Tag: #sol23

March 12 – Dining Room Update

Denise Krebs5 Comments

March 12, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Today was a beautiful spring day, so we got back to finishing our dining room table and benches after almost three weeks. The delay was due to cold weather and a sweet visit from my daughter and her baby (my grandson!!). Today we were able to begin again. (You can see photos of the beginning of the dining room job here.) The dining room table looks like this now, after three coats of varnish. We aren’t using it yet. I’ll be sanding it and buffing it tomorrow, so then it should be ready for use.

We finished building the sides of the benches, sanded, leveled, oiled and stained them all today.

A stink bug hung around for a while

My sister is such a skilled worker. She measured so carefully and fit the edges together like a jigsaw puzzle.
Seeing if the lid sits on without wobbling (It didn’t yet) The lids were formerly leaves in our dining room table.
Leveling off the corners so the lid will fit (It doesn’t wobble now)
Oil and stain application
Staining finished – Ready for varnish tomorrow

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!

March 11 – Disco Dancing

Denise Krebs15 Comments

March 11, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

 

Tonight I did something I haven’t done in 40+ years. Disco danced!

We got a new remote control light for the ceiling, a light to brighten up a dark spot in our living room. I turned it on tonight and found a setting with a flashing rainbow light. I was surprised and then it made me smile. I said, “Oh, it’s like a disco ball! We can have a dance in here.”

 

Within moments, my husband was playing “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees loudly from the speaker. It made me laugh, and then I started dancing!

Next, “Play Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive,'” I said, as I took off my sweater.

I have always loved that song, but it reminds me of one of the first viral videos I ever saw. (In 1999, the only platform we had to share funny videos and other digital material was email. Who else remembers all those FWD:ed emails?)

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!

March 10 – 3, 2, 1 para el #MultiFri

Denise Krebs7 Comments

March 9, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Ayer leí Tammy Evans’ post. “3,2,1 – tres ideas, dos citas, y una pregunta,” de James Clear y Elizabeth Griffin. Aquí está mi post:

3 ideas

Me encanta aprender.

La vida es tan corta.

Escrito es bueno para mi corazón.

2 citas

“Cambiar el mundo, amigo Sancho, no es locura ni utopía, sino justicia.” ~Miguel de Cervantes (Don Quixote)

“Comer bien. Vivir bien. Que estes bien.” ~bolsa del supermercado Calimax

1 pregunta

¿Alguna vez hablaré español?

 

En marzo, estoy participando en el desafiar del Loncha de Vida. Hoy es el #MultiFri. Gracias, Two Writing Teachers y Jennifer M.

March 9 – A Tiny Slivers Timeline of Yesterday

Denise Krebs4 Comments

March 9, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Last year I wrote a Slice of Life of my day using some tiny poetry forms. I remembered it this morning, and decided to try it again, so here is a tiny timeline of my day yesterday using septercets–a poetry form of three lines, each with seven syllables.

5:26 a.m.
Alarm rings, but hubby sleeps
Stumble around finding clothes
Make a cup of tea to go

6:00 a.m.
Pick up my sister and dogs
Drop them at the dog-sitters
Head out for her appointments

7:20 a.m.
Read in the parking structure
The Confession by Grisham
A satisfactory end

8:05 a.m.
At last, found Sherman’s Deli
Ordered corned beef hash, eggs, and
bagel with cream cheese to share.

9:00 a.m.
Trader Joe’s, Michael’s, Target
Shopping time before the next
doctor’s appointment for her

10:30 a.m.
No Internet, now no book
Enjoyed the breeze and the birds
and played FreeCell on my phone

11:15 a.m.
Costco — the hundred dollar
store is now, the more-than-a-
hundred store. Samples for lunch.

1:10 p.m.
Keith put the battery in
Lori’s pickup, which is why
she hadn’t driven herself

4:00 p.m.
At last, sanded and added
the first coat of varnish to
my renovated table

7:30 p.m.
Curled up on my half of
loveseat and slept, (rare for me)
Probably snoring occurred

9:00 p.m.
Wrote a post: White Women book
giveaway. (Oh, no!! Too late!!)
Free book club still open, though

9:20 p.m.
Couldn’t think of a new post,
so I doom-scrolled. What is wrong
with our country? Racism!

11:00 p.m.
Went to sleep, thinking too much,
I should have read, not listened
to all the bias out there.

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!

March 8 – Our Skylight, Part 2

Denise Krebs5 Comments

March 8, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Yesterday I wrote about our new skylight, and then around 12:30 a.m. I woke up and, noticing the brightness of the full moon coming in my window, I went out to check out the skylight. I was welcomed with this site, so I decided to write part 2 today.

Speaking of skylights, I was reminded of a story from last spring. My children gave my husband a Skylight picture frame for his birthday gift. However, before it arrived, we had to leave on a six-week trip. Here is part of our text messages on his birthday, the day after we left.

After they told us it was a skylight frame, and we thought about it for a half a minute, we said to each other, “I wonder why they chose to get that?” “How did they know what size we’re going to need? We don’t even know yet.” “I wonder how big it will be? Will the post office be able to hold it for us?”

We were curious and wondered how that was going to work, but we figure we’d know eventually.

Later that month we saw our kids in Minneapolis and they explained to us it wasn’t a skylight frame, it was a Skylight picture frame! (We had never heard of such a thing!)

When we got home from our six-week trip, we discovered that, indeed, the Post Office could hold it for us. It wasn’t very big at all! Keith had fun pretending it was our real skylight frame and testing it out for size. Then he showed them he figured it out at last!

And speaking of that full moon, here it is rising this evening…

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!

 

March 6 – A Reading Day

Denise Krebs11 Comments

March 6, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Sunday was a lazy lovely day. After I went to the Slice of Life meet up and heard all the passionate educators sharing what they are reading, I was inspired. You see, I have been neglecting my reading. So, I made this chilly and windy day one to sit and read.

First I finished Garvey’s Choice by Nikki Grimes–what a precious novel in verse, all written in tankas, five-line poems with syllable counts of 5-7-5-7-7. What a feat. The character development and storytelling was beautiful and compelling, all in such limited words. Here is a summary of the book in a tanka.

Garvey smart, unsure
Football? Or chess and sci-fi?
He knows what Dad wants, but
He follows his path, now he
And Dad connect with music

Then I started a John Grisham novel The Confession because my husband just finished and enjoyed it. I wanted something easy to read before I tackle two books for book studies starting this month. Tomorrow I’ll start reading White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better by Regina Jackson and Saira Rao (with @kindcotton) and On Critical Race Theory by Victor Ray (with @taniastake)

 

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!

March 5 – Golden Moments

Denise Krebs4 Comments
Wise words I return to often are these: “You’re either in your head, or you’re in your life.” And I want to be in my life!
What if our only purpose really is to be present? To shine?
Like light.
The quote above is from a recent blog post of Irene Latham, award-winning poet and author. Do visit and enjoy her post here. I took a portion of her quote and wrote a golden shovel poem. The Golden Shovel poetry form was created by Terrance Hayes.  “Golden shovel poetry is a poetic form that takes a word from each line of an existing poem and uses them as the last word of each line in a new poem.” ~MasterClass definition, and you can read more here.
What can I say except this day is precious and
if it must be my last, I will live it contentedly.
Our world will go on without me, and finally
only LOVE will prevail. But if I get another day, on
purpose I will live it–
really live it. Even if it
is just sitting inside, staying warm,
to read and write, I can still
be here, in this place, fully alive, opening this sweet
present.
~Denise Krebs

 

On another note: Grandparenting is not for sissies. The day after my grandbaby left, I slept in until 8 a.m., and I thought I had missed the Slice of Life meet up. Before I posted my Saturday slice, I started to add a little apology for not showing up when I had signed up. Instead, when I went to the Two Teachers blog and saw the sign up sheet still there, I realized something was amiss. I did a quick calendar check and realized I had another day to remember. And I did. I had a lovely golden moment time connecting with  Jennifer K., Jennifer M., Kim Johnson, Erica J., Stacey Shubitz, Glenda Funk, Ramona, Kate Narita, Dr. Carla Michelle Brown, Heidi C., and Margaret. Life is sweet, and it was a treasure opening the gift of meeting new people today. I wish I could have been in a small group with each of them. I’m looking forward to reading their blogs today!

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers! 

 

March 4 – Driving Nap

Denise Krebs7 Comments
March 4, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

On Friday, my daughter’s last day of her visit here, the roofers came early. They were walking around on our plywood roof doing last minute prep work before the new shingles could be added. It included pounding, sweeping, stomping, rolling, vacuuming, and lots of who-knows-what-in-the-heck-else. Then the forklift came and placed pallets of shingles up on the roof.

And then it was time for my sweet little grandson to take his morning nap.

A nap seemed unlikely to happen at home, so we left on a trip to Joshua Tree National Park.

It was a nap trip. (I think it was the first time I’ve ever gone through the park without stopping to get out of the car. Thank you, taxpayers and United States NPS, for the lifetime senior pass I am so blessed to have.) He slept for about 45 minutes, then we stopped for coffee in Twentynine Palms, and finally–home again. After that, it wasn’t long before I had to take them to the airport.

Meanwhile the pounding on the roof was continuing, and I was happy to get to miss it for a couple more hours.

 

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!