YES!!! I am still here!!

Been a very busy few years, but I am still here! Life happens, things happen, and other stuff gets in the way...but we find a way to keep on going. People come and go in our lives, a reason or a season, but they leave a mark. Sometimes those marks leave scars, other times they leave an impression that fades over time. I like to keep the people in my life that leave a loving mark, a bagde of honor you could say, the ones that help to make me a better me! I have been blessed to have a lot of those people in my life, and they are still here!

Still Alive and Kicking!!

Since my last post in January, my sister Debbie has lost all of her hair due to the chemotherapy, and has been undergoing radiation therapy to try to rid her body of the cancer that has spread to her brain. The doctors wanted to do gamma knife surgery on her, but the cancer in her brain has spread to too many places to do it, so they will continue with the radiation 5 days a week through December. She didn't have any bad reactions to the chemo, but the radiation is making her very tired and not feeling well. I don't know if that is because of the radiation or the spread of the cancer cells, since small cell cancer is the fastest spreading cancer there is :( She has been eating more fruits and more protein, and has actually gained a few much needed pounds and has been trying to stay active so she can enjoy her granddaughter Abbie as much as she can. My heart is aching for my sister and the future she is facing with this horrible, unforgiving disease :( I pray that God will give her time here to watch her granddaughter grow up. My oldest sister Sharon just went through a hip replacement surgery this week and is doing well and will hopefully get to go home today or tomorrow. I only hope she doesn't overdo it.....she runs her household and works in her garden, so keeping her down is gonna be a hard job! My sister Linda and her husband just bought a forever home and are in the process of moving and fixing up their old house to put on the market. We have all been helping her as much as we can since her husband is disabled from a brain injury he suffered in 2003. My brother Earl and his wife just welcomed their second granddaughter Chloe!! Jeni is managing well while her husband is spending a week in Texas for work. Heather (Fred) is still loving her little family in Colorado. Mike and I are enjoying our upgraded pool and the garden we have done in the back yard. I am working on completing a blanket/quilt for our Harry Potter room and making new pillows for the sofa. I am also getting ready to start our cosplay costumes for Arthur and Molly Weasley that we will be wearing to the 2017 Harry Potter celebration in Orlando. I guess that's it for now......later tater :D

Cancer SUCKS!

So, my sister that just started chemo last week for the Small Cell Lung Cancer, has finished her first three rounds of chemo and will have 21 days to recover from that then they will repeat her PET Scan to see how things look, then do three more days of chemo with 21 days off and then check her PET Scan again. After her second day of chemo she and her son met with the oncologist to get the results of the PET Scan.....My sister (we are giving her a name now....Debbie) was excited to know that the cancer was not in her liver or kidneys, but there is a "small" amount in her lungs and in her brain....she called it a "small" amount....so I celebrated that moment with her on the phone. Hey, if she is happy, I'm gonna be happy for her!!! She has come to terms with her bleak prognosis and is doing what is necessary to make the most of the time she has by being upbeat and positive!!! They say that a positive attitude can help the body to heal, so by golly gosh....WE ARE GONNA ALL BE UPBEAT AND POSITIVE!!!! I will cry on my own time, and not share the fear and sadness that wells up in me. I want her to remain happy and full of life, this is her journey and I am going to do my best to make it a good one with her!! My next sister (Linda) the one with the probable low grade lymphoma is also being positive. She had an upset stomach and laid on her cool bathroom floor waiting for it to pass (we did this as children too) and she paid a dear price for it a few hours later...her left foot ached and throbbed and burned with pain so bad that she had to call one of her daughters to come take her to the ER. The doctors didn't see anything on the x rays and diagnosed her with neuropathy (nerve pain) and told her to see her neurologist. No crutches, no anything to keep her off the foot she can't put any pressure on because it brings her to tears. Just some Tramadol for the pain...hey if Percocet did nothing for the pain, the damn Tramadol ain't gonna help either!! She has had a very rough few days, and made it even worse emotionally for her because she was going to take Debbie to her chemo on Friday and couldn't. Me, I quit my job so I can focus on this anatomy and physiology class and all I can seem to focus on is my sisters, and everything and anything else but my school work. My mind is running rampant and I think I'm in this class over my head, but I AM NOT DROPPING it!!! I refuse to give up!! So, with that said and my head emptied of the goings on with two of my sisters, I am calling it a night and going to bed. I have my first exam tomorrow in the testing center for my anatomy and physiology class. Wish me luck!!!

I got a WHAT!!

Today I reached the lowest point in my college career....(BTW, I am a career college student thanks to my husband)....today, I got an F on a lecture quiz!! That's right, a big ole fat "F"!!! It did not stand for fabulous either!!! So, in the realization that today marked one week into this semester of advanced Anatomy & Physiology, I had to quit my part time job...the one I had at the college...because it just was not possible for me to keep up with 6 hours of classroom lecture, 24 hours of online lectures, two quizzes a week, two tests per week, and an exam at the end of each two weeks....ON TOP OF an online communications class. I am very blessed to have an amazing husband who understood and told me that I needed to lose the job since withdrawing was not on the table of options. So, for nearly 2 years now I have enjoyed my 20 hour a week job as the Bakery Specialist at The Culinary Institute of Charleston. I cried when I left school today because I got that stupid "albeit" deserved "F". I cried because i have been sleep deprived trying to keep up with class and get up to go to work those measly 4 hours....WELL, not so measly when I need those 4 hours a day to study and try to be present in my other studies as well....OH, and let's not forget that there is a household to take care of too! But mostly I cried because my dear departed mother would be frowning up it!!! I wouldn't want to disappoint her, nor myself. The icing on the proverbial cake this week is another reason to cry....I have 3 sisters. The oldest has MS (diagnosed about 3 years ago), the next oldest was just diagnosed with Small Cell Lung cancer :( for which there is no cure, only the possibility of remission....she starts chemo in 11 1/2 hours from this very moment. I am sad and terrified for her. At the moment, she seems to be realistic about the road she is facing, in a few days, after her first 3 rounds of chemo, may be a different story :( BTW, this is the same type of lung cancer that took my mother last year :( It is already in my sisters carotid artery (left side). We won't know until Thursday just how advanced it is, but she's a fighter, and has a son and granddaughter and a husband that need her....we all need her. My next oldest sister (5 years my senior) has the great probability of having low grade lymphoma....I think that's what it's called. Deemed the best kinda cancer to have if your gonna have it :/ It's small enough that they can't treat it, so they are watching it. They have ran test and biopsies, and marrow and bone tests, and they've all been negative....except for a PET scan they did showed a growth of twice the size in a "node" than the previous scan a few months ago showed, but still nothing to treat! For now, we'll take that amazing bit of news. I can not even come to terms with all the craziness that the black queen (cancer) has brought into my world in the past year. I am praying that each and every one of my sisters, friends and family members can stay healthy and heal. My heart is heavy with grief and my eyes are swollen from tears. I pray for God's healing hand and love and protection for them all, and for myself <3

I Found the Source!!!

For the last few months, part of my kitchen counter and window area over the sink have been home to many little insects :( We have a clean home and regular pest control. We have NEVER, in the 10+ years we have been in this house, EVER had these little critters, and I mean little!! The pest control company initially thought, as we did, that it was roach/water bug/Palmetto bug droppings. So the treated the inside for such critters.....NOTHING!!!! The slightly bigger than a flea looking things were still there. Not there in huge droves, but always on the window seal. Well, on December 15th I had enough! The pest control company sent out their technician, yet again, to treat whatever the "things" were. This time however, instead of this little "things" on the window seal, they were now triple the amount and showing up on my drying mat and window seal!!! I decided to start wiping them off the areas and putting them in a snack size zip lock bag so they could be taken to the lab and looked at under a microscope so we could get to the bottom of what the heck these little critters were! I have noticed that they were not all dead as I have previously thought!!! Oh no, far from dead!! Some of them had wings, some were crawling and some a little bigger than others!! OKAY, now I am freaking the hell out and have collected about 50 of these little "things" in two days before the bug guy got here! When the technician arrived I showed him where the area was that these little critters were living/dying. He had NO CLUE!!! So, he took a picture of the ones in the baggie and sent it off to another tech. The other technician immediately identified them as "Cigarette/Cigar Beetles"! WTF is that!!! Well, me being to curious decide to Google it, and learned more about these little things than I cared to know. The worst part is that you can't immediately kill them off. You have to bait them and let them continue meandering around your kitchen (holidays be damned) until they take the bait (poison) back to the queen and she proceeds to die. Once the queen is dead, the remaining larvae continue to do their thing until the mature and become these little flea looking things with or without wings. Well, it has been over three weeks today and still they are here! The company said it would take 3 to 4 weeks to get rid of them.....GROSS!!!! In the meantime I had Christmas to host and foods to cook, all the while praying that these critters would disappear! Tonight I decided to clean out all of the cabinets and toss anything and everything that did not have an airtight seal. To my cheers and ultimate horror, I found the source of these damn beetles......a paper can of Italian Bread crumbs! Not just one can, but 2!! You see, i'm a great bargain shopper and I sorta plan my meals well in advance and when I find a great sale, I stock up!! One of these cans had been opened and closed back with plastic wrap and then the plastic lid that came with it. OMG OMG OMG!!! I picked up the opened can and immediately found the source of all these damn bugs all over the can, the plastic wrap and the lid, as well as the sealed can beside it (these cans are the paper type of cans like oats come in). These beetles, while in there larvae state can bore through these containers like they bore through cigars and cigarettes. Once the queen lays her eggs, its on from there! After my discovery, I through out EVERYTHING in that cabinet!! All of it! GONE!!! Thank God trash pick up is tomorrow, because that can is OVERFLOWING!! I pulled out the shelves and scrubbed them all with hot soapy water and left them to air dry. So, now that I have found the source, I am passing on this information to you!! These beetles can arrive in your home in many ways, first way being as larvae in a cigar box; and in your dog food bag; in boxes of pasta; in cereal boxes.....getting the picture here? I thought so! I will continue to purge my pantry as well tomorrow, even though there was no activity anywhere except the window seal and that one cabinet.....I AIN'T TAKING NO CHANCES!!!! I'm off to bed!

I mean it this time!!

Hello to anyone who happens to still come visits blogs....obviously it's been less than a year since I actually looked at my own blog, let alone anyone else's. My world has been upside down and twisted around in the last few years, but not as bad as 2015 was. I lost my most amazing mother in March, shortly after my birthday. I surprised myself in ways I never imagined. I always thought that my whole world would crumble and you'd have to pick me up of the ground when my momma died....that was not even close to what happened! Don't get me wrong, I was devastated from the moment I found out she had less than a month to live, she had end stage Small Oat Cell Cancer, and within a few weeks of getting the devastating news.....she was gone. My heart sank and I cried and I cried and I cried some more. I still cry, sometimes it hits me outta nowhere. My father died nearly 16 years ago, and the pain of loosing him was heartbreaking, but honey let me tell you this, there IS NO MEASURABLE difference when you loose your momma! Mommas are different. Mommas are some kind of special. Mommas give you something that daddy's just can't give. I don't know what it is, or how to put it in words, but for those of you blessed to have the best mom....you know what I mean and my heart goes out to you if you have lost her. I have been back in school now for over 4 years thanks to my husband. I was working and doing my thing when he offered up his GI Bill to me. Once he retired from the Air Force and began working for Boeing, he didn't have a need for it anymore because Boeing would be paying for him to finish his Bachelors Degree AND his Masters!! He has since finished both....WITH HONORS!!! (insert proud wife cheesy grin).....anyway, I went thru culinary and baking and pastry and FINALLY finished the two classes that have kept me from attaining my Associates Degree (did I ever tell you I HATE MATH!!!!!). Once I finished my degree, I just kept on going (CRAZY I KNOW!!!!!) and took some art classes and delved into photography!! I was in the second year of my photography degree when momma passed away, needless to say, that was the end of that!! I stopped working and going to school to be with her for whatever time there was left! I am so grateful to God that he let me be there for her (I was there for daddy too). I made a promise to her before she died and I intend to keep it. When I was in the Navy I was a Dental Technician (do everything involved with teeth) and I LOVED IT!!! When I got out of the Navy I started college to get my Dental Hygiene Degree and I broke my ankle during my second year of pre-requisites and never went back. I worked for a dentist for a few years then went back to school (not for dental because it was nearly 2 hours away from the only campus) to study criminal justice and paralegal studies. Turns out that it was not for me so I went back to work waiting tables. I eventually went to massage therapy school years later and after graduating I ended up in Charleston, SC with a new life, new me, new beginning! Turns out to be the best thing EVER (other than my beautiful daughters!). I met my sweet loving husband a few months after I moved and it's been bliss every since! But I digress......back to school...well, I went to school after I moved here to study esthetics (skin care) and then went on to cosmetology (why not!) and was rolling along at my job for 7 YEARS!!!! When outta nowhere my husband offers me his GI Bill. What the heck am I gonna do with that? "Basket weaving" he tells me! "Do something fun" he says.....so I did! This month I will be returning to school to finish my art and photography degrees.......and........I will also begin the Dental Hygiene program!!!! Yepper!!! I will be embarking on a journey that began over 20 years ago, and this time, I will complete the journey and fulfill my promise to not only my mother, but to myself! I will also be blogging frequently so I can keep my head in the game and hold myself accountable. If you read this, thank you, if you don't that's okay too. It will be good therapy for me to be able to get thoughts out of my head, and to get creativity flowing again! Oh.....I forgot that part! I haven't crafted in almost a year!!! I'm telling you, when momma died, a part of me died with her. My mojo left the building, and it's knocking on the door wanting to come back in and I think that I am ready for it now. So, you will be hearing about school, and about the awesome (or not so awesome) crafts I create!! Thanks for listening (reading) or not, either way, I'm good!!

WOW!!!! It's been a VERY LONG TIME

It's been so long since I have blogged, it's been about that long since I've even read a blog from anyone else too :( talk about being completely gone!!!!! There have been many many many changes and goings on since I was on here!!!! Tonight however is not going to be the night that I do a 2 year re-cap....SORRY :( I am here by pure accident....well, kinda.....I was reading a New Blog from one of my friends momma's who just started blogging about gardening and realized how long it had been since I had been here, so I'm here for a minute and gone! I will be back soon though and will give an update on all the life changes that have gone on in the last 2 years!!! Laters!!!!

A Goodbye To You

I sang Happy Birthday yesterday, like I had been singing for him every year, hoping he would hear me, no matter where he was.....I guess he must have heard me..... He was born on January 16, 1955 to the most wonderful parents you could ask for. He made his own path in life, not necessarily the path I would have chosen, nor did I approve of, but his own path, non the less. He never married, nor fathered any children. He lived his life his way, on his own terms. He had the most beautiful smile and perfect teeth to go with it :) The last time I saw him was in 1990, before I went into the Navy. He showed up at mom and dads just out of the blue...looking rough and smelling like and ashtray, so I told him to get a shower and I would cut his hair and wash his clothes. We had a great day together and he even spent the night. The next day he got in his old pick up truck, and I gave him $20, it was all I had on me, so he could get gas to head back to Atlanta. I remember that day so clearly. I wish then, that I had known it was the last time I would see him. Years passed by, and we all went about our own lives and never heard anything from him. He had been by mom and dads and left a note a year or two after that day in 1990. It was not unusual for long periods of no communication with him, he just did his own thing, you know. He had been in and out of jail for one thing or the other, drugs, or solicitation at a Democratic Convention once. WHAT was that all about :( He was often referred to as EJ growing up, because he looked just like Elton John. Mom and I went to the Social Security office years ago, after daddy had died, to see if he had any work history of late, so we could at least know if he was alive or dead or in jail. The last information that they could let us know about was he had worked in Texas for a temp agency, and no other information. Well, at least we knew he was still alive. We all searched, sisters, brothers, nieces, we all have been searching for him, and figured he just didn't want to be found. I had even suspected he was in a witness protection program. What else could I think....who does that to their family, who just disappears like that? Well, I can say now with a very heavy heart that this man, my brother, Dwight Duanne Arnette, whose 58th birthday was yesterday, has been found. He died in the fall of 2009 of a cocaine related heart attack. He was identified by his fingerprints, and buried somewhere in Atlanta, GA. One of my nieces found a new website that enabled her to discover this information, and her mom, one of my sisters, received a photo from the coroner that she had to confirm was our brother. Today, while waiting to see my physical therapist, I got the call to let me know that our brother, Dwight, had been found...and that he had died of a heart attack from the overuse of cocaine, in a garage the he frequented and hung out at, and maybe was doing some work at. At first, I thought, well, now at least we have closure and no longer need to worry if he is okay or not. Then like a ton of bricks hitting me in the heart, the tears came pouring out, and the sobs took over me...I fell apart right there in the waiting room....I was still on the phone with my sister, trying to hold myself together, and failing miserably. I wondered how my mom was feeling, just getting confirmation of what we had all feared for years. I did not expect it to hit me so hard....after all, it had been since 1990 that we last saw him or heard from him. Today has been a very sad day. This was not how I felt when I woke this morning from a beautiful dream...I awoke from a dream of being with my dad and getting one of the best hugs I had ever gotten from him. We were under some type awning, and there was a very large man beside him in a bright beam of light that only let me see the feet and legs of this body beside him. I felt warm, and happy and safe, and then I realized it was God that was there beside my daddy, and I felt nothing but pure joy and happiness. When I woke up, I was so thankful to have had that time with my dad and I thanked God for giving me that special time in my dream to be with my daddy. Little did I realize, until this afternoon, that I needed that hug so badly. It gives me the greatest joy and comfort to know that my brother is now with daddy and I don't have to worry that he is hurt or suffering somewhere alone. I have missed him all these years, and will continue to miss them both, but at least now I know that he is safe with daddy and his Father. This is my therapy, to get it out and to begin the healing process and to give me a chance to grieve. My name is Eloise Yvonne, and Dwight Duanne was one of my big brothers. I love him now and always. Rest in peace Dwight, and know that we never gave up on you. <3

Potter Room

The rush is on, to meet the challenge of my best friend....finish the Harry Potter guest room before Christmas! One of the tasks involves hanging wall paper...What in the hell was I thinking!!! Well, day 2, and not even half way done, but at least I have started it. First rule should have been to clean out the fucking stuff in the room before beginning the task! Dumbass!!!!! So, not part way into this undertaking, I am taking shit out of the room....DUMBASS!!!!! I am hoping to get all the wall paper up tonight.....yeah, lets try this with a room ready to be papered now....pictures to come .....eventually.....BTW, my bff, she bought me a BEAUTIFUL quill and ink set to go in this almost done room....you will see that later too. Back to wallpaper HELL!!!!!

Merry Christmas

Someone posted this story and I wanted to share it. It really does make you stop and think that there really are people out there with a kind heart and will do anything for you and ask for nothing in return. I hope when you read this, you too will pass it on. I just wish we could be so kind to each other all the time and not just during the Holidays. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season, for whatever faith you believe. The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn't been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. It was just another day to him. He didn't hate Christmas, just couldn't find a reason to celebrate. He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through. Instead of throwing the man out, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the heater and warm up. "Thank you, but I don't mean to intrude," said the stranger. "I see you're busy, I'll just go." "Not without something hot in your belly." George said. He turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. "It ain't much, but it's hot and tasty. Stew ... Made it myself. When you're done, there's coffee and it's fresh." Just at that moment he heard the "ding" of the driveway bell. "Excuse me, be right back," George said. There in the driveway was an old '53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front.. The driver was panicked. "Mister can you help me!" said the driver, with a deep Spanish accent. "My wife is with child and my car is broken." George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold, the car was dead. "You ain't going in this thing," George said as he turned away. "But Mister, please help ..." The door of the office closed behind George as he went inside. He went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building, opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. "Here, take my truck," he said. "She ain't the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good." George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night. He turned and walked back inside the office. "Glad I gave 'em the truck, their tires were shot too. That 'ol truck has brand new ." George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The Thermos was on the desk, empty, with a used coffee cup beside it. "Well, at least he got something in his belly," George thought. George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He discovered the block hadn't cracked, it was just the bottom hose on the radiator. "Well, shoot, I can fix this," he said to himself. So he put a new one on. "Those tires ain't gonna get 'em through the winter either." He took the snow treads off of his wife's old Lincoln . They were like new and he wasn't going to drive the car anyway. As he was working, he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, "Please help me." George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He knew the wound needed attention. "Pressure to stop the bleeding," he thought. The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels. He used those and duct tape to bind the wound. "Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin'," he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease. "Something for pain," George thought. All he had was the pills he used for his back. "These ought to work." He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. "You hang in there, I'm going to get you an ambulance." The phone was dead. "Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your car." He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard destroying the two way radio. He went back in to find the policeman sitting up. "Thanks," said the officer. "You could have left me there. The guy that shot me is still in the area." George sat down beside him, "I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain't gonna leave you." George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. "Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through 'ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I think with time your gonna be right as rain." George got up and poured a cup of coffee. "How do you take it?" he asked. "None for me," said the officer.. "Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain't got no donuts." The officer laughed and winced at the same time. The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. "Give me all your cash! Do it now!" the young man yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before. "That's the guy that shot me!" exclaimed the officer. "Son, why are you doing this?" asked George, "You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt." The young man was confused. "Shut up old man, or I'll shoot you, too. Now give me the cash!" The cop was reaching for his gun. "Put that thing away," George said to the cop, "we got one too many in here now." He turned his attention to the young man. "Son, it's Christmas Eve. If you need money, well then, here. It ain't much but it's all I got. Now put that pea shooter away." George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. "I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week." George handed the gun to the cop. "Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can." He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop. "Sometimes we do stupid things." George handed the young man a cup of coffee. "Bein' stupid is one of the things that makes us human. Comin' in here with a gun ain't the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we'll sort this thing out." The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop. "Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I'm sorry officer." "Shut up and drink your coffee " the cop said. George could hear the sounds of sirens outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the door, guns drawn. "Chuck! You ok?" one of the cops asked the wounded officer. "Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?" "GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did this?" the other cop asked as he approached the young man. Chuck answered him, "I don't know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran." George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other. "That guy work here?" the wounded cop continued. "Yep," George said, "just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job." The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, "Why?" Chuck just said, "Merry Christmas boy ... and you too, George, and thanks for everything." "Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems." George went into the back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. "Here you go, something for the little woman. I don't think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some day." The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw. "I can't take this," said the young man. "It means something to you." "And now it means something to you," replied George. "I got my memories. That's all I need." George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left for him to sell. "Here's something for that little man of yours." The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier. "And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too," George said. "Now git home to your family." The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. "I'll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good." "Nope. I'm closed Christmas day," George said. "See ya the day after." George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. "Where'd you come from? I thought you left?" "I have been here. I have always been here," said the stranger. "You say you don't celebrate Christmas. Why?" "Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn't see what all the bother was. Puttin' up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin' cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn't the same by myself and besides I was gettin' a little chubby." The stranger put his hand on George's shoulder. "But you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor. The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a rich man and not take any for himself. "That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man." George was taken aback by all this stranger had said. "And how do you know all this?" asked the old man. "Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again." The stranger moved toward the door. "If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned." George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to fill the room. "You see, George ... it's My birthday. Merry Christmas." George fell to his knees and replied, "Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus" This story is better than any greeting card. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS! Now clear the lump from your throat, blow your nose, and send this along to a friend of yours or someone who may need a reminder as to why we celebrate Christmas. Call Email Visit All of the above

Needing to Vent

Someone with a mental illness does not methodically plan and carry out a horrific act, it did not happen over night, it was planned out very carefully and methodically, and the only thing that can be a reasonable person explanation for any of the horrific crimes that have been committed by taking the life of any innocent human being, is PURE EVIL!!! There is no way of ever convincing me that someone just "Snaps"...to have the sense enough to attempt to cover ones tracks by destroying a hard drive from a computer to try and hide what you are doing....that takes a very intelligent, well thought out process....not the doings of a "simple mind" or the mind of someone who is "disturbed". An EVIL and UNGODLY soul, in it's worse form, is THE ONLY explanation for what these EVIL sub-humans have done. I am SICK and TIRED of these damn specialists and psychologist saying this EVIL is caused by "metal illness" and "behavioral problems".....it is what it is, JUST PURE FUCKING EVIL!!!! It doesn't take a degree to know that we are living in an un-Godly world and that the more attention you bring to these EVIL acts and there EVIL DOERS is just fueling the fires that burn below the Heavens. I don't care if you follow what I believe or not, this is a free country where we have the rights to voice our opinions, and this is one of my forms of getting my feelings and thoughts out there. I believe that once this investigation is over, that school needs to be destroyed and a new school built, so these poor no-longer innocent children will have a place where those memories are not always in the hallways that they used to feel safe in. I for one would NEVER EVER EVER send my child back to that place! Gun control has NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT HAPPENED!!! If someone wants a damn gun, just like crack and cocaine, they are gonna get the damn thing and there is NOTHING ANYONE CAN DO TO STOP THEM! Opening your eyes and listening to those around you when they say "hey, you might wanna get some help" because you see things they don't going on with their child, or spouse or friend or family member. To choose to ignore the OBVIOUS SIGNS OF TROUBLE, makes you just as guilty as the person committing the crime, in my eyes. Call me a bitch, I really don't care. If you don't like my opinions, don't read them. I pray every day for the safety of our children, and when acts like this happen, I NEVER EVER BLAME GOD!! I blame the EVIL PERSON THAT COMMITTED THE CRIME!!! You can not blame a dman video game either! I can tell you, that as a child, there was NEVER FEAR of walking down the street, going to a friends, going to the mall, riding the bus or train to go hang out with friends....I WAS 10 to 16 years old doing these things. There is NOT A CHANCE of EVER letting one of my grand kids out of my sight when we aren't at home....I HATE THIS!! This is not how we should have to live. Scared to go anywhere, even to answer the door when the bell rings in becoming un-nerving. With the amazing designer drugs that are now readily available at gas stations or over the internet, there is no telling what amazingly innocent child can do if they get hold of these....my God, look what happened in Florida. You will NEVER convince me that a "mentally ill" person could plan so meticulously such an EVIL ACT! This is my way of helping me to heal in the understanding of the horrible acts that are happening around us. We all grieve in our way, and this is my way. To vent and get it out.