Wednesday, June 28, 2006

2996

One Victim One Blogger...
2996 Victims 2996 Bloggers... Remembering the lives of those lost on 9/11.

"I hate that the limited resources of my brain are clogged with names like Bundy, Manson, Columbine and Al-Qaeda, but I almost never hear the names of their victims.

I hope that by having 2,996 of us write a tribute to these people that we will each learn about our victims. We will burn into our own brains the details of their lives and come to know more about them than we do about the monsters who took their lives. I can say that after doing my own research I will never forget the name of my victim.

I think of this a little bit like a giant wake, where we celebrate their lives and not the circumstances of their unfortunate deaths.

By taking the time and energy to remember them we can keep them alive in our own memories. We can keep them alive for as long as we refuse to forget them."



Sign up to help with this wonderful effort...whether it is to put up a graphic on your blog to spread the word or to write a tribute on 9/11 for one of the victims of that dreadful day...

Go... now...

Update: I have recieved an email and I have been asked to write about Marion Britton, passenger on Flight 93.

Update 6/27: D. Challener Roe now has 630 bloggers writing 630 memorials. 2366 to go.......

Sunday, June 25, 2006

One Year of Blogging...

Sunny - Hi 112 Lo 87 for Baghdad, Iraq
Partly Sunny - Hi 82 Lo 63 for Northern KY, USA

Song of the week: Beautiful Day,
U2

Ramble:

My first post was on 4 June, 2005 – a photo. In that time I have rambled about several things, among them: my husband, family, patriotism, our military, art, music, mini road trips, work, politics, my inability to understand the technical aspect of blogging and Halliburton.

I have found I really enjoy blogging. The commitment I made to myself was to post once a week on Sundays. I am pleased to report other than the two Sundays I missed because our computer crashed and burned, I have stayed true to my goal. My writing ability is still below par and any English teacher would surely have this blog completely marked in red—I suspect even my margins are offline in some browsers. Each week I find myself still apprehensive about coming up with a song and topic, but once I decide, I let my emotions take over and I will torture anyone that reads this blog with my stream of conscious. I have found blogging to be therapeutic. I have explored some very painful experiences on these pages. Just about every song I have selected over the past year has been meaningful to me in some way.

This week’s post is really more of a retrospective for me, so humor me as I look at the past year.

The most popular searches run that brought folks to my blog were:
Ann Coulter (and my husband)
(Busy) Boobs -- I did a post on the "trauma" of having a mammogram...
On Behalf of a Grateful Nation
A Marine’s Prayer
Afternoon Delight (All my traffic from Sweden... came looking for this)& Will Ferrell

I also received countless hits from people doing searches on soldiers and marines that I have mentioned on this blog.

A few of my favorite songs that have appeared here:
Learn to Fly, Foo Fighters
Angry American, Toby Keith
Sunday Morning, No Doubt
Kind and Generous, Natalie Merchant
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), Talking Heads

I have played:
U2 three times
Dave Matthews, Sting, Natalie Merchant, Foo Fighters, Trace Adkins and Toby Keith two times
Dixie Chicks never


I found the following quiz. Coincidentally, Beautiful Day was the first song I selected to put on my blog. Maybe there’s something to these little quizzes…

Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2

"Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away"
You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments.
And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too.

What's Your Theme Song?


The following is a list of my favorite posts and probably my most passionate writing that I have done over the past year.
4/23/06 A Marine’s Prayer, Lance Corporal Justin Sims
2/19/06 Home
2/5/06 I Had Forgotten How Angry I Was
11/29/05 How Do I Tell Liberals to F Off on a PG Rated Blog?
10/16/05 On Behalf of a Grateful Nation
9/18/05 Celebrities and Mocha Soy Lattes
9/11/05 Four Years Later
8/7/05 Anger & Hope
7/10/05 Reflection

Traffic:
I have yet to hit 10,000, so, I'm not joking when I said I average about 20-30 visitors a day. But I can say this... I never padded my numbers and the counter doesn't count me... I think maybe I'll post something when I get my 10,000 visitor... and maybe a little something in the mail to the person that is my 10,000th visitor...

Favorite blogs and Links:
I was going to do a list of my favorite blogs and links this past year, but I already have a great list on my left sidebar that I try to go through at least once a week. If you are interested in what I read... check out my blogroll. And of course I have the VIP Lounge on the right... Notice I added another one...

Tomorrow and Beyond:
My goal for this year is to continue posting on Sundays and exploring my thoughts on various issues. I plan to continue discovering new and interesting blogs and listing them here... There is so much talent out there... who knew? I will continue to show support for our men and women in uniform. I will continue to strive to become more of an optimist.

Final Thought:
One thing I have decided after one year of blogging is that I am going to leave Blogger – free is nice, but you get what you pay for. Since I am still doing this, I think it is time to move on to something better. I have no idea what I'm doing and I don’t know if I did the right thing, but I already purchased a domain… I am open to suggestions, so technical advice is welcome. My intentions are to leave everything the same… but find a nice design and layout- I have one in mind... know anyone that can help?

Have a great week everyone!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

It's Father's Day

Sunny - Hi 117 Lo 87 for Baghdad, Iraq
Scattered Showers - Hi 79 Lo 69 for Northern KY, USA

Song of the week: Father and Daughter, Paul Simon

Ramble:

As a small child I adored my father despite the fact that he neglected my mother, brother and me. He was tall (to me) and handsome. SD had chiseled features that men in Hollywood aspire to have. I remember his laugh. But what I remember more than anything else was his lack of interest in his family. I have done my best to try and forget all the awful things he did to us--In high school I once dated a nice young Christian boy and he told me, "You have to let go of that anger, Cath. You have to let go." Some things are just hard to forget. I have two fond memories of him - Once the SD took me out to a farm where we searched for arrowheads. There is more to the story, but I’ll hold on to the rest for myself. The other good memory was mentioned here. There were long stretches of time where he would just disappear. Other times I was his decoy to get out of the house. Once he took me out to go to the store to get a surprise for my mom… Instead, he took me to a house, where there was another kid… a little boy maybe a year or two older than me, plopped me down in front of the television while he and the woman that answered the door disappeared for awhile… Yeah… nice, huh? I recall he coached me on the way home. “You just need to keep quiet. We only went to the store and got Daddy cigarettes.” I don’t remember if my mom questioned me. She knew… she knew already. Once, he threw my brother across the room looking for money. I don’t ever remember him showing affection to my little brother- ever. He was a big gambler- craps. He would lose entire paychecks. The electric would be turned off in the house. We never went hungry. My mother was resourceful and somehow managed to keep us fed. I remember another time when he broke into my piggy bank to buy cigarettes and beer and to go hang out and gamble. I remember crying and pleading with him, “Daddy, why are you doing that? Mommy wants me to save my money!” Pathetic little man. So, as you can imagine, it was a blessing that he walked out on us when I was five or six, Terry must have been two or three.

Once he left, I created an imaginary father. In my mind my Dad was the best. I remember making up stories and telling my friends what a great guy he was… I found myself believing my own made up stories. Now, I wasn’t without male role models. My grandfather (my dad’s father) has always been the epitome of how a man should behave. He gave me away when Michael and I got married. The only time I truly became overly emotional at our wedding, was when my Uncle Steve (my dad’s brother) embraced me and whispered in my ear, “I only wish your Daddy could be here.” I lost it. At the time, I secretly wanted him there too.

On 3 October, 1995, the day O.J. Simpson was found not guilty (that’s why I remember the date); I received a phone call from my grandfather. “Cass, are you sitting down?”
Oh my God, something has happened to my grandmother! “What Papaw? What’s going on? Is Mom alright?” (I call my grandmother Mom… long story)
“Cass, guess who’s sitting next to me?”
…..
“Your Daddy……………”

The man had been gone for nearly 25 years… I left work, shaking… I flew over to my grandparents…. He was no longer tall and handsome… He was old and weather worn, his voice much deeper than I remembered. His hair was still dark and slicked back just as I remembered. He stood up, walked toward me with a limp. He came over to me and he went to hug me and I remember recoiling. I recall him talking about getting hurt somewhere in the woods…Then the stories began… He weaved a tale of bulls*** that would make Bill Clinton blush. He had been a fisherman… he lived down south in the gulf… would travel up to Alaska and blah blah blah…. I find it difficult to believe he would work that hard doing anything… Keep in mind the movie, Forrest Gump was still in theaters… I drove him to a place where he and I used to go fishing. I had mentally prepared for this moment for 25 years.

“Dad – why did you leave us?” He never provided an answer…

I knew he came back to see if my grandparents were still alive… I’m sure he was hoping to collect any money that might be coming to him. He then started asking questions about my mother. All of a sudden, I realized that this slime ball was just looking for his next meal ticket. I don’t remember what I said, but I can assure you that I spewed venom all over him and made certain that if he so much as went near my mother, I would kill him. I meant that. He caused her more misery than anyone deserves and it was at that moment that I realized that my allegiance to this pathetic little man was not justified and that I had blamed the wrong person all these years.

OK… nice father’s day story, Cath…. Thanks... that was great…

My point… My father was and still is a loser…. He has lost so much because he was not willing to take responsibility for any of his actions… He missed out on raising two great kids and a wife that would have been his partner for life. He missed out on four of the coolest grandkids you could possibly meet and know… We didn’t miss out on anything. He on the other hand missed everything. Had he stuck around, I’m sure my life would be very different…

So, with all this said, I suppose I could feel sorry for myself and in years past I have. But, I know how fortunate I have been to have a mother like mine, to have grandparents like mine. It is no accident that my brother is a terrific father. So, I say to you, is your Dad still around? Embrace him today. Wish him Happy Father’s Day. Father's are a wonderful wonderful people.

Me? I'm going to spend some time with my Papaw... and wish him a Happy Father's Day.


Terry & Kaeli

Blogs and Links to Check Out This Week:

Coonass in Texas Joe and I have apparently been indoctrinated into a secret cult... The Cult of Ann....

Jarhead's Firing Range Move over Captain B... There is another Marine that may have my heart... He is brash and unconcerned about being politically correct... He is all Marine... H/T to Lemuel Calhoon and his wonderful Ecosystem.

Michelle Malkin's Hot Air If you haven't been to Michelle's new endeavor... go check it out... she is on a roll... This is my Charlie Angels dream team... Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, and Laura Ingraham.... yeah... very cool.. H/T to Rob

Third World County Here is a fun blog that tackles all the events of today. H/T to Diane

Have a great week everyone!


Some photos from the garden tour I went on last week with my Mother.




Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Captain B Is Looking For a Few Good...

folks to help him out with his latest project.

I'm a little late to the dance, but my favorite blogging Marine, Captain B is in motion to coordinate an advertisement in the newspapers...

"Are you tired of hearing the media badger the military? Do you want to send a message to all of the service members fighting the war on terrorism? We are planning to purchase a full page ad in a major paper to support our troops before July 4th. [...]" Read the rest here.

Captain B is also looking for suggestions for the ad... I know from visiting other blogs how flippin' creative you guys are... Rob... Criminy!! We used to create ads all the time in our previous life!! Hop to it man! Now, I told the Captain that the 20 regulars that come by and visit me would most assuredly go visit him... Please don't make me out to be a liar... Thanks!

Photo courtesy of Photographer One

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Ann Coulter and my husband

Michael at Scootertrash Conservative did a post on all the blah blah blahing surrounding Ann Coulter and her new book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism. I find it amusing how libs will come creeping out of the woodwork to make assinine comments or make fantastic statements based in no reality that I am familiar with. So please, go visit my husband and read his take on this topic.

Another guy I adore, also has a liking for Ann... Go check in with the Lone Ranger to see what he wrote a couple of days ago.

Good stuff- gotta love Ann!

Buy the book!

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and a Wikipedia Meme

Sunny - Hi 112 Lo 84 for Baghdad, Iraq
Showers - Hi 70 Lo 57 for Northern KY, USA

Song of the week: Dead Man's Party,
Oingo Boingo

Ramble:

I'm working on a post celebrating my 1st year of blogging, so this weeks post is light.

However, I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to reflect on the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. I dedicate this week's Sunday Song to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. I don't take death lightly...

HOWEVER, our guys- our fighting men- you know, the guys in the white hats, the ones willing to put their lives on the line to keep us safe- took out a bad guy this past week.

NO MORE will this dead man plan suicide bomb missions, NO MORE will this man plan the assassinations of diplomats, NO MORE will this man plot and murder innocents, NO MORE will this man behead Americans, NO MORE will this man be the poster child for "Kill All the Jews", NO MORE will this man kill American soldiers. He no longer has the ability to plan or hurt anyone ever again.

He is dead.

For that, I am thankful- One less bad guy on the planet.

I offer a heartfelt thank you to the soldiers, airmen, and marines for a job well done.

OK... I mentioned that I'm keeping it simple this week because I've been working on a post marking my 1st year of blogging... I don't know if I'll have it up next Sunday... being Father's day... but it will be up by the end of this month... Truth be told, Michael gave me a video iPod and it is the coolest thing ever! Free time at home on the PC has been loading it with my favorite music.... I have a capacity of 7500 songs... Currently, I have over 700 songs loaded as well 4 episodes of The Office. I'm telling you this is the most fun... Get one if you can!

...and now for the meme...

I saw this meme over at Green Pastures, Still Waters and I thought it looked like fun.

Go to Wikipedia and search your birthday (not the year). Then you post three (3) items: two (2) births and one (1) death.

Here is what I came up with:

Please note I only picked names that I recognized and knew something about.

1. Birth: Kofi Annan was born on 8 April, 1938.... good grief.... that one blows.... The one organization I detest more than the ACLU would be the United Nations.... I can't go there, so enough of that... enough of him...




2. Birth: Sonja Henje was born on 8 April, 1912. Now this is a little goofy. I love Sonja Henje. She was an Olympic figure skater and I believe she competed in 3 separate Olympics. I know she won the gold. She was grace on ice... for her time... looking at clips today... eh...(I know... I could actually READ Wikipedia... but where is the fun in that? I prefer to pull bits and pieces of useless information from my brain...it's much more entertaining for me). What I really liked about Sonja, besides her accent were her movies. You see, after she became the sweetheart to the world, naturally, Hollywood wanted to capitalize on that... My favorite Sonja Henje movie is Sun Valley Serenade. It is such an amazing little movie. It is very formulaic (is that a word?) Refugee girl from the war fleas to the land of the free and meets a really cute piano player in a big band.... The big band leader was naturally Glenn Miller. The cute guy... John Payne... (the guy that played the lead and love interest of Maureen O'Hara in Miracle on 34th Street), Milton Berle plays the wacky one liner manager of the band, the amazing Nicholas Brothers tapped their way through a number and the unbelievably beautiful Dorothy Dandridge does a number in the movie. Fun movie... watch it. I'm going to have to track it down...I haven't seen it in about 10-15 years... Amazon, here I come.

3. Death: Pablo Picasso died on April 8, 1973. I've never been a huge fan of Cubism, but I liked a lot of his early work - his Rose Period, especially. Cubism always struck me as hard and cold and unfeeling... mechanical in emotion. Art must always speak to me emotionally in order for me to understand and appreciate it. So... here is something a little less mechanical, although it is cold, harsh, and hollow. It is titled: Bust of Woman, 1923. It can be found at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. This is one of the best little museums I have ever been to... If you are out in California and have never been... go... If you enjoy art museums and are headed to Pasadena or to Disneyland... go... I love that place...


Now... Back to Sun Valley Serenade...

OK... now who should I ask to do this meme???

1. The Lone Ranger
2. Jedi Master Rob - completed Thanks!!
3. Diane - completed Thanks!
4. Bisqui - completed Thanks, Carlo!
5. Lemuel -completed Thanks!!
6. Laura -completed 6/27 Thanks Laura!
7. Michael -completed Good job, honey! 6/19
8. Captain B I feel like a giddy school girl. My favorite blogging Marine put his response to my meme in the comments of this post. I didn't expect him to play because it wouldn't fit into the theme of his blog... what a great guy... great blog too...

* David played!
* There's a new Marine in my blog life and he is a Gunny serving in Okinawa. You know how I feel about Marines. Thanks for playing Gunny!

I'm hoping if I invite enough folks to do this... at least one or two will do it. This isn't mandatory... I just thought it would be fun... There are no rules...make it as simple or as complex as you wish. I of course, had to ramble. My initial goal was to just post pictures... HA! In any event, if you do this... let me know!!


Blogs and Links to Check Out This Week:

I'm participating in my first carnival... with the Blogging Chicks, of course. Go visit here and find out what this Carnival of Blogging Chicks is all about...

Big Fat Institute
And Then I Woke Up
Morning Coffee I had to add this one because the coincidence of it all was weird...


Final note...

Michael and I went on our first historic house tour of the year on Saturday. We visited Farmington in Louisville, Kentucky- not the best of renovations, but the historic value of this former hemp farm is priceless when considering the rich history of Kentucky. Abraham Lincoln visited this lovely Federalist style home. I will leave this weeks blog with photos I took on Saturday.

Today is a garden tour with Mom and Michael.

Have a great week everyone!


view from side of house

barn, but the openings looked like an archer's window. You can be on the inside and shoot in any direction, but it would be very difficult to get a shot into one of the openings

summer kitchen

ice house


Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Sunday, June 04, 2006

God Only Knows

Sunny - Hi 114 Lo 87 for Baghdad, Iraq
Isolated Thunderstorms - Hi 72 Lo 54 for Northern KY, USA

Song of the week: God Only Knows,
The Beach Boys

A special thank you goes to the lovely and talented Diane from Diane's Stuff. She is one of the coolest chicks I know.... and good grief she is good at this computer stuff!! She thankfully created the video code to go with this weeks post. Without her I would have needed to come up with an alternative song... but there isn't any other song that would do Michael justice. So, thank you Diane. You are wonderful for helping me...

Ramble:

I've referenced the movie, Love Actually before. It is a sappy feel good Christmas movie and I recommend it wholeheartedly. What I really enjoy is the opening and closing of the movie... Hidden cameras were set up at Heathrow International Airport to capture arrivals. It is heart warming and makes my heart skip a beat every time. While you are watching folks embracing you hear the following narrative by Hugh Grant-

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.

On Thursday, June 1, Michael and I marked our 15th wedding anniversary. Michael is my best friend. There is no one on this planet that I would prefer to spend time with. I can't imagine life without him. Like any marriage we have had our ups and downs, a few of them quite ugly. He is the kindest person I have ever known. He is my better half- I can be malicious and down right mean and he tempers that part of me. I am a better person because of him.

He loves growing tomatoes in the summer, but hates weeding the garden. I will be monitoring the yield from his garden right here, so you too can join in the excitement. He sends me cute photos of animals to cheer me up while I am toiling away at work. He hates that I spend money, but he never ever says anything. He tolerates most of my taste in music and never complains. I have never in my 20+ years of knowing him cooked him a meal and yet he stays. He loves to make fun of the fact that I can't cook. I never had a desire to learn besides, why would I when I married a trained chef? He is thoughtful and will bring home flowers when they aren't expected. He will rescue animals (and bugs) that are in peril. This past week he even put a spider outside that he thought was pregnant. (lol) He hates it when I am sad. He hates it when I don't answer the question he asks- a personality flaw I picked up from my mom. It drives me crazy when he yells at the television because some bozo is mouthing off about how awful America is. But in turn, I love his passion and his ability to discuss politics and the state of our country and his subtle way of shutting a liberal down when given the opportunity. I love him for the way he laughs and when he talks gibberish to our kitties. I love the fact that he religiously watches the weather channel to see if he can take out his motorcycle. I love him because he is a man- no girly man- no metrosexual here- and yet he is the most sensitive man I have ever known. I thank God for him and God only knows what I'd do with out him.

Happy anniversary Michael. The song is just for you. I love you.

Blogs and Links to Check Out This Week:

Michael's summer destination- Tail of the Dragon

All the cute pics from Yahoo News Most Popular Photos that Michael sends me.

A blogging husband and wife that are both really good at this...

I have also added Diane to my right sidebar.

Have a great week everyone!




Friday, June 02, 2006

It's Gung Ho....

I saw this quiz over at OK, So Here's the Deal. Love the Marines...

Take the quiz:
Which Military Branch Do You Belong In?

Marines
You are a gun-ho Marine! You are willing to do everyone's dirty work (with the help of the Navy.) and you are willing to risk your life for your country in the biggest way!

Quizzes by myYearbook.com -- the World's Biggest Yearbook!