The writing challenge for today is:

"Your Life in 7 Years"

Let's see....I'll be 54, Randy'll be 64 and the kids will almost be 24 and 23 years old.

I'm hoping by then both kids would have finished university and have found jobs and left the nest (Don't we wish).

​I know Randy won't be out of work as he's an addictions counselor and DUI assessor. Plenty of work there eh? There won't be a mandatory retirement for him either, so he'll work as long as he can.

It'd be nice if I had a full time job by then, either writing full-time, publishing a book, a monetized blog, or an online job.

We don't plan to move anywhere because this is a great town and we love our place. Probably the only time we'd consider moving is if a better job opportunity and salary came along. But that'd only happen after the kids are out of school - no ifs, ands, or buts.

Right now it's just one day at a time, one bill at a time, and one goal at a time.

The 13th Challenge is:

"Your Commute to Work or School"

My commute to work consists of:

1. Waking up everyone and sending them out the door to school and work

2. Going into the Kitchen to make coffee and breakfast

3. Checking e-mails and social media on my iPad in my living room chair while I eat and drink

4. Walking over to the kitchen table to the laptop.

5. I'm now at work.

​Ta Daaa!

On the twelve day we have to write:

"Two Words/Phrases That Make You Laugh"

Oddly enough the funniest words and phrases (and moments) are related to Spongebob Squarepants.

First word was "TUNAFISH!". When my kids were really young and my youngest, Danielle (we call her Dani for short) would get cranky or upset, her older brother, Riley, would just be goofy and just randomly yell "TUNAFISH!" to get her giggling. Of course it was so funny to watch them that I'd be giggling too. Other times I'd be trying to scold the two of them over something and Riley would interrupt, "TUNAFISH!"

Second word was "HOOPLA!" We had just finished watching an episode of Spongebob:

Narrator: "Sounds like a lot of.."
Offscreeen: "HOOPLA!"
Narrator: "Sounds like a lot of.."
Offscreeen: "HOOPLA!"
Narrator: "Sounds like a lot of.."
Fish: "HOOPLA!" (brick gets thrown)
​Narrator: "Sounds like a lot of hoopla to me"

After the kids & I had watched this I started cooking lunch. They wandered into the kitchen and asked what was for lunch:
Me: "We're having.."
Riley: "HOOPLA!"
Me: "We're having.."
Riley & Dani "HOOPLA!"
(I fake smack them)
Me: "We're having hoopla for lunch"
Since that day we've called Kraft Dinner - Hoopla.

​One funny moment related to Spongebob wasn't an episode. It was when we still lived in Ontario and the kids were in grade school. Randy would occasionally pull over if he saw something worth collecting (you should've seen his 5 gallon bucket collection).

One winter he spotted a two foot tall  Patrick Star doll in the ditch. It was frozen solid so he just tossed in the back of the van and we went on our way. We completely forgot about the doll until a few weeks later out on other errands, I heard Dani in her car seat "..... snowing inside!" I turned around to see that both kids had gotten the doll and ripped it open and now were tossing the white beads all over our van. It took about $5.00 in quarters to vacuum out the van and clean off the kids.

Lastly another funny moment happened just a few years ago and it's kind of related to this episode:

Phone: "Hello, is this the Krusty Krab?"
Patrick: "No it's Patrick"
Phone: "Hello, is this the Krusty Krab?"
Patrick: "No it's Patrick"
​Phone: "Hello, is this the Krusty Krab?"
Patrick: "No it's Patrick!"

To set up what transpired, Dani has a best friend named Riley (different spelling), who got a new cell phone and Dani was expecting a call from her. Riley was playing video games on the computer where the phone was as well.

The phone rang, but Riley didn't recognize the Caller ID and answered:
Phone: "Is Dani there?"
Riley: "Who's this?"
Phone: "Riley"
Riley: "Noo I'M Riley" and he slams the receiver down.

Riley comes and tells me what just had happened and of course I'm howling laughing. After I calmed down I told Dani "You better call Riley back". Dani calls Riley who then exclaimed "What the hell was THAT?"

​So yeah, we're weird....and proud of it.

​

The Eleventh Day's Challenge is:

"Your Current Relationship"

Randy and I have been together for 20 years now and married for almost 18 (come October).

We met online on CompuServe, yeah....a long time ago. Back when there was dial-up and whenever the phone rang your modem was dropped.

I was in Ontario & he was in Kansas. Another on-line friend gave him a job closer to me and he moved up. Eight years and 2 kids later the company he worked for went out of business. After two years of struggling with various jobs and a return to school, he found a job in Oklahoma. We packed everything up and headed down.

​Nine years later we're in our second home, he's getting a job promotion soon, I'm in the middle of a job interview and the kids will soon be a High School Freshman and Senior and life is good.

Sure it hasn't been easy. Whoever says their marriage is perfect is either lying or are incredibly naive. We each have bad habits that annoy the other, we argue and we miscommunicate, but we work it out and get through it.

Now looking forward to the next twenty years.....

Every one of us who's a parent will understand this....

Day Five's Challenge is:

"A Place You Would Live, But Have Never Visited"

A place I would live if money and accessibility was easy and there were no family commitments would be Ireland.

Not just because I like the music, culture and the mystical attraction of the place. There is a little Irish in my family as well (somewhere way back there). I also "know" a few Twitter people from Ireland and it  would be great to meet them in person too.

It would be a good place to retreat to. I'd hole up in a small flat & write a book or two.....or three. Once in a while I'll wander down to the pub for some brew and ask "How's the craic?"

With today's Political scene here in the U.S. It'd be nice if that opportunity to move could be sooner. (Can we we have a candidate do-over?)

Alas, it's just a fantasy.

I'm happy and content with my life here with my family and would never think of uprooting everyone and upsetting their lives.

I just had to pick a place to answer this challenge.

Sláinte,
Tracy