How To Stay Young

I've been having writer's block lately but came across this from Kyla and thought I'd share it here with you all too. Good advice for us all. Stay young!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop' And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

Congratulations Lesley & Jason

This is my oldest niece and newly married today, Lesley Braithwaite Cox. She and Jason just got married today down in St. George and I just want to shout out to her congratulations since I couldn't be there for all the wedding fun with the family.

I'm so happy for you Les that you've found someone you want to be with for the rest of your life. I wish you a lifetime of joy and happiness with your new husband.

Jason, welcome to the Campbell/Braithwaite family.

Lesley, I still remember the day you were born because I was about to graduate from high school. I was so happy to have a niece and you were always such a sweet little girl. I loved to babysit you and bounce you on my knee. You've seen lots of diversity in your family and I know you've been a huge support to your mom.

I hope you enjoy your wedding day and that you'll always be happy and fulfilled in your life together. Love you, Senga and Joni

John Edwards-LATEST SCUMBAG on the planet!

It's not very often I blog twice in one day but I was watching "Entertainment Tonight" about John Edwards and I am so fuming mad at the level of deception of this man who talked of his values with his family and for the country. Have any of you followed this latest sex-scandal-by-a-politician story about John Edwards? I could never really figure out why I didn't connect with his message when others did around me. He always seemed well versed with his quick well thought responses and some of his views seemed to coincide with mine but there was always that "something" that I just saw that was too smooth/car salesman-like to be real. Now I know what I was seeing. So excuse me for a minute while I drag him through the sludge, that he rightfully deserves.

So, after a month or so speculation, he's now finally confessed to an adulterous affair with a woman from his campaign staff back in 2006, and there's talk that her child that was born could be his child. Give me a freaking break, John Edwards! Did you really do this to yourself, your wife, your family and supporters???

What kind of a man runs for the office of the president, with his wife of nearly 30 years battling breast cancer all the while, and then gets mixed up in a sex scandal like this? I'll tell you what kind- the filthiest scumbags cheaters on the planet kind who can't keep it in their pants. He along with Elliot Spitzer, Bill Clinton, and James McGreevey, are the lowest slimes on earth to do this to their wives and themselves, most of all. And they all deny it in the beginning hoping that the speculation will go away but the truth always comes out thanks to the aggressive persistent media and the paparazzi.

While watching "Entertainment Tonight", they showed parts of his ABC interview admitting to the affair with Dr. Lillian Glass, expert in body language, watching on. These are her comments:

1. She says that there is too much eye blinking and shaking the head, No, when he's saying things in the affirmative=Lying.
2. She says we still see a lot of deception with the raising of the eyebrows, when he touches his nose, and when he does shoulder shrugs=Lying.
3. When Edwards is asked about how long the relationship lasted, he stutters saying "it's been over-over for a long time"=Lying.
4. To Edwards one credit when he expresses his admiration for his wife she suggests his body language shows that it is genuine.
5. When asked about the question of paternity to the child, he says twice, "untrue, untrue" "Repeating things is a form of deception," she says. Then he blamed the influence of supermarket tabloids as the reason why the interviewer is asking the question=Lying.
6. Dr. Glass also noted that when he says, "It's not true" he's shaking his head instead. "The body doesn't lie. It leaks information and you can see it in his interview."=Lying

What is is about MEN and their sexual deviances outside their marriages? Especially when they are in powerful positions? This is a childish, thoughtless act that will likely ruin any possibility of further political ambitions he may have had not to mention his marriage. Hope there's a job back at the textile mills.

I'm so glad that at least he didn't drag his poor wife, Elizabeth Edwards out to sit next to him and smile as if she were happy about it during this embarrassing, humiliating confession. He actually took it like a man, albeit it was just a one-on-one interview. Hopefully Mrs. Edwards is packing her bags and calling her lawyer to get out of that unfortunate meaningless marriage.

Professor Randy Pausch, in his "Last Lecture" book said that if he only had three words to impart it would be, "Tell the Truth" if he could add three more it would be, "all the time."
Mr. Edwards you screwed up big time for lying to your wife, family, campaign staff, and your political supporters about the kind of character and values you said you possess. So I guess his ass is in the toilet now and so be it. Every action has a consequence. So when are these stupid men going to get it? Please tell me Obama and McCain are true to their wives?

Stay tuned, there's more questions about his confession that he didn't answer including how much he knew about thousands of dollars paid to her after she became pregnant last year and the media are on top of it and they'll keep exposing it as it comes out.

The old man, old friends, and the giant beetle

I posted a story briefly last week that I then decided to delete for a few reasons but am now reposting.
1. The Old Man and his cars- There's an old single man who lives across the street from us. When he first moved in about 6 months ago, he knocked on our door to ask if he could use the phone since his hadn't been turned on yet. So after running in for the cordless for him to use outside, we struck up a conversation. He told me that he was recently divorced and showed me pictures of his two grown daughters. He was a nice guy but I noticed that he moved in with three vehicles. One is a big Cadillac, one is a little red pontiac firebird, and the other is a truck with a shell on it. Periodically I see him driving down the road and he's always in different cars. So I've wondered what his thought process is when he goes out for the day and decides what car to take. I think he drives his Cadillac to his family events and general running around town errands. Old people are supposed to drive Cadillac's you know. I think he drives his little red sports cars when he wants to drive around town picking up women. And the truck, well that is just a man's necessity incase you need to haul things or help people move. But who knows maybe he drives the little red sport car to the golf course to show it off to his buddies there and maybe he picks up redneck chicks in his truck. Next time I see him, I'm going to ask him how he chooses his day's vehicle. I mean, who has three cars to choose from? I'm jealous mostly. :-)

2. Old friends- I have recently gotten back in touch with two of my dear high school friends from high school who happened to find me on the website facebook.com
What a joy to reconnect with your old buddies. Barb and Diana, as I'll call them, were very important friends back then and we shared a lot of fun at the yearly girl's camp outing along with school things too. Barb was 3 years older than me, Di was 2 years older and they took me under their wings at school and they came to my high school basketball games. I'd go over and swim in their community pool with them too. There's just something about the old friends and people you knew so long ago that now help you feel young and alive again. There is just something special about the connection with people who knew you when you both were figuring out those complex years of your adolescent life. And it's just been great. We've only just begun to even "catch up" on life but it feels like we've never missed a day and have picked back up where we left off.

Thank you Barb and Diana for the influence and love and friendship you always extended to me. You are awesome and I look forward to hearing all the stories of your lives and families.

So if any of you out there are thinking of a special friend of long ago, go find them and reconnect. It will do your heart and soul a world of good. Friends are the family that you pick.

3.The giant Beetle- I work in a spa with a bunch of girly girls who like most girls can't stand bugs. Last Thursday I was there for a few appointments and by the sink was a big black giant beetle that someone had captured with a shot glass on top of it. I was disgusted at the sight but immediately felt compassion for the poor little beetle dying a slow death. I used to kill everything if I saw it in my house and I've realized that there's not need to kill. Just move them out. So during my whole massage appointment I was trying to think of how I could possible free this beetle without letting him get away. I wondered if the beetle was even still alive. So after the massage I walked into the back room and slightly moved the shot glass that was over him to see if he moved. He moved alright. So my plan was to get a plastic cup that I could have underneath the shot glass and I would move him over to the corner of the sink and he's just fall into the plastic cup and I could take him outside. But the plan in your head sometimes seems easier than it was. Oh my gosh! Part of the problem was that I really had the heeby-jeebies even attempting to do this but I could not let him die there. So I move it slowly toward the corner and he fell out but he missed the cup and landed in the stainless steel sink and was fighting it's hardest to get out now that he'd been freed. So I had to get a plastic knife to help him into the cup and the first few times I missed and he fell down in drain area but was so big he didn't fall in. So I'd try again and after the third or fourth time I finally got him in a plastic cup and put a towel over the top and quickly walked outside avoiding any clients to see that I was removing this gigantic bug. I walked to the side of the building and tossed him out into the bushes. I did it, I saved him from death. But as I walked away I thought, he probably died from the fall from the cup into the bushes. :-)

What a great July 4th (5th) party it was. We have been so blessed since moving to South Carolina for many reasons; great friend and family is close (within driving distance). We had a wonderful pool party on July 5th and invited family (from Maryland) and wonderful friends from SC and other parts of the US.

We had a wonderful day full of GREAT food (by the Catering Connection) and family and friends. Here are a few pictures of the sun and fun...

The Cat Days of Summer in South Carolina

Our poor little furry babies have been suffering the last few weeks. It has been so hot and humid that they can't be outside for much more than 15 minutes, even though little Lucy thinks she can be outside all day...

They were all outside a few days ago and this is how they were enjoying the screened-in porch... Lucy on the other hand thinks that she can handle this hot humid heat, but she can't!!!

Even we can't handle this hot humid heat; even with the pool. The water temp is higher than most people take a bath in... we have looked for ice houses, but they are long gone. We just received notice that we can't water our lawn; our plants (flowers) or even our pool. The lack of water here is even worse than Utah a few years ago.

My Space

I love the concept of the words "My space." I love the words together most of all. The beauty of blogs or spaces is that it is our own little place that we can share our thoughts, feelings, or whatever is on our mind. It's much like journaling, of which I was always good at in my younger years. It's also like having a home with walls to keep everyone else out (mostly). I've seen or read a few times out there where our spaces are NOT respected and that disturbs me that people are not very kind about it. The bottom line is that it [should] be respected by all visitors or otherwise just ignored if you don't like what is said. That means that if anyone has anything negative or contrary to say about anything written or said, you can certainly voice your opinion either way but in the end it is still my space that I own and I signed up for. And because I own it, no one else has to. So if there is anyone out there that doesn't like what me or anyone else says, you don't have to, but you can respect the space, "my space" or you just shouldn't visit, it's as simple as that.

Some months ago my extended family had a website. We had it for years and we all were able to write anything and post pictures and calendar events and all kinds of things imaginable. But with a simple decisive ignorant attack by one family member to another, the family administrator just decided to quickly shut it down for good. Maybe it was good to end it there, but I don't believe so. Our family hasn't communicated quite the same since and that is so sad to me. I personally don't believe in censorship, unless it is cruel or otherwise causing harm to another. I own what I say and every consequence that would follow. It's part of being an adult with a brain, which I have. Sorry, but something happened today that reminded me of my right to voice my feelings here without censorship of anyone on this planet.

And now back to your regularly scheduled blog reading.... :-)

So I'll revert back to my entry of a few weeks ago quoting the John Mayer song, "Say what you need to say." If I say it, I must need to say it or I wouldn't have said what I said. Got it!

My favorite music- Janet, Heart, Journey, Madonna, Sugarland

I had a pillow that a friend's mom cross-stitched for me back in the early 80's that says, "Music Makes Me Happy." All of you who know me know this is true. Nothing brightens me more than to hear my favorite tunes. So I thought I'd share with you a few of my favorites and why so you can go listen to them also.

1. Janet Jackson- I love this girl. The first song that comes up on my playlist here on the blog is one of my favorite Janet Jackson songs, Rock with U. This is one of those songs that just gives me instant energy for anything. Like when you need to be cleaning the house or some other mundane chore, this is the song to see you through it. The full sound comes together about 1:15 seconds into the song. Take a listen. She's playing here in October in Atlanta and I want to go so bad. I'm very tempted to bite the bullet and go see her. Can you just imagine? My better half doesn't like the music scene as much as I do so she would be happy as a lark if any of you would want to go with me. I know the Jackson's are kind of strange, mostly Michael, but I would see him in a heartbeat too. They are the most talented musical icons of America and they know how to make great music and Janet, well she's just simply beautiful to look at.

2. Heart- I learned last Saturday that Heart, along with Journey were performing in Charlotte, about an hour from us and that my co-worker had to "get rid of her tickets" but it wasn't with me. I had no idea they were going to be close to South Carolina. I LOVE Heart! Ann and Nancy Wilson rock the world with their unique sound. Listen to "Alone" or "Crazy on You." Back in 2000, buddy Laura and I went to Las Vegas to hear them on the beach of Mandalay Bay and they were truly incredible. Legendary women icons of rock music. Take a listen.

3. Journey- Who's heartstrings were not tugged at by this band in the 80's? Steve Perry left the band and they found this amazing singer from the Philippines to take his place and he is absolutely fantastic and so close to the original singer, Steve. Listen to "Faithfully" and "Don't Stop Believin'" from the now infamous final episode of The Sopranos. This group totally takes me back and there is a story for every song.
4. Madonna- she's always been a favorite since the early 80's. Love her, hate her, I don't care what she's doing with or without ARod, but I do love her music. She's another music genius who knows how to put out the best sounds that you can dance, exercise, or move to. Listen to "4 Minutes" or "Beat Goes On" and all the early hits, "Vogue, Holiday, Borderline."
J and I are going to her concert in Atlanta in November for my birthday and we cannot wait. We now have to take out a second mortgage to pay for the tickets. :-) We have to take advantage of these cause you won't see them in a lot of smaller areas like South Carolina or even Salt Lake.

5. Sugarland- I couldn't finish this entry without mentioning my favorite country band. Sugarland, is a due of Jennifer Nettles and Christian Bush. They used to have a third member, a lesbian singer/songwriter who did perform with them the first year and helped create hits like "Baby Girl" and "Gotta Be Something More". She left the group to continue pursuing songwriting. Today they are the biggest thing to hit Nashville in years and they keep pounding out the hits with "Stay" and "Everyday America" (which is my ringtone on my cellphone when any of ya'll call.) and "All I Want To Do." Jennifer Nettles is also know for singing with Jon Bon Jovi on the hit song, "Who Says You Can't Go Home." She's a huge chick magnet out here in the south. Last year, J and I went to her concert and you should have seen all the lesbians there. :-) They are amazing.

And that's my review of great music and artists of today according to me. What's your favorites?