HERE'S TO YOU MONDAY

SURPRISE. Drum roll please. I present to you HERE'S TO YOU MONDAY. With love. I bet you are thinking that this post is NEVER going to land on a Thursday again.  Or be weekly again.  It might not.  I am still having difficulty getting my stuff together.  I can only say that I hope *someday* that it becomes a weekly Thursday post.  Until then, it is just a surprise post.  And we are all just grateful.  Or I hope we are.  Anyway, here it is.  XOXOXO.

Here is the recap of what is going on...

This used to be a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays. It is my hope that it will be a weekly event again some day... The best (or worst) part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of footage off of youtube and connected it to you. And then I will tell you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol. Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.

Also, this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side), click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.

Now, let's get this PARTY STARTED!!!!

This one is for everyone:



This one is for Jasmine at  A Yellow Rose of Texas:



This one is for Yvonne at Writing My Life Away!:



This one is for JJ The Disconnected Writer:



This one is for Yenta Mary the Food Floozie:



This one is for Lotta Joy at the Witless Relocation Program:



This one is for Chris at A Deliberate Life:



image found at www.weheartit.com

The Report From Australia

From Australia's lips to your ears:



This country has been through a gun ban.  Did it reduce crime?  No.  In fact, crime WENT UP.  Home invasions WENT UP.  It was like an invite to the criminals to come on in.  And now the police are saying it was a HUGE MISTAKE to take the guns away from the GOOD CITIZENS.  Why?  Because they can't protect them.  Yep.  The criminals didn't turn in their guns and the police can't protect an out-of-control criminal population.  It was bad enough when the criminals thought twice because someone MIGHT have a gun and be able to hold their own.  Now they know every house is a SOFT TARGET.  It is open season on EVERYONE.  Murders are UP.  Home invasions are UP.  Crime is UP.  In fact, the government can't even decide on a definition of "home invasion."  Seriously.  Additionally, the police are quitting because they are scared of the criminals.  Yep.  The criminals are winning.  Banning the guns?  Epic fail.

Take note Americans.

Listen to the poor folks in Australia who have already learned this lesson.  Stand up for the 2nd Amendment.



If you are wondering why I included a clip from the show Firefly, it is because it is a TV show (now canceled) that showcases a future where the government tries to impose too many rules and regulations on its citizens and they rebel. The Browncoats believe that their cause is just and they fight for their independence from a too powerful government. In the end, they lose. However, as Malcolm Reynolds says, "Just because we were on the losing side it doesn't mean it was the wrong one." Being that it is a "future" time they have space capability, so they take to the sky.  And they live a life on the run from a government that would rein them and rule them. I am quite certain that government would demand Malcolm Reynolds turn over his guns. And I am equally certain of his response: "Over my cold, dead body."

So, whenever I hear any politico prattling on about banning guns, I think what Malcolm Reynolds say to this nonsense. He might only be a character in a TV show, but his code is dead on right. And the horrible nightmare going on in Australia right now is proof that is so. Right now, everyone in that country would love to jump on a spaceship and get the hell out of Dodge. Space is looking safer than their own house!

Christmas Reloaded: Thanks Liza

I've spent the better part of the last two hours thinking about Miss Liza's comment on my blog post from last night.  ::sigh::

In turn, that made me think about the post itself.  If you missed it, you can read it here.  This post won't make all that much sense if you don't...

My father always used to say that anger wasn't a valid emotion.  Why do I remember this?  Because every time I was "mad" about something he would say that I needed to dig a little deeper.  Mad wasn't valid.  It was just the veneer covering up something else.  Naturally.  More often than not, that something else was hurt feelings.  You could always dig a little deeper to get to the whys and wherefores, but that was usually the crux of the matter.  Funny (or not) how often we had that little conversation.  All depends upon your perspective, I suppose.

After so many years of H-Girl hurting my feelings I had built up immunity.  I went into this Christmas EXPECTING her to do it.  And she didn't.  In fact, she surprised me by being the opposite of what I expected.  I didn't expect C-Man to do it and he did and I got mad.  In fact, I got really mad.  It isn't that I love him more.  I don't.  I just don't have an immunity built up.  And the more you love people, the more you give them the power to hurt you.  No one can hurt you without your consent.

And it was like I said in the blog explaining what those gifts were: they were ME.  Many of those things were what I treasured most when I was their age.  And still do.  They are actually parts of ME.  And they were mocked, scorned, ridiculed, and laughed at like they were nothing.  Actually less than nothing.  So, yeah it hurt.

And Miss Liza might be right that one day C-Man might understand what those things meant to me.  But, right now he can't even keep up with where his cell phone is.  So, I don't hold much hope of his being able to actually find any of these items when the awareness sinks into his brain, if it ever does.  The books will likely be in a library, Goodwill, or the local landfill.  And all of the cartoons that I painstakingly cut out will definitely be lining a trash can.  And the quote that I so painstakingly wrote out in calligraphy... who knows where it will be?  However, I highly doubt C-Man's ability to be able to find it when "the light" comes on.

I made a judgment call here.  C-Man is 15. H-Girl is 14.  I was at a place where I didn't have much to give for Christmas but me, and that is what I did.  I was counting on them being mature enough to understand what they were being given.  I asked a bit more of C-Man.  He was older and had exhibited more maturity to date.  I made the wrong call.  So, maybe the fault lies with me.  The treasures were mine.  I am the adult.  I could have just said that there will be no gifts this year and made that call.  It wouldn't have made me the most popular, but there are all kinds of lessons.  They would have still gotten the stuff.  I would have just saved it for a time when they were equipped to appreciate it.  Of course, that would have denied H-Girl her opportunity to shine.  And she hasn't done that in a really long time.

Seems to me this is another round of Lessons.  Maybe we all had to take one for the team in order for H-Girl to shine on this one.





 image found on facebook