A Week Of Thankfulness

I am thankful for the men who have the courage to stand up for what is right and good, even if they have to stand alone.  

Like Col. West said, it's not about who wins the seat because that belongs to the people (which tells me right there that he GETS the concept behind We The People), it's about restoring the integrity of the electoral process, which has become corrupt beyond that of third world dictatorships.

Even if he loses the battle, at least he had the courage and integrity to stand strong and fight for what is right.  That's more than can be said for a lot of people these days. 

For Colonel Allen West, and men like him, I am very thankful.

A Week Of Thankfulness

I know some people do this all month long, but I'm just not that industrious.  So every day this week, I'm going to post something I'm thankful for. While I am thankful for my faith and family, everybody mentions those.  So I'm going to head in a different direction with this.  You'll see what I mean.

Today, I'm thankful that our forefathers were made of sterner stuff than we are.



Yes, signing the Declaration of Independence was an act of treason.  They signed it anyway.

Yes, King George would know that they signed it.  They signed it anyway.


Yes, they could have lost everything they'd owned.  They signed it anyway.

Yes, if they failed, it could have led to more tyranny.  They signed it anyway.

Yes, they could have been hanged for signing it.  They signed it anyway.

These days people are afraid to attach their names to an unofficial peititon, because "the government might know".  People today are going off the grid.  Hunkering down in their bunkers.  Hiding out until it's all over.  Bowing down and meekly submitting to the chains of socialism.

Imagine if our forefathers had been as soft and spineless as we are today. 

America would have never become America if our forefathers hadn't had the courage and the fortitude to pledge their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor.

But they did, and for that I will always be thankful. 

I Didn't Do Anything

I didn't do anything today, so why am I so tired?

Well, it could have something to do with staying up to read my new book.

Yes, a real book with those weird paper pages that you have to ummm....turn.  Yeah, that's the word. 

It was recommended to me by someone on Facebook, and since they didn't have a Kindle edition, I ordered the paperback.  Since they were going to have to ship it to me anyway, I threw in two of my favorite Christmas movies.

Christmas With The Kranks is based on the short novel Skipping Christmas, by John Grisham.  Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis play Luther and Nora Krank, whose only child Blair has joined the Peace Corps and has gone to Peru for two years.  They decide to save all the money they would have spent on Christmas and go on a cruise, much to the chagrin of their neighborhood.

It didn't get very good reviews, but I really liked the movie.  I liked it enough to buy it, obviously. Of course, the book was better, but then, books usually are.

Seasons Of The Heart is one of my all time favorite movies.  I've checked it out from the church library so many times that I told the library chairman that I might as well just buy it.  So, I did.  It follows the story of Jed and Martha Richards back in the 1800s who leave their home to settle the American West.  Along the way, their two little daughters die, leaving a big  hole in their lives.  Then one day the preacher brings an orphaned boy, Danny, to see if Jed and Martha can take him in and give him a home.  Jed soon comes to love the boy as his son, but Martha just can't accept him.  She constantly compares the boy to her two golden haired girls, and he can't seem to do anything right, until a miracle happens one snowy Christmas eve.  I can't recommend this movie enough.

*Warning, have the tissues handy. 

In other news, I did manage to clear enough space in the refrigerator to get the turkeydactyl in.  Doing so, I discovered that my whole crisper cabinet came out.  I knew the drawer would come out, but I didn't know the casing around the drawer also came out.  It sure made cleaning it a whole lot easier. 

I also took the time to go pull all the dead stuff out of my flower bed, but I haven't raked up the mulch yet.  I'm going to take it up and spread it around my back steps, where it stays perpetually muddy all winter long.  I'm hoping I can build that area up a bit so it won't be quite so gloppy. 

And I spent the rest of the day watching football and knitting.  I watched the Arkansas /Mississippi State game, then the LSU/Ol' Miss game.  About halfway through the second game, it hit me.  Football season is almost over.  College football is, at least.  Next week is LSU's last regular season game.  The Army/Navy game is December 8th, then that's it until bowl games start.  How could it go by so fast?  It seems like it just got started. 

I try not to think about things like that.

It makes me sad.  

So I'll just show you my new hat:

I've got a contact in New Jersey, and I sent her all the charity hats I'd made up until now.  She found a church on Staten Island who is distributing things to people who lost their stuff in the hurricane.  I had to send them to her work address, since she didn't have her mailbox back up yet.  Yes, she'd been affected by the storm, and was without power for 8 days. 

Anyway, one of her buddies at work wanted a hat, but she told him no.  I said I'd knit him one just for him, so I cast on this one.  I didn't do it on purpose, but I chose my go to hat pattern:  The Hurricane Hat. Ironically appropriate, don't you think?

And Beverly's cowl still continues apace:

Maybe I'll get it done by Christmas after all. 

It's My Last Day

of work, that is.

Well, for a week at least.  We are off all next week and the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend. 

My plans for the week include such thrilling tasks as pulling the last of the dead plants out of my flower bed.  By the way, I've got one petunia that is still alive and kicking-- even after two hard freezes.  Tough old bird, she is.

Also, I plan on tackling what used to be Cody's bedroom and has now become my storage room.  It's a disaster.  I'll let you know how that goes.

They did give us another turkeydactyl at work this year.  I'd though about not cooking it, and just buying a smaller turkey, but I changed my mind.  I'll just go ahead and cook it, and buy more freezer containers. 

Cody won't be home until Wednesday evening, and I have cast on a new charity hat because...

Well, I'll tell you all about that tomorrow. 

Quote for the day:  Balancing the budget is like protecting your virtue. You have to learn to say no. --Ronald Reagan

Blogoversary!

Today is my blogoversary, and what do you know, this year I actually remembered it!  Usually, sometime in December, I think back and say, "Oh, yeah..."

But this year, I remembered, and I thought a fun little way to mark the occasion --well, fun for me, for you, maybe not so much-- would be to look back at what I posted each year on my blogoversary.  Let's start with 2005.  Really, has it really been 7 years?

Yep...

OK, I won't post the entire post from each year, but I will link to them all just in case you are entangled in a fit of insomnia and really, really need to get some sleep.  

2005: 
I've only been drawing a short time--less than a year. In order to improve my sketching skill, I decided to try to do a quick sketch every day. This is the first of my five minute sketches. It is of my cat Squeaky, drawn as she sat staring into that place only cats can see. 

2006:
Today is my blogging anniversary. One year ago today, I took the plunge with this post. I don't even do my daily sketches any more, but I miss them. I want to get started back to sketching.  

2007:
My new favorite commercial: (Be sure to click through and watch both commercials.  The second one especially.)

2008:
Cody had his first JROTC inspection Friday. You know how I know? Because he came running in at 10:00 Thursday night saying he needed his creases ironed into his uniform shirt.

2009:

Sunday's Post a little late. I'd meant to get it up yesterday. Really I did.

2010:
Because 2-7 never looked so good!

2011:

Too Little Sleep and not enough excitement in my life leads to boring blog posts.  The most colorful thing in my life right now is my Christmas Cactus. 


There, now, wasn't that fun?  I thought so, at least.  It's been quite a journey, it was fun reminiscing about old times.  Looking at old pictures.  Awwwing over how little Cody was when I started. 

Gratuitous cute puppy pictures of Rylea and Jake.  Old photos of Katie...

I've enjoyed this still down memory lane.  I hope you did, too.

Surprise!

Saturday afternoon, I was sitting in my recliner, knitting on Beverly's Christmas present

and watching Arkansas lose to South Carolina,  I heard a banging at my front door.

Wondering who in the world would be banging at my front door on a Saturday afternoon during a football game --as everyone who knows me knows not to interrupt a football game-- I got up to open the door, only to find my son standing on the other side!  He'd come home for the weekend.

What a nice birthday surprise.

When he left Sunday afternoon, he wanted to take his PS3 with him.  I'm not really a game player, so all I was using it for was to watch DVDs and stream Netflix and Amazon.  So, he took it, and today I went to the store and got a new DVD/Blu-Ray/streaming thing.

I debated a long time which one to get, but finally chose the one I did because it was the only one that had the Amazon symbol on the box.  I wanted to make sure I got one that would stream Amazon Instant Videos, because I'm phasing out my Netflix.  I've already dropped my DVD account, and if Amazon keeps adding more old TV shows, I might end up dropping the streaming account, too.

Well, when I got home, a brief moment of panic ensued when I couldn't find my HDMI cable.  I finally located it in what used to be Cody's room, and has now become my storage room.  I really need to get that room cleaned out.

But we won't talk about that right now.

At last the errant HDMI cable was located, and the gazillion character WiFi password entered, and we have streaming!  Not just Amazon and Netflix, but YouTube and Pandora, too.  And a couple more things I still have to figure out.

As I type, I'm rocking to Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Pandora.

Speaking of Thanksgiving...yes, I was, weren't you listening?  Oh, wait, that was my conversation with myself.

Sometimes people ask me why I talk to myself and I reply, "Because it's the only way to have an intelligent conversation around here."  That usually shuts them up.

Back to Thanksgiving, I woke up this morning and realized that after today, I only have two more work days until we get the week off for Thanksgiving.  I wonder if they're going to give us another 20 lb turkey this year.  Heck, I still have soup in my deep freeze from two years ago.

Let's just say, when the economy collapses, I'll have enough turkey soup to last me for a while. 

Now I'm going to go play with my new toy some more, so I'll leave you with this:

Thanksgiving/Christmas/whatever cactus.  

Sunshine Patriots

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

It would seem that there are some sunshine patriots in our midst.  If you believe it's over, if you believe America is done, if you believe we might as well bow our heads and submit and affix the shackles to our own ankles, then go from us in peace.  May your chains sit lightly upon you and may posterity forget ye were our countrymen.

But for those of us who still believe in freedom, for those of us who still love liberty, for those of us who still believe there are ten righteous men, we will take up the flag that you have tossed to the ground.  Go from us in peace.  We ask not your counsel or arms. 


I have not yet begun to fight.

We will work tirelessly to restore liberty.  We will work tirelessly for our children's and our grandchildren's future.  We will succeed. 

No, it won't be easy.  No, it won't happen tomorrow. In fact, it may not happen in our lifetimes, but we will be free again.  Because liberty comes from God, and it cannot be taken from us unless we give it up. 

If you've given up, then go away.  I don't need your defeatist attitude or your negativity.  Because I still believe.
 
 Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

And we will triumph.

We will be America again.

And that's a fact.

*No, I didn't reference any of the quotes because if you don't already know who said them, then you are part of the problem.

Music Monday

For those of you who may be history challenged, the Scottish Highlanders used the burning cross as a signal to gather because of an invasion long before the KKK was formed. They stole the idea and turned it into a symbol of hatred.

The 24 Hour Rule

In professional football, they follow what is called The 24 Hour Rule.

It basically says, when you lose a game, you've got 24 hours to mope and whine.  Then it's time to get over it and start preparing for the next one. 

We've had our 24 hours to mope and whine.  Now, it's time to get over it, hitch up our britches and get back into the fight. 

We lost the election.   We did not lose America.  We The People are still here.  We The People still believe.

And We The People will be back.

We're not retreating. 

We're reloading. 

Paying Santa Claus

When Cody was 5 years old, he got a bicycle for Christmas.

Sometime after that, I was fussing at him for not taking what I considered to be proper care of it.  I don't even remember what he was doing, but I do remember getting on to him about it.

"I paid too much money for that bike,"  I said, "for you to be tearing it up like that!"

"No, Mama,"  Cody replied.  "Santa Claus brought me that bike."

Knowing I had been caught, in a moment of panic, I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind. 

"And who do you think paid Santa Clause for that bike?  He doesn't bring stuff for free.  Parents have to pay for it."

Crestfallen, Cody said, "But I thought he made the toys in his workshop."

"He does, honey,"  I told him.  "But it costs money to make toys.  He's got to pay for the stuff to make them out of.  He's got to buy tools and things to make them with.  He's got to feed his elves, and pay to keep the lights and heat on.  He can't afford to make all those toys if parents don't pay for them, so we have to send him money for the stuff he brings.'

My little man seemed satisfied with that answer, and I breathed a sigh of relief that I'd gotten away with that little slip.  Better still, he learned a valuable lesson that I hope has stayed -- at least in part-- with him to this day.  That nothing is free.  Somebody has got to pay for everything.  That is a lesson that the electorate of this country have yet to learn.

Yesterday, I think Rush Limbaugh said it best.

"In a nation of children, when you give them a choice between work and Santa Claus, they are going to vote for Santa Claus."

This nation of children voted for Santa Claus.  Heck, they committed FELONIES to vote for Santa Claus.  The problem is, Santa Claus doesn't bring stuff for free. Somebody's got to pay for what he brings.

Half of Americans have been living in Christmas morning for far too long.  Soon the bill for their holiday will come due.  Where is that money going to come from?

Standard & Poor has downgraded our credit rating twice in the last two years.  China won't loan us any more money, because we're now considered a bad risk.  We can't tax the rich, because even if we stripped every penny from every person in the country, we couldn't even fund the government's bloated appetite for one year, and that wouldn't leave any thing left for the future.

This nation has a $16 Trillion debt.  In four years, that debt will exceed $20 trillion.  That amount of debt is simply unsustainable.  Add to that the looming threat of Obamacare, and this economy will not sustain itself.  It cannot sustain itself.

The hard truth is, our economy will collapse.  There is no stopping it now.  It is inevitable. 

The only question is, when the money is all gone, and China calls its loan, and we are a nation brought to our knees, who do you think will pay for your Obamaphone then? 

Bush's Mess

I woke up this morning and I wept.

I wept for my beloved country, and for all that we have lost. I wept for my countrymen who don't seem to realize what they've just done to themselves.  And I wept for the hundreds of thousands of military members whose ballots were mysteriously lost, burned up in a plane crash, or lost when a ship sank, or never got sent at all, or were kept hidden in a closet for a month and whose voices will not be heard.

America was once described as the last, best hope on Earth.  Were is our hope on Earth now?  Do we just endure until we can move on to the next life?  No, we retreat.  We regroup.  And we come out fighting for our freedom once more.

A big part of that freedom is getting information out, and making sure people can make informed decisions before voting.  I was talking with one of my coworkers this morning, and she said she still believed Obama could fix the economy.  She didn't have a clue as to what his plan to actually do that is, but she believed in him.

I asked her why he didn't do it in his first term, especially during his first two years of his first term when he had control of both houses of Congress-- including a veto-proof super majority in the Senate.

Her response was "Because he had to clean up Bush's mess!"  Four years later, that's all they can come up with.  Still blaming Bush.

OK, now, I'm a little confused here.  Exactly what part of "Bush's mess" did he clean up?  Well, the economy.  But what part of the economy?

Was it the unemployment rate?  

Um, no.  That was 7.8% the day Obama took office. and is 7.9% today.  It's been above 8% for most of his first term, and true unemployment -- you know, what you get when you aren't playing dances with numbers-- is closer to 14%.  So, no.  He didn't clean that up.

Was it poverty?  

Again, no.  When Bush left office, there were 35 million people on food stamps.  Today, that number stands at nearly 48 million, so that can't be it, either.

How about median family income?  On the day Obama was inaugurated, median family income was around $55,000.  Today, it's down to $50,000-- a net loss of $5000 per year.  Doesn't sound like that mess has been cleaned up.

Maybe she meant the national debt.  

No, when Democrats took over both houses of Congress in 2006, the national debt was $948 billion.  This is important because there was a junior senator from Illinois named Barak Hussein Obama voting on all this spending.  By the time that junior senator was elected president, the national debt was $10.1 trillion.  By the end of his first term, the national debt had risen to $16 trillion, and is still climbing steadily.  So that's not cleaned up.

Oh, wait, maybe she meant the budget deficit. 

Yeah, it's true that there is no budget deficit, but that's only because there is no budget.  And there hasn't been one since Bush left office, so I don't see how that's been cleaned up.

Or could it be our credit rating? 

When Obama took office, the US had a Standard & Poor credit rating of AAA.  That's triple A.  Since then, it's been downgraded twice and currently stands at AA-.  It's so bad, China won't loan us any more money.  They say we're a bad risk.  So, no, I'd say that hasn't been cleaned up, either.

Oh, I get it, he cleaned up the mess in Iraq.  He ended Bush's war there.  

I'll give you that, but just know that there's a huge difference between ending a war and winning a war.  We didn't win that war.  Iraq kicked us out.  You see, in any country that the U.S. wants to maintain a military presence in, there must be an agreement between our government and the host country's government called a Status Of Forces Agreement.  This defines the terms and conditions under which our troops may stay there-- everything from building leases to how many locals must be hired to work on base.  Our two governments couldn't agree on a SOFA, so Iraq asked us to leave.  Kicked us out, basically.  But the key phrase here is "maintain a military presence."  That they were trying to hammer out a SOFA in the first place tells me that he never intended to bring the troops home.  So, yeah, he brought them home, but not as triumphant victors.  As whipped dogs with our tails between our legs.

But he got bin Laden.  

No, SEAL team 6 got bin Laden.

But he made the gutsy call to take action.

No, actually Leon Panetta, Hillary Clinton, Valerie Jarrett, and a couple of other people made that call after Obama had passed on three previous opportunities to get bin Laden.  So afraid were they that he would say no again that they didn't even tell him they were doing it until the helicopters were already in Pakistan.  Then someone had to get him from the golf course to watch the hit go down on TV.  So, no.  HE didn't clean up that mess.

Well, he got the economy moving again.

No, the economy is limping along at less than 2% growth.  That's not moving.  That's stagnation. And it's actually gone down each year he's been in office, so that's not cleaning anything up.

So, can somebody help me out here?  Just what part of Bush's mess did he clean up?

I can't figure it out. 


Help?

I Voted

Back in the day, when I was a fresh faced 17 1/2 year old ready to take on the world, I registered to vote for the first time. Of course, I missed the 1982 general election, because I didn't turn 18 until the next week. Undaunted, I went on about my life, graduated high school and headed off to college. That first year of college, I got my very first jury summons.

 Over spring break.

I started to check the "Full Time College Student" box and send the summons back, but my mother said, "Oh, no. You can't do that because they know you're home on spring break. They'll put you in jail if you don't show up."

Being young and naive to the ways of the world, I believed her, so off to jury duty I went. And got selected to sit on a jury.

Now, in retrospect, being older and wiser, I realize that I should have checked the "Full time college student" box, because what if the trial had gone on longer than my spring break? What would I have done then? I didn't, and I spent most of my very first college spring break on jury duty.

 I know it's supposed to be random, but that first summons opened the floodgates. It seemed like I was being sent another one every six months. I got one when I was in Navy Basic Training. I even got one when I was in Italy. I've gotten a few since I moved here despite the fact that I told them I no longer lived at that address.  They still sent them.

Every time I turned around, I was getting yet another jury summons, and I'm sad to say that it soured me on the whole process. I vowed that the next place I lived, I would never register to vote so that I wouldn't have to keep going through all that mess. It just wasn't worth it.

 I have kept that vow, until this year.

So, what turned me from being an apathetic citizen to a Broken Glass Voter? I love my country, and I can no longer sit idly by and watch it being destroyed from within. My voice may only be one voice, but by golly, it will be heard. I will do whatever it takes to stop the monstrosity that has become our federal government.

Will we win this election? I don't know. I pray that we do. But no matter the outcome, I will no longer be silent. I will educate myself. I will educate others. I will be in constant contact with my Congressman. And I will vote, come hell or high water.

Jury duty be damned.

Music Monday

"Tuesday all of you will go to the polls, will stand there in the polling place and make a decision. I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago? And if you answer all of those questions yes, why then, I think your choice is very obvious as to whom you will vote for. If you don't agree, if you don't think that this course that we've been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another choice that you have." --Ronald Reagan

Eye Candy Friday

Life is complete.

Times two.

Dear Coworker

If you clock out, then scan your badge again, yes, the time clock will say that you have not clocked in.  This is because you have already clocked out.

There is no need to clock back in, then clock out again. 

All you are doing is holding up the line behind you and showing everyone that you don't have sense enough to operate a voting machine.  Please, for your own sake, request a paper ballot. 

Seriously.  

Thank you.

That is all.