Friday 5

Holiday Season Edition
What's your favorite holiday ...

1. Song?
2. Movie or TV special?
3. Memory?
4. Baked good or desert?
5. Each year, what's the one moment that lets you know it's officially the holiday season?

My favorite Holiday is Christmas...it has nothing to do with the gifts, it has a little to do with Jesus. The reason is because this is when everything in nature that dies and comes back is just about dead and this is the point where it will start to do what it needs to do to grow and come back bigger and better the next season. I love this time of growth and renewal. I think the fact that we celebrate Jesus' birthday this time of year, even though we are pretty sure this is not when he was born, is an added special thing because Jesus has a special place in so many of our lives and it makes this time so much more special.

1. My favorite holiday songs, well, for Halloween it would be the Purple People Eater...I really don't know if that is meant to be a Halloween song, but it is on a Halloween record of songs my parents bought for the family when I was a kid and I loved it. My favorite Christmas song is Ding Dong Merrily on High. I like Nat King Cole's version the best...he does an awesome job. I can listen to this over and over.

Discover The Hit Crew!

Discover Various Artists!

2. Favorite Holiday Movie or TV Special...hmmm...I like so many, but my favorite Christmas Movie is the Bells of St. Mary's. It is a great story that pulls at the heart strings and to me is so much of what Christmas is about.

3. Favorite Holiday Memory...wow...we have been so many places and have had Christmas with so many people, both family and friends...I guess my greatest Holiday memory would be the Christmas time in Germany when I was 8 or 9. Mom and dad took the sleds to this military training area in the woods that had a great trail to walk. Mom was pulling Jim, or Jami as we called him back then, and Dad was pulling me. It was awesome...we would stop once in awhile and Jim and I would walk ahead of mom and dad pulling the sleds...Jim was about 5 or 6 then. Dad was throwing snow balls up in the trees to make snow fall on us...we didn't know he was doing it at the time...it was funny when the snow would fall...Mom lost control of Jim at one point on the sled and they both almost fell over into a ravine with water and ice at the bottom...that would not have been good, but Dad saved the day. I don't know how long we spent out there because as you know as a kid times like that can seem longer than they really were, but it was awesome...a great memory of a lot of fun my family could have together doing a simple thing.

4. Baked good or dessert? Well, it has to be baked goods for me. I think that may also come from living in Germany. My best memory of baked goods...well, I have two...both in Germany...I used to walk home for lunch from school everyday in Ludwigsburg. The "pastry lady" as we called her would drive a Volkswagen van through our apartment community selling pastries and German pretzels. She was always on one of the streets I passed on my way home for lunch and I would get something to go with my lunch. I could afford the calories back then as I was an active kid, playing sports and always playing outside. The other time was around that same time period and I was chosen to go to Munich with two other kids to represent our school at a leadership conference. It was so cool. We took a train and had one teacher for a chaperone. We went to museums and things and we stayed on a German military base where the conference was held. The German soldiers who worked in the mess prepared our meals. For the m ost part they were really good, but they also had a Kantina that I would go by on the way to our dorms...and they had pastries!! One of the students from France that sat with us wrote on my folder for the event that I was the "pastry girl"...it became a joke with all of us...another good memory and just the word pastry made me think of it.

5. Each year, what's the one moment that lets you know it's officially the holiday season? Well, the weather does it for me. When it starts to get cold that is when I start to think of the holidays. But Christmas season does not start for me until Thanksgiving evening when I play my first Christmas song. This is a family tradition that I have carried on in my own house. Now, to go get ready to hand out candy and toys today....

HNT - Booking Through Thursday

HNT - I thought the luscious lips would be a good pic for today... they are a stand out feature...that men usually love...LOL






Now...Booking Through Thursday



Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?


I hate it when I see bent spines or dog eared pages. I try really hard not to do this to my books. I do try to keep them in good condition. Sometimes I have sent books to friends and they were like, did you even read this? I can't stand to see someone roll their book cover around the book. It drives me crazy. It seems careless to me. I keep a lot of my books to read again so I want to keep them nice. I have tried to let go of what happens to books that I give to other people and not worry about how they treat them.

...in other words...

Never explain--your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.
-- Elbert Hubbard

I agree...for one...you should never have to explain anything to your friends...if you are truthful, what is to explain? And my friends know me inside and out so they would know why I make a certain decision and will love me for what I choose to do and I will continue to love them and understand what they choose to do. We may not always agree, but we trust each other and that is what matters.

And enemies...well, I wouldn't waste my breath trying to explain anything to an enemy any way. Thankfully I do not believe I have those in my life. I usually get along with everyone I meet. But I believe if I did have an enemy there would be no reason to explain anything, what would I be trying to accomplish? We don't try to explain things to Iran, we negotiate, that is something totally different.

Sleeping with Bread

So, this is my weekly opportunity to review my last week and analyze my ups and downs in some way.

In the past week I would say I am most grateful for having the husband that I have in my life. This past week was the week where we both work Mon-Fri and then he works Sat and Sun and has today and tomorrow off. We kind of go through this week with blinders on moving from one day to the next without much to note, if we are lucky I guess, because if we had something to note it would mean something was not right, at least that is what I think. He puts up with this mundaneness and I have to love him for that because I don't know if I could deal with a husband that could not just grin and bear it with me.

I am least grateful for the life I have because it is mundane and repeats itself every day I take it for granted that I am not living in a house that is falling down around me, that I have money to put food on my table and pay my utilities. I am trying really hard every day to make an effort to recognize that I have it pretty damn good compared to so many people out there and if my life seems mundane it is because I made it that way and I am the only one that can change that...

Saturday Special

~Halloween Ghostly Tell Tales~

1. Believe in ghosts, spirits, or the supernatural?

I do believe in something of this sort. To me there are spirits or souls among us at all times. I believe when we die we get to join back with the other souls, but we can choose to come back to earth in human form if and when we want. I believe that those of us in human form can think of a soul we were once in touch with in human form and that soul will be in our presence instantly if they are not in human form again. I believe that when we can no longer feel that soul in our presence when we think of it then it has rejoined us on this earth and that we will find each other again in some other life if not this one.

2. Ever had a supernatural experience?

I don't know if you would call it a supernatural experience, but a week or so after my grandfather died and I was back home from helping my husband deal with my mother-in-laws death, which happened two days before my grandfather died so I could not go to his funeral, I got up one morning to go to the bathroom and I saw my grandfather for a second sitting on the chair in my bedroom. He was younger, like when he was in the Navy and had his uniform on and was kind of hunched over with his elbow on his knee holding his head up. I had never seen my grandpa in this pose so I do not believe it is something I recall from a picture. I do believe he was there.

3. Favorite horror film?

Oh, this is hard because I really don't care for horror movies anymore. I guess I would have to say one of the classics, like the black and white Mummy movie.

4. Finish this line: Silently I walk in the moonless night _____.

Silently I walk in the moonless night feeling safe with the souls all around me.

HNT - Booking through Thursday

Okay, my HNT pic has nothing to do with Booking through Thursday...but I am trying to stick with this HNT thing...LOL

So, onto Booking through Thursday.

“Name a favorite literary couple and tell me why they are a favorite. If you cannot choose just one, that is okay too. Name as many as you like–sometimes narrowing down a list can be extremely difficult and painful. Or maybe that’s just me.”

Okay, I have to say Karen Kingsley and Gary Smalley who did the Redemption Series together. Now, most people who know me know that I am not very "religious", but I am "spiritual". This book series is more religious in my opinion, but it is a great series. It does talk about the bible a lot and some things that I don't totally agree with, but the principle to me is that as a family unit with a greater power that you pray to as a family and by doing what is good in the world then only good will come. That when we turn away from that family unit and leave prayer out of our lives that we tend to trend toward actions that can range from being irresponsible to being illegal, hurting ones that we love in the process. I believe in prayer and affirmations and this book series helps you realize why prayer is important in your life. I would recommend this book to any and all. Even if you are not very religious...

"I Want...." Wednesday

I Want to move to GA!! It is on my mind constantly. I feel like I am living to move to GA and will not truely be able to live until that is accomplised. I have been away for eight years as of next week. I visit of course, frequently. But it is not the same, not the same as living near my family and friends and getting to spend time with the frequently. My parents went to the Octoberfest at Ft. Gordon last weekend, that is something we would have done with them if we were there.

I have my sister friend there and we have not spent real quality time together in 8 years. I just get to see her when I am passing through, but no real time to have fun. Then another very close friend is in NC and this would put me so much closer to her also.

So, I WANT TO MOVE!!! Please put out positive vibes, say affirmations, prayers for me. I want this so bad and I feel like I am just marking time until this happens.

...in other words...

The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.

-- Ralph W. Sockman

Wow, this is a good one, huh? Oh, I feel like I am in a minority all the time when it comes to speaking out about things that are not being done properly in our agency in regards to payroll and human resources. I have chosen to be a voice to speak out when regulations are not followed and bad hiring practices are followed. It does not always make me a popular person, but I know the right people will recognize me for doing what is right and that is all I can hope for in this government job. Wow, the second part is harder to relate to...I am trying to find where in my life now or in the pass I have been in the majority and had to be tolerant of those that did not share in my opinion or practice. As I think about this and examine my life I really think I am most often in the minority and cannot think of a time I have been in a majority. But what is great is that I am so often able to get the majority to see things my way and make a needed change or address an issue I have brought to their attention. I think this says a lot more about me than the fact that I am often not with the majority.

Sleeping with Bread

For what am I most grateful? Least grateful?

At this moment I am most grateful for having loving caring people in my life, for having a job, and being of pretty sound health. It is important to have loving and caring people in my life otherwise it would be a very lonely life to lead without people share the highs and lows and to laugh with when life gets to be just to much. I am so grateful that I have a job during these tough economic times when there are so many people unemployed. Finally I am so thankful that for the most part I have pretty good health at this time in my life. I have seen people I love and care for lose their quality of life because of their health problems so I have to be gretful for my health.

Least grateful is difficult for me as I always try to have a grateful heart for the things in my life. I guess I am not so grateful for all of the belongings that I have acquired. I take for granite that I have been able to get the things I have acquired. I tried really hard to think of more and I can't think of anything...I hope that is a good thing...because I do try every day to recognize how fortunate I have been in this life.

Situation Sunday

The war is continuing in Iraq. The government has issued a draft for all boys and girls 15 years and up to 40. All are mandated to report, with penalties for not showing up....prison and death. What do you do?

Okay, first of all I really do not believe this government would ever put anyone under 18 into combat. That is, as long as we can keep McCain out of the White House. But in this scenario I would be draftable being 39. What would I do? I would go, whatever they need from me I would do. I would serve because I believe that if my country calls me to do so then I have to serve that country that has given me freedoms that so many other people in other countries do not have afforded to them. We are far from a perfect country, but I would serve where needed if asked to do so.

Saturday Special

~Words Ending in GHT ~ I Say You Answer~

1. Cry In The Night...you answer?

The first thing I think of when I read this is about a lonely heart. Someone that is all alone with no one to share the intimacy of the night with, no one to just hold them and make them feel safe and loved. Yeah, that is what I think about and it makes me sad, like I will cry for them.

2. Tasty Delight...you answer?

Mmmmm, chocolate, Godiva Chocolate to be exact. Melting in my mouth as smooth as silk and the endorphines raising almost immediately...oh, yeah...

3. Bright Light...you answer?

LOL, well, I think of a train...yeah, you heard me right a train, but not just any old train...the train that is heading right at me and I saw it just a little to late...for me that light at the end of the tunnel just seems like a train coming to plow me down...yeah, it will end it all, alright, just not the way I expect. So, I spend every day working to change that light into the sun shining down on me instead, warming me and making me feel like I have been wrapped tight in a blanket and have nothing to fear.

4. Air Tight...you answer?

Other than Tupperware..LOL...What this means to me is to have an airtight relationship with the people I love most in my life. That I can tell them anything and it will always be between us and that there is no reason for them to ever use things I have told them about me, against me because we have each others back. They can expect the same of me, to handle their words with care and never betray them or lie to them because that is not what people who love each other do.

Friday Frights

Okay, I don't want to get deep today...just have some fun, so I was thinking of a very close friend of mine that loves Friday Fright Nite on USA or whatever station that is that it comes on....any ways...I am a huge scary cat. My sister friend can attest to that...


THREE THINGS THAT SCARE ME:

01 Bugs, huge flying "Palmetto" or Water Bugs, whatever you want to call them. I hate them they freak me out and I scream like an axe murderer just jumped in front of me. This is the one that sister friend can attest to, but what she will tell you is that when the going gets tough...I am willing to kill these on my own...as I had to when I went through a short separation with my husband one time.

02 Losing my husband. Okay, maybe it is not a fright, but it scares me none the less. And I am not talking about losing him as us divorcing I am talking about the loss that cannot be reversed. My life would be so empty without him and I hope we have many many more years on this earth before that is ever a reality.

03 The last thing that scares me is the thought of our world losing it's moral compass. Okay, not another fright and darn, I got away from being simple today...But it is a little scary, you know. Young people today don't have a fear about them that we did that helped us to stay within those parameters that felt safe and kept others safe. I think a little bit of fear of what our actions mean morally is a good thing and I think our you society is losing that all to fast.

HNT - My First Time

Okay, so my sister friend again is telling me what to do with my blog... :) But I love her so I will oblige. She said I have to do HNT. I had to think hard on it and put it into perspective for me...then the decision...what picture?



So, I decided to do my first HNT of my hand with one of my rings. Okay, another freaking decision, blogs should not require this much though, really. I have two rings I wear and they both mean a lot to me. The first one of course is my wedding band and the second is my diamond anniversary ring (past, present, and future). So, the wedding band won out. Wish you could see the detail, but oh, well...









I am a little apprehensive about participating in HNT because there is not a spot on my body that does not scream obese...so, it will be interesting to see if I can be imaginitive enough with the picture taking to show areas that don't make people sick from looking at a fat girls body parts.



And hopefully along the way we will see that I am losing weight and be able to include pictures of areas I had been avoiding...

Wednesday Weirdness

1. If you could only eat one fruit for an entire year and that fruit would magically be in season and ripe that full year, which fruit would you choose and why?

I would definitely choose Georgia peaches. IMO there is not a better fruit. When they turn out right they are so sweet and delicious!!

2. What is something that makes you sad?

Seeing someone else being broken hearted will make me cry every time. I think a broken heart is one of the saddest things in this world. And we are all affected by it, not just lovers, but children whose parents die or who treat their children so badly and all that child wants is to be loved.

3. What would you do if you came home from an extended vacation and found that someone else was living in your house?

I would call the police obviously. That is just weird and freaks me out that someone might do such a thing. Glad I have neighbors to help watch over my place when I am out of town.

4. What US President, alive or otherwise, would you like to have dinner with?

I think I would have to say John Adams, the first John Adams. It was a very interesting time in our history when he was in office.

5. What is your opinion on multitasking while driving? (Reading a book or work documents, changing clothes, fixing hair, applying make up, shaving your face, et cetera)

I think the police should be able to pull people over and give them tickets for this type of thing. It puts to many other people at risk.

6. Do you ever multitask while driving? If so, how often would you say you are guilty of it?

Easy, I don't drive. But when I did, no, I never was a multitasker while driving.

7. Do you tend to be early, on time, fashionably late or LATE to work and work related events? Do you tend to be more or less punctual for non-work related events?

I used to be on time for work, but lately I am always late. I think it has something to do with not wanting to be here. I am punctual if not early for non-work related events unless something odd happens to hold me up.

8. What is a quirk your significant other has that you would define as "cute"? If you have no SO, what is a quirk you find cute in a potential SO?

OMG, I don't know. Cute? Ugh.. I guess his laugh when he is really really tickled about something.

...in other words...

Lack of money is no obstacle. Lack of an idea is an obstacle.
-- Ken Hakuta

I have to totally agree with this quote. Most of my marriage has been spent with little or no money. Yet, during some of our poorest times we had the most fun, whether it be a trip up to the lake with a couple of sandwiches, laying on a stone picnic table staring up at the stars or taking a 2 hour drive to see Uncle Remus' cabin and the Tar Baby tales.

Even wanting to start a business it is a matter of being creative with how to make the funding without putting yourself in debt. Or starting small and building up and of course the type of business.

Then we always have to remember that there are people that have much less than us and they can make it everyday. So, since we have so much more, we have a responsibility to do more.

I am glad I read this quote today. I am always worried about our funds and that we don't have enough. I will definitely keep this quote in mind and as it says try to have more ideas and stop worrying about obstacles.

Sleeping with Bread

So, the question for today is in the last week when did I feel most alive and when did I feel most drained of life.

In the last week I cannot recall one time when I felt most alive. So, I tried to think of when was the last time since I did not have one last week. And I don't have one...I don't know when I last felt most alive. It is funny that I read this question today because in the past few days I have been thinking just that...what am I doing here...what meaning does my life have from day to day? This tells me I need to change stuff in my life. I feel like I kind of keep putting things on hold until that next move, I don't want to get involved in things until I am where I think we will settle. So, I end of doing nothing and not living...

So, drained of life....this past week I know I have felt extrely drained of life. I have not had energy to exercise and I have not been tracking my calories. Two things that had been very important to me lately. On Thursday last week this was very evident to me and I started asking myself why, but not doing anything about it...and still have not. So, I am drained of life and needing a refill...working on it...just don't have the solution yet.

Situation Sunday

You are at home and your cell phone rings....accidently, the person you have on the other line didn't realize as they put it in there purse the hit the button that contacts you, As you try to say Hello, it goes unheard and you can hear their conversation. The person is talking to your boss which is also theirs, They are spreading lies to make you look bad and them look good.....What do you do?

I would try to write everything down and confront them both with it at the same time. I would also be able to show them my phone that I heard the whole conversation. If the boss won't believe me there is not much I could do, but I would at least try to raise it to the next level. I know my work speaks for itself and there is not much more that I can do than keep doing good work and being a good person. And you can bet I would not be talking to my co-worker anymore at work except for when I had to for business reasons.

Saturday Meme

Okay, I am going to start something new for my blog. Every Saturday I am going to post a meme. Okay, what is a meme? I found some of the definitions below around the web. Many of you create memes, but don't realize there is a name for it. The way I understand it when we share information about ourselves by answering questions that we pass from one to another...that is a meme.

• Memes, like genes, vary in their fitness to survive in the environment of human intellect.
• A contagious information pattern that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the pattern.
• A unit of cultural information that represents a basic idea that can be transferred from one individual to another, and subjected to mutation, crossover and adaptation.

Meme for Saturday, October 11, 2008

1. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
About two months ago. I wrote to my Uncle Bill in Philadelphia. I had a plan to write someone every day this year and I some how let that drop along the way.

2. Can you change the oil on a car?
The question is can I change the oil, not have I. So, I am going to say yes, because I believe I can do anything to which I set my mind.

3. Name three things you have on you at all times.
My wedding band, a specific pair of earrings, and a specific necklace.

4. What’s your life motto?
My life motto would be to enjoy life to it's fullest. I always try to take at least one good vacation a year and take short weekend or one day trips to nearby sites throughout the year.

5. What’s a word that you say a lot?
I guess "Boo". I call a lot of the people in my life that I love Boo.

6. What were you doing at midnight last night?
I was asleep thank goodness. I have not been sleeping so well lately.

7. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
That I wish there was something I could do about these break outs that I get.

8. Who is your worst enemy?
I don't believe I have one. At least I sure hope not.

9. What does your watch look like?
LOL, which one? My husband says I have a fetish for watches. And I can't find the last one I bought. It is cute, like a bracelet, very dainty.

Frustration

So, I sent the HR Specialist in Atlanta an email yesterday to find out if I made the cert for the job I applied for...he was very kind and called me back before responding in writing. It appears there is a retirement services element to this job that I did not notice on the announcement. I have almost 0 experience in that area so I did not get qualified. Very frustrating as I really wanted that position. So, I took the time to ask him based on what he saw on my resume are there any other jobs coming open in the near future I might qualify for and he said I just missed one, well, that would be because I was not seriously looking at Atlanta as a place I wanted to live.

So, I asked him if he thought I would have a chance at the job in Augusta that is an 11/12. He said I might qualify at the 11 and should put in for it. I hate the idea of dropping to an 11, even if temporarily, but if that is what I have to do to get into HR and move to GA it is what I am going to do. So, here I go again working on another application packet.

Keep me in your prayers. I so want to get back to GA.

Weekend!!!!!!!!!

Well, since my sister friend guilted me into it...I am here again to blog. It is not that I don't want to, but I just don't know how to let go...and I need to...I really do.

I am so glad it is Friday!! I started working a compressed schedule so I now have every other Friday off. Kerry has to drop me off at work at 730am to be at work by 8am and then he don't get back to pick me up until 530pm so I figured I might as well change to a compressed schedule since I am there over 9 hours anyways and get an extra day off for it.

This is Kerry's weekend off and I am so, so happy. We are going to the fair, something we have not done in about 9 years. I don't ride rides at this weight, but I enjoy the sites and scenes. Speaking of weight. I am now at 321.2 from 335 on September 1st. A long road to go, but working on it.

Other than the fair I think I am going to try to make some new healthy meals and clean up my office. Other than that...just relaxin'.

Well, this is not the letting go that I need to do, but it is a start on getting me blogging again. Thanks for the push hon...