Welcome my friends. I’m tweaking my weekly journey with my healthier living. It’s a step in the right direction for sure. I hope you come along for the ride. Instead of day-to-day comments, I’m going to post something from my personal journal to share. Hope you enjoy. Remember all of us go down this path and we are all in it together ❤
Week of 07/29-08/04/2018 – Week 30
“Dear Journal – Happiness. Such an easy word to say. Often times we don’t have it. But you know what I’ve learned? Happiness is something you have to gather. It doesn’t come to you. Find it, claim it and make it yours. And you know what. Sometimes happiness isn’t where you think it is. It can be found in mysterious places.”
Today is National Pretzel Day – what a way to celebrate pretzels of all shapes and sizes. How do you like your pretzels? Straight, twisted, hard, soft, thick or thin? Then think of all the different flavors you can get – cinnamon, raisin, salted, sesame, chocolate, jalapeno, bacon wrapped, stuffed with peanut butter, sour dough – served with mustard or cheese? AND let’s not forget about pretzel wrapped hot dogs – mmm. Do you eat them straight out of the bag or do you prepare your own and bake them in the oven?
Pretzels are believed to be the world’s oldest snack and date back as far as 610 AD in Southern France. Monks baked thin strips of dough into the shape of a child’s arms folded in prayer. Add a little salt, and Voila! …the pretzel industry was born.
Pretzels also symbolize good fortune, bringing prosperity and spiritual wholeness with every bite. Wedding couples fell into the practice of breaking a pretzel, much like one might break a wishbone on Thanksgiving. The person with the larger piece was assured domestic happiness. The pretzel, over time, came to symbolize the “tying of the marriage knot.”
If happiness had to be explained in a picture – well there you go. This is one of mom’s all time favorite desserts. I know – I know. Has there ever been a dessert that mom has turned her back to? Of course not. But this one she said is exceptional.
Right now the current thing for deserts are those molten lava cakes. This is one of those with a twist. The inside of this cake is filled with caramel. Then the topping is ice cream. All of the dusting around the plate and on top – that would be salted caramel. Go ahead. I’ll give you a moment to ooh and aaw.
Mom says it’s very sweet but when you need something straight up with some extra special kick, go for this treat… the salted caramel lava cake.
Hello friends. I’ve thought long and hard on what exactly I want for Christmas this year. With all of the endless possibilities, it’s hard to just pick a few things. Then last night while we were all watching television in the front room of the Hotel Thompson, it hit me.
All I want for Christmas is for my friends here in blogville to be happy, to be loved and to know that you are so special to us here at the Hotel Thompson. May your holiday season be surrounded by your loved ones. We wish you all of the happiness in the world ❤
I’ve been tagged by Little Binky and Easy for the Happiness Tag. I wanted to put some time into this so I apologize for any delay sweet friends. So without any further delay, here I go.
Five Things That Make Me Happy:
1 – My mom and friends. Without ya’ll, where would I be? An awesome pig talking to myself? Snorts with piggy laughter. I so appreciate all of my friends here in blogville and in real life. It’s totally awesome. AND I appreciate everyone listening to me ramble. Because if we have learned anything about me, you never know what might come out of my piggy mouth.
2 – Food. What can I say? I am a miniature pot bellied piggy and I have to maintain my figure. I love food. All types of food. There is only one thing that I can’t stand. Do you know what that food is?
3 – My television. Seriously, my television makes me smile. I love having it and listening to it and watching it all of the time. I love those people in the box. I really do.
4 – Okay, you won’t believe me when I say this and in fact, I can’t believe I’m saying it but my brothers make me happy. I know! You are probably thinking, “Pig, are you losing your mind?” No really. My brothers Hemi and Houdini make me who I am. Although Hemi acts like a turd sometimes, if something should happen to me he is the first one there to check on me. Same thing for me to him. And the little guy Houdini. How could he not make anyone happy? He’s so full of excitement.
5 – My pet rock Bashful. Shaking my head – I am a proud father of him. I know he gets into trouble and causes havoc at times but you know what? He lives! That’s right. He travels, he has fun, he experiences life at the fullest and he keeps me on my hooves. I never know what he will come home with next or who he might bring home. It’s great and all of his friends keep all of us entertained here at the Hotel Thompson.
Five Songs That Make Me Happy:
Five Friends That I Will Tag – (Tag You Are IT – snorts)
Today is National Pretzel Day – what a way to celebrate pretzels of all shapes and sizes. How do you like your pretzels? Straight, twisted, hard, soft, thick or thin? Then think of all the different flavors you can get – cinnamon, raisin, salted, sesame, chocolate, jalapeno, bacon wrapped, stuffed with peanut butter, sour dough – served with mustard or cheese? AND let’s not forget about pretzel wrapped hot dogs – mmm. Do you eat them straight out of the bag or do you prepare your own and bake them in the oven?
Pretzels are believed to be the world’s oldest snack and date back as far as 610 AD in Southern France. Monks baked thin strips of dough into the shape of a child’s arms folded in prayer. Add a little salt, and Voila! …the pretzel industry was born.
Pretzels also symbolize good fortune, bringing prosperity and spiritual wholeness with every bite. Wedding couples fell into the practice of breaking a pretzel, much like one might break a wishbone on Thanksgiving. The person with the larger piece was assured domestic happiness. The pretzel, over time, came to symbolize the “tying of the marriage knot.”
Oh our dear friends – MERRY CHRISTMAS!! At this time, all of us here at the Hotel Thompson would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas holiday. May your day be surrounded by the love of your family and friends. We love you all and wish you all of the happiness in the world!
Oh my friends – I have been so inspired by everyone posting their 8 Pictures of Happiness. I thought I would *finally* join the bandwagon and share my 8 Pictures of Happiness. I hope you enjoy them my friends
1st Picture of Happiness –
The purr things here at the Hotel Thompson. Surprises you huh? Well they do bring me happiness because we are all family, right? And you gotta admit that this picture would make you smile and happy. You see, those two purr things can be called more spoiled than this oinker. Why do you ask? Well look at them. They don’t thing they can drink from a regular bowl. Oh no, they have to partake at the fountain that mom likes to call the bathroom sink – snorts!
2nd Picture of Happiness –
My mom/dad on the day they got married and was cutting their wedding cake. Of all of the pictures from their special day, this is the one that I absolutely LOVE. Aren’t they cute? They had a beach themed wedding. Their wedding cake was three tiered heart shaped with chocolate Godiva seashells all around the cake. There was even ‘sand’ around the bottom in the form of brown sugar. Dad says it was good that day and even a year later when they brought the top tier out of the freezer on their first anniversary 🙂
3rd Picture of Happiness –
This is the first day that I came home to the Hotel Thompson. Me and mom’s first picture together. I was three weeks old and weighed only ONE pound. See my cute little snout? When mom and dad first picked me up, believe it or not but mom had not seen me in person and had never held a piglet. After my surrogate mom passed me to my mom, I crawled up to her neck, smelled it and went immediately to sleep. My surrogate mom said that was a great sign. I love laying on mom’s shoulders and smelling her neck. You’ll see me do a lot of that in pictures,.Don’t you just recognize and love the smell of your human? I can’t get enough!
4th Picture of Happiness –
This is the very first picture that mommy ever saw of me that made her fall in love with me. This was taken about a week after I was born on the farm with my real mom, Bertha, and my real dad, Champ. My surrogate emailed it to mom and mom said it tugged at heart like no other. Every since then, I’ve had mom wrapped around my little hooves. What do you think? Would you have fallen in love with me in this picture ❤
5th Picture of Happiness –
Okay this picture is one of my mom’s all time favorites of me – me in the bathtub for bath time. Contrary to popular belief, piggies are actually very clean animals. I don’t stink…partially because I don’t sweat – snorts. Mommy does put her foot down though and makes me take a bath at least once a month. She says to make me smell like a little powdered baby. But I let her cause she likes those times. In this picture, I was stomping around the tub and blowing bubbles in the water. It was pretty fun. Mom thought she was going to take some pictures and videos. In the video, right towards the end I had enough. That’s when I learned how to fly. I jumped out of the tub. Poor mommy, she didn’t know whether to drop her cell phone or catch me. Hilarious keeping her on her toes.
6th Picture of Happiness –
Me and my mom. There is no place that I would rather be than in the arms of my mommy. They are safe arms. They are loving arms. They make me feel protected and I love them. In this picture, notice my face. Daddy was trying to make me get down. I don’t know why it was bothering him. Me and mom were just fine and happy as could be. It’s okay. Daddy finally backed down and left us alone. See, I can be as stubborn as… as… well as a pig. There you go. Snorts.
7th Picture of Happiness –
This is one of my all time favorite pictures of moi. I took it from the camera on my laptop. It’s also here on my blog as my picture. I was sitting there pounding on the keyboard and I took it. It came out fabulous and I love it. What do you think? Do you like it too as one of your favorites?
8th Picture of Happiness –
Another one of my piglet baby pictures – mommy holding me. See, I was terribly small when I came to live with mom/dad here at the Hotel Thompson. I was the runt of my litter and they didn’t think I was going to make it. But look at me now – I made it! Daddy says that for the first six months of my life, he didn’t know that I could even walk because mommy carried me everywhere. Silly daddy. Of course I had legs. If I didn’t, I would be called ham – right? Snorts with piggy laughter.
So there you are. My eight pictures of happiness. I hope you enjoyed them as well my friends. ❤
Oh and squeals… maybe I should make this NINE pictures of happiness. I almost forget about someone that I need to add. Someone that does bring me happiness – especially when he’s not swinging from my piggy tail. You guess it… Houdini. He does bring a smile to my piggy face. He’s so full of energy! So here you go – 9th Picture of Happiness –
Monday night I hit a milestone in my blog. Something that this little oinker thought he would never see.
My friends – this could not have happened without YOU! YOU read my ramblings. Listen to me. Participate with me. YOU make my day. My aim on my blog is just to make people laugh… maybe wee on themselves just a tiny bit. I want to bring happiness to your day. A little laughter. Something that takes away your sorrow and brings a smile to your face. Something that when you see a pig or hear a oink, you think of me… little ole Bacon from the Hotel Thompson.
Without YOU, none of this could happen. I want to bring your happiness but let me tell you my friends. YOU bring me happiness. YOU make me smile. YOU have taught me to overcome the obstacles and there is nothing that can hold this oinker back. If I can dream it, I can become it.
Thank YOU for being my friend and visiting my blog. I ❤ you ALL to the moon and back!
Earlier in the week, I got two things in the mail in ONE day. You talk about a piggy being excited and running around the house squealing – that was me! Of course daddy was mean and wouldn’t let me open up anything until mommy got home from the worky place… he’s such a bubble popper – snorts.
When mommy got home, I was walking the floors looking for her. I was kind of excited and didn’t wait for her to even change clothes before I was jumping on her and squealing. We opened my card first… piggy blushes. It was from my girlfriend Nylablue and her mom Sherri-Ellen. They are so sweet. I borrowed dad’s credit card a couple of weeks ago and sent them both a pick me upper from this winter snow. I think they enjoyed it! Plus the package had daisies and lady bugs on the boxes… I was hoping that my Nylablue would correlate that with a date we went on back in March. You can read all about it here.
Thank you my sweet purr thing Nylablue and my sweet friend Sherri-Ellen!! ❤
Then I got a package from down under – that’s right Australia from Fozzie. I squealed! Look at the goodies she sent me – and OMP (oh my pig) isn’t that piggy pencil holder/pencils the most adorable thing you’ve seen since I was a baby piglet?? Fozzie even sent my mom some Mickey Mouse band-aids. Personally between you and me, I think mommy wanted a boo-boo just so she could use a MM band-aid. They are adorable! AND, my stickers – YES! I can’t wait to use them on some special letters I’ll be sending out soon.
Thank you so very much my sweet dear friend Bev!! You rock and made this little piggies day! ❤
Miniature pot bellied pig and friends - Bacon, Houdini, Hemi and all of the Rock Clan with Journalist Rocky the Squirrel all out looking for adventures from the Hotel Thompson.
If happiness had to be explained in a picture – well there you go. This is one of mom’s all time favorite desserts. I know – I know. Has there ever been a dessert that mom has turned her back to? Of course not. But this one she said is exceptional.
Piglove 