Remember Whensday

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On a bit of a tangent, do you remember your dreams?

Last night I had a doozy! At a different age, I might have considered it a nightmare, but it didn't really scare me just left me feeling tense. But what I love about those kind of dreams is the atmosphere they create. Like a movie I can't stop watching, right?

My dream last night had a dark atmosphere and a creepy guy in a wheelchair who thought he and I were an item. Kind of awkward when my husband showed up! Then the creepy guy got freaky and mad. He lived in a three story house, his room on the very top floor. An attic with dormers. In my dream I kept checking the windows up there to see if he was looking. Low and behold, we [cuz Matt's with me now] find out Creepy Guy has a daughter. He's killed her. [I know! Crazy dreams.]

Next thing I know we're on the[a] frozen lake where the sport is bike riding on the water. But the bike riding is happening in a rectangular hole cut from the ice. The wheels of the bikes are paddles. We don't sit in any type of stand, though. We're actually ON the edge of the ice, our feet hanging in the water [like at a pool]. But the edge starts to break and we're floundering in the water. I'm calling to Virginia [DD] to grab Sean [DS] and I'm holding the baby up out of the water, calling to my husband.

And I wake up because Sean is calling my name. He woke up. It's 5:40am and he's hungry!

It's fun to take those feelings and put them to paper even if I can't use the actual circumstances.
Do you do that?

Miracle Monday, with a little cheese on the side

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Do you ever consider that just meeting someone is a miracle?

That happens to me! I'm going to get so lucky in my life[yes, I say lucky. It's the Irish in me.], because I meet people all the time. I can't count on my hands the number of times I've moved and been blessed by new people. From childhood, and the many friends who have supported and loved me, through adulthood, as I move around with my husband, there have been numerous people who have touched my life, been friends or even just disappeared. Each one has made me the person I am. They've instigated growth, even when I don't want to grow.

They are God to me; changing me, reforming me, loving me. How great is that? I don't have any doubt that Jesus is present. You are my proof.

Enjoy the Christmas Season. Eggnog. Lights. Jimmy Stewart. Bing Crosby. Hot chocolate and whipped cream. Jammies with reindeer on them. Snow [if you're lucky enough]. Nativity. Candles. Choirs of Angels. Bells.




Miracle Monday -- Thanksgiving

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By some miracle, my Mother-in-law made it to my house in one piece. She left Raleigh at 11:30[ish]. I remember thinking, All the way to Columbus, GA?! But she made it. Thank the good Lord...

Another miracle, I finished a story. For the first time since...when? My story Spring Leave, which has been finished and submitted for over a year.

...guess what?
The story is four, yes FOUR pages long--but that's single spaced so I guess I could say eight. And you get to read it in December on Passionate Critters. I'll keep you posted on the date. :-)

Have a great week.
Don't forget to be Thankful.
With love,
Bethanne

The calm before the storm

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That's what this week is...
I can see clouds accumulating in the distance. Though I don't anticipate the thrashing of a hurricane or tornado, there's always something dark about an approaching storm. Lucky for us, storms are what bring water and new life! A good clean rain--even a harsh, beating rain--wipes out the old and gives us a fresh start.

Just like the holidays. :D
Enjoy the preparations!
With Love,
Bethanne

Your Stimulus Check

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I had a good friend mention keeping our Christmas money "in the family." And it really hit me that I'm so guilty of buying crap just to fill some kind of quota. A Christmas quota, ya know? I have five kids and every kid gets at least two gifts from us... one of a necessary sort and the other something from their list. But, usually, I end up at Walmart buying CRAP. Well, that's the way it seems at times...

Then I got this email and it made me chuckle and think, YES. WE are going to do something different this year. I am going to buy American. NO matter what. That is my goal. Even if it means gift cards to restaurants....


Sometime this year, we taxpayers will again receive another 'Economic Stimulus' payment.
This is indeed a very exciting program, and I'll explain it by  using a Q & A format:
Q. What is an 'Economic Stimulus' payment ? 
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q.. Where will the government get this money ?
A. From taxpayers. 
Q. So the government is giving me back my own money ?
A. Only a smidgen of it.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment ?
A. The plan is for you to use the money to purchase a  high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ?
A. Shut up.

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the U.S. economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:
* If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, the money will  go to China or Sri Lanka . 
* If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to the Arabs.
* If you purchase a computer, it will go to India , Taiwan or  China .
* If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.
* If you buy an efficient car, it will go to Japan or Korea.
* If you purchase useless stuff, it will go to Taiwan.
* If you pay your credit cards off or buy stock, it will go to management bonuses and they will hide it offshore.

Instead, keep the money in America by:
1) Spending it at yard sales, or
2) Going to ball games, or
3) Spending it on prostitutes, or
4) Beer or
5) Tattoos.
(These are the only American businesses still operating in the U.S. )

Conclusion:
Go to a ball game with a tattooed prostitute that you met at a yard  sale and drink beer all day!
No need to thank me, I'm just glad I could be of help.

To all our Veterans

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THANK YOU

Walter Edwin Seale
Joseph Seale
Walter Edwin Seale Jr.
William Sinram "Uncle Billy"
~~~~~
Edward John Strasser, Jr. "Jack"
Joseph Strasser
Edward John Strasser III
Susan Strasser
Greg Jiminez
Matt Strasser



....and any other family members I don't know about.
To all veterans who put their lives on the line so I can live freely, practicing my Faith and raising my kids to appreciate life and liberty....

For all the small things I'm thankful for that wouldn't be available to me without the veterans of our US Military:

coffee and donuts on Sunday morning
travel from country to country, state to state
a roof over my head
bountiful food on my table
internet access with no limitations
ability to profit and save
freedom to give and serve
right to protect


Write this way

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Did someone say writing?
Oh, that's right! I do write.
By reading my blog lately, you can't even tell!

I'm not keeping up very well with my project list. I'm working two projects now. A novel length and a really short story for Christmas. Christmas has the priority for now, and amazingly enough, I got some work done on it yesterday. Yay me. :P

Excuse me but, WILL LIFE EVER SLOW DOWN?!


Up for a Jump -- Miracle Monday

/ Fort Benning, 7 Georgia 1, Columbus, GA 31829, USA/


My husband is jumping out of a plane tomorrow and we get to watch. I'm struck by how family friendly a career in the Army can be. When my husband attended his accounting classes, I didn't get to watch or cheer him on. When he took his CPA exams, I didn't get to watch then either! I know!!! And I really wanted to, too. All those numbers... so exciting. ;) What a turn on, the pencil scribbling, the mumbling about codes and taxes. I love that. [okay, time out. Matt used to talk about taxes in a way that made me love him...so, I can't totally sarcastic those thoughts!]

There's a strange balance between serious and exciting in our life now. The training is exciting. I like that I can bring the kids and they can see what dad's doing. Even when we can't be where he is, we often get updates from the company commander, sometimes even through Facebook with photos and videos. It makes it a family affair.

Of course, the need for the training is serious. But knowing he's getting trained helps and being able to see that he gets it done right makes me feel better.

You wanna know what the miracle is [even if it IS a day early]?
Matt, as long as I've known him, has hated heights. Never liked the roofing jobs and would tie himself off in an OCDish manner compared to others who wouldn't even bother. He isn't really scared of being up there...just extra cautious. In a good way, though. I mean, he's never had an accident, ya know? :D So, there you have it. It takes guts, strength and a little bit of miracle to get up there and jump off a plane. :D

Have a great week, friends!
I know I will--5 jumps and a graduation on Wednesday. Hooah!
I love my soldier.
~Bethanne

Just a quick blog to Remember When

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November first and so many of my friends' fingers are flying across their keyboards as they spend a month writing 50,000 words to a better tomorrow. Books are an important element of what carried humanity to the modern age. You could even say, we've gone well beyond modern age, that books are a dime a dozen. Print and digital, paper and hardback.

I suppose that's true.

That's never more obvious during the month of November. I don't say that derogatorily. The truth is, the more we have to read, the more we will read, the more our society reads. We need more history! We need more romance! We need inspirational and uplifting. We need drama and melodrama. We need biographies and memoirs, how-tos and for-dummies. We need it all....

And gosh darn it, WE NEED MORE COWBELL!


Happy Halloween--Miracle Monday

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Oh! I was so disappointed! We had absolutely NO traffic. :( I was looking forward to handing out candy. Usually I don't care. This year--though I didn't--I thought about dressing up. I wanted to! Darla and I were out there on the driveway. Darla in her cute little bumblebee costume. What a sweetpea. :D

You know what's missing from Halloween?

Community. It used to be that we'd gather as neighbors and walk our streets.
Anymore, people leave their neighborhoods to roam through a stranger's. Even our own next door neighbors headed out about fifteen minutes before us and disappeared...gone. Like a fart in the wind, collecting candy. I wish we'd had more of a turn out.

I just kept wishing for a princess to come and say hi.

Friday Food

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I'm almost at a loss for what to talk about tonight. I should be writing my story. I told my girls I'd be writing! So I wracked my brain for an alliteration. I do love those. Fiction Friday, Friday Five...

This time, I came up with Friday Food. Not just a list of my favorites either. Or a feature of something Fallish, like Chili!! Oh, how I love Chili. [It's on the menu for tomorrow.]

Food always plays a role in my stories. If there's anything about my characters I like to relate to, it's food.

In Shake the Sugar Tree, my heroine connected to the scent of cinnamon and her grandmother's apple pie.
In Houseboat, my hero is a southern boy who has a certain craving for shrimp, grilled with that great cajun seasoning.
There's this great Italian restaurant [and character] in Certain Suspicions that makes this awesome fresh pasta and marinara. The garlic, the fresh basil. Mmmm. Yum.
Sand Bay Secrets is my newest story, I don't know the characters completely, but I wonder if my hero might like to grill...and he likes a rich steak, seared to perfection then cooked to a delicate medium rare. Molly will have a thing for fish and seafood. She's lived on the coast her whole life and loves everything about it. Grilled, baked, fried. She wants it with a salad, a rich, dark green bed of vegetables.

Food is a big deal. What a person eats can often be key to who they are. I can't ignore it. Do you?



Remember Whensday

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Amidst unpacking all our stuff, I came across my box of memorabilia. Somehow two varsity letters ended up on the kitchen counter. One, from Rockford High School, I got for gymnastics--I think. I don't remember! It was that. It had to be. I did have band metals on it though and an honor society pin. The other, from Cornell High School, was for swimming. It had a bar on it. What are those called? And what did they represent?! I don't even remember.

They sat for about two weeks. Until this week. When I finally picked them up, with the pins and metals attached, turned to my husband and said, Do I need to keep these?

He didn't know. He's a man who didn't like high school and holds no affection for anyone from high school. Reunions? Forget about it. At least, he's trying to, but his mom keeps giving the alumni group his new address. hahaha. Not funny, really but what do you do?

Anyhoo, this morning I woke up and decided to toss them. I'm sick of the clutter! It's not so much a disrespect or disregard for my past as a need to get rid of all the stuff. I know my propensity to throw things away has before and will again bite me in the you-know-what, but I can't seem to stop. :D :D I love throwing [giving] stuff away!

Airborne -- More training

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I realize it's Miracle Monday and that this post will veer slightly from that output, but I could say it's a miracle [and a little bit of mercy] that my husband is in Airborne School this morning. By an oversight not his own, my husband missed reporting for Airborne a couple of weeks ago.

For all you military wives out there, you understand the seriousness of not following orders. The bottom line isn't always WHY. I suppose that's true in life for everyone. Do you remember as a kid when we'd fight with our siblings? Mom would whip out her mean yelling voice and the hammer would come down. But she didn't care a flying leap about who did what... We were all sent to our rooms.

Anyhoo, on the mercy of his commanding officer, Matt's in school for the next three weeks. Yay. He's really excited about jumping out of planes. He's crazy. Do you ever look at the turn your life has taken by entering the military and wonder if someone is a little crazy? :D haha. I do. But maybe it's not crazy, maybe it's just maleness... haha, I can use that in a story.

All in all though, I do love how training is ongoing. Today Airborne, tomorrow Ranger School... then what? The Army life is our oyster.

Do bugs die?

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Yes! Yes they do.


Most grasshoppers can only survive the winter as an egg; the adults all die when it gets cold. In warm climates which don't have freezing winters, grasshoppers can probably live longer, maybe for several years. Most die long before that though, from disease or predators or drought. http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Acrididae/


Roaches, on the other hand, can adapt to the cold, but will most likely die if the temperatures drop below 32 degrees.  


All I'm saying is...I've lived in the midwest for my whole life and we have cockroaches that that are about the size of a penny or nickel vs living down in the south now and we have cockroaches that are about the size of a quarter or larger. :D


Thrive much? Perhaps not as well as they do in the south. 


now, enough about bugs.


How 'bout them Cardinals?