Creative Gene

By nature, I am NOT a creative person. My mother is a creative guru in her own right with an amazing artistic ability. My dad can build anything out of wood, dirt, rocks, you name it-he can do it. Somehow these genetics skipped me. But, I have managed to cope by being a copycat. I oooooohh and aaaaaaahh over all of my friends' fabulous creations for their kids and their homes. Then, I try my own version of what they have created. Most of the time it is a less flattering version of what the original looked like. However, I can live with it and luckily my family doesn't know what the wonderful original looked like. For example, these shirts. My friend Lees made these ADORABLE shirts for her twins 2nd birthday. I fell in love with them and wanted to make some for Punky Girl and my new great-niece. (Yes, I said great-If we were in the South I would be a Grand Tante'-cool, huh?) Anyway, I made these shirts and impressed myself with how they came out. Punky Girl got two, one for random wear and one for football games. It is hard to tell on the C shirt but those are doggie paw prints.

Another project was this blanket. Punky Girl got a sewing machine for her birthday and she REALLY wanted to make a blanket. We went through my scraps leftover from previous rag-tie blankets and found some patterns that fit her perfectly. There was leftover firemen print from her apron my aunt's friend made her. A sports print from some blankets I made my great-nephews. A puppy dog print from my nephew's blanket. Lastly, some blues from who-knows-where. We laid it out together and she loved it. I think it is rather, ummm, "colorful"--moving on...Punky did the straight sewing on all the pieces. I am so proud of her. She put for her best effort on her first sewing project. We also got to spend quality time together making it which is the best part about this project. Maybe she will be the ONE that will end up with the creative gene.

Dear Jesus and God,...

A few years ago I was at my friend's house and she was using her toaster oven. I said, "Oh, I have one of those, but I don't know how to use it. It just sits there and collects dust." She almost FREAKED out. She told me she used it for EVERYTHING. I had no idea all the things you could cook in a toaster oven. So, a few days later I decided to use my own and see what wonderful things I could cook in my toaster oven. I was talking on the phone to my friend Ber while my food was cooking and I was bragging on how I was using my spiffy toaster oven instead of the big oven. Suddenly there were flames coming out of the toaster oven. I yelled, "I gotta go, my toaster oven has flames coming out of it!!" I slammed the phone down and grabbed a towel to beat down the flames. I then unplugged it and checked out the damage. Yep, the food was burnt. But there was no damage to the toaster oven or the cabinets next to it. Apparently I should have cleaned out the dust before I started cooking in it. Who knew? After all this commotion, I turned around and there was Buckaroo. He had watched the whole entire fiasco. Hmm, what do I say to a five year old at this point? I opted for nothing and hoped he didn't ask any questions about why it was on fire. He didn't. When we sat down for dinner that night (a new, non-burnt dinner) Buckaroo bowed his head and prayed in his little boy voice, "Dear Jesus and God, thank for not letting my mommy burn down the house today. Thank you for this food, amen." As soon as I looked up, Nimrod was looking at me with huge eyes. I guess I forgot to mention to him what happened earlier. I tried to explain but couldn't through the laughter over Buckaroo's prayer. Eventually I told the story and all was well. However, for the next few days Buckaroo was cautious when entering the kitchen and prayed this same prayer for awhile. I think I may have traumatized him a little. When it was all said and done, we got a great laugh out of it.

So, the other day Nimrod and I were in the kitchen talking while I was making dinner and he says, "Dear Jesus and God." My head whips around to the toaster oven and there is smoke coming out of it! While he is laughing, I am fighting the toaster oven, again! Luckily, no flames this time. Apparently, you need to clean the toaster oven out occasionally. It has only been three years of me using it without this happening. How come there are no rules written down about how to use the toaster oven? Everyone says it is the easiest appliance to use but I have experienced otherwise. "Dear Jesus and God, give me the wisdom to use a toaster oven."

A House Divided Cannot Stand

I think this quote comes from Abraham Lincoln, a man who lived through some of the darkest days our country has experienced. For my generation, September 11, 2001 is our equivalent to the tragedy of the Civil War. Today, as I dropped the kids off to school I noticed all the flags our town has put up in remembrance of that day. The radio station I listened to played clips of the news reports and statements made by government officials on that day. I started having flashbacks to the emotions from that time. I remember sitting in shock in my classroom trying to sift through what I saw on the news two minutes before I walked out the door. I kept thinking it was a movie stunt and COULD NOT be real. I was instructed by my superintendent to keep the school day as normal as possible and provide a calm atmosphere for the kids. While I faked my way through the day, all I really wanted to do was grab my son and husband and curl up in my bed and never let them go. My reaction was not abnormal, as most of us wanted our loved ones near us. We as a nation were in shock for days, weeks, months. We could not wrap our mind around what had happened. One of my strongest memories is that the skies were deadly quite as all aircraft was grounded for days. It was almost eerie that there were no planes flying in our blue sky. I remember being in a fog and not really believing that something like that could happen. But it did. Then, we a nation cleared the fog from our head, pulled up our boot straps and came together. It has been written that the terrorist attacks were a wake-up call for America. We as nation were shaken out of our complacency and became united in our patriotism, our love of our country and our willingness to stand up to those who wanted to disrespect our country.

But where are we now? Eight years later and I am not sure that the patriotism is still there. The flags are being waved, the photo/video montages are being shown. We still honor the firemen, policemen and good citizens that risked their lives to help others during the attacks. In fact, at school yesterday, my kids wrote letters to policemen and firemen in our community to thank them for the help they give and pay tribute to those that helped with the events around the attacks. My daughter wasn't even alive then, but that day still affects her life, our lives, our country.

Or Does It?

With the recent presidential election our country has changed. We have turned on one another. Americans have become piranhas and are eating each other alive. Politically speaking, lines in the sand have been drawn and no one is crossing them. I have been trying to read different websites to understand what is going on with the politics our country because it is important to me and the future of my family to know how my country is being changed. There has been more name-calling and slandering against our own citizens than I can ever remember. If you are for President Obama and his policies you are considered a liberal-socialist. If you are against him you are called a conservative-racist. I am a believer in standing up for what you believe in, but does that mean you attack those who disagree with you? We as nation are NOT united. We no longer know what it means to be Americans as a whole. A house divided cannot stand and neither can a nation divided. As evidenced in the Civil War, nobody wins, especially not our country when we as a nation are divided. It grieve my heart that we have lost the feeling of patriotism and what that truly means. The patriotism that replaced our complacency has now been replaced with hostility. Will it ever return?

Today I am saddened for the families personally touched by the terrorist attacks. My hope is that those lives lost will AGAIN be a reminder of an America that is UNITED and we will not continue to be a nation divided.