Cover of Braveheart (Sapphire Series) [Blu-ray]As I was relaxing here at home on this Wednesday evening, an odd time for me to be home because usually I would be at church but on this day there was a water pipe break at our church and we were unable to attend, gotta love weather!…………….so I was watching the local news and there was a human interest piece on a blog which caught my eye ……. http://oneword365.com/
An interesting concept…..One word to focus on, one word to guide us through our day…lives. What would be the One word to set the tone for our future, there are so many avenues to go down, so many choices of words.
BEAUTY….PEACE….VICTORY…..MONEY…..HAPPINESS!
It didn’t take me long, my word jumped out of my mouth for no one to hear except my faithful Buddy ….the dawg. He wasn’t particularly impressed. I think if I had said “treat” or “outside” he may have opened one eye but he barely even stirred.
FREEDOM……..that is my word and it is an all encompassing word for nearly every aspect of my life. That is my word for year_twenty fourteen. It is a good word, sturdy and strong, it will take me where I want and need to be. It is the word for the American dream, the word for Braveheart(movie), the word that is highly personal yet fully broad in its length and breath. It is universal.
the_shawshank_redemption (Photo credit: sreeat89)
This is a good blog to read, I would encourage anyone to pick a word, join a tribe, take back your life. We only have one option to quote a classic film, Shawshank Redemption…”get busy living or get busy dying.” Words to get you through the day..
It has been twenty four hours…..only twenty four hours, since my death sentence or should I say, fear of death sentence and gee I am pathetic…..YES, I WOULD TURN STATES EVIDENCE FOR A CRACKER!
If only I had any evidence of anything, what a time to be without “the goods” on anyone.
I am trying to decide if this headache is a no carb headache, I drink caffeine filled unsweetened tea, I have conquered that battle long ago. Being a southern girl I have gone against my raising…but, it wasn’t so bad and NO “co_colas” (the real name in case there is any question) for a long while also! I think I just have a headache…and I am hungry..again!
It feels as if I am eating all the time….but I am not, although I am feeling my hunger zone(Gwen Shamblin would be so proud) and I think that my body is weak and sad or maybe I am just hearing the yelps that couldn’t get through the barrier of starches built up; a forcefield of flour that sticks like baby powder all over the bathroom.
This may become the most ridiculous post if I don’t stop……but everything within me struggles with the introduction of meat and cheese and a lot of it….well more than usual for me and the lack of crackers/bread etc. filling me up is weird. But I will forge ahead, dragging my headache head along, looking forward to FREEDOM!
In case I do get any “goods” on anyone…someone have the white bread at the ready!
It is with a heavy heart I must say so long to an old friend. It doesn’t come as a surprise…I have known for a long time it would happen. The signs have all been there, I have had the warning and many people, friends and family have attempted to help me understand. HECK even the presidents wife, Michelle Obama has warned me in conjunction to my doctor…if it s White Don’t Bite! These words hang heavy in the air….I know, I know!
Good bye warm bread…with butter, good bye hard rolls, good bye crusty French bread….good bye sliced Bunny brand white bread (tear), Goodbye biscuits, goodbye chicken and dumplings(for which I just learned how to make…more tears), goodbye pasta……mashed potatoes and oh my Lord…crackers! I have to say goodbye to all these beautiful perfectCARBOHYDRATES.I HAVE TO EAT PROPERLY…….I HAVE TO DO AT LEAST A BIT IF EXERCISE, FIFTEEN/THIRTY MINUTES A FEW TIMES A WEEK!
Nothing like a trip to the doctor to see the tell tell signs of a life spent lazy and apparently trying to kill itself. Knowing about my high blood pressure should have been enough, but nope, I have just lived in my special world of it won’t happen to me. Now my heart rate is low and I have to add a new pill and rethink my lifestyle.
As I sat waiting for my prescription the thoughts of having a stroke weighed on my shoulders, not that I want to die, I look forward to heaven…someday, not yet; I guess it’s the thought of being stuck in bed at the mercy of everyone else, wouldn’t I feel stupid knowing I could have prevented it. What an idiot I would know I was and probably the most selfish action of my life.
As I write this, I am not one bit hungry…I made a carb free supper and ate plenty… but I need a peppermint patty……..ugh! Lord help me! I will do it and I will become healthy and stop being ashamed of myself! I have plenty of examples of overcoming overcomers and I will do it too!
I have a number of skillets in my kitchen. I find that most of the time, though, I am pulling out my largest over and over. Maybe it is cooking for a family and I need the space, or maybe just habit. How about you? Here’s Maggie with a skillet of her own….
This recipe came through recently on the Food Network Magazine Recipe of the Day. For some reason, I am attracted to the word “skillet”. When a recipe includes the word “skillet”, I automatically assume the dish will be simple, rustic, and easy.
This one hit rustic, for sure. While some of the prep was not simple, I didn’t have too much trouble taking a few shortcuts to simplify enough to suit me. On any given weekend I can be cooking for 5-10 people, depending upon how many boy and girlfriends are visiting. Simple is crucial in my…
Over the past few months I have been entertained by an artist that would not be my usual choice. Let me preference this by saying I also have a seventeen year old so this was my avenue of introduction to SirMacklemore.
Beside the fact his music, along with Ryan Lewis, is some of the most catchy of tunes and to remember my Dick Clark Band Stand Days(ugh, I am soooo old) I would say it is easy to dance to also. That is if I could….ugh again! Back to the point, this music is very fun and easy to smile to. Mind you, I hear the radio versions usually which are minus the “expletives” thank you very much, not so much wincing! That being said, I had discerned there is more to this man, and I was right.
English: Publicity photo of Dick Clark from his ABC radio show. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
His independent thinking and hard work is evident in his over the top yet mind stirring lyrics and his inate charisma. The moral of the story, so to speak, is what draws me in. The next thing that got me was while at my local Kroger, I spied a copy of Rolling Stone Magazine for which our young artist was the cover. On further skimming of article my heart sank. I felt his
Kroger logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
pain and it is a familiar story. This mom could relate.
This kid has been there…in the real world…..he has earned his stripes and quick to acknowledge his need for help along the way. He is independent and amazingly crisp in his view of the world he lives but he also is only one wrong step way from destruction and knows it. I find this makes me love him even more, in the son way I mean, as the mother of four I know the life on the mean streets is tempting and always ready to welcome a lost soul.
When I read about a person who has and is overcoming their destructive “bents” I am encouraged, even enamored by his grit. I know how hard it is and I do not know if his strength is God Centered or not. I assume there had been some influence since he was raised Catholic, maybe a inner peace that God is there to help. I don’t know nor is it my place to judge. He was raised with a lot of diversity in his life and in saying this I am reminded of songs by one of my favorite “Christian artists” DC Talk (Toby Mack)….. for which my kids loved way back when, as well as I did too. They were standing for God and equality and diversity and every one of us allowing people to find their way. God is working on me and everyone else, none of us are at the same place at the same time….until we get to heaven!
My admiration for this young man may seem silly, I am not his demographic but I am the mother of his peers and I am impressed with his rise and fall and rise again, with his weaknesses as well as his strengths and most of all with his decisions to go forward, clean, free from the things that pull him away from his calling……. Speaking truth to a generation who so badly yearns for it. I respect his love for people, same or otherwise and his confidence that we are all in this together and we might as well get along.
Kudos, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, at least for giving us/we/the thrift store shoppers clout! Love it!!
As I sit here on this Sunday evening, all wrapped up in a quilt and my faithful dawg…watching the news and weather report, I hear the words…Polar Vortex out of Al Rokers mouth (NBC). What in the world is THAT! and oh my goodness….WEATHER THESE DAYS…geeez!
Al Roker at the 81st Academy Awards (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Zip back about a zillion years ago and when I was a little girl there would be a foot of snow from time to time and this is the south….I have never heard this phrase…..This cannot be good. What is the deal?
It seems like the weather has caused a standstill in the world as we know it. Here in the south, we usually have fairly good weather. It is not Florida but as a rule not so bad. TENNESSEE IS A GREAT STATE TO LIVE IN. We are monkey in the middle of the cold, snowy north and the warm tropical lower south.
C. S. Lewis’ house (The Kilns) (Photo credit: MikeBlyth)
This is a superb yet diverse state and I have lived it my entire life….she says somewhat grimly.….living abroad for a bit would be fun, Paris…..London or Cambridge ( living near the world of C. S. LEWIS. Yes please), heck even NY,NY is on my list…..(a brownstone on the upper east side, a tree lined street in walking distance to all the cool places!)
Back to my point……Since when did our lives become so surrounded by the threat of weather? In case anyone wonders…that’s why we live in Tennessee……usually not so weathery here. We had a bit of snow in the winter, rainy springs, hot, not horribly hot summer’s and beautiful falls but these days the world is topsy turvy! We had a flood that was called a 100 yr flood, tornados and an abundance of other activity and not just here in our little state in the middle but all over.
The whole country is weather crazy and our school system lives in fear, do we or don’t we call off school? So they do as to not compromise the kids(good decision). I love it because I remember how great it was as a kid, but I also do not work a “real job” and have to get day care. Is this a new fear that has gripped our nation, are we fraidy cats, have we gone soft as people…YES!
I being the softest can not really whine ( though I do!) May I repeat….sitting here wrapped up in a blanket and my dawg..I am FREEZING! The words Polar Vortex makes me colder just saying them. Maybe this is the way the world ends someday….we get freezed out, I assure that If it were up to me, I would turn states evidence……Immediately! What do I need to do, what secrets need to be told……. I give, I need warmer weather….
The logo of the United States National Weather Service. The source page states that is not an “official” version but it looks very close to the version used on NWS’s website. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Polar Vortex is a fancy word for big fat swoosh of a cold cold wind all circling around FREEZING the tar out of us… keep your unprecedented article blast Al Roker….. brrrrrrrr!
Like most people, I live in a world of “to do” lists. Being a world class procrastinator, my list is very long and wordy…..woe is me! There is one true fact in my life and it is that ……”housework isn’t hard it is just constant”, I quote my recently bachelored cousin, a man of few words but quite wise. This is true of many mundane parts of our lives and if it were possible to skip them I would….but nope, as it is allotted every man to die and it is our fate also to “do!”
The doing of the mundane is only tolerable because of the momentary freedoms. Creating is just that. …….freedom. Writing and painting are my two vices that help me take a breath. They are my escape. The crazy part is that I even procrastinate in them. The very thing that gives me life I still avoid. I can only wonder what kind of psychology that is…..skitso-pathetic!!
It is the fourth day of the new year and I have yet to paint…I have gotten shiney new paint and brushes and canvas; I have cleaned my studio…..organized my area, yet still NO. So I suffocate here taking only gasps of air, puffing a bit from writing which gives me strength to get on with my day. This I find is another way to escape….procrastination.
Monday the sixth day of the new year I will set out to give myself life, to step back and settle in for some much needed R and R. Rejuvenate and reward myself, take the time to get alone and breathe in the familiar side of my brain that keeps me going. If only and hour or two…and by the way, why does that time fly by but waiting in traffic takes twice as long? So goes life.
This life of mine is getting way to real and this maybe the only way to muddle through. I have hope, not in myself but in the power of one greater than me. He gave me all that I have…even taking a breath!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 28 trips to carry that many people.
As I sit here on the second day of January in contemplation of how to start….the year, month, day…morning! Already saying UGH! Which is not a good sign. The full one day of the new year has already been …UMMMM……needles to say gut wrenching and if this is any sign of the next three hundred and sixty four days…..hang on to your hat…Here we go!
I have only one plan in place and that is to count the days and in this counting of the days tally up the ups and downs…..take stock each day of the distance I travel in the right direction. There will be downs and I am prepared. These are roads I have traveled numerous times. My hope is there will be many more ups and to acknowledge them as fuel to move forward even faster.
Time is short, I am old…older…..and that ain’t gonna change, but I can get better…back to that HOPE thang again….ugh! This is my challenge and as best as I can I will day by day accomplish the task. It doesn’t really feel like a mountain but more like a level flat line with little tic lines as if like a very long ruler and each day is divided into segments.
I have a list of objectives…moderations…….checks and balances. I tend to be a beinge worker. I clean house on days that involve top to bottom tasks…I take side roads; one thing leads to another and I am overwhelmed by the chores so I dread them. I paint in big blocks of time…in the “zone” and hope to be left alone to get what’s in my head out and let what’s in my spirit flow.
I am a huge procrastinator which tends to cause me to sit and ponder all the great feats I can do ……if only I had the time! This need for alone time is a family trait…..I come from people who are very self sufficient and that enjoy the peace and quiet. In my brain it’s all or nothing, for some reason I think …”someday I will be done with all these people and have time to do what I want!” BOO HOO!
POOR OLD TIRED MOM!…. I am sure my family would like to tell me to zip it! They know it’s not them (always)..usually it is me. My overly dramatic woe is me attitude is what I allow to sneak in…..so putting each day in doable increments may just work. The financial guru, Dave Ramsey preaches that “every dollar has a name” and I believe it so in that vein the minutes of my day will too.
Cover of Dave Ramsey
Time for this southern girl to get on with it….this year looks as if it will be a whopper and I am on the verge of greatness… I have art to create, books to read, people to meet and relationships to nurture. I am the one that can create change and with the Lord’s help stop settling for the sad and mundane. I was created for greatness and I will walk in it….
preacherswifeintheknow 