Today is Veterans Day here in the United States of America; it is a day we set aside to recognize the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform have made. Not just for us here in the United States, but around the world, we are known as the defenders of the downtrodden, the keepers of the gate, the ones that go where no one else goes and defends the defenseless.
Many of my own family have served this great nation; they have put on the uniform of the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marines. They have given of themselves and in a couple of instances, their very lives to stand up for people who could not stand up for themselves.
I am proud to come from a family that recognizes service, servitude really, that gives of themselves so others can live free.
It all started with Thomas Testerman and just continued through the generations, I am a proud descendant of a brave man. One who gave his service to form this country, I often wonder if God grants him the vision to see the generations that came after him who have gone into service for the country he fell in love with.
If he knows that his beliefs have gone on, generation after generation.
I am in awe of the sacrifices that must be made to be a soldier, the sacrifices that the whole family makes. Some make the ultimate sacrifice with their life, I stand up today and salute the men and women of this country that put on a uniform and defend the defenseless. You are my true heroes, I might go on about Thor and Superman and all of the others, but you are bigger than they are. You have no magical powers other than your desire to serve.
You are truly appreciated by this family, one who understands honor, service and sacrifice. You exhibit those qualities daily, you and your families, the ones that are often forgotten.
On this day, I want to say a simple thank you, it doesn’t seem enough, but it is all I have to give you.
My Thoughts on Thor the Dark World
Last night at 12:02 AM the Irishman and I saw Thor the Dark World, it did not disappoint. Sometimes, with a sequel, there is disappointment, however, Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston brought their A games to this endeavor.
I have loved the whole Asgardian mythology since reading the stories in elementary school. Marvel’s take on Thor’s exile to earth was legendary, living up to those expectations the first time was nothing short of awesome. Then bring in Thor in the Avengers, of course nothing Joss Whedon does disappoints.
With this movie expectations were high, I did not go into the theater expecting something bad. I was so totally not disappointed.
Tom Hiddleston as Loki is nothing short of a revelation; he goes from arrogance to pathos without missing a beat. This man can do no wrong in my opinion; I would watch Mr. Hiddleston read the phone book. He is that good, I need to buy every single thing he has ever been in.
Loki was always a favorite of mine, he longs for adoration and needs to be worshiped, the mother who raised him loves him unconditionally and it is not enough for him. Brotherly love is not enough; he needs the masses to worship him as a god. It would be so easy to play this character as a one-dimensional character, easily dismissed as the quintessential bad guy. Tom Hiddleston brings layers and understanding to the character itself. One understands Loki’s need to be feared and adored at the same time.
I won’t get into the plot lines, there are so many surprises, I was shocked some things did not get leaked that I felt were huge. Some things I didn’t see coming, some I did. All in all a wild ride from the get go, run, don’t walk to see this movie.
I myself will be going several more times.
Dream
Last night I had a dream that Nocona and I were in the country visiting a friend, I was carrying her and I had to put her down to open the door. She ran off and I couldn’t find her, needless to say I woke up in tears. I don’t know what she was trying to tell me, it’s time to really say goodbye and let her go to enjoy her country life or what. I just know that I miss her greatly.
On a happier note, today is my Friday and the Irishman scored tickets to the midnight showing of Thor. Assigned seating! I am so excited, 3D, XD and any other kind of special D you can think of. I cannot wait to see one of my childhood superheroes alive on the screen again.
Stormie is doing well, adjusting to her new, pampered life, she is full of energy and fun. She loves to play hide and seek with my slippers and the Irishman’s socks.
Today will be a Starbucks day, it is Friday and I have much to celebrate, God is watching out for me, stopping me from doing detrimental things and giving great joy to this thing we call life
Parenting
As a parent, when your children are grown, you look back and think is there anything I did right. Some things are obvious, my children all have a moral code that was instilled in them at an early age. They are all self sufficient at an early age. They are all loyal to each other and their family.
There is one thing that I am sure I did right, when they learned how to read I began making them look up words that they were not familiar with in the dictionary. I never dumbed down my vocabulary with them, before they could read I would tell them the meaning of words. When they learned to read the onus was on them.
They did look up those words, in fact at times it was not to my advantage because I used British slang as a way of venting my frustration at drivers instead of using other words. Elizabeth Anne looked those words up and boy was I in trouble.
Today, all of my children, are good at research, they are good at thinking for themselves and they are good at articulating their thoughts.
Since I have never dumbed down my vernacular with them they are now able to communicate with anyone, I am very sure I did one thing right.
I like to think I did a lot of things right, I know without a doubt I made mistakes, all I can do is pray I didn’t mess them up too badly.
Pie in the Sky
Men lie. There I said it, I see it a lot on Facebook, men saying oh I just want a good woman I don’t care what she looks like. That’s not true, in reality men want the airbrushed perfection, if they didn’t Playboy would never have even seen the light of day.
In our world Playboy, Sports Illustrated and Maxim do exist and are doing gangbuster business. All because men want airbrushed perfection.
It amuses me to see the denial running rampant on social media. Even in my own home, I hear it a lot. I love you no matter what you look like. That is not true.
Most men take what they can get realizing they themselves will never get the model in the magazine. Those women go for money, so unless you have a lot you will have to settle for the real woman.
There are a few women in real life that are exceptionally pretty, my daughter being one of them. I also work with a woman that is model pretty. I keep asking her why she works here.
Most women know their limitations, we do what we can with dieting and makeup and the fortunate ones that can afford plastic surgery.
I will continue reaching for the pie in the sky. Beauty treatments galore to make my skin less wrinkled, less saggy, I will diet constantly and occasionally work out.
Blessed
There are times when I think my life is just, well, horrible, then I get a call from Alex or Elizabeth Anne will send me a text or I will hear from Jeffrey. Every morning I wake up to the sound of the coffee maker going off, coffee that was put in there the night before by the Irishman. I know without a doubt my life is not horrible, that my life is incredibly blessed.
I don’t use the word lucky to describe me, there has been nothing lucky about my life, there have been times of incredible blessings from God however.
If someone came in and looked at my life as a whole, from the moment of my birth they would think that I am the most unlucky person ever. They would see that I wasn’t wanted by my birth mother, that she left the hospital without me, I think they would miss the fact my grandparents came to the hospital and paid for me so they could take me home.
I think most people would look at it and think, poor little girl, no one really wants her, I think they would miss the fact that two people did indeed want me and eventually got me. I am blessed to have had the parents I had, I am blessed to have been raised with a moral code, a code that tells me the difference between right and wrong.
I am blessed to have the children that I do have, the ones I raised to have a moral code, to know the difference between right and wrong. To know that they have a mother that will stand by them, if they do something they are not supposed to, I will call them out on it. I will not allow them to go through life with an air of entitlement, I will not only call them out on their misbehavior, I will stand with them through the consequences.
I will tell them I am proud of their accomplishments, without giving them false praise, you see that too often on television. The reality shows are filled with young hopefuls whose parents have told them they can sing, dance or whatever, when in fact they cannot.
I am blessed to have the job that I do, to get up every day and go to work and for the most part like what I do, I like the people I work with, that is also a blessing.
I am blessed to have the friends that I have, from my BBFF to my BFF to all of them, so many, too many to name individually.
I am incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to be on the radio, I will be forever grateful to Shanon J, for asking me to do Conversations with her. I am still shocked that she asked me to do the show with her as I had no broadcasting experience. Well, except for the 3 times I have called into the Kidd Kraddick in the Morning show. Besides that, no experience. Every time I walk into the radio station offices I feel nothing but acceptance and warmth from the people there.
I am not lucky, I am truly blessed.
Stormie News and Other Stuff
Well here we are, Tuesday again, Wednesday for me, very happy about that. This Friday is a Tess day, incredibly happy about that. I have something very fun planned, I hope she likes it.
I am thinking about bringing back does that make my dog crazy as Stormie is crazy, I mean seriously crazy. Well not all the time, just sometimes.
Our favorite game to play with her is to ignore her until she swats us with her paw, it is the funniest thing, she will stand there waiting for us to love on her. If you just sit there she will take her paw and swat you with it, letting you know she wants some loving.
She is this big, lovable furball, she loves to give kisses and loves her belly rubs and has learned to jump on the bed. Finally, it makes me less sad to have her sleep with us, I know that makes me crazy, but I still miss Nocona so much and she used to sleep with us.
Well, another day, another dollar, off to work I go, to make the money to buy Stormie chew toys so she will stop chewing on the office chair, oh and my shoes.
I foresee me having to go shoe shopping to replace a pair or two, look how sad I am at the prospect of shoe shopping.
Love
Well, Friday is upon us, we call all rejoice once again. I am doing better, I still miss Nocona more than I have words to express. Part of me feels extreme guilt that she died alone, I wish I had been with her, telling her how much she meant to all of us these past 10 years and 3 months. I hope she knew how much we all loved her.
Ok, I am just going to say the thing we are not supposed to say. I really love me. Not the way I look, I think that is well established. I love my mind, my personality, my brain if you will. I love the way I process thoughts, I believe it is unique, I also believe I have passed this thought process on to Elizabeth Anne.
I love the fact I am eclectic in my television viewing and my reading choices, oh and musical selections. I love how I can meet someone and tell you within 5 minutes if they are trustworthy or not. I love that I can spend all day watching the history channel or scyfy channel or discovery or anything that most women don’t watch. I said most, not all, I love that I love words. My grandfather really instilled that within me by teaching me to read when I was 4, he got tired of me asking him to read to me all day long.
So there you have it, I love me. Everyone should love themselves, unless they are racist, then they should not love their personalities, they should change the way they think.
Ok, I’m done, see you all later.
Another Monday
The weekend is over and I survived the weekend without Nocona, it was hard, it’s hard coming into my home, I sit in the car not wanting to come in because she is not here to greet me. It is hard going to bed because she is not at the end of it or right next to me. It is hard waking up because she is not there to wake up with me, eat eggs with me and have coffee with me. I just miss her so much.
Stormie won’t sleep with me, I tried putting her on the bed, I had to wrestle with her to pick her up and then she just looked at me like I was crazy and jumped off the bed. Oh well, maybe tonight.
I do really like waking up at a normal hour, 7am is so much better than 4am, coffee, funnies, Dear Abby and a few Bejeweled Blitz and I am good. This week is going to be easier, I know it, maybe I’ll go back to store on Thursday night, see if I can get hit on again. Maybe not, unless I actually have to go.
Having Tess here Friday and Saturday was good, she is a breath of fresh air, so full of energy and life, I love having that little girl with me. She is bright, funny, smart and so very pretty, she is a true credit to both of her parents.
Well, that’s all I have for now, I hope you all have a great Monday.
Loss
October is an incredibly hard month for me, Michael died this month, my friend Sandi has been gone three years today and now Nocona has left us in the month of October. I am beginning to hate October, my heart is in about a million pieces right now.
I did get to pick up Tess from school Friday, so happy to be able to do that again, she was able to spend the night and we had fun on Saturday. We have discovered a new place to go, thanks to a friend at work.
It is called Kid Mania and it was so much fun we went twice, she loved it, a very physical place where a kid can get out energy and get a ton of physical activity in. I highly recommend this place for everyone.
Yesterday I posted a blurb on how I felt about myself, my looks in particular, I stand by it, it is how I feel about myself, it is how I have always felt about my looks. Melissa, your comments will not be posted and please know the drama you tried to stir up did not work. I spoke to the one you mentioned and she took umbrage with your words, she is trying now to find you to tell you that.
This won’t be long, I am going to run to Costco and the grocery before settling in for a night of television, it is The Walking Dead, Once and Revenge tonight. Very excited for the new season, I love when the new seasons start, it always reminds me of the beginning of school. I don’t think one ever outgrows fall, new shows, new weather and new teachers.
Oh, one more thing, I have a friend who is hysterical in his pain, he has a gift with words, I am trying to convince him to start a blog. Once I am successful with that endeavor I will be mentioning him often and create a link to his blog from here.
Angie World 