I am pretty well versed in the kitchen, in both cooking and baking, but my sweet side always wins out with baking as my forte!
I can knock out a cheesecake that will leave you breathless, produce a Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter cookie that proves how long I successfully used MY Easy Bake Oven, and bake a Strawberry Cream Cheese Cake that will never reveal how many calories are in its delectable depths… but…
I will stand by my secret Banana Bread recipe, as my favorite go to!
It needs to have just the right amount of moisture, so as not to be to cloggy…
Just the perfect inclusion and coating of brown sugar, to make even the crust melt in your mouth…
I like to wait for the bananas to be just at the right place of ripening, that way there is no tart or bitter after bite, but rather a sweet banana flavor that lingers in the mouth for a time… even if you drink milk or coffee with it!
The presenting of the bread for consumption, is just as vital to its success as the mixing and baking, ensuring that there is a fine layer of pure REAL butter spread across its brown sugary coated surface… sublime is the operative word, so I’ve been told…
If you want cookies today, you will need to go find my regular Friday post, because now that I’ve gone and told you about my banana bread, no cookie will work in here…
Here, have some Banana Bread… but mine is for sure better…
Oddly, I have no recollection what the first computer was that I owned… but I remember the waiting for systems to load, before the screen would even look at my eager face.
I also distinctly remember the sound of dial up, as we had to listen to it at any and every attempt at getting online. Everything went through the phones.
Memories of everyone in the house vying for a spot on the smart box, transitioning into needing cheese to go with all the whining that went on within the ranks of the peasants out in the laundry fields!
There is a great amount of humor, in considering how fast our current generation would fold like a deck of cards, if we handed them an actual old PHONE to do anything with, in trade for their shiny new SMART one. How small are those things gonna get, anyway?!
I will openly admit that even I have to check my Smart phone to confirm my own cell number. Notice how I keep writing we and I, instead of You… it’s all for one in the truth department! It seems like the smarter our technology gets through advancement, the lazier we become!
Todays society seems to be so forward thinking, that we forgot all the effort spent pulling technology into that FORWARD. I wonder if we treat things like people or history, as we do our older and more obsolete forms of technology… out of sight out of mind… just sayin!
I learned from a very early age, being scared of something only made me rise to the challenge out of defiance!
I became a kind of dare devil, whenever I came upon a situation that scared me, many times skirting very close to disaster… I guess I simply don’t like being scared anymore!
Age, wisdom, fortitude and just plain tenacity pulled me through life’s ups and downs…
But once I learned to walk by faith, the fear that fueled me to become scared of an obstacle or roadblock I was facing… simply evaporated!
I am human and therefore, not immune to fear of something… but when I am faced with something that scares me, my faith in God brings me round rather quickly!
I can do all things through Christ who is in me… there is nothing our God cannot do!
Stick that in your little AI Prompt hat!
Here, have a cookie, but be warned!!! These cookies are pretty scary looking…
The most difficult things for me to overcome, which I still struggle with occasionally, is N words! Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch… I am referring to words of Negativity, words about Nobody loving me enough, or Nobody knowing how sad, bad, or downright ugly my life can be at times! These are the real Nasty words that the enemy uses to keep us Not in a good place…
I am attempting to undo this Negative way of thinking by turning Nothing, Nobody and Never into their positive state… let’s face it we will Never get these words out of the dictionary. Point in fact, the words themselves are available for use in both good and bad forms, as are all the other words we need for communicating thoughts and actions.
My new practice in being a better WordSmith has brought out these new phrases to call up whenever I find myself using them in an unhealthy way…
How about saying, Nothing can separate me from the love of God, or Nothing can remove me from the palm of Gods hand, or better yet, absolutely NOTHING can undo the Seal of God’s Holy Spirit, that has been placed upon and within this vessel? These are a great start!
Let’s move on to the next Negative Nancy Word, Nobody is one of the more commonly used words in my vocabulary that must be overturned!!! It is much more difficult for me to turn this into a positive, as it is used quite often in its negative form by a vast majority. I still believe that it is possible to bring it round from the dark side, if you get my meaning. Saying that Nobody knows how another might feel, or understand what that person is experiencing, should be seen in a positive light because it opens the door to discovery. In a way, it can be seen as a “get out of Jail free card” because God might be showing us that we can NOT do what He CAN… and we need His help in understanding one another.
Nobody left behind, Nobody forgotten, Nobody rejected by God… these are all positive and true! If there is any negative to be associated with the word Nobody, it’s not done by God, but rather by us when we leave Him behind, when we forget about Him, or the ouchie one… when we reject God! God has given us all that we need, but we have to choose to accept it for good… our choice, or in this case, my choice… hence, the rewriting of these Naughty words!
Never say never… that’s an impossibility! If I am going to find this word popping up in my verbage, then I am choosing to do a back atcha whenever I catch it at the doorstep of my lips! When I find myself thinking or saying anything like “things are never going to change” or “I will never trust that person again”, or my favorite, “I will never be enough, never get things right”… things like that… I must counter them with Gods truths. I find that the Bible says it best,
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39
If this doesn’t have enough really positively used N words, I don’t know what else would. It has become the next section of scripture to be memorized, as I tend to fall back on the negative N’s too easily sometimes. So, my thinking is… out with the bad and in with the good. There is NO time like the present, and I see NOTHING stopping me from making a positive change. NOBODY will ever say that I NEVER tried to improve my mindset, NOR will I ever be forgotten nor forsaken!
Being that I’m in my mid 50’s, living in an old RV with only my laptop and a walking trail as my company, I no longer participate, watch, or actively pursue any sports venue… at all!
If you had asked me this question 30 years, I could have given you numerous examples of my involvement and love of differing sports, primarily, anything involving horsemanship!
Being born on a farm in Oregon, I was riding horses before I was even out of diapers… I’ve seen pictures!
Over the years I was an avid audience member of countless, horse shows, equestrian events and breeder venues. When I was only 18, I lived and worked for a woman who bred, raised, and trained purebred Appaloosas and Quarter Horses. Later, after I had attended Bible Seminary, I was recruited to work as the wrangler for a Christian Girls Horsemanship Camp in Battleground, WA. The children were taught general Horsemanship and Husbandry, along with learning how to ride Dressage, as well as Vaulting.
All my life I worked hard… and played hard! I’ve been bit, kicked, thrown, stomped and drug through the hills by my ankle. While I regret none of the life of adventure upon the back of a horse, it did come at a cost, later in life. I can no longer sit ON a horse, but I can most assuredly, still appreciate the magnificence and beauty of everything about these amazing creatures.
Even today, I can fully enjoy watching any Dressage competition, Hunter/Jumper event, Breeders Cup race, or any Disney movie ever made about a horse. Though many movies have been made about horses, my all time favorite is still the 1979 version of The Black Stallion with Kelly Reno, Terri Garr, and Micky Rooney!
I will end this prompt answer with a little trot down memory lane…
I think it’s sort of funny, how often one might think that money can make things so much better… don’t get me wrong, we all keep a mental list of what we would do if we suddenly had a plethora of cash on hand!
In truth, the first thing that popped into my head when I read the prompt, was how nice it would be to have a hot shower… not in a hotel or high-rise apartment, mind you, but right here inside my little RV. Sure, I can come up with many different ways to bless the whole of the earth with my newly won riches, but if I don’t feel safe, secure, and clean within the very place I reside… what good is any of it?
It’s like when the Three Amigos are laying in bed, the night before they were supposed to defeat El Guapo, thinking they were just putting on a show for money, one asks the other two what they were going to spend their earnings on after they got home. Dusty rattled off something about a new car, Lucky mentioned some other expensive dreamy item, and then Ned chimed in that he wanted to help all the less fortunate… both the other two promptly chime in that they were gonna do that too! We all like to make suggestions or promises about things like money or good will towards fellow man, when we are feeling good about things. Though the move was ridiculous, in nature, by the end of the story the Three Amigos left all the money, never actually accepting payment… maybe they found out that the journey was much more important than the money, who knows.
I’d like to think that I could offer anything within my means to help my fellow man, in whatever situation I find myself in, with or without winning a lottery. I suspect that a great many of you feel the same way, so however we choose to answer the prompt today is neither here nor there.
What would be very telling is if the question were to be answered in the form of
“What do you think others would expect you to do, if you won the lottery?”
Go ahead, give it a try… see if you can guess what I might spend the money on, were I the one winning the lottery!
Here are three choices of cookies to motivate you, this might give you better odds at guessing correctly…
In all honesty, with the amount of writing I do on a daily basis, along with the studying of Gods word, applying it, and then sharing it with you in the Lobby, I simply can’t think beyond this right now!
I rise anywhere from 4 to 6 am, usually, and I begin my day with study and prayer. From there I will write my personal daily message, followed by the daily prompt. I’ve been told that I talk a lot, and therefore, I also write a great deal! I make attempts at reading as many of my followers articles as possible, as well as, commenting and responding to anyone in the Lobby.
What you may not know is that I write for several more hours each day, between my novel and several other literary projects I work on. My site numbers show that in the last year I’ve written enough words to fill approximately 4 to 5 novels, so that’s a lot of writing. In the past, I’ve read more books than I can even remember… but I wasn’t writing like I am currently.
I have the desire to read all the time, but not the time for all thereading, if that makes any sense.
I know you might say, all work and no play makes Wiwohka a dull girl, but I already told you about my play, just the other day on a word prompt question, point in fact!
Will there be a time, in which I can feel the pleasure of diving into a delicious adventure, other than the ones I’m creating? I believe there will be… just not right now!
You might not think this is true, but I worry about reading others works, while I am working on my own, for fear of encountering cross contamination, if you get my meaning. While other writers may not concern themselves in this regard, this writer is still developing her technique, so I’m not there yet!
I’ll be honest in saying that any prompt regarding family can be difficult for me, which anyone who knows me can say is true, having read my story.
That being said, I also told you yesterday that I am committed to answering each daily prompt with sincerity and honest effort. The only safe answer surfacing this morning, is Pajamas… and I will do my best to explain why.
I was born into a family that practiced a religion that forbade celebrating any secular holidays. This means no Birthdays, No Christmas, No Thanksgiving, No Valentines, No Mothers Day, No Fathers Day, etc. You should be getting the picture! The only traditions my family participated in and left in my memory banks, were ones that I’d rather not remember.
I wrote a story some time last year, regarding me trying to secretly create a Christmas tree next to my bed, on the eve of a holiday that everybody else got to celebrate except for me!
I made a point to do this tiny tradition for several years in a row, before eventually running away from home and leaving that life behind. I was approximately 11 years old when I left that place for the last time.
The reason I share this sad bit with you is because it is linked to the only good tradition that I hold dear to my heart, even now! Christmas has to be my absolutely favorite season, bringing with it an entire world of traditions shared by many… it is heartwarming, touching, and beautiful to me.
When I was 15 years old, living in a fostering facility that kept me hidden from my family, I got my first taste of what Christmas was, being given the opportunity to spend the holiday with a very wealthy family that did things up big for C Day, if you know what I mean… it was the most love I’d ever been given by anyone, and I’m not even talking about the gifts.
It was my first time feeling like someone had noticed the child that had been forgotten. They made me feel like I belonged there, instead of being treated like they were only babysitters. That experience started me on my journey of love with Christmas time.
I’d lived there about a year before a family, that volunteered at the home, took me home with them and fostered me for the next several years until I graduated high school and moved on. One of the things my foster mother did each Christmas morning was placing a brand new set of pajamas and a new pair of slippers, at the end of my bed. Honestly, you could have given me nothing else for a gift and I would still have been elated. There is nothing like the feeling of climbing into a pair of brand new, freshly laundered and folded pajamas… then follow that up with pulling on a fluffy soft pair of slippers to go with the jammies. To this day I have the same feeling, upon wearing a new pair of pajamas and slippers… utter bliss!
This is the one tradition that I can think of that I have always loved, continuing it’s practice with each of my three daughters, every year that they were growing… perhaps they now do this for their little ones, as well.
There ya have it folks… I answered the daily prompt, without getting too far off track down rabbit holes resting in the ditches of my memory lane.
Here, have a cookie…
I left two choices because I don’t know what everyone wears…
I know we have seen this question recently, in several other forms, which makes us question whose manning the prompt desk. I surmise that we are in the hands of an AI program, that does its best to generate questions, while not grasping enough about what the question asks, to recognize its own repetitiveness.
This newest remake of the other recent prompts, gives me the perfect opportunity to answer the prompt… again… without repeating my previous answers. Everyone visiting my lobby should get a clear picture of the type of Writer/Christian/Woman/Barrel of Laughs I consider myself to be, most days. You never know, for sure, which one you will see on any given prompt. The reason for this wacky, fly by the seat of my pants style of writing, is because, point in fact, writing IS my leisure!
When you see the things I write, they are the result of my prayer, my study, and my fully transparent life… my joy is from sharing my world with you, each time you visit the Lobby.
I committed myself to answering each and every prompt this year, regardless of what the question is, so I had to consider the reality of repeats, stalker probes, and nosy Prompt neighbors. In order for me to write freely, and without a moody attitude, I’ve opted to approach each prompt, with leisure… taking my time in restructuring the question however I choose, to make it fresh and real for my friends. There is no rule book for how to answer prompts, nor is there any penalty for turning it for my pleasure… it’s my leisure… my website… and my literary box to open and share with anyone wishing to stop in and visit.
I will confess, however, in the realm of work that one also considers leisure, I am not above burn out! Even if it is pleasurable to write at such an intensive pace, after a long day of writing, my brain actually feels overly fatigued, yet still firing on all cylinders! You might laugh at this, but crazy video games are the only way for me to disconnect, fully, long enough to bring my brain and body to a place of calm and blissful rest… I call it the Numbing!
If I don’t take a break now and again, to ride around the desert on my faithful companion Brodie, shooting imps, evil pirates and slave traders… well, I’m fairly certain that I would eventually begin looking at my writing as nothing more than work. I love what I do enough to maintain a balance of required play and leisure play… I love them both.
Be grateful that I write and play this way, or you might tire of the same old cookies day in and day out…
I’ve not seen any pictures yet, but I’ve heard that the streets are paved with Gold! While it is far more than an attraction, or similar to any town ever built, I am packed and ready to go to the place prepared for me! Though it may seem so far away, at times, it couldn’t be closer! The only thing I had to pack was my spirit, as my room has already been fully furnished … go figure!
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:3
Bloganuary writing prompt
Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.
This child will be found standing at the ready, because Home is just one step away…
This world holds nothing in comparison to my true home…
Sometimes music can sing what my heart feels better than any words I might type. These songs should sufficiently reflect the place near to me, and though I’ve not been there yet, I am on my way home to the very place that the prompt asked about. So, Heaven is my answer. Your Welcome!
This child of God wishes to share my cookie with you…
Journey With Me! 