12 May, 2012 14:00

Here we go!

12 May, 2012 13:46

Waxing new surfboard under new brella

BayBears at Suns – Billy the Marlin

The Jacksonville Suns are AA team for the Miami Marlins. Billy is the ultimate professional – he signed caps & bats, posed for pictures, worked the crowd…it was very nice to see.

Jennings State Forest – tomorrow’s hike

Frost on the Tundra this morning! Sunny and COLD.

We get to hike this weekend! We’ll be doing a 5-mile loop, pretty easy (hey, it’s NEFL). We’re going in the afternoon because a lot of people go to church on Sunday mornings –  yeah, who knew – and Duffy has to go Sundays. I could go Saturday but Duffy’s pretty wore out after 11 days without a day off, he needs to rest. He’s also been working with a little touch of something, the not-quite-cold-or-flu-but-ICK that Kaylee and I had a while back.
I got this map from a site called Low Country Paranormal – ghost-hunters who have been to the cemetaries in the forest, I guess. I don’t believe in ghosts, so just took the map, didn’t read any further. Check out the link if you’re interested, though!

Yesterday, Kaylee’s daddy picked her up at school, so Duffy and I went for a drive, just to get out of the city. Got new tires on my truck, new battery, beautiful sunny day – chilly & windy but beautiful. We drove back roads to Mcclenny and had lunch at a little place called Calendars Deli & Sports Bar… If’ you’ve never had a Cuban pizza, you are missing something in your life! Like pickles on your pizza! It’s definitely my new favorite.

Handsome Hubby is up now, so I better get busy and make breakfast. Y’all have a fine weekend!

Ain’t helping.

Cheerful, upbeat music is not helping. I knew it was a snake when I picked it up…

Thank you, Seal Team 6! Thank you, Marines! Thank you ALL!

It never surprises me when our Military does the job they were selected and trained to do. It does surprise me that The Current Occupant would allow such a thing to happen, but then I remember, this guy is campaigning! Of course! You don’t think killing Bin Laden was on his to-do list when he took the Oath, do you? It WAS on the list of many of the people who wear The Uniform…as evidenced by one of the links Paco has. Al Quaeda won’t miss the old man – they have poppies to raise the money they need, and plenty of discontented power-hungry recruits who are sworn to die for their cause. It’s just one. But it’s one.

I don’t care where Bin Laden was, but we have more proof – if any was needed – that the Lamestream doesn’t get much right before blathering about it on air or in print. Thanks to Watts Up With That for continuing coverage.

Turn it UP!

I hope it hurt real bad.

UPDATE: I would also like to thank the fans at the Phillies-Mets game. Baseball games were the bookends of this 10 years, weren’t they?

Here’s W, classy as ever:

And I still hope it hurt real bad.

Warning: Snark Level RED!

I am a Homemaker. I haven’t had a paying job for quite some time, and I’ve never had a job that was exactly considered glamorous or exciting. Some jobs I’ve held are even sneered at by many. Meh. If the opinions of others was what ruled me, I probably wouldn’t have survived.

Stuff doesn’t impress me. Expensive stuff, mediocre stuff, doesn’t matter. In my brain, beauty is defined by how well something performs the task for which it was created. I believe the term used to describe me was “pragmatic” – “of or pertaining to a practical point of view or practical considerations.” Being helpful and useful are MASSIVELY more important – in my mind – than anything you own, who your daddy was, how much your house/shoes/car/purse cost, or where you went to school.

Mitch Albom’s column today is a study in everything I don’t want to be, and everything I could never find attractive in a Friend or mate.

Start with Kardashian. She makes nothing. She has no particular skill. Her initial claim to fame was having a self-made sex video that went wild across the Internet.

The sole fascination with her seems to be — and I don’t mean to be crude here, but correct me if I’m wrong — 1) Who’s she having sex with now? 2) What would it be like to have sex with her? 3) How is she always at a party? and 4) Her butt.

I’m guessing that Kardashian DOES have a skill, it’s just not one most of us discuss in mixed company. This kind of broad makes me want to vomit, and validates my decision to leave the television turned off. The only magazines I’ve read in 5 years are Guideposts and the Grapevine, whose front covers will never be graced by a Kardashian butt.

I’m going to head out now to see some of my imperfect, working-class, non-surgically-altered Friends. People who, like me, do not need “audience.” Thanks for stopping by, have a GREAT evening!

New Year Resolutions for PARENTS

UPDATE: Before you read any further on any blog or “news” site, read SwampWoman’s take on this. Couldn’t have said it better myself. PLENTY of blame to go around, for all the do-gooder, no-label, I’m-ok-you’re-ok crowd IN the school systems, prison systems, and political circles.

I’m not going to link or comment on the shooting in Arizona. Y’all know where to find information, but my favorites are The Camp Of The Saints and Grouchy Conservative Pundits. NOT because they have the latest breaking news, but because they discuss it at a level I appreciate and link to good sources. I have to post SOMETHING to get that headline off any pages that link here. Just not kind to leave it there. Would have done this sooner, but forgot that was my header. Please forgive my clumsiness at this.

My prayers go out to all the victims and friends and families involved today. May you find comfort from Family, Friends and God in your times of tribulation.

***************

What I WILL post is a link to John Rosemond’s recent column. I didn’t make any parenting resolutions, but I sure like these!

1. We will not throw expensive “event parties” for our children on their birthdays. Instead, we will confine all birthday celebrations to our family, including extended family. We will keep it uncomplicated: a special dinner of the birthday boy or girl’s favorite food, a cake, the obligatory song, and a few simple gifts, mostly clothing or other useful things.

2. We will spend at least as much time helping our children develop good manners as do helping them get good grades in school, which means we will cut back significantly on the time helping with the latter (in consideration of the fact that good manners, which are expressions of respect for others, will take one further in life than will good grades). Each week, we will work on one specific social courtesy, such as saying “excuse me” when you walk in front of someone. Taking two weeks off, that’s fifty courtesies a year!

3. We will show our love for our neighbors by properly disciplining our children, insisting on proper behavior, and reprimanding immediately (even if that means in front of other people) when they behave otherwise, and on those occasions we will also insist they apologize appropriately.

4. If we have not already done so, we will assign a routine of daily chores to each of our children (at least those who have reached their third birthdays) and we will insist that said chores be done, and done properly, before they engage in recreation or relaxation.

5. When our children ask us for cell phones, we will tell them that they may have cell phones when they are able to pay for them as well as the monthly bills.

6. When our children complain that they are the only kids who don’t have cell phones (and do chores), we will tell them that learning how to be different is character-building.

7. Our children will not be able to order customized meals unless we take them to a restaurant. At home, they will eat what we are eating, and they will sit at the table until they are finished. We will do this so that when they are invited to eat at someone else’s home, they will be the best of guests.

8. We will surely bond with our children, but we will not bond with them in the marital bed, nor will we bond with them in their beds.

9. In keeping with number 8, we will put our marriage first and our children second…for their sake as well as ours. They will revolve around us; thus, they will not grow up thinking the world revolves around them.

10. If I am a single parent, I will take good care of myself for my sake as well as my children’s. I will have an active, adult’s only, social life. I will take plenty of personal time to simply relax and do those things I like to do. I will do all of that so that my children will not ever think the world revolves around them.

Find Resolutions 11 through 15 here.

“Rescuing particular people at the expense of other people– whether the others are taxpayers, savers or prospective home buyers– produces votes.”

“It also produces dependency on government, which is good for politicians, but bad for society.”

Thomas Sowell has some points I often think about. That headline is only one part of an excellent-as-usual column.

With very few exceptions, it’s been a long time since any politician really works to “help” anyone or anything. They are driven by lusts for money, power and prestige and I will not be convinced otherwise until they SHOW me different. No matter which label they use – Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative. I’ve even seen and heard squishy things coming from some who claim to be Tea Partiers. Everything they wish to do to “help” is really to ‘help’ themselves get votes. That’s my bottom line belief, and I want so much to be wrong this time!

Anyway, read Dr. Sowell’s column. I think maybe he wouldn’t disagree with my basic premise.