The Twelve Ways of Christmas...

I hate Christmas...there I said it! So sue me! And why do you ask, do I hate Christmas? Let me count the ways, but perhaps I should just list for you the "12 Ways of Christmas" eh? Whaddya think? Bah Humbug! I don't care what ya think, so you are getting this anyway!

On the First Way of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a new remodeled bathroom upstairs! Woo-Hoo! True story, not making it up. New tile, new tub, new toilet, new vanity, new faucets! WHAT could be wrong with that??? Well...He started this awesome "re-model" in October and it is now December. The little "behind the scenes" problem? I have no bathroom and that means no shower and so, I must go next door to my sister's to take showers and go downstairs to use the "facilities" as they say! Perhaps, God willing, it will be done for Christmas??? Sure! A very real possibility, BUT now we have to paint the bedroom and shampoo the carpet and remove the 30+ year old POPCORN from the ceiling! And that means that my bedroom furniture is now in my living room! Crap! Trust me, I could not make this stuff up! Talk about A Nightmare Before Christmas!

On the Second Way of Christmas, my true love gave to me...well we can just 'cut' the true love crap right here. He's too busy working on the bathroom to do anything else! Believe me, I do NOT want to distract him from this mighty task in any way, shape or form! So the second way I hate Christmas is this: It 'sneaks' up on you. HELLO! It was only just Halloween, right? Then Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday and then BAM! Christmas!

On the Third Way of Christmas, the way it comes to me is to deck (must be where the word "decorate" comes from) the halls! I have a storage room FULL of Christmas decorations! My kids used to say "Santa Claus threw up" in our house! If it was not tied down, it got decorated. Seems, when they grew up, Santa stopped 'throwing up' mostly because Mommy was tired...And now that I have Grandkids, I feel pressure to invite Santa to vomit again! Maybe if I give him a shot of Pepto-Bismol with his cookies, it won't be tooo bad! And I think I love to decorate! I hate to un-decorate!

On the Fourth Way, I hate shopping, but mostly I hate shoppers who are done on December 1st. It's a free world, do what ya gotta do, but do you have to announce to the whole flippin world "I have ALL my shopping done!" You quite possibly could be MUZZLED by the rest of us slackers! So keep your "tidings of great joy" to yourself, would ya?

On the Fifth Way of Christmas, I hate people who decorate their houses in lights and turn them on, when? Black Friday, that's when. Those poor sentimental chumps have no idea what kinda present Florida Power and Light is gonna send them at the end of the month! But do I want them to turn them off? Hell no! I gotta have some kinda joy when I am out there fighting the Christmas "rush" and these suckers are paying, not me!

On the Sixth Way, I hate all Christmas music... I don't want to "Deck the Halls" (We discussed this 3 Ways ago,right?)or Jingle (anybody's) Bells" and I don't want to hear Karen Carpenter sing "Merry Christmas Darling" or I will go into mourning, once again. Now she had the voice of a Christmas Angel, she did. And how about those "Three Kings of Orient Are?" I always wanted to google this and find out just where Orient-Are IS on the map!

On the Seventh Way, I hate Santa Claus! That big,fat guy has been bugging me for years...Always with the pictures, every single year like clockwork! Geez it all started in the 1950s with my brother and sister, hence the photo on my first page. Now I have to pressure MY kids to have THEIR kids take a picture with this guy, which in turn, "makes" me have to shop because, I think there is a law or something that says kids have to have appropriate holiday "garb" to get the pictures taken in the first place! CRIKEY! Back to the Mall.



On the Eighth Way of Christmas, I hate two particular Christmas movies...My favorite one to hate is the true tale of George Bailey in A WONDERFUL LIFE. It put me under some kinda wicked spell, because I found myself many years later in a Target store, hypnotized and mesmerized and ultimately being 'forced' to buy the ENTIRE collection of Bedford Falls! What a pain that was to set up every year! One year, I left my Wonderful Life Village up ALL year...It gave me such joy not to have to put it up again the next Christmas! But then I hated taking it down...Bedford Falls has been 'off the map' for many years now...So sad and I hate being sad...sometimes I feel like Georga Bailey in A Wonderful Life...sigh...And my second most hated movie? A Christmas Story, Why??? BECAUSE They play it for 24 dang hours straight on Christmas Day. How many times must I suffer looking at Scut Farkus' weasly-eyed face??? (You thought his name was Scott, didn't ya? Come on, admit it! If ya do, I'll give you a "major award") There's just something about the guy who wrote that story that is familiar... a bit of a smart aleck, he is...he kinda writes like me!

On the NINTH WAY of Christmas, I hate that I forget to do stuff for Christmas, like to get a present for any one of my family or friends, or forgetting to make cookies or forgetting to go to The Christmas pageant or parade or forgetting to just chill out and relax or forgetting to send Christmas cards or just forgetting...Kinda like I JUST FORGOT to write about the NINTH Way, so I had to go back and edit and re-write this part of the blog! I forgot who told me I forgot though...Wait a minute! I remember! My honest darling daughter read this blog and told me I forgot! Thank God she can count...I think I forgot how, to count,that is...

On the Tenth Way, I hate ALL Hallmark movies! Now they start showing them in October! Hey, let me take off my Halloween costume first! Come on! Talk about chumps and suckers! So why do I record each and every one? I gotta have something to do while I sit and procrastinate...Hey! let me run back to the store, which involves shopping and stocking up on tissues! They must have 4-5 new movies each year and then there are the re-runs...Darn those Hallmark traditions and the commercials too!

The Eleventh Way is All the Christmas treats and food...No wonder that Santa Claus guy is so darn fat! I get the extra added "gift" of about 5 lbs per year thanks to this crummy tradition! So, figuring 5 times 40 years, No wonder I am 200 lbs overweight! Oh,I go to Weight Watchers alright, but I watch it go up, not down. Thanks a lot, Santa!


And finally the Twelfth Way of Christmas that I hate is this: I don't really hate Christmas at all...I love it...all the decking the halls, all the treats, all the pictures with Santa, all the "Wonderful Life(s) and Christmas Story(s)" all the music, especially The Carpenters...hmm I think a "Carpenter" started all this Christmas stuff in the first place and those Kings were just looking for Him to give Him gifts...That is the part I really love,that Jesus came as a baby (I just LOVE babies, who doesn't?) He came so we could all celebrate and give love to each other and all the other stuff just comes with it...Sort of a package deal, especially since that St Nick guy started going town to town bringing gifts and treats to all who believe, because that is what I love the most-The Magic of Christmas, which is all about believing and love...and who could possibly hate that!

Merry Christmas Darling, Happy New Year too...

Autumn Slump, I guess...

So, what the hell is wrong with me now? I haven't written since 911? Must be some kinda hidden message there, or maybe September 11 is the kickoff to what I now call the Autumn Slump...

So here I am, ready to write...coffee-check! raisin toast-check! reading glasses- check! new laptop-check! (Lets just see how you roll, Miss Dell 2!) Tissues-check. Why Tissues? Because! I have already been crying all morning. Why? Well, Facebook stuff, that's why! Damn that Zuckerberg! I got a whole blog just waiting to be written about YOU...

What made me cry first? Hmmm, let me count the "posts". I realized that I was NOT getting some postings because I didn't have "all stories" button engaged and then Voila! I had several hundred postings to catch up on...Crap! I haven't been "on" Facebook as much lately, although some of my friends and family would not agree. BUT, I say! Just ask Vori! She KNOWS! She IS my cousin and because of Facebook, I have fallen in love with her! Oh come on! not in that way...again she is my cousin!

Vori is my kin. She is my kindred spirit. She gets me and I get her. How do I know? Because she reads my blogs and sees me there, because SHE is there. She is My Christina, and that means, she is my sister-cousin. She is faithful and true and FUNNY! She is me. My Christina is my niece, who is actually my daughter. She is the sister-cousin to my girls ( Not like sister-wives! What a bunch of freaks they are! So why do I watch? I dunno...) My girls were "raised right" and raised together. They are Three Peas in a POD! When you are that close, it is, shall we say? AWESOME! And Vori and her siblings "should" have been "raised" with me and my siblings, but she wasn't and DNA and genetics prevailed and here we are! Sister-cousins!

The reason I have not been "facing" Facebook is quite simple. I have a new job, which I just love! But I am on a computer 8 hours a day and when I come home, I just have to chill...and "switch" to my old lover-the television! She is a temptress that one...(She? So what! My TV is a girl and I like it!) Quite seductive, as she introduces me to all her friends in TV Land. I can't get enough of them...I tell you what though, I bought that Real housewife of New Jersey's cookbooks, and she is one crazy bitch! She is SO "The Teresa Show" that she doesn't even look around and SEE how lucky she is! She has a loving brother and  she has 4 daughters, who will hopefully grow up well, in spite of their crazy mother (maybe) And girlfriends! Whoa, Don't EVER lose A Girlfriend from Jersey, cuz they will stick with you forever. I know, I have a few of them, but, if they are done with you, they are done!


Enough of The Housewives... WHO? who? who? is gonna be our NextTop Model Superstar? Talk about some crazy biotches! Whew! They are my guilty pleasure...Why? Because back in the day, the "girl in the tree" was me, I wanted to be Twiggy, the first super model. I WAS Twiggy! Cute! Skinny! I was SO skinny! and Tall...1-2-3, that was me...My dream was to be a model and when I think of it today, I think "How shallow! These broads ain't got no friends, no family, no wonder they CAN be super models" My daughter and granddaughter and I watch every show together! I think Angelea just might pull it off this time! The 716 girl is in the house and hungry to win! From homeless to superstar! But watch out for Miss Laura! She is cute as a button, and her granny sews all her clothes. She is country girl competition! So, enough of these REAL People!

I tell you what! If I am EVER, God Forbid, in trouble and need a lawyer, PLEASE call Harriet Korn or even Tommy Jefferson ( See! I like men too! I am just very particular about them ) BUT FIRST! Call a cop and PLEASE send the boys in blue from the NYPD! Tom Selleck (Now HE is the first man I fell in love with...on TV, of course and I have been totally faithful to him for years, just ask my husband!) AND he can bring along "his boy" Donnie Walberg and his brother Mark too...You bet he can!

So, as you can see, I have been quite busy! And so I took today off and I am catching up with my "Real World" My first contact was my friend Bobby and I am excited to say that he is sending me a paper he wrote ( Ha! I love him too. Alas, he is a writer, a man after my own heart) "Shakespeare in the Wake of 9/11" I MUST google his Brothers and Sisters: Siblings in English Literature paper, too! Sooo much to do today and I do have my priorities in line...

My second contact was my neighbor Jan across the street. Talk about a REAL housewife and girlfriend! Is she from Jersey or New York? Crap! I better find out! That is one thing you don't wanna mix up. She had surgery this week and I must say, she is so brave and so strong and so loyal and loving. She has had many losses in her life and she chooses to be better, not bitter. I am in awe...so what did we do for her? Send her flowers? Nah! Send her a get well card? nah! We did what any self respecting Irish neighbor would do! Make her and her hubby dinner! We made our version of Italian Ziti or Irish-Italian Ziti, complete with salad (in a bag) fresh rolls ( from Publix bakery) Giardelli Brownies (Now, that's Italian!) And some kinda Chardonnay my daughter picked out! AND, dadadaDA! She liked it! It must be true, because she posted it on Facebook!

My third and fourth contacts are my siblings who are ALL on road trips where the leaves and trees are changing colors. Just a reminder, I am a TREE freak and I "fell in love" with them all over again hard and fast when I first saw them in their glory in Autumn, a few short years ago "in person" (See, I don't just "fall in love" with girls and boys, I love trees too. Mostly in the Fall, but they are beauteous in the Winter, as well) So, because I love MY trees and love my SIBLINGS so much and they are ALL together in different places as we speak, I feel heartache, hence the box of tissues. I can't even "speak" yet of my home, my very haven in Northeast Georgia...We used to spend time there every Autumn and Winter and I never did get to see her in the snow...I miss My Tree in the front yard most of all and My Big Tree on the Circle and to think I have lost "them" hurts my heart so...

My Autumn slump, not over,
I think it's just begun,
My trees, the very ones that God has colored
with his crayon box of reds and golds and plums.
To fall into you, to fall in love with you,
that happened years ago,
And you will bring me to my Winter,
when diamonds fall from skies, take your leaves away
and replace you with a white winter coat of snow.
I love you and I miss you so and my heart,
like a child who hugs a tree,
will always be with you...

Please, Heaven, Please!
Be an eternity with trees...


All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray

911 Ten Years Later

I knew what today would be...and what I wanted it to be...I woke up early and put on my September 11, 2001 "United We Stand" firefighters T-shirt, went downstairs, got coffee and turned on the channel that had the "Memorials" on live TV. I joined in on the moments of silence and the reading of the names and my heart "hurt" for ALL of them...ALL

Then they showed the waterfalls that were built on the sites of the Twin Towers and I thought "They did it...and they got it right" How beautiful to keep those sacred spots intact. Water has such a calming sound and effect on us...All I could think was...The waterfalls represent the millions of tears that have fallen since 911 ten years ago and the many more that will still fall. And there are tears from Heaven mixed in as well...There is also what seems to be a dark hole in the middle and it reminds me of the darkness of that day. The names of those lost that day are inscribed around the walls of the waterfall, again, they got it right. So simple a design, so beautiful a message...

I have spent the day watching the History channel and I am moved to my own tears and am horrified by the stories and videos that are playing ,but I am "keeping" this day as sacred by honoring every story that I can. Church could not even affect me today as much as I was comforted by The President reading the bible verse that he read-parts of Psalms 46 if I am correct. He will be criticized, I am sure, but he "got it right"


Although The Twin Towers was the main focus and the greatest loss of lives, there were other places attacked as well-The Pentagon and because of the heroes on Flight 93, The White House was spared and that plane went down in Pennsylvania. I cannot imagine the horror of being in any of those places on that sad day...whether you were facing death or risking your own life to save another or waiting anxiously to hear of your loved ones fate. "Where were you?" sang Alan Jackson a short time later. I remember where I was-I was at work, as a nurse, taking care of mothers and newborn babies. I was in disbelief at first and then when I knew it was a real threat, I began to try to dissuade my patients from watching the TV. Why? Because this was the first day of their babies lives and it did not need to begin in terror. After I did that, I went to the desk and remember Danielle, a nurse I worked with, trying desperately to get in touch with her cousin, who worked at Twin Towers, but there was no phone service. I went into the kitchen and cried. I truly thought it was the beginning of the end of the world and I cried, thinking "These babies have NO future, My children have NO future...I have no future" The rest is a blur. I cannot even tell you if Danielle's cousin was OK or not. To this day, I don't know. I checked with my sister-in-law because I truly did not remember. She had a cousin  James Deblase, who perished along with his co workers at Cantor-Fitzgerald.  My memory is not intact to that time and I did not even have anyone that I knew directly involved. However my daughter had visited NYC exactly one month earlier on Aug 11Th and had been up in one of The Twin Towers having dinner. She took a picture of The Twin Towers later that day which I keep to this day as a special reminder.

Just one month later, New York City changed forever. A whole nation changed forever and now we had "collateral damage" to deal with...the survivors, those who lost loved ones, and we were not even looking to the future yet when so many more would be lost due to this in the form of our US troops. It really hasn't stopped, has it? It goes on and on in a different form and lest we forget, there are STILL heroes "on the job" who deal with terrorism every day-our US Soldiers. They volunteer to keep us safe and they choose to keep us safe. I think the word us is spelled U.S. for a reason. It's not really a coincidence, is it? I hope this day is meaningful to "US" every one of US and for what it's worth, I vow to remember and never forget to be thankful and grateful to live in the greatest country in the world, the land of the free and home of the brave...

And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea...

Change is good...

Been thinking about changing the name of my blog...I think it confuses people...They are just not "hip" shall we say, to my subtle nuances and play on words. I DO have over 1800 "hits" on this site, but... maybe I would have MORE if say, I named it "MARIE's BLOG! Would Ya Read It Already?" or "For the Love of Sam, Look! Pay Attention! Read!" How about "COME ON! Read This Frickin Thing and Tell Me what Ya REALLY think!" I dunno...I just need to "market myself" a little better,Ya know?

  I really DID give it a lot of thought when I came up with this title, though! I mean,really! WHO doesn't like "Breakfast?" And there is something REALLY wrong with ANYBODY who does NOT like The "Beatles" and their music! And even MORE wrong, if God Forbid! They don't even know WHO The Beatles are??? Some of "today's" kids DON'T and quite frankly, I find that shocking and disturbing on SO many levels! Poor things...Obviously, they have not been "raised right" I mean, really? Even the Band Geeks loved The Beatles!

And GEEZ! Who did NOT have a couple of "best friends" in high school? One was a guy-hence "Bobby" and one was a girl- enter "Dee" And you score high points if you get the Janis Joplin "clue" in the title, too! "Good enough for me and Bobby and Dee" La da da,la da da da...PLEASE don't tell me if you don't know Who Janis Joplin and Bobby McGee are? I don't think my heart could bear such news! My 82 year old mother knows The Beatles AND Janis Joplin! Maybe not "personally" but she knows...or she DID know...I will have to "quiz" her when I see her, because her memory IS slipping... Get ready Ruth! Maybe I will write up about ten, no, make that five questions for her "POP" quiz!

SO...I thought I would encompass AND encourage just about everyone and anyone who is WORTH "encompassing" to read MY blog...Let's face it...Not everyone KNOWS what a BLOG is...I betcha Ruth won't--better make that Question Six for her...hey, ya learn something new everyday, right? So WHY have I NOT "attracted" the RIGHT people to read my entertaining columns? I dunno! My TRUE, faithful followers happen to be THOSE who I love dearly...It is EASY for them to "read me" and think I am all that and a bag of m&m's! (thought I was gonna say something else, eh?) I just need ONE editor from ONE magazine (or newspaper) to "read me" JUST ONE! Where IS that Devil Who Wears Prada lady? Or that Julie and Julia kid? Just WHO discovered her? HUH? Who? SHE wrote a damn blog and a damn book and then they made a damn movie about her damn blog and damn book! DAMN! I really shouldn't swear so damn much, but DAMN!

I'm gettin older, I need to get discovered SOON! Father Time is chasing after me! Wait a minute! My mom is REALLY old and my dad was old and my grandma and grandpa were old, too! WHEW! I have "longevity" on my side, Thank God! So! What should I change the name of my blog to? Hell's bells, mama! You tell ME! I mean, really! Tell me..."I'm listening" as Frasier would say, and you BETTER know who Frasier is! (Question number seven for Ruth!) Well, I will be here if you come up with anything clever. I mean, I can't name it "HEY You! Devil Who Wears Prada Lady Magazine Editor Types! Would You Give An Old Broad A Break And READ This Blog? Would ya, huh?" THAT would seem like groveling or beggin or something like that, and as humorous and clever and amazing and wondrous as my writings are, really! I don't "think" I want to attract that KIND of attention, now, do I? Hmmm...Aww, what the hell! "Hey You! Devil Who... well, you get the picture!

Time is on my side, yes it is, time is on my side...

What kind of woman are YOU?

Yesterday morning sucked! Yes, I said it, I just blurted it out! I am known to 'blurt' occasionally and without warning, I might add! So,get over it... Anyway, it just sucked... When a woman doesn't feel good or "up to snuff" as they say and what the hell does that mean,anyway? Well, back to the 3 things to take note of when a woman does not feel good!

Number One: She will not be wearing any jewelry, especially earrings, there is just too much effort to put them on, and then you just have to take them off when you get home! Oh Dear God! She will keep her wedding ring on, but if that is off, You need to sit down beside her and gently say "Are you alright,dear?" Be prepared though...she might just bite your head off and well, you DID ask now,didn't you?

Number Two: Not a stitch of makeup! if she's wearing some lip gloss and a little mascara, just back off and give her some room, she may be OK later, much later. Do you understand what it takes to put "on" makeup? It takes five minutes, that is what it takes and if she is NOT willing to "take five" and do this little ritual for herself, then she is either VERY late to work, VERY tired or she just don't give a rip!

 And number Three? Well, damned if I can remember number three! But it will come to me...eventually...I hope. So here I am, with little or no makeup, earrings only, ready to take them off at any confrontation and listening to a couple of Jackass disc jockeys on the way to work. And the gas light comes on...Oh, crap! I have $1.98 in my account (could be the reason I am so pissy, whaddya think?) Soooo,what do I do? Well, I pulled over, got out the I-phone (to call for help? Hell no! to FIND help!) and go to PLACES to find the nearest gas station. So I fill up with my "Target" card at the Chevron (rip-offs!) and I go cruising down the highway to work, or so I thought and where the hell am I? I am headed for the turnpike and the Florida Keys! Geez! How did I get here? After a split second decision of going to the Keys (or not) ran through my brain, I went across 2-3 lanes of traffic-who's counting? and did a U-ee...Is that how you spell U-turn?...

Anyway, I turned around which in the end was the "wiser course" yes! and headed toward work, and drove right by a Hess station that was 5-6 cents cheaper a gallon (again,who's counting?) and got to work-ON TIME! I walked past my co-worker and my supervisor (who just happens to be one of my BFFs for life, SO??) and put down my purse, grabbed my coffee cup and said "Are we allowed to put Kahlua in our coffee here? Or even Baileys?" And whooshed off to the nearest fresh coffee I could find! Well, they were so worried that they rushed after me! Remember! I ONLY had lip gloss and a little mascara on! SO, we all chatted at the coffee station and I brought up my theory, and they both said,"But we don't wear makeup!" Hmmm...Damn!

So I had to rethink my scientific process and come up with something fast! But, right then, at that particular moment in time...I had nothing...so I just went to work. Now today I think that women who do NOT wear makeup are just free in their own skin and when they DO put on makeup, look out! They are ready to have some fun now! But I was "raised" by a woman who had a hard life and always put her makeup on! When and if my mother ever "passes away" we will have to pry lipstick out of one hand and mascara out of the other...and you can be sure! She will have already put it on! She ain't going to no Pearly Gates or nothing without it! So basically, this blows my theory out of the water, too. And now that I think about it, my sister-in-law always wears a lot of jewelry! bracelets and necklaces and rings and she just had her gallbladder out...did they make her take all that off? Oh Dear God, I never even asked! How thoughtless of me! So maybe it is just ME...I am the one who doesn't wear makeup or jewelry when I don't feel good and the whole world should take notice, right? Yeah, I guess so...

The moral of the story is this! If you care about someone, take notice of the "little things" that set her apart and if she is NOT in her usual "state" whether it be wearing makeup or not, wearing jewelry or not and if she differs in any way on any particular day...LOOK OUT! Could be good...Could be bad...

You better run, you better take cover...

Blog! Blog! Blog!

So I've been a slacker---AGAIN! Guess I had a writer's block but that's a lie. I wake up at night and think of stuff to write about, but then because I HATE to write with a pen and paper anymore and I am really NOT gonna go downstairs in the middle of the night and write on my laptop...Oh HELL no! well, then I drift back to sleep and forget all about that awesome topic I had in mind. Sometimes I want to write about something "ugly" and in fact I do write about it, but then I do not print it...I hide it or delete it or send to a friend who I trust. And sometimes I write something real dramatic, like poetry a la Shakespeare, or even a screenplay! And would I print that stuff here in my blog? Hell no! No way, No how, not ever! Well...not yet anyhow. It's funny how the poetry is just TOO personal and I don't want to be judged too harshly...What if someone doesn't like it or doesn't get it and what if they don't "read" my play the way it should be read? I just can't take that kind of rejection...

 

So why is it okay to publish what I write here in my blog? Beats the hell out of me! I guess I am comfortable here having this little chat with all the blogsters out there! I am just "small talking" and sometimes "trash talking" with people who are actually taking the time to read this whole thing because....Gee, they really like me? They think I am Funny? They think I am right? They think I have a way with words? They think I am delusional? Perhaps and perhaps... So here is what I have done...I now have a laptop downstairs AND upstairs! Pretty brilliant, huh? Aww, not really, I just sorta convinced my husband that he should "keep" his laptop upstairs and I will now "allow" him to use mine downstairs, which he does anyway, as well as my daughter using it too...She DID have her own laptop until her daughter took all the letter keys "off " and did... I don't know WHAT to them...she put them back once and I'll be danged if the little squirt didn't plum do it again! So it has become the family computer anyway! I mean, who the hell wants to actually carry a laptop upstairs and downstairs? That's just plain CRAZY! So all my adoring fans (all eleven of you!) I am sure you are thrilled to know that at any point in time, night or day, I will NOW have access to blog all night and blog all day! Oh Joy! 

I want to rock and roll all night and party every day...

To The Bright Side of The Road

Been listening to country music a LOT lately...Why? Dunno. I think on the way home from work I like to imagine the story that they tell...kinda helps me unwind, I guess. The other day I listened to Stevie Ray Vaughn and damn near got killed cause I was so into it. Now the blues...the blues will make you want to "do the speed limit" on the way to work, but the blues will take you away to a place like no other...kinda like listening to some kinda drug, it just "plays on your mind" and relaxes you and just takes you...THERE...just there..."Hey,hey,hey! little sister"

The Blues takes me to Chicago and a bar, having a shot or two with my cousin Vori and "whoever else wants to come" I rarely do shots, but I WOULD, yes, I would if the situation was right and this would be right! And we would be taking a cab home and downing an excedrin before we crashed into bed and it would be late,LATE! And just for good measure,there would be a "ready and waiting" garbage can right next to my "spinning" bed, cuz it would be spinning, yes it would...

Now back to the country...Damn that Trace Adkins! He is the tallest, sexiest drink of cool water that I've ever seen, except for Trace Armstrong-he's a pro football player I met once and THAT man is a mountain and a fine lookin one at that! but ole Trace, he "crushes me" every single time I hear "You're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back...these are some good times,take a good look around, you may not know it know" I am a blithering idiot by the time the song is done, and just for the hell of it, I play it again and blither some more! But NOW, now,now...he sings a song about fishing with his daughter...he calls her "baby" and sings so sweet to her, "but we're not fishing" Curses! Crumbled again! My dad called me "baby" and, no matter what kinda dad you had, if he ever DID call you baby, it was special and sweet and safe to be that daughter at that special moment...and as I type, I think of Trace and his three daughters that he wrote that song for ,and know why the song is about how much he loves them and NOT about fishing and you got it...I am once again, a blithering idiot!

There are other songs and other types of music that I love, of course! Some make me want to dance-Never left a dance floor feeling quite happy until I did "The Electric Slide" and some songs make me want to sing -Amazing Grace in the shower comes to mind...Hey! it is meant to be sung acapella OR with the Bagpipes, now isn't it? ( please don't challenge me on that one...please, just don't) And some like "Easy Lite Rock" actually help me work and study better...I am somehow less distracted when it is just there, in the background, soft and constant, like a friend.

So, where would I be if I didn't have "the music in me"? Cass Elliot sang it best "You gotta make your own kinda music, sing your own special song, make your own kinda music, even if nobody else sings along" Now, sometime soon we will talk about John Denver...the man could sing about life...was he really a folk singer? Who knows? But lyrics and melody were never more true then when he sang them...and was Jimmy Buffet a country singer? He tried to be, but he became his own genre; unmistakable, take me away to the beach and Margaritaville. “Bubbles Up”

Though the singer is silent, there is still the truth of the song"

Why is thus we are here and so soon we are gone?

I pledge allegiance to the flag!

Good morning Vietnam! A movie that Robin Wiliams was in a looong time ago...About soldiers...US Soldiers...Did we forget them then and do we forget them now? What do you think? Unless we are directly affected by someone we know who is a soldier, do we just go about our days and forget what they DO for us each day? right or wrong, they do their jobs to keep ALL Americans safe and sound...But are they safe and sound? hell no... Today I get my first name and I am excited like a little kid! I volunteered to be part of the LWT (letter writing team) for Soldiers Angels. I joined for lifetime and so they say I am one of them...WHO is the angel though? Me or the soldier? At mail call, it is just like any other war in the past, there are some who get NO letters, ever..."Snail mail" is still important to them. Do you know they carry the letters from home with them and keep them in their pockets? Just like any other war, or are we supposed to call this a war or a military action, like Vietnam was?

I am NOT political. To me the vast majority of polititians are crooks, BUT they are the leaders of the greatest nation in the world. I was raised to respect them and when I was a little girl, I pledged my allegiance everyday! And it stuck with me. My dad and grandpa both were in the war...World War I or II...who cares which, they went and fought for our freedom and don't forget, they also fought for the freedom of those in the world who could not fight for themselves...Why do you think we are in so many countries? To spy on them? No, to serve them and us...Us! spelled US...United States.

I never had a son...prayed for one for years, but He said no, until now...I have no "sons" in law or grandsons. And so, a light switched on when I was at a meeting at work and they talked about Volunteerism and different things we could do-I was very involved in the fight against cancer for a time...family and friends were afflicted by it and I would do anything for them. They suggested becoming pen pals with prisoners...Usually quiet in staff meetings, I blurted out " I'd write to a soldier, but NOT to some prisoner" And so, that started it, the whole thing.  no Big Deal if you volunteer for what afflicts you and those you love. Even the most evil will protect their own and I am properly scared straight enough, thank you very much, and I don't want to be pen pals with no big, hulking, tatooed kinda guys. But wait a minute! What if that big, hulking, tatooed guy was a U S Soldier? Now we're talking, or shall I say, "Now we're writing?" I don't know anyone close who is a soldier, just as well...they don't need a patriot! THEY are the patriots! They need a "mom" back at home to send the news about what's going on here. They are the "sons" I never had, and though I will never meet them, I will serve them proudly on paper! And so the adventure begins! I may have to start a whole new blog about them...Wouldn't that be awesome?

And I'm proud to be an American...

No man knows the hour!

Oh Dear God! I have been so busy living and working and worrying that I totally missed the email about today being the last day! Crap! How am I gonna explain this to The Big Guy? He will probably just take one look at me and say "It figures!" I am just not prepared...I have to write some more blogs and clean my house and pack it up and buy some birthday presents and pay some bills...wait a minute! SKIP paying the bills-just in case! I am not making light of the whole subject, believe me! I was involved in a religious cult for a few years back in the early eighties and they had us scared shitless! I constantly worried that Jesus was coming back and I was always "looking to the east" to see if He was coming in the clouds! Now what is wrong with that? God does not want us to worry! A life lesson I have been trying to learn...well, frankly, all my life! "Cast your cares upon Him, for He careth for you" When I clicked on some facebook thing "What is your life verse? "(from the bible) that's the one that popped up....know what I said? "It figures!" Back to the cult: Did I learn about love and forgiveness and life everlasting? Yeah, sure...a little bit, BUT there were conditions! Oh Yes! These people had rules and the rules were, mostly for women, IN FACT! the only rule for men was this: You have to wear a WHITE shirt if you want to come to the altar to pray or be prayed for. I am dead serious too. NOW for the women: 1. NO makeup ( Lotsa chicks in desperate need for makeovers in that church, Hell, even an old barn needs a little paint now and then, but not THESE old...well, you get the picture and it was not a colorful one! ) 2. No pants ( I think this was to distinguish us from being mistaken for men...all I know is since mini-skirts-one of my personal all time FAVORITE fashions- were not allowed, I did not dress so cute.) 3. NO jewelry, except for a wedding ring and/or a watch ( that was easy, didn't have too much at that time anyway) 4. You can NOT cut your hair! It is "a covering" kinda like, a yarmulke, or back in the day when Catholics wore those lacy things on their heads when they went to church. That was easy too, I already had long hair, leftover from my "hippie" days in the seventies...Who knew? But I went "rogue" and dyed my roots while my sister went traditional and well, I never really discussed it with her, but I think all the rules literally turned her hair gray! 5. You must go to church each service, no matter what!  Do you know how hard that was? Find a dress, not just for me, but two little girls, who by the way, I didn't make follow the rules, I let them wear shorts and look normal for the most part. I had to brush that long hair. Well I guess I did cut out some of the time by NOT applying makeup or putting on jewelry. Hmmm... And then there was Number 6. Ah yes, six, six, six! wait a minute! 666! Yikes almighty-the devil's number. Oh, man! No wonder this rule caused such havoc and trauma in all our lives! Hindsight is 20/20, right? The rule was this: No TV or movies, unless, it was religious programming! Yep! Well I could never give up TV, so we we watched TBN 24/7-all of us! No "Smurfs" for the kids, blue devils!...my sister went rogue on this and let the kids watch and I guess mine snuck over there to watch too. Thank God, they weren't total robots and had minds of their own, ALTHOUGH, 25 YEARS LATER, they throw the Smurfs in my face! Come on! Really? Smurfs? Mommy will buy you a $5 DVD at Walmart and you can watch all you want! Build a bridge and get over it!!! And this was the same as far as music was concerned too! Would that be Number 7? Now that is God's number, so music of all kinds must be OK, right...right? WRONG! Must be "religious" So the second trauma in our family was this: No KISS! They were Kings In Satan's Service! Oh yes, they were, so No KISS music and no KISS "Barbie dolls" for Christmas! Now to this day, my girls throw THAT in my face! Really? Hey, I LIKE Gene Simmons, he's a pretty smart guy and quite the family man...So Mommy will buy you a KISS doll ( only if I can get it real cheap on E-bay, mind you) and you can shove it where the...uh, where the other barbie dolls are: What did you think I was gonna say? Are we done? Am I still going to heaven now that I have exposed The Nuts, as I like to fondly remember them? I will never forget the Sunday when the preacher was talking about Jezebel and how she was basically, a painted whore, but he said it in "Church talk" WELL, that day my lips were chapped and I DID put some lovely pink, really more of a nude color gloss on my lips. Somehow I could never throw it away with the rest of my makeup (THAT was a dark day! I had a LOT of makeup! I LOVE that stuff!!!!) Anyway, my 'roots were freshly done too and that guy, that preacher guy turned and looked right at me! Can you believe it? He was calling ME a Jezebel! OMG! And that was before OMG, we would not have been allowed to say or write THAT, I can tell you right now! So! that was it!  I had an epiphany,I sure did! I sure did! and I took my kids and went home to my husband, who had by that time, stopped going to church ( He wasn't real crazy about WHITE shirts, they were too hard to keep clean and then he got tired of spending Saturdays working to fix up the preacher's house, hmm...so he built a different kinda bridge and basically "sprinted" over it) So! That afternoon, I went to Walmart and bought makeup, lots of it! and hair dye ( the bleachi-est blonde I could find) and I got shorts and jeans and flip-flops and I guess I was just having a ME moment (long before they were in vogue, don't ya know) because I totally FORGOT to get a Smurf VCR tape or a KISS Barbie doll for my kids! OMG! But I was FREE! just the way God wants us to be...He did not come to make us prisoners, He came to SAVE us, and save He did! I started building MY bridge and realized that God and/or Jesus do NOT reside in a church building OR make up crazy rules. He resides in my heart and I can honor Him by keeping Him there and when He DOES COME BACK, He will come and say to me as He takes my hand "Do you want to come with Me, too?...It Figures!"

He Was There All The Time, there all the time...

Just one word

Driving home yesterday, I heard a song and heard a word-one word and thought I want to WRITE!!!! Everyday every minute! there is so much to say! Hope I get to say it...I write best when I am alone and it is hard to find ME time, but I just need to get up early, I guess...easier said than done, of course! SO..the word was "Breathe" nice song...lulling,lilting,smooth...knock you out and put you to sleep nice! Anyone ever tell you to "Breathe" Maybe you WERE having a panic attack or just heard some disturbing news, BUT! Why do people say that? Isn't it a given that I WILL breathe, unless of course, I am having some kind of medical difficulty and even then, "Put some oxygen on my face and THEN tell me to "BREATHE!" That would be appropriate... Here's another one: "Count to ten" hmmm, why ten? Why not twenty? If it IS me, why not three? I want things to change and be better in three seconds, not TEN! Yes Three is my number...I only have three seconds of patience in me and then God help whoever told me to count to ten, because I will give them exactly THREE seconds to get out of my face and then "You better run, you better hide" Cause what ever the reason was that 'caused' YOU to tell me to count to ten will be GONE and I will now focus all my energy on YOU!...Maybe that DOES work...hmmm... Since we are bringing up "Stupid things to say to a Scorpio" how about? let me think..."Stop and smell the roses" which immediately cause me to take in a DEEP breath, which will make all the "Take a breath" people happy, I am sure! I will STOP! when and IF I want to...don't tell me...Granted, roses are lovely and perhaps one of the sweetest smells God ever planned, EXCEPT, He coulda made the fragrance stronger and the wind blow a little bit more around them so I don't have to STOP! bend over and smell them. Now don't all you "Garden People" start telling me that "there ARE roses that have a stronger,more aromatic smell, you know! "Yep! I DO know! Just saying, I might not have time to stop so the smell should just come right up to me to remind me to slow down, that's all...And I suppose...if I STOP, I will then "Slow down?" Yeah, whatever, Garden People, ya happy now? MY Scorpio "sisters" will have to check in and tell me if I am talking truth or talking trash, but some phrases that people say are just DUMB and annoying and these are MY Top Three! Now, If you "slip" and say one of these, I will NOT make you pay the price, I will ignore the stupid statement and forgive you, because...that is what I do...I forgive...IT is what gets me through this crazy game of life. BUT you can't go around telling people "Now, just STOP, count to THREE, SMELL and now, FORGIVE!" or can you? I will try this one out on a fellow Scorpio and my bet is this...She will look and me real funny-like and say "What the hell?" Perhaps you wonder...Do I ever say these things to people myself? Well, SURE, all the time! I'm a nurse, for crying out loud! I get paid for telling patients to "Breathe" ya know and sometimes I have to tell family members to go in the hall or outside and "count to ten" and then after all is said and done and things are better for them all...I tell them to "Appreciate Life and each other and slow down and stop to smell the roses" I LOVE helping people like that! Whew! Another subject to cross off my 'bucket list" of stuff to write about! Well..."Have a nice day, everyone!" and
Breathe, just breathe

Too much Stuff?

What is it with a Tee Shirt??? WHY can't I throw them AWAY?? I have too many clothes, like most people in this US of A, but I DO donate regularly to AMVETS...They give them back to people who need them...They don't SELL them to people who NEED them...So! guess you get THAT picture, huh? I go through my clothes, mostly Tee-shirts and I put them in the Amvets pile and then I take them back and then I put them back! Jeez! I practically have to take one of my vertigo pills before I do it...HOW can you be emotionally attached to TEE shirts? Well, THAT, my friends, was ONE thing I did not explore in my years of therapy!

I have a "Mickey Mouse" shirt from 1971, before Disney World was even built. We toured a little trailer on a lot in Orlando to see a "Diorama" of the future world that was to come. Too bad a guy wasn't sitting there selling stock in the company. Even a 16 year old would have done that! But I bought a tee shirt instead! I wore it SO much to school that my DECA teacher, Mr Crawford, who I had an incredible crush on, used to call ME "Mickey" I Loved being called Mickey, especially by him...Awwwww, the memories, the butterflies ,the....huh? well anyway, guess you can figure out my emotional attachment to that tee shirt and YEP! still got it! Hey, it's an antique now! I have a few 'other' Mickey Mouse Tee shirts and to part with any of them is not easy...

I went to Boston a few years back and have a red shirt with navy letters and it says ...BOSTON. What else would it say? The fabric is soft and I just LOVED Boston!...I have a red shirt from Clear Lake Iowa that is "swirled" into a Coca Cola like shape. The fabric is rough, ...but I LOVED Clear Lake. My sister had a duck shack there! and as any of you who were "raised right" know...Clear Lake is where Buddy Holly went down in a plane, so it would almost be disrespectful to the dead to get rid of it, huh?

I have several ST Patricks Day shirts! And I LOVE St Paddy's Day! We are all about celebrating it in my family and we have MANY extended IRISH family members who celebrate with us in our little hometown parade. Even the NYPD bagpipers show up for that one! Aye, but there are only TWO kinds of people,ya know...those who are Irish and those who wish they were! And speaking of the fabulous NYPD, I have a few "911" tee shirts that will hang in my closet eternally...enough said.

I have some silly Halloween and Christmas Tee Shirts, I "guess" I could give some of them up...but no way am I getting rid of my classic Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation tee shirt! Oh and I'm keeping Ralphie, from A Christmas Story too! Two of my favorite Christmas movies of all time...I really should go through my collection of DVDs and get rid of some of them too, but talk about "attached" I have some of the best romantic comedies and Christmas movies of all time in my collection! Oh MAN! Here I go again!...hmm, the CD collection should be cleaned out too. Crap!

I guess some things will always be favorites, and painfully hard to part with, because they define WHO you really are in the end, don't they?

I'm forever yours...faithfully

DNA : Awesome Genetics!

Did you ever just love somebody that you hardly even really knew? Maybe you only met once or twice in a lifetime but then a little thing called Facebook comes along and Voila! You get to know some one's daily thoughts and feelings as they are actually feeling it I have sooo many subjects to write about that I have to keep notes of my titles, but when I write, it just comes to me. It is a gift, I think, because I am not so smart and quick and brilliant... but some of my writings are! I read some poems and can't believe that I wrote them! I want to publish, but don't know how, hence the blog or as I like to say "The Lazy Man's Way To Journalism" Maybe I'll be discovered and some "suit" will want me to write a daily or weekly column, cause I totally would! OR put all this stuff together and write a book? There is a book in me...there is a book in everyone, I believe...Sometimes we have to "ghost write" for people we love or people we hold dear to our hearts...

 In the olden days, there was a thing called "penpals" Get ready, kids, cause I will explain: You picked a pen pal who lived far enough away that you could not easily visit and you could not call them either because it would be "long-distance" and that was so expensive that we actually feared the telephone somewhat! I had a BFF, and she used to go to South Carolina each summer so we would write letters with a pen and paper and put a stamp on it and mail it! WHEW! It would take days to get to her and then she would write back when she could and use a pen and paper and put a stamp on it and then, Yep! you guessed it! A whole week passed before I got her reply to my great letter, which at that point I had forgotten what I even wrote in the first place! Remember, it was the olden days: NO Copies! No place to "store" the letters NO Proof of your witty repartee' unless you used something called carbon paper, but again, it was expensive. So all those letters are Dust In The Wind, along with the friendship? I hope not... She is not a facebooker and she disappeared about 5 years ago. I DO give her credit for igniting this writer within and since she was a writer too-I kept a few of her most humorous ones. She was indeed a friend for "reason" Back to the future! I mean present...I now know my cousin, who I might have never known and I get choked up when I think about her...She is a constant in my life now, because of FB.

How I wish my own sister up north was here ( in Facebook Land) too! I have been gifted by God with more than one BFF and could write (and have written ) pages and pages about them. Some with an actual pen and paper! I found some the other day in a notebook of mine that started because I almost had a near brush with death...That is another whole blog! So, my cousin is caring...she speaks to me everyday and she is encouraging...she asks me "where the hell is the blog" She just did and so here I am, baby! Back to the Blog! She prays and asks for prayer's! and I am a "prayer" I can get the job done when it comes to that and she knows it! She is, next to my daughter, they have the same blood...the greatest sports fan of all! She is faithful and loyal to all the Chicago teams. Heck, for some reason, maybe it was Saturday Night Live or "Brian's Song" but I have always kinda liked "The Bears!" myself. She is funny! witty! again! the same blood! She is like glue...Galaxy Glue, Galaxy Glue, what would we do without Galaxy Glue? Life would go to pieces without Galaxy Glue...she will know what I am talking about every time! We are kindred. Genetics and DNA: Awesome! There is a code that links us together. She keeps the families, North and South ,together! Bet she didn't even know how special she really is, but she knows now! Why? Cause she is my faithful follower and she will read this before anyone else ever will and I love her for it. I hope her whole real, first family (you know, the one that has "skin" on them) knows what an important part she plays in this game of life! It's kinda like putting a puzzle together...If you didn't have that one crucial piece, you couldn't complete the whole picture! You "complete" us...all of us! So,this one's for you, Vori, my BFF cousin, the very puzzle piece that put our whole family together! Job well done, or "Well done, You" as the British would say!

To know,know, know you is to love, love, love you...

Do you know me?

Ray Charles sings one of the most beautiful songs "You don't know Me" and in the movie Groundhog Day there is a dance scene in a gazebo with Bill Murray and Andie McDowell that is classic and beautiful. Do you ever feel like people don't know you? I do...Maybe it's because I am a Scorpio and take secrets to the grave if you tell me or that I have secrets too. I am surprised sometimes by things that people say or suggest to me...like identifying me with a political party that I have no loyalty to? First age old rule :no politics please or at least keep your opinion to yourself...I do...Oh I might roll my eyes at stuff, but what am I really rolling my eyes about? I might be a few steps ahead of you and already thinking of something else. My political view is this: get ready! I feel strongly BOTH ways. I am one who has always thought that I should listen to all and take the best from all and maybe I am good at keeping secrets because you thought I thought this when I really think this! hmmm...

Or do you think I am a tree hugger or not? Hmmm...Always loved trees. Remember? "the girl in the tree is Me" I recycle and I cringe when a piece of paper is wasted but do I always recycle ? nope! but I do a lot of the time... Always loved the planet earth...I am a resident here and I am amazed at the wonders of nature that my creator has created...Oh yes, here we go...my religious views are on the table now, so here is my belief: If I was walking along the beach and having a wonderful day at the ocean (one of Mother Nature's most awesome gifts for sure!) and I saw something shining that washed up on the shore and picked it up and saw that it was a watch, then I would say to myself "wow, a watch, who made this?" Someone, somewhere made this-there is a watchmaker who created this...the watch may or may not be broken, just like anything or anyone that has been created, but it is a watch and it is here... So now comes creationism...did we evolve from tadpoles and monkeys or did we just start out human? Oh boy! I believe what I believe but in the grand scheme of things, I will not waste time arguing about how we started because in the end, who cares? Our beginning will be explained in our ending and we ALL have a beginning and an ending, RIGHT??? So I believe that my beginning and my ending will result in this: I will meet the watchmaker and if this gives me peace in my heart, then why would I want to argue about the deepest secrets and beliefs that I hold to be true to my soul? and why would I want to shove them down your throat either? If you are curious about what I really believe and want to really know me, then just ask! But then... just listen...don't judge, don't argue and just don't ask unless you want to really know me! Will it make a difference in how I feel about you? NO! because if you are my friend, I will love and care for you regardless of our differences in what we believe. My beliefs will not stop my love for my friends and family, but my beliefs will probably enhance that love. So leave me to my beliefs and know this: that just because "you don't know me" doesn't mean that I will love you any less. I believe in the "unique-ness" of us all and if you really knew me, you would know, that I am not so unique,after all....I don't have it all figured out for you and the rest of the world...I just have it figured out for me...

I'm just a friend,that's all I've ever been, cause you don't know me

Going home



You know the saying "I feel like a red-headed step-child" Funny? Maybe? But did you ever feel like one? Did you ever feel like you don't quite belong somewhere? That the puzzle pieces or the shoes are not fitting? Maybe it's school or work or your group of friends...Or maybe you were a foster child or literally-a red-headed step child! Note: I LOVE Red Heads! it is the purest of hair colors! Just try to alter it or "become one" It ain't easy...I know!

So here you are in this land, and it sure isn't "Kansas" and you feel restless and disjointed and you might not know why OR you DO know why...What do you do? Well, if you are a kid, that is when you start talking to God, cause there has got to be somebody somewhere who can help you out and you just might want to "make friends" with HIM! And if you are an adult, you might want to start talking to God, also! Prayer changes things...I know


Now the funny thing is...and I am in no way, discounting what real foster and step children go through! My heart aches for them...I want them ALL to feel the best gift of ALL-belonging with a group of family and friends that make you just say "Aaahh" when you are with them. THAT is what "Home" really is...It's not even a place, it's a group of real,live people. It's "that place where you belong"

So, you may be in a "place" where you don't feel at home or you don't "feel the love" It doesn't mean that you can't learn something while you are traveling this "yellow brick road" of sorts, does it? Heck, you might not even know you are on it, but you DO know you are going somewhere and if you are lucky enough, you will have a  scarecrow, a lion and a tin man to help you on your way! Oh and don't forget the dog, yes "Toto too"

Maybe one day, someone will look at you and want to "adopt" you! They will have you sign papers in the form of tuition papers or even a PAF (personnel action form) Or you will sign imaginary papers and be brought right into the family just because you are a new friend...Remember "Blood doesn't make you family, Love makes you family" My Quote! It feels so good and natural to bring that person "in" We have recently adopted a big brother for my girls and also a little sister! Sounds silly, but they have both taken a place in my heart where they will forever be at home there... The heart is an amazing piece of real estate, it just grows and grows and expands to gather in more people to love if you will just let it...and the only investment is loving and caring for one another. Yep! it's true, I know...I know

I have learned on this road to pray,pray,pray not just for yourself, but for others, maybe that is one of the keys. Many people have rougher roads to travel, but yours is rough for you, now, isn't it? No room in the suitcase for guilt. Have faith in Him and your family and friends. Did you gain any friends on that road? Don't leave the lion ,who might have been there all the time and has done a pretty good job of protecting you or the scarecrow, who has helped you find the way and really is quite smart! And maybe the tin man is a friend you have gained along the way who has the biggest heart of all and you would have never met, save for this journey.

And so...it is time to leave Cabbage Patch Land and you might even get to change your name from "Sneezy" to "Happy" Maybe you were allergic to the cabbage patch, just saying... And the best part of being adopted is this:You are chosen by those who really want YOU and so when you click your heels together and say three times, "There's no place like home" Just remember, that "home" is where you will find love and friendship and caring and you will truly call yourself Happy when you get there..

Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came

These Dreams!

Dreams are funny aren't they? Sometimes you wake up in the morning with what I like to call: a dream hangover! the kind that won't let you fully wake up in to the real world and just start your day! It's like they want to become a part of your reality...the dream has a life of it's own. You know, dreams can send messages and ideas and thoughts and revelations...A couple books here and there talk about them...I think one is a little book called The Bible and I DO have a reference book called "10,000 Dreams and Their Meanings" 10,000? really? To have 10,000 dreams it would take...let me do some quick math in my head (OKAY! I used a calculator!) Well, it would take 27.397 years so I guess the average Joe could have close to 30,000 in a lifetime, IF you are lucky!

So anyway! MY guess is that I have had almost 20,000 dreams and in my particular case, I remember about 5 of them to be hangovers which is 0.0005% (yeah, I used the calculator AGAIN! So?) Whew! But If I really think about it, there is a correlation to the amount of real life hangovers I have really had...Wow, I should get paid for this kind of research! And YES! I have only had about 5 hangovers in my life, and they were memorable too! Hmm, someone really needs to discover me...I have all kinds of ideas that nobody else does and I need to tell it to the world! OR maybe I have all kinds of ideas that everybody else does, but they have just not written it down! Either way, I need to get this info out there! So back to my dream last night,that is hanging on...It was very personal and real and involved a friend and it was a message to all who would have friends and call them dear. And I happen to have some of the greatest friends ever. I am "gifted" with friends...they are like diamonds and I have quite the "diamond tennis bracelet" of friends, I must say!

 I don't know if you choose your friends or they choose you or life chooses them for you, but the riches that come with friendships are one of life's "eight wonders" My brother and my sister are my first best friends and they were "waiting " for me when I was born, so they were my first two diamonds and they sparkle brilliantly to this day! I have never had a fight with either one of them (People don't usually believe this, but it's TRUE!) Now that is not to say that they both have not done ME bodily harm...I think I discussed this in an earlier blog, BUT I really, really LOVE them and as I am writing this, I realize that I learned about real love from them, not my parents... Sorry Mom and Dad, you did the best you could, but they loved and cared and protected me while you two worked and lived your detached adult lives in the 50s and 60s, smoking and drinking and cavorting in your spare time...Is that why they call them Mad Men?

 It was not Father Knows Best OR The Donna Reed Show at our house... Baby Boomers, huh? They had us, but what did they do with us or for us? They just had a bunch of kids cause that's what people did? Thank God for whoever invented birth control! I don't know about YOU, but I really gave a lot of thought to having my kids and I had only two...We wanted more,but I could go on and on about the whys and what ifs, and then there is the feeling of wonder...A child is so precious...I wonder if I did right by her...I hope I did...It was MY decision that brought her into this world...Is she happy? Could I have been a better parent? (YES!) But here is the real wonder...Baby Boomers never gave it a thought, they just had kids cause everybody else did...I could be wrong ,but I don't think so...Whoa! Where did that come from? I told you! Someone needs to publish all this stuff  I come up with! So, back to dream hangovers...You didn't really think I would share something as personal as to what my dream was about, did you? It WAS about friendship and love, that is all I will say and maybe when I DO write a book, it will include all those treasures, but not today! Today I will just be thankful to my parents, and since they had a bunch of kids anyway, that the bonus was this: I ended up with the best gifts of all, the best brothers and sisters on this earth, the ones who really taught me about love and friendship and I am a better friend to all because of them...

Why's it so hard to love one another...love your sisters, love your brothers

When I was "old"

When I turned 50, I had a big birthday party with 20 of my girlfriends! We had a tea party and dressed up in hats and fur stoles (real ones provided by the tea party place, so?) We had tea and little sandwiches and small slices of cake...It was great, although, I am sure most of us stopped for a burger on the way home...In the olden days, women stayed thin because they ate so little, I guess... 

 Anyway, I decided to "crown myself Queen" and start a Red Hat ladies group. We planned all kinds of activities, but mostly we had birthday parties for anyone who was turning 50. We went "downtown" and wore our red hats sitting outside at sidewalk cafes...It was fun, it was new...BUT then the "official red hat society" became a giant old lady dressed in purple and red! We tried to keep up! We even went to a convention and Elvis was there, too! It was a sea of old women! We looked at each other and thought..."Are we this old?" Naw!!!! We are not this old!!! This lasted a few years, long enough to collect red and purple stuff and spend our hard earned cash on "official red hat society" items. Hmm, wonder what this stuff could bring on E-bay?

 Well, everywhere we looked, there were groups of old ladies dressed in red and purple! Yikes! I was getting sick of it! We were not a cute, little different group of young, old ladies anymore...so, we gradually dissolved and became who we really were...young, older women (in number, only!) and we realized that it is OK to be a red hat lady, but we wanted to be unique, and that meant being ourselves! 

 So, no more hats, no more red, no more purple, no more Queens, no more dues to a crazy multi-million dollar business (The old broads who started this were business savvy and now rich!) So why give them anymore cash or attention? they didn't offer to sell us stock in their company, now did they? I did have fun at the time, BUT I can honestly say, I don't miss it! I would like to dress up in a hat and have mango martinis on the "boulevard" again, though! So to all my "tea party" friends, let's do it! 

But let's be a "young hat society" let's turn back the clock and not grow older, but grow better, like fine wine! Hmm..."fine wine society?" Betcha I could get a bunch of girlfriends to join this! WE probably have a good 20 years before we really become old...Aren't old women retired? Well, me and my friends are not retired or even close, so we will remain young at heart and in spirit and then someday, when we are really old and if all the wine in the world is gone, we will still not ever wear red and purple again!

 

While we're young and beautiful, we'll party down on Main Street...

Not Nice!

Did you ever accidentally cut someone off while you were driving? You are lying if you said no! We have all done it! Here’s the real question…Did you mean to? Most of you will say "of course not! "And there will be a few buttheads who say ‘the other guy deserved it’ There’s a movie called The Blind Side, but what about a featurette called The Blind Spot? A very attractive middle age blond lady driving her brand new Mazda 6 (Sounds like a zoom-zoom car ,huh? It’s really a “mini-van” in disguise!) She is NOT talking on the cell phone OR day dreaming or nothing…just driving…maybe five miles over the speed limit but that’s’ ALL. She decides to get in the right lane so faster traffic can get around her. Now just two seconds ago, NO ONE was there! And guess what? This person must have pulled out of a driveway or something in a tiny silver car and I, I mean “she” cuts the car off…The person in the silver car starts beeping ,of course and the blond lady is properly embarrassed and waves her hands in the international gesture of I AM SO SORRY! There was NO accident-Thank Christopher! And God too,of course!!!! So anyway the silver car ‘backs off’ and thinks that the blond is some kind of crazy driver, so don’t get near her,blah,blah,blah…that’s what the very attractive blond lady driver thought anyway. They all approach the red light and slow down and the blond lady figures she will roll down the window and apologize, BUT the silver car pulls up first and an old lady with too much makeup on gives her “The Look” and “THE Finger” Hmmm, not nice lady! Have you EVER cut someone else off,huh? Of course not, you old bat! ANYWAY! Why can’t we ALL just get along? On the road, at the very least? No need to be so rude, either way, right or wrong…and if someone IS driving crazy, BACK OFF and let them go! They could be some nut with a 22 under their seat and you might piss them off by calling them an A-hole and then where will you be? Six feet under,that’s where! END of story and featurette! So, the only thing I have to say to the rude old Lady in the silver car that I cut off, yes it WAS me! Ha! I can admit it, big deal! Well ,what I have to say is this: Nice manicure, Granny!!!! thought I was gonna say something else?

  And we’ll go ‘round in circles,a ha,we’ll fly high like a bird up in the sky…

Traveling Mercies

I am not Catholic,but I have two favorite saints-Anthony and Christopher. I do not believe that you have to pray to them for help. I believe that I can go right to the source, BUT! I believe in prayer and St Anthony and St Christopher routinely help me out.

Any sincere prayer to God is listened to, so I figure why not? St Anthony has helped me out of a jam quite a few times, the most recent was when I lost some cash. I was frantic! a couple hundred bucks don't come easy anymore to anyone! I became desperate to the point of praying! Why didn't I think of it sooner? Duh! Within a few hours, there it was! It was St Anthony who helped me find it, I am sure of it! I told some friends about it a few days later after the couple told me he lost his wedding ring. They are not Catholic either, but I grabbed the wife's hand and my sisters' hand and asked St Anthony to help us find his ring. They looked everywhere! And guess what? They found the ring later the next day...hmm, coincidence? I think not!

Now I don't really pray to St Christopher on a regular basis, BUT I do pray for "Traveling Mercies" each time we travel...It is MY thing! My family will tell you and they remind me if I forget. I have angels in the car to keep charge over us and and keep us in all our ways. Psalm 91:11, my favorite verse, because I count on it...It is hard to have faith and trust of any kind much less in something or someone you cannot even see...I always pray for God to keep us safe in our journey and to bless those we leave behind and those we are going to. And I thank Him for his blessings.

Now I am NOT superstitious. I don't believe if I forget to pray that He will not grant His mercies. I just feel better when I pray. I am NOT an extremist as far as my beliefs (anymore! another blog...) I just pray, just talk to God and ask for His help, like He is my father, cause He is! Sometimes all I say is "God bless whoever" and believe that HE listens, even when I don't believe He listens!

Now I thought of Traveling Mercies and the journey of traveling. I have been on a journey for two years and have not thought once of praying for traveling mercies or to St Christopher. I just keep whining to God or saying stuff like "Oh, Come ON!" OR just send me some instructions in the mail and I will do whatever, just help a sister out, will ya? Not respectful enough,ya think? I don't think I mean disrespect, so No! That's not it...hmm...

I just need to realize that this is a journey and that I need St Christopher to "carry me" to completion. And I figure he has already been carrying me if I really think about it. It is just time to give credit where credit is due. I have been praying recently and "kissing the cross" Again, NOT Catholic, but it gives me comfort when I am facing daily struggles and I feel that I am not in this alone. When I am not near or with my family, I feel a loss of control, as if me just being there will keep them safe or something or at the very least I could get help for them as needed. What do I think I am? A "Saint"?

So, anyway, for me, prayer is the thing I count on...And I certainly don't mind a little help from my friends St Anthony and St Christopher. Oh and sometimes I cry out for "Holy Mary"

I get by with a little help from my friends, a little help from my friends...