• #RevofKindness,  faith,  kindness,  life after 50,  writing

    Seven weeks of kindness

    I’m participating in a 2016 Kindness Challenge. Each Monday, we’ll have a different prompt to enact in our lives and, by Friday, the blog will be written, hopefully inspired by the topic. The person who is coordinating this challenge is Niki Lopez, on her blog The Richness of a Simple Life. I’m looking forward to it and hope that it is an encouraging experience, not only for me but perhaps for those around me. There can never be too much kindness in the world, that’s for sure. Drop back by to view the full list in the series. #RevofKindness Week 1: Start your day with kindness Week 2: Observe kindness around…

  • inspiration,  writing,  zeal

    “Z”eal

    Today marks the end of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. This has been one of the best writing experiences that I’ve had in the last 10 years. I honestly have had a certain zeal to finish it. Honestly, I did back-date a few posts but I was determined to finish on time (and under budget – ha!) The dictionary describes zeal as “excessive fervor to do something or accomplish some end.” Check! “A feeling of strong eagerness.” Check! “Passionate ardor in the pursuit of anything; ardent and active interest; engagedness, enthusiasm.” Yes on all accounts. Check! I’ve been extremely busy this month with work and I’ve also worked…

  • cats,  God,  humor,  pets

    All creatures, great and small

    I’m a big fan of God’s creatures. The only things that make me uncomfortable are large, jumping spiders or roach gangs (you know they never travel alone). That said, when I woke up in the middle of the night to let my dog outside, and happened to wander into the living room to find our three cats strategically hunkered down around the swivel chair, I became apprehensive. Tails were swishing in wide strokes (except for Ollie, the Manx cat sans tail) indicating the hunt was on. With only my outdated eyeglasses and lack of courage to guide me, I returned to bed. One of three things would happen: 1) Whatever…

  • cats,  pet rescue,  pets

    I got my cat at Kroger’s grocery store

    When we can’t get to our locally owned grocery store, my husband and I shop at Kroger’s in north Terre Haute. Kroger’s offers you a discount on gasoline, based on your monthly in-store grocery purchases. We’ve been known to save 30 or 40 cents per gallon, easy. This summer a Sister of Providence that I work with told me she saw a black and white kitten at Kroger’s gas pumps the previous night. She talked to it as she filled her tank but it became frightened and ran under a wooden pallet piled high with wood for sale. She told us this story at a meeting because she knows that…

  • Chai,  Christian,  Christmas

    Happy New Year!

    I’ve had 12 glorious days off of work – woo hoo! Tomorrow is my first day back after Christmas vacation and I’m apprehensive. I’ve gotten fairly comfortable not going into work, although I enjoy my job at my non-profit marketing position for a Christian organization. It’s not that I don’t like to work. I’ve worked since I’ve was 15. It’s more that I have so many things to do in my “off time” such as knitting, making jewelry, spending time with my husband, playing with and walking the dog, cooking and baking, drinking Chai tea at the local coffee house while trying to write the great American mystery novel. There…

  • baking,  Christmas,  priorities

    Merry Snowy Christmas

    Christmas has come and gone like a whirlwind in a snowstorm. It’s my family’s first Christmas without my mom. She passed away on June 5 unexpectedly. While I thought about her often throughout the season, it wasn’t until we all sat down at the dinner table Christmas Eve that I felt a tight squeeze on my heart. Mom loved all the dishes prepared from my Grandma Rose’s recipes. I missed her entrance into the house and her comments on how wonderful it smelled. I mailed out more Christmas cards than in past years, although many were mailed after Dec. 25. I felt a greater need to either touch base or…