Tag: sparksfromacombustiblemind

#stinewriting Answer the questions Blog Share Your World

Share Your World improvised: Just in Case

Di is stepping in for Melanie this week…Technology is not always everyones’ friend! https://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/2022/10/17/share-your-world-improvised-just-in-case/

1.  When you go food shopping, do you go with a list or amble down the aisles putting things in your basket or cart that you fancy or think you need? I am happier when I have a list and can get in and out. I also like when I wander and see something that perhaps I haven’t made in a long time and grab that. Usually, I buy more than we need and not what we should be buying. It is so hard because produce is so expensive and spoils so fast. But if I buy just enough for one meal I am shopping more frequently, subsequently buying way more than I would or should have. It’s sort of a lose-lose. I wish there were more fresh markets around!

2.  When the temperatures drop for the colder months, is there a specific date you put the heating on or do you flick the switch when you start to feel cold? Now in the south I don’t have the same problem but when I was in Connecticut I tried my hardest not to turn on any heat until at least November 1st. That didn’t always work. If the temperature in the house goes below 67 F I think it is getting too chilly for indoors.

3. Keeping with the cold theme, do you prefer a hot water bottle or an electric blanket at night? I never understood about the hot water bottle and my mother always said that electric blankets were too dangerous.

4.  How do you feel about log burners? Do you think they are messy or cosy? If a log burner is like a wood stove then they are great even though they are a mess. The issue I have with them now, or at least the thought of having one, is the cost of wood, energy to stack it, carry it in, and ….snakes and bugs in the wood.

Gratitude:
When was the last time you laughed out loud? I feel it is almost sadly pathetic that I have to rack my brain to try and remember a time! I do know that I was telling David a story about my daughter the other day and I was hysterical…then again, I can’t remember what it was about. Ugh….

Thanks for hosting Di!

#stinewriting Answer the questions Blog Share Your World Weekly Writing Prompt

Share Your World 2022: 10 October

Melanie hosts the weekly sharing session: https://sparksfromacombustiblemind.wordpress.com/2022/10/10/share-your-world-10-10-2022/
As always the questions are thought-provoking and bring forth feelings and questions that may otherwise lay dormant under the facade we call life.

QUESTIONS

  • Can we really know everything? absolutely not!
  • Where were people before they were born? nowhere, they didn’t exist
  • Does the Law of Attraction exist?  (Law of Attraction as I understand it) is a school of thought where positive thinking brings about good changes.  Some say it’s made them wealthy.  Others say it improves their health or their outlook on life) I think to an extent this is true. When you are overly negative you seem to see the negative things around you where as when you are positive you are able to see the beauty and good things in life. I don’t think if is a proven theory. I am the type of person who tries to stay positive and look at the good side of things but I have had some real crap to deal with over the last five years let’s say, and I don’t think it was to any fault of my own or brought on by my own negativity. Besides the human loss I have endured I have also lost my career. Did I want to stop teaching? No, but life threw me in different directions and now it isn’t a possibility unless other circumstances decide to change. I think I am a good person and I try to do the right thing and help others but do I have money that shows this? Absolutely not. I am not saying I don’t have what I need but if the Law of Attraction were definite I feel like I would have more abundance of things that I wish for than what I really have. One of my biggest desires in life is to travel. It isn’t to gain anything other than the experience of what other peoples’ lives hold.
  • Do we love ourselves more in the virtual world and less in the real world?  If so, why?   If nay, why? I do, I think. If I look at myself from an outsider’s point of view, let’s say the virtual world, I see myself differently than when I look in the mirror and my insecurities.

GRATITUDE SECTION

Are you happy? I try to be, really, really try hard. I. guess I am mostly. I am definitely thankful for all I have and I don’t ever want to take it for granted but am I happy? I guess it depends on how happy and sad you can be at the same time to still say you are one or the other.

Answer the questions Fibbing Friday

Fibbin’ Friday

‘Hello!  I’m Melanie and I co-host Fibbin’ Friday with the admirable Di.

Here is this week’s set of colorful questions.  Remember this is FIBBIN’ Friday, so what is an obvious answer would be a wrong choice.  We want some creative answers to the very obvious ones.  These questions are from a mixed genre.

Fibbin’ Friday

COLOR MY WORLD

Unicorn gas allegedly contains this collection of colors Brown, yellow, and black – shades vary depending on foods eaten.

Yellow or green, most people eat a lot of these. Unicorn poop and Leprechaun poop

Red as a ?   Republican

Gold and tawny, with huge teeth, you probably don’t want to meet me in a dark alley.   My  ex-boyfriend from high school

Elizabeth Taylor preferred her diamonds to be this color.  Purple to match her perfume label

Autumn leaves are what color (multiple choice answer)?  Not green

blue represents happiness for this avian.  Ducks because they know that they can land in water

Every cloud has a *insert color* lining.  humid

someone who is very naïve, could be said to be as *insert color” as grass.  as seedy as grass

a Halloween moon, a delicious fruit,  and something alleged really good Brie Cheese, mangos and chocolate ice cream

for eyesight are what color?  bunnies love these. It depends on what color polish you use.

This was terribly hard! Maybe it is my exhaustion level. Peace out!

#stinewriting Answer the questions Share Your World

Share Your World: 10/03/2022

Join in on Melanie’s site: https://sparksfromacombustiblemind.wordpress.com/2022/10/03/share-your-world-10-3-2022/

Favourite horror or Halloween-themed song?  Or a song you rarely hear except around a holiday. Definitely Thriller by Michael Jackson and I enjoy it so much more if I have the video to go with it! https://youtu.be/sOnqjkJTMaA

Do you ever see figures in your peripheral vision? No, only my guardian angel once in a while

Which urban legend scares you the most? (most countries have such stories – share yours if you would like to) I tend to not really believe in urban legends as “real” just because I’ve never been in a situation to “prove” one true.

You’re home alone but you hear footsteps in your house, what do you do? Stand frozen to my spot for a minute to think. Look for the most deadly object within reach. Wait to hear if they come closer. Venture out if there are no more noises.

What is your favourite season? It used to be fall/autumn until there was a certain spider in CT that was very active when the temperatures went down. Winter might be mine now that I live in FL. I don’t like snow, wet leaves have slugs, sticky summer days have horses flies and mosquitos. Spring could be up there on the top of the list I suppose!

#stinewriting Answer the questions Fibbing Friday

Fibbing Friday

Di and Melanie host Fibbing Friday. Melanie I hope you feel better soon! Thanks Di for hosting!

1. What is a broom? The sound a toy car makes

2. What is a doughnut? The source of bread before it is processed.

3. What is a penny farthing? A penny that has a lisp with gas

4. What is a blanket? The opposite of a fullet

5. What is a socket? A tiny little sock

6. What is tapestry? The art of using tape

7. What is e-mail? The mail you get after you have received the d-mail

8. What is a shower? a person who likes to expose themselves

9. What is a sandbag? a cranky old lady

10. What is chocolate? a nickname for the guy who always shows up last to be in the spotlight

#stinewriting Answer the questions Share Your World

Share Your World

This week Di is hosting Share Your World: https://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/2022/08/15/share-your-world-15th-august/

1. Do you prefer to live in a single story property like a bungalow, a high rise apartment, or a house? The house we live in now is supposedly considered a bungalow. I am not really sure what the difference is. Until this question I never thought to look. I like living in a detached building. When I was living in a condo last year I was really miserable because there was no where to sit without people walking by all the time. Also, in the condo we were in you were not allowed to have chairs out on the main walkways so I always felt like that kept people, like my father, very isolated. He would have been happy if he could sit and chat to whoever came by.

2. If you won a large amount of money on the lottery, would you want publicity or keep things quiet and low key? Definitely on the down low. I don’t know if I would want to tell anyone but David and Lindsay. My dad wouldn’t understand and I guess a few friends would find out, I would probably be tempted to share the good news. But as they say, “if you don’t play, you don’t win” and I don’t play.

3. How do you like your eggs? (No, this is not a trick question) Over medium so that the yolk is runny but the whites are not. Like Fandango https://fivedotoh.com/2022/08/15/share-your-world-08-15-2022/ I like the egg in the bread, especially when the bread is nice and buttery. If I do an omelet my most recent “like” is sausage and swiss.

4. If cars were no longer available, what would be your choice of transport? Hard to say because of where I live. An ebike would probably end up being the winner because buses aren’t prevalent near me. To be totally honest I would love a helicopter.

Gratitude:
Our aim is to make at least one person smile every day. Okay!

#stinewriting Answer the questions Blog Share Your World

SHARE YOUR WORLD 7-18-2022

Melanie hosts Share Your World. Join in here

QUESTIONS

  1. In one sentence, how would you sum up the internet? The internet is both a world of knowledge and a garbage dump of time wasted.
  2. Is true beauty subjective or objective? (Anything objective sticks to the facts, but anything subjective has feelings) I had to look it up to make sure I was correct. I think true beauty is subjective. What I find beautiful might be meaningless to someone else and although we disagree, who is to say who is right and who is wrong. Facts are things that can be proven to be true, I think, and are true no matter who looks at it.
  3. How many chickens would it take to kill an elephant?  (like last week, I threw this one in for lightening things up a bit.  There is no ‘right or wrong ‘ answer – just have fun with it). It would depend on the size of the elephant and if chickens is in a general sense, meaning is a rooster a chicken? If a rooster is considered a chicken then yes, definitely. I had three holes poked in my leg by a rooster. If he wanted to and I had no defenses he probably would have poked my eyes out. Then unfortunately, chickens will eat their dead “family members”. I think the elephant would have to be clueless though. It’s like letting a fly bite you. Fly:Person as Chicken:Elephant
  4. If your five-year-old self suddenly found themselves inhabiting your current body, what would your five-year-old self do first?  Eat candy

GRATITUDE SECTION (AS ALWAYS, OPTIONAL)

What’s an aspect of your personality that you’re grateful for? I’m grateful that I truly feel happy for other people and care about them. I think some people have to act like they care, but they really don’t (like my sister….).

#stinewriting Answer the questions Blog stinewriting Truthful Tuesday

TRUTHFUL TUESDAY 7-12-2022

Melanie hosts Truthful Tuesday: https://sparksfromacombustiblemind.wordpress.com/2022/07/12/truthful-tuesday-7-12-2022/

So my question today will be:

What is your honest opinion of the news and how it is shared right now? 
Are we being informed or fed Pablum designed to keep us uninformed and in the dark?

(Pablum: noun LITERARY bland or insipid intellectual fare, entertainment, etc.; pap.) I won’t lie and say I knew what this meant! 😅

I think the news is a disgusting forum for people to spread the information they want people to hear without caring about the entire truth or whose lives are being affected. Before meeting David and starting to understand politics, I never knew that different television stations supported different views of our government. I thought the news was the news, and yes I know there is always bias, but I never knew how far it went. Some nights we watch the news and it is so “one direction” that you get sick of listening. In another moment you are shown horrible tragedy. I think we broadcast what is going to cause the biggest reaction, regardless of content. I do think it is good to let the world know what is going on around them. I mean, without the news we wouldn’t know anything about other countries unless we knew people living there. When was the last time you sat down because you really wanted to listen to what the meteorologist has to say about every day life? Gas prices in the US is on for lets say, 30 seconds at best. What is being done about it? Are there solutions? Who ever works on that? Honestly, I believe Ukraine would be unknown to more of the world than anyone would like to admit.

About keeping us in the dark, I don’t think that regular citizens should know confidential information from Homeland Security, for example. There are people who are paid to keep the country safe. If it was supposed to be public knowledge then it would be. Too many people get these weird ideas from the news. You can’t tell me that some innocent, or crazy person, just came up with the notion that a 3D printer would be the best way to make a real gun. Yes, there are people who know these things and people who have details about it but for the crazies who don’t have that information, why give it out? My biggest issue with the news, and yes I know it is sort of changing, is that these mass shootings and horrible crimes seem to be sensationalized. I think putting them on the news is informative but to play the scenes over and over, day after day, makes it seem like a real big thing, that someone who isn’t in their right, common-sense mind, might think is kind of cool that “so and so” got to be on TV so much. That is just my opinion of course.

#stinewriting Answer the questions Blog Share Your World stinewriting

SHARE YOUR WORLD 7-11-2022

Join in here: https://sparksfromacombustiblemind.wordpress.com/2022/07/11/share-your-world-7-11-2022/

QUESTIONS

How did you spend the money from your very first job? When I was younger our middle school, which was grades 6 to 8, was close enough to walk “downtown”. On the town green we had all the “regular” stuff like the library and churches, but there were also a row of shops on one side. There was a single shop that had candy you could buy and a lot of it was penny candy. That is where it all went……

Would You Rather Look Like A Potato, Or Feel Like A Potato?  (Note.  I have no idea why they used the word “potato”, but just went with it.  Answer any way you like, this question is purely for fun) I think I would rather feel like a potato. They seem like they would be laid back, not motivated to do much, easy-going, that is if we are personifying them. If you mean just the outside, then I would say I would rather look like a potato….smooth, brown skin, very few blemishes after they are washed.

What were the best pair of shoes you have owned? I sort of have a shoe-fettish so this is hard because I have probably owned thousands of shoes in my lifetime. One pair that I wore until they squeaked and couldn’t be fixed (I didn’t even know cobblers existed) were my Mudd loafers. They were black and had a huge chunky heal. The heal was probably 1.5 inches, maybe 2, but they were just so comfortable and I thought they looked good with everything. I guess it would all depend on what part of my life we are talking about….I also loved my Docksiders, when they were made with a square toe. I can’t find those anymore. By best do you mean fitting or looking? Lol.

Besides war and diplomacy, what would be the best way for countries to settle disputes? Mutual Surrender

GRATITUDE SECTION (AS ALWAYS, OPTIONAL)

In these often depressing times, how do you find the bright spots? I try to look at how lucky I am with all the things I have. I also like to remember the people who I know love me and recall times that they expressed it.

#stinewriting Blog Fibbing Friday

Fibbing Friday

Thanks to Di and Melanie for hosting the fun!

Collective nouns this week. My answers are first, David’s answers are in (parenthesis).

1. A dynasty of ………………………..diamonds (legacies)
2. A bevy of ……………………………egrets (coalitionists)
3. A mustering of ………………………muskrats (pigeons)
4. A scold of …………………………….mothers (red-bellied ducks)
5. A cast of ……………………………….sea shells (clowns)
6. A sedge of ……………………………weeds (raccoons)
7. A comb of ……………………………dreadlocks (bees)
8. A pod of ……………………………..babies (male squirrels)
9. A covey of ……………………………cormorants (drunks)
10. A party of …………………………………peanuts (kittens)