Thoughts (things floating around my head) on touchy subjects

First off topic wise..Politics. (One I rarely cover anymore because it causes a lot of problems and it is a heated topic for many) Then I will go to religion which is another one...

I've had some random things on my mind that I thought I'd put in a blog of their own. 
The first being I notice one problem with social media being that people seem to be really bad about the whole bandwagon thing. It is like everything you are either for 100 percent or against 100 percent. Crowd mentality. Have people forgotten how to think for themselves and do research? I have to admit I fell victim a few times w/ it for some things. No one is immune I don't think BUT it seems rampant anymore. 
One example is all the presidential posts. I don't mean the current one either. People seem to all think that the president sits up there and makes ALL The decisions himself. He doesn't. They forget all about the House and Congress and all and that he doesn't just say okay this goes and it does. There are a lot of games going on there. He may try to pass something and the Republicans shoot it down and then they turn and give him issue about it and visa versa.  It makes me seriously think people need to go back and go over again how American Government works. I've even sat here a few times and went wow did I miss something? Is there no one that remembers the cutsie little video on how bills are passed ? Things like that? Does no one remember this?: 

1. The federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U.S. Constitution in the Congress, the President, and the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, respectively.
2. Or this? To ensure that no person or group would amass too much power, the founders established a government in which the powers to create, implement, and adjudicate laws were separated. Each branch of government is balanced by powers in the other two coequal branches: The President can veto the laws of the Congress; the Congress confirms or rejects the President's appointments and can remove the President from office in exceptional circumstances; and the justices of the Supreme Court, who can overturn unconstitutional laws, are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
   In creating this balance, the framers of the Constitution hoped to form what they called "a more perfect union" — a government that would not only serve the people but would also be a long-lived exemplar to other nations around the world.
3. If you think something is wrong with our government I don't disagree.... I actually fully agree... however my disagreement lies in that it isn't the President by himself. it is the whole thing. If they are no longer serving the people then the "perfect union" is broken. I think people are just missing the bigger picture. 

The President is more like a figurehead. He is not the only decision maker yet he is the one who is going to take all the hits. (I feel I need to throw in there I am not a huge fan or anything I just feel like people miss these facts a lot) I also feel like the whole election process is a sham. People feel like someone sits there and counts all their votes separately. Do they forget how that actually works with electoral votes and all? It is like they have some fairy tale idea of how our own government works. What is it based off of? Movies? I also am disappointed that despite my feelings about the electoral votes etc... that in certain states we don't even get a choice to vote for all the candidates running. Such as if we have an Independent running they aren't a choice for us. 
Speaking of Independent I think that I've pretty much decided that is what my political affiliation may be. I tried Republican... I became disgusted with that when the Tea Party ruined it (In my honest opinion) They became pretty extreme. I tried Democratic...and yet there are some things I disagree with there as well so I feel I guess that I fit in more with Independent. Though I am still swishing the taste of that around to see if it fits me. I feel like in general politics is the name of a game that is played with the people. Not just American but ALL of the people. 

Next topic for me is Religion: yeah another touchy one.  I have some Christian friends too who do not feel threatened by other faiths. They know that their own beliefs are strongly enough held that they don't have to fear being around people of varying faiths NOR do they feel the need to push them so hard to convert. (I'm not saying they don't share their beliefs etc but they aren't harassing about it) I am glad for one that they don't feel threatened by others. It is the ones that look down their nose at you and try to shame you for believing differently that get me. Those are the ones who I know are still new and not so secure in themselves and their religion. I can only hope they find their footing enough not to feel so threatened by everyone and everything around them. Those are the judgmental ones who go to the extreme with it. I guess the more extreme they are the more they feel like they "belong" when it isn't about "belonging" it is about a personal journey and is between you and your higher power and no one else. (and by this I don't mean that anyone should hide it. I mean the journey itself is between you and your higher power) Also to add...when I am talking about belonging etc that isn't to say there is anything wrong with finding a group of like minded people or a church you like but when "belonging" turns into more like a huge display of trying to prove you belong to something as in a certain religion then that is where the problem lays.  You don't have anything to prove to anyone else. Yet  they seem to think they need to though there are those who don't even seem to realize what they are doing and I find it sad. I think those are the ones who bother me the ones that think they have to prove it to everyone around them with extreme behavioral changes. (now if you are talking about changes like say a drug addict or alcoholic seeks help and stops what they are doing there that is a different story that isn't a bad change...I am talking about the ones that suddenly change everything they ever stood for and expect everyone around them to follow suit or they find them a threat to their new found life changes) The ones that see everything as evil or the devil. Those people are worrisome. yes there is evil in the world but not everything is evil and not everything is out to get you or to try to deter you from your relationship with your higher power. The only thing that can shake your beliefs is yourself. Not sure if that will make sense to some people but if you fear that someone else can take your beliefs away from you then I think you need to rethink that a bit. Why would anyone else even be able to do that? It all goes back to it being a personal thing. That is something you need to look inside yourself for. There are topics like Morals: It gets me when people act like if you aren't Christian you can't possibly have morals. While different religions enforce the idea of morals in different ways no religion holds a monopoly in the department of having morals. I know of Christians who seem to have none and I know of atheists or people of various other religions who have a lot of moral value. It depends on the person individually. It is something deep within you that tells you right from wrong. People seem to think also that their religion or personal beliefs should dictate how another person lives or what life choices they make. This is one of those bandwagon topics. I've seem people group up on someone and try to trash them using their personal beliefs. Those are YOUR personal beliefs. That can be a two way street. You don't want to have to adhere to someone else's religious beliefs I would imagine. You don't believe in birth control? Fine don't use it. Someone else doesn't believe in blood transfusions. Does that mean you shouldn't be allowed them? Our hospital recently went to being a Catholic hospital. I will say I am glad I was able to get my tubal done before they made it a rule that it has to be a life threatening situation. I can respect that someone does not believe in them and would not choose one for themselves but I don't feel like it should take away my right to have a tubal when I am for certain I was done having children. (on a side note I am highly allergic to synthetic hormones. I was told I can't even use a nuva ring due to how strong of an allergic reaction I have now. it is something that build up over the years but I began to have an anephelactic shock reaction to most all of them. I didn't have the choices that most people have and I had severe bleeding and hormonal issues after my last two children) I think it is in the people's best interest that church and state continue to be kept separate. I think some people actually see this as encroaching on their rights when it does not. It simply keeps one religion from taking receiving special precedence over others and we are a melting pot of religions. We used to embrace that. As a country we used to embrace the differences. We were doing betterand now  we are back sliding. One religion should not be able to make all the decisions for everyone else. Also something to think about is that "one" religion actually has many branches and each branch has their own beliefs in a way or their own idea of how to interpret the bible. Which one would we go by? That is one of the many reasons there is such a huge problem with that.
 People also seem to not realize how much the media plays into everything. (again with the crowd mentality) If you really sit back and pay attention there is a lot there that influences the crowd mentality and people just go along with it. I will give an example of the Duck Dynasty thing. You take a show that you have a lot of people of a certain audience watching and you can do things like the publicity stunt (I'm sorry calling it for what it was) where the father was going to be kicked off the show for whatever it was. People freaked. Sales went up in support of the show and of course he was back. I was sitting there going seriously do people not see it for what it is? There were some who did. They even had a movie deal from it. Half the time when they proclaim a certain religion is being attacked it is the media that is attacking it in a way. There may be some small obscure group who complained about something and then it is put out there that it is "the atheists" or whatever and then somehow that gets expanded to anyone who isn't Christian. Most of the time the way a news story plays out it is the way the spin is put on it and the light that someone wants you to see it in. You can read a story on the exact same topic by two different sources each having their own spin on it determined by which 'side" of it they are on (you see this a lot with democratic and republican stories) and you can come away with two totally different things.     I've noticed as of late several news channels are using what they are seeing in their facebook feeds as filler for their stories. I am just sort of shaking my head going wow. A lot of times they have to go back and report when they discover the story they aired was based on a false post. Some of which have been cycling through for years. There is not a lot of fact finding and research going on anymore.  Anyway I hope people take the time sometimes to do some deeper thinking. Don't always assume that the crowd is right. 

 If we were all the same life would be boring. Accepting someone else's differences does not mean that you have to give up who you are. 

July 9 2014

I know I've been blogging a lot more I guess this is one of those spells when I can. I've been suffering from spells of nausea post having my teeth pulled and not really sure why. Doesn't seem to be the pain medicine because it doesn't occur after I've taken that. I am starting to suspect it is actually from hunger but kind of hard to eat when you're nauseous. I've figured out I can do beef stock with mashed potatoes and that is pretty good. I've eating my cherry tomatoes I pulled off my plant. Those seem to do okay. Then chocolate putting with some cut up bananas. In any case I've actually lost 4-5 lbs in just a couple of days which is not a complaint by any means. I was actually pretty shocked but hey. Anyway enough about that other than to say I hope the nausea goes away and the pain eases up because next week is when I go in to the foot dr and I don't know what if anything they will do as of yet. 
I finally broke down and told my mom about my Aunt's passing. It was hard to do but there is never really a "good" time to pass along news like that. She seems to be doing okay with it though she is the last one of them to be alive. I will say that has to be hard to know. I have discovered she seems to be finding some interest in the local papers so I am thinking about subscribing to them (I like to read them too I don't do a lot of actual news as in tv news anymore really) and we can both enjoy them. I'd like to see her start doing puzzles and all again. Something I find great for elderly or really for people who don't get on a computer where they can see pictures that people share is one of those digital photo frames. I plan on getting her one for her birthday I am hoping. That way she can see pics of everyone and I can put new ones in. Next I need to get my daughter and grandbaby by to see her and my MIL. We've all been so busy we haven't had a chance to do that though not without trying just one or the other of any of us are all busy or free at totally different times. That is about how it goes though. 
I've gotten back into playing my Nancy Drew games. Technically it could be said they are games for Teenagers (and they're great for them good puzzle solving and critical thinking type) but I love them. For me they rank right up there with hidden object games which I also love. 
We had to remove our finch eggs from the nest sadly they just didn't hatch. I feel awful for them though I imagine it won't be long before they lay more. Better luck for them next round I guess. I am wondering about doing blown eggs with something so tiny or if you could fill them with a glue or encase them? They are the teeniest things. 

Step by Step

Getting things done as always. Today I had to go in and get two teeth pulled. Was going to be one but I asked about the 2nd and explained that I didn't know when I could get it fixed and they said that actually looking at where the damage was on it they recommended just pulling it. That one is the one it turned out was a bit of a pain to get out. They had to wrestle with it only to find that parts of it was tangled with the one in front of it. I am having some trouble swallowing now etc because of the swelling etc but it is understandable due to the amount of work they had to do. So hopefully that will go down soon and I can progress with healing. For now I am finding beef broth is my friend ;) Next week I go in to have my foot looked at to see if they can figure out the problem there and hopefully find a solution. In between I have to do some things with my mom and I still don't know what is going to happen there. With so much going on my anxiety and all is acting up a bit again. :/ It won't be much longer and I'll be wrapped up in school shopping and preparations for that. Once school actually starts we will be starting to work on crafting projects and myself on my painting projects. I think I may have mentioned that several times but I am super excited about it. I have bonded with another cat finally and it wasn't the one I thought it would be. I know I posted awhile back about the rather painful loss of my cat Pounce who was in many ways a therapy cat, friend, etc. I now have a little gray cat who I had no intention of keeping. She was sweet and all but she was one who'd required a lot of extra care as a kitten. Being a manx she had issues with bathing and had to be bathed a lot til she got older. (It was no fun for us or for her I'll say that but it actually was a life or death matter for her...I'll skip the details) anyway I guess now she decided I was her personal human. She has a certain time of the day that is her lap time and she comes and finds me and sits with me. She always happy foots (where they spread their paws out and then curl them and repeat the motion) sings, is just such a happy cat. I really do find her comforting. I guess here soon I need to look at taking her to get her spayed. Her name is Nimbus like the cloud.

 Nimbus giving the really you had to use Flash look? She'd been bathing so had wet patches going :) She is a manx. 

My son has a female that he picked out as a birthday present and he takes care of her. She is actually kind of spoiled. He is going to be saving up to get her spayed too I think. He does a lot of work for the neighbors when he can and he does quite well with it for himself. If he stays on track with his schooling this year he may wind up doing some aeronautics courses or airplane repair. He has an ongoing interest in it.  Our tomato plants are doing fairly well. Mainly the ones we got from the actual hot house not the Atwoods ones. I think though they are a big more costly they are worth it as they actually produce and produce they will! :) 

 I have another bowl to pick. They are really good too!

They were a bit wilty due to sun but are doing better now.

My stargazer I always get excited every year when these bloom. 

Happy 4th of July

We are kicking back today and relaxing some. I've been super tired all week. I'm not sure if it is from all the stress and such all week or if it is my lupus/RA trying to flare up again. It had been in remission. I go back in August so I guess I'll see what they say then. Stress can cause it to do that so I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway. Managed to go to two fireworks shows here locally which I hadn't been to one in forever. It was really nice. This next week is going to be back to the grindstone in a way. I get one or two teeth pulled, my mom goes to her first dr appt since she's been home the day after that and I am trying to brace myself because I am expecting some uncomfortable topics that I know my mom isn't going to want to discuss but has to be brought up with her. We shall see how that goes. After that hoping the week goes fairly smoothly til I have to go in and see the foot dr the following week. They had told me before that if my foot continues to get worse I may need special shoes OR I may need surgery. Maybe they will have another option. I have bone spurs in both feet but this feels different. It is the same foot that has been broken before and healed with out being reset so that may be part of the problem too. Who knows. Anyway then after that it is count down for school enrollment. This spring/summer has seemed to fly by. My son doesn't start back til Sept so he has a bit longer. He got some glasses to wear to help too and I have to say they look pretty sharp. He's been getting back into making duct tape bags and satchels. I'm gathering craft supplies myself for us to do when the youngest is gone to school during the day. Anyway here are some pics of our latest flowers that have bloomed. 

 My stargazer. There are several more on the stem but this is the one that bloomed. My youngest broke it off so I took it and put it in the vase I etched (can't see the etching here) and it bloomed. There has been another that bloomed since but I thought my mom might enjoy them so I had taken them to her house. 

 My canna's.. I love how these appear golden and red in the sun

 Makes you feel like you have a tiny tropical area in your yard. 

 I like the bright orange of these

 These always have a tinge of color to them

Some of the fireworks from the show

Rough times

As always we'll get through of course but I hate when several things pounce on us at once. Seems like it is that way for everyone here lately pretty much. For us it just kept rolling in like waves in a rising tide. My mom is experiencing some health issues that I won't go into too much other than to say she had to go to a hospital for a bit and not one close by where I could go see her like I normally would. This place turned out to be the most unprofessional I have EVER experienced. The case manager could not seem to tell me anything with out either lying completely or changing direction on things quickly so that I couldn't even keep track. Saying she had med changes...she did not. Nothing had changed. Saying she would deliver some news to her for me (she had other news waiting that was going to be rough but I didn't want her to be hit with all of it at one time) and she said she'd deliver this news to prepare her so she wouldn't be sent into shock upon returning home and of course she didn't relay it I finally called and complained and someone else there delivered it but not til she was headed out the door. They make sure patients don't get their calls and something always comes up to keep them from calling out. The nurses were nice but it seems upper management sucked serious arse. Her side of it was rather unpleasant as well. Such a confusing and horrible situation. She is finally home now. Unfortunately there is still news to deliver and that is going to be hard to do but it will have to be done but I am giving her some time at home before I let her know. We lost my aunt recently and rather suddenly to a bacterial infection. Completely unexpected and she was the last of my mom's siblings. Thankfully my kids all got to meet her when she came down a year or so ago. My mom got to go visit her in Arizona where she is from as well. Her husband had passed not too long ago (a couple of years) and my Uncle. (the other one had passed a long while back) so there has been a lot of loss all around w/ the family. On my dad's side too. I found out I lost another aunt back in May on his side. Anyway too much. There are a lot of changes expected to come our way soon and as always must roll with the tide as much as possible to keep from being swept out to sea. (yeah I'm feeling symbolic right now so bear with me) anyway. 
We went to an early 4th of July show in Shawnee this last weekend. Hadn't been to one in a while. The fireworks display lasted about 20 minutes and was great. I'd not seen one that long. My son found a fave teacher of his and her husband so he went and hung out with them for awhile with the police vehicle thing visiting. My youngest decided she liked the inflatable slide and spent a lot of time on it and tried riding the mechanical bull even and did really good with that. She found lots of friends to play with while we were waiting on the fireworks to start. 
I've been doing the classes at the local library and really enjoying them. My husband goes and our youngest actually prefers doing some of the adult activities with him helping her to doing the childrens ones. She doesn't like the big crowd I don't think even if we sit at the back. (though I enjoyed them so far the musical one was cool) I found a lady and her family at the ones I go to that so far I hope I keep running in to them. They are hilarious and I enjoy being around them. :) So far we've done paintings, made dyed scarves, and done glass etching. That led to me getting a glass etching kit to try at home.  So far everything has turned out really well. (the youngest of course did not participate in the glass etching) 

 barn my youngest painted together with hubby. I think she caught on to all the talk in the room that we live in Oklahoma therefore we needed tornadoes in our pictures LOL We were all kind of giggling a bit over this. She made hubby help her paint the animals and flowers in. 

 My barn. I was surprised when they said that was the subject matter as my mom has been wanting me to paint a barn for her for FOREVER so I gave this to her when completed. I need to do another painting to enter in the county fair. My son needs to get busy on his entry too I think. The pond at the bottom and fence were just random ideas. No one's was the same. I love seeing how everyone's turns out. 

 Hard to see but my glass etched birds. I need to take new pics with some black paper inside to help show the birds better. 

Abby's side of the scarf she and hubby worked on

 his side of the scarf

 My scarf. You use sharpies and spray it down with alcohol. 

 Came out water color looking

I'd like to go to more classes maybe the knitting one and crochet. My son said he might do those with me. I have been continuing with my walking though not keeping record like I was. Using handweights and it took a half an inch off my arms and all so far. Haven't been using those for long. Right now I am so exhausted I think I'd fall asleep immediately if I tried to lay down. 

Muggy weather

I am so not a fan of the heat but to be honest I am still over this last winter. Nothing a good tall glass with lots of ice in it can't handle just yet. Trying to get out and do more walking and so far we haven't missed a day that I can think of. Even if it is just a short walk and I know I am really enjoying them. My son usually takes his bike along and my youngest her scooter (though she tends to hand that to the hubby to be carried) I recently had a bit of a scare in which my rheumatologist had ordered some blood work because my previous blood work had showed my liver enzymes were too high. They were at first reassuring me it is okay don't worry too much because we always order these when they show high etc. Well then it came time for me to go get the test. I took it to our local hospital and at first went over to the clinic where they said my insurance may or may not cover it. If not covered it would cost me nearly $500 which I don't have but they wouldn't know til they took it and sent it in though the billing person tried to tell me they would bill me up front if it didn't cover it ....though they wouldn't know til they sent it in. so confusing. Anyway so they told me to take it and try over at the actual hospital so I did after leaving a message with the Rheumy. I go in and there they give me about 100$ cheaper estimate but they said they'd have to contact my Rheumy and try to get a different code to put it under that it should be covered if the correct code is used so I left it with them and went home to wait. I get home and had a call from the Rheumy saying whatever you do you have to have this test done it is extremely important that you do this etc. So anyway there were some communication problems but I finally got the test done. Then I had to wait another week. Then it became a problem of I couldn't get the results from the lab w/out going in and I was swamped and couldn't go and they were faxing it to the Rheumy but the Rheumy wasn't getting it...only to find out later they WERE it was just placed in the wrong person's file and the faxes sent after that were thrown away. I was like WTH? Here I am over here panicking and this is going on? Anyway so I finally got to hear my results yesterday and I am negative for any Hepatitis which was what their concern was. I was super nervous after finding out what that would have meant for me. With that going on my Mom is having some health issues that I won't go into detail about only to say she is currently being observed by a dr and I am waiting to see what the future holds with that. I am right now not sure but either way it will affect us what the results turn out to be so that is something that is weighing heavily on me. It has been a stressful time. I've been so busy that I haven't been on nearly so much and I've been trying to squeeze in some down time. Today was a mostly down time kind of day but I've still found it hard to sit still because I've gotten used to the constant going and constant doing. Thankfully my meloxicam is helping a wee bit with regular motion so I can do some of the things I need to do around here but there is something badly wrong with my foot that I am probably going to have to go back in about. It is likely my bone spur acting up again (sometimes I really feel like that elderly lady that gripes about her health a lot.....mostly I am more annoyed that I have so much going on and it slows me down) If so this may require surgery but I don't know yet anyway. They told me last time I have no arches in my feet and I would likely be coming back in...well here i am. I am still doing my knitting and am almost finished with a large shawl that I've been working on for awhile. May try to make some flowers and such to put on the back of it. On another note I took a painting class at the library (hey even experienced artists can benefit from this) and found it to be very enjoyable and learned a few things.  This is my completed painting. 

This one is what my youngest did with Daddy in the same class: 

 They were having a wee bit of fun there as you can tell LOL The librarians were getting a kick out of it. There were a lot of people saying it was Oklahoma so they needed tornadoes and such in their paintings LOL :D I am planning on trying to go to another couple of classes or so for different things. 

Checking in

I like finding little things in nature like this heart shape in a rock that one of the kids found. Anyway figured I hadn't checked in a few and wanted to do a quick update. My daughter had her little girl who is about 2 1/2 weeks old now. Weighing in at 7 1/2 lbs and 19 1/2 inches long.  Momma and baby both are doing great. My other daughter lives out of state now so is a bit disappointed about not getting to see her niece I think but we try to keep pictures going that way for her. (Facebook is a great thing for that) Our other family member finally has gotten to leave the hospital so gets to recover at home now. Yay! I am finally seeing a rheumatologist but am still trying to get a hold of them to find out about my blood work they took (I mean they took like 6-7 frikking vials) So we'll see what comes of that. I did get to go to the museum in Norman while we were there. I haven't done any trips like that in ages. Normally my anxiety levels get the best of me but I did okay. Took the camera which has become a source of calming for me in a way. So long as I have fresh batteries and a clean memory card to fill. 

Of course there are lots of other pics. The black armband is from having the blood draw. Which I just got the call to let me know I am in remission which is great news. (yes RA and Lupus both or either can do that though there is no indication of how long I might be in remission)  We are wondering if the reason for the remission is due to the fact that I've had to be on antibiotics and steroids for nearly 3 months now consistently if not longer. I just had a pleurisy attack in the last month which can get kind of nasty. (mainly just horribly painful to move or breathe) but they did find that one on X-ray. Though my liver enzymes are off a bit they said so I have to have more blood work for that. Hopefully that won't be anything. We are trying to make sure and have the kids at all the library functions this summer. They enjoy going and they usually have some pretty interesting things going on. We went to the kick off program and saw the disc dogs and all and it was actually pretty awesome despite it being probably close to 100 degrees out. I sunburned which sometimes it is hard to tell at first because neither me or my youngest tolerate temp changes or extremes well and so we were both bright red. I am hoping that later this summer I can muster myself into making a zoo trip or something big like that. We'll see. If so it will be a big thing for me. The kids usually get to go with their schools or something. We are trying to get back into the groove of taking our nightly walks again and I am trying to do my belly dancing more often again. It is still a good low impact exercise that seems to actually help my joints some plus it is fun. I need to really pick something to do for the county fair as I haven't even started on that yet things have been too hectic. I have some stuff on the back shelf idea wise for my knitting to learn too. Some things I can pick up super quickly on and adapt to do different things with and that is one of them it seems. I look forward to being able to make new and different things. Well I have more blogging to do but I am going to grab a moment to do some artwork.