Sunday, November 8, 2009
Virtual worlds....oh heavens....
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Something sure smells fishy....
Thursday, October 22, 2009
New admiration for ducks....
Saturday, October 17, 2009
I have been neglectful...
This one is "Name of the year" worthy...don't ya think.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
A lesson on the art of forgiving...
Both of my best friends sons were Marines, as well as one of my cousin's sons. My father was in the Navy, I have always had a great deal of respect for the military. I remember when I was fresh out of high school, my father had filled out a card from a magazine with my name, you know, the ones that express your interest in joining the Navy. It was quite a surprise when a recruiter called me.…
Looking back, I kind of wish I'd had it in me to do so. I know my father would have been proud. He never had a son, and at one point in my childhood I guess I could have been considered a little bit of a tomboy. I enjoyed doing things with my dad. He would mow the lawn at the old school house we owned, and going with him sure is one of my fondest memories.
This article caused me to lose a lot of respect for the military. Yes, the man is being punished, and has to live the rest of his life with the consequences of his actions. But…why….why…did it happen in the first place? There are so many better ways to "build trust and promote teamwork". It kind of scares me to think that the military protecting our country uses this type of thing to supposedly build trust. Well….I am one person who has lost some trust in the military by having read this.
Bless that family for their loss, and especially for their ability to forgive….
By Tom McNiffManaging EditorPublished: Friday, September 18, 2009 at 2:19 p.m.Last Modified: Friday, September 18, 2009 at 2:34 p.m.
The parents of a U.S. Marine who was shot and killed by a superior during a game of "Trust" say they've forgiven the shooter, who was sentenced to eight years in the Marine Corps brig recently.
Damian and Lucy Malone said Cpl. Mathew Nelson, 25, who admitted to shooting Lance Cpl. Patrick Malone earlier this year in Iraq, turned to them during his sentencing hearing Sept. 10 with tears in his eyes.
"He turned around and he was crying, and he apologized," Lucy Malone said. "He said he loved Patrick and if he could trade places with him he would."
The Malones, along with their surviving children and extended family, had an opportunity to testify at Nelson's sentencing in North Carolina. They described it as a celebration of Patrick's life, as the prosecutor flashed photos of the young man dancing and laughing, and family members took turns recalling the young man's passion for life and for the military.
"I forgive him," Lucy Malone said of Nelson. "I forgave him a long time ago. If I don't forgive him, I won't go to Heaven and I won't see my son.
"He (Nelson) is the one suffering now. My son's in Heaven," she said. According to military investigators, Patrick Malone was lying in his bunk one evening after getting off duty. He was either watching a video or listening to music on an iPod, his parents said.
Nelson, who commanded the second section of Malone's platoon, entered the the wooden hooch the Marines called home, walked over to Malone, pointed a 9mm pistol at him and asked "Do you trust me?" or words to that effect.
Militarytimes.com, an independent military news Website, said Malone smiled at Nelson. Moments later, the gun fired and Malone was struck in the forehead.
Fellow Marines were unable to revive Malone. "Trust," according to Militarytimes, is a game that is played in various forms by soldiers. In some cases, a ranking officer will partially slide a magazine into a pistol, pretend to pull the slide back to load a bullet, point the weapon at a subordinate and ask if the solider trusts him. After the solider answers, the officer either pulls the trigger of the empty gun or lowers the weapon and clears it.
Ironically, what has been described by some Marines as a way to build trust and promote teamwork is a violation of the military's most fundamental weapons safety rules.
"I learned in Boy Scouts, you don't point a weapon at anyone, loaded or unloaded," Damian Malone said, "The Marines say they'll reinforce that now. I thought that was obvious. You would think the Marines, above all, would know that."
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
I've said it before...
And I will say it again...you sure can stumble upon the funniest things on the internet.
My husband is a huge baseball fan. I have often heard him mention the hazing that rookie players often experience. In looking for a baseball card for my "name of the week" I stumbled upon these photos of rookie Dodgers.
Both certainly good for a chuckle or two....
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Happy Mothers Day!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
somethings got to change....
These are trying times for our economy.
Many say it will get worse before it gets better.
We are in the process of doing some small home improvement projects. I called Lowes yesterday to see if their carpet installation special was still going on, and asked more detail. The special is still on however, once you get more detail…it really isn't that special. You know the typical game of this much more for that, and this much more for this. Making what you think is a great deal on carpet…not such a great deal.
The other night my husband made a very good point.
Budget cuts are looming in every direction....but you sure do not see them in th area of home improvement.
I work in a probation office…hm….business for us seems to go up in a bad economy…yet…we haven't had a raise in a couple of years and they are cutting positions of probation officers increasing the work load in a very stressful industry.
My husband is a teacher, a stressful occupation with not near enough thanks for what they do.
Education and Criminal Justice…these are two areas where you hate to see the cuts. Business
does not go down for them.
I really feel that corporations, government needs to sit down and listen to suggestions from "John Q. Public" we may not have Ivy League educations but we are the ones working in the trenches where you are cutting the jobs and making pay cuts.
Working for the State of Florida there are certain job positions that their health insurance is paid by the state. Hm…there is one sure way you could save some money.
The State sure could save money by not throwing money away in leasing office space. For the amount they have paid in leasing the building I work in they could have owned the building and built some equity.
Wouldn't it benefit the state to have some equity in buildings? Hm…equity for "John Q. Public" is a good thing. Hm…equity isn't that an asset? Sure would be a shame for the state to have an asset when they are facing shortfalls in budgets.
Budget = cuts to the ones that make less money. Sadly the ones that decide to make these cuts are making the wages of say, maybe three of these people total.
Boy, I sure hope our economy turns around soon.....
Monday, April 13, 2009
I just wonder about people...
Okay, I work in a probation office and am not dealing with elite members of society.
We had a clock on the wall in the lobby so they could write in the time they signed in. Often people never even noticed the clock, they would just ask what time it was.
Well, when the time changed....the clock fell off the wall and is now history.
I realize now how many people actually looked at it....more than I thought.
We now have a small travel clock, I have a blue piece of paper taped to the window. "CLOCK" with an arrow pointing down to the small clock.
Yet people still do not see it.
I have even drawn an arrow on a piece of paper and taped it to my ruler so I can point to the clock.
Again, I am not encountering the most intelligent people...but for the love of Peter, Paul and Mary...if you have a watch on...why are you looking all around the lobby, and on all the walls behind the receptionist window for a clock? JUST LOOK AT YOUR WATCH!
Okay, I feel better...thank you to all of you in Blogdon letting me vent.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Too few drivers pay attention....
It actually scares me at times.
This afternoon at lunch I was going to go get gas, and run to JC Penney's and pick up the shoes I ordered.
Well, I did not make it even to the gas station. I did not know the gas was that low and ran out at at the corner. About a mile from work, and from the gas station.
There was a slight incline at the corner so I managed to get further back from the corner. I called AAA and then the wait began.
While I was on the phone with AAA I was amazed at how man people still pulled up behind me.
A car sitting dead still at a green light with flashers on. My first thought would be to move to the other lane to go around it. Oh no, that was not the case of the many who pulled up behind me and sat…until…duh…they realized that the light was green and I was not moving…oh…duh…she has her flashers on.
Once I was off the phone with AAA I got out and put my hood up, and opened my tailgate thinking this would help people to realize that my car would not be moving.
Well, one would have thought it would have helped…but oh no people still pulled up behind me until they got the clue.
So, it was my lunch hour and I just grabbed my lunch and sat in the open back end of my car and had a picnic.
Surprise surprise…people still pulled up behind me thinking the car would be moving. Um…a fat lady sitting in the open back end of an SUV with the flashers on, the hood up, eating her lunch.
Now tell me….wouldn't you have moved to the other lane?
I wish I had counted how many cars had just pulled up behind me, it really struck me sad as that proves how little people pay attention.
Kind of scary too when you think about it.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Things happen for a reason...
My husband....is he lucky...or am I?
Saturday, March 21, 2009
a wish for teenagers...
I wish you could see, and truly appreciate what your parents do for you.
Some have parents that make them do their share around the house, you know, certain chores assigned to them. Or help make dinner, or set the table, or clean up after dinner.
Yeah, I know you really wish you did not have to do these things, no, they are not fun...but...it is a part of life, a part of being a member of the family. They are all things that you will have to do when you are out on your own...hey...better to learn it now then when you have your own place and before you know it your new pad is looking like a toxic waste dump site.
Believe me you will see that your parents really did you a favor.
Some have parents that don't want you to have to worry about lifting a finger, want you to be pampered and sheltered. Your dinner is served to you, all you have to do is sit down at the dinner table and wait for the meal to arrive and then get up and leave the table when you are done, you don't even have to help take things to the kitchen after dinner, not even your own plate.
Worst thing is...you often take this type of parent for granted...rarely offer up a thank you for serving you...your often quicker to thank a waitress at a restaurant than you are your parent.
Meaning you treat the wait staff better than you do your own parents.
Yeah, sure this sounds great...but in the long run...what do you learn from this? Not a whole lot...and when you are out on your own...who is going to do that for you. You won't really even know how to wash dishes.
I know full well I was a spoiled child, there is no way I will deny that. I may have made my mom wait on me from time to time. I think I am a mixture of the two types teenagers I have mentioned....I think my parents were a mixture of the parents.
Who is to say which is the better way? I am not saying one is better than the other, well, in away I am because yeah teenagers do need to learn book smarts from school and focus on that...but they also need to learn to manage life, take care of themselves....some of them are going to go off to college and be in for a very rude awakening...I feel sad for them.
There were a lot of times I wish I had been more responsible around the house, and...yeah...I sure wish I had been more responsible in school too...we live and learn.
I just hope that they don't realize too late how much they have to thank their parents for. I know I did not thank my parents enough for all they did for me and I regret that. For me it is too late.
I sure hope that others learn to be thankful for their parents.....before it is too late for them.
Okay, so I guess I have more than one wish for teenagers...
Sure it is great to be waited on, pampered...but...remember to be thankful for it...a little "thanks dad/mom!" sure would be great...your home is not a restaurant....your parent is not a waiter/waitress.
Microwave Etiquette 101
Monday, March 2, 2009
When does the knife blade loose its edge?
My father passed away thirteen years ago, and that was like a sucker punch to the heart. But mom was there, and even with as much as it hurt her to lose dad we has a parent to turn to for that parental support that you just always know is there.
For years I told my mom that she could never die! I know, as if she had control over that. But, I just knew that it would hurt so, so, much to lose her.
Last summer I flew up for a long weekend when my mother was going to have a procedure done, which ended up being postponed until the next week so, I missed being up there for it. She came through that with flying colors- little did we know that there was something else hiding in her brain just waiting to take her from us. I look back at when she took me to the airport. I checked in early then went and had breakfast, and still got back to the airport early. Rather than make her hang out at the airport I sent her on her way. I remember looking back at her as she got in her van thinking that this could be the last time I see her…and…it kind of was. It was because the next time I saw her she was in a hospital bed in a coma.
When it did happen, and suddenly, I never got say good-bye to her. It was fairly sudden with my father too, but he had been ill and in our hearts we knew it was a matter of time. Now that I think about it you would have thought that would have taught me the lesson to say the things you don't say. You know, like, thank you for all the support you give me, for the unconditional love, for forgiving me for hurting you when I never meant to. So many words that just get left unsaid, and then- it is too late.
I was very blessed with wonderful parents. Yes, I will be the first one to admit that they spoiled me. I did not want for anything.
They are even taking care of me now. I just wish it was in person rather than in spirit. I wish they could see how happy I finally am with a wonderful husband, who I must say spoils me more than they did. Mom did get to meet Sam. I wish they had been able to get to know each other more closely though. It was hard for her to have to learn to share me, and to have to split time between two families. Something I never managed to do, with out hurting her. I just hope she knows I never meant to hurt her. I think she knew that she could rest assured that Sam will always take good care of me.
The knife cut from losing mom is still so fresh, I just wonder how long till the blade of the knife begins to dull….
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Part of the scenery....
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
The best...
Emeril, my sou chef is better than your sou chefs!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Worth a look....
Those who touch our lives...
Many touch our lives in small ways. Through our televisions, on the movie screens, on our stereos. Some were our teachers, or our friends, or family.
It is amazing how people can touch your life. You don't even have to meet them in person, or even know them and yet they have touched your life. Yes, sometimes not for the better, but for some reason they have touched your life.
I grew up watching television and there were a few that touched my life through television that we have lost: Suzanne Pleshette, Tom Posten, Harvey Korman-- the Carol Burnett show was always a favorite-- and Paul Newman. I can remember my mom taking me to the movie theater to see "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Some of them had led long lives, like Eartha Kitt (81), and some died young. Heath Ledger was only 28.
You also think about those who passed away in years passed. You never stop missing them and they are still very much a part of you, part of who you are. My father, my sister, my in-laws whom I never got the chance to meet. Even they are a part of me because they raised the man that I now share my life with.
This year I lost my mom. Day by day it is an adjustment, losing someone from your life. I still miss calling her on my break at work.
Thank you to all that touch our lives. You are forever in our hearts.
On Star....things that make you go hhhmmm...
I remember hearing that my Uncle Richard used it to find out where my Aunt Coralie was…Boy, she was not too happy. Sam has told me how someone in the sports world had the car locked with his wife inside it if I remember correctly…. another unhappy wife, I bet.
I just bought a new Saturn Vue. She has been dubbed "Vanna Vue". Yes, I am one of those people who name their cars. First, okay, the first was not my car, it was my parents Delta 88 who I named Robert. Then, they bought Joey for me to make payments on…well…I did not get to pick out Joey, so I did not really keep him long, but he was a great little Chevette. He was traded in for Mickey, who then was traded in for the only car that did not get named, who was then traded in for Shelby, who was then traded in for Nellie. I left Nellie at the Saturn dealer in Gainesville and left with Vanna Vue.
Boy, I guess I have had my share of cars.
But, I have strayed from what I had started to write about. This is my first car with On Star. My mother had it on her van and it came in pretty handy for her one time, she had to take it to the dealer and they told her it would be cheaper/easier for her to just back out, call On Star, and have them tell her what was wrong.
So far I have only used the phone feature last week in Michigan. The roads were not so good and it was a new car to me, so I opted not to use the cell phone and keep both hands on the wheel.
I was amazed when I just checked my email. They will send you diagnostics checks on your vehicle.
Vehicle Maintenance
Remaining Oil Life: 78%
Mileage: 3,119
Tire Pressure Monitoring:Normal
Recommended tire pressure - Front: 30 psi, Rear: 30 psi
No issues found.
Left Front:31 psi
Right Front:31 psi
Left Rear:31 psi
Right Rear:31 psi
It bears repeating...I am a Lucky...
Lucky woman!
I know I have mentioned how lucky I am to have Sam as my husband, I could not ask for a better person to share life with.
He truly does take wonderful care of me. While we were in Michigan for the holidays, my terrible knees were bothering me. I guess they have gotten used to warmer weather. There were times when it was difficult to put my socks and shoes on and he would do that for me.
He is amazing. This was our third New Year's Eve together, and each day I realize more and more how lucky I am.
I had thought about getting a room at a bed & breakfast for the night, but after having been away from home it was not as appealing as it could have been.
Sam shopped for food for last night and today, and he created a delicious dinner for us. We had Strip Steaks with Gorgonzola Sauce, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Green Beans with Shallots and Hazelnuts.
It sure was a delight to my taste buds! How lucky am I to have Sam for my husband?
Resolve = Solution to Happiness…
That time of year again…Resolution time!
Resolution…Brett Favre…Retire, maybe for real, this year!
Auto industry resolution…All the big wigs in the corporate automotive world...sell your corporate jets. That would bail out your industry and you won't have to hit up the public that has tried to help you by buying your cars. Please resolve to make the change that needs to be done to make your industry move forward!
America's resolution…Wow, our first African-America president!.. Plus a president that actually sounds like he wants to help our country, rather than dig the hole deeper. It is time for America to crawl out from under a bush!
Resolution…Television networks...Resolve not to show the same commercial 3 minutes apart….
Resolution...Detroit…Get some pride!…Resolve to impeach William Ford Clay and resuscitate the Lions! (I guess you could put the Tigers in the same intensive care ward as the Lions.) Although…you will get the first pick in the drafts…again!
Resolution…People, please!…Do not have a baby just for the sake of having babies, or for the sake of getting more welfare, or for the sake of keeping someone in a relationship. That baby is a precious gift from God that you are taking for granted by having it for the wrong reason. Show some more respect to the meaning of life!
Resolution...I...Resolve to be, as stated previously, a better wife but I also resolve to be:
- more organized
- a better housekeeper
- a better cook
- thinner ;o)
- more positive
- more aware of the world
- more knowledgeable
- more patient
Whew….Thankfully I have Sam to help me with my resolutions. ;o) He is my solution to happiness!
May you all find your own solutions to happiness in 2009!