Swish, swash, swish, swash. The dishwasher moves the water around noisily as I sit on the couch with my laptop. I’m preparing to write about this Writer’s Workshop prompt: “Listen to the sounds in your house for 5 or 10 minutes. Write about what you hear.” I’m thinking, “5 or 10 minutes to write a blog post! I can do that!”
Just as I open the “Add New Post” browser I hear footsteps on the stairs. A little voice says, “Mom, I can’t sleep.” I look up at my 7 year old and sigh. She has a big test tomorrow, and I’m supposed to make sure she gets plenty of sleep. Lately she hasn’t been going to sleep by 8:00 the way she used to. I take her upstairs to her bedroom. As I lie down next to her, she starts talking about what makes a sentence, and how it takes more than just a capital letter and a punctuation mark to make a real sentence. My tired brain has a hard time following what she is saying; we are whispering so that we won’t disturb her little sister. Her mind is churning with information she has learned at school today, and she seems far from sleep. I know that if I stay, she won’t be able to stop talking. I tell her it’s time to be quiet; she needs to sleep. I tiptoe downstairs.
The dishwasher has run through the wash and rinse cycle, and is now quiet. The window is open. The crickets chirp. I settle back on the couch to write my blog post. The only sound I hear from upstairs is the whirring of the fan in the hallway. Finally I have 5 minutes to myself to write this blog post. Until I hear the key in the front door, and Ed walks in.
That sounds very much like bedtime at my house these days!
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It's been hard to adjust to our back-to-school bedtimes, that's for sure!
My recent post Just 5 or 10 minutes…
That's always the way it is, isn't it? Never 5 minutes to rub together. Sigh…
I never seem to have enough time to do anything! Oh, well! Thanks for stopping by!
My recent post Just 5 or 10 minutes…
I think Lily needs to teach some of my college students about sentences!
I'll send her over! 😉
My recent post Just 5 or 10 minutes…
Oh, I love the idea of using a writing prompt. Sometimes it takes a while for me to come up with new blog posts! Found you via SITS.
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I use writing prompts a lot…they help with the whole creative process! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. 😀
My recent post Just 5 or 10 minutes…
DOH!!! Dagnabbit, the one night you needed traffic to be a little slower. .. I do feel for your little one with the test, and I love the way her sounds became the bulk of the post.
Thanks! I hoping everything goes okay for her…I'm wondering if she'll be tired when she comes home! (She's taking a standardized test which takes most of the day, poor thing!)
My recent post Just 5 or 10 minutes…
Yep, you finally get five minutes to yourself and then there's always one more thing coming at ya! Oh well, it makes life more interesting, right? 😉
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That's right…when I have an empty nest I'm going to miss all the commotion!
My recent post Just 5 or 10 minutes…
I totally know the feeling! (Sounds like our place 🙂 I haven't been around the SITS girls site recently….kinda have fallen out of the "writing prompt" thing (I think ever since they started charging for linky-tools and I stopped blog-hopping….although I used to really enjoy it!)
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It's not like you haven't had a lot going on in your life, Chris! 😉 Unlike me, you don't need writing prompts…your writing is beautiful and thought provoking!
My recent post Just 5 or 10 minutes…
Yup, sounds like my home lately! Everyone's schedule is shifting or just plain crazy! Nights like this are the reason I've been silent in the blogging world. I am hoping some sort of quiet at a decent hour is in my near future!
I hope so, too! "Decent hour" are the key words!
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