Self-Hosted Perils and What Not

My word, but it seems like I have been gone from All Out War for years! I think about it all the time and I’ve meant to come back and post so many different things, but I’ve just been insanely busy!

I know, I know, it’s easy to say we’re busy, but I think I’m honestly telling the truth 🙂 We are up first thing in the morning, getting one off to work, another started on the music he’s working on for the day, and then into homeschooling. Over the course of the day, we’re like a well played pinball machine, bouncing around from homeschool, to freelance writing, to walking the dog, to feeding the other pets, to dishes, laundry, cooking, cleaning and half a million other little things that can steal our time before the man of the house arrives home.

Before you know it, I’m feeling like a rung out dishrag and ready to throw in the towel for the day!

Freelancing has been come and go the past couple of months, but it’s starting to pick back up again. Which is why I thought I should go ahead and post here while I have the chance. Never mind that it’s well after midnight and I have to be back up soon, I just had to check in!

For those who might be interested, my new website is called Scribbles & Sustenance. It’s still somewhat under maintenance, as I am currently working with a great graphic artist on artwork and decals for the site. But by all means, if you’d like to see it for yourself, just go here. You can even subscribe, if you’d like. I am just now getting my email newsletter campaign up and running, so no more than one email a week 🙂 And no spamming allowed!

It’s been really exciting, getting to work with all the tech people and learning new things, but it’s all a bit over my head really. Well, I suppose I should say it’s REALLY over my head. I don’t know the first thing about coding and frankly, I don’t care to start learning it! On that note, however, I am so thankful for the guys at TMD! They are around the clock angels, and I’m so glad they’re there. Lord knows I’ve worked them to death, lol.

Well, I just wanted to pop in with an update. I’m still out here in cyber space and haven’t fell off the edge just yet! For those who pray, keep me in your prayers, that my new site would take off like I want it to eventually.

And as always, I appreciate each and every one of you so much more than I’ll ever have words to say.

Be blessed! Have a great day!

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How I Came To Be All Out War

When I started this blog, it was during a time of severe turmoil in my life when I really didn’t think I could hold on much longer. If there WAS anything else that could go wrong, I knew that it probably would, but what I DIDN’T know was whether or not I could come through it with my sanity…

Or my life.

I intended to be completely anonymous and pour out my heart and soul, troubles and woes, the whole nine yards. Someone had given me the idea that since I was a writer, and had been pretty much all my life, that it would be a type of therapy for me. And so All Out War was born.

I’ve said it before, that I am a very private person. I do not put things “out there” for anyone to see, think about, process, hold over my head or try to use against me. Well, that’s what I tell myself. In reality, it may just be that I have trust issues. If there’s one thing that Daddy taught us growing up, it was “Never trust anyone. No one. Do that, and you won’t be hurt nearly as much”.

There’s a whole story in and of itself there, as my Daddy went through a lot of things in his life, the half of which I’ll never really know, I’m sure, as he and Mom were older when my little sister and I are born. He lost his own father when he was only thirteen years old and had to help move the body. There was much death in his life, most of it he witnessed far too close and far too painfully.

But Daddy is the strongest man I’ve ever known.

It may also be that I’m such a private person because I’m that type that not only carries my own hurt, but the hurt of others as well. While I may not cry as much as most people do, my heart breaks all the same. Many times I’ve sat, stony faced, in situations where my guts had been reduced to ashes and rubble. As I’ve aged, I’ve learned to deal with some things a little better, and some things a little worse.

And that’s where All Out War was born. That place that said, “GET OUT!” to everything I’ve ever harbored that has ever killed me inside a little. All the things that I’ve ever tucked away in that “hurts too much to talk about” folder waaaaaaaay back in the back of my mind.

On the upside, though, I’ve already gotten out a lot more than I thought I would, in my own way. Even in vagueness there is a kind of solace that can bring a great deal of relief. And I’ve experienced it a time or two.

So. The is how I came to be All Out War. Where it goes from here, I’m not sure, but hopefully to a place of “normality” for a change. A place where I can move on and maybe even help others who have been where I have been. Isn’t that one of the things that God would have us to do with our valley’s and trials? To learn, thank Him for His grace in having seen us through it, and use it to help others? Surely those things we’ve gone through aren’t just for us, are they?

And maybe, THAT, is what it’s all about…being able to use the hurt, the trials, the heartaches, the “been there, done that” stories to keep someone else from having to wallow as long as we have? Maybe.

We’ll see…

Personal Baggage

“Personal Baggage” could mean so many things. So many, in fact, that I won’t even try to name them all. We all have it. No one is excluded. And some hide it better than others.

What I’ve been trying to figure out lately is, how do we wind up with it? I’m not talking about everything we might have gone through that puts us in that position, but rather, how we manage to let it loom over our heads. Is it the way we were taught? The way we view God? The way we view ourselves? The words of others, well meaning or not?

Whatever it is, it can make us feel a lot of different ways. I’ve even heard people say they were doomed, or that they were getting what they deserved from life. It’s turned a lot of people away from the church, away from family and friends, and even away from spouses and children. It can be so debilitating that it can turn a person into someone they don’t even recognize themselves!

And what part does “talking” play in the whole scheme of personal baggage? Does it help to talk? Does it make it worse? Is it giving in to some outside force that prompts people into a sort of “confession” for whatever sake they deem it profitable?

Not that I have many answers for any of the above. I have my own personal baggage, and there are times it seems a lot heavier than I remembered. I believe that may be my own doing, and I’m still trying to work through that…how to process it and deal with it, how to be relieved of it, if that’s even a possibility, and how to figure it all out. I guess I’m no different than anyone else that has their own baggage. We all try to move on.

And we do. Each day passes. Every minute goes by, regardless of whether it was good or bad. I guess that’s just how it is.

Fish Don’t Climb Trees (Challenge Post)

“Three Days, Three Quotes Challenge” #1

I have been nominated by my dear friend S.M., over at Second Time Blogger for this challenge. Thank you so much for that nomination 🙂 You know I love stuff like this, don’t you? 🙂

I’ve always been a fan of great quotes, and I use them quite frequently, sometimes to drive home a point, and sometimes just because they are inspiring and beautiful. Quotes are a great way to do those things.

So today, for my first day of the challenge, my quote is….

Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid ~ Albert Einstein

I love this quote in particular, because it speaks volumes in so few words. It’s especially important for young people today, who are caught in a society that teaches that it’s best to be like everyone else. But it’s not.

It’s not even “okay” to be like everyone else. YOU are the only YOU that God created, with your own skill set, your own gifts and callings, your own special traits and your own reflection of Him. The Bible even speaks specifically about this…

1 Corinthians 12: 14-17 … ¹⁴ For the body is not one member, but many. ¹⁵ If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁶ And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

 

I do believe, with all my heart, this is one of the reasons the suicide rate is so high. Along with everything else that people have to go through in this world, they don’t see themselves as important or worthy, they seem to have the thought that “no one will miss me” or “someone will come along, just like me, to replace me, so, no loss”. They may not think those exact thoughts, but the basis is there.

So in closing, just hear me when I say this: if you’re a fish, you DO NOT HAVE TO CLIMB THAT TREE! Swim like the you are the only fish in the ocean! Because you were known before you were knit together in your mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5), and you are the only you there will ever be.

And that’s okay.

Now the rules of this challenge are as follows:

1. Post 3 quotes for 3 days.
2. Nominate 3 people each day, with no repeats.
3. Thank the person who nominated you.
4. Inform the nominees.

So my nominees for today are:

• Rachel from the obligatory eccentric
• Renae from Reflections of Life!
• Pete from Awethentiq

I hope you guys have fun with it 🙂

My First Blog Award Ever!!

I’ve been a bit absent from my blog lately. It seems that when I make the most resolve to write daily, that’s usually when things will pop up, more often than usual, to keep from doing that. I have been incredibly busy lately with homeschooling, writing for clients, fall-cleaning (much like spring cleaning lol) and trying to get things together for my son’s upcoming birthday party. So my day runs from about 6-7 am until about 11 pm, if I’m lucky enough to get in bed at that time.

So imagine my surprise when I checked my notifications this morning and found that I had been nominated for this award!  I was nominated by Second Time Blogger – to whom I give a HUGE THANK YOU! I appreciate so much that you thought of me and my humble blog 🙂

And I do suggest you go and read her posts. She has an amazing blog with some amazing photographs to go along with them. You’ll surely enjoy!

There are some rules for the award. They are:

• Thank the person who has nominated you.
• Share the versatile blogger award on your blog.
• Share seven random things about yourself.
• Tag 10 bloggers with less than 1000 followers and let them know they have been nominated.

 

Now, let’s see if I can come up with seven random things about me 🙂

1. I speak just enough Spanish to get myself in trouble.
2. Honey graham crackers are my favorite snack.
3. Even though I’m an introvert, and somewhat of a hermit lol, I absolutely love to have dinner parties and feed everyone.
4. If I can cook a whole meal using nothing but cast iron, I will.
5. I play guitar, bass, mandolin and keyboards.
6. I cry in church. Every time. No matter what.
7. I still get crazy butterflies in my stomach every time I look at my husband, even after 19 years!

Shew! That isn’t as easy as it looks, lol. I never was much on talking about “me”  🙂

Now for the 10 bloggers I’d like to nominate, in no particular order. These are blogs I read on a regular basis and you probably will too, once you check them out.

1. Reflections of Life!: Renae’s blog will challenge you to think and to move. Jump over and visit her page today, you won’t be disappointed.
2. In A New Place: A homeschooling mom who blogs about an array of things, always in an uplifting way.
3. Romans KJV: A Bible study blog, focusing on the book of Romans, with insight and commentary. A great read.
4. the obligatory eccentric: Rachel’s blog is an excellent and interesting read, every time.
5. Awethentiq/BlessedBeyondRecognition: Pete’s posts will definitely give you something to think about, and each post is interesting and unique.
6. mommamcculloch: These posts are very real from a very real girl.
7. A Writer’s Journey: This is a writer’s blog, and you’ll enjoy the read from here.
8. Life According To Kelly: You’ll find some great recipes on Kelly’s blog, as well as a few other things.
9. My Extended Weekend: Another blog with recipes that will make your mouth water! Check it out.
10. Swamp Yankee Style: A great blog with DIY projects, recipes, thrifty tips and much more.

So there you have it 🙂  I do hope you will check these blogs out, as they are all worth the trip. Again, thanks so much to Second Time Blogger for nominated me. And I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed day!!

The Excitement Never Ends

Back to the prompts for today! This looks like a fun one, so we’ll see how it turns out. At my age, life has settled in to the point that there’s not much that makes me truly giddy, in the I-feel-like-a-kid-again way, and thinking about this prompt now, I realize that I quite miss it! I wonder what happened…?

The prompt is: Tell us about the last thing you got excited about — butterflies-in-the-stomach, giggling, can’t-wait excited.

The last thing that got me truly excited was our recent trip to historic Bardstown, Ky. We had planned it for weeks as a getaway for the entire day, just to sight-see and have fun, while at the same time, involving a great deal of places that would bring life to Abby’s recent lessons in US government and history. We were all excited, to be exact, and planned it down to the last jot and tittle.

I remember a few days prior to that Saturday, I had started making mention of it several times each day. I think the family got tired of it 🙂 but they never let on if they did. It had been years since we were there last, so I guess some of the excitement stemmed from knowing what was there and all the things there were to do and see. We visited historic buildings,

Wickland, Home of Three Governors

St. Joseph’s Church, the first and oldest Catholic Church in the state, supposedly.

Back courtyard of the old jail, where the “bars” were made into the building, of the same stone.

A one-room school house used in the early 1800’s.

a pioneer graveyard,

as well as old country stores and we took as many back roads as we could.

The trip was, indeed, wonderful. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to utilize the campground and stay a day or two, but that wasn’t feasible this time. As the day drew to a close, we wound up taking “the long way around” and went through a few more back roads with a little more history. We wound up going through the town where Jimmy was born and he was able to point out many landmarks and tell stories of yesteryear as he remembered them.

Yes, that was something that really made me so excited that it took a day or two for the excitement to wear off. It went from “I can’t wait until we go!” to “That was such an awesome trip”.

What does it take to make YOU giddy?

Where Has The Time Gone?

I can’t believe I’ve let this much time get away from me! And so quickly after deciding to write on the prompts every single day. That gets a big fat “BOO” from me. But, in my defense, I have been incredibly busy.

First of all, there is homeschooling, which is going well. With this online curriculum, keeping up with everything is easy, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. Papers to be graded that aren’t done online, essays to read and grade, math review and supplementation, entering information in my grade book… it all adds up and takes a great deal of time, but it’s oh so worth it.

There’s also the freelance writing that I do, and thank God my client list has grown a bit these past couple of weeks. Not by much, but enough to keep me writing on a regular basis. I try to write a bit in the mornings, before school, and I usually write until about 11 pm, after which I fall into bed like a sack of potatoes 🙂  !!  But again, it’s worth it. Having clients that have regular work for me to do, are incredibly easy to work with and communicate with and have reasonable deadlines are a God-send, which is an understatement in this business. I’ve actually had to turn down several interviews and a job proposal this week because my calendar is full throughout the remainder of the next two weeks!

These two things alone take up most of my time during the day, and I don’t really factor in all the other things that I do like housework, cooking, laundry, gardening and dealing with the dog 🙂 although the latter can sometimes be more than I bargained for! She’s a pickle and though she’s very independent, when she wants attention, she finds a way to get it! I find out something new about the Husky breed almost every day 🙂

So, just in case anyone was wondering, I’ve not dropped off the edge of the world, I’m simply learning how to juggle everything that I have going on. My Mom always use to tell us, don’t get too many irons in the fire. Well, sometimes it’s unavoidable, but I know what she meant.  I’ll manage 🙂

And of course, as always, thank you so much for having a read. Be blessed today, my friends!

And The Award Goes To…

If I hadn’t made a commitment to do ALL of these prompts, I probably would leave this one off for sure 🙂  I am not even remotely a person that thinks about myself and certainly not in a celebratory way…

You are receiving an award –- either one that already exists, or a new one created just for you. What would the award be, why are you being honored, and what would you say in your acceptance speech?

Ugh…

Well, let’s see. I guess if I really had to get an award for something, it would be my frugality, HA! So let’s see how this plays out, shall we?

The award would be a $1000 gift certificate for one of our local discount/salvage grocery stores. (No, that certificate doesn’t exist in real life haha) And I am being honored for being overheard in our local grocery saying, as I so very often do, “I’m not paying that much for <said product> when I can get it so much cheaper at the discount grocery!”

I can get staples like flour, corn meal, dry beans and rice at about one fifth or less of what they sell for at the major grocery chains. Even with coupons, the discount grocery’s prices are, hands down, unbeatable. I can get canned foods for over half off the lowest grocery store price, and so on. I just can’t allow myself, even during the times when we have plenty of money for it, to pay those kinds of prices when I really don’t have to. And to be honest, I don’t see why anyone else does it either. Maybe if more people shopped where the prices aren’t ridiculous, the ridiculous prices would come down?

My acceptance speech would be…

“I would like to thank whoever is responsible for driving the price of beef to between $4-9 per pound, pork to $3-5 per pound and chicken thighs and legs to $2 or more per pound. It is that kind of increase that drove me to being able to find out about the discount groceries in the first place. Without you, I never would have known that I could get the same amount of protein and not even NEED meat. And even more so, that the price of those kinds of protein are massively less in comparison.

“Thanks is also in order to whoever came up with idea of the discount grocery in the first place. I haven’t done any research and I don’t know all the behind-the-scenes facts, but I know that I appreciate you all more than you will ever know. Especially the girls at the checkout who are cheerful even if the person in front of me was having a bad day and took it out on you. You see to move right along and not let it keep hold of you.

“And finally, to all of those who told me about the discount groceries and where they were because Lord knows, without word of mouth, they’d be the best kept secret on earth 🙂 ”

Not a very good prompt today, but I guess it was all in fun. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, which is why I didn’t mind playing along.

However, I am reminded of a prize much more worthy of attaining. It is the only one that matters to me, and that fact will not change. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:14

I hope everyone is having a good Saturday. As always, thanks for stopping by and have a blessed weekend!

A Merry Heart

Today’s prompt is actually three-fold, as if to make sure we don’t skimp 🙂  I just read it and it already has quite a few thoughts running through my head. So without further adue…

Do you consider yourself funny? What role does humor play in your life? Who’s the funniest person you know?

I don’t really consider myself funny, but I suppose I can be at times. I have a blog post that I wrote about attempting to recreate my mother’s biscuits that actually turned out pretty funny. Well, it was more funny to me, I guess, because I was the one who had lived through it! But I attempted to portray that through my writing. I wanted you guys to actually see me with lard all over my hands hollering for someone to come and turn the water on, and then laughing about it the way I did afterwards.

As far as humor playing a role in my life, I wouldn’t really say that it does. More people would say, I think, that I’m a little more on the serious side. Maybe that I worry too much or take some things too seriously. In my honest opinion though, I consider that part of being “grown up” 🙂  I think many Facebook memes call it “adulting” and sometimes it’s fine to lay that aside. But on the overall, maybe it’s just that I’m balanced. At least in my own mind!

The funniest person I know? Well, there have been a precious handful. My brother, who died in 1988 at the too-young age of 31, was most definitely one of them. He seemed to always have a smile and never showed up without a handful of jokes. Where he got them, I never knew, but I don’t think he ever told the same one twice. Everyone liked him and I can still see his huge smile. We shared the same eyes so, like me, when he smiled really, really hard, his eyes seemed to vanish into slits. That’s when you knew he was really happy… there was no hiding it. His daughter carries on a great deal of his personality to this day, with her smile and laughter and eyes that just seems to laugh all by themselves.

And then we had a drummer in our band a few years ago that missed his lot in life when he didn’t become a comedian. He was from Humboldt, Tennessee and I found this out in particular when I asked him, “You ain’t from around here, are ya?”. His strong East Tennessee accent made everything he said even funnier, and keep in mind that I have an Appalachian accent myself! Not that it was something to poke fun at, rather, there were just some words that he would say that came out comical, just because they were so different from the way the rest of us said them. I can’t do them justice in print, so you’re just going to have to take my word for that one 🙂

In closing, I’ll just add a few of my thoughts that had sort of strayed off from the topic a bit…but not really. I got thinking about it from a Biblical perspective, especially the part that says a merry heart doeth good, like medicine. But I don’t ever recall there being an actual story in the Word about “humor”. And please do correct me if I’m wrong about that, because I’m certainly no Bible scholar. Maybe to understand the true Biblical meaning of happiness is about the same as humor.

But these days there are just so many different types of humor that it can draw you down the wrong path quickly. The Bible also speaks out about “coarse jesting” and I would suppose that to be along the lines of bullying someone or dirty jokes and the like.

Of course, it could be that there actually was humor in the Bible and the writer’s simply didn’t write it that way. I don’t know. It seems to me like the times were a little too serious for humor to be something that was common place. There was too much to be done and too much at stake for one to wander off into some other train of thought.

But then, that’s just me thinking. And that can go places 🙂

What do you think? About humor, and it’s place in our lives as well as in a Biblical sense. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Once again, as always, thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Also, a shout out for the amazing artist that did the smiley face and rainbow for my featured image…my daughter, Abby!  ❤  She is amazing and did that from scratch!

Secret of Success?

Today’s writing prompt is another that I wouldn’t normally “choose” to write about. First of all, I don’t often write about how I feel about myself and the job I’ve done. It feels somewhat akin to bragging and I don’t like to do that unless it’s secretly, to my husband or kids 🙂  I can take it if they tell me I’m over the top!

So, today’s topic is:

What would it take for you to consider yourself a “successful blogger”? Is that something you strive for?

I actually laughed out loud when I read it 🙂  I’ve never even taken the time to stop and contemplate what successful blogging would mean to me, let alone how I might go about attaining it. “Success” in blogging wasn’t even a thought in my mind when All Out War came into existence. It was actually kind of selfish, if I’m just going to be honest. At the time, I only wanted to vent, but so much has changed since then!

What WOULD it take, I wonder, for my blog to be what people consider successful? Well, I’m not exactly sure. I’ve heard tons and TONS about adding advertising and using that as a way to make money, but I just can’t bring myself to do that. I’ve been on blogs where you can’t even maneuver around for all the advertisements slammed in your face, and I just don’t want to be that way. If that’s what it takes, I’ll never be successful, because I know when I’m on those blogs, I simply leave. I don’t like it, it’s intrusive and if I don’t like it, I’m certainly not going to turn mine into something like that. Even in my freelance writing, I won’t even use a blog like that as a hyperlink, because I won’t send anyone else to it either.

Then I’ve heard things, as well, about giving away something free, usually an eBook, or setting up some kind of class or something like that, but I don’t have anything to offer that anyone would want at this point. There ARE some eBooks I’m looking to publish at some point, I just don’t have that kind of time right now.

And no, I don’t suppose at this point it’s something I particularly strive for – this successful blog. Which is probably the answer to the first part. I guess if I really wanted to take it to another level, I could. But in my life at this particular time, it’s just not the most important thing. I have my family, I’m homeschooling one in high school, I have a disabled son, I’m a freelance writer by trade and I’m in a band. So for however much I’d like to make the blog more of a priority right now, it’s just not feasible.

Maybe someday…

I DO love the blogging life though! It’s become so much more than what I thought it would be when I started. I had this idea in my head of an online type of journal that I’d never lose and that I could come to and bear my heart and soul and throw everything I had at it. Having never been a blogger before, I soon began to realize, there’s waaaaaaaay more to it than that!

I never expected to meet so many amazing people! And to share in their journey, from half a world away, or more, is absolutely thrilling! I find myself checking my email first thing in the morning, not just for all my account info and business emails, but for new posts from so many of you! There are homeschoolers that I watch, and I get to see some of the best recipes I’ve ever seen. Which is really saying a lot, since I’m a collector and I’ve looked! 🙂  There are stories from countries I’d love to visit, but that I still get to see through pictures posted and stories told. And there are days when my faith is so weak, but then some of you post that one thing I needed to hear so much, that it makes my whole day.

So I suppose my blogging life is indeed a successful one, not just in my own writing, but in my reading as well. So thanks to every one of you that stops by to read, comment, like or share. You all mean the world to me and I’m glad our paths have crossed. You’ve not only transformed my blogging you have become something I look forward to.

Have a blessed day!