Slice of This Day March 2025

March 31 – 9:00-9:31 p.m. California

30/Mar/202531/Mar/2025 Denise Krebs23 Comments

Thanks to Dr. Kim Haynes Johnson for coming up with the idea to blog about different 31-minute slices of the day. Thank you to my other 31-minute slicers this year: Kim, Glenda Funk, and Barb Edler. Thank you, as well, to all those in the community of educators at the Slice of Life Story Challenge who helped motivate me to continue writing, and for the joy, challenge, and learning you have given me through your sincere and skillful slicing this year.

I found writing about a small slice of the day to be a rewarding and interesting exercise. I didn’t plan anything special during each day’s timeframe, but instead I enjoyed waiting for it; I just lived my day and paid attention when that time came up. It was easy for the most part and also the first time I’ve ever had a plan for the Slice of Life Story Challenge. In the past, I was on the lookout for slices anytime during the day, collected formats, watched what others wrote, and borrowed ideas. My notes were usually disorganized, but I always had more than enough ideas to make it through the month. This year many opportunity’s like Leigh Ann’s invitation to the Slicer Music Festival passed me by. I just paid attention to my upcoming 31-minute slice. I liked doing something new, but I don’t think I would do this time slicing again. I would consider trying a new plan for the SOLSC next year.

So as this evening’s slice of time draws to a close, I’m finishing up this last post of March with a brief synopsis of what one day in my life looked like this month in 2025. I’m glad I lived this “day” over the whole month instead of in 24 hours.

5:00-5:31 a.m. Read in bed Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy from Donald Trump by Jennifer Rubin.

5:32-6:03 Read more because I couldn’t sleep during the night due to the nonsense going on in Washington.

6:04-6:35 Slept through this slice because of a very busy day yesterday, and a poor night’s sleep the night before.

6:36-7:07 Drove to windy Palm Springs for car repairs.

7:08-7:39 Made tea and read.

7:40-8:11 Wrote a blackout poem about Not-the-State-of-the-Union speech

8:12-8:43 Wrote a Spanish Multilingual Blogger post and tea at Más O Menos.

8:44-9:15 Brewed kombucha.

9:16-9:47 Sold Friends of the Library raffle tickets at the farmers’ market.

9:48-10:19 Sang Spanish worship songs at church

10:20-10:51 Recruited sponsors for the spell-a-thon

10:52-11:23 Tried to finish reading The Probability of Everything

11:24-11:55 Helped solve our plumbing emergency

11:56-12:27 Stitched pillow covers for a gift

12:28-12:59 Visited snow on the nearby peak

1:00-1:31 p.m. Rewrote a poem

1:32-2:03 Met with Activists of Morongo

2:04-2:35 Walked in Remembrance Park to see the saber-tooth tiger

2:36-3:07 Lunched with friends at Billy Reed’s.

3:08-3:39 Hiked at the Hall of Horrors.

3:40-4:11 Backed up the truck and then retrieved my husband’s hat at a restaurant.

4:12-4:43 Got dinner prepped for company and tried to finish a borrowed book.

4:44-5:15 Joined Trans Rights Readathon

5:16-5:47 Hiked alone

5:48-6:19 Prevented glucose spikes

6:20-6:51 Caused glucose spikes

6:52-7:23 Enjoyed the setting sun

7:24-7:55 Watched Opening Day for Arizona Diamondbacks*

7:56-8:27 Multitasked: T.V. and Duolingo

8:28-8:59 Rerun evening slice, so instead I blogged about grasping from earlier in the day.

9:00-9:31 Summarized and reflected on this year’s Slice of Life Story Challenge.

*D-Backs beat the Cubs on Sunday, 10-6. I guess I’m enjoying this MLB app more than I thought I would.

Now, we continue our writing adventure. Tomorrow the Slice of Life community continues on Tuesdays. See you then. I also want to invite anyone who would like to join us at Ethical ELA’s VerseLove, with classroom-ready poetry prompts each day during National Poetry Month. I’ll be hosting on Thursday this week. (It was five years ago that Glenda invited us at the end of the SOLSC, and I’ve been enjoying being part of that community ever since. Do come and give it a try.)

Google form to sign up for VerseLove: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe8TToS8lWxzgrOGHmE-2GshPt24-Oa3ln4bruuNZ0zQMLIqg/viewform

March 30 – 8:28-8:59 p.m. California

29/Mar/202529/Mar/2025 Denise Krebs12 Comments

Well, tonight it’s 8:30 p.m., and this evening looks a lot like last evening did. Person of Interest and earlier we watched another Diamondbacks game. They lost in the bottom of the 9th with the tying run getting tagged at third as he overran the base. So disappointing.

Since my evenings are on rerun this week, I decided to blog about something from earlier today during this slice of my day.

My hubby and I took a walk, and while we were out, I took a half dozen photos trying to illustrate GRASP, which is the photo-of-the-day prompt with @365PictureToday.

That’s my husband down below in the wash. I took a different route for part of our hike.

I took a lot of pictures like this, with and without my shadow, grasping my hiking pole.

This is the one I chose for Instagram today.

Since I haven’t written a poem yet today, I wrote a dictionary poem during this time too.

grasp /grăsp/ (v.)

To take hold of or seize firmly with the hand, the foot, another body part, or an instrument.
- Grasp the handle of the hiking stick and breathe deeply. Let go of the other distractions. Grasp only what is needed for the moment. With your heart, seize firmly to love instead of stuff.
To hold with the arms; embrace.
- I’ve grasped onto you for 42 years, and you are my reason. Grasping you in worry and fear brings solace and hope. Hold on to me.
To take hold of intellectually; comprehend.
- Is it too late for all of us in the U.S. to grasp the history of this nation? To learn that our history runs deep and wide in white supremacy, greed, power, and nonsense.
- Will there be hope that lie-addicted folks will someday grasp what they have lost? What we have all lost?

March 29 – 7:56-8:27 p.m. California

28/Mar/202529/Mar/2025 Denise Krebs16 Comments

This time of the evening, we often watch two episodes of our latest show. That show is usually an old series we watch through before we choose another. We’ve watched all the episodes of Monk and S.W.A.T., and now we are watching Person of Interest.

Often I can relax and enjoy one-and-a-half hours of TV, but not in March. I find it difficult to only watch. I am usually busy reading and commenting on posts, writing my post for the next day, or, like tonight, studying Duolingo lessons for the day. Keith watches our show; I barely take notice of it. Here I am doing Spanish, while hubby was in the kitchen. (After he took the photo of me, I mean.)

Another common part of this slice of my day is to have a cup of herb tea.

I didn’t make any mistakes tonight in all four of the lessons I did in Duolingo. That is really unusual for me!

I’m hanging in in the Diamond Tournament this week.

By the way, the Diamondbacks beat the Cubs 8-1 tonight.

March 28 – 7:24-7:55 p.m. California

27/Mar/202528/Mar/2025 Denise Krebs9 Comments

It’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball. Thanks to T-Mobile, we got a free subscription to watch MLB for this season. Tonight’s game, the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Chicago Cubs, is bringing back lots of memories.

We haven’t lived near a ballpark for over 20 years. When my kids were young, we were all baseball fans. They still are, so when we go to Minneapolis and Seattle, we usually go with our kids to a game.

Baseball started for my girls with the 1998 Arizona Diamondback expansion team. We lived just down the freeway from Bank One Ballpark (now called Chase Stadium) and we were all delighted when Phoenix was chosen for the new NL team that year. My husband took my kids out of school for afternoon Opening Day games more than once those next six years.

Other memories around the Diamondbacks are fond. My kids were 7 and 9 when the team started, and the franchise was very family-friendly. We would bring a van full of us, plus the extra three seats were filled with neighbors or school friends. There were $1-seat sections in the ballpark back then, $5 parking, and home-packed dinners. It was a cheap family outing, and we did it dozens of times those first years.

To the 1999 AZ Diamondback team,
you have all gone your way, retired now.
When we watch tonight, I have
memories of those strong years.
Our family favorite was Luis “Gonzo” Gonzalez
who entertained us with his hitting streaks.
Then Randy Johnson’s no-hitter and record
number of Ks, and Jay Bell’s grand slam
that made a fan a million dollars.
All-Stars, all of you.
Thank you for the memories.

Tonight’s game started at 7:10 PT.

By 7:24, the Diamondbacks scored their first run: 1-0. They lost the lead in the second inning, though.

At 7:26, Keith said, “I’d be okay not watching the whole game.”

I said, “Well, I want to watch until at least 7:55. This is my Slice of the day.” We turned it off a little after 8:00. Then later, we watched the ninth inning.

My guess is we won’t be using the T-Mobile perk too much, but it’s nice to know it’s there when we want to watch a little baseball.

Postscript: The Cubs won the game, 10-5.

March 27 – 6:52-7:23 p.m. California

26/Mar/202527/Mar/2025 Denise Krebs13 Comments

Tonight I came out as this sweet slice of my day began. The sun was just setting. The weather was perfect as I read and commented on some Slices of Life from my friends. This month is almost finished, and I will be relieved when it’s over. However, I have enjoyed every day in March, and I love getting to better know my writing friends through their writing.

One of the blog posts I read this evening was Barb Elder’s “Cowpoking: Writing Advice”, with an added sijo poem. I tried a simple draft using this form.

Breezes blowing through the bent
palo verde tree shiver and ride

the waves of air whispering
in this perfectly springing day

Soon it will be too hot and I
will remember this evening

March 26 – 6:20-6:51 p.m. California

25/Mar/202526/Mar/2025 Denise Krebs14 Comments

When today’s time began, my sister and I were sitting around the table. I had invited her over for a Reuben, both of our favorite sandwich. We had finished eating, and I was busy munching on cookies she had brought over. (I ate the sweets after dinner at least, but I had too many, and no walking afterwards. Tonight, my lowering A1C post from yesterday seemed just a distant memory that I don’t really believe.)

I left the table, and within the 31 minutes, I:

read three books to Indy (my sister’s granddaughter)
watched a bit of Baby Shark’s Space Adventure (it nearly put me over the edge)
began helping my sister attach a document to an application she made for a county building permit

And that was the end of today’s slice. I hit some snags, had to change passwords, and more. It took 40 minutes for me to figure out how to attach that document!

Heather Morris wrote a delightful poem yesterday about a bad habit that brings her joy. After my dinner, I wrote a poem about one of my worst habits; but unfortunately, it still brings me joy.

I want to eat healthy. I do.
But my bad habit is deep;
I eat too many sweets.

The Glucose Goddess
inspires me somedays,
but too often doesn’t

I will keep up the fight,
finding ways to eat healthy
keeping just a little sweetness

March 25 – 5:48-6:19 p.m. California

24/Mar/202524/Mar/2025 Denise Krebs20 Comments

For dinner, I ate some raw carrots and then a BBQ pork sandwich. Then I took a 10-minute walk around my yard.

The last two times I’ve had blood work, my A1C was in the prediabetic range. The number went up a tenth of a point each time. I don’t want that to keep happening, so I decided this time I needed to do something about making it go down instead of up. Have you heard of the Glucose Goddess? She is Jessie Inchauspé, a French biochemist and author. She suggests some ways to eat to avoid glucose spikes, which hopefully will help the A1C go down. (I’ll have it tested again in April, so I’ll let you know if it worked.)

In the meantime, here are some of the easy hacks for keeping your blood sugar on an even keel:

Eat vegetables or salad first.
Have a savory breakfast.
Move after you eat.
Choose savory snacks.
Eat sweets after a meal only, not for a snack.
Dress up your carbs–with protein, fat or fiber (e.g., avocado toast or hummus and pita).