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Things I would do if I were rich

04 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by in Non-Fiction

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While I have recently written a post about how having too much money makes a person lose their grip on reality, it seems I am in a constant state of not having enough money. So logically the only thing I can think of is all the things I would do if I had enough money to not have to worry about not having enough money. So, a list. This list shall include what I would do if I suddenly had money and what I would do with said money over time.

  • I would first pay off all of my debt. This is currently about $22,000
  • I would buy my husband and I new cars. Within reason, of course. I wouldn’t drop a bunch on a new Lambo for him or anything.
  • I would pay off the house. We’ve lived in it for thirteen years now, and he’s paid the payment. I don’t know how much said payment is, and I don’t know how much we still owe. But I would 1000% take care of that nonsense.
  • I would obviously take care of the necessary repairs on the thing. I need a new roof, if I’ve not mentioned that.
  • I would set aside money for my child in a savings account. This would be used for whatever she needed it for in the future.
  • I would start a small business.
    • This has been a pipe dream of mine for some time. I would either buy a building or a piece of property and build a building for this small business.
    • It would be a place for me to make and sell jewelry, resin and clay crafts, and other things I’ve wanted to do over the years.
    • I would also have my own private office space where I could work and write and all the things I don’t get to do in this universe.
    • I’ve also imagined owning a large building, like an old grocery store, and dividing it up into workspaces for people to rent out. They could make their craft or preform their service and there would be a storefront where everyone could sell their products. There would also be a coffee shop and baked goods and sandwiches. And maybe a book nook/bookstore.
  • There would be a significant portion of my money that I mysteriously came into possession of donated to charity, either by way of an already established one or one I created on my own.

Now, don’t look at me and say, “Crystal, dreams come true if you just work hard and—“

Shoosh, just shoosh. I don’t care what we were told growing up and what I now realize I have told my child on multiple occasions. It takes way more than working hard to make dreams come true. Dedication, willpower, energy, and there is one other thing I can’t remember… OH WAIT MONEY. I have $17 in my bank account right now.

And to be perfectly honest with you, I am only here right now, writing this post because I told myself, “No, Crystal. Regardless of whether anyone reads this blog or not, seeing how many days in a row you could post is a personal challenge, not a challenge set and monitored by anyone else. You are going to make a post even if you have to sound absolutely bonkers doing it.”

Plus, I really like seeing that little notification pop up telling me what day of the streak I am on (this should be day seventeen, ironically). I’m probably going to take a screenshot of it and add it to the post, post posting. Wait.

Anywho, I am a long way off before I beat my record. I think, there were some Glitches with Birthday Month Blogs and it didn’t pick them all up right. That was 31 posts.

I have no idea what’s coming in the next few posts, I didn’t know what has going on with this one. Until I realized that if I closed my eyes for too long, I would fall asleep. I’ve only blinked like three times the entirety of this post.

If you’ve stuck around through this entire post, I salute you. If you’ve read a single one of my posts in, well, ever, Fist bump yourself for me. I appreciate it. My husband doesn’t even read them.

Goodnight.

Oh wait don’t leave yet!

If you observed The Drawing Challenge Post, my niece chose a duck. She’s the only one who comments on my youtube.

Also, eventually I’m gonna make a sticker out of the sunflower. I post about that soon too.

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Timed Writing Challenge?

01 Thursday Dec 2022

Posted by in Fiction

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25 minutes to write something?

As the rental car rolled to a stop on the dark road, her fear increased by the moment. Valeria Ingram had been in the passenger seat of the rental for eight hours. She and her fiancé Eduardo Phillips had been driving home from a weekend with her family. They had decided that driving would Take be more interesting and way cheaper than buying a plain ticket.

And they were right.

They’d had an unusually uneventful weekend with her family. Uneventful meaning she didn’t walk away from the experience with regrets. Her family was loud and rowdy and opinionated. Her parents constantly asked why they weren’t married yet, her older brothers harassed Ed, attempting to involve him in shenanigans. And all the nieces and nephews could drain a persons energy pretty quickly.

But nothing happened that wasn’t typical of her family, no one was rushed to the emergency room this time, there were no Turkey-to-fireball situations like thanksgiving last year.

It was the ride home that was currently causing her distress.

It began fine, with them packing the truck with their luggage and all the nonsense that her mother sent them home with. Hugs and shoulder squeezes goodbye. Then they liked themselves into the car and drove off, waving out their windows as they did so.

When the got off her parents stewed and headed toward the highway entrance ramp the discussed plans for the next eight or so hours ahead. They had snacks in the car so they wouldn’t need to stop for food until lunchtime, when they’d also have a bathroom break. They’d agreed on a scenic route to see small town landmarks they missed on the way end. Typical road trip stuff.

It was a few hours in when things began to grow, strange. Ed, who’d made the executive decision that he should drive the whole way, began to stare blankly out the windshield. It took Val a minute to realize it wasn’t your typical, “I’ve been driving a while” stare. His demeanor would change, his shoulders would tense, his grip on the steering wheel would tighten, and she could see the muscles in his jaw tighten from clenching.

After a while, noticing these episodes come and go, she asked, “You okay, Ed?”

He seemed to immediately snap out if it when she spoke up. “What? Yeah, fine. Why?” He’d asked.

“You just looked a little tense there, you wanna switch out? I can drive a while.” She offered.

“No I’m fine!” He said cheerfully. “We’re not far from a rest stop. I’ll hope out, stretch my legs a bit, just getting a crap.”

“Oh, okay,” she sighed, relieved. “I could use a stretch myself.

He seemed fine the rest of the trip to the rest stop, where they both got out, stretched their legs. Valeria decided she’d step into the small building that held the restrooms. There was always brochures and fliers for local attractions and parks. She liked collecting them on trips.

She picked one up for a local fall festival, a giant rock that had a gift shop and a dinner named after it, and something called The Lion’s Den. It appeared to be an old youth camp. It was on their way home, and on what appeared to be a lovely lake.

They climbed back into the car and got buckled in. She showed Ed the brochures before they pulled out, The Lion’s Den was on top. “What’s this?” He asked, a muscle in his jaw clenching.

“Oh, just some brochures.” Val tapped a finger on the Lions Den. “That looks like it was an old camp! I think they rent out the cabins for vacationers now.” She shrugged. “Seemed neat.” She said. “It’s on a lake!”

“I didn’t realize we were so close.” He mumbled.

“What?” Val wasn’t sure she hear him right.

“I just said I didn’t realize there was anything like that near here.” He shifted the car into gear and pulled out a little faster than he should have.

“Oh.” She sensed something was off.

A few more hours in and she’d been trying to shrug off the bad vibe she was getting from her fiancé, when they stopped for lunch at an old fashioned drive-in diner. She became distracted by the old fashioned menu boards, speaker you could hang on your window for music, and the car hop’s on roller skates.

They both ordered a burger, but they each got different sides to share. She got a raspberry shake, and he got the car hop’s recommendation, a fresh squeezed strawberry lemonade. As they ate, Ed seemed to relax, he tension seemed to release and his was becoming closer to his old self.

Story Completed Here

Challenge failed? I’m dozing off sitting up. But I know where I wanna go and it’ll be finished tomorrow!! Goodnight!

Drawing Challenge 1

30 Wednesday Nov 2022

Posted by in Arts & Crafts, Non-Fiction

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With a surprise question for my niece.

This whole video would look better if I’d spent more time on it. And if my iPad would have stopped telling me it had no memory and stopping my screen recording!

The Drawing Challenge

I needed a creative outlet that I could feasibly do that had very little expectation, for myself and others. And because I love that random generators take some of the work out of whatever it is I’m trying to do, I pulled my favorite website up and found their “Random Things To Draw” link (go to “more”).

I wanted to use Procreate on my iPad because I knew I could screen record some of the process.

By doing the challenge I hope to improve my very poor drawing ability and my knowledge of the Procreate app. I also completed the whole thing in one sitting. So, I know it’s not gonna be great.

But here it is.

Video Edited and music added With VideoLeap

I tried to make it shorter by speeding it up.

My iPad kept ending my screen recording, so the videos are all over the place. Then I got a “memory is full” warning. I’ll have to go back and delete a lot of nonsense if I do this again.

I now know, though, to screen record in bits and pieces as opposed to the whole process. I’ve also learned to adjust and crop videos before adding text.

Should I do voiceover next time? Or just music and text? Also, last time I used app provided music, I got a warning from YouTube as someone reported my use of a song even though it was provided in the app.

We’ll see what happens!

Also, my niece will hopefully see my little message to her in the end. Lol

Eat My Hat

20 Sunday Nov 2022

Posted by in Non-Fiction

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Of course it’s Randomly Generated

If I don’t just lay around in my bed all day tomorrow I’ll EAT MY HAT.

Did I do that right?

Anyway, this is me doing the third post in a row. If we’re being technical, I cheated. I could have sworn I hit publish in yesterday’s post. But when I opened up the app, it was still in drafts. I was falling asleep when I finished it. But I cheated and gave it yesterday’s post date.

Anyway, it’s not like I work for some major news outlet that I could get in big trouble with for fudging the numbers. I’m just little old me.

But I have confidence that I can succeed at posting every single day. It just might not be quality.

Here’s what might come to you this month.

(By “this month” I mean the next 30 days or so, not by the end of November. I’m not that confident)

  • Holiday History: Thanksgiving: Yes I know I flubbed up in the Halloween one. I had it scheduled to publish, thinking I would be forced inspired to complete before publish. But I forgot about it and it auto-pub’d incomplete. I realized it when someone LIKED THE POST and I unpublished it. Like, it was poorly written, and I was mid-depressive episode, my dude! Anyway, Thanksgiving is a juicy one and I’m not referring to the Turkey!
  • Possible PFN short story: I haven’t worked on it in a week, but it’s there, in the back of my mind.
  • More drawing challenges???
  • More “flying by the seat of my pants???

To be honest I’m going keep going with my trademark ABSOLUTELY BONKERS “content” until someone forces me to stop. And even then they’ll have to drag the internet away from my clammy clutches.

GOODNIGHT