On Cyber Monday, I did laundry

It is cyber Monday. According to the news most people are shopping online. I am not among the “most people” shopping online. Instead of shopping, I enjoyed doing laundry at home.

On Cyber Monday
My washing machine laughs sings
The day is cloudy

A plumber finally came and put a sleeve on the drainpipe behind my washing machine, so now I can do laundry at home. Washing cloths at home, after several months of going to the laundromat, is invigorating. I can do laundry every day if I want.

Even though it is cloudy in Las Vegas, I hung my clothes outside. I do not have a choice because the only dryer I have is a clothesline. If I were going to buy anything online today, it would buy a dryer. True, hanging clothes outside is not physically exhausting, but these short autumn days prevent me from doing more then one or two small loads at a time.

On Cyber Monday
The neighbor’s sits under
My Clothesline watching

I looked out my kitchen window and saw one of the neighborhood cats sitting under my drying clothes. He sat there for a long time watching my clothes dry. I still have to bring the clothes in, so I will close this and see if they are dry. I need an electric clothes dryer.

I am thankful I did not go shopping on Black Friday

At first, I thought remaining home on Black Friday was a disadvantage. However, after watching the news this morning I realize it was a safety measure. I do not plan to shop on Black Friday in 2012 because it can only get more dangerous.

Between pepper spray incidences, someone getting shot during a Black Friday robbery and crowds pushing and shoving for bargains it is dangerous to life and limb. Today, I am thankful I did not go shopping on Black Friday. I can think of many things I would rather do then get hurt or going to the hospital because I am hunting for a bargain.

All of these incidents are good starts for stories or poems. I can write a short story about the dangers of shopping on Black Friday without going into the crowd. I have gone to stores in previous years on the Friday after Thanksgiving, so I can use those descriptions to enhance the story.

Black Friday dangers
Increase as the years go by
Stay home in safety

The Last Friday in November 2011

Oak trees shed their leaves
Scatter them across brown lawns
A chill in the air

When I went outside to pick up my newspaper, I noticed that there were yellow and gold oak leaves scattered across the neighbor’s yard. A few of the leaves were falling, but most of the leaves still clung to the tree. This afternoon the wind increased and more leaves fell from the tree. In a couple of days, someone will begin raking the leaves and putting them in a trash bag for the garbage trucks to hall away.

When I was a child, people racked leaves into piles and burned them. I can remember my grandfather raking the cottonwood and elm leaves that covered his yard. After he racked the leaves into piles, he would burn them. Grandpa always had a water hose close by in case of an emergency. He never burned leaves without having a source of water incase the fire got out of hand.

Today, it is against the law the burn leaves in the city, so the leaves we put into bags or trashcans and let the garbage trucks hall them away. The leave could also be used as mulch, but since neither my neighbor nor myself plant a garden the leaves are put in the trash.

A Good Thanksgiving Day

Oak trees golden leaves
Reflecting the morning sun
Dancing in the breeze

There was no wind today, just a slight breeze. The sky was partly cloudy, so we had sunshine sometimes during the day. The neighbor’s oak has turned completely gold and I expect the leaves to fall any time.

It was a nice Thanksgiving Day, not too cold or too warm. Mom and I had a traditional Thanksgiving meal with some mashed potatoes and dressing left over. I took a small steak out of the freezer and plan to fix it with the leftover dressing on Black Friday.

I do not plan to go shopping tomorrow because Mom is home for the rest of the week. Besides, I do not shop on Black Friday or any other time there are crowded stores. I feel rushed in a crowd and I do not like to shop when I am rushed.

I will do a little laundry tomorrow. I will also do some writing and maybe watch television with my mother. Mom was in a good mood today and singing Jingle Bells. It was a good Thanksgiving Day. I am looking forward to a good Black Friday at home.

I hope Mom is in a good mood tomorrow, but with an Alzheimer’s patient, you never know. I take each day as it comes and hope that tomorrow will be better then today.

Laundry and Writing

Last week a plumber finally fixed the pipes behind the washer. He put a sleeve on the drainpipe to keep it from overflowing. I have washed five or six loads of laundry since. If I am careful, I can write and do laundry at the same time.

I have to watch the cycles so that I can put the fabric softener in during the rinse cycle. It just dawned on me that I may be able to put the fabric softener in the container at the beginning of the wash cycle. I will have to find the manual for the washing machine and read the directions. It has been so long since I could use the washing machine at home that I have forgotten when I put the fabric softener in the washer.

Getting up from the computer and going into the kitchen (that is where my washing machine is located) is a good way to get exercise. It also helps in writing because it helps my creativity and keeps me from being stuck in one place in a story.

The one disadvantage about doing laundry at home is hanging the cloths on the line. I do not have a dryer, so I have to hang my cloths outside. In fall and winter, this means I have to get the cloths washed in the morning so that they have the rest of the day to dry. Oh well, no situation is perfect and imperfection helps creativity and produces ideas for poems and stories.

Rethinking my goals

There are approximately 39 days left in 2011, so it is time to rethink my writing goals. I changed from a nineteen-day goal achievement focus to a 30-day focus. I am going back to the nineteen-day focus because it is easier (for me) to determine where I am falling short and what I have to do to accomplish the goal.

A 30-day focus is too stressful and gives me too much time to procrastinate. By setting my goals for nineteen days at a time, I have less time to put off and I cut frustration to a minimum. I have found that the more I putt off the more frustrated I become when I do not achieve a specific step in the goal achievement process. The less time I have to procrastinate the better off, I am because I decrease the stress.

Sunday Comics with coffee

There is nothing more enjoyable on Sunday morning then reading the comics while drinking a cup of coffee. When I was a child, my father read the Sunday Comics to me while I sat on his lap. As Dad read the comics, he would drink a cup of coffee. I think that is why I like drinking coffee while reading the comics. When I do this, I remember my father.

Comics and coffee
Memories from my childhood
I miss my father

Saturday in Las Vegas

A beautiful day
Visit from a neighbor’s cat
Cloths dry on the line

I finally have a washing machine at home. A plumber came Thursday and put a sleeve on the drainpipe so now I can do laundry at home. The plumber did say not to use the super cycle on the washing machine, which I wouldn’t do anyway.

When I went into the backyard to bring in the cloths, a neighbor cat jumped down from a stonewall and walked across my yard. This cat walks across my yard all the time. Sometimes she walks through the front yard, but most of the time she goes through my back yard. She is gray, white, and black with strips.

A Writer’s Perspective: The Parts People Skip

“I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” ~ Elmore Leonard

I am not sure which parts of a story people skip. When I reach the point in a story that I want to look ahead, to skip a part, I know I have read enough and mark my place in the book. I found out long ago, that if I skip a part then when I reach the end of the story or the book, then I have to go back and reread the parts I skipped. Therefore, to save myself time, I try not to skip a part.

TEDxAmsterdam 2011 Human Brain #1 (dress rehearsal)

Rutger Hauer, The Dutch National Ballet, and Amsterdam’s creative community make a brain from people. Click on the link below to watch the dress rehearsal of “An Idea Worth Doing”. This is the first in a series of three. The live performance coming on November 25, 2011.

Autumn in Las Vegas

Bright sun black shadows
Oak leaves tinged orange and yellow
Dawn of a new day

At dawn, the sun cast the dark shadows of oak trees across the black asphalt of my street. The shadows were a deeper black against the dark pavement. The neighbors’ oak trees are changing color.

TEDxAmsterdam 2011 Human Brain #1 (rehearsal)

This is an “Idea Worth Doing”. Rutger Hauer, The Dutch National Ballet, along with Amsterdam’s creative community is making a brain from people. Click on the link below and watch the first rehearsal. The live performance scheduled for November 25, 2011.

The Sunday Comics: An Environmental Impact Question

Cul De Sac by Richard Thompson raises an interesting environmental impact question. In today’s edition, the father is racking leaves and the daughter comes out to “romp in the leaves”. The leaf pile is small; it is not big enough for one person to enjoy romping. The girl kicks the leaves and then jumps in them. A friend asks what she is doing and she answers “romping in the leaf pile”. About this time, her brother comes out to romp, but there is no leaf pile left for him; he did not want to ramp in the leaves anyway. As the brother and sister return to the house, the sister’s friend asks, “Who knew that romping could have such an environmental impact?”

This raises the question, what is the environmental impact of romping in the leaves? I remember romping in the leaves as a child. I enjoyed scattering the cottonwood leaves all over my grandparents’ front yard. Grandpa, even though he had just raked the leaves, enjoyed watching my siblings and me scatter the leaves.

After we finished, he raked the leaves again. Eventually, he burned the leaves (it was legal to burn leaves in the city limits at that time), but for a while we had fun romping in the leaves without worrying about the environmental impact our actions had. This is a reflection of the times, then no one (individuals, business, or government) worried about the environmental impact their actions would have.

No empty pages in my life

“If writers stopped writing about what happened to them, then there would be a lot of empty pages.” ~ Elaine Liner

There are certainly no empty pages in my life today. I have so much to write about I am not sure where to start. To begin with, the only phone in the house that is working is my cell phone. I still have a landline and it would work if “a family member by marriage” had not attempted to “fix” the tangled telephone cord. Anyway, the phone will not ring through because it is not connect and there are wires sticking out.

It is comforting to have a cell phone; at least I remain connected to the world. There was a time when I did not think I need a cell phone; I was wrong I do need one. I like a connection to the world. I like remaining in contact with other people.

I called the cable company that provides our phone service and they will send a tech out tomorrow morning. In the mean time, I have to check my voice mail ever ten or twenty minutes to make sure I do not miss any important calls. All though, this is Saturday and most of the people I want to talk to have my cell phone number.

If I need to buy another phone, I will have to do that Sunday or Monday because I have no one “experienced” to stay with Mom today. I will probably wait until Monday to buy of phone because I have to deposit a check then. Given the events in my life, I will never have any empty pages.

Thursday Thoughts for November 10, 2011

It is Thursday. The air feels damp and therefore slightly chilly. There are clouds hiding the sky and the sun. Since I have not made an entry in a couple of days, I thought I would sit down and write something about my morning.

This morning, Mom woke up at 4:00 AM. She thought she had to go to work today. In her younger days, my mother was a food server; however, she has not worked in a restaurant or coffee shop for several years. Here in Las Vegas, she worked at the Showboat Hotel-Casino. In Blackwell, Oklahoma, she worked at Bob’s Grill.

I am not sure where Mom thought she was going to work this morning. I asked her but she would not give me an answer. Mom has Alzheimer’s disease so she does not always know where she is. Sometimes, Mom thinks she is still in Oklahoma, while at other times Mom realizes she is living in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I never know where she believes she is living. I have to be careful when I ask her those questions because she gets angry when she thinks I do not know where we live. Anyway, I finally got Mom calmed down enough to get out of bed and go into the living room.

Women in History: Marie Curie

Today’s Google doodle celebrates the 144th birthday of Marie Curie. This inspiring woman was born on November 7, 1867 and died July 4, 1934. Marie Curie’s contribution to science and history was in the field of radioactivity. Happy birthday Marie Curie.

It feels like winter

Clouds cover blue sky
No sunlight reaches the ground
It feels like winter

It is a chilly autumn day. My heat is acting up and it feels cold in the house. Outside clouds completely hide the sun. Inside the house, I am attempting to keep use warm without using the auxiliary heat. Whenever the auxiliary heat comes on the temperature in the house goes down.

I have stood at the thermostat and watched the process. I set the temperature and if the auxiliary heat comes on the temperature goes down and the heat does not turn off because it never reaches the sit temperature. As long as the regular heat is on the set temperature, but I cannot set the thermostat too high because the auxiliary heat will come on and the temperature will go down.

I have a technician coming in on Tuesday afternoon. In the mean time, I am going to get a space heater today so that I can warm the bathroom enough for my mother to take a shower.

Turn back the clocks

It is Saturday, November 05, 2011 and tomorrow morning at 2:00 AM, we turn the clocks back. One of the headlines in today’s Las Vegas Review-Journal read “Time to Go Back in Time”, with the photo of clocks underneath. That headline should inspire a few stories or poems.

It is fall and we step back in time one hour, while in the spring, we step forward one hour. That one hour messes up my sense of time for a couple of days. I am not sure how it will affect my sleep. As it is, I wake up sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 AM on a regular basis. Sometimes, I wake up about 1:00 AM then go back to sleep for about an hour and wake up again. This cycle usually last for a couple of weeks and then I go back to my regular sleep pattern.

For the past few day, I wake up about 1:05 go back to sleep until about 2:00, when I usually get up. If this pattern continues tonight, then I can turn the clocks back then; however, I need to turn only three clocks back, which are the alarm, the coffee pot, and the microwave because the rest of the clocks are automatically set back by their programs.

Did I just hear thunder?

It is a beautiful cloudy and windy day here in Las Vegas. Grayish clouds hide the blue sky. A chilly wind is blowing thought the trees. It is not a cold wind and does not require a heavy coat. When I went to my car, I wore a long sleeved blouse and long skirt. I was warm enough for the few minutes I was out there.

I did not look at the weather this morning or at noon. I do no know what the meteorologist predicted for today. Tree limbs are waving continually, so the wind is strong. The clouds are getting thicker and the sun no longer peeks through. I could have hear thunder, but that does not mean it will rain in my neighborhood.

Las Vegas covers a large area. It can rain and even flood in one section of town and not in another. I know I rolled up the windows in my car, but I suppose I should check just to make sure....

I have to close this entry now, because my mother just came home. I have to fix her something to eat and calm her down because she misses her father.

Apolo refuels with low fat chocolate milk

After his workout, Apolo Ohno refuels with low fat chocolate milk. Check out the video below to find out more.

A writer’s senior moment

Everyone has senior moments or brain hiccups i.e. momentary lapses of memory. You know what I am talking about those times when you cannot find your glasses, your car keys or you go into a room to get an item and then forget what you went after. These are the time you scare yourself because you think you are losing your short-term memory.

I encounter one of those today about the subject for this entry. I cannot remember if today’s entry was supposed to be a Writer’s Perceptive or something else. I will review last week’s entries to see which day I composed the first entry on that subject.

When I realized I could not remember the entry I wanted to make, I was frightened. I knew that it meant my short-term memory was walking out the door. However, after I calmed down I realized the problem was not short-term memory loss, but stress. I know the problem is stress because I can remember my login names and passwords. This brain hiccup encouraged me to write down my subjects on my to do list. In addition, just to be safe, I am writing down my logins and passwords in a notebook.