It's July 23rd, I'd better post something this month.

Lest you think I have been ignoring my blog completely, I haven't. Sometimes I just don't know what I want to write.

I have a lot of irritations. I want to write about those. But, I can't. I don't want to get preached to for having done so. So, we'll just say that I have a lot of irritations and no relief in sight. Take that, preacher.

Work has been phenomenally busy and I have a daughter who is getting married in 7 months and 16 days. So much to do and not nearly enough time in my day to get any of anything done.

So, I'll just leave you with a cute picture:

Just nursing a Robsession

Is it excessive that I want this comforter set from Target?

Can you say mortification?

Warning: The post you are about to read must never be discussed with whom it is referring. Failure to heed this warning will set off a chain of events that I would not wish upon my worst enemy. Proceed with caution.

Let me say that I love my dear, sweet, youngest child. Mark is a very intelligent child and very entreprenurial in spirit. Mark just graduated from Junior High. Mark loves technology. Mark wants (in no particular order) a new bike, an iphone, texting abilities, a laptop, an XBox 360, and up until a couple of weeks ago; a Nintendo DSXL.

Mark is not a spoiled child, although you might want to ask his older brother and sister about that. But, he wants. And he wants BADLY! He has been hitting us up for one or the other of the above listed items and is online always searching for the best deal.

Now, his dad works for a living and I work for a living. I do not work so that we can live lavishly. I work because I have to. Mark does not have to work for money just yet because there are child labor laws protecting him from that. Well, Mark came up with what I'm sure he thought was an ingenious plan to acquire something from his list.

The other night he came out from the office and announced to me that he had sent a request for gifts from his relatives on Facebook. I said, "YOU DID WHAT?!" Can you say "MORTIFIED"! He may as well have been standing by the freeway offramp with his cardboard sign reading "Down on my luck, Please Help, God Bless"!

I then regained my composure and told Mark, that "Honey, you can't do that". His answer? "Why not?" Up until this point I thought I had trained my kids well in that we don't expect gifts just because and that we aren't owed anything by anyone. Poor guy, I guess his birthday and Christmas never come soon enough for him.

Long story short, he sent out a recanting of his earlier message. But boy oh boy, was he upset with me. Mark sure keeps me on my toes, but I love him to the moon and back.

Bye bye other blog

I deleted my other blog today. It was my own for my very private feelings. Imagine my shock when someone "found" it and figured out it was me and left a comment. I don't think I even knew the person who commented by name, but they seemed to know me.

I wasn't embarrassed by what I wrote there. I just came to realize that exporting your most private thoughts and feelings serve no purpose.

Today, I'm kind of mad. Or angry. Some people just can't seem to keep anything to themselves. What I know for sure is that if you don't want someone to know something, you don't share it with anyone.

I'm sorry, Andrew, that you weren't able to tell your story in your own time and in your own way.

Energy, wherefore art thou?

I have been dragging my butt for weeks now. Not necessarily feeling bad, but not feeling good either. I ached all over and the idea of getting out of bed each morning has been an Herculean effort.

Today, after crying about it, again, my daughter asks if I would like to try a 5 hour energy shot. I've never consumed this concoction before, and quite frankly was afraid to try it. However, since I've started punching up my vitamin intake and it still was having virtually no effect, I thought, "Sure, why not."

So, Brit gets one from her "stash" and says that maybe I should start by taking only half. I drank said half and followed it with an apple juice chaser. (it doesn't taste very good) Within about 20 minutes, I started feeling a LOT better.

Maybe I could paint the house by nightfall.



This post brought to you by 5 hour energy, Extra Strength.

April 19th

It's April 19th. But then, you already know that. I've been watching with great interest on the news how cities are losing money and cutting services to near nothingness. Makes me wonder what the rest of the world thinks of the mighty USA, but that's a blogpost for another day.

So, it's April 19th, four days past the dreaded April 15th, or four days past my charitable donation to the federal government. Why do I call it a charitable donation, might you ask? I call it that simply because I expect to receive absolutely nothing in return for it. When giving to charitable causes, we do not want for ourselves, we want for others.

This month I have been giving money hand over fist to anyone or anything that came along, it would seem. There was the aforementioned donation to the government, (and that hurt like a mother!), I paid $400 to my friendly neighborhood landscaper to remove my giant 30+ foot Chilean mesquite (before it fell into my house from all the rain!), and my home warranty was due (and you can bet I'm gonna pay that because I don't want a second mortgage should my AC decide to die, ever!).

That's not all. My tags are due on my car, paying a vet to vaccinate and medicate two beagles, a windshield replacement, my quarterly HOA fee (yes I know the good, bad and the ugly of it, I work for a company that manages them, remember?), and a bill complete with deductible for an urgent care visit I had two months ago.

All of this in addition to my regular monthly bills. Did I mention my mortgage payment went up by $11.00 per month because, in their estimation, my escrow account would be short? Perhaps they have not noticed that my home value has gone so extremely low that they will, in my estimation, be cutting me a check later this year because there is too much money in said escrow account! Give me back my 85 cents I tell you!

It may sound like I'm whining. Really, I'm probably not. I wish to extend my gratitude at this point to the illustrious and gregarious El Presidente Obama. Thank you for allowing me to fund your uber ridiculous economic stimulus plan, and self titled Obamacare. Thank you for bailing out the banks, we know what would happen if they were allowed to fail. (Duh, they'd have to learn from their mistakes and start square one, like the rest of America).

I digress. It's April 19th, the birds are singing and it's supposed to rain today.

To be or not to be, that IS the question

It's an interesting existence we live. In school we are taught about basic human needs; food, water, shelter, and love. Yes, I said love. That love yearns for us to have some semblance of acceptance from others. We look to our parents for that acceptance in our very early years. What if that acceptance is withheld?

Where is it to be found, then?

Some will look for it in others, substitutes perhaps. Some look for it in the form of addictive behaviours. Sometimes it is placed in the wrong hands. To quote a song, "I'd rather hurt, than feel nothing at all."

The Saviour taught that we are to love others as ourselves. I'm never more reminded of this principle as when the Easter season is upon us. A reminder of how we are to conduct ourselves with our fellow men or women. He loved the very least of us, and the scorned among us.

So, when we aren't accepted by others, or they place conditions on that acceptance, we have a decision to make. Are the conditions acceptable to ourselves? Do we place those same conditions on them? Is the price too high?

We need to examine our intent with each one of our relationships. It isn't very fun to feel that no matter what we do or what our intent is, we can't make someone accept us. Acceptance of this very fact can allow us to move forward without regret.

Life is short. "Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay a while, make footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same."