This is one day that needs to be taken off the calendar.
The problem is that too many people speak, telling their side of their story, but no one listens. Thus, we have wars between nations, wars on the streets of our neighborhoods, schools, shopping centers, theaters, football fields, marathons, you name it, cause we feel we have a right to be heard. But who decides what is truth? I don’t know of any human being that can do that. Instead, maybe we need a day to be silent, a day to think about what’s coming out of our mouths, a time to remember that the words we speak shape our lives and affect the lives of others around us.
Therefore, I’m all for getting rid of National Be Heard Day. We don’t need it. Let us replace it with a NATIONAL LISTENING DAY where we listen to our sisters or brothers struggling to build a better life for their families, to the women working at the cash registers and barely making enough to support their families.
We need to listen to five, six, seven and eight-year-old kids working in factories and will never have the opportunity to know what real childhood is like; listen to those kids who are recruited for wars at an early age and learn how to kill without learning that life is precious and listen to those children that are malnourished because of lack of food.
Photos courtesy of Shutterstock
When we listen to the world’s heartbeats, our hearts will erupt into a change that brings a different kind of action, and the world will be a better place, and we won’t need to be heard.
That is enough for today. I need to move on. My two projects are calling me. I need to finish my reread, do some shopping, and relax. The European League is playing today. A pic of my palm tree with a new tiny leaf is below to make you smile. The leaf has yet to open, but I’ll let you know when it does.
Take time today to listen to the heartbeats of the world.
HAPPY NATIONAL OREO COOKIE DAY! DAY 6, MARCH 6, 2024
The Oreo cookie is the best-known American cookie. As a child, my sisters and brother loved to eat them. I googled Oreos to find out how significant their influence is on the American public and found it is enormous. I just discovered that nine out of ten households buy Oreos and that 7.5 billion Oreos are sold yearly. Nabisco created Oreos; as of 2015, 450 billion Oreos had been sold. So, it is America’s best-selling cookie. Also, its official National Eat An Oreo Day is held every year on June 19.
You’re probably thinking, we don’t have Oreos here in Europe. That is an American tradition.
Well, I don’t mean to disappoint you, but we have something similar to Oreos, but they aren’t called Oreos.
Ours are called Cookeo. Cookeo is a Vegan product produced in Germany, which is super for flexitarians like me. So, treat yourself today, have a warm cup of milk, and eat three or four Oreos.
Now on to work. I have lots to do, but I wanted to mention my fireplace again because I told you I wanted to go outside and bring in some wood yesterday. Yesterday evening was the Champions League game between Bayern München and Lazio Rome. Bayern had to win to go to the quarterfinals. I know you’re wondering what this has to do with my fireplace. Hold on, I’ll get to the point. 😇 I wanted to sit by the fire as I looked at the game, and I did. So, here is a picture of my living room with the fireplace lit.
Soccer is one of those things that gives me joy.🤩
I won’t tell you who won the game, but it was a great game. A few minutes before midnight, I turned in to get some zzzzzzz😴.
Have a great day, People. I have IWSG Day today, and I’m finishing up the first reading of my novella.
DAY 5, MARCH 5, 2024, HAPPY NATIONAL CHEESE DOODLE DAY!
Good Morning!
I don’t know what cheese doodles are, but I like to eat cheese, especially European cheeses from France, the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany. They are the best I have ever eaten, so I hope Cheese doodles are a food item. As a child, one of my favorite cheese snacks was cheese crackers from Cheez-It. I ate many little boxes of them, especially when I was at the university. Sometimes, they were my breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
That hunger for them continued until I became an expat in Germany. I soon discovered that they did not have cheese crackers, and I broadened my taste by switching over to the different types of cheeses offered in Europe, which was even healthier.
Cheddar CheeseGorgonzola
However, whenever I visit my family in the USA, I slip back into an old desire hidden within me. I go out and buy a box of cheese crackers. They have become precious to me because I don’t eat them daily. They are a unique delicatessen that I delight in.
Now, I must work. We have a cloudy day here, and I want to bring in some wood for my fireplace before it starts raining and read one more chapter of the novella I am writing.
Happy National Grammar Day, National Salt Awareness Day, and World Obesity Day
DAY 4, MARCH 4, 2024
Good Morning To All! First, here’s something to laugh about.😄 The day before yesterday, I had beautiful sunshine. Yesterday too. My co-host of the RNH Show (Raters Not Haters Show) has been visiting my blog posts during the challenge, and I wrote about how sunny the day had been. He commented on my blog post that I must have stolen his sunshine because he had nothing but clouds. I’m laughing because I try to steal all the sunshine I can get. 😂
So, now to my article for today.
I am enjoying the second year of the RRBC Challenge because they have intermingled it with prompts we can write on. Today, I am very interested in the three topics above because I had to incorporate them into my lifestyle.
As a writer, I must use good Grammar in my writing and speaking. The first thing people look at when reading a book is Grammar; believe me, even the poorest person in Grammar can tell when you aren’t grammatically correct. Now that is only my opinion.
I have to admit that my weakness in writing is my Grammar. Therefore, I don’t let any story, fiction or non-fiction, except for this challenge, go out of my office without sending it to my editor. I am picky about who edits my work. I don’t choose a friend or family member. I don’t like having someone who has a problem with being honest with me about my work. I want to hear where the flaws are, and if you can’t tell me that, then you won’t be my editor. Sure, somebody can hurt my feelings, and yes, sometimes I don’t accept the critique quickly, but that is okay because my editor is editing according to the highest quality standards she has. So, what do I do when sentences or paragraphs I have fallen in love with are corrected? Well, I set the story aside and think about it. I read my editor’s point of view over the suggestion I’m mumbling over, or I do a short Zoom meeting with her, and the majority of the time, I come out agreeing with her because I know she has my best interests at heart and she knows what she’s doing. Therefore, when it comes to Grammar, I am thankful that I don’t use AI to edit my stories; I use the flesh and blood human being type who has gained years of experience and doesn’t mind passing it along. Hurrah for human Grammar experts!
Overeating salt is another thing I didn’t take seriously until I arrived in Europe. I noticed many cooks seasoned their food with different herbs and spices and not much salt. I was surprised. The food was delicious but didn’t have a salty taste. Then I came across a non-fiction novel that showed that people who eat salty meals have a high rate of having strokes. That shocked me because I always added extra salt to my food. I changed my eating habits immediately. I no longer ran out to get a hamburger or french fries from a fast food store. I thought twice about buying frozen dinners because I began reading the back of the packages and was astounded at how much sodium is in a frozen meal or a hamburger. Knowing these things brought about a radical change in my eating habits, and I also started cooking. Now I cook fresh food almost every day, and my weight dropped. I still have my curvy hips 🙂 I still have weight, but it is a weight I can live with, and I feel good.
A Fresh German soup with green beans, potatoes, carrots, onions, and sausage
Preparing String Beans the French Way
This brings me to World Obesity Day. I enjoy eating when I cook. Cooking and seasoning my food with herbs and spices stirs my appetite. Oh, and I love chocolate, especially a German chocolate cake with rich dark chocolate. This means that if I don’t do something like making sure I get exercise, such as walking, I gain weight. The good thing for me is that my house is built so that I have to walk up and downstairs when I go to my kitchen, and my office is in my basement, which is 12 stairs down from the hallway entrance to my house. When I go shopping, I park far away from the grocery store or any other store I plan to visit. I hear you asking, readers, why don’t you shop twice a month and save time? We have tiny refrigerators here in Germany, and I usually go shopping three or four times a week, and that is good because I get out of my office, I see people to talk to, I can grab a cappuccino or espresso or Latte Macchiato and watch people. Thus, I have found ways to exercise and not gain weight. As I said above, I have accepted my weight and don’t plan to live on an everlasting diet that doesn’t allow me to enjoy my food.
Standing before the Public Library last year in May with my niece.
I woke up on this side of life this morning, still walking out my story. This side of life makes me aware that I’m still breathing. Looking out the window built into my roof, I saw rain.
After getting cleaned up and dressed, I gazed out the window again; I saw sunshine. The weather had changed quickly in three-quarters of an hour, and I could perceive this change. I lifted my head toward Heaven and said Thank you!
I was in my right mind. I could think; I wasn’t walking around with a wild look in my eyes. I knew where I was and what I was doing, and I could comprehend and contemplate.
My awareness of my surroundings made me look out of my glassed-in patio doors as I read my Bible, and I smiled and thanked God for His faithfulness to me, one of the sheep of His pasture.
Oh, the joy it brings my heart to say I am in my RIGHT MIND. Yes, and for that, I am truly thankful.
I woke up this morning, lay in my bed, and counted the movements of my lungs. I had to smile because, for many, that is foolishness, a waste of time. I call it awareness.
Turned over and left my bed without needing someone to help me, showered, chose what I wanted to wear and dressed, and then went downstairs.
Had what I wanted to eat for breakfast and began planning the tasks I needed to do before they became urgent, and pushed me into a stressful mode that would make my week difficult and me angry.
Yes, my calendar is full. However, a full calendar shows me the necessity of putting God first-–to show gratitude if I want to see any progress in my tasks. Whether cooking, writing, reading a chapter in a good book, listening to good music, or paying attention to what is happening around me and reaching out to help, taking the time to meditate first is necessary for me. It’s my time to look toward Heaven, regardless of whether it is night or day, and to tell God I am truly thankful.
It doesn’t seem like seven years, but it is—many thanks to the administrative team at RRBC and the entire RRBC Organization for your support. It is much appreciated.
Today is Monday, and I asked myself what this week would bring. As a woman who contemplates the elusiveness of time and how difficult it is to grasp, I have long realized the wheel of time doesn’t move by weeks, months, or years but by seconds, minutes, and hours that make a night and a day into twenty-four hours. What we do with our twenty-four hours is up to us. We choose. Knowing that, I have decided to take the seconds that turn into minutes, the minutes that turn into hours, and the hours that sum up the complexity of the earth’s rotation around the sun and see time as a one-day gift to live and enjoy. Each day I awake is a new beginning, and I am thankful for that one night and day.
I’m going to miss this Challenge. It challenged me. Within me, it has removed reservations that I had pushed deep within the dark corners of my soul. After the first week, I thought I was going to buckle under. The possibility of facing weaknesses and being drowned in recriminations brought up good old Vincent Lombardi, who sits at my imaginary round table as one of my advisors.
He said two simple statements. “Adversity is the first path to truth. Prosperity is a great teacher: adversity is greater.” For me, the adversity was the distress of having to change.
I like quotes from people who talk from experience. Lombardi built a winning football team, and they were the very first to win the Super Bowl.
So, I moved into the second week prepared to face myself.
Joy rose as I read the blogs from the rest of the participants. With some of their postings, I laughed, and with others, I was amazed, and then there were some posts where tears flowed and others that brought me into deep contrition, contemplation, and repentance. The articles were all that good and inspiring.
If you have read my postings during the 30-Day Challenge, you know I had doubts, frustration, and regrets. Yet through all of what I felt, I am delighted to have stuck with it. Vince was right. Facing my adversity is more remarkable than never having done it at all.
Would I do it again? YES! Undoubtedly. Not this year, but whenever I see it offered again.
Does this mean I am going to blog every week to prepare myself? NO! However, I have decided to blog on my author’s website once every two months to release some new SNIPPETS. 🙂
Therefore, on this last day of the Challenge, I leave you with another quote by Vince: I do my best to walk with this quote every waking day of my life.
“When we place our dependence in God, we are unencumbered, and we have no fear. In fact, we may even be reckless insofar as our part in the production is concerned. This confidence, this sureness of action, is both contagious and an aid to the perfect action. The rest is in the hands of God–––and this is the same God who has won all His battles up to now.” (By Vincent Lombardi)
My list of new and open items for this week includes the following:
Revising the first 10K of my new novel. It usually takes me at least four to six days to fix 10K. I like to send her my final draft so that she understands the direction I’m moving in.
Answering emails and text messages, Daily
Finishing the last revision of my first novel.
Co-hosting the IWSG on Wednesday
Releasing my new short story. (Na-Doo is still jumping for joy, and I’m laughing. She’s a sassy woman, but I love her the way she is.)
