Tag: coffee mug

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January Open Write Day 4 with Erica Johnson of Arkansas

Erica writes, “Today’s poem was inspired by the poem “Nest” by Jeffrey Harrison.  I loved the surprise discovery revealed in the poem and how the poet marvels over this small miracle that they discovered while putting up their Christmas tree.  It made me want to explore my own little discoveries and what they revealed about myself or the world around me.”

You can read Erica’s full prompt and poem here, but here is her process if you’d like to use it to write a poem of your own today:

Stanza 1 – The initial discovery.  I followed the structure of Harrison’s poem using the words “It wasn’t until…that ___ discovered…”

Stanza 2 – The feeling or reaction to that discovery.  I asked myself the question “What ABOUT this discovery sticks with me?”

Stanza 3 – Start with the phrase “And now…”, how are your feelings/reflection on this discovery evolving?

Stanza 4 – Start with the phrase “And yet…”, what contrast or contradiction comes to play as you continue to reflect on your discovery?

Stanza 5 – Wrap up your poem with a final take away moment.

Photo by How Far From Home on Pexels.com


Scrap Paper Love Note

it wasn’t until

I came to make my coffee

that I found his note ~ ~ ~

amazing, cherished

sentiment on a receipt ~ ~ ~

scrap-paper surprise

and now my heart warms

like steam from my Snoopy mug ~ ~ ~

love wafting outward

and yet he is gone

driving to Alabama

me, spooning honey ~ ~

and adding creamer~ ~

swirling joy, blending heartbeats

across the state line

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Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake Dip Office Party Day

Today is our office Christmas Party, and I signed up to bring Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake dip. I have no idea why I did this. 

I have never made or tasted Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake dip, but the man making it in the video on Facebook swears by it.

So when the shared document came around in email to sign up saying what we would bring, I wrote, “Either Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake Dip or those chocolate-dipped Vienna sausages with the colorful sprinkles that are all the rage on Tik Tok.” I don’t know why I wrote that, either. Apparently a Tik Tokker figured out a way to stop being asked to bring a finger food to parties and was kind enough to share his secret with the rest of us who don’t do much kitchening.

The good news is that I decided not to make the chocolate covered Vienna sausages but instead to go with the classier dish.

I watched a video on Facebook showing how to make the cake dip. You take a box of the larger size Little Debbie Christmas Tree cakes and reserve one cake, then blend the remaining five together with a block of cream cheese, a teaspoon or two of vanilla, and 1/3 cup of milk. Then, you fold in a regular sized container of Cool Whip, add sprinkles on top, place the reserved tree cake on top, cover, and refrigerate. You serve it with vanilla wafers, pretzels, or whatever you’d like. I have both of those and gingersnaps, but we’re having to settle for all-occasion sprinkles because I forgot the Christmas kind.

We’ll see how the party goes. I’ve heard through the grapevine that there’s fixin’ to be a fight over one particular item when the gift swap game is played – – a coffee mug with Christmas music lyrics personalized with our county’s name.

If we get to see a couple of co-workers wrestling over a coffee mug and all start circling around and chanting fight! fight! fight!, then I’m for sure gonna whip up the chocolate-dipped Vienna sausages next year and maybe bust open a can of whop biscuits, too.