Haiku Prompt and Other Stuff

 I decided to tackle another of the June prompts I missed.

9. Write a haiku about your life this week.

Cell phone message pings

Long lost sister has been found

Explosion of joy

This is a rough, unedited haiku but it gives a brief picture of the moment my youngest sister

found my message from 5 years ago on Facebook and decided to take a chance and contact me.

It was a moment of pure joy!

~ ~ ~

My youngest sister and I have not made definite plans to get together in person yet, but hope to do that sometime soon. Other things happening with me are as follows.

I'm increasing my exercises to regain more of my mobility, while trying to eat a more heart healthy diet. What I thought was working ended up being too high on carbs. Soooo... less protein and less carbs and less salt. Basically less of all the delightful foods I love. More fruits and veg and fiber, which I also enjoy, but changing my palette has not been easy. It is important though, so I will comply! 

I have vowed to tackle my hoarding problem. My home is not just full of "stuff" but is incredibly dusty. Two years of physical limitations did not help. My husband has been wonderful as caregiver, cook, chauffeur, gardener, shopper, taking care of all the laundry. He's done it all, so dusting is not a priority to him or to me, and my "stuff" has to be sorted by me. Nobody else can decide what things are important for me to keep and which are to go to new homes. I have to do that part of it.

I'm still taking a Zoom class through Grow Me A Story and it has been so helpful! I'm doing a lot more writing, and I am enjoying it. I've also done a couple of craft projects. I haven't fully utilized the "Creative Rendezvous" we're assigned to do each week. It's a 2 hour block of time to explore and create on your own. It's hard for me to plan those since I'm not driving yet, but soon! I'd like to take myself to a museum or an actual bookstore or a second hand shop. Then treat myself to a fancy coffee somewhere. When I do go on my rendezvous I'll be sure to write about it here. Well, that's enough for today. Hope you are all well and happy!

© 16JUN2022 ajjahner

What I've Been Up To

Since my last post, life has been busy. There has been some sickness, some loss, and some wonderful things. I'm going to share about the wonderful today!

The reel to reel recoder my sis got has enabled her to save many old recordings. Then I found a way to convert my old cassette tapes. I found my grandpa preaching, my mom and my other grandpa telling family stories, a lot of singing including a duet my brother sang in high school. He's been gone from this life for many years, so there was some ugly crying when I heard his voice coming from that old tape!

I completed the first session of the Grow Me a Story class and we are now onto the second session. I'm enjoying it so much! It is really getting the reluctant artist/writer in me to come out of my self imposed seclusion. Life feels very good right now. Thank you for stopping by. Please leave a comment if you enjoy reading my little blog.

Pushing Myself

I hit a roadblock last week. Didn't feel great, so instead of doing my classwork or any creative projects, I spent a few days laying back in my recliner watching television. I felt a little guilty about not doing the work, but sometimes a bit of self care is required.  I indulged in naps, cups of hot tea, caught up on some TV series, and listened to an audiobook. My husband kept checking on me to make sure I had whatever I needed. He is a great guy! I know I'm blessed to have him in my life.

Yesterday I got back to writing my Morning Pages. It felt good! I'm surprised how much I missed it. I also attended the ZOOM class meeting this morning. I am really enjoying them! For those who missed an earlier post, the class is through Grow Me A Story and has been so helpful. 

As much as self care is important to overall well being, so is pushing myself. It's learning to find the balance between the two. I am often surprised at how quickly a goal is reached when I just sit down and focus on it, for even a short time. This week I'll be pushing myself to complete the class reading and tasks, work on creative projects, and also schedule a Creative Rendevous. I'll let you know how it all goes!

Grow Me a Story

Hello again! I'm attempting to write a little more faithfully on this blog. This morning I want to share my latest adventure. Well, it's an adventure for me anyway. I signed up for a one year membership with Grow Me a Story. It has been amazing for me so far! I'll admit, I had some doubts going in. The two people running it are very special to me, my sweet cousin Paul and his lovely wife Carol, who also happens to be a dear friend of mine. My doubts were not in their ability to facilitate a business venture, which purpose is to help people live a more creative life. My doubts were in my ability to commit to the process. I am doing so much better than I thought I would! I've been doing the reading and the assignments, writing my morning pages every day, participating in most of the ZOOM classes, and listening to the weekly podcast. It's renewed an interest in writing as well as a desire to explore other areas of creativity. I will probably share more as the year progresses. In the meantime, I'm learning more about myself and having fun in the process!

Morning Pages...

Part of the assignment for the class I am taking, a study of The Artist's Way, is to write Morning Pages. This is 3 handwritten pages of Stream of Consciousness writing. Free writing of whatever pops into your mind. It can be anything at all from story ideas, to family issues, to the weather, what irritates you, what brings you joy. Anything and everything that runs through your mind. It's very theraputic. I did not think I'd be able to do it consistently, but right now I can't imagine not doing it.

I finally attended the Zoom class! It was less terrifying than I had imagined. I get such anxiety over things like that. I even shared a bit, so that was good. I was careful not to overshare as I can get too chatty. You can all probably surmise that from my blog posts in the past. I tend to ramble...

The experience of taking this class, combined with doing the assignments like the morning pages, is definitely breaking something open in me. It is sparking my creative desires again. Who knows where it will ultimately lead, all I know is I'm enjoying this journey!

January 2022, Still Here...

Hello again! I'm a little shocked that I only posted three times last year. It has been some crazy times for us since my bypass surgery in 2020, then my husband's retirement, and all happening during the first year of Covid. We're still hanging in. We had our vaccinations and boosters and still got Covid at our house. Husband tested positive and the rest of us got sick at the same time, so it's fairly certain that's what we had. The cough and tiredness lingers on, but we are so fortunate. Friends who were not vaccinated actually ended up in the hospital on ventilators. Friends and extended family lost loved ones, both young and old. Our state Covid numbers are still climbing. We live in the Northwest and were mentioned on national news tonight. I am so over all of this! Praying we're nearing the end of it!

The good news, I started following the blog, Grow Me A Story, and as a result I signed up for their classes. Full transparency, Paul and Carol Roberts are family. He's my cousin and she is one of my dearest friends. Carol is leading the group through the book The Artist's Way, and I'm learning so much. It's definitely got my creative soul inspired again. Paul is doing a weekly podcast which I am enjoying as well! This is my attempt to see if I can get back to writing. I had completely given up on it, but every once in a while I would wonder if I should give it another try. I'm not sure where my creative journey will take me. I'm considering dusting off my piano again. Poor thing hasn't been played in years. I'm also dabbling with a couple simple art projects. I'll let you all know how I'm progressing, and I'll try to make it more frequent than I did the past couple years. New beginnings! That's all for now. Take care, my friends, and God bless!