Pink Boys and A Question or Two

I hope that all of you had a fabulous, wonderful, blessed and happy Christmas.

Having said that, let me begin my litany of complaints and questions.

We bought the boys a play stove for one of their Christmas gifts. It's really cool, it has light-up burners and makes the cooking sounds and what have you. Grover was reluctant to purchase it at first but after listening to my lucid and persuasive argument, he agreed to buy it. The reason he was hesitant in the first place is what was irritating to me. He didn't want to buy the boys a stove because they're BOYS. The fact that most of the world's greatest chefs are MEN must have escaped him momentarily. The funny thing to me is that he put off buying it for soooo long that the only one that he could find was pink and white. He's still trying to adjust to that;). ( Meanwhile, the boys love it and have been busy cooking fake pancakes and putting real apples in the fake microwave. Yeah, sounds like fun until you're forced to eat apples alllll day or face the wrath of a 3 year old and a 2 year old:)) So, what is the problem with boys and pink? Girls get to wear blue all the time and no one cares but put a boy in a pink shirt and every man within a 5 mile radius feels a sudden rise in their testosterone levels and runs to his rescue. It's a pink shirt, for crying out loud...I'm not trying to put them in heels and pearls here. It's a color people, just a color. Besides, someone's gotta wear it...and pink looks awful on me. But so far, I cannot get Grover to come over to the pink side. (Have you also noticed that it's just the men that have the problem with the pink? Most women could care less)

Another question....why are so many "horror" films these days so dependent on all the characters spending most of the movie screaming and/or a massive amount of carnage versus simply being dependent on a good plot? Psychological thrillers are the best and they just don't make 'em like they used to. I don't need to see someone's head being lopped off every 10 minutes to enjoy a movie.

Grover got upset with me earlier today. He thought that I had done something which I had not done and went completely off the deep end. When I pointed out to him that I could not have possibly done what he thought I had done, I told him that I would accept his apology any time he was ready. His response was "well, I'll apologize for it but you're were being really difficult last Monday." What the heck does that have to do with anything?!?!? Qualified apologies.....I hate 'em, I really do. If you screwed up just admit it and be over yourself.

Fortunately for him, he did get me the Little House on the Prairie book set so I cut him a little slack;)

Now, let me eat one more fake pancake and one more apple and I'm going to bed before all that fiber catches up on me.

Peace allllll...............

24th

From the depths of my flour spattered kitchen and from the middle of my pieces of toys that require adult assembly living room, I wish each and every one of you a wonderful Christmas Eve.

Please take a moment to remember those whose holidays may not be so bright. Thank you.

Happy birthday Jesus:)

Merry Christmas!

And God bless us every one.

Peace alllllllllll...........

Just A Suggestion

I have a recommendation for churches all over the country. This may sound a bit petty on my part, but, hey...it won't be the first time.

I think that churches should really rethink the way that they treat visitors. I'm not saying don't be polite, and I'm not saying don't introduce yourself and make the visitor feel welcome. This is what I AM saying:

1. Stop making visitors wear a carnation, or a mum, or any other flower that has been genetically designed to be bigger than a human head.

2. Please don't make them wear ribbons, "Hello, my name is......." stickers, or big purple bows on their heads (okay I made that last part up...but you get the point)

3. Do not, I repeat DO NOT, point them out in the middle of the service and ask them to stand up before the entire congregation.

The reason for this request is simple: most visitors feel a little self-conscious in the first place. After all, they are in a new place full of people that they don't even know. Most of them would like to just try to blend in for a while, not be pointed out like they have a scarlet letter. It often makes them uncomfortable to the point that they would rather bite off their own fingers than come back.

Like I said, be polite, be friendly, be welcoming. But knock off all the ornamentation. What I'm trying to get across in the most Christian like fashion is this: BACK OFF!......please

Peace allll..............

My Favorite Christmas Gift

I received my favorite Christmas gift of all time when I was 9 years old. Due to the fact that my father (you know, the raging drunk) had recently abandoned his financial responsibilities to the family, we had no money. None. This was the year that we had tacos for Christmas dinner. (My mom, however, made that much better by referring to it as a "Mexican Christmas";)) Anyway, since we had no money, I was not expecting anything for Christmas. Being a typical 9 year old, I was much distressed by this of course, but I didn't want to make my mom feel bad, so I never let it curb my enthusiasm for Christmas. (Now, many years later and being a mom myself, I realize that a mom's guilt over some things can never be assuaged no matter what happens.)

When I woke up that Christmas morning, I had a gift under the tree. This is what it was: a Barbie doll.......but that's not all. My mom had taken empty cracker boxes and turned them inside out and somehow made a bed, a dresser, a couch and a chair out of these boxes. She had taken scraps of fabric that she had around the house and "upholstered" the couch and chair and made a pillow and lovely comforter for the bed. Also, she had taken some more fabric and made my Barbie a whole new wardrobe, including a little Barbie coat. I was absolutely fascinated by this. I didn't know that you could make furniture out of cracker boxes. I didn't know that my mom knew how to do this kind of stuff. (Is it any wonder that I thought my mom hung the moon?)

I think that the reason this is my favorite gift of all time is that it came from the heart, not the wallet. I kept it until it just flat wore out from being played with all the time. Over the years, I have received many more gifts, some quite expensive, others not so much. But none have meant so much to me as that one, not yet.

Thanks Mom.

Peace allll..........

Christmas Masochism

I love the Christmas season. I really, really do. The shopping, the cooking, the family, the decorating, the really good church services, the sense of peace and goodwill amidst all of the stress.

So, I don't know why I do this. I will deliberately listen to Christmas songs or watch Christmas movies that I KNOW are going to make me cry. Not just cry, but break down bawling crying. As soon as I hear the Eagles "Please Come Home for Christmas" on the radio, the official crying season begins for me. Then I must, just must, listen to "The Christmas Shoes" and "Angels Among Us" by Alabama, or "Silent Night" by the Temptations or "I'll Be Home For Christmas" by the Carpenters. I know that others have done versions of all of these songs but these are the absolute best and guaranteed to have you crying in your eggnog in no time.

And in my opinion, "It's A Wonderful Life", "Scrooged" (Bill Murray) and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" are the top three Christmas movies of allllll time. Just grab some cookies and Kleenex and I'm there.:)

So, call me a Christmas fan. Call me sensitive. Or just call me crazy. I don't care. I'll be too busy sniffling and blowing my nose to hear ya.

Peace allll.........

Goodwill Overtakes My Brother:)

My brother sent me the following in an e-mail yesterday and I thought it was so nice that I had to express the sentiments to all of my blog friends:

Today, I wish you a day of ordinary miracles........

A fresh pot of coffee that you didn't have to make yourself...

An unexpected phone call from an old friend...

Green traffic lights on your way to work or to shop....

I wish you a day of little things to rejoice in....

The fastest line at the grocery store..

A good sing-along song on the car radio...

Finding your keys right where you look.....

I wish you a day of happiness and bite-sized pieces of perfection that give you the feeling that the Lord is smiling down on you, holding you so gently because you are someone special and rare.

I wish you a day of Peace, Happiness, and Joy.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire lifetime to forget them.

Merry Christmas!

So, I guess my brother ain't so bad after all;)

Peace allllll........

My Weekend

So, we had to paint a foyer and a garage this weekend. You would think that would be a very simple, very quick job......you would think. However, that was not the case. See, the foyer had a staircase directly in the middle of it. I could deal with that, just not a lot of room to move around. However, it was the 20 foot ceilings in the foyer that got to me. I happen to have a deathly fear of heights, so there was no way I was getting on a ladder to paint that far up. So I made Grover and Rachel do it while I edged the baseboards and painted the garage:) The garage would have been simple except for two things: the extraordinary amount of cobwebs on the ceiling and in the corners that it took me two hours to clean off and the upright freezers that I had to move off of the wall. Yes, they were full and yes they were heavy....and between them and the dead spiders I think I would have done better taking my chances on the ladder in the foyer;) But, hey it's extra Christmas money, right? Right.

Speaking of shopping, I have exactly one half of my Christmas shopping done. I am proud of me, considering I normally wait until like the 23rd to try to get it all done in one day. This way I am feeling far less stress (and probably spending a lot more money without realizing it;)) Now, if I could only keep the kids from trying to eat the tree lights and the dog from trying to eat all the candy canes, I would be almost stress free this holiday season.

They're teasing us with the lie that it will snow a little here on Thursday. Yeah, sure it will.

And last but not least, if anyone out there has a good fruitcake recipe, please send it my way. Yeah, I know they're gross to most people but fruitcake is a holiday guilty pleasure of mine. I love the things, I just don't know why.

Sorry for the boring post guys. Must be all that Christmas cheer and goodwill overtaking me;)

Peace allllll.................

Stanley

I have been following the story of Stanley "Tookie" Williams for a while now. And like most people, I have my opinion. This is it:

Stanley, you, according to a jury of your peers, committed 4 murders. You, by your own admission were a co-founder of the Crips. Your work has destroyed the lives of 4 people, not to mention the lives of their families, their parents, children, brothers and sisters. Your work and what you helped to create in the Crips has damaged and destroyed thousands of more lives.

You have been in prison for 24 years now. You have been in solitary confinement for 6 of those 24 years. It has only been after you were placed in solitary confinement that you decided to go on your journey of 'self-reflection' at which time you decided to write your anti-gang books and develop your anti-gang coloring books for children. All well and good but let's face it...it's a little too little and a lot too late.

Remorse for what you have done is good, even if it comes after 20 years of incarceration. Being shameful of your past is good too if it brings about a change in you. Accountability, however, is also necessary. Accepting the fact that you have done what you have done and being willing to accept whatever the punishment may be is what makes us adults.

I am not a cruel person by any means. I am sure that you are consumed with anxiety at the thought of your impending execution. No one wants to die after all. I am sure that the 4 people you murdered didn't want to die either. I am also sure that the many victims of gang violence, be they territory murders, drug murders or just the innocent bystanders of drive-bys didn't want to die either. I am sure that there are a lot of mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers out there that didn't want to have to go to a funeral but they did. Their choices were taken from them.

And now you ask for mercy. You ask that your 'good deeds' be considered and that they nullify the fact that there are at least 4 people dead by your hands, and many more as the result of your work. You want coloring books to take the place of people's lives. I'm not sure there are many families out there who would put a coloring book at the dinner table in place of a loved one.

You have many people and many celebrities to back your cause and to fight for you. Good for you....too bad they weren't there when you were snuffing the life out of your victims.

You reap what you sow, Stanley. Please stop trying to manipulate the government, the justice system and the general public at large. Accept the punishment that has been handed to you. Even if I can't respect you, I could respect that.

Please give these people's families the closure that they need. Be a man....for once.

Peace alllll.......