Tag: Writing

My Musical Life 7-21-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Musical LifeLeave a comment

July 21st, 2026

#28 I Want You Back (The Jackson 5) 👍🏼

Lyrics:
Uh-huh, huh, huh
Just let me tell you now
Uh-huh🪄
When I had you to myself, I didn’t want you around
Those pretty faces always made you stand out in a crowd
But someone picked you from the bunch, one glance was all it took
Now it’s much too late for me to take a second look🪄
Oh, baby, give me one more chance (to show you that I love you)
Won’t you please let me back in your heart
Oh, darlin’, I was blind to let you go (let you go, baby)
But now since I see you in his arms (I want you back)
Yes, I do now (I want you back)
Ooh, ooh, baby (I want you back)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (I want you back)
Na, na, na, na🪄
Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night
Let me show you, girl, that I know wrong from right
Every street you walk on, I leave tear stains on the ground
Following the girl I didn’t even want around
Let me tell you now🪄
Oh, baby, all I need is one more chance (to show you that I love you)
Won’t you please let me back in your heart
Oh, darlin’, I was blind to let you go (let you go, baby)
But now since I see you in his arms, uh-huh🪄
Ah, buh bum, bum, bum
Ah, buh bum, bum, bum
All I want
Ah, buh bum, bum, bum
All I need
Ah, buh bum, bum, bum
All I want
Ah, buh bum, bum, bum
All I need🪄
Oh, just one more chance to show that I love you
Baby (baby)
Baby (baby)
Baby (baby)🪄
Forget what happened then (I want you back)
Let me live again🪄
Oh, baby, I was blind to let you go
But now since I see you in his arms
(I want you back)🪄
Spare me of this cause
Get back what I lost🪄
Oh, baby, I need one more chance, ha
I tell ya that I love you
Baby (oh), baby (oh), baby (oh)
I want you back, ha
I want you back

My Abundant Life 7-21-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Abundant LifeLeave a comment

July 21st, 2026

The Importance of Solitude

“If women were convinced that a day off or an hour of solitude was a reasonable ambition, they would find a way of attaining it. As it is, they feel so unjustified in their demand that they rarely make the attempt.”

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (American Writer & Aviator, June 22nd, 1906 to February 7th, 2001)

“I want to be left alone.”

Greta Garbo (Swedish-American Film Actress; September 18th, 1905 to April 15th, 1990)

“I believe that it’s essential for busy women, by which I mean all of us, to pause a moment–this moment–to reconsider the entire subject of solitude. Too many of us approach time alone as if it were a frivolous, expendable luxury rather than a creative necessity.”

“Certain springs are tapped only when we are alone. The artist knows he must be alone to create; the writer, to work out his thoughts; the musician to compose; the saint, to pray. But women need solitude in order to find again te true essence of themselves… The problem is not entirely in finding the room of one’s own, the time alone, difficult and necessary as this is. The problem is more how to still the soul in the midst of its activities. In fact the problem is how to feed the soul.”

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (American Writer & Aviator, June 22nd, 1906 to February 7th, 2001)

“In the past I was horrible at this and always placed myself last on the list. I am gradually putting myself first. I am not willing to say I am being selfish because I do so. Instead, I am worthy and deserve to put myself first and find the time to be creative and fully self-expressed.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 266 to 267 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 7-15-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Abundant LifeLeave a comment

July 15th, 2026

Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner

“I learned early on that setting a table is so much more than just laying down knives and forks. It is creating a setting for food and conversation, setting a mood and an aura that lingers long after what was served and who said what was forgotten.”

Peri Wolfman (Author; June 1960)

“The rituals of nourishment cry out for the communion cups, the special plates on which to break bread, the candle flame, the circle drawn in the dirt. Ritual protects and heals, ritual symbolizes to all who come to your tale seeking rest and renewal that they are enclosed within a sacred space. You may think you’re only laying a place at the supper table, but when you trust and follow your creative impulses to bring forth something beautiful, you experience the Sacred in the ordinary. Moses looked for God in the burning bush. We need look no further than our tables, the tables that the Hebrew Psalmist tells us have already been prepared for us so that our cups might runneth over.”

“When you take extra moments to prepare an attractive table, you’re really performing an invocation, welcoming Spirit to be present in recreation and remembrance. Choosing to dine rather than just eat is a small but significant step toward self-nurturance, and one to savor as long as we live. Creating an inviting table is possible more nights than you think, especially if you approach is as another venue of artistic expression in your daily round and confine your efforts, as Peri suggests, to ‘the simple, the doable, and the affordable.'”

“Today, start using and enjoying the beautiful things that already surround you in the home. Don’t save their loveliness only for other people to recognize and appreciate. Using them, you will become aware that authentic aspirations–from setting a pretty table to finding your life’s calling–are legitimate longings.”

“I believe every meal is a dinner party and we use all our fine ware to celebrate our dining with one another. Use it or lose it!”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 258 to 260 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 7-14-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Abundant LifeLeave a comment

July 14th, 2026

The Celebrating Table

“The table is a meeting place, a gathering ground, the source of sustenance and nourishment, festivity, safety, and satisfaction.”

Laurie Colwin (American Writer; June 14th, 1944 to October 24th, 1992)

“The evening meal should be the highlight of the day. If the day has been peaceful, pleasurable, and profitable, it’s time to celebrate. If the day has been difficult and discouraging, it’s time for comfort and consolation–blessings by themselves and reason to celebrate. Either way, the celebrating table bids.”

“Planning, shopping, and cooking in the space of an hour is self-abuse pure and simple.”

“We need time to defuse, to contemplate. Just as in sleep our brains relax and give us dreams, so at some time in the day we need to disconnect, reconnect, and look around us. We must turn off the television and the telephone, hunker down in front of our hearths, and leave our briefcases at the office, if for only one night. We must march into the kitchen, en famille or with a friend, and find some easy, heartwarming things to make from scratch, and even if it is but once a week, we must gather at the table, alone or with friends or with lots of friends or with one friend, and eat a meal together. We know that without food we would die. Without fellowship life is not worth living.”

Laurie Colwin (American Writer; June 14th, 1944 to October 24th, 1992)

“Sharing a meal with my husband is one of the highlights of my day. I love how we creates meals with love and creativity. I see his full self-expression when he cooks.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 257 to 258 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 7-13-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Abundant LifeLeave a comment

July 13th, 2026

Stocking The Larder

“Cooking–yes, and living become simpler rite this month. I have made a list of satisfactory meals planned around only one cooked dish. This list is hung on the door of my kitchen cabinet for reference. When I am lacking ambition I do not wonder what to have for dinner.”

Nell B. Nichols (Author; August 28th, 1894 to May 28th, 1984)

“Won’t you agree with me, as you lie looking up at the leafy canopy above you, that a home now and in every other month must be a haven to the spirit as well as a place in which the physical needs are supplied?”

Nell B. Nichols (Author; August 28th, 1894 to May 28th, 1984)

“My own is my haven. I love to shut out the world and just exist in our hobbit house with my love and dog.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 255 to 257 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 7-12-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Abundant LifeLeave a comment

July 12th, 2026

How To Cook A Wolf

“There’s a whining at the threshold–

There’s a scratching at the floor–

To work! To work! In Heaven’s name!

The wolf is at the door!

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (American Novelist; July 3rd, 1860 to August 17th, 1935)

“When the wolf arrives, ‘Our texture of belief has great holes in it,’ M. F. K. Fisher recalls. ‘Our pattern lacks pieces.” Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, who was probably this country’s greatest food writer, knew all about lean times. In fact, one of her early books was How to Cook a Wolf, which she published in 1942 during the worst of the wartime food shortages.”

“Poverty is always experienced in the soul before it is felt in the pocketbook.”

“For those of us who would like to follow in her footsteps, she recommends weeding our desires, leaving only the holy hungers, ‘so that you can live most agreeably in a world full of an increasing number of disagreeable surprises.”

“How did she do it? By not running scared when the wolf arrived, by not giving in to her fears that he would blow her house down. She knew that the twists and turn of fate are usually just hot air. Instead, she learned to outsmart, catch. and cook the wolf. By concentrating on the goal at hand–a good glass of wine, a good tomato, a good loaf of bread. A beautiful sunset, a lively conversation, a loving relationship. She knew that the good life does not depend on extravagant indulgences. The good life does not deprive. It exults. ‘You can still live with grace and wisdom.’ she encourages us–if you rely on ‘your own innate sense of what you must do with the resources you have to keep the wolf from sniffing too hungrily through the keyhole.'”

“My husband and I have agreed to live a created life where everyday is a party. We lean into this and stay present with what is so and create magic in our lives every single moment. We are blessed.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 254 to 255 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Musical Life 7-10-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Musical LifeLeave a comment

July 10th, 2026

#12 Everything Is Beautiful (Ray Stevens) 👍🏼

Lyrics:
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in his sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world🪄
Everything is beautiful in its own way
Like a starry summer night
On a snow covered winter’s day
And everybody’s beautiful in their own way
Under God’s heaven
The world’s gonna find the way🪄
There is none so blind
As he who will not see
We must not close up minds
We must let our thoughts be free🪄
For every hour that passes by
You know the world gets a little bit older
It’s time to realize that people lies
In the eyes of the beholder🪄
And everything is beautiful in its own way
Like a starry summer night
On a snow covered winter’s day, ah, sing it children
Everybody’s beautiful in their own way
Under God’s heaven
The world’s gonna find a way🪄
We shouldn’t care about the length of his hair
Of the color of his skin
Don’t worry about what shows from without
But the love that lives within🪄
And we’re gonna get old again now
Everything is gonna work out fine
Just take a little time to look on the good side my friend
And straighten it out in your mind🪄
And everything is beautiful in its own way
Like a starry summer night
On a snow covered winter’s day, ah, sing it children
Everybody’s beautiful in their own way
Under God’s heaven
The world’s gonna find a way, one more time🪄
Everything is beautiful in its own way
Like a starry summer night
On a snow covered winter’s day

My Musical Life 7-9-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Musical LifeLeave a comment

July 9th, 2026

#11 Mama Told Me (Not To Come) (Three Dog Night) 👍🏼

Lyrics:
Want some whiskey in your water?
Sugar in your tea?
What’s all these crazy questions they’re askin’ me?
This is the craziest party that could ever be
Don’t turn on the lights ’cause I don’t wanna see🪄
Mama told me not to come
Mama told me not to come
That ain’t the way to have fun, no (uh-uh)🪄
Open up the window, let some air into this room
I think I’m almost chokin’ from the smell of stale perfume
And that cigarette you’re smokin’ ’bout scare me half to death
Open up the window, sucker, let me catch my breath🪄
Mama told me not to come
Mama told me not to come
That ain’t the way to have fun, son
That ain’t the way to have fun, son (oh, yeah!)🪄
The radio is blastin’, someone’s knockin’ at the door
I’m lookin’ at my girlfriend, she’s passed out on the floor
I seen so many things I ain’t never seen before
Don’t know what it is, I don’t wanna see no more🪄
Mama told me not to come
Mama told me not to come
She said, (“That ain’t the way to have fun, son”)
(“That ain’t the way to have fun, no”)🪄
Mama told me, mama told me
Mama told me, told me, told me
Mama told me
Oh, yeah
Mama told me, not to go…🪄
That ain’t the way to have fun, no
That ain’t the way to have fun, son
That ain’t the way to have fun, no (look at you)
That ain’t the way to have fun, son🪄
Listen to mama, listen to me baby
Mama told me, not to go…🪄
That ain’t the way to have fun, no (yeah!)
That ain’t the way to have fun, son (somebody tell ’em)
That ain’t the way to have fun, no (mama)
That ain’t the way to have fun, son

My Abundant Life 7-9-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Abundant LifeLeave a comment

July 9th, 2026

Nursery Fare For Children of All Ages

“Animal crackers, and cocoa to drink,

That is the finest of suppers, I think;

When I’m grown up and can have what I please

I think I shall always insist upon these.”

Christopher Morley (American Journalist & Novelist; May 5th, 1890 to March 28th, 1957)

“When you’re cranky and cry easily, when you are so tired that your eyes burn from keeping them open, when you need hugs and someone to pat the top of your head and whisper ‘Shh… There, there…’ and no one is around, you need nursery fare. Nursery foods are the well-loved recipes from childhood that conjure up the happy, innocent moments when all was right with the world because we knew our place in it. The times when, dressed in our flannel pajamas, we sat down for supper before a story and bed…”

“I often wonder how I didn’t become 300# with the neglect was worse as food was soothing. Likely because food was scarce I could rely on that for all my needs.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 249 to 251 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Musical Life 7-7-26

On By Heather HoustonIn My Musical LifeLeave a comment

July 7th, 2026

#9 Let It Be (The Beatles)👍🏼

Lyrics:
When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be🪄
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be🪄
And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be🪄
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be🪄
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be🪄
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be, be🪄
And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me
Shinin’ until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be🪄
And let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be🪄
And let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be