I’ve been waiting for some frog to come by and give me exactly this! Three wishes that could come true at a hop, skip and a jump or with a kiss. Either way, this kind of thing only happens in fairytales but since DP decided to give us a go with a genie, I’ll take the opportunity. Thank you DP but I’m lost for words and can’t think of anything!
Well, as always, let me give it a try. I think at the top of my list would be health. We take it for granted until it turns around and decides to bite us in the you know where and then we sit up and pay attention. Earlier this year, I had a monumental scare. After many tests and a monster of a machine later, I can say I am fine for the time being. So my first wish would be, “Give me good health.”
Second on the list, “love” to complete the picture. My life, on the whole, is almost perfect. I have lots of free time to do whatever I feel like doing and worries are of my own making. One thing that is missing is the special guy, not the dime a dozen variety but that one out of the ordinary person who almost fits me perfectly. I say “almost” because I know he’ll come with flaws and so will I but if there is a 70% fit, I’ll take him. The rest we can work out later. So far, the dime a dozen variety is plenty but that one elusive person is still out there somewhere. My second wish, “Please show him the way before I give up hope altogether!”
The third wish? This is a hard one. I’ll go with, “Let’s give fascism a boot out the door and never to return again!” The mother of all ills? I think so. Let’s make this world a kinder and gentler place for everyone and not just a select few.
Did I just blow my wishes away? Oh well, DP you tried, but I have a mind of my own and add being stubborn as a mule to it and you’ve got, “Wishes don’t stand a chance,” genie or not!
Daily writing prompt
You have three magic genie wishes, what are you asking for?
Book Review: The Excellent Adventures of Honey and Hubie by T. J. Mueller
The Excellent Adventures of Honey and Hubie is a delightful and heartwarming children’s story that celebrates the magic of friendship, curiosity, and imagination. T. J. Mueller crafts a whimsical tale that whisks young readers into a vibrant world full of colorful characters, exciting discoveries, and meaningful life lessons.
At its heart, the story follows Honey and Hubie, two lovable companions whose journey into the unknown becomes more than just an adventure—it’s a lesson in trust, teamwork, and the true meaning of friendship. As they face challenges and encounter new wonders, they learn that real friendship isn’t just about fun—it’s about loyalty, kindness, and understanding, even when things get tough.
Mueller’s writing strikes the perfect balance between imaginative storytelling and heartfelt wisdom. The tone is playful and engaging, keeping children captivated while subtly teaching them values that matter. The magical settings and charming characters create a sense of wonder, while the story’s deeper message helps children understand what it takes to nurture and protect the friendships that brighten their lives.
This book is ideal for young readers and parents alike, offering a story that entertains while inspiring thoughtful conversations about empathy, cooperation, and emotional growth.
By now, you know who I’m talking about. If you don’t, he’s my best buddy and my little love. A furball of love and insurmountable cuteness! He is called Chachi, sometimes Einstein, and at other times Little Macho. A little British short-haired cat who thinks he knows everything and one who has lived some interesting lives.
He was a gift from the friend who passed away and believe it or not, they have the same colored eyes. Green and clear. His coat is speckled and he has the cutest little face. We have conversations together and he listens quietly and sometimes he lets out a meow as if to say, “Enough already!” He loves waking me up early in the mornings and I mean early! Scared to go downstairs by himself, he waits around until I go down the stairs and he follows. Lately, I think he is more of a scaredy cat than a macho.
He claims to have been in Cleopatra’s court and knows beauty rituals like you wouldn’t believe! He thinks I’m doing it all wrong like Cleopatra did. All the masks, the milk baths and so on are no help at all, he says. “Just be yourself!” is his mantra. He has something there but when has that ever stopped me?! I love beauty rituals and weekends are for relaxing and taking care of myself. He says that’s the path that led Cleopatra to being unlucky in love! Hmm….well, I’m no Cleopatra and when I ask him what he did there. His reply, he was a eunuch, not that his luck has changed much in this life either, he adds!
Chachi, the cat, is very much a part of the family and he knows it. He is loved, adored, and spoiled rotten, all part and parcel of loving someone or at least in my world it is. I can’t wait to find out what other lives he has led. It will be more than an eye-opener for sure.
It’s Sunday and it is raining out there. The sky is gray and the wind is blowing. The storm is refusing to take a hike and it is driving me up the wall! I came up with a great idea to pep up my mood and these hilarious quotes helped to do just that. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
“My advice to you is get married. If you find a good wife you’ll be happy; if not, you’ll become a philosopher.” Socrates
Yup, there are many philosophers out there.
“Instead of getting married again, I’m going to find a woman I don’t like and give her a house.” Rod Stewart
Hmm…..okay never mind!
“A perfect parent is a person with excellent child-rearing theories and no actual children.” Dave Barry
I met several of those when my son was young and I had no book to go by.
“When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.” Rodney Dangerfield.
“The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they’re okay, then it’s you!” Rita Mae Brown
“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies, probably because they are generally the same people.” G. K Chesterton
“If you can’t beat them, arrange to have them beaten.” George Carlin
“Sometimes you lie in bed at night and you don’t have a single thing to worry about. That always worries me!” Charlie Brown
ME TOO!
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no use being a damn fool about it.” W. C. Fields
“When in doubt, look intelligent.” Garrison Keillor
God was worried that Adam would frequently become lost in the garden because he would not ask for directions.
God knew that one day Adam would require someone to locate and hand him the remote.
God knew Adam would never go out and buy himself a new fig leaf when his wore out and would therefore need Eve to buy one for him.
God knew Adam would never be able to make a doctor’s, dentist, or haircut appointment for himself.
God knew Adam would never remember which night to put the garbage out on the curb.
God knew if the world was to be populated, men would never be able to handle the pain and discomfort of childbearing.
As the Keeper of the Garden, Adam would never remember where he left his tools.
Apparently, Adam needed someone to blame his troubles on when God caught him hiding in the garden. As the Bible says, It is not good for man to be alone! And the #1 reason why God created Eve…..When God finished the creation of Adam. He stepped back, scratched his head and said, “I can do better than that!”
I love walking. It is my go to form of physical exercise. Just 20 minutes out in the fresh air is all it takes to rev up the engine and to get my mindset in the right place. Add the serenity of nature to it and my mind gets a much-deserved break. There is a new kind of walking, called barefoot walking, not really new because I used to do it all the time in Singapore. However, I wouldn’t do it these days with whatever is down there waiting to grasp and make its way up! Nope, no thank you. I’ll stick to good old-fashioned walking with my shoes on.
The other thing I do is weight training and exercises to stretch the muscles and to keep them limber and well-toned. I use 1 pound weights, nothing too heavy but it does the job. Pilates, Barre, and Yoga workouts help to stretch the muscles out and to keep them lean and strong.
These are my favorite forms of physical exercise but I keep adding to the regiment and before I know it, I’ll be into 60 or more minutes of working out each day. A friend once told me, “Cut back on the workouts!” I whispered, “I hear you but I can’t help it!”
I’ve always worked out ever since I was way younger than I am now and I don’t see me stopping any time soon. Nirvana is just a workout away and it is, as far as I’m concerned. If you want to feel good, go for a walk, breathe for all you’re worth and keep those muscles limber, toned and strong!
A friend asked me recently, “What do you seek the most?” I couldn’t give him an answer right away. It was a troubling question to say the least. I thought I knew because I had been working on exactly this for months on end but now faced with a direct question and I had no answers or rather I was unsure. I wanted to say “love” but the word that jumped in was “peace.” More specifically, “inner peace.” I think without it nothing else matters. It all boils down to just living for the sake of living.
What is inner peace? According to http://www.calm.com, “Inner peace is a deep state of calm, acceptance and contentment. It means being in harmony with yourself, others, and the world around you. It’s not about eliminating challenges or difficulties but navigating through them with a tranquil and accepting mind.”
Do I have that kind of peace in my life? Truthfully, I’m not sure. I have a tendency to let things rattle me, unnerve me, shake me to the core and kick me off balance. I know I have stress and that is nothing new. Dealing with stress has always been an uphill battle but I’m doing better. However, I still have a long ways to go. The question then arose, how do I go about securing inner peace? The kind that gives me a deep state of calm and paints my world a beautiful shade of pink? The quote below might work.
“Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.” Pema Chodron
Sounds simple enough but let me tell you, it’s a hard one for me. I let people control my feelings, emotions and my reactions and that is the first problem. I needed simpler solutions to a tough question so I decided to go looking and turns out I’ve been doing them already!
Breathe it says. Take time out in the day to just breathe and let go. I’m learning all kinds of breathing techniques and it is not just about taking a breath in and expelling it out. The experts have honed breathing to a new high. Breathing has gone high-tech but the original version still works. Try it for a slice of good old-fashioned peace.
Mindfulness is the other technique used to achieve inner peace. Live in the present, embrace it, let it unfold and do not control. Life knows exactly what to do. A really hard one for me as I wanted the answers yesterday!
Meditation is a gold mine and don’t I know it. My early morning and evening meditation practices have worked wonders in my life. I’m calmer, my reaction to unwanted challenges is slower and my mind seems quieter than it used to be. Worth a try if tranquil peace is what you’re searching for. It takes practice to calm that fidgety mind but time and patience will get you there. There is a plus, there is nothing more delicious than unadulterated inner peace.
Nature, connect with it and it will instill peace to the depths of your soul. Something as simple as a walk will take you there. Fresh air and nature’s beauty will clear your mind and you will get a different perspective on life looking at it through nature’s viewpoint. Everything has a time and place, do not rush that is the message.
Practicing gratefulness is a big one. I’ve started practicing this simple concept and my glass went from half empty to actually quite full. Do it often enough and you won’t be lacking anything at all! Too simple? I know. Given time this technique does work because it changes your mindset from negative to a more positive one and we all need that.
If none of the above methods work, do this instead.
“Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.” Robert J. Sawyer
Ever since that question was thrown in my direction, I’ve been thinking about the mindset for inner peace and I have come to the conclusion that all roads lead to “inner peace” first. If you want to have a life free from chaos, disarray and turmoil, work towards inner peace and all the other things will fall into place. Challenges are a part of life both big, small and the daily variety but you can overcome if you focus, work on clearing it and MOVE ON! Standing still in one place for too long would be a big mistake. The Gambler song gives us some tips on how to do exactly that.
If you’re gonna play the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right.
You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run….
Every gambler knows
That the secret to survivin’
Is knowing what to to throw away
And knowin’ what to keep
Those last three lines speak to the matter of inner peace.
Figure it out, have confidence in yourself and HAVE AN AMAZING DAY!
The Daily Prompt question is, how much would you pay to go to the moon? Gawd, I don’t know! This is like the million dollar question and no one knows except for Elon I think!
I have no big dreams of wanting to go to the moon. What’s out there? Some rocks? Something unseen? A creature that I don’t want to meet? I’m fine right where I’m at looking up at the moon and enjoying it from a distance.
We did this trip many years ago. It was to Hawaii, Maui. Our little boy was with us so it meant doing things that was fun to keep him occupied. My ex had this great idea of visiting Haleakala. It is a 10,023-foot shield volcano and is 28,000 feet from base, making it the third tallest mountain in the world. To make a long story short, it was a harrowing experience driving up to the mountain top and once there, it was cold! We were way up there and surrounded by the remnants of an once active volcano, meaning rocks! However, I just found out that according to the U.S. Geological Survey, Haleakala is an active volcano and is considered active because it has erupted in the past 10,000 years! That is even worse, anyway, my ex and our little guy collected some rocks in a plastic bag and we had to make it all the way back down, me holding on for dear life!
Point is, I think the moon trip would be just the same but with a huge price tag attached to it. Sorry Elon, but I can think of better ways to spend the money!
The storm moved in yesterday and it looks like it is planning to stay for awhile. Things rattled in the garden last night as gale-force winds showed their might, huffing and puffing better than any wolf could! It was interesting listening to it and each time I heard a loud bang, I rushed to the balcony to check if a tree or two had fallen down but thankfully there was nothing. Just that my compost bin had its cover wide-open but there was nothing much I could do about it last night.
This morning, I had every intention of getting out there. I did my grocery shopping but on my way back I noticed that the wind was picking up speed again and bilious clouds were gathering like fists along the skyline. It was packing a punch and just a matter of time before the rain would follow keeping some of us homebound and out of the way of the first strong fall storm.
So no walk as planned. Weather forecasters are warning of possible rail delays and travel disruptions across the country. Gale-force winds could reach up to 120 km/h in some places but it is not that strong here yet, but I don’t want to risk taking a walk and have something come barreling down at me.
I’m biting the bullet and opting for a quiet and cozy day with Chachi, the cat, for company. Soup sounds good so I’ve got a pot of spicy coconut and fish soup on the stove and later I might just make a cake. A healthy one with yogurt, coconut flour, almond milk and maybe even some coconut flakes thrown in for extra texture.
“Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up.” Brene Brown
It is also the hardest thing to do. Pulling the covers over your head, staying in bed and letting the day carry on without you is the norm and putting all your attention on the one thing or couple of things that tell you, not showing up is the way to go. I think we’ve all had those days and for some, it is a daily existence and for others it is a short stop before we pick up and carry on. Whichever the case may be for you, staying put is not going to do it. It takes courage to move on.
“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” Brene Brown
Your first step to showing up for yourself is to show up as you are, fears and all. “Showing up is the act of being present and vulnerable, and courage is the ability to do so despite being afraid.” I realized that I haven’t been showing up for myself these past two weeks. Fear has stepped in and peace of mind is nowhere to be seen. I seem to be wading through thick, gooey mud and each step is painstakingly slow if at all. I want the day to go away and staying under the covers is where I would like to spend my days. However, something stopped me in my tracks yesterday. Call it courage, call it intuition, or just my mind telling me to “BUCKLE UP!” and MOVE! It worked.
Today is another day and I am moving for all I’m worth. It’s not the physical kind of moving I’m talking about but the mental and emotional kind. Enough of the self-pity, the negative self talk, and the “I can’t do this” mentality. I know I can and I will!
“No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up and never give up.” Unknown
It is exactly what I’m doing today. The stalker sent this message last night.
“Good evening Tia, do you know who I am?”
My answer today is, “I don’t give a flying flip!”
I’m on the move again and I intend to show up for myself with bells on! Taking your power back from whatever is holding you back is a necessary step, letting go of people who bring you down is important but more than that, knowing that you are fully capable of handling whatever comes your way is one big leap towards moving on with life.
“There will be moments in life when showing up for yourself will mean leaving behind those who don’t.” Alex Elle
Show up, take life by the horns, and move forward decisively. Exactly what I’m doing today. The sun is showing up after the storm last night and it seems to be a clear signal to get MOVING!
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