Thursday Thoughts…

How many of those receipt checkers at the grocery store, actually check the list and then compare it to what’s in your cart, item by item?

Why do dogs turn their noses up at certain foods, and yet they’ll happily go for an all-you-can-eat buffet at the litter box?

It’s too bad that people don’t tell lies as adults, like they did when they were children. It would be so much easier to find out the truth of a matter. Most children end up giving themselves away, just by the look on their faces.

Aren’t you glad that they came up with better thermometer’s than were used, back in the day. Could you imagine if adults still had to take their temperature with a baby booty thermometer? I think I’d rather deal with the fever!

Is it me, or are nearly half of our commercials these days made with either really bad actors, movie stars needing to make their mortgages, or simply ai generated ones? It’s like their not even trying to impress the viewer any more.

When asking Google about how many years it’s been since credit card spending became a thing, this was the response I was given…

AI Overview – It has been approximately 30 years since the very beginning of online credit card spending, which took off with the advent of secure, mainstream e-commerce in the mid-1990s. 

  • 1994–1995: The first “secure” online credit card transactions occurred around 1994 (with the introduction of SSL encryption and early browsers like Netscape). Amazon was founded in 1994/1995, marking the beginning of the e-commerce boom.
  • Late 1990s/Early 2000s: Online shopping became more than a novelty and gained momentum in the late 1990s as internet access became more common, with platforms like eBay (1995) and the founding of PayPal (1998) fueling the shift.
  • 2000s onwards: By the mid-2000s, online credit card payments had established themselves as a standard, secure payment method for consumers. 

While the first online transaction was made in 1994, it took several years for it to become truly “mainstream,” making the shift roughly 30 years ago from 2026. 

I never said that my Thursday Thoughts would be organized in any particular way. Most of the time, I simply sit drinking my tea while letting my mind wander over this and that. You might think it odd, or a worrisome habit of what might be called scatterbrain. No matter! I just happen to have a very imaginative and busy brain.

At my age, which is nearing 58, it’s vitally important to keep the brain engaged and actively learning. This is partly why I ask myself random questions and then go look em up on Google. Trying to exercise my brain with those silly phone apps only aggravates me. Anytime they put a timer on a game or activity, it’s no longer fun for this girl. I like to be challenged but not with a timer… too much stress.

Maybe there’s just too much old school in this brain, but if it ain’t broke… well then, don’t try fixing it!

(2024) All the shoes that loved me…

Daily writing prompt
Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

Though I’ve no desire to reminisce about the differing places my shoes have been, I am able to reflect on the ones I’ve worn over the years.

I do still have my first pair of baby shoes tucked away in a box…

From baby booties til now, I’ve moved from sneakers to cowboy boots, and back to sneakers, again. Then I went from sneakers to differing ladies fancy shoes, but soon returned to sneakers.

I even tried going from sneakers to moccasins, but still found myself back in sneakers!

I’ve finally come to rest on living a shared sneaker/slipper lifestyle.

I keep em as long as they’ll hold up! No one should ever give up on a garment just because it looks a bit faded or worn. Quite honestly, my shoes don’t feel right until after they’ve been stretched, stained, and well broken in. 

My sneakers average a life of about a year, but that’s pushing it… and I usually own twin pairs so they will last longer.  I walk alot!

Right now, I own a pair of fluffy slipper shoes that a friend gave me last year.  They are stained from my coffee spills, but oh so faithfully comfortable.

There ya have it, folks, more information than you ever wanted or needed to know about the life of my feet.

Here, have a cookie that my feet have NOT been anywhere near…

though there have been a few squirrels involved in presenting them.

Wednesday Words…

I think Eustace spent too much time on the tractor yesterday while we were gone. He was still working when we got home, and stayed out until after the sun went down. The camel looked positively exhausted when he came in for dinner.

I walked him out to the barn after dinner, just to tuck him in for the night. When I went out this morning to check on the camel, I didn’t have the heart to wake him. He looks so peaceful, doesn’t he? What ever would we do without this cheeky, yet, oh so loveable camel, I wonder. I’ll just be grateful for him being here.

I think we should all have someone like Eustace, don’t you? Someone that always thinks of us, of our health, and of our happiness. You’ll have to find your own, though, because this camel is taken!

Only one?

Daily writing prompt
Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

While my life hasn’t exactly been a bed of roses, I honestly have so many gifts that come to mind for this prompt.

To save us all a great amount of time I’ll just say that God has been so very good to me, lavishing me with gifts on any given day. He’s been doing it for more years than I can recall.

The funny thing is that these gifts were often small, and rather unnoticeable to most… but not to me!

There were times over the years that a gift received felt like the best gift, ever! That was, until the next really beautiful gift arrived, requiring that I make room for yet another precious thing to share the favored spotlight.

Take my children, for instance! How could I ever say which one was a better gift than the other? Or what about any of our seven precious grandchildren born to us, or those still yet to come?

Then there’s all of my fluffy, furry, and, oh so loved pets… what about them? I couldn’t choose one over the other, because each had something special.

Basically, anytime a gift arrives with love attached, it will fall into my favored folder.

Why else do you think I make you virtual cookies each morning? I know it’s only a sentimental, and rather silly, way of expressing my feelings. Hopefully, you can look past the silly part, in order to accept the love part. Though they be only an image on a page, know how much love has been prayed into those little morsels. They’re a gift!

Cookies?

Sorry, but I ate one of the letter E’s… I was hungry, ok!

Tuesday Tinkering…

So I decided on the final image for mini Wiwohka, and went ahead with the character creation feature, using the image you saw last week.

Let’s made a whole new portfolio for her this morning, now that we’ve a new and revised avatar. I started with collecting some profile shots…

So far, so good. Now let’s try changing her outfit…

Wow! I’m really impressed with how they’re keeping her so true to the original. But, what if we take her out of the studio and into the real world…

She’s coming to life, in my opinion. And, she fits in perfectly at the Barnyard, both in doors…

… and outdoors.

Well?

What do you think?

I know that being the one who created her images, I feel rather partial to mini-me. If it were possible, I think I’d adopt her and bring her home with me!

I haven’t tried to alter her hair color yet, but I’d like to see if we can change that little red streak to another color… just to match her outfits. I think we’ll try that next week, right before we move on to some more work with Brutus.

I think it’s time to go deeper into the dragons facial features, now that OpenArt has revamped their system. I’m kind of liking the changes, but don’t tell them that… it’ll probably just go to their heads.

As quietly as possible…

Daily writing prompt
Write about your approach to budgeting.

Not only is a good budget impossible to approach in our current society, but whatever that thing is in the image… you don’t want to get close to that thing either.

The art program I’m using was just as frustrating and disappointing as a budget I didn’t agree to, what with offering me a rabid African deer instead of a roaring lion. Typical budget, these days!

I had to give up on budgeting about six years ago, when Covid landed on our country’s shores. When you lose everything you own, fall through every crack in the fabric of society, and wind up homeless at the bottom of the proverbial human pile… a budget no longer helps.

With my husband back in college gaining a new career path, my health has kept me homebound, and alone. Mornings are spent in scripture and prayer, then to my writing… that’s the only budget I’m approaching.

God willing, my book will fall into the hands of a competent publisher, and perhaps then I’ll have need of approaching a budget. One needs to have actual dollars in hand if they’re to do anything, really.

I used to say that you can’t leave home without spending money, but that’s changed since Amazon. Now you can spend money without even getting up out of your bed. Isn’t that a hoot!

That’s what I love about baking virtual cookies… they’re free! No budget needed here.

Want one?

Monday Messages…

Honestly, if one tries hard enough, they can learn something new every day!

I know this may sound silly but I’ve just discovered something hidden in plain sight, so to speak.

I’m fairly certain that you’re well aware of many different words in the English language, carrying two meanings that are only separated by a single letter.

Take the word compliment, for instance. Were you aware that it’s not the same as complement? I’m only aware because I asked Google. Don’t I feel like a silly ant! How many times have I used this word with the wrong spelling? Check this out…

Key takeaways:

  • Compliment refers to praise or a positive remark. It’s something you say to appreciate someone or something.
  • A complement completes or enhances something else, making it more complete or better.
  • A compliment is used when expressing admiration, flattery, remarks, or praise, either as a noun (“She gave a compliment”) or a verb (“He complimented me on my work”).
  • Complement is used when something enhances or completes something else, either as a noun (“The sauce is a perfect complement”) or verb (“The new features complement the product”).

Now, I’m not saying that anybody else missed this little tidbit of knowledge. Maybe it’s because I’m an ant, and this truly is my literary education stage. I mean, I did say that I wanted to learn to write better so I could become a journalist one day, right?!

Since that means I’m off the hook for not knowing a thing, maybe I’ll keep things short and sweet this morning. Instead of a long drawn out language lesson, which I’m nowhere near qualified enough to instruct… I’ll make you virtual breakfast!

This is to make up for Wiwohka not baking you cookies…

Ok, well, Wiwohka had to help me a little…

I picked out the cover, as well…

Daily writing prompt
If there were a biography about you, what would the title be?

However unlikely it may be that anyone would write a book about me, I’ve chosen to go the extra mile this morning.

Not only did I come up with a snappy title for the prompt, but since it’s Saturday, I offer you the Title, the Cover Image, AND any possible illustrations needed for the book in its entirety…

Additional Illustrations –

Doesn’t this prompt make you wonder what might be written of your journey from the eyes of someone else? I bet the book would read as an Action/Adventure story. What about yours?

Don’t forget to grab a cookie while your thinking of an answer…

A different path…

Daily writing prompt
What were your parents doing at your age?

For some, this prompt is quite easy to answer.

For others, it’s not so easy, nor does it elicit any feel good memories to recount for others.

While I may be one of those who doesn’t have any of the mushy pleasantries to offer you, I don’t wish to make the prompt into something sad. There are many wonderful legacies being made by loving and decent human beings. Just not in my family tree, that’s all.

Though I don’t wish to point out the obvious here, aren’t most folks doing the same things as mine, when it comes to the average day to day living? I’m unsure what the prompt expects for an answer.

Being in my late fifties, I suppose that I do mostly what other mid fiftiers are doing… you know, worrying about my cholesterol, wrinkles, and hair loss. I suspect that it was the same for everyone around that age, back in my parents day, too.

Well, that’s all I can really say about the whole ‘what were your parents doing’ thing.

Cookie?

You don’t have to eat the one with a bite out of it… I was hungry.