counting down

This is my 199th posting and last of the year

Happy New Year!

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This is an ornament I received this year when I donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. I thought it was so nice to open the card I assumed was a “thanks for donating” and find this beautiful ornament as well. It’s had me thinking alot about hope. I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions – I think it just sets you up for failure (actually, I heard that froma radio psychologist), but I believe it too. For so many years, my resolution was to lose weight – then I’d crash and burn and feel even worse about myself.

So consequently, I don’t make them. However, I do think that the dawning of a new year gives us hope. Hope for things to come, hope for things to get better, hope for other people’s lives.

I know that at this time last year, the world was still sitting in stunned horror as the reports of the tsunami came pouring in. I don’t know how many were lost during it. I don’t have cable tv, so consequently, we didn’t watch hours & hours of coverage. I read about it online, and looked at *some* of the pictures, but when they disintegrated into showing us the dead children, I stopped. So my hope for those mothers & fathers and sisters & brothers is that this year is a better year, spent doing what they enjoy instead of rebuilding their lives.

I know that at this time last year, my family was still reeling from a car accident that nearly took the life of my mother’s only sibling, my uncle. It was by sheer miracle, if you believe in them, that he didn’t die, either from the crash or the resulting surgeries, infections and “treatments” that he endured while in the hospital nearly 6 months. When I finally got to visit him this past October, he was a shell of the person I knew before. But he survived, lived to tell yet another tale of death-defying odds. This wasn’t his only crash in this life, but it certainly was the hairiest. So my hope for he & my aunt (who just had hip-replacement surgery Dec. 8th) is that this new year brings continued better health, new avenues to follow now that they’re both retired and that their youngest graduates college this coming year!

My hope for my immediate family are as always, continued good health, possibly some wealth?? (please??!?!) and to keep us together and happy. This year has been such a big, tumultuous time for us and I hope that 2006 is one of peace and happiness. I don’t think that’s so much to ask, is it? LOL

I hope that our family friend who is having such a hard time battling this damned cancer will find the peace HE needs as well. His days are growing shorter and I hope that if he does leave us, it’s without pain. I hope that my mother, who has been best friends with this man for longer than I’ve been alive, will be able to survive his passing and face each coming day as she did when my grandparents left us not too long ago.

My hope for my mother is that she finally forgives herself and lets my grandmother rest.

My hope for my friends, near and far, is that their lives, families, careers are all better, happier, longer than they expect, and that they find what they’re searching for this year.

I hope that my son finally realizes that homeschooling IS better than going out and waiting for a bus at 7am in -40 degree temperatures!

My hope for myself (to maintain the whole “Kinky woman’s guide” thing) is to find a wonderfully kinky woman who chooses to submit herself to my will, and lets me do wonderfully nasty things to her

I hope that my dear, wonderful man finally finds a place in this world that makes him happy – he’s happiest in the music field, but there’s just nothing here for him, so he sludges through his days as the IT person at a place that ignores health codes, labor codes and piracy laws just to put food on our table.

I hope. Therefore, I live.

wow…it’s nearly here!

A very merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and
Happy Kwanzaa to my friends here in Bloggerland!
From a very happy, very thanksful
Lady Calliah

an early Christmas present

We went to RI last weekend to visit my family for an early Christmas. As always, it’s a very hectic trip with virtually no “relax” time, but I did get to go see my brother in a Christmas performance that he was in at the local dinner theater. He was part of a 5 person cast and the show was called “Christmas: A Survival Guide” and it was very good. Not your typical ooey, gooey, it’s a wonderful life kind of Christmas show. I hadn’t heard him sing in about 4 years, and he blew me away! His voice has matured and he’s grown and I was just very happy that I got to go. WTG Tommy!

charity begins on my head

This is my 3rd donation to Locks of Love, each one being at least a foot long. I’m also glad to get rid of it cuz it was driving me crazy lol

A win-win situation!

Locks of Love takes donated hair and uses it to make wigs for children who don’t have hair of their own for whatever reason (alapecia, cancer, etc.). I love the idea of it and only wish more people were aware of it. Here’s my part in that.

I’m off for a few days to visit my family for the (early) holiday. Have a good weekend everyone!

Hmmm

Just a side note to say I wish the people who wrote these tests could also write competant html. ugh. oh, and I don’t make up scenarios. lol

Imaginative, erotic, passionateYou prefer to have one partner and to try everything with them. You have an enormous sexual appetite, and you often create sexy scenarios to play out with your significant other.

Take this quiz at QuizUniverse.com

brrrr

can I just say that I think it’s RIDICULOUS for it to be -20 degrees F. in DECEMBER. Yes, I know… it’s New Hampshire, but GEEZ. A couple of years ago, when I was pregnant and working full time, January brought -40’s, and that’s NOT the windchill. But it sure as hell wasn’t this cold in December, dammit. December, when I’m out every evening shopping, shipping, etc.

Dammit.

Don’t be Stupid

I hurried into the local department store to grab some last minute Christmas gifts. I looked at all the people and grumbled to myself. I would be in here forever and I just had so much to do. Christmas was beginning to become such a drag. I kinda wished that I could just sleep through Christmas. But I hurried the best I could through all the people to the toy department.

Once again I kind of mumbled to myself at the prices of all these toys. And wondered if the grandkids would even play with them. I found myself in the doll aisle. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a little boy about 5 holding a lovely doll. He kept touching her hair and he held her so gently. I could not seem to help myself. I just kept looking over at the little boy and wondered who the doll was for. I watched him turn to a woman and he called his aunt by name and said, “Are you sure I don’t have enough money” She replied a bit impatiently, “You know that you don’t have enough money for it.” The aunt told the little boy not to go anywhere that she had to go get some other things and would be back in a few minutes. And then she left the aisle.

The boy continued to hold the doll. After a bit I ask the boy who the doll was for. He said, “It is the doll my sister wanted so badly for Christmas. She just knew that Santa would bring it.” I told him that maybe Santa was going to bring it. He said “No, Santa can’t go where my sister is. I have to give the doll to my Momma to take to her.” I asked him where his sister was. He looked at me with the saddest eyes and said “She has gone to be with Jesus.” My Daddy says that Momma is going to have to go be with her. My heart nearly stopped beating. Then the boy looked at me again and said, “I told my Daddy to tell Momma not to go yet. I told him to tell her to wait till I got back from the store” Then he ask me if I wanted to see his picture. I told him I would love to. He pulled out some pictures he’d had taken at the front of the store. He said “I want my Momma to take this with her so she don’t ever forget me. I love my Momma so very much and I wish she did not have to leave me, but Daddy says she will need to be with my sister.”

I saw that the little boy had lowered his head and had grown so very quiet. While he was not looking I reached into my purse and pulled out a hand full of bills. I ask the little boy, “Shall we count that money one more time?” He grew excited and said “Yes, I just know it has to be enough” So I slipped my money in with his and we began to count it. And of course it was plenty for the doll. He softly said, “Thank you Jesus for giving me enough money”. Then the boy said “I just asked Jesus to give me enough money to buy this doll so Momma can take it with her to give to my sister and he heard my prayer. I wanted to ask him for enough to buy my Momma a white rose, but I didn’t ask him, but he gave me enough to buy the doll and a rose for my Momma. She loves white roses so very very much.”

In a few minutes the aunt came back and I wheeled my cart away. I could not keep from thinking about the little boy as I finished my shopping in a totally different spirit than when I had started. And I kept remembering a story I had seen in the newspaper several days earlier about a drunk driver hitting a car and killing a little girl and the Mother was in serious condition. The family was deciding on rather to remove the life support. Now surely this little boy did not belong with that story.

Two days later I read in the paper where the family had disconnected the life support and the young woman had died. I could not forget the little boy and just kept wondering if the two were somehow connected. Later that day, I could not help myself and I went out and bought some white roses and took them to the funeral home where the young woman was. And there she was holding a lovely white rose, the beautiful doll, and the picture of the little boy in the store. I left there in tears, my life changed forever. The love that little boy had for his little sister and his mother was overwhelming. And in a split second a drunk driver had ripped the life of that little boy to pieces.

Written by V.A.Bailey

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Now for some sobering facts. The truth is that when this story came to me in email, it made me stop & think. Not much does that when you’re a busy person, but this story did. You just never know when a drunk driver is going to affect your life in one way or another. I had a very good friend who died and nearly killed one of my best friends because she was stupid enough to drive drunk. She died at the age of 17. She died weeks before Christmas. She was an only child and left her parents childless. She died for no damned reason. This happened 20 years ago and it still makes me angry. I’ll obviously never understand what made her do it. I just wish I could have prevented it.Drunk driving has been the one constant ’cause’ that I’ve supported since I learned of the effects it can have on the innocent. Did you realize that in 1997, there were 2 alcohol-related traffic deaths per hour, 45 per day and 315 per week. That is the equivalent of 2 jetliners crashing week after week. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA, 1997) If that isn’t scary enough, consider this: Every weekday night from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., one in 13 drivers is drunk (BAC of .08 or more). Between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. on weekend mornings, one in seven drivers is drunk. Still not impressed by numbers? How about this one: Economic costs of alcohol-related crashes are estimated to be $45 billion yearly. An additional $70.5 billion is lost in quality of life due to these crashes. That’s a whole lot of money lost because someone was stupid and got behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated.

Here’s a new fact that REALLY makes me mad. In 2003, 21 percent of the children 0 to 14 years old who were killed in motor vehicle crashes were killed in alcohol-related crashes. Of the children 0 to 14 years old who were killed in alcohol-related crashes during 2003, 47 percent (209) were passengers in vehicles with drivers who had BAC levels of 0.01 g/dl or higher. An additional 118 children were killed as passengers in vehicles with drivers who had not been drinking but that were involved in crashes with vehicles that had drivers with BAC levels 0.01 g/dl or higher. Another 59 children 0 to 14 years old who were killed in traffic crashes in 2003 were pedestrians or pedalcyclists who were struck by drivers with BAC 0.01 g/dl or higher.

ALL of these children died because someone was STUPID.

Ok, so enough of the numbers. What is the real reason why I decided to do this page at 2am on a Friday night? Because I don’t want to be the next statistic. I don’t want my son, daughter, husband, mom, dad, brothers, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, neices, nephews or even ex-husband to be the next statistics. I don’t want the friends that I’ve made online to be the next statistic. My hope is that if reading this story, and those statistics (which I got from the M.A.D.D. & NHTSA websites) makes even ONE of you that are reading this right now, decide *not* to drive after one too many drinks – or makes one of you take the keys away from someone that you know has been drinking, it’s all worth it.

Please – have a happy & HEALTHY holiday season and year. There’s plenty of reasons to celebrate throughout the year, without having to follow it up with a funeral… or prison. Don’t be stupid. Stay sober, or stay home.

all I want for Christmas is my two front teef

annnnnnd,

world peace
end world hunger
cure cancer
and diabetes
and alzheimers
and all those other nasty things that take people before they’re supposed to go

of course, if all those things were cured and people didn’t go before they were supposed to, where would we put all these extra people?

Hmmmm, questions that make you go Hmmmmmm.

In any case, I think I don’t want anything for myself for Christmas this year. I got a mostly new man who, although he needs to be reminded sometimes, is doing an awesome job of loving me. I have 2 healthy, mostly happy kids who, while driving me crazy, remind me of how truly lucky I am to have them. Hmm, is this sounding like my Thanksgiving post? Ah well, it’s true, though. I’m very lucky and I can only hope that this Christmas, the idea OF Christmas will come through to my son, Mr. “OH and I want this…”

We’re studying the different celebrations of the season this month. We’ve read about Kwanzaa, which sounds like an awesome reason to celebrate. We’re reading this week about Hanukah and realizing how similar their plight was to that of our Pilgrims. I’m trying to impart in him the idea that it’s about family, not presents. It’s about sharing, not shopping. Yes, we give presents because we WANT to, but not because we HAVE to. My 9 yr old still believes in Santa, and although my direct answers to his questions are always “he’s about togetherness”, he still believes. I don’t know how long it’ll last, but hey, I’m trying not to lie LOL

My son is a dreamer, and I think that’s a great thing to be.