Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Image from dandingeroz.deviantart.com

I’m sure, like me, you’ve read numerous comments and watched enough news coverage to last a lifetime over the mass murders in Orlando, Florida this past weekend. I don’t want to add to that hype by giving an infected pus-bag shooter any more of my time. Any more of my emotions. Any more my anything.

Crazy only knows crazy and Evilonly knows evil. We’re never going to be able to fix this shit because we willnever have laws that Crazy or Evil will follow; plan to follow or even care to follow.

What does this mean for us, the average citizen who’s maybe trying to raise a family or lead a productive life?  Well, for me, it means I’m going to work even harder to realize my goals. And I’m not going to let pus-bags stop me from living my life by second guessing where they’ll strike next. If I were to do that, then the enemy pus-bag wins.

I want to be the good I wish to see in the world. Based off all the video coverage I’ve seen from Orlando of all the people who helped or lined up to give blood, I think there are more people who agree with me than those who don’t. So many times a call to action comes from disaster, despair, and tragedy. We can all make a difference, if we try.

 

Let’s start small. Our first task is to open our minds to possibility that people who seem “different” from us are not depraved or dangerous because they, in fact do, look or act in a way we consider different. The color of someone’s skin, hair, and eyes has nothing to do with what’s in their hearts. What a person wears or how they look is not a sign of evil. Ideals, hopes and dreams are not wrong, either. Love cannot be wrong.

Lying, cheating, and stealing are wrong. Laziness and apathy is wrong. Murder is wrong. Cowards who murder for their own gain, or in the name of some other entity is an abomination.

Step into someone else’s shoes for a moment before you pass judgment on them. Look at yourself through their eyes. What do they see when they look at you? Will they see hostility? Indifference?  Or will they see common decency offered to one human being from another human being? Think about that. That’s the first step.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” – Romans 12:21

Until next time,

 Be Good to Yourself and Others,

~Nadine

Live In The Moment

Image from rivermusicexperience.org

The River Music Experience, or RME, hosts a summer concert series called Friday Live @ Five. We learned about this last summer and went every Friday night that we could. We’re doing it again this summer, too. It’s a free two hour live concert. The bands range in genre from rock to country to blues to indie. Last Friday night Tim and I and some friends and family met in downtown Davenport for the first concert of the summer. It was a beautiful warm-but-not-humid evening. People were dancing, listening to the band, singing along, having a libation, and chatting with each other. And you know what? I DID NOT SEE A CELL PHONE THE WHOLE TIME!  I realized this after the fact. Not one time did I see anyone texting or otherwise furiously punching with their thumbs on their phones. For two hours at least one hundred and fifty or so people were IN THE MOMENT.

Image from dallasnews.com

A couple of weeks ago we were in a Des Moines area restaurant. Two high school couples came in dress in prom finery.  The boys wore three piece suits and the girls had on sparkly dresses. As soon as they were seated, all four pulled out their cell phones and began tapping away. I wondered how any of them even got a date for the night. They must have arranged it through text messages, because they sure couldn’t talk to each other. I also wondered who they could possibly be texting. Who or what was more interesting than the people they were with? And why didn’t they go to the prom with those people?

One time, I was in my car and noticed two people walking side by side with their dogs. My line of vision started at the two dogs, worked its way up their leashes to the owners, who were both looking at their phones! I barked out a sarcastic laugh. (Pun intended.)

Image from newhive.com

Recently,I read an interview on line where a famous country artist discussed how audiences these days were a mass of arms holding up phones. He missed the days of seeing concert goers’ faces. Is it vanity that makes people record the events they go to? (Hey look what I did and you didn’t!) Are they going to forget the event if they don’t have a recording of it? Will they ever even look at the recording again, except to show others? How many weeks will go by before they delete the event from their phone?

We’ve all seen it. People not in the moment because of their phone. We’ve all probably done it at one time or another. Friends, allow me a moment to stand on my soap box and have a rant. Smart phones are great. I have one. I love having the ability to send messages through several different formats. I can’t imagine not having my camera with me at all times. I love that I can get to the internet from my phone, but we need to realize that it –the smart phone- is a tool. A tool. Developed to make a job or task easier. That’s what tools do.

They should not control our lives. They should not shield us from living. Living means talking to the people around you. Living means enjoying without having to record. Living means waiting. Living means the delay of gratification. Instant gratification is the enemy. Smart phones are instant gratification. Fight the urge.

Image from cnn.com

Thank you. I’m officially off my soap box now.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

Happy Anniversary To Me!

I started this here blog one year ago. That’s 52 weeks with 52 posts. I’ve posted each and every Wednesday.  I’ve learned some important ‘bloggy’ things in this year.

On the technical side of things I’ve learned that I need to be careful to make sure my font style and font size is consistent from post to post. Because I’m not the most fluent of computer users, I always write my blog on a Word document and then cut and paste it to my blog.  When I post, I find that the size and font changes over the two formats. Also, I take a ridiculous amount of time getting clip art and pictures into my post. Maybe I’m taking “the long way” when there really is an easy way or short cut to adding images, I don’t know. Having mastered neither words nor pictures, I’m sure to continue to make mistakes but bear with me, people, I’m trying! One thing I did figure out was that there is a specific field for the title of the post. It does not go in the body of the work. I figured this out on week 44. (See?...) I spent a good hour moving all the posts titles to the right spot.

Dates and topics of each blog post for this year.

On the writing side of things I’ve learned a lot too. I love being able to talk about my thoughts and ideas in this format. I’m not a huge conversationalist anyway, so this is a fun way for me to share. I love the challenge of thinking up a topic to write about each week, expanding on the topic and then pondering a life lesson.  As a teacher, mother, thinker and introvert, it is my natural tendency to look at a situation and either brood about it or find a learning point. I strive to do the latter more than the former. And although I love to write, I am a procrastinator. It seems like an oxymoron. Why procrastinate on an activity you love, right? IDK. I guess sometimes I feel I’m being pulled in so many ways that my writing takes a back burner and when I do have free time for myself I either A: do other things besides write, or B: am too tired to think about writing anything. Whatever it is, I would be better off just setting a time each day to write and stick to it.  Again, work in progress.

As a blogger, I’ve learned that to be successful, I need to get my posts ready early so that I have time to fix any mistakes before I post. I’ve also learned that if I’m posting every Wednesday (and I am), it needs to be done early in the day, not at random times or at 11:56 P.M., as I’ve sometimes done.  I’ve noticed on my statistics page that often-times on Wednesdays several of my loyal readers check for a new post before it’s there. This is an area that I vow to fix starting now.

Blogging gurus say that to have a good blog one must find his/her niche. They say good blogs are about one topic only. I’ve narrowed the topics I've written about to three main areas:

1.    Reading (books, song lyrics, author visits)

2.    Writing (novel, poems, contests I’ve entered, workshops, search for agent)

3.    Daily life occurrences (trees, chairs, making curtains, sisters, dogs, grandkids)

Reading and writing can go together as one topic area, I know. But if I were to get rid of my daily life stuff, I’m not sure I would have enough fodder to keep up a weekly post. Also, if I just wrote about my daily life I would be remiss to not include reading and writing because that’s a big part of me being me.

Statistics are important to a blogger, after all, that’s why we blog. This year I have had 1,035 views. That’s about 86 views a month or 20 views a week.  The blog entitled March Madness received the most views at 31, which is a bummer because I am not a sporty girl and won’t really be writing anything sports related.

So, on that note, I am looking at different ways to become a more successful blogger. I’m not interested in making money; I’m just interested in getting better at this. Here are some of my ideas:

1.    Change my blog name. Nadine’s Notions sounds old fashioned. I didn’t think of that when I chose it, I just liked the alliteration.

2.    Move to another blogging host sight, one that is easier for readers to respond to. Blogger makes you give up your first born and recite the alphabet backwards before you can post a response!

3.    Focus on just one topic…reading and writing?....daily life???

4.    Learn how to hashtag (#icantmakeitwork)

5.    Use facebook, twitter or tumblr to gain more coverage.

Thank you to all my loyal readers. I’m open to ideas to make this blog a fun, worth-your-time read. Next week will begin my second year of being a blogger. I think that’s worth celebrating!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine

Pet Peeves and Other Stuff

Today, being Wednesday- blog day- I was thinking about what my blog topic should be (and not a moment too soon, right?) As I have stated in previous posts, I do procrastinate. Thank goodness I have God on my editorial team*,because at just the right moment a breeze blew the curtains up and over the couch. I immediately took a detour from my planned destination into the front room to fix the curtains. I put them neatly back behind the couch. That’s when I got my writing idea for today. Messy curtains are one of my pet peeves. I can’t stand curtains that are uneven or messy. I think I inherited this peeve from my mom.

I gave this idea a little more thought and I realized that I ALWAYS make sure the double-hung windows are open at EXACTLY the same height. This morning Tim opened windows and left them uneven. I HAD to fix them.

Another pet peeve of mine is when people don’t use coaster. Jeesh, that bugs me! But my biggest pet peeve is when people use books as a writing surface. I HATE that! Whether the book is opened or closed, it does not matter -press on the cover or press on the pages and I don’t like it! I have to ask the writer to move their paper to the desk/table/counter-top. Ever noticed grooves from a pen pressing down in a book? So, so, so sad.

A pet peeve is defined as an irritable experience caused by another and is complained about by the person offended/disturbed.  You know, it’s that thing that you can’t bite your tongue about. You can’t just let it go.

Another disgusting thing is when people go into pool or beach bathrooms barefooted.  That is gross, but I’m not sure if it’s a pet peeve- as long as nobody I’m with does it!!

“Dishonest people” is not a pet peeve.  “People who read while they’re driving” is not a pet peeve. They are complains that are too real, too big to be a pet peeve.  Pet peeves have to be seemingly little, inconsequential things with inconsequential repercussions.

Did you know one of author Stephen King’s pet peeves is the showing of advertisements before movies? LA Ink’s tattoo artist Kat Von D’s pet peeve is people who wear earpieces to talk on the phone but refuse to take them off when they’re not on the phone.

I think we are all wired to have pet peeves, but I don’t know why that is so. The world can be difficult enough sometimes with the real problems we have to deal with. Maybe when we think of our pet peeves, we should say to ourselves, “If this is the only thing I have to complain/worry about right now, I’m doing. OK!”

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

* I’m not being blasphemous, here.  I try to recognize and then thank God for all my graces, big and small.

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

My phone’s storage was at maximum capacity and I was having difficulty sending things so I decided it was time to go through my pictures and delete the junk and then download the rest onto my computer. As I was scrolling it occurred to me that I take a lot of pictures of signs. Maybe it’s my love of words or maybe it’s my darker side’s sense of humor. Or maybe it’s both.

In 1970, Canadian rock group called Five Man Electrical Band had a song called “Signs.” Back in the day, you could buy an individual song to play on a record player. It was called a 45. Since there were 2 sides to every record, the other side - the B-side, or flip side – was typically a song that wasn’t going to make much of a commotion in the music world.  This particular song was the B-Side and it went BIG! (In 1990, some twenty years later, the band Tesla re-released “Signs." They changed the lyrics a bit as to create a more up-to-date/raw version fitting for the day and times.)

I got a kick out of seeing these signs on my phone again and thought you might too. I’ll throw in a little of Five Man E B's lyrics just for fun!

I was at a stoplight and noticed the sign (right)
on the back of a pick-up (above).

 "A Bar Walks Into A Man"

A gas station in Wisconsin. I guess it's a contest! (?) 

An old building in Boston. The date:
August 4  A.D. 1817
(I'm pretty sure the  plug in was added later!)

This sign was in the door at a real legit. business in the Quad City area!

"And the sign said, "Long-haired freaky people need not apply"
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why
He said, "You look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do"
So I took off my hat, I said, "Imagine that, huh, me workin' for you"
Whoa, oh, oh"

A sign back stage at the Grand Ol Opry (Above)
The famous Tootsies in Nashville (Below)

Climax Springs, Missouri

French Lick, Indiana got a lot of attention this past weekend!

Who names these places anyway?

My father-in-law's fav saying: "You can sleep when you're dead"
Scared the crap out of my kids when they were little!

On a building at a Y intersection in Nashville, TN

I may have gotten carried away here....and I have more signs that I didn't share! 

The end of the song goes like this:

"And the sign said, 'Everybody welcome, come in, kneel down and pray'

But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all

I didn't have a penny to pay

So, I got me a pen and a paper and I made up my own little sign

I said, 'Thank you, Lord, for thinkin' 'bout me, I'm alive and doin' fine,' woo"

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself!

~Nadine

Teach Me, Entertain Me

One Thousand White Women
By Jim Fergus

I love reading historical fiction.  You know why? Because I learn so much real history through the events of the story.  Historical fiction is the kind of story that uses real incidents to help tell a make believe story.  Oftentimes, characters in the story are famous or infamous people from history. However, the characters are more than likely doing and saying things created in the author’s imagination.

Right now I’m reading One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus. This is a fiction, or or make-believe, story that was created based on a true event. In this story Little Wolf (a real person), Chief of Northern Cheyenne Nation, goes to Washington DC in the latter-part 1800’s to talk with President Grant about various treaty proposals (also true).  During conversations/negotiations, it is rumored that the chief suggested the US Army supply the Cheyenne Nation with 1,000 white women to be the brides of 1,000 warriors. The chief thought that by mixing the races, the whites and natives would gain wisdom of each other’s culture and that by doing so, cultivate peace between the People and white men. (Again, this has NOT been verified, but rather is a rumor or wives’ tale. However, it was all that was needed to spark a story idea for the author.) Of course if it really was suggested, it was denied by the U.S. government.

The novel is rich in history of daily life on the plains for both natives and pioneers. But, despite the historical events (if you’re not into history), an entertaining story has been created about an eclectic group of women who volunteer to live with the Cheyenne people and the problems they encounter being from two distinctly different cultures and having no common language.

One Thousand White Women was written from the point of view of a woman named Mary Dodd. It was written as if she were keeping a journal and writing letters to her relatives back home. It sounded so convincingly real that I had to google Mary Dodd to find out!

If you like “racy” and irreverent/funny stories, you’ll like this one.

Share with me what you’re reading. Also, tell me why you’re reading it. I love talking about books!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself!

~Nadine

http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.gen.022

http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25629

You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But You Can’t Make Him Drink - A story by me.

Tried as she might, she couldn’t get that pony to drink. It was a glorious day.  Sunshine cascaded in sparkling rays over the paddock. Breezes waved over the ponies and lifted the scent of evergreen, hay, and lavender into the air. Cool, sweet, green grass beckoned to be nibbled. The other ponies appreciated their ability to trot, canter, sprint, and gallop, but not this pony.  Trainer should be happy, her herd was successful. But she wasn’t happy and it was because of this one single misguided, stubborn, myopic pony. All he wanted to do was lie around in the dark, damp barn and hope Trainer would just leave him alone.

Trainer sighed and looked out the dusty window at all of her working horses.  Maybe she could just leave this one here?  The mare and stud who sired him were content to have this colt stay in the barn. They had no expectations, therefore he had no expectations. So many horses lead their colts to water and show them how to drink.  Some sires needed assistance from Trainer to show them how to help their pony. She was a good and dedicated trainer, and she wanted all of her herd to succeed.  

Sometimes leading a horse to water over and over will help it understand what it is to do; what is important and worthy of its effort.  She would hold a cup up to the pony and whisper words of encouragement to help the pony feel confident enough to succeed.  

Ponies learn at their own rate. Patience is required, but given time and practice, all ponies can be successful if they want to be; and Trainer was patient. But Boss Man wasn’t. He wanted success and he wanted it NOW! Why can’t this one pony drink? What are you doing wrong, Trainer?

Parents are a child's first and most important teacher. The one at school can only accomplish what you deem important for your child. Think about it--- sports? TV? or homework, playtime, and books? What's important to the parents is what will be important to their children.

Until next time,

Read to your kiddos!

~Nadine