I've been ta(n)g(o)ed.

Thanks to CatholicTeuchtar for tagging me, aye right! ;D

(Oops, it's late Saturday eve here with another addendum added, with this first question....aagghhh!)

What I was doing ten years ago:

Wow, I missed this question the first go round when I started to answer the tag questions....this distraction might possible be related to answering the barrage of ........mama?, mama, mom!!! mommy!! MOM!!!! Mama?
Yep, that about sums up what I also was doing ten years ago!!! :D

Okay, seriously, 1998? am I really counting that right? My wee ones were 7yrs 4yrs 1yrs, I was working at a Juvenile (teenagers) custody facility, dreading that someday mine would be teens (just kidding, as I have pretty good kiddies). That actually was a tough year for me, as I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer, and had to have a thyroidectomy (which left one of my vocal cords paralyzed...guess no singing for me!! ;)) and then radiation treatment, and adjusting to the daily medication afterwards. All in all, it was a time of testing and growth, trust and faith. And I do praise God for bringing me well through all of it!! :)

...I might have also missed the above question because front and foremost on my mind, well, after blogging was....the "to-do" list.....

Five thing on my To-Do list today:

1. Make 'Camping Pancakes' for breakfast,as requested by the kiddies. (American style pancakes with chocolate chips/pieces added)
2. Take hubby's suits to the drycleaners
3. Go and turn the horses out in the arena for a good run
4. Think about what I'm going to put in the slow-cooker (for Sat's dinner) prior to leaving for work tomorrow at o-dark-thirty
5. Help the tween with his algebra, and the wee one with her science questions


Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. as per CT, pay off debts and those of my friends and family
2. buy a ranch with mucho acres in the Western US, and convert it to a combination Dude ranch, and a place to help/work with at-risk youth, teaching job apprenticeship, life skills.
3. buy a beachfront cottage, maybe US Pacific NW, or Eire, or the Scottish Isles (or all of the above, and use them for friends' and family get aways)
as an addendum: while driving back from my friend's ranch today, I was thinking a schloss (castle) in Austria for a bed and breakfast, and a villa with a winery, say in Italy or Sonoma Calif wouldn't be bad, as well! :)
4. Help fund our missionary friends' work, provide some kind of group medical/dental insurance, and retirement plan for them.
5. travel, meet up with friends and family abroad, meet the Australian cousins, and make plans to meet blog friends for coffee!! My treat! ;D

Three of my bad habits:

1. I get sidetracked to playing rather than working far too easily
2. Too much wine (see addendum, for villa with winery) :)
3. My husband says I'm far too argumentative....but sugah, I thought it was lil ole me just statin' mah opinion... ;D

Five places I've lived:

1. Pennsylvania
2. New Jersey
3. Missouri
4. 4 months in Europe and the UK, while on a walk-about
5. Two regions of California, including near the wonderful Orange County beaches, and now up in the High Desert

Five jobs I've had:

1. Secretary for a Veterinarian's office
2. Pediatric nurse
3. Chemical Dependency/psych unit nurse
4. Juvenile custody Probation Camp nurse
5. NICU/SCBU nurse

Five books I've recently read:

1. Messy Spirituality, God's Annoying Love for Imperfect People
2. The Four Agreements, a Toltec Wisdom Book
3. Celtic Christianity
4. The Ugly American
5. Office 2000 for Dummies...the part about using Excel...selecting non-contiguous cells and enabling auto-complete....eh???!!!.

Five People or communities I'm going to tag:

1. Endlessly Restless
2. Mrs Successful
3. Peajay
4. Hideous Man
5. Lins Honeyman

ps. to be honest, I didn't want to stop at five to tag, because there are many more of you blog cohorts out there that I would have liked to bestow with this wonderful honour!!!! Don't worry, I'll catch ya'll later with the next one!!! :DDx

Irish Dance - Irish vs. Scottish Dance Off

My youngest brought this vid to my attention. She attends classes for Irish dance, while her older sister's friend does the Scottish (which is unfortunately too far away to attend lessons). I thought it was fun to see both styles dancing at the same time. A bit of culture, heritage/tradition! :)

"Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. That is only valid for information sharing. Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes."
-Peter M. Senge, MIT-based author, researcher & educator

Book Corner

Well, with spring weather here, there's not much want to stay indoors and blog, let alone stay indoors and read. It's hard to even come up with blog subjects, yet I'm in the mood to write. Anything deep or controversial, even funny escapes me at the moment, such has been my days at work lately....very surreal, I must say, hard to explain...must be a full moon?
Blogland has noticeably slowed down, but still makes for a nice retreat in the quiet of the eve, esp when there's not much on T.V. (which is usually most of the time....I really tried watching Battlestar Galactica, honest, B).

I've noticed some of ya'll have been listing books that you're reading, going to read, just finished reading...which I think is great; and I've copied down a few titles to add to my reading list. Keep on with it...

Here's what I'm up to at the moment...

-'The Ugly American' by William Lederer and Eugen Burdick
-'Messy Spirituality, God's Annoying Love for Imperfect People' by Michael Yaconelli
-'A History of Ulster' by Jonathan Bardon
-'The Four Agreements, A Toltec Wisdom Book', by Don Miguel Ruiz

Brand New Key

This may 'date me,' but this was one of those fun songs I remember listening to as a kid.

The Most Beautiful and Worthwhile Climbs Can be the Hardest Sometimes

Severed Selves
by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882)


Two separate divided silences,
Which, brought together, would find loving voice;
Two glances which together would rejoice
In love, now lost like stars beyond dark trees;
Two hands apart whose touch alone gives ease;
Two bosoms which, heart-shrined with mutual flame,
Would, meeting in one clasp, be made the same;
Two souls, the shores wave-mocked of sundering seas:--

Such are we now.
Ah! may our hope forecast
Indeed one hour again, when on this stream
Of darkened love once more the light shall gleam?
An hour how slow to come, how quickly past,
Which blooms and fades, and only leaves at last,
Faint as shed flowers, the attenuated dream.





















"Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."
-Robert Heinlein


"Sometimes your nearness takes my breath away And all the things I want to say can find no voice. Then in silence, I can only hope, my eyes will speak my heart."
-unknown

Friday Funny goes to cousin Peajay!

Mórán cainte ar bheagán cúise

Thursday's thoughts

Calvin and Hobbes is a favorite in this house!



Call me sentimental, but I like this quote:

“Woman was taken out of man; not out of his head to top him, nor out of his feet to be to be
trampled underfoot; but out of his side to be equal to him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved."



My husband might agree with this quote: ;D

“Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood.”
-Oscar Wilde

and then there's this Reverse Psychology mumbo jumbo: ;D

“A foolish man tells a woman to stop talking, but a wise man tells her that her mouth is extremely beautiful when her lips are closed”

Just a coincidence?

God does work in mysterious ways. We called our friends (Rommel's breeders) and told them of his passing. We said that we would love to have another dog/puppy in time, and in consideration of our other Mastiff who was quite sad and obviously missing him. They asked if we would consider taking Rommel's 14th month old cousin having just been recently returned by his owner who ended up not being able to manage such a large dog. We went over and met 'Bert', who is absolutely adorable and a bucketful of energy. He minds well on the leash, and with some bonding, will be well minding off of the leash. Since coming to our home, he's made friends with our other Mastiff. The only thing left is making friends with the goat who he chased all around our property after being 'introduced'...guess the goat didn't want to 'play'! (yes, the goat is fine) :)

Thank you all for your kind words regarding the loss of Rommel. Though Bert will never replace Rommel, he is quite a welcome addition to our menagerie!

(Bert is on the left, and our Kitty is on the right....it turns heads of our visitors when we call out....'here kitty, kitty, kitty'...and up runs this 160lb (11-12 stone) dog! :D)

Cops say 3rd Graders ( 8-10yr olds) planned attack against teacher.

Topic continued from TB's place.

I read the article. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm more concerned with the fact that these kids actually put into motion such a heinous idea, or with the 'experts' who seem to be poo-pooing the whole thing. Sure, there are a lot of good kids out there who would never dream of putting together such a scheme. However, my schoolteacher friend only last year had Purex put into her coffee by a student, albeit he was older than these children in the article. (this 13yr old's father was reportedly an absentee father out womanizing mostly, and the mother was a stay-at-home drunk).
In one of my older posts, 'Are the Monsters in Charge', I bring up the topic of child-rearing, and what is being, or not being taught to today's children. Not to mention the dysfunctional factors as with the above 13yr old's situation. I feel for the kid who has to grow up with abusive, or just sh*tty and/or absentee parents. But really, does it excuse the dangerous behavior or can we say it merely explains it, and, they still need to be held accountable (and the parents, as well). Which then presents the difficult dilemma in defining the level of accountability in correspondence with the age of the child and the depth of the crime.
Mostly everyone I know has mentioned lately, or should I say, moaned lately over either the economy, rising fuel/food prices, and the current political candidates. (prices for things here are still by far better overall comparatively with other western nations, which honestly takes the wind out of 'my moan')
However, what does it all matter if our youth, our next generation, are not raised to become well-functioning and positive participants in today's society? Are we going to have even a larger Criminal and Welfare class?! Are the Leaders of tomorrow, only going to get worse?! Are we as Nation, as a Society spiraling out of control?! Thoughts?

Are You Verbose?!

Created by OnePlusYou

I found this at one of the blogs I read, A Deconstructed Christian.

Have some fun, and see how 'wordy' you are! :)

Pondering the Poppies

A windy, cold spring morning found us out and about amongst the Poppies. We had a good rain this year so the flowers are better than they've been in a while. And, we had to try out the new camara. TB's blog has a detailed, close up photo and an interesting pondering of life.