Taking risks…

I have never been one for taking risks. I was always the good little girl who did not take risks. I was the one who behaved.

But the one I married has always (and I mean ALWAYS) encouraged me to take risks. I don’t mean skydiving, white water rafting or rock climbing. Well, I take that back he did try to get me to go climbing at Seneca Rocks but I politely declined.

My definition and his definition of taking a risk are often as different as night and day. However, over 23 years ago we both took and risk. We took a risk on each other.

Sorry, got a little sentimental and sappy there for a minute, but it does apply to taking risks. Now back to your regular scheduled blog post. Taking risks…

At times it has been hard to listen to all his risk taking encouragement for all the clutter that has been stuck in my head. However, the clutter seems to have been taken out with the trash or donated and only we (my husband & I) remain in this crazy head of mine.

I am now listening and beginning to take risks in life without injuring any body parts.

I was often so insecure about writing that I would never let my voice shine through. When I worked for a newspaper I wrote the facts. The facts are easy and my voice wasn’t important. Who, what, where, when, why and how come were the important things to read about.

With this blog I hope I am able to find my own voice and for me it is taking a risk not knowing what readers will have to say. But at some point as a writer you have to take a risk so your voice can be heard.

Will the reception of others be welcoming? Will people hate what I have to say? These questions swirl in my head. Just calling myself a writer is me taking a risk, but I guess I can’t take it back now.

Ok, I think I have taken enough risks for one day.

My husband on the other hand is still considering skydiving.

“When in doubt, just be!”

~Heather Kinder

Show and tell...

Show and tell. This is something we did as small children when we were in elementary school. You would take a toy or some prized possession to class and show it and tell about it. I know I did this a few times in kindergarten, but it was many years ago (too many to count without giving away my age).

I believe (and this is just my opinion) that we did this as children to help us properly communicate with others. And as adults I believe (again just my opinion) we get lost in our hectic lives and just end up telling those around us things without showing them what we mean.

When telling good stories authors have to show their readers the story not just tell the story. Telling a story is just not enough. An author wants readers to see and feel the story they are reading.

A story should resonate in the heart of the reader. It should make you have emotions and make you think.

And no, this has not turned into a post about reading and writing.

However, this is a post about life.

Show and tell does not just apply to reading and writing but it applies to life. It applies to each of us in how we see ourselves and how others see us. It also applies in how we treat those around us.

It is easy for us to get caught up in the daily grind of life and end up taking people around us for granted. I know at times I have been guilty of that.

We tell people we love them. We tell people we care about them. We tell people we appreciate them. And the list goes on and on.

But is telling them enough? In my opinion, absolutely not!

I believe we need to back up what we are saying by showing what we truly mean. Showing them gives a bigger impact that will last much longer than just words. The showing and telling of how we feel should also resonate in hearts as every good story does.

“When in doubt, just be!”

~Heather Kinder

Staying on track...

Did you miss me? I sure hope so!

Have you ever felt like you have so much to do that you may never get back on track?

That’s where I am at. I think I have been there for a while. Piles upon piles of stuff. I find myself standing around scratching my head wondering where to begin.

Our house is in such a mess one would think we just moved in. That’s not the case. We have been here for quite some time.

I have been trying to clean out, clean up and get rid of things that are no longer in use or have just completely been forgotten over the years, You know the stuff I am talking about. The stuff you look at and wonder where that came from. I have been looking at a lot of things that way and maybe that’s why I am not staying on track.

Not staying on track is the reason I completely missed my weekly Sunday blog post last week. But my husband gave me the idea of “staying on track” as a blog entry and I thought it would be a good Sunday come back.

Image by analogicus from Pixabay 

 I used to be OCD, but I am not sure about that anymore.

In college I had everything just so-so. List of what homework was due when. There were certain days I did laundry (thank goodness for coming home to ma-maw’s house). There were certain days I went to the grocery store. Every second of every day was planned out. And maybe, just maybe that is why staying on track is so hard now because I was so on track then.

It’s nice to have those days and moments where you can just drink a cup of coffee and read a book for no reason other than you just feel like it. Raise your hand if you are guilty of that. Pick me, pick me! Yeap, guilty for reading and drinking coffee!

However, life goes on and as I said a few paragraphs ago things pile up. And I don’t mean just the laundry. I have tried to-do list and somehow they just pile up too collecting dust. Epic fail on my part!

So, I have decided to triage my life. Very important, important, not so important and then who really cares.

Hopefully this works. Wish me luck!

“When in doubt, just be!”

~Heather Kinder

I’d rather drink creamer...

I know my titles may be confusing sometimes, but I do make a point to explain it somewhere along the way so please keep reading.

In honor of International Coffee Day, let’s talk coffee and stink bugs!

My husband and I were on our porch drinking coffee (no surprise there for those who know us) and fighting the stink bug population that has moved in to our yard. Out of nowhere a stink bug lands in my husband’s coffee cup.

For some reason I find it amusing. But for some reason he wasn’t amused. He grinned, but only because I was giggling like a fool.

He scoops out the stink bug and continues drinking. Yes, he did. He continued to drink it!

However, a stink bug landing in your coffee manages to change the smell and the taste of this wonderful magic in a cup. A few minutes later his hot cup of coffee is being dumped across the yard as he is sticking his tongue out like a small child who just tasted a lemon for the first time.

And what do you know I start giggling like a fool again. And believe it or not it’s not the last time I giggled like this over the cup of coffee.

The next time I giggled like a fool is when he said “I’d rather drink creamer.” He hates cream in his coffee and never drinks it. He always says I drink chick coffee. Well, guess what? Yeap, I am a chick!

But I guess given the option to choose between vanilla caramel creamer (my favorite) or earthy stink bug flavored coffee he would rather drink creamer.

My husband did inform that it was a very hard decision to make!

Note: No stink bugs were harmed in the photo shoot, however one may be overly caffeinated and ready to take over the world!

 Image taken by Heather Kinder

“When in doubt, just be!”

~Heather Kinder

Struggles…

I have often heard people say, “Why is she struggling?” or “Why is he struggling?”

Then these individuals go on to say they have a new car, a great home, a wonderful husband/wife, two beautiful children and a rewarding career. And the list goes on and on.

Have these people ever stopped to think that what they see is the outer appearance or an image. (And under no circumstance am I judging anyone).

These appearances or images are perceptions these people want their friends and society to see when they look at them. This is only the surface of what these individuals are about and not their inner self. They may be struggling with issues not even those who are close to them are aware of.

This is not me giving self-help advice and I am certainly not going all psychology/therapist on those of you who read my post each week.

I am speaking from experience. We all at some point in our lives go through struggles that we have a hard time dealing with. We often hide them and sweep them under the rug as my husband has often told me I do when I am struggling with things.

But our struggles we do not have to deal with alone. (I am guilty of this). My husband tells me to share the burden and I have been able to do that. I have come to understand that if it is my struggle it is also his struggle.

If you are wondering why I am writing on this particular topic today, then I will tell you. I woke up this morning feeling extremely off. Sort of wondering if I should just go back to bed and try it again later, but I didn’t. I talked to the one person (my husband) I can share my struggles with and we sorted it out.

Struggles come in all sizes. It may be something as simple as when are we going to have time to get a particular task accomplished. However, it could also be something that is life altering that needs attention and a long conversation so it can be sorted out.

Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say is don’t just automatically think someone has it all when internally they may be dealing with the struggle of their life. A smile or a friendly hello may be all it takes to help make their day a little bit better.

“When in doubt, just be!”

~Heather Kinder

Air conditioning blues…

When you think of the word blue you probably think cold or cooler weather. Not in our case! Our definition for the past week or so has been the central air does not work. So, I guess you could say we were singing the blues as one great big hot mess.

The air conditioner started making this funny noise a few weeks ago. The noise where you just know it’s not normal, but you also are hoping you are hearing things because no air = a hot mess.

The noise was real. The fan just up and quit moving. My husband took it apart oiled the fan and what do you know it works. Yay!

Don’t go getting excited so soon about the air working again. Less than an hour later we are running to turn it off to make sure it doesn’t build up friction and burn the house down. That would be a definite cause for the air conditioning blues and the great big hot mess.

To make a long story short, my husband takes apart the air conditioner so many times to oil the fan in hopes to help the heat issue he loses count. And we soon realize there is no hope for this old machine.

I have every fan we own on in the house keeping it cool or cooler at least. Thankfully we had a spell of cooler weather, but then Mother Nature decided to bring on the heat.

It was time to start looking for another source of air. 

Our poor dog would curl up on my lap hoping I could make it cooler, but the only thing that did was make both of us hotter and I ended up covered in dog fur every place I was soaked in sweat. In other words, you couldn’t tell if I was the dog or if he was. Talk about RUFF!

We go to Facebook Marketplace to search for an air conditioner. I messaged any and all people with one for sale that looked like it may work. You know I got to wondering if people actually wanted to get rid of them or not. Not a single message back.

Finally Friday evening we receive a message back not minutes after I messaged the lady about her air conditioner she had for sale. She actually wanted to part with hers. Again, to make a long story short we went and picked it up that same evening and we ain’t singing the blues no more.

Image taken by Heather Kinder

"When in doubt, just be!"

~Heather Kinder

Not just an apple on a tree…

We are not just apples on a tree.

Image by Oldiefan from Pixabay 

Confused yet? So was I when my husband told me the other day that I was not just an apple on a tree. Keep reading and the confusion will go away. (I hope!)

An apple on a tree is just an apple, right?

WRONG!

Look at the apple from a different perspective.

What can you make with the apple? Apple pie (like grandma makes). Caramel apples (one of my favorites). The list goes on and on. Apple sauce. Fried apples. Ok, so you get the point.

If there are all these options and choices for apples to be so great, there are also different options and choices for us as individuals to be great.

Therefore, we need to look at ourselves from a different perspective. We need to figure out what options we have and not just be an apple on a tree hanging around.

With the right ingredients the possibilities are endless.

As individuals we are not just apples on a tree. We are the apples picked off the tree ready to make something creative and interesting each and every day.

We have bold and unique ideas. We have hidden talents that the world around us has not yet seen.

Therefore, we need to be like the apple that has just been picked and make something of ourselves.

Now I sound like I am preaching to the choir or like I am some type of self-help guru. No on both counts.

Apples on a tree often fall off due to wind, rain, etc and get bruised up. Life will blow us in a multitude of directions in the pouring rain, but in the end we dry off and move forward. That’s a decision we make and that is not being just an apple on a tree.

"When in doubt, just be!"
~ Heather Kinder

Life made simple…

The title may insinuate that I have some long discovered secret of how to make life simple. I don’t, but it would be nice if I did. I could market that and make millions.

Anyway, for me a life made simple is having simple things in life. Home, a great cup of coffee, a daisy, a dog and my personal favorite my husband/best friend in life.

Image by Heather Kinder

I know that last one (the husband) may not be as simple as one would like to think, but when you find your person it’s very simple.

Don’t make things complicated. Complications will always (unfortunately) be there so we don’t need to add more to what we already have.

I see life made simple by having those people in our lives that build us up and see past our flaws. People who will laugh with us instead of laugh at us.

Life made simple does not always include a ton of stuff or always going places. Not everyone sees things as the cornerstone to living a simple life.

Life made simple for me also means not waiting on life to come to me, but seizing every opportunity thrown my way. In other words, make the best of every moment and make memories.

Appreciate the little things in life, because it’s the little things in life that mean the most and last the longest.

Life made simple simply means live your life on your terms.

"When in doubt, just be!"
 ~ Heather Kinder