According to Eustace, I should be eating more spinach. In truth, I think we all should!
Lately I’ve been craving it something fierce. I suppose that I probably look and feel a great deal like Olive Oil did, from that old Saturday morning cartoon!
Out of curiosity over my severe cravings, Eustace and I got to reading some things about natural foods.
Check this out! I clipped this off a nutrition calculator:
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size
1 cup (180g)
Calories
41
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 0.47g
1%
Saturated Fat 0.08g
0%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
0%
Sodium 126mg
5%
Total Carbohydrate 6.8g
2%
Dietary Fiber 4.3g
15%
Total Sugars 0.77g
2%
Includes –g Added Sugars
–%
Protein 5.3g
11%
Vitamin C 17.6mg
20%
Vitamin D 0mcg
0%
Iron 6.4mg
36%
Calcium 244.8mg
19%
Potassium 838.8mg
18%
Phosphorus 100.8mg
8%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
I suppose if we were able to make our pets understand us, we’d have results landing on both sides of the proverbial coin! In one way it would be great if we could help our pets understand why we do some of the things we do, while on the other hand it might backfire, leading to animal world domination!
I personally don’t think it would be the best idea for us to give our pets any more information about us, as I’m not so sure that it would cause them to love us more than they already do… in fact, it might give them cause to rise up and put us in cages, just because WE pooped on the floor.
With that being said, if I could make animals understand deeper about anything humans have done, are doing, or will be doing sometime in the future… it would be to tell them we’re sorry!
Last year I had to rehome my pug of 4 years, as well as my two cats that I found under a shed when they were tiny. I waited for 3 years to get my pug, loving her ever so much… she was my baby! My sister-in-law found a batch of kittens under her porch, keeping one and handing the other two my way… I hand raised both boys from about 10 days old and I adored them! I had to make the most painful decision, last year, of rehoming all of them due to our situation… it was awful!
I guess that if it were possible, I would want to try to explain my actions, and say how sorry I am!
I pray that my choice was for the animals betterment, but it is still difficult to hold the last memories of letting go. Sometimes, doing the right thing does NOT feel good, yet it is still right! I cannot say for sure what they were feeling throughout the painful process, but if I could communicate with them, this would obviously be the conversation on the forefront of our discussion. What would they say… would they forgive me if they understood… maybe.
The best information to give our pets, in the effort of better understanding about us hoomans, would be the knowledge that we often behave in ways that don’t align with our feelings. Often times, we do the right thing for the wrong reason, while at other times, we do the wrong things for the right reasons… it’s what we do!
It’s not all bad, and I didn’t say ALL people, nor did I say ALL the time… it’s just that sometimes the numbers are stacked against us, that’s all!
There’s no way to know if I’ll ever have flurbies journeying with me again… perhaps, perhaps not! Just as our pets probably don’t plan ahead most of the time, thinking to build contingency plans for difficult situations… I would want them to know that often times, we hoomans don’t either!
Issabella PugaliniGhost and Ash
Here, I need a cookie, so you better have one too…
Eustace has taken it upon himself to watch over me, when it comes to health and nutrition. Watching me waste away has caused the camel to go full military on me!
He ensures that I eat my bowl of oatmeal, though I can no longer afford to put oat milk in, thanks for the good ole State of Washington to not only revoke my food stamps, but also demand that we pay back their overages, lol. Isn’t that a hoot!
Eustace also threw out both the Sucralfate and the Bentol I’d been prescribed to take, as the doctors never took the time to notice that the diagnosis they strapped onto my case (Gastroparesis), is exacerbated by those very medications… again, lol, isn’t that a hoot!!
They won’t even listen to my appeal until mid March, lol, and another hoot given!!!
I have been surviving since last June, on one bowl of oatmeal with a handful of raisins, two tsp of white sugar and one of brown, for my first of only two meals each day. My second is one serving of white rice, one cup frozen peas and carrots, and a 1/4 cup of peanuts if we don’t have 3 oz. of any boneless skinless chicken breast available (thank you again, Washington State). Chicken isn’t cheap anymore, nor is anything else, and my husband has to eat if he’s to finish his degree.
Wait for it, wait for it…. what a hoot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eustace refuses to let me carry on with all the bloody details of this exercise in futility that one calls Government Assistance… he wants to take me to the desert for the rest of this wild ride. I’ve been to the desert before, but this is one I’ve not traveled across.
Thankfully, I’m with my trusty camel. This time, I’ll not be walking through the deadlands without aid… My camel carries our water, our bags… and me! I fear that this is one journey where my own legs have given out. I hadn’t realized til this moment how valuable Eustace is, and has always been, for my survival.
If one wants to answer this prompt adequately, we must first come to a clear understanding of what we consider clutter.
Essentially, the word clutter refers to a bunch of things laying about in a mess. That means that it’s going to look different, depending on whose looking, and in my opinion, isn’t limited to one or two categories.
Since the word clutter is classed as a noun, it has the potential to represent anything from a person, a place, OR a thing! Bearing this in mind, I considered what my tidying up checklist might look like…
Clutter Clean-up Checklist!
Too many people cluttering my doorway… nope… Check!
An overfilled laundry room, with no available working machines… nope… Check!
A library of unread books… nope… check!
A closet full of unused dirty clothes… nope… check!
Cupboards full of old, unused household items, outdated cleaning supplies, and moldy hamburger buns from behind the cabinet… nope… check!
Expired food in the back of the refrigerator… nope… check!
Shelves filled with trinkets, toys, bits and bobs from over the years… nope… check!
The only clutter I’m really dealing with is that of the mind. Stacks of broken dreams, and painful memories, lay strewn along the roadside of the mind. That’s where the real clutter is for most, and it’s far more destructive that a pile of dirty old boots, or an overflowing Tupperware drawer in ones kitchen.
Whether one is referring to physical clutter, or that of the mind, I think that the bible speaks of both…
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
Oddly enough, sometimes Google’s AI does a fairly decent job of explaining a thing, and today was one of those times…
“Store up treasures in heaven” means to focus on eternal, spiritual values rather than temporary earthly wealth, investing your life, resources, and heart in acts of generosity, faith, and love that have lasting significance, as taught by Jesus in Matthew 6:19-21. It involves shifting your priorities from material accumulation to spiritual riches, knowing that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.
I’m a writer, and as a writer I tend to write… with my fingers. My fingers are attached to my hands, which are attached to my arms, which are connected to my body at the shoulders. And, my body holds my noggin, which tries with all it’s might to oversee what the fingers do… that is, write!
My writings are how I communicate with others, within in an online setting. My phone rings from only 4 sources… hubby… my chica… my longtime friend Christine… and the Doctor’s office! For the entire rest of the world out there, my fingers are the only form of communication, giving more light to the cause of why I right so darn much, these days.
In fact, the tougher life gets on me, the more I write! Did you know that while freezing my toenails off, I wrote another children’s book?! Go figure!
Online communications has actually been a Godsend for this ole girl… I used to have to write all this stuff down with a pen and paper, and quite frankly, my hands were really suffering for it. The keyboard has actually allowed me to write at a rate that seems unprecedented, compared to what I was capable of writing before modern technology intervened!
The only downside comes from mankind’s inability to create an autocorrect that functions properly… as many have seen from some of the text massages we’ve all been subjected two. See how I did that… hehe!
One of my favorite things about all this online communication stuff… virtual cookies!
Here is a cookie with zero calories… all the fun without any guilt or unhealthy side effects… perfection! I do love technology when it works in my fingers… I mean favor!
I can hardly believe that it’s been two years since I wrote this! Though we’re no longer in that beat up old R.V., this road trip is far from over. With that in mind, it seemed appropriate to re-use this old prompt response… hugs.
I don’t have to think back too far, as we are still living in an RV, living like nomads wherever we go, and for however long we stay. We don’t really have any home left, here on actual earth, so we rumble along on this road trip, taking safe harbor wherever it can be found.
If you think about it, everyone is on a road trip of sorts, and I would imagine that we all feel like it’s quite memorable. I appreciate the prompts use of the word most, while referring to the road trip, as they could have used best, worst, happiest or saddest… but they chose most memorable. Life IS most memorable, wouldn’t you say?!
Don’t we always say things like, it’s a wild ride, it’s gonna be a bumpyride, it’s a crazy ride, or Baby, what a ride? So I don’t need to think hard on why my thoughts drifted this way, once I began reading the prompt question.
Life is most definitely a journey, or road trip if you will!
It would take us all a very long time, to write down all of what we’ve seen, felt and experienced, along each of our personal highways… oh wait… that’s what I’ve already been doing, right here on WordPress… you’re welcome!
As a girl of only eleven, I’d already discovered the item I was most fond of… my survival, or my physical life, if I’m to label it as an actual thing. No, it’s probably not what one might call an item, but sure felt like it.
Daily writing prompt
Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?
Sometimes, life has a way of getting reduced into nothing more than a thing… an item to be played with, bartered, or thrown out when it’s usefulness has been expended.
For some souls, it can take an entire lifetime to figure this out. They don’t feel the harsh bite of reality pop up, for a good long while. Who knows, maybe everyone begins to take notice of being less valuable to society, once the body begins to slow, and they lose the ability to carry on at the pace they once held.
Then there’s souls like mine. We discovered, early on, how little value we held, how we weren’t valuable enough protect, to care about… never worthy enough to be saved! This was my dark alleyway of existence, wandering through the night until I found a place to sleep… doing whatever I had to do to secure food, warmth, and sleep… never safety… just sleep! This life was not much but it was mine, and I valued it above everything else!
I’m 55 now and nearing the age when most are preparing for retirement and their golden years… not this runaway!
I strive to prepare and strengthen myself for something bigger, better and still yet to come.
It has taken some considerably long years to get my life to this moment, and I couldn’t have done it without God. And, I didn’t care for the item I was so attached to, nor cherish it, as I did when I was a child. None the less, I’m grateful to say that it’s still in tact, for the most part.
If you’ve any curiosity about what has become of the item I was so attached to as a youth, you need only read the letters I have written over the years, here on WordPress.
As this site is really all I have to show for explaining things, it will have to suffice as my best answer!
Smiles are magical, I think. And, they’re contagious, too…
When someone smiles at you, don’t you just automatically want to smile back?
A smile can soften a heart, lift a person’s spirit, and/or trigger some actual good will toward our fellow man.
Take a baby’s smile, for instance. Don’t we get all mushy inside, and feel the sudden urge to speak babyeese… was dat a smile, awwww, you widdle fuzzy wuzzy bundle of bootiful awesomesauceness… hey, don’t judge me! I can’t help it!
The world is filled with all differing types of magical smiles, babies obviously being the best and most effective in brightening ones day. But, one must appreciate the value and magic of all the other differing smiles out there, as well…
Smiles are actually pretty important, as studies have shown how smiling affects ones health, and state of mind. It’s a real scientific thingie, I swear. I even googled it, to make sure that I did not mislead you in any way.
I typed in “what is the science behind a smile”, and this was googles reply:
The science behind smiling involves a positive feedback loop between facial muscles and brain chemistry, where contracting muscles (like the zygomatic major for mouth corners and orbicularis oculi for eye crinkles) trigger the release of mood-boosting neurotransmitters like dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin, reducing stress and enhancing happiness. This “fake it ’til you make it” effect means even a forced smile can make you feel better, while genuine smiles (Duchenne smiles) signal authentic joy and foster connection, improving well-being and perceived attractiveness.
How it works: The Muscle-Brain Connection
Sensory Input: Emotional data from experiences (seeing a friend, hearing good news) travels to the brain.
Muscle Activation: Specific facial muscles contract: the zygomatic major pulls lips up, and the orbicularis oculi creates crow’s feet around the eyes.
Brain Response: These muscle contractions send signals back to the brain, activating the reward system.
Neurotransmitter Release: The brain releases feel-good chemicals:
Dopamine: Boosts pleasure and motivation.
Endorphins: Act as natural pain relievers and mood elevators. Serotonin: Functions as a natural antidepressant, lifting mood.
Types of Smiles
Social Smile:Involves only the mouth muscles (zygomatic major) and is used for politeness or social cues.
Genuine Smile (Duchenne Smile):Involves both mouth muscles and the orbicularis oculi, creating eye crinkles, signaling authentic happiness.
Benefits of Smiling
Reduces Stress:Neuropeptides activated by smiling help combat stress.
Boosts Mood: The release of endorphins and serotonin creates genuine feelings of happiness.
Increases Attractiveness & Trust: Smiling people are often seen as more reliable, sincere, and attractive, enhancing social interactions.
I challenge you to count your smiles this weekend. It’s merely an exercise, meant to show how many times you do smile, as well as, how many opportunities you’re given to intentionally smile at someone… remember, this is only an experiment. You don’t even have to tell anyone you’re doing it. Call it an exercise for health and wellness.
Whatever you do this weekend, remember how loved you are… that should help with the smile thing.
I pray that my words, my life, and my purpose will always reflect a light that is not mine, but that of the Almighty! There is no greater calling, or mission, if you will.
Mine is a testimony of redemption, cleansing, healing and unfathomable grace, from the One who created the very foundations of this world.
It was simple, really. All I had to do was believe in Him, and trust fully in the words spoken by His only son, Jesus Christ. The mission given me was, and is, the same one given all those ages ago, while Jesus walked this earth…
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35
When you accept one of my silly virtual cookies, they are stuffed with as much love and light that I can muster. And, then I pray that you will be covered with a myriad of little healing cookie crumbs… blessed crumbs, even. I know they aren’t real, but I guess it’s sort of symbolic, in hopes that you’ll see how valuable and precious you are to me, and more importantly, how much you’re worth to God. He loves you, whether you believe it or not, and He will never stop loving you… ever!
Why do I do it? Because, I’ve been called to do so. Not only that, but it fills me with such peace and happiness, knowing that everything I do for others is to be for His glory, not mine…
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
Even when you cannot see your destination, sail on
When the winds threaten, sail on
And, when the waves hit you from every side, sail on…
Trust your compass, trust your ship
Lean not on your own understanding
And, do not fear the wind that threatens…
Take each wave as it comes
Keep your course straight and true
And, trust the map you’ve been given…
As I was writing this, Proverbs 3:5, 6 came to mind. I googled part of the verse, because I couldn’t remember the scripture reference, and this is what popped up…
“Lean not on your own understanding” comes from Proverbs 3:5-6 in the Bible, meaning to trust God’s guidance over your own limited perspective, especially in decisions, acknowledging that divine wisdom is greater than human intellect, and that while using your mind is good, ultimate reliance should be on God, who promises to guide you if you submit your ways to Him. It encourages faith over purely rational, incomplete human reasoning, especially in uncertain times.
Key Meanings
Trust God Fully: Place complete faith in the Lord with all your heart, not just in big decisions but in every aspect of life.
Limited Human Wisdom:
Recognize that human understanding is finite and can be flawed or incomplete, even with intellect.
Seek Divine Guidance:
Acknowledge God in all your ways (actions, plans, thoughts) for Him to direct your paths.
Not Irrationality:
It doesn’t mean abandoning your intellect, but rather not relying solely on it, especially when it conflicts with faith or leads to confusion.
Practical Application
In Uncertainty: When faced with dilemmas, pray and seek God’s will rather than trying to figure everything out alone, which can cause stress.
Surrender Plans: Give your plans to God, trusting His bigger picture and better plan. Be Wise in His Eyes: Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil as a result of trusting Him.
I know that was the long winded version to accompany my tiny poem, but thought it worth the share.
Journey With Me! 