my world

20 Days of Chill 2024: Emoji (Day 16)

January 24, 2024

What’s your emoji?

What’s an emoji for?

Oh that crazy world of faces and different objects in a text message. I had plans for this post, and I hope I can pull it off OK. I couldn’t do it how I had originally planned as there were no guarantees when it came to people being able to see it.

So, I had to do it a little differently. Here’s hoping my little emoji “story” comes out OK for you to read!

So what’s your emoji?

Linkup for Day 16:

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Faceboo

20 Days of Chill 2024: Finding peace (Day 15)

January 23, 2024

Let’s be honest with one another here. Finding peace isn’t always easy.

Life is tough for most people. While I am sure we all have our ups and downs, some people will have more on the high side, and some will have more on the down side. It’s just the way life goes, I guess.

Our local daily dishrag…errr… newspaper … recently ran some story from the AP saying how most people think money can buy happiness. And all I thought was … well of course it can.

Think about it. What are the things that stress our people most of all? Things like politics, or personal life happenings, or work etc. But in the end, the thing that likely stresses most people out is financial. It could be bills or loans or payments – anything. Some people struggle to put food on the table. Some people don’t have a home to go to.

So yes, money can buy happiness and bring you peace. But maybe it’s not in the way some may think.

Think of it this way … if you could be fully debt free and have no bills – outside of ones that are paid monthly (think: household bills), you could pay off a mortgage, car loan and anything else. So that could mean your current paycheck doesn’t go to bills, rather everyday life.

Life had a way of coming at you hard. With my professional life, the stressful time of the year is coming. My regular life has also been tough, so finding peace isn’t always easy.

Truthfully, it should be.

I just try to live a good life. I can’t say I always do. In fact, I don’t think any of us truly live an amazing life all the time. We’re human, after all. Sometimes, finding peace through all of it isn’t easy.

But what kind of things can we do to find that peace? I can’t speak for everybody, but here are some of my go-to things to help find peace:

Go for a walk
Play with Harper
Chill with Harper
Blog (sometimes)
Take photos
Go for a drive
Explore new places

Now, to be fair, sometimes these are short things and last just a bit. But it helps clear my mind. I do the best I can to live a good life. But life always will include stress and such, so it’s best to be able to find your peace!

Linkup for Day 15:

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook

20 Days of Chill 2024: Sometimes I wonder … (Day 14)

January 22, 2024

I don’t often look back at life and wonder what would have been if … but there are times.

The reality is, I turned 50 this past September. I *try* and not have many regrets in life. Honestly, having regrets is somewhat counter productive, anyway. If you try and go through these things too much, it just occupies your mind to a place where you can’t go back to anyway.

This isn’t Back to the Future. Time travel isn’t happening.

That all being said, I do believe many people like to wonder about the past. And in that case, I’m no different.

I’ve often wondered about my career path and if I had gone left instead of right, where could I be now? What if I had followed in my father’s footsteps of being a cop? Theoretically, I could be close to retirement. But I also could be on the wrong side of the sod, depending on any circumstances.

Even within my own field. In 2003 after going out to North Platte, Nebraska and being offered a job at a newspaper out there. What if I had taken that offer? Where would I be now? Would I be in newspapers still, or something totally different? And who knows where I’d be living now.

Go back to being in school. What if I had worked harder for better grades? Or kept myself in better shape coming out of school? Or if I had taken some risks in different spots.

Life is truly a wonder, if you stop and think about it.

As far as we know, we only have one true go around on Earth. What happened before, or what happens after … we’ll all find out one day. Maybe.

So on this wonderful trip, we have to make a lot of thoughts and decisions. We cross so many other people’s lives. Who knows if one of our actions helped change the trajectory of somebody else’s life?

Take that time and wonder on occasion … it’s a good way to try and connect some dots in your life, or just wonder what could have happened if you had run instead of walked.

Linkup for Day 14:

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook

Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2023

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Whatever you choose to use this season, or another celebration or greeting, it’s all fine and good. This is the season to try and be happy and joyful, no matter what you celebrate!

I want to take this moment to wish anybody reading a great season and hope you have the chance to have some fun and relax with family and friends.

But celebrations like this truly are a human thing, right?

Even when we had cats growing up, I always thought it was nice to get them something for Christmas. I’ve obviously done the same with Harper. She seems way more focused on ripping the paper off, but hey – it’s still fun to make sure she gets to be involved, even if she doesn’t get what’s going on.

This season always does well to make me smile. The lights, the music .. pretty much all of it. But I can’t lie when I say that it’s a shame it’s only a human thing.

Now, to be fair, though there may be experts in animals and what they say – we don’t really know if animals don’t have their own times of the year or whatnot to do different things. Maybe not quite what humans do, but it’s all relative.

That being said, I’ve enjoyed “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year” by Ingrid Michaelson and Zooey Deschanel getting a little more airplay. It’s catchy and fun. And if you haven’t seen the video, it’s really cute. And again, how nice would it be if this season – take away a lot of the overtones – was joyus for all creatures throughout the world.

Have a peek at the video:

Stay in good spirits and here’s to a great season and a wonderful 2024!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook!

Keeping it in perspective

November 13, 2023

I’m not sure how you all are when you walk – be it alone, or with a dog, or even with other people.

I’ve tried to walk as much as I can for several years now – even before Harper. Most of those times, I’m off into my own thoughts and daydreams. Maybe it’s about the future, or the past, or even the present. When I used to walk solo, I’d often have earbuds in with a podcast or some music playing.

Once Harper came into my world, I was focused more on her. Especially in her puppy stage. I still have to watch her somewhat closely now as she loves to try and get things in her mouth, such as clumps of grass. But as she gets older and more predictable on walks, I find myself getting lost in my thoughts again.

A lot of times, it’s about life. After passing the big 5-0 in September (and, yes, I am still working on my series about that …), I’ve been a bit more reflective. Sometimes it’s about the past, sometimes the present, and yes, the future. While I’m maybe not where I had thought I would be when I was in high school, I’m not actually doing bad. I have a good job with pretty decent pay and great benefits. I’ll have a pension and a couple of other retirement accounts when I reach that age. I own a home. I have a good car. I have family and friends.

Dog walking on a path, leashed — *Harper out on a walk*

It’s hard to complain.

But we all do, right? Maybe it’s because I don’t see some friends as often that would be nice. Maybe it’s because waking up earlier isn’t always as easy as it once was. Maybe it’s because of the price of things, or because I have to figure out how to pay for something a little bigger. Maybe it’s because I’m no longer as free wheelin’ as I once was. Maybe I just don’t feel fulfilled or happy at times, and other times I feel that I am.

We need to keep things in perspective.

Over the years, I’ve had my own personal battles. I’ve gotten into some dark places in my own head. And some days, I get there again. Thankfully, it usually doesn’t last too long. And more often than not, I do a really good job at masking and hiding it.

Life is about ups and downs. Unfortunately, because of human makeup, we aren’t perfect. That means the odds of being happy every single moment of one’s life is just not possible. So we do the best we can.

I have been reminded of this recently, especially on my walks. The reality is, we have no idea about the people who we may pass each day etc. What some may decipher as an unhappy person may be the complete opposite, and vice versa.

As I walked Harper recently, there’s one person I saw walking down the street. He has a slow pace about him and always seems a bit down. He wears headphones and just meanders along. I know I’ve seen him working as well, and it’s always the same look.

Does that mean he’s unhappy? Not at all. Not every book is the same, after all. And I wonder, too, if I sometimes look in an unhappy state when I’m out and about – even with Harper.

My “inner circle” isn’t the biggest in the world as I’ve grown older. Sometimes you lose touch with people; or other times you just become a hermit (I have done this). But either way, not a lot of people will notice certain things. But for those I let into the circle, I care about them and their thoughts and opinions matter to me. Recently, one mentioned that Harper is such a good emotional support dog for me.

Initially I brushed it off. I thought – she’s much more than that. But as I thought about it later in the night, it got me thinking about a few things. First, she absolutely is an emotional support dog for me. She’s been such a huge part of my life since I got her and I hope that continues. But it also made me think about the wording.

Why did I shy away from “emotional support dog?” Did I think it was bad? Was I worried about the stigma of it? I’m not sure. But the reality is, she does help me emotionally. And knowing I go home to her each night helps in tough times. And, truthfully, me being happier now than I was two years ago is a direct connection to Harper.

That’s why I say we need to keep things in perspective. What is one person’s happiness is another’s lows. We can’t just look at somebody and think they are unhappy, when it could be completely the opposite.

When I walk now, though, I’ll try to at least be a little more upbeat. It feels good to smile.