The Face of Hunger

Our Daily Bread Food Pantry is an ecumenical non-profit organization that is helping feed the need in Calhoun County. The Food Pantry is a member of the Mississippi Food Network/America’s Second Harvest. St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church, Bruce United Methodist Church, Lewis Memorial Methodist Church Calhoun City, Bailey Memorial, Vardaman and the rest of the Calhoun County Methodist Cluster and many wonderful men and women from various prayer groups have come together and distributed approximately 30,000 pounds of food in 2006. In 2005 we distributed 18,000 pounds. The need for more food donations has increased because hunger has increased.

In our area alone, over 400 individuals rely on Our Daily Bread Food Pantry for a box of food once a month. Some are children but over half are retired men and women trying to live on a small retirement check. That 400 is only the tip of iceberg. There are many more that we can’t serve because we don’t know about them and because we don’t have enough to give.

Ordinary people….young and old, male and female, black and white. The face of hunger will surprise you. Many people experience the invasion of hunger in their lives and they look just like you and me. Because the face of hunger looks like us, it is up to us to make a difference. It is a tragedy that anyone in this country should be hungry when the USA produces enough food to feed the world. 20 percent of food in the US is wasted and thrown away. There is no shortage of food in the United States and sadly there is no shortage of people that are ‘food insecure’.

Who are these hungry people? You might be surprised.
There is the child who can’t concentrate in school because she didn’t have enough to eat last night. Her older brother is disabled and he can’t stand to see his baby sister crying because she didn’t have enough to eat, so he gives her half of his portion. He goes to bed hungry and vows that one day he will somehow make sure that he and his sister will have enough to eat.

An elderly woman has diabetes and it is getting worse because she doesn’t get the proper nourishment. Some well-meaning soul brought her a box of doughnuts to eat when her sugar drops. She really needs a jar of peanut butter.

The older gentleman tries to help out the ‘widow women’ he knows by running their little errands but his heart is giving him trouble because he had to decide if he was going to buy medicine or buy some food that was good for him this month. He can’t afford to do both on his small retirement pension.

Everyday people in Calhoun County don’t get enough to eat. It’s happening in Bruce and Calhoun City and Vardaman and all the places in between. It happens to the working poor who have had a temporary crisis or people that are laid off from work or have a devastating sickness that is beyond their control. Often they have already used up what little savings they may have socked away and they are ashamed to ask for help.

The fact remains that they are still hungry!
I can’t predict the stock market or the weather but I can share some facts about hunger that will impact all of us as Our Daily Bread Food Pantry enters its seventh year of operation.

Fact: According to the USDA in January of 2006, more than 38 million Americans are living on the brink of hunger. That is 13.5 million households that are ‘food insecure’.

Fact: Heat or Eat? People face a real dilemma in the winter. Do they heat their house or do they eat 3 meals a day? If they cut back on food then they can keep their homes a little warmer.

Fact: Higher utility rates mean higher utility bills. Even when you turn the thermostat down and only turn on necessary lights, the rate hikes still run up the electric bills. Higher health costs and higher fuel costs all add to the need for food assistance.

Fact: Not all people who need Food Pantry assistance get food stamps nor are they eligible. Most families that do get food stamps get less than $20. That really goes a long way.

Fact: 379 to 400 people rely on a box of food from Our Daily Bread Food Pantry once a month. The majority are elderly men and women who have worked hard all their lives and now they have reached the ‘Golden Years’ and they don’t have enough of the right stuff to eat.

Fact: The 2000 census showed that 19.9% of Mississippians live at or below the poverty level.
The population of Calhoun County is approximately 16,069 people.
18.10% of the population of Calhoun County are below the poverty line.
29.3% of the population of Bruce is below.
25.2% of Calhoun City is below.
24.1% of Vardaman is below.
18.6% of Derma is below.
20.7% of Big Creek is below.
27.3% of Slate Springs is below.
1.1% of Pittsboro is below. (I think someone is withholding the truth about Pittsboro)

You do the math. Our Daily Bread is only able to feed half of these people that have the need. I can dig up more statistics but where hunger is concerned, statistics are only numbers with the tears brushed off.

How can you make a difference?
People feel powerless to help their community or they may just choose to close their eyes and hope that it all goes away. Some might say let some government agency take care of it and we all know how that doesn’t seem to work. People of faith can make a difference. They can band together and take charge and take care of their brothers and sisters.

Our Daily Bread Food Pantry needs your help and you can help in so many ways. Your contribution can be in the form of a monetary donation. You can organize a food drive by collecting our most needed items through your office or church or youth group or community group. You can volunteer at the pantry. Participate on Food Packing night by sorting and packing the boxes for the monthly distribution. Help us with the clerical work once a month. Be here to carry out boxes of food on distribution day or help direct traffic or help people sign up. Help us with our once a year Empty Soup Bowl fund raiser by making soup and selling it.

How can you make a difference? Buy the ‘3 fer’ and ‘2 fer’ deals at the grocery and put 1 or 2 of those items in a bag and give it to the pantry. Help us come up with ideas to raise the funds needed to keep the Pantry up and running. Sacrifice a couple of hours of your time so that others won’t go hungry.

Renewal is always waiting on me.

Written on HOly Saturday of 2013

As I sit here in my little garden, in the early morning quiet of Holy Saturday, I realize that most of my life has been lived in Holy Saturday. By that I mean my life has not been filled with the unbearable pain of Good Friday and I haven’t always had days filled with the unending joy of Easter dawn. Yes, I have had days of great pain and days of great joy, but most of my life has been in between days. 

Like most people, my days have been days of waiting, just as Peter, James and John and the others waited during Holy Saturday. I am always waiting. Waiting to get into college; Waiting to meet the right person; Waiting to have my daughters; Waiting to get a job and then another job and then another; Waiting for things at work to improve and they don’t; Waiting for diagnosis the that I dreaded from the doctor; Waiting for the lab results; Waiting, waiting, waiting, just waiting for life to get better. 

I look around and I see the different kinds of waiting; the wait of despair...where we think/nay we KNOW! that things will NEVER get better, the Lord will not do anything with our situations. Nothing will ever change. That is not the place for a Christian.

The waiting of dread is what made the disciples fear for their lives and retreat behind closed doors on Holy Saturday, cowering in terror of the unknown future. After Jesus was executed they were in danger of being rounded up and executed by the Roman authorities. But then I look at the women disciples who didn't run from Jesus’ side, and they were more hopeful. 

I am not a passive person, but there are many people that are. They just throw up their hands and leave everything up to fate. They don’t have despair but they sure can’t anticipate anything good in their lives either. They just live in the land of “Whatever” . The land of “Whatever” is not where a Christian should be.

As a Christian, I am called to the wait of HOPE. Hope is actively waiting and knowing that, in my lowest and darkest of situations, God is working in my life very powerfully even when I don’t see it. The Holy Spirit is always with the believer. Jesus’ disciples’ dread and confusion after the crucifixion was understandable but we know how the story turned out. We KNOW that Jesus rose from the dead, that God is with us, and nothing is impossible for God, to all His faithful who are called to wait hope.

I am learning to look carefully for the signs of the new life that is always before me… just like that handful of faithful disciples who stood at the foot of His Cross and waited patiently at his Tomb during Holy Saturday. 

I kneel here in my garden with my hands in the earth planting seeds and waiting and watching the sprouts emerge from the dark damp earth and I know that change is always possible, renewal is always waiting, and hope is never dead as long as I have the Joyful Hope of the Lord in my heart. 

Why I like to cook Italian foods......

I am not a southern cook.  I may live in the South, but I cannot fry chicken to save my life.  I don't make a killer potato salad and  I sure can't grill without burning something to a nice charred crisp.  But you hand me a nice fire and a few pots and pans and some onions and other fine veggies and some pasta and stand back.  I will whip up a simple meal that even royalty would eat!

Since I don't have a full time job....(or even a full-time part-time job but that is a blog for another day!)....I try to cook on a very tight budget.  I cook fresh and from "scratch' as much as possible because I want more fresh foods in my body than I do preservatives and fast foods.  My husband and I share a love of food and I have always tried to continue to keep a high standard of cooking for our dining enjoyment.

Tonights dinner was a small bowl of Tomato Bisque soup, a nice crusty Crostini with a slab of melted mozzarella and Asparagus Risotto.

I started with White ARBORIO Rice.  Arborio rice is a traditional Italian rice that is used in dishes where a creamy texture is desired.  RISOTTO is the Italian cooking technique for cooking the Arborio rice.
The rice I found is from the Lundberg Family Farms because it is not GMO rice and I refuse to eat genetically modified foods! Go check out their website.  www.lundberg.com.




;

Campanini Arborio Superfino Rice, 1 lb. (Google Affiliate Ad)

Here is the basic Risotto recipe for the Asparagus Risotto
3 TBLS. EVOO plus 2 TBLS. butter (NOT margarine)
1 large chopped onion (I prefer white or sweet Vidalias when in season)
1 cup of Arborio Rice
1/2 cup of white wine (optional for you teetotalers But if you are going to cook Italian...ADD THE WINE!)
3or 4 cups of hot chicken broth or water.
1/4  cup grated Parmesan cheese.

In a heavy pan, saute' the chopped onion in the olive oil/butter over medium heat until the onion is softened.

Add the Arborio rice and saute for a couple of minutes until the grains of rice are coated.

Add the wine (this is why I cook Italian!) and stir constantly over medium heat until the wine is absorbed.

add the hot chicken broth, 1 CUP AT A TIME, stirring after adding each cup. Add the chopped, cooked and mashed asparagus to the mixture and simmer until the broth is absorbed about 20 to 25 minutes.  The risotto should be creamy and not dry.

Remove from heat, stir in the cheese JUST BEFORE SERVING! and then serve immediately.

I believe you should enjoy this with a glass of fine white wine as well.  And THAT my fellow foodies is WHY I love to cook Italian.  La Vino!

Blogging about food is something I haven't really done before.  But I am cooking so much and have learned so many new things that I want to share my adventures in cooking.

 So from the Cucina Provera (or The poor cook) today marks the beginning of food blogs that I think you would like.

What to do when its the week after New Years, the household budget is tighter than ever before and you start to run out of ideas for a tasty meal, that is healthy, within the budget, and mindful of the waistline?
I started with pasta which seems to be my food love as of late.  I've been taking lessons in Italian Cuisine for the past year and it has expanded my cooking horizons.

 
The first thing I learned in Italian cooking is that most dishes start off with a finely chopped mixture of garlic, herbs, and vegetables such as onions, carrots and celery.  Sometimes a little chopped pancetta or Italian sausage is added as well.  This mixture is called BATTUTO. My Battuto consists of 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped carrot, 1/2 cup of chopped celery, 1/2 chopped sweet pepper, 1 diced and smashed garlic clove, 1 tsp. cracked pepper, 1 tsp, crushed red pepper seeds.

Once the Battuto is in my largest pan along with about 3 TBLspoons of EVOO (extra virgin Olive Oil), it is gently sauteed in the oil with a pinch of salt to bring out the sweetness of the chopped onion.  Don't have the heat so high that the garlic starts burning.  You want the flavors to infuse with the oil.  This mixture is called SOFFRITO and it is what is going to be flavoring your dish.  The blandest ingredients become impregnated with the savory flavors and you get a remarkable dish to enjoy! (photo 1)

 While the SOFFRITO is simmering and the flavors are melding together, put chopped broccoli or cauliflower (I used both tonight!) in a large pot of boiling water.  Make sure the pot is large enough to cook the pasta in because you are going to reserve the water.  Yes it will be green from cooking the broccoli but it will give a great flavor to the pasta also.  And its being conservative with your water.  (Photo 2)

After a few minutes, when the Cauliflower and Broccoli are tender, using a slotted spoon dip it out and add to the large pan containing the SOFFRITO.  Stir and mash the veggies in so the flavors will meld with the broccoli/cauliflower. (an option for chopped mushrooms could be added here)  photo 3

 After removing the veggies from the water, let the water come back to a rolling boil.  Add the pasta.  I used curly pasta for tonight's dinner. cook the pasta  al dente according to the package directions. take two large ladles of the pasta water and add it to the SOFFRITO.  This water has starch from the pasta in it and it will serve as a rich thickener and help the veggies stick to the cooked pasta. photo 4

When the pasta has reached al dente stage, drain and add to the SOFFRITO and Broccoli mixture.  Toss together so the pasta is well coated with the vegetable mixture.  photo 5

Throw some crescent rolls in the oven while this is finishing.  serve it hot in bowls with a generous shake of parmigiana cheese and enjoy with a large glass of sweet tea.

My dish doesn't have a name.  Just pasta with broccoli and cauliflower. Enjoy!

The times they are a changing.

It’s that time of year again. The time has changed, the leaves have changed, the weather has changed….I love the Fall season; the smell of wood burning in fireplaces, the burning leaves, the aroma of pumpkin pies and sweet potato pies baking in the oven, savory stews and soups that replace the sandwich meals of summer. The sugar maple in our side yard has been ever bit as glorious this year as it has in past years. It looks like it is aflame in the explosion of reds, oranges and yellows with some green leaves still hanging on to their color deep within its canopy. In fact, last year on a retreat in the Cumberland foothills near Sewanee, Tennessee, I noticed that while the foliage there was a wild riot of color, the forests of these Mississippi hills are just as colorful and vibrant. The Southern States should not sell themselves short when it comes to fall foliage colors. New England and the Rockies might have a longer, more predictable Fall color season than we do, but we do have some beautiful vistas to see. While I was on my retreat, the weather took a rather nasty turn for the worse and the temps plummeted to heavy frost over night. I listened to the wind howling outside my window and when morning came, the only view I had of the mountain vista was a pea soup fog. When I walked downstairs for breakfast I looked out at the parking lot and could not even see van. I noticed a sign in the lobby that read, “Welcome to St. Mary’s. You may arrive in a fog, but you will leave walking in the light.” I chuckled at the appropriateness of it. It was well into the afternoon of the next day before that fog lifted and I could see the brillant blue sky. Sometimes, I think the season of Fall puts me and others into a figurative fog. The weather changes and time changes seem to affect some more than others. The other changes that occur are, we see the anticipation of the national candy night ritual of Halloween and then it’s gone and Christmas is suddenly breathing down our necks. My husband and I have had an enormous Christmas light show for several years that takes him all year to plan and work on. He has to start putting lights up during October and right up until Thanksgiving Day so we can flip the switch that night. I love Christmas, but I feel like we forget about Thanksgiving in the process of all the hustle and bustle of the Santa’s and packages and decorations. I have been making a list of all the things I am thankful for; things like a warm, dry home, good health, my husband and daughters, my sister, my mother, the freedom to worship, the freedom to vote and I can just keep going on. I hope during this changing season, that as you see the leaves changing and the days getting shorter and nights getting longer, that you take the time to reflect on how changes affect you and those around you. It is definitely time to sit down and take stock of all that we have to be thankful for.

Sometimes, Not often enough.....

I have so many thoughts and I don't always put them down. I guess I should save some of my pithy thoughts for posterity, as if anyone but my family would care. And they might not give a rip now that I think about it! Its a cloudy day and looking very stormy outside. so much for my plans of getting out in this nice cooler temp and working in my little garden and getting a couple of the beds ready for the fall planting. I have never tried a fall garden, but this year is the exception. I love broccoli and kale and brusselsprouts. This is the year to keep experimenting with the raised beds and with a green house. If you read this I hope you can understand my rambling ADD thought threads and will run with this crazy flamingo as I hop off on rabbit trails and explore my life in the world as I see it.

Oh and I have a couple of late season watermelons in the garden. I've NEVER had success with growing melons. But these came up "volunteer" and i am letting them do their on thang. It seems to be working. I hope to eat one!

I DID build it I will have you to understand. You are WRONG Mr. President.

I’ve been really stewing about this who “you didn’t build it” thing that President O said. Everyone that knows me, knows how I feel about this administration. I am not a fan in the least. As the child of a small business owner, and as a former business owner, as a freelance artist and an at will contract worker, as an older female that is not considered as employable because I am so close to ‘retirement age’ and have heard the over qualified lie one time too many to count, these are my thoughts on his statement. (And yes I watched his message in its entirety so there is no mistake what I heard him say.) He is wrong, wrong WRONG. He got it backwards. Business owners, no matter large or small, business owners DO NOT owe credit to the government for their success. The government owes business owners credit for its very existence. Businesses empower the government. Most businesses are not enabled by the government. In fact where do you think the ‘bail outs; came from to those that do depend on the government? Yep out of the pockets of the taxes that are paid by the businesses that are not looking for a handout! Business owners do just fine without government and ‘takers’ of society. “Takers” ---you know who I’m talking about. Those who simply want that government check . Think about it Mr. and Mrs. and Miss Taxpayer, your government, all the government employees and all the ‘takers’ of society would not survive without us… without the creators and producers of jobs and products and paying taxes. To make it a bit simpler, business owners, small, medium, large, and mega large, pay ALL the bills for the government. THE BUSINESS OWNERS SHOULD BE THE ONES OWED THANKS! Are you still not seeing what I am saying? Then let me draw you an even simpler picture that even an economically illiterate moron can see. I used to own a nail and hair salon before I moved to small town Mississippi. I employed, at one point, 8 hard working talented women. I paid hefty taxes to the state and federal government for many years. So who needed whom? Did the patrons that came to my business need us? No, getting manicures and pedicures and spa treatments are pretty much a luxury item. They could have chosen any of the other myriad of salons on the city we were in. They could stay at home and paint their nails at home. A lot of people DO you know. I—the business owner---could not live without the constant flow of customers. Nor could my trained technicians. We desperately needed their patronage. We had to be nice and show gratitude and on occasion genuflect to the really difficult ones that tried our patience because without customers you cannot stay in business. Every one of my employees in that salon depended on our customers and the way to have customers and to keep them coming back is to keep them happy! When our customers left after each visit, who do you think said ‘thank you”. We the business people said thank you to the customers. When a customer walks out of a restaurant, or hardware store, or any type of store, who thanks who? The business owner thanks us for spending our money in his establishment. Even the most ignorant left leaners and socialists cannot argue with that. Now stretch your little imagination to see that Government is a business. You—the taxpayers---are the customer, the consumer, the patron of the ‘salon’ if you will. The Government can’t survive if you stop paying the salon. The Government is dependent on the taxpayers’ hard work and the taxes that are paid in. If the taxpayers go on strike and stop paying, the government doesn’t get any money and goes out of business. The difference in this little example is that the American business model is a free market capitalist society where the customer freely chooses to spend his or her money at any business they darn well please. It you are a builder here in my little hometown, you can choose to go to one of the two building supply houses. Or you can go where ever you will get the best price out of town. You have a choice in choosing where you want to spend your money. The Government only has one choice of where to get its money. OUR pockets. If it can’t pay its bills, it just raises taxes and legally extorts more money from the taxpayers. So why does this president think we owe him? Why do progressives think we should say thank you to the government? Yes, we need the things like renewed infrastructure, roads, bridges, traffic lights, police, fire, garbage, sewers, hospitals, airports, schools, and national defense. But the president and others (who have never owned a business in their life!) miss a most crucial point -- we the business owners and taxpayers, paid for all of infrastructure and schools, etc. with our taxes. WE business owners, small, medium, large and mega, built it! The Government OWES US the debt of gratitude and a huge apology because with our business taxes, Social Security taxes, payroll taxes, workers comp taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, income taxes and estate taxes (and you thought it was over after you died! Think again because we even pay taxes after we are dead), there would be no money for all those things that this president values. Why would I and other business owners thank you, for things we paid for? Instead of telling us how much we owe, the progressives and takers and socialists should be thanking the business owners and taxpayers. Without taxpayers -- especially high income business owners – we wouldn’t have the money to build roads, bridges, highways, schools or airports. Government infrastructure exists because of the hard work of the American taxpayer. These public schools exist because of taxpaying property owners who pay huge property tax bills and most of us don’t even have children in school any longer. People that rent don’t pay those property taxes. Social Security, Medicare, welfare, food stamps and unemployment insurance ALL exist because business owners are paying into the system. My message to President Obama is this, business owners work harder and smarter and you sir, had better be thanking the Lord God Almighty that we do it and have done or you would be up the proverbial unsanitary tributary without a means of motivation. Business owners are not dependent on the government but the government and every handout addict are dependent on businesses. Like any smart small business owner, perhaps you should suck up and treat us with some honor and respect and (dare I say it) gratitude. You need to learn to say please when you ask for money and thank you when it’s paid. Money doesn’t grow on trees you know. Learn how to treat customers well or they will go away because they will and they are. American business is holding back. No new jobs till after Election Day. Some people are going underground to work to avoid paying 60% of their income to you. Some are retiring like that poll that showed that 83% of physicians are planning on it because of Obamacare. Even your supportive treehuggers are denouncing citizenship to live elsewhere where Americans are treated better. Your customers have gone on strike. The taxpayers are unhappy because we are being turned into slaves and taxed out of business. Pretty soon you are going to be trying to run "your" business without any paying customers and you are only going to be left with ‘the takers”. That is not going to work.

Note to Self: bubble wrap clothes might sell.

Vonda’s views
September 25, 2011

Note to Self: wonder how hard it would be to make myself an outfit out of bubble wrap and duct tape?

My phone tones out in the middle of the afternoon with text messages from my number 2 daughter wanting to know the progress of the mama dog and her litter of 8 puppies. The directive to take photos and post them on face books she can share that ‘HER’ puppies are so cute and fat gets to me. She is not the one that is traipsing outside to feed and water the large brood. But after several mishaps, I have finally passed that torch on to my husband.
The first tumble happened so fast he didn’t even see what happened. But there I was rolling down the incline in the yard, picking up grass and sticks and Lord only knows what else I rolled through before I came to a stop! Covered in mud, (I hope!) I got up and hobbled into the house and pulled off my shoe to see why it was hurting and there was a hole torn in my shoe and a long red scratch on my foot.

The next time I ventured out to feed and water them, I just poured the food over the fence and stuck the hose through the fence to fill their water tubs. I turned and stepped in a grass covered hole that one of them had dug prior to being fenced in.Down I went, this time hurtling head first for a rather large crepe myrtle tree. Not wanting to be knocked out cold with my head hung in this blooming bush gone wild, I twisted and missed the trunk and just missed the block retaining wall! More, muddy clothes, more sore muscles, more interesting bruises to watch grow more colorful!

Note to self: get some Oxy-clean and check on the price of bubble wrap.

The next day I just opened my bedroom window and poured the dog food out the window. The dogs didn’t seem to mind and I didn’t fall!

Daughter number two called and wanted me to drive down on Thursday to pick her up and bring her home since she doesn’t have Friday classes. She didn’t want to wait till Saturday to ride home with big sister. So I said ok.

Before I left, I decided to go to check on the puppies since they are getting quite mobile. I was standing on perfectly level ground right by the edge of my garage. There is a retaining wall and the fence and I was playing with the pups through the fence when I turned and wham! My foot caught on some little something and I fell between the lawn mower and one of the metal forms for hubby’s Christmas displays. This time my arms got the worst of it as I was caught between these two metal immovable objects and I must have severely bruised a rib because it’s rather touchy on the side with the biggest contusion.

I brushed off more mud and drove down to get the daughter who neglected to tell me that I would be waiting till midnight because of her social club stuff. I just went to my oldest daughter’s room, took some Tylenol and crashed for a few hours.
Note to self: you are too old to pull an all nighter!

My husband now is feeding dogs and I stay upstairs and watch from a window. But I can still do stupid really well. I suffer from dry eyes and constantly have to put artificial tear drops in. At night I use a gel in a tube. Tonight I grabbed my tube and it was instant agony! I discovered a whole higher register for my voice. My husband came running into the bathroom and was trying to figure out what was wrong, as I was blindly digging for the quart of eye wash. While washing my eye out Scott saw that I had picked up a tube of oral jel and that was what I had squeezed into my eye!
Note to self: Oral jel is not for eyes and it does not numb them! Please remember where you are putting all these notes because you keep doing stupid things! And bubble wrap goes no sale next week!

Perils of Pauline and learning to refeather the Empty Nest

Anyone remember the Perils of Pauline? Oh I don’t either but my mother always said that my life was like that short of being tied to the railroad tracks by the evil dastardly villain. Yet it does seem that some of the things that happen in my life could come from a page or two of poor Pauline.

For example, one day I was climbing into my big van that looks like its 8 feet off the ground when I dropped my keys. As I lowered my right foot to the ground, my shoe caught the side of the running board and I went down hard on the side of the foot. I didn’t break it but the awful crunchy sound it made told me I was going to be in for a world of hurt. It has been a month now and I still can’t wear any kind of shoe except something that I can lace up tightly and walk flat footed.

Then I was making pear preserves. As I sliced up the 40 pounds of pears I was extremely careful not to slice off a finger. I was successful at that but when I was filling the jars full of the precious, delectable candied pears, I splashed some on my hand and you have never seen anyone with a hurt foot move so fast to the sink and cool running water to get that mess off before it did permanent damage!

We finally got both girls moved to the W and darling husband and I have been working nonstop to reclaim the upstairs of the house and make it a ‘couples haven’. First on my list was the TV room instead of a formal living room. So he now has the perfect (for us) home theater and I turned the den into the dining room since it has the kitchen on one end of it. Then we turned our sights on the bathroom.

This house was built circa 1960 and the bathroom is a lovely shade of turquoise ceramic tile with matching tub, sink and toilet. Now I happen to love that color but it can be a tad iffy to work with. So when all else fails, you take the retro approach. We had to replace the broken faucets because it was not my idea of a good time when I had to use a screwdriver to turn the hot water on and off. and replace the whole drain system. Neither of us likes to take a shower standing knee deep in water either. After pouring several chemicals down the slower than molasses draining drain and trying to get the snake through the blockage, I figured there was a blond hair ball the size of a grown possum in the pipes somewhere.


Our new tub surround was seven inches too short on eat end because they don’t make them as deep as in the ‘old’ days and I have been living with a whole lot of ugly wall for a while since I could not find anything to my liking to cover it with. Removing the walls is not an option either. Who knew that in the 60’s someone would make the Bathroom walls out of poured concrete then cover that with ¼ plyboard and then put the tile or sheet rock up? We have had a tornado safe room all along and didn’t know it!


As luck would have it, Saturday we were in a DIY store and lo and behold they had stacks of glass tiles on sale and they were brown and turquoise mixed. I was so excited. I grabbed up a stack of them and purchased the glue and grout and a sponge and rubber float and we came home. Have I ever installed tile? No but I figured it out pretty quick. I am now looking at a whole lot of pretty, shiny glass tile in my bathroom. I listened all night for the sound of it falling but it is still there and looking good. I think my 1970’s kitchen is next!


Pauline may have had some bad luck but I think mine is turning around.

The Nest is finally empty

August 15, 2011

Well the “Nest” is empty. Our oldest daughter is a senior at the W. She moved back to the dorm last Wednesday. The youngest daughter is now a freshman at the W. We moved her, and nearly ALL of her stuff, to the freshmen dorm on Saturday.


Some people...a lot of people…primarily Moms, fall to pieces on the day their children leave for school or college. I haven’t. Perhaps it has something to do with my age, I was knocking hard on the door of 40 when I had my daughters and now at 58 I may well be one of the oldest moms sending kids off to college. (Except for my baby sis who has a 6 year old and she is barely over the 50 mark!)

My husband and I have worked hard all these years to raise our girls to be independent young women. We think we have succeeded. I was teaching them to cook when they were old enough to do things around the stove and not get burned. They were making scrambled eggs in the microwave by the age of 6 and making Mac and cheese by the age of 7. During our homeschool years they learned a lot of things that they might not think are necessary now but one day they will be glad they know it. But I digress…

When we arrived on campus Saturday, and began to unload the van, there were swarms of helpers and made that part pretty easy for the incoming Freshmen and families. We were interviewed by a WCBI reporter. I had on no makeup and looked like a 59 year old sweathog but I gave the young man his interview. Why us I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I made eye contact. Maybe it’s because we pulled up in a 15 passenger van that was filled to the roof; or maybe we just looked interesting and were willing to talk to him.
He misspelled my name dang it. Oh well. And apparently a lot of people watched it because my Facebook page went ballistic with messages. Ahhhhh our 15 minutes of fame.

After helping Erin and her new roommate adjust bed height and moving furniture around to make floor space, and unpacking and filling out forms, her dad and I left. We stopped and ate lunch and watched a storm cloud blow over. We drove home and resumed our lives. I had a church bulletin to finish and he had yards to mow. When dinner time rolled around we ordered a pizza. When I heard my husband placing the order, I thought to myself, we have not eaten a pizza like that for years. It was a meat lovers with jalapenos, something the girls never liked so we stopped ordering it years ago and only got pepperoni or 4 cheese. With them both gone now I can cook a lot of things that Scott and I have not enjoyed for years.

When I awakened this Monday morning to the cooler temps, my mind thought about all the little projects I want to get done around the house. I am repainting a couple of rooms, redoing a bathroom floor, and turning the downstairs into a separate living space for when they come back. While this is still their home, when they come back it’s not going to be the same for them; Not because I have moved their things downstairs, but because they have had their taste of life away from Mom and Dad. They have had to start making life’s important decisions without our direct input. They have been able to come and go as they please to a certain degree.



It’s not going to be same for another reason too. Scott and I had barely a year alone before our little family grew beyond two people. Now nearly 23 years later we finally have our time together instead of having to plan a date night. That is already very nice. We miss our daughters, but they are standing on the edge of the nest and its time for them to fly like they have been talking about for the last year.

Acting my age and Harry Potter.

August 8, 2011

Well another birthday has come and gone quietly this year. I am 29 for the second time (times 2). Before you run for the calculator app on your phone…that equals 58. Some one asked me if I felt old and I replied no. My secret to not felling older? Well I don’t look at mirrors any longer unless I am just forced to. That way I don’t notice that crazy old woman that appears to be stalking me at every turn. I did put on my new bifocals the other day and caught a good look at her. Mercy but she looks just like me in the far off future!

I have to wonder some times just what the phrase “Act your age” means. What does a 58 year old woman act like? In my mind I am still able to do some of the things I did in my 30”s. I can’t dance like I used to that’s for sure. But I am physically capable to if I don’t turn my foot as I am prone to doing.

When the latest and last Harry Potter movie came out, my husband and I had tickets to the midnight premier. As my ‘luck’ would have it, I turned my ankle that afternoon and tore the ligaments across the arch of my foot. Again. I was in some kind of horrendous pain but nothing was going to deter me from seeing that movie that night.

I wrapped my injured appendage, dug out my personal pair of crutches (I’m a tad bit accident prone!), took some extra strength Aleve and we headed on up the highway to Oxford. When we arrived at 10PM the line was already 4 deep and backed down to Penny’s. Scott and the girls ran on and secured our spot in line as I limped slowly to join them.

An Epiphany struck me as I surveyed the vast crowd of college kids and high school students and young parents with their children. They were in various types of costumes depicting their favorite character from the movies. There I was, this old woman, hobbling up and I heard a kid say that I was doing the best Mad Eye Moody impression they had ever seen. It kind of perked me up. A little later, a columnist for the local paper me came over and interviewed us simply because we were older and I was on crutches and the little blurb was printed.

When the doors were opened and the crowd started in I picked up some speed to get a good seat. I normally want a middle of the row seat but this time I really wanted the aisle. We secured our seats and settled in for the movie. After it was all over and I looked around, I finally saw a few folks that were probably in my age bracket. We quietly acknowledged each other with a nod of the head.

I may be another year older, and lately as I read the obits there are people my age that are passing on, but I am very thankful for good health and a healthy mind. I still don’t know what it means to act my age. I know NOT to dress like my young daughters, which is just wrong on so many levels. But I have lost my middle age spread and we are now the same size which I think is a pretty good thing. I will concede to acting appropriately, what ever that means! But I’m never going to ACT my age. There is too much leeway in that. How about I just keep on being me taking it one day at a time and Lord only knows what I can get into each day.

Summer time and Livings not Easy

June 20 2011
Summer time and the living is easy….
Fish are jumping and the cotton is high….
While out in this oppressive heat this week, the words to that song from the opera Porgy and Bess kept running through my mind and all I could think about is there is nothing easy about Summer time in Mississippi. It’s hot and humid and mosquitoes are lurking to suck my blood. I did see fish jumping out the water while I was at a workshop at Lake Tiak O’Khata but I suspect it was because the water was a bit hot and the fish was feeling like it might be in a frying pan! As for cotton, perhaps that should be rewritten as “and ‘tater’ slips are in the ground”

Porgy and Bess was not exactly a ‘feel good’ opera and did not end well, it still had many messages. Are rich people happier with all their possessions and money or are poor people happier since they don’t have all that extra stuff around that they have to worry about?

I have to look around and wonder about such things myself. Can people really overcome their past and lead a good life, or will other people refuse to accept them. The Lord forgives us when we do stupid things and ask for forgiveness yet “we” tend to be skeptical and don’t give people the benefit of the doubt or even give them a chance.

Working with the local food pantry for over 11 years has opened my eyes to a lot of things. First, there are hungry people living around me. Second, there are people that really don’t give a damn that their neighbor is hungry. Third, no one believes that it could happen to them and fourth, there is always going to be some busybody that will break their neck to call me and tell me I should not be giving a box of food to ‘someone’ because that ‘someone’ doesn’t deserve it and is just lazy and good for nothing.

This coming Saturday I will standing out in that brutal heat with a ice pack under my wide brim hat as I mark off names on my list of the people in the county that will be coming for the small box of groceries that we have gathered. Your local food pantries depend and exist solely on donations of food from individuals. The pantries are all volunteer based. No one gets paid to do it. The volunteer’s work relentlessly looking and begging for canned food drives, and for people to drive to pick up locations to haul back any donations that can be obtained from the Mississippi Food Network. There aren’t any government funds for food pantries. Its all about people taking care of people. If your brother or sister stumbles and falls, you reach out and help them up; Just like they would help you in your time of need.

Times are hard now with high gas prices and food prices going out of control and the cost of living is in a constant state of rising and the job market is not promising at all for the many that are looking.

It may be summertime around here but the living ain’t easy for some.

No Empty Nest Syndrome here. PUSH!!! FLY!!!

June 5, 2011

This past month has been one of the most hectic months I have had in a long while. Our youngest daughter graduated from high school and is standing on the edge of the nest testing her wings.

As my husband and I were sitting on the bleachers at our second daughter’s graduation, my thoughts began to wander. I began thinking back to 18 years earlier when she was born. She was not eager to come into this world but she did finally. She was born a laid back kid and that part hasn’t changed a bit as she has gotten older. Now she is graduated and busy getting her things packed up for her fall semester at the W.

I was a late in life mom, or as my dear doctor liked to remind me, I was an elderly first time mom. I thought he was trying to be cute with me till I read that women that wait till they are past a certain age are called that. So there I was at 36 having my first child who was due on my 37th birthday. And two years later I had daughter number two just 3 days shy of her big sisters 2nd birthday. For the record, I turned 39 right after her birth.

The first real instruction for Motherhood a woman gets is on the delivery table when her doctor is repeatedly saying, “PUSH! PUSH!” And push I did. I pushed those girls through the door to their first pre-school and to meet their kindergarten teacher for the first time; I’ve pushed them out the door so they would not be late for school. I pushed them to go and talk to people first and not wait for someone to walk over to them. Then I had to start pushing them to do the homework, to do the school projects, to be in dance recitals and get up on that stage and just do it no matter if your shoes do fly off your feet!

I thought of times when I had to push them both to get out of bed and get dressed, pushed them to read books, pushed them to write papers and pushed them to tell the truth when a lie would be so easy. I pushed them to learn to think on their own, to make decisions based on what they thought, not on what I told them they should think. I pushed them to stand on their own two feet. I pushed them to learn to wash their own clothes, to learn to cook, to pick out their own things to wear and to brush their hair. I pushed them through the doors of the church from the time they were a week old and going to church was never an optional activity in our home.

It has been very satisfying to me that both our daughters are pretty independent. They still have a long way to go but I know that with all my pushing, they are ready to leave the nest and make their own way into the world. Sure their little feathers are going to get ruffled and clipped but I hope that all my pushing will not have been in vain and that they will look within themselves to find the inner strength they will need to press on. They are strong in their convictions and faith. They have their goals set and are both figuring out just how to achieve those goals.

Other parents ask us if we are starting to feel ‘empty nest syndrome’ yet. I have say no we are not. I didn’t cry at graduation, that’s not my style. I am proud of both our daughters’ accomplishments. They are both like snowflakes, very different, yet somewhat alike on the surface----without the peacefulness!

So from pushing on the delivery table those long hot summers ago, to pushing through school, I feel like they are ready to be pushed out of the ‘nest’ and into the world. It’s not easy, but after the big push comes the reward; my finest accomplishments are going to fly. It’s amazing what God can accomplish in our lives, especially when we push.
Erin's last time being a high school altar server. She is now a W girl.

April and may tornados

May 2, 2011

Well last week was the week that was! Never in the 10 years I have been a storm spotter have I lived through such an eventful weather week. My preference on weather spotting is usually limited to snow. But the last few years I have shown a little propensity to knowing when its time for a storm to spawn a tornado.

While I am fascinated by the clouds and updrafts and bowlines and hook echos and the jet stream, I do not get out and chase down a storm and deliberately place myself into the path of a large roaring funnel cloud. I have never envisioned myself as being the main character in the movie “Twister”.

Years ago I was fascinated by an interesting cloud formation and was outside standing in the bed of the pickup and gazing at its awesome horrible beauty when my mother looked out and saw me. She saw the rotation and knew exactly what was going on and started yelling at me to get my stupid self into the building. We barely made it in when the sucking started and opened all the doors and the whooshing sound was heard. That little whip of a tornado touched down about 3 miles from us and turned over a few cars. I think I was really ‘hooked’ on the hooks after that!

My husband and I were in Oxford early last Wednesday and just missed getting our bumper snatched off by the monster that devastated Pine Flat. The deadly calm and the weird green hue were right there and we raced down 9w. I watched the sky in the mirror and saw nothing but a black rain wrapped cloud. That was a tornado that no one would see until it was on top of them. Seeing the damage the next day was sobering.

On Friday I had to drive through Chickasaw County to go to Columbus to make the yearly pilgrimage to the W to load up one daughter’s belongings and bring it all home for the summer. As we traveled on 8, my second daughter started seeing the debris hanging in the trees that were still standing and then seeing all of the ones that were snapped like they were dry brittle twigs. The awesome and fearful power of the storms that scourged that area became evident.

Living with tornados in the southern states is like no other region. We can have all the sirens in the world blaring out warnings and the TVs telling us to take cover. The hard truth is, in our region, most of the time you can’t see them because of the lay of the land, and the trees, and ours are usually embedded in rain soaked clouds and all we see is a darkness that is touching the ground.

I can only hope that some how, we will all eventually have a storm safe shelter within our homes and that we are not ever again hit by the near perfect conditions that created all the super cell tornado spawning of last week. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say, I don’t want to have to be out looking at those clouds for any other reason other than to say, hmm it looks like its going to storm.

Illuminating Mothers Day and the Labyrinth

How was your Mother’s Day? Mine was illuminating.



One of the many hats that I wear is I serve as the Parish Catechetical Leader at St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church in Bruce. This is the time of year when our high school youth are preparing for the Rite of Confirmation which is coming up this Saturday May 14th. I don’t teach their class, Miss Jettie is their teacher but sometimes I ‘listen’ and observe just to keep abreast of how things are going.



We have an awesome group of kids in Jettie’s class. They ask questions, they read their bibles; well…let me shed some light on that subject. Jettie and I have been looking for just the right Study Bible and so far we have not found one that just trips our trigger. In the mean time, I stumbled up on a Bible App for cell phones. I shared this tidbit of information with the kids one night and showed them that they could get a daily reading plan set up and the idea took off. So they now all have the Bible apps! Technology CAN be a good thing. We older folks just have to learn to be more comfortable with it.



About a month ago as I sat watching these kids and listening to them in their class, I was inspired to create a mini-retreat for them to help them discern their path in life as they approach the Rite of Confirmation. As I mulled over what I might do, the idea of a labyrinth took hold of me and the retreat idea took off.



The weather did not cooperate for several days as I gathered all of my materials that I would need and finally one week ago, I was able to bring my ideas to fruition. I laid out the canvas in the driveway and marked the lines for the labyrinth and got it painted. It was tiring but turned out awesome.




The kids and their sponsors and Miss Jettie and Sr. Mary Jean did not know what to expect when we arrived at Davis Lake and started unloading. We had a light lunch and then had fruit kabobs, with different fruits representing the Fruits of the Spirit. Lemon slices was symbolic of Patience and Long Suffering.



Then they all took a slip of paper and wrote down what they wanted to change in their life and the baggage they want to release. I had some beautiful praise music playing and we all went to the labyrinth and started the path to the center. Upon reaching the center they placed their paper in the firepot and then picked up a stone to bring it out as they continued on their path.




The fire pot is made of stone with it hollowed out spot and was sitting at the exact cross mark of the center of the canvas and represented Christ as our light and our corner stone. Burning the paper was them giving up whatever they feel is holding them back at this point in their lives. The rock they chose was Christ is our rock to hold on to. Each stone also had a scripture verse reference painted on it. Each person was eagerly looking up the scripture verse to see what Gift was referenced.




It was a very moving day and I just stand in awe that a tiny spark of inspiration became a flame of more than I had imagined it would be.

April 18 Blog

April 18, 2011

There are many times of the year that I love for various reasons but I love Spring because of the new life and the way the earth changes colors as it awakens and goes from dull lifeless browns and grays to brilliant hues of green and the full color wheel of reds, purples, yellows, oranges, etc. of the flowers.

There are seasons in the church year also and we have just exited Lent and the purple vestments and penitential trappings and we loudly marched into Palm Sunday to begin Holy Week in the Catholic church.

The Paschal Triduum, often called the Easter Triduum or simply the Triduum, begins during Holy Week, and consists of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. This includes the Great Easter Vigil, the high point of the Triduum. The word Triduum comes from the Latin word meaning "three days." It begins the evening of Maundy Thursday and ends at Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday. Thus the Triduum consists of three full days which begin and end in the evening. The Triduum technically is not part of Lent (at least liturgically), but Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are still reckoned as part of the traditional forty day Lenten fast. The Triduum celebrates the heart of our faith, salvation, and redemption: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus, the Triduum commemorates the Institution of the Eucharist (the "sacrament of sacraments"), the passion, crucifixion, death of the Lord, his descent to the dead, and finally his glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. Along with the Ascension, these important events make up the Paschal Mystery.
Catholics world wide will be worshiping and celebrating this week in very visible ways. You may drive by the local Catholic church and see people walking in a path of a series of crosses. They will be praying the Stations of the Cross. This will be occurring on Good Friday. Tuesday, there will be groups of us from different parishes that will be making the trek to the Cathedral in Jackson to attend the Chrism Mass when we will also be picking up the holy oils that will be used throughout the year during various Rites.
Just as the season of change is washing over our earth, the season of change is in our church. The darkness is dispelled by the Light. As the Sun warms the earth and life springs anew, so the Son brings us new life and creates new within us.
I hope you have a blessed Easter.

laughing at the Devil (march 28 2011)

March 28, 2011

As we go into the third week of Lent, I realized that its been an interesting one for me. I broke my right hand on March 7th as I was rushing out my backdoor. I have never heard a more sickening sound as the sound of my bone snapping. Nor do I recall ever feeling the amount of sudden and blinding pain that came after that awful sound. After swallowing some extra strength Tylenol, I taped my fingers together and wrapped my hand. How I made it through that day is just a miracle but I can tell you this…I was praying 90 percent of the time.

Most of what I do when I work is pretty solitary work so I have time to either grumble or pray. Occasionally I have little epiphanies and the bum hand gave me a good one. The broken fingers were a temptation to get me to fail on my Lenten journey. I know some folks might not agree with me on this one but I think ole Lucifer has been trying to get me to fail in my Lenten journey this year. I gave up drinking soda and specifically Mountain Dew.

One store that I was working in had absolutely nothing in their coolers except that. I had worked for 7 straight hours without stopping and my hand was throbbing and I was so thirsty and without thinking, bought the Mountain Dew and had downed half of it before I realized it. But before I let the fallen one get a laugh in and use that slip up to mock me and try and make me feel bad, I decided that I would laugh first!

Laughing at Lucifer means that I am a happy warrior. Lent is a time of spiritual battle. It’s a time of wandering in the desert so to speak. I think of the Israelites as they wandered for 40 years. They grumbled so much that they just wandered a circuitous route all over that desert because of their grumpy disobedience. Jesus went into the desert for 40 days to fast and pray and Lucifer tried to bring him down but he failed to defeat the Lord.

The best way to drive out Lucifer is with fasting and pray and quoting the Holy Scriptures but remember he can quote right back at you. The one thing he absolutely cannot handle is laughing at him. He cannot stand to be mocked and scorned. He is too proud. That’s what got him tossed out of heaven to begin with.

I don’t underestimate him or his power but I have a mean sense of humor and a good sense of timing on when and how to use it in my spiritual battle. I do take my sinful nature seriously. Going into this time of Lent I have entered the spiritual battle wearing my full armor of prayer. Drinking that Mtn. Dew after I said that I was going to forego them for 40 days is not the problem. I was thirsty and there was nothing else to drink. The flesh is weak and it will not happen again because now I carry my own refreshment with me when I leave the house. I laugh loudly as I pack that water in my bag when I leave the house.

Mom's broken arm and the sisterly "pillsbury cookoffs"

Feb 28 2011

My, how time flies when I’m having fun. Broken bones take so long to heal, especially in older folks. I feel for my poor Mom. With her right ‘wing’ clipped, she is like a fish out of water. She has had to relearn to feed herself with her left hand and it been giving her some severe headaches. Life is hard to deal with when you have a limb immobilized to your side.

We have laughed about the ‘alien’ hand that appears to be growing out of her stomach. My sister’s young daughter is 6 and she finally asked if Grandmommies arm had broken off and was that why she couldn’t see it sticking out of the sleeves of Moms oversized shirts. We finally let her see that Grandmommie still had an arm under there. She thought when you had a broken arm it was like when you break a dolls arm; it breaks off. We quickly reassured her that was not the case.

It has been like the Pillsbury Cook Off between my sister and I as we make sure that Mom has nourishing meals. We both plan what we are going to cook and I’ve got to tell you, Mom is eating pretty ‘high on the hog’ these days. Sis and I have a tendency to be adventurous in our cooking and we both have pretty impressive culinary skills. We both can do ‘country’ cooking but we also create our own dishes and branch out into dishes from other cultures. Mom never knows what she going to be served but she hasn’t turned anything down yet.



I’ve been inspired to make sure she has good things for breakfast. I have made kolaches filled with pear and peach preserves and my Cape Cod Breakfast Cake and the old stand by of fluffy cat head biscuits topped with sausage gravy. I’ve even started taking photos of my meal preps each step of the way and sharing them on Facebook.

My cooking also spills over into my work with the youth at our church. Last Wednesday I was busy finishing a watercolor architectural rendering and I realized I had not even thought about what I was going to prepare for the kids at church that night. I quickly roundly up my waffle iron and pancake griddle and all the things I needed to make some yummy pancakes and headed to the church kitchen.

I made 20 Belgium waffles and about 50 pancakes and had then ready when the kids started arriving. Everyone loved pancakes but they had never seen all the toppings I had available. I showed then how I like my pancakes; 3 arranged like a 3 leaf clover on the plate and in the center of that was strawberries and bananas drizzled with strawberry syrup; Then a big squirt of whipped cream and a sprinkling of tiny chocolate chips finished it. The kids all looked at that plate and quickly said that was exactly what they wanted.

One child, the tiniest little guy you have ever seen, polished off 7 pancakes AND a waffle.
He tried then with blueberries and strawberries and bananas and with chocolate syrup and maple syrup. He was like me, he just likes pancakes. I didn’t have any left over pancakes from that meal.

I know I will be cooking for my young ones at church for a long time. I think their tummies need filling before we start feeding them spiritually. And it looks like I will be cooking for my mom for a while longer too.

We were talking about her great meals and I asked her what she was going to do when she recovered and could use her arm again. She just smiled and said that she would be visiting my sister and me on a regular basis and mostly around meal time. Hey, I’m not complaining. Meal time should be family time any way.

I’m just going back to the Beatitudes and there is not going to be any poor in spirit or hungering while I’m able to do something about it!

Jan 23 blog

January 23, 2011

“Are there no work houses? Are there no prisons? If the surplus population is going to die than let them hurry up about it , it is no business of mine" Ebenezer Scrooge
In the mid 1800 's Charles Dicken's wrote that dialog in the novel A Christmas Carole. The ghost of Scrooge’s deceased partner, Jacob Marley, answered Scrooge with “Mankind IS your business”

The best way to judge a society is by how it treats the weaker members. So how are you doing in that department? How do you think we as citizens of the US of A are doing? When was the last time you helped someone that had a true need? Or perhaps, when was the last time some one helped YOU when you were the one in need?
On the purely political level, poverty affects us all. On a personal level, I'm a Christian, and as such, it is my DUTY to care. On a simply non-religious but moral level-if I don't care, who will? If I don't care for my fellow man in times of need, how can I expect anyone else to care what happens to me?

I recently asked this question in the course of group conversations or when standing in a line somewhere and listening to people growl about people using food stamps or making remarks about someone’s personal hygiene or the cleanliness of their clothing. I got some answers that give me insight into the heart of a people; some of it is good and some of it is sad.
One school of thought on poverty that someone fired back at me was, “The majority of people who are in poverty are there because of the decisions they made throughout their lives. Aside from being disabled in some way, there's no excuse to be poor in this country where you can do anything you want. Government dependency is a main factor in poverty too. People want the government to take care of them instead of taking care of themselves.”
“People being too lazy or addicted to crack or whatever else their problem may be is certainly not a problem of mine. I work hard and pay my taxes and I don’t like it that my tax dollars are stolen and given to people who are too lazy to work. If someone is poor and gets handed food and shelter then what is his motivation to rise up out of poverty? There is none!”
“I'm not a christian and I’m not religious at all. Religion is all based on emotion. People should instead look at things logically - unlike you. You look at the issue of poverty with emotion rather than logic. But unfortunately, people are so hard headed that emotion seems to trump logic every time. We can care, but instituting things like welfare is a death sentence. Welfare goes against everything that is American and everything that can possibly make a country work.”


Yes I’ve gotten some answers to my questions. But my answer is still we should care, because we don't know the circumstances. We can't judge all poor people to be the same. Many people who are poor are born into poverty, which is not their fault. Many people have made bad choices or may have mental problems. Some people were doing just fine and lost everything due to some catastrophe like serious illness or loss of a job, or GASP this wonderful economy we are all struggling with.

I am not saying that I don’t have my days of having Scrooge like thoughts myself. I am ashamed of myself for having those thoughts too and I usually have to stop and pray for forgiveness. We can't pass judgment on people when we don't know what has happened. We're all on this planet together, like it or not.

January 16, 2011

Que Sera Sera. What ever will be will be. A little snow in Mississippi is an amazing thing for us and we are well aware that we don’t know how to drive in the frozen stuff. Snow in and of itself does not bother me. It’s the slushy stuff that refreezes and the black ice that strikes fear in my driving heart. Therefore I tend to stay off the roads until I hear they are clear.

Last week I stayed in doors that first Monday of the Great January Snowmageddon. I could hear all about the many snow induced accidents being broadcast over the scanner. Cars and pickups were apparently sliding and slipping into ditches and trees and each other on a regular basis. I felt quite safe and snug as a bug inside my little home perched on the hill. I did bundle up and walk down the hill to my mom’s and walked her little dog. It didn’t take him too long to find just the right spot to mark then he was ready to get his little frozen toes back inside.


My own two mutts were burrowed into their igloos. I had stuffed an old king comforter in one and some old lumpy pillows and a blanket in the other. Both of the dogs were in their padded rooms and all I could see was little noses sticking out waiting for me to come fill the food and water bowls. They were not the least bit impressed with the white stuff blanketing their yard.

I was not able to ignore my phone though. The part time work I do was put on hold because number one, the roads were slick and I was not about to get out on them and number two, the stores didn’t open because of the same reason I gave in reason one! I did start out on Tuesday as soon as I knew the roads were okay and that is when the strange weather related accident happened to me!

I had parked the van pointed toward the east and when I opened the door to get out, a strong gust of wind, caught the door and hyper-extended it. It sounded like something had ripped the door off. I got out and looked and everything looked normal until I closed the door. Another loud pop and I saw it was hanging a bit askew and had a wrinkle in it. Uh ohhh!

I had to climb in on the passenger side and drove it to the local body shop and after he got the door open the verdict was not good. The complete door has to be replaced. It seems the gust of wind popped the outer skin loose and the hinges are warped. I really hated to walk into my insurance agents office and lay that story on them because it sounded so bizarre but when I arrived the same thing had happened to one of them so it wasn’t such an oddity after all.

Now the roads are clear, all that is left of Snowmaggedon are the remnants of the snowmen that my daughter built, my husband has taken down the Christmas lights and my van is sitting in the body shop getting fitted for a new door and some work on the front fender and a paint job. So here I sit without a vehicle because of a freak of nature and I am still behind in work. Que Sera Sera