Wow! I haven't seen This place in a while!

I started spring cleaning. I'm doing the usual, you know, cleaning. I've made it my mission to change a few things in the house and my life. Today I've been focusing on my computer stuff.

...Wait...

Let me catch you up. Here's the short list:

• Husband is fine now and back to work.
• The little one is growing up and in middle school now.
• I took a long break from any writing so I could get the youngest into and through elementary school; and, the oldest on to graduate not only high school but college too.

There it is, the short list. Now, one might ask, why did those things keep me from writing, releasing whatever I'm thinking about on paper, um, blogging, or whatever? I just found myself always having something else to do.

Well, everyone has to have an excuse. Back then, I found myself using this blog as more of a technical journal. Something to link everything else to. Anyone can see what was going on. I was writing on AC, Shared Reviews, Squidoo...Trying ever so hard to learn all the ropes about SEO, html, and such, I lost myself.

Then the accident happened--the wake-up call. You just never know when those life-changing events will occur. A moment in time that you get a notion you have so much on your plate that things better change or you brain is going to explode.

Then there's my beautiful little girl. I wanted to enjoy watching her grow up. I wanted to be the mommy helping at the class parties, going on field trips, and volunteering in the library.

We did all the cool stuff: aquariums, costumes, dollar summer movies, museums, and zoos! You name it, we probably did it.

All that kid stuff was a fun ride!

So, I'm back to where I started, spring cleaning...Yesterday I sorted through clothes, today I sorted through my blogs, tomorrow is another day. I'll let you know how it goes with my spring cleaning...

My Old Dictionary

I pulled down my old dictionary and the cover pulled from the spine when I opened it. The sound it made was similar to a favored pair of pants ripping at the seam when they're exhausted (or the caboose has widened too much).

The old dictionary belonged to my mother. It was a gift to her from my grandparents when she got her Masters Degree. Though I have a newer dictionary, I prefer to use this one.

When I open the book the soft thin pages feel like silk between my fingers. The aroma that rises from it's pages is indescribable, not musty or fresh. I can see a faint tinge bordering each page. It darkens in the top corners.

If I were a detective, I could pull out my spyglass, brush, and fingerprint dust to expose the identities that made their discoveries here. I think of the little hands that held this big book and used it to learn. I wonder how many of them made it big or did nothing at all? If I were a detective, I could tell you.

This old dictionary has certainly seen better days. It worked during it's prime in my mother's classrooms. It molded and enhanced many minds in it's day. It retired to my mother's bookshelf and rested there until I filed it next to my dictionary.

I will continue to use this old dictionary because it likes to be used, whether or not it's spine is broken.

Spring Cleaning and Planting time!

March 20 is the first day of spring this year. Spring Break is upon us so my teen will be home and underfoot this week. Though we're not going anywhere, we do have plans to get some things done around the house.

Every spring I like to purge. I started my spring cleaning a little early this year. I cleaned out my closet and donated 3 huge bags of clothes to Ronald McDonald House. The teen will be doing her closet this week. I'm sure here clothes will be a bigger help to the charity since hers are more stylish.

After the closets are finished I'm going to rearrange some of my planter beds. The yard is in desperate need of attention since we've had little rain. I'm looking to plant a few trees in the center of the yard. We found out recently there will be a house built across the street. We want to keep our view as natural as possible and trees should block the building nicely.

Okay, the truth is, I want big, fast growing, thick trees. When we moved here we knew a house would go up on that lot eventually. We've seen what's been popping up in the neighborhood. People are moving to the country, leveling the lots, and making our quaint area like city plats. It's crazy.

I'm thinking about planting Austrees . They are not indigenous to our area, but they look like exactly the effect we want and they're supposedly non-invasive. We're still doing research on them.

I've also thought about planting a run of Oleander, which is indigenous. However, I don't think these bushes will be enough for blockage. We have several established in the yard already and they seem stubby and short, but the flowers are nice. One big benefit of the Oleander is the deer don't eat them.

I wish the people who built our home would have left more trees in the yard. There are still remnants of stumps and roots where they leveled the lot. We've been working on clearing those, what a pain.

I hope everyone doing spring cleaning and planting this week enjoy it as much as I do.

Happy Spring to all!

How to Make Things Happen: Visualize

I've been creating change in my life and making things happen. I've always followed simple rules, beliefs. One is you can make things happen if you see it as a fact already, visualization. How they say, if you see it, you can be it.

I'll give you an example. The past year my husband has been itching to get a new motorcycle. All his buddies at work have bikes and ride together on the weekends. They tell stories of their adventures and really make owning a bike like nothing else. You know, Live for the Ride.

Last year the group went to Sturgis. This year they're going to Daytona Bike Week and Pike's Peak. So my husband has been moping about.

We really couldn't afford to make a purchase like this. I also have some trepidation about bikes. But I want him to be happy. So I told him, just start looking. So he did. The last year he's been scouring the cycle magazines, the Internet, and various bike shops.

He found a bike he really wanted, a Honda Shadow Sabre. They will discontinue the model, I think 2008 is the last, according to the dealer we spoke to. So he really gained interest in it. I guess it has something to do with how the bike runs and looks. Possibly it's because of the nostalgia of it. Who knows?

Anyhow you can see it here.

Then he decided he really wanted the exact model with the flames and all. Well, it does look cool. By this time, about 6 months ago, I'm thinking, isn't it a little early for a mid-life crisis? And, shouldn't you be wanting something like a Corvette?

His obsession with getting this bike became more intense when a local bike sale shop got one in on their show room floor. The bike is a 2007 model with only 200 miles on it, just like new.

He started visiting the bike on a regular basis. I said, if you really want this bike you should make it happen, create change in your life to make owning the bike a reality. Visualize yourself getting the money, going to the shop, and buying the bike. Then see yourself riding it.

He did. Now the bike is sitting in our garage. I've been warned by some of the other wives of this man group, you better get used to your husband being gone all the time. Personally, I don't see that happening, he put a sissy bar on it for me.

So, you can make things happen if you visualize.

Here's the new toy:

Can Negativity Squash Hope?

I was reading an article by David Servan-Schreiber about hope and healing that got me thinking. Is positive belief and hope enough? Can negativity squash hope?

The article started out telling a story of an HIV positive man who escaped AIDS much longer than expected. When asked of his treatment protocol he said he took natural supplements, ate right, and exercised. A doctor told him he had many patients following that regimen die. Then, sure as sunset, the man died. His hope and determination were squashed by some neggie nelly nay sayer, a doctor no less. At the end of the article Schreiber said patients should help themselves and instill hope in their bodies. This will do more than medicine alone.

Many years ago I had an experience with a negative person myself. My husband had bladder cancer. He went in for surgery and came out beautifully. His doctor was very optimistic about his recovery and survival.

My husband's ex-wife was a floor nurse at the hospital. She butted her head in his care when she found out he was in recovery, not her unit or specialty. I found her checking his IV and administering medication to him. My husband asked me to have her removed. After a heated discussion with the staff she was barred from initiating any care to him.

When he was moved to a private room she showed up for a visit. She walked in and told me, "we need to talk." I walked into the hall with her. She said a lot about nothing and then spouted out, loudly, "you know, he's going to die!"

I'll never forget that moment. I felt my chest get heavy and my heart sink into my stomach. I told her to leave. Thankfully she didn't come back. However, she planted the negative seed.

My husband heard her words. We did not discuss the conversation except he told me to ignore her. But I guess her statement was one he could not ignore himself. Less than a year later he was gone.

Growing up my parents taught me to think positively. They told me: "Think can do and keep not out of your life." I get it now, but then I thought they were bonkers.

Positive thinking is the mainstream for success, health, and happiness. Every day I see something that reminds me of the power of positivity.

Hope and positivity go hand in hand. When confronted with something, or someone, negative we should turn tail and make it positive. Difficult? Yes. Impossible? No.

One Way to Celebrate Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a holiday made for lovers. Couples celebrate the day exchanging tokens of love. Many couples have chosen this day to celebrate their love by getting married.

One legend, as told on the History Channel, said Valentine's Day was initiated when a priest named Valentine was put to death for performing secret marriages. As the story goes, in about 270, Claudius II had banned all marriages in an effort to recruit soldiers into service. Unmarried men were allegedly more inclined to sign onto service. When Claudius discovered Valentine's disobedience he ordered Valentine's death sentence.

Today my husband and I have chosen to celebrate Valentine's Day, our love and commitment to each other, by renewing our vows.

We decided to do this in honor of Dad. For the last two weeks I've been in a frenzy trying to put this together. Getting dinner reservations for 10 is not an easy feat on the most active couples dining night of the year. I could not get the exact restaurant we wanted, but I did get second best.

Organizing the venue: As luck would have it, for 20 years San Antonio has hosted a free Valentine's Day Mass Wedding. This will be their 21st year performing the ceremonies. Last year they held the ceremonies at the Arneson Theater on the Riverwalk because of construction at the courthouse. They will be using the venue once again this year. Frankly, I think they should use it from here on out.






The Arneson Theater is a beautiful spot located in La Villita on the San Antonio River. Spectators sit on one side of the river on rock and grass seating to view whatever performance is happening on the stage across the river.

Couples will gather and line the spectator seats while the officiant performs the ceremony. You can see images of 2008 Valentine's Mass Wedding on San Antonio (TX) Daily Photo.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Good Girls, Bad Girls, and Joyrides

A great blogger I follow, Swubird, posted The Getaway recently. I comment to him a lot about various similarities in my life to some of his posts. Today I am going to reveal a little about myself that is not widely known.

In my youth I was a "good girl" with bad tendencies. Secretly I always wanted to be a "bad girl". My badness was only revealed to my closest friends.

Once my three girl friends and I planned a weekend joyride during hush-hush sessions. Our boy friends would be camping that weekend. We talked and decided it would be great fun to surprise them at their campsite.

My best friend planned to stay the night. We decided we would hook up with our other friends and in the middle of the night we would go see the boys. It all sounded simple enough. However, the campsite was not within walking distance and not one of us had a car or a license to drive.

We schemed a plot to sneak out my sister's car, a Camaro. Brilliant!

The weekend arrived and my best friend came over. We went for a swim and discussed the exit route for our joyride. After dinner I stole a set of car keys from the bar where the extra keys were stored. We said our good nights and retreated to my room to execute the plan.

My friend and I would have made excellent burglars. We sat in my room and timed the air conditioner so we knew exactly how long it ran. (The noise from the AC would cover any noise we might make during our escape.) I informed her of the stair that squeaked if you stepped on the wrong side of it. We also decided it would be best if we crawled across the living room floor to exit out the patio door instead of the front door, which made a racket when you opened it.

Our escape went off with out a hitch. We made it out the back door and through the gate to the driveway where we found the Camaro was blocked by mom's car.

Feeling quite a bit of adrenalin we decided to take mom's car. I sneaked back into the house to retrieve the keys.

When I returned, I slipped into the driver's seat and turned the key to on. I moved the gearshift to neutral and we pushed the car out of the driveway and down the street a ways.

I looked toward the house and saw it was still quiet. I started the car and slowly drove down the street.

Once we got off my street, we turned up the radio and tuned it to our favorite station. Cruising through the city we did not see one other car. We went to pick up the other girls.

Down on Rosewood our two friends sat waiting for us on the curb. I turned off the headlights and inched the car up to them. I rolled down the window and whispered loudly, "you girls need a ride?" They laughed and jumped in the car.

I headed to Pat Booker toward FM 78. Once there we would be home free because 78 was rarely patrolled at the time. We were on our way.

I am a good driver. Technically, I've been driving since the ripe old age of 3. My dad would let me steer the car on family road trips. Also, I was preparing to get my hardship license the next year so I could drive my grand parents to doctor appointments. I had experience, but apparently not enough.

Our joyride took us down 78 to a few crossroads and eventually to FM 1103. I was not familiar with this road and followed the limits until one of my friends said, "this road is fun, go faster!" So, I did.

We cruised up and down hills. It was fun, almost like being on a roller coaster. We were laughing, singing with the radio, and talking about the guys. We were cruising about 70 mph when I hit some loose gravel.

The car fishtailed and the road turned into a sharp curve. I managed to slow it down but I couldn't get complete control of the car. The next thing I knew we were in a ditch. We were all okay.

The week before there had been a deluge of rain. The dirt banks by the ditch were mud. We assessed the situation and figured if I accelerated enough, and they pushed from behind, we could get the car out.

"STOOOPP!" The girls screamed. I stopped and got out of the car. My friends were mud from head to toe. The rear tires were dug into this mud, which was more like quicksand at this point.

My mud-soaked friends and I decided to walk back to the main road where we hoped we'd find some help. After walking about a mile we saw a truck coming. We began flailing our arms and signaling for them to stop. Of course they went on. Who picks up strangers in the middle of the night?

We kept walking. A few minutes later the truck we tried to call down returned. They saw the car and figured it was ours.

There were three good 'ol country boys in the truck. Fate would have it they had a winch on the grill. They pulled the car out.

Beaten, we headed back home. Our joyride lost it's appeal and dawn was on the horizon. Once I was back on the main road, we hit the car wash to see if the car had been damaged and to spray off my mud-soaked buddies.

The car was physically okay but caked with mud. I sprayed down my friends and we began cleaning the car. I thought we did a pretty good job.

There was a knock on my door. Sleepy eyed I opened it to find my dad glaring at me. "Do you know what happened?"

"What happened to what?" (It's always good to answer a question with a question.)

"Come with me." I turned to my friend and said I'd be back. I followed my dad downstairs and out the front door. My mom's car sat in it's spot glistening in the morning sun. I thought WOW, we really cleaned that baby up good! Then I saw a clump of grass and mud plop down on the drive way. The entire under carriage was caked with it.

Dad asked me to explain the grass and mud to him. I looked him in the eye and denied knowing anything about it. He believed me.

You see, I was daddy's little girl. I was also a good girl.

Roofs and Toilets

The weekend was full of chaos for my brood. We've been spending a lot of time at mom's house doing various tasks she can't do and dad didn't get to address. This weekend involved finishing up a roof patch.

In reality the roof needs to be completely redone. A temporary fix became necessary as the shingles lifted and scattered through the yard. We're looking into roofers and will not call the same company that did this one because of the shoddy work we saw. As the roof was being taken care of, another problem came to light.

When my sister-in-law was in for dad's funeral she had her ex replace the toilet in the hall. This was a good thing, which needed to be done.

First, I must say the toilet issue has been looming for years. The old toilet was somewhat functional but proved to be a heated issue when she came to town. My husband and brother-in-law have been trying to get a new toilet in there and always hit a brick wall with it.

Let me tell you this, they just don't make toilets like they used to. Mom has this thing with new fangled objects. (I'll probably be posting more about these oddities, so bear with me.) As we all know, toilets of recent years have become water savers. Mom believes the new toilets won't get rid of the waste deposited in them. We've been trying to convince her regardless a new toilet was necessary. We failed.

My sister-in-law succeeded. Of course my husband and brother-in-law were upset that mom never let them take care of the toilet issue. I said, "who cares as long as there is a new toilet in there." Another point I mentioned is they did not have to do the deed. This saved them from a day of work better spent on other pressing issues. I swear my voice fell on deaf ears.

So, the new toilet failed over the weekend. Investigating the guts of this contraption, we found there are specialty parts in it that may never be replaced without being special ordered. That said, Saturday night we were trying to get a plumber out for emergency service. The lines backed up. Why? Because the water saving toilet did not have the oomph to pass waste to the sewer.

Okay, so mom was right. A lesson to the tune of $275 was learned. At this point the toilet is working. We'll see what happens with it when we go back to work on the laundry room.

Christmas and the Mini-Light Phenomenon

I love Christmas! I finally finished getting what Christmas decorations I could up. Don't you just love mini-lights? It seems every year I pack away those little buggers as neatly as I can. Then at some time through the year some gremlin goes into the box, tangles them up, and ensures many of the strings won't work when you plug them in.

This year I threw away about 20 strings of lights. I am so tired of trying to go through them light by light to see if I can get them to work. It all began with the wreath I mentioned last post...

As you can see, it looked really shabby. The ribbon was faded, ornaments had fallen off or broke, and, of course, the mini-lights didn't work when I plugged it in. So, I stripped it and replaced everything.





Then we started working on the house. Every year we do pretty much the same thing. This year there's a lot less. I bought some new lights to make it look complete, but this is not near what we're used to.





When it came to the tree star, I had another incident with mini-lights. Actually, it all started a few years ago. We had this beautiful golden filigree star. We loved how this star looked and how it made our tree complete. Well, the little mini-lights quit working. We ended up replacing our beautiful star with this one.

We kept the golden star hoping one day we would be able to fix it or find a set of lights for it. Time went by and the golden star was forgotten. The other day I was helping my husband in the garage. He needed a tool so I rummaged through the tool box and found the golden star stored neatly in a zip-lock.

I had a brainstorm. Why not take the lights from the Christmas red mini-light star and put them in here? Brilliance!

I went into the house and pulled the working star down. I carefully disassembled the star and pulled the lights out. Then with utmost care, I reassembled the golden filigree star...

It didn't work! Thinking it had to be the outlet, I tried a different one. Nothing. I pulled out the fuses and put new ones in. It flashed and went out again. I thought one of the mini-lights had to be bad. Nope.

I worked on this for at least an hour. I changed the fuses and lights until, miraculously, it worked save one little mini-light. I got a new light to replace it. I pulled out the dead light and gently plugged in the new one.

I thought, "this is it! We are finally going to have our beautiful golden star back!"

It didn't work. I gave up.

Now we have two stars stored in the zip-lock.

I hate mini-lights.

Making Thanksgiving Preparations

I've been getting the house together for Thanksgiving. Actually I'm doing a little preparation for Christmas too. I'm working on rebuilding an old wreath. I'll try to post some pictures as I make some progress.

For Thanksgiving dinner we'll be frying our turkey.



I've got the turkey thawing already. So, I won't be reporting any frying disasters afterward. Really, if you use a little common sense and follow certain safety precautions, all will be fine.

I'm making a lot of the usual sides: stuffing, mashed potatoes (sweet and white), cranberries, and gravy. Grandma's bringing green bean casserole and wild rice. I'll be making a pumpkin cheese cake and a ton of appetizers to boot. We always have enough leftovers to feed the family over and over again.

This weekend we'll get the house decorated and the Christmas tree up. I want to try doing some Christmas shopping too, but I doubt I'll get to it.

I need to make updates across the board online for the holidays...So much to do, so little time. My Me page is done. I bypassed doing Thanksgiving themes. I don't know if I can decorate the blog because of all the additions I've done this year. We'll see.

Change is Good!

I have great news about my computer. My husband did not murder it. As it turns out, our problems all rooted from IE (And modem).

I'm proud to say I convinced him to open his eyes and accept change, change is good. We did a modem speed test on Speakeasy. Our modem is not performing at its peak for our paying for DSL. We'll be getting a new modem from our provider.

Next, I had been researching slow computer issues on the net. I performed all the fixes and deletions I could. The computer itself performs without flaw and is very fast for picture editing, document work, and other little things we do outside the Internet.

I searched about our browser and found slow issues with IE. Not one of the suggested fixes worked for us. So I uploaded a few different browsers to try. My husband barked about this until he sat down and tried them. We ended up with Mozilla Firefox.

Actually we tried FF before but did not like it. It seemed slow. We didn't like the toolbar or customizations. So we updated our IE6 to 7 and stuck with it. There is an IE8 now (Beta), but it did not work for us.

The FF we tried before was an old version. We tried the latest (I think it's 3.0.3) over the weekend and it's lickety split! Pagination is almost instant, pictures load quickly, and downloads are so fast it almost made my head spin.

We also tried Opera. I was really impressed with Opera. It was faster than FF on every account, but we could not get it to load Adobe flash for our music and videos no matter what we did.

The others we tried are not even worth mentioning.

I cannot wait to get our new modem! We'll really be moving on the Internet then.

All I can say about this whole experience is: Change is good!

Are You Bored?

I subscribed to a magazine, Ode (For Intelligent optimists). Actually, I won the subscription by watching various ads on this site Adperk. If you like reading magazines and like getting stuff for free, you should give it a go.

I had heard of Ode but never read the magazine before. I have to tell you it's pretty darn good! One article particularly caught my attention. It's called "Childhood's End" written by John

Taylor Gatto, a retired educator and current author.

In the article, he discusses student complaints about being bored and turning that around to teach kids to be leaders and adventurers. Being the mother of two kids, I come across the "I'm bored" statement continually.

My response is usually to get them doing something, anything, to teach them something (trivial, moral, or otherwise). I've even told the teen to go move rocks out of the yard--we grow a lot of rocks here in Texas--if she was bored. Usually she will find something to do when that suggestion comes up.

Gatto said, in reference to being bored, "We all are. My grandfather taught me that. One afternoon when I was 7, I complained to him of boredom, and he batted me hard on the head. He told me I was never to use that term in his presence again, that if I was bored it was my fault and no one else's. The obligation to amuse and instruct myself was entirely my own, he said, and those who didn't know that were childish people, to be avoided if possible."

His grandfather sounds a lot like my grandparents did. I like him.

I read this to my teen daughter. Then I backed it up with my own boredom lessons I pressed upon her in the past. I think she gets it now.

I never get bored. I hope my kids are never bored for very long. I think I'm pretty happy-go-lucky and can turn a bored day into something productive and educational yet fun. I hope I'm teaching them what Gatto's grandfather taught him.

Why is Woman's Suffrage Disregarded in History Textbooks?

Aside from my normal routine, today I must help my daughter with some research. She needs to write an essay about a significant historical event. She chose Woman's Suffrage.

I thought to myself, that is really a great topic. How timely, considering this is an election year. Plus, with Hillary Clinton making such a showing in the preliminaries, my daughter is pretty astute.

I helped her a bit last night gathering specific dates and Congressional information from some books we own. Interestingly, we were reading through her school history textbook and found it was pretty much useless as a reference. For a US history book, one would think there would be at least a chapter of discussion on such a poignant event in history. Woman's Suffrage was only mentioned in one paragraph, pretty much disregarded entirely.

In our own library we found some pretty good information to get her going. I suppose she will have to depend on the Internet for a lot of it. She is going to the school library today to check out some books on the subject. Considering what we saw in her textbook yesterday, my fear is she won't find much.

I'm Building another Blog...And Yippee for Back to School!

Insanity has taken over. Actually, I want to bring more focus to Inspired Day by Day. I also want to highlight my Squidoo lenses and provide them backlinks without taking away from either site. I figured the best way to do this is to build a blog that focuses exclusively on my Squidoo efforts: Squidoo to Do for Me and You

This is not to say I won't try to slip in a lens here and there on Inspired. You know what they say, the more links the better. I'm just trying to get a little more organized web wise...

Speaking of organization, my oldest daughter went back to school today! Yippee for me and the little one! Now I'll be able to use the computer at will, and hopefully, get back to better posting, reading, writing, and working. All without sleep deprivation!

We did last minute school shopping yesterday. You know when I was in school we never needed all the stuff they need today. I swear manufacturers and schools have joined together and created a monopoly on school supplies (or would that be a conspiracy?).

Gotta have this, gotta have that...Just wait, I'll probably be harping about the special teacher's list she'll bring home tonight--all stuff she must have by tomorrow.

The 2008 Olympics: My Favorite Game and Some General Observations

We've been tuning into the Olympic games almost every evening. My favorite game used to be Gymnastics but I've evolved to Beach Volley Ball. I can't exactly pin down why except that I used to play some myself.

It seems some of the rules have changed. Maybe it's just my memory is failing me. But some of the plays I saw seemed borderline fouls. Oh well, I'm sure they know what they're doing as they are the experts. I'm glad about the end results.

Last night I was anxiously awaiting the Men's Beach Volley Ball finals. I watched the Track events sporadically as I cleaned up after dinner. First, I could not believe the US Men dropped the baton during the relays. Then, I couldn't believe the gals followed suit.

As I picked my jaw up off the floor, I thought, that's a shame and they really should have practiced more.

Then there's the Men's 400. Why was Jeremy Wariner so upset? Of all the competitors, trials, and eliminations, he took the Silver Medal! To me, it was an awesome showing.

I think he showed poor sportsmanship in the interview after the race. The Olympics are supposed to exhibit Unity, Fellowship, and Honor. I understand he was upset about the result. However, sometimes you just have to suck it up and put on a happy face.

Finally, about China's Gymnasts...I was really suspicious about the ages of some of their girls. They just look so young. Then the investigations and reports started. It will be interesting to see what happens with this.

Do it Right, Or Don't Do it at All

It's just about lunch time so I'm going to make this quick, or so I say.

Last weekend I helped my husband change the rear brake shoes and drums on the Ranger. It was not the cleanest job in the world. The guy at Auto Zone said, "You're going to need some brake cleaner to do the job." My husband looked a the cost of the stuff and bypassed it--he's cheap like me--he figured we could use the compressor to spray the brake dust off. Plus, we already spent a small fortune on the parts and the spring tools to do them right.

After we got into the job he realized we needed the $8 spray. We live about 40 miles from Auto Zone so we did without...

The job took just about all afternoon to accomplish. The mess on the garage floor was extensive. The spring puzzle those Rangers have connecting everything together gave me a headache and a broken nail. I think part of the headache might have come from inhaling brake dust too. However, in the end (and two aspirin later), the brakes work great.

I learned a lesson doing the brakes. You must have the proper tools to get the job done right.

Speaking of proper tools, I've been building a lot of lenses. I decided to build a lens about the tools, information, and references I use to build my lenses. I actually have a lot of other tools bookmarked here and there but this is what I have gathered so far:

• My Squidoo Cheat-Sheet

I'm learning so much building these lenses. All of the marketing and promotion stuff I talked about here months ago applies to the lenses too...I have to go back and change some things on the lenses after revisiting some of my old posts. I'll get it right in the end.

Stuck Nowhere

Yesterday my little one said, "Mommy, where's nowhere?" I was driving at the time and abruptly answered, "Nowhere is nowhere. It's no place anywhere." Of course she persisted, "But Mommy, nowhere is somewhere, so where is it"? This went on for the entire trip...

I was beginning to feel as if I were stuck in some Abbot and Costello flick.

A Preface to a Dream...Continues ©

...continuation

I belted out an uncontrollable scream and demanded to see him.

My father was in his bed. His complexion was gray. His eyes were shut. He looked peaceful, almost happy.

The pungent scent of rubbing alcohol filled the room. Pristine white sheets lay crisp and smooth upon him. His arms were at his side. He did not move a muscle or crack a joke. I touched his hand. It was cold.

I wanted to cry. I could feel it in my throat but the tears would not fall. He was gone all right.
My sister walked in. Tears streamed down her cheeks. I was jealous. She said mom did not want to come in. I knew she had to.

I sat on my father’s bed. His body shifted. My heart jumped inside of my chest. For a moment I thought he came back but I was wrong.

My sister and I sat silently with our father until there was a knock on the door. I knew who it was. I could not bring myself to open it.

I grabbed my dad’s hand. I asked him to come back. For the first time in my life he did not respond to me.

The door opened and a nurse entered silently. I did not look at her. She whispered something but I ignored her. My sister stood up and left me alone with my daddy.

I pulled my father’s hand and poked his arm. I shook the bed again. He moved but didn’t say a word. I wanted him to tell me, "cut it out!"

My sister returned, “They’re here.” She held her hand out to me. I stood up and shook the bed again. I told him I was sorry I didn’t take him home last night and walked out.

The corridor was silent. The normal hustle and bustle of nurses and staff did not exist that evening. Down the hall, a gurney sat draped in midnight blue. A tall man in a dark suit and tie stood beside it.

The wing doors were still shut. In fact, every door down the hall was closed. I passed the vacant nurses station feeling just as empty.

The drive home was silent except for Nana blowing her nose. I dropped her off and returned home. My sister and mother were sitting on the couch. I went to my room.

Continued...

A Preface to a Dream ©

In reference to a recent comment from fellow blogger Kathy of Well Placed Words, I wanted to post a short series about a dream I will never forget.

A little history:

My father passed away several years ago. I was rather young and his passing devastated me. He had survived open-heart surgery--a triple bypass and mechanical valve replacement.

There were several complications following the surgery including a catastrophic staph infection in his sternum. They had to re-open him to remove a great portion of his sternum and build a makeshift replacement.

He survived all of this and lived quite well for another six months.

He went to the dentist for an abscessed molar. As it turned out he needed root canals on four molars. The dentist opted to do all at once. A problem occurred and he was transported to emergency and admitted to the hospital that afternoon.

After one week in the hospital, he was scheduled to go home on Saturday. Friday night he asked me to just take him home because he hated it there and couldn't stand one more night. I told him I couldn't but he would be going home tomorrow. One more night, just one more night.

The next morning my mom called and told me pick up my Nana and hurry to the hospital. I walked out the front door and vomited. I had not been ill so I was quite surprised. Afterward, I felt an urgent need to be with my dad so I got there as fast as I could.

When we arrived, my father's wing was locked down. We were directed to a private waiting room. The room was dank and dimly lit by small sconces on the wall.

My mother was sitting in the room alone. Tears were streaming down her face. Unaware of what was going on we sat with her. My sister arrived shortly after us with my grandfather.

Dad's doctor entered the room and shut the door. He had sweat on his brow and his eyes were blood shot as if he had been crying. He knelt before us and took my mother's hand. "He’s gone.”

Apparently there was some medication problem. His mechanical valve burst and there was nothing that could be done to save him.

To be continued...

It's Friday the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to you!

Today we're going to BBQ. No fireworks though, there's a county wide firework ban due to the dry conditions and fire danger. We may cruise into town to see a professional display, if the mood hits us and we feel like dealing with traffic.

Of course, you never have to leave the house when you have YouTube:

I hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend!