STOP Canada's Massive Seal Hunt

The largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals on the planet will begin in late March. By the end of this year's hunt, more than 300,000 seals will have been brutally killed--many of them babies as young as 12 days old. Some of them will have been skinned while still conscious and able to feel pain. Stand with me today and stop the seal hunt forever by joining the Canadianseafood boycott. To learn more about the hunt and sign the pledge click here: http://www.ProtectSeals.org . Once you've signed the pledge, you'll be able to spot Canadian seafood by using HSUS's downloadable pocket guide to spotting seafood.

Thanks for joining me in ending this awful hunt.

Ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
* Never buy a car you can't push.
* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.
* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
* The second mouse gets the cheese.
* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
* We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
* A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today..........me!

For Good Friday
Christina Rossetti

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy Blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon-
I, only I.

Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

Obscene Phone Caller

"Hello darling," breathed the obscene phone caller. "If you can guess what's in my hand, I'll give you a piece of the action."

"Listen Dude," drawled the lil' Texas lady, "If y'all can hold it in one hand, I ain't interested."

Love is messy

"What percentage of your loving relationships are run by fear? When you are willing to see how fear has been running your love life, being and staying in love becomes a whole lot easier. Love is messy. Embrace it. Face it. And love will reveal itself in ways you could never imagine. Because ultimately, love will save you from your fears and show you the way home." ~ Rhonda Britten

You know that you drink too much coffee when...

Last week I stopped at Starbucks on my way to work for my usual non-fat vanilla latte. After placing my order at the drive thru I pulled forward and waited in line behind several other cars. As I reached for my purse I discovered that I had forgotten it at home. As I pulled up to the window I explained to the young woman that I had forgotten my purse. She simply smiled and said, just pay us tomorrow morning when you come through. Wow, maybe I do drink too much coffee.

You Know You're Drinking Too Much Coffee When ...

* You answer the door before people knock.
* You ski uphill.
* You get a speeding ticket even when you're parked.
* You speed walk in your sleep.
* You haven't blinked since the last lunar eclipse.
* You just completed another sweater and you don't know how to knit.
* You grind your coffee beans in your mouth.
* You sleep with your eyes open.
* You have to watch videos in fast forward.
* You can take a picture of yourself from ten feet away without using the timer.
* You lick your coffeepot clean.
* Your eyes stay open when you sneeze.
* You don't sweat, you percolate.
* You walk twenty miles on your treadmill before you realize it's not plugged in.
* Charles Manson thinks you need to calm down.
* People get dizzy just watching you.
* The Taster's Choice couple wants to adopt you.
* You're so wired, you pick up AM radio.
* People can test their batteries in your ears.
* Instant coffee takes too long.
* When someone says. "How are you?", you say, "Good to the last drop."
* You want to be cremated just so you can spend the rest of eternity in a coffee can.
* Your birthday is a national holiday in Brazil.
* You go to sleep just so you can wake up and smell the coffee.
* You name your cats "Cream" and "Sugar."
* You can outlast the Energizer bunny.
* You short out motion detectors.
* Your nervous twitch registers on the Richter scale.
* You don't tan, you roast.
* You don't get mad, you get steamed.
* You help your dog chase its tail.
* You introduce your spouse as your coffee mate.
* Your first aid kit contains two pints of coffee with an I.V. hookup.

And my favorite...
* You're the employee of the month at the local coffeehouse and you don't even work there.

It's FRIDAY!

My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just to enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate. ~ Thornton Wilder

Have a great weekend!

"Slainté," (the Irish word, pronounced SLAN-cha, for "health."

In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day here are some facts, without the blarney.

St. Patrick's Day marks the Roman Catholic feast day for Ireland's patron saint, who died in the 5th century. St. Patrick (Patricius in Latin) was not born in Ireland, but in Britain.

Irish brigands kidnapped St. Patrick at 16 and brought him to Ireland. He was sold as a slave in the county of Antrim and served in bondage for six years until he escaped to Gaul, in present-day France. He later returned to his parents home in Britain, where he had a vision that he would preach to the Irish. After 14 years of study, Patrick returned to Ireland, where he built churches and spread the Christian faith for some 30 years.

Many myths surround St. Patrick. One of the best known -- and most inaccurate -- is that Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland into the Irish Sea, where the serpents drowned. (Some still say that is why the sea is so rough.) But snakes have never been native to the Emerald Isle. The serpents were likely a metaphor for druidic religions, which steadily disappeared from Ireland in the centuries after St. Patrick planted the seeds of Christianity on the island.

In the United States, it's customary to wear green on St. Patrick's Day. But in Ireland the color was long considered to be unlucky, says Bridget Haggerty, author of 'The Traditional Irish Wedding' and the Irish Culture and Customs Web site. As Haggerty explains, Irish folklore holds that green is the favorite color of the Good People (the proper name for faeries). They are likely to steal people, especially children, who wear the shade too much.

Colonial New York City hosted the first official St. Patrick's Day parade in 1762, when Irish immigrants in the British colonial army marched down city streets. In subsequent years Irish fraternal organizations also held processions to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The various groups merged sometime around 1850 to form a single, grand parade. Today New York's St. Patrick's Day parade is the longest running civilian parade in the world. This year nearly three million spectators are expected to watch the spectacle and some 150,000 participants plan to march.

Dublin's St. Patrick's Day parade is little more than 75 years old. This year festival organizers will launch 15,000 pounds (7 metric tons) of fireworks to cap their celebration, which is expected to draw 400,000 spectators.
By law, pubs in Ireland were closed on St. Patrick's Day, a national religious holiday, as recently as the 1970s.

Chicago is famous for dyeing the Chicago River green on St. Patrick's Day. The tradition began in 1962, when a pipe fitters union -- with the permission of the mayor -- poured a hundred pounds (45 kilograms) of green vegetable dye into the river. (On the job, the workers often use colored dyes to track illegal sewage dumping.) Today only 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of dye are used, enough to turn the river green for several hours. According to the Friends of the Chicago River, a local environmental group, more people are likely to view the Chicago River on St. Patrick's Day than on any other day.

Guinness stout, first brewed by Arthur Guinness in Dublin, Ireland, in 1759, has become synonymous with Ireland and Irish bars. According to the company's Web site, 1,883,200,000 (that's almost 1.9 billion) pints of Guinness are consumed around the world every year.

Robert Louis Stevenson, the 19th-century Scottish author of 'Kidnapped,' 'Treasure Island,' and other novels, brought a store of Guinness with him during a trip to Samoa in the South Pacific, according to the Guinness Web site.

Irish Proverb

"You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was."

An Irish Blessing

These things, I warmly wish for you-Someone to love, some work to do, a bit of sun, a bit of cheer, and a guardian angel always near.

A Typical Monday Morning Commute

Tailgating, pulling out in front of your vehicles, cutting you off, driving too fast, ranting and raving behind the wheel, flipping you off...

...and that was just in the parking lot of my daughters school.

How was your Monday morning commute?

Irish quote fo the day: May you have: A world of wishes at your command. God and His angels close to hand. Friends and family their love impart, and Irish blessings in your heart!

Why God made Moms

Answers are given by ELEMENTARY SCHOOL age children, to the following questions......

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your Mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work & work at ho! me, & dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet(dye it), maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Fur is Going to Fly

The fur is going to fly when cat lovers hear about Mark Smith's idea. The Wisconsin hunter and firefighter wants stray cats classified as an “unprotected species” that could be shot by anyone with a small-game license. His proposal will be placed before hunters at the Wisconsin Conservation Congress next month. The congress advises state officials on natural resource issues. Smith says free-roaming cats are an invasive species that attack wild birds. But cat lover Ted O'Donnell is horrified. He's the owner of a pet supply store and has set up a Web site to fight the idea -- dontshootthecat.com.

It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them. ~ Agatha Christie

If a dog will not come to you after he has looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience. ~ Woodrow Wilson

Taking Time for You

Each woman needs a regime for recharging and relaxing. Ask yourself, "What makes me most comfortable?", "What soothes me?", What recharges me?"

It can be a simple as a bubble bath or lighting candles. How about a long walk or a phone call to a good friend? Perhaps a nap, a massage or a shopping spree?

Make a list of your recharges, relaxers and soothers. Include in your list ones that you can do on a short notice like sitting down with a cup of your favorite tea or watching a favorite movie classic. Put your list somewhere where you will see it and be reminded by it.

Next, do something on your list at least once a week. It will clear your mind, put things in perspective and ultimately put you in charge of your. And, one last thing, don’t feel guilty for taking time for you.

From Meditations for Women