting in our driveway forever, and it turns out, they did have a nest in the driveway. Seems like a weird place to build a nest, especially with cats and dogs living here, but what do I know, nature is weird. I got photos of the female and the eggs when she was off the nest one time.

Photos

~*~

Additionally! On the drive to the hospital I pass a house that has a bunch of irises on their front lawn. Solid dark purple and solid pale yellow. They’re gorgeous and they look so pretty together.

Temps started out at 54.1(F) and reached 73.6. It was hazy most of the day. We’re supposed to have more rain tomorrow.

Mom Update:

Mom was much better today. ( not long, but cutting for those who don’t want to read it )

[A/N: I happened to see this prompt and it spoke to me--after months of not writing. It's my first time posting here. I've written about a beloved stuffed animal/comfort object from my childhood.]

---

Comfort. Safety. The trusted embrace of a friend.

Soft against my fingers, pink plush held tightly to my chest. I may not remember your name, but I'll never forget you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Current Mood: accomplished

Today is a non-fiction challenge, because writing non-fiction takes the same skills as writing fiction does: you not only need to be informative and instructive, but also engaging and entertaining.

Your challenge today is to write a bit about something you love. Not a person, but a thing or a subject, for example, your favorite childhood toy, the class you took that you enjoyed the most, somewhere you traveled that you think about when you want to relax and be happy. You could talk about the one thing you like to collect. Or you could talk about a gift someone gave you that you thought was really special. The possibilities are endless.

Focus on conveying to the reader your love of your topic and why you feel that way. It's not enough to say, "I love this thing"; you should be trying to reveal the wonders of the thing to the reader so that they love it, too.

Again, I had some time before I had to drive to the hospital, so I got some chores and computer stuff done.

I did a load of laundry, the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and scooped kitty litter. I finished System Collapse, watched an HGTV program, and sent my mom some more messages.

Temps started out at 67.8(F) and reached 77.7. It was so nice out this morning, I got in a walk before I left to go visit mom.

Mom Update:

Mom was miserable today. ( more back here )

I did not go to visit my mom. My sisters took it in turns today so I could get some stuff done. I’ll take my turn again tomorrow morning.

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning. I hit Walmart while I was downtown and got in a longer walk around the park. I also stopped in at the Feed Bag to pick up the suet Pip forgot (and to reserve two large metal garbage cans for Pip to pick up on Monday; he got one when he got birdseed this past Monday (the task fell to him since I was a tad busy) and decided he wanted more. They’re big enough that I can’t take them in my car. As it turns out, he doesn’t have any more in stock so will have to order them.)

I hit Stewart’s on the way home, returned a book to the library, stopped to check mom’s mail, visited my aunt (since I won’t be available to do so tomorrow; and complained to the social worker about how they do her hair – it’s such a minor thing, but it would be so easy to keep her hair in curls instead of straight and straggly by not using a hairbrush on the curls and I’d like her to look nice, at least, because she has so little dignity left, you know?), and stopped at Sunnycrest again to check on the beef stick status. If you guessed they ~still don’t have them, you’d be right. I’m going to be annoyed if I found something Pip likes and they won’t carry them anymore, or at least regularly.

I did a load of laundry, ran a load in the dishwasher and emptied it, the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and scooped kitty litter. I baked chicken for the dogs’ meals and fed Pip leftover pulled pork (yes, from the big b-day do a couple weeks ago; mom put it in the freezer) for supper. I did get fresh strawberries at Sunnycrest, so I made biscuits. I had strawberry shortcake for my supper; Pip prefers his biscuits with peach jelly because that’s how his mom used to do it.

(He refuses to eat a biscuit with anything other than peach jelly. It’s very frustrating. You can imagine my shock the first time I made chicken and biscuits for supper and Pip only ate the chicken and gravy and completely refused the biscuit because I didn’t have any peach jelly. Basically a bowl of soup, lol! I had no idea anyone would eat biscuits with ONLY jelly. I mean, I eat my leftover biscuits with butter and jelly, but solely?!! I know now and prepare accordingly.)

The surgeon’s office called today to schedule the removal of the node they found during Pip’s endoscopies. August 11, the day after my birthday, so one heck of a b-day pressie. *g* [I told him when he got home from work and he was like, I'm not having that removed! And I'm like, why not? Apparently he thinks it's not necessary when two different doctors think it is. *shrug* He's going to talk to the doctor himself to get it sorted. He's such a pain in my butt about this sort of thing.]

I finally started System Collapse, watched an HGTV program, and sent mom some messages she'll see when she gets home, in lieu of our usual telephone conversation.

Temps started out at 55.0(F) and reached 82.8. There was a mix of sun and clouds and a breeze, thankfully.

Mom Update:

My sister kept us informed of events as they occurred:

( I did bullet points so it got long )

We’re doing a Real 10 Minutes today. Set a timer on your device or phone and write until it goes off. You’re allowed to add more later or finish the sentence you’re on

What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: In a Dark House (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) by Deborah Crombie, All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells, and Seeing a Large Cat (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) by Elizabeth Peters.

What I am Currently Reading: After finishing the Amelia Peabody book on Monday I didn’t really feel like starting anything yesterday, but I plan on starting System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells today.

What I Plan to Read Next: I have more library books out, so most likely one of those!!

Book 40 of 2025: In a Dark House (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) (Deborah Crombie)

This book was really good!! ( spoilers )

I've already requested the next book in the series; I'm giving this one five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

Book 41 of 2025: All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) (Martha Wells)

I did another re-read because I felt like I had already forgotten what happened and I wanted to compare it to the tv show. No additional comments, just making a note of it.

Book 42 of 2025: Seeing a Large Cat (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) (Elizabeth Peters)

This book was really good! ( spoilers )

I enjoyed this book a lot and must go request the next in the series. I'm giving this one five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

I planned to visit mom, but since she’s in the ICU and visiting hours don’t start until 11am I had some time to kill. I did not go downtown, but stayed home to do some chores and stuff on the computer.

I did two loads of laundry, the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and scooped kitty litter.

I typed in edits, coded and posted the

smallfandomfest fic I’ve been working on!! It’s Murder, She Wrote crossed over with V (1983). To make it work, I gave Jessica another niece, lol! I read some fanfic and watched some HGTV programs. It still feels really weird to not call mom in the evening to talk about our respective days.

I saw my brother (and his GF) and my sister S (the nurse) while visiting mom. There can only be two at a time in the ICU so we took turns.

I fell again. *head desk* This time inside the house (slipped on a puddle of wet on the floor), but I landed on that same knee I keep falling on and bent that same big toe. It hurt and I swore a lot. And I realized it’s almost the one year anniversary of my first fall when I scraped my knee so badly, pulled every muscle, and cracked my big toe.

Temps started out at 61.0(F) and reached 82.6. It rained all morning, but the sun came out in the afternoon. I got in a short walk with Pip and the dogs when he (they *g*) got home from work. Within a half hour of that the clouds moved in and the temps dropped 12 degrees before it started raining again for a bit.

Mom Update:

Mom was doing pretty well when I saw her. She was so out of it, thanks to the drugs. Her voice was very raspy (because of the tube, which they removed before I got there) (if I wasn’t facing her while she was speaking, I never would have known it was her) and she slurred a bit due to the drugs. Sometimes she forgot what she was saying. She talked about Matlock a lot. *g*

They gave her an epidural for the pain and her nurse (she seemed awesome) said that they were going to keep the epidural in for a few days, and that while it was in she’d remain in the ICU. I’m happy about both; no pain, and great care.

The bad news came later in the evening when my sister S passed on (in the Family Group chat) that the surgeon thinks that my mom may have originally had pancreatic cancer that jumped to the bile duct. She won’t know for certain until the labs come back. I do not fucking want it to be pancreatic cancer. As you may have guessed, I had a knot in my stomach the rest of the evening and didn’t sleep super well, even though I doubled my melatonin to make sure I would fall asleep.

All positive thoughts welcomed.

Another Jessica crossover! I hope you enjoy it.

Title: One Good Hoax Deserves Another
Author: Spikedluv
Fandom: Murder, She Wrote (tv)/V (1983) (tv)
Rating: PG13/Gen
Pairing/Characters: Jessica Fletcher & Juliet Parrish (appearances by Mike Donovan and Elias Taylor)
Length: 3,380 words
Spoilers: Takes place during ep 1.04 Hooray for Homicide of Murder, She Wrote and during the first V (1983) mini-series.
Summary: Jessica Fletcher’s trip to Los Angeles turns out very differently than she’d expected.
Author’s Notes: Written for Round 37 of

smallfandomfest for the prompt: Murder, She Wrote (tv)/V (1983), Jessica & Writer's Choice, Jessica happens to be in LA when the truth about the Visitors is revealed
Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.
Posted: June 10, 2025

Read Fic @ AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66375037

I spent most of the day at the hospital, which I talk about below if you want to skip it. I did some hand-washing of dishes and scooping of kitty litter when I got home. I finished the Amelia Peabody book while sitting in the waiting room. It felt weird when I was finally sitting on my bed, NOT to make my daily call to mom.

Temps started out at 59.2(F) and reached 75. It was weird coming out of the window-less waiting room (for trips to the cafeteria or restroom) to see that it was still light out.

Mom Update:

Thank you so much for all of your good wishes for mom's surgery yesterday! I really appreciate it.

( cutting for those who don’t want to read )

Today's challenge is figurative language, but not in the way you'd expect.

Think of an example of figurative language, such as a simile ("They fought like cats and dogs."), personification ("My heart leapt when I saw it."), hyperbole ("I have a million things to do today."), or an idiom ("A rolling stone gathers no moss.") -- basically anything that conveys a meaning without directly saying it. After all, the first example is saying that they were arguing and bickering fiercely without saying it directly, and we know that the people being described weren't actually cats and dogs.

Now, write a paragraph or two about the literal meaning of your chosen phrase. For example, for the simile, describe an actual fight between cats and dogs. Or, for the personification, describe someone's heart actually leaping. (It'd probably be very painful, and possibly lethal.)

Basically, the idea is to learn and understand what figurative language is by looking at the exact opposite.

It's surgery day. All positive thoughts welcome. Thank you!!

I did a load of laundry, ran a load in the dishwasher and then emptied it (!!), did the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and scooped kitty litter. I baked chicken for the dogs’ meals and made brownies. I mowed the lawn.

For fun stuff I watched the current ep (season finale *sniffle*) of Leverage: Redemption and an HGTV program, read more in Amelia Peabody, and talked with mom on the phone.

The water in the pond has gone down to normal levels, thankfully. Pip used the shop vac in the basement, but stirring up that water made the entire house stink. Not sure what else we’ll need to do.

Temps started out at 55.0(F) and reached 78.4. It was nice and sunny all day, with a slight breeze. Tomorrow: more rain. Ugh!

Leverage: Redemption: Good ep! ( spoilers )

Murderbot: This ep was just okay for me. ( spoilers )

Resident Alien: Good ep! ( spoilers )

Today was supposed to be parade/chicken dinner day at mom’s. Unfortunately, we had a huge amount of rain that caused ditches and creeks to overflow their banks. The parade was canceled because of flooding but the chicken bbq was still on so my siblings and I gathered at mom’s for chicken dinners. My brother came, when he doesn’t normally come for the parade and other festivities, because he wanted to see my mom before her surgery. We sat on the screened-in porch and listened to it rain outside, which was surprisingly nice when we weren’t getting wet.

I managed to do three loads of laundry, the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and scooped kitty litter. I also watched the current ep of Resident Alien and an HGTV program, read some more Amelia Peabody, and still talked to mom on the phone. I also got extra sleep because I slept in until 8am for the first time in ages! (Going back to bed after getting the dogs back inside, of course.)

In bad personal news, we even had flooding at our home, which is unheard of because we’re not near any creeks. What happened, in two instances, was a matter of blocked drainage. The drain outside the basement got plugged, so our basement flooded for the first time ever. (Back when Hurricane Irene gave us about 13" of rain, a tiny bit of water entered the basement through a crack in the floor, but nothing before or since, until now.)

The other was the pond. Pip puts a mesh wire over the spill pipe in the spring so the baby geese don’t get sucked down it, and that mesh got blocked, so the pond built up until it spilled over the banks. A lot of fish were caught in the spill, unfortunately. And that’s in addition to the normal build-up of water we get in a line across the property (where the slight down hill from the house meets the down hill from the hill where the pine trees are). There was so much water.

Pip has been squeegeeing the basement, but a squeegee can only do so much. He’s going to have to jack hammer an actual hole into the basement floor for a sub pump and squeegee the water into it. What a pain in the ass. (Thankfully Pip had a change of plans! He’s going to try to vacuum the water out with a shop vac ~before he goes to the effort of jack hammering a hole in the floor!) He also had to go in the pond several times to unclog the mesh so the water could flow out the way it was supposed to. (In addition to the rain, the pond fills with run-off from the hill above it, and there was a LOT of run-off.)

Temps started out at 63.0(F) and reached 76.4. Thankfully the rain ended mid-afternoon and the sun came out.

I hit Walmart, Price Chopper and the Bakery while I was downtown and got in a short walk around the park. I hit Stewart’s (for gas and milk) on the way to pick up the dogs, and hit the bank drive-thru on the way back home (because the dogs get treats). Most of my shopping was to stock up on some items in case I couldn’t go shopping next week. It was a small step in reducing my stress.

I did two loads of laundry, the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and changed kitty litter.

I added ~1,400 words to my

smallfandomfest fic!! It’s a comfortable place to end it, I think, so just need to give it a re-read/edit. I started the next Amelia Peabody book, watched the current ep of Murderbot, and attended Baby A’s dance recital.

(Their 'number' was adorable! It was basically their teacher helping them form a bridge with their body, then laying down and rolling along the mats, then helping them 'stand' on their hands before lying them down to do somersaults to the end of the mat. They performed to Circle of Life from Lion King. (The theme was broadway.)

Mom and I left during intermission (we'd seen about a dozen performances and there were about that many left), but my niece Ireland remembered me mentioning that I'd have to miss them do 'Dancing Queen' so she recorded it and sent it to me, which I thought was nice.)

I browned ground beef and boiled pasta to make ziti for tonight’s supper.

Temps started out at 65.1(F) and reached 73.4. We were supposed to have patches of rain and thunderstorms all day, but we only got some rain in the afternoon (no thunder or lightning, thankfully, because the dogs hate it).

Word challenge today!

Gold/ silver

Interpret how you want

I hit Agway while I was downtown (to pick up a GC for Pip’s dad for Father’s Day – I wanted to make sure I had it on hand because I don’t know what the next week is going to be like; for the same reason I picked up more dog treats so I’d have them on hand and wouldn’t need to make another trip anytime soon) and got in a short walk around the park.

I stopped by the library to return and pick-up books on the way to visit my aunt and deliver some checks to the nursing home (one for her personal savings account so she can continue to get things like pizza, massage (on her feet and lower legs because of the swelling), and hair appointments).

I stopped at Tractor Supply after visiting my aunt (Pip called; his usual supplier of corn for the geese and every other animal who eats it, let him down again), then stopped to see if the beef sticks had been restocked as I had been told they would be. Shocker, they hadn’t been. (TBF, they got more of the singly packaged sticks, but I want a bag of them. The person I talked to this time said they’d put it on the order. So I’ll check back next week.)

I did a load of laundry and the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, emptied the dishwasher, scooped kitty litter, and calculated & e-filed the quarterly sales and tire tax for the garage. (I wanted to have that done before everything happened with mom.)

I went on two short walks in the afternoon. Instead of doing the ‘crazy 8' I did a short-ish walk that I usually don’t do by myself. I’d seen flowers growing on the side of the road and was like, we have those! So I did the walk where I could see those flowers. Then I did another shortie when Pip got home and took the dogs for a walk to make up for not doing the longer walk earlier.

I got some more writing done!!!!! I added 1,100 words to my

smallfandomfest fic. I also re-read All Systems Red because I’ve already forgotten some of the details and I wanted a refresher before I watched more of the show. I watched a couple HGTV programs and talked with mom.

I grilled Italian sausage for Pip’s supper; I had more French toast. What can I say? It hit the spot.

Temps started out at 70.7(F) and reached 88.2. There were some periods of straight sun, but also a lot of haziness, which helped keep the temps below 90, at least. The temps didn't get as high as yesterday, but there was more humidity. We were originally supposed to have thunderstorms today, but they’ve been moved back to tomorrow.

Hi!

I've been reading up on the historical Catholic school system in Quebec, and I've gathered that until 1960 there were commonly Catholic schools that were supported by public funds (officially ended in the 90's). I've been able to find the names of some of the girl's schools, but haven't been able to easily find the names of any of the mixed or boy's schools below the high school level.

Anyone know any specific schools that could have served a 10-year old, working class, Catholic boy in Montreal or Quebec City ~1940?

Thanks!

Maybe should've posted this last night, but I did a thing! Here's what I turned in for the assignment I mentioned last week. But I did save the Document just in case something else sparks.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vLoWB3PgPo5PL4vEPYzIaLb0wSyOun3ikKabVF6fmvw/edit?usp=sharing

Current Mood: accomplished

Profile

trampledamage

July 2024

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Page Summary

spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Friday, June 13)
otpcutie in tenminutesaday - Fill: challenge #480 (original)
shivver in tenminutesaday - Challenge #480
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Thursday, June 12)
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Wednesday, June 11)
romanajo123 in tenminutesaday - Challenge 479
spikedluv - Wednesday Reading Meme & Books 40 - 42 of 2025
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Tuesday, June 10)
spikedluv - Fic: Murder, She Wrote/V (1983): One Good Hoax Deserves Another (Jessica & Julie; PG13)
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Monday, June 9)
shivver in tenminutesaday - Challenge #478
spikedluv - Mom Update
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Sunday, June 8)
spikedluv - TV Talk: Leverage: Redemption, Murderbot & Resident Alien
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Saturday, June 7)
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Friday, June 6)
romanajo123 in tenminutesaday - Challenge 477
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Thursday, June 5)
timemidae in little_details - Catholic school 1940's Quebec
romanajo123 in tenminutesaday - Fill- - Challenge 475 (original)

Style Credit

Base style: Abstractia by chiming
Theme: Dark Carnival by chiming

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jun. 14th, 2025 11:55 pm