Camp NaNoWriMo, Can We Talk?

You Need to Calm Down

I like Taylor Swift’s music. Have you seen her latest video?

So much to talk about. Ready?

First of all, it’s so catchy. That’s one of the biggest reasons I like Taylor’s music – it’s just fun and catchy.

This video is fun, if not a bit insulting but HEY. it’s okay, I’m not upset and it’s certainly not going to ruin my day but damn girl, depicting people who don’t agree with homosexuality as idiots is a bit harsh, don’t ‘cha think?

I mean, to each his own, I guess. I know there ARE people who look like that, missing teeth, rat hair, holes in clothes, poor education, basically meth heads. But to imply that those are the kinds of people who disagree with your opinions is just … stupid.

People are ignorant. I won’t dispute that. But ignorance is present in coastal states too, not just the Midwest bible thumpers.

I understand where Tayor is going with this video and this song. And she’s right, there are WAY too many people who are offended and outraged over well, everything. People need to calm down.

You don’t agree with homosexuality? Okay. Life goes on.

You don’t agree with abortion? Okay. Life goes on.

You don’t agree with one particular politic party? Okay. Life goes on.

To sum up? People are not ignorant, evil or crazy if they disagree with you.

It’s called LIFE.

You need to calm down.

Taylor says people who are against homosexuality need to calm down – I say – same sweetie.

People who think straight people are devil incarnate also need to calm down.

People who have differing opinions have just as much right as you do, it’s called freedom of speech. Do you have to stand there and listen to those opinions? Nope. You can disregard and walk away. But those that try to bully and threaten their way to “being right” need to swallow a dose of reality. It’s not all about you and your life choices, hunty.

Everyone, take a chill pill AND CALM DOWN.

And one last thought – why is it okay to have one whole month dedicated to gay people but if we try and plan one whole month to celebrate straight people, the world goes apoplectic?

So gay people have chosen to dedicate one month to celebrate being gay? WHO CARES? You do you, boo. But DO NOT get upset when another section of our population would like to do the same for their life choice. You can’t have it your way and only your way, people.

You need to calm down.

This song goes both ways, this song goes ALL ways. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

People NEED to get over themselves. Truly.

And I’m going to be straight up honest with ya’ll – people honest to God DO NOT CARE ABOUT HOW YOU LIVE YOUR LIVES.

They really don’t.

Everyone, CALM DOWN.

<rant over – for now>

Post Two

 

Daily Prompts

My Life: Day Fifteen

I’m attempting to force myself to write in my blog every day. I’ve gotten SO BAD at keeping up these past several years and someday I’ll be dead and then what?

I’ll be gone but hopefully not forgotten. (Feel free to use these prompts for your own writing).

Today’s prompt(s):

Would you rather be less attractive and extremely intelligent or extremely attractive and less intelligent? What do you think the pros and cons of each combination would be?

Wow, what a conundrum.

I mean, let’s be honest, if you’re attractive, life is easier. People tend to be nicer. They tend to make allowances and bend the rules a bit more. If you’re attractive, you’re more approachable.

Just don’t open your mouth.

I think being attractive opens more doors than just being smart.

Though if you’re smart and not that attractive, there are ways to MAKE yourself more attractive. And no, I’m not talking about plastic surgery though I guess that might be an option for some. (Not for me). I’m talking more about wearing clothes that highlight your particular body type, having a flattering hairstyle and wearing appropriate makeup.

But can you really make yourself smarter? I sort of feel like you are either smart, or you’re not. You can ACT smart but people typically see through the facade fairly quickly. But would anyone really care if you’re not smart if you’re nice to look at?

I guess one could make a lot of money if he/she was attractive – modeling, acting, etc. Not saying those careers don’t require intelligence but come on, not many people get past the packaging in that industry.

You can also make a lot of money if you’re smart. But I think it would take longer and require more effort to get to that stage since so many people take one look at you and make a judgement.

I think for me, I would rather be less attractive and more intelligent. Hey, I’m smart, I can figure out how to get past the outer flaws and transform myself into something, or someone, to get what I want.

I feel like I do that now. 😉

Daily Prompts

My Life: Day Fourteen

I’m attempting to force myself to write in my blog every day. I’ve gotten SO BAD at keeping up these past several years and someday I’ll be dead and then what?

I’ll be gone but hopefully not forgotten. (Feel free to use these prompts for your own writing).

Today’s prompt(s):

Three things you can’t live without.

Kevin. Blake. Brandon.

Okay, let’s list something else besides my family.

Food. Drink. Air.

Ugh, that’s even more boring.

Let’s think of something unique to ME.

  1. False eyelashes – did you know that I wear falsies? I actually started last year. Since I’ve gone through the change, all my hair grows back really slowly. This includes my eyelashes. They were never super long to begin with, but now, gads, they are short and light so when I don’t wear mascara it looks like I don’t have eyes. I can usually make one pair of lashes last one week. I could probably make them last longer but I’m too lazy to properly care for them so I wear a pair Monday through Friday and then start over on Monday. (I don’t usually wear makeup on the weekends). I’ve gotten the hang of putting falsies on, it took quite a few months but now I love them and I love how they make my eyes look.
  2. My Garmin Fitness tracker – I’m not into fitness, I just like to keep track of my steps. And that’s largely because I get a health point on my health insurance for every 6000 steps I take every day. I’m usually all over the place all day at work so I might as well earn points toward my health insurance, right?
  3. My swing dresses. I freaking love these swing dresses from Old Navy. They are super comfy, super cute, super cheap and look good with either leggings and boots or bare leg and flats. I wear these things to work all the time. I love them. Can you guess why else I like them? Cause they disguise all the love lumps, baby. Ha!

I don’t know if these things are things I can’t live without, but they are definitely my obsessions right now.

 

 

Daily Prompts

My Life: Day Thirteen

I’m attempting to force myself to write in my blog every day. I’ve gotten SO BAD at keeping up these past several years and someday I’ll be dead and then what?

I’ll be gone but hopefully not forgotten. (Feel free to use these prompts for your own writing).

Today’s prompt(s):

What happened to our garage?

So, going through my Flickr account (which currently has nearly 8500 pictures on there – and by the way, what is UP with yearly membership being $50 now?? It was $25 – I think it’s time to find another photo storage site – maybe I’ll just bite the bullet and upload them all on my Google photos account), I came across these pictures.

I’m not sure if I ever told you guys this story, so, here goes.

Guess Who Backed into the Garage Door?

Someone, who shall remain nameless, *cough-Kevin-cough* backed into our garage door. This happened a while back, I think the date on the photo is March 2007.

As you can see, he backed into it hard enough to crack it and put a literal hole in the door.

Is that a ...?

Kevin has a history of miscalculating the garage door. One time, shortly after we bought our van, when the kids were little and I needed lots of room when chauffeuring them around town, I had backed into the garage and when I was shutting the garage door, I panicked, I didn’t think I had backed up far enough because I was worried that the metal handle sticking out of the garage door would hit my van.

Kevin went to the front of my van, gauged the distance and said, “Nah, you’re good.” So, trusting his judgment, I went ahead and pushed the button for the garage door to go down.

Well, I was right and the van hadn’t been backed up far enough and the next thing we hear is this sickening crunching sound as the metal handle completely annihilated the grill on my van.

I will never forget that sound. It’s right up there with the sickening crunch and grind of metal meeting metal whenever you hear two cars collide.

So no, Kevin and our garage door have not always gotten along.

Yep, it's a Hole

I don’t know if you can tell the material of our garage doors back then, but there were literally particle board and they were flimsy and rotting anyway, so him backing into the garage was probably a blessing in disguise as we needed to replace them before they simply disintegrated before our very eyes.

Oops

Yep, there are quite a few things like this that I don’t let Kevin live down.

But we ended up getting it fixed and our doors look A LOT better. Not to mention, they are more secure.

The Door on the Left, or The Door on the Right?

Another time, he accidentally left the garage door open all night and someone came into our garage and stole a huge, yellow remote control airplane that it took him MONTHS to build, by hand, from a kit. It was a beautiful plane and it worked, though I think he only actually flown it a few times because he was afraid of crashing it.

And then it got stolen.

He was heartbroken.

But to this day, we argue on who actually left the garage door open. I know for a fact it was him, but he insists it was me.

It was definitely him.

 

Daily Prompts

My Life: Day Twelve

I’m attempting to force myself to write in my blog every day. I’ve gotten SO BAD at keeping up these past several years and someday I’ll be dead and then what?

I’ll be gone but hopefully not forgotten. (Feel free to use these prompts for your own writing).

Today’s prompt(s):

What’s the most time you’ve ever spent apart from your favorite person? Tell us about it.

The most time I’ve spent apart from my favorite person is …

Well first of all, wait, who is my favorite person?

Probably Kevin. (Probably?? I can hear him say that, lol) He knows me the best and we’ve been together for about 32ish years now so …

The longest I’ve been away from Kevin has been one week. I know when he was working for an accounting firm here in town, he would often go out-of-town to do audits and that seemed to never last for more than a few days, at the most. Though it felt longer because I had two small boys with me at home and I didn’t have my buffer to cushion the crazy when he was gone.

But other than taking vacation without me, I’ve never really been away from Kevin for very long.

Yep. He went on a cruise without me.

Actually, two cruises without me.

And I encouraged him to do it.

Kevin, LeRoy and both boys recently went on a cruise that left from New Orleans. They cruised the Western Caribbean without me.

I could have gone, but I really didn’t want to. Plus, I figured the guys would have more fun without a GIRL hanging out with them anyway.

They could oogle all of the pretty girls they wanted to without fearing my reaction.

Their cruise only lasted 5 days, but when you calculate travel days in that equation, they were gone for a week at a time.

For me? I liked not having him around for about two days, but then I started missing him. I LOVE being by myself, I have no trouble being by myself, at all. In fact, I much prefer my company to that of any other people, but when it comes to my favorite person, Kevin, I don’t like being away from him for too long.

It just feels … weird. Empty, I guess.

True, we do most of our activities alone. He spends the majority of his time at the rental house with LeRoy “doing projects,” which consist of buying junk and fixing it up to put into his junk booths and selling. (And he does a pretty decent job at selling his stuff, too).

But at the end of the day, he comes home and we have dinner together. He’s my “home base,” if that makes sense.

I don’t know that he’s interested in going on any more vacations without me but he’s welcome to if he wants to. I trust him not to do anything stupid.

I, of course, fully intend to cash in on this, though. If/when the opportunity comes up to go on vacation with “the girls,” I will absolutely throw the fact that he went on vacation without me, TWICE, into the argument. I’ve been trying to talk the girls at work into going on a cruise with me and I can feel them wavering, but we’re not there yet.

But overall, one week away from each other is really long enough for me.

 

Can We Talk?, Facebook Stories

Damaging our Children

As the transgender movement has developed, so too has its focus on the transitioning of younger and younger people. TransKids, according to the “about” section of the transgender youth website, is “a safe and affirming place where helping your kids live fully and embodied is our only goal.”

TransKids.biz, which is “dedicated to providing young folks with gender expression gear and resources,” not only recommends transgender children’s books like “Who are you? The Kid’s Guide to Gender Identity” and “Be Who You Are,” it markets and sells garments and prosthetics designed to fit young children between the approximate ages of 8-13. [Source]

What the HELL is going on with our children, people?? WHY are we so obsessed with warping our children and making them believe they are someone other than their biological birth? People that are desperate to sell this notion that a boy is not a boy and a girl is not a girl that they are now trying to spoon feed us a product that kids, CHILDREN, can strap on and pretend they are something they are not.

And we wonder why society is so screwed up?!

This is absolute madness to me. For a group of people who loudly proclaim that it’s “science” whenever it comes to climate change on one hand, and then in the very next breathe discount science when it comes to our biological makeup, a GENETIC code that CAN NOT BE CHANGED NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE FORCE HORMONES ON PEOPLE OR STRAP PROSTHETICS TO OUR BODIES, they are wildly inconsistent in their arguments.

How can anyone take them seriously?

Seriously??

I have thoughts on this whole sexual orientation thing. You want to live your life as a gay man, lesbian woman, or any other label you want to dream up, okay. Knock yourself out. I don’t believe in the concept and I certainly don’t think it’s normal or acceptable, but ultimately, who cares what I think. It’s your life. Live it the way you see fit. But don’t expect me to support your choice just as I don’t expect you to support me and my life choices.

Ultimately, people will have to answer for their lives before the judgement chair.

But now that the public has gotten used to people and their screwed up life views and their insistence that there are multiple sexual orientations and that same-sex couples are “normal”, or at the very least commonplace, the attention needs to shift to something more perverse and disturbing because the dust has settled too much, we need more chaos, something new to “fight” about.

Because you see, honestly, people truly don’t care how you live your lives. Most people have ZERO interest in what you do in your bedrooms. Truly. They really, truly don’t care. Contrary to popular belief, the world does not revolve around attention-seeking people that for whatever reason, feel like they have to shove their beliefs down everyone’s throats. Sure, we become complacent after a time but not because we’re accepting these mixed up individuals’ claims but because we’re simply tired of listening to the madness. It does no good to try and talk sense into people like this, they have no desire for honest discourse, they just want to argue and again, justify their warped sense of self. And just as an adult finally throws up his/her hands after listening to an argumentative child for hours on end, rationale adults do the same – fine, have it your way. I’m tired of fighting with you.

I’m not saying this is right, or even acceptable, but it is human nature. I find myself doing the same thing. You can only pound your head against a concrete wall for so long before your notice the cracked skull and the blood dripping down your temples.

But that madness concerns legal adults who have every right to live their lives the way they choose to live them. Now we’re talking about pushing agendas on vulnerable children who have no idea who they are or how to live their lives. They are impressionable and eager to please the adults in their lives. They trust the adults in their lives to help them navigate this little thing we call life, not to further confuse them and push FADS down their throats.

It’s disgusting, dangerous and emotional child abuse, pure and simple. 

I’m not blaming the children, they don’t know better. The adults in their lives, however, DO.

Following the increasing social acceptance of the adult transgender movement in western culture, the focus has begun to shift toward children who express what may appear to be gender dysphoria.

Despite the possibility of irreparable physical and psychological damage to prepubescent children who are given hormone therapy and offered transitional services, there is a small but vocal group of Americans pushing for the unconditional cultural approval of such things.

WHY are we allowing this “small but vocal group of Americans” to suddenly change the natural course of things? And not just in this arena, but overall? Do you know how many times I’ve read articles about a “supposed” injustice started by a small group of individuals that ultimately MAKE the changes they want? Because we give in as a society? Even though the MAJORITY of people have no desire for that change?

WHY DO WE DO THIS? Why do we cave?? Is it because we’re afraid people will call us names? Like racist, homophobic and on and on? If we’re standing up for what we believe is right, and we have a solid argument and proof to back ourselves up, WHO CARES IF SOMEONE CALLS US NAMES. It’s like a schoolyard bully who has no logical reason why he/she is acting that way, it’s just the way he/she FEELS, but when confronted can do nothing but name call and physically intimidate to get the point across.

Feelings are not rational. If we allow ourselves to live our lives based on our feelings well … we get the kind of world we’re living in now. Chaotic and completely upside down.

And yet, the majority of us remain silent. We allow these bullies to push and push until we’re so far gone, we’re not sure who to fight back anymore.

It’s sad and disturbing.

And now, these whacks have turned their attention to our children.

OUR CHILDREN.

Who will later become adults with this warped-sense of life ingrained into their heads.

When will we stand up, be adults, and simply say, STOP THIS NONSENSE.

WHEN? 

Daily Prompts

My Life: Day Eleven

I’m attempting to force myself to write in my blog every day. I’ve gotten SO BAD at keeping up these past several years and someday I’ll be dead and then what?

I’ll be gone but hopefully not forgotten. (Feel free to use these prompts for your own writing).

Today’s prompt(s):

The most surprised you’ve ever been.

I don’t like surprises. At least when I’m the recipient. I like being the person surprising someone but don’t surprise me.

Ever.

I like control. I feel comfortable when I’m in control.

Though I know filling in for each other at work WILL happen, I work with nine doctors after all, I HATE it when I’m asked to fill in at the last minute. I absolutely don’t mind if I’m given a head’s up and I can prepare, but to walk in and someone say, “Oh hey, Karen, I need you to fill in for so-and-so” makes my butt cheeks clinch.

(How’s them visuals??)

So to surprise me and I receive it well, is rare.

It has happened before. When Kevin and I lived in our rental house, shortly after we got married, when Blake was a baby and I believe it was around Christmas time, I walked into the spare bedroom to get something and then came back out to talk to Kevin.

“Did you notice anything unusual?” Kevin asked.

“No.” Was my response.

“Really?” he asked. “That’s weird, follow me.”

So I followed Kevin back into the bedroom. “What do you see?”

I looked around and shrugged. “Nothing.”

He nodded toward a huge lump of something covered by a blanket.

I blinked and am embarrassed to say it really didn’t register for a few seconds. Then I gasped, lifted the blanket off and saw it.

It was a curio case to put all of my Previous Moment figurines in.

(Because back then, I collected them. I know. I KNOW)

CURIOS

I just have knick knacks in there now, no Previous Moments (though I still have most of them and I bet they’re worth some money today) but it’s the same case. I LOVE my case. It fits my personality, I think. Sleek and sexy.

(Why are you laughing??)

I had no idea Kevin was even THINKING about buying me a curio case. I had never mentioned wanting one and until he bought me one, I didn’t even know I WANTED one. But that is one time that will always stick out in my mind because because he truly took me by surprise.