Monday, August 14, 2006

Stop the World

I haven't run out of things to say but lately I have turned melancholy... a little bit anyway. I have always loved poetry and especially the works of Tennyson and Longfellow. They recite words that speak to my spirit and that for a few minutes take me back to a time of my life when things moved at a slower pace and my happiness was found in simple things, such as good books, a walk in the woods, Sunday dinner with my extended family, and my children's laughter.

The world is moving at such a fast pace now and I want to scream "STOP!" We are missing the finer things in life in pursuit of toys, of pleasure for pleasure's sake rather than to enrich our life. How many people are left who can find joy in the summer breeze as it blows across the front porch bringing the sound of children laughing and playing in the twilight? How many children are laughing and playing in the twilight? See, we have lost something. Are we too stupid to see it?

I might be called old fashioned but there is a reason certain television shows are considered classics and have channels devoted to reruns of them. Because there is a large segment of society out there who is hungry for just a taste of that past. And it is not because of the things they had then.

No, we don't long to go back in time and live without our conveniences. We don't want to give up microwaves, computers, and indoor plumbing. We just want the secret to the innocence, to the laughter, to the family around the dinner table, to the trust, and even next door neighbors who wave and call you by name as you sit in the twilight on the front porch.

We want to know how to recapture the magic and wonder that we heard about from our grandparents. We want to understand how, in the midst of depression, famine, and war people could loan a cup of sugar and not expect its return, people could build a house in a week, take in orphan children they never met, buy a car on a handshake, sleep with the doors unlocked.

Where can we find the component that causes this kind of life? What makes them say please, thank you, excuse me, or let me help you? What have we lost?

I grew up in that life, among those people.

Today, I want to go home.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Crossing The Bar

From “The Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson”

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Sea Fever


By John Masefield (1878-1967)
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking.
And a gray mist on the sea’s face and a gray dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied:
And all I ask is a windy day and the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the seagulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the winds’ like a whetted knife:
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

The Blower's Daughter

Damien Rice - (Video)

I don't know what it is but it is a beautiful song that makes you ache inside.

Wednesday, August 2, 2006

August Thoughts

August... a majestic month. Fall is around the corner. Sarah Cheyenne is just weeks from her arrival. My birthday is about 8 weeks away while Jerry's is days away.

I am exhausted and frustrated and just plain ticked off at everything. I am again trying to find money to cover expenses and expenses keep rising. Although, gas has dropped a few cents. I have been praying for that.

Yes, I believe God answers prayer. I also believe if enough people with right attitudes and motives, pray for something, God will hear and answer.

It is Saturday and I just finished paying the bills. I have been moving money around like a high financier for a bankrupt company. I am about to go to the grocery store where I am sure I will have a mild heartattack about the price of eggs or some such staple.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Rethinking Men

Thursday and Landlord orientation day for me. I have to talk to landlords and tell them all about the housing program. It starts at 3:30 and last about 90 minutes. Oh joy!

I still have not gone to lunch and I am just about to leave. I wanted to jot something here just because it is BLANK today. I have a book in my purse that I am reading (for the last several weeks). The fact that I have not finished it is due in part to my schedule for leisure things and because it really is a silly book. I don' t like romance books that masquerade as mysteries. Just because there is a mystery in a romance novel doesn't make it a mystery. If this guy tells me one more time how adorable her chin is and how kissable her lips are and how charming her smile is I am going to puke.

Please tell me that real women do not read this trash and long for men to drool on them that way. I like being told how nice I look. I like to hear my name. I like to hear how brilliant I am. I even like hearing when someone thinks I am attractive. But when a man tells me I am beautiful, I simply wonder what he wants in return. I just don't buy it.

For goodness sake, do you guys really sit and think about how very sweet a woman looks when she bats her eyes? Do you really think about how much you would love to brush that curl off her forehead? Is it really in you mind constantly how utterly adorable she is when she giggles?

I don't think so. Tell me I'm wrong. Please. I will be forced to rethink my whole concept of men.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Clouds Rolling In

Halfway through the week and I feel as if it will never pass. I have to work tomorrow night but I don't know about after that. I don't really want to do this part-time job but I am so desperate for the money.

I really keep hoping something will turn up and I will get this insane windfall. Of course, my logical brain says that is the biggest joke ever but, well, hope springs eternal, right?

I am still trying to figure out what I am doing here. Part of me says it is ludicrous and another part says just do it for the fun of it. Tonight... doesn't seem fun anymore.

I will be grandma in about 6 weeks or less. Becca has been sick with again and tonight we think she has the flu that the rest of us have had only it is not quiet as severe. For that I am glad.

I will exit now. I have to work tomorrow for at least 11 hours. Someone should probably put me on their prayer list. I need the prayer. My family needs it, too. Things are not too good.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Until They Vanish

I walk beside you along the beach
While the laughing waves follow,
And wash the signs of our passing
Until they vanish.

We toss our dreams out on the breeze
To watch them soar up and away,
Unaware of how far dreams may travel,
Until they vanish.

As the sun sinks beneath restless waves
The sand grows cool to our feet,
And stars dance across the night sky
Until they vanish.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Late Night Returns

Things are settling down now. Everyone seems to be on the road to recovery. So why do I feel the I am waiting for the other shoe to drop?

Last two evenings I cleaned the yard, cutting hedges, mowing grass, trimming weeds and spraying weed killer. It looks wonderful and I am tired. Just have to get all the trimming piles up.

But something doesn't feel right to me. Not sure what. Maybe I am just tired. I have been getting to bed earlier this week... until tonight. So, maybe I should be going now, huh?

Monday, July 17, 2006

Three Flu in My House!

There is no point in going over the whole grisley week. Let me describe it briefly: as of 5:00 a.m. last Monday everything just went crazy. I woke up and spent several hours vomiting and then went to the hospital where they gave me something and sent me home. The next two days are a blur. My husband came down with it on Wednesday, my son on Thursday. There are two survivors who have not become infected thus far and I pray they don't. One is my pregnant daughter-in-law.

I had to work Wednesday-Friday and by Sunday I was so exhausted I could not move. My daughter-in-law, Becca, is a true angel of mercy. She came in Monday and took care of me and stayed all week, taking care of each person who came down with this nasty bug.

Wash your hands, don't let anyone use your pens, pencils, phone, etc. This is a nasty beastie with projectile vomiting and diaharrea accompanied by fever that last about 24 hours. Afterward, you feel awful for nearly 7 days.

Sunday, July 9, 2006

Busy Bees, Honey Pots & Pooh

What a busy weekend! My aunt & uncle from Atlanta came in Friday afternoon and we all went to supper together and visited. We had such a good time chatting and laughing. I began the weekend with a headache and kept it until last night! Had a small bout of depression, too but not sure why.

Saturday morning was girls day out. My aunt, sister, pregnant daughter-in-law, and I all went shopping for baby things. We bought little girl clothes and a carseat for the new baby we are expecting in about 9 weeks. We bought dresses, shoes, and hats. We had lunch at a great mexican restaurant to top off the day.

I bought a Winnie-the-Pooh honeypot lamp for baby's room. When David saw it he said, "Ah, I want it in my room!" He was a great Pooh fan when he was little. My most favorite story about him was when he was about 4 or 5 years old. He loved peanut butter and honey sandwiches. I went to the kitchen to make one for him and found we were out of honey. I said, "We are all out of honey. I wonder who ate all the honey?" He replied in all seriousness, "Pooh bear ate all the honey, Mommie."

When we came home my aunt, uncle, sister, Jerry, and I left about 5:00 p.m. for Owensboro to attend the Crabb Fest. This is a gospel music concert put on by the Crabb family. We enjoyed it a lot but got home near midnight and so were not able to get up early this morning for church. There was a time I could have stayed out all night and still been going!

Today I am sore and I suspect it is because we sat for about 5 hours on folding metal chairs. They were miserable! Tonight I am going to try and go to church but I feel really bad in my shoulder and legs. My shoulder hurts all the way to my wrist.

Then, tomorrow it is back to work! I hope you all have a great week!

Thursday, July 6, 2006

Glutton for Punishment or Forced Labor

I did it. I started a second blog - "Dark Mountains". It is actually post of a piece of fiction I am working on. I have decided it may help me to organize this pile of stuff I have that I can't gain control of. So, I started the blog. I guess we will see how it goes. I am either a glutton for punishment or I enjoy forced labor.

I think it will bug me no end to have this thing sitting out there for the world to stumble on and read but not have it completed. We will see.

I hope we see progress. Thing is I know that some of it is very good. I have read over some of it and the hair on my neck stands up. I am scared at how good some of it is. At least, I believe it is. Of course, there is an equal amount that stinks.

Monday, July 3, 2006

Liberty's Birthday

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, American Independance Day. We celebrate that day in this country with cookouts, fireworks, and ball games. We get with our families and laugh and talk and we may go swimming and have a picnic. We may just sit around the patio and read a trashy romance and drink something cold all day.

Some of us will be glued to the television for a ball game that will go into overtime. Some of us will sit on the riverbank with thousands of others from all economic levels of society, of all races, and religious backgrounds and watch fireworks in the night sky.

We won't talk about what brought us to that celebration. We won't discuss the revolution or the lives it claimed. We won't talk about the sacrifices of the men and women who committed crimes against the crown to set the wheels in motion to create a new nation, a nation where Liberty is a living, breathing being that constantly craves new territory in which to florish. We won't discuss the price of the 4th of July because it is priceless.

Or maybe it is because it happended so long ago.

No, we will just talk food, children, politics, and ball games. And we will wonder at fireworks in the night sky. We will laugh a lot.

And we will not be afraid.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

The Unthinkable

They will bury my coworker on Saturday. The week has been difficult for all of us. I keep thinking that she will pop in with her big grin and say "Ok guys, I was just joking." We are all having similar feelings I think. We talk about it a lot and I guess that helps.

I have discovered several things that I was unaware of. There was no food in the house. She was losing weight because she had nothing to eat. Between the two of them they made $70000 a year. How does a pregnant woman starve to death with that kind of money? How does she die if she is cared for and loved?

He was giving her $500 a month as his "share" of expenses out of $40,000. Her salary of $30,000 a year supported two adults, and her child, his daughter, and their child and all household expenses and debts. He ran up her credit card when they married and she had him removed. She had refused to put him on the house purchase or her car. He had no credit at all.

He was spending his money on golf clubs, trips with buddies, and gambling on the boat. In fact, he had a golf trip planned during the time she was due to deliver. Felt he should go since it "was scheduled a long time ago." He was also the beneficiary on her life insurance. The day they found her the power company showed up to turn off the lights. Her father gave money to her friends and they went and paid the light bill.

She left no will because who dies at 31? But she died in her sleep, probably hungry and most definately alone.

Take care of your children. Take care of your few possessions. And for God's sake, take care of yourself. Tell someone if you are suffering for any reason. And then, if there is a special "other" in your life, take care of them.

Please make a will, even if you are only 18 and have nothing but an iPod. Please designate more than one person as your executor. Make sure the person you appoint is controlled in what they do on your behalf. Do not assume that the person you love will be capable of or will even want to have your best interest in mind.

If I sound cynical, I am. I trust no one. Everyone is potentially self serving. Thankfully, this story doesn't happen often but it happens enough.

Be safe, be healthy, but most of all be happy. If you aren't, tell someone immediately.

Monday, June 26, 2006

The Unexpected

I am home sick today and a friend at worked called to tell me another co-worker had been found dead at home. She was 31 and pregnant with twins, has a baby about a year old, a 6-year-old and a step-daughter she just sent to college. Her husband came home from work and found her dead in her bed. It appears she died in her sleep.

On Thursday she was telling us that something was wrong but she didn't know what. She had trouble sleeping because when she lay on one side she couldn't breath. She also had a history of seizures, not the grand mal seizures, small ones that you wouldn't know she was having unless you recognized that kind of thing. She took medicine except when she was pregnant.

My guess is she either had a seizure or something happened related to the pregnancy. She has not been able to take her seizure medicine for a long time, not since she was pregnant with the last baby. She got pregnant with the twins when the other baby was only 6 months old and she was supposed to have the twins at the end of July.

I am so sad about this. I think because she was so young and those tiny babies who never had a chance. The two children she left behind, the step-daughter who called her mom all wondering what happened. I know everyone will know once an autopsy is done but still, I don't think that answers the questions we often have when a young person dies.

Life is a treasure, filled with unexpected hearthaches and joys. Sometimes the unexpected happens.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Expect the Unexpected

Just when you think your day is going well and everything is on schedule....



Click here to comment!

Free Evening....Maybe

Wow. I had a very productive time at work! Got CAUGHT UP! Current is so cool. I got a whole 10.5 hrs this week and about the same last week. That will pay a bill!
 
Do I seem a bit excited? I hate working two jobs but I am so tired of the money problems I just about can't stand it.
 
Someone did get the cobwebs down while I was working, by the way. Imagine that.
 
Well, I won't give you any more whine and cheese. Free the rest of the day. Now if I can just get people out of my hair. I might have a nice evening.
 
Yeah, right, like that is gonna happen.

Cobwebs and Candor

Saturday, yippee! Yeah, right. Not.

I have a horrible lower back ache and no clue as to why. I have to go have blood work done and since I have NO veins that won't be fun either. Then, I have to go to my second job and spend the afternoon working. I have not got time to clean house or do any of the things I need or want to do. I would love to sit here and write. I would love to clean the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling of my bedroom.

I am so PO'd.

I came in from the day job at five yesterday. Now remember, I have to be at the second job at six. My unemployed husband says, what do you want for supper? This is two nights in a row. I come home and I am supposed to figure out what is for supper, get it cooked, and get to work by six.

This morning I pointed out that during the down times when he is trying to figure out what to do around here he might like to sweep out the cobwebs from the bedroom. He looks and says, "The whole house needs it.

I looked back at him and say, "Gee, ya think?"

He didn't like it.


Friday, June 23, 2006

Blessings, Curses, and Wars

I am reading a book called Blessing or Curse: You can Chose. It was written by Derek Prince. I have read this book three times. The first time was about seven years ago. I was in great distress and contemplating suicide. What I learned about blessings and curses truly saved my life. I won't go into detail but let me just say he teaches that some of the problems we have in life may be the result of curses that have descended through our families, thorough our actions or words, or through inactions.
Now I know there are those who will immediately say this is not scriptural, that grace has cured everything. However, since this book uses scripture to support the premise, I will respectfully disagree. Besides, I know what I have experienced. I was dying.
I had personal problems and my life was going down the tubes pretty quickly. I was in my late 30's, had graduated college only about three years before but we had both lost our jobs and had been unemployed for about 2 years. I was so depressed and so I just started looking for a way out that would be painless. I even began to plan it.
I reached a point where I sat down in my bedroom, crying and told God I felt cursed and I needed help because I didn't believe Christians could be cursed. And less than a month later I found this book. I followed the instructions carefully. Within six month we were both employed and I was getting well spiritually, mentally and physically. Life actually became pretty good. And after two years, things were great.
So why am I reading it again? Because sometimes we forget things. Sometimes things happen to drag us down. Either way, we sometimes go back to self destructive habits, thoughts, and behaviors. I think I have been doing that and that for some time have over extended myself. I also think I have allowed things to happen that should not have happened, not obviously, just the "little foxes".
I guess I have just not been paying attention. And God is always so patient with me. But at some point I have to say I am responsible for what happens to me. It is not always someone else's fault. Life doesn't just happen. We make it.
So, I am rereading this book again. And I expect something good to happen. Maybe that is what it is all about. Being vigilant, watching for trouble spots, and once the enemy is identified, become agressive in attacking it. We are at war.
"12. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12 (New King James Version)
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.