Journals, My "Garden", and Good Times
I'm grateful I started writing in my blog last year. I continue to read what I wrote a year ago each day and I'm glad I do. I've been able to witness how I've grown. I've come a long way in such a short time. It gives me hope for my future. And it keeps me motivated to continue journaling in this manner. I've also started writing various other journals with my Supernotes. But those journals aren't quite organized yet...LOL I'm still feeling my way around that. But my blog is pretty stable and easy to go back to in order to read from last year. I'm still considering moving last year's archive to the current site so I can build an index for each day. Next year, I would like to read last year's and this year's...hehehe Having it all on one site will make that easier.
I've been writing a prayer journal of sorts this week. It's very basic right now. I hope to grow that in the coming months. It is helping me process some things. I've had the idea for this for a while. I had just been stuck on how to start. This week, I just sort of started...hehehe I realized everything has a beginning. I just needed to start. It will evolve in time. There is no right or wrong way to do such things, you know? But if I never start, it wouldn't happen...LOL That's kind of how my blog started last year. I was privately journaling. But I wanted to start posting some of my thoughts. So in January last year, I just started...hehehe As of now, I think Cherie is the only one keeping up with it. That's okay, of course. Anyone is welcome to read it. I write it for myself. But I'm always grateful when she reads it.
This year is going quite a bit differently than I expected. Some for the better and some for the worse. I'm still glad for the year overall. I feel prepared for all that is going on. Being in Indiana this week is just as good for my heart as it has been for my family. I'm gaining some perspective. A year ago today, I wrote, "My attention will remain on God first by loving Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Second, I will love others as if they were myself. I can plant and water as much as I can. God is the One who makes it all grow. I will tend the garden God has Blessed me with. The flowers are ready to grow." My garden is beautiful. God is growing all of the flowers I've planted these last 4 years. I'm so glad He walks with me in the garden He has given me. I will trust His timing for things. It isn't easy to wait. I'm asking God for patience in the waiting. He has a plan for this garden and has work for me to be an active participant in making it become what He is creating. The work isn't easy. But as long as I love, it doesn't feel like work.
So, I was thinking...LOL Sometimes I feel as though I write deeply. My thoughts are rarely shallow...LOL But I do have things on the surface that don't seem deep but come from the depths of my heart. Lately, I've felt more free to express myself. I don't walk the line. I dance it...LOL I spin when rounding some corners. I sing randomly. I kick up my heels when I want to get somewhere in a fun animated way. This all comes from deep within. I'm full of joy and love. I'm not holding back so much anymore. Perhaps writing deep thoughts has helped bring that all to the surface? I don't really know...LOL It doesn't really matter. I'm enjoying the balance of deep thoughts and fun expressions of the love that pours out from the depths. I get mixed reactions to all of this. I can sometimes see confusion on faces...hehehe But I'm being genuine. I'm just being me. And it feels like this is the first time in quite a while since I've been me. I really like being me. I don't like everything I do. I'm not perfect after all. But I keep learning and growing. I'm happy being me...hehehe This seems random...LOL It is! Just something that popped up in my mind...LOL
I've been doing Budford's voice for just over a year now. It began with There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow that I tried to sing in a classic AM radio voice from a throwback era...LOL Cherie responded that it was the voice she envisioned for the self-loving character that is Budford...hehehe That was in July last year and his voice has been so much fun to do ever since. I'll still be writing more in our August vacation entries, but she gifted me a clone of Budford she named Bingford...LOL I've mentioned him a few times. He's the greatest gift I've ever been given. He even thinks so! LOL I'm glad to have him with me this week. I hope to take more photos with him doing various things. It reminds me of the times I took Olaf to Disney World for POV vlogs...hehehe I'm thinking about taking Bingford to Disney World and share those experiences with Cherie and her mom. They'll experience Disney through his button eyes...hehehe When she gave him to me, I was in shock. I'm glad we captured part of the moment through selfie videos. That day's featured photo came from that moment. It was an accidental photo of my shadow on the bricks in front of ARTIC with the caption, "Some moments are just that special."
I enjoyed lunch with mom and dad. I ate my leftovers from last night's dinner. We reheat food in the oven at a low temp. I put the cardboard to-go box in thinking the low temp would be fine. But it began to smoke...LOL That made for a fun rolling gag during lunch...hehehe It was lovely talking to them about a lot of general things. It was all just lighthearted and wholesome conversation. It's good to have those moments when you don't have a care in the world and just enjoy the company of loved ones. I'm grateful to still have my parents and that I have a good relationship with them.
I keep thinking about getting a haircut. I love how it is now. And I love how it was when I took my current profile photo. Both styles are nice but vastly different. If I do get it cut soon, I can always allow it to grow back. I don't really want to shave my head ever again. I've been thinking about a haircut for a while...LOL I have thought about what it would be like to cut it myself using scissors. I used to buzz cut it over 20 years ago myself using those electric trimmers. I don't think I want to do that this time. I may finally do something in September. My last cut was on March 1st. The one before that was at Disney on Christmas day. And the one before that was just before the epoch of 2020...LOL You might say I don't quite have a haircut routine yet...LOL
I had a great evening with Malachi. I drove to his city after I logged off work. It takes about an hour to get there from my parent's house. I was already hungry when I hit the road...LOL I did some research to find a good taco for Taco Tuesday. I'm glad Malachi loves them as much as I do and that he also appreciates a good taco...hehehe I found a place downtown that had great reviews. The tacos were fantastic. Plus we were able to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. He had the skirt steak tacos and I went with chicken. After supper, we went to a vintage toy shop he was telling me about. They had all sorts of things there. They had some stuff from my childhood. A few things from eras before my time. But most was from the '90s and '00s...hehehe It was impressive. But not as vintage as I had imagined...LOL Next we went to the mall. But we arrived as it was closing. Shops were bringing down their security gates as we walked through. It was good exercise for him walking around, though. It was sad to see the state of that mall. It used to be a busy place with a lot more businesses. It is mostly run down now. My heart became happy as we talked about the fun times we used to have there on my weekday visits when he was just a little guy. I'm so glad he remembers those special moments. Since the mall was closing, security checked on us and I told them we were on our way out...hehehe Next, I checked in my hotel. Then he showed me a game store we will go to tomorrow where he'll teach me a card game. And then we finished our time together with ice cream.
When I arrived to pick up Malachi, I scraped one of my alloy wheels on the curb across from his house. I'll have to look into getting that repaired. It's a tight street and I didn't want to be too far from the curb so as to block the way. I got too close to the curb. It isn't too bad. I just hate to do that to a brand new car on its first road trip...LOL I imagine it can be repaired. I believe my maintenance agreement will cover it. If not, I'll see how much it will cost to see if it's worth repairing or maybe do it myself. It's just a few scratches on the rim...hehehe
Today was a good day. I loved today ❤️