The Greenhouse Effect

It is now my fourth week in the Indie Ink Writing Challenge. This has been really fun. We have a great group of writers. You should take a look at their blogs and challenges.

This week, I challenged Nathan. My challenger was Lilu. Her prompt is at the end.

The wind was whipping the hanging baskets back and forth over the rail of the balcony. Felicia began unhooking them and setting them inside the door.
“I need to tell you something,” she said, “but first, can you start bringing these upstairs? I want to put them in the bathroom.”

While Sam lugged four plants up to the third floor, Felicia worked on bringing the remaining plants inside.After she was done, she went over to the coffeemaker and carefully took out the filter. She began sprinkling the grounds on the soil of her plants just as Sam came downstairs.

“Why can’t we just have left the plants down… What in the world are you doing?”

“Because the upstairs bathroom is the one room the cats can’t get into. Oh, my mom read online that coffee is good for plants. Plus, it keeps away ants,” Felicia explained as she picked up a large strawberry pot full of herbs and began making her way upstairs.

Sam shook his head and kept quiet while he helped Felicia bring the rest of the plants upstairs. When he was done, he washed his hands at the kitchen sunk and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. He sat down next to Felicia and sighed loudly.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” he said with a hint of annoyance. Felicia was always coming up with some scheme; he was hardly in the mood to hear one now.

She picked up a oversized, fluffy cat off the ground and began petting him. The grey cat sensed the tension in her hands and jumped off her lap. He began licking the area where she had touched him methodically.

“I’m not going,” Felicia said quickly, looking at the ground.

“Huh? What do you…”

“I’m staying here. You can’t talk me out of it. Someone needs to water the plants and feed the cats and you know Dexter gets car sick. You can’t make…”

“Do you realize what is coming this way? You can’t stay here. I’ve already talked to the vet. He’s giving us a sedative for the cats. Sarah will drop it off on the way to her aunt’s. The cats are coming with us. As for the plants, I picked up a bunch of those watering globes when I went out for supplies earlier.”

“I really don’t want to get stuck in all the traffic. And I haven’t even packed…”

Sam rubbed Felicia’s shoulder. Situations like this really made her panic. Only to return a few days later to perfect calm. Of course, they were facing the likelihood of something far worse than a three day evacuation.

After he had calmed her down, Sam packed some essentials and brought them out to the car with the supplies for the trip. Felicia came out with the cats and put them on the floorboard of the car. While she went back up to lock the door, he decided to start the car and turn on the air conditioner. He turned the key. Nothing. All the lights came on on the dashboard.

Just as Felicia returned, the wind picked up and it began raining.

Prompt: “I need to tell you something,” she said, “but first…” — Continue.

In March

I came across this found poem I wrote in 2008.  I wondered what was going on three years ago that caused me to write such a thing. Then I remembered this devastating story. Warning, the description is graphic. Children are such a blessing; these girls obviously didn’t see it that way.
These types of things make me feel sad for humanity. It is incomprehensible how someone could do this to a child. This case really touched my heart. I remember how my husband and I wished we could take her into our home. I am sure many others felt the same.
So many people feel anger about such a situation. It’s only natural when an innocent is hurt. But we should turn our prayers towards these girls. Their souls must have been in great torment in order to commit such atrocities. I pray that they find clarity and that they are ready to face the punishments they are dealt for it.

In March

it is
improper
suffering.
they are
beaten.
mental
faces
leave
marks.
we have
revenge
for
lunch.
our
alleged
health
irons
pale blue
lips.
we
mourn
independence.
they
deserve
nothing
and
everything.

New Look

I decided to make a new header and put some background in. What do you think? Is the red okay?

House Arrest

Is third time a charm? It must be! It’s my third week in the Indie Ink Writing Challenge. This week, I challenged Alyssa. My challenger was Wendryn. You’ll find her prompt at the end.

The fluorescent light in the kitchen was on the fritz again. She would have to call Billy again to fix it. She hated the sound of it; it was like a swarm of angry bees. It was a constant reminder of why she hadn’t been out of the house in 347 days. She quickly scanned the counters and counted 14 bowls of Borax mixed with sugar. Did she need more? Perhaps 20 would be enough.

She had pennyroyal and spearmint planted around the perimeter of the house. Around each door, there were also wormwood and lemongrass. Every week, she would have Billy set out cucumber peels on the outer windowsills. At the same time, he would sprinkle her used coffee grounds in the garden and baby powder around the perimeter of the house.

She always wore long sleeves and pants, even when the temperature surpassed 100 degrees. She was lucky to have found Billy through an ad on Craigslist, as well as a grocery delivery service. They came twice a week. She would have liked to have grown some of her own vegetables and herbs; but she couldn’t take the risk nor put more of a burden on Billy. He had already spent most of the weekend caulking up possible cracks.

The news reports were saying that more southern states were being affected this year. Maybe it was currently winter in Africa so the swarms of killer bees were flying north instead of south. Were the fire ants hitching a ride with them from South America? She could never understand how these things worked. All she knew was that her brother was allergic to wasps, her mom and sister to bees, and her nephew to fire ants. Her cousin had a possible allergy to shrimp. Technically, they weren’t insects; but they looked close enough for her to stay away from them as well.

She looked around the kitchen once last time. Forgetting what she had come in for, she turned out the light and walked to her bedroom.  Moonlight shone across the kitchen floor, illuminating a single, tiny, garnet-colored ant.

Prompt: Comment on the invasion (the invasion is not fictional) of the fire ants and killer bees into the United States. You may comment in any way you see fit, fiction or nonfiction.

D is for Dance

It’s already week four of the ABCs of Homeschooling from 5 Kids and a Dog. This has definitely been fun!

Probably one of the most dreaded word in a homeschooling parent’s vocabulary is socialization. So we scour the area in hopes of finding activities our children would enjoy and make friends in.

This past fall, my daughter turned three. We decided to place her in a combination tap and ballet class with the local recreation department. Since we always catch her flitting about the house, we thought that she would like dancing with other girls her age.  At the end of the school year, there would be a review with all the teacher’s students.

We gathered the necessary uniform items: pink leotard, tights, and ballet shoes; black tap shoes; a dance bag.  The first night of class went well. At the end of class, our daughter received a sticker and a sucker. The next week, she received just a sucker.  The next week… nothing.  The teacher chalked it up to her age; she was the youngest in the class.

For several weeks and into the next semester, my daughter would alternate between a spectrum of cooperating and running wild around the classroom. I even attended some classes with her to help her acclimate. Finally, the teacher asked that we not bring her back as she needed to take the remaining weeks to teach the class their routines for recital. As we had just paid the full balance for her costume, I was not pleased.

Eventually I realized that every child has a different learning style. Even though she was not fully participating in class, my daughter would come home and show us all the different moves and dances she had learned.  She may have seemed like she wasn’t listening; but she had heard everything going on. I had the same trouble in school. In fact, my parents pulled me out of dance class when I was her age.

Maybe we’ll try dance class again in the fall.  Maybe we won’t. We’ll just have to see where this free spirit leads us.

Wordless Wednesday: Meow

C is for California

It’s week three in the ABC’s of Homeschool and time for the letter C!  Thank you to Dawn at 5 Kids and a Dog for hosting this meme.

A few weeks ago, my husband took a trip to California. He hadn’t been on a business trip since I was pregnant with our daughter.  I wasn’t quite sure how to explain his absence to the kids.  I decided to make a game of it. There are several flight tracking sites online. I picked one and every half hour or so, I would ask the kids where Daddy was. They loved looking at the tiny plane on the map and figuring out where he was. Daddy spent the most time in Texas.  We did the same thing for his return trip.

Technology today opens up many doors for the homeschooling family. An iPhone app helped teach my son the states so that he knew where California was.  He has a couple of other electronic toys that he uses to learn about each state’s capital and motto. However, he also likes to use materials without an on button.  When we discovered that he was enjoying geography so much, I started ordering maps from state tourism websites.  I’d like to start collecting the state-shaped magnets for him to play with on the fridge.

Even though we are going with a structured program next year, I still see homeschooling as an opportunity to customize my children’s learning experience.

The Breakup

This is my second week participating in the Indie Ink Writing Challenge. I was challenged by Karla V. Her prompt is at the end of this post.

She’ll never forget the last time she saw him. It was in the parking lot of a pizza place. The details were fuzzy; but the pain of that last goodbye would always be with her. To think of him in someone else’s arms hurt her deeply.

He had been her best friend as long as she could remember. She told him everything. When her marriage began to disintegrate, he was the one that comforted her. They began spending a lot more time together; he went everywhere with her. Her friends began tiring of hearing of their outings together.

But she knew she needed more in her life. After Hurricane Katrina, she found that their relationship had changed. He had changed. They both had changed. It was time to part ways. The decision did not come easily; but after much contemplation, it was done.

She had hoped to remain in contact with him; but it just wasn’t meant to be. Every now and then, she would Google him to see if there was news. Always nothing. Until the day she found a thread on a forgotten web forum dedicated to him and their estrangement.

She hadn’t expected the lies. She was tormented by them. They had said she hadn’t deserved him and that she had treated him badly. Someone had even had mentioned the word abusive. There was also a blatant lie about that last night. She was described as cold and heartless as she walked away that night. It was all so terribly wrong. She had treated him like a prince while they were together. She made his favorite snacks. She helped him with Halloween costumes. She gave back as much as he had given her. These strangers–for she knew not a single one of them–made her out as some sort of monster. Further digging showed that a couple of people had even plotted to take him away from her. It sickened her.

She cried for weeks. Nightmares plagued her. It was extremely difficult to go to places they had gone together like the park and certain coffee shops. She felt like she had a scarlet letter plastered on her chest announcing that she was the evil person she had been branded as. Over time, she came to realize that she was not the one in the wrong. Neither was it the fault of the people on the message board. Granted, they were overzealous with their vendetta against her; but they had been fed a malicious lie. Trolls exist today and they don’t live under a bridge. Eventually, she learned to trust people again.

Maybe one day she’ll even get another dog.

Writing prompt: Bait

The Crush

This is my first week participating in the Indie Ink Writing Challenge. Every week, writers who take part are paired up with a partner who, in turn, gives them an awesome writing prompt. This week I challenged I challenged Alyssa. I was challenged by Runaway Sentence. You can find the prompt she challenged me with at the end of this post.

The Crush

“Nancy, Sarah wants to know if Chloe can join her at camp this summer.”

“No daughter of mine will be going to camp. No way.”

“You don’t have to be so haughty about it,” Julie Sable replied, grabbed her purse and stood up to leave the table.

“No, stay,” Nancy Winters said as she seized Julie’s arm. Twenty years of Friday luncheons and she wasn’t going to flake out on her now.

“Well, what is it? What’s the problem with Chloe going to camp?” She sat back down and took a sip from her iced tea.

Nancy sighed and began folding her napkin over and over.

“I had a really bad experience at camp. I don’t think they watch the campers all that well.”

“What happened, Nance? They perform thorough background checks on the counselors, if that helps.”

Nancy looked back and forth between Julie and the napkin in her hands.

“Well, it was the summer before my freshman year. I was going to turn fourteen in a couple of weeks. I had gone to a camp near Lake Florand for a few years. Oh… I don’t know if I can tell you this…”

“You can tell me anything. You know that. We’ve know each other for over twenty years. Come on.”

“It was about two hours after I got to camp when I first saw him. He was coming out of one of the boys’ cabins, the late afternoon sunlight surrounding his head like a halo. Something about the way he stood there, his hand shielding the sun from his eyes, liquified my insides. I was only thirteen. I had no experience at all with boys; but every part of me wanted to experience something with Henry Whitley.”

“I can tell where this is leading…”

“Hush, Julie! Will you please just let me tell you? Well… where was I? Oh, yes. Henry was very good looking. He had dark, wavy hair that had the tiniest hints of chestnut where the light was hitting it. And his eyes… Well, at the time, his eyes reminded me of a bar of chocolate.”

Julie rolled her eyes dramatically.

“He sounds dreamy.”

“Knock it off. He was really cute. You would think he would have been a jerk like most cute guys are at that age; but he was really nice. I remember how he held the door open for me when we reached the dining hall. As it turned out, I even got to sit at the same table as him. For the high school camp sessions, they mixed up the tables with a girl’s cabin and a boy’s cabin. I know we talked for a long time; but I can’t remember what it was about. I did laugh at some point in the conversation which caused him to laugh. He had a really cute laugh. That I remember. The other thing I remember is that he used to carry a bag of M&M’s around with him to snack on. We weren’t really allowed to keep food in our cabins but I think he was hypoglycemic or something. We hung around a lot for the next couple of days, when the activities allowed for it. He was a real good guy. I guess the other guys in the cabin thought he was a goody-two-shoes or something, because they asked me to help play a joke on him. I really, really liked him. If I could impress him… even with a prank… Well, the guys had me help switch out his M&M’s for Reese’s Pieces. They look so much alike…”

“I love Reese’s Pieces.”

“Turns out he was allergic to peanuts. Deathly allergic.”

“Did anyone get in trouble?”

“No, none of us told anyone. The camp blamed the dining hall for cross contamination with peanut butter.  Henry’s parents wound up suing the camp. I’m not sure of the outcome; but I don’t think it was good since the camp shut down later that year. It was sold to a logging company, I think.”

“Probably for the best.  Listen, Nancy.  Don’t worry about Chloe and camp. In fact, I think I may keep Sarah home this year.”

The waitress came to the table and set down their food.  Julie took one look at her Thai chicken salad with peanuts and pushed it away.

“I’m not so hungry anymore.”

Prompt: Tell your spouse or your best friend about what you did that wayward summer, long ago. What did you do and why are you telling now?

The Garden Grows!

I thought I would give an update on my garden. All the plants are still alive. I’m so happy!

I bought additional plants this past weekend. Those I decided to plant first.
The tall, yellow-green plant on the left is a mojito mint. The one on the right with the smaller leaves is a true peppermint. Between them in the middle is a chamomile plant. If you look at the bottom of the picture, you will see the leaf of a cilantro seedling. It will eventually grow to fill up the space.

These are two pepper plants. On the left is a poblano pepper. A jalapeño is on the right. I can’t wait until these produce peppers so I can do lots of fun things with them! The leaf is courtesy of one of my children after they decided it didn’t taste like the mint.

Look at my little tomato plants. Aren’t they cute? They are Juliet tomatoes, which are like grape tomatoes. The plant will be shorter than an ordinary tomato plant and bushy.

I bought a strawberry pot to plant the herbs in, except for the lavender. I’m giving it time to grow a little bigger. Then I will mix some sand with the soil I plant it in. One of the employees of the garden center suggested that since it is a Mediterranean plant.

My kids have been eyeing this strawberry. It has slowly been turning redder and redder. I know they want to eat it; but I would feel bad having to cut a tiny strawberry in half. We have at least one other strawberry starting to grow; but I think it be summer before we have a large enough amount.

Hopefully in a few weeks, I’ll have more substantial growth to show off.  Keep your fingers crossed!