Tag: games

Designing Woman

My mother had two hobbies: reading and rearranging furniture. I shared her love of reading, but never understood her passion for decorating. Once I get my furnishings placed appropriately they might remain in the same place for years. The only times I've moved furniture around are when we've been transferred to a new location. I wouldn't do it even then, but I can't afford new stuff every time we change houses, and no one ever seems to want our old stuff.

Mom never had a budget for decorating, so our furniture was about as basic as it could be. We had a sofa, a love seat, and two chairs in varying shades of brown, tan, and black, but by simply rearranging the pieces from time to time and adding a new throw pillow or a crocheted afghan she'd create a completely different look.

Not long after I left home Mom bought a floral sofa. It kind of pissed me off. For all those years I thought furniture had to be a solid color and at the tender age of 18 I discovered florals exist! Had I not been worthy of a floral sofa? Was she making an exchange? Me for a sofa of flowers and leaves?

Studly Doright and I inherited my parents ugly black sofa when we married, but when I had the opportunity to buy a new one, it had flowers everywhere. It was ugly as sin, but at least it wasn't a solid. That'd show 'em.

Honestly, I have no skills in decorating. I never thought of it as something I'd enjoy doing for fun, but recently I was looking for an online game to keep me from overthinking everything in my life, and I found Design Home. Now I'm obsessed.

Here's how it works. Every few hours a design challenge is posted, usually with some criteria attached, i.e. two metal items, three rustic pieces, etc. Players select pieces either from their own inventory, from the inventories of friends, or from the shop, and then try to create a pleasing room. Players also get to vote on other designs. I get a kick out of seeing how others interpreted the challenge.

Here's one of my designs:

Isn't it pretty? My mom would have loved this game. Would she have chosen a floral sofa? I'll never know.

Peace, people. Go hug your mom.

Travel Games You Cannot Play on an Airplane 

One cannot play the alphabet game, the signs are too far below,

And the license plate game is likewise moot, no cars zip to and fro.

One could play the I Spy game, at least a round or two

Until it’s apparent that the objects in view are limited to just a few.

Name That Tune is out, ’cause other passengers aren’t amused,

When you sing an off key Yellow Submarine and they all feel abused.

So I’ll twiddle my thumbs and wiggle my ears the better to pass the time

Or maybe I’ll write silly poems, some may even rhyme.

Marbles In

I picked up a
handful of marbles,
perfectly round,
smooth, cool, 
clinkety clunky in
my wrinkled grasp.

Brightly colored,
variegated blues,
yellows, reds, plus
an amber cat’s eye,
a shiny steelie,
and a swirly snaky.

There was nothing
particularly
notable about these
colorful orbs.
Other than they
exist simultaneously
in the worlds of my
present and my past
as only childhood
playthings can.

  
Peace, people!

Laughter, the Best Medicine?

Written in response to the Daily Post’s Daily Prompt:

Roaring Laughter

What was the last thing that gave you a real, authentic, tearful, hearty belly laugh? Why was it so funny?

Not this past Christmas, but the one before, Studly Doright and I met our kids and grandkids in Nashville, Tennessee, for the holiday. Our son and his family live in Texas. Our daughter and her family reside in Illinois. Studly and I are in Florida, so it’s a treat when we can all be together.

Rather than stay in a hotel we rented a home for the week, and made it into a temporary Doright Manor. We had a first rate time cooking and eating and playing games with the grown kids and grandkids. 

One night, though, we sat the kids down in front of a movie in one room while in another the grownups played the game Cards Against Humanity. There might have been a bit of drinking involved. And by a bit, I mean copious amounts of liquor were consumed.

Our son-in-law, Stephen, having moonlighted as a bartender, knows how to mix a drink and soon had us all giggling like school children even before we started playing the game. Then the competition began.

Now if you’ve never played Cards Against Humanity you have no idea what you’re missing out on. I laughed so hard that tears rolled down my face–deep, strong belly laughs that caused my jaws and cheeks to ache well into the next week. 

 If laughter truly was the best medicine the Doright family could have cured every disease known to man that week. Instead, we just had a wicked good time.

Peace, people!


Caution–the game is not for the easily offended. There are references to body parts and bodily functions that aren’t often mentioned in polite company. Of course Studly and I never were much for polite company.

Goodbye Candy Crush

Today is a momentous day. I’ve deleted Candy Crush and its demented sister, Soda Crush, from my electronic devices. Gone, as well, is Bejeweled Blitz. Snap! Just like that.

Now that I’ve discovered the joy of cooking for Studly Doright I want to spend my hours in pursuit of the perfect Studly-pleasing recipes. That and I need to get up and move more. My chair and I are starting to look like conjoined twins connected at the ass.

I must admit when I hit the little “x” on the quivering Candy Crush app icon my heart squeaked in protest. After all I was on Level 657. Let that sink in. If every level took just one minute to solve, and if I’d solved each of those levels on the first try that would have been 657 minutes of my life spent playing Candy Crush. But I spent WEEKS on many levels. I could have earned a Masters Degree in the time I spent playing Candy Crush alone.

And that was just one game. Soda Crush required roughly the same time commitment, and Bejeweled Blitz, well, it was addictive on a whole different level. Some nights I’d lie awake trying to picture ways to boost my scores. Fruitless, pointless, insomnia-inducing thoughts.

I’m sure there will be some withdrawal issues. My fingers might have to learn to relax, and my eyes to refocus. There was one game I didn’t delete, though. I’ve kept Words With Friends. It seems to serve some educational purpose. How else would I know that qi and qat were words?

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Peace, People!