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A cozy corner where stories, laughter, and the invetibale chaos thrive! |
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Where humour is often found in the mundane, where the trivial becomes of utmost importance, where, well...where I Live! Since becoming a Members of the groups below, I will use the daily prompt, as well as, well...sharing the sporadically mundane everyday, that I find carries just a Smidge of humor. ;)  
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| My husband and I had a fire roaring in the fireplace last night, and started it up again this morning. it is still Sputtering now, as I have kept it stoked throughout the day, with a wee little bit of help from my nine year old grandson, who just may have a tendency toward Pyromania...just saying. He has shared that when his dad took him camping several months ago, he was in charge of building/maintaining the fire. Now, that in itself wasn't anything to worry about. The worriesome part was that when I was over at his house, and his mom shared this story, my grandson made a few comments about wanting to go outside, in the yard and start fires. I looked on their kitchen table, and plain as day, there sat one of those really Big bic lighters. I said to my daughter, "Umm...maybe you should put that away somewhere out of his reach!" Daughter, "Why??" Good heavens. Fast forward to this morning. I have the fire going, my grandson (I am discreetly watching him), notices that the fire is burning down. he proceeds to pick up the fire tongs and attempt to grab another log to toss in the fireplace! He can barely lift the log, so I saw a fiery disaster headed our way. Me ~ "Umm....what are you doing?!" Him ~ "Making the fire Bigger!" Me ~ "Let me help you." Daughter ~ "He can do it!!" Me ~ "I think we will practice a little hand~over~ hand!" After I explicitly showed him how, and under very close supervision, he helped me keep the fire going All day. So What, if it was 60 degrees outside! I Fail to see your point. |
| BCoF ~ Write about your favorite Saturday activity. Well, I am one of those people who does not really sleep in on non-work days. Obviously...Not on Workdays Either...that would be utterly Ridiculous, and, er, well...Risky! I don't Always set my alarm on the weekends (only sometimes), but when I do, it is extremely early; pretty much the same time that I wake on for work...4:30 a.m. If I do not get up Very, Very early, I felt like half the day is lost, even If I do not do anything special. What do I do so early?! Drink coffee and read/write before my husband wakes up and demands my attention, as husbands are wont to do. Once he has awakened, usually between 7:00 ~ 7:30, I have More coffee with him When we don't need to run to town for groceries or some such atrocious activity, I like to relax on Saturdays, doing the above. Drinking Lots of coffee, lots of reading, and recently (once more) writing. We usually walk around our acreage a few times a day, which I would enjoy more, were not our yard so torn up at the moment. It is getting better, through our continuous toil, but not quite enjoyable to look at, and not very easily traversed. What else. loving on our dog, walking with our dog. Hanging out with our grandkids on the weekends that they visit. Cooking with my husband. This is the only time that we Really cook, as we both work, and drive an hour or more to get home. We try to make dinners that will last a few nights, then just throw together very basic eats for the rest of the week. Basically just taking it easy...that's the motto that I try to follow on the weekends. BC ~ James A. Murphy says, “It's not that we spend five days looking forward to just two. It's that most people do what they enjoy most on those two days. Imagine living a life where everyday are your Saturdays and Sundays. Make everyday your weekend. Make everyday a play-day…" What day of the week do you accomplish the most? If you're retired do you still plan activities for the weekend? Would you be happy with every day as a play day? I could reiterate the above activities, but that would be sort of totally monotonous! But....if I did not have to work, and everyday was free to do as I chose, I suppose I could fir in more activities. One thing that I would love to demand from this quote/prompt, though, would be that...Every single day would be High Summer!! |
| BC ~ "The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination." – Fred DeVito Do you agree with Mr. Devito? Do you consider yourself a focused person or should I say a determined person when it comes to fulfilling your aspirations? Within Reason, but...we all know this. So let's just dispense with the notion of snapping my fingers...twitching my nose, and...becoming a bird. Aside from some far-fetched impossibility such as that...yes, I do believe that the Impossible is made Possible by one's determination, but, as a Christian...not by this alone, but through the power of Christ. There is a verse in the bible that says, " I can do All things, through Christ, Who strengthens me. ~ Philippians 4:13. Without the power of Christ, my determination, no matter how Determined it may be  will only get me so far, and trust me...that is not very far at all. The instances in which I tried doing the impossible on my own are countless. The times before I knew Christ and put my trust in Him, or simply the times where I thought I Knew better...that I could do it all on my own. I didn't Need His help...Thank you very much! Each and every time, I fell flat on my face, which brought me to my Knees. Every time that I sought the strength of Christ I have done what was once impossible for Me. I have overcome insurmountable challenges through his power; not my own. BCoF ~ "I talk a lot about learning to become fearless in your approach to life. But fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It's the mastery of fear. It's all about getting up one more time than you fall down.” ― Arianna Huffington How do you overcome fear? What are some examples of things you were afraid of in different stages in your life? Much of this can be referenced from my response to the prompt above. How do I overcome fear? Through the Power of Prayer. What are things that I was afraid of at different stages in my life? That would be such a very long story, so let's just narrow the list down by saying...Literally EVERYTHING! Do to, well...a great many traumatic instance beginning from a very, Very young age, and following me throughout my early adulthood, I was almost paralyzed with fear! I feared Everyone! Everyone was a threat...a danger! Going Anywhere...there were so many people...and they were all a danger. Answering the door...danger lurked on the other side. Only through the strength of Christ, once I came to know him, was I able to overcome this once overpowering fear, and boldly begin to live my life. WOW...this was all nice and Cheery for a Friday evening. Not what I was expecting at all. So, let's end with something lighthearted, that may bring a chuckle, or at least a smile. From the second half of the following...not the first. Our large breed pooch, who will be ten years old in 2 days, has begun to show so decline. She no longer eats her food, like she used to.I have to feed her canned dogfood, slathered in peanutbutter, from a tablespoon! Do Not laugh or roll your eyes. We All do the craziest things for our pets. My husband has been on swing shift this week, so he would attempt to feed her before he would leave for work, before noon. At first, she would eat eggs, then only eggs slathered in peanutbutter. Then she stopped taking that. After this, it was only frozen waffles. Yesterday, my husband called to tell me that she only ate 3 frozen waffles. Except...when I made it home, I found 1 Soggy waffle messed into the shag rug in the living room. Great fun! After sharing this with my husband, he said that she ate the other 2. I am thinking that he must have Watched her eat them. I give it no more thought, and begin Spoonfeeding her, so that she will eat Something. Later on, I crawl into bed, wriggle around, getting all nice and comfy, when..."What is THAT?!" I dive out of bed, lickety-split, thinking there is some sort of hideous creature that slithered under the sheets with me. I cautiously throw them back, only to come face to face with...Soggy waffle number 2! Sigh...I wonder when and where number 3 will show up?? |
| BCoF ~ Have fun with these words-- summary, talkative, calm, system, mirror, wording. prefer, consciousness and document. The summary drifted and frayed its meaning unaligned to mirror consciousness But talkative, at best Seeks a sense of calm As the system demands Until desired document is spawned ************ |
| BC ~ “January is the worst month. I am fat and broke from the holidays, paler than ever, and I can’t feel my own face when I walk outside.” Anonymous Sometimes I wonder if, living in warmer climates actually make the frigid cold, when it Does arrive...so much more difficult to bear, than for those who revel in the climates where extreme winter weather is nothing more than a walk in the park. With snowshoes...of course! I will share that, even in the south where I reside, winter comes angrily banging upon the door, usually unannounced and unwanted, and yes...during these times, coupled with activiites that force me outside to dwell alongside it...I quickly lose feeling in my face, hands, and feet. Because, you know, those of us in the south do not Know How to dress for the cold, nor do we have the Proper Attire! I cannot completely blame the fat on the holidays; more a lifestyle change that needs to be made. Although, once adding more protein to my diet, less snacking has been a benefit. This has caused me to lose ten pounds. Once the holidays arrived, along with all of the goodies between Thanksgiving and Christmas...I put that ten pounds (at least) back on, according to how my clothes fit. I am not quite ready to have an Argument (that I am set to lose), with my scale. Being Broke...isn't that just a Normal state of being? No? I rarely spend more than I am able over the holidays. This year, it was more serious issues that Had to be taken care of for a family member, and since I am not one who has thousands of dollars saved up for said emergencies (that would be my husband...who did cover Half of this emergency) what I offered to assist with went on credit cards. Paler than ever. Well...my legs seem to Stay that way, once the tan of summer waves goodbye, and that never seems to take long. I have an olive-ish complexion to my skin, which somewhat shows on my face, definitely does on my arms. My legs look like they belong on a completely different body when they are not tanned. This tanning happens just from doing jobs in my yard, or reading out in the sun. How I Miss summer already.  |
| BC ~ If writing is about sharing the stories that matter then designing a home is about shaping the spaces where those stories unfold. Write about this quote in your Blog entry today. While one can certainly use materialistic things in order to create ideas for writing, whether real or fictional, for me, the idea of shaping spaces in my home, refer more to home as the idea of..."Where the Heart is!" This is not to say that this cannot or should not be found within the walls of one's abode, for this certainly Should be so. However; for some of us, and for many different reasons, the walls of one's security may be found elsewhere, even if only in one's imagination. As fiction writers, this is often where we shape the walls from whence our stories unfold. At times, our walls may be built low enough for the smallest child to climb and fall to the other side. No fear whatsoever from the writer about what might tumble in after the child, or even what said child might innocently, or Not so...bring in upon their person. These things are taken in stride. Other times, our walls may be built to withstand a siege, only to crumble through an onslaught of the battering rams at its weakest point. Our walls may fall to pieces, to be built anew, depending upon the need to squeeze and strain what we desire from reality, in order to shape our characters and stories. Last year, I read one of my short stories about a young boy and his relationship with a dragon, to my 8 year old grandson. I ALWAYS speak of dragons as though they are Real. I told my grandson (about a year before this story), that there was a magical world of dragons where one could visit, but only after one learned to read. Well, after reading this short story, my grandson proved to me that he learned to read. It was up to me and my 11 year old granddaughter (who was in on this) to bring this magical world to life...even if only for a moment. We shood Grandpa and Grandson outside, while we gathered household objects that he could hold/touch/taste. He was blindfolded (as was Grandpa)...as that was the only way the dragons allowed you into their world. He pet a cantalpe (Ancient dragon's head), and ate ice cream from a large leaf as there were( ice-cream trees) in the world of dragons! While his belief lasted only moments, it was joyous to experience a child's wonder in the fictional world of the unseen. It was grandpa's imagination that Needed to be worked on...sigh! He was trying to figure it out and give it all away. |
| BC ~ “Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” Mary Oliver What do you think about this quote and would Mary Oliver's advice work for you? Well, now...if anyone might need instructions for living, it could certainly be me. Pay Attention ~ 1. Gas ~ Remembering to put gas in my vehicle when it's neede, knowing, without a doubt that becoming stranded in the middle of nowhere...er....well...with miles and miles before the next gas station. My forgetfulness also leaves me to fill up in the Wee hours of the morning, when the world is still dark, ( frigid), and everyone except the Crazies (and myself), still lie in slumber. 2. Cooking ~ Once arriving at home (on an empty tank...sigh), dinner is on the agenda. Now, my husband and I have an unwritten rule, or...maybe it Is written down somewhere. Who knows. The first one of us to arrive home starts dinner. Now, I Love how my husband's go - to is throwing a few beef patties in the air fryer. Yummy! Not really. One must Smile and make the appropriate noises while partaking of such a generous meal, however. More that once, when it was my turn, we were having salmon. AKA...Sushi! I was most certain that I was cooking it long enough, only to have him cut into his and proceed to act as though I Poisoned him. This was certainly a thought I was having after this. I mean....we both Love Sushi, so I didn't see the problem at hand.Be Astonished ~ 1. Moles ~ Only 5 so far, mind you. For the last four years, we have had the little devils Literally tearing up every Inch of our yard. This is No EXAGGERATION, at all. We used to, the first two years of living here, had beautiful park-like acreage. Now, there is not an Inch (Truly....I MEASURED), that is not covered with glorious mole tunnels and hills. We tried multiple types of traps and poison. My husband even read (on some podcast or other), about someone squirting lighter fluid or gasoline down the tunnels, which was claimed to be the end of the horrid creatures. Thank goodness we did not Quite turn to that before (only a couple of weeks ago), finding the trap that TRULY works. We have caught/killed five moles, and no other tunnels are popping up. The ASTONISHING part ~ How in the world can FIVE little tiny moles completely destroy the landscape of 4 1/2 acres?! Good adivce for my life and anyone else who might struggle with the same ~ 1. Please get gas during the daylight, when you can see axe-murderers coming at you from a mile away. 2. Fully cook your fish so that your husband does not have an anuerism! 3. Do not pour flammable substances into the ground and Blow up your abode. |
| BC ~ I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions,” says James Michener. What is it that excites you and/or fulfills you about writing? Writing is a means of expression that can be controlled. Unlike human emotions, which, in the spur of the moment, often lose control, writing allows for thought processes to develop, evolve, and ultimately rearrange themselves before my eyes. Through writing, I am able to express myself, devoid of the constraints through speech alone, such as time, decorum given to specific time/place/peoples, and other such hindrances to true and uncompromised expression. I Love...Adore the way that words are allowed...encouraged to flow together to create the perfect medium desired for any type of writing; be it professional, personal, or the fantastical. Much of what one writes is subjective, and can be interpreted in different ways, by different people, through varied circumstances. Take poetry, for instance. No two people, I gather, would read the same poem (being told Nothing of what it truly pertained to), and walk away with the same emtional pullings, if they were even inclined to at all. I have had others read my poetry, walking away with something that I never would have imagined, for that was not my emotional standpoint when creating the scene. This is how the entanglement of words becomes something Beautiful... tragic...awe-inspiring...comical. When writing fantasy, I tend to let my characters move and take over. I follow their pursuits of success, failure, love, madness, what have you. This in no means implies that I have lost control, which would seem to completely contradict my earlier statement that control is found in one's writing. However; this is more of a freeing, that I speak of...a letting go so that my characters more easily achieve (without my own constant interferance...my limited perspective), what Could be, were there little to no contraints upon reality. Had I not Created my characters, imbued them with certain emotional/physical/psychological capabilities, or lack therof, they would find themselves (as the readers of such tales would), nothing more than cardboard characters of what they Could be. Writing creates a kaleidscope of possibilities unseen before the scrwling letters weave their magic across the canvas. |
| BC ~ "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." -- Albert Einstein. They say...whoever THEY are...that one Never forgets how to ride a bicyle. Which Seems to be holding true, as I can go Decades without so much as attempting to ride, but once balanced precariously, then pushing away from my one - legged safety net, it is as though I was born on two wheels. I do so wish that this held true for Everything that one sets aside for an extended period of time, but, alas, I assure you...it does not! I used to be able to Climb to great heights (then Jump from those heights) without fear. Once, I could ride baby carnival rides that spun, twisted, dropped, and flipped. Now I cannot move more than 6 inches forward and back on my grandkids swing without the urgent urgency of feeling like I must Vomit!  Just saying.On to the quote, with all Haste and, well...Seriousness. Perhaps. When I think about (it is Amazing how easily one remembers Trauma, ha, ha) when I first learned to ride a bike at 6 years old, with every crash leading to scrapes, cuts, and scars, the Last thing that I wanted to do was return to the contraption that was set on Killing me! However...as most kiddos are were forced to...I found myself repeatedly enduring a fear like no other. Until, the very moment that I learned the Balancing act that, well...saved my life. Or, er...at least my dignity. I would never have learned the freedom that one feels as the Master of the two-wheeled wobbly chunk of metal, had I just been allowed to give up! The same is true for life. If I do not embrace the Fear...the challenges...the opportunities along the way, stasis and stagnation set in with a Vengeance. If I falter and fall, and refuse to rise for a time, it becomes so much more difficlt to find my equilibrium. Life does not promise to be easy. To be pain-free...no scrapes, bruises, or scars. However, I know that I must pedal, and pedal hard, to maintain the balance reuired to meet success. Just like riding a bike, once I reach a certain speed (and this is different for everyone), I hardly notice the effort to hold my bike upright, and keep it moving. It is not as if I am putting forth any less effort than when I first learned to ride; I have just taught my body's movements to become one with my bike. So, too, must I navigate life's bumps and bends in the road; it's loose pebbles that seek to give me a tumble. |
| BC ~ A new year is approaching. Have you considered what contests or other writing goals you want to accomplish in 2026? Are you a person who creates a monthly calendar with reminders for each goal? I May have set New Year's goals, once, maybe twice in my life. I have never set much stock in them, as I would usually forget my short-term goals, in order to reach the nugget at the end. Sigh... Also, I hear so many woe is me tales about failures Each and Every year. My husband tends to ask me at the end of each year (as as far as I can tell, he Does not), "What are your New Year's resolutions going to be?" I try, and I think he may be catching on...explaining that one does not Need to wait for the New Year, to set or reset one's goals. Every moment of every day is a New Beginning. A monthly calendar with reminders for each goal? Good heavens...No! I cannot even remember to add my Dr.s appointments to my calendar. I am notified the day before, with a text or a voicemail that I have said appointment the following day. "Who set that appointment up? It Couldn't have been me!" The only set - in - stone writing goals from previous years (aside from blogging, poetry, and short story contests) was the NaNoWriMo, way back when. I did Force myself to succeed, finishing at, if memory serves, 50,006 words. When I re-joined this site back in November, I set an unofficial, but Hopeful goal of writing in my blog each day. Although this has yet to come to pass, I do not let it get me down, nor do I consider it a failure. Some days life tends to get in the way take precedence. Other days, I have found little to no excuse, other than lack of motivation, or some such. But...it's All good. |
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