We all know those people. The nosy ones, the ones with the "helpful hints," and then the just plain rude ones. I've dealt with them my whole life after being blessed with a big family consisting of a bunch of aunts.
At 11 it was "Why are you taking taekwondo? Why not take cheerleading instead?"
At 14 it was "Here's some makeup, with your hair and eye lash color you should wear some."
At 18 it was "Why do you want to go to that college, you should go to _____ instead."
Now at 23 we're starting the really big questions: "So when are you going to get married/ buy a house/ have a baby/ start a retirement fund/ insert another life step."
I'm totally down with steering a child in the way it should go. I credit my upbringing to two parents who gave me the tools to grow successfully and take every advantage that life throws at me. If something wasn't beneficial to my life, they let me know QUICK. They let me fall but didn't let me smack the floor too hard. Their opinions on my life will always be considered.
I love my extended family. Really. They're all great in their own individual ways. So when they hand me their criticisms, excuse me, "helpful hints" on my life, I tend to take it with a HUGE grain of salt. Why? Because I know what my everyday life is like. I know what I have to work with. They see me for a very short amount of time and everything else they know about me is through the veritable "grape vine" that comes with being part of a big family. But when a snarky family member who isn't doing so hot with their own personal endeavors tries to give me their unsolicited advice, it takes every bit of me to not say:
"Well if I were you I would consider losing weight/ quit smoking/ stop using credit cards/ *insert another bad lifestyle habit.* Ain't so cool when you're on the receiving end of unwarranted advice, is it?"
So here it goes with my decisions. They will inevitably change with life, but here's my game plan:
1) I will get married when he proposes. Shocker right? We're happy how we are right now, and if he wants to take that next step, I doubt he'll be shy in letting me know.
2) Babies? BABIES?! I just started working for a great company, and I love what I do. Babies take time, yo! Don't get me wrong, I'm not the type that wants to wait til I'm 30, but I have a couple of years to think about it. You don't want this girl doing something like rearing a child before the time is right. (If only more people took that last line to heart.)
3) I do actually want to own property within the next 3 years, but I'll have to see what my personal life is doing at that time.
I'm not trying to play it off like all my life decisions will be successful. It's almost guaranteed something will go awry. But it's my life. I've kept on the straight and narrow (with a few small curves) my whole life and I plan to stay that way. So until I ask how you did something, keep the opinions to yourself.
Phew... Glad to get that off my chest.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
3 days til...
3 days til I turn 23. I feel like I'm turning 32. Comes with the territory of dating a 33 year old I guess. Much like it always does around my birthday, the crispy fall air blew in from the north this morning, and I broke out my pull-over and ever so slightly turned up the heat in my car. Before long, I will be buying a box of instant apple cider packets for my desk at work. I might even hang fall decorations in the good ole cubicle...
We leave on Wednesday for Chicago on our fall vacation, and I cannot wait to get on that plane and leave Tennessee for a while. Don't get me wrong, love the place, but it starts to lose its wonder when you don't leave for over a year. It will be nice to go back to the first big city I ever visited, and for once show Ben some things he's never seen. Hopefully I will come back with even better pictures than my last visit.
I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!
We leave on Wednesday for Chicago on our fall vacation, and I cannot wait to get on that plane and leave Tennessee for a while. Don't get me wrong, love the place, but it starts to lose its wonder when you don't leave for over a year. It will be nice to go back to the first big city I ever visited, and for once show Ben some things he's never seen. Hopefully I will come back with even better pictures than my last visit.
I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Channeling the inner Helen Gilbert
Those of you who knew my beloved Grannie Gilbert knew that the woman could cook. It was a big part of her job as a housewife bearing four kids and then baby-sitter to a few grandchildren (including this one.) She was not a gourmet chef but instead a master of comfort foods. You could call her when confronted with the hard question of "I have a recipe that calls for this spice but I can't find it anywhere, what can I use as a substitution?" I only heard her admit to not mastering one thing: meringue. It is the trickiest of the pie toppings, after all. She took every meal she made seriously, and always had the perfect complimentary side dishes and bread to every entree. Any holiday or celebration could be met with a breakfast, dinner, or at least a "Hoo-rah" pie. Heck, if you just said you had a craving for a fudge pie, you could bet that you would have a fudge pie waiting for you to pick up the next day.
I have already endured one birthday without my annual birthday meal. As I was planning my dinners for this week, I suddenly wrote down what I remembered going in Grannie Gilbert's birthday meatloaf. If Grannie is no longer around to make the meal, I will take over the tradition. Since I was just cooking for me and my Sweetie, I downsized it to fit our bellies plus a left-over meal to make my co-workers jealous. The recipe I came up with last night looked something like this:
1 lb. ground beef
A little less than half- 1 green bell pepper
Half of red onion
1 1/2 tablespoons- oatmeal
1/3 cup of ketchup
salt and pepper
1/2 can of tomato sauce
Mix all together in bowl, bake in small loaf pan at 400 degrees until brown throughout and grease has risen to the top. Release the meat loaf from the pan, draining grease. Reduce heat of oven to 315 degrees (I just left the door open to cool off while preparing the rest) Transfer to a small casserole dish and cover with tomato sauce, return to oven. Bake for 10 minutes.
I made mashed potatoes to go with. Historically, the full birthday dinner also consisted of pinto beans, cole slaw, and cornbread.
We made a "big deal" out of the meal and ate at the table. As I took in my first morsel of meat loaf, I was overcome with delight. I had somehow channeled Helen Gilbert while making the meal and made the exact same recipe that she always made. When the meal came to a close, I sat there and had a silent conversation with my Grandmother, and then with God, thanking him for blessing me with this wonderful woman who taught me to make wholesome meals to make for my future family. I will never fail in giving credit for those meals to my Grannie who took great care of me as a child and taught me the ways of cooking. I can only hope that these recipes will be passed on to my children and grandchildren.
What have you learned to cook from your Grandmother?
I have already endured one birthday without my annual birthday meal. As I was planning my dinners for this week, I suddenly wrote down what I remembered going in Grannie Gilbert's birthday meatloaf. If Grannie is no longer around to make the meal, I will take over the tradition. Since I was just cooking for me and my Sweetie, I downsized it to fit our bellies plus a left-over meal to make my co-workers jealous. The recipe I came up with last night looked something like this:
1 lb. ground beef
A little less than half- 1 green bell pepper
Half of red onion
1 1/2 tablespoons- oatmeal
1/3 cup of ketchup
salt and pepper
1/2 can of tomato sauce
Mix all together in bowl, bake in small loaf pan at 400 degrees until brown throughout and grease has risen to the top. Release the meat loaf from the pan, draining grease. Reduce heat of oven to 315 degrees (I just left the door open to cool off while preparing the rest) Transfer to a small casserole dish and cover with tomato sauce, return to oven. Bake for 10 minutes.
I made mashed potatoes to go with. Historically, the full birthday dinner also consisted of pinto beans, cole slaw, and cornbread.
We made a "big deal" out of the meal and ate at the table. As I took in my first morsel of meat loaf, I was overcome with delight. I had somehow channeled Helen Gilbert while making the meal and made the exact same recipe that she always made. When the meal came to a close, I sat there and had a silent conversation with my Grandmother, and then with God, thanking him for blessing me with this wonderful woman who taught me to make wholesome meals to make for my future family. I will never fail in giving credit for those meals to my Grannie who took great care of me as a child and taught me the ways of cooking. I can only hope that these recipes will be passed on to my children and grandchildren.
What have you learned to cook from your Grandmother?
Friday, September 10, 2010
Words on married life. By Mrs. Lillian Miller
After retrieving some fried apple pies that needed a new home from my grandmothers today, she showed me her latest writing assignment. A young couple from her church have recently been married, and the groom's mother decided to compile a diary of women discussing the early part of their marriages. My grandmother was chosen as one of the participants.
I have to preface this by saying my grandmother is the most precious thing in my life. She has been the best mother, grandmother, and friend. To have her in your life is a blessing beyond words. Her words are simple yet should not be taken lightly. She knows the meaning of a life of faithful devotion to one man, no matter what may have stood in the way.
"It is so good to have a happy married life. We married so young and did not have anything except our clothes to wear. We didn’t think anything about it. My husband had just gotten out of service, World War II, and he came home and put out a crop that year. He said we couldn’t move out until he got his wheat crop out. When he was in the fields working, I was busy at the house setting his mothers old setting hens. In the fall of the year there was a little two room house down the road that became empty so we got that to move into. It was a mansion to us. His dad gave him a cow and calf and I had about 30 little chickens and his mother gave me the old mother hen and said I had about starved her to death. I set her 2 times to get all my little chickens. I was busy making him cakes and candy to eat all the time. You know, we need to do things to make each other happy. He would say “This is good,”but he would go to the door and throw it out. But he told me later on in our years he threw it out to the old dog and he wouldn’t even eat it.
We lived together 62 years and raised 5 children and they said they never knew that we were poor. We stayed too busy. The Lord called him home July 5th, 2007 after staying in the hospital about 24 hours."
Lillian Miller is the proud matriarch of a family of 5 children, 12 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. I am the next to youngest grandchild and have enjoyed every single second I have spent with my "Grannie." I intend to raise a family according to her standards of how a family should be ran.
I have to preface this by saying my grandmother is the most precious thing in my life. She has been the best mother, grandmother, and friend. To have her in your life is a blessing beyond words. Her words are simple yet should not be taken lightly. She knows the meaning of a life of faithful devotion to one man, no matter what may have stood in the way.
"It is so good to have a happy married life. We married so young and did not have anything except our clothes to wear. We didn’t think anything about it. My husband had just gotten out of service, World War II, and he came home and put out a crop that year. He said we couldn’t move out until he got his wheat crop out. When he was in the fields working, I was busy at the house setting his mothers old setting hens. In the fall of the year there was a little two room house down the road that became empty so we got that to move into. It was a mansion to us. His dad gave him a cow and calf and I had about 30 little chickens and his mother gave me the old mother hen and said I had about starved her to death. I set her 2 times to get all my little chickens. I was busy making him cakes and candy to eat all the time. You know, we need to do things to make each other happy. He would say “This is good,”but he would go to the door and throw it out. But he told me later on in our years he threw it out to the old dog and he wouldn’t even eat it.
We lived together 62 years and raised 5 children and they said they never knew that we were poor. We stayed too busy. The Lord called him home July 5th, 2007 after staying in the hospital about 24 hours."
Lillian Miller is the proud matriarch of a family of 5 children, 12 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. I am the next to youngest grandchild and have enjoyed every single second I have spent with my "Grannie." I intend to raise a family according to her standards of how a family should be ran.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
You could go with this, or you could go with that...
For those of you who stay up to date with the happenings of Murfreesboro, Tennessee or watch The Daily Show with John Stewart, you are abreast of the current issue of the Islamic Mosque that has broken ground here. It's almost outside the city limits, but with the way everyone is bickering about it, you would think they were trying to knock down the County Courthouse and build it right there in the middle of everything. So here's my take of the whole situation:
I'm a Christian that was raised and still lives in the Bible Belt of America. You cannot drive anywhere without passing at least a few Baptist, Church of Christ, Church of God, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and even a few Non-Denominational Christian churches. There are two Catholic churches in this whole county. There's one Buddhist Temple on a road going towards Smyrna. The closest Jewish Synagogue is in Nashville. Up until a few months ago, most Murfreesboroans didn't notice the Islamic Mosque that had been on Middle Tennessee Boulevard (one of the city's main roads.) So what's the big deal that the followers of the 2nd largest religion in the world (Christianity being number one) want a bigger church? Fear.
Fear of the unknown. Fear of something that people have never researched. Fear of people that do not waver in their beliefs (and by the way, I'm not referring to terrorists here.) People see Islam and Muslims as the people who tore our country to shreds 9 years ago, and 1.5 billion people in the world are going to pay for the actions of a small group of radicals. People believe that knocking down signs, destroying construction equipment, and spray painting words of hate will deter them from building here. I see these acts as childish and ignorant. It says, hey, we fear what you're doing but won't take the time to learn about why you want to be here and what you're religion is about.
If you take this to mean that I am Pro-Mosque, then you might be right. If you take this to mean that I am indecisive based on the fact that I'm not Muslim, you would would DEFINITELY be correct.
I have said it more than once and will always stand by this: Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a spiritual person is religion.
World English Dictionary
spirituality
1. the state or quality of being dedicated to God, religion, or spiritual things or values, esp as contrasted with material or temporal ones
2. the condition or quality of being spiritual
3. a distinctive approach to religion or prayer: the spirituality of the desert Fathers
4. ( often plural ) Church property or revenue or a Church benefice
World English Dictionary
religious
— adj
1. of, relating to, or concerned with religion
2. a. pious; devout; godly
b. ( as collective noun ; preceded by the ): the religious
3. appropriate to or in accordance with the principles of a religion
4. scrupulous, exact, or conscientious
5. Christianity of or relating to a way of life dedicated to religion by the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and defined by a monastic rule
I'm a Christian that was raised and still lives in the Bible Belt of America. You cannot drive anywhere without passing at least a few Baptist, Church of Christ, Church of God, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and even a few Non-Denominational Christian churches. There are two Catholic churches in this whole county. There's one Buddhist Temple on a road going towards Smyrna. The closest Jewish Synagogue is in Nashville. Up until a few months ago, most Murfreesboroans didn't notice the Islamic Mosque that had been on Middle Tennessee Boulevard (one of the city's main roads.) So what's the big deal that the followers of the 2nd largest religion in the world (Christianity being number one) want a bigger church? Fear.
Fear of the unknown. Fear of something that people have never researched. Fear of people that do not waver in their beliefs (and by the way, I'm not referring to terrorists here.) People see Islam and Muslims as the people who tore our country to shreds 9 years ago, and 1.5 billion people in the world are going to pay for the actions of a small group of radicals. People believe that knocking down signs, destroying construction equipment, and spray painting words of hate will deter them from building here. I see these acts as childish and ignorant. It says, hey, we fear what you're doing but won't take the time to learn about why you want to be here and what you're religion is about.
If you take this to mean that I am Pro-Mosque, then you might be right. If you take this to mean that I am indecisive based on the fact that I'm not Muslim, you would would DEFINITELY be correct.
I have said it more than once and will always stand by this: Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a spiritual person is religion.
World English Dictionary
spirituality
1. the state or quality of being dedicated to God, religion, or spiritual things or values, esp as contrasted with material or temporal ones
2. the condition or quality of being spiritual
3. a distinctive approach to religion or prayer: the spirituality of the desert Fathers
4. ( often plural ) Church property or revenue or a Church benefice
World English Dictionary
religious
— adj
1. of, relating to, or concerned with religion
2. a. pious; devout; godly
b. ( as collective noun ; preceded by the ): the religious
3. appropriate to or in accordance with the principles of a religion
4. scrupulous, exact, or conscientious
5. Christianity of or relating to a way of life dedicated to religion by the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and defined by a monastic rule
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Back with a bang....
Hello everyone! I'm back from my summer-long Blog hiatus. It's been one of the most stressing and tiring summers that I can remember, but hey, its life I guess. I have been trolling the blogger website to get updates and posts from my favorite bloggers, though.
My friend Greg over at Pitt Rehab (Go Penguins!) posted an interesting story about an ABC News report targeting the For-Profit Colleges of our nation. Examples of these include University of Phoenix, Kaplan University, etc. I have no experience with these forms of "higher education" but I do know of friends from high school that chose this path rather than the traditional Community or State College path.
Why would they choose this path you ask? I've whittled it down to one thing: Excellent Marketing. They have the rather ridiculous commercials with annoying tunes and cute girls talking about going to school in their pajamas (which is something I accomplished with my traditional education at MTSU), and then they reel you in when you inquire by touting an almost 100% acceptance rate. Well who wouldn't want to bypass the waiting list of schools such as Brown, University of Tennessee or even MTSU? Why would you want to take remedial classes at those other schools when you can walk right in to your degree program at University of Phoenix? It's almost too easy.
Precisely. Harris Miller, CEO and President of the Career College Association, admits that recruiters have been guilty of providing students with false information regarding what their degrees will earn them in the end and also poor financial aid advice.
What can be done about it? I'm not saying all these schools are evil. It warms my heart when I see someone strive to get an education. What students are not researching and finding out is that you don't have to go to one of these schools for an education. There are many fine community colleges that will accept you regardless of your GPA coming out of high school. The key word in all this is that you need to strive to get into a school. Even if remedial classes are needed, they are only for your benefit and will prepare you for upcoming classes.
What else should be done? I truly believe this issue should be dealt with by the US Dept. of Education. There should be a law requiring that all these schools must be compatible to either community or state colleges in the area. If that means requiring students take general education courses, so be it. It will create a cushion for those students who wish to start their studies at one school then transfer to a more advanced, larger university.
But that's just my opinion.
My friend Greg over at Pitt Rehab (Go Penguins!) posted an interesting story about an ABC News report targeting the For-Profit Colleges of our nation. Examples of these include University of Phoenix, Kaplan University, etc. I have no experience with these forms of "higher education" but I do know of friends from high school that chose this path rather than the traditional Community or State College path.
Why would they choose this path you ask? I've whittled it down to one thing: Excellent Marketing. They have the rather ridiculous commercials with annoying tunes and cute girls talking about going to school in their pajamas (which is something I accomplished with my traditional education at MTSU), and then they reel you in when you inquire by touting an almost 100% acceptance rate. Well who wouldn't want to bypass the waiting list of schools such as Brown, University of Tennessee or even MTSU? Why would you want to take remedial classes at those other schools when you can walk right in to your degree program at University of Phoenix? It's almost too easy.
Precisely. Harris Miller, CEO and President of the Career College Association, admits that recruiters have been guilty of providing students with false information regarding what their degrees will earn them in the end and also poor financial aid advice.
What can be done about it? I'm not saying all these schools are evil. It warms my heart when I see someone strive to get an education. What students are not researching and finding out is that you don't have to go to one of these schools for an education. There are many fine community colleges that will accept you regardless of your GPA coming out of high school. The key word in all this is that you need to strive to get into a school. Even if remedial classes are needed, they are only for your benefit and will prepare you for upcoming classes.
What else should be done? I truly believe this issue should be dealt with by the US Dept. of Education. There should be a law requiring that all these schools must be compatible to either community or state colleges in the area. If that means requiring students take general education courses, so be it. It will create a cushion for those students who wish to start their studies at one school then transfer to a more advanced, larger university.
But that's just my opinion.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The weekend that changed Nashville
The last 4 days have been surreal. The rain started on Friday night. Saturday morning it was still going. Water started to pool. All of a sudden people were trapped in their cars on the interstate, drowning because they can't get out. Semi's were floating. A mobile building (that belonged to a customer of mine) broke from its usual foundation and floated down the interstate that had been overcome by a creek that I didn't even know existed.
The rain stopped on Sunday but the waters didn't stop rising. The flood finally crested Monday evening, not before flooding part of downtown Nashville along with Titans Coliseum, Opryland Hotel, and almost all of LaVergne.
The Grand Ole Opry house
But we're Nashville. We can stand up to anything.
The rain stopped on Sunday but the waters didn't stop rising. The flood finally crested Monday evening, not before flooding part of downtown Nashville along with Titans Coliseum, Opryland Hotel, and almost all of LaVergne.
The Grand Ole Opry house
But we're Nashville. We can stand up to anything.
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