TTOT – Page 35 – Prolific Pulse Blog

Ten Things of Thankful – April 3 2020

April 3, 2020April 3, 2020 Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

90176177_2897888166934655_8556798734627766272_o Collage by Lisa Tomey Bird, flower, tree collage

It’s that time again for TTOT! Let’s get at it!

National Poetry Month – you know I would have to mention this firstly. This is my favorite month for events. It’s a challenge, but a good one to be able to write a poem each day. This year, I am combining what I have done in previous years. I am providing a prompt each day on my blog, plus adding other blogs for prompts. Then, at some point in the day, I post my poem for the day. Here is the link to my post for this day: National Poetry Month
Spring has sprung! It’s beautiful outside and we have been taking short walks, always paying attention to social distancing and the point here is that hardly anybody else is out, except for the dog walkers and they tend to go to the dog pen.
Grocery Delivery – I decided to give this a try. Since I also get a senior discount for trying it out and it’s time to avoid stores. It arrives tomorrow. I have heard good things, so we will see how it goes. I am feeling guilty for asking someone else to go out, but, at the same time, it provides a job. It’s a real Catch-22.
Allergy meds – I am grateful for allergy meds for this especially polliny time.
6. Virtual Meetings – I had my first virtual poetry critique meeting this week. It was pretty darn awesome! I like that one of the folks was from Australia. It’s cool to be able to reach across the world. And I was able to get wonderful help with a poem I am wanting to submit for publication. It’s to go in my book, as well.

7. Dive into Poetry – This is an online poetry group which meets on Facebook. We just finished up March, but Jena decided to keep it open for April. I am behind, so I am grateful for this as well as the fact that I get to interact with other poets in there. Much of what I write in this group does not get published on my blog, saving for publications, since they don’t like pre-published works.

You can learn more about the classes offered by Jena HERE

8. Virtual Blogging Meetup. The Raleigh NC Bloggers has meetings online, thanks to one of the members putting this together. We meet tomorrow. It’s way cool! We have a large turnout for the live meetings and I hope we grow online.

9. Cary Writing Group – We have met once a month in Cary, but with the current situation this is not happening, but we did do a check-in, so I feel better with knowing how everybody is doing. You grow close in these groups and I like to know how my people are doing.

10. And this is for you! Come to the table and virtually dine with us.

white tableware — Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com

TTOT

Ten Things of Thankful – March 27 2020

March 27, 2020 Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

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It’s that time again for TTOT, a time to reflect on the many things to be thankful for and to celebrate moments in our lives.

The world as we have known it has changed. There’s a pandemic happening and we citizens have been through many changes in a short period of time. Mother used to say things happen a reason, so naturally I am wondering about the reason. Some things are clear and I will have to accept the unknown isn’t meant for me to know, at least at this point. The expression: “You don’t even want to know,” may be appropriate at this moment in time.

I created the header picture a long time ago when trying to put together an article about stress management. Well, could we use some of that? I am thinking it is a “yes.”

I have a lamb who makes me think of peace, it’s actually a dog toy, but I like it and it’s on my book shelf, snuggles up next to my Wonder Bunny. The pillow is one my daughter made at a church camp many years ago, and it is also on my book shelf. I can see them from where I do most of my writing. The bubble bath is self-explanatory for relaxing. The candle goes right along with that. The Sleep lotion has lovely scents and relaxing properties and the quartz sits on my nightstand to stabilize the energy forces. All leading to relaxation and better sleep, which is something I must work at hard. And I would say my first thankful will be that my sleep has been better lately, so yay for that! I wake up kind of early, but I go to bed early so it’s a win. Sometimes I will wake up in the night, but my going back to sleep is better.

Second would be this lovely memory. There are my mother’s siblings. They all came out to Illinois where we lived to see my mother as she was getting close to her time to cross over. It was actually March 25 in the year it happened. Just this week, her last sibling, Uncle Joe, joined her and the rest for a Heavenly reunion. Aunt Dorothy and her husband came from California to spend time with mom and the brother all got in the car and drove from Louisville Kentucky. It was quite the gathering. And as much as they all liked to cut up and tell corny jokes, they all were most somber when they came to see mom. They all loved each other so much, a very close knit family. I am grateful they all came out and that there is no more suffering for any of them.

Halls
The Hall siblings:
Randall, Johnny, Dorothy (Gunnett), Joe, Warren, Ralph

mom
Thelma Hall Tomey – Mother

Third is the fun I have been having with my daughter as we have been doing the Sketchbook challenge. In a little while, I will be joining her for the next session. It’s nice to have her here and we are having such fun.

Here are some of the pictures I made from the event. She doesn’t want her shared, just yet.

watercolor breakfast

This was food art created by drawing with ink the basic picture and then watercoloring the subject matter. We were asked to draw what we had for breakfast and this is what I did. Charlie O’Shields – Having Fun While Sketching Food! was the video.

watercolor collage cup

This was a class on a combination of freestyling, relaxing and creating collage.

Mary Beth Shaw – Doodle Sketch was the title and she guided us on having fun.

watercolor qwirky bird

This is my Quirky Bird watercolor from Tamara Laporte – Embracing YOU, Quirks And All! It was a blast!

Fourth I am thankful that I have art supplies to be able to do these things.

Fifth I did a presentation about Poetry on Wednesday night for the Triangle Association of Freelancers and it went well.

Sixth Scored Toilet Paper today at Target! And a canister of disinfectant wipes. We were not desperate but it would be coming real soon.

toilet paper rolls on a basket — Photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels.com

Seventh Zoom Rooms and figuring out how to use them. I had a lesson on them and am working on getting more proficient as the virtual world is becoming more of a reality. Nice thing is that with these I was able to meet with people online.

Eighth First Responders who put it out there to help others be healthy and safe.

Ninth People who wear scrubs. I brought out my old acrostic for their dedication. You can read it here: Scrubs

Tenth is the place setting for YOU! What’s you thankful today?

You can enter it here!

TTOT

Ten Things of Thankful – March 20 2020

March 20, 2020March 20, 2020 Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

selective focus photography of pink and yellow tulips flowers — Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

Spring has sprung and it’s showing up big time around here! The Red Bud Trees are blooming, so beautifully. Enjoying them while we can because they don’t bloom long. Such a reminder to enjoy these moments which are ever so brief. Samesies with the Dogwoods and other blooms. We have had birds bringing nesting to the shelf on the porch, but they decided to build elsewhere. Leaving the leaves, for now, just in case. I was hoping they would stay, but trust they found better accommodations. Nature has choices too and I appreciate this, especially considering how much of nature has been comprised. We are seeing that the creatures are coming out to show us that they are important and I truly appreciate when I see this shared on the web and in plain sight. There are lots of geese in my area and I am just anxiously awaiting the arrival of the babies. It’s such a cool thing to see them marching along with protective parents. Since there is so much homeschooling going on, I see this as a teaching moment. So, I bolded the thankfuls in this paragraph and that makes 1-4 for this thankful.

5.-8. Daughter and I have been participating in Radiant You! It is a weekly, one hour webcast for creative. It’s a lot of fun and is designed to help take away the blocks for creating. Here are the pictures I did. I won’t share daughters as she is still in bed and I did not ask permission.
90114648_2895679630488842_1067564076185419776_o Day 1 – We focused on what prayerful intentions we might have and write them and then the blocks, which are represented by the triangles in mine. Many people used squares, but there are no rules. And you frame the blocks to create barriers. Each star on mine represents a prayer I made for individual concerns and general concerns, so chances are you were prayed about, as well. The lines or swirls are trip ups that could create barriers but that I trust I can overcome and even make them a part of the beauty.
90176177_2897888166934655_8556798734627766272_o Day 2 we spent working on overcoming imperfection. So many times there is that voice which says we are not good enough if we are not perfect. We created an intentional ugly page and then tore that into strips and placed on a page where you picked colors which make you happy or relaxed. So I used the purple and then created this tree or plant, whichever from my ugly piece. The bird, flower and lemon sun were just things I had on hand to add. So, basically I turned what one would call ugly into a work of art. It’s funny and fun!
90155466_2900255330031272_7611219125582430208_o Day 3 We focused on what brings energy and made a picture representing this. I chose fire and that is symbolic with the lady figure in the center. On one side was the stuff which gets in the way of energy and the other side what helps. Then I took the blue pluses to represent positive and the red to represent love. The wing like flames were to shield from the negative and I mentally merged the two sides to overcome negative with the blues and reds.
90416226_2902519826471489_9074594764858327040_o Day 4 We focused on the critic. The left side we wrote criticisms and drew a picture of a critic. On the right side you drew a picture of a representation of yourself. I decided on a vibrant look of happy. Then you wrote positives on the right side. After you painted over both sides, you wrote whatever you wanted to turn this into a piece of awareness.
Day 5 is today and I can’t wait to see what we are doing!
Here is the link to Elizabeth Foley’s website in case you want to get on her list and learn about participating in her online workshops.Elizabeth Foley’s Radiant Earth Studio

9. As I am happy for having supplies on hand for the current world situation and that others can be helped by all of us. What a way to unify the world! I choose to focus on the world around us as one need not go far to find needs. I am grateful for taxes to be extended for those who need this and that we have access to the news. I am grateful to the store workers and restaurants workers, the first responders, medical professionals, the teachers who have devoted time to help home schoolers, the delivery folks from all walks of life, and so many more than I can mention.

One more thing. There is another online workshop coming up with another person. We are signed up and perhaps you would like to join. It’s called Sketchbook Revival. Go to the link to check it out: Sketchbook Revival 2020

10. And last, but not least, I invite you to the table to share your thankfuls!

Short Fiction, TTOT

Ten Things of Thankful – March 13 2020

March 13, 2020 Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

Photo by Amy Reed on Unsplash

It’s that time again for TTOT! It may be Friday the 13th, but it’s also soon to be Lucky Saint Patrick’s Day! So, I am putting my best betting on the lucky 4-Leaf Clover of hope!! Without further ado-let’s get the party started!

1.2. Books – In light of the pandemic, it’s great to have a stack of books from the library and a well loaded e-reader. This is what I am currently reading:

I thought I lost this book and searched all over, but it was in a briefcase, so thankful #2 is that my book was found. It’s a good book, so far.

3. Puzzles – Daughter loves to put puzzles together, me not as much, but she’s happy to have the dining table to leave her puzzle out. She’s working on a black and white puzzle which you then color. Some of the pieces she has already colored as she has assembled it once before.

4. Ice Cream – I am happy to have an ice cream freezer! One thing I did learn is not to put the gel cylinder in the dishwasher. While I did not do this, someone else did and I may have to get another. The good news is that it still makes milk shakes and you can always freeze afterward and have ice cream. When there’s a will there is a way. I have a great low carb recipe and have made it dairy free by using nut milk.

5. Six Sentence Story – I am still going strong with this weekly challenge. I’ve been working on sort of a theme with a couple and this is this weeks results.
It’s called Routines of Love

6. Rainy Days – While I am not a fan of driving in rain I do enjoy some rain to refresh the environment.

7. 8. Netflix and Choices – I am grateful to be able to have Netflix so I can watch stuff when the world is trying to send news I don’t want to hear. I turn on some old Andy Griffith and escape for awhile. Also, there are plenty of choices otherwise. It’s nice to be able to have choices.

9. Health Care – I am grateful to have good health care.

10. And lastly but not leastly here’s your place at the table of thankfuls. What have you to say? Let us know ❤ Can we break bread together in gratitude?

Photo by Miti on Unsplash

Should you desire to join in, you can go to this blue box and add yours. Also, you can read other thankfuls!!

TTOT

Ten Things of Thankful – March 6 2020

March 6, 2020 Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

hello march printed paper on white surface — Photo by Bich Tran on Pexels.com

It’s MARCH!! WHAAAAAT?!! Marching forth it’s TTOT time and this here link you see in blue is where you go to add your two cents worth or 10 cents…whichever you wish!

So many things in life to be thankful for and I am going to jump right in!

Prayer: A friend was in a serious auto accident and survived. From the looks of the vehicle, I don’t know how. Praying that the other person comes through and I am grateful for the power of prayer.
Poet’s Connection – As one who does not easily make it to evening events, I decided to create a meetup for poets on one Saturday per month. The turn out was excellent. This was via Living Poetry and it was a definite repeater, so we will do it again in March.

Voting – I am grateful for the ability to vote and try not to make this a freedom to take for granted. I voted and I am glad that it’s done until November.
Knee Health – Laverne, my metallic knee has been giving me troubles, but she is not infected. I had to have some juices drawn to check it out, That was an ouchie for a couple of day, but it could have been worse. Not having an infection is a big deal. So, now the plan is physical therapy and I am grateful I can do that. I already had PT scheduled for my gait so now I can do both.

Soap-I have a lot of soap as I have always been a big hand washer. So, there’s that fact that I bought a big ole mess of it awhile ago.

Observations-People who wear gloves and wash their hands before handling my food or body. I pay attention at doctor’s offices and restaurants. And it’s a good idea. Glad to report good results.
Libraries – I am doing some extensive research on a topic and grateful for the library and how they can get books from the interlibrary system.
Time with Friends – I had at least three times this week when I got together with friends for various purposes and it was so nice to take the time to be involved with each of them. I am kind of an introvert and it’s a challenge for me to get together with others, but my close friends are totally different. I am also so grateful for my internet chat relationship with my long distance friend. We try to chat at least once a week. I look forward to those.

Daughter is sorting out my pantry as we speak! YAY!!! It’s a mess and I am grateful she likes to do this sort of thing.
and last by not least YOU! and you know what? You can join the table of grateful supper participants.
Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com