This is it, the last blog post out of the month-long blog-posting assignment. As much as I liked doing it, I'm kind of happy it's over. It was a little difficult to keep up with. Luckily, I'm good at rambling, so it didn't take me very long to write my posts, which were usually just a paragraph about my day that day. I really enjoyed doing the posts. It actually did make the other writing projects go smoother and it even helped me when I had to write in my other classes. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty lazy so I probably won't post in here again, unless it's required or I'm getting writer's block. But, I'm really glad that I found something to help me when I do get blocked. This assignment has been eye-opening and very helpful. I'm thankful Ms. A knows how to teach us new stuff without it feeling like we're learning. Almost every time I write now, it just seems to flow right out of me. Even if I stop, it's a lot easier than it used to be to get back going. I think the hardest thing about doing this assignment was remembering that it's an assignment and not my personal diary and to keep things appropriate. There were a few times I had to make some sacrifices to the story or just find something completely different to write about, because I didn't think it would be appropriate. As I've said, over-all I am immensely pleased with this assignment and I do feel that it has helped me grow as a writer.

I found the fifty-five fiction that I wrote!

Peer Pressure
By: Tory Jo Naugle (my maiden name)


"Come on Laura. It's not gonna hurt anything. No one has to know."
"No Brad."
"Please! It's not like we have anything better to do."
"NO!"
"Brad angrily stomped out of the bedroom and down the hall. All Laura heard was, "Mom! Laura won't play with me!"

I thought it was cute! Anywho, now I'm going to give a quick run down of my eventful weekend. Friday night, Bobby went out with some friends. At eleven that night, I went to pick him up, but he wasn't ready to leave. So, I stayed for a few more hours and we had lots of fun while Evelynn stayed the night at Bobby's mom's. Today, we went to the pumpkin patch, carved a bunch of pumpkins, and then had a bonfire. Tomorrow, I am making a toddler-sized scarecrow and decorating my yard. I'm so excited and I've had a great weekend! I hope everyone else did too!

So, Bobby is out tonight and I am Evelynn-free. He went out with some work friends to get drunk and see some undiscovered band play awful music. I opted to stay home instead of not enjoying the show, staying sober, and freezing my butt off while escaping outside for a smoke. But, because he wants to drink, I have to go pick him back up later, which means Evelynn gets to stay the night at Grammy's! I am in desperate need of a break from her. She's had a cold for over a week and doesn't want anyone but me. It gets old... fast. It'd be fine if she just wanted me to hold her, but she wants to climb all over me and beat me up too. It's really not been fun. I think the hardest part about my night will be actually staying up long enough to go back to downtown Springfield and pick Bobby up. I'm getting drowsy right now, with the only noise in the house coming from me typing these very words. I haven't sat in this much quiet for this long in... I don't even remember. Welcome to parenthood! Ha ha!

Some more fifty-five fiction for tonight's post:

Malice Aforethought
By: Mike Phillips


"You stuck him good, Zack. TIght between the ribs. Beautiful." Bobby shifted, wincing as the handcuffs pinched.
"Whaddy mean, I stuck him?" grunted Zack, his knees against the cage. "I tried to stop you!"
"Why, you filthy liar-"
The officer peered into his rear-view mirror. "Hey, pal, who you talkin' to back there?"

I think this one is funny and gives a good way to plead insanity if ever I am arrested.

That Settles That
By: Terry L. Tilton


Tom was a handsome, fun-loving young man, albeit a bit drunk when he got into the argument with Sam, his roommate of just two months.
"You can't. You can not write a short story in just 55 words, you idiot!"
Sam shot him dead on the spot.
"Oh, yes you can," Sam said, smiling.

This one gets a little dark, but the little booklet I have of these stories doesn't have much to offer.

I am going to type out some stories that fall under one of my favorite genres: Fifty-five Fiction. Fifty-five Fiction is stories that are told in fifty-five words or less and usually have some kind of twist at the end of them.

Bedtime Story  By: Jeffrey Whitmore

"Careful, honey, it's loaded," he said, re-entering the bedroom.
Her back rested against the headboard. "This for your wife?"
"No. Too chancy. I'm hiring a professional."
"How about me?"
He smirked. "Cute, but who'd be dumb enough to hire a lady hit man?"
She wet her lips, sighting along the barrel. "Your wife."

See what happened there? It's good, right? Let's try another one.

The Understudy  By: Sheree Pellemier

"The show must go on," said the director when the star dropped dead moments before act one. The star, not the understudy, would play the corpse tonight.
The understudy changed quickly. His performance was inspired. The star was flawless in his final role.
The understudy, fingering the syringe in his pocket, bowed to thunderous applause.

Not all of them are so dark. I'll try to find a better one to write tomorrow, and maybe I'll even dig out the one I wrote in high school. Ha!

So, I'm pretty excited about all of my shows coming back on. I watch a lot of TV. I'm not exactly proud of it, but I don't have much else going on right now anyways. Well, I have less than I used to, and it's given me a lot of free time. I have read all of the books I own, some of them two or three or more times. And it's a lot of books. I'm a huge Nora Roberts fan. It actually makes it kind of difficult to read any other author, because I feel like I'm cheating. Ha ha! I've recently just started the Harry Potter books again for the billionth time and I still love reading them! But, my all-time, most favorite book is Summer Sisters, by Judy Blume. It's one of her few adult only books. I read that book every time I start hitting rock bottom in life and every time I feel like I'm on top of the world. It's almost like the book grounds me somehow and makes me feel better. I don't know why. It really is an amazing book and the characters in it are so honest and feel so real. I know at least one person like every single character in the book and it's so easy to identify with all of them. Just writing this is making me want to read the book again. Ha!

Today, instead of writing about how incredibly busy my day was, I am going to write one of Evelynn's favorite stories, which I have memorized, because I read it every night at least once.

Put Me in the Zoo
By: Robert Lopshire


I want to go into the zoo.
I want to see it, yes I do.

Why did they put me out this way?
I should be in, I want to stay.

Just wait and see what I can do.
Look! Now all his spots are blue!

And now his spots are orange! Say,
He looks very good that way.

Now look at this! What do you see?
Spots as green as green can be!

Violet spots! Say, you are good!
Do more! Do more!
We wish you would.

I can do more.
Look! This is new!
Blue, orange, green,
and violet too.

Oh! They would put me in the zoo,
if they could see what I can do.

We like all the things you do!
We like your spots, we like you too.

But with all the things that you can do,
the circus is the place for you!

Yes! This is where I want to be.
The circus is the place for me!

We went to Mansfield today to visit with some family. The first place we went was Bobby's grandparents. They are our favorite people! Grandma just got out of the hospital. I guess she had allergies, that turned into a cold, that turned into some kind of infection. She's on all kinds of medications now, but she's home and not contagious anymore, so that's good. I love her so much and I hate when she goes to the hospital and we can't go see her. Grandma and Grandpa are veterans and the closest hospital they are allowed to go to (unless it's an emergency) is in Columbia, which is a couple of hours away. She seems to be doing fine as long as she stays sitting. Bobby's aunt and cousin showed up over there too, and his uncle and other aunt. So that took care of a lot of the visiting. The next person we went to see was Bobby's dad. Bobby and Evelynn usually stay there with him, but I wanted to see my parents while we were out there, and they really only care about seeing Evelynn. I wanted Bobby to come with me, because I've been having a bit of a strained relationship with them for a couple of months. We had a lot of fun during the visit though and Evelynn was unusually good. Now, we're all home, exhausted, and starting to feel sick again. Ugh. Oh well, at least we had a pretty great day!

Wow! I feel so much better today! Bobby does too and he even wants to go to the gym with me later. That's pretty amazing, because he's a huge geek and despises anything that makes him sweat more than necessary. Ha ha! Evelynn is doing pretty good too and I think she'll be fine to take to the daycare. If she starts freaking out, I'm making Bobby stay with her. I am with her all week and I haven't been to the gym in days, so I'm not giving it up now. Ha ha! I'm not even totally sure he is going to come, in which case he and Evelynn can just stay here. When I told him I was going today he said,"Cool! I think I want to come with you... but not right now." And then he ran back off to the computer room. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I am actually waiting on him to go. I just hope I don't wait all day for nothing.

I think I am getting sick now. And so is Bobby's mom. She's got whatever Bobby has and I've got Evelynn's. My nose is all stuffed up and I can't stop sneezing. I can feel my throat getting scratchier by the minute. I'm definitely not going to the gym today. Thanks to Evelynn getting sick, I didn't go yesterday either. But, all of the home-remedies I did yesterday seemed to work on Evelynn pretty well, so they should work for me too. I've got to get better soon, because between taking care of an incredibly needy toddler all day yesterday and not being well today, I'm starting to fall drastically behind in my homework and housework. It's getting scary. I get really stressed out when I get behind in homework. When I'm behind in school, cleaning my house seems like a waste of time, but I just can't stand it to be so dirty after I got so used to cleaning it every day! I'll make it through. A few bad days isn't going to set me behind for the rest of the semester, right?

Bobby and Evelynn are both sick. Bobby has a very upset stomach and diarrhea. Evelynn has allergies, that turned into a cold, and she had a slight fever for about an hour today. We've all been drinking hot tea with honey, though I'm cooling Evelynn's down and putting a lot of milk or water in it. All we have eaten is soup, crackers, toast, and other healthy things sick people are supposed to eat. I'm giving Evelynn medicine every four hours, switching back and forth between ibuprofen and a quarter-sized dose of children's allergy medicine. It seems to be helping a lot, but I still feel really bad for Evelynn. It's so sad when babies are sick, because they just feel terrible and they don't understand why. On the plus side, I keep giving her peppermints for her sore throat and she thinks she's getting candy. Ha ha! I just hope I'm not getting sick next...