“To Do” List for a New Roommate (NaPoWriMo 2021, Day 9 and Daily Prompts)

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“To Do” List for a New Roommate

*If you value this abode,
please plan to shoulder half the load
to keep it lovely, clean and neat.
This rule, I will not repeat.

*Underwear should not be seen
on chair or floor or in-between.
(To insure I’m a happy camper,
dirty clothes go in the hamper.)

*If, on occasion, you feel you might
have a lover spend the night,
lest my ire you might incite,
please have him leave by morning light.

*No mongrels, kittens, fish or birds
or other denizens of herds
may cross my doorway, now or ever.
In short, are pets allowed? No. Never!!!

*If personal details you recite,
please insure they are not trite,
for next to messiness and snoring,
I most dread roommates who are boring.

* Don’t steal my cookies or my chips.
My food should never pass your lips.
Don’t steal my leftover knishes,
and when you cook, do your own dishes.

*If these requests you can’t abide,
just pack your bags and move outside!
Follow my rules, or it’s your loss,
for in this house, I am the boss!

 

Prompt words today are shoulder, underwear, mongrel, trite and love.  Image by Sincerely Media on Unsplash. Used with permission. 

Also, for NaPoWriMo, Day 9, Make a To-Do List

40 thoughts on ““To Do” List for a New Roommate (NaPoWriMo 2021, Day 9 and Daily Prompts)”

      1. SAM VOELKER

        No that is not my approach, what I was thinking about is when we feel that somebody else should have~! You pick and choose~! My memories of shared rooms, even the odor lingers with me~! Oh, memories brought back by your poem, I did not kill that tank full of guppies; the bubbling sound and lights that stayed on all night~! He said “you can’t feed them too much” when he had to take a trip. Now you can take that statement two ways.

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      1. SAM VOELKER

        Actually my rules are at my gate, and my friends all know them. After having my place set on fire twice by people who had already been told that I do not like cigarettes, they went down wind to sneak a smoke, twice, FIRE, FIRE ~! I then banned them completely, as the sign on the gate says in big letters that even un smoked ones are not allowed~!

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          1. SAM VOELKER

            Yes neither one of them talk to me anymore, due to THEIR rights being infringed upon, but one of them is now dead anyway~ They killed some beautiful rare Texas Madrone trees that will never come back again, due to being very sensitive to harm~! The Texas Madrone is one of the prettiest trees we have and I only have about four of them left on my place, protected by wire fence. A porcupine killed another one. Did you know that porcupines eat trees and the beautiful soft pink bark of a Madrone is one of their favorites~!

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            1. lifelessons Post author

              My husband used madrone wood in his sculpture..but used only dead trees or fallen wood. Many a time we returned from a show with a madrone tree roped to the top of our motor home.

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            2. SAM VOELKER

              The California Madrone is somewhat different from the Texas Madrone which is a bit larger but beautiful especially when the leaves fall and you see the red bark.. We tried to plant some at my cousins house just north of San Francisco to see if they would grow, and they just did not take. They are very difficult to transplant even here. The ones I have were spread by the birds with seeds. I have actually started some in pots from seeds then tried to transplant them with about 80percent failure in the transplant.

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            3. SAM VOELKER

              I think that the Madron looses some of its color and hardness if allowed to age on the ground. As does Hickory cypress and sometime walnut; it must be aged slowly. I cut branches on dead or dying trees and put them in the overhead space of my barn overhang to age along with some very old growth cypress and cedar which is sawed. I also cut the Sotol stems after they start to die back in the fall and fasten them to a straight piece of wood to make them nice and straight. They make excellent walking staffs strong, yet very light. (good gifts for friends that like to hike) Hickory and mesquite too are good for this but not as straight, (better used to make BBQ, Ha~!) But it is also necessary as well for repairing the broken rungs on very old chairs which were always made with green hickory~!. Bet some of this I will never get around to using, but when you have it, you do what is best for later.

              Bet Bob said the same thing and would be jealous of my complete work shop. (pictures when I get it clean enough to photograph~!) Right now I am rebuilding a clock which has wood working gears, must be from early 1800’s I have been working on it for a long time, but at the same time trying to copy it. Must stop wasting my “time” on writing and get back to time pieces.

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            4. lifelessons Post author

              I left a fortune in wood, including an entire truckload of saguaro cactus, two huge table slabs we taded a thousand dollar lamp for and who knows what else? I ran out of steam after 4 years of going back a month at a time to sell 7 art studios full of material and tools left over even after our four big weekend sales while Bob was still alive.

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            5. SAM VOELKER

              So sad when a life is left to others who do not know the story or the value to you, if they have no connection with the objects we hold dear. A picture without a name on it goes into the trash~! My son’s wife was a “garage sale” nut, and many things I gave them to start a life with after moving back from England, we gave them furniture to start house again. Most went on sale tables for penny’s with never asking if I wanted it back… I am still trying to find some of the valuable jewelry that belonged to Shirley. Just today I asked again about the pendent I made for her the first time she became pregnant. It had a little male symbol inside a female one, and after wearing it, we had three sons, I let Mark use it for her and he had two sons too…. Well she denies that she ever had it~!! I told you there is no hope of a coming together with her~! This is something that had a close connection to us and our kids~! She probably either sold it or gave it away~! You can tell that these things upset me today… I don’t get angry, I just get very sad~!! Because they then had a new son and we gave them the furniture for children that we had used for their growing up,,, but that too just disappeared never asking if we wanted it left in the family~! Something you buy is one thing, but something with a love connection makes a value that just is beyond cost value.. I think that I told you this once, about Bob and that little wood heart in a pouch he made for you. He was giving you a piece of his self as I, many times did for her as well~! Money value, very little, love value worth the world. Young people sometime do not realize this until it is too late.

              Oh Judy you would be surprise all the things I have here that are beyond value today and which I have no idea what will happen to them~! Now you know some of what is stored in “Barn Again”, and “The Upper Room”.
              SAM

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            6. lifelessons Post author

              There was so much in our house that I finally just had to give up. There was also a storage shed full of all the wondrful displays Bob built for our booth and two big tents with frames that I just left. I think really I just forgot about them as I’m sure I could have sold them to someone doing the shows we did.

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            7. SAM VOELKER

              Were those display frames for a booth~? My sister did such shows, with dolls and other handicraft, and we attended a couple of “shows” with her. You know me, I always had to try everything that others did. So Shirley and I decided to do that too. I would build such things as bird houses and doll house kits, but the fun thing was whirligigs, etc which were fun to build. We could then set up next to my sisters booth and sell them, meeting with all those great people who passed by. WELL we did ONE show and I then said, this is not for me~! We only sold one beautiful artistic object I proudly made our of polished walnut, which you would drop marbles onto at the top, as they rolled down a trough, would ring bells spin wheels, drop a balance, while it rattle down a rough place into a cup at the bottom. This took me several days to make and I was proud of the workmanship, but I was talked down in price and it sold for less that about 10 cents per hour of work and sales time…. I was an artist, not a salesman and said to heck with it~! Some of those bird house kits are still in “barn again” and make good birthday gifts to the kids of friends around here. I gave the doll houses to a friend who makes doll house furniture and she does pretty well selling them online, (ETSY~?) (the modern replacement of “shows”) and I actually do have two of those marble machines out on my porch fireplace as an objet d’art, but looking bad from years of neglect~!, one not quiet finished~! My moon rock gets more attention~! But I do have another friend who lives near me who has a few shows each year. They lease a large meeting hall renting out booth space, and she only allows objects of local artist to show. She does very well as the “jefe” of the show.

              You are learning something new about me and Las Perdidos, which is that we picked out property in the heart of the Texas hill country, which has become a heaven for many artists and musicians, with wine places, “craft beer” places, and wedding venues, B-n-B’s. Our quiet little “hidden place” has now become a wild traffic jam on weekends. I am still secluded but my quiet little road is not~! Google “Things to do in Dripping Springs Texas” for examples~!

              This is my “neighbors” venue which may bring back old memories~!
              https://www.redbudartisanmarket.com/

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            8. lifelessons Post author

              One year we did 28 shows from California to the East Coast. Later, we did 7 and made more money than doing 28. Fewer expenses and we knew our market. We made our living doing shows for 13 years.

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    1. lifelessons Post author

      What we are driven through by rhyme. I don’t think I’ve ever had one, either, and I was panicked when I checked out the pronunciation to make sure I’d been pronouncing it correctly in my mind all these years. Disappointed when the first pronunciation pronounced it “neesh.” Luckily, I tried another one that assured me “knish” (my pronunciation) was correct. I didn’t check further.

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      1. Mason Bushell

        For sure, these prompts really can take us anywhere.
        I suspect a a knish is pronounced both ways in its countries of origin and so your use is just fine. I love using Rhymezone.com to see what I can find if I get stuck with a poem.

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