Another word for freedom....

Wednesday, July 4th is tomorrow... a day off for me and scores of other people. However, the men and women of the US armed forces guarding our borders, shores and honor (?) will not be having a day of rest, nor hot dogs or ice cream with family or friends - their fireworks will be much louder and deadlier, and some may not see another July 4th. Lets also remember that millions of people are starving, livinig in poverty and have no voice - no freedom.

It's also my grand-nephews 4th birthday...HB2U - Ben !!!!

Yep, that's me and my guy. We took a flight around Mt St Helens on Saturday last. Then, having circled the crusty gray monolith twice, while marveling at the rough terrain, the 26 year old log jams, and the deep ravines from molten lava - we flew west into the setting sun up the Columbia River to Astoria and south to Seaside, OR before heading east and home. It was a great day to be aloft, although a bumpy ride over the Coastal range, it was great to be in the air again. I acquired yet another 20 min of flight time for my log book....I love flying, wish I did more of it.

Yes, I'm at work, and writing on my blog. It's lunchtime for me - my boss is out of the country, the stacks of folders and tasks to do are slowly receding. I am enjoying the quiet and solitude of the office and looking forward to being off.

To get back to my topic...freedom..seems the prez believes in it too...especially for his kiss ass buddies. As one of the late night comics noted...even Paris Hilton had to serve her time. I mean really, the man lied! Bill Clinton was up for impeachment for lying...it is just unbelievable that the man who is suppose to lead this country (well, now that I see those words - HA, I laugh!) and who has proven time and again that he is just the front man for those who are really running our nation - the power group from the former bush presidency - has not also been subject of a congressional inquiry. Amazing! simply amazing, he is such an idiot stick figure. He can not put two clear, concise, coherent sentences together, even when they are written down for him. It's embarrassing....and oh so wrong.

Enjoy your 4th, I'm sleeping in and taking a moment to remember how I got to where I am today.

June 2 2007

Summer has arrived early! It got to the low 90’s this week with no rain in sight…Rose Festival and the parade usually brings rain but so far, not a drop. The photos are from late April early May when most of it was just beginning to bloom…I’ll add a June 2 photo soon just to see the difference….

The birdhouse hanging from the arbor is the home of 2 BlackCapped Chickadees and their newborns! Oh my gosh, it is so fun watching them fly in with food and out again in search of it! I love my yard! I saw a Monarch butterfly today, cut 5 gorgeous Billy Graham roses for the dining room...the hummingbirds are stopping by the rose arbor, the foxglove and fire pokers as well as the feeders we have out...it's great, but just too early for the heat wave that we have going on....

Work is a four letter word...although I am more comfortable in my position it is still exceedingly stressful. I have discovered that I am not that enamored with doing this type of work...I did not go to school for 4 years to be doing this job..yet I have not a clue as to what it is I do want to do...

I still dream of writing, yet I don't take the time to do that...I dream of retiring....yes, that would be the best and I also dream of going back to school and getting more educattion! Not enough money or time -

I just celebrated 29 years clean and sober ....now that is something to be proud of! And I am. I have a great life. I have some great friends, I have a wonderful sponsor in Doris, some nutty women that I sponsor and a husband who loves me and whom I love. I needlepoint, read and go to the movies....life is great!I just wish I had more time to do those things...but for the time being I must work...it could be worst - I could be unemployed, drunk and loaded...so NOT!

World Hunger - World Peace

This photo is from "thehungersite.com".... I visit this sight each day and click on the bar to add my cup of food to the daily total, (Behavioral reward system of training definitely in place here) then I head to the breast cancer tab and click there for a 'free mammogram' for some low-income woman, then to the literacy tab, click and I've sent a book to a child.... I haven't yet succumbed to the rainforest and animal rescue tabs....but I started with just the hunger tab and look where I am today!!! I click on hunger because I can not imagine what it must be like to be hungry, truly-unbelievably-rack-o-bones-dying from lack of food in a world of plenty. I now click on breast cancer because my family has experienced that and it is treatable if one can be screened and in this man's world --- where males are, by simply being males - entitled to many health insurance covered screenings/tests/exams that women are still unable to obtain unless they have extremely good insurance --- and if they suffer from breast cancer, lose a breast or die from it BECAUSE they couldn't afford the screening, then SHAME on US (as in the United States of America)....so I click the bar. I've just recently started clicking on the literarcy tab because I believe education is the key to self-empowerment....for EVERYONE....not just white european males, but white/black/brown/red, males/females, rich/poor or in-between. I can not imagine my life without books...knowledge is power, but books can take you anywhere you want to go, regardless of where you are when you read them. When I was a child, books were my escape from a childhood filled with horrors, in the middle of the night - I was Nancy Drew and Clara Barton (civil war nurse). As I got older I saw the horrors of racial tension and divide in our nation through the eyes of Southern blacks (oh, to rember the title of that book- I'll remember)

Sorry, I digress. The point of the photo at the time is the saying - "It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace" - Aristolte....a brilliant man....organize peace - if that were the simple thing to do in today's world...currently the government is lead by a man who can not string a coherent sentence together on his own....the man is an imbecile...today the news reported more soldiers killed in Iraq. When will it end?

We have absolutely no business fighting a war in Iraq or any place else. Why are there not more people speaking out about the war and the need to bring these boys home....? Why is the news playing it down?

I say, lets organize peace here at home and keep our sticky fingers out of the country pie somewhere else....do we not already have enough problems to resolve right here at home?

Peace......

My kids - the cats.....

Februaray 27, 2007

This is Lola Morgan...one of a pair. Born on Flag Day - June 14, 1998 in Seal Beach California. While they look like Russian Blues, their mother was Siamese, their inherited some of the undesirable traits....aloofness and self obsession....perfect cats for me, some would say....

She has always been the "don't touch me cat" - if she daned to situate herself near you or god-forbid seat on your lap. one DID NOT TOUCH her! Even when the urge was more than I thought I could bear and I knew without a doubt that she would flee as if struck by lightning, I would reach out and pet her....only to be rebuffed. She also resisted with claws flying, clothes be damned, the idea of actually picking up and holding her.....age has mellowed her - somewhat - she will actually avail herself of my lap as I sit and needlepoint or read, she suffers through the petting and Loves to have her ears roughly scratched....she has even allowed me, if I am nimble enough to catch her, to hold her in my arms where she will eventually purr. I am not allowed to walk with her, I must stand still and let her be, but I have tamed her or more likely she has tamed me.

Cats are an interesting species to watch. Certainly my cats Lola and Lucy exhibit behavior that is different than Spencer Tracy and his sister Katharine Hepburn, although Lucy and Kate were identical in that they were both the LAP cats in my life. If I am sitting or lying down, Lucy is ON me like it is her only method of breathing....she will follow me from room to room - because she knows that at some point I will sit down. She has even followed me to the toilet and attempted to mount me....honestly, sometimes it is just annoying. She sleeps on me, and if I turn on my side she climbs right on up to the available hip and attempts to make a bed. ..... you would think she'd get the hint..."I don't want you on me, hence I turned over!" - she persists....

Lola and Lucy will chase each other through the house, one eventually ends up on the floor on their back, claws extended in a defensive move, teeth bared and equal amounts of hissing from both sides...occassionally I will find them curled up together, but it is rare.

Lola likes to sit on my desk as I work, tail gracefully wrapped around her legs. She watches me, and when she determines that I have been given ample time to pay attention to her and haven't she gives me the head butt....yep, a head butt. She'll continue this playful poking until I have stopped doing whatever it is that she wants to interrupt - this is my signal to scratch her ears, and I'm not done until she leaves. If I should make the mistake of stopping before my time is up, she resumes the head-butt....she's persistent, I'll give her that. She also likes to have her water from the bathroom sink. Not the tub, her water dish or the toilet...ever the finnicky cat, she will sit on the corner of the counter, meow continuously until someone shows up to run the tap...and don't put too much into the sink...it has to be just the right amount so that she can climb into it and lap up water without gettin gher dainty paws wet....I like her, she's independent , clean, self-sufficient and a loner. Like her mom...

Lucy Madeleine, born on the same day as her sister, she is the pudgy one who is needy, self absorbed and demanding. She likes button, string and plastic bags, shiny objects - things to chew on or put. She's a love, but at 10 pounds it is a lot of love in one's lap. But at least she'll trade a nail clipping with sitting in my lap....she's also my climber. We have to keep the linen closet doors closed with a strip of wood so she won't paw them open and jump up to the closest shelf - she wants to sleep on the towels, up high and in the dark...strange cat, very strange. Like her mom...

I have to go, the head-butting has started....ok, ok stop poking me. For all my grumbling, I can't imagine home-life without my cats.....

Lucy- sunny herself, of course.

Truths

February 24, 2007

since I work I tape a couple of daytime shows that I can cruise through at night...The View, and Oprah every day ( that is until summer when every day is a repeat of something I have already seen), and today I watched Oprah's Thursday show on "Best Life" weight loss style. She had her trainer Bob Greene on, and they had selected 6 people who wanted to lose weight. I mention this only because, not only was I once overweight (and according to the experts that were talking I was most likely obsese) but each time I watch a show about losing weight I learn something new about myself. Today it was: "lies we tell ourselves" - for some reason that resonated with me. Now I have been on the lean side of my lifestyle makeover for close to 35 years. That is with one exception 15 years ago or so when I was suffering from CF and had gained about 35 lbs....which I was able to take off over a period of time once my symptoms eased. And I gain and lose the same 5 lbs every year...because I get lazy and I 'lie' to myself about the food I put in my mouth.

So, the point is - today I realized that while my basic lifestyle is healthy and I eat reasonably well most days, I LIE to myself at least every day. I purchased Dr. Oz's book "You on a Diet" because I have about 10-15 pounds that I would really like to shed. It's the 10-15 pounds of muscle weight that has turned to soft tissue (my term for flab) and I don't really have the motivation to make it muscle, so I just want it gone. Now, I am not overweight, but then I am a chronic malcontent, and have NEVER liked my body..... but I am now just not interested in spending the 60 minutes/5 days a week lifting weights to get it back. Oh, I exercise, but it is not even close to what I once did....which really was just hiding out at the gym. Now I have a life that is interesting and fun..... Back to the book...basically they ask you to give up 'white' - white flour, white rice, white sugar(well there is a lot more, but you get the idea, if not, go buy the book)....the first two are easy....but that small chocolate kiss that I stuff into my face follows the LIE - "ONE WON'T HURT" ----- and that's the lie....because it is never one and it does hurt. Because I end up not trusting my behavior.

So it's the little lies that establishes on-going behavioral struggles...it isn't the 'i can't lose weight' or 'i'm big boned' or blah, blah, blah....I tell myself that this one little bite won't hurt - and the next one and the next one and the next one-----soon those little bites add up to the 10 lbs I want to shed....dang! So now I have to decide to either stop lying and tell the truth or accept the weight that I carry and stop all the b.s. ..... it was such a light bulb moment!

And that was true about the cigs I use to smoke, the alcohol I use to drink, the marijuana I once inhaled and the list of other recreational drugs that I would injest....since I stopped telling myself lies around those, life has gotten oh so much better. I am a different person, and my life is really fabulous....for the most part extremely fabulous. But I had to stop telling the lies, at least about the chocolate kisses.

I have started two, no three new needlepoint projects in the past 2-3 weeks. Sometime over the next couple of days I'll post photos of the projects. Today I got the newest one sewn onto the dowels for it's frame....I love starting new projects....and no, they are not all the same. One is a rug, another will be a pillow that I will give away, the other is a rather large picture of a clown juggling some balls that I just adore and will frame once it's done and the last one is a small ornament (one of the 12 days of Christmas designs) that I am planning on appliquing into small red stockings to decorate the hallway with...I'm halfway through the series...

Blessings to you....imagine peace - especially where there is conflict....

I met the real Prince Charming

February 23, 2007 TGIF ...

what a day I had today... oy! We had a real life celebrity in our building----Princess' Brides very own Prince Charming! He was here to meet with our Darfur desk people to see how he could help raise $$$ for our programs. Actually, I thought he would be taller! Had I passed him on the street I wouldn't have had a clue...of course he was semi-disguised....glasses, a hat pulled down over his forehead, but I probably wouldn't have recognized him....he's very, very nice and ever the gentleman....but honestly....sits down every day just like I and oh so many others in the world. Yes, he was humble, he acknowledged his blessings, - and thankfully he is quite aware of the cult following and he did stand still long enough to have his photo taken with the two women that work in our offices-which means he remembers that he makes his living as an actor and has fans who gush.....I think my total lack of fuss caused him to pause. Really! He came back twice to thank me and to ask for my card....I hope that he is successful in the concerts that he is planning and that his word about wanting to raise the money will make it all the more successful for those who truly need the aid.

Have you been surfing the web of late? Have you fed the hungry? Clothed the poor? Saved a dog/cat or rainforest today? Here's your chance - http://www.thehungersite.com/ - they'll even send you a daily email to remind you to "CLICK" and give for free!!!! GO - DO- CLICK- Be grateful for the blessings you have.....

More news about the hollywood un-grateful - Mrs. Federline needs to grow up! And no I'm not being mean, maybe she is having a post-partum break down...do it in private and get yourself some help......

And someone should get a court order mandating that idiot judge in Florida to take a breathe....hopefully his last 15 minutes of fame are now gone.

Can we just please bring our troops home. Say a prayer - will ya.

Slacker [cough, cough] slacker....

Life got oh, so busy....honest! Beginning in September I was consumed with a new career opportunity...I won't even demean it by calling it a job. I successfully passed through the labyrinth of interviews to obtain this remarkable position....executive assistant to the CEO of a major humanitarian relief organization. Probably best not to disclose the name to not only protect the innocent, but if I should fall off the rant-wagon I can keep my job!

I love my work, my colleagues and the mission we work under....amazing, the human spirit.
I am challenged every day and although I have much to learn, it is an ongoing challenge and I arrive each day ready to work. This will be my last position in the world of work...at some point in the distant - within 5 years - I will retire, to write. Not clear yet as to what I will write, but that's what I want to do....maybe travel and write about that....but write I shall.

Fall slipped away from me into the dark, cold realm of winter. Some cozy fires inside, but our living room just is not cozy. Something drastic needs to be done to make it so, but I 'm not financially able to complete that task until Mike goes back to work.

Winter just sorta slipped in and out. We had a month of really cold, cold weather but that was pretty much it. Oh, we did have some snow days....got to work from home which was totally great!

Spring is just peeking out in my yard...it makes me so very happy to see what is going to bloom in just a matter of days, and will continue to burst forth from the ground over the next few weeks and months...

The only other stuff stuck in my head at the moment is the insanity that is called "news" right now. Ohmygod the fuss that is being made about Ms. Britany Spears shaving her head.....this is hair, people! Hair that will grow back! There are so many really deep and troubling issues in the world today and we take time, energy and effort to not only show pictures, but write articles and have 'news @ 6pm' about a bald 25 year old. Get over it....she is just being 25 and not too mature! Yes, it's sad, boohoo.....it is a desperate cry for help....how sad. Now can we please move on to arresting predatory child molesters, feed the hungry here and all the world, restore the homes and livelihoods of New Orleans.....maybe work towards peace in the Middle East?
Ms.Spears, I do not care that you shaved your head. Good for you, now stop be so self absorbed and do something for someone else. There I said it!