Tag: bloganuary

Of all the things someone might want to ask me… in a prompt of all places… as a way to elicit my desire to … oh, I don’t know… WRITE!

When given the opportunity to ask something that might bring people out of their boxes and bubbles of solitary writing… all you can come up with is to ask what I want to snack on at this very moment?????

Have I simply lost my mind, or did a bunch of I’s and Q’s just walk off the job, at where ever these questions are coming from?

If it’s an AI generated system, well then, I am confident that we have nothing to worry about with computers taking over the world! Please tell me that there isn’t some think group being employed to come up with these prompts, and they all happened to be hungry at the time of writing the days questions for us. 

I suppose we can just wait til tomorrow and see if the next question is, “What do you like to drink after eating too many saltine crackers at one time?”

Maybe this question was meant to be directed at kids… the last I checked, the big thing was eating dry ramen out of the package… go figure!

I suppose if the question was being directed at us, by a physician or nutritionist, I might have a bit more patience in my answer.

The greatest feat they accomplished in this prompt was to place the word Would… not could, not can, not will nor want… but what snack would you eat right now…

Would I eat my snack in my chair or in my bed… would I share my snack with the people in my head… would I want my snack in a bag or in a bowl… would I use a fork or just eat it whole… would I like my snack or would it be bad… what if it were the only snack I really had… would I eat it or set it on the table beside me… trading it for a coffee with creamer is where you would find me!

How’s that for a snappy comeback?

Have a cookie…

You pick out your pet… We help you find it… No more middle man!

Have you ever dreamt of your favorite pet, but either cannot afford the breeders fee or fear getting something you weren’t prepared to care for? Well not anymore! Here at UPPAA we aim to please any and all who employ our services. 

Other agencies only offer the service of inviting you in to view and adopt a pet with all the cleaning, caring, treating and rehabilitating that someone else did for you… no no no… that is considered false advertising around our offices!

Instead of having you come to the nearest breeder or pet shelter, we here at UPPAA employ only the most qualified representatives to collect you, equip you and then, back you up, while you find the nearest stray animal in your area. Upon locating said adoptee, our representatives will then assess whether or not you desire to, or are capable of continuing on in said venture. From your response comes the next part of the package we offer. Here is where we will simply wait in the car, as you approach and retrieve the pet you have selected. 

**Stipulations are in place here that you must adhere to, in order for the completion of our services. Not only must it be very clear that these pets do not belong to some one else, but the pet must actually need your assistance. We will not, under an circumstances, be a part of nor participate in the willful theft of the fluffy white puppy living in your neighbors back yard! (this had to be added to our contract for a specific reason)**

Once you’ve selected and retrieved your new pet, following our rules and regulations, we will then deliver you safely home to begin your new life together. There is no need to come back to the office, as you’ve already signed all of the paperwork that enlisted and guaranteed our services, as well as paying all agreed fees, so you’re all good to go!

All of our fees, being quite reasonable, come with a money back guarantee! If, after a full 15 days of care, cleaning, feeding and rehabilitating your chosen pet, you are dissatisfied… we will be happy to come pick you up, return you to the adoption site so that you can put the animal back where you found it. We will also return your fee, minus the fuel. 

Our goal, here at UPPAA, is to ensure that you find just the right pet that you deserve, in the most real way possible, so that you truly appreciate who the animal is, where it came from, and what it might possibly be like from here on out! We are able to keep costs down here, by never having to hear why you didn’t know what you were getting into, or that this pet is nothing like what we advertised! We boast a perfect track record of no rehoming pets returned for the third time.

We have representatives standing by right now, waiting for your call at 1-888-PIC-APET. Our first 10 customers will get a complimentary catch pole.

**We are not responsible for lost or stolen common sense, nor are we obligated to provide first aid, physical assistance nor the picking up of poop… welcome to pet parenthood!**

As a girl of only eleven, I had already discovered the item I was most fond of… my survival, or in words to answer the prompt, my Life! 

Life has a way of sometimes being reduced to nothing more than a thing… an item to be played with, bartered, or thrown out when it’s usefulness has been expended!

For many souls it can take an entire lifetime to figure this out, only really feeling the harsh bite of reality, as it begins to surface on or near retirement! Basically, most begin to take more notice of feeling less valuable to society, as the body begins to slow and lose the ability to carry on at the same pace they once kept.

Then there are souls like mine, who learned painfully early in life how little value they held, how they weren’t valuable enough protect and 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’m just getting started, I think, as 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, not caring and cherishing it, as the item I valued so strongly as a child… none the less, 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 to you all, over this last year, 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! 

I don’t know about all you, but I need a cookie…

Todays prompt question gave me a great opportunity to look within the pages of this site, seeking to answer the mission or purpose of what gets published here in The Lobby!

Instead of giving some wordy explanation of what goes on in here, I began pulling up pictures of what I think that I try to do, but maybe you all see it differently. Perhaps I should be asking you what you think my mission is from your vantage?

My intent is that this site reflect how I choose to live, or my mission, if you will. We have all heard the adage, a picture is worth a thousand words, so my desire is to allow my actions to reflect what I wish to be seen as my mission. It is as follows,

To believe…

To seek…

To dream…

To give love…

To share hope…

To speak the Truth in love…

To go when called…

and to fight every battle on my knees…

I think that sums it up! While my mission fluxes and flows, often changing with the tides of forward moving time… my belief in The One Who is Unchanging will not waiver… ever!

What I think of myself and what you might think of me can be any number of things, but my hope is that you see a light in the darkness…

While I don’t think I said anything requiring a cookie to get through, I still want to give you one just because…

When I read the prompt question, my mind immediately went to a picture of a quilt, handmade, of course! The seamstress cuts and measures out each square, being sure to leave extra in the piece for sewing to all the other sections… this way the quilt is just the right size and not smaller than planned. Measurements are very precise, otherwise, it could swing the other way and we end up with a quilt that is too big.

Looking back to when the first person sewed together a blanket and then to this day, we have kept the same size measurements, for the most part. Aside from some creative twists that have brought us BlanketJammies, sharable sleeping bags and the like, we have retained a sizing standard for a bed cover… why?

What if we just started making a one size fits all family blanket, that just runs throughout the house, leaving holes for heads and arms, in whatever room you had to be in during the day… why not? Who cares that it won’t fit in the standard Washer/Dryer, or that it would require an entire Family Size bottle of detergent for each washing… we can just wait for a rainy day and drag the whole thing outside for a washing. It would be a great family activity, as it would require every able bodied member to hold it up off the ground while it rained… but wait, we also could just hug each other as hard as we wanted, without hurting anyone, because we need to squeeze all the water out before our blanket could dry.

Now I know that I’ve taken us all down a weird Rabbit Hole Idea, but it is with good reason. The scenario that I created is very unrealistic and… in truth, quite odd! My point is… so is the concept of living a longer life! God started things out giving mankind hundreds of years to their life, moving in time to limit us to only 120 years… He had a reason for it, and I fully trust it was for our own good! We screw things up in the 120 years we are given, and adding years onto this would be very useless. After all these generations we are still arguing over Racism, Equality, and Governing of the people… it does not fill me with comfort to think that they could then extend the terms of office in the White House… uh uh!!! 

There is a line from an old movie I once watched, where one of the characters uses an analogy of a skein of thread holding a tapestry together… and I like analogies! Forming a picture in our minds helps to reinforce an idea, making it easier to remember a lesson or skill we’ve taken the time to learn.

My favorite verse in the Bible comes out of where… you should all know this about me… Psalm 139! While I won’t read you the entire chapter, I will leave you with my favorite part…

My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:15,16

I’ve been woven into Gods Tapestry and He knows where both my beginning and end are… I’ve no fear because I’m surrounded by so many other threads that make up the whole of our earthly quilt! I plan on dwelling in my one day at a time plan, since that is all I am actively taking part in… there is no promise of tomorrow, that I’m aware of! Our creator is the most masterful of all Quilters, building by a design that is flawless, so I’m going with that answer, concerning, What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life…

I pray that you think on this with each bite of the cookies below!

Since we have already passed through the idea of whether to look in the past verses the future, thanks to one of last weeks prompt questions, you already know that I don’t look back but forward only… the past is done and gone.

Plus, this is Sunday and I’m listening to worship music and the song playing right now is this…

I had to share it because it answered this prompt better than I ever could… “light a match, leave the past, burn the ships and don’t you look back”…

God gave me my answer for today’s prompt so if anyone takes issue… take it up with Him!

Here, have a cookie…

The prompt said two very key words here… freeway and say! Ummm, am I the only one here that thinks this to be a bit dangerous? 

We have enough problems with folks trying to commute and simultaneously eat breakfast, do their hair and make up, have conference calls and binge watch a dog surfing in Hawaii, while steering with their knees. 

I think it would be kind of silly to add more Side of The Highway Death Notes to people… if I’m to be fully honest! 

Do you realize how fewer accidents and quicker commutes folks would have if we all just left our phones, food, and make-up in our bag on the passenger seat, while focusing on the road in front of us?! We are all careening down a road at a pretty fast clip, in nothing more than a big Band-aid tin… remember those tiny boxes with the pop top lid? 

Personally, I would like to keep the lid on my box and not run into the car in front of me, while I’m busy reading the Billboard sign about who the best local AUTO ACCIDENT Lawyer is, or what the nearest Amusement Park looks like, as I zip by!

I have two favorite things I’ve seen and heard from inside my car that I will share…

I once read a Bumper Sticker on the truck in front of me that said, “If you get any closer to my bumper, I will flick a booger on your windshield”… very on point here I think!

I also heard a joke on the radio once that said, “When I die, I want to go peaceful in my sleep… not screaming and crying like all the passengers in my car”!

Let’s all just keep our eyes on the road ahead and leave the reading for an armchair!

Here, have a cookie…

If you know me… at all… you knew this would be my response, and you also know that I don’t dwell in whys any longer… the answer is clear… nuff said!!!

When I wrote the title to the prompt this morning, my plan was headed in one direction, and God pulled my heart somewhere else, but the title still fits completely…

As I began to type my response, I had an immediate picture of when Jesus was overturning the tables inside the temple, with such righteous anger! The people had turned sacrificing in the temple into a marketplace for profiting instead of propheting, if you get my drift! Leave it to us humans to make everything about us… and I am not immune to this behavior, f.y.i.

I, myself, am not above withholding my love from others, if I feel wronged in anyway or don’t get the attention I think I deserve! Isn’t that kind of similar to the temple situation? The ones setting up shop to sell only the best white doves or perfect lambs for sacrifice… only the best for God, and a bit for the pocket of the holy serviceman doing the selling. How did they get from being holy servants of the temple to the marketplace of holiness they built for themselves… uh oh… I said it didn’t I? Self… ouch!!!

Without being too long in the tooth here, the greatest gift that I think anyone could give to me, would be to simply love whomever is near you… just because you can, without any thanks or recognition… just because you can SEE them in need! That’s it! 

This is an ouch statement that I aim at myself, as I am just as guilty as anyone else for having selfish motives… we’re humans… it happens! 

With that being said, it doesn’t mean we have to be this way all the time, but it does take attitude and effort on our part, as children of God. So, to put my money where my heart is, I offer a completely free “I love you, and I see you” here in the lobby for anyone needing it… help yourself and take as much as you like… it’s refillable, indestructible, and guaranteed to be real… it says so on the back of the package I got from the manufacturer! I have been getting shipments from Him for years now, and I have yet to ever return the product!

Here, have a free cookie…

While I could answer the prompt in its current form, I find the question intrusive!

Now, if you asked me what I learned, or perhaps what kind of trouble I found myself in while attending said establishment, I’d be happy to answer… but not NOW!

If you were thinking that I don’t want to answer because I didn’t go to college, you would be incorrect, as I carry degrees and certifications that I’m quite proud to have accomplished in my life. It’s just none of your business, unless we are chatting together and you asked me about myself. 

This is where my problem with the prompt question lies… it’s like a computerized newspaper that just fills up with everyone’s personal information and then simply shares it with the entire planet in one fell click! Has everybody simply forgotten three very valuable letters in the alphabet… you know, T…..M…..I!

In all honesty, it baffles me, in a world where Identity Theft is a real problem… we freely give out personal names, intimate information about our lives, as well as pertinent personal information for filling out a credit application! No one needs to know my school history here, my personal political views, nor what I ate, at whatever restaurant I happened to be dining in last week! Have we all simply lost our minds?

Now, had the prompt asked one of my alternative ideas, like what did I learn or what did we do for fun while gaining an education, I would have been happy to answer. I have a ton of stories to fill these prompts, but I can’t spend all day, every day, correcting and adjusting these prompts for WordPress… I have other things to be writing about that are much more worthy of reading, in my opinion.

While I am committed to not being flippant with my answers on the Daily Prompt, you will see my MeeMaw surface to lecture folks on things that should be common sense to us all! We are writers for crying out loud… give us writer questions that allow us to be creative, not something that a friend would inquire about. I don’t know about any of you guys but I’m not on a friend basis with any of the WordPress developers… just sayin! We should all be exercising more caution while using social media, and this site is a form of social media, with the same risk of trollers, lonely hearts, and souls with nefarious behavior wandering in and out of each of our sites.

While some may not be bothered by the very personal questions, I will say that I am, and fully intend to belly ache about it some! The internet and social media are a double edged sword, so be very careful how you wield it!

Here, have a cookie…