Ruskie Mountain High

After his death, producer Roger Nichols released a 2-CD set of previously unreleased recordings of Denver's 1985 concert performances in the Soviet Union called John Denver – Live in the USSR.  This beautiful version of Annie's Song is in English and Russian.  

Enjoy !

Pandora's Box

A great app for the Verizon Samsung Galaxy 4 is Pandora.  I know, I know..... I really need to upgrade my phone but hey!  it works and I like it.  Problem solved.

Aaaand, I've discovered a neat thing about my car - it's bluetooth!  So now I can listen to my playlists all the time!

"Quit that or you'll get stuck that way"

Has that ever been true?  Have you ever made a face at someone and your face got stuck that way?  Why do we say that to our kids?  I'm not 100% sure I've said it to my kids but I know mama said it to me.  I was just telling a friend that I keep rolling my eyes into the back of my head when I talk about politics (school district all the way up to presidential) and every time I do it I think of my mama saying "quit that or you'll get stuck that way". 

So, if by chance I'm not on here for a long stretch between now and elections, know that I'm in the hospital with my physician standing over me and telling my family "I'm sorry, we did all we could.  Her eyes are stuck like that, in the back of her head.  If only she'd have listened to her mother, she'd have had a chance."

Just A Friend and Bust A Move

You know you've done a good job raising teen and preteens when they come in, hijack your computer, play Biz Markie's Just a Friend and sing the chorus loudly and badly.  It's hilarious and I'm so proud.  Then when youtube brings up the other videos that are similar or they recommend and Bust A Move by Young MC and your oldest won't let you choose anything but that.  That's my boy.  Happy Friday Ya'll...Bust A Move

Sleeping gas?

So the 11 yr old comes in and farts.  The dog was following close behind him, likely hoping the boy was eating something and would drop said something.  11 Yr old says "Hey buddy, are you feeling tired? I bet you are, that was sleeping gas" 

You see what I'm dealing with here?  Happy Hump Day! :p

The Power of a Decision

What is the single force that controls the quality of your life?  The one thing that makes or breaks the way you approach a situation, thought or forward action?

Everything in our life changes when you commit to just one thing.  That one thing is CHOICE.

Most people, especially myself, get sidetracked by focus.  I focus on the wrong things all the time.  This, in turn, tells me that I'm not worthy of getting better information to make better decisions.

Why?

Because my focus is on the negative - the horrible media going on these days, the lousy job I think I have but if I really applied myself, could be something greater.  My physical condition that, let's face it, says those Sunday doughnuts are the end-all-be-all to my existence.

But does all this focus cause me to put one foot in front of another with zeal and possibility or does it make me dread the coming moments?

Precious moments are lost forever five minutes from now.

So really the choices I make each and every moment of my life determine how my life will become greater and greater.

One choice I have is to decide what makes me afraid and to deal with it.  Why do I have these fears that manifest themselves into daily nightmares?  The future.  Success.  The fear of failing my family.  The fear of dying some horrible death, or worse, my family dying all around me.

Yep.  I have all those.

I remember Basic Training was absolutely the most fearful time of my life - just out of high school, never pushed myself to excel at anything, comfortable in the family fears that I had adjusted to -  being abused by uncles time and time again.  Yes, abuse is comforting in a very real sense because repetition trains your mind to accept the practice as "normal." So, the Army rocked my world with the stratagem of  training by dictating within me a different ground-shaking, soul-reaching mentality.
No fear.  No holding back.  In your face.

The Army has a way of showing you that to overcome a limitation in your mentality you need to get extremely physical, thus, the 2 mile run to clear your head, the push-ups to keep your focus, the situps to push the negative out of your belly which has a life force of its own - all these with intense "just do it!" attitude which has a way of making you look hard into a mirror.

So, if I don't like my job, I need to change it.  If I am afraid of success by writing a block-buster novel, I then need to surround myself with positive thinking people or media which then leads to positive actions.  Make decisions that create a greater good for myself and those around me.  Give a hug to someone every day.  Do a good deed every day.  Immerse myself in goodness and look at the negative as a choice of whether I want to engage or not and not make it the standard way of seeing the world in the One Shot that God has given me.  Is there a better way to think about a situation other than what I'm currently thinking?  Is there a better avenue to change a deeply learned trait that has taken me absolutely nowhere?

I'm pretty sure there is.  Now to make it happen.

Drop the Mic

One of my very best friends since beginning grade school was having a pretty standard hysterectomy coming up.  We shall call her Bat.  She's had a lot of pain and they knew she had polyps but couldn't tell the extent.  They could test for cancers but it would be easier after the surgery so they all opted to just do it.

The day of the surgery rolls around and I awaken, nervous for my bestie and sad I couldn't be there for her as she's many states away and I am having vehicular instabilities.  I hop on to FB and find this:

I thought about writing an essay entitled "If I don't come back" so if I died my family could make it with out me. It would contain things like "The black/brown/green/tan/or pink stuff you find in corners and cracks is mold. Use bleach" "Toilet paper is purchased at stores but you actually have to bring it home, take it to bathroom and place near toilet for use" "When you run out of underwear it is past time to do the laundry congrats on putting it off this long" "You ever wanna borrow the neighbors mower, cup of milk or sugar, you have to be nice to them way before hand. Try a pie when someone new moves in and wave when you see them" "The carpet has not always been brown, yes, you HAVE to vacuum it." "It the dog won't eat something you drop in the kitchen, its past time to mop." "You must sweep THEN mop. Otherwise, congrats, you made mud."

I also shaved, deep scrubbed and plucked my face, That way the make up artist can spend her time more wisely and do a nice eyeliner.

You see why I love her? My Bat girl drops the mic.  The best part is, I know she's 1/2 serious.  She took it all in stride.  She knows where she's been, she knows her family is awesome and would take care of each other, she is faith filled and okay with whatever was swinging in her direction.  I swore our pal and I would see to it that we spoiled and punished her family should the impossible happen.  Impossible because I asked every spirit guide, mostly my mom, to stand over her and see to it the docs got her in and out the door safely.  She's a faith and loved filled woman with a batsh*t sense of humor.  She's mah girl.

I post this now because she's home and doing great.  No word on test results yet but I'm certain she'll let me know.

She's Batfabulous.