Posts with the label creative writing
Showing posts with label creative writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creative writing. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
3 Holes in the #ShareaCoke Campaign
I have a love/hate relationship with Coke. I admit there is nothing more pleasing than the thirst-quenching taste of Coke. That sweet 10 teaspoons of sugary goodness billowing out of a bottle and splashing into your mouth tingling your tongue with a dash of effervescence! Definitely sensual and almost sexy. Then there's that awkward after-Coke regret.
I always hate that I've just drunk poison, albeit a great tasting poison. Coke has the same rotten effect on my body every time I allow that rich dark liquid to penetrate my lips, stain my teeth and erode my esophagus as it spills down my gullet to make war with my stomach acids. I'm not sure which one is stronger; the Coke acid or my stomach acid? I can never cover up the morning after fact that I've drunk a Coke due to the tell tell sign. The delicate skin under my eyes look like I somehow turned into a basset hound during the night.
My love/hate relationship is not the subject of this post. The unsettling experience I had while selecting a Coke from my local Dollar General cooler is! I hadn't shopped for a single 20 oz. Coke since the #ShareaCoke campaign began. I had bought a 12-pack. I can't remember anything distressing about reaching for a 12-pack #ShareaCoke can. But, as I stood in front of that cooler with the door open trying to decide, I ran into the following 3 holes in this particular advertising campaign:
I always hate that I've just drunk poison, albeit a great tasting poison. Coke has the same rotten effect on my body every time I allow that rich dark liquid to penetrate my lips, stain my teeth and erode my esophagus as it spills down my gullet to make war with my stomach acids. I'm not sure which one is stronger; the Coke acid or my stomach acid? I can never cover up the morning after fact that I've drunk a Coke due to the tell tell sign. The delicate skin under my eyes look like I somehow turned into a basset hound during the night.
My love/hate relationship is not the subject of this post. The unsettling experience I had while selecting a Coke from my local Dollar General cooler is! I hadn't shopped for a single 20 oz. Coke since the #ShareaCoke campaign began. I had bought a 12-pack. I can't remember anything distressing about reaching for a 12-pack #ShareaCoke can. But, as I stood in front of that cooler with the door open trying to decide, I ran into the following 3 holes in this particular advertising campaign:
- The very first Coke I saw opening the cooler was the name of my first high school sweetheart. "Awwww! How sweet." It might have been a Hallmark moment if he hadn't passed away several years ago. For a split second, I thought about sharing a Coke with him and then remembered he was no longer here. For Coke's sake, I'm glad I didn't close the cooler and go home depressed. I pushed past the sour emotions until I found the perfect bottle. #ShareaCoke with Steve...my husband! "Awwww! How sweet!" Finding the perfect named bottle felt good but I still have doubt about the coziness of this campaign.
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- It felt eerie and downright strange for me to select a Coke to share with a stranger. I saw Kim, Alex and Kyle. I know a Kim or two, one Alex came to mind and so did one Kyle but I've never shared a Coke with any of them so I didn't feel all warm and fuzzy about buying their bottles. Am I the only one that finds it weird to buy a Coke with someone's name on the bottle you don't know? I finally found two Diet Cokes that I was comfortable buying that said "Friends" and "Family".
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- "Friends" and "Family" reminded me more of a Sprint cell phone commercial than it did Coke. Whatever happened to the 1979 campaign "Have a Coke and a Smile" or the 2009 campaign "Open Happiness"? I wouldn't have wasted so much of my time simply buying a soft drink with either of these campaigns and I'd be thinking happy thoughts while doing it.
I wish I had the money to buy the world a Coke and keep it company. Grow apple trees and honey bees and snow white turtle doves. But I think perfect harmony can best be kept in the Coke world without putting names on Coke bottles. I wonder if Coke stopped to think about how miserable the people feel who can't find their names on a bottle? I haven't asked my daughters Sydnee and Sloane if they've found their names yet. Chances are high they haven't!
Halfheartedly sharing,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Halfheartedly sharing,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Sunday, July 20, 2014
5 No-Nos that are Generally Accepted
What is a no-no? The word "No" defined by Webster is a negative response. So "no-no" is a double negative or twice as negative as one no. In other words, a no-no is a worse degree of no. In our society today, I'm not sure the no even means no anymore. It may mean yes or maybe or I'm not sure. But to me, it still means flat out no, never, ain't happening, you can't make me!
This morning I was thinking about a few things that I believe are "no-nos" that are generally accepted by the majority of the American population. I'm sharing them with you. Leave me a comment whether you agree or disagree with my 5 No-nos that are generally accepted:
- Dye your hair. Dyeing includes coloring, frosting or highlighting. My daughters and I have virgin hair. Eventually, we will have a natural highlight and color. Gray.
- Overeat. I have less discipline with this one. I hate the feeling of being overfull. Overeating poses all kinds of chronic disease threats.
- Buy on Credit. Several years of concentrated effort alleviated my frivolous credit habits. Yes, I still use credit cards but very carefully paying off the total amount due each month or using only with a strict repayment plan with little to no interest incurred.
- Think of yourself first. People are so self-serving these days. Thinking of others before yourself, I believe, is a parents number 1 job. I pray my husband and I have taught our children to put others first, themselves last.
- Electronic Devices for Kids. Our eldest child got a cell phone when she started driving for safety reasons. Her younger sister got one at the same time for communication purposes. Sydnee was Sloane's chauffeur for us. I think cell phones should be illegal for anyone under 16 years old. My thoughts on other electronic devices...I attended a Boys Choir Performance in May where I witnessed a 10 year-old boy play the same video game on an iPad continuously for two hours while his parents watched the performance. What was wrong with him watching the performance? Electronic devices should not be used as baby sitters.
Probably not acceptable,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Saturday, November 2, 2013
6 Reasons why the end of Daylight Savings Time is Scary!
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| ...a picture story |
dreading the end,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
What do you dislike most about "falling back?" Leave me a comment!
* all pics courtesy of "Unsplash" on tumblr
Pin any of these images by clicking the PIN IT bottom just below
Pin any of these images by clicking the PIN IT bottom just below
Friday, October 11, 2013
My Random Thoughts on Happiness
Happiness is....
Listening to classical music
...especially when my daughter plays
My Dad sitting high and comfy on a tractor like
Oliver Wendell Douglas...
The beautiful view from my front porch...
Hermie, my long-haired Dachshund with a buzz cut...
anticipating my first grandchild in november 2013...
lots and lots of things make me happy
for a sadly, incomplete list
of my random thoughts on happiness...
check out my "happiness is" page!
Happily,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Monday, September 16, 2013
Life is my Niche
Life is my niche
crazy question
what else?
 |
| little details that make life better |
Handicap don't define me
happy does
Broken wings refines things
'cuz
our song plays on
long after we're gone.
wish i had these
where would they carry me?
into these?
dead end.
all paths don't lead to heaven
just more sore feet...
Never niche-less,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Sweet Short Story about my Dogs
All Dogs Do Go To Heaven
Nancy is my friend and she is a dog lover. She is an extreme dog lover! She has four Great Danes that live with her and her husband in their home. Nancy has been my friend for over twenty years and for over twenty years she has been encouraging me to get a dog. She assured me a dog would help me love more, remove stress and help me to generally feel better all over. But, I have a dog. I have two dogs, Percy and Tippy, both mutts, and I love them or at least I thought I did.
Nancy is the kind of pet owner that takes her dogs to the vet, A LOT! If they need anything, she gets it for them. She takes them to doggie daycare, she takes them to the groomer, she takes them to the park, she walks them, she buys them gourmet dog food and she takes them to the acupuncturist. You get the picture. Nancy loves, with a capital L, her dogs. She will do anything for these animals similar to the way I care for my children.
On the contrary, I love my dogs. I do. I feed them, most of the time. I play with them by barely touching their heads and saying their names on my way from my garage to my front door. They get a bath if they stand outside in the rain. When they get sick, I watch them eat grass in my yard and hope they will get better. I love my dogs.
I enjoy teasing Nancy Nancy Nancy
Our relationship started in business and grew into true friendship despite our religious convictions. She was a salesperson and I, a buyer of her commodities. Our friendship was simply two souls sharing like passions and beliefs, except one thing. She believed, just like the movie says, all dogs go to heaven. I believed that dogs, all animals, are soul-less and don’t go anywhere when they die, especially not to heaven! I don’t let dogs in my house, why would I want dogs in heaven with me? Many people don’t like dogs and heaven is a place for people, not animals. Nancy and I had this discussion on several occasions with neither of us agreeing with the other.
I remember a certain Thursday.
I didn’t want to hurt my friend’s feelings but at the same time, I can’t back down on my staunch religious beliefs. I said to her, as kindly as possible, “I’m really sorry about Tramp, but, no, I don’t think he will go to heaven”.
My husband is forever telling me that I should not always be so “black and white” but a bit gray. At this point, I think my husband means well. I understand what he is saying. He wants me to soften a situation. Don't be so abrasive with my views. Give a little understanding and so on. But please understand, he hasn’t experienced the religious convictions that I have. I think he needs to be more “black and white”, tell it like it is, stand on the promises, hell is hot and so on.
Tramp died that day. Nancy immediately starting looking for a replacement. A replacement is what I called it. Nancy saw another dog as another member of her family because there would never be a replacement for Tramp. But she needed another pet to fill the void Tramp left behind. This was all very odd and unusual to me until my dog Tippy started coughing.
Tippy is my very active, small, black and white female adult dog who would run a while then stop to hack. Her activities slowed while her hacking grew worse. My husband and children insisted we take her to the doctor. She was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. The vet prescribed medicine to help her breathe more freely by removing the fluid from around her heart. We took her home.
My dad rescued Tippy from an abusive situation. She had been our pet for about five years. Tippy, a very friendly dog, that loved women but very leery of men. We had her spayed. I told her all the time she must THINK she had died and gone to heaven because of the way she was treated before compared to the way she was living now. She always grinned showing me her teeth when I said that. I know she understood.
We had Percy for 15 years. He was a Chow mixture with a large plummy tail we got as a puppy. He had the sweetest face I ever seen on a dog. Perse was his nickname. Percy and Tippy were the best of friends, male and female, about the same ages, old for dogs. When Tippy became ill, Perse followed her everywhere like a guardian angel protecting her making sure that she made it home each night after roaming the woods or neighborhood. When she was safe, he could rest.
Every morning my dogs greeted me as I left for work escorting me down my driveway and miraculously they'd be waiting to escort me back up my driveway every afternoon. I loved this daily attention from my dogs. I felt particularly sad the morning Tippy couldn’t make it up the road, much less back. Searching for her every morning became a deliberate action for me. I had to find her to check on her health before I went to work. Some short time after Nancy's Tramp died, I found my Tippy dead. She was lying in my yard just down the hill from my house. The air chilled my bones.
I cannot explain all the emotions that flooded my heart and mind. I began to cry. And, at that very moment, I believed all dogs do go to heaven. God reminded me that dogs are his creation, for his pleasure and mine. Tippy had such a sweet presence that I realized she would be loved in heaven just as she was on earth. I immediately called
Today, I have another dog, not a replacement because Tippy and Percy will never be forgotten or replaced. I deeply love my dog and my dog loves me. I got him right after leaving my career of 27 years. I’m not sure I would have made it through bouts of stress and anxiety without him. His name is Herman. His nickname is Hermie. He is a long-haired Dachshund. I have morphed into
 |
| Herman |
Addition: Yesterday, we laid our precious Little Girl to rest. She belonged to my daughter and granddaughters, Sydnee, Lisette and Milisende. We love you Little Girl and miss you already.
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| Little Girl d. 2/7/2019 |
Monday, January 28, 2013
The Decision Tree: "Leafing Me Sappy"
Are you faced with decisions? Really, is that even a question? We all face minor, major and everyday decisions...even when we don't want to!
Life comes with built-in decision making abilities. Decisions -- a means to an end. If you take the ring, you're getting married soon. If you get an education degree, watch out students! If you stop taking birth control, chances are you'll get pregnant and maybe have not one baby but twins! Compounding the decision, you have to "decide" you're ready for the results of your decisions. Knowing the outcome of all decisions should be as simple as peeing on a stick.
Life comes with built-in decision making abilities. Decisions -- a means to an end. If you take the ring, you're getting married soon. If you get an education degree, watch out students! If you stop taking birth control, chances are you'll get pregnant and maybe have not one baby but twins! Compounding the decision, you have to "decide" you're ready for the results of your decisions. Knowing the outcome of all decisions should be as simple as peeing on a stick.Sunday, December 30, 2012
The Mysteries of Me, Two Thousand One Three
I know me better than anyone else on God's green earth! I wonder about some of the things I keep doing over and over. Do you wonder about some things you do also? As we approach "two thousand one three",
Friday, July 20, 2012
Untypical Tammy
Untypical Tammy is my new name, cause things around me have been a bit strange. I didn't mean for this to come out in verse, but I guess it could have been worse?
It was like the night before vacation and all through the garage, we were packing the car with enough stuff to fill a barge. Steve had everything neatly packed with shoes crammed into holes and beach towels folded in rolls. I noticed the trunk of my car had been up for a while but I didn't question him for fear of his reply. Men know what they're doing, even when they don't, I wish I had followed my intuition because the trunk light came back to haunt. The next morning when we started to leave, the car didn't want to go, turning the ignition the battery said "Oh no, no, no"! Steve searched for the battery and it could not be found, the owner's manual showed him the spot and the look on his face was profound! Unpacking and repacking, the battery is in the trunk, Steve could have kicked himself and I wondered why I kept my mouth shut. It's so Untypical Tammy.
Sloane and I were walking the dunes, on our way to the beach, we couldn't get there too soon. Our day was planned, sunbathers we'd be, but the path was exhausting and sweat started to bead. We would lay on our towels and be happy with that until Sloane spotted a chair and umbrella stashed on the dune, we discussed borrowing it for our afternoon. "It'll be okay" was Sloane's tune! She continued to bribe me with her bravery, "If the owner's come after us, leave everything to me. I'll do the talking, wait and see". Steve couldn't believe the audacity of our actions, I looked at Sloane for help and she acted like I was the one who snatched it. The next thing I knew a lady was approaching and I begged Sloane to get out of the water and explain our poaching. "You've got our stuff" shockingly she exclaimed, "We carried them down for you" sweetly I explained. I'm still marveling why I agreed to take them, embarrassed and shamed. I learned a lesson and Sloane is to blame. It's so Untypical Tammy.
I feel Bewitched speaking in rhymes, Dr. Bombay could cure me and wouldn't charge a dime. Sloane suffered a kidney stone and Hermy's been puking, Steve meet an ex-CIA agent and I'm worried about enemy nuking. The days seem long with the sun always high, but Florida is nice and I'm looking to buy. I'll need some privacy for my tanning though because everyone doesn't understand my silicone toes. It's so Untypical Tammy.
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Writing lines and killing time,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
It was like the night before vacation and all through the garage, we were packing the car with enough stuff to fill a barge. Steve had everything neatly packed with shoes crammed into holes and beach towels folded in rolls. I noticed the trunk of my car had been up for a while but I didn't question him for fear of his reply. Men know what they're doing, even when they don't, I wish I had followed my intuition because the trunk light came back to haunt. The next morning when we started to leave, the car didn't want to go, turning the ignition the battery said "Oh no, no, no"! Steve searched for the battery and it could not be found, the owner's manual showed him the spot and the look on his face was profound! Unpacking and repacking, the battery is in the trunk, Steve could have kicked himself and I wondered why I kept my mouth shut. It's so Untypical Tammy.
Sloane and I were walking the dunes, on our way to the beach, we couldn't get there too soon. Our day was planned, sunbathers we'd be, but the path was exhausting and sweat started to bead. We would lay on our towels and be happy with that until Sloane spotted a chair and umbrella stashed on the dune, we discussed borrowing it for our afternoon. "It'll be okay" was Sloane's tune! She continued to bribe me with her bravery, "If the owner's come after us, leave everything to me. I'll do the talking, wait and see". Steve couldn't believe the audacity of our actions, I looked at Sloane for help and she acted like I was the one who snatched it. The next thing I knew a lady was approaching and I begged Sloane to get out of the water and explain our poaching. "You've got our stuff" shockingly she exclaimed, "We carried them down for you" sweetly I explained. I'm still marveling why I agreed to take them, embarrassed and shamed. I learned a lesson and Sloane is to blame. It's so Untypical Tammy.
I feel Bewitched speaking in rhymes, Dr. Bombay could cure me and wouldn't charge a dime. Sloane suffered a kidney stone and Hermy's been puking, Steve meet an ex-CIA agent and I'm worried about enemy nuking. The days seem long with the sun always high, but Florida is nice and I'm looking to buy. I'll need some privacy for my tanning though because everyone doesn't understand my silicone toes. It's so Untypical Tammy.
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Writing lines and killing time,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
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