Being tagged - again

See the letter "T" to find out who I tagged.
A-Attached or Single: Single but not willingly.
B-Best Friend: Ruth
C-Cake or Pie: if I have to choose – chocolate chess pie
D-Day of Choice: I like them all.
E-Essential Item: water
F-Favorite Color: purple
G-Gummi Bears or Worms: YUCHY!!!!
H-Hometown: Durham, North Carolina
I-Indulgence(s): not really, more essential -reading, scrapbooking, traveling to see my children and grandchildren
J-January or July: January – you can always wear more clothes but North Carolina in July? PLEASE!? Are you kidding me? Hot, Humid, Hazy – notice how they all start with “H” – wonder what else starts with “H”.
K-Kids: 4 + 4 + 6 (and counting)
L-Life is incomplete without: my testimony, my family
M-Marriage Date: April 24, 1976 and November 14, 1981
N-Number of Siblings: 1 younger brother (now deceased)
O-Oranges or Apples: depends on the mood
P-Phobias or Fears: YES!
Q-Quote(s):
1- “Have you seen all the NUTS in my family tree?” seen on a t-shirt

2- “Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away.”
from “Captain Correlli’s Mandolin”

3 - “When you fall in love it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then it subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
from “Captain Correlli’s Mandolin”

R-Reason to Smile: Chloe, Carter, Jared, Kayleigh, Tyler and Reba
S-Season: Spring and Fall
T-Tag someone if you want to do so – I’m tagging Vicki
U-Unknown fact about me: There is a very shy, insecure little girl that lives inside me. I sit on her most of the time but she is the real me. The fake me is the persona you know.
V-Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: working on becoming a Vegetarian but every now and then a ribeye steak speaks to me until I eat it. (It’s the only way to shut it up.)
W-Worst Habit: getting distracted – why do you think I had two kids with ADD? They got it from me.
X-X-rays or Ultrasounds: Neither – AND I don’t like mammograms, colonoscopies or endoscopies – keep it all away from me!
Y-Your Favorite Food: a really good salad
Z-Zodiac: Taurus – and it actually does sound like me.

Being orgainzed

Organization is over-rated. It's something I've wanted to be as long as I can remember. I've read tons of books and checked out web sites and let me tell you I'm an expert on how to become organized. I've even taught classes where the students have raved over my expertise. The hilarious part is that I am not now nor have I ever been what I consider organized.

I think being organized is a goal but may never be something that can be completely reached. I've spent the last couple of weeks orgaizing my office area and I'll tell you - it looks pretty cool. Now if the rest of the house could just catch the fever, I'd be set.

One reason for my failure is the fact that I have ADD. Attention Deficit Disorder. Just a fancy way of saying that you can lure me away from what I'm doing very easily. I mean, right now the beautiful sun outside my window is distracting me and I feel this pull . . .

Anyway, being organized is something that magazine make tons of money on. Have you ever noticed how all the magazines, especially at the beginning of the year when everyone makes New Year's Resolutions, are all putting it on the cover to entice you. Go to Wal-Mart and look at the magazines that focus on home and health - organization.

Speaking of distractions, Wal-Mart is my favorite place on earth yet when I walk in the door they immediately distract me from what I came in to buy. How many times have I either almost left or actually left the store to find that I didn't get what I went in for in the first place. ADD and they thrive on MY ADD. Oops, got off the topic.

There are so many areas of my life that I want to have organized but I don't seem to be able to concentrate on it long enough to get it done. If I work on one area, I neglect another and the visious circle continues. My kids had better hope I live for a long time or they are going to have to hire a bulldozer to deal with my house.

There is such a pretty bird outside my window. A cardinal that is so red it almost hurts to look at him. I wonder if his mate is nearby. Does that mean spring is near? I wonder if the daffodils are blooming in my . . . . . . . . . . .

The word "No"

See - I know how to spell it. I even hear myself say it sometimes, unfortunately with the word problem afterwards - oh well.

This is a word that women should use - more often than they do. We want to please. We want to be helpful. We want to be useful. However we also forget that we need to take care of ourselves or there won't be anyone to take care of everyone else.

So, all men reading this - teach all the women in your life that it is ok to not do everything that we are offered and that you support us in the effort to take care of ourselves.

And all women reading this? Repeat after me . . . it is OK to say no. We do not have to take care of the entire world without taking care of ourselves.

EXCELLENT. I've changed the world today.

Badminton

I typed the following blog entry on Monday and when I went to check the spelling before I posted it - poof – it vanished. So, I’ll try again. If it vanishes this time? Tough.

When I was in my early teens, my dad made a badminton court on the far side of the creek. It was actually part of the woods behind the house so he had to clear the land first. In the beginning it was just a place to leave the badminton net set up and it not be in the way. It quickly became the entertainment spot for our family and my parents’ friends. On Saturday around noon folks would start showing up to play. Soon people were buying their own rackets – to be more professional, yeah, right.

The afternoons would evolve into cookouts with everyone bringing stuff to help make the dinner. Dad got really good at cooking outdoors and starting building his own pits for slow cooking roasts and other stuff. His specialty was Barbequed Beef Brisket. Yummy.

The badminton court started improving. It was leveled and maintained and Dad put lights around so that we could play into the night. I was the only person I knew who attended parties with adults (no one seemed to have kids) and stayed up till all hours of the night playing badminton or Crazy Rummy. Sometimes the group would decide to go to an all-night diner for breakfast around 3 or 4 and if my brother and I had already gone to bed, they’d wake us up and take us. It felt downright sinful eating pecan waffles at 3 in the morning.

These parties went on for a few years and were mostly fun. (There were a few times that someone would have too much to drink and they wouldn’t be as much fun as they thought they were and I’d go to my room to get away.) One thing happened that I never told Mom or Dad because they would have tracked the dude down and killed him dead. I was 14 – 15 and one of their friends was in his early to mid 20’s. He’d been flirting with me for weeks, which I found flattering but wasn’t worried. After all, it was my parents’ house and there were tons of people around. Anyway, one night he grabbed my arm as I went by him in the living room and he kissed me. This was technically my first kiss but I wasn’t as happy about it as he thought I would be. I got away and from that point on made sure I was never alone with him again. I don’t think my parents noticed that or the fact that I didn’t have conversations with him anymore. If they had ever known – yikes – that guy would have been pushing up daisies and one of my parents would have been in jail. Yep, that’s one secret that couldn’t come out until after they died.

Overall I have great feelings when I think about the fun times we had with that badminton court and the fact that I was part of the grown-ups even if it WAS by default since I lived there. I had a great sleep-over for my birthday during that time period where we stayed outside all night long. It was a blast.

Elvis Fans

My mother and I were somewhere on either side of the proper age to be an Elvis Nut. We did it anyway. She was too old and I was too young. It was probably the first thing we both agreed on in life. I didn't understand why she thought he was so cute - at least for a few years - this changed when my teen age years kicked in. Woo hoo!

We both enjoyed his music. OK, so that was an understatement. We adored his music. I wish I still had the albums we shared. The funny thing was that we didn't really buy records that often but I think we had most of his albums. There was another thing we agreed on - our favorite album was "How Great Thou Art". Most of the songs on this album were awesome.

Mom and I didn't always agree as I was growing up. Finally I did - grow up, that is. Once I grew up we tended to agree on most things. Funny how that happens.

Guess What?

That's Right!

I heard the forecast for last night. Lows around 33 and a chance of showers - maybe a a few snow flakes if the temp was a little lower. Well at least the part about the highs today going into the upper 50's to low 60's will probaly be right.

1 Step Forward . . .

2 steps back. SIGH.

We had wind this weekend - lots of it. Power outages, trees and limbs down, gusts up to 75 mile per hour.

For those who are not familiar with my home, my yard is full of oak trees. Trees that love to drop limbs onto my property when there is a little wind. I got home from church yesterday afternoon to a yard and driveway full of huge limbs. I didn't see any sticking out of my roof, so I took it as a good sign. Then I looked beyond the limbs in my driveway and felt sick to my stomach. I had one of those heavy duty car shelters in my driveway where I was gathering stuff for a yard sale. Can you say upside down and scattered? SIGH!

After clearing the driveway (no easy feat) and my friend Ruth coming over, we were able to take it apart partially. Metal legs were bent and canvas torn but I think it will eventually be fixable. I took some things back in but the rest we placed the roof of the shelter over and left it for me to work on today.

So here it is almost 6 pm and I've not gotten nearly enough done. After working all day, you'd think I'd be finished, right? Just when you least expect it - I've had a bad case of vertigo since midnight last night. Hence the 1 step forward, 2 steps back statement.

Now I could look at this as an awful event and get all depressed or I could look at it another way.
- no damage to my house, Willow or me
- I didn't lose power and was warm all night
- there wasn't any ice, snow or sleet with the wind.

See? Isn't life peachy?

PS: to give you a clue as to the size of some of these limbs. As I was gathering the limbs from the yard something kept bothering me. I finally realized that I had an extra tree where there wasn't one before. At first I thought that I had been totally unobservant and a tree had sprouted up this year when I wasn't paying attention. Then I looked closer and realized that the "tree" was a limb that was standing straight up. It was very deep in the ground and I am VERY grateful I hadn't been standing in that spot when it decided to fall. I bet if there had been a rabbit or squirrel standing in that spot I would never know it cause even the bones would have been pulverized. SHUDDER!

Parking Place Prowl

I know everyone has been guilty of this. But think about it. You spend 10-15 minutes cruising the parking lot waiting for someone to leave so you can park close to the door of the store you are going to go into and spend an hour or more walking around. It would be quicker to park far away from the door, get in and do your thing and zip back to your car to leave - where no one is hovering waiting for your spot. Yes, I know if you have kids it can be a problem. But if there is a cart near one of these far away spots - go for it.

I guess what got me on this rampage was being stuck between two cars. Both of these folks were going into the health club . . . to exercise . . . and were doing the parking place prowl. Now THAT'S just dumb. I got trapped between these two idiots while waiting for another health club attendee to get their butt in gear and leave the prized spot. I wanted to get out and knock all their heads together. GRRRR

Any pet peeve you may have that you want to share with me?

Do you rember these?

First of all . . . most of these things are from my parents' time, however, that said, I do remember most of these from things in my childhood or from my parents. Enjoy.

http://oldfortyfives.com/DYRT.htm

Jericho

I don't watch TV much and what I do watch comes by way of DVD when I can get the whole series and watch it in a few weeks time instead of over a season. Some I like a lot - Bones, House, Medium, Ghost Whisperer and such. I am a die hard Stargate SGI fan and have watched every episode of Seasons 1-9 and am now working on Season 10. I actually own the last season of Friends and have watched EVERY episode.

I could not get into Lost and don't understand everyone's excitement about it but am thrilled for you if it is your thing. However - one that has surprised me - because I really like the show is Jericho. I am familiar with a lot of the actors on the show and like them for things I have seen them in. But that's not what I like the most. This feels like it could be a real scenerio and I've wondered what would happen "if". Most people have thought along these lines because of 9/11. Our church teaches being self-sufficient and having not only 72 hour kits (which most of the world hadn't heard of until after hurricanes and disasters have happened) but also having at least a year's supply of food storage as well as water, fuel, cloth, etc. We are encouraged to make sure we know basic skills that we may need someday. I can crochet, knit, sew and quilt and would be able to use these skills if necessary if something were to happen. In Jericho, you see people trying to figure out what to do to supply the basics of life. I would be able to do a lot of things to earn money in case of a disaster like that. One episode shows people learning how to hunt becasuse they need the food to survive. Our church has taught - have a garden, so we will have the skill. My property is lousy for a garden because of trees but I bet I could cut those trees down for firewood and have lots of sun for a garden. Each year I plant a garden which is normally a joke. It costs more for me to have that garden than it would just to buy the produce. One year I got two whole tomatoes and 1 cucumber as my big crop. Waste of time and money? No. 1- I obeyed my church leaders. 2- practice makes perfect. This year I had two tomato plants and a bunch of herbs and I got a lot of tomatoes as well as used the herbs in cooking. If I needed to produce my food, I think I could.

Lots of folks aren't too thrilled with camping but if you think about it - what better way to make sure you could do without certain things than by doing without? I can use a grill, build a fire pit and a fire, make a shelter, keep warm and so forth. A few years back I had to go nearly a week without electricity (control for gas heater is electric.) when we had a big ice storm and cold snap. I survived. It wasn't fun and when everything got back to normal I was thrilled, but I did it.

I guess the point of this is to encourage you to make sure you are prepared.

chain emails should have warnings in the subject line.

Is there a sign on my back? You know, a sign that says, send me all the chain emails cause it drives me crazy and my blood pressure isn't high enough? I have about half a dozen friends who send on of these "pass it on" emails and most of the emails have strings attatched. You know, if you send this to 5 (8, 10, whatever) people within the next 10 (15, 30 . . . .) minutes you will have good luck (receive money, not have bad luck, yada, yada, yada). I think they should all read this way.

First of all, in the subject line, be clear it is a trap if they open it.

Fw: Chain email - don't open if you don't want to participate

Hi, I feel the need to torture you today so I'm forwarding this dumb email that was forwarded to me by someone who wanted to torture me, and if you want to torture five of your friends then send it on within the next 10 minutes so you don't forget. Rest assured that I don't really believe in the "power" it supposedly has but I love the friend who sent it to me and don't want to hurt their feelings by not sending it back to them and I'm afraid they will see that I only sent it to them - hence adding you in the torture chain.

Reckon this would catch on? Well, everyone, I'm here to tell you that just because I don't send it on - it doesn't mean that I don't love you (don't believe in God, am not grateful for my blessing, etc.) I just don't care for the emails and would prefer to not deal with it so when I open the email if it has that "look" about it, I delete it before it has a chance to attack me.

OK, this rant is over - you may go about your regularly scheduled life.

Willow

They say that having a pet lowers your blood pressure and is very good for stress, yada, yada, yada. I don't think they met Willow. She is making progress on using the puppy pad for pee, however she's still leaving little presents for me in some of the strangest places. I think she knows that isn't the proper place but hasn't quite figured out the puppy pad is for that also. Step on one of those presents in the middle of the night and let me tell you - blood pressure? UP. Stess level? UP. Also she is teething - can you say "Hide it if you don't want it chewed?"

That said, she is making the biggest difference to me. Even more than Coco did and I thought that what she did for me was awesome. (Still no sign or word of her whereabouts.) Willow wants to be with me every second and follows me around like, well, like a puppy. She does well by herself and I can leave her in her crate to go places and she does fine. She just loves me and if I'm around that's where she wants to be. As I sit at my desk to write this, she is in her cube, just chilling. If someone had told me 20 years ago that I would have a chihuahua, much less adore the stinker, I would have sent them to get their head examined. Hmmmmm, I'm getting MY head examined, I wonder if that means anything?

Even though I am obviously the one she adores, she plays well with others. She has play dates all the time. She hasn't been around children as much as dogs and cats but we are working on that too. She goes to other adults and isn't skittish like little dogs can be - of course, she doesn't KNOW she's a little dog. If you go by attitude, she weighs 150 instead of four pounds.

So . . . the long and short of it is . . . "THEY" must be right. Having a pet is good for you.

One more tribute . .

. . . I'm not promising it will be the last.

I guess you can figure where my mind is this week. This video sums it all up for me.

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/200/5127/

If you are not of my faith and wonder how so many people could love a man they probably never met in person, maybe what Glenn Beck says will help.