Football Fever

Yesterday, Sunday, football, friends, food and what else do we need to make life good? To top it off, our team won. Who is better than Tom Brady? We had such a nice time and the dog? She relaxed into it and never once had a melt down. Every now and then she thinks we are all her playmates and Yikes. The house is small and cluttered. Add one large puppylike Rottweiler and stir her up. There you have it folks. A quick and wild ride to total mess, broken whatevers and bruised folks. Thank God that didn’t happen. She walked and walked beautifully before the company arrived and after a very short but vigorous greeting she threw herself down on the Pupopedic mattress and never again frolicked in the house. YAY.

Happy New Year

Had some friends in on New Year’s Eve and Hubby and I were the only non-Democrats at the table. Naturally talk turned to politics as it always does. One of the couples is our age and the other about ten years younger. We older types get into it and voices are loud, sometimes only because our hearing is not as it used to be. The table is always pounded for emphasis, we shout and pound and then have a drink with our after dinner desert. The younger couple is way too liberal but we love them anyhow. She couldn't stand our line of discussion and yelled at all of us to “Shut UP” as she left the room. I had to point out to her that she, the most liberal, had no tolerance for spirited discussion. Funny. Huh? She really couldn't believe that we could all be so vehement and not get angry with each other. I had to explain to her that if she listened to the discussion she would not have heard any insults of a personal nature. We all like each other. We don’t like the political leanings of each other. We talk facts and figures. We question each others sources and go deep. Sometimes we even change our minds if the information is real and persuasive. At the very least we think about differing points of view brought to the table by sincere and honest people. They are not twisting facts to make a point. We had a great time.

:Yikes, time flies

Last post was December 14th. I can't believe the time has gone by so quickly....and then again there have been moments or two of draggingly slow motion. I have to say that the most horrible thing about the Christmas event was the fact that I never got the tree up. I also have to say that the best thing about the Christmas event was the fact that I never got the tree up. On the day after Christmas I looked around, saw that the majority of the mess was cleaned up and to put the decorations away all I had to do was remove the red candle from the mantle and carry on. How amazing is that? Years past I was still staring at that tree in February. One year I thought that if I just changed the ornaments to birds and flowers I could just leave it there year round. People would eventually stop staring and move on with their comments.

Well, the Christmas Eve dinner festival was so nice. Days before, because of that no gift exchanging and Hubby not passing the word to the people we would spend Christmas Day with, we baked cookies and cookies and more cookies. Bags were bought - of the small variety and then of course more were bought since I couldn't find a bag of those that I bought and cookies were wrapped and wrapped and decorated and wrapped and packed into bags and bags and. You get it right? Next year? Gifts.

Christmas Eve. Standing Prime Rib. Giant Spiral Sliced Ham. Wine. Food. More Food. More wine. Seventeen of us. It was great and we ate early and the kids (in their 20's) reminisced like old timers. I loved it. My niece's two little ones were the hit of the night. It couldn't be Christmas without little ones and Hubby's dad was there -- what a really nice time.

New Year's Eve. Quiet dinner at home with good friends and watched the ball drop, said good night and asleep by 12:30. Perfect.

Hope all went well with everyone out there and by golly, 2007 will be such a good one. We're overdue for some smooth sailing aren't we?

God Bless.

Tough it out

I have come to realize that I have been, if not deeply then, skimmingly depressed for quite some time. I live in my car commuting from home to home. I hang on to the house of my childhood saying that I have no time or energy to clean it out and ready it for sale. I am doomed to being the last (wo)man standing in my immediate family and dealing with the company my father loved so much.

I have the dubious honor of being the family member who must clean up. I have emptied closets and my parents homes and thrown out clothes my mother saved from my high school days. I have had friends and family take bags and boxes of trinkets mother and dad collected over their many years on earth. I have swept and hauled off to the dump or salvation army any number of things so that those houses could be renovated and lived in. The one down south? Sprung a leak, mold and mildew, fights with insurance and condo managers and neighbors, all from a distance and finally selling as is for a loss. The other which was left to me is where my husband has moved thinking we would be there way sooner than this.

The business is now in process of being moved into the world of business. Accounts kept on matchbook covers and slips of paper somewhere are being gathered and updated and computerized. Records are in process of being created and people are being charged with behaving like employees and managers rather than fraternity brothers and club members. None of these things are easy or fun. All take time time and more time. People have to buy in to change and what person in their right mind would want to go from easy and relaxed to accountable and often grinding.

I'm no spring chicken. In most of my previous life with a very large corporation I was on the sweep up end of some high flier's mess. The project would be dazzling and sparkling. It would, in reality, be a non-starter. It merely fizzled out and lay there in a lump of wet ashes. Since the project managers had made a huge splash and been promoted and praised and received HUGE bonuses, upper management felt that at the very least the project should function somewhat. Call in the work horses (me included) who could put the parts in some semblance of order, get the codes needed to build it, bill it and make it sell. Since all the kudos had already been given out, this crowd couldn't be recognized for their efforts which about 99% of the time worked. Not to worry, some day, ya da ya da retire now please....you're old. Oh, and by the way, since your salary never really peaked much due to the insignificant (NOT dazzling) work of reviving the sizzlers, your pension won't be much either. Buh Bye!!!

As a child, I was the only girl. One would think that alone would have brought praise and red carpet stuff. Well, the only girl was not the charmer, not the dazzler, she was somewhat plump and awkward and shy. The boys however, they were, well, boys. Their mother was Irish and we know how that story goes. I think I've told this one before. The birthday cards with the slots for change were filled for the oldest, half filled for the next and the youngest, the girl? Well a couple of slots were ok. Girls are happy with whatever they get. Girls don't need things like boys do. Younger people have fewer needs....don't worry when you're older you'll catch up.

Life is not fair and it wears me out. My life saver however is this line from a radio ministry. Most drownings occur very close to shore. People give up. If they had just toughed it out a little longer they would have been able to touch ground and walk ashore. I'm tired but not worn out. I will tough it out and who knows what is in store down the road. Dealing with the unfair aspect of life has been going on for as long as man has walked this earth. God's ways are not ours and all is as it should be. Knock off the depression and deal with what is. Do it as best you can and be proud of what you have done. You do it for the glory of God.

Amen

Truth Is

Well years ago when I first started this thing...my first real post was on my birthday. Here we are again. Happy Birthday to me. The day after Pearl Harbor. My mother told me that dad may have been drafted except that I was born. Of course he also had two other very young children and I came along after the attack...no, not just one day after .. but before the end of that pesky adventure called WWII. Never mind, I still saved the day and the family.

The family, if you have read any of the previous postings, have all passed on, mother, father, two brothers and then there's me, the last one standing. Of course there are nieces and nephews and they are certainly family but my immediate grouping is gone. My memory banks are not here. Of course the only memory bank that worked was mother's and I have learned that hers were sometimes very pepped up to suit her particular needs. I guess we all do that to a certain extent. An event from the past changes as we do. It is never related in the cold black and white tones of documentary but in the more colorful palette of story telling. It's like the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy first enters Oz.....we go from black and white to bursting color.

My life needs more color....black and white can be troubling. The truth is gritty and hard to deal with. It certainly works best for everyone but it is unsettling.

Truth is..today, I'm 63 years old. Yikes and away. Thirty more years are a possibility and each and every one should be a marvelous adventure. Off I go. Wish me luck. Bless everyone.

Bribes

Just read that Muslim women in some countries have been paid to wear the veil and it is all in the interest of Islam and the intimidation of everyone else. I think that most major news sources are being paid to slant the news in favor of Islamic causes and to bash Christians. Just sayin'

Just some Thoughts

Still cold. My niece is with me for a while and I have forgotten how nice it is to have someone else in the house. Weekends of course I have my husband but during the week when I have to work I am at our second house, the one I want to sell but have to empty first. This second house is really a huge part of our budgetary concern. The utilities and taxes are, to use a horrible phrasing, taxing. My niece, well, our niece, is going to school nearby. She is studying to be a nurse and is just a great girl. She is very conscientious about everything. Her family life (excluding us or course) has been tumultuous and yet, she has moved through with grace and has goals and targets and yow. If only I had been so directed at her age. I'm not sure how prepared she is for life getting in her way but, honestly, if she has moved through the rubble of her early years and come out as I see her, she should have developed remarkable resilience. I hope so.

I am surrounded by nieces and only two nephews. The girls, they are so special. I see in them possibilities for whatever they choose. Of course, a couple have chosen the hard road. I guess we all do from the viewpoint of other people. Everyone knows the better way you should go. It is apparent to the onlooker and the way they think you should take is their way of course. The Lord left us in a tough place. Thankfully he left us with the life preserver of Jesus and the instruction booklet called the Bible. Now if only we grab for them.

God bless us everyone.

Belt Tightening and Stream of Consciousness

Well. Here we are at 27 degrees (Farenheit) and winter, it seems is creeping up on us. It snowed yesterday, not a lot, big wet flakes that stuck for a while and then melted away except in those nooks and crannies where the sun doesn't warm. The leaves have been gone from the trees forever so the cold and the snow? It's due. Christmas however can wait in the wings for quite some time. The decorations and the singing and the shopping and the wrapping, that's not so much of a good time. The shopping and the wrapping this Christmas I have been told will not be a part of our lives for budgetary reasons. We go through this from time to time in our lives. This is one of those times. I hate it. I whine and moan through this time.

At least this time around the heat is on. I hate it when we are broke due to budgeting and we are cold too. Last winter (or the winter before - I forget) we lost power for more than 4 days and it was during a super cold awful time. The house was sooooo cold that you could see your breath in the living room. We went to the Community center to get warm...not all of the town was without power so there were restaurants open etc. Problem was we weren't able to shower so felt ghastly -- cold water splashing on your face and where ever doesn't make for a great start to the day. At least we could brush our teeth properly. Walking into any place that was open and warm made me feel like a homeless person. Untidy and unwashed . . poor .. cold...

OK enough already... that is not the case now. We are merely pulling in our belts to wipe out some credit card debt and face the new year more responsibly blah blah blah.....The husband, he loves to be austere.

I keep telling myself that this too shall pass and we will be prosperous again.....Help

Make the time go by fast Lord.

74.6.71.#.

OK ... I have one question, I check Sitemeter more frequently than I ever should. Honestly. As you know, most of the people who read this blog are ME. I check it and re check it and check it again. I fear that someone will read my writing and then I fear that no one will. Yikes help me@!

So as I check that Sitemeter place I find that there is a frequent checker and the information that is gleaned is that the checker is 74.6.71.#. -- I don't know who you are and I don't really want to but honestly couldn't you some time just say hi.....read this and pffft or whatever.


Just Sayin

Stains and all

Our holiday was so nice, except for the weather which was wildly blowing wind and driving pounding rain. The fam arrived around 2pm and the eating of everything in the house began. This year it was just my brother-in-law and his family. He has two girls and they are just so great...one is 19 and the other is about 23. They are a joy. We just talked and laughed and for two young women, they have the memory thing going. I always have used the same crocheted table cloth for ever at every holiday and for many many years now the holidays have mostly been at our house. Although all the family wasn't here for Thanksgiving (they will be on Christmas Eve), I still did the usuals. All the nieces and nephews look for the cloth and ask about the stains. "This one," I will say, "is where your grandmother spilled the gravy and here, the blue stain, is where the candle dripped on Christmas Day 1990. It fell over when your Uncle so and so passed the plate of cranberry sauce and I know that because here, here is the stain from that." They love that cloth and have told me that I have to leave it to each and every one in my will. I love that they love the thing and the foolish stories made up long ago about stains that I just couldn't remove and the Scottish penny pinching that kept me from buying another. The big thing about that table cloth is that my grandmother crocheted it and so....how could anyone not use it on a family day, stains and all. (To tell the truth, the stains aren't really that obvious....except for the blue one.) Have a wonderful day and share some family memories...that's how we live on here on this planet.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. We are smoking our turkey. I use the word we loosely. By we I mean my husband. We are having family late in the day since some have to work. The work of people in nursing homes never ends or takes a holiday. Anyway. The husband, he is smoking the bird and cooking up a storm. He loves to do it and I love to watch.

Big surprise! We are keeping the rescue dog who arrived last saturday. She is such a wonderful dog. She is loving to all and fun and smart and beautiful. And that is just the beginning. More on her later.

Hope everyone has a great day with good friends and family and pets and good food and on and on I go.

Wrong holiday but God Bless Us Everyone.

Some of my Week (weak?)

Well this week has been so tough. Yeah, I know it's only Wednesday. I am thanking God that He only made the week 7 days long. I'll just hit the highlights. Vegetable soup. I love it and make it in vast quantities since the Jenny Craig way allows free vegetables and beef broth, low sodium of course. The soup can be eaten in vast quantities all day long and not interfere with the diet. I am now only semi-Jenny but determined to keep going in a less costly way. Enter the soup which I make every other week or so since, let me repeat, I make huge amounts. Well there I was, making huge amounts and it was on the stove and I have made two trips to the store since I forgot we ran out of carrots and hubby needed onions for the beef stock he was going to make. Bubble, bubble soup on the stove. Enter my helpful husband who, perhaps like most husbands, has a habit of being helpful when I am doing just about anything. He rearranges, alters, moves, suggests, you know, helpful things, the kind that make your teeth ache and shoulders seize up with the tension of not saying much more than "Thank you Honey, I appreciate your helpful hints and actions." Right. The lid is lifted, the soup is stirred and he says, "This might taste even better with some tomato paste", of course he said that as he was adding the paste. The paste was in a tube, had been opened, had been stored unrefrigerated in a cabinet. As he added it he read the refrigerate after opening direction on the tube. Voila, ruined soup.

Then the bloodwork I have to have done on a regular basis. No big deal. Usually the order is good for 90 days from the doctor's visit but the rules? they have changed. Thirty days from the visit the order is gone. I called both doctors who wrote these things over a week ago to have them renewed so I could go in this morning and wrap it up. Fasting. Got to the lab at 7:30, filled out the paper work and at 7:40, record time by the way, I am called in. There I find only one of the tests has been re-ordered and it is the stupid one, the one that was just an after thought, the might as well check this too as long as we're doing all of this other stuff. That one. Here I am, back home with every bit of my blood still coursing through me instead of some in a test tube.

Sigh. There's a lot more but those are the two that are making me filled with rage. Forget about the Democrats and cut and run and OMG George McGovern???????? WTF and I mean that in the most civilized way. I know God is on His throne and in charge and always with us. I want lightening bolts to come down in the very near vicinity of the big mouthed gloating fools who should have gone off to the Zen seminaries they so admired in the 60's and contemplated their own navels instead of inflicting their wacko lunacies on the rest of us.

Peace, Man.

Where's my dog??????

Searching for what? Well, I told you my, our, dog passed away. Eleven years of a dog in the house and prior to him ten years of another dog in the house and prior to him....well, you get it. Yes, we are missing our dog. I also told you that we are on the adopt a dog train and by golly it has pulled out of the station. Like a horse with the bit in his teeth, my husband is on the move. We head for New Hampshire today to meet a Katrina dog. He is about 3 or 4 and a Rottie of course. We met him last week but in a rather chaotic situation. He seemed like a well mannered boy and considering the circus going on around him, he behaved quite well but he was rather distracted. He was more interested in keeping his eye on the other dogs and people around him than getting to know us. So, off we go to meet him again.

Well, this is much later and we have driven through rain and wind and fog and indeed the dog, he is still distracted. He is a really nice boy but we found that he has been in a kennel for more than a year and probably longer than that. No one knows if he is house broken since he has not been in a house. The reality is we will be adopting a 4 year old puppy. Do you know Rotties? Well, a 4 month old puppy is tough enough. Add the years and the poundage and wow....so we have moved on. It probably broke my heart more than hubby's even though he was the one with the big yen. This pooch was a nice boy. He just needed a lot of us and I'm not sure we're up to it. Fortunately there are more outside the door. The liason is meeting more prospects as I write. Now we are making contact with the foster parents of a 2 year old female. She is a beauty and as sweet as can be. She has been in a home for the duration of her orphaned period and will be coming to our home this weekend. We can keep her for a day or three or forever. Her only downside is that she loves people so much. How bad can it be? We'll find out.

I am really ready to drink some wine now and relax. God Bless.

Love the Veteran.

I had so many uncles I lose count. On Veteran's Day, every one of my uncles.....they were Veterans. One was asked to return to the Philippines to be honored since he jumped on
Corregidor and was lost in action for more than six months. He, my uncle Doug, said that his father would say at the dinner table ( there were nine kids, two of my grandmother's sisters and two of my grandfather's brothers at the table -- lots of mouths to feed) that if any one left any food on their plate that they would chase a crow for a number of miles for whatever was left behind. My uncle Doug, parachuted onto Corregidor and was lost for months. He only ever said that he would have chased that crow that his father told him he would have chased. I loved my uncle a lot and more than that. He was the bomb. Thanks Uncle Doug.......... Love You....

Shaking it Off

I'm back and I'm better. Don't know how or why but I can guess that God has shakem me around and said that I am indulging myself in self pity and that's so unattractive and unproductive. I heard a fellow yesterday talk about Bishop Tutu (sp?) stating that you could be an arrogant victim or a wounded healer. I realized that arrogant victims practice very hard as I was. It's not that easy to fall into the victim place and feel entitled to special treatment because of the way the world was treating you. You really have to work at it -- so I am not going to stay in that place and hone those victim skills.

Case closed.

My husband has decided that we will be getting another dog and it won't be a puppy. We will rescue one and has pulled us into the world of dog adoption which is very comprehensive I must say. They want references and call neighbors and make house visits and contracts are signed and so on and so on. We are to meet some possible new kids and of course will want each and every one.

I'll be letting you know how it goes.

Other things have occurred which make me state loudly and clearly. God is on the throne and whatever is whirling around us, He is in charge. That should settle your inner storms. I also read today's thought in My Utmost for His Highest and it concerned the Holy Spirit praying for things that we don't know we need but do. Isn't that amazing? While we go about our business the Holy Spirit is taking care of us and those prayers go direct. When things occur, it may be that the prayers of the Holy Spirit have been answered. I have to go think on that. Ponder as they say.

God Bless and Take Care.

Grief

I'm up with the birds since the Terminix man is supposed to be here for the regular check up. My blues are bluer. We had to put our wonderful dog to sleep on tuesday. I don't know how to get rid of the pain but I know I will. He was such a good boy for all 11 years we had him. He was a clown and good friend and the joy of the neighborhood. He had certain stops he had to make daily and if his friends were in they would come out, greet him with hugs and pats and cookies. He would wag his body since his tail was docked and he was always very vocal, whining and singing as he waited for his hugs and treats. If the house was empty he would pine all the way to the next house. His whole body slumped and he had that eeyore look about him. If he met his friends on the street he had them trained to carry cookies so the greeting and hugging and treats could happen wherever they met. He would still stop at their house however, convinced that somehow they would be there too. I miss him and grieve for him and worry about my husband who is taking this even harder than I.

I thank God that we had that wonderful companion for all the time we did and thank Him again for being so merciful by allowing us to be with our pal as he drifted to sleep. His onset of terrible pain was swift and short lived, another of God's mercies.

God will ease the pain and dry our tears. He is ever with us and always merciful.

Big Blue

Listened to the radio yesterday as we drove to many scenic vistas. The day was glorious and windy like a hurricane and between the blinding sun, bright blue sky and huge breakers at the National Seashore it was tough to decide which made the day more perfect. Back to the radio. Listened to Satellite Sisters, one of my favorite shows that has changed time slots so I keep missing it. They had a guest on who had written a memoir called Parched. The book sounds right up my alley and it’s been out a while which means the next memoir she is writing will not be that long to hit the stores so I won’t be kept waiting forever. Books were the order of the day since we were on our way to a bookstore to buy Howie Carr’s book, The Brothers Bulger, and say hi to Howie and have him sign the book. We did all of those things and how cool is that. We love Howie.

Following the purchase, meeting and signing we toured the area as explained above. I have to order the book Parched through my library account since we are on a BUDGET. I guess the Howie book was one of those “just this once” kind of things. Well we try but not for long stretches of time. Baby steps.

I am, as my aunt used to say, blue.

Not blue like the sky but blue like a mood.

I will be less blue soon I hope and will elaborate on the whys and wherefore’s of blueness.

Later

I'm so empty

October 22, 2006

Never put this in the blog so I will now. Not that it’s so swell but it’s me and how I was on the date entered above.

I have been reading everything as I do on Sunday morning. I have a cold and honestly, I don’t handle colds well. Big things. She is like a duck - rolls off her back but head colds. Yow!

It’s always so clear in my head and then I go to the computer and write where it clogs up and sneezes. Not my cold this time, my thoughts. How do I get them out clearly? I have always thought I was orderly. Actually, I love order. I need someone else to neaten up however. This may be a result of my mother always zipping around in her apron and pin curls. She wielded a mean dust rag, vacuum cleaner and mop. The house was always neat and clean and smelled of Lemon Pledge. I watched in awe and never participated. I did work as a chamber maid during my summers here when I was in college. I learned from the motel owner how to glisten up a bathroom and how to make a mean hospital corner. I believe that it is thanks to Mrs. H that I learned how to dust and polish and actually enjoy the work. Except for the fact that you have to keep doing it over and over and over, it can be satisfying. Living in the moment you are aware of the effort you have made and can stand back and admire the end result. I, however, have trouble in the moment. I am a way down the road kind of gal. I can go from right now to 10 years from now in the blink of an eye and believe me it ain’t pretty.

Project Much?

Started off today as I do almost everyday. I opened the DRUDGE report and found that the Foley mess has a few misunderstood or miscommunicated or mishandled facts. Now there's the rub as they say. The mess wasn't a big enough mess for the opposite side or the press or is that maybe the same group? It's hard to tell lately. The mess has to be even messier. I said this once before and I guess I'll say it again. The Dems and the MSMs are like pre-adolescent girls. You know how they are right? No? Well let me elaborate.

Let's say for instance that pre-adolescent girl has something to report. I don't know, maybe her brother told her to get lost when she saw him walking after school with his friends. She runs home, she yells for Mom. She proceeds to squeal. When she sees that the plain old facts are hardly landing at all - well, the facts they are a changing. He didn't just say scram - he used a curse or two. He didn't just wave his hand at her, he turned, he approached her, he got right in her face, he pointed his finger at her sternum and actually poked her to emphasize each of the curse words he used as he told her to Get the F out of here before I --- and his friends - well, they joined right in circling her and threatening and

You get it? The layers of facts are piled on until she gets the response she's looking for. Good Old Mom is in the car and looking for those rotten ungrateful stinkin' . Oh yeah. Her brother is in for it now. Then when the group is hunted down and the story unfolds, well, that young girl bats her eyes and her lower lip quivers and by the time Dad has joined in and put his arm around her and explained the miscues and misunderstood details in the emotional heat of the moment.........

How'm I doing? Substitute any news story lately and there you have it. The original version with the actual facts? Way too tame. Get their attention. Point some fingers, name some names, scream, holler, you can always print the truth way later in the back of the paper or not. No wonder these libs don't believe the victim of a crime....especially a rape. They project too much as they say.

Yawn!

Monday, This is the Way We Wash the News

Time to recycle the headlines....the same headlines that have been appearing since 9/12. Yawn. Republican Sex Scandal. The Circle of Corruption, Republicans only Please. Rumsfeld Under Fire, Refuses to Resign. Colin Powell Speaks (against the Bush Administration of course). Israel defeated in (Where ever, you choose). Clinton Welcomed in .... Hillary the Hawk. Bush Under Fire, Refuses to Resign. (Oh Sorry - maybe not resign but step down, step aside) Global Warming threatens the Eider Duck in Southern Who Knows Where. The Pope Speaks and Angers the World. Muslims are in Fear for Their Future. Riots in the Streets. The Consumer Price Index shows a poor Halloween Season. Christmas will no longer exist. Holidays only and only if they have some other than Christian background. Same Sex anything rules. Trans anything but Fat. Obesity is the fault of the Bush Administration. Pit Bulls and Rottweilers march against the Bush Administration.

See Ya.