I’ll admit that the speed in which things have been moving, has me feeling a bit befuddled, as of late.
It’s as if the flood gates of healthcare and nutrition have all burst open, suddenly.
While it may be rather soon to be saying this, I’m feeling a glimmer of hope. Maybe I won’t starve just yet, so there’s that!
This new primary care doctor is simply wonderful! From the moment I met her, she’s been as tenacious as a wolverine, when it comes to greasing the healthcare wheels. Within this single week, I’ve met with numerous departments in both DSHS, as well as, my healthcare insurance.
This doctor has me fully applied for disability with Washington State, an appointment with a therapist, shuttles for transporting me to appointments, and several other resources I hadn’t had, yet.
I’ve already had a call to set my appointment for Monday to go through paperwork, assigning me a case worker, and all that. My follow-up appointment with this new doctor, has been set for the 19th… and I already have a shuttle reservation. God Bless all those people who serve, selflessly.
And, yes, I have an appointment on the 23rd, with a therapist. You know, I’ve never sought therapy for my childhood trauma, or this whole 6 year dune buggy ride. I’m probably a poster child for complex PTSD, or something. It’s just a guess.
Anyway, the lesson in all this? When God moves, you move! He’s got this!
There was a time that I could lose myself in my children, my crafts, my pets, camping, church… and friends.
Times changed, however, bringing circumstances and life interruptus’ that, in one way or another, robbed me of the entire lot!
I will always cherish the memories, treasuring each and every moment of love given and time spent… but life goes on, and as they say, time waits for no man, or woman for that matter!
Admittedly, at no point in all those years did I fully walk with God!
That has changed… thanks be to the grace offered by my heavenly father.
Currently, my days are filled with walks along the river, as I listen to music and fellowship with Him. I lose myself for hours in study of His written word, seeking the lifegiving wisdom within its pages. When I work on any of my literary work, I can easily forget to stop and eat, or even drink a full cup of coffee before it gets cold. It is normal for me to re-heat my coffee or tea repeatedly, before drinking the whole cup. My hubby actually has begun tapping me on the shoulder when I’ve gone too long without eating or drinking.
I believe that though we live day to day with very little, in terms of material things, I feel rather blessed with all the time God spends in molding this vessel. Thankfully, I’m so very lost in HIM, that there is nowhere else that I would rather be found…
I’ll be honest in saying that movies are more my thing, as far as binge watching anything over and over again. First of all I abhor commercials, so tv episodes usually only consist of about 18 minutes of show and 12 minutes of sales pitches on everything from toilet paper to cars! Secondly, I am not usually captivated enough by a television show, to watch it more than once… let alone more than 5 times.
That being said, I will confess that I’ve watched the Castle series more times than I wish to admit, but we purchased the series on DVD to alleviate all the bothersome commercials.
Now binge watching my favorite movies, on the other hand, is one of my guilty pleasures, as I am an avid insomniac with hours of nocturnal boredom. The list I’m about to give you, are my late night favorites, and the number of re-watches shall not be disclosed… but the number 5 is Childs play for this owl!
My ultimate go to, in the wee hours, is The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings… all of em!
Next up would be the Harry Potter series, but my most watched of that series has to be The Prisoner of Azkaban with Gary Oldman… great actor!
Then we have the entire series of Jurassic Park movies… the original will probably always be my favorite one, primarily due to them keeping it pretty close to the actual book.
Then there’s Tomb Raider… and Stargate… and of course, The entire line up of Pirates of the Caribbean, with Johnnie Depp. I absolutely love the entire cast of characters in each and every movie of this series.
If I were to list for you, every movie that I’ve watched too many times, we would be here til the cows come home, as they say. I will say this… we have a terabyte drive that holds over 600 movies and most of my favorites are on that drive, so there’s that…
Thought #1 – Maybe my grandbabies will come over in the next few weeks, so we can make homemade waffles with fresh strawberries and real whipping cream.
Thought #2 – I wonder if being ticklish is hereditary? There was never any opportunity to ask my mom if she was ticklish. I know that I am terribly ticklish, especially on my feet. Maisie is also ticklish on her feet. I know it’s only me, but I want to think that maybe I passed that to my girls, and now my daughter has passed it to my grandbaby. I just wonder about it, that’s all.
Thought #3 – Can a person get an ear infection by listening to dirty music?
Thought #4 – I’m so glad somebody invented toothpaste! At least we don’t have to use body wash or good ole Irish spring. Ughhht… I just almost threw up in my mouth, gross!
Thought #5 – What if fresh air always smelled like watermelon, on a rainy day?
Thought #6 – What ever happened to the people that Jesus encountered during his time on earth? Where did they go? How did their lives change? What did they ever make of their lives, once changed by the Son of God?
Thought #7 – How fast would the world tilt off its own axis, after all manner of phones vanished overnight? Would we simply go back to writing letters and employing the Pony Express?
Thought #8 – What is the price of a smile… or the cost of physical touch?
Thought #9 – A human soul isn’t born filled with hatred, being that it’s a learned behavior. On the contrary, it’s rather interesting that each of us are born with an innate sense of love, without ever having to be taught.
Thought #9 – Why is it then so very hard to give love sometimes, but hatred enters the room by such a minute effort.
Thought #10 – It’s kind of funny how minute has two differing definitions. We all know that a minute is 60 seconds, and yet if we change the way we pronounce it, the definition is completely different. According to Mr. McGoogle, minute (pronounced my-NOOT) means very small, tiny, or insignificant, while the time measurement (MIN-it) comes from the same Latin root but refers to a “small part” of an hour, and can also mean detailed or precise.
See? We can learn something new every day! I knew that old adage would ring true, at least in this particular instance it does. Just sayin!
Friday’s almost here, folks, so that aught to give us all some things to have thoughts about, right?!
Obviously, my first thought was of the tortoise, which I often write about when it comes to my steady forward march in life.
But then again, there is the Loud Mouth Frog…
or Chatty Cathy, but she is more of a doll than an animal…
In the past I was akin to a Wolverine, all growly and snarly, with an aggressive attitude…
Of late, however, I’ve begun to see myself surfacing in some creatures you may be familiar with… let’s see…
There’s a mouse I can sometimes relate to…
While at other times I feel a bit Squirrelly…
Anywhere in between, you may find me looking a bit more creative…
Last but not least, there are those days where I just feel more bossy and fussy…
How could I ever forget to remind you of my ability to fling commas, and the like, all, over, everything………,,,, ,,,,,””””: … Just saying! I know she is not an animal, but she is an imaginary creature of sorts… and this is my blog, so I get to put whatever I want in here!
As there are simply too many different animals for me to choose from, I am unable to pick just one. I have mentioned on multiple occasions that I am a maelstrom of emotions, so it stands to reason that I should be able to pick all of the above, just to cover all my bases. Wouldn’t you agree?
Here, have a Wookie cookie to go with my crazy answer…
I made the goggles out of Oreos, so I know it’ll taste delish!
Well, I think last weeks tinkering session was a total success!
Not that I’ll be winning any academy awards, or anything. I just mean that I challenged myself to do a thing (creating a new character on Tuesday, and then writing a story about it by Friday), and it worked out.
So, it got me to thinking (I know, dangerous pastime)… what if I sought to write a whole series of children’s character books, only employing my tinkering sessions and a two day rest before kicking out a little story, song, or poem to accompany the images. I don’t see why I couldn’t, what with todays insta book mentality flooding across the web.
While I get my jabs in at all the ai created mumbo jumbo being printed out there, currently, I’m not being snarky when I say that I believe it’s possible to actually write imaginative content without my computer telling me how… or worse, doing the writing for me. Not on my watch!
Anyway, getting back to the tinkering plans I’ve set for us, I plan on making a habit of mixing up writing styles, as well as, continuing to expand my illustration skills. My hands on learning is all that can be afforded, at this present moment, so if I wish to become a better writer, more brain stretching work is involved.
I know your probably saying, “Great, now she’s gonna start wearing even bigger hats on her noggin.” Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, but if I do then that means my cookies will need to be bigger, as well.
Go big or go home, right?!
For today’s next challenge, I went with another water baby, but on an entirely different patch of sand…
This isn’t the finished character, by the way, but it was the first image offered by the ai. All I typed in was “a photorealistic image of an adorable baby walrus”.
While the little guy seems awful cute and chubby, we’re nowhere near satisfied. He’s got no nostrils, for one thing. So, I used the auto-enhance on the prompt…
“a photorealistic image of an adorable baby walrus, trying to learn to swim along the shore of a beautiful sandy beach”
Getting a better shot of his nose, but now his eyebrows look like they were individually stuck into his little forehead. It made him look too much like a plushie toy.
Again, I returned to the auto-enhance feature, asking it to expand the prompt even more…
“Imagine a photorealistic scene at a picturesque sandy beach where gentle waves lap against the shore. The sun casts a warm, golden glow across the landscape, illuminating the fine grains of sand and sparkling blue waters. In the foreground, an adorable baby walrus, with soft, wrinkled gray skin and big, curious eyes, awkwardly paddles in the shallow surf. Its flippers splash playfully, sending droplets gleaming in the sunlight, while a few sea gulls circle overhead, drawn by the joyous scene. The sandy beach is dotted with tufts of sea grass swaying in the light breeze, enhancing the serene atmosphere of this tender moment.”
At least he has more expression with his eyes, even if he lost his eyebrows. His facial expression seems far more realistic, though his fat rolls look rather like sweatshirt material than skin. I kept at it for nearly a half hour before, coming up with numerous images that were similar to this one, but with differing poses and expressions.
Now that we’ve come this far, let’s give the ai our best 10 images. From there, we’ll generate some possibilities for a solid Avatar.
I’ll be right back! Give me about 10 minutes, or so….
Everyone, meet our newest character…
I’ve decided to name him Booker, though I’ve ne earthly idea why! The ai decided to give him tusks, even with him only being a baby, but I think it makes him super cute.
Norbert gave me several differing shots, but I think he looks most realistic in this one…
… minus the grown up tusks, mind you.
I don’t think Booker took nearly as long to create, as it took me last week, during pumpkin’s creation.
Now that he’s here, I’ve only til Friday to create his story, so I best get moving!
I’m not exactly sure where or how to start so I am just gonna roll with it, and yes, I said gonna.
Somehow, putting thoughts or memories down on paper, I always struggled with trying to write in a way that satisfied all the learned Scholars out there. Well, you never know, they might want to read something in the waiting room at the dentist or something. I am at a point in our journey that I can simply write from my heart and let God do the rest. It’s been a bumpy ride, to say the least.
Now, just because I keep mentioning the bumpy ride doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. It means you were wide awake as we zigged and zagged like some of the best cats out there.
God and God alone could ever manage us because we might have been small in stature, but within our vessel is a raging river of emotions, strengths, weaknesses and a love so powerful it’s a bit off putting at times. We spent way too many years of our life trying to satisfy every other person’s requirement of us to be what they wanted, and the enemy used that to nearly destroy us.
It is nearly the end of March 2023, and the last 4 years have brought us to what I refer to as our base line. God met us at our lowest and has begun building up a soul capable of seeing ourself and others in a loving and truthful way. We learned to see ourself and others through the Fathers eyes.
You exhausted yourself trying to be enough for everyone around you, while often feeling empty inside. God taught you to love You, with all your flaws and failures, and the truths of yourself that made you the way God intended. The Father used our truths to show us how beautiful we are.
The only way for this to make sense is to tell you what brought you to that place where you could finally get up and walk on. Just so that you know, you didn’t get there with any form of wisdom quickly, rather, it took you all of your 100 years to try to really let God hold you. That is the truth of it!
He brought you this far, for just his purpose… when you see it, I’ll be there waiting.
Journey With Me! 