Master of change

Resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change.
       - Brian Tracy

Much of my life I was a victim of change. The first change that I can put my finger on was

Responsibilty

I caught part of the President's speech to the NAACP convention the other day and it struck a chord with me. I went to The White House to read the speech. School is starting back soon here and all parents and children should read and really listen to what he said. I do mean ALL , what he said is something every one should do no matter what race they are. REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE NAACP CENTENNIAL CONVENTION

We've got to say to our children, yes, if you're African American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. But that's not a reason to get bad grades -- that's not a reason to cut class -- -- that's not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands -- you cannot forget that. That's what we have to teach all of our children. No excuses. No excuses.

You get that education, all those hardships will just make you stronger, better able to compete. Yes we can.

To parents -- to parents, we can't tell our kids to do well in school and then fail to support them when they get home. You can't just contract out parenting. For our kids to excel, we have to accept our responsibility to help them learn. That means putting away the Xbox ---- putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour. It means attending those parent-teacher conferences and reading to our children and helping them with their homework.

And by the way, it means we need to be there for our neighbor's sons and daughters. We need to go back to the time, back to the day when we parents saw somebody, saw some kid fooling around and -- it wasn't your child, but they'll whup you anyway. Or at least they'll tell your parents -- the parents will. You know. That's the meaning of community. That's how we can reclaim the strength and the determination and the hopefulness that helped us come so far; helped us make a way out of no way.

Our children have the responsibility to work hard, to set goals, and strive to achieve those goals. Parents, grandparents, caretakers have to responsibility to teach our children to shrive to do better. It is our job to teach our children how to work hard, how to set a goal and how to achieve them. Be all you can be. Parents want to give their children what they did not have growing up. That is fine. But, yes, there is a but, in doing so are you denying them what you did have? The drive to achieve, a goal to be reached.
Help our children.

Technorati Tags: education, President+Obama, family, children

Today will be a good day

Today will be a good day. Today will be a good day. I will keep telling myself that. Today will be a good day...

Need to get the yard mowed before it jumps sky high again. Would be nice if it stayed cool for that but no chance of that! It is already 80 degrees!

I think I will see some money go flying out the door this week is not today. Money I know will never be returned. Been waiting for them to ask for some. He talks about my daughter but at least when she has borrowed in the past she returned it soon. His family feels as if they are entitled to his money. They tend to only show up when they want something. Enough said.

I celebrate that I feel no pain today.

family stuff

Pat is getting to see more of his daughter. It is frustrating for him. He sees her making serious mistakes and cannot do anything about it. She is young, early 20's, with 2 kids and out on her own for the first time. Big mistake #1 that she does not see is she has a roommate that does not have a job and has several kids of her own, no welfare check or child support either! Big mistake #2, she is in love with a guy she met through her roommate that is in prison, (roommate's brother) Big mistake #3 she changes jobs and quit her other job 2 weeks BEFORE starting new job. She is letting other people use her phone and they ran her out of minutes AND ran up her phone bill. She is letting other people drive her car while she was at work, now it is broke. She received a LARGE tax refund and is broke, hocked her car and her rings and borrowed money from us for food this week. Pa told her no more. She can come to the farm and I will feed her, she can move in but NOT the "friends". She does not see they are only using her. The roommate claims to have been looking for a job for over 6 months, yet Pat's daughter found a job in less than a week. This child was never taught how to survive on her own. It will take hitting bottom for her to see that she is being used. As for this marriage, I pray that she waits(plans are for next week!) until he gets out. Then I pray she waits for a long time! I fear for her. She is in for big problems.


Having a bit of trouble typing this as I have a lump on my shoulder. Buddy decided he wanted to watch what I was doing and climbed on the back of the chair and watched me type.




Brook got her hair cut. It sure is short! She wanted it cut this way. I think she looks cute But I really think it will look cuter AFTER it has grown out some.