A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

blogging

Secret Subject Swap: What does Thanksgiving mean to me?

This post is for the Secret Subject Swap, a monthly blog challenge. Information about the swap can be viewed at the end of this post, as well as links to all others taking part. Have a peek at some of the other bloggers and see what they had to come up with. If you are a blogger, consider joining up for future months!

My theme is “What does Thanksgiving mean to you?” and it was submitted by Baking in a Tornado.

It’s interesting to take a look at some holidays. Thanksgiving, for the most part, has been one of my least-favorite holidays. 

Not sure why, but it’s never “wowed” me. Maybe it’s because I’m not the biggest fan of turkey. So my thoughts about Thanksgiving have kind of grown over time. Let me break it down. 

When I was younger, it was just time off from school. The family gathered on Thanksgiving and we ate. It was always earlier because it’s a holiday. 

When I got older, it took on a different meaning. 

As in – drinking. 

I’m not sure if it’s this way around you, but Thanksgiving Eve near me is one of the biggest bar nights of the year. We used to start early and end late, usually in a drunken stupor. 

But goodness was it a blast. 

People came back to town. The bars were packed. You saw people in different groups. It was just one of those nights to look forward to. 

Alas, as I grew older, that wasn’t as fun. I last did it a few years ago. But … things have changed. How? It was me and two friends who decided to pop out. We went early, had a couple of beers, and called it a night. We weren’t out late. 

That was maybe 4-5 years ago. And I don’t think I’ve been to many bars since then, period. After some softball games before I stopped playing a couple of years ago, but overall? I don’t do it often. 

And now, we bring it to the current years. It’s back to the family thing, which I enjoy much more. It’s way more low-key. It’s enjoyable just to be around family. 

So what does it mean to me? It means some peace and relaxing. It’s fun to be able to just hang out, have some good food and chill. It’s also nice to get three days off from work. When I was in newspapers, that was the one holiday I often volunteered to work because my family always ate early, and I could get in to do a shift, 

Now, though? 

Hanging with family. Having a good meal. And a cold turkey sandwich at night. Football is not part of my tradition. So it’s just a way to chill and enjoy being able to be around loved ones. 

How about all of you?

Five others have taken part in this challenge, so go check out the other posts and have some fun reading their secret subjects!

Enjoy blogging challenges? We have several that happen at A ‘lil HooHaa, and we’d love to have you join us! The Photo Blogging Challenge is one of our main ones and it runs monthly! We also have the Food Photo Challenge (current theme listed at end of post). We’d love to see you!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

BWF: Apples, apples, everywhere!

It’s a rough world right now. 

Between elections and pandemics and hate, it’s probably a bit more than many of us can handle. Stress levels are high, mental health issues are in the forefront, and it seems many people can’t get along. 

The one thing, however, we can usually *attempt* to control is ourselves. 

We can’t shield ourselves from everything, outside of going into the mountains and living off the land in a shack. That actually kind of sounds divine, doesn’t it? The news cycle is 24/7, so if you are around anything where news can be found, you’ll hear something. 

So what can you do to relax? To calm down? To find the inner zen?

Get outside, of course. 

This is something I haven’t done in a couple of years. And, to be honest, it’s probably silly that I haven’t. But if you want to escape from reality, find an apple orchard. 

Go pick apples. 

Take photos. 

Take some videos. 

When you go to apple orchards, you can really have a good time. Apples on the trees, on the ground, and all over. What’s nice is the color and the smells. 

And you are outside. 

It’s not just about picking some apples. Though, let’s be honest here, it’s a good part. All these varieties of apples gives you the chance to test so many different types. 

Rows and rows of apples. 

Proof that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!

This isn’t a perfect fix, of course. But it’s little things like this that can really make you take a step back in life a little and breathe. When you are out doing things like this, you have the ability to ignore things like social media, and your phone, and things like that. 

Maybe it’s only for an hour, but it’s not a bad thing, is it?

The one thing I’ve learned during this pandemic – especially over the past month or two – is there are a lot of things out there you can do to try and clear your head, all while staying safe. You just have to look. 

Depending where you are, apple season is still likely going on. Go find an orchard. Pick some apples. And clear your mind!

And always remember, an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! You’ll see that!

Blog With Friends: October 2020
Blog with Friends is a themed collaboration challenge where a group of bloggers get together and publish a project based on a theme. Please see the others who have taken part for this month’s theme carrots. Links to their posts can be found below the image!

Check out what the others did with carrots!

Enjoy blogging challenges? We have several that happen here, and we’d love to have you join us! The Photo Blogging Challenge is one of our main ones and it runs monthly! Starting up is the Food Photo Challenge and the Can of Corn Challenge. We’d love to see you!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Secret Subject Swap: Wild stories

This post is for the Secret Subject Swap, a monthly blog challenge. Information about the swap can be viewed at the end of this post, as well as links to all others taking part. Have a peek at some of the other bloggers and see what they had to come up with. If you are a blogger, consider joining up for future months!

My theme is “Who is an entertainer of any type that you know a wild story about? What are the details?” and it was submitted by Climaxed.

My theme is “Who is an entertainer of any type that you know a wild story about? What are the details?

This is an interesting question and, honestly, one I can’t really answer. Though I know a few entertainers in real life, talking details about any wild stories we have isn’t my style.

But, that brings us to a bigger thing — the obsession society has with items like this.

Let’s take a quick example. Say I know Entertainer A. I go out and have a crazy night with Entertainer A. Nobody knows them where we are and maybe it’s before they make it big. I post about it and maybe … somebody sees it and shares and so forth.

All of a sudden, a story that was secret is out there. People eat it up and on it goes. Maybe you all of a sudden, too, lose a friend.

This is something that, no doubt, has happened countless times.

Again, though, this got me thinking. With all happening in the world these days, it really shows the power of the internet, which obviously includes social media, blogs, and the such. If you whisper it, it can be heard by many people.

We live in a day filled with reality television. “News” sites like TMZ cover an entertainers every move. Paparazzi can’t let celebrities eat in peace, let alone walk around and try and blend in. We’re an obsessed society with celebs. And it’s not just the United States — it’s everywhere. Look at the UK’s viewing of the Royal family. I’d wager many have opinions on Harry.

So where did this come from? Is it from shows like The Real World or even when Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie had their deal? Is it the Kardashians? How about shows like Big Brother or Survivor?

Somewhere along the line, the obsession went from flipping through a newspaper aisle junk rag to full-blown obsession.

I remember, as a kid, my grandmother used to get things like The National Enquirer. Though there were celeb things, there were so many other items such as aliens and the such. I used to love reading them because it was so out there.

But now, things have changed.

From reality TV to many different internet sites that cover celebrity sightings and things they do, we — as a society — can’t seem to get enough of it. Add to it so many reality TV shows and people become celebrities just because they live in a house together for three months with cameras all over the place.

Crazy, right?

When I was younger, life didn’t have all of this. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy shows like Big Brother and the Amazing Race. Or the reality food shows etc.

So while I think deep, I have a story or two with a borderline celebrity or two. None of them are earth-shattering and likely wouldn’t even gt a sniff outside of this blog post. But sometimes, things are just left as they are!

What are your thoughts on celebs/entertainers and stories about them?

Five others have taken part in this challenge, so go check out the other posts and have some fun reading their secret subjects!

Enjoy blogging challenges? We have several that happen at A ‘lil HooHaa, and we’d love to have you join us! The Photo Blogging Challenge is one of our main ones and it runs monthly! We also have the Food Photo Challenge (current theme listed at end of post) and the Can of Corn Challenge. We’d love to see you!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

BWF: Self improvement

Self improvement can go in many different ways.

And in this day and age, with all going on in our world, it’s a very important part of people’s life. Take for example, just the USA. Our unemployment rate is high, COVID-19 is still running rampant in many places, and the political scene is extremely volatile. Add to that social issues, which have taken center stage and put many people on edge.

Those don’t even include day-to-day life issues. Work, kids (if you have them), bills, appointments, etc.

If you put all of that together, it makes things extremely hard, at times to deal with. I haven’t seen many reports lately (as I am trying to not watch a lot of things for obvious reasons) but a few months ago it was reported how depression is on the rise. That doesn’t shock me at all as people are going to be prone to it if they are constantly being kicked down. Sometimes it’s hard to smile. I’m sure we all know that feeling.

How to cope?

Several months ago, for one of these challenges, I blogged about bullet journaling. It was something I had hoped I would do more of and kind of keep me a bit more in tune to things. So, I started it. And I rolled a bit for a month and then it faded.

Why?

Because it became stressful to create the spreads. The thing with a bullet journal is you a creating spreads each month, week, and day. You have to plot out pages you use. And it’s very time consuming. Even if you are doing minimalist style journaling as you are still making and doing spreads.

I realized after the first month, and then setting up another month’s monthly spreads that I just wasn’t going to have the time, patience, or enjoyment in setting up the spreads. But I still knew I needed to do something like this. I needed to be away from the screens so much, yet still be able to do something to keep track of things, such as habits, and reflect each day. Even just a little.

A friend of mine has been into Hobonichi, a Japanese company with these amazing little planners. The paper is Tomoe River, a smooth and thin paper that works well with fountain pens and many other pens. In January, I had purchased one of their “Weeks” books and didn’t use it a ton, but I pulled it back out and leafed through it. I then looked at some of their other products. I also looked at some other items on other stationary sites and started formulating a plan.

One thing I knew — going back to paper was important for me as it would force me to be away from the screen, but still allow me to plan. Also, it would allow me to continue forcing me to change my handwriting a little to make it way neater.

So, I give to you my plan. And what I’ve been doing for a few weeks now and I’ve already seen improvement.

My new desk calendar.

First, I purchased a very portable desk calendar from a spot online. It’s thin, yet still very efficient. I have a lot of room to write appointments, meetings, and tasks. I’m using this only for work. I’ve noticed how much more I get done. The issue with using things like Google Calendars is you get the reminder and then it goes away. If you are in the middle of something, you could forget certain tasks. I still, of course, use it for work, but this is an added layer as I have each day laid out and I add/subtract to it, all while using a version of BUJO style with tasks.

Second, I found some 2020 Hobonichi items on the secondary market that were priced down. Hobonichi isn’t the cheapest (it’s not the most expensive, either), but I didn’t want to fully invest in 2021 without looking at everything and seeing if I could formulate an ever-evolving style to help me get grounded and improve myself overall.

Here’s what I’ve come up with.

Most Hobonichi items are in Japanese, though English speakers won’t have any issues using them. One — the A6 planner — is in English, however. The Cousin is an A5 planner, so bigger. I thought long and hard about what to do, and this is my plan and what I’ve started to do already.

The Hobonichi Cousin with my current setup.

The A6 is going to be my work “planner.” It’s set up where it has daily pages, as well as monthly overviews in the beginning. I work in two districts, so it’s nice to have a place I can take notes, be it for projects or meetings. This one is very portable, too, which is even better. I use the vertical monthly spreads as an index. I don’t fill pages each day, which is fine as there are times I need more room and I can flip back one page etc. It’s worked out really well, so far.

The A5 cousin is being left at home. This has a lot more to it, so I am working on the final formula — but this is the important one when it comes to my self improvement. The daily spreads, so far, are where I am keeping my trackers, as well as my daily thoughts. This is important to me as I can reflect on the day and get something on paper. I plan on doing this every day, and if I sometimes have to catch up on a day or two, I will. So far, this has been a great thing for me.

Finally, the Weeks. I plan on getting another of these as they are very portable and smaller. My goal? Planning out my blog a bit better. Posts. Visiting others. When to write. Ideas. I also want to use it for social media postings, such as Instagram and YouTube (which I would like to do a lot more with in the coming year), giving me a place for ideas and planning.

I think, as a society, we’ve become too connected to the digital world. I am as guilty as that as anybody else. So I’m hoping this will get me to be a little more in tune to things without a screen — at least some. And I also hope this setup will help me self improve so there is more smiling and less worrying.

How about all of you?

Blog With Friends: September 2020
Blog with Friends is a themed collaboration challenge where a group of bloggers get together and publish a project based on a theme. Please see the others who have taken part for this month’s theme carrots. Links to their posts can be found below the image!

Check out what the others did with carrots!

Enjoy blogging challenges? We have several that happen here, and we’d love to have you join us! The Photo Blogging Challenge is one of our main ones and it runs monthly! Starting up is the Food Photo Challenge and the Can of Corn Challenge. We’d love to see you!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Secret Subject Swap: Hot or cold?

This post is for the Secret Subject Swap, a monthly blog challenge. Information about the swap can be viewed at the end of this post, as well as links to all others taking part. Have a peek at some of the other bloggers and see what they had to come up with. If you are a blogger, consider joining up for future months!

My theme is “Which do you like best, cold or hot? Why?” and it was submitted by Wandering Web Designer.

This one has quite the broad range that I could go with. So, I’ve decided to cover two topics and, for the most part, the outcome is the same.

Cold.

I’m not saying things have to be bone-chilling cold, but I tend to like things colder than warmer.

Weather

First, here’s the thing — I can’t stand super hot and humid weather. If I could be somewhere that it was anywhere from 40-65 all year, it would be perfect. Rain can be at night. Partly cloudy during the day. Perfect.

We know it’s not a perfect world.

So, if I have to choose — I’m going with cold. The main reason being I can adapt easier. I know how to dress for the cold and I can layer up in case it warms up. With the heat, it’s very tough for me to deal with it. It drains me faster, I hate sweating, and it just get uncomfortable.

Again, I’m not saying 10-below-zero wind chills here, I’m just talking colder. It’s probably why fall is my favorite season, outside of the colors. That sweatshirt and jeans weather is awesome and it’s great to be outside during it.

Walking is also more comfortable for me in the cooler weather, so that’s another reason.

Now, the warmer weather does bring a lot of good things. Baseball, for one. So there are benefits to the weather being on the warmer side.

Drinks/Food

This is an interesting one. I would say 85 percent of the time, I like my drinks cold. Even during the winter, I take a bottle of ice water with me to work. Most things I like cold. Even Guinness!

Alas, I do like hot tea in the winter, as well as hot chocolate. Outside of that, I don’t like my drinks warm or hot.

There’s just something truly refreshing about a cold drink. It seems to revive you. Hot drinks, on the other hand, are more comforting, at least for me. It’s nice to sit at home on a cold and snowy winter and have a nice cup of tea.

Food is where it gets interesting. I don’t need mine piping hot. Warm is fine. I love me some chowder, and I like it on the warm/hot side. But, not all food has to be hot to eat.

I’m not even going to talk about the normal cold foods (subs etc.) that I love.

But take something like chicken strips. Or a ham steak. Those are good warm, but they are really good cold, too. Pizza? Same thing.

On the flip side, unless it’s over a salad, I don’t need cold steak. Same goes with pork.

But take things like french fries? Or a hamburger? Or pasta? I need them hotter, that’s for sure. I am not going to enjoy those being cold.

So how about you? Hot or cold?

Five others have taken part in this challenge, so go check out the other posts and have some fun reading their secret subjects!

Enjoy blogging challenges? We have several that happen at A ‘lil HooHaa, and we’d love to have you join us! The Photo Blogging Challenge is one of our main ones and it runs monthly! We also have the Food Photo Challenge (current theme listed at end of post) and the Can of Corn Challenge. We’d love to see you!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!