Weddings

I see it's been a week since I posted to my poor neglected blog. My step-daughter got married on Saturday, so I was little busy last week making sure me and hubby and our two girls would be dressed appropriately. As for me, after visiting almost every woman's clothing store in northern IL, I ended up wearing the first dress I bought. Could have saved myself a lot of time and aggravation, but at least now I know there is nothing out there in retail land that looks good on me, hmph!

So back to the wedding. It was lovely. Raina (my step-daughter) had originally planned on having a large, elaborate wedding this December. It was becoming a much larger event than she had hoped for, so early last spring they (her and her fiance, Erik) decided to make it a "family and close friends event only" and moved it to Erik's family's home and moved it up to July. I think there were probably 40 people total in attendance, including the entire bridal party. It was still very elegant and formal and everyone seemed to have a nice time.

Here's a picture of the lovebirds:



I never had a wedding. I moved out of my parents home and eventually in with my boyfriend (now hubby). Then I got pregnant, LOL. When you do things backwards, a big wedding is a bit redundant. John and I got married at the courthouse in March, and we had a backyard pig roast reception in August. When I look back, a wedding would have been nice, but with age comes wisdom and it really is an awful lot of money to spend on a party. We spent an awful lot of money just going to Raina's wedding. She wanted us in pictures, plus her dad had to walk her down the aisle, so we spent a pretty penny making sure we'd all look up to snuff.

My sister had a big wedding. My parents were paying for it so they got to call the shots. It was nice, about 100 people, at a country club. I do remember it being a lot of fun. But a few years later I remember my sister saying she wished she had been given money for a down-payment on a house instead of a wedding. The novelty wears off. Yes, you have nice pictures, but she says she barely remembers the day, having to run around and talk to people and thanking them for coming, and making sure everything was done properly.

I'm not dissing weddings. If someone has the money, go for it. Weddings can be a lot of fun and certainly special to the couple involved. But I don't think people should go into hock to give their kids a wedding. And given the choice, I think kids nowadays should think realistically, what is more important, a big wedding or a place to live? Just a few weeks ago my youngest and I were out running errands and we saw this girl on the side of the road with a sign that said: "Car Wash, Help Us Pay For Our Wedding". If you need to hold a car wash to pay for your wedding, maybe you should just go to the courthouse. (They actually made it into our local paper.)

John and I have two other daughters, so obviously the wedding thing will come up for us again. We got lucky this time, Raina and her fiance wanted to pay for their own wedding. I think my own girls are a bit more relaxed about the wedding thing. Neither is really a girlie girl and they don't have romantic notions of a prince charming and a fairy tale wedding. I was talking with my youngest about her dad having to wear a fancy suit to Raina's wedding and how he wished he could wear a Hawaiian shirt. That's our kind of wedding. Catherine said we could wear Hawaiian shirts to her wedding : )

In my dreams, one day before we die, my hubby and I will renew our vows on a beach somewhere. He can wear one of those Miami style suits, a white cotton, breezy suit with a Hawaiian shirt underneath, and I can find some kind of flowy summer dress, and we can both be barefoot. Maybe our kids will be there, maybe some grand kids. We could go out and eat lobster afterwards. That's my kind of wedding.

One look
One smile
One touch
One embrace
One kiss
One love
Two people
Two minds
Two souls
Two destinies
One road
One journey
One ending
Together.

- Melissa Higgins -

More Monday Morning Muttering

Seems I have been too busy to keep up with Saturday night muttering (that's when the list comes to my email). So here I am with another Monday morning muttering.

1. Banter :: Talking back and forth
   


2. Amazing :: life is pretty much, isn't it?
   


3. Towel :: Love a big fluffy one
   


4. Cinema :: Movie theater
   


5. Newspaper :: try to read one everyday
   


6. Not good :: Obama as president
   


7. My type :: of what? man? food? blood?
   


8. Twinkle :: twinkle, little star....yum a twinkie!
   


9. Actress :: I wanted to be one when I was little
   


10. Daft :: are you crazy?

These words are getting lame. Maybe I should come up with my own.

Want to mutter with these words? lunanina

Want to give me a new list? Feel free to post it in my comments and I'll mutter with them : )

Other People's Blogs

I stumbled upon this woman's blog a while back and I just love her writing. She says so much of what I'd like to say if I was only a better writer. She writes of coming out of patriarchy, among other things, (particularly about being a mom and her kids), but I really like her religion/God posts the best. I really agreed with this post and thought I'd share.

Oh, and this is a good one too!

Self-Absorbed Much?

I know it's Thankfulness Thursday, but I know I'll feel better if I get the following off my chest! I'll return to Thursday's regularly scheduled program next week ; )

I've noticed a lot of people lately who are very self-absorbed. I've known people like this in my own life (my sister's husband, for instance), but I've begun to notice it in strangers lately. It seems to be a growing epidemic, people who just pay no mind to the people around them, making sure only their needs are attended to without regard for those around them.

My first instance of this is people who walk off sidewalks to cross streets and don't look both ways. I have seen 1/2 a dozen people in the last month or so do this. They leave a store and just start walking. Straight out into the road, no look to the left or right, just "I'm a pedestrian, and I have the right of way, and you'd better slow down and not hit me" attitude written all over their face. Now I realize as the driver I do need to yield to pedestrians, but come on. I've had to slam on my brakes twice in the last 2 weeks to avoid someone who popped out in front of me, and they never even glanced my way as they strolled past my car. Who does this? (Obviously these people!)

Then there are the people who drive 10 miles under the speed limit because they are on their cell phones or trying to text. It is so infuriating to be behind someone and you can see them looking down, or with the phone to their ear, and they are just moseying along like the road is theirs and nothing matters but their time. Hang up and drive. When you are driving nothing is more important than safety on the road. Those people who walk off curbs without looking might just jump in front of your car, then you'll be screwed.

Then there's the grocery store. You know those people who park their carts right in the middle of the aisle so there is no way to pass them. So you pull up behind their cart, thinking they must see you, thinking they will move their cart sometime today. But no, they continue to stare at the salad dressing while you clear your throat, shift your feet, wonder what the hell is wrong with this person! So then you must ask the person to move or you'll be trapped in the store forever. And then they have the gonads to glare at you and act like YOU'RE inconveniencing them. That's right I forgot, the world revolves around them and I am but a gnat in their world.

Yesterday, while at my local Jewel (a grocery store for those not in the Midwest) I was checking out. My bagger decided 1/2 way through bagging my order to wander off and do something else (must have that self-absorbed gene) so I went to the end of the counter to start bagging my stuff myself to help expedite my exit from the store. I had left my wallet on the little shelf they provide to put your wallet on while you pay. My groceries were still being rung up. Well, the woman behind me decided to push my cart out of the check out line, and push my wallet off the little desk thing and take up residence in the spot I would normally stand in while I write a check to pay. I had fully intended on going back to that spot after helping to bag my groceries. Any normal person would have realized this. It was so bizarre. The checker and I both looked at this woman like WTF? I really was at a loss about what to say to her (my witty comments always come after the fact). I ended up having to reach up from the end of the counter to grab my check book and had to write the check from where I was. It was all so very bizarre. The woman didn't even look at me, just settled herself in the spot where I had been standing just seconds before, and decided it was her time to be there, had her checkbook out, already filling out her check and her order hadn't even been started yet.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOME PEOPLE???????

How hard is it take a second and think about how your actions might affect someone else before you take that action? Weren't we taught this growing up? Isn't anyone teaching this to their children? And it's not just young kids acting this way. The woman at the checkout was probably older than me. People I see on their cell phones while driving tend to be all ages (although the text-ers seem to be young). It's called common courtesy people. Do unto others, yadda, yadda, yadda!

I see it as the beginning of the fall of society. And I do think an awful lot of it comes from the entitlement mentality that unfortunatley our current government is enabling. That's a whole other blog post, but you get it. Tell me you get it, please! Tell me you don't walk in front of cars without looking, that you don't text and drive, that you only use your cell phones for emergencies while driving, that you don't park your cart in the middle of the grocery aisle! I need some faith in humanity!

Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter which fork you use.
~Emily Post~

Monday Morning Muttering

Been sick since Saturday night....killer headache! Can I mutter with a headache?

1. Sister :: I have one, Debbie!
   


2. Talks :: Talking Heads?
   


3. Electric! :: Company! Slide!
   


4. Corner :: Little Jack Horner sat in a corner
   


5. Turnstile :: I hate those things!
   


6. Swap :: Wife, meet
   


7. Young :: Forever Young (Rod Stewart)
   


8. Horrific :: crime scene
   


9. Block :: New Kids on the
   


10. Wind :: Against the Wind (Bob Seeger)

Hmm, I think I still have a headache!

Want to try muttering?

Sweatin' With the Socialists!

Thankfulness Thursday

Time for another posting of things I am thankful for:


The sun peeking through clouds, warming things enough to enjoy some time at the beach.

Fresh brewed unsweetened ice tea

A hubby willing to grill after a long day at work

A hubby happy to spend 45 mins with his wife while their daughters are at kyuki-do ; )

Good friends who trust me to watch their house and precious dogs (and will pay me well to do it)

Fuzzy cats who love me unconditionally

Daughters who get more beautiful everyday

Cheesecake on a stick that I can purchase at my grocery store, Yum! (used to only be able to get it at the Renaissance Faire!)

Cool summer breezes blowing in my windows

A God that I know will love me whether I go to church or not

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.
~Epictetus~

Women and Men are Equals?

I've been reading a lot lately about patriarchy and women's rights and feminism, etc. I still have a lot in my brain to think about and a lot more I wish to read. But I had a bit of an epiphany the other day and thought I better write it down before I forget it! (Been forgetting things lately, old age seems to be creeping in).

Anyway, while I was thinking about God and whether He is really a He or is He a combo of a He and a She, seeing as the Bible says in Genesis 1:27:

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

How could God create a woman in his own image unless He also had some attributes of a woman?

In John 24 God is referred to as Spirit. While Jesus was referred to as a man, God is always referred to as spirit. Does a spirit have the attributes of a man, female or both, or none? If God is spirit, then how and why did He come to be known only as He?

There are so many passages in the bible where God takes on the attributes of women. He refers to birth pains (sorry men, only women have birth pains). He also talks of caring for children the way a mother does, Isaiah 66:13 -

"As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you;"

So anyway, these are things I have been thinking about and praying about which brings me to my epiphany. While meditating/praying on these things the other day, I came to the conclusion that women have been fighting the wrong battle. It is not for us to prove that we are like men to be equal. I don't want to be like a man. And I don't believe I am meant to be a like a man. I was born a woman and meant to be a woman. We can be equal but different. We don't need to be like men to be equal. We need to be respected as equals for who we are, not what we can change ourselves to be.

We were made in God's image just as men were. Not to be below, not to be above, but to be equal, to come alongside each other, for each other.

Believe nothing merely because you have been told it.
Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher.
But whatever, after due examination and analysis,
you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -
that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.

Buddha

Lazy Sunday Mutterings

Still recovering from the 4th, doing nothing and feeling lazy. Brain is hardly functioning......let's see how it mutters:

1. Independence :: Our country needs to keep ours
   


2. Meltdown :: Thankfully my children don't have them anymore
   


3. Vulture :: predator


4. Hope :: Kind of getting tired of hearing that word (and Change!)
   


5. Float :: Ice Cream
   


6. Hole :: Ass


7. Trespass :: ers will be shot ; )
   


8. Moving :: only place I want to move to is Florida!
   


9. Extinct :: Our country will be if we don't collectively wise up soon
   


10. Alligator :: my high school mascot

I have a headache now! Want to try muttering? Lunanina

Happy Independence Day

May we all take a moment and truly appreciate how great our country is and remember those who have fallen preserving our freedoms for us.

Now have some fun and make some fireworks explode on your computer:

Lady Liberty Fireworks


And always remember:

Breast Feeding

Someone sent this link out on Facebook and I just had to post it here. This is a great blog post for those who are pro breast feeding.

Gone Too Far?

Those who think that society has “gone too far” in supporting breastfeeding, that mothers who formula feed are demonised and breastfeeding mothers aren’t: (follow link to read entire post).