MJS Creative Landing

It is said that it takes 28 days to form a new habit. You can't believe everything someone tells you. I can say that after writing for 60 days straight, it is not a habit. I may be in the habit of thinking about writing, but it is not daily and for certain it is not a habit. Some days I have to remember to do this. Other days I have to force myself to do this. Right now is a day when it is fine that I write. I am OK with it. I have broken a many of habits. I quit smoking in my early 30's. Actually the cigarettes were taken from me through delivery by the Holy Spirit. I can't lie about that. I quit smoking dope. I quit smoking cloves. I quit smoking Bidis. I quit drinking brandy. I quit eating almonds and pistachios because they made my chest and heart reel with pain to point that I could not breathe well. They went the way of mother's milk and teething rings, and diapers;- though, diapers are back on the horizon as age and gravity do there thing with bladders and sphinc...

My mother had been looking for her reading glasses for a while. She purchased them from Walmart. They were readers, you know the pre-prescribed kind .15, 2.0, etc. She lives in a 700 square foot home and has a grand penchant for the talent of a seasoned hoarder. I can see how easy it can be to misplace something there. As well being 76 and just coming off of anesthesia from cataract surgery, her memory might still be impaired a bit.  She was given a new eyeglass prescription from the Cataract Doctor after her last follow up visit in January, but had not until early March got the Rx filled. Her new glasses are lovely. They are purple framed and bi-focal. She looks cute in them. I called her Monday to check in with her. The call was on Duo. She answered the phone luckily for me. She was heading to the rear of the property to do some work. On the cell screen I see she has goggles over her new glasses. She also showed me that she was wearing the construction gloves I gave her on my las...

I just got good and started on the second day of tile cleaning when my dad shows up. I had told him that I would help him paint a house. He is using a sprayer, so this should not be a long ordeal. However, about a fifth of the way through the job, his sprayer refused to cooperate. So, he jumps in his truck and proceeds to purchase another sprayer from Harbor Freight. About an hour later he returns and about forty minutes after that we have the sprayer assembled. I was in charge of taping windows and other house attachment so as to avoid painting things such as light fixtures, mailboxes, etc. I got as much taped as we had tape, so a few items were exposed. We ran out of painters tape and plastic. He got back started and the painting went pretty fast. We get to a stopping point and my dad sits for a long while. I finally grab the sprayer and finish off where he left off. We still have one side to paint and that is the rear. We also have to do a second coat, trim, skirting and touch up an...

Daily Commitments are easy and hard. They are easy in that what is asked is not typically difficult to accomplish. If you just show up to the day and the task, it is most likely that something will come of it. It is hard because there is something within mankind that is hell bent on rebellion.  Rebellion is: T he action or process of resisting authority, control, or convention. Resisting is: T rying   to prevent by action or argument. Process is: A  series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. But what exactly, or better yet who exactly, are these authorities? What is this control? Where are these conventions and who is hosting them? Is resistance futile? Is resistance fertile? Why is resistance not obsolete? Can we understand that resistance cuts both ways? Resistance is as necessary as our inhale is to our exhale... How do we get to the point where we are the  surreptitious  orchestrators  of our own killing, stealing and destroy...

My Fence is starting to go down hill. Not all of it, just about 38 feet. Yesterday I took out the impact drill and removed the screws of these pickets and planks from half of the row that needs repair. They are sitting against the remaining fence waiting for me and my dad to go to the box store to gather treated 2x4s. So, today might be the day of completion of the repairs to this fence, and I would like to stain it soon. It has been standing for going on 7 years. It is due for a makeover. I enjoy taking care of what I have been given. I am thankful for the ability to do the work. I receive every good and perfect gift from the Lord this day .

Ernestine~~~ Got to get it in!!!

Orange cones line the parking spaces of the Event Center across from me. It is an attempt to keep the tiny Brunch Restaurant from taking the parking spaces. It is a pandemic and events should be limited to 50 percent capacity. The event space, this Bijoux, is listed at over 5000 sq ft. It has one 3x3 bathroom. Having been in this space, no amount of money would coax me in there during a virus outbreak. Nonetheless, the orange cones represent a strong signal to the adjacent businesses (which all adjoin), a waging Mutumbo finger, "Not in my house or anywhere around me." The Breakfast business, has five parking spaces they share with 2 other business. One business, a small speak easy,  opens after 5pm when breakfast is over. The other business operates normally. It is a small shop selling novelty and tourist type items. Cold wars are all around. I guess it is better than getting towed.

Fear Shame and Anger. These are the three types or classes that make up the Enneagram. 8, 9, and 1 land in Anger. 2, 3, and 4 are Shame. This leaves 5, 6, and 7 being Fear. 2, 3, and 4 types operate through heart and self image. 5, 6, and 7 types operate through their head. 8, 9, and 1, types are Body and Gut oriented. There is not a doubt in my mind that I am 8 with dashes of 9 or what they call wing 9. Also, I am a lot of 5 because I am rationale, logical, detailed and information oriented. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, my earliest memories are cemented in my head. I can remember the first time when the outside world of peoplehood and authority intruded on me. And what was my God given natural response? It was ANGER. I am surprised that my bottom lip doesn't hang 4 inches off my face because of the anger I had raging in me. Squinty eyed, Poked out lip, folded arms or clinched fist, muttering under my breath, huff and puffing and dug in heels were my mode of operandi...

Tinnie Weinee is the name of my mother's 1/4 Jack Russell Terrier and 3/4 Doxie. She loves to snuggle with me when she is over. She smells like "old poor people." She isn't dirty. She just can't afford to shop for thing that are not of absolute necessity. I try to give this 8 year old tiny dog a bath when I can when she is over. When snuggling she attempts to slowly creep further and further toward my face to sneak a quick lick of my face. I avoid this like all get out. I do not actively allow dogs to lick me on any part of my body,- especially the face. But I like her a lot. Except when she pees all over my hardwood floor because she has the highest levels of anxiety of any dog I have even had the pleasure of being around.

My house sits down at the bottom of a hill next to a busy vein that runs from Franklin Avenue to Park Lake Drive. The 25th Street Corridor in perhaps about 3 miles or so. I live three blocks from where it begins. At the 3rd block is a decent to a 500 year flood plane. It is the second light on this mostly one way trip. Only the last mile is two way. All Valentine's Day and President's Day I would scurry from one end of my porch railing to the other watching the cars and trucks either make it up the hill from where my house sits to the next block named Columbus Avenue. From Washington Avenue, the block I am situated to Columbus Avenue is the upside of the incline from the flood plane. Franklin Avenue to Austin Avenue is the downhill portion where many vehicles increase speed in an attempt to make the Austin and Washington stop lights. So, here in lies the problems. It is iced and snowed over and the tempuratures are in the teens. As the vehicles choose between speed and caution ...