I’m sorry – what?! Wouldn’t that make me and Kevin …….. OLD?!?
Seriously. How does this even happen? I look at him and still see my chubby, restless, blonde cherub.
He was 8 lb, 8 oz big when he was born. I could barely push his overly big head out. I would push and push and push and the little booger would slip back in once I took a breath.
Little stinker.
Once he was born, he didn’t make much noise and we worried about him for a little bit. But once he got the gunk out of his lungs … he CRIED. Boy has a strong set of lungs on him.
He was the kind of kid that when he got tired, NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING would distract him from sleep. He wouldn’t take a pacifier, but he wanted his blankie, he was my Linus baby.
He hated to dress up in costumes, like Halloween. He didn’t (and still doesn’t) like candy and then forcing him to participate in a holiday where you get candy … yeah – we tortured the kid.
We found this board in the back of his closet. In his old bedroom. Where he hasn’t slept in over 10 years.
This was for a school project.
(See the picture of him dressed up as a soldier? I told him to look mean but he was CLEARLY annoyed – haha!)
And that picture of him with his blankie? I still and will forever, see that face whenever I look at him.
Just posting this picture makes my butt cheeks clench.
Dear President Trump, Mr. Trump, Donald … may I call you Donald?
Have you lost your damn mind?!
I know there are some out there that are truly convinced you have. In fact, some are even saying you have Dementia. I snorted and scoffed when I heard that – do you remember how Biden mumbled, shuffled, tripped up the stairs, pooped his pants and had to be led off the stage?
But I digress. (I have decided that “but I digress” is now and from henceforth going to be my blog mantra).
When I first saw this, and then heard from Trump himself that he did indeed post it, I just shook my head. Do I think he think he’s Jesus? Of course not. Do I think the man thinks highly of himself? Absolutely. Should he have posted this? Definitely not. Was this in poor taste? Yes.
Everything about this makes me uncomfortable. Being a Christian myself, I feel like this does border on blasphemy. I don’t know why the man posted it, but I wish he hadn’t. I wish Trump would not say, do, or post a lot of stuff. But he does, because he’s a flawed human and has an overinflated ego.
He also has a sense of humor, if not a little warped.
He also does these type of things on purpose because he enjoys watching his haters’ heads explode.
He’s also a great President with huge cojones and the courage to tackle a lot of tough issues that need to be addressed. Americans have gotten so complacent and spoiled when it comes to overindulging and partaking of overinflated programs, perks and benefits. But nothing lasts forever and we’re running out of money. Someone HAS to be willing to be the bad guy, the tough parent, and make some tough decisions if we ever want this country to heal, be better and get back in the black.
But I digress …
I do not agree with his choice to post this. I think it was in poor taste and even poorer judgement, but he did it and now I think even he regrets it evidenced by the fact that he deleted it shortly after posting it.
We all do stupid things. We all make dumb decisions. We all act a fool and take things a little too far at times. It happens. And it happened with Trump. Hopefully, he won’t do anything this bone headed again anytime soon. (::fingers crossed::)
Heads have exploded. People who routinely demonize Christianity are now clutching their pearls in self-imposed shock at Trump’s audacity. Give me a break. The man is a troll. He enjoys ruffling his haters’ feathers. He is a narcissist with an over-inflated opinion of himself.
He is who he is.
I still only care about what he does with this country. And so far, he’s doing all right. Is he perfect? Pfft, please. Of course not. But he’s done way more for this country than his predecessors.
And frankly? That’s all I care about at this point.
Now stop posting stupid pictures of yourself and get back to work, Donald.
I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m not a big crafter, at least, I didn’t used to be. Okay, I’m still not, but I do enjoy cross-stitching and diamond painting. I didn’t really get back into crafts until my dad died and I wanted to not only comfort my mom through the grief, but keep her company, have something to do with her, etc. So – I got back into it.
Now – every Saturday is mom day. We take turns getting together at each other’s houses every week. We go to lunch, watch a few episodes of Survivor, (we’re currently on season 16), then work on crafts together. Mom works on everything – she knits, crochets, paints, (her style is more whimsical and she will paint on bottles, saws, books – just about anything with a surface), works with plastic canvas, sews, (though not her favorite) … she pretty much does it all. My mom lives for crafts. It’s her lifeline, her solace, her happy place.
Right now, I’m just into cross-stitching and diamond painting though as I’ve mentioned I like felting and would like to get more into that, but for now, those are my go-to crafts. I like to sit down after work and cross-stitch while listening to an audio book. It’s SOOOO relaxing.
I won’t bore the non-crafters out there with too much more craft talk but I thought I would show you what I’ve been working on so far this year.
I apologize for the wrinkles. Obviously, I haven’t ironed them out yet, but you get the gist. I love to create, I hate to finish, lol. I just completed the truck at the top, it says “Welcome Spring” – you can’t see it very well because it’s white. Also, “Penelope”, the creature in the upper top left is on perforated paper. The umbrella and the bouquet of flowers are meant to “stick” to the “doll” when I complete it. I just need to cut them out, finish the edges and stick velcro dots on them. Penelope is one part of four “dolls” that are coming out in the Just Cross Stitch magazine this year. I might have them all done in time for the Christmas craft sale, we’ll see. I just enjoy working with the perforated paper. It’s obviously stiffer than Aida cloth but not as rigid as plastic canvas. It’s paper, so it will tear, but it’s sturdy and fun to work with.
I want to complete more cross-stitch ornaments, bookmarks and other projects before the Fall/Christmas sales this year. I need to ramp up my craft time!
Do you know what Diamond painting is? It’s basically paint-by-number only instead of paint, you stick beads, or “drills”, onto a sticky printed canvas. You can get them for dirt cheap on Temu.
(Or – at least you could back in the days of free shipping – now, with the Tariffs, shipping is more than your order!)
This is me, “painting”, (I use that term loosely because come on, I’m sticking beads on to a canvas, not sure it’s really classified as painting), in our cargo-trailer-converted-into-a-camper wearing my “Lost at Last” shirt that I only wear when we go camping. I’m sitting in front of our bed, which is on top of kitchen cabinets Kevin bought at Habitat for Humanity for dirt cheap.
We saw this idea on one of the hundreds of YouTube videos we watched from people who had also converted a cargo trailer into a camper and thought it was a cool idea – our “garage” is under the bed, on the other side of these cabinets. We use the cabinets to store our clothes and the long drawer you see to the left of me is one big cabinet that we use for our dirty clothes.
(Side note: I ended up selling that diamond painting in my mom’s craft booth).
I made everyone wear matching pajama bottoms on New Year’s Eve. Me, Kevin, the boys, my mom and LeRoy. I’m the one wearing the ones that are too short. Come to find out, later, I had given my mom the Tall ones and myself the regular.
Oops.
I’m surprised the kids went along with it. I had forgotten to hand them out Christmas Eve and the boys just scoffed and pretty much said they wouldn’t have worn them otherwise. But come New Year’s Eve, they wore them. I think they didn’t want to disappoint me.
I ended up driving my mom home because she’s 79, it was pitch black on New Year’s Eve, at nearly 1:00 AM and you never know who is out on the roads at that time.
And now, here we are – already starting the FOURTH month of 2026.
STOP! Too fast, too fast! Slow down!
We will blink and we’ll be back in matching pajama bottoms, playing games, eating food and watching movies on New Year’s Eve.
I know this. It’s no secret. Kevin spoils me rotten.
I rely on him to be my fix-it man, and my yard guy.
Confession: I have never mowed our grass. Any grass, really. Could I do it if I needed to? Sure. Would I struggle and look like an idiot, (how do you turn this thing on?) Yep. Most definitely.
But I haven’t had to because I have a wonderful husband who takes care of it, and who does a really good job taking care of it.
Call me a 50’s housewife – it’s fine. You won’t hurt my feelings.
(Unlike some people – I don’t run around with my feelings on my sleeve).
My mom was the same way. She never had to take care of things outside the home because she had my dad to do it. And he enjoyed it. He loved being outdoors fiddling around with … man stuff.
I don’t pretend to understand man stuff.
But since he passed away, (the 3rd year anniversary of my dad’s death has just come/gone – can’t believe he’s only been gone for three years and yet at the same time, it feels like he’s been gone longer), mom has had to try and figure stuff out. Sure – she has us to help her, and Kevin has done a FANTASTIC job of helping her, but, Kevin also has our house, our rental house, his chickens, his elderly parents … he has a lot on his plate. He’s one man – he can only do so much.
Mom has been learning to do the outside stuff on her own. I’m so PROUD of her for rolling up her sleeves and figuring out how to use the lawn mowers, the weed eater, etc. It hasn’t been easy but she’s stubborn and persistent and she’s been figuring it out.
I worry about her, though. She’s 79 after all. I’m not sure it’s a good idea for her TO do it. I worry about her getting too hot, or getting injured and I have tried, and will continue to try, to talk her into hiring someone to take care of her lawn but like I said, she’s stubborn. She says as long as JT, (the lawn mower – a nickname my dad used – I think it stands for John’s tractor, but I could be wrong), continues to run, she will continue to ride it.
Now that the weather has been wildly too warm for this time of year …
(Side note: Take a GANDER at our temperature ranges these past few weeks! )
The trees are blooming, the flowers are coming out and yes, the dang grass is growing.
So – she’s been out there on JT. And she mentioned that the last time she was on JT she drove over a few holes in her lawn. At one point, it scared her because she thought the mower might tip over with her on it.
And that, of course, scared me.
She mentioned something about needing some dirt so she can fill in those holes. Mom and dad used to have rabbits. And they would dig holes in the yard whenever they ran around the back yard – hence where the holes came from.
I mentioned that Kevin had some dirt and maybe he would have some time to go over to her house and fill the holes in for her.
When I said something to Kevin, he said he would go over there and fill them in, but that was a few weeks ago. Remember the busy part? But, he kept thinking about it and this past Saturday, when mom came over to our house to hang out with me, he took some dirt over to her house and filled in the holes. Mom mentioned that there was one hole that she thought was pretty deep … and she wasn’t wrong.
That’s Kevin standing in the hole that mom “thought” was pretty deep.
She was right. If she, or someone walking around her backyard, had stepped into that hole, that person would very likely snap his/her ankle. Not to mention, it was the perfect size to snag a riding lawn mower tire and topple my 79-year old mother who is too stubborn to hire someone to take care of her lawn for her.
:;gulp::
Crisis averted. Kevin saved the day. The holes have been filled and that’s one less thing I have to worry about.
Thank goodness mom said something and Kevin went over there and fixed it. When things like this happen, I can’t help but wonder if that was God’s way of tapping us on the shoulder to say, “Um, excuse me. I see a potential problem and I don’t want you folks to get hurt. You might think about taking care of that.”
I might make this a series … this is a REAL problem for some people.
It’s called TDS, Trump Derangement syndrome, and if you can’t read further because Trump triggers you, bye, have a nice day.
For the rest of us, let’s break this down …
Have you ever talked to someone who has TDS? Or, have you ever watched someone with TDS?
How can you tell if someone has TDS?
They can’t talk about anything OTHER than Donald Trump. They have wild eyes, their tone of voice is unnaturally shrill, they speak, but do not make sense. They possess zero ability to think outside the idea that Orange Man Bad, that Donald Trump is the Devil, Hitler, a Fascist, a Misogynist, a Homophobe, a Nazi … really, insert any name out there and that’s Trump in their minds.
And the thoughts that spew out of their heads is NOTHING but hatred for Trump. There is no diverting their attention to another topic, or, if you’re successful in diverting someone to another topic, that person somehow, inexplicably and irrationally somehow brings it back to Trump.
It’s Trump’s fault.
Trump is evil.
Trump is the reason everything in my life sucks.
It’s really bizarre and yet fascinating to watch.
I have never really spoke to anyone with TDS, though I suspect I have some relatives that might have fallen into this self-imposed “illness”. These relatives have made comments about possibly not wanting to see the rest of the family because their political beliefs are different than ours, ours being the “wrong” belief, and they don’t want any part of that.
How sad is that? So we disagree … okay … but also – so what?
We’re still family. Nothing will change that.
But that’s a topic for another day, I suppose.
I don’t bring TDS up to be flippant – people have a right to dislike, hate, loathe Trump, and I’m certainly not making fun of people who suffer from TDS, though sometimes the disconnect from reality is pretty funny, but rather – the concept of blaming all of one’s problems, heck, everything that is wrong with this WORLD on one man … is sort of fascinating to me.
So, in an honest attempt to understand this mental mystery, let’s start at the beginning. What IS Trump Derangement Syndrome? Well, according to Wikipedia:
Trump derangement syndrome, (TDS,) is a pejorative term used to describe irrational and extreme negative reactions to President Donald Trump, often characterized by an inability to distinguish between legitimate criticism and personal hostility. It is primarily used by Trump supporters to discredit his critics and suggest that their views are distorted by their dislike of him
That last sentence made me giggle. I suppose that could be true – a Trump supporter, not appreciating someone trash-talking a person they admire, trust and have put their hope into making this country a better place, could use TDS as an excuse to discredit criticism, but I would argue that this belief, attitude, obsession, goes WAY beyond simply disagreement, I truly think some people have lost all sense of reality and use Trump as a scapegoat for every disappointment in their life.
Full disclosure – I like Trump. I voted for him and I appreciate the fact that he has the balls to make the tough decisions and help get this country back on track. However – I’m not blind to his faults, his narcissism, his unique way of speaking and the fact that he LOVES to troll the people who hate him.
New flash: you’re being trolled, people. Trump intentionally says outlandish things because it amuses him to see the media, and his haters’ heads, explode. And the people who have TDS? Fall for it, every. Single. Time.
I don’t really care much for the man, though he’s intelligent, charismatic, and talented when it comes to making deals, he’s just a man who loves his country and wants to restore American values. Personally, I just want him to fix what Biden screwed up. I want a better economy, I want to restore morals and ethics and get back to being decent human beings. (Stop encouraging mentally disturbed men to become women, stop lobbing off body parts and brain-washing children into believing they will be happier if they became someone else). I want normalcy … and our country hasn’t been normal for quite some time.
Perhaps it never will be again.
I’m not here to make fun of people who suffer from TDS, (I actually feel sorry for them, truth be known), I’m more interested in knowing WHY someone falls into this disturbed black hole of rage to begin with.
I’m not a psychologist, or a psychiatrist or particularly smart or clever, but what I AM is a realist. I don’t go through life wearing rose-colored glasses – I see the world around me for what it is. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes grim, sometimes disturbing but ALWAYS real. Some people, for whatever reason, and I’m sure everyone has their own reasons, choose to ignore reality and base their decisions, beliefs, existence on how they feel.
I’ve never understood this way of life. Sure – we’re all human, we all have feelings, we all have days/times when we made stupid decisions based on feelings in the past, but ultimately, one MUST come back down to Earth and face reality – the truth-truth – not someone else’s version of the truth.
The facts.
And facts are not always pleasant and some people have a real problem with facts, especially when those facts do not perfectly align with how we were brought up, swayed to believe, or FEEL like it should be.
So what does one do? Find a scapegoat.
And that is where Trump comes into play.
I think some people who have grown up or become indoctrinated into believing the world should be a certain way, but it’s not, because you know, that pesky reality thing, have no choice but to blame another person, entity, occasion for the reason the stars are not aligning and their warped view of the world is not being justified by reality. Instead of stepping back, looking at the big picture and entertaining the possibility they might be WRONG, they stubbornly keep their eye glued to the eyeglass and refuse to look away from their preconceived notions.
Objectivity? Never heard of her.
Critical thinking? What – are you speaking a foreign language?! What in the world does THAT mean?
Exactly. No one even knows what those terms are anymore, let alone apply them.
And that’s sad. And alarming. And sometimes, downright scary.
So. I wonder how many people with TDS are actually using Trump as an excuse to not face reality. Because their reactions to him, and their inability to have a rational conversation without injecting Trump into the conversation, even if it CLEARLY has nothing to do with him, is … strange.
Now – are there people out there that truly believe Trump is trying to cause harm to our country? Are there people out there that truly think they’re on the right side of an issue and are only trying to save our country from … insert whatever reason people think..? Of course. Everyone has a right to his/her opinion – however – when one is unwilling, or incapable, of listening to an opposing view, or incapable of contemplating that perhaps what they believe is wrong – Houston, we have a problem.
And by incapable, I mean people who fall to their knees and scream at the sky because they lack the emotional maturity to process disappointment, or anyone who doesn’t align with their beliefs or thought processes. People who are not willing, or incapable, of having a rational conversation without losing their damn minds …
I’m sorry, folks, but that’s called mental illness.
Am I always right? Of course not. And I freely, and willingly admit that. I like to think of myself as possessing a healthy dose of skepticism. I have two life mottos:
Question Authority
Prove it
I do not, nor will I ever, blindly accept what someone else states as “fact” if all they have to bring to the table is “feelings.”
Girl, please.
Go drink some green tea, take a nap, and come back when you have calmed down.
TDS? Is real. In my opinion, it’s a coping mechanism to avoid facing facts. Just because you WANT something to be a certain way doesn’t mean A. it will be that way and B. IS NOT REALISTIC.
All I’m saying is: Stop. Take a breath. And consider the possibility that perhaps, just perhaps, there are better alternatives to a problem. And then, stop, take a breath, dust off the part of the brain that produces logical thought and listen. You might be right after all, or, you may very well be WAAAAY off the mark.
THAT my friends, is called being an adult.
Now – let’s lighten the mood and watch a little Baby Trump. (I’ve been hooked on this channel for a bit). Just because I like what the man is doing for our country doesn’t mean I can’t recognize his faults – we all have them – I just choose not to take HIM as seriously as some that have TDS.
Write From Karen 