Love, Life and Everything

Think about this for just a moment: If not shopping on Thanksgiving Day so that workers can enjoy Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day means so much to us, then we should also consider those that work on Thanksgiving Day that are not retail workers. Gas Stations are open so that you can get gas and drive to see your relatives. Airports, Train stations and Bus Depots are open so that you can go to see your relatives. Hotels are open so that you don't have to stay at your relative's houses. Paramedics, EMTS, and First Responders are working so that if you choke on your turkey, you won't die. Police are working so that they can keep you safe while you enjoy your Thanksgiving meal. Firefighters are working so that when your relative forgets about the potatoes and sets the kitchen on fire, you don't lose your whole house. All those people who keep the electricity grid up and running have to work so that you can cook, visit and watch the football game.

Technology is all around us these days.  When I was growing up, not so much, but that never stopped me from using technology to advance my learning.  As a child, I loved to watch documentaries on the TV.  Our channels were extremely limited, so I would ask my teacher to play documentaries in class.  I watched documentaries on just about every subject available.  My curiosity was insatiable.  A lot of these documentaries prompted me to go to my local library and check out books on the subject matter.  I also discovered MTV, which, for someone who grew up in a tiny little mountain town with no radio, this expanded my horizons vastly in the music world.  I learned that just listening to music, prompted a curious spark in me that made me want to explore as much as I could, despite my town's limited access to virtually anything. In the late 1990's I was in college for my undergraduate degree, I learned how to use the internet to do queries on subjects that interested me.   I discov

I know that in our society, women have been expected to wear certain things in order not to attract to much attention to herself.  It was inappropriate for a woman to go without a corset for a long time (I've heard the term "loose woman" may have come from women who didn't wear corsets, or wore them loose enough to do manual labor).  And now, we are expected to wear bras to keep them in place.  All these things we are expected to do because society says we have to or we will be deemed unfit, sloppy or slutty, are doing untold damage to our bodies. Recently, I've read many, many articles stating that bras actually make sagging worse (here is one of many I have read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/11/women-bras-study-france-false-necessity_n_3062114.html) .  One only has to compare my breasts to those of my 62 year old mother's bra-less breasts to know that there is definitely some truth to this research.  My breasts sag much, much more than hers.  She

Dear Spider living in my bathroom, This is your landlord. I really don't mind you living here, I don't mind at all.  But after finding myself violated by yet another of Nature's tiny winged vampires (aka. mosquitoes) that managed to squeeze its way through the bathroom window screen, I have decided that you need to do more to earn your keep around here.  I know that you've been working very hard and I know exactly what you're going to say:  "Look at the web I just abandoned, don't you see how many carcasses of tasty treats there are, and don't you see me munching on that big juicy bug I caught this morning?"  Yes, yes, I see all that, and I suppose that you want me to clean up your old web so that when you're finished with your current one, you can move back over there, but all these things really aren't good enough.  A person should never have to live in fear of having her blood sucked right out of her own body and then have an itchy, p

We love you, we really do.  If you didn't come here, we would all be forced to move away from these beautiful mountains and get real jobs that we could survive on year round.  But, there is a reason we call you tourons (short for tourist morons).  I mean really, do you think that just because you're on vacation, that common sense and laws common to all states in this nation, somehow don't apply up here?  There is a speed limit posted in our town for a reason, but somehow, just because you're not from here, you think it automatically gives you permission to go 10-15 over or 20 -25 under.  I know, I realize, some of you have never been here before, but seriously, going 5 miles down the middle of the street isn't going to solve the problem of you being lost in our 2 mile long town.  Neither is suddenly stopping in the middle of the road and then turning with absolutely no warning.  Turn signals are a very nice thing, more than just common courtesy to the

Jesus's true doctrine was LOVE.  Until we can truly love everyone without bias, without judgement, without hate, we are not truly Christian.  You people who passed that bill in Arizona can not hope to ever understand what true Christianity is!

In my writer's workshop, we were given the assignment to write about one person in our lives who was influential. I thought to myself "Oh this will be easy. I know exactly who I'll pick." But then I realized it's not all that cut and dry. That's because the people that I allowed to impact my life are so interwoven throughout my history and the lessons I needed to learn, and am still learning, that it's hard to tell where one ends and another begins. And that is why I could not choose just one, and even though it is difficult to narrow it down, two key people stand out as important in my most difficult life lesson, my late Aunt Kathi and my husband Brandon. Without one, I never would have been in a place in my life that would have allowed me to meet the other. And without either, I would not be where I am today.  Kathi: A woman who touched so many lives, in ways words can never begin to express. No words even exist that could come close to expressing

I absolutely LOVED college, and if I could have afforded it, I would have stayed in college much longer than the 5 years it took me to get my degree.  There were so many, many courses I wanted to take just because they sounded interesting, but I couldn't take them because they had nothing to do with my chosen major and usually conflicted with the classes I was required to take. I have often expressed interest to my family that I want to go back to college to get my Masters, but what I really wanted to do was go back and take all those other courses that sounded very interesting.  I guess that's one of the problems with having so many interests.  I really don't know many people who are interested in art, physics, biology, writing, astronomy, algebra, etc., at the same time.  But I think I may have found a way to take some of those courses online for free!!  I'm so excited!!! I'll even get a certificate of completion.  There are even some courses that I could pay fo

My husband challenged me to look back at the last few years and to find all the ways I've been creative when I thought my creativity was taking a hiatus.  I accepted his challenge. For most of my teaching career, I was not given the advantage of having a set curriculum complete with books and materials, so I had to create my own custom lessons based on what I was trying to teach.  That is incredibly creative, but I had completely overlooked that, thinking that my busy, hectic teaching planning was getting in the way of my writing. I also found creativity is in my part-time fudge making job.  I mean really, what isn't creative when it comes to candy making? I also discovered that I actually enjoy cooking.  This all came about as a result of my pinterest obsession, but I finally discovered that I can make things that my husband will actually eat.  This takes a lot of creativity because he likes things with a lot of flavor and ias a result is a little particular about what does