Tag Archives: Mama Kat Writers Workshop

Eating bon-bons & ending reality tv

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10 things you would do if you didn’t have to work.

What a prompt! I mean seriously… I could come up with a whole lot more than 10!

I’ve been thinking about the list a little and this it assumes that I don’t have to work which would mean that we are financially well off. Right? Well the options are endless then aren’t they?

I’ll try to keep things down to earth though, alright? Good, now lets get this list started.

1. I’d lay on my couch eating bon-bons watching old soap operas like Another World, Days of our Lives, and General Hospital. Why? Well first of all I’ve never done it before (the laying around eating bon-bons part that is) and I like the old soaps because I actually know who some of the characters are and they aren’t all 20 yrs old (or younger based on what they look like now).

2. I’d go back to college. I would start taking random classes that sounded interesting to me. I loved the lectures and things like that when I was in school, hearing what the professors had to say, and sharing their life experiences was interesting to me. Besides it’s amazing how many great classes schools offer now! I would just go to be one of those life long learners not going for any specific degree or for a real purpose.

3. Travel…. you had to know that this one was coming! I would travel, but not the entire world because not everything out there interests me. So I’d carefully plan trips around the US, to Ireland, Scotland, Italy, France, and a few other places. The trips wouldn’t be solely focused on large cities either. I’d make sure that I spent a lot of time driving around the countryside checking out all the old castles, ruins, and other historical areas (I love history). Some of these trips would be with the kids and of course others would be without them.

4. I’d get more into this blogging thing that I’ve been dabbling in for a while. I hear that you can really make a go of it if you put a lot of time and energy into it. It makes sense that if I’m not working, the kids are in school, and the husband is at work that I’d have a lot of free time to do this type of thing, right?

5. Have a tea party. Yes. A real tea party in the afternoon with lots of tasty treats, tea, and mimosas. I’d invite all of my friends (the online ones as well as the in life ones) to join me at some fancy location where we’d chat, enjoy our lunch and dessert, and spend the afternoon together. And yes, they would all come because in my world they wouldn’t have to work either.

6. Take over the world. It’s not likely to happen but if Pinky & the Brain can try it every night I figure that I can give it a whirl too.

7. This one is a little more “normal”. If I didn’t have to work I’d just be a stay at home mom. I’d stay with my kids every day, take them to school, play dates, story time at the library, and lunch in the park. I’d volunteer in their classrooms and go on all the field trips, I’d be a band parent (more than I am now) and be on the PTO. I wouldn’t feel guilty anymore when I hear that my son had a major meltdown at the sitters because he was there longer than he normally is. Mommy guilt will be a thing of the past.

8. Redecorate my house one room at a time until it looked like it came from a Better Homes & Gardens magazine. Oh, I’d do the same thing with my yard…. that would take the longest because it is one hell of a hot mess right now!

9. I have 4 kids and only one of them has their baby book in any sort of order. I think that given the right amount of time and willpower I could actually get the other ones started and looking half way decent!

10. Find a way to end all reality TV shows. Why you ask? Well, because they suck. Every single one of them. I live in reality and those shows are so far from real! I like to watch TV to get away from it all… escape…. and reality TV just annoys me. And I know that I can’t be the only one that feels that way. So, I will put them to an end.

Oh… one last thing. I have this pretty nice DSLR camera… I’d learn to use that thing so I could take awesome pictures of my kids and everything around me.

See… I told you there was more than 10 things!

What about you? What would you do if you didn’t have to work?

Mama’s Losin’ It

The Crash

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Today I’m doing something different for a change…. linking up with Mama Kat’s Writer Workshop. This was something that I used to do on a pretty regular basis and then at some point I stopped.

Mama’s Losin’ It

It was an easy prompt that I choose this week, write about a time you had to crawl through a window. Now there are bound to be all sorts of posts about our misspent youth and all the fun and exciting times that were had after climbing out of the window … if you were lucky enough to not get caught!

My story is a bit different though.

A few years ago some friends from high school and I planned a girls night out and get together. We hadn’t seen each other in years and thought it’d be fun to get out of the house without our kids or husbands and just catch up. So the evening was planned.

I spent a lot of time looking forward to the weekend and finding the perfect outfit to wear, which was a great pair of black pants and my favorite purple heels (I LOVE those shoes). I was ready, on my way, and pretty excited as well.

It was the end of January and winter had it’s tight grip on everything here in Michigan. The ground was covered in snow and it was freezing out but that wasn’t stopping myself or anyone that evening. I decided to take a back road for some reason instead of heading to main (busy) road into the city. This was a mistake.

I drive a 4-wheel drive SUV and it made getting through the snow a lot easier than a car any day. I was able to plow right through the snow drifts with ease, but those drifts aren’t always so easy to get through. I came to a drift mid way down a small hill and the drift grabbed my tires and pulled me towards the ditch so fast that I didn’t have time to think. I screamed as I let go of the wheel and covered my head. I flew into a ditch and then my truck rolled over 4 times in the farm field and then landed upright about 100 feet or so from the road.

An accident happens so fast that you simply don’t have time to react. I remember the truck rolling over and over, but not how many times (my husband told it was 4 times based on the marks in the snow). The sound of it crashing around me as we rolled was frightening.

When the truck lost momentum and came to a stop my heart was racing and I didn’t feel hurt. I scrambled to find my phone on the floor and call 911 and then my husband…. my hands shook as I tried to dial and explain where I was exactly which proved to be harder than I thought.

It wasn’t long before a volunteer was there to help me out of the truck. The door were both jammed because of the roof being caved in and the windows couldn’t be rolled down either. Luckily, the very back window on the drivers side had been totally broken out and I was able to climb to the back and get out that way. I was pretty unhappy that I had to walk through a field of knee deep snow in my shoes.

I was fine. I walked away with minor bumps and bruises, but I’m sorry to say that my truck wasn’t. It was totaled.

If it weren’t for the truck I wouldn’t be here telling you this story today.

We haven’t rescheduled that night out yet either.

truck collage