At first glance it might seem that a man who can’t support the economy is unattractive to the opposite sex.
But it is not so. If you have to break your favorite piggy bank to arrange a date but its contents (you have been depriving yourself of school lunches for 2 years) will only be enough to buy some candy and flowers (or some school lunches), you have no reason to despair.
So, how to arrange a date without spending a lot of money:
– Buy bread and feed ducks. This activity can not only tell her that you love animals but also that you will always be the breadwinner in your future family.
– Buy a small sapling and plant it together. It will shed light on another your virtue. She will realize that since you can plant a tree, to build a house and raise a son is a piece of…
Cee’s instructions this week are to choose four subjects from a list she has posted. Under each of those subjects, list four things. So here goes.
FAVORITE SONGS: (This is a particularly difficult category because as a musician, I have some songs that are my favorites to play, but then as a listener, there are some other songs that are my favorites to listen to. And then, of course, there’s my love for Christmas, which automatically puts some of those songs at the top of the list — and my love for Jesus, which throws in a couple dozen hymns and worship songs. So limiting myself to 4 songs is going be hard, but I’ll give it my best shot.)
1. “I’ll Be Seeing You” (This song is my ALL-TIME favorite from all categories)
2. “God Rest You Merry Genglemen” (My favorite Christmas song).
3. “White Christmas” (My second favorite Christmas song and one of my favorites from any category)
4. “Great is Thy Faithfulness” (Classic Hymn)
FAVORITE FLOWERS OR PLANTS:
1. Daisies
2. Sunflowers
3. Peonies
4. Honeysuckle
FAVORITE ANIMALS:
1. Dogs
2. Cows (I think cows are possibly the most valuable animal God ever made. They are beautiful, they are serene and peace inducing, and they give nourishment. How much more can you ask from any animal?).
3. Birds (Especially Cardinals, Mockingbirds, and Bluebirds)
4. Horses (I haven’t ridden since I was a child, but a beautiful, healthy horse is such a beautiful thing to watch running through the field and enjoying life.)
FAVORITE STUFF THAT MAKES YOU LAUGH:
1. The character of Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show. (Played by one of America’s most talented comedians of all time: Don Knotts. Almost anything he does is truly funny, and some of his scenes are so hilarious that I laugh loud and long even when I’ve seen them zillions of times before.)
2. The scene from the original 1940’s version of Miracle on 34th Street where the toy department manager’s wife is soaked with martinis and is trying to talk on the phone to invite Santa Clause to come and stay at their home. (It’s hilarious, and I love acting out the scene for people who have never seen it. It truly a masterpiece scene from the classic movies library.)
3. Watching puppies play. (Just this week, I watched a video on Facebook that recorded a little dog getting ready to go to sleep in his carrier, but wanting a stuffed teddy bear in the carrier with him. The teddy bear was bigger than he was, but he worked really hard until he had it pulled inside with him. Unfortunately, I can’t get a copy of it to share.)
4. Laid-back, dry-wit humor — especially that from some of my writing friends.
Below is one of my favorite segments of Barney on the “Andy Griffith Show”:
Bonus Question: What are you thankful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week ahead?
I’m thankful that last week my digital books began selling on Amazon and that people are already ordering them. Next week I’m looking forward to getting geared up and prepared to teach the new Creative Writing Camp for Kids, which starts on June 8.
Visit Cee’s blog to get the details and join in the fun
Discovering a terrorist plot and risking your life to stop it before three U.S. cities are destroyed, receiving a visitation from an angel with important information from the Lord, falling in love with someone halfway around the world — through the help of a rusty old computer — and learning that it’s never too late to give your life to Jesus Christ. What more could any reader want from one book?
QUENTON’S HONOR(by me) has it all, and it’s just waiting at the Amazon Kindle Store to be snatched up by readers for their Kindles, Nooks, iPads, tablets, iPhones, and Androids. The novel has been out in paperback edition for several years, but this month saw its debut in digital format, and it’s available only on Amazon.
If you’re looking for a fresh, inspiring reading experience, check it out.
It’s worth $3.99 — even if I do say so myself.
You can also visit the “Quenton’s Honor” Facebook page to meet the characters and learn more about the book.
(Paperback version is currently available from St. Ellen Press, but will also be available on Amazon in June.)
Are you worried or fearful today? Let this post from “Pure Glory” help change all of that. God’s Word and His angels are just as real and as dependable today as they’ve ever been. Let yourself believe and receive the glorious benefits of child-like trust in Jehovah.
There is no need for anxious fear. Cry out to God and he will answer, when you have come to the end of yourself. He desires for you to live in freedom. from all your fears. Depend on him, not yourself!
Pray! He will never fail you. No never!
God’s angel sets up a circle
of protection around us while we pray. (Psalm 34:7 MSG)
A girl’s cooking lessons need to start at a very early age. Of course, the fact that I’m obviously trying to look into an oven that has no glass window in the door might make one think that I was not an apt pupil. However, since my mother was a superb cook, I did learn to excel in the kitchen.
~
After a hot day in the kitchen, of course, we had to sit out on the porch and relax in the fresh air. We lived in a very old and very small apartment in Fort Wayne, IN, at the time — while my dad was in college. The war had been over for only three years, and since he had joined the Marines at 17, he’d had no chance to continue his schooling until he was discharged. He was finishing work for his degree and writing for the Fort Wayne Sentinel newspaper.
~
But little girls do eventually grow up — and mommies too. It’s pretty easy to tell by the flowery dress I’m wearing that this was very late 1960’s.
My mother went to be with the Lord more than 30 years ago, but I still miss her every day. I do not grieve, but I am just aware that my life is a little less bright because of not having her sweetness, her graciousness, and her sense of fun actively in my life now. However, I know I will be with her again when I finish this earthly journey, and that makes all the difference.
To all of you mothers out there who are still sharing this earthly life with your children, I sincerely wish you a happy, blessed, fun-filled, and memorable Mother’s Day, 2015!
This week’s Friday Fictioneers photo just pulled the following story right out of me. Had no idea it was in there, but that’s half the fun of writing, isn’t it? Photo is courtesy of Madison Woods. My story is below the picture.
“Margo, you’ve been staring at that spigot for twenty minutes.”
“What?” Margo suddenly looked at Jane.
“Why are you just staring at that spigot?”
“I was … uh … I was remembering ….”
“Remembering what?”
“You know … the prison camp.”
“What prison?”
“We were each allowed only one small cup a day.”
“You were never in a prison camp!”
“Yes.”
“I’ve known you all your seventeen years. You’ve never been in prison.”
“The Nazis ….”
“That was your great-great-great grandmother. You never even met her.”
Margo turned questioning eyes back to the spigot. “But I remember … being so desperately thirsty … and how slowly the water ran out ….”
I cut up a lemon and ate it.
The peel I did wash and then grate it;
Added it to hors d’oeuvres.
But it got on my nerves:
I was still puckered up four hours later.
So my hubby said, “Let’s do some kissin’,
‘Cause, for sure, some of that I’ve been missin.”
So we smooched ’til he said,
“I feel like newlyweds!”
Now, hubby more lemons is fixin.’
`
(This is the kind of stuff we poets write when we’re straining to find anything else to do in order to keep from doing the work we’re supposed to be doing.)
This is actually a re-blog from Debut Writers Journal, but the first re-blog did not work correctly, so I’m doing it this way.
Several of our creative writing students are Christians, and they like to write a lot about Jesus Christ and the things He’s revealed to them in their personal walk of faith. The links below are to poems by two of those writers, published inDebut Writers Journal. If you do enjoy the poems or are blessed by them, please leave the poets a comment on their individual poem pages to encourage them in their efforts to write poetry that touches hearts.
This week, many of us are gearing up to celebrate “Mother’s Day” next Sunday. In keeping with that subject, in our “Articles” section of Debut Writers Journal, one mom shares her recipe for creating love in her family that will last through generations. To read about her plan and its success, follow the link below:
I’m rather proud of these two students from the Writing Poetry class.
Bill is also a musician, and since he composes songs, he had written some verse before taking the class. But he said he learned a lot about how to do the job “right” and will use that knowledge now for his music.
Richard won’t mind my telling you that when he started in the class, he found the strain of trying to get the right number of syllables, the right pattern of accents, and the right number of feet per line a very taxing — even exhausting — exercise. However, he was determined to master the craft because he has so many delightful and creative ideas to share in poetic form, and he wants to do it well for the sake of his readers. I think he did a terrific job of getting a handle on the discipline of good lyrical poetry, and I look forward to having him in an advanced class in the future.
` Two of our students in the recent Writing Poetry class wrote poems that call us to think about the special memories and the little everyday things that make us happy. You can check them out at the links below:
I just seem to be in the mood for Cinquain this week. And I guess maybe I’m in the mood for love as well. So it seemed only fitting that I use one to talk about the other.
LOVE CINQUAIN # 1
I wait:
Anticipate.
A smile … a breath … a sigh.
At last his arms enfold me close;
We kiss.
LOVE CINQUAIN # 2
Blind date.
Some butterflies.
But still excitement builds.
We meet; we talk; we laugh; we know:
We fit.
LOVE CINQUAIN # 3
Tears fall.
Hard to believe:
I thought we had it all,
But now I find I loved alone.
He’s gone.
LOVE CINQUAIN # 4
Today
I walk the aisle
And give to my best friend
My hand and heart for all my life;
“I do.”
The Happy Wordcrafter 
