Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays

I quit celebrating Christmas as a religious holiday two years ago.  I am Atheist but have celebrated the parts of Christmas that I love most of my life without giving it much thought.  Two years ago we had a family squabble over of all things religion, and in part, as a result of that I made my decision.  Being that I don't believe in god I really have no business celebrating a holiday that is supposed to be about god.  I will however always celebrate love, and it is something I do every day not just one day of the year. I will always celebrate trees, and colored lights simply because I love them.   In the last couple of years I have taken note of the squabbles happening on social networking sites such as Facebook where everyone is all up in arms over whether or not you say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.  First of all, if you are celebrating Christmas as the birth of Christ, who the hell cares what other people say to you about it.  If you truly believe in your god, then he is in your heart and it doesn't make a bit of difference whether someone says Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.  Maybe they don't believe in your god, but that should not have any effect on what you believe, or on the gratitude you should have that they chose to wish you anything at all!  We are a country of many different beliefs and non beliefs, and we should all try to get along.  I have always felt religion should be a private thing... celebrated and practiced in the home.  It has no business in politics or law or in secular public education.  Politics will always cater to majorities in order to win votes, but laws should be made to equally apply justice and liberties to all regardless of faith or non faith!  Public secular schooling is for educating all children about reading, writing, arithmetic, history and the world as it is. If you don't want your children to know what's really going on in the world around them and you would rather they be brainwashed with whatever religious dogma you choose then send them to a private school that teaches that, because in a public secular school you don't get to rewrite history so that it fits whatever religious beliefs you may have. IT IS WHAT IT IS!!! History happened, and you should not get to skew it. It should always include the truths about what really happened and who really contributed, winners and losers, gay, straight, believers, non believers,  purple, whatever.  IT IS WHAT IT IS!!! It has never been what we would all like it to be and most assuredly never will be since what we would all like it to be varies greatly.  I used to get offended when people wished me Merry Christmas... how dare they assume that I believe in their god, but it goes back to what I said earlier... gratitude. Today I am grateful that they chose to wish me anything at all.  So whatever you believe... or don't believe... I wish you all love and peace, not just today, but every day.  

Twilight Breaking Dawn part 1 movie review

I do not usually read reviews of a movie before I go to see it, but this time because I couldn't go on opening night I was too curious and gave in to that curiosity.  I have to say that I don't agree with any of the reviews I read except that the musical score was a bit too loud and often seemed intrusive.  I did however love the music.  Bella's theme is appropriately haunting and beautiful.  I suppose at this point I will have to identify as a Twi-hard.  I read the entire series of books in only two weeks and I just didn't want the story to end.  I was happy to see that they stuck to the storyline because for us that are big fans that is so important.  For us, making the book come alive on the big screen is really what it's all about.  The critics can say what they like, but I know I am not alone in how I feel and the proof is in the bottom line.  The wedding was dreamy, and it was nice to have a break from the tension in the story for bit.. to just enjoy the characters being happy for a minute.  The critics called that boring... but us fans know what's coming and appreciate the lull. I enjoyed the scenes of Bella getting ready for her big day and being surrounded by her new vampire family and her mom and dad.  I am so happy that they made it grand... it was befitting.  Some of the critics were disappointed that they didn't show more of the deflowering, but I think they showed just enough.  It's not a porno after all.  We're not stupid.. we get the idea.  The aftermath really said it all, and the sweet embraces and when Bella convinces Edward to take her again, eventhough he had made up his mind to wait until he changed her for fear of hurting her further, but gives in was priceless and wonderfully romantic.  I enjoyed the images of them playing chess and playfully interacting... just because it's a honeymoon doesn't mean it's all about sex.   I particularly liked where they ended it, and when Bella opens her eyes and they are red... well it was actually a little frightening and we realize in that moment the true nature of the decision she has made and it sort of snaps us out of our romantic delusions. LOL  I loved it.  There was a sense of forboding and of what's to come.  I was happy that they didn't shy away from the birthing scene.  It is what it is, and should not be sugar coated.  A lot of people say that the movie takes a pro-life stance, I don't agree.  It's about love, Bella wanted more than anything to have Edward's child. It was the one thing she would regret giving up to become a vampire, and although the situation was dire, she made the choice her heart wanted.  No one would have blamed her had she made the opposoite choice given the circumstances.  Luckily it all works out for her and she doesn't lose her life because of it.  We can argue all day about the message that it sends, but that's why it has a parental guidance warning.  It is up to parents to educate their kids and monitor what messages they are receiving.  I cannot wait to see more of the baby in the last movie.  It will be interesting to see how they depict her special gift.  So from the lavish wedding to the haunting and beautiful musical score on the Heart Chart Breaking Dawn part 1 gets 4 out of 5 hearts. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Best & Worst

Best:  Our wonderful anniversary campout with my sweet Cheri.  It was long overdue and the weather was nice.  A little warm one day but perfect the other days.  We celebrated 11 years together and got some great pics.  The weather as a whole has been cooling off and I love cooler weather. smiles.  We took a haunted bus tour in Ventura and got some fun ghosty pics.  Went to the RV show and saw the trailer that we want to upgrade to ; now to save for it.  One of my newest poems was very well received on a poetry site that I belong to.  We are really liking the new show (The X Factor).  Awesome.

Worst:  Our miss Cindy is leaving the L House.  She is buying a house and moving to Arizona.  We wish her well but will miss her so so much.  Asthma has been acting up a bit... sighs...  I don't like the things that are going on in America right now...banks running a fowl of the law and not being punished, creating a recession that has devastated the country and resulted in so many Americans losing their homes.  Corporations polluting and poisoning and spending lots of money to not be accountable for what can only be catergorized as legalized murder. Big pharmaceutical companies spending billions of dollars making medicines that cure some symptoms while causing others, instead of finding cures because there simply is no money it that!  Healthcare that is so expensive that only about half of America can afford it.  In my opinion it doesn't need to cost the kind of money that it does.  If every patient could pay the negotiated rates that the insurance companies pay, then many more of us could simply afford it on our own, but again...there's no money in that. 

Funniest:  Hands down our dog flinging himself off of the  little two seater bicycle car.  He hated it, and when Noelle was driving by me to go for a little round herself he saw me and flung himself, choke chain attached, flying through the air the opposite direction the bike thing was going, it all happened in slow motion.  Once I knew he was okay I/we laughed our asses off. LOL

What I learned:  That a rodents teeth can be clipped when they are too long and keeping the rodent from eating properly.  wow.  That there is a form of insomnia that results from the whistling that asthma can make.  It works something like this.... you start to nod off into sweet slumber only to be continually awakened by the whistling of your own breathing.... speaking from experience here folks...sighs... that there is a drug commonly used for erectile disfunction that when injested by females causes spntaneous abortion, very affordable in fact.

A note about banking giant (Capital One)

Today I want to inform all who will listen about the evils of the banking giant Capital One.  It has been my misfortune to have been one of their previous cardholders.  It makes me sick to my stomach every time I see Alec Baldwin on tv promoting the legalized financial rape of American consumers.  Here I will tell you my story, but I know I am not alone.  I look forward to the day when a class action suit is filed against them because  losing money is the only thing that will get their attention.  Clearly, doing the right thing, or the ethical thing is of no consequence to them.  Both my wife and I used to be Capital One cardholders.  We didn't over extend ourselves or use our cards frivolously so we did not encounter problems with them until a company without permission kept trying to charge one of my cards.  This is how it went, and I know so many of you will relate.  I purchased something online, and as is so often the case now, online companies will try to renew a purchase whether or not you have said that is your intent.  So a company I made a one-time purchase through tried to bill my card again.  When I got the statement I contacted my bank and told them I did not authorize this purchase, but because I had authorized a previous purchase and this company had my card number, Capital One told me that I had to contact the company directly to cancel something I hadn't even signed up for. I asked Capital One, if I contact the company and they don't respond and they won't stop trying to charge my card, what can I do? Capital One said: you can file a complaint with us and we will try to ascertain whether or not the charge is valid, but because you gave them your card number that means you authorized it.  I said I am telling you right now, that I am not authorizing any further charges from this company, and Capital One said, we're sorry but we have to let the charges go through.  I said but I am telling you I do not give permission, and they said that is our policy.  So I said, I would like to close my account. Capital One said no problem, but we have to keep it open for 30 days and if any more charges come through then we will have to keep it open for 30 more days from the date that a charge comes through.  I said, that's extortion! That cannot even be legal?  I am telling you I want to close my account effective immediately, and they said sorry, that is our policy.  So if this unscrupulous company that I made (one) purchase through, would not stop charging my card, then Capital One could force me to continue to be a cardholder with them, unless of course I filed bankruptcy.  Somewhere in the fine print it must have said that they can do this, otherwise there is no legal way that they could. I called every other credit card that I held at the time and they all said when you cancel a credit card it is effective immediately, but Capital One is not on the side of their customers, they only care about how much money they can extort from you.  Of course, if you never have the problem of a company trying to fraudulently charge your card, you might never run into this issue with them, but word to the wise, the mere fact that they have such a policy is reason enough not to do business with them.  Any unscrupulous online vendor who gets your card number and knows about Capital One's policies could take you for some money and cause you lots of drama.   I am today very very careful what I purchase online.  Luckily for me, the company that kept charging my card was reachable after some effort and the charges ceased once I finally got to  talk to someone, but if they hadn't I would I suppose still have that damn credit card and probably would have sued Capital One.  So we canceled our cards and told them how much we hated them and their product and that we would NEVER do business with them again.  To this day, despite repeated DEMANDS, that they stop harassing us, they send us 3 to 7 credit card offers per week and there seems to be nothing we can do to stop them.  I feel bad for the trees that have to get cut down for them to harass me with their paper shit that I don't want, and furthermore, I cannot merely discard for fear that they fall into the wrong hands.  So we have a shred pile that even as I type this is full of Capital One credit card offers.  We have to look out for each other.  Big businesses are only in it for the money.  The only way we can effect their horrible business practices  is to stop giving them our money! I am an avid player of Frontierville on facebook.  It is a Zynga online game, and Zynga has become very big very quickly.  They have recently decided to promote Capital One in two of their games that I know of.  I have written them a letter expressing my anger that they would support by accepting advertising dollars, a company that has hurt so many American consumers and that has some of the worst policies in the banking industry.  It is this promotion by Zynga, who otherwise does many good works around the globe, coupled with the relentless tv ads,  that has inspired this rant. Okay climbing down from soapbox momentarily. sighs...

Best & Worst

Best: Just had a wonderful 4 day relaxing weekend with my Sweet Cheri. smiles. Two of my poems reached "All Time Best" status on a poet site that I belong to.  Miss Cindy is home from her travels.  The plumbing issues in the pride bathroom have been resolved. WoooHooo. Thank you Randy!

Worst: My scanner stopped working again, and I am tired of re-installing my printer because it wants to update and I don't allow it to. IT'S A FUCKING PRINTER!!! It should not need to update. It's not like it's an operating system or something.  Trust me, as soon as I can replace it, it's going to the desert! It's an HP by the way. I use to let it update until the day after an update that it started printing everything mirror image. A function I did not even know I had, and still don't really understand why one would want that option, but I eventually found it and unchecked it, but it kept defaulting back to it. Un-install Re-install.  Did I mention it's going to the desert soon? UGH!!!! End of the year bills are coming due. sighs....  Vikki is still house sitting and we miss her smiling face.  My closest friend has been going through a lot of drama lately and hopefully it's over now and things will settle down. 

Funniest:  When I was in the bathroom in the middle of the night, and Noelle came to use it and didn't know I was there, and I didn't hear her coming, so I screamed and then she screamed and we were both screaming. LOL LOL

What I learned:  What a Honey Badger looks like.  That some people don't seem to change at all.  That a pair of sisters who murdered their mother when they were 15, and 16 in Canada were sentenced as juveniles served only 4 years and are now out and attending college and living their lives like nothing happened. Just wow!

Chasing Rainbows and Discovering Dreams

Chasing Rainbows and Discovering Dreams by Dani Heart

Make Your Own Book

Casitas Memories

Casitas Memories by Dani Heart

Make Your Own Book

Best & Worst

Best:  The pride bathroom turned out beautiful just as we imagined it would.  Found some new shirts that I love.. and then they went on clearance so I got them at a wonderful discount. Thank you Universe. smiles. I am gathering materials for my next photo book.  I am very excited about it.  Cindy's second foot surgery went well and she is hauling down the road to a full recovery. Yay!  Scored some fun patio furniture and a couch....FREE! It doesn't get any better than that.  Our vehicle registrations are finally coming down. WoooHooo!

Worst:  Although the pride bathroom turned out wonderful, we have sprung a leak that will require us to cut into the brand new fiberglass shower that we just installed. Holy Crap!!!!  A good friend is going through some really hard times right now. sighs...  There was a pretty bad leak at Noelle's job and she is very sore from all work on the bathroom and from helping her maintenance crew with the leak. Time for Advil the wonder drug.

Funniest:  Wrestling with Cindy in the car at Costco about whether or not I was leaving the car running with A/C for her.  Aggressive little girl took my keys out of the ignition. Laughed our butts off.

What I learned:  That you are supposed to wait behind the line when turning left at a green light! How lame is that? If there's no arrow and you wait behind the line you might never get to go???!!!! I will be doing a little re-routing now for turns with arrows.  That there is a cloth you can put around a pipe that you are sauldering with an open flame that protects the wall from catching fire. Whew!! Now that was a damn good idea someone came up with. I wonder how many fires broke out before someone came up with that one? lol

Best & Worst

Best: Cindy's foot surgery went well and she is hauling down the road to recovery. Wrote a new piece albeit sad, for memorial day. Found a new scent for my Sweet Cheri and everyone seems to llike it. smiles. Taking some fun pics lately. It appears we have reached a truce in the neighborhood parking war. Wow. The weather has been nice and cool, and I love cool, and overcast isn't bad either.

Worst: Some of us here at the L House are having some health issues and it sucks. My computer monitor seems to be going out, and it really isn't a convenient time to replace it. sighs...

Funniest: When we were watching a movie and I heard some very strange noises coming from upstairs... I texted Jeremy and asked him if he was having sex with himself, since he was all alone, and he texted back yes, and I said well carry on then. LOL

What I learned: That some people really are just baaaad to the bone.
:(

Get Low...Movie review

Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction. I loved this movie. Robert Duvall shines as Felix (Bush) Breazeale, a quirky old recluse that has become the subject of much malicious gossip among the local townsfolk. His unruly appearance does little to dispel the rumors the day he strolls into town to visit the local funeral parlor. It is there he meets Frank Quinn (Bill Murray), the parlor's owner who he enlists to arrange his funeral, while he is still alive. While I don't think Murrays character was intended to be humorous the actors comedic genious comes through none the less. I particularly love the scene where he nearly swerves off the road when he learns that Duvall's character once had a go with his characters current love interest. Priceless. The characters in this film are multi-layered and well performed. The talented ensemble cast includes Sissy Spacek and Lucas Black. At the funeral we finally learn reasons for this master carpenters self imposed isolation and it is moving to say the least. So on the Heart Chart... Get Low gets four out of five hearts ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥