I’d Rather Be Cozy

The prompt for SoCS is: Find a word that rhymes with “rosy” or use the word “rosy” and base your post on it. Enjoy!

I wrote a post last night but didn’t post it, because I was very dozy, having worked all day on the house that was my parents’ trying to clean it out of the last of their possessions that seem to go on and on…. The good news is, we have a buyer! And I told the realtor I’d have the house emptied by June 1. Well, the buyer wants to get started renovating, etc, so will remove whatever we leave.  Now I’m bringing stuff to our newly renovated house an hour north and trying to make it cozy without being cluttered. It’s a challenging task. But I know this is first world problems – having too much stuff. I’m still donating. I think I’ll always be donating.

So this morning, having slept well, I’m writing about creating cozy. But first I’ll report on something that was the opposite of cozy. I finished my RAD self-defense class at the Sheriff’s Department Thursday night. I didn’t do as well as I would have liked and can think of all kinds of moves and techniques I could have used during simulation #2 when I sort of panicked and gave the “stop” command to end the simulation. In the first simulation, when the “attacker” grabbed me, I fell HARD on my butt. It still hurts two days later, and so do my arms and legs. I restarted simulation #2 and completed it. The simulation scenarios get harder as they go, so I took good care of myself and decided to not do simulation/scenario # 3. I’m cultivating feelings of self-esteem about this taking care of myself by declining the final simulation. What I’ve learned or been reminded of during these simulations is that I do not like conflict at all, and I have too much imagination. (I knew they were pretend, but it felt real to me.) I’ve also decided that if I’m in a situation like this again and feel trapped with no way out, I will pray out loud and sing “Amazing Grace.” I will pray for my attacker. I wish I’d thought of that Thursday night, but I was so far the opposite of cozy, I sort of turned into a marshmallow for a minute or two. But I did get back on the horse so to speak. I did okay for a 63 year old grandma. The simulations were very realistic with the “attackers” talking trash.  Yep, if I’m ever in this situation, I’m gonna pray for them and me. But first, I’ll do the knee to the groin and the hammer fist and any other moves I can. But the main goal is to prevent the violence.

Today, I hope and plan to have a peaceful day, cozying up my house with my mom’s angels and things. The house is cluttered right now, but Mom’s hutch fits nicely into the hallway alcove.

(I was going to give you a photo but my phone and computer are not cooperating and I don’t want to mess up my peaceful day. Ommmmm.

Here’s a picture of some of Mom’s angels and her angel shelf I brought to my home.

Here’s wishing your Saturday is all you want it to be!

…

SoCS is all about going with the flow. For more information, visit Linda Hill’s blog:

https://lindaghill.com/category/stream-of-consciousness-saturday/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Slowly I Turned

Here’s the prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “adverb.” Start your post with any adverb and just run with it. Have fun!

What popped into my head was something from my teen years. Early teens I think. Or younger. It was a little game we played of suspense with these lines:

“S l o w l y I turned. Step by step. Inch by inch,” one of us would say, drawing out the words with an evil look in our eyes, building suspense….. and then,

“GOTCHA!” We’d grab the other person, maybe tickle them or something. I guess it would work better in the dark, or candle light. A sleep-over with a seance. (Hey, I spelled it right!) I don’t think we ever had serious seances. Just lit a candle and spooked ourselves silly.

Speaking of suspense, I’ve been taking a RAD course (Rape Aggression Defense) like Jami wrote about in her blog.   

There are four classes and they’re FREE at the Sheriff’s Department. I have one more class to go. The instructors who are sheriff deputies said the last class will include simulations where we will be presented with scenarios to practice our skills. It sounds like we are going to be pretend attacked by unknown actors who are really law enforcement people. We will all be wearing padding. And helmets. I’m a little anxious about it. The class is thorough and interesting. It has shown me how much I don’t like conflict. Most people describe me a calm. I guess I am mild-mannered. The RAD instructors, one in particular, seem to try to make us mad, so we will fight back hard. It feels foreign to me, yet once or twice, it sort of felt good to get mad. Like I have this secret dark side. (It’s not a secret to those closest to me who have seen me mad, though not often.)

So it should come as no surprise that I don’t like slapstick (unless it’s Steve Martin) or the three stooges cause they’re always hitting each other. But I got curious about that “Slowly I turn…” business and looked it up. It’s an old vaudeville routine. I found some videos with the stooges that I didn’t look at and thought the one with Lucy would be okay.  Well, there is hitting. She’s so funny and gets triggered by the name of “the other woman.” I guess we all have our triggers.

 

Lucy was always such a good sport.

Yeah, so I don’t fit the stereotype about redheads and temper. But if I get triggered once in a blue moon, watch out!

PS. I should clarify that everything in the RAD classes is completely voluntary and there are plenty of check ins to make sure we’re okay.

PPS. Here’s my plan: practice the moves and cultivate CONFIDENCE.

…

For more on the SoCS, visit Linda’s blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/05/17/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-18-19/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Awesome Stories 281

My favorite in the batch of “Awesome Stories” is the one about the two women on opposite sides of a conflict in Columbia. Both are in prison for killing people in the conflict. They found common ground in that they are human and demonstrate a “Model of Reconciliation.” Listening to the story of someone we consider our enemy builds a bridge to peace and even friendship.

writing to freedom

This week Awesome Stories brings you cardboard homes, prison friendship, solar success and precious jewelry.

Amazing Cardboard Homes

This is a pretty interesting project. Students built homes made from cardboard to demonstrate easier and more sustainable construction possibilities. I wish I could find an article with more info. Here is a nice collection of photos of their amazing cardboard homes.

Prison Friendship

This is a remarkable story of healing and forgiveness. Claudia and Ciliana are two women from opposite sides of the conflict in Columbia. Both are serving time in prison for killing people in the uprisings. After being assigned as cellmates, they began to get to know the person beyond the roles they played and found that they had much in common. Most of all, they didn’t want to cause any more harm. They realized it was time to go beyond the ideologies that create conflict and war, and…

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