challenges

We all have guilty pleasures.

Sometimes, it’s hard to pin down exactly what it might be. For some, it might be music. For others, it might be a game. Or an activity. Or food.

There are times a guilty pleasure might be embarrassing. Then there are times where … it’s just something you don’t always want to indulge in.

For me, it’s a certain food. It’s one that I can’t get too often in my area, so when I get it, I tend to cherish it. Add to the fact that I am trying to be a lot healthier, these items are also something that I have to watch in that regard as well.

My guilty pleasure (at least one of them), are French macarons.

Goodness.

If you’ve had traditional French macarons, you know what I’m talking about here. Each bite is delightful. The different flavors you can get are incredible. It’s almost a bit of heaven each time you chew down.

So.

Damn.

Delightful.

My goodness. Just thinking about them makes me smile.

Whenever I go to a city, I always try and look up if they have places to get macarons. The closest to me is in the Scranton area, but it’s a neat little store with amazing macarons. I’ve gotten them in Philly, New York City, Saratoga … I know there are a few other places.

This is my weak spot, though.

If you have never had macarons (and I’m not talking about those “macaroons” cookies), then I would encourage you to find a bakery that has good ones. When they are fresh, they are amazing. I like, too, that there seems to be a lot of room for flavors, which makes it even better.

Now I want some macarons.

How about all of you? Have you had some real macarons? Do you like? And what is your guilty pleasure?

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This post is part of the 2018 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! This is also part of the 2018 HooHaa Blogging Challenge. 

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!

Does anybody remember those old Bud commercials … the “why ask why?”

Those old commercials gave you different questions to answer … the questions to ponder, if you will.

But the theme itself got me thinking.

Why do we ask?

What do we ask?

Life is a learning tool. So often people don’t ask questions and they should. In the past six months, I couldn’t tell you how many times somebody said “This is a stupid question, but …”

And 9.5 times out of 10, it’s not a stupid question.

Our lives are full of learning opportunities, where we can increase our knowledge of the world or different things and to improve ourselves.

If you don’t ask questions, how do you always learn?

The reality is, especially in the current age, there are so many things that go on in the world.

So, why ask why?

Why not?

Ask the questions … and learn more.

Until then, here’s an old commercial for your Friday.

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This post is part of the 2018 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! This is also part of the 2018 HooHaa Blogging Challenge. 

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!

I thought this theme was a good one because the hope is – no matter how deep you look or blog into it, it makes you think and reflect a little.

Life isn’t always easy. And it sure as hell isn’t always fair. But there are small things in life in which you can look toward to make you happy.

My list is filled with different things – from board games to travel to photography to hot dogs. Mind you, this list is brief and I don’t go into explaining things, but I’m not sure I truly need to. I think the list explains itself.

My “happy” list, in no particular order:

1. Baseball
2. Photography
3. Geocaching
4. A good beer (preferably, Guinness)
5. Hot dogs
6. Ice cream
7. Board games
8. Family and friends
9. A great meal
10. Travel

There’s my 10 … what about you? What are the things that make you happy? With the world the way it is, sometimes even just thinking about these items can make you smile. For me, there are more than 10 – such as the random smile from somebody, or just going for a drive – but the items above are usually things that can make me smile quickly.

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This post is part of the 2018 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! This is also part of the 2018 HooHaa Blogging Challenge. 

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!

I vote …or not.

Living in the Northeast, I’ve long understood that the weather can change in my area – just blink. And I do like living in an area where we get all four seasons (though, in recent years, it hasn’t always been that way).

But … snow.

I’m a firm believer we should have a white Christmas, and my area had that this year for the first time in a few. In fact, Christmas morning for me was shoveling. But once we hit early January, its time for the snow to go.

Instead, it seems like after flipping a new year, that’s when we get it. And often times, it’s … just here and there. An inch or three one day, same with the next.

Now, this year I don’t mind as much as it’s good exercise to get out there and shovel. It keeps me active and is different than just going for a walk. So if it’s something I have to do, it’s not a bad thing. With worrying about my health, it helps there, too.

Still, it’s annoying.

For example, coming home from work yesterday, I caught a line of cars. One car was leading this pack and doing anywhere from 18 mph to 35. If you have driven in winter weather, you know going that slow is highly dangerous.

I’m not a racer in winter weather, but you have to drive as you can. If you are scared or too slow, it can cause an accident.

That’s the problem with winters that haven’t been bad – people panic when it does finally snow.

And I do like snow for about a month, as I noted above. But then it’s time for it to go and let us start working toward the spring.

Snow can make for good photos. It’s great during the holidays. But once you start going deeper into a new year, it’s … not fun anymore. Mix in with the brutal temperatures we’ve been getting and it’s even worse.

How about you? Snow … or no?

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This post is part of the 2018 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! This is also part of the 2018 HooHaa Blogging Challenge. 

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!

It took a long time, but I can look back and realize that I did learn quite a bit in school – but not all of it was positive.

School for me went in different levels.

1. Elementary school/middle school: From what I can remember, it wasn’t awful. But I honestly have very foggy memories.
2. High school: This is basically grades 9-12, and I honestly hated it. I never wanted to go to school (and only had like two absences) and was bullied. I can’t imagine living during these days with social media and the internet in regard to bullying. It would have made things way worse. I was happy when graduation day came.
3. First college: I took a little time off and then went to the local college and it took me five semesters to get an associate’s degree. I then took five years off.
4. Undergraduate: This is where I learned to love education. I liked my professors. I had a work-study job with the public relations department. I enjoyed my classes and I loved the area I was in. I figured out how to study, how to pay attention, and what education meant.
5. Graduate: I enjoyed college so much, I went and earned my master’s degree the following year. It was something I truly enjoyed.
6. Teaching: I’ve also had the chance to be an adjunct teacher. This has allowed me to see the other end of things and see what people go through not only to learn, but what it takes to help people learn. This is a very rewarding experience and I hope to do it again in the future.

It took me a long time to learn when it came to school. I would rather forget everything about high school, to be honest. But I’d go back to college without thinking twice. It was when I honestly learned about many things, including life, and made me realize that learning could be fun.

In the current days, learning is so amazing if you go to the right place. There are classes schools offer now that I would have loved to have been able to do back when. I might have enjoyed high school more if I was challenged more than just the traditional ways.

How about you? What did you learn?

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This post is part of the 2018 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! This is also part of the 2018 HooHaa Blogging Challenge. 

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!