A mini reflection.
How far from home https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-flower-on-white-sand-6788862/
To be honest, I've never asked myself this before, however, I'm not gonna beat myself up for it because it's not a crime hehe.
I had to pause so I could think, what character traits do I possess?
Though the question is, what is your best character trait.
Growing up, I've always been a kind of reserved person, reserved in a good way. Speaking about friends, I have them coming but I've never held on to one as a best friend, and it's just like they weren't good friends, I just don't have the grace of keeping friends, even when I try to gather friends around me, trying to create my little circle, I find myself alone in that circle and the best part is that I LOVE IT.
One of my resolution for this new year is to try to get along with people and to make friends with people who would impact my life positively. I added this to my resolutions because I thought that it would be a good thing for my business as a hairstylist and a makeup artist. However, so far since the year started, I've not been successful with that, I'm still trying, and if it still doesn't go well, I'm just going to drop it and as for my business, it's in God's hands and he will prosper me with or without my ability to make friends with people.
I've learned about the benefits of leveraging on people, so by the side, I'm still doing what I can.
Anyway, that is that about that. About what see as my best trait, I would say that it is my way of generally. I read somewhere that when a person has a good character, it is never hidden, it appears and makes itself known to others just like smoke. A good character can be seen in a person's words and actions.
I must confess the fact that I have several character traits ranging from honesty, integrity, fairness, loyalty, optimism, and many more, believe me, listing them seems almost impossible, I'm not bragging, however, it is just what it is.
So far, so good,
my best character trait is
**THOROUGHNESS.**
Whenever I set my mind to do anything, I make sure I do my best and do it well in a way that pleases me completely and pleased others too.
I put in extra effort in what I do and do things correctly. So far this has made a lot of people I've worked for to be able to count on me because of my commitment and how I pay attention to details. One of the things I value so much that this has brought to me is respect in my personal and professional life.
**What mistake did you learn the most from?**
Someone said something, he said that will you prefer the opportunity to go back and correct your past mistakes or accept a 10 million offer?
My reply to the question was, " mistakes are meant to be made and that is why the word exists, so I'd rather go for the 10 million.
One mistake I've learned from the most was trying to let my past define me, at some point, I lost my esteem. However, I am grateful that I was able to correct that in time and also correct my mindset about that.
Living with such a mindset is a fast way to get one degenerated.
I've learned that it is okay to make mistakes, however, we shouldn't dwell on them, rather we should learn from them and move on.
Mistakes make the wise ones stronger.
**What is the most important thing in a relationship?**
Trust!
Trust!!
Trust!!!
Trust!!!!!!!
This cannot be over-emphasized.
For one to be in a relationship, we can be assured that the couple are already in love, however, other things need to be available to keep the relationship better and stronger, one of which is trust.
Trust is the most important thing in a relationship. Trust followed with faithfulness, honesty, forgiveness, and many more.
@PrincessElla
This is an honorable mention sis🙂
I'm inviting you to join in answering these questions.
Here is the link to the main giveaway post.
https://read.cash/@carisdaneym2/sharing-50-and-10-nfts-for-my-21st-birthday-celebration-879f59b0
Thank you @carisdaneym2
I was able to think, reflect and write this post because you put it out. Thank you and happy birthday to you. May your heart desired to grant. Trust you had loads of fun on your birthday🙂
That's all for now.
Thank you for reading
**10-02-2022✅**
Wednesday walk: center of excellence.
Hello, beautiful people another beautiful day that happens to be the day for the Wednesday walk challenge.
I left the house quite early on Monday morning, I had to get to somewhere at Ikeja which is the capital of Lagos, the center of excellence in Nigeria.
I got there as early as I could but had to with for some more hours before I was finally attended to.
Due to the queue that was already there, I just had no choice but to wait till it was my turn.
However, I felt disappointed in getting there because no one had their nose mask on. I thought to myself that I should have just gone into the building and finished what I went there for, instead, I had stopped by at the gate after alighting from the bus to get a nose mask. It's not like it's a bad thing though, at least I was protecting myself, it's just that the fact I knew what their rules were and how they can be strict about it prompted me to buy it.
Don't get me wrong though, please use your nose mask to protect yourself, I was only disappointed because no one, especially the people I expected would have their nose mask on did not have it on, that was disappointing.
A few hours after arriving there, I was done with what I went there for. As I stepped out of the building, walking to the nearest bus terminal where I would get a bus to take me to my destination, I felt discouraged because of the traffic, so I just decided to walk a bit more because I wouldn't like to sit in the traffic.
The traffic was so terrible, I continued walking down. I stopped by to take a picture of this beautiful building. It's a hotel.
After taking that picture I continued walking down and got to another place where I felt I should take another picture. I was on the other side of the road so I couldn't take a very clear picture so from where I stood, I was able to take this shot of the well-known ShopRite at Ikeja.
Again after taking that shot I continued walking down the road, when I got to this particular place which I'll be sharing now, where I was like a road location indicator if that's what it is called hehe.
Hey!
That wasn't all, there is a nan who is considered to be the best president Nigeria ever had, probably that's the reason why they put his statue here, the man is late now, he was known as Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
I was moving while taking these shots, I didn't want to just stand and make it obvious that I was taking pictures.
After taking shot of that, I was already close to the next bus terminal, so I just stood there and waited for a bus to come pick me. I was already tired from trekking and the traffic had reduced.
I should have just gone home straight but I decided to visit hubby at his workplace. I was there till he was done for the day, I didn't have to worry about my son because he was with his grandparents at home.
When it was time to finally go home, we both had to walk to where we would get a bike to take us home. Entering a bus at that time may mean that we would get home very late and that's because of the traffic.
Before getting to the bike park, I stopped to take a shot of this I will be sharing below. I don't know what it is called, maybe my fellow Nigerians who resides in Lagos can help with that, I just felt that it would be worth sharing.
And that was all the shots I took for my Wednesday walk challenge.
Thank you for stopping by
Destiny and Karma, can they both be true?
What's destiny?
In a simple sentence, it means a necessary event that will happen in one's life in the future. No wonder we hear statements like *"oh! That was is destiny"*. Destiny is also known as the pre-ordained path of a person's life, most of the time, we usually don't have enough control over our destiny, we just go with the flow of whatever we see.
No doubt, believing in destiny is certainly a spiritual feeling.
This topic is a topic which one would want to sit argue about due to people's beliefs. Some believe that there's no such thing while others think that it does. If destiny doesn't exist, why then does it have a translation?
In this life, every man is destined to something, it may be a good and as well be a bad thing, that destiny. We have no control over whichever one happens.
I remember an event that happened a few years ago, I can't remember the actual time.
That period was when the first female pilot emerged in my country. It was when she died we got to know some things about her, and that was when we also learned that she was the first female pilot.
I can't remember the cause of her death, however, I remember she was between the age of 23 - 24yrs.
This girl must have put so much effort into studying and working hard to make sure she bags that position of a good pilot. If she wasn't a good pilot, I'm sure that when she died, we would not even know that a person like that exists.
My point is this, the girl must havee had bigger dreams of how she is going to be the best female pilot in the world, yeah she may have been thinking big but death happened, she had no control over that, today she's no more.
That was probably her destiny, to die when it's time to shine, after so much studying and becoming that which she has been dreaming of. Things like this happen, this isn't a good destiny, that is the reason why Christians(believers) always include *' God, please change my destiny'* in their prayers points. They don't know if it is good or bad but they pray to God hoping and believing that he will make it good.
Another clear example that should make an unbelievable belief that that is a thing called destiny can be seen in the life of Jesus Christ, we know the story.
Right from when he was conceived in his mother's womb mary, he already has a destiny which was the purpose of his existence on earth. When the time came to fulfill his destiny, he cried to his father, God asking that if it would be possible, let the cup be taken away from him. Jesus however understood that it was his destiny and that was what he later said 'nevertheless, let thy will be done.
His destiny all along was to come and die for the sins of the world, till now, that very act is what keeps redeeming us all.
Many people are unable to stop destiny because it sometimes is an incurable curse.
**I mentioned something earlier, I quote**
*"that is the reason why Christians(believers) always include ' God, please change my destiny' in their prayers points. They don't know if it is good or bad but they pray to God hoping and believing that he will make it good."*
The question is this, does prayer alters destiny? I just shared an example about Jesus who is the son of God, he prayed that the cup may pass from him but it did not, we can say that it is because it was God's will. **So can prayers alter destiny?**
Karma
I've come across this word so many times especially *"KARMA IS A BITCH"*.
YES I believe in Karma. If you do good, you do for yourself and if it's bad, it's also for yourself. Whatever you do will definitely come back for you because what goes around comes around.
According to Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma
For the believers in spirituality the term also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called the principle of karma, wherein intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect).
**A simple example of karma.**
Rita is a girl who happens to be the only child of her parents. Somehow, she got influenced by peer group and lives a life that causes her parents to feel ashamed. Even when her parents calls her to talk to her so she would turn a new live, she still doesn't listen.
Now Rita is all grown and married with kids.
She was living happily until Karma visited, her first born child now acts exactly the way she acts back then when she was that age and was with her own own.
Karma can happen in any form, the simple way to say is that what you do will also be done to you.
**I believe in destiny and I believe in Karma, they are both true.**
All I have written are just my personal opinions.
I didn't see that coming.
Lead image by Willsantt https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-orange-dress-with-braided-hair-1962844/
Yesterday was Saturday.
Saturdays are meant for choir rehearsals where I worship so as a chorister I never miss going for the rehearsals, it's already known as a Saturday thing for me.
Ever since the third week in December when we had the Christmas carol in my church, my hair had not been in any protective style reason being that I have had a particular style on my mind that I want to do however, I had been faced with two challenges which will be mentioned later in this post.
I was going through the photos on my gallery, then I saw the hair I did during that Christmas carol season. I didn't do my hair like braiding or weaving it, what I did was just retouching and setting. My whole scalp felt like it was on fire the day I did the setting. After the hairstylist has finished applying and massaging the relaxer on my hair, my scalp felt as if it was on fire, It was really hot on my head that staying under the hairdryer after the setting treatment and rollers were added to the hair became like a mission impossible.
My scalp felt like it was burning, and after the relaxer was washed out, I could still feel like my scalp was burning and I had to sit under something hot which was certainly going to make the situation worse.
Well, I managed myself all through the process and was able to achieve this hairstyle for the Christmas carol.
My hair got stuck to my scalp and it was so hard that I couldn't even comb it. Combing would have meant hurting my head. All I did all through that period was to moisturize the hair with leave-in conditioner and shea butter. I continued with that till the hair returned to normal.
It has been a month and some weeks now, my hair hasn't been in any protective style. One thing I want so much to avoid is to do anything that would make my hair start breaking. Knowing that I had left the hair undone for that long, I was beginning to fear that the hair might start breaking, I kept ignoring anyway until I got to rehearsal.
One of the female choristers called out to me and said *"won't you do this hair that has managed to grow this long or do you want it to start burning style* I replied, No.
I have had a burningstyle on my mind that I wanted to do for myself.
A crochet style with a particular passion twist hair.
I had searched all the places I know just to find that passion twist but all to no avail. Another challenge was the cost price to buy the hair and stylist's workmanship. That money wasn't available.
After my church member had advised that I do the hair so it won't break, on my way back home, I decided to stop by at a store where hair is sold. Again, I continued my search for that hair I wanted but still couldn't find it, then I just had to settle for one which I felt still looked nice.
Ps: I got the hair late in the evening, around past 6 pm. I didn't plan to go to a salon though, I planned to crochet my hair myself with a different style of cornrow pattern I watched on YouTube.
Well, I recorded the cornrowed hair while I was halfway into doing it. So this picture is just a screenshot from the video. The time was past 11 pm at that time.
I had to cook and sort my son when I hit hone, so the hair was delayed until later at night.
I continued cornrowing the rest of the hair till I was done, then I tucked the tip of my hair into the cornrow with the crochet hook.
This is another screenshot of the video I did after I was done fixing all the hair into the cornrows. If you notice here, the hair looks slightly curly.
I decided to try something, which is dipping the hair into hot water.
I did and I never saw the next appearance coming, I'm grateful the hair didn't get spoiled.
I was sure that I can dip the hair into a hot bowl of water because I had already done my research on the type of hair I bought.
**So what happened?**
The hair became straight after dipping in hot water. I finished up and went to sleep at exactly some minutes to 3 am.
As you can see from this photo, the time was 2:41 am.
I was confident that I would be able to wake up on time and get to church early.
The new rule for choristers in my church is that we ought to get to church as early as 8 am and the grace time is 8:10 am. Even since the standard was laid, I have never defaulted because I do not want to go through the embarrassment of being late and I can't afford the fine to be paid for coming late.
**BUT GUESS WHAT HAPPENED!**
I went to sleep around some minutes to 3 am, I slept and slept in till **7:20 AM!!!**
I JUMPED OUT OF THE BED WHEN I WOKE UP.
I couldn't even prepare my son, I just had to beg his dad to prepare and bring him to church for me because I was already late.
Good things he understood and agreed.
I hurried.
At the end of it all, I got to just at exactly 8:02 am, I was so happy that I wasn't late.
After the church service, I took pictures.
The hair was tied to the back though.
Up close, this is what the hair looks like, I just had to take a picture of it now.
Anyways, thanks all, for now, thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you all here again next time.
Thank you.
**6-02-2022✅**
Faith and luck.
Have you experience faith at work? Have you been lucky? Do you think they are the same?
Andre piacquadio https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-blue-tank-top-smiling-3807762/
Faith is known as the substance of things hoped for, you need something so you hope to get it, even though you've not gotten it yet, with faith you believe that you have it already and it is there with you.
Now, what is luck?
According to my research, it is simply a force that brings fortune. There is a pattern all lucky things have in their behavior according to science.
Here is an experience of mine, let's see if it is faith or luck.
A few years ago, I stepped out for a short walk one evening with a school bag on my back. In the school bag were my phone and some money which I had left there. I can't remember where I went to or what I went to do, I only remember that I got home only to discover that the phone was missing. I searched the bag thoroughly, still to no avail but noticed that the bag has a tear, so I suspected that my phone must have slipped out from there. I was so sad that I won't be seeing the phone anymore and trying a new one is just far from the equation because I wasn't financially buoyant for it.
I borrowed my neighbor's phone to call my number, after several rings, someone answered the call.
Immediately, I explained how I lost the phone to the person and started begging him.
Before then, knowing my situation that I has no money for another phone, I had prayed to God and the Holy Spirit to help me find. I ended my prayer with ***'Thank you Jesus because my phone has been returned to me, I have my phone already'.*** I ended my prayer with faith and made myself believe through faith that I have the phone already, I removed doubt and worry from my heart because those are the things that work against faith.
After begging the man that answered, he explained his side of the story, telling me that he found it on the floor. After which he sent a description of an open place so I would come there to take the phone the next because according to him, he had left the area he pick the phone from.
The next morning, I prepared early and waited for the right time to leave the house to meet up with the man.
As planned, I got there, call the man again but he didn't answer the call. I kept calling till he finally answered and explained that he was on the bike, already on his way to work but he will stop by soon to give me the phone. I felt relieved and waited a bit more.
As he promised, he finally got to where I was and gave me the phone without asking for anything. I thanked him a million times with joy in my heart he turned and left and I did too.
I had faith that I was going to have my phone and it happened because faith worked with a tough of luck right?
I recently had another experience.
Before getting to the bus stop where one would need to get a bike that would take one home, one has to cross a bridge and it's important to pay before crossing, and if you can't pay, you won't be allowed to cross, if one decides to struggle to cross, they are certainly going to seriously embarrass you, it's none of their business if you are a female, they won't even listen when you beg them.
It happened on a Sunday, I was going home from church alone, the money I had left on me was to be used to enter a bike that would take me home.
I had planned to take out of bike money but then I thought, 'will I walk home on foot? Not possible.
At that moment, I prayed not to be noticed and believed with faith that I was going to pass without being embarrassed.
As I walked closer to the people who collect money, I wanted to slow down but I just kept walking, before I knew what was happening, I had already crossed to the other side, to my surprise, I wasn't noticed.
I was very happy that I crossed and escaped embarrassment.
Do you believe in faith or it's just luck for you?
Line divider credit: Frittro https://www.ecency.com/hive-158694/@frittro/creating-a-divider-for-the
Full coverage pink eye look.
I worked on a client's face on Wednesday, I planned to write and won't pictures about it sooner but couldn't find the energy to do so.
Ps: This is a tutorial, this is me showcasing my work on the read.cash platform and I would love to get feedback on it.
Before I proceed to show the pictures and videos, I would like to mention something before I forget.
I just want to say that I'm grateful for all the encouraging words I've been getting on my previous makeup posts and the encouraging words about my writing so far.
Sometimes, I was to judge myself and stay back but when I remember the words, I feel encouraged to do my best.
One of the things I've learned so far in life is that whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
When it comes to makeup for me, I feel it's okay to be inspired by other people's content, even when you decide to recreate a look, don't do it to be exactly like the person you got the inspiration from, instead, do your best work, you want to do a work that people will admire, you want to make sure that your signature is seen.
Don't struggle to be others, instead, enjoy the process of becoming you because what makes you different makes you special.
I was faced with two challenges on the day I worked on my client's face and the challenge was the fact that her skin wasn't so smooth. If you are familiar with the words makeup artists say, you will understand the term **'skin like milk'**.
So, my client's skin wasn't like milk***,*** and to be honest, I felt discouraged to work on her, however, I had to remind myself that I'm a makeup artist, even though makeup isn't like doing surgery on the skin, it at least enhances beauty.
The second challenge was the pimples she had on her face, some were large.
After accessing her skin, I started prepping it.
***Note that it is wrong to apply makeup directly on the skin, if it's problematic skin you're working on, the chemicals in the makeup products will make it worse, that is the reason why there has to be a barrier before the makeup is applied***.
My steps to prepping the face are usually
cleaning the skin with micellar water and wipes.
apply sweat block
apply the moisturizer generously
apply the primer.
Those are my prepping step so far. An important thing to note is that each product has to get completely dried on the skin first before another one is added.
Makeup is a fun skill for me, I enjoy working on people's faces and always fall in love with the final look I create.
After prepping, I go in with the foundation, cream contour, and cream blush before concealer then I finally set the face.
The next thing I always do after that process is the brows, then the eyeshadow. The last is the lips before I do my final touch.
Here is a video of mine I uploaded on youtube, I didn't want to go through 3speak because I discovered that some people find it difficult to watch videos from there.
Please watch the video, your feedback means a lot to me.
https://youtu.be/U5QLYdT9XAQ
If you have watched the video I edited up there, thank you and I would like to read your feedback.
I'm hoping to be able to have my studio soon so I can do all I want to do the way I want. The video credit goes to a friend of mine who has a studio with a good camera and lights too. She a blessing to me, I'm able to create new content because of her.
Valentine makeup sales are currently on, which means it is time to buy some more products I need at a discounted price, from today till February 14, I'm hoping to have some good some of the money to buy some products before the end of the sale.
Finally, you have come to the end of this post.
I appreciate your time here.
Can spirituality and technology stay together?
On seeing this topic '*CAN SPIRITUALITY AND TECHNOLOGY LIVE TOGETHER'* in the eco train community, the first question which popped up in my mind was this; **Does spirituality and Technology have anything in common?**
I feel that the answer isn't far from us. There was no technology at the beginning of the word but there was spirituality. I can say that Spirituality gave birth to technology which has greatly changed the world today.
Ali Pazani https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-woman-wearing-turtleneck-top-2777898/
A lot of technologies today were invented by a man who was created by God(spirituality). Many years back, a lot of gadgets we have now weren't in existence. Technology has greatly affected the 21st Century in many areas like socialization, healthcare, productivity. Thanks to technology a lot of things can be done with ease, an example is the performing of household chores. Even though technology in a way has caused harm, I feel that it's still safe to say that it has done more good than harm.
**What is spirituality?**
I feel thàt spirituality is a kind of belief that there is a supreme being, also has to do with a connection to something we feel is greater than ourselves. In summary, spirituality centers on a connection to the spirit world.
One thing is a fact, spirituality cannot be erased from the world, I feel it's impossible because it's more like where the world originates from.
Over the years, we've experienced how spirituality and technology live together, an example of it is a pregnant woman in the labor room. I have heard statements like going into labor is a 50/50 thing which means that one might or might not make it.
Here is how spirituality and technology can be explained in this example.
When a woman conceives, the next thing is to go to the hospital for antenatal so that all that is needed for the pregnancy to be fine will be provided and knowledge about the stages and what to expect in the pregnancy will be taught. (This is the aspect of technology).
The same pregnant lady who visited the hospital for antenatal service still goes to church for prayers and completely commits the pregnancy into the hands of the only supreme being God. (This is the spiritual aspect).
When a woman is in the labor room, those who are spiritually minded, understand that technology isn't the only thing trying to deliver the baby. With faith, they believe that over and above technology's result, the supreme being will make it perfect.
Another example to prove that technology and spirituality can stay together is this; In our day-to-day lives as Christians, we see a lot of things that technology has brought, one of which is specialization. Speaking about social media, everyone who has access to it has the right to do whatever they want and that's the reason why we see so many things on there. Being a spiritual person doesn't mean that you can't be on social media, on the contrary, you can and if your reason for not wanting to be on social media is because of the many things that are posted which are not always decent to be watched, then it is up to you as a person to set your social media platforms to enable you to see things you want to see and dismiss things that you don't like to see. When it comes to that, it depends on who you follow and do not follow.
Well, this is a deep and tough question, it sure requires deep thinking. I'm sure a lot of people would have different opinions and answers to it.
A straightforward answer from me on this question would be **YES**, spirituality and technology can work together. They have one major thing in common which is their source, the creator.
God created man, and man was able to invent and create technology through God's inspiration.
That's the much I can share for this question if it makes sense.
**Thanks for reading.**
Also published here
https://peakd.com/hive-123046/@jessicaossom/spiritualityandtechnology
When I'm under the weather.
Recently I've been a bit under the weather and I think I should blame it on harmattan and the dust that comes with it. As a chorister in my church, it affected my vocal cords to that I find it hard to sing, even when I try, what I end up hearing is not just pleasing. For some reason, due to the weather, the phlegm that stays in my throat has been refusing to go away. This whole thing started at the beginning of January.
1️⃣ Feeling under the weather? A bowl of hot Chicken Soup does it for me, maybe sprinkled with bacon bits. What food makes you feel better when you are feeling sick?
For my case, as I type, I'm currently brewing my ginger tea.
Valeria Boltneva https://www.pexels.com/photo/clear-glass-tea-set-with-honey-1872904/
I haven't taken any drugs for these sneezing and dry throat though. Yeah, the throat is feeling dry now. Before now, it was always filled with phlegm that makes me want to clear my throat all the time.
**LIFE OF A SINGER**
According to my research, no matter how the phlegm in your throat is, no matter how it makes you feel, one thing you should **NEVER** **DO** is to clear your throat because it tends to be **EXTREMELY** traumatic to your vocal cord. For instance, you are to perform a song, suddenly, you felt the need to clear your throat and you gave in to that need, you clear the throat then went to perform. What you've done at that moment is like injuring your vocal cords before you use them.
**BACK TO MY ANSWER**
Like I said earlier, I'm still a bit under the weather because of this and the only that has been making me feel better is my ginger tea. Not the processed ginger tea though, I had to go to the market to buy enough ginger that would be needed, I bought honey too.
Whenever I want to take it, I blend the ginger then pour it into a cup, when the water is hot enough, I pour it into the cup and leave it till the temperature cools off, I finally put in about two spoons of honey.
I don't rush when taking it, I gently sip it so it would touch everywhere. Even this doesn't wash the vocal cords, I take it because of the soothing feeling it brings which makes me feel better. So far since I've been taking it, I don't feel the phlegms in my throat anymore, that feeling of me wanting to clear my throat is gone. However, now, all I feel is dryness, **what is happening to me!!**
Well, it's the weather, it must be because of the harmattan and dust here, I can only keep helping myself by staying hydrated, having enough rest, and protecting myself so the harmattan won't continue to keep me under the weather.
For my current situation, it has been **hot ginger&honey tea**, it is the only one that has been making me feel better.
**Thanks for reading.**
No way to go home.
Anna Shvets https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-sitting-on-luggage-3943882/
In the past, there have been several theories about this saying, however, it has come to stay. By now she would understand that life does always go as planned. You plan to get his way but life brings something completely different that one can't fathom.
Today was one of those days when she got stranded. She had hoped that she would use the arm machine when she gets to the next bus terminal. Unfortunately, it didn't work, there she stood searching around to see if she would find a mini bank to withdraw some funds, it all proved abortive. At this point, there was no way to go home.
As she decided to put a call through to her colleague, a call came. As if it was planned, the person who she was about to call was who called her.
She answered the call excitedly telling her that she was just about to call her.
She narrated her ordeal to her colleagues, luckily, her colleagues were already on their way to the same place.
She finished working late because of the extra files which were brought to her table for her to work on.
Laura happily described where she was, feeling relieved that she had finally found a way to get home.
Shortly after the conversation on phone, she saw her friend walking towards her.
Wow! That was very fast.
Yeah, I has already left the office when I called you.
I was calling to confirm the files you worked on.
A new day has come. I wonder what it has for us all. Everyone in the office seems bright and happy like they've won a lottery, can that even be possible?
At this point, I know that there are things I have wished and prayed for that are still taking time to show themselves in reality. It's not a bad thing if I take a bit of the positivity going on in the air, it would probably make me feel better.
Lilian has been so listing in thought that she didn't see Daniella who had been standing in front of her for some minute.
Hope all is well with a friend, I trust that you got home. Safely yesterday, About the bill, don't worry about it, I was only kidding.
Here are the files you would need to take care of.
For some reason, my brain could only be forced to come up with this for my 10mins freewrite.
Let's see what the next trial brings.
**Thanks for stopping by.**
Soft glam, Golden eye look created by me.
Ever since I finished my makeup training, I haven't stopped practicing for myself and other people. Just like the say goes, the best teacher is yourself.
I have been facing a challenge that is similar to the one I mentioned about my vlogging plan. After working on someone, I usually feel discouraged to post the picture and photo because it doesn't come out the way I want it to.
The look I created came from my creative mind, when next I want to do a makeup shoot, I will try searching and recreating an exceptional makeup look created by a pro.
I just feel that it will help me sharpen my skill and make me more confident.
Watch the video below of the look I created.
https://youtu.be/VFrZ6Bv-5sU
I had to upload the video to my YouTube channel so I would be able to share it here.
Meanwhile, please feel free to follow me on Instagram, just click on my handle, it will take you to my page.
@jessieglams_ https://instagram.com/jessieglams_?utm_medium=copy_link
The phone I used in recording this video has a very good camera, it's an iPhone, I didn't check which iPhone it was. The phone was borrowed hehe, so I couldn't take pictures like I wanted to. However, if you watch the video, you would see all the magic.
**Before look at my model.👇**
Before applying the foundation, it's important to prep the skin. I prepped her skip by wiping off the first on her face completely, then I moisturizer her face. After moisturizing, I went in with a primer before applying the foundation.
At this next stage below, I had already done the contour and cream blush.
These photos are screenshots from the video thatt was recorded.
At this stage, concealer had already been applied and blended. I had also set the highlighted areas with the setting powder. After setting I went ahead to bake. That is the purpose of the loose white powder you see on her face, the eyebrows had also been done. I was still working on the eyeshadow, I had already cut the crease as you can see.
This is a screenshot photo of me, blending the lip stain on the lip of my model.
Finally, below is a screenshot photo of the finished work without a filter.
https://youtu.be/6dz0aRSC2hg
Thanks for reading and watching, I hope to see you again next time.
All the videos and pictures are mine.
Also published here https://peakd.com/hive-103678/@jessicaossom/goldeneye-look-i-created
Max, don't go out there.
Sofia Alexandra https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-woman-sitting-on-floor-3007355/
It's been roughly a month since she was called to a meeting like the previous ones I've experienced.
Things may be going well with her now.
Not so long after a brief discussion with the other members, the phone rang, immediately he answered.
What happened this time, you don't mean it.
I'm sure there is a mistake somewhere, please hold on for a sec let me confirm this issue.
He rushed to her room but she wasn't there.
He took his phone from the couch and called the last number immediately apologizing for how he replied the other time.
Deedee knew that she has been busted when she saw the call coming in. Instead of panicking, she took her bag, threw it around her shoulder, and made her way to the house.
As she got home and was about to climb up the stairs, she noticed that everyone was gathered around the table in the dining room. There was no food, so she wondered why they were all there.
Deedee glanced around the table. "Why is everyone trying to get rid of me?"
She said as she felt it in her guts that they already found out what happened.
We haven't said that Dee, we only wanted you to explain what happened.
*Every time you all want me to say that I did it, what differences does it make now, no matter what I explain right now, you've all gathered here and I'm sure your minds must be made up already with what you've decided on.*
After saying this, she turned and walked up to the stairs, for a second, they assumed she was going to cool off in her room. They were all surprised when she came out with her bags.
Without looking in their direction, she moved to the door, opened it, and left.
Surprisingly a taxi was waiting for her, she must have ordered for a drive when she went up to pack her bags.
What is wrong with her, she can't always behave like this without trying to see that we are trying to help her.
*Hold on! hold on!! Max, don't go out there, just let her be.*
I guess the more we try to bring her close, the more she thinks we are all ganging up against her, just let her be.
Right now, I'm done trying to make her understand, all I need now is a glass of drink to get my mind off these things. However, if you still won't listen to my advice about letting her be on her own for now, then deal with whatever you get.
*It's alright, I will just let her be, but I feel really sad for her, she's not acting like her normal self, I just hope that she gets it together quickly.*
Jane's, sister will be coming over the weekend, we will discuss this with her.
Deedee is a beautiful smart girl, I'm not sure what made her this that she is now but I'm sure she will be back to us.
I miss her pretty smile which was always like the morning sun in the eyes of everyone.
It's not a problem, I believe the brightness and hope she has inside will help her overcome this phase of her life.
Done and dusted
Finally, we have reached the last day in January in the year 2022. 31-1-2022.
There is this popular saying about January being a very long and dry month. Apart from the harmattan season in my country which is accompanied with a lot of dust that keeps one moping the house or office almost every day, it is said that there isn't always money during this period which is traceable to the fact that a lot of money has been spent during the festive period leaving a lot of people broke in January.
Salary earners have to wait till the end of the month in other to receive their pay. I'm sure by now, the hearts of salary earners would be filled with joy. For self-employed persons, some money may have been coming in even before the month-end. Nevertheless, I made sure to stick to one thing and to inform as many as I could that they shouldn't spend all the money they have during the festive period. Things have changed now, the cost of things back then is different now so, in all that one does, wisdom needs to be applied.
We have come to the end of January before we know it, it's July already, yes time flies. So here is a reminder and a gentle saying from me, *the* *year is still younger, I know that we all had planned as we approached the new year. For some of us, we may be feeling discouraged because we've been pushing, trying to make sure that we are on track with that which we've planned for ourselves.*
The plans may still be looking like they can't be accomplished or will be very difficult that it sometimes brings fears to our hearts. We ought to understand that it is okay to be scared, it is okay to feel the fear but we shouldn't stop doing what we've got to do. The moment we let fear dominate our heart, our plans become stagnant, we become confused and it eventually might destroy the whole plan. We need to understand that it's important for us to trust ourselves, our plans, the process, and most importantly, have faith.
There are resolutions we may not have been able to meet up with, however, we are about to enter a new month, so this is the best opportunity to start all over and yourself proud.
I wanted to make sure that I'm able to write at least one post every day till the end of the month but I couldn't go through with it, February is giving me a new opportunity to go on and be successful with it and I'm gladly accepting.
We can all be the best we want to be so long we stay consistent and persistent.
Thanks for reading, I hope to see you here again.
Suspicious Silence
Today has been wonderful, from the start to this very moment. However, I have been busy with some chores at home since we got back from church.
When I finally got the chance to relax a bit, I grabbed my phone, the first place I visited was my WhatsApp status. A lot of my contacts post interesting things most of the time so I decided to kill time with that.
As I scrolled through, watching several videos and reading memes, I came across one which reminded me of what somewhat happened about 3 - 4 years ago.
Ps: I can't source the meme so I don't know if it's okay to upload it here.
However, I will write what was written.
> Silence is golden, but when you have kids, silence is suspicious.
The creator of the meme went on to write that whenever her neighbor is outside washing clothes and she suddenly doesn't hear her kids making noise again, she immediately shouts the name of the childlike *"EMMANUELLA!!! I CAN SEE WHAT YOU DOING O"*
I laughed after reading the meme because I could relate to it.
******
This happened in our former apartment, If I'm not mistaken, it's about 4 years now. My son had just learned how to crawl and stand by holding something. I remember vividly that he started crawling well when he was 7 months old, he was able to hold things to move around that age too, so this probably happened when he was around the age of 11months - 1year, I just know that he wasn't 1yr6months yet.
It happened on a Saturday because my free days were only Saturdays because of work on weekdays, I didn't always have the time to wash clothes Fu weekdays but only on Saturdays.
Even though I said it was my only free day, it isn't exactly because I was always occupied with the house especially the most tiring one which is washing clothes. I didn't have a washing machine so I was left with no choice but to wash with my hands. It's a good thing I had already prepared rice and stew the previous day that sustained us till that Saturday, I didn't need to cook on that Saturday but to focus on the many clothes I had to wash.
I moved all the clothes out, got my buckets ready to wash my clothes but made sure I had settled my son inside.
In that house, a corner of the room was where the kitchen cupboard was, kitchen utensils, and pots of food were always kept there.
I left my son inside with his toys so he would feel free and play without disturbing me, all I had on my mind was to wash as fast as I could and be done in no time.
Unfortunately, I didn't remember to lock the cupboard where my pot of stew was kept.
I stayed close to the entrance of our house and was washing. I could hear my son playing with his toys and having fun alone.
After washing for some minutes, I went to air dry the clothes. As I returned to wash the remaining clothes, I noticed that the sound of him playing with his toys had stopped. At first, I assumed he was already asleep and feeling grateful, not until I entered the house. Lo and behold, I don't know how he did it, he had brought down the pot of stew, some were spilled on the floor and his fingers were in his mouth. He had brought down the pot and had been licking the stew in the pot.
I got in and what I saw shocked me that I shouted. I was so angry, I didn't know whether to start flogging him because he was still so little.
I was so angry that he had wasted the stew and had given another work to do which was to clean up the mess.
Sincerely, when you notice that there is a sudden silence in the same room you've been hearing a lot of noise and you know that it's your kid you left in there, you should quickly go check because for sure they are already up to something if they haven't done it at all. That silence is suspicious😅
Also published here https://peakd.com/hive-164166/@jessicaossom/suspicious-silence
The universe seems to be in support.
https://youtu.be/RFr6tC6LA_4
About a month ago, I published a post about becoming an active vlogger. I stated that I don't have so much to no experience at all when it comes to blogging, however, I would still love to learn all that is needed to learn so I can be a good vlogger.
Being a makeup artist too, I felt confident and felt good about the idea.
However, as humans, there is one thing we will always experience which is the challenges of life.
I was planning on becoming an active vlogger and was also faced with some challenges which made me feel like I should discard such an idea, and the challenges are listed below
Not so good camera
No tripod
No ring light
No nothing, I just have myself and my phone's camera which can be frustrating at times because of how it makes a video quality appear at times.
Another thing which I felt is also a challenge is the aspect of finding just the perfect title that will draw people in to check out your vlog/blog, engaging on your post, and giving their feedback on your post which is important as it is what will help you become better.
About a month ago, I published some posts which are also about my plan on being an active vlogger, they are linked below👇
**Wanna be an active blogger** https://peakd.com/hive-124452/@jessicaossom/wanna-be-an-active-vlogger
**Vlogging, what next??** https://peakd.com/hive-124452/@jessicaossom/rneyyfec
**Vlog....I explained** https://peakd.com/hive-124452/@jessicaossom/rneyyfec
I feel excited today because I just got one thing that I've been wanting to get for myself, it turns out that I didn't even buy it with my money but I won it.
A friend of my sister's whose birthday was on the 26th of December did a giveaway. All that was needed to be done by those who are interested was to tag at least 5 people to follow her and follow her business account and finally comment done under the comment that they were tagged to.
For some reason, there wasn't much engagement on that giveaway post, I was the only participant.
On the 25th, the day she chooses to announce the winner, she made mention of the fact that there was no eligible winner and that was because there was no competition. However, she concluded that she would be giving one table ring light to the only person who made an attempt, which was me.
Earlier today, I went to pick up the ring light and I feel so excited. Now I can do videos inside the house with the ring light on, and my phone firmly fixed to the phone holder. At least, I'm grateful for that, my videos would make more sense now and won't be too shaky when I'm recording.
**Thank you for reading.**
Also published the here https://peakd.com/hive-124452/@jessicaossom/im-excited-the-universe-seems-to-be-in-support
Happy Birthday to me...wait! No birthday yet.
Some years ago, I remember telling myself how I'm going to celebrate getting myself a nice gift.
I love singing, so anything that has to do with me developing my singing ability is one I'm always up for, so I promised I was going to get myself a guitar.
Well, I planned and did my best at that time, however, I couldn't get the guitar. 😑
I recently thought about being an active very vlogger, I use to be afraid of using the camera but now, I'm not anymore. The few videos I've been able to make which initially felt like is not so good and who be kept have been published by me on my YouTube channel. This word keeps coming to my mind, *"do not despise the days of little beginning".*
When I am better at what I love to do, I would be happy to look back and smile at my previous work and also be an inspiration to people.
A not-so-close friend of mine clocked thirty yesterday, my sister is more close to her though.
Before her birthday, she did a giveaway. She was going to give out a table ring light to 3 lucky winners who would follow her and her business account then and tag 5 friends to do the same too.
This lady is someone I know who enjoys life to the fullest and she also acts like a celebrity that has fans all over. I was surprised that after the giveaway post was published on Instagram, 5 days later, there were no comments on the page and I was like, doesn't she have fans or what? Despite how she posts every single moment. That's that anyway.
I participated in the giveaway, I saw it as a good chance to own a table ring light till I'm able to get the actual one I want for myself. Guess what!
Till the giveaway winner was announced, it turned out that I was the only one who participated.
On the announcement day, she stated that there was no eligible winner but she was going to give one to the only person that made an attempt which was me. I sent her a dm to claim the table right, however, I'm still waiting for her to send me the location of where I will go pick it up.
My birthday is still far though, I pray to be buoyant enough to celebrate it and I hope to see nice birthday presents, it would be nicer if the presents are my pressing needs. Until then, July 21 would be a great day.🙂
The lady who clocked 30 seems to have held a night party at her house, she posted videos of how it went down on her status, she's doing well.
It got me wondering, nowadays, people or ladies who have clocked 30 don't even look like they've clocked that age, everyone is looking young.
Has the world evolved to that? Do we no longer have old people?
My niece would be having her birthday on the 5th of February. Her mom had sent to photo of a girl to me, asking if I can do the exact hairstyle for her daughter.
I couldn't give a yes or no reply because the picture was kind of blurred and the hairstyle was blurred too. That was my reply to her.
Finally, January 2022 is already saying goodbye. The month is generally known to be very long and dry. God has been faithful ever since the beginning of the month.
I will stop here for now.
Thanks for reading
She no longer has access.
It has been 3 weeks now since hubby returned from the village with his younger sister. We had a little bit of an argument because of this though, not because he came back with his younger sister but because he didn't see that it was important to call me his wife at home to let me know what to expect when he gets back, it took me by surprise and it wasn't a pleasant one.
However, I have moved. Sincerely, I wasn't happy about it but there's no way I can tell him to go back to the village and make it right, it has already happened so I will just live with it.
The first impression his younger sister showed was a good one which made him feel relaxed. However, a week after staying, she changed. Not that she started being disrespectful or anything as such.
I was in the kitchen cooking, while she assisted with some things. She opened up to me that she felt like going back to the village. I told her it's normal to feel that way and with time she will get used to the new environment.
Even though she had told me this, she already has something up her sleeve that she didn't tell me about, which was the plan to escape when there is no one at home.
I explained a bit of it here https://read.cash/@JessicaOssom/why-blame-me-af816a46
That which I explained in that link had already passed. For her to have acted that way, it made me feel like they forced her here.
When she wants to speak with her dad, mom, or brother, I her use my small phone which has my other sim in it.
She came into the room to meet one afternoon, telling me that she's happy now. I asked her what happened, then she told me that her dad sent N6000 to her. At first, I assume it was sent so she would have some money with her, I didn't even think that the amount was enough to transport her back to the village. I barely travel and I don't make research about it, that's why I was clueless there.
One morning I prepared my son for school and hubby instructed that she goes with me because I would be going to work for someone and won't return home soon.
On getting to our destination, I informed her that we weren't going to go home till 3 pm.
Cottonbro https://www.pexels.com/photo/fashion-man-love-people-6593908/
She retorted in disagreement saying she can't just sit and wait till that time. I tried to make see the reasons but it didn't work so I went ahead to call her brother(hubby) who strongly warned her to stay and not leave.
To my surprise, she disobeyed and left.
I called hubby at work again to inform him about it, he was so Furious and asked that I go after her immediately.
I took a bike and within less than an hour, I got home but could not find her.
I contacted him again to let him know that I had gotten home but she isn't at home.
Hubby had to leave work, as he got home, we saw that her things were still in the house, he searched her bag and found the N6000.(this was the money she didn't want hubby to find out about, I also didn't tell hubby because I didn't want him to have issues with his sister and I didn't want to let his sister get upset with me because she has told me initially that she doesn't want him to know about the money.)
We both sat outside for 4 hours, waiting for her to return. After waiting for so long, we saw her coming in around 4 p.m.
The question I had on my mind was, where could she had been since morning?
She got to where her brother (hubby) was explained to him that she missed her way when she left where I was.
Long story cut short, he disciplined her and asked where she got the money in her bag from. She explained that it was from her dad.
Hubby investigated and found out it wasn't her day but a friend of hers she had contacted in the village. She went ahead to tell hubby that I was aware and that hubby think that I was aware that she called her friend and collected money from the friend just so she would go back to the village.
It resulted in a serious misunderstanding and fight because he felt I was planning with his sister to send her back to the village and I was being secretive.
After everything was calm and everyone was calm, hubby apologized to me about the arguments and fights. I also had to explain to him that I wasn't being secretive and had told him about it indirectly the same day she told me about the money by saying that he should be calmer with his sister and make her feel free so she wouldn't hide thongs from him. I went ahead explain that the reason why I didn't come directly was that I didn't want to offend his sister so she won't see me as a bad person and I didn't want him to be angry with his sister.
All I just did while I was aware of the money was to advise her to calm down and discuss things with her brother. I had assumed that I would be able to handle the whole thing by advising her and being a good sister and friend to her but it turned out wrong and bad.
Yeah, I've learned my lesson.
What she considers a secret will no longer be safe with me.
I now report everything to hubby to avoid future arguments and misunderstandings.
She no longer has access to my small phone.
I'm no longer so friendly to her.
She lost access to all of this that moment she accused me of being aware of her plan.
Also published HERE https://peakd.com/hive-150329/@jessicaossom/she-lost-the-access
Passivity, the obstacle of success.
*Passivity implies taking things with levity or having an "I don't care attitude" towards issues, ongoing events around us, political participation, investment ideas, health information, and other areas of a social system.*
It can also manifest in varying levels of disinterest even where matters that affect us are concerned. Passivity means the inability to take responsibility or the lack of inspiration and drive to achieve a specific goal or set of goals in life. One can show passivity in relationships, job-related matters, studies, etc.
Again, it can be seen in not taking actions when it is required, having problems and not seeking solutions, inability to think, emulate others, or take steps expected to address a thing.
Lack of participation in the things that others are doing, when on your own there is no equivalent action or corresponding activity is another way, passivity is expressed.
In whatever form, it comes, our concern is to condemn this behavior and draw attention to the fact that, it doesn't in any way help our situations in life.
When we find ourselves in a place, we should try and be active; where decisions are being taken we should not sit on the fence because it will not in any way help us to succeed. Some of us think we can avoid troubles by inaction but in reality, we attract more problems when we quarantine ourselves from the happenings around us.
The worse type of life that one can live is a life of inactivity. Without actions and activities, there can be no success. Therefore, we must learn to take conscious actions, calculate risks, and thought-out decisions in our lives. We must expose ourselves to information, new ways of doing things, and societal change, taking advantage of positive developments as they present themselves.
The way to approach life is to be daring without being violent, to be determined, and to put energy into every bit of the things we do.
Source https://unsplash.com/photos/HA-0i0E7sq4
A passive person is always overshadowed by others. We must therefore draw strong lines between being quiet, reserved, and being lethargic.
Having an independent mind doesn't mean that we should isolate completely from others. While exercising our rights to privacy, independent opinion, we should also create an allowance for association and acceptance of divergent views, while being ourselves.
Source https://unsplash.com/photos/wD1LRb9OeEo
Put together adopting the right approach to life, which is devoid of passivity, will assist in advancing our courses and ensure success. We must bring zeal, passion, seriousness, and good thinking into our lives consistently, even when events are dictating otherwise or trying to push us off our feet.
Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/oqStl2L5oxI
Also posted here
https://peakd.com/hive-109288/@jessicaossom/passivity-and-obstacle-to-success
Seventeen stitches.
So I used THE MOST DANGEROUS WRITING APP
and here is what I could come up with. https://www.squibler.io/dangerous-writing-prompt-app/write?limit=5&type=minute
Source https://www.pexels.com/photo/portrait-of-confused-woman-3958791/
So I'm supposed to write about seventeen stitches?
How do you want me to do that, nothing keeps coming?
Oh, wait! You weren't talking about writing, is that a code of some sort? Tell me, I'm getting more confused.
Seventeen stitches! Oh, I see, it's a magic word. Hell no! it doesn't even sound like a magic word.
You know what, I'm done, I can't deal with this anymore.
You don't have to be like that you know, I was only teasing.
You know what I think, this beautiful dress laying pretty on the couch would be perfect for you to wear to that party.
Oh, wait, oh no!
It is torn, you seem to have added a lot of weight since the last time we met.
Oh my! What are we gonna do now, how do we fix this?
Wait, I think I have a needle and a thread in my bad but bad news, I don't know how to sew anything, do you?
Arrggh! You don't too?
*Okay just take it and let's see what we can do*.
Hmmm okay, let's run the thread into the tiny hole of the needle first then try doing seventeen stitches.
Source https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-making-stitch-on-fabric-while-sewing-in-studio-6851161/
What do you mean by seventeen stitches?
I simply mean that we should run the needle through the dress and stitch it seventeen times, I'm sure it would be enough to close up the little tear.
See, it worked.
Source https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-white-sleeveless-dress-7246441/
You should do your hair now and put on the dress, you look pretty.
Also posted here https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@jessicaossom/seventeen-stitches
Do ghosts exist?
I have heard stories about a ghost from some people and the majority of them believe that ghost exists.
Even though science says that there is no evidence that ghosts are real, a lot of people may have had an encounter with a ghost, or was it a ghost they had an encounter with?
**Speaking of a ghost, what is a ghost?**
According to google dictionary, *"A ghost is an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image."*
Khoa Vo https://www.pexels.com/photo/anonymous-mysterious-ghost-woman-standing-in-dark-forest-at-night-5724011/
Let me share a story, I'm not sure if it was an encounter with a ghost or anything as such but here it goes.
I was at home doing my usual thing, I suddenly remembered a family friend I haven't heard anything from in a very long while.
I decided I was going to ask my sister about her when next I go visit.
When I finally got the chance to visit her, I asked her about the lady I thought about. She replied that she also hasn't heard anything from her too for a long while.
We decided to just search her up on social media.
We weren't sure what her name on social media was but we searched anyway and luckily we found her.
We saw her picture which led us to her profile.
The first thing we did was to send her a message, however, we noticed she wasn't active. We went ahead to view her timeline.
To our surprise, we saw someone holding an obituary that has her picture on it.
She was dead. She died a year ago from when we discovered it.
If she hadn't come to my mind, we probably wouldn't have found out that she was dead.
It got me wondering, was it that her spirit had to find me to make me think of her so I can discover that she is dead.
This is one encounter I think I may have had.
I believe that ghosts exist, I may not be able to explain why but somehow, I think they do.
Let's assume that ghosts don't exist, then I would say that our brain sometimes makes us feel that we've had an encounter with a ghost and this happens most when we are alone or in a dark place that feels sacred.
Our brain tends to make see things that aren't there. You might find yourself staring at something and your brain makes it looks like a scary face or even a ghost.
Yeah, these things happen and I have experienced it. However, does it mean I had an encounter with a ghost?
Sleep paralysis
If good ghosts exist, automatically, bad ones do too. If this saying is true, then I think I may have had an experience with a bad one in my sleep.
It has been a long while now since I last experienced that though. I and my sister visited our aunt and we stayed there for a while before returning home.
One afternoon, as usual, I had to take a nap because there was nothing to do and I felt a bit tired, I slept till evening time. In that sleep, somehow I felt like I was awake but I couldn't move any part of my body, I couldn't even speak, it just seemed like I was glued to the bed. I felt myself struggling to move and stand up in my mind, after struggling, I finally woke up shouting 'JESUS' and was able to move.
My sister who was on the other side of the bed looked at me and wondered if I was having an a nightmare then I explained what happened to her.
I guess that must have been a bad spirit or a ghost, I don't even know.
That's all for now.
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY.
Do you like peanut soup?
For some reason, I've not had the strength to write a post about this particular dish which I feel should be known by a lot of Nigerians and probably by people in other countries.
I guess one of the reasons why I've been feeling lazy to write and publish this post maybe because I feel that there are many recipe posts on the internet, when you check google and search for the recipe of any type of food, you find it.
I don't want to bore us though. I remember when I was still on "uptrennd" when it was still in existence, I had the strength to write so many recipes for different food, majorly Nigerian food and not just with text alone but with picture**s**, not internet pictures but pictures taken with my phone and I always enjoy the moment.
Before I proceed, I will like to write down the quote that just came to my mind, I should title it as Jessica's quote. I have a lot of it saved on my notepad.
*"****If you have been doing something but you later find yourself losing interest in that thing which happens to be one of the things you are passionate about, instead of giving up on it, TRY A DIFFERENT APPROACH to doing it and you will be amazed at the outcome".***
Groundnut soup is also known as peanut soup can be enjoyed with rice or starch like pounded yam, semovita, eba, etc.
From the name groundnut/ peanut, you would have been able to tell that the soup is made from groundnuts.
From my findings so far, I've noticed that some people prefer their groundnut soup with ingredients like tomatoes, ginger, etc
However, I don't use, the ingredients I use all the time when I want to prepare the soup are listed below.
Groundnut
Crayfish
Red-oil
Maggi & salt
Onions
pepper
stockfish
Black catfish
cow skin (Kpomo)
cow meat
Sometimes scent leaf or bitter leaf.
I've heard some people say that they prepare the ground raw, however, I haven't tasted it when it is prepared raw but I have this feeling that it won't taste nice. I prepare the soup lime this.
After buying all the ingredients from the market, what I do first is to wash the groundnuts in a clean bowl of water, then drain it. After draining the water, I put some salt in and make sure it touches all the groundnuts in the bowl, I leave this under the sun so the water in the groundnut would get dried before roasting. However, sometimes, when I'm in a hurry, I skip the process of leaving it till it dries up, I just proceed to roasting, it doesn't affect the soup when it's ready.
The roasting method
I people prefer to just bake their ground in an oven while some roast it in a pot using either sand, salt, or garri (cassava flour).
Some people have said that the sand doesn't get into the groundnut when they roast with it, however, that's not my method, I can either use a small quantity of salt or a small quantity of garri, from my experience, it is preferable to let these contents that would be used in roasting the grounding in small quantity.
The first thing I do is to place a wide pot on the gas cooker, the heat should be from medium to low so that the groundnut won't get burned. Let the pot heat up for 3 minutes, then pour in the small quantity of salt at garri, let it heat up for 1minute. Pour in the groundnut after that and start stirring to avoid it getting burned.
Keep stirring so that the heat will heat every part of the groundnut.
Continue with the process till you see that when you remove one groundnut from the pot, the skin peels off easily and the groundnut itself is brown.
After the roasting process.
Preferably, pour the groundnuts on a stainless tray and leave it to cool so that it would be easy to peel.
When it is cool, you can peel all the ground nuts fast by scooping some with your hands and rubbing them against each other so the peels come off then blow away the peels and put the peeled groundnuts In a clean bowl. Continue with this until all the groundnuts are peeled.
Once they are all peeled, add some water to the bowled and rinse the ground nuts. Then blend well till it's smooth with your blender, also blend the crayfish and onions with it.
The grinding method for
I take the bowl of peeled groundnuts, onions, and crayfish to a vendor who grinds food items like pepper, tomato, etc.
Before it is ground, I make sure to rinse everything well.
Cooking process
When I'm back home from grinding these three things (groundnuts, onions, crayfish), I wash the stockfish, meat, cows' skin, and blackfish thoroughly.
I start by looking at the stockfish, meat, and cow skin till it's soft before adding the blackfish and leaving everything to cook for another 3 minutes. Once that is done, I take out everything from the pot, place them on a clean plate, and leave the stock.
The next thing I do is reduce the heat and pour the smoothly ground groundnut into the stock, then I stir.
I leave this to cook well, sometimes for about 30 minutes and stirring occasionally so it doesn't get burned.
Once that time is up, I pour in the red oil, Cameron pepper, and let it boil out for another five minutes.
Sometimes, I don't put in more Maggi and salt because the stock usually has enough in it to make the soup was exactly how I want it to.
After the 5 minutes, I pour the meat and the fish back in, leaving that for another 2 minutes before putting in either scent leaf or bitter leaf which is optional.
After another 1 minute, the soup is ready.
The day I took pictures of the food while preparing it, I ate the soup with eba.
Eba is just a mixture of hot water and enough garri( cassava flour), forming a thick paste.
PS: Garri is called cassava flour in English.
Cassava flour mixed with hot water results in a thick cassava flour Master is the enough amount of cassava flour was poured into the hot water. We call that thick mixture eba.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
She was SCAMMED.
There's one thing I have found out about desperation, things you would normally not consider, out of desperation, you find yourself, considering and doing them.
That feeling of being hopeless, full of fear, and in need of help.
At some point in our lives, I know that we have all been there, I have been there, so I know how it feels like to be desperate. Being desperate doesn't make us bad anyway, it is just one of life's phases that people experience once in a while.
There may be some people amongst us who are not religious or neither believe in the spiritual aspect of life.
In my church, at the beginning of every new year, the word for the year is always shared with us so I always make sure to write it down and apply faith to them. Faith works, I am a living witness of that, when you believe you have something through faith or have conquered a challenge through faith, it only takes a little while for you to see it already manifested in real life.
I had the word for the year, noted on my device's notepad. (Please note number 17).
Number 17 say, **" DO NOT BE TOO GREEDY SO YOU WILL NOT LISE WHAT YOU HAVE LABOURED TO EARN".**
Our pastor emphasized this word, said: *"when you see any offer that looks too good to be true, run away from it."*
He laid so much emphasis on it, something you know you are not going to break a sweat for and it looks like you will be rewarded greatly for it, run away.
My elder admitted to the fact that it was greed that caused this scam, she was shocked and couldn't fathom what moved her to send N4,000.00 like that to someone she doesn't know. She said she cried because the money at that time wasn't hers and was kept with her to settle an urgent bill.😅
It was funny to me when she told me, I couldn't stop myself from laughing. The first thing that came to my mind when she told me that she was scammed was the word that was shared. ( the number 17 word).
Then I reminded her that this was already shared with us but she already fell a victim, probably because she wasn't vigilant enough.
According to her, here was what happened in her words.
Mikhail Nilov https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-person-people-smartphone-7534378/
*"you will not understand, I just don't want to talk about it, I want to forget about it because it happened as if I was charmed with something that made me not see that I was about falling into the hands of scammers, let me just forget about it."*
*"The money has gone, I have settled everyone I borrowed money from which is good, only that I don't have any money with me again currently".*
"Because I understand that in other to earn *money, you need to spend money and take risks, I decided to try my luck with it. It all started kike this, I joined a group that was meant to make every participant have new contacts in other to gain more viewers. I joined, did all that was required to do and all these contacts appeared on my contact list and I was already getting more viewers on WhatsApp. I was going through the status of contacts on my WhatsApp when I came across a status of someone who wrote N4,000.00 to N20,000.00, 7 slots left. This person posted screenshots of people's reviews so it made me feel it was real. I decided to just take the risk and try my luck, I sent N4,000.00 to the person. After sending the money, I noticed that the person went offline for about 30 minutes. When the person finally came online, he replied to my chat and said that the N4,000.00 slot has ended, the only slot available was N7,000.00 and I would have to send another N3,000.00 so that would be credited as soon as possible."*
*"I told this person that I don't have any other money, the four thousand naira I had sent earlier wasn't even mine, it was my husband's and it was kept with me in other to settle an important bill. The person concluded that I just have to send the money so I would be credited. Me knowing fully well that I had no other money on me, I had to tell the person to send the four thousand naira back to me. To my surprise, he replied and said that the money isn't refundable that I'm only doing it myself, I just need to send N3,000.00 so that the money in total would-be N7,000.00 then I will be credited. At that point, I realized what was happening, I cussed the person and just went ahead to block the number.".*
That was how she was scammed, I'm sure she learned a thing or two from this.😂
**Thanks for visiting my blog**
In a confused state.
Source https://pixabay.com/
In this picture, the wall looks painted and there are shadows on the wall. A guy who is the focus of the picture has his hoodie on and his face is covered with the cap of the hoodie. He is holding a syringe with a tight grip.
I feel that this guy needed to be alone, probably to think about something that he feels disturbed about. It seems that what which he is thinking about is also makes him confused. He also seems to be a drug addict.
In his confused state, he brings out a syringe that has the drug in it, now he is either trying to put it away or just proceed by injecting himself with it.
*"I don't need your advice, just leave me alone",* Richard said as he banged the door leaving his mom in awe.
It has been a long while she saw such a reaction from her son, what could be wrong with him, she wondered.
As a single mom, she had devoted her time to making sure that her son doesn't have to feel disturbed about the fact that he wasn't with his father. In as much as that wasn't her wish for her son, she had no choice but to live with it.
Today was one of those days being a single mom proved to be challenging. She had tried earlier to convince Richard about leaving the country to start something in the states and this was because a friend of her who resides there reached out to her that there was an opportunity and it would just be great if Richard takes it.
She told him this expecting him to be so excited and ready to leave immediately but the reaction was different.
What could be the problem?
What could have gone wrong?
She thought to herself.
****
Richard had left the house and had gone to his usual place where he had his friends meet. He got there and discovered that there was no one there. *"quite unusual"*, he thought.
He took a wooden seat which he sat on and brought out the drink he had in his pocket.
He drank as he seized the moment to think about that which his mom had told him earlier.
He was worried about the oath that was taken during the period of the cult initiation. According to the oath, he cannot leave or travel to any other society until he has fulfilled the ritual of the cult which is to rob at least Three apartments on different occasions and has gotten a virgin to deflower if not he will die.
He thought hard about all of this, he was so confused, he didn't want to hurt anyone but he is left with a choice to die in other to escape from the guilt of hurting someone.
At this point, he got up from the seat, punched the water, and angrily borough out the drug he has been keeping. This was a drug given to him by one of the cult members who said it will help him forget about things that may bother him in the future.
He pulled out the cover of the syringe and was ready to inject himself. He paused for a while as he took a deep breath.
Murder
No way!
I begged him to stay but he refused.
Stop! Say no more now for it has been accomplished. There's nothing you can do now to turn back time, absolutely nothing.
I was kind, I wanted you to feel comfortable, even though I never really understood you, I still tried my best to keep everything you in a sane mind.
Engin Akyurt https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-photo-of-woman-1446948/
This is what I get, I'm the wicked one, I'm evil, guess what, I'm taking all the blame, you don't need to stress trying to explain further to anyone. I accept the blame.
As for you, after all my goodness, all you could pay me back with was a backstab. You committed **murder**.
You're surprised?
It isn't until you stab me with a knife, you've committed murder with your tongue and you shall live to regret this.
All my intention were good, little did I know that I never knew a thing about the person I thought I was dealing with.
You can't see any more goodness from me.
Life is teaching me and I'm learning.
My heart isn't bitter and I have forgiven but don't think you will still see the former me.
This is not a war, but a way of applying wisdom to our daily life. I have been taught and I have learned.
Also published here https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@jessicaossom/murder
Due to power issues in my area, I could get my phone charged from Sunday evening until Thursday evening.
It's so frustrating that I couldn't come in here on the platform to write for 2 days.
My phone's battery was flat, there was nothing I could do to just be patient for when I would be able to get the phone charged.
It's charged now I shall resume being active. Thank you for the time.
15mins Freewrite- The bolded is the Prompt
She shouted out of frustration, I shouldn't stress myself about this anymore. How could something like that happen when everyone was there?
I should have let it go when I felt the need to but now it's all wrong. Yes, it has all gone wrong.
How can this be sorted out?
I don't know what to do now.
No, wait!
I saw her, I saw when she took those things, she tried covering it up but I had already seen it before she could do any other thing.
Let's take this for instance **The rescue piglet was screaming, trying to outrun the German Shepard chasing her through the yard**.
Well, she thinks that this is how it goes but she is wrong.
However, I know that I have tried my best to make this right, I have done all I know that I can do but it all still seems to be the same.
Let's just walk through the aisle, we should because I love the aura that comes with it.
I understand that sometimes we feel we can sort things out ourselves.
I was warned severally, I was told to learn from my experiences but I was ignorant, I just wouldn't listen.
**I don't like men.**
They are all the same, so far that I have tried to make myself believe otherwise, it hasn't been successful. You give your all, sacrifice things that are dear to you with the hope that you would be understood and loved the way you expect and deserve, unfortunately, it never happens.
At times I wonder if I'm just caused or if it's just trauma from previous bad experiences.
I should focus more on myself now.
Now I understand what life has always tried to show me.
Everything in this life has its importance even that which we think is useless.
I have to take a walk through the park to calm myself.
There was no way I could calm myself when I was still in that environment, I just needed to breathe in fresh, I finally got the chance to feel and breathe in the fresh air.
The **red balloon floating** in the pool reminded me of childhood.
I now wish I could turn back time to the good old days when our mothers will sing a lullaby for us to sleep because I am completely stressed out now.
Adulthood isn't an easy thing.
Life isn't balanced but it is up to us humans to balance it for ourselves
We always wish to be there when we are here and when we are here, we wish to be there, imagine that.
Visiting my dreams.
I've been here before. Yes. I visited in my dreams when I was a kid. It always felt more welcoming than home.
I could do whatever I wanted. I could go wherever I desired. All I did was picture it in my head and viola...faster than light's speed, quicker than time itself, the scenes kept changing as I wished it.
Yes, I held the magic wand and the elements obeyed my every caprices. Where else could someone dream their dreams and even let others dream it too? Tell me, in which of the lands have you heard that the citizens were allowed to dream dreams of their choosing?
I'm finally in that land. I'm here! The land that took me years of journeying to get to. What did I not battle on the way? What temptation and trials did I not go through? Countless number of times I almost gave up. I fainted, I rose. I survived on wild fruits. I ran along with the antelopes when the lion chased. I fed the birds little from my meager ration. I slept with the monkeys on the trees. I drowned countless number of times and guessed who saved me? The hippo! Cousin Elephant thumped the water out of my bowels. Eeewww...Boose the Bear gave me oral. I was saved. I was led to literature.
Also published here https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@jessicaossom/visiting-my-dream
Market Friday
I visited my favorite store today, and I got a few things and took a few pictures of the place.
The first market I visited was quite crowded so I could take pictures of the place.
All that I spent at the market cost about $25 excluding the products I went to pick up.
I had already ordered them on December 26th and was supposed to go pick them up since ton of January.
This is a screenshot of my order number and the date of the order from my favorite beauty store.
I ordered a 3 in 1 makeup pouch, the reason why I ordered that even though I have a box is to ease the stress of having to carry the box from one place to another when I have a job, the pouch would also help my products stay arranged even when I'm in the middle of a job.
Two brow pencils in different shades were added, a 2 in 1 beauty blender, and a phone foundation.
All these were the products I picked up at my favorite store.
This Plaza is a wide one, I only took a photo of Nana Hawa's beauty store. As you can see from the photo, it's the building above.
Ever since I got to know the store, it became my favorite store, maybe it's because of the nice staff that welcomes customers nicely and with respect
Yeah, the staffs are nice and I appreciate them for that. Aside from the staff, the store is neatly arranged, and all the products are where they ought to be.
Lashes trays, moisturizers, loose setting powder, primer, beauty blender, brushes, foundations, etc are well arranged in these parts of the shelf.
Single powder brushes and brow brush. Lip stains and lip gloss are all on this shelf. Cups specially designed for brushes.
While I was there, I took my time to take pictures of the makeup store, I may not have shared much before about this store, however, I'm sharing photos for the first time.
I mentioned earlier that I didn't take pictures of the other market places I visited because it was crowded and I felt that it would be weird to take pictures, people may just start staring at me and be wondering what I'm doing and why I'm doing that.
I bought a mannequin with a stand for my sis-in-law so she would use it in learning hairdressing for the time being. I got this around $11
I also got these new combs for my hairstyling business. A rat-tail comb and a wide-tooth comb. Around $2
The lush hair extensions also cost $2.
Thanks for opening this blog and I hope that one was worth the while.😀
Why blame me??
We see a lot of couples celebrating several years of marriage, 10 years, 20 years, etc. Some people might think that the anniversary that is being celebrated was filled with milk and honey and was just like a bed of roses.
In as much as marriage is sweet, it doesn't change the bitterness that will be felt in between. They are what I call the test of time.
Jonathan Borba https://www.pexels.com/photo/newlywed-couple-embracing-on-beach-5085331/
The truth about these anniversaries is that they are celebrating years of faithfulness, tolerance, patience, love, faithfulness, imperfections and so on like that. This is by the way though.
One thing one should know about marriage is that two people must come together and agree to be one. The Bible has made it clear that a woman must submit to her husband and a man must love his wife. There was no condition attached to this.
Whether or not your husband or a wife is doing right by you, that which God has said must still be fulfilled because there was no condition attached to it. If every couple learns to adapt to this mindset, there would be less conflict in the home.
August De Richelieu https://www.pexels.com/photo/family-making-breakfast-in-the-kitchen-4259140/
I mentioned in one of my previous posts a few weeks ago that hubby had to travel to the village for a football competition and obviously after it was over, he spent some time with his family there before returning home.
There is something I noticed in my marriage ever since I and hubby started this journey. For some reasons I'm not sure of, we also have a misunderstanding that gets intense and makes everything with us complicated. Good thing, last December wasn't the same. It was the first time in 5 years that we crossed over to a new year without that usually terrible misunderstanding (I'm grateful to God for that).
Timur Weber https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-couple-talking-while-arguing-8560383/
Something happened and I would have told myself that it is because of the misunderstanding we had that made things happen that way. Hubby returned with his sister who I learned is in Senior Secondary School 1. I was very happy to see them both, however, there was a sinking feeling inside of me that I can't explain.
Here is the thing, we've been speaking on phone, we did several video call up till the very day he embarked on the journey home and he never thought to tell me that he would be coming with his sister. Not that it's a bad thing, but at least to keep me informed and prepare my mind for it instead of taking me unaware.
I just had to let the thought go and not let it bother me in any way because there was no point in that. I felt disappointed that there wasn't good communication there but I let it go.
Polina Zimmerman https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-gray-sweater-standing-beside-woman-in-beige-blazer-feeling-disappointed-3958842/
Everyone has been fine, and I saw that his sister is well behaved so it made everything much easier. He informed me that she has an interest in learning hairdressing and wig making so I thought, that is nice. Even though I don't have my salon yet, it doesn't mean she can't learn from home so the next thing was to get her materials she would use in learning and I would be putting her through.
Surprisingly, one morning after I dropped my son at school, I received a call from hubby that his sister had left, her bags and his money were nowhere to be found. I was shocked, I had to ask if they disagreed and argued about something. However, because of how upset he was, he responded to all the questions I was asking harshly.
When I finally got to where he was, he had calmed himself a bit, so I had to ask why she behaved that way, was she forced to come here? didn't she agree willingly to come with you? Even though she wanted badly to go back, why didn't she just talk to you about it?
He replied said that it was all my fault, she would be at home and not have gone anywhere if I had just returned faster to teach her the things I planned to teach her after returning home from dropping our son at school.
Polina Zimmerman https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-white-crew-neck-shirt-3958800/
At this point, this is his problem, I won't even bother myself about it because I was never a part of the plan initially.
The frustrating part is the fact that I'm kept in the dark. According to the summary of all, I've heard so far, the father wants the child to return home so she would continue schooling till she finishes, the mother doesn't want her to return because she feels her husband wants to be sending their daughter on an unnecessary errand according to hubby, the girl wants to go back home but hubby wants her to stay put here with us.
It's annoying that there wasn't a proper plan, hubby's sister told me that she spoke with her dad on phone and she was told that hubby never had a proper discussion about this whole movement with it.
The situation is just frustrating really.
I don't see anything wrong with her staying here or going back to her parent in the village, the main thing is that whatever she needs in whichever place should be staying should be provided.
If she would be here, provisions for schooling should be made, and if would be at her home, the same should be done and whatever issue may be on the ground that prompted the decision of her coming to stay here should be sorted.
Well, I'm just saying all this here, however, I may not interfere in this in reality.
Am I to be blamed?
The double-pointed thing
Cottonbro https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-in-creepy-clown-makeup-5427552/
In a bid to search for glory, I found myself deep in an ocean covered with some sort of thing I feel scared to describe.
It's not a thing to say as you wish, you will hate yourself whenever it happens that your mind drifts to it because all you truly want is to get it out of your mind.
Hey! This is it, we go nowhere from here, the only thing I can spare would be that double-pointed strands of things that look so indescribable.
You should be grateful now, it's over.
I am famished.
The only thing I need right now is a nice meal to fill me up and restore my strength.
By the time I'm done with that, we would know what next to do.
What are you still doing, and what are you starting at?
Oh, the double-pointed thing?
Sorry, it can't and won't help you now.
I will let you go now but you won't be lucky next time, I promise you.
Now I'm wondering what your zodiac sign is, it seems like today is your lucky day.
It's over.
Just go.
Go now.
This is 5 minutes freeware with the prompt word 'double-pointed'.
I used the most dangerous writing app.
#freewrite
I'm not inspired.
What do you do when you're not feeling inspired?
You suddenly lose interest in things that make you happy, you just want to wallow in whatever the situation may have made you lose interest. Even though your subconscious mind speaks to you, tells you that you need to fight the moods that a situation has kept you in, you still find yourself deep in that same state feeling lost, alone, sad.
Hikmet https://www.pexels.com/photo/bored-man-at-table-with-laptop-in-cafe-7373025/
You've gotten to this state due to some problems like not being encouraged so far despite the previous hard work, you try to do your best in every given task but it isn't seen, you have no one to support you emotionally, mentally, in every aspect.
This brings me to the start which says that the rich also cry. The reach has all it takes to get whatever they want or do away with what they don't want. However, they still cry and that because there are things that money cannot buy.
Andrea Piacquadio https://www.pexels.com/photo/desperate-evicted-male-entrepreneur-standing-near-window-3771129/
Not feeling inspired? What made that happen?
It is a well know fact that laziness and lack of motivation play a big role in this but there are situations where the ones who don't feel inspired anymore lost it not because they are lazy, but because they lost the motivation.
When a person can find motivation, they can set goals, make plans, be creative, develop competencies develop talents, and build their engagement. Motivation is what turns a good thought into immediate action.
Motivation is what pushes through setbacks, in every journey to success, there will always be a challenge in the way. This setback will always want to make you doubt yourself and your ability to achieve all that has been planned. However, when motivation steps in, energy comes, you become fully charged and will be able to do anything.
There are goals that one will set, motivation is what will help one to prioritize that goal over anything. Motivation helps you to stay focused and committed. These are the things that determine success.
You don't value yourself, you don't a strong reason for continuing a project, your goals overwhelm you, you don't have a supportive environment, you lead an unhealthy lifestyle, and are not patient with yourself. All these things are reasons why one can lose motivation. A simple solution to get things moving well again is to start valuing yourself, mind what you tell yourself, be positive. Don't just start a project, make sure it is something you like and let the reason on being your drive, surround yourself with people who will support and encourage you, let your lifestyle be healthy, and be patient with yourself.
Bich Tran https://www.pexels.com/photo/inspirational-quotes-on-a-planner-636243/
In other to be inspired again, give yourself some time to fill yourself with new possibilities, you could learn something new, take inspiration from another. Remember that ups and downs are part of life. Sometimes we feel so confident, the next minute, we lose it. So it's important to understand that the flow might change but we shouldn't put ourselves under pressure because of it.
@JessicaOssom
