All that glitters

He touched the little box in his pocket and smiled, looking at her across the table. He’d been thinking about this moment for some time, mentally rehearsing the words he wanted to say. It was quiet in the little alcove where they sat; the waiter had brought their desserts and left them alone. The moment had come. He took the box from his pocket, opened it and held it out to her, the light reflecting off the small gold object nestled inside.

“I love you so much…” he said, gazing at her intently. “enough to give you my last Rolo!”

The Line-Up

Davina stood at the end of the line, her shoulders back, looking straight ahead of her, mirroring the others’ poses. The tall woman paced across the floor, looking closely at each of them. Davina’s palms were sweating, her legs trembling and her heart thudding in her chest. She couldn’t help thinking about the shooting earlier and her part in it. Things hadn’t exactly gone as planned…

The woman had stopped now, was staring at her and opened her mouth to speak. Davina closed her eyes, waiting for the verdict.

 “You’re through to the next round of America’s Next Top Model.”

Jackpot

He sat on the sofa, alternately staring at the screen wide-eyed and then looking back at the ticket in his hand in disbelief as the numbers were called out. 

“I’ve got five numbers… come on… YES!!!! I’VE WON THE LOTTERY!”

She hugged him in his initial euphoria and then he pulled away, looking at her smugly.  

“I don’t need you or your money any more.  I’ve been seeing someone else, someone younger, prettier…”

She'd suspected it all along, but let him finish and then calmly replied. “And I recorded that programme three months ago and bought that ticket this morning.”

Headline News

Lisa held her breath as the gypsy took her hands and looked closely at the palms. She thought of the X-Factor application she had posted just that morning. Would the fortune-teller see a life of fame and fortune awaiting her? There was a long silence.

“I see bright lights and newspaper headlines,” the old woman said eventually, tracing Lisa’s life-line.

 Lisa grinned as she left and headed home in the dusk. Fame and fortune would be hers. Lost in dreams, she stepped into the road.

 “Woman killed in hit and run” was the front page headline of the local newspaper.

National Storytelling Week

It’s National Storytelling Week this week (26th January – 2 February) and my friend and fellow-NaNoWriMo-er Geri has set herself a challenge of writing a short story each day and has been posting these on her website. It’s inspired me to try and do the same. Now since embarking on full-time mummyhood, I’ve become a little rusty in the creative writing department, despite having plenty of opportunity in the bedtime story department, but 100 words isn’t all that much really and it sounds like a fun challenge. Watch this space and I’ll try and post the first one later on today.

Space birthdays

I discovered this site via a friend's blog and it appeals to the geeky side of my nature. I seem to have very recently celebrated a significant birthday on Mercury (140 – I think I look quite good for my age!) and have another milestone birthday coming up on Mars - my 18th - on 16th March. Which rather conveniently happens to fall on a Saturday. Would it really be very geeky of me to have an 18th Martian birthday party and invite my friends to come dressed up as aliens? I'm sure I could find an alien costume for Jessica...

Jessica is here!

Baby Jessica Charlotte decided that she wanted to choose her own birthday rather than wait for the induction and arrived on 6th September at 08.50, weighing in at 5lb 10oz. She had her first heart op at eight hours old to enlarge her atrial septum and reposition her pulmonary veins and is currently on PICU, recovering well from the first op and awaiting a second op which will take place early next week. She is such a beautiful baby and we love her so very much already. We will be posting regular updates on her blog which is at http://jessica-thejourney.blogspot.com/

Elephant feet

Having got through the summer and most of the third trimester without feeling too uncomfortable (although it probably helped that August was somewhat cooler than average) or getting puffy feet, I thought I was going to be lucky enough to avoid getting swollen ankles at all in the last trimester. In the last twenty-four hours though, it seems that my ankles have been replaced with those of an albino elephant which, as you can imagine, is not the most attractive look in the world. It’s another indication that it is time to take things easy and put my feet up.

Catching up on card making

I enjoy making my own cards for birthdays and other occasions and often try and do these in batches as most months I have a quite a few cards to send out (due to having such a large family!) With Jessica’s arrival getting more and more imminent, I have been trying to get as many cards done as possible and so have been spending most of today surrounded by coloured paper, peel-offs and glue. It’s been a productive day though and I now have a large batch of finished cards ready to send off for various birthdays and other events.

September is here!

I can’t believe that September is here already. This is the month when Jessica will make her arrival and I just pray that we will have the miracle that we are hoping for and she will be able to have surgery and get through it. It surprises me how many people seem to think that I can’t wait for this pregnancy to be over and assume I must be very uncomfortable by now – I have loved being pregnant and feeling Jessica move and whilst part of me is excited at the thought of meeting her, it is also very scary.