Squidoo Sunday and Grandparents Day

Just in case you do not already know, then I am here to remind you! Today is National Grandparents Day in the USA. I hope you are having a Grand day.

For those whose grandparents may be far away or somewhere over the rainbow, take heed ... There are plenty of elderly people out there who would love it if you would give them the time of day.

Youth and Elders Post Cards by abitosunshine
Try Zazzle's custom postcards printing.

Creating and collecting picture postcards is a passion of mine. Grandparents are people I am compassionate towards, especially those who are long distance grandmas and grandpas. I combine my thoughts on the two in an article on the Squidoo writing platform. I do believe postcards a positive way to bridge the Grand generation gap!

Now it's time to hop on over to link up with Squidoo Sunday with Noner Says! It is always a pleasure to see what treasures she's sharing on her blog hop this week. Come along and have yourself a peek!

Wild Tale Of Tenfold

This little piece of flash fiction is dedicated to my friend Nancy for her neverending passion for helping to save America's wild horses.

It is my hope that one day this fictional tale becomes truth beheld as fact.

The inspiration for this writing comes from Five Sentence Fiction.

We are given a prompt word each week on which to base our story written in five sentences.

The word prompt this week: BEAUTY



Wild Tale of Tenfold
©Ruth Cox

"Beast cometh to round us up and to chop us down in our own dirt," snorted Stallion at the lead of a flying stampede.

"Dreamscape the legend of the land," Mare cries in bloodcurdling neigh to her faraway foul. "The day shall come when men of the wind find themselves flogged with the horsewhip of our nightmarish end."

To wit: Hellfire cometh for mankind for his heinous crime while wild horses shall be freed to roam with the herd in a heavenly home here on earth governed by golden bird.

Ah! there is but beauty to behold in the tale of tenfold!

Wild Horses Video courtesy of YouTube

Image Source: morgueFile.com

Squidoo Sunday With Noner Says

I have been out of the loop with my blogging of late but writing my way back to my blogs and a pastime I thoroughly enjoy - linking up with other bloggers and blog hops.

That said, today I am linking up with Noner Says and her Squidoo Sunday linkup for the discussion and sharing of our Squidoo articles. Hop along with us each week!

If you are not yet a member of the Squidoo writing community you can join Squidoo here and then join Noner Says on Sundays too.

This past week I did not create and publish any new articles on Squidoo. I have been working on updating a few older articles there instead. In fact, this afternoon I have been updating my dog Tidbit's web page on Squidoo in preparation for tomorrow being National Dog Day in the USA. Hopefully I will get some major work done to Tidbit's page before day's end as it is so outdated. Oh my!

I do have a couple of articles I am working on that I hope to publish to Squidoo before month's end. Most assuredly one of these will be about postcards! So do check back soon to see the details of anything new.

Yes, I am back to collecting postcards and enjoying it immensely. Are you a collector of postcards?

Love Day Dance and Keychain Giveaway

Whatever your plans for the upcoming love day or if you have not yet made plans for Valentine's Day, I am here to tell you about a special Love Day dance.

Actually, I am going to let my net friend Lisa explain to you all about the event in her article on the worldwide dance steps to further awareness of violence against women on Valentine's Day in 2013. Be sure to check out the link to the locator she provides for details of the One Billion Rising dance event nearest you!

Yes. I am a woman who has fallen victim to child abuse and domestic violence. I am fortunate to be a survivor of these demons, unlike my mother, whose death was a direct result of domestic violence. You can read my story amid the prose and poems of Arise Against Abuse.

Dance Domestic Violence Away by abitosunshine

Check out another keychain.

 

 

In honor of my mother, Anna Mae Cox, and a desire to end violence against women, I am giving away one of my Dance Domestic Violence Away Keychains!

To qualify as an entrant to the Dance Domestic Violence Away Keychain Giveaway you MUST:

1. Publish a post on your blog about dancing to end violence against women.
2. Within your article you must mention and provide a link to Lisa's One Billion Rising article. (http://www.squidoo.com/one-billion-rising-around-the-world-against-violence)
3. Link up with SHARE the LOVE blog hop no later than Midnight EST on February 13th, 2013. Include the hop badge and link in your blog post as well as Add Your Link to the list at the end of this blog article.

 

Linking your end violence against women blog post up with SHARE the LOVE before February 14th, 2013 is your official entry to the Giveaway. All entries will be confirmed and if incorrect will not be included in the random giveaway drawing.

 

Drawing will be held on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2013. Winner will be notified by email and on this blog. (So be sure your email address is left in the comment section this post so you can be contacted. For example you may use this format for your email: ruthcox at abitosunshine dot net) Winner will have 48 hours to reply to their winning email with shipping details, and if do not reply, a new winner will be randomly chosen.

 

Will you rise up and dance domestic violence away this Valentine's Day?

Link up your end violence against women blog post to confirm your entry to the Love Day Dance and Keychain Giveaway!

 

Additionally, you are, of course, invited to link up with SHARE the LOVE blog hop with any blog posts on the topic of Love throughout the month.

Food for Thought and Love

My first thought is that I simply must find more time for sharing the love on this blog! In my quest to share the love with my readers every day I fell behind in January and I am already a bit behind for February, gheesh! Oh well, I have plenty of time to catch up throughout the year.

That said, I invite you to blog about love this month and link your blog posts up with Share the Love blog hop!

February is the month of Love so let us share the love together.

Of course, I believe we should share the love with everyone, not just for the designated love day for Valentines. Hence, my sharing of many different aspects of love here for the Share the Love blog hop and I also share similar thoughts on my "Share the Love on Valentine's Day" article on Squidoo.

In keeping with food for thought, how about creating a healthy dessert for your loved ones this Valentine's Day? Or, any day, for that matter!

If healthy is not on your mind at the moment I am sure you will enjoy whipping up some easy to make and bake blackberry cobbler!

Blackberry Cobbler Recipe Card Postcards by Sylvestermouse
Try post card printing using zazzle

 

Do you have a favorite recipe?
How about a recipe for love?
Perhaps, a recipe reminder of a loved one...?

...such as my mom's peach pies.

Blog about your loved recipes and link up with Share the Love!

In The Business Of Love

Of late, I feel as though I am in the business of love as I seem to be looking at everything through love-addicted eyes, always keeping an eye out for the next scoop of love to share with my readers. In fact, I just finished reading an article over at Forbes.com entitled The Business Of Love that you simply must read. It certainly sheds new light on romance finance!

Over the course of my lifetime I have become older and somewhat wiser in the ways of love. One of the most important things I have learned is that in some ways a love relationship does need to be treated like we would treat a business proposition.

The business of love is a give and take relationship. No, that does not mean on one side there are givers with takers on the other side. What it does mean is that we do business together; in turn, we give and we take. We each have wants and needs and we join forces with those who can fill the bill, much like a supply and demand deal.

A perfect example of the give and take scenario: As a writer on the Squidoo forum I often include links to products which can be purchased at Amazon.com. Unfortunately, it is against Terms Of Service to purchase products from my own article links. No problem! I simply visit a fellow Squidoo article writer friend and click on one of their links to Amazon, search for the item I want to buy, and make my purchase. The Squidoo lensmaster whose link I followed to Amazon gets credit for the sale and earns a little bit of cash! And I can rest assured that my turn to be on the receiving earnings line as a Squidoo lensmaster will come eventually.

Another example of the business of love is doing business with family, friends, and aquaintances online and offline. We do this to help sustain the businesses of those we are committed to and of those persons we somewhat know. See how easily business and relationships are tied together?

I love doing business with those I know and now that my community of business relationships has grown immense with my internet activity, I pretty much always know someone I can do business with that is not a total stranger.

My in-the-business-of-love relationship with Backwoods Bracelets and More is a prime example of doing business and loving the fellas with whom I am doing business. Products, service, and artistic design talent are excellent when in the hands of Adam and Edmond (Facebook Page).

Check out those lovely paracord hand-woven crosses I ordered for Christmas--two as gifts and one for myself. Can you guess which of the three crosses now dangles from the rear-view mirror of my car?

Earlier today I contacted Adam with a query about a yin-yang design. Within minutes Adam had shared a couple of photos of his ideas brainstorming around my ideas and my order was placed--again, a gift for a friend. Ain't love grand!



Are you in the business of love with someone?

I invite you to SHARE the LOVE in a blog post and link up with me!

Balance Act of Love

I have been pondering the balancing act of life of late. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that quite often LIFE gets in the way of LIVING.

I have even left this phrase as a comment once or twice this past week on articles published by friends. Yesterday I wrote myself a note to write about the topic of life getting in the way of living and loving.

Well, today, I have reason to pretty much table that article; rather, table the time frame of the writing as well as the reason for writing on the topic. Life is a balancing act, as most of you well know. We must often weigh work and responsibility against love and laughter. Today, I choose to balance the two alongside one another because of an article written by a friend which tipped the scales right over!

Balance Yin Yang Keychain by yarddawg
Design your own personalized cheap keychains at zazzle.com
 

Each Thursday, my friend Brenda publishes a blog post through her blog hop Pondering With A Purpose. Brenda issues a writing prompt and all are welcome to write their own blog post and link it up with hers through the blog hop.

The Pondering With a Purpose writing prompt for this week?

BALANCE

That word is linked directly to her post. Go ahead, click on it, read it! I did! And it touched my heart to tears when I did so.

On my list of ToDos for the day was to post my blog article for my own blog hop, SHARE the LOVE. When I weighed that responsibility with my work day it was plain to see that I could not in all good conscience write my blog post without love and laughter tipping the scales in Brenda's direction.

So today, I share the love with Ms. Brenda and I ask that you do same. Read her post. Introduce yourself. Leave her a comment to let her know she is loved or say something to give her good reason to smile.

And if you feel the need to commit a balance act of love for yourself or someone else--blog about it and link right up with SHARE the LOVE.

Celebrate Magazine Love

As I thought about my post of Celebrate Magazine Love for today, I could not help pondering if Magazine Subscriptions of the printed kind would one day find themselves a thing of the past. I'll hold on to that thought for another article another day.

The magazine subscription I wish to share with you today is one that many of my peers subscribe to online--Celebrate Magazine on Squidoo.

Celebrate Magazine is your go-to gift guide for all occasions, holidays, and celebrations! Naturally, we are all signed up on Squidoo to create and publish articles so this would be a magazine of interest to us. Of course, not only do we subscribe to Celebrate, we submit our own articles to the magazine!

 That said, allow me to share a few Celebrate contributors with you.

Celebrate Magazine Love

From this contributor list you will be taken to that Squidoo lensmaster's page which lists some of the articles they have in the Celebrate Magazine on Squidoo.

• Ruthi ... Yes, shameless self-promotion of my own articles.
• RenaissanceWoman2010 ... An amazing journey of discovery.
• BuckHawk ... Celebrating animals as well as other things.
• OhMe ... A breath of fresh air with a walk in a park.
• Tipi ... A passionate embrace.
• Sylvestermouse ... Yes, there is a mouse in the house!

My introductory image for this article show you my current favorite magazine subscription--the print version of Poets & Writers Magazine. Yes, I am a die-hard lover of print publications!

So tell me ...

Are you Subscribed or Will you Subscribe to Celebrate Magazine on Squidoo?

Feel free to share your Squidoo Magazine Contributor links with your comments.

Also, you are invited to blog hop along with SHARE the LOVE throughout the year. I look forward to what you feel love and share worthy.

Once I Had A Secret Love

Once I had a Secret Love. Yes, just like Doris Day! I would love to tell you all about it but then my love would not be a secret any more!

Always on the lookout for a good love story to share with you, a Pinterest pin caught my roving eye...

 

Source: squidoo.com via Lorelei on Pinterest


 

Follow the pin link above to connect with Lorelei on Pinterest and then head on over to read the short story of Secret Love by Ladymermaid.

Enquiring minds want to know...

Did the ending of the secret love story come as a surprise to you?

Secret Admirer magic mug by SuzeeQ
Create one-of-a-kind personalized cups from zazzle.com.
 

Enquiring minds want to know...

Have you ever had a secret love affair to remember?

Have you ever had a secret admirer?

 

 

 

Blog about love and link up with...

SHARE the LOVE.

Puppy Love

Many of my readers might agree, we cannot share love without sharing s bit of ... I guess nobody can tell us about it better than the one, the only ... Paul Anka

and they called it...

 

 

 

Puppy Love

 

 

There are, of course, those big ol' boys who jump right into our lives on all fours and take over our hearts. I will let Buckhawk introduce you to these Gentle Giants; rather, Great Danes.

 

For you ladies out there who are the truest of puppy lovers, I ran across the cutest puppy dogs ever--puppy dog purses! Yes, handbags! Head on over to the puppy purse gift guide, by GabrielaFargasch, and pick out your pooch!

 

Now, no longer in my teens, I have cried my share of tears over lost loves, including the truest of puppy loves--that of a loving companion of the canine kind--my dog, Scratchy Sunshine.

 

 

No doubt you have a tale of puppy love to share.

Share it with my readers right here; or, better yet, write your story as a blog post and link up with SHARE the LOVE blog hop!

Ohio Buckeye Love

If you follow me across various blogs and forums you will learn from whence I came, with one of my favorite descriptive phrases for such being "Buckeye born and bred in the hills of Ohio, USA" which, of course, I added to one of my postcards.

Earlier today, I was reminded of one of the things I love most about my home state of Ohio and that is its state motto: With God All things are possible.

Here is a great photo of a plaque with the motto by Theresa on the RedGage forum. Of course, from the plaque you learn from whence the motto came.

Growing up in the hills of Ohio I pretty much lived in rural areas. One of the belly-warming memories I hold dear is an often eaten meal baked up by my Momma. Squidoo friend, Frischy, will tell you all about the Johnny Marzetti Recipe and where it originated.

There is much to love within the state of Ohio; the best of all being that here is where the loved ones in my family mostly live.

Where do you live?

Is there something to love from whence you came?

SHARE the LOVE in an article or blog post and link your love up in the blog hop!

Simple Self Love Question

On this journey of love I began for the new year I fully expected to travel many roads leading to many different kinds of love. And, sure, I expected self-love to be one of the paths I might encounter. However, I did not expect it to be me so soon nor did I expect the pathway to loving oneself to arise in such a roundabout way as I discovered in my wanderings today.

Sharing with you where a few little love jaunts took me to but first I want to simply ask that you spend more than a few moments really listening to the words of this video share.

Unconditional Love - The Simple Question

 

 

Without hesitation, my initial response to the simple question was, No. I do not. I do love myself but with conditions.

Then I listened to the words of unconditional love being shared with me and I knew, know, that I have loved myself unconditionally, just as I have loved others unconditionally. I know there are times when I love myself and others just the way they are but then there are those times when I do not love the way I am or the way 'they' are, so I guess my love is not as unconditional as I would like it to be.

For the betterment of self and of others, you can bet I will be spending a bit more time on the simple question of unconditional love.


Did you ask yourself the simple question of unconditional love hidden in the words of the video?
Please share your response.

Join me on this daily journey of love.

SHARE the LOVE is a blog hop.

Write an article about love and link up!

Faery Festival of Love and Romance

Visions of valentines are fluttering about in my heart and mind, lovingly induced by MissMerFaery. You simply must visit her lovely Valentine Fairies to enjoy the magic of love via the fae. I found quite a few divine valentines amid the festival of love and romance.

The Proposal by Lorrie McFaul 

Buy This at Allposters.com

 

 

And now, on bended knee, my proposal to thee: Blog about LOVE today and link up with the SHARE the LOVE blog hop!

 

 

 

 

Love is contagious and can oft' be outrageous ... Romance me!

Plant a Garden of Love

Now, this truly is a live greeting card! We could send these greeting cards all over the world and together we could plant and grow a world-wide-web garden of "I Love You" beans.

 

 



Say It with the " I Love You Bean " Just Add Water and Watch Your Love Grow on real Plant - 100% Guarantee to Grow



I do not have a green thumb but even I would delight in trying to make love grow!

How about you?

What color is your love thumb?
 

 

 

 

If you would like to help love grow across the world-wide-web, you do not really have to send live greeting card love.

 

All you need to do is read up on the SHARE the LOVE blog hop and start loving right along!

Writing Words of Love

Chris Brockman is, among other things, gifted with a talent for writing words of love. Chris is a published author and I will share his latest publication with you in a moment. Allow me first to introduce Chris through a sampling of his love poetry.

Chris Brockman - Love Poems

A Valentine To My Wife
The Book of Love

And last, but certainly not the least of three: Young Love

If you read "Young Love" you now know that this poem was included in Chris's latest book.

You can read my review of Growing Up In Boom Times for a closer look at the words and the author.






Have you ever carved your love onto the trunk of a tree or into the grains of sand on a shore?

Perhaps you would like to share a love carving in an article on your blog. Go ahead ... Write it ... Link up with SHARE the LOVE

Love Story in Memoir

Perhaps I am dating myself now as I reminisce one of the greatest love stories in film which came on the screen when I was a sweet sixteen.

Have you seen the movie Love Story?

Many of us have a great love story to share (and some of us may not).

Mandee (aka DecoratingforEvents on Squidoo) shares her very own love story as an example of memoir writing.

After you have read Mandee's love story, be sure to visit her blog to learn more about her Life Story Writing.

Do you have a great love story to share?

Perhaps you might like to share a love story on your blog and link up with SHARE the LOVE today!

Moms and Memories and Love

Today I did not have to look far to find a bit of love to share with you. A visit with Sara Duggan was emotional as well as inspirational. Sara's Welcome 2013 post for New Year's Day centers on mother love.

While reading Sara's blog post and listening to the video song she shared in her article, I was reminded (through a teardrop or two) of how mothering is not always easy, for the mom nor for the child. Yet, I smiled, for as I read and listened memories of my mom and of my son flooded my mind. For awhile I allowed only the memory of good times as a mother and as a child to enter my stream of thought.

Thank you, Sara!

And yes, I will share my own creation of the day, inspired by Sara Duggan...

Mother and Child Valentine by abitosunshine

Make a card on zazzle.

 

 

Did visiting with Sara inspire childhood or motherhood thoughts of love within you?

 

 

I invite you to share those loving thoughts here today. Better yet, why not publish a blog post of your own about love and link up with SHARE the LOVE blog hop!

 

Throughout 2013 I will be blogging each day on the topic of love. You can link up with me any (or every) day to share your own posts on the topic of love.

Scent of Love Fills the Air

When love is on the mind the scent of love fills the air, leading the way to lovely things to share with one another. Planning to post a SHARE the LOVE collection on my RedGage profile I was sidetracked just a bit by the Romantic Art of PoeticEnigma.

My favorite in the artwork collection is, for the moment, Stages of Love. Browse through the collection and let me know which is your favorite.

Yes, I was delighted to discover a link to this artist's work on Zazzle, too! Visit gothicpoet's Store at Zazzle for designs available for purchase.

Stages of Love Postcard by gothicpoet

2013 is truly going to be a year to enJOY as we SHARE the LOVE, don't you think?

 

Share the Love in 2013

Happy New Year blessings and a bit o' sunshine to you in this first week of the year 2013!

I am preparing to get back to writing about love this year and delighted to be doing so via the blog hop SHARE the LOVE, and yes, this is a blog hop I just an hour or so ago decided to introduce here on abitosunshine Love and Writing.

The idea came to me while updating an article of mine on Squidoo, so I switched gears and began blogging. Share the Love on Valentine's Day will get updated on another day!

Do you agree the world will be a better place if we all share the love? Good, then blog hop along with SHARE the LOVE!

Of course, getting this blog hop idea today puts me behind already! All is fine, though, as I will catch up before the year is through as a year is 365 days!

My first share is a treasure to give and to keep and I will let LisaAuch tell you all about how to give the gift of love in a keepsake box. Lisa's heart is obviously filled with love, much like the gift box she shares in her article.

I certainly plan to follow Lisa's lead and directions for creating a gift box filled with love to give to someone who is in need of a bit o' lovin'. How about you... Do you think Lisa is on to something here that can be used to share the love throughout the year?