Simple Things

How do you take something so complex as lets say LIFE and make it as simple as possible. I will tell you how, you purge all the negative out of your life and surround yourself with people that are real. People that are negative are toxic to you and should be allowed to exit through the back door of your life. You don't need them, they only create chaos in your life. Everyone always says "well she/he is just a drama queen/king...they live to make life miserable." Hello, I don't want or need people like that in my life. I purged the day I was asked to resign from my teaching position.  I realized the people that said they cared and were pulling for me to get better weren't there when my professional career came to a grinding halt. I am not a problem that sweeps under the rug so easily...so lets just say I am still out in the open and making my voice heard about what was done to me. Anyway, back to my original thought...de-clutter your house, make a place that is peaceful and welcoming for you to block out all the negativity that is outside. Make your home your safe place. By taking all the clutter (people and things) out of your life that only make it more complex you cleanse yourself of bad karma. Karma is the idea that if you do good then good will fall upon you. So do good and surround yourself with people that do good. IF your "friends" are the cause of drama they aren't your friends!

Be kind, clean out a closet, purge your friend list if needs be, and surround yourself in the light.

Someday I will...

It's nice to think about the future so here is a list of what I hope to accomplish someday.
1. I will get my phd and show those haters what they are missing out on. (Yes there is a bit of anger in that statement, but it comes as a motivator to better myself.)
2. See both oceans. Maybe even dip my toe in them.
3. Teach at a university where I am able to be me.
4. Go back into the classroom with renewed faith that its for the students and its not about making the administrators and board members happy.
5. Help write legislation on why Common Core is the death of schools everywhere
6. Dance around with a tiara and sing out loud to my favorite songs.
7. Paint the dogs toenails without the SO thinking I am crazy.
8. Connect with more people, hardest thing in the world when you don't trust many.
9. Help others realize their potential.
10. Shake what my momma gave me...not on a table top momma sorry, too old for that!

These are things I will do in the near future, the future future, but I will do them. But for now, I am taking a day off from exercising, cleaning, and cooking and going back to bed to watch some shows on Netflix.

Have a great weekend and be kind to people you meet.

Adventures

Growing up in my house was never dull. What proceeds are several stories about my sister Takla and her ride or die best friend Misty. These are from my point of view so if there are any problems with the versions so sorry.
1. Here's the best part of the story and well really the whole story in itself...one of the kids nickname was "Nacho." Yes you read that right: "Nacho. " I believe my mom asked if his friends name was "Cheese." It only would make sense!
2. My sister had the pleasure of having my mom's old beat-up ford to drive around in during high school. This car was the color of dirt and well, it served its purpose my parents set out for it to do. Get her to and from school and that was it. Well, Misty and Talka decided one night they were going to go to STL for the night to go "clubbin." Let's just say the car knew they weren't supposed to be crossing the river and it broke down. Oh karma how funny you are.
3. Hands down the best is, if I remember correctly they said they were on a trip for school but they were actually hanging out at a hotel in Collinsville, which again the car knew it wasn't supposed to be. My parents got a tip off about this illegal trip and got me and my twin out of bed and we drown around to all the hotels looking for the car. I can't remember if we found the car or they just waited for them to come home the next day to "beat the stupid" out of them.

Well...as far as adventures go, those are the few I remember. I am sure they got into more trouble than our parents knew of.

Be kind today.

Take advantage

While sitting here typing and doing work, I noticed that there is a chipmunk that has been coming around the bird feeders lately. He started coming around when the squirrels started knocking my feeders down. While watching the little one climb and eat my bird food. He climbs the tree with precision and takes nothing from the cardinals that rule the roost in my backyard. See its not size that matters. (get your minds out of the gutters.) Its about how far you are willing to go to get what you want. Now I actually think the chipmunk works smarter than the squirrels. He climbs the tree to eat the suet, but he sits quietly below the feeders and waits for the squirrels to do all the hard work. He is strategic in his motions and doesn't care what the squirrels are doing. (one just knocked over another feeder just as I am typing. I am now going to have to figure out how to get out of my snuggie and kill some squirrels!!!)I really am going to have to figure out a way for these squirrels to keep off the feeders...they keep dumping it all out... one is perched on it now and just going to town. It is time like these that you know God has a sense of humor. Why else would he give these little rodents thumbs and those monkey like tails?? Go after what you want and get it, as long as you don't hurt anyone in the process. Be a little chipmunk and wait for the squirrels to do the hard stuff and then swoop in and do your bit. Sometimes you just have to take advantage of the work that others have done before you and work smarter not harder.

Be kind.

Quiet

I honestly have nothing really to talk about today. I have been quiet since I woke up this morning, so that is a clue that I don't particularly feel that great. I think just be silent worries people around me. They think something is really wrong if I am not talking! No really people I just want to be quiet and have nothing to really say about anything. That is a problem in the world: Everyone has something to say about everything. You know that golden rule, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Well, I am learning to keep that close to my heart most of the day. It is better for me to be quiet than speak. I would rather you think something is wrong with me than say something that could potentially cause problems after it has been said. And to be honest, I am not as opinionated as some would have you believe. So the basis of this is just keep your mouth shut when its not something that needs to be said. Now of course if something is happening that is unjust, cruel, etc. then by all means yell at the top of your lungs! But for now just be quiet.

Be kind to people today.

Dinner with the Family

Sitting down to dinner was mandatory in my family. We ate every meal together, and then we would clean up the kitchen and then relax for the rest of the afternoon. Being a military child we didn't question a lot that are parents TOLD us to do. It was a matter of how fast do they want said task done and can we accomplish the task.  Well dinner was a task. Here are just some of the rules we had to deal with:
*had to have our napkins in our laps
*had to use a knife to put things onto the fork, no fingers
*elbows were never allowed on the table-that was a NO-NO
*nothing to drink while you eat...because you of course would drink all your water as a six year old and fill up on water. (this rule was crazy, since they only allowed us to drink water. Don't even get me started on the Mamie Davis Hatley way of making Kool-aid.)
*you had to try everything on your plate- no wait you had to EAT everything on your plate. Even if asparagus were to induce vomiting, still had to eat it.
*IF you were luck, enough to get something stuffed in your napkin-it would be searched before you left the table.

Seriously, my parents weren't playing around. But looking back on it, I enjoyed those family meals we had. We talked, laughed, vomited, hid food, etc. Sitting down to dinner is almost a foreign thing in this society today. Children are over scheduled, parents are working long hours and there just seems to be no time to sit down together. If and when I have children, I will make it a point to sit down at the table every night, even if I am super busy. How else am I going to know what is going on in the world of my child if I don't talk to them? Dinner is perfect-you ask a question they answer, and then you can part some wisdom on them while their mouth is full and they can't respond. (trick done by Mr. and Mrs. Hatley)

Be kind today and have dinner with the family tonight. :)

Family Affair

My family is very interesting...we have a few quirks that I think make us pretty awesome. But I am biased since I am part of this family. First the makeup of the family is was pretty radical when it started, but has grown to be somewhat of a norm these days. I guess it was the late 70s when my parents got married, each having a child from a previous marriage. My oldest sister being Japanese American and my middle sister being African American. Oh yeah, my dad is white and my momma is black. I forgot to mention that. They met while stationed in Japan.  So right about 1981, my twin and I make an appearance into the world. We are a perfect blend of our parents and our ancestors. My great great g-ma on my mothers side was a slave with children by her master, my fathers family hails all the way from Europe. (and now my mom tells me there might even be Native American in our genes too...how exciting.)  But anyhoo, we blended nicely-we both have fair skin, deep blue eyes that change depending on what mood we are in, spiral hair, that is a deep auburn/black color. (my twin has chosen to color her hair and straighten it as where I don't color my hair and keep it natural.) Anyhoo, so here are some other reasons my family rocks:

1. As a child my parents would lie to us about Santa getting gifts mixed up (he is a hard working man and can't keep everything straight) only to find out that Santa can't hold his liquor and got a little drunk while wrapping the last of the gifts. We didn't put out milk for Santa it was always wine... it all makes sense now.
2. We watch Dallas as young children, not sure if this was appropriate for young children but we turned out ok.
3. While cleaning the kitchen after dinner, Takla- middle sister, would always disappear to the bathroom till everything was completed. She might still do this trick to this day.
4. Also, while cleaning the kitchen, we would, the girls turn the radio up loud and dance and sing to whatever song it was.
5. TO this day my twin, Aiisha,  middle sister and I can do interpretative dance of Ice Ice Baby.
6. The Cosby show was always on at 7 pm on Thursdays, no excuses.
7. My parents told us we were going to see a WHITE HORSE, and it was a pile of rocks. This was suppose to be a cultural excursion while living in England, but to a five year old, it SUCKED!
8. Paddington Bear the book was a hot topic in our house. Takla had to have the book and was forced to finish it. To this day there is debate whether or not she actually read it or was just moving the bookmark.
9. My oldest sister had the worst perm in her hair while in high school, wait a moment so did my middle sister. The older one had curly bangs and hair, but she has bone straight hair, so it didn't take so well. Takla had a fade that went at an angle and she even had a Z cut into the side of the fade.
10. My parents never made us think we were step/half sisters!

We grew up in a funny household, but I wouldn't change anything in the world for it. We were stared at as a family, but that did bother us too much. I just like to think that they were looking at a very handsome family and couldn't take their eyes off of us.

Be kind and tell the ones you love that you care for them!