Weird Dream: Parking Lot, Blue Car, Laundry, Coins, and STUFF

 Dreams, because they are unique and often strange, can be interpreted in so many ways.  The best way to think about the meaning (or possible meaning) of a dream is to take the entire dream in context if you can and decide if it was an overall happy dream, a sad dream, a warning dream, and so forth.  This dream that I had last night was not instigated by something I ate just before bedtime. I think it's ridiculous when someone tries to analyze a dream using that sort of logic. If you don't know what you're doing when it comes to dreamscapes, it's best you don't even try.

    Dreams are found not only in the Bible but in literature and reference books as well. As long as people have been sleeping people have been dreaming. Some of us, for whatever reason, are able to remember these dreams in both vivid colors as well as in detailed details.  For instance, I know that the blue car I was driving was not just a blue four-door sedan, I know the make and model. Does that matter? It may. I don't drive an Audi, I drive a Nissan Versa.  Here we go.  Try to keep up if you can. I'll explain it at the end.

    In my dream, I drove my car (a blue four-door Audi sedan) into the parking lot of a business.  The parking lot was empty. I didn't enter it using the correct ingress, instead, I used the egress, and had to sharply turn my car's wheels, but I got into the parking lot. I had my choice of places to park, and I chose the center of the parking lot for some odd reason. You would think I would have parking closer to where I was going.  Not me. I wanted to be smack dab in the very middle.  I parked and I walked inside the building.

    Once in the building, I was doing my laundry. I hadn't brought my laundry with me, but there I was doing it.  The machine was massive and very open. I put the clothes in, and then I started looking in my big glass jar for the quarters I would need to start the machine.  The machine was actually already going at that point, but I was still looking for quarters. I found a coin in the slot, but the coin was not American. It was in fact, a square coin, it was gold, and it had the number 1 on it. That will come into play later. I'll explain.

    I dug through the coins trying to find the quarters I would need. I found a few, but I also found banana peels. I didn't find any bananas, just the peels. That was in fact odd, even inside the dream, I found that to be odd. Usually odd things in dreams don't make you flinch, but the banana peels gave me cause for pause, and I did. I moved them and picked up (and picked out) the quarters. I stacked them so I could easily put them into the slots. I took the one gold coin out, and I pocketed it. I didn't try to find the owner as it was a public place. There would be no way of knowing who it belonged to. It was now mine.

    My friend from my childhood and teen years (Kathy) was there, and she was standing with another employee. Apparently, Kathy worked there. I assured the other lady that I knew Kathy, and I told the woman that I could tell her great stories about Kathy, and what she looked like wearing mashed potatoes on her face. Yes, that is what I said. That line "I can tell you what she looks like wearing mashed potatoes on her face" was odd for a dream as well - - I told myself I needed to remember that, and I did.

    I left the building, and I was not in my car. I was walking down the road with my first boyfriend John Love. (Hi, John)  John was somewhat beside me then he was behind me. He was holding my hand and trying to help me put my red zip-up fleece jacket on; the jacket was upside down, but that didn't matter to either of us.  He took me to another building and I told him I needed to go to the bathroom.  

    I did go to the bathroom, (#2) and in the feces (sorry, it's a dream) there were pieces of corn. I don't eat corn. I've not been a corn eater for a very long time. I will eat cornbread, but the last time I had corn on the cob or corn casserole was well over 3 years ago. I just don't eat it as it's used to make pigs and cows fat, so why eat it? Why was it in my poop? I'll tell you later.  It's a good thing.

    After going to the bathroom and washing my hands (even my dreams I'm a good girl) I spoke with John about the electric panels he was working with. I tried to pick one up, but he yanked it from me and said sternly that I could not only bring something bad to the Earth, but I could also bring a demon if I didn't know what I was doing. Then he quickly apologized to me for being so blunt and aggressive. I didn't think he had been either. I thought he was just caring and concerned, maybe a bit jumpy, but he didn't upset me.  

    OK. That's the dream.  I looked up every detail I could from several places I trust with good reputations. I don't do the tarot card reading places, and if it says it is an Islamic or Hindu site I don't read from there either.

• Blue car:  transitioning into a new career and it is going to be good. The color blue is a calming color. The Audi means I'm stepping up in my career path from where I am now.
• Parking lot:  It was empty, meaning I had all the choices I wanted, and I was in charge of where I would place myself in the new position. I chose right in the center of it.
• Doing laundry: cleaning the soul and taking out the old replaced with new.
• Finding or looking for coins: If you look for them and don't find them there could be an unexpected financial loss. I found them. It is now earned rewards. The fact that I was using them to clean my soul means I'm using my own funds to better myself. 
• The square foreign golden coin with the #1?:  Forex!  It is the trading market I am learning, and it is different, wonderful, fitting, and a priority. The #1 is the priority part, and the square is the fitting part. Circles (most coins) don't really fit unless you stack them.
• The glass jar: The container of my new life. You can see through it, and it holds all I need.
• The banana peels!! This is light-hearted and hilarious. It stands for open and honest sexual encounters, lust and love, passion, and all things sexual. I had no idea.  I would have thought it would be an opportunity to slip up, but no, the banana has been peeled. It's out there and open and waiting for a taker. How fun is that? I giggled.
• My old friend? Well, like John she is a reminder of my past life. She and John represent my original thoughts and my original way of believing in myself and my dreams. Those crazy young years when nothing can stop you.
• The mashed potatoes!! This was fun too.  Mashed potatoes show you a rough but smoothing-out road to success. There will be lumps, but it's all good, and it's all worth every effort!!
• John held my hand and protected me? He is a friend, and the upside-down red jacket is also a new venture, a new life, a newness that others see in me. It's upside down because they don't understand it, but I do. It's Forex again! It's my choice to be in the money markets.
• Poop with corn? Again, money. Who knew? Corn prices represent a lot of the base markets and seeing poop is an expression of oneself. Seeing the corn is an idealistic thought about finances. They are spaced apart, which also reflects the steady and slow movement (sorry) of the new position I'm training for now. 
• The electronic panels? I was NOT in control of them. I was NOT educated about them. These are things I can't control and I have no business trying to touch them. I could cause problems if I do.  I am being warned to be careful and not to overstep my boundaries.

That was (and is) an amazing dream. I am so excited about it because I am being told both in my waking hours and in my dreams now that I will meet all the criteria I need and the doors will soon be open. I will see every goal met. I will meet them because I am working on them. I won't back down, and I won't overstep. I know where I am going - - Scotland. I know what I am doing - - trading. This is going to be the best new years ahead - - thank you, Jesus!!

Photo Credit: Pinterest 

Why I'm Not Married (Yet)

 The list of reasons I am not interested in being married is longer than the list of why I'm not married (yet).  I say "yet" because God isn't finished with me, and I could actually end up being married again if HE, God, were to decide I need to be married. I personally am not seeking a marital relationship at this time. What I am seeking is to do the things God wants, be the person God wants me to be, and if that includes being a wife, then by God, and all things Holy, they (the Trinity) will need to make that happen by opening every last door necessary; a lady never has to open doors you know. (That's a little added Southern hospitality for those of you who don't know me. I'm absolutely from the South, which is a place where we honor God and expect men to be men.)

    It won't make me the least bit popular with the women folk when I say this, but believe it or not ladies, God made the man to be the head of the family, therefore, as a wife, I would understand that. I'm not all that easy to wrangle, manage, control, or handle, so God will need to provide a man who is capable of actually performing that duty before I can submit to him as God would have me to do. First things first, he has to present me without blemish and without blame. Once he can do that, hold his hands up to God and dedicate his life to me both monogamously and show the same love for me that Christ has for the Church, I will have zero reasons not to submit to him the way a wife is intended to submit. 

    Again, I won't win any friendly smiles or nods from the ladies who have suffered at the hands of the wrong man (me included) but if I were to marry again that man (my husband) would have the final say over our finances, and that means if I am the one earning those finances, he would be given the last word there as well. That's not something most women in 2022 are willing to consider let alone do, but if God picked the man for me I would have no reason to doubt that God would also train that man in the ways and means of how to be the best decision-maker after we had dutifully (as a couple) discussed what we both this is best for our family or union. He would have the last word in all things; that's a hard thing to give up, but if you think about it, he has it so much worse than I ever would. I am only submitting to him, a man, but he (a man) is submitting to God, and he's 100% responsible for the decisions he makes, and guess what, he's (the man) responsible for the decisions I make too! He's the head of the household. It ultimately falls on him to discuss these things with me and to make sure whatever we do it's the right thing!

    I can't think of a better thing to be than free from having to be responsible for the decisions being made. I have a great mind, and I am a very very strong-willed woman, so I'm not going ot just let any ol' man come along and be the head of my household, take control of my finances, my choices, my desires, and my decisions. No, that's not what will happen. If God, and God alone, decides to make me the EXCEPTIONALLY wonderfully dutiful and respectful wife that I know I would be, and could be, He (God) will have to provide the ONE man who I can be subjected to, who I can submit to, who I can follow, who I can uplift, who I can support emotionally, spiritually, even financially if he needs to work on whatever it is that God wants him to do - - that's a very unique and one-of-a-kind man. There aren't two out there. God knows that. 

    The list of reasons I'm not married is LONG indeed, but the list can be summed up by saying this; I am not willing to submit until God brings me the one He wants me to submit to. I won't be doing the choosing if there is another one.  Nope! He'll be dropped in my lap, and I've said it before; God will write "This one's for you Jude, you're welcome" in purple lettering on some random wall.  He'll make it so clear that I won't even have to wonder -- don't you kinda feel sorry for that guy right now? I mean, he's possibly out there minding his own business, just going what he thinks God wants him to do, and maybe he's thinking he can't do it alone, and maybe he could use a really good wife to both help him and support his passion for the ministry God has chosen him for. Don't you think he's gonna be in for the shock of his life if he does ask God for me? LOL...I mean, he may not realize it's me, but yeah, God will know. 

    To be honest, I think I'd be OK with it.  I know I've learned a great deal from life and could be the helpmeet someone needs; love will grow.  Honor, respect, communication, all of that will happen -- if it is to happen.  The list is short really, it's because God hasn't said yes yet - - just "wait" and when He says to wait it's a yes just waiting to manifest -- So yeah, I'm open for a discussion on the matter (as long as the man is right with God and right for me...and has a guitar. There will be a guitar in this union, or else, I'm not doin' it! I've gone long enough without one! I can't play one, but I damn sure want to listen to one being played!) Smiles. There will be dogs too, and chocolate. There will be kilts, there will be coffee, there will be beaches, and there will be beards. There will be great sex, and....did I say that out loud? Well, I should probably stop before I truly say what I want to say - - I do that from time to time, but it's OK, God will tell the man that too. He'll know. He may already know. Who knows? (God knows.)

Photo Credit: dreamstime.com

The Blood of a Lamb

 Just this past week I was reading an article about how a lamb or sheep in a woman's field had been severely bitten by a rattlesnake!  The poor sheep was in terrible pain, and though she swelled up and could hardly move for 2 days, going into the 3rd day she revived.  Not only was she able to return to the herd, but she also seemed stronger, even more, "alive" if you will. Her attitude (did you know animals have attitude?) seemed to be uplifting.  What happened? The woman said she never took the sheep to the vet because when she called the vet she was told that the blood of a sheep can actually neutralize the venom of a snake! WHAT? Say that again, but this time, say it with a Biblical inflection.  The Blood of The Lamb neutralizes the bite of the Serpent!

    God is so so so so so wonderful. He did this on purpose folks!! I am and have been, a Baptist all of my life, but I never knew this to be so. I am flat-out amazed, and I'm humbled to the point of tears just relaying the facts.  God, in His infinite wisdom, created the anti-venom materials needed to sustain the bite of a poisonous snake inside the body of a lamb!  It just goes to show you that He knew all along what His plan was for Christ. He knew all along what His message was for us.  God (through the Creator side, Jesus) made the sheep and He made the serpent KNOWING that the blood of the lamb would prevail.  I am raising my hands, but when I do that I have to stop typing! 

    So overwhelmed am I, that I have been tweeting, texting, calling, and bothering just about anyone who will agree to listen to me. I am just blown away by this fact.  It could not be more clear.  It does make me wonder why the damned serpent we call Satan chose the snake as a means to lull and lie to Eve if he also knew what could and would happen.  I can only imagine there would be sheep in the Garden of Eden were he to bite one or the other of the first couple.  It also blows me away that Jesus created the trees that would become His cross. He allowed them to be watered, to have sunlight, to thrive and grow strong; strong enough to hold a man's full weight as He was nailed to it and bled for my (our) sins. People say "He could have called 10,000 angels" but you know what, He could have just skipped that seed altogether and that tree would never have been planted!

    Most of my ancestors are from the UK area, mainly Scotland, but also England. This is where an amazing new anti-venom testing and study is taking place. More than 2000 sheep are injected with venom on a monthly basis, and one of the main (main) reasons the study is allowed to continue is that the blood never fails to do its job.  Did you hear that? The Blood never fails.  Oh, I am just so happy right now, and I'm thinking more people need to hear this. I think I'll send my blog to about 1000 churches this weekend to see if any of them wish to do a bit of research on the matter and do a bit of educating - - and witnesses, all at the same time.

Here is an article that talks a bit about it. You can find more. Be blessed. Be covered! The Blood of the True Lamb covers every sin. 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-05-23/sheeps-blood-provides-rattlesnake-anti-venom/1576314?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

Photo Credit: FBCTexarkana.org

Weird Dream - Ships/Windows/Kyle Wesley

 Let me preface this by saying I seem to have very odd dreams, but I do remember them. I do remember details, and I also remember words, things I've said, things said to me, numbers, etc.  That being said, let's just jump into it.  My friend Niki told me that when you jump into the middle of a story, not at the beginning, it's called "in media res" that sounds cool. Let's dive into the middle, shall we?

    I was in a place with a man, he was my boyfriend, and he called himself Mike, but I knew that wasn't his name. He told people he was from Dublin, and I knew that wasn't true either. I wasn't really impressed with the guy, so when he was flirting with another woman I looked him in the eyes (he was actually wearing sunglasses) and I said "Let me make it easy for you" and I walked away. I was wearing a really pretty black sleeveless dress, and I sort of jogged home. I used the highway to find my way home.  

     I was about to arrive home when I saw a young woman who was blond and small. The woman had a baby in her arms. She told me his name was Kyle Wesley. The woman handed me her baby. He was wearing a white crocheted outfit. She wanted me to adopt him. She couldn't afford to keep him. I told her I would. I then found myself handing him back to her and she had a man with her, perhaps the father. I was super happy they wanted Kyle back, and we prayed together. That made me happy. 

    I never made it home. I was now on a ship, not a boat, but a cruise ship and I was with my friends Niki and Jeannie. We needed to get to the other side. We HAD to get there. Suddenly it was imperative that we make it over there, and they lifted me up and I found myself standing on them to reach a window.  They weren't in danger or peril, it wasn't even hard for them to lift me. I was asking the people on the other side of the window to let me in, but they couldn't. It wasn't that they wouldn't, they actually couldn't.  I had to do it.  I began shielding Niki and Jeannie with my shirt and I broke through the thick glass with a stick or something. It took a while.

    After breaking the glass, I pulled the window out of the frame, and the frame came apart I was having to pull more than I thought I needed to, but I finally got it off and open so I could crawl through it. Niki and Jeannie went on their way. I was the only one to go through the window. There, on the other side was broken clear glass, but it wasn't hurting me or anyone. I picked it up.  A man, the captain probably, who was named Donald, was asking me why I didn't use the door. I told him there was no door. I could only use the window and I had to break it. He argued, but he realized I was right and he apologized.

    While I was talking to the others on the other side of the glass where I was now, I said "I know Oprah Winfrey so my story will be told".  They were happy to know it. As I was talking I had to pull the glass from my throat, but it wasn't hurting me. I wasn't in danger, it was just there.  I was told I needed to go to the doctor's office to be checked so I could continue the trip.  The doctor was in room 210.  His office was down a floor, so I took the stairs and noticed I was in a pink party dress now. I stopped by the staircase and had my photo taken before going to the doctor's office.

    I arrived at the doctor's office but instead of a door it was a gate, and animals were on the other side. He was a veterinarian rather than a GP, but he was nice and he let me pet all the animals. I saw a Haflinger horse, a cow, a lamb, a dog or two, and several cats, all lined up on the floor ready to be petted.  He gave me a plant and told me I was fine!  This is the last thing I remember before waking up.

    After looking up all the meanings and going through them to see what I thought was the gist of the dream, I can say that I'm on a journey, I'm going alone, leaving my friends, and I'm happy to be standing on my own two feet, holding my ground, standing up for myself, and taking control of the situation at hand.  The name Kyle Wesley literally means "Narrow Meadow to the West"  Interestingly, there is a larger park in the center towards the west side of Edinburgh City Centre called The Meadows. It is rather long and narrow.  Could that be where I'm going? I accepted it and gave it back to the owners/parents. I didn't keep it. I went on to another place.

    The number 210 is said to be a number of gratitude. To be happy with what I have and not to seek more or try to overdo it.  I'm OK with that too. I want to be content. The party dress and the elegant dress were nice, they show that I am preparing myself for a trip, a journey, something fun, and adventurous.  The ship is literally a relaxed way of cruising through my waking hours, but I must break through new windows to be where I need to be and again, alone, not with friends or family. 

    Speaking about knowing Oprah (I have met the woman) is probably more or less saying I have connections, and I'll be OK wherever it is that I go. I don't have problems finding new friends or acquaintances. I make sure I stay connected.  Basically, I think the white crocheted outfit could mean newness, innocence, first time there, that sort of thing, and that makes sense. I could also be thinking of going to another place where I haven't actually been.  We'll have to see.

    As for the doctor and the last things I saw, the animals? I think the doctor represented authority to say it's OK, you check out, you're fine, you'll make it. The plant represented new beginnings, and strong life and the animals I saw are farm-type animals, friendly and helpful. The several cats lined up for their petting was fun, it was sort of saying we're all in line now, just as you wanted us!  I'm thinking this is a good dream about my future plans to move to Scotland and just be happy and healthy, on my own, standing up for myself, and doing what I need to do to find new friends, new everything - - the journey is mine to take!

Photo Credit: Unknown / Etsy

    

Poetry - Writers

 I can't say with any certainty, how many poems I've written in the 784 years I've been alive. It's at least once a year, I can tell you that. There's no way I can possibly remember the words to every one of them; let alone the message I may have been trying to convey.  I will say this, I laugh at times when I find myself reading a poem I find in a box lost somewhere in my house or attic and then find myself saying "Oh, I think I like that" when I wrote it. I laugh. I do.  I wonder if other people do that or is it's just me. I wonder if there are people who can remember that they actually penned the words when they did it, why they did it, you know - - memories? 

    I came across a poem I wrote in the early '80s the other day and I thought about it. I thought I should publish that, but then I realized I did publish it! I not only published it in a newspaper I put it in my poetry book titled "Periwinkle".  I'd like to re-do that book if only to take out the thoughts I wrote about the title poem. I no longer feel the way I do about the man I wrote the poem for. I was never in love with him. I in fact, never loved him at all in any way, but I really can't say I even have respect for him at this point and there I am now, in perpetuity being all kind and nice -- dang it. 

    Let me see if I can make things a bit more clear for anyone out there who doesn't know me. I am a poet. I am a writer. I am a storyteller. I am an author. At any moment (whatsoever) I could spontaneously burst into words...either spoken or written. When I get upset, pissed off, mad, or otherwise angry I can write words that cut through and leave no trace of life; I destroy and destroy utterly.  Thank God for that delete button.  Thank God for erasers.  When I am happy, when I am in love, when I am fantasizing, my words can lift and create life itself. There are new colors and hues of romance as well as extemporaneously vivid genesis! I become the keeper of flames, the bringer of passion -- I'd rather be happy I think.

    Today, I will leave you with a word or two I wrote in 2020 while praying and asking God to show me His mercy as I wondered about the future of my life here on this Earth.

    "Will I be a wife again, can I bring my heart to think it?

Will there be a moment when my soul receives a kiss?

Could I know again, the panting, the whispers of  enchantment

Are there words of hope waiting, somewhere in the mist?"

Who knows? Only God can answer that one. If it is to be it will be. I will certainly not seek it on my own. I've done enough damage in that area of my life. I will simply say that the ink in my pen and the blood in my veins would be pumping at the same time if it were so -- let the words commence God if it is your will. Let me know your will.  Ephesians 5 tells me a bit of what to expect, but it's a very sharp two-party sword that one. Not only does it cut both ways, but it also unites in a way that only God can.

Let the words stir in my head and in my heart -- awaiting their release.

Photo Credit: publishedtodeath.com

Roe Vs. Wade (My Opinion)

 President Ronald Reagan said it best "It would seem that everyone who is in favor of abortion has already been born"  Let's talk about that for a minute.  I know people who have had abortions. I know people who wish they wouldn't have had their abortion because it's the one thing in their life that they can point to that caused them so much pain and self-hate that they can't seem to move forward with any respect for themselves. Two of these women are movie stars. If I told you their names you would know exactly who they are. One of them ended her life over the situation, and another tried to take her life but failed to do so and is now living with that guilt as well.  Am I happy that Roe vs. Wade was overturned today? Hell yes, I am, but I wish it would never have become law, to begin with. MILLIONS of unborn babies have been murdered for the sake of convenience who would have otherwise been thriving adults today.

    A woman on the Left will scream "My body, my choice" until you tell her that the woman on the Right doesn't want to be injected with an unknown substance. Then the woman on the Left is screaming that the woman on the Right is murdering people with her diseased breath! Wasn't the woman on the Left willing to murder an innocent unborn child?  My UK friends will say that we Americans are selfish and unmoving because we think we deserve our human rights and Constitutional rights when it comes to making decisions about being vaccinated, but what about the rights of the unborn? What about the fathers of these unborn babies? Not the ones who paid for the abortions, but the ones who never knew there was a baby! 

    We Americans are not selfish when we won't submit and surrender to wearing masks and being vaccinated "for the greater good" there is no good in the equation! It hasn't been proven, it's only been bounced about in theory on both sides of the argument. You can't find a single blind-blind study for either side that proves that there is a need to vaccinate for the virus - - it's a freaking virus, it can be cured by simple means, and the LEFT stopped our means! Literally stopped producing the chemicals needed to cheaply cure the virus and called us all conspiracy theorists even when that science was proven beyond doubt regarding the cure. The LEFT is the LEFT and will simply continue to bitch about whatever they choose to bitch about and as long as they hold the gold they think they make the rules.

    Today, with the Supreme Court ruling in Roe vs. Wade, it wasn't the LEFT that lost, it was the BABIES who won! Here's a thought, if you don't want a baby, don't have sex. If you don't want a baby, but you want to have sex, be as careful as you can be. If you can't be careful, and you still don't want that baby, adopt it out or give it to a willing and loving family who would go to the end of the world to raise a child. There are so many options - - thank you JESUS, that we as a nation can say with confidence that an unborn life is a LIFE. 

    I plant avocado seeds in every state I go to, just because I think it's a fun thing to do. I also plant sunflowers in crazy wild areas, usually around barns, and not ONE TIME has anyone said to me "Hey, I love those roses you planted by the barn" because it wasn't a ROSE that was planted.  When you plant a baby human inside the fertile uterus, a BABY HUMAN is going to be born. It's not a blob, it's not a thing, it's not an IT...it's a BABY!  Our nation will be severely judged by Almighty God one day for more than 65,000,000 unborn babies that were murdered over the years, and if you want to scream about Black Lives mattering - - more than 72% of those 65,000,000 babies were African American babies!  (Google that sh*t!)

    I for one, stand with the Supreme Court of the United States today in their decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.  It should be understood that the American people are people who fear God and do what He commands. Judgment is real, and unfortunately, we're already in the throws of it - - the least we can do is try to ease the suffering as best we can until He returns to call us home. When that happens there won't be a single baby left on this planet for them to murder - - you don't have to Google that, you can just read your Bible - - if you have one! That's another sad statistic in our country and it's the reason we have to fight this crap in court these days. God isn't allowed in our schools, and He's not welcome in most homes, but that's another blog.  Today, our Court spoke.  Thank you!

God bless the little children - and may there be many more!!

Photo Credit: YouTube.com

    

My First Demo Trades

 I started my Trading View/Oanda demo trading today. It's so much fun to sit back and watch the market. I've not yet pushed the buy/sell buttons, what I'm doing is just playing the buy/sell position on the trade chart and watching. I know it's only demo money, but I'm just not ready to pull the trigger yet and make an official mistake. This is me being the overthinker that I am. I'm not even willing to throw out fake money! This process is real, and it's a real practice for me. Practice doesn't make perfect folks, it's perfect practice that makes perfect.

    In the world of trading, no matter what market you trade, there is no one who does it perfectly every time. It's a game, it's a market, it's a risk. There are just too many things that can go right, and too many things that can go wrong. For those of you who aren't familiar with FOREX, or the Foreign Exchange, it's another market like the Stock Market, but it's only currencies. It is money buying and selling money. You find the two (pairs) currencies you wish to trade with, be it Euros, Dollars, Yen, etc, and you buy one using the other. For instance, if I trade the EUR/USD I'm using Euros to buy U.S. Dollars, and conversely, if I trade the USD/EUR I am using Dollars to buy the Euros. The market changes second by second!  You can go long and buy, you can go short and sell, you can sit and wait - - which is what I do.

    I am mostly a Swing trader at this point, but I'm practicing using the Day Trading method of getting in and getting out so I can practice putting in the trades and finding my place in line. I could lose, I could win. I'm practicing knowing when to enter. I'm reading patterns on the Daily and 4Hr chart, then dropping down to the shorter time frames of 1Hr and 15Min. to see if the candles give me a reason to enter. It's a process, not something you learn overnight.  

    My method is simple: I do what Steven Hart of The Trading Channel suggests, but he is by no means telling me what to do. He is not giving me Financial Advice. He's showing us online what he does, and how he does it, and we can take that information and use it or not. I'm following his guidelines as much as possible, but I will be honest, I broke protocol today by a mile!  I decided to add a bit of risk just for the heck of it, and I ended up winning. I won't do that with real money! I only did it with fake demo money, and I didn't hit the buy/sell buttons either. I'm not willing to stick my neck out yet - - I will tomorrow or Friday. I'm inching my way into the market like it's a fresh cold pool of water! Once I'm in I'll be OK, I'm sure.

    Right now I'm doing the longer waiting thing just to have more fun tonight. I was in a few-minute trade earlier, and I won. I will now try the waiting game and give it 4-8 hours to see if I made target or if I was stopped out. It's a good way to practice and I don't mind losing because it's learning. When I stop learning that's a problem. I'm hoping for a 68% win ratio over the next 1000 trades and if I can maintain that I'll start pushing the buy/sell button with my own capital.....maybe! I know I will have to do that sometime, but I really don't want to lose, so I'll keep the practice going until I'm really confident that I'll make a bit more each time than I risked. I can do the shorter risk-to-reward ratio for the first 3 months to be sure I know what I'm doing because I don't want to get overconfident... yet.

    Geez this is fun - - and nerve-wracking at the same time! LOVE IT.

Photo Credit: I snipped it from Trading View today. It's the trade I'm in right now.

Besties are the Best

 You know, besties are the best and I think it would be OK if my bestie found out today that I love her! I think she's the bestest best friend ever and I don't mind telling the world. Let's just do it. HEY WORLD, I love my best friend Jeannie! She and I have been really close since the very first minute we met in August 1977.  Yes, I know, I forgot to mention that we are both immortal and we will always be hovering around the same age as when we first met. It is what it is, and maybe that's why we're so close today. Neither of us really gets any older.

    So, I was at the high school and it was the very very first day of classes. We had been there the same week to pick up our schedules, but we didn't meet on that day. I was hanging with my brother I'm sure. He had been at the school a year before me, and actually, he's in her class, I'm not. I was supposed to graduate in 1980, but I decided to go ahead and skip my junior year and graduate in 1979.  Jeannie and my brother are in the Class of '78.  West is Best!! We know this to be a fact.

    I was walking around the cafeteria on the first day of school with my best friend from junior high, her name is Jen, and she and I had been besties for about two or three years. She and I walked up to a table, then Jen decided to walk around with another friend Karen. Karen, as it turns out, was Jeannie's best friend for a few years. When Jen and Karen took off and left Jeannie and I sitting awkwardly at the same table, we had little to no choice but to at least talk to each other. I think I was the one wearing the Bee Gees t-shirt, I'm not sure, one of us was.  She and I immediately struck up a conversation about the Bee Gees, and since she was a Barry fan and I was a Maurice fan, we hit it off.  That was then, this is now.

    A million years later, we're still besties, and let me tell you (without telling you too much) she and I have been to (oh a lot) a few concerts together. I think Andy Gibb was the first, and I think .38 Special may have been the last, but there were some 300 or so in the middle. She's still attending concerts. I only go if I can stand in the back and exit if I need to.  She went recently with another friend to see Steely Dan, so that would have been really fun; if I could stand in the back and make an exit. She's right up front screaming and yelling, I'm in the back making sure no one comes in with bad intentions. See the difference? We're best friends for a reason.

    She lets me drive. I don't complain about her being a vegetarian.  She puts up with my "I was fired again" stories, and I know she's been at her one job since we met in high school, and I don't tease her about not taking change well.  She was raised in a very proper and elite household (I think they had a maid), and I was raised in a mess of a place with humble beginnings and humble endings. She fusses with her hair and nails every week, and I cut mine - both. I cut my nails and my hair. I don't have time for that sort of girly thing.  We both love animals, we both love OU football, we both hate Oklahoma State, and we both love chocolate. 

    Our friendship was tested and tested HARD when we went with her church on a canoe trip down the Arkansas River.  What made me think I could row a few miles with her, I will never know. We capsized at least four times and lost literally everything we took with us, including the sunscreen, lip zinc, and money.  If it wasn't for the fact that someone somewhere up the river was playing Saturday Night Live loudly - - we may have ended right there. I may have had to kill her. The Bee Gees SAVED US!!  We have not gone anywhere in a boat since, and we won't.

    Apart from saying she's the best and just having you accept that fact, I can tell you that when I moved away to Indiana we still kept in touch daily through Facebook, texting, and calling. It was as if we were still close.  We've been through graduation, college, marriages, kids, now grandkids - - but we've not aged. It's just what it is folks, we don't get older. We stay so healthy, so happy, so wonderfully in shape, you really should see us.  We're like something from the Twilight Zone, I swear.  Well, whatever happens, know this; because my best friend in the whole wide world is born again, and I am born again, we're going to be best friends in ETERNITY too!! Oh my gosh! Can you imagine the concerts there? I will be upfront with her and not worry about a thing. THAT will be GLORIOUS!!  

    Happy 1874th birthday friend - - you rock!

Photo Credit: Darren Clarke

    

I Found a Diary.

 When I was really young and just learning to write, I thought it was so cool that I could write something on a piece of paper and give that paper to my mom to read. She would then write me back on either the same piece of paper or another one, and we would continue our correspondence this way for a very long time. It was a fun game. I also wrote poems and stuck them on the fridge for her approval. To my amazement, she never once said it was bad or that it could even use improvement. Wow.  Imagine having someone in your life that loved everything you did. Thanks, Mom.

    I can't tell you when I started keeping a journal, I know I had several and they either got thrown away or left in a storage box. I don't know. Maybe when I'm really rich and famous mom can pull them out from where she's been storing them and she can sell them for $$$$ and make bank! LOL. Don't hold your breath Woman!!  Mom taught me to never (never) write anything down that couldn't be posted in the newspaper for everyone to read. That's some damn good advice right there.

    In 2008, I was in New York City with my dog and her manager Mike Maguire. If you need to read that last sentence again, you can. Feel free to ask...Wait, What? Your dog had a manager? Yes, she did, and she had her own attorney as well. She was a mess, but she was my wonderful mess for sure.  We were in a restaurant in NYC and a man walked up to me and began asking questions about something I had written in a blog about donations. OK. Ask.  He was trying to trap me. He was trying to say I kept the donations.  It was now up to me to prove my innocence, as far as he was concerned.  Guess where he worked? The Washington Post. The newspaper. 

    It took me a minute to find the proof for the man. I didn't live in NYC, I lived in Oklahoma City, and I didn't have the receipts and such with me. I had to wait until our tour was over, then go home, and try to find the box I had them stored in, and it was a terrible ordeal to be sure. The man was bent on ruining my reputation as well as scarring that of my dog!  Well, I found the proof, and he had to hold off on his little dirty-laundry story. Mike threatened a lawsuit for defamation of character on Faith, not on me, which I thought was hilarious. NO ONE bad-mouths the dog and gets away with it. Ask Sebastian M.  He learned the hard way, too, he and Vince V.

    The point is, I write and I blog, and I have diaries and I have journals. I leave them hanging out and laying around the house most of the time.  I don't care if anyone (you) read them because I don't lie. I don't cover things up, and I don't sugarcoat things. I say exactly the things I feel at that time. I won't go back and erase, I won't go back and apologize. That is how I felt AT THAT TIME and people who find themselves offended by my writings will literally have to get over themselves. I'm not going to say I'm sorry for having a feeling.  I can try not to make them public. I can do that.

    This morning I wrote a long long dissertation in my diary. I was trying to figure something out, and often times it helps to write it down and do the whole Pro/Con thing with my mind.  I usually come to a few logical conclusions and I'll even admit that there are times I am WAY WAY off mark, and that's not always a bad thing. There are times I'm really very happy to be wrong. When I am wrong, I am the first to raise my own hand to take the blame and/or responsibility, but you'll never see me do that if I'm right. NOPE...you'll die a slow death before you see me admit wrongdoing if I am right. I may help you through your agony over it, but I'm not going to compromise my correctness. Sorry. It's who I am. I don't have to gloat, I rarely gloat in fact, but I won't "take it back". I'll work you through it.

    I saw a funny t-shirt today that made me laugh. It said, "If you don't like me, and still watch everything I do, then let's face it, you're a fan."  So true. The same could be said about (you) people right now who are reading my blog after claiming they can't stand me. OK, so why are they (you) reading my blog? Do you think I'll say something about you? I may. You should read my diary instead. It's really where the juicy stuff is anyway.  Just sayin'.

LOVE YOU!

Photo Credit: Boldomatic.com

    

    

Fathers.

When I think about fathers I can't help but think about my own daddy. I didn't call him "Father", just "Daddy" and later as we kids grew up and had kids of our own we began to call him "Pop". Funny how that happens. I know for a fact that he wasn't born with the name "Daddy"; he has the same name as my son and his own father, Reuben Stringfellow.  My daddy is Reuben Wayne, my son is Reuben Andrew, and my grandpa is Reuben Jefferson. There are quite a few Reu in our lives.

    The Bible tells us that children are a blessing from God, and I know that's true. I have been eternally blessed with my three. I suppose I was one of the four blessings my daddy had, and I'm absolutely sure all of my siblings agree that he was (and is) one of the best gifts we could ever have received from our Heavenly Father. What I think is really cool is that we can call God "Father" and we can call him "Abba" as well, which is the Hebrew way of saying "Daddy".  I also find it funny how dads claim their baby is saying their name when the child utters something like "da-da" or "Abba", we get it, you're awesome! We know this.

    I've seen the meme and/or saying that "Anyone can be a father, it takes a man to be a Daddy", and I have to agree with that statement. In my life, I have had two separate men decide on their own to stop being a daddy or a father to their children and to choose women, lust, sex, etc, over the extraordinary blessings sent to them from God Himself. It's heartbreaking, to say the least; crushing in fact. This is another reason why I think of my Daddy and call him my hero.  He didn't have to stay; I mean, he did, mom would have killed him if he had left her, but yeah, he wanted to stay. He taught all of us lessons far beyond that what we could ever learn on our own, from friends, and even from good people who wanted to give us the best of life. God gave us a Daddy. That was and is incredibly wonderful to hold in my heart.

    My daddy wasn't the type to play football in the front yard with us. He didn't pal around with us, teach us to fight, drink, hunt, or watch sports with us. He took us camping, and fishing, talked to us about life, read the Bible to us, and showed us what a husband should be, how a husband should treat his wife, and how a man should treat his children. There's just no replacement for that sort of thing in a child's life. To say I was blessed would be a great understatement. I was impressed, stamped, dyed in the color of true love, and it will always be that way even in Heaven.  

    Daddy decided to go see Jesus on October 5, 2017. He had an appointment he just couldn't reschedule. I know when the trumpet blows his body will rise before mine if I'm still alive during the Rapture. I know that right now he's up in Heaven in his spirit and he's making lots of wonderful plans for my room, house, whatever it is. My Daddy is a carpenter, like Jesus, and with his years of experience and love, I'm sure my place will be radiant, unique, and have that special something that only a Daddy can give a kid; you know, his baby girl. 

    When we do get there, when the trumpet blows, all of our sins will be gone. Every last thing we did on this Earth, every tiny and large out-of-the-question wrong that held us back from being who we needed to be, will be destroyed.  There will be love, there will be angels singing, Seraphim with laughter. There will be Roses giving their love, blowing kisses to us, and teaching us that nothing is out of the reach of a Believer who knows Jesus.  ALL will be forgiven. We will be united with our friends, family, people we don't know, people we read about, people we thought about, people who (like us) have been waiting to be made free -- isn't it a bit ironic that the thing that sets us free also binds us for eternity? That's the love of a FATHER.

My Daddy Reuben Wayne (age 18) next to his daddy Reuben Jefferson and my uncle Billy.

Photo Credit: Grandma Stringfellow