What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?
Seeing as how I never know what challenges I’ll face from one day to the next, it seems ludicrous to attemp at choosing a random difficult task or situation six months out!
Why on earth would I intentionally set myself up for six months of panic attacks, sleepless nights, and/or constant stress stomach aches?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not being a chicken about things… I just like to live one day at a time, that’s all! I love using the KISS principle… Keep it Simple Stupid, in regards to my life. When you look it up on Google, it basically says that keeping things as simple as possible ensures the best levels of user acceptance and interaction. This method just makes sense!
Now, I certainly have goals and plans, both short term and long term… but I don’t consider them challenges for myself, as God goes before me and prepares the way with His plans and purposes for my good.
It says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, ” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Why would something six months from now be a challenge for me if God has already taken care of it?
Between my husband and I, we have raised 6 teenagers… boys and girls! One thing I have learned over the years is that the moment you attempt giving advice, they will bolt like a Ferel animal!
Why? Hormones!
Teenagers are similar in behavior, to a hot blooded Thoroughbred Race Horse… always hungry, mad, excited, horny and quite sweaty! You feed them the best you can, and try to sooth them when they are angry. You try to calm them when they won’t stop bouncing off the walls, and diligently make efforts to coral them from freely using their private parts.
Daily, you make every effort to hose them off before they leave the house… throwing a stick of deodorant in their general direction. Ok, well, a horse may not know how to use a stick of deodorant, but then again, neither do most teenagers. I caught one of my kids using a can of Febreze for body spray… not even kidding!
I will go back even further, into my teenage years, confirming that I myself had intentionally assigned ALL adults with the label of ENEMY #1. Whether it was hormones, a traumatic upbringing or both… I did NOT listen to anyone!
No amount of coercing could entice me to go back and re-experience my teenage years, and quite honestly, kids today look the same as we did back then… hungry, mad, excited, horny and, yes… sweaty!
If I were to do anything for my teenage self… it would be to protect her, shelter her, encourage her, and guide her through my example, instead of my wordy grownup words…
Though you will find me, most mornings, sipping a steaming cup of coffee… my go to favorite drink is good old fashioned H2O!
My early years found me happily drinking Big Gulp size sugary sodas and/or hot chocolate with scads of baby marshmallows overflowing over the edge of the cup. I know that I drank water by itself sometimes, but mostly it got mixed in with the Kool-aide.
Moving into my teenage years, I, like many teens, began mixing a bit of alcohol into my cocoa. Chocolate was the only thing strong enough to mask the flavor of alcohol, which to me, tasted like aftershave or cologne. Again, I know that I drank water by itself during those years… I just don’t remember.
I grew into an adult, becoming the mom that drove the kids to every bloomin activity they thought up… so, I developed a glass of wine in the shower kind of mini-vacation lifestyle.
I had to drink water more often, to rehydrate, but it still had to have one of those Propel flavor packs mixed in the bottle. Eventually, I moved on from that favorite, due in part, because my kids figured out how to unlock the bathroom door.
I found my perfect storm of a drink, during my kids teen years, when the moms had to begin sneaking alcohol in travel mugs. My girlfriends and I discovered that if you mix Malibu Coconut Rum with Dole’s Orange Pineapple Banana Juice, the kids just thought it smelled fruity.
We called it Fru Fru Juice, when they asked what we were drinking, and then we handed them a Capri Sun. I definitely had to rehydrate from those family camping trips.
Years have come and gone, leaving me a great deal wiser about my need for water, as well as lessening my desire for anything with alcohol in it. Once in a while I might have a drink, but now it just tastes too sweet. I don’t even like pop anymore… just give me a good cup of peppermint tea.
Several years ago I watched this documentary about water, that was extremely interesting. I learned a great deal about how the body processes water, pulling the minerals it needs to replace the ones used up. Did you know that if you drink water that has been distilled, or has too little PH in it, your body will take from your own minerals to try and fix the water you’re trying to put in your body… you actually sacrifice good minerals already in your system to make the water more balanced.
I found this idea so interesting, that I started to drink a 32 oz. bottle of high PH water about once a week, since my drinking water is just out of the tap. Now I am spoiled, because I can fully taste the difference in my water… good water really does have flavor!
These days, you’ll find me drinking either coffee or water, and if I put any flavor in my water it’s going to be my peppermint herbal tea… but mostly, I just like water as, well, water!
Enjoy the coffee, cocoa, fruit, and cookie flavored water…
I just finished writing a new children’s sing along book, starring none other than my little Dinky Do!
It seems my crazy lady, sing songy ways of rhyming, works perfectly for creating children’s books. I’m going to spend some time focusing on the antics of my Barnyard Babies for a bit.
Maybe if I put enough of these little books together, someone might take an interest in bringing them to print… if not, at least I will have had the pleasure of imagining the stories.
As the DailyPrompt seems to now think we are all in kintergarten with this question, I am disinclined to aquiess to it’s request. With that being said, I am able to reflect on the shoes I’ve worn over the years.
Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.
I do still have my first pair of baby shoes tucked away in a box…
From baby booties til now, I have moved from sneakers to cowboy boots… back to sneakers… from sneakers to differing ladies fancy shoes… back to sneakers… from sneakers to moccasins… back to sneakers… now resting in a shared sneaker/slipper lifestyle.
I keep em as long as they will hold up, as I am not one to 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 have 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…
Journey With Me! 