What's In a Name?

What's in a name you ask? Well, I suppose a name could be an identifier, a way of pointing to someone and saying "She's a Stringfellow!" That statement could mean that I look like my father, or it could mean that I belong to a set of people who go by the last name (surname) of Stringfellow.  Both are true. I do in fact look more like my dad than I do my mom, and I am in fact, running with and claiming the Stringfellows I come in contact with, for the most part. I'm going to say Nix on the Englishman Peter Stringfellow, who I have no intention of ever claiming, and hopefully, he was more or less from another branch of the good name. 

    Names were created and given and as you (we all) know they could be associated with the jobs one had (Clarke = clerk), or the area one was from (Robin of Hood), and they could be variations of other names such as "Oh, that's William's son" later to be known as Williamson in Scotland, but Williams in England. Strange, but true. My name, the name Stringfellow was a variation of the name Strong Fellow and/or even from Arm Strong or Armstrong. The Scottish remnant of the Stringfellows was not in a clan per se, as we were Lowlanders and Border Reivers, but we hung with the Armstrongs and adopted their ways, tartans, people, trades, habits, and bad behavior right up through the Middle Ages.  Somewhere around the 15th century, there were those Stringfellow/Strengfellow/Strengefelaw (etc) who broke from the ranks of doing evil and decided to support the Crown. This led to one of my recorded ancestors, Sir Robert Stringfellow (1615 Scotland) being knighted.  He and his family left Scotland in 1660 when King Charles II took the throne. There was obviously some trouble there.

    The earliest recorded spelling of Stringfellow was in the 13th Century in the area of York or Yorkshire England, again, back in those days the area went back and forth under English and Scottish rule.  Here is what the Surname database has to say about that particular Stringfellow : "The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Strengfellow, which was dated 1286, witness in the "Assize Court Rolls of Cheshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307"  Here's a link:  https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Stringfellow  You can see the name(s) go through a lot of history before they become your reality. I knew I was English and Scottish because my dad's side of the family was primarily Scottish and my mom is an Edwards -- Yeah, English. I fight with myself all the time.

    Recently, a Scottish friend of mine got a taste of what it's like to make fun of the silly Americans who do DNA tests. He was laughing at me because as he said, he didn't need to do a DNA test to find out he was 100% Scottish, born and bred for centuries. I called him out on it. He refused at first, but I goaded him into it because his mouth was so much bigger than his brain.  I knew that even most Scots will show Scandanavian blood, Irish blood, Welsh blood, and God-Help-Us-All, English blood. It's just a truth that we really can't get away from. There were simply too many pretty English girls running around and those rugged Scottish boys just couldn't help themselves. Sure, they married the Anglo-Saxons and gave them proper Scottish surnames, but their babies were born with the stain of English blood for centuries; and they still do!!

    My friend's last name was McLeod, or so he thought it was. The funny thing about being an investigator, sometimes my Bloodhound senses kick in and go places online such as www.scotlandspeople.uk.gov  and I find things. In his case, I found that he was in fact born on the day and in the place he thought he was born, which was just outside of Edinburgh, however, (and this is huge), his birth certificate had been amended. I guess his mum never told him.  The man who raised him didn't sire him. That man, the man McLeod, married his mum when the boy was nearly 5 years of age.  She had been married to a Mr. Clarke from the mid 1970s until just before she met the man who would later raise the young lad.  Why tell a kid? That was her thought process.  Why? Because he doesn't need to be 44 years of age finding out that not only did he have a dead-beat dad that beat his mum senseless, he had a twin brother who was still living, and going under yet another name, as he was properly adopted at birth.

    The last name Clarke is my best friend's last name now. She married her sweet and loving husband over 30 years ago here in the U.S.A.  Her husband's people are more Irish than English, and I wondered if the DNA for my friend would come back green or not; it did.  After weeks of testing my hypothesis and knowing what he knew because I laid the truth right in front of him using the website, he decided to ask his mum the truth. She wasn't pleased.  Not only did she not tell him about his father, she had never told him or anyone really, that she had a second baby just minutes after the first. She knew she couldn't afford one baby, but twins were never even mentioned by her doctors. It was the 70's. I get that, but apparently, it was a real surprise and her mother talked her into shipping the baby off to a distant relative in the western isles of Scotland literally when he was only days old. No mention of it to anyone ever.  

    The thing about birth certificates is they can be amended, but there is a check box that the doctors check for multiple births. I guess she always told folks it was checked by mistake. I don't envy anyone having to find out that they not only have a different father but also have a twin brother they could have been beating up on and sharing their world with; if they only knew. What's in a name? Too much to contain in some cases.  The same site that I used to find out that his parents had married after he was born, of course, told me who his mum had been married to before. That search led to other searches such as arrests, criminal history, rental and real estate history, and occupational history. We searched every nook and cranny for his real father (without having to ask his mum or her family) and we found much more than we expected. The man really never left Edinburgh! Who knows, he and his new family could have been secretly watching the boy grow up.  The mum was seeking divorce when she became pregnant and it wasn't granted to her until two years after the birth of her sons. The father, Mr. Clarke, was working when the babies were born so he never knew there were two!  WOW!

    I'm not saying that research is good or bad. I'm saying that excavating can uncover more than one bargains if they dig where no one has dug in many years. Things had a way of being covered up for privacy, for family, for keeping a good name, etc., oh, the things we do to save face! What is done in the dark will always be brought to light! There is nothing wrong with a woman realizing that she can't keep two babies, and giving one to a good family. Where the problem comes into play is not telling the truth in the beginning and some 40+ years later having to have a very uncomfortable conversation about a few issues that could have been dealt with slowly and methodically over the years. 

    I'm not sorry I had my friend run his DNA.  He knows now that he is not only NOT full Scottish, and he shouldn't berate others for not having the privilege, but he also knows that humans are humans and we act and do human things which can (at times) really screw the world over for ourselves and for others. His mum didn't deserve to be beaten. She didn't deserve to be put into a situation where she couldn't love and give care to both babies. 

    The brother was found too! The really crazy (and good) thing is, that his parents and family told him the truth as much as they knew. He never knew his mum's actual name, but felt that it was Anne or Annie since every now and then someone referred to her, and he could piece the puzzle of his life together. He lived a good life up in the relatively secluded Orkney Islands after being brought from the Skye or Harris area when his family moved a few years after he arrived.  He was educated, decided to go into the family fishing business, and is co-owner of a fishing boat. He's married and has 2 daughters who are both in college as of 2022.  He too was sad and upset that he didn't know he had a twin! The funny thing is, they are both tattooed, both play guitar, both are Protestant, and both drive blue cars!

    What's in a name? So much.  The name of Jesus holds more than can be imagined. We will never be abandoned. We will never be given away. We will never be lied to. We will never need to cover up the truth. In that name, we have eternal life, and we have eternal hope. This world is odd, upside down, and absolutely bonkers, but we do have Christ! It will be OK. I know when we get to Heaven we'll have a new name. That's going to be interesting.  I can't wait. I think I'll still hang on to Stringfellow as one of my middle names. It's something I don't ever want to do without. I rather like it. Thanks, Dad!

Photo Credit: 4Crests.com

    

Read more: https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Stringfellow#ixzz7ehvfGzRv

I Need a Garage!

     When I think about it, I have a list of quite a few things that I really need but I don't have, and a garage (and a wife) top the list.  A garage is where I would be able to store most of the stuff in my apartment that I don't use all the time, but I don't have room for it in my closets, so it's just sitting around like furniture. I say I need a wife because I know I could use a good wife! I'm not into the whole girl-girl thing, but wives can be so handy at times. They cook, they clean, they put things away, they make beds, they feed animals, they take kids places, they run baths, they do laundry, they go grocery shopping, and they put cute pillows on the couch.  Wives make decisions and if I had one, a wife, I wouldn't have or need to make decisions. I used to not have to make any decisions because my kids lived with me full time, all the time. Those were the days! I could wake up and take my first deep breath just knowing that every waking second of my life that day would be orchestrated and planned. Not so much now.

    I need a garage because I really need to have a garage sale, but without a garage, it would just be a sale and I'm not sure I could get a permit for that.  I can check into it I guess.  I need a garage because when the storms come I could park my car in it and not have to drive the short distance I do drive now to park my car under the roof of the parking garage behind my apartment.  I need a garage because then I could have a washer and dryer hooked up inside of that garage and I wouldn't have to take my dirty clothes for a walk around the complex and to the washing machine that I have to pay to use. I need a garage because I want a place to set up a tornado storm shelter in the corner and know that during the bad times I can have a hidey-hole to pray in without worrying that I'm going to go see Jesus before the prayer is finished. (He's been so gracious to us!)

    I need a garage because garages have access to attics and I would have the best attic out there. I would finish it out and have storage sections. I would make a little grid thing up that way, and have plans and assigned places for my boxes. I would make a really cool chart (maybe even color coded) to show where my things were stored and when they were stored so I could make sure to rotate them into the flow of being seen and used! This is a really good reason to have a garage and now I want one really really badly.  I see signs everywhere that say "Garage Sale" but when you get there it's not really for sale. Liars.

    I've lived in this apartment for about seven years now. I had a really nice garage in the house I lived in before this. It was only a one-car garage, mind you, but I had enough room on either side of my car to store boxes, water, a mini-fridge for fizzy water, and I had all my archery things hung up on a little peg board thing. I had a table, a sort of workshop thing, and I could do my pottery.  My kiln was in the corner on casters, I took it just outside the garage to fire it up so that it wouldn't accidentally spark a fire with any fumes that may escape the car. I'm not stupid. LOL...you may have guessed that I did that once, a long time ago.  OOPS!

    If I had a garage it would mean that I have a house! You can buy garages separately but they're called sheds. You'd still need a place with land to put it on, but yeah, if I had a garage it would purport that I also had a house. It's time I had one again. I love my apartment, but it's too small for what I have. I could sell off a bunch of it, but then I'd just gather stuff right back, and we do that. I need a house. I need rooms. I need shelves in those rooms. I need boxes, crates, and buckets. I love baskets. I could do baskets for the nicer things I see and use all the time. I don't really have a lot of useless stuff but I have a lot of stuff stuff. I could trim that back a bit. If my stuff was a person she/he/it would be overweight, but not obese; does that make sense?

    The plan has changed recently from working, saving, moving to Scotland, and continuing to work from home.  The new plan is to work, save up money, move to a house, and continue to work from the house. If I have to work out of the house I'll continue to save, use that money to trade, and make enough on trading what I saved, so I can quit my job and stay home and trade. I think, however, with all the remote opportunities these days, I'll be able to find work from home soon after I get my Series 66/7 licenses to trade for others. I can trade for myself now, without these licenses. The plan is a good plan. It will take me less than a year, and because I plan on only visiting Scotland in the spring, I will have enough to do both that and put down 4% on a house here; probably in Norman, OK. (Boomer Sooner)

    There are really awesome PINTEREST ideas for garages too, and if you know me, you know I'm already on that. I've been eye-balling peg boards, saw horses, ladders, and hooks. I am into the whole organization style of living and if I can I'll even paint the concrete floor of my new garage to make it that much more adorable. This garage of mine will be the envy of every neighbor who secretly wished they too could paint an Armstrong tartan pattern on their garage floor, and keep every do-dad they owned up on the wall in an exquisitely coordinated fashion. This will be a feat and something I am ready to take charge of soon!  Soon!

Photo Credit: Pinterest.  Not Tartan, but you get the idea

Flip Floppin' Again!!

 LESS than one month ago, I joined the YMCA thinking it would be the best thing for me. The Y is literally across the street from where I live, and believe it or not, I have joined it three times and have left it three times. I haven't ever stayed longer than three months either. There is a reason. There is always a really good reason, and this time it was the fact that the new older machines that they put in are really not doing well with my muscle definition; I can get the same results from what I do at home. I just can't see myself using the machines if they're not going to work.

    Most everyone reading this is probably thinking "You gave it less than a month!", and you would be correct. I really should give it longer, but my right knee is not the best, it's chronically injured from when I was a kid or in my late teens anyway. I can't push it no matter how hard I want to. The machines aren't set up with cables they are weight driven, and there really isn't a way to make the exercise work for me using less weight and more reps. I can do that at home with my resistance belts and squats.  

    The other machine I was using to sculpt my body was the pec-fly and the arm machine that I really loved, except it was always in need of repair. They just bought these machines too, but they are older machines and replaced the good ones they had before. The problem is that the Y across the street from me caters to older people really, and they let the really good machines go to another facility where younger and stronger people are. If no one really uses the arm machine at this Y it's not important to them to have it fixed. I used it, but I'm one person. I may go in 2 or 3 times a week, and that's not enough for them to send someone out to fix it. When several machines are broken or need repair they'll send for someone. I'm not dealing with that.

    I can do my leg work out on the vibration machine doing squats, and I can lift 10-15 pound bars at the same time and get a near full-body workout. I just need to do it. If I was spending 30 minutes at a time 3x a week at the Y I need to do that here, and so that's the new plan. I have hand weights (5#, 8#, and 10#) that I use when I watch videos on YouTube and I have the pilates ball that I both sit on and balance/bounce and I use it to do sit-ups and/or pushups but I really like the pushups on the wall now. I do planks too, but the dog tends to giggle and I get to where I want to punch her in the throat. No one should ever feel that way about their dog! I need to start doing the planks in my room and NOT inviting her to watch or participate. She is my Doga partner. 

    I do Doga (Yoga with the Dog) at least 3x a week, and it's a great stretch and plank time. It really is, and I know I am walking enough. I tend to do about 5 miles a day, but lately, I've been keeping it around 3 miles since I spoke with a professional trainer about the dangers of overstepping and ending up getting heavier. The BHB that I use is supposed to be helping with that too, as it allows my body to use fat for energy rather than carbs or sugar. The BHB or beta-hydroxybutyrate is naturally made by the body but I do add some (1/2 tsp) every day to a shake or drink, to help get all the stubborn fat out from behind the organs. I think it's working but I won't really know until around November. I hate waiting. I am one of those who wants results NOW. It doesn't work that way.

    The Y is a great choice for those patrons who go and just walk and talk, or maybe use the machines that are working. I needed them all to work, and I didn't want to have to keep asking when they would be repaired. I loved that place, and I think I would still use it if I could count on the machines being helpful, but I need cable-based machines, not the dead-weight push type. If I ever get around to buying myself a house I think I'll get a 3 bedroom house so I can have a little Box-Flex room. Those are the types of resistance machines that work for me best.

    Speaking of Flip-Flopping! I've decided to stay in America rather than move to Scotland or even spend 1/2 of my time there. I just can't get over the inconveniences I face when I'm there. I start throwing mini-tantrums over simple things and I don't want anyone to think I'm THAT AMERICAN so I keep it bottled up a bit. Then I get mad at something else being so dad-gum backward or out of date, and I just blow it. I don't want that for myself or anyone else. It's not fair. They don't have screens on their windows, I need to just live with that. I can't live with it, but I should. There really isn't good water pressure (anywhere) to flush the toilets, wash my hands, take a shower, run a bath, do the dishes, or really do anything other than brushing my teeth. It doesn't matter where I go in that country, I don't have a satisfactory experience with the use of a faucet or tap! I need to get over it, but I can't. So I think I'll just stay home. I'll go back, yes, of course, but I won't stay long. I can't.

    Some of the things I flip out about, which I know is just really dumb, but I can't change who I am in a day, is/are: No A/C and spotty heating. No condiments on the table or really in sight, I have to ask for it, and when I did I got an old bottle that looked like it hadn't been cleaned; sorry, I have to tell the truth. There was (is) no ice in the drinks, but again, it's OK as long as the water is cooler, but it wasn't. I'm still OK with it, but not really. I say I'm OK with it, but I'm not. I hate, and I do mean HATE waiting at the bus stop to be taken anywhere because in Edinburgh the buses stop literally every minute or less and I just end up walking where I'm going no matter what the weather is.  This is stupid, and I know it is really stupid, but I can't stand the tourists!! I feel like I need to go twenty to thirty miles from wherever I am so I don't run into someone from America asking me where I'm from, and then they want to tell me all about themselves, their family, why they are in Scotland, and all the DNA test(s) results. OK. NO!

    At least if I'm staying in, living in Oklahoma I don't have to be stalked at the bus stop because I don't stand at one. I don't have to be accosted at the checkout stand because I was stupid enough to wear an OU hoodie. We all wear OU hoodies in Oklahoma! No one asks me where I'm from. No one asks me who I root for. No one asks me if I'm married, have kids, what I do for a living, how long I'm staying in the area, where I'm staying, or if I've tried the HAGGIS.  I'm not really staying in Oklahoma, and not going to Scotland for those reasons, but those things do happen to me when I'm there. If I wore a hoodie with something Scottish on it I may be asked by a Scot where I'm from since no one there actually wears apparel with identifying city names. Here, in Oklahoma, we do. Boomer Sooner! We do that.

    No, the reasons I'm really staying in Oklahoma and not moving to Scotland are simple: inconveniences. I really love the place. I think it's where I want to live after the Rapture and the 7-years we spend in Heaven. When we come back with Jesus, then yes, I want to settle in Scotland, but for now, not so much. The weather is bad 80% of the time, though hearing and listening to the accent is great, and I could listen to it all day, I like paying less for my food, being able to flush a toilet when I need to, and I really love jumping in my car to run an errand -- and really that's about it. I don't like being inconvenienced. I go out of my way to help others, but when I'm put in a spot where I can't do anything but wait, or worse, to realize that I'm not going to have what I wanted and could pay for (dry clothes) I get pissy, and that's not fair to my Scottish friends. I can't go around changing who they are or expecting them to bend at my whim. Best to visit and come home.

    That's it.  No more YMCA for me. I'm able to make the difference myself and that's more or less up my alley to do it that way anyway.  I think I'll wait until Spring to visit Scotland again, that will give me time to relax, save the money I need to make it a great trip and I'll hit up the Highlands and areas where the tourists are scarce and/or nonexistent.  I know, the Highlands are full of tourists, but not every corner. I have friends willing to take me on excursions that are off the beaten path and without the souvenir shops.  I won't wear my Oklahoma hoodie this time either. I may wear something non-descript and if asked where I'm from I'll pretend I can't speak English. That may work.

    

Far too many Americans to deal with.  Photo Credit: The Scotsman

To Pee or Not to Pee!

 Laura and I were both offered positions at a company that required a pre-employment drug screening, so we went this morning to have that done. What you need to understand is that not every BODY is designed the same. Even though technically I made Laura, I wasn't alone in the whole process, and something very clearly got lost along the way. Someone (who will remain nameless) didn't get the memo when it comes to being able to pee on command, or at least on short notice. Here I am, ready to go, thinking we'll be in the lab maybe 10-15 minutes tops, but no. That didn't happen. Why should anything be normal when Laura is involved? Note to self; don't make another baby, and if you do, do something different than you did with this one. (I'll have to check with Caity Baby to see if she can readily drain her bladder when directed to do so. Laura malfunctions!)

    We drove the six miles to the lab, parked, walked in, checked ourselves in with the handy-dandy self-check-in kiosk, and seated ourselves.  Within a few minutes, a nicely scrubs-clad woman came to the door and called "Stringfellow".  We both, Laura and I, said "Yes" and the woman was forced to look back at her chart to see which of us she needed. It was me! I won! YEA!  I gave Laura the look you give a person when you have one-upped them; it may only be to go back and pee in a cup, but MY NAME was called! Ha! Take that!  She wished me luck.

    You guessed it. I was in and out of the back rooms of the lab in under 3 minutes I think and that includes the time you stand with the associate to fill out the paperwork. I am a genuinely great pee-er thank you! If peeing was a sport I could probably take home the trophies! We'll just leave it at that. No need to brag. This is NOT the case with my middle child. Reuben, because he is the firstborn, would probably have been prepared to pee for at least 2 days in advance. He'd be ready, and there would be nothing in the way to stop him from fulfilling his duty. If his bladder dared to give him grief upon being given a command, you can bet that man would have nipped that bladder in the bud (If bladders have these) and he would have compelled himself to express! Caity, my baby, would have demanded that someone pee if she wasn't able to do so herself, but there would be PEE.

    Laura, my semi-passive, and often misunderstood middle child, on the other hand, has what the doctors refer to as a shy bladder. WHAT? Are you serious? When she is commanded to do anything bodily whatsoever she locks up. She goes into self-protection mode I guess, and only when her organs feel the need or feel that it is safe to release their load will there be a giving. We waited in that waiting room over two long hours waiting for Laura to go! LET IT GO, Laura!  She did the normal things such as drinking copious amounts of water from their little water tank thing. She waited until there were no other patients and she did jumping jacks in the lobby. When the nurse-types giggled at her she giggled back and said how sorry she was that she wasn't able to just "do it". They said it was normal, but usually, people just paced back and forth. This was a first for them; her jumping jacks.

    We walked into the lab at 10:36 a.m. I was in and out by 10:42 a.m. which includes the check-in, the wait, the paperwork, the duty, and then bam...we wait. We sat there and we waited until 12:17 p.m. for Laura's gut to say it had been stressed enough and now it would relax. THANK YOU! I had visions of her flooding the bathroom when she left the lobby to go back to the back. She tells me she was "good" and that nothing too dramatic happened. This is always good. The worst thing in the world is when you have to go help your adult child urinate, but they won't let anyone back there to hold her hand to encourage her to simply follow instructions such as "Pee inside the cup".  The hardest part of the entire event is when you know you can't flush the toilet! AGONIZING!!!

    Since this lab also did blood work, we were sadly subjected to the screams and non-stop protests of a six-year-old child who was getting her blood drawn so she could have tests run. Her daddy told the nurses they were going overseas. He did look military, so I was wondering why they weren't having her blood drawn at Tinker Air Force Base. Apparently, one of the nurse types asked the same question. He's a civilian now, he was injured, and he's out of the military, but going back to live with family and do civilian work for the government. The poor little angel was in great distress and I could only drift back in memory at my sweet 2nd child who was now trying her hardest to push water out of her body because she was exactly like this little girl. When a needle came near her she climbed up the back and down the front of anyone who was trying to inject her! It was NOT easy trying to wrangle her. At one point we lightly sedated her under the doctor's orders. He had had enough!

    Though I'm not a big fan of needles, I mean, I wouldn't go see them in concert if they came to town, Laura is by NO MEANS going to give into one. She will fight to her own death before being stuck. Again, I'm not sure where she came from, or who her real parents are, but I found her and she's mine and I'm keeping her. She doesn't really do dishes or anything, but she's OK. I like her. For the most part, she's healthy as a horse - - as they say, it's just when you ask her to do something right then and there she has to really think about it, and that can lead to her body disagreeing with her mind. I suppose if we were all Olympic urinators we wouldn't need that extra three-hour window they give people who choose to wait it out after thinking they could let it out. If she had not been able to go after 3 hours she would have had to reschedule for another day! So inconveniencing.

    Running warm water on her hands didn't work. Drinking more water didn't work. Doing the jumping jacks, walking, pacing, hopping, and lunging, didn't work. The body, her body, just has to say "OK I'm good" and it finally did. FINALLY!  Laura has never been on time for anything other than her birth, and even that was a stubborn mess! I won't go into it, but suffice it to say that I was sent home 4 separate times and forceps were produced in the end. She's a mule! I thought about selling her once, but then again, she's so freaking cute. I don't think I could have lived with myself if I had made that decision. Besides, someone had to tangle with Caity! Laura was born for that!  The job done, we went home and you guessed it, she spent the next few minutes flooding my toilet!

Remote! Get Set! Go!

 I've been working remotely and on my own for so long now, that I had a really hard time walking into an office during the Pandemic while everyone else was working from home.  I eventually stopped going into that office, as they too, closed, but it was odd for me, the remote at-home worker, to be expected to be in an office setting so the boss could have easier access to me.  Neither of us was particularly concerned with COVID and to be perfectly honest with you, both of us had the virus in late 2019, before it had a name. We were working remotely then, on our own, using Zoom and text for the most part, but as time went on he wanted me in the office to give me instructions and directions. Eventually, he too decided that spending as much as he was on rent, leasing furniture, and all of the overhead associated with running a physical office just wasn't worth it. He let me go, he branched out on his own, and we've remained close enough.  I have been bouncing around a bit trying to land a good-paying job since then, but it is what it is. I understand it.

    As an independent insurance agent, investigator, and claims adjuster, I have been working from my home office since around 2015. I owned a business in Indiana doing the same thing, but I did work out of a small one-person office in a suite of offices in the big city.  It was good to be away from the house most days. My daughters worked from home and were both living with me, as well as my fantastic son-in-law, who though he worked out of the house, was there quite a bit of the time. Being away from home was a good thing. After I moved back to Oklahoma City to help with family issues, I found myself working remotely. I didn't mind, I was not sharing the space with anyone other than the dogs and a cat. I don't think I've been down to one cat for about 7 years now that I think about it.  

    Since the Pandemic nearly everyone and yes, their dogs, work from home. I have auditioned, applied, and interviewed for so many positions that have been remote and/or calling themselves "hybrid" to give themselves an out should they reopen a physical office space.  Currently, again, through no fault of my own, I find myself seeking permanent and I do mean PERMANENT employment. Of the 64 applications I have out there, only two that I know of, are in person. The rest require that I work from home. I'm OK with either. I do think it's funny (not funny as in "ha ha", odd) that companies who would provide furniture such as desks, chairs, coat racks, break rooms, refrigerators, printers, computers and such if you work in their office are now expecting folks to buy their own laptops and ONLY use these laptops for work-related situations. They expect people to pay out $600-1000 for a piece of equipment to use solely for their company, and they want to pay out in salary less than what a person could earn flipping burgers! It really is time they did a gut check and try to figure out why they lose so many employees. DUH!

    Since I am licensed to sell every line of insurance possible, and I am also licensed to be an adjuster, as well as an associate underwriter (I need my CLU) I have options that a lot of others don't have. I can hold out a bit and take a better-paying position or one that will be a more lasting suitable position.  I just took one last month, thinking it would lead to something more permanent, but the 2nd day I was there the boss showed his colors (and books) to the tune of embezzling not only from himself but from clients. I had to leave. What part of my resume made him think I would cover up his felonies? I think I remember putting the word "investigator" right up at the top, and I mentioned I taught Ethics! Yeah, I do.

    I'm basically coming to the understanding that I will either work for myself again, or I'll learn to trade for a company that does floor trading in stocks, and I'll do that, gleaning as much strategy information as possible to help me with my personal trading. I can do that for several months, then decide to split my time between Oklahoma and Scotland. If they let me work for them still, they would be the winner in the long run.  Scotland is 6 hours ahead of Oklahoma's CST zone and I could trade both in the U.S. market as well as the London market, and help them and their clients! That's a win-win if you ask me. I think that may end up happening. If not, I can see myself working in Scotland for myself and just traveling back and forth on my own, maybe picking up trades for others when I get my Series 66/7 license. That's the real plan!!  

    I took the SIE and passed. I took the Series 66, but I missed it by literally 2 points. I think that's 1 or 2 questions. I'm so mad about that. I'll take it soon and pass then, the Series 7 when I'm sponsored to do so. Having the Series 66/7 will allow me to trade for the firm, for others, be a broker, do my own, and just really explore the entire gambit of the financial world of trading and wealth management. I think it may be a good idea to have wealth first so I can manage it. That's the plan my plan is planning for. If I had to be honest.   Let the games begin.

    Since we're all working from home these days I can't complain to anyone about the messy breakrooms, the bathrooms not being as tidy as they need to be or the trash not being emptied. I can't expect my co-workers to pay the least bit of attention to me when I give them a directive. Dogs and cats just don't want to be subjected to being treated as subordinates.  The Bearded Dragon just stares at me. You know we have all had a co-worker that did that. I understand. I really do. I think for once in my life, I have the best in the world, being at home and loving my animals while I learn and study to do more for others and myself through education and training. If I ever stop learning you can go ahead and pull the sheet over my face. I want to learn and continue to learn right up until the last breath I take! 

    Do I think it will ever go back to "normal" again? No. This is not only the new normal, it is the end of times. We're about to leave this planet for real life, and believe me when I say I can't wait. I have been hoping for, and looking forward to that promotion for YEARS! I have no idea what assignment God will give me there, but I do know the one assignment that I have now will end because the man I've been assigned to pray for is a Believer, and he's looking forward to the rapture as well.  Maybe we'll be eternal partners and come up with some really cool things to share with everyone. That's up to God, not me, but I could look at that guy for the rest of eternity -- no problems.  Talk about remote/hybrid! We'll be in and out of Glory, working, training, educating, being the preachers, judges, teachers, and whatever we're called to be - - some will probably still be musicians and singers. This is a blessing, and I thank God for it!  Yes, please! (and thank you)

So me!

Photo Credit: Road Warrior Creative

    

Such a SPOILED American!!

 I spend hours and I mean HOURS on the computer looking at the pretend houses I will someday buy when I move to Scotland. I know I shouldn't hope, wish, and dream, but hey, it's just the thing(s) I do to both entertain my brain, and to keep me motivated for if and when the time does come. I need to be so ready. First, and you should know this, houses in Scotland are NOT, not, not like they are in Oklahoma. You can find houses like they have in Scotland in other parts of the UK, but you're not going to find them over on this side of the pond for so many very (spoiled) interesting reasons. Let's go over a few, shall we?

    Houses in Scotland (for a great part of the equation) were built between the years 1929 and 1959. So many of these "two up - two down" houses are exactly what it sounds like, smaller homes built with two main rooms (usually bedrooms) upstairs and two main rooms, such as a living and kitchen, downstairs. Yes, there is a bathroom and it could be on either floor. I shouldn't have said "bathroom", I should have said "shower room" or "wet room" because unless there is an actual bathtub in it, they don't call them bathrooms! These houses were built KNOWING that an entire family of 4-6 could be living in them, and they only have one bathroom. These houses were built KNOWING that there would or could be a family of six living in them and they don't have what I call a normal-sized refrigerator. You can't make this stuff up.

    The kitchens do have a front-load washing machine in the kitchen itself, but not a dryer, as most Scottish homes don't have a use for one. They hang their laundry out on the green line or if it's raining (and it's usually raining) they hang their clothes up on a rack that suspends from the ceiling. This rack could be found in the hallway, in the kitchen, in a bathroom -- heck, it could be in a bedroom! I've seen dryers in bedrooms, refrigerators in bedrooms, freezers, and/or three beds in a bedroom. I've seen carpet that looks as if they lost the bet on hideous hotel carpet gambling, and I've seen rooms without closets as well. You heard me, bedrooms without closets (or wardrobes as they are called). The really big huge Oh-My-Gosh-Are-You-Freaking-Kidding-Me thing is that Scottish homes don't have screens on their windows. Nope! They don't.

    Some of the homes have an under-the-stairs storage area where you could possibly stash an extra toilet, but there isn't enough room for a little sink. That's OK, I will do that! The person can walk to the kitchen to wash their hands. There will be two toilets in my house. There will be a bathtub in my house. There will be real live screens on the windows, and YES, there will be an air conditioning unit installed and all the rooms will be ducted to that central unit.  Most of the houses have radiators in each room, sometimes two per room for heat. They have NO air conditioning whatsoever, and I've not seen a window unit anywhere either - - that means it either doesn't get hot enough, or it doesn't stay hot very long. I get that. I do. I read up on the temperatures, but I'm not living in a house hotter than 72 degrees. It's not happening. YES, I am that spoiled.

    I'm told the terrace houses are rather insulated, and that's good to know, but I've seen some really tacky looking wall paper (I am not sure we Americans have seen wallpaper other than what's on our phones, since the 1980s) and I've seen the most interesting fireplaces without actual fireplaces because fires in and around the main cities have been outlawed due to too many older homes going up in flames and taking neighbors with them. Google it. I'm not kidding. I don't have to have a fireplace. I'm good with just the fake thing that looks like one. Some people use it for decor. I think I'll take mine out and have the area transformed into a little shelf or something useful. I'll Pinterest that.

    Let's talk hedges. EVERY house on nearly EVERY block has some sort of hedge around it. I don't like hornets and hornets love hedges. Sorry neighbors, yes, I'm going to annoy you further by taking out my hedges. Don't worry, I'll put up a nice tall privacy fence so you don't have to see what I'm doing on the other side.  What will I be doing on the other side? I will likely be hanging upside down on my aerial hammock, or sitting in my hot tub with a fizzy water! (LaCroix, Bubly, Perrier) The back yards (gardens) in most cases are about 22 feet by 60 feet and they either have a gate at the back or they don't and you can't access them any other way other than through the house. My fence will have a gate! I say that. I can't very well put in a gate opening up into the neighbor's garden. We'll put a pin in that one for now.

    Refrigerators. I talked about them before. The "big" ones in the UK (Scotland for sure) are the size of a rather small apartment fridge, not the dormitory-size, or the mini fridge, but the size of say, a tiny apartment that you can't turn around in the kitchen size, that's about the size of their average basic "big" refrigerator. Most of the houses either have that one or two smaller dormatory-sized units. I assume one is a freezer, I could be wrong. There are really tall and skinny units, they are more modern and I wouldn't mind one of those, which could actually work out. I just have to have a good freezer. I do buy things in bulk such as meat and frozen fruits. I did ask about that once. I was told that you cook frozen food when you buy it, there is no need to store it. If you didn't intend to cook it, you don't buy it. That's an interesting concept.

    The attic! Oh yes, the attic. This is so very interesting and very very different from what we have here in the States, particularly in Oklahoma. Our attic access here is in the garage. We open the hatch by pulling down the rope, and we unhinge the ladder to climb up, and usually, the thing isn't finished out, but we can scoot boxes around on boards we've laid over on top of the beams. Makes so much sense, right? Not the same as it is in Scotland, and they have it right. They do it better, I think. The access is in the hall or a bedroom. You do still pull down the hatch, and you do still unhinge the ladder. HOWEVER, from what I have seen in nearly every single unit I've looked over, the entire attic is finished out top to bottom, and you can stand up and walk around in it as if (as if) it was another bedroom! That would be because IT IS ANOTHER BEDROOM for the kids when they are in their younger years and have no issue running up and down the shaky ladders!  Apparently, they leave the ladders down at night, and they put them back up when the kids come down to go to school. Gotcha! NOPE.

    The attic in my house may very well be a bedroom or a guest room, but I will have the engineers come out and put in a little spiral staircase in a closet, extra area, bedroom, something so that the folks who come to visit me won't fear that I'll trap them inside my attic. At least the attic will also be ducted and hooked up to the central A/C. I may even add a skylight because I'm cool like that. My attic will be a place of beauty! Something to be admired. If anything it will at least be functional and part of the house. If I do only use it for storage, I will not have the extra staircase added, but I will have it connected so my things are temperature controlled and not getting all hot and moldy. YUCK. 

    I'll show a floor plan and an exterior photo for you to look at and admire. If you're from the States you'll just (as I did) shake your head and think to yourself "OK, well that makes sense, there are more people so they have to build upward".  That was my thought process anyway.  You can fit two Scotlands in Oklahoma, and yet there are twice as many folks in Scotland than there are in the Sooner State. We have just under 3M I think, and they have close to 6M, something like 5.8M. It makes perfect sense to build UP. You should see the blocks and blocks of apartments in Edinburgh and Glasgow! Oh, and most of them, even though they are four stories tall, don't have an elevator! You walk!  They call it a lift, and yes, you just walk up the stairs and down the stairs. Also, if you're on the ground floor that's called the ground floor. If you're on the next floor above the ground floor, they call it the 1st floor whereas we will call it the 2nd.  That can be confusing.

    All in all, I'm looking forward to the next chapter of my life. I'm going to try to be as Scottish as I can be, but yeah, I'm not giving up my fridge, my dryer, or my A/C. I don't think I'll have to bend too many arms and I bet I have more friends over in the summer who will appreciate the flow of air and the buglessness of my window screens. That's right. I don't really like bugs. I can say that with confidence. I don't mind them living in their space, but they don't need to be taking up residence in mine!  Call me spoiled. I don't mind because I know I am.

Exterior of a semi-detached (we call it a duplex) house in Scotland.

Floor plan of the house above.

My Day. (So Far)

 I just finished studying for and taking the final exam for the continued education portion of my insurance industry responsibilities as a licensed Life & Health agent here in the State of Oklahoma. I had 24 hours of study to complete, and like an idiot, I went the entire two years under my current license before attempting them.  Well, I finished, and I completed the test. I passed the test with a very good score, thank you, and when I uploaded it the powers that be somehow (intentionally, I'm sure) shared my information with at least 2,094 life and healthy agencies because that's how many phone calls, emails, and social media contacts I received today! That has been my day!

    I hold my license to sell Life, Health, and Accident insurance. I also hold my license to sell Property & Casualty insurance. I also, because I am that way, have a license to sell Workers' Compensation insurance, as well as being a Property & Casualty Adjuster. I need to get my Life & Health Adjuster's license -- but I digress.  When I decided to get into the Financial industry, I immediately began studying for, and then passed the Securities Industry Essentials exam, and I would love to work for a firm and be sponsored to take Series 66 and Series 7. I don't actually need to be sponsored for the 66. I took it once, and I failed by 2 points. That really really sucks. I would rather bomb the whole test than come up that close and miss it. I was too close, and they don't tell you exactly what you missed, so you have to just assume you need to study all of it again!

    After taking about 12 calls this morning, and answering as many emails to let them all know I would LOVE to be a part of their GREAT companies and organizations, but I won't work for free, and I don't do commission work. I began answering texts and online questionnaires being sent to me. In this economy, we do salary plus commission if we work at all in that industry.  So many people have dropped their insurance since they work from home with groups and have group insurance. It's a game. You see 100 people ask for an appointment, you get 10 appointments, 6 keep that appointment, you sell 1 or 2 maybe.  There's no way I'm going to put out the effort and not be paid. Sorry. Fix your metrics! No one wants to give up more than they receive in return. You can't blame us.

    After a few hours of fielding, I took a walk with the dog! I took a well-deserved walk with the dog!  Outside my house was parked a lovely black SUV with an armed and uniformed Oklahoma City Police officer.  Since I knew I hadn't been doing anything illegal, I wasn't afraid to approach him to see if I could be of assistance. I'm that person. I ask cops if I can assist. I don't run from them, call them names, want to defund them, or any way harm them. Nope, I'm a cop-loving kinda gal!  The officer was very happy to see me actually.  As it turns out the person who called the police was unsure where she lived. She had stated it wasn't an emergency but needed help. The officer told me what the lady said her name was, but that person doesn't live in our complex. I know this because, unlike so many communities, we know all of our neighbors here, at least their first names. We know them more by their dogs than we do their names, to be honest.

    Turns out the lady was living in another complex close by. The officer was called on his radio and told the correct location, and he literally tipped his hat at me and got into his car. That made me happy.  We live in a city where the police officers will still come and check on people. They will be cordial, and polite when they are treated well. Tipping his hat meant that he was born and raised as a Southern gentleman, and I really appreciated that gesture. It did make me think and rethink my job opportunities and how I could and should approach them. I'm going to take the one offered to me since I need to work. I'll work it and if it works out I'll keep it. If I find a better position, a better-paying position as well as a better fit (more suited to me) I will resign giving the proper notice, and take up the next assignment. I don't know when the gears switched, but it just seems that people today are too wrapped up in themselves to be polite and courteous. If they're not being paid they don't do anything - - I see that, but I also know that some things are just expected in a civil society.

    I'm about to pay for the continuing education series for my Property & Casualty license. I assume once I finish it and submit it, that dozens of P&C companies will contact me again. I hope so. I need to feel that I am working for the company I want to work for. I want to be an adjuster so I can earn enough to trade my own money on my own for myself. When I get to the point that I am earning more on the trade than I am as an adjuster (about a year) I will quit and work the trade or continue to be an adjuster and make the trades as well, but giving the trades more of my time and more of my effort.  I believe I can do both. I can multitask -- it's not that hard. When I have the money and the expertise, I'll either pick up and move to Scotland or visit for 3-6 months and determine if that's what I want to do. OPTIONS.

I love it -- it was and is a good day.

Photo Credit: Me

Cutting Out the Negative.

 You'll hear people say that you should cut out all the negative in your life, and that sounds like a great (the best) idea possible! If it were JUST that easy, everyone would do it, right? It's not that easy all the time. Now, sometimes it is that easy. There are things you can just say no to something, and be done with it. I'll see if I can give you an example from my life. I was using and ultimately ended up abusing a chemical called BHB which is a salt-type chemical that is used for weight loss. You can sprinkle it onto food, you can mix it in your drinks, and it's one of those really incredible substances that ACTUALLY does what it says it will do. The way that it does this can be harmful, and that's why there are clear warning signs on the package. The same warning signs I absolutely ignored.  When it became a problem for me, a REAL issue, in that I was violently sick for over 12 hours without let up, I was pretty quick to give it up! Yep, there it goes! Out the door!

    Some things in your life which prove to be negative, aren't as easy to just chunk and be done with. Friendships come to mind. Family relations also come to mind. Chocolate is definitely something that could never be bad for you, nor negative, but it would be impossible for me to part ways with it if it were such an issue. In fact, I found that giving up on family and friends was so much easier on my soul and mind than it would have been if I were forced to relinquish my chocolate.  That may just be me, you may have varied results. I can't tell you what to do.

    Studies can show, as studies often show, that whoever is paying for the study will get the results they are trying to achieve. This is my belief, and I'm not going to change my mind about it. That being said, there are many studies that show that giving up things in your life that are negative actually tends to make your breathing better, your thoughts clear, and you have a way of feeling more positively about who you are and what your purpose may be. It's the dang negative things that have held you back for so long. You didn't get rid of them for personal or professional reasons, and it may have caused you to stumble, it may have caused you to wait, it may have caused you to pass on the things your soul really really wanted, but there you were clinging to the negative because it was familiar, because it was safe because it was comfortable, or maybe you were married to the negative thing and divorce seemed a permanent solution...and it is. THANK GOD!

    Many people have told me that I seem to be an advocate for divorce. I am not. I am an advocate for marrying the right person. If you didn't marry the right person, and if you are not the right person for the person you marry, then yes, I am an advocate for separating, divorcing with amicable relations when possible, and moving forward with the intention of thinking through it so you can find or be the right person in the marriage. Banging your head against the wall is no way to live, and trying without results is just nonsense. If we were made to be miserable, then hell, we can be miserable alone! We don't need to drag someone else into the problem. When I divorced it was absolute chaos for years, but the cutting off the negative did in fact begin, and over time as things tended to heal, the days were brighter, the nights without worry, and through prayer and meditation, and through the inner faith I had to muster through the Spirit, I am OK. It was NOT easy.

    It's not always a spouse. It could be a friend. It could be several friends. It could be that you have allowed yourself to hang out with many different negative folks and you know better than to stay, but you're not sure where you'll spend your time if you let them go! I do understand. I really do. I think I took to blogging because it gave me a place to be with myself and with my audience. If my audience is 3 people, those are 3 people who may actually like what I have to say, and they aren't creating a negative ring around me that chokes all the positive from my lungs causing me to stop breathing! I'm not kidding, you know this, some people just suck the life right out of you when they can't come up with a single good thing to say about you, themselves, or anything in their world. LET THAT TRASH GO! It is rubbish and has no place for you. Harsh? Yes, it is. 

    Could it be you need to change your job? Your career? Your study? Your church? Do it. Just because you've been associated with something or someone for so long doesn't make it right. It reminds me of when people talk about the way they train their horse, they'll say  "I've done this for 40 years" and I want to say "You've been screwing up that long? STOP already! You're killing your horses!"  Speaking of horses, I had to give up them as well. It was quite negative in that my bank account was constantly hovering over a zero balance when I owned them. I LOVE THEM. I want them, but at this point in my life, it is not feasible. Talk about hurting!! I hurt for months afterward, but my bills were paid on time, and I ate better. I think it was a good decision, though it was incredibly hard to do.

    What about that job? You say you need it for several reasons. Maybe you're working your way up the ladder and you can't just stop. Yes, you can.  If it means you'll have a better heart rate, a better eating habit, you'll sleep better, treat others better, and be appreciated, then yeah, you can stop.  If you have talent enough to climb one ladder there will be another one you can adopt. It may be that a cooperative approach rather than a dominating approach will work out for you, in that being cooperative with others forces you to be positive and learn as well as to teach and be frustrated. You'll find that you have mind muscles you never knew existed. They need to be exercised too.

    Now, for the hard stuff. If you're watching things you know you shouldn't watch. If you're going online where you know you shouldn't go. If you're buying things you know you shouldn't buy - - stop.  Acknowledge the problem. Know that it is a problem. Find the solution, and ask for help if you need to. You deserve a better you. Some people are addicted to drinking or drugs. Some people are addicted to being mean-spirited. Some are addicted, believe it or not, to online shopping. You know who you are. Go ahead and look, but you don't need to buy it. Take a photo of it, and post it on your Facebook to let people know you like it, but you may not need to spend money on it that could go to something you really need -- like rent.

    Cleaning house is good. Cleaning the dishes is great. Cleaning your wardrobe, the closet, the pantry, you know what I mean, you get in there and dig out what you haven't used, and what you won't use. If you have a storage closet that you're paying for but you haven't seen the articles or things inside of it for years, CLEAR IT OUT. Sell the crap, give it away, and get that money back into your bank account. Let's say you have old clothes in storage. Someone may need them. Donate them. If you have old furniture that belonged to your parents, but you're not using it, sell it or give it away. Someone can use it. If your storage closet is full but your wallet is hungry, you have a real problem that needs to be addressed. ADDRESS IT.

    "Oh Jude, you seem to have all the answers, don't you? You don't understand what this stuff means to me! You don't understand."  Really? What's your excuse? Well, I certainly understand that yesterday is gone, tomorrow hasn't come yet, and living today is all we really can do. If you're holding on to memory through paying for it to be in storage that you never go through, you need to stop that and bring home a couple of things you can see and hold. Let the rest go! You'll be very pleasantly surprised how great you'll feel when you stop enslaving yourself to the what was and live for the what is.  Is it hard? Yes! Is it necessary? UNQUESTIONABLY!  It is most assuredly necessary for your well-being. DO IT.

    That's about all I have for the subject today. I'm on my way to work out, eat a good lunch, and walk five miles. I can do one with the dog, and then the rest without her. She's not a quitter, she's just older and I don't want to put her through the terrain changes. For a 10-year-old dog Ginger is quite spry! She's one of those really really positive things I did for myself about 7 years ago. I knew I needed a friend for my dog George, and when I found Ginger at the shelter it was love at first sight for both of us. She has been smiling, cheering me on, and keeping me company ever since. If you can get yourself a good dog that may be the most rewarding thing you'll do for yourself!  You'll never actually have to divorce a dog. Nor do you have to worry about the dog sleeping with your best friend, spending your money on things it shouldn't, booking vacations without you, or driving the car into a tree. I am here to tell you, dogs are God's way of saying "It will be OK, trust Me."

Footnote:   I picked up using BHB again in a very positive way. I only use 1/2 of what is called for, and I'm being very disciplined with the chemical now that I know myself better. 

Crickets!

 Of course, there is the game Cricket, which I have to admit, I've never really watched and I have zero clues as to the purpose, the rules, the results, whatever. Then, there are the little tiny creatures we, here in America, call crickets.  These are the noisy nocturnal critters who through the process of rubbing their legs together, can single-handedly keep an entire household up wondering why they haven't fed the darn thing to one of the beasts!  That was my night. How was yours?

    My daughter and I have lizards; she has geckos and I have a Bearded Dragon. She had a Uromastx recently, but a teacher from a remote area felt that the animal would be loved and cared for by her students, and Laura agreed to rehome it. I hear she's fine and trying to memorize all the faces of the many children who poke their noses up against the glass enclosure to get a better look.  The Bearded Dragon I own is a girly girl, and I named her Isabella de Burgh, after the wife of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland. My Issy is quite the lady. She prefers eating her crickets every other day so as to give her time to really appreciate their company in the enclosure when they seemingly drop from Heaven! She is so very appreciative!

    Crickets in this part of the world cost about 11 cents a piece, but when you go to PetCo or PetSmart and ask for 20 or so they give you 30 or so and mark the bag 20. This makes things really nice when you're only feeding 3x a week, and trying to keep the whole animal kingdom under a budget.  I already had to deal with keeping her 40-gallon enclosure heated on one side and cooler on the other, while simultaneously not allowing it to become humid! You do that by not giving her a water bowl. What? Are you kidding me? No, I'm not. I gave her one at first, only to realize it caused the enclosure to be more tropical than arid, and well, Bearded Dragons aren't from Hawaii, they're from the dry deserts of Australia. HUGE difference, and inside her tiny little Aussie make-believe tank, it is supposed to remain as close to reality as possible.  During the day the enclosure is around 93 degrees Fahrenheit on one side, and around 75 on the other. She again is quite appreciative.

    This morning I was incredibly happy to wake up and find my lizard smiling at me.  I stopped what I was doing, which was stretching and petting the dog, and I stared at my baby girl, my Issy.  She had such a happy demeanor. I do realize it may be difficult for some to distinguish the "happy face" of a Bearded Dragon from that of a resting bitch face, but it's there, you just have to see it. Maybe it was in the way she held her head and her tail just so! She had, thank you VERY MUCH ISSY, chomped down (FINALLY) on the noise-making irritating cricket from Hell!  Three times in the middle of the night, I tried to find him in her enclosure so I could nudge him closer to her while she rested in her hide. Three times I tried, but couldn't find him. I tried moving her hide, I tried moving her hammock, I just couldn't see him. I'd lay back down, and then....SQUEEEEAKKK.  Really?

    I was just too pleased with my Issy, so when I popped out of bed, even before I walked the dog, I cut up a few grapes and rewarded her with what I'm sure she is quite excited about.  Beardies don't often do backflips or stand up and give you an ovation for your performance, so you have to take what you can get, and that face -  it was enough! I was in good graces. I was in good standing. I am a good human. She will allow me to remain in her kingdom! This is good.

    One of the things you do with crickets when you feed them to reptiles, is you dose them with powdered calcium and other vitamins necessary for the animals.  You can sprinkle the calcium on their leafy greens and fruit, but since you know they'll devour the crickets immediately, it's a good practice to just let the bugs crawl around on and in the calcium for a few seconds before losing their lives. I've often wondered if every single cricket ever born will be in Heaven when we get there. I don't know how that works. Maybe God provides an entire planet just for bugs so they can live eternally without fear of prey and/or predator issues. Spiders may be there, harmonizing with squashed wasps and ants who made it into the kitchens of nasty mean humans. I am one of those nasty mean humans. I won't lie. I have rarely allowed a spider to live peacefully without being squashed or stomped. There was this one time, but he or she really was quite interesting. He/she lived in my mother's shower for over a year, but I digress.

    So, yeah, that's about it. I have critters and I buy other critters to feed them. It's a thing. Laura also has rats. She has rats, cats, dogs, and geckos. I'm all but sure she'll pick up the horse count soon. It's been rather interesting living without them for a minute. It's cheaper too. I can't even imagine how many crickets I could buy with the money we're saving on horse feed, horse vet, horse boarding, traveling to see them, etc. Wow.  Just....yeah, wow.

Photo Credit: PetCo.com

On The Road Again - - Soon.

 When my dog Faith was really young and she had just become famous from having been on shows like Ripley's Believe it or Not, Oprah, Maury, and Nova, not to mention on shows around the globe, she had an amazing talent agent.  She, my dog, had a manager and agent, as well as her own lawyer in Oklahoma for local issues, but she had an international lawyer as well.  Many of you may know Attorney Debra Opri, she's in the Los Angeles area, and for a time, she was our representation when Faith's character was attacked by a would-be funny guy calling himself a comedian. I won't give his name, you would recognize it, and he would be given credence. I won't allow him that privilege. He purposely, and for money, made fun of a disabled dog who was also an E5 Sgt in the United States Army.  He backwardly criticized me for not having a funny bone, for not taking this one on the chin. 

    When Faith was with us, Mike Maguire, my manager, managed to find us work all over the world. We traveled, and sometimes others traveled to see us. I have about 15,489 stories to tell about what happened to us, but the better stories are written and told in my book "Faith Walks", which can be bought on Amazon. I'll leave a link at the bottom of this blog.  For the most part, I say.  I say for the most part, but I didn't tell about the many many famous people we met along the travels because meeting famous people was never really that important to me. I think it was more important to most of them to have been able to brag about meeting Faith.  To name a few, and this was all in ONE NIGHT, Faith and I were stranded in the Dallas Fort Worth Airport with Michael Irwin, the famous Dallas Cowboy, Michael Bolton, the singer, and a very excited Rick Springfield, another singer, who of course is such a dog lover. He screamed like a girl when he saw Faith, and she couldn't get enough of him either. It was magic.

    What I have decided to do, not only because it needs to be done, but because I really liked my life on the road, is to ask Mike Maguire to rep me again. This time, I won't be traveling with a dog in tow. Let me just tell you that making my way through DFW or O'Hare was NOT fun as I dragged my luggage and carried a 27-pound dog draped over my shoulders. If and when she became too heavy, I just put her down and then let the show begin! Faith walked upright on her back legs, so when passengers and staff saw the dog running through the airports there were not only cameras flying, but men and women jumped from their sedentary positions to get a better glimpse! They had to glimpse because that dog could run!! She was OUT OF THERE and on her way to whatever plane she thought she should be on. I had to tackle her more than once as she attempted to go through restricted doors!

    I'm going back on the road with a new and wonderful message. I'm going to speak about having the faith one needs of course, but also having self-appreciation, self-love, and the needed discipline it takes to be the best you that you can be. I've lost over 55 pounds after I turned 55 and I think there are a few people who want to hear how that can work for them too. I have published 5 books and have 12 to be published. I have traveled the world meeting with active and wounded soldiers, and I've met with countless hospitalized children and vets who have told me their stories. All of their stories have bled into and fed into my stories. I want the world to know that hope is there, it's available, and it's something that we have to actively seek and reach for. I want the world to see me as a motivator, an inspiration, and a person who can be counted on to think positively in the pursuit of finding better choices.

    Mike will call me Monday, and we'll talk about it. I want this. I think I want to be on the road talking, moving, shaking things up a bit, and dancing for the world to see that you don't have to be 100% perfect to be exactly who and what you're supposed to be. You don't have to be pretty, you don't have to be younger, you don't have to be rich, you don't have to be famous or popular. You have a purpose, you have a reason to be here. If I can help you find that reason, I hope we can make it happen! God gave me a really big mouth and I don't mind sharing it. He also gave me a really big heart and a caring soul. I want to use both for Him in whatever way He deems fit, and this just feels good. It feels right.

    Before, when I traveled with Faith, I would meet at schools, hospitals, gymnasiums, stadiums, event centers, churches, and military bases. We stood in the airports and in malls to allow anyone and everyone the opportunity to see an awesome and creatively magical dog who just couldn't be negative. That grin on her face was real!  Oprah, after interviewing people for more than 25 years looked into the camera and stated that one of her favorite guests was a dog! She was talking about MY DOG, Faith.  Faith had that "it" thing that creates in all of us the desire to follow her. She stood up and walked off whenever she got bored. She stood up and walked off whenever she saw something she wanted to explore. She stood up and walked off when she was hungry or if she wanted to say hello to someone. The point is, that she stood up on her own without the use of her front arms/paws because she didn't have them. She stood up by FAITH.  We can too.

    I'll motivate. I'll cheerlead. I'll push, and I'll pull. I'll speak and I'll try to do my best to radiate whatever message the Lord gives me, but I can already tell you it will be a positive and move-forward message; something like "Stand up and walk on" may be the basic theme.  I may choose to dance rather than walk. I dance. I move and I rarely stop.  If you ever wondered why I was given this dog, why she ended up in my house, and not someone else's house, just know that I make things happen. She needed me, I needed her. We needed each other, and we made the world look at what is possible.  I am hoping to do that again, and I'm praying Mike says yes. He is by far, by very very far, the best damn agent in the freakin' world. We didn't get rich, it's not about that. It's about love, it's about work, it's about ethics, it's about the opportunity to bring it home to Jesus. I can't wait. 

    You know I'm taking this show to Scotland. You already saw that coming. Yep, I have my passport and I will make it to the land of my people! LOL...soon. Very very soon. I may wear an Armstrong kilt - - if they think I shouldn't wear it, if they think I don't deserve to, well hell, I'll just take it off! LOL...watch me! Part of the routine will be talking about being bold, being brave, and how I lost weight dancing. I may have to do a bit of a demonstration. Maybe. Just...well, yeah I will.  C'mon, it's me. We will dance. Be ready Mike...bring the wife!! We're dancing all over the world.

Link to the book: Faith Walks https://www.amazon.com/Faith-Walks-Memoir-Beautiful-Life/dp/1462034527/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2QBM00BYK16YS&keywords=Faith+Walks+jude+Stringfellow&qid=1662071844&sprefix=faith+walks+jude+stringfellow%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-1

Photo Credit: Carol Guzy (Mike and Faith)

Photo Credit: Anthony Tortorello