Day Five ..... Christmas Cards and Victoria's Secret

I still like sending Christmas cards.  I know with Facebook and the Internet some may consider it old fashion, but I don't care.  The past couple of days I have been addressing, sealing and mailing our cards. I think Christmas cards are pretty. I like reading the verses. I like receiving Christmas cards, also.  I always enjoyed picking up the mail, after a long day at work, going home and opening the cards that came that day in the mail. Well, last night I didn't get any Christmas cards done because of many things but this is pretty much how my life goes. Rob and I had dinner. Turkey wraps and sweet potato fries, in case any one was wondering.  I thought I would start doing cards after dinner but Rob starting obsessing about  whether NCIS was on so we start looking at the guide on TV to see what was going on.  There it was Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.  On of my favorite Christmas shows and it is always a tradition of mine to watch.  So, we, rather I,  penciled that in for 8"o'clock.  Rob was told he had to watch or go upstairs.  He decided to watch because NCIS was following Rudolph..  It was a rerun but it took Rob half the show to figure that out. Well, surprise, surprise guess what followed NCIS, Vitoria's Secret Fashion Show?  All this show does is make me feel guilty about my underwear.  OK, well maybe my body, too, but the underwear is probably something I could do something about.  I don't think my body will be looking like those bodies anytime soon.  Well, probably not in this life time or the next. I mean they didn't just have nice underwear.  They had flowing trains, wings, accessories, spike heels and everything matched.  So this morning I have one more thing to feel inadequate about while addressing more Christmas cards. While watching the fashion show I actually toyed with the idea of going to Victoria's Secret and maybe picking up a number or two but this morning that seems kind of stupid.  Funny how you can get caught up in the moment.  I knew everything would be OK today with the closing act of the fashion show last night when all the models strutted out and Lady GaGa's song played "Born This Way", because baby I was born this way and Lady Deb Deb's butt does not fit in Victoria's Secret.  The wings, now that is a maybe.

Day Four: The Gift of My Own Experiences ....... Shared

Sometimes the best you can give others during the holidays, or any other time of the year, is the gift of your experiences in life. So, I thought it appropriate to share one of mine in hopes that it may help someone else.  In my early 20's, I started having extreme anxiety and panic attacks.  Actually, the anxiety started before this but I just assumed everyone worried like I did.  During this time, I ended up seeing a young resident at WVU who more or less diagnosed anxiety. It would be nice if this were then end of the story but it isn't.  There is a gene in our family called the "worry" gene passed down from generation to generation. Not until the last few years has this gene been professionally diagnosed for any of us. The genetic gene defect is basically a chemical imbalance in the brain that is clinically diagnosed as Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).  If you really want to understand what GAD is all about,  the best thing that you can do is research it on the Internet. Basically, we worry, we worry a lot, about everything and everyone, all day long and all night long. Now, I want to get to the point as to why I am sharing this information.  One, my guess is there is probably someone else out there not diagnosed and suffering,  just as I was for years. Two, society is still reluctant to talk about mental health so I feel the need to speak up.  No surprise there.  Am I right?  Our society has learned to accept and talk about many aspects of health care whether it be cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity or lung disease, yet we still have problems facing the fact that there could be abnormalities with our brain. The most complex and complicated organ of the body we tend to want to ignore and neglect for fear that someone may judge us.  OK, so back to my story.  I suffered for years with extreme anxiety, sleepless nights, worry, and fears.  Anxiety can then lead to depression, physical symptoms due to prolonged stress, and other issues. Not only is this difficult for the person suffering from GAD but also those family and friends that are apart of the person's life.  Not that anyone ever found me difficult to live with or deal with. Over the years, I tried to figure myself out.  I read self help books and tried everything I knew to de stress. Some good and some definately not so good.  Anyway, one day at school, while trying to understand and help a very difficult student, it dawned on me that maybe I should think about helping myself. The first big step, as we all now, is admitting that there could be something wrong. The second step is deciding what you are going to do about it. Well, I had been working with my family practitioner for years on some of my problems and things just didn't seem to be jelling, and of course this could be no fault of mine.  Anyway, I decided to go back to the beginning and start over. With the help of my family doctor and a referral, I found my old psychiatrist from WVU, that I had seen 25 years earlier.  Yes, I did say 25 years earlier, so who is counting?  Old dogs can learn new tricks. I thought maybe we missed something the first time, maybe there had been some medical advances in the past 25 years and maybe I was finally mature enough and honest enough with myself to deal with these issues now.  The above seem to all be true as time passed.  25 years later, my psychiatrist is now the Chairman of the Psychiatry Dept. at Allegheny Hospital in Pittsburgh and is no longer taking new patients.  Now, why would that stop me?  I'm not a new patient.  There is just a slight gap in appointments here.  OK, so for some reason he gave me a break. I want to think he remembered how charming I was, probably not, but sounds good anyway.  Over three years ago, Rob drove me to Pittsburgh to see Dr. Nickell looked at him and said "Here she is, it is your turn."  The last few years in therapy and trying to get my "meds" adjusted have not been easy, but it has so been worth it.  Prozac wasn't around for me the first time.  It is now. Years of suffering make one a little more open to therapy, stress management techniques and behavioral management plans. This diagnoses was not easy on some family members, who still have issues with psychiatry.  That is their problem not mine.  I after a couple of years have become very open about this because I don't want others to suffer or feel ashamed or neglect getting help for any kind of mental or emotional problems.  My friends have been very supportive and a few have gone to Pittsburgh with me to my appointments.  People who have known me for years like me in therapy and medicated and Rob really does.  I will do anything to make Rob happy.  OK, so that might not be entirely true but it sounds good.  I felt I owed it to Justin, my nieces, nephews and any future descendants to come clean about this because it is genetic and that gene probably is not going any where for now.  My brain also  developed a defense mechanism over the years to fight and protect me from the extreme anxiety.  It is called depersonalization disorder. Another thing I feared sharing, even with my doctors, but have come to accept and deal with in my life.  Today, I ran off the application to join the Mental Health Association of East Central Florida.  One of my goals for retirement is to becoming actively involved in mental health education and advocacy.  So this is my gift of experience for today.  Crazy is OK.  I've worked, raised a wonderful son, and been intelligent enough to know that we all need a little help from time to time.  I hope if you or someone you know is suffering, you will get help, and you will realize with time that crazy is OK.  To Dr. Nickell I am forever grateful.

Day Three of My Holiday Advice: Give to Those Less Fortunate

I was already to write my blog tonight on Christmas cookies, but I can't now. Why, because I would feel too guilty and rightfully so. Rob and I were working on Christmas cards, watching football when 60 Minutes came on TV, a little late because of the game but still on right after the game. The preview of the segments caught my attention when they mentioned the homeless children of central Florida. One reason it, of course, caught my attention is because that is where I am hanging out for the winter months.  The other reason is because even though I know there is a major housing and building crash here, we live in an area where we are surrounded by multimillion dollar homes lining the banks of the Halifax River and the beach of the Atlantic Ocean from Flagler to Daytona. Unknown to me, the county bordering us, Seminole County, has an extremely high rate of homeless children living in poverty. Many of their parents lost their jobs because of the housing crash. These are children that are casualties of the lingering recession in our country.  They wash their faces and brush their teeth for school in the morning in gas station restrooms, eat cold food out of cans, and sleep in vehicles in parking lots at night. So what does this have to do with the Christmas season?  Everything. Remember the story about no room in the Inn.  For these children, there is no Inn. So what can we do?  Give!  Do with out one dessert, one gift, one extra meal out, one bag of candy, one more Christmas sweater and donate to a homeless shelter, food pantry, a food kitchen, drop off some school supplies at a school that could be given to students who probably need them, take a food basket to a family,  give to a toy drive, or buy something at a thrift store that supports the homeless. Most of us have more than enough and definitely enough to give to someone else.

Day Two of More Holiday Advice: Christmas is not a contest

Christmas is not a contest so don't worry about seeing how much money you can spend. I wanted a few decorations for the beach house but as Rob keeps saying, "Remember we don't have a lot of storage space." He use to say that in Rowlesburg and I just went and rented the largest storage unit I could find. Back to my advice. I decided to get cheap, but cute, easy to store decorations.  I found a wreath at Dollar General for 25% off. It was less than $5.00. I added to it a $1.00 3-D snowflake that I found at Target.  The Secret Attic (a church affiliated thrift store) was having a 50% off sale today and I found a cute set of snow flake stuffed bears with cute outfits for $2.50.  I purchased small white lights at Dollar General, also on sale, for less than $5 dollars. I hope you are starting to get the point. Don't stress on how much other people are spending on Christmas, instead make it a game to see how little you can spend and still have a great holiday. Another way to enjoy the holidays with the family is to start traditions with the family that are relatively cheap like decorating the tree together. When you first set up a house hold remember you can get tree trimming items really cheap after Christmas.  That is what Rob and I did and we still use some of these things. I think it is important to remember those lean years. Make some hot chocolate and set out a tray of cookies and make decorating the tree a family affair. Our tree in Rowlesburg is full of ornaments former students have made or given us. The beach tree is full of beach ornaments that we have collected from different beach vacations or beach ornaments given to us by friends and family members.  Ornaments always bring back memories for me. Rob and I started Justin an ornament collection. He has it now and it helps the young person starting their own holiday traditions to have a few ornaments to start with for their tree. I also have homemade ornaments on both trees. Julie and Karma made ornaments from seashells and glitter last year. I have one of those on my beach tree.  I have ornaments that I made in school on my Rowlesburg tree. Christmas is not a contest.  It is a celebration of life, so do what makes you happy during the holidays. Tomorrow I will make Rob drag the tree and ornaments out of the closet and I'll make hot chocolate and a dessert and we will decorate the tree together. I talked to Justin tonight he and Cassie are putting up lights tomorrow and so they begin their traditions. I told him not to buy any lights because there are two new boxes in our garage that Flicky gave us that she got at a summer yard sale. I want Justin and Cassie to have their own traditions but I want them to also know that Christmas is not a contest or about how much money you can spend.  It is about celebrating a new life, love and surrounding yourself with friends and family. Save your money and give of yourself this season.

White Friday

I always do things a little different from everyone else. So I changed the name of today to White Friday.  I understand the term "Black Friday".   It is the day that the retail world hopefully puts their businesses in the black but I just have never liked the term,  Black Friday. It just sounds a little evil to me.  I had Rob buy the newspaper on Thanksgiving morning and looked through all the ads.  I even played with the idea of going out shopping but I didn't. I don't like big pushy crowds.  I hate standing in lines and I hate being out shopping when I'm already tired.  I stayed home to watch the Lady GaGa Thanksgiving special and then I just couldn't get myself motivated to go.  I could have gone this morning but that would have entailed getting out of my Tinker Bell pj's before 2 PM and that didn't happen. I had pumpkin pie for breakfast and it was all down hill after that.  I think I took a nap, watched some TV,  ate some turkey, and then took a nap with Rob.  We finally left the house at around three for a walk at the beach. We made a quick stop at a couple of places and came home. We actually were going to go to Walmart but Mary called and said that there was an antique car parade in Ormond so we turned around and came back across the bridge.  Rob wasn't to thrilled about going to the parade because he had to miss the first few minutes of the Pitt/WVU game but I assured him that it would be fine. I actually didn't know it would be fine but I wanted to go to the parade so I just said that.  He named the make, model and year of every car that went by so I think he actually enjoyed the parade. There was a Nova and a 280 Z in the parade. That was kind of neat.  Rob got me four sets of beads off the street that were thrown out during the parade. I really didn't get the bead thing at an antique/Christmas car parade, but who am I to turn down cheap jewelry? Rob has been complaining that he doesn't have the holiday spirit because we are in Florida and it is warm and green. For some strange reason I got it during the parade and even more so after WVU beat Pitt.  I never get the Christmas spirit during Black Friday shopping because it is all so commercial. I realize that people are trying to get good deals and the economy is bad but I just think it puts the wrong emphasis on the holidays right at the very beginning. I'm going to focus the next month of my blog on free or relatively inexpensive ideas for Christmas and the other winter holidays. The build up to Christmas was always more exciting to me than the actual holiday. I also want to focus more on giving this month and by giving I don't mean expensive gifts. I think we all need to think about religion more and shopping less this time of year. The news tonight is giving tips on how to reduce stress during the holidays so I will also try to reduce your stress during the next month. Julie and I were talking the other day about our obsessive/over the top "Get Ready for Christmas" organizational calendars. Mine was ridiculous but Julie's was a little suicidal. I don't do mine any more. I just kind of go with the flow. I kicked off the holiday season with Lady GaGa's Thanksgiving special and a parade tonight. Tomorrow, I think I will dance to some of her songs. Great exercise, which was one of the stress reducing tips on TV tonight. Get exercise during the holidays. Maybe everyone needs to stop for 10 or 20 minutes tomorrow and just dance. I'm serious, just dance.  My shrink advises everyone to give up on that fantasy of a Norman Rockwell Christmas.  Great idea, because we all know that our families don't come close to resembling a Norman Rockwell photo.  So, I am going to try and help everyone out for the next month with some ideas for the holidays.  My first one is cheap and easy fudge that I made tonight.  The recipe follows:

Cheap and Easy (Kind of Like Me) Fudge

1 12oz package peanut butter chips (2 cups)
1 can vanilla frosting (DO NOT USE WHIPPED)
nuts, if desired

1. Line 8 or 9-inch square pan with foil, extending foil over edges. Place chips in medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 90 seconds. stir until smooth.
2 . Add can of frosting to melted chip mixture. Mix well. Microwave 90 seconds, Mix well. Add nuts. Spread in foil-lined pan. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.
3 . Remove fudge from pan by lifting foil. Remove foil; cut into squares.

Experiment a bit and have fun, use chocolate chips with chocolate frosting, butterscotch chips with vanilla frosting, peanut butter chips with chocolate frosting,
Mint chocolate chips/chocolate frosting, Peppermint Crunch chips with vanilla frosting. I have even made lemon fudge! White chips with lemon frosting..tastes like lemon drops. White chips with Strawberry frosting. Cherry chips with chocolate frosting. Coconut-Pecan frosting with dark chocolate chips. Try using Cream Cheese frosting.
Use your imagination. Any chips with any frosting!!
You may add 1/2-1 cup chopped nuts, mini marshmallows, maybe a teaspoon of vanilla, or any extract. Have fun.

For You I am Thankful

For the past 20 some days Facebook has been crowded with things people are thankful for.  I some how missed the first few days and then never got around to joining in on the activity. I thought this morning, I'll just do a blog on things I am thankful for and cover the entire month's activity with one blog.  How efficient. Then I starting thinking of things I'm thankful for and it just all seemed to materialist for me.  Here we go again with things.  So I thought I'll do people and only people.  Some are still earthly some or not, but for all, I am thankful this Thanksgiving. So here we go:
God, Rob, Justin, Cassie, my Mom, my Dad, my brothers (sometimes) Rickey, Gary and David, my sister-in-laws (who put up with my brothers on a daily basis) Linda, Caron, Joanne, my nieces and nephews,  Christopher, Becky, Haleigh, Ian, Becky, Michael, Lindsey, Kayla, Nikki, Zoey, my Grandparents, Ova and Junior Felton, Shade and Prudence Bolyard, my aunts and uncles, my cousins ( near and far) my doctors, John J. Keefe (who dumped me last week), P. Van Nickell (luv ya shrinky poo), and dentists (Lynnel Beauchesne,  Gavin Criser (Dr. McHot),  my friends Julie Schooley, Kathy Tasker, Brandy Stempor, Janice Cool, Debbie Taylor, Mary Phillips, Deb and Allen, my blog readers, my Facebook friends, so I took a little beach walk break at this point of my blog and spent my morning walk reflecting on this post and my mind flooded with people I am blessed to have in my life. My childhood to adult friends, Helen Ashenfelter, Kim Cooper, Margaret Martin.  My former student friends, Meloney Roy who is my friend, hair stylist and colorist (no my hair color is not natural), Lisa Bolyard Hizeman (my tail gate, gehetto girlfriend), her little sister, Erin and all my other former students, who still put up with me. There are my Class of 76 classmates who I will always consider friends. There are old college friends I was blessed to have in my life like Terri, Lisa, and Sandy.  I can't forget my teachers who have become my friends Sue and Earl Snyder, Bob Ridenour and others. My early career teacher friends, Lisa Parker, Donni Conklin Ridenour, Jana Miller and Andrea Rosier Friend. My two "helping me keep my sanity in my classroom" friends, Brandy Stempor and Kim Burns.  My "What are we going to decorate or maybe drink today friend, Flicky. All our neighbors on Oak Street who look out for us, Justin and Cassie, my parents and our homes. My" keep me out of trouble at the Board Office" friend, Susan.  My "you know we like each other friend" Chris Phillips.  My new friends Nicole and Nesha, who let me hang out at their boutique. My "Justin's friends are my friends" like Justin Shaffer, Jared and Jen and the others in the Preston High School class of 2005. My "parents of students" friends that I was blessed to meet Connie Amtower, Lana Plume, Danie Snyder and many others. My friends that"left my life too early" Libby and Franko and to all of those I haven't met yet, I give "Thanks".

Takes a Whole Lot of Tacky

It takes a whole lot of tacky to be noticed in this old river town. In Rockefeller Park I can walk around with my halo of flowers and no one seems to notice because this is the kind of place where you can see tye dyed beside taffeta or cowboy boots standing beside flip flops. I was in my backyard the other morning when one of the town policemen showed up to serve warrants on a couple of the neighborhood kids.  He didn't even seem to notice the "get up" I had on while watering my plastic flamingos and hibiscus plant.  He stayed for awhile and chatted and gave me his card when he left and said "call me if you need anything." I can even wear my "slut" clothes here. There is no one who likes "slut" clothes more than me, except for Julie. I wore one of my "slut" shirts to an appointment with my shrink one day.  I don't think he was impressed.  Actually, he kind of said in a nice way, "Why in the hell are you dressed like that?"  I tried to explain to him that maybe I looked  a little out of place in a corner office, on the 8th floor, city office but believe me I go unnoticed in the old river town in my " slut" clothes, where it takes a whole lot tacky to even get notice.  Nicole and Nesha actually like my dollar store jewelry and accessory "get-ups" when I stroll into their store to be a living model  I mean this is a place where even I have asked on occasion, "Is that crotchless underwear or a skirt?" Back to my shrink,  I think he tried to be diplomatic, as to not further injure my fragile ego, when he asked about my "slut" top, which I still have, like and wear.  Now, back to Julie,  Julie and I dressed like "hookers" when we went to the Ma Donna concert in DC a few years ago. The gay guys we sat with thought it was cool that we were teachers and dressed like hookers at a Ma Donna concert.  I was OK with the evening until Julie wanted to go for a late night walk down by the capitol building.  I was afraid if we got picked up for being hookers it might be kind of difficult to explain to Rob and Mark.  We aren't teachers any more.  Anyway, no one seems to care either when I take out the trash in my Tinker Bell pajamas or do laundry wearing a beach cover up/night gown/or what ever else I want to wear my "pink-little-number" for.  Even my friends, who visit, like that you can go to Food-lion in a bathing suit here, a wet one, at that.  Living here saves on laundry because "tacky" doesn't require high maintenance and many days I go from pajamas to bathing suit and back again before dinner and bed.  I spend lots of time to get just that perfect "tacky" look. My shrink thinks my clothes are making a statement.  You think??????

You Know Who You Are .......... In Memory of Eston

There are days I think I will never have anything to blog about again and then there are days I wish I had nothing to blog about.  Today is one of the latter. Yesterday I started noticing the posts on Facebook about a young man from Buckhannon, WV who had apparently committed suicide.  Later I found out that he had been bullied. Amazing how the finger pointing starts after the fact. The following are my opinions and my not be popular with some of you or may even offend some. I hope if you are a bully that my remarks do offend you. I also hope my remarks offend those who stand back and do nothing. Bullying has been around since I've been alive. Bullies come in all shapes, sizes, ages and social classes. Kids are not the only bullies or the only ones bullied. Adults, too, can be bullies and be bullied. I just retired from 30 years in the public school system.  I'm also a mother. These are my observations and experiences. I think kids learn how to treat other people from their adult role models. These may be their parents, coaches, teachers, family members, neighbors or religious family members. There the problem lies or begins. Adults can be bullies and other adults passively allow them to be. Kids pick up these clues from adults. Sadly, sometimes these adult bullies, not only intimidate kids but other adults. There are many forms of bullying.  I think most people think of the physical and mental aspects of bullying, the name calling and or physically assaulting someone. There are other less sutle but just as hurtful ways to bully someone. I find favoritism, discrimination, elitism, and exclusion other very real forms of bullying. I witnessed these daily in the public school system and not just by young students but by their parents and teachers. The longer I taught, the more blatant these forms of bullying became. I have had parents say to me "Who cares about those kids? Their parents don't even care?"  Sad, isn't it that the kids that need the most, get the least. I witnessed teachers treating kids differently depending on where they lived or what their parents did for a living. Believe me, kids aren't stupid.  They know. What bothered me more than the passive bullying was the passive acceptance of adults. This acceptance came from adults who thought they were well educated, up standing, Christian members of the community.  People who thought nothing of playing favorites, discriminating against poor and special education kids,  just as long as their kids and kid's friends remind untouched. I  didn't stay on the sidelines for long but started challenging the system. This was not popular. I then became a victim of bullying. Yes, adults will bully other adults when they feel challenged but they usually gather others around to help them, just like kids. My true friends know how my story turned out.  I am an adult, fairly opinionated, strong willed and willing to fight for myself. It wasn't easy. I can't imagine going up against bullies when you are still just a kid. I think it is more than time for all of us to take a good look in the mirror and at each other. You know who you are. We may not be able to entirely end bullying but we can begin to lessen it but we have to start with ourselves.  Don't set this issue out on the sidelines. We are loosing beautiful young people that we can't afford to loose.  In memory of Eston

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Following My Heart

It was a nice idea, my schedule that is.  I really thought I should have a schedule or maybe I thought other people thought I should have a schedule.  Maybe, I thought I would just waste the days away or in some crazy way I needed to justify my retirement. Well, that all lasted about one week or less.  Justin predicted this. I'm not sure why or how.  I had my best intentions.  I just woke up this morning at nine and realized I was two hours behind on my schedule, and then suddenly it just didn't matter.  I openly admitted it on face book and then did what I wanted for the day.  I think I actually accomplished more. I read, wrote, did my devotions, visited the girls at the Sun Dollar Boutique. walked on the beach, made a few purchases, made banana nut bread, washed clothes and a few other things. I decided I want to live following my heart not a schedule. As I stated before, I've followed a schedule for years. August through early November, I was on a tight schedule with Mom and Dad's meds and care.  I told my self I wasn't going to do anything for a month. I guess for me, that was rather unrealistic but not having a schedule really feels like the right thing to do.  Other retired teachers suggested to me on face book that I throw away the schedule and my watch. I think that is pretty good advice. Following your heart is freeing.  It allows for stopping to pick up shells on a beach walk, it allows for afternoon naps, it allows for hanging out with Nicole and Nesha at the Sun Dollar Boutique, sending cards to friends, watching TV, dancing to music, matching up jewelry to my outfits, wondering through thrift stores, watching the squirrels play outside my french doors, playing with Midnight, writing a book, talking on the phone and of course face book.

Tossing Rocks and Creating Ripples

Growing up and living on the Cheat River has allowed me much practice tossing rocks into the river and watching the ripples that rock creates. I've spent some time today thinking about rock tossing and ripples. Most kids when tossing rocks don't think about the ripples that rock creates. As a kid, I was more interested in the ripples created than the actual tossing of the rock into the water. The pattern and distance the ripples reach always impressed me.  It seemed almost magical that I could toss a pebble into a calm eddy of water on the river and how far the ripples would expand and reach out into the eddy.  Maybe adults should throw rocks into rivers more often or maybe everyone needs a refresher course on rock throwing and how ripples are created.  Penn State is the perfect example of ripples. A rock is thrown and the ripples created expanded and reach out into what appeared to be a calm and beautiful eddy.  The problem is that the rock thrown was an evil rock, and someone forgot how far reaching the ripples would spread. We all toss rocks every day into the pool of life.  Do we stop to think what kind of rocks we are tossing and how far reaching the ripples we be? There will be ripples and long after you have walked away the effects of the rock you tossed will be felt.  Choose your rocks carefully.

Football is Just a Game

You are right Julie.  My blogs are not always funny, because life is not always funny. Penn State is not funny, rather I should say a select group of men at Penn State are not funny nor are they decent human beings. The Penn State incident does take the opportunity to once again hit us over the head with a few important life lessons. The lessons are as follows:


Football is just a game/sport. It does not cure cancer. It did not teach your son to read.

Cheer Leading is not even a sport.

Money can be the root of evil.

Watching a crime and saying nothing makes you just as guilty as the criminal.

Do not worship false Gods.

Men are merely mortal.

One person can make a difference.

David can bring down Goliath.

The higher the pedestal, the longer and harder the fall.

A person can be judged on how they treat children, animals, the elderly, the weak, and less fortunate.

 The past will come back to haunt you.

Clean up your mess when you first make it. It won't go away and it will probably only get harder to clean up later

 There are good people at Penn State and football is not Penn State.  Football is Just a Game.

Thift Store Friday

First Happy Veteran's Day and Happy 11/11/11. This was cool Rob and I talked on the phone at 11:11 on 11/11/11. I was returning Rob's phone call and reporting on my thrift store finds of the day. I decided when I was filling my pockets for my morning beach walk today to stick a $10.00 bill in my pocket for some designer shopping. My first stop was the little thrift store across from the beach beside TGIF. The first thing I did was put my bid in for a piece of furniture I kind of want. This thrift store takes their best donations (designer things) and they go up for silent auction. This store also runs specials.  Today was 1/2 off women's clothing and accessories and books. My first bargain was a very nice striped brown and pink 3/4 sleeve top for $3.50, then I picked up a couple of books for a dollar a piece.  The have a cute little library room in this store, also. I bought the book The Millionaire Next Door to re read because it preaches the philosophy of living beneath your means. I didn't just randomly pick up the top either.  It will match a pair of Capri pants that Rob picked up for me on the clearance rake at Sears before I got here. They were $5.  My next stop was the newly opened Sand Dollar Boutique. Everything in the store is a dollar except for a very small $3 dollar section. I love this store. It looks up scale but everything is $1. The owner taught school for three years and said she has the highest respect for teachers. Another reason to shop there. Since I had my top with me, I matched a cute little accent scarf and jewelry set to the top. I now have a complete outfit for $10.50.  Everything is new except for the top that maybe was worn one time. I think I'll take a photo and post when I do a blog about the Sand Dollar Boutique Grand Opening next week. Anyway, as most of you know I love Dollar Stores, thrift stores, bargain shopping, and clearance racks. I love swapping clothes with people. I do not believe in paying a big price for clothes and never have. I love giving my clothes away when they no longer meet my purposes. Tip of the day. Live beneath your means like the real Millionaires do --thrift shop, swap clothes, mix and match and don't be afraid of second hand.

Feed Back Accepted

I don't know whether this is pathetic or good but I put myself on a schedule. I was a very scheduled person for years, especially being a teacher. The same thing, at the same time, day after day, year after year. Administrators told you how many minutes to teach each subject, what time of the day, when to start and stop, how long it should take between classes, when you were eating lunch, going to the bathroom, doing your planning, etc. We were required to post our schedules, give a copy to the principal, send copies home with our students and above all follow that schedule by the minute. I said when I retired I would have no schedule. I left Florida the end of July to take care of Mom and Dad. For 3 months I had 12 to 14 hour days, seven days a week. At the end of those three months, I said I planned to do nothing for a month. I flew out of Pittsburgh on Sunday evening, Slept most of Monday and by Tuesday realized I needed a schedule. So folks what do you think? Is this  good or pathetic. My doctors who try very hard to keep me mentally and physically healthy think doing nothing is not for me. One especially is worried.  Some how he feels I won't be happy unless I have a cause or I am helping someone or giving someone "hell".   I have no idea where people come up with these things. On Tuesday I made the following schedule:  Debra’s Schedule

7-8 AM - Breakfast/Facebook/E-mail/Blog

8-9 AM - Morning Beach Walk

9-10 AM - Shower/Hair/Make-up/Dress/Jewelry

10-12 AM -
                Monday - Laundry
                Tuesday - Library
                Wednesday - Shopping
                Thursday - Errands/Appointments
                Friday - Housework 

12-1 PM - Lunch/Tidy up the kitchen

1-2 PM - Meditation Garden/Devotions/Readings

2-3 PM - Writing

3-4 PM - Nate Berkus Show

4-5 PM - Dr. Oz

5-5:30 PM - Dinner Prep

5:30-6:00 PM - Dinner

6:00-7:00 PM - Relax/News

7:00-8:00 PM - Gym

8:00-10:00 PM - TV/Read/Relax/Shower

10:00 PM - Bed

By Wednesday, after cleaning and rearranging the living room, I realized maybe someone was right and I needed some volunteer work in the schedule or "giving back" time, so I started looking for places to volunteer yesterday. Today, I'm trying to keep to my schedule, which Justin thinks is impossible.  Did he not notice I worked, raised him and did many other things?  Believe me!  I kept a schedule.  Maybe not as rigid as Julie's schedule but I kept a schedule. Feed back will be accepted on my schedule.  I probably won't listen to anyone, but feedback will be accepted. You know somethings just never change.

The Couch Ate My Cell Phone Again !!!!!

I thought I'd better blog on this topic while it is still fresh in my mind. I've always had cell phone issues. Actually, I have many issues but therapy was invented for people like me but I'm not sure if therapy can help me with my cell phone. First, I'm not a big fan of cell phones.  Sometimes I really just don't want to be a phone call away. Second, I'm not good with them. Last year Brandy and my fourth graders kept track of my phone for me and did all my texting and all the other functions I still haven't mastered and really don't plan to. I don't have them this year to keep track of my phone and it is showing. I constantly loose my phone. My parents quickly figured out I had phone issues and tried to help me. When I left their house everyday they would say "Debra, Do you have your phone, keys and drink?' Usually, I had two out of the three.  Back to last night.  NCIS was over and I talked to Rob. That was upstairs on the bed. Maybe my phone is on the bed. I tore the bed apart. No phone. I looked under the bed. No phone. Wait, no, I talked to Rob later downstairs. It has to be downstairs. I looked everywhere downstairs even in the refrigerator. No phone. I knew Rob would be calling after Dancing With the Stars and he would be frantic if I didn't answer. Well, probably not but I like to feel needed. I checked the couch again, every nook and cranny. I mean digging down in and everything. In fact, I had recently showered and I was quickly becoming a sweaty mess. OK, so I'm not in great shape but I was honestly working my ass off (I could only wish) looking for my phone. The dreaded happened. It rang. It was in the couch somewhere. The couch was ringing. I started digging again with no success. I flipped up the recliners on each end got on the floor and looked underneath. No phone. I pulled it out from the wall. Still no phone. It had to be there somewhere. By now, I was profusely sweating, breathing hard, and laying on the floor behind the couch in my Tinker Bell PJ's.  At this point, I thought can I turn this couch upside down without Rob???  I also hoped no one showed up at the door. I hadn't felt this helpless since the tree frog incident. Wait, is that something red. Yes, there tucked up against the back metal bracket of the couch was my phone. I knew it was there. Well, actually I didn't but I found it. I quickly called Rob. My breathing was labored. He asked me what was wrong. I told him that I lost my cell phone in the couch again. All he could say was, "Did you find my knife?"

Stick to the Topic

Where's the tape? My family is obsessed with tape. When I met Rob he said his Grandfather Kemack thought the answer to everything was tape and he had bags of it. Rob was correct on that statement. When his Grandfather died over 25 years ago, we inherited his bags of tape. We still have some left and of course have added to it. I always liked tape as a kid and my students seem to love tape. They would create these masterpieces of paper and tape while they should have been studying their multiplication facts or spelling words. I would catch them sticking them in their ears and mouths.  They hoarded them in their desks, made them for friends, tried to sell them. Anyway, I had to put a limit on how much tape they could have in a day. When I had a substitute, I always returned to an empty tape dispenser. My last year of teaching colored duct tape was the rage in my class. Rob and I seen to always have transparent tape. masking tape, duct tape, clear packing tape, electrical tape, and a sticky stringy type of tape his Grandfather kept always around the house. The day doesn't feel complete if I don't tape something. When I was cleaning David's house out. He had a junk drawer in his kitchen full of tape. First thing this morning, I thought I need to put some tape on this envelope before I put it out for the mail. Tape is one of those comfort things in life that just seems to make things right. I don't know why but I feel much safer in a house that has a drawer with tape in it. It also helps if there is a gun in the same drawer.

Flight to Florida

I have no idea sometimes why anyone reads anything that I have to say but I just keep talking and  writing. It has been a while but here goes. Yesterday, Justin and Cassie picked me up at the house at 8:30 AM or so.  They decided we needed to take advantage of the drive to Pittsburgh and since I was footing the bill, why not make it a full day. First stop was McDonald's Drive-Up window. I had a bacon/egg/ and cheese biscuit. Justin decided he should have another breakfast since I was paying. We stopped at Mom and Dad's in Morgantown so I could say good-bye. Of course David and his stupid dog, Owen had to stop by and interrupt my visit. I took Mom  a winter top and Dad some candy. Mom had already yelled at Dad for the day for eating breakfast twice. Genes are a powerful thing in our family. Good byes said we were on to our next stop, the outlet stores. I really did not intend to buy anything but I did. All the summer things are drastically reduced because well it is winter up there (meaning WV and PA) but not here, so I got some Capri's, shorts, tops and a cute tennis top that was $60.00 for $6.00.  I like to look the part of whatever it is I'm doing whether I actually know what I'm doing. If you get the drift? We also tried all the sample foods in Harry and David's and the kitchen stores. Next stop was Harbor Freight. I refused to go into the store. Justin is the perfect business man. He, in one phone conversation, convinced Rob that we needed a smaller generator for just the sump pump and we stopped to get it. Once again, I paid. He has volunteered to take our almost new, large, powerful generator off our hands for his house. I think this has a lot to do with keeping Cassie in Rowlesburg for the winter. By now it was close three o'clock and I needed food. We ate at Max and Erma's. I had French Onion Soup and a small club sandwich. Justin reminded me that I was eating French Onion soup when I went into labor for him. Not that I ever plan on going into labor again but just one more useless piece of information everyone can know about me. I mean who cares what I ate but I will add that I paid again. Rob and I could only afford one Justin, and I will admit that many times I just give him the money so he will shut up because he is a lot like me and it is just easier to turn over the generator, money or whatever to maintain any degree of sanity. On to the airport. I had my boarding pass, ID and only my purse and a small carry on bag. Sounds simple. Nothing is simple at the airport. I showed my boarding pass and ID. Fine. Took off my Berks, dumped everything into a bin and put my purse and bag up on the conveyor belt.  No knives, guns, sharp objects or explosives. This should be quick.  Not for me. An attendant stopped, looked at about five of us and said, "Who's blue and white Martha Stewart bag?" I confessed. They stopped me and said that there was an unidentifiable black space in my Martha Stewart tote. What? I packed this bag carefully and tightly to fit my jewelry, note pads, books, paperwork, meditation books, beach Christmas attire, etc. perfectly. Everyone looked at me like I had the perfect disguise, a terrorist is dressed like a chubby, blonde, blued eyed, American middle age lady in jeans with a lime green Daytona Beach sweatshirt  "Sorry, we are going to have to unpack this bag. The x-ray machine can't seem to penetrate something in your bag." 10 minutes later it turns out that my bag was so precisely packed that it was too dense for the machine. Guess who had to repack it? The attendant volunteered but looked more than relieved when I said that I would do it. Finally through security, it was on to my gate. No sweat. I found a seat and chilled out. The flight was on time and I sat with two ladies from Pittsburgh who were on there way to Disney for a week. One worked for Verizon and shared Verizon's version of an I Pad with me. The flight was fine, arrived in Orlando a  little early, Rob picked me up and we drove home. Well, he missed a few turns and exits and then we got home. I ate some of my Hawaiian Pizza and had a diet Cherry Pepsi and went to bed. Rob was tired and had to get up at 5 AM so nothing else exciting happened. We don't need another Justin anyway.