Taboo [socs]

Beside me is a game of Taboo without a shoe. It has a mess of cards and a timer too. Does it have a buzzer? Let me look… No, no buzzer. Here’s a pic of the whole thing.

Wow, it really is messy! When I’m finished with this post, I will find a rubber band and neaten up the cards. All the colors should face the same direction, so you can play one set at a time. Idk why there’s no shoe or buzzer, but on the back of the box there’s no mention of such. I guess I got the cheapo version. 🤣

We were playing online Taboo last week, but the site had so many ads that some of us switched to our own cards ~ that’s why this box is sitting out. This is an easy game to play at a distance as long as someone else keeps the time (too hard to watch the time yourself when you’re giving clues), and you all pay attention to any “taboo” words you say inadvertently. I guess you could share your card with someone from the opposing team so they could “buzz” you, but we haven’t bothered to do this.

In the meantime, we found online Code Names, which is more fun anyway. It’s our favorite game at the moment ~ even my daughter joined in the other night. What a blast! Now, I have to admit something: this was more fun at a distance than in person because my daughter was there. She would not have joined us in person because she’s at home with her husband and baby. 💕

And another great thing about games from a distance is of course… NO DRIVING!

Tonight we’re going to have a big virtual game night with 16 people invited. We do this over Zoom paid accounts. It works out really well except (as I mentioned) the camera on my laptop doesn’t function. So, I will just use a static photo, no big deal. My phone loses battery too fast to Zoom on and it’s annoying to have to charge it during a game. Plus, it’s just better to use a laptop with all the features visible on one screen.

I know we’ll return to meatspace game nights as soon as we’re allowed to, but I really enjoy sitting in my own place, with the heater blasting, hot tea on demand, chatting into the night… and not having to brave the roads after with the drunken maniacs. The only issue is that some of our favorite games simply can’t be played online. Oh, and some of our peeps won’t play this way. 😢

Next week we start April A-Z, and though I couldn’t be bothered with the rigmarole of filling out forms and such, I’ll still be doing the thing on my own. My theme is games! They won’t all be board games. Hope you’ll be reading and participating. 😻

~*~

Image from my photo library.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Neep [socs]

Fred saw that his son had cleaned up the garage as he’d been told. He went into the family room where Dylan was watching a movie with Grandpa. “Dylan, thanks! The garage looks great.”

“Neep,” Dylan said.

“Neep?” Fred asked.

Dylan waved a hand. “Like yeah… neep. I’m acknowledging your compliment, Dad.”

“Whatever happened to no problem?” Fred said. “I hope you aren’t using this casual language to your teachers.”

“Like they ever give me compliments,” Dylan muttered.

Grandpa spoke up. “Back in my day, we said you’re welcome.”

Fred rolled his eyes. “How many times have I heard back in my day?”

“Not enough!” Grandpa chuckled.

“I like you’re welcome,” Dylan said. And he began using it with his friends, who thought it was hilarious. They said it instead of neep. It was fun! Made them stand out from the crowd.

At the parent-teacher conference, Ms. Pine told Fred she was pleased with Dylan’s progress. “He’s a very well-spoken young man. He even says you’re welcome when I thank him for turning in his English homework. You’ve done a great job with him, Mr. Hartley. Thank you.”

Fred, being divorced and thinking Ms. Pine was very pretty, wanted to seem cool. So, he smiled and said… “Neep.”

Ms. Pine frowned at him over her glasses.

~*~

Image credited to Shelley Krupa.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

SLS ~ Take

Jim Adams hosts our wonderful Song Lyric Sunday and today he gave us a variety of words to use for a prompt. I chose “Take the L” by the Motels.

This song was written by John S. Carter for the Motels’ 1982 Gold-certified third album All Four One. There aren’t any juicy deets about the creation of “Take the L.” I don’t see that Carter had other songs which focused on clever wordplay. His big claim to fame was revitalizing Tina Turner’s career. There probably is a lot of drama with the Motels generally, given that they began in Berkeley in 1998 and had lots of personnel changes. But the Wikipedia entries are pretty dry. Regardless, here are the lyrics, followed by a link to the video. I love Martha Davis’ voice.

Take the L

Watching my head, holding my face
One more evening gone to waste
No longer do I know my place
Killing time and missing my cues
Watching her belong to you
Tears could only change my view
Take the L out of lover and it’s over
Take the L out of lover and it’s over
Growing up has always been tough
Good intentions never good enough
I would take you far away
Do anything to make you stay
Take the L out of lover and it’s over
Take the L out of lover and it’s over
Take the L out of lover and it’s over
Every drink and cigarette
All those hands we never met
There are things we should forget
Now it’s over, over
Take the L out of lover and it’s over
Take the L out of lover and it’s over
Take the L out of lover and it’s over

~*~

Image credit to Jim Adams.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Go Figure

A minor figure of speech can get us into a major heap of trouble, so we should look before we leap into those metaphors and similes. Take the apostrophe please… no, really, take it away. I’m so tired of seeing it misused and abused and confused with a plural every time I turn around. Seven out of ten grocery sign’s agree with me ~ see what I did there? I would write more, but I’m tired and my head is pounding like tiny invisible carpenters are slamming spikes into my skull.

~*~

Image credit to Shelley Krupa.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Pointless Meandering

Welcome to my new featured series: Pointless Meandering! Posts in this series will appear… whenever I feel like making them. I know, I know. That goes against all the marketing rules. You’re supposed to brand yourself with consistent posts on set subjects at scheduled times. Well, to that I say… pffft! 😛

I had a lot of trouble thinking of the name for my new feature. Names are important! First, I thought of meaningless babble or jabber. But after a while I didn’t really like “meaningless” because some of my posts could be meaningful, idk. I wouldn’t want to limit myself right from the start. The idea is just to be unstructured, but I didn’t want the word unstructured because it makes me think of bras. Does it make you think of bras? Well, it will now! 😂

Then I latched on to the word “pointless.” I like this word a lot… and it seemed perfect for my feature. Posts that have no point in particular. They aren’t peeves. They aren’t responses to prompts. They don’t tell a story. They aren’t funny or poetic. They just exist, floating in the Sea of Blogovia for no reason whatsoever.

But pointless what? Aye, there was a sticky wicket! Jabber and babble had lost their luster somehow. I gravitated to pointless musings. But I’m never sure how to pronounce muse… is it mewse or mooose? That’s a whole new digression… how I don’t say some words properly. I discarded this and considered pointless overthinking. I almost had it put away… had the logo done and everything. But then I thought, is it really overthinking if it’s cathartic and helps me? Maybe it’s the right amount of thinking… 🧐

Oh, speaking of the picture, which I found at Pixabay (a fab source)… I had my heart set on a butterfly, 🦋 but butterflies don’t engage in pointless behavior. All that flitting and nectar-nomming has a purpose. So, I contemplated a twisty path through the woods, but none of those pics appealed to me. (But that’s when meander began to take hold as the noun.) I thought of drifting, but when I looked up drift I got a bunch of racetrack photos. I tried float and when the jellyfish pics came up, they hit my sweet spot.

I could have used my own jellies, I guess, but I liked these. Anyway, I held onto the meandering idea even though I gave up the path in the woods photo. The jellies really seemed like the right choice. I added the text… first I used green, but I saw I had green on my peeve kitty and didn’t want to become branded as the green text blogger. I changed it to hot pink at that point and am pleased with the outcome.

This was fun. I’ll do it again sometime. 💖

~*~

Image originally found at Pixabay.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

I Say, Read On! [fiction 200]

Rita checked her notes. “So, you are looking for a true soul mate?”

“Yes,” Art said. “That’s why I signed up for Elite Match. I need someone I can relate to, a woman who loves literature, not a liar who lives in a trailer with a litter of kids.”

Rita frowned over her tea. “I see. You sound very irate. Are you upset?”

“I am,” Art admitted. “You were late to our meeting and I drank an ale while waiting. It wasn’t very good.”

“I would have been here earlier,” Rita said. “But one of my kids fed trail mix to our turtle. It ate a lot. I had to call the vet.”

Art rolled his eyes. “I thought you didn’t have kids, Rita. They’re such a trial. Did you lie on the form or alter the information later?”

“No,” she said. “Maybe you weren’t alert when you read my profile. I don’t mean to rattle your cage.”

“I’m fine!” Art yelled. “I’m just going to retreat to the patio and get some fresh air!”

Rita smiled and returned to her notes. At the top was the title of her next book: How I Drove Men Crazy On Dating Sites.

~*~

Written for Rory’s What’s Your Story Then?

Words made from literature: air, ale, alert, alter, are, Art, ate, earlier, Elite, irate, it, late, later, liar, lie, litter, rattle, relate, retreat, Rita, tea, title, trail, trailer, trial, true, turtle

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Cheeky Minx! [socs]

Cheek is one of those words that annoys me, when used a certain way, as in the title of this post. It’s probably because I raised myself on a steady diet of romance novels and words like cheek and cheeky were always the exclusive province of bad stepmothers and other nasty characters who had it out for the heroine.

“How dare that cheeky girl presume to address the lord of the manor in such an impudent fashion!” The dowager duchess pursed her lips in disgust as she poured tea.

“Oh, I know, dear Beatrice,” Matilda agreed as she selected a lemon cake from the silver tray. “She believes she is above her station because her father educated her.”

The duchess laughed. “The silly twit doesn’t need to recite poetry to dust furniture. But my son refuses to put her out. He says he owes her father a debt.”

“No good will come of it,” Matilda warned. “She’s bound to continue thinking much too highly of herself.”

I cannot think of a way to use cheek (other than as the body part) where you aren’t denigrating someone for having the nerve to speak out of turn or to someone who is “above them” in some way. Psssh! This is why we dumped tea into the harbor! 😛

~*~

Image credit to Shelley Krupa.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Rather Efficiently! [fiction 188]

Romeo waited for his partner in crime as the moon rose over the bay. Finally, he saw Grimes sashaying down the boardwalk in a crimson coat.

“Hey dude!” Grimes said. “Ready to make some coin?”

“Shhhh,” Romeo hissed. “You goose. Don’t make so much noise.”

“But I’m a singer,” Grimes said.

“Not tonight,” Romeo reminded him. “We’re here to rob the Congo Siren while the yacht owner is at the sermon.”

“Oh, I forgot,” Grimes said. “I should have worn my black coat. Can I resign?”

Romeo shook his head. “Nope. We’ll both be goners. Let’s just make our score and get out.”

The two men hurried onto the yacht, broke into the cabin room, and were confronted by Stan, the retired super lieutenant man who was doing the NYT crossword puzzle.

“You boys know a six-letter word for morons?” Stan asked.

“No,” they said simultaneously.

“Guess I’ll just have to arrest you both then.” Stan called for a police van to come get Romeo and Grimes and also had the driver stop and pick up his pizza on the way.

That all worked out rather efficiently!

~*~

Written for Rory’s What’s Your Story Then?

Words made from ergonomics: coin, come, Congo, crime, crimson, goose, Grimes, goners, moon, morons, no, noise, on, resign, Romeo, room, rose, sermon, singer, Siren, so

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Just Rolls Off The Tongue [fiction 175]

“How about Dolly’s Delicious Deli?” Dolly suggested to the other investors.

“Too much of a tongue twister.” Louis dismissed her idea.

“I like Slice of Heaven,” Lily said. “It is so simple and pleasant.”

Dolly threw cold water on that. “It’s a deli, not a whorehouse.”

“You are all arguing about names,” Clyde complained, “but we haven’t even decided on our style of doilies yet.”

“Silly Clyde!” Louis exclaimed. “No one would use doilies in a deli. They’d get all oily.”

“You don’t have to talk so loud, Lou,” Dolly said. “I’m getting a headache. What do you guys think of yodel music?”

“Hate it!” Lily said. “We should have soul tunes.”

“Yes!” Louis agreed. “That’s idyllic.”

Clyde shook his head. “Y’all don’t have a clue about running a restaurant. Has anyone ordered food?”

“That was your job, Clyde!” Lily said. “I got the ice.”

“Great,” Dolly muttered. “Ice and soul. We’ll make a fortune. Glad I slid my life savings into this.”

“Hey,” Louis said. “Ice and Soul. That just rolls off the tongue!”

~*~

Written for Rory’s What’s Your Story Then?

Words made from deliciously: clue, Clyde, cold, deli, delicious, doilies, Dolly’s, ice, idyllic, is, loud, Lou, Louis, oily, silly, slice, slid, so, soul, use, yes, yodel, you

Image found on Pixabay.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Hidden Away [flash 275]

Rory and Sue snuck surreptitiously into the upstairs study while Rose slept on the sofa downstairs.

“Do you know where it is?” Sue whispered.

“No,” Rory said, taking out his pistol. “But this is our last chance. We must find that soy turtle soup recipe. It has the secret code hidden in it.”

Sue looked confused. “You mean in a pot of slop? Do I have to slave away over a stove?”

“Never, my pet,” Rory reassured her. “Trust me. The code is buried in the recipe itself!”

“Oh good then.” Sue poked around on the desk. “Rose must be a poet. I see bits of verse but no recipes. I wish we could go out for pie, Rory. I love pie.”

Rory bent over to peer under the desk. “We can later–oof! Did you hear that rip? I tore my trousers. They’re split open.”

“Pity,” Sue said. “And those are your new ones. It’s hard to find those stripes you like.”

“This spoils my whole day,” Rory said with a pout. “I don’t even care about the treasure hunt now.”

Sue began to protest. “But we haven’t won any games tonight, honey. We’ll be known as the family losers. I thought we were doing well at this spy challenge.”

“I don’t care.” Rory flung himself in a chair. “These elaborate games are torture. Why can’t Aunt Rose throw normal parties?”

“She’s your aunt.” Sue reminded him. “So, you shouldn’t be asking me.”

There came a horrific shriek from downstairs. “Help!” screamed a man. “Aunt Rose is dead! Someone strangled her with a rope!”

Rory and Sue just looked at each other and laughed.

~*~

Written for Rory’s What’s Your Story?

Words made from surreptitiously: is, it, losers, pet, pie, pistol, pity, poet, pot, pout, protest, rip, ripe, Rory, slept, slop, so, soup, soy, split, spoils, spy, stripes, Sue, surreptitiously, to, tore, torture, trousers, trust, turtle.

Image from the Happy Color app.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.