Uh-oh... Politics

Please bear with me as I talk about something that I know very little to nothing about. Politics.

Yeah, I know, sorry...

This has been bothering me since I first heard what was going on. The President of the United States of America is going to address our children. That's not the part that bothers me.

My son didn't hear his speech. You know why? Because his school, like most others, opted to NOT let our children hear his speech. The schools that opted to air it gave parents an "opt out" for their kids to not hear it. All this talk about how people don't want the President to "poison" our kids by pushing his agenda on them. What in the H-E-double hockeysticks??????

I was raised with the belief that the President was a person in a position to be respected. You respect the President, even if you don't agree with his views or how he is running the country. But you listened with respect.

I think it's sad that we don't want the President "poisoning" our kids minds, but it's OK for us to give our kids the impression that the President is trying to tell them bad things. I mean, hey, if the teachers, the schools, and the parents don't want us to hear what he has to say, then it must mean that they don't like him and he is not doing a good job. Right? That's the way I see it. If former President Bush, or Clinton wanted to address the kids directly, would the country be acting like this? I don't think so, I think they would just let the day go by like any other "first day of school", and there would be no further thought. Now, as I said, bear with me - some of the former Presidents may have done this in the past and I just don't know about it, because like I said, I don't follow politics. But if any of them have done it, I certainly don't remember any uproar like this.

I think it is very disrespectful to the President, for him to take time out of his busy schedule to speak to our kids, and then we make a decision to not even let them hear what he had to say???

Monday night, my 13 year old son informed me that I needed to take him to his father's house to get his agenda that he needed for school yesterday. Because he forgot and left it in his dad's van Friday. And he didn't say anything about it until Monday at 5pm. Now, that's what I call responsibility. Yeah right. I read the President's address to the kids online, and I agree with EVERYTHING that man said. There was not a stitch of politics in his speech, no even a hint of any agenda. Basically, he told them they needed to suck it up and grow some responsibility. He also said that even if you are in the worst of situations, YOU make your own future. You don't HAVE to go the wrong way, there are options for you, and you can make the right decisions. Basically, even if you grew up in the ghetto with a drug addict mom, you can still apply yourself in school and do great things with your own life. He said that you gotta take responsibility, because nobody else is going to do it for you. And I agree. I tell my son that all the time. All I can think of about these parents (and I'm sorry if any of you are one of them, really, I do) is that they are the kind who are going to hold their kids hands all the way through life and shelter them and coddle them and never make them take responsibility for themselves. That is not in their best interest. Our job as parents is to teach our children how to make it in real life. That means responsibility.

I will get off my soap box now. I kinda went off on a tangent there, sorry!! But it really made me mad and sad at the same time.

What do you think?

Thankful Tuesday

I was going to have Thankful Thursday because it sounds better, but I can't wait, so, here we have "Thankful Tuesday". I will share something/someone I am thankful for, and you can do the same.


This Tuesday, (and always), I am thankful for my husband. He took this picture on his camping trip. Yes, he loves bon fires, and is borderline pyro.

I was a couple or so years out from divorce, having had a 9 year, no so great marriage. I was in a karaoke bar with the girls. I was wearing sweatpants, sweatshirt, and flip-flops. This complete stranger came over and said he was looking for someone to shoot pool with him, since his friend had left with some girl. I was NOT wanting to do this, because after my attempts at dating over 30, I was over it, completely. Well, the girls had other ideas. So I shot pool with this good looking, possibly dangerous man, and by the end of the night, I was pretty deep into a bottle of my fav - Captain Morgan's. And barefoot. With sweats on. Sad, huh?

Well, it went to so good from there, that I knew it had to be "too good to be true", and I tried to break it off after a few weeks. He wouldn't let me. I had no excuse, and he knew it, and told me so. So, I decided to "give it a little more time and see what happened".

A year and a half later, on my birthday, he wanted to take me somewhere nice to eat, but I said no. I wanted to go look at furniture. So, not wanted to disappoint me, we went furniture-shopping. We saw a nice bed in Haynes, he said we needed to lay down on it to make sure we liked it. So we did. And I closed my eyes, being silly like I was going to sleep. He said, "Well, since you didn't want to go somewhere nice for your birthday, how about marrying me?" I opened my eyes, and there was a ring in front of my face!! Of course I said yes, well, after being in shock, and he had to prod me, "Well...?" I said, "Yes, you idiot, I will marry you!".

I actually called him an idiot in the same sentence telling him I'd marry him!! But he didn't care.

Now, I am very thankful that all came together like it did, because now I have been married for 2 years to a man who I love so very much, and who loves me. And he works, he isn't lazy, he doesn't have to go "play" with the boys all the time, he doesn't waste money, oh, I could just go on and on. And we don't fight. (Because I always get my way!!)

So, I am thankful for a wonderful husband and wonderful marriage.

Now What?...

Well, Angel is home on a trial basis. She has a little pallet beside the couch. We had to drag her on the pallet back to the bedroom last night. Now I am waiting for my husband to wake up so he can drag her back out here. I've never felt so helpless. She still won't really eat, so I have to shove food in the side of her mouth, and she eats some of it, and some of it just rolls back out. She will drink normally, though, so at least I don't have to syringe water into her mouth anymore. But I'm worried because she hasn't peed since she's been home. The vet said he'd call this morning to check on her, so I'll ask him about that. It's so hard to see her like this, and I'm torn because I feel like I'm letting her suffer. But this is something that dogs normally recover from, so it's not like she has cancer, or had a stroke, and I'm just keeping her here for selfish reasons. But it feels like that to me. It's been a week, and she still can't get up, she has to have physical therapy (which is just massaging her muscles, and exercising her legs) twice a day so her muscles don't atrophy. I just want her to get up and walk into the kitchen and lay behind me so I can trip over her, or lay in front of the refrigerator while I'm making lunches, so that I can't get into the fridge. I just want her back.

And I need a new camera so I can take more pictures, especially of her.

Homecoming!!

We are bringing Angel home today. I don't know how this will go. She still can't even stand up, let alone walk. She is some better, but just a little. But we figured since we would be home for the long weekend, we would bring her home and see if maybe when she gets back in her "comfort zone" she will try harder to get up. She still has a hard time eating and drinking, mostly she has been given her water through a syringe.

If I could bake, I would definitely bake those girls at the vets office something good. Of course, they would have to share with doc. I don't know what me or my Angel would ever do without all of them. They have put up with me calling to check on her during the day, coming and sitting in the floor with her, even after they had officially closed for the day, telling me to take my time. They have put up with me sniffeling and crying all over the place. I just couldn't ask for a better vet and staff!! My vet even calls me during the day to let me know how she is! And here's the kicker - her one night in the emergency vet cost over $300. She has been at her regular vet 5 days, and her bill is just over $300!!!!

So, I will just have to get them a sappy card, and BUY them some goodies. Goodness knows if I try to bake them some, they may not be so nice next time I see them!!

Flashback Friday

Today I am going to "Flashback" to approximately 1983. That year I was 9. Now I could be off by a couple years, but that's OK, it doesn't change the story at all.

I am the youngest and the only girl. When I say the youngest, I mean when I was born, my 4 brothers were 17, 19, 21, and 23. Needless to say, I grew up with my nephews. I also have 4 of those. One is 2 years older, one 1 year older, one the same age and one 1 year younger. They were always finding new ways to terrorize me. That was their job, and their goal in life. They were good at it, too.

Back then, we lived in Ware Neck on a small farm. On that farm we had cows, sometimes horses, pigs, chickens, ducks, rabbits, and pheasants. There were several small barns, and one little house-like building. It was about 10 feet by 10 feet. (It may have been smaller, you know how things get smaller the older you get. ) Well that little building had been home to the chickens for a while, and the rabbits for a while (we had alot of rabbits, but that's a different blog). But now it was kinda a little playhouse for me and my niece (she is 3 years younger). The only problem was that I didn't like playing in there, because there were spiders the size of Texas, spiderwebs, and tons of other assorted bugs. All of them Texas-size or bigger. I was terrified of spiders and bugs, of any size (still am).

So my ever-so-loving nephews one day decided they needed to send me in there to get something, I can't remember what, so I dutifully (and stupidly) went on in to get what I had been sent for. I walked in, and the door closed behind me. My nephews had locked me in!! I screamed bloody murder for what seemed like days on end, although I'm sure it was only a few hours, OK, a few minutes....

Finally one of my big brothers heard me and came to rescue me. Not a moment too soon! I know the big spiders were eyeing me up, thinking dinner had just been served! Of all my childhood memories, this was one of the most terrifying one that I have.

Yes, that was a mile long, wasn't it? Everyone still awake? Good, share a "Flashback" with me!

Horizons

Please pretend the horizon is actually straight on this picture - then it will look better...

Speaking of horizons, I am going to be expanding mine a little bit.

Starting tomorrow, we will have "Flashback Fridays", where I will tell a story (knowing me, it will be a mile long, sorry in advance), from way back when. Then I invite you to do the same. I like being nostalgic every once in a while.

Then, starting Tuesday (I was going to start this past Tuesday, but Angel had her problems), I am going to start "Thankful Tuesday", which, just like it sounds, will be me telling about someone/something I am thankful for. Then I invite you to do the same.

Is this starting to sound like instructions, or is it just me?

Well, I came up with "Thankful Tuesday", because I realized that too often, we go through life taking things and people for granted. I know I have. I didn't realize it until we were trying to get pregnant and had three miscarriages back to back, then it took a year after the last one just to get pregnant again. I had never been through something more painful and frustrating. And one day I realized how I had taken for granted my ability to get pregnant and have my first son with no problems.

Sooo...... Let me know what you think.

Update

This will be a short one today. I am exhausted with all this going on...

In all, I have spent 5 hours sitting my pregnant behind on cold hard floors with my Angel. She is completely worth it.

I went to see her yesterday after work, and she ate a little bit for me. That's a very good thing!! Her eyes weren't moving quite as fast as they were, and she wasn't so floppy. She could almost focus on me when she tried to look at me! She looks so much better! She still can't get up, or walk yet, though. Maybe tomorrow...

I hate leaving her there and coming home without her.