Choice Morsels

The Mama Kat prompt today is to share "the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." I can't remember where we were or where we were going, but I do remember we were in our station wagon on the interstate crossing a bridge over a river. It was a very long bridge, being this was the Mississippi River. I recall peering out the window, and we had a clear view of the turbulent river water below the bridge. It had just finished raining. The road was wet, the sky partially clearing and a bit of sunshine had come out. We could see thick mist clouds hanging above the water slightly below the bridge and coming out of one of those clouds was a rainbow that curved downward toward the water below, it's lower portion vanishing among the mists. It was awesome. All rainbows are amazing, but this one sticks in my memory as particularly pretty.  (Didn't have a camera on me as a kid 45 years ago, so this attached photo just represents the idea.) I don't know why ...

10 Random Things  I DON'T know how to do: 1) Knit.   I think I might someday like to learn, since knitting is handier for actually making clothing then crochet, but currently it's not something I know. 2)  Scuba Dive . I've never had any interest in learning that particular hobby/sport. Besides not being interested in swimming under water, everyone I know who has taken lessons has come away with an ear-drum damage. How fun is that? How to Make Crepes. That's something I've never bothered to try. Just not interested   4)  Making Pasta From Scratch . Nope. Not when it's soooo much easier to by the stuff ready-made in a box. 5)  Ballroom Dance . Too expensive to take up, even if I could talk hubby into it. I did a sample Fred Astaire thing once, though, where they show you a couple steps, then try and sell you an expensive program. I said forget it. 6)  Ball Sports . Like baseball, bask...

The Mama Kat Challenge Topic for this week is: "6 Things I Didn't Learn In School."   (And wished I did.)   #1)  Sentence structure, punctuation and other composition-type topics. We had to buy a composition book every year from 7th to 9th grade, but rarely cracked it open. It was early 70's. My English teachers were young, just-out-of-college hippies, who cared more about expressive freedom and creative writing. What's a predicate anyway?  #2)  American History beyond the Civil War The Pilgrims, the Revolution and the Civil War seemed to get the biggest emphasis, then it sort of petered out after that. Rarely did we even discuss WW1 and WW2 and certainly not the Korean War. Presidents after Abe Lincoln seemed of little importance. #3)  Algebra My high school teacher wasn't any good at communicating this subject in a manner I could understand, so I didn't get it. I scraped by with a "D". ...

Welcome Back! Today's Mama Kat Prompt Is: "Share any blogging tips you picked up in 2012." First, you might like to know what sort of blogging experience I have.  Well, I've had 2 blogs, this one being my second. The first one was a Bravenet journal, which I had for many years, but when I decided I needed a blog service with broader capacities, I  moved here. That was a year ago. I've also operated several websites with a couple different services, which has made me well versed in many of the technical aspects of setting up an on-line presence, and I have a degree in advertising/marketing. So, here's some basic tips from my realm of experience : #1)  Decide what your purpose is. Do you want to share a cause, discuss politics, journal a life's journey through something, like weight loss or illness; share a devotional, share a hobby, share photos, connect with family or just yell about your bad day at ...

That's today's blog prompt topic: "A trend you can't stand"   There are a number of fashion faux pas trends I can't stand:   #1) The Super Skinny Trend :    This look is NOT beautiful. And it's definitely NOT healthy. I don't think the "Nazi death camp survivor look" is a cool image. It's also become quite trendy for actors to lose excessive amounts of weight just to attain an under-nourished look for some role. That can't be good for a person.       #2)  Too Low Cut Tops Trend I see this exposed clevage look all over and, to me, it's just soooo unclassy---an unnecessary. I don't want to see that when I'm walking around the mall.         #3)  Using Leggings Like Pants Trend This, too, looks sooo unclassy and generally  unflattering. Leggings are supposed to be worn under something like a long sweater. I hate the whole "pornific...

Welcome Back! I had to mow up the leaves in the back yard before I could sit down and write! I have a Maple and a couple Bay Laurels that are real leaf litter bugs! I also pulled out my stash of Christmas cards. (I buy them on sale and have quite stockpile!)  When I looked in my storage closet, I was pleasantly surprised to discover I'd already cleverly marked with post-it's the ones to be used for this year, saving me the trouble of hauling them all out to sort through! That was a rare stroke of genius!    Today's Mama Kat Prompt is: "Something you learned in college."   Now that took something thinking, considering it's been so many years---but I finally came up with something, something I still use today! After 5 years in the Air Force, I went home to Indiana to attend Vincennes University. At the time, Vincennes was just a 2-year school. I lived in the dorms the first year---but being 25, quickly decided I hated that! So ...

Welcome to Mama Kat Blog Prompt Day! Today's challenge is: "Write a post... that somehow incorporates the word: Sparkle " I LOVE sparkle, glitter and glitz! I'm always attracted to sequined outfits and rhinestone jewelry. That's why I have so many brooches and clip earrings adorned with rhinestones!   But I didn't become actually  addicted to wearing flecks of glitter on my person until after I'd worked a Christmas or two at a flower shop! During December we'd use tons of glittery things to accent Christmas arrangements with and I'd come home with my face and clothes literally coated in glitter---attracting such remarks as, "how sparkly I looked," or "how glittery my face was." I sort of liked that. Then I heard the line Tim Allen said on the "Santa Clause" movie about "elves having glitter on their cheeks"---and I was hooked. At the flower shop I'd deliberately shake the sparkly stuff on...

Have your Turkey yet? I saw frozen Turkeys in passing carts last weekend when we were shopping. Do you cook a whole bird? Bake it? Fry it? Buy one ready-cooked or smoked? Since it's just for myself and my husband, what I do is just a couple Turkey thighs in a slow-cooker, which is faster then a oven and makes them more tender. Enough Turkey.... On to  Mama Kat's Prompt for Today: "List 5 Things That Bring You Comfort."   #1) Reading the Bible & Prayer : I get a lot of comfort from hearing the Lord Jesus through scripture and reviewing the many promises He has given me. I have a stack of index cards, full of them.   #2) My Husband : He's just a really warm, comforting person. That's one reason why I married him. Sunni #3)   My Cat, Sunni : She likes to lay on my chest near my face and I find listening to her steady purr very comforting and relaxing. She especially, at night, just before I go to sleep. #4)   A Good...

The Mama Kat prompt challenge for today is: "Describe a favorite Halloween costume you once wore."   I've worn many costumes over the years. One manager for the flower shop I used to work at had a fun spirit and had us all dress in costume for Halloween. Since I sew, I put together numerous costumes. One was a Musketeer outfit modeed after Disney's "Three Musketeers" with Chris O'Donnell---but my all time favorite costume was the one I made the year "Batman Forever," came out!   I bought some Irish green fabric, some black fabric thick enough to make question mark appliques with, some iron-on adhesive and made myself a full-blown Riddler suit, including the Nehru collar!  The hat and mask, too! I bought some red costume hair paint, put my long hair up, sprayed the sides to capture the "red hair" look, applied black costume eye make-up around my eyes, put my mask and hat on---and  I was The Riddler! Of course, I'm not...

    So, with title counting as 1 and this intro as 1, here's 10 funny comments people made about the discovery of that so-called Diamond Planet:     #1) I hear it's imaginary inhabitants are to be known as blingons! #2) I went there in the 60's with a girl named Lucy!   #3) Let's keep looking for Unobtanium---it's worth more! #4) My wife is making me pack, we're heading to NASA tomorrow! #5) Breaking News : NASA no longer has any funding issues as women everywhere are donating half their salary to them! #6) Next they'll find a planet with a floating McDonalds selling unlimited chicken nuggets.    #7) I will go there first and sell it to people on Earth. #8) Maybe we can also find sapphire, emerald and amethyst planets!   #9)  I'm only interested in finding a planet full of oil. #10)  Yeah, that's mine---I bought it a long time ago in the "Own A Star" program!    ...

It's raining today. Poured for a couple hours this morning. Some thunder---which means the pool at the Y was closed, so no water aerobics today! Instead I've been diligently working on my calender design. There's alot to it---a front, a back plus 12 pages. It's coming out gorgeous, though!  On to the Mama Kat Prompt topic for today: "Share a favorite fall recipe!" Every year, on the Sunday closest to Halloween, I always make "Spooky Chili and Wiener Mummies"---though that's just a clever name make the meal more festive, when it's really whatever chili I make and pigs-in-a-blanket. I have several different chili recipes I commonly use, but this year, one of the young Air Force guys. who attends our weekly Sunday night Bible Study, said, while he'll eat chili, it "doesn't impress him." I figure he's thinking of all the regular, ordinary chili he's had up to now. Because of that, I'm going to make wha...

That's today's topic: Pumpkins. Anything about pumpkins! I love pumpkins. I love carving them and eating them! Especially as pie or bread! We carved them as kids, so pumpkins have a heavy family-fun memory association for me. I had 2 sisters, so that usually meant 3 carved pumpkins. Some years, our parents got in on the act and we'd have 5 glowing pumpkin faces of various expressions. Pumpkin choosing was a fine art if we purchased them. We'd pour over the selection of large pumpkins, each choosing our own size and shape. Sometimes we had home-grown pumpkins---though these were usually volunteers that came up on their own. You see, living way out in the country as we did, we didn't have services like sewer lines or garbage pick-up. Nor did we have a garbage disposal. We had a slop pail, a plastic bucket sitting in the kitchen that anything wet or moist, such as melon rines, potato peels or, as in this case, pumpkin inwards went into. Then that bucket would b...

Welcome to blogging prompt day ! Last week I told a story about being "scolded" by a customer wheile working at a flower shop. That elicited numerous comments of similar consumer abuse experiences. Even my mother recalled being harangued over the phone years ago as a young woman working in a store by a lady dissatisfied with the lack of timely delivery of whatever she ordered.. Mother said she said something like, "Now you get on a bicycle right now and get that over here," during her tirade. I didn't ask the era, but guess 1940's sometime. Unfortunately, some things never change.   This weeks prompt is: "Listen to the sounds in your house for 5 or 10 minutes. Write about what you hear."   What sounds do I hear in my house? I took a walk around to listen. In this room, where my computer is, the ceiling fan, which is a cheap small size fan we installed, has never run quietly. It's has a noticeable creaking sort of hum that's leas...

The Mama Kat Prompt this week is was to "dig up a blog post from last July to share."  This one comes from my old Bravenet blog, since Choice Morsels isn't that old. So here it is. One of July 2011's Posts, featuring a mini opinion quiz: A few trivia fun triva questions for you to answer: 1) Do you wear nailpolish on your toes? If so, what's your favorite toe polish color? 2) What's the most boring stuff in the news coverage you wish they'd just quit talking about all the time? 3) What's your favorite color to wear? 4) If money were no object and you could go anywhere for a get-away, where would you like to go? My answers :  *I have this lime green polish I just LOVE on my toes. *I wish to stop hearing about the British royals because I simply don't care. *My favorite color to wear is a purple/lime outfit. *I'd love to go back to the Shades of Green in Orlando and just spend a 5 days there, relaxing. On Other Fronts: *...

What do I miss? Well, first I have to consider which school I'm even talking about before I get into missing anything. I don't think of grade school much---aside from colorful memoir material, like being accused of swearing when I said it was "hailing" outside or being so gullible I was easily misled into believing all sorts of falsehoods.  So moving on to high school---do I miss anything about that? I have to say there's a lot about high school I don't miss as far as the social environment goes. I did enjoy the academics---except algebra---I couldn't get algebra. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it at the time. I loathed P.E. since I couldn't hit a softball or dribble a basketball and I was as graceful as a pig on ice at gymnastics. Ugh. Torture. I couldn't get more then a C in P.E. and I think that was just the teacher's mercy. I was an athletic incompetent. I believe, when it comes to gym class, every student should get an A for ...

      The lucky Mama Kat Blog Prompt for today is #5: "Write about the last time you stayed in a hotel."Since we just came back from our trip and did stay at a hotel, this is perfect!        There was a time when we used a tent and a State Park for a hotel on our various journeys, but that fell out of preference with tides and time. When we did camp, we used a tent we could stand in and a air-mattress we could blow up with a portable blower that could be plugged into the car's cigarette lighter. However, eventually we just reached the age where ground-level sleeping, having a little A/C and a bathroom we didn't to hike to were all preferable.        So now we hotel---motel really--on our journeys. You might wonder what the difference is between a "hotel" and a "motel"?  The distinction is hotels are considered larger, have more ambiance and are generally located in...

Yup, time for another tale prompted by Mama Kat. Today's prompt of choice is #5: "What is the one 'vice' you can't give up?"    Quite a number of years ago, in the mid 90's, we visited some friends, who were living in North Carolina at the time and what makes it memorable is the wife declaring that she, "had to give up eating chocolate because it had caffeine in it."  Apparently she was under doctor's orders not to have any sort of caffeine. Why, I don't know, but back then there was a general "caffeine scare" going on. Of course, a lot of scientific back-peddling has occurred since then, as it so often does, and science now declares coffee and chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, as having health benefits. Though those fancy coffee drinks full of sugar and all kinds of high-calorie stuff other then plain coffee are fattening rather then healthy.      I mention this, because if I'm going to call anything I unrepentan...

     The Mama Kat's Writing Prompt of choice this week is #5: Share a story about a sibling .      My growing up years were full of magic and adventure. I remember so much laughter and romping  through sun-dappled woods down to the gurgling creek flowing through the valley below our house, the dog running ahead of us, her tail like a flag in the breeze. My two younger sisters and I could skip agiley over the rocks we placed in the stream for crossing, like little mountain goats, our feet never touching water. There was always adventure to had, flowers to be found, creepy-crawlies to be discovered and I remember our Barbie and Ken dolls enjoyed many a luxurious, stone-lined spa in that stream.       However, the particular sibling story I want to tell happened not by the steam, but near the house out in my Mother's garden. Now we're talking a huge garden, two of them, in fact, arranged one above the...

It's time for Mama Kat's Writing Prompt and today the topic is, " Describe a time you felt startled." At first I drew a blank. I've certainly been startled many times, but my goal with this blog is to write about pleasant, uplifting things and I wasn't going to retell any of the horrible startling moments that first came to mind. Trying to think of a good one while laying in bed, I prayed that the Lord bring one to mind, since He can easily locate mental files I've forgotten which cabinet I put them in, and He popped a really good one! It happened about 20 years ago. My husband had been sent on an 18 month assignment to Turkey that year and my plan was to visit him for a few weeks over Christmas. The price for a round trip flight was $1200.00, which I knew I could put on our credit card, but the debt of it concerned me.  Our house was brand new then, we'd only moved in a few months before Dave got the assignment. So I wouldn't be alone while he...