Category: My Favorite…

My Favorite…Thing About Being A Reader

SissyBear @ Girl of 1000 Wonders6 Comments

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme, we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it…The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive.

Thing About Being A Reader

There’s not just one favorite thing about being a reader. There are many! They all go together. 🙂

When Someone Asks For A Book Recommendation

It makes my heart happy

When It’s SOOOO Good You Can’t Stop Turning Pages

Or go to bed even though you have to be up in 3 hours

 

When You’re So Comfy

And at peace in solitude

 

When You Get The Giggles or Laugh Out Loud

Because it’s just so dang funny and feel-good

 

When It Takes Me Places

Cause teachers are broke and I’ll never get to travel

 

When It Keeps Me Away From Doing Something I Don’t Want To Do

Or go to an event I am not interested in….or is my perfect excuse for staying away from weirdos

 

When You Get To the *GASP* Part

And you are shocked the author took this turn

 

When You Have Choices

And you don’t know what you want to read next

 

When You’ve Finished

And you are happy and content the story ended the right way

 

It Makes Me Happy

A small cost for immense joy

My Favorite…Children’s Book

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My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme, we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it…The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive.

Children’s Book

I didn’t read The Kissing Hand until I was an adult, and I loved it! I also didn’t read Stellaluna until I was an adult, either. What wonderful books!

Another one that is precious to me is the one of my own name about a sneaky kitty, Charlie Anderson. Charlie, a fuzzy gray cat, walked out of the woods one evening and into Elizabeth’s and Sarah’s hearts. Now he sleeps on their beds, lets them dress him up in doll clothes, and laps up warm milk on chilly nights. But where does Charlie go during the day?

My Favorite…Recipe

SissyBear @ Girl of 1000 Wonders2 Comments

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme, we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it…The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive.

Recipe

Sheppard’s Pie

Ingredients
YIELDS: 6 – 8
FOR POTATOES
1 1/2 lb. potatoes, peeled
4 tbsp. butter,melted
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. sour cream
kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
FOR MEAT MIXTURE
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 c. frozen peas
1 c. frozen corn
2 tbsp. flour
2/3 c. chicken broth
1 tbsp. Freshly chopped parsley, for garnish
Directions
PREP TIME: 0:10
TOTAL TIME: 1:00
Preheat oven to 400°. In a large pot, cover potatoes with water and add a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and cook until totally soft, 16 to 18 minutes. Drain and return to pot.2.
  1. Use a potato masher to mash potatoes until smooth. Add melted butter, milk and sour cream. Mash together until fully incorporated, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
  2. Make beef mixture: In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion, carrots, and garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant and softened, 5 minutes. Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink, 5 minutes more. Drain fat.
  3. Stir in frozen peas and corn and cook until warmed through, 3 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Sprinkle meat with flour and stir to evenly distribute. Cook one minute more and add chicken broth. Bring to a simmer and let mixture thicken slightly, 5 minutes.
  5. Top beef mixture with an even layer of mashed potatoes and bake 20 minutes or until there is very little liquid visible and mashed potatoes are golden. Broil if desired.
  6. Garnish with parsley and serve.

My Favorite…Book Blogger Experience

SissyBear @ Girl of 1000 Wonders1 Comment

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme, we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it…The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive.

Book Blogger Experience

I’ve previously shared some of my greatest moments in blogging, so there are all of those and this new one I’m excited to share.

While I was on hiatus, I was contacted and asked to submit some of my writing to Z Publishing House in a series edition for Texas entitled “America’s Emerging Talent.” I am excited about this but at the same time I am not sure what to submit. I haven’t written anything non-blog in a long time.

I was also contacted about another opportunity in becoming a Lone Star Living influencer. This is a Texas-based floral bouquet brand available at my beloved HEB stores. I don’t know where this will take me, but I am thrilled to be included. You know how I love my own jungle!

Both of these opportunities came my way via my book blog, even though I was on hiatus at the time.

My Favorite…Thing About Myself

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My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme, we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it…The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive.

Thing About Myself

 

My favorite thing about myself is my strength and resilience. Growing up, I didn’t have the best home life. As an educator, I hated having to sit through an intensive CPS reporting and outcry training. I almost got up and walked out. I know the law, I know my obligations. I was that kid. And it really triggered some things for me.

As an adult, I have had a string of bad relationships. Each time I thought I had chosen more carefully, and they all turned out to be L7 weenies. Every guy I have dated has cheated on me. That’s a really hard thing to say. It is like the ultimate rejection…after rejection…after rejection. And I always think the next time will be better…and then it happens again. Even though I KNOW it is not me, that rejection is hard to rationalize between my brain and my heart. Why else would this keep happening? Obviously there must be something wrong with me. I hate that we as women are made to feel this way, and I hate that I have because I KNOW it’s not true…but. It slices away another sliver of your heart. Ironically, every single one of those guys (with the exception of The Man – you know, with all the drama) have come back to me asking me to take them back. What? No. I’m not a person who can give out that trust again. I just can’t. That might be little or petty of me, but I firmly believe once a cheater, always a cheater. That is the rule, not the exception.

Despite my failed engagement, despite this slap in the face, despite my affection and intimacy being turned away for the last four years (yeah folks, that’s right – talk about a patient and frustrated woman), I am a very strong and resilient person. I don’t know if my experiences growing up solidified that foundation, if it is naturally inherent, or if it is from my experiences as a young adult. But that is my favorite thing about myself.

My Favorite…Hobby Next to Reading

SissyBear @ Girl of 1000 Wonders8 Comments

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme, we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it…The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive.

Hobby Next to Reading

Last year I finally bit the bullet and started a bullet journal. I have learned a lot about how to set one up and what works for me (and doesn’t). I was flying by the seat of my pants last year and during the summer I tried spending more time in preparing my pages and pretty-fying them. This year I’ve done really well with that, too. I still don’t have all of my spreads in the front completed yet because some of those spreads take me a few hours to do from start to finish. It really bugs me having to stop in the middle of a project.

 

 

My Favorite…Music at the Moment

SissyBear @ Girl of 1000 Wonders4 Comments

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme, we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it…The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive.

Music at the Moment

I am primarily a country music listener. I do really enjoy 80s music and some alternative too.

I haven’t been very interested in a lot of new songs rolling out, and I’ve noticed a lot of female artists don’t have a lot of singles out right now. Carrie Underwood has “Champion” (which I don’t like), and that’s all I can think of from female artists. Most of the music that has caught my attention lately has been some of the newer artists. Sound is what first catches my attention. If musically it speaks my ears’ language, I listen to as much as I can without ruining the song. This is why I love a lot of Kenney Chesney’s early 2000s work, like “Old Blue Chair,” “On the Coast of Somewhere Beautiful,” “Dreams” and “I Can’t Go There.”

After the sound, I tune in to the lyrics. What is the song saying? If I’ve fallen in love with the sound, it is almost garunteed I am going to love the sentiment of the song, as I did with all four of those Chesney songs. One of his newer ones I love is “Hemingway’s Whiskey.”

I love the sound and the lyrics of these songs, and they have really caught my attention lately. I am NOT a Jason Aldean fan. His voice and his music reminds me too much of an ex (who was a quintessential player using his PTSD and depression to manipulate – plus the narcissism) who was full-on Aldean. I only like 3 or 4 of his songs, and his latest single is one I add to that list.

And “In Lonesome Dove” always makes me crank it up and belt it out. I only recently discovered this in the last year or so and I just love it.

My Favorite…Childhood Movie

SissyBear @ Girl of 1000 Wonders3 Comments

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive.

Childhood Movie

I was an eclectic kid. I had a handful of movies I’d watch on repeat. So much so that my mom got tired of watching the same one over and over in the same night, and staying up to rewind the VHS. So she taught me how to use the VCR before I was two.  I broke two VHS tapes because they were so worn out from watching.

 

My Favorite…Movie of 2017

SissyBear @ Girl of 1000 Wonders6 Comments

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive.

Movie of 2017

I feel like I saw more movies in 2017 than I did any year before. Right off the bat 2017 started with two great films, Hidden Figures followed soon after by Beauty and the Beast. The year ended with some great movies too. I couldn’t pick one movie; I have to go with two. One live action and one animated…