December 29, 2009 – Write From Karen

The boys are at their cousins’ house playing games, laughing themselves silly and drinking copious amounts of soda.

They’re having fun and I’m glad.

But I miss them.

*****

Kevin got a really strange call from his company’s alarm provider. It was enough for him to fairly sprint to the bedroom, change from his comfy sweats to jeans and then high tail it out to his truck. I fretted and worried about him on Twitter and was just about to call him, when I heard the garage door open.

Meeting him at the door, I learned that though his office was okay, the building did indeed have some smoke pouring out of it, but at the opposite end of the building. Fire trucks were already there when he arrived and they walked through his office to make sure everything was okay.

Kevin has had to field several late night alarm calls over the years and though he’s left to physically check on the office, all of them turned out to be false alarms. What was different about this call was the call itself. The operator didn’t say, “there is an alarm,” but rather “there is a fire and the fire trucks are already there.” That slight difference was enough to throw Kevin into full-scale alarm mode. Which in turn freaked me out because he’s usually so calm when these things happen.

It all ended well, but it was still pretty creepy.

*****

We have a really busy day ahead of us tomorrow. I have to pick the boys up from their cousins’ house pretty early so they can get home, shower and rest up so we can go over to my mom and dad’s house for our Christmas get together (our weather didn’t cooperate on Christmas day). We’ll likely be there all afternoon.

Then, tomorrow night, we’re going over to my sister-in-law’s to play “Settlers of Catan.” The boys will play pool or the Wii with yet more cousins.

I wager they are going to be exhausted by the time we get home tomorrow night.

*****

I started a photo blog. It’s all Jen’s fault. She’s participating in Project 365 and started a photo blog so she can post her photos and I thought, “why not?”

And I did the same. I will give ya’ll the link to the photo blog January 1st.

I actually tried to do this at the beginning of 2009 and got all the way to March before I fizzled out. I now know that the ONLY way I’ll be able to pull this off is if I

A. get in the HABIT of taking my camera with me everywhere and then USING it

and B. if I train myself to LOOK for photo opportunities – even in the most mundane of things.

I can’t promise mind-blowing photos, but it should be fun, nonetheless.

*****

I now know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I’m a full-fledged idiot. For those that don’t know, I got a DS for Christmas and I’ve been playing “Professor Layton and the Curious Village”. It’s a mystery game slash puzzle game and the puzzles are totally kicking my a$$.

I mean, TOTALLY. I mean, SO BADLY that I’m having to cheat in order to even MOVE PAST the darn thing.

It’s quite embarrassing to admit that I am indeed STUPID.

But I’m having fun (as long as I can eventually cheat my way through it!)

*****

I”m writing my 2010 Anti-Resolution / Goals posts. I looked over my list from last year and I’ll post my thoughts on THAT soon.

*****

I need to take our Christmas tree down.

*sad face*

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Fiction under 250 words.

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“Can this light be any slower?”

Debbie impatiently tapped the tips of her brand new French manicured nails on the steering wheel. Her lips moved silently as she chastised herself for not running the light. If she had, she’d be inside the building and on her way to THE interview of her life. She would never forgive herself if she didn’t get the job – since when was she a law-abiding citizen?

She glanced in her side mirror and noticed a blood red SUV right on her rear bumper. She huffed in irritation and lifted her eyes to study the woman behind the wheel. The woman was sitting ramrod straight and perfectly still. Her face was expressionless, her teeth were clenched and she appeared to be staring directly into Debbie’s eyes.

Debbie blinked and averted her gaze. What was that woman’s problem? She was just sitting there, she couldn’t go, it was a red light. She shifted her eyes to the road and noted with a start, there were no cars coming toward her. She could safely go. But what if there was a cop close by? What if he saw her run the light and stopped her? She would really be late then.

She inched her mustang a few inches ahead. She caught the SUV’s impatient lurch in the corner of her eye. She looked in her side mirror again. The woman flipped her off with an angry flick.

Debbie chuckled and smiled for the first time that day.