Don't Bite Heads Off

I'm just gonna leave this here. Something that I have been seeing examples of a lot lately, in real life and in the series my family is re-watching (Smallville). Someone wants something and they jump to conclusions and get all nasty about things before even stopping to consider what the outcome might have been if they had asked politely and nicely.

Not everyone is like Lex Luther from Smallville, deviously planning things behind the scenes and leaving Clark to always blame him first. Well, because lets face it, it normally IS Lex's fault.

Would their relationship have been any different had Clark tried to connect and hang out more with Lex in the beginning? Eh, maybe not- because it is Superman's story after all and somethings just can't change without messing up the whole series.

And then we have major disasters like what happened to our neighbor last year. Something broke her waterline right at the shut off in front of her house. No one was home and we didn't notice it till the middle of the night when I ran outside to scare away some dogs that were ganging up on another dog.

I ended up ankle deep in water in the middle of this lady's yard, waving and yelling like a lunatic. Yeah, I'm nuts... I know. Anyhow, the dogs ran off and I realized that gallons upon gallons of water were gushing out all over the place.

Now, I don't know how this lady reacted but I do know how some might have. Calling up and fussing out your water company because the water bill is high and it wasn't your fault may not be the right thing to do. Fast forward to this recent cold snap and I found out something really nice about the water company!

Our pipes were run in our attic, during the last cold snap they froze and created an epic gargantuan disastrous mess. Water damage company and insurance company was called, yeah... after we panicked a tiny bit first of course. THEN we received the water bill. Oh my gosh was it high (hundreds of dollars).

So I called the water company up and explained to them what happened and that we just don't have the funds to pay all this up front and was there perhaps a way to set up a payment plan. The lady told me not to worry about it, just send them an invoice of what repairs were done and what the damage cost and they would deduct the water overage off of our bill.

Color me shocked and relieved!

But lets rewind to the very angry water patron from earlier (imaginary of course). Had our irate customer simply explained to the water company that there was damage done (and it wasn't that they were filling up swimming pools) then the water company would have been able to answer politely in return. Everything would have been fine, and our irate customer needn't have embarrassed themselves.

So- lesson from all this? Be calm, ask nicely, and try to put yourself in the other person's shoes.

Memories in the Wind- Flash Fiction

Photo credit: old story | via photopin (license)

Dreea swiped at a tickle on her chin only to find it wet with her own tears. She sniffed back further tears in shock as she considered her surroundings carefully. She remembered the crash, remembered him dying in her arms. She remembered the explosion that consumed the ship along with the body of the man she loved before sending her sprawling onto the rocky ground.

 She slowly sat up in the bed, wiping the tears from her eyes before tentatively feeling the bandage across her forehead. She didn’t remember coming here, she didn’t remember this place at all.

 “Hello?” Dreea called out with a dry voice.

 No one answered. Dreea decided that she’d better figure out if she was a guest or prisoner. She slowly made her way across the room, noting that almost every muscle in her body ached along with the emptiness she felt deep in her chest.

 Trying the handle on the metal door she found that it swung easily on its hinges and allowed the sun to pour into the small room. Dreea peered through the sunlight and stepped out into the gray dusty road in front of her. A tinkling sound drew her attention across the street to a pole hanging above the door across from her.

 A few moments passed before someone approached Dreea. She paid just enough attention to tell that the alien wasn’t armed before turning again to the object twisting in the wind.

 “What is that?” Dreea asked the scaly creature waiting patiently by her side.

 The alien reached into a pocket into its apron and pulled out a box that translated its answer.

 “The family lost an elderly one, the mobile tells their loved one’s story.” The computerized voice responded. “Her favorite place was among the trees in the growing place. She loved to sing and to feel the wind. Her son and daughter decorated this to hang in memory of her.”

Dreea’s eyes swam with tears and the ache in her chest swelled as she considered the imagery that could tell her dearest’s story. A constellation of stars, his mission patch, and the image of the sailboat from his favorite book. Maybe some blue and silver ribbons, and the buttons from his favorite shirt.

The alien touched her injured arm gently.

 “I saw your burning ship. Would you like to make one?” The translated voice said.

 No longer able to hold them back, her tears poured from her eyes and dripped to the rocky ground beneath her feet.

 “Yes please,” Dreea mumbled.


This post is part of the 52 week flash fiction challenge on facebook
Week 52 word prompt: Story
Word Limit: 20- 500
Word Count: 423

The Planet Of Perpetual Twilight- Flash Fiction

photo credit: We are Fires in the Night! via photopin (license)

Nellie walked along the rocky terrain, peering through the darkness, watching the horizon carefully. It had been almost three months since she came to Nostra with the main research team. Not once had they seen so much as a sunrise.

As far as her eye could see, all she saw were rocks and short mountains. Members of her team had gone out on many treks this past year and that's all they ever found, more rocks and more mountains. A cool breeze tickled softly past her neck, blowing her short hair back ever so slightly.

She shivered. This whole planet gives me the creeps!

Sure, they found water here, but you had to dig a well to get to it. As for light, the one essential thing for plant growth, the cloud cover was dense enough to block out most of the light here. The team resorted to using artificial light sources to help break up the perpetual twilight. That is, when the daily solar flares weren’t interrupting their power sources.

Just a few more months! I’ll be happy to get off this rock!

"Have you seen them yet?" A colleague asked, striding up behind her.

"No, Alexi, I haven't. Any word on the radio?" Nellie asked.

"No, the radio is down again." Alexi answered.

"Ugh, go figure." Nellie rubbed her hands over her sleeves vigorously to fight off the chill.

All of their clothes were made with built in thermal materials designed to keep Earth's arctic winds out. Yet here, where the temperature was barely below 65, a slight breeze could chill you to the bone in no time.

What I wouldn't do for a hot summer beach and a margarita right now!

"Go on in and warm up, I'll keep watch." Alexi suggested.

Nellie turned to walk toward their base camp. She’d only made it half way when the breeze came through again. This time, she thought she felt icy cold fingers brush past the side of her neck. She whirled back toward Alexi in shock.

She saw him, at the bottom of their little hill, right where she left him.

“Um Alexi,” She called out.

“Yeah, what is it?” He called back without turning towards her.

“Nothing, I just...”

The breeze came again.

This time Nellie could have sworn it felt like she had been shoved. She landed on her backside, rocks skittering away from her.

“Nellie quit fooling around!” Alexi groaned.

“I’m not. I...” She stuttered.

Nellie stood and brushed herself off.

This time it was Alexi’s turn to be knocked off his feet.

But how could Alexi be knocked down by the wind and she didn’t feel even a breeze this time?

Wispy streams of light appeared between them, seemingly floating on the wind. As Alexi stood up the streams of light bowled him back to the ground. He sat up wide eyed and waved at Nellie to run.

“Either this planet doesn’t want us here or something is here with us!”

This post is part of the 52 week flash fiction challenge on facebook
Week 50 word prompt: Haunted
Word Limit: 20- 500

Yep I started the challenge late but it looked too fun not to jump right on in.

This one tops out right at 497 words.

An Alien Birthday- Flash Fiction

I've decided to take a crack at this month's 15 to 50 Flash fiction challenge. I'm still not sure if I am doing these right but, I'm writing, so it's a good thing either way!

 I wanted to throw a science fiction spin on it and write something with some brand new characters. but this month's combo just had me stuck for now. So instead I talked with some old characters. Happy reading ;)

Photo Copyright: Shailaja V

February's Word prompt: Eternal

Phrase Prompt: Circle of life

Picture Prompt: Cake->

 “Whats the point of a birthday?” Rivi levitated a lit candle above her hand, staring at the flickering flame.

“Its a circle of life thing, you made it through another year.” Dan reasoned.

“I don’t know when I was born.”

“What about the day you started life with the Aunantet?”

 Linking this to the Fiction Challenge ‘From 15 to 50′

Would you like to try your hand at writing a story or poem in 15-50 words? You can either click on The Moving Quill above and submit your link OR post your short right into the comments here. I don't mind. I'd love to read them!



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The Portal

photo credit: darkday. via photopin cc

Today I thought I would try something different on my blog. I'm going to post a picture and the first sentence and we are going to write a story together! All you need to do is watch the comments thread down below and add the next sentence in the story in a comment of your own. With each person replying with the next sentence in the story I am sure this will get really interesting fast!

So... lets start with:




Enriel had lived in the town of Lanta all of her life, this was the first time she knew of that anything like this had ever happened here.


What's the next sentence?

What Advancement Do You Want To See In The Future?

photo credit: Mr Wabu via photopin cc

Time to give you a chance to speculate among the stars!

So... you've been given a time machine to use- just to peek into the future once and then come home.

New things are being invented every day! New ideas are coming to life which will change the future we are headed for.

What advancement would you most like the future to have?

A cure for something?

Warp Drives?

Colonies on other planets?


While you are at it... check out this article about the worlds first truly heartless man who has no pulse yet lives! The Wonders of Technology!

When You Cant Find Anything To Wear In Your Dresser

What is a girl to do? There's not a thing in my dresser that I feel like wearing today, so instead, I decided to look into my husbands dresser!

Mini geek rant alert: Why is it that the GUY section always has the coolest geek shirts and the women's section gets stuck with M&M's and cartoon characters?

Seriously! I wanna wear an Iron Man or Dr. Who T-shirt from time to time! Yeah sure... my hubby's T's are a tad baggy on me... but hey! Its a sci fi shirt! Who's complaining!

So friends and family... I've deliberately left the bottom of this picture out of the shot because the show title is on the bottom.

Who can tell me what franchise this T-Shirt is from? Extra points if you can tell me what specific movie in the franchise! ;)


And no- I don't typically go running around taking selfies of myself. I moved over to a new phone yesterday, the Motorola Maxx and I'm having fun trying out all the new things and trying to get comfortable with a new phone again. The screen is much bigger than my old LG and it feels thin in my hand without the rubber bumper slip on protector that I had on my LG. The only problem that I am having with this phone so far is finding a protective case for it that FITS and that I like. I still don't see how those snap on hard cases protect the phones much...