Category: history

15 April 2023 Happiness

by saymber, posted in animals, Bipolar life, Food, history, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Nature, Spirituality and Religion, trust, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?

Hello to you. How are you? I hope your doing ok. The world is kind of crazy! Todays prompt is a good one. When the world around you is seeming kind of chaotic a good way to get grounded is to focus thoughts on what’s good in your life – gratitude. Something I’ve done ever since I was in rehab many years ago was a mental gratitude list. Rather than sit and complain pull out your gratitude list. What’s fun about doing it is how quickly you go from just one thing your grateful for to a whole bunch of things.

I have many things that make me happy and that I’m grateful for. At the top of my list is family and friends. My family and friends have gotten me to this day! True examples of unconditional love. Next is of course Link. I love waking up to his sweet smile and wagging tail. Number three is good food – I enjoy food too much lol! Number four is my connection to God – having a church home has really been helpful to keeping that connection strong. Number five is nature – seeing nature wake up this spring just really makes me happy! The best florist in the world is momma nature!

My Uncle Bill shared a couple pictures this morning of a beautiful California poppy bloom. The rains made it happen! Something good out of something that has caused a lot of people trouble:

Poppy bloom picture from my Uncle Bill- what a beautiful sight. I can remember last year asking God about orange flowers and the first ones he showed me were these types of flowers growing here!

11 April 2023 Sunshine and Dandelions

by saymber, posted in animals, history, Home, Leading Life by Example, Nature, photography, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello to you. How’s your day going? I’m just back from taking Link for a morning drag – he likes to lollygag and dawdle! It’s another beautiful day out. The spring is definitely in full swing right now:

The dandelions are up – first flowers of spring and food for pollinators
Beautiful sunny and cloud filled sky

I was looking for a message of hope today and found this:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. —Romans 15:13

In todays world with so much going on sometimes it’s hard to find hope. In my family and a friend from church new babies have come or are on the way. In these newborns there is much hope for the future. Scrolling through the various platforms I use each day there are lots of puppies, kittens, lambs, kid goats, bunnies and baby birds – life is abundant!

10 April 2023 Daffodils

by saymber, posted in animals, history, Home, Leading Life by Example, Nature, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello to you. How are you? I’m doing pretty good. I got Link out just enough for him to do his business and then took him home and walked on my own. Its no good trying to force him to go all the way around if he doesn’t want to go. It’s sunny and windy today. I was a bit winded after the walk but it felt good to have the sunshine on my face. I was able to capture a couple flower pictures – remembered to bring the phone:

My neighbors daffodils – such a cheerful sign of spring!
My boy and some lovely little purple flowers

When I was growing up in Sioux Falls South Dakota the first flowers to bloom were tulips. I haven’t seen any of those here.

Lately I’m regretting quitting my pest control service. I have some ants that have decided to try and make a home inside mine. I have been killing them when I see them and that helps for a little while and then they come back! Ugh! Any suggestions?

What an experience this must have been:

Matthew 28:1-10New International Version

Jesus Has Risen28

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them.“Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

9 April 2023 He Is Risen Indeed (psalm 23)

by saymber, posted in history, Home, Leading Life by Example, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello and happy Easter to those who are celebrating today. I am just home from church and having a nice meal with my family. The message today, in addition to Jesus rising from the dead, was psalm 23:

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

It’s a sunny warm day here – beautiful day for a celebration. it was so nice to see my family today.

The cross washed white now
Pastor Jason Boyd sharing message of Psalm 23

There was mention of a prayer group on Thursday that I’m considering attending. I believe in the power of prayer. I figured since Bible study has ended, this might be good for me!

8 April 2023 Red Ribbons

by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, history, Home, human rights, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Nature, photography, Spirituality and Religion, trust, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging
The sins of the congregation nailed to the cross to symbolize Christs sacrifice

Hello to you, how are you? I’m doing pretty good. Last night I went to our church’s Good Friday service and I’m glad I did. It was a somber service as can be expected. The most powerful part was when each of us wrote down a sin on a piece of red ribbon. They took the baskets of ribbons and nailed them to the cross. As I had mentioned previously my lack of fondness for crosses. Seeing this symbology helped me a little bit. If he hadn’t of gone to the cross for us, we’d still be making sacrifices to atone for our sins. As much as I don’t like it, that’s the truth of Christianity. Without his being crucified and rising again, which we celebrate tomorrow, there would be no Christian church. Our hope is wrapped up in this story.

People will be doing Easter egg hunts with their kids tomorrow which heralds back to the pagan roots of Easter. Easter is another holiday candy makers look forward to. It’s kind of what happens with most holidays. A lot of our holidays herald from pagan roots. It’s how they got pagans of the past into Christianity. I look forward to the uplifting message that will come tomorrow of Christs beating death!

Anyhew – when I got home I took Link for a walk. It’s so nice out! It’s 59 degrees today!

Leaf buds are starting to come out
I love Weeping Willow trees. We have like three of them in our neighborhood.

6 April 2023 Community

by saymber, posted in history, Home, human rights, In the News, Leading Life by Example, Money, Politics and Government, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

How would you improve your community?

Hello to you. The prompt for today is a good one. How would I improve my community would be mainly doing a better job with growth planning. Our state is experiencing extreme growth and is scrambling to keep up with it. There are so many new houses being built and the infrastructure is tough to keep up with it – primarily roads. Traffic at certain times of the day is horrendous! We have a lot of people who moved here from California and they left behind traffic jams hoping it would be different here and it’s not. Where you go there you are! You may have left California but you brought who you were when you lived there with you to Idaho.

I can’t really complain too much as I moved here from Texas. Texas was experiencing a lot of growth before I left and that continues since I’ve been gone. People can’t afford to retire in places like California or Colorado so they move to places with lower cost of living. The sad thing is like for here all those people coming here have priced out natives trying to retire or get their first home. The new transplants have made it almost impossible for people to afford a home here with current wages not keeping up with the cost of living. So they are building lots of apartments that the average Idahoan can barely afford to live in. I was looking for a place to rent but couldn’t afford it so I was fortunate to find the tiny home I’ve got.

5 April 2023 Adaption and Covid-19

by saymber, posted in Health, history, human rights, In the News, Leading Life by Example, Nature, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?

Hello to you how are you doing? This day finds me well. It’s a beautiful sunny day. The trees have started budding and flowers are beginning to push up. Definitely feeling like spring!

The prompt today is kind of interesting. I went to the grocery store today and it felt normal. No one wearing masks like before. I think, speaking for myself, unless I’m going to a medical appt, I have adapted back to nearly pre-pandemic behavior. I don’t even really think about Covid or catching it. To me it’s become like the flu – another variation of the flu.

I feel like I have adapted to the changes easily because, like I said, the only place I have to go that reminds me of the pandemic is hospitals. When I go to the VA, for example, they require you to wear a mask. Which makes sense because you can get exposed to people with Covid or other stuff like the flu. When I’ve been to the VA there have been some really sick people there.

2 April 2023 Namesake

by saymber, posted in history, Home, Leading Life by Example, Nature, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

If you could have something named after you, what would it be?

If I could have something named after me it would be a park that people could access for free. When I lived in Colorado I used to love to visit Garden of the Gods – it was a beautiful free park. I have always said that if I ever came into a lot of money I would buy a plot of land and make it a park.

Today was Palm Sunday. I got out of bed late but still made it on time. I almost went back to sleep but something inside me decided to rise up and go. I think it was partially because the people at my church are so nice! I love to see their smiles and feel so welcome. I miss them when I don’t go to church.

1 April 2023 Laughter

by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, history, Mental Health, Short stories, Television, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

What makes you laugh?

Todays prompt is pretty simple for me to answer. I love stand up comedy. My favorite comedienne is Gabriel Iglesias. I can watch him do his thing, even the same thing, over and over and it still makes me laugh. A quick laugh for me comes from what’s called potty humor like farts and stuff. When I get to scrolling my phone that kind of thing will get my attention! I love funny pet videos too.

As I’ve gotten older and have been through some tough spells I feel like I don’t laugh as much as I used to. I’m not as quick to laugh as I once was. If you asked me to tell you a joke I wouldn’t be able to. I could tell you a funny routine from one of Gabriel Iglesias shows but that’s about it!

https://youtu.be/sqAx7Xba7AM – I’m not fat I’m fluffy full show 2009

31 March 2023 What I wanted to be growing up

by saymber, posted in Art and Poetry, Bipolar life, Health, history, Home, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was five or so I wanted to be famous. I used to sing to the neighbor kids using a jump rope handle. I wrote stories to include one about vampires when I was in kindergarten. I also wrote stuff you might see in the Bible at a very young age. It was so good people didn’t believe I wrote it. I had that dream for many years beyond being five! I liked to draw, write, sing and dance. My Mom used to read my stories and something she said always stuck with me, “You don’t have to be famous to be somebody.” Her saying that truly helped me keep things in perspective! She was so right!

I grew up in the late 60’s and early 70’s. We didn’t have The Voice or America’s Got Talent. We had stuff like Solid Gold – I loved the dancing and would try those moves in our living room when I had the house to myself which was quite often as my parents both worked a lot. The other thing I spent a lot of time doing was drawing my favorite musicians like David Bowie for example. I can remember spending hours on just one drawing.

My dream to become famous never happened. I’m glad about it as I don’t think I would have survived to the age I am now! I see what fame does to a lot of people and it’s not pretty most times! With how sensitive I’ve always been I would have been a wreck. I look at people like Michael Jackson, Prince and Chris Cornell to name just a few. Their fame was a source of severe anxiety and public scrutiny.