Dickens & Suess

Tomorrow is my family's annual Christmas Eve Shindig at my Aunt Ida's house. This has become a "new" family tradition of ours. I say "new" because we actually used to do it years and years ago, but we fell out of practice until Christmas 2000. After my cousin Bridgette passed away we decided to try to gather together every Christmas Eve as a family. I have taken it upon myself to plan the event every year and Ida has volunteered her home for us during the night. I can't take any of the credit really though...all I do is mail out Christmas cards with reminders to meet at Ida's on Christmas Eve. Nothing too strenuous. Its a simple affair really. People bring food, soda pop, and their pretty little festive selves. We play games, take pictures, talk, sing...nothing too complicated but lots of fun.

We also get together on my Mom's side of the family as well. Usually the Bowles' clan will gather together somewhere at some point and time. We have a dinner. If there are gifts to exchange, then we pass them along. Otherwise, we just enjoy one another's company. In my more immediate family on my Mom's side, every year we get together at someone's house (this year it will be at my house) and we exchange gifts (we draw names earlier in the year) and nosh on some grindage (sorry, random Pauly Shore reference there...couldn't help myself). Nothing extravagant. Nothing boistorous. (I like throwing in words I can't spell but make me sound important.)

At any rate...the point is this...it doesn't take a lot to enjoy the holiday.

This year I can't tell you how many people I've heard say "I can't afford Christmas this year." or "We're not having Christmas." or "Christmas costs too much."

I keep my mouth shut when I hear these things. I try not to judge folks. My opinion, as much as I like to share it with people, really doesn't count for much in the whole grand scheme of things. And Lord knows, I've spent too much on Christmas gifts this year. And the truth be told, if it weren't for bill collectors harrassing me on the telephone, I would have spent even more on gifts for people. I enjoy buying presents. I'm horrible at wrapping gifts, but I even enjoy that. I like to give to other people. Its why I donate to charities, why I volunteer when I can, why I want to go to UK and get my Masters in Social Work...I like to give. But...Christmas time is a hard time to give to people. Most gifts cost money and some of them cost a great deal of money. And its really a lot like Scrooge told his nephew...what is Christmas but a time to find yourself "another year older and not a penny richer" and a time "for paying bills without money." Its sad but true.

But that's not the point.

We all know the story behind Christmas. I'll not "preach the Gospel" to you on here. You are free to believe as you choose to believe. But it is my hope that you don't believe that all Christmas is about is G-I-F-T-S. Because its not.

Whether or not you are a Christian at Christmas isn't my concern, but if you think that you "can't afford" Christmas or that you just won't celebrate Christmas because its "too expensive," I urge you to think again.

Christmas isn't about gifts. It isn't about how much money you spend or who you buy for. It isn't about Black Friday sales in November or After Christmas Sales on the 26th of December. It isn't about pretty paper and bows. Or tinsel on trees.

You can't cancel Christmas because you have too many bills to pay. You can't make Christmas wait until January because you need to save your cash for a rainy day.
Christmas isn't about any of that. Not really
We get so caught up with all the wrappings and trimmings, all the commercials, and the "I Wants" that we forget what Christmas time is really about.
Christmas, if you are a believer, is about the ultimate gift from God...his only son, given to humanity to suffer and die for our sins, so that we can have a chance at an eternity of peace and love in Heaven. Whether we accept God's gift to us, is of our own choosing. Simple as that.
If you don't follow the teachings of Christ (or of any religion at all), Christmas is still worth celebrating. For those of you that aren't Christian followers, Christmas can (and should) be about family...about friends...about sharing a little love with the entire world wherever you can.
Christmas is for memories. Most...no...ALL...of my BEST Christmas memories don't involve gifts at all. I remember getting a bike one year, but I don't remember what year it was. I remember getting all the Barbies I asked for another year, but they weren't important enough for me to play with every day of my life. I can remember gifts I got and gifts I gave, but they weren't my BEST memories. My BEST memories always, ALWAYS involved the people I was around. Laughter shared. Stories told. Little ones that grew up too fast. Older ones that passed too soon.
Christmas isn't about gifts or money or mindless consumerism. Christmas is about L-O-V-E. A love that we should carry in our hearts every day of the year. We should keep Christmas like Scrooge kept Christmas after his visits from the three Spirits...in his heart all year long. And we would do good to remember the wise words of one of my favorite authors:

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store."
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

goodbye my friend...

I love animals. I love them dearly. I'm not a vegetarian or a member of PETA. But I have a profound respect and love for all God's creatures, no matter how small. I've always been that way.

Some members of my family have nicknamed me "Ellie Mae" (as in Ellie Mae Clampett) because I've had such an assortment of critters through the years. I'm known for bringing home strays of all kinds, not just cats and dogs, but 'possums, raccoons, deer...whatever needs a home or a surrogate "mommy".

Almost four and a half years ago, while working on our family dairy farm, I came across four little kittens. They were roughly two weeks old and their Mom had abandoned them. They were scared, alone, hungry, and cold, and I took them home with me. The first one I found was a little girl. I named her Poop because she was "the sh*t". :-) I called her "Princess Pretty Poop" to be exact. I'm not sure why, the name just stuck. She's the only cat I know named Poop.

Anyway, I raised those cats. All four of them. I was their Momma Cat. I fed them every two hours, even through the night, I bathed them, I potty trained them (not just teaching them to use the litter box, mind you, but after every feeding I had to use a warm wet washcloth to "stimulate" their privates and causing them to expel their urine and fecal matter...technical terms huh, but it is what Mommy cats do when they lick their babies after they eat, cause kittens that young can't use the bathroom by themselves and require stimulation...there's your cat biology lesson for the day). Anyway...I was the Cat Mom.

Eventually one of the kittens died. He had been stepped on my a calf when he was just born and because of that, his head was malformed and he couldn't be taught to eat solid food. We couldn't keep him on the bottle forever and eventually he died because he wasn't getting enough nutrients. He always had plenty to eat, mind you, but just not enough vitamins and minerals. His name was Weebles, because he wobbled when he walked and sometimes walked in circles...but he never fell down. :-) He was a sweet cat...ill tempered as all get out, but sweet none the less.

Poop and her brother (Bart) and sister (Emmie) made it and I moved them in with my other cat, Oliver, when they were six weeks old (he's just a few months older than them). All was well in the kitty cat kingdom until about two years ago. In the winter of 2007, Emmie and Poop fell ill. They had a lung infection. I took them to the vet. He tested them for feline leukemia and it came back positive. After some antibiotics and some long and stressful nights of me sitting up with them and forcing them to drink Pedalyte because they wouldn't eat or drink anything else, they finally pulled through, although Emmie's lungs were never quite the same. But Poop was fine.

Unfortunatly, there is no cure for feline leukemia and it is VERY contagious to other cats. It basically breaks down a cat's immune system, so anything they catch can be the death of them. Poop and Emmie were born with it, that means that Bart probably has it as well, although I've never had him tested. And Oliver, because he was raised with them and has shared food and water with them, probably has it as well...eventhough I've never had him tested either. For all intents and purposes Bart, Poop, and Oliver have all been pretty healthy and Emmie's only real problem is that she gets congested easily.

That being said, I lost Poop this morning.

She had gotten sick and wasn't eating a lot, but she was still eating and drinking...just not a lot. She had lost a lot of weight too. My vet lives an hour away and my cats don't travel well. So I decided I would just go get the usual meds for the sickness, which is what I did.

Knowing that they have feline leukemia, I knew that it was just a matter of time before I lost them, so I didn't want to add to any stress on them by forcing them to go back and forth to the vet, just to prolong the inevitable. If the vet was five minutes from my home, I might would do it, but an hour up there and an hour back was too traumatic for them.

Anyway, the medicine didn't work this time. Poop's breathing got worse. She stopped eating and drinking altogether. I knew what was coming, so I had been sleeping in the floor with her for the past few nights...just to let her know that her adoptive Mom was there. This morning I left out to go feed my outside critters (chickens, dogs, a couple more cats...) and when I came back to check on her, she was already gone.

I'm terribly upset. These were my kitty "children". And although I know it would NEVER compare to losing a real child, she was my pet, my friend, my family...and I was very attached. So for all you pet lovers out there, tonight give your critters an extra hug from me and Poop and say a little prayer for my broken heart while you are at it.

Thanks.

(Poop facing off with my pet duck, Tenbrooks.)               (Poop & Bart)                                           (Poop after a bath.)

Birth Blessings

Maybe this should belong in my other blog, I'm not sure. It does involve pregnancy after all, but I'll put it here all the same.

I'm known for a great many things in life: having lots of pets, having weird pets, getting tattoos, making up my own catchphrases, blah, blah, blah...I am also known for throwing Birth Blessings parties for all the preggo ladies in my life. This is a new addition to the list of things that make me pleasantly strange. I just started having them last year. I started with my    younger cousin Kayla when she was preggers with Miss Story Jade (whom I like to call "Turnip Head").

Everyone asks me what exactly a Birth Blessing consists of, so here is an explanation and some websites you can look up in case you want to have one of your own.

First things first, anyone can host a Birth Blessing party, even the Mommy-to-Be herself. And unlike the unspoken taboo of having a baby shower for each child you birth, you can have as many Birth Blessings as you so desire.

That is the thing I like best about them really, you can cater them to fit the person. True, you can do the same with a baby shower, but the baby shower focuses primarily on the baby, whereas a Birth Blessing focuses on the Mother.

Obviously men can be involved with a Birth Blessing as well, but mostly it is women that participate...older, younger, childless, houseful of kids...it doesn't matter really. It can be religious or not. You can add "activities" to it or keep it simple. No decorations or door prizes required.

Here are some websites to help you out with ideas and give you a better explanation than I can:
www.birthblessings.com
www.birthbeads.com/blessingway


Here are a few details of what I've done at the Birth Blessings I've been a part of:



At Kayla's:
 ~We baked cookies, made chili, and made "ants on a log".
~We gave Kayla a pedicure and facial.
~We each put a "keepsake" in Story's keepsake box for her to have when she becomes an adult.
~We each gave Kayla a charm to add to her charm bracelet so that she could take it in with her when she gave birth to Story Jade.
~We all brought a candle to light. So when we heard about Kayla going into labor and giving birth, we could light our candles and send prayers and good thoughts her way for a safe and healthy delivery and baby.

At Tabby's:

~We made chili and hotdogs. We ate cookies and chips.
~We gave Tabby a manicure and facial.
~We also gave her charms, keepsakes, and lit our candles, just like with Kayla's. The only difference is I made Molly's (Tabby's wee little bun in her oven) keepsake box and I bought Kayla's. :-)

And what goes in a keepsake box you ask? I put a homemade CD of tunes I thought Molly could use throughout her life for Tabby's Birth Blessing. For Kayla's, I put a picture of our entire Nunn clan (there is a bunch of us!!!) in Story's keepsake box. Absolutely anything can be used...as long as it is something special for the child to keep as it ages.

So if you've never done a Birth Blessing, I strongly suggest it. Its great fun and a great way to make the Mommy-to-Be feel special and loved.

Thanksgiving & Black Friday

First of all, I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you ate way too much and took way too many naps. :-)

I had a normal Thanksgiving with my kinfolk in Tyner, Kentucky. Good food...especially the peanut butter pie. If you've never had peanut butter pie, then you need to rush out right now and get some. Trust me. You will not be disappointed.

I came home to dirty dishes and laundry that had to be brought in before it rained. The biggest surprise of the day though was bear poo in the front yard. That's right. B-E-A-R poo!!! I knew for the past couple of days I had been hearing something outside rummaging around. One night it scared me quite a bit even because I heard it walking through the leaves and it sounded WAY too big to be a dog. I was afraid to look outside to see what it was even...guess now I know. A bear!

Ah well...I won't be participating in the Black Friday events today. I did one year and I'll never, ever do it again. I don't care what they are selling or what deals they have, I will never go shopping on Black Friday ever again.

So good luck to all ya'll shoppers. Have fun. Be safe. Don't get pissed and kill any other shoppers...remember, its only "things" and "things" are not important. Not ever. Just people are important. So don't go biting the fingers off the chick that gets to the digital camera quicker than you or anything like that. :-)

Take care all!

B-E-A-utiful!

The wonders of Mother Nature never cease to amaze me.

My bed is at the perfect position to catch the rays of sun first thing in the morning. This is something that usually doesn't bother me, but I've been working third shift (or at least our version of it) and so I don't even lay my weary head down to rest until 3 a.m. When the sun comes poking through the window around 7, I get a little annoyed.

There is a young maple tree that sits in front of my window. We planted it when we built on to our house years and years ago. I think I was a Junior in high school maybe. Anyway, its been there awhile and its finally big enough that in the summer, when the green leaves are full and spread out in all their glory, it blocks out most of the morning sun's rays. Thus allowing me to sleep a little longer undisturbed.

Its November now though and the leaves are almost gone from my little maple. Its nice to be able to look out the window and see my pond and rolling hills on my family's farm and know that particular stretch of land belongs only to me (well, me and the credit union). Since the leaves are gone, the sun can now shine through pretty much without interuption and that's exactly what it did at 7 this morning.

I was tired and a little aggitated when the sun came crashing through, but when I got up from the bed to stumble downstairs I happened to notice just how beautiful the sunrise really was.

I'm not going to be all poetic on you now or anything like that, but I do think that sometimes in our hustle and bustle of everyday life, we really forget to just take a moment and breathe. Just soak it all in. The beauty of the world is amazing. For as much as they get on my nerves, people are even beautiful in their own way as well. Life is beautiful. You don't have to travel the globe or live a certain lifestyle to see these things and soak them all in, all you really have to do is just take the time and look.

You may be amazed at what you find.

 

(The frost melting off my window.)

H.P. 2009

Every year we have a Halloween party at my place. Its usually a pretty big event with games, prizes, food, contests, and a haunted house. This year it was a little different.

Actually, I'm quite disappointed in it this year. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my family and friends and I love seeing all the costumes. There just wasn't much excitement this year.

It got cold and dark way too soon. The haunted trail we had made got blown down the day before in all the wind and rain and there wasn't time to fix it back. People were sick, which is always a worry. (Hope ya'll get to feeling better soon!)

On the plus side, we had good food (as usual), some fun games, there was music and karaoke, the Costume Contest went well, and the pinata was a hit (no pun intended). I got to see a purdy butterfly (before her Grandpa stole her away for the night), hang out with some cowboys and Indians, and even discovered some long lost Star Trek brother and sisters.

It was a good party, just could have been better. But I guess that's what next year is for. :-)

Transplanted Gypsy

I want to move to Louisiana.

I've always wanted to live somewhere besides Jackson County, even if only for a short time. I just could never decide where to go. Over the course of three years though I've managed to fall a little bit in love with the state of Louisiana.

The first year I just passed through...spending one night in Madisonville, one day in New Orleans, and another night in Lafayette. The second year I stayed in Slidell and spend a day or so in New Orleans. This year I managed a room right in the French Quarter about a block from party central (aka Bourbon Street).

New Orleans fascinates me. I love the architecture, the people are friendly, the food is AMAZING, the music is incredible...the list goes on and on. It would be a great place for a single gal or guy to live and have fun, but not a place I would want to raise my children. Nothing wrong with New Orleans in that aspect of things really, just that I'm a country girl born and raised on her family's farm and I'd kinda like to raise my children the same way.

This year we stopped in Verachie, Louisiana on our way home. It was a detour but well worth the time and effort. We toured the Oak Alley Plantation. Its beautiful. Everyone should go see it at least once. I really do suggest it. During our time there it actually stopped raining and the sun came out (so did the heat but oh well, beggars can't be choosers). I've always wanted to work at a museum or as a tour guide for a place like Oak Alley, hence the whole B.A. in History. It just never worked out that way. But I fell in love with Oak Alley (and in lust with a certain waiter, but that's a different story *ahem*) and now I want to go back. Soon. I'd like to see it all decked out for Christmas. I may go back later this year. You just never know with me. I'm a bit of a gypsy at times.

Anyway, other than Maine or Alaska (two places I've yet to go), Louisiana is a state that calls to me a great deal. Texas is pretty much tied with Louisiana at this point. So I figure that one day, I'll end up living in one of those two places. Probably not anytime in the near future...but one day.