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Guided by prompts from WDC blogging challenges... and of course, life |
HI! I'm Jenn - and I'm all over the place (well, at least my mind is). In this blog, I have attempted to gather my thoughts on things prompted/inspired by WDC blogging challenges from "Journalistic Intentions"  , "The Soundtrack of Your Life" , "Blogging Circle of Friends " , "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" and, well, LIFE.    |
| Prompt: Environmental - In Las Vegas summer usually means triple digit temperatures and excessive heat warnings. How do you deal with excessive heat? If you live someplace where you get excessive cold, how do you deal with that? One of the things you should know about Texas is that we have seen excessive temperatures on both sides of the temperature scale. Granted, where I live experiences many more excessively hot days than cold. Triple digits in the summer are commonplace. How does one deal with it? When I was young, my mom kept only the screen doors shut during the days and the windows were open all day and night. Most of our days were spent outside in the sprinklers or at the lake or the pool. Anything that would help keep us cool. When it would get really hot, my parents would finally close the doors and windows and turn on the air conditioner for a while. Nowadays, it's all about the air conditioner in the summer - and often in the spring as well, as we experience temperatures in the mid 90's in April and May from time to time (like right now). If there is a blackout or the air conditioner breaks, I think I'll be finding my way to a lake or something again, I suppose. Shade can only do so much when the thermometers rise to heights such as we commonly see here in the summers. I'm not much for the heat. Or the cold, honestly. But, the way I see it, if it's cold, you can keep putting on layers to help you stay warm, whereas in the heat you can only take off so much before it either becomes indecent or you run out of clothing to remove.  |
| I saw on the news yesterday evening about the elementary school in Uvalde Texas where kids and teachers were killed. While I do not currently live close to Uvalde, my family's homestead is less than an hour away from the town. The people there are amazingly kind people. But for anyone to have to experience such horror as these senseless killings hurts my heart. I saw and heard the president go in front of the camera and use the shootings as a way to push his anti-gun laws. How does that show he cares about his people? To me it just appears that he was simply using this "convenient" circumstance to further his agenda. And what would federal emergency funds do to help those in that community? It won't bring their loved ones back. Now I see news outlets looking at the school, almost blaming the school for the fact that it happened. It wasn't the school's fault. It wasn't the gun's fault either. The gun is an inanimate object, it doesn't think or do anything on its own. In fact, it takes a person to pull the trigger. The 18 year old did it. Now they need to be looking into why he did it. How he got enough money to buy two guns and a load of ammo - that stuff ain't cheap you know. Why he shot his grandmother. Was the kid mentally unstable, or was there something else going on? In situations like this, isn't it better to look at all the potential factors involved and how those factors could be eliminated to keep future like occurrences from happening? Who's to say why the kid did what he did? We'll likely never know for sure - and if we did, would it really help keep it from happening again? Those families are crushed from their losses. It is unthinkable. Pray for those people if you pray. If you don't pray, send them your most positive vibes and thoughts. Lord knows they all need it at this time. |
| Recently, I haven't been writing as much as I'd like. My little "side job" has turned into a full-time affair. The words are still whizzing around in my head, but I lose them before I have time to write them down. In the mornings, I usually only have time to check out QOTD and EIGHT while I am drinking my morning cup of coffee. By the time I get home, I am so exhausted that I usually just check what's happening on WDC before I pass out. I tried to write some yesterday, but only got through two lines before my eyelids began to close. Ugh! So today I am attempting a different tactic. I woke early and am trying to write before I go to work. The poem I began working on yesterday is still insistent in my mind and wants to be written, so write it I must. ** Warning! Rant Coming*** The job has gone crazy. We just lost the store manager, assistant manager, one of the shift managers, and one of our cashiers. The store manager left, and the rest followed. I don't really have a problem with people quitting their jobs, but to do so without notice puts more demand on the people who are left to clean up what's been left behind. To not show up or at least call in to let someone know you won't be showing up for the shift you are responsible for shows very poor work ethic, a lack of responsibility. I don't know how they could get hired elsewhere after pulling stunts like this, but somehow, they always seem to. Perhaps I am incredulous because I am from a different time, a time when work ethic was an important quality to possess. A fossil from a different era, back when people were less self absorbed and more considerate of others. Maybe I don't belong in the workforce with all these youngsters who think they don't actually have to work while they are at their jobs. These people are the reason I am working so much that I barely have time for myself - let alone time for household chores, my husband, writing, or any hobby I might like to do. Am I disgruntled by the situation? You better believe it. But I'm not going to quit and leave the few who remain to struggle even more, that's not who I am. I think it hurts worst of all that a couple of them (the older ones) I was close to considering as friends but they still had no regard for what their actions would do to me or anyone else. I was forced work to close the other day after I had opened the store that morning. Yeah I will get some overtime, but my body has to rest, and get food, and I have to use the restroom at some point. Fifteen hours is a long time for anyone to be on their feet, especially someone still not completely healthy. My husband is worried that all the newly added stress and work is going to start making me sick again. Probably will. But am I just going to set aside my responsibilities and ethics and just quit? Not even likely. I suppose that's the difference between me and those others. Whatever the case, it seems responsibility and consideration for others has gone out the window in many of the younger generations. I'm glad I instilled good work ethic in one of my girls at least. The oldest, well, like the rest of the people her age, she wants to do the very least and EXPECTS to get paid like she actually worked for it - or even worse, to get hand-outs while she does nothing. These kids don't listen when we say that's not how the world works. You gotta earn what you get - from money to respect - you gotta earn that stuff! It's not an entitlement, you have to work for it. But if somehow we have entered a time when that is how the world is starting to work, I don't want any part of it. Okay rant over. How do you feel about it? Let me know in the comments below. |
| My oldest daughter's baby shower was this past Saturday. Friday the 13th - Since my youngest doesn't have a car, she was unable to get to the party on her own, so my husband and I drove the two and a half hours southwest of where we live the night before to pick her up. She had to work until 11 pm, so my husband and I left home around 8:30. I programmed our GPS with her address, and we were off. The trip there was uneventful, the GPS guided us there without any problem. It was the ride home where the GPS apparently decided to take us on the scenic route. Let me just say here that our GPS does this from time to time. It will choose the road much less travelled to lead us down in order for us to reach our destination. It has gotten us lost on more than one occasion. But back to the story. Once we left the lights of the city, things went downhill. The GPS led us down country roads it looked like few vehicles travel other than tractors. The night was black and all we saw were trees and fields, no signs of being inhabited. My husband joked that it felt like Deliverance and asked when the banjos were going to start playing. Deeper into this winding maze in the middle of nowhere we drove. It looked like our journey home was going to take much longer than the two and a half hours it took us to get down there. So accustomed had I become to the darkness and solitude that I was taken off guard by a mass of flashing lights at the intersection I had come to. There were at least six police vehicles, and double that many police officers at the intersection. One very friendly and helpful officer walked up to my vehicle as I stopped at the intersection. He told us that they were still looking for the convict that had escaped and suggested that we not stop along the road for any reason or pick up any hitchhikers. Fine with me. I wanted to get the heck out of Dodge and back to some semblance of civilization anyway! We drove away asking one another what escaped convict they were searching for, because none of us had heard anything about any escaped convict. It turned out that my lovely GPS had guided us on backroads toward Centerville. We finally made it back home, at about 2:30 a.m. On Saturday, before my youngest and I left for the baby shower, I looked up recent escaped convicts in Texas. I found just what I was looking for. The convict they were searching for (and I think are still searching for) is a man who was convicted of murder and attempted murder. On Thursday, he had somehow escaped his restraints, found a sharp object, and attacked and stabbed the driver of the prison bus he was on, causing the bus to crash. He then escaped into the wilderness near Centerville, both armed guards firing at him as he ran off. The reports said everyone else remained in their restraints on the bus. Sounds like there was more to it than they're letting on, but then again, they only tell us what they want us to know about most things. Better to keep the masses docile. Saturday the 14th - While I was looking up the convict on my computer, I get a call from my oldest saying she wouldn't be able to make it to her own baby shower. The lugs on one of the tires on her car were broken and she tried to get a rental, but they wouldn't accept her credit card for whatever reason. I called the rental place and looked to see if there were any other rental places she could possibly get a car from - so did my mom. We came up with nothing. By this time, my mom is plenty angry. and said we were going to have the baby shower with or without the mom to be. Before I left home, I spoke to my oldest one last time and told her if she really wanted to be there for her baby shower, she'd find a way. (I think this is good adulting practice for her, things don't always go the way we want them to in real life and we need to find ways to take care of things anyway - instead of relying on Momma or Grandma to do it for her) She actually made an appearance, three hours after the time set for the party, but she made it. She and her guy borrowed a car from a friend in order to be there. After the shower, I had to drive my youngest back to her apartment so she could go to work the next day and return to classes on Monday. This time, rather than relying on my GPS to guide me home after I dropped her off, I preplanned my route, and got home at a decent hour without incident. I worked Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The normal craziness a part of each day. Sunday was about as normal as they come. Monday, my coworker had a mild heart attack. Yesterday all I wanted was for my shift to be over with so I could finally get some rest. Maybe that's what I'll get to do today on my day off, after I get done with all the chores that have been stacking up. A nap is definitely in the schedule for today though. I think I deserve it! |
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Glad you're OK.
You're so right, they are definitely perceptive. They know when you need extra attention, and they know when to keep an eye out for you. They are definitely a blessing from God.