PRAYERS FOR THOSE IN CT

I didn't jump on the bandwagon and weigh in on the whole shooting in CT thing on Facebook. I watched and waited. I saw tons of people sending out prayers for those senselessly killed. I said my own private prayers with those. Unfortunately it seems we are a reactive society instead of a proactive one.

The worst of the worst has come out since the shootings and I'm talking about both sides. The left has suddenly begun screaming again as they do every time that this is all about gun control. This has left open the door for the right to scream about how the left wants to take away everyone's freedoms. Both sides should shut up a minute and realize that this was a tragedy and show some respect for those who died. For those of you who have already posted anti-gun propaganda shame on you. Don't say it's because if more gun control were in place this would not have happened. There was more to this than access to guns.

I don't own a gun. I don't want to. I do think people should have the right to own them though. As for machine guns maybe not. Maybe we should put a limit on those sorts of things. But when you rant and rave, jump up and down and scream that all guns should be taken away you lose the argument. And when you do so using the bodies of a group of children to make your point you lose big time with me and with a huge number of Americans who don't like seeing the deaths of children used for political purposes.  Get over yourself, get over your cause and step back to take a look at the real tragedy here.

Some will say if there were stricter gun laws this wouldn't have happened failing to realize that when someone is mentally disturbed they will find a way to accomplish their goals of destruction no matter what barriers you place in front of them. The other side will say that if more people had guns this person would have been stopped before he harmed as many as he did. I say again, would you both stop and take into account the tragedy before you use these dead bodies to promote your own personal agenda?

Some may call me right wing because of certain things I post. Those same people have never seen the number of items I refused to post because I thought they were in poor taste, because they were insulting or because I thought they went too far. Those same people posted things that I would have included in those categories while at the same time claiming they were open minded. They are now posting all sorts of prepared propaganda about gun control. Shame on you. Shame on you for using a tragedy for your own purposes.

I would hope everyone would make a pledge not to do the same. I make one here. I will not forward or share anything that tries to make a political issue out of this tragedy. If I do or do not believe in gun control I will talk about it with my beliefs and why I believe the way I do, not use the deaths of children to make my point. If you believe this as well then pass this on. Share it. It's about time someone stood up to fully paid propagandist on both sides and said enough is enough. Ignore them and offer a prayer to the families and those affected by this tragedy instead.

JOHN DENVER

On my facebook page Kurt Deffenbaugh posted a youtube video about Harry Chapin and I commented back that there seemed to be a lack of actualy storytellers in music these days. Now don't get me wrong, I know there are some out there. But for some reason it seems as if the 70s produced some of the greatest storytellers of all time. Chapin was one of them. His "WOLD" was heartbreaking to here the story of a man who spent his life in radio only to lose his family. "Sniper" was another telling the story of a sniper who climbs a tower to shoot people from his perspective, why he did so.

Then there was Jim Croce. How can you not listen to "Operator" and not realize how heartbroken this person singing is? His humorous songs were fantastic too. I still laugh listening to "I Fell In Love With A Roller Derby Queen". 

Tonight AXS.tv played a tribute concert to another great song writer, John Denver. So many will remember him only for his exclaiming "Far out!" all the time or because he seemed like such a Boy Scout at times. To do so is to truly discount the tremendous songwriting ability and storytelling ability he had as well. When I think back to Denver's songs I think of several things. I think first of all about how he painted this amazing picture in my mind with his words and music of a beautiful untouched land out west that I longed to see. Secondly I think about my friend Ray who was such a fan and who got me listening to him again. And lastly I think of my grandmother. She was from West Virginia and she loved it. She also love the Denver song "Country Road". The lyrics of that song touched her and in so doing touched me as well. So this one's for you Grandma.

Another Denver song touched me deeply. I had heard it and the melody always seemed sad. It took on new meaning when I heard it again on what was supposed to be the last episode of MAGNUM P.I.. Magnum was shot to death and you see him walking towards Heaven in his dress whites. That got me to thinking and to listening to the lyrics. It still brings out emotion in me when I hear it. Enjoy.

ANGELS ALL AROUND

You may have noticed between this blog and the other (http://dvddigitalviews.blogspot.com/) that I love to write. It's not something I am forced to do just something I enjoy. For a while it seemed as if I couldn't stop writing poetry. Most of it is gone now, tossed aside. A few pieces remain. And then on occasion I find myself in the mood again or something pops into my head and I feel the need to write again. That happened tonight. I was thinking about the meaning of Christmas and how it seems so many have lost sight of what it really is all about. That's when this popped into my head. Lengthy? Perhaps. Then again maybe not, you decide. Enjoy and Merry Christmas to you all. And as I said before, feel free to leave comments!

ANGELS ALL AROUND

The carolers were singing

The bells were ringing too

Elvis was proclaiming

That his Christmas was blue

My mind was filled with Christmas

As I purchased every gift

Knowing when each one was opened

Spirits they would lift

From store to store I wandered

Each bargain to be found

Until I left the last one

And saw someone on the ground

He sat beneath the neon sign

Upon the sidewalk there

His clothes were very dirty

He had such grimy hair

At first I thought him grubby

Another welfare case

And then I saw something different

A smile upon his face

And in his hands he held a sign

For all that could be read

It was a simple thing to read

And this is what it said

"Too often we go round about

Forget what the season's for

We rush about searching for something

We go from store to store

"The greatest gift came long ago

Sent from up above

When God shared his son Jesus

And sent his lasting love"

I thought about the sign I read

And the man there on the ground

I started to head to the car

And then I turned around

I said "That's such a profound thing

That each of us should know

And yet I'll bet not many stop

When walking to and fro

"I bet not one has stopped to see

If you could use a hand

Perhaps my turning 'round right now

Was something that God planned"

He smiled at me, nodded his head

And gave a knowing wink

He said "Perhaps it took this sign

To make you stop and think

"So many think of presents fine

And trees and dinner too

And all forget the real reason

What God has sent to you

"He sent his son, we celebrate

The gift God gave this earth

When he sent forth his child to us

We remember Jesus birth"

I smiled back and shook his hand

He had a kindly stare

I looked down and noticed then

That his feet were bare

I reached into the bag I had

Took out a pair of shoes

I smiled again and said to him

"Merry Christmas to you"

Surprisingly the size was right

He put them on right there

He brushed his coat, pulled out a comb

And straightened out his hair

He thanked me then and turned away

I headed for my car

But started to turn 'round again

I hadn't gone that far

But when I turned he wasn't there

As if he'd never been

I wondered then if he was real

A person that I'd seen?

Upon the ground I saw the box

Of shoes I passed to him

Now wrapped in paper and ribbon

So proper and so prim

The ribbon it was golden, bright

A color that seemed rare

And the paper pattern was something new

With angel's wings everywhere

I thought about the truth of Christmas

There beneath neon light

Of shepherds who were told of love

One fateful evening night

A message brought like this one now

With light upon my face

That spoke of all we were given

By God's most holy grace

And so I'll tell you here and now

I'll stand, perhaps I'll shout

Don't forget what Christmas means

What it really is about.

BEING SICK

I hope I'm not alone when I say being sick this time of year totally sucks. This is a time of year when people get together, when they do things like bake cookies and go shopping. It's a time of year when if you didn't go to church you suddenly remember that one exist and start going again. Being sick stops all of that.

Where I got it from I have no idea. All I know is that Tuesday night I felt terrible and it progressed from there. The next thing I knew I felt like I was going to toss the good ole cookies (no not the Christmas one. They weren't made yet). Then my sinuses got stuffy and my nose runny at the same time. How these two things can happen simultaneously I have no idea. Then the body aches kicked in. With no insurance the two best forms of meds were Robitusin and cough drops. 

The cough drops were the thing that surprised me the most. Cherry menthol. They soothed the throat so I didn't cough and the menthol cleared my sinuses somewhat. Unfortunately they don't make these in intravenous form or I'd be hooked up in no time flat. 

So here I sit on a Saturday unable to do much of anything. I was planning on doing dishes and making dinner but feel so bad I know that isn't going to happen. It's actually one of the few times I really don't care about either happening either. Papinos special for the night, along with paper plates, is sounding very attractive at the moment.

Worst of all I won't be going to church tomorrow. I've been going again and thoroughly enjoying it. This would have made week five. With any luck I'll be back next week. Until then I can always check out my own reading of the Bible, something I do most of the time anyway. Having read it through cover to cover once I go back and randomly pick chapters now. Okay I'll be honest. I did read the whole thing except the chapter about who begat who. I've never been a big genealogy fan. 

So I guess I'll watch a few things and take it easy one more day and hope for the best. Keep taking medicine, drinking hot tea and coughing up a lung or two. Before I leave I'll give you something to make you laugh. And yes, it's how I felt looking for the remote earlier today.

SOMETHING SWEET FOR CHRISTMAS

So I decided to get creative again. With time on my hands why not? After the success of the fruit pizza I thought why not make something for Christmas, something that can be associated with Christmas? I mean oranges might be the fruit of choice but a fruit pizza doesn't quite cut it for Christmas. And then I came up with the answer: peppermint candy.

Between candy canes and the round peppermint discs we've all come to associate with Christmas, why not? What you see above is the result. Granted, it doesn't look that great from the picture but hey, I was using a cell phone to take the picture and the one with the flash actually looked less appetizing than this one does.

The best part about this is how easy it was to make and how little clean up there was afterward. The worst part is that it is so rich and sweet that one thin slice will be all you can stand at one time. LOL.

Here is what you need to make it and how it goes together. I've changed one portion of the recipe after the trial run here and I'll let you know when I get to that part.

First off all I used two and a half tubes of sugar cookie dough bought from Walmart. I mix the two of them together in my hands, squeeze them into a ball and then start to flatten that out in my hands. Using a pizza pan that I've sprayed liberally with Pam, I set this flattened dough in the center and begin to flatten it out more, pressing it to the edges as I go. Once that's done you should have what looks like a pizza crust ready to bake.

Now here is where I changed something. When I did this, I cooked the cookie half way through, 5 minutes, then took it out of the oven and covered it with white chocolate chips. I wasn't sure if the chips would burn or not. The next time around I think I would put the chips on immediately before the cookie went into the oven. Cook it for 10 minutes and then take it out. The chips should be (crossing fingers) melted enough that you can sort of spread them across the top of the cookie like icing on a cake, smoothing it out so it doesn't look like chips. Once that's done, sprinkle on the peppermint pieces. 

Here you have two options. One is to buy peppermint pieces and smash them to bits to put on. What I chose to do was to buy Andes peppermint pieces which is a mixture of white chocolate flavored with peppermint and tiny pieces in them as well. I think these worked fine. My only problem was that I didn't spread them around enough resulting in some bites that had no peppermint taste. 

Put this back in the oven and put the rack a little higher. This should allow the new chips to melt better with the heat on top. 

Take your cookie out of the oven and place on a rack to cool. The last part you can do while it's warm or after it cools. Take a tube of red frosting and make your swirls out from the center of the cookie to the edges so it looks like the peppermint discs you always got around Christmas. That's it! You're done! 

I was lucky enough that my local pizza parlor of choice, Papinos, gave me a box to put mine in. Yes a fresh box so it didn't have a pizza flavor added to it. 

As for clean up it was so incredibly simple. You throw away the wrappers for the cookie dough. You throw away the bag for the white chocolate chips. You tie up the 2nd bag of white chips (for me it took 1.5 bags). You tie up the bag of peppermint pieces. You put the cap back on the frosting. Put everything away and was your hands. You're done! How easy is that? 

I'm hoping a few of you will try this recipe and let me know how it turns out for you. Or if you come up with something else to add to it let me know. I'm more than happy to share it with everyone reading.

BE NICE CHALLENGE

A week or so ago I sent out a challenge on my Facebook page. A few people commented on it but no one actually said if they took up that challenge or not. It was simple and fell along the lines of the idea of paying it forward.

We read now and then about people who do some random act of kindness for someone and are amazed that something like this can take place in this day and age. It doesn't have to be some grandiose gesture where someone gets say millions of dollars from some benevolent philanthropist. It can be something as simple as pulling up to the window at McDonalds  and discovering that the person in front of you has paid your bill. No one requires you to do anything in return, they just do something nice for you. 

So back to Facebook. I challenged the people on my Facebook friends to do a random act of kindness that week. Perhaps I wasn't clear about it so I plan on doing it again. What I was hoping was that it would start a random act of kindness wave and that they would share with me what they did. Those acts of kindness would then inspire other to do random acts of kindness as well and it would just multiply outward. Wouldn't that be a wonderful world to find yourself in, where people were just nice to each other for no reason or gain.

So lets try it here as well. I challenge everyone who reads this to do one random act of kindness and then tell us about it in the comments area. Yes, you can actually leave comments here! If you can't then email me at kirbylee70@hotmail.com and use the subject (all caps please) RANDOM ACT. If for some reason you can't post it I will. 

Let me start the ball rolling with something small and simple (though I've done other things recently as well). I was in line at McDonalds today on the way home from church. The line was getting to be a decent sized line. Off to my right I see a car and a guy asking if he can move forward. Now this car has been sitting there for a while so he may just have wanted out to leave. Then again maybe he wanted to cut in line because he forgot something or they messed up his order. I could have been a jerk but instead waved at him to go ahead. He opted for a third choice I hadn't considered. He moved forward into a parking space across the way because he was taking his wife and kids inside. The random act of kindness caused me not one red cent and this family was able to get into McDonalds easier than from where they were parked. And with two little kids that means something.

That same visit gave me a chance for a second random act of kindness. Once more McDonald's screwed up my order. Now if you know me you know I am one to take them to task when they do so. Yes, I am the angry customer when you mess up my order that I paid for. A quarter pounder with mustard and ketchup only was what I ordered and what the screen and my ticket said. What I got had pickles and onions on it. I HATE onions and am don't like pickles on my burger. I could have called. Instead I said forget about it, picked them off and enjoyed my lunch. While whoever answers the phone at McDonalds doesn't know it, they received the gift of a random act of kindness. LOL.

So there you have it, two examples of a random act of kindness that took no time or effort on my part. What have you done today? What will you do? Let me know.

SILVER LININGS

You know how people always say that every cloud has a silver lining? I've been thinking about that ever since the job loss. I mean when you're at my age facing not having a job and concerned about where you will find one you wonder just how you could find a silver lining in all of that. But the fact is they're there and you have many silver linings in your life as well. Some call them gifts from God which they indeed are. Some call them favors from God and again they're correct. I just tend to call them silver linings because it was the first thing that popped into my head. I know God understands what I mean and that I mean him no disrespect. 

So silver linings. What are they and how can you recognize them? They don't have to be huge and for the most part are actually quite small. They're those little things in life that seem to pop up out of nowhere and are beneficial to you. More often than not they're beneficial from a mental standpoint rather than say a financial one. I've had a number of them in the last few weeks.

On a trip to Indianapolis that my wife and I had to make which was for stressful reasons (I won't go into it but it didn't involve health concerns so don't worry) we were driving back on 69. As we drove along I looked to the left and saw this huge pumpkin patch. Now when I think of a pumpkin patch I think of pumpkins scattered with about anywhere from 2-4 feet between pumpkins. But this area was just a complete bright orange field. I mean these pumpkins were on top of one another and the field was just ORANGE! It was amazing to look at. Had we not been there at the time, at that moment, had I been working...we would have missed that pumpkin patch. It was a silver lining for us.

A few weeks ago I traded in some books and movies at the local Mega Replay where you exchange things like that for cash or credit. I always opt for credit as it's higher and I can always find things I'm interested in. My credit with what I had previously came to about $39. I looked and didn't find anything I was looking for, checked the newly arrived shelf and was about to leave when the display case caught my eye. That's where they put collections, valuable items or special boxed sets. I look and there I see it, THE WILD WILD WEST COMPLETE SERIES! I've been looking for this for over a year now, the last time I saw it here. At that time it was around $72. Now? $34!!! With tax I still ended up having $2 in credit left? Another silver lining. 

I came across some old gift cards I'd forgotten about. One for Granite City, a local restaurant in Ft. Wayne, had $20 on it. One for Casual Male had over $40 on it. Heck even the one for the Regal Cinema had about $2 on it. More silver linings. 

So when things look their worst remember to think back and look at the day and see if you had any silver linings in your life. It just may be enough to help get through the day.

The Beginning

So here I sit with too much time on my hands and plenty of things to do and what have I chosen to do? Create a new blog to give me the opportunity to ramble and rant about this that and the other. It's the new thing to do, the hip and young thing to do. Hell I'm so far from young that I don't actually qualify to create a blog but screw it I'm going to do so anyway. If you like it great, come back and see me some time. If you don't then cruise away and find the ramblings of a teen blog where you can get the update on what Justin Beiber is wearing or if Kristin really did screw over Rob while filming the umpteenth version of TWILIGHT.

Yes indeed, I'm an old fart with old fart mentality and morals though those can be questionable at times. I believe in God and my country and think that people who complain and yet do nothing to change things should have a nice cup of shut up and get off their tale ends and do something. Its like the election; if you didn't vote then shut up. If you voted, great for you. It doesn't matter if your guy or the other guy won, it matters that you cared enough to get involved and vote, period. Granted I may wish you voted one way vs. the other (look for more rants later) but at least you took the time to vote. Good for you. 

So some more background. I'm 55 years old, overweight, have a bad back and knees and at present have joined the ranks of the unemployed. Yes after 19 years of working for a major retail chain they decided to let me go. Why? Well since things haven't settled yet I'll just say it's none of your business. Suffice to say that the store I worked in will remain there for the time being but have a few more snags since they're a bit short handed. Me? I'm doing fine at the moment.

I've found that since losing my job I can sleep better at night. I don't have the stress and worry that I did before. Where before I might have trouble getting to sleep at all and then wake up worrying what would happen next, now I relax and trust in the words that others have told me since this happened: God always has a reason for the way things happen. 

That's another thing that's been good for me since it happened. I no longer have to work on Sundays so I can actually go to church. I stopped going to the one I belonged too because I saw it as a place where people went for social status as opposed to sharing a belief in God. I witnessed that in the way they treated someone that actually got my family and me to go back to church (another long story that I'll share along the way some time since this is after all a place to rant and rave). Talking with someone I knew one day they said "hey you should come to our church. The guy in charge thinks like us, he's not keen on religion but he is on God". So I went and tried it and this weekend will make week four there. It feels right.

The best thing about not working in retail right now though is family. I actually have time to spend with family and that has always been important to me. My wife and I have time to spend together and more often than not do so in front of the TV. Yes we have some favorite shows we watch (hey that could be another post!) and we enjoy the time we have together. But it's not just in this house that I mean family.

No I mean my entire family, the one where hers and mine come together. On her side I got to go to a nephew's birthday one night where before I would probably have been working the shift the manager didn't want to. My sister-in-law and her husband are members of the church I now go to. I got to hear my great neice sing with such a tremendous voice that it is simply amazing. I even got to spend some time visiting her and her family that I wouldn't have had the time for before. I got to go to lunch with my wife's sisters one day and spend time talking and laughing. And all this is just on her side of the family!

On my side the first major thing was Thanksgiving. For the first time in 19 years I actually got to spend a Thanksgiving day where I didn't either show up late or have to go leave early to either go to work or get sleep to deal with the Black Friday crowds. Instead I got to enjoy the day, make and take two loaves of beer bread and a gorgeous fruit pizza seen here: 

We ate, got stuffed and while the rest of the family read over the ads to see exactly where they wanted to go shopping at the most God awful hours of the night, I took a nap. I had decided to be a part of this madness known as Black Friday...or is it now Threatening Thursday? It seems that the sale madness has grown to such a state that stores are beginning earlier and earlier each year. It went from normal shopping hours with specials on Friday to early early shopping like 6 AM. That changed a year or so ago when stores started opening at 4AM. Now they've said hell with it and start on Thursday night. 

Anyway, when I got up from my nap they all headed to the local Wal Mart and K Mart stores to shop while I got ready. Once they finished, we headed for Ft. Wayne to shop. Not me of course. Hey, I already explained, bad back and bad knees. No, I had decided I would be their chauffeur. My mother has back/leg problems as well so I became the designated driver. An easy choice. While they would shop, I would sit and read, a favorite past time. That's what I did. I dropped them at the door to Target and waited.

What my sister told me later was astounding. The line in Target was well organized but she said it wound through each of the shelf sections (we called them gondolas where I worked even though it had nothing to do with Venice, Italy). Up and down and back again through over 20 sections of shelving. I guess that's one way to see everything in the store. It took some time and while I was reading I had the window cracked (I figured if I would do it for a dog I might as well do it for me) and I could hear people complaining that the store didn't have the advertised item they were looking for, at least in a good natured way. All I could think of was "you idiots! Did you really think that when you got here three hours into the sale that the single item you came looking for would be sitting there wrapped up ready and waiting for you?". Apparently some people just don't know how to shop. After 19 years of never doing this even I knew enough that if you want something special get your tail there first thing.

Next was the mall, Glenbrook in this case. It was packed and while I'd always heard about what was going on out there in the wild world while I was working this day I was surprised. There were no parking places between the front doors all the way out to the main road in front of the mall. Fortunately for those on our particular quest that night they had that chauffeur. Curb service baby! Three hours later everyone was hungry again so we hit IHOP, or for those unfamiliar with the term The International House of Pancakes. You can tell it's international because waiting at the table was not one single flavor of syrup but four, count them, four flavors! I expected a sommelier to show up and discuss the various vintages of syrup but instead we got a regular waitress. I guess he was busy that night.

Yes the IHOP was packed as well. What would you expect at 3AM? If I owned a restaurant or fast food place in Ft. Wayne I would have been open all night. I would have contacted my home office and begged them to be open. There were all sorts of crazy shoppers out there so why wouldn't I want to be open to make money? But as it stood our options were limited. I think it boiled down to IHOP, Cracker Barrel or Steak 'n Shake. I heard last year's visit to Steak 'n Shake had been less than satisfactory so we decided to wait the 25 minutes for a table and then enjoyed a wonderful meal/breakfast at 3AM at IHOP. From there everyone went to catch a nap before hitting the stores once again at 6AM for other special sales. 

Me? I went home. As I passed the Wal Mart I noticed that the crowd had disappeared. Good thing because there were a few regular everyday items I needed to pick up. I got to see that the local store had cleaned up pretty good after the rush and it took me know time to go through a line where I think I was the only person. 

The thing about the whole adventure wasn't that it was about shopping though. It was about family and having the time to spend with them. Far too often I think family is something we all take for granted and that's sad. It's sad because we rarely take the time to think that one day not all those family members are going to be there for us to spend time with. We all say that we'll make time eventually but we never really get around to it. What about the person who's family member was killed in an auto accident? Or how about serving over seas? How about the person that got on a flight that crashed or who simply dropped dead in their tracks from a heart attack? Those chances to spend time with that person disappear in an instant and can never be retrieved. Sure it sound maudlin to think about but the fact is it's the truth. So take some time folks, make sure you don't miss out on that family time you always mean to get to but never do.

I've been very fortunate and count this time as a blessing. It's a blessing because I've been able to see and hear and laugh and share time with the people who mean the most to me over these past few weeks. I went to a nephew's play. I heard two great great nieces sing. I had dinner with my folks. We went out for mine and my wife's birthday. And in all of those gatherings I would sit back and look around the table and realize just how fortunate I was to be able to just sit and be with those people who meant the most to me. I may not be working at the moment and it may sound like a line from a TV-movie, but the fact it that I was able to have the greatest treasure of all. That was time spent with my family.