Remain Passionate and Change the World

    I'm a mutt. I'm the descendants of Germans and Prussians and the unknown. I have Southern blood running through my veins and the sweat of hard working farmers dripping from my brow.
    I am the daughter of artists and dreamers and adventurers.
  
   People braver than me.

   People that comprehend the comings and goings of this world far better than I do.

   I was raised poor. Renting poor. Working hard poor. But what my parents couldn't give me in money they gave in other things.
    Ideas, memories, dreams. Treasures of the heart.

    At times I was a pretty serious child. When I was in third grade I was in the newspaper for trying to teach people about the dangers dolphins faced from tuna nets.

   I was eight or nine. In between making posters about Boycotting Tuna and recycling and reading articles about elephant poachers in Africa...I would have sleep overs, and play Barbie and ride my bicycle.

  By middle school I was reading books upon books about how to save the world. I was still making posters and hanging them up in the school library. The local library.

   Protesting. Protesting. Protesting.

   Always demanding that systems could be ran better. That ideas could be bolder. That people could try harder.

   I was an idealistic teenager.

   Who turned into an idealistic adult and realized that this world is not made for the dreamer.
 
   The believer. The idealistic.

   Only the strong survive in this world. Or the greedy or the selfish. The takers. The dream breakers.

   BUT ALSO those strong in FAITH.

   In this last year I have learned many things.

   Friendship is a strong support system. That we were never meant to live without true friends or a sense of community. Of belonging.

   Change, real honest change,

                is possible with small- not ideas because those are easy- but  actions.


                 Big ideas can happen by faithfully putting small actions into place.

One has to remain passionate about dreams, ideas, and faith otherwise you go into this dark zone of drift where you allow despair and sadness to rule your life.

Faith and prayer are extremely important because we are spiritual beings.


LOVE holds this messy, chaotic life all together.

So this year I'm not making New Years Resolutions. Instead I'm going to focus on:

                   Big ideas can happen by faithfully putting small actions into place.

and 

 Remain Passionate and Change the World

   

Happy New Year. I pray for all my readers near and far and wish you a healthy, safe, and hope-FILLED 2014.

  

Gibson Ate Santa

      If you don't receive any presents from Santa this year- it's probably Gibson's fault. The photo evidence is clear- Santa's hat in the mouth of  a puppy that chews everything.

       I'm pretty sure I saw a jolly happy fellow running for his life as Gibson chased down the reindeer.
    
        Yep, I doubt Santa will be delivering in my neighborhood ever again. Sorry children. It was the puppy.
    
        Gibson probably just wanted to be friends with the reindeer and he probably only wanted Santa to pet him and let him sit on his lap because no matter how big this dog grows, he literally thinks he's a lap dog and will smother you with affection. Or he's trying to prevent you from getting up, I'm not sure which yet.
     But I know for sure what Gibson wanted from Santa's sleigh....the toys. He loves toys. He chews them and tears them apart and sometimes when he eats too many of them he pukes them back up too.
   
     Today he has chewed and ate three jumbo crayons, the handle to my hairbrush, mini candy canes, and two gardening gloves- unfortunately not two gloves of the same pair, but two gloves from two different pairs, making both of them unusable.

   I saw this photo posted to Facebook and had to share it. My problem with dealing with Gibson is because I'm not thinking like a puppy. Like duh!
   

    So see, he wasn't trying to be mean to Santa. He was protecting us. Just like he barks at the squirrels that run around in the pine tree right above his leash and torment him. But if he stopped barking those murderous squirrels would surely descend from the trees, invade our house and eat us all alive. Gibson knows this.
    So he keeps barking...everyday...all the time...because he's saving us. 

    Wow, I should appreciate him more.

     Same reason he barks at the neighbors...they're obviously murderous. And the postman...and all of the girls' friends...

     But I have to say the puppy and Baby Blueberry work well together. The other night, I turn around and she's dipping a calculator in the Christmas tree water.
    Dip. Dunk. Dip. Shake it out. Dunk it some more...all of it.
    I sighed and shook my head. Who needs a calculator? 
    We left for a couple of hours and when we returned there was electronic parts scattered around the room.
   A circuit board. Rubber numbers. Wires.
   The front of the destroyed calculator.
   I had to laugh at that one. At least he had chewed apart something that had already been completely destroyed by the Baby just a few hours before.
   They're such a great team.

   So we finally got our tree decorated. It's only decorated from the top up. It's naked from the top down. We knew between the human baby and the canine baby we would lose ornaments by the dozen if we put them too close to small fingers and sharp teeth.

     I also set up the Nativity way up high and the rest of the house is sadly lacking any Christmas decorations. Why risk it, all that shiny stuff surely looks delicious! ---for Baby Blueberry and Gibson.

    We bought Gibson a huge ham bone and training treats for Christmas, but we had thought about getting him a new home.
       Gibson doesn't know it yet but he has New Years Resolutions. Like no chewing, no biting, no jumping, better listening, no chasing Santa, and oh, just behaving in general.
       
       Perhaps Santa will drop off a dog trainer!
   

Zombies Ate my New Year's Resolutions

   Well, I was going to share my resolutions for this year, which happens to be the year of Doomsday but those damn zombies ate them.
   
     I'll try to remember them. Let's see.... It's 2012. Should I even bother with resolutions? After all, the Mayans have said we're all going to die. Doesn't seem to be much point in making a list that I'll fail to keep after three weeks anyway?
    Did I say three weeks? Mmmm, that's hopeful. I think my track record for resolutions made in the gloomiest month of year happens to be as accurate as Harold Camping's predictions of the end of the world. You know he's just trying to steal the Mayan's thunder. :)

    But boy, it's 2012 and the Internet is buzzing with more ways to die in the end of the world than any Hollywood script writer could imagine. Perhaps they should borrow some ideas from some of these sites, because no offense to John Cusack; but I'm not depending on him to save me during the end of the world.
   First of all...his only claim to fame is just simply being in the right place at the right time. He knows to flee, in a borrowed limo (give me an awesome pick up truck from the zombie movies), then the step-dad happens to be a pilot and his employer happens to have tickets and so on and so forth. Everyone around him dies horribly but he's just that lucky.
    Like I'm that lucky? Nope, I'll be sucked down into the bowels of the Earth.
    And then my second point; if you're the step-Dad you're going to die. Because John has to get back together with the ex-wife in this strange new world where only the ultra rich have survived.
    That's seems about right.

   I had a discussion about this. If you had to choose between John Cusack or Bruce Willis to save you from the end of the world, who would you pick? I think I'm going to post that on my Facebook page and see who wins.
   My vote: Bruce Willis featuring Aerosmith -because you need a good rock song to accompany the end of the world.

Heck, I would pick Frodo over John Cusack. :)

    Boy, all this talk of 2012 is starting to scare me. Ohh, I'm scared now.
   No, not really. Because if I made it through Y2K than I think I can make it through the end of the Mayan's calendar. Did anyone wonder if they didn't just run out of stone to carve on?
    Or better yet...
    "Hey, boss. Do you know what would be funny?" The bored, underfed stone carver asks.
    "Joe, get back to work, no one's asking you to be funny." The supervisor snarls.
    So Joe, not being especially bright, plots revenge. He's going to carve the end of the world into the calendar. Ha, that will show the boss. Wait until he gets scared and trembling because the end of the world is going to happen.
    Funny joke Joe. But now at least people are showing interest in other cultures, like the Mayans.

    In the meantime, I should at least make a New Year resolution to prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse. Never thought P90X would come in handy to get in shape so I can run away from the zombies. Thank you Tony Horton, do you know how many people you're helping reach their 'Escape the Zombies' resolutions. 
    I need to purchase a pair of Velcro tennis shoes. Forget the laces, do I want to be tipping on untied shoelaces while the hoard of brain eating zombies are chasing me? Not a chance.
    Throw a bag together of some shotguns and chainsaws and I should be ready.  There, now that's a New Year Resolution I can keep...preparing for the zombies.
    And I'll start practicing on my weekly shopping trips to Wal-Mart...Where I happened to see a zombie the other day, seriously. She was dressed in old, dirty sweatpants and a big, grimy t-shirt. Her greasy, thin hair was matted down on the back of her skull and she walked in that laborious fashion of the zombie while nonsense words grunted from her lips. She wasn't mentally handicapped, otherwise I wouldn't be joking about it, she was just that uninterested in being human. Her cart was loaded with the worse processed food you can find and I have to start wondering if junk food isn't just food made specially for zombies.
    Wal-Mart; the birthplace of the zombie apocalypse...I'm sure of it.

    But joking aside, I hope if anyone purchased a yearly calendar that they asked for a discount since the end of the world is on December 21st. I wouldn't want to pay for an extra week. That also means I should plan on celebrating Christmas early. I would hate to get the tree up, the stockings hung and all the presents wrapped and not have time to enjoy a few pieces of pie before either we're hit by a huge asteroid, or the Earth does a shift on its axis thingy, or Wal-Mart is out of brains.

    Hey, I know what my New Year Resolution should be...getting Bruce Willis' number on speed dial. Just in case it's death by asteroid.

    That's sounds like a new board game. 'Clue- the 2012 edition'

     Is it death by asteroid, zombie apocalypse, mutant virus, or city falling into the Earth?
   
    Or even worse, death by overdose on Facebook?

      As long as the zombies don't come after me I'm wishing everyone a Happy New Year!!!