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My Book Review

Another Update: I’m not sure how the book is doing! It has several reviews and the rating still stands at 5 stars, however, is it selling? I don’t know. The publicist is on vacation and I’ll have to wait till she gets back to work. In the meantime, I have nightmares about the book! The other night I jumped out of bed because I was going through 21 reviews, yes 21, and all of them were BAD! It was just a nightmare. I need your help in getting more reviews or ratings on there. So, please get a copy and give me a rating or review and again be KIND!

Update: I got my first 5 star global rating yesterday and I thought it was from one person. I googled it and according to Amazon “A 5-star global rating on Amazon signifies a book has received exceptionally positive feedback from many reviewers, indicating near-perfection or outstanding quality.” Who are these reviewers, that’s what I would like to know! Anyway, it is exciting news. Now, I’m addicted. I need MORE! 😊

I found this interesting and it did put a smile on my face. This is what it said:

Reviews for “The Excellent Adventures of Honey and Hubie” are positive, highlighting the book as a magical, imaginative journey that teaches children the importance of friendship and the excitement of the unknown. Reviewers praise T. J. Mueller’s writing for capturing children’s imaginations and delivering a real message through its colorful characters.

T. J. Mueller creates a world that is both enchanting and relatable, making the story appealing to young audiences.

If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, my new children’s book was published on August 28th and even though I don’t see any reviews at any of the bookstores, it is still too soon, I did come across one that made me sit up and take notice. I like the review and it is exactly what I wanted to get across.

Get a copy and give me a review or rating as well but BE KIND.

David Beckham

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I’m not into professional athletes but there is one name that stands out not because I respect him the most but for another reason. The name that jumps into my head or comes to mind is David Beckham.

It only did that because I had done some write-ups on him especially when he did the H & M underwear campaign. YES!! That was something else. The man was ripped in all the right places and he looked, well, let’s just say he looked fantastic in his next to nothings. The campaign was a huge success for H & M since Beckham was one of the most marketable men in the world at that time. The collection focused on quality and comfort and it included briefs, boxers, vests, and pyjamas. Who cares? That’s right, no one cared what he had on, the less the better! I had forgotten just how fascinating the man looked with that inquisitive look plastered on his face. The launch caused a mass hysteria and rightfully so. No one could look this good? Well, he did.

He still looks good and has gone on to advertise more products. He is brand ambassador for Tudor watches, Tempur mattresses, Nespresso coffee machines Pepsi and so on. His diverse advertising and brand ventures have earned him hundreds of millions.

Just goes to show, looks matter in a world that is obsessed with the beautiful people. Add prowess to that and they’ve got it made!

Daily writing prompt

Name the professional athletes you respect the most and why.

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Karma (Archives)

In Sanskrit, karma literally means “action.” In Hinduism, karma is defined as, “the relationship between a person’s mental or physical action and the consequences following that action.” Basically, it is the cause and effect of what a person has done in their current and previous lives. Simply put, what you sow, you reap.

I’ve always had a deep fascination with the concept of karma. I want to believe that if you do wrong or hurt someone knowingly, you will get payback from karma. I wouldn’t have to lift a finger and Karma, my friend, would take care of it lock, stock and barrel and maybe even with two smoking barrels! Nice thought but it rarely happens that way. Sometimes payback takes a long time coming and in our world of instant gratification where we expect everything to happen at the drop of a coin, karma takes its time and does it the old-fashioned way. Which means it could take many years even ten to 20 years or more before payback happens but rest assured when it does come around, you will know.

“A boomerang returns back to the person who throws it.” Vera Nazarian

Is it considered revenge? I think it is more like a higher power keeping tabs on you. It watches, keeps track and when the time is right, the anchor falls and you get payback. Makes sense I think. Afterall, someone has to keep tabs, otherwise, wrongdoing would be the name of the game and everyone walks off scot-free with a smile plastered on their faces only to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. It’s a good thing that karma is there.

Karma Says

“Mouths can lie, eyes cannot. People may forget, karma will not.” Unknown

However, karma is not just about the bad stuff.

“Good or bad, what you put out comes back to you.” Unknown

I know of one situation where a man cheated on his wife. It was a terrible thing to do and instead of being sorry, he married the woman he had the affair with. It looked like all was well and life was going swell for the two of them. Twenty years down the road, the new wife found someone else and rode off into the sunset with her new love leaving her husband devastated. A karmic consequence?

Benjamin Bayani says, “Karma bides its time. You will always have to watch out. Karma is unforgiving and always gets payback.”

All just hocus pocus? I don’t know folks but I tend to be superstitious as well so it sounds perfectly legit to me. I like the idea of good vs. bad and payback in some form or fashion.

By the way, karma

“I have a list of people that you missed!” Unknown

Have an amazing day.

Relaxation

Relaxation is a big word in my life as everything is focused on or around it. No matter how stressful life gets or how chaotic things are, relaxation is one of the things that I try to do everyday without fail.

It could be as simple as a walk in nature for about 20 minutes, a workout at home for 30 minutes, a meditative practice for however long I like and just simply breathing for all its worth. All of these methods help me to relax and to give the “stress” monster a kick out the door. It wasn’t always this way. Life had me in its grip and I found myself on the go all the time and there was no time to stop and smell the roses even if I wanted to. Then I made a conscious decision to step back, go into the recluse mode, throw what didn’t serve me out the door and to give relaxation the all-important spot as being number 1 in my day-to-day routine.

These days, I am learning to relax at the drop of a coin. If something bugs me, I grab one of my go to methods for relaxation and retreat into a world of peace and nirvana. Just 15 minutes a day does the trick and “no time” is not an excuse. You do have the time to do what is good for you. Forget about the world and all those to do lists, you come first so do something good for yourself.

I must admit I’m not where I should be. There are days when everything falls apart and relaxation is nowhere to be seen no matter how hard I try. Taking a break is alright too but come back to that state of mind where life is simple and all you need to do is breathe and let the world do its thing without you in it for a while.

“You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.” Mandy Hale

Daily writing prompt

How do you relax?

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My Book Review

I found this interesting and it did put a smile on my face. This is what it said:

T. J. Mueller creates a world that is both enchanting and relatable, making the story appealing to young audiences.

Get a copy and give me a review as well but BE KIND.

A Blur!

Yesterday was a blur! The test went fine but spending almost 5 hours at the hospital and having this radioactive stuff shot into me and then doing three rounds with the machine to find out if there was anything wrong took the wind out of my sails!

I think it wasn’t just yesterday that brought about the exhaustion, it was the week leading up to it. Emotions were running wild and not knowing made it all the more nerve-racking. I had all kinds of “what if” scenarios running through my head and none of them good.

I crashed last night at around 8 and didn’t get up till 5 this morning. Still feeling tired but more than that, it is the radioactive stuff coursing through my veins that is causing problems, just psychological ones. I googled on how to get rid of it and was told, drink plenty of water to flush it out of your system. It takes about 24 to 48 hours before it is out and gone for good. I hope! The other thing is to keep away from pregnant women and small children. No problems there but Chachi was not too happy last night. I tried not to hug him, kiss him or to cuddle with him and the little bugger didn’t understand it at all.

This morning, I stripped the bedcovers and threw them in the wash. Then I took a shower and used scrub to get whatever is oozing out of my pores a run for the money! After that, I took a walk in nature. There was nothing going on there. The trees were a bright green with no show of changing anytime soon. Fall is taking its time getting here but it will be here sooner than later. However, I realized that nothing much had changed since I set foot on the fields which was about three days ago.

Here’s the thing. Life moves on, nature does the same and what you’ve got going on is your business alone. I recall when I was grieving for the friend I lost, nature and life went on and didn’t stand still not even for a moment. The burden was mine to carry alone and how I dealt with things even more so. I think the message is, YOU have to deal with whatever comes your way. It is all up to you and with that in mind, I feel like I’ve been given a new lease on life and I better put it to good use. I plan to.

The sun is just coming up and it is casting shadows and light as it weaves its way through the fields. A beautiful sight to see and I know that today is going to be a beautiful day.

Have an amazing day folks.

LOL!

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My wife sent me a sweet text that read,

“If you’re sleeping, send me your dreams.”

“If you’re laughing, send me your smile.”

“If you’re crying, send me your tears. I love you!”

I replied,

“I’m on the toilet, please advice.”

Newlyweds?

***************************************************

It finally happened! The flight attendant asked, “Is there a doctor on this flight?” and I leapt up and said, “Yes!”

Did a tracheotomy at 30,000 ft with a razor blade and ballpoint pen.

He didn’t make it, but the thrill was undeniable. Thinking of going to doctor school now.!

The man has ambition! 🤣🤣🤣

STOP!

I use “stop” a lot. It is in my arsenal of most used words. Chachi, the cat, gets the brunt of it and I use it with friends and sometimes when I’m talking to myself. Yes, I do talk to myself since I’m best friends with my inner me. It usually goes something like this:

“Tia, stop doing that stuff!” or “Tia, you need to stop doing this over and over again.” This word has negativity attached to it but at times it spurs me on to do better as well. However, with Chachi, “stop” has a definite negative connotation or rather he takes it that way. The munchkin does not like the word, “STOP!” He often gives me this look that says, “You are not the boss of me!” Oh well, that is not going to stop me from using it when he is up to something or when he leaves cupboard doors open after exploring in them!

My son also gets the word “stop” quite often. It’s because young people and especially my guy seems to think that unloading on mom is a great thing to do! He was this sweet kid that grew up into young adulthood and found that mom is an easy target to vent his frustrations on. A normal conversation quickly turns into something else when one single word has the power to set off a minefield! Case in Point: We were talking about shirts for his new job and suddenly it went off the rails. According to him, I was doing everything wrong so before it went further, I said “STOP!” This word also has the potential to derail conversations that I don’t want to be a part of. It comes in handy at the right times.

It is a four letter word that is like the caped crusader, it swoops down to save the day. It jumps in when needed, it fights the battle you don’t want to fight and when all is said and done, it steps back and sits and waits till the next time! What’s not like?

A great word to have in your pocket when you need it but I find that I tend to use it a lot. I would like to get rid of it at some point and come up with something else that is less “bossy” and one that comes across better without irritating people because it does. However, it does the job well and for now I am going to hang on to it!

Daily writing prompt

If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?

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ALL CLEAR!

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It caused some sleepless nights and the “it” was a test that could have changed my life as I knew it. I was up and down and all over the place with my feelings as well as with my emotions. The unknown was scary and I was looking in an abyss and the answers coming back depended on a machine, a cold and inanimate thing that had the power to throw a curveball, worse than life could.

I prepared like I was being led to the slaughter. The night had been short and I got up at 5 a.m. wanting to crawl back into bed! There was no getting out of it. It was time to meet my nemesis and to tell it to go to hell! I knew it wouldn’t make difference to it one way or another. The machine was there to do a job and as my friend put it, “It’s there to save lives.”

The test was scheduled for 8 a.m. and I appeared punctually with friend in tow. He was calm and quiet as we walked in. It took off like a storm after that. I was prepped, my tiny vein shot up with some radioactive stuff with the technician telling me, “It’s the same stuff as last time but with an additional isotope this time.” Gawd! I asked, “Any side effects?” She said it shouldn’t cause any problems.

Then I had to wait for that stuff to invade my body, it took all of 15 minutes. The friend kept whispering, “You’ll be fine.” He’s a good guy. However, my mind was on a horror trip! Scenarios kept playing like on speed dial and none of the good variety. The doctor, a really nice lady, showed up and I tried my sweet talk tactic. No go, the test needed to be done for “OUR” peace of mind she said. Within minutes, I was led into this room and I saw my nemesis! Cold, white and looming like some monster! I took my place on the bed, was made comfortable and closed my eyes. She said, “Five minutes. You’ll be fine.” I thought, “I can do five minutes, no problem.” The machine droned and came to life. I went into my nirvana zone and before I knew it, it was DONE!

“Not so quick!” she said, “You get a 15 minute break and back on the bed again.”

ME: “WHY?”

SHE: “We do another round, this time 30 minutes.”

I gulped but she had a no-nonsense way about her. And the machine was grinning and doing a victory dance! After 15 minutes, I was back in. This time, she said, “Five minutes first and then the machine will automatically do rounds all over!” Unbelievable! I gritted my teeth and said, “I’m not sure if I can stay put that long.”

SHE: “Well, we will be taking thousands of pictures so try to stay still and DON’T MOVE!”

Hmm…..I got through that round. Then she says, “You get 15 minutes break and back in here again.”

I was ready for anything by now. I just wanted out of that place and if I had to play dead for another 30 minutes, I was going to do it. And I did.

Then the doctor comes back in, closes the door and I think, “This is bad news.”

She is soft-spoken and says, “Looks like an all clear. I didn’t see anything that is of concern BUT we still have the blood test results that should come in a week. I don’t think there is anything to worry about.”

Instead of letting out a sigh of relief, my mind jumps to my Google research and how one doctor said that this particular test is never right. I thank her and left that hospital in a hurry before they changed their mind.

I muttered, “I don’t care! I’m done for now. I’m going home but before that I’m getting my cheesecake and then time for a shower and a cheesecake fest!”

I’m not supposed to touch Chachi, the cat, for 24 hours so when I walked in the door, he goes, “Well, you left me alone for five hours and not even a kiss?!! You are getting weirder by the minute!”

I didn’t answer. Jumped in the shower and then in my PJs, the coffee is brewing and the cheesecake is standing ready. What a day but things worked out for the best.

Have an amazing day.

MY BOOK

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Some of you know that my children’s book is out but since I am a tech klutz, I can’t get the visuals on here! I tried but I gave up! I have no patience for fooling around with tech stuff. Maybe, Elon can help if he is still on here! Just kidding or maybe not!

I spoke to someone in Singapore and they were able to order a copy from Amazon Singapore. The same for UK, US, and Germany. I just found out that it is available in India as well through Amazon India. The other countries I am not sure of. If you would like to buy a copy, check Amazon in your country. Please buy a copy and BE KIND with your reviews but do give me a review. Hopefully, it is a good one.

“THE EXCELLENT ADVENTURES OF HONEY AND HUBIE”

It is a children’s book about a dog and a frog, two very unlikely characters, who go on an excellent adventure together. The book is filled with animals of all kinds and they SPEAK just like Chachi, the cat does. Believe it or not, I started this story when I was studying in the US and got around to finishing it two years ago! It was gathering dust all this time but now it is out and doing its rounds.

No clue how well it will do but that is not the important part. I had an idea and I brought it to fruition. The rest will take care of it yourself.