So this happened…
Now, before you get too excited, there were only two of us competing. Having said that, my competitor was a veteran Toastmaster who beat our club mentor in the club-level competition. Our club chartered last November, and this was my first competition speech (and the fourth speech I’ve done in front of an audience), so I’m pretty happy placing second. And I got some really good feedback on my speech.
I miss Toastmasters. Ours was a work club, and I don’t work there anymore. I got my competent leader and communicator though.
Nice. Mine’s a work club as well, and I’m hoping to be there for a while (at least at the moment). I’m working on the Presentation Mastery path.
That I can work from home from time to time. I try not to do it too much - I’m much more productive when I’m in the office - but after spending a half an hour excavating the car and watching the weather get worse this morning I said “screw it”. And Mr. TM was happy he didn’t have to excavate the other car, because I’d already done most of the work. 
They cancelled drill this weekend. I have Mondays off normally. Tuesday, they told us not to try to come in–free day. This morning, I tried and failed to get out of my driveway, told the sergeant major I would try again in a few hours. Then we started getting the flood warning notifications, and I decided I didn’t want to spend the day trying to get to work so I asked if I could just put in leave for the day. The answer: don’t worry about it, see you tomorrow maybe.
My new shiny made me happy. Being not smart enough to create a link makes more work for you but oh well. 
Also the progress in my game, the new coat I bought, and the finishing piece of decor in my front room all made me happy. Lots of happy.
?
is that meant to be “in my front room” ?
don’t worry, happen to most of us. Write a nice post, dump it and run… only to discover a spelling mistake or the such later on when you can’t edit and change it… 
Etiquette note: we don’t call people out on the carpet for their spelling or grammar mistakes around here. That isn’t the main principle that this site was founded on.
I am so sorry, and will take myself to the dog box for a timeout.
Wait… what?
Sarcasm is just one of the services that I offer.
Call today for an automatic quote.
The wife and I are going to Fogo de Chao for dinner tonight. In approximately 12 hours I will have the meat sweats.
Ookson v2 is sleeping next to me while I keep the flies away from him.
That makes me really happy that I don’t have a problem with flies bothering me while I sleep. But I get your point of having family close, too.
In summer we have flies. Lots of 'em - as three of our neighbours have horses on their premises.
In winter it is lovely not to have any flies and mosquitos buzzing around and be annoying AF.
I grew up down the street from a chicken farm. I don’t remember it much (It shut down when I was probably under 5) but my parents remember summers where the screen doors would be covered in flies. And fly paper all over the house hanging from the ceiling…
Ahh, that makes sense. There was a cow pasture and a pig sty across the street from my high school, and when the wind was blowing just right, the smell and flies would be blown across.
I did this:
I’ve been saying for years (decades, really) that I was going to submit something to this contest, but this is the first time I’ve ever done it, and the first time in a long time I’ve sent something I wrote out into the world. Wish me luck!
Good luck, @TechnoMistress! 
Don’t forget to wave your hat!
