Tuesdays Thought...

When you can think of yesterday without regret and tomorrow without fear, you are near contentment. ~ Anonymous

Monday Musings

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Philo

Busy Week

When you dig another out of their troubles, you find a place to bury your own. - Anonymous

Sorry I haven't posted anything for almost a week. This has been a very busy week for me with mass mailings and getting the annual report ready at work. This weekend Amanda is having a few girls over for a slumber party. It's a belated birthday party since we had my niece's First Communion last weekend. Friday evening Amanda and I are going to see The Revenge of the Sith. I can't wait! (Did I ever mention that I'm a Star Wars Geek?)

This can make you cry.

http://www.itsmeowornever.org/homeless.html

Happy Birthday Amanda

Today is my daughter's birthday. I can't believe she is 12 years old today! She's growing up too fast!

Happy Birthday
By Turlough O'Carolan

"Happy Birthday" means much more
Than have a happy day.
Within these words lie lots of things I never get to say.
It means I love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to me,
And that I'm proud of you.
But most of all, I guess it means
That I am thinking of Your happiness on this, your day,
With pleasure and with love.

Help Stop Animal Fighting

I thought you might be interested in this HSUS campaign to end the gruesome and cruel practice of animal fighting in the United States. Dogfighting and cockfighting are illegal in most states, but these activities are surprisingly widespread across the country, partly because of weak penalties in the federal law.

Currently, the House of Representatives is considering a federal bill called the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act to increase the penalties for this barbaric practice from a misdemeanor to a felony.

If you go to the URL below you can find out more about this issue and send your own message directly to your representative about the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act (H.R. 817).

Please take action today to help end animal fighting at:

https://community.hsus.org/campaign/endanimalfighting?rk=f71o8Gp1aRwxW

Just for Laughs

Sing out loud in the car even, or especially, if it embarrasses your children.” ! Marilyn Penland

25 ways to drive your teen crazy
by Mary McHugh


1. Say, “You will thank me later for this.”
2. Drop your teenagers off where their friends can see you.
3. Ruffle their hair while you’re waiting to buy tickets in the movie line.
4. Spit on a tissue and rub chocolate off their chins when you’re out together in public.
5. Wear an ankle bracelet.
6. Demonstrate your favorite moves from when you were a high-school cheerleader when they have friends over.
7. Ask them if they need to go to the bathroom before they leave the house.
8. Hint that you and your spouse are still having sex.
9. Dance alone at any function where they can see you.
10. Tell your best friend something they told you in confidence.
11. Say, “But what will the neighbors think?”
12. Say to one of their friends, “My, how you’ve grown!”
13. Ask, “Why does Britney Spears have to dress like that?”
14. Find your old guitar and sing “Kumbaya” and “This Land is Your Land” in front of their friends.
15. Drive under the speed limit.
16. Drive over the speed limit.
17. Drive at the speed limit.
18. Interrupt when they’re talking to correct their grammar.
19. Keep saying “Cool” in an effort to be cool.
20. Have extreme right-wing political views.
21. Have extreme left-wing political views.
22. Have no political views whatsoever.
23. Have any political views at all.
24. Wait up for them
25. Don’t wait up for them.

Mary McHugh is the author of “How to Ruin Your Children’s Lives”

Wondering how to celebrate Mother's Day?

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it. ~ Mark Twain

The other day I asked Amanda where she was taking me for Mother’s Day. She responded with, “What makes you think I’m taking you anywhere.” (Pre-teens, don’t you just love them!) I cleverly responded with, “Since YOUR birthday is four days later I’ll ask the question again.”

If you have a warp sense of humor like my daughter, here are ways to honor your mother...

Help her around the house. What mom wouldn't love an extra hand or two for household chores? Help her with a project she's been putting off, or offer your services as an assistant for the day. She'll be proud of herself for raising such a thoughtful child.

Take her out. Whether you go to the movies, to the theater, or to the spa, there's no better gift than a few hours or a day away from the daily routine of work or home.

Spend the day with her. Regardless of what you choose to do, there's no better present for a mom than a little quality time with her child.

I love you. Throw in the words "I love you," and it's sure to be a day she won't soon forget.

WHY!?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?
Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?
Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?
Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?
If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?
Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?
Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?
Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?
Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end you first try?
How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?
When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, "It's all right?" Well, it isn't all right so why don't we say, "That hurt, you idiot?"
Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?
In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?
How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?
If at first you don't succeed, shouldn't you try doing it like your wife told you to do it?
And obviously if at first you don't succeed, then don't take up sky diving!

And my FAVORITE......
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends, if they're okay, then it's you

Look at the grass, sucked by the seed from dust,
Whose blood is the spring rain, whose food the sun,
Whose life the scythe takes ere the sorrels rust,
Whose stalk is chaff before the winter’s done.
Even the grass its happy moment has
In May, when glistening buttercups make gold;
The exulting millions of the meadow-grass
Give out a green thanksgiving from the mould.
Even the blade that has not even a blossom
Creates a mind, its joy’s persistent soul
Is a warm spirit on the old earth’s bosom
When April’s fire has dwindled to a coal;
The spirit of the grasses’ joy makes fair
The winter fields when even the wind goes bare.
Lines for spring by budding writers.

Source: Sonnet 49, from "Complete Poems of John Masefield"