Hallelujah

Today is the last day of bloganuary. Finally I’ll be again completing the first month, 31 days of writing a post.

I remember  my challenge back in 2011 when I opted to join  the everyday  challenge of writing for the whole year. And I did it. The early years of WordPress were okay, not so much of glitches that some of us encounter nowadays. There was even a time back in 2012 (I think) that they featured interesting blogs  and gave praise for every blog you wrote. That gave bloggers  a sort of encouragement, and a nice feature for blog beginners like me. They didn’t have those like features before.

I noticed that most friends I have here are in their senior years now like I am, but I started blogging upon the recommendation of a good friend I met at Multiply.  Back  in 2008, I started with a lone poem, tried to test the waters but it took me a year to seriously consider blogging at WordPress.  Come to think of it, I didn’t even know how to customize it, just learning  through trials and errors. But I did it.

When they introduced Jetpack  two years (I think) ago, all I can see is my reader feed. I know it is quite complete but unless I go to my main site, I wouldn’t enjoy the set-up I made there. Choosing a free theme was quite a challenge, I chose a simple one, uncluttered and clean. It was  called Misty Look. You may visit it  on this link.

https://arlene1956.wordpress.com

The header changes every time you click a post. My tagline stays the same:

Moments cherished, memories kept, dreams fulfilled and little things that make every day a blessing.

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And January Is About To End

I really miss posting a month-ender blog. Except for having my laboratory tests, visiting my nephrologist, a few trips to the supermarket, January has been a peaceful month.

Wow! I do enjoy finding more books and choosing what to read on my TBR list. I got used to having naps in the afternoon  and enjoy the early part of the evening reading. Mornings are spent attending online masses either at The Manila Cathedral or at the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Light. I also enjoy  reading those short notes of Nate on his wall which are sometimes funny.

Life is simple and I do appreciate what it brings.

My  Shanghai Beauty plant.

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Life Is Beautiful

What do you complain about the most?

Life is good. Life is real. Life is something we have to treasure because it is a gift. Except for some kinks that we experience along its path, it is still beautiful. We cannot really negate having to complain sometimes when we  experience those bumps and life’s curves but we could treat them as lessons we have to learn.

I am grateful and thankful for having this life,  and I accept that problems will always present themselves  but I believe that God won’t give us something that we could not carry through.

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Books And Gardening

A good day to garden. It’s a little cloudy but there is no rain.

I woke up at 5am, started gardening at 6am after a breakfast of a hot cup of coffee, two slices of toasted wheat bread and steamed siomai. I had the company of some of our Aspin dogs and the remaining puppy  after the  two  puppies  were gifted to a priest friend of Josef and Jovy. We didn’t bother to name the remaining one since it will also be given as a gift to Jovy’s friend.

Cutting the carabao grass, weeding and pruning dried leaves of some of my potted plants. Some of the concrete stepping stones were almost covered by grass.  I gardened for two hours straight  but only finished a portion of the garden. Two days ago, I harvested winged beans and taro roots. Fresh vegetable harvests are always  the best. Yesterday, I also harvested  a green papaya from our lone tree to cook it with my tinola.

By the way, I started my 13th read of  the 2025 Goodread Challenge last night. It’s The Giodenes Trilogy of Preston and Child. I am done with the Buzzy Books, Epic Quest and Era Explorer Community Favorites Challenge.  I wonder which among the first 12 earned these three achievements. There are three more for the months of February to April. It’s black history month for February. This is actually fun.

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Padre Pio’s Healing Prayer

“Heavenly Father, I thank you for loving me. I thank you for sending your Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ, to the world to save and to set me free. I trust in your power and grace that sustain and restore me.
 
Loving Father, touch me now with your healing hands, for I believe that your will is for me to be well in mind, body, soul and spirit. Cover me with the most precious blood of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. Cast anything that should not be in me. Root out any unhealthy and abnormal cells. Open any blocked arteries or veins and rebuild and replenish any damaged areas. Remove all inflammation and cleanse any infection by the power of Jesus’ precious blood. Let the fire of your healing love pass through my entire body to heal and make new any diseased areas so that my body will function the way you created it to function. Touch also my mind and my emotion, even the deepest recesses of my heart.
 
Saturate my entire being with your presence,love, joy and peace and draw me ever closer to you every moment of my life. And Father, fill me with your Holy Spirit and empower me to do your works so that my life will bring glory and honor to your holy name.

I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Amen.”

My brother Noel shared this beautiful prayer for healing. I pray it every morning.

Padre Pio is one of my favorite saints. When I was undergoing chemotherapy  several years ago, we would visit Padre Pio’s Chapel in Libis, Quezon City.  I wrote prayer petitions that he would heal me and pray for me.  It worked. I was healed from stage 3 colon cancer.

Sharing this beautiful prayer with you friends and fellow  bloggers.❤️❤️🤲🤲🤲❤️❤️

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Hassle

I was able to contact their support without logging in at WordPress site since I can’t also  access it but I need to pay a certain sum but I am not comfortable using my Visa card because  there are so many scammers on the net. Still in limbo.😥

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Lottery Win?

What would you do if you won the lottery?

I’ll just keep it short. That is highly improbable because I don’t even buy tickets. I don’t believe much in luck.

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Really Annoying

This is gross. I still cannot access my main blog  except my Readerfeed on Jetpack. What happened WordPress? My site still can’t be reached even in Google.

Thinking of starting another platform  or maybe give up blogging all together. Not accessing  previous posts is a real problem for me. This sense of loss is frustrating. How could I access my WordPress’ admin page again? Jetpack seems to be limited to posting, reading posts from other bloggers and visiting their page but not your own. Just downloaded Substack but starting another blog and customizing it seem to be even harder nowadays. Been blogging for almost sixteen years now. A loyal WordPress blogger here.

Help please!

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Glitch?

What’s happening WordPress? Can’t access my main site even if I am online.

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Oh my, this is quite a different story from the books I have read lately and I must admit that it is a little bit hard to make a review of it. The author Taylor Jenkins Reid is quite new on my list.

You would think as the story unfolds that one of the seven husbands was the greatest love of Evelyn Hugo but it was not. A story of a girl from rags to riches, resilience, power, ruthless ambition,  unexpected friendship and bisexuality.  Although it is a work of fiction, I admire how the author deals with the life of people in Hollywood – actors, actresses, producers, the whole gamut of how a particular film or movie is done.

In a short summary, Evelyn was ready to divulge everything from the first time she married a guy thinking that he could help her to reach her ambition until the time she became a famous actress and had those husbands in the process. She hired an unknown person Monique Grant to write her biography – her glamorous and scandalous life – and should be published after she dies. I was surprised by the ending of the story, it was unexpected.

I earned a Buzzy Book achievement in Goodreads after reading this. Although the subject matter is not really my cup of tea, it was an engrossing read. Now I have satisfied my curiosity why I heard so much of this book.

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