Taking Some Time Off....

My sister is flying in this Saturday and will be staying with me for one whole week...7 wonderful, glorious days.  My husband is going to Mexico for his annual trip with his friends and sons, so she and I will have the house to ourselves and be on our own, spontaneous time schedule doing whatever pops into our imaginations.

I will most likely post pictures of some of the things we do...but I will post them on my other blog, Mystical Journeys

See you again in about a week....

Mom Won't Let Me Sit In The Living Room Naked...

It is way too hot... I cannot blog, I cannot even think from this freaking heat!  Mom has no air conditioning and she won't allow me to sit naked in the living room, in front of the fan!  I don't know why not... How did I stand it when I used to live here?

I took a nap yesterday and woke up in a puddle of sweat!

Some where between my daughter's couch and Mom's couch, I got a heck of a kink on the left side of my neck...I think I need to wait until my return to Nevada tomorrow before doing any serious blogging...

More later... when I am cooler and my neck is better...

GOT THE CALL at 4:03 AM!!!!!

It is 7am and I am getting ready to load the car and take Izzy to the Vet for boarding, then on my way to CALI...need to talk to my oldest daughter, as she is who I will stay with while my youngest daughter is in the hospital, then will stay with my Mom when my daughter goes back home...


I am SO EXCITED and have major nervous stomach for my baby, who is having her first baby!!

More later...love you guys!!!

The 50's... The Land That Made Me, Me...

My Mom sent this to me and it is so great, I had to share it with all of you....

Long ago and far away,

In a land that time forgot,

Before the days of Dylan,

Or the dawn of Camelot.

There lived a race of innocents,

And they were you and me,

Long ago and far away

In the Land That Made Me Me.

Oh, there was truth and goodness

In that land where we were born,

Where navels were for oranges,

And Peyton Place was porn.

For Ike was in the White House,

And Hoss was on TV,

And God was in His heaven

In the Land That Made Me Me.

We learned to gut a muffler,

We washed our hair at dawn,

We spread our crinolines to dry

In circles on the lawn.

And they could hear us coming

All the way to Tennessee,

All starched and sprayed and rumbling

in the Land That Made Me Me.

We longed for love and romance,

And waited for the prince,

And Eddie Fisher married Liz,

And no one's seen him since.

We danced to "Little Darlin',"

And sang to "Stagger Lee"

And cried for Buddy Holly

In the Land That Made Me Me.

Only girls wore earrings then,

And three was one too many,

And only boys wore flat-top cuts,

Except for Jean McKinney.

And only in our wildest dreams

Did we expect to see

A boy named George, with lipstick

In the Land That Made Me Me.

We fell for Frankie Avalon,

Annette was oh, so nice,

And when they made a movie,

They never made it twice.

We didn't have a Star Trek Five,

Or Psycho Two and Three,

Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty

In the Land That Made Me Me.

Miss Kitty had a heart of gold,

And Chester had a limp,

And Reagan was a Democrat

Whose co-star was a chimp.

We had a Mr Wizard,

But not a Mr T,

And Oprah couldn't talk yet

In the Land That Made Me Me.

We had our share of heroes,

We never thought they'd go,

At least not Bobby Darin,

Or Marilyn Monroe.

For youth was still eternal,

And life was yet to be,

And Elvis was forever,

In the Land That Made Me Me.

We'd never seen the rock band

That was Grateful to be Dead,

And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson,

And Zeppelins were not Led.

And Beatles lived in gardens then,

And Monkees in a tree,

Madonna was a virgin

In the Land That Made Me Me.

We'd never heard of Microwaves,

Or telephones in cars,

And babies might be bottle-fed,

But they weren't grown in jars.

And pumping iron got wrinkles out,

And "gay" meant fancy-free,

And dorms were never coed

In the Land That Made Me Me.

We hadn't seen enough of jets

To talk about the lag,

And microchips were what was left at

The bottom of the bag.

And Hardware was a box of nails,

And bytes came from a flea,

And rocket ships were fiction

In the Land That Made Me Me.

Buicks came with portholes,

And side shows came with freaks,

And bathing suits came big enough

To cover both your cheeks.

And Coke came just in bottles,

And skirts below the knee,

And Castro came to power

near the Land That Made Me Me.

We had no Crest with Fluoride,

We had no Hill Street Blues,

We all wore superstructure bras

Designed by Howard Hughes.

We had no patterned pantyhose

Or Lipton herbal tea

Or prime-time ads for condoms

In the Land That Made Me Me.

There were no golden arches,

No Perriers to chill,

And fish were not called Wanda,

And cats were not called Bill.

And middle-aged was thirty-five

And old was forty-three,

And ancient were our parents

In the Land That Made Me Me.

But all things have a season,

Or so we've heard them say,

And now instead of Maybelline

We swear by Retin-A.

And they send us invitations

To join AARP,

We've come a long way, baby,

From the Land That Made Me Me.

So now we face a brave new world

In slightly larger jeans,

And wonder why they're using

Smaller print in magazines.

And we tell our children's children

of the way it used to be,

Long ago, and far away

In the Land That Made Me Me.

--Author unknown

Unofficial Pool For When The Grandson Will Arrive...

We are having an unofficial pool to guess when the grandson will arrive... (she was due on the 14th)

My husband thinks this weekend
Mom thinks the 17th
I think tomorrow
My sister thinks the 21st

The doctor will induce if she has not had him by the 24th...

I have Jury Duty the 29th, which I will have to reschedule if she waits til the 24th...

My daughter called and told me she thinks the time will be 2:48...only she is not sure whether the time is AM or PM!  She doing a lot of walking, attempting to get things started...

What do you think?  Any guesses?

Never Give Up...

I wrote on my blog of my experience on September 11, 2001, yesterday. I visited several other blogs and after reading DJan's post at Eye On The Edge, she asked the question,  "If you feel so moved, I wonder what happened in your life on that day, and ask if you would be willing to share it. And your sense of the direction of our country: do you see any light at the end of this long tunnel?"

I was carried away with my response and when I tried to post it, it blocked me, because I had written more than amount of characters allowed.  So the following are my thoughts...

I can only speak from my personal perspective. We have seen our life savings take a huge hit. My husband continues to work strictly for financial reasons.The banking job he used to enjoy lending money to new businesses has turned into one he hates, because the bank no longer lends money to anyone.  He lost his former position and is now in charge of all the bad loans from all the four of their branches, which are now consolidated into one bank.

The housing market is so bad, we are stuck in Nevada, unable to sell our home unless we give it away, so we can move back to California to live closer to the majority of our family and friends. Housing is still expensive there, at least the areas we want to move. Taxes and cost of living are higher there too.

We have done our best in raising our children.  We have faith they will succeed as they aspire to follow the American Dream. We want to live closer to help and support them. We want to see them and hold them more. As things are now, we do have concerns about the fate of the world our grand children will inherit...

We know of so many personally and within our community, who have lost their homes, their jobs, their savings. We see and hear of families who must live in the drainage tunnels under the city of Las Vegas. We see children and grand children living in the small homes of our 55+ community, with their parents and grand parents, because they have no place left to go... 

So many things are weighting down this country. In some ways, I don't want to know, because the more I find out, the more discouraged and depressed I become. Yet, the better part of me, wants to have hope. Hope, our country and the world, will rise to the challenge and overcome. Our history shows it is what we do. I want to believe it will get better.

I make up my mind to be positive, to come from a place of love, to treat others the way I want to be treated. I genuinely care about my fellow human beings and at the age of 63, I find the older I become, the world seems to grow smaller. I do my best to lend a hand to anyone who needs it. I offer a smile to anyone who walks toward me or is around me. I don't work so I can drive back and forth to California to see my loved ones more. I reach out in the blog sphere to other's lives, listening and commenting. I care deeply for our country and for all countries. We are ALL in this world together.

I dislike competition. There always has to be a "Winner" and a "Loser". In school when we had to play sports, when we won, I could not enjoy the victory because I felt bad for those who did not win.

I think the competitive spirit is a part of the problem. Some people let the power of being the best, delude them. They become greedy and need more... Power is as addictive as heroin. Many people cannot handle it. People become selfish and only think of what is best for them and screw the "other guy"..

I wish more people would want to do their best, just out of wanting to put forth their personal best and to help others. I wish people felt better about themselves, so they did not need an others opinion to believe it.

I hate War; but what are we to do when we, as a country, a nation, were attacked? Clean up the mess and move on like nothing happened? Forgive and forget?

If we look at our world, like a collective family, and someone crashes a plane into our home, killing our loved ones, and we discover it was on purpose...what do we do?

If a gang of thugs invade your neighborhood, killing neighbors and friends randomly, stealing, destroying every one's property, would you stand idly by? Would you leave it to someone else? Or would you band together and fight against the injustice? Some times we have to fight for what is right, no matter what the cost.

Our human instincts want revenge. Our pain is too severe to be comforted with religion...but we have to believe in a power higher than ourselves, or we will have chaos. As a collective family, we have to pull together to recover from grief and difficult times.  In grief, our faith helps us to know our loved ones are in a better place. Everyone struggles, but the burden is lighter, when shared with others who care. Laws are made to protect individuals, but ultimately, for the greater good.
Our rules and laws are certainly not perfect. There are flaws in anything mad made...but we can never just give up. We must persevere!

I don't understand hate. Children's innocence is universal. Children have to be taught to hate. Hatred will destroy the world.

I have no doubt those terrorists love their children and families...but "their God" comes before anything else. As some of us do as well. How many religious fanatics, have we each known, who forced the FEAR OF GOD onto their children, making them just the opposite?  Monsters come in many colors and nationalities.

A child molester does not just become one, they are taught the unthinkable by experiencing horrific,and heinous torture and abuse at a critical time in their early life. I call that evil.

I find it difficult to believe how a child grows up comfortable in taking anothers life. That child has to be taught to kill or taught to hate, brainwashed if you will, to follow an others warped thinking.

I think parenting is one of the most important jobs on this planet. There should be more classes in grade schools and high schools. How a child is raised, is the seed that dwells in the mind of every adult. The upbringing and attitudes branch out to touch and affect every living animal or human they meet. If we don't like or believe in ourselves, how can we stand effectively among others and make a difference? How can we set examples? How can we lead?  How can we care? How can we know and feel our purpose?

I can only deal and do my best with my family, friends, people I met, and care about those in this world with me. I live and let live.  I do my best not to be caught up with petty, gossiping, pot stirring folks. I concentrate on our life, our neighborhood, our community, our children, grand children, parents, siblings and friends. Just staying on top of what is going on in our family, fills up my life. When a disaster strikes some where in the world, we care, we contribute in some way. We have learned through 9/11, how one heinous act can affect so many people, nationalities, businesses, our finances, the housing market, cities, countries, and nations.

We ARE all in this world together...and it is high time we pull together and do what we have to do, to never give up to make it right.

The Day Our World Changed Forever...

Today I put the flag out, to fly in remembrance...

Vivid memories flood my brain.

The day our world changed forever...

Horror watching the attack.

The shock.

The Towers explode.

Grey smoke billowing.

The collapse.

The devastation.

All those people.

The anguish of so many families...

The children

The parents

The grandparents

The grandchildren

The sisters

The brothers

The sons

The daughters

The Fathers

The Mothers

The cousins

The neighbors

The coworkers

The businesses
The Pentagon
The citizens aboard United flight 93
The tragic, senseless loss.

The worldwide grief and sadness.

The bravery.

The pride.

The collective linking of hearts.

The vow to never forget...

~dkb~