Julie 2020 Blogging
Hey Y’all!
(Getting Back to my Roots.)
Welcome to Julie 2020 Blogging
I sincerely hope that this year will be a good year for all of us.
If you are a regular reader of my blogs then welcome back. I will do away with any introduction as you know me already, and my opinions. If you are new then welcome! The game has started so just pull up a chair and join in. 🙂
Seeing as how I am right of the dealer then it’s my turn to roll the dice……counter clockwise but I have a feeling that will be 2020 in a nutshell.
So, here goes!
Me, with Sparky the Chug, and Spooky the Chihuahua
Let’s Get This Blogging Started!
Julie
p.s. I really do like my new pajamas and I will be wearing them a lot from now on. 🙂
Sadly, they do require hand washing. 🙁 The price we pay for beauty and comfort……
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If you would like to read my history of my blogs, here is:
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AND,
Blogging With Julie Continues On
Blogging With Julie Continues Part 2
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We have been having lots of fun on Twitter if you would like to follow us:
https://twitter.com/JulieBarefoot
(My Twitter Account)
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BLOG ENTRIES START HERE
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With the Coronavirus ravaging our country and the entire world, everyday that I wake up feeling good I thank my lucky stars that I have one more day of good health. I remember hearing as a child that ‘if you have your health then you have everything.’ I used to scoff at that as being ridiculous but now I get it. Everyday that I am healthy is a good day. I am just going to enjoy my life and appreciate every day until my days run out. We come into this world crying and I hope to leave it laughing. (That’s the plan anyway.) 🙂
Julie Lancaster-Whann
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For those interested in what I am currently working on in the website…….
Click Here For: Current Website Events
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I have started a blog page of our home renovations that we are currently going through.
If you would like to take a look:
Click Here For: Our Home Renovations
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2021
I’ve started a new personal blog for 2021:
Hope to see you there,
Julie
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January 2, 2021
I Have Nothing to Say, Therefore I Will Start Blogging
(I have added an update to this blog on 1-7-2021.)
We are already in to 2021 and that means starting some new blog post for me, and blogging about this and that for the next year. But the thing is, I really don’t have that much to say right now. (And because of that I may just be able to crank out about 2,000 words here.)
I have been a bit slack today. Granted, we have work to do before our new carpet arrives on Monday, to be installed into our new “Den.” Because of all of our home renovations, we had stashed that room full of quite a few of our possessions and now we need to unload that room, bringing it all out so that the room is clear and we can have it carpeted come Monday.
We have had an unorganized home since Halloween, which I do blog about in:
We had to have quite a bit of work done to our home because our dishwasher leaked and water ruined quite a bit.
I, of course, blog about it in the post that I list above.
But, right now I’m just so tired of everything being unorganized and out of whack. That is how you say it, right? Out of Whack?
At this writing Gordon is in our kitchen painting it a nice Plateau color, over the already existing blue. It looks so nice too. I’m so happy he is in there working but I am just so tired of all this work. This has been like a move for me, if you know what I mean? I’ll be doing a write up in Our Home Renovations blog and catching up there. But today I just needed to take a break from all the work, all the mess, all the stress, and that is why I am here updating you. 🙂
After Monday all of the professional renovations are done and it will be just a matter of us putting our home back in order. Trust me, that will take a few months! Our dining room is so full of boxes. Our living room and kitchen nook area are full of boxes as well as our household goods just stacked everywhere. We are also awaiting the furniture that we sent off to be recovered. Initially it was to take 3 weeks. Those 3 weeks have turned into 2 months! Now they say our couch and chair will be ready in mid January. I’m starting to wonder if we will ever see our antique couch and chair again?
I told Gordon that once the carpet is installed in our den that we just take our time building up that room into what we want it to be, and then the rest of the house will fall into place. With Brodie moved out we can spread out a bit. Something that we are looking forward to. When we bought this house we figured it would be our forever home as it is in a good location and a good size for a retired couple, or heaven forbid, a widow/widower.
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(I talk here about how the current Republican mindset never got over loosing The Civil War. The Yankees were Republicans and the Southerner’s were Democrats. The Republican’s were the party of Lincoln. But not anymore. There was one point in our history where the Democrats realized that unless they start to let black’s into the party that they would no longer exist. Well, that angered the racist Democrats so they left the party and became Republican’s. And then the Republican’s left their party because the racists had taken over. Hence, the switch. So, when I talk about below how the Republican’s never got over loosing The Civil War, I am referring to the party switching places.)
With this being January and an Inauguration is coming January 20th, 2021, I would like to say a few words about that. You cannot discount the mindset of the republican extremist. They don’t just go away when they lose. They never got over loosing the Civil War. They also pass hate down to their children and grandchildren so that the “cause” will continue. When their guy Trump got in The White House that emboldened them! And they are not about to give up that power now! I know how republican’s think, and it is terrifying. I grew up in the south. They cannot be reasoned with. They have been indoctrinated from birth into having a certain mindset. When they get mad at you they will do one of two things. They will either come after you, or shun you. Personally, I prefer the shunning. But, the supporters of Trump do not shun. They are violent and forceful in their belief and ideology and they have no problem imposing that on you!
They do tend to treat white people that disagree with them differently than they treat people of color that disagree with them. I’ve noticed that when they find out I have a different opinion than they do that they try and sway me over to their side by pleading their case to me. However, when I still hold my same opinion, that is when they turn on a dime and then come after me. I’ve experienced it my entire life.
Conservatives problem solve with a smaller portion of their brains which is why they see life in black and white. It’s also where the term narrow minded comes from. Liberals problem solve with a larger portion of our brains so we see life in grey. We are also known for ‘thinking outside the box.’ It really does boil down to science.
But the thing is that the Democratic Party has been mugged since Election 2000. And they’ve been continuously mugged since by the republican’s. So, they are fired up and angry. And rightly so. Now, you have two groups of people that are angry and ready to fight for what they believe in. So, what do you think is going to happen?
One group has to cave in order for us to have peace. Is it the irrational republican base that love to bully? Or is it the democrats that have been mugged and abused for decades? My guess, neither will cave.
You know, we didn’t get here overnight. And we can’t keep allowing our politicians to do such horrible things and continue to get away with them. That’s how we got a Trump to begin with. Nixon should have gone to jail and not pardoned by Ford. Bush and Cheney should have been prosecuted for Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes, yet Obama gave them a pass. And that has led us to a Trump. If we allow him and his cronies to get away with all that they have done then the next Trump is all lined up and ready to get in our White House. Except the next Trump will be smarter. Our democracy is hanging by a thread right now.
Julie
P.S. Back in February and early March Gordon and I started stocking up our house because we knew the pandemic would get worse and not better. I’m thinking that we need to do that again. Not just because of this super Covid but also because of possible unrest in our country. It may not be safe to go to work, much less to do the usual shopping. Just sayin’.
Oh, one more thing.
America has always had a ‘go it alone’ mentality whether we do it as an individual, a family, or a country. Which is why we will fail unless we start to learn to ask for help, and to give it.
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December 26, 2020
Reflections
My Baby Book
February 13, 1961
The Stork Came to Visit
These Photos Are Of ME
The funny thing is that I remember them.
No matter how young I am I can still remember being that young and what was going on around me. What people said, what people wore, what people were doing. Oh, I can’t remember every moment of my youth but I do remember quite a bit of it.
My mother, whom I am estranged from, sent me a Christmas box this year. It was small, but in it was a jigsaw puzzle of Post Office Christmas Stamps, in honor my Grandfather The Post Master. (Which I do greatly appreciate.) I grew up in a family where there was always a jigsaw puzzle to be worked, spread out on a table and whenever we would come home from school, or wherever, we would just sit down and start working on it. I remember coming home from college and not even bothering to unpack my bags first before sitting down to work on a puzzle. 500 pieces. 1,000 pieces. 1,500 pieces. 2,000 pieces. It never mattered. We were always up to the challenge.
She also sent me a Peanut Butter Cookbook. My mother does know me and my loves. 🙂
She also sent me a vintage Scandinavian Cookbook. Why? I have no idea! It was either mine from my past? Or she bought it from somewhere decades ago? It was first published in 1965. I just find the coincidence interesting that in Nigella Lawson’s new book, Cook, Eat, Repeat, that she has a Scandinavian Christmas and my mother out of the blue gives me that old Scandinavian cookbook. I mean hey, it’s not like this is trending now, ya know? I find that empathically interesting. 🙂
She also sent me my official birth certificate. I do have a few copies of it. Except this one looks more like a diploma you would hang on the wall. It was beautiful! She also sent my adoption papers from when my step-father legally adopted me. I had copies of that as well, but this certificate just looked way more formal than anything that I had.
I am saving the best for last. My mother also sent me my baby book. Interestingly enough, I was just thinking about it and missing it one week before it arrived in the mail. That is the empath in me. I’m thinking about something that is coming my way without actually knowing it was coming my way.
Sitting down and reading it all again. It was a reflection on my past that I miss so very much. I remember my youth. Even as far back as age 1. I mainly remember feelings. Because I am an Empath feelings are how I have always communicated with those that I loved. And how I interpreted their communications toward me.
All of those wonderful people are gone now. But I will never allow their feelings towards me to die. I hold their feelings very close to me. I will never let them go. And it is that that gets me through life. (And Gordon, of course.) 🙂
I sincerely hope that 2021 will hold some magical solution to all of our problems but yet I know that it won’t.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not going to fix everything once they get in there. Actually, they could. But they won’t. Instead of working outside the box to fix everything, they will go nice and slow and do as they are told and slowly the turtle will start to make things right. But, very slowly. And even then it will never make things totally right. Our politician’s answer to way too many people to have the power that they once did.
I wish that I had some wonderful and beautiful Christmas and New Year’s message, but I don’t. It looks like we are on our own. But little do you realize that you have been on your own for the past 4 years. You have survived so far so recognize that and continue to do so.
The good news is that people that we know that used to look down their noses at me for voting and being involved in politics and trying to get them to vote, are now voting and following politics. They used to ask me, “Why do you care so much about politics Julie?” And I would explain to them that it is because they make decisions that affect our lives. We all should be paying attention.
I am very happy to say that they get it now. But, had they, and people like them understood decades ago then we wouldn’t be in such dire straights as a country. But, better late than never. However, the later it takes for people to realize what is going on the more damage we will have.
I do remember about a decade ago reading online where the Oracle of Wall Street, Warren Buffet, once said that things are going to get really bad for all of us. But, if we can get through the bad and survive it, that things will become better for everyone that survives it. Could this have been what he meant? And even then, unless he was psychic, how could he have predicted all of this unless it was planned and engineered?
I don’t have all the answers but I acknowledge that. Only the strong survive. Only the intelligent survive. Only those able to adapt to change survive.
I think Joe Biden was right when he said that ,”The worst is yet to come.”
I really don’t feel like ringing in some bad new year, do you? But, I do feel like ringing in a new enlightened new year where many of us will try to ban together to actually make our country great again. 🙂
Julie
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December 11, 2020
On Death and Dying and White Privilege
Last week a delivery man delivered 3 packages to our door that were meant for our neighbors beside us so Gordon ran them over to their front door. He then noticed that 2 of our packages were sitting on their doorstep. Gordon didn’t want to make some package exchange on his own so he rang the doorbell but no one answered. The woman across the street, I’ll call her Winny, observed Gordon and told him that the neighbor would be right back. She just went to pick up her kid/kids from school. So, Gordon decided to just wait on her to come back and struck up a conversation with Winny. We have always liked Winny and her husband Heff, not his real name. That is when Winny told Gordon that Heff had died in June from cancer, but that he has known about his cancer for the last 4 1/2 years. Gordon was shocked. We didn’t know. We had seen an ambulance off and on at their residence over the past year but we mind our own business and don’t stand outside and gawk like other neighbors do. We also don’t ask questions as it is none of our business. We are sad to hear that Heff has died because he was a friendly face in our neighborhood. Same with Winny. She did say that she is having a hard time with it. I’m sure that she is. That is not something that I care to deal with myself.
We have been very busy lately and we do tend to just do our own thing anyway so we really don’t pay that much attention to our neighborhood. We don’t stand at our windows peeking out at the neighbors. We do see the occasional jogger or walker but for the most part our neighbors have stayed put these past few weeks or so. We just assumed that they were being cautious due to Covid, not dying.
It was then that I logged into this subscription program whose name I am not going to reveal now but it has public record information on all of us. At least us regular citizens. Oh, you won’t find anything for public viewing on the rich and famous, but you do on us average citizens. And even then they aren’t 100% accurate but you do get an idea of the person/people you may be looking up.
My interest was in discovering who may have died this year due to Covid that we knew/knew of, but that we had not been informed about.
I started looking up people that I knew in my very early years, school days, working days, young married days, middle aged years, and a few seniors that we know. And I just couldn’t believe the info that I was uncovering. Women that I used to work with in the mid 80’s were still in those low income cosmetic and fragrance jobs. I sympathized with them on their feet all day. Most likely trading their fancy high heals of their youth and wearing support panty hose and therapeutic shoes behind the counters they manned. And wondering how they fared through lockdowns when no money was coming to them? And discovering that some people that I knew never got married or had children. And discovering that some of them did get married, had children, and then divorced at about 10 years. (That is fairly common at 10 years to either get through that time period, or divorce. It really is a crucial landmark in most marriages.)
I looked up military families that we knew in Hawaii and had since left the island and settled in various states like Virginia and North Carolina. I also looked us up and discovered the names of some of our neighbors that I wasn’t aware of. I did find an interesting thread that was woven through the religious people that we had known in our past and some neighbors that are very religious. They all had criminal convictions! Court fines totaling 50 thousand dollars for one person! And 33 thousand for another person. Then 2 thousand for a 3rd. person. And then 15 thousand for a 4th. person and 12 thousand for a 5th. person. They were all traffic related offenses. Here comes the white privilege. What I discovered in my research was that the religious people tended to have the most criminal offenses. Why is that? WHITE PRIVILEGE! It’s as if all these laws that we are expected to follow just don’t apply to them. I also discovered that a man in our neighborhood that passes himself off as a great guy, (although I never trusted him) has a criminal past.
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I did find through my searching that I knew of 2 people that had died this year. A man in Texas that was my step-brother’s, step-father. He had married his mother years ago My step-brother would always say such horrible things about Harold and then one day I heard that Harold was building him a deck outside his home as a birthday gift. That was when I started to question the info that my step-brother was giving me? Why would such an evil person build you a deck for your birthday? All my step-brother did was giggle. That’s what he would do when he was cornered. As many terrible things that my step-brother has said about me that aren’t true, then there is really no reason for me to believe anything that he ever said about Harold as being true either.
The other person that I found out that had died was the woman that my biological father married after my parents divorce. He went on to have 2 daughters with her, my half-sisters. Of course he then had an affair with a young woman named Sheila who was just a few years older than me. He left his then wife and two daughters and invested all of his time with Sheila. He then died of a massive widow maker heart attack just 3 months into his new marriage. I was 21 at the time. He was 43.
I’m really not surprised that Spot, not her real name, has died. Although I have never thought of her as my step-mother, I guess that is what she was? She has always had health problems. Whenever I would visit my half-sisters she always had some ailment that she was complaining about. She was 78 when she died. One year younger than my mother. Although my mother is set to turn 80 on January 3rd., 2021.
I actually have mixed feelings about Spot’s death. She did help me out when I was at a low point in my life. She gave me good advice that I needed at the time, that I used and went on to land the job that I needed. I attribute that to Spot. But she was also a racist and a homophobe, which doesn’t exactly make her a good person. I guarantee that she voted for Trump in 2016 and had she lived past her October 15th. death then I’m sure she would have voted for Trump in 2020.
Whenever I would visit with my half-sisters she was always there. I used to think that she is always there because she likes me too. But no. That wasn’t it. Spot always wanted to be there to monitor the situation. She was a very controlling mother and didn’t like my liberalness being an influence on her daughters so she would always be sure to insert a wedge between me and them once I had left. My younger half-sister could have been a more successful person in life had she gotten out of Rome, Georgia but her mother was always there to call her back. To keep her close. To make sure she didn’t stray too far off. To control her.
And although my younger half-sibling is a very educated person, her mother made sure she never left the fold to evolve into perhaps what she could have been.
I no longer have a relationship between myself and my half-sisters. They haven’t really cared about me since they were young girls. It was when our father left their mother and hooked up with that Shelia that I threw my support toward them. I supported Spot, and my half-sisters against the big Aycock Clan. At that time I was the star of the Aycock family and because of my support for my “step-mother” and my half-sister’s I was banished. I do have to say that if I could do it all over again I would leave my “step-mother” and her daughters to fend for themselves. I mean, where did it get me? Nowhere. They aren’t good people and were never worthy of the sacrifice that I made for them. They are also aren’t worth knowing now.
I suppose that I will continue to monitor those people that I knew, good and bad, to see how they fare through these very rough times in the age of Covid. I do have those that I am rooting for and those that I just don’t care that much about anymore. This is such a challenge for all of us now.
Take Care,
Julie
P.S. I do have my nosy moments and I do act upon them.
It was fun looking people up and getting a look into their lives.
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November 22, 2020
Nigella Lawson, ‘Cook, Eat, Repeat’
The many ‘Post It’s’ are just because those areas just feel so familiar.
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Cook, eat, repeat, cook, eat, repeat, cook, eat, repeat……
The British cook, Nigella Lawson, has just released her 12th. book, Cook, Eat, Repeat. She lives in London, England and her new book did just debut on October 29, 2020 in the United Kingdom. Her book will not be released here in the states until April 2021. She is someone that I have followed since the early 2000’s from when I first discovered her on The Style Network from when we were living in Maryland. That is also when I discovered Rachel Ashwell and her Shabby Chic T.V. shows as well. I’ve been a fan of both women since then.
My Nigella Collection
(My Rachel Ashwell Collection is just to the left on this shelf.)
As you can see I have every one of her books and most of her video’s. When my friend Trish was living she would send me the New Zealand magazines and sometimes Nigella was in them. I also have those above as well. I do happen to love Nigella’s Christmas episode’s the best. The photography/cinematography is excellent! Her Christmas episode’s are very high quality. (All the episode’s are.) I also love the music. Music really does make a show. (One of my favorite movies is Twilight. Only because of the music. You take the music away and I could care less.) Editing is also everything and whoever edits deserves great credit as well. Nigella herself also deserves tremendous credit as these are her show’s that she stars in.
My favorite cookbook of hers is her Nigella Christmas. It’s just so beautiful and festive. Some of the recipe’s just get you very excited to make them and to share with others. I know that we have in the past. She has a recipe for excellent Bourbon Ribs and we adore her Drunken Devil’s on Horseback each year.
But, I do have to say that this particular cookbook, Cook, Eat, Repeat, just has a different feel to it than her last ones. First of all, the title, Cook, Eat, Repeat summons up to me something very easy, fun, and childlike. Something Dr. Seuss would come up with. But yet it isn’t anything he would come up with. And then there is the ‘A for Anchovy’ chapter which comes first. That also summons up a child like book, yet when you read the chapter, there is nothing childlike about it. I have never heard anyone describe their love of anchovy’s the way that she does and all that I can think is that if I ever come back as a fish, PLEASE do not have me be an anchovy! Nigella would eat me! I want to be an unappetizing fish just so that I can have some sort of a life in the sea without fear of being eaten.
I also came to realize that she loves food way more than me. And also, way more than I will ever.
But, I suppose that is what makes her the expert.
You know, I am not qualified to judge her cookbook as some expert, other than to give my personal opinion on it. I am not a trained chef, or book writer critic. My husband is the one with the culinary degree. I cannot dare to tell you what ingredients go best with this food, or that. I can only offer up my opinion of the foods themselves that are being presented to me. Would I choose to cook them? Do they taste how I would like? Are they easy/hard enough that I am capable of making them? That is about all that I am qualified to write about here.
I will start with this:
Cook, Eat, Repeat
Blue, White, Black and with Touches of Pink
And what is this?
When you open the book, this is what you see: this has no rhyme or reason for being in this book. The color scheme of the book is Blue, White, Black and with touches of Pink. Where does this bold red and green pattern come into play right when you open the cover of the book? In the front and in the back?
Grab a Magnifying Glass! This is Cryptology! If you look very closely you will see lots of lower case “n” and upper case “J”. I can only assume that the lower case “n” is for Nigella. But who is the upper case “J” that she see’s herself second fiddle to? That is the question? The flipping and flopping of the letters is key to this being cryptology. Take a look for yourselves.
Perhaps I should enlist one of the last remaining Native American Code Talkers to decipher it? 🙂
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I would like to say that everyone has the right to name their book, or their website whatever they want. I believe there is an audience for everyone whether that audience be 2 million or 2 hundred. But when I first heard that Nigella’s new cookbook would be named ‘Cook, Eat, Repeat’ I didn’t like it. It kind of sounded beneath her. But I suppose that is her life and her mantra, Cook, Eat, Repeat as she insists. It does conjure up that rhyme I first heard a few years ago of these two people in this boat, Pete and Repeat. Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out, who’s left? Repeat. O.K., Pete and Repeat were in a boat, Pete fell out, who’s left? Repeat…… I guess you get the picture. 🙂
She also has a Defense of Brown Food Chapter and I can only ask, ‘Why should anyone have to defend brown food? Don’t most people love steak? Hamburger? Roast Beef? Stews? Or are they in some “Red” category that no one told me about? We may not eat Red Meat ourselves anymore but we do recognize that many people do love all the brown food/red meat dishes that are out there.
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Cook, Eat, Repeat, does have a mood to it. You can tell is was mostly written during lockdown in London. It just has that feel to it. But, I don’t mean a bad feel to it. But there is a mood and a feeling that went along with it. Similarly to all of us having a mood that has affected us during this Covid 19 era. (Although truth be told we had a blast in lockdown!) 🙂
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Although I haven’t finished reading the book yet it does offer up more recipes than you realize. Not all of them come with photos and are not necessarily written in the format of most recipe’s. A lot of the recipes she just writes out in sentences. (I too have been known to do that occasionally in my own website.)
Her T.V. series that goes with the release of her book is airing on one of the BBC channels in the UK, and from what I’ve read some of her audience has been critical of a few of her dishes.
Nigella’s Banana Skin Curry
I like the idea of no food waste in making this recipe. Although this isn’t new to do, she was criticized for adding old banana peels to a curry and making it sound good. This is the future of food. There won’t be enough for everyone to eat so there will be no food waste. It’s actually something our future generations will be struggling with. So, recipes like this are a good idea.
A few years ago on the BBC Food Twitter they had posted how they had deep fried the skins that were peeled from potatoes and found a useful way to eat them without throwing them away. Those kinds of ideas are needed.
Nigella Buttering Her Toast
Ms. Lawson was also criticized for showing her audience how she butters her toast. One layer of butter when the toast is nice and hot so the butter melts, then topped with another layer of butter. People just didn’t know what to think about that and started saying things like ‘next she’ll be teaching us how to boil water.’
I believe that Nigella is misunderstood at times like these. I think that she just wants to teach her audience how to get the maximum taste out of food, even something as simple as buttering bread.
I myself can give you instructions on how to open a jar lid because sometimes that is a difficult thing to do. For example, if trying to open a jar lid seems impossible then just shake the jar around so that the air isn’t at the top anymore, creating a vacuum. Then try opening it. These are just hints and tips. That’s all. Oh, and do not try that with any sort of carbonated drink btw.
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Although Nigella isn’t very popular over here in the states, she is popular in Europe and Australasia. Although I do believe that pockets of America are familiar with her and enjoy whatever she has to present. My wish would be for her to do something different. Her show is always the same format in the same sort of kitchen. I would love to see her doing something different yet still maintaining the quality that does come from her and her shows. I just don’t know what that different format would be? That is something for her to figure out. She is 60. Not that there is anything in the world wrong with that but you don’t usually tend to grow an audience at 60.
What you do hope to do is to maintain the audience that you have had for years to bring them along on the journey with you. Someone like me. Someone that has been there from the beginning.
I will say that this cookbook is more for a sophisticated audience and not your average American. Not that she should dumb herself down to appeal to the average, but maintain that intelligence and bring your audience up to your level. I believe we need more of that in all areas, not just cook books and cooking shows. Having said that, her vocabulary will leave most people behind and confused.
So, am I enjoying the book? Well, I find parts of it very interesting. Is there anything that I would be interested in cooking? Perhaps the Black Treacle (Molasses) Sausages, the Vegan Gingerbread, (I have a ton of Ginger that I need use up and was thinking about making lots of Gingerbread/Gingerbread cookies/etc. for this year), the Brown Butter Colcannon looks good too. Just to name a few.
Would I recommend the book to an American audience? No, it would be over their heads and most of the food they would not be interested in eating. But, as I said above, there is an audience for everyone whether that audience be 2 million people or 2 hundred people.
I know that I don’t cater my website to the average person. It’s funny but my Indian guys that protect and work on the technical side of my website were trying to give me hints and tips on appealing to more people and one way they wanted me to do that is to not post as many photos when we do recipes. I told them that that is just my way and I don’t want to do it differently. You see, they are under the impression that I am trying to appeal to a large audience and that I want to grow some business, etc. I don’t! Although it would be nice to have reader’s to donate money here and there to help us keep the sight going, that just never happened. (We had to remove the Paypal button on the website because it kept getting hacked but that didn’t matter because no one ever donated money anyway.)
But, if I were to pick up some sponsor of our website the first thing they would probably tell me is to delete all my blogs in order to make my sight less personal and more professional. Deleting all that would be like deleting myself. Because here in America once you take money you lose your voice. You are then beholden to whoever has the money. That is just how it was in my family growing up. My step-father always threw in my face that because he was paying that I had to do what he said. The person who pays is always in charge. I’ve heard that my whole life. Which is why I like my website just as it is. Because I am beholden to no one. And that is how it should be for all of us.
Julie
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November 9, 2020
My Parents
My mother, Mary Keith Haskin, is on the front row, far left.
My biological father is on the second to the last row, third from the left, the boy with the Aycock Ears.
Or so I have heard them referred to as.
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My Parents, 1959
That sounds so strange for me to say, “My Parents.” They divorced when I was a baby so there aren’t that many photos of the two of them together. So, when I look at these photos I see that this is where I come from.
Charles Bradley Aycock and Mary Keith Haskin
My Grandmother still had my mother’s hoop skirt in her bedside trunk when she died in 2000. I have that trunk, but I don’t have the hoop skirt. My mother probably got rid of it. I do have to say that I would have loved to have it. Just for historical purposes. Not necessarily sentimental ones.
My Parents
I inherited my red haired biological father’s rare grey eyes. I really didn’t know that much about him except that he was a good basketball player in high school. They also say that he could do anything, fix anything, build anything…..
This is where I come from. I think everyone needs to know where they come from.
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November 9, 2020
Joe Biden’s Irish Roots in Ballina, Ireland
I was talking to my brother Johnny, who lives around Ballina, Ireland about how Joe Biden has his Irish roots from there with cousins still living there. He then sent me this photo that his partner Sabina had taken in 2016 of when Joe Biden had visited the village. Sabina just saw a crowd, walked over to it, and then took his picture not knowing who he was. 🙂 I find that hysterical as that is Sabina. She just shrugged her shoulders and she was not impressed. 🙂
And as my brother says, ‘They will probably name a street after him now.’
Julie
P.S. I wrote my brother months ago and asked that he and his daughter Kate, who was born in Savannah, Georgia in 2000 to please vote in our election. Well, they did! And I heard from Johnny that Kate was so happy that she believes her vote made a difference in turning Georgia into a swing state and making a difference. That makes me very happy to hear.
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November 4, 2020
The Shock and Surprise of our Media
(Shocks and Surprises Me)
As you know, our Election 2020 was yesterday between the incumbent Donald J. Trump, and former Vice-President Joe Biden. At my writing today at 6:00 p.m. there is still no declared winner as votes are still being counted. It is a very close election. It does look to favor Joe Biden, which is what I have written about in the past. Joe will win. BUT, whether or not he becomes President that was always never uncertain to me. Time will tell. Republican’s do not concede defeat very easily. It is always a last resort with them.
Winston Churchill even once said, “Americans will always to do the right thing-after exhausting all the alternatives.”
One thing that has struck me today is the reaction by our media personalities on how close the race is and how that alarms them that after 4 years of Trump people are still rooting for him and voting for him. They wonder…. Why?
As an Empath none of this surprises me as we Empath’s know how people feel, as we do feel their feelings. I’ve written before that most people are just not worth knowing. In my 59 years here being born in America, growing up in America, and living in America, most American’s really aren’t that nice or good, or descent people. I have very fond memories throughout my life of just a handful of really good genuine people that have made a positive impact on my life. Most everyone else just really isn’t worth remembering.
But, it surprises me that our media is just so shocked that they have finally realized what I have known most of my life. It amazes me how distraught they are in their realization that half of their countrymen are racist, and just plain mean. All that I can think of is….what planet have they been living in all this time? Why don’t you know what I know? It is your business to keep up with this stuff. You are in the media after all. Shouldn’t you be informed as to the populace in which you work to bring them the news? You really don’t have to be an Empath to know these things. I even came across an article a few years ago about how the seniors in Florida are the biggest bullies in America. Therefore, why would anyone be surprised that a state full of bully’s would back for President, a bully? Yet they all seem shocked that The Villages, a large senior community in Florida, would vote heavily for Trump.
Sometimes I think I should be running the world. 🙂
I’m sure I’m the only one that thinks that too.
We will see what happens. I know that even though I know things will be bad that I always hope that I am wrong and I listen to those positive voices out there, and they do give me hope. Yet, that hope does vanish sometimes and I’m left with my original feelings of what is going to happen once it does happen. Then I get mad at myself for listening to those positive voices and that I actually had the audacity to believe in them. But people like me always hope that we are wrong because what we see is usually bad.
Well, I’ve told you everything that I know right now. I sincerely hope all will be well but I’m just not sure about that. But in the meantime we are doing our house renovations. I’m am blogging about that on another page. I’ll write more soon. I’m just very tired and drained at the moment from everything that is going on with me. The Election, The Pandemic, Home Renovations….
TTYL….
Julie
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October 24, 2020
Entering Halloween Week
(My “The Birds” Dress)
I am almost too tired to even be writing this right now because of all our renovation prep Gordon and I are doing. I am going to start a post about it once things get going. Right now I just want to enjoy Halloween week. Cooking, creating, projects….. it’s fun!
Gordon was out today buying new carpet for Brodie’s room. The company comes to measure his room tomorrow. We chose something nice and “Pearl” with lots of cushion. That room will be our new den. We are very excited! We also have the paint and we are excited to get started but we are awaiting our Brodie to exit it. He is so frickin’ slow. He has promised that he will be totally out by next weekend.
While Gordon was out and about today doling the shopping he stopped by the Spanish store and got us dinner. Can’t wait to try my Mexican wings and rice.
I spent the day cleaning our bathroom. Windows, shutters, bathtub, floors, doing bathroom laundry…
It was my idea to put all of our alcohol in our bathtub during these renovations so that we can keep track of it. If you know what I mean. I’ll have to post a photo as it wasn’t until we looked at all of it that Gordon and I turned to each other and said, “We’re alcoholics.” And when I show it to you, you will also say, “Your alcoholics.”
I’ll keep you posted on our renovation progress, but I also want to enjoy my favorite time of year. I guess I’ll just do what I can.
My Charmed Mess
I am also trying to do more for my Charmed Halloween. I found an old t-shirt of Veronica’s with Piper and Leo. She adored Piper. I’ll have to pass it along to her once I’ve finished.
Anyway, all is well. (For now.) 🙂
Julie
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October 22, 2020
Renovations, Coming SOON!
Carpet Samples
We’ve Settled on Sweet Basil
(We were considering Sunset but our son looked at it and said, “It looks like piss.” Well, thank you Brodie for ruining Sunset for us.)
A few weeks ago our kitchen dishwasher leaked and water ran out the back of it to our living room carpet. Gordon first noticed this very wet area and just assumed that our dogs had urinated there. But, he then realized that it was a huge wet area on our carpet that had extended out a few feet from the wall and even crept underneath our very large entertainment center. That is when Gordon realized that there must be a leak in our dishwasher. So, he pulled it out from underneath the counter and turned it on to test where the water was coming from. Sure enough, water started running out from underneath so I grabbed lots of towels and Gordon shut it down.
We didn’t realize the extent of the damage at first. We just thought we needed some new living room carpeting but we have since come to realize that the water damaged the cabinets in an entire section of our kitchen. We’ve been doing without a dishwasher now for a few weeks and we have been using lots of paper plates, cups, bowls, paper coffee cups, and cutlery. I hate all of this plastic that we are using even though we are recycling most of it. I preferred either hand washing, or running our dishwasher but with all the cooking we do it has become just too much for me to constantly hand wash everything. (I didn’t grow up on some Little House on the Prairie.)
We’ve had two dishwasher repairmen out to our house and we either pay $400.00 to get it fixed, or we buy a new one. Well, looks like we are buying a new one. However, not until our kitchen renovation starts because it will just be one more appliance that we have to deal with until then so we are going to wait. And renovations don’t start until mid-November. We will be getting half a new kitchen, and all new living room carpeting. We are buying the new dishwasher and might as well buy a new garbage disposal, and we are paying whatever to upgrade our kitchen counters. We are looking into granite or quartz. A neighbor kind of tried to shame us into buying marble and that’s when I said, “GRANITE COUNTERS MATTER! GRANITE COUNTERS MATTER! Yeah, don’t mess with granite cause once you go granite, you never got back. 🙂
Our contractor that is doing all this work came by yesterday and dropped off some carpet samples for us and lots of boxes and packing material. Fun! 🙁
But before we can even touch that, Brodie has to clear everything out of his room and move it to his rental storage room. He will be living with Mackenzie and her parents in Tampa for a few months. Mackenzie’s twin sister Susannah bought a condo and they helped her move into it last weekend so there is a spare room and Mackenzie’s parents offered it to Brodie. This was all before we knew we needed him to move out. The timing was perfect!
Brodie has been packing up his room and I think that he will rent some sort of van to move the rest of his furniture out this weekend. So, it looks like next week we will be painting his room and carpeting it once we finish painting it. Then, we will move some of our furniture in there and start setting it up as a some sort of den with lots of book shelves and my treadmill will go in there as well. We want to buy a T.V. to mount on the wall and move a computer desk and some chairs in there. It’ll be great! Once we do all that then we start packing up our precious things and then storing them in there. I’ll let you know what happens after that…..
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For those of you that are wondering…. Yes, we did vote by mail a few weeks ago. I realize I said that I wasn’t going to vote because I feel that we are constantly being manipulated by both parties, but getting rid of Trump is more important at this time than protesting our manipulative election process. (By BOTH parties.)
I will say this though, the only time both parties ever work together is to push out a legitimate 3rd. party. We’ll talk more about that in the future. If there even is a future.
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You know, I keep hearing how we all need to vote for Joe Biden to restore the soul of America.
Who says the soul of America is good? I look at our rotten politician’s that so many American’s vote in again, and again. We didn’t get to this point in our nation’s history because we are “good” people. We got to this point because we aren’t.
I am a traumatized 59 year old woman because of all the trauma that I have experienced throughout my life because of my fellow American’s. Being the new kid in school more times than I can count from all that moving around. The mean girls in Junior High and High School that have certainly left their marks on me. A few rotten bosses, back stabbing co-workers, nasty neighbors…. the soul of America?
In my experience with my own country, and my own country people, I truly cannot say that they have ever been very good. As a matter of fact, the two people that have done the most damage to me in life were my mother and my step-father. Closely followed by my rotten step-brother, and my cyber stalker, Paul Keith Gray.
There have only been a handful of truly good and honest American people that I have ever known in my life that I cherish.
The Soul of America?
Where? Because I have never known it.
I hope things turn out well this election but if they don’t, I then see why The Middle East refers to us as ‘The Great Satan.’
I know that has been my experience.
Julie
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October 18, 2020
Happy Birthday Vivien!
Photos From Ireland
9 Year Old Beauty
Her mother Sabina made the cake. She is very talented.
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Vivien in the middle, with her sister/our niece Lola in the back. Looks like Lola will be tall like me. Because I don’t get to see these girls grow up in front of me I only have Twitter and Email and Photos to judge their progress. I am the tallest sibling in my family and I am guessing Lola will be too.
I miss these girls so much,
Julie
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October 12, 2020
Shooting Our Homage to John Carpenter’s Halloween
(A white men’s button down shirt was pretty much my inside wardrobe through my senior year in high school and when I was in college.)
Just having a relaxing evening at home chatting on the old green phone and watching VHS tapes from the 80’s. And making popcorn the old fashioned way, of course.
Get it Sparky! I dropped a piece. Come on, eat it.
And does he eat it? No!
Monk and Sugar would have gobbled that up by now, along with every dog I ever knew. But not Sparky or Spooky. Pickiest eaters for dogs that we have ever known.
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Actually, I just wanted to check in with my fans. All 5 of you. 🙂
To let you know how things are……..
Remember when I write below about how our dishwasher leaked and water built up underneath the cabinets and then drained underneath our wall onto our living room carpet causing mold and damage? And remember how I said that none of this is really bad, it’s just life? Remember? Well, now it’s BAD!!!
We had the insurance adjuster out today to write up his assessment of the damage and it looks like we will either be getting a brand new kitchen, or at least half of a brand new kitchen. New breakfast bar, new cabinets, new countertops, and perhaps new tile on the floor. If the workers damage this tile. We will most likely have one of those giant PODS in our driveway that will hold boxes and boxes of our possessions, along with a lot of our furniture while we get brand new carpeting in our living room.
So, to those of you that think this is all good news? You would be right if we weren’t such hoarders with millions of our collections. Even the insurance adjuster just stood there looking at all of our stuff in amazement shaking his head. He also took lots of photos and I just know he’s showing them to everyone in his office while they all look at them with shocked amazement on their little judgemental faces.
In a way this is a blessing in disguise. It’s just a journey that I don’t care to go on right now. Or ever. I hate change, I hate to be disrupted. Do you think I want my entire living room/kitchen/dining room/kitchen nook packed up by a bunch of strangers while men are here for weeks at a time with all of their trucks parked outside our house during a pandemic??? NO! So, like I said, this is bad.
I told Gordon that I am planning on locking myself in the bedroom with my computer and the dogs AND a new mini fridge that we’ll keep in the bathroom until all the work is over with. I will only emerge from my lair to answer the door for all the wine and take out we’ll be ordering.
I really do dread all this,
Julie
P.S. I suppose all this work could start as early as November and as late as January/February. I’ll let you know. 🙂
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October 3, 2020
Vivien’s First Holy Communion
1st. Holy Communion
This was a big day for our Vivien.
Our niece Vivien, second from left.
Enniscrone, Ireland
Our nieces Vivien and Lola
Kate Jude couldn’t make it as she is in lockdown in Dublin at Trinity.
I asked my brother how in the world he had such beautiful daughter’s? 🙂
Lola on the right is the Empath. I know she is. I write about her in my Empath blogs. She could also talk to ghosts when she was very young. After me, there is her. I don’t know where the line of our Empath future will go. But it is hereditary.
I hope it lives on,
Julie
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oCTOBER #, @0@0
iN tHE uPSIDE dOWN
For those of you familiar with the term it can apply to both Stranger Things and Alice in Wonderland.
I think our country has been turned upside down since Election 2016 and I do not see any recovery in sight. Oh, we may loose Trump but we will not be rid of Trumpism or his supporters for a very long time. And from what I am starting to hear is that they are speculating that “They” (whoever “They” is), gave it to him. That doesn’t bode well for us if things don’t go their way regardless of what happens. But I do have to say that this is the first time I’ve had hope since the Inauguration.
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On the fun side of things, I have finished putting together our:
Hey, Family Guy! Get a CLUE For Halloween!
Recipe write- up’s still have to be done by Gordon, but other than that the post is done and I am really pleased with it.
It was lots of fun!
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I am now starting on a new Halloween.
This one will be a CHARMED Halloween. 🙂
And as I told my brother Johnny when I told him we are starting our second Halloween, “There is no such thing as too many Halloween’s.”
I had originally said that I was going to do a Vintage Halloween, and I still might, but CHARMED will be the centerpiece.
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A CHARMED Halloween
Making The Spirit Board
My new project. The wood was cut for this project in the summer of 2003 in my step-father’s red barn in Rome, Georgia by Gordon, and with the help of my step-father. They made 2 of them. It was my request that I get one, and that Veronica gets the other one. So, 17 years ago I actually started this project, and now I hope to complete it.
Veronica’s CHARMED Scrapbook and Artwork
Veronica drew all the candles here. The scrapbook is filled with tons of photographs and scrapbooking accessories. Veronica started it, and then I finished it. It must be 100 pages front and back from the many years that Charmed was on T.V. It is a huge homage to the show by both of us.
Getting some things out of storage for our CHARMED Halloween.
I’ve always wanted a Victorian Doll House and that paper thing in the photo above and below is the closest thing I’ve come to it.
I think this is going to be a fun project and a great Halloween theme. I’ll give all this stuff to Veronica once I’ve finished it all. These are her childhood memories after all. Also, when we were living in Maryland she started a Charmed website that she would work on in her spare time. I don’t know what happened to it. That was when anyone could start a website online before all the destructive hacking that we have now. People were free to create and share until all the evil took over.
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And Now For All Of Our DRAMA
- My car won’t start because it hasn’t been used that much since the pandemic/lockdown started. Brodie is on it though and repairing it as I type this. Gordon has a migraine and is in bed asleep. He suffers from migraines and when they flare up he needs to sleep them off.
2. Our refrigerator ice maker isn’t working properly. We can get it going and it will last another month before it will quit on us. Then we’ll get it working again and it will last about a month at a time before we have to continuously fix it again, and again, and again.
3. We noticed that the carpet beside our entertainment center was wet:
Gordon then realized that the water was coming through underneath the wall from our dishwasher.
He did find the leak:
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Spooky photo of the leaking trail of water from the dishwasher.
Look at the water line behind the dishwasher.
Bottom Line:
Can’t use dishwasher until our insurance agent comes to take a look at the damage. Then we either fix the dishwasher or buy another one, and/or buy new living room carpet. But, until then……..
It’s paper and plastic EVERYTHING!
So, do I view all this as being bad? No. I view all this as being LIFE. This has not been our Annus Horribillis. (Latin for horrible year.) I have no earthly idea if I spelled that correctly but 2020 has been most people’s Annus Horribillis, but not ours. We’ve gotten through pretty unscathed, so far. However, that never means that we will continue to. But, we are pretty o.k. for now. I will take our problems over something more serious any day of the week.
Hope all is well. We’ll get through.
Julie
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September 17, 2020
Real Heroes
Our son-in-law is a fireman, a first responder. He works for the Polk County Fire and Rescue. We love our Brian and we are so happy to have him in our family. He is a genuinely good guy, and as our daughter Veronica says, “He’s just like Dad.”
Veronica sent us the following through the mail the other morning. I was so happy to hear of this that I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. I’ll let you read and then I will meet you at the bottom……
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That is our Brian standing in the back. He is with his coworkers.
(I am mad at all of them for not wearing masks though.)
That is also Brain to the right doing the weed eating.
First of all, we always refer to our first responders as heroes. They are not. It is their job to rush in wherever they are needed. They are trained and they are just doing their job. To me, a hero is someone that is untrained yet rushed in to help with no training whatsoever putting their life on the line to help or save someone, or many someones.
However, here is a situation where these firefighters did their job. They responded to a call, did their job, and it was at that point that they could have left but yet, they didn’t. They took on the responsibility to make sure the residents were taken care of. They decided that the residents needed help, so they decided to help them. You see, this wasn’t part of their job. They did this out of the goodness of their hearts. They weren’t getting paid for any of this. They did this because they care. And now the residence of this home are in a far better shape than they were before, thanks to these heroes.
So, take a good look at them. Because they are what real heroes look like. And we are so proud of each and every one of them. Especially, our Brian. 🙂
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September 15, 2020
Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Some Other Day
It has been raining here non stop since late July. Whatever storm system or hurricane comes up through the Gulf always dumps rain on us. So, whatever outside projects that we have planned takes longer to complete in the summer because you only have a few hours in the day of sunshine before the rain comes. Gutters did get finished. Fence extension has been up and completed, but our concrete pour that Gordon was going to do himself has been put off until the weather cooperates.
In the past our rainy season will start in early June and go through August before it tapers off but this year it got a late start which is probably why we are having so many storms and hurricane’s now. When the ocean waters are warm then storms form over the water. And what with Global Warming they are stronger in intensity than they used to be. We are still having just as many storms as we’ve always had. The only difference is that now they are stronger and more dangerous.
But sadly, solving these problems requires global leadership, something lacking right now.
Pretty soon it’s going to be ‘every man for themselves’ and ‘only the strong survive.’ When you cannot convince other’s that we need to ban together to solve these problems then it’s time to quit trying to convince other’s and just start to look out for yourself.
I do believe in helping people, but when people do not want your help and prefer ignorance over knowledge then it’s time to let them go even if it means knowing they are signing their own death warrants.
Life can be quite nice but it is something that you will need to create yourselves. Learn to enjoy your own company. Or the company of a few people as opposed to many. Have hobbies and interests. If you can then buy a treadmill or some sort of exercise equipment. Gyms are not safe places to visit during this pandemic. I know a woman in Canada that will not go to the gym to workout if her hair needs coloring. I suggested that if she owned her own treadmill then she could use it anytime in the privacy of her own home without anyone knowing her hair needs coloring.
These are just a few suggestions but I think the main thing that anyone can do is to just have a better attitude about their situation. I’m referring to just being a bit lonely and not going through some trauma or abuse. Although I do see parallels between Trump and the Republicans, and my parents. How I survived all that abuse was to create my own happy environment whether it was in my bedroom, or in my head.
But, I promised myself I was not going to have this blog entry be so dark. After all, my favorite time of year is coming up.
HALLOWEEN!
We will be shooting a new Halloween post for the website this weekend. I promised myself that I would give you a CLUE, so here it is………………………
HEY, F****Y G*Y! GET A CLUE!
(Future Title of Post)
It’ll be fun! Gordon is going to cook something for our new Halloween post that he has never cooked before and he is looking forward to that. We’re working on our set this week and getting everything ready for it. I am so sore and tired right now from all the work. But it’s fun work. And then after we shoot this Halloween post we’ll get out all the Halloween from the attic and go through that, I want to start setting it all up. Maybe I’ll see if Veronica and Brian want some of it. But not before I’ve used it in some Halloween post. Well, that’s all that I know for now. Working on completing other posts. I’ll let you know as I do. You can find that information on our Current Website Events
TTYL….
Julie
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September 10, 2020
Grandparents Day, My Grandfather, and the USPS
Grandparents Day is Sunday, September 13, 2020. I wanted to say something about my Grandfather to honor him specifically on that day.
Franklin Ellwood Haskin, 1920?
He is a boy here in Vincennes, Indiana.
Young Frank, the Student, Private School, Darlington, Rome, Georgia.
Top Student.
Frank the PC in the United States Navy, WWII
PC= Postal Clerk
My Grandfather was a Postman in the war.
He said he joined the Navy because he figured the food would taste better there. He loved food. He loved to eat. And it showed. 🙂
The photos above are of my Grandfather in WWII. He has such a nice smile on his face. When you look at the other men’s photos in WWII they aren’t smiling. They even look a bit haunted. You see, my Grandfather never saw the terrible things that other men saw at that time. He was a postman. Trusted and beloved. Hey, everyone was always happy to see the mailmen bringing mail from home. From their loved ones. The mailmen were the rock stars of the war. But what you don’t realize is that the mailmen were trusted to get the mail to the troops. They had sworn a duty to protect the mail. The mail was the most important thing in the world to them. And they would risk their lives to protect it.
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My Grandfather was a good husband, a good father, a good grandfather, a good friend, a good neighbor, etc., etc. because he never saw combat. He wasn’t damaged in the way that so many others were. His duty was to the mail. And because I was raised in that environment I too have a huge respect for the mail. Even when the mailman would accidentally place a letter or bill to a neighbor that I didn’t like, I would still walk it over to them and deliver it because I was taught the mail is sacred. And I believe it to be so.
I did grow up hearing all the stories of the Pony Express men that would risk their lives to deliver the mail. People used to send money through the mail so the mailmen that handled all that had to be trusted. After the war my Grandfather became a lieutenant for the post office. He even carried a gun. It was his job to protect the mail at all costs. He took that job seriously. He then went on to become Postmaster. I have many happy memories of that beautiful yellow brick building in downtown Rome, Georgia. Even after he died and I would drive by the building in my Datsun 310 in 1983 I could just see my Grandfather there as I would drive by. At least in my memory. My mother also remembered swinging on those bars that were out front of the Post Office.
Frank The Photographer
I get my photographer skills from him!
He was the one that always had a camera in his hands and took photos everywhere.
My mother took after him. And I took after him as well.
But what I wanted to relate to all of you is that the reason that he was such a good person, father, grandfather, etc. was because he never saw the horrors of war. Had he, then I would not be bragging about the wonderful man that helped to raise me. You cannot be such a wonderful person and be so damaged at the same time. His qualities were kind, nice, caring, wonderful, generous, …… I’m grateful that he never saw combat and had became some damaged person that then inflicted his damage on the rest of us. He only showed us all love and appreciation.
I have not had very many positive male role models in my life and had I not had him to show me what a decent man was like then I don’t know how I would have turned out. I will forever love and miss him. He was the greatest man I have ever known in my life. My husband, being second.
I do have to say that my Grandfather would be horrified by the actions of our USPS in this time. But because we don’t have people like him here in this time we are at this point in our history. I also don’t know where this is going. I miss our greatest generation. Sadly they are all gone and what is left is less than satisfactory. There is no honor left in our country. Perhaps a few are left but not enough to make a difference. I will continue to honor the things that my Grandfather taught me to honor. I just wish he were here to help me to make a difference.
I will miss you forever Granddaddy,
Julie
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September 4, 2020
October 2001, Maryland
I promised myself years ago that I would not write about this but when I was looking at our calendar and saw for September 11th. something called “Patriot Day,” that really got to me. I am going to choose my words very carefully now. But I am going to speak. It is in me to speak out and I am just going to be myself here.
Christmas 2002, Maryland
It was in July of 2001 that we went on vacation for 3 weeks. We were living on a base in Maryland, between Baltimore and D.C. and 20 minutes from the Pentagon. When we moved there in 1999 from Hawaii I was really surprised that there were open roads onto the base. I mean, we came from Hawaii where gates, and gate guards were common at every entrance/exit on every base on that island. So, therefore I was very surprised that there were back roads that were open to the public to drive onto. I mean, after all, this was an important base. Intelligence wise.
As I said, we went on vacation for 3 weeks and when we came back I was very surprised to see that a gate had sprung up while we were gone. With guards and everything. I remember thinking, great! We have a bit more security. Finally! But, why? And how so fast? I’d seen gate entrances under construction in Hawaii and they took anywhere between 6 – 8 months. But this construction went quickly. Very quickly. Most of it was up and ready in just the 3 weeks that we were gone. I thought it was odd but I was happy to have the extra security. There isn’t a lot of crime on bases. Mainly because they are patrolled.
So, this was August 2001 when we got back home from our vacation.
A neighbor had told me that she had tried to leave the base one night in the evening because her daughter had an asthma attack and she needed to take her to the emergency room but that all the exits were closed on base. Only the front main entrance was open. Weird. Why were we being locked in? Why are they blocking the entrances/exits? That’s strange.
For some reason I think it was a Tuesday although I could be wrong. I got up early, as usual to have my shower and be dressed and ready to drive Brodie to the elementary school on the base. He was in 4th. grade. Veronica attended the high school that children on the base attended, she was in 9th. grade. Her school was just a block away so she would walk up our hill to her school. When I got home from taking Brodie to school I was having my breakfast and my coffee. I was in my bedroom and having my coffee watching the morning news, as usual, when they were reporting that a plane had crashed into one of the T-Towers. And as I was watching that live news footage I saw another plane fly into the second T-Tower. I knew then that it was intentional. That was no accident.
Our base immediately went into lockdown and did not allow anyone in or out for one week. Although the important intelligence agency on our base did evacuate every civilian out of there immediately with just a skeleton crew to continue to work, ,my husband was on that skeleton crew.
We weren’t allowed to pick up our children from their schools until the afternoon because they had locked them in the classrooms and were not allowing anyone in or out of those schools. I looked outside our home and there were men and women carrying assault riffles walking all over the base. We had a playground down the hill of our backyard and I couldn’t help but see the sadness of military with weapons walking through a playground with swings. Finally, we were allowed to pick our children up from school and bring them home. Brodie is very smart and he knew something bad was going on. I don’t lie to my children so I told him what had happened. He asked me if we were safe? I told him that I think that we are but we need to just stay inside for a few days until we find out more. (When you explain things to your children then they respond positively. But when you lie to them, then they don’t.)
I think that I cried every single hour of every single day for one week before I stopped. And exactly 2 months later I noticed that my hair was falling out from all the stress. I was also grinding my teeth at night. These are the side affects of all of this stress.
So, while everyone was rallying around our “leader,” I was not! This happened on his watch! And why do they keep glossing over why we do not need to investigate this? Why is Rudy G. telling everyone that the air is safe to breathe in New York when I know damn well it isn’t? It can’t possibly be! Why is he lying?
Why is everyone supporting G.W.B.? He was literally the baby sitter that we hired to watch our children and now that we’ve come home we see that our children are dead and we aren’t blaming him? WHY? I mean, I hear all the crap designed to place blame everywhere else, but why has everyone gone dumb and deaf?
And why isn’t there going to be an investigation? After all, when there is a murder we investigate the cause. That is what we do, yet we aren’t allowed to investigate this?
What the majority of America didn’t know was all that was happening in D.C. in the years that followed. That is why chicken shit W. would flee to the ranch to get away from all the protestors of the families that died that the news media was not covering. They were always outside the “House” protesting.
You see, the families were more informed as to the details of the attack than your average citizen. They still are. I am not going to get into everything. It would be the size of a book if I did. I just mainly wanted to write about our experience on that day and the time that followed.
I do find it interesting that the USA Patriot Act, which is over 300 pages, was passed within 3 weeks after 9/11. Usually something of that length and importance takes months to put together yet there it was ready to be voted on and signed into law after only 3 weeks. A law stripping us of our privacy and freedom’s passed with no problem.
And then I see on the news one of the men involved in the hijackings at an ATM in Laurel, Maryland on 9/10 withdrawing money from our Walmart. OUR WALMART! AHA! That explains it all! The new gates, being locked into the base 2 weeks prior to the largest attack on our soil ever. It now all made sense. They knew!
THEY KNEW!
One of the airplanes allegedly hit the Pentagon yet there was only one piece of the airplane metal that was left and it just happened to have the I.D. number of the plane on it. And, how lucky that the “airplane” hit the Army side on the Pentagon that was currently under construction with not many people there, and not any of the other sides, minimizing the loss of life. (At least there.)
Why wasn’t anyone fired? Huh? The largest attack on American soil and NO ONE WAS FIRED! Condoleeza Rice was National Security Advisor at the time and she should have been fired, but she wasn’t. There was even a PDB that came out in July 2001 entitled Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the US prior to all of this. When there eventually was an “investigation” into the failings of that day it was a whitewash. They spread the blame around and that is why no one person ever had to take responsibility. And, no one person is blamed for what happened. An event so large in our history that no one will ever be blamed for it? Well, except for the “hijackers.”
I am very proud to say that when W. had an approval rating of 92% that I was in the exclusive 8% disapproval club. I also spoke out at the time when it was very unpopular to do so. While everyone else drank the Koo-Aid I did not!
So, exactly what is Patriot’s Day? Because you see, I love my country and yet that made me the enemy of most everyone that I knew. “If you aren’t with us then you are with the terrorists.” That quote by W. was also used on me many times to describe in their tiny minds why I didn’t support the GOP or the Admin, or the Pres. I am a Truther. I am not a crazy conspiracy theorist. A conspiracy theory is born when the facts on the ground don’t match the official explanation. When the facts match then there is no conspiracy unless you are a crazy republican that believes Obama was born in Kenya. And on that note there is plenty of evidence that he was born in Hawaii. Hawaii had only been a state by 2 years by the time he was born in 1961 but, it was put in the paper at the time and the doctor that delivered him was still alive. His family were residents of the island, he went to school there. There is no conspiracy there!!! None! It’s like I said about being an Empath/Psychic, the fakes make people disbelieve the reals.
I will say that when we were living in Hawaii and would go home to Rome, Georgia for visits I would always hear from various people, “When are you moving back to America Julie?” I would then tell them that I live in America. Hawaii is a state, ya know? And then they would shake their heads and say, “Yeah, but not really.” So, perhaps that is the attitude behind the birther movement? They just don’t consider Hawaii to be a state so therefor he may as well be born in Kenya? Ignorance, is ignorance, is ignorance…..
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Gordon and Ugh!
I can’t remember the year but the day is my birthday. Ugh was going to be signing copies of his book on our base and our friend in New Zealand wanted one. Also my brother told me to just go and have a good look at him and see what I pick up. I told him that I won’t be able to control my mouth and I don’t feel like getting arrested on my birthday so I steered clear and Gordon went to get the signed book. And there he is shaking hands and with a big smile on his face, and getting his picture taken with Ugh. Yeah, that’s my husband. Gordon would get excited if he saw Satan walking down the street. I can just hear him now, ‘OMG it’s YOU! I’ve heard about you my whole life! Hey Julie, get a picture of me and Satan together. Oh wow! It’s an honor to meet you! Wow! Just wait to I tell the guys at work!’
Well, you get the picture…. 🙁
But one thing that Ugh said when he was visiting injured troops in the hospital was “when we shot that plane down.” He was referring to the downed airline that crashed in PA. Oh, he corrected himself when he slipped up and of course our GOP friendly news agencies that are all owned by GOP leaning corporations never further reported any of this.
I always knew we shot that plane down. The debris field was too scattered with a radius of 8 miles. Had it crashed on it’s own the debris would have been more contained. Plus there was lots of evidence through other means to determine it was shot down. I won’t go into all of that. I think that I have written more than I intended to.
But I will close with this.
Exactly what is the definition of a Patriot? Is a patriot someone who speaks out when they see a wrong? Is it someone that speaks truth to power? Someone small who stands up to someone big when we see that someone big doing something wrong? Or is just being a patriot going along with the crowd. Believing whatever explanation we are spoon fed even when it makes no sense? Is being a patriot dumbing myself down so as not to upset the people that are harming us? You see, I always thought I was a patriot until it was pointed out to me by so many that I wasn’t. I no longer have anything to do with the people I knew in my past because I refuse to conform to their dysfunctional way of thinking. I am very proud of the person that I am. I love my country, for I am a true patriot.
Julie
P.S: I wanted to add something that I thought a bit strange. It was about 2 weeks after 9/11 and I decided to walk our dog Kona. It must have been around 9:30 p.m. I was walking him up our hill and beside Veronica’s high school when I noticed a white middle aged man with 3 dogs, unchained walking around the high school as if he were inspecting it. All of a sudden the 3 dogs spotted Kona and myself and immediately started running towards us. Even though Kona weighted more than I did, I immediately placed myself in front of him as the dogs were charging. I braced myself waiting to feel some sort of impact when all of a sudden the dogs stopped and sat down in front of me. The man started running towards us but I didn’t wait to find out what he wanted. I turned and led Kona away down our street and to our home.
This man was wearing civilian clothing. Not military at all. 3 dogs unleashed? The bases all have leash laws. Walking around the high school? Perhaps the dogs were sniffing for something? I find it odd that a military base would hire some civilian to do what they can do. I don’t know what that was about but I just wanted to mention it as something odd.
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August 24, 2020
Our Side of the House Extended Fence
This is our existing gate from our backyard to our front yard.
The plan is to rip up all these beautiful Heliconia and do a cement pour here to set our generator on. I told Gordon that we do need to replant these in another part of our yard.
These are the new gutters that Gordon and Brodie installed. They are working so well in helping with the water problem we have in our backyard.
Gordon Extending Our Fence and Adding a New Gate
Fence and Gate Almost Finished
Always something to be done around here. We are trying to button up this place and make it more secure. As I have written below, crime will increase dramatically and I want us to be ready for it.
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So, What’s Up?
We are fine here. Knocking out some of our projects. Working on things inside of our house, and outside. Trying to put things away and tidy things up. We have had a terribly wet August! Usually we have a very wet June/July. Not this year…. It has taken over our August, these storms. And now we have 2 hurricane’s coming up through the Gulf toward Texas. The thing is that we will get bad weather associated with it. It may not hit us head on, but we will feel it’s fury.
All we can do is to stock up on Propane for the Grill, and Gas for the generator.
Ttyl……
Julie
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August 18, 2020
The Rat Licker’s
I just wanted to write something quick here. If you are hearing the term “Rat Licker’s” out there to reference the anti-mask wearer’s making their political statement, I just wanted to explain that term to you. It was during the Bubonic Plague where it was unheard of to lick a rat in order to get the plague. Yet, here we have our right-wingers who defiantly refuse to wear a mask to protect themselves and others. They are therefore known as “Rat Licker’s. I guess crazy is crazy no matter what century you are born into.
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August 17, 2020
Through No Fault Of Their Own
We’ve all heard that said by our politicians speaking of how the Coronavirus and the handling of it, has caused millions of jobs lost and homelessness, and now things are about to get even worse.
The average person may be scratching their heads and reflecting on how could anyone have predicted this? Trump supporters seem to be defending him as this virus isn’t his fault and how he shouldn’t be blamed for this. (Although I think that some of them are coming around to at least agreeing that he could have handled this much better than he has.)
But you see, things could have been handled much better than they have been had smart people been in charge. Smart people in The White House, Congress, Senate, and every government agency in our country. And not just them, but the smart people that used to be in our Think Tanks that would look out for us. We used to have smart people in America. Smart people were part of Think Tanks where they would get together and come up with ideas to make our lives better and easier. Inventions that would propel America to lead the world in technology and medicine. Ideas, cures, inventions….. SCIENCE!
Used to these Think Tanks would recruit bright and promising students graduating with honors at prestigious university’s throughout our country. Recruiting them to work toward making our lives and our country better. Of course, things have taken a turn for the worst by enlisting some to create dangerous bombs that we may use in wars. O.k., so not all of it used to be good. But, at least these Think Tanks weren’t trying to figure out ways to ruin and destroy the lives of people in their own country. That changed drastically over the past few decades. The Housing Crises that led to The Great Recession does come to mind. That would be just ONE example. Those bright young minds figured out ways to create those predatory mortgages knowing full well that people would lose their homes in exactly 2 years later. They made those mortgages so complicated that it was so hard to figure out exactly who even owned their homes? In other words, some little old Chinese man in China may hold the deed to your own property! When all of this came to light our smartest politicians were so confused by all of this that they had to hire smarter people to come in and explain it all to them so that they would know the full extent of this damage. These mortgages were given the green light by the Bush Administration to do to the American people. We, I am very embarrassed to say, got one of those predatory loans.
We came out of the military poor. We had no savings. We had just enough in our checking account to cover our bills and expenses. The only way we could afford to buy a home was to get one that way. The only reason we didn’t loose our home during The Great Recession is because we paid whatever price our government threw at us. I literally made Gordon do NOTHING because at that time there was so much corruption. Legalized corruption. That you never knew what was good or what was bad, so we did nothing! And by doing nothing we didn’t loose our home the way so many other people did.
I have this motto that if I don’t know who to trust that I will then trust no one and I will stay away from everyone. That motto always seems to work too. 🙂
Luckily, I had the tactical advantage and we came out of that winner’s. We are on a good track now, and have been for awhile. But, I do know that nothing in this life/pandemic is a guarantee and we can loose everything in one second, so I am never feeling secure. But we are doing O.k. and have been this entire year.
I wanted to tell you a story of this family that we know. I will withhold their names but in 1984 they called me up on the telephone when I was living in Rome, Georgia with my grandmother, to tell me that I was going to burn in hell because I was different than they are. I was marrying Gordon and they were even going to “boycott” our wedding because of me. I was upset about it because I wanted these people to like me and accept me and I was upset that they didn’t. They did end up coming to our wedding. I didn’t see them very much leading up to, and even afterward. Which was fine by me.
We have seen them sporadically over the past few decades. They are very involved in their Christian religion and have used it in the past to bully us. There is also this self-anointed arrogance that comes with them. And pretty much everyone else like them. Although we really do love their children. Their children seemed to take a more open-minded turn in life.
But, this couple who are in their early 60’s have maintained their arrogance. It was during Veronica and Brian’s wedding, which they came to, that the woman was always trying to ignore me and rarely making eye contact with me. I would be sitting right beside her and she would always pretend that she never heard me. When I would repeat myself she would suddenly stop what she was doing, look at me, and act as if she didn’t hear me with a, “I’m sorry. What? Did you say something?” I did play along as if I didn’t notice, but I knew she was pretending. Anyway, the point I am getting with this couple is that they are having life very hard right now. He, Mr. Pibb, (Not his real name but if you knew his real name you would laugh that I called him Mr. Pibb.), anyway, Mr. Pibb has lost his Minister of Music job at their church where he has taught music for over 20 years. He is now a full time composer/conductor/and humorist? O.K. We are like what? He’s a humorist? When has he ever been funny? And, how many comedians that you know go around telling you how funny that they are?
Mr. Pibb has had some success in the Christian music industry as a composer and a conductor. He has written many cantata’s for Easter and Christmas. He has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York. And we believe that he has traveled around the country and even the world selling his compositions and teaching choir’s on how to perform them. I would even go so far to generously say that he is quite talented and well known in certain circles. Although we have never even removed the shrink wrap from the CD they sent us years ago. He has many CD’s out there of his music. But, why in the world would I want to listen to the music of the person that told me that I was going to burn in hell and has never apologized for it? And p.s.: the reason they never apologized for it is because I’m sure, they still believe it.
The thing about arrogance, feeling self-righteous, and better than those that are different than you is that if you keep up that attitude, you will be brought down eventually. That is just life no matter what your belief system is.
Mr. Pibb has a PHD in whatever blah, blah, blah, Christian this and that. And Mrs. Pibb, I believe has a Masters Degree in something. The point that I am getting at is that an education is supposed to make people smarter. Yet these “smart” people have been totally ignorant of the going’s on in their own country for probably their entire lives up until now.
We recently visited Mr. Pibb’s website where we discovered that he charges $150.00 to just meet him! Gordon and I looked at each other and wondered if we were supposed to pay him money to come to Veronica and Brian’s wedding? Wow! Who knew he was so important? Not us! 🙂 And as I told Gordon, “Who would want to pay money to meet him? It’s not like he’s so friendly and personable.” At least not the Mr. Pibb that we know.
Charging money to meet him? But, what that tells me is that he hasn’t changed from 1984. He still see’s himself as being better than everyone else which is why he charges money for people to meet him, and why he felt so comfortable telling me that I was going to burn in hell. I could never say that to anyone! Even if I thought it! Yet he had the audacity to call me up long distance, and say those things to me. He is 3 years older than me and felt very comfortable preaching to me how terrible that I was. I just wish that I had said, “Fuck off” and hung up on him. 🙂
It is very sad that their lives are now being upended right now. They had built up so much. The music industry is but one that is being hit the hardest through this pandemic and the incompetent leadership that has followed. But the thing is, it didn’t have to happen. None of this had to be this bad. Much of this could have been prevented. So,
Through No Fault of Their Own……. Really?
Is choosing ignorance over knowledge when you are in your 30’s/40’s/50’s/60’s no fault of their own? Is a lack of keeping up with the democracy of their own country because they simply don’t care no fault of their own? Not bothering to vote because they don’t care to involve themselves in politics. Is that no fault of their own? Is finally deciding to vote in 2008 for a McCain/Palin ticket just because she is an evangelical and a disastrous candidate no fault of their own? Is turning a blind eye and not caring what bad things happen to other people in their own country because it doesn’t affect them, through no fault of their own?
As educated as so many people just like them are, what good did all that education do for them? This is why I am not impressed with degrees and diploma’s because I know it really doesn’t mean anything. Some of the dumbest people I know are highly educated. And yet these stupid people have the audacity to look down their noses at me?
Now I am coming to the very sad reason that I am upset about their troubles. It’s because they have a severely special needs child with preexisting conditions that desperately needs good health care throughout her life. She will die without that. She cannot contract this virus at ALL! It just might kill her! Republican’s have been trying to kick people like her off insurance policies for decades now. They want to raise the insurance rates on people like her so that families will then go into bankruptcy, loosing their homes so the banks can then take control and resell then and make money. Republicans are evil. I tried telling them that years ago. I tried telling them that the KKK are registered republicans and why be in the same party as them? I would never want to belong to a club where they were members. I would never want to vote for a party that wants to destroy my child just because she has special needs. So when I hear that people are having a hard time now “Through No Fault Of Their Own?”
Are all of them really blameless?
Julie
(If I know all this, and I am not nearly as educated as they are. Then shouldn’t they?)
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August 15, 2020
Gordon Working on Expanding our Fence
(You can also see the new gutters that Gordon and Brodie installed a few months ago.)
We are working on expanding our fence to almost to the big pot you see in the photo, top left. We want to enclose this area to fence in our new A/C and this side door. We also want to do a cement pour that will cover up that entire area. We also hope to store our trash and recycling containers here as well. That will give us more room in our garage.
The Side of our House
We are planning on keeping that gate that you see there where we enter into our backyard. That will be some extra security as well. Two locked gates.
Our neighbors are planning on erecting a fence on their property that will attach to ours. When they do that it will block off that path between our homes that leads to the street in back of us and give both of us more security. It’s funny but we are the only two families in our neighborhood that seem to see a need in doing these things. Our neighbors seem to think like we do and I think we are lucky to have them living next door to us.
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Gordon is Inadvertently Stifling My Creativity
(I just need to complain and then I’ll be O.K.)
With the exception of a handful of errands Gordon has been with me here at home since the end of March. Which means that I no longer have all that time to myself that I used to from when Gordon would drive in to work, work his 8 hours, then drive home. It was always during that time that I would immerse myself into whatever project that I/We would be working on. I have this weird thing about my personality. I love to put in a movie and have it play all day long literally on a loop. Well, actually, I never let it get to the end of the movie. I will stop it when it is almost to the end and then rewind it to the beginning and start it all over again. I don’t care for endings. I just love the beginning and the middle. To me the end, is the end.
But, when we are working on a new holiday blog post and are planning something big, I immerse myself into whatever movie/T.V. show we will be basing it on and I have it play over and over again for days, sometimes weeks. For example, when I did our Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds Halloween I must have watched/listened to the movie dozens of times. It puts me in the mood and gets me into character. (Which is why I always thought I would make a great detective because a good one puts themselves into the mind of the criminal in order to catch them.)
However, whenever I want to immerse myself into a new project we will be working on Gordon will always be there to say, “But we just watched that movie.” To which I will respond, “I know. And we are going to watch it again, and as many times as I want.” 🙂 To which I then have to tolerate all the heavy sighs. (Big eye roll.)
(I told Gordon that he should appreciate the fact that I love the same old thing over and over again. Otherwise I would have left him decades ago.) 🙂
Anyway, I am so stifled that I am calling off a big new blog post that I was planning on creating, cooking, managing, and I’m putting it off until next year. However, I am going to focus on finishing up all the write-ups that currently need that attention on the website, and a Halloween post that I’ve been working on for a few years. And we are doing something very fun for Halloween that we are both looking forward to this year. You will just have to wait and see. We also want to get out every bit of our Halloween from the attic and go through it. I want to decorate our dining room in vintage Halloween and just do a few food items to go with it. Some of our Halloween we haven’t seen in years so I am looking forward to going through it all. Perhaps giving Veronica and Brian some of it.
We also need to get our house and garage more organized. Once Brodie moves out we want to turn his room into a computer room/exercise room/library just so that we can spread out a bit. We will have to paint it and re-carpet it, or even perhaps put flooring down. As always, there is work to do around here. We have so many projects that we want to do and complete. And as always, we will keep you posted.
TTYL….
Julie
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August 14, 2020
The People In My Neighborhood
With the exception of a few errands Gordon and I have not left our neighborhood since March. We will occasionally drive our cars around the block a time or two just to make sure they are working properly. The only time we ever go out front is to collect the mail. Most of our purchases are left on our door step for us to gather up and bring inside our home and then put away. Our yard guys take care of our front yard and when their payday rolls around I tape an envelope with the check inside to our front door for them to take with them.
Brodie, who lives with us, is back at work and has been for almost a few months now. He does come and go but we keep our distance from him. When he leaves for work in the mornings we open our window in our kitchen nook for a few hours to just air the kitchen area out. But, we do wear a mask if we go into the kitchen until we feel that it is safe to enter without wearing a mask. We also wear a mask to go into our laundry room and garage because that is Brodie’s section of our house. We stay out of his room and bathroom. Those doors stay closed. We do share a kitchen with him and if he and his girlfriend Mackenzie are planning on cooking some big meal on the weekends then Gordon and I retire to our bedroom early and watch T.V. or put in a movie until we go to sleep.
Gordon and I also try and do as much as we can in the kitchen and laundry room before Brodie comes home from work just because we don’t want to cross paths with him. If we are planning on cooking a nice dinner in the kitchen then Brodie will stay in his room with his door closed and Gordon and I wear masks while we cook. Sometimes it’s challenging to try and do a taste test. We have to leave the kitchen to do it. Brodie for the most part stays in his room. I feel sad for him but there really isn’t any other option for him. Gordon and I are trying to stay healthy and virus free and yet he is a threat to that so we have to take these precautions. Which is why he and his girlfriend are looking into getting a place to live by the end of the year.
I do worry about them because I want them to find a nice safe place to live what with crime about to rise tremendously. But as I told Brodie, “Your life is out there whether you find your happiness out there or your misery. Either way, your life is out there.”
I do think that they will enjoy having their own place together instead of all this coming and going that they do between our place and hers. Not to mention all the other people they are exposed to with their jobs and family and friends.
I also think it’s kind of ridiculous that Gordon and I should have to wear masks inside our own home. Not that it’s Brodie’s fault. I blame our president and governor and the republican party for having us open back up too soon and never really handling this virus responsibly. Although I don’t think we ever actually went into some full lockdown. Only about 50% of the state went into lockdown. And now we are left just trying to figure out ways to elude and survive an invisible enemy. At least, we are! Although to look out at our neighborhood residents I think that we are the only ones trying to elude this virus. To look at all of them you would think things were just fine and dandy.
Yesterday I saw 4 women walking together down the middle of our street, talking and laughing while only being about 2 -3 feet apart. NO MASKS! And then there is the Asian senior couple that walk every single morning together. They are about 10-12 feet apart when they walk. Probably because they are married. And they always look like they are going to collapse at any moment. Yet, they never do. They keep right on truckin’. Then there is the neighborhood bully, ED. I have written about Ed in some of my past blogs. He used to give us a lot of trouble because we are the liberals of the neighborhood. He is a huge racist and has harassed many an African-American resident or visitor to our neighborhood. He is very well known by the police as many in our neighborhood has filed reports on him. He’s in his 80’s and he walks his little dog every day about 4-5 times a day all along our block. I keep waiting for him to drop dead but yet he’s still standing. Granted, he is deteriorating right before our eyes, but he is still alive. He’s kind of the Donald Trump of our neighborhood. The country club even kicked him out for cussing out a child. Although I’m sure by now they’ve let him back in.
A few days ago while Gordon was out getting the mail, (while we still have a Postal Service), a woman from across the street was inquiring about Gordon’s job and wondering if he still had one? 🙂 Gordon informed her that ‘yes he does, he’s just working from home.’ Funny how so many people are always asking us questions yet we never ask them any? Probably because we aren’t nosy and we don’t care. Sometimes when I am outside in the front yard and someone walks by our house I will say hello just to be neighborly. Sometimes they answer back, sometimes they don’t.
We like our neighbors to the right of us. They understand the whole socially distance important and wearing masks. Although his wife is very friendly and when our dogs got out through a hole in our fence they helped us coral them and prevent that escape. I spotted them going out under the fence and Gordon leapt over the fence to try and catch them. Sparkly loved it! He thought Gordon was chasing him to play with him. I just thought it was so cute and funny that while we are yelling “Sparky!” She is calling him “Sparkles.” And sometimes now we will call him Sparkles just because we think it’s funny. 🙂
In addition to everyone in our neighborhood, every delivery man/woman that we have to drop off packages at our front door never seem to be wearing masks either. Our neighbor’s directly across the street have people coming by their house most every day. Whether it be their housekeepers, family, friends, neighbors….. no one ever wears a mask. So why are so many of these college educated suburbanites so reckless and careless with their health and that of every single person they know and come in contact with? Easy. It’s because of white privilege, entitlement, and religion. Ignorance and arrogance also plays a role.
It was during the G.W. Bush years that I was sounding the alarm over how dangerous the direction our country was going in and how if we don’t stop it right now we may not have a country in the future. Well, I was laughed at, made fun of, mocked, dumped, shunned…I was called unpatriotic, un-American, I was treated almost as badly as The Dixie Chicks when they were blacklisted and shunned. (I never realized I had so many republican friends, I mean frenemies.) Well, we see how things have turned out. There is also plenty of dots connecting the Bush/Cheney regime to our current political climate today. Yet, Trump still has a 41% approval rating? WHY? Who is that crazy 41%? I’ll tell you, a lot of them are my own neighbors.
I used to tell my children when they got to dating age to not date any republicans because they are the ones that carry diseases. In red states sex education is usually not taught, abstinence is. Therefor you have a higher population of STD’s and HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancies, and unwanted pregnancies. And now in addition to all of that, republican’s are also now spreading COVID 19 at higher rates. They will never learn. They are incapable of it. It’s not about waiting for them to wake up and help save their country and it’s people. That worry isn’t in their thinking. And why? Easy. Because nothing is going to happen to them. They just somehow see themselves as being immune to it. In the same way they believe in keeping their children ignorant of birth control and sex education, they just don’t think their children will be the ones to catch diseases, or have teenage and unwanted pregnancies. And if they do get pregnant they are against aborting it because in their minds it might be the next Christ. Not to mention how arrogant they are to assume that one of them would give birth to a future son of god.
In order to save our country we need to leave these 41% of our people behind and the other 59% of us need to ban together to try and help save us from a certain collapse of our country. It will take all of us too. We do outnumber them, they are just louder than the rest of us are. Also, it will take us stomping them out and keeping them down for the next few decades. We can’t just save our country now only to stop and then they take it back over in 4 years.
All I know for sure is that bad things are coming. I don’t know how bad, just bad.
But, these are the people in my neighborhood which is why we stay indoors, on our own property, minding our own business, and keeping to ourselves. Doing our best to keep ourselves safe. The only way we can succeed at that is to stay away from them.
Julie
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August 2, 2020
What’s Up?
My new camera, that’s what.
Our JAWS Tribute Photo Shoot, Above
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I’ve been meaning to write for the past week and I’m just now getting around to it. Oh, I have been working on other blog posts, and we do have a hurricane coming that is not supposed to hit us directly, but we should experience some harsh weather because of it. I just did look outside and although it is a bright sunny day I see rain falling everywhere. I like it when everything gets a good soaking, that way we don’t have to do it ourselves.
In a lot of ways things are still the same here, some differences. Although Gordon is still working from home and 5 days a week he sits here right beside me, both of us on our computers. Him working/Me blogging. We are still ordering our food through Instacart and all of our shopping we are doing online. Except Gordon did do some shopping last week at Home Depot and Lowe’s himself. We have a project coming up that Gordon will be placing a fence around our A/C unit on the side of our house. We also want to fence in the side door that exits out that way as well just for security sake. And, we do need to create a place to put our generator outside for when we need to use it where future hurricane’s are concerned. We need to be able to wheel it in and out of the garage. So, we have been buying up fence, posts, caps, concrete, hardware, etc. Gordon can do it himself as he put up our own backyard fence. A generator is a hot item and you can’t just place them outside without any sort of protection to hide them. They will get stolen.
So, why the extra security and preparation? Because I think we will need it. I’ve been wanting him to do this now for the past 2 years and finally it is going to get done. What exactly do you think is going to happen now that we are going to have anywhere from 28-40 million American’s suddenly homeless? Where do you think these people are going to go? We will see them everywhere. And they will be hungry and in need of money. Most will be begging on the streets. Do you think they are just going to sit by and watch their children starve and die? No, they won’t. Crime is about to go up and probably be at levels we have never seen before in our country. You know, it was during The Great Depression that home owners would sleep out in their vegetable gardens at night with their shotguns to prevent the theft of their food.
We are supposed to encounter poverty on no level we have ever known here in America, even worse than The Great Depression. I suggest we start to prepare for it. No election is going to save any of us. Think back to 2008 during The Great Recession that ushered in President Obama. All those people that voted for him because they were scared they would loose their home. Well, guess what? He did nothing to stop any of it! He didn’t save anyone although he promised that he would. We needed a President that would hit the ground running to help save many of us. Hope and Change? NOPE! When they bailed out the ‘too big to fail’ banks, it would have been cheaper to pay off every mortgage in America than it was to save the banks yet what did they do? They saved the banks and the crooked corporations. Do you really think that old Joe Biden is going to save anyone?
The only reason he is going to choose an African-American woman as his VP is because they need every black person to vote and they only get out in droves when one of them is on the ticket. Oh, hey, don’t get me wrong, I am excited that he is going to choose a black woman, I’m just afraid that he will chose the wrong woman. John McCain did the same thing with Sarah Palin. It was great he chose a woman, he just chose the wrong woman.
(Note: I just wanted to say something about his choice of Sarah Palin. McCain originally wanted to pick Joe Lieberman because they got along so well. However, the Evangelical Leadership gave McCain their choice of 5 candidates for him to choose from or else they would walk. Therefore, he chose Sarah Palin because he was attracted to her. You could tell by the way he would twist his wedding ring when he was standing beside her at speaking engagements that he wanted to have sex with her. You did notice that she was never vetted? So, all that was about McCain’s penis.)
The Democrats need a fighter but yet they never choose a fighter. They try and silence the fighters in their party that are willing to get out there and fight for us. And they always succeed in doing so.
I’m not excited about this election because nothing will change. Those homeless will continue to be homeless. Do you think Joe Biden who does as he’s told is going to suddenly enact a law that will sweep all those people up off the streets and placed into all those empty homes? NO! He won’t. Those empty homes will be owned by someone that will require rent money in order to allow them to live there. Whether they be bank owned or owned by the average person.
It took a decade for the average American to get back on their feet from The Great Recession so exactly how long do you think it will take the average American now? A lot will never recover. And even if nothing happens to you, and you and your family are spared any major hardships, it will still affect you. When you get in your car and drive wherever you need to go you will encounter those homeless. Children approaching your cars begging for help. Seeing animals roaming around homeless and hungry. Will you be so cold hearted that you can then go on your merry way?
I can’t,
Julie
P.S. As much as I love my website and love sharing links to our various posts and pages, it just might be too insensitive to continue to post things on Twitter where we feature our big feasts of food and fun. I’m not to that point yet but I am thinking that it will probably come to it. And besides, just because we are doing fine now doesn’t mean we will be fine for long. NOT that we are rich, we aren’t! BUT, America was one of the only countries in the world that didn’t resent their rich because they knew that could be them up there someday. But because of all the rungs on the ladder that have been removed by our wealthy and their political tools by design so that most of us cannot make it up the ladder to even a few bottom rungs, the wealthy will now be the most hated people in our country.
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July 25, 2020
Yet another book I would like to read.
I have been meaning to write about Harry and Meghan and the whole Megzit thing for awhile now, so I thought I might tackle it a little bit this morning. I’ve already had my first cup of coffee and eaten my Nutri-System Blueberry Muffin for breakfast, and I’ve started my second cup of coffee. I’ve already breezed through my morning internet rituals and I was looking for something to do while I drink my second cup of coffee, and before I get my shower, so here goes…..
Where does one even begin to venture into the inner workings of an archaic institution, which is the Royal Family of Great Britain, and the dysfunction that it obviously is? Where not only do they see themselves as being better than your average non-royal person, but they see themselves as being better than those that are already in the royal family? Where birth determines your importance in the family. Or who you marry. They may have loosened up a bit in the last few decades, you know Diana had a lot to do with that. But, the class system and snobbery is still there. Diana may have paved the way for an American divorcee mixed race woman to be able to marry into the family, but she was unable to erase the racism and snobbery that still exists not only in the family but also in the country. (Hey, I’m not throwing any stones as my country is horribly racist.)
I believe that had Diana lived, she would have been around to make sure her boys got along and supported each other in life. Harry did say that he was always told that he was not as important as William. Diana would have been there to say ‘Oh, yes you are! You just have a different role to fulfill.’ I believe that if Diana were still alive that there would not have been a Megzit. Oh, there would have still been snobbery and back stabbing in the family, but Meghan would have had an ally to help her through it and to help her go forward with some support and praise and applause so that Meghan could have accomplished those goals that she had for her and Harry to fulfill. But, as it was all Meghan got was the snobbery and sabotage. Most likely always being reminded of how unimportant that she was and constantly being reminded of her lack of importance in the family firm. I also think that giving birth to Archie made her not want to remain in a family where he would receive the same kind of treatment that she was getting. Also, the strong and powerful women of today are not about to put up with any of that shit. I believe that Meghan did the only thing she could do by leaving that oppressive atmosphere. And yes, this is all about Meghan. Harry was pretty much raised rudderless so he follows Meghan as she has the dominant personality and he believes that where she is leading him will be a better place. Maybe it will be? Maybe it won’t? I do see that once Harry does come to a place in his life where he will want to go back home because that is all he knows and he will miss it. I do believe that had the pandemic not hit the world so hard that things could have turned out better for them. They had lots of plans, they were given opportunities, but when the Coronavirus hit those plans were put on hold. I think they should have stayed in Canada but the Canadian people refused to fund their security. Too bad for you Canada as they were the only thing that made you interesting.
Harry just wanted the same things that his brother had. A beautiful wife that he was in love with, children, and a role to fulfill where he could make a difference in people’s lives. He wanted his wife excepted by his family and even supported. He wanted Kate and Meghan to get along and not only be sisters-in-law but to also be friends. But his family never fulfilled their roles in his plans thus making his new wife unhappy.
I know what it’s like to not be welcomed or accepted because Gordon’s family were not particularly nice to me in the beginning and for the decades that have followed. There were about 3 family members that have always been nice and respectful towards me. And there are a few more that have been born since then that I like. But I guess you could say I had my own little Megzit, I call it Julieszit. And no, it’s not about having a pimple. 🙂
In the beginning I even had some of Gordon’s family members calling me up on the phone and telling me that I was going to burn in hell. Yeah. Nothing says welcome to the family more. 🙂
It hurt at first because you want to be liked and excepted into the family that you will be marrying into. However, after a while you do change your attitude and no longer see them as being relevant or important and then they no longer mean very much to you.
When Veronica and Brodie grew up and started dating I told Gordon that whomever they choose in life whether we like them or not, we will be good to them. We will respect them and welcome them into our family with open arms. And, luckily for us we love our Brian and our Mackenzie!
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I would like to close by saying this. Although I have not heard a word about this from anyone online, etc., I do believe that when Meghan left the royal family that she disappointed a lot of African-American women and children here. They finally had one of their own elevated up and in the royal family of Great Britain. Something they never even imagined in their lives could ever be possible. I believe that they had dreams that they hoped she could fulfill with Harry and that they could help to bring about change over there, that would spread to over here. They have stayed quiet in order to be supportive and not to join in the Meghan bashing, but they are disappointed. Their Princess Meghan is no more.
Julie
p.s. I also wanted to add that had William and Kate been more supportive and recognized that Meghan does appeal to a certain British populace and how important that truly is. After all, if they are to be King and Queen and want to serve their “subjects” to the best of their ability, they just threw away an important asset. But, then again, if they only want to cater to white people then they are on the right track.
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July 20, 2020
Mary Trump and What’s Up?
Too Much—-Never Enough
How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man
by Mary L. Trump, PHD.
I realize that my posts have been a bit dark lately. Well, surprise, surprise, this one will be no different. 🙂
But I, like so many people throughout the world, have been fascinated by all the Mary Trump interviews where she speaks of her family and how she sees parallels between how the family functioned and how our current President is functioning. How the family was run is similar to how our country is being run right now. She, being a clinical psychologist, and a Trump relative, not only has a bird’s eye view as a professional, but also an inside view as a family member. I see so many parallels between how Mary Trump describes her family, and how I see my own family that I was raised in. Honestly, it would be like me writing a book about my own family growing up. I haven’t read the book yet but I am going to order it as I believe it would be therapeutic for me.
She does blame her big Trump family for her father’s early death because of how they treated him. He became an alcoholic because of it and developed a heart condition which did kill him in his early 40’s.
Because I haven’t read the book I cannot speak of it’s contents. I can however, speak to what Mary Trump has said in interviews. There are a few things that stand out for me that remind me of my own family. She talks about how her grandfather was a sociopath who used people for whatever they could do for him, and if people could no longer do for him then he would pretty much discard them. I believe that my step-father was a psychopath, he died in 2013. He never had any empathy for me even though he was my “father” from the age of 7 up until he died when I was 52.
Me, my step-father and my step-brother. Two of the most horrible people I have ever known in my life. Here we are camping. Because it is my step-brother’s birthday the date must be December 31, 1968.
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My mother, in my estimation, would just follow his orders, which were always anti-Julie. I believe her to be a narcissist. And I was the hated child of the narcissist. She would happily go along with whatever terrible things he said to me, or did to me. He may be the one to thrust the knife in me, but my mother would happily come along and twist it and enjoy the hell out of doing it. (Figuratively. Although the pain was so bad they might as well have literally stabbed me.)
In my over 59 years of existence, and up until my step-father’s death, neither one of them ever showed me any empathy. Most of the feelings they ever projected towards me were bullying. I have never really known kindness from my own mother. I have however, seen her show kindness to many people. Just not me. Oh, she has joked around with me in life, it wasn’t all bad, but she was only nice when she was in a good mood which wasn’t very often. And she could change her attitude on a dime and fly into some horrible rage screaming and yelling at me. About the best I can say is that sometimes she was ‘not as bullying’ as she usually was. I never realized how much that my grandmother (my mother’s, mother), protected me until she died and they wasted no time in coming after me. She hadn’t even been lowered into the ground and my mother was screaming and yelling at me and accusing me of stealing my grandmother’s things in front of a room full of people in the living room. She even went into the bedroom where Gordon and I were staying and starting rummaging through our luggage looking for my grandmother’s things. We tried to reason with her but she was a crazed woman. It was embarrassing and humiliating. That’s why she did it. Of course, my brother Frank and his wife came over after everyone had left and it was them who took the radio. (Gordon and I never got an apology from my mother by the way. And we never will. Neither she or my step-father has ever issued an apology to any of us, including my brothers.) And of course everyone forgave her for her outburst because after all, her mother had just died. Thing is, that behavior towards me was typical, not because her mother had just died. I was always presumed guilty of everything and I was constantly having to prove my innocence pretty much every day of my life.
Mary Trump mentions how her uncle Donald, when he brought Melania over for some Thanksgiving dinner with the family while he was still married to Marla Maples, where when he saw Mary he told Melania that Mary had a drug problem years ago and he was kind enough to give her a job. As Mary said, she never had a drug problem, her uncle just made all that up. Why? Because by telling Melania that he gave her a job during her “lowest time in life” makes him look good. I can very much relate to that. Being humiliated by my parents in front of people/strangers where they would say terrible things about me that weren’t true. Making me look horrible, yet making them look good because after all he was my step-father who took me in when my own father didn’t care about me. Isn’t he such a good man to do that?
I think my mother despised me so much because I was being sexually abused by my step-father and I did tell people about it. So, therefore they had to spend the rest of their lives discrediting me in order to protect him. After all, he was the doctor, the bread winner, the psychopath that demanded total loyalty from everyone. Something I never gave him.
I took this photo with my own camera when I was probably 9. We are living in Dahlonega, Georgia here and that is my step-father with my little brother Johnny. In the photo he appears to be a doting dad but once we moved to Roanoke, Virginia just about a year later we never really saw him again. He would leave early in the morning to go to work and come home late at night. Except he always seemed to find time to stop off in my bedroom on his way out the door while everyone else was asleep.
In our front yard in Dahlonega, Georgia. 1970. I am the second from the right.
My step-brother is located on the far left.
My step-brother with my brother Johnny in Dahlonega.
That would be my step-father’s red Oldsmobile in the background.
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Mary Trump also describes her grandmother as being void of emotions. That pretty much sums up my own mother. There was no mothering instincts towards me. No loyalty. As I’ve told my brother Johnny, who is 8 years younger than me, she would always make sure that I lost and the other person won. Whoever the other person was, that didn’t matter. She always made sure that I lost. All I ever wanted was to be treated fairly and be equal with everyone else. Sometimes I would fight and fight and fight for equality in the family only to be granted about half of the rights of everyone else. Which to me was a win!
I don’t mean this to sound the least bit racist, but I was the “black person” in the family.
At least, that is how they treated me.
Julie and Johnny 1969
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Mary Trump said something else that I can relate to with my own family. She said that liars were elevated up in importance. THAT is my step-brother! He is one of the worst human beings I have ever known in my life. One of the biggest liars and manipulators, yet when cornered, he of course lies, and is then protected. I, on the other hand, will tell the truth about something and be punished for years over it. I believe the Trump’s and the Lancaster’s have quite a bit in common. That’s probably why they vote for Trump. (Not my mother or brothers, just my step-brother and his Texass family.)
NOTE: I would like to specify that I am not referring to any of them just having made a few mistakes in life and going on and never repeating any of them. I am referring to a lifestyle based on lying, abuse, sabotage, cruelty, and just causing trouble and unhappiness for others and seemingly getting away with it. (Although life is catching up to them in Texas.)
Mary Trump also said something that I find quite extraordinary about Donald and his siblings. She said that they would lie to protect themselves, as a form of survival. Perhaps that is why my step-brother was such a great liar? Perhaps he knew the consequences that he would face if he told the truth? I don’t really know. But he is a product of his upbringing. He is a product of that family out in Texas. He is also a product of his father. I am very proud to say that I am not! As much as I was exposed to these horrendous people, I did not turn out to be like them. I’ve made my mistakes in life, but I learned from them, I grew up, and I became a better person along the way. They never did.
Years ago my mother sent me a photo album of photos that she had copied from her originals, and placed into a photo album for me and my brother’s as well. When I saw all the Texass photos I threw them all away but I did keep this one. And I wrote on it, as you can see above. “My step-father the Psychopath and Mary Keith.”
I saved this one photo because I wanted my children to see my face here. To see how unhappy that I was. To see the abuse that I have endured most of my life from these two. You can see my body language of my not leaning towards him but being pulled towards him. You can also see my mother, totally oblivious. Only caring that she gave birth to his child, Johnny. That photo above represents my childhood of abuse and I wanted to post it as a record. Even though I may be the only person that cares, I still want it out there.
I survived being the daughter/step-daughter of John and Mary Lancaster. The worst two human beings I’ve ever known in my life, and who have done the most damage to me in life. I survived knowing them!
Julie
P.S. I was going to write about What’s Up but I’m not in the mood now. That will have to wait.
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July 10, 2020
The “Karen’s” and the Meltdown of Right Wing America
It was during the week of the Republican National Convention in 2016 that I was on my way to my dermatologist appointment. I remember that it was a Wednesday morning, probably around 10:30 a.m.. I also know that it was during that week of the republican convention. If you recall their convention was going badly. No one in that party should have felt the least bit confident about their November election chances. I, however, was feeling pretty happy about their convention failures. Well, as I was driving the few miles down the main road in my town to my appointment, I was very shocked to have experienced at least 3 almost collisions with other cars. I was in my lane and going the speed limit but they were driving erratic, reckless, speeding in a 45 MPH zone. I was something of an emotional wreck when I arrived at my appointment because I had encountered so many hostile people on the road. And the thing is they were all white middle aged women driving mini-vans!
I couldn’t figure out why there were so many horrible women drivers on the road at what is usually a very slow traffic time of day where I don’t usually encounter the bad drivers? It wasn’t until I left my dermatologist appointment that I realized why? OMG! They are upset that their convention is going so badly and they are afraid they won’t win! That’s it!!
We live in what is a large republican/independent area. We do have our crazy republicans, but we also have some more rational independents in our midst. Us liberals are more in the minority. Oh, they know which families are liberals, they make it their business to know.
But, what you are seeing play out with all these crazy republicans right now throughout our country, is their meltdown!
They know they aren’t winning, and they are panicked about it! And when they get upset their true nature comes out and that is what people are filming with their phones and putting it online for the world to see. Thank goodness they are finally having to pay a price for their meanness. This is pretty new. Used to their employers would just give them some sort of reprimand and that would be the extent of it. But no! Not now! They are finally having to pay a price for their meanness and hatred. The thing is, all you have to do it film them and let them bring themselves down.
Used to, when I was in the car with my kids, or Gordon, I would see someone and I could tell instantly that they were a republican. I would say to Veronica or Brodie, ‘Look at that woman with her arm dangling out the car window, leaning back in her seat, as she survey’s the cars around her. She is a republican.’ I would then hear, ‘How do you know that mom?’ I would then reply, ‘Because I can tell. Look at how arrogant she is. Look at her facial expression as she judges the people around her and the cars they are driving. Her blonde hair. Her hairstyle. The car she is driving. I know she is a republican because they all look alike. They are sheep. They drive the same cars. The wear the same clothes. They have the same hairstyles. There is nothing special about them. They only stand out because they are the same. I don’t need to see her voter registration card to see how she votes because how she votes is written all over her, and her automobile, and her clothing, and her attitude. She’s also very religious. You can tell by her self righteousness. Only the religious have that smug expression on their faces because they see themselves as superior to all others.
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The “Karen’s”
When I first heard about the “Karen’s” I immediately felt bad for all people named Karen because their name is being used to depict such horrible people out there. BUT, I then read the profile of a “Karen.” WOW! They just described the only Karen I know that is also named Karen, to a T!
Now, I do think there is something to it.
The Karen that I am referring to is a family member that has not particularly been very nice to me for decades. She was a very sweet girl, but when she grew up she became a “Karen.” I miss that sweet little girl that she once was. I am not going to start badmouthing her. I pretty much ran her off from reading my website anymore. But I did want to say that there is a reason these women are called “Karen’s.” Sadly, the name fits.
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Karma
You know, there are very few of us that actually see justice when we are wronged by someone. Usually the bully gets away with it………………….initially. BUT, just give it time and let karma step in.
You see, karma will do a much better job than you ever could at exacting revenge on anyone.
To me, my definition of karma is something that one does to themselves.
For example, a person may be able to shoplift every day for 5 years but eventually, if that person continues to do that thing that they shouldn’t, they will eventually get caught. Either technology will catch up to them. Or perhaps all these camera’s that are everywhere will expose them. But just give it time.
If they would just stop doing that bad thing that they are doing right now then they may just get away with it. But they never stop, do they? They keep going because they keep getting away with it. Look at Bill Cosby, for example. Had he just stopped what he doing to women he would have gotten away with it. But he never stopped because he KEPT getting away with it.
Everyone’s downfall is always arrogance. So, if you are wronged by someone do not fret it. If the law doesn’t get them then life steps in and takes them down. You have a powerful ally on your side so do not fear. 🙂
Julie
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June 30, 2020
The 4th. of July
Every year we usually do something very nice for our Independence Day. A nice big spread of BBQ/Brunswick Stew/ Corn on the Cob/ etc. And this year will be no different. Only because we do themes. 🙂
I am however, very curious as to see how our average American tends to “celebrate” the 4th.
Will there even be a celebration? I know that we have not been feeling very patriotic for decades. Oh, we love our country, just not the politicians that run it and ruin it. The idea of America is what we celebrate. We celebrate the patriotism of our past. When we were proud to be American’s. Although those days are past, we do live in the past, therefore this July 4th. will be special to us.
Here are a few clues as to the theme of our July 4th.
Do you understand now? Great!
Then we are on the same page. See you on the 4th.!
Star Spangled Kisses!
Julie
p.s. What’s with the additional coffee pot on the counter underneath the paper towels? I don’t get that?
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June 28, 2020
My Thoughts on Gone With The Wind
I want to first state that I am pro Black Lives Matter. I did grow up in the south, Georgia, to be exact. I was born in 1961. I can remember the commercials on T.V. where someone by the name of J.B. Stoner was running for some office and would talk about how he would get rid of the N*****’s. Even though I was just a girl I disliked that man on T.V. I grew up in a kind household. At least where my mother’s family was concerned. My biological father’s family were very racist. My bloodline does put me in The Daughter’s of the American Revolution, DAR, by my biological father. I have that bloodline yet I do not honor that heritage. I have the DNA to be in that exclusive club but I do not join it.
I suppose that my fried chicken above and the cotton would seem a racist statement. I don’t mean it to. I adore fried chicken and I love the cotton. I also can’t live without Watermelon!
I am so happy that most people are starting to realize all that our black American’s go through and are helping to end their suffering. I’m sure that if I were to take a DNA test that my heritage would be African/Scotch-Irish/ and Greek. And I would be just as proud to be all of them! I have black characteristics/Scotch-Irish characteristics, and Greek. 🙂
But, Gone With The Wind is one of my most favorite movies of all time. Not because it depicts slavery. But because of Scarlett O’Hara.
When I first saw Gone With The Wind I hated Scarlett. I thought she was so mean! But I came to realize that although she was mean, she made sure that her family and friends survived. She sacrificed her happiness and married men that she didn’t love so that her family had a roof over themselves, and so that she could control the money and keep Tara alive and well, and her family members. She was also caring for Ashley and Melanie when they needed help. Melanie and Beau are only alive because of Scarlett.
In the old south some families did own slaves. Some of my family members owned slaves. I cannot do anything about the past. That wasn’t my past. But, I can do something right now. I can support Black Lives Matter and I do!
Gone With The Wind is just a movie, It is not a documentary on slavery. I can very easily imagine the horrors of slavery just as I can image the horrors the Jews endured in the concentration camps. I just happen to love the movie GWTW because it takes place not far from where I was born. And it depicts an era of grandeur and then hardship, and war. It depicts change and a new future. To me Mammie is the smartest person in the entire movie. I also love that Rhett wants the respect of Mammie more than anyone else.
I say put all those Confederate statues in a museum where they belong. That is our history, for good or for bad. We shouldn’t erase our history. But it also shouldn’t be flaunted. I grew up in Rome, GA. where the Rome Re-enactor’s re-enact the Civil War. My parent’s said decades ago that there will be another Civil War. It’s as if they keep re-enacting it in the hopes they will eventually win.
I can’t do anything about my country’s past, I can’t also do anything about my families past, but I can do something right now. I support Black Lives Matter because they do! I am with you. But, I also like to occasionally watch Gone With The Wind. Not because I love slavery, I don’t! But, I do love Scarlett. I always will.
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June 26, 2020
Memories and Musings
Our Home on MacDill AFB Before we Purchased our House
Those are our cars. We had an ocean view. The raw ocean was only a block away.
When we left Maryland in 2003 and moved to Florida I was very excited to be coming back to Florida. My mother’s beach condo was just 23 miles away. I was excited that I would be managing it. I had been booking it through Ebay while we were living in Maryland for a few years, acting as a travel agent. But now I would be doing it all down here. I loved our new home on base! (Photo above.) I loved that the base was on a peninsula. I loved that we had an ocean view with the ocean just being a block away. I also loved that we didn’t have to worry about doing yard work. The base hired people to do that for you. I loved that everywhere we went I was driving on a road right beside the ocean. Sometimes you could see dolphins jumping out of the water. Sometimes you could see sharks fins above the water as they swam right up to the shoreline. Sometimes you could see what looked like the water boiling but it was actually something large eating a bunch of something smalls as in a feeding frenzy going on. We saw lots of sunrises from our kitchen and balcony area. And if we were out at the condo then we saw lots of sunsets there. The waters around the base were loaded with muscles and clams. Usually it would be me picking up the many seashells to then bring them home and do crafts with them. I made many shell wreaths, most of which I gave away as gifts. I very much enjoyed our life there, we all did. Yet to be around other military families all I seemed to ever hear were the complaints.
I thought back to when we were living in Hawaii and a family that we were very close to were living on Hickum AFB, and living in officer’s housing with the ocean just across the road, and their child’s school just a block away within walking distance where all the lovely ladies would walk their small children to school each morning while strolling the little ones in their strollers down the sidewalks, they had it made, yet so many complaints.
We also knew another family who lived on our base with us out in Ewa Beach. Their house was right on the ocean, they swam in the ocean most every day. They even had their own Tiki Hut on the beach where they could entertain. They had a garden that was so beautiful. Yet, all they ever did was to complain. With July 4th. coming up I remember my last Independence Day in Hawaii, it was in 1999. Gordon was out to sea as usual so this family that I describe above invited us to spend the day with them. I brought over a large container of fried rice that I had made myself. I can’t even remember the rest of the food, only what I had brought. As night came and we are sitting on their private beach with Diamond Head in the distance, and fireworks on big display in Waikiki, I knew then that it will never be as good as it is right now. So, I soaked it up. I was sad that we were moving from Hawaii in just a few short weeks. So, I took it all in and I can still see it in my mind now. But, the family that I tell you about in this story did nothing but complain about everything. If living on a home in Hawaii right on the ocean doesn’t make you happy then nothing ever will. So…..
(NOTE: When we were living out in Ewa Beach we were across the street from the ocean but sadly a large Marine Barracks was blocking our view.)
When we moved to Florida and we got our ‘near the waterfront’ home, I enjoyed every bit of it and I look back on our 3 years there and I miss it. It was a very nice life. I suppose I’m being a bit nostalgic. I think a lot of people are now. Sort of reminiscing about the past and what life was like before this pandemic. I do wonder if those families that I mention above ever found any sort of happiness? I seriously doubt it.
Recently this millionaire Steven Bing jumped 27 floors to his death because he was lonely, and I did later read a headline that he was also feeling guilty over his young girlfriends death. I then went on to read how the son he fathered with Elizabeth Hurley was grieving his death. The father that for many years denied he was his father, and had nothing to do with him, was grieving for him. WHAT? Exactly what loss is there to grieve? As I see it, you can’t miss what you never had. You can’t mourn what you never lost. I hate to tell you this Damien Hurley, but your sperm donor died. Period!
A millionaire in what is probably a penthouse on the 27th. floor killed himself because he was sad. To someone like me we scratch our heads over that because we would be having a ball in that penthouse and looking out at what is probably a wonderful view sipping champagne, eating lobster and shrimp, and toasting to the life of luxury.
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But now, not to stray too far off topic but I look around at the many women in our society that are having those butt implants so that they can have a big butt. And I remember back to when all these other women had to have all the breast implants so they could have big boobs. Prior to that I think big lips were the in thing where everyone looked like a fish and yet somehow they thought that was attractive. When I look at these women all I see is so much mental illness. If you feel the need to put that much effort into your outsides, then your insides must be pretty messed up.
I wish our society would put more emphasis on someone’s insides as being important. I wouldn’t take one of those big giant butt’s or humongous boobs for any amount of money in the world. My butt is not very shapely, but my boobs are holding up pretty well for age 59, so I will just keep what I have because those things just don’t matter to me. I do want to loose a few pounds for the sake of my health and for my vanity when I wear something nice I would like to look good in it.
My hope when this pandemic is over is that our society will play a huge role in counseling all the mental illness that not only exists now, but that will come to fruition years from now, as in an explosion. My hope is that there will be a bottom that our society hits where it finally realizes that there is no perfect breast size, or butt size, or dress size. My hope is that more attention will go toward victims of bullying, domestic abuse and violence. A fairer society is a nicer society.
I learned through my lifetime to appreciate everything that I have and to look on my past as a learning experience, including the traumas. There are people that see me as someone that just cannot get over things. That’s not true. I very happily forgive. But first I need an apology and an acknowledgement. Once I get that I can forgive anyone. But I never seem to get that. So, I end up doing the only thing that I can do. I say goodbye and wish them well. But, I never want to see them again, and I never want to know them again. If their relationship with me is not worth an apology then I must not mean very much to them.
I hope that when all is said and done that we are a better people and a better nation when we come out of this pandemic. Sometimes we have to hit bottom before that happens. As a country, that’s what I’m afraid of. I didn’t bring children into this world so they can suffer a life of hardship in the future.
Julie
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June 19, 2020
Celebrating the Last of our Christmas Shooting……
IN JUNE!
Starting tomorrow down goes our Star Wars Christmas in our dining room. Oh, we took all the rest of our Christmas down throughout our house months ago, but we kept this area up because we wanted to do a bit more with it and what with being in lockdown for months now every month just sort of blurs together. I am someone that makes efforts to keep up with the date, and the day of each week. We have also been really knocking out projects left and right. Gordon is still working from home. He puts in his 8 hours a day on his computer, M – F, but because he is working from home he can take a 2 hour break for lunch and work on a project outside and then make the time up later on in the evening.
We realize that we are very lucky compared to so many that have not had it as easy as we have. But we have been where you are. There was actually a time when Gordon and I were homeless and sleeping on a friends couch and floor. And there was a time when all we had was $15.00 a month for food. I realize that is hard to believe to some, but not to those that have been there. And I am only writing this for them and not some casual reader.
So, if we are to be looked down upon for being fortunate at this time by some people, rest assured, we have paid our dues. Over, and over again. Plus, fortune never seems to last forever so we will see how things unfold. I don’t believe any of our futures are guaranteed. I was thinking about what kind of Christmas I would like this year and then I realized that there may not be any Christmas. Our country’s future is very uncertain. Joe Biden may very well win the election in November but that doesn’t mean he will be President. Al Gore won in 2000 and we see how that coup turned out. Hillary won in 2016 and we see how that turned out.
The polls say that 80% of our country all agree that things are out of control but that really means nothing. Democrats and Independents may not like all that Trump is doing and sees the country as being out of control, but the same thing can be said about republicans seeing the BLM protests as our country being out of control. So, polls really tell us nothing right now. Instead of pollsters and politicians plotting a strategy for an Electoral College win in November, I think they should focus more on what to do if the incumbent doesn’t leave OUR HOUSE when he looses.
Am I hopeful? NO!
Because I know the mindset of the right winger.
Right now it looks as if America as a whole wants change. It looks as if those moderates that have turned a blind eye to our country’s problems forever are now waking up and ready to commit to helping to change things for the better. That’s all good! (And it would have been great had they gotten involved before the shit hit the fan, but…..)
But, what is coming is the response from the deplorables. And they will respond! Right now they are just upset that the country they thought they were taking back from the “evil liberals” is slipping out of their fingers. They see the tides changing rapidly in front of their eyes. They see black people fighting back in great numbers. And not just blacks but brown, white, and Asian’s are marching in large numbers alongside our African-American people. The Supreme Court keeps dealing them blows by ruling in favor of the LGBTQ community where discrimination is concerned, and how they are not going to deport over 700,000 DACA people back to the country their parents fled when they were just children.
The haters are loosing right now and they don’t like it. They will fight back because they do not respect laws. They live by their ideology. They will not respect the election results unless it goes in their favor this November and that will just embolden them to go farther. Right now they are licking their wounds and planning and plotting for a resurgence. And they will make a comeback and become even more dangerous than they are right now.
THAT is what I fear!
There are solutions but no one seems to be implementing them. So, if I want to leave Christmas decorations up almost 7 months after Christmas, then I will!
Merry Christmas!
Julie
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June 11, 2020
These Things…..
I had it in my head what I was going to write about but then it left me. So, I thought that I would just start typing and then we’ll see what tumbles out. I’ve known we would get to this point in our history a few decades ago. Oh, I didn’t exactly know the details, I just knew the feeling and the destination. But what has surprised me is the goodwill of so many that have been complicit and stagnant for so very long in the past, are now waking up and are becoming more active. I promise you, I did not see that coming.
I’ve been made fun of for so long, by so many, because of my keeping up with politics and speaking out against the injustice that I’m not used to people actually understanding why now? I think that most people saw me as insane during the George W. Bush years because of my political activism. But, we wouldn’t be where we are now if it weren’t for G. W. Bush. There would not be a Trump if there weren’t a Palin, if there weren’t a Bush…..
I am into prevention!
As am Empath I have spent my life preventing bad things from happening. That is what Empaths do. We want to prevent bad things from happening in the future. That is how I spend my life. I will also never receive the credit that I deserve for preventing something bad from happening. How many times have I prevented a burglary? We will never know because I prevented it. I lock doors. I set alarms. I have always watched my children like a hawk. I keep up with my handbag, my luggage, my carry on. I am not distracted by the things that others are because my focus is on my children or my possessions.
How many times have I prevented something bad from happening?
We will never know because I PREVENTED BAD THINGS FROM HAPPENING!
Gordon is the true “hero” of the family because he rides to the rescue when something bad DOES happen.
If anyone has a car wreck, or any kind of accident they know to call Gordon, not me. Why? Because Gordon will rise to the occasion and swoop in to save whomever needs saving. And as for me? Well, I’m too busy questioning how could this have possibly happened? Did you not lock your doors? Why were you distracted on the road? Did you not have your hands on the steering wheel at 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock? And why not? Whatever were you thinking?
I am useless in an emergency!
But, I am the best person in the world to help you prevent something bad from happening.
I think of things that the average person doesn’t think about.
The point that I am trying to make here is that there are so many of us that do such good work but we will never be recognized for it. I suppose timing is everything. And if we aren’t being recognized at the exact moment in time that we need to be, then we are lost in history.
But, we are not lost! Our work is being recognized at the moment, and by the most important people that need to recognize it.
We are important! If you are like me then you know perfectly well how important that you are. We may not get our credit at the time, but we will eventually. Besides, it is in us to help people whether or not those people appreciate us at the time, or not.
That is the path of an Empath.
Julie
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May 27, 2020
Operation Lockdown Ugly and Happy About It (Sort of.)
Julie Bedroom Selfies
At age 59 there will never be any sexy bedroom selfies, but there will be selfies.
Above is my pre-pandemic look, my current pandemic look, and my post-pandemic look. This is what I look like when I am at home. I am not going to waste make-up or styling products if I am only going to be looking at myself all day. I do however, generously use moisturizer in every crevice whether I leave the house or not. I also will continue to do my personal grooming and manicure/pedicure whether anyone will ever see my hands or feet ever again. I will also continue to floss my teeth as if there is no tomorrow. In other words, I take care of my self, my body, my skin, my hair, my teeth, etc. because I am worth it. I may not pretty up on the outside but I still take care of myself on the inside as well as the outside. And I hope everyone else is able to as well.
I have been in self-isolation for the past 2 1/2 months with my family here at home.
I also plan on not going anywhere anytime soon until about July or August if I can help it.
That may be hard for some people but not for me. I learned a very long time ago how to entertain myself. I am not going to go into that again as I have talked about it before, but I do think it a bit irresponsible for others to try and tell people what to do in lockdown/self-isolation. Martha Stewart may have given good advice when she told people to ‘grow a garden’ while in quarantine, but she also has no clue what most people may be going through. When faced with an eviction in one month, hearing from Martha that they need to grow a garden is a bit unrealistic. Martha is a nice person. I am not dissing her. It really is up to us to discover that which we need, inside of us, to get us through this. Hey, as long as Gordon has a job and is bringing in a paycheck then we are o.k. But, the second that ceases, we are screwed!
Nothing in this climate is a guarantee. We may be fine now but that doesn’t mean we will be fine next week, next month, or next year.
I believe that realistically, that is how most people are right now. Unless you are a millionaire with lots of money stashed away then your future is just as iffy as anyone’s.
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One thing that I have enjoyed is that there are celebrities that have posted worrisome tweets/photos/ etc. of themselves with real fears and worries. I believe that makes their followers feel better about their own situations. Looking at the people that they admire posting photos of their non-flawless skin, cellulite thighs, tummy bulges, gray roots, anxieties, extra pounds….. just means they are just as human as the rest of us.
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I have also noticed something different happening in our country. Justice! Over the past few decades there have been so many injustices done. Police murders of black men and boys on the rise, racial discrimination of black and brown people. But, over the past few days people are getting fired for their racism. THAT is very new! And what is happening in our climate at the moment? A pandemic. Could people be finally waking up to the horrible Trump climate in our country and actually be worried about it, AND, trying to correct it? Are the moderates finally waking up and not liking what they see? When you do nothing about a situation then you are complicit in it.
I do know that if you keep going you will eventually win.
I started this website in 2011. I have had a cyber-stalker to do his best to ruin it, sabotage it, re-write it, destroy it, but guess what? I persisted! I never stopped working on it. I never stopped creating. I never stopped writing. I never stopped posting. I never stopped blogging. And here we are 9 years later and this website is far larger and better than it ever was before. Oh, I do have quite a few pages to still correct that he has ruined. And all the damage he has done to us we will never forgive him for but, If you keep going you will eventually win. Never stop believing in yourself. I know that sounds a bit like some 80’s Journey song but it’s true.
Although I will not post that video of that “Central Park Karen” woman that everyone is talking about. That woman was finally exposed for the real person she is and people decided that they didn’t like her and no longer wanted to tolerate her and people like her. Trying to get an African-American man arrested by lying to police about him simply because he pointed out a leash law to her is evil. She is evil. And now she is getting what she deserves. People eventually expose their true selves and that is what is happening in our current climate. Thank goodness that there are some decent people out there that are no longer willing to tolerate them.
Julie
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May 23, 2020
I Am So Overwhelmed
This may take me a few days to write as I am so overwhelmed by so much right now, but I thought I would go ahead and start while I have a few moments to myself. (p.s. I did get it all written in one day.) 🙂
My house is a mess, I need to give myself a pedicure, I’m washing our bedding right now, in just a little bit I will be cleaning our bedroom, I have all the dogs bedding to wash, they also need baths, our laundry hamper is full and I need to get to that but because we use so many mattress covers and sheets and bedspreads, just doing our bedding takes from morning until night. I like to sleep on a “cloud.” So, therefore we have lots of feather beds on top of 3 mattresses. And yes, you have guessed correctly. I AM The Princess and The Pea.
I am a tall person but even I have to climb up into bed at night. Heaven help us if we ever fall out, we’d probably break our necks.
I need to clean our bathroom but because the new faucet that Gordon installed in my sink, it needs a clamp as it leaks and water drips down into my cabinet, where incidentally, everything that was underneath my sink in my cabinet is sitting in our bathtub. I can’t get organized and clean as I need to until my sink faucet is repaired. We are just awaiting the part to arrive in the mail then Gordon has to repair it.
I need to water our plants in our front entrance to our house so that they don’t die. Luckily it did rain yesterday so that watered our plants on our back lanai so they get to live another day. (This is Florida. If you don’t water every 2-3 days they die. Trust me!)
I need to put away our Christmas decorations. Yes, I just said that. I realize it’s almost June, but after Christmas I just never got around to putting them away. Apparently I am the only one that is capable of it that lives in this house, so If I don’t do it then no one does. I am glad that I never got around to it because we created a great post for our website for Christmas that we never would have done had the decorations not been out.
A Star Wars Clue For Christmas
It was a lot of fun to create and everyone had a good time.
But, getting back to my drama……
We have to finish pickling and get that project over with. We’ve got jars in the dishwasher right now so that we can finish that project either today or tomorrow. We’re doing some carrots and perhaps a few other root vegetables that escapes me right now. I had the utterly brilliant idea of having Gordon to carve each little veggie into a flower to pickle. (If looks could kill I would be a dead woman!) It is a great idea though.
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Intermission: My Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone RANT
There is a Harry Potter marathon on t.v. right now and the part that I hate the most was just on. It’s at the end of the movie where Slytherin is about to win the whatever award for best house or something like that. Then Dumbledore awards Gryffindor all those extra points so that they can win instead. Here is my beef. Apparently Slytherin must have been doing something right all year to be ahead only to have the award stolen from them at the very last minute by Dumbledore. They even had all their banners of Slytherin up and ready for the celebration. What Dumbledore did was to rob them of that victory. Perhaps that’s why the Slytherin kids became such bully’s? Sure, they were a bit spoiled at the start, like most privileged kids are, but being robbed of something that special that was rightly due them can only make them resentful towards the authority at Hogwart’s, and the teacher’s pets as well, Harry, Ron, and Hermoine.
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Now back to my other rant……
I’m still doing laundry. It’s almost 4:30 p.m. now and my thick extra large comforter is still drying. Then I’ve just got one more load for the night, until tomorrow when it’s time to wash clothes. I’ve spent quite a lot of time in our bedroom today cleaning it. I’ve only gotten half way through. I’ll try and get the other half tomorrow. I came across quite a bit of jewelry I hadn’t seen in years that desperately needs cleaning. Oh, and btw: It’s very easy to clean jewelry effectively. Just use Polydent tablets in water and they will clean your jewelry quite quickly and easily. But only real gold or silver. It will ruin costume jewelry. Also, really watch closely when you clean pearls that way. You don’t want the Polydent to corrode them. Just be watchful and only leave them in for a few minutes.
Gordon is in the backyard with the dogs now. He did clean their water bowl/water fountain today. And he is working on hanging a project of ours in the next few days. It is a project that does require some work. It was my idea to do this project. I think it will end up looking nice. I’ll bring that to you soon.
I am very behind on my letter writing to my relatives that don’t email. God, I wish they would! It would be so much easier for me. I don’t write out letters in long hand, I get tired just signing a check. But, I do type everything out, print out photos, and then send a nice long letter with pictures. I guess I shouldn’t complain about them not wanting to do email. I myself refuse to text, which irritates my children.
Gordon and Brodie still have the gutter project to finish. I myself need to prepare my large above ground planter with the new tomato plants I’ve purchased. I’ve got a great eggplant in there that is growing nicely. So proud! 🙂 Gordon and I have been buying herbs and plants online and having them delivered. I need to get out there and get to those as well. We are having lots of bell peppers growing, which is so nice as we eat a lot of them. And we also ordered some asparagus to plant. It will take a year before we see any results but it will be worth it to have our own asparagus. We have also been trying to buy okra online but everyone seems to be out of it so we are going to use seeds. Okra is very easy to grow and we have always been very successful growing it. Can’t wait to start that project.
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On the barefoot front I managed to start my pedicure. It’s pink this week. It has been blue the past few weeks. I can just hear your sigh’s of relief. 🙂
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Well, I suppose that you get the drift of how much there is to do around here. And I pretty much just mentioned the tip of the iceberg. I am a bit overwhelmed. In the past when I would look around my house and get overwhelmed I would just shut down. As in just lay on the couch not doing anything at all but watching t.v. or a movie. But for the past few years when I get overwhelmed I just sit down right here in my computer chair and type away working on blog posts, etc.
Sometimes I have to make myself get up and do something productive. In order for me to avoid becoming overwhelmed I’ve learned to take things slow and do things one at a time. Take one room at a time and do what I need to do in there before I move on to the next room. That is what I am doing now. I did half of our bedroom today. I will do the other half tomorrow. Then, I will have a victory. With that victory underneath my belt it will help me to move on to the bathroom and do what all I need to do in there. Then once that is done I will move on to the dining room and put away all the Christmas. I guess you get the picture.
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With this being Memorial Day Weekend we will be grilling out but not doing anything as elaborate as we have in the past. We are all kinda tuckered out. Not to mention we all have an extra few pounds on us being in lockdown and enjoying all these feasts we’ve been having. Mackenzie left a few days ago to spend some time with her family in Tampa until she leaves for Gainsville, Florida to do her internship. We miss her. Our ray of sunshine has left the building. But, we know we will see her again. The dogs adore her! If she just takes something to her car they cry for her until she comes back inside. That is why I asked her if she would talk to the dogs alone before she left and just explain to them where she was going and that she would be back. Although the dogs may not understand every word she said, they did hear her tone in her voice, they did view her facial expressions and her body language, and they could feel her feelings. And, guess what? The dogs have been fine and there was no crying when she left. That is much better than just walking out the door never looking back at them. Dogs are so much smarter than people realize.
So, it looks like our Memorial Day grillin’ will consist of “elaborate” grilled veggie sandwiches on Cuban bread.
Nothing fancy, but everything delicious and healthy!
So, with that I will leave you. I need to learn to balance all I have going on in order for all of it to work. I also need to just take one day at a time, one room at a time, one section of a room at a time, in order for me to become more organized and more productive. I will get there eventually. 🙂 We all will. If we try. 🙂
Julie
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May 18, 2020
The Baseball Analogy For The Coronavirus
I love baseball! I have since I was a young girl and playing sports during school recess. Oh, there were no girl’s or women’s sports while I was growing up but we were allowed to play sports during our school recesses. Usually soccer and kick ball. I was the star player and I played barefoot most of the time. I would kick my shoes off when I would go outside to the playground to play. The only time the popular kids were nice to me was when I was playing sports.
It wasn’t until Junior High School where Gym Class was a class that we were required to take that I started playing baseball. I was good at it too. But, unfortunately whenever my bat would make contact with the baseball, and as that ball sailed high in the sky toward the outfield, that sadly my bat was also soaring high in the air toward the 3rd. baseman. I threw the bat!
I couldn’t help it. I would hit the ball with such force that I couldn’t keep hold of the bat and it would fly out of my hand usually headed toward someone that would have to leap out of the way to prevent from being seriously injured. The coach was always mad at me. She knew that I was a good player I just couldn’t not throw that bat no matter how hard I tried. So, I was always benched.
Whenever I would play soccer or kick ball there was this sweet spot on my feet that when the ball came in contact with that spot, (my very long toes), I could have that ball sailing through the air and way out into the outfield. Well, I found that same sweet spot when I would swing that bat and send that baseball soaring into the outfield while the other team would scramble to try and retrieve the ball. But sadly, that sweet spot was why I couldn’t control the bat.
I suppose I’m rambling as usual but stay with me for a little bit longer. 🙂
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The Olympic Games, Atlanta, Georgia 1996
I was in Rome, Georgia that summer visiting with family and friends when my parents, my brother’s, and I decided to go into Atlanta and see if we could get tickets for an event. You see, the way the ticket purchasing was set up for residents in Georgia was very strange. It was a lottery. You could not just buy tickets for whatever event you were interested in, you had to just blindly send in money and they would choose what events and how many tickets they would let you have. My parents knew this doctor that sent in $2,000.00 and he received back just 2 tickets for boxing. What a rip off! So, we decided to just go into Atlanta and see if we could buy tickets on the spot. So we did.
We drove to Kennesaw, Georgia, a pick up spot outside Atlanta where you could park your car and take a bus into the city. If you had tickets in your hand for an Olympic event for that day you could ride free, and if you didn’t then you had to pay a small fee. So, we left our car in Kennesaw and took the bus into Atlanta. This was after the bombing. I’ve never seen so many cops in one place in my life! There was a police officer spaced every 20 feet apart as you would walk all over the area designated for the Olympic Village. We checked prices at some of the events and the prices were very high. That is when we started looking around at people buying tickets from scalpers so we inquired. Turns out the scalpers had the best tickets and the best prices. I believe it was my step-father and my brother Johnny, who was living in London at the time and over for a visit with us, who bought us our tickets for a baseball game, America verses Cuba.
America was doing very well in baseball so we were excited to come back and see the game a few days later. Cuba always rules in baseball as that is their only sport. I also believe that 2 of their players defected at that time. We did get tickets for an event later on that day. It was for Track and Field. We started to get the hang of this scalper thing. All you had to do was to stand there and hold up 2 fingers, or 4 fingers, or 6 fingers, for the amount of ticket’s you were interested in purchasing, and they would approach you.
After the bombing the news coverage of Atlanta was all about how scared people were, ATLANTA IN FEAR!!!!! But, everywhere we went everyone was happy and having a good time. The bus drivers were always telling us to remember to remove our suspicious packages as we exited. 🙂
I learned to hate the Olympic Committee that summer. They are big bullies! Not only did they screw the people of Georgia out of being able to purchase tickets for events, but they also put about 3 small business’s out of business simply because they had the word Olympic in their name. A family owned dry cleaners that had been in business since 1927 was immediately put out of business by The Olympic Committee. They actually have the power to just come in and shut you down. That is just bizarre to me.
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We enjoyed walking about Olympic Village. Doing some shopping, enjoying the food, buying up those collectible pins. Oh, I saw Jamie Leigh Curtis duck into a tent with her daughter Annie looking at pins. We also saw actor/politician Fred Thompson strutting around with his country music star girlfriend and his entourage. (Not impressed.)
At the end of the day you go to the designated bus stops to take you back to your car. Atlanta had flown in bus drivers from all over America to work. We know this because our bus driver got lost and it was us Georgia residents, that had to tell him how to get us back to Kennesaw where we were all parked. And then as we are getting off the bus we’re having to give him directions to get back into Atlanta.
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A few days later we went back into Atlanta to watch our baseball game. USA verses Cuba. We had pretty good seats. Where we were sitting was actually underneath a ledge so we weren’t sitting directly in the sun. And as usual one of us is always armed with high powered binoculars. In looking at our USA team they were all a bunch of college students recruited from around the country to play because our men’s league’s won’t give up their million dollar salary’s in order to participate. Our team looked liked such little boys. I could see their acne on their faces through the binoculars. They were just a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds compared to those Cuban men, they were just children.
Cuba came out strong until the 3rd. inning. That’s when our boys started to catch up. Not only did they tie with Cuba but actually started to get ahead. By the 6th. inning you could see and hear the excitement from the people in the stadium. USA! USA!! USA!! Our boys were ahead and it was becoming such an exciting game! It was the beginning of the 9th. inning and our boys were ahead with a lead of about 4 I think? Every person in that stadium was on their feet. America had never won a gold in baseball ever. Cuba always wins. Here was our chance to win gold in baseball and we were there to witness it. Our college boys were gonna do it! It was exciting!!!
UNTIL…….
Ya know, I could never figure out why those Cuban men were so calm those last few innings of that game? I was after all watching them through binoculars. I could see their faces and their facial expressions. I could observe their body language. They weren’t worried about a thing. I just couldn’t figure it out? Why weren’t they worried? They were about to be beaten by a bunch of college aged boys. They were about to lose their title as always winning the gold. And they weren’t worried? Huh. And that’s when it happened……
Cuba very calmly and quickly started gaining. With about 1 minute to go and USA is ahead by 1 point Cuba swooped in and erased our lead only to score another run and WIN!!!!
That’s when it all made sense to me. They let America get ahead. They LET America get ahead just so they could swoop in and take that victory back for themselves. They were so good that they weren’t the least bit worried in reclaiming their victory. They were just toying with all of us. The USA team, the players, the fans……
Needless to say, the mood of every American that left that stadium was very gloomy.
The baseball analogy is the perfect example of the Coronavirus. We are in the first inning of a 9 inning game and people are taking victory laps. This virus is smarter than we are. More skilled than we are. And far more evil than we are. There are no victory laps until there is a victory. Heaven help all of us until this is over.
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When that summer of ’96 ended my brother Johnny flew back to Heathrow Airport in London. He wanted to take his old bicycle with him so when we took him to the airport they placed his bike in this huge cardboard container that allowed the wheels to be open at the bottom so that it could be wheeled easily. Plastered all over that cardboard container was Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. Johnny told us that when he arrived in London and was wheeling his bicycle around Heathrow that he got lots of looks from passers by. Some of them were very admiring. So, Johnny told us he straightened his posture and proudly wheeled that bike out of that airport as if he were an Olympic Cyclist. 🙂
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And for me, even though I wasn’t allowed to play baseball anymore I did go on to be the bat girl for the baseball team when I was in High School in Rockingham, North Carolina. There was no girls team. I was bat girl for the boys team. That way I was able to participate in the sport without actually playing. I do still love baseball but to me it’s more fun to actually be there instead of just watching on television. But, I do love the baseball episode on Deep Space 9 where they play against the Vulcans.
Oh, and America did end up winning the Bronze Medal in Baseball in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
Not bad for a bunch of kids with pimples all over their faces. 🙂
Julie
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The Jett’s
Just Because.
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May 12, 2020
Catching Up
Me with Spooky and Sparky
I had the best Mother’s Day ever!
Gordon and Julie Outside our Lanai French Doors
Brodie and Mackenzie
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LOCKDOWN COMING TO AN END SOON
At this writing I have been in lockdown since March 10, and Gordon joined me about a week later. Mackenzie moved in mid-late March, and then Brodie joined us last in lockdown the end of March. We have been happy, healthy, and have been enjoying each other and our activities. Movies, projects, cooking, home improvements, etc. have been our life for the past few months. Gordon has been working from home doing his usual 8 hours a day online, but what has been nice is that because he has been working from home the one hour commute to work, and the one hour commute from work to home, has been eliminated. That means that I have 2 extra hours per weekday with Gordon that isn’t spent driving to and from work.
We are natural homebodies and have enjoyed our time here at home together. Oh, Gordon and I do squabble from time to time but for the most part it has been very pleasant for all of us. Gordon and I go from squabbling to laughing in one minute every time. 🙂 Mackenzie is a ray of sunshine and she shines her light on Brodie which then puts him in a great mood. I do believe that had she not quarantined with us that he would have had a hard time here in lockdown with us and he would have probably given us a hard time in wanting to see her. Luckily, we all 4 have had it nice.
Mackenzie will be leaving us in a week but we do have one last major blog post to work on before she leaves. It’ll be fun! You will just have to wait and see. She will spend some time with her family before she moves to Gainesville, Florida for her internship. We will miss her so much! I’ve been a bit blue today just thinking about her leaving. I know the dogs will grieve terribly! They adore her!
One of the conditions that was imposed upon Mackenzie before she moved in with us was that she had to watch every Star Wars movie, all 9 of them, and Rogue One. She did. And she loved them all! She is now officially one of us. 🙂 Oh, and all the Family Guy Star Wars episodes too. (Now they seem to watch Family Guy every day in their room. Something they never did before. Wondering if we had anything to do with that?) 🙂
Oh, and we also have them hooked on Killing Eve! I think we are all up to date on all the seasons and episode’s.
But now we are imposing The Lord of the Rings movies on her before she leaves us. We have all the movies, EXTENDED VERSIONS! Brodie and Veronica were HUGE LOTR fans! Between the two of them they have so much fan merchandise collectibles. Trish in New Zealand also sent us so much LOTR things, and the movies were filmed all over New Zealand.
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Gordon and Brodie have started putting up the new gutters around our house in preparation for rainy season. They did manage to rake up most of the leaves in the backyard. Gordon also installed new faucets in our bathroom sinks. Such an upgrade! That is a big project as everything underneath those cabinets was placed in the bathtub for me to plow through and then place back underneath the sinks in some kind of order. Yuck! 🙁
I would say that we have spent our time in lockdown wisely. We have taken advantage of the fact that we have all been together. We have pulled our talents together to create some really nice things. I am proud of all of us.
Gordon and I are so proud of our children and their partners. They chose the best partner’s they could have chosen. Gordon and I are so very lucky to be the Matriarch and Patriarch of such great people. We know that.
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The advice that we are giving Brodie and Mackenzie as they venture out into the world……
Look at the world as if it has 100 people in it. 1-10 are below average people. 90-100 are above average people. And then you’ve got those 80 people in the middle, they are average. Average is neither smart nor dumb, they are average and yet these average people control all the decision making in the world. View them as the average people that they are and never see them as leaders. Leader’s are in the top 10 percent.
I do believe in helping the 1-10 people as they cannot help that they were born into that category.
If these average people quit wearing a mask, you need to continue to wear a mask. If these average people bully you and make fun of you for continuing to be careful then remind yourselves that you are being bullied by people that have a lesser intelligence than you and therefore should not be taken seriously. So do you really care what average people think of you? I know that I don’t.
I will wear a mask as long as I feel it is necessary for my health and safety, and that of my family and the public at large. I don’t follow some sheep, or politicians, I will listen to the scientist’s out there and follow my own intellect and instinct’s. So should you!
Mahalo,
Julie
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May 9, 2020
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response
A.K.A. The Brain Orgasm
I have been experiencing these since I was a girl. There is this tingling in my scalp as if someone is massaging it. The other day it lasted for 2 days in a row. I was actually becoming upset with it as it was interfering with my daily routine and I could not do what I needed to do.
I never understood that it was something that other people experienced. I just arrogantly assumed that it was just something that I was experiencing alone. I am happy to know that I am not the only one that experiences these things.
I have discovered that I can bring them on myself simply by wishing it.
If there were to be a cold, rainy day I could actually bring it on by putting in a favorite movie on t.v., a DVD/Bluray, and then create a cozy environment for me on the couch with lots of pillows and blankets, and some Ginger Ale and some pretzel snacks. OMG! I would be in my own version of heaven that I created myself.
I very happily “suffer” from ASMR!
Julie (See you in Heaven)!
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May 8, 2020
The Flat Nosed People
I have been trying to write about this for awhile now but I keep erasing it/deleting it. The flat nosed people/ethnic people are to inherit the earth. They will be the majority in the future. The near future. I myself am a flat-nosed person. I think that I get it from my biological father’s side of the family. They were big racists that were slave owner’s. I believe that I am descended from them in their characteristic’s of most likely procreating with their slaves.
To me the future is ethnic.
Although The Jett’s are not from the south, they do represent the future of the flat nosed people and I do love their music from the 90’s. Very popular when we were living in Hawaii. Therefore, here are The Jett’s.
AND,
Angelica Hale, HERO
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April 28, 2020
LOCKDOWN
Doing Just Fine, Are We Supposed to Feel Guilty About That?
I heard from one of my guys in India the other day who works on the administrative issues side, and protection of our website, and he was asking how we are doing since he knows restrictions have been lifted here in Florida where going to the beaches are concerned, and in some cases, going back to work have been put into place. We have been self-isolating since early/mid March. Just the 4 of us. Me, Gordon, Brodie and Mackenzie. And Spooky and Sparky. 🙂
The people of India have been in a mandatory lockdown for the past 40 days and I could tell by some of his messages that he wasn’t happy about it at all. I told him that we are doing fine and are actually enjoying our time together here at home. I also told him that we have created a sanctuary here in our home and property over the past decade so self-isolating in our sanctuary is not some ‘prison sentence.’
I also told him that we are lucky that Gordon has been able to work from home and that Brodie has been furloughed with unemployment and how Mackenzie’s internship has been pushed back to June.
Granted, I don’t know his living situation but he can work from home. That is something positive right there. But, there was no cheering him up so I just wished him well and told him that I hope he gets through it.
It is very sad to hear on the news, and to read on the internet, all the people that are struggling, suffering, and even dying because of this Coronavirus. However, we aren’t being brought down by a virus, it has just exposed everything that is wrong with our country and what is wrong with our country is what is bringing us down.
From what I understand New Zealand has all but defeated the virus in their country. Apparently, they must have done something right.
It’s not hard to see that one political party in our country is trying to defeat the other political party in our country by following the rule of law only to be constantly defeated by the other political party who continues to defy the rule of law to push through their disastrous agenda. It just seems to me that in order to defeat someone who is constantly cheating and changing the rules of the game that we too should perhaps change our strategy but yet, I don’t see anyone doing that. It’s as if the marching orders are given by someone so high up in the food chain with absolute power that even the most powerful politicians don’t dare step on their toes.
So, exactly who owns our country now because someone DOES own it and it isn’t the American people.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again,
WE ARE ON OUR OWN!
No one is going to help us. I don’t see it anyway. I see many more deaths, more sickness, more suffering, more poverty, more crime, more human abuse, more animal abuse…..
All this social distancing will be designed to create generations of people who just won’t care about each other anymore. If we see suffering we will stay away because it’s safer for us and our children and our parents, grandparents, etc. There will be those of us that live in The Capital, while others live in the Districts. (Hunger Games) And if you think about it, there are parts of our country that already are segregated like that. Flint, Michigan and their lead filled water comes to mind.
So, as dark of a picture that I paint above shouldn’t I be upset, sad, worried, afraid? Sure. So why aren’t I?
Because there is nothing that I can do about any of it. I have no power, no control, I cannot change the future I can only see it.
The one thing that I had to stop all of this is my vote and thanks to our politicians and their redistricting, stealing elections, robbing us of our vote, I don’t even have that anymore. None of us do. So, I created a sanctuary for when things get bad. That is what I have right now. But, how long will we have it? That I do not know.
None of us ever really know how much time we have left so we can either constantly worry about it, or make the best of it. I choose to make the best of it. Gordon and I have paid our dues more times than I can count to society and we plan on enjoying what we have built together and not feel guilty that we are doing o.k. so far. I am not going to feel guilty for being able to eat good food because we know what it’s like to be hungry and not have enough to eat. We have been poor in our marriage in the early years where we had a budget of $15.00 a month for food and the only thing that money will buy you is Top Ramen soup. Imagine eating noodle soup everyday for a few months? One time we splurged and bought hot dogs and buns but we couldn’t afford the ketchup or the mustard so we walked into a McDonald’s and pocketed their ketchup’s, mustard’s, salt, pepper, and napkins. We became very creative in our survival thinking. Poor people are very creative and never underestimate someone simply because they have less money than you do.
So, are we supposed to feel guilty because we are doing fine (so far) during this pandemic?
I am 59, Gordon is 55. We are senior citizens here in Florida with no control over what may, or may not happen to us and our children. And because we have no control I am not going to spend my time worrying about it. At least, not until the time comes when I have to worry about it. I sincerely hope that all of us will be o.k. but I know we won’t. I hope there are no more deaths but yet there will be. I hope no one else looses their jobs, but they will. And barring something drastic happening to save us all, we are on a downward trajectory. How far each of us falls will depend on the circumstances that will surround us. But you can be sure that the 1% will be o.k. After all, they’ve been robbing our treasury over the past few decades thanks to the politician’s they have placed in office who will continue to serve them as long as we allow it. Now that is the key isn’t it? As long as WE allow it.
Oh, speaking of Civil War’s…….
Is this racist? Our Fried Chicken and my Cotton Together?
Mackenzie has never seen Gone With The Wind so last night we all sat down to watch it together. We ordered food from 2 different grocery stores to be delivered and proceeded to cook this excellent meal. Oh, we didn’t cook the chicken ourselves, the grocery store did and it was wonderful!!!! But, it was my idea to eat something southern while we watched the movie. Sweet Potatoes, regular and purple, were also on our menu as well as some Glazed Carrots. Yum, yum, yummy!
Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind
GWTW is a favorite movie of mine and Scarlett O’Hara is probably the greatest film heroine of all time. I just thought the chicken and the cotton belonged together here. I suppose it can be construed as racist but I don’t mean it in that way. My step-grandfather out in Texas, Papa Carlton was a cotton farmer. He had lots of land. A few years ago my mother sent me some copies of photos she had taken of us out in Texas and with me as a young girl in his field picking cotton from his crops. Actually, I wasn’t really ‘picking cotton’ as I was picking it up off the ground and putting it into a paper bag as my souvenir to take back to Georgia.
I would post the photo here except that I threw it away. I threw all those Texas photos my mother sent me away. And they were copies of her photos and not originals. I do wish that I had saved that one photo though. Of me, Miss Julie, “picking cotton.”
Georgia Peach
The south is extremely slow to change and as I told Mackenzie, I was referred to as Miss Julie growing up and there are people still alive that would call me that right now if I were to see them. My mother’s friend Elissha, for one.
We’ll see y’all later now, ya hear?
(Miss) Julie
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April 9, 2020
Throwback Thursday, Easter 1975?
Always barefoot, even when playing the piano.
Roanoke, Virginia, Me with my little brothers Johnny and Frank.
I took piano lessons for about 5 years but yet I never learned how to read music. Oh, I know the EGBDF, (Every Good Boy Does Fine), and ACEG, (All Cows Eat Grass), but when I would play a song on the piano after one or two times I would have it memorized and never look at the sheet music again. Therefore, I never actually learned how to read music. I could also hear a song and then find it on the piano and play it without knowing the sheet music. I look back now and realize that I was talented but I wasn’t doing it the way the average person does it so therefore my talent wasn’t recognized and I was criticized and condemned for doing things different from everyone else. I guess I was just born in a bad time. Just not my time. People always seemed to make me feel bad for being me.
In the past I would have never posted these “unattractive” photos of myself. But the only reason I saw them as “unattractive” is because there were people that made me feel as if they were. I was always told by my mother how fat that I was, and she was always there to tell me how weird that I was. But I no longer see me as such an unattractive person here. Granted, I am no great beauty, but I was a good person. A decent human being and a talented one. It’s just that my talent was not recognized or appreciated and therefore ignored. Well, I am not going to ignore the person that I was, and AM still!
Happy Easter,
Julie
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April 8/9, 2020
Easter Week
My Honeysuckle Vines
Last year I bought a few different varieties of Honeysuckle because I wanted to make a Honeysuckle Tea Cake but never got around to it. This year I hope to. I am just waiting for the blooms to emerge. Having grown up in the south most every property had Honeysuckle growing, whether it was crawling all over fences, gates, trellis’s, it was everywhere most of the time growing wild. It was also overlooked as being some weed and not really appreciated. Same with grape vines that grew everywhere. My friends and I would always pick the blossoms off the Honeysuckle Vines and place the sweet stem from the bottom of the blossoms in our mouth and suck out to taste the sweet nectar. I still do whenever I see the vines growing.
With Easter approaching we have been getting our backyard prepped. Pressure washing, bleaching, doing a little bit of planting but mainly just cleaning up what we already have outside.
Getting our Lanai Cage ready for Easter
The herb garden is good it was just a bit overgrown and needed some cleaning out, which I did. I also have some new herbs to plant but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Some of my herbs are looking worse for wear and desperately need planting.
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We are also getting ready for Easter. Looks like it will just be Gordon and myself along with Brodie and Mackenzie. We would love to invite Veronica and Brian over but it’s just not a good idea especially this month seeing as how this is supposed to be a really bad time to leave the house due to the Coronavirus. But we will take food over to them on Easter so they can enjoy it with us in spirit.
Veronica is back at work. She was furloughed for 2 weeks, meaning that her place of employment closed down for those 2 weeks so she didn’t get a paycheck but she still had a job for when they re-opened. Seeing as how they are considered ‘manufacturing’ they were allowed to re-open this past Monday so she is back at work. They don’t serve the public in any way and they work very far apart from one another so it is supposed to be a safe environment. (Although I don’t know if there is such a thing as a safe environment now.) Veronica’s boss is not the nicest person, although he does like Veronica as she always seems to make the cut when he lays people off from work.
Her boss can be quite cruel. Last year he held a meeting with all his employees and presented them all with options for insurance plans for them to choose from. He had them all fill out the paperwork and sign up for this and that and then when the meeting was over he asked for about 3 of them to remain while he dismissed the rest from the meeting. That was when he fired them. Fired them! He had those 3 employees sit there for about 45 minutes at that meeting and having them fill out forms knowing full well he was going to fire them. I could not do that to my worst enemy. Talk about heartless.
Brodie has been furloughed for the month of April. He is supposed to get unemployment during that time. His boss is worried about his employees and doesn’t want them getting sick or dying because he would make them work, so he furloughed them. He has the better boss! 🙂 I think he is enjoying being here with us and Mackenzie. Once we get Easter over with then there will be some projects for he and Gordon to work on which I will document.
Mackenzie is using her time wisely by getting on my treadmill every day and laying out in the sun soaking up that vitamin D for about 45 minutes daily. We are lucky that we can be outside because we are home owner’s so I feel very sorry for those stuck in apartments or condo’s at this time.
Brodie and Mackenzie have also been doing lots of cooking while in quarantine with us.
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Gordon is working from home for now but this is only temporary. It’s not sustainable. So, at some point he will have to go back into work and that worries me. He is also growing this gross beard! 🙁 His argument is that he has never had one so he wants to grow one now. I also told him that I have never had one either and I’m o.k. with not having one. 🙂 I’m also o.k. with continuing to shave my legs and arm pits. I have no desire to see what I look like if I don’t. I do hate that my hair is straight now. The only perm I have left is a little bit on the ends. I was due for one back in December but for some reason I just didn’t want to go get one. Then I thought I would do it in January but something kept telling me not to. So I didn’t. Then that voice inside me kept telling me to find someone new and not go back to the base anymore. And seeing as how I hate seeing anyone new, I have been procrastinating, and now there is no way I am going to any beauty shop even when they do reopen. I do color my own hair and I can trim it myself. But I desperately need someone experienced to give me a perm. Looks like that will be my coronavirus sacrifice, straight hair! 🙁 I suppose I shouldn’t complain. But yet I will!
Oh, and I also haven’t worn make-up since March 9th. but I will be slapping it on for Easter day. If I can remember how?
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Brodie, Movie and Hors D’ovueres, The Da Vinci Code
We have been enjoying lots of movies and some great eating during this coronavirus lockdown. We have gone through all the Star Wars except the last 3. Episode’s 7, 8, and 9. We thought we would take a break from Star Wars and watch some other movies. Poor wealthy Mackenzie grew up in such privilege in New York and Martha’s Vineyard yet NO MOVIES!! NO MOVIES! We so have to help this poor rich girl and bring her into our culture of quoting Star Wars all the time so she won’t stand there with a blank look on her face whenever we do.
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Our French Hors…(don’t make me spell it again.) For eating while watching our French Da Vinci Code movie
As always, recipes will be written up, eventually. 🙂
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Ya know, every morning that we all wake up healthy I thank my lucky stars that we all have another day of good health. It’s a shame that it takes a pandemic to bring that out of me. I suppose that should be how I view life all the time. The older I get the more I appreciate life and the time I have left.
Right now I’m just living for Easter and as Scarlett O’Hara would say, “I’ll worry about that tomorrow.” (Whatever “That” may be.) Which is perhaps how we all should think? Just enjoy the now and worry about what comes later on. Otherwise there would be no joy in our day to day living.
I’ve said over the past decade that I just want to enjoy what time I have left and that is what I intend to do. April 12th. will be Easter and it is also my deceased Grandmother’s birthday. She loved it when Easter fell on her birthday. Of course our Easter will be something of an old fashioned homage to her and all my deceased family while also bringing it into our updated 2020 culture.
Talk to y’all soon!
Julie
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April 1, 2020
I’ve Trained for this my Entire Life!
I read somewhere about why hoarders have lots of toilet paper as opposed to most everyone else. And how hoarders will continue to. I disagreed with the analogy of the writer in her definition of hoarding VERSES stocking up. I believe there is a difference. I am a hoarder, but what I hoard is what I already own. I am not purchasing anything new where hoarding is concerned. I hoard household and personal items that I have owned for years, and even decades. Also things that I have inherited. Stocking up is not hoarding. It is stocking up.
To me, someone who stocks up is someone who thinks ahead. I always think ahead. I always have thought ahead. I have been criticized for it, made fun of for it, laughed at for it, but when push comes to shove I am prepared and the people that have mocked me never are.
I have always been someone who stocks up. Even when we were poor and living paycheck to paycheck, whenever our tax refund money would reach us I would always use some of it to stock up our house of food and toiletries. I never liked living in some bare environment where I was constantly having to go out and replenish our supply of whatever that may be? I enjoyed having my stash of goodies set aside for a rainy day.
I am enjoying the hell out of this lock down. It’s because my life has always been in something of a lock down. I am going to admit to some things here in this blog post. As an Empath I have always been something of a loner and I am one that would choose solitary confinement over interaction with people any day of the week! I am happy as hell when I am alone, and lonely as hell when I am with lots of people.
I am so in my element right now! Being alone for months at at time feels wonderful to me!
I think because of all the moving around we did when I was growing up, I had to rely on myself to entertain myself, it has helped me through this time period. I am used to being alone and I do not view it as a disadvantage. I view it as a blessing!
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Star Wars
Mackenzie and Julie
Star Wars Episode 4, A New Hope
R2D2 and C3PO Popcorn and Snacks
Star Wars Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back
I am introducing to Mackenzie, our son Brodie’s girlfriend, the Star Wars franchise. She has never seen the movie’s and I am shocked! So, seeing as how we are in lock down I told her that she needs to watch them with me.
So far we have watched Episode’s 4, 5, and 6, and The Family Guy Star Wars Episode’s of 4, and 5.
Tomorrow we start with the Star Wars Episode 1 that no on likes but ME!
It’ll be fun! I’m looking forward to it and am enjoying our Star Wars time together.
May the Force Be With You!
Julie
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March 24, 2020
What’s up With Us?
I’m starting this on 3/24/2020 and I will continue this post until I finish it. But, as of now, tonight at 9:17 p.m. Gordon will not be going into work tomorrow because he doesn’t feel well. He has some chills, runny nose, and his voice sounds sick. He also took a nap, something he NEVER does, when he got home from work today. Every morning that I wake up and feel good I thank my lucky stars that I have one more day of good health until the virus hits me.
Now I’m wondering if this is my last day of feeling good for awhile?
Gordon rarely gets sick, same with me.
I told him that he gets the bedroom tonight but I am going to sleep out in the living room on the Lazy Boy chair. Just as a precaution.
You know, I was the one that sounded the alarm in the family wanting all of us to take this seriously from the beginning. And as usual I am called names such as, ‘paranoid, over protective, jumping to conclusions, blah, blah, blah…..) The last time I left the house was on March 9, for my labs. I have been cancelling my various doctor and dental appointments over the past few weeks until I can see where this virus may be heading. I am even not taking the dogs to their vet appointments out of caution.
The only appointment that I feel very comfortable in cancelling is my dental. I have excellent teeth! I am told that I have the second best mouth out of all the patients. I take very good care of my teeth. And having to go every 6 months is almost not necessary where I am concerned. But, I am worried about my dermatologist appointment and my 6 month check up. Both Gordon and I are very healthy but when you get to our age regular maintenance is necessary.
According to Gordon his job is very important and supportive of it’s employees by his employer. Apparently he gets paid whether he works or not. He is supposed to start a one week on, one week off, one week on, kind of schedule. This week is when he is supposed to be “ON.” He did say that there were a few co-workers that had the flu. Well, we’ll see, right?
March 25, 2020
Wednesday
Gordon woke up happy and in a good mood. I asked him how he was feeling? He says he feels o.k. but that he has a slight headache.
I woke up feeling good. But again, I do wonder if today is my last day to feel good?
While I was in the shower I had him to do a recipe write up for my latest birthday blog post. I just need to tweak it and check it, I’ll get to that later. But Gordon is tired today. It could be because before he got sick his body was having to adjust to different work hours at his job. As in he was having to get up at 2:00 a.m., leave the house by 3:00 in order to arrive at 4:00 to start work. But then he got off at noon and home by 1:00. That lasted about 2 days before they decided on the ‘one week on, one week off’ work schedule. So, that could be contributing to his not feeling very well.
Gordon also suffers from migraines that are connected to allergy’s and back spasms. There is this spot on his back that I put a lot of pressure on and it releases, then his head drains and then his migraine’s go away. He never had migraines before until this woman slammed into him from behind in her jeep going about 25 MPH while he was stopped at a stop light in his car.
So, all of this that he is feeling right now may just be his “normal” and not anything serious. But, out of caution he called his boss and told him he would be staying home today.
Gordon’s Lunch
Easy and delicious! Just a can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup, leftover chicken, leftover peas, and some leftover Italian Olive Oil Crackers, which are made out in St. Pete, Florida. I happen to love the fennel ones the best. But, this was a delicious thrown together soup that was quick and easy.
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Julie Barefoot
As for me, I have been giving myself a nice pedicure. Beautiful pinkish/purplish toes. And as always my good grooming never ceases. When I had hurt my back a few years ago and I re-injured it while taking a shower, I was in so much pain that I was laying naked on the bottom of the shower floor writhing in pain, yelling at the top of my lungs for Gordon to come in and help me, yet I continued to finish shaving my legs. If I am to be a corpse in some morgue from this Coronavirus, then I plan on leaving this world clean shaven and with nice feet.
p.s. I’m pretty sure that when they tie that tag on my toe they will be impressed with my pedicure. 🙂
And most likely commenting on my impressive Greek Feet.
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Cooking and Baking
Gordon and I have been cooking and baking today. Some to eat, some to freeze…..
We have really been focusing on baking and freezing breakfast foods for some reason. I guess knowing that we don’t have to worry about breakfast does free us up to focus on dinner’s. Lunch’s also aren’t really a problem as they tend to be very light and easy.
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Well, it looks like Mackenzie will be spending her quarantine here with us. It was about 3 weeks ago that I told Brodie that he and Mackenzie had better start to make their plans because when we do go into quarantine that the only people to leave this house will be for necessary purposes. I don’t want all this coming and going on trivial errands. Mackenzie is on her spring break from school that will last about 5-6 weeks. So, she doesn’t have school to worry about. And because her twin sister is recovering from cancer she needs to be isolated away from her. I just want to say that we adore Mackenzie! But I told her that the only way she can stay with us through this period is if she watches every Star Wars movie there is with ME. And she agreed!!! HA!! Yes!!!
(And that includes the Family Guy episodes that I didn’t tell her about.) Well, she’ll know soon enough! 🙂
Can you believe that she has NEVER seen ONE Star Wars movie? Are you shaking your heads? We so need to educate this girl! I mean, come ON!
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I guess this is it for now. I’ll write more tomorrow. Mackenzie will be moving in with us tomorrow for the foreseeable lockdown future. 🙂 May the force be with you!
Oh, she did watch Episode 9 with us on Gordon’s birthday. But, that is the only Star Wars movie she has ever seen.
Julie
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March 26, 2020
Thursday
Well, it looks like Gordon will be going into work tomorrow. Turns out it was just his usual sinus trouble and not anything serious. But, in this age of Coronavirus paranoia it is easy to get carried away when someone you know gets sick.
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Saturday, March 28, 2020
I didn’t get to finish updating last Thursday so I thought I would get to it this morning. A lot has happened since then. First of all, we are all healthy, so far. Gordon is now working from home and won’t be going into work for the foreseeable future. He still has to put in his 8 hours a day Monday-Friday. I don’t know how I will like that. I am used to having my days all to myself. I have always enjoyed my privacy and the quiet and calm that would come with it. But now I have Gordon home all day and Mackenzie has moved in so we now have 3 full time people in lockdown here all day long. Brodie is the only one that still leaves the house to work. He is considered essential so his job seems to be secure for him. He claims that he only comes in contact with about 3 people where he is so I guess that’s better than being in a large group. But the one thing I keep thinking is that it only takes 1 person to have it and give it to the others.
Veronica’s job has closed for lockdown. I guess she has a job when they re-open but not until then. Also, no paycheck until they re-open. But, luckily Brian’s job is essential so as long as he is healthy and working they should be o.k..
Veronica’s friend Sarah has had to cancel her wedding in Tennessee that was supposed to take place in April because of this virus. Sarah was Veronica’s Maid-of-Honor in her wedding and Veronica was supposed to be Sarah’s Matron-of-Honor in hers.
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We have been doing a lot of cooking and baking. The other night Gordon and I made a re-take on our re-take of our Reuben Sandwiches. We call them our Reuben Claddagh Rings. 🙂 They are delicious! Especially right out of the oven.
Reuben Claddagh Rings
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We’ve also been working on the website updates. Mainly me, but Gordon is doing some write ups that are past due of some recipes. I think that as long as we are healthy then probably our only problems will be occasionally getting on each other’s nerves. In the meantime, Mackenzie and I take turns on my treadmill. She also helps us with the dogs as they absolutely adore her! I told her that our Star Wars date starts on Tuesday with a double feature of Episode’s 4 and 5. I will be contributing the wine and the Jiffy Pop Popcorn. 🙂 I decided that she needs to watch them in the order that they were released.
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We are also planning on starting work in our backyard this weekend and into next week. I want to clean up my herb garden and get it started again. I’ve got the herbs, bought them weeks ago. Gordon needs to deal with all these leaves we have in our backyard. We will then do the pressure washing and bleaching to freshen everything up. I want to spend more time out there but I want it nice and pretty and clean. I also want it pretty by Easter. As long as we are healthy there will be a family style Easter on our lanai. I am basing it on a childhood restaurant that I loved where they sit you with strangers and you all pass food around to each other. They don’t take your orders, they just set home cooking down on the table and you eat what you want. So, at that time when I was growing up they would just cook what they wanted and you ate what you wanted. If you were a family of 4? They would set you next to this other family of 4. You shared a table and you got to know each other because that was what southern hospitality was about. You would talk to people and get to know them and laugh with them. A thing of the past, I know, but a nice memory in a nice time and I got to experience it.
Have a good weekend!
Julie
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March 19, 2020
Over the Past Decade
I just got off the treadmill a little while ago. Trying to keep my weight down and stay healthy. I have put on about 5 pounds lately. I’m guessing it’s about 5 pounds. I won’t get on a scale as I will probably hate seeing that number. I can still wear my clothes comfortably but I prefer them to be a bit looser. I don’t like tight clothing. I started eating more in January and I didn’t understand why? I couldn’t understand why my appetite had increased and why I was stuffing my face so much? I’ve also noticed that Brodie’s girlfriend Mackenzie has put on some extra weight too. Empath’s who are just picking up too much from other people tend to put on weight because that extra fat around our stomach’s help to act as a buffer. So, in very stressful times Empath’s tend to get a bit chubby. But the downside to that is that I am a borderline diabetic and that fat is preventing my body from creating insulin to keep me healthy. Therefore it is a catch 22 where I am concerned. Also, Mackenzie’s twin sister has breast cancer. It does run in their family and therefore she needs to keep her weight down as fat acts as an incubator for cancer. So, treadmill it is!
Gordon called to say he is on his way home from his job on the base. He told me that the base shopping is lunacy! The lines to get into the commissary are ridiculously long. Luckily for us that we pretty much keep a stocked house as it is, but I did have Gordon to shop till he dropped a few weeks ago, (which he complained about repeatedly!), but now he is glad that he did. As I constantly have to remind him…”When are you ever going to believe me when I tell you something? How many times have I been right about things? Huh? But NO! You always have to fight me on these things! How many times has this Empath been right?”
FINALLY, when it is glaringly obvious he comes around.
You know, when will I ever earn some credibility? I have a pretty good track record on predictions. Yeah, sometimes I am wrong, but most of the time I am right. Marriage! (Big eye roll.)
Anyway, I have been connected to so many, and so much lately that my mind and body needs a break. Being an Empath can sometimes zap me of all my energy and that isn’t good.
But one thing that I predicted about a decade ago looks like it’s coming.
Over the past decade…..
I told Gordon that we need to button our house and property up. Let’s fence in our property and place the hardware locks to the gates on the inside of our backyard, and not on the outside of our fence doors.
That way no one can cut any locks with wire cutters to get into our backyard. I suppose they could jump the fence if they so desired, but I intend to make it hard on any criminal. I also read what kinds of things that deters criminals from breaking into houses and according to people in prison they tend to avoid homes with fences because they view it as one more obstacle to have to deal with.
I also wanted us to create beauty and add retaining walls, fountains, fruit trees. Let’s have a nice big herb garden and even grow some of our own vegetables.
FYI: Most criminals tend to break in homes during the night hours of 2:00 a.m. – 4:00 a.m. so that’s when we run our sprinkler system. Who wants to get all wet?
We also have many other things to help keep us safe which I am not going to mention.
Never tell all your secrets. Sh….
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I also wanted my own treadmill so that I could get my exercise here at home and not be dependent on some exclusive gym, or to be at risk of being attacked by taking a walk down the streets. I wanted us to create our own piece of heaven here on earth in our house, and outside in our backyard.
I knew a decade ago that life here in America would become dangerous and that we may need to isolate ourselves against it. What I didn’t know was that it would arrive as soon as it will. We are probably just a few months away from riots. Perhaps even sooner. And with riots come rape gangs, break in’s, home invasions. When the people have nothing to lose and they are hungry and angry then they will rightly so, come into neighborhoods where people do have things. Food, water, wine, luxuries, A/C….
None of us are going to be safe if our government fails us, which it has, and it will further fail us. Look who is in charge! Stock up, button your home, make it safe, be vigilant. And as I have said repeatedly since Trump became President, “We are on our own.”
Julie
Oh, and P.S. I remembered something more from my dream that I talk about in my post below. The skulls that were tattooed onto my arm were Mexico’s Day of the Dead skulls. The Day of the Dead is November 1st. So, either something happens on that day, or the Day of the Dead skulls are all the deaths from the detained Mexican’s in cages on our borders where the virus will be unleashed on purpose. Just like the blankets that were infected with small pox and given to our Native American’s on the Trail of Tears that started in Rome, Georgia and went out west. I am very ashamed to say that my ancestor, Wylie Keith was an active participant in herding our Indians out west.
I still can’t remember what the writing said that was tattooed on my arm. It was some beautiful cursive writing. I don’t know what language that it was in either? All that I know was that it was beautiful and it was as if my arm was on fire. It hurt that badly.
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March 16, 2020
Julie, you predicted this.
….Mackenzie
I’ve also been working on my:
First of all, I did not predict a global wide pandemic. But what I did predict was something huge that would happen this year that would change our political system, affect our elections, and the American people forever.
I’ve been telling people over the past few years to just enjoy life while you can because it will be different and now is the time to enjoy all that you have. I also told people to spend their money. The rules that applied to our parents/grandparents/great-grandparets may not apply to us. We may all be saving up for a future that just won’t exist. Or rather the future is there, it will just be different from how things are now.
When I found out that my niece Kate was living in France and this virus was sweeping across China I begged my brother to get her out. He told me that I doubt she’ll leave and besides, Cathy (her mother), and Lola (her sister), are planning on going over there in a few weeks. This was in February.
I can tell you right now that this isn’t the bad part. The bad part is coming. How our country is reshaped when all of this is over with probably won’t benefit us any.
Last night I had the weirdest dream. As am Empath I dream differently than the average person. I have talked about that before in my Empath blog posts but I was swimming in the ocean and I just knew that something big was about to bite me. I looked to the shoreline wondering if I could swim there before I was bitten by what I assumed would be a shark. I didn’t want to turn my back and swim the breast stroke because I figured that I needed to be able to see and be in a position to kick and punch and defend myself so I started using my legs and swimming very aggressively on my back. In some cases a huge wave would sweep over me giving me some momentum to get to shore quicker. But I wanted my hands underwater so that I could fend off an attack. It was then that I felt it. It rode a huge wave and then I could feel it trying to bite my right hand and wrist. I still kept swimming backwards with my legs while I was using my left hand to try and remove something with very sharp teeth from my right hand and wrist.
I was in a lot of pain. I also couldn’t remove the teeth from my hand but I was able to prevent it from biting down through. It hurt terribly. I cannot even remember a time when I was in pain in a dream. Actual physical pain! I was in so much pain that I know what it’s like to be attacked by an animal with sharp teeth now. As a matter of fact, I was in so much pain that I awoke from my dream still holding on to my hand and wrist that even though I was awake, I was in tremendous pain! I looked at it expecting to see some animal attached to it. My wrist was burning. It was then that I looked at it and I could see skulls tattooed around my wrist and some writing that I don’t remember what it said. So, as I am staring at these skulls that were tattooed all over my wrist they started to disappear. The color orange was what was tattooed all over my wrist with the skulls inside the orange.
After a few minutes the pain went away and I realized that I don’t have any skulls tattooed to me. I have never had a dream where I experienced so much physical pain before. The only interpretation of it that I can come up with now is that there is a wave sweeping over our country that carried a virus that can hurt me, (the ocean and the shark). My trying to out swim it and head to shore is probably my trying to escape it. Realistically, I know I will get it eventually but, better to get it later than right now, which is me trying to escape it. My orange hand and wrist? Now, who do we know that is orange? And the skulls? Probably the dead that will come from it all. As Prince Harry said about Trump, ‘He has blood on his hands.’
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I tried to cancel my doctor appointment this morning but I could not get through. They must have been handling a massive amount of calls. It was just a wellness visit and I am healthy, as far as I know, so I just don’t think it’s wise to walk into a doctor’s office at this time unless we absolutely have to. So, even though this is at a time when I need referrals for my yearly mammogram, and my dermatologist visits, and even a prescription refilled, I am not going to do anything about it. I had my labs done last Monday and I would like those results but right now I am just going to see if I can talk to Lisa, my nurse practitioner that I love so much, and see if she can refill my prescription without my going in. I hoard medication so I’ve got about a month’s supply before I have to start to worry. What do you expect from a hoarder? Of course I have my reserve supply!
Anyway, we are all fine for now. We would actually love it if we were in some lockdown for about a month. As we see it, it would be a very productive time and we would get so many projects completed and out of the way. Not to mention all the posts that I could update. Provided that we are healthy through the isolation. Like I said, we are “Active Homebodies.” I could even lay out in the backyard and get a tan. Maybe even lose a few pounds on the treadmill every day. 🙂
Take Care to All of YOU,
Julie
P.S. I have more to say but I will wait and do that another day. But, start to button your house up and make sure it is going to be a safe environment for you from now on.
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March 10, 2020
Joe Biden verses Sloe Biden
Those of you that know me understand that I have opinions and that I do voice my opinions. But, whenever you speak out you do run the risk of having someone else voice their opinions back at you and in some cases their opinions are different from yours, sometimes radically. I don’t have a problem with having a conversation with someone with differing opinions but when you are dealing with someone whose thinking resembles more of a Trump supporter suicide cultist, then I draw the line and block them from my Twitter. Which is what I just did today.
But that is not why I am writing this post.
Sometimes I like to just comment on something and get my opinion out there without having anyone respond. In other words, I like to put my 2 cents out there to be read by whomever would like to read it. And, if someone disagrees then just move along. Kind of like how we have this big wide world internet with lots of websites to look at and if we don’t like one we come across then we can just move on to others that we would prefer to read. No biggie! But, I have noticed that when I write an opinion on Joe Biden that is not in a favorable light that I tend to get responses from other “people.” BUT, if I give my opinion on Sloe Biden then NO ONE responds. Because if they respond then their followers may read it and then the catch phrase “Sloe Biden” might stick so therefore they will ignore my comments and not respond to them. Which is what I like and then I don’t have to deal with them. Which is why I use the term “Sloe Biden.”
The fact that no one responds to my “Sloe Biden” comments tells me that the “people” may not be your average “people” and work for some network in favor of Joe Biden and the establishment democrats. Otherwise, why don’t they respond? They don’t have a problem chewing me out about anything I say about Joe Biden? Interesting.
As an Empath I can tell you this, they are doing their best to steal this election away from Bernie Sanders and seeing as how I am not in favor of stealing, therefore I am opposed to Joe Biden.
I can also tell you that that little stunt where a man rushed the stage where Joe Biden was speaking and his wife Jill leapt into action to block the man from “attacking” her husband, was staged! No one was ever in danger. It was a political stunt. You see, this is what being an Empath is about. We read feelings, we are human lie detectors but only on people that have feelings. Psychopaths and Sociopath’s are a different story which I do talk about in my Empath blogs.
You know, sometimes I can be a real bitch on Twitter and sometimes I do deserve some chewing out so I suppose I shouldn’t be complaining too much. But we no longer seem to have conversations. We just hurl insults back and forth. But, I guess what should I expect from a forum of “Tweets” where we are only allowed a certain amount of characters in which to voice our opinions?
Have a nice day!
Julie
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March 9, 2020
Catching Up
Brodie and his New Sexy Car
(Look at that sexy engine.) 🙂
The funny thing is that Brodie still wants to keep his current car as well as this new one. So, looks like our driveway will be packed once again. How Gordon and I look forward to some day there only being TWO cars in our driveway.
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Well, I just got back from my doctor’s office today just for lab work. No food or drink after midnight the night before, except water. And no food or drink before my doctor visit unless it’s water or black coffee. But while I was waiting for my name to be called to get my blood taken and give my urine sample, I saw these magazine’s in the office on the coffee tables and magazine racks.
Guns and Ammo
Guns and Ammo?? WTF???
I couldn’t help but notice the irony that a gun is designed for killing people and animals, and here these weapons magazines are on the tables throughout my doctor’s office. Which incidentally, is supposed to be a place where we go to get healthy. The irony and the mixed messages being sent was not lost to me. I even pointed it out to a few women sitting around me and they agreed with me. As it is we live in a hot headed society with uneducated people. I just expected some higher I.Q’s at the doctor’s office.
Needless to say, I posted this on Twitter and immediately received a message from the Davita Medical Group Media Team wanting me to email them to give them the location of the office and they also wanted my phone number. I complied and have not heard from them as yet. I’ll bet you money those Guns and Ammo magazines are those of the doctor Horcrux (not his real name) that I was so disgusted with last year.
More and more I feel as if I live in some Twilight Zone world, but not a “fun” Twilight Zone world. This one is dangerous and full of evil people.
I did consider cancelling my appointment this morning due to my fear of getting that Coronavirus but it won’t matter if I isolate myself one bit if Gordon and Brodie are coming and going from work all the time. If I don’t catch it from some stranger then Gordon or Brodie will get it from a coworker, etc. and then bring it home to me. So, in the meantime life does go on and so do our medical appointments.
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And with the Coronavirus on my mind I’ve been watching a lot of Modern Family lately on our Bluray.
Every episode makes me laugh so I figure that we come into this world crying, therefore I intend to exit it laughing.
If I were to have a tombstone I’m sure it would read something like this, ‘Here lies Julie the atheist. All dressed up and no place to go.’ 🙁
O.k., o.k., enough death talk. For now.
And BTW: My children are always getting on to me about owning so many DVD’s/Bluray’s. They make fun of me for it. My response? At least I own them. I do not have to rely on some Netflix to pay them to allow me to watch them. I also own a portable DVD player where all I need is an electrical outlet to watch whatever I want over and over again without paying some extra service.
I also still own a BETA Video player and a few VHS Video players where all I need is an outlet and electricity plays them without signing up for some service where I pay extra.
So, who exactly is the dumb one?
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If you are a regular reader of my blogs then I’m sure you’ve been waiting anxiously to find out if our new A/C unit passed it’s inspection. Well, it has! You can now go back to your own lives and carry on with whatever you have going on. 🙂
Also, we were able to buy at cost, new gutters to put around our house. They are now laying in the backyard until Gordon and Brodie get around to putting them up.
New Gutters
And let’s not forget all these leaves that we need to rake up soon. Yuck!
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We were planning our Haunted Honeycation to St. Augustine, Florida but now with this Coronavirus I don’t plan on going anywhere for awhile. I don’t want to be on vacation only to have our hotel suddenly be put under quarantine and we can’t get home. I want to see how all of this plays out before we go anywhere other than the places that we have to go to, and even then we are really curtailing errands and things. If we do need to do any shopping then we go at slow times when not many people are out.
We were originally planning our Haunted Honeycation to St. Augustine in February but we first wanted to take our kids and their partner’s kayaking. Well, after trying to coordinate 6 people’s schedules we finally settled on March 1, and then Gordon and I were going to go to St. Augustine at the end of March. We thought a nice spring trip would work nicely for us. St. Augustine is one of the most haunted cities in the world with the St. Augustine Lighthouse being THE most haunted place in the world. So I’ve read. Gordon even wanted to buy an EMF detector. I then reminded him that I AM AN EMF DETECTOR! (Empath/Psychic) I’ve been doing some reading up on the history and it is a tortured history of St. Augustine. The lighthouse has orbs that fly all around. Even on the outside. I am so excited for what I hope will be some very nice experiences.
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AND to close,
Sadly I Burst So Many Bubbles
I really don’t mean to. It just happens.
For example:
In this age of Ancestry.com so many people are just amazed at how much they look like their relatives as if the good Lord himself is molding them just for that purpose. They will share photos of their great-grandmother and how she poses just like they do. And how her smile is identical to theirs. And how much their daughter looks like your great-aunt. They will then show me the photos expecting me to have some wide-eyed expression of delight on my face only to hear me say……
“It’s just DNA.”
(You should see their happy faces drop when I say that.)
Which is also probably where the belief of reincarnation comes from.
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Then there are the stories of how someone’s relative died but was brought back to life but before he was brought back to life he saw a LIGHT!
Me: Was he brought back to life in the emergency room of the hospital?
Them: YES! It was a miracle!
Me: Was there a light shining down on him while he was in the ER once he died and was brought back to life?
Them: Maybe, I guess. I don’t know?
Me: Yeah. I’m sure there is no connection what-so-ever….. (Giant Eye Roll. Usually behind their backs.)
And I wonder why I’m not the life of the party? 🙂
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I guess it’s time for me to sign off from this blog post but I want to sign off with something positive and seeing as how I can’t think of anything positive I thought I would end by telling my favorite joke.
So, here goes:
You’ve smelled moth balls before haven’t you?
You: Yes.
Me: How did you get their tiny legs apart?
Julie
(I’m sure your laughing hysterically.) 🙂
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March 5, 2020
I just wanted to add this to what I write in the post below.
I realize this 2020 Presidential Election in November is important. I also realize that we need to get behind the Democratic nominee selected by the PEOPLE. However, that may not be the case. If the Corporate side of the Democratic Party is to choose the nominee and NOT the people, then I will not be voting as that is a rigged election and I will not take part.
You may be thinking that anyone is better than Trump. Julie, you have to vote! It’s important!
Understand something. It is true that anyone is better than Trump BUT, placing Joe Biden in The White House right now is not going to stop this virus that has been unleashed. He is not going to give all citizen’s healthcare. Healthcare is what every person needs right now. We are just going to be passing that virus around and around and around as it evolves. You may get the virus and survive it, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be getting it again. How many times have you had the flu in your life? Some strains are worse than others.
A mistake that a lot of people make is that when a new strain of flu comes out they all run out and get a flu shot. Well, that new strain of flu is NOT in that shot! There will be about 250 other flu strains in that shot, but not the new one. A vaccine will need to be made in mass quantities and then distributed all over the country. So, you won’t get a vaccine for that new strain of flu until a year later. Knowing that, how can we expect to get a vaccine for this Coronavirus any time soon?
Joe Biden is no leader. He just acts like one. He does as he’s told by the strong arm of the Democratic Party and they like him because he can be controlled. And his loyalty will be to who puts him there, not the American people.
We need a candidate that can dish out to Trump just as much as Trump dishes out to them. That is not Joe. That is Bernie, or Elizabeth Warren. They are fighters. Joe isn’t. And we need fighters right now to fight for us. And if the time comes when none of our leaders fight for us, which is where we are now, then the people will start to fight for themselves. But it won’t be the people that start the revolution, it’ll be the establishment by ignoring the people.
Julie
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March 3-4, 2020
(It’ll probably take me two days to write this post.)
The Julie Traditional Photo
Kayaking Weeki Wachee Springs
Collage of our Kayaking at Weeki Wachee Springs
And New Blog Post Slider
Back to our Devices…
But hey, we all went 3 1/2 hours without them while kayaking.
I think an award is in order. 🙂
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Over the weekend we went Kayaking at Weeki Wachee Springs and had a wonderful time. Brodie and Mackenzie came with us. Veronica and Brian were supposed to come but sadly Brian’s grandfather had died the previous Wednesday. They did consider coming hoping that it would be a nice distraction but they were just too sad to come. The circumstances of his death are what is so disturbing and very sad. I will always remember him as the very friendly and charming man from Veronica and Brian’s wedding. He was very sweet.
Our Son-In-Law Brian with his Grandparents 2019
One of the highlights of Veronica and Brian’s wedding to me were Brian’s Grandparents. I love their story. He came over from Ireland and was living in New York in the 1950’s when he met the beautiful Maria who came over from Puerto Rico.
They are West Side Story!
That is what I will always love about them. And Brian was so proud to be their Grandson. He adored everything about his Irish Heritage. And also very sadly, Brian’s aunt, their daughter, had died from cancer about a month ago. I don’t think this family can take anymore sadness right now. But as I told Veronica, ‘We don’t expect laughter if you all come kayaking with us. We expect some tears. But things are always better when you are out in nature. And families aren’t always about happiness and laughter. They are also about sadness and tears.’
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Gordon is out of town for a few days in a very important place that I cannot mention here because of his job. I woke up on the 3rd. feeling terrible believing that I was coming down with the Coronavirus. I had gotten no sleep the night before. I had a headache and aches and pains in my body. Mild aches and pains, but still. I was having breakfast at 4:30 a.m., then I was ravenously hungry at 8:30 a.m. so I had my leftover Spam and Cheese. See below. I realized at that moment that I am now officially a Senior Citizen. Breakfast at 4:30, Lunch at 8:30, then Dinner ended up being at 3:30 p.m. Yep! Might as well just start wandering around the house until I go to bed at 7:00. 🙁
But then I woke up today, the 4th., with no headache, no aches and pains, and my appetite is back to normal. I guess that’s what lack of sleep does to us. Whew! No virus yet! But, then again, Gordon is flying home soon so I’m sure we’ll all have it by the weekend. 🙁
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Julie’s Comfort Food, and Favorite Dinner Ever!
Fried SPAM and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
A.K.A. SPAM and CHEESE 🙂
I absolutely love this congealed blob, fried of course!
Although in Hawaii they just take the can to the beach and spread the congealed blob onto their homemade tortilla’s. I tried it once and it was delicious! Probably because I was starving. It happens. 🙂
THE Ultimate Comfort Food to ME!
(I would never post this on Twitter!)
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“The” Virus
I tend to take these things very seriously because I do keep up with news from around the world and I also know that I am not going to be protected by magic fairy’s when bad things happen.
When the AIDS endemic first came out and arrived in our country Ronald Regan and George Bush Sr. did NOTHING to stop it. After all, it was killing people that they didn’t like. Gays, Drug Addicts, Prostitutes……
But the thing is that when something terrible comes out and you do nothing about it, it will eventually end up killing you.
So, guess what? Gays are nice people. And they would donate their blood to help others not knowing that they were infected with AIDS. Hospitals wanting to save money weren’t testing the blood that was being donated to make sure it was safe to then pass on to others that needed it. Oh, and you know those prostitutes that you don’t like? Well, your husbands are the ones that pay them for sex without your knowing it. They then get AIDS and bring it home and give it to you. Then you get pregnant and you give birth to an AIDS baby.
When you ignore something that kills people you don’t like, it will eventually kill you.
Republicans have NEVER learned that lesson and they NEVER will!
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I knew that the virus was coming so all last week I had Gordon to shop till he dropped. After all, that is what you do. When a hurricane is coming our way we know to stock up on food and supplies so that we can make it through. This is no different.
Gordon works on the base where shopping is very cheap so he swung by all of our retail stores and stocked up and brought it all home. I myself have been washing laundry like crazy and cleaning the house. After all, when we are sick the last thing we want to do is to clean, so I’ve been cleaning. If I am to be sick and in bed then I want clean sheets and bedding. I am preparing all that I know how to prepare. BUT, I am no doctor. I need to know that they are prepared to help us survive this and I know that they aren’t.
On Monday I am to go in early to my doctor’s office to give my blood samples so that they can be tested for the usual. Cholesterol, Sugar, Triglycerides….. BUT, what if I get something from being there? Then I bring it home? And I most likely will. Or, Gordon will bring it home to us this week from his plane ride and then I infect people at the doctor’s office without even knowing it? This is what we are faced with right now. Our country is so unprepared to handle this. This is what happens when you elect stupid people that are unprepared to lead. Unprepared to govern.
I keep remembering back to the George W. Bush days when electing a President was all about who you would rather drink a beer with? And of course, W. was who most people chose. And why not? Because he would rather be partying and drinking beer than leading a country. So, he won the Presidency. Based on that! Well guess what? I want a President that has far more important things to do than party with me! I don’t care how good looking he/she may be. I don’t care how charismatic he/she may be. I don’t care how much fun he/she may be. I want a responsible, good, intelligent President that will do the job to keep us safe, healthy, employed, cared for. I Have A Dream!
And sadly, I believe my “Dream” is turning into a “Nightmare.”
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It was about 6 or 7 years ago that I told my children, Veronica and Brodie, that as much as I would love to be a grandmother, I hoped that they wouldn’t have children. I also told them it was ultimately up to them to decide that, but as their mother I wanted to add my 2 cents. I told them that their children would have life so much harder than they will. And that they would have life harder than Gordon and I will. I also told them that in a way, I love my grandchildren so much that I don’t want them to ever be born. I still mean that. I also told Brodie, although I never told Veronica, but I see a future of their children being nothing but worker drones or sex slaves.
That’s what I see. I may not like what I see but to deny what I see is doing an injustice.
To me, an Empath with some psychic ability, I see the end result. I just don’t know how we get there? To give you an example it’s like knowing the answer is 10. But how did I get there? Is it 9 + 1? Or 8 + 2? Or 7+ 3? That is what I don’t know. I just know the answer is 10.
I find it very interesting that this virus doesn’t seem to affect children.
Which to me sounds engineered.
So, let’s just imagine a bit of Sci-Fy: A virus that affects adults but doesn’t seem to affect children? Hmmm….
What if adults starts dying from this virus? But children don’t. What happens to the children? No more adults? Our country is then wide open for whatever invading force to just waltz right in. Now, you have a population of children with no adults. Wonder what may happen? Worker drones and sex slaves?
It may seem a bit far fetched to you, but not to me. I pray that I am so wrong! But I just don’t know? That is a future that I see. I just don’t know the details of how we get there? Is it in the next 10 years or 30 years? That, I don’t know?
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I Will NOT Be Voting in the 2020 Election
(If Joe Biden is the Democratic Nominee)
I was all set to vote for the nominee of whoever the democratic VOTERS chose to represent us. Oh, and btw: I am not a registered Democrat because I live in the state of Florida that is known for preventing black and brown people from voting. Seeing as how we have the last name of Whann I figured they may discriminate against us. So, Gordon and I are registered Independents. The Republican’s tend to leave Independents alone because they believe all Independents vote republican.
But, after seeing the results from Super Tuesday, with Joe Biden winning all of it, I know damn well it was stolen! Nobody has cared about Joe Biden all along. He was a boring candidate from the beginning. But the day before Super Tuesday candidates Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigeig drop out only to endorse Joe? WHY? Why not wait and see how things turn out? But they didn’t. They did as they were told. Bernie was set to win most of it and the Corporate wing of the Democratic Party just couldn’t stand it so they told their foot soldiers what to do, and they did it.
To me it is a very sad thing to try and get the youth to turn out and vote, and when they finally do they vote for Bernie, only to have their votes stolen because they didn’t vote for the candidate that the establishment wanted them to.
Bernie would have radically changed America for the better. No more student debt. Healthcare for all. You know, things corporate America doesn’t want. So, the corporate wing of the democrats took over and cheated. I will not be voting for anyone in this Presidential election because the democrats are no different than the republicans.
I was willing to respect who the democratic voters chose, and to follow in their footsteps. But if their wishes are to be wiped away and corporate America makes the decision then why should any of us vote? If my vote is only to be erased?
I will NOT be Voting in 2020 and it is the Democratic Establishment’s Fault!
Julie
P.S. You lost me! And you will not get me back until you change!
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February 25, 2020
“Call Me When You Get to the Shampoo Aisle.”
Tuesday 6:00 a.m. : Gordon: Bye Hun. I’m leaving for work now. Go back to sleep. I took the dogs out and Spooky did her #1, and Sparky did a #1 and a #2. Spooky also messed overnight on the urine pads in the hallway but I cleaned it up. I’ll do the shopping after work.
Me, half asleep: Don’t forget the list. It’s on the kitchen counter. And call me when you get to the commissary. I have some more things to add to the list.
Gordon: O.k. I’ll call you. Go back to sleep….. Love you…. Bye….
8:00 a.m. and it’s time for me to get up……
Shower, Coffee, Start Computer and get on Internet to make sure Paul hasn’t hacked anything overnight, or done any of his Face Away hacks. Check first Email account: Oh, look. Paul has taken it over and left an email for me to click on from December 1969 with no sender address right there in my inbox. Typical Paul. I’ll never click on it Paul. I know you control that email account of mine. Just like you used to control my Hotmail account. Now time to check my second email account. Looks like there are problems on my website that I need to alert my guys in India about. GREAT! Just what I need to do today.
O.K., now, Breakfast, Dogs, Dog’s Breakfast, Unload Dishwasher, Load Dishwasher, Start Dishwasher, Put Dishes away from Hand Washing the day before, Hand Wash new batch of Dishes.
Laundry: Wash Our Laundry, Bedding, Dog’s Laundry, Towels, Hand Wash those pajamas you love so much Julie.
Time to think about Dinner for tonight. I know, I’ll just tell Gordon to buy a rotisserie chicken from the Commissary and we can have that with some vegetables. That’ll be great!
O.K., Lunch over with, (Usually something with peanut butter spread over it.) Treadmill over with, taking dogs for an outing over with, it’s now 3:00 p.m. Gordon should be calling soon…..
Julie: I’m ready for some down time so I will pour a glass of wine and work on my website and wait for Gordon to call about the additional items I have for him to purchase at the Commissary. Oh, what’s this in my folder? A photo of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in my Pictures Folder entitled Sabina and Julie? That’s really funny Paul. And yes Paul, I know you are in my computer. You don’t need to leave little clues like that. The sad part is that it doesn’t do me any good to take my computer to Best Buy because you know more about computers than they do. Yeah, congratulations you are a badass. Why don’t you do something about my step-brother and his brood who try and access my website everyday between 3-9 times? They don’t even like me. Get a life Texas!!
Moving on…..
Ring……. Hello? Oh, hey Gordon! How was your day? Great! I do have some additional items for the list. Just call me when you get to the shampoo aisle.
Gordon: WHAT? NO! You know I hate the shampoo aisle! Don’t you have plenty of shampoo????
Me: You know we go over this every week, now don’t we Gordon? You know I need several Shampoo’s and Conditioner’s that way I don’t ever have a bad hair day. We have discussed this! If you want me to look beautiful then you need to cooperate. O.K., NOW, I need for you to look for me a dark purple/burgundy bottle of shampoo and conditioner that are volumizing. O.K.? Volumizing!
Gordon: What about conditioning?
Me: NO! Conditioning means greasy hair! No! Just look for this purple/Lavender looking bottle of volumizing shampoo with an additional conditioner. Can you see it? I can’t remember the name of it.
And no, I don’t want a combination Shampoo and Conditioner.
Gordon: I’m looking. What about Pantene?
Me: NO! All those Pantene products have wax in them. So, NO! What about something with coconut or shae butter? You know I don’t like those smelly shampoo’s. I want something herbal or coconut.
Gordon: What about Herbal Essence?
Me: O.K., but make sure it’s volumizing.
Gordon: What about Body and Bounce?
Me: No. Body and Bounce? Have you ever seen my hair bounce once in the almost 38 years we’ve known each other?
Gordon: (mumbling underneath his breath…. We’ll perhaps if you’d use body and bounce your hair would bounce.)
Me: I heard that!
Gordon: What about the Suave shampoo’s?
Me: Let me guess, there’s a coupon?
Gordon: Yeah, for $2.00 off!
Me: Your mother uses that brand, probably because it comes with a coupon. What is it with you Whann’s and coupons? Do you really want me to smell like Sarajane? Why don’t you just call me Juliejane?
Gordon: O.K. then, (thinking out loud) volumizing, volumizing, volumizing……..
Me: Quit looking at the bottom rows of shampoo’s and look to the center and top of the shelf. They stick the cheap ones at the bottom. You know, where you shop to wash that handful of hair you have left on your head. I swear that bottle of yours has been in the bathroom for 3 years.
Gordon: Now simmer down, simmer down. (It’s a line from Rear Window that Jimmy Stewart says to Grace Kelly when she’s upset. Gordon will say to me when I get upset and then we both start laughing.)
Me: Alrighty, sorry. Do you see a yellow bottle with orange writing? I like that brand. Just get me one of those and a conditioner that goes with it? So, do you see it?
Gordon: I’m looking. Oh, wait! I see it! Yes, yes, yes!
Me: Great! I’ll just settle for that.
Gordon: Oh, and what is this you’ve got written on the list that looks like it says, Blob Soup?
Me: Blob Soup?
Gordon: You know I can’t read your writing Julie.
Me: Where is it written on the list?
Gordon: Between the Body Lotion and the Q-Tips.
Me: I’m thinking….. Um, blob soup, blob soup, blob soup….. OH! It’s BOB’S SOAP! You know, that soap we love so much that smells like coconut.
Gordon: O.K., I’m looking. Here is a Tom’s Soap.
Me: That’s it! I know it was one of those names.
Oh, and if you could pick up some wine we are getting low. We are down to our last 30 bottles. What if that Coronavirus comes here and they close the stores and we run out of wine? Do you really want to be in isolation with me when we run out of wine?
Gordon: O.K. but I’ll pick up the wine after work tomorrow. I also need to run into the Exchange for some new socks. I’ll do that tomorrow as well.
Me: Oh, great. Because I need you to stop by the cosmetics counter. I need a new a night cream from Lancome, an eye cream from Clinique and a day moisturizer from Estee Lauder.
Gordon: NOOOOOOOO!!! NOT THE COSMETICS COUNTER!!!! You know I hate the cosmetics counter!! ah jeez.
Me: Ah Jeez? That’s what your dad says. You know I hate it when you talk like your dad. Do you want me to talk like my mother with her thick southern accent that you can’t understand anything she says?
Gordon: O.k., o.k., o.k.
Me: Great! I’ll see you when you get home. Drive safely. I love you.
Gordon: I love you too. I’ll see you when I get home.
(An Explanation: The reason that Gordon does most of the shopping is because he works on the base where prices are very CHEAP! I could drive the hour to get to the base and do the shopping myself, and sometimes I do, but sometimes it’s easier since he has a good working day schedule and can leave work to do these errands and get home at a decent time and miss all that traffic leaving Tampa. I’m not driving an hour to buy a few items from the commissary. Luckily, I am married to a great man that doesn’t mind doing the shopping. Except when it comes to the dreaded “Shampoo Isle.”) 🙂
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February 16, 2020
My Favorite Amethyst Girls
And,
A Belated Happy Valentine’s Day!
Just a few little trinket’s from my childhood given to me either on my birthday or for Valentine’s Day. The taller girl holding the hearts is a music box. All of my little knick-knack’s above are probably considered to be very tacky to most but to me they are sweet and represent my childhood. And I love to bring them out every February.
My Chocolates From Gordon
I inserted my Amethyst stone in the center. Those of us born in February, our birthstone is Amethyst. The beautiful purple stone. I even have a few pieces of Amethyst jewelry that I love to wear throughout the month of February.
I was trying to remember where I found that stone. My family used to go spelunking a lot when I was young. We lived in Dahlonega, Georgia for a few year’s where panning for gold is still done. As a matter of fact, when you drive through Atlanta you will see the Georgia State Capital building and it’s gold dome with gold from Dahlonega.
Georgia State Capital Dome
Atlanta, Georgia
It was during the Gold Rush in our American history that many people moved to California in search of gold. It was the Mayor of Dahlonega that told all his people not to run off to California because, “There’s gold in them thar hills!” Most people have heard that quote before but hardly anyone knows who said it.
I’m not going to get into the history of gold mining in Georgia, I was actually saving that for a future post. But yes, we went gold mining and panning for gold quite often. I never found a nugget just lots of gold flakes that were put into a vial of water and worn as a necklace. But we have certainly prowled our way through many caves in our spelunking adventures. My mother has all those photos.
I can also remember us driving up through the mountains and pulling over to the side of the road where I was handed a paper cup by my mother telling me to pick up those Garnet Nuggets because they were everywhere. So, we climbed steep embankments and started looking through the dirt finding them. I don’t remember how they knew they were all over that embankment but we got quite a haul that day. And I believe for my following birthday I was given a rock cleaning and polishing kit. It was a machine and was very loud but the rocks came out all smooth and shiny. I even have a few of those stones that we had placed into jewelry. They are somewhere in my house.
But, getting back to my Amethyst nugget…….
I remembered where I found it. When my parents bought their house where my mother lives now. It was in the 90’s. There was this old shack on their property. Actually it was a pretty big shack and I would go in it sometimes. I was never afraid of things like that. I would even go into deserted houses in our neighborhoods at times when I was a little girl of 8 and upwards. My friends were to scared to go inside with me, so I went myself.
But, back to this shack…….
Even though I’m sure there were many snakes in that shack, there was some of the personal possessions of the previous owner and I would look through them. Seeing all of that stuff and touching them gave me an insight in the person that used to live there. There was also this shelf of rocks and that is where I saw my Amethyst stone and I took it. I’ve had it ever since. Whoever lived in that shack must have found it himself and kept it there until he died. My parents eventually tore down the shack and had the area cleared.
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As usual, I am writing about everything BUT “My Favorite Amethyst Girls” so here goes.
Me, February 13th.
It occurred to me that most (not all) of the women that I admire were all born in February. Perhaps being an Amethyst Girl has helped to shape our personalities and just perhaps I also recognize in them common traits that we all have. Perhaps being born in February and enjoying such fun holiday’s as Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras, as well as celebrating our own birthday’s, and even the President’s Day weekend holiday, just might have an influence on us that we aren’t even aware of. Perhaps all of that does help to shape us and that is why I am drawn to these women.
So, for now I’d like to acknowledge the Amethyst Girls that I admire so very much. Starting in order of their birthday’s.
Christie Brinkley, 02-02-2020
The first palindrome in 909 years. I would have really celebrated my birthday if I had been her. 🙂
Christie just turned 66 and as she said when she was 65, ‘she feels as if she’s been turning 50 for the past 15 years.’ I agree. 🙂
I have looked at her pretty smile on her pretty face since I was a teenager. I love that she tries her best to live every single day to the fullest. Her focus always seems to be on the positive side of life.
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Sugar Whann 02-07-2003- 2017
Sugar was our sweet dog who died a few years ago. We adopted her. Whoever named her Sugar got it right as she was the sweetest dog Gordon and I had ever known in our lives. There is a saying in the south, “She’s so sweet sugar just drips off her chin.” Yep! It sure did!
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Kim Novak 02-13-2020
Kim Novak share’s my birthday as a fellow 13er.
Seeing as how I am a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan, of course I adored her in Vertigo with Jimmy Stewart. Oh, and Picnic, a favorite movie from my mother’s generation. But, I would have to say my most favorite movie of hers was when she played a witch in Bell, Book, and Candle. I remember her having that beautiful black cat.
I can’t really pinpoint exactly what it is about her that I like so much but I was thrilled to find out we had the same birthday.
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Jane Seymour 02-15-2020
I love Jane! Jane just turned 69 and she looks wonderful! That’s the thing I love about Jane and Christie Brinkley is that they don’t lie about their age. I never saw the need to do anything like that either. Jane is the epitome of aging gracefully. Oh sure, she’s had her nips and tucks but she has no desire to erase the wrinkles off her pretty face. She just smiles bigger, which is a natural facelift. She also has a very big heart. I mean come on, only someone that loves as much as she is, is going to start an Open Heart Foundation.
I’ve always loved Jane’s movie’s. For awhile there she was probably on every movie of the week in the 80’s. However, I love her as Solitare in Live and Let Die with Roger Moore.
Jane enjoys life. She loves her children and grandchildren. And from what I understand she even gets on well with ex-husband’s and their past wives and even current wives. Jane just seems to make an effort with people. I find that very big of her as I don’t think for one minute that I could do that. To me a divorce is a divorce, goodbye and good luck! 🙂
I do see common threads in Jane and Christie. It’s as if they know that they can’t be happy and enjoy life if they carry around a vial of poison inside of them, so therefore the don’t. They just seem to be able to let go of all the bad stuff and focus on the good things in life. I know that I strive very hard to put the past behind me but it is a work in progress especially when so many of these people don’t seem to want to let me go. Trust me, I have no earthly idea why?
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Trish Wolfenden 02-27-1941-2017
Also, Elizabeth Taylor’s birthday.
I miss Trish so very much. I’ll even say it out loud when I am alone around the house. Just hoping that she might hear me. Trish and I had a lot in common because of our mother’s. Trish’s mother didn’t want her and when she found out she was pregnant with Trish she tried to miscarry her by jumping over fences and falling down on the ground. When Trish was 3 her mother took her to the orphanage and gave her away. When Trish’s grandfather found out about it he went down there and got Trish out of that place then took her back to his daughter and demanded that she raise her. That is another thing that Trish and I have in common. We both adored our grandfathers for loving us so much. Her husband Bob had Trish cremated and was going to place her urn in the ground beside her grandfather’s grave because she loved him so much. There are also no photos of Trish as a child because her mother didn’t want to take any.
Trish loved life. She always had such a good and happy attitude and the two of us would talk on Skype while solving the world’s problems. 🙂 She also had this great laugh. Gordon and I even took on some of her hand gestures and the exclamations she would make just because it reminds us of her. We always miss the good one’s, but she was a GREAT ONE!
(Just for the record: I told Gordon that I don’t want a funeral. I doubt anyone would come anyway. I just think they are ridiculously expensive and if they want to spend that much money on me then do it while I am alive to enjoy it. I told them to just spread my ashes on the beach but withhold a handful to throw in the bushes at The Tower of Terror Ride at Disney Hollywood Studio so that I can divide my time between the beach and there. Yeah, we’ll see, right?) 🙂
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I do have a few more Amethyst Girls that I would like to mention and not necessarily write about……..
Emily Blunt, Majel Barret, Kelly Hu, Tyne Daly, Sophie Turner, Anna Pavlova, and Stockard Channing.
I think I’m in very good company. 🙂
Happy Birthday to ALL!
Julie
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More Photos From My Birthday
Birthday Dinner
Gordon brought home take out from Tibby’s. After all the cooking we had been doing all week we just wanted things easier and we didn’t want to eat out this year so we had our casual dinner at home.
All of our fattening New Orleans favorites. 🙂
Brodie, Me, Veronica and Spooky Lou
Veronica got me this Vanilla Cake with my creamy rich frosting with a filling of Chocolate Eclairs.
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My Biegnet Donuts
One can never have too many cakes. 🙂
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February 13, 2020
Happy 59th. Birthday to ME!
The Bathroom Selfie
(Aquanet Hairspray in Background. 🙂
Where most of us love to take pictures of ourselves for some reason?)
And before I get started let me just say that the aerosol Aquanet Hairspray purchase was of a nostalgic nature. It was the can of hairspray of choice in the south for our BIG HAIR. It was just the glue we needed. Of course, we would panic if a bee got to close to us.
I quit using Aquanet when a 14 year old Heather Cothran who was standing behind me (I was 23) while we were in line for our Fellowship Supper at The First Christian Church in Rome, Georgia tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I wear Aquanet Hairspray? I told her that I did. She then remarked that she could tell because she could smell it from across the room.
(I never did like that Heather Cothran.) 🙁
I’m kidding! I always did like her.
But seriously, we do have a saying in the south that we girls are born with a teasing comb in one hand and a can of hairspray in the other. Of course maybe things have changed now and big hair is not as important as it used to be. How sad.
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So, tell me, is it narcissistic of me to wish myself a Happy Birthday? Well, regardless, I will whether it is an excepted protocol or not. I love birthdays and I am happy to be getting older in this age of cancer and deadly virus’s.
Just a few past birthday’s with cake and ice cream.
Some of my birthday’s from when I was a young girl.
So, how many of you still have your baby clothes and first blanket from 59 years ago? HUH?
I’m guessing only me and the Royal Family of Great Britain. I come from a long line of hoarders and I’m guessing the Queen and the Fam must be too.
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I have always loved my birthday’s. Cake probably has something to do with it. When it comes to a birthday cake I want the one with the sugar and Crisco frosting. The most unhealthy, fattening, and sugar, sugar, sugar, and more sugar frosting. I remember when I was a little girl and would eat that frosting it was like a drug and my eyes would roll to the back of my head with the best sugar rush. Although, I didn’t understand that at the time. I just knew that I loved Birthday CAKE!
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When I woke up this morning to go into the kitchen for coffee after everyone had left for work, I saw this. 🙂 It’s nice to find those little surprises that I wasn’t expecting.
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Oh, we aren’t planning on doing much today. It will just be the 4 of us. Me, Gordon, Veronica and Brodie. Gordon is running by Tibby’s on his way home from work to grab us all our New Orleans favorites for dinner.
Veronica and Brodie were asking me what I wanted for my birthday but the only things I am interested in are things that I can eat, drink, or smell. (Flowers)
Which reminds me of a saying that we had when we were living in Hawaii and just too poor to afford very much, “If we can’t eat it, wash our clothes with it, or wipe our butt’s with it, then we don’t need it.”
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But all kidding aside, did you know that most elderly die around their birthday’s? It is fact. I think the reason that they do is because that number, whatever number it may be is a reminder of how “old” they are and that something mental just takes over and they feel it’s their time to go. My grandmother was an active senior until she turned 80. Then it was if she just stopped doing things because in her head she was just too “old” now that she was 80. Imagine had she not felt like that? Perhaps we could have had her around longer than her 87 years before she died?
So, the fact that I LOVE my birthday’s is hopefully an indication that I won’t have that problem.
Happy Birthday To ME!
Julie
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February 10, 2020
Happy February and What’s New?
My Eternal Selfie
Just me messing around with the phone selfie’s while Gordon and Brodie and Mackenzie cook my early birthday dinner. This year my birthday lands on a Thursday, February 13th. I wanted Gordon to cook me a meal of my southern favorites with my favorite New Orleans critters. I wanted my birthday dinner before my birthday and not the weekend after, so therefore it had to be the weekend before.
I told Gordon that I wanted a birthday cake of Crab Stuffed Beignet’s and that is what I got! I also told him that I wanted to eat “critters” for my birthday. So, we set to planning the meal. Having grown up throughout the south we southerner’s are very familiar with “critters.” We keep critters as pets, we also eat critters. But, we don’t eat our pets. Just to be clear on that one. 🙂
Gordon, Brodie and Mackenzie Cooked me the BEST early Birthday Dinner!
I can’t wait to do the write up on this dinner. Of course that won’t be any time soon.
If you know me. 🙂
Of course we do have more fun food plans for this week. One low country meal is never enough for me! I plan to eat several more meals from my southern table before this week is over.
I will be turning 59 in 3 days and I am actually excited about it. I LOVE my birthdays! I don’t mind getting older I just don’t like looking or feeling older. However, I do have to admit that as of last year I have started to look OLD! I still feel good. Gordon and I don’t have any serious health issues. Not that we are aware of anyway. Of course you never know……
But I like to refer to us as “Active Homebodies.”
We are very active around our home. Gordon and I love our home, inside and out. We love to cook. We love our projects, usually home improvement ones. We have a nice large backyard with a large existing lanai 40 x 10 feet, and our new lanai extension 36 x 18. We garden, create, do yard work, clean, bleach, rake, sweep, you name it! We like to take care of our home and our property.
We still have many plans that we haven’t implemented yet to our property that we hope to get to very soon. For example we were going to hire the man who built our lanai extension to put gutters around the side of our house, and to do a cement pour on the side of our house for us to build a fence around and store our trash cans and recycling containers behind a gate, and to also hide our new A/C unit. However, he says he is too busy to do it, but, that he will sell us the gutter materials at cost and Gordon and Brodie will be installing them. Gordon can also do the cement pour himself so that shouldn’t be any problem as well. It’s just work that we wouldn’t have minded outsourcing so that we didn’t have to do it. But, it will make a nice new home improvement post, so…. why not?
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On a more serious note…….
I believe we are in very serious times in a very dangerous way and I don’t know how things will turn out. I can’t see it. Not at this time. And it bothers me that I can’t see where things are going. As someone that usually can foresee directions, I feel very helpless. (In other words what I see is bad, I just don’t know how bad.)
Oh, I can tell you what I see about Meghan and Harry, they are easy to read. I also knew that Oscar’s viewing was down. I know that I myself didn’t care to watch them either. I just don’t think that people are as interested in watching the wealthy dress up in their gowns and jewels and then give each other awards for being able to pretend to be someone other than the person they are. Isn’t that what acting is anyway? I can also tell you what I know about the ‘good ‘ol boy network’, that is the GOP. I can tell you how they do ban together to bring down someone among them that they cannot control that is abusing them, but the ‘good ‘ol boy network’ that I know would never have allowed things to come to this point without taking action. I’m assuming you know what I am talking about.
The “Good ‘Ol Boy” network of the south is no different from ‘The Gentleman’s Club’, of New York or London. They protect each other. Lie for each other. Defend each other. Kill for each other. They are all in the same cult.
Until……. that person deceives them. Then it is a whole new ballgame.
Only then do the “Good ‘Ol Boys” ban together to bring down one of their own. Oh, they won’t usually jail that person but they will bring that person down so that person cannot continue to do to them whatever it is that they did to them to begin with.
I don’t think it’s not a matter of “If” the GOP bring down their leader, but “when.” That is, when they start loosing elections that they can no longer steal. But until that happens the evil can do such terrible damage. That is what concerns me. Karma always catches up to those that do things they shouldn’t. But until that time they can do terrible things to people that cause ever lasting damage.
I do believe that we need to work on our own mental, and psychical health. Perhaps keeping such close tabs on the news isn’t something that we need to do every day. When we live in a country where the system is rigged against us then what can we do about it? I don’t know how much longer I have on this earth and the thought of spending years fighting and getting upset isn’t something I care to do. I’m not young, I’m old. Let the young people fight for the country they are to inherit. I will always be supportive, I will always speak out, I will always vote, but my protesting day’s are over.
Good luck to us all!
Julie
P.S. If you are going to protest or attend demonstrations then I suggest writing the name of a lawyer on your arm in permanent marker just in case you are arrested. Good luck!
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January 11, 2020
Happy 55th. Birthday Gordon!
(His Birthday was January 8th.)
Gordon and Julie, Hyde Park, Tampa
Gordon and I enjoying our drinks before our dinner and movie. I am drinking a Pink Flower and Gordon is drinking The Don. (Maybe as in Don Juan “Whann”) In his dreams! 🙂
This is a dinner and a movie kind of place. Luckily for us there were not many people.
That is good! As I hate crowds!
Brodie and Mackenzie Joined Us
I adore being some of the only people in a movie theater!
Goat Cheese Dip with Bread, PERFECT!
At this Cinebistro you arrive about 30 minutes prior to the movie and order your cocktails and food. I purchased our seats ahead of time and got great ones!
Gordon and I both ordered the Mahi Sandwich w/ Tater Tots
We ordered 3 apps, this magnificent Goat Cheese Dip with Crudities and Pita Chips, A Hummus Dip, and Wings.
Brodie ordered some giant chicken sandwich and Mackenzie ordered a salad.
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Star Wars, The Rise of Skywalker
My Take……….
If you are familiar with us then you know we are HUGE Star Wars fans!
We even quote Star Wars ALL THE TIME!
( I cannot tell you how many times when our children were growing up and arguing that I was say, “If you two don’t stop fighting I am going to come back there and use the force on you!”)
With this movie being the last in the installment (9), I can’t help but think back to the first time I watched the original Star Wars movie. It wasn’t at the theater either. I believe the first movie (4th.) came out in 1977 but I didn’t watch it until 1980 I believe, and I saw it on T.V. I was living in Charlotte, North Carolina with my modeling agent, Libby Stone and her family. They had a T.V. in the back of their house and I was sleeping on the couch. It came on in the middle of the night and I stayed up all night watching it. I couldn’t believe how good that it was? I only watched it because I just couldn’t sleep and there was nothing else to watch on T.V. that night.
THE Original Star Wars
So, when the second (5th.) movie came out, The Empire Strikes Back, I happily took my little brother’s to see it at a movie theater at the shopping center in Rockingham, North Carolina.
THE Empire Strikes Back
(Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back is my absolute favorite!)
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When the 3rd. (6th.) movie came out, Return of the Jedi, in 1983 I was living in my Grandmother’s basement in Rome, Georgia and working at Miller’s Department Store at the mall. Gordon was also living in Rome in the garage apartment of my Great-Aunt Margie and Great Uncle Ray, and working at the Coca-Cola Plant.
Return of the Jedi
One Sunday night after I got off work Gordon and I went to see it. I loved it so much that I told Gordon I wanted to go back and see it again the following Sunday. 🙂
I have episode’s 4, 5, and 6 on VHS. I may even have episodes 1 and perhaps 2 on VHS as well. But once they did away with VHS and everything went over to DVD I certainly purchased all of them that way as well. And of course then when they came out on Bluray.
(Oh and a big P.S. I have the very first Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark on BETA.) Which btw: Still works!!! I still have it as well. 🙂
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Star Wars Episodes 1, 2 and 3
I am probably the only person that loved Episode 1 with Natalie Portman as Queen Amadala.
It was interesting to me that this 14 year old girl was a Ruling Elected Queen. And when she met Anakin Skywalker, he was a 9 year old boy that was a slave on Tatooine.
We were living in Maryland when it came out on VHS/DVD and I purchased it. I do admit that it is a bit boring but I happen to like boring. I like the beginning’s of things. Queen Amadala’s elaborate wardrobe represents excess and when things are at their height. It represents peace, but it also represents frivolity and excess. Also, lots of gossip because there are no hard times for people to fret over so they attack each other.
I loved that her body guards were young women around her age and height, and weight that resembled her. Camouflaged as hand maidens. They could take you out in no time if they had to.
But every story has a beginning and not all beginning’s are exciting. They are usually a bit boring in order to set the stage and tell the story. Things tend to heat up mid story.
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Rogue One
This is Gordon’s favorite Star Wars movie. It is also NOT part of the 9 part story. It is an addendum. An Insert. But a very important part of the story. This episode takes place between Episode 3 and 4.
It fills in a gap.
My favorite character in this story is the blind Asian guy that is untrained but he has the makings of a Jedi Knight. He does have the force but because there are no more Jedi there is no training for those that are one with the force. He is literally a powerful blind man but finding his way as a blind man that is force strong.
I am the Force, and the Force is With Me.
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Episodes 2, and 3
Star Wars Attack of the Clones
When this movie came out on DVD we were also living in Maryland at the time and we loved it! Veronica did see it at the mall with her friend Caitlyn. Anakin had grown up and was a Jedi. Padme had grown up and was a woman, and a senator for her country of Naboo. I loved everything about this movie. I would even say that this is my second favorite Star Wars movie. Anakin was a bit of a whiner though. But if you go back to see the early episode’s of Luke, he was something of a whiner as well.
Episode 3, Revenge of the Sith
I don’t like this episode and I don’t watch it. This is where they slaughter all the Jedi. That makes me very sad as the Jedi were the guardians. The keepers of the peace. Once they were gone then evil took over.
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Keylo Ren and Rey
They ended up being really good characters although I didn’t think so at the time when I saw their first movie, Star Wars Episode 7, The Force Awakens.
But Episode 8, and then Episode 9, they do get more interesting as the saga continues. They are a “love story,” but a very dysfunctional one.
Ben/Keylo Ren is Han Solo and Princess Leia’s son. Luke trains him along with several others but during that time he turns evil and slaughters those Jedi that do not follow him. Luke feels like a failure and isolates himself on the isolated island that houses the Jedi Temple. Leia keeps insisting that there is good in him and sends Han to retrieve their son, (in Episode 7.) Ben/Keylo Ren then kills Han Solo, his own father. When Leia talks about how he still has good in him then all I can think of to say is, “So What?”
Everyone has some good in them. Even the most evil and vile. But that doesn’t mean we should take them back because they have “some” good in them. In the end Keylo Ren turned back into Ben Solo and he died helping Rey to defeat Palpatine. He did redeem himself. But he needed to die as he has just done too many evil things in his life. He had done way too much damage to be forgiven by anyone. He was a mass murderer. It’s nice that he did the right thing in the end but he also needed to die, and he did.
I’m not one of these people rooting for some ‘Space Ghost Relationship’ between Rey and Ben. She has been through enough in her life and deserves some happiness with a very boring and stable human being that loves and adores her and appreciates her for herself. I guess we will never know what the writer’s intended but we can use our imagination and have her live out her life how we want her to. Personally, I always wanted her to get together with Poe. He is good, and he is cute! 🙂
May the Force be With You,
Julie
P.S. AND SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!
I decided to write about this instead of not. At the end of the movie you see Rey on Tatooine at Luke’s home where he was raised and where his aunt and uncle were murdered. She had taken Luke’s and Leia’s Light Sabers there to bury them in the sand. After all, she had defeated Palpatine (her grandfather), and all the Sith Lords. While Poe and Finn and the Rebel Alliance were able to defeat the Empire.
It was while Rey was there burying the Light Sabers that a woman wandered by and asked her who she was? She told her that her name was Rey. The woman asked, “Rey, who?” After pausing and looking out into the distance and seeing the ghosts of Luke and Leia she answered, “Rey Skywalker.”
I have a big problem with that.
First of all, Luke was never particularly nice to her. And it was revealed that Leia did know her family history which she withheld from Rey and didn’t tell her. Leia may have been kind to Rey but she kept important information secret that I believe Rey needed to know about.
Next, Ben Solo/Keylo Ren as Leia and Han Solo’s son is also a Skywalker.
Ben/Keylo has been nothing but cruel to her from the moment he encountered her. He made her life harder than it needed to have been. He could actually be quite cruel to her. The last name I would ever take would be HIS!
I wish that she would have created her own last name and went with that. Started something new. Do we really need any more Skywalker’s? I think the name should have died out with Luke, Leia and Ben Solo. There is no Rise of Skywalker, they are all dead. We will miss them forever, but they are gone. Now it’s time for a new generation of Force Strong individual’s that don’t come from some famous family name to reign supreme!