The Year Is Coming To An End

Well, this year is almost over. It is hard to believe. I lay here and think about where we were this time last year and all we have come through and endured to make it to here and am amazed at all we have done and gone through. And the memories bring to mind the following quote:

Of course, my problem is that most of my life I have HAD to be strong and when that happens, there are times you just wish someone else would be strong for you. Not to worry, does not mean I am tired of fighting. It simply means that sometimes it would be nice to not HAVE to be strong all the time. Being strong means people are not always there for you for they figure you have it handled. And even the strong need someone there…someone to walk with them.

video by angelxninasakura

So, as I sip my coffee out of my grizzly bear mug that the guys brought me when mama was here visiting, I think about the year ending and realize that what I had hoped for will not happen. I was hoping all the kidney stuff would be over before we started the new year but it won’t be. I am still waiting on them to decide when and which was is safest for me. But, because this is still hanging over my head, I have decided to not mention it anymore and so the next post that will have anything about this will be a picture of me hopefully with a thumbs up and son telling you all that I did ok.

As I think about the new year, I think about things I never want to see again on TV. I don’t want to see commercials for Trojans, feminine products, medicine, reality shows like Jerseylicious and the Kardashians and all the other trash on tv. Bring back quality shows.

I think about things I hope for in the coming year….like less doctors, a few more feel better days, special friends, and days of serenity and peace and joy.  Remember, the best gift you can give someone you love is your time. Nothing else matters.  So, take the time to breathe and enjoy life and slow down and enjoy your loved ones. Every minute you waste on rushing and material things…you have lost forever on the more important things. Take time for the important things. I have been guilty of saying “oh I will make it up later” but you can’t make up lost time. It is gone…never to return. We each only have a certain number of minutes in our lives…don’t waste them.

I love living in small town USA. There is not the rush rush rush that big town people seem to love and are used to. People are laid back and take life as it comes. I love seeing people standing in the shops and talking to friends they run into for fifteen and twenty minutes instead of rushing through the shops and out the door. I am a country girl and proud of it.

I think we can get lost in the minutia of things around us and lose sight of the important things in life. When was the last time you just sat and looked at a sunrise or sunset and seen the beauty?  When was the last time you just sat and talked without looking at your watch and thinking of all the things you think you need to get gone.  My philosophy is will the world stop turning if I don’t get it done?  Will it matter a year from now what someone said or did or didn’t do?

So, as the new year is ending, all the lights and the tree in my room with the blue and yellow and red lights are packed away til the next season. Our house no longer looks like the holidays but back to the reality of home. And life is resuming as normal with me here in my little cocoon. I actually went out of the house for the first time in over two weeks the other day, but it was for medicine. Unfortunately, it is the reason for the bad spasms the past couple of nights. Maybe one day when the medical is over, I can take a ride and see my beloved mountains.

For now, everyone asks me what I am doing for New Years. Not a thing. Just going to be thankful I made it through another year and pray the next year is a little easier and less hectic. Going to be a quiet nite here in the home at the base of the mountains….other than any fire crackers that may go off. I remember when people would say what you did on New Years Eve and who you talked to is who you will talk to and what you will do the coming year. Well, might be true but is one of those things I just ceased to worry about. I figure what will be will be.

Jack is still protecting his new robe and making me laugh. I can’t wait to tell Mama for she will have a laughing fit over that. She loves Jack and he loves her. I love what someone called Jack…Wonder Dog with his robe on. hmmm I wonder if that is him going out at nite?

And son is going to help me put a perm in today I hope. No, NO…not a curly perm..just some body. My hair is lifeless…hahaha kinda like me lately…and needs a boost.  It is a good thing he does not mind helping me cause I can’t do it by myself anymore. So, it should be quite an experience. I told him I was gonna have Jack take a picture of him.  He always asks me..”are you sure you want me to do this??”  and I have to laugh. He does a good job. So, I will put a little life in my years….starting with this lifeless hair of mine.

The day is almost half gone and I am still thinking about life, family, friends, loved ones and the coming year. Know that you are missed..by someone…even when you think you are not.

And reach out and grab life and enjoy. Don’t let anyone or anything destroy your happiness for it lies within your heart not in other things or people. Live life with an eye for the most important things in life for this is a one time shot. There are no reruns in life. And I wish you all a blessed coming year.

A New Twist On New Year’s Resolutions

A new year is coming and there is so much to look forward to and so many things that one can do differently and change their lives forever.  It is easy to lose sight of the fact that we are important in this world.

 “You are not the momentary whim of a careless creator experimenting in the laboratory of life…You were made with a purpose.”

 Og Mandino

I like that quote…to believe that God created us for a reason..not just to exist but to do…to be….and to live. So, as I look to the new year, I have made some resolutions.

  First is to keep my faith in God and realize all the miracles He has created in this world….to wake up and see the miracle of the sunrise, to sit outside and see the miracle of nature….to look at people and see the miracle God created when He formed us. I do believe in miracles.

 

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Albert Einstein

Second is to quit worrying about what people might think, to be spontaneous and to allow myself to feel.

 

 “You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”

William W. Purkey

Third is to realize that I am important to someone…be it family, family of choice, friends, even my pet…

 “To the world you might be one person, but to one person, you might be the world.”  anonymous

 Fourth is to sing and sing often …..just because I can. Life can be filled with joy.

“A bird does not sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song.”

Chinese proverb

Fifth is to not drift in my life and lose my time. I want to live life to the fullest.

Some people drift through their entire life. They do it one day at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time. It happens so gradually they are unaware of how their lives are slipping away until it’s too late.

Mary Kay Ash

 Sixth is to be myself…to never compromise myself because of others…to always be true to myself.

“It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not.”

Andre Gide

“Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.”

Hardy D. Jackson

 Seventh is to realize that I am a role model to someone whether I want to be or not.

“Whether or not you have children yourself, you are a parent to the next generation.
If we can only stop thinking of children as individual property and think of them
as the next generation, then we can realize we all have a role to play.”

Charlotte Davis-Kasl

Eighth is to accept and use the fact that I am in charge of me and my feelings and how I act. That my faith is up to me and no one else and to act in a way that people treat me like a person of worth.

“You are in charge of your feelings, beliefs, and actions. And you teach others
how to behave toward you.  While you cannot change other people, you can
influence them through your own behaviors and actions.  By being a living
role model of what you want to receive from others, you create more of
what you want in your life.”

Eric Allenbaugh

Ninth is to not waste my time on senseless anger. If I am upset…to talk about it and get it out and over.

 “For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tenth is to quit searching and realize that happiness is inside me. It is not in my possessions, in other people, in my job, in my car..but within my heart. That I can be gloriously happy and have nothing.

“Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look past the imperfections.”

 Unknown

Eleventh is to reach out in kindness to those around me. I believe we have an inherent responsibility to help those around us, be it with a kind word, helping them in a time of need, offering them comfort, whatever.

 “All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don’t discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.”

Danny Thomas

Twelfth is to really take the time to look at people and pay attention to how they are feeling and center less on me and more on the feelings of others.

Never worry about numbers.  Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you. 

Mother Teresa

And last is to LIVE…not just exist…to get out there and taste life one bite at a time.

 “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”

Oscar Wilde

 These resolutions are something I think I can incorporate into my life and make my life the fullest it has ever been.  And they are resolutions I believe I can keep through out the year and past. What resolutions do you have?

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.–Dr. Suess

♫♫Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. ♫♫

video by  AngelLove831

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE.

Middle of The Night Ramblings

Woke up with horrible muscle contractions and am laying here waiting on meds to kick in. As I look around my room and out into the other part of the house, I am once again struck with a deep feeling of gratitude for our home. It is a small home but the amazing thing is that everyone says the same words when they come in our home. They look around and say “your home is so cozy and so filled with warmth and love”.  Now, it might not be a fancy mansion, might not have granite counter tops or high ceilings and wood beams, but they are right…this home is filled with warmth and love.

Another thing people say to son and I is that our home is so serene. I have for years worked hard at creating an environment in the home that is warm and loving and filled with serenity that when someone comments on it…to me that says they feel it. I have even helped others create at least one room of serenity for themselves for we all need it in this chaotic world.

As I read the news and the dire predictions for housing to still fall even more and the economy slowed, I am even more thankful that our house sold on the other side of the mountain and we were able to get this home. The sad part for me was that bad news for someone of losing their home brought us the good news of owning our home. That part made me sad and feel bad for the ones that lost the house a couple of years ago.

Son and I both would tell anyone that the selling of our house on the other side of the mountain and getting here was probably one of the hardest tests of faith that we have endured but we stuck with it. Did we ever have down times? Oh yes, I can remember after two years had passed and our house on the other side had not sold…crying to a friend that it was never going to sell. But, that did not change my resolve to keep working towards it.

Times were hard for the economy was really down. They keep saying it ended in 2009 but I think they failed to let the rest of the world know for things are still tough in the economy. Son and I spent two years getting the house ready to sell, doing things we could do without spending a lot of money. We sheet rocked walls in the unfinished room and put in a ceiling and if you don’t think that wasn’t hard with one able man and a disabled woman..his mother…think again. I was the “mudder” for the sheet rock and ceiling because son had never done it before and I had. It was quite a feat for me being on forearm crutches and especially the ceiling. Son made a platform for me to lay on and I laid on my back mudding the seam of the sheet rock we used to make the ceiling. But, you know what…we got it done. Yes, I had to crawl on all fours to get up and down the stairs to the basement and yes, many nights I could barely make it to bed and would be up with pain but the good news was….we made the house where someone bought it and we didn’t lose as much money as all the other people on our street were doing.

It was a test of faith to know that all bills would get paid, that all the materials we would need to get that house ready to sell in a bad market and that we would get here. But, you know what…I believe in the promise that God will take care of our needs and He did just that. Bills would come due and out of the blue we would get money in the mail..refunds from this or that and it would match the amount we needed to pay. Or, we would need materials and suddenly someone would have exactly what we needed on freecycle. That is how we got the sheet rock…and the man even brought it to our house and helped unload it. The things we needed always appeared.

Perhaps this was why it took two years to sell the house and then when it did, we got more than the other houses on our street. It was a test of faith and committment. Yes, we lost money on the house, but we still were able to get over the mountain and find our home. What more could we ask. For me, knowing God would provide our needs was something I had learned a long time ago. For son, it was an eye-opening experience and he learned the words “Thank you Lord” and spoke them often as God provided for us and for all the materials we needed to get the house sold.

Could we go out and buy things we wanted just for fun? No. But we had a roof over our heads, food, clothing, heat and the materials to keep working on the house.We were indeed blessed. God provided but we had to do our part. We had to do the physical labor to fix the house and we had to refrain from spending money unnecessarily. God provides for our needs but that does not mean we sit back on our laurels and just expect it all to be done for us. And my lips often say the words “Thank You Lord” not just for my home but for my life and my sons and the ones I love in my life.

I am blessed beyond means and it is not in money but in the kind of wealth that you can not buy…in love and warmth and comfort, in people who love me and care about me, in the medical care I am getting. God is good…..all the time. I learned to say Thank you Lord in bad times for if we stop and look…we will see someone much worse than we are..and that in itself is a gift.

The Difference In A Second

As I lay here in the early morning light, I thought about something that we all take for granted….life. I was watching an old Mash show last nite and in it, a young boy died on the operating table and Radar was so upset that one of the doctors followed him and sat down to try and comfort him. Radar said something that really resonated with me. He said “how can a person be alive one second and dead the next”.   That set me to thinking about a second and about life.

When we are young we think we will live forever. That is just part of being a kid. And sadly, children die daily. My heart hurt last nite for the woman who was sick and her neighbor was taking care of the kids and he killed the daughter and dismembered her. I thought about all the children who die daily from abuse, from predators, from accidents. So….no, we don’t live forever. In a second, we can be gone.

And as we get older, we realize that life has no guarantees of tomorrow. So, why do people not value life more? And why do we not realize what a monumental thing it is when people reach the age of eighty, ninety…a hundred.  As a whole, life is treated as if nothing can stop it and yet daily people are dying for many reasons…..gone in a second.

So, what should we be doing?  I think life is something we have to remember to not take for granted and to realize that …in a seconds time…we may have lost the time to tell our loved ones how much we love them, to hug our loved ones and to give to them all the love we hold in our hearts.

Part of valuing life is valuing our own health. I look back and see things I would have done so differently had I realized that life is not a guarantee and that part ….only part…of living is up to me. I would not have smoked for one for I believe that destroys our health. Now, to be honest, I loved smoking. I loved the taste and the feeling having a cigarette with my morning cup of coffee. But, to be realistic…my body did not.  I would have eaten healthier, exercised more and taken better care of me. And I would have detached myself from emotional vampires who love drama and love to suck the life from you.

While taking care of me is important, what about valuing the life around us. Every moment we waste not being with loved ones, not telling loved ones how much we care or spending time showing them….. are moments that are lost forever. We can never get them back.  And we may not get the opportunity to do it in the future.  They can be gone in a second.

How many times have you heard people after someone dies say oh they wish they had done or said this or that. Hindsight is always 20/20 but it should wake us up. It should make us realize that all the ugly drama that can enfold with families and close friends is really not worth it. What will it matter who said what a year from now?  Think about all the tension and drama around holiday time…how it ruins holidays…takes the joy away from it…and that holiday will be gone and can not be replayed. There is no rewind in life.

I have seen people who carried grudges for years to the point they don’t even remember what the reason was…they just knew they were mad at the other person. And all that time, they lost being with someone who was important in their life at one time. And that time can never be regained.

Perhaps the older I get, I realize that I have less time than I did at twenty. But, even being twenty…I can see that life was not seen as precious as it should have been by me and by many. I think the world has become consumed with “possession-itis” and it is what we can buy or attain that has become most important and has taken over where family and loved ones should be top of the list.

When son and I decided to sell the house and move on this side of the mountain, our goal was to get rid of bills and get rid of the burden of a huge house of 2200 square feet …a house in which we did not use all of it most of the time….and find a home we could pay for or at the least pay less for that was smaller. And we accomplished that with this small little cottage house we have. And daily we look around and realize how much we love it. There is not one space in this house that is not used daily.  And the strain of paying for that huge house is off of us. It allows us to do quality things together, just like the making of our thanksgiving dinner where the making and cooking together was the most important part. The eating was just the reward of it.

Many want fame and fortune to be what they are remembered for. Fame and fortune can be gone in a second too and so many people have seen this with the depression our economy has been in the past few years. When I die, I want to be remembered for the love I gave, for the time I spent, for the calls I made or the visits I did or the times I shared my life…my home and special events with those I love.  I want people to remember that I loved them and that I valued them and wanted them in my life…that I was there in hard times for them, that I gave of myself to comfort them.

I also don’t want to lose people in my life and regret that I did not spend more time with them, that I did not call them or write them or visit them ….did not hug them and let them know I loved them..that I was not there in their time of need. I want to live my life so that the important things …like love and family and family of choice are top of the list…not how famous I am or what a big home I have or what a big career I have or had. If everything can be gone in a second…I want to know that my seconds were spent on the most important…on those I love and care about.

So, what about you?  How are you spending your moments in life?

The Scale Of Life

Life is full of choices and we are all weighing what is most important to us and what has the most value and making decisions that affect our lives in different ways.  When it comes time to make a major purchase, we unconsciously decide is this item the best buy, will it bring us the joy we want, is it worth the value and a number of other choices. And it is like the scales above.Some people make lists of pros and cons, reasons or reasons not to do this or that….and it is still the scales above.

I often use the palms up example when trying to tell someone why I justified an action. I take my hands and go up and down with them like a scales and then say hmmm…did I do this or that and this is why …one side outweighed the other.

How we weigh the scales depends on our own set of values and what we believe in. For example…spending time with loved ones far outweighs gifts I can give them. Nothing replaces loving time spent together and so the scale tips dramatically.

Do I need to purchase this or that?  I take the scales and weigh the cost to me versus the benefit. When we bought this house, we weighed the benefits of having our home totally against all the cosmetic work that needed to be done. Yes, buying this house was definitely worth it. But, when it comes to making expensive purchases in this house, we weigh the scale again. Is it worth it? Do we need it? Do We need a new one? Will a used one work as well? Do we want to go into debt to get it? Will we want this a year from now?

Another time we use the scales mentally is when we decide how much we are willing to endure. Some people, if they get their feelings hurt just cut people off totally. I find that I have to weigh the situation and see how much I am willing to take and if the relationship is worth it.  Most of the time, if we really look, we find that the person means so much that “hurt feelings” here and there are just part of having a relationship. We find that the relationship brings so much to our lives that the scales tip towards the relationship. And sometimes, like in cases where the hurt times are more than the good times, people realize that this situation is so detrimental that they need to sever ties. It is all a balancing act in keeping our lives happier and without things that are harming us.

I have things that I feel strongly about and that tips the scales immediately.  They are…don’t lie to me, don’t steal from me..whether physically or emotionally, don’t treat me one way when alone and differently when certain people are around and don’t harm those I love. I feel so strongly on those things that nothing tips the scale back the other way. I hate lies when the truth is so easy.  And nothing I hate worse than when people treat you one way alone and then when certain people are around, they act like they hardly know you. I treat people the same always. If you are my friend…you are my friend no matter who is around. And emotional vampires as I call them…that suck you dry…are not something I like in my life.

So, what are you weighing on the scales as the year comes to end?  Are you weighing a move, a sale, a job change, a trip, a purchase, a medical decision, a friend or family member decision……or even what to eat….we do tend to weigh things.  Though there are times we just react and do and don’t think about the consequences, like eating that spicy food that we know will upset our stomachs.

If you are going to choose…always choose for family, family of choice and friends…for they will be here a lifetime and every minute you chose something over them…is lost. You can never regain those moments with them that you lost.

Eleven Hints For Life

These are not my words but I loved them when I read them. Thought they were good with the holiday season on and reminders that life does not always work perfectly.

“Eleven Hints for Life”

1. It hurts to love someone and not be loved in return.
But what is more painful is to love someone and never
find the courage to let that person know how you feel.

2. A sad thing in life is when you meet someone who
means a lot to you, only to find out in the end that it was
never meant to be and you just have to let go.

3. The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a
porch swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you’ve ever had.

4. It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.

5. It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an
hour to like someone, and a day to love someone-but it
takes a lifetime to forget someone.

6. Don’t go for looks, they can deceive. Don’t go for wealth, even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.

7. Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be. Because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.

8. Always put yourself in the other’s shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the person too.

9. A careless word may kindle strife. A cruel word may wreck a life. A timely word may level stress. But a loving word may heal and bless.

10. The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

11. Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, ends with
a tear. When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you’re the one smiling and everyone around you is crying.

- Unknown

 

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn’t supposed to ever let us down, probably will. You’ll have your heart broken and you’ll break others’ hearts. You’ll fight with your best friend or maybe even fall in love with them, and you’ll cry because time is flying by. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you’ve never been hurt. Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances. you just have to live life to the fullest, tell someone what they mean to you and tell someone off, speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someone’s hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, be a flirt, and smile until your face hurts. Don’t be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live in the moment because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back.

- Unknown

 

 

Mornin Coffee and Amazing Snow

Coffee and a sweet roll anyone?  Oh yum. I had to go look at the snow first and then got my coffee to enjoy from this side of the window.   Oh yea!! I hear the snow plow.

First, from last nite. The wreath on our front door and the snow on the door glass. I love it.

And looking out our front door, last nite the steps were totally gone. The door was touching the snow. This morning, son had to push the door open because of the snow. He is going to try to shovel us a path and dig out the van today.

During the night and at first sun, Jack had to go potty twice…cause he would not go during the worse part of the storm. Son has shoveled a path from the door and a potty area three times. Here he is with snow back on the steps and down on his potty area..not too deep but still bothering him.Son piled it up on the fence to try to keep blowing snow from getting too deep on the potty area. Didn’t save the patio area though.

And this was my first view this morning when I got up. Poor son has to shovel again. This is standing at the side door..that son had all scraped and cleaned a path and then turn to left of picture and down to potty section (which does not show in pic).

Look hanging off our roof. OMG  I could not believe it.

And out my front door. Is it not beautiful.   I love it. My brick retainer wall has disappeared and the poor polar bear is under all this snow.

And Jack has decided that he likes the snow from this side of the window.  Poor baby…he is just too old and arthritic for the bitter col (16 degrees) and all this snow.

♫♫I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas♫♫  and looks like we got it.

Heroes Across the Ocean

Please Remember our men and women who are overseas right now, living in conditions that none of us would want to live in..they deserve our support and praise and our love and remembrance this time of year.

video by LaLeroux

When you want to complain about your rights, please for a moment, remember these men and women….our military…for without them…you would not have rights.

A Letter to Soldiers

video by bookhound63

Their dream is for peace. Shouldn’t we be helping make that peace by creating more peace here at home?

Do Things Always Come In Threes And Has Anyone Seen My Oasis?

“Come to the edge.”
“We can’t. We’re afraid.”
“Come to the edge.”
“We can’t. We will fall!”
“Come to the edge.”
And they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.

Guillaume Apollinaire,   1880-1918

If you expect life to be simple and calm….don’t. I have learned that it is a roller coaster at times and sometimes you just have to hold on and pray. And if you get too tired, just lay down in the seat, for it will still zoom you along whether you want to go or not.

I am sitting here wondering if things always come in threes. I sure hope not because two in two days is enough. Last nite son fell on the ice and tore his knee open and banged it up pretty bad.  That was one. Now, he just hollers to me and says bring the medicine box. I go in the kitchen and he is leaning over the sink and blood is going everywhere and I look at his hand and the end of his thumb has a huge jagged place where a screw went into his thumb and came out and tore on the bottom side. Ugly let me tell you.  That is two. I really don’t want three. LOL  Good thing we have three medical boxes from son being a First Responder.

I looked outside today. First time in a while and the snow is still here. It has been bitter cold but sunny so I guess the snow will take a while melting.

This is the flat areas. We have piles still from where son shoveled and had to put the snow somewhere. Those will take a lot longer to melt. But I still love the snow. It is so beautiful to me.

According to the weather, we have cold and sunny for the next few days. So we will see if the sun melts this snow away. Good news is we have had a lot of snow and that is good for our water levels and the drought problems we have in the summers.

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all.  Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle.

The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.     

Ayn Rand

Sometimes I lay in the dark and feel the cool breeze of the fan and close my eyes just for a while, weary from the battle. But I have always been a warrior and I have always fought when everyone else said give up and I continue to do so. I think perhaps I finally got that through to the Social Worker who is helping me convince the doctors that I can not make five trips up to Denver to do this, that I need it all put in one lump visit and that I need to wait until January so that financially I am a little better and physically I have recovered from the cath, the flu and the biopsy. My body is weary…my courage is not and I know what it takes for me to fight.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

  Dale Carnegie

When you think you can’t take another step, just know that you can. It might be hard. It may even be lonely or feel lonely, but you can.  The decision is…do you want to stop now and rest or do you want to keep fighting…and sometimes…you can do both. We all have within a warrior somewhere…and it will come out when you least expect.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Unbelievable (updated)

Now, I do admit to being a tad naive but I am finding television more and more unbelievable. Today I saw a commercial for the perfect item to put under the tree. You will never guess what it was. It was Trojans.  I was stunned and all I could think was at that moment I was glad I did not have a teenage daughter watching tv with a date. As it is, I have a grand baby that will soon be a teenager.

So, now we are airing Trojan condom commercials as the perfect Christmas gift. We have shows ….those “reality” shows that I despise like Jerseylicious that to me are nothing but trash…sorry if I offend anyone but I find that kind of stuff to be trashy behavior and our young people are trying to copy it. I guess a segment of the population finds it entertaining but I refuse to set my television on it. I don’t like the bug reality shows, or the island ones with all the sex. Is nothing private and personal and special anymore?

I flip through the channels and I find shows with little tiny kids doing beauty pageants where the parents act like temper tantrum kids or are pushing crying screaming kids to do it. I see shows where I see more skin and more sex than I care to see, I see shows where “reality” people are fighting in the streets and acting like God knows what and this is becoming the standard now for television.

We have pregnant at 16, prison men and women, mafia shows, truckers and all of them show fighting and confrontations. Is that all there is in this world anymore?……anger, fighting, confrontation, threatening?  Just about any reality show covering any life event but turning it into a drama with street type fighting. I believe there is more out there to life than this.

We have wild hog chasers in outfits that make me think of the dukes of hazard, and now new ones coming out where people are on a fishing boat and fighting and telling each other to shut up. We have the cake shows and the cook shows and all these kinds of shows have turned into Jerry Springer type television. What does this say about the viewing audiences?

I didn’t like “Sex and the City” and knew that I did not want to watch it when I found myself only wanting to watch when they were getting dumped, especially Carrie Bradshaw. I personally don’t care to know how many sex partners, how many times someone cheats, what sexually transmitted diseases they got, how many lies they told, etc and so the show turned me off. And what was sad to me was this started off as a show about four friends and how their friendships remained cemented through the years and they turned it into a bad parody by the time the last movie came out as they rode their camels through the desert and all looked like caricatures instead of four good friends sharing their lives.

If I had children at home, I would have a lock on the television. I find it even sadder when now I hear young people talking about how they don’t want to go to college to get a career, they just want to do some bizarre thing to get on television and get rich quick. What is happening?  Where has self-pride gone? Where has the desire to be someone of character gone? Or am I the last hold out and just an old foogie?

Well, if I am the odd man out, I will hold that title with pride for I will never think this kind of television or movies is appropriate. I think Hollywood has lost its mind and is desperate to do anything to make money. And I find that desperation often breeds fools. My dream for the future is that people suddenly quit watching all this crap and show the television Hollywood industry that we do still have some morals.