January 24 2009

a selection of mom's sympathy cards. i had not really read them when she passed away

Life is just one adventure after another

so it has been a while since i wrote in here (again) and in order to update you all this might get a little long :) the first of september i moved in with my friends and their son due to my about to be homeless situation.  i have loved every minute of helping them out with their 2 1/2 year old son.  then october 1st, my father passed away in a terrible accident.  my friend put her job hunt on hold and didnt blink an eye about me leaving for 16 days.  i dont fly, so i went from seattle to indianapolis by train and my cousin picked me up there and transported me back to her and her hubbys farm in shelbyville, ky.  i tried to work with my uncle and brother and get stuff taken care of for my dad, but on my dads side of the family things like that are handled by men i guess - so instead i focused on having a wonderful time getting to know this side of my family and seeing the area my family is all from.  i did get to go see cave hill cemetery for a little bit, but we didnt know that they close at 430 daily when we decided to go spend an hour and a half at lunch.  i am now back home with my friends, and i am watching the little man while they are both at work at least through the end of the year.  i will decide what i will do after that another day :) here are some of the photos i took at cave hill cemetery i hope you all enjoy them:

Peace and Luv to everyone, Laura

9 11 - take time to remember

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-name/

this would have been too long to try to copy and paste into here, cnn has the full list of the people who perished on 9 11 01.

thanks to all those who serve for us daily - army, navy, airforce, marines, coast guard, firefighters, police, emt's, hospital workers and anyone else i may have forgotten

peace and luv to all
laura

9-11-01 remembered

ten years ago today - hard to believe it has been ten years, but it has.  ten years ago today i was on a bus on my way to work listening to jackie and bender on kiss 106.1 fm seattle when the world turned upside down.  at first i remember thinking, what kind of idiot crashes a plane into the world trade center?  it is new york - if you are going down, head for the open water not the middle of manhatten.  then they said a second plane had hit the other tower.  and we all just knew.  our world, our lives would never be the same.  i continued into work, thinking we would be sent home for the day.  i called my mom and told her to keep the tv off.  my son was 11 and he would hear about it all at school i knew but that didnt mean i wanted the visual images (which i had not seen yet) in his mind.  i got to work and called my baby sister who was in virginia since her husband was stationed there to see how she was and if david was being deployed or what.  she was cleaning her house with cd's playing and i had to tell her to sit down and turn on the tv.  she was dumbfounded.  she needed to get off the phone and call the base to find out what was going on with her hubby.  while she did that we found out at work that we could leave but we might also lose our job if we did.  talk about losing respect for your manager when three of us had family in new york as well as numerous people with friends/family who were in the service.  but we were told that we could make all the calls we needed to and trust that i did.  i called my mom probably 10 times asking about my cousins in new york - just had one of those gut feelings.  she kept assuring me that aunt ginny had spoken to aunt linda and everyone was fine, but i didnt think so.  it turns out my cousin maureen was in the world trade center - normally she wouldnt have been, she worked from home and it was her birthday, but there was a mandatory in person meeting that she had to attend.  she lived through it, but i honestly cannot imagine what it did to her life.  i am glad that we do talk here and there on facebook, she is an awesome person.  i talked to jaymee  and found out that the base was on lockdown, but since david was non essential personnel he was allowed to go home.  but her neighbors hubby got escorted home and only had 5 minutes to say goodbye and grab all his gear.  i finally got home around 530 that evening - still having not seen any of the footage and my mom was watching while my son was in his room playing video games and as i saw the second plane hitting - i fell to my knees and sobbed.  the following days were eerie, we lived less than a mile from seatac airport and there were no planes.  well i take that back, we had fly-bys from fighter jets, but no commercial airplanes.  my son spent several days sitting in his closet working out in his 11 year old mind what had happened as well as what was going to happen now.  he was eventually ok, but it did take some counseling at school to help.  my family was all ok, but as a nation, we did what they didnt expect - it brought us closer together as a nation.  10 years later, i think we need to get back to that.  it didnt matter what race, religion, or anything else you were, you were an american and that is all you needed to know.  anyway, that is how i remember this day 10 years ago.  i was not sure i wanted to share it but i feel it is good to share this with others.
remember, peace and love to all, laura

8/24/11 Thinking...........

So i saw my friend Vicky and her family last weekend, and while I love them to death, they are totally against government as it stands today. I do not blame them for most of their views, but i personally would not go to the extremes that they discuss going to. Anyway, we were talking and she says that Bill Cosby is running for president as a write in candidate and that when I get home and online I should check out his platform. Well I did and via Snopes.com as well as many other urban legend sites, it is of course a hoax that has been attributed to Bill Cosby, Robin Williams and George Carlin over the years. However, I got to thinking, that our government is supposed to be for the people and of the people, so what would happen if everyone who agrees with the following "platform" writes to their government officials and lets them know that of the people and for the people want this and they want it NOW! ???

Here are the platform issues listed:

(1). Any use of the phrase: 'Press 1 for English' is immediately banned. English is the official language; speak it or wait outside of our borders until you can.

(2). We will immediately go into a two year isolationist attitude in order to straighten out the greedy big business posture in this country.. America will allow NO imports, and we'll do no exports. We will use the 'Wal-Mart 's policy, 'If we ain't got it, you don't need it.' We'll make it here and sell it here!



(3). When imports are allowed, there will be a 100% import tax on it coming in here.



(4). All retired military personnel will be required to man one of the many observation towers located on the southern border of the United States (six month tour). They will be under strict orders not to fire on SOUTHBOUND aliens.



(5). Social Security will immediately return to its original state. If you didn't put nuttin in, you ain't gettin nuttin out. Neither the President nor any other politician will be able to touch it.



(6). Welfare. -- Checks will be handed out on Fridays, at the end of the 40 hour school week, the successful completion of a urinalysis test for drugs, and passing grades.



(7). Professional Athletes -- Steroids? The FIRST time you check positive you're banned from sports ... for life.



(8). Crime -- We will adopt the Turkish method, i.e., the first time you steal, you lose your right hand. There is no more 'life sentences'. If convicted of murder, you will be put to death by the same method you chose for the victim you killed: gun, knife, strangulation, etc.



(9). One export of ours will be allowed: wheat; because the world needs to eat. However, a bushel of wheat will be the exact price of a barrel of oil.



(10). All foreign aid, using American taxpayer money, will immediately cease and the saved money will help to pay off the national debt and, ultimately, lower taxes. When disasters occur around the world, we'll ask The American People if they want to donate to a disaster fund, and each citizen can make the decision as to whether, or not, it's a worthy cause.



(11). The Pledge of Allegiance will be said every day at school and every day in Congress.



(12). The National Anthem will be played at all appropriate ceremonies, sporting events, outings, etc.

Or you know what? How about making your own list of 12 things you think would make this a better country, or help the economy or whatever and sending it out to your friends and family as well as your local, state and federal government members? I just feel that if we as Americans keep just sitting back and waiting for some public official to magically fix things, then we deserve the fall of our nation which at this point I see as inevitable.

Anyway, that is my thought for the day, as always ~peace and luv to all ~ Laura

8/22/11 life sux edition

I love having this as a sounding board. So my manager who kept telling us that he was ok working with us as long as the money kept coming in weekly gave us a 3 day pay or vacate notice friday at 5 that means that there is no time friday to try to get emergency funding and weekends are out so basically we had today to get help and well we didnt get it so i suppose we are all facing homelessness. then i went to dshs to see about getting back on a gau which is general something unemployable due to my depression and physical ailments among other things and was told that i will probably qualify, but that the program is being obliterated as of october so i will only get benefits for september and october then will have nothing again. so i am facing disability, homelessness, and there being no funding for help - it is great. not to mention the stress of wondering where my son will go - yes he is 21 but still my son - and knowing i cannot keep my cat who i have had for 12 years. but i will survive this as well as all the other crap i have survived in life!! anyway, back off my soapbox for now, peace and luv to all ~ Laura

random thoughts

so i often find myself asking the question what do i want to be when i grow up? why do i have to be one thing? why cant i just do it all? thinking about a website for laura does it all (except the name needs work cuz well it could totally sound like a porn site) and one page will be digital scrapbooking, one page will be digital art, one page will be nature photography, one page will be cemetery photography, one page will be bead work, one page for building websites, one page for cleaning grave sites, one page for freelance office work, one page for genealogy, one page for paper making and hand made journals.........and i could just go on and on and on :) so there is my random thoughts for today ~peace and luv~ laura