Aftermath of holidays

Halloween was over months ago. Thanksgiving was done weeks ago.  Christmas was finished just yesterday. New Years Eve is tonight. For the first time, I'm glad the madness is over and I'm looking forward to the start of the new year.

This holiday seemed to really sneak up on me this year.  Having a part time job really cut into time for those usual memory making traditions. As annual cycles go, it was not the best year for me personally. Too much bad stuff happened with the drama of loss of a significant family member and even the end of friendships for the betterment of myself but there was gain in family numbers with happy events and a birth which helped keep some emotional balance. 

The lesson of the year is simply a commitment to self and to those that I love. It's an affirmation that my instincts are good and that I do indeed need to stick to my guns. Saying no does not make me a bad person but in fact, it makes me a better person. Knowing where my limits lay and when to push them or not go beyond them helps keep me on an even keel, which in turns prevent emotional leakage over to innocent people around me and puts me in a productive attitude. Saying a permanent goodbye to certain people is sometimes a better option than continually exerting myself for those who won't or can't do the same for me. Keeping those same people at arm's length or further is not being mean. It is me sticking with the decision that I made with no regrets. Refusing to be manipulated back into those situations reinforce the strength of my character. Though others may feel lesser of me, I feel better about myself and I am the only one who is and should be living my life. 

This new year coming up seems to be gearing up for another period of major downs but hopefully there will be enough ups to help balance things. 

Colors of humanity

So racism is a big issue lately, but saying it that way is a fairly big understatement. Racism is a recurring issue but with recent events with police shootings and riots, it's become more prevalent as of lately. Racism should not be an issue. It should have never been an issue. I can't change the past but the present is being worked on and the future is a work in progress. Racism should not still be an issue. 

It disgusts me that racism is still brought in as an issue that people still feel the need that it should be discussed. The questions of how did this person overcome so much despite the judgement on the color of their skin are inane. Why can't the question be based simply on the person's experience as a human being? What does it matter if one person is African American, Asian American, Native American or Caucasian American? What is so wrong with just being American? We all live in this country together. We all work in this country together. In fact, what does it matter that one person lives across the earth or just next door. We're all human. Whether you believe that God put us on this earth or we evolved from an undiscovered ancestor, we're here now. What does it matter what color their skin is? The question might as well be how did the color of their hair distract from their ability to do their best. It's pointless. 

I make jokes that I'm the token Asian of the group, that I'm Asian so I can fix your phone or that I know kung fu. The point is that they're jokes. It's my way of poking fun at stereotypes at how they make no sense. The truth of the matter is that I can't fix your phone any better than the white kid down the street or the black kid who lives on the other side of town. They likely know more than me, not because they're black or white or blue skinned. They might know more than me cause they just work in the Best Buy cell phone department. I don't know anymore kung fu than what I see on tv or in the movies.  Keanu Reeves knows more kung fu than me. My husband is white so he glows in the dark. I can't lose him after the sun goes down. I love him, simple as that. I will keep making jokes like that because me saying those things don't matter. I don't care that I'm Asian. I don't care my husband is a white. I care that he laughs at my dumb jokes. I care that he supports me in whatever I do. I look at people for what they say. I base my feelings and thoughts on people on what they do to keep their word. People are jerks because they're jerks not because one's skin color is darker or lighter than the other person. People are nice because they go out of their way to help the people around them not because their skin is darker or lighter than another person.

As for the latest, white police officer who shot and killed a black person. I don't care that whether the police officer is white or whether he had green hair. I don't care whether the person who shot was black or pink skinned. My question is what happened. I want to know facts. I want to know what happened. I want to know how the person in question acted in a way that may have come across as aggressive. I want to know what the police officer has done on record of his actions that day that may need to be accounted for. It shouldn't matter what color their skin is or what shoes they're wearing. Maybe names and pictures should be left off record so that the events can focused on. Justice is blind until what happened is revealed and only then can justice be done.

On the riots and protests that become violet, declaring your belief that something is wrong is a right. Destroying property and hurting others around you is wrong. Rioting does nothing except show that you have no control over your own emotions and that the social injustice you cry about means nothing as you give no justice to your own actions.

Social Holocaust

Thanksgiving 2014 is over, and although I did get my holiday shopping done early, there was no rush in our family for Christmas to get here any earlier. Thanksgiving was given its due course with turkey, stuffing and all the dressings. Time was spent with loved ones and bread was broken together while memories of the past were shared and futures were hoped for.

However, it's the present that I believe needs more thought. Lately in the news all I've hearing and seeing has been social unrest--the city of Ferguson riots, another shooting in a public area, insane child abuse cases, discrimination against racism or gender preference and so on and so on. It hurts my heart and soul to hear of these things and it reaffirms my vow to help others as much as I can.

After these events, there are prayer circles and Facebook picture shares of candles posted around. I feel the need to restate the fact that I have nothing against prayer circles and each share of a Facebook pic is a way to bring about awareness of social and political upheavals but it bothers me when people say how heinous such an act and derail against the justice of it all but then do nothing about it. People feel better about themselves and congratulate themselves on the back for having said their piece and then move on with their lives as if nothing happened.

Words do not do enough. Actions add weight and meaning to words whether said in whimsy or not. Don't just pray for a child to get better. If you see a child hurt, help heal the child. If you see a person who looks lonely, spend a few minutes with that person. If you see an unfair deal going on, play evenly, even if it means giving up something of your own to make it fair. If you see something wrong happening, go right it. Mostly importantly of all, use your common sense to make sure your actions are deemed necessary and not as something that will ultimately do harm to another person or simply boost your own ego. Do good for the simple sake of doing good.

And now, I'll leave you with a message I posted to my friends and family yesterday:
Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family. Eat, drink, be merry and remember that there are those who are not as fortunate as we may be.

Be grateful for the times with our loved ones-don't focus on the negativity. Be thankful for the things you do have-because those things might not be there next time. Help others-so that the next time you need help, others may be able to help you. Most important of all, actions are more powerful than words-don't just say it, do something about it and mean it!

I give my thanks for the freedom to say all this, for the family and friends who support me and for the ability to prove myself worthy of those things. Much love to all!

Ramping up!

It's that time of the year for me . . .well, actually about halfway there. We're past Halloween, which was very easy for us this year. Just a few dollar store adds to last year's costume and the daughter became a butterfly. I doubt we'll be so lucky next year.

Anniversary has past with 12 years of marriage together. That's a whole dozen, like an egg carton! We did a sweet celebration of getting new wedding bands as we no longer fit our old ones and had an easy dinner at Red Lobster. Veteran's Day has just past. With so many veterans in our lives including my own husband, much gratitude was spread about and free meals were eaten out with a friend or 2. That day is a double, actually triple, whammy! My daughter was born that day. As all mothers around the world have and will continue to say, she's getting so big! Also, on that day, 2 of our friends got married on that day and so they also had their anniversary.

Coming up is the birthday party for the 7 year old, which is happening on the same day as my own personal birthday.  I only pray my birthday curse will not affect hers. Shortly thereafter, Thanksgiving should not be forgotten about and will, of course, be spent with family.

Of course, next month will be spent gearing up for Christmas Day. Lucky for my personal organization, our holiday shopping is done except for the work of a few handmade items that still need to be finished. Cards will be written up and sent out around the first week of December. Boxes will be mailed out shortly after that. There will holiday parties at school, family and friends.

It's a busy time of the year and I'm getting there to be ready!

  

Grazie! Prego!

The title of this entry makes it pretty clear that I'm learning Italian.  There's no particular reason why I'm learning that language, except that I found a free app that gives great lessons on learning to speak the language.  I've always loved Italy and hope to visit there someday.

https://www.duolingo.com/

PSA

Indeed, this is a public service announcement!

Have you ever wondered if there were any unclaimed monies and such that have your name on it but you are personally unaware of its existence?

http://www.missingmoney.com/

Type in your name, state and Eureka, you can claim it.  It's great with no finder's fees, so go find your money!

Adventure continues in babysitting

I'm back to wearing the Mary Poppins hat, in addition to my part time job. It's tough pulling double duty as I'm out of the house by 6:45 in the morning and not back into the house by 10 or even 11 at night. I wouldn't be able to do it without the support of the hubby. He takes care of things back at the house and goes out of his way to make sure I'm taken care of. I don't mind all the sacrifice though in the name of helping out good friends. I just have to make sure I take some time to get enough rest. I love kids anyway so it's no big deal for me to keep babysitting.

The reason I was asked to babysit was because from what I hear the babysitter before me was at the very least negligent to the baby. To my point--I don't understand how adults can harm a child, on so many different levels and at the very least I don't understand how a caretaker won't actually take care of a child. I do understand that not every person has an instinct to take care of a smaller person but if that is the case, do not put yourself in the situation of putting yourself in the charge of a young one if you know you can't handle the situation. 

A child is a reflection of a person. They learn from others around them. If you see bad behavior in the child it's likely an action they learned from you. It's tricky raising kids though. You have to make sure you love them with everything you have but without smothering them and giving them enough space to grow but still finding a way to keep them safe. You have to teach them about life situations but still giving them time to also figure things out for themselves. You also have to discipline them so that they understand they did wrong but not in a harmful way. It's an adventure taking care of a child but a child will love you back with all of their heart and makes every moment you want to pull your hair out worth it.

Life, it gets in the way at times

I'm not even sure where to begin.  Last week was the third most horrible week of my adult life. Yes, I'm aware that it's particularly sad that I'm able to keep track of such things. Murphy's Law decided it wanted to be my best friend because it was indeed a week of what could go wrong did indeed go wrong, but I won't go into it.  It's just not necessary to cry over what has already past. There is indeed a time to vent but this blog wasn't created for just that. This blog was meant to explore my thoughts, ideas and personal projects.  Unfortunately, I have nothing new on that front.  Life just kept getting in the way these past few weeks, but I'm hoping things will settle down a bit and I'll be able to get back on track with things. So, here's my affirmation for the week, cheers to finding focus again!

Creativity is everything

I consider myself a creative person. I love to create. I call myself a writer. I crochet. I paint. I sew. I bake. I love trying new things. I love making something out of nothing. So sooner or later, I always knew I would get a tattoo but because of money constraints, I had always put it off, til recently.

It's my own personal design with lots of meaning.  The rising sun represents my daughter.  The star constellation represents my husband.  The crescent moon is my personal sign.  The lily reminds me of life, death and resurrection.  I adore it and I'm happy to have it on my body.  I can't wait til I can get another one.  That's the outside of my left leg just above my knee, btw.

Life, it goes on

This is just going to be one of those updates about my personal life.  There's so much going on that it's been hard to keep up, literally.

First off, I got a job.  It's a tough job.  The first few days were especially hard.  I'm in the packing and shipping industry.  I started out loading trucks and it hurt a lot.  I even injured myself by pulling a muscle in my leg and had to call off on just my 3rd day of work.  I hated to do it but as I couldn't really move too much for about 3 days afterwards, I feel it was the better choice.  I showed up the following Monday, which apparently surprised a few people, and kept working hard.  I proved I'm no quitter and I suppose I've made a good impression as they've moved me from the trucks to sorting, which is better physically but it gets confusing at times as sorting is in actuality the weirdest geography game ever.  I'm getting it but I'll admit some days are better than others for remembering.  I'm going to keep working on it though and hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon, mentally and physically.  On the plus side, I got my first paycheck in 10 years.  It really felt good to see a check that I earned.

Second of all, it's back to school time.  If anyone remembers, last year was a nightmare with the scrambling to get school uniforms.  Lucky, I thought ahead and already got most of what my daughter needed clothing wise and kept basics on hand so the process is so much smoother this year.

Those are the major points.  Of course there are the millions of day to day things that keep me busy.  I keep trudging ahead as best as I can even if it means taking a step backwards at times.

There's a place you can go . . .

It's called the YMCA! 

Yeah, I can't help myself.  

But these days it's not just for young men, it's a whole family facility.  We decided to sign the whole family to join the YMCA.  It really surprised me just how many different programs they have available for anyone in the family from swim lessons for kids, aerobics and workouts for adults and even aquatic exercises with a therapy pool for people to move around easier.  

That's the thought for this time.  

I game again!

I game again and to a gamer, which I am, it's basically saying, "I live again!"  I can play FP perspective games, without any sort of nausea.

I have in fact been playing Skyrim for the past 2 weeks.  I remember when I first got the game I was excited to play but 45 mins on the dot into It and I was ready to keel over with an upset stomach.  I decidedly to just give it a shot and ended up playing 2 -3 hours without realizing.  It was so great to be able to enjoy the storyline and gameplay without having to pay the price of nausea for the rest of the night.  I felt like my old self.  Since then it's become my obsession, my anti-anger.  Instead of staying angry about a situation, I hold out until I can get in a few hours of Skyrim and I'm no longer angry.  It just puts me in a better mood to be able to do something that I was denied to do for so long.  I can only hope that this continues and something doesn't cause me to lose my newly refunded happiness.

-current- Season cleaning

I will be the first person to admit that being organized is a bit of an obsession for me.  To my husband, it's a huge obsession and often a contingent of fighting between us.

It's the same old story that I want to clean and get rid of things while he doesn't want to go through stuff and doesn't want to throw anything away.  It's a curious situation to me cause he's a tech geek who loves all the new shineys, gets a new shiney he wants to use right now but refuses to throw the old shiney because it might still be useful even though new shiney is supposed to be a replacement for old shiney.  I love my trinkets and personal shineys but I'm well aware that a person can't keep everything and there's no point in trying to keep everything.  There's only so many hours in a day and if a person has too many things to do, I ask how can that person enjoy each and every single item.  The answer is that it's impossible, if you have too much stuff.  Also, interests come and go and people change and move on.  What once might have been important may no longer have meaning many years or just weeks later.  I hate to be inundated with junk constantly and refuse to live like that constantly.

It's good to clean, good to get rid of and good to keep some things, but not to the point that things no longer have meaning.  Here's a little motivation:

Dracula's Ball

Dracula's Ball on Summer Solstice was fun.  

Here is an official bootleg of Samantha Diaz's performance.  

In summer

School's out for the summer, or at least it will be in about 2 days.  It's a day that every kid looks forward to and all parents dread.  

Actually, it's not all quite that dramatic.  I like having my kid at home and the fact that I only have 1 kid helps with that mentality a lot.  I do enjoy spending time with her though of course, I enjoy those few hours that she spends with the grandparents every so often, which happens just once or twice a month.  I never wanted to be one of those parents who drops off their kid/s every weekend at the grandparents while during the week the kid is at daycare while parents works.  Seriously, what's the point of having a kid if you never spend time with the child?  

During the school year, it gets so busy it feels like I never see my own kid so I'm looking forward to this summer.  I like our family day trips whether to someplace fun and different or just out running errands together.  It's not just idle time.  I usually have a planned educational hour everyday, whether it'll be practicing her recorder, reading a book together, doing an art and craft project and other such activities.  This year I'm adding astronomy to the learning lessons and I can't wait for a late night or two looking through my telescope to show her the wonders of the universe.  

Bring on the longer days, bring on the warm weather.  I'm looking forward to it all!

Memorial Day, things remembered and things to come

Today is Memorial Day, a day to honor those who lost their lives while in the service of their country.  I'm thankful every single day that my husband is not one of those who made the ultimate sacrifice and I think of those we were not nearly as lucky.

For too many though, Memorial Day is about the start of summer for barbeques, going down to the shore and family time.  It's not a bad way to spend the day.  It's the sort of thing that a person can only truly appreciate by having experienced it his or her self and as much as I believe everyone should understand such a solemn occasion it is, I don't wish for people to suffer unnecessarily.

My heart goes out to those who have sacrificed so that not all have to feel such pain.  

Adventures in babysitting

I couldn't help imagining that as I picked the title of my newest post to hear it in an epic movie VoiceOver with the added effect of an echo. Can you tell I'm a child of the late 80s/early 90s?

Getting to the point of things, I'm playing nanny to a friend's baby as she is forced to go back to work. The pay is low though to be fair I didn't ask much and the reason for her to go back to work is because they can't afford for her to stay home. Daycare, as everyone is aware, is expensive so I'm a cheap but loving alternative.  

I love babies.  I have my one baby, who isn't an actual baby anymore at the age of 6.  I love babysitting. It's all the fun of having a kid without the work.  It works well for everyone.

Not that I'm anywhere near perfect or anything like that but well, everyone knows the wonders of a British nanny, not that I'm British either.  

The pen is mightier than the keyboard

I fancy myself a writer.  I'm aware of the fact that I'm being redundant as this is a post of a fairly well updated blog.  Granted, I do absolutely nothing to promote my blog but I write things and I put it here as part of my creative process.

Again, to obviously state, I'm not a stranger to technology.  I have a smartphone--Samsung Galaxy S3, to be exact and, which in case you can't tell, I do love having it though I don't use it as constantly as some may think.  As said in a previous post, I also have an Ipad2.  It is my second brain, and without it my productive levels would be near nil or feel close enough to it.  I also have a PC.  My current model is not one that I built myself.  Due to space constraints, I have a Toshiba All-in-1 touch screen desktop.  I have no use for it being a touch screen but the specs are standard and as I mostly type, read, research with the occasional Sims game, it does it's job very well.

With having all that established, I adore pen and paper.  A lot of my non-prose poetry, that no one is ever allowed to read, is still put into a blank book of sorts.  I collect interesting journals and I love new types of pens.  My favorite type of writing instruments are fountain pens and such.  I do even own a quill with a bottle of ink.  There is just something romantic to take fill an empty page with the written word.  For me, it feels like my hand knows what to put down before my thought process has even started.

The point is, though, that when it comes to sharing thoughts and ideas, do so in whatever way you feel comfortable and never feel limited to a single medium.  

Family, whether black, white, yellow, peach, purple or green

I'm Asian as I've stated a time or two on this post.  I love being Asian as there are so many jokes that go along so well with my interests and hobbies and such.  Here's a kicker--my husband is of European mixed ancestry; in other words, he's a white boy and I love him dearly.  We have a daughter, together.  To some, I'm just pointing out the obvious.  To others, I may have just shocked them into controversy.

The really interesting part is that I never even stopped and thought about how we're a interracial couple or how my kid is a mixture of races.  To me, my husband is my husband.  My child is my child.  We're a family.  We love each other and we spend time together and that's that, so no need to call the news media.

And yet, this commercial from the Cheerios company and its sequel is enough to stir hateful remarks.  I saw it and my first thought was simply that she's a cute kid cause she wants to make sure her daddy is eating healthy.  It didn't even register in my mind that the father is black and the mother is white.  To be honest, I don't see why such a thought should have ever been pointed out to me.

In a world, where people open gun fire in public areas, where people are still fighting for the right to marry who they want to marry, where people are still struggling to put food on the table, where people are trying their hardest to be able to take care of themselves, we should be happy that this commercial shows a family that cares about each other, but apparently, that thinking is just too forward.

Gaming means having lived many different lives

I'm a gamer.  I don't mean I sit on Facebook for hours playing FarmVille, Candy Crush or whatever crash culture game is popular at the moment.  I mean I shot my first Nazi in Wolfenstein.  A few of my favorite games on the Nintendo are River City Ransom, Dragon Warrior and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I killed my fellow competitor with a blood splattered fatality in Mortal Kombat.  I played the original Sims and destroyed my Sim City.  My first RPG on the original Playstation was Parasite Eve and one of the top games on my list of all time favorites is Star Ocean the Second Story.  Many hours were sucked into Guild Wars and a few other MMOs.  I played against my husband and his army friends in home Halo 2 tournaments and won a few times.

I'm a fairly hardcore gamer, especially for being a bird (female) but I didn't go around telling anyone who will listen cause it used to be that I was too busy actually playing the game.  Nowadays, life keeps me busy with matters of the family and such.  The rare and few nights that I push all things aside for my own relaxation and entertainment I can't enjoy my first lifelong obsession.  

RPGs are the forefront of my love for video games.  I live through the plots.  I fall in love with characters.  I dwell in adventures of far-off lands.  I also adore simulation games.  I have no idea why I find planting turnips in any of the Harvest Moons so enjoyable for the many hours I have played any of the game series.  I obsess over the newest Sims games because I likely have a god complex and revel in it.  My first genre love though was in FPSs (First Person Shooters).  My favorite one on the PC while growing up was this crazy, gory and sadistic game called Blood.  I have mastered shotgun physics and call it my Equalizer as I can level any areas with it.  

I still play sim games any day of the week and wish I had more hours to devote to RPGs but I can't seem to play FPSs anymore.  I get motion sickness.  I can't play for more than 45 mins before I start feeling the acids in my stomach start to boil.  I am able to build on the time to add about 10-15 mins each day.  If I can up the total to about 3 hours, I can play for as long or as little as I want and it won't bother me but I can't go more than 3 days without playing or I lose any tolerance and go back to feeling ill at the 45 min mark.  It's near heart wrenching for me when that happens cause it takes me a week or so to build up that tolerance, get into the story, just to feel ill and not be able to enjoy the game like before.  

I have actually resorted to trying motion sickness remedies.  The first try is an all natural remedy that I have to rub behind my ears.  It's supposed to give instant relief if I am already feeling nauseous but that had no bearing on me whatsoever.  I'm going to try it again by putting it on beforehand as a preventive measure to see if that works.  If it gives me no results, there are a few other cures out there that I can try.  I'm not giving up quite yet.  I hope to game again!

Erin go bragh!

I'm Asian and I'm darn proud of it.  I get a lot of awesome jokes out of being Asian.  I do admit that I adore anything from Ireland though.  I also have a soft spot for Italy too but in this post that is simply a side note.

It's St. Patrick's Day today!  I love wearing something green. I'm dying for some Irish Whiskey cake.  I need to get some Irish potatoes.  I have tried a Stout so I won't be drinking one today as it's just too bitter for me but please pour me some Bailey's any time.  As for Irish luck, I'll take some anyday.

fashion or style

I'm fairly sure I've stated the fact that I'm not in any way a girly type of girl.  I'm a jeans, t-shirt with sneakers and functional jacket type person and those items must be comfortable but not slob-like.  In fact, these items are a pretty accurate basis of what my everyday wear looks.



Every few months or so I give myself a challenge, I may not always accomplish it but I do my best to make headway towards doing so and the current challenge is that I dress more girly, specifically that I wear a dress or skirt at least once a month.  I don't enjoy clothes shopping though.  I find a lot of clothing to be tasteless--too revealing, too gaudy and sometimes just not enough common sense.  So far, I have only found one item to be feasible.



I have yet to officially buy it but it's a start.  I'll continue my search.  Wish me luck and perhaps I'll paste up what I end up wearing on here once I figure out what the name or ribbons and lace that I'm doing.

VD; no, not that one

Valentine's Day is tomorrow.  My husband has already admitted that he has nothing for me.  He's still alive, so no, I haven't killed him.  To be honest, I don't have anything for him for Valentine's Day either so we're pretty even.  Obviously, he hasn't killed me as I'm able to post.  To be fair, I do indeed have a small gift for my child's Valentine's Day gift, so we're not totally heartless jerks like that.

Actually, as you can tell, neither the hubby or I have big expectations for Valentine's Day.  We've been together for 11 years and some years we at least try to have a nice dinner together while other years we exchange small gifts or we just have hot sex together cause that is how we roll.  It works for us and obviously, we're happy together as hence the 11 years together.

I'm actually not one of those people who only considers Valentine's Day as just a made up holiday by the greedy card company corporations but I'm most definitely not one of those people who makes a huge production of the day either.  I might put on a red sweater, I might put a cut out of a heart on the door or fridge, I may pass out Valentine's Day cards or I might not even notice what day it is.  As a teenager, when I'd see couples who would give each other these expensive gifts to swear their forever love just to break up the next week, I ignored the insanity of it and would sometimes buy a brand new coloring book with a brand new pack of crayons and just color.  It was extremely relaxing and a past time that I still enjoy with my daughter though not just on Valentine's Day.  I kind of figure if it's your thing, enjoy Valentine's Day.  It's sometimes to look forward to after the cold weather of the winter but spring isn't quite ready to bloom and helps boosts the economy with all the random gift buying because who doesn't enjoy a small present every so often?  Honestly, a holiday that reminds us to show some affection to the ones we care about is okay in my book.  Granted, that's something that should happen every so often but I see nothing wrong with an innocent holiday like Valentine's Day.

On the other hand, Valentine's Day has broken up couples though.  Some people have these notions that it's supposed to be this super romantic night and when it doesn't happen, there's blame and break up.  Honestly, if a couple breaks up over something like a simple holiday gone wrong, they weren't meant to be anyway, whether there were already underlying issues between the two or because they find out they have different opinions of lifestyles and such.

My advice for Valentine's Day is take it for what it is--do something small to show the people around you that you care for them.  If you want to do something big for that special person, talk to them about it to make sure you're on the same page as each other and come up with something that both parties are happy to do or not do together.  If you don't have a special someone, do something in general to help your fellow people such help a neighbor, volunteer your time at an animal shelter or something small to pamper yourself.  So, enjoy Valentine's Day, cause there's no reason to be a heartless jerk.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this post

I'm a little early on this update but with so much happening in such a short time my mind is feeling overloaded so I figured I might as well unload it ahead of my usual posting schedule. I actually have enough on my mind that I may do at least one other post besides this one in the next week or so and it'll actually be on a specific topic that has some time relevance, but that may change.

The main topic for this post is snow or I should say the troubles of snow but to be even more precise--the troubles of more snow, as I've already posted a complaint about the current cold season. Like they say in those infomercials, "But wait! There's more!" Because with at least 7 inches of snow on the ground, Mother Nature decides to keep making up for all the light precipitation during the past decades' worth of winter seasons and dumps an ice storm on top of us. 

Of course, we lost power with all that weight on tree branches and old tree trunks hanging over power lines. No electricity for 3 days in 10-15 degrees below freezing temperatures is not fun. Lucky for my family, we only suffered for 1 night and spent the other 2 nights at my in-laws home. It's a good thing I get along with my second set of parents so well. My own parents refused to leave their house though. My father being from the old country refused to keep the portable generator on to run something like a space heater even though he admitted the cold was horrendous.  He also refused to go to a relative's house because he needed to make sure the basement didn't flood. My family survived though. The only good thing about them sticking it through was that they were able to watch my dog as I couldn't bring him where we were at because of the solitary life of the cat occupant. My daughter's beta fish wasn't as fortunate to survive the frigid air though and we had to give a burial to the sea. My daughter was very sad for a few days but Henry had a good life and we already have his successor, who she named Ponyo.

The worst of all about this is the fact that we're not done yet. There's another snow/ice storm to come that predicted to not only drop another 6-8 inches of snow but also another 0.10 of an inch of ice.

Honestly, I'm not sure how much more I can take!  My child has already missed about a week of school because of all the snow days and she's likely to miss another few more days at least. I'm already in the process of scrambling to get caught up in my work and projects. I don't really need another drop of winter precipitation to continue slowing down my progress.  

Winter blues

Yes, for the first time in my remembered life, I have the winter blues.  When winter is ready to make way for spring, I'm usually ready at the same time.  It's Feb. The groundhog has predicted another 6 weeks of winter.  The cold season is in fact still hitting us with ice, snow, temperature drops and more of it.  I'm sooo ready now for it to be done.  It's like the cold weather is trying to make up for the last 10 years of really light winter fall.

On the plus side, the last snowfall was at least wet snow and not the powdery snow.  Traffic-wise not the best but for snowman making, it's a blast!  My daughter has been begging to make a snowman since we've been back in PA.  We finally got the right kind and we made the best of it by making her snowman just over 6 ft tall!

(Yes, this is a picture taken by me!)

It was nice to be able to enjoy it while we could cause tomorrow it's just ice.  Another day of school off for her likely.  My husband might be forced to call off work.  I'm going to have to scramble to make up for another day of idle time.  I might just have to give up and drink a hot chocolate.   I suggest anyone reading this, make sure your chocolate supply is still good cause I made sure mine is stocked up!

When is January over?

Heck, when is 2014 over?  20 days into the year and I'm ready for it to be done.

A family member unexpectedly took a turn for the worse and I am in the middle of helping to plan his funeral.  I've been doing what I can to help my loved ones cope.

I am sad, overwhelmed, stress and just tired of being blamed for everything that is going wrong.

It will get better but right now, it's bad.  That's all I have for now.  Next time, there will be more.

New Year, Same Me

No resolutions; I never do New Year resolutions.  It's a statistical fact that no one ever keeps it, so there's no point in making one.  If you didn't do it last year, what makes a person think they're going to keep it this year?  More likely than not, they won't.  I refuse to add to that failing mind set.  I make up my mind, and when I'm darn good and ready, I do it.  I've been doing really good on that and I hope to keep going with that.

I do, however, have a personal wish for 2014.  I beg for it actually--less drama.  It's a fruitless wish I know, but a girl can dream, can't she?  Also, a little more rest and sleep would be great.  This is more ending up like a personal wish list, isn't it?