Hi!

What have you been up to this Valentine’s Wednesday??  

I divided a sizeable chunk of my day between the school run/childcare and making a large card for Hubby from the three of us 🙂 nothing like a bit of cutting, sticking and lettering on a windy, wintry day!

My less-than-happy couple from the story celebrated in a restaurant.  Here are parts one and two if you don’t know to whom I refer 😉

Exhausted  Gild  Mycelium Afraid  Phyllite  Redirect  Jukebox  Penguin  Edible

Ollie was exhausted.

He stared across at his wife, in her best dress, and couldn’t think of a tactful (or foolproof) way to gild his words so he could cry off early that night.

Valentine’s Day.  What a crock of poop.

He hadn’t ever wanted to set foot in this namby-pamby restaurant, with its stuck up clientele; but Bridget had dropped hints the size of cannonballs for about a year now.  And then had just gone ahead and booked it as ‘his’ present.

Ollie sighed.

The man by the window was really getting drunk on whatever overpriced nonsense was in his glass, and had a lot to say about topical news stories.  Having tired of his declarations about Brexit, the buffoon rounded on women:

“…their hyphae of hate, spreading their treacherous fungus; mats of mycelium laid out – at first like a welcome, but soon as a trap!  No wonder men are afraid to breathe around them these days!”  His male companion chuckled encouragingly “’if I want pressure and cleavage’ I said to her ’I’ll stay home and stare at my phyllite floor tiles…!’”  More ‘old boys’ laughter.

Ollie looked across at his wife again.  “Are you sure you want to eat here?” he asked.

“Yes!” she hissed (rather too forcefully, for her husband’s liking)

“Ok.  Well, I just can’t see anything on the menu I like…” said Ollie.

“You like seafood.”

“Yes, but not at these prices…”

“I thought this was worth a bit of a splurge! It’s been 15 years!”

“I know, honey, and it is…it’s just…  Well.  Lobster on a Wednesday?  Really?”

The look she gave him made Ollie go the way of the clam.

Later, in their local pub, in an attempt to redirect his mutinous thoughts; he went over to the jukebox and tried in vain to find ‘their’ song.  He longed to get back to the sofa and snaffle the last Penguin in the tin.  Red ones were always the best.

A damn sight more edible than that ‘gourmet’ rubbish he’d been forced to pick at earlier, anyway…

[Pic is from here]

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Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hey 🙂

Ready for part two?!

[Here is part one if you need it ;)]

Jimpix came up with a nice mixture today, so I was reasonably comfortable…

Steam   Utility   Cinnamon   USD   Clerk   Logger   Policy   Saxophone   Inflate

She was steam-cleaning the utility room and the tantalising smell of cinnamon and sandalwood, from the homemade multipurpose cleaner she’d used in the kitchen, was taking her to her happy place.  She could have just bought some of that eco-cleaner online but, even converted from USD, it was a tad extortionate. 

The granules from the cinnamon powder were a little noticeable on her counters, but the clerk at the health-food shop had told her it wouldn’t damage anything…

There was so much to be said for aromatherapy in the home!  She couldn’t wait to watch more YouTube videos about it. 

The Pine and Cedarwood essential oils had made her think of Forests…some hunky logger, throwing back his long dark locks, flexing his muscles, cutting down trees with just an axe to showcase his strength for her…

“BRIDGE…? YOU SEEN THE POLICY FOLDER?” Ollie shouted, from somewhere upstairs.

“THE WHAT?!?” Bridget replied.

“The policy folder” Ollie said, getting closer “I want to look at our life insurance.”

An evil glint came into Bridget’s eye for a moment, but she let it pass.  “No.  I haven’t.  Try the spare room?”

“Ok.  You alright?  You look flushed” said Ollie.

“Oh. Well!  Steam cleaning, you know…” said Bridget.

“Ok.  Well, I’ll go look in the spare room, then…?”

“Yeah.”

Ollie left.

Bridget waited until she heard him stomping upstairs again (why did he always have to do that?!) before she re-ran the Saxophone track in her head:   He would turn and lock eyes with me, I would move forward and brush some twigs from his shoulders…

“No wonder those sites inflate their prices” she thought, later.  “The effects of a great scent are totally worth it!”

Where will we go from here?!  Jimpix will guide the way…

Be sure to check back tomorrow 😉

[Logger pic is from here]

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Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hey There 🙂

Well, I have decided to try out another 5-part story to take me through the working week.  I won’t be using Haikubes this time, however…I am going to rely on my old frenemy, Jimpix!!

As regular readers will know, this particular random word generator is very good at angling curve-balls at me, so writing a cohesive story over 5 days with it should be suitably challenging!!

To make things a little easier, I got Textfixer to throw me out 5 words to choose a title from:

Words generated: concrete, acrobatic, compassionate, witness, kick

‘Concrete Witness’ seemed to give me the most scope, so I went for that 😉

I then forged ahead and visited Jimpix for nine words to get writing with:

And so I began, timer set for 20 mins…

Ollie   Fretful   Silicon   Sin   Main   Gift   Smoked   Medium   Rad

Ollie cringed as his wife’s fretful voice bounced around the mostly tiled walls.  Hearing her approach the door, he pretended to be engrossed in determining the Silicon content of the bath sealant; trying to dodge whatever retribution was coming his way for his latest perceived sin.

“Are you in the main bathroom?!” she shrieked.

“Yes…”

“Good!” she barrelled in, “what did you do to Aunt Mary’s chocolates?!”

“What chocolates?”

“The ones on the counter!”

“The Belgian ones?”

“YES!!”

Ollie went back to ‘reading’.

His wife gathered herself in a bit, and seemed to grow taller “Did you eat the chocolates, Oliver…?!” She asked, in a mock-calm voice.

“I only had one…” said Ollie, truthfully.

“They were a gift for Aunt Mary!”

“They’re lovely, a very good choice” said Ollie, climbing back into the bathtub, toolbelt jangling.

“But she won’t GET them now, because YOU have opened them!  And I’m going over just now!” growled his wife.

“Can you not buy some more on the way?  I’ll give you the money.”

“You can only get them from that fancy shop in town, and I don’t have TIME to get more!”

“You’ll be passing Asda, though” said Ollie “get her something there.”

His wife made a noise that was a cross between a strangled chicken and a lapdog being trodden on; then she flounced off.

Ollie chuckled a little, then started to whistle.

One would never guess, looking at her now, that when they’d first met his wife had a weakness for weed; and had smoked it with her low-tar, medium nicotine cigarettes (while saying almost everything was “totally rad”).

Marriage could really ruin a relationship.

Which one are you rooting for…? 

Come back tomorrow and see what Jimpix gives me to play with, and how the story goes 😉

Tootles!!

[Choc pic is from here]

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Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hello!

It’s time for me to reveal what I came up with for the final part of this short story that I’ve been writing over 5 days, using the words that I roll with my Haikubes!

(Here are parts one, two, three and four that I ‘prepared earlier’, so you know what I’m talking about here!!)

Again I generated nine words that I had to use:

But I must make a small confession and admit that I took a total of 21.5 mins instead of 20 mins to write the part in blue (I managed to include 8 out of the 9 words in 20 mins though), then wrote the bit in purple in a further 3 mins (as I thought that particualr loose end needed to be addressed!). 

Hope you like it anyway!

Desperate   Love   But   Those   My   Tangle   Under   He   Shelter

Myla was suddenly some sort of aquatic acrobat.  Barely holding the pool noodle, she went back and forward in the water with a big smile on her face, eagerly heeding every command her instructor gave her – and gaining praise from all her little classmates into the bargain.

She was also beaming up at me at every opportunity, as if I was her best friend or something.  Her instructor kept giving me the thumbs up too, however, so I just decided to enjoy it all.

This tactic was going really well, until Myla decided to let go of her noodle, and slip like a seal under the water…

I stood up immediately, heart in my throat.  I could see her glide towards the bottom and turn around, but then she seemed to just stop.  The seconds ticked by, and I began waving both my hands above my head, pointing in an increasingly desperate way to her [seemingly] wiggly pink form at the bottom of the pool.

My feet started to move as I saw the instructor dive off the side…

Sarah and I charged down the steps, through the changing room and out onto the poolside; at a sprint I wasn’t even aware I was capable of.  Love is a powerful motivator.  We rounded the pillar by the foot-baths just in time to see Myla being hauled out of the water as if she weighed no more than a backpack, and some more of the complex staff running to take care of the other kids standing wide-eyed in the shallows.

I’m not sure, but I think I screamed as Myla was turned over onto her side, and I could see her eyes were closed.  Those memories that everyone says flash in their mind’s eye were definitely slide-showing through mine as I finally sank to my knees beside my child.

The instructor was moving the tangle of her ponytail from her cheek, and I instinctively started rubbing her back the way I had done when she’d had wind as a baby.  As I did so, she started coughing up a load of chlorine water, and I could see her eyeballs move under her lids.

Later, I managed to get her to our doctor as his last appointment of the day.  As he’d looked over her, the instructor had tried to reassure me that he thought Myla’s banged bonce was not too serious, but I just wanted to be sure.

I did have something to smile about, however, after the shock abated a little: out of concern, Myla’s instructor had slipped me his number (through the general emotion and panic I’d displayed).  It had taken shelter in my purse and, later that night, I was going to make that call…

A further bit of good news, on the Myla front, is that she has decided she wants to be a swimming instructor! Marco (isn’t that just a dreamy name?!) has totally proved my point to her: that swimming gives you superpowers, apparently!

So I’ll have to find some way to repay him for that little gem, too…

Annnd…that’s a wrap!! 

Was that noodle-y enough for you all?!  Did it display ‘a desire for’ something  enough…?

Let me know what you think in the comments, or by visiting one of my social media pages linked below. 

As is so often the case, I enjoyed writing this wee story; and I’m already devising how to tweak the method for the next one…thanks to Jane for the inspo!

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Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hello 🙂

I again rolled nine kubes, this time to give me some direction for this penultimate instalment:

(Here are the links to parts one, two and three).

Sucker   Along   Return  Happy   Gorgeous   Brother   Water   Villain   Grace

Feeling like a complete sucker, I took Myla along to her third weekly lesson; wondering if this would be the last time she would semi-agree to return to the swimming baths…

Sarah again looked impossibly happy as she ushered me to my seat – but I had to concede that today she had a very good reason.

Kneeling by the pool was the most gorgeous man I have ever seen.  Somehow his beauty was able to transcend the ridiculously bright hooded top the complex made all of the instructors wear, and he didn’t look unnaturally pale, like the other guy had.

“He’s Franchie’s brother,” Sarah breathed into my ear, “quite a sight to behold, isn’t he?!”

“Yeah!” I managed to sigh.

“Must be all that Italian blood coursing through his veins.” Sarah went on, “If I wasn’t married…!” She giggled.  “I hear he’s single…”

Her nudge was forceful enough to make me thump into the glass of the balcony.  The Adonis looked up and actually waved at me.  It took me a second to realise that he was tending to Myla, and she had waved first, so he was just following her lead.

At least that meant my loony grin and big wave back was ok.

Myla also didn’t have her water wings on, I noticed with a jolt.  The lovely man was holding them!  How had he managed that?! (I suppose it is hard to see someone so beautiful as a villain who is trying to do you harm…?)

Myla was handed a pool noodle and seemed to take it willingly: returning to the water with a smile, and astounding good grace.

“I have to meet him” I whispered to Sarah; “he’s definitely some sort of god.”

Oooo, how will the kubes help me to wrap up this story tomorrow?!  Come visit then, and find out…!

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Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hey There!! 

I am onto my third instalment of this story about Myla and her hated swimming lessons, already!  The first instalment is here, and the second is here; should you need to catch up 😉

I decided to elevate the ante a little today: as I have been rolling some easy joining words with my kubes, I thought I’d make my chances of getting harder-to-incorporate stuff greater by using nine instead of five kubes (that is also the number of words I use for my random word poetry)

I did, indeed, get a better mix today:

Bust  Flesh  Science  Etc.  Licks  Or  Flock  Home  Gentle

The next week was even worse. 

This time Myla hurt the knuckles on her left hand, apparently having had a bust up with a rough tile while she was trying to “hold on and push off” the way the instructor had told her to.

I joined her in the changing rooms as she gingerly touched the broken flesh and exclaimed about how sore it was.  This, she said, meant that swimming was definitely not for her.  Her argument went along the lines of there being an invisible force in the water that clearly didn’t like her: “a wave or sumfin, like at the beach…” either that or Rachel’s brother was working some Voodoo science on her “cos he knows I don’t like him”.

I helped her dress, and gathered up the obnoxious amount of paraphanalia her agreeing to step into the water seemed to demand (Peppa goggles, spare ‘wings’, the two towels “in case one dwops on the flo-wa”, etc…).

Back in the car, I tried to persuade her that doing ‘dog-licks’ every two seconds was not going to heal her hand very well, and that a plaster would be a better idea.  Or at least more hygienic.

I watched the startled flock of Starlings nearby take off home as Myla’s less than gentle reply reverberated through the open windows.

Why was I doing this to myself?!

I hoped she’d go to bed early (and her third lesson would pan out much better).

Two more instalments to go…what will the kubes do with Myla and her lesson loathing?! Hit me up tomorrow to find out!

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Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hiya 😉

I continued with yesterday’s story.  Again I rolled 5 kubes to get words that I had to include in today’s instalment, then set my 20 mins and got to work:

Words I rolled:  Finger    A    Realize   Torture   For

The ice cream wasn’t remedy enough for a sore finger, apparently.

“It’s weely sore!”  Myla complained “you’re a bad mummy for makin’ me do sumfin so dane-ja-wus!  I am NOT going ANY MORE!!”  The arms got crossed and everything.

“C’mon baby!” I said, in my sing-song voice, “you liked splashing your feet and getting to meet the other kids.”

“Didn’t!!” Myla frowned “I alwedy know Amy, she can show me the udder peetles.  That man was stoopid.”

I hadn’t stopped and thought about all of this properly.  If I’d begun to realize how much she’d torture me for making her learn to swim, I’d have probably just let her be a couch potato.  Like me. But I’d paid for the lesson-block now…

“You know that learning to swim gives you a superpower though, yeah?”

Myla sighed, and gave me a long-suffering look. (Do they teach them that at nursery?!)

“I’m not joking, Myla.  You can save people’s life if you know how to swim!”

“Shhhh, I’m trying to eat, Mummy.I know superheroes don’t swim with babies.  It’s not NICE to lie.  I’m NOT going ANY more.”

I sighed.  “There were no babies in that pool today!”

“Yes there was!  Rachel’s little bruva was there.  He has a nappy on!”

“He’s three…”

Myla gave me ‘the face’ again.  “I KNOW that!  But he only dust GOT three!  He was two the udder day!”

“His birthday was…” I thought back “4 months ago, Myla.”

“I KNOW, so he’s a BABY!”

I gave up and cleared away her (now empty) bowl.  “You’ll learn to swim and start loving it. You’ll soon be the best there”

“I’m going away now” said Myla “you hurt my finger super lots when you lie, mummy.”

She’s a handful, isn’t she?!

Be sure to come back tomorrow and see if I’ll roll tantrums or tranquillity for these characters with my kubes 😉

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Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hello!

Jane put a comment on this post yesterday, and suggested using random words to dictate the direction of a story.  I decided to do this by first rolling one of the Haikubes that gives a theme, and also five word-kubes to try and assemble a title:

Theme: ‘A Desire For’ Kubes: the, noodle, not so, marvel, went.

I then thought I would roll 5 kubes to start the story off, write for 20 minutes using what I’d rolled, and pick up with some Haikubes tomorrow to continue the story 😉

So my first roll had provided a theme of ‘a desire for’ with a title of The Noodle Marvel and I had thought all about food and China (and Kung Fu Panda)…then I was gifted the roll below (I re-rolled any blanks til I got words) and was suddenly heading in a different direction…!

Words I rolled: Left   I   Swimming    Baby    For

Then I left.

Scrambling up the stairs to the gallery to watch her, I was wondering whether a swan-dive from there would just crack my head on the tiles, or actually see me slicing through the water, on my heroic way to save my child’s life…

I’d been lugging her to those swimming baths since she was a baby, but for some reason Myla had not taken to it very well.

The look of panic that came over her wee face if I even SUGGESTED ditching the arm bands was almost comical, but the almighty tantrum that ensued the first time I tried to gently remove them in the water…?  Not so funny.

Myla had always had a strong will, and a great work ethic when it came to things she was interested in; but swimming seemed to be a complete road-block for her.  I’d even had a few people suggest to me that she’d had a bad experience with water in a past life, and that I should get her ‘regressed’ at some practitioner in town.  A more helpful suggestion came from Sarah, whose daughter had just started at this swimming class, and we hoped Myla’s competitive streak might be engaged.

I could see Sarah waving to me as I rounded the stairs to the gallery.  She looked happy and calm.  “I saved you a seat!” she trilled from the middle row “I love Myla’s swimsuit, and you’ve plaited her hair so nicely.  You’ll have to teach me how to do that!”

I tried to look like I was happy to have a conversation like a normal person, but gave it up in a nanosecond, gripping the rail and almost launching myself over it [for real] in an attempt to spot my girl.

Myla was looking up with a mournful expression on her beautiful face.  As soon as she saw me, her bottom lip started to jut out and I could see the anger rising.

I said a little prayer, then, that the whole line of 3 and 4 year olds wouldn’t suddenly be prematurely dunked by my upset little whirlwind…

So there we go: a 350-word start to our little tale!  Come back tomorrow and we’ll see what way the Haikubes decide the story should progress 😉

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Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hi!

There are many sites that utilise a ‘quote of the day’ but I visited this one today and ended up with one of Yanni’s pearls of wisdom:

“I don’t want problems solved for me. I want the fishing rod, not the fish.” – Yanni

I decided to use this quote as the basis for a short poem:

Give me the rod

To calm my sea,

I don’t want problems

Solved for me.

Don’t pitch me up 

On heaven’s shore,

With no clue what I’ve

Been blessed for!

Each storm I brave

Will teach my soul

That perseverance

Meets my goals.

Don’t dump fish on

A table bare:

Let me strive for my

Pla(i)ce, and chair.

I received a comment earlier on a post where I’m asking for feedback, and it suggests a wee series to try.  I shall be getting stuck into that tomorrow, so watch this space!!

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Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hiya 😉

It’s Monday!

Youngest has gone back to nursery after three days off last week, due to a cold and cough. 

Hubby spent all weekend goopy and headachey, trying not to move too much. (Sunday was a right off for him, and he spent most of it in bed).  I felt awful on Friday night, but have mellowed into a kind of tired, sore throated, generally spaced-out blahness.  

Eldest is pretty much ok, but is complaining the loudest.  He got up at 6.17am on Saturday and not much later on Sunday, and was grumpy and uncooperative no matter how many activities I did with him to try and keep him out of Hubby’s way. He decided he was not going to go to school today as he was ‘full of the cold’, and I am not entirely sure how I got him to walk the 1.5 miles there, but we were even early!!

I think it helped that I was having an out of body experience the whole way?!

So the above may give you a little context to this poem, which I wrote after staggering home again, pushing the blissfully empty buggy and trying not to cough too much…

I was walking (just walking)

Lazy thoughts in my head

Pondering all my day’s goals

(Like going back to bed)

And a lady came pushing

A twin girls’ buggy, and

A Spaniel then came trotting

(Lead in that lady’s hand)

I’m afraid this quite startled

The prone thoughts in my head

They sat up straight and whispered:

“Why is she not in bed…?”

Scarce half nine and this lady’s

Multitasking impressed!

(I knew with twins I’d remain

Permanently half-dressed..)

When I told her a dog and

Twin kids was some grand feat

She laughed that she had no choice

But the challenge to meet;

And my thoughts they took over

My silly mouth – I said:

“OH THERE’S CHOICES!” as she left

(But forgot: “STAY IN BED!”)

So I’m hoping she didn’t

Take my outburst to say

“Your whole lifestyle is stupid…

Now have a nice day.”

I don’t mix my (3 years apart) kids with poop

From a four-legged critter who needs me to stoop

And pick up, and feed it, and right all its wrongs;

Because I’m so busy trying to chivy along

My natural habit of ‘mope and give up’

(And lie in the way of those walking their pup

Who are bravely facing a day where they too

Would like to lie down, but there’s too much to do…)

I fell into that trap that the twin mums I know

Roll their eyes at (somewhere I did not mean to go)

Sometimes “admiration”s better left unsaid

Now, excuse me…

                              **pulls duvet back over her head**

Of course, I actually squeezed in this bit of creativity, fed and caffeine-d myself and did a quick tidy up before going back to collect Youngest for 11.40am.  I also spent at least two and a half hours of my day on the way to or from the school gates in total, made dinner for the kids, sorted laundry, did the dishes, etc. etc…  😉

[Pic is from here]

Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter

Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!