I am disgusted

I am angry and disgusted.

A horror struck my little town almost 3 years ago. Over 330 bodies were found at the site of a crematorium. These bodies were dumped in various places, stacked up, leaning against trees, in refriderators, among other things. The operator and owner, Brent Marsh, instead of cremating the bodies would just stack the body someplace and send wood ashes or other burnt material in place of the departed one's ashes. Walker county and the state of Georgia spent over 10 million dollars cleaning up his mess. Today he recieved his sentence of 12 years in prision, of which he will only serve 3. He also has to pay a $25,000 fine, be on probation for 75 years and repay Georgia 8 million dollars. He had the gall to stand up in court and say "I am sorry but my family is suffering too." I say SO WHAT?!!! He took a plea agreement to keep the rest of his family from being charged too. You cannot tell me that they knew nothing of it. THEY LIVED THERE TOO!. The crematory was not that far away from the house they lived in. You could see it from their door. There were bodies everywhere. Some buried, but most were not. There were coffins around that had bodies in them. There were sheds with bodies in them. Over 330 bodies. Not all were identified. Today there are still bodies or skeletal remains that cannot be id'ed.

 

MJ

I was reading the New York Times this morning and read a segment about Michael Jackson begging for a fair trial. Jury selection starts today. In all honestly, I doubt that will happen. No matter what anybody says they will not be able to separate the celebrity from the man. I am sure that he is counting on that. People tend to put superstars above the rest of us. Why? What makes them better than you or me? They can sing well? Play better ball? Act better? No matter what they do, they are still human beings and that along makes them no better than you and me. What does that mean? Well it means that , yes they do rape people, steal from places, lie, molest children, do drugs, murder, drink and drive, among other things. That’s right. They are not perfect. They wake up in a bad mood. They get stuff stuck in their teeth. They step on their shoelaces and untie them. They have lots of money and with that comes problems and benefits that some of us will never know anything about. All I am saying is that being a superstar does not make you innocent or guilty, what it does do is keep you from getting a “fair” trial like the rest of the people. Did you know that in the boy in question is going to have to testify in open court? Tell me something how many times before have you ever heard of a child regardless of his age testifying in open court about being molested? Even when everyone knows who the child is the testimony is always behind closed doors.

Is he guilty or innocent?

Silly me

I made a delicious dinner today. I made some fried okra, boiled potatoes, and teriykai chicken wings. I also heated up some hush puppies. Well, at least, I thought I did.  Turns out they were mini corn dogs! Silly me. I guess that will teach me to label my freezer bags!

Help

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Saturday Six

I have not done this in a while, Patrick's Saturday Six. If you have not played before it is simple , just answer the questions either in your journal or his comment section.

1. Who is the first celebrity you recall having a crush on?  Elvis!!! He was and still is my favorite.
 
2. What was your favorite amusement park ride when you were young? I am with Patrick on this  one. I loved the Tilt-A-Whril!
 
3. If you could change your name (first or middle but the name you go by), would you, and if so, what would you change it to? Nope I think I have gone rather attached to my name so I think I will keep it.
 
4. Go to http://kabalarians.com and take the "First Name Analysis" test.  Do you agree with what the site comes up with? I think it nails me pretty good.

Although the name Celeste creates the urge to be reliable and responsible, we emphasize that it can cause a superior, interfering expression whose favorite expression is "I know" when not combined with a balanced last name. This name, when not combined with a balanced last name, can also frustrate happiness, contentment, and success, as well as cause health weaknesses through worry and mental tension.

Your name of Celeste gives you a clever mind, good business judgment, a sense of responsibility, and an appreciation of the finer things of life. You are serious-minded and not inclined to make light of things even in little ways, and in your younger years you had more mature interests than others your age. Home and family mean a great deal to you and it is natural that you should desire the security of a peaceful, settled home environment where you can enjoy the companionship of family and friends. Whatever you set out to accomplish you do your very best to complete in accordance with what you consider to be right.

 
5. Other than Johnny Carson, which former talk show host's tape archives would you most like to visit, and why? I honestly can not think of anyone.

6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #44  from Jessie:   If you were in good health, would you donate a kidney to a friend who's dying regardless of what your family's opinion are and if yes or no, why or why not? Yes, I think I would.

Up to now

Yesterday was a frustrating day. I tried to download the free trial of Paint Shop Pro and it was taking forever! After about 12 hours it was at 86% complete and then horror struck. I lost connection! Download aborted and I have not been able to get it going again. I guess the only way I am going to get it is to buy the CD from store. I hate DIAL UP!!! I am stuck with it. Nothing else is available here, at least not for me. Oh well. On to other news. Brook took her Green belt test last night. She now holds the rank of 7 KUB. I am so proud of her. The studio has a demo team. They go out to schools, churches, and other places and do demos of Tae Kwon Do. You have to be a green belt to try out. She is talking of trying out. It will require a lot of work if she makes the team. Part of the program she would not get to do and that is the trip they take overseas. I will not allow a 7 year old to be gone for 2 weeks by herself! I think for the most part it is only the adults that make the trip. Last night there was also a Black Belt Test. It was amazing! Mary is the first girl to achieve her black belt from this school. Everyone is so proud of her. She was great! Last month a young man took his test. I watched that also. her test was different. She had to do more kicks, throws, and blocks than he did. She also had to spar with someone. He had to break a concret block and she did not. She did have to break twice as many boards. I know it sounds like discrimation but he had to perform more tasks that required strenghth and she performed more that required agility. Get this, she broke 5 boards at one time! It is cold and wet and icy today. On our way home from the testing last night, my windsheild kept freezing over. Pretty scary. When I got home the gate was frozen shut. I had to take my gloves off to thaw it out so I could open it. Pat did not realize it was icing up until he saw me trying to get up the ramp. I did not realize the ramp was frozen either. He slide down and took Brook so she would not fall. I slide back down the ramp and went to the steps. He helped me up the steps. I then found the rock salt so he could ice the steps and deck. He then went and put Belle up in the barn. She need the shelter from this ice. This morning Pat was supposed to be at work at 6. He did not make it. I got up and there was so much clear ice and it was still coming down that I did not wakehim. I waited until 830 to even get him up. He did leave for work. He was not mad at me for it. His truck was encased in ice. He said the roads were not too bad here except over the bridges. He has to cross about 5 or 6 bridges to get to work. The news said that only about 2300 people are without power. They are all out because of 1 tree taking out lines. I went out to fill up the birdfeeder and suet holderand feed the horses this morning and froze! It is only 30 outside but because of the ice it feels so much colder. While I was filling up the feeders the horses saw me and came running from the back field. They were very much ready to eat! It is such a beautiful sight seeing them fly across the fields. It scared me because of the ice but I did enjoy seeing it. If you have never seen horses running with their head held high, wind blowing their manes back and seeing them kick their heels out of pure joy of just being able to do it, I feel sorry for you. I never cease to be amazed when I see it. Well that's it for now. I think I am gonna put something on for dinner. Not sure what so I need to go look in freezer.

 

NOT for weak at heart

 

German soldiers of the Waffen-SS and the Reich Labor Service look on as a member of Einsatzgruppe D prepares to shoot a Ukrainian Jew kneeling on the edge of a mass grave filled with the bodies of previous victims.
Photo credit: Library of Congress, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives

The Holocaust was a vicious campaign against the Jews and others by the Nazis. This picture shows piles of bodies at the Dachau concentration camp after it was liberated in 1945.

AP/Wide World

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. 60 years ago this month Auschwitz was liberated.

People want to forget or even deny that anything that horrible could have ever happened. It did. My father and my uncle fought in WWII. My father was in the Pacific. My uncle was in Europe. He was in a German POW camp. He knew first hand the way the Nazis treated people. I overheard him talking to my father one day about some of the things he saw there and smelled. He was crying.

Jeannette of Jeanette's Jottings has a wonderful entry about someone who suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

For more information about this horrible time in history click the following links:

Worldbook History Of Holocaust

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Gallery Images

Take time

Please allow time for this to load. I promise it is worth it.

Give up?

"When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
-Author Unknown

Today has been a warmer day, thank goodness. It is 48 degrees F right now after a low of 16 this morning.
Got up this morning and Brook was asleep on the couch. She has not done that in awhile. I think she got hot last night. She had on her flannel PJ's and they are pretty warm.
Made some bird bread today. It  smelled so good! Good enough to eat, so I did! Actually there was not anything in there that a person cannot eat. The birds did eat some of it. I have to keep giving them food to balance their diet out. If anybody wants the recipe I can give it to them. Here is the latest picture of them.  As you can see Pat has a napkin cleaning up poo off of Brook.
We had to do some fence repair today. The wind had blown down some fence and Belle could get out. Luckily she did not do so. I hate when we have to lock her up in the barn. She is miserable then and so are we.
Today is ho hum for now. Well gotta go time to get Brook started on her homework.






Background provided by:

cold

 I hope everyone enjoys This beautiful picture I got from Snow Crystals.com
It is cold here today, 19 degrees F with a wind chill of 1. I hope everyone is staying warm today.

What we do as individuals may seem to be of no matter; but how can we be certain? When a drought is broken, there is always that first raindrop that seems wasted on the dust.~unknown

Things are happening

Things are starting to happen around here! First of all, our cockatiels have been named. The boy recieved the name of Chip. He cocks his head and mutters when I call him that. The girl is named Peaches, in honor of another Peaches that has recently crossed over.Well back to the things. I did not think that our 2 sweetie pies liked each other. I could not have been more wrong! Today Chip decided that he had had enough of beaking and hopped on top! I will not get graphic but I AM GLAD I AM NOT A BIRD!!!!! LOL

We are thawing out today. That will only last today and maybe tomorrow. I doubt it. The wind is blowing and that only means trouble! The predicition is that we may have some snow by this weekend. We will see. Apparently we are to be sandwiched in-between two snowstorms. Oh dear, I am not being a true southerner. I am not running off to the store to stock up on groceries. I will go buy another bag of birdseed though. I have gone thru a lot since the cold has been here. I also need another suet cake.
Watched a few minutes of the Presidential thing. I find it a gross waste of money. I guess that is what all lame ducks do. There I said it. GWB is a lame duck. There is no getting around it. If you were for him, I am sorry. If you are not for him, you can start counting down now.
Now for some good news. A really great journal has made the Editors Pick. Ramblin Man I enjoy the straight shooting style that this man has. He is not afraid to say what he wants. He posts pictures but no graphics or backgrounds. It is a barebone  journal that gets right to it. Congratulations Rich. You deserve it.
That's it for now. Brook has arrived home and she wants a snack. See everybody later!

i think i fixed it

Well here we go again. I do hope it works this time. I look at the code on the other entry and for the life of me I cannot figure out what went wrong. All it takes is 1 little dot for things to mess up.
So now how did I do?

working on stuff

I have been fiddling all morning long on trying to come up with a way to type on bordered backgrounds So what do you think? Did I get it? If AOL would use more tags I could do it easier. They do not recognize the code I found soooooo I had to figure something else out besides spacing a lot which as everyone knows does not always work after the entry is saved. It is not perfect yet. I have to use the add pictures from hometown link and it only allows one picture so unless I send out a lot of alerts trying to come up with the right size to use, I will just have to use a generic size. It may be too big or small at times. I am not sure if I can use paragraphs yet either. This will be my first test.
What do you think? Did I do it?

 

Monday

Monday, Monday morning. It is a cold morning. 18 degrees F. You would think there would at least be frost of things outside. Nothing. I think it is too cold to frost! I need to get dresses so I can go pick up Brook. She spent night with her mama. She wanted me to come get her so she could have blueberry pancakes. There is no school today.

I have to tell you I got Brook the cutest thing, a punching bag with ScoobyDo on it. She loves it! She has been using it to help her practise her kicking and punching. It is really good. It is taller than her by just a little bit so she can work on kicking someone in the head! LOL She is doing so well on her TaeKwonDo. She is going for her green belt at the end of this month. I have to buy protective gear for her now. They are starting to do contact now and so feet and hand gear is required. She will need head and chest gear also if she is in any tourneys.

BRB need more tea.

The sun is shining so bright! It is hard to believe it is as cold as it is. I know it is cold. I just looked at my pretty blue toenails and they are not painted! HAHAHA

Today is Martin Luther King's birthday. A great man.

I like these IM catchers. It sure makes it easier to talk to more than 1 person at a time. You can see when someone is IMing you that just maybe you don't want to talk to right now too! LOL

My neck is hurting this morning. Funny thing is, since my neck has been bothering me, my back has been doing good.

I started using Splenda today in my tea. I don't know why I was holding out on it. My Doctor is worried about the possiblity of me becoming diabetic. There is a strong history of it in my family. My sugar reading has been creeping upwards and last time it was 139, fasting. I have always known that I would have to start watching things. BTW Splenda tastes pretty good. It costs so much though.

Phone is ringing. Probally Brook wanting to know where I am. Well gotta go for now. 

Alerts

Once again no alerts. Is it just me?

SAD

I have a sad heart this morning. Blackie is dead. I do not know why. He was a young cat, only 3 years old. There are no marks on him. He is on the back porch curled up like he is asleep. Pat is upset. He liked that cat. I will bury him before Brook gets home from school.

They tell me our weather is going to get cold again. I believe them. I have been having a hard time believing it is January. We have had maybe one week of winter like weather and that was at Christmas. It was in the 60's this morning and it started raining and has not quit. It is now 55. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be in the 40's. I wonder if it will be.

Remembering strange weather takes me back a few years to March of 1993. We had had a good winter, not to much of anything. Spring was here. The trees were blooming and so were the daffidols. I was working second shift(12 hour shifts) in a small hospital about an hour's drive away from my house. That morning as I was driving home from work I remember hearing that we would have snow flurries that day. I did not think anything of it. Come on now , it was March and in the South! I woke up about 2 and saw that it was snowing. It did not appear to be sticking so I decided I would head on in to work a little early. So I left about 3. Now mind you it took me an hour to get to work by freeway. The hospital was also north of where I lived. Well I made it to work and boy was there a happy person to see me!. She left and went home early. By nightfall, you could not see anything when you looked outside. The snow was blowing sideways, drifts were piling up against the doors. It did not do any good to look out, you could not see. I had lived in Colorado and had never seen a blizzard. yes , that's right a blizzard! The south was getting a blizzard in the Spring! I do not know how many inches of snow there was. We were paralized! No snow plows or anything like that. We get snow once or twice a decade and it melts by next day!

Well anyway, guess who got overtime in that week? Me . Yep. I was at work for 6 days on the clock. I had 156 hours on my paycheck. Want to know the really really bad thing? My takehome check was the same if I had only 84 hours! I cried when I saw that! To this day I believe that they should have given me 2 checks so that taxes would not have eatten up my overtime!

I just had to remind myself that I have taxes to do. Funny how one thing leads to another..........

REsults

My doctor called me today withthe results from my MRI. Sounds a bit scary. She said I have bulging discs and compressed discs in my neck. That it appears that there is a lot going on in there. Explains why I have a lot less freedom of movements in my neck. It also explains why it does not take much at all to "throw" my neck out. I have an appointment with a Orthopedic doctor on the 4th of next month. Now before we get any firther, I am not considering surgery at this time. I do want a good evaluation on what is going on and what can be done. I am not ready to risk what movement I do have. I guess this does eliminate any chance of me taking TaeKwonDo.

MRI and Im mad

I went this morning and had the MRI done. I felt like a fraud. My neck is feeling better.I have much freer movement of my head and arms. There is still some pain but nothing I cannot deal with. It feels almost like muscle soreness now. No doubt that a quick movement would probally bring it all back. They said that my doctor would have the results possibly by Monday. So. until then.

Pat's baby sister had a heart attack this week. She is 42. There has been a few problems with swelling and fever so they have been unable to place the stint in her heart. Supposedly they will do it tonight. I hope she does well for the sake of the 2 kids that depend on her. Maybe she will see the error of her life and take the steps to change it. no this is not the drug addict sister. But she is just as bad. She is an entry all of her own. I will not be going to see her. Have no reason to go see someone that does not like me. I have enough going on in my own life.

Brook has TaeKwonDo today. I will be taking her there tonight. I will also be taking my daughter to see one of her probation officer's today. I think we will eat out or something. It will be 8 oclock before we get home.

I am so mad. Brook has missed 7 days of school this year. I do not keep her from school for no reason. She missed all 7 of those days due to a fever above 102! Why am I mad? Well I recieved a letter today telling me that she has missed 7 days, like I don't know that. In that letter I was told that if she continues to miss school that I would be turned over to the social worker and turned into the Trunacy Treatment Team and that I faced up to 30 days in jail in that happens! Also if she misses 3 more days she will not pass first grade?!!! She is on the star roll. She has straight A's. She is in the advanced reading group. She is in 100 point club for reading . I am a responsible parent. Their guidelines say keep home if fever is over 100. Her's was over 102 and I took her to doctor.  I even took her to the hospital when it hit 105! I sent in a note from the doctor and the hospital. I am mad. Ok I will play their way. She goes to school sick. She stays until she cannot be counted absent. I am mad. Threaten to put me in jail? Keep her from second grade? She is on star roll? Yet they will pass someone that is there everyday and fails classes? Im mad.

Nuts Just nuts!

The Joy of almonds

Almonds have as much protein per ounce as red meat. Adding almonds into your diet has shown to help reduce the risk of heart attacks by as much as 50%. This result is due to the good-for-your-heart vitamin E found in almonds. Monounsaturated fats can decrease your bad LDL cholesterol levels and increase your good HDL cholesterol levels. Antioxidants help keep your arteries young.

Hello. I realize I have not been writing much lately. There has been a lot going on and nothing going on. Ihave been in a lot of pain lately from my neck. It has eased up some but not enough. I am having an MRI on Friday to help determine hat is going on. Ususally when I pinch a nerve in my neck it  only lasts a couple of days. This is 2 weeks . I can scratch my head now. LOL I could not do that 2 days ago. Now I find out I have to have different meds for my back because insurance will not pay for them anymore. I have already filled how many they will pay for. So stupid. They will pay for me to have narcotic drugs everyday but not a cox-2 drug. HUmph. I can use a drug that will make me high and not relieve the pain or nothing. I think I will use nothing. Anyway as soon as my neck is good enough for me to look at people without turning my whole body I will go look for a job. My mother will turn over in her grave. I am going to look in retail places not hospitals. I will not work in medical field again. I have 2 degrees in the medical field and they both pay VERY well but I treasure my mental health more than the pay. Although lately I have had doubts about my mental health. I talked to my doctor about that and she is of opinion that maybe we had better do something about the pain as my depression seems to stem from that time frame. Pat and I have had our problems for a long time. I love him but at times I don't like him. I honestly do not know how things with him will end up. I think that once I start bringing some money into the house that maybe if his burden is eased up then we will turn things around. If not, then I will have money and I will be able to do what needs to be done. I honestly hope that things do get better. I truely do not see a future without him. Everything I see has him there with me. Brook has been with her mama a lot over the Christmas break. That ends today. She will be back home as school starts back tomorrow. Wow it has been a long break!

68 degrees F right now. Where is my winter? Dont get me wrong I love these temps but I am thinking of all the bugs we will have this spring and summer because of no winter weather.

 That's it for now my head is falling over. Need a break.