Living Life Thankfully

Thankfully, my hearth and heart are full. Full of a life dramatically spiced with savory memories and biting privilege, my heart chuffs to awakening and prophetic dreams. Dreams for my family, friends, and those less fortunate to realize, prepare, and savor, are mine to share but ultimately their own to fulfill. Fulfilled for the beat, I am living life with gratitude, thankfully.

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About this post: I am participating in a challenge to create daily during the month of November. This is my post for November 22, which also happens to be celebrated as Thanksgiving Day here in the USA this year. My inspiration today comes from the holiday, my hopes for humanity, and our curious use of language. The doodle is one that I created for a post two years ago. See Heartfelt: https://stephabbottsays.com/2016/11/14/heartfelt.

#NaBloPoMo18 #Create30 #openheartsurgery #survivor #bleedingheart

©2018 Stephanie Abbott. All rights reserved.

Treading to Gobble Thanks

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About this post:  I am participating in a challenge to create daily during the month of November. This is my post for November 21. Tomorrow is Turkey Day. I am thankful that I have a home, family, and food. Whether I cook or jump into the bolthole to the restaurant, I need to get treading to the gym and my local WW workshop. #NaBloPoMo18 #Create30 #WW

Giving Today

Volunteering my time and sharing a smile with someone are two of my favorite activities. These are small acts of kindness, but I like to think they provide hope for those in need. There are plenty of people who are in need in my community. So, I volunteer to help a few local charities during the year.

Today, I expect to spend several hours helping hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are considered to be homeless in our community. Specifically, I will be handing out blankets to people. My simple task is only one small part of a larger group effort to provide over 1,000 blankets for the homeless. And our collective effort will have been just one grand act of kindness within an even larger collective effort to provide services to homeless people in Las Vegas today.

Perhaps you can provide an active kindness in your own community? Please consider giving today, tomorrow, or next Tuesday to a local charity. Perhaps you can find a few bucks to support a charity that serves homeless people, the elderly, the food insecure, or those with unmet legal needs? You may even find a deserving charity or two in your local community. Learn more about the national day of giving at https://www.givingtuesday.org/.

About this post: I am participating in a challenge to create daily during the month of November. This is my post for November 20. #NaBloPoMo18 #Create30 #GivingTuesday #clarkcountybar #communityservice

Holiday Meal Plan Portal

Planning the holiday meal remains one of my annual aspirational goals. I dream about cooking up a wonderful meal for my ravenous den of giants. I have even sketched out a plan with dishes they would inhale. Then, out of nowhere, some freaky portal from hell opens and sucks all my culinary skills right out the kitchen.

I live in fear each year. This year, I have secured a reservation at a local restaurant. My minivan might be our bolthole. #fingerscrossed

————–©2018 Stephanie Abbott. All rights reserved.

About this post: Several years ago I planned our meal, as the photo above will tell (from 2010). #NaBloPoMo18 #Create30 I am participating in a challenge to create daily during the month of November. This is my post for November 19. I was inspired by the writing prompt: “It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving! Share a planning tip or two for the upcoming holidays – is there a particular trick or strategy you use that helps minimize stress and keep you on track?” courtesy of Kathleen in the NaBloPoMo Revival group on Facebook. Check out her more practical post on the topic via this portal: https://www.kathleenhowell.com/nablopomo/holiday-planning/.

Family is Flexible

Let’s face it, family is flexible.

————–©2018 Stephanie Abbott. All rights reserved.

About this post: I am participating in a challenge to create daily during the month of November. While I have missed a day or two, this is my post for November 18. I was inspired by the writing prompt: “How do you define the word family?” courtesy of Angela in the NaBloPoMo Revival group on Facebook.  Several years ago I traced this image from a family photo. Today, I fixed it. My energies have been drained today, so my creation is short and sweet tonight. #NaBloPoMo18 #Create30 #sisters

What am I called?

Were you teased and called names during your childhood? My childhood was rife with bullies who called me by many names, but rarely by my formal one.

Many names I have heard could have been problematic. But here’s the thing…

People’s problems with me are just that–people’s problems.

I have come to realize that names are simply handles, something for people to hold briefly then let go without much ado.

What am I called? It depends on who you are. Below is a list of names I’ve been called (chronologically and not exclusively):

  • Stephanie
  • Steph
  • Friend
  • Communicator
  • Director
  • Designer
  • Darkhorse
  • Mother
  • Snapperhead
  • Witch
  • Shikseh
  • Lover
  • Street-smart
  • Spirited
  • Hippy
  • Wallflower
  • Lost
  • Denier
  • Jock
  • Enabler
  • Greaser
  • Smartass
  • Wannabe
  • Tweety
  • Bird
  • Sprite
  • Touched
  • Stephleupagus
  • Steffie
  • Steph
  • Stephanie
  • Sister
  • Daughter

Remember the adage: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never harm me.”

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————–©2018 Stephanie Abbott. All rights reserved.

About this post: I am participating in a challenge to create daily during the month of November. While I have missed a day or two, this is my post for November 17. I was inspired by the writing prompt: “What are you called?” courtesy of Angela in the NaBloPoMo Revival group on Facebook. I doodled the image for a previous post, and felt it would complement this one too. See “Heart on my Sleeve” at https://stephabbottsays.com/2011/11/10/heart-on-my-sleeve/

Season’s Greetings, Harold

This is doodle of Harold. He was a marionette. I built him with the ever expanding imagination of a five year old. Though I may have been six at the time (Thanksgiving, 1972-ish). Regardless of my age, I found Harold to be the perfect gift for my mom that Christmas. We didn’t have much, so learned to create my own presents.

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“Season’s greetings, Harold” by Steph Abbott.

Harold was fashioned out of left over bits of purple, brown and yellow felt, pipe cleaners, some glue, a few pieces crazy amount of masking tape, styrofoam balls, bright red carnival feathers, and googly eyes. He looked great, but he still needed to walk. I strung him together with light blue yarn from my mom’s crochet basket and fastened the whole kit and caboodle to a set of cheap chopsticks. (My creation was inspired by my favorite book, Harold and the Purple crayon, a rare evening of take out dinner, and a recent showing of the timeless movie, The Sound of Music.)

Harold was one of my favorite things that year. He brought me joy, and I believed my mom would delight from my unique creation. Seriously, who want to take a break from a long day to break out in joyful song and dance about the house with a brightly colored bird and their child?

————–©2018 Stephanie Abbott. All rights reserved.

About this post: I created this sloppy sketch of Harold using my finger on the glass of my mobile phone while half asleep last night. So, I truly appreciate your creative imagination. I was inspired to doodle and write from this prompt: “What was the ONE holiday gift that shaped your life or at least a few years to follow. The memory of a fantastic one and the story it spun.” #NaBloPoMo #Create30

Blooming Doodle

My whimsy is showing again.

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About this post: I am creating something almost every day, this month. I created this image, “Blooming Bouquet,” using the app Silk Paints on my phone while nearly barely awake tonight. Last night marked the first time I doodled with this particular app. Lame, I know. I could have told the amazing story of the first time when I doodled…. ;0

Day 15 prompt: Write about the first time. First kiss, first born, first job… you get it. #NaBloPoMo18

Note to My Younger Self

Dear Younger Steph:

I have one piece of advice:

  1. Write more, read everything, sing often, listen again, and love anyways.

Sure, that might seem like more than one thing, but it isn’t. It’s just one life.

Sincerely,

Older Steph

P.S. It’s not too late.

—-©2018 Stephanie Abbott. All rights reserved.

About this post: I wrote his note to self today. The photo of me (and my naive utopian poem, “Hug O’War”) is from my early teens.

Finding Gratitude

I am grateful. Peace, baby.

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About this post: I am creating something every day this month. That is, until yesterday when I felt overwhelmed by so much technology. I did not have the energy to complete my personal challenge to post for Day 9 of #NaBloPoMo18 or #Create30. And today’s prompt is Day 11 Prompt: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, don’t you think?”

My post today may address both of those prompts visually.

The photos are from my a bloom-filled day touring the Strip and Downtown Las Vegas yesterday.
Day 10 prompt: “Social media has become our measure of worth. You wake up to find out society has evaluated you based on social media’s feedback. Write to tell us how your typical day is based on this new form of evaluation.
Alternative topic: is technology going too far based on that system?”