Never Giving Up

Whatever your passion, dreams or goals may be, never give up.

·       Getting rejections for your writing? Don’t’ give up.
·        Getting negative reviews for your art?  Don’t give up.
·        Want to lose weight? Don’t give up.
·        Want to reunite your family? Don’t give up.
·         Trying to find a job? Don’t give up.

Giving up is well…giving up and that’s not cool.

“Every artist was first an amateur.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“By perseverance the snail reached the ark.”

Charles Spurgeon

Remember

Remember those who have served and are serving our country.

Happy Memorial Day!

The United States of America is a wonderful place to live. We are a privileged and blessed country. Let’s not take for granted or be selfish about our freedom and human rights.  

Freedom is everything. Every person deserves to live free.

We need to thank and pray for our military who protect and serve, who leave their homes and families to serve our country to help us remain free. And they, the selfless, serve our country by helping other countries break free of those who oppress and hate.

Serving in the military reminds me of a Bible verse “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Remember!

Character

“Character is who you are when no one is watching” is a powerful way to live.  

"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3: 12-17 (NIV)


Have a great holiday weekend!

Teresa


Bible Source: BibleGateway.com, Quote author unknown.

What’s up with Jack Horner?

"Little Jack Horner sat in the corner
Eating his Christmas pie,
He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum
And said "What a good boy am I!"

Have you ever wondered what’s up with this “little” guy? Was he a little guy?

Was he a narcissist (in the making) praising himself for pulling a plum out of a pie? Really? Or was he just self-supporting, giving and receiving his own praise because he had harsh parents?

Wasn’t he too young to be talking to himself? “What a good boy am I?” Isn’t that behavior reserved for older folk? And why didn’t he say, “What a good boy I am”. Oh yeah, it wouldn’t rhyme.

And the biggest question for me is why was he “in the corner” with a pie? Was he being punished? Was he hiding out?

And WHO MADE THE PIE?

Oh, Little Jack Horner, what have you done?

Sometimes you gotta question things.

There’s an interesting story that goes along with the writing of this nursery rhyme here.

Poem Source: Wikipedia.org

Monday Ramblings

A week ago because I’ve been absent…

I went to my 8-year-old granddaughter’s ballet/jazz/tap recital. She did an awesome job. She’s so beautiful. Really she is. Her picture was on the front page of our newspaper. She’s intelligent. Really she is. This little gal is the puttering of my heart. Her spirit is as true, honest and pure as they come.

I talked with my former in-laws at the recital (who lost their home and nearly their lives in the Leap Day Tornado). They are in their 80’s and doing well. They hope to move into their new home shortly.

I spent Mother’s Day with my mom and my daughter. My sister and daughter provided a delicious meal and dessert. My dad was there too. Then my son dropped by my house later to say hey. I feel very blessed.   

Last week was the last week of school. I’ll get a few days off then summer school will start. Then vacation. Yay.

Last week I watched…

The Help- Good movie but racism and oppression always disturbs me. I don’t like either. I have no patience for people who think they are better than another. Just saying.

Desperate Housewives- The End? OH NO! The show was so goofy and yet they pulled me in and held me hostage for a couple of years.

While I was absent this happened…

Clarissa Draper is working on making her A-Z posts into a book. (Me too, my A-Z posts not Clarissa’s into an e-Book.)

Tracy at My Thoughtful Spot is releasing her book Life Through the Eyes of a Hurricane as an e-Book.

What I am writing on…

ü  A little ole romance short story for my commitment to Write 1 Sub 1

ü  A children’s story about a backyard adventure

ü  Rewriting the Grim Tales of the Ruralhood adding and changing some things and finishing one that was continued. Speaking of the grim e-book, if anyone would be interested in helping me as a critiquer or beta reader (gratis) for the Grim Tales stories in the near future email me at tcoltrin AT gmail DOT com.  In case you didn’t read them during the A-Z April Challenge, the Grim Tales are 26 short stories.

ü  And FINALLY a new post at The Ruralhood.

Questions for you: Anything new and exciting in your life? Any children awesomeness? What are you writing on? What are you reading? What are you doing for goodness sake?

JW

Have a great week.

See you next Monday!!!

When God created Eve he knew what he was doing.  Women are strength and softness and everything in between. Women can:

·         Build homes

·         Teach others

·         Raise children

·         Run businesses

·         Take care of men J

·         Be a friend

·         Be a daughter

·         Garden

·         Cook

·         Clean

·         Fix

·         Sew

·         Write J

·         Love

·         Other____________________(You fill in the blank.)

Today along with our moms we need to celebrate all women who are called to be everything to everyone.

On this mom's day I would like to confirm that moms mean so much to us, when they are good moms. Even the Son of God, Jesus, when dying on the cross thought about his mother's well-being.

“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” John 19:25-27 (NIV)

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms and especially my own mother, Joyce.

“Her children arise and call her blessed….”  Proverbs 31:28 (NIV)

Blessings,

Teresa

IT IS WHAT IT IS

When we moved into our newly built home in 1977 we had installed gold shag carpet. Are you….laughing…at my shaggy gold carpet? That’s not nice. Being new, the carpet needed to be vacuumed—a lot for all the loose fibers. One day my neighbor Sharon brought over her two sons (she later had a third), so that my six-month-old son (my first born) could be exposed to other children.

We talked.

They played—sort of.

My son was sitting on the floor, reached down with his baby puffy hand, picked up a wad of gold fluff and stuffed it in his mouth. He swallowed.

I was young. I sort of lost my mind. I reached in his mouth to see if it was still there. In those moments, I wondered if he would need surgery or his stomach pumped. In that moment, I decided I couldn’t take care of a child, if I let him eat carpet then what was next? I concluded he should be removed from my home. I said with tears in my eyes and fear in my heart, “Oh no, he ate carpet.”

Sharon laughed and said, “Oh, he’ll eat a lot worse before it’s over.” And she said, “The carpet will…come back out—don’t worry.”

He did eat other things: dog biscuits, bugs, head and shoulders etc.

I would like to say that was my last mom meltdown, but it wasn’t.  

I have learned some things:

·         It doesn’t help if you blow your top or things out of proportion.

·         Life happens.

·         It is what it is.

·         Most importantly, I’ve learned, no one should ever put down gold shag carpet in their home. Not even if the world promises shag and the color gold are here to stay.

Making things more than they are is wrong on so many levels. It is what it is.

Happy Wednesday!

JW

PS Can you see the gold carpet in the photo?

Reflections and Ramblings

Reflections on the A to Z April Challenge

First of all thanks, Lee, at Tossing It Out for creating the A to Z. Great idea.

The A-Z was lots of work to create posts prior to the challenge, schedule them, and visit the other participators and comment. In the beginning, I continually thought about my posts. At the end, I thought little about my posts. Here are a few thoughts about my experience.

The good experience:

·         I found out that I CAN write a lot of words in one month. I can’t make them perfect in that timeframe, but there are words in my brain begging to come out and I didn’t realize this fact until the A-Z.

·         I found new blogs with awesome people.

·         I gained 100+ followers.

The bad experience:

·         The A-Z is not for the faint of heart. Preparing posts ahead of time is the key.

·         I dreamed about the stories. (True story.)

·         When it was over, I felt exhausted and…empty. Too dramatic?

I told my daughter that I will never ever-ever participate in the A to Z Challenge again. She said, “Yes you will.” I said, “I know.”

I liken the A-Z Challenge to childbirth, you swear you’ll never go there again—and yet, YOU DO, because the memory of the pain and discomfort fades after you see the product. So, I will probably- maybe—we’ll see, participate in another A to Z Blogging Challenge. And...

I think I'll edit and make my wad of stories into an e-Book.

Now back to my regularly scheduled program….

Speaking of one of my new followers, I received an award from a nut who is two years old. Now before you click out and leave me thinking I’m crazy, let me go on. The Writing Nut, whose blog is two years old, gave me an awesome award: The Versatile Blogger Award. She is celebrating her blogaversary, too, with a giveaway. So be sure to go visit her. She is nuts about writing, but her blog isn’t nutty. Okay, okay I’ll stop. She does have a very cool blog with lots going on. Thank you Writing Nut for the award. You’re blog is tops.

There are two suggestions:

1.      Share 7 completely random pieces of information about oneself.

2.      Share the award with 15 bloggers.

I won’t choose 15 bloggers because you’re all special to me. But, here are seven (7) random things about me.

1.      I love to eat pie over cake. This doesn’t mean I stand over cake eating the pie, either.

2.      I use to sew nearly all my clothing including jackets and coats. Not underwear. Is that too much information?

3.      I am an obsessive-compulsive person with ADD. For instance, in my unfocused world I leave things lying around the house, AND THEN my OCD side follows behind cleaning up after me. (Are you picturing it?) Try living with that one.

4.      My first job was at 16 and as a waitress.

5.      My first car was a Ford Mustang that my parents bought me.

6.      I love to watch psychological thrillers even though I’m a scaredy cat.

7.      PLEASE DON’T HATE ME, but I love to clean my house.

Movies (old and new) I’ve watched lately that I liked:

·         Mirror Mirror

·         We Bought a Zoo

·         Hide and Seek

I’m reading: Before I go to Sleep by S.J. Watson.

I think I’m caught up with you now.

JW

Tipping Over

Sometimes life picks at us until we’re ready to sit down, cover our heads and give up. The “picking” can come from people, appliances, world events or anything. I’ve had that kind of experience lately.

Sometimes I feel vulnerable and stupid.

Psalm 142: "I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.  I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble.  When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me." Read the rest here. It’s awesome.

God communicates to us through his word and his Holy Spirit if we will listen. I mean how unreasonable would it be to expect a relationship to develop with no way to communicate.  

Last week, God talked to me through scripture as I read this:

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:26-27 (NIV)

Hmm. He has taught me things. He reminds me of things he has taught me. Then I did what I do to communicate with God, I prayed. And, God showed me this:

A container made of plastic, let’s say a vase (that’s me) filled with objects of all sizes (things that overwhelm me) that are too heavy for the container which will cause the container to fall over. But, if the container is filled with its measure of rocks or something solid, then it won’t tip over, no matter what we fill it with.  

Our containers are not supposed to be filled with anything or everything. It’s not healthy. I have to stay balanced and most of all I have to remain in Him. God will anchor my container.

That’s what he told me. I shouldn't do it without him.

Blessings,

Teresa

Hi

Is the party over? It seems a little quiet in Blogland. Just wanted to say Hi and that I'll soon think of something brilliant to say and say it.

Yours Truly,
JW