Blargh

I feel angsty and icky today for no good reason, so I'm not going to post much today. If you're interested and you have regular contact with me, we can talk about it. Otherwise, deal, you readers.

Nothing to see here, move along.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just enough time this morning for me to put up a small post here wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you all have all the love you need and want in your life.

Also, to a few of you out there, it's your birthday, too, so Happy Birthday, you cupids! May you have an fantastic year to come!

Decorating the Walls

As you know from reading...well...anything on this blog, I'm a mommy. What you might not know is that I'm a tattooed mommy.

I have an aunt who has not always been kind to me. When I got my first tattoo, this aunt said to me, "Well, honey, I don't see any problem with it. I mean, when you look like you do, might as well decorate the walls, if you've got to live in a house like that!" I have since gotten five more tattoos. I worried about the religious significance of them and spoke to a man I consider one of my ministers. He told me that as long as I put no more emphasis on them than decoration, I'm fine - I don't treat them as objects of worship or anything like that; they're there as tokens of my past, a way to sort of wear my heart on my sleeve, literally. That's all, nothing more. Spiritually, I'm just fine with my tattoos. People wonder why I would "do something like that" to myself, and here's why. To me, tattoos are art. Art you can wear and carry with you. Art that someone took time to create and make permanent on your body. That is why I like tattoos - they're a unique expression of my personality and an expression of an artist's talent.

Now, I've got (technically) six tattoos. I have an infinity symbol on my stomach, a communicator from Star Trek: The Next Generation on the other side of my stomach (which was originally a Superman shield, done badly, with the colors reversed), a "tramp stamp" that is a tribal design that looks like a heart in the center, at the top of my back below my collar I have "The pen is mightier than the sword" in one of Tolkien's Elven languages, and I have a female angel on my right outer thigh that's about 4" wide by about 6" tall. I'd love to have another couple - I'd like to have one on my left outer thigh that commemorates the birth of my son, and I'd like to have a full-back piece one of these days, then I think I'm done...maybe.

People do look at me strange. People wonder if I'm some sort of freak or drug user or something like that. I discount people like this off-hand. They don't take the time or care to ask me about my life or about my tattoos. Then there are the people who think I'm "evil" because I wear them. I discount these people, too. They've made the same shallow, snap judgment about me that the first group made. They either aren't interested enough or don't care to find out the real story. The next group of the people are the ones that are genuinely interested in what my tattoos are, and ask questions. These people I like, because anyone who knows me knows that I love talking ink. I'll tell you where the best place to get tattoos are, I'll tell you what to look for in a shop, I'll tell you about placement and choosing a design that you'll be happy with - I've done a lot of research into the subject over the years, and I'm always ready to share my knowledge with anyone.

But anyway...don't assume that stuff about people who wear tattoos. Don't assume they were following some flippant, fleeting trend and "made a mistake" and got a tattoo. Don't think the worst about someone because they wear ink proudly. If you're curious, ask. Chances are, they're like me, eager to talk about them and tell you their story.

Nectar of the Gods

I'm gonna talk about a subject close to my heart this morning. First is the fluid of the gods, the nectar of consciousness, ahhh....coffee. I have to admit, I'm a coffee snob. I know you read below where I mentioned I was saving you from having to listen to me rant and rave because I was out of coffee. I'm pleased to announce that the coffee stores have been replenished, and I am appropriately fueled this morning. Let me explain something to you, however. Not all coffee is created equally. Ooooooh no. Sure, you can go out to the supermarket and buy just any old bag o' joe and get the job done, but to really enjoy your brew, to really appreciate the perfection that is a great cup of coffee, you have to be particular about what you buy.

Before we even start talking about types of coffee, though, let's talk about ground vs. whole bean. Now, for the quick cup in the morning, there's nothing wrong with pre-ground coffee. But, if you have the time and can grind your coffee without waking up the entire household, please, for the love of pete, go with whole bean. You'll be amazed at the difference in depth of flavor, and the different "essences" you'll get in your coffee. Just try it once - you'll see what I mean.

Now, you can get surprisingly good coffee in the discount or store brands. It's not my favorite, but it'll do in a pinch (or if I'm especially poor at the moment). If you've got the cash, though, and the inclination, there are a few brands and varieties of coffee that I highly recommend. The first is the medium-roast Dunkin' Donuts whole-bean coffee. It's really, really good. The next is a Starbuck's Sumatran blend, again, whole-bean. The last is any brand of Kona (a Hawaiian variety). Preferably, you'll want to buy a "pure Kona" - not a blend - but, more often than not you'll find Kona in a blend. That's okay, as long as it's Arabica it's blended with, but if you can find the pure stuff, well, you're golden.

And thus ends today's instruction in coffee selection.

A Change of Heart

I was all ready to type up another ranting post about something that has had me really bothered for quite a while - something to do with government and "luxury taxes" and, well, just generally complaining. It's funny the way God works, though. You never know when He's going to throw us a curve ball; thank goodness I was vigilant enough to catch it this time.

I watch Live! With Regis and Kelly just about every day. I didn't have any idea that today was their 20th annual wedding special. I like watching the weddings that Regis and Kelly put on. This year it's different, though. Not only am I enjoying it, but the couple this year has truly touched my heart.

Kacy Hardenbrook and Jordan Edsall from Garrett, Indiana is the couple being wed this year. Their story is different from any I have seen on Regis and Kelly in the past. See, not long ago, Kacy and the couple's two daughters were burned in a house explosion. Because of that, they were unable to have the wedding they had been saving for; that didn't stop them, though. They continued to face the challenges ahead of them with joyous hearts and hope for the future.

Not too long ago, I decided to make a change in my own thinking. I have to admit, I haven't been doing very good with it. I decided that I would stop focusing on the negative thoughts and negative things, and begin to be truly thankful for what I have, focus on the positive thoughts and positive things, and give earnest and heartfelt thanks to God for what I have. My last post is evidence that this hasn't quite sunk in yet, as it's basically one big complaint. Up until just a little while ago, it still hadn't sunk in, because I had planned to post yet another extended complaint.

After watching Kacy and Jordan get married though, and seeing all their hope, all their joy and all their happiness in the face of such great adversity, I can't, in good conscious, dwell on these things. I think I'll borrow a little bit of that broadcasted strength and put those complaints out of my mind. They have no place there, no home, and when I finally evict them for good, I'll be a better person for it. With God's help, the positive will take over and between my work and His blessing, anything is possible. Just look at Kacy and Jordan and their beautiful little girls.

Life Lessons

Okay, this post is not at all funny. In fact, it's me venting about something I'm quite close to, and a few lessons I've learned. The next post I make will most likely be in this same vein, but on a different subject, so just bear with me for a little bit. Hopefully, the humor will return in short order.

Anyway...there are a few things in this life that I just can't abide. I've had a relatively full life, and I've learned a lot of lessons, and it irks me beyond belief when others have had it either harder or easier than me, and haven't managed to learn those lessons, too. Or, they learn the lessons life tries to teach them, but they refuse to apply them significantly, instead relying on "book learnin'" to make their decisions and make up their minds for them. You were given lessons by "life" (or God, or Buddah, or whomever it is you believe in) for a reason; it was in hopes that you would apply those lessons liberally to every day life. When you fail to do that, I think that "life" doesn't like it very much, and it may very well come around to bite you in the ass. It might not happen today, or tomorrow, but it will eventually happen.

One of those lessons that I think a lot of people miss is the lesson that yes, as a human being, things will sometimes be your fault. Regardless of what your school teachers or your parents have told you, you are not perfect. Regardless of what you've read in scholarly tomes about the way business and life is supposed to run, there are going to be mistakes no matter how closely you follow the instructions. When those mistakes happen, step back and evaluate the situation. If you had a hand in the mistake, freakin' admit it. Don't blame everyone else around you. It's not always everyone else's fault.

The next lesson that I've learned and I think some of the world has missed is that there are not conspiracies around every corner. In any group of people, opinions will occasionally align. It's most often for different reasons, but just because they align doesn't mean that a conspiracy has formed. I came to my opinion on my own, and I did that through my own internal review of the facts that were presented to me, and through no one's influence upon me. Just because my opinion happens to be the same as two, four, eight - hell, a hundred people - doesn't mean that we all got together and said, "yes, this will bother the one who hasn't learned that particular lesson. Let's make this decision." We arrived by our opinions independently and for our own reasons - I can't state that enough - and they are our own possessions. I'm sorry if you don't like them, but the fault, in this case, is in you.

The last lesson is one of tolerance. In the wide picture, people think that this is reserved for things like race and religion and sexual preference, but that's not all that tolerance can be applied to. In organizations that I belong to, decisions get made, and I don't always 100% agree with them. Things don't go my way all the time, and because I have learned the lesson of tolerance, I'm okay with that. My presence in the organization is more important to me than being right. I can tolerate and even get behind what I might think of as a "bad decision" for the good of the organization. I'm able to put aside my ego like that because the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (or the one). If the lessons of tolerance had been learned (or applied), perhaps people wouldn't be as quick to take their ball and go home rather than play the game to their best ability even with a change in the rules.

I can't say that I learned these rules quick, or that the learning process was easy; it wasn't. I'm still young (thank goodness) and I have ample opportunity in front of me to continue to put these lessons into practice. I just hope that others can find happiness in ignorance, in fleeing, and in paranoia. I couldn't, before I learned those lessons. That's why I chose to learn.

Decision-Making Process

Okay, I'm torn between two different subjects to write about here, and I'm going to take another night to sleep on it before I post another entry.

Just thought I'd let you know!