I don’t desire to actually look like Mary Poppins, nor am I dreaming of being a Nanny to any child in particular.
To be the woman who could travel by umbrella, I could go anywhere… but that’s not it!
To be able to pop in and out of paintings, allowing me to travel through space and time to visit places I would otherwise never visit… nope, not that either!
For just one day, I would absolutely love to be Mary Poppins, in order to use her magical bag! You know, that carpet bag that could pull out any sort of useful or magical item I might need at the moment. The things I could do with that bag, even if it were only for the time stipulated by the daily prompt.
Just within walking distance of my RV, there are so many things I could use that bag for… like feeding the homeless I see walking around, or going door to door looking for things to hand people, hoping to lighten their burdens and brighten their day. The bag could house money, food, clothes, toys, tools, and/or vitamins and medicines they might not be able to locate.
But it’s more than just using the bag for things… no no… it is the freedom to give, that the bag offers! You see, Mary Poppins took the bag with her everywhere she went. Whatever was inside the bag needed to be taken to where it belonged. Mary Poppins never sent things in her bag through the mail… she always did the foot work herself… or the umbrella travel… or the horse racing… or the tea time on the ceiling… see?
I don’t need Mary Poppins magical loving heart, as I’ve got a real one that offers its own sort of magic… I just need the bag for the day.
As a parent, we all know that when your kids are not making noise, it never bodes well! When it gets silent… we usually go looking for the noise makers that are now abnormally quiet!
Not my parents… no no… somehow, they were never really concerned about where we were, or what we were doing. Due to this lack of supervision, we tended to get into trouble.
Some time ago, I shared a funny story about how we let nearly 2 dozen baby mice loose in the house by accident, only to have my mother discover the mass graveyard in between the cushions of her favorite couch, some months later!
There was also the time when I was riding on the back of my brothers bike and he nearly decapitated me while trying to cut through a trailer park that had one of those steel cords strung across the driveway! Try explaining the burn mark to my parents… there aren’t many believable stories to cover over what looked like an attempted murder.
Then there was the time we tied helium balloons around our cats tails and they tore through the house in terror, knocking over anything that wasn’t nailed down… that was a crazy mess! We hadn’t thought about how hard it would be, recapturing the the little fur balls, in order to remove said balloons.
Anyway, I think you can see a picture developing in your minds, as to how unsupervised we were, thereby providing ample time for one of our best DIY projects!
My brother was about 9 and I was barely 7, when we came up with an idea to build a fort, but not just any fort… we needed a secret one! The problem lay in the fact that we lived in Eastern Oregon… hot, dry, and flat, with no trees available for making into forts!
What’s a kid going to do? If you can’t build up, then the logical thing to do is to build down… but where?
We decided among ourselves that the back yard seemed the best place to work, because no one went back there and it was easy to hear my mom call us in for dinner.
At first it was easy to cover the hole with the grass we had cut out for digging down underground, but eventually we had to steal a plank of wood to lay over the hole, covering that with the grass. We had nearly dug up against the foundation of the house, before anyone noticed the mounds of dirt we had been throwing willy nilly over the backyard fence.
Yup!
Got our hind ends paddled and the hole was caved in, refilled and the grass restored.
If you’re thinking that this was the end of our DIY ing… think again, my friends!
All true DIY ers know the golden rule… if you fail the first time… try, try again! And again, we did!
We simply moved our construction zone further out into the desert behind the neighborhood we lived in at the time.
First, we set to work digging down nearly 6 feet, carving out steps for us to climb up and down out of the hole. From there we dug straight in nearly 15 feet before carving out a hobbit house sized hole under the desert above us. We took the dirt from the hole and spread it all over the area nearby, so that there would be no mounds to be seen by spying eyes; lessons had been learned from our first attempt. We spent nearly a week sneaking blankets, toys, food and water from our home, to stock our new underground bunker.
It wasn’t until my brother got a spanking for stealing candy out of the cupboard, and angrily running away to hide in the tunnel, that anybody had any reason to go looking for our hideaway. All the grown-ups cornered me and questioned if I knew where he was, scaring me into giving up the coordinates of our outlaw camp… the gig was up!
It was a good thing that we were in the heat of summer, when there was no rain to fill the hole and drown us, or worse yet, cave in on us. I will never forget the look of shock, surprise, fear, and awe on my stepdads face as he climbed 6 feet down into our DIY creation. He was both impressed and terrified at what we’d managed to do without accidentally killing ourselves. But he also never trusted us again, regularly patrolling the property and surrounding areas, and locking up all of his tools!
What can I say… if I’m gonna DIY something, I say, “go big or go home!”
When will we learn that words, just like guns, can be use for both good and evil alike?
You can remove all weapons from the hands of a man, but if his heart is still filled with wickedness, he will find a different weapon to replace the one taken!
If you’ve unsuccessfully changed the heart of a man, it won’t matter what words, weapons, or any other tools you give or remove from him… the heart is what determines how the tool is used!
Last I checked, only God can change the heart of a man. So, there simply aren’t any words worth removing, in my humble opinion. There are, however, a couple nefarious characters I’d like to permanently ban, but that’s not what the prompt was asking. We must stick to the prompt, right?!
Here, have a cookie, but you might want to pick off the cartridges first…
What a silly question to ask me? Six months is a long ways from here, so I really can’t tell you what challenges I’ll be facing, as I don’t fully know what they are yet!
Until such a time as I actually have a challenge worthy of bringing up to everyone, you’ll just have to make do with my stories, antics, ditties, and pity party shout outs… sorry. Don’t take my response as one of sarcasm, or even one that takes challenges lightly. If you know anything about my story, you know that I’ve had my share of challenges over the last several years. By no means do I think this prompt is a bad one, but it’s just not one I wish to dwell on.
I can imagine that there will be a large number of responses to the prompt, regarding other’s upcoming challenges, some good, and some quite difficult. For all of you, my heart goes out to you, as well as my prayers and well wishes for success in these challenges. I pray that you’ll be a go getter, tenacious, and dedicated. If I’m not going to share my challenges, the least I can do is support you in all of yours, right?!
Actually, if I had to come up with an answer for this prompt, I could talk about baking. Every morning I make you virtual cookies, and since they were a bit of a chore to create without adding in any calories, we can use that task as one of the challenges I’m facing.
If you think about it, I suppose that virtual cookie baking will still be one of my bigger challenges six months from now. That is, unless they come out with those food replicators that Star Trek always had. A girl can dream, can’t she?
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…
At this present moment, my most favorite person to be around is my newest granddaughter, but I’m being partial, I realize.
Truthfully, though, I wouldn’t say that I necessarily have names of people on a list that I’d prefer to be around. I generally love to be around anyone desiring fellowship, needing encouragement, or especially those in need of prayer.
Society currently seems to be buried in their smart phones, completely oblivious to everyone and every thing around them. Nobody holds a door open, or even acknowledges when someone holds it for them. And, there’s little to no eye contact. Get in, get what you need, and get out! Don’t make any sudden movements, or hold eye contact for any length of time, with anyone!
I think the problem stems from many differing sources, and I’ve not the time nor energy to spell them all out. What I do know is that there are indeed those still out there, somewhere, in dire need of love, tenderness, forgiveness, human touch, and guidance.
If you’ve not noticed any hungry eyes near you, then maybe you’ve stopped looking.
I realize how much easier it would be to turn to familiar, and safe favorite people, but perhaps we’ve been called to do much more. What if that’s where the problem lies, deep in the heart of man. Our natural bent is toward self… self-preservation, self-esteem, self-love, and self, self, self! I’m not even off the hook, here.
Having a generous heart is taught, contrary to what some may believe. No one is born with a benevolent heart, even if I think my SugarPlum is perfect in every way! She’ll need to be shown, hopefully, by the village of family that surrounds her on every side.
Perhaps, if more of those villages start popping up, society might have a chance at becoming better than we are, thus far. Just sayin.
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.
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!
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.
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…
Journey With Me! 