Ha! To the blog, you sillies!
It's already the middle of November, so I'm almost too late, but ...
For the 5th year, the American Red Cross will disperse Christmas (holiday) cards to soldiers. I am adding the button to my blog so that you can go straight to their site and make sure you get all the details.
But do this. Send just one card, from your family to a hero.
A hero?
Yes.
These men and women are sacrificing time with their own husbands, wives, children, parents and friends to protect our freedoms and our way of life. Even in times of peace.
So, send a soldier a Christmas Card!
Here's the address:
Holiday Mail For Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
Sweet Summer (in May) Sun
Five silly faces
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Neighbors
So, we've had a little trouble with a neighboring family lately.
First, our property line is weird, and when they bought the house next door (2008), they did not have the property surveyed and the surveying posts from when we bought our home (2002) were long gone. We have a mostly-fenced back yard,but we did not come close to the property line when we fenced, since it would cost more and it was not necessary. We have an idea of where the line is, but since it wasn't a huge deal with the previous neighbors, we didn't make much of an effort to say, "This is ours, this is yours" - we just cut the grass and went about our business, waving when we saw each other. But these neighbors, for some reason, think that we're lying to them about the property line. (Don't worry - on this my husband and I have agreed - we're trying to find someone to come out and survey our property so that this becomes a non-issue).
Second, we have dogs. Now our dogs come in at night and sleep in their crates, but during the day if it's nice, they are outside. This has not always been the case. In fact it's a within-the-last-month kind of recent. One of the reasons is that the children (one is 14 or 15 and the other child is 4 or 5) of our neighbors harass our dogs. The older child has been caught in our backyard on several occasions without permission and on at least two occasions, late at night. Once this summer I caught the older child with either a BB gun or a pellet gun, pointed in the direction of our house/backyard when the parents weren't home - I made a point of calling him down and telling him that if I caught him pointing the gun in the direction of our house or yard again, I'd have to call the police. And almost every day we have to go in our yard to collect the junk that gets thrown over the fence (toys, balls, shoes, coats, sweatshirts, coke bottles, etc.). At least twice I've collected the clothing items (if they weren't destroyed) and took them back the neighbors house and sort of laughed it off, but making sure to point out that these could be dangerous to our dogs. To no avail.
The other problem that I have is a weird one. My husband works second shift (he goes in to work between 4 and 5 p.m and gets off around 2-3 a.m., depending on how the news cycle is that night). The family that lives next door is sort of opposite - the husband works part-time and is usually home around 3 p.m., while the wife isn't usually home until dinner time or later. But anytime they need to talk to us, the husband comes over well after my husband has left for work (which is obvious since his car is not here and we don't have a garage). I am very uncomfortable with this, since usually he comes over when his wife is home and 99.9% of the time, when he comes over it's dark out.
Our houses sit sort of on a hill and we live on a very busy road. Neither of us have anywhere to turn around, so I generally back in the driveway so that I can pull out. But my mom will sometimes just pull straight across my yard to their driveway. Since our property line is odd, she does drive on a few feet of their yard (3-4 feet, I think).
Well, the other night (Wednesday) he came over and rang the doorbell after the kids were in bed; I was about to get in the shower, but had to re-dress and run to the door. I turned on the porch light and stepped outside, pulling the front door closed behind me, but he never stepped back toward our steps. He came over to ask us to not drive across his yard anymore, as he is having a hard time getting grass to grow (No, he has not seeded the yard or ever even turned a sprinkler on). I said, "Sure, that's fine. We won't do it again" and literally kind of shrugged and turned to go back in the house, when he kept on and on, and he threatened to put 2x4's with nails through them out in his yard so that if we do it again it will tear up our tires. I admit, I was angry - I mean, I said we would not do it again, what more was I to do? But anger got the best of me and so I added, "We'll be happy to not do that again but you need to make sure that your kids stopping throwing things in our yard for our dogs to chew up". And I turned around, came in the house and locked the door.
And I was angry. In fact, I am still angry. Yes, we (my Mom - haha) have been in the wrong by driving across their yard, but otherwise, we've been great neighbors to them (we've fed their cat, we've watched out for their home and gotten their mail when they were out of town, we've cut their grass a couple of times, we've loaned them tools and even let their son use our phone on numerous occasions, just to name a few things). But ...
I can say, quite honestly when I'm looking at my heart (grrr - sometimes I hate being held accountable by what I believe), we have not loved them. We've been annoyed by them. We've judged them. We've rolled our eyes at them. We have not, really, been good neighbors. I have not been a good neighbor.
The Bible tells us a lot about being a good neighbor (note: All scripture comes from the NIV) ...
In the Old Testament, Leviticus 19:18 tells us, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD ..."
In the New Testament, Mark 12:28 -31 says "28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
and
Galations 5:13-14 says, " 13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
So. I have been doing a crummy job of loving my neighbor. And I have been doing a great job of holding on to anger. So. Now, I've put it out there - and I hope this will help to hold me accountable to learning to love my neighbor as myself. It's a lot harder than I would have thought.
First, our property line is weird, and when they bought the house next door (2008), they did not have the property surveyed and the surveying posts from when we bought our home (2002) were long gone. We have a mostly-fenced back yard,but we did not come close to the property line when we fenced, since it would cost more and it was not necessary. We have an idea of where the line is, but since it wasn't a huge deal with the previous neighbors, we didn't make much of an effort to say, "This is ours, this is yours" - we just cut the grass and went about our business, waving when we saw each other. But these neighbors, for some reason, think that we're lying to them about the property line. (Don't worry - on this my husband and I have agreed - we're trying to find someone to come out and survey our property so that this becomes a non-issue).
Second, we have dogs. Now our dogs come in at night and sleep in their crates, but during the day if it's nice, they are outside. This has not always been the case. In fact it's a within-the-last-month kind of recent. One of the reasons is that the children (one is 14 or 15 and the other child is 4 or 5) of our neighbors harass our dogs. The older child has been caught in our backyard on several occasions without permission and on at least two occasions, late at night. Once this summer I caught the older child with either a BB gun or a pellet gun, pointed in the direction of our house/backyard when the parents weren't home - I made a point of calling him down and telling him that if I caught him pointing the gun in the direction of our house or yard again, I'd have to call the police. And almost every day we have to go in our yard to collect the junk that gets thrown over the fence (toys, balls, shoes, coats, sweatshirts, coke bottles, etc.). At least twice I've collected the clothing items (if they weren't destroyed) and took them back the neighbors house and sort of laughed it off, but making sure to point out that these could be dangerous to our dogs. To no avail.
The other problem that I have is a weird one. My husband works second shift (he goes in to work between 4 and 5 p.m and gets off around 2-3 a.m., depending on how the news cycle is that night). The family that lives next door is sort of opposite - the husband works part-time and is usually home around 3 p.m., while the wife isn't usually home until dinner time or later. But anytime they need to talk to us, the husband comes over well after my husband has left for work (which is obvious since his car is not here and we don't have a garage). I am very uncomfortable with this, since usually he comes over when his wife is home and 99.9% of the time, when he comes over it's dark out.
Our houses sit sort of on a hill and we live on a very busy road. Neither of us have anywhere to turn around, so I generally back in the driveway so that I can pull out. But my mom will sometimes just pull straight across my yard to their driveway. Since our property line is odd, she does drive on a few feet of their yard (3-4 feet, I think).
Well, the other night (Wednesday) he came over and rang the doorbell after the kids were in bed; I was about to get in the shower, but had to re-dress and run to the door. I turned on the porch light and stepped outside, pulling the front door closed behind me, but he never stepped back toward our steps. He came over to ask us to not drive across his yard anymore, as he is having a hard time getting grass to grow (No, he has not seeded the yard or ever even turned a sprinkler on). I said, "Sure, that's fine. We won't do it again" and literally kind of shrugged and turned to go back in the house, when he kept on and on, and he threatened to put 2x4's with nails through them out in his yard so that if we do it again it will tear up our tires. I admit, I was angry - I mean, I said we would not do it again, what more was I to do? But anger got the best of me and so I added, "We'll be happy to not do that again but you need to make sure that your kids stopping throwing things in our yard for our dogs to chew up". And I turned around, came in the house and locked the door.
And I was angry. In fact, I am still angry. Yes, we (my Mom - haha) have been in the wrong by driving across their yard, but otherwise, we've been great neighbors to them (we've fed their cat, we've watched out for their home and gotten their mail when they were out of town, we've cut their grass a couple of times, we've loaned them tools and even let their son use our phone on numerous occasions, just to name a few things). But ...
I can say, quite honestly when I'm looking at my heart (grrr - sometimes I hate being held accountable by what I believe), we have not loved them. We've been annoyed by them. We've judged them. We've rolled our eyes at them. We have not, really, been good neighbors. I have not been a good neighbor.
The Bible tells us a lot about being a good neighbor (note: All scripture comes from the NIV) ...
In the Old Testament, Leviticus 19:18 tells us, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD ..."
In the New Testament, Mark 12:28 -31 says "28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
and
Galations 5:13-14 says, " 13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
So. I have been doing a crummy job of loving my neighbor. And I have been doing a great job of holding on to anger. So. Now, I've put it out there - and I hope this will help to hold me accountable to learning to love my neighbor as myself. It's a lot harder than I would have thought.
Friday, November 11, 2011
A Quiet House
A quiet house is something that I don't have often.
I am a talker. My husband is a talked. My 8-year old is a talker. My 3-year old is a talker.
We also like to listen to music. Or the television.
Tonight, I'm sitting at home. Alone. My husband is at work and my children are sleeping over at my parents house.My dogs are sleeping in their crates, warm and toasty. There's only one show I want to watch (ABC's new show, Grimm).
And so my house is quiet.
It's a little unusual, and normally I'd be at a loss for what to do with my quiet time. But this week I've had a special project - praying for my friends.
Last week a friend of mine did a half-marathon -
I am a talker. My husband is a talked. My 8-year old is a talker. My 3-year old is a talker.
We also like to listen to music. Or the television.
Tonight, I'm sitting at home. Alone. My husband is at work and my children are sleeping over at my parents house.My dogs are sleeping in their crates, warm and toasty. There's only one show I want to watch (ABC's new show, Grimm).
And so my house is quiet.
It's a little unusual, and normally I'd be at a loss for what to do with my quiet time. But this week I've had a special project - praying for my friends.
Last week a friend of mine did a half-marathon -
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Grandma
My Grandma was not an easy woman. She couldn't be. Her parents died when she was little girl, leaving she and her siblings to be raised by the oldest brother. They worked hard in tobacco fields in unbearable heat in the low-country of South Carolina. When she was older, she married my Papa. He was an alcoholic who, on a good (sober) day was a good Daddy to his five children. On a bad day, he spent his paycheck on booze. My Grandma had to work hard to care for their five children.
By the time I was born in 1970-something, my Grandma already had 11 grandchildren. My cousins were several years ahead of me — elementary or junior high school. I missed out on a lot of not-so-good years, since by the time I was born my Papa was (mostly) sober. I am also sure I missed out on a lot of important things, like knowing my cousins while I was growing up (although we're making up for that now, I think — all of us being adults now).
While my Grandma was not traditional, or soft, she was loving. And she desired for all of us — her children, grandchildren (13) and great-grandchildren (10 when Grandma passed away in 2002; 20 as of today) — to be successful.
But tonight's post is more of a fun one. At least for me.
My sister and I would spend several weeks during the summer break with my Grandma. We loved it. We had tons of freedom (as long as our lights were out and we were in bed when Grandma was); we got to ride horses with cousins, learned to drive cars on dirt roads and got to go to the beach at least once a week. We also got to help Grandma in her garden, feed and water the chickens, goats and guniea fowl and help with meals and cleaning.
But again, I digress.
My Grandma was fun. She told jokes, acted silly with us and sang songs while teaching us a lot about how to work hard and respect others.
Tonight I found this recording of a song my Grandma used to sing to me. I actually thought that she'd made it up. It would have been cool if she had, but I'm glad to have this since I don't have a recording of her singing it.
Enjoy.
By the time I was born in 1970-something, my Grandma already had 11 grandchildren. My cousins were several years ahead of me — elementary or junior high school. I missed out on a lot of not-so-good years, since by the time I was born my Papa was (mostly) sober. I am also sure I missed out on a lot of important things, like knowing my cousins while I was growing up (although we're making up for that now, I think — all of us being adults now).
While my Grandma was not traditional, or soft, she was loving. And she desired for all of us — her children, grandchildren (13) and great-grandchildren (10 when Grandma passed away in 2002; 20 as of today) — to be successful.
But tonight's post is more of a fun one. At least for me.
My sister and I would spend several weeks during the summer break with my Grandma. We loved it. We had tons of freedom (as long as our lights were out and we were in bed when Grandma was); we got to ride horses with cousins, learned to drive cars on dirt roads and got to go to the beach at least once a week. We also got to help Grandma in her garden, feed and water the chickens, goats and guniea fowl and help with meals and cleaning.
But again, I digress.
My Grandma was fun. She told jokes, acted silly with us and sang songs while teaching us a lot about how to work hard and respect others.
Tonight I found this recording of a song my Grandma used to sing to me. I actually thought that she'd made it up. It would have been cool if she had, but I'm glad to have this since I don't have a recording of her singing it.
Enjoy.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Dogs
We have two dogs.
We also have two children. And two cats.
And they each need, and deserve, lots of time and attention.
Our first pet, Neci, came to us the week before we got married. My soon-to-be-husband and out were visiting my Aunt the week before our wedding, when as we were leaving we heard kittens crying. It was really quite pitiful and off went my soon-to-be-husband to rescue the kittens, which had been abandoned. There were four kittens and as I had just read Rebecca Wells' The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, we named the four girl kittens after the four main female characters - Neci, Caro, Vinnie and Teensy. The next week we returned to our new home where "our girls" were already living with my Husband after our wedding and reception to find our Teensy kitten very ill. I spent the night holding her, trying to get her to drink from a dropper, keeping her warm. The next day, we spent the morning at the Emergency Vet, where we ended up having her euthanized due to her sever illness. Several weeks later, after placing ads in our local paper and at veterinary offices, we gave one of the calico kittens - Vivvi - to a new home. We kept Caro and Neci. When the kitties were two years old, Caro was hit by a car, leaving us with one car - a calico, our Neci.
When our older child was almost two years older, we decided our family was ready for a dog. So we looked around and found a breeder in Tacoa, Ga. and we got our Sully, a golden-doodle male (his dad is a Standard Poodle and his mom is a Golden Retriever). We chose a golden-doodle because they don't shed (their hair grows like ours - and it needs constant attention!) and also because they are such an easy dog to train - with consistency, that is! They are (generally) very intelligent dogs and very loving. We have definitely found this to be true with our Sully. He is a very happy dog who, even at close to 70 pounds, thinks he's a lap dog and loves to flop on our feet. He also is still very high energy and needs to be walked a lot ...
Our second dog (Lux) and second cat (Jedi) came to us as strays. Our cats live outside and our dogs are inside-outside. We have a (fairly) large fenced back yard, so they have lots of room to run, but we have to make sure that they get exercise. Lately that means lots of walking - 2-3 miles each day! But over the last few weeks, as they days have gotten cooler and daylight hours seem to grow shorter, the walks have been great. I tend to do the walking, which is hard for me as I'm soooo out of shape, but I also enjoy it. We walk in neighborhoods near our home and sometimes go to a nearby park to walk. And if we're lucky, we have a friend to join us.
What do you do to keep your pets healthy, socialized and tired out enough to sleep?
We also have two children. And two cats.
And they each need, and deserve, lots of time and attention.
Our first pet, Neci, came to us the week before we got married. My soon-to-be-husband and out were visiting my Aunt the week before our wedding, when as we were leaving we heard kittens crying. It was really quite pitiful and off went my soon-to-be-husband to rescue the kittens, which had been abandoned. There were four kittens and as I had just read Rebecca Wells' The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, we named the four girl kittens after the four main female characters - Neci, Caro, Vinnie and Teensy. The next week we returned to our new home where "our girls" were already living with my Husband after our wedding and reception to find our Teensy kitten very ill. I spent the night holding her, trying to get her to drink from a dropper, keeping her warm. The next day, we spent the morning at the Emergency Vet, where we ended up having her euthanized due to her sever illness. Several weeks later, after placing ads in our local paper and at veterinary offices, we gave one of the calico kittens - Vivvi - to a new home. We kept Caro and Neci. When the kitties were two years old, Caro was hit by a car, leaving us with one car - a calico, our Neci.
When our older child was almost two years older, we decided our family was ready for a dog. So we looked around and found a breeder in Tacoa, Ga. and we got our Sully, a golden-doodle male (his dad is a Standard Poodle and his mom is a Golden Retriever). We chose a golden-doodle because they don't shed (their hair grows like ours - and it needs constant attention!) and also because they are such an easy dog to train - with consistency, that is! They are (generally) very intelligent dogs and very loving. We have definitely found this to be true with our Sully. He is a very happy dog who, even at close to 70 pounds, thinks he's a lap dog and loves to flop on our feet. He also is still very high energy and needs to be walked a lot ...
Our second dog (Lux) and second cat (Jedi) came to us as strays. Our cats live outside and our dogs are inside-outside. We have a (fairly) large fenced back yard, so they have lots of room to run, but we have to make sure that they get exercise. Lately that means lots of walking - 2-3 miles each day! But over the last few weeks, as they days have gotten cooler and daylight hours seem to grow shorter, the walks have been great. I tend to do the walking, which is hard for me as I'm soooo out of shape, but I also enjoy it. We walk in neighborhoods near our home and sometimes go to a nearby park to walk. And if we're lucky, we have a friend to join us.
What do you do to keep your pets healthy, socialized and tired out enough to sleep?
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