Root it Out....Literally.

I'm a big time ginger fan. I love the root, think it's one of the best ones God ever made. One of the reasons I love it so much is its flavor of course but the ginger root also carries with it a major power-punch of energy; not to mention it can help save your life! Ginger has for thousands of years been added to foods and teas to help soothe soreness and promote good blood circulation, I also add it to my green teas to give it a bit of a kick. It helps to reduce stress, it helps to lower cholesterol and body fat. Why wouldn't I drink it? I should be downing ginger green tea by the gallons. I probably will be in the very near future. I'm sick and tired of being fat and lazy. Ginger picks you up physically because it promote the reproduction of red blood cells, it literally pumps your blood and gets you off your keister! YEA ginger!

For years I was a good and faithful student of the way my body reacted when I added green tea and ginger as a regular means of liquid replenishing. I've just stopped, and there's no reason for it. I'm a lazy person now, and that has to stop. I moved from Oklahoma City to Indianapolis about three years ago, and I remember when I lived in Oklahoma I was always moving, walking, jogging, riding my bike, or horses -- I wasn't sitting on the computer all day surfing LinkedIn, Facebook, and Gmail. Nope, I was working, walking, and pouring that ginger infused green tea down my throat. I also remember not being sick in Oklahoma, even though so many of my friends had horrific allergies in the spring I didn't. I did before I started drinking ginger in my tea, but after the practice - clear! Why would I stop? Lazy, just no excuses, and I won't even blame the kids, which is what I normally do. Nope, me, all me, just one fat, lazy woman, and that must stop now.

Today Laura and I went to the store and we were about to shop for groceries when I found myself walking down an aisle literally filled with chips and dips, crackers, party snacks, colorful and salty, some sweet, some just fabulous fattening and full of saturated fats. I thought to myself and then out loud "Why am I doing this to myself?" Laura looked at me and said "You're right, Mom. We're the ones picking this stuff up. We don't have to. So, let's get good stuff now." Wow, yes, it is possible to stop right in the middle of an aisle you feel so at home in and just turn your back and say NO MORE. I went through my kitchen pantry in my mind. I could see the sweets, the fats, the oily stuff. I could see the cakes, the cookies, snacks, puddings, simply all the fast grab-n-go foods that we think we need. I could rattle off about twelve things I know I don't need. I DO NOT NEED Oreo cookies. I do not need fatty Ruffles potato chips. I do not need cheeses, brownies, toaster pastries, and no, I don't need Mike & Ike candies. I only pop a few Mike & Ikes randomly, I told myself it wasn't that big of a deal, but you know what -- it's become a big deal. I feel like going through the kitchen and throwing it out, but instead I'll ask my kids if they want the stuff. I do hate throwing away good food products. I say "good" with a giggle, but still, just because I've decided to turn away doesn't mean everyone else has to.

I walked up and down the aisles and looked really carefully at what our stores sell us. It's our own fault when we give into the loud colors of marketing, and the flashy commercial ads which hide from us the fact that this or that cookie holds twice as many calories as a good heaping of cottage cheese or an apple. Once you pass the produce section of the store you get yourself into trouble. Immediately at the stores I can think of you find yourself in the frozen food section where you're bombarded with tempting ice creams, frozen yogurts, fast-food pizza rolls, deli pizzas, and some of the most amazing frozen foods ever made - - Pillsbury Grands! HOW can you say no to GRANDS? Easy. Grands are OK, but I don't stop with one, I get two, and I always put butter and jelly on them. Sometimes when I'm really bad I put Philadelphia Cream Cheese's new Indulgence dark chocolate cream cheese on my Grands, and this is the very very reason I must say no to Grands from now on. I'm not saying you have to go cold turkey and give up everything because that can cause a person to become resentful and upset. I believe in substitutions. What can I have in the mornings instead of a fluffy Grand biscuit? Healthy whole-wheat cereal and fruit. I can add walnuts and make it even better. Walnuts may be expensive, but they help your blood to flow better, reduce chances of diabetes, lower cholesterol, and all without hyping you up with bright packaging that you have to find a recycling bin for - - so, it's settled. I'm stopping all the madness today, and I'm going right back to my heart healthy plan of being both active and full of more energy - naturally. I even told Laura I don't want to get salads in bulk so we'll have to go to the store a few more times and walk the entire store wall to wall to put in that much more exercise than we would if we just showed up and got what we need. She's good with that.

Laura and I picked up more in the produce section than we normally do; fruits, veggies, nuts, and avocados. I know no one really knows where to put them on food charts. I put them with fruits, but then again, I put tomatoes with fruits and everyone laughs at me. I picked up Roma tomatoes for their flavor today; they'll make excellent salsa, and yes, you can still have a few whole wheat crackers or chips with your salsa; sans the salt if you can find the reduced or no salt added boxes. It's just that much better for you. I'm the type that loves to eat almonds all day, and if you're willing to do that, and add berries to a smoothie with yogurt and honey, well, it won't take too long before you're back on track. Your belly will thank you, and so will the other parts of your gut like your intestines, once they figure out that you're not just making a change for the weekend. It has to be a real change, it has to be a life change, not a month change, or worse a change that you can easily get bored with. You don't need the sugar, and you don't need the fats. Well, you don't...and that's me saying YOU to ME because I'm talking to myself here, I do not need it, and I do not want it anymore. I want ME back...ME. The other day I stood in front of the mirror and I didn't even want to see who was in the darn thing - - I didn't like her. I didn't know her and she was invading my personal space. Her belly hung over her pants, her skin wasn't pretty like it use to be, and she wasn't able to move the way she use to, it's just not fun being me at this point and time in my life. I MUST DO something, and so I made the choice.

YEA...I do feel better, and it will take weeks, even a few months to get back to where I can say I am happy about who I am again, but it has to start somewhere and that somewhere is with my tea. MORE ginger than before, more parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme - - what, you thought that was just lyrics? Nope!

Retiring the Mutt

Most of you know that Faith the Dog (www.faiththedog.info) is my dog. She is the one that has for the past 10+ years lived under my bed during the day, and she sleeps with me during the night, taking up more than her fair share of the queen-sized bed. The queen-sized bed also happens to be the place where the other dogs in my family find rest at night as well. Most of the time I am sandwiched between the yellow dog and the Dachshund (a rescue) named George that I just happened to stumble across while desperately looking for another dog. Faith is my main mutt. She's the one I've traveled the world with. She's the one I've spent too many hours on the road with, visiting too many airport bathrooms with while dragging both her and my suitcases. She's the dog I sit next to in the airplane, she's the dog I carry over my shoulders while dragging the suitcase and shaking hands with kids and other passersby who are more than happy to watch the show as I try to balance the dog and drag the suitcase through O'Hare or Washington Dulles at rush hour trying to get to the next terminal. Faith is the best dog out there; how many other dogs do you know who would put up with hundreds of kids petting them, screaming and laughing asking questions? How many other dogs do you know who right after these said screaming and laughing petters would be the first to jump in a hospital bed to see another one who wasn't strong enough to leap down to do the petting on the floor? That's my girl. Faith is the one dog I've ever ever owned who if you say "Let's go" is out the door before you can get your keys and it doesn't matter if we're just going to the bank or to an opening of a new pet store; she treats the ride as if we're going to Paris on a big jet-liner and she's going to be served her First Class cookies and cream. (But it's probably because she is hoping for the cookies and cream treatment, just sayin') After ten full years of traveling, visiting, public speaking, and greeting soldiers at bases and airports alike, Faith the Dog is retiring from all public appearances. She has in the past 10 years met with leaders of our nation up to the highest level. She has been kicked off the White House lawn for sticking her nose in the fence to get a better look at a squirrel. She has jumped into the National Reflection Pool, and laid beneath the WWII monuments for a rest. She's scaled the steps of the Thomas Jefferson monument to interrupt a school tour. She has interrupted a funeral as well, and a really cool wedding in King of Prussia one evening as her manager and I were conversing and not paying attention to where she had just wandered off to. She is the constant reminder of what it is like to travel with a toddler. She has the attention span of a 2 year old kid, and she's not afraid to pee in public if she needs to. This has happened...OH..so many times. My favorite was in front of the police in NYC on Broadway where yes, she walked and peed and literally created a little wet pretzel on the sidewalk. We all laughed. Faith has interrupted the Westminster Dog Show, news reports, and she's photo-bombed so many others to mention - YOU may have a photo bomb of my dog running through what would have been your moment in Chicago, the Original Starbucks, the Seattle Space Needle, or perhaps the Grand Canyon, she isn't shy about popping her face into your camera's len's eye. FAITH believes all applause if for her, and she thinks all cameras are aimed at her. It's just a way of life for her, so retirement hasn't really been all that easy. I've taken to taking the dog to the TV stations in Indianapolis and sitting for tea with the hosts just to pretend that she's being covered on one of their shows. They don't mind. She's always welcomed into the green rooms and on stage when no one is actually filming. She's been taken to openings of the new Barkafeller's in Avon, Indiana just so she could be seen hanging out with the really cool people and their dogs. She goes to the store and bank with me. Her thoughts may or may not be changing as we drive less and less to the actual airport, but because Indianapolis airport is open and very dog friendly, I can take her there just for the fun of it. I can afford a couple of dollars for parking to let her run around in her military ACU jacket and see as many soldiers as are available. She just doesn't get to go past security at this point. She's so awesome, security comes to her now. LOL Retiring the most famous and wonderful dog in the world has not been sad really. She and I have discussed if for a couple of years and I think she's good with it. As long as no one forgets her, and everyone loves her, she's good. Now, if you have a Flat Stanley or Flat Chuck that needs to be "seen" with Faith please send it to me (with a self-addressed stamped envelope) and I'll try to get that photo opportunity. I think she's met about 200 so far. Faith is and will forever be, the dog the world loves. The world needs FAITH and I think Faith enjoys knowing that the world is her arena too. She may not be up and at it for long, but her legacy (can I say that? Leg-acy?) will be that she is the most genuine dog out there - - nothing stops her from being a normal dog, not even the greater fame she has accomplished. She is what she is, and that is....FAITH. Thank you Faith for the many years of snuggling and cuddling, lessons, and laughter. It was all very worth it. I love you Yellow Dog.

Family Night - 2010

Remember when the family played games together? They would all have those stupid silly grins because they had been waiting for an entire week to land on someone else’s spot and send their not-so-favorite family member back to start? Wow times were simple. We got out the board games right after dinner, and set up the table in game mode, not in eating mode. With eating mode you had assigned seats. You don’t take Dad’s chair; no, you don’t. You could have any chair you wanted if you were playing games. No rules there.

    We had family game night at my house when I was growing up, but it was the kids really that played each other. My parents went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to play dominoes with my aunt and uncle, and I remember playing with my siblings around the standing floor furnace on a cold winter's snowy night. If I remember correctly, the adults drank coffee and we kids had cocoa with marshmallows; the tiny ones, leaving foamy residue and dark chocolate rings around the top of the cups. Family night was important then as it built up great rapport within the family dynamics. I think it's still very important today, too. Families need each other, each person is an important part of the unit.

    Times have changed a bit, that's for sure. No longer are we going to the top of the broom closet to pull out an old box with duct taped corners and missing pieces to the game “SORRY” (We used blue erases to make up for the missing blue pieces and a red jax to make up for a missing red piece I always picked yellow anyway). No longer do we have to gather up the cards and turn them all the right way before shuffling them, passing them out, and hoping no one realizes that the five of clubs isn't in the deck anymore. NOPE..we don't have to do that because now we play our family night games online! That's right, there's an app for that! There's an app for Monopoly, Sorry, Yahtzee, and anything else you can think of. We use to play Scrabble but now we play WORDS with Friends. It's the same thing only different, right?

    Any given night you'll find my family all crammed into the living room, slouching over couches, leaning over the recliner, or me -- worst of the bunch -- sitting in my computer chair with one hand on the phone keypad and the other on Facebook where I try to keep up with a few horse-loving friends in at least two horse-related chat rooms! It's so different, but not really, not when you consider that my mom was on the phone a great deal of the time when she was playing dominoes and we kids were running back and forth from Grandpa's to my aunt's (they lived next door) playing Chess with Cousin Gene, Hi-Ho-Cherry-O with his sister Beckie in one house and Checkers with our Uncle Marvin while he played dominoes with my parents. He was that cool uncle who would walk back and forth and play with us a few minutes, then go back to the boring adults.

    Brandon, Caity, Laura, and I will spend the better part of three hours on our smartphones, trying to slam each other with as many odd combinations, letters placed in just the right place, or letters that really shouldn't have been considered words in the first place; but because WORDS with Friends says they're words then by-golly they're words! I know I used "kart" and "ee" as words but couldn't use "kew" or "Iran". Caity used "moneys" but couldn't use "Tex". Laura couldn't use "tac" but she was able to place something in Japanese that no one had a clue was legal. It is what it is!! POINTS! Somehow those Japanese words always had interesting spellings with higher point values and no one had a dictionary to look up the words to make sure Laura wasn’t lying through her teeth. I don’t think we even knew really how to Google that well back then.

    Friday night was family night, or in our house, nearly every night is family night because get really bored watching TV and decide it’s more fun to blast each other with WORDS or something new that Brandon has found for us to try. Caity holds the record so far of pulling out the highest score; 120 points for the best placement of the word "jump". I think I'm next with 74 points, but hey, I'll take a good steady even flowing game of 12's, 15's, and 18's anytime. The worst thing is when you have a Q but you can't use it. DANG, I hate that! I should try using Gaelic words just to really make things interesting. Laura uses Japanese words, right? It’s fair - - at least a precedent has been set. I could argue that - - not that I would win, but I would have a standing for about a minute. Every minute counts.

Gotta Love Progress

In 2004 I worked for a public school system in Oklahoma. Let's just say they were the largest, and therefore this means they are often the LAST to make changes. Money is one thing, and schools just never seem to find it...not when they need it. So there I was teaching, using the affordable means of technology which was given to us, our personal cell phones, but the schools were adamantly against the students having their cells in class. GROW SOME administrators. Realize that there is NOTHING, and I do mean NOTHING that you can do to separate a teenager and his or her phones. This being the case, you may as well use them, this at least keeps up the global pace with our European and Asian friends who have been texting their teachers for eons. (Or as long as there have been cell phones) * * I instructed the students to text me when they had a question during tests. They could text their friends, but texting me would be more beneficial as I actually knew the correct answers. This practice of course led to me texting constantly during the test so I could help out this or that student, and then it became a game to see who could stump the teacher. This activity served to build a HUGE rapport between myself and my class, but you guessed it -- the administration found out and I was called into the office to be reprimanded. TOO DAMN BAD. I didn't stop, and to this day the 18-20 students that I routinely texted actually ALL graduated, they ALL went to college, and 2 of them have become teachers; BOOYAH! Why do I mention this? Oh, because NOW...yes NOW, that same district is using MY technique to build rapport with their difficult students. Texting them to keep their eyes on their own papers - or to stop talking when someone is at the front of the room. YOU'RE WELCOME NORTHWEST CLASSEN HIGH SCHOOL!! * * The next school, also an Oklahoma City public school charter, Santa Fe South, was a challenge from the first day. I had about 110 students in the 9th grade ranging from age 13-17, as many of my kids were Hispanic and came from Mexico directly. Some were not quite ready for actual high school level classes even though they were older. I got the GREAT and I mean GREAT idea to allow these kids to use their natural given tagging talents to TAG UP my room - using magic markers. I had all white walls and there were rules. They couldn't use gang or gang-related symbols or language. They could tag if they got their work done, and they couldn't tag over someone else's work. This was done (on my part) for two reasons: I wanted to teach responsibility and respect. First they had to get their work done before they could tag and second, they had to learn to respect their own areas and/or territories on the wall. WOW..it was a MAJOR success....in the classroom. The administration - - didn't like it. I was fired for inciting violence. EVEN THOUGH there was NOTHING violent on the walls. * * Flash forward. ALL of the students missed me; wanted me back, and continued to be my friend on Facebook and at that time MySpace. They reported to me that the very next y year the principal put up white boards and brought in dry-erase markers to do the VERY SAME thing I was doing in my room. He didn't let me finish my project, but he was certainly happy enough to use my techniques and my ideas. He used dry-erase and claimed to me later that I was fired for destroying or allowing property to be destroyed. NO...idiot, that's why God made PAINT! I can say that now, I'm no longer working for the man. * * I just find it sad that I come up with great teaching ideas and others steal them but before they do they reprimand me rather than praise me, or encourage me for my progressive thinking. Please, believe me when I say I can come up with some really fun ways to learn - - and I have. Some of which may never be found out! I like it that way because that separates me from the dull and uncaring, or dull teacher. I am the FUN one....and that makes me happy. Of course now I'm not even teaching, and that makes me sad, but I will never ever ever forget my "babies", not one of them; and there have been thousands! My heart is blessed for this.

Somebody Trick or Treat My House Please!

I've lived in Indianapolis for 3 Halloweens now. The first one was 2010. I had barely settled into the neighborhood, however I knew enough to know that it was NOT conducive to having kids romping and stomping toward my door to get candy because my door was not exactly easy to find. I moved to a condo which had all of the garage doors facing out onto the 10th hole of a very nice, quiet, plush, private golf course. At first, because I typically assume too

much, I assumed that the association would have a Halloween block party. They did not. I assumed also, and also incorrectly, that the association would have put out flyers to let us know what we could or could not do regarding decorating my personal unit. I found out what I COULD NOT do the instant I put up a big fluffy black spider on my front gate. Because a would be trick-or-treater would have needed to (a) enter the association, (b) find the gate that led to my front door to see my porch light was lit and (c) he/she would have to have WRIST BANDS that showed they were living within 6 city blocks of my house - - can you believe it, I was not all that hopeful that my first Halloween in the metropolitan outskirts of Indianapolis was going to be that great. Turns out I was correct. NO ONE came to my door - and there I sat with two bags of Hershey's candy bars. Alone. YEAR TWO did not bode any better for us. We were no longer living in the condo where we had first moved. The owners had decided to remodel and rent it out from November to February to a group of Super Bowl realtors who I'm told brought more in 3 months than we had paid in a year at the residence - - our 2nd Halloween was spent in a mid-way, almost a LOANER type house while we searched for a better place to land. We were more than 12 miles from any real city and by real city I mean a township of about 20,000 or so people NONE of which felt that driving 12 miles out would be beneficial to get a few pieces of candy - - and again, I was left alone with bags and bags of Hershey's candy bars because that's what I typically pass out. I typically pass out Hershey's because I know I'll eat whatever may be lefted over and it happens to be one of my favorites. Two bags, one woman. THREE TIMES WAS NOT THE CHARM! We moved to a densely populated area in January, an area literally teeming with children and often to the point of annoyance to be perfectly honest. At least THIS year (I thought) I would have a endless supply of door knockers and bell-ringers on Halloween -- this thought process called for more preparation; something to the tune of 4 bags of Hershey's candy bars and I went ALL OUT and got two more bags of Almond Joys and Butterfingesr JUST IN CASE I didn't have enough. I found myself buying a silly costume for Matrix. I dressed up as a Colt's fan and counted the minutes to the six o'clock hour, the official time for Halloween to start on October 31, 2012. I even Googled the dates and times two or three times to be SURE that I wasn't just missing my neighbors when they didn't show up. NO ONE showed up. I forced Laura, Brandon, Caity, and Copeland to repeatedly knock on my door so I could pretend to hand out candy - - yes, I am THAT pathetic. I love Halloween! This afternoon, November 1, 2012, after school and after such time that I believed all of my neighbors should be home THIS WOMAN took her multiple bags of candy outside and DEMANDED that the neighbors come by and share in my bounty. It didn't take long. I had a few takers immediately, and within a few minutes they were out like bandits around the neighborhood bringing in more kids to take up the excess. Seems the ONLY reason they hadn't come by last night was because it is tradition in our association to go outside of the actual neighborhood to do parties, games at churches, and such. NO ONE knew that I was stuck at home with black paint under my eyes waiting on them. They all promised me that they'd be there for me next year. I assured them that I appreciated it. I do, but the association is selling off my unit, not to me, and again I'll be finding a new place to live come January. Maybe some day I'll have my own group of rug-rats and brats to come by and take my candy seriously! At least this year I had baby Copeland to spoil - - he let me too. He promised Gramma to always be there; and that I'd never have to eat candy alone again. AWESOME!!

Sur La Table, Yes, Please!

If you're in the neighborhood - - and even if you're not; make your way to 14400 Clay Terrace Boulevard #100 Carmel, IN 46032 to see the glories, the beauties, and of course the great sales at Sur La Table! To put it bluntly, it's one of the best little shop in Indy! Take a few dollars with you, expect to be surprised, but above all, expect to be pampered. From the moment we walked into the brightly illuminated gift and menagerie store in the Clay Terrace outdoor mall, I knew I was in heaven...Kitchen Heaven anyway. Jennifer and her staff walked me through rows and aisles full of colors, textures, styles, and more. My eyes fell first to a few things my kid would die for; and my Christmas shopping for 2012 officially began. I was smart enough NOT to bring my credit card with me this time, but I know I'll be back, and when I do, the kids will benefit most. Oh, I can't say that, I found an automatic espresso and latte machine I've got my eyes on! Happy Birthday to me in a few weeks, that's for sure. First, I thought of Caity, and found a few little owls for her kitchen. I found salt and pepper shakers, big spoon holders for when she's cooking. I found a cook book rack with owls too - their little wings are stretched out to hold the book! Reuben was next, but only because Laura was shopping with me and I couldn't very well buy anything for her with her standing there - even if it was mostly pretend shopping. For Reuben it's all about the rooster! I don't know why he loves them, but he does..and I found one. The best ceramic rooster ever! Don't tell him, it's a surprise. Throughout the store I found this and that; sauces, spices, gadgets, and more. I found coffee paraphernalia - filters, flavors, cups, widgets, you name it, I found it!! I wanted to bust out my birthday wish list right then and there..so I did. I pulled out my new phone and took about 10 photos of things the kids could buy me without the fear of me ever returning or regifting it. I could have 18 flavors of olive oils and never grow tired or collecting or seeing the bottles in my kitchen. I'd just buy a bigger spice rack! I found cups and saucers in every color of the rainbow and just as I was about to pick out one I had to have I saw another one I just had to have! They all went on the list! Aprons of all styles adorn the aisles at Sur La Table! You'll simply fall in love with the pots, the pans, the scrubby things, the soaps, the dishes, the...the..the everything! I think i spent an hour just wandering around and another one narrowing down what it is that I'll end up buying soon - - which of course meant grabbing a second latte from Jennifer compliments of her new Starbucks latte Verismo espresso latte machine..the reviews rave on, and they should. Hey, when Starbucks didn't have the machines you could find them at Sur La Table! (I'm going back!) Thanks Jennifer for the tour, for the love, for the fun!! Indianapolis has a well kept secret, but I hope not for long!!

The Only Thing That Doesn't Change is Change

You can say what you want about life - but you can at least be assured that if you wait long enough something about your life will change. I've often said the only thing that doesn't change is change itself. I've also heard it put this way: "The only absolute is change". I agree.

We go about making plans and then the facts fall into place and we have to adjust and make new plans. Somehow however, it always works out. It doesn't always work the way we want, or the way we expected, but there's just as much to learn from the new as there was from the old. I am of course talking about my current situation. I am still teaching. I will probably always teach in one form or another. I am also selling books online, and preparing to write another book. I've been working on a children's book, a novel, and God knows what else. I'm also probably always going to write. I'm speaking, giving direction to those who call me and ask me to give them direction or inspiration. I love it! I live for those moments. Why someone would believe I have it all together is beyond me, but I do come across as being rather collected in person. God knows the real me. There is something else I'm doing again; I'm selling insurance again.

This time I'm selling for AFLAC (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) You know them for their crazy duck commercials...I remember them from the 80's when I wanted to sell for them but my managers and those I knew in the business said they were a "fad" and wouldn't be around for very long. HA! They're not only around today, but AFLAC is a Fortune 500 company, one that has been written up in many Fortune type magazines for being the best loved and respected company and the most ethical. The ethics of any company will win me over every time. EVERY time. I recently filed a claim with State Farm, a great and honored company. However, because I had purchased the policy only days before my truck was broken into and my laptops stolen, State Farm has decided to make me wait more than 120 days to pay - and they put me through a deposition which wasn't scheduled in a timely manner, and I've been treated in my opinion, as the criminal. I'm really NOT happy with State Farm and of course I left.

A company is ONLY as good as their claims department. So after years and years of carrying State Farm (renter's was a new policy) I have decided to change - and I did. Change can be good. Change can be VERY good. I'm looking forward to so many changes going on right now in my life, and in the lives of those around me, my kids. Reuben is now living in Indiana with us. He's joined the National Guard, and will be a National Guard Recruiter very soon. Changing his life from dullness and depression in Oklahoma to exciting and worthwhile surrounded by friends and family. Laura too, is joining the National Guard, where she will be a supply clerk but work at Starbucks most of the time. Reuben will be a drill sergeant on drill weekends and YES he's excited to be Laura's superior! Caity has changed the most. She's a mommy now, and though she's not working, but she is studying to sell insurance and will work with me once she gets her license and has the time to learn the field training. Brandon...well, he's been evolving since we met him over two years ago. He's really matured, works extremely hard when he has a good job to go to, and he's the best daddy in the world to Copeland.

COPELAND...that's our #1 change around here. He's our boy, our pride, our every reason to breathe. Cope turned a year old this past April and he's up and running, talking, giggling, and being the best boy ever. What's up for tomorrow? Who knows? God of course, but for me I just wait until it happens and pray it will be the right thing for us. I'm always on the watch of course, but when change comes I try to roll with it, and if it doesn't come - - well, that would be a change.

I've Lived at Least a 1000 Years!

Some nights I sit here at the computer and stare into the open blank screen and think to myself "There has to be something I want to talk about, why am I not writing right now?", then it hits me, I'm usually just too tired from all the living I've done over the past 12-15 hours I've been awake! It seems lately that every morning I start the clock over again - - and someone somewhere needs me, can't live without me, has to have my advice RIGHT NOW! When did I get to be this important? When did I get to be this trusted? It must be that I'm like that old horse in the barn that's been there and done that, and no matter what you throw at me I'm going to be too calm and too understated to be upset about it. 

I'll probably breathe at the initial shock of whatever it is that this person thinks is so vastly important that I have to stop everything I'm doing (including sleeping in) to help them survive this newest and most disastrous peril. It must be that I have experienced something like this; therefore I MUST have a solution. Or, and probably more accurate, it could be because I'm the mom. I'm only 50, so I can still say with a clear mind that I remember the 60's. I was there. I was a kid, but I do remember them. I remember the Vietnam Conflict, our president claiming on television that he wasn't a crook. I remember noodling, fishing with my hands in the river. I remember climbing trees before I could read. I remember walking for MILES away from my home at night, and riding my bike even further, and not being afraid that someone would kidnap or harm me in any way. 

I remember when moms made our birthday cakes and we licked the bowls clean. Funny, I remember what I was wearing when I jumped off the cliff at Falls Creek Church Camp into shallow water, but I don't remember hitting my knees. I've seen pictures of them all bruised and battered but if it hurt I don't recall that. I've patched up more scrapes and cuts than I care to mention and there's NO WAY I could tell you about all the times I snuck into or out of someplace I wasn't supposed to be. Still, I have to pretend to be upset if one of my kids does something too similar to what I got away with...is that OK? For me to just pretend to be upset? Inside I'm sort of giggling about it. Does that make me a bad person? I grew up somehow, even after drinking creek water with tadpoles in it. I did survive! I made it to 50 even though I bought more than a dozen Volkswagen Beetle Bugs, put a bit of work into them, drove them across the country to L.A., and sold them for FAR too much money so I could live off the profits and not have to actually work. Where did I ever get the idea? How did I ever pull that off? I grew up somewhere between the cheerleading, gymnastics, football and baseball games, the rodeos, stand-up comedian work, and all those times I begged McDonald's and Taco Bell to give me just one taco or burger so I could live another day. That was when a manager of a restaurant felt a bit sorry for a skinny dirty-faced kid with barn mud on her boots and straw sticking to her hair.

Hollywood was fun. After the horses, the dogs, the friends, and high school I worked my way to the limelight and then stayed absolutely clear of it. I worked behind the scenes writing, dancing, helping, driving, doing anything but acting, and made it in 11 films and a few sitcoms as an extra. I was perfectly OK with it too, just as long as I didn't have to look into the camera. I don't have ONE CLUE as to why its "eye" scared the hell out of me. I hated it; although there was this one guy that worked the lens in Hollywood that kept my attention - - I'd take 1983 back if I could. I'd do those Hollywood nights another go-round if I knew what I know now. Who wouldn't start over? I ran home you know. I ran! Got scared out of my wits; too naive and country for the real grit. 

Since then I've lived again but it's not the same type of living. I worked, I married, I had kids, I went to school, divorced, fought for custody, gained weight, got hurt, got over it, bit the bullet, paid the bills, and found a way to say grace every day too. Grace was the most important part of my life then and it still is. So I wake up now, I look at the clock and think to myself "Tomorrow all of what I do today will be yesterday. I better make it work", and somehow, probably by Grace; I do.

To Fire or Not to Fire

I'm on the fence right now over the new Kindle Fire. I'm SURE an Apple iPad would do everything I wanted it to do, and probably a million things I had no idea it could do, but I don't want to pay out over $600 for it. I'm waiting on them to go down in price - - and they do. Kindle Fire offers more or less what I need such as reading, viewing, browsing, and watching TV/movies, but the iPad does more of the other things I want, namely e-mailing and editing of documents. Both have a wi-fi dependability that doesn't make me happy. I'd like to have the capability to use the iPad and/or tablet as a passenger in a car without worrying about signal going in and out. There's that. There's also the fact that the Kindle is smaller and easier to put into my purse! AAAGGGGHHHH!! I'm sure something will come along to help me make up my mind.

I was even playing around with the thought of just going without a tablet, but I could use one. I'm forever mistyping on my iPhone because my fingers are just too big, and I can't and won't carry my big laptop with me. It was smaller when I bought it, but now it's a giant compared to the technologies available. It's not that I have to be connected but I like to be. Actually with my job I don't have to be connected whatsoever, I can teach and go home and live in a cave and no one would care unless I didn't show up for work. Next year will be a different matter. I'm going to be teaching online courses and having the tablet will be so much easier than carrying the laptop into Starbucks and setting up shop. I do that, I go to Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, maybe even outside if the weather is nice, and I tell the students where I'll be in case they want to come by and have coffee with me. It will be very necessary next semester to have either the iPad or something like it; so I was hoping that the Kindle Fire would answer these questions for me.

In a few reviews I've found the Kindle Fire is NOT meeting up with the expectations of the purchasers. In one report the owner actually said she would throw the Kindle Fire into her fire if it acted up again. I don't know what she was or wasn't able to achieve with it, but I am NOT a geek - I am a dork. If I have to do more than turn it on and type there could be a problem. The Kindle Fire I'm told, is more for uploading and downloading, or as they say "pulling from the cloud" to give me the tv/movies and books or magazines I want to view. Well, I want to do more than view. I want to interact, design, create, move things around, e-mail, maybe even use it as a camera if it has that capability....how funny would that be, it would mean the return of the larger camera again.

So, it's the iPad for me I guess. Better start putting the pennies away now. Maybe Acer or HP can make something as good. I say this as I remember I have already thrown out a number of LG and Samsung phones with Android capabilities that were suppose to rival my old 3G iPhone. I'm keeping it. Fat fingers or not, it beats the heck out of the touch pads I've been playing with. I guess I answered my own questions. See how rewarding blogging can be? Just imagine if I could do this on the move...and I can, but just not today.

You Just Can't Please Them All

Laura and I have been the fodder for a young girl's rants online lately, and there really isn't anything we can do about it. She (the girl, we'll call Kate) has a bit of a mental illness and I asked Laura politely once to be kind to her because of it. This would be kinder gesture on my part led to Kate's feelings being hurt and suddenly I'm the "bad guy" online. I've been told by friends and people I don't know that I've been marked and/or targeted by her banter but to be honest I'm not that worried about it. If I had done what she claims I have done some one of authority would have already have stopped me right? Maybe not, maybe I'm that clever...anyway, my point is that I just can't please everyone and so I won't really try that hard to do so. If my gesture was taken as pity it wasn't intended that way.

I'm reminded of the time I drove about 150 miles out of my way to deliver a dog to a woman who, after I had arrived, informed me that I needed to take the dog to the vet for a check up. Then I was asked if it would be too much of a bother to pay for the check up because the lady hadn't actually AGREED to take the dog until she knew it was OK. I smiled. I opened the gate to her yard, let the dog out and waved. For that I received a blasting online about how I abandoned animals. Me, the one person who I know goes all out of whack to be sure I accommodate the fuzzies ones...but it is what it is. I'm sure we have all been there, or have stories about how our good intentions or good deeds backfired.

Today Laura and I went to the barn where she boards her horse and I told my oldest daughter that if Kate were there I wasn't going to be mean or nasty, I wasn't going to ignore her as Laura had suggested, I was just going to be as nice and sweet as I possibly could be so that speaking poorly of me again may be harder on the kid. Who knows, maybe she just didn't want to be treated nicely. Maybe that was my bad, and I should have just let the chips fall. There was (and I am thankful) absolutely no drama! Lots of mud though. We were slinging it, but it was the real mud we were mucking through and not the type you throw with innuendo! Viva la Good Deeds, I say. I believe we should continue to be nice, continue to be sweet, continue to be the great people we were made to be, and if the nay-sayers don't like it, well they can eat a worm...no wait, let's make that a gummi worm. I don't need anyone writing how I was belligerent to the needs and caregiving of our slimy friends in ponds and creeks.