Torianna's Corner

As they often said on “The A Team”, I love it when a plan comes together.” Usually, they were referring to some high-action plan that they were trying to make happen, but I’m referring to something with far less action — at least the “chasing the bad guys” kind of action that kept Mr. T and the rest of the gang busy during each episode.

The “plan” that I’m talking about is the “coming together” of a quilt. I’m actually in the middle of making three different quilts come together, but the one I’ll be discussing in today’s vanity post is one that I started last year — one that was to be given to a local veteran at a special Veteran’s Day dinner and ceremony. For some reason (illness, if I remember correctly), I wasn’t able to get the quilt finished in time for the ceremony, but after looking at the quilt top once I was feeling better, I decided that it was just as well since I didn’t really like the quilt top.

So… I vowed that I would fix what I didn’t like about the quilt top (which was mostly the placement of the various blocks) and get it ready to be given to a local veteran during the next Veteran’s Day dinner and ceremony! Consequently, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time trying to come up with a plan to fix what I didn’t like, and yesterday, I finalized that plan and the plan is starting to come together.

While going through my current “Holler Happenings” notebook, I found something else inspirational that I want to keep handy for future reference. Here it is:

“A Psalm for Life”

Let us, then, be up and doing

With a heart for any fate,

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.”

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~

Hope you find it to be as inspiring as I do. By the way… If you have other sources of inspiration (i.e. poems, quotes, etc.), I hope you’ll take a moment to share ’em with me by leaving a comment below. Here’s to inspiration!!

While doing some research for my current work-in-progress, I came across a cute poem that’s very appropriate for me at this time in my life. So… I decided to transcribe it into one of my vanity posts. By doing so, I’ll have easy access to it whenever I feel the need for its inspiration. Without further ado, here it is:

“A Writer’s Prayer”

Lord, inspire me to write stories that touch readers’ hearts.

Breathe your spirit into my characters so they come alive on the written page.

Help me develop intriguing plots full of twists and turns that capture the imagination and move the story to a satisfying resolution.

Keep me focused and on schedule, and take away any fear or sense of inadequacy that blocks my progress.

Give me the courage to step out in faith, to stretch and grow and to be the writer you have called me to be.

Amen

(Thanks to Debby Giusti, the author of “A Writer’s Prayer”)

While perusing the National Day Calendar Web site earlier this month, I discovered that today is what promises to be a tasty day! It is National Chocolate Milkshake Day!!

I’ve tried making chocolate milkshakes at home before, but they usually ended up being more “milky” than “milkshakey” — probably because I was never able to the ratio between the ice cream and the milk correct. Wanting to make Sweet Thing and I a delicious chocolate milkshake to savor in honor of National Chocolate Milkshake Day, I searched far and wide (read: I did a quick Internet search online) for something that would give me the proper ratios (read: a recipe), and it didn’t take very long to find something (thanks to Brave’s AI summaries) I could use.

So… Here’s what I found:

Chocolate Milkshake Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups vanilla ice cream (or chocolate ice cream)
• 1/2 cup cold milk
• 1/4 cup chocolate syrup (or hot fudge sauce)

Directions

1. Combine the ice cream, milk, and chocolate syrup in a blender.
2. Blend on high speed for 15-30 seconds until smooth and creamy.
3. Pour into chilled glasses and top with whipped cream, chocolate shavings or sprinkles.

Variations

• With cocoa powder: Replace the syrup with 3 Tablespoons of cocoa powder and 4 Tablespoons of sugar dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water to create a homemade chocolate syrup before blending.
• Thicker shake: Reduce the milk to 1/4 cup or substitute half the milk with heavy cream.
• Without ice cream: Blend frozen bananas, ice cubes,(plant-based) milk and cocoa powder for a dairy-free or frozen alternative.
• Without a blender: Soften the ice cream slightly and whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl until smooth.

So, there you have it: A recipe with the proper ratios for making a chocolate milkshake! I do hope you’ll join Sweet Thing and I in celebrating National Chocolate Milkshake Day today — OR any day, for that matter! I’m sure a chocolate milkshake will turn any day into a tasty day! Bon Appétit!

09/13/26 Follow-up:

The chocolate milkshake I made for myself to celebrate National Chocolate Milkshake was DELICIOUS! However… The next time I use this recipe again, I’m going to use my handy-dandy immersion blender (that’s made specifically for this purpose) instead of my regular blender (as the recipe’s directions stated) — primarily because the chocolate syrup stayed in the bottom of the blender container instead of getting mixed into the milkshake. Such a waste of perfectly good chocolate syrup!!

Yesterday, I spent much of the day doing something that I’ve been meaning to do for YEARS but, for whatever reason, never did: compiling a collection of indexes (or is it “Indices” as the plural for “index”? If you know the answer to this question, please let me know. ) Anyway…

While writing a “Pages” entry yesterday, I wondered what I’d been doing on this day (the fourth day of a trip around the sun), so I went back to the first “Holler Happenings” notebook of my 2025/2026 trip around the sun. Once I’d satisfied my curiosity (and found out that I hadn’t done much since I wasn’t feeling well that day), I had a BIG pile of these notebooks on my lap (earning me the nickname of “paper bird”). So… I decided to (finally) do that “something” I’ve been meaning to do: photocopy each index from all of the notebooks that had one, which I’ll then compile into some three-pronged folders I’d purchased during this month’s back-to-school sale at my local WalMart.

Well… It turned out that I hadn’t created indexes/indices for FIVE of the fifteen “Holler Happenings” notebooks, so I photocopied those that I had and then spent most of the remainder of the day going through those five notebooks and deciding what info warranted inclusion in that notebook’s index. I actually enjoyed the time spent going through the notebooks because doing so brought back memories — both good and not-so-good — which is, actually, one of the main reasons I document my days in this manner! Like Mom in her later years, I have difficulties remembering things (Sweet Thing can certainly verify this!), so I always follow the advice that I’ve given my children: “If you want to remember something, write it down!” Don’t think either of them have taken me up on that advice, though, but I still do! It’s a rare day when I don’t have a notebook with me.

So, yeah… It’s about time I spent some time creating a collection of indexes/indices for the fifteen “Holler Happenings” notebooks for one of my trips around the sun!

This is my official “I have nothing worth writing about and/or no time to write it” vanity post. From now on, whenever my schedule is so busy that I don’t feel I have time to (or can”t) come up with something interesting in a timely manner, I’ll publish “Vanity Post #14” — my version of Chuck Lorre’s vanity card #111.

As the title indicates, today is the last day… of my 2025/2026 trip around the sun. Consequently, I will spend the day (my “Unplugged Sunday”) planning how I want to spend my birthday tomorrow. I foresee that I’ll be…

• trying to figure out whether the local pizza place in town will be open on Labor Day (since 2026 is one of those years when my birthday falls on this holiday);
• planning the menu for my birthday picnic (and coming up with TWO options that will be based on whether or not the local pizza place will be open); and
• doing lots of cooking/preparing of the food I’ve got planned (that I’ll be having regardless of the status of the pizza place — like deviled eggs since it wouldn’t be a picnic without the deviled eggs!)

So, yeah…. Tomorrow, I’ll be celebrating my birthday — the first day of my next (2026/2027) trip around the sun — with a picnic, and that picnic will actually be a “first” for me. Sweet Thing and I will be spending the afternoon at a location that I didn’t even know existed until this past Tuesday — at my most recent “quilt-along” session!

By the way, I’m sure I’ll also be spending some time on this last day finalizing what goals I’ll be working on during my 2026/2027 trip around the sun. This is something I don’t think I ever did last year, which is probably a (major) contributing factor as to why I’ve felt so unproductive much of the year! Gonna try not to make that same mistake this year!

Today, I worked on “Stars”, my current “quilt-along” project. As the title of this vanity post indicates, there’s definitely “some assembly required” when it comes to quilting! I spent some time assembling “block kits”, which are all of the pieces needed for a particular block of the quilt.

“Stars” will be made from the following three different blocks:

• modified log cabin blocks;
• dark star blocks; and
• light star blocks.

As of today, I’ve finished sewing ALL of the modified log cabin blocks, which were fun to make, as well as fourteen dark star blocks and eight light star blocks, both of which involve “flying geese”. This means that I’ve still got to make 24 more dark start blocks and 26 light star blocks. The other day, I assembled 15 complete dark star block “kits”, and today, I assembled 11 light star block “kits”. This means that I’ve still got some more “slicing and dicing” to do since I ran out of several key parts needed for assembling blocks. Once I get all of that done, I’ll be able to start assembling the remaining blocks!

So, yeah… The phrase “some assembly required” definitely fits the creation of quilts!

Yay! I’m happy to report that I FINALLY had my “I can see clearly now!” moment! Sweet Thing and I went to town yesterday, and we picked up our new prescription eyeglasses: He got a pair with flip-up shades, and I got a regular pair of glasses as well as a pair of prescription sunglasses (The separate “shades” proved to be one too many things for me to keep track of in the past, so I opted to get both.)

Instead of being at a scenic overlook while I was taking a driver’s education class in high school, yesterday’s “I can see clearly!” moment of mine happened in the Vision Center of my local WalMart. Instead of being able to see a bridge in the distance, I was able to clearly see signs on the other side of the store! In addition, everything in the store was sparkly and bright instead of blurry and dull! Such an improvement!!!

Now that I have my prescription glasses, I’ll be able to read the locator signs in the store — from a distance (like the ends of the aisles) without having to be practically underneath them! So much better for shopping! Seeing/reading the locator signs for the first time in quite some time was great, but I discovered while shopping that I had to take my new glasses off in order to better read things like the price tags on the shelves — since I don’t need glasses for reading things up close. So, yeah… No reading glasses for me. Just “driving” glasses — both regular prescription glasses AND prescription sunglasses!

If you wear prescription eyeglasses, I’d love to hear about your “I can see clearly now!” moment after you got your first (or a new) pair of prescription eyeglasses (either regular or sunglasses), so please take a moment to leave a comment below.