Coffee at my place...

As the year winds down, I am busy reflecting on what has come and gone…

what will stay and what will be tossed to the side…

what I will wish for and what I will file away as received…

and whether I will continue on my beaten path.

As I do this, I enjoy a freshly brewed coffee, with a touch of cream. And you, how do you take your coffee?

My coffee station!

Come...sit awhile and tell me what you have planned for 2012?

Will you be a resolution maker?

Are you a resolution breaker?

Does the start of a New Year give you hope? Or despair?

Two favourites - which do you prefer?

Come...sit awhile and tell my your plans...before the coffee goes cold! (see, I've put out a cup just for you!)

Jenny

Home for the Holidays...

Wherever you are, whatever you celebrate, I wish you and your family a wonderful Holiday Season...and a Merry Christmas!

As I shopped for last minute groceries, I asked the young cashier if she was excited about Christmas. She replied that she did not celebrate Christmas as she was Muslim. 

I smiled and wished her a happy time with her family anyway.

I live in a multi-cultural city - I love it! 

I try to embrace all ethnicities I encounter...they fascinates me. I don’t apologize for asking, or for not knowing, what if anything, a person celebrates or believes in. So long as we all try to get along and show a little respect I’m good to go.

As I exited this grocery store (my regular haunt) the two fellows that man the Lotto Booth were closing up for the day. (we often exchange pleasantries)

I smiled and wished them a Merry Christmas...but then I laughed and realized they might not celebrate this holiday, just like the young cashier. 

I went over to their counter and asked - they replied they did not; I then revised my greeting for them by wishing them both "Happy Holidays"; they in turn extended the same to me. 

Nowhere along this little path, of tossing out my “Merry Christmas” greetings, did I feel I was treading on toes or offending anyone. 

Quite the opposite, these people, the cashier and the lottery fellows, have been in Canada a long time (knowledge I’ve gleaned from our chats); I just made the assumption (silly me) that most people celebrate Christmas. 

My learning curve just never ends! 

I left with my grocery bags and a smile; at the end of the day we really all want the same thing, don’t we? Respect. 

By engaging people we meet with honest, respectful dialogue we go much further then by assumptions, prejudgements and stereotyping.

________________

Merry Christmas to you and yours, or if you prefer, Happy Holidays!

Either way, hug your family and be mindful of how precious they are, with or without a tree, they are a reason to celebrate. 

________________

Now...here are a few of my favourite Christmas photos:

Last year's tree

This year's tree

Next year's tree

Pucker up...where there's Mistletoe there's a happy puppy!

Does your tree change from year to year too?

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Jenny

LIFE LOTTERY WINNER

Have you ever wondered what the fascination is with winning a lottery? 

Particularly one that is about money.

People ask each other, "What would you do with ten million dollars?"  

So?  

What would you do? 

When you really put some thought into this question it is not that easy to answer.

Now, I'll ask you another question:

When you wake up and face a new day, what is your first thought? 

Are you miserable and discouraged at the prospect of facing yet another day?

Or, do you bound out of bed and thank the Gods (whichever yours is) that you are alive? Do you feel happy, maybe even lucky, that you've been given another chance to live, learn and laugh?

Well...when you wake up, each and every day, YOU are a winner of the Life Lottery!

What you have won is 24 hours, or 1,440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds - depending on how you look at it.

Question is: What will you do with your winnings?

Spend wisely - but spend it all and enjoy your day; maximize every one of those winning seconds because once they are gone - they are gone forever.

Every day is a lottery and if you are one of the lucky ones that actually wins, by waking up tomorrow, remember this:

No amount of money, fame or good looks guarantees a winning ticket in the Life Lottery - it truly is a game of chance.

So tomorrow, when you wake up, think long and hard about how you view your day - just in case your luck doesn’t hold.

May your winning streak continue - for a long, long time!

_______________________

Footnote

It is that time of year again where many of us will pause to reflect on all the 'should've, could've  would'ves' and start planning our long list of resolutions in hopes, that one of these years, we’ll “change” and be the perfect being we think we need to be to get through this life.

Pause for a moment and reflect on what is around you right now, and embrace it, for tomorrow it may be gone. Take one day at a time; enjoy the moment you’re in right now, and smile.

Many of us have hard roads to travel, heavy burdens to carry, all while climbing non-stop uphill - but the choice is still ours to make...we can suck it up and smile while struggling, or we can wallow in it and add to our own misery.

Again...pick wisely, today’s moments are tomorrow’s memories - how do you want to remember today!

How do you spend your winnings from the Life Lottery?

Thank you for following, for commenting, for being out there, and in here. 

 Jenny'

It's just a matter of time...

The old woman listened to the hum of the machines and the gentle breathing of the man lying in bed on the other side of the thin white curtain.

Tomorrow she’d be going home to her own bed where she would listen to a different sound...a sound she had missed these last two weeks...the ticking of her clocks. 

The cuckoo clock which hung in the kitchen; the little plastic rooster alarm clock in the bathroom; and the old chimer in the living room were part of her, and she missed the feeling of life they gave the rooms as she went from one to the other throughout her day.

Tomorrow her daughter would come at ten and hopefully by eleven she’d be stretched out on her cozy oversized sofa, wrapped in her yellow blanket, cup of tea on the end table, and her favourite program on the telly.

She had been lucky this time...but now things would be different - one more fall and going home would no longer be an option.

As she listened to the hum of the machines and the gentle breathing of the man lying in bed on the other side of the thin white curtain tears trickled down her cheeks and settled in the curve of her neck...it was just a matter of time.

 Jenny

CREEP, by Jennifer Hillier - My Review!

Are you looking for a book that will keep you guessing and turning pages?

Here’s the book you’re looking for - CREEP.

CREEP is Jennifer Hillier’s fiction debut novel - and a fantastic read!

I had the pleasure of discovering Jennifer Hillier’s blog site, The Serial Killer Files during this year’s A-Z Challenge and subsequently discovered CREEP, while visiting her site.

From the opening line, in the first chapter of CREEP, I was pulled into the pages and found myself really forming strong feelings for the three main characters.

What I really appreciated, about Hillier’s writing style, was how quickly I was able to form these feelings with minimal effort on her part. My own imagination, which is quite active, was allowed to partake in the visualizing and mental imagery of her characters - yet Hillier was in total control of where she wanted me to go with these likes and dislikes I had of her characters.

There was an oh-oh moment which came at me suddenly; I found myself diving into the book with greater gusto in hopes of finding out if my gut instincts were correct about this plot thickener.

If you love a novel filled with intrigue, seductions, twists and turns you will not be disappointed with this book; CREEP meets all the requirements of what a great thriller, and bestseller, should be!

I would like to congratulate Jennifer Hillier on CREEP - it was an excellent read; I look forward to her next book, FREAK.

If you’re looking for a book that you won’t put down I recommend picking up a copy of CREEP.

Taken from the inside panel of the front cover...the real teaser...

IF HE CAN'T HAVE HER . . .

Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology. An expert in human behaviour. And when she began an affair with sexy, charming graduate student Ethan Wolfe, she knew she was playing with fire. Consumed by lust when they were together, riddled with guilt when they weren't, she knows the three-month fling with her teaching assistant has to end. After all, she's engaged to a kind and loving investment banker who adores her, and she's taking control of her life. But when she attempts to end the affair, Ethan Wolfe won't let her walk away.

. . . NOBODY ELSE CAN.

Ethan has plans for Sheila, plans that involve posting a sex video that would surely get her fired and destroy her prestigious career. Plans to make her pay for rejecting him. And as she attempts to counter his every threatening move without her colleagues or her fiancé discovering her most intimate secrets, a shattering crime rocks Puget Sound State University: a female student, a star athlete, is found stabbed to death. Someone is raising the stakes of violence, sex, and blackmail . . . and before she knows it, Sheila is caught in a terrifying cat-and-mouse game with the lover she couldn't resist—who is now the monster who won't let her go.

Let me know if you’ve read it, or if your planning on adding it to your reading list!

Jenny