Relevant Ramblings

THIS WAS SUPPOSE TO BE EASY

2006-12-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

Okay. Help me out here....really!!!

I'm up early, on-line, looking for something I THOUGHT was going to be a snap.

Am I an idiot, or am I on-line challenged or both?

Please tell me I'm not STUPID. It's too early in the day.

But I can see I DO need help.

Okay.

Here's the challenge.....

I want a SIMPLE, FREE pattern for a knit ski cap-type hat for a man with a 23" head.

Yeah. Pls don't tell me to just "Google-It" because I did and I coulen't find nutin' that works. Crochet patterns gallore! Why do I get crochet patterns when I type in "free men's knit hat pattern" or "free men's ski cap knit pattern" or any number of various versions of that????

I knit little baby caps for the preemies at our hospital and for newborn size -- but I'll be dang if I can find a (keyword) SIMPLE hat pattern for a man with a fairly large head! I couldn't find one for a man with a small head!!

So what does a person DO now????

Help!!!!! Can you?

Annie is frustrated...and that's NOT a pretty sight!! LOL

Thanks.

MUST BREAK VICIOUS CYCLE

2006-11-30T13:56:00.000-08:00

Here's what happens to me over and over again!! I come in here, check if I have any new "visitors" to my last post. No? Okay. Now let's go see what my Favorite Blogs have to offer today! Oh! That's interesting...think I'll comment on that....oh! that's interesting to read, think I'll email that to my children, siblings and friends, etc. etc. Oh! There's an interesting link -- let's see what THAT's all about.

Tick Tock Tick Tock......

You get the picture, right?

Oops! It's so late! I have to get up in the morning and get going!! Yikes! No time to write a posting on my own blog! Dang! People are going to stop visiting my blog altogether if I don't get my act together and WRITE SOMETHING INTERESTING!!!

So many blogs (to read) and so little time.

Thanks for listenning to my whiiiiiiiney ways today.

I'm home here waiting for the washer repairman to arrive, only I'm also suppose to be wrapping Christmas gifts. (sigh) So that's why I'm online reading blogs, right?

Sometimes I feel like a real teenager again! Remember how that went? Need to work on math homework -- first call girlfriend and get involved in a long-winded conversation about pretty much not much. Oops! Where on earth did the evening go?! Not enough time to get the homework finished! Yikes! How'd THAT happen???

Well, that's what's been happening to me of late, and that's why if you read the blogs I read -- you've seen me on them just typing my little heart out in the response areas! Sheesh!

Okay. Time for turning over a New Leaf. (I love that expression!)

A New Leaf.

This implies freshness. This brings to mind Spring! This is a good thought like fresh-air and new growth.

Only I've just used up all the TIME I can afford this afternoon -- the repairman just called and he's ten minutes away from here and I have to go take a very FAST shower and get dressed because I do not want to greet him at the door while I'm wearing my pajamas!!!! What? I'm not even dressed????

Who knew!? LOL

P.S. Next posting here is going to be "Annie's Favorite Quotes". It's riviting!! Don't miss it!!! Oh, and thanks a million for droppng by!! And have a super good day!

THIRTEEN THANKSGIVING THINGS I'M THANKFUL FOR.....

2006-11-23T12:22:00.000-08:00

Please visit Julie's blog at mentaltesserae@blogspot. You'll see I'm a quasi-copycat in that after reading her wonderful Thanksgiving Day post and seeing her wonderful pictures....I've decided there are certainly thirteen things in MY life I'm very thankful for today (and most other days as well). Notice I said "things"....therefore no human beings will be listed here with one exception......

1) My ability to nap. Don't laugh. Many people can't "nap" and so they haven't the foggiest idea how wonderful napping is. I'm on my way to a wonderful one right after this posting!

2) Thanksgiving comes only once-a-year. I'm serious. This is a LOT of work!!

3) Gravy. Think about it! What if no one had invented the stuff. Mashed potatoes with just butter on them? No gravy over the dressing and turkey? I think we overlook the importance of gravy. So I'm highlighting it here, today, for all the world to see. You GO GRAVY!!! I LOVE YA!!!!!

4) Non-asprin pain reliever. Again, don't laugh. When you are my age the old back and knees are not your friends. These pills are! They're going to get me through today's dinner prep and clean-up!

5) Throw-away disposable baking pans for turkeys. No more of the scrubbing-the-roaster for THIS modern woman!!

6) Hot water and lots of it. Think of what the women during the First Thanksgiving went through. She didn't have hot, running water for clean-up and she didn't get to soak in a deep tub afterwards, either. Poor baby. You know where THIS baby will be tonight after everyone leaves! Splish. Splash.

7) Thanksgiving cards. There are so many people I love who are far away and I adore sending them funny Thanksgiving cards each year.

8) Stove-Top dressing mix. Oh I know....I shouldn't even ADMIT that I use the stuff. But I am a terrible stuffing-maker. Trust me. Everyone thinks I make wonderful stuffing...should I tell them my secret?? LOL

9) Beautiful paper napkins. Not those plain white dinner napkins, mind you. The ones my mother use to save for Christmas and Thanksgiving ONLY. No. I buy beautifully decorated napkins for both occassions. Lovely.

10) Electric stoves vs. wood-burning. Speaks for itself . LOL

11) The fact that my mother took the time to teach me how to cook. I can make the entire Thanksgiving dinner by myself and pretty much not break a sweat. She taught me how to make wonderful pie crusts and how to time things correctly....and yes, I'll admit I am extremely ANAL when it comes to all dishes being piping-hot when served at Thanksgiving. No cold mashed potatoes for me or mine! (I've been known to get somewhat nasty about everyone gettin' to the table!!!! in order for this to be so......) P.S. She also taught me how to make really good gravy!

12) The ability to ignore, totally, all sales the day AFTER Thanksgiving. I learned the hard way....but I learned. Oh, how I learned!

13) All the years I got to just come-to-the-table and partake....without participating in the pre-meal stuff. In other words, all my childhood memories of Thanksgiving....when the house smelled wonderful and I hadn't the foggiest notion what it took to get it that way. Thanks be to God.

And thanks for dropping by here! Have a lovely day and a wonderful tomorrow!

THANKSGIVING -- DO WE?

2006-11-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder why we call it "Thanksgiving" and in truth it's not my favorite holiday!

I like to give thanks all through the year....in large and small ways. Not just tomorrow when there's a huge turkey on the table and people around me I wouldn't do all that work for if it was just a normal day.

I know. I know. I'm admitting something really negative.

Bah to Thanksgiving. The holiday.

Hoorah to thanks-giving all year long. Hoorah to doing unexpected things for people when it's not a holiday.

Hoorah for doing nice things for people anonymously!

Hoorah for giving to your local food bank on the off-season....for buying school clothes for a family you know can't afford them for the children.

Hoorah that the pilgrims had the courage and spunk to come here to a New Land and that the indians were kind enough to help them out.

Hoorah for so many nice people out here in Blogland.

Have a lovely day...no matter how you spend it, who you spend it with and whether or not you agree with me! Hoorah for the freedom to say what we think and feel.

And as always...thanks for dropping by. I will try to be a little more "uplifting" the next time I write. Right now I'm buried in yams. LOL

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.....and other thoughts on growing old

2006-11-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

Someone, lazylazyme I think it was (see his blog called too tired to be corrupt @ blogspot) said the following:

OUR PARENTS BECOME THE CHILDREN WE NEVER ASKED FOR.

Boy, there is certainly some truth to that one. And his comment has kept me thinking about it for several days since I first read it. Think. Think. Think. I'm kinda like Pooh who walks around tapping his head and trying to think about what it was he was suppose to think about. LOL

Anyway -- our parents growing older.

That seems to be quite the problem these days.

And I've come up with some thoughts on that. Nothing heavy-duty, mind you. Just some thoughts which I'd like to pass along -- and I'd like to get them onto paper (or the equivalant of paper!) and out of my own brain so I can think about some other "stuff" for awhile!

We all grow old.

In fact...every day we are alive we are just a little closer to "old" than we were the day before yesterday.

Some of us grow older a great deal more gracefully than others.

Some of us are old before our time! We drink and smoke and take basically terrible care of these beautiful machines we have called our bodies. We only get one, but we act like we get several or like the one we have is invincible!

Phyllis Diller once said, "Be nice to your children. They're the ones who are going to pick out your nursing home!" There is some truth to this statement!

I think it's a really good idea to do some thinking about just what KIND of older person we want to end up being.....seriously. Since life just seems to sneak up on us, this decision needs to be made quite a number of years ahead of time.

For instance....do you have a neighbor or an aunt that is just the greatest person to be around even though she is in ill health, getting up there in years and no one ever visits her much? The kind that never says a complaining word, never tries to make you feel guilty about how you are too busy to come visit, who is just happy when you do visit and lets you go happily when you need to leave? Is that the kind of person you'd like to be when you "grow up"?

It's that kind of stuff I like to ponder on.

So, too, there is the subject of our parents.

I know what you mean.

They get up there in years, we get up there into the age where they use to be and now we can't tell them much of anything!! It's absolutely frustrating!

It's role-reversal and I am not happy about it.

Are you?

And at the same time I have to laugh about it. And laugh we must! We simply must laugh because if we don't we are going to end up being frustrated, angry old people! Our parents are going to be dead and gone and you know what we are going to be ranting and raving about into our old age?

Yep.

Our parents and what pains-in-the-butt they "used to be".

Pathetic.

And you know what else?

No one ....read that again...NO ONE is going to want to sit and listen to us gripe about our parents and how awful it was to try and deal with them! No one is going to care. Think I'm wrong on this? Do you enjoy listenning to your parents complain about your grandparents? I'm thinking probably not.

So where does that leave us?

It leaves us with today....and tomorrow and all the other days coming down the pike!

And there is only one day we have to be patient, kind, understanding and compassionate with our parents .... and that is today.

Tomorrow will take care of itself.

And if we can do it this way....by the time the far-away "tomorrow" of OUR old age gets here -- we will be really fun folks to be around.

I know several 93 yr. olds today...and let me assure you it is the ones who are like the above person I described (the guilt-free version) that I gravitate to over and over again.

Whew.

I think my brain can now go back to "normal" again. Now that I got that all off my chest!

But then "normal" is just a setting on the dryer, right? LOL

Thanks for dropping by and come back anytime!! By-the-way, I framed the sixty-four year-old maple leaf in a gold frame, with it mounted on a beautiful, textured sheet of white paper -- It looks stunning and sits here reminding me that even a maple leaf can have a wonderful message! And that my grandmother managed to leave behind a simple treasure....

THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

2006-11-11T01:28:00.000-08:00

I was visiting a wonderful blog tonight (what a surprise, right? ). It's name is onetallmomma@blogspot and she wrote about her recent experience of inviting two Morman boys to have dinner with her family. Boy, did that ever bring back a memory of a story. My grandmother used to do things like that, and more. Thought I'd share this with you.....So get a nice cup of tea or cocoa, sit back and come with me back to about 1943.....

My grandmother was the mother to many children; some hers and many not. She was the mother-hen of the neighborhood. All that I'm writing you about happened years and years before I was born -- but I love the story nonetheless. It was a time when people reached out to others...

My dad and his brothers were in the Army during WWII, and my grandmother missed them terribly.

This is the same grandmother I wrote about earlier. The one who wrote my dad a letter every single day while he was in training. She is the one who put the maple leaf in the envelope that I happened upon the other night. Yeah, that grandma.

Anyway....

Apparently one very cold winter night she was driving home and happened to drive (I figure on-purpose) by the campus of the college that was in town. It was dinnertime and cold outside. She saw a couple of fellows walking along, so she stopped her car and asked them if they'd had dinner. No, they hadn't. Would they like to get in the car and go with her to a lovely turkey dinner she had at home? Well, sure! So they piled into her car and away they went.

Imagine doing that today. Not.

After the feast, everyone sat around and visited long into the night. These two fellows were far away from home, probably months from being drafted and I'm sure they never forgot the lovely woman who scooped them up and fed them that night. My aunts still tell that story.

Another time my grandmother was at the bus station rather late one evening, having dropped off a cousin for a trip home. She stood in the small station, looking at the young woman at the end of the seating area and she wondered to herself why a young girl would be sitting alone in a bus station so late at night.

My grandma wasn't a person to just wonder and then walk away. She felt morally obligated to check out the situation. I wonder if I would have?

As it turned out, the young girl had run away from home and didn't have a clue where she was going. She'd landed in that bus station because that's as far as her money took her. No more money. No more bus ride. Now what?

Of course with the warmth of my grandmother's interest and I'm sure a gentle arm around her shoulders...this young woman broke down and told her story.

So, naturally, home she went with my grandmother.

They phoned the girl's parents, who were not the least bit interested in having the girl come back home again anytime soon!

So Susie stayed.

My grandmother put her upstairs in my dad's old room....enrolled her in high school so she could finish her senior year, helped her find a part-time job with a friend of my grandmother's and Susie stayed.

You can bet she told this story to her children. About the wonderful woman who took the time to care....

I think we've lost something in the intervening years, don't you? I'm certain of it.

But I like to find ways to spread a little kindness wherever I can. I don't think it would be wise or sane to do today what my grandmother did back then -- but I know there are still safe ways today to do kindness to others. Even when they don't know our names.

On the other hand, onetallmomma did exactly what my Meeme did back in 1943 and I think that's just about the nicest thing I've read in a long, long time. Be sure and visit her blog!

And thanks for dropping by my blog! Have just a super, restful weekend.

SO WHERE IS HELL????

2006-11-07T22:13:00.000-08:00

I just returned from visiting a rather "heated discussion" blog-site. I was surprised by the intensity of the conversations going on there. It's a pro-choice abortion site, so I suppose it was rather niave of me to think there would be calm discussion. Abortion is such a "hot topic" and emotions (on both ends of the decision) run so deep and are so full of passion.

One of the posts (and responses) had to do with "proving" things like whether Jesus was who he said he was, whether there is hell, and so forth.

I guess I'm just getting old. Years ago I'd have jumped into the discussion with both feet. I'd have given all the arguments and directions and simply added my own particular fuel to an already burning fire. Pointless. So very pointless.

See, if someone asks me (key word is 'asks') what I believe, why I believe it and how I came to believe thus -- I'm happy to spend the time and share my story with them. Occassionally someone asks...and it's a wonderful story! I love to share it! Probably 'cuz it's my story. You know how that goes -- we all like to talk about our own "stuff".

But to enter into an argument over whether there is a hell, prove it, disprove it, etc. etc. seems like such a waste of precious time!

I labeled this post "So Where Is Hell??" because I know that is a very human question that at some point in time most of us ponder. I think it's worth asking and I think it's worth stating here where I think it is. Keep in mind this is simply my opinion, my belief, my take on the subject.

I know what the Bible tells me about hell and I take it very seriously. If you were to strip away all the adjectives, the fear, the this and the that -- here is what I believe is hell:

Hell is being separated from the love of God.

Do I think it's that simple?

Yes. I do.

Think about that.

What would it mean to us to be totally separated from God's love?

Well, I'm pretty sure all that I now know and love....all that I feel that is good and worthy...sunshine, happiness, feelings of being valuable, and so on are all things that I have because I am a child of God. He made me. He knew me even before I was formed inside my mother. I was created on-purpose.

And that feels like the love of God.

So anywhere I would go that was completely separate from my Heavenly Father -- is Hell.

And the idea that I would spend all of eternity separated from his love is, well, a hellish thought to me. Incomprehensible.

Not what I choose for myself.

And I am the absolute only person who can do the choosing.

I can choose to remain close to my Creator. Or I can turn my back on Him.

My choice.

He made us pro-choice when it comes to choosing Him.

Thank God.

Peace to you...and thanks for coming by here.

A KNITTER THROUGH AND THROUGH....

2006-11-07T00:05:00.000-08:00

I love to read other people's blogs....so much so, I find it difficult to think about my own and what to write here!

Lately I've been visiting a list of blogs I've labeled "My Favorite Knitting Blogs" and it's great fun to see all the beautiful projects people are working on.

But as the months have passed, it has occurred to me that there are all kinds of knitters, the way there are all kinds of writers and artists, etc. etc.

And there is room for each of us in this old world.

I've discovered that I'm what I call a "Good-Cause Knitter". I absolutely adore knitting for worthy causes like tiny little hats for the preemie department at the local hospital. Or chemo-caps for the cancer group here in town. Lap throws for the nursing home, or sweaters of various sizes for local and worldwide orgnizations.

I take pictures of my creations when they are finished, then I say 'bye' to them and send them on their way -- hoping they bring warmth and comfort to whomever they go to. It's like sending a part of my heart out into the Big World! We knitters take our projects all over the place with us...so when we send 'em on their way, it's a happy kind of farewell, but a little sad too.

This means, of course, that I don't buy high-end yarn. And there was a time when I felt somewhat embarrassed about that.

As though the price of the yarn set the value of the project.

I don't feel that way anymore. I've "evolved", I guess.

Tonight I bought a skein of soft, soft worsted-weight yarn in a wonderful pumpkin orange because I've decided it would be fun for the hospital to have some tiny knit pumpkin hats on hand next year for the babies born in October. If I begin now I can have several ready by then. Oh, and I bought soft, soft yarn in Christmas red and a skein of bright white. That will make adorable candycane stripped hats for this year's babies!

I get so excited over this stuff! And I'm collecting quite a "stash" of yarns in my workroom! Great, great fun.

And while I'd like to move beyond hats and sweaters....I think that perhaps making socks (when I arrive where I can actually do that) will still be for others and not for myself.

It feels so good!! And frankly I'm liking feeling good!!

MAKING THE MOMENTS COUNT.....

2006-11-03T18:33:00.000-08:00

I was visiting Thailand Gal blog today and found her piece about re-connecting with her Mom. It really touched my heart.

I have had a similar experience, though with a sibling who was a thorn in my side for years. And now, nearly ten years later, we are friends. We "click". We care about each other. We know where the landmines of our relationship are planted -- and we don't walk there.

How did we do this? It's a long story which I am willing to share and which I think is worth reading about. Come with me...

Changed my mind. You probably have things to do and meals to cook and children to look after. Here's the story in a nutshell -- which will enlighten you and not take up a lot of your time!

My sib and I finally "called it quits" over some petty thing and we went our separate ways.

This caused some pain to our parents, but then they were sick and tired of the way we were enemies for years -- so what was worse?

Years and years passed by. There was no contact between us. But we'd both visit the parents on separate occassions and were able to see the other's life through the photos the parents had up around the house. So we weren't totally blind to the other. Just no information passed to us about the other. Our parents stayed mute about the other person. This helped me anyway.

About ten years ago I get a letter from this sibling. They are ready to try again. They wondered if I am willing to "try again only this time we know what to not talk about". This sounded interesting to me. We'd always "hashed through stuff" and ended up mad all over again. A weary pattern honed over the years.

I wrote back. "Sure...but I don't have time or energy to put into anything negative or discuss the past. If you want to go forward, I'm willing. But only forward. I'm too old to go backward."

So we started writing to each other. Short notes in the beginning....then longer ones. Then e-mail. Then phone calls.

Today we are friends. Good friends. We know what NOT to talk about and we are totally dedicated to not bringing up the NOTS. We focus on today and tomorrow. We are so happy!

Can it happen that you are able to forge a friendship with someone you never got along with? Well, I'm experiencing it and I can tell you it is worth any scary feelings you might have about attempting it in the beginning.

Reach out.

Ask.

Make your desires known.

Set whatever boundaries you need to feel safe and comfortable. You'll keep some and drop some as the relationship develops anew.

Then sit back and see what happens.

Good can happen!

Peace!

SIXTY-FOUR YEAR -OLD MAPLE LEAF

2006-11-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

During World War II, while my Dad was in the Army, his mother wrote him letters on a nearly daily basis. She was a busy lady, with a large family to tend to, and yet every day she found the time to sit down and pen a letter to him. They were written on thin onion-skin paper, using a fountain pen. Nearly sixty-five years later her words are as clear and meaningful as they were back then. I treasure the chance to read about her day-to-day life...

I inherited a packet of these letters, and have been reading them slowly -- one every evening.

Tonight when I pulled out the contents of this evening's letter, out came a very golden, very flat maple leaf.

A sixty-four year old maple leaf that was chosen by my grandmother almost sixty-five years ago.

And it's beautiful.

It's flat and smooth. It's veins are so distinct. It's color so deep gold and little speckles of brown adorn it. It has a nice long stem...perfectly formed and intact.

I'm going to mat and frame this leaf....

It represents so much to me.

Reminds me that autums have come and gone sixty-five times since the September day she chose this little leaf.

She loved her son. Missed him. Wanted to put a little spot of "home" in her letter, so she sent him a golden leaf.

I wonder at that.

At the depth of her love for him. (very deep).

At her description of the cold, crisp day the day she was writing her letter.

I miss her. And I miss him.

BAH TO HALLOWEEN !!!!

2006-10-28T00:31:00.000-07:00

This is the very first year I get to IGNORE Halloween. First year I don't have a child around to care about anything even remotely connected with the "holiday".

I've enjoyed all the years of costumes, parties, trick-or-treating, trick-or-treaters at the door, etc. etc. etc. It was nice and fun and cute.

But now it's over. An era has past.

And I'm glad.

The area where I live there aren't any trick-or-treaters, so it's easy to ignore the night when it arrives. No pumpkins on the doorstep. No candy dish. (I'll miss the excuse to buy candy.)

Of course now there are Christmas decorations in Jo-Ann's and the grocery store and everywhere else I look.

I'm okay with Christmas.

My advise? Enjoy Halloween while the kids are young. It really is fun for them and therefore fun for you. But when they get older and don't care anymore? That's when you find out if you really DO (or don't) care about a particular holiday.

Of course, come to think of it, along will come Grandchildren some day....and I'll be back at the Halloween stuff all over again.

Okay.

That means I'm just taking a "vacation" from Halloween. Oh. I get it. Well, okay. For the future grandchildren I'll start all over again with the costumes, etc. etc.

No problem.

Hear that, kids?

WELCOME TO HOLLAND....

2006-10-24T00:29:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why I feel compelled to post this tonight...other than the fact that I ran across it last night and remembered how much I had looked for it years ago. No one I asked seemed to know what I was looking for! Finally, amazingly enough, Dear Abby had it in her column. I was thrilled!! Perhaps you know of someone this would be a blessing to? If so, pass it on....

**********************************************
WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared the unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this ---

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. Michelangelo's David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!!" you say. "What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. You must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

**********************************

This and That....

2006-10-23T00:51:00.000-07:00

I've had so much fun tonight, surfing knitting blogs. I'm learning a lot and finding out the titles of good knitting books, and even a recipe for oxtail soup! Who knew?! Did you know that an oxtail is really just a cow's tail? I didn't. I thought it was the tail of an ox. I wasn't too sure how one finds an ox'es tail, but heah you never know! Anyway, I love surfing blogs. Can ya tell? One of these days I'll leaarn how to add links to my blog, and then I can let you visit what I visit!

I've never gotten into quilting because I know myself; I'm obsessive-compulsive when it comes to material...and quilting requires only small amounts of material so that would mean I could buy and buy and buy those Fat Quarters, right? And they would add up. And then I'd have a stash of them to figure out where to put them....no. Not me. Not now anyway.

Here's today's Words of Wisdom.....

The best reason NOT to hold a grudge is it doesn't leave your hands free for anything else!!

Have a lovely day! And thanks for dropping by....

TAG YOU'RE IT!!!!!

2006-10-22T02:12:00.000-07:00

I just tagged The Happy Homemaker for a Meme, answering the questions I just did. Hope she agrees to do it!! Check out her blog....

VIRGIN MEME

2006-10-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

Being "tagged" feels a lot like being chosen in the first round of a Red Rover game! Instead of wondering what a meme is...I'm gonna write one! Thanks, Dot. Okay. Hold on to your hats/seats/minds. Annie's Virgin Meme has arrived for your reading enjoyment.

TEN THINGS ABOUT ME (that you didn't know you wanted to know)

1. Something no one else should know?

When I was a little girl I thought I was adopted and no one could tell me otherwise. There still lingers a little doubt...even though my rational mind knows better. I'm very different in personality, disposition and outlook than anyone in my family.

2. Colors I will never wear?

Yellow or green

3. Things I love to eat?

Chocolate
Teriyaki chicken
Chocolate
Salads made by someone besides me
Roast chicken or anything with chicken in it
Chocolate
ice cream
Chocolate
Any wonder I'm on a quest to lose weight?

4. Things I would never serve a guest?

Flaming Duck
Cherries Jubilee
Anything with garlic in it

5. Things I forget to buy at the grocery store?

celery
dishwasher soap
bar soap
Who cares?

6. Things I like about Autum?

Leaves turning colors on the trees
Leaves falling off the trees
Geese flying overhead
Chilly mornings
The smell of burning leaves
Meatloaf dinner
Anticipating Thanksgiving
Wearing sweaters again

7. Things I value about my family?

My siblings becoming closer
Watching my kids become adults
Family history

8. Things I watch on T.V.

Not much actually.
Educational programs whenever I can.
Dog, the Bounty Hunter occassionaly. Why, I don't know exactly.

9. Things I loved about school?

The first day of school and the anticipation of a new year, new teacher, new friends.
School supply shopping
New textbooks
New school clothes
Learning new things
Boys
Boys
Boys
The last day of school and anticipating summer
Ask me what I loved about summer and I can fill a page!

10. Things I love about life?

Being alive!
Learning new things
Growing and maturing -- not being a kid anymore and therefore listenned to now
Having opinions and hearing others'
Reading good books
Looking forward
Meeting new people
Watching good movies
Chocolate
Having the chance to make ammends
Forgiveness both directions
Knitting
Traveling to new places
Blogging
Writing poetry
Utilizing my public library (don't laugh...you'd be surprised how many folks don't )
Humor wherever I find it
Pets
Memories that I treasure

Thanks for dropping by! Hope this didn't put ya to sleep!! LOL

I've Been Tagged by Dot....

2006-10-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for the spine-tingling results of my FIRST MEME!!!

MEAN GIRLS

2006-10-18T21:18:00.001-07:00

I just returned from a visit to Meno's blog where she described her daughter's hurt and frustration with a "friend".

Oh my.

Her blog is written so well, As I read it, so many memories came flooding back.

So where are those mean girls who made my life so miserable so many years ago?

They are all grown up. They have had children of their own...and I hope they ended up with little mean girls of their own to contend with. Or maybe their little girls had to deal with mean girls? Hmmm Wonder how my "friends" dealt with all the pain of watching their little girls be hurt verbally? Lovely thought.

Well, no, not really.

In my heart-of-hearts I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Being made to feel less than acceptable is not a good thing. It is something that stays with a person their entire life!

Oh, we get past it, of course. But it travels with us throughout our life.

So the Mean Girls I used to contend with have married and had their families. They are probably grandmas by now -- several times over, no doubt. Gosh, they may even be great-grandmas if they started early and so did their children. What a funny thought.

A great-grandma who's a former Mean Girl.

Therefore, let us hope that great-grandma Mean Girl remembers some of the things she and her mean friends did to me. Let us hope she remembers how I lashed back at them...how I wouldn't let them see me cry...how, if they happened to be alone with me, I could tear them to shreds with my tongue-lashings. And once one of them even cried! I'm not particularly proud of that. (At the time I clearly recall thinking 'wow. I can be meaner than they are! ' Power.)

So...looking back on it...I guess that makes me a Mean Girl, too, doesn't it. Yep.

So what's the answer for Meno's little girl? I suggested she teach her daughter sarcasm, but now I'm not so sure.

Now I think perhaps there's much more to this. Tonight I'm thinking that as parents we need to begin waaaaaay back when they are little children. Before school. Before Mean Kids come into the picture.

We need to instill such self-confidence and self-assurance and gutsyness (is that a word?) in them so that having some peer make a snide comment to them simply causes them to what? To pause slightly? To laugh outloud? To smile and say "Oh, sorry you're having a rotten day!" and go on about their business? Some or all of the above?

Well, something like that.

If I could go back in time and know some of the things I so desperately needed to know, but never did....this would be #1 on my list -- and perhaps it can be there on Meno's list for her daughter.

I don't know who wrote it, but it's wonderful....

Whatever people do, feel, think or say, don't take it personally. Others are going to have their own opinion according to their belief system.

Whatever they think about you is not about you. It is about them...and the reverse is true, also.

Waiter Rant...

2006-10-17T02:20:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was the 242nd post on the Waiterrant.net blog. Woah.

It's fun to think about....being so interesting that HUNDREDS of people sit waiting for your next posting....Kinda like waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out!

But Waiter was feeling great angst the other night.

He is nearly forty, unmarried and still working at the job he's been at for over seven years.

Hundreds of people wrote him encouraging words...you're great. You are wonderful. You're not a loser.

It just reminded me that we are whatever we THINK we are!

And what someone else thinks of us is more about THEM than it is about us.

We are what we think...we attract to our lives whatever we put out to the world.

I say go visit his blog. Want some great stories? Laugh your head off? Here's lookin' at you, Waiter!!

Pathetic-Parenting

2006-10-16T00:44:00.000-07:00

Bear with me....I need to get this stuff off-my-chest. Yes, I need to RANT about some of the pathetically poor parenting I witnessed all in one evening while grocery shopping tonight!!

Picture this:

Young couple, probably in their early 20's (I can't tell ages anymore) with about a 9 month-old in stroller. Mother is shoving the bottle into baby's mouth, baby is pushing it out and young mother says to the baby (in a totally irrate tone of voice) "HOLD THE BOTTLE YOURSELF. Learn to hold it yourself, for Pete's sake!!"

Okay. I get that it's more convenient to have a child hold their own bottle...but honey, that is NOT how you "teach" said skill. It was all I could do to walk on by and act like I wasn't recording the scene.

Experience #2:

Young child is in the sitting part of the shopping cart, not buckled-in (naturally!) and keeps trying to stand up in the seat. Young mother SHOVES said child back down each and every time he/she (I couldn't tell) tries this. "Sit down!" she shouts. "Sit down!" Over and over and over. I wanna say what? Oh, let's start with "You know...if you teach him/her to sit in the cart with the little belt around his or her waist, you won't have to contend with all that. Oh, and you could have a sweet, loving conversation with your child while you walk along." Novel concept I guess.

Scene #3

This is the killer. This one convinced me once-and-for-all that I could never, NEVER work in a grocery store and keep my mouth shut when people do this. I'd get fired for sure.

Tiny baby. You know the size. The size that make that newborn kind of cry? That unmistakable tiny baby cry?

Waaaaaa!!! Waaaaa!!! People start looking around to see where-is-that-coming-from??

Mother just keeps shopping.

Waaaaa! WWAAAAAA!!! Tiny baby is now desperate. People are starting to avoid the aisle where this woman is.

Tiny baby is now HYSTERICAL!!!!

And. So. Am. I. (nearly)

I'm shopping alone, so there is no one with me to embarass or advise me to just leave-it-alone.

I walk very gently up to the mother, lean in towards her cart and the hysterical baby and I say:

"EXCUSE ME, BUT YOUR BABY IS TALKING TO YOU!!!" (I have to say it rather loudly because the tiny baby is like a police siren at this point.)

And the mother says??? (Did I expect something else?)

"Lady, f--k off."

I turn and walk away....and of course my stomach is churning like mad.

IF a mother will allow her tiny baby to be ignored like this in public....God help that child....what does she do in the privacy of her own home?

Do you see things like this where you live?

What do you DO about it?

As far as I am concerned, this is the most basic form of child abuse there is. Blatent lack of concern for a child.

There.

I don't feel much better about my shopping experience, but at least the words are out.

Thanks for listenning. It feels so relevant....especially to that little person.

So it's all important...

2006-10-15T00:07:00.000-07:00

The other day a friend of mine called to tell me all her troubles. And you know what?

It's all important.

If it's YOUR stuff.

If it's your drain that won't unclog, your cat that ran up the tree, your child who isn't home on time and worries you to death and back.

That's how you know you have a good...no, a GREAT friend. When she'll listen to you like it's her own stuff and it's important.

So I listen.

And listen and listen some more.

Because I've been the Caller. And I've been listenned to. And I know how GOOD it feels to be heard.

I think that is, perhaps, at least part of why we are all "blogging" like we are. Partly because we like reading our own words, but also because it helps us feel connected somehow.

Welcome to my Relevant Ramblings. They may not be relevant to you....but you are reading them and that makes me feel good. I'll comment on your blog, too. Because it really IS all important stuff.

Relatively speaking.