I guess its poetic justice that my true obstacle is helping me sort through some of my blogging obstacles. I think my biggest obstacle is still not understand all the tools and how to use them. Learning how to Ping back was a trial and it doesn’t visually look the same as others whose blog title is preceded with (-) and mine has my full name of my URL with the http:, but it works, so OK. And I have kind of learned how to link although I still get tripped up from time to time. Still don’t know what widgets are and is that something I need? I think that is my biggest obstacle is understanding what I really need vs. the extra fluff stuff. Since I am a non-professional blogger I think the rules may be slightly different or more relaxed for us.

All I can say for now is on to the next obstacle and may the smartest of us figure it out…and share the how too.

Enjoy Shelley’s prompt on Quaint Revival for 30 day Challenge and may we all learn something new.

 

The thought of a worm in my ear caused me great alarm, so I had to look this term up as I was not familiar with it at all. Totally knew what it was when I read about it. I think the earworms that get me the quickest are the stupid commercial jingles, as in ‘Like a good neighbor State Farm is there’.  When I was a little kid(in the 60S), there was a commercial on TV for Frosty Morn Bacon.  It was cartoon pigs singing this song that I can still hear in my head today and still know the words. My dad would get it stuck in his head as well. It would be a mess as we would both be singing it driving everyone else crazy. I saw that on you tube you can still see those commercials. Really, Wow.

But there are also the children songs that get thrown back at you when the occasion arrives. Those can stay with you for days. Especially if you happen to help with Vacation Bible School. Like  Noah and his arky arky or the song B I B L E, that’s the book for me…and let us not forget ‘The wheels on the bus go round and round’. Just writing this blog is going to get these stuck in my head.

And don’t get me started on Christmas….

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “earworm.” Talk about your latest earworm, or one that habitually haunts you. Enjoy!

Why do we start anything new? Is it curiosity? Or a new challenge? Maybe it is something so far out in left field we have no clue what we are doing or how to even get started. But we give it a try to see where it take us.

That’s what blogging is for me.  I started this year near the end of July and it has been an interesting journey for me and yes it is very time consuming. But just like any new flower or plant, you start with seeds or new growth, water and feed it and watch it grow. I was told to start a blog as a means to create a platform – still not sure what that means but here I am.

Many people have given me tips on how to get things done and this challenge is part of that training I hope to grow from. Shelley @ Quaint Revival has started this for those of us who are just starting out and also for those of you who have been doing it for a while and want to remember when. Yesterday’s challenge word was ‘start’ and the phrase was  ‘Why start a blog’. What I am learning is nobody is perfect at this except those who have been doing it for a while and are now teaching those of use just starting out. And even those people learn new stuff every day, if not on the technical side of blogging but from the many wonderful people you meet while doing this creating way of communication world wide.

And that comment leads us into the next challenge word ‘skip’ and phrase of ‘what does it feel like if you skip a day’. I have read comments from several bloggers on this subject with as many varied opinions as there are probably bloggers. I personally do not feel any guilt if I miss a day as I missed yesterday. But yesterday was the first day in 3 weeks since I was able to get out of the house after foot surgery. It was fun but exhausting. Its amazing how it takes the whole body time to recover when one part has been worked on. But good report from Dr. with continued healing.

Blogging has been most enjoyable for me and not something that I feel I need to do everyday, I usually do but its not job for me, or my only way to express myself or something that drives me. Blogging has to have personal tool requirements per each individual’s needs. If it gets to where you no longer enjoy how you are doing it, then maybe you need to revise how you think about it.

Blogging to me is a means of sharing the things that inspire me and if it inspires the reader as well then that is a double bonus. And like minded/inspired bloggers share their thoughts together creating friendships and some of those friendships can be across the world. So my advice to anyone who may read this is to enjoy your passions, share your passions and friendships will evolve like the new growth of a plant as it reaches ever upward.

Enjoy your weekend, will be praying for those on the east coast – could be rough this weekend.

I am very new to this fun project in my life – blogging. Still don’t know exactly what I am doing but sticking with it and picking up new stuff daily. What will be funny is a year from now I hope to say -“What was I so confused about?” but I could also be no smarter than I am now. But for me, I have a different concept than the adequate “techquies” that do this for money. I do it for the enjoyment of meeting new people, sharing ideas and beautiful pictures and of course the laughter that sometimes comes in particular posts when we can all share in the fun of it. And for me, as I sincerely care for people, it gives me the opportunity to encourage and pray for others.

My very first post did not have pictures as I had not clue but as of now I can add pictures. My first post deals with the Gift of the Senses that God gave us so that we could enjoy the things we see, the things we hear, the things we smell, the things we taste and my favorite the things we touch. Think of the wonderful gifts these are and how tragic it can be when we lose or have never known one of these amazing gifts.

Sense of Hearing –  The beauty of music and the warning of possible trouble(not really)

There is so much that can be conveyed through these senses, whether it be light or strong, it should be relished for the gift it is.

Come join us for a walk through our beginning journeys of blogging with Shelley @ Quaint Revival.

 

 

 

The Bribe!  Most people who have dogs don’t have issues with   their dogs eating. Mine however looks at the food in the bowl, then at me with an expression of “Really, is that all you can do?”

Maybe she really does not like her food but we have gone the full spectrum of type/price/wet/dry  and have settled on this. But I still get the look. She wont touch it unless something has been added – even if its broth off the cooked green beans. I tried waiting her out but her growling stomach was annoying and it increased her change of throwing up. We have come up with this system which seems to work  and since she always get a milk bone after eating, we went to the small bones and she gets one with her meal and one after.

So we crush one, sprinkle it on her food and then she eats. I have never had a dog that I have had to trick to eat. My daughters dog does a jig while his food is being prepared and when you have a basset hound doing a jig, that is something to see. Then in less that 3 minutes its gone. But I have seen other animals do the same I guess. I grew up around horses and some were gentle slow eaters  and some gulped it down.

PS – my floor is not always this messy but since I am recovering from surgery, the vacuum is staying in the closet.

  Come join us for fun with Linda G. Hill’s One Liner Wednesdays. Its fun seeing everyone’s posts.

 

Since I am a day behind with this challenge, I will do two parts together to get me back on track providing I don’t have to learn a new trick, some of us are less technically minded when it comes to computers; which drives my kids crazy because as I spent over 20 years working with computers. But like I have told them, I know how to use those specific programs and since the computer world discovers a new leaf ever 6 months, its no wonder that those of us who did not grow up with computers can get lost.

Second day challenge deals with “favorite” with a key question ‘What is your favorite thing about blogging?‘ I am not sure I have a favorite part of blogging as I am still new at it. Currently it is a new exploration and I am enjoying the journey. Have met some interesting people across the globe that I would have never met and enjoy a lot of the pictures from various sites. Once I get out of this cast and can walk again, I hope to get my camera back out and join in on the fun.

The 3rd challenge is “fondest” with the key question of ‘What is my fondest post’. I think all of our fondest posts are the once that we are most passionate about. I am very passionate about treatment of dogs and think Dogs on a Chain is my current favorite but Childhood Memories is a close second. (Look at me I just figured out how to link old post. Huge victory for technically challenged me!  :0)  – that’s a typed clown smiley face

Since my current favorite deals with dogs I will post pictures of current extremely rotten 4 legged children that live in our house. We have Guard Mimi – female coon hound, protector of anyone daring to walk down the sidewalk, we wont talk about the mailman. And then there is my daughter’s male basset hound who protects the downstairs.

I am a firm believer that pets are family and that people that get a dog just to get a dog probably shouldn’t get a dog. It is a big responsibility but not really if you understand that at the beginning  its like having a small furry child that needs to be loved and taken care of. Its not a dog on a chain to be thrown a bone because you are too busy or really not wanting the dog once the newness has worn off. I am going to get off this train or this blog will be 5 pages long. Join in on the 30 Day Challenge by Shelley of Quaint Revival to see where others may visit.

 

Mimi,  Hot Outside                              Sofa & lap – all good

King Max                                           Hard Life

 

 

The 30 Day Blogging Challenge may be helpful to me. Maybe I can get a clue as to what I am doing. Yea, already messed up as I am a day late starting but that’s because I got lost in the rabbit hole of trying understand what pingback was which lead me to links which lead me down another rabbit hole and then I forgot what the first question. I feel that I am doing pingbacks wrong so if you don’t see this post from a pingback link, let me know and I will go in search of other rabbit holes.

The challenger word for day #1 is Lost with the question asking of I feel lost in the blogging world. Was Alice lost in Wonderland?? Am I lost in the blogging world? Probably, too lost to really realize it. So why do I blog? Because I was told I needed a platform? What? Yea I don’t know either. It all started because I retired and wrote a book. After talking with many people in the author world, they said I needed to get my name out there so that I can promote my book. Another set of ??? Evidently the idea of writing a book is the easy part – getting someone interested in even thinking about wanting to read it is another thing and since I am a nobody – aka – not political, not criminal, not interesting  – you get the drift. Writing comes easy to me but that is because I am a little left of center or right of center depending on where you are standing.

I am a strong Christian but I don’t shoved it down anyone’s throat. You ask me a question and I will answer it to the best of be abilities per what I believe the scriptures say. Plus I am an avid animal lover, all animals but strongly for dogs.  So I have written a book in the dogs point of view. Its basically a book of a bunch of dogs sitting around a room in heaven telling their stories of their lives on earth and there are some funny crazy stories. For those of you who have family pets, they do some crazy stuff sometimes. So just like family like to sit around and laugh at fun memories, why can’t dogs. It was fun to write and some of the stories have a ring of truth to them. So would anyone really want to read something like that? I dunno? So what is my next step? I dunno? But I am continuing on. May start on a sequel – dogs do some funny stuff. I enjoy the funny pictures on Pinterest of funny dogs. Makes me giggle.

The Escapist Coloring Club prompt by Linda G. Hill. What fun. Not that I think mine is great, it has been a wonderful  time filler while I heal from surgery. I am so glad they came out with these several years ago. On my 3rd book.  I have included one of my favorites that I call “Floral Fawn”. Have fun with prompt.

It the first of September again and that means show and tell for LindaGHill‘s Escapist’s Colouring Club!

 

 

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “round.” Use it as a word by itself or find a word that contains it. Bonus points if you start and/or finish your post with it. Have fun!

Round is the ball…but not all balls are round.  The fabulous time for fall ball is upon us, whether it be a round ball or oval ball. For those of us who love football, it started Thursday for Pro and college. Bars will be busy and loud, restaurants with TVs will have people fighting over the channel to watch their team and towns with stadiums and teams will be a traffic nightmare. But those of us who love it welcome it. Coming from the south, I am a college team fan. I grew up in a town with a well known high school team that won many state championships. Then on to college. And as college teams ebb and flo with the talent they have, so goes the strength and winning ability with that talent. Good teams require excellent recruiting, profound training, and a good dose of accountability for all involved. With that accountability comes the powerful need for training these athletes’ on how to become adults on and off the field. If they are only trained to win on the field at all costs without accountability of actions then the battle to adulthood gets lost. Your best coaches are the ones that train for the whole package. If an athletes’ misbehaviors off the field are not held accountable due to the amazing abilities on the field, then the behaviors that are learned are destructive. Discipline is important – parents discipline, managers discipline(work & team) and God disciplines. We all have to walk a line between good and bad. Let us all walk this line with our young men and women as they use sports as a way to express their abilities with encouragement, love and acceptance when they lose. If you only show support of your team when  they win, then that is not real support. Its winners support. Its when the team loses that they need you support the most so that they can re-climb the ladder of success and become the winners we know them to be.

With that all being said I am in much anticipation my team. It has been a dry spell for the top prize with a lot of close calls. Recruiting has been exceptional but I see a lot of potential in a lot of other teams throughout all conferences. The difference in where I come from vs. other areas of the country that I have lived in is if our team is  not winning, then we cheer for other teams in our conference. Each of the conferences have their own strengths and ways of doing things so when you get past the game level, you look to the conference which helps all the colleges in each conference become stronger through sports.

For me, I am an SEC fan. Currently a strong conference but just like teams, conferences will ebb and flo as well. To all football fans across the nations – Good luck, may the best team win and may everyone be safe.

Remember, not all balls are round.

 

 

 

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, I’d encourage you to join in on the fun. You can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.

I very  much enjoyed Dan Antion, No facilities  post this morning for #1Liner Wednesday titled The Best in People. It is such a wonderful story that shows when people are in bleak situations together and 1 member has a greater need, then all hands drop what they are doing to assist and encourage that need. It reflects the true nature of people as God first intended – Love Thy Neighbor. And the neighbor is not a literal term but any person requiring a genuine need. Does the requesting get abused yes, is the help still needed, more than ever.

While GOOD is still alive on this earth, it needs to be spread as far as it will go. There will be a day when all the good will be gone – when God says -Enough-. That will be a horrific day; a frightening day. But until that day comes, we must persevere shining the good in all the dark places to help lighten more ways for good to enlighten all of our paths. When light is there, darkness can not be seen.

Today my sweet loving church brought me a get well box filled with all sort of goodies – cookies, snacks, tea, a book to read, a magazine of brain games(if find my brain) and the copies of the Bible studies that I have missed. So very wonderful, kind and blessed people. They are forever spreading the good out to all of those who need it.

Being temporally handicap is a real pain but it gives me real perspective for those who are permanently handicapped. I belong to a group of wonderful people who are a little on the eccentric side – we are clowns. Not circus clowns but ministering clowns. We visit nursing homes, hospitals, churches, etc. Anywhere we can show some of the goodness and kindness left in this world. It is important that – GOOD DOES NOT GIVE UP! We bring smiles from our crazy costumes, silly antics, magic acts, story telling, face painting and lots of love. If we can make a person forget their misery for 1 minute and give them a sweet memory, then we have done a kind thing and have met our daily goal.

Did you know that it takes more muscles in your face to frown than it does to smile? Scientific fact! So the goal needs to be more smiling, and less hard work. Another scientific fact – smiling causes less wrinkles. You may get smile lines though.  I challenge you today to be kind and to smile. They are both infectious.

The “C.” stands for Christ