SLACKER!!

I am a blogger slacker.  I apologize.  Now we shall just move on and I will try to do better.  I know all three of my readers wish I posted more often. ( :

I am in the midst of a spiritual dilemma.  One of my very dear friends is busted in sin.  One of my other very dear friends is puffed up in righteous anger.  AND, the way I see it, they are both sinning.  I love them both.   I forgive them both.  AND, my heart aches.  Sin hurts the sinner and everyone else around it.  Unforgiveness of sin, whether confessed or not, hurts the same.  The hardest part of living in community is what to do when somebody screws up...big.  It happens.  The old bumper sticker that says, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven.", is right on the money.  We got more sins than Carter's got pills.  Even when we think we don't.  Lots of us really think we don't.  I think that sin is called pride.

Some folks think when you sin and get busted, there should be some big announcement followed by a confession.  I just don't find that in my Bible anywhere.  Confess your sins to one another, yes.  Confront your brother in sin, yes.  Bring him before the whole church and call him on it?  Oh my, I hope it never comes to that or I am in big trouble...as is EVERYONE ELSE!!

So...that is where I am today.  Hurting.  Praying for healing of my little family.

My Best Friend

Oh Blogger, you are still my very best friend.  Sometimes something shiny (Facebook...words with friends) distracts me from you, but I never forget you.  You have helped me grow into a woman that knows herself.  A woman that is much more thoughtful and polite.  You have given me a level of introspection that I never dreamed was possible.  AND, all while you were helping me know me better, you were giving others a clear view right straight into my heart.  Some of those people, though we have never met, have become my friends.  Others, though we knew each other for a long time, made a deeper connection and solid friendship.

I am thankful for blogs and bloggers.  The depth of honesty found in MOST blogs is inspiring.  It is here that we can confess we don't have it all together.  Then we can rehearse that out loud a few times and lose the pretense altogether.  Then, we change the world because everyone stops pretending...just a little bit at first but then more and more each day. 

I am thankful for this blog, the people who read this blog, and the links that represent a small faction of the blogs I read on a regular basis.  BLOGS ROCK!

Tea Anyone?

We re-elected one of the slickest governors ever in Kentucky yesterday.  We, as in my state...not we as in me.  I did not vote for the man.  I would stay home and trim my nose hair first.  And that would be a job because I don't have THAT kind of nose hair. (Yet, I have seen the aging process and it affects everyone eventually.)  BUT, I will have to live with the consequences of the election.  He has done nothing, I repeat, nothing for our state.  Oh wait, he has collected a paycheck.  AND, once his opponents nailed him to the wall on just how much he was spending, he did make some cuts.  Cuts he publicized like his life depended on it, because, his political life did depend on it.  AND, it worked.  I believe he only won because his opponent is even slicker than he is.  AND, he is supposed to be a different party.  Nope, they are in the same party...the GREEDY party.

I am so tired of career politicians.  I think a few of them go into it honest and emerge jaded and bought.  I really think though, that most of them go into it knowing exactly what they are getting into.  It is the place for slick talking car salesmen types.  The ones that promise you the moon with a wink and smile.  Then, when your car breaks down, they apologize and comfort you and assure you if they could do anything to help, they would.  Unfortunately, there is nothing to be done.  The really good ones will also somehow convince you that they were also done dirty right along with you.  The professional ones will then see about fixing you up in another car that they know the personal history of so you can at last, 'get a good one'.  They will even give you 'one heckuva break' on the price.  You leave with car number two and a head spin that makes you dizzy.  When car number two breaks down, you would really like to go in and give him a piece of your mind, but you stay away- terrified that you might somehow get swindled into car number 3.

So, here we are fellow voters, on car number 1000.  We love candidates that are different from the norm.  Sarah Palin, Obama and the like.  They seem just like us.  Honest.  Wanting what is best for the country.  Wanting to change things.  Shake up Washington.  BUT WE NEVER GET THAT!!  Instead, it is just the same crap, different candidate. 

My theory?  It is the parties.  The Democrats and Republicans.  They just need a front man.  Once that is in place, all the back room deals and kickbacks launch full force.  Too many people are riding the gravy train of Congress.  They just take turns being in charge.  They pretend to represent us, but it is all just a big buffet of taxpayer money with the people of congress all trying to get as much on their plate as possible.

How to stop it?  The same way you stop an all-you-can-eat buffet.  Portion controls.  Cut back the food.  Without so much food on the buffet, the really big eaters have to either cut back their consumption or go to another buffet.  If CONGRESS wasn't such a lucrative job, it would not attract such big eaters.  Maybe it would attract some normal folk who just want to make a comfortable life for their family while doing the right thing by their fellow countrymen.  You know, like the way the Constitution designed it. Remember the Constitution??  We USED to study it in school.  The plan was for all of us to take a turn.  There was never a plan for a group of people to do this for life.  How could you possibly be in touch with the needs of your constituents if you only hang out with fellow fat cats in Washington?  EXACTLY.  They are not in touch at all.

Time for a new party.  A Tea Party.  A party for people who want the government to get out of their pocketbooks and quit 'redistributing' the wealth.  Time to bring some manufacturing back to our country so we have jobs.  Time to make the crap from China cost a little more so we won't love it more than jobs.  Time to quit building things we are just gonna throw away in a year.  Time to quit buying things that we are gonna throw away.  Time to go back in time to where quality was worth it.  Time to be workers, not just consumers.  Will it be painful, oh yeah.  We are so far into consumerism without work that people don't even think they should pick up their own litter.  They would rather hire a maid to do it.  We don't even want to run the dishwasher-paper plates are too cheap!  YIKES.  We sure are spoiled.  Desperately in need of a time-out or a really firm slap on the wrist. 

Something better change soon...or we will find ourselves in a socialism stew that sounds like a steak dinner, but serves up alot more like potted meat.  AND the biggest problem with potted meat?  We don't even know what's in it.

Ignorance is Bliss

I think it is funny how our brains work.  The things we forget.  That other people remember, sometimes for a long time.  Recently, one of my very good friends lost her husband very unexpectedly.  As I tried to be there through the experience as often as I could and as usefully as I could, we laughed at the things people say and do to be helpful...like the older woman who told her, 'at least your still young'.  No doubt, she was trying to encourage my friend.  To my friend, it just felt like a reminder she would not get to grow old with Jeff.  We actually had a good many laughs over things people say to make you feel better in a tragic loss.

AND, in that moment, I felt like the best friend in the world.  I liked feeling like I had never mis-spoke something STOOPID to offer comfort.  Like I had never opened my mouth and inserted my foot.  Yet, I know I have.  I know I have because I tell myself at least 100 times in the funeral home line...remember self:  hug and I am so sorry for your loss, then get moving.  Then I execute that maneuver, usually flawlessly.  If my kids are with me, I am coaching them to do the same.  Sometimes, though, I stand there too long and fill up the silence with, "let me know if you need anything".  Not bad, just too vague to really mean anything.  BUT, there is a little niggle in the back of my brain.  A memory that I can't retrieve.  It is just out of reach.  It must have been a whopper too because I have suppressed it deep into the recesses of my mind.  I know I have said so many stoopid things, done so many rude and hateful things,and made a butt of myself on plenty of occasions. 

I am just so thankful, that while other people may remember and hold these things against me forever, my brain has given me total ignorance in these matters and it is bliss.

Randomly Odd

Well, you can imagine the brain overload I have been experiencing.  I have written 75 blog posts in my head.  They are just bump around in there because I have not let any of them come out.  It makes me just a tad crazy...so today I MUST get some of the words out.  Don't expect anything grand though.  Obviously at some point quantity wrings quality's scrawny neck.

• I met a friend (and her lovely daughters) and my sister for lunch the other day.  They did not know each other.  I had to leave them and get back to work.  That means they finished lunch together after I left.  I hope they loved each other as much as I love both of them...I wish with all my heart I could have wasted the afternoon away with them.
• I still love my job and I am glad I have one so flexible.  However, the days after a holiday is really tough!!  I really dread the days after Thanksgiving!
• I'm going to see Prairie Home Companion!!!  I have been a fan for many years and I am so stoked!!  I just love radio shows and can't wait to see it live on stage!  Really!!!!!!  My hubby is awesome!!!  Can you tell I am excited???
• Today is my mom.s birthday.  She is 68.  I have my fingers crossed that good moods abound today. ( :
• I gotta stop and I am grateful to have spilled out a few words.  Maybe now I can remember all the things I have to get accomplished today.

TGIF!!  TGIF!!!  TTFN!!