lizard

What have we done and what do we think we are doing?

2008-12-30T08:19:00.002-05:00

I couldn't think of a good title for what I wanted to talk about today. I am sure I have written on this before but not many people read my bog, nor after they read it will many agree. I seem to be in a minority of people who choose, or have chosen not to lie to their kids about Santa Clause. We have never "done" Santa in our house. It was for no other reason than we know it to be lying.

(HUGE GASPS AND SIGHS AND SHAKES OF HEADS!!!)

We have always had fun on Christmas morning without all the "what did Santa bring you stuff". We have shared the history of Santa and how the legend came to be. What got me to thinking about this was a friend on FaceBook asking when he should start using Santa as behavior modification for his son. I told him never, that you should expect the same behavior from your child at all times. EVERY comment after that condones lying to the child to get what they expect from them. THAT IS LAZY PARENTING, if you ask me.

Sure is it so much easier to just go along with the norm of lying and deceiving your child, because you WILL get flack about not doing the Santa routine. I started to say that I just don't get it, but we do live in a fallen world. There are a lot of people out there who do not have a relationship with God, oh wait.....What about the ba-gillion CHRISTIANS out there doing the exact same thing???? Lying. I could just sugar coat it, and a lot of Christians who read this will justify it, but you are still lying. It is no wonder our society is going the way it is going.

I have heard of children choosing not to believe in Jesus after they found out their parents were lying about Santa. "You told me Santa was real, how am I supposed to believe you about Jesus?". I am not trying to point a finger, I am trying to get some people thinking about what they are doing, what they have done. Shoot if you will tell a little white lie about Santa, what other bigger things are you willing to lie about, do lie about? Anyway you look at it lying is wrong, look at all those people who show up at American Idol tryouts who have been told their entire lives that they can sing? I guess we wouldn't have any one to laugh at if they hadn't been lied to.

That is all I have to rant about today :-)

Recent Projects

2008-12-05T11:26:00.004-05:00

So, one of the things that drew us to this house plan was the cool niches on either side of the fireplace. We probably should have had built ins put in by the the builder, but I don't think what they would have done would have been as functional for us as what we did for ourselves. Last year for Christmas my in-laws gave us a big screen tv. We had just been using the old tv stand that we had, and that was fine, but on the day before Thanksgiving Alan and I did a project we had been talking about doing for awhile. The space, as you can see, really wasn't working very well for us and I wanted the house in a little more order. So, we did this in a day:

As you can see, it works great!! And the most amazing part is that we didn't fight as much as we normally do on such joint adventures. We took our measurements, and the above picture, and had one of the employees as Lowes help us out deciding the best way to make this shelf functionally sound. We plan on putting lower shelf under this one, but this was all we had time to finish so we could watch the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade and then a little football. I just put the paint on Wednesday, we choose white because it matches all the other trim. This wonderful little shelf only cost us around 60$ to build. AND I have been up on it so I know it will hold the tv, which weighs significantly less than I do. That is the old tv stand and our wood box under it to help clear up our floor in the living room.

Now, on Wednesday as well, our old washing machine gave up the ghost. I am sure it is still fixable, but it just didn't seem right to pay the possible $200 + that it would have cost to fix a 10+ year old machine, when I could have that one there on the left!! The pedastal is cool and the machine is quiet. Nothing real fancy but it comes with a warranty and we bought a 5 year one as well, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS GET A WARRANTY!! Seriously it was only $99 for a 5 year warranty which wouldn't even cover the cost of a service call if something were to go wrong. It is a Bosch 300 Nexxt series. I am happy with it and I hope it lasts as long as the old Whirlpool we had.

That is all for now!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T09:20:00.002-05:00

There are many things to be thankful for today. I am a simple person and this morning the thing I am thankful for is that everything is timing out how I want it to. The turkey came out at 7a.m., I did a copy cat recipe for honey baked ham, and it looks wonderful too. I made quich for breakfast and it was good and came out how and when I wanted it to. Now I just have to time out the stove top items and we are golden.

There are some years where the thought of the holidays just wears me out. I hate the "have to's" and the commercialism. This year everyone gets a homemade gift, because we don't have the money to buy things, and I think I am going to fill their stockings with cookies and other simple homemade things, or we may just do away with stockings this year, we will see.

Alan and I have never really spent a lot, compared to many others. Years ago, when Katey was little, we decided to only buy them 2 gifts each, one thing they need and one thing they want. This came one year, after opening a huge pile of gifts, when one of our children turned and looked at us and said, "Is that all?". Sad, but true. I try to focus on being together as a family and having fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Grateful for Honda

2008-11-14T08:48:00.002-05:00

We have a 2000 Honda Odyssey and I am very grateful for that vehicle. I have an idealized notion of how I want things to be but inevitably I am too lazy to make it that way. I said that to say that we are pretty hard on our cars. We usually don't have the money to change the oil when it needs it, not that it doesn't get done, it is just done later than it should be.

The only real "trouble" we have ever had with that car is at 108,000 miles when both the transmission and catalytic converter went out. Thankfully the dealer got it covered under warranty and we didn't have to pay the 7000.00 it would have been otherwise. In the last month or so it had started to run a little rough and I was concerned that something bad was going to happen. The check engine light had been on for awhile, I knew what it was, but we just didn't have the money to have it fixed. Ultimately, we had the EGR valve replaced, the cause of the check engine light, and it is back to running great. Our mechanic told me we need a new battery, I knew that too. The one I have in there is a 2003 and it is starting to struggle. So, I guess I will get a new battery on Saturday.

I have a tendency to always thing something bad is going to happen to one of the cars. So I drive around on pins and needles, not good. I just got to thinking yesterday after we went to pick up the Odyssey about how lucky we really are with that thing and I wanted to share it with you all. And the things they say about how good Honda's are - BELIEVE THEM!!

I think you should wait

2008-10-25T10:15:00.002-04:00

I think you should wait for a lot of things. What I am talking about is going to college and deciding on what you want to do for the rest of your life. I just wonder how many people actually change careers half way through their life? When I think about it, probably not many because it is easier to take the easy road, to not think about it and just do what you do. I never did anything in my degree, Corrections and Juvenile Services. I had Katey right before my last semester of college and we decided that we would be a traditional family and I would stay home and raise my own kids. Now, a million years later, I no longer want to do what I am doing. My kids are "grown" and I have a little more time to do what I want. I want to find something that I like to do and makes enough money to support my family - seems that is harder than I thought.

I want to change my future. I want to change my job. Now, the decision is what do I really want to do? What do I have to do to make something happen? There are options out there, but finding the time, energy and money to possibly make any of it happen is an issue.

Do I go back to school and become a nurse? Or do I try to start a business? Or do I help the domestic violence shelter start something that will help them earn money and in the future would help me with our monastery?

I just wish it was easier to see what would be best, what my family would benefit most from. If only I had a magic ball that would give me the answer. What if I make the wrong choice and worse things happen than what we are going through now?

"When it rains it pours"

2008-09-21T11:50:00.002-04:00

That is what the vet said when I had to take Peter to the vet the day after we spent WAYYYYY too much money on Angus.

Peter hadn't been acting right for a couple of days but with the obvious problem of Angus, he got over looked a little. So, on Wednesday morning I had to take him in because he was a sick kitty.

Turns out he had a blocked urethra. Let's just say that if the damn thing stops up again, he is going to have to be put down. I know that a lot of people don't like hearing that, but seriously, we just can't afford surgery for an animal. He ended up spending 2 days in the "hospital". It was tough going, and even though it wasn't as bad as one of our kids being gone, it came pretty close.

Oh, the end prognosis on Angus was that he had a type of mange. Mange, which I didn't know, is caused by parasitic infestation of the skin, microscopic mites . The vet said that all dogs have it but their body usually keeps it in check. I guess due to Angus age, 12, his body just wasn't fighting it. I would put a picture up of the poor dog right after we brought him home, but it is gross.

So, there has been a lot of pouring rain going on at the Creech household this week. I have to believe that "this too, shall pass". I hope.

Pray for Angus

2008-09-16T12:30:00.003-04:00

I wouldn't usually ask such a thing, but he and our children need your prayers. I took him to the vet today due to a re occurrance of a skin rash. Over the past couple of days it has just gotten worse, and last night he was pretty lethargic. When I took him in today, they started shaving hair to see the problem and it just kept uncovering more and more "wounds". It could be something as simple as an allergy or as bad as cancer. I am praying that it is an "easy" fix and he will just have to be shaved and wear a cone around his neck to keep from licking. I had to leave him at the vet so they could do some work on him, take blood, ex-rays and possibly a biopsy. So pray for our puppy.

I don't know why I even still do this

2008-09-03T09:27:00.002-04:00

Seems like have a pretty strong opinion on a lot of things. I just don't really have the time, or make the time to get on here and talk about it. Working 50-55 hours a week in a restaurant eats up most of my time and when I am off I am pretty physically tired. I am no wimp but working on a concrete floor just messes with a person. And dealing with people who just don't care, or are just out for something free wears on you as well. And I don't like the job as well as I thought I would, I can do it just fine, but it really doesn't make me happy. I don't see how people work for years and years in a job they don't like. So, it seems like the logical solution is to look for something else. I never really wanted to stay in the restaurant business anyway, nothing else came along when I really needed it. Believe me when I say that I am very grateful to have a job at all, and in general it is just fine, I just don't want to keep doing it until I retire.

Next topic. Alan and I bought the girls a "new" car. It is a 1999 Subaru Forester with (gasp!!) 199,900 miles on it when we bought it. It has now rolled on over to 200,110!!! It is a nice little car that drives like a dream. I know a new engine is coming, but we got it cheap just for that reason. And Subaru's are pretty safe and that is one of the main reasons we bought this one. I spoke to the lady who owned it before us and she really hated to let it go, but she drives an hour to work and she didn't want to get stuck on the road. I figure that even if we have to replace the engine "soon" it will end up being worth it. Everything inside it works and the brakes and tires are good. The back window wiper doesn't work, but that too can be fixed. The pressure it relieves by not having to drive everybody everywhere everyday makes it well worth having it. Oh, and the girls are excited too. Not their dream car but it is a car.

Visit to old Haunts and friends

2008-07-05T12:25:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I went back to my home town of Somerset, Kentucky. I had been trying to get back and visit for some time and finally, since I am on vacation, I took a day and went. It was better than I had hoped. I drove around for about an hour, past the house I lived in, past the church I went to, and in general was amazed by how much it had all grown. I am pretty sure that the houses in the neighborhood where I grew up have shrunk. My house had 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, living room, kitchen, dining room, and a den. I guess it was about 2000 square feet or so. When my mom and step-dad bought it they paid a whopping 13,000 for it in 1972 or 73. Crazy! I think that house now would sell for about 113,000.

I went to visit my friend Sheila, she does an awesome imitation of a chipmunk, which I did not ask her to do. She used to hate it because we asked her to do it soooo much!! We sat and talked for about 3 1/2 hours and could have sat for longer, but I had told other people I would meet them at specific times. It was very interesting how parallel our lives have actually been.

I visited Robert, my younger sisters father. I only stayed for about an hour, because there was really only so much we could talk about. It was good to see him though.

Then I went to eat with my childhood friend Rhonda. We grew up down the street from each other, and inevitably, if I was getting into trouble, it was with her. I always loved horses and she had one. It is a wonder I didn't die messing with that horse as much as we did. At one time, we were riding that horse, barebacked with a rope halter. I was on him and turned him back to where we had come from and he took off with me. I slid off and under him. His hoof hit my chest then caught my chin and I still have the scar from it!! Yeah, stupid I know. But we were dumb kids and I just wanted to ride.

It was a good time and I look forward to getting back together with them and trying to stay in touch. Good times to find out where and who people are now.

Vacation

2008-07-02T10:38:00.002-04:00

So, for the first time ever in my life I am off for a PAID vacation. Woo HOO!! I have lots of plans to get some things done around the house, things that just 2 regular days off won't allow you to accomplish.

1. Get the nasty carpet out of the dining room, which we have used as a school room. - DONE!!
2. Clean up and organize the garage - partly done and going to work on that more today.
3. Finish painting my master bathroom - that is for tomorrow - I have to climb a ladder so pray for me!!
4. Go visit friends in Somerset - that is for Friday.
5. Haul some compost to put in the garden and around some of the new beds, I think that will be Monday.
6. Just do nothing!! I am trying to do some of that everyday, it is kind of hard seeing as I don't really like to just sit around and watch tv for hours. But I might be able to just lay in my hammock for a couple of minutes.

It is nice to not have to go to "work" work, and I do enjoy doing work around the house. Goodness knows there is plenty to do around here. I am going to take Kenzie to see a movie tonight, probably Made of Honor or Forbidden Kingdom, or Spiderwick Chronicals. Not sure which. Puttering around the yard and pestering my flowers a bit. Did some tomato transplanting yesterday. So, now I need to go get on the garage. What I did yesterday really helped with the flow of getting the trash and recycling actually OUT of the house. I am going to gather up all my tools that my son has scattered all in the garage and lock them in my tool chest so he can't do that anymore. I wouldn't mind him using them if he put them away, which he doesn't . Any way - I gotta go get to it.

Things about me....

2008-06-28T10:59:00.003-04:00

I was going to try and do a post about "almost" t.m.i. about myself. I decided that naturally I have a tendency to do that anyway and I might embarrass my husband. Not with things about him but with my bluntness to the whole world. Anyway, the older I get the more reflective of myself I become. I am reverting back to my teen aged years and thinking only of myself I guess. No, I know that isn't the case because it is usually about how I might impact others and such things. With that said, I don't know how much I might list, and how much of it will be redundant but there you go and here I go:

1. I am an early to bed early to rise kind of person, although I have learned to do the opposite since my husband is a night owl and my job requires me to stay up late.

2. My food tastes have changed as I have gotten older. I think I have realized what I was missing as a child by being picky, and I wasn't a typical picky child. Also, I believe that our tastes mature as we do.

3. I am a perfectionist when it comes to "how my house should be". Typical of a perfectionist, and because of the fact that it seems like I am never home, my house does not meet my expectations. I can always find something to change or improve. I have learned to live with it though, since I am only one of 6 people living in it and not everyone holds my views.

4. I have no tolerance for judgmental Christians. I believe that God calls us to union as his body. The "my way is better than your way" attitude just really PISSES me off.

5. I get seasonal depression. At least I have self diagnosed myself as that. I like the winter and snow, and in general I don't mind the cold, but for the 3 months that it is dreary, I am not my normal self.

6. I am a horrible friend. I NEVER "make" the time to call and stay up with friends. Not until my conscience gets the best of me. It is funny, I will think about someone for about a week and then I end up getting a call from them. I have decided I am going to try and "schedule" phone calls in my ICal to remind me to call people. HA!!

7. I love nature and animals. If it was only me I would have so many animals that it would be ridiculous. Of course if you ever go to my other blog you will see my addiction there.

8. With above said, I HATE animal cruelty. Any person who does bad things to an animal is on their way to doing bad things to a human being. I am not talking about horse racing, raising calves for veal, or in general using an animal to work or for food. I am talking about starvation, beatings, and neglect. Unexcusable.

9. I may say it but I am not a lazy person. I have my moments, but that is not my nature.

10. I am always eager to please. That you like me and my work and who I am is very important to me. It isn't the be all and end all for me, because if you don't like me than you don't know me - that is a fact.

11. I assimilate very well to almost any situation. It might take a minute, but I adapt very well. I would have been the perfect soldier.

12. I am a loner. I have no problem hanging out, getting in front of people, talking to complete strangers, and making any one else feel welcome in an awkward situation, but afterwards, I have to decompress. If it has been a hard day at work or we have had a big bunch of people at our house, I have to go take a bath. Watch if you ever come to my house with a bunch of people, but I will "disappear" for about 5 minutes every now and then - Weird, I know.

13. I hate it when I sound like my mother. I don't mind sounding like A mother - you can ask the people I work with - I sound like their mother all the time - HA!!

14. When I first meet someone I instantly put them at the top of my respect, admiration and trust scale. I choose to think the best of someone and allow them to change my mind gradually. What is sad is that most people usually do and will change my mind.

15. I like to eat clover. I just did as a matter of fact. That is one of the reasons I don't use chemicals in my yard. Some things just taste good and when you put poison on them, you at least shouldn't eat them. If you like basil or other fresh herbs, you should try a clover flower.

16. Horses are my favorite animal. That may be why I pushed Meaghan so hard to stay with it when she was young - I think today she is glad that I did. If I had the money, I would own a lot of them.

17. Too much t.v. at a time makes me feel physically bad. Even when I had broken my wrist and couldn't really do anything, I got so sick of watching t.v. I would choose to read a book any day over television.

18. I am afraid to die. I am not worried about being dead, but the process of dying. Although, falling off a ladder actually made me think that it might not be so bad. I hadn't really realized what had happened until I was on the floor. I could have died and I really wouldn't have known it until I was standing there at the gate waiting to be let in by St. Peter. Then again, I don't want some agonizing death either.

19. HA!! Even though I don't like to watch too much television, I could sit for DAYS and watch movies!!

20. I would like to own my own business. I haven't decided what exactly, but I have a few ideas. None of which I will do, but I will use the ideas when we do the Monastery. I wish we owned the farm now!!

Ok that is MORE than enough.

Afraid in my "old age"

2008-06-09T22:04:00.004-04:00

When I was younger I was a real go getter. I was brought up that if I saw someone who needed help, I should help. If I knew that someone needed something, I should supply it. If I was put in charge of something like getting volunteers for supplying meals for someone, I often ended up doing most of it. I always needed to be the first to volunteer, even to my own detriment, and the last to leave. Not that there is anything really wrong with that, but I sometimes put my family on the back burner. I became quite proud of myself and what I did. Thanks to my wonderful husband I have learned how to say no and that it is ok to NOT do everything every time.

The funny thing is that I am quite accident prone, and until I broke my wrist, I never really thought much about all the silly things that happened to me. On Friday night I sliced the tip of my thumb off. See, if had done what I was supposed to and put on a cut glove I wouldn't have had to pick up the chunk and throw it into the trash, after I stopped the blood that is. I stayed calm and kept thinking just how stupid I was.

Afterwards I got kind of scared and wondered if I am just going to end up killing myself by some stupid accident instead of getting to die in my sleep like I would prefer. I have to admit that that was the first time I have every been afraid of something like that. I don't care for the feeling too much, hopefully I just become more cautious instead of bound up in fear.

May has been a busy month

2008-05-30T10:38:00.003-04:00

Let us see....I turned 40, became an official Roman Catholic and celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary.

I must say that this time last year I am not sure I knew just so much stuff would be coming my way. The end results have been very nice but some of the getting there has been way too hard. Mostly I am talking about becoming Catholic - that is the one thing that I would change the path too - talk to "higher ups" about doing it differently.

Of course I knew I was going to turn 40 and of course I knew how long I had been married. The living you go through to get to that point is well worth it, or at least it has been for me. I have been fortunate and not experienced any unexpected big losses of people, my children are "good" and I married the perfect man for me.

So, I will just leave it at that and wish as great a life on you as I have had to this point.

I was brought up better than that

2008-05-13T09:03:00.002-04:00

So, sometimes I am pretty lame. My older sisters birthday is the day after mine and mothers day is always pretty close to that. I had to work on Mothers day so I couldn't go see my mom then, so I went yesterday. I didn't even buy her a card. Shoot, I had the time, I just didn't do it. Same with my sisters birthday, she sent me a card and all I did was call her before midnight, after she was in bed and left a message on her phone. Really you all, I was brought up better than that!! I think of things, but then promptly forget or don't have the money. Shoddy really. I did stop and get an ice cream cake that we all could share, but that was about it, well except for "gracing them with my presence" - Ha!!

This weeks news

2008-04-21T10:46:00.002-04:00

It has been an interesting week for me. I found out Friday that my mother has tumors on her brain, they don't know what kind or where but the Doctor should tell them today or something. Please pray for my mother.

Yesterday, for the first time ever I "let someone go". That was a necessary thing but I didn't care for it too much.

My dog has some kind of skin thing going on from his tail to about 7 inches up his back. I had seen him licking a lot but never had the time until a couple of days ago to investigate. I got some scissors to cut the hair so I could check out what was going on and it is pretty bad. I need to cut more of the hair away and give him a bath to clean him up, but I see a vet visit in the near future.

Lastly, my cat is getting pretty old. Yesterday I thought for sure she was going to die. She looks healthy, skinny, but her eyes are bright and her coat is full and shiny. I took her to the vet at the begging of the year and they found a mass in her abdomen. They did blood work but didn't find anything. Her calcium was high, which could be a sign of some type of cancer, but the vet said because of her age it very well could be nothing. She had been throwing up a lot, but now it isn't so much. At least recently. So she needs to go back and get her shots. 13 is a good age for a cat I think. I will be sad when she does die though.

The best thing so far this week is that I am off today and tomorrow, then Friday and Saturday and the weather is beautiful. I need to get some seeds in the ground which I plan on doing today.

Meaghan has prom coming up. She found a lovely dress, not too frilly but sophisticated. AND I have the big 40 coming up May the 6th. Despite being a woman I am not afraid of getting older or being a certain age. I also don't mind telling people how old I am either. I think I look young for my age, but then I don't really care about that either. ( I hinted at a surprise party from Alan so you might get an invite - just don't tell me!!) HA!!

Enough for today. I hope all your news this week is good!!

Choosing

2008-04-08T12:11:00.003-04:00

I was talking to Alan not too long ago about choosing to be happy. As we were driving the other day there was a radio program with a guy talking about choosing to be happy and that it wasn't unreasonable to be at an 8 or 9 all the time on a 1 - 10 "happy scale". I told him that most of the time I am at a 9.997. And then I said "I guess you have to be just a bit on the mentally challenged side" to be like that all the time - HA!! My personal situation is that I choose to ignore the bad or hard things, not good all the time, but there you go.

Any way, when I am at the end of an 8 day stretch at work, which I just finished up, it is very difficult to keep that good outlook. I see things at home piling up, I feel disconnected from my family, there isn't enough money, I have gained WAY too much weight, and I feel totally out of control of things. In case you don't know I am a perfectionist, I am very black and white, and have a very strong urge to be TOTALLY in control at all times, and it is very important that things go how I think they should go. So, when people at work are ignorant acting, or a guest at work is mean just because, or my tummy giggles too much, I don't care to have that going on.

It is very safe to say that I like to garden so much because I can control it a lot, they don't argue back, and in general do what I say!! Sad, I know but I have gotten better over the years and it only comes out on "bad" days. I thought that since it has been so long since I have blogged, not that many people read my stuff, I thought I would just put up what I have been recently experiencing.

My day off

2008-02-15T15:58:00.002-05:00

So, Alan went to visit Fr. Lou and I am home sitting in bed with a bag of Fritos Flavor Twist honey bbq chips, a can of coke and book. Obviously I have a computer and I did have a bowl of ice cream as well. I am not sick or tired or anything other than I just want to veg. It is nice to do nothing sometimes and that is what I wanted to do. Well, I needed to do somethings and I did them and a couple required a computer so I had Conor bring me the laptop so I could do that and I am going to go back to my book in just a minute, but first I needed to brag about the fact that I am sitting in bed with junk food doing nothing. HA!!

A parental secret

2008-02-12T10:47:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I have been thinking, about why I have such great kids and what I may have done to help them be that way. First I think it is the grace of God and his utter love for me that my kids are so wonderful. In my fallen and whacked out nature I could never have done what God has done. Oh, and I need not leave out Alan because I would be a complete mess without him.

When you are young and your parents do things that you don't like, concerning your own children, you say things like "I will NEVER do something like that to my kids!". Inevitably you do at least one thing you said you would never do. Also, you say, "I WILL do _________, when _________ happens.". Once again, there is at least one thing you usually don't do. I think one of my parental secrets is that I have been fortunate, whether it be Gods influence or just something that happened, that we chose to be a "traditional" family and gave up more money and having stuff, so that I could stay home and raise my own kids. Sure I did some part time work, but one of us was always home with the kids. I can count on both hands the amount of times that someone other than family took care of our kids. The secret, ultimately, is spending time with your kids.

Young people I work with see kids who come into the restaurant who are badly behaved and they say, " I am never having kids because it is too hard and they act like that!". My response to them is that when they are your kids you get to raise them to be how you want them to be. Parenting is not an easy job. Just about the time you are at the end of your rope, someone needs something, and you get to get up from a dead sleep or from a really good movie and take care of them. The lesson I think God teaches us through having children is the dying to self. You will have plenty of time all to yourself, to do what ever you want once they leave the house. And ultimately, that is our job, to raise self sufficient, responsible adults to go out into the world. The evidence I see is that we are a lazy society and choose ourselves over our children and then we end up with the violence and ignorance and stupidity that we see today. Then we wonder how we got to the point we are at. What do you think we can do about that?

Changed my mind

2008-02-08T07:06:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I just don't have the mental energy to address some of the things I would like to on here. I need to keep it short and sweet so that I don't loose my train of thought and so that who ever reads it stays interested. So, this was not my intended original post.

By some fluke of genetics, which I am sure Alan is the one who brought the good genes, I have some kids who can write and communicate or tell a story through writing. I find that so interesting because I am not a good communicator through writing or verbal. The proper presenting of the message rests on the sender of the message and I, quite regularly, send the wrong one. That is a lesson I have slowly, but surely, learned over the years, that I need to not respond immediately to most important things. Stepping back and allowing it to mull in my head is a good thing, just so I don't say something stupid.

I call my self slow witted, and it is true. I am not stupid, I EVENTUALLY get things, just never as fast as most people. I am going to say it is because I have so much "immediately important" stuff in my head that I have to let the new information find a spot before I can process it properly. Please understand that I am not putting myself down, I like who I am and I know when I need to improve on something, and this is one of those things that needs improvement.

So, I am at the end of my mental energy for now.

JUST LISTEN TO ME....please?

2008-01-04T11:46:00.001-05:00

Last night after I got off work, I had to run to the store and pick up a few things. While I was there lady approached me and started talking to me. I was looking at that new drink for your joints, Elations. She started telling me about her health, how she was her own doctor, how certain supplements should be used together, and making suggestions since I was looking at stuff for healthy joints.

She reminded me of my mom. My mom has always enjoyed helping other people, but she is a bit bossy and opinionated. This lady was nice, and it just occurred to me that she just wanted to be heard and importance put to what she had to offer. I think all of us are that way. Not that everyone thinks they are all that, but we want what we have to offer to be valued.

As a parent we want out kids to respect us and take what we tell them and value it enough to put it into action. I guess, due to our fallen nature, the majority of us all choose to learn the hard way and learn it ourselves. When we look back we most usually say, "Mom(or dad) was actually right, what about that!!" I know I have done that.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. A lot of the young people I work with do not have any respect for any one. Usually not even themselves, sad really. That is what I have the most problems with. Someone being intentionally disrespectful or looking at me like I am an idiot. HATE IT!! I wonder what a lot of parents are teaching their kids for them to act such a way. I think too that after a certain age, you choose how you act, despite all manner of things that may have happened to you growing up. I know it isn't nice or right to hit someone, so I don't do that. I know it isn't nice or right to call someone a name, so I don't do that either. Those are just basic duh examples, but you get the jest of it.

I guess I will just leave it at that for now.

What are we doing to ourselves?

2007-12-23T10:05:00.001-05:00

God has been amazingly faithful to my family through this "hard" time. Understanding new employers, hospital bills paid for, a doctor who will take payments, just the possibility of some more bills being taken care of. My In-laws are the best, they just give and give and they love me like a daughter. My mom has gone way over and above, friends of my sister, cousins on Alan's side, and prayers, prayers, prayers. I hope I can keep all this in the forefront of my mind so that when I want to complain or doubt, that I will remember and keep my mouth shut. This gives me hope for what could be, even if it seems impossible now. This isn't what I wanted to blog about, I just wanted to give a big thanks to Gods goodness.

I have sort of mentioned this topic before and it just really stands out sometimes and then I think and ponder on it and want to just talk about it. The thought of, "What are we doing to ourselves?", enters my mind quite regularly. Seriously, children aren't disciplined, or given guidelines, are spoiled and pampered, and then they have no clue how to really function in society. Or, maybe, that is how society is going, and I don't care for that thought.

One of the first things that brought this to my attention recently was work. I had been training in one store and they moved me to another. Wanting to be good in my job, and because I care, I regularly call people out on things. If you know me you know I am a very nice, kind and caring person. When I ask things of people, first I wouldn't ask them to do anything I wouldn't do myself, I ask politely. When I tell them not to do something I smile and kindly remind them they aren't allowed to do that, then if they don't stop I get really serious. Guess what they call me at that new store? Mean and uptight!! I could seriously roll around on the floor laughing at how WRONG that is. I am the first person to great them by name, ask about then and really care how they are. It boils down to me being new, them not being held accountable, and change being unwanted.

Driving is the second thing that makes me throw up my hands and say, "What is that?". What is sad is that I have, in the past, committed such acts, shame on me. Yesterday and the way to work a ford truck went barreling around, (right behind to right in front) me just to turn within 100 feet. We just seem to always be in a hurry, with no thought of anyone but ourselves.

Shopping, I mean now is the time of year when we are supposed to be nice to each other, what only this time of year? Now it is even inconvenient to do it at all. People coming out of isles and almost hitting you and then looking at you like you offended them. The last time I had any one say excuse me was just last week but it had been months before then.

I just think it is a shame that we have become such a self centered nation. It is all about making more and more money. Having all the things we are told we need. The country in general is for the rich and no longer for the regular people. We spend billions of dollars in other countries and we have people here who can't afford health care or food or all manner of necessities. And when you need help, do you have any clue how hard it is to get it? 50 years ago, if someone needed help, where do you think they got it? From friends, neighbors, church and even strangers. Now days that does not happen. I think I want to go back to a simpler more caring time!!

8 random things about me

2007-12-11T09:17:00.000-05:00

Alan tagged me for this thing, and since I don't blog much, it is a good reason to do so. It is going to be hard thinking of things I haven't already told you.

1. I don't watch, or really care to watch T.V. very much.
2. I am an extreme neat freak.
3. I think I get seasonal depression.
4. I love math and sometimes wish I had become an accountant.
5. I am going to the dr. today to get this wrapper thing off my arm.
6. I am claustrophobic - I cried when they started to do my CAT scan.
7. I may now be afraid of heights - at least afraid of falling and hurting myself.
8. You can ALWAYS make me laugh by just saying one of the following words, or sounds associated with the words: burp, fart, booger or turd.

I gotta go see the doc!!

Thank you God!!

2007-12-08T23:33:00.000-05:00

I just need to dance around in utter joy that my hospital bill balance is 0$. We got the letter today. I mailed the request last week and I was so afraid to open the envelope when it came. There is still the ambulance ride and the actual orthopedic doctor bills but I think I can handle that. Thanks to all of you who prayed for us. This is serious proof that God hears and answers prayers!!

Things I have to be thankful for

2007-11-29T10:25:00.000-05:00

If you go to Alan's blog you can read the story of my major ignorance. So, I am going to take a good long time to type one handed the things I have to be thankful for.

1. That I am not dead.
2. That I am not paralyzed.
3. That it was me and not one of my kids.
4. That I am right handed.
5. That I have understanding new employers.
6. That I have a great husband.
7. That I don't live even 50 years ago -thanks for advancements in medicine.
8. For Percocet
9. For people not hollering at me as much as they could.
10. That I am under 40 and still a little flexible.

10 ought to do.

A fact of life

2007-11-15T07:55:00.000-05:00

This picture shows a reality of life. Most people live from paycheck to paycheck and are just one away from "loosing it all". A friend of mine was appointed by our governor and he recently lost a re-election. She is very likely to loose her job. And what a bad time of year for that to happen.

Alan and I, early in our marriage, decided due to finances and other events that we would only buy 2 gifts each for our children. Our thought process came after one huge Christmas a child replied, "Is that all?!?". We have never done the Santa thing. We thought it was lying to our kids, as a matter of fact we never did any of the fictional holiday whosits. Sure they still received an Easter basket, and sometimes money under their pillow for a tooth, but we never told them the corresponding character did it. Both sets of our parents felt that was on the verge of neglect - seriously.

Anyway, we made the decision to not spend a lot for gifts. This year is going to be VERY tight, and you know what? I think that is great. Thankfully I am kind of crafty and I have some things in the works, well at least the ideas and most of the material. Seriously, I think this might be one of the best Christmas's yet. Now I just have to get my butt in gear and start sewing!!