#MondayMixer "Arabella and the Refulgent Fandangle Incident"

The trouble with writing flash fiction is once you start you get caught up in a whirl of words and other lands your imagination craves more. And it makes for a great distraction when you really should be tidying up!

So when Jeff Hollar (@Klingorengi) challenged me with this week's #MondayMixer I had to at least take a peek at the prompts.

I actually knew what some of them meant for a change which was a great start and including a word like "fandangle" into the mix was inspired, my story could take any direction. As it was I wrote something funny, well at least I hope it makes you smile :-) 

It's a bit crazy but then I have used ALL NINE prompt words, usually a recipe for disaster. At first I fitted them into a story of less than 100 words, what I found hard this week was stretching them out for the required 150.

So sit back and enjoy the tale of...

Arabella and the Refulgent Fandangle Incident!

Arabella stood defiantly, hands on hips.

She explained clearly that there was no way little Freddie was going to beguile her with his refulgent fandangle, however sparkly he claimed it was! He was well known for being heavy handed with the glitter. 

She admitted she had taken matters into her own delicate little hands and given him a wallop around the head with her threadbare comfort blanket. 

She declared that her nursemaid had often forewarned her with ominous portent of young swain like him with his country ways and unbecoming natter.  She was not as craven as she appeared in her frilly white dress.

Arabella, aged 4, was removed from Sunnydale Nursery later that day, in the circumstances it was thought to be for the best.

Freddie, aged 3 and three quarters, was overjoyed to see his mum that afternoon and she was absolutely delighted with his handmade glittering triangle.

 
 

Christmas decoration made by one of my boys at nursery a long time ago - our very own "refulgent fandangle"!

The Littlest Room

As I wrote the other day my parents are visiting at the moment helping out with the boys while I am “radioactive” and Dad is helping me decorate my bedroom.

Now if I seriously thought I would get lots of writing done in my semi-confinement I was sorely mistaken because I have been far too busy. My dad will be 69 this December but that doesn’t slow him down, he is a bit of a work-a-holic, what we have achieved between us this week is staggering. 

I should re-iterate once again, for those who have never been to my house, that it is HUGE. My bedroom is about the size of THREE normal sized bedrooms. We have completed two thirds of the project and are now waiting for the plasterer to come and sort out a patch of ceiling before we prepare the last bit for its final splash of colour.

So with this bit of “free” time I have sneaked away to update my neglected blog!

(Dad is busy in the garden, he can’t sit still or he’d fall asleep! Mum meanwhile has been baking up a storm in the kitchen to keep the hungry workers fed!)

I will post some pictures of my new improved boudoir once we are finished but it’s not the only room to have a lick of paint recently...

Our downstairs loo has been in dire need of a makeover for years. Brown walls and ceiling didn’t make it very appealing.

One Saturday I found a large tub of bright yellow paint under the stairs, we’d bought it in the sales years ago, as you do. Four or maybe five, coats later and my drab downstairs cloakroom was revitalised. 

A couple of knick knacks were gathered from around the house, a picture bought from the charity shop for £3 and voila – the littlest room in the house is transformed.

a bright and welcoming room!

candles and large vase taken from upstairs bathroom

bottles taken from kitchen

wreath made from wire coathanger and recycled material

Best of all – I did it ALL by myself including sanding down woodwork and washing out brushes, the jobs I used to leave to Andrew!

Dad also does those little jobs I'm too lazy to do and this latest project has been a different experience again. It's been a joy and a pleasure to share this special week working with my Dad and in the process create a space that is truely mine.

The last decoration

After the long deliberations of whether or not to put up my tree last month suddenly Christmas is all over and my tree is packed away ready for Christmas 2012. 

The house is back to pre-Christmas normality.

The boys decorated the tree but I wonder how much thought they gave to each individual item they hung?

I remember decorating the Christmas tree as a child.  My favourite ornaments were two wooden bells.  They were blue and painted to look like angels with strands of wool for hair.  I guess they got thrown away years ago replaced by more modern baubles but I still fondly think of them.

There are lots of memories with the decorations we have collected over the years.  It is the same tree we had when we first married.  I was working in BHS and we bought the biggest and best available using my staff discount.

Our original trimmings were handmade by me at evening classes.

Over the years they have been added to with decorations made by the boys.  There are a lot of cardboard and glitter creations.

Oldest son tends to be like his father not seeming to have much time for traditions and favourite baubles. Although you may remember he was the one adamant we put the tree up in the first place!

But I do know that youngest son has a favourite ornament, he wouldn’t add it to the tree without me being there to watch.

I purposefully made it the last one I took down too.

youngest son's favourite guinea pig tree decoration

We bought it in York at a Christmas market.  Andrew had organised a bus trip and we filled the coach with people from church as a fundraiser for our church hall extension.

It was such a fun day out.  A real family day for us.  For once the crowded streets didn’t bother Andrew.  We weaved in and out of people and shopped for only special things.

On the way home there were chocolates for all and much laughter.

Just one of many joyful memories in the treasure chest of Christmas decorations, packed away for now but ready to be taken out next year and happily remind us all over again.

P.S. just asked youngest son why he liked that one best,

"Because it has a guinea pig on it!"

 

"Do you remember when we got it?"

He didn't and he returned to playing with his DS without another thought.  Maybe that's as it should be but one day I'll enjoy telling him this story all over again!