Author Archives: Carrie Ann Alexis

Five Minute Friday: Story

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5minutefriday

Five Minute Friday was started by Lisa-Jo Baker about a year ago, where hundreds of people write for five minutes flat on the same prompt that she posts on her blog at 1 minute past midnight EST every Friday.  She describes it as a writing flash mob.  I’m still trying to get used to the idea of “no extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font or punctuation. Unscripted. Unedited. Real.”

If you want to join in, click on the Five Minute Friday icon at the left for all the details.

Here we go…

TODAY’S PROMPT: STORY

BEGIN

I love a good story, with its many twists and turns and unique characters.  Especially when an author uses their words like an artist uses a paintbrush.  With every stroke the story unfolds as a beautiful picture comes to life on the canvas.  Some days I read a book and I can’t put it down, saying to myself “just one more chapter, just one more chapter.”

My life is a story that is not yet finished.  Each day is a new page, each year a new chapter.  Even though I am surrounded by unique characters, and sometimes the twists and turns are so surprising, I don’t find myself so eager to experience the next chapter.  But I cannot put this story down, and say that’s the last chapter, I don’t want to read anymore.  I need to continue to turn each page, each day, and read it carefully so that I understand what is being said, follow where the story will continue, or anticipate when it might veer off into an unexpected journey.  I need to savor the interaction with the characters, because in any chapter they may move away or just be gone.  I need to live my story in such a way, that the characters I leave behind will want to tell my story again and again.  That they will smile and laugh when they remember what a character I was. I don’t know when the end of my story will be, but when the Author is finished, I hope He will say, “now that was a good story.”

STOP…PENCILS DOWN

No Words

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I haven’t written anything in awhile, and truly miss writing.  I was working on a post about holiday traditions.  But in light of the tragic events in Connecticut, my heart is heavy.

In October, I lost my father suddenly and that grief is hard to bare on some days.  There are no words that can possibly convey comfort to a parent who has lost a child to such senseless violence. There are no words to comfort a child who has witnessed such horror.  All I can do is offer my prayers to every family affected, and pray for this hurting nation of ours.

Blizzard of 2011

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It started Tuesday afternoon at about 1 p.m.  The snow did not stop falling and blowing (30 – 40 mph) until Noon on Wednesday (today), leaving 19 inches of snow with 3 – 5 foot drifts.  This is the 3rd largest blizzard in our area.

My mom always talks about the blizzard of ’67.  It was my sister’s 4th birthday, I wasn’t born yet.  But she spent the day cooking and cleaning and preparing for a birthday party, she was unaware of the snow falling until my dad walked in from work late that evening, covered in snow.  The whole issue with that blizzard is that no one knew it was coming, so it paralyzed many areas.  With this storm we knew it was coming, the weatherman had been talking about it since last week and gave everyone plenty of time to prepare.  Those who weren’t prepared probably just chose not to believe it was coming.  With history repeating itself, Elijah’s birthday is today, with the blizzard coming to an end in the afternoon, I made sure I was fully prepared to have a birthday celebration at home.  Monday we went to the store to stock up on food and stuff.  Tuesday, I baked the cakes and cooked his favorite dinner (Italian Beef sandwiches), just in case we lost power.  With the way the storm was coming in, the worst of it hit us while we slept.  Not taking any chances I also made a pot of coffee before I went to bed.  If we lost power I could still heat things up on the stove.  I also cranked up our heat so it would be nice and warm in the event the power went out in the middle of the night.  Thankfully we did not experience any major difficulties.

This morning we all went out to shovel and got some welcomed help from a neighbor with a snow blower.  Cook, Joshua and Olivia went to her friend’s house the next block over to help her shovel out, and helped another lady whose husband was out-of-town.  They had fun helping.  After that Elijah had his cake and opened his presents and we’ve just been hangin’ out inside enjoying this quiet lazy day.  As Elijah is known for saying, he summed up the day as, “the best day EVER!!”

This is what our backyard looked like before we went to bed, and then what it looked like when we woke up in the morning.

Being so close to Chicago, I have been watching the news and seeing what they are dealing with in the city.  Last night they closed down the major street that runs right along the lake called Lake Shore Drive (LSD).  This was after 3 accidents occurred, but not in time to prevent 900 drivers from being stranded.  Emergency crews were able to get the people to safety leaving their cars stranded.  I have never seen anything like it!!  Lake Shore Drive looked like a parking lot with cars buried and stuck between snow drifts.  Today they have crews out there to dig the cars out and tow them away, there’s about 200 cars left to remove.  I am so thankful that I didn’t have to be anywhere or try to get home like so many people experienced.

Even though the snow has stopped and some people are slowly getting dug out, I don’t know that the worst is over.  Tonight and tomorrow we will be experiencing dangerous wind chills of 25 to 35 degrees below zero.  One thing we can say for sure is, the snow isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.  But hey…I like snow…right?!?!  Anniehow!

Photos by Olivia Jakira

Chicago Bears Training Camp

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My family went to the Staples Bears Training Camp presented by Chase on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and we had a lot of fun.  This is the 9th consecutive year of them being at Olivet Nazarene.  This training camp is open to the public, and there’s free admission and free parking, it’s a great time for the family, especially Bears fans.  The training camp started on July 30, and ends today, August 19, 2010.  

There are three different practice times, Noon, 3 p.m., and 7 p.m.   The gates open one hour prior to start of practice and close one hour after.  It’s a lot of fun to watch them practice, and you get a chance to see your favorite players.  There are several Theme days, where they have extra activities going on throughout the camp ground.  There is the Staples Kids Only Autographs on select days.  Where the first 150 kids ages 4-12, in line will receive a pass for the autograph session for that day.  Kids are allowed one autograph per person, but they are not able to take pictures with the players.

There is also the Staples Bears Pride Poster Contest on select days as well.  Kids ages 4-12 can make a poster, and are entered into a random drawing.  The winners receive a pass to enter Staples “Front Row Kid Zone” along the players exit from the field.  There were several booths and tables with free things available.  We each received a Bic marker and a folder for  autographs.  There were free roster posters with pictures of different players.  Staples had a booth and were giving away free Bic markers in all kinds of colors.  I was excited about the free markers!!  Staples also had a Back to School day, the day before we went and they were giving away free  Bears/Staples brand backpacks to the first 500 kids.  I didn’t know about it until after we went.  The website didn’t list that as one of the theme days until probably the day before.

Jewel-Osco sponsers the Inflatable Kid Zone where they have this huge obstacle course shown here with Benji sliding down.  They have other inflatable things as well as a basketball toss and football toss.  Benji and Elijah really enjoyed this.  We were there at a good time, since there weren’t a lot of kids waiting in line.  Throughout the camp grounds there are concession stands to purchase food, and they also have hydration stations for fans to access free water and Gatorade. 

There is also a Pro Shop that has everything Bears to purchase, hats, mugs, footballs, jerseys.  We were there the second to the last day, and they were selling the Training Camp T-shirts for $10, which had originally been $25.

There’s just enough things to see and participate in.  The day we went was very pleasant, the sun was warm, but there were some areas of shade to cool off.  Of course Elijah thought it was the “best day EVER.”  It is a lot of fun, especially for the younger kids.  For anyone in the southern suburbs, its a pleasant drive to Bourbonnais.  I look forward to going again next year.