First off....remember Little Adele, my friends daughter with the brain tumor. That poor family has been through hell and back and they have only just begun. They are learning what some of us with chronically or severely ill children also had to learn. In the constant battle to get your child well, the journey is nothing but very high peaks and very low valleys. Adele's family have seen the very low valleys starting with their child's diagnosis of a brain tumor and continuing through some of the road blocks and unexpected events that go with hospitals, treatments and all that implies. Luckily this week, Adele's family got to experience a pretty high peak as they found out that the new MRI's taken show a reduction of the main tumor and the other tumors which had also started to grow. Adele's family have asked intercessory prayers from Father Emil Kapaun. I know they want Adele to be the miracle that helps to make Father a saint. Please keep praying for this little girl and her family because this high peak will be followed by some more valley's and they need all the support both physical and spiritual, that they can get.
I am currently involved with the IRS again. I wish they would hurry up and abolish this boil on the butt of Americans. Apparently after waiting eons to get my refund.....they have now gone back to 2011 and found a discrepancy in my numbers which leaves me owing them. They have given me until July 17th to pay them in full. Hmmm....I am thinking I will call them and tell them that I am worried that their identity has been stolen and therefore I will have to go to great and time consuming lengths to make sure that they are in fact the IRS as they say they are. Now their check might be held up because my right hand doesn't know what my left hand is doing, but they need to be patient, because after all.....this is in their best interest. I expect that they might receive their payment Octoberish or Novemberish, but "if" it is actually owed them....then they can be assured they will receive it. You think they will be happy with that? The truth is....I will be making payments when and where I can. Deal with that IRS!
My house is about to become a construction zone. It is true that what we allow our last kids to do vs. what we were willing to allow our first kids to do is as different as night and day. Had my older kids taken their money to Lowes and purchased supplies to do a major remodel in any part of my house, I would have given them a resounding "NO!" and told them that I hoped they could get their money back on their purchases. Now though....I am worn down and have the attitude that if it doesn't involve me and they clean up after themselves.....I am okay with it. Yeah....so all of you young parents that think, "I will never be like that," you just wait! If they aren't doing anything illegal, harmful and it keeps them off the streets....you too will just turn a blind eye and go on about your day.
So what is said project? Z is actually making himself a "real" room. The room he currently has is part of the basement which has two makeshift 1960ish paneled walls and two cement walls. It also has old linoleum flooring that my parents put in circa 1977. That project alone made me glad that they were divorced at the time so that they could go to their neutral corners after the project was done. Divorced people should not work on home improvement jobs together! Just sayin'! As you can imagine....that flooring is nasty now and the whole room needs a make-over. Z decided to use his money and a little investment from my father (my father actually likes Z) and he and a friend under the guidance of another friend are going to build actual walls, put in a new floor, new ceiling and a door (the room has no door currently) to make it look and feel like a real room and not just another piece of the basement. Construction starts on Monday and I have earplugs ready. Will keep you updated on the progress!
Okay....anyone hiring? It appears that my finances have been stretched to the point that they are non-existent. You can only be creative with accounting to a point and I reached that point in January. Since, I have been treading water and hoping not to go under for the third time. We are now on two and half times.....the next time could be financially fatal. In short....I need a job! Sadly though....I can't take just any job. If I could I would be much richer than I currently am. As those of you who know me or follow my blog know.....I had nearly the perfect job until a year ago February when I was laid off and the business closed down. My boss let me put my kids first and if I had to leave work suddenly because of David or be gone because of David and sometimes Z......I never heard a word except "keep us posted" and "come back when you can." Since that time I have remained unemployed and have been told more than once that because of my home life....I am largely unemployable. There are things that I am very good at. Being a mom and running a home has given me many skills that make me a good employee in just about any business. I am a great people person (at least in most cases) and I love to plan things. One of the best jobs I ever had involved event planning on a large scale and it was amazing. I am proud to say that I was part of an event that brought in more than any of the previous years. Of course my dream job would be as a free lance writer. I would love to be able to write for a publication(s) from my own home, make my own schedule and BONUS....get paid for it. Dream big...right?! I decided to take my plight to the same place I take all my plights.....to Facebook. My fb friends are amazing and they always come up with ideas and suggestions that I would never have thought of. As of last night I had a whole list of ideas not to mention I had friends who shared my post so that others might see it. Monday I begin my search and who knows.....maybe I will find my perfect fit. Again....I will keep you posted.
Finally.....the latest big news is Paula Deen. You all might know her as the Food Network's down home country cook who likes to cook with lots of butter and oil pronounced ol with a long o, in her southern drawl. Her fans have spent years watching her make fantastic high calorie, high fat, delectable dishes and drooled on our tv's only imaging how good they must taste.
Deen took her first hit in the media a while back when we learned she had Diabetes. Her cooking had caught up with her and she had not immediately disclosed her health issues to the public. Shame on her keeping her private life private. Bad Paula. She immediately stepped up though and started her Diabetes crusade along with revamping her yummy dishes so that they had less butter, oil, sugar, calories and fat. In the process we saw her start to lose some weight and do a lot of talking on her then vs. now cooking attitudes as well as health attitudes. It made her human in a lot of peoples eyes. She made a mistake and was working hard to fix it, not only for her own health but for the health of those who were her fans. Yay Paula!
Well our Southern Queen of Cooking has taken a new hit in the public eye by saying the word n**ger in public and she is being crucified across the board for it. Let me say first of all.....she immediately apologized for saying this and admitted that she should not have. What more could she do? She made a mistake and she owned up to it and apologized. That is more than we get from some others....right? However, because of this one action...she has now been fired from her Food Network show and is being publicly black balled. Okay folks....to this I say...REALLY???? Should she have said it? No! It was unnecessary and inappropriate. However....we have all at one time or another said something unnecessary and inappropriate. I am truly sick of everything being racist. We all need work but this is ridiculous. Deen apologized! She can do no more. She is far from the only racist celebrity out there. However she is a high profile white woman and therefore fair game for a race baiting press and government. It makes me wonder where this same press was when Kanye West stepped on Taylor Swifts big night saying Beyonce was the best and therefore should have won the award that was presented to Swift? That was racist or at the very least looked that way. What about Obama's preacher who feels that whites are the enemy and spoke out about it loudly and often? What about all the high profile blacks who have openly wished death to whites or an eradication of the the white race? This happens daily and yet it is skimmed over by the press and it seems to be perfectly fine.
Bottom line.....we are all racist in our own way. Many of us come from parents who knew nothing but racism and segregation. It was a way of life and words like "N" were everyday language. We have grown and educated ourselves, but it is hard to show the respect that the blacks demand when their music and attitudes are full of hate for others and self deprecating lyrics calling themselves "N". Heck I have heard blacks in everyday conversation calling each other the "N" word. Why if this is such an objectionable term is there not more outrage among their own race? In my opinion....many blacks hold a grudge for what happened to their ancestors by our ancestors. However...that is history. Slavery may have touched their bloodline....but never their actual lives. My history is that my family were Irish immigrants. They were treated horribly by those who felt they were better than the Irish. Irish were viewed as nothing but low class dogs to those already inhabiting America and they were treated as such. I could go around complaining how unfair that was.....but it is history and at some point we have to let go of the past in order to make a better future.
Many blacks have let go of nothing. They feel that we (whites) owe them for the past and therefore they live off the government, refuse to work and continue to fill our prisons because of their anger, their feelings of entitlement and lets not forget...their bad behavior. Now I am definitely not referring to all blacks, but if we are honest this is a good percentage of them. If they want respect from others....they need to show respect for themselves. Don't call yourself a n**ger and chances are the rest of the world will eventually follow suit. There are many proud hard working blacks who would never utter the "N" word to one another or anyone else. They deserve both respect and to be outraged over that word. However I find the outrage by those who use the word themselves referring to both their own person and others of their race both laughable and nothing more than attention seeking to cause further race division. What is worse is that we now have a president who reinforces this bad behavior and in reality is turning this country inside out and using his own race to do it. What they don't understand is that when this is all over.....it won't matter what color you are in this country. We will all be the same.....f**cked! (Sorry for that word but it is the truth!)
Well there you have it. My brain is a little less jumbled and maybe now I can accomplish something. But then again.....maybe not. Who knows?!
You can't see me but I am giving you a standing ovation! This was a great blog. I miss your blogs and hope you find the time to enlighten us on your world more often this summer.
ReplyDeleteI am not really a Paula Deen fan. I always thought her food was just a heart attack waiting to happen. I do know that in the South the "n" work is used far more than in the rest of of the country by both blacks and whites. It is not really a shock that she would use that word as easily as she did. As a personality she should have watched her language closer knowing that someone might over hear her but I don't think that occurred to her. I don't think being racist occurred to her either.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. She was used as an example of racism for using this word. It is a ridiculous situation and yes she did apologize and I doubt she will ever say the word publicly again. She is not alone in her mishap, she just got caught and is now paying for it. We have also seen her less and less on the food network so I have a suspicion that they might have been looking to get rid of her as she was old news and the diabetes thing didn't help her ratings much. This was just the perfect chance to do it.
What you said is true. In order to get respect you need to show self respect. When blacks start showing that they don't call themselves degrading names, can educate themselves and work for a living and when the prisons majority populations aren't black, then I think people in general will start showing them more respect. Until then, I guess they will cry racist and hang onto the past as long as the government is willing to back and support them.
Nice blog. Oh and good luck on the construction.
Lets see. Loved the blog. Glad your summer is going well. Also very glad to hear that your friend got some good news on her daughter. I will continue to pray for a full and speedy recovery for her.
ReplyDeleteI too wish the IRS did not exist. You are probably being targeted because you are conservative. I hear there is a lot of that going around. wink and nod
Your sons construction project sounds interesting. I hope it goes well and that the fall out is minimal. I also hope that you can find your dream job. You would be a terrific free lance writer and maybe some company will realize that soon.
Paula Deen and racism. I think the guy above got it right. I imagine she talks like that a lot. My grandfather lives in GA and he still refers to blacks as the n word. He is not alone. You have to know that in this world we live in that the race card will be pulled whenever possible and people will fain insult and injury to almost anything.
Don't leave us hanging too long for the next blog.