I Love 🥰 Emojis
What are your favorite emojis?
Ask anyone who gets messages from me. I love emojis! 💝 There’s something about being able to say a lot with a tiny form. A picture speaks a thousand words, right? And when I downloaded Google’s Gboard keyboard and got access to their “emoji kitchen” to create my own, that was the whipped cream and cherry on top.
I’m not sure why “Day One” chose this for their 1921st prompt, because so many emojis only show up as little boxes here on WordPress, but I still love the idea, so I’m experimenting. I’ve downloaded a lot of the mixed ones I created to share in a collage, and they’ll show fine since they’re pictures. Like this set of train emojis from messages I sent to my sister while she was on the train last year.
I really love the train that’s slipping on a banana peel. That was from combining a train emoji with a banana emoji. You should be able to tell what was combined to get each image. I highly recommend the Gboard app for the personal dictionary and the Glide Typing abilities as well. I don’t know if it’s available anywhere but the Google Play Store, but if you can get it, I’m relatively certain you’ll have fun with it. Go to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.latin
And here are some new ones I just made tonight. As you can tell, I like combining the cactus with different things. Oh, and sparkles. I love adding sparkles to other emojis.
Most of these should be obvious, but the wooden globe may not give away that it’s a combo of the earth and a wooden stump. The frying pan is the combo of a dinner plate and an egg. But I cannot do a train and a cactus, so here’s what you get when you choose to do the two types of cactus 🌵 and 🏜️ (I hope these show) inline with a text…
So, yes, I think you can clearly see that I really like using emojis as a communications tool. I hope this inspires someone to have some fun with these great compact emotions.
Now, since April 27th is also “National Tell A Story Day,” I have one more treat for you. It’s a very old story, some sites say a song, that I learned when I was a teenager. I never sang it until I taught it to my nephews and had them sing it like a military marching cadence for their uncle. As I searched, it seemed all the sites had slightly different words, so I’m using the ones I recall from my years of repeating this tongue tangler of backward, inside-out, and upside-down words..
I started with the introduction of...
Ladies and gentlemen, hobos and tramps,
Cross-eyed mosquitos and bowlegged ants.
I stand before you, not behind you,
To address you, not undress you.
Admission is free, pay at the door.
Pull up a chair and sit on the floor.
I come to this end, not to this out,
To tell you a story--I know nothing about.
~~~~~~~~and then the story~~~~~~~~
One bright day in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other
Pulled out their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
And came to kill the two dead boys.
If you don't believe my story is true,
Ask the blind man... He saw it too!
One day, I’ll tell you the story of Petey the Snake. But it’s best to hear it, so I’ll need to get over myself and be willing to record it. But wait, there’s more. I just had to make my juggling emojis with the knit filter. Too cute!
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🎵On Account of my Walk (Prompt Post)
Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.
It didn’t start out as much of a risk. Right in the middle of a grocery store, a big drawing box that said, “Win a FREE 16 x 20 Portrait!” My trailer did not have a lot of wall space, but the word free was enticing, so in my name and number went.
I got the call a few days later. “You didn’t win the 16 x 20, but you won a free 8 x 10.” Wow, I thought, I actually won something. Having done telemarketing for a photo studio as a teenager, I should’ve known it was just a marketing technique, but I decided to set the appointment and have my portrait done. Still no real risk.
Proof day was the first risk. How much money could a truck stop cashier really afford to spend on pictures, no matter how pretty they came out? I decided on the Christmas cards and the free 8 x 10. The sales lady was good and she could see I wanted more but couldn’t afford them. So, she offered me a job. No, that was not how I expected that day to go, but it was a day that would change my life in multiple ways. But, yes, it was a huge risk.
I didn’t have a car that could travel all over the US, so the company said it would take care of all my flights and buses for the first 6 weeks while I was training, and then I’d pay half of my transportation costs myself. I just had to be willing to give notice at my current job and be willing to leave everything I knew, including all the family that lived in the same town, and head to my first training location in Utah within 10 days. I can still feel the butterflies that were there in my stomach as I pondered the decision to make such a huge life change. But I do not regret it at all.
Because of Parkway Studios, I got to travel a large part of the US. I saw landmarks and circuses and dinosaurs in Utah. I learned how cold Wisconsin can get during an Arctic cold front, and I learned how to pronounce Oconomowoc Wisconsin from a local who said to just remember, “On account of my walk.” (Phonetically, it’s pronounced oh-KAH-nuh-muh-wok.) I traveled to a town in Ohio that allowed me to meet my grandmother on my dad’s side for the first time, and a town in Kansas that let me see my father again after many years. And, eventually, I met the friend who put me on the phone with the man I’ve loved and been married to for over 35 years now.
There have been so many experiences since making the decision to accept that job offer that I could write a book. (I’m working on one for real.) I mean, without meeting my husband, I wouldn’t have some of the great friendships I’ve grown here, like those within my writer’s group, and I wouldn’t have gotten my gift of the DNA test that got me my brother. (He’s had a great response to his first single, by the way, so check the post called “Release Day” if you want to stream his amazing song, Savage Grace.) And so very much more than I can put into words because of the deep value of things like finding someone who loves to sing old hymns. So, no, I definitely do not regret that huge risk so many years ago.
Hebrews 11:8-10 BSB
[8] By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going. [9] By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. [10] For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/heb.11.8-10.BSB
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🎵Photo Walking
What’s the most fun way to exercise?
Daily Prompt by Day One
If I can get myself out the door with a camera around my neck, I tend to enjoy the steps I get a little more. A trip–back in 2022–to Azalea Path in Indiana is my favorite of all time. I’ve been there more than once, but that year, we just seemed to arrive during the best color display I’ve seen there. Here’s a collage of some of the captures from that day, all straight out of the camera (SOOC). It was cloudy, so I used a higher color setting, but I was very happy with a few of the shots out of 1200+ I captured. I especially love the ones with waterfalls.
© 2022-2026 (All Rights Reserved)
And even though these are not lilies, this reminder from the words of YahShua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ The Messiah) are a fitting comfort that goes well with such an array of colors.
Luke 12:27-28 BSB
[27] Consider how the lilies grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. [28] If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith!
https://bible.com/bible/3034/luk.12.27-28.BSB
And since I used that verse, well, I might as well share the beautiful song with the same words, right?
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Fun with Creativity and The Creator
List five things you do for fun.
WordPress Prompt on January 23rd, 2026
If you’ve read much of my blog, you’ve seen a lot of the things I do for fun. Almost anything kaleidoscopic, colorful, sparkly, or created with words gets my attention. I believe I am creative because I was made in the image of my creative Heavenly Father. Like the aspects of my own parents that I see in my own life, I am thrilled to model aspects of The Lord in my creativity.
The first thing I do for fun is spend time with Yahveh Almighty. Maybe it’s singing to Him, offering praise, giving thanks, reading and studying His Holy Word, or just having a pleasant conversation. However I interact with Him, it truly is a fun thing getting to know The One who put the universe together in infinite ways beyond my finite understanding.
The second thing is spending time with the love of my life, my soldier husband of almost 35 years. We plan to be together “forever and 3 days” because one day past forever isn’t enough. 🥰 Time with him includes more time at home these days, but I have great memories of travel to see my family out west or for vacations to my favorite places like Branson, Missouri, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Even a few short trips like the Red Skelton museum near Evansville, Indiana, and a really cool trip to see the World’s Largest Rocking Chair/Mailbox/Pitchfork Wind Chime/Mousetrap and more in Casey, Illinois. Check out these cool sites…
The third thing is writing. If I didn’t have fun writing, even this blog might seem like work. Although I have had some time where writing wasn’t as fun when I didn’t have the members of my wonderful Louisville Christian Writers (LCW) group to encourage me. And, actually, it wasn’t that writing was not fun so much as my life had so many big things going on just before the start of 2020 that all creativity seemed stifled, so writing and this blog took a hit. But now I’m back here and at LCW, so writing is becoming more fun every day. I hope I get back to poetry soon as well. I’m working on a children’s book from the lyrics of the first song I ever wrote at 7 years old, but I’ll save that for its own post.
The fourth thing is kaleidoscopes. My favorites of these include oil cells with floating pieces of sparkly and colorful stuff like dichroic glass. The two mirrors reflect the pieces into a mandala shape filled with moving designs that have a positive effect on the viewer’s endorphin level. And my wish list for new scopes is pretty big, but with just a few small purchases, it was enough to be considered a collector at my favorite kaleidoscope store: Nellie Bly’s in Jerome, Arizona. I love kaleidoscopes so much, well, you can find a whole album of my inside kaleidoscope pics on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/gp/crystalwriter/cmBKQ5Rp2k And I believe that what I see when I look down the tube of a kaleidoscope is similar to what God sees when He looks at His creations (and people) on this earth. All the designs are beautiful; and they’re even more beautiful when light, especially God’s light, shines through them.
Fifth: Viewing a kaleidoscope doesn’t use my own creativity (though I have built one and want to create more someday), so I love to wax kaleidoscopic and create designs digitally. I use any variety of apps and software to make designs. I started with making tessellations in the Silicon Mirror program by Torpor and later learned what a mandala was. You can still get the program for Windows for only $12, which is what I paid over 15 years ago, and it looks like they’ve come out with a Mac version for 5 bucks. Visit https://torpor.com/smk.htm to see the mirror and his other really cool programs and links to lots of images. My Flickr album for everything kaleidoscopic is at https://www.flickr.com/gp/crystalwriter/2148G1a628 and you can visit https://www.facebook.com/KaleidoscopesPlus to see images from other creative applications. The video at the top is a kaleidoscope transformation made in Mirror Lab. It was a huge file, so I compressed it and added music in Video Show for Android and then let Jetpack’s VideoPress optimize it here. And here are a few static kaleidoscopes I made from the same source as the video was made from.
The 3rd and 5th items could just be called creativity, and there are even more creative pursuits in my life like creating new recipes to cook and spending hours making images with Wombo Dream and a few other AI programs. I hope one day to create a magazine that will include many of my creative outlets along with creations and ideas from others. Getting back here to write again is stirring the creative juices and renewing my hopes for these future dreams. I hope my readers join me in the fun. 😊
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This Day’s Prompt on Decluttering…
… Asked the question, “Where can you reduce clutter in your life?” I knew I could answer with something spiritual, or I could answer that question with the physical clutter in my life. I could go room by room, inbox by inbox, and even list Christmas movies on my DVR. But I wanted to see how a few others answered, and I’m so glad I looked because one of the blogs I found has a great article that spoke to my heart and spirit. (There are other posts I want to read there as well, so I followed and decided it was a great post to reblog.)
I hope my visitors enjoy this post by the Grace-In-Between blog, and may you feel the wonderful blessings of Yahveh Almighty as you rest with Him this Sabbath.
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Others’ Posts I’ve Liked
Crystal Writes A Blog 