Month: December 2016

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Standard

Today is the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the United States’ entry into World War II. Now more than ever we must look to our past, to our history and make our futures better.

Today, we remember those lost on December 7th, 1941, but not just what happended today, but all those lost through wars or violence.

In just over a month we will inaugurate our forty-fifth president. Even the people who voted for Mr. Trump are finding out that it is not going to go completely as they had hoped, not to mention the rest of us.

There’s support and there’s vigilance and there are the values that this country was founded on and continues to promote and hold dear. We must stand up when we’re called on to defend our values and our country. Re-read the Constitution. President Obama is a constitutional scholar. Robert Reich is a professor of public policy. Search out reliable sources and speak out.

That is how we honor the fallen and remember their sacrifice.

Blessiings for the survivors.

Recommended News Sources

Standard

​I have tried to choose recommendations that will give perspective and a factual explanation or account. I will readily admit for accountability that I would consider myself. broadly liberal. I sit on the fence for several issues, but others are non-starters for me. 

I believe strongly in the First Amendment; the whole thing. I also believe that the Second Amendment has limitations (as opined by Justice Scalia in his ruling on a case.) 

Freedom of religion is the right to practice or not without governmental interference. Freedom of the press is essential, but not more so than in the next four years. 

My pro-choice support has nothing to do with when you believe life begins. I will never try to change your mind on that or what you believe. Choice means exactly that. A woman’s choice to have autonomy over what happens to her body. We’re upset about the actress in Last Tango in Paris, but if we forced her to have a child, we’re okay with non-con.

LGBT+ rights are human rights. They are civil rights. Civil rights cannot be discriminatory.

If you have further questions, please ask.

If you have any recommendations of your own that you feel I, or readers will benefit from, please add them in the comments. However, I will not support or recommend fake news sights or severely biased, click-baity sites. At the moment, these only include Breitbart, Conservative Tribune, Redneck Nation, Washington Times. Fox News news division (Chris Wallace, Bret Baeir, Shepherd Smith) will be included for information, but not endorsed.

The Trump election has changed the very fabric of our nation. It is up to us to bring it back to our shared values and our Constitution. If you’re for small government, you can’t regulate what happens in my bedroom.

Social security is not an entitlement. Neither is Medicare. WE ALL pay into those funds, and they are ours. We earned them.

Poisoning water in minority areas like Flint, MI and Standing Rock, ND are two examples where communities of color were sacrificed for white communities’ safety.

This is going to be an important time to get accurate information. Opinion shows/columns have their places, but they are not informational. They are merely a stepping stone to get more knowledge on a subject. You can agree or disagree. You can form your own opinion, but please don’t follow and repeat blindly.

Recommendations:

Continue reading

50-50 – Birthday Traditions

Standard

I usually like to spend part of my birthday on my own. Since college, I have never worked on my birthday. The one time I did work-business for a new job, getting a physical and a drug test, I almost got into a car accident. Never again. 

I get up. I take a shower. I wear my favorite clothes. Today, I will wear my favorite boots and jacket. On years that my driver’s license is due, I go for a haircut and then go to DMV for a new picture on my new license.

There is a local, fancy strip mall that is more boutiques than strip mall that I like to spend the day at. The first week in December is usually not too cold if I’m wearing a heavy sweater and snood and the sun is shining. I would wander in and out of stores, window shopping, grabbing a muffin or a tea, picking up trinkets and then replacing them on their shelves.

I try new things.

In recent years, while my kids are in school, I let my husband work and I head out to Starbucks for a couple of hours. I get my free drink and a cranberry bliss bar. I take myself shopping, usually for a new pocketbook or a new wallet. I go to Target and buy myself a Christmas ornament, sometimes a new notebook.

My mother used to give me money for my birthday, and this is how I would use it. The year after she died, my husband gave me a $50 Visa gift card so I could continue my ritual for my birthday despite my mom being gone. It was one of the nicest things he’s done for my birthday.

On the weekends, I usually spend the day with my family. Sometimes, I’ll go to Starbucks for breakfast alone, but the rest of the day we’re together.

This year, today, we’re going to the firehouse for a pancake breakfast, then the local airport for the Santa Fly-in, Fantastic Beasts at the movies, and dinner at Delmonico’s Italian Steakhouse. Cake and presents after.

I’m being unusually decisive for my 50th birthday. I’m very much an I don’t know kind of person, but not this year. The only other time that I was this decisive on my birthday was when I was pregnant with my first child.

I’m looking forward to turning 50. Honestly, I don’t know why. It’s not something that I’ve looked forward to – growing older, and while this is a chapter ending, it is also a chapter beginning.

This is my final reflection of the fifty I planned before my fiftieth birthday, and I plan to write another fifty next year, a bit more focused and a bit more consistent.

I’m looking forward to what’s to come, and that in itself is unusual for me. It feels like a good thing, though.

50-49 – Birthday Freebies

Standard

I have always been on the lookout for good deals. Kids eat free, free ice cream day at Ben & Jerry’s or Friendly’s, but the most freebie centric day has got to be a birthday.

You do need to get on email lists or sign up for rewards, but they are usually free to join, and they are well worth it.

A few of my birthday freebies and discounts that I’ve received in my emails this week.

Starbucks – free birthday drink if you’re a member of their rewards program. Don’t sign up at the last minute.

Red Robin – free birthday burger if you’re a member of their Royalty Rewards. A special note about Red Robin: their rewards program is one of the best I have ever been a part of.

Ruby Tuesday – free birthday burger with coupon.

Jimmy’s Egg – free birthday entree.

Hot Topic – $10 off $30 purchase (this is pretty reasonable)

Avenue – $10 off $50 purchase.

Hallmark – 20% off coupon

Pizza Hut – free cinnamon sticks with your next online order

Recovery Sports Grill – $5 on your Hall of Fame card (rewards card)

Olive Garden – free dessert

Chili’s – free dessert

Perkin’s Restaurant & Bakery – free Magnficent Seven meal (breakfast meal)

Texas Roadhouse – free sidekick of ribs or free appetizer

Smart Style Hair Salon (inside Wal-Mart) – discount with coupon

If you have kids, and join the kids club at Barnes & Noble, you will receive a free cupcake coupon for your child’s birthday month.

Travel – Star Trek Original Series Set Tour, Ticonderoga, New York

Standard

It hasn’t been a week since my birthday surprise, and at times I feel as if it were just yesterday or a year ago that we took the long drive to Ticonderoga, New York to visit the Star Trek Original Series Set Tour.

It was all the more wonderful to celebrate my 50th birthday among the stars that had been in our world for those same fifty years.

I was completely speechless and wide-eyed. I had no idea that this place existed. Upon entering and checking in (we’d bought our tickets online), we were led into a large warehouse space. The modern displays and wooden walls stamped with Desilu Studios 9 were wonderfully deceiving.

Continue reading

Advent Reflection – Dec. 1

Standard

​Each of us has to decide on what or whom we will build our spiritual security.

-From the Reflection portion of Daily Reflections for Advent & Christmas: Waiting in Joyful Hope 2016-17 by Bishop Robert F. Morneau

While we’re in anticipation of the birth of Christ, it is a good time to evaluate or re-evaluate our own spiritual security and/or foundation.

Today is World AIDS Day, and while things are much better than they once were, there is still a long way to go as we strive to help those afflicted and find a cure.

Two days ago was Giving Tuesday, a charitable follow up to Black Friday. Before the end of the year, our family will contribute to:

ACLU
Planned Parenthood
NAACP
Random Acts, and

my local church parish or St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Three of these have stemmed from the recent election here in the United States. Find where you want to support with your money, time, and talents and discuss your reasons with your children. Let them make their own suggestions for charitable contributions.

I’m pretty clear on my spiritual foundation and when I have concerns or a lack of faith, I find a way to think more about it and get through that period.

I’m enjoying praying and meditating privately on a daily basis.

I’d like to share this article that I read this morning on Vox: 

Advent, explained