#WeekendCoffeeShare – Life goes on…

September 24, 2017 ~ ~M ~ 36 Comments

Good morning everyone! Come in and sit down and I’ll make you a cup of your very favorite hot or cold drink. I have a variety of options, so take your pick. I’m drinking a steamy mug of hot chocolate, which is filled to the brim with whipped cream. And yes, I’m being naughty and not following my paleo diet to perfection at the moment, but once and awhile we all need a little flexibility in our lives, and after a month like this… well, let’s just say hot chocolate has been sort of a saving grace for me.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that my life has been completely turned upside down these days and I hardly even know where to begin. I suppose I’ll start off by saying that I feel completely blessed and thankful that my two oldest daughters have both survived this month. One had her home threatened by a huge fire out in California, and my other daughter who lives in Florida was in the middle of hurricane Irma. Both are fine now, and that’s such a huge relief!

Here at home, there has been turmoil as well. The first week of school was a bit rough, after finding out that hubby is deploying overseas and also that our 4 yr. old dog Pippa has bone cancer. I’m trying my best to make Pippa as comfortable as possible, but the vet said her days are certainly numbered. She may only live a few more months which is really sad to me. Hubby felt so bad when he found out and misses us so much, that he made a surprise visit home over this past week. It was nice to see him, but at the same time, it was so hard to say goodbye, especially knowing that it may be another year before I see him again.

Here’s some good news though, I had been dealing with depression at the beginning of this year and I’m feeling so much better. I was also having some physical ailments that caused me to lose 22 lbs. However, I am happy to say, that all of those issues seem to have been resolved. It was determined that I was having some terrible side effects from one of the meds I was on and once I stopped taking that, I began to feel like myself again.

I am presently working on several poetry books and figure over this next year that I should be able to knock a few of them out while hubby is away. That is of course if I don’t end up with any more hiccups. All I can do is continue to try. It’s been very hard to stay motivated and inspired. I had a friend whom I wrote about here. This friend was the one person in my life, who really inspired my early days of writing. And even though he finally contacted me and ended up explaining why he no longer wanted to be friends, it has still been very difficult to continue on without him.

In fact, as some of you know, I started my new blog just a month ago and ended up taking all of my poems off of this one. I needed a fresh start, as many of the poems I had written on this blog reminded me of my friend. I knew I needed to finally let him go from my heart and mind, and came very close to deleting my blog altogether. But I decided I couldn’t quit, and so instead I started over. I also knew that eventually, I wanted to take my old poems off of my blog anyway, due to the fact that I do plan to publish them in the near future. So ultimately, it forced me to do something prematurely that I knew I would eventually have to do anyway.

I know I haven’t been around as much lately as far as reading blogs goes, and I apologize to many of you who I haven’t visited on a regular basis like I used to. But life has just taken its toll on me lately and I just haven’t had as much time for reading. It’s hard to keep life in perfect balance and I know it’s foolish to even try. I just hope that you all know how much I really do care about you. When I say I love you guys, I really do mean it. All of you here on WordPress have become like family to me. It’s hard to explain it, but when you’re so isolated because you live in a place with hardly any family or friends around, your internet buddies become everything to you. If you’ve written a coffee share this weekend, please leave me a link so that I can catch up with you. Hope your week is filled with love and happiness! ~M

#weekendcoffeeshare – Do you ever just feel like giving up?

August 12, 2017August 12, 2017 ~ ~M ~ 53 Comments

Good morning fellow bloggers! How have all of you been lately? I’m so glad you decided to visit me today. I’ve got plenty of hot tea and coffee, or iced tea if you prefer that instead. So pick what you like best and let’s sit down and have a heart to heart talk. Okay, I’m not gonna lie. This conversation is not going to be all hearts and flowers. But I’m keeping it real today.

So here it is, I’m just gonna lay it all out here and let my heart sort of bleed onto this boring white page. I’ve been struggling worse than I think I ever have before. I can’t seem to escape these depressive thoughts anymore. I’m doing everything in my power to try and do something about it. Since writing is what I’m most passionate about, I’ve been trying to focus on creating more humorous posts. I’m also getting outside more and doing things that I normally love to do. But for some reason, I just can’t seem to lose this sinking feeling within myself. I’m not really sure what to do about any of it. I’m definitely feeling the pull to break away from everything and everyone around me. I’ve been doing the fake smile thing lately. Hopeful that nobody notices how I’m really feeling. Of course then there’s always that one person who ruins it for me and asks me how I’m doing. Then the tears start to well up and I can’t even answer back. And of course they have no idea why their question has set me off and I end up feeling like an idiot for not being able to respond to their question properly.

I’m also at a crossroad in my life right now and I’m making a huge effort to try and work on my relationship with my hubby. He’s about to leave again since he’s in the military and I’m not sure when I will have a chance to see him again. I very much love him, but I feel our relationship is still very fragile, and because he’s leaving, I wonder if it’s going to hinder the progress that we’ve made. Fear is sort of taking hold of me at the moment because we are facing so many unknowns. Anyway, he and I have talked in depth about all of this and I think we are both just sort of holding our breath, hopeful for a happy ending. These last couple of years have taken their toll on both of us and perhaps being apart will be the best thing for us. Being away from each other has often helped us in the past. It seems to give us the time we need to sort out our feelings.

Another thing I’m struggling with is the fact that I don’t really know anybody where I live, and so with my hubby leaving, I’m beginning to feel like I’m about to be stranded. We’ve always moved around so much that I’ve never really been able to establish any close friends where I live. And because we’re always moving, I also tend to shy away from making friends in the first place. It seems easier not to have any friends than to always be saying goodbye to them. Since I really don’t have any close ties to Wisconsin, I’m thinking I will welcome another move in the coming future. I’ve always loved the feel of a fresh start in a new place. I get bored easily when I stay in one place for too long and my love for travel leaves me ever wanting to get away.

Anyway, these are the main things I’m struggling with at the moment, and so if I tend to throw a sort of depressive post in the batch once in a while, please forgive me for doing so. I’m just not always in the best frame of mind and sometimes there are days which just seem to get the better of me. I hope all of you are doing well and staying in good health. I want to thank all of you for being my long distance friends and for always showing me how much you care. Blogging has been a great outlet for me, and since I do move around so much, I’m blessed that I can take all of you with me wherever I go. 😉

Photo credit: pixabay.com and giphy.com

#weekendcoffeshare – Beware of the Madman

April 8, 2017April 8, 2017 ~ ~M ~ 43 Comments

Good morning fellow bloggers! How’s your week been? It’s another chilly morning here in Wisconsin, but it’s supposed to be sunny all day and a high of 70°. I’ve had to completely eliminate all caffeine from my diet this week due to some health issues. So this morning, I’ve only made an herbal tea for myself; but I’ve got plenty of coffee in my pantry if you’d like me to brew you a batch. Let’s chat for a while, shall we?

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you to be careful going out today. There’s a crazy man loose in our city, and the authorities have yet to track him down. Apparently, he has now stolen 18 guns and written a 161-page anti-government manifesto, which apparently he has sent to President Trump. This man has apparently expressed an interest in attacking government officials and schools. Thus the reason schools were on lockdown here on Thursday and closed altogether on Friday. And so we sit tight, hoping and praying that this man is captured before he has a chance to do anything drastic.

I am not letting my girls go outside unsupervised right now. Police have ramped up coverage of the city and patrol cars can be seen at all exits, and at every school and main crossroad. There were even a bunch of patrol cars at the local elementary school last night, which is just a few blocks away from where I live. Not sure what that was about, but it kept a lot of my neighbors on edge.

I feel sad that this has become a fairly normal occurrence these days, even in rather low crime communities like mine. I am thankful that Spring Break is next week, so at least none of the kids will be in school during that time. Gives the police a whole week to find this guy before having to decide what to do about the threats to the schools.

There hasn’t been a whole lot else going on this week. Been the normal ups and downs and today will be the first warm weather day we’ve had in a very long time. We were supposed to get snow this week, but fortunately, it never got cold enough and it mostly just rained.

I plan to get out in the garden today and really clean up the yard. It’s quite a mess from the recent storms and I never got around to pruning everything back in the fall, so I have my work cut out for me. I’m guessing it’ll take me all weekend to get everything done; maybe even longer than that.

I also promised my girls, that we’d at least do a pizza and movie night tonight. Seeing as how I’ll probably be completely exhausted from all the yard work, I know I won’t feel like cooking. We’re planning to watch at least one of these movies… A Monster Calls, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, or Passengers. The only one I haven’t seen yet is A Monster Calls, so we’ll probably watch that one first. The other two were both really good and I can’t wait to watch them again.

I seem to be watching movies more than normal these days. I guess my girls are finally wearing me down. I agreed that we should play some family games too. My fifteen-year-old is learning how to play Mahjong and wants to play it this weekend. I guess we’ll have to see how much we can fit in; with church, our small group meeting, and youth group on Sunday. There’s always so much going on.

Well, I think I’ve rambled on long enough. Anything new or exciting in your life? If so, please leave me a comment and tell me all about it. Otherwise, if you’re a coffee share blogger, I’ll be sure to come find you over at the link-up.

Have a great week everyone! ~M xoxo

Many thanks to Nerd In The Brain for hosting the #WeekendCoffeeShare, a collective of chats over digital coffee among bloggers. To find out more, and to see this weeks posts, go here.

Photo credit: pixabay.com and giphy.com

#weekendcoffeeshare – Provoked and Peeved

April 1, 2017April 1, 2017 ~ ~M ~ 40 Comments

Good morning everyone, I really hope all of you have been having a lovely week. It’s been mostly cold, wet and dreary here, so I’m in need of some cheery conversation. I’ve got a scrumptious homemade chai tea, hot chocolate with extra whipped cream, or regular ol medium roast coffee this morning. So take your pick! Alright, let’s get to it…

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that my frustration level has hit a new high this week. I’m normally a very calm and easy going person, until somebody decides to rev me up. I suppose I’m just tired of letting people walk all over me, but then I wrestle with the notion that I ought to be sweet and nice and not rock anybody’s boat.

Somedays, I think the best thing I could do for myself, is to just let go of anyone who can’t seem to play nice with me. After all, I shouldn’t have to put up with all the nonsense when I haven’t done anything wrong. So often, I feel like I’m back in the school yard once again, with the way people act these days! The behavior of some is quite appalling and so often unnecessary.

Okay, my little rant is over. I just needed to get that out, it’s been welling up inside me all week and simply needed to be said. Now to my very kind and thoughtful blogger friends, I have no problems with any of you. All of you have been so sweet to me, and WP is my happy place because of it. So thank you fellow bloggers, let us continue to unite as an unrelenting positive force!

Now I do believe, there is a silver lining in every lousy thing we may face. And this week was no exception. I took all the anger that had been building up inside me this week and poured it all out into my writing. I was having a bit of writer’s block at the beginning of the week, and then all it took was that one last hit over the head for the dam to break, and for me to finally regain my thoughts once more.

Isn’t it funny how our emotions can often drive us to actually getting things accomplished? When I get angry or upset, I turn my frustrations into productivity. If I’m at home and someone upsets me, watch out! I’ll have my house cleaned in a quarter of the time it normally takes me. That’s just how I am, and how I’ve always been. I suppose that’s always been my way of fighting back and not giving in to defeat.

There are so many people I know, who just give up the minute life gets a tad bit difficult. I think this drives me crazier than anything else. How can you simply give up, when things don’t go according to plan? In my mind, that just causes a person to become even more beaten down. Anyway, enough about me and what I think. Tell me about your week; anything new and exciting to share? I’d really love to hear about it, so please leave me a message in the comments section.

One final thought… I really hope all of you have a very blessed week, and please don’t ever give up. Turn your frustrations into creative energy and focus on the positives! Hugs and kisses! ~M

Many thanks to Nerd In The Brain for hosting the #WeekendCoffeeShare, a collective of chats over digital coffee among bloggers. To find out more, and to see this weeks posts, go here.

Photo credit: pixabay.com and giphy.com

#weekendcoffeeshare – Rainy Day Chatter

March 25, 2017April 1, 2017 ~ ~M ~ 23 Comments

Well, so much for spring! Yesterday was 74° and partially cloudy, and today it’s 40° and rainy. Hence the reason I’m late getting up today. Honestly, I could have slept all day since it’s so dark outside. But alas, my stomach got to grumbling and so here I am; not quite awake yet, and trying to figure out something worthwhile to talk about. So without further ado, grab a hot cup of something and let’s chat!

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I had a fairly low-key week. Monday I traveled to a town I used to live in, all in order to do my taxes, and then I also stopped by to see a dear friend of mine. She has been going through a rough patch, so I wanted to stop and say hello and bring her a bit of cheer. We had a nice time catching up, after not seeing her since Thanksgiving. Then later that night, my husband and I took our girls to see Beauty and the Beast. I have to say… it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time, and Emma Watson really made the movie what it was.

Thursday night I had a date night with hubby. It was sort of a spontaneous thing that happened. We were just going out to run some quick errands but decided to go out for dinner as well. Always a nice surprise when we can spend some time together. He works such longs hours, and so I hardly ever see him. I’m looking forward to this summer because he’s only scheduled to work two weekends all summer long. I’m hopeful that we will actually be able to plan a camping trip; something we always talk about but rarely get to do.

Last night I got to go see my niece graduate. She came away with her associate’s degree as a medical assistant. I am so very proud of her! After suddenly losing her mom whom she was living with a couple of years ago, she has since been trying to support her and her son the best she can. So going back to school was very difficult for her, with everything else she had to face as well. But I think she can finally see her efforts coming to fruition, and it’s good to see a smile on her face because of it.

Living here in Wisconsin is hard for me, as I don’t have any blood relatives where I live, except for my immediate family of course. Then, on my husband’s side, we only have four blood relatives living somewhat near us (30-90 min. away). The thing is, it makes for very small family gatherings and the holidays often seem a bit lonely. I grew up with big family celebrations and I really miss them. So seeing my niece last night was such a blessing to me. We were able to take her out to dinner and had the best time. And now with eating out twice this week, I guess I will really have to watch what I eat this coming week!

Well, I suppose I should wrap things up for now. I’m still sitting here in my pajamas at almost 2:00 in the afternoon! Lol…

Hope all of you have a wonderful weekend. Talk to ya next week! ~M

Many thanks to Nerd In The Brain for hosting the #WeekendCoffeeShare, a collective of chats over digital coffee among bloggers. To find out more, and to see this weeks posts, go here.

Photo credit: pixabay.com and giphy.com