“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself.
The challenge is to silence the mind.”
– Unknown
Bullseye truth for me. How about you? Have a lovely Sunday!
Author: Claudia
The One And Only
I think we’ve had this question a time or twenty. And my answer is still Sims 4.
It is the only game (PC) that I play, although playing isn’t really the proper word to be used. Because I don’t play any of the suggested scenarios, or come up with my own stories. In other words, the game play doesn’t interest me. What I enjoy about the Sims 4 is, that you can build homes and design yards and gardens for your sims to live in. You can also (re-) build the entire worlds, if you so choose to, including public buildings like a library, a restaurant, a school, etc. Below, I will share a few pictures of the house I am currently building. It is only a shell (meaning, that it doesn’t have a floorplan or furnishings yet). The garden is not done either, because it would still take at least a couple of hours to finish it all. My houses are pretty basic in comparison to other Sims 4 player’s builds, their work is amazing! But true is also, that it doesn’t really matter, as long as I have fun. And that’s the case for sure.
*** All pictures by Claudia Braun ***
Before you judge me harshly, please keep in mind that the details and finishing touches make a world of difference. This is an UN-finished shell only. Thanks for stopping by, have a lovely weekend!!
A Swing And A Miss
Truth be told, I’m no longer the Pinterest fan I was years ago due to lots of advertisements with a little bit of content mixed in. But that would be a separate post, if at all. Fact is, that I still browse now and again, especially when looking for recipes. We all know [and hate] those 1 minute TikTok videos, don’t we? You know the kind, that you have to watch 85 times, to make sure that you have all the ingredients needed, as well as the proper quantities of each? Yah, that kind of video.
I stumbled upon quite a few ‘out there’ recipes in the past, that turned out really well and tasty. Others, like the one yesterday not so much. Chickpea crackers. That sounded good to me, so I gave it a try. And for this one in particular: once, and never again. Clearly. Ugh! Yuck! All the positive and “yummy” comments are a mystery to me. Maybe I’ve done something wrong? Or were the comments possibly written under fake accounts to push the content? Who knows these days? Most likely I made a mistake, and will give this another try in the future. In other words, these are the kinds of foods I’ve been making lately. Some turn out good, some end up in the bin – like the one yesterday. Will that stop me from trying again? Oh goodness no! In fact, next on the list is a no-bake cheesecake I want to try. This may turn out to be another ‘swing and a miss’. And so what? There are more short videos, than I will ever have the patience to try 🤣
🐾 Woof, Woof 🐾
Since childhood my heart beats passionately for dogs, and it always will.
“Closing The Loop”
Over a decade ago: At my last place of employment we had training seminars fairly regularly, some more valuable and productive than others. One of them stands out specifically, it was called “closing the loop”. I remember my team members and myself being annoyed because we had so much work piling up at the time, that we really ‘did not need’ a three day seminar to put us even further behind with regard to our already existing workload. And it wasn’t until years later, that I truly understood the importance and benefits of this job training…
Present day: How often in everyday life do you find yourself thinking “well that wasn’t thought through to the end”, or something similar? It begins on the personal level. You don’t want to know, how many times I get cross with myself, or my mom for that matter, because we started doing something, without thinking it through to the end first [closing the loop]. While the task or project is in progress, I discover that what I planned on doing won’t work out the way I thought it would.
Take that thought process to the next level. Our ‘detached-from-reality-politicians’ make plans and decisions, that have negative effects on many people. Regrettably, most often those affected people are the ones who struggle for one or more reasons to begin with, and don’t have the means most well-to-do politicians have. Because the thought-loop is not being closed, all too often we find ourselves in unpleasant, challenging circumstances, that may have been avoided.
In closing: What bothers me increasingly is, that decisions, ideas, laws, new processes, etc. are not carefully enough evaluated and thought through to the end. I am thankful, to have had that “closing the loop” job training. Every day, in all different aspects of life, I notice time and again how important, time saving and valuable it is to think things through to the end before [potentially] making avoidable mistakes, that may have negative effects and consequences not only for ourselves, but more importantly for other people.
At Odds
It doesn’t make sense to me, that any one person seeks security or adventure exclusively. Is what you need necessarily what it is you truly want? Allow me to try and explain my conundrum…
If the above mentioned thought is broken down to a personal level, that surely applies to me. Due to Asperger autism and Misophonia, routines, schedules and structure throughout the day create necessary predictability, which in turn makes me feel secure.
At the same time, this security [or hamster wheel, if you want] bores me to tears and I want nothing more, than to break free from what ‘keeps me safe’ and some-form-of-happy. Another example: When I had to move from one apartment to the other, within my mom’s house [don’t ask, the story is annoying], a part of me was excited, because this created new opportunities with regard to decorating and organzing everything [adventure]. Yet it would disturb my need for order and structure [security] because chaos is my worst enemy, well one of them.
My apartment is my fortress and highly valued safe space [security]. Yet, that little whisper deep within tries to convince me, that I’m not ‘the stationary type’. I’d much rather grab Lilly, a few necessities and take off into whichever direction the wind blows me, to stay there however long I like [adventure]. I guess where I am trying to go with this is, that I’m always at odds with myself. And in the end, to answer today’s question, I would have to choose security over adventure. Because venturing out into the world to discover, no matter how much desired, won’t be enjoyable without the above mentioned ‘safety measures’, to get me through the day with the least amount of meltdowns, angry fits and tears. How did the Rolling Stones sing it? “You can’t always get what you want”, and that sure is true. Happy Sunday!!
Dark Days
Today’s ‘Sunday Quote’ is relatable to us all…
“My dark days made me strong. Or maybe I already
was strong, and they made me prove it.”
– Emery Lord
Have a peaceful and enjoyable Sunday!!
Back To Analogue
Look at what I found at the second hand shop today: this analogue kitchen scale!
I’m so over the everything-digital-hype. And since I’ve had nothing but trouble with my digital kitchen scale, it will be sent into early retirement, now that I found this beauty today. Back to analogue, back to simple things. That’s me, and that works for me. Besides, I no longer have to worry about finding those gosh darn batteries, that the store is usually out of whenever I happen to need one. I’m glad to have found this little treasure today 😊🍀
Small, Positive Changes
Since June 12th, when Lilly moved into my heart and home, my schedule changed slightly. Instead of crawling out of bed around 8:15 AM, the day gets going a bit early at the moment. Due to the toasty summer temperatures currently, I get up around 6:15 AM so we can enjoy our morning walk before it gets too warm for her paws (on the pavement ) and her overall comfort.
Instead of being parked in front of the TV a good part of the evening, we have our late night walkies around 9:30 PM. When we return, I may end up checking out if there’s anything of interest on TV. Most often I doze off anyway. Around 11 PM Lilly wants to turn in for the night and I follow her lead. If I’m not quite tired enough, I read a few pages to help me get sleepy.
These small changes truly have a positive effect. Since beginning the day with fresh air and movement, I feel better and more productive. Also my sleep has improved. All thanks to a little cutie, who won’t accept any excuse to skip one of our excursions ❤🐾
What’s One More?
Several days ago I wrote about an intrusive neighbor lady, who really pushed me a bit too far with regard to Lilly. I don’t know, if other dog parents ever ‘put her in her place’, but I did and it appears to me, that she did not like that. Sorry, but if you so eagerly give your unsolicited opinion, you always run the risk of meeting someone like me. Tough sh!t for you. The world is harsh, deal with it any way you need to. Two evenings ago this woman came walking towards us yet again [ugh] and I prepared myself for drama. Instead, she walked in the street while passing us by, to put a ridiculous amount of distance between herself and us. There was no greeting, not a smile or even a look of acknowledgement. Very mature, but okay, suit yourself.
I shared this encounter with my mom. She said [as always] that I should be ‘the grown-up’ and apologize to her. What? Why? Just because I don’t let some self proclaimed wanna-be-dog-whisperer tell me how to interact with my dog? What the fudge? But of course, straight away my mom fires the standard statements at me, when she runs out of arguments that make any type of sense including, but certainly not limited to…
“Well you probably misunderstood what she meant”
“You take everything so seriously”
“That was your autism kicking into high gear”
“You always overreact like this”
“You need to control yourself”
“You have no idea how to deal with other people”
I should just know it by now. In my mom’s opinion I’m always the problem. It’s never the other person. Gosh, I’m just tired of it, honestly. Only because I told a random woman to mind her own business, basically. Well, another person added to my list of enemies. What’s one more, right?
Trivialities & Intricacies 
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