Is anyone else bothered by this?

The war on terror we fight today is a generational struggle that will continue long after you and I have turned our duties over to others. That is why it is important to work together so our nation can see this great effort through.

-Dubya, State of the Union Address 2007

(edited to add that the bolded text is mine, not Dubya's.)

Thought for the Day, Kinda

On my way to work every morning, I pass several churches. I love to read the messages that churches put out on their signs, everything from doom and gloom ("Repent, the end is near!") to happy little warm fuzzies ("Jesus loves you!"). In fact, we had a game in college where we replaced the word God on those signs with the word Bob which was always funny...One classic that I remember specifically was "A lot of kneeling gets you in good standing with...Bob."

This morning I noticed one that says something along the lines of "Always be content with where you are. Never be content with who you are." At first I was in agreement with that, because a lot of stress and misery in life can be avoided by not constantly longing to be somewhere else. I spent the first few months I was in Montgomery wishing I was ANYWHERE but here, but now I'm actively trying to like it here, see what makes Mo-Town special and fun and a good place to live. Granted, I have no intention of staying here the rest of my life, but while I'm here I might as well make the best of it.

However, the second part of that thought is nagging at me. Again, at first I was in agreement, in that if you are never content with who you are you will always be striving to be a better person. Cue PollyAnna, stage left. How many people in the world who will say "I am not content with myself as I am now" are that way because they want to better themselves, really? I think more often if a person is not happy with who he or she is, that leads him or her to continue thinking negatively about himself or herself. I know that I fall victim to that. "I'm too fat," leads to "I don't have the energy to exercise," plus "I can't afford to buy health food," coupled with "I can always start my yoga tomorrow when I'm in a better mood," leads to me doing nothing but sitting on the couch, watching Doctor Who and feeling sorry for my poor slovenly fat self.

So perhaps the second half should read instead: "Always be content with who you are and strive to make yourself even better." Now, when I start my yoga today and buy my health food on the way home from work, I can be content in the knowledge that I will only spend a few hours on the couch tonight rather than the entire evening...right?

Watch this space...

Or this one, as the case may be, since it points to the actual blog...

Franny and Zooey

Zooey in black, Franny in grey and Mills in the middle

Finally, they are together again. Be free kitty girl. Tell your brother I miss him.

Tagging Makes a Literary Comeback

I've been tagged by liz, and I'm further tagging Amy and Sooz.

Instructions are as follows:

1. open the nearest book to page 123
2. type 6 - 8 lines of the book
3. tag 3 other folks (only if you want to, I only tagged 2 people and that's how these things get started...)

From Hidden Talents, by Erica James:

She was saved from having to respond by the sound of a door slamming upstairs. Grateful for the distraction, she excused herself. She took the stairs two at a time, wishing, as the distance grew between her and Nathan, that she could turn back the clock on the last five minutes.

What had just happened?

How could she have made such a fool of herself?

Of course he hadn't been trying to jump her. All he'd asked her for was a kiss. It was no big deal.

And I don't even know who that SHE is because I haven't gotten that far in the book yet...

Next??

"I've Learned Something Today..."

When you leave earlier than your possessions while moving and one of the things left behind is your vacuum cleaner and your father mentions to you that they found that the bag you'd left in the vacuum was full before bringing it with your other things to your new house...it is a good idea to open your vacuum cleaner outdoors because there might not have been a bag in it for the past four months while you were using it to vacuum the aforementioned new house.

Just a suggestion.

My knees are cold.

For the past 5 years or so, there has been a greyhound in the bed with me every night that I've slept in my bed at home. I could wake in the middle of the night from a wonky dream or because my sinuses are again waging war on my respiratory system and reach just behind my knees and find a warm furry body...and a soul that reminded me that I wasn't stuck in a never-stopping elevator or trapped under the stairs at the Manchester airport, but I was home with my furry family and it was okay.

My knees are cold.

On Friday morning Scott and I made the decision to cease treatment of Profile's tumor that had invaded the muscles that spread over the top of his skinny little pointed head. The vet told me things like "mottled places on the skull" and "could degenerate quickly" and "small chance of relief from surgery." I heard over and over "it's done, you now have two greyhounds instead of three, and your knees are going to be cold." Just like that...I walked out into the parking lot at the vet hospital and called my parents, crying my eyes out, while Scott made arrangements with the vet. Just like that...I woke up that morning and had three, now I had two. Just like that...Profee walked into the back area of the vet's office, as proud and brave as ever, and I never saw my handsome man again.

But I'm okay. Much more okay than I thought I'd be. I cried a lot, but I'm done crying, at least for now. I packed up his collars and muzzle and put them out of sight till I'm ready. I cleaned up the toys he'd thrown around the den and vaccumed his hair out of the carpet. I loved that dog so much...Profile and I went through injuries together, he helped me be steady when my vertigo hit, he could understand me in two languages...he was always looking out for me, even to go so far as to look into the shower to make sure the water wasn't hurting me. But I'm okay.

Urban Family asked me to join them Sunday night for dinner, and when I spoke to my dear friend in Yorkshire he said that he was glad I was out with people because apparently all of them thought I was going to put my head in the oven just as soon as I got back to Montgomery. Not so. My oven is electric anyway, and I don't do crispy.

So to my Profee-Man, My Noodle, My Bubby-Boy, godspeed. Thank you for the past six years. There is so much of it that I couldn't have gotten through without you. SO much. Thank you for listening and for not minding if I got your fur wet when I needed to cry. Thank you for ALWAYS knowing when to lick me on the end of the nose, especially right after you'd licked something unpleasant. Thank you for the crop circles you left in the leaves out in the backyard, and for the bits of plastic bag that I'm still finding in the den from the last time I took too long to let you out. Thank you for finding your way back to me after you were adopted that one time. Thank you for finding me, I'd been lost for a very long time.

Much love, Noodle. MUCH love. My knees will be cold but my heart is warm.

Mommy

Eye Love You

My but I'm violent this year...

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Slap stupid people in the head Get your resolution here.

Yo Toto, when did we move to Kansas??

6:00 am I am awakened to the storm siren going off. To those of you who live or have lived in the western half of our country that's probably no cause for alarm. For me, who heard them last when a tornado ripped through my town just down the road from my house, it got my attention.

6:01 am My TV turns on (as a back up b/c I frequently ignore the alarm clock) and is already on the weather channel. Huh, they're talking about Montgomery on the national weather channel. Turn up the volume. Doppler Radar...rotation...take cover in Montgomery County...

6:15 am Have gathered the animals and am in the bedroom, not yet going to the walk in closet because I can't see the TV from there and they still haven't said there's a tornado on the ground.

6:20 am Storm sirens stop just as rain/wind/THUNDER picks up. I hear branches from my pine tree in the front yard smacking my storm windows.

6:21 am Thank GOD for storm windows.

6:35 am Finally see all clear on TV, get up to let the dogs out. Dogs won't go out. Get in the shower. Hear thunder that rattles the house. Speed up shower.

7:00 am See on local news that storm with rotation has headed for Tuskegee. Thank GOD again that I didn't have to sit in my walk in closet with five animals. Feed dogs.

7:15 am Sit down with hazelnut hot choc and the internet.

Quote of the Day: "When you're a meteorologist and you step outside to go to work and it's 70 degrees at 4am on January 5th, you know it's going to be an interesting day..."

Helloooooooo!

Happy New Year! This is what happens when good girls go wrong...and to Mary's in Atlanta...and when one of the girls has a husband whose mobile phone can shoot pictures after blinding the subject of said picture with a teeeeny tiny light that makes you want to rip your eyeballs out and start over...

*Much Love* to E and A.