Some of you know that I've been through a lot in my lifetime. I've had more to deal with than most people I personally know. I'm sure there are people out there that have been through worse, but for me, it's been a rough road.
For those of you that actually know me, you know the issues I deal with on a daily basis... OCD and Agoraphobia just being two of them. Today I go to my doctor to try some new meds. I'm a little worried about how they are going to make me feel. Send love my way please. I'll need it just to get through the trial and error period. Hopefully we'll get the right stuff the first time and I'll still be me.
Well, it’s inauguration day. I’m sure you know that, it’s all over the place. How could you miss it? And yes, history is being made as our nations first African American president is sworn in.
I believe people have done more research on our new president than they ever did on any president of the past. With the internet available 24/7, news channels devoted strictly to politics and the front page of every major newspaper covering every tiny detail, how could you not know who Barack Obama is?
I tend to believe that people are even aware of Obama’s family. If I said he has a wife named Michelle and two daughters, most people would nod their heads and say I was right. What I’m not sure of is if people know about our new VICE president.
Joe Biden has not received the same amount of publicity that Obama has, his life is not splattered all over the place. While he and his wife did appear on Oprah I was not aware of it until I saw a tiny little story way at the bottom of my news feed.
Biden is just a backup. He’s not the important one. He’s not the president. That’s the feeling I get when I see these very few and far between stories about our new vice president. People just don’t think he’s that important. I don’t agree with that line of thought. If something were to happen to Obama (you have to admit that’s completely possible. In this day and age people would not hesitate to do harm against our president), Biden will replace him.
So who is this man that will be running our country in the event of a tragedy? What do we know about him? Honestly, I knew very little about him. I decided some research was in order...
He was born November 20, 1942 in Scranton Pennsylvania. He comes from an Irish Catholic family and has two brothers and one sister.
He has a wife as I said. Her name is Jill. While I don’t believe physical appearance makes any difference in someone’s ability to be a contributing human being, I’ll tell you she’s beautiful. And it’s not just on the outside. She speaks from the heart and doesn’t hold back (as seen on the Oprah clip below). I feel like she would be incapable of hiding anything. They met in 1975 and they married in 1977. They have one daughter together. But Jill is his second wife.
His first wife’s name was Neilia. They met in 1964 and married in 1966. They had three children, two sons and a daughter. In 1972 she and his one year old daughter were killed when the station wagon they were traveling in was hit by a semi truck. His two sons were critically injured in the accident as well but thankfully recovered.
Biden began his career in the United States Senate at the minimum age to be eligible, 30. He has represented Delaware from that January 3, 1973 day until his resignation on January 15, 2009. He resigned only because of his being elected to the vice presidency.
He's the former chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He opposed the Gulf War in 1991 and voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution in 2002. He has also served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. And he helped create the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act. He unsuccessfully ran for president in 1988 and was originally running for president in this years election. He is the first Roman Catholic and the first Delawarean to be elected Vice President of the United States.
I have the faint feeling that I just struck gold. I’ve already expressed my support and approval of Obama. Now I have to say, I really like Joe Biden. I think he’s going to do our country good. I think the two of them together, Obama and Biden, may be able to make our country great again. I feel it. It’s on its way. I’m practically singing. Happy days are here again…
I wrote last night on the terrible tragedy John Travolta and his family are suffering through. I understand his pain as a mother who has lost a son. So I spent a lot of time last night reading stories and comments left on stories about it. It's the comments that have me upset.
I don't understand how people can take something as terrible as the death of a child and make it into a joke. I was appalled. The worst comments were on the E! Online story. E! is well known enough that I would think they'd show a little responsibility and remove the offensive comments on a story that should be about condolences.
People made jet ski jokes in reference to Jett's name. They made bathtub jokes. They made tacky Scientology jokes. They even suggested that this poor child would not go to Heaven because of his parents beliefs. Some fool even made the screen name L. Ron Hubbard to bash the Travolta's. How pathetic is what I say.
Just what exactly does Jett's parents religion have to do with any of it? It doesn't in my opinion. The only thing that should matter right now is that parents have lost their child. I know the day will come that those heartless people will be judged and I take comfort in that knowledge.
To the Travolta family, my heartfelt condolences. It's been 8 years since I lost my son and the pain is still there. I hope they find peace in whatever way they can.
To the attention seekers and people with unbelievably bad taste, I hope you never have to go through the pain of losing a child. But maybe if you did you would understand what a terrible thing you did making jokes about a child passing away. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
My television is my hero. It’s managed to last 20 years and still works perfectly despite me sometimes not turning it off for a week at a time. I don’t always watch it… it’s just always on. I listen to it. It’s my background music.
Occasionally I do actually watch it. I’m a huge Survivor fan. And Big Brother,Amazing Race,The Golden Girls… I could honestly go on and on about shows I like but those are the top 4 on my I do not miss list. Anyway, that’s kind of beside the point…
This morning was one of the occasions that I was watching. I saw a commercial…I think it was for a phone. It was talking about questions people have & being able to get the answers through Google on that phone. Still not the point….
One of the questions was ‘what’s really in a hot dog’. It got me thinking. You’ve all heard the urban legends about lips and other parts being in a hot dog. I have an obsessive brain. I’m not kidding. When something gets in there it just gets bigger & louder until I resolve it. I enjoy a hot dog every now and then. Mustard, cheese Mmmm.
Now I’m sure you know what I did next… I Googled it of course! I am happy to tell you that there are NO lips in hot dogs. There are four meats (pork, beef, chicken and turkey) either alone or combined, some water, a curing agent and spices. Whew! What a relief! But not really a surprise… I knew Oscar Meyer was a good guy.
Last summer we went to the beach several times. On one of those trips my daughter Melanie went with us. It was a great day with just one little glitch…
The kids had gone off together playing in the surf. You could tell they were having so much fun. They were laughing and tackling each other. Suddenly Melanie came running out of the ocean and up the beach towards us with a look of panic on her face! She was holding both her hands across her leg and crying. She yelled, “Momma, something stung me!”.
Luckily a beach patrolman was driving down the beach on his four wheeler. We flagged him down and told him what was happening. He looked at her leg and told us rather matter-of-factly that she had been stung by a jellyfish. He told us that at our beach (Surfside/Freeport, Texas), jellyfish are common. He said it was a good idea to keep 3 items in our car whenever we were planning a beach trip. A clean towel (or two), a spray bottle filled with white vinegar and meat tenderizer.
Use the towel to wipe off the stung area. If you use your hand you’ll just end up with stings all over it too. You definitely don’t want that!
Next is the vinegar. It is said to remove the nematocysts. Nematocysts are the tiny stingers that inject the venom into you. Spray the entire area down to remove them. One word of caution about vinegar: In stings from Portuguese Men of War vinegar worsens the pain. A Portuguese Man of War is not jellyfish although they look very similar to them.
The last item is the meat tenderizer. Meat tenderizer contains papain which will ease the discomfort of the sting. Papain is an enzyme that breaks down proteins. Just rub a thin layer over the affected area. Leave it on about 15 minutes. Be sure and rinse it off after the 15 minutes or it could irritate your skin worse.
Without a doubt I will have these items in my car the next time we are going to the beach. I hope we never have to deal with jellyfish stings again, but if we do, I’m going to be prepared!
Out of sheer boredom one day about four years ago I was playing with my cell phone and I came across a chat room. I thought it looked interesting so I joined it. I found it fun most of the time and quickly became a regular. I’ve made many friends there, some of whom will be lifelong.
And believe it or not, I found love. I know several other people who have done the same and are very happy with the mates they found online. I think being in the chat room lets you be less afraid. A lot of people are so self-conscience that they can not relax in a traditional dating scenario. And so many people are obsessed with physical appearances. Chat allows you to get to know the person on a different level.
So now over a year has passed and I am still very happy and satisfied with our relationship. Tim has shown and taught me things I doubt I would have ever seen or learned about without him. We are from different parts of the country and have lived very different lives up to the point of meeting each other. I guess my point to this blog today is to encourage you to try new things. You just never know what the result will be if you don’t. My advice is: Go For It!
I’ll leave you with a ‘chat‘ cartoon.. I thought it was cute… Smile! Today is a new day!
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