Hippo Birdies

Yep, today's my birthday. It was a fairly uneventful day. I didn't get my birthday lunch today... because I got it YESTERDAY, courtesy of my boss, who, knowing that he had a meeting today and might not get back to town in time to take me for lunch, decided that we should do it yesterday. I'm good with that. In the end, he never did get to the jobsite today, so I'm glad we did it yesterday! I had about a hundred posts on my wall and private messages, emails, texts and phone calls, which always makes a girl feel loved! Tonight I had dinner with my clan at Razzoo's. It's not my favorite place, but they've got half price appetizers and we can all eat fairly reasonably. There were 4 of us celebrating birthdays, so there was plenty of dessert to go around, since we all take a bite and pass the plate along, even when there's not a birthday! 
I came home and turned on my computer to discover that Steve Jobs had died. Wow! I firmly believe that without the success of his Apple OS and the platform of windows that it used, making it much more user friendly than DOS, I would not be as computer literate as I am.  I don't use an apple product, other than my ipod, because everything I need a computer to do can be sufficiently and well accomplished in a Windows environment. If I needed more graphic or music kinds of stuff, I would absolutely invest the $ in a macbook or something, but my PC works for me.  

Mr. Jobs, your vision and dedication forever changed the way that the world computes, listens to music, and communicates. You will be missed.

Nothin’

Yeah, I set a goal for myself to write something every day this month… and now my brain has no idea what to write about tonight, and I piddlefarted around too much earlier, and now I'm up later than I need to be. *Sigh* and I have much to do over the next couple of nights to finish getting ready for my trip to TRF this weekend. I've got to finish a chemise, decide what else I'm wearing and get my shit together so I can pack my bag and have it ready to put in the car Thursday night, since I have to be a ½ hour from home by 6:30 Friday morning!

To that end, it's time for me to head for the bedroom with the cats & leave the dopey dogs to their own devices.

Be a Blessing

Tonite, I was watching television, and since none of my usual shows are on Mondays, I flipped around until I found something interesting. I landed on TLC's Little People Big World, which I used to watch fairly regularly, but I've not watched it in probably a year. Tonite's episode focused mostly on Jeremy's move away from home to attend college. The one comment that caught my attention was when this kid said "I just hope that I can be a blessing." That's a pretty big statement coming from a kid. I know a lot of people who are blessings, both in my life, and in other people's lives, but I don't think I've ever heard any of them say that their goal is to be one.
I've had a couple of hard years, and I've been blessed with some wonderful people who have been there for me in my moments (and months) of need.
I've watched some awesome young people grow up in the past several years… some of them I've known since they were born, others it's been less time, but no less inspiring. The current crop of youth at Epworth amaze me on a regular basis. I've watched many of them grow from infants or small children into incredible young adults. They are good and kind people, and seem to have a sense of security in themselves and the direction they want to take in life, at least the class of 2012 does. I wish I'd had their grace and comfort with themselves and what they want in life when I was their age. Hell, I wish I'd had it when I was 10 years older than they are!
I get kind of wrapped up in myself sometimes, and on some level, that's how most people who are not married and have no children are. I don't think I'm overly selfish, and I certainly never expect anyone to do anything my way or the highway, because all relationships are about compromise on some level. I think, though that I've forgotten lately, that I've been blessed, and so I need to pass the blessings along when I can.

The Golden Rule

I saw this posted on Facebook a few days ago, when one of my friends either reposted or commented on it. I didn't comment on that post, simply because it was a "public" post, and I am NOT thrilled with the fact that my privacy settings mean NOTHING if my friends don't have privacy settings, so I am very careful about what I will and won't comment on these days.
I was raised in a Christian household, and while we actually went to several different churches over the years, and my father is Lutheran (and I was baptized in a Lutheran church as an infant), my mother was raised in the Methodist Church, and, when where we attended was totally up to her, it was always a United Methodist Church. To say that the Methodist church shaped my beliefs practically from birth would be an understatement. Many years ago, when I was a young woman, I mentioned to one of the ladies who has become much like a second mother to me, that it seems to me that who we (Christians & Jews) call God, and the Native Americans call Great Spirit, Muslims call Allah, or whatever the faith system is calls their supreme being, is the same entity, who is called by different names, and worshipped in different ways, none of them inherently wrong, just different. She patted me on the arm and said "honey, that's because you're a United Methodist." I've truly never understood hate and bigotry in the name of anyone or anything, and I really don't have patience for it.
Virtually every spiritual belief system has some form of what Christians understand as "The Golden Rule". I have friends of various faiths, and really, it doesn't matter to me what their belief is, it matters more that they have a belief system that works for them and brings them the comfort that they need, when they need it. I don't want to convert anybody, hell, I'm not even sure what I would be converting them to, at this point, considering that I embrace parts and pieces of various belief systems into my daily life. I use Native American salves and incenses to soothe aches and pains, and prevent my cold from becoming an upper respiratory infection. I take a moment to be extra grateful for the seasonal changes with solstices and equinoxes as Pagans and other nature-based faiths do. In fact, according to BeliefNet's Belief-O-Matic, I am NeoPagan, Unitarian Universalist, or Reform Jew. I think it's interesting that it shows up that way, but in all the times I've taken it, over the 5 years or so that I've known about the quiz, it always comes out that way. Farther down the line are Liberal Quakers, Mahayana Buddhism, New Age, Theravada Buddhism, Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants, Sikhism, and Jainism round out the top ten.
I admit that I am not a perfect being, but I do try not to do things that would affect others in ways that I wouldn't want to be affected. I try not to say anything about anyone that I wouldn't say TO them. Granted, there are times when I would say it more nicely TO them than I do when I am venting about it, but I'm pretty open, and what you see is what you get. Don't judge me, I won't judge you, and we'll get along just fine.

31 over 31

I need to be more consistent about blogging if I'm going to have a blog, I really do. October is likely not the best time to choose to do this, but I'm going to do my best to post something every day. There are a couple of times that I won't have internet access, but I think I can manage it. I don't know that I'll find exciting things to post about, but I'll find something, and hopefully someone will get something out of it, besides me.

"Never sacrifice who you are just because someone has a problem with it." This is a quote that I saw posted on Facebook earlier this week, and it really spoke to me. I spent a lot of years trying to be "normal". I so wish that I had heard that before I wasted many years trying to live up to someone else's idea of good, normal, or whatever. Most of my current circle of friends has only ever known the me that embraces and is totally good with her weirdness. Now, when I was a kid, like most kids, I wanted to "fit in". Some of that, I'm sure is related to the regular moves involved in being a military brat. If I wasn't moving, my friends were, as is the nature of that world. I don't remember ever being told that I shouldn't or couldn't embrace my dreams, follow my muse, or anything like that, but I was not particularly encouraged to do so either. I was expected to "do the right thing", graduate high school, go to college, get a degree, then get a job. Getting out of high school wasn't a problem. College, on the other hand, took me awhile, but I did finally finish, with a degree, in an area that I love and have a lot of interest in, however a History degree isn't worth diddly if there is not a plan for education or law school. Sure I love it, and I would love to be able to teach it, but to do that, I would have to sacrifice entirely too much of who I am in order to please "the establishment", and I'm not willing to do that. I wasn't willing to do it 16 years ago when it was time to start taking the education courses if I was going to teach, and I'm even less willing to do it now.

I'm not perfect, and I don't want to be, perfection is too much work, and well, it tends to alienate people. I'm fat, and generally healthy, despite a family history of heart disease, vascular issues, and diabetes. I don't wear the latest fashions, and, frankly, I don't want to. My house is cluttered and messy because I LIVE THERE, it's not a showplace, but a home. I make choices that a lot of folks do not agree with, but they are MY choices, based on what I need and want. My life is about what makes ME happy and keeps me where I need to be emotionally and spiritually. It's a journey, sometimes easy, sometimes difficult, but overall it's been a pretty good journey so far. In 4 days I'll be 44… I remember when mid-40s seemed so old to me. As I age, my definition of old changes. And I don't really think I'm old, or even middle-aged. I like to think I'm pretty cool and hip, though I'd bet that the kids in my world would disagree, which is just fine. I just hope that they see that I'm comfortable with myself and that I live my life on my terms, without allowing anyone else to have the power to make me believe that I'm not good enough, or that the way I live my life is "not good enough".

Hell Wants its Weather Back!

I LOVE Texas. But, well, I HATE Texas summers. We are up to 40 CONSECUTIVE days over a hundred degrees in my town, though the "official" record (at DFW International Airport) is only 31 days, and 52 for the year. The last time we were less than 90 degrees was May 26^th. Last week, on Sunday, I put a small cooler in my car, because I thought I might make a stop at Central Market on my way home, and wanted to be sure I had somewhere cool to have any cheese or anything else perishable I might purchase for the 40 minute drive home, since, well, it was going to be 105DAMNEDDEGREES outside. Inside the cooler were 2 reusable ice packs, a frozen bottle of water, and a Dr Pepper, in case I got thirsty on the way home. In the end, I didn't stop at Central Market, or anywhere else for that matter, and when I got home, I failed to get the cooler out of the car. Here's the problem, my car does NOT have tinted windows. I know, that's WEIRD these days, but, well, she's 20 years old, and she's got clear windows, so, well, she gets HOT when she's not parked in the shade. There is NO SHADE where my building at work is… Yeah, Monday it was 108, Tuesday 107, Wednesday 109, Thursday & Friday 105. Saturday afternoon, thinking that I would probably make a stop at CM on Sunday after church, I brought the cooler in, so it wouldn't be an oven when I put the ice packs in… and when I opened the cooler, I discovered what happens to an unopened can of Dr Pepper when you leave it in the car when it's 109DAMNEDDEGREES outside (and thus about 400DAMNEDDEGREES in said car).

Yeah, I am grateful for the fact that it was NOT a whole case of them, AND that it was properly contained in the cooler, rather than loose in my car. I didn't measure, but from looking into the can, I believe that about 7 of the 12 ounces originally contained in the can remained inside it… the rest was in the bottom of my cooler!
According to the forecast, it's supposed to be over 100DAMNEDDEGREES for another 10 days, at which point we may get rain and a high of less than 90. Honestly, once it's 95 degrees, it's too damned hot, and it really doesn't matter at all what the thermometer says, I am grateful for my a/c!

Leonides

My handsome Leo, when Mom brought you home from the shelter, you were but a scrap of fluff, all sweet and tiny. For months you wouldn't eat your breakfast without "pepper" on it, until one day you decided that you didn't need the mineral supplement anymore and refused to eat the breakfast that had it. Oh she had grand plans for you… to have you ride around in the basket on her scooter, snuggle in the bed with her & Mr. Moro. That first week or so, you went along with it, even riding over to her eldest grandson's birthday party on a lovely may Saturday, before you'd even been named. For the record, another grandson, who was 8 at the time declared that we should name you Tigger, like his orange tabby at home. You, sir, however, had other plans. It was your plan to live up to the Leonides name you ended up with.

You became the mighty hunter, bringing through the cat flap all manner of creatures, lizards, snakes, birds, mice, rats, and even a big ole horned toad once. You came into a house with 2 senior cats and one about a year old, and you made your place. You may have been the baby, but you were not content to be babied, you left that position for Mr. Moro. For all your hunting, you were not a fan of strangers, especially men. Whenever someone new came to the house, you hid until one of us could coax you out. You were just not a people cat, or a lap cat. Once Mom was gone, and Mr. Moro, you became a little more snuggly, and once we moved out of that house, and you became strictly a housecat, you suddenly decided that you were a lap cat, and had to be in my face ALL THE DAMNED TIME. Years later, when I spent hours talking and crying with Rhonda about helping her across the rainbow bridge, your sister Bow went merrily about the house, ignoring us, but you stayed close by, as if you were listening to the conversation. As I slept, I suspect that Rhonda gave you specific instructions, because when I returned home from her final trip to the vet, you were the first one there to have snuggle time, and you stayed right in her spot beside me on the bed every night for weeks. When we moved to Weatherford, you didn't like living with a houseful of people, but you eventually adjusted, even welcoming (well, grudgingly at first, but eventually accepting) Mollie and Trinity into our little family. You continued to hunt, whenever possible, by escaping from our room and finding whatever mouse was active and driving you crazy. Your Auntie Erin commented once on the mouse problem, considering that we had a houseful, literally, of cats. I just looked at her and said "well, don't but 2 of them think they are supposed to do anything except look adorable, and they pretty much stay in my bedroom… where there is NOT a mouse problem. You were a good cat, and I am comforted in knowing that you had a good life, a happy life. I know that there were many cats there to greet you this morning as you crossed that bridge. I know you're happy, healthy, and able to hunt and play like you once did. Love, Mamma