Author: jacquelineobyikocha

A wordsmith with a vivid imagination, an eager mind and a burning desire to carve out tales. As I journey with my muse to that land of all possibilities and self discovery, I hope my personal evolution will serve as a beacon of inspiration for anyone who chooses to stop by.
A Click A Day

Homemade Juices and Smoothies – A Click A Day.

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One of the decisions I made earlier this year is to reduce as much as possible, my families consumption of fizzy pops, KoolAids, Caprisun, Tang and all such drinks and to replace them with fresh, healthier options.

Initially, it was not an easy sell to the children and Dear Himself.  I heard a lot of moans and groans to start with, but it caught on right  after the first trial run. Now, we bulk purchase a variety of fruits, juice them, mix them, make smoothies out of different blends and bottle to freeze.

The children participate in doing this, from washing the fruits, to peeling, to juicing with the electric juicer….

The process is fun since they get to eat the sweet pulp from the fruits and to label their hard work. Each school morning, a bottle of frozen homemade juice is tossed into their lunch box (it retains its freshness from freezing and would have melted by break time) and they bring back the bottles, rinse it out with warm water and reuse.

The interesting thing is that when we eat out these days, the kids compare the drinks they get outside to the one that we make at home and their verdict is that our’s is better 😉

How do you get your children to assist in the house? I love to learn from others.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

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Writer's Quote Wednesday

The Resilience of The Broom – Writers Quote Wednesday Writing Challenge.

jacquelineobyikocha30 Comments

Image result for images of Nigerian broomsticks

The strength of the broom lies not in the power of a single frond but in the resilience of its united fronds. African proverb

Like most families my growing up years consisted of squabbling with my siblings over things that I can’t even recall anymore, but the saying above is one of those proverbs that I’ll never forget because my parents used proverbs like that one to teach us life’s lessons.

‘Igwe bu ike!‘ This is an Ibo word that means ‘there’s strength in numbers.’ My mother will tell us that while demonstrating with a broom.

She would give each of us a broomstick and instruct us to go ahead and break it. With barely much strength applied, the broomstick would snap. Then she would give us the entire broom to break and no matter how much you tried, that broom would never break. It might bend, but not break.

She used this example to emphasize to us that we had to stand together as one family because when we stand together as a unit that’s the only way we would withstand adversity and over the years of my life, we have individually and collectively gone through the storm as a family, but having each other to lean on has made passing through the eye of the storm easier.

Our unity didn’t mean that we lost our individuality, but there’s a code of oneness that understands and tolerates diversity.

This saying is not just for families, but to any group that man forms because we are social beings.

Unity brings strength
and creates harmony.

Unity promotes prosperity
and fosters love.

Unity covers the weakness of one
and infuses him with support.

When we are united
we can withstand.

When our unity is broken down
we will crumble.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Unity – #WQWWC

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Echos Of My Neighbourhood

To Market, To Market – Echoes of my neighbourhood.

jacquelineobyikocha23 Comments

On Thursdays, I share pictures about ‘Echos of my Neighbourhood.

I would like to invite you to participate. The challenge is quite simple and you can find out more about it through this link.

My title makes me hum the nursery rhyme: To market, to market to buy a fat pig – in this case a fat fish 🙂 This week has been slow due to the Eid holiday over here, so I took the opportunity to go bulk shopping for certain food stuff.

The drive to the Fish market is about 40 minutes drive from my house, but it’s worth the effort. I buy fresh stuff, clean them and keep in smaller Ziploc packs to use as the need arises.

Don’t buy from the very first stall you step into. Traipse around a bit from one stall to the other and haggle over the prices for the best bargain. You can also pay a little change to the jobbers to clean the shrimps et al for you if time is a constraint.

This saves a whole lot of time for me as a family woman – I don’t have to go dashing to the stores every five seconds to buy one thing or the other. Also, it helps my menu planning.

Lady Lee’s photos and her family Tortoise will put a smile on any face.

Have a great weekend ahead.

Jacqueline

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A Click A Day · Humor - Bellyful of laughter

The Frog Prince is waiting – A Click A Day.

jacquelineobyikocha9 Comments

Sitting patiently in this garden,

he awaits your loves true kiss

to turn him into the Dapper Prince

that he is.

Now come on,

PUCKER UP, Please 😉

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Uncategorized

When we first start out…

jacquelineobyikocha31 Comments

“When we start out on a journey, we have no idea where our footsteps will lead us, but if we keep placing one foot after the other with hope and an open mind we’ll find many rewards along the way and know that the only impossible move is that step which we’ve not taken.” Jacqueline

Two days ago, I saw that the bloggers who follow to read my blog had reached 2,000 bloggers (not adding other subscribers), I was and still remain amazed. When I set out on this blogging journey on May 6th of 2015 with zero follows, believe me, when I say that not only was I not sure (not that I’m still sure of what I’m doing) of myself as a blogger, I never even fathomed that anyone would be that keen to bother with my blog.Image result for image quotes thank you

In all honesty, I had no idea what blogging meant until I started this journey. All I knew was and still remains my desire to write, to enhance my writing platform and to connect with those who are mad about writing like me. This is not just a gimmick for me but one of my life’s essence. I breathe through my writing and the occasional speeches that I give out there.

To every single one of you who has stuck with me, through my moaning and laughter days in the blogosphere, I thank you. I appreciate all the Award nominations from all the awesome bloggers who generously think of me – I stopped writing award posts because they are just too many and would prefer that upcoming bloggers receive such encouragement.

I can’t undermine the boost your support has given me in this place. Many of you feel like family to me and I am truly glad that I started this journey otherwise, I would never have met you.

I keep thinking of how to build a better blogging community in my own little way especially with the huge number of blogs out there and I’ll be sending out a link shortly on the BLOGGERS JUNCTION – AUTHOR STOP Directory that I’m setting up. I hope you’ll add your URL and a synopsis about your blog to the Directory.

I’ve turned this post into one post for a two-fold purpose – my weekly appreciation post and thank you to all the awesome bloggers around me.

Thank you ever so much and remain blessed.

Jacqueline

There are several gratitude/thankful platforms in the blogosphere that you can tune into and get your ithankful going on. I can’t express in words the enormity of Joy and fulfilment that comes from having a heart of gratitude. Please check out Maria’s blog, Colline’s blog and Bernadette’s for thankful/gratitude challenges.

InLinkz

Image credit: Pinterest

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Featured Blogs

Featured Posts – Share your post links.

jacquelineobyikocha

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‘PLEASE KEEP SENDING IN THE LINKS.’ 

Today’s featured blogs posts are:

Broken: Every day you learn something new, like the Japanese art of “Kintsugi or Kintsukuroi.” When something is broken, it might actually become more beautiful. I’m glad I read such a heartwarming post to start my blogging day 🙂

Beauty is in the eye: Beautiful, liberating, powerful post. Uplifting and might cause a dust fleck to enter your eye’s 😉

Staying true to my exercise evolution: Pam share’s my thoughts about certain exercise observations (competition) that I’ve noticed out there. Do what works for you.

Happily: All I want is to live happily too. Is it such a big deal to ask for these days?

I fear Universal suffrage: A sound opinion, in my opinion.

Do step in and show some love.

‘Do you want more eyes on your words?’

Well then, add your LINK INTO THIS LOOP.

Comments are disabled here to keep the loop tidy. Any comments or link you want to send can be added through the link in the post.

Thank you for your understanding and regards.

‘We create a cohesive community when we come together. 

I hear the reverberations of the magic that’s hidden within.

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Support Me.

Uncategorized

5 Causes of Depression

jacquelineobyikocha

Excellent information on Depression and Diabetes. Have a read.

Anna's avatar

In my previous post, I have covered an overview of depression.  Here I will discuss what causes this beast. 

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1.   Depression can be genetic, although the exact gene causing it is presently unknown. If you have a family member with depression, you’re more likely to experience it, too.  This however might be hard to tell as clinical depression was formally recognized in the U.S. around 1970s.  Prior to that, it was known as melancholy, therefore undiagnosed.  It could have been misdiagnosed for a multitude of other reasons, especially in the old days.

2.   Depression can be triggered by imbalance of certain neurotransmitters in the brain.  Why this is happening, remains a mystery and is not fully understood.  Antidepressant medications work to balance these neurotransmitters, mainly serotonin.

3.   Hormonal changes certainly play a role in developing depression.  Generally, depression is more common in women than in men…

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Wordless Wednesday

The Dragon’s Head – Wordless Wednesday.

jacquelineobyikocha9 Comments

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Rononvan's Weekly Haiku Challenge

Enchanted…Ronovan writes weekly haiku challenge.

jacquelineobyikocha19 Comments

We receive a lovely pair of words “Magic & Stars” for this weeks’ Haiku. Here’s my take on it.

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She listened in delight and rapt attention
eyes shone like little stars
as daddy told magical tales of far-away.

 

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She snuck under the duvet with a torch
the starry night added its magic
as she stole a read during bedtime.

♥

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Image credit: Telegraph.co.uk google images

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My Thinking Corner

Tuesdays Trickles – My Thinking Corner.

jacquelineobyikocha5 Comments

Every Tuesday, I share snippets of thoughts that I call ‘My Thinking Corner.’

I would like to invite you to participate. The challenge is quite simple. You can check this link for more details.

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♥ Start paying attention and listening to what you say.

♥ If you hear yourself consistently using negative or self-limiting words; change them.

Remember that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he and there’s definitely power in our thoughts and our words. There’s usually a fine line between saying the truth about how you feel or what’s going on in your life in a positive way and being filled with negative energy that refuses to give room for better positive consciousness.  I’ve met people who are so filled with negativity and yet they wonder why they can’t be happy or get the best out of their circumstances. It’s all about choices. We choose how we think and there’s power in that positive thinking.

Lady Cee sends in precious quotes and thoughts that worth reflecting on. Do take a peek.

Be happy.

Jacqueline

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