May We Never Forget

Time passes on. It's been 11 years, but still the words come no easier today than they did 11 years ago as we watched unspeakable horrors unfold on our television screens.

The single most violent act to occur on American soil by a foreign intruder.

Yesterday, I asked work what we would do to recognize today... we recognize most other holidays with our staff . I was responded to with, "Why? What's tomorrow?" Another co-worker said, "Oh, it's too morbid..."

As I sit here this morning typing this out, I'm still in shock that those were the responses I received. Granted, many of my employees are young, were probably in grade school when this tragic act occurred. But, isn't that all the more reason to teach them respect, honor, and make sure we are living up to the commitment to never forget?

We all made a commitment to never forget. But are we living up to it? Today, I challenge you to take a moment to do more than just watch the news and the memorial shows. Thank a first responder or member of the military, member of a flight crew for the jobs they do.

Do not let the memory only live on with those that were involved. Use it as a teaching opportunity the the youth of this country what true Patriotism is. May the never have to know the horrors of our generation, and may they never forget what this country has gone through to give them the freedoms they take for granted.

Why I Support Chick-Fil-A

WARNING: What is about to follow will be an unedited stream of conciseness. I am sure I will ramble. I will not go back and proof. This is to prevent over thinking of the message I want you to hear. I know some of you are my journalist friends, some of you were grammar/English scholars. If you think it will make your palms too twitchy, stop now. ;)

Today's the day that has the social media world in an up-roar. The day everyone decides whether or not they will support Chick-Fil-A. Why? Because Truett Cathey is a Christian. He runs his restaurant chain based on his personal beliefs. SHAME ON HIM! Really?! That's what you believe? That's the best you have for why you don't want to partake in the deliciousness that is Chick-Fil-A? Have you ever had one of their sandwiches? It is (in my humble opinion), the best fast food chicken sandwich to be had. And, I should know... The two years I spent as a travelling sales rep, I spent an average of 180 days a year on the road eating non-home cooked meals and plenty of fast food.

This is what's wrong with politics in America these days. We boycott and support organizations for what's "politically correct". We need to stop being "Policitally Correct" and go back to governing our lives with common sense.

Let me impart some of my life experience on you... yes, it's limited. But here goes. I was 16 when I had my daughter. I went to a Christian college. I had a decent social life, but there were many who thought of me as an outcast or a lost cause because of the choice I made to bring her into this world. I could have crawled into a ball and said, "Oh no, the Christian Right is a terrible thing." You know what I did instead? I embraced it. (SIDEBAR... some of the people that perpetrated the above mentioned acts were not "right winged conservatives" but were "leftists"... surely I'm not the only person to be outcast by BOTH parties?!)

I'm a stronger person because of it. I sat in bible classes with professors who said I would burn in hell because not only had I had a child out of wedlock, but I was raised in a religion that learned the Rosary and prayed to graven images. I was called Satan (literally) by a person in a friend's church (during the church ceremony... nice). The next Sunday I was afraid to touch the Holy Water in my own church for fear it would boil... it did not and my Priest and I had a good laugh over it.

Did these experiences hurt as they happened? Yes. Do I hold it against the people that perpetrated them? No. I would not be who I am if these experiences had not happened. And, whatever you want to call it God, Allah, Fate, the power of the moon & sun upon my earthly being... there is a reason I had those experiences.

It gave me a perspective not to judge others regardless of if their choices were what I agreed with or not. It made me stong enough to be a successful business person. It has made me a successful mentor to various employees, associates, etc. I wouldn't take any of it back if I were given the choice.

It shouldn't be a surprise that the Cathey family holds these values. They are closed on Sundays. Their website says they are closed to allow employees time with friends and/or family to do as they wish, worship or not. Other companies closed on Sundays? Hobby Lobby, many auto-dealerships and liquor stores, most bridal businesses, florists, doctors offices, banks, government locations. There's an idea... let's boycott the welfare office because it isn't there on Sundays to issue food stamps to the person driving a Cadillac Escalade with $500 rims, toting the latest $300 Coach bag and sporting some kick-ass Nike's she paid full price for.

I'd never do that you say? That's my point.

Yes. I'll have a Chicken Sandwich today. Not because I give two hoots about Mr. Cathey's personal belief, but because I'll be in the mall. And a #7 grilled chicken sandwich with a side of yogurt instead of fries and some diet lemonade is the healthiest choice I'll have available. The manager behind the counter sees me coming and has it wrung up by the time I get there, because working in retail she sees me at her counter multiple times a week and she knows that's my standing order. I'll eat Chick-Fil-A today because I can afford to spend $8.67 on my lunch, I appreciate their customer service, and dog-gonnit nobody is going to tell me I can't!

Miracles do Happen: I Ran a Mile Today. And I'm Still Alive.

I've blogged before about my on-going struggles against my body. We have a love/hate relationship. You see, my inner goddess is fairly certain I'm still a size 2... while my actual body that the general public sees every day is more along a size 14. EEK! I've publicly admitted my arse is large. Next step, do something about it.

See, that's where I have issues. The doing something about it. For so long I've been content to live my life by this:

But, over the course of the past month I've been working with a personal trainer. The inches are slowly starting to drop down (maybe they'd be a little quicker if the hubs would stop bringing cookies into the house. Damn his speedy metabolism and my unwillingness to have any self control)!

So, after meeting a friend for coffee this morning, I had some free time before heading to work. I thought this would be a perfect time to log a quick run. "What? Someone your size can actually move at a quick pace," you say. Yeah, I'll deal with your smart mouth later... it's amazing how I know how snarky my reading audience is, isn't it?

Anyway back on topic: I changed, I went outside and I ran a few blocks. Then I hacked up a lung and walked a few blocks, then repeated the whole process multiple times.  I'm fairly certain more than one neighbor may have thought either a wild animal was dying outside or they should call 911 because an escaped mental patient in work out clothes was dying by their house. I actually logged a mile. I know, I know... that's not much to most of my friends who routinely run anywhere from a 5K to a marathon but come on, you know me. You know that in my mind exercise is right up there with unmedicated childbirth... an absolute unnecessary concept in this world of "give me a pill or medical intervention to make the pain, fat stop"!

So, while I"m still not this woman:

And I probably never will be... I am actually making it past the end of my driveway and turning back around for cinnamon rolls. And in my world, that's a pretty big accomplishment.

Toddler Man Plots his Take-Over

I may look cute and innocent,
but I will rule the world someday.

Toddler Man's vocabulary has been expanding rapidly recently. He's starting to string together sentences. He has named his piggy bank (a pig in a football helmet and jersey) "Tim"... apparently even at two he's a Tebow fan. He can string together a rather remedial sentence telling us we'll stay at home or do this or that... He knows football player's names.... but he has an odd hang up with his own family.

He will not, under any circumstance, call his brother by his name. He also will not call the dog anything other than "dog." I have a theory... albeit a rather disturbing one:

You see, Toddler Man, is quite the feisty 2-year-old. I'm fairly certain he's set upon World Denomination (picture Baby Stewy from Family Guy, minus weapons). The two creatures he tries his evilry out upon most often are his brother and the dog. I think he's willing to name anything else on the planet, but the things he wishes to destroy are required to remain nameless so the guilt doesn't wrack his little toddler conscience.

So, if you run into us and he's perfectly willing to explain to you who his favorite Manning is (Yes, he can differentiate between Peyton, Eli, and even Archie) but he refuses to call you anything other than "dis," I'd suggest you take cover. 

Toddler Child the Tattoo Artist

My house is slowly turning blue. And pink. A little bit of purple.  And any other color Toddler Child can get his little hands on. I keep throwing away markers, but alas the child has already mastered some fierce ninja skills and somehow manages to find more.

It's not just markers. Oh no, my ivory couch has been tatted with black ink as well as a lovely blue swirly marker design. The door to my office has some sort of green chalky substance smattered about on top of his trademark blue.

Even the floors - my lovely hardwood - has not been spared. No, here and there you will find a speckle of color. A dab of whatever he could get his hands on, even some of Oldest Child's lipstick made it's non-facial debut.

So, what's a mother to do? Squelch his artistic ability? Scream and put him in more time outs than his little toddler brain can comprehend? Beat him within an inch of his life? eh hem, calmly explain that we do not have an art room but we'll be happy to accommodate his freedom of expression in other ways?

For now, this mother is stocking up on Resolve Upholstery Cleaner and hoping the phase passes soon. But, be warned: if you see this kid - HIDE ANYTHING THAT CAN LEAVE A MARK!

Future Picasso, or Tattoo Artist in the making? You be the judge.

I'm Almost Back!

I'm back! And doped up. So, you know, the reading should be fantabulous today. Mis-spellings, mis-punctuations, all that good stuff you look forward to in a blog.

Where to start? My hiatus has been for several reasons:

1. My adult onset ADD has kept me away from the computer and too inattentive to type more than a sentence at a time.
2. Vacation - we visited the hubs' family in Europe earlier this summer... don't worry a blog about that will follow, once I'm coherent again (which should be sometime this week).
3. Sinus surgery (hence being doped up on pain killers while typing this)

With the splints coming out today I should be back to a semi-normal state tomorrow and then the blogging shall resume! You've been warned. Feel free to duck and cover.

The Mayans Were Wrong - The End is Now!

I heard a few seconds of a sound bite on the news last night about the end of the world coming May 21. I didn't pay much attention. Chaulked it up to yet another crackpot who found a way to get airtime. But then, my former college advisor had a quip about regretting sending in his car payment, since the end was upon us and I thought this might warrant some investigation.

Of course, investigation on my part these days means googling things (I can hear all my former pr/journalism professors gasp that I'm too lazy to get off my chair and actually WORK at investigating - that is if I haven't already killed them by the misplaced punctuation that's rampant in my blogs). So after typing in "judgement day 2011" I found this lovely billboard:

                    

Nice, isn't it? I'm thinking this isn't doing such a great job of winning over people to listen to their station... unless it's to make fun of them.

OK, OK... that was harsh. But here's what I believe (and I'm not going to quote the Bible or anything so my non-Christian friends can relax), when the end of the world is upon us it will happen unexpectedly. None of us can sit here and proclaim to know the end of the world.

Besides, I doubt it's going to be next Saturday. The crazy, ranting street preacher downtown told me it was going to be last month, we're all still here. I have a European vacation next month that I've already paid for, dammit - I am not allowing the end of the world to happen before I get my monies worth!

"But wait, Beth, how can you be so sure? "  Yes, I hear your thoughts. How can I be sure? hmm... does January 1, 2000 ring a bell? We all just KNEW the end was upon us then... heck I know some folks who thought they needed to stockpile canned food b/c their refrigerator was going to go kaput. Guess what? At the stroke of midnight nothing happened and the world continued as usual. Finally, we all know that we've got until December 2012. Didn't you pay attention in history class when you studied the Mayans?

But, just in case the end IS upon us  I think I'll go shopping today... plenty of Manolo Blahniks and Christian Louboutins are in my future. Think of how many fabulous shoes I could have if I didn't have a mortgage payment (shh... don't tell the hubs)!