NaBloPoMo – Let's Have Another Piece of Pie

The Beginning of The End

Today marks the end of the blogher.com thirty day blogger challenge. Yay! I did it. Today they have a suggested Daily Prompt: Tell us how you feel about endings.

Endings. Let’s see, there is an old saying, “All good things must come to an end”. Heard that one all my life and today I thought about it. It sucks! And it is a partial lie. I think it stems from a negative perspective, which I tend not to stem from. Sure, it happens. So it is partially true, or can be. But why should all good things come to an end? For example, this thirty day challenge was a good thing and it is now ending as soon as I hit the publish button. But, if you think about it, does if have to totally end? No, the things I learned from this can now go forward and evolve into better posts, etc. Parenting is a good thing – does it come to an end. No. Things will be challenging and uncomfortable and therefore a learning experience. But they do not have to end.

How about “Parting is such sweet sorrow”? This speaks of ending. The bitter/sweetness of a good thing. It is part of life – Beginnings and Endings. We can choose to be bitter about an ending or choose to embrace the ending of a good era and glean every bit of learning experience from it. This is part of life. Don’t choose to live in the past, the “Glory Days” as some call them. I think if we were to go back to those days in our lives with what we know now, we would find that perhaps they weren’t as glorious as we thought back then. They were great, but what good does it do to always go back there and dwell on the past or even to dwell on what could have been. There is no time travel.

It was best said by Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite, when he was always thinking back on his glory days…….

I think you get the point. Thank you for joining me in this adventure and please continue to join me. You all are great encouragers.

Enjoy!

wingedprisms (cate b)

Second to Last

It is the twenty-ninth of November and do you know what that means to me? It is my next to last blog with the blogher.com thirty-day blogging challenge. I have posted once a day for twenty-nine days. It really wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I don’t think some of my posts were up to par, but that is what these types of challenges can do for you. They cause me to look at what I accomplished and therefore what I can change for the future.

And today, the day after stuffing myself with Thanksgiving food, I am like unto a SLUG. I am so tired and sluggish as I’m guessing many Americans are today. I did not go out in the dark of the wee morning hours to stand in line to buy a greatly priced item on the Black Friday sales ads. Nor did I sleep in a tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot or any other parking lot. No, I arrived home from my son’s with my grand-daughter at about eight o’clock last night and the two of us put on our jammies and cuddle up in front of the television to watch Elf with Will Farrell. Great movie. I tucked her into bed and an hour after that I climbed into my bed and two hours later the poor dear woke with a fever and sniffles. I’m beat. The good news is that she only has a mild cold and has gone home to her own bed and here I am rambling on to you readers.

Tomorrow I will bring you my final post of this challenge. I promise it will be more interesting than this one!

Sleep well or good morning…… wherever you are, Friends!

Enjoy!

wingedprisms (cate b)

USA Thanksgiving

I know the internet is being bombarded right now with blogs and such of Thanksgiving and being Thankful posts. I don’t always feel compelled to join the crowd…… but here goes.

While skimming through posts and Facebook I saw someone ask what is the American Thanksgiving all about? It has definitely lost a good portion of its meaning over the years. Here is a nutshell of its origin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)

To my family, we love to get together and just be. We love each other and get along. We absolutely love the feasting and talking about the feasting and next years food. We do give a prayer of thanks to our Lord for each other and for all He has done for us. And we eat, and eat and enjoy each other’s company and miss the ones who couldn’t be with us.

There it is. I am thankful. I have very little needs and have more wants than needs I think. And I usually whittle my wants list to one or two things when I realize I really don’t need most of the wants. We are healthy. One thing I do want is to see more positive posts on Facebook instead of hateful and angry posts how our country and it’s politicians are so stupid and wrong. I know they are. I’m not blind and I don’t turn a deaf ear, but being angry at the angry and stupid people will never solve anything. I choose to try my best to hear all sides and pray that God will have mercy and that He will be heard by all who cry out to Him for the future of our nation. I choose to do my best and vote for the right people. Not any one group is 100% correct.

So on that note, I wish all you Americans a wonderful and thankful Thanksgiving holiday. And to all my friends in other nations I wish you health and prosperity in all forms.

Enjoy!

wingedprisms (cate b)

There Is a First Time for Everything

Here it is, the Tuesday before America’s Thanksgiving Day holiday. Guess what I did yesterday? It is something I have NEVER done in my entire life! I decorated for Christmas. Yes I did. I put away the fall decorations and hauled out my Christmas ones. I have no idea what got into me since I was so cranky yesterday. But guess what? The crankies went away. The cup of coffee and the decorating took it away. So now I am ready for “The Holidays”.

Today I make Peking Duck and tomorrow is PIE DAY! I will be making pies for our family and my friend’s family. My little Lucy is coming over and she will help me finish decorating the Christmas tree. What can I say? I’m still amazed I did this. It goes against all of my wanting to put each holiday in its rightful time slot. I don’t like that America has made Halloween a Holiday and begin Christmas season right after it . Where did Thanksgiving go? I love Thanksgiving. It’s always been so special and homey and a great way to kick off the Christmas season. Halloween? Really people? I think Halloween is festive and always was fun as a kid but never a holiday. Let’s bring back the Thanksgiving and slow the holiday rush down a little.

When I was a kid we didn’t decorate until just about Christmas Eve! Now that I’ve totally contradicted myself about decorating early……. So many people, every year, talk about Holiday Stress – then why do you do it? Why do you jump into the pressure that surrounds us and join the masses of stress-filled holidays? It’s your choice. We stopped buying gifts except for the grand children. Less stress, less money spent. More relaxation and enjoyment. Find a way this season to enjoy it. Giving should be cheerful. Even the bible talks about that and I don’t think it is only about your offerings to the church:

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Cheerful Giver

⁶The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully^[a] will also reap bountifully. ⁷Each one must give as he has decided in his heart,not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

God loves it, why shouldn’t we. Cheerful givers are a lot happier than obligated ones.

I dare you to change your traditional stressful holidays into joyful, relaxed holidays. Go on. You can do it.

Enjoy!

wingedprisms (cate b)

Black Friday

Next Friday is what we call Black Friday. It is the day after our yearly Thanksgiving celebration where Americans gather to give thanks and eat a lot of food. Schools do little skits about Pilgrims and Native Americans sharing foods, etc. It also marks the beginning of the Christmas season to many. Well, it use to. When I was a kid we would spend Thanksgiving morning watching the Macy’s Thanksgivings Day parade live on TV and then football and a wonderful turkey dinner and pies for dessert and watch the original Miracle on 34th Street with Maureen O’Hara. Love this holiday.

Then somewhere along the way Friday became the day of mega sales and shopping for Christmas and talk of stores being open Thanksgiving Day to get a head start on shopping. I’m not a good shopper. As a matter of fact I would rather do it online and even then I usually know what I want and am not swayed by sales gimmicks. Once, my husband and I did a black Friday shopping trip. I confess I didn’t even know about that day of sales and mania. We were living in Southern California at the time and drove up to Anaheim to spend a few days with the in-laws for Thanksgiving. I think we had two children at that time. At Thanksgiving dinner we were told that we were going Christmas shopping the next day and grandma and grandpa were going to watch the kids and then they handed us a check. We were very grateful for the financial assistance and the babysitting.

We got up the next day and headed to their bank to cash their check. That took forever. The line at the bank was ridiculous. I doubted then that perhaps we shouldn’t do this. We left and went shopping. I can’t even remember if we bought anything. The crowds were overwhelming. I questioned whether this was even worth all this trouble.

Some people love it. I have a relative that thrives on it – it’s a high for her. It’s a downer for me. It’s like flying from Philadelphia to Kansas City. It’s a two, maybe two and a half hour flight one way. To “save” money you can purchase the flight that is not direct. It can take up to eight hours or more via Detroit, or Houston or lower Swabovia. OR you can purchase the direct flight and be home for lunch and dinner the same day. I say spend the extra. It’s not that much more. I enjoy living a life with the least amount of stress as possible.

Back to black Friday shopping. Hats off to those of you who love it and can actually find bargains and things that you really wanted to give as gifts to someone. But personally, if you are buying just for the sake of buying and for the sake of a great price and you didn’t really plan on purchasing that gift to begin with, then is it really worth it? Convince me, please. Give me your best case. I’m open, sort of.

As for me, I will be enjoying a warm house next Friday. I will be decorating for Christmas or crocheting or reading a good book. I will also be eating left over turkey and pie and probably blogging about it.

Enjoy!

cate b

Dear Eve – Letter to a Friend

Here you will find a letter to Eve. Eve is my Macbook – named after Eve from the movie Wall-E.

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0089609/

Dear Eve,

There has been great joy in our home since you joined our family the beginning of 2009. We did away with bulky, space taking PC’s and replaced them with just you. Two people shared you over the last, almost five years. We never had a PC last so long. You never became ill with the usual worms, viruses, etc. that go around in the viral world. The only time you were ever ill was when you wouldn’t open your eyes all the way. I rushed you into the emergency Apple Store and they plugged you into machines and life support to find that it was only a little light. They replaced your light and also took away the surface dings and bruises and gave you a brand new plate. And that was all covered by your health insurance – Apple Care. We were greatly relieved to have you home and functioning.

Now, as time goes by and I use you a lot more due to blogging and viewing TV, I see that old age is finally hitting you. Although you still haven’t caught any viruses – EVER – you are out-dated. I’m so sorry. In order to upgrade you I have to put out some money. You know how I hate that. But to be honest, your innards are just way to old to handle this. Things are sticking and slowing way down. I can’t even sinc my new iPhone to iTunes. They tell me you are too old. Again, I am so sorry. I imagine this is how I will feel when my kids take my car and keys away from me and tell me I am too old to drive.

I will keep you to the end, dear friend. You know me. Handing out money is hard for me. It will be soon, so I want you to know that I will spend as much time as possible with you. If you leave me too soon I will have to blog on my iPhone and we know that will make me cry. So hang in there as long as possible – at least until after Christmas, please. You have been a faithful and loving friend.

cate b

Day Twenty-Two

Twenty-two days of blogging with the NaBloPoMo thirty day blogging challenge. What have I learned the past twenty-two days? Well, I learned that I can do it, though there are some days that I just don’t feel like it. I am away from home three and a half days each week and when I come home I decompress. It takes a lot of motivation for me to re-enter, so to speak. I learned that my reasons for doing this challenge have changed over the past twenty-two days. Originally, I had a large ego and I that thought I would be noticed – hahahaha. I even took their advice and read some other challenger’s blogs and commented. That didn’t last long. I had very little response from posting on their website, not to mention it was rather difficult to understand how exactly to get pictures posted. It stopped posting my pics so I stopped posting on their site. Oh well. I’ve found that many bloggers, like me, want to be noticed but not necessarily read too many other blogs. That’s not good. So, I have given up the need to be noticed so much and I am doing my best to notice others. It really is a nicer way to live. Selfishness is over rated.

Please don’t misunderstand, the blogher.com website is full of talented writers of all kinds. I honor them. But for me it is a very busy website and hard for me to navigate with so much on there.

Also, did you know it is Thanksgiving this coming week? I’m a little behind. I must get motivated to think about cooking and I also want to decorate for Christmas. Kind of. I usually don’t do it until the day after Thanksgiving but I do think I will do it sooner. Maybe. I also realize that my decorations have gotten old and I feel like moving on. But boy, that costs way too much for me. I thought of one way to get a new Christmas tree theme and save a lot of money doing it.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/24-Charlie-Brown-Christmas-Tree-With-Blanket/32660060

What do you think?

So blogging on here, on this very cold, cloudy twenty-second day of November.

Enjoy!

cate b

Doggie Parks

This is day #20 in the NaBloPoMo thirty day blog challenge.

Almost there. I have a hard time following the prompts they suggest, but some are pretty good.

But today I am doing my own thing, again. The subject of Dog Parks popped into my head. I have never taken my dogs to a dog park. It’s hard enough walking them through a people park when we run into other dogs. They want to play and they want to play bad! The thought of letting them go to romp and play with other dogs frightens me. I just may be more afraid of that than standing on the rim of a very high cliff, or the wing of an airplane! I’ve been to Pet Smart when the Doggie Daycare is in full swing play mode. I stood at that window watching all the drooling dogs of various breeds and sizes and saw the look on the playground monitor’s face. Fighting? Bullies? Yes. I just can’t see letting my precious doggies loose to fend for themselves. They both just want to play. But these are dogs. Dogs are territorial and I’ve experienced lovely tail wagging dogs turn against each other in an instant. Am I overly protective of my pups? Are these free-for-all pup parks a breeding ground for disaster or future therapy sessions for our doggies?

I also worry about me! What if these oh-so-playful pups who “never would bite anyone” decide I look edible? Scares me big time. I never tell ANYONE that my dogs are friendly and would never bite you. Dogs can be a bit unpredictable sometimes, especially if they sense your fear or dislike of dogs.

So help me out. Tell me your experiences of Dog Parks. I truly want to relieve my fears and take my pups – maybe. Wait. I think it’s me that may need the therapy for that fear.

Enjoy!

cate b

Snakes in the Yard!

The last dream I had of snakes involved me picking one up by the tail and swinging it around like a lasso and then smashing it’s head against a building.

Last night I had a dream about snakes and I was not a Ninja Snake Killer. I was in my yard with my sons (who were young boys again) and I was about to fill in a hole in the yard when I saw a snake. Then they pointed out the snakes that were all over the yard! One was a coppery colour and naturally I thought it was a copperhead, since we have them here in the mid-west. The others I believed to be harmless garter snakes. But the copperheads were eating the garter snakes! I held a shovel and thought I could be that Ninja Snake Lady again. The snakes were attacking us and I was horrified!!!! I totally panicked and was a weak hysterical person. Needless to say, I woke up. Thank God!

I’m not really afraid of snakes but usually I keep my distance until they are identified. There. I had this nightmare and had to share it with you. I looked up the pic of a copperhead this morning and the snake in my dream was not. Comforting – NOT! I’m just glad it is winter and we shouldn’t see any snakes until spring.

curtesy of : http://www.123rf.com/photo_13376720_cute-snake-with-a-scarf.html

Enjoy your day!

cate b

Sarcasm – Old Habits Die Hard

Most who were born and raised in the north east of the USA are familiar with sarcasm. That was me. My familiarity was one of hurtful remarks coming from a family member. I learned the language of sarcasm quite well and it goes hand-in-hand with humor. The use of this language got me into a lot of trouble growing up, mostly with my mom (who taught me the language).

Here is the dictionary definition of sarcasm – ouch, to say the least: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sarcasm When I read the definition I felt horrible. I never knew it was defined as so cruel. There are even youtube.com videos on “How to Be Sarcastic”. Really people? I don’t think we need to learn that.

As I grew I tempered it, somewhat. I married a man raised in Idaho. There is nothing sarcastic about Idaho. He still finds my sense of humor a bit intense at times, but we’ve been married for almost forty years. My children are even better at sarcasm than I am. And it seems Hollywood has taken it on full force in it’s comedies. So much so that I find it to be rather cutting at times.

I apologize now to anyone from my past and present that when I have used this language it came across cutting in any way. My heart never wants to hurt anyone and sometimes, even though our motives are pure, it can cut someone who already has scars.

I moved to the mid-west about five years ago. Guess what? Sarcasm is not in the culture here (that was sarcastic). It could explain why I can’t seem to make very many close friends here. Every now and then I need a good dose of it to take away my home sickness. My Cousin Vinny is a film full of north east sarcasm that quickly remedies my need.

The tongue is powerful. It can be used to curse or bless someone. I want to bless. And if I can bless with sarcasm then I will try my best. Really. Groucho Marx ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groucho_Marx ) was a man familiar to my childhood. Very funny. Very sarcastic. Here are some of his quotes taken from: http://www.sarcasmsociety.com/sarcastic-quotes.html

“No, Groucho is not my real name. I am breaking it in for a friend.”Groucho Marx

“How do you feel about women’s rights? I like either side of them.”Groucho Marx

“A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five.”Groucho Marx

“Marry me and I’ll never look at another horse!”Groucho Marx

“If you find it hard to laugh at yourself, I would be happy to do it for you.”Groucho Marx

“I never forget a face, but in your case I’ll be glad to make an exception.”Groucho Marx

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”Groucho Marx

“I have had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn’t it.”Groucho Marx

I cannot totally give up this language. It is part of my upbringing but I can temper it. I’m trying. My husband does laugh but when my three sons get together it can be brutal – they do me proud 😉

I’m not sure of my point with this post. I guess I’m feeling a bit sarcastic and a bit silly today. I searched all over youtube to find a funny clip of sarcastic humor and walked away with the realization that it can be very cutting. Two of my favorite, more modern, TV shows that rely heavy on sarcasm are The Gilmore Girls and The Middle. They make me feel at home.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend (that was said with sincerity).

cate b

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The Cheerful Giver

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