Sharing Aunt Sheila's Thoughts

Close your eyes and smell the new mowed grass,
those first lilacs just a few weeks prior.

Smile at others as you pass them on the street,
and hold your loved ones as close as you can.

You can never love anyone too much.

You cannot spoil your children by kissing them
every time the mood strikes and touching their
velvety soft cheek.

We are blessed each and every day
by the beauty of our surroundings,
the simplicity of our routines,
and the kindness of our friendships.

Make each and every moment count
as life is far too short to not be in it.

Seize the moment.

Don't get to comfortable.

Who would have thought that 2 hours after I wrote about Cindy Sheehan.
I would be facing a tragedy.
Last night I received a call from my niece that her 23 year old daughter was dead.
I went over to her home and stayed there into the evening until
her dad, my brother arrived.
As I write this I feel like someone has kicked me in the stomach.
I have always been a little uncomfortable when things seem to be going well.
It's like I'm waiting for the thunder bolt.
Yesterday I let my guard down
I am now seeing up close how someone you love deals with a child's death.
Sitting in their Living room listening to the Chaplain who arrived after the police were there was an experience I don't want to deal with anytime soon.
Don't get me wrong he was so kind and so caring, but talking about this beautiful girl being with God, we just wanted her back.

I wanted to scream...I wanted to get out of there.

Thank God my daughter was also there for support.

Maybe later I will post more about her, but right now
I feel drained.

Another voice silenced

PEACE OUT:

Cindy Sheehan used this Memorial Day to announce that giving up her role as the face of the nation’s anti-war movement. 21-months after her son Casey was killed in Iraq, Ms. Sheehan posted in a resignation letter on Daily Kos that she has had enough with being smeared and ridiculed, and that she is calling it quits. Can you blame her? Quoting Ms. Sheehan:“I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost.”

The above was reported at the DailyKos.

No matter what your opinion of Cindy Sheehan was.
She was a gold star mother who lost her son
in an illegal/undeclared war.

Everyone has their own way of grieving,
and no one knows how they would handle
the same situation until it happens to them.

Cindy handled hers with anger
and many others handle there's by believing
this was a just fight their children died for.

I know some who have handled the grief of losing
a child by withdrawing from the world.

Cindy Sheehan deserved more respect from the President then she received.
All he would have had to do was meet with her.
Let her scream her anger at him and get it out of her system.
Bill Clinton would have done that.

Instead Bush let the media portray her as some kind of crazy.
Well yeh, she was crazy, with grief.

I hope now she can come to peace with her grief and heal
and I hope the media will finally leave her alone.

I'm Ticked

On my post Mixed Views,
someone without the courage to sign
their name asked me
why Conservatives can't have a view?

I want to answer them the best way I can.

Conservatives have been serving up their opinions
for years, going back to Clinton and making a major deal out
of his peccadillo's then screaming for impeachment.


It is time for those with common sense to finally speak up.
Bush and his administration are not only liars they are crooks
getting rich on other peoples blood.
(Who should be impeached now?)

They try to stop discussion by twisting words and calling people names.
It is time for all of us to finally speak up.
Rosie was our brave voice..

This war is a tragedy, it was the worst strategic mistake in American history.
If The administration wanted to find and prosecute Osama then they should have stayed in Afghanistan until he was found.
Is there anyone out there that doesn't believe that the war in Iraq
was all about Oil?

I heard today that Rosie is not coming back and it makes me sad.

I just hope she finds a place where she can continue to speak out.

I understand her decision, she has a family to think of and I am willing to bet
Kelly said

Enough is Enough!

Remember those that sacrificed for us.

As we go into Memorial day weekend,
I have had so many mixed feelings.

I was hoping the Senate and Congress would not cave into Bush
again.
But yesterday they did, in the final vote to ultimately extend this war.

What is it going to take for our elected officials to get a little back bone?
This war is not going to end as long as they continue to fund it.

I also wavered at one point wondering what would happen to our troops
if they didn't fund it.

Since then with a little research I found that the troops would have been taken care of.

Yesterday President Bush continued his scare tactics as he pointed at different journalists that didn't agree with him and told them

"If we don't win this war, they are going to kill your children."

Well Mr. President they are killing our children now, and if you don't end this war
they are going to kill thousands more of our children serving over there.
Including thousands of Iraqis

In the 5th year of this war we have spent over 1 Trillion dollars
So far the money spent on this war could have financed 1.8 million new teachers.
funded 20 million college scholarships, given 60 million people health care
We have lost over 3000 of our young people, 25,000 wounded, of those 1500+
are amputees and 5000 have head and brain injuries.

Our President is quick to find more money to pour into this war, but not enough to help those seriously wounded when they come home.

I will be watching the talk shows this weekend, I want to see the reasoning for this vote.

Meanwhile I want to thank those that had the courage to stand up to this President.
I just hope that the next time they have a vote there will be more of them.

Mixed "Views"

Well I certainly learned one good lesson today.
Don't watch a tape of the View before you are going to bed.
Todays show had me on the edge of my chair with my mouth hanging open.
I wasn't surprised by the explosion between Rosie and Elizabeth.
We are coming down to the last couple weeks of Rosie's stay and
I have watched her getting more and more stressed.
She has been trying so hard not to fight with Elizabeth because of her pregnancy.
But the last couple days, feelings have been hurt. and I could see in Rosie's face that it was only a matter of time.
I was surprised at the tone from Elizabeth. It was obvious to me that she has been holding back too.
Elizabeth feeding on Fox news is the most naive woman I have ever seen.
Rosie feels passionately about this country and the over 3000 young people killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
She also feels for the 100's of thousand innocent Iraqi's that have been killed.
Elizabeth feels passionately about keeping her friends at Fox News happy and today she may have put them before her friendship.
Someday she will mature and she will see who her real friend was.
I hope it is soon.
Today I just wanted to reach through the tube and hug Rosie and wipe the pain off her face.
If "The View" wins an Emmy this year it will be because of Rosie O'Donnell, and next fall if they don't find a powerful voice to replace her.
It will be the last year of "The View"

Musings

Today watching "The View" I could see the stress in Rosie's face.
Maybe she was tired, I hope that's all it was.
Maybe it was the fact that she had Kelly's family visiting
this past week.
That alone would be stressful.

I bet she can't wait till this seasons shows end.
It will be interesting to see what kind of ratings it will get next fall.

I made a little trip to the Periodontist today, which leads to another visit on Thursday for some minor surgery.
My Hygienist also thought a spot on my face needed a look see by my Doctor so scheduled that for Friday.

The joys of getting older.

It has been a bad week all around
and my mood today is blue.
I think I am just going to go curl up with a glass of wine and watch AI and Dancing with the Stars.

Did the gates open up?

Today when I heard that Jerry Falwell had died,
my first thought was,

"I wonder who met him at the gate?"
Over the years Jerry Falwell gave Christianity a bad name.
I was always taught compassion and empathy,
especially for those who could not help themselves.

Reverend Falwell spewed hateful venom most of the time,
his type of ministry gives other men of faith a bad name.

I have never been able to understand that type of religion.
Here in Minnesota we have one of those TV ministers.
Recently we found out that he has a couple of very expensive homes,
cars and boats.
He joked about it at one of his services and made this remark,
or something like it.
" They forgot to mention my Bikes"

Hey, his congregation loves him and loves giving him their money.
He turns around and openly supports Conservative politicians.

He got himself in a wee bit of trouble when he allowed
Michelle Bachman ( one kooky lady) to speak to his congregation while she was running for Congress.
She spoke about her fasting for days before she made the decision to run for office.
Then the Lord talked to her and told her to run.

The Reverend then announced to the worshipers, he was going to vote for her.
He doesn't even live in her district, something he found out later.
There were some challenges because of his tax free status,
but I don't think anything ever came from it.

I'm sure many people loved Reverend Falwell and grieve for him.

They all have my sympathy!!

Happy Mothers Day

If my mom was alive today she would have celebrated her 99th birthday on May 8th.
But because of an illness that drained her body and spirit, she left this world
November 2, 1994. way to early.

Mom was in complete age denial
It took her into her 80's before she would admit she was a senior citizen.
She was Irish first with a touch of English,
Someone you didn't mess with, all 5 ft' 2" of her.

She adored my husband and always told me that if we should ever divorce she got him.

Even at the age of 86 the church was filled with young and old.
As we left the church her good friend and neighbor Big Lou sang "Galloway Bay"
in his beautiful Tenor voice.

Below is just a portion of the eulogy a friend gave at her funeral

Today is the age of Angels.
All over the world there is becoming a magical
awakening to the fact, there really are angels

Those of you that knew Gladys were witness to that fact.
I think of her as the littlest angel,
the wittiest one, the busiest, the one who giggles the most,
the one who is the most fun to be around.
She was young at Heart.

(skipping personal things)

This Angel left us many gifts. She left her children and
grandchildren the gift of a great sense of humor, a warm acceptance
of all people no matter what color or creed.
She left all of us the gift of friendship.
This earth angel, the littlest angel has only passed on and she is waiting for us.
I believe she is saying.

" Live life to the fullest and you will find that the greatest gift
is our relationship with others."

American Idol

Yeh thats right I am an AI addict, but I agree with my stranger friend Misty that this year just doesn't have the Pzazz.
I don't know why, some really talented singers, but no one moves me like Fantazia or
Chris Daugherty did.
I think this year was spoiled by the Sanjaya phenomenon.
It was hard to pay much attention to the really talented vocals while he was there.
So we have final 4 tonight and one going home tomorrow.
My guess is it will be Lakisha, her nerves got the best of her.
Jordin and Melinda were right on tonight, they aren't going anywhere and though I thought Blake sucked big time, he has a strong fan base and being the only male left he won't leave tomorrow.
He may even hang in there for the final two, but he won't win.
Melinda may be the most polished, but Jordin is 17 and has the whole package,
I'm betting she will be the next AI.
I think she has her head on straight, so even though she is young I'm not worried
about her.
Unlike Brittany Spears, Jordin has real talent that will carry her into adulthood.

Now having said that, I probably have jinxed her.

Guess we'll soon find out and then I can get my Tuesday nights back.

Who are the Aliens??

If anyone has any doubts that the last 2 elections were stolen,
I suggest you go to the website below and read the latest from Greg Palast.

What is it going to take for people to wake up and smell the coffee?

This week Newsweek says that G. Bush has a 28% approval rating.
I just wonder what Planet those 28% are from?

I planned on blogging about something a little light when I went on line.
Then I got the e-mail about Greg Palast and my blood started to boil.


I am going to have to cool a little I guess.

http://gregpalast.com/

Tick Tock

I caught a little bit of the Republican debate.
What a scary group that is.
To impress their base they are willing to drop a bomb on anyone.
It seems they tried to out conservative each other to ridiculousness.
All of them having to go back to Ronald Reagan years to find their ideas.

I did not see one promising leader in the whole group.

I did not watch any of the democrats, mainly because I know their stands on most of the issues.

I do not have a favorite, but I have it narrowed down to 5 *Grin*

This is going to be a very long 18 months we have a head of us.