Getting pumped

I'm really getting pumped about the move back home. I found out there are wonderful bike trails that you can travel along the river and gain access to several small surrounding towns.

I snitched the following pictures from another person's site. Hey I didn't see any copyright information so if the owner comes along and wants me to take them down, drop me a line and I'll oblige.






I'm hoping we go into a period of Indian Summer once I get settled in so I can use the trails a bit before the snow sets in. Actually I don't even mind walking in the snow if I'm dressed properly. Bike trail information.

There are also scads of festivals and other activities that go on throughout the year so it looks like there will always be a new adventure to look forward to.

Just take a look at all the listings. City of Franklin.

And they have a pretty nice civic theatre. I've been here a couple of times with my daughter. Barrow Civic Theatre.

Plus I'll be fairly close to my beloved Cooks Forest.

I need a mountain bike for my rides and my goal is to eventually have a pink kayak with a headlight for night time and an ooga horn.

Inspirational links

Every day I go looking for positive inspiration.

Here are a few links that you might enjoy. I hope you manifest as much peace and comfort from these as I have.

Even Now

The Goodness of Life

The Wonder Of It All

Don't take it to a social network

I'm going to exercise my freedom of speech on this site, afterall, that is why I created this blog...so I could talk about what's on my mind far away from the maddening crowd of social networks.

For instance I found this article with a petition to save the world from stupidpeople.

The Internet is a tool for people to conduct business, and have fun. However, all too often, stupid people screw things up, for everybody. How does this happen? What can we do to stop it?

First, I would like to illustrate the nature of the problem. There are two major ways in which stupid people ruin the Internet for everybody. Each point will be discussed, followed by the solution the signers of this petition wish to see implemented immediately.

1. Spam. If stupid people were not allowed to use the Internet, we would have less spam. Allow me to prove this by the following logical argument. Why do people send spam? Because they know there are stupid people who will click on the "f-r-e-e p0rn" links. They know people out there will actually buy pills from a non-reputable seller online. If we remove the stupid people from the Internet, all the companies which rely on spam to do business will go bankrupt within a short time. Other sources of spam, like viruses, are perpetuated solely by stupid people. Anyone with half a brain knows not to open an attachment called "my_webcam.zip" from "sexygurl@hotmail.com". Finally, the last source of spam, chain letters, will be reduced by many orders of magnitude due to the fact that only stupid morons forward meaningless joke emails that you have heard 100 times already to you after you told them to cut it out and threatened to block them and did but they got a new screen name and didn't get the hint.... In conclusion, banning people from the Internet will stop spam.

2. l33t sp33k. peoplE whO typE likE thiS anD thinK itZ cooL. lol omfg rofl bbq stfu. PEOPLE WHO TYPE IN ALL CAPITALS CAUSE THEY DONT KNOW WHERE THE CAPS-LOCK KEY IS OR WHAT IT DOES. People who just wont shut up, and break every code of decency on the internet in forums, IRC channels, and instant messengers. Poor spelling and uncool typing style wastes approximately 10,000,000 (ten million) person-hours of hard-working people's time a day. Trying to de-cypher the questionably literate is a waste of everyone's time and money. I have a dream! I have a dream, that when stupid people are banned from the Internet, prosperity and intellectual discussion will take place of Role Playing. Proper grammar will take the place of smilies. I have a dream, that one day, little Asian boys and girls will not drop their vowels and overuse the letter Z. One day, people of all countries and dialects will forsake making up crappy new words like "hax0r" and just speak english the way it was meant to be spoken: like an ENGLISHMAN! Together they will join hands and sing the words of the old British monarchy: "You and I", "You and I", not "me and you", but "you and I"!

I hope that you, Mr. President, can introduce a bill to ban American-based ISPs from giving stupid people access to the Internet. Furthermore, I wish that international ISPs that do not wish to comply be economically blockaded and/or bombed until they come to their senses and join the fight for justice.

This will be good for the economy, too! I know you like that word "the economy"! lol

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Now I realize that this post was all in fun but you have to admit there is a lot of truth to what the writer is saying.

I'm aware that a lot of people don't know how to spell properly and their grammar usage is atrocious but it's the pettiness that really gets to me.

For instance, I split up with my boyfriend and we still both have a presence on some social networks with mutual friends. He removed me from his friends lists, and that's perfectly understandable and probably the best for both of us to not be able to see what the other is doing or saying. I too made my sites private so he couldn't see the anger and bitterness I was telling my personal friends about, but I didn't do it on social sites where it was visible to anybody other than the intended audience of a few select friends.

However, we still share a couple of common friends (although the ones I'm referring to are certainly not my friends) and I chose not to remove them from my friends list because I didn't want to appear to be angry at them (it's not their fault we split up) and I didn't want to be petty.

I've kept my messages on a personal level knowing full well they would be watching what I wrote. I've even tried to be sociable with them by posting a nicety or two but of course... no response.

One person though, names unnamed, posted a message that was fully intended for my eyes regarding the living arrangements of her brother, my X. Just a little blurb to let me know he has a new apartment and is living alone and loving it. Well good for him!

Not wanting to stoop to the same level of pettiness exhibited by this person...I read the message and moved on. But deep down inside me I wanted to ask...how he is being transported to his job with no vehicle, how he will maintain an apartment on his own with drug addictions that cost him more per month than the normal cost of an apartment. I wanted to ask if she has seen history repeat itself with his various relationships and how each woman he has been with has complained about his bad temper which is displayed when he is drinking (most of the time but can crop up at any given moment). I wanted to let her know that she doesn't know as much about her own brother as she thinks she knows and that the previous women he has been with can't ALL be crazy.

I wonder about the similarities of the temperment of the people in this family. They all seem to possess the same identifying character of being openly opinionated, argumentative, judgemental and having a bad temper. Hmmm... makes you wonder doesn't it?

But no... I will post my message on my own little board and if perhaps you stumble upon the words I've written and recognize yourself as a character in this story... Keep your comments to yourself. You know my email and phone number and if you want to engage in a war of words... have at it. Ready and waiting.

Wide open space

This is my night... I'm gonna to cry...come hell or high water... I need this and I won't be denied!

Good story... I'll think of another title and post a picture.. when I'm in the mood and I'll even clean up the format.

When I was a little boy, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits.. And I'll never forget what he said: "Son, I love burned biscuits."

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides - a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"
You know, life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people.. I'm not the best housekeeper or cook. What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other's faults - and choosing to celebrate each other's differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

And that's my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn't a deal-breaker! We could extend this to any relationship in fact - as understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!


"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in your own."

The cost of stress with a broken heart

Somehow I've always known and felt this was true. I'm dealing with it now, or at least trying to deal with it.

“Broken Heart Syndrome”: Severe Emotional Stress and Heart Disease

Research has shown that some people may respond to overwhelming emotional stress by releasing large amounts of catecholamines, such as epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenalin), into the blood stream. Along with this massive release of catecholamines are small proteins produced by an over-stimulated nervous system.

These substances are temporarily toxic to the heart and can disrupt its function. The result is stress cardiomyopathy, a condition that mimics a classic heart attack, including chest pain, fluid in the lungs, shortness of breath, and actual heart failure.

Researchers have dubbed this condition “broken heart” syndrome, because it is brought on solely by emotional stress rather than by the classic physiological causes, such as plaque build-up. Patients who have experienced this condition do not have blockages in their arteries; they do not have elevated levels of cardiac enzymes that are typically released into the blood stream after a heart attack; and they do not suffer permanent muscle damage. Instead, the muscle damage suffered after broken heart syndrome is reversible, unlike that suffered from a classic heart attack. Recovery time after broken heart syndrome is also much faster- most completely recover within two weeks.

Patients who have suffered broken heart syndrome show initial catecholamine levels that are two to three times that in patients who suffer classic heart attacks, and seven to thirty-four times as high as normal levels.

But broken heart syndrome is not the only way the heart is affected by emotional stress. While broken heart syndrome can be caused by a single traumatic event, the deleterious effects of stress on the heart can also be cumulative. Stress that lasts over a long period of time can negatively affect the entire body, including the adrenal glands. The importance of strengthening the body from the effects of years of chronic stress is critical to heart health and function.

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I saw the doctor and he suggested pray, meditation, walking and exercise. I have been doing all those things as I feel moved and have time to do them. My back problems have been flaring up again which is another thing I've always believed... that my physical problems are made worse with my emotional problems.

It's not just the love interest problems I've been having that are wearing on me either. I'm about to lose the job I've had for 20 years and am on a path of being alone on a financial upgrade. I've always made enough money to support myself and others around me and now I'm facing the inability to do so and it's happening during a time of a faltering economy. I'm scared. I'm lonely and I so desparately want and need to cry but my stubborness hasn't let me give way to the free fall of tears that I need so badly. My motto has usually been... "don't cry because all you'll get is a wet face".

I've always tried to think positively and always thought I had the strength to make it through whatever difficulties life presented me with but thoughts were carry overs from younger years and I am so much older now.

I've lost faith in humanity. I've totally lost faith in men (which has always been an issue with me anyhow) and I wonder if there is such a thing as compassion or empathy anymore. Oh wait... it does still survive or I wouldn't have held on to and tried to help others less fortunate than me!

However, I'm becoming a bitter, crazy old bitch and this is something I always swore I wouldn't allow to happen to me. I always said I wanted to age gracefully like Katherine Hepburn. Oh well, there is the face that is presented to the screen and the world... maybe she was as bitter as I've become and we just never knew it.

Okay, I've vented and I feel a tad bit better... off to find other positive reading material that will at least help me get through the next hour or so of this life.

Abraham Hicks - Limit irritation to 17 seconds