Foiled!!!

I think one reason we are happily married is my husband's ability to put up with me! I am a doer. I like to get a LOT of things done. I like to get things done when he would rather rest.  The following is my story of one such recent attempt for him to rest and me having nothing to do with it.  In the end hubby was able to accomplish his task but what should have taken a couple hours took quite a bit longer. Now sit back and enjoy the story.

Before I get started on the story, I have to tell you that hubby made me open a gift on Christmas Day. This is only unusual as the kids were not around or we would have opened all our gifts that day.  I received a beautiful pair of earrings. I wanted to wait to open all of my gifts at once when kids were around but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. So I relinquished and opened the gift.  This will be important later in the story. Now back to the story, or should I say onto the story… We had off work Monday. Hubby wanted to spend the afternoon napping and asked me to join him. I said we have been napping and being lazy for the past 3 days! I say Time to get something done. Well to hubby, lazy time is getting something done. I was having NONE of that. (Can't you just picture me stand there with hands on hips while he is on couch???) The rear brakes and rotors needed changing on our daily drive to work car, the Impala. I suggested he work on those while I bake and work in the house. He can have “man” time in the garage. He was not to keen on that idea but did the man mumble grumble and went to the garage.

After about a ½ hour he comes in with Excuse #1. I don’t have the parts and I don’t have any money to buy the parts.  Response #1 – take my debit card and go buy them. Foiled! So off he goes to auto store for parts. A while later I peek out to the garage and see cars rearranged so he can work on them but there has been no real work completed yet.

A bit later he again comes into the house. Excuse #2-I can’t do this job. The jack will not work and I am not working without a proper jack. He looks so proud of himself. He has found a way to get out of completing this task today.  Response #2 – Follow me.  So I take him by the hand out to the living room, set him down and dig for a Christmas present. I push it in front of him to open. Foiled again!

Excuse #3 – A look of horror crosses his face. I can’t open that. It’s not time.  Response #3 – Oh yes you must dear husband. I had to open one, and so now you must too! And Foiled Again!

Excuse #4 – But opening that will make me have to do work. (said in whiny voice) Response #4 – head rolling. Just open the d*mn present and be thankful.  More whining and delaying ensues. All to no avail of course.

Finally, he opens the gift, man grumbles and proceeds back to the garage. He gets one side complete and  the 2^nd tire off when he looks at the second set of brake pads. They are defective!!! Back to the store for another pair, only to discover they do not have another pair for an exchange. Instead he has to get 2 new sets of completely different pads and redo the first side again! It ended up being a long day for him. I, of course, had no pity as all the excuses wiped any pity I had away. J  I still laugh hard at telling this story.

I love my husband! Thank YOU hubby for letting me write about this.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

and

God's Blessings to YOU

this day and everyday!

Wife Porn

I thought I would have a little fun tonight and post some wife porn.

You will understand when you watch.

Enjoy my silly humor.

Isn't he cute :-)

Banks

I do not like banks. They make themselves sound like they are your best friend. They are here for you. Come to us and let us help you reach all your goals.

LIES
LIES
LIES

They are here to make a buck off you just like the next guy.  I have bank accounts because they are a necessary evil not because I want one. I don't want them to be my friend. I don't want their advertising. AND I don't want their free picnic set for opening a savings account with them.

Instead, give me some decent interest off having my money with you. Don't charge me service fees for everything under the sun. Quit telling me you are here to help ME.

I think you get the idea.  I ran across this joke today. It sums it up perfectly.

Bars/Pubs/Taverns and drinking

Take into account the 80/20 rule with the following statement. More negative will enter your OR a loved ones life than positive if you frequent bars and partake of liquor while there.

I posted the above to FaceBook and only one person was brave enough to comment on this. I find that in and of itself interesting.  Did no one want to offend me? Is the comment so out in left field that it didn't warrant a response?  Or did it make people think about hard issues that they just can't deal with?

First I want to say I am not against people going to bars. It is just that a lot of bad things happen in bars or as a direct result of going to a bar.  I'll try to address some various thoughts that are in my brain on this topic.

Convenient
It is very convenient to stop in a bar to meet someone for a quick meeting, an after work drink, or to meet friends. It is a public place yet can be private if it is somewhere you never go. It is considered a "safe" place to meet a complete stranger and that is where the more negative things come into play...infidelity, rape, gambling, you get the idea.

Depression
After my divorce, I was introduced to an entirely new world.  One of the things was meeting hard core alcoholics. During my marriage, I had kept myself isolated from a lot of  those situations. A lot of the daily hard core drinkers drink at home but many of these types also have frequent hang outs (bars).  They use booze to help them forget all the bad stuff in their lives.  They either do not have someone close to them that cares or they won't let people close to them help. They are in a relationship with their booze. By going to the pub, they feel part of a group. That is ok to drink and "belong" when they feel they don't have that in any other part of their lives.  This is SO sad to me. Even sadder is they don't think they have a problem or even with to be helped and in the process severely hurt their children, spouse or others in their lives.

Driving
B-A-D.  Now you would think after 30 years of MADD and all the other groups out there people would learn. Not so much. Even the stiff drinking and driving penalties do not stop these people from doing it. Drinking and driving goes from the person who just stopped in for one after work to the hard core people I spoke of in my depression paragraph. Most of them NEVER get stopped. I am amazed at one particular person I know who drinks multiple times a week and then drives home, sometimes extremely drunk and has never been pulled over. This has gone on for over 20 years!!!! I would think their luck would run out sometime. This particular topic of drinking and driving affected me personally. Myself and my family were the victims of a drunk driver. This guy did not have a license, borrowed a friends car and took off down the road hitting me at a high rate of speed from behind totaling my car. Luckilly no one in my vehicle was seriously hurt and there were 7 of us in there at the time. I have no idea how that happened as 3 kids could have very easily been killed.  The police ended up finding this guy hiding out behind a K-Mart pretending nothing had happened. On the other side of the same coin, I have been guilty of riding with a drunk driver. I somehow thought it was ok. WRONG!  This is why I want to stress I am not better than the next guy. I don't like some of the decisions I have made in my life but life does go on as long as we learn from them.

Agendas
I believe there are a lot of hidden agendas when you go to a bar. This maybe one of the reasons I do not like to go.  It is so easy to hide the real you especially if you do not know the other people in the bar. You can do, say, or be anyone you want to be that night. Of course you may fail to think that through properly. If you are not being straight forward, do you think the other people there are being straight forward and honest? How many women are looking to meet their Mr. Right in the bar of choice that week? How many men are looking to just get laid?  Yes, I'll be your Mr. Right for tonight until I get my candle wet (sex) and the women are left wondering why doesn't he call the next day?  This happens in reverse to but I just chose one example.  There are just to many hidden agendas for a meaningful relationship to happen with a one-night stand in a bar.

Confidence Building
Many folks feel shy and worthless and not confident enough without liquor. They feel a shot or two loosens them up and makes them seem more approachable or loosens their tongues so that they can approach others more easily. In theory that may seem logical, but it feeds back to the agenda paragraph. You need to build meaniful relationships with people sober NOT drunk.

Not hurting anyone
I have also heard this excuse multiple times. "Well I am not hurting anyone by stopping in for a drink." Yes, it is your life and you can do with it what you want but don't fool yourself into thinking you aren't hurting anyone. Anyone that remotely cares about you will be hurt by you stopping in for a drink.  Good friends, regular friends, spouses, and boyfriends have hurt me by this. I am sure they don't even see that as a problem just like they don't see the drinking itself as a problem. Remember you have the ability to hurt the most, those closest to you. (Stepping off my soap box.)
Good versus evil
If you take some time and look inside and listen to yourself, you will find and know where good and evil reside. There seems to be certain places good and evil gather.  For me I find good, positive, God-filled energy in nature.  Take a walk through the woods or a park and open your mind. You will feel much more positive after this experience.  Now walk into a dark, dreary, smoke ladened tavern and sit for a while. Do not having one bit of liquior to drink and see how you begin to feel.  I have actually came out of taverns feeling freaked out but not knowing exactly why I was feeling this way. I believe it goes back to where good and evil gather.  Think about this, how many people pray (serious prayers - not Please Lord let me get laid) or have devotions in a bar? Not a lot. 

In summary, I did try to find some positives to put in this blog but was unable to come up with anything more than written above. I could work on this blog and continue to add and change it for months. It is that important to me but will it change anything? Unfortunately not. I'm sure only 2-3 people will even read the thing and they do not frequent bars either!!! If nothing else maybe my kids can quote it in a future term paper. I do believe with my whole heart everything I have written.

Pictures!

This post is from Mia. She has been pestering me to post it for her...

Guess what readers??!?!?!?!??!!?

I talked mom into taking pictures of me in my new winter coat!

Here they are:

First is me in the kitchen. I am so cute and adorable. Who can resist my power? I don't have much hair so when it gets cold outside I need additional protection from the elements.

Now here is what you have all been waiting for, me in my new Parka!!! I even have the hood up in this shot. It was cold and windy that day so mom really bundled me up. The leaves were fun to sniff and chase by the way.

Here is another shot where you can see my face a bit more. I am stalking a leaf. 

Please tell me what you think of my new coat. I have other clothes and will do more posts if you let mom know you like these.  I hope to hear from lots of you.

Luvs,

Mia

Road Rage

I live off of a very dangerous highway. There are deaths every year.  I have even seen surveys on the local papers website asking if other people think the highway is dangerous and the results were like 80+% yes!!! Some days are scarier than others but you have to just accept this and move on.

What makes this highway so dangerous? Multiple things.

First it is a 2 lane highway. There are SO many cars that travel this highway it should be 4 lanes but funding has prevented this from happening. They have the engineering work complete. Now it is a matter of just finding the money to build it. It will be built in two phases whenever funding is found.  Here is a photo from earlier this week. Now we are on a holiday week so traffic is way less than normal. It is around 7a.m. so not even the full brunt of people have hit the road yet and you can see I am in a line of quite a few cars with multiple cars going the other direction. It is like this or worse for three hours in the morning and three at night.

Second, the road itself. This road is hilly, winding and rough. In the winter the wind blows and makes visibility horrible with a lot of drifting snow and occasional black ice. It is a bear to drive on.

Third - Deer. I know this is a problem on many roads but we have what I would say is constant road kill on this road. We have opossums, raccoon, cats, dogs, and the famous deer. I have hit a raccoon on said road but luckily no damage to vehicle. That could not be said for the raccoon though...

Fourth and by far the most dangerous - other drivers.  Now if you are cursed to driving this road every day you accept certain facts. One of these is once you get on this highway you drive what ever the speed of the day happens to be. Now this can vary from 45 - 65, depending on the drivers. You do not pass as it is to dangerous and their are too many other cars in both directions.  The trouble starts when you get someone on this highway that does not drive it every day. Add to this, put this person in the traffic during one of the rush hour periods. It is almost like one of those Mayhem commercials waiting to happen.  What caused me to write this post was one such event.

I was heading to work earlier this week. I have to pull out onto this highway from a stop sign making a left hand turn. I was behind one car, so after he pulls out I make a quick check and decide to quickly follow. Now the car ahead of me must be running on only 1/2 of its four cylinders as it does not get up to speed very quickly. In the meantime, here comes an F350 diesel barreling up behind me trying to climb onto my bumper.  He stays back there for 30 seconds or so then decides to go around both me and the car ahead. I think "oh sh*t" as there are on-coming cars. I look down at my speedometer and we are doing between 60 and 65, which is a good speed for that time of day.  He barely makes it around us with the black smoke just rolling out of his exhaust pipe and cuts off the car ahead of me. I am sure the on-coming traffic slowed down as the idiot was passing.  The funny thing about this is after all that within 1/2 mile he was in the middle of a line of cars going 55-60!!!

Next is the photo of far ahead of me he got...(truck immediately ahead of me) Was it worth all that rage? I think not.

Holy Spirit

A little background before I begin this post.
I am a Christian - Lutheran to be very specific.  I don't know that any of this is important to tell the story but it might give things some perspective. I do think what I will write about applies to all people even beyond Christians so here we go for what it is worth.

I wrote my first devotional this week. The only reason I wrote it is because a small voice of sorts inside me pushed me to do it. Now this inner voice doesn't use words as you and I communicate, it is more with feelings and other things you can't put into words. It kinda freaks me out to talk about it but it is very real.  Sometimes I stupidly even try to argue with this voice inside me. Like THAT does any good. The little voice can be very persistent even if it is not loud.  It will still let me do whatever the heck I want and doesn't punish me when I don't listen but it stays there all the same.  Some people call it your conscious, some the voice of the Holy Spirit, some even call it craziness!  Anyway, I am getting off subject here...

I will share what I wrote but that is not the amazing thing. The amazing thing about this story is the email I received back shortly after sending it in to be posted.  Like she said, God is amazing how he works!

First the devotional:

CHURCH POWER

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs to deep for words.  Romans 8:6

     This fall things have been more hectic than usual in that I had to miss church a few times. One particular month I was going on three weeks without church. That entire week I was cranky and out of sorts. I was short with people and just didn't feel like myself. By about Thursday I realized I was being extra cranky and gave myself a time out. When I was trying to figure out the problem, I said a little prayer for the Lord to help me. That is when the Holy Spirit whispered church or something along those lines not really using words. I realized I had not been to church!  That Sunday I couldn't wait to get to church. After the service, I could immediately tell the difference. I was so much calmer. My head was clear, my sins had been forgiven and I felt I could tackle the upcoming week.

Lord, Please help me to keep my inner ears open to hear the Holy Spirit whispering to me the correct path to take. Amen.

Now for what the Parish administrator wrote: (the amazing thing)

This is wonderful!  I was just preparing a class session for tomorrow night and the topic is “The Practice of the Presence of the Spirit”.  Then  I turned to my e-mail and here was your devotion – now I believe that is God at work!

I would love to use this as a D.R.O.P.  Thank you for listening to the Spirit and writing this down.   Please feel to share something like this any time.  It is wonderful to have “extra” devotions to use.

Blessings,

Wendy

To all this I just say - Amen.

Tribute to Marc

Happy Veteran's Day Marc

and also to all members of the Service!

I feel like I owe Marc some sort of tribute. I chose this day to honor him as he is a Navy veteran and he used to tell me I was the only one that would thank him for his service to the country on this day. I thought that was so sad and make it a point to remember him on this day.  This year I wanted to blog so others would know!  This special person helped me through my darkest most hideous days of my divorce. He would patiently talk to me for an hour a day about this that or the other. He would give me sound advice on handling things with the X or the kids.  Marc would lecture over and over how I needed to take the high road. Do not stoop down to the x's level and things would work out. I grew to need these daily phone calls just to make it through my awful days. I am sure many times Marc would feel like he was talking to a cement wall; that he was wasting his breath and I was hopeless.

Please know Marc - you did NOT waste your time. Your advice stuck. YOU did GOOD. I am so much better off because of you.

Marc had a deep base voice that always calmed me and many times made me laugh when all I wanted to do was curl up and die.  There came a day when he felt the need to move on and he did so most graciously. I did not want this friendship to end. So STILL to this day I call him my friend. Even if it has been years since we talked - Marc is my hero!

Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!

NOT DEAD

I am not dead.

I have been working on some serious posts but they take quite a while for me to put together when I only get small snippets of time to work on them.

I have one ready to go for tomorrow!

Check back then.

Rescue Puppy!

I have posted this blog on behalf of Mia - rescue puppy.


Hi everyone. My name is Mia. I am a toy fox terrier. I am white with brown spots. Everyone tells me I look like a Chihuahua. I thought I would tell you a little bit about myself. Mom and dad call me a rescue puppy. I guess I came to them in sad shape. The vet told them they saved my life. I am glad for that.  Here is my before picture. I was having a seizure. I still have them but not nearly as often. I get peanut butter twice a day to help. Mom says she puts medicine in it but I can't even taste it. I don't like to talk about my life before mom and dad. It is just too sad.

I have to say after 7 months in my new home I am a new dog! Yes, i still have things to learn but I am so happy I am really going to try and do what mom and dad tell me. Sometimes it is just SO hard. I get so excited I just can't help myself. So now a little bit about the new me.

I'm alert, curious, and still shy. I play with toys now. Yes, they are technically cat toys but I am only 7 pounds - just the size of most cats so it works well for me.  Speaking of cats, my best friend is Sheena. The poor thing has to stay outside most of the time. When I go out to go potty, we play. I have to stay away from her claws though. She can get a bit carried away and scratch my nose. I run around and she rolls around on the ground. We have the best times. Sheena will even follow me down the road when I do my business. I am glad we are friends because the other cats in the family are not as receptive to me. Snoopy just ignores me even if I try to nip his ears. Suzi and Buddy, well I don't like them at all because they hiss at me.

I want to follow mom everywhere. I whine when I can't see her or be next to her. She is the best mom. I eat dinner at her feet and she will put human food into my bowl. She is naughty though because she buries it in the bottom of the bowl. Then I have to dig all the way down to get the morsel she left me. I still love her and put my doggie hair all over her clothes as a show of my love. If mom ever sits down, I will curl up right beside her as close as I can get. If she won't sit down, I climb all over my dad. He is so warm. I like to give him kisses too. He will watch movies sometimes and I curl up on his chest to sleep. It is THE BEST.

I have learned to bark when people come in the door at night. I also bark at things I don't like. These include: trombones, guitars, and evil laundry hampers! Those send me into fits of scared anger.  I also growl and snarl and snap at hair brushes when they are being used on my mom or dad. I am just trying to protect them you know.

Mom recently bought me a sweater. I HATE IT! I know I need it to go outside but it freaks me out and I forget how to walk when I am wearing it. Maybe soon she will post a picture on here so you can see me in it?  Well I'd better get back to doing my doggie things. Thanks for reading my entry.

Mia

Clouds

I had the opportunity to fly the other day.  It gave me time to think how the same thing can have such a different perspective depending on how you look at it.

It was early to mid-morning. The sun was shining. I was heading out of town for a few days. I was feeling good. As we started our decent I looked at the solid wall of clouds. It was similar to this:

It made me want to jump out of the plane into them. They looked so fluffy and soft and how I would want my bed in heaven to feel. Heck, I'd like my bed on earth to feel that good but no such luck.  The closer we got to them, the more they looked like cotton candy. You could just reach out and feel the sticky sugar goodness.  It put me in such a good mood to have the sun shining and such beauty below me.  I can see where the saying cloud 9 came from.

Then we went through the beautiful fluffy stuff and  here is similar to how it looked below the cloud bank:

It was dark, gray, dingy. There was not one spot of sun. My entire mood changed. I wanted to be above the clouds playing. It was so beautiful up there and down here was the exact opposite! It was depressing. How could something so beautiful turn into something so depressing just by passing through it?

Just makes me think, just because you see something one way it may look totally different just by looking at things a different way. Maybe we should try that the next time we are having difficulties with a situation???

Cherished

This little audio clip is one of my MOST cherished treasures.

This is my now 13 year old daughter when she was 2 or 3. She had just learned to talk in sentances.  She is a smart little cookie and had memorized The Lord's Prayer.

http://www.box.net/shared/qq3cb9ozizius7r421f7


Most times for me, the important things can NOT be purchased.

Welcome

Hi All,
Just a quick welcome post. I used to blog over on MySpace but we all know that is not really a great site to blog on any more. I am going to share thoughts and opinions I have on a wide range of topics. I love to blog and wanted a new one for a wider range of topics. Please feel free to comment, I enjoy reading your opinions also!

Talk to you soon.