2015 January From My Perspective

Have you ever notice that the older you get, the better you used to be?  When I attended the LCI (G) 450 reunions, the ship my father commanded in WWII at Iwo Jima, the crew members would share the stories of their “adventures” over and over.  Each year they fought that war all over, and each year it got better and better.  What living history treasures they are.  Most of them are gone now, including my Daddy, the captain, but their stories live on in my heart and memory.

Sometimes when the kids and I are watching dance programs and/or acrobatic movements by others, I let them know I used to do all that.  You should see the looks I get.  Sometimes I have to turn my head so they don’t see my eye rolls; I, also, hide my crossed fingers.

“Being deeply loved gives you strength; loving deeply gives you courage.” Lao Tzu

I knew they would eventually release the ingredients in Viagra!  • Vitamin E 3% • Aspirin  2% • Ibuprofen  2%
• Vitamin C 1% • Spray Starch 5% • Fix-A-Flat 87%

Don’t you just hate it when you get home and find out the organic veggies you bought are actually cream-filled donuts?  How could I have been so misinformed?  Kroger is going to get a letter from me!

There is no disguise that can for long conceal love where it exists or simulate it where it does not. -Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, aphorist (1613-1680)

I sent that ancestry website some information on my husband’s family.  They sent me a statement of, “Here are some seeds.  We suggest he start over.  It seems his ancestry tree goes straight up.”  I couldn’t have agreed more.  I was married to the man of my dreams, but his mother was a nightmare.

One time a person asked me if I worked outside the home.  I told him I did not; I was a stay-at-home mom.  He said, “Oh, then you don’t have a 9-5 job?”  I rolled my eyes and told him, “I have a when-I-open-my-eyes-to-when-I-close-my-eyes job which is 365 days a year and most of the time 24 hours long.  I have no holidays off and the financial part of my job is just about non-existent.  But my life-time salary is all the hugs, kisses, ‘I Love You, Mom’s just about every day and all the memories no one can ever take away.  There is no greater job than being a good mom.”

My Beloved has been in Heaven for a bit over 3 years.  I was talking to someone who knew him before I ever did.  I was mentioning the dreams which he said had come true that he shared with me.  The person had a strange look on their face and said, “Are you sure all those things happened as he said they had?”  I thought for a moment and replied, “Does it really matter at this time whether they all did or not?  I do know for a fact some of the dreams he had DID come true:  He had a college education; a 36 year career he chose and liked very much; he acquired a large, lovely home he shared with people he truly loved and they loved him beyond all his hopes and dreams, and they still do.  But, the one dream he had come true after 47 years of being alone---he married me who adored him. We had a wonderful life together for 24 years, 5 months, and 2 days.  Can you even phantasize what truly mattered in his life?  I can.”

Have you ever been listening to songs and memories come flooding-in?  I have.  I can visualize where I was and with whom; however, there are some songs which bring back a memory, but I can’t identify where or when.  I sometimes replay them hoping to have it jog my memory.  After a few tries I stop knowing, as Tricia Yearwood’s song says, “The Song Remembers When”.

Brenduhh stopped by for tea.  I knew she could keep a secret, so I told her I was having an affair.  She looked at me and said, “Are you having it catered or are you making all the food yourself?  Please do NOT put your beautiful flowered china on a plaid table cloth.  That will look horrid.”  I poured her more tea and took a few swigs myself.

It’s a new year for new thoughts and plans.  I saw this sign the other day.  It makes a lot of good sense.

Never regret anything that has happened in your life.  It can not be changed, undone, or forgotten.  So, take it as a lesson learned and move on.  Of course, I hope you know that lessons learned are called “experience” and experience moves into wisdom.

DID YOU KNOW?  A sign language tongue-twister is called a finger-fumbler. The cowardly lion costume from the Wizard of Oz was made out of real lions. Margherita pizza was named after a Queen of Italy, and is meant to represent the Italian flag - red (tomato), white (mozzarella) and green (basil).  The night before JFK introduced the USA’s trade embargo on Cuba, he ordered 1200 Cuban cigars. It’s good to be President! When surveyed, 1 in 4 Americans said they wanted their state to become independent from the rest of the USA.

An excuse is the skin of a lie wrapped with a reason.

Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)                                                                                     

THE GROCERY STORE:  Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.  The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."  The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today.  Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."   The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain:  Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled them, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.  Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable---besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do have "green thing" back then.   We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.  But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.  Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.  But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.    Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.  But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.  We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.  But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.  Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing". We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.  But, isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?  We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to honk us off - especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced, smarty pants, who can't make change without the cash register telling him/her how much.  I remember a lot of all these “recycled” items/usages.  I still like to drain fried foods on brown paper bags, but I have very few since plastic ones are predominant, now.  My 18 year old daughter has a cell phone with texting, voice mail, and all sorts of “APS”. I tried to use it one day.  I got lost on the second button!!!  My cell phone is old and not complicated.  The Verizon Company wants me to change to a newer model.  I tell them, “This does all I want it to do:  rings, I answer by flipping it open, end the call by closing it, and that’s all I want.”  “Don’t you want to text or have voice-mail?” he inquired.  “NOPE.  I can have that with this one, but I don’t want it.  If you need to send me a voice mail, call my house and talk to the answering machine.  Sometimes, I just don’t want to be bothered by all this electronic communication.  Would you write me a letter, please?” I asked him.  He went to the computer and started.  I said, “No, use a pen, paper, stamp, and envelope.”  You should have seen the quizzical look on his face.

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."  Thomas A. Edison - Inventor (1847 - 1931)

When I was a kid my parents taught me so much.  Here are some examples:  My mother taught me RELIGION.  "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."  My father taught me about TIME TRAVEL.  "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!" They both taught me LOGIC.  "Because I said so, that's why."   My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS .  "Shut your mouth and eat your supper." My mother taught me about WEATHER.  "This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it." My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.  "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."  My father taught me VISUAL HUMOR.  "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me." My mother taught me WISDOM. "When you get to be my age, you'll understand.” My father taught me about JUSTICE .  "One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you !" I heard them all.  The one which drove me wild was, “Because I said so, that’s why?”  I vowed NEVER to say that to my children.  Why is it my children believe it is their profound and explicit duty/job to make me eat my “NEVER”????

Have you ever thought about where that $1 or $5 bill has been?  Perhaps it’s been in a place underwear or toilet paper has been. This is why one should NEVER put money in their mouth, even if the saying says, "Put your money where your mouth is." 

Be glad about your struggles, because without them you’d never have known your strength?  You’re welcome.

 As always, Trudy J

2015 FEBRUARY From My Perspective

This is how I felt after Christmas and all the reminders of how much I spent.  I’m sure some of you can identify.

 

I was asked to join a group of ladies where one could reveal their soul.  Here is what was presented and my reply to it:  "Everything that is shared in our group STAYS within our group."  This may be true; HOWEVER, there are personal images one/some want to keep and the revealing of what may be contrary to that image can be tarnished.  Everyone judges another, from my experiences.  Some get judged more or more
readily/severely than others because of the standards some communities have and expect.  To truthfully answer questions in a group of peers creates doubt in the minds of those peers about that person.  I am who I am....rags, tags, tatters and wears.  God knows me, who I am, what I am, where I've been, and where I'm going.  These statements I've made should/could be considered before asking and answering the questions in a group.

I just discovered the 9 Circles of Hell from Dante’s INFERNO.  It is thought-provoking reading, y’all.  Here is where you can find what I read, if you’re interested:

http://historylists.org/art/9-circles-of-hell-dantes-inferno.html

I’ve discovered stress balls really work.  I threw them at the stressor and felt so much better.  Too bad they weren’t coconuts.

Brenduhh stopped by for tea.  She seemed a bit befuddled.  “What’s going on with that look you have, Missy?” I inquired.  “Trudy, everyone’s talking about a family tree.  I don’t have many relatives and feel I don’t really have a family tree.  My parents weren’t married when I was born, and I don’t really know my father’s side of the family.  What do you think?”  “Hmmm, I think you just may have a family bush…..small branches with some sprouting here and there,” I sapped.

 I NO LONGER

“I no longer have patience for certain things, not because I’ve become arrogant, but simply because I reached a point in my life where I do not want to waste more time with what displeases me or hurts me, I have no patience for cynicism, excessive criticism and demands of any nature.  I lost the will to please those

who do not like me, to love those who do not love me, and to smile at those who do not want to smile at me.

I no longer spend a single minute on those who like or want to manipulate.  I decided not to coexist anymore with pretense, hypocrisy, dishonesty and cheap praise.  I do not tolerate selective erudition nor academic arrogance.  I do not adjust either to popular gossiping.  I hate conflict and comparisons.  I believe in

a world of opposites and that’s why I avoid people with rigid and inflexible personalities.  In friendship I dislike the lack of loyalty and betrayal.  I do not get along with those who do not know how to give a compliment or a word of encouragement.  Exaggerations bore me and I have difficulty accepting those who do not like animals.  And on top of everything, I have no patience for anyone who does not deserve

my patience.”  Meryl Streep

I don’t know if she said all this, but I DO know I’m just about there with her.  Move over, Sweetie.

Those who talk about you BEHIND your back do not have the courage to talk about you IN FRONT of your face.

It only takes a few seconds to hurt someone, and sometimes it takes years to repair the damage.  Cherish the hearts that love you.  The tongue is the strongest muscles in the human body----it can build and it can tear down in a single word.

In a courtroom a judge said, “You and you alone are responsible for the consequences of your actions.”  I’ll add to that…you are responsible for your actions AND the consequences of them, whether you like it or not.  An excuse is a veiled lie in a pretty cloak.

“It doesn’t take a lot of strength to hang on, it takes a lot of strength to let go.”  J C Watts

To be nobody but myself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting. -E.E. Cummings, poet (1894-1962)

Biographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads: ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant generals, the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents. The men who radically altered history, the great creative scientists and mathematicians, are seldom mentioned if at all. -Martin Gardner, mathematician and writer (1914-2010) This is for sure.  When I was teaching, I was atypical of the usual teaching of history.  I enjoy trivia, so I shared it with my students about history, leaders of various countries/nations, political leaders and the such.  I kept the kids’ attention and, boy, were they surprised to find questions on tests and quizzes about all I’d shared. 

If ever anyone starts telling you you’re putting too much peanut butter on your toast/bread, stop talking to them.  You do NOT need that kind of negativity in your life!

 

Eagles mate while flying---‘gives a whole new meaning to THE MILE HIGH CLUB.  If you start walking east, you will continue to walk east, but if you start walking north you will eventually be walking south.  Giraffes can go longer without water than camels can.  (The high water content in the leaves they eat makes it so they don’t need to drink water as much.) Horses can not breathe through their mouths.  (The thin layer of skin that keeps them from inhaling food also prevents them from taking in air through it.)   

I don’t ask for much anymore only: grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked, the good fortune to remember the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.   Now that I'm older here's what I've discovered:  1. I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it.   2. My wild oats are mostly enjoyed with prunes and all-bran.  3. I finally got my head together, and now my body is falling apart.  4. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded.  5. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded.  6. If all is not lost, then where the heck is it?  7. It was a whole lot easier to get older, than to get wiser.  8. Some days, you're the top dog; some days you're the lamp post.  9. I wish the buck really did stop here; I sure could use a few of them.  10. Kids in the back seat cause accidents.
11. Accidents in the back seat cause kids.  12. It's hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere.
13. The world only beats a path to your door when you're in the bathroom.  14. If God wanted me to touch my toes, he'd have put them on my knees.   15. When I'm finally holding all the right cards, everyone wants to play chess.   16. Its not hard to meet expenses . . . they're everywhere.  17. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.  18. These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about the hereafter . . .I go somewhere to get something, and then wonder what I'm "here after".   19. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded.  20. HAVE I POSTED THIS MESSAGE BEFORE???

If a giraffe drank a cup of coffee, it would be cold by the time it reached its stomach.  Did you ever think about that?  NO!  You were thinking about yourself, weren’t you?  Poor giraffe.

When I taught 3^rd. grade, I had a student who talked incessantly.  I tried everything before moving their seat to another location in the room.  The kid came up to my desk and said, “I don’t know why you moved my seat to over there.  I talk to everyone, and I can talk loud, too.”  I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh.

Have you ever noticed that if you get a new puppy or kitten, first they steal your heart; then, they steal your couch!!??

Have you ever stopped to think of all the things money can NOT buy?  Here are 11.  1.  Manners 2. Morals 3. Respect 4. Character 5. Common sense 6. Trust 7. Patience 8. Class 9. Integrity 10. Love 11. Good health.

When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold.  They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history, it becomes more beautiful.  I’m almost a full nugget.

Brenduhh came over for tea, again.  She was telling me about circle of friends….there weren’t many.  As she babbled on, all I could think was, “Your circle of friends is so small, you talk to yourself.”

I enjoy watching people, so I go to the mall and sit in an inconspicuous place.  Some are rather puzzling.  I’ve often wondered how they ever found their way out of the birth canal.  Some make me wonder, “Who ties your shoes?” and some just make me want to go up to them and say, “You need to be on a leash.”

If you ever get cold, just go stand in a corner of a room.  They’re usually 90 degrees.

“When your actions contradict your words, your words don’t mean anything.”  Quentin McCall  Does this go along with, “Do as I say not as I do.”?

I was listening to a person I know well who thinks they’re popular because so many seem to listen to the gossip and lies she tells about others.  I kept thinking of what Daddy told me, “The more lies you tell about another person, the more lies you hide of yourself.”

My 8 year old granddaughter sold me some delicious dark chocolate candy for her Girl Scout project.  As I unwrapped the box, I saw the “Use by” date printed.  “Use by Sept. 23, 2015”, it said.  I thought, “Hmmm, I’d better get started before they expire.”--- it was Nov. 30, 2014.  “Waste not, want not”, Mother always said.    

  

           LESSON OF TIME---KARMA

When a bird is alive…it eats ants.  When the bird is dead….ants eat the bird.  Time and circumstances can change at any time.  Don’t devalue or hurt anyone in life.  You may be powerful today, but remember, time is more powerful than you!  One tree makes a million match sticks.  Only one match stick needed to burn a million trees.  SO, be good and do good.

I have a friend who wanted a bidet installed in the master bathroom.  Her husband, being a practical fellow told her, “How about I run a garden hose through the window?”

            Blessings and smiles…..Trudy J

2015 July "FROM MY PERSPECTIVE"

                   2015 July “From My Perspective”

The man behind the counter looked at the book I’d chosen to buy.  “I see you’ve selected this one to take home,” he said with a smile.  “Yes I have.  Is there something I should know about it?”  I asked hesitantly.  He looked at me, looked at the book, opened it thumbing through the pages.  “You need to know what you’re getting yourself into,” he said with caution in his tone.  He saw my quizzical look and continued, “You haven’t bought a book, you have bought a compilation of history, secrets, personalities not seen by many outside that house, laughter, tears, private thoughts, fears revealed, discord, disenchantment, a clothing catalog, food diaries, architecture design, and  interior decorating.  You have bought a journey to a place you may never see, but will share with millions.  ‘A place you will probably never live, but it is your house.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did,”  “Thank you, I had no idea there’d be all that in just a book,” I said.  Kate Anderson Brower’s THE RESIDENCE is a very good account of what it’s like to work and live in the White House.  Ron Kessler is another author whose writings I enjoy.  He is a former investigative reporter who has written FIRST FAMILY DETAIL, which I’ve read and enjoyed.  My first introduction to what it’s like to work at the White House came when I was a teen in the 60s.  I came across the book MY 30 YEARS BACKSTAIRS AT THE WHITE HOUSE by Lillian Rogers Parks.  She was the daughter of a worker there.  Her accounts stop at the beginning of the Kennedy administration.  My next reading will be UPSTAIRS AT THE WHITE HOUSE by J. B. West who spent 28 years at the White House starting March 1, 1941 as an assistant to the Chief Usher and becoming the Chief Usher in 1957.  He retired March 1, 1969.  

Remember the foods you ate when you were a kid?  Oh gosh, I surely do.  I was raised in the South where grits, greens, and potatoes are the royalty of the kitchen.  I’d like to take you down my memory lane of foods.  Mother made grits in the mornings.  They were slathered in real butter which was a golden pool in the middle of the mountain of “Georgia ice cream”.  The bacon was crispy and the toast was buttered with cinnamon sugar on one side, stuck under the broiler and cooked until the sugar melted.  You eat it as a square to get the soft underside and crispy top side evenly placed in your mouth.  If you flip it over, the soft sticks to the roof of your mouth and hangs on for dear life.  This is a segue to the anti-stick peanut butter sandwiches she’d make me.  On soft white bread she’d put some Peter Pan peanut butter, smear some marshmallow cream on that and mess it around to blend it.  On the other piece of bread she’d lightly butter it and then smash them together.  Sometimes she slice a banana and put the piece on the peanut butter side.  I’d have my choice of cold milk or sweet tea.  There is only one kind of tea served with a smile in the South; that’s sweet tea, where it was brewed and sugar was added to it, stirred until it dissolved, cooled, and poured over lots of ice.  Mother would usually put a piece of peppermint in the middle of it.  Along come the greens swimming in what is called “pot liquor”.  Mother would use turnip and beet greens, strip the rib off the back and cut them into large pieces.  She’d put them all in a kettle with some water, sugar, salt, and bacon grease.  The lid would go on and the water would gently simmer until there was only about ½ of what was to begin with.  Buttered toast was made and put on the plates to have the greens and pot liquor poured over the top.  Sometimes she’d put onions in the greens as they cooked and some ham, too.  Then there was the grilled cheese sandwich.  No, this is no ordinary grilled cheese.  It is as flat as can be and cooked in a cast iron skillet.  Butter one side of each slice of bread, cut your Velveeta into slices and put on the unbuttered side.  Put this in your hot skillet butter side down and the other piece of bread on top of that.  Wait about 1 minute and then flip it.  WAIT 30 seconds and then press with all your might with a pancake turned to make this baby nice and flat.  Serve with sweet pickles and chips.  Sometimes she’d put some bacon grease in the skillet for extra flavor.  We save bacon grease in the South.  It adds so much flavor and character to green beans, cornbread, pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, and potatoes.  And potatoes….oh my goodness, those were a meal in themselves.  In that big cast iron skillet there’d be a glob of bacon grease.  When it melted, she’d put slices of potatoes in the grease and wait.  She’d flip all this over after about 3 minutes.  She add about ¼ cup of salted hot water and a lot of sliced onions.  Then the lid would get put on and she’d sit down to tell me a story about living on the family farm.  After the water was all cooked out, she put some crumbled bacon on all of it, gives it a stir and serves it.  She’d make sure she’d get the crispy well-cooked potatoes scraped off the bottom and give it to me.   If she didn’t have any bacon, which was mighty rare, she’d have some ham and put that on there instead.  I’ll go on another time because I’m sure you’re either salivating or hungry by now.  “Y’all come back and sit a spell.”

I’d been wrestling with so much drama and stress in my life in April and the first part of May.  As I drove home from some shopping time to escape, I took a different route home.  I passed a church with an outdoor sign.  Here is what was posted, “WHAT YOU ALLOW WILL CONTINUE”.  It spoke directly to me.  I’ve made some changes in my approach to the issues.  Slowly, peace is coming back.

“A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.”  Gloria Steinem   Well, that’s a thought.  

Here’s an interesting word my dear friend Melodie sent me.

OSTROBOGULOUS:  slightly risqué or indecent; bizarre, interesting or unusual.  She asked me if I’d ever behaved “ostrobogulously”.  I told her, “Yes, every chance I got I’d flash my beloved.  He’d laugh and say, ‘Oh Trute, you make me blush.’”  It was interesting in that I never saw his face red.

“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions and not upon our circumstances.”  Martha Washington, First Lady

Knowing you don’t know it all is confidence which embodies humility; thinking you know it all is arrogance which can embody rejection.  This goes along with Bertrand Russell’s statement and observation of, “Fools and fanatics are always so sure of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.”

If you were ever a fan of THE GRAND OLD OPRY out of Nashville, TN, you may remember a person whose stage name was Minnie Pearl.  She told the funniest, clean jokes and sometimes brought in a family character, who was a n’er do well, by the name of Uncle Nabob.  I was thumbing through my dictionary the other day and came upon that word----nabob.  It means:  a person of conspicuous wealth or high status. He, Uncle Nabob, was far from being a person of conspicuous wealth.

 

I have had many students in my career of teaching.  Some I’ve forgotten and some have been memorable in one way or another.  This one particular student, a boy, recently connected with me.  He is a fine young man, now with a family and is an ordained minister to the down trodden.  When he was my student, he was a hoodlum and very angry.  I accepted where he was, but not his anger.  I told him, after he’d brought his negative attitude and self into the classroom once too often, “Whatever you’re angry about you may talk to me after school or on my prep.  BUT, you will not bring that anger into my class.  For 45 minutes you will be free of it and enjoy what I have to offer.”  From then on, he usually arrived in class without the hint of anger, but when I saw it, I’d quietly tell him to go out to the hall, put it there, and return.  He is one of my treasures.  He tells me I’m like a second mother to him.  Wow!!

Have you ever been in a dead silent room with others when your stomach decides to make the call of a mating whale?  Church and a French final exam come to mind for me. 

Viagra….a hard subject to bring up in mixed company.

I was reading that the ability to speak foreign languages is valuable, but the ability to keep your mouth shut in any language is priceless.  I can do that, but it's the hand gestures which can get me in trouble. Some of them are universally understood.

English is weird; however, it can be understood through tough, thorough thought, though.

Have you ever noticed that some women’s “I’ll be ready in 5 minutes” and some men’s “I’ll be home in 5 minutes” are exactly the same?  ‘Just an observation.

In Sunday school, our minister asked the class, “What have you found to be your best answer and most fear-inducing answer.”  I said, “I have found that silence can be the best answer and the most formidable answer at times.”  I heard a lot of thinking going on.

DON’T LET SOMEONE GET COMFORTABLE WITH DISRESPECTING YOU.  I saw this sign and put it on my page of Facebook.  I said, “To those who have talked with me about how their children are showing disrespect to them…take away everything they want and all the privileges. Don't take away their life; let them live so they can experience the discomfort your actions will produce. You, also, enjoy your freedom too much. Remind them frequently that your attitude is a result of their actions. If they don't like your attitude, they can just blame themselves. You're the boss, applesauce. Remind them of that, too, and do it frequently."

I recently saw this on a t-shirt:  “I am a teacher.  I try to mold minds.”  I think I might make a t-shirt with this on it:  “I am a retired teacher.  I tried to mold minds; some minds were moldy, though.”

If you are concerned about what and how people think about you, pay them no mind.  I used to fret about other people’s opinion about me until one day I tried to pay my bills with their opinions.

‘Some people’s name which makes you wonder what the parent(s) were thinking.  Fonda Yeww; Rusty Steehl; Warren Peacemake; Oh Noh; Silence Bellers; Hugh Pugh; Lettie Attom; Adam Boom; Mac R. Onni; Juan To; Stew Vacca; Major Gods Blessing; Hammond Eghs.

I came across this word and found it interesting.  Cryptozoology is the study of unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose existence or survival to the present day is disputed or unsubstantiated.  Here are some examples of cryptozoology:  Abominable Snowman, Big Foot, chupacabra, Fouke Monster, Kelpie Water horse, Loch Ness monster, Mermaids, Sea serpents, Sewer alligators.  Crypt is derived from Greek kryptos meaning “hidden”.

“Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.”  Plato

Have you ever seen something for $10 which you were sure you could make for less?  So, you buy the supplies for $35, make it and it looks awful; then you go back and buy the original.  Raise your hand as I am doing.

Peace and smiles to you…………Trudy