Does it alarm anyone else that we are constantly being berated and punished because we dare to express our opinions? And if those opinions do not fall in line with the overall progressive agenda we have today then people lose their ever-loving minds?
I’ll be honest. I want to be more open and honest with my opinions both here on this blog and in our podcast but I’m hesitant. Are people going to find our house and set fire to it? Are people going to find my husband’s business and ruin it? Will our lives be disrupted like this woman’s life in the video above?
What’s the end game here? So they can punish me for thinking differently than they do?
Get a grip.
Kevin is pretty nervous about this podcast. I want to delve into politics and religion if nothing else than to let people know where I stand on those issues. (Though it’s pretty obvious if you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time). I would also like to challenge people to think for themselves. People may be too scared to openly admit their thoughts but at least they are THINKING for themselves.
That’s a big reason I think the polls that come out about presidential candidates and controversial issues are so far off the mark. Because people tell these pollsters what they want to hear but when it comes to the anonymity of voting, they vote what they really feel because they don’t have to fear anyone destroying their lives because they dare to think outside the mob mentality.
It’s a scary new world we live in when feel we have to be fearful of voicing our opinions.
And you know the kicker? These radical babies who are triggered by independent thought and throw tantrums because we don’t play by their rules are still the minority. (Let’s pray they stay in the minority).
So I think the bigger question is – WHY ARE ALLOWING THESE RADICAL CRY BABIES SO MUCH POWER?
I think it’s time for the mature, level-headed, logical thinking GROWN UPS to put their foots down and nip this madness in the bud.
And it all starts with standing up and speaking our minds.
When it comes to vacations, cruising, in our opinion, gives you the best bang for your buck. We explain how we got started cruising and why we love cruising so much.
Please be patient, this is our first podcast and we have a lot to learn.
We chose this topic because it’s always front and center of our conversations, at least lately. We love going on cruises, we love experiencing cruises and we thought we might be able to share our experiences and how we got started for anyone interested in hearing about it and/or anyone who is thinking of taking a cruise.
I apologize in advance. I’m a fast talker anyway and I talk fast in this episode. I will work on slowing down. Talking doesn’t come naturally to Kevin, he says he can never really think of anything to talk about so please be patient with us as we navigate this new form of media. We’re both very excited to dip our toes in podcast and we hope you find it interesting as well. We would like to leave a bit of an auditory diary behind for our children and thought this would be a fun way to do that.
It saddens me that people think they know Jesus and what he stood for. Maybe think is too strong of a word, that people ASSUME they know about Jesus and what he stood for. People with these false misconceptions have never read the Bible, don’t believe the Bible and ridicule people who try and live their lives by the Bible. People who think they know Jesus and all that he stood for only “know” him through what has been spoon fed them.
Let’s take a moment to learn a little bit more about the son of God, shall we?
Again, educate yourself. Step away from the mindless media, you’ll be smarter and happier.
Kevin and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary in May.
We didn’t do anything spectacular, we went out to dinner at Outback.
We’ve actually been together for longer than 10,585 days – we were together two years before getting married.
We were one of those couples that traditionalist turned their noses up at – we lived together for two years before getting married.
I don’t know, it just felt right at the time. You don’t truly know someone until you live with them. You can only be on your best behavior for so long when you live with someone and until the facade wears thing.
I figured, if Kevin could put with me at my worst, then we should be okay.
(Side note: I will encourage our boys to live with their future spouses, too. But put a timer on it – if something is not happening, or it’s not working out after a year, go your separate ways. No sense in wasting years with someone who doesn’t want to commit, you know?)
I will be the first to admit, I have not been the easiest person to be married to. I had sort of a mid-thirties crisis where I was just a bitch to be around. No sense in sugar coating it, it’s the truth. I don’t know, I was trying to find myself, I guess. I was a wife, a mother … I lost Karen in there somewhere. It didn’t help that Kevin tried to make me into something he wanted, or thought he wanted. He thought I should have been more like his mom, which I suppose is pretty typical for men. I wonder if our boys will try and find someone like me.
Gah, I hope not.
My brother told me once that his wife reminded him a lot of me. I guess I’m just that awesome. ha!
At any rate, I don’t know why Kevin stuck around, but I’m so glad he did. Our relationship was really tested about seven years into our marriage. A seven-year itch, I suppose. We almost split up and probably should have seen a marriage counselor but I’m going to be honest here, (actually, when am I not), the thought of spilling our guts to a third party who may, or may not, have our best interests at heart did not appeal to me AT ALL. I figured, we were two intelligent adults, surely we could work this out. It was hard, and there was a lot of very truthful, uncomfortable, conversations, but we muddled through and we’re stronger for it now.
Marriage is tough. You have to be willing to take a good, long, hard look at yourself and be willing to admit when you’re wrong and when you can do better.
And then do better.
Believe it or not, reading Dr. Laura’s “The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands” really, REALLY helped me. It taught me to think outside myself. I’m a sympathetic/empathetic person, but since we’re keeping it real here, I’m a selfish person, too. I don’t like sharing my time. When I want to do something, I expect you to want to do the same thing RIGHT THEN. And I have a problem giving in and doing something when someone wants to do something that I don’t.
I still struggle with that. For example: Kevin knows to not rush me. He just goes off and does something else and patiently waits for me to be ready to go wherever we’re going. But when I’m ready to go, I’m READY TO GO and get quite impatient with Kevin when he doesn’t drop what he’s doing to be ready when I’m ready.
I realize this is a selfish attitude and I’m working on it. I didn’t even realize what I was doing until Kevin pointed it out to me. (You have to learn to take criticism – YOU MUST LEARN).
This book taught me to respect Kevin, our relationship and myself by making sacrifices. This is an especially hard concept nowadays because we live in a “me” and “instant gratification” society, but if you want a relationship to work, you have to be willing to compromise and sacrifice. Period.
Another thing that helped me see our relationship in a new light was the different love languages. This book taught me about how people perceive love, or more specifically, how Kevin and I perceived love. Love is about so much more than just saying the words I love you. The five love languages are:
Quality time
Words of Affirmation
Acts of Service
Receiving gifts
Physical touch
For me, I feel most loved with acts of service. I truly know Kevin loves me because he is always so willing to drop what he’s doing and help me with something. My computer poops out, he comes over to fix it. Something goes wrong with the house, that is his number one project. He makes sure our lawn is mowed. That we are financially comfortable. He makes life easier for me. Because if life is easier, then I’m happier, and as a result, he’s happier.
I feel like Kevin’s love language is quality time. He likes doing things together – taking pictures, going for walks/bike rides, going on vacations together. But remember my problem with being selfish with my time? Yeah, that is something I’ve had to, and continue to, work on. Physical touch is another one of his love languages though I feel like that is a given for men. ha! But honestly, that is another area of marriage that takes a lot of work, compromise and understanding. TRUST ME.
Another thing that I did that helped me with our marriage was the Love Dare.
This “dare” fascinated me so much that I actually participated in the love dare and documented the whole process. I, yet again, faced a lot of ugly truths about myself doing this challenge, but I learned so much about myself, and our relationship, in the process that it was, well the humble medicine I was forced to swallow.
Is our marriage perfect? Of course not. No marriage is perfect because the participants aren’t perfect. But making an effort to learn more about how to make a relationship work did nothing but help us in the long run.
We are planning a cruise to the Mediterranean for our 30th wedding anniversary next year. Thirty years sounds like a big number and though it does feel like we’re always been married, it definitely doesn’t feel like it’s been nearly 30 years. In a lot of ways, I feel like our marriage is just getting started.
When I was a stay-at-home mom / working from home mom, I would listen to the conservative talk radio shows every day. I also used to look/read Drudge every day.
Though I felt informed, I was miserable. Because the news is depressing, ya’ll. I guess it has to be. Who wants to read about cute puppy antics, rainbows and unicorns? That’s not exciting. It’s not something that gets people worked up, it’s not a money maker. I get it, but damn.
When I started my job at the hospital, I neither had the time, nor the inclination, to keep track of the news. Putting some distance between me and the ugly that exists outside my four walls was actually healthy for me. I believe one should be informed but know when to step back and take a breath.
Moderation is key.
It is important to keep on top of what is happening in our world. Too many uninformed / uninterested people already exist and as a result, we have ended up with a society like we have now. However, I have found that if you read the news maybe three times a week, you’re as informed as you’re going to be. Because if you notice, the news recycles itself every day. You can listen to one radio show host and he will talk about the same topics for DAYS, ad nauseam. Dude. I got it the first time you talked about it. Let’s stick to the facts and give me a minute to make up my own damn mind, mmkay?
We don’t watch TV. Not in the traditional sense. We’ve had cable, satellite, Netflix but got rid of them when prices started going up. I’m all for entertainment but not when it costs me a 1/4 of my paycheck.
I will admit, getting rid of NetFlix was hard: I haven’t watched a movie in … six months? I’m completely out of the movie loop. But the primary reason we did it was because it’s just a time suck. Too many movies and too little time. And honestly? I often ended up feeling disappointed when I finished a movie anyway so why would I spend my time and money on something that I don’t ultimately enjoy?
Now I read books and watch WAY too much YouTube videos. I’m currently hooked this, this and this channel. (Notice a patter here? Also, this girl is WICKED creative).
I may have to ban myself from YouTube. I’ve already banned myself from Facebook. (Yep, I deactivated my account. Another time suck. Haven’t missed it – at all).
I’ve trimmed the time suck fat from my day in an attempt to write on this blog more, build our podcast, write short stories and maybe even a novel to two. I’m slowly retraining my brain to focus on more brain-friendly activities.
With all of that being said, I do try and dip a toe into real-world events now and again which leads me to the point of this blog post.
News. Here are a few of the headlines that caught my attention today.
Um. wow. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. To promote an event that solely exists to provide an atmosphere where depraved people can go and have orgies with whomever and whatever they want is a page ripped straight from Sodom and Gomorrah. Not to sound too Christian-y, but God have mercy on their souls. Nothing like wallowing in sin to be trendy and disgusting. But hey, it’s not called free will for nothing. Good luck explaining that behavior at the judgement.
Some police officers in Tempe, Ariz., say they were asked to leave a Starbucks coffee shop on the Fourth of July because a customer complained they “did not feel safe” with the cops present, according to reports.
Five officers were drinking coffee at the Starbucks location prior to their shift beginning when a barista asked them to move out of the complaining customer’s line of sight or else leave, the Tempe Officers Association wrote in a series of Twitter messages.
You know Starbucks, for a company that prides itself on “inclusion” you’re doing a rather smashing job of excluding a large demographic here. I, for one, love your coffees but won’t buy coffee because your prices are way, WAY too high for a cup of coffee. In addition, I’m really not inclined to buy anything from you because you continue to support and condone behavior that is directly counter intuitive to what is decent and right.
Why are people so hell bent on making the police the bad guys and yet the bad guys are given free reign to act like asses and/or break the law? Why is the media trying so hard to defend people, or groups, that continually work to break laws that are in place to PROTECT society at large? It seems so ass backwards to me. So, let’s continue to demonize the very people who swear to protect us. Yeah, that makes complete sense.
Let me ask you this – if the police go away. Then what? What happens if something bad happens and you need help? Who are you going to call then? If we didn’t have laws and society rules, our world would turn into Mad Max. Have you seen that movie? People are animals. Because it’s human nature to try and get something for nothing and some people do not possess the self-control gene.
Do you really want to live in a society without a police force? Well, keep demonizing them, it might happen.
Here’s proof that people have lost their every-loving minds. (I think this one might end up a short story).
In case you’re too stupid to realize this, grocery stores are where you go to replenish your stock, to BUY things you need for your home. It is NOT a place specifically designed for you to go and eat for free. The wares you see placed neatly around the store? Was not placed specifically for you. I know, I know, this may come as a shock to you but take a breath and consider, for just a moment, that a company that builds a store and then offers things for people to buy did not specifically offer this service so that you could go, at your leisure, and start eating whatever you feel like eating, you dumb ass. Get over yourself.
Wow. I have a girl crush on Candace Owens. This girl is ‘DA BOMB!
This conversation perfectly, PERFECTLY, defines what is wrong with our country.
It’s long, but well worth the watch. I dare you to take time out of your day to watch this.
Also, I spent 38 minutes watching this video:
FASCINATING conversation. And there is so much wisdom from the black conservatives in this round table. To be fair, I see what the liberal guy was saying but it comes around to being the victim, not the victor. And if you watch the faces of the liberal guests you can SEE the confusion. They truly don’t know how to respond when faced with thoughtful, intelligent counterpoints.
I think this is indicative of America today. No one wants to think for themselves. It’s all about regurgitating talking points. I don’t think they even knew what they were saying, or arguing, half the time.
It’s time to stop being sheeple and start thinking for yourselves, people. Stop allowing the media to spoon feed you crap. Stop. Think. Digest.
I’m feeling hopeful after watching these videos. That’s how it starts, with thoughtful, intelligent conversation.
Actually, we’ve gone beyond thinking about it, we’re doing it.
Actually, we started throwing the idea around when we were driving back home from New Orleans after our cruise in May. We have a ton of ideas to talk about and well, once I get started, I never shut up so it should be a piece of cake for me. Kevin is not sure how much he will talk but I’ll see if I can’t coax him out of his shell.
We’ve been told, over the years, whenever someone overhears us talking about something that we sound cute together and we’re funny how we debate things. Granted, we are both like minded and agree on a lot of issues but we are going to challenge ourselves to think about, and argue for/against, the other sides of issues simply because we want to be fair to all listeners who may disagree with our views and to try and not come off as arrogant know-it-alls.
Another reason I would like to try this is I would like to leave an auditory diary, of sorts, for our kids/grandkids. (We don’t have grandkids – I’m wishful thinking here). In addition to reading about our lives through this blog, I thought it would be fun for our kids to HEAR our thoughts, too.
Luckily, Kevin already has most of the equipment we need to begin. He’s a musician on the side (plays electric guitar) and he used to be in a few bands and has accumulated equipment over the years, not to mention, whenever he finds a good deal out and about on his thrift shopping expeditions, he will often times come back with a microphone, or some other piece of equipment I have no idea the function for and voila! We have what we need.
We have been using Audacity to record the podcast. Kevin has also created some original music so we already have a catchy riff to play at the beginning of our podcast like the true professionals we aren’t are.
I’ve done quite a bit of reading about how to start a podcast and here is what I’ve found.
Choose a topic you can commit to.
Define your show description and artwork.
Set up and thoroughly test your equipment.
Create a plan for your episodes.
Record your episodes.
Edit and publish your episodes.
Launch your podcast to your audience.
Let’s break this down:
Choose a topic you can commit to.
When I first broached this subject with Kevin, that was his first question: “What are we going to talk about?”
“Are you kidding me?” I responded. “Let me list out some things we can talk about, take notes.”
Cruising tips
Accounting
Healthcare
Religion
Politics
Making money thrift shopping
Repair tips
Parenting
Family parties
Recipes
BBQ tips
Landscaping
Relationships
Booking vacations online
Passwords
Photography
Interviews with BB and Roy
How to be frugal with money
Building points with credit cards
Finances
Road rage
Conspiracies
History
We have been married for nearly 30 years and we have a lot of life experience in the subjects above. Are we experts? Of course not. But that’s the beauty of us doing a podcast, we’re just a regular joe/jane who have tried and failed at different things in life and we feel like we can offer tips and suggestions on how to navigate this life a little easier, hopefully. Maybe.
I will warn you now, we are both opinionated and are not interested in walking on eggshells to avoid offending anyone. We say what we mean and we mean what we say. However, we’re not jerks, either. That’s why I mentioned we will try very hard to look at all sides of an issue because let’s face it, life is not black and white but 50 shades of gray … without the S&M. ha!
What will work in one situation will not necessarily work in another situation.
Not to mention, I think it’s important that we ALL get in the habit of looking at situations from all angles. Common sense is a lost art, everyone runs on feelings now, logic has all but disappeared. No one looks at the big picture anymore. (For example: Free healthcare for all! Sounds great, right?? Reality check: who is going to pay for it??)
So, I think we have a pretty good start on gathering topics to talk about. I realize that some of these topics are hot and get people fired up and I can’t promise we won’t be fired up about some of these things, but I believe it’s crucial that we all train ourselves to entertain opposing viewpoints (without calling each other racist, homophobic, bigots, etc because we dare to disagree) because who wants to live in a world where everything is run by a select group of people who happen to shout the loudest?
You know who you are.
2. Define your show description and artwork.
I haven’t quite gotten the show description down now but basically it goes like this:
“Join two ordinary people as they explore various hot-button topics and challenge themselves, and their audience, into breaking down common misconceptions and dare to offer alternate views in order to promote critical thinking and restore common sense.”
It’s rough, but you get the gist of it.
I came up with a logo of sorts. It’s not very good and it’s elementary at best but it will get us started at least.
The podcast is called “Right From Us” which of course is a play on the name of this blog “Write from Karen.” And we happen to lean to the right though I daresay I’m more Libertarian than conservative right now because I feel like most conservatives right now are a bunch of pussies. See? We haven’t even recorded our first episode and I’m already pushing buttons.
After looking around, I think I’d like to try Anchor to host our podcasts. Our goal is to upload several episodes before properly promoting it so check back often, you might just stumble onto an episode.
Be gentle with us. We really don’t know what we’re doing but we’re going to have fun figuring it out.
3. Set up and thoroughly test your equipment.
Kevin set up the equipment and we have tested it out. We are setting up shop in Kevin’s office at our house, not the rental house, so we can just sit down and start talking without a lot of prep work. We haven’t quite worked out when we are going to record. I would like to stick to one day/time to record so that it’s just another task we have to complete. I want to make it a habit so we don’t have to even think about, just get it done. Maybe Saturday/Sunday nights? We haven’t ironed it out yet.
4. Create a plan for your episodes.
This part is me. I’ll write out some sort of outline, points we want to make/talk about so we aren’t doing a lot of “ums” and dead air and we scramble to think of something to say. I mean, we’ll do that anyway, I’m sure, but that’s what editing is for.
5. Record your episodes.
Self-explanatory. Average podcast length is 43 minutes. Knowing Kevin, and especially at first, we’ll be lucky to get 20 minutes. Though I don’t know, once I warm up to a topic, I can be long winded. *ahem* Or maybe we can break it down into part one and part two. Some of the topics might require multiple parts. (Foreshadowing)
6. Edit and publish your episodes.
I’m counting on Kevin to do this part. He has the most experience with Cakewalk and he will be the one who will want to cut some stuff. This is going to be an interesting experience because he tries to tell me I shouldn’t put some of the stuff I put on my blog that I do so Lord knows how he’s going to feel about some of the stuff I say on the podcast. I can see most of what we say end up on the cutting room floor. I’ll have to monitor, erhm, I mean, we’ll have to compromise.
We are shooting for one episode per week. I can’t imagine I can get Kevin to do more than one episode per week. But who knows? He may really get into this and want to do a bi-weekly schedule. We’ll see.
7. Launch your podcast to your audience.
I’ll announce new episodes on this blog and on Twitter. I really don’t do any other form of social media. I deactivated my Facebook account – it’s just too much of a time suck and life is too short, you know?
Anyway, we’ll try this out and see how it fits. If it takes off, we can look at monetizing it. Wouldn’t that be something?
Write From Karen 