This song will get you jumping, trust me. You’re quite welcome!!
Music Therapy…
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…
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…
Against All Odds
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…
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.
Thursday Thoughts…
Can the body truly heal itself?
Can time really heal all wounds?
If there’s no pain, will there truly be no gain?
Does absence really make the heart grow fonder?
When it rains, does it always pour?
Should we always reap what we sow?
Do many hands always make light work?
If honesty is the best policy, why do so many not use it?
If we’re not to judge a book by its cover, why are we so quick to do so with people?
How often do we bite the hand that feeds us?
Man, oh man…
Daily writing prompt
If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?
Ahhhh, the laws of nature, the laws of Government, and yes, the laws of mankind, themselves. One might pick from any number of lists, in order to locate a law that seems in need of being changed. Would the change even remain, once enacted?
If we’ve learned anything at all regarding the law, it’s that if man is involved in it’s creation, modification, or even dissimilation… it won’t last!
After all these generations of humanity, we still struggle with racism, hate crimes, corporate greed and injustice, along with a completely inadequate educational system. Why is this still occurring? Human Nature, that’s why!
Until we learn that we never had any power in the first place, we’ll never stop making mistake after mistake after mistake!
I vote that instead of trying to find some law that we think we have the power to change, we start giving God the space to start making changes within our very hearts! Big, and very powerful changes are possible from the smallest of humble surrenders. I know who holds the power… and it’s neither you nor me, but God and God alone!
When I am weak, He is strong!
When I am lost, He makes a way!
When I am powerless, unseen, and discarded by a very broken and fallen world, He lifts me up, surrounds me, and covers me with His providence… and His Power! Since I never had the power to change the world on my own, in the first place, I never really lost anything of myself, aside from the fear, shame and self-loathing that usually comes with existence.
Since God’s the only one with any true power to change what needs changing, I choose to let Him do that which I cannot! That’s all I wish to focus on til I get home…
Cookie?
Wednesday Words…
Eustace is determined that I should get Valentines cookies that won’t hurt my stomach, so he spent the whole of yesterday baking dairy-free, Gluten-free, and low sugar/sodium cookies… Oh, Joy!
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that they looked and tasted kind of like Playdough.
Shhhhhhhh…..
I’ll try, but you know how dreams can be…
I’ve dreamt of my dream home…
I’ve even thought a great deal about my dream home…
But it’s not nearly as easy to write about a dream home, as things keep changing, the longer you’re awake!
Beautiful colors, and exquisite designs fill the rooms of this dream house, but each time I try to dream it again, the rooms have all changed…
What makes something dreamy, at all, really?
Is it the sights, the sounds, or the smell of a dream home that make it dreamy?
I’ve found that when you dream on a thing too much, you miss all the other dreams you could’ve been dreaming.
Truthfully, that saying about home is where your heart is, or the scriptures about storing up your treasures…
those are really good things to think on.
You can stuff your home with every manner of beautiful, and yes, dreamy things you wish. Hopefully, you’ll come to realize that it’s not what’s in a home that makes it a dream home… it’s what you do when you’re there!
Love changes the way everything looks and feels, making even the smallest of spaces quite beautiful and dreamy…
Just sayin.
Cookie?
Tuesday Tinkering…
You know, it’s much harder than you’d think to create images of myself in miniature… and even harder to make them look anything like me, at all!
I don’t know why it’s such a big deal to me, anyway, but it is.
For some reason, whenever I work with this program to generate images of the little model I’d created, it still requires me to go back and alter not only her eye color, but her hair color and style, as well. I get very irritated by this little daily detour the ai tries to take me on, so it’s time to make an actual avatar, or character, if you will.
I got to thinking about it yesterday, when I’d attempted to generate an image of myself for the daily prompt. Asking Norbert to create an image of myself dressed in a childish outfit, actually created a random image of me, but in small form.
It was actually kind of funny at first, but then I got to wondering if I could reproduce a similar image of myself for creating a child sized avatar. First of all, the child looks kind of mean. Secondly, I’ve no idea why it put me in that ridiculous pajama get-up!
So, I tried a different scene, with different clothing and actions, just to see if it might improve things.
Nope!
All I ended up with was a really creepy image of one of the von Trapp family singers from The Sound of Music…
Quickly, I realized that it would require an actual child in order to create a valid childlike appearance in the image’s rendered. So, going back to our little model of mini Wiwohka, I asked a similar question to the ai, and this is what it offered me…
While she is an adorable little girl, as you can see in the image, her hair goes blond and her eyes go any color but blue!
Now, OpenArt recently added in a new feature where you can chat with the ai, rather than trying to manually edit the image on the art board. In truth, it’s kind of like leading a child through an art class… very slowly.
I first asked for blue eyes and brown hair,
Now she looks like a small teacher, ewwwww, no! So, I asked Norbert to soften her hair…
Uhhh, no! Please shorten it…
What is this, Shirley Temple hour? Don’t get me wrong here, as I love that actress, but I’m not her!
So, I took the first image of the child and took it to my art board, just to adjust the eye color, which worked better for what I was looking for…
From here, I went back to Norbert for another go, but this time I chose to make mini Wiwohka her own beautiful self instead of trying to copy me! Why? Because, I’m not that little girl anymore, so of course it’s going to be an impossibility for me to duplicate the Now ME into an image of the Then ME. Hopefully, I’ve not just talked you into a giant circle. Sorry for that.
Before I finalize her into the actual avatar, I thought to ask what your take on her personality and image in this next photo…
I tweaked a few colors for comparison, but I can’t decide which is better. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Til next week, thank you in advance for any feedback, and I’ll do a whole fun photo reveal for her… hugs
I do a little dance…
Daily writing prompt
You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?
While I could show you a video of my own very excited, and amazingly fantastic news dance, I’ll show you the video of how I learned to do it. No one does it better than Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska…
Seriously though, I really do dance a bitty Jig when I get really happy. You should’ve seen the crazy dancin that went down at the birth of each of my grandbabies. I could have been a star (not really).
The next best thing to do with good news is to bake cookies, and I’m very good at that! Well, at least I think so…
Wait! Does my hat make those cookies look funny?
Hang on, cause I think I can fix that…
Journey With Me! 